*100 years later*

So. I'm re-writing my dear Zipster-chapters. I couldn't even look at the old ones; they were so badly written I just had to do this.

Enjoy. And if you're not into same sex-relationships I suggest you to GTFO before I kick your tight little homophobic ass.

Again, English is not my native language so don't be too hard on me. I also don't like constructive cristism.

Now, let me begin this with these lyrics, they're like the hidden meaning of this chapter. Or something like that. Yeah.

All I ever wanted

All I ever needed

Is here in my arms

Words are very unnecessary

They can only do harm

Zip tried to control himself. Seeing his beauty's being packed down in boxes didn't really make his new day. In fact, nothing seemed to go right this day. Today, just everything went wrong. He scratched his head and tried to calm down, even though it didn't work at all.

"What the hell, Lara?!" he yelled as the female entered the room, looking slightly amused as she took a quick look around the desks.

"Try to look at the bright side of it, Zip – I'm actually doing you a favour."

"Oh, really? The bright side? What can possibly be bright about this?" Lara smirked and leaned forward, making Zip even more enraged for acting all insignificant.

"Many things. Especially your exercise. Why don't you-"

"Have you totally lost it? Exercise? Lara, just look at me. I'm-"

"Thin as a stick." Zip and Lara spun around just to see Alister stand in the entrance with a thick, dusty-looking book under his arm. It seemed that he found it hard to resist the evil temptation to smile. Zip's already bad mood sank from irritated to furious. If anything or anyone could make this day even worse it was this self-absorbed, irritable, sulky bookworm. Alister walked a few steps down the stairs.

"Really, you should read some more books instead of sitting in front of these…", he looked around to find words strong enough to describe the computers, "… these bloody, brain killing, ugly things all day long", he completed and gently stroked his precious book as if it was some sort of treasure. Zip rolled his eyes as if he dealing with a hopeless case.

Deep down, he didn't really know what they were arguing about and why they were acting so childish towards each other. What he knew was that Alister were getting on his nerves and had done that ever since he got here. From the very beginning, Alister had always put himself first and never shown any interest in his colleague nor his life. He hadn't even cared to ask his age. They just worked together, and if they actually did have a conversation, it was in a distress when they couldn't just glare at each other. Zip shook his head and sighed. There was no point in continuing this. He sat down in his chair and leaned back. Alister raised his eyebrows á la some bully.

"Did you swallow your tongue just now, or what?" Zip got up. There was a point in continuing this.

"You f-"

"Hey! Just drop it, please!" Lara's voice cut through the tense air like a sharp knife. Both men became silent. Lara being furious was never a good sign. Furious meant guns. Guns meant death. At least some injury. Lara looked to Zip, to Alister and then back to Zip, her eyes wide open.

"What's wrong with you two anyway?" Zip said nothing, although he seemed annoyed. Alister just snorted and shot a very superior glance at Zip, just to stress his everyday growing-ego, Zip thought and glanced him angrily.

"Don't worry, Lara", said Alister, "he probably just woke up on the-"

"Alister!" Lara shouted and suddenly looked hysterical. Alister almost dropped his book by fear. Even he dared not to upset his boss.

"Um, w-what?" he said a bit more reserved, although he couldn't hide the big puppy eyes nor his body language that seemed to scream out the words have mercy. A wide, mean smile suddenly appeared on Zip's lips as he eagerly looked at Lara to see her next action, strongly giving the impression of being some dumb, wannabe rebellious ghetto-kid who was watching a fistfight, screaming out the lack of intelligence-word "FIGHT!" until his throat became sore. But Lara just crossed her arms and chuckled a bit.

"It's all right, I'm not going to shoot you (Alister let out a weak cry and Zip's smile grew even wider), but I was wondering why you are here. I thought you went to the library...?" Alister returned to his normal state, even though he still seemed nervous and was constantly checking Lara's holsters.

"Unfortunately not. I was just… ah, never mind. I've got some work left in the library. See you chaps, no… not you by the way", he shot a mean glance at Zip, "later." He turned around and left the room without a single word. Zip raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously... why is he always picking on me? Lara?"

But Lara seemed lost in thought and wasn't paying any attention to Zip. She was looking at the spot Alister just had been standing on for a while ago.

"What if… Zip, I think I'm going outside for a while." Zip sighed and looked at Winston, who was still busy with stuffing down his precious computers into huge boxes. There wasn't much that kept him from taking them back.

"But what am I supposed to do? I have… nothing here." Lara rolled her eyes as she made her way to the outer door. Clearly she had something more important on her mind.

