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Title: Snapshots

Author: DnKS – giRLs

Rating: PG13

Pairing: SuzaLulu

Disclaimers: Not ours, still.

Warning: Not recommended for those with diabetes

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Instalment 2 – Tea Break

August, Britannia Mainland, 2018 a.t.b

There was a knock on his door, disrupting Lelouch vi Britannia from signing yet another document from the pile in front of him. The knock forced a small frown to appear on his fair forehead. He had asked, just like what he did every time he had some serious work to do, to be left alone for the rest of the afternoon. He just could not think of someone bold enough to actually try to disturb him when he had clearly prohibited them from doing so.

Yet his puzzlement did not last long for his eyes caught the sight of the clock and realized it was already 4 in the afternoon. The hours did seem to pass by so quickly when he was engaged with something important. Without his realizing it, it was already time for his much needed afternoon tea break. Much needed indeed for even he had to admit his body had grown tired dealing with paperwork. A cup of hot tea and some sweets were probably what he wanted the most at the moment.

Smiling, he reclined his body back to his desk chair and called softly.

"Enter."

The double doors clicked open and the first thing to come was a man with smiling green eyes pushing a handcart into his study. His eyes widened and his lips parted in shock. From all people he could expect to bring him the tea, he never thought it would be him. He needed a moment before he could speak. And the first word he uttered was a name, a very familiar name.

"Suzaku," he said in disbelief. "Why are you… how…?"

Kururugi Suzaku, that man with those brilliant emerald eyes, only smiled. Walking until he stopped beside Lelouch's desk with the cart, Suzaku had a teasing smirk on his face as he stared at his stunned husband.

"Why am I what?" he asked playfully.

"Aren't you supposed to be in India? Why are you…" Lelouch tried to speak before he realized that his Suzaku, whom he had not seen during the last month, was standing in front of him, safe and sound. Without further ado, he sprang up from his seat and crossed the small distance between them to circle his arms around Suzaku's neck. Burying his face onto that strong shoulder, he allowed a smile to break on his lips.

He had missed that, Lelouch mused as Suzaku's arms wound around his body in an embrace that was both strong and tender. He could feel Suzaku drawing some kisses on the side of his neck, and the tingling sensation he felt was enough to rend him blushing. Yes, he had really missed his idiot of a husband for sure.

"I missed you," he admitted easily before drawing back so he could see Suzaku's face more clearly. He frowned. "But I thought you will come back next week."

"Change of plan," Suzaku answered. "Schneizel thought it was impolite for me to leave my newly wedded spouse for so long so he sent me back. Though I suspect he just could not stand my obvious melancholic moods any longer."

He chuckled, "Remind me to thank him the next moment I see him."

"I think I can do that," Suzaku agreed with a small laugh before he gave Lelouch the usual kiss on his lips. "I'm home."

Lelouch raised his hand and ruffled Suzaku's hair good-naturedly as he smiled. "Welcome home, Lieutenant Colonel Kururugi Suzaku."

"I honestly prefer you say 'welcome home, my most beloved husband and lord'," Suzaku said.

"Too corny," Lelouch replied with mirth in his eyes. "Would you join me for tea?"

"That will be my pleasure," Suzaku said easily before giving a chaste kiss on his cheek and then proceeded to prepare the tea.

The afternoon tea was a custom Lelouch vi Britannia had unlearned to live without. It was necessary to calm his nerves down after hours of working with those migraine-induced documents. Yet that day, he felt the tea break was particularly delightful. He had been dealing with legal documents concerning the reestablishment of some regulations for some hours without much progress, and the break was more than appealing.

Moreover, he thought with a smile as he seated himself to the chair and caught the sight of Suzaku preparing the tea, his Suzaku was back to him.

"Earl Grey?" he asked when his nose sensed the faint scent of bergamot wafting through the air.

"You usually craved for some Earl Grey whenever you are extremely engaged with paperwork," Suzaku explained as his hands poured the steaming dark brown liquid into two cups. Yet his eyes hinted a sense of doubt when he said, "Or do you prefer something else?"

Lelouch smiled and shook his head. For someone so idiotic, Suzaku could be so perceptive sometimes.

