A/N: So let me abuse my little rights as a writer: this little scene happened during the first season in that episode where the student council team is preparing for the festival and when Nina left. Had to elaborate on that since one of my friends were a bit confused.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Code Geass. Well...except for a wall scroll, but that pales in comparison to the entire series. -sigh-

"You're an idiot-"

"Just hear me out here-"

"What kind of idiot says that and claims it's a compliment-"

"Because it is! Maybe if you would let me finish-"

"You just called me a simple little useless thing-"

"Hey, they aren't COMPLETELY useless!"

"Oh, so you admit they're simple?"

The boy fell back in his chair after realizing arguing with his best friend would last a long while. He surveyed the room, noting how Milly and Rivalz had to hold their sides while cracking up in pure amusement and how Shirley's eyes lit up at the current predicament. And Kallen…well she appeared sick, but the boy could tell she wanted to burst out laughing. Nina had been gone for a while, trying to get the signatures for her science experiment…or whatever it was.

"Suzaku…," the president said while trying to regain her composure (it wasn't working), "Who…haha…told you that was a compliment…hahaha!"

Suzaku didn't really understand what was so funny. He risked a glance at his friend, trying to gauge whether or not he calmed down.

"And Lelouch," Rivalz spoke up, "Geez, calm down…lord knows I would want to be called…" He broke out in a new fit of laughter along with Milly and now Shirley, albeit a bit more controlled than her two companions. Suzaku could tell based on how Lelouch's deepening scowl made itself home again and the cold look in his eyes that he wanted to stop being laughed at.

"Madam President. Rivalz. Shirley. Can we just get back to work?" Lelouch had to grit his teeth to control the bubbling anger. He felt an arm sling itself over his shoulder and a hand pinch his cheeks. His left eye twitched in annoyance.

"Lighten up, Lelouch," Rivalz said with tears in his eyes, "It wasn't like he called you an ugly duckling…" The entire room shook from the raucous laughing.

"That's pretty much the equivalence of what Suzaku said." The raven haired boy switched his attention back to the said friend. "And you…where DID you hear that from? Whoever told you that was a compliment is an idiot."

The boy could only gape at how clueless he was. Was it really THAT funny? What he said was just a compliment!

"Hey, what I said is not the equivalence of being called an ugly duckling," he stood back up, "And my superior told me that!"

Milly stopped laughing.

"Oh," Rivalz sobered up as well, "You mean that weirdo who crashed the party a couple of days ago?"

Suzaku realized that he messed up in mentioning Lloyd and quieted down for a bit. Lelouch pressed on however.

"So your very loopy superior," Suzaku had to agree with Lelouch on that one, "told you that being a duck is a good thing. AND you believed him."

Suzaku didn't feel the stinging tone that Lelouch spoke with and argued back with pure honesty.

"Yeah, and I agree with Lloyd on this one. I mean, he may be a bit crazy…and a bit too obsessed with the Lancelot…" Rivalz scoffed a bit. "But it doesn't mean he isn't wise!"

The raven-haired boy shook his head at how utterly stupid this entire thing was. "I don't know who's more of an idiot. The idiot superior for telling you such an insipid thing or you for BELIEVING said insipid thing."

"It isn't insipid at all! I mean, he said that I was like a duck too. Sure, it's skeptical…and weird…not to mention-"

"Stupid?"

"Lelouch, I'm serious here."

"So am I. Why would you believe him?" Lelouch gave him a particularly harsh stare as he asked the supposedly innocent question to Suzaku. Everyone else in the room squirmed under the sudden and intense pressure emanating from the vice president except for the Japanese student. He was too busy trying to figure out how to say what Lloyd said to him.

He had been training in the Lancelot for an hour. Cecile let Suzaku have a small break with some rice balls that she proudly declared that she cooked.

After hiding the food he deemed to be poisonous, he took out a small box filled with rice, salmon, and some vegetables on the side. Suzaku also took out some worksheets and homework, thinking to make use of the small spare time he had now to work on trigonometric ratios and functions.

It was too quiet, he mused to himself as he worked out a proportion. Usually, Cecile would be scolding Lloyd for doing something stupid or there would be the sounds of machines moving…and usually Lloyd in general. The peculiar noble had a very quirky personality.

"Ah ha!" The sudden noise honestly scared Suzaku for a moment. "There you are! Taking a break, I see~ oh, what happened to Cecile's food?"

