Pre-Comment: Your face is like a... a face that's... um... shaped like... things... that are face shaped.

Ah hell.

*wink* How you doin'?

In this story, Chapter Eighteen enjoys you.


Chapter Eighteen: WTB New Shovel. Old One Broke.

Shortly after returning from shopping with Kallen, Mao came to her in a flurry of tears, broken sobbing, lukewarm death threats, and bits and pieces of barely coherent thought that explained almost nothing. It was only by sifting through all of this that she understood the gist of it before inevitably tuning the ceaseless misery out: Carrots dumped him; Lelouch was to blame; CC didn't care much. Suzaku's flurry of panicky, nonsensical text messages merely corroborated a story she had only passing interest in.

None of it explained the black eye Mao received, and she figured that it was for the best. Mao had probably opened his big mouth and earn that impressive beauty mark through good, old-fashioned idiocy. But because she was such a kind, benevolent, and merciful person, she showed her sympathy by slapping an icepack to his face—ordering him to hold it there for an indeterminate length of time. Mao complied and proceeded to wail his miseries to her while she read a book.

Just as she was planning to order a pizza to tide her over until dinner, her phone chimed with unread text message number thirty-five of forty from Suzaku. She took a minute to glance through them all uninterestedly, but gave up half way once she came to the conclusion that they all generally said:

FIRES! FIRES EVERYWHERE! HALPHALPHALP!

Taking pity on the poor boy, and because she was such a magnanimous angel of a saint, she decided to help him out and had this to say to him:

I like pizza.

Unburdened by her benevolent, wise words and pithy advice, Suzaku's crisis would most likely come to an end, his life would forever change from that moment on, and all would be well with him.

At least that's what she assumed because she turned her phone off after sending the message and threw it somewhere to be forgotten for at least the rest of the day. She rose from her seat on the couch, tossed the book aside, having already figured out the plot and conclusion by chapter seven, and started towards the door to take a walk around the area to see if she could 'bump' into someone when the sound of loud wailing caused her to pause.

"…never find…" Sniff. "…an'one li' 'er 'gain!"

More bawling.

Right. Mao.

Sighing, she took up a place next to him and murmured soothing words as he latched onto her, sobbing into her lap. CC entertained herself by imagining different combinations of pizza that would possibly taste good, ranking the toppings in order while gently threading her fingers soothingly through Mao's hair. The wailing came and went, and it was only when Mao sniffled that CC realized there was enough absence of crying to indicate some kind of conversation or monologue happening. Which there was enough of to provoke a question.

"Do you believe it's true, CC?"

That cheese and tomatoes would forever be the best topping on a pizza regardless of everything else on it?

Yes. Religiously.

But because she was almost certain Mao wasn't talking about pizza, and she hadn't been listening so she had no idea what he actually was talking about, CC decided that clarification was in order.

"About what?"

"That Lelouch loves me."

This would be one of those moments that, if she had been drinking or eating something, it would all end up on Mao. Instead she choked on her own spit and spent a few short moments clearing her throat, much to Mao's obvious confusion. And when she was calmed down enough, she was caught by Mao's expectant stare and her typical reaction of hysterical laughter quelled itself under the force of Beaten Puppy Look, which trumped Kicked Puppy Look every time.

All rights reserved. Naturally.

With a sigh, she patted Mao's head and gave him a sympathetic look. "No."

ooo

The revelation about Lelouch's childhood made Suzaku feel like all kinds of scum, and he had resolved from that moment on to make it up to him. He didn't know if it was possible to really love Lelouch—love just didn't work like that—but he said he would try, so he would. And if he got to turn Lelouch's sleazebag older brother's face into mushy, indistinguishable pulp in the process… well, that was just a bonus.

Everything—all of Lelouch's reactions up until now—made sense. Suzaku finally understood why Lelouch seemed so, well, uncomfortable with physical intimacy. It all became so apparent that Suzaku wanted to smack himself in the forehead—right after he got over all the feelings of general scumminess for being the primary cause of that discomfort for so many months into this awkward relationship they had. That thought would've normally sent up the white flag for him, but he was a changed man, a determined man, and a man terrified spitless of Stadtfeld Retribution.

It was a thing to be feared.

