Quick disclaimer- I do not own Tales of Symphonia, or any of the characters, or my song references.

......

"A bet?"

Lloyd looked up from polishing his twin blades on the steps of a garden to see the grinning face of Tethe'Alla's chosen staring down into his. He vaguely felt cornered, noticing the mischievous smirk on Zelos's face that was generally followed by some embarrassing plan to pick up women.

"Yup! Just a little bit of fun to pass the time until the big day!" If possible, Zelos's grin seemed to get even bigger at the promise of amusement.

Lloyd tiled his head to the side slightly. "Is it the kind of fun Sheena would still approve of?" He raised his eyebrows slightly at the end of his statement.

Zelos backed away slightly, waving his hands defensively in front of his face as he did so. "O-of course it's completely innocent! Lloyd, how could you doubt me, after all time spent journeying together! I thought you were my bud!" He lowered his eyes into a pout.

"I trusted you before, and look where that got us."

Zelos stumbled backwards again slightly. "Hey, low blow man, low blow!" He clutched at his heart in a dramatic fashion. "Besides, you said you'd forgiven me!"

Lloyd nodded, with kind smile, "I do, I do. Sorry for dragging that up again. So, what was this bet of yours?" He slid his swords gently to the ground, and looked eagerly up at Zelos. He never noticed the reappearance of the sneaky grin to Zelos's face.

"Well, as you know, Sheena and I are getting married in 2 weeks." Zelos paused here to sigh dreamily, with hearts in his eyes, while Lloyd merely raised his eyebrows as a sign to continue. "Ahem, well, we're getting married in two weeks, and she isn't letting me have any fun until then! I'm not allowed to grope her, not allowed to flirt with all my lovely hunnies, not allowed to do anything!" He mock fainted, conveniently landing in Lloyd's lap. "And this is where you come in, Lloyd, my bestest buddy ever!"

The brunette glanced down to the red head in his lap. "Sorry Zelos, shamelessly flirting with girls isn't really my style, and I'd rather not have Sheena chase me down with Shadow again." He shuddered, remembering waking up to see dark apparition looming over his bed.

After a quick shudder from both men, Zelos shook his head and continued. "No no no no no, not that kind of fun!" 'though that would be hilarious' he added under his breath.' "It's simple really! I've just noticed that you haven't got a date for the wedding yet!"

"Th-That's not…" Lloyd looked to the side, with a hesitant blush on his face. Zelos lifted himself back to his feet, and walked around to Lloyd's side to look him in the face.

"Here, let me just save you the air and tell you that anything you could possibly follow that up with is bullshit." He smirked in satisfaction as Lloyd sighed. "Now, you were probably going to just fall back on your plan to ask the lovely Collette to give with you as a friend, am I right?" At Lloyd's hesitant nod, he nodded his head to himself, and congratulated his own logic.

"So what exactly does my dateless-ness have to do with your own amusement?" His brown eyes lifted up in challenge.

"Hey, whoa. I'm not trying to insult you.! I'm just trying to make a point! And from your reaction, I can kinda assume that you're not too happy about being alone, am I right?"

The now 19 year old brunette defiantly held his head high, opened his mouth to reply, and was immediately cut off again by the chosen. "Right, it really bothers you. I mean, it's a freaking celebration for the true love between my wonderful, busty Sheena and I. How could you not be jealous and lonely? So, I decided to make a little bet with you, that would make both of us happier!"

"What is it?" Lloyd couldn't help his curiosity, he was also feeling Zelos's boredom. Raine had insisted that he, Genis, and Collette not leave Meltokio since they had arrived for the wedding. Lloyd couldn't help but feel cooped up, preferring to be out fighting monsters. Even the coliseum couldn't hold a candle to a real fight.

