A/N: I want you to know that I really appreciate every favorite, follow, message you guys sent. :D Thank you to the reviewers too: Shafin, Ladz, duduaoi, Akira-Hayama, squealsandgiggles05, hailtoemperorlelouch, woo. tannin, & Euryphaessa Gray.
Also, I lowkey want more, but I don't want to disappoint anyone or myself. xD Feel free to shoot more ideas for this story in the reviews though, if you want to share. It just might turn into another part, who knows. xD
Thank you for reading~
To part 2 we go!
Part 2: Five Months
C.C. did her best to ignore the furious windshield-wiping going on in front of her. For some reason, the weather decided it was an appropriate day to release a rainstorm that drenched the entirety of Carlisle City — forcing residents to bring out their umbrellas and shrug on their raincoats. Having parked in front of the restaurant Lelouch had chosen for the both of them, C.C. refreshed her messenger now and again for any sign of a text from her old friend. Perhaps it would have something to do with picking him up?
Code Noire was in town for business purposes, and Lelouch was just stealing time away from his jam-packed schedule to come out and see her. She'd found out last night during their renewed late-night texts that the company and the band would be flying back to Pendragon tomorrow at noon, to resume promotion and shoot live shows in the capital city.
Postponing their pre-planned outing was out of the question.
She caught herself short of grinning when his latest text popped up, asking where she was because he was already here. Alerted, she frantically searched for his face among the few others who were outside. She caught him at last, huddled in his brown jacket, black gloves, and the familiar dark newsboy cap he had been wearing at the cafe. Braving the steady downpour of fat raindrops herself, C.C. stepped out with her clear umbrella and locked her door, rushing over to the meager shelter the awning of the restaurant provided.
As dreary as the day turned out to be, she still couldn't stop smiling when their eyes met after she'd folded her umbrella and linked arms with him for the first time in eight years.
=OoOoO=
The five months that had gone by after they rekindled their friendship were dotted with sparse, clandestine, and very brief meet-ups (never enough time for anything else other than a quick one-hour snack or breakfast, before he had to be gone again). All the same, Lelouch was never more thankful. He hadn't realized how much he missed having her in his life until five months ago when they sat at that restaurant for brunch and enjoyed a rainy day — sharing jokes, lobbing teases, and clearing up the air between them, not that there was any grudge in the first place. The first week after that, Lelouch had been in Pendragon when he'd apologized to C.C. all over again for never bothering to keep in-touch when they were teenagers, but C.C. had insisted that those days were in the past, and they could be friends again now, couldn't they?
Guess who's flying to Pendragon, Zero?
He couldn't stop reading her text over and over again. She'd sent it last night when he was on the verge of falling asleep and he had replied with silly face emojis.
This morning was bad for Code Noire. Between obsessed fans breaking into their shared penthouse and the police coming over to apprehend the trespassers, the group couldn't catch a break. Their managers and security personnel aptly escorted the five of them out of the penthouse at 6:30 AM and into the entertainment company building to carry on with today's itinerary while the cops busied themselves with inspecting and clearing the residential suite of other threats.
So he understood the confusion and surprise on Akito's face when he demanded to know why Lelouch was grinning like a madman late into the afternoon. Lelouch was the quiet and neurotic one in the group — obsessing over the tiniest details.
But how could he not be happy, though? C.C. just sent her flight itinerary in.
"That smile is threatening to split your face into two." Akito commented, retying the end of his slender braid before resuming to pick at the strings on his guitar.
"Too bad none of the fans will ever see him this way." Yukiya teased from across the recording room, busy tuning the bass guitar for their live session later on. Lelouch as Zero had a persona to maintain in front of the cameras. Clovis let them do whatever they wanted most of the time, but Lelouch still deemed that being cool, calculating, level-headed Zero was part of the show, so they left him to it. Behind the camera was a man who doted on his little sister and clucked like a mother hen towards all the members in spite of Leila clearly being the eldest.
"There's always hidden cameras." Suzaku joked, cringing when he didn't catch the drumstick he'd launched into the air. It thwacked against his knee — a noise that attracted Leila's attention.
"Is it your 'friend' that you haven't introduced us to yet?" Leila teased, eyeing their lead guitarist knowingly. He may be quiet, but he couldn't hide his happiness around them. More than once, she'd caught him grinning at his phone while texting someone or disappearing to private nooks and crannies in the penthouse to talk to somebody.
