Another Tales of Destiny story. I don't know what it is that has given me the need to write for this game so much recently. I'm uncertain if any of this is in-character, but I can only hope others enjoy it. This story is dedicated to my lovely tumblr-friend, whiteknightling. They helped me come up with the idea and just today, somehow, I ended up writing 8-pages worth of story for it. I hope you all enjoy it as much as she did. Light LionxStahn in this one, though it isn't the main point of the story, not really.

Unfortunately, this story is un-beta'd, as is the omake. If anyone would be willing to edit this for me (typos and grammar) I'd be most grateful. The original version of this fanfic was posted on my personal tumblr, whitebellslueth, thus if anyone sees it on that site, rest assured it was me who posted it. This one is just slightly more cleaned up, as I endevoured to catch as many of the typos as I could myself.

"Wh-what I mean to say, Lion-sama, is that I…!"

If it hadn't been for the certainty that Chaltier would likely scold him for walking away before the female standing in front of him could finish, Lion would have been long gone by now. His features were set in a carefully practised expression of indifference as he stood perfectly still, arms crossed and back straight, while putting a great deal of effort into keeping silent. He knew well what was coming — as she was the third one who dared approach him that day — and he quickly growing tired of having to deal with it all.

"I-I really like you!"

There they were; the words he'd been waiting for. The sooner they came, the sooner this would be over with, and the sooner he could return to his duties.

Raising an eyebrow, Lion raised a slender hand and gave the bangs handing over his right eye a careful flick. Immediately, the girl flushed and the knight took a moment to wonder why the simple act of flipping his hair sent them into a flustered, sputtering mess. It was supposed to be a gesture to show that he didn't care; a sign that he was waiting for the conversation to end and say: "Dear Gods, you are annoying. Shut up, listen to my authoritative position, and go away."

Clearly these people just did not get it.

Common sense said that, as much as the females of Seingald gossiped, they would eventually manage to get the word across that Lion Magnus was always one to turn down declarations of love. While the rumours of this fact were well-known, it seemed that the more people who discovered this, the more they'd try to gain his favour. The swordsman knew well of reverse psychology, but this was borderline ridiculous; it was as if they took his lack of interest in their personal being as a challenge. Some even went so far as to take his blatant refusal of their romantic advances as playing an elaborate game of Hard to Get; a game that Lion was convinced girls made up in an attempt to get males to submit to their feelings if only to get them to just shut up and stop.

Not that it worked with him; absolutely not. Lion Magnus was a great many things, and stubborn was one of them — though there were some brave enough to suggest he was simply hard-headed. Fortunately, they were almost always silenced by a well-placed glare; those who were not quickly corrected themselves after being acquainted with the knight's favoured air-born hammers.

Still, while he didn't like the confessions by any means, Lion was one who would give credit where it was due. At least this girl, unlike many of those who came before her, had spent the earlier part of the week talking to him whenever she was given the chance. Rutee had insisted the female race was dead-set on wooing him, but the raven-haired male was sceptical.

Flipping their hair and giggling insensately as they battered their eyelashes was neither cute nor attractive; it was annoying. What they thought was an affectionate brush of their fingers against one of his limbs — generally the arms — send chills racing up and down his spine. Each touch left him with the odd sensation of needing to clean himself because all of them felt the dire need to bathe in overpowering perfumes that made even his sweet-tooth want to gag. Heavens have mercy on him if they decided to cook something. His stomach had never been particularly sensitive, but he certainly didn't have whatever black hole of iron strength Stahn did. A week of being confined to his manor in bed after acquiring a rather violent case of food-poisoning from what a petite brunette girl had claimed were cookies left him untrusting of anything that came from someone he didn't personally watch cook.

What these girls did was most definitely not wooing. And if they believed this to be the case — let alone effective— then Lion was genuinely worried for the future generations.

