Intentional Distribution
By Ryocha
"Ne, Suzaku, where did Lulu run off to?"
The brown-haired teen couldn't help but hold back a chuckle, smiling kindly to her saying, "Well, he's off at the Annual School Promotion festival." He shuffled a few looseleaf papers in his hands, briefly looking over the content and found them to be scraps, and placed them in the bin beside him. "Why, did you want to talk to him?"
Shirley pulled her stack of documents to her chest as though trying to protect herself from the force of his words. Pouting and knitting her brows together, she turned on her heels and smacked her papers down on Millay's office desk, "Yes I do! He promised me he'd come with me to the parade tommorow, but he never got back to me saying he actually WOULD."
Turning around again so she faced Suzaku, she then sighed and leaned back on the desk, letting her neck loose and crane all the way back so her eyes were fixated on the elaborate ceiling above her. Suzaku merely chuckled while watching her pout, shuffling a few more documents into their appropriate folders.
"You know, if you really wanted to get his approval, you could go down to the festival. I'm heading down there myself, actually." Her eyes met his and he smiled knowingly. She blinked, surprised at his offer.
"U-Um… sure, thanks Suzaku-kun." She watched him sort the last of the school documents, then carefully put them back into the briefcase then to be locked inside Millay's desk.
Hopping off the polished furniture, Shirley asked, "Hey Suzaku-kun, how long would it take to get down to wherever the festival is at?"
Pulling out the key from its lock, he then pulled on the drawer to make sure it was locked, saying, "About fifteen minutes, if you don't mind riding in Leval's motorbike, that is." He smiled softly to himself, bringing his body up to full height.
"C'mon, if we get there late we'll miss the best part!" He walked past her, a spring in his step and a chuckle rumbling in his throat.
Shirley merely blinked, follwing him with her eyes. "…Eh?"
"C'mon Lelouch! You'll be needing to start your job soon!"
"Quiet! I know what I'm doing, Leval!" The black-haired boy snapped quicker than usual. He held in his hands what he considered to be an abomination to humanity, his eye twitching merely by HOLDING the item that was set to damn his ego into hell.
"Then why don't you put it on?" The flippy blue-haired friend asked mockingly, wrapping his arms around Lelouch's slim shoulders while nuzzling the back of his soft raven-black tresses.
Twitch.
"Get off me." The cold order came out of thin, pursed lips that threatened many dark things in the future. Sighing exasperatingly, Leval let his friend go and spinned him around so he faced him.
"You seriously need to let yourself go sometimes, Lelouch!" He waved a finger in his friend's face, "I have to do this 24/7, and do you see me complain?"
"Yes, actually."
"Shut up, "He wrapped an arm around Lelouch's shoulders, erecting a grunt from the violet-eyed boy. "This is where everyone starts! YOU just happened to be lucky and stumbled upon the better spot first."
Lelouch titled his head to the side and crossed his arms, a confused look on his face, "Really? I thought I just had more potential and charm than you did."
Leval was appaled, and put the Geas-user into a headlock, "EEEHHH?! Why you - I should hit you for saying that!"
Managing up enough strength to break free, the black-haired teen stumbled backwards a few steps before bringing himself up to his full height, a very annoyed look placed on usually calm, controlled features. As a matter of fact, from Leval's point of view, Lelouch looked ready to throttle him.
"If you weren't so conceited, " Lelouch took a step towards the teen, "You would have been able to tell that statement was dripping with sarcasm." Leval gulped.
"Alright alright, I'll leave. Five minutes though!"
Lelouch merely groaned.
Shirley squinted, trying to make out the blurry image that was being disrupted by the unclean goggles she had borrowed. If she weren't so preoccupied with what Suzaku could possibly be so hyped up about, she would have been disgusted.
Later, though, she reminded herself. She'll give Leval a good talking to about hygene, since the blue-haired boy seemed to lack some himself sometimes.
Turning her attention back to the brown-haired boy in question, she made out a fine smile poised on clean features which were being briskly mangled by the cold wind. Shirley shivvered, absentmindedly bringing her arms up from the warmth of the attache pod to massage her triceps; a meaningless action that did nothing to help her friggid state.
