Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, 'cause if I did then Zelloyd would be the main pairing.
Summary – Slash Zelloyd; postgame. The world is saved and Lloyd has taken the Chosen of Tethe'alla with him on his quest to collect Exspheres. Zelos finds himself dreaming of the past after catching the flu andrealizes just what his feelings for Lloyd really are.
A/N This goes back and forth between present day and the past, so it might seem a little bit confusing at first. I really enjoyed writing the story, so I hope that it is enjoyed by all. :)
Caught"Why are we sharing a room?" Zelos asked, after a long moment of looking around the Inn room that Lloyd had paid for.
"We're saving money," the brunette replied, unfazed.
"Oh…" Zelos sat down on the bed. "I don't mind sharing a room with you, Lloyd. We did it all the time when we were traveling with the rest of the group… it's just… we normally had more than one bed in those rooms."
"Well, I suppose…" Lloyd shrugged, dumped his pack next to Zelos' on a chair, and hopped on the bed, stretching out purposefully. "I'm not sleeping onthe couch."
Eyeing his companion with affectionate annoyance, Zelos stood and walked over to the far wall. He flipped the light switch, kicked off his boots, and draped his vest over the chair where the packs were. When he was finished, he wandered back over to the bed, mostly feeling his way there since his sight hadn't yet adjusted to the dark, and crawled onto the comfortable piece of furniture.
"Zelos? What are you doing?" Lloyd all but squeaked the words.
"I'm not sleeping on the couch either. Then again, there is no couch; there are two very uncomfortable chairs."
"Oh… sorry." There was a thunking noise on the ground as Lloyd kicked off his shoes. "Here, I'll scoot over and make room for you."
"Thanks." Zelos buried his head against one of the pillows, resisted the urge to cuddle up to Lloyd, and slowly fell asleep with the heady scent of the other man surrounding him.
"So, I'm supposed to teach both you and Genis math. You're here, and you hate learning. Genis isn't here, and he loves learning. Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?" Zelos grinned teasingly at Lloyd. "Genis doesn't want me to teach him, does he?"
"I… uh… well…" Lloyd blushed. "No. He doesn't. Genis is very stubborn when he wants to be and…"
"He doesn't like me," Zelos finished for the red-clad teen. "I've noticed."
"Sorry."
"I'm not an easy person to like. Frankly, I'm surprised any of you put up with me."
"You taught Raine how to make edible… even delicious… brownies. You aren't all bad."
Zelos burst out laughing. Trust Lloyd to make decisions based on food… "Can I assume this means your willing to learn from me?"
"Yeah. I wouldn't want you to finally get Raine-d because of me. If it were someone else, I wouldn't feel so bad, but you work hard to make sure Raine doesn't hit you even when Sheena does."
The redhead grinned and latched on to Lloyd's wrist. "Come on, then. Math is fun; I'm gonna show you why."
Zelos had awoken tangled in Lloyd's arms half an hour earlier. It had been bliss that was interrupted only by a strong need to visit the bathroom. By the time he'd gotten back into the room, Lloyd had stretched out across the bed while still sleeping.
Somewhat grumpily, Zelos pushed his way back onto the bed. Lloyd almost woke up at one point, but he latched on to Zelos and cuddled up against the redhead.
Flushed, Zelos thought it would take him a while to fall back asleep. He was wrong.
"Actually, I should probably go see Zelos about another math lesson," Lloyd told Genis, after losing another game of checkers.
"You're actually learning from him?" the younger boy managed to ask in an incredulous tone.
"Well, yeah…" Lloyd favored the half-elf with a strange look. "He's not as bad as you make him out to be, you know. And… he's kind of right. Math is fun…"
Zelos knocked on the door, hoping that they wouldn't be able to tell he'd been listening. "Lloyd? You in there?"
"Come in, Zelos!"
Genis gave the redhead a searching look as he entered the room. Zelos tried his best to ignore it as he grinned at Lloyd. "Raine just found out Regal was an English major at school. She's gone all teacher-mode trying to blackmail him into helping her teach."
"How'd she blackmail you into helping?" Genis grumbled.
"Didn't have to." Zelos shrugged at the kid; "I like math. She didn't even have to pretend to flirt with me."
