Jealous much, best friend?

Lara had really forgotten how to party.

The raider had just been through so much for the past few months that she'd barely had any time for herself and her friends, not to mention for going outs and parties.

Yet, now, she was freer, had had her fair amount of sleep and was at a party hosted by Toru Nishimura, an old friend, the father of her collage bestie, alongside Amanda(who was a former friend of hers now), Samantha Nishimura. Gladly, the party wasn't in Tokyo, Japan due to the fact that the Nishimura family had decided to come on holiday in England, which, according to Lara, was a terrible decision, but, of course, who was she to argue about that? The young woman wasn't complaining about her friends' taste in vacation destinations.

She was complaining about the bloody party, though.

Mainly because Lara didn't want to be there.

The raider sighed and looked around the dancing figures seeking a familiar darker-skinned American.

She and Zachariah "Zip" (because his name was "way too complicated and slightly feminine") Morrison, her tech man and best friend had been… Getting closer lately, especially after what happened in the Croft Manor and with Alister. Lara was quite aware of his strong feelings for her, despite him being good at suppressing and hiding them but she'd never suggested or shown anything toward him herself… Though the tomb raider had realized she had a thing for the hacker too, long ago.

And right now the woman wasn't sure why she was looking for him… But that's what she was doing.

'Hey, Lara! Why are you standing here like a statue, come have a drink, go dance…!' The familiar voice of Sam, who wasn't entirely sober, interrupted her thoughts. She sighed in response.

'I don't want to.' Came her simple reply.

'Aw, come on, everyone else is having so much fun, why can't you?'

'Because I don't want to.' Lara hissed angrily, unintentionally offending her lightly drunken friend and walking away from her quickly.

She wanted to talk to Zip. That's what she'd been doing mostly, lately.

She wanted to get out of there.

He would understand.

Lara walked fast, making her way through the crowd and trying to ignore the loud music.

Where the hell was he?

The tomb raider walked into a hallway and attempted to overlook some people, who were displaying too much physical affection toward each other, and looked around.

'Zip?'

Walking past a few drunken guys who stared at her black shorts and exposed hips and thighs nearly made her go to them and teach them a lesson.

'Zip?'

Setting the drugged people on the other side of the hallway aside, she finally managed to recognize a darker-skinned, tall man who was talking with… Some girl.

She froze.

The said girl leaned upwards and kissed him, for a second she thought he kissed her back but then the young man gently pushed her away and gave her a forced, Lara deduced, smile, pulling his blue sweatshirt back above his bare shoulders.

The tomb raider swallowed hard and sensed a pang of jealousy and possessiveness take over her, as well as anger.

As much as she could tell, they hadn't had sex, but… Was she right…

Actually, why did she care so much, they were still just best friends…

Zip turned around leaving the woman angry and disappointed and spotted Lara with wide eyes. The hacker started advancing on her and she didn't know how to react.

So she just stood there, staring at him like a prey being advanced on by a predator. He finally reached her.

'Lara, w-what are you doing here exactly? In this hallway… ' He whispered the last part and placed his hands on her upper arms, but she shrugged him away.

"What were YOU doing here in "this hallway?" A voice in the back of her head yelled. The raider ignored it.

'I was…' She paused. 'Nevermind, I didn't mean to… Interrupt your fun.' Lara said rather venomously and shot him a glare before turning around and walking off.

Zip almost rolled his eyes. Almost.

'Lara, would you hold up?' He hurried after her, hearing a "no" as an answer.

The young woman didn't turn around as she walked through the quieter place, then the loud dance room and out of the building but she knew he was a few steps behind her, keeping his voice to himself.

They walked the whole way home without saying a word or doing anything else. The only remarkable activity was Zip wrapping his sweatshirt around Lara's shivering shoulders and her gripping onto it, because even her stubbornness couldn't beat the coldness of the autumn night.

They walked into the second Abington estate she'd inherited from her father, Richard Croft, and went their own ways: Lara ran upstairs, while Zip headed to his room downstairs.

The room alignment wasn't so different from the Croft Manor one, so it wasn't hard to get used to calling this place "home".

As the young woman walked inside of her room, she slammed the door and slid down it, breathing deeply. Why the hell did she care so much…?

Lara wasn't used to being in lo- having feelings for someone, especially since she hadn't involved herself in a romantic relationship at all after Kurtis Trent and it didn't do her good right now.

But staying where she was and feeling bad about herself wouldn't make things better.