"Don't worry, we'll be there soon." It was as if Suzaku had read her mind, for she looked up in surprise at him, golden eyes blinking widly.
"A-Alright." She whispered, fidgeting in her seat. She hoped this would be good.
"You finished, Lelouch?"
No answer. Leval snickered and tip-toed over to the temporary dressing room. "Lelouch?"
"Shut up, I heard you the first time." Came the snarling response. Judging from his voice, the blue-haired teen assumed that his friend had gotten into his outfit. He couldn't help to hide his laugh while thinking of the situation his friend will be in in only a few mere moments.
Again, Leval decided to let his inner devil take over. "Madame, when will ye be ready for your Prin—"
SLAM.
As if the Gods aided him in his task, Lelouch slammed the door right on Leval's face, sending him to the floor clutching his nose and whimpering softly. The violet-eyed boy's eye twitched, taking a few steps out of his dressing room.
He hoped no one caught him like this, especially people who knew it was him.
"Oh come on, no one will recognize you with that wig!"
"Yes they will; representatives will be coming from all schools and whoever represents Ashford is bound to recognize me. Not to mention the Newspaper Club will want to meet the participating people who are to perform tonight. Which includes me."
"Well, atleast make yourself into the role of your character—"
"Leval."
The golden-eyed boy stopped momentarily to look up from his seat on the floor to the most horrifying pair of violet eyes that were currently sending their vicious, ready-to-kill glare at him.
"I'm not one to get violent muchly, but right now…" The raven-haired teen rained his large broom – a necessity for his outfit, "…I have a sudden urge to break that routine."
"Are you sure it's this way, Suzaku-kun? Because I swore I just saw…"
"Don't worry, I'm sure he's over in this section." Suzaku merely waved off her comment with one of his tanned hands. Shirley had noticed that as they had approached the festival and got Leval's motorbike parked Suzaku had gotten more and more frantic in his movements. Like right now; he was grabbing her hand and pulling her along almost as though he was a muscular dog and she was the master who was holding on for dear life.
Not that she minded muchly, it wasn't so horrible that she wanted to break away… but still. Holding hands with another man usually meant that the two people were—
'Ugh! What are you thinking, Shirley?!' She cursed her wandering mind, watching him let her hand go much to her pleasure. She felt the swirling emotions of uneasiness leave her chest, as though a great weight had been taken off her shoulders.
The brown-haired, vibrant-eyed man turned to her suddenly as he stopped outside of a temporary tent. The words Dressing Room were clearly printed on a sign taped up sloppily to the canvas being rustled in the soft, summer breeze.
And then there was screaming. Horrid, blood curling screaming.
Suzaku broke in mid-sentence of something Shirley hadn't bothered to listen to, and turned violently in the direction the scream came from. It had come from inside the tent.
"I'll be right back!" He yelled over his shoulder, his eyes furrowed and face solemn as he dashed into the tent.
All Shirley could manage was a disgruntled "Y-Yes!" and then promptly followed Suzaku for his well-being and her own curiosity.
Swinging the broom over his shoulder to give the blue-haired teen another well-deserved smack on the thigh, he was interupted suddenly by a familiar voice that echoed down the tacky hallway.
"Hey, stop it!"
Lelouch, though never having any real strong emotions directed towards fear, now had the most petrifying heart-stopping moment of his entire life. He automatically recognized the voice that belonged to Suzaku, and froze. His arms stopped in midair that still gripped the broom tightly in his clammy palms. His eyes widened to the size of plates and he choked on the mere air particles in his throat.
Leval automatically saw the situation and laughed, but discreetly hid it in a cough. Lelouch shot him daggers, slowly regaining his composure.
Suzaku approached the two with discreet caution. It seemed he had diverted what could have ended in a disasterous fight, but he first wanted to see the face of whom he had stopped. Placing a hand on the figure's shoulder clad in what appeared to be a modified maid outfit, he began to speak in his softest voice, ignoring the shock he felt from her once his hand met with her body.
"Hey, turn around. You shouldn't be doing such things before the show… Wait… Leval?" Suzaku blinked in disbelief down at the victim of the attacker, who was splayed out on the ground in a butler's costume.
