Suzaku, as Lelouch liked to say when they were naked and lying together in a post-coital haze of carelessness, had a lot of hang-ups.

None of Suzaku's previous partners had noticed, but none of them were Lelouch – observant, caring, insightful, blunt Lelouch. And even when Suzaku claimed that he didn't know what Lelouch was talking about, or that he was wrong, or that he didn't want to talk about it, Lelouch persisted.

It didn't take long until Lelouch had figured out Suzaku's exact predicament and, in his typically Lelouchian way, had come up with a solution.

"I don't mind, you seem to need it, and it'll make us both happier."

"Lelouch, you're talking about me doing… things to you while you're asleep."

"Exactly."

"I… I'll consider it."

But Suzaku hadn't really. It was wrong, having sex with someone when they weren't awake to react to it. Suzaku knew what Lelouch liked and what he didn't, but still, it was just… wrong.

What was even more wrong was how, after Lelouch had made that offer, Suzaku realized that he'd wanted to do it for weeks. Lying beside Lelouch as he slept, watching him breathe, his face soft and smooth and relaxed like it almost never was while he was awake. His warmth, his softness, the small sounds he made, the way his eyelashes flickered…

He was even more beautiful asleep than awake, all the hard edges and sharp features that gave him a severe look gentled in repose, his acerbic tongue stilled and capable only of slight snores and sighs.

Suzaku started off slowly, doing his best not to abuse Lelouch's permission. In the first week, he only jerked off beside Lelouch while watching him sleep, never touching him. It helped. Once, Lelouch woke up and caught him and smiled, pulling him in closer and helping with hands and lips, and that was satisfying in a completely different way. As they drifted off to sleep, Lelouch kissed Suzaku's neck and sighed.

"Wouldn't mind waking up to you touching me like that."

The next night, he started touching Lelouch. Nothing much, just kisses and caressing his face as he slept. Lelouch slept hard and deep, always had, even as a child. Probably because his brain needed to shut down completely at the end of the day. Suzaku had always been the lighter sleeper, but the way Lelouch closed his eyes and closed down had always made sleeping beside him restful.

Only now it made him tempting as well.

Suzaku could do anything he wanted to Lelouch when he was like that. Anything at all. The thought of that, of that power and that freedom, was a little scary.

And exactly what he wanted, Suzaku had to admit to himself. Almost, in fact, what he needed.

It was impossible to resist. Suzaku barely made it two weeks before stripping back the bedsheets and exposing the sleeping Lelouch to his eyes.

There was a small gap between his sleeping shirt and shorts. Suzaku licked his lips and bent down to taste it.

It was warm and soft, and tasted like Lelouch. Suzaku pressed a firm, sucking kiss against the skin there and the soft rise and fall of Lelouch's breathe stuttered for a moment before smoothing out, like nothing had happened.

One hand pushed Lelouch's shirt up as the other slid down the front of Suzaku's pants, grasping his already half-hard cock. Lelouch barely stirred as Suzaku licked and sucked at his stomach and chest, nipping lightly at Lelouch's nipples as he worked himself, out of his mind with how quiet and pliant Lelouch was beneath him. He had no idea what Suzaku was doing to him, wouldn't, couldn't give orders or make demands or take control.

In that moment Lelouch was, truly and completely, Suzaku's.

Suzaku's eyes closed as he came, coating Lelouch's stomach and chest and making a bit of a mess on the sheets. As Suzaku's breathing evened out, he considered just leaving the mess there, for Lelouch to wake up to. He couldn't help smiling at the mental image of Lelouch flushed and indignant, his body marked by activities that had happened without his awareness.

In the end, Suzaku decided it wasn't worth it and gently cleaned Lelouch off with a warm cloth.

That way, there was more of a chance that he could get away with doing this again.

The slow escalation continued. Suzaku found that having sex before bed often meant that Lelouch wouldn't bother putting anything on before going to sleep, which made access much easier once he was unconscious. On the other hand, it seemed that cold was the one thing that Lelouch couldn't sleep through, and after the third time Lelouch awoke with his cock down Suzaku's throat, Suzaku bought and installed a space heater.

"Won't you be uncomfortably warm? You're like a furnace in bed."

Suzaku snickered at the complimentary innuendo and Lelouch grinned in return, making it clear it was intentional. "I'll cope." He grabbed Lelouch around his waist and pulled him in. "Somehow."

Two hours later, and the air in the small room was thick with heat, heavy and almost fuzzy against Suzaku's bare skin. He got up and flicked the heater off, confident that he could finish long before the temperature dropped low enough to wake Lelouch. Pulling back the sheets was like unwrapping a present, complete with eager anticipation and the rush of discovery that somehow never grew old.

His lips worked over the familiar and well-loved tracts of skin. Lelouch's neck, his chest (avoiding the nipples as the impulse to suck was nearly irresistible and cooling off those sensitive nubs was almost a sure-fire way to wake Lelouch up) down his stomach, dipping briefly into his naval, before arriving at their destination.

Lelouch was half-hard. Not even the deepest sleep could stop his body from reacting to Suzaku's touch. Suzaku smiled as he settled between Lelouch's legs, matching the required movements to shift Lelouch's legs to his breathing. In – lift – out – lower. Suzaku leaned forward, wrapping one hand around his cock and one around Lelouch's. Lelouch's breathing didn't even change. Perfect.

Suzaku started slowly, licking and kissing along Lelouch's shaft, as he worked himself to full hardness. One of Lelouch's legs, propped up precariously on his heel and against Suzaku's shoulder, shifted and Suzaku froze, watching attentively to see if that had disturbed Lelouch.

