A/n: Hiyo everyone 3 this is my new current...well...kinda...obsession. I suppose the rating is just to be safe for now, though it might go down XD maybe not. This is my first attempt at a Tales of Symphonia story, so please notify me if the characters are...a bit out of character o.o; yeah. 'n stuff. So, this contains boysluff and junk, some swearing...yadda yadda...read and review! n.n
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine o.O and yeah. You get the point.
My Little Wind-Up Doll
Chapter one, See User Manual For Instructions
"In the time of depression, people had trouble finding jobs..." explained the silver-haired teacher, ignoring the fact that a few choice students had already fallen asleep during her lecture. It was a normal occurance. One student, resembling the teacher, happened to be glaring at one such person, still taking notes automatically as he did so. The male had learned how to appear like he was awake, when in reality...he was hardly ever in this class. The textbook was propped up on his desk, and locks of brown fell into his eyes to hide the fact that they were shut. Not like the teacher cared, but...
"Lloyd!" hissed the little silver-haired boy, using his pencil to prod at his friend without standing out too much. "Wake up!" After moments of fruitless efforts, he finally got the fellow's twin orbs of chocolate brown to flicker open, and a slurred, "what?" to escape his lips. Everyone in the classroom burst out laughing, and the teacher only glared.
"That's the fifth time this week, Lloyd! Can't you ever keep your eyes open and your mouth shut? Some of the students here are actually interested in learning." More snickers were heard around the room, causing Lloyd's ears to turn pink with shame and embarrassement.
"Sorry...it won't happen again..." he mumbled, silently going on in his head about how it wasn't his fault he couldn't find himself a job, and ended up not getting any sleep because of all the searching he did. No one knew about it, yet...but...his father had passed away, and now he had to support himself. There was no way he could tell anyone...they'd send him to an orphanage, because he was only seventeen, and then...he shook his head, propping his cheek up on his elbow. He had to find work to support himself.
That being their final period, he snatched up his backpack, shoving everything on his desk into it, and hurried out of the school, not bothering to visit his locker for any books he might need to either pick up or drop off. It was a long walk back to his house, so he didn't want to miss the bus. It was raining today as well, dark clouds spilling their burden upon the shoulders of those below them. Maybe that contributed to the tired feeling he had. The gel he spent so much time putting in his hair every morning had washed out, causing his hair to hang around his head. Surprisingly, it reached his shoulders. Perhaps he should cut it, he thought blandly to himself, watching the rain hit the already deepened puddles to cause ripplettes. His red button-up shirt clung to his torso pathetically and caused him to shiver, and if he had thought his plain brown pants had been clingy before...
He hurried along on his way, the bus stop within sight. Of course, he had to be studying some other item when something solid came out of no where and ran right into him, causing him to fall backwards on his bottom, right into a puddle. Unluckily, his back pack opened up, and everything was soaked. Growling, he noticed the culprit had fallen as well, and long red locks were in their face as they muttered curses.
"Watch where you're going," Lloyd was the first to say, glaring. They were wearing much pink, and the outfit looked expensive...so was it a girl? He was startled when sharp blue eyes upon a man's face turned to him, slightly narrowed, but in a refined, "I'm better than you" manner.
"I should be?" he questioned, his voice cultured, yet with that hint of modern male...male-ness. What did you call that kind of thing? "You were the one that ran into me. It isn't /my/ fault that you have to spend all your time daydreaming, instead of actually getting laid, seeing as you obviously cannot."
That surprised him enough to leave him gaping for a moment, and when he had finally regained enough composure to part his lips and prepare to speak...he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that his bus was leaving. "God fucking damnit! Look what you did! I missed my bus!" Groaning, he began to pick up the sopping wet remnants of the contents of his backpack, placing them into the equally soaked container. There was no way he could afford to spend the money on new supplies...
"Quit making that annoying noise. It grates on my ears." he rolled his eyes, pulling himself to his feet in such a graceful way that it almost left the brunette breathless. That was kind of the only reason he shut up and sat there silently like a good boy, eyes filled with slight shame. "It just so happens that I was going to my car when you rudely ran into me. Perhaps if you apologize nicely and give me your name, I'll take you home."