"Hey Suzaku!" Leval saluted cheerily, noting briefly how Lelouch refused to face his best friend, and instead continued to turn away darkly. "Didn't think I'de see you here so soon! Thanks for saving me from this psychopath."
Consider yourself murdered, the Geas-user snarled in his thoughts.
"Psychopath?" Suzaku questioned, tugging on the stiff shoulder. "You should atleast appolagize to my friend; I know he can be a bit of a nuisence at times—"
"HEY!"
"But please, try and appolagize for us anyway."
It was in these dire situations where the violet-eyed teen wished he could dissapear. If he spoke, he would reveil his true gender. If he said nothing, then he would be forced to face his best friend, who would automatically know it was him since he had told him that he would be attending the festival.
Softening his voice in a vein attempt to make himself sound female, Lelouch responded slowly, "I… I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
Leval blinked in surprise, he didn't know his friend could pull off such a voice! Regardless, it seemed to satisfy Suzaku as he let go of his unsuspecting friend's shoulder.
"Leval?" Emerald eyes furrowed, "Do you know where I can find Lelouch?"
At the mentioning of his name, the raven-haired maid turned on his heels and sped away in a direction he thought was safe.
Not without coming face to face with Shirley, however.
And once again, he did something he would never do except under dire circumstances; he swore. SHIT! It was the only word that came to mind as the orange-haired female carefully looked over his face. Her expression then changed to something that could only be grasped loosely as 'horrid shock'. Her mouth dropped as her hand went to cover it, stumbling back a step.
"Lu… lu…"
"…Over there." Leval answered after a while, having a hard time containing his laughter threatening to pour out over his sloppy self-control. Suzaku whipped his head over his neck to find the place to where Leval was pointing to. Pointing straight to the female he had just spoken to.
"LULU!" Shirley almost shrieked.
"Lelouch?!" Suzaku's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Lelouch!" Leval hollered, his blue hair snaking out from its wrap under his hairnet and wig as he fell back and laughed until he was blue in the face.
Over the shrieking laughter, Lelouch mastered up a disgruntled groan. Taking his hands from the broom still clasped in his hands, he let one go and brushed off the front of his dress discreetly. He then turned around to face his best friend with the harshest glare he could muster.
Shirley walked around the crossdressing man to be beside Leval, her mouth still covering her gaping mouth, eyes wide and cheels blushing slightly. She couldn't believe it, this woman in front of her was Lulu?!
"Yes." The cross-dressing man answered shortly, "It's me."
Suzaku mildly regained his composure, his body relaxing and stomach settling. He ruffled his brown locks and chuckled to himself in embaressment.
"You're cute." He said softly, "I would have never guessed it was you. Even your voice! How did you do it?"
Lelouch blinked, feeling his body go numb to the very mentioning of his current state being labeled as 'CUTE'. What was so cute about him right now? He was simply wearing a maid's outfit, the skirt part coming down to his mid-calf so it didn't show anything. Dark purple stockings underneith, black cuffs and a matching black velvet chocker and wristbands topped off with a frilly white apron that came down to his knees. Not to mention that he wore a black long-haired wig tied up in two perfect pigtails that trailed down to his mid back, each tied off with their own matching elastics to suit his outfit.
They just HAD to run out of female actresses, didn't they? It wasn't as though he had a big part, but regardless of that, he still had to crossdress. This was the very reason why he had almost forfeited being one of the representatives of Ashford, but with Millay's handiwork she had excused him from any tardis and offered to help boost up his already Honour roll-level grade. That, and elsewhere in the deal she had involved Nanaly. So automatically he had to go.
And now this… being called 'cute' by his best friend. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but it was better than being laughed at, he told himself to reasure his already racked nerves.
"So what part of the play are you in?" Suzaku chimed in with a smile, eyes dancing over Lelouch's attire. The violet-eyed boy coughed nervously.
"Just a backround character in the first three scenes; they had run out of female actresses so I had to fill in." The raven-haired maidboy explained calmly, eyes ever so often darting between the three people that currently occupied his vision. Shirley seemed to have regained her composure, as she now stared at Lelouch with mild interest and even the mildest hints of a blush tinting her cheeks.