Deflecting her question and the rest of the band's sudden interest in his personal affairs, Lelouch flashed them all a winning smile. He loved each of them like his own siblings after Nunnally, but they had a reputation for teasing him unbearably — especially Yukiya and Suzaku.
"Leila, I was clear to go on a day-off this Saturday, right?"
"Hm? I believe so." She nodded. "You can ask Jeremiah again to be sure."
Right… He had to settle things on his end first if he wanted to greet C.C. at the airport. Or at the very least, meet up with her after she settled in her temporary duplex for her internship at some company in Pendragon.
=OoOoO=
"I can't believe you're flying to Pendragon." Shirley commented with wonder in her voice.
C.C. released a sigh, hauling empty travel bags from the top of her short closet. "It's for an internship."
For as long as she had known C.C., they both finished high school and entered university together in Carlisle. Flying to different states and cities were reserved for vacations, not for long-term internships. But she supposed it was only a matter of time. A four-month long internship in a professional setting did guarantee four course credits, which meant more free-time to work and focus on other things when the last two years of undergraduate studies would roll around. Less credits to complete in the final years meant elective lectures and only one or two required classes.
Shirley didn't question her friend's logic. But why Pendragon?
"Because Artisaa is the first company to give me a callback." C.C. smirked, answering the question Shirley hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud.
Also, C.C. would never openly admit it, but part of her was secretly thrilled about being in the same city as Lelouch. Of course, she wasn't expecting to see him all the time. Lelouch was part of a popular band. And Code Noire was hyper-busy. These past five months, she'd had a glimpse of Lelouch's hectic schedule. A particular moment came to mind where he had missed her calls and he apologized when he finally picked up, telling her that their plane had just landed at Lannion City airport. She spent most of her days studying for University, peacefully living at Carlisle, and Lelouch was just casually state-hopping or globe-trotting.
His normal was different from hers. She doubted it would change even if she was going to be in the same city as him.
"If you see any Code Noire members, ask them for a picture for me please." Shirley piped up cheerily, busy scrolling through her phone in search of updates on Twitter.
C.C. finally succeeded unearthing the small travel bag she would hand-carry to the airport and shook her head at Shirley's determination. Her friend hadn't quite forgotten their run-in with Lelouch Lamperouge at the cafe five months ago. It just made her more determined to meet the other Code Noire members in-person.
"I doubt that. They're busy doing other things." C.C. spoke the truth, but still, she found herself guiltily sneaking a peek at the latest text Lelouch sent. Turning her phone over, she knelt on the floor and started digging through her drawers to pack the clothes she would be bringing with her. "Don't they have concerts lined up in two months?"
Having been reminded of the spending she would have to do, Shirley groaned. Snagging concert tickets would be a bloodbath, not to mention, the prices. "Yes, after they have a comeback next month. But seeing them live is still 60 days away. If I can see them live."
C.C. shook her head. "I'm sure you will. And then you'll be flying to Pendragon regardless."
Shirley's slight disappointment over the thought of losing her chance at some tickets birthed an idea. Maybe she should ask Lelouch if there was a more comfortable way to buy Code Noire concert tickets — instead of the online madness that always happened. Shirley deserved to see her favorite band perform live. She had been saving a considerable portion of her allowance and monthly stipend for the last six months to be able to afford tickets. And the redhead's chance meeting with Lelouch at Carlisle had made her determination stronger.
Yes, C.C. would see what she could do...
"Anyway," Shirley waved a hand, as if clearing the heavy notions away. "Just do it for me, please. Get pictures or autographs, I mean. They're so inspirational."
And to that, C.C. had no argument for.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Time flew and before long, C.C. found herself bidding her friends and family 'goodbye' for now as she lugged her bags to the airport, boarded her plane, and flew to Britannia's capital city. She'd seen Pendragon, of course, and she'd had known what to expect from the moment she'd disembarked. But no amount of time spent looking at pictures on the internet will ever compare to the real thing. In a few words, Pendragon was simply a concrete jungle — dotted with ornamental flora and fauna, and characterized by the humdrum of a busy metropolis.
She lived in Carlisle's city center, but Pendragon's districts were a different beast altogether.
