"One bed, or two?"
The question really shouldn't have flustered C.C. It was fine for it to fluster Lelouch - L.L., she reminded herself - but C.C. was several hundred years past being embarrassed or awkward about sharing a bed with someone. It didn't matter if they shared a bed.
Besides, it wouldn't be like it was new territory. They'd already shared a bed plenty of times.
Admittedly, sharing L.L.'s bed at Ashford had just been out of necessity, and Cheese-kun had provided a convenient barrier separating their sides of the bed once he'd finally refused to continue sleeping on the floor. Their room on the Ikaruga had also had only one bed, but sharing a bed there had been one hundred percent about maintaining his persona as Zero. It would have been difficult to explain her exact role in the organization if the Black Knights hadn't assumed they were lovers. Plus the bed was huge - they each had plenty of space.
They didn't choose to share a bed until after he was Emperor. And even then, nothing had happened. They'd just eventually cuddled.
In the three days since leaving Zilkhstan, they'd been sleeping outdoors in separate sleeping bags. They'd held hands more often than not, but they hadn't talked about it, and hadn't done anything else. This was their first night staying in a hotel. She felt L.L. look at her, and knew he'd accept either answer she gave. One was on the tip of her tongue. She could already imagine how Lelouch would turn red, and she could see all the ways she'd tease him about it later.
But she couldn't make herself speak. The silence stretched for an uncomfortably long time.
What was wrong with her?
"Two," she heard L.L. say beside her. She felt like her stomach dropped out from under her, but forced her face to stay neutral and hugged Cheese-kun a bit tighter. She was pretty sure L.L. noticed.
The receptionist shrugged. "Suit yourselves."
It seemed like the receptionist took forever rummaging around on the computer before handing them two pairs of keys for their room. She could feel L.L.'s eyes on her and knew he wanted to say something, but whatever it was, he held his tongue. "You're in room 317. Breakfast starts at 7, and you have until 10:30 to check out."
C.C. snatched both keys out of his hand and walked over to the elevator without a word. She heard L.L. behind her thank the man, and she heard the man respond with "Good luck."
Hrmf.
She could almost hear Marianne's voice in her head in response to that. You know, I'm not sure you were ever quite so irritated at us sleeping separately. She could practically hear Marianne's giggle and picture her mischievous smile and wink.
And people called C.C. a witch.
There was no use dwelling on dead people.
They walked to the room in silence, L.L.'s face buried in his phone. She couldn't tell if he was also feeling the current awkwardness between them, or if she was alone in that.
When they arrived, C.C. dropped Cheese-kun on the bed closest to the door, tossed one set of keys on the far bed, and bolted into the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and glared at herself in the mirror. This was the stupidest fight she'd ever been in. Was it even a fight? Not really.
It felt like one.
What was she expecting? She froze up. He made a decision, at least trying to not put her in an uncomfortable situation. Sure, he'd misread her and messed it up, but was she really blaming a 19 year old virgin for incorrectly reading an immortal about their preferred sleeping arrangements? Relying on Lelouch to be smooth and confident with women was… well, it wasn't why she was glad he had come with her.
She could practically see Marianne rolling her eyes and lecturing her.
He would've accepted if you'd just said one bed. Stop taking your issues out on him. You didn't spend a year getting his soul and memories back just to be salty at him because you fucked up. You want to live again? This is part of living, so deal with it. Next time you want something, either take it, or speak up.
Yeah, speak up when you want something. C.C. sighed.
This mood would not do. She needed to change it.
Being hungry was not helping her irritation levels. They'd been traveling all day and hadn't eaten since breakfast. They needed dinner. There were plenty of restaurants around this hotel. She dried her face and left the bathroom. "We should eat," she said to L.L., who was lounging on his bed.
"Do you feel like anything in particular?" he asked, looking up into her eyes.
"Obviously pizza. I can't be that hard to read. But that seems in short supply around here. Anything will do."
"If you're up for a bit of a walk, there's a pizza place about two miles from here. It's no Pizza Hut, but it's got several reviews that claim to be from Euro-Britannians praising it as the best in the area."
C.C.'s stomach did a floppy-butterfly thing that she was far too old for. He'd been buried in his phone trying to track down a decent pizza place in this city. He didn't even particularly like pizza. He was apologizing for choosing two beds without forcing them to actually talk about it. "Outside of Britannia, we measure distance in kilometers, L.L."