Leval snickered, "I was lucky and got spared. But Lelouch here has the honour of being one of the first people on stage. Aren't you lucky?"
Before Lelouch could retort any further, a loud screech coming from the speakers stationed outside the tent silenced them. ATTENTION! ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE OPENING ACT 'DAYS OF OUR LIVES PART 2, YEAR 2: INTENTIONAL DISTRIBUTION', PLEASE REPORT TO STAGE ENTRANCE A IMMEDIATELY. THANK YOU.
The two actors exchanged looks with each other. "We must be heading off then. The tickets are still on sale so you could still get in, if you wanted to." Lelouch mentioned offhand, wondering why he was inviting his friends to watch him embaress himself whilst in a dress. He absentmindedly tugged on his creased apron.
Suzaku's face lit up, exchanging excited looks with Shirley who had remained mostly speechless throughout, " Alright, we'll try and get a good seat then. Which side of the stage will you be closest to, Lelouch?" The brown-haired soldier winked with a chuckle.
"Will you be alright in that? Do you know how to walk in those shoes?" Shirley piped up, eyes still as wide as saucers.
"Yes, I'll be fine. And they're not that hard to walk in, really. And as for your question, " He paused, as if in thought. He then sighed, letting his prepped head fall forward, "My left, your right. Please don't smile at me like that either, Suzaku. It's unnerving for me."
"Sorry, my bad. But you do look great, I assure you. As convincing as ever!"
"I'm not quite sure if that's a compliment or an insult."
Shirley giggled and Suzaku sighed.
"You wanna see convincing? Wait till you get a look at this—!" Leval then unexpectedly came up from behind Lelouch, grabbed the edges of the swishy skirt, and hiked it up until the rim of the outfit graced his mid-thigh's.
Indeed, it did look mildly convincing up there. Suzaku blushed slightly and looked away, while Shirley let out a muffled squeal from behind her hands, and promptly kept staring until her face was as red as a tomato.
'ATTENTION! WOULD MAID ATTENDANT "A" AND BUTLER "C" PLEASE REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO STAGE ENTRANCE A. THANK YOU. KCCCHHH!!'
"...Leval?" Came Lelouch's eerily quiet voice.
"Yes?" The blue-haired teen had a sinking feeling about this.
The crossdressing maid then simply flipped out a cellphone from the pocket of the apron and pressed a few buttons as the screen lit up. Whilst the butler/friend dropped his skirt, Lelouch began to talk into the cellphone's microphone receiver.
"…Yes, Mrs. Fallante? Yes… I'm sorry for my tardy. May you wait one more minute? I'll be there soon…. Yes, Leval is here with me…. Yes…. Yes… Yes, I understand. Thank you."
He snapped the cellphone shut with a precise click that made even Suzaku shudder in fright. Never had he seen his friend so precisingly evil.
"I just spoke with the Director, she isn't happy… but because Lighting crew isn't here yet either, we're due to start in twenty minutes." Leval sighed in relief.
"However… that gives us fifteen minutes of free time, as it will only take us a mere five minutes to reach the stage entrance. Do you know what I want to do in those fifteen minutes, Leval?"
A horrid shudder went through the butler's body as he watched Lelouch slowly raised the wooden prop being carefully cradled in his hands. The broom glinted evily in the natural lighting peeking out from between the flap covers of the tent.
"Suzaku, Shirley, please turn around and pretend this never happened." He instructed coldly. Idly, the two looked at each other uneasily.
"Oh, and Leval… Please stay still."
WHAM!
"AAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!"
And so it was made that Leval never taunted Lelouch ever again.
Wow, this fanfic… don't even ask. It wasn't meant to have any real pairings, though I suppose the subtext between Suzaku and Lelouch and even Suzaku and Shirley was clearly shown regardless. Xx My second fanfic for Code Geass, and I rather liked it. X3
MAYBE I'LL HAVE TO DRAW UP THAT MAID OUTFIT, AMIRITE?
-ducks oncoming bricks-
Until next time; love all your reviews!
-Ryocha