"Well, clearly it would involve you getting a date for the wedding!" The red head pumped his fist excitedly into the air. He settled back down immediately, a sneaky smile on his face. "But it wouldn't be any fun if I just let you pick you our date, no~ooo. So, I'd be picking someone out for you!" Zelos paused a moment to look into Lloyd's pondering face. "Don't even bother guessing kid, you're not gonna guess who. So, it's simple: I bet that you can't convince the person of my choice in 2 weeks to be your date to the wedding. I win, and you won't tell Sheena about that rather embarrassing incident in Flanoir." He shuddered remembering the incident, in which an unsuspecting, half-asleep Lloyd has stumbled into Zelos in the hall of the inn with a scantily clad, squiffy woman. At the teens wide eyed look, he hastened to explain, which failed ultimately when the women decided to latch herself to the chosen's neck and passionately neck him. "Please don't tell Sheena!"

This, of course, occurred 2 weeks ago.

"What's in it for me?" Lloyd raised his eyebrows at his still shivering friend. Zelos immediately regained his cool.

"Why, not only will you get a lovely date for our celebration of love, you'll also get this!" Zelos proudly lifted a sword from under his coat, waving it lightly in front of the teens face to get his attention.

"I-is that…?" Lloyd stared at the sword.

"Kratos's Flameberg sword? Yup, I'm pretty sure it is!" He twirled it thoughtfully in front of his face, pretending to examine the blade.

"But I thought that it vanished after I used the Eternal Sword?" Lloyd's eyes followed it's movement through the air.

"Hmm, yeah, me too. But then I saw it buried in some rubble near the Kharlan tree last year, and thought to myself 'Hey, didn't that sword used to belong to Kratos? Bet Lloyd would really like something like this, that belonged to his dad.' So, I grabbed it." He stopped moving the blade through the air, and stopped it in front of Lloyd's eyes. "So, have we got a deal?"

Lloyd glanced up from the blade into Zelos's eyes, then back to the blade uncertainly. He lifted his eyes back up again, this time a fierce, stubborn glint lighting them. "You're on. So, who is it?"

Zelos's smile widened, and he slightly turned his head to look over his shoulder. Lloyd peered over as well, to spot someone running towards garden they were talking in. His expression softened to a gentle smile at the sight of the frazzled white haired boy approaching.

"Lloyd, come on! I finished dinner a half an hour ago, and Raine's been lecturing me about it being impolite to eat without you! Hurry up, stop wasting your time with that idiot and hurry up!" Genis, Lloyd's best friend, accentuated the end by sticking his tongue petulantly out at the red head.

"Don't stick that out unless you plan to use it, brat!" Zelos leaned over with a grin to flick Genis's forehead, jumping back to avoid the following swing of the kendama.

Lloyd stepped forward, placing an arm on Zelos's shoulder to prevent him from drawing the sword at his hip. "Tell Raine I'll be there in a sec, 'kay Genis?" He finished with a smile, not noticing the way the other boys cheeks reddened slightly.

"… Okay, but it better only be a second! I don't want her to start lecturing me on the history of Meltokio's church again while we wait!" He quickly scampered back the way he came, pausing to give Zelos one more dirty look as he left.

Lloyd watched the boy leave, failing to notice the way Zelos had hunched over until his chin rested on Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd drew back his fist with a grin, getting ready to playfully shove his friend away, when he felt Zelos lean towards his ear.

"Him."

He pulled his head away from the twin swordsman's shoulder to take in the look of shock on his face. With a self-satisfied grin, Zelos began to saunter away, throwing over his shoulder, "remember, 2 weeks! I look forward to seeing you and your date then!"

Lloyd looked up from the ground, his face a mixture of shock and embarrassment as he began to wonder what exactly had gotten himself into. "But he's my best friend, you can't honestly expect me to…" Lloyd stopped when he realized he was shouting at nobody.

......

"Hey Lloyd, what's up?" Genis lifted his blue eyes from his book of advanced mathematical theory (a.k.a. light reading material) to glance up at his best friend leaning in the doorway. He shut the book, and shifted to face the door.

