damned_institute | Day 40: Lunch

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Day 40: Lunch

*hobble wobble*

"Damn that SCOURGE!" Starscream cried out, the slowly-filling cafeteria producing a jarring echo of his raspy voice. His limping, already bad enough from not knowing how to properly use his crutches, was now exacerbated from the injuries he'd received the shift prior. Despite the gauges in his non-casted leg so lovingly provided by the aforementioned 'patient', Starscream could still put some weight on it, but not so much that he could really stop and rest; relieving the soreness under his arms was out of the question. The nurse that walked behind him with his tray, already upset at having to deal with yet another troublesome inmate, was growing rather impatient as his charge slowly made his way down the food line.

"Just...give me a standard serving of the aquatic creature's flesh, some of those fried potato slices, two bananas, and three bottles of juice," Starscream sighed, his anger from just a moment ago assuaged by the physical exertion needed to move the way he did. "I'm going to sit down here...bring it to me when you're done."

He was hardly surprised to find that one of the bananas was completely bruised along its inner curve, or that the handful of 'chips' on his plate were all on the small side. Tired and frustrated as he was, however, he could barely muster a 'damned flesh-creature' before moving his fingers to the plate, picking one of the longer 'chips' and shoving it into his mouth listlessly.

There was an unusually high concentration of sodium chloride crystals on it. Of COURSE.

[For Tony Stark]

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Suzaku unconsciously frowned as he followed Lelouch's progress over to the table. He looked truly angry, which confirmed Suzaku's suspicions that things had not gone well. How badly was the question now, and a pressing one considering how much was at stake. Porky had better not pose any threat to their plans, let alone a threat to Lelouch himself, or he would have to be dealt with. Suzaku didn't like dealing with people that way, but at hearing that kind of control in Lelouch's voice his worry spilled over.

"Of course, but I wasn't close enough to hear what you two were saying. What happened?" he asked without preamble. He wanted to get straight to the point, to find out what went wrong so he could fix it. If Lelouch happened to be in any kind of danger, he would have to act quickly.

He was still a little hesitant about their relationship right now and where exactly he stood with Lelouch, not sure whether he could tease him like he had on the board or even if he should. But all that fell away at the possibility that his Prince needed to be protected, which was all too likely considering he had felt the need to use codenames on the board when they had previously been open about their identities and their association.

"He resisted it," Lelouch said, staring down at his food and vaguely entertaining the thought of hurling it against the wall. Now that he was out of Porky's immediate presence, there was much less of a need to monitor his behavior in case he gave something away, but as tempting as it was to let that freedom dictate his actions now, he still couldn't risk it. He had to calm down again, if only so that he could explain the situation clearly and work on formulating a cohesive plan.

"The resulting physical reaction exceeded the limitations of the usual memory loss. This response enabled him to determine that I had done or had tried to do something to him, and although I made numerous attempts to mislead him, he was able to narrow down the possibilities to one of two options: mind control or some ability to generate confusion in my enemies. As of right now, he's convinced its the latter; I was unable to throw him further off course than that."

He paused and looked up at Suzaku again, gauging his reaction. "We settled on a truce, but you know as well as I do what this means for us." The explanation didn't even begin to describe the innumerable offenses against his pride and person the meeting had contained, but Lelouch was sure that Suzaku would be able to catch on to those from the given context. Porky's laughter and his anger had hardly been subtle after all.

Suzaku tried not to drop his fork. Instead, his grip tightened around it painfully. He stared with narrowed eyes at Lelouch all through the explanation, and he was pretty sure he could see exactly what was going on beneath the calm, detached veneer. Lelouch had a good reason to be so obviously furious, and with a muttered curse Suzaku looked down, frowning as if he were trying to incinerate his fish and chips with his glare.

Porky's knowledge could undermine all their attempts to organize the other patients here, seriously delaying them from taking down Landel and escaping. It could do a lot worse than that if someone showed up from their own world. After they had both sacrificed everything for the sake of ending all the conflict and hatred, to have it fall apart like that was unbearable. Not just because it would invalidate all the sins he and Lelouch had committed and all the lives that had been lost, but because exposure of the power of Geass to the world could leave it in an even worse state than it was before. True, some factions in their world knew the truth now, but letting that truth out to the wrong person at the wrong time could ruin everything.

