31 Days Exchange - Too Many Friends Spoil the Date
Title: Too Many Friends Spoil the Date
Day/Theme: 31st March 2011; when our mouths are filled with uninvited tongues of others
Series: Code Geass (AU)
Character/Pairing: All the teenagers plus Jeremiah; Suzaku/Euphie, Lelouch/C.C.
Rating: G
The entire evening had been a series of disasters.
It had started when he'd used the cologne Rivalz had loaned to him. At the first spritz, Arthur had literally gone cat-out-of-hell insane and attacked him with ten times more ferocity than usual. Thanks to that, his clothes had gotten ripped, forcing him to change. However, he'd misplaced his only other clean set of relatively formal wear and it had taken him no less than ten minutes to find it and get dressed (again).
And then his car had gotten a flat tire. It was only by sheer ironic luck that he was very familiar with fixing vehicles thanks to those workshop classes he'd taken for extra credit, and the problem had gotten solved in three minutes and forty-seven seconds (a personal best). Unfortunately, it meant that he had shown up at Euphie's doorstep with somewhat rumpled clothes and an errant smudge of dirt on his cheek.
Cornelia had not been impressed.
After a piece of tissue and some earnest cajoling on Euphie's part - the woman had never been able to say no to her little sister - they'd managed to get past the doorway, into the car and on their way to the restaurant. The trip, luckily, was uneventful and there was little traffic, so they managed to arrive on time. Lelouch had been gracious enough to help him make reservations, going so far as to secure one of the best tables in the establishment, and for that Suzaku was eternally grateful to his childhood friend. It was also part of Lelouch's indication that he had his blessing to date his cousin, which was a plus. Like the gentleman he'd been raised as, he opened the door and pulled out her chair, seating her before he sat down himself and the waiter arrived with the menus.
It was then that Suzaku remembered he didn't know Italian.
Before the panic could completely settle in, however, he managed to scrounge up from his memory the name of the dish that Nunnally had advised him to order for Euphie - her favourite - before randomly picking something for himself. Awkward silence descended the moment the waiter left, and continued even after their meals arrived. Suzaku, much to his dismay, discovered that he had ordered some sort of pasta dish with a huge octopus sitting on it. To make matters worse, he'd forgotten all the jokes and stories Gino had told him to say during the dinner, and so the silence continued. And the pasta really wasn't his thing.
Suffice to say, Suzaku was a giant ball of misery.
---------------------
"I'm sorry," he blurted out the moment they exited the restaurant. "It was our first date and I completely screwed it up."
Euphie giggled. "It's okay, Suzaku," she consoled him, "it wasn't too bad, and I really liked the meal. Lelouch and Nunnally told you about this place, didn't they?"
The boy awkwardly scratched his head. "Yeah, they practically instructed me on what to do." Except what to order for myself... "In fact, I got advice about pretty much everything from everyone."
At this, the girl laughed out loud. "And I thought I was the only one!"
He gawked. "You mean... they cornered you too?" A furious series of nods confirmed it. "What part of this date wasn't orchestrated by them?"
"Probably your car troubles," she suggested mirthfully. "I think they had sincere intentions, though. That's what friends do."
"If you mean screw up each other's love lives, then sure," he remarked sarcastically, to which she only laughed again. "Well... I didn't get any instructions on what to do if dinner finished early, so... want to go to the park or something?" he finished lamely.
Euphie smiled and entwined her hand with his. "The park will be perfect." Suzaku grinned, his confidence returning, and made a mental note to have a word with their group of "friends" tomorrow.
The young couple were too lost in their own world, however, to notice the shadowy figure trailing them.
---------------------
"This is Vincent reporting in. Lancelot and Guinevere are on the move. I repeat, they are on the move. Orders?" Rolo's voice came crackling through the speakers.
"You heard them, Vincent! To the park! Get that mike as close as you can!" Milly commanded as if she was the Empress herself, deafening poor Nina, who had been tasked with overseeing the many spy cameras and hidden microphones planted in the restaurant as well as Rolo's communication gear, in the process. The entire group had convened at Milly's mansion, occupying her larger living room and cluttering it with the resident geek's tech equipment.
"Madam President, don't you think this is a bit much?" Rivalz commented awkwardly, seated just beside Nina.
