Late late late entry for May
Title: You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself
Author: pizzanotamoney
Requester: arence_heart
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Honestly, it's only Lloyd/Suzaku if looked at through a microscope ;__;
Rating/Warning(s): G
Author's Notes: Takes place a few days after the end of R1. And this is both really late and really bad, the former being because I spent a long time hoping I'd come up with a magical idea to fix it. Unfortunately, I did not.
It had been a week since Princess Euphemia's death. That meant it had been six days since Suzaku stole the keys to the Lancelot, which, in turn, meant that Lloyd had been wearing the same stupid bandage on his face for six days. It had been necessary at the time, sure, but Cecile had a hard time believing it could still be useful now, almost a week later, especially when it was curling up at the corners. "Why won't you take that off? It can't possibly still hurt."
"Wha--?" Lloyd looked up from the paperwork he'd been pretending to do, blinking to obscure the glaze that Cecile was sure had settled over his eyes. "No, it doesn't!" he smiled in recognition as he ran a finger over the bandage in question. "I'm just still mad about it." The smile vanished as though to illustrate his point.
The truth, and the engineer was aware of this, was that he had no real reason to still be angry with Suzaku. (Yes, he punched him. After his girlfriend died. Yes, he stole his robot. Which led to his capturing of a wanted terrorist.) As much as Lloyd wanted to believe these things were unnecessary, Cecile had hammered into him time and time again that unpleasant times called for certain compromises. He could infer that these compromises included letting Suzaku get away with what he'd done. But that didn't mean he wanted to follow the rules.
No one had liked Lloyd much as a kid, but they had only seldom gathered the motivation to show him this physically. (Lloyd guessed that one reason for this was that his peers never felt that any isolated action on his part was enough justification for violence. Sure, he was rude, but not all at once. His observation of playground etiquette had told him that the other reason he'd been lashed out at so few times in his youth was in accordance with a rule which Lloyd was silently grateful for, frivolous as it was: apparently, it was mean to hit a kid with glasses.) Whereas he had been quite content with this at the time, it did have an unfortunate side effect-- Lloyd was not used to being punched in the face, and his minimal experience had only told him one thing: he hated it. It was painful and embarrassing and he'd ended up pathetically sprawled on the ground, a Knightmare and a devicer poorer than he'd been minutes beforehand. And although this was only a recollection now, Lloyd felt certain he would continue to recollect it for quite some time.
Suzaku hadn't been around much after he took off with Lancelot. Sure, he'd seen him on the battlefield some five days ago, but not since. Lloyd had planned to continue wearing the otherwise unnecessary bandage until the devicer returned, just to let him know he was still mad about it, but hadn't expected this to go on so long. But Lloyd was a man of his word (or so he thought, although Cecile had shot down this claim in nothing flat). At very least, he was a man of this word.
Cecile found this absurd. "You should be apologizing to him, not vying for the last word!" What was this to him, some sort of contest? But the scientist only flattened the peeling corners of the bandage against his face. "Just take it off, Lloyd. You must be disgusting under there by now anyway."
Instead of offending him into complying, her comments only made him laugh. "Disgusting? That's so rude, Cecile!"
------
The next day, something illogical happened.
Things had been going nicely until Cecile reminded him that he still hadn't finished that pesky paperwork from yesterday. It remained on his desk, virtually untouched, and he had very little intention of changing that. However, he quickly learned that Cecile wouldn't be satisfied until he was at least in the same room with it, so he did manage to pace the room back and forth, staring contemptuously at the papers.
He heard a door open. Expecting to have to persuade Cecile, once again, that he was working, he broke his stare and turned a reluctant glance to the door. But his visitor was not as expected. It was Suzaku.
As much as Lloyd knew that Suzaku, the new Knight of Seven, had accomplished since he last saw him a week before, he looked about the same as he had six days ago, with his flashy keys and suit made to match the robot. The only difference was his expression: the devicer of such a magnificent Knightmare as the Lancelot should look proud and confident, but Suzaku looked strangely ashamed of himself. "Hi."
Pushing up his glasses with one finger, Lloyd's eyes narrowed in suspicion. His eyes fell on the keys to the Lancelot and he reminded himself that he was still angry about what had happened the last time he'd seen those keys.