Suzaku remembered Porky's gloating manner, his laughter that had been obvious from a few yards away, and now he knew why the man had seemed so victorious and scornful. Geass was an evil thing and Lelouch was admittedly a horrible person in the way he used it, but after what he had decided to do, letting his beloved sister die for the sake of the world's future. . . You didn't. Laugh. At Lelouch. Suzaku's knuckles were turning white where he still unthinkingly clenched the fork in his fist.

"Should I kill him?" he asked, forcing enough coldness into his tone that he managed to keep it even. In another time he might have hated how easily the words came to him, but he couldn't afford to care anymore. And besides, this wasn't just about practical considerations. It was personal. "I can wait a little while to take suspicion off you."

"Calm down. You're going to draw attention to yourself." The order was delivered almost lazily, but Lelouch's expression was anything but. Yes, killing Porky would solve a lot of things, and while he was going to at some point, that wouldn't address their more immediate problems. The man was going to expose him sooner or later, truce or not, and given that Lelouch was determined to continue undermining his attempts to form his club and carry out whatever plans he had in mind, it would probably be sooner. He had to find some way to counter this before that could happen, but how?

He propped his chin up on the knuckles of one hand and stared down at his food again, playing at sullen just in case Porky happened to glance their way. He hadn't yet arrived in the cafeteria that Lelouch could see, but he'd learned not to treat the man lightly. "He spoke of an associate-- the Commander, if you recall-- that may prove to be a weak point, but then it's also entirely possible they have a similar relationship to what we have. If I were to assume that he was able to resist through sheer force of will, trying to force a betrayal of that sort won't work." Theoretically. Lelouch supposed it could be worth a shot regardless, but if it didn't work, he'd be in an even worse situation than the one he was in now. The same could be said if it was an anomaly specific to people from their world or any other of a wide variety of possible explanations for why it might not work. All in all, there were too many unknown factors, and with his Geass limited to one or two uses a day (he wasn't sure which or if the time between uses was a factor just yet) and only one use per person, he couldn't test them.

He couldn't play innocent, either; his behavior during the meeting had made it impossible. Could he claim that Porky was merely insane? No. There were too many witnesses, even if he'd been far too preoccupied at the time to take note of who was or wasn't watching. Defamation of character as an excuse was also out. Porky had irrefutable evidence that Lelouch had some sort of ability, and while he didn't know precisely what it was, he--

The corner of Lelouch's mouth twitched upwards. He didn't know. Of course. It was obviously something incriminating, related to disorientation, and aimed at making people tell the truth, but Porky couldn't be sure what it was beyond that; Lelouch had made certain of it. That along with the fact that Porky was definitely blackmailing him into staying out of his way meant that the only thing barring Lelouch's path now was the exposure of inaccurate information about a power he didn't have-- no, better make it something he could emulate with his Geass. Considering the fact that he'd been trying to force Porky to divulge the truth about his plans, the resulting confusion, memory loss, and that most of Lelouch's testing up until this point had followed the same theme--

"I'll confess," he murmured, his gaze going half-lidded as the idea picked up more and more momentum. Remove Porky's influence over him, reveal that the man was hiding something, tarnish his reputation further by bringing up those blackmail attempts-- Lelouch would appear the wronged party, of course, and while that was certainly true to some extent, he'd have to be appropriately mocking towards Minch so that anyone who thought this was an attempt to make himself seem the victim would understand his intentions. Besides, his own reputation would suffer, but since that would only make Porky look worse and happen anyway the instant his secret was revealed...

"Excuse me," he said, pushing away from the table and flashing Suzaku a brief, cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. "I need to make an announcement." He rose to his feet with the aid of his crutches and headed to the Sun Room, never once looking back.

When he reappeared in the cafeteria, his expression was as blank as ever, but as he settled back into his seat, he couldn't resist sending his knight another smirk and muttering a single word: "Check."