"Since I'm paying for the pizza, I'm pretty sure it's two miles away."
"I get one pizza for each mile we're walking then, yes?"
"That's less than I thought you'd demand, witch," he said, while he got out of bed and slipped his shoes back on.
"Keep in mind, it's two 'miles'", C.C. said, using air quotes around the absurd unit of measure, "each way. That's four pizzas. And those four are my dinner. What you want for dinner is up to you." She opened the door and held it for L.L., gesturing for him to walk through, which he did.
"I'm fairly certain you won't notice if I eat two or three slices of your four pizzas."
She turned around as she finished locking the door and gave him her best death glare. "Do not joke about stealing my pizza, warlock."
He smirked at her. "Who's joking?"
"You are," she said, as she reached out for his hand. He laced his fingers through hers, and she knew for sure they were okay again. "If you know what's good for you, that is."
"Knowing what's good for me has never been my strong suite."
"Now what's what I call the honest truth," she replied, smiling and squeezing his hand.
"It works out for your appetite, at least."
"It does." They wandered out of the lobby in a comfortable silence.
After they trudged across the city, as they waited in line to order, C.C. found herself distracted as she scanned the menu board for topping options. They only offered cheese by the slice. As delicious as that was, she knew he'd find it boring, and he had gone to an awful lot of trouble to make her feel better and not make her talk about it.
"L.L.?"
"Yes?"
"After careful consideration, I have decided, as a one time thing, that you may have one slice of my pizza." She saw the surprise flash across his face and turned to look forward, internally cursing that her cheeks warmed. "But only one. Do not get carried away."
"Well, I certainly didn't see that coming. What inspired this sudden generosity?"
"A whim, of course." You said you don't know what's good for you. "Don't read into it." I want to be good for you. Like you are good for me.
Well, that'd been a lot more feelings than she was looking to have there.
He ran his thumb along hers. "Don't worry, I won't."
The pizza was delicious.
C.C. spent most of the walk back to the hotel claiming she was quiet because she was digesting, but in reality she was trying to figure out how to engineer the two of them back into the same bed. The answer became embarrassingly obvious when L.L. asked if she wanted to shower first or second. How could she not have immediately realized this? Love really does make people stupid.
"Second," she replied, carefully deciding to not examine her last thought. He shrugged and returned a few minutes later, clean. She took her pajamas into the bathroom with her, and after showering and dressing, looked at herself in the mirror.
Breath in. Breath out. She could not afford to lose her composure here. This should actually be a great deal of fun. Particularly with how revealing these pajamas were...
She nodded at her reflection and exited the bathroom.
L.L. was thankfully already in bed, propped up against a few pillows reading. He looked up from his book as she entered the room, and quickly returned to it, his cheeks a faint red. Perfect. "I was going to call it an early night unless you object. We should aim to be up by 7 tomorrow for breakfast so we can get a move on."
"That sounds good. I'm definitely ready to climb right into bed," C.C. replied, walking over to L.L.'s bed. He looked up at her skeptically.
Calm. You are a witch. He flusters easily. You've got this.
She pulled back the covers and climbed in next to him, maintaining eye contact as she scootched up against him.
"Uhh."
"It was nice of you to get Cheese-kun his own bed, L.L., but it's not necessary in the future."
L.L. turned a fun shade of bright red and averted his eyes. "Uhh, right. Okay. Got it."
There was some repositioning of pillows, then the lights went out and they lay down together. C.C. hesitantly curled against him, wrapping her arm around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. She relaxed as she felt his arm circle her waist and pull her closer.
They had always fit together nicely for those last few weeks of his being emperor. Turns out, it felt much nicer without a predetermined expiration date.
After a minute or so of lying there, he shifted his shoulder and suddenly their faces were a few inches apart, eyes locked. C.C.'s heart caught in her throat for a second, before L.L. spoke. "You planned this from before the receptionist even asked the question, didn't you?"
C.C. smirked as her heart rate calmed down. "Who do you think you're talking to?"
He smiled, shaking his head as he lay back on his pillow. "Witch."
"You knew what you signed up for, L.L."
"I suppose I did."
Yes, she definitely preferred this with no expiration date.
A/N: This one almost feels too cute for them at this point in their story. But the story didn't want me to remove anything? Feedback welcome/appreciated!