Code Geass, "Above and Below"
Sometimes you want what you can't have, and sometimes you don't want what you do have, and sometimes you want what you have and you're just not very good at handling that.
Warnings: Fortuituous accidents as per every romance manga ever with a tiny twist because Kallen fails at romance manga. Violence against the well-meaning. Minor assumption that Gino went back to Ashford post-series.
Contains het (Gino/Kallen, Lelouch/Kallen). Written in mind of the un_love_you prompt "Always wondered what this'd be like."
.Above and Below.
Kallen leaned against the base of the ladder, elbows resting on the rung just below Gino's feet. She gazed disinterestedly up at Gino and the armful of books he was half-juggling as he slid them back onto the shelves high in the Ashford library stacks.
"Why do I even need to be here?" she asked, leaning her chin on a hand. "I'm not doing anything useful."
"I offered to let you go up and do the shelving!" he said from far above.
Kallen eyed him with renewed purpose, skeptical blue gaze tracing up the line of his legs. "Yeah right. In this skirt?"
Gino leaned over to glance down at her and flash her a bright smile. "Would you believe me if I said that hadn't even occurred to me?"
Not in the slightest. She chose to ignore him so she didn't have to punch a man standing on a ladder. "Anyway, you're freakishly tall. You're more than halfway down the ladder and putting shit on the top shelf, you don't need anyone to stabilize you."
"Safety regulations are there for a reason," Gino said easily, shelving another book. "But it'd be sad to have to do all this by myself in an empty library, right?"
"You're a rich Britannian brat. Invest in a music player," Kallen muttered, but she understood.
It was depressing, after school when everyone else in Ashford Academy was gone, and they were gathered in its empty rooms, doing student council work when so many of their former companions were dead or gone. Even an MP3 player wasn't quite enough to make the loneliness go away. Gino sought out her company, but Rivalz seemed to just shoulder it by himself; honestly, Kallen felt the worst for him. He had lost far more friends than either of them, and he had known them for far longer.
"Music players aren't very friendly. --Aaand that's the last of them!"
Kallen snapped out of her reverie and backed away a step as Gino started to climb down. They were both moving too fast and she didn't even realize he'd missed a rung until he was flailing and toppling backwards. She had no clear memory of the next split second after that, except that somehow she ended up flat on her back, only good reflexes saving her from cracking her head open on the floor, and Gino had managed to land next to her and rolled above her on his hands and knees in an effort to straighten out, then froze.
They stared at each other, paralyzed, until Kallen caught up and blushed wildly. Gino was starting to look somewhat embarrassed himself, to his credit. But he didn't move.
Why wasn't he moving? She knew why she hadn't moved, when it was Lelouch beneath her: she hadn't really wanted to. One thing had gone through her mind, again and again, an endless mantra of courage for someone who didn't normally need extra courage.
You could kiss him. Just duck your head a tiny bit and kiss him. You could do it. What's the worst that could happen?
Maybe that was why Kallen snapped, "If you're not going to kiss me, get up!"
Gino stared at her, eyes wide. "I didn't realize that first part was an option."
She was thinking of a really scathing retort when his lips sealed over hers.
She'd never kissed anyone, other than one boy, one time; and he hadn't even kissed her back. As much as she cherished that one kiss -- that one boy -- she'd always wondered what it would be like if he had genuinely responded.
This kiss was a million worlds away from that one. It was deep, penetrating in a way that made her blood rush with excitement, Gino's tongue nudging past her lips and curling around hers, licking like flame. It was not an innocent kiss, no; he had done this with other girls before, and she wondered for a fleeting irritable moment how many. Not because she was jealous, of course, but because it wasn't fair. Kissing Lelouch had made her feel bubbly and light, as if she could walk on air, until she'd realized that she was the only one in it.
But it hadn't prepared her for this. Gino's mouth was soft and coaxing, urging her to mold her lips against his, and when she shyly deepened the kiss her body started to ache, everywhere, in her blush-hot face and her breasts and deep between her legs.
For lack of a better word -- Kallen panicked.
To be specific, she made an undignified squeak into his lips and then punched him.
She didn't go to school the next day.
In fact, it was three days before she went back to school, and only then because first Gino tracked her down to the hangar where she was pretending to be working.
"I'm sorry!" he called up at her.
Kallen sat cross-legged on the Guren's shoulder and didn't look down for a long, long moment. Finally she leaned over and glanced at him, saw the fading bruise on his cheek and felt like an incredible, uncontrollable bitch. Why had he even wanted to kiss her?
"What are you apologizing for?" Kallen asked, feeling sulky, and tossed a cleaning rag into the distance.
