Disclaimer: I claim dis. (Yes, that's a joke. Fanfics don't need Disclaimers.)

Hot Chocolate

Lloyd lied wide awake in his bed at the inn at Flanoir, the pipe from the stove, that was keeping his room from being just as cold as outside, was loose, and as long as that stove was working, it would make a banging noise, and with that- Lloyd couldn't sleep, despite the fact that he could, much to Raine's dismay, sleep while standing. But that pipe was loud and obnoxious- and Lloyd couldn't stand it. As he lied there, he looked out the window at the snow as it fell over the city. But all that did was make him feel cold, so instead of staying in the room, he decided that he'd go downstairs and make himself some hot chocolate. He had decided on hot chocolate, because he hadn't drank coffee since the night he had found out that Colette was losing her senses, and despite her ability to feel returning to her, his taste for coffee hadn't come back to him, and anyways- coffee would keep him up longer.

He tried to slip out of his room as silently as possible, Raine and Genis's room was next to his and if Raine caught him at this time, he'd be in for it tomorrow, so he made sure to be as quite as he could. After slowly closing his door, he crept downstairs, to an empty main room, or at least he thought it was empty- at first, but he noticed the orange glow of the fireplace, and he distinctly remembered having to put it out earlier that night. Despite this puzzling bit, he continued with his plan of getting some hot chocolate. Then as he walked slowly toward the kitchen, it was late at night, no one else was going to get his hot chocolate for him, he saw who had lit the fireplace. It was Colette and she was resting her head on the couch, but Lloyd couldn't tell if she was asleep or not, and not wanting to disturb her if she wasn't awake, he decided it would be best for him to leave her alone, so he went into the kitchen and made a kettle of hot chocolate. He poured some into a mug and placed a single, large, puffy marshmallow into it and began to leave- back to that room with the annoying loose pipe, but then he noticed something else, Colette wasn't sleeping, and it from looking at her, it seemed she was rather cold, because she was shivering, even though she was near the fire.

As he was looking at her, she caught sight of him. "Lloyd. Is that you?" she whispered.

"Yeah." He replied, his voice barely audible, but Colette could hear it perfectly, and knowing Lloyd was by her made her smile. "Hey... is it alright if I joined you?" he asked in that low-volume voice again.

"Of course." She said, with a wide smile across her face.

Lloyd sat down next to Colette, he to, smiling.

"Lloyd... I'm... cold." Colette said.

"Oh. Well, here." Lloyd said, as he spread his fuzzy blanket around them both, whilst scooting a bit closer to her- his intent to make it so the blanket could wrap around them.

"Thanks, Lloyd!" Colette said, as she took hold of the blanket. She then leaned towards Lloyd, resting her head on his shoulder. She sighed, "You're warm, Lloyd."

Lloyd blushed and then turned to face Colette. The young girl who was wrapped up in his blanket, with her body pressed up against his. A warm, loving expression complimenting her face. Lloyd smiled, and knew that moments like these were easily worth whatever trouble he'd face in order to protect her, and he'd do so, no matter what it took. He then wrapped his right arm around the girl. Then he asked her why she was still up.

She replied, "I couldn't really get to sleep."

"Oh no, don't tell me..." Lloyd said, surprised to hear that answer.

"No. It's not like that. I-I just have a lot of things on my mind, that's all." She said, sitting up.

"You know, if there's something wrong, you can tell me. And really, please do. Don't worry about things on your own. Really, I promised to protect you, and I will keep that promise." Lloyd said to her, before taking a sip of his hot cocoa.

"Lloyd, this time, I really mean it. There's nothing wrong, and besides, you're up as well." She said, looking straight into Lloyd's eyes.

"Well... if everything is alright, then," Lloyd sighed, taking another drink of his hot cocoa. He turned toward the fire and rested his head on the back of the couch. He closed his eyes, and then let his head fall to the side, coming to a rest on top of Colette's.

"Lloyd…", Colette softly said as she realized he had fallen asleep. She too, let her eyes fall shut and drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Eh. The ending's kinda shot, as I didn't write this in one sitting or even within a reasonable timeframe. Most of it was written previous to the KoR preview. The whole "Lloyd's the badguy", even though it all turned out ok, still hit me like a tank. But I didn't want to leave it dead, so I finished it up.