After the initial shock, Suzaku turned around to face his superior staring at him with a strange smile in place. The soldier hesitated answering the question because if Cecile knew, she would definitely be insulted and hurt.

"Well…it isn't exactly…appetizing?"

The scientist laughed earnestly. "Isn't that true? Say, Suzaku? You know what I learned about you?"

"Umm…what could that be?" Suzaku feared his response.

"A duck. You, my dear devicer, are a duck~ isn't that fantastic?"

The teen had no response. What COULD he say? He just got compared to a duck. Was he supposed to take that as a compliment? Based on the overly enthusiastic look from Lloyd, he wanted to say that it was a good hearted compliment coming from him. But he then remembered that his superior was almost always jovial.

"Ah…I see. How so?"

The man bent down at an awkward angle in front of Suzaku, which had him pull back a bit at the offending distance.

"You see. Suzaku, when you think of a duck, what is the first thought that comes to mind?"

"Well-"

"It's at a pond when it's swimming! On the surface, a duck swims with almost precise grace, never disrupting the water or even sending out a ripple. It's calm on the outside."

'Okay, so it was a compliment', Suzaku thought. 'Maybe he's being nice-'

"But then under the water, it's frantically pedaling its feet to stay afloat. Like, literally kicking a mile a minute so it can be swimming. On the inside, it's panicking and hides it all behind a visage. I figured, hey this reminds me of a certain little devicer of mine, and I went to go find you as soon as possible!"

Suzaku felt a little…offended by it, but couldn't disagree completely with the statement. Ever since the end of the war, he always felt the trail of guilt eating away at him until eventually. It left only a small shadow of his true self. Usually impatient and impulsive, he now acted with a calm demeanor and had a humble nature to him.

In more than one way, Suzaku found himself connecting with the rather bizarre statement.

"Umm…thanks, Lloyd. I really…appreciate the thought."

The noble scientist stood back up and tucked a pencil back into his pocket. "No problem~ oh, and I fixed your mistake in that little problem you were working on!"

The boy glanced down on his paper and saw pen marks scratching out his writing and being replaced with a jumble of 'sin x, cos x, and tan x' along with a doodle of a certain little animal. How long had he zoned out?

"Lloyd, this is my homework!"

The man in question giggled as he skipped away to annoy another certain assistant of his.

"…well?"

The boy came back to reality, realizing that he zoned out again. That was a really bad habit he should break. He saw how Lelouch stared at him, waiting for the explanation of the supposed compliment. He took a deep breath before starting.

"Well…it depends on how you look at it. A duck swims on a pond and it doesn't disturb the water. It's calm and almost graceful on the outside."

The boy looked around and saw heads nodding in understanding and agreement. Except for Lelouch, though Suzaku believed he just didn't wanted to agree.

"But then on the inside…it's kicking and always trying extremely hard to stay afloat. On the inside, it's hiding its true emotions."

Silence penetrated the room. The student council members felt almost…astonished at the deep thought process behind it. Milly looked almost shocked that her soon to be husband could actually be so wise. Shirley agreed with everything and how it related to Lelouch. Rivalz was torn between the astonishment of such a wise statement and the reluctance to accept that it came from Milly's fiance.

Lelouch contemplated the sentence and scrutinized it with his analytical mind. Yes, it was true that he carried a grace with him, but that came with being former royalty. Yes, he also hid his emotions of hatred and vengeance from the people he loved, but that also came with being given a mysterious power of geass and hiding the identity of the most wanted rebellion leader in the world.

The boy sighed.

"…you're an idiot."

Suzaku took that as a 'yes, you're right about that, but I won't ever admit it.' He smiled and noticed that everyone else in the room was smiling, having reached the same conclusion as he did.

"You know," Rivalz spoke up with a mischievous smile in place, "Even if you're a duck, can you still be an ugly duckling?"

The former prince threw a book in response.

A/N: The inspiration behind such a...weird idea? I'm studying to be in the medical field and my teacher, who also worked in the medical field since he was 16 (amazing is all I got to say), told my class to be like a duck. Calm on the outside, completely ready to blow a fuse and/or stressed like living hell on the inside. Not the exact words, but you get the idea. After he said that, this came to mind.

I don't like the ending, but nothing else that came to mind would have made it any better...heh heh...-nervous laughter-