Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.
For: TC (who wanted Mobile Phone), Captio Celcior (who wanted a 'Slice of –insert-appropriate-food-here' title), The Kon (who wanted C.C. trying out other food) and Ragor9011 (who wanted Pizza interrupting a mission)
Thank you Rumig-kun and Nilie-chan for beta-ing as usual. Also thank you AlsoSprachOdin for pointing out some stuff to me and for bringing me back from writing depression!
I figured that Lelouch had suffered quite enough (20 chapters so far I think) so it's time for the other way around...
Chapter 21 – Slice of Pizza
On Sunday, Lelouch stalked into the bedroom and recoiled as the stench of pizza smacked him in the face.
He coughed dramatically and moved to open a window so as to air the room out. On the bed, C.C. shivered and crawled under the blankets, pizza still dangling from her lips.
"This is getting ridiculous," Lelouch announced with a loud sigh as he eyed the stack of pizza boxes on his desk.
C.C. ignored him as per usual and the ex-prince crossed his arms about his chest. "We need to find you a new food addiction."
"Why?" she drawled.
"Because Rivalz was commenting about my uniform smelling like pizza!"
"That's a good thing."
"C.C." he said with a frown and she knew she was testing his temper. "No more pizza."
On Monday, Lelouch informed his dear sister that C.C. was going on a No-Pizza Diet. To encourage the witch to try out a new food obsession instead, Lelouch used Nunnally's cute and subtle charming abilities, which was unique to Nunnally and Nunnally only.
"C.C.-san! Onii-sama says that pizza is not good for you," the ex-princess chimed sweetly, "let's try fruits instead!"
C.C.'s eyebrow twitched and her hands itched for the phone with Pizza Hut's number scrolling through her brain like a hypnosis screen.
"I like strawberries," Nunnally suggested and her smile doubled it's strength to become something so sweet that it could rot all of C.C.'s immortal teeth, "we can try strawberries!"
C.C. sighed, one day. She would resist for one day.
Only because Nunnally's sense of smell was on par with that of a greyhound and could sniff out pizza even if C.C. tried to sneak it upstairs.
On Tuesday, Nunnally, casually informed Milly of the No-Pizza Diet over a phone conversation.
"Cheese-san!" Milly chided loudly when she spotted the witch staring at a Pizza Hut restaurant during their shopping trip. "No pizza!"
C.C. frowned and pulled at the beak of her cap, "You don't understand, Milly. It's my comfort food."
Milly scoffed and looped her arm about C.C.'s. "Comfort food? Of course I understand! Every girl needs comfort food! Mine's chocolate!"
C.C. peered down at their intertwined arms curiously until Milly dragged her along by it, "I know! I'll convert you into a chocoholic too! Pizza has too many calories, Cheese-san!"
"But I don't get fat."
"Nonsense! That's what they all say and then later…. It all goes to their thighs!"
On Wednesday, C.C. snuck out of the house to get some much-needed pizza. Her brain was so deprived of it now that she even dreamt of cheesy crust, served by the most charming Cheese-kun waiters.
"Cheese-san!" Rivalz's voice boomed and the witch was suddenly dragged forcefully away from the restaurant. "I heard from Milly that you're going on a No-Pizza Diet! She was so encouraged by your desire to rid yourself of comfort food that she's undertaking a No-Chocolate Diet too!"
"Yes, Rivalz, now if you excuse me…" C.C. said distractedly and made for the swinging doors again.
"No! No! You must not give into temptation! Milly gave orders that we must stop you and her at all cost if either of you waver!" Rivalz grabbed her arm and the girl began wrestling with her captor in order to escape into the comforts of the Pizza Hut restaurant.
"Rivalz, you don't understand! I need Pizza!" C.C. emphasized.
Rivalz's cell phone rang and the boy snapped it open whilst trying to keep hold of C.C.
"Rivalz, where are you? I've just finished buying the cat food for Arthur and..."
"Suzaku! Buddy! Get over to Pizza Hut! NOW!" Rivalz started screaming and dropped his phone when C.C. elbowed his chin.
Suzaku sprinted into view and C.C. had to head-butt Rivalz on the nose to free a hand fast enough to keep her brown wig disguise firmly on her head.
"What's the hurry? CHEESE-SAN!"
"So close! I nearly got there!" C.C. hissed in the struggle.
"She's trying to get to Pizza Hut!" At this point C.C. brought her knee up and rammed it into Rivalz sensitive regions.
The boy crumpled in the blink of an eye.
And C.C. made a dash for Pizza Hut.
"STOP HER!!" Rivalz cried out, tears still in his eyes from his injury.
C.C. was so close she could smell the pepperoni and make out the individual pizzas on the pizza buffet.
"Cheese-san! NO!" Suzaku shouted and the next thing C.C. knew, she was thrown across the knight's shoulders for the second time in her life.
"Run, buddy, run!" Rivalz cheered, still in foetus position on the pavement.
"So close! Yet so far!" C.C. huffed as Suzaku bolted down the street and broke every running record within Britannia Book of Records.
On Thursday, Lelouch subtly utilized Tamaki's habit of eavesdropping and extreme gossip mouth to spread a convincing rumour about C.C.
