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4

Flowers and Hot Chocolate

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Genre: friendship/slight-romance

Rating: PG

Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Shirley wants something special to show Lelouch that she cares. Nunnally suggest a simple way how.

Main Characters: Shirley Fenette, Nunnally vi Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia

Setting: pre-season 1, canon universe, slight AU

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Shirley paced the length of the meeting room, chewing on her lower lip as she thought about what to do. It was Valentine's Day and she wanted to get something for Lelouch, to show that she cared about him. She always got so flustered whenever she tried to talk to Lelouch about her feelings and thought hat, because it was Valentine's Day, maybe she could show it instead.

The only problem was that she didn't know how.

Lelouch never really cared about Valentine's Day, even though he had plenty of girls giving him sweets and chocolate and Valentine's Day cards, and only accepted the gifts out of politeness, albeit apathetically. With the members of the Student Council, who just gave each other cards because Valentine's Day wasn't just about couples but also about friends, he was a bit more open and slightly more gracious when he accepted those cards.

But Shirley didn't want to give him something as a friend. She wanted to give him something that meant something more than that, something that could help her show that she liked him as more than a friend.

She didn't want to ask Milly because the President of the Student Council would no doubt come up with something that was perverse or just plain embarrassing. Milly may be the one who knew Lelouch the best out of everyone on the Student Council but Shirley was still hesitant about asking her.

The door slid open and Shirley turned to find Nunnally wheeling herself into the meeting room. "Oh, hey Nunnally, Happy Valentine's Day," she said.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Shirley," Nunnally said with a bright smile before she held out a card that she had resting on her lap toward the orange-haired girl. "Sayoko helped me make this yesterday."

Shirley picked the homemade card and smiled. It had a drawing of her and the rest of the Student Council and the words Happy Valentine's Day written in red on top of it. "Thanks, Nunnally," she said, placing the card on the table and then starting to pace again.

"Are you okay?" Nunnally asked, tilting her head to the side curiously as she wheeled herself forward.

Shirley was about reassure the girl that she was fine but stopped as she reminded herself that Nunnally definitely knew Lelouch better than anyone, even Milly, and she might be able to help her. It was worth a shot anyway. "Actually, do you think you can help me?" she asked.

"Sure. What do you need help with?"

"Well, um, it's just...I wanna get a Valentine's Day gift for...erm...someone and I don't know what I can get them that showed that I cared. I mean...a card and candy just doesn't seem...enough," Shirley admitted.

Nunnally giggled. "You wanna get something for Big Brother, don't you?" she said.

Shirley went red. Am I really that transparent? She thought. "No, I mean...yeah….I...it's just..." she stammered out.

"It's okay, Shirley," Nunnally said kindly. "We all know that you like Big Brother, except Big Brother himself, so it's no surprise that you'd want to get him something special." She pressed her lips together in thought and a smile suddenly crossed her lips.

"I think I know what you can do," she said.

"What's that?" Shirley asked.

"Well, I know that Big Brother's favorite flower are asters so maybe you can get him a couple of asters and hot chocolate. Big Brother likes hot chocolate, not all the time, no, but every Valentine's Day he'd have some hot chocolate with me and he always seemed to like it. So why not get him some asters and hot chocolate?" Nunnally suggested.

"That...That sounds like a great idea! Thanks, Nunnally!" Shirley said excitedly and headed toward the door leading out of the meeting room, intent on going to the kitchen and making some hot chocolate for Lelouch. Then she would have to track down some asters but she figured that she could find them in the garden club.

"Oh and don't forget the marshmallows," Nunnally called.

"I won't," Shirley called back and left the room.

. . .

Lelouch dropped the group of Valentine's Day cards that he'd gotten that day into a small pile on the table and sat down next to his little sister. Currently, they were the only ones in the meeting room, waiting for the rest of the Student Council to arrive for the meeting.

"So how's your Valentine's Day been, Big Brother?" Nunnally asked sweetly.

"Fine," Lelouch said. He never really cared for Valentine's Day. To him, it was really just another day. It wasn't as if he had a girlfriend nor did he care enough to get to know the other girls at Ashford Academy. He didn't know how he had so many fangirls but Valentine's Day was the only time that they showed up out of the woodwork to give him cards or chocolate or candies. Most of the time, he gave the candies to Nunnally and just put the cards in a drawer in his room and forgot about them until he cleaned out his desk.

