Ambivalence, update 8
Ambivalence, Chapter 8
Fandom: Code Geass
Pairing: Lelouch/Shirley
A/N: Ideas keep coming to me on this. I'll keep posting as I go along.
Her nightmares were not only wreaking havoc on her nights, but her days as well.
She’d made a mistake. A huge one.
Shirley blamed impulses, hormones, the stupid annoying spot on the ceiling no one ever repaired after the last typhoon.
So far, no accidental slips or unintended confessions from either one.
There was no stuttering, no blushing, no contact of any kind on her part. Lelouch, continued to be as composed as ever, although she sometimes caught a slightly wistful look in his eyes when he passed by the lab door.
It had been three weeks since her mini-meltdown in the chemistry classroom and neither one had broached the subject. She had kept her hands to herself since then although he had subtle ways of reminding her. His foot lightly nudging her ankle; a thumb running over her knuckles; his shoulder brushing against hers.
She ignored it as best she could.
-
The new diving maneuvers had been trickier than usual, her rhythm thrown off from stress. Even her swim cap refused to comply, coming off in the middle of a jump. Viletta’s stern lecture didn’t help assuage her nerves.
If anything, her time on the racing portions had improved, though she guessed cowardice had something to do with it. The adrenaline pumped through her steadily, keeping her going in the rush of excitement.
Suzaku found her toweling her hair after swim practice.
Another student council meeting. It was urgent, the messenger boy told her, something about Milly coming up with a big plan.
Shirley followed reluctantly.
“You still like him, don’t you?” he asked carelessly.
The towel stayed firmly on her head, scrubbing at her scalp furiously. The warmth of tea persisted in tormenting her, all soft lips and embracing arms. The insistent vibrating tone of Lelouch’s phone had broken up the moment, leaving her dazed and more than a little out of it in the chemistry lab.
She wasn’t sure how she’d been able to walk out there. He’d finished up for the two of them that afternoon as she limped her way back to her dorm.
“What makes you say that?” she replied, pulling at the ends of terry cotton to hide the heat rising in her face.
She didn’t catch the knowing smile, eyes straight ahead as they reached the door outside.
“Just a hunch, I guess,” Suzaku said.
Three steps later, he repeated the question.
“You do, don’t you?”
Above the dark cloth of her socks, the small scar was the insistent reminder.
“I’m not sure,” she responded honestly. And the truth was that sometimes she wanted Lelouch more than anything, while at other moments she couldn’t stand his presence knowing who he was and what he’d done. What he was still doing.
And then there were the things she wanted to do to him…
The laughter in her left ear surprised her.
“And he likes you so,” Suzaku blurted out.
Shirley’s feet stopped moving altogether. The towel retreated from the top of her head, wrinkling around her shoulders.
“What?” Confusion in its full blown form appeared on her face. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“You can’t tell?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed, directing her incredulous stare to a nearby tree.
“I’m not,” he insisted. This was taking an odd turn from the happier, bouncy reaction he’d been expecting. Something, anything other than a calm shock would’ve been welcome.
“You’d like to know more about him, don’t you?” he offered, a hint of seduction in his tone.
And there it was, an eyebrow shooting up on that handsome face, challenging her. This was the moment he’d been waiting for, to persuade or cajole her into joining the cause. This was the carrot he was dangling in front of her, hoping she’d take it.
She’d read about Mata Hari. He wanted her to turn against their classmate, play the part of the double agent by exploiting the perceived closeness with Lelouch. The idea was too silly for her to contemplate seriously.
It was her turn to laugh.
Again, he was taken aback by her reaction.
“Are you accusing our vice president of nefarious doings?” she asked, smiling widely.
She took a few steps forward, gathering her hair over her shoulder to soak up the excess water with the towel.
“Fun fact,” she teased, much lighter on her feet than she felt in days and continued on her way forward. “He’s really picky about the sweets he likes.”
He joined her after she’d taken a seven step lead.
“He likes white chocolate.”
Faulty intelligence.
She shook her head.
“Wrong,” she corrected him. “It doesn’t really count as chocolate since it doesn’t contain cocoa solids.”
He’d lectured her about it once, when she asked him for help to buy ingredients for a tart.
Bittersweet and semisweet are his favorites.
An accumulated list of Lelouch’s favorites rattled off silently in her mind.