And so, armed with the resolve to make things right, to do things right, and to make a general effort to see if maybe this thing could actually go somewhere, Suzaku left Lelouch in town with his wallet for 'emergency work' in order to consult those who were wiser than he in the ways of men dating other men.

Which meant CC—his hired help who had already led him this far to winning Lelouch's heart. Her advice had been sound (as far as he knew) so far, and while he wasn't sure if it worked all that great, it was certainly having some kind of effect on Lelouch. So he messaged her. And messaged her. And messaged her. And got desperate so he messaged her some more.

And then she finally got back to him, offering the sage, sage advice of:

I like pizza.

Suppressing a shudder, remembering the look of murder in her eyes when he interrupted 'Pizza Time,' he promptly decided that CC's avenue of assistance was closed until further notice.

Which meant Kaguya.

"Oh, Suzaku! I'm so excited! I can't believe—! I mean! I'm so happy for you! I just KNEW it would work out between you guys! There's no way you wouldn't fall for those—" (etc.)

Unfortunately.

Suzaku sighed, and tried, for the umpteenth to interrupt his cousin's unabashed excitement and get to the heart of the matter and the reason why he called. "Yes. Thank you. I get it. Now, if you could—"

"Mom and Dad will be SO overjoyed! Well, Dad might wrinkle his nose a bit at it at first, but this is love, you know? He'll get over it eventually."

"Right, I'm sure he will. But I'd really like—"

"And, I mean, I know in the beginning it was all just for fun, but you actually fell in love! Oh, gosh, I SO told you so!"

After a few more failed attempts at trying to interject a plea for help, Suzaku merely resigned himself to letting her air out all her pent up excitement. It had been a while since she received any updates on the status of his relationship with Lelouch since that awkward news story some time back, so she enthusiasm by the bucket to dump upon him—enthusiasm the most recent development was fanning to reach inferno-like levels. So he placed her on speaker, tuned her out, added noncommittal answers whenever provoked, opened his laptop, and did some work.

Approximately twenty minutes later there was a prominent pause of silence, punctuated by Kaguya's satisfied sigh, and followed up with, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Saving his work, Suzaku put the phone off speaker, and aired out his plea for help—making sure to stress that he wanted to do it all properly and realistic, and not like those stacks of books that Kaguya kept hidden in her closet, and no he didn't want to borrow any for reference material. He made sure to repeat the words realistic and properly a few extra times for good measure, laced with a tone of warning that was not to be challenged, and, with courage he didn't have, bluntly asked her what to do, dreading the answers.

Kaguya, to her credit, listened without interruption and seemed to give it some serious thought. "Well, that's easy! Just get to know him for now. It doesn't have to all be romance from the get go. In fact, I wouldn't recommend it."

(And I quote: "You need to get touchy-feely with him.")

"I see," Suzaku said, feeling a bit enlightened—although he knew he shouldn't be since it seemed so elementary.

"And you said he was, er, that he had a rough childhood right? Well that means no perving!"

(And I quote: "You need to be a pervert too.")

Suzaku suddenly felt like he had this conversation before, but he shook it aside and concentrated on the answers. "Right. Of course, of course," he agreed, nodding to himself. "What's okay then?"

"That's for him to decide. Ask permission! Always! Don't just assume!"

"And what about actual romance? How do I do that? I mean, he's not exactly a girl."

"That doesn't mean anything. After a while you'll just know what he likes and what he doesn't like. Just go with your gut! And win! And fight! Fight and win! Victory!"

He found himself chuckling at her staunch support. Listening to Kaguya say it, it all sounded so simple he felt stupid for not figuring it out himself. He ran one of the most successful companies in the world and the realm of relationships absolutely flummoxed him. Of course the romance would come later, of course he'd figure things out once they got there. If they got there. There was no rush. He had dealt with Mao; hopefully there wouldn't be any more would-be suitors he'd have to go to fisticuffs with.

Suzaku would enjoy himself with it. And hopefully Lelouch would too.

Smiling at the sudden overwhelming rush of fond feelings for his cousin, Suzaku nodded at himself, resolved with some direction. He felt good about things, and ignored the part of him that was flat-out surprised that Kaguya actually had some decent relationship advice for him that didn't sound like it came out of a fairy-tale.

Or one of those potentially mind-scarring books that required clinical amnesia to forget the contents of.

"Thanks, Kaguya. Really. You helped me out a lot. I was really stressing out over this. Remind me to buy you ice-cream the next time you visit."

