Intoxication

Intoxication
By Eline

From the kink-meme again: Request for drunk and desperate Suzaku and Lelouch, having a drink a lot of drinks in anticipation of the end. Laughing and crying.

R2 Turn 25 Spoilers!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Tokyo. It was suddenly the centre of the world again because of one man. The Emperor had declared that his capital was where he was. So now Tokyo was the seat of the Britannian Emperor in the aftermath of the war.

The real war had not ended yet. Not for a select few and not for Kururugi Suzaku, presumed dead and buried in a tomb that resembled a monument in miniature. Hidden as he was behind the scenes these two months, he had watched the Emperor’s plans come to fruition.

Their plans. Suzaku would not disown his part in this. Or the part he had to play. Which was why he sought out the company of the Emperor, just days before the end.

Once, they had been friends.

Inside the indecently-sized suite reserved for royalty, he found Lelouch toying with a long-stemmed wine-glass. A bottle of some vintage sat on the table beside him.

“Suzaku. I was thinking of having a drink. Join me?”

“But we’re under-aged,” Suzaku said automatically. He realised what he had said and the absurdity of the situation got to him. Lelouch was apparently thinking the same thing for he joined in as Suzaku started to laugh.

“We’re under-aged? Suzaku . . .” Lelouch spluttered as he clutched at his sides. “That’s just . . .”

“I know . . . I know . . .” Old enough to conquer the world. Old enough to destroy cities. Suzaku suddenly felt like he needed that drink. Maybe more than one.

“To Zero Requiem,” Lelouch said, lifting his glass. He looked so serious in that moment that Suzaku could see how young he was.

How young they were.

Suzaku drank to Lelouch’s plan. The wine was decent, he supposed. He was not Lelouch, raised on state banquets where even a nine-year old could sneak a glass of wine if he was clever enough. And Lelouch had been plenty clever.

There was not a part of him that did not want to return to the time when they were ten. Growing older was grossly overrated.

Such thoughts continued to prey on his mind as the bottle was drained to the lees. He had not intended to drink with the man he would kill. But he could drink with an old friend.

It seemed to be a good idea to him at that time. That and following Lelouch to the wine cellar to get another bottle. Lelouch probably needed help if there was any heavy lifting to be done.

In retrospect, it was the sort of thing ten-year old boys did. Rooting around in cellars when there was an army of servants in the Britannian Government Complex at their beck and call.

“The wine’s not really your thing,” Lelouch said as they stood in the wine cellar, which was very well-lit and contained enough fermented grape juice for the Emperor to swim in if he chose to. "I don't know if they have sake . . ."

There was sake. Some unpatriotic Britannian had apparently acquired a taste for it and amassed a few bottles on a shelf at the back of the wine cellar. There were no proper cups for it, but they made do with some good crystal shot glasses and hauled their finds back to the Emperor’s suite.

The thing about sake was . . . the thing about it was . . . the alcohol content was seldom stated on the label. If Suzaku remembered correctly--and it was getting harder to think straight--the alcohol content of sake could be anything from fifteen to forty percent.

But it went down so smoothly that they were knocking back glass after glass of it. In the middle of sampling some sake made from potatoes of all things, Lelouch abruptly slumped face-first into his cups.

Suzaku was not surprised--Lelouch was so skinny that all that alcohol must be overloading his system. He stood up--none too steadily--and got a shoulder under Lelouch.

“Bedtime for you,” he muttered, swaying ever so slightly as he half-dragged and half-carried Lelouch to his bed.

It felt--it felt almost like the time when they had been friends. When stubborn Buriki princes needed to be dragged home after a scuffle with the kids from the town.

He managed to get Lelouch on the bed. Then removed his shoes. The rest of the imperial robes posed a bit of a problem. There seemed to be too many layers . . .

“Nnmm? Suzaku?” Lelouch murmured while he was in the middle of working out how the vest-like-thingy was undone.

“Lelouch?” Suzaku could not quite hear what Lelouch was saying. He bent closer, placing his ear almost at the other’s mouth.

“. . . Stay.” Lelouch’s slender arms attempted to pull him nearer and he let himself be drawn down onto the bed beside the other youth.

They were almost nose to nose when Lelouch opened his eyes and looked at him, his deep violet pupils slightly unfocused.

“Suzaku . . . stay with me?” A question more than anything else.

