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Right Here | AO3

Characters: Clavis Lelouch x F!Reader

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Summary: A snowy night full of schemes and surprises. If you can stay awake, that is.

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: My belated entry for @xxsycamore & @voltage-vixen's 'Tis the Season for Love CCC. My excuse for being late? I slept more hours the previous night than I did the past 4 combined. I still wanted to write something for this, even if it won't be counted ^^

Prompt: Sipping hot chocolate and then stealing a kiss

“Up… up… get up…”

The misty voice flitted in and out of consciousness, light and airy, as you battled between obeying or ignoring. While it called to action, it was also mellow and comforting, filled with solace alluring that lulled you back to dreamland no matter the words it formed, as you were more than willing to oblige.

It is most unfortunate that the voice was corporeal.

“Hey, I said get up!”

The downy comforter ripped away in an instant, ridding away with it the cocoon of heat you’d engulfed yourself in all night. Now gone, you feebly wrapped your arms around your form and brought your knees to your chest, squeezing your eyes even tighter as though it would banish the brittle cold.

For a moment, it actually seemed to be working. A gentle warmth sprouted from your arms through your chest and up to your face. You could see flutters of movement from behind your eyelids, and you opened them one at a time, blinking heavily to parse through the darkness. 

The first thing you noticed was that you were now sitting up. The second was the thick woolen sweater hanging over your neck and still-entangled arms, as though it had been forcibly thrust over your head. The third thing you saw, somehow after the other two, was Clavis’s beaming face inches away from your nose.

“Aha, at last! Hurry now, it’s just started!” he said. Leaping off the bed, he tossed you a pair of matching wooly socks and crossed to the door at the other end of the room. Curiosity powered through the grogginess, and you managed to wrestle the sweater correctly through your arms and slip on the socks before following him. 

Still unadjusted to the darkness, the short bursts of midnight blue seeping in through the high windows and Clavis’s repeated chirps of “Hurry, hurry!” played your guides down the hall. More than once you walked straight into a wall column or snagged your sock on the rug, but the increasing giddiness in Clavis’s voice kept you advancing. 

“Not your best time,” he said when you finally caught up with him. He stood atop a staircase, tapping his foot as you shuffled up the last few steps.

“If you’d told me where we’re going, I’d have made it faster,” you panted, clutching the stitch in your side. The midnight excursion took you to the opposite wing of the palace. The fact that you even made it all the way here without a torch and just out of bed surprised yourself, at least. “What time is it?”

“The time when the stodgy dream and visionaries scheme.”

“Did you just call me stodgy?”

“I have said nothing of the sort. I am only guilty of opening your eyes.” His face broke out in a conniving grin as he extended his arm. “Feel free to pass judgment after I’ve shown you.”

Even though you both knew you would accept in a heartbeat, you still allowed a few moments to pass before resting your hand over his. Your own version of a punishment, you thought, and the sight of his handsome features resting contentedly as he squeezed your fingers told you he understood.

“Right here, now,” he whispered, leading to a grand doorway and pushing through with his free arm. The ancient door scraped heavily across the uneven floor, but Clavis never lifted his eyes from yours as he heaved it open, gliding you both through when it was at last wide enough. The room itself was unremarkable, with thick sheets of dust coating heaps of forgotten furniture, peeling wallpaper and dust bunnies the size of actual bunnies limply trotting along as you passed, and a broken antique chandelier swaying ominously from above. But what immediately caught your attention was the enormous window that took up the entirety of the far wall and the glittering snowfall peering through, casting dancing shadows through the dusty air.

“Oh, Clavis…” you began, but were immediately cut off as he pulled you farther into the room. Arranged in a small section at the foot of the window, which you noticed had been methodically scrubbed clean, were two puffy chintz cushions and a large tea tray laden with various overflowing bowls and two large mugs covered with saucers. He quickly sat you down on one of the cushions, pressed a mug into your hands, and offered a bowl of what looked like tiny brown marbles.

“Chocolate-covered cherries?” he said, popping one in his mouth. “Sweet and sour, like my schemes. Or perhaps a chocolate almond — those have a nice crunch. And chocolate-filled dates just melt in your mouth…”

He was speaking in fast succession, lining bowls from the tray in neat rows in front of you. You wondered how he got the idea of covering things in chocolate, and soon felt a sinking sensation in your stomach.

“Clavis, you didn’t accidentally flood the kitchen in chocolate, did you?” 

Clavis blew a small raspberry, sat back in his cushion, and uncovered his own mug. “Preposterous. As if my genius creations could be the result of mere accident.” But you noticed how his gaze trailed out the window as he took a swig. “Try one, won’t you? Or at least warm up with the hot chocolate. Your hands are freezing.”

You kept your eyes on him as you plucked a treat from one of the bowls and bit into it. A gush of sweetness spread across your lips and you found yourself smiling unconsciously at the strawberry that peeked through the chocolate border. The same sweetness you felt as you continued to stare at him and how the snow reflected in his golden eyes. 

The room was still very cold, but your heart swelled at the sight. The cup was warm in your fingers. The hot chocolate scalding on your tongue.

“It’s cold,” you said.

Clavis’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Impossible, I just poured it. Here, switch with me.”

You giggled, inching your cushion until your elbows were touching. “Not the drink.” 

You could feel his arm tense even through the thick fabric of the sweater, but he had turned back to look out the window. “Sneaky girl,” he muttered as he raised his mug again. You set your own mug down and wrapped your hands around his left arm, gently prodding it into your lap as you too stared outside.

The snow descended in massive clumps, swirling and swerving in a hypnotic trance as a howling wind whipped across your view. Sometimes the movements were uniform, like watching paint dribble down a navy canvas, only for the scene to  jumble and shake as though the entire paint can splattered onto the window. You figured you must be up in one of the highest turrets as the misty fog was so dense you could not make out the palace grounds. Your only guess to how much had accumulated were the ever-growing lumps of pure-white piling softly on the windowsill. You threaded your fingers through Clavis’s, twiddling the silver band on his finger. He rested his cheek atop your head. Would this be how the years together would pile up in turn, you wondered.

Visionaries scheming echoed through your mind. Every day that passed by at his side, the term felt less like a threat and more a promise.

“Elysian,” you said, running your thumb across his freezing knuckles. Even after that previous sip, your mouth felt just as cold.

“I agree,” he breathed into your scalp. “A sight like this only happens once a decade, I’d wager.”

“No, you’re not seeing what I can.”

He lifted his head and leaned forward. “What, where? How can you see anythi—”

It was like kissing a block of ice. A blotch of chocolate lingered on his cheek as you slowly pulled back, and Clavis’s face morphed from frosty pink to ghost white before finally blooming into the most brilliant red as he blankly stared back. A sight, you wagered, once in a lifetime.

“Right here,” you said with a smile.

With this, I think I've reached my romance quota for the year.

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