He could practically see her beaming from here. "Any time, Cousin! Let me know how things work out!"

"Of course. Give Uncle and Auntie my regards."

"Psh. I'll tell them you said you love them."

Suzaku just chuckled.

"Now shoo! Go win Lulu's heart!"

Suzaku laughed again and ended the call, feeling ten times more confident. After hanging up, he sat for a moment, spinning in the chair at the desk, thinking, planning, and plotting. He decided to go at this like a business venture. First he would study up on his target's weaknesses and arm himself with them. Then he would woo them with kind words and flattery. Finally, he would go for the kill and claim the win.

So it was a good thing he had the weakness part down. According to CC, Lelouch had expensive tastes and was the type to crumble easily when showered with gifts.

Well, good thing he had lots of money.

ooo

It had only been two days since he last saw Kallen after ditching her for an important work interruption, but Gino missed her for every second of it. He missed the way she felt in his arms. He missed the way she would blush cutely whenever he snuck in compliments. He missed the way her hair would fringe out if she didn't tame it with a flat-iron. He missed the way her hair behaved when she flat-ironed it. He missed being able to wake up and see her sleeping face next to his. He missed the taste of cancer when he ate her cooking. (Okay, so not really, because cancer doesn't taste all that good, but he did really miss her.)

Gino sighed.

It was love. He knew it. It had only been, in reality, a few short weeks that they had been 'officially' together, but Gino knew he had started smiling every time she entered the room the moment he met her. She was the one, he knew it. Kallen was unlike any girl he had ever met before and so startlingly and stunningly real that he wasn't all that surprised to wake up one day and realize he was completely smitten.

And he could only hope against hope that she felt the same.

In fact, the longer he was away the more his mind started to be tortured with thoughts of her leaving him. What if she was so upset that he had left her alone on their vacation together that she went home early? What if she decided that he wasn't worth the time? What if she fell in love with someone else?

Gino's heart ached a little at that.

He knew he would never recover.

It was on his way through town about an hour away from reuniting with Kallen after six hours of speeding fifty over the speed limit that a bridal shop caught his eye at a red light. Instantly he imagined Kallen wearing a white wedding dress, face hidden conservatively behind a veil—hinting at the slightest blush beneath the translucent veneer, walking down to him on a rose-covered aisle.

Only the honking of the horn from the peeved guy behind him brought Gino back to reality.

Grinning so hard his face would be hurting if he weren't so happy.

His path was clear.

"I'm going to marry that girl," he said with all the determination in the world.

ooo

It was like a dream come true. Suzaku had given him a credit card with no limit, the PIN, an entire afternoon alone, and parted ways with the words 'buy whatever you want.' (There were other, less important, words too, but Lelouch didn't catch any of it. All hail selective hearing.) Happiness was a tangible thing right now that was small, rectangular, platinum-coloured, and plastic.

But with it came a lurking sense of fear. Was this a test? Was Suzaku testing him? If he blew thousands and thousands of dollars in a single afternoon would that be the nail in the coffin? There was a good chance that Suzaku was, unbelievably enough, cheating on him. Did he really want to screw it up by showing how awful he was with money?

True love wasn't limited by money—Lelouch knew that better than anyone, because he loved money. Lots of it. More the better. He loved money and money loved him. Match made in the banks.

Ultimately deciding that a fleeting, passionate affair with Mr Platinum No Limit was not worth screwing up the committed relationship he intended to pursue with Mr Swiss Bank Accounts Plural, Lelouch bought himself ice-cream, a few other snacks, and a new outfit. He watched a few of the street performers in town, was chatted up by a group of girls who recognized him as Suzaku's significant other (to put it mildly), and decided to pick up a new sundress for CC he thought she'd like. With his own money. If there was anything Lelouch was careful about it was how and where he spent other peoples' hard-earned money that he conned out of them.

So caught up in the simple attractions and activities going on in the town that it was late afternoon by the time Lelouch noticed the black limousine that indiscreetly stalked him around. And when he finally did, making eye contact with the driver, the limousine stopped nearby and a woman in sunglasses and a grey business suit straight out of a crime movie stepped out and approached him. She smiled professionally and gave a slight bow.

Lelouch wondered briefly if he should be worried.

