Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean 3...Well I do...but not the whole copywrite thing...I mean I own the game but not...oh whatever...
AN: Warning Alfay or Faybel if you prefer. Meaning...BOY LOVE! Why? Cause it's cute and sexy. Oh and there is no Sophia bashing. She's not even mentioned until the very end.
Thoughts
"Speech"
&&&
'It all begins with trust. If we do not trust him, how can he trust us?' Fayt had heard the queen speak those words, and the minute he had watched Albel walk out the door of their shared room in Peterny they'd been running through his head.
"What IS it? It's the middle of the night!" The young leader stifled a yawn as they came to a stop...somewhere outside the Front Door Inn.
"So, you hate me?" Fayt blinked.
"What kind of question is that?" If it even WAS a question, and not a very warped statement.
And why did you wake me up at Oh dark thirty to ask it?
"Just answer the question fool." The blue haired boy groaned and crossed his arms.
God forbid he ask me during the day like a normal person...pft. Albel. Normal. He forced himself to keep from laughing, even in his apparently mellow mood there was no knowing how the swordsman would take it.
"All right." And he thought about it. Did he hate Albel? Well he certainly hated that every time they were fighting together Albel made it a competition. Of course he hadn't lost yet so it was more of a dislike...or an annoyance. He hmmed softly. Well there was the way Albel picked fights with everyone in the group. He enjoyed needling Cliff most of all and the Klausian always came to Fayt telling him that he was "Gonna KILL that punk!" if Fayt didn't do something about it. But it was hilarious watching the most feared swordsman in the continent of Giatt being out insulted by a six year old Menodix. So...more of a nuisance really.
And then there were the times Albel had stepped in and killed a enemy before it could take a chunk out of Fayt. Or the moments in the workshop when something went right and his boyish smile made the younger man's heart hurt, in a good way. Or those moments after battles when He would cast healing and those crimson eyes would shine with quiet awe and gratitude, only for a moment though, before he was getting called weakling, and mother hen. But...would he Really be Albel if he didn't do those things?
And more importantly, do I hate him for any of them?
"Eh, Not really." Fayt jumped a little as Albel whirled around.
"Why Not?" It came out sounding rather desperate, before the older man regained his calm, oily demeanor.
"I've hurt lots of your friends. Shouldn't you hate me by now?" Fayt blinked, and was glad the darkness hid his guilty flush. He hadn't thought about any of that!
I completely forgot about Tynave and Farleen and...and...wait. That was it wasn't it? So why had he asked. It had been the middle of a WAR...Oh.
"Yeah. But that wasn't your intention. It was war after all." Fayt shrugged at the disbelieving ruby eyes. Albel had made a good point there, but this time Fayt could get a word in edgewise without having to worry about Nel or Cliff or Roger butting in.
"It IS kinda scary how obsessed you are, but I guess you're one of those guys who needs to prove your worth by fighting." Stretching a crick in his neck the green eyed boy searched his sleep fogged mind for the right words.
"I mean...The idea of only trying to be strong? That's something I can't do. And it's not something I can really relate to but..." he shrugged again, surprised Albel had let him get THIS far.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with you living that way." Thinking about it he came to a conclusion he kept to himself.
If you didn't, you wouldn't be you...and I'd miss it.
"Heh." The sound brought a random thought to the front and the sleep heavy lips pushed it out before the muddled brain could stop them.
"And I have a feeling you won't hurt people for no reason anymore." That sentence brought forth earlier conversations with a certain blonde that relied on his feelings entirely too much.
Call it a "hunch". Tension crackled in the air as their eyes met, but it wasn't hostile. Quite the contrary actually.
"But I could attack you right now, just like before."
Maybe using a different sword? Something more organic? Fayt shook his head to dislodge those thoughts. There was a time and place for them, and it was NOT now. But looking at the man before him he couldn't help it. They were so similar, yet so different. Owing a debt of life to his father, the same as Fayt. Scarred by that same father's mistakes, only different. Had it truly been Albel's dream to be a Dragon Knight? Had he been pressured by his father?
How would our lives be different if this man and I had never met...The thought was painful, but it brought with it a revelation.
"It's alright"
I guess I knew it all along, I just couldn't say it.
"I trust you."
I Love You.
Even though he turned away the blue haired boy caught a glimpse of what might have been a smile, before it transformed into a smirk.
"What a happy little world you live in." Fayt's sleep soaked senses jolted as Albel pressed up against him claiming his lips in burning kiss that the earthling returned as well as he could before the clawed swordsman pulled away.
"Dream on fool." A softer kiss this time before he was left standing outside the inn alone.
"Dream on."
&&&
The next morning Fayt stumbled downstairs, he was the last one up and his so called "Friends" had all left him the task of checking out. The receptionist was obnoxiously cheerful.
"Wasn't last night fun?" He muttered something incoherent under his breath and signed his name in the registry.
"We'll always have rooms available for you, so come stay with us whenever you can." She slipped something into his hand as he pushed himself away from the desk and staggered out into the sunlight before looking at it.
It was picture.
It was of him.
And Albel.
Kissing.
Eyes wide he began examining it thoroughly.
How? When? And with what? There's no camera on this planet that's advanced enough to take pictures that clear without some kind of flash...and I would have noticed a flash...right? He yelped as thin arms wrapped around his waist.
"Well fool. Did you have pleasant dreams?"
"Uh...Yes?" Suddenly the photo was plucked from his fingers, and put under the scrutiny of blood red eyes. Albel smirked and placed the picture paper in the heart pocket of Fayt's vest.
"Good." And it was their third kiss, his fourth after giving his first to Sophia that one day they'd both sworn never to mention again.
I need to ask how her plan to seduce Cliff is coming alooo...Oooh...
"Do that again..."
They ended up spending another night in the Inn.
Much to the delight of the receptionist.
&&&
OWARI!
AN: Love it? Hate it? Just tell me you read it.