Sighing heavily, he was about to pull himself to his feet when a black and pink gloved hand was offered to him. As his eyes trailed up the arm to meet those of this red-head, the fellow merely upturned his nose a bit more, looking extremely arrogant. "You look pathetic. I can't help myself."
Growling, he continued to pull himself up, slapping the hand away with the dull thought of "what a bastard". "Fine. I'm sorry. My name is Lloyd Irving."
"I see, Lloyd Irving. You're quite the rude one, smacking my hand like the little brute you are. Come along. How old are you?" he began walking, each step graceful and planned. Lloyd felt kind of silly walking next to him. This guy was also fairly tall...he felt dwarfed by him.
"Seventeen..." he murmured without giving much of a fight. It was hard to /not/ listen to this guy's orders. He just had a kind of power about him.
"You're pretty young, then. A bit older than my first estimate, but still..." Lloyd had wanted to comment, with something arrogant most likely, but was cut off as they reached this car of his. It looked more like a freaking house on wheels. "Here we are. Sadly, my chauffer was busy today, so I've been driving. Normally I take one of the sport's cars when she can't work, but I felt like being even more of a show off." he smirked, looking at the brunette's dumbstruck face. "It appears it worked, no?"
The drive was fairly uneventful. The mysterious red-head cursed at a few random people, namly pedestrians, that got in his way and made him slow down, but otherwise...they didn't say much. He never introduced himself, and Lloyd was left wondering how old this guy was...and why he thought so highly of himself. Where did he get all the money, too? They stopped in front of Lloyd's little house, the one story one with the crooked front door and broken window, painted an icky off-white color. Blue eyes blinked in confusion.
"You sure this is your home, twerp?" he asked, one gracefully plucked red eyebrow raising slightly. This milked a glare out of the brunette.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Not everyone is filthy rich and crap."
"Well, excuuuuuse me. I was just asking a question." he didn't bother to say good-bye, or even look at Lloyd as he got out of the car and shut the door. He did, however, roll down the window. "Next time if you run into me, you won't be in my car, but under it." he added before zooming off, spraying Lloyd with dirty water. Coughing, he wiped as much of it as he could off his face before hurrying into the house, cursing at that mysterious guy.
"What a freaking jerk," he hissed as he tossed his backpack up on the table, storming off to his tiny little room. Once inside, he slammed the door...and then turned to look at his dresser, where a picture of his dad sat. "'m home, dad..." his attitude melted off as he sat on the bed, watching the picture for a while. Thus, he began to tell his "father" about his day, and finally drifted off to sleep for the night.
The next day went on much like the other, only it wasn't raining this time, and instead of meeting up with a strange red-head...he only thought about him every moment. That silver-haired friend of his had heard the story fifty times, and had gotten sick enough of it to go hang out with someone else. Which never happened. So he took the bus home like usual, listening to his headphones the entire way...and still only thinking of that guy. It annoyed the hell out of him. Finally, when he got home, he grabbed the newspaper and carried it in, already flipping to the job section.
"Nothing, nothing, stupid...squat...wait, what's this?" he questioned to himself, cocking his head to one side as he read the ad, slowly, over again. Even out loud. "Wanted, a dedicated young person willing to work any hours. Must have good serving skills, as the job ranges from a butler, a maid, a servant, or just a playmate...?" he blinked a few times. "The address is," he memorized that part, but found no reason to say it aloud. "Ask for Zelos Wilder. Hey, I can do that! Dad! I have a job!" Okay, so he didn't have one yet, but he knew that he could get it. Running into his room, he picked out the best outfit he had. It was a simple white button-up collar shirt and a pair of black jeans that looked enough like slacks to pass. Hey, he wasn't made of money, you know. Where as it might have been better to wait until tomorrow after school, he hurried off to catch a bus that he knew would stop near this neighborhood. He had been to the rich neighborhood once when he had taken some rich twit named Collette out on a date. They hadn't seen each other since.