German beer, acoustic guitar, board games, Sun Tzu, minimalist architecture, Tchaikovsky instrumentals, Robert Frost poetry, Chilean wine, dried apricots, gazpacho, rainy days…
-
“As you know, the student clubs have been complaining about how limited the budget is for the school year,” Milly began, pointing to a graph with a thin metal rod. “And each one wants to finance major projects and trips, so if we have to bankroll them, we have to think of ways to either stretch our funds or make more money.”
Shirley continued to doodle aimlessly on the margins of a blank page, waiting for the blonde to get to the point. She’d listened for twenty minutes, her patience nearly exhausted.
“And as your fearless leader, I’ve come up with a plan,” she paused for effect, flipping the page of the giant notepad mounted on an easel from bar graphs to stick figures on a raised platform. The crude art peaked Shirley’s interest.
“We’re going to do a senior auction.”
“What?” Nina asked.
Milly’s gleeful smile nearly blinded them all.
“We’re going to selling ourselves, silly,” Milly explained.
Nina remained puzzled.
“I think you’re taking that saying a little too literally,” Shirley muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Suzaku was the first to show interest in the plan.
“What exactly are we doing?”
Milly beamed, self assured as usual.
“Club members are going to sign up to be auctioned off,” she explained, pulling back on one finger at a time whenever she made a point. “And the student body will bid on them. Isn’t it great? We’ll be rolling in enough dough to help each of the clubs finance their trips.”
Rivalz stroked his chin, considering the plan.
“What exactly will the winning bidder be able to do with the student they buy?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Shirley piped up. “It seems a little medieval, selling people like that.”
Milly’s posture straightened.
“Nothing illegal, of course,” she said. “It’s just a chance to buy a date is all.”
They call that prostitution.
Milly pulled out a flyer to advertise the event. It was nicely designed, with sleek lettering and nice student headshots scattered artfully. There we a few faces that looked familiar, too familiar.
“Hey,” Shirley started, frowning. “Why is my photo there?”
“Oh, you noticed?” Milly said. “You know we have to set an example for the rest of the student body, so you’re all on the bidding list.”
Milly was more of an evil genius than Shirley could have ever made her out to be. She was only envious that Lelouch had picked that day to not show up.
“I can’t,” Shirley protested. “Swim club.”
Milly scowled, annoyed.
“Fine,” she conceded. “It’s for advertising purposes.”
A nagging feeling in her stomach told her otherwise.
Fandom: Code Geass
Pairing: Lelouch/Shirley
A/N: Ideas keep coming to me on this. I'll keep posting as I go along.
Her nightmares were not only wreaking havoc on her nights, but her days as well.
She’d made a mistake. A huge one.
Shirley blamed impulses, hormones, the stupid annoying spot on the ceiling no one ever repaired after the last typhoon.
So far, no accidental slips or unintended confessions from either one.
There was no stuttering, no blushing, no contact of any kind on her part. Lelouch, continued to be as composed as ever, although she sometimes caught a slightly wistful look in his eyes when he passed by the lab door.
It had been three weeks since her mini-meltdown in the chemistry classroom and neither one had broached the subject. She had kept her hands to herself since then although he had subtle ways of reminding her. His foot lightly nudging her ankle; a thumb running over her knuckles; his shoulder brushing against hers.
She ignored it as best she could.
-
The new diving maneuvers had been trickier than usual, her rhythm thrown off from stress. Even her swim cap refused to comply, coming off in the middle of a jump. Viletta’s stern lecture didn’t help assuage her nerves.
If anything, her time on the racing portions had improved, though she guessed cowardice had something to do with it. The adrenaline pumped through her steadily, keeping her going in the rush of excitement.
Suzaku found her toweling her hair after swim practice.
Another student council meeting. It was urgent, the messenger boy told her, something about Milly coming up with a big plan.
Shirley followed reluctantly.
“You still like him, don’t you?” he asked carelessly.
The towel stayed firmly on her head, scrubbing at her scalp furiously. The warmth of tea persisted in tormenting her, all soft lips and embracing arms. The insistent vibrating tone of Lelouch’s phone had broken up the moment, leaving her dazed and more than a little out of it in the chemistry lab.
She wasn’t sure how she’d been able to walk out there. He’d finished up for the two of them that afternoon as she limped her way back to her dorm.
“What makes you say that?” she replied, pulling at the ends of terry cotton to hide the heat rising in her face.
She didn’t catch the knowing smile, eyes straight ahead as they reached the door outside.
“Just a hunch, I guess,” Suzaku said.
Three steps later, he repeated the question.
“You do, don’t you?”