"Well, if you don't know, Zip, then how could I? Use your imagination." And she slammed the door shut in his face. Zip took a hopeless look around the room.

"Ah, this is hell…"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Alister walked down the stairs slowly – he was so absorbed by the book he was reading at the moment that he would've smashed someone's head in if he got interrupted. Suddenly, something hard hit his torso, and even though it was a small hit, it almost made him fall to the ground. He looked up, ready to kill.

"Watch were you're… Oh." His eyes grew narrow of the sight. "It's you."

At first, Zip looked confused, wondering why Alister seemed so irritated, but then he remembered. He scratched the back of his head, uncertain of what to say.

"Um… look", he began slowly and tried to keep eye contact with the man in front of him. "I owe you an apology." Alister waited. It was obvious that he was still upset by Zip's earlier acting, even though he was the one who'd started it all. He's so blown-up, Zip thought annoyed. Alister crossed his arms and stared at him. Zip took a deep breath and said very quickly:

"I guess I said some-"

"I was just trying to give you a piece of good advice", Alister cut off with a slightly disappointed expression on his face. Zip stared at the archeologist, now even more confused. Was he actually forgiving him? The egoistic, conservative bookworm?

"Really? Then what was that bitchy comment about then?" Alister made an I'm-so-sorry-but-I-was-just-being-honest-look which made Zip feel even more sceptical. At least I'm used to it, he thought unhappy.

Alister held out his hand. A little smiled had appeared on his lips.

"Friends?" Zip hesitated, wondering if Alister was playing him a trick, but took the hand and shook it.

"Yeah, sure."

Alister grinned. Releasing Zip's hand, he began to walk upstairs, once again reading his dearly beloved book.

"Wait, where're you going?" Zip asked, a bit frustrated by Alister's sudden move. He always went before things got a little too personal for his taste.

"To the library", came a nonchalant answer.

"To the library", Zip repeated silently in a ridiculed, exaggerated British voice and made a childish but perfect imitation of Alister reading a book, who fortunately didn't notice anything.

He slumped into an armchair in front of the big, cosy fireplace. Its crackling, orange flames made him sleepy just by looking at them, and his eyes felt sore by the heat. Slowly, he looked away from the fireplace and leaned back a bit. He tried to think of something he could do in the coming three days, excluding the idea of sitting in front of a computer. Maybe he should talk to Alister? No, that nerd would just force him to read more boring, educating books and drink litres of tea. He sighed and took a quick, hopeless look around himself. Just when he was about to get up to go outside and get some fresh air, he heard a weak, panic-stricken voice coming from the stairs:

"Dear… God…"

Paralysed, Alister had stopped walking and was now standing on the furthest step of the staircase. Since Zip only saw his back, he couldn't tell if he looked shocked, but judging by the sound of his voice, he was. Zip immediately got up.

"Hey man! You okay?" Apparently he wasn't, because barely a second later, he collapsed right on the spot.

"Alister!" the hacker shouted and quickly ran up to him to check if he was still breathing and, Zip shivered by the thought, fully alive.

Fortunately, he was.

Zip let out a small sigh of relief and sat down. He was still very anxious though, and when he looked at Alister's face he noticed that a small amount of blood was flowing out of his nostrils. What the hell… that's nosebleed? He fainted because of that? Zip wrinkled his eyebrows.

This could turn out quite interesting after all.

When Lara got home, the first thing she saw in front of her when she closed the big oak-door, was Zip and Alister, who was lying on the couch, apparently asleep. What a peculiar scene, she thought a bit confused and entered the main hall, still not completely free from the thoughts of the recent event that seemed to fill up her mind like a very powerful memory. She tried to push them away for later reflection. Zip sighed of relief when he saw her.

"Finally! You've been away for more than two hours! Where have you-"

"Why don't you calm down, Zip", Lara interrupted sharply, "and tell me what's wrong with Alister. Why is he asleep?" She didn't sound angry, just determined and gave Zip an encouraging look to continue. Zip shot an uncertain, quick glance at Alister's sleeping, peaceful face and then said: "Hell, I don't know! Suddenly, he got all weird and shaky and just... well, collapsed! Oh, and he sounded kinda, what's the word..." Zip pondered for a moment, his face rigid by concentration, "well, scared before he fainted." Lara looked just as confused as Zip felt like.

It made no sense at all.

Alister fainting randomly? And by no other reason than sudden terror? It just didn't fit in. She sat down on the other couch and glanced at the ceiling, thinking fast and hard. Her gaze swept by the table, Zip, Alister and then suddenly the table again, because the thing that was lying there had caught her attention. She leaned forward to get a better look at it.

It was a handkerchief... with something red on it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Zip nodded.