“All right.” As boys, they had slept on the same bed before. But this was different.

Lelouch’s nose bumped into his chin as he leaned in and clumsily maneuvered his head to press his lips against Suzaku’s.

So very different.

Lelouch tasted sweet. Or was that the sake? Suzaku could not tell. He was not really thinking as he responded in kind. One kiss. Then another. Open-mouthed now, the feeling of their tongues colliding as they grew greedy and pressed closer.

Suzaku’s world narrowed down to the feel of Lelouch’s lips on his. The sensation of Lelouch’s fingers on his neck and shoulders, clutching at him while they exchanged kisses. It was as though they were trying to merge together--they were so close now he could feel every embellishment on Lelouch’s robes through his uniform.

Breaking contact with a sigh, Lelouch shrugged his vestments off and tried to do the same for Suzaku.

"How--I mean how does this come off?" he asked.

"You designed the damned thing--you should know . . ." This amused Suzaku for some reason and he wondered aloud why pilots’ suits had to be skin-tight.

"Do I look like an engineer?" Lelouch muttered. Suzaku could feel his hands roaming around his chest as he tried to find the fastenings. "Zippers . . . this needs zippers at the sides."

Somehow or other, despite their uncoordinated fumbling, they managed to partially undress each other.

"Are you sure?" Suzaku managed to say despite himself as Lelouch started to kiss and nuzzle his neck. "Are you sure we won't regret this in the morning?"

Lelouch chuckled--a deep throaty sound that reverberated through his chest. His lips were barely brushing Suzaku's ear, his fine hair tickling Suzaku's neck. "Why do you think I'll regret this? Any of this?" he asked, obviously amused.

Oh.

Oh.

He held his oldest, dearest friend in his arms as the tears came unbidden. Was he laughing as he cried? Or crying as he laughed? Did it matter?

He could not bear it. He had to bear it.

A few days more. How many mornings did they have left? Not nearly enough to regret this.

Lelouch's lips tasted like salty tears. Like sweet rice wine and tears. He drank them in like a man dying of thirst.

It was still not enough.

There was a kind of frantic hunger driving their movements as they pressed against each other. They probably did something irreparable to the sleeves of his uniform in their haste, in their desperation to be skin to skin, to devour as much as they could--
This was--like nothing he had ever known. Maybe they were just two teenagers fumbling around without a map, but it did not feel that way as fine-boned fingers stroked him tentatively at first and then more firmly as they grew more comfortable with what they were doing.

Things went much faster after that. Lelouch's every moan and gasp were loud in his ears. He was sure he was making just as much noise, although--oh, yes, there--he really did not care who heard them. Right here and now.

Suzaku wanted to memorise it all. As though he could imprint it all on his mind and sear it into his memory. Along with the images of black tendrils of hair plastered with sweat against a pale brow, kiss-bruised lips parted in the shape of his name, the unblemished skin of a lean torso. Still whole and unmarred--

He shut down that train of thought even as he worshiped every inch of skin he could reach. Found his way between milk-white thighs--he did not forget to kiss his way down--and delved lower.

If he was his Emperor's sword, then he had found his sheath. They were interlocking pieces of the same puzzle. Complementary--yes, that was the word.

The alcoholic buzz from the wine was fading, but he hardly noticed as they rocked together. Lelouch drew him down for a kiss, sweetly tender despite the urgency of their thrusts.

"I may regret a great many things, Suzaku," Lelouch said, relatively lucid and clear-eyed while his fair, fair skin was stained pink by their frenzied lovemaking. "But never this."

This stands forever--

The world seemed to fall away. Intangible and anchorless, Suzaku knew the sensation of flying free for a second--an eternity--a moment--

Then there was only the taste of sweet rice wine on his tongue, cool fingers entangled in his hair and the sound of a beating heart under his cheek.

It was all he needed. In this moment. At this time.

Freeze-frame this and store it forever in the vault of memories.

For this too, was a kind of immortality.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

End-Note-Type-Thingies:
- They are legal to drink where I come from, but not in Japan. Suzaku is such a good boy!

- I listened to "Temple" by Beverly Klass a lot while writing this.

- Wine + sake? 80% chance of hangovers in the morning.

- Oh-no-not-another-Turn-25-fic? I realised that this was Weight of the World—the Drunk Edition with additional purple prose!