How fortunate was it then, that her duplex apartment was only a ten-minute walk away from Artisaa's main headquarters. Intrigued, she'd only checked her phone twice or thrice to read Lelouch wishing her safety and apologizing again that he couldn't see her at the airport. She didn't understand why he had to be so hung up about the most trivial things. She, of all people, understood why he couldn't come to the airport as much as he wanted to. And she was fine… She could manage on her own. It wasn't like she was in a foreign country with a strange new language.
Still, his concern and his eagerness to see her tugged at her heartstrings.
Was he excited to see that much?
She turned her attention to the scenery that flew by as the cab driver navigated the car through 9AM rush hour, and wistfully thought about her childhood friend and how joyous another face-to-face reunion would be.
=OoOoO=
He was in the middle of lunch when his phone started vibrating violently on top of one of the placemats. Knowing exactly who it would be, Lelouch smiled as he answered.
"Is Pendragon this expensive?"
He almost laughed at the sound of her snarky voice across the line. He could hear the muffled sound of objects being set down, a door creaking, and C.C. mumbling about the awful prices.
"You'll be paid sufficiently for the rest of your internship, I'm sure." Lelouch commented, politely waving Suzaku's silent offer of fruit salad away. "How's the duplex?"
"Like a duplex..."
Lelouch rolled his eyes at her deadpan reply, rising from the dining table to head to the unoccupied living room. "Any plans tonight?"
Her voice sounded far away. "Besides unpacking, not that I know of."
Perfect... "Save it for a later date. Book yourself a Premier Room in The Lanesborough Luxury Hotel. Two nights."
"Why?"
"So I can see you tonight and tomorrow." He explained nonchalantly, oblivious to any mischievous expression C.C. wore. "Don't worry about paying. I'll cover it. Just do it now."
"Ever so demanding, Lelouch. What do you intend to do with me when we're alone in a hotel room?"
Lelouch choked. Grip tightening around his phone. For a brief moment, an image of C.C. and her waggling eyebrows popped into his mind. Stupefied into sudden silence, he was forced to listen to his childhood friend talk about the dirty possibilities. He knew she was just teasing, but it didn't stop a visible blush from creeping across his cheeks, up the sides of his neck as the full gravity of what he'd just asked C.C. to do finally dawned on him. Gods, he hated it whenever she caught him unawares like this.
What the hell was he doing?
"Care to have me spread out on the—"
"C.C., just—"
"Just what, Lelouch?" She iterated in a sing-song voice.
"Just do what I told you to do." He sighed, relieved that she let him finish, although he could still sense the smile on her face.
This was the only way to bypass the problem of getting in trouble if he wandered too far away from Uptown without any security detail. Setting C.C. up in a luxurious hotel was more convenient in this circumstance, and he was sure she would have no complaints. He failed to take her incessant teasing into account though. The thought of the distress made him pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Yes, yes, Captain Lamperouge."
"The earlier you call, the earlier your check-in time will probably be." He couldn't resist reminding her. He, of all people, knew how she used to have a tendency for procrastinating in favor of other things she deemed to be more important.
"Yes, Lelouch. I'll call The Lanesborough right after. You just want me alone in a bedroom with you, don't you?"
He opened his mouth to fire a retort — just another addition in their never-ending cycle of verbal sparring. But the line had died. And the last thing to grace his hearing, was C.C.'s devious cackle.
That Witch… All the same, he would do anything to indulge her whims, wouldn't he?
He'd missed her this morning. Shame he couldn't see her the instant she set foot on Pendragonian dirt. Contract and safety measures dictated he disclose his plans to Jeremiah Gottwald, and the man (as understanding as he was) had cautioned him against visiting the airport. Heading to select and exclusive areas in Pendragon was fine, but the airport was always a different story. As a center of domestic and international traffic, the possibility of being recognized (even with a careful disguise) was incredibly high. And since he was going there to meet a personal friend of his, disguises would be rendered pointless. Dispatching secret security personnel was out of the question too. One wrong move, and he would be in hot water.
As much as he was slightly disappointed with the outcome, Lelouch couldn't fault Jeremiah for pointing out the logic behind his refusal to let Lelouch set foot at the airport without the other members and the staff Britannia Entertainment employed to keep them all safe. There were too many cons than pros. And the amount of risks to his safety and C.C.'s was too big to ignore. If they found out about him in the airport, they would most likely hound in on her presence as well. And C.C. wouldn't appreciate obsessed strangers intruding on her daily life just because she was associated with Zero.