"Mr Lamperouge, I hope your afternoon has been enjoyable. Master Kururugi humbly requests your presence for dinner if you are so inclined. What shall I tell him?"

Lelouch blinked.

Wow.

He was being asked for permission. This was unexpected. A part of him just expected to be kidnapped in the same way he got here in the first place. (i.e. A chloroform-soaked rag.) But then again, he had already categorized Milly Ashford as an entirely new, mutated breed of daring that normal people just couldn't begin to fathom.

And also: Master Kururugi.

Being called Master was something he could get used to.

Except if he was married to Suzaku then technically he'd be—

No, let's not go there right now. It's been a good, Suzaku-free afternoon after all.

"I… uh…"

Seeing his hesitancy, the woman spoke up. "If you'd prefer to dine separately, Master Kururugi won't take offence. Although… he has spent a bit of time on this evening in the name of 'work,' He would be overjoyed to see you there," she added, smiling sweetly. "You are also welcome to spend extra time here if you'd like to wrap things up. We will wait and drive you back to the hotel when you're ready to leave no matter your answer."

Effectively piqued, guilt-tripped, and consoled all at once in a three-hit combo, Lelouch sighed and decided that he would just go. There wasn't much else to do here and he was starting to get hungry for some real food.

"Sure. Let's go," he said, allowing her to take his shopping bags from him and stow them away while he slid inside the back and she disappeared up front.

Suzaku had already proven that he wasn't about to murder Lelouch any time soon, so what was the worst that could happen from this especially planned evening Suzaku had in store for him?

ooo

Lelouch looked ravishing.

Is what Suzaku assumed he was supposed to think when Lelouch walked in wearing a dashing suit. He had heard colleagues gush about their wives or girlfriends before and expound upon the warm fuzzies they felt every time the love of their life entered the room. Multiple accounts from various sources had informed him that a smile could light up the room. Suzaku felt none of that, and found himself questioning their understanding in physics. In fact, the only thing he felt when he saw Lelouch enter the restaurant and catch his eye before starting to head over was a faint sense of relief that all his effort in planning the evening wasn't in vain.

The restaurant Suzaku had made hasty reservations at was ritzy enough to require a deposit upon making the reservation that would go towards the bill. And while Suzaku wouldn't mourn the loss of the initial investment, he would be a little miffed at all the wasted time trying to make it. It had been a bit of a hassle to get the reservation—as they were booked up and it was only because he had unashamedly dropped his name to get it. He normally didn't like to do things that way (because that's what Nina was for), but he was aiming to impress and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

And if the way Lelouch looked around in a bit of awe before arriving at the table was anything to go by, he had succeeded first impressions in spades.

Excellent.

Initial reaction down; rest of the evening to go.

After a fierce eight-minute debate with himself on what he should do when Lelouch got there—whether it was get up and hug him, shake his hand, or pull out the chair—he decided that he had emasculated Lelouch enough in the course of knowing him to just stop. Lelouch wasn't a girl and it was probably important he didn't treat him like one. So he let Lelouch seat himself.

Conversation was kept light and he asked about Lelouch's afternoon, inquiring innocently to see if he needed to do some serious book balancing when they returned home. He was pleasantly shocked to hear that a small fortune wasn't missing. Suzaku had been prepared for it, and it wouldn't have mattered if Lelouch had, but a part of him liked Lelouch just a little bit more because he hadn't.

Once the food came, Suzaku was worried that the discussion would dry up in favour of the meal and descend into awkward silence, so he was determined to avoid that at all costs, but his worry came to nothing after all. They talked briefly about politics, griped about teenagers, shared news about science and technology, and even talked about the future of Sakuradite energy consumption on equal footing—something that only a handful of his business partners were capable of without an engineer whispering into their ear.

Suzaku was more than just impressed. And even more so when they entered a post-dinner debate over dessert about the advantages and pitfalls of other sources of power over Sakuradite—like nuclear and green. And then he was surprised to realize he had nearly melted ice-cream on the side because he was enjoying himself so much.

So when the conversation began to wind down and he held Lelouch's gaze, wondering what he was thinking, Suzaku thought nothing of it when Lelouch asked permission to ask a question, breaking the easy-going flow of their discussion.

"Shoot," Suzaku said with a smile.

