Work Text
lelouch walks into the ice cream parlour with a spring in his step, with suzaku following closely behind, who seems just as excited as he to be out of the palace grounds. after all, it is not every day that the 11th prince of the holy britannian empire gets to sneak out of his royal duties to enjoy an afternoon with the people he trusted the most.lelouch’s wide, sheepish grin reflects on the freezer’s clear glass, a wide array of flavors boggling his mind as he debated with himself whether to get mint chocolate chunk, neopolitan dynamite, strawberry cheesecake, chunky monkey, vanilla heaven or—'a cone of chocolate chip cookie dough, please.'lelouch turns abruptly to his left, displeasure and a hint of annoyance rising to his features as his eyes fall on suzaku’s delighted expression. 'what ever are you doing, suzaku?' 'huh? what does it look like i’m doing?' suzaku smiles with satisfaction and excitement and pure joy playing at a lopsided grin with a huge scoop of ice cream between eager, deserving fingers. 'buying myself a cone, just like everybody else.' 'no, i meant, what are you doing stealing my flavor?' suzaku raises an eyebrow. 'it doesn't have your name on it, your highness. besides, if it was, i wouldn’t have bought it in the first place.' 'what did you say?' lelouch challenges suzaku—his best friend, his knight of honor, whom he has allowed to act so nonchalantly around him in private. suzaku finds instant gratification in riling the prince up. 'chocolate chip lelouch dough wouldn’t have sounded, at all, appealing. people would vomit at the mere sound of it.' 'why you—' lelouch raises a clenched fist into the air ('hey!’ suzaku hovers an arm over his cone, as if to protect it from the prince’s incoming tantrum), but puts it back down in defeat. 'you know what, nevermind.'‘heh,’ suzaku chuckles victoriously, his ice cream saved from being knocked over.'suzaku, you are an absolute jerk,' lelouch pouts childishly in a way suzaku has never seen before as he gaped at the display of pastel hues before him.suzaku suddenly remembers the summer of seven years ago. 'hey, lelouch.'lelouch looks at him, pouting still. ‘what is it?’suzaku gets down on one knee with a teasing smirk, his right hand on his left chest in formal greeting. 'would his majesty allow his knight of honor to buy him an ice cream cone?' lelouch is flustered, debating on whether or not suzaku is pulling his leg, but he slowly breaks into a big, toothy grin that suzaku had not hesitated to get another scoop of britannia’s finest. 'a cone of—yes, that. thank you very much.'the clerk hands him a cone of ice cream pink in color, dotted with reds and laced with whites.strawberry cheesecake, lelouch assumes, as he stares at it with childlike wonder, much to suzaku’s amusement. cute.'you may not have gotten the flavor you supposedly wanted,’ suzaku says, brushing away the urge to ruffle his prince’s hair. ‘but that is, by far, the best flavour i have ever tasted in all of britannia, and you deserve only the best.’ lelouch laughs with crinkled eyes, the sound winning over clipped voices as he takes in suzaku’s words as if they meant something and anything. ‘thank you,’ he blurts out once they’ve stepped out of the ice cream parlour, cold treats yet to be finished as the midday sun glared from the spotless blue over their warmed heads. 'with pleasure, your highness,’ comes suzaku’s belated reply, watching with thought the other knights who are having their photos taken by anya from the benches shaded with trees swaying to the cool breeze. he licks longingly at his savored slice of momentary happiness, a comfortable silence falling between them. for a moment, lelouch thinks he has gotten over yearning for some of that chocolate chip cookie dough, but suzaku’s constant mm’s and so good’s made him want to actually pounce on his friend’s ice cream.suzaku notices lelouch’s predicament. 'you know you could have a taste if you want to.’ 'i can?' lelouch asks warily, a tinge of a blush adoring his pale cheeks. ‘you wouldn’t mind?’‘would you?’lelouch shakes his head. ‘not at all.’ 'then here,' suzaku leans the frozen treat towards lelouch, perhaps breaking all sorts of protocol with his informal behaviour. lelouch hesitates, lips caught between his teeth. 'are you sure?' suzaku raises his eyebrow. huh. 'quite positive.' 'absolutely sure?' 'i most certainly—' so lelouch licks a side off of the treat in one swift motion, closing his eyes at the sweetness rolling off his lips. '—am.' it seemed like a stretch of minutes to suzaku; dumbfounded, he is, stunned even, all breathless and panicked and what the fuck just happened? 'suzaku? i-i apologize, we could go buy another—' he feels the guilt in lelouch’s voice, eyes still glued to the side which lelouch’s tongue had touched, his palms unbecomingly sweaty, his eyelids blinking in utter surprise. 'no, no, i-it’s okay, it’s just that—just that—' suzaku manages to say, voice rather small, uncomfortable with how the words stuck in his throat, an unexplainable warmth pooling in his chest.‘hey!’ gino shouts, breaking the growing tension as he jogs towards them, all smiles and vigor. 'where’ve you guys been? and oh, where’d you get that? kallen, come buy ice cream with me!' kallen walks towards them with anya in tow, somewhat bewildered at gino’s sudden increase in appetite. she shoots curious glances between suzaku and lelouch, to which the pair was completely oblivious to. 'that’d be the third one you’ll be eating today, gino. haven’t you had enough?' 'but i’ve never even seen these flavors before!' 'what even do i do with you,' kallen shakes her head in disbelief. 'ask anya to buy you another.' 'i only have enough cash for one more,' anya pipes in, prying eyes glued to her smartphone. 'wanna share?' 'fine.' gino pauses. 'but can i choose the flavor?' 'absolutely not. it’s my money.' 'please?' kallen rolls his eyes at gino’s pleading face, his lips pouting exaggeratedly, batting his eyelashes that it almost made her cringe. 'just get him one before he throws a fit. suzaku, you okay?'all four of them look at him, contemplating, wondering, observing suzaku like he’s gone mental—with the way he stares at his ice cream and his lips pulled into a thin line, it was hard to believe nothing bothered him. 'earth to kururugi suzaku!' suzaku snaps out of it, startled by lelouch’s worried gaze. 'are you alright?' 'i-it’s just—it’s nothing. yeah—i—why—' he mumbles beneath his breath, earning him rounds of teasing and suspicion from the other knights. 'we lost him to the heat of summer, i believe,’ anya comments, counting the last of her bills to shut gino the hell up about his damn ice cream cone. 'i have not gone mental!' suzaku exclaims, as if to reassure himself, coming back to his ice cream in what seemed like eternity as he accidentally licks the side in which lelouch’s tongue had touched. he feels a blush slowly creep on his cheeks, the sudden rush of blood leaving him dazed as he mulls over the fact that— 'correct me if i’m wrong,’ suzaku murmurs, more to himself than anyone. ‘but ice cream isn’t supposed to make you feel warm, is it?' another round of laughter echoed across foreign floors, over incoherencies and teasing, camera clicks and flashes. suzaku wishes for the ground to swallow him whole, burying himself deep into his coat. lelouch smiles, like he knows.