"I'm sorry for punching you," the devicer muttered reluctantly. "And taking the Lancelot."
Lloyd's previously narrowed eyes widened to twice their normal size. An apology? He'd been expecting to have to deliver an apology, not to receive one! Sure, he was still in a huff about it, but he had long since accepted that he was just being what Cecile liked to call petty, and expected Suzaku to know this too. This was just stupid. "What do you mean, you're sorry? I've been led to believe that what you did was justified! I was-- allegedly-- being a jerk!"
This was enough to rival Suzaku's fascination with the floor. "Well... yes, you kind of were." His confidence dwindled with the realization that he was saying this to his own boss. "But so was I." And his superior obviously wasn't going to let it go. But, of course, Suzaku couldn't say that.
The insults to his character notwithstanding, Lloyd was shocked to find that Suzaku's answer was... acceptable. His apology was nice enough, without being so over the top that he suspected him of lying. And he didn't seem to be expecting the scientist to apologize in return (he'd been expecting to have to do this, yes, but it certainly hadn't been something he'd looked forward to). "Oh." Long pause. "Well that's great!" Suzaku gave him a funny look, as Lloyd had realized he would as soon as he said it. "Uh, poor choice of words. But this means you can go back to doing my paperwork! I'll sign the papers now so you won't have to come find me about it later."
Paperwork, huh? Maybe Suzaku should've drawn this ordeal out even longer if it could've saved him from this. "So... we're good?"
"Yes, of course we are!" now the engineer was all smiles. "Just fantastic!"
The devicer allowed himself to, somewhat nervously, mirror his superior's expression. "I guess I'll get started on the paperwork then," he said, not even trying to hide his resignation. "Where is it?"
"Oh, it's just over there on the desk, next to the--" Suddenly the scientist's face stung and there was an unpleasant but short-lived ripping sound. "Huh?" He whirled back toward Suzaku, eyes watering slightly from the sudden sting. It seems he was just in time to see the younger man crumpling the bandage Lloyd had been wearing for the past six days in his hands, looking quite proud of himself all the while. As far as Suzaku was concerned, they'd made their points, and now they were done making their points.
Author: pizzanotamoney
Requester: arence_heart
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Honestly, it's only Lloyd/Suzaku if looked at through a microscope ;__;
Rating/Warning(s): G
Author's Notes: Takes place a few days after the end of R1. And this is both really late and really bad, the former being because I spent a long time hoping I'd come up with a magical idea to fix it. Unfortunately, I did not.
It had been a week since Princess Euphemia's death. That meant it had been six days since Suzaku stole the keys to the Lancelot, which, in turn, meant that Lloyd had been wearing the same stupid bandage on his face for six days. It had been necessary at the time, sure, but Cecile had a hard time believing it could still be useful now, almost a week later, especially when it was curling up at the corners. "Why won't you take that off? It can't possibly still hurt."
"Wha--?" Lloyd looked up from the paperwork he'd been pretending to do, blinking to obscure the glaze that Cecile was sure had settled over his eyes. "No, it doesn't!" he smiled in recognition as he ran a finger over the bandage in question. "I'm just still mad about it." The smile vanished as though to illustrate his point.
The truth, and the engineer was aware of this, was that he had no real reason to still be angry with Suzaku. (Yes, he punched him. After his girlfriend died. Yes, he stole his robot. Which led to his capturing of a wanted terrorist.) As much as Lloyd wanted to believe these things were unnecessary, Cecile had hammered into him time and time again that unpleasant times called for certain compromises. He could infer that these compromises included letting Suzaku get away with what he'd done. But that didn't mean he wanted to follow the rules.
No one had liked Lloyd much as a kid, but they had only seldom gathered the motivation to show him this physically. (Lloyd guessed that one reason for this was that his peers never felt that any isolated action on his part was enough justification for violence. Sure, he was rude, but not all at once. His observation of playground etiquette had told him that the other reason he'd been lashed out at so few times in his youth was in accordance with a rule which Lloyd was silently grateful for, frivolous as it was: apparently, it was mean to hit a kid with glasses.) Whereas he had been quite content with this at the time, it did have an unfortunate side effect-- Lloyd was not used to being punched in the face, and his minimal experience had only told him one thing: he hated it. It was painful and embarrassing and he'd ended up pathetically sprawled on the ground, a Knightmare and a devicer poorer than he'd been minutes beforehand. And although this was only a recollection now, Lloyd felt certain he would continue to recollect it for quite some time.