Lelouch fidgeted a bit, looking uncomfortable and even glanced away in his hesitancy. "Uh… Are you… Are you cheating on me? Is that what this is all about?"

Eyebrows rose in surprise. "What?"

A flush turned Lelouch's cheeks bright red and violet eyes darted away from his quickly. "I mean… well… the cancelled wedding. This random vacation I got kidnapped to." Suzaku winced at that. "How distant you've kind of been… like you're a different person. It's like you're trying to make it up to me. I just… Am I getting dumped?" he asked in a small voice.

Suzaku hung his head a bit in guilt and shame. In hindsight, all of it could've been considered some level of romantic if not for the precursor of an indefinitely cancelled wedding. When it was all laid out for him like that, it was hard not to sympathize with how it all must look like to Lelouch. It looked exactly like how Suzaku had originally planned it to be: Show Lelouch the best time of his life and break things off cleanly with no regrets. He didn't expect to pull a three-sixty and try to make things work.

Of course Lelouch would figure something was up.

Tentatively reaching across the table, Suzaku held his hand out, palm up and tried to catch Lelouch's eye. Lelouch looked up, violet flickering uncertainly between the open palm and his open expression before reaching out to take Suzaku's hand. Suzaku squeezed it gently.

"No, you're not." Not anymore, anyway. And now time for excuses. "Things have just been hectic at work. My R&D departments are squabbling with each other again and I've been neglecting you in favour of them. I'm sorry. And the cancelled wedding… I just felt things were going a bit too quickly. I wanted to get to know you a bit more so there's no rush. It… wasn't exactly the most ideal proposal," he admitted.

In front of ten-thousand people was certainly not how Suzaku imagined proposing to anyone—least of all another man. Looking back on it, the reasons for doing so had all been so petty and childish. Suzaku wanted to do it again properly, for all the right reasons—not because he was a spoiled brat unwilling to lose his favourite toy.

Lelouch heaved a sigh of relief. "That's good. I thought that… maybe I had done something, or that you were bored of me—"

"Never," Suzaku said without hesitation, cutting Lelouch off. And after the insightful, enjoyable conversation he had with the other man, he meant what he said. And even if it turned out that a relationship between them would never work, he decided that he'd do his damnedest to win the consolation prize of 'still friends.' "You're bright, insightful, easy to be with—I'd never give that up," he said earnestly, proud of himself knowing that he meant every word.

Dark eyebrows rose, as if he wasn't quite expecting any of that, but when they settled back down Lelouch followed it up with a gentle squeeze in return and a small smile.

Suzaku let out a small sigh of relief, knowing he had just manoeuvred a small land mine.

After some brief, careful thought, figuring that this was a night of letting things out in the open, Suzaku thought he'd broach a topic he wanted very much to hear more of. "So, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Your brother…" Suzaku trailed off, feeling the involuntary flinch Lelouch gave before he pulled his hand out of Suzaku's grasp. He frowned, feeling irritated and angry, but not at Lelouch. Suddenly he wanted to punch the guy—this so-called brother. Who would do something like that? How could anyone do something like that? To their own family member? To someone like Lelouch? At the mere mention of him Lelouch just—

A slow-burning fire began making its way through his veins.

Lelouch suddenly looked skittish and nervous, and the breakdown of the relaxed atmosphere at the mention of one person made Suzaku angry beyond belief, and incredibly frustrated that he couldn't vent—being unable to do anything about it. Despite being such a jerk, he had a feeling Lelouch wouldn't appreciate him beating on Big Brother until he was six feet under.

"I… uh… I really don't want to talk about him, Suzaku."

The clear avoidance made Suzaku want to throw down with Big Brother even more.

"But I just—"

"Lelouch?"

Suzaku and Lelouch looked away from each other to see a blonde man approaching their table he recognized to be CC's vacation partner. The same man he had spilled all his dirty secrets to—who had in turn spilled all his dirty secrets to CC. Instinctively he darted his eyes around for the sneaky little witch. He could just feel her somewhere nearby prepared to wreak havoc. Never mind that her allegiance had already been bought out.

"Clovis, what are you doing here?"

Suzaku's eyes snapped back to Lelouch at that note of pleasant surprise in his voice. Lelouch's usual politeness when dealing with Suzaku's crowd of friends and acquaintances was replaced with an easy sort of familiarity and openness he had never seen before. It made him realize that, other than CC, he had never met any of Lelouch's friends. Although that was easily explained by how Lelouch had just moved here from Britannia.