"That's the funny part. Okay, he had a nosebleed, but... did he actually faint because of that? And if he actually did... man, what a pussy." Lara's eyes narrowed for a few seconds, but it looked like the mystery had been solved.

"You said nosebleed? I see..." Zip's eyes grew big.

"What?" he immediately yelled and jumped up from his chair. Lara looked at the American with a severe face.

"What about Alister?" he said, this time with more eager in his voice. Lara crossed her arms and then finally spoke: "Well, if he haven't told you yet, I suppose I should." She paused and frowned. Zip held his breath, afraid that he was going to die of curiosity.

"Alister... he has this, hmm, problem with seeing, touching or smelling blood." She pointed at the red handkerchief. An expression of understanding ran across Zip's face.

"What?" Lara nodded and continued: "It's called Hemophobia. It's not that he's being oversensitive and a wimp, not at all. He just... can't take blood in all its shapes and forms." Zip raised his eyebrows even more and Lara became silent. They found themselves just staring at the sleeping Alister, giving some space to think.

"So that's why..." Zip's face twisted with pain as he maybe for the thousand time wondered who this man really was. He knew so little of him it was almost sad, and the lack of information made him feel like a total stranger. "Then I really can't blame him." Lara sighed tiredly, got up from the sofa and then began to strech every inch of her lithe body. Zip chuckled and shook his head.

"You're going to do that all night?" Lara just smiled rather ironicly and let her hair out, the shiny, nutbrown hair fell quickly over her shoulders. She looked remarkably beautiful where she stood.

"No, I was just getting ready for bed." Lara looked at him in that sort of x-ray-way that made him feel like she was looking right through him. "You should get some sleep as well." Zip hesitated. He didn't want to leave Alister.

Not now.

Not when he felt like this.

He blushed when he realized how strange his train of thoughts were.

"Zip?"

Zip jumped at the sudden voice but immediately identified it as Lara's. He looked at her as if he'd never actually seen her before.

Back to reality.

"Um, yeah?"

"I said goodnight." That damn, accusing look on her face made Zip feel even more awkward about the situation.

"Yeah, nighty. By the way...", he shot a quick glance at Alister, who was still sleeping, "what shall we do about him?" Lara raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose he'll have to sleep on the couch, no? There's no point in waking him up now." Zip nodded and began to make his way to the techroom, feeling somewhat disturbed by Lara's smile.

If she hadn't been there... He froze when he reached out his hand to open the door.

What am I thinking?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

As Zip woke up the next morning, a strange feeling had taken place within him. A dark, undescribable feeling that didn't seem to go away. Unsure of what it might be, he sat up.

Something felt wrong, very wrong. No matter what he thought of, he couldn't get the unpleasant feeling off of his mind. Then, a sudden flashback came out of nowhere. He put his hand to his forhead and sighed.

Hell.

My computers.

Angry, he got out of bed and began to put some clothes on.

"Jesus, Zip, what's with you?" Lara seemed anxious as the little sunshine entered the kitchen with a grumpy "good morning", very different from his usual, jumpy appearance. Zip sat down next to Alister and decided to ignore the cup of coffee that had been placed in front of him. Not even his precious coffee could turn this terriable, new morning into something good. He glared at Lara.

"My computers", he hissed and sounded strikingly alike Dracula when he said it. Lara fought an invincible urge to laugh and tried to compose herself, but since Zip was a good friend of hers, she didn't want to make a fool out of him.

"Please, do forgive me, Zip, but it's for your own good."

"But-"

"But you should listen to your boss." Zip felt a sting of irritation when he heard Alister's voice. He was incrediblysick of all the smart ass-comments. Didn't he ever learn?

"I see you're completely recovered, foureyes." Alister sighed and mumled something about being hopeless before he got up and left the room in a hurry.

"Can't you two just make up?" Zip stared at Lara as if she didn't know what she was talking about.

"You don't understand – it's not that simple. Sure, I can make up, but can he? He's so self-absorbed he can't even clean his goddamn desk after himself." He made an expression of contempt. "Ya know what I'm saying, Lara? Like he's so much better than us."

"Oh, Zip..." When Lara sat down, she had that kind of insecure look on her face – the one you always have when you don't know if you should speak or just shut up.

"We need him. Okay, I need him", she added when she saw Zip's face. "I know he's not acting fair towards you." Zip made a grunt that made him sound like a bear to show his consent.