"No," he said. Indeed, Earl Grey was the best to have after a stressing day. Just inhaling the aroma of it when Suzaku put the steaming cup before him was enough to relax his wrecked nerves. "It's splendid. I just thought you would prefer some Oolong tea."

"It's better to have Earl Grey to accompany plum pudding," Suzaku explained and Lelouch's eyes widened in surprise at that. Plum pudding was his favorite dessert but it was not yet the right season for plums to ripe. Yet when he saw the content of the blue and white china presented to him, his eyes twinkled in childish happiness.

"Plum pudding," he said.

"Yes, Lelouch, sweetheart, you're right," Suzaku said with mock considerateness. "You have a talent for stating the obvious, it seems."

A glare was the only thing Lelouch give to Suzaku, but his glare was as effective as butter against stone. Upon receiving such scowl, Suzaku merely laughed and took his seat, seemingly unaffected, and Lelouch could not decide if it was a good or bad thing. He was a Royal Prince and it was disheartening to know that his glare could be rendered ineffective on anyone. When he considered the person in question was his own spouse, maybe it was excusable. Yet when he thought about his Suzaku and fully realized what an idiot the other was, he felt it was really unjust that his trademarked glare which could make a cunning terrorist run for his money was plainly vain in front of Suzaku's smile.

"I simply learned from the best," Lelouch said with fake haughtiness as his fingers reached for the silver spoon.

"Are you trying to say that I too have a tendency to state the obvious?" Suzaku retorted back with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Lelouch pretended to take his time thinking while his tongue was swirling to sweep that sweet delicacy from his spoon. "No, I'm trying to say that you are an idiot."

"You still love me nonetheless," Suzaku said.

"Whoever said I should not love you?" Lelouch smirked naughtily. "After all, you're a pretty good catch for an idiot."

That time Suzaku outwardly chuckled. "Guess I should be honored that His Highness deems me so worthy after all…"

"For an idiot," Lelouch reminded though his voice did not carry any malice within it.

"For an idiot, yes," Suzaku easily agreed. "Cannot forget that crucial bit."

Lelouch chuckled and stared openly at his Suzaku. He had tanned a bit, he noted wistfully. And his face seemed a bit rough. Maybe it was the climate in India that did that to him.

"So how was your mission there?" he asked with a hint of apprehension in his voice that he knew Suzaku would never miss. "Did you... get hurt in you mission?"

A loving smile that Suzaku threw to his direction expelled any anxiety that he might feel in his heart. And it was nothing but relief that he felt when Suzaku answered his question.

"I'm fine, I did not get hurt," Suzaku said. "It was only a mission to maintain the peace after the two largest factions there agreed on cease fire. It was not like I was going into full war."

"Oh…" he said. He knew it was only a simple peace keeping mission but he could not help feeling worried. He knew that being in military was dangerous, no matter what kind of mission they did. And even though Lelouch felt like he was starting to act paranoid, he could not help but worrying his lower lip every time he watched the news or hear the daily report from those served under him regarding the whereabouts of the troops where his Suzaku was joining in.

"Did you worry about me?" Suzaku asked with a somewhat amused smile.

"I… well, obviously, I did," he admitted. There was no use trying to lie or hide things from his husband. "Even though you said it was only a harmless mission, I still felt worried."

There was a rustle sound of fabrics and the next thing he saw was his Suzaku kneeling in front of his chair. A genial smile was planted on his dear Suzaku's face. A hand rose up to caress his cheek before a single chaste kiss was dropped against his lips.

Drawing back, Suzaku tilted his face, "Sorry, ne?"

And just like how it always was, Lelouch found himself unable to deny that pair of eyes. With a sigh, he smiled.

"Just make sure to drop a phone call once in a while when you're doing mission, idiot," he said, ruffling Suzaku's head affectionately. "You still have that habit of forgetting to call me whenever you're too busy with your military things. If not for the occasional news I got from my brother, I wouldn't have possibly known your condition during those weeks you spent away from home."

Suzaku cringed, "Sorry…"

Lelouch looked at the face of his Suzaku, still kneeling down before him, and knew that his husband did indeed feel sorry. And just like that, suddenly those days he spent worrying over him did not matter anymore. Suzaku was safe and sound, and it was the only thing important.