The friendly look Lelouch gave Clovis made Suzaku a little irritated and he tapped his foot restlessly to prevent him from doing or saying something stupid. The man had fervently declared how straight he was the other night when Suzaku was pouring out his soul, but it was entirely possible they had been a thing in the past. And so he regarded Clovis with a guarded expression.

"I'm back from work, so I thought I'd take my darling out for a nice romantic night. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get a reservation here," Clovis complained. "And then they had the nerve to lose it!" he huffed indignantly. And then his eyes finally fell upon Suzaku. "Ah! And who's this? A friend? It's an awfully choice dining location for just a—"

And then Clovis' eyes widened as the poisonous flower of recognition bloomed in those blue eyes, connecting the dots together with the all-at-once understanding of a small explosion. Something told Suzaku that a storm was brewing in those wide, blue eyes, and that he wasn't going to like any of what was coming.

Lelouch's eyebrows just knit together in concern, looking back between Clovis and Suzaku.

If Clovis spilled the beans in front of Lelouch everything would be over.

Hysteria began to settle in as the crew inside his head began to panic, and sent frantic requests to Captain Kururugi to abandon ship.

Blue eyes drifted back to Lelouch and blinked prominently. "But then that means he's the…" A hand swiftly covered his mouth and Clovis gasped. "Oh my."

Oh no.

Suzaku cleared his throat, hoping against hope to buy a bit of time and think his way out of this somehow. Somehow. "Lelouch, Clovis and I just met the other night. How do you two know each other?"

"Oh. Well he's my older bro—"

And then Lelouch's eyes widened as he squeaked, cutting himself off.

Too late.

There was blood in the water.

Suzaku blinked and he looked back at Clovis through new eyes. Before he knew what was happening, he had risen from his seat. "Older brother you say."

A scrape of chair against the restaurant floor announced Lelouch getting to his feet as well. A firm hand was placed on his shoulder and some part of his brain recognized that to be one of the rare times Lelouch initiated physical contact with him, but the majority of his focus was on Big Brother—his newfound outlet for vengeance.

Blue eyes glanced briefly over at Lelouch before connecting solidly with his, looking at him in an entirely new way. Suzaku was about to push Lelouch behind him in macho display of protection, but Clovis beat him to it, grabbing Lelouch by the forearm and yanking him to the side.

A twitch of anger.

"Lelouch, I don't want you to ever see this man again," Clovis said in a firm voice.

"But—"

"Lelouch!" Clovis said sternly, cutting off any protest without so much as a glance Lelouch's way.

Suzaku felt his blood boil and returned the fierce glare sent his way.

"How dare you, you little punk," he hissed, voice growing stern and cold—so very different from the flamboyantly carefree manner he held an entire conversation with the other night. It was like he was a completely different person. "You think I'm going to let you get away here alive with what you've done to my precious little brother?"

"Me?" Suzaku asked incredulously. "What about you? You child-abusing—"

"Stop it!" Lelouch cried, somewhat hysterically, coming between them. "Just stop it! Suzaku, Clovis… I… I can explain!"

Suzaku's expression softened when he looked at Lelouch, who was frantically looking between them trying to disperse the electrical storm brewing between them, taking the blame onto himself though he was the least of all of them at fault. Violet eyes darted around nervously and Suzaku was dimly aware of all the commotion they were causing in the restaurant. Briefly, Suzaku caught and held the violet gaze, pleading for him to step down. And suddenly he felt wronged—he felt wronged for Lelouch. That Lelouch would defend this… this scum even after…

Clovis sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, as if feeling a headache coming on. "Lelouch, we're going home. You've clearly spent enough time away," he said, giving a pointed look at Suzaku, who bristled. He turned away, as if to leave.

Lelouch sucked in a hissed breath and Suzaku saw some very real terror in those violet eyes. Suzaku was about to interject again when Lelouch shook his head and tugged on Clovis' arm, preventing him from going. "Clovis! I don't want to! I… I love him!"

Clovis rounded on Lelouch without hesitation, unyielding steel in his eyes and voice when he said, "I don't care!"