"Upsetting you," he said, sounding sheepish. "I might've gotten a little carried away. I didn't even think that might be your first kiss."
She wound a paper towel over her dirty hands, eyelids slipping half shut. "It wasn't."
"Really?"
Gino actually sounded a little cheerful. Kallen peered down at him again and found him grinning. "I thought boys were supposed to want to be a girl's first kiss," she accused.
"I thought commoners were supposed to make their first kiss into a big deal," he said imperturbably, and then corrected, "I mean, girls. So I'm glad I didn't mess it up for you!"
It had already been messed up, but she wasn't about to tell him that; not when he was beaming like an idiot because when she punched him for kissing her it wasn't ruining her first kiss in some arcane way.
"I'm the one who told you you could kiss me," Kallen said, and struggled against a reflexive flush. She strangled the paper towel slowly. "And I'm the one who punched you. So -- I'm the one who should be apologizing. For giving you mixed signals like that."
"If you didn't like it, you didn't like it. But for the record, shoving me would've worked just fine."
Didn't like it? she thought, and glanced down at him covertly. The problem had very distinctly been liking it more than she was comfortable with. But Gino was still smiling obliviously up at her, as cheerful as ever. Like she could say, It was disgusting, and he'd just laugh it off.
Wouldn't it hurt him? She thought it would hurt, if it had been her.
Getting your hopes up hurt.
Her stomach clenched. Kallen shoved herself to her feet and shoved all her doubts away, making herself announce brusquely, "Don't just go assuming things like that all by yourself. I didn't dislike it."
"You didn't?" Gino frowned up at her, following her every movement with curiosity. He rubbed his jaw. "I'd really hate to see what you'd do if you did dislike it, then."
Kallen grinned fleetingly at him, feeling somewhat more like herself. "You wouldn't still be walking," she promised him.
"Even two days later?!"
"Even two days later."
Gino winced and held up his hands in dramatic surrender, but by the time she'd managed to climb down from Guren's shoulder and turned around to look at him, he was beaming again. Somehow he seemed more open, more relaxed, than he had been a second ago, when she'd have sworn that he'd have taken her harshest rejection with a smile and a laugh.
He said, "If there's a next time, we can start off upright. Maybe that'll help."
Kallen headed for the bay and pretended not to notice or be pleased when he trailed after her like a puppy. "If there's a next time, and we start off upright, that'll mean I have to be the one on the ladder."
"I promise not to look up your skirt!"
"If."
Warnings: Fortuituous accidents as per every romance manga ever with a tiny twist because Kallen fails at romance manga. Violence against the well-meaning. Minor assumption that Gino went back to Ashford post-series.
Contains het (Gino/Kallen, Lelouch/Kallen). Written in mind of the un_love_you prompt "Always wondered what this'd be like."
.Above and Below.
Kallen leaned against the base of the ladder, elbows resting on the rung just below Gino's feet. She gazed disinterestedly up at Gino and the armful of books he was half-juggling as he slid them back onto the shelves high in the Ashford library stacks.
"Why do I even need to be here?" she asked, leaning her chin on a hand. "I'm not doing anything useful."
"I offered to let you go up and do the shelving!" he said from far above.
Kallen eyed him with renewed purpose, skeptical blue gaze tracing up the line of his legs. "Yeah right. In this skirt?"
Gino leaned over to glance down at her and flash her a bright smile. "Would you believe me if I said that hadn't even occurred to me?"
Not in the slightest. She chose to ignore him so she didn't have to punch a man standing on a ladder. "Anyway, you're freakishly tall. You're more than halfway down the ladder and putting shit on the top shelf, you don't need anyone to stabilize you."
"Safety regulations are there for a reason," Gino said easily, shelving another book. "But it'd be sad to have to do all this by myself in an empty library, right?"
"You're a rich Britannian brat. Invest in a music player," Kallen muttered, but she understood.
It was depressing, after school when everyone else in Ashford Academy was gone, and they were gathered in its empty rooms, doing student council work when so many of their former companions were dead or gone. Even an MP3 player wasn't quite enough to make the loneliness go away. Gino sought out her company, but Rivalz seemed to just shoulder it by himself; honestly, Kallen felt the worst for him. He had lost far more friends than either of them, and he had known them for far longer.
"Music players aren't very friendly. --Aaand that's the last of them!"
Kallen snapped out of her reverie and backed away a step as Gino started to climb down. They were both moving too fast and she didn't even realize he'd missed a rung until he was flailing and toppling backwards. She had no clear memory of the next split second after that, except that somehow she ended up flat on her back, only good reflexes saving her from cracking her head open on the floor, and Gino had managed to land next to her and rolled above her on his hands and knees in an effort to straighten out, then froze.
