Author's Note: It may be the middle of March but...Happy fluffy and belated Valentine's day?

On a typical Valentine's Day, couples were sure to remember that the holiday fell on February 14th.

"Was today supposed to be a special day?" C.C. asked through mouthfuls of a heart-shaped cookie. The bakery was oddly giving them away for free, almost as if it was trying to promote something.

"I believe it's a holiday, and judging by the excessive amount of red and pink everywhere, I'm going to take a guess that it's Valentine's day," Lelouch surmised, brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes.

"Is it now? Oh if I had known earlier I would have prepared," C.C. admitted.

"You wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day?" Lelouch said incredulously, widening his eyes in surprise.

The corner of her lips turned up into a half-smile. "No, no need to panic my silly warlock. There are just many things girls can take advantage of on Valentine's Day."

"That being?" Despite asking, he wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

C.C. chuckled lightly, "I am referring to the half-priced chocolate after this frivolous holiday is over, of course." Her little smile then curved into a sly smirk. "Though, I usually am able to get a desperate man to go on a date with me and pay for my pizza expenses for the day."

Lelouch's shoulders stiffened. He couldn't decide whether it was because he may have to be the poor man today, or because of the unsettling knowledge that he wasn't on previous February 14ths.

On a typical Valentine's Day, flowers were somewhere in the picture.

"For you Miss, please accept this rose," a dark-haired man extended the flower out towards C.C. and bowed.

"Um," she began, only to be immediately cut off.

"You are so very beautiful. Your hair looks like it is as soft as the finest silk, and your eyes shine like golden pools of honey that the sun had melted in," the mysterious stranger prattled on.

"Oh really?" C.C. answered, more amused than flattered.

"Oh really?" Lelouch echoed, a clear edge in his voice.

"Yes, really!" The man affirmed as he brought his other hand into an energetic fist. "Every girl deserves to be youthful and happy on Valentine's day!"

Lelouch scoffed. "You are so ridiculously cheesy," he all but bit out. "What is your real motive?"

"None whatsoever! This beautiful lady here just did not look all that excited about Valentine's Day and I needed to change that," he exclaimed.

Lelouch opened his mouth to speak but C.C. beat him to it.

"Is that so?" C.C. raised an eyebrow. "In that case, I'll accept your gift," she said as she gently plucked the rose from his hand.

"What? Why?" A childish pout overcame Lelouch's features.

"Because, I felt like it," she elusively answered, watching as the man bounded away to another woman walking down the street.

Folding his arms across his chest, Lelouch frowned. "What was with that guy anyways? Did you see his eyebrows? You could have landed a Knightmare on them."

"Could you possibly be, jealous?" C.C. teased, twirling the rose between her index and middle fingers.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lelouch deadpanned, though he turned away to hide a rising blush.

"No need to hide that you're upset you didn't get one too. I for one, think that you would make a very beautiful lady, Luluko."

"That's not what I'd be jealou− Ah, never mind. J-Just shut up."

On a typical Valentine's Day, couples adorably shared their belongings.

Tug.

Tug.

Lelouch pulled his scarf out of C.C.'s grasp and slung it into another loop around his neck.

"Hey, I'm cold. Give me your scarf," C.C. not asked nor whined, but stated. They stopped in the middle of the sidewalk; underneath a streetlamp decked in red and white streamers.

"So am I, and you have a thicker jacket than me so we're fairly distributed," Lelouch replied evenly. Although, he probably would have caved in if she had asked more nicely.

"Give it to me," she continued, entirely ignoring him.

Lelouch shrugged, lowering his chin until he was situated snugly within the scarf. "Taking orders from you? Feh."

C.C., however, was relentless. "After all the housework I do, you're not going to share your scarf?"

"What housework? Last time I checked the cooking, cleaning, gardening, and paperwork were shoved under 'Lelouch's duties,'" he reminded.

"I took care of shoveling the snow last week."

Lelouch cupped his chin. "C.C., I don't think paying high schoolers to shovel our driveway counts as you working."

"Oh I never paid them. I just made them believe I was an overworked teenage mother."

"Exactly."