Lelouch visibly flinched, seeming to shrink a bit. All the wind had left his sails at that stern, commanding tone. Lelouch looked like he was about to cry, and Suzaku felt all his self-restraint snap when Clovis placed a hand on Lelouch's unresisting arm to herd him away. "You let go of him!" he roared as he grabbed Clovis by the collar. The only thing preventing him from pulling back and delivering a vindictive blow hard enough to break the man's face twelve times over was Lelouch pushing his way in between them once more, panicking and begging and pleading him not to.

For a few tense moments there was nothing but silence in the entire restaurant and Suzaku had no doubt in his mind that everyone was looking their way. He felt acutely the burn of blue eyes glaring holes into him, not backing down despite the very real threat of violence, and Lelouch's trembling hand keeping the two of them at bay from no doubt ripping each other's throats out.

And then, as if summoned to the scene by the sheer chaos of it all, she appeared.

"Clovis? Darling? What's going on? Why are you… oh."

Clovis broke eye contact to turn and look at CC, eyes sparkling, all traces of menacing older brother gone. "CC!" he cried, all bright smiles and bubbly attitude.

Suzaku let go of Clovis, feeling thrown off by CC's sudden appearance. He chanced a look her way and—good God was she a sight. The devil woman looked like sin incarnate in that red dress—hugging absolutely every curve. Suzaku had to clear his suddenly dry throat, reminding himself to look away and instead tried to focus his eyes on Lelouch—whose brow was furrowed at her.

So he hadn't been caught staring.

Thank heaven for small blessings.

And those twins.

Stop it.

"CC?" Lelouch called out, sounding confused.

Clovis took a step back to look between them. "You know each other?"

CC blinked a few times and spared a glance at all of them and a quick one around the restaurant before it looked like she came to a sudden epiphany. "Yes! We met briefly and became fast friends. Clovis, darling, I came to tell you how sick I'm feeling. I want to go back to the room."

Clovis looked instantly torn and glanced back and forth between CC, Lelouch, and Suzaku. He looked torn, but not quite swayed. "Angel of my heart, a very personal crisis has come up. Endure it a few moments longer, I won't be long."

When Clovis turned his back on her, the briefest look of unadulterated irritation swept across CC's face before she made a show of swaying on her feet and crumpling to the ground with an exaggerated sigh. At the sound, Clovis gasped and knelt at her side, fussing like a mother hen before he lifted her easily into his arms. And then he turned back to Suzaku, looking royally pissed beyond belief.

"You, I will deal with later," he promised darkly, looking for all the world like he wanted to stay and hash it out with Suzaku, but instead turned and promptly left—apologizing briefly to the maître d' on the way out.

And before he had time to revel in small victories, Lelouch was ushering him out of the restaurant as well, apologizing hastily to staff on the way out and back up to their hotel room. Their escape was done in complete silence and Suzaku couldn't tell if he was in trouble or not by the time they arrived at the room. On the way up, all his anger had settled if not completely vindicated, and he couldn't help the feeling that the scolding of his life was about to take place and just stood by expectantly.

Lelouch sighed, bowing his head looking incredibly exhausted just standing there, holding his face in his hands.

Suzaku let out a quiet sigh and leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling.

This wasn't exactly how he had planned this night to go.

Looking at Lelouch's hunched shoulders, Suzaku felt a pang of sympathy and guilt. Here was Lelouch, who was probably having the hardest time out of all of them, and all he could think of was himself in some ways.

Impulsively, he wrapped both arms around Lelouch and pulled him into a comforting hug against him. Lelouch didn't fidget or fight the embrace and he wondered if it was a testament to how drained he was or how upset he was. In the time Suzaku had to think since they fled the restaurant, he had come to the only conclusion that made sense for why Lelouch wasn't angry, or upset, or terrified of his older brother: Lelouch had forgiven the bastard.

It was more grace than Suzaku could ever hope to have in ten lifetimes.

"You're such a good person," Suzaku said quietly before letting go of Lelouch.

When Lelouch turned around, he opened his mouth to say something, but instead just shook his head and brushed lightly passed him, muttering, "I'm going to take a walk," on his way out of the room.

And when Lelouch was gone, Suzaku felt like he had somehow dropped the ball.

ooo

The sight of couples everywhere all over the resort just made Kallen upset and angry.

Well, okay, lonely too.