Edited 2009-04-06 12:36 (UTC)

Suzaku automatically relaxed at the order, reacting more to the forced calm in Lelouch's own voice than the words themselves. He continued to frown, picking at the fish a little as he allowed his former friend to think. He could see why Lelouch might not immediately go for the assassination option, because waiting for any time period at all might give Porky the opportunity to expose him. It would be better to remove that opportunity completely --

Suzaku blinked in surprise at the solution Lelouch finally came up with. "What?" he managed, but the Prince was already gone, and Suzaku was left to stew in his confusion and watch some girl make a speech that was eerily reminiscent of those Zero was prone to, despite a bit different in the particulars. He would have laughed if it hadn't been for his current mood.

"That's dangerous," he muttered back when Lelouch finally returned, and yet there was approval in his eyes. Of course Lelouch would make a bold move like that, because sometimes the best way to remove a threat was to challenge it directly. It was risky, it might backfire, but Porky wouldn't have an advantage over them anymore. The fallout would have been a lot worse if Lelouch just waited for someone to expose him. And if Porky still made trouble, Suzaku was more than ready to go through with the other plan.

But still. . . "I wonder how he'll respond. He's obviously not as stupid as he looks."

And how! "He'll probably start by trying to salvage his reputation or destroy mine. He doesn't have anything to accomplish the latter with that no one else does, though, so he'll rely on the former. From there, I imagine he'll pretend to 'reform' his behavior or otherwise try to get back in everyone's good graces. Depending on how gullible people here are, it might work, but making an effort to stave off that possibility when he hasn't tried it yet would make it seem like I bear a grudge against him. It's best to leave things as they are for now." Lelouch didn't have evidence of anything but the blackmail after all, so moving in for the kill at this point would only weaken his position. He'd have to settle with the blackmail angle for now.

"It goes without saying that I would like you to keep an eye on him as often as you can, both on the bulletin and off," Lelouch went on to say, looking back to his lunch and finally starting to pick at it. He really hadn't eaten much of anything during his stay here, had he? Sigh. "If you're able to identify this Commander or any other possible associates, watch them as well, but then you already know that.

"We should be able to return the majority of our attention to the network and unifying the clubs for now. I've spoken with one of the people already advocating the cause-- General Chere of the Cooking Club, if you were wondering-- but we weren't able to discuss the matter very extensively." To say the least. They'd only had enough time to discuss the weapon situation here, and while that was relevant to their cause, he'd hoped for much more. Still, there would be time for that later. "You were going to meet Vice-Captain Matsumoto, were you not?"

He was only aware that he'd slipped into the more formal tone he tended to keep in reserve for Zero after the fact, and after hiding a small flinch, he glanced back up again. He didn't know if it would bother his knight to be spoken to that way, but after he'd hated Zero for so long... They'd reached an understanding, but they were still trying to find out what each others' boundaries were.

Suzaku nodded. It was a reasonable expectation, because after all Porky didn't have any other options. Provided Lelouch didn't completely lose the patients' support, he'd effectively boxed Porky into a corner. Suzaku should have expected a solution like that from the so-called man of miracles.

And it left them free to go about their earlier plans. He did notice the shift in Lelouch's tone as he discussed those, but he identified it more as that of a military commander, or at least Lelouch's own particular version of such. The situation and their new relationship both called for a more formal tone of command, and Suzaku found it perfectly natural to respond to that form of address. It was almost easier to default to the relation of a Prince and his knight, a general and his soldier, than it was to try to figure out exactly what he and Lelouch were to each other.

"Next shift, yes. I was going to get a feel for the club and try to get more specifics on what they do, but I can also ask about her thoughts on unification if you like, or at least how Arts and Crafts stands in relation to the other clubs."

It was almost aggravating having to talk about these matters when Lelouch had hoped that after last night, they might be able to return to some degree of-- but perhaps it was better this way. Keeping this distance between them had to be good for some things at least, and although he'd fallen all too easily into old habits on the bulletin board earlier, he wasn't sure he could have done the same if the exchange had been conducted in person.

Talking about this was easier, however, not to mention eminently more practical, so Lelouch forcefully discarded those thoughts and moved on. "As long as you don't appear overeager, yes. Vice-Captain Matsumoto didn't say enough during the meeting to indicate her thoughts on it, and although she expressed her and her co-leader's interest in continuing the association between the three major clubs, there was nothing to suggest that this involved actively working together." How often did the clubs even communicate? The way in which the meeting had been arranged and conducted made it plainly obvious that it wasn't a regular occurrence, which Lelouch could understand with how inconveniently the days were split up (was that one of the reasons for dividing them that way?), but with how much they stood to benefit from communicating with each other more often...

