Lawli: Thank you to atheist1, luckless-is-me, MakenshiCrona, shiai10 for reviewing the last chapter. :)
Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.
Fragment 07
Someone Like You, Part 2
"I remember you said
Sometimes it lasts it love
But sometimes it hurts instead"
He stays in the suburbs, because he's due back for dinner later in the day. He doesn't want to go, would love nothing more than to flee to his apartment and shoot up until he can't remember that little brown head of curls, or the Kururugi Family plaque, or Lulu or anything at all except fields of sunflowers and warm arms around him – but that would be running away, and despite it all he can't bring himself to run away from Suzaku Kururugi again. He won't let himself be a coward, and so he reminds himself of why he's there – reminds himself that he had Suzaku first, Suzaku swore himself to him as a child and that is why Lelouch will win this game – and spends the afternoon in the park, laying on a stone bench and basking in the shade provided by an overgrown oak tree.
Lelouch doesn't know how much time passes, between when he closes his eyes and opens them again, but the sky is a painter's canvas of pinks and oranges. He sits up and there's a bad taste in his mouth. As he swings his legs over the bench to stand he wonders how he hasn't been evicted from the park, sleeping on the bench like a homeless person for God knows how long, and that is when something slams against his shin.
It's a soccer ball.
At first he thinks it's a dream, a hallucination from the Refrain – there's a child running towards him, chocolate curls bouncing and green eyes shining in the early evening sunlight – but he hasn't used today. The syringe is still in his back pocket, untouched, and the child isn't dressed in tattered jeans and a sweater. It's summer and this is a little girl; she's wearing a blue jersey inscribed with the number 7.
"That's mine," the girl says, stopping several feet from him and pointing at the ball.
Lelouch picks it up. Remarks, "nice aim," and watches with wry amusement as her nose scrunches.
He tosses her the ball. She kicks it back at him, hits him in the shin again and this time it actually hurts.
"My aim's really good," she says, crossing her arms over her chest and oh, there's no doubt about it, they're definitely related – because only one other person has ever looked at him that way. She tilts her head to the side, still glaring petulantly. "You're that man from before."
Lelouch opens his mouth, wanting to deny it, to defend himself but it's like she already knows anything he says will be a lie. The slight upturn of her lips mocks him – how much does she know? It's as if she can see into him, see all of his secrets, it's frightening and he wants to run away.
"Luana!"
Suzaku is there, attractively ruffled with his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows and tie undone. He stops when he sees Lelouch, eyes comically wide and Lelouch wants to laugh or cry at the irony of it all because this is where it all started.
There's a pregnant silence as Lelouch finally stands from the bench. It's as if time stands still. Lelouch takes a step closer, hand extending.
"Tou-san, lets go." The girl has grabbed Suzaku's hand and is tugging him in the opposite direction.
Suzaku blinks, glances between his daughter and the man who once was his best friend and so much more –and painfully less – than that. He extends a hand this time. "Did you want to watch Luana's game?"
Luana is six years old and the star of the Under Ten neighborhood soccer league. A natural born athlete, like her father. She scores three goals in the second half of the game and Lelouch actually cheers for her from where he sits beside Suzaku on the parents' bench. It's like old times. It's just like old times: Lelouch cheering on the sidelines, Suzaku easily taking control of the game – he stands and cheers, go Suzaku, you can do it, I believe in you! – and is only brought out of it when Suzaku grasps him by the wrist and reminds him gently, emerald eyes soft but curious, that his daughter's name is Luana.
Lelouch sits back down and is silent for the remainder of the half, until Suzaku formally introduces Luana and the little girl cocks her head to the side and sizes his up.
"We're old friends," Suzaku explains, when she asks who Lelouch is. "Lelouch will be coming over for dinner, is that okay?"
Luana shrugs, disinterested, and glances back at the grassy field. "Tou-san," she whines, holding up the soccer ball. Suzaku smiles indulgently.
Most of the other families have dispersed, so the three of them form a triangle on the grass. The dying sun plays tricks on his eyes, turning strands of Suzaku's hair a light golden brown and making his eyes sparkle as he laughs and gently kicks the ball to his daughter. The summer air is warm; there's a thin sheen of sweat on Suzaku's brow that Lelouch wants to lick away. He feels sticky himself, and normally that would be unpleasant but he only returns the smile and attempts to block the ball Luana sails in his direction. It passes him easily and Lelouch has to run after it.
When he returns, ball in his hands, breath more ragged than it had been seconds ago, Suzaku approaches him. There's something familiar in his eyes. Lelouch remembers how on the news that morning they had been pinched at the corners, strained somehow, concealing the sorrow Lelouch had always been able to see in them – but that isn't the case anymore. Now, they are bright and beautiful and green. Lelouch wants to kiss him, wants to reach out and tangle his hand in that curly head of hair and –
He feels Suzaku's hands over his own and his breath catches.
"I finally got you to play with me," Suzaku says, a teasing lilt to his voice. He takes the ball from Lelouch's hands. "I knew I would, one day."
