Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of its properties.
Notes: This was written forever ago and posted to Tumblr. In an attempt to update this account with some things, I decided to post it here.
Seduction
It all started from a simple comment from Zelos, to Lloyd, as the two of them and Colette lounged in the Wilder manor's sitting room one night.
"You couldn't flirt if you tried."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd sat up straight in the chair he'd been lounging in, and glared at Zelos across the coffee table. Colette, leaning back against Zelos' chest, tilted her head back to look at him upside down, as Zelos rolled his eyes.
"It means that you're as smooth as bubble wrap, bud. You're . . . you. Romance, flirtation . . . that's not your thing."
"Oh, like you're the expert," Lloyd scoffed. Zelos raised his eyebrows.
"As a matter of fact, I am."
"Yeah, right. Listen, I could easily do that corny flirting thing if I wanted. I just don't want to."
"Could you, now?" Zelos sat up a bit straighter, causing Colette to shift so that she was sitting in the middle of the couch, looking between them with interest. "Try it, then. Seduce me or Colette."
"What? Now?" Lloyd's cheeks tinted with pink, and Zelos grinned wickedly, nodding.
"Right now."
"It's . . . I can't do it if I'm put on the spot like that. It's not natural." Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and Colette picked up her glass of wine from the table.
"Oh, come on, Lloyd, it'll be fun! We can all try." She giggled. "I've never tried flirting before, so I think it'll be interesting, but I want you to go first since you were the first one Zelos challenged."
"Yeah, bud," Zelos said. "It'll be fun." Lloyd gave him a flat look.
"Fine, fine. Uh, how about . . ." He cleared his throat, and gave them his best attempt at a sultry look. "Hey, hunnies, how about we go back to my place later and have a little fun?"
Maybe it was the deep voice he'd put on, maybe it was his word choice, or maybe it was the look he was giving them, but Colette choked on her wine and Zelos, after one failed second of trying to hold it back, burst into laughter. Lloyd gave them both an offended look.
"What?"
"That's your attempt at flirting? That? That's—" Zelos couldn't speak any further for laughing, and after she recovered from the coughing fit choking on her wine gave her, Colette managed to say:
"You sounded like . . . you sounded like Zelos, except . . ." She crinkled her nose over a slightly apologetic smile. "Not?"
"Well, since he's the so-called 'expert,' I thought I'd give his method a try," Lloyd said, and he leaned back in his chair with what could only be described as a pout.
"Oh, bud. Bud, bud, bud." Zelos shook his head in mock pity. "You have so much to learn. Well, there's nothing for it but to teach you, but before that . . . how about you, sweet angel? Want to give it a go?"
"Sure!" Colette set her glass on the table and jumped up from the couch, circling around the table so that she could give her full attention to Lloyd and Zelos equally. Once there, however, she seemed at a loss for what to do; she shifted her weight from foot to foot, and pulled her hair over her shoulder to toy with it between her fingers. "Um . . . well, um . . . oh, I know!" She brightened, and then gave them both her best smile. "How about we go flying later, since we're all sweet angels? I bet we could fly really high if we tried."
Silence followed her attempt. Finally, as Zelos stared at her like he was trying to decipher what she said, Lloyd asked, "Is that . . . a date invitation?"
"Hmm, yeah, I guess it is, sort of," Colette said, and she put a finger to her chin as Lloyd put his hand to his face. "I figured I could call us sweet angels, since that's what Zelos calls me when he flirts with me. And flying is really fun, so I figured we could all do it together . . . did it not work?"
"Well, it just wasn't very . . . flirty," Lloyd said, and he waved one hand to try and explain his point better. "It's like how you talk to us normally, except more . . . Zelos-y."
"Not that Lloyd's was the best example of flirtation, mind you," Zelos said, and he stood up to walk over and take Colette's hand, leading her back to the couch. Lloyd glared at him.
"Unless you can do better—"
"I can," Zelos interrupted. Now seated on the couch again, Zelos kept one of Colette's hands in his own, and used his other hand to sweep her hair back from her face. "When it comes to seduction, you need finesse. Cheap come-ons and flirtations will only get you so far. If you really want to seduce someone, you need actual romance."
"Like what?"
"Like . . ." Zelos cupped Colette's face and leaned in close, his eyes looking into hers, his voice dropping to a low croon as he said:
"'Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said I could not love you dearer:
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.
But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things;
Alas! why, fearing of Time's tyranny,
Might I not then say, 'Now I love you best,'
When I was certain o'er incertainty,
Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?
Love is a babe, then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which doth still grow?'"
Colette hadn't removed her eyes from Zelos' for the duration of his sonnet, though her cheek had grown warm under his palm. As he finished, the words still lingering in the air, she moved forward and pressed a light kiss against his lips before pulling away. "That was . . . that was really pretty, Zelos," she said quietly. Zelos smiled.
"I know."
"I didn't get it," Lloyd said, sounding unimpressed and still sulky from his chair. Zelos stood up and walked over to him.
"You don't have to understand it, bud. You just have to be swayed by it."
"How can I be swayed by it if I don't get—"
Zelos reached down and pulled Lloyd up from the chair, one arm snaking around Lloyd's waist to pull their bodies flush together. Leaning his head forward, he touched his forward to Lloyd's and said in a low voice:
"'Your love and pity doth the impression fill,
Which vulgar scandal stamped upon my brow;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow?
You are my all-the-world, and I must strive
To know my shames and praises from your tongue;
None else to me, nor I to none alive,
That my steeled sense or changes right or wrong.
In so profound abysm I throw all care
Of others' voices, that my adder's sense
To critic and to flatterer stopped are.
Mark how with my neglect I do dispense:
You are so strongly in my purpose bred,
That all the world besides me thinks y'are dead.'"
Lloyd didn't pull away, his forehead still touching Zelos' as it were, but after a moment he whispered, "I still don't get it." Zelos smirked.
"But are you moved?"
"I guess . . . a little." Zelos chuckled and kissed Lloyd lightly on the lips before pulling away, seemingly satisfied with the result.
"I suppose sonnets might be a little above you right now, bud. But don't worry; we'll get there."
"Let's get there now," Colette said, folding her legs beneath her on the sofa. "Could you tell us more?" Zelos sat back down on the couch, and Lloyd sat down on his other side.
"I suppose I could, sweet angel, but it's all a matter on where to begin . . ."
Note: Zelos' sonnets are Sonnet 115 and Sonnet 112, respectively, both written by William Shakespeare. I believe there are a few noble NPC in Tethe'alla that quote Romeo & Juliet, so some equivalent to Shakespeare has to exist in Tethe'alla or at least in Tethe'alla's history, and because of that, I don't feel that it's too out of place for Zelos to memorize his sonnets.