Suzaku hadn't been around much after he took off with Lancelot. Sure, he'd seen him on the battlefield some five days ago, but not since. Lloyd had planned to continue wearing the otherwise unnecessary bandage until the devicer returned, just to let him know he was still mad about it, but hadn't expected this to go on so long. But Lloyd was a man of his word (or so he thought, although Cecile had shot down this claim in nothing flat). At very least, he was a man of this word.
Cecile found this absurd. "You should be apologizing to him, not vying for the last word!" What was this to him, some sort of contest? But the scientist only flattened the peeling corners of the bandage against his face. "Just take it off, Lloyd. You must be disgusting under there by now anyway."
Instead of offending him into complying, her comments only made him laugh. "Disgusting? That's so rude, Cecile!"
------
The next day, something illogical happened.
Things had been going nicely until Cecile reminded him that he still hadn't finished that pesky paperwork from yesterday. It remained on his desk, virtually untouched, and he had very little intention of changing that. However, he quickly learned that Cecile wouldn't be satisfied until he was at least in the same room with it, so he did manage to pace the room back and forth, staring contemptuously at the papers.
He heard a door open. Expecting to have to persuade Cecile, once again, that he was working, he broke his stare and turned a reluctant glance to the door. But his visitor was not as expected. It was Suzaku.
As much as Lloyd knew that Suzaku, the new Knight of Seven, had accomplished since he last saw him a week before, he looked about the same as he had six days ago, with his flashy keys and suit made to match the robot. The only difference was his expression: the devicer of such a magnificent Knightmare as the Lancelot should look proud and confident, but Suzaku looked strangely ashamed of himself. "Hi."
Pushing up his glasses with one finger, Lloyd's eyes narrowed in suspicion. His eyes fell on the keys to the Lancelot and he reminded himself that he was still angry about what had happened the last time he'd seen those keys.
"I'm sorry for punching you," the devicer muttered reluctantly. "And taking the Lancelot."
Lloyd's previously narrowed eyes widened to twice their normal size. An apology? He'd been expecting to have to deliver an apology, not to receive one! Sure, he was still in a huff about it, but he had long since accepted that he was just being what Cecile liked to call petty, and expected Suzaku to know this too. This was just stupid. "What do you mean, you're sorry? I've been led to believe that what you did was justified! I was-- allegedly-- being a jerk!"
This was enough to rival Suzaku's fascination with the floor. "Well... yes, you kind of were." His confidence dwindled with the realization that he was saying this to his own boss. "But so was I." And his superior obviously wasn't going to let it go. But, of course, Suzaku couldn't say that.
The insults to his character notwithstanding, Lloyd was shocked to find that Suzaku's answer was... acceptable. His apology was nice enough, without being so over the top that he suspected him of lying. And he didn't seem to be expecting the scientist to apologize in return (he'd been expecting to have to do this, yes, but it certainly hadn't been something he'd looked forward to). "Oh." Long pause. "Well that's great!" Suzaku gave him a funny look, as Lloyd had realized he would as soon as he said it. "Uh, poor choice of words. But this means you can go back to doing my paperwork! I'll sign the papers now so you won't have to come find me about it later."
Paperwork, huh? Maybe Suzaku should've drawn this ordeal out even longer if it could've saved him from this. "So... we're good?"
"Yes, of course we are!" now the engineer was all smiles. "Just fantastic!"
The devicer allowed himself to, somewhat nervously, mirror his superior's expression. "I guess I'll get started on the paperwork then," he said, not even trying to hide his resignation. "Where is it?"
"Oh, it's just over there on the desk, next to the--" Suddenly the scientist's face stung and there was an unpleasant but short-lived ripping sound. "Huh?" He whirled back toward Suzaku, eyes watering slightly from the sudden sting. It seems he was just in time to see the younger man crumpling the bandage Lloyd had been wearing for the past six days in his hands, looking quite proud of himself all the while. As far as Suzaku was concerned, they'd made their points, and now they were done making their points.