Seasons: IC Contact/Overflow

[happydreamed]

"Hello, you've reached Kantera. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and call a hospital. Otherwise, please leave your message after the tone."

Comments

[happydreamed]

I see. Do let me know when you would like me to comment then.

[This won't be much of an interaction if he isn't allowed to say anything.]

[kingside]

[sorry, kantera, he is too tsun for this] [Right, okay. Now he can... presumably...

Lelouch stares at his phone for a long, long moment, then—]

Is it worth starting a relationship that may be doomed to failure?

[happydreamed]

Yes.

[kingside]

Even if it destroys both of us?

[Which is, perhaps, something far more dramatic than what one might expect as an outcome, but he's relying on the fact that he is, as it turns out, a teenager to obfuscate why he's using this phrasing in particular. (Hopefully.)]

[happydreamed]

In my experience, trying to ignore or repress feelings is usually equally as destructive, if not more so.

[kingside]

[Is it, though. He wonders.]

I'd made it this long.

[Surely another year or so wouldn't have killed him. Perhaps.]

[happydreamed]

You're a young man yet. You have a great deal of time left to stew in regrets.

[kingside]

[......... Right. That.]

And you believe not pursuing this course would become one of them.

[happydreamed]

I do believe that, yes.

[kingside]

[... Damn everything.]

By all means, share whatever other commentary you may have been holding back.

[happydreamed]

You are both, spoken with all my affection, somewhat dense about such matters. I applaud you for reaching the point where you acknowledge that you both have feelings for each other. Suzaku seemed to be under the impression that you kissed people you didn't like.

[kingside]

[Suzaku, what the hell.]

They kissed me.

[Just to clear that up. He'd only tried to kiss Kallen once, and that was... ugh, never mind.]

Don't listen to Suzaku, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Also, he's not dense; it's just that no one has bothered to explain this all in a digestible format. A manual? Reference sheet? Flash cards? To say nothing of his specific situation.]

[happydreamed]

Worry not, I didn't believe him for a moment.

[He's seen how flirting with Lelouch tends to go if you are Not Suzaku.]

[kingside]

[the sad thing is that even when You Are Suzaku, it uh... anyway] [That's a relief, he thinks, not knowing any better. See, Kantera gets him.]

Good.

I'd also wager he either has or will reach out to you for advice again. Kindly do not mention that I've done the same or what our conversation has held.

[happydreamed]

As you wish. Though it's no shameful thing to ask for advice from your elders, you know.

[kingside]

[... Really. Although, well.]

Are you much older than you look?

[Is this another "secretly 500 years old" situation, do tell.]

[happydreamed]

Not exactly, no.

[If you only count the time in the dream and then Tokyo-F and Ellipsa as being 'alive', then he's much younger than he looks, actually. Though he thinks of himself as 27.]

[kingside]

Then you're my elder on a technicality.

[He has half-siblings older than you.]

[happydreamed]

Ten years is not an insignificant amount of time.

[kingside]

[He also has subordinates older than you. Or... well, anyway.]

If you insist.

[happydreamed]

At least in the avenue of romance, I think we can both agree that I have somewhat more experience than you, as a married man.

[kingside]

[................. okay, just because you're right doesn't mean he has to be happy about it.]

As you say.

[Kantera still isn't old, though. So there.]

[happydreamed]

[Kantera suspects Lelouch is sulking a little at the reminder. Honestly, some young people need to pretend that they know everything.]

Have you any other questions?

[kingside]

[Sort of sulking. Maybe. Just a little bit of sulking, as a treat.] [Lelouch sighs to himself, fortunately where Kantera can't see or hear it.]

General advice?

[Like, say, how do you ask someone on a date. As a totally random example.]

[happydreamed]

Discuss issues that arise rather than allowing them to fester unspoken. Tailor dates and gifts to your partner's interests rather than what you've heard is 'traditionally romantic'. None of us truly know how much time we have with our loved ones, so make the most of it.