Anywhere within the vicinity of Pendragon's uptown was fine. Just not the airport…
So The Lanesborough Hotel it is.
=OoOoO=
Three consecutive knocks at the door clued her into her only visitor. Half-concealing a giddy smile, she put her bag of toiletries down on the bed and rushed to the narrow foyer to greet him. It took him long enough. She was shaking her head when she finally swung the door open to let him in, coming face-to-face with a stack of four pizza boxes.
"Am I your favorite person at the moment or what?" He peeked around the tower, smirking at her in that familiar way.
"I expected nothing less from you." She joked with a haughty tilt of the chin.
Stepping aside to let him in, she eyed the back of his coat as he strode further into the room and placed the stack of pizzas on the coffee table, along with the cap he kept on top of his head. The last time she'd had a deep conversation with this man, in-person, was five months ago, when they had had their first brunch after years and years of separation. She didn't notice before, but he'd grown so much leaner. And now, standing in the middle of the suite that he was paying for, for her, the reality of the fact that her best friend was a world-famous entertainer finally hit her. Crazy how it hadn't done that when they'd been communicating to each other non-stop over phones and computer screens these past few months.
"Exquisite taste." He commented, appreciating the vaulted ceiling where a chandelier made of shimmering crystals glimmered. Through an archway, he spied the designated suite bedroom with its king-sized bed promised in the brochures. He checked, after all.
C.C. rolled her eyes as she picked her first slice of pizza from the top box. "Rather excessive and lavish, if you ask me."
Lelouch cocked an eyebrow, smirking as he folded his arms across his chest. "If you wanted lavish, I would have booked you The Royal Suite instead." He noticed her glare, mid-bite of pepperoni pizza and laughed, reaching over to tousle her hair.
"Is this dinner?" She asked, finishing off the crust.
"Doesn't have to be if you don't want it too. I was thinking you could stick them in the mini-fridge and reheat in the microwave as necessary."
Figures… Snorting, she closed the box and pushed him towards one of the sofas, right across the considerably sized TV in the room.
"Let's make use of the room service, shall we?"
This, C.C. couldn't resist giggling at.
=OoOoO=
The staff employed by The Lanesborough were as discreet as they come — probably because high-profile celebrities and officials of the state booked rooms in the hotel quite often, especially around the holidays. Their designated butler brought in their covered dinner and greeted them with pleasant smiles and polite greetings.
Before they'd had dinner in the quaint round dining table situated outside in the balcony, with its glittering view of the Pendragon Bridge, Lelouch had dressed down — hanging up his overcoat and relocating his cap to one of the accent tables, leaving him in his gray sweater and tailored black jeans. C.C. had changed out of her airport clothes and wore the complementary fluffy slippers along with her jean shorts and the cute top she'd picked. (And no, she would never admit to putting some effort into looking good for Lelouch).
After a sumptuous dinner involving roasted quail, fillet of beef, and some Mille Feuille, the pair relegated themselves to relaxing on the gilded loveseat that overlooked the twinkling view of the cityscape beyond. As lovely as the suite was, it was rather enjoyable to feel the cool evening breeze on their cheeks, tousling their hair. Plenty of time to enjoy the interior decor when she would be inevitably alone for the night after Lelouch would head back to his penthouse.
"Before you left for Pendragon, the thought of you being famous never really sunk in until it happened." C.C. found herself confessing, eyes fixed on the trail of bobbing red tail lights.
"You didn't believe in me?" He teased, picking at the lock of hair on C.C.'s shoulder that strayed. He brushed it back for her and let his arm settle on the back of the loveseat.
"You know what I mean. I still can't wrap my head around it sometimes — that you're famous and all. I saw your face on things more and more in the years after the debut, but it always felt like it was happening to a different person, and not the friend I knew."
"The friend you knew..." He trailed off. "Does it bother you?"
"No, I don't mind. You're a private person, so I just wonder how you deal with it all."
Lelouch's screen lit up, the Messenger icon flashing bold and bright. Sparing the message a fleeting glance, he turned his phone over and focused on C.C. and her queries instead. He shrugged. "Lelouch and Code Noire's Zero are supposed to be separate people." One lives in the limelight, the other would rather stay private. "But the nature of the job makes it impossible sometimes."
