This is my first official Zelloyd fic! I've written plenty of drabbles in my school notebooks, but this is the first of my Zelloyd work to be read by public eyes! The plan for this story is five or six chapters... nothing huge. The M rating is for later chapters... and some language following this chapter.
That being said, enjoy! Don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I don't own ToS... If I did, Zelloyd would be even MORE canon.
They would never have guessed. Not in a million years, and not if I'd given them a thousand hints. Not one of them. My games deterred them from such thoughts ever entering their minds—Zelos the philanderer, Zelos the pervert. Zelos is gonna go wrangle some snatch. Makes sense, right?
Yeah, except for the fact (the extremely little-known fact) that I was almost a hundred percent positive I was gay. Nobody knew, not a soul. It kinda sucked having to hide and lie and deceive my friends, but I knew it was probably so much better that they didn't know. It would've made things so complicated that it wasn't even worth the trouble.
All the stories I told them were true, though. I'd slept with more women than I could count (which says a lot; I'm good at math) and I'd never been with a man. So, how did I know, right? That I was really the "g" word. That's why it was only "almost a hundred percent." There was just no part of me that wanted to be around females. When I was younger, maybe a little… but men were so much more interesting to me. Particular interests? I'll get back to that one.
Raine said we were in need of a place to stay for the night and Sheena didn't want to camp. Being only a short ride away from Altamira, the reigning Queen Professor Sage decided that's where we'd stay, and of course I was thrilled, because there were so many things to do at night in that city. The casino was always buzzing, the beach at night was dazzling, and the amusement park lit up in the darkness was perfect for dates—I would know, having had plenty of them there… if you could call them dates; the women hanging all over me and only in it so they could say they slept with the Chosen. Per Raine's orders, we hopped onto our Rheairds and arrived at the hotel in Altamira just before dark—perfect.
The cute clerk at the front desk-complete with her sexy bunny suit-reserved a room for us, then asked us if we were going out for the night. Raine gave each of us a stern look, saying no to the polite lady, but I ignored her anyway; as much as I liked her, I couldn't have cared less what she thought I shouldn't do.
"I know I am," I said, and laughed lightly. It was all a part of my act; I was supposed to go out. So after we ate dinner at the hotel, I pocketed one of the room keys and went off on my own to play a few slots at the casino.
I got bored quickly and decided to leave, and as I exited the casino building, I saw Lloyd standing on the bridge, staring into the water, black with the night and sparkling. He looked deep in thought and I decided to approach him, stepping up behind him carefully. He heard me after a moment and turned around quickly, looking pretty alarmed until he saw that it was only me, and I feel myself laughing at him-genuine laughter this time.
"I'm not an assassin," I joked. "Don't worry."
He shook his head and laughed, and I could feel it almost physically lighten my heart. "Nope," he agreed. "It's just Zelos—that guy who couldn't assassinate me if he tried." He grinned like an idiot.
"Don't you turn this into a fight," I warned playfully, taking a step toward him, only a few feet apart.
"The kind of fight you wouldn't win?" he challenged, and I chuckled, shaking my head.
"You've got so much to learn about life, Lloyd," I told him, feigning wisdom in my voice. "You're so young."
"Don't act all wise," Lloyd laughed, his voice accusatory. "You can't fool me like the others."
For some reason, what he said left me without words, so I just looked at him for a moment and shook my head. I chuckled as I turned toward the water, thinking about how I sure could fool him. Wanting to say something but knowing it would bring up too many things I was not ready to talk about, I said nothing.
"It's a pretty night, huh?" he asked as he faced the sea as well.
"Altamira always has pretty nights," I replied matter-of-factly, then silence fell between us.
"I guess you probably come here a lot, huh?" he asked after a moment, his voice a bit softer. "With girls, I mean."
I laughed hollowly, falling back into my act. I felt disappointed; I'd felt for a moment that I'd be able to drop my act, if only for a night, but I should've known better. "Yep," I told him, trying to sound proud, and I saw Lloyd nod out of the corner of my eye. He seemed to drop back into thought, the way he was before I approached him, and I sighed, not quite wanting my night to be shot. "Have you ever been gambling, Lloyd?" I asked him on a whim, and he turned toward me.