"It's… fine, I think. You're back home and safe so nothing else matters," he said. Cupping Suzaku's face, he kissed his forehead briefly before he chuckled. "At least it was only a month instead of several years like what you did back then."

Remembering those years back then when he was torn with his yearning and confusion, Lelouch could still feel a twinge of pain in his heart. In the end, everything indeed turned out well. It was probably more than just well, he thought as his gaze landed on the ring he now wore proudly on his finger, but still, the memory of those days which constituted into years was enough to force bitterness from the depth of his heart.

Yet amidst the bitterness, Lelouch also felt thankful. It did not trouble him that much when Suzaku was away from him for he knew his Suzaku would never really leave him. He knew that Suzaku loved him. And it was enough, for him it was enough.

"The most important thing is that you're back safely," he said, smiling. "And it's enough."

Suzaku stared at him with unreadable emotion flickering across his eyes. And under his gaze, Lelouch observed how Suzaku reached inside his breast pocket. When his dear husband took his hand out of his pocket, a single white flower was within his gentle grasp.

"I cheated this time," Suzaku said as he fastened that flower on Lelouch's hair. "I picked this flower from the garden in front of the Palace. I was so ecstatic when Schneizel told me I could get back home that I flied here without taking any flower with me."

Lelouch raised his hand. His fingers gently caressed the petals of that flower that Suzaku had put amidst his tresses of black hair. The flower felt soft under his touch. And suddenly there was warmth enveloping his hand, gentle and comforting warmth.

Suzaku held his hands, both of them, and brought them to his lips to bestow a kiss against those knuckles.

"I can be pretty stupid sometimes," Suzaku said wistfully. "I know I have caused you many heartaches and… well, those years are for example. But… I love you, and I want to make you happy, though sometimes I failed. I'm sorry. I'm often forgetful, and sometimes I can be pretty dense, so… I'm sorry…"

Those emerald eyes looked up at him with silent apprehension and Lelouch smiled.

"Suzaku, I've known you for years," he said. "I already know how dense you can be yet I still love you. So quit with that apology and all, there's nothing to be forgiven of and you're not suited to talk sensible things like that."

Suzaku smiled. "Sometimes I wonder why you can so easily forgive me."

Lelouch smiled back as he freed his hands from Suzaku's gentle clasp and circled them around his husband's heck. "Just like how sometimes I wonder why I love you so much."

"Love is sometimes irrational. You said so yourself," Suzaku commented as he drew his face closer to Lelouch.

"True," Lelouch said after a moment of pretended deliberation. "But it's fun sometimes to become irrational."

There was no conversation commenced between the two of them afterward as a kiss sealed their lips together. And for once Lelouch put little to no heed that his tea might be cooling off on the table. His tea break was indeed something he considered important during his days. Yet for that day, he was willing to reject the enjoyment that a cup of hot tea might give him, for the love that his Suzaku surely would give him.

Two weeks after that day, His Lordship Lieutenant Colonel Kururugi Suzaku was called to guard a diplomatic envoy of The Holy Empire of Britannia to Brussels. Lelouch accompanied him until he boarded the ship. He sent his husband off with a kiss, a prayer, and love so great everyone present could feel it hanging in the air. And during the night of that day, when Lelouch was just about to go to bed, a phone call came to him.

He picked the phone up, and greeting him from the other end of the line was the cheerful voice of his dear husband whom he had just sent off earlier that day.

"I don't forget to call you this time," Suzaku said. "I love you, Lelouch."

Lelouch vi Britannia had a very beautiful smile on his face as he cradled the phone close to his face. Across the miles that separated them, he chuckled, for once glad that Suzaku would not be able to see his blush through the phone connection.

And said, "I love you too, Suzaku."

- end –

(A/N: OK, so the sap continues. We apologized to those with high sugar level if we somehow have caused you problem with the needlessly added sugary sweet sap in this story. Thank you for reading, and if you have any comment about this story, please do tell us. There will be more snapshots to come, and we don't know if you would think of it as a good thing or a bad thing but we do hope that we will see you in the following installments. Until then, we bid you adieu.)