"Why do you like math so much?" Genis demanded in surprise. "Even I find it boring sometimes."
"Boring? I'll ignore that blasphemy for now. Without math just about everything would be sunk. Science, music, art… there's math in all of that," Zelos snickered at the surprised look on the little genius' face. "Besides, it's math. What isn't there to like?" He turned to Lloyd. "Ready? Lesson time."
Blushing fiercely, Lloyd nodded and quickly said goodbye to Genis. Zelos then led the red-clad teen to the Inn's common area where he'd left a set-up of various song-sheets. (1)
"I really like these lessons with you," Lloyd muttered softly, before taking a seat.
It had been a long time since Zelos had blushed, but he found, to his surprise, that he was doing it now. Heart pounding and cheeks flushed, it was all he could do not to stammer his way through the lecture section of the lesson.
Zelos woke up feeling overly warm.
The covers were off of him and Lloyd was gone, presumably in the bathroom where the shower was running. The room should have been freezing, but all Zelos wanted to do was find some ice packs. Well, had finding ice packs not involved getting up he want to do that.
Zelos pulled his hands up to his face and, reveling in how cold they were, pressed them against his warm forehead. He was fairly certain he had a fever, but he'd never been good at judging that for himself.
The shower shut off and, a few minutes later, Lloyd walked out. "Ugh, Zelos, you said you'd be up by now."
"Sorry," Zelos replied, but didn't move. "It's burning up in here."
"No, it's freezing." Frowning, Lloyd padded over to the bed and swatted Zelos' hands out of the way. "You, however, are burning up," he declared after placing his own hand on Zelos' forehead. "I'll get you soup, okay?"
Zelos felt his stomach clench at the mention of food. Very quickly, he shook his head 'no.' "I just want to go back to sleep. Maybe I'll feel better when I wake up."
Concerned, Lloyd's frown deepened. "Well, I really do need to go see the city's leaders about Exspheres… I'll be back at lunch, with soup, and we'll both eat in here. I hope your right about being better by then; I don't like the idea of leaving you here alone when you're sick."
"Always the protector," Zelos mumbled, smiling faintly. "Go on; I'll be fine. Wake me up as soon as you get back." He burrowed against the pillow and closed his eyes. He was already asleep moments later and didn't notice as Lloyd pulled the covers up to tuck in the snoozing Chosen.
Zelos sat, alone, on a bench by the Flanoir Cathedral. It was cold and he felt it getting through to him despite the coat he'd thrown on before leaving the Inn.
"Zelos? What are you doing out here alone? It's freezing, you'll make yourself sick…" Lloyd's voice snapped Zelos out of his reverie.
"I… I needed some space," Zelos answered with a shrug. "I guess I was feeling a little claustrophobic in the Inn."
"Oh… I… uh, if you want to be alone…" Lloyd started to back off, but Zelos stood and lunged forward, grabbing the retreating teen's wrist.
"Wait. Don't go, I don't really want to be alone…" Zelos blushed, but tightened his grip on Lloyd's wrist. "I like your company; things don't seem so bad when you're around."
Lloyd walked over and sat down on the bench, using his arm, still caught in Zelos' hand, to pull the other man down onto the bench. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know…" Zelos tried to smile and couldn't. "I just… I'm always hiding from parts of my life. My mom died when I was a kid on a day when it was snowing in Meltokio… like this. She was killed because the person was aiming at me and missed. Her last words were "you should never have been born." My dad didn't like me either. He hung himself… I was the one who found him.
"Ugh… and now I'm probably making your night worse. You're having to deal with finding out who your father is and here I am, depressing you even more…"
Lloyd pulled Zelos into a hug. "No. I want to know everything about you, Zelos. The good and the bad. You're my friend and your life is important to me!" Eyes wide in shock, Zelos laid his head down against the shorter man's shoulder and listened as Lloyd kept talking, though now it was in a hushed whisper. "I don't know what's set this off in you, but I've seen this building in you for a while. Since after Forcystus' ranch when you pretended to by lying about your life… I want to help you, if you'll let me."
