Flashlight

The first in the series of Yuan x Lloyd oneshots, Lovelight

It was a storming night at the house and everyone was busy with their own business. Lloyd yawned and picked up his homework, finding himself stuck on a certain problem. He looked around the hallway for someone to help him, but found everyone ducking into their rooms. Sighing, the teenager knocked on Sheena's door. "Hey, could you help me with this problem?"

"Uh, can you do it yourself? I'm sorta busy right now. Heh heh, sorry," came a nervous reply from the other side of the door. Lloyd shrugged and moved down to the next door.

"Seles, I need some help with-"

"Oh, sorry Lloyd! I'm just can't." Another blunt reply from the door.

"Presea?"

"No."

"Mithos?"

"Can't help you."

Lloyd finally entered the living room with his homework still in hand. Well I guess asking the teacher would be useless, she'll just tell me to do it myself. He looked around the room and saw the last person. Yuan. Casually approaching, Lloyd stood in front of Yuan, who was undeniably immersed in a book. "Uh, can you help me with this?" Pfft, he's just gonna say "no".

"No." Lloyd's shoulders slumped. "Do it yourself."

And a bonus "do it yourself". How lucky am I? "It's not like I wanted to ask you anyway..." Lloyd walked away, and Yuan simply rolled his eyes.

At the dinner table that evening, once Presea and Seles had left for some business, Mithos, Sheena, Yuan, and Lloyd sat down at the table, leaving Raine to her book. The kitchen is eerily silent and Lloyd coughed. "So...how was everyone's day?"

"Eh."

"Alright."

"Kinda sucked."

The table fell silent again. Lloyd sighed audibly and kept eating, rendering conversation useless. Raine then entered the room and tapped Lloyd on the head with her novel. "Homework, please." The boy picked up a paper he was looking at and handed it to the professor, thankful to get it out of his sight.

She took one look at his illegible handwriting and grimaced. "Lloyd, I'm going to need my gradebook for this." Lloyd nodded, still eating. Raine paused, then continued. "You're going to need to go to the cellar to get it." The teenager turned around quickly.

"The cellar? Why's it down there?" Raine shrugged, and Lloyd swallowed hard. "Well, that can only be entered from outside, and it's storming, so can I get it tomorrow?" Raine gave him a look.

"I'm going to need it eventually, you might as well get it now." Lloyd gave her a look of disbelief and heard Yuan and Sheena stifle their laughter behind him. He glared at them, and they pretended not to see him.

Thunder clapped loudly and Lloyd jumped. "Uhm...does anyone wanna go with me?" Everyone averted their eyes and pretended to be busy. Raine sighed. "Ok, then I'll choose. Yuan, please go with Lloyd to get my book."

"What! Why me?" This time, Mithos and Sheena tried not to laugh. Raine gave another one of her just shut up and do it already looks, and Yuan gave up. He got out two flashlights and tossed one to Lloyd. "Fine, I'll be back later then."

Outside, the storm wind was loud and rain was falling hard. The two quickly went down the outside stairs and entered opened the metal door, stepping inside the silent, dark room. The cellar was a very spacious room, only cluttered with junk. It would take them a long time to search. Yuan flicked on his flashlight and turned to Lloyd. "I'll take the left side of the room, you get the rest." Lloyd made a face and left Yuan's side.

After a while of searching through the dark room, listening only to the rain and thunder, the storm picked up. Lloyd tried the door, but it didn't move. "Yuan, the door's locked." He heard Yuan mumble something under his breath.

"Ok, move. I'll break it open." Lloyd stopped him though.

"Uh, shouldn't we wait until we find the book?"

"If that's the case, why the hell were you trying to open the door just now!" Yuan felt his impatience taking over and after hearing nothing from Lloyd, he sighed and pushed his hair back from his face. "Sorry Lloyd, I didn't mean to yell."

They looked around a little longer, then Lloyd laughed sharply of a sudden. Yuan turned to him. "You know, math, social studies, english, and science are by far my worst subjects."

"Well, that's pretty much every subject isn't it? No wonder we're looking for a gradebook. You should just give up on school."

"Hey! I'm not bad at everything! There are other subjects!" Lloyd retaliated, defending what little pride he had.

"Oh yeah? Well then what are you good at?" Yuan stopped at what he'd just said as Lloyd looked up naïvely. The half-elf blushed irritabley. "Don't answer that."

Lloyd shrugged in confusion and continued looking. Soon, Yuan cursed at the dark.

"We're never going to find this book," he grumbled crankily.

