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“Well, well, well, look who finally decided he was going to show up.” Standing just outside the school building, you narrowed your eyes on Lelouch. “It's about time. Do you even know what time it is?”

Greeting you with a nonchalant shrug, despite the fact that you were very obviously annoyed with him, Lelouch walked up to you and immediately began with his excuses. “Of course I showed up, something just got in the way of me getting here on time is all. I would have been here sooner if I could have.”

“Was it gambling? I bet it was gambling. It always is.” Shaking your head at him, you didn't even give Lelouch the chance to defend himself. He was often late for school, but as far as you could remember, he had never been this late before. “You do realize that school's already over for the day, right?” A stern look on your face, you crossed your arms over your chest. “I was about to leave myself. You're lucky I waited around for you at all.”

Still showing no sign of remorse, Lelouch's eyes went to the backpack lazily slung over your shoulder. “I guess that means you have them then?”

“I do, but I don't know if you really deserve them or not.” Placing your backpack on the ground with a thud, you unzipped the top and retrieved a thick stack of papers from within. You started to hand them over to Lelouch, but stopped yourself just before he could grab them. “Had you been at school, like you were supposed to be, you could have taken them yourself.”

Hand outstretched, he never took his eyes off of those papers. “Look, if I could have been there, I would have. I already told you that.”

“I'm not buying it.” With a shake of your head, you placed the papers back into your backpack, zipped it up, put your arms through one of the straps. “If you want these notes, you're going to have to earn them.”

“But...” Lelouch wanted to argue with you, but he knew all too well that it wouldn't do any good. Besides, the time he spent trying to convince you, was probably better spent just doing whatever he had to do in order to “earn” those notes. So, even though he wasn't happy about it, he agreed. “Fine, what do you want me to do?”

You hadn't expected him to agree so easily. Expecting him to bargain, at least a little bit, you hadn't had time to come up with anything yet. “Hmm, I don't know. I haven't decided yet.”

This didn't surprise him. As long as the two of you had known each other, he had grown accustomed to your lack of forethought. He also knew that you had a terrible problem with speaking without first thinking. In almost everyway that he could think of, you were his opposite. Maybe that's why the two of you got along so well, at least, most of the time. Still, he didn't have the time, or patience to wait around for you to put the rest of the pieces of your plan together. “Well you'd better figure it out soon. The history exam is tomorrow morning.”

“Right, right.” With a nod, you said the first thing that came to your mind. “First of all, I think you could walk me home.” Removing your backpack, you offered it to Lelouch with a wide, slightly sarcastic smile. “You could carry this for me too. It's really heavy.”

Lelouch didn't complain about your demands, but his sigh made it clear that he wasn't happy. “Anything else?”

“Oh I'm sure I'll think of more.” Grinning again, you started towards your home. After only a few seconds, you had come up with another task for him. Looking up at Lelouch, you quietly cleared your throat and nudged at his side. “Hold my hand.”

“Are you serious?” All he had to do was look at you to realize you weren't joking. “Fine.” Sighing once more, he reluctantly laced his fingers with yours. As soon as he did this, you could feel the warmth of his skin spreading throughout your palm. “Happy now?”

“Not yet, but we're getting there.” Tightly holding to his hand, you wrapped your other arm around his, basically clinging to him as he tried to walk. The walk from the school, to your home was a short one, so you wanted to make sure every single minute counted. You had considered taking the long way back, but the cold, and the fact that it looked like it might start snowing at any moment, kept you from even suggesting it. As the two of you passed a couple of small shops, however, another idea popped into your mind. “Maybe we should stop somewhere and pick up something hot to drink before going back to my house.”

Much to your dismay, Lelouch immediately shot down your suggestion. “Why don't you just make yourself something at home?”

Placing your hand over your heart, you pretended to be devastated by his words. In actuality, you already knew he was going to respond this way. “You're so mean to me. I don't know why I even put up with you. It's like you enjoy hurting my feelings or something.”

“Come on, cut it out.” He wasn't convinced that he'd hurt your feelings. Not even a little tiny bit. “You know you're not fooling anyone. Especially not me.” Placing his hand on the top of your head, Lelouch ruffled up your hair, causing stray strands to cascade over your face. “I can see right through that act of yours.” Suddenly releasing your hand, he gave you a gentle shove towards your house. “Now get inside. It's cold.”

Grabbing his hand just as quickly as he'd let it go, you began pulling him towards the door. “I will, but you're coming with me.” Quickly pushing open your door, you pulled Lelouch inside. “Since you wouldn't let us stop for coco, I'll just have to make us some.”

Stopping just inside the doorway, so that you couldn't actually close the door behind him, Lelouch shook his head. “I'd stay, but I don't have time to.” The tone of his voice let you know that he was being honest with you. Usually, he would have accepted your invitation, so you were a little disappointing that today he hadn't.

“Be nice Lelouch, I went through a lot of work to get all those notes for you. Without me, you'd flunk for sure.” Still trying to pull him further inside, you shivered as a cold gust of air made its way to you. “And close the door. You're letting all the heat out.”

Lelouch closed the door, but not all the way. “Mhm, you did go through a lot of work to get them.” He agreed. “That's why I actually want to make use of them.” Lowering your backpack from his shoulder, he retrieved the papers once more. Just looking at the amount of notes he was going to have to go through caused him to wince. “I won't be able to if you don't let me go home to study.”

He was right, but you had already come up with a solution. “You could just study here. You wouldn't have to walk all the way back that way either. I mean, you would eventually, but still.”

“Yeah right.” Your suggestion actually made him laugh. “You know that wouldn't work. You wouldn't let me study for five minutes without wanting to talk to me about something.” Stuffing the papers into his own backpack, Lelouch turned around to leave. “Besides, I promised my sister we'd have dinner together.”

Had he not mentioned eating dinner with Nunnally, you would have kept trying to get him to stay. You knew, however how important she was to him, so just this once, you'd let him go without a struggle. “Okay, I guess I can't argue with that.” Just before he stepped outside, you placed your hand on his shoulder, asking for his attention just one more time. “Lelouch, before you go, there's one more thing.”

Looking back at you from over his shoulder, Lelouch cocked a questioning brow. “What is it?”

The fact that he even had to ask was almost enough to make you sigh, but you stopped yourself. He probably already knew what you wanted and had pretended to forget simply because he wanted you to ask for it. You wouldn't have put it passed him. “Don't you know by now?” Blushing slightly, you tapped your lips with the tip of your forefinger.

“Oh, right.” Turning back around, Lelouch leaned down and placed a quick kiss on the corner of your mouth. As was the case each and every time he kissed you, you could feel your heart leap and flutter with excitement. “I'll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Good luck studying.” Narrowing your eyes at him, you poked the center of his chest in the most threatening way you could muster. “And Lelouch, you had better pass that exam, if you don't, you're going to have to answer to me.”

Instead of being worried, Lelouch brushed aside your hand and smiled. “If I don't pass, I'm going to blame your notes.”

“That's not fair at all.” Though he had already walked out your door, and started on his trip home, you called out to him. “You should have been at school. That's not my fault.” Acting like he couldn't hear you, Lelouch started to hum as he walked further and further away from you. “Lelouch? Lelouch, I know you can here me!” Shivering from the cold, you waited another few seconds for him to respond. It was only when he turned a corner that you finally closed the door. With the door now shut, you wrapped your arms around yourself and sighed. ”He'll pass.”