He frowned and pulled out his journal from underneath his crutches, flipping it open and uncapping his pen with a small sigh. All of the excitement with Porky had distracted him from his work on the report on the institute's monsters, not to mention the information he'd gathered about space and time travel yesterday. With only the rest of this shift and the next left to finish organizing it and presenting it-- damn that man! "I doubt you need further direction than that from me. You seem to have the situation well in hand." There was approval in his tone that didn't quite reach the annoyed stare he directed at his notes. There were so many monsters from Mello's version that he hadn't received reports on-- should he post a reminder? To do so this quickly after his "confession" seemed foolish, but...

"Thanks," Suzaku said quietly, in response to both the information and the compliment. He should let Lelouch work on whatever it was -- the monster information, he could see from looking over his shoulder. But he caught Lelouch's expression as he leaned over, and couldn't help wondering what was bothering him. His Prince's mood had obviously improved since he'd thought of a way to deal with Porky, because there was no reason for Lelouch's pride to stay wounded after he'd won. Suzaku was glad, though he wouldn't forget the insult and Lelouch probably wouldn't either, but that didn't change the fact that he felt like he should say something now.

It was easy not to have to think, to rely on formalities and the distance that came with orders. However, he wasn't just Lelouch's knight, and that honestly wasn't what he wanted anyway. He'd agreed to this because he felt he could serve and protect Lelouch as a person, not just as a commander. The Prince's humanity was what had ultimately resulted in this arrangement, even if they weren't quite friends right now and he didn't know what they were. So he couldn't just leave it at that, he had to break the weird tension that came with formality.

"Just write up what you can," he said lightly, almost idly, his gaze traveling from Lelouch's face to the notes. "We'll get more information later." He knew it was something unnecessary, but Lelouch was obviously irritated and he just wanted to ease the silence.

Lelouch made a small, noncommittal sound in the back of his throat and twirled his pen a few times. He'd have to begin by reformatting Mello's notes, he supposed, and while that would delay him from organizing the far more fruitful information he'd gathered on the board, it would at least give him a better idea of which questions to ask the next time those monsters were brought up... if at all. Were people really this apathetic about contributing to the efforts to organize and inform everyone? No wonder none of them had escaped yet.

He turned to a fresh page and started writing, flipping back every so often to check on a detail or two from the so, so, so very incomplete record he'd "inherited" from Mello. It was a good thing the man was no longer around; Lelouch would have had to waste even more time berating him for his substandard work.

It took him awhile to notice he was ignoring Suzaku (and his meal, which he'd be hearing plenty about from his nurse later), but once he did, the pen wavered mid-stroke. "You-- have you made any other progress so far?" he asked, his gaze flickering briefly upwards before focusing on the page before him once more. The "s" he'd been writing was only minutely less perfect than the others, but he found himself dissatisfied with it regardless. "Or met anyone of interest, perhaps?" The topics weren't exactly casual, but he wasn't entirely sure how to bring things between them back to that level. Maybe that only happened if one of them had a spontaneous fit, and yes, he was going to mentally refer to it in that way from now on. It was better than the truth.

Suzaku had finally taken a decent crack at his fish when Lelouch spoke again. He looked up as well, before sighing and leaning forward on an elbow. "Not really. Most of the people who make weapons are way too secretive, so I'll probably have to find out more information by asking around. I woke up late, and then most of my day was taken up by this Porky business, so I haven't talked to anyone that interesting."

His lip quirked a bit. "Aside from Yuffie, I mean." He still didn't know what to think about that, other than the fact that she was pretty hilarious, however embarrassed he'd felt at the time. But she seemed intelligent and capable, and he wouldn't mind working with her at some point, even if she continued to say uncomfortable things about him and Lelouch. Which were a hundred times more uncomfortable than she could ever know, because they weren't really even friends and he hadn't been so sure about being that casual toward Lelouch on the board. He still wasn't sure if he had crossed the line, or if he even wanted to go anywhere near the line, and it was all confusing enough without insinuations that. . . yeah. He was just not going to think about it.