Right… She guessed it would be the variety shows and the occasional live feeds. Shirley loved to watch a lot of those, and she'd caught a peek once or twice. Quick Google searches about Zero from Code Noire pulled up various pictures of Code Noire in the red carpet, Lelouch's face on photo collections and merchandise, him on-stage with his guitar, and random screenshots from variety shows. Most of them showed him smiling and laughing, but C.C. had wondered once which smiles were genuine and which ones were forced. Lelouch was rather proficient at acting.
"Do you love it?"
Eyes flitting to the ceiling of the balcony, he nodded. "It has its pros and cons. And plenty of both."
Their conversation drifted away from the spotlight of Lelouch's career for a while. He asked about C.C's university life and she'd gladly supplemented him on the details of her internship and how it would all start soon. Once or twice, she joked about not seeing him enough even if they both lived in the same city for now. His smile faded as he apologized to her about it again (even if there was clearly no need too), but C.C. waved him off.
"It's not as if you can help it, Lelouch. Stop apologizing." She poked his arm.
"I'm only going to get busier in two months." He groaned into his hands. He didn't mind the nationwide concerts all that much, but now his busy schedule really made him want to hurl. He barely had the time to see his family back in Camelot, and now the limited time with C.C. was in the equation.
"Speaking of." She perked up, finishing her glass of complementary red wine. "Is there an easier way to buy tickets to your show?"
Lelouch snorted, lifting his face from his hands. "I know they're available in plenty of outlets. Lots of people buy them online."
She sighed. "I'm aware. Don't look at me like that. I'm just asking for a friend."
Looking at her in what way?
"Did Shirley put you up to this?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow and asked instead, remembering a certain ginger-haired girl with the bright and chipper smile and the stacks of merch. A most dedicated fan if he ever saw one.
C.C. shook her head. "No, I want to give them to her as a surprise." She shrugged, toying with the new bracelet around her wrist. Lelouch had casually dropped the thing into her hand before they ate dinner. A gift, he said. Just like the concert tickets C.C. wanted to nab for her friend. "A little bit of an appreciation gift for her. She loves Code Noire and appreciates the five of you so much even if she doesn't personally know you. And to be fair, she is the reason why you and I saw each other again."
He couldn't argue with that. "Fair enough. Has she been to concerts before?"
"Not that I know of, considering the tickets sell out in under an hour." C.C. smirked as Lelouch chuckled at her distress. "You weren't the one roped into monitoring three computers out of seven just to try and buy tickets once."
Lelouch really did laugh this time around, though not at Shirley's or C.C.'s expense. He was aware of how fast 950,000 tickets could disappear in one hour or less. It was insane how fans technically jostled over each other in retail outlets and in online stores just to get their hands on one. Acquiring them took effort, and Lelouch respected Shirley's.
"Schneizel and Clovis usually produce exclusive premium tickets for each of the members' closest family members. Usually 3-4." He commented, remembering past concerts where his mother and sister and his two cousins had attended. If they wanted more than four, they (the members) could pay for them. "I think something can be done if you want to give Shirley a ticket. You'll have to tell her you bought it for the both of you though."
The lovely smile that made its way across her face pleased him more than he thought it should.
C.C. nodded her understanding. Of course, no divulging her personal connection to Lelouch. It was safer that way. "The both of us?"
Reaching out, he tapped her nose and chuckled when she crinkled it.. "Will you come to the concert in Pendragon National Stadium if I asked?"
"Like a date?" She crooned, and Lelouch glared. "I'm kidding. But I guess I am." She placated him and exhaled a long breath, admiring the mix of violet and red lights that stained the navy blue sky. A lovely cloudless evening that was beginning to feel more different the longer they lingered. "If you want me to be there, I don't see why not."
Lelouch nodded once. A moment of comfortable silence wedged itself between them — a moment where Lelouch kept himself busy watching the woman he'd called a friend and treated as a younger sister when they had been living in Camelot. Without a word of warning or any smirk whatsoever, she shifted closer and buried her face into his shoulder, just like she used to do all those years ago. She didn't see the fond smile that adorned his lips; only felt him when he shifted slightly so he could accommodate her frame to the fullest.
Resting his cheek on her head, he thought back on the five months that had been filled with long-distance video calls, late night texts, and countless moments when he'd called her in the middle of his guitar-practicing sessions.
