Title: Strangers
Day/Theme: Sept. 4 / I wished for eyes that could see into a man's heart
Character/Pairing: Shirley, Lulu
A.N: It's been a while since I've written for this fandom. D: I do not fully like this one, but it is a lot better than version one of it...
Summary: There is a difference between Lulu and Lelouch and Shirley knows it all too well.

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Shirley knows Lulu, knows his favourite snacks and how he likes to skip second period (history). She knows him just as well as she knows her school's pool or Milly's plans. His lips quirk to the left when he grins and his fingers twitch when he's planning and-

His eyes turn the lightest shade of purple, soften ever-so-slightly when he looks at Nunally.

(He always, even when she's not in the room, looks at Nunally. At her and only her.)

(And sometimes, when Shirley was younger, she'd sit on those large, fancy chairs, eating a plate of dessert. Lulu would be talking to Nunally and she could almost scream, don't look at her so hard, so long.

She used to fear that this love would be the undoing of him. Of them all.)

Who Shirley doesn't know is Lelouch. He ignores meetings and disappears for days and there are no more lunches under stone arches. Milly's jokes aren't as funny anymore and Nina hides herself and maybe, just maybe, Shirley doesn't know any of them anymore (in the first place). They all have secrets and she's tired of finding them out.

Of finding the boy who tries to conquer Britannia and free the elevens. He orders armies around, kills people, and it almost seems like an overgrown chess game.

Only, her father was one of the pieces and Lelouch always plays to win.

The person Shirley knows the least is herself, because even with all this, she still loves him. In this strange, twisted, lost way, she still loves him.

(And maybe it's because even though the phone calls dwindle as the months pass and he isn't around to hear, he still manages to call her before each swim meet. To comfort her just the way she needs it, to protect before she even knows who the enemy is.)

She wishes, (or is it wished, because now it's too late), that she could read his heart. He could tell her all the worries and uncertainties he locks deep inside himself.

Then maybe she could understand Shirley, the girl, the woman.

Only, it really is too late now, and Lulu and Lelouch swim together as one as he flows over her head. He is the boy in the clubhouse, trying to sneak out, and he is the man who is fighting a war too big for him.

And he is both as he cries and wishes her to live and she thinks that maybe she did get her wish.

For in those tear-laden eyes lies the true soul of her friend (her love) and she can finally understand.

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