"No, never," he said, his voice innocent as ever. Honestly, you could never expect anything else from Lloyd. "Dad always told me gambling was poisonous."
I resisted the urge to scoff at his small-town morals. "You're an adult, Lloyd," I reminded him with a playful jab at his shoulder. "You can make your own decisions." I winked at him. "Wanna go play a round of cards? I'll teach you, then we play for money."
Lloyd's eyes widened and I couldn't help the smile curling its way onto my lips with the knowledge I'd won, and later, after losing five thousand Gald gambling—mostly due to Lloyd's inexperience—I decided that perhaps poker and slot machines weren't his thing.
"I told you I wasn't going to be any good!" Lloyd laughed as we left the casino and boarded the small train, and the aquatic locomotive began moving toward the hotel. It was half-past midnight.
I laughed along with him, shaking my head. "For once, I should have listened to you, Lloyd!" I teased.
The swordsman rolled his eyes before inspecting the view around us. We were coming close to the amusement park, and since we were moving so slowly, plenty of time was allotted for us to enjoy the view of the lights at night. Although the park had closed at midnight, the luminescent lights that adorned the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster remained lit just for the vanity of passers-by.
"The lights are so pretty, Zelos!" Lloyd said, and I only realized then how mystified he was with such a simple sight. Nearly everybody in Tethe'alla had seen the lights in Altamira at some point in their life, but Lloyd wasn't from Tethe'alla.
"It's really your first time, is it?" I asked, acting aloof but observing the view almost as carefully as Lloyd was.
"Yeah! It's incredible!" he exclaimed before turning back toward me. We were getting past the lights and only yards from our stop. When the driver of the tram ushered us off, I watched Lloyd stand carefully before dashing off and out of the vehicle, and I stood where I was for a moment just watching him.
"Are you coming, Zelos?" he called to me, and I nodded stretching a bit before I followed him off the tram and onto the cobblestone that would lead us to the hotel. We took the elevator up and crossed the bridge, the hotel now in our sight. Lloyd, still looking bouncy and energetic for it being so late, seemed like he couldn't wipe the grin off his face.
"Thanks, Zelos," he said as we both approached the entrance to the hotel.
"For what?" I asked with a tired laugh.
"I dunno…" Lloyd said, his voice trailing off to become quieter as we stepped inside the large building and the door shut behind us. We headed toward the elevator quickly. "For hanging out with me tonight, I guess. I had fun."
Instead of telling him that I had fun as well, I chuckled at him and crossed my arms as the small room we'd stepped into began transporting us up. This, too, was a part of my act, and almost a habit at this point.
"And sorry if I messed up your plans…" Lloyd added sheepishly as we stepped onto our floor and I pulled out the room key I'd taken earlier.
"What plans?" I asked confusedly. I didn't remember mentioning anything like that to him or any of our other friends.
"I don't know, I guess," he said, his voice almost a whisper as my key was shoved into the lock on the door and jumbled around. "With a girl or something. I'm probably not as fun as those bunny girls."
I didn't know whether to laugh or be serious, so I opted for the former, but quietly. I opened the door carefully to find that our entire team had already fallen asleep. I gestured for Lloyd to go in first, and he smiled as he walked by me.
"Not by a long shot," I told him. I laughed, pretty sure that he didn't even know what made those bunny girls so fun in the first place. Not so strangely, I was rather glad I didn't run into any bunny girls. Strangely, I was glad to have run into Lloyd, and I did have a good time. He was just as fun as the bunny girls without even trying.
I shut the door extremely carefully behind me and got ready for bed in silence, claiming a small, unoccupied bed in the corner as my own and inconspicuously watching Lloyd get ready for bed in the opposite corner.
I drifted off to sleep slowly. Lloyd was asleep before me and I could hear his light snoring even from across the room—maybe just because I was listening for it. The last image in my mind before I lost consciousness was the look on Lloyd's face when we passed by the lights on the tram, and I couldn't help but imagine his eyes, filled with wonderment, fixated on me.
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