He went back to the fish with a passion to distract himself, unable to help another glance at Lelouch as he did so. "You should eat something." He wasn't sure if Lelouch could get skinnier, but it wasn't something that should be tested.

Oh god, Yuffie. That was-- Lelouch considered her to be a valuable resource, but he would have been much happier about incorporating her into his project if she hadn't been so... he couldn't even think of the word. Rambunctious? That was probably too polite after the incident on the board, but then it could have been much worse... somehow. Why had Suzaku felt the need to allude to it, anyway? If doing so wouldn't involve actually talking about it, Lelouch would have ordered his knight to never mention what had happened again, but as things were, he just continued staring down at his journal and hoping his embarrassment wasn't too visible.

The change in subject was very, very welcome after that, and hiding his relief under his usual detached mask, he looked over at Suzaku once more and slowly raised an eyebrow at him. First nagging at him to get some sleep, now this? This wasn't going to become a running theme between them, was it? "You're beginning to sound like my nurse," he observed coolly, his mouth twisting a little in distaste. The last thing he needed was another mother hen on his heels, as far as he was concerned, and while Suzaku was his knight and Suzaku, there was something inherently wrong with being reminded by two people at once to eat more. What were they trying to say to him?

Expression souring further at the thought that he knew exactly what they were getting at and just didn't want to acknowledge it, he plucked one of the fries off of his plate and ate it. "Happy now, Sir Kururugi?" he continued sotto voce, picking up another fry and eating that, too. "Mission accomplished: I'm not going to starve to death." Another fry. "You'll be receiving a medal shortly to commemorate this valiant effort."

Edited 2009-04-07 08:46 (UTC)

It didn't escape Suzaku's notice that Lelouch didn't address his comment on Yuffie. Was he still that embarrassed? Then again, he'd always been more susceptible to embarrassment than Suzaku. Either way, Suzaku was fine with pretending it had never been mentioned, because he didn't even know how he could possibly have a conversation about that with Lelouch, face-to-face. Hopefully that would never have to happen.

Instead, he got treated to some stunning sarcasm, which must mean it was okay not to be formal anymore. The change of tone was so welcome, even if Lelouch was pissed off, that Suzaku couldn't help the faintest of grins. Maybe he was getting a little carried away in his duties if he involved himself in his Prince's eating habits, but again, he just didn't want to know what Lelouch would look like if he lost weight.

"Your nurse is saying that too? Does that mean you haven't been eating at your other meals? You should, you know." The grin widened a bit, but he kept his own voice just as soft. "I'd be a terrible knight if I let you starve to death. I'm supposed to die gloriously at your side in battle, not let you waste away before we even get to the battle."

Damn it, he wasn't supposed to pick up on that. Not that Lelouch actually believed his knight was stupid enough to miss those kinds of details, but winning this dispute would have been a lot easier if Suzaku had. Besides, it would only make him worry even more in the end, and with how annoyingly protective he'd been so far, Lelouch didn't think he could stand it. He was perfectly capable of looking after himself. That task might be made significantly more difficult in this place, but he could still do it.

"You're absolutely insufferable, you know that?" he muttered, turning his attention to his fish. Again, he couldn't help but think he would have done a much better job preparing the meal than the cooks here, but that wasn't the issue right now. "Putting me to bed, watching me while I sleep, making sure I eat-- in another life, you would have made an excellent nanny, I think." For someone else, mind. Lelouch didn't need anyone like that. "What's next? Are you going to sing me a lullaby?"

Edited 2009-04-08 02:04 (UTC)

Suzaku laughed a little, aware he should probably feel insulted. But he didn't think he would really mind being a nanny. It would be a lot simpler than the way his life had turned out, at any rate, and right now any kind of normal life sounded good. Especially if he got to be Lelouch's nanny, that would just make his day. All those opportunities to annoy him. . . make him do his homework, clean up after himself. . . Not that Lelouch didn't act responsibly already, it would just be fun to nag him with more of an excuse, and with less of a worry about whether he could say those things.

"I don't know if I'm much of a singer, but I will do my best if you so desire, Your Highness." The words were barely above the level of a whisper. Even if "Your Highness" could just be taken as a joke, it was better not to risk anyone overhearing. "I might even tuck you in tonight. On the condition that you finish that fish." He didn't even care that much; now he was just needling the other boy. Lelouch always made it so damn easy.