"But, but, I am not fit for any housework when I'm carrying your child," she said, feigning innocence.

"You are not! W-We never did anything like that!" He sputtered.

"How would you know?" C.C. retorted mysteriously.

"How would I− You know what, here," he unraveled the blue scarf off himself and wound it around both of their necks. "It's just long enough for us to share. How bout it?"

C.C. sighed, but smiled nonetheless. "Very well...we'll have it your way this time."

On a typical Valentine's Day, hand holding was involved.

"This is completely unnecessary," C.C. droned.

"No, in this case it is completely necessary," Lelouch heaved, feeling his breath running short.

She stared at the blue scarf. It had slipped from Lelouch's neck and was now only attached to her own, flapping like a flag in the wind.

"Just let go, we both know you don't have the stamina for this," she said it as if it was the easiest decision in the world.

In response, Lelouch shuffled his foot a step back. "No, you're going to get hurt."

"That didn't stop you when you had me pose as Zero," C.C. countered.

He tightened his hold around C.C.'s hand, sweat lining the insides of his fingers and pooling in his palms. To make matters worse, her limp grip certainly wasn't helping his ability to pull her up. "Then I'll have to make up for that," he replied honestly.

"There's no need, just let go. I'm never going to find my Cheese-kun sticker pages at this rate. Besides, this height is too short to die from, at worst I'll get some broken bones," C.C. rationalized.

"We'll be able to collect them again. It's nothing worth jumping off a bridge to retrieve! Do you know how freezing the water is in the middle of February?" Lelouch exclaimed. The droplets of sweat that had formed on his brow were now slipping down his temple.

"Think of my poor Cheese-kun stickers, the wind whisking them out of my album and then rudely dumping them into the river. They're probably losing their adhesiveness and sinking to the bottom of the river as we speak..." she spoke so forlornly that Lelouch couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Like that is my main concern," he squeezed his fingers around C.C's cold palms, feeling his strength waning to dangerously low levels.

A frown replaced C.C.'s aloof expression, "Both of us are going to fall if you don't let me go. Even if I tried to scale your arm I'd pull you down with me."

"Then so be it."

C.C.'s golden eyes crinkled softly. "You mustn't be so selfless, you'll hurt yourself in the end," she maneuvered her fingers to lace them together with Lelouch's.

"That sounds like it should be my life's catchphrase," he breathed out a shaky laugh.

"Thank you, Lelouch, but..." she smiled at him as she wriggled out of his grip and free-falled into the icy waters. She broke into the choppy waters with a curt, slapping impact.

Physically, she suffered from a few broken bones. But aside from that, she felt unscathed.

On a typical Valentine's Day, people dressed nicely for the occasion.

Black boots squeaked, left behind patches of water, and tracked in muddy footprints. But, C.C. paid no heed to the dirty looks that the sales representative was sending their way as she perused the racks of clothing.

"I dislike all of these selections," C.C. stated, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Well, you wouldn't have to be here if you didn't jump off a bridge for stickers," Lelouch kindly recapped.

"Oh, stop being such a nag and let it go," she said in a clipped tone.

"How can I when I'm going to be sore for days from holding onto your dead weight?"

A chuckle escaped through her lips. "Such a drama queen as always, your body will heal up in no time at all. It didn't take my ribs and ankle much time," to prove her point, she placed her hand along her ribcage and pressed firmly on it.

His gaze flitted towards her ribcage. "That is because you're so reckless that your body already knows what to do."

"Well, isn't someone an ice queen today?" C.C. responded cheekily.

Lelouch narrowed his eyes, but didn't return her jab as the sales representative came up to C.C.

"Are you finding everything to your liking today, Miss?" The woman asked, obviously strained by the mess C.C. had produced.

"No," C.C. answered with no hesitation.

The young sales representative was taken aback, barely managing to plaster on a stiff smile. "Um, well, perhaps I can help you look around then," she turned towards a pile of neatly folded clothing and selected a pink baby-doll blouse. "What about this?"

"Nah, not my style," the picky witch replied.

And so it continued. The trio embarked on browsing through nearly the entire store: the sales representative would pick out a cute article of clothing, C.C. would shoot it down, and Lelouch would trail behind still muttering about her bridge escapade.