The cards exchanged by the Student Council were different simply because the Student Council were his friends and he did care about them, much more than he did the rest of the school.

"That's good," Nunnally said.

The door opened and Milly came into the room followed by Rivalz, the latter of whom was carrying a couple of cards in his hands. "Hey, guys, Happy Valentine's Day," he greeted them, handing Lelouch and Nunnally one card each.

"Oh, you got one written in braille. That's really nice, Rivalz. Thanks!" Nunnally said, smiling as she ran her fingers across the braille lettering.

"You're welcome, Nunnally," Rivalz said.

"Hmm, wonder where Shirley is," Milly said, flopping into her seat, placing the cards that she'd gotten over the course of the day on the table in front of her.

"Oh, she's getting something," Nunnally said with a sweet smile that was a little secretive and Lelouch raised an eyebrow, wondering what his little sister knew that no one else did.

The door slid open at that moment and Lelouch turned to it to find a panting Shirley making her way into the room. She was holding a steaming mug of hot chocolate in one hand, topped with mini marshmallows, and a couple of the familiar star-shaped purple aster flowers.

"Shirley, you're late," Milly scolded.

"Sorry, Madame President. It took me a bit longer to find these than I thought it would," Shirley admitted, walking over to join Lelouch and then, biting her lip, held them out to him. "Erm, Happy Valentine's Day, Lulu."

Lelouch blinked, surprised, but reached out and took both the mug and the two asters out of Shirley's hands. "Thank you but how did you know asters were my favorite flower?"

"You have a favorite flower?" Rivalz echoed.

"Shut up. Don't ruin the moment," Milly hissed to Rivalz, elbowing him sharply in the side.

"Um, well...Nunnally told me," Shirley admitted. "And, um, she told me that you used to drink hot chocolate with her every Valentine's Day so I thought...um...well...it' just...it's silly...I..." She was stammering out.

While Lelouch was a bit confused by why Shirley was acting all flustered around him all of a sudden, he did appreciate the gesture. "Thank you again. It was a thoughtful gift and I appreciate it," he said.

"Now go and get your own hot chocolate, Shirley," Nunnally said. "It's tradition! You gotta have a mug of hot chocolate with Big Brother."

"Um, right," Shirley said and darted out of the meeting room.

Lelouch glanced at his sister who held out a hand toward him. "I'm gonna head back to the apartment so I'll take those up with me, Big Brother. Sayoko can put them in a vase," she said.

"All right," Lelouch said, handing the two asters to Nunnally who took them and, resting them on her lap, wheeled herself out of the room.

Shirley came back into the room, with her own hot chocolate in her hands, soon after Nunnally left and Milly leaned forward and murmured something to Rivalz. Rivalz blinked but nodded and stood up and Milly stood up as well. "Well, I'm canceling this meeting. Have fun, you two," she said with a grin and she, completely ignoring the bewildered look Lelouch gave her, and Rivalz left.

"What was that about?" Lelouch said.

"Who knows with the president," Shirley said with a nervous smile, nursing the mug in her hands. She sipped at it and winced. "Ow, still too hot. It takes forever for it to cool down."

Lelouch chuckled a little, blowing on his hot chocolate. "But it's delicious," he said, sipping at it and wincing since his was still a bit too hot too.

Shirley nodded in agreement and the two of them lapsed into silence.

"So, um," Shirley trailed off and then tried again, "so asters are your favorite flower?"

Lelouch nodded. "I don't really know why. I never really thought about having a favorite flower but Nunnally asked me one time and those were the first that popped into my head," he said. He didn't say it out loud but the main reason why asters were his favorite flower was because they were one of the more unique flowers that could be found in the gardens of the Aries Villa. In short, asters reminded him of home while, at the same time, were unique among the other kinds of flowers in his mother's garden.

"That's cool."

Deciding to keep the conversation going, so as to not lapse into another awkward silence, Lelouch asked, "Do you have a favorite flower?"

Shirley nodded, smiling. "I actually like sunflowers. They're pretty and yellow like the sun," she said.

Lelouch nodded, sipping at his hot chocolate, thankful that it wasn't as hot as it was earlier so it didn't scald his tongue like last time. "I suppose I also like cherry blossoms," he said thoughtfully.

"Oh?" Shirley blinked.