Aside from a few stares from people on the bus, it was another one of those uneventful rides that you just...don't feel like describing. So he got there in once piece and fixed his hair a bit as he approached the door, clearing his throat as well. Almost immedietally after knocking did some scary looking butler person answer the door. "May I help you, sir?" asked the butler. Swallowing tightly, Lloyd nodded.
"I-is Zelos Wilder in?" he managed, turning his eyes downward.
"Why do you need to speak with Master Zelos?" This guy was really creepy. His face hardly moved at all when he talked, and he portrayed no emotion. Was this what was going to be expected of him.
"Back off, Greg! I put an ad in the newspaper asking for some new recruits." Came a familiar voice from the huge hollow within this massive castle. It wasn't a house, oh no. It was indeed a castle. Guess who came to the door then? Yes, it was indeed our red-head, all spruced up and handsome looking...with only a robe on. So he had been taking a bath before now? Lloyd didn't know why that question had come to mind.
"Oh. It's you. How'd you find out where I lived?" He didn't look too excited now. Strangely enough, he also didn't sound nearly as refined. Maybe he didn't have to at home?
"I came to see a Zelos Wilder, not you." he countered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You're staring at him, kid." was his dull response.
"So you put the ad in the newspaper!" shock obviously filled his face, because Zelos laughed.
"'course I did. Don't tell me you were answering that thing. I only recruit girls." But, for some reason, he softened slightly when Lloyd looked down, shame once more evident in his chocolate pools, giving him that puppy dog look. "Why would someone your age be looking for a job? Don't you have parents to mooch off of?" Like before, he raised an eyebrow, though didn't mention the size of his house. Was this out of pity?
"I...I do! I just want to build responsibility!" he exclaimed, eyes hardening as he looked up again, fists clenched. "I came here to get a job, and that's what I'm going to do! I may not be a girl, but I can do any task you ask of me, and I can work all hours! I'll even drop out of school!" Zelos put up his hands as if to stop the berade of reasons why he should get the job.
"Hold on there. Let's just take a sec and look at this for a moment. From the little I know about you, you don't seem to give a shit about responsibility," Lloyd flushed, "and you really aren't cut out for serving people." Distress filled his face, and he made to protest. Zelos held up his hand as a signal for him to be quiet. "I ain't saying that I'm not going to let you work for me. I really do need some new recruits. 'm just thinking that it's kind of weird for someone your age to actually want a job. However, if you are going to become one of my servants, I can't have you telling lies, now can I? So why don't you give me the truth, and I'll consider it?"
This guy was awfully cocky and sure of himself, but he really needed this...swallowing, he hung his head. "My father passed away, and I won't tell anyone because then they'll take me away from my home and my friends and pawn me off to some loser. I need money to support myself, and this is the only job in the paper I qualify for."
Now it wasn't often that Zelos found himself surprised by any such thing, but in this situation, his blue eyes hand widened, and he wrapped a delicate (and ungloved, for once) hand around a lock of red hair, his lower lip becoming trapped between both sets of teeth.
"Hey...I'm sorry, ki- Lloyd, was it? Now that I think about it, perhaps we have a job for you...why don't you come in?" he offered, managing a slight smile. Cheering up, he lifted his head, eyes slightly curious, but did not object. He entered after Zelos and heard the scary butler close the door behind them. "You can be my squire. All you have to do is follow me around everywhere, and do whatever I tell you to. In return, I'll allow you to sleep in a bed in my room, eat beside me at my table, and all around live here. However, I can't have you going to school anymore. It takes up too much time." Stopping, he turned around to look at the brunette, whom had froze, and was gaping.
"No more school! And I don't even get paid? How'll I keep the house! How-" One finger pressed against his lips, shocking him into silence.
"You'll be moving in with me. So chill, 'kay? You have tonight to pack and such, and I expect you here early tomorrow."
"But...my friends at school..." Lloyd turned his head to remove the fingers from his lips, eyes looking elsewhere.
"Starting now I'm like your guardian. I expect you to listen to me, whether I'm giving a command or not. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow, Lloyd." he gave a grin, and even winked, which made the brunette feel as if he already regretted this, and the feeling stayed as he walked all the way home.
A/n: You like? p I sure hope you do. Leave a review, and hopefully I'll get started on that next chapter...XD
