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Suzaku knelt before the Third Princess, bowing his head as he offered her the ceremonial sword.
Taking the sword, Euphy began the ritual of tapping his shoulders. “I, Euphemia li Britannia, do hereby dub thee…”
Bang! The doors suddenly burst open.
Everyone’s attention turned to the Britannian schoolboy who was now crouching over, his hands on his knees, as he panted heavily with an air of pure desperation. He was sweating profusely, as if he’d just run a marathon to stop a war. “W-wait, I object!”
Suzaku’s heart lurched at the familiar voice, and he looked over his shoulder.
“You object?” Euphy repeated, sounding unsure of what to do in this situation. “If this is because he is an Eleven—”
The Britannian elite murmured their appreciation for a good drama, just like they’d gossiped after Lady Marianne’s death. Or so Suzaku had been told, in confidence.
Finally raising his head to reveal his face, earning a shocked gasp from Euphy, Lelouch said again: “Yes, I object. You can’t knight Suzaku. He’s mine!”
The crowd tittered. Suzaku sighed in resignation and clambered to his feet, turning to face his oncoming future.
“L-Lelouch?!” Euphy said, dropping the ceremonial sword with a clatter. “You really are alive…”
Lelouch straightened and marched down the carpeted aisle in Suzaku’s footsteps on live international broadcast. “That’s right, dear sister, and I’ve come back from the depths of hell intact to prevent a grave mistake.”
Euphy tilted her head, eyes wide and innocent. “What mistake?”
“It’s as I’ve already said,” Lelouch explained, joining them at the front of the massive room. “Suzaku should be my knight.”
Glancing between Suzaku and Lelouch, Euphy pursed her lips. “I don’t understand.”
“He’s my boyfriend. He’s devoted to me. I deserve him, and I should be the one on this dais—not you!”
Suzaku suppressed a groan at Lelouch’s petty dramatics. Turning to Euphy with a half-shrug, he answered her unspoken question. “Well, he’s not wrong.”
In the front row, Lloyd let out a loud, “WHAAAAT?”
General Darlton stepped into view from the wings. “Just what is going on here?!”
Waving him back, Euphy blinked before stepping aside gracefully and gesturing to the fallen sword. “Then by all means, Lelouch, I won’t stand in your way.”
Lelouch nodded his curt thanks and retrieved the sword, taking Euphy’s place in the center of the dais. “Kneel, Suzaku.”
“In front of everyone?” Suzaku joked with a quick leer, earning himself a playful swat upside the head. Grumbling without another word, he resumed his position—only this time before the royal of his choice. Not that he’d argued the point before now, respecting Lelouch’s wish to stay hidden, but he wasn’t about to reject fate when he was finally getting the best of every world. “Okay, okay. Let’s just do this, my prince.”
Someone in the audience fainted.
Lelouch cleared his throat, commanding attention even while posing as a jealous schoolboy. “I, Lelouch vi Britannia, do hereby dub thee, Kururugi Suzaku…”
Euphy clasped her hands together as she stood by General Darlton, who was still gaping at the scene.
“You may rise, Sir Kururugi.”
Suzaku rose to his feet again, a little slower this time as he took in the absurdity of the last few moments. Before he could turn to face the unforgiving crowd, Lelouch stepped forward into his personal space.
“Kiss me.”
“In front of everyone?” Suzaku asked, this time genuinely nervous.
Lelouch’s face softened. “Only if you want to, of course.”
“Of course I want to,” Suzaku was quick to say, his heart thumping wildly. “I just don’t think it would be very appropriate.”
Tossing his head, Lelouch scoffed, “Suzaku, we left ‘appropriate’ when I burst in and dramatically claimed you as my own, like I was saving you from marrying the wrong person at the last minute.”
“That’s true,” Suzaku mused before grabbing Lelouch by the lapels of his school jacket and yanking him into a soulful kiss.
Euphy cooed in the background.
General Darlton made some kind of hyperventilating noises.
Lloyd let out a, “WHAAAAT?”
The entire crowd gasped as one, with some wolf whistles thrown in for effect as the kiss between prince and knight grew increasingly heated.
It wasn’t the worst thing, Suzaku decided, to be officially bound to Lelouch in these circumstances.
To be Lelouch’s in every way was what he’d always wanted, but hadn’t had the right to ask for, and he’d take it however he could get it.
Suzaku finally pulled back, staring into Lelouch’s shining violet eyes. “I would do anything for you, my prince.”
“Good,” Lelouch murmured back, just for his ears. “Because you just vowed to it.”
Lelouch, Suzaku thought with a fond eye roll, could be such a smartass drama queen.
“Congratulations, you two!” Euphy said, tugging General Darlton with her to stand nearby. “I’m very happy that you were able to commemorate your relationship with this added layer. Now, Lelouch, what else would you like to say to the world?”
Lelouch lifted his and Suzaku’s joined hands for the cameras. “I’ve said all that needs to be said. Suzaku is mine, and we’re going to be very happy together. I’ve arranged for a lifetime honeymoon, so there’s no need to bring me back into the folds of the Royal Family. Thank you for this opportunity, Euphy, and best of luck to you in finding a knight as valuable as mine.” He flashed her his trademark smirk.
The crowd tutted.
Suzaku sighed through his nose. “You know we still need to get married, right, Lelouch?”
“Another mere formality,” Lelouch sniffed. “But we’ll get there, and it will be just as sensational.”
General Darlton finally seemed to snap to attention. “Can someone explain just what the hell is going on now?!”
Lelouch groaned and deigned to glance at him, enunciating his speech-length answer with grandiose gestures. “It’s very simple. I, Lelouch vi Britannia, Eleventh Prince and seventeenth in line for the imperial Britannian throne—before I gave up my title, note the traumatic confrontation with my so-called father immediately after my mother’s unjust murder—anyway—story for another time—I could not stand idly by while the man I love was sworn to another. Therefore, I designed an effective intervention to right this tragic wrong. My results speak for themselves: Suzaku is now formally pledged to me. Good day to you, Sir, and screw Britannia. Let’s go, Suzaku.”
Suzaku offered a weak smile to a dumbfounded Euphy before Lelouch led him by the hand back down the aisle from whence they came, striding between the outbursts and insults that would never pierce the bubble they’d learned to seal around themselves.
At least, Suzaku reflected as they passed under a camera, their story was well-documented for the history books.