Nothing. Suzaku breathed out in relief and bent to return to his work, as his gaze fell slightly lower than Lelouch's erection.

…it was risky. But once the idea was in Suzaku's mind, it was too tempting to turn down.

He nuzzled at Lelouch's cock and balls as he sucked on the fingers of his right hand, his left steadily moving over his own cock. "Gonna make you come first," he murmured against Lelouch's skin as he slipped his slicked fingers under Lelouch's balls, pressing one of them gently into him. Lelouch's body let him in, not even fighting the small intrusion, clearly used to it. His soft, steady breathing never faltered, and his erection never flagged. Suzaku smiled – was this trust, or just obliviousness? Either way, it was incredibly arousing to watch Lelouch accepting him without any resistance.

The second finger was perhaps a little too fast and rough. Lelouch shifted and sighed, his breath hitching as Suzaku froze, waiting for Lelouch to wake up, to blink at him and smile with lazy hunger and start demanding things. Faster, harder, there, no there… As adorable as Lelouch's pushy and controlling nature could be, it was nice to not have to deal with it.

He lucked out, and Lelouch settled back down, never waking. Suzaku pressed firm, gentle kisses against Lelouch's skin before taking Lelouch into his mouth and sucking. It was tricky to coordinate the movements of his fingers, thrusting lazily into Lelouch, much slower than Lelouch would have wanted, with the hand wrapped around his own cock and his mouth moving over and around Lelouch's.

It was distracting enough that Suzaku missed the soft whine in the back of Lelouch's throat, the way he shifted and his balls tightened, all the warning signs before Lelouch came, hard and sudden, into Suzaku's mouth, his ass tightening around Suzaku's fingers, his breath hitching and stuttering to a stop for a second before he settled back into sleep.

Suzaku switched hands and got off as fast as he could, panting against Lelouch's stomach in the rush of what he'd just done.

And of what he could do. Next time.

Next time turned out to be less than a week later.

Lelouch yawned against Suzaku's neck as the movie credits rolled. "That was dull."

"It was sweet," Suzaku disagreed, not bothering to add that it was the same as almost every other Bollywood movie they'd ever seen. Maybe he was missing something. "Bed?"

Lelouch nodded. "I'm wiped." He had been looking more tired than usual lately, and the half-bottle of wine they'd shared probably hadn't helped. "Carry me?"

Suzaku laughed. "What are the chances of me getting lucky tonight if I do?"

"With me still conscious?" Lelouch asked archly. "Not great. But I'd hope that wouldn't stop you."

Suzaku kissed him.

Lelouch, true to his word, was out the moment his head hit the pillow. Still naked. Suzaku turned the heater on and fished out the lube and a condom. This was the best chance he'd ever have to try this.

He hoped it worked. Even if he never had an opportunity like this again, just the memory of it would sustain him through anything.

Lelouch had collapsed on his stomach, the gentle arch of his spine and swell of his buttocks an invitation Suzaku had no intention of turning down.

He took his time, waiting for the room to warm up. The nape of Lelouch's neck was always delicious, and one of Suzaku's greatest weaknesses, since Lelouch was adamant about him not leaving marks there. Lelouch didn't stir, not even when the thought made Suzaku laugh silently and a puff of air from his exhalation disturbed the fringes of Lelouch's hair.

By the time Suzaku was sure that Lelouch was fully asleep and the room was temperate enough for Lelouch's taste, the lube had warmed enough that Lelouch didn't wake or shift away from it as Suzaku gently pressed a finger into him.

He wanted to hurry now. It had been more than a day since he'd done anything with Lelouch, and he was eager. But there was something about the careless way Lelouch's body was splayed out for him, so far from the purposefully provocative poses that Lelouch favoured when awake, something artless and unconsciously enticing.

Of course, the unconsciousness itself was enticement enough.

Rather than disturb that, Suzaku took a deep breath and moved slowly, adding another finger and gently and oh-so-carefully stretching Lelouch until he couldn't take it anymore. Lelouch had shifted twice against the bed during the preparation, small, subtle movements that, if they'd been larger, would have been Lelouch fucking the mattress. Any thought that Lelouch wasn't enjoying this as much as Suzaku was vanished at the site of him moving so wantonly.

Suzaku slid the condom on, slicking himself up with more lube than usual, wanting this to go as smoothly as possible. Lelouch's body tightened at first, but soon relaxed at the steady, gentle pressure Suzaku used.

It was slow, but it was perfect. Every inch by painstaking inch a test of restraint and control, and then Suzaku passed, fully sheathed inside Lelouch's hot, tight body.

He'd done it.

He reached around Lelouch's hip, taking Lelouch's neglected, eager cock into his hand and tugging slightly, having to bite back a groan as that made Lelouch tighten around him.

"-zaku…"

It didn't take more than a brief glance to see that Lelouch was still asleep, flushed with his mouth open, his lashes fluttering, caught up in a dream.

Dreaming, no doubt, of Suzaku and of this.

"Lelouch," Suzaku sighed as he started moving, barely pulling out before pushing back in with tiny, insistent thrusts. "You're amazing."

Lelouch groaned, but it was so soft and little that it sounded like a sigh, and spilled over Suzaku's hand, his body clenching rhythmically around Suzaku's cock with every spurt. Suzaku didn't even have to move after that, letting Lelouch's own body milk his orgasm from him only moments later.

Lelouch didn't wake. Suzaku cleaned himself and Lelouch (and the bed, as much as he was able) and Lelouch still didn't wake. Suzaku flicked off the heater and crawled into bed beside Lelouch, holding him close, and Lelouch never woke.

It was too hot, and getting hotter under the blankets, and the wine was surely getting to Suzaku's head but, overall…

It was perfect.