They stared at each other, paralyzed, until Kallen caught up and blushed wildly. Gino was starting to look somewhat embarrassed himself, to his credit. But he didn't move.
Why wasn't he moving? She knew why she hadn't moved, when it was Lelouch beneath her: she hadn't really wanted to. One thing had gone through her mind, again and again, an endless mantra of courage for someone who didn't normally need extra courage.
You could kiss him. Just duck your head a tiny bit and kiss him. You could do it. What's the worst that could happen?
Maybe that was why Kallen snapped, "If you're not going to kiss me, get up!"
Gino stared at her, eyes wide. "I didn't realize that first part was an option."
She was thinking of a really scathing retort when his lips sealed over hers.
She'd never kissed anyone, other than one boy, one time; and he hadn't even kissed her back. As much as she cherished that one kiss -- that one boy -- she'd always wondered what it would be like if he had genuinely responded.
This kiss was a million worlds away from that one. It was deep, penetrating in a way that made her blood rush with excitement, Gino's tongue nudging past her lips and curling around hers, licking like flame. It was not an innocent kiss, no; he had done this with other girls before, and she wondered for a fleeting irritable moment how many. Not because she was jealous, of course, but because it wasn't fair. Kissing Lelouch had made her feel bubbly and light, as if she could walk on air, until she'd realized that she was the only one in it.
But it hadn't prepared her for this. Gino's mouth was soft and coaxing, urging her to mold her lips against his, and when she shyly deepened the kiss her body started to ache, everywhere, in her blush-hot face and her breasts and deep between her legs.
For lack of a better word -- Kallen panicked.
To be specific, she made an undignified squeak into his lips and then punched him.
She didn't go to school the next day.
In fact, it was three days before she went back to school, and only then because first Gino tracked her down to the hangar where she was pretending to be working.
"I'm sorry!" he called up at her.
Kallen sat cross-legged on the Guren's shoulder and didn't look down for a long, long moment. Finally she leaned over and glanced at him, saw the fading bruise on his cheek and felt like an incredible, uncontrollable bitch. Why had he even wanted to kiss her?
"What are you apologizing for?" Kallen asked, feeling sulky, and tossed a cleaning rag into the distance.
"Upsetting you," he said, sounding sheepish. "I might've gotten a little carried away. I didn't even think that might be your first kiss."
She wound a paper towel over her dirty hands, eyelids slipping half shut. "It wasn't."
"Really?"
Gino actually sounded a little cheerful. Kallen peered down at him again and found him grinning. "I thought boys were supposed to want to be a girl's first kiss," she accused.
"I thought commoners were supposed to make their first kiss into a big deal," he said imperturbably, and then corrected, "I mean, girls. So I'm glad I didn't mess it up for you!"
It had already been messed up, but she wasn't about to tell him that; not when he was beaming like an idiot because when she punched him for kissing her it wasn't ruining her first kiss in some arcane way.
"I'm the one who told you you could kiss me," Kallen said, and struggled against a reflexive flush. She strangled the paper towel slowly. "And I'm the one who punched you. So -- I'm the one who should be apologizing. For giving you mixed signals like that."
"If you didn't like it, you didn't like it. But for the record, shoving me would've worked just fine."
Didn't like it? she thought, and glanced down at him covertly. The problem had very distinctly been liking it more than she was comfortable with. But Gino was still smiling obliviously up at her, as cheerful as ever. Like she could say, It was disgusting, and he'd just laugh it off.
Wouldn't it hurt him? She thought it would hurt, if it had been her.
Getting your hopes up hurt.
Her stomach clenched. Kallen shoved herself to her feet and shoved all her doubts away, making herself announce brusquely, "Don't just go assuming things like that all by yourself. I didn't dislike it."
"You didn't?" Gino frowned up at her, following her every movement with curiosity. He rubbed his jaw. "I'd really hate to see what you'd do if you did dislike it, then."
Kallen grinned fleetingly at him, feeling somewhat more like herself. "You wouldn't still be walking," she promised him.
"Even two days later?!"
"Even two days later."
Gino winced and held up his hands in dramatic surrender, but by the time she'd managed to climb down from Guren's shoulder and turned around to look at him, he was beaming again. Somehow he seemed more open, more relaxed, than he had been a second ago, when she'd have sworn that he'd have taken her harshest rejection with a smile and a laugh.
He said, "If there's a next time, we can start off upright. Maybe that'll help."
Kallen headed for the bay and pretended not to notice or be pleased when he trailed after her like a puppy. "If there's a next time, and we start off upright, that'll mean I have to be the one on the ladder."
"I promise not to look up your skirt!"
"If."