Lloyd stood in the door, not used to feeling awkward in an inn setting such as this after becoming the hero who reunited the worlds. His confident manner kept him from slouching to one leg. Instead, he slightly averted his gaze and looked down to the swords kept at his waist. "Well, I might have a bit of a problem."

Genis sighed, and patted a spot near him on the bed. The inn they were staying at was moderately comfortable, and the beds were well furnished and comfy. He looked attentively as Lloyd settled down next to him. "So?"

"So, I might have made a bet with Zelos…"

Genis's face fell. "Lloyd, haven't you learned anything from all our journeys with him? He's nothing but a slimy pervert!" He punctuated the statement by lightly thumping a pillow to his side with his fist. Admittedly, this didn't cause much damage to the pillow.

"But, I have to win! He has Kra-dad's sword…" Lloyd looked to Genis for assistance, finally causing the younger boy to sigh exasperatedly.

"Fine, what was this bet anyways?" Genis's stomach gave a little twist at the embarrassment that now covered Lloyd's face.

Lloyd stared awkwardly over his shoulder to look at the wall opposite his friend. "Oh, nothing much, just kinda…. get a date for the wedding?" He finished the sentence as a question when he noticed the way the younger boy's face fell slightly.

Genis immediately raised an eye brow in challenge. "Ooh, a date. That would be a tough bet for you." Lloyd scowled at his friend, while the blue eyed boy continued his taunts. "Who will it be then Lloyd? Maybe you could ask Collette to go with you, you know she'd love that. Oh wait, that would be like dating your sister, wouldn't it?" He grinned and leaned towards Lloyd as the older boy began to clench his fists slightly. "Or maybe, speaking of sisters, you were thinking of asking MY sister, though I really wouldn't do that if I were you. She'd probably end up lecturing you about the religious origins of marriage until the very end of the evening. Or maybe you were going to ask Presea, oh wait, she's not going because her and Regal are travelling to promote his comp-"

Lloyd suddenly gripped his friend's shoulder, stopping the stream of taunts coming from the mages mouth. "It's you, alright?! He said I have to get you to be my date to the wedding! Happy now?!" Lloyd panted from the exertion of his statement.

Genis seemed to deflate a little at that statement. He withdrew slightly in Lloyd's grip, taking a moment to reorganize his though before speaking. Unfortunately, all he could manage was a meek "Me?"

Lloyd lowered his volume back to normal. "Yeah. And I can't back out now, not when he has that sword." Lloyd stared with a determined glint into Genis's eyes. "And that's why I can't lose! So…"

Genis stared back into Lloyd's eyes confidently after a few moments. "So?" He spoke confidently, almost carelessly, but Lloyd could have sworn he felt a light hitch in the boys breathing, and there was definitely a light dusting of pink on his cheekbones. Lloyd momentarily froze up.

"W-well?" Genis ever so slightly shook his head, mentally castigating himself for the slight stutter.

"So will you please let me pretend to flirt with you and go with me to the wedding?" Lloyd rushed out, and finished by closing his eyes tightly and holding his hands together in front of his face in silent prayer to Martel that his best friend wouldn't kill him. He cracked one eye open slightly when Genis didn't answer immediately. "Genis?"

"So it'll be just an act?"

Lloyd paused from wringing his hands nervously at his side to glance up at Genis. The boy was staring directly into his eyes, but Lloyd could tell he didn't want to be. Having been best friends with Genis for so long, Lloyd could definitely sense that what he really wanted to do was duck under his blankets and cover his head with his pillow, like he used to do when Raine would be gearing up for a particularly enthusiastic speech. "Genis…" He figured the boy was offended at being used like this for personal gain. Lloyd leaned forward to wrap a comforting arm around the boy's shoulder. He noted the slight hitches in the boy's shoulder, but ignored them in favor of hearing his friend.