A shy and subtle clearing of the throat pulled Lion from his thoughts. He blinked, shaking his head before he turned his focus back to the — slightly shorter than himself — blonde girl before him. The sunshine stands were tied back in two neat pigtails with bangs that framed the soft features of her face. Her eyes were wide, innocent, and blue. Very blue. The type of blue he could only remember seeing once before. Her hands wrung together at the level of her stomach as she regarded him with a nervous look. Her figure was humble; faint curves accented by her clothing and slender limbs. Overall, she certain matched the description of what most males would consider to be a "catch".

Unfortunately for her, Lion was not most males.

"I'm not interested," he said bluntly, letting his crossed arms fall to his sides.

The girl's breath hitched slightly as she flinched, as if his response had been closer to that of a slap than words. Her lips parted as if she were about to speak, but no words came out and she merely moved them silently. Lion could only be thankful she hadn't burst into tears — he hated it when they did that, it made everyone look at him as if he'd been the one in the wrong — and opted to attempt to leave before it reached that point. Alas, an expectant cough to his right caused him to pause.

Chaltier was floating near his head, bent over to meet Lion's gaze as he 'tutted' in disapproval. The raven swordsman's expression twisted into something that looked akin to one in physical pain before he sighed heavily and turned back to the quiet female.

"I mean, I unable to return your feelings, ah…?"

"Sophia," the blonde provided softly.

"I unable to return your feelings, Sophia," he muttered, feeling his throat fight against each word. The Swordian coughed again and it took a great deal of willpower to resist rolling his eyes. "I am flattered you see me so highly." Another cough, followed by Lion's silent sigh of displeasure. "I… apologise."

Chaltier finally fell silent with a satisfied smile, leaving Lion to believe he'd done enough. The girl was no longer looking at him as if he'd attacked her, but her eyes were beginning to water. He really needed to leave soon. It wouldn't end well if he stayed.

"N-no, that's… that's okay," she sniffed, producing a small cloth from her pocket. "I-I'm sorry. I just—I suppose a girl like me just… isn't the right type."

The word "no" sat at the tip of the knight's tongue, held in only by the sharp look of warning from his weapon companion. On a whole, Lion didn't much care if Chaltier scolded him for being cruel, he'd done so before, but somehow the stories of his rejection had an uncanny habit of making it to the ears of Marian. While his childhood crush on the kindly maid had faded into something closer to that of the love one might have for their mother, she still had the ability to make him feel guilty over not being "a gentleman" about all of this. Really, if they'd just all give up already, his life would be so much simpler.

"You…" Lion paused, unsure of what to say. He was always one to believe the blunt truth was the best way to deal with these situations, but the thought of being banned from flan for a week again kept him from answering as such. For several long seconds, he struggled, his eyes darting left and right as he searched for something, anything to help him out.

As he was beginning to feel the looming doom of a flan-less seven days, his gaze shifted just over the girl's shoulder and violet met blue.

Blue. The blue that was so similar to hers and yet…

Perfect.

"It isn't you. There's someone else."

"I-I'm sorry?" Tears were forgotten as Sophia stared at Lion in shock. "There's… huh?"

"There's someone else." Lion repeated the statement firmly before brushing past the young female and making a beeline toward that damned blue that just wouldn't leave him alone.

"You."

"Huh? Oh, Lion! He—"

"Silence, Hayseed." Leaving no room for protests, pale fingers wrapped around the collar of white armour and jerked the newcomer down. The yelp of surprise was cut off as Lion sealed the other's lips with his own and felt a slight rush of satisfaction as he was almost immediately submitted to.

After several seconds passed, the dark-haired knight pulled away and crossed his arms, turning to face Sophia with a small smirk. It was only the satisfaction that he'd finally found a way to stop their confessions before they began which kept his face from blooming crimson. "I don't like females."

