Pre-Comment: While the first two are in tandem, these are actually in no particular order. Although if they do bridge I'll be sure to let you know.
EXTRA ENJOY SECOND!
Extra Two: The Food of Kings
It became fairly obvious after spending a bit of time with the woman that she had no idea who she really was.
Amnesia.
As if that kind of thing existed in this day and age, Lelouch scoffed. And yet the evidence of her struggling to remember things before a certain point in her life was either really good acting or a really bizarre truth he wasn't sure he wanted to know more of. Either way, she had attached herself to him and didn't show any indication of leaving him alone. He knew he should find this deeply concerning, but Lelouch somehow found himself… getting quite attached to her too.
And, as it turned out, her name was not Emily Dickenson. Or Marie Antoinette. Or any of the other strange names she gave him in lieu of her real one, which included, but was not limited to famous Hollywood movie stars both dead and alive. One was even a man.
No, her real name was far stranger.
"Your name is CC?"
"Yup," she confirmed, spooning another bite of rainbow sorbet into her mouth, squeezing her eyes in delight at the tropical flavours.
Lelouch's eyebrows drew together disapprovingly. "That's two letters long. And technically consists of only one letter."
"Uh huh," she confirmed. CC shrugged at the long look he gave her. "My parents were unimaginative? It's my test subject number? That's what I'm called and so it's my name."
Deciding that this was not a worthwhile battle to pursue, Lelouch instead decided to let it go. CC got on his nerves more often than not, but it was never enough to tip him over the edge to just dump her. And it seemed like she knew when to quit, because they had been together now two weeks—travelling from place to place almost aimlessly.
All things told, he should have separated himself from her the moment he met her, but when she flirted her way to dinner for both of them that night, one thing led to the next and Lelouch found himself eating for free more often than not. And it was this ability to swindle poor, unsuspecting fools into parting with their hard-earned cash for her that made it more of a fiscal decision on his part than anything else to stay with her.
The most terrifying part was that she didn't even seem completely aware of intentionally doing it either.
Hey, Lulu, a guy offered to buy us dinner!
Hey, Lulu, a guy offered to let us stay the night!
Hey, Lulu, a guy offered to buy us lunch!
Hey, Lulu, look at this dress that guy just bought for me!
Lelouch had never spent a single iota of thought on the stupidity of others to give things away to a complete stranger before meeting CC—a complete stranger to whom he had begun travelling with and giving things away to as a result of that travelling—thing such as food and shelter. He would blame the men for their blatant actions, but didn't want to think about how he was sitting in the next boat over, if not leading the charge.
And so, because money was tight, he took it for what it was and eventually let the girl do as she pleased, looking the other way. It eased the pressure on the wallet, as well as the dire need to find immediate work in whatever area they found themselves in. So they were able to continue travelling in relative comfort from place to place.
And then Lelouch made what he would consider his worst financial decision ever.
"I got us pizza for dinner," he said by way of announcing his return to the hotel room. "Pizza Hut was having a deal."
CC had been lounging on the bed on her back, with her hair hanging down all over the edge, watching TV. She perked her head up slightly and quirked a curious eyebrow. "Pizza?" she queried innocently, rolling back over onto her stomach, regarding the square, cardboard box Lelouch was carrying. "What's that?"
Grinning at her endearing guilelessness, he answered, "The food of kings."
CC's eyes sparkled.
Worst.
Financial.
Decision.
Ever.
ooo
Laundry day was always a nightmare for them. It usually involved hanging around a laundromat all day. CC had run out of things to wear and, because she hated doing the laundry, had taken to wearing one of Lelouch's long, over-sized dress shirts that didn't quite fit either of them because he had picked it up in the wrong size and couldn't return it. She wore shorts alongside it, but the shirt was so long it made it look like she was basically in her underwear—and who wore bras if they weren't going out?
When the doorbell rang, she called out, "I'll get it!" Leaping to her feet from the couch, she grabbed Lelouch's wallet and headed for the door. To her great delight she opened the door to a teenage boy with a nametag that read 'Frank.' Her eyes zeroed in on the square, cardboard box he was pulling out of the insulated bag and idly noticed that his eyes didn't quite meet hers—instead settling somewhere below her chin. But this was not her concern when heaven was so close at hand.
She hummed in delight, smelling the cardboard-encased delicacy from the doorway. "Awesome! How much do I owe you?"
The guy just continued to gape unattractively.
And while that was cute and all, CC really needed him to receive money for the delivered food and leave so she could enjoy herself on circular bliss. So, leaning over so she was eye-level with him, she gave him a frown, wondering if maybe he had a sudden stroke or something. "Hey, are you okay?"
The guy's eyes widened like saucers and he turned bright red before jerking back a step, sending his Pizza Hut visor askew on his head. His eyes darted from her face to somewhere below her face a few times before his face turned even redder. Shoving the pizza into her hands, he spun on his heel and booked it out of there with the parting words, "It's on the house!"
CC watched him go curiously and hummed.
He was in an awful hurry, she thought idly.
Oh well. She got dinner for free. Lelouch would be happy.
"Hey, Lulu! The delivery guy gave us the pizza for free!" she announced, walking into their temporary kitchen for a month.
"Good! It's not like you haven't already spent half our food budget on the stuff." Lelouch then frowned from poring over their finances. "Wait, why on earth would…" he said, trailing off when he finally glanced up at her.
His eyes went from her face, to somewhere below her face, to the box of pizza she had put on the kitchen counter and was now eating her first slice of. His eyes then travelled to the receipts in his hand and back again to make the rounds over her person.
A few things began clicking together in his head.
In hindsight, Lelouch eventually forgave her for leading him to his Worst Financial Decision Ever because it had inevitably led to his Best Financial Decision Ever.
"I have an amazing idea."
Comment:
I bet none of you thought I would actually be on time with this. Early even. (By whose definition? My own of course.)
And now here is where I open this up for requests. Limited to "Liar Liar" and all things related, is there anything you would like more elaboration on, humorous, mortifying, or otherwise? Let me know and I might take you up on it!
Please R&R.
- Minute Maid
The Beverage of Queens.
