I couldn't help but giggle as I sneaked out of bed and into the empty kitchen. I was going to set my plan into motion tomorrow, so I needed to make it – the super aphrodisiac. During my time traveling on the Calnus, I had teamed up with Myurie under the supervision of Reirei to make various items. The super aphrodisiac recipe was one of them.
I frowned when I remembered how many the girls in Woodley fawned over him. It irritated me! After all that time I spent worrying about him, I wasn't going to let some weirdoes take him away from me just like that. I grabbed some of what I thought were questionable-looking mushrooms and put them into a pot to boil into mush. I tapped my chin in thought. What was the next ingredient?
Lemon!
I looked on the counter and paled slightly. The lemon… It actually didn't look like anything anymore. I shrugged and cut it open anyway. I twitched at the sight before me; the insides were liquefied. For a moment, I just stared at the goop that was once the insides of a lemon and considered my options.
"I-it can't hurt to use it. It was a lemon at one point, right?"
Once the mushrooms were boiled into a liquid form, I added the ginseng and lemon goop. There was no way I would fail! I knew for a fact that I knew most of his faults and learning of any more wouldn't bother me in the least. The girls in town, however, would be repulsed and leave him alone. I wouldn't have to share... or summon Cerberus in the worst case scenario. I poured the completed potion into an empty bottle and hid it in the cabinet for tomorrow.
With a smile, I sneaked back to bed.
Aphrodisiac Gone Wrong
Faize and I would be alone in the house today. I pulled the vial out of the cabinet when the Eldarian in question wasn't looking and poured its contents into his cup. We had a routine of who would do the chores around the house because we were both equally bad at things like cooking. Today, it was my turn to do the cooking.
I glanced at Faize and smiled. "It's almost ready, 'kay?"
He nodded and continued studying. Faize's goal was to learn my language inside and out by the end of the year because he didn't want to depend on his weird translator thing anymore. It was what allowed him to understand me, I think. I smiled and set about finishing our meal. As soon as I was done, I brought him the rigged cup of hot chocolate and some warm soup. I held the empty bottle and a mushroom behind my back and watched him eye the food.
"Aren't you hungry, Lymle?" he asked before glancing up at me. I nodded my head and looked at the ground bashfully.
"I want you to taste it first, 'kay?" That was a half-truth. He needed to eat first for my plan to work, but I also didn't want to admit that I wanted to hear him compliment my slow improvement in cooking.
"Alright, then." Faize took a bite of the soup in front of him and took a moment to consider its taste. A moment passed before he swallowed it. "It's better than usual, Lymle. Although, I think it's a little salty." He reached for his drink just as I predicted he would and gulped the entire thing down. He made an odd face at the taste, but it was too late to spit it out.
I pulled the empty bottle and mushroom out from behind my back and held them for Faize to see. I guiltlessly enjoyed the way he froze at the sight of the offending objects.
"L-Lymle... Did you poison me?"
"No," I paused to emphasize my point, "I made an aphrodisiac, 'kay? Reirei and Myurie taught me."
I felt my face heat up and lost the strength to continue what I was saying. I dropped what I was holding in order to touch my burning face. D-did I mess up?
"Lymle, is something wrong?" I could tell that Faize was genuinely concerned for my well-being, but that only succeeded in making my face burn even more. My heart thumped and throbbed painfully in my chest.
"I think I messed up, 'kay." I glared at the mushroom on the floor. "I thought I used the right mushrooms…"
"What? Then what'd you give me?" I tilted my head up to meet his gaze, but my face burned even more when our eyes met.
Where did I go wrong? Why was the aphrodisiac having the opposite effect?
"A 'Love Potion 256'?" Faize questioned with a look of disbelief. I covered my face with my hands and blindly walked wherever my feet would take me. Anyplace would be better than here, I thought.
Well, that's what I thought until I collided with something big and warm.
"L-Lymle?"
"I'm sorry, 'kay?" I didn't know what I was doing anymore, but I wasn't about to complain at this point. "I didn't want to share."
"Huh? W-wait, you didn't want to share what?" I nuzzled my face into his shirt and took a deep breath; Faize smelled better than Lutie. My heartbeat hammered in my ears.
"Y-you, 'kay?" I wish I could've at least put a clamp over my mouth; I was practically spilling out my entire plan just because I couldn't think straight anymore. I mustered all of my strength to pull away and glared at him when I heard him laugh. "Dummy Faize! Look what you made me say…"
I turned away from him with a huff. I couldn't believe it; I spilled out my heart accidentally only to be laughed at!
"Lymle," Faize coaxed and pulled me back toward him. "I'm sorry, but this really is ironic."
"Ironic?"
"After all that time I was gone, I was the one who was worried that you'd be taken away, and yet, here you are worrying that I'll be the one taken away. It's truly ironic, isn't it?" He stroked my hair and tightened his grip. "I'm flattered that you care this much about me, though."
"Stupid Faize," I mumbled and bunched his shirt up in my fists. We remained like that for a couple minutes before I broke the silence again, my head still buried in his chest. "You can't leave the house until it wears off, 'kay?"
He just grinned in that way he did whenever he teased me and answered, "I didn't plan to anyway."
"Dummy."
A/N: I'm still working on Refraction, but the next chapter is harder than I thought… I'm really not used to writing more mature things yet. This is another break for me! :)
Anyway, this is my first time writing a Star Ocean 4 fanfic. I can't believe I didn't write an SO fic sooner considering how long I've loved the series. If you couldn't tell, I love the FaiLym pairing and item creation. I would farm Party SP for the sole purpose of inventing.
Story-wise, this takes place shortly after Faize's ending, which makes it kind of hard to pin their characters down just right. I hope I've made their post-game personalities believable (as believable as you can get in a humorous situation like this). I admit that the inner chef within me raged at Lym in the kitchen in the beginning. It should be common sense to not use fruits that don't retain their original form. XD