"What?" The blue eyed boy shoved his friend's arm off. "See, I told you talking to that doofus was no good! Now look what you've gotten us into!" Genis teasingly shoved Lloyd backwards onto the bed, and sighed over-dramatically. With an eye roll, he added, "fine, I guess I can help you out. But you'd better not try and kiss me or grope me, or anything creepy like that, got it!" He glared, pulling his kendama off of a side table near the bed.

Lloyd smirked challengingly, noting Genis's slight widening of the eyes. "Not even a little grope on your cute butt? Ouch, dammit!" He immediately regretted the statement as the ball of the kendama connected with his head repeatedly. He swatted at it futilely, closing his eyes. "Fine, fine! I won't do it! Geez, why couldn't Zelos have picked Presea? She wouldn't be this abusive."

When the assault stopped, he glanced over in time to catch Genis with an unguarded expression. His face was light rouge, so slight it was barely visible in the hotel light. Lloyd would have found it cute, if not for the fact that it was fading to be replaced with a deep sadness. His mouth stayed a neutral straight set, but his eyes were downcast and slightly watery. It looked as though he couldn't figure out whether to be embarrassed or depressed. Then just like that, it was gone, replaced with a determinedly set face, and guarded eyes. Planning an intelligent reply to this sudden shift in mood, Lloyd forced out an unsure "Gehhhhhh…." That was not quite the deep statement he was going for.

Genis laughed stiffly and made a shooing motion towards the door. "Fine fine, I'll help you. What are friends for, right?" Another forced chuckle. "So, get out of my room and we can figure this out in the morning, m'kay?" He raised an eyebrow when Lloyd took a moment to stand up to leave.

The brunette got to his feet, figuring he must have just imagined everything. Besides, here his friend was laughing (sounded kind of hollow…) and he's suspecting that Genis might be depressed over something? Martel, was he dense at time!

He shook his head lightly to himself, then walked to the door with his normal bounce back in his step. Feeling confident that this whole situation would work out, he waved his hand goofily back. He turned with a smile at the door and gave a quick "thanks for everything Genis, you're the best! Night!" and continued out the door to his room.

Genis turned off his light and curled under his covers, staring at the ceiling awhile before responding back with a quiet "Night Lloyd." He curled up under his blanket, and laid awake for most of the night.

......

Okays, so here I am trying my hand at some Tales Of Symphonia fiction here! I happen to love the best friend to love aspect, so I'm gonna run with it. And though I think Lloyd and Genis were a bit out of character possibly, I'm gonna be working on that when they get to actually acting for Zelos.

So, this takes place after the ending of the game. Hopefully, that was obvious. If not, I fail. Also, it assumes that Zelos is still alive, which in my game, he definitely wasn't. Damnit. Also, everyone's a bit older, as that journey had to have taken at least a year (it took a couple months for Collette's skin to start turning to crystal at least) and then a little more time passed.

Anywho, I was disappointed at the lack of GenisxLloyd fics out there, and since I can't seem to get this idea out of my head, here's my contribution. So, hopefully others who like the pairing will read, and maybe write some more of their own? I always appreciate feedback too! Tell me what you like, tell me what you don't! Just please, make it constructive! If it's something I can fix, I will. But if it's just "OMG, you suck, this will never happen blah blah blah close-minded blah." Then I'm sorry, but maybe you shouldn't have clicked the link?

Well, hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it (though I'm fairly certain my roommate wants me to stop typing and go to bed now) I will write more, because hopefully (super optimistic) other people will write more too? Then we can have an actual community of writers, and it'll be great! But, anywhoodles, I digress. Please review, criticisms are welcome (constructive please!) and I hope you'll look forward to reading chapter two as I look forward to writing it! (I've already got these great plans involving Sheena beating Zelos for stalking, cute Lloyd, shy Genis, and of course RUIN MANIA RAINE!)

Indeedy! Well to anyone who may have kept with my rambling this far, thank you for your time! I'm not very good at definitive endings to my notes, so I'll just end with a song quote! (sorry for the long note too)

~ Then and there, my life made sense. You were the evidence ~

~ New York in the Rain