Why was the idiot laughing? This wasn't funny! All right, fine, it may have been on some level, but if he was just going to keep saying those things instead of letting the matter go, Lelouch was going to devote more thought than ever on coming up with a way to retaliate for that cross-dressing remark. How to do that when the only thing that would possibly embarrass Suzaku was the-- that thing on the board, though, was extremely difficult. The Cross-Dressing Festival had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was utterly shameless, but surely there had to be some other option Lelouch was overlooking...?

"Don't you dare," he snapped, spearing his fish with his fork to emphasize his point. "Stop treating me like an infant, Suzaku. I don't need coddling and I certainly don't need you pestering me about taking better care of myself." Which was... probably not true, given how determined he was to make the most of the relatively peaceful days here and how willingly he'd done so at the expense of both sleep and food so far, but Lelouch remained convinced of it anyway. He could eat and sleep when he had fewer things to do.

Suzaku's vaguely evil grin faded to just a slight smile. It must be really annoying to have someone nagging you about basic things a child could do, and he knew perfectly well that if anyone could take care of himself, it was Lelouch. Most of the time. Still, Lelouch couldn't deny that it was irresponsible not to eat properly. And while Suzaku was wary of seriously offending Lelouch's pride, it was awfully funny and it felt good just to be able to talk about something inconsequential.

"I'll only do that if you don't take care of yourself," he said softly, trying to make it clear that he didn't think of Lelouch as someone who needed to be coddled, but that he would stand firm nonetheless. When Lelouch refused to look after himself, someone would have to do it, and that was not only Suzaku's job but something he wanted to do.

Lelouch made a face and glanced off to the side, covering up his momentary inability to think of a response to that by eating more of his fish. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate what Suzaku was trying to do, it was just--

He sighed and stared down at his plate. Talking to his knight was still hard, and while he wanted to change that, he wasn't sure how to proceed when he didn't even know what they were to each other now. It had been easy to assume last night that they were simply bound to each other by their common goals and the vows between a prince and his knight, but when they kept falling into old habits and just barely avoiding old wounds, it was... much, much more difficult than he'd imagined. And then with people like Yuffie around--

"I will," he replied, forcing himself to make eye contact again. After all that had happened, it was the very least he could do.

There was a second or two's pause while considered saying more, but he soon (rather visibly) dismissed the matter and tried returning the conversation to its previous tone. "Until that happens, you'll have to content yourself with more traditional duties. I'm sure you're heartbroken."

"Good," Suzaku replied, a little startled at the capitulation but pleased that he had been taken seriously. It was a stupid thing to argue about, how much fish Lelouch was eating, but there were a lot of things Suzaku wasn't really saying. This new turn to their relationship felt fragile somehow, like it would suddenly dissolve and join every other instance of someone mistakenly trusting Suzaku. This time it should be different, there should be no element of selfishness in his position as someone's knight, yet their relationship was so much more complicated than a convenient alliance. He couldn't truly consider Lelouch his friend, not ever again, but this was the one thing he had left in the world and if he lost this. . . He didn't even know what he would do.

"Devastated. I think being a nanny would be kind of fun, actually," he admitted after a moment, again welcoming the change in tone. This felt weird, after everything that had happened between them, but the banter was familiar territory and felt more comfortable than -- than the things that weren't being said.

Lelouch made a disbelieving sound. "Fun? How could it be fun? You know what children are like. They're stubborn, noisy, and self-centered. All they ever do is demand things or run around and find new and interesting ways to hurt themselves. It's exhausting just to look at them." Not that he actually minded children or the concept of taking care of them, but he wasn't about to say that. He supposed... well, there was no point in thinking about that now, especially with all the other things it would dredge up. It was better to pretend.

He poked at the remainder of his fish and frowned, his thoughts still hovering elsewhere. The expression was thankfully fitting given his continuing disapproval of the food here (he wouldn't have permitted it otherwise), but there was definitely more to it than that. Neither of them could talk about it, though, so he merely added as a mock afterthought, "Not that that would bother you, what with your freakish stamina and all, but to the rest of us normal humans, it's a valid concern." Not. It was far more worrying to think of how Suzaku would take the jab when "exercise nut" had been right up there with "idiot" in the long list of insults they'd used when they were children, but since he hadn't seemed all that bothered by the latter, indirectly using the former had to be okay, right? They were just going through the motions anyway. It didn't mean anything.

