The sheets were so comfortable. They were like puffs of warmth that cradled Suzaku from either side. The pillow that pressed into Suzaku's left cheek was neither too warm nor too cold; it was just the right sleeping temperature. A crack of light slid over his closed eyes, causing him to crack open the green orbs.

Fuck. Fucking fuckshitfuckshitfuck.

Suzaku leaped out of bed, almost toppling the alarm clock that reads 7:57, thirteen minutes before he's supposed to be in class. It's a twenty minute bus ride, and Suzaku's missed the bus. Being late to school means detention. At least he doesn't have tutoring after school today. Suzaku adapted to the idea that he was staying after school today while he threw on yet another pair of borderline ruined jeans and a gray flannel shirt.

No time for breakfast, is dad's car out there? He looked out the window. Indeed it was, in all of it's chipped blue glory.

Suzaku said a silent thank-you to whoever was up there and seized his backpack, not lacing up his sneakers and literally sprinting out the door. The spare set of keys that Suzaku had smuggled in his pockets on his way out penetrated the car's ignition. He violently turned them, doing a sloppy job of pulling out of the parking spot and almost hitting their neighbor's car.

He drove down the street in the direction of Ashford Academy, almost breaking the speed limit with the practically stolen car. The Japanese teen had no idea if his father needed the car later in the day, and frankly he didn't give a shit.

oooooooooooooooo

Lelouch stared at the clock, brow furrowed. He hadn't seen the usual early Suzaku this morning, and he wasn't in his first period English class, which they were already ten minutes into.

Now that he thought about it, the Honorary Brittanian and himself had quite a few classes together. He hadn't thought much about Suzaku before, but now that he was tutoring him the thoughts about him were quite frequent.

He noticed the way his smile didn't always reach his eyes, the way he let his friends walk all over him, how everything he owned seemed to be dirty or torn somewhere. While he noticed all of that, Lelouch also started to notice some...other features about Suzaku.

His toned arms, pleasantly tan skin, messy but adorable hair, those big leaf green eyes, that ass...

Wait, where did that last thought come from?

Lelouch sighed quietly to himself. It seemed he was having a relapse of his feelings for men. He had never considered himself to be a homosexual, but not completely heterosexual either. He tried to ignore the tugging sensation he had towards guys, and it had worked for a while. But now that Suzaku was in his life again-

"Sorry I'm late, my alarm didn't go off..."

Speak of the devil. Eyes wide, hair messy, Suzaku was standing in the doorway, looking apologetically at their teacher and holding a detention slip he had received. She waved him off to his seat, eying the slip. Suzaku took a seat very near Lelouch, giving him another friendly smile. Lelouch blinked in surprise. Wow, one tutoring session and they were considered friends again?

He smiled back silently, then turning to face their teacher, who resumed her lecture.

oooooooooooooooo

"No, mongooses are awesome. They don't kill snakes for food, or territory, they kill snakes becausefuck snakes, thats why."

Suzaku burst into laughter. Rival had a certain way of explaining things that he just found hilarious. Their discussion of animals during lunch made Suzaku feel a little bit better about serving detention after school. It was always such a pain in the ass to do that; you lost a good chunk of your time when you could be doing better things, like playing Mortal Kombat or facebooking(that was now a verb in Suzaku's book) your pink-haired potential girlfriend.

As his blue haired friend rambled on about the movie they saw last night, Suzaku wondered if Lelouch had a facebook. He'd definitely look into that. It seemed unlikely, but it wouldn't hurt. Despite Lelouch appearing to be a spoiled rich kid, he seemed nice and their friendship might be on the road to reestablishment. The thought made Suzaku feel happy inside. He didn't quite know why. Lelouch was not a very popular choice for a friend.

And then there was the part about how everyone thought he was gay. That made Suzaku a bit uncomfortable. His friends didn't really talk about stuff like that, and his parents never did either, so he didn't have a firm opinion on homosexuality. But if he had to choose, Suzaku's opinion leaned more towards the negative side.

The bell rang, making Suzaku jump. He turned around to see Lelouch dumping his trash in the can right behind Suzaku. "Oh, hi..." Suzaku started as the raven turned around. "Hello." Lelouch's eyes met Suzaku's. "So, tomorrow?"

The brunet nodded complacently. "Yeah, sure..." Lelouch cleared his throat. "Do you mind if we had it at your house? My father is going to be at my house." This caused Suzaku to frown. "So what?"

"He...um, doesn't take kindly to the Japanese people."

"Oh." Emerald eyes dropped to the ground. Lelouch sighed. "I don't agree with his views at all, which is why I prefer to spend time away from him. Your house?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Suzaku gathered up his things, noting that his other friends had cleared out. Lelouch mumbled a goodbye and walked past him, making Suzaku's breath catch.

Huh? Why did brushing against his arm make his breath catch?

That provided Suzaku excellent food for thought for the rest of the day.

ooooooooooooooooooo

Lelouch smiled to himself. It wasn't a friendly smile, like the ones he shared with Suzaku. It was a triumphant smile.

He was triumphant because he had a plan. A plan to get what he wanted.

And he decided he wanted Suzaku.

ooooooooooooooooooo

*le gasp*

So anyway, thanks for all the reviews and alerts and favorites and such!

The next chapter should be...interesting. ;)