Nestling against him was comfortable and it felt warm. C.C. shivered a little when his fingers brushed the thin hairs on the back of her neck. She hadn't given herself a chance to hope for any interaction that was remotely like this because she presumed he would be more occupied with his career, but she certainly wasn't complaining. She was surprised he even stayed with her this long. Still, the way he stroked and caressed her hair was nice — soothing and, dare she say it, affectionate.
It was a tranquil moment that didn't deserve to be interrupted with conversation.
"C.C.?"
But of course, Lelouch would go and unknowingly ruin a moment she was having with him in her head.
"Hm?" She hummed, refusing to lift her head from the comfortable spot she'd found, nestled in the hollow of his shoulder.
"You keep telling me to let it go, but you never did tell me how you felt when we were drifting apart."
And there it was… The topic that they'd gladly skirted around for five long months now. Neither of them could find the right moment when they first had brunch after eight years (too consumed by the novelty of reconnecting with a special person they hadn't spoken to in forever), and this kind of heavy conversation was best reserved for face-to-face encounters; not through a digital screen, disrupted every now and again by static or a faltering internet connection — their only mode of communication for the past few months.
Steeling herself, she opened her eyes, pulled back from him, and cautiously answered, "Probably the same as other teenagers."
"Elaborate please?" He teased weakly, reaching for her hand to coax her back and ease her head back into his shoulder.
Relenting, she returned and nestled back against him. "Well, I hated you, at first."
"Understandable." Lelouch was glad she wasn't looking as his mouth dropped a little before he nodded solemnly and turned to distracting himself with the bracelet he'd given her.
C.C. smirked, mind flashing back to a time when she had been younger and witnessed Code Noire's performance on TV for the first time. The tight knot in her stomach back then was contempt — contempt for the way an eighteen-year old Lelouch grinned on-camera. Thinking back on it now felt embarrassing. If she could, C.C. would reprimand her younger self for detesting something she nor Lelouch couldn't control.
"It's just, I couldn't believe you were the type to ever forget, especially when you promised to visit Camelot every year."
"To be fair, I did visit. It was rare on pre-debut. But after debuting, I did go yearly. You just weren't there anymore." He reminded her, shaking his head. "You moved to Carlisle without telling me."
"We have our faults." C.C. gave him a playful smile and poked his cheek.
It wasn't as if they hadn't tried. They both knew it. Also, they didn't have each other's phone numbers by that point. Months ago, she'd learned it was because Lelouch had to change his number after sneaky people got a hold of it and started calling him non-stop. The sad part was that he didn't have her number memorized, so he'd lost it until the day they met again.
"Anyway, I eventually accepted the fact that we all move on from childish things. Being busy with school became the norm. Of course, I can't quite forget you when your face was almost everywhere by the time I got to senior year. It was easier to get over me, wasn't it?"
Lelouch knew she was joking, but he gave her a dirty look all the same. "Don't be that way. I often wondered how you were doing. Nunnally didn't know anymore after you moved to Carlisle. I looked you up on the internet." He grinned.
"Found anything interesting?" She shifted to look up at him.
"Just you in a Cheese Blob costume." His smug expression returned, remembering public pictures of her on Facebook courtesy of her high school's official page.
"Shit."
C.C. jerked as Lelouch burst out laughing — a laugh she hadn't heard in quite a while, now that she thought about it. He texted her laughing emojis and 'hahahas' on the phone, but both never came close to his expression of exuberance at this very minute. It wasn't even close to his staged laughter she'd heard in concerts and in some of their songs. (He was quite famous for the theatrical manic laugh when the performance and the song's themes called for it).
She liked his genuine laughter much better. The sparkling violet eyes told all.
"What?" He coughed through a laugh, clearing his throat and calming down long enough to see C.C.'s expression.
"Nothing." She shook her head, biting her lip a little and stifled a giggled. "I've never heard you laugh like that in so long."
"Missed it, did you?"
She snorted — an attempt to hide the blush threatening to engulf her face. "You were a dork."
He still noticed and leaned closer to blow on her ear. She swatted at his face as he chuckled and caught her hand just in time before it could do more damage. "Don't be embarrassed. I'll have you know I missed you."
"Don't joke about that." She snapped — cheeks now gloriously pink.