After a long shower and a few pages of her favourite mythology book, Lara headed downstairs to Zip's room and knocked on the door. Before the raider got her answer, she opened it.

Her tech man was sitting on the bed in his pajama pants a top. He looked up at her, but didn't stand up.

They just remained in their positions, staring at each other rather awkwardly.

'You're in my room.' He finally stated as if it was the biggest discovery in the world.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, looking all but amused.

'Yeah. No shit, Sherlock.'

He furrowed his eyebrows.

'Don't curse, it doesn't suit a lady.' A faint smirk curled his full lips.

Lara was just about to explode but her friend interrupted her as he got off the mattress.

'You were jealous, weren't you?' Lara didn't like how close he was getting to her… No, cut it, she liked it quite a lot, but she was too… Herself to admit it.

'Me? Jealous? Of her?' She asked sarcastically and he took another step closer. Lara cursed herself mentally for adding the last sentence to her enraged answer.

'You don't need to always deny everything, Lara…' His hands made their way to her long neck and she twitched.

'I'm not denying anything, Zachariah, I was just…'

'Jealous.'

'Surprised.'

'Yeah, right.'

She pouted and that was slightly arousing to Zip in a really odd way. The man sighed.

'I didn't shag her or anything, okay? She wanted to… But I didn't so I stopped her in time. She wouldn't give up but I finally cut her out.' – The young man explained slowly and carefully, staring pointedly at his boss' expression, studying it. – 'Okay?' – He added softly.

Lara blinked, anger still burning in her beautiful eyes but visibly relaxed, looking at his honest and kind hazel ones.

'Again… Why would I feel jealous even if you two-'

The tomb raider stiffened.

A few seconds later they kept a promising distance between each other.

But now Zip had narrowed it as much as possible.

And it was just then she'd felt his lips on hers and his hands on her waist.

She didn't move for what felt like an eternity, but her lips did return the kiss, even if only slightly.

After a little while, the hacker pulled away, looking at her pointedly and… Lovingly. Zip didn't just look at somebody lovingly; he never looked at anyone lovingly.

Anyone but Lara Croft.

He was just about to let go as he observed her shocked expression but then she wrapped her arms around his neck(so suddenly and clumsily, he almost fell backwards) and connected their lips yet again, this time more passionately and confidentially.

The kiss deepened slowly, their hands started going places tenderly and the air began getting hot and heavy. Lara felt her back being pinned to the wall and her hands had started undressing the top the man by her side was wearing, never breaking their kiss.

Her cotton tank was on the ground soon enough as well. But just when Zip connected his lips to the raider's neck someone knocked on the door.

The hacker pulled away glaring at the door and Lara covered her mouth and her now bare chest and turned around so she was facing the wall.

The knock repeated itself.

'Mister Zip, are you here? Lady Croft isn't in her room, I was wondering where she could be…' The butler asked concerned.

The American looked at his boss questioningly and Lara nodded, looking away in an attempt to hide the blush that has extended on her pale cheeks.

The hacker spoke up:

'She's here with me, Winston, no need to worry.' He said loud enough for the old man on the other side of the door to hear him.

The partners heard a soft sigh.

'Alright. Just wanted to let Lady Croft know that Miss Nishimura called to ask her where she was. I told her you had come home due to feeling sick. I hope it's a good enough excuse for you, Lara.' – The butler didn't get an answer but he wasn't expecting any anyway. The polite Englishman added: 'Good night. And make sure to get some sleep.'

The last comment Winston made caused Zip's face to burn and Lara's blush to become even deeper.

It didn't take long for the tomb raider to turn to her tech man and study him for a second before revealing her bare chest and approaching him slowly. Zip turned around toward her and closed his eyes as she kissed his lips tenderly, her fingertips touching his chin. He placed his hands on her thin waist and walked backwards, falling back on the bed with Lara straddling his lap, never breaking their kiss.

The tech man placed a hand on her stomach, pushing her slightly and receiving a very distracting soft moan from her as his cold fingertips caressed her soft, pale skin.

'Are we going to talk about this?' – He asked, hazel eyes locked with warm, brown ones. Zip's intentions were all of type but to push her to do something she didn't want to do.

Lara just smiled and shook her head.

'Just… Just hold me… Okay? As long as that's alright with you, of course.'

Her tech man grinned and then smirked smugly.

'It's perfectly alright by me, Lara…'

And with that, he kissed her again and switched their positions, sensing the mattress move underneath.

And the silence of the night was broken by two sensual voices.