Special Thanks: kpopmaniac615, luckless-is-me, La Rondine, Blind writer, Lazy Gaga, Lovegranted, YumiKiryu, broken-paige

Time:

Part XXI

3/20/2012 8:04 PM

Lelouch wasn't sure what to do. His eyes were wide, he watched out the window as the small balls of white fluff fell in crooked patterns to the ground. It was all starting to collect in mounds, blanketing their back yard. Visibility through the snow was only about a mile or so. Lelouch couldn't even make out the porch of their neighbors down the road.

Through it all Charley had on her sloppy grin as she trudged through the snow.

The storm wasn't supposed to be there quite yet. All the news forecasters had estimated tomorrow night. Not then, not the middle of the day and not like this. Lelouch stepped forward, one hand shaking as he reached out to the window. His thin fingers made contact on the frigid glass in a slow action. The glass pane might as well have been ice itself against Lelouch's fingertips. He pressed his fingers there harder on the glass. But nothing changed. The glass was still cold, lifeless.

"I went ahead and made a fire for tonight." Suzaku triumphantly proclaimed as he entered the room. One thing they had never changed about the house was the heating system—the wood burning stove in the living room, almost exactly at the center of the house. Its function had been to keep the house warm since the house had been built, so Suzaku had figured it might as well keep functioning on like that.

Lelouch's head jerked up as he looked over at Suzaku coming in from the kitchen. As rough and tumble as the boy could be it hit Lelouch how much they had compromised for each other. Suzaku had the steaming hot tea on a wooden tray, carrying it carefully to the coffee table. Lelouch even noticed that the cups matched the tea pot. Suzaku had certainly tried over last few years to make Lelouch happy and to accommodate to Lelouch's finicky tastes. In the process somehow Lelouch had managed to turn Suzaku into some form of a domestic.

Suzaku picked up the two cups with their saucers and again continued towards Lelouch.

His hand was going numb Lelouch noticed as he peeled it away from the window pane to take the offered steaming cup.

"Suzaku—" Lelouch said as his lover came next to him, taking a drink from his own tea. "The snow, I'm sorry."

With his own wide eyed expression and eye brows raised, Suzaku looked over at Lelouch. "What? Why are you sorry? We both knew this was coming. We watched the news together last night."

They were definitely getting to the lazy point it their relationship when they both sat down to watch the news together as a regular event. They used to actually have exciting lives, once upon a time, in a land—not so far away actually. They used to call each other Emperor and Knight, they used to lay in beds big enough for several and wear silks and jewels and all the finery of the world. Lelouch quirked a smile as he thought, at least they still called each other best friends. And at least now is a house half the size of even the throne room—they were happy. They no longer avoided each other and they no longer tried to hurt each other at every turn.

Lelouch looked down into the dark liquid for a moment. "What about the garden?" Lelouch had heard Suzaku even say that he'd have to take care of the garden before the storm. They had had a long fall, and the garden hadn't exactly thrived, but it had still been alive—at least until all the snow.

At the sound of laughter Lelouch's head jerked up.

"Since when do you care about my projects?" Suzaku chuckled. He watched Lelouch for a moment before leaning in to give a little kiss to Lelouch's cheek. "It's just a garden, Lelouch. I'm not too concerned."

If anyone else had been in the room Lelouch would have denied all the way to his grave that a blush darkened as Suzaku's lips had pressed to his cheek.

"But—but what about, I thought you said there could possibly be another tomato?" Lelouch pressed on.

Suzaku still just looked amused. "It's just one, and I'm sure you're not terribly hurt." Suzaku turned to set his empty cup back onto the tray. "You always inform me that we can buy produce whenever we want, that's why the grocery store was invented."

Lelouch didn't say anything, just looked back at the window. His thoughts were still on the same thing. Somewhere under that blanket of white fluff and ice was a garden—and it was dying. No one cared about it but him. No one noticed it but him.

"Hey." Suzaku's tone had finally changed. His hand outstretched he slid it into a perfect fit at the small of Lelouch's back. "This is supposed to happen. It's the way things work."

As Lelouch looked over at his partner nothing but distain creeped at the thought of how Suzaku just looked so—fine with everything. There was even a crook of a smile at one side of Suzaku's mouth.

"Neglect isn't 'how things work.'" Lelouch hissed.

Suzaku didn't relinquish though, instead he stepped closer, pulling Lelouch back a step to press his chest against Lelouch's back. His arms wound around Lelouch's shoulders, and he rested his chin on Lelouch bony shoulder.

"It is the way it works." Suzaku chuckled. "It's how nature all works. Gardens can't live forever."

Refusing to answer was his only defense against the onslaught of pure affection. That grin at Suzaku's lips, told Lelouch that there was no way that he was going to convince the boy of anything.

"Do we need to watch the Lion King?" Suzaku asked, as he nudged his nose at Lelouch's neck. "Or you know what, let's find your laptop, \we could watch one of those nature shows about seasons!" Suzaku chuckled, his chest vibrating.

Lelouch shivered as he felt the press of kisses down his neck and Suzaku holding him so close he could feel not only the laugh but when he spoke. Lelouch couldn't help the smile though. "I think I get the message."

"Are you sure?" Suzaku probed farther, his lips moving northward this time. "I could start singing—the circle of life! And it –"

Lelouch pivoted to press a kiss to open lips. When Lelouch pulled back he was smiling. "I think there's a better use for you out there." He raised his hand to run his finger tips over the side of Suzaku's face. Unlike the cold window pane had been, Suzaku's skin was warm and soft. There was no ice or cold or snow to him. It was just warm and human. So awfully, incredibly, beautifully human.

Suzaku looked shocked. "What? I'm a wonderful singer. My singing is what got me you after all!" he leaned in closer. As always the ever present grin was across his face.

"Eh." Lelouch sighed. "Not how I remember it, but memory is all relative at this point."

They both knew exactly what Suzaku was getting at, but Lelouch wasn't going to let him get anything for free as he raised the cup to his lips, tacking his first drink. It wasn't perfect, but Suzaku had done a better job than usual. Lelouch gave his own grin. It was a Saturday night, Suzaku had made him tea, Suzaku had built a warm, cozy fire, Suzaku was being quite affectionate—Suzaku was hoping to get lucky.

Suzaku looked down at the teacup between them. He even lifted his hand ready to take the tea cup. "You know it's always kind of nice to lay in bed while it snows," Suzaku trailed off with his suggestion. As always his lack of subtlety was glaring through.

And Lelouch stepped out of Suzaku's arms, taking his tea with him as he took another drink. "Or we could watch the Lion King." As sly smirk spread on his lips. He set the cup down on the table as he went on. "Or we could watch the news."

That smile only spread even more as Lelouch felt Suzaku loop his fingers in Lelouch's jeans, dragging him back a step. His lips immediately were on Lelouch's skin. "I don't want to watch the damn news." Suzaku growled as one arm went around Lelouch's waist.

Lelouch just smiled, he caste a look over his shoulder. Suzaku was almost to the point of pleading. So asserting his own dominance he reached his hand back behind him, found the hem of Suzaku's own jeans, and thrust his hand down into them.

"Ohhh." Suzaku gave a groan as his body went slack, slumping against Lelouch's back. His hand fisted in Lelouch's shirt, his other arm tightening around Lelouch's waist.

"There you go," Lelouch hummed, satisfied. "Just remember I'm the only one you sing like this for."

One more week down. I keep meaning to have depressing chapters—and they always kind of turn out to be a just a sweet example of Lelouch's and Suzaku's relationship. …or they have sex. I'm not picky though and this isn't a story I'm going to force into a certain mold.

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