"What are you talking about? This is sensational! It's their first date! We have to know everything!" the Ashford heiress declared, not without a tinge of evil in her voice.
"But... but..." Shirley spoke up nervously, "it feels like we're intruding..."
Milly waved it away. "Nonsense! They'll thank us in the future! It'll be something they can show their kids and grandkids!"
"Lelouch," C.C. murmured from her comfortable position on said boy's lap while holding her beloved Cheese-kun, "shouldn't you be trying to stop her? That's your cousin and best friend she's tormenting."
Lelouch grunted, even as Milly continued to "persuade" her dissenters and bark orders. "Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten how much trouble I had to go through - and still do, mind you - to keep her claws off our dates?"
C.C.'s smirk, which he couldn't see but knew was there all the same, surfaced. "Well, that's your problem, my dear warlock, not mine."
"Insufferable witch," he muttered back.
"Onii-chan, I expected better of you!" Nunnally cried out in horror from the one-seater couch. "They need our help! Can't you see that?"
"They're beyond salvation, Nunnally; it's Milly we're talking about," he reasoned, even though he felt a little guilty now.
"But they're family! We always help family!" his little sister pleaded. "Isn't that right, Kaguya?"
"Ah, my dear cousin is all grown up now," said girl sighed, completely ignorant of all conversations around her as she lay sprawled across the long couch. "I still remember the time he got a grasshopper trapped in his shirt..."
In a separate corner of the room, Kallen was wearing a neat circle on the carpet with her constant pacing. "That was a disaster. A total, utter catastrophe. I should never have let Euphie go through with it," she muttered under her breath.
"Now, now, Kallen, you're being unreasonable," Gino attempted to placate the fiery girl before him. "It's not like he meant to forget all my advice, and you did tell Euphie to wait and see what he would talk about so he got no help there."
"He could've tried, the idiot!" she howled back, sparking off a heated debate. Meanwhile, Anya just continued to type everything into her handphone. Her blog was going to get a few thousand hits with this post alone.
Jeremiah, Lelouch's personal bodyguard, could only watch the entire spectacle from the doorway with growing alarm. He hadn't remembered having a social life this messy since... ever.
Day/Theme: 31st March 2011; when our mouths are filled with uninvited tongues of others
Series: Code Geass (AU)
Character/Pairing: All the teenagers plus Jeremiah; Suzaku/Euphie, Lelouch/C.C.
Rating: G
The entire evening had been a series of disasters.
It had started when he'd used the cologne Rivalz had loaned to him. At the first spritz, Arthur had literally gone cat-out-of-hell insane and attacked him with ten times more ferocity than usual. Thanks to that, his clothes had gotten ripped, forcing him to change. However, he'd misplaced his only other clean set of relatively formal wear and it had taken him no less than ten minutes to find it and get dressed (again).
And then his car had gotten a flat tire. It was only by sheer ironic luck that he was very familiar with fixing vehicles thanks to those workshop classes he'd taken for extra credit, and the problem had gotten solved in three minutes and forty-seven seconds (a personal best). Unfortunately, it meant that he had shown up at Euphie's doorstep with somewhat rumpled clothes and an errant smudge of dirt on his cheek.
Cornelia had not been impressed.
After a piece of tissue and some earnest cajoling on Euphie's part - the woman had never been able to say no to her little sister - they'd managed to get past the doorway, into the car and on their way to the restaurant. The trip, luckily, was uneventful and there was little traffic, so they managed to arrive on time. Lelouch had been gracious enough to help him make reservations, going so far as to secure one of the best tables in the establishment, and for that Suzaku was eternally grateful to his childhood friend. It was also part of Lelouch's indication that he had his blessing to date his cousin, which was a plus. Like the gentleman he'd been raised as, he opened the door and pulled out her chair, seating her before he sat down himself and the waiter arrived with the menus.
It was then that Suzaku remembered he didn't know Italian.
Before the panic could completely settle in, however, he managed to scrounge up from his memory the name of the dish that Nunnally had advised him to order for Euphie - her favourite - before randomly picking something for himself. Awkward silence descended the moment the waiter left, and continued even after their meals arrived. Suzaku, much to his dismay, discovered that he had ordered some sort of pasta dish with a huge octopus sitting on it. To make matters worse, he'd forgotten all the jokes and stories Gino had told him to say during the dinner, and so the silence continued. And the pasta really wasn't his thing.