"Tamaki, get me a pizza," Were the first words from C.C.'s mouth as she entered the organization's headquarters.
The Japanese man looked at her for a full second as if wondering if he should follow her orders. Then he smirked, "No can do."
C.C. stopped in her tracks to stare at him quizzically. "No?"
"No, because apparently, if anybody could break your pizza addiction, he or she gets out of cleaning duty for the rest of the year."
C.C. glared, "I am your superior."
"Diethard analysed that the possibility of Zero agreeing with weaning you from pizza to be higher than ninety percent," Tamaki smirked broadly, "and you're not my superior. In fact, you have no rank at all in the Black Knights! You're only Zero's lover."
C.C. licked her lips, not from nervousness but from hunger for pizza. To Tamaki, it looked like an angry and hungry lioness and he quickly scanned the room for exits.
"Diethard also said that if we use weaning you as an excuse we could possibly get out of any punishment you put on us if we send our pleas to Zero." Tamaki continued as he inched towards a door.
C.C. was silent and Tamaki pulled out a shiny new Pizza Hut menu. "Look, just drool over it. I'm not going to get you any pizza but you can look at them. Just don't kill me."
C.C. huffed, snatched the menu and stormed into Zero's room where she gazed longingly at the slip of shiny paper like it was a treasure. How she wished Lelouch had given her a cell phone then…
On Friday, C.C. sneakily and viciously manipulated a new Black Knight member to buy her pizza.
After five days without pizza, C.C. was starting to smell imaginary pizza in the air every time she entered a new room.
Sadly, Kallen smelt the aroma of pizza before C.C. could even lift the lid of the box and promptly tackled her to the ground.
"Kallen! You're exempted from cleaning duty! There is no reason for you to stop me!" C.C. cried as she tried to touch the pizza boxes now lying temptingly out of reach.
"Cleaning duty?! What are you talking about? Milly is offering me a 'get-out-of-jail' card for whatever crazy event she thinks up next!" Kallen shouted back as she pinned the witch's hands and shoved her green scalp to the floor. She had spotted Milly looking up Playboy-esque Casino showgirl-style bunny costumes and Kallen was not risking it.
"Toudou-san! Ougi-san!" Kallen screamed when she spotted them sauntering past the doorway. "She wants pizza!"
Toudou got the chair and Ougi got some insulation tape.
Five minutes later, C.C. was huffing and glaring in a chair with her hands tied to the armrests, ankles to the chair legs and the straps of her body suit's collar put to good use
"What do we do with the pizzas?" Toudou asked.
"We can distribute it among the others." Ougi suggested and C.C. could only follow it with her eyes imitating to absolute perfection the look of a kicked puppy as he picked up the boxes and the ace of the Black Knights took the other pile.
Five minutes later, when Kallen and Ougi returned with empty boxes, Toudou sighed in a cool and manly way which only he could pull off and extracted a packet of Japanese snacks from his pocket. He placed it on the table as if it was a consolation prize, undid her binds and left the room.
On Saturday, C.C. snuck out of Black Knights headquarters and jumped on the bus heading downtown, fully disguised once again in her glasses, hat and wig.
She was starting to see clouds the shape of pepperoni and everything semi-triangular looking was casting an illusion of slices of pizza.
Six days of pizza withdrawal and she was determined not to suffer this any longer. No-one would stop her today! No-one would...
"Cheese-san?"
Shirley.
C.C. sighed dramatically in self-pity before turning her eyes to glare at the redhead, daring her to stop her.
Sadly, the witch had forgotten about the childish Cheese-kun sunglasses she was wearing and the glare's power level dropped to near zero.
Shirley was with Nina and they slowly looked at the direction C.C. was heading towards. Their eyes drifted between the Pizza Hut and the girl before them.
"Cheese-san, Milly said you're on a diet." Shirley said gently as she moved forward to take her by the arm - her grip as gentle as her words. "I know it's hard but dieting is always hard. You must prevail."
C.C. ignored her words and continued her march towards the restaurant.
Shirley sighed, "Nina, help me."
Fuelled by the promise of 'get-out-of-jail-free' cards from Milly's crazy events, Nina lunged forward and wrapped her arms about C.C.'s waist. Shirley pulled out her phone and started speed dialling for more muscle.
At this point only one thing could hold C.C. down from getting Pizza long enough until help arrived, and that was the joint desperation of two girls not wanting to don whatever crazy outfits Milly was thinking up.
Minutes later, Rivalz's motorcycle vroom-ed into view with Suzaku and C.C. was picked up by the knight and dumped into the sidecar. Rivalz hit the road at breakneck speed.
On Sunday and after a full week of no pizza, Zero was forced to rethink all his strategies as one of his Knightmares broke from its battle formation and chased after a Pizza Hut delivery van spotted a mile away.
END OF CHAPTER 21
Crissaegrim: I was thinking of a sequel (key word – thinking). Thanks for the review!
Anonymous: Thanks
DT: I'm still devastated that Code Geass ended but it also fuelled me to write more (strangely). Thanks for the review.
Rapist: Lol, that's pushing it a little too far, sorry.
Perfuse: OMG! I completely forgot about your word prompt! I shall make sure to get it done before this ends! Sorry!
KiKi Hayashi