But she reminded herself constantly that she had only herself to blame for giving Gino brief leave to take care of business matters. So she had only herself to blame—until she came to the conclusion that it was Gino's jerk boss that was really responsible for this interruption. And so, despite never meeting the poor man, Kallen Stadtfeld hated Gino's boss with a fiery passion.

It made her feel just a little better.

Grumbling a bit, Kallen shifted the pillows around her to a more comfortable sleeping position. The guy had only been gone two days but Kallen noticed his absence so keenly that it annoyed her. Every now and then she told herself that she was being a pansy for missing him so much. She had operated just fine without him before and she would continue to do so if he left.

But she hoped he didn't leave.

She really, really hoped he didn't leave.

Because she really, really liked him.

A red-hot blush burned high in her cheeks and she rolled over with a frustrated growl.

When he had called earlier to let her know that he was being delayed an extra day, Kallen congratulated herself on being able to play it off so nonchalantly and smooth—like she didn't miss him at all. Hadn't even noticed he was gone she was enjoying herself so much.

Aww, that hurts, Kally. At least miss me a little.

He said it teasingly, but it made her feel like a terrible person for saying it in the first place all the same.

She didn't even have Suzaku and Lelouch to distract her or eat up some of her abundant free time. Apparently Suzaku had planned some big fancy evening and wanted to spend it alone with Lelouch.

The envy and happiness she felt at hearing that was hard to figure out even for her.

Finally, after eating a lonely dinner, she admitted to herself that she really, really missed him. And then she went to bed early at exactly ten just to erase more time between him not being here and him being here.

Except it was now five past midnight and she couldn't sleep.

When there was a knock on the door, Kallen sprang to her feet, hopes flying high that it was Gino at the door. She didn't care how it would look—being so excited to have him back. It was too much trouble to pretend that she wasn't. So she rushed to the door and opened it wide and gasped, both hands flying to cover her mouth as blue eyes widened.

There on one knee, holding out a red velvet ring box to her was Gino Weinberg, grinning like a fool. He didn't say anything and just opened it to reveal a sparkling diamond ring.

Kallen's heart raced so hard it physically started to hurt.

"Kallen, love of my life, fire of my soul, please say you'll be my wife?"

Tears spilled out of her eyes and she threw herself at him, planting her lips securely over his.

ooo

Sure, she supposed, it would be considered playing dirty. But she had never really cared to play fair before, so why start now? After all, she didn't get to where she was today by playing everything by the book. It was a bit of a sneaky thing to do this to Lelouch and CC, but she had run out of options and was running out of time.

The original plan had been to whisk them both away, but then that scum-eating piece of raw sewage had gone and proposed to her precious baby, poisoning him against her, and somehow brainwashing her poor boy.

She sharpened her knife collection entertained by thoughts of digging out that spleen of his with them.

How she longed to paint a canvas of pain and misery on that deviant wretch. Not a day went by where she didn't think about the exhilarating feel of sticking it in his ribs.

And in his throat.

And several times into his gut.

It had become physically distressing to her to think that, in due time, this vagrant would soon be related to her.

She hugged herself and shivered violently for a brief moment.

Suzaku Kururugi was vermin. If she wasn't so sure it would make Lelouch cry, she would've taken care of him ages ago. But now she had no other options remaining and that Kururugi boy stood on holy ground, protected by Lelouch's misguided love and affection.

So play dirty?

Yes, she would.

When the realtor finished hammering in the 'Sold' sign good and proper into the ground in front of Lelouch's house, she took a moment to just admire it and feel good about herself. The realtor bowed slightly before her and smiled graciously. "I have a good family who will enjoy this house very much. It was a pleasure, Miss."

Marianne smiled her sweetest smile and laughed daintily into the back of her gloved hand. "Oh no, the pleasure was all mine."


Comment:

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! Things are beginning to wrap up! The end is near! I see the light at the end of the tunnel! I can stop pretending to feel guilty for the long gaps between updates! I mean, uh, OF COURSE I FEEL GUILTY ABOUT THAT. I'm not some kind of monster, what do you take me for?

So, milestone moment. What's been your crowning glory moment in the story so far? I know, you might have to dig deep for this one. I won't even be offended if you have to make it up. I've asked this before, but that was forever ago. Also, and I'm a little afraid to ask this, how do you think it will end?

Please R&R.

- Minute Maid

Beverage of Queens.