If he ever said words of that nature in a joking manner, she didn't think she would ever be capable of forgiving herself for misconstruing his words and taking them to mean something more, when it clearly didn't. Moreover, when had he ever insinuated that he would ever like her as more than a friend, or see her as more than a stand-in for his little sister? She was three years younger than him, for crying out loud.
He had no right to tease her this way!
She would admit that the sexual innuendos and the teasing would get out of hand sometimes, and she was mostly the perpetrator, but she only ever did so because Lelouch could fire back without pause when it suited him (though he was more inclined to blush spectacularly most of the time). But tender and romantic sentiments as jokes was where she drew the line.
She guessed it must have shown in her face too, because a look at Lelouch revealed a drastic change in demeanor and expression. The laughs were gone, replaced instead by something unreadable.
"Who said I was joking?" He murmured, reaching around her to pull away strands of hair that kept getting in her face. "I missed you."
Eyes widening in bewilderment, she took a few moments to process his words, all the while listening to him list the things he'd never thought he would miss about her but he did. From her smiles and laughter, to their interactions, down to the very peculiar details on how her eyes shone in low lighting. It was so… incredibly sappy of him that it was hard to believe it was coming from him of all people. Still, it was hard to ignore the way he stared at her in this moment, and she secretly revelled in the affectionate attention.
C.C. propped her chin on his shoulder, gazing at him adoringly. The world knew him for his talents, but she knew him for him — not the Zero that everyone recognized in front of cameras. "Me too."
Because that was the truth, wasn't it? She really did miss him too...
His gaze kept wandering, drifting to her parted lips and back to her eyes again. Should he? Would she even allow it? She was quiet all of a sudden too, as if taken with a similar display of vulnerability and open emotion. He really shouldn't… They just found each other again. Never have they ever explored or hinted at the possibility of being more than stupidly close friends. But perhaps, they didn't need to.
Frozen in anticipation, she found herself subconsciously nibbling on her lower lip — hyper aware of how he was leaning closer and closer with every second that passed. Exhaled breath fanned across the lower part of her face as his breath grew shallower and shallower — the same way her heart began racing faster and faster.
Was he going to do it? Would he? And what would she do?
Their lips touched. One small unsatisfactory kiss that left them wanting more. She'd never thought she'd feel so disappointed when his mouth left hers and created distance between them.
He opened his eyes, their foreheads touching as he shook his head.
"Sorry, I—"
"Kiss me." She pleaded in a voice that didn't sound quite like hers. It was hoarse with emotion and thick with jittery nerves.
Her free hand clenched into a fist on her lap. He noticed and reached for it, twining their fingers together before bringing her hand up to his face to lay a gentlemanly kiss on the back of her hand, eyes never looking away from each other. Her other hand came up to cup his cheek as she searched his face for any sign of repulsion towards the unwarranted and impromptu kiss. But there was none. The way he was looking at her… It was so indescribably sweet and gentle — as if she mattered to him as much as his family did.
It was this gaze and expression that compelled her to ask again, because he always worried about offending her. "Kiss me." A soft sigh. "Please."
Running his thumb over her bottom lip, he gave her a nod, closed his eyes, and gave in.
She leaned into the more fervent kiss, a hand slowly wandering to the back of his head, tangling in his hair. Their hands separating, she wrapped an arm around his shoulders while he wrapped his around her waist. Pressing closer, she indulged in the motion of their locked lips and how the act made her heart ache in the most pleasurable way. They broke apart briefly for air, and kissed again not a second later; all the while he ignored the furious pounding of his heart and how elated he felt.
They'd never thought they needed this or wanted it, but here in this moment, they realized they did. Perhaps they had wanted it a long time ago. Perhaps this was the reason why they both felt so guilty about losing each other to distance and time. Perhaps this was what made them so happy in the past couple of months.
Taken by the moment, long seconds passed where they nuzzled each other's faces with heavily-lidded eyes, sharing breaths in the tiny space between them.
"I think I've waited so long for that." Chuckling, he framed her face in a hand again and pressed his lips to her forehead.
Choked up with words she wanted to say, she squeezed her eyes shut to stop ridiculous tears from welling over and embraced him instead, burrowing into his warmth and his comforting presence when he held her as well. And here in the silence of their most unforgettable moment yet, she told him again how much she missed him and hoped he would stay in her life for a longer time too.
Two halves of a whole, together at long last.
Reasons for separation be damned!