Suffice to say, Suzaku was a giant ball of misery.
---------------------
"I'm sorry," he blurted out the moment they exited the restaurant. "It was our first date and I completely screwed it up."
Euphie giggled. "It's okay, Suzaku," she consoled him, "it wasn't too bad, and I really liked the meal. Lelouch and Nunnally told you about this place, didn't they?"
The boy awkwardly scratched his head. "Yeah, they practically instructed me on what to do." Except what to order for myself... "In fact, I got advice about pretty much everything from everyone."
At this, the girl laughed out loud. "And I thought I was the only one!"
He gawked. "You mean... they cornered you too?" A furious series of nods confirmed it. "What part of this date wasn't orchestrated by them?"
"Probably your car troubles," she suggested mirthfully. "I think they had sincere intentions, though. That's what friends do."
"If you mean screw up each other's love lives, then sure," he remarked sarcastically, to which she only laughed again. "Well... I didn't get any instructions on what to do if dinner finished early, so... want to go to the park or something?" he finished lamely.
Euphie smiled and entwined her hand with his. "The park will be perfect." Suzaku grinned, his confidence returning, and made a mental note to have a word with their group of "friends" tomorrow.
The young couple were too lost in their own world, however, to notice the shadowy figure trailing them.
---------------------
"This is Vincent reporting in. Lancelot and Guinevere are on the move. I repeat, they are on the move. Orders?" Rolo's voice came crackling through the speakers.
"You heard them, Vincent! To the park! Get that mike as close as you can!" Milly commanded as if she was the Empress herself, deafening poor Nina, who had been tasked with overseeing the many spy cameras and hidden microphones planted in the restaurant as well as Rolo's communication gear, in the process. The entire group had convened at Milly's mansion, occupying her larger living room and cluttering it with the resident geek's tech equipment.
"Madam President, don't you think this is a bit much?" Rivalz commented awkwardly, seated just beside Nina.
"What are you talking about? This is sensational! It's their first date! We have to know everything!" the Ashford heiress declared, not without a tinge of evil in her voice.
"But... but..." Shirley spoke up nervously, "it feels like we're intruding..."
Milly waved it away. "Nonsense! They'll thank us in the future! It'll be something they can show their kids and grandkids!"
"Lelouch," C.C. murmured from her comfortable position on said boy's lap while holding her beloved Cheese-kun, "shouldn't you be trying to stop her? That's your cousin and best friend she's tormenting."
Lelouch grunted, even as Milly continued to "persuade" her dissenters and bark orders. "Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten how much trouble I had to go through - and still do, mind you - to keep her claws off our dates?"
C.C.'s smirk, which he couldn't see but knew was there all the same, surfaced. "Well, that's your problem, my dear warlock, not mine."
"Insufferable witch," he muttered back.
"Onii-chan, I expected better of you!" Nunnally cried out in horror from the one-seater couch. "They need our help! Can't you see that?"
"They're beyond salvation, Nunnally; it's Milly we're talking about," he reasoned, even though he felt a little guilty now.
"But they're family! We always help family!" his little sister pleaded. "Isn't that right, Kaguya?"
"Ah, my dear cousin is all grown up now," said girl sighed, completely ignorant of all conversations around her as she lay sprawled across the long couch. "I still remember the time he got a grasshopper trapped in his shirt..."
In a separate corner of the room, Kallen was wearing a neat circle on the carpet with her constant pacing. "That was a disaster. A total, utter catastrophe. I should never have let Euphie go through with it," she muttered under her breath.
"Now, now, Kallen, you're being unreasonable," Gino attempted to placate the fiery girl before him. "It's not like he meant to forget all my advice, and you did tell Euphie to wait and see what he would talk about so he got no help there."
"He could've tried, the idiot!" she howled back, sparking off a heated debate. Meanwhile, Anya just continued to type everything into her handphone. Her blog was going to get a few thousand hits with this post alone.
Jeremiah, Lelouch's personal bodyguard, could only watch the entire spectacle from the doorway with growing alarm. He hadn't remembered having a social life this messy since... ever.