Just when it seemed like the sales representative was about to break down her polite mask and kick the two immortals out of the store, C.C. had nothing negative to say about the latest clothing item.

"So what do you think? Form fitting, simple, and elegant. I believe that's the style you like?" The woman encouraged, her hair beginning to fray at the ends.

She stared at the red dress, mulling it over in her head. "I don't hate it," C.C. finally decided. "I'll try it on." She grabbed the dress by it's hanger and proceeded to head towards the fitting room.

"I apologize for my partner's...well everything," Lelouch began.

"Just go follow your girlfriend," the woman cut him off, massaging the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

"She's not my girlfrien−ah, never mind I'm not going to bother," He nodded once, then strode into the fitting room and plopped into a chair outside of C.C.'s stall.

Fortunately for him, C.C. changed at the speed of light compared to how long it took her to find something acceptable.

She whipped open the dividing curtain and looked expectantly at him. "What do you think?" She questioned in a dull monotone.

For a moment, Lelouch didn't quite know what to say. The dress was strapless, falling slightly above her knees, and tied together by a large white bow below her breasts. It was red as a ripe apple, contrasting sharply against C.C.'s pale, ivory skin. Maybe it was the way the light framed her face, or maybe it was because she had taken off her wig and the lime green was refreshing, or maybe, it was even how she appeared so conspicuously uncomfortable. Yes, the dress was pretty, and yes she was pretty in the dress, but more importantly...she herself was pretty.

Hell, she could have thrown on a potato sack and managed to pull it off.

He didn't know how long he had stayed mute, awkwardly staring. Thankfully C.C. didn't notice, or for that matter care.

"Wait, are you wearing your white button-down shirt?"

Lelouch looked down to see the white collar peeking out of his jacket. "Yes...why?"

"Give it to me," she commanded, almost brightly.

His mouth fell open agape. "No way! What will I wear then? Why don't you just buy that dress?"

The immortal girl clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. "While it is true that I do not hate this dress, I like wearing your white shirts much more. You can just keep your jacket on all the time or buy yourself a nice new t-shirt," C.C. reasoned, knowing just how to get her way. "After all...you were the one who didn't have the strength to pull me up and let little me fall off a bridge and into freezing, torrential waters..."

It was the icing on the cake, and she knew it.

"That was not what happened! You cannot turn this one on me," he complained.

"I'm actually not lying this time though," C.C. said in a sing-song voice.

With a long, resigned sigh...Lelouch started fumbling with his top buttons.

On a typical Valentine's Day, there was always a romantic dinner.

His entire mouth felt like it was coated in slippery grease. In actuality, it probably was. He flicked his tongue towards the roof of his mouth in an attempt to dilute the thick oils. He could never understand her obsession with the combination of processed cheese, stale tomato sauce, and chewy dough. With a frown edging onto his lips, Lelouch picked up a napkin and dabbed it on top of his pizza. When he peeled it off from the sticky cheese, the napkin sagged from the orange oils it was now saturated in.

"Lovely," he commented, wrinkling his nose.

"What's the matter Lelouch? It's not like the pizza grease would go straight to your thighs anymore," C.C. said in between bites of her own meal.

"How reassuring," Lelouch responded dryly. "Though, I was more concerned about the taste, eating this pizza is like taking gulps of saltwater from the ocean."

Not to his surprise, C.C. waved him off. "It is not, I would know. You always like to exaggerate and be all dramatic. Don't complain, it's half off for couples today."

"I didn't know that our relationship of 'Pizza Supplier' and 'Pizza Consumer' was what counted as a couple these days," he said sarcastically, but, felt his heart thump when she matched her eyes with his. She wasn't anything that was remotely close to upset, instead, she impassively watched him like how a cat would have stared at traffic.

It didn't sound so bad in his head. It wasn't even supposed to be so bad out loud. It was just...something about the way she reacted, no− the way she didn't react, that made him feel as if he had done something wrong.

"I didn't...I didn't think that..." he trailed off, unsure of what to actually apologize for.