Sighing softly, Zelos disentangled himself from Lloyd's arms. "You know all those girls who follow me around in Meltokio?" he smiled at the pained expression that graced Lloyd's face as he nodded. "They're not as bad as they seem. They protect me, you see. I… a few years ago, I let slip to one of them, a good friend, that I'm gay. I don't like girls that way. Two days later, they all showed up and told me that they'd shield me. The church doesn't approve of gays, so they made my reputation to keep me safe."
"So all your flirting and boasting…" Lloyd grinned. "All those rumors of, oh how did Regal put it…"
"The debauchery of the Chosen," Zelos offered.
"Yup, its allmade up byyour lady body guards…" Lloyd let out a soft laugh. "That's pretty cool." Lloyd shrugged and leaned back, looking out at the sky. "Colette and I do the same thing for one another. Everyone thinks we're going to end up as a couple one day, but she's so much like a sister that it would be too weird. Besides, I like guys better and she is in love with Presea."
"So we're both kind of hiding…"
"I don't think we'll have to hide what we are when the world is one instead of two."
"Really? I don't know…"
"I do."
Looking at the determination in Lloyd's brown eyes, Zelos smiled. "You're right. We'll be fine."
He was freezing from the inside out. Definitely not feeling better, Zelos burrowed into his blankets.
The door opened softly and Lloyd entered, carrying two bowls of soup. "How you feeling?"
"I think I've got the flu," Zelos answered, his words somewhat slurred. "This sucks."
Lloyd set down one bowl on the table and brought the other one over to Zelos. "Here, sit up."
Warily, Zelos did as he was told and, to his surprise, he found a spoonful of soup in his mouth courtesy of Lloyd. Blushing, Zelos raised his hands in protest. "I can feed myself," he said after swallowing the previous bite.
Smiling mischievously, Lloyd shook his head. "I know. But I feel bad about leaving you alone here, so I'm going to take care of you now. Besides, you're hands are shaking; you'd spill the soup all over the bed."
"I surrender," Zelos muttered, leaning back tiredly. "I'm sooo sore. I can't wait until I feel better."
"Well, from what I here, there's a twenty-four hour flu bug going around town; you probably caught that sometime yesterday. It's actually more the kids who are getting it. I, being Sylvarantian, probably have immunity or I'd be sick too. You'll be fine tomorrow, I hope."
"Wow, big words Lloyd."
"Oh be quiet and eat your soup." Lloyd shoved another spoonful into the redhead's mouth. "That'll teach you to be cheeky."
"Heh," Zelos replied after a moment, "annoy you and get food shoved into my mouth. I'm liking this lesson…" he grinned around the spoon in his mouth.
"You have a bad habit of sitting alone in the cold," Lloyd whispered in Zelos' ear.
Jumping, Zelos fell backwards off the bench and into Lloyd's arms. He hastily sat back up and pulled himself onto the bench and twisted around so that he would be facing the sneaky Sylvarantian instead of Hiemdall's pond. "Warn a guy instead of sneaking up like that; I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!"
"Sorry," Lloyd responded in an unrepentant tone. "I wanted to talk with you, but you weren't in the Inn. At first I thought I'd simply missed you somewhere in there, though I couldn't think of a place I might've overlooked. Then I remembered last night in Flanoir when I had to scour the town to find you."
Zelos blushed and looked down. "You guys should hate me for what I did."
"You had a chance to take the easy way out and did the right thing instead. What's to be mad about?" Lloyd sat down and gave Zelos a patented confused look.
"I betrayed you guys to the Renegades when I first met you and I made a deal with Cruxis…"
"You aren't working with the Renegades anymore, are you?" Lloyd grinned as Zelos shook his head 'no.' "And you went back on your deal with Cruxis when you helped us get the Aionis. I'm not mad at you, Zelos."
"You should be."
"When the worlds have been reunited, I'm going to travel around and collect Exspheres so that I can release the souls trapped inside. I want you to come with me. Will you?"
"I… I'd like that a lot."
Zelos woke to worried voices and hazy images.
"Raine, I'm really worried about him. I… are you sure he's getting better? I thought he was doing fine yesterday, but now…"
"His temperature is dropping. It was a 104, but now it's down to 100. I think it'll keep dropping until he's back to normal," Raine's voice soothed both Lloyd and Zelos.
"I'm awake," he announced, trying, and failing, to clear his sight. "Is everything supposed to be so blurry?"