Above the dark cloth of her socks, the small scar was the insistent reminder.
“I’m not sure,” she responded honestly. And the truth was that sometimes she wanted Lelouch more than anything, while at other moments she couldn’t stand his presence knowing who he was and what he’d done. What he was still doing.
And then there were the things she wanted to do to him…
The laughter in her left ear surprised her.
“And he likes you so,” Suzaku blurted out.
Shirley’s feet stopped moving altogether. The towel retreated from the top of her head, wrinkling around her shoulders.
“What?” Confusion in its full blown form appeared on her face. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“You can’t tell?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed, directing her incredulous stare to a nearby tree.
“I’m not,” he insisted. This was taking an odd turn from the happier, bouncy reaction he’d been expecting. Something, anything other than a calm shock would’ve been welcome.
“You’d like to know more about him, don’t you?” he offered, a hint of seduction in his tone.
And there it was, an eyebrow shooting up on that handsome face, challenging her. This was the moment he’d been waiting for, to persuade or cajole her into joining the cause. This was the carrot he was dangling in front of her, hoping she’d take it.
She’d read about Mata Hari. He wanted her to turn against their classmate, play the part of the double agent by exploiting the perceived closeness with Lelouch. The idea was too silly for her to contemplate seriously.
It was her turn to laugh.
Again, he was taken aback by her reaction.
“Are you accusing our vice president of nefarious doings?” she asked, smiling widely.
She took a few steps forward, gathering her hair over her shoulder to soak up the excess water with the towel.
“Fun fact,” she teased, much lighter on her feet than she felt in days and continued on her way forward. “He’s really picky about the sweets he likes.”
He joined her after she’d taken a seven step lead.
“He likes white chocolate.”
Faulty intelligence.
She shook her head.
“Wrong,” she corrected him. “It doesn’t really count as chocolate since it doesn’t contain cocoa solids.”
He’d lectured her about it once, when she asked him for help to buy ingredients for a tart.
Bittersweet and semisweet are his favorites.
An accumulated list of Lelouch’s favorites rattled off silently in her mind.
German beer, acoustic guitar, board games, Sun Tzu, minimalist architecture, Tchaikovsky instrumentals, Robert Frost poetry, Chilean wine, dried apricots, gazpacho, rainy days…
-
“As you know, the student clubs have been complaining about how limited the budget is for the school year,” Milly began, pointing to a graph with a thin metal rod. “And each one wants to finance major projects and trips, so if we have to bankroll them, we have to think of ways to either stretch our funds or make more money.”
Shirley continued to doodle aimlessly on the margins of a blank page, waiting for the blonde to get to the point. She’d listened for twenty minutes, her patience nearly exhausted.
“And as your fearless leader, I’ve come up with a plan,” she paused for effect, flipping the page of the giant notepad mounted on an easel from bar graphs to stick figures on a raised platform. The crude art peaked Shirley’s interest.
“We’re going to do a senior auction.”
“What?” Nina asked.
Milly’s gleeful smile nearly blinded them all.
“We’re going to selling ourselves, silly,” Milly explained.
Nina remained puzzled.
“I think you’re taking that saying a little too literally,” Shirley muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Suzaku was the first to show interest in the plan.
“What exactly are we doing?”
Milly beamed, self assured as usual.
“Club members are going to sign up to be auctioned off,” she explained, pulling back on one finger at a time whenever she made a point. “And the student body will bid on them. Isn’t it great? We’ll be rolling in enough dough to help each of the clubs finance their trips.”
Rivalz stroked his chin, considering the plan.
“What exactly will the winning bidder be able to do with the student they buy?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Shirley piped up. “It seems a little medieval, selling people like that.”
Milly’s posture straightened.
“Nothing illegal, of course,” she said. “It’s just a chance to buy a date is all.”
They call that prostitution.
Milly pulled out a flyer to advertise the event. It was nicely designed, with sleek lettering and nice student headshots scattered artfully. There we a few faces that looked familiar, too familiar.
“Hey,” Shirley started, frowning. “Why is my photo there?”
“Oh, you noticed?” Milly said. “You know we have to set an example for the rest of the student body, so you’re all on the bidding list.”
Milly was more of an evil genius than Shirley could have ever made her out to be. She was only envious that Lelouch had picked that day to not show up.
“I can’t,” Shirley protested. “Swim club.”
Milly scowled, annoyed.
“Fine,” she conceded. “It’s for advertising purposes.”
A nagging feeling in her stomach told her otherwise.