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Title: Snapshots

Author: DnKS – giRLs

Rating: PG13

Pairing: SuzaLulu

Disclaimers: Not ours… simple, right?

Warning: Remember 'Pure Hearted Love'? Remember the sap? Good…

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Instalment 5 – One Afternoon

August, Britannia Mainland, 2023 a.t.b

There were sounds of footsteps and laughter echoed within the high vaulted ceiling and walls of the palace. The perpetrator of which was absolutely a five year old boy who was running down the stairs as he laughed cheerfully. Dirt was staining his previously royal blue clothes. Dirt was also staining the handles of the stairs on which the boy carelessly swept his hands. Traces of soil dirtied the splendid red carpet and caked mud was left on the boy's wake. But the boy himself seemed not to mind it. As a matter of fact, he was having fun.

Yes, Rolo Lamperouge was having fun. But Lelouch vi Britannia was not.

"Rolo!" Lelouch called exasperatedly as he tried to chase after his son. "Rolo, you have to take your bath. Don't keep running away. Rolo!"

Lelouch watched half amused half annoyed as his son only laughed harder and ran faster away from him as if trying to engage him into a game of tag. He huffed yet smiled nonetheless. It would be plain embarrassing if he lost to a five year old kid. So he ran after his son, minding not that they surely were making quite a scene: a royal prince in suits and high boots chasing after a little kid with dirt of soil all over his body. It was not the kind of scene one might expect to occur in a palace.

"Rolo!" Lelouch called when he almost managed to catch his son. Almost, because it appeared that a little kid surely possessed greater ability to dodge and manoeuvre his way better than him. "Rolo, you have to take your bath now. Look how you have made the place dirty."

"I don't wanna," Rolo said, giggling and running faster away from him.

"Rolo!" Lelouch called but his son had already disappeared around the corner. Rolling his eyes, he began chasing after the boy again, all the while cursing the amount of sugar-fuelled energy his little Rolo had in him and the architecture of the palace with so many intersected corridors in it. "Rolo, come back here or Mama will be angry at you. Rolo… oh!"

Lelouch stopped in his track as he saw that somebody else had already managed to catch his stubborn son. A certain someone in long military coat and sparkling emerald eyes he loved so much.

"Papa!" Rolo wriggled in the arms of Kururugi Suzaku to break free but his attempt was in vain. With practiced ease, Suzaku lifted the little boy up and carried him with one arm in front of his chest, not minding that his uniform might get dirtied. Smiling, the man Rolo fondly called Papa flicked the boy's forehead gently.

"Ow," Rolo said, cutely pouting and rubbing the spot Suzaku had just flicked him on.

"Rolo is being a naughty boy while Papa is away, right?" Suzaku said with a fond smile. His eyes then found the sight of Lelouch, panting for breath as he stood with his hand against the wall for support. "See, you have made Mama tired chasing after you."

For the first time, Rolo had decency to look apologetic. Lelouch did not know if he should be happy or annoyed at that. He was touched that his son felt sorry for his condition but it also implied that his condition surely looked really bad. That would not do, he thought as he walked to the two's direction. It was plain humiliating that a royal prince of The Holy Empire of Britannia was panting just after a short run chasing after his own son.

Once he was in front of his husband and son, Lelouch narrowed his eyes. "Bath, Rolo. Now!"

"Hm…" Suzaku raised one eyebrow at him. "No 'welcome home, Suzaku'? I'm disappointed, Lelouch."

"Suzaku!" he said in frustration at his husband who only smiled back at him. Sometimes he wondered if Suzaku smiled only to dispute him. But like always, he could never deny that smile and those eyes and, in general, his Suzaku. So he drew a breath, his eyes softened, and said, "Welcome back, Suzaku."

"Welcome back, Papa," Rolo also exclaimed and nuzzled into Suzaku's uniform deeper, making Lelouch suddenly aware of the fact that dirt was staining both of their clothes.

"Rolo!" he chided softly as he proceeded to take Rolo's from Suzaku's hold. "You are going to make Papa's uniform dirty, sweetheart."

Rolo looked up at him with his big violet eyes. "But…"

"Hush," he said, finally managed to take Rolo down and made him stand on his own feet. "Papa is tired and aren't you getting too old anyway to be carried by Papa?"

"But I saw Papa carrying Mama last night," Rolo said adamantly.

Hearing that seemingly innocent statement, Lelouch blushed hard and Suzaku chuckled. He should have known not to let Suzaku carrying him like that when people might see them. But… well, that time he was already too preoccupied to think straight… Suzaku really had a talent with…

Lelouch stopped his thought with much effort and tried to make his blush disappear. Suzaku only chuckled seeing his predicament and it did not help at all.