"But..." she shot a quick look at him before she continued, "you know he've had a tough time during his early years". She stopped, looked around to see if someone was nearby, found out there wasn't, and then continued: "But I really, really need his help so could you please just bare with it, Zip?" He took a deep breath and forced himself to look at her. This was something he would never be able to tell her, he realized – how complicated his relationship with Alister was. It was like walking on black ice – if you took a single step wrong, if your foot slipped, it would break.

"Okay", he said calmly.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The almost dusty library was his truly home. Even though Croft Manor contained many, many big and luxury rooms and halls, this was where he belonged. Here he could spend hours after hours reading one book after the other and never be interrupted by some small, pathetic reason.

Well, almost never.

Zip tried to open the door as carefully as possible but Alister – who could tell from total silence from tiny, mechanical sounds entering his nerdy, educating world – immediately looked up and sighed deeply when he saw who the intruder of peace was.

"What now?" he asked lightly as he began to gather up some abandoned papers. "Ah, you're here to insult me with that clever tongue of yours again, am I right?"

"Is that all you can think of me?" Zip exclaimed, clearly upset. "What is your problem exactly? Your problem with me." Alister raised one eyebrow and looked down to read something.

"I never said I've got a problem with you." Zip snorted.

"Yeah, sure. And I'm a living angel, just dropped down from heaven to say hello." Alister bit his tongue to resist the temptation to smile. He weren't even reading, his eyes were just staring at the paper. All this faked concentration made him think if Zip had figured him out already.

God,Zip was stupid.

His attention was once again drawn to the man as he spoke.

"Anyway, I just want you to know that I've got nothing against you, really." He paused to think for a second. "Well, except that you've obviously got a problem with me." Alister slammed his fist onto the table.

"I said... you're not the problem." He hesitated. "I am." Zip blinked unsympathetically and tried to catch on.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Alister shook his head. For a few moments, Zip was convinced that he was going to reveal something, but then...

"No. You wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I would."

"No", Alister repeated and smiled mysteriously, "you wouldn't." Zip crossed his arms like a five year old and murmured something. Alister prepared for an attack and carefully moved his papers to a safer area, in case Zip would overturn the table. The American exploded:

"So we're keeping secrets from each other now?!"

"I don't remember you've earned the right to know details about my personal life. We just work together, right?" Zip opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, but his voice didn't seem to obey him. The chilly reply had indeed taken it's turn on him. For the very first time, Alister had won one of their arguments. Zip felt embarrassed as he stood there and tried to remember how to speak properly. He realized an apology was necessary.

"I'm sorry. You're totally right. I..." he trailed off and tried to think of something to say, but his brain seemed out of service at the moment. "I feel so stupid right now", he whispered and looked guiltily at the floor. To his surprise, that incredibly annoying gay-chuckle of Alister's was heard behind the papers and seemed to shake the walls. Zip frowned.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you."

"No, I thought you were cute."

"Yeah, funny."

"I was being serious."

Zip looked at him.

As Zip stumbled into the room, he had no idea he was about to witness an intense meeting between two lovers. At first, he froze when he saw Alister's bared chest. Then he saw the other guy; something in the back of his head told him that the face was familiar. Then he saw what they were doing.

"Aw, caught red-handed, Al", Alberic smiled and sent Zip an insignificant stare, his grip of Alister's waist tightened as he teasingly kissed his neck. Alister tried to push him away but was no match for the tall, more muscular man.

"What are you looking at?" the other man asked rather angrily. "Can't you see Al and Al wants to be alone?"

"Zip!" Alister exclaimed and broke free from the Alberic's grip, his eyes succeeded in expressing the feelings shock, embarrassment and fear at the same time.

"Zip, I'm-" But no good thought came to his mind, no great excuse for the fact that two men had been in one bedroom at the same time, probably doing some pretty private stuff, too. Zip just stood there, absolutely perplexed.

"Are you hitting on me, Alister?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

Zip slowly rose his eyebrows. Alister had said the last word a bit too innocently and quickly, and the American wasn't entirely stupid. Now, he wasn't a liedetector, but he could pretty much tell when a person was lying. He looked at him with his dark, intense eyes. In what seemed like ultrarapid, Alister finally looked up to meet his gaze.

"Why are you lying to me, Alister?" The historian flinched, probably uncomfortable by Zip's way of using his name.

"I'm not", he said defiantly and then shrugged. Zip's eyes immediately noticed the movement, though.

"If you weren't lying, you wouldn't have shrugged while talking. It's one of the most obvious things to do, Al." For a moment, the historian looked speechless. Then he continued with a little, nervous laugh: "You've watched too many episodes of that show."

"What show?" Zip asked with clear tone of confusion in his voice. Alister's controlled expression shifted to an insecure smirk as he once again fumbled with the papers.