Lelouch nodded, thinking back to his time at the Kururugi Shrine when he'd first visited the garden with Nunnally and Suzaku and the latter had introduced him to cherry blossoms, which were his favorite flowers.

"I've never seen a cherry blossom before. They're native to this country, aren't they?" Shirley asked.

Lelouch nodded. "They're beautiful. I know Nunnally loves them," he said. "Though she told me that her favorite flower are actually white roses."

"White roses really are pretty," Shirley said.

The two lapsed into silence again.

Shirley chuckled suddenly and Lelouch blinked at her, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Sorry," Shirley said. "I just...I never thought I'd have a conversation about flowers with you. Ah, no offense but..." She trailed off, blushing and sipping at her hot chocolate to try to cover up her embarrassment.

"I never thought I'd have this kind of conversation with anyone myself," Lelouch admitted faintly amused.

Shirley chuckled and sipped at her hot chocolate. She hesitated and then stood up, causing Lelouch to look at her in confusion. "Um, do you want to go for a walk?" she asked.

Lelouch blinked but shrugged. "Okay," he said, standing up and following Shirley as she led the way out of the meeting room.

The two walked around campus side by side as Shirley started talking about what Milly had originally planned for Valentine's Day. "Cupids! I mean, really? The ideas a good idea, I suppose, but the outfits she was gonna have herself, me, and Nina were..." She trailed off, her face going red and Lelouch could only imagine what revealing outfit Milly would have thrown the girls in their group in.

"She probably would have done it if we didn't run out of money and had to moderate our spending to ensure that the rest of the clubs got the money that they were allotted so I think you guys got off lucky," he said.

"Do you think it'll be possible to spend all the money before next Valentine's day comes around?" Shirley asked hopefully.

Lelouch chuckled. "Considering how overboard Milly goes with some of her ideas, it's a safe bet that we won't have enough money for this next year," he said.

"She really does go overboard on a lot of things. Remember the cross-dressing ball?" Shirley said.

Lelouch's eye twitched. "I'm trying hard to forget that particular idea of hers," he said.

"She has pictures, you know."

"I intend on tracking them down as soon as possible and burning them."

Shirley chuckled and shook her head and the two of left the courtyard they'd been walking around and headed into the garden where the Garden Club usually met. A few of the club's members looked up from where they were working and waved in greeting or called out greetings before going back to work.

As they walked, Lelouch spotted a clump of sunflowers resting near the back of the garden, being watered by one of the gardeners. It's only fair. She got me flowers after all, he thought and turned to Shirley. "I'll be right back," he said and wandered over to join the gardener.

The gardener looked up. "Hey Lelouch," she greeted him. "What can I do for you?"

"May I have a few of those sunflowers?" Lelouch asked, pointing to the clump.

"Sure." The gardener put the watering can down and, bending down, plucked a couple of the sunflowers before holding them out to him. "I hope Shirley likes 'em. 'Bout time you stopped being so clueless." She went back to watering the sunflower, ignoring the confused look Lelouch gave her.

Deciding to ignore that for now, he walked back to join Shirley.

"Where'd you go?" Shirley asked curiously.

"Just thought to get you something in return for those flowers and that hot chocolate earlier," Lelouch said and handed her the couple of sunflowers.

Shirley's eyes widened a little and then she smiled and took the flowers, sniffing them. "Thank you, Lulu," she said with a bright smile, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"You're welcome, Shirley. Ready to keep walking?"

"Sure."

The two of them walked side by side out of the garden, Shirley holding the sunflowers in her hands and smiling and Lelouch walking alongside her. He caught sight of the happy smile on her lips and let a small smile cross his own. "Happy Valentine's Day, Shirley," he said.

Shirley turned to him. "Happy Valentine's Day, Lulu," she replied, still smiling.

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A/n what do yo think?

Blaze: short, I know, but I was trying to keep the characters in character and I didn't really want to drag it out. I was hoping to get this out on Valentine's Day but I ended up getting home a lot later than I'd planned so it's being posted a day late.

Bakura: whatever

Blaze: don't be a downer on Valentine's Day (kicks Bakura out of the computer room) Well, I hope that you enjoyed this little oneshot (and my newest addition to my collection of oneshots and short stories) and keep a look out because soon—as in, hopefully, only a day or two—I will be posting a Suzaku/Euphie fic. Thank you for reading and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.