The statement wasn't a lie per-say, as he'd yet to come across a female — aside from Marian — that he felt anything remotely similar to romance for. Though if he were to have said he preferred males (or even liked males) it would have been much closer to a lie. At least, this way, he wasn't lying, and he would live to see flan for another week and all the weeks following. Surely this rumour would spread quickly enough to keep him safe.

Behind him, Stahn's cheeks were performing a very good impression of the tomatoes being sold in a stand several yards to the right. Dymlos' spirit stood behind Stahn, his eyes wide and jaw hanging open, with Chaltier to his left looking every bit as surprised as his fiery former commander. It was likely a good thing that only the Swordian Masters were able to see and hear the spirits of their weapons; as the innocent mind of young Sophia would have been subjected to further suffering as Dymlos released a rather loud "Holy shit!" once he'd gained proper use of his voice.

"O-oh…" Sophia blushed, her own face rivalling Stahn's as she looked between the two males in shock. "I-I see, um, I-I'm very sorry to have bothered you. I… Please excuse me!" Bowing, the young blonde spun on her heels and hurried down the street, disappearing around the corner shortly after.

"…heh." Satisfied, Lion turned to face the male behind him. While he'd managed to escape the females of the city, he now had a completely different issue standing within arm's reach. At least, he couldn't help but think, Stahn is easy to deal with. He won't make this more complicated than need be.

"Hayseed—"

"Dinner," Stahn interrupted, making Lion pause in the middle of his sentence.

"…What?"

"Dinner," the blond swordsman repeated with a sheepish grin. "I mean, if you're gonna steal a kiss like that, shouldn't I at least get a date out of it?"

Lion raised an eyebrow in response and crossed his arms with his lips pursed as he considered his options. At least with Stahn he would be able to make a quick escape if things escalated, and the fire-user was used to his temperament and preference for quiet (despite his personal inability to remain so himself.) It wouldn't be that awkward.

"My treat? We can even get ice-cream afterwards."

"…" The raven's eyes softened in response and a faint smile slowly made itself present. At least the country boy been more graceful than the females had been. "Assuming I accepted your offer, when do you propose we have this 'date'?"

Stahn shrugged in response, "I dunno. I'm hungry now, are you?"

If the answer hadn't been expected and so typically Stahn, Lion was sure he would have been annoyed. Shaking his head in exasperation, he let out of soft "tch" before turning away and starting down the same road Sophia had disappeared down earlier. "There is a reasonably priced restaurant with sufficient chefs down the road. Don't lag behind."

Grinning, Stahn jogged forward quickly to catch up and laughed, earning a roll of the eyes from his shorter companion. The two Swordian spirits floated behind them in a stunned silence that was only broken as Chaltier glanced at Dymlos and asked in a tentative tone, "Um, what… just happened?"

Grunting, Dymlos only shrugged. "Hell if I know…"

—

The following week Lion did his rounds of the city in a much better mood than before. A slight gleam was visible in his eyes, and the uncharacteristic joy in his smirk caused several citizens to double-take as he passed by. Much to his pleasure, not a single female had approached him since Sophia had, though many of them would still giggle as he walked by. Rumours of his dinner date with one of the other Swordian Masters had spread quickly, and the effect had been exactly what he had hoped for.

Much to his surprise, the dinner had been enjoyable, and several more had followed after it, with another planned for tonight. Rutee had released and even louder curse than Dymlos upon being told about the two of them, followed by uncontainable laughter. The others — save for a certain body-building make, whose reaction had been similar to Rutee's — were much more graceful and quiet in their congratulations. All in all, the results had been rather positive, and for once, Lion would agree that impulsive actions weren't all set to end in disaster.

"Uh, excuse me…" Stopping in mid-stride, Lion turned and came face-to-face with a young man with pale hair.

"What do you want?"

"W-well," the male hesitated before bowing deeply and holding out a wrapped gift. "I-I like you!"

The sound of Chaltier's hysterical laughter roared in Lion's ears as the swordsman's eyebrow began to twitch dangerously. "Pikohan!"