"That... ah, what's it called again? I can't even remember the-"

"Why don't you just tell me as it is, Alister?" Zip smiled, but it wasn't that mean, evil smile of malicious pleasure that nearly always were playing on his lips. Alister held his breath and wondered if this was the right time to leave. Or perhaps the right time to...? He realized that he was shaking when the thoughts filled his mind.

"Tell you what?" he murmured helplessly and noticed that the other man was standing closer to him than before. He clutched his fists under the table. Zip sighed demonstratively with acted consideration.

"Well, I think you know what I'm talking about." Alister stood up – wherever this conversation led them to, he didn't like it.

"What exactly are you implying? That I'm...", he laughed, obviously amused by the thought, "in love with you? Is that what you think?"

"Yes." Zip's smile widened. "Something like that." Alister made a sound that in some way reminded Zip of a gorilla.

"Then I'm terribly sorry to tell you the truth –no, I'm not. Why on earth would I-"

"You're so self-controlled, but I can see that you're hiding something from me." He moved even closer and put one of his hands on Alister's shoulder in a, what he thought, friendly manner. "Why can't you ever be spontaneous, Alister? You always have to think everything to death. Can't you just feel what you feel and..." Alister rose his eyebrows so high they disappeared behind his bangs.

"And...?" But the weird, abstract atmosphere was already gone. Zip took his hand back and looked thoughtful. He had a strange expression on his face.

"Nothing", he said with a hollow voice. He blinked and looked away, clearly avoiding eye contact. Alister looked sceptical.

"You're sad?"

"No", Zip said, and his irritated voice increased in volume, "I'm disappointed."

"Why are-"

"Because I simply thought that you were stronger. It's pathetic to lie about such obvious things." Alister felt like he'd just fallen down an endless, black hole, unable to cling onto something. He wasn't shaking any more, but an extreme numbness seemed to control his fingers and the rest of his body. He realized there was no point in lying.

"It's that obvious, huh?"

"You're kidding? The way you overreacts in everything I say or do, you're amusing attempts in constantly avoiding me and... the way you look at me."

Alister sighed and an awkward, tense silence fell upon them.

Okay, idiot - you won. I hope you're bloody happy about it. You wanted me defeated, so here I am.

Alister's mind didn't seem to produce any happy, useful thoughts. He just sat there, refusing to look at Zip and his superior, judging eyes.

If he'd really wanted something from me, he would have said it ages ago. Or would he?

"Is it really that bad then? If I... like you?" As soon as he'd said that, he knew that the words came straight from his heart. Zip's eyes moved from the floor he'd been staring on for the last two minutes to Alister's shoulder.

"I didn't say it was a problem. I said you're a coward." Alister slowly raised both of his eyebrows in grave confusion. He didn't get it at all. Zip's fury made absolutely no sense, especially in this weird situation. If he hadn't told him because he didn't want to, that was his own damnproblem. But why did Zip had to go and be all bitchy about it? All these thoughts were interrupted when his hand seemed to be moving on its own, his mind unable to control the intense, sudden urge to touch the other man. Zip said nothing, but a knowing, almost affectionate expression could be seen on his face. Alister's arm jerked; his mind was obviously stronger after all.

"Sorry", he breathed and the blush made him even more aware of the big mistake he'd just made.

"Don't apologize for everything."

"Sorry." Zip laughed, and the atmosphere lightened immediately. At first, Alister just smiled excusably, for his experiences told him that it was the right thing to do, but he began soon to chuckle, and once he'd started, he found it very hard to stop. He didn't even notice that Zip was now caressing his previous betraying hand. He couldn't pretend he didn't feel it, but he had absolutely no idea how to react whatsoever. He just kept looking at Zip's hand, which now began to move its way to his neck, his chest, his left cheek and then back to his neck. Alister's eyes were half closed, his breathing became faster and his mouth was dry. For a few moments, they just stared at each other. Alister said, amazed by the discover:

"You, of all people?"

"Well, yeah. You were too busy being an ass to see it." Alister laughed and took Zip's other hand.

"And you couldn't bother telling me this a little earlier?" Zip looked a bit thoughtful for a second, but his expression didn't change very much.

"Well... I am now, right?" Alister smiled when he felt his lips against his, the tingling feeling of pure happiness ran through his whole body as he let out a small moan when their kiss deepened. Alister let Zip's tongue play inside his mouth a bit before – since breathing became an issue – he quite roughly pulled away, leaving a dissatisfied Zip staring at him with pleading eyes.

"That was..."

"... unexpected? Good?"

"Both", Alister whispered, who was still trying to catch some air.

Please leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Thanks for reading! ~Hanna