"That's…" he tried. "Different…"

Rolo tilted his head to one side, a trait that never failed to remind him of Suzaku, "How so?"

"Because Mama is Papa's bride," Suzaku explained as he ruffled Rolo's hair affectionately. "And Rolo is Papa's son. That's different, right?"

Rolo's eyes went impossibly wide as if he just learned something terribly grand. "Oh… I see!"

He almost rolled his eyes at Suzaku's way of explaining things. His husband really had a gift around children, he thought fondly. Maybe it was because his Suzaku was a big child himself, he thought with a snort.

"Come on, Rolo," he said to his son. "Let's get you to bath."

"But I still wanna play," Rolo whined cutely.

"Rolo…" he sighed before an inspiration struck him. "You can play in the bath with Mama. Won't it be fun? We can play in the water with much, much of bubbly foam."

"Really?" Rolo for the first time sounded enthusiastic over the prospect of bath. "Can Papa come and play with us too?"

Lelouch blinked. Slowly he glanced up to see Suzaku standing with a smirk that spelled something naughty in it. He did not feel like he wanted to know what Suzaku might suggest behind that smile.

"Uh…" he said. "Papa is busy, Rolo…"

"No, I don't," Suzaku said cheerfully, too cheerfully. "Let's take a bath together."

"Yay!" Rolo exclaimed before he dashed to his room's direction. "I will wait for Mama and Papa there… don't be slow!"

Lelouch watched his son until he disappeared from sight before he turned his face to meet Suzaku's. They stared at each other for a moment before Lelouch made the distance between them diminish. Now that Rolo was not around, Lelouch dared to press his lips, hard, to Suzaku's ready ones.

"Now that," Suzaku said after the kiss ended and they both had drawn back from each other for a breath of air. "Was what I call a proper welcome greeting after a tiring day full of nonsensical meetings."

There was no time for Lelouch to retort to that for Suzaku closed the distance between their faces yet again after he finished his speech. Arms wound around him tightly, lips pressed against his softly, gently, before they became bolder and fiercer. He did not mind, though. If anything, he wanted the kiss as much as Suzaku wanted it. But when he felt Suzaku's hand start creeping up his side in a very familiar manner, he drew back.

"You…" he began dangerously. "I hope you still have some bit of self preservation not to jump me in the bath."

"How about jumping you now?" Suzaku said with his lips positioned dangerously close to Lelouch's neck.

"Suzaku!" Lelouch chided though he did not budge when Suzaku finally dragged his tongue along the side of his neck. "Our son is waiting for us, you… idiot…"

"Pity," Suzaku said with a mock sigh of disappointment, releasing Lelouch's neck finally. "You love Rolo more than me."

"Oh, shut up!" he said, even though he knew that his Suzaku was only joking with him.

"Yes, Your Highness," Suzaku said with a smile as he brought Lelouch's right wrist to his lips. Leouch watched the tender display of affection with gentle eyes. He always loved it when Suzaku kissed his hand adoringly like that.

"Come on, we need to take a bath," he eyed Suzaku's uniform that was slightly dirtied by soil before he added in a haughty tone. "And that matter applies especially to you, Brigadier General Kururugi Suzaku. Bath. Now."

"I marched to battles and wars under the command of your voice, Lelouch," Suzaku said with a smirk. "Of course I will march to an innocent looking bathroom to take a bath with you and our son. Though it's a pity that I cannot do something more with you."

Lelouch only chuckled as his hand rose upward to weave his fingers amidst Suzaku's curls. Suddenly feeling bold, Lelouch placed a kiss on Suzaku's cheek and whispered in a very seductive voice into his ear. "You can always do something more with me afterward, though."

Without waiting for Suzaku's response, he disentangled himself from his husband's embrace and walked away from him. Though he could not see it with his back to Suzaku, he knew that Suzaku was eyeing him intensely. That was enough to make him shiver in anticipation and giddy in expectation.

Lelouch was glad he did not have any appointment for tomorrow. Kururugi Suzaku was always thorough with everything he did. He knew that. He appreciated that. And therefore it was safe for him to think he would not likely be able to come down from bed tomorrow if his Suzaku proved his thoroughness with him yet again that night.

- end -

(A/N: remember what we said about 'arranging the instalments in chronological order'? yeah, so please do pardon the jumping-back-and-forth-in-time between each instalment. We hope you enjoy this story. And we also hope you don't mind the sap. Honestly, it seems we are unable to write any instalment of Snapshots without involving some sap. As always, your reviews would very much be appreciated. Please do tell us your comment on this story and we would be forever grateful. Thank you for reading. Hope we'll see you again in the next instalments for, yes, there would be more.)