Suzaku just stared incredulously. Stubborn. Noisy. Self-centered. Demanding. Always finding new and interesting ways to -- he tried desperately to school his features into a frown of disagreement. Thankfully it managed to hold, but just for a moment, and then to his horror he felt his jaw twitch. He ducked his head with a choking sound, devoting every ounce of self-control he possessed to not laughing. The second statement barely even registered, let alone the indirect insult, as occupied as he was on processing that first revelation. But all that effort went to waste, because it was too late -- his shoulders shook from suppressed hysteria until it finally broke forth with a strangled sound, muffled against his plate as he bent forward. Trying to suppress his laughter somehow made it even harder to stop, and as he struggled to get himself back under control he prayed Lelouch wouldn't ask him just what he was laughing at. He had a terrible feeling that would not go over well, not now when there was this unspoken tension between them and some unknown list of things he didn't think he could say.

When he finally managed to reign in the minor fit, drawing great gasps of air, he caught up with the rest of what Lelouch had said. "I'm not a freak," he replied easily, tone light and face serious as if nothing had happened at all. Please don't ask. "And I don't think you're a good standard for 'normal humans' when it comes to stamina." Even if his own stamina was freakish, that could only be a good thing, since apparently he already was a nanny. At least according to Lelouch's definition of everything that made children hard to deal with.

Lelouch was concerned at first (surely that wasn't a normal reaction), but when it became clear that Suzaku was laughing and not trying to dislodge a fish bone from his throat or something, the worried look he hadn't quite managed to hide was swept away by a fierce scowl. What was so damn funny?!

Glaring at his knight and doing an even worse job of hiding his confusion (what the hell was so damn funny?!), Lelouch prodded at his food again and retorted, "Just because I don't spend every waking moment jogging or lifting weights doesn't mean I'm somehow substandard. People like you just keep wrecking the bell curve for the rest of us." What was the use in all that running around and sweating, anyway? It might suit freaks like Suzaku, but not the more cerebral types. Lelouch simply had a different area of expertise.

He delicately ate a few more of his fries and tried to ignore Suzaku's obvious and still baffling amusement. He didn't have something on his face, did he? It had been bad enough the last time that happened, but then since Suzaku had been the one to point it out before, there was no reason for him not to now. So why--? "What is it, Suzaku?" he ~~demanded~~ asked finally, beginning to tap the fingers of his free hand against the table's surface. He supposed he should be thankful that there hadn't been a negative response to what he'd said at all, but he was beginning to think he would have preferred that.

Edited 2009-04-09 07:25 (UTC)

Suzaku's forced calmness was still being broken by lingering snickers, especially at the clever retort he'd just thought of. "I don't wreck the bell curve, because you balance me out at the other end." He was proud of himself, statistics not really being his thing and all. "You don't just not spend every waking moment exercising, you spend no moments exercising."

He wished he could have distracted Lelouch from the other thing with that comment, but he was only postponing the inevitable. He knew Lelouch wasn't going to let it go, and if he just answered "nothing," the other boy would keep asking and probably get irritated in the process. So Suzaku could get it over with now, or try to evade the question and end up answering it later to an already-irritated Lelouch. Might as well bite the bullet. Why couldn't he just have controlled himself properly in the first place?

"Um, well, I just don't think you made a very good argument against taking care of kids. Because those are the kind of things I already have to put up with." Oh God, he couldn't believe he'd just indirectly called his Prince noisy, self-centered, demanding, and all those other things. Maybe, just maybe, Lelouch would assume he was talking about the other people he had to deal with sometimes and not just Lelouch himself. Probably not. "I mean, some people would think so, at least." Nice cover, Suzaku. Nice. Why wasn't lunch over yet? Why wasn't the floor opening up and swallowing him down into a pit of eternal darkness? Why couldn't he just redo the last five minutes of his life? Not like he hadn't thought that a thousand other times.

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Day 40: Lunch

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