Author's Note: won't make sense if you haven't seen up to Stage 16, makes more sense if you've listened to Sound Drama 0.916 [which is really what inspired this fic]. requested by my friend Hannah, who is the only Rivalz fangirl I know x3

Uninterested.

That was probably the best word to describe Lelouch Lamperouge.

It was his attitude towards his studies, towards other people, towards his life - his younger sister was seemingly the only exception. No matter what the situation.

And that's how it seemed to Rivalz, despite his best attempts - Lelouch wasn't interested.

He remembered watching Lelouch's face as offered his new friend a ride in his even newer sidecar. Lelouch stared blankly at it, blinking a few times, before accepting the helmet that was held out to him and climbing inside. As he drove down the freeway, he excitedly glanced at his friend - only to see that Lelouch was reading a book, as calmly as if he were sitting in his own private library.

Rivalz knew that Lelouch was bad for him. Lelouch was cold and standoffish, and - a boy. And Rivalz - he, too, was a boy. That alone was reason enough that it could not, should not ever be, Rivalz thought.

So he turned his attention to the president of the student council - Milly Ashford. She was curvaceous, well-liked, and influential - all the things Rivalz told himself that he should want [no - all the things his parents told him to want]. And he did like her, genuinely; he liked that she was bold and always looking to make things fun; Milly made him want to drop his inhibitions, to be a braver person.

So far, however, Milly had only appeared interested in another member of the student council - Shirley Fenette. And there was still that part of him that couldn't quite like her. [Maybe that's why he acted so melodramatically around her, so that after he convinced everyone else, he could convince himself.]

Even so, Milly gave him hopes that he could one day find a nice girl to settle down with - someone his parents would approve of.

Rivalz's thoughts about Lelouch came to an unpleasant stop with the arrival of Suzaku Kururugi.

It seemed impossible at first that the Eleven soldier had any Britannian friends at all, let alone at the Academy, but Rivalz saw the look of recognition that sparked behind Lelouch's eyes when the numbered boy first arrived in their classroom - it was probably the most emotion Rivalz had ever seen Lelouch express. At first, he ignored it, but it quickly became difficult to do so. It was obvious that Lelouch felt something for Suzaku that - whatever it was - he could never feel for Rivalz.

At least, Rivalz thought, it was the boy he no longer had a shot with.