It was Sheena's voice that answered. "I don't think so…"
"You've been really sick, Zelos," Raine cut in.
"Guess it wasn't a twenty-four hour bug," Zelos searched for a red blur and locked his eyes onto it when he found it. "Lloyd?"
The red blur moved closer. "Right here. Are you feeling better? What's the last thing you remember?"
"I guess I feel better," Zelos closed his eyes as the room began to spin slowly. "You brought me soup and we talked and I fell asleep… Nothing after that."
"I couldn't get you to wake up and your temperature was getting worse. I sent Aisha on a Rheaird to find Raine."
"Aisha…" Zelos searched through his hazy memories and then opened his eyes. "Her brother is the city's archeologist, right?" When he saw what he thought was a nod from the blur that was Lloyd, Zelos smiled. "She's asweet lady. I'll have to thank her later…" he reached out and caught Lloyd's hand. "Thanks for looking out for me Lloyd…" Zelos let his eyes slip shut as he drifted off to sleep again.
Looking back on the event, Zelos realized that he hadn't really thought about what he'd done; he'd just acted. Lloyd was in danger from Yggdrasill's Cruxis Crystal and Zelos had raced up to save the brunette… even if it meant condemning himself.
Hearing Mithos' voice coming from himself… it had been strange. Zelos had felt disconnected, as though he was floating just outside of himself. That hadn't stopped him from struggling against the pleasant, fake feeling. Lloyd was still in danger.
"Lloyd! Don't let him distract you. Those are Mithos' memories of the past!" Zelos felt something snap and, with a jolt, he was in control of his body again. He felt as though only moments had passed, but that couldn't be right…
"We're in Welgaia?" Zelos asked, looking around in surprise.
"Yeah. You were taken here yesterday, but we only managed to get here today… I'm sorry it took me so long to save you," Lloyd looked down, ashamed.
"Not your fault. Now, where are the others?"
"They were taken by one of the city's traps. We're going to have to search for them."
"Well then," Zelos hooked his arm in Lloyd's, "let's get started, you and I."
"You've still got Mithos' crystal," Lloyd pointed out.
Frowning, Zelos grabbed the crystal and tugged on it; he hissed and stumbled against Lloyd as the Cruxis Crystal sent waves of pain through his body. His left arm fell down uselessly by his side. "Oh goddess… that hurt… such a bad idea…"
Lloyd cradled Zelos' lanky frame and decided "why don't we just leave the crystal be for now. We can figure out how to remove it later."
"Good idea." Zelos waited until the hurt had mostly subsided before, reluctantly, standing up on his own. "I think I'm good to go, now."
Zelos woke up again and smiled as the world came into focus. Raine was asleep in one of the uncomfortable chairs; Sheena was asleep as well, curled up on the half-elven woman's lap. Lloyd had dragged a second chair over to the Zelos' side and was asleep with his head laying on the edge of the bed.
Sitting up, Zelos hissed, "psst, Lloyd."
"Huh?" the sleepy brown eyes that met alert blue left Zelos with a warm, fuzzy feeling in the center of his chest. "Zelos? You better?"
"Much better."
Lloyd sat up, looking more alert. "Ow, this chair is so uncomfortable."
"Climb in bed, then."
Bright red stained the swordsman's cheeks. "I… what?"
Zelos sighed and leaned over and kissed the brunette lightly on the lips. "Don't you want to sleep with me?"
"What?" Lloyd squeaked in a very non-manly way.
"Geez, don't get your mind in the gutter, Lloyd." Zelos smirked and pulled the object of his affections into bed with him. "I love you, you know."
"I love you too," Lloyd replied, letting himself get pulled into bed. "Took you long enough to see it," he added, snuggling under the covers. "Night, Zelos."
"Night, Lloyd."
(1) While using music to teach algebra is rather unorthodox, it does work. I came up with the idea during a boring day in band and have helped others understand some of the harder parts of math this way. While it's technically much more complicated this way, people seem to understand it better because they can imagine the music playing as they work the problem.
A/N And there it ends, folks. Now that you've read, please review. It makes me feel all happy inside when I get reviews. It's almost as good as a box full of strawberries. Nothing beats the strawberries, though… (Begins daydreaming about the fruit in question.)