C.C. shrugged, looking away from him. "Yes, I agree, I didn't think that Pizza Hut would have fallen so deeply into Valentine's Day fever as well." She plucked a heart-shaped pepperoni, which Lelouch noted had a pool of oil in the center, and nibbled on it.

"Huh?" Lelouch's chest deflated as he exhaled the air that he didn't realize he had held in. "Oh, um...yes, true. Valentine's Day was always such a troublesome holiday."

She smirked, twirling a lock of brown hair around her finger. "Girls throwing hand-made chocolate at you, flocking to you to steal a kiss, and proclaiming sappy confessions: your life was horrid."

"Tch," he rolled his eyes, "That better not be sarcasm because it really was horrid."

The amusement lingered in her smile, but she didn't say anything more and focused her attention on devouring her pizza.

On a typical Valentine's Day, it was celebrated between two people who were special to each other.

The clouds could no longer be individually distinguished, enveloping the city like a large grey blanket. Temperatures had dropped even lower since the sun set, causing Lelouch to involuntarily shiver as soon as he stepped out of the restaurant. With every exhale, Lelouch could see his breath condense into wispy puffs of air.

He peered through his eyelashes and up towards the sky. White clumps were spiraling down in disorganized loops, some catching in his wig and others whizzing right past his face. "It's snowing," he commented idly.

Beside him, C.C. upturned her palms and watched as a few snowflakes immediately melted at her warmth.

"I do not know why snow is white, but I do find such white snow beautiful," Lelouch suddenly said.

The girl blinked at him. "Where did that come from?"

"Not sure...it just felt right to say, that's all," Lelouch confessed.

"I see, maybe the snow is white because that is the color that suits it best," she said, speaking more to herself than to him. "Anyways, let's go home," she continued, leading the way and occasionally twirling in purposeless pirouettes.

Lelouch didn't follow right away. He observed her as she moved down the street, hands fastened behind her back and long, brown wig swishing behind her. Once she reached a streetlamp she spun around on her heel, tilting her head to the side. "You're not coming? Have you grown a secret attachment to Pizza Hut?"

"Not even in your dreams," he retorted as he started walking towards her. When there was a few feet of distance between them, he stopped again.

"What's the matter, Lelouch?" C.C. furrowed her brow in mild confusion.

She was bathed in the soft light of the streetlamp, snowflakes sparkling in her wig as the snow began to fall more heavily.

Green hair suited her better, definitely. It would match nicely with his blue scarf that she insisted on still wearing. Like how it did with the red dress she returned back to the poor sales lady. He could feel the weight of her eyes piercing questions into him. "Golden pools of honey that the sun had melted in," was far too cheesy for his taste. In spite of his talent with eloquent words, he didn't know how to describe her eyes either. They were warm and cold, alive and aloof, thoughtful and rude: all at the same time.

"White doesn't suit snow the best," Lelouch blurted out. "I believe all the colors do, a rainbow so to speak."

C.C. raised an eyebrow in surprise, but let out a short laugh. "Oh really?"

"Yes really," Lelouch affirmed. He looked down at his feet, scuffing his toes into the wet layer of slush that had started to build up. "Back in Pizza Hut, I didn't mean...what I said."

"You're my..." he carried on, racking his brain for answers. "You're my..." he repeated, but was still unable to formulate a response. He lifted his head towards her and was overcome with a foreign warmth in his chest. If he had to be with someone for the rest of eternity, he was oddly grateful that it was her. Only she could turn any typical, mundane day, even stupid Valentine's Day, into a strange adventure.

"Witch."

Lelouch wrinkled his nose. "Come again?"

"I'm your witch," C.C. supplied again.

"And I'm your warlock," he added automatically.

She smirked and closed the distance between them, taking his hand in hers. "Since I took some of your clothing we're no longer fairly distributed," she explained as she wove their fingers together. "Let's go home. I want to build a snowman in the front yard."

He stared in surprise at their interlocked fingers. She didn't let him finish his thoughts, as always, having it her way. One day, he would complete his sentence. After all, they literally had all the time in the world. For now, a "Happy Valentine's day," would suffice.

.

.

.

"Really? That's it? What a typical thing to say."