"Well, we wouldn't have to search if you'd just helped me. Then I would've been more confident and wouldn't have asked Raine."

Yuan turned around violently. "So it's my fault you're a complete idiot!" Lloyd flinched at the man's biting words and silence fell again. Yuan searched for something to say, but instead let the awkward silence take over. Man, Lloyd sure knows how to make you want to eat your words.

He sighed and flipped his bangs again. "Sorry..."

Lloyd shook his head. "No, you're right. It's my fault we're down here. I'm not very smart at all." They looked around longer, still not finding any traces of the gradebook. Dusty antiques and old useless furniture filled the room, ancient textbooks and worn out drapery. They didn't seem to be categorized either.

Thunder struck and defeaned the space between the basement walls, at the same time Lloyd's flashlight batteries gave out. Yuan whirled around, shouting Lloyd's name upon noticing the other light absence. He paused for a moment, wondering why he cared when he knew Lloyd was fine. Shrugging off the mysterious concern, he shined the flashlight on Lloyd.

The boy tried the switch on his light a couple of times, then tossed it. "It doesn't work, we'll have to search together."

They walked through the junk filled area, and after another five minutes of searching, Yuan sighed. Lloyd tried to keep up with him from behind, but couldn't see where he was stepping and tripped lightly over an old antique. He involuntarily grabbed Yuan's arm, and he asked the boy what was wrong.

"Ah, nothing. I just tripped." He let go of Yuan hastily and made sure he didn't break what he tripped over.

"Well watch where you're going from now on," Yuan scolded.

"I can't. There's no light." Lloyd glared angrily up at Yuan for leaving him behind. The words and look stung Yuan and he guiltily let Lloyd by his side, so they could both see.

They continued walking around, feeling the storm pick up. "We need to find that book fast."

Thunder suddenly shook the whole cellar, and a stack of old junk wobbled threateningly. It tipped over and Yuan caught the motion from the corner of his eye. "Look out!" He put his back to the pile and his arms around Lloyd, shielding him from the sharp, dangerous antiques. The avalanche fell completely, knocking the flashlight from Yuan and the couple to the dusty floor.

Lloyd let out a yell as he hit the floor, but was unharmed otherwise. Yuan pushed himself up and looked at Lloyd as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the man still somewhat on top of the other, still protecting him. "Are you...ok?" Yuan felt a small jab of pain on his left shoulder, but ignored it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lloyd moved his knee to stand up, but felt it was blocked by Yuan's body. His face flushed violently and he inched backward barely at all. "So...get off."

Yuan's face was equally red, though somewhat in anger. "I will... Let go of my arm." Yuan's body ached from the position, not wanting to move from the things around him, but relaxed anyway, accidently pushing himself closer to Lloyd.

"P...pervert!" Lloyd spat, barely able to control his breathing.

"Klutz!" Yuan yelled, feeling the same effect in his chest. "Ah...wait..."

"My breath...Yuan..." Lloyd felt like his heart was about to explode, the beats pounding in his ears. He got dizzy.

Despite the darkness, Yuan can still feel the heat radiating off Lloyd's face and his own face getting hotter. His mind felt fuzzy and everything around him seemed to blur as his face inched closer to Lloyd's.

Suddenly, thunder clapped, breaking the tension. Yuan hastily got off Lloyd, who stood up a second later. The half-elf picked up his flashlight, trying the switch. "The bulb's broken."

Lloyd strained his eyes on the cover of a book that had fallen earlier. "Well, I think I found the gradebook." His mind was still a little off from the incident, the blush fading from his face.

Yuan illuminated the area with his lightning orb and checked the book. "Yeah, now let's get out of here." He led the way to the door and kicked it open in one try, the storm still raged, more fiercely than it had been.

Lloyd shielded his eyes against the rain, but stopped and looked up when he felt a cape over his shoulders. Yuan took Lloyd's hand and pulled him up the stairs, using his other arm to block the heavy rainfall from his vision. Lloyd felt undoubtably thankful for the cloak.

The door slammed behind them as they entered the kitchen, dripping water everywhere and panting heavily. Yuan pushed his drenched hair back and looked up to see Raine approaching. Lloyd handed her the book, and without giving the soaked couple a second look, she left to check Lloyd's homework. Yuan smiled wryly at the professor's oblivious reaction to them.

Lloyd looked up at Yuan, but saw a dark red gash on his shoulder. "Oh, Yuan. That must've happened when we fell." Yuan looked at the injury, then turned away from Lloyd.

"It's fine, doesn't even hurt."

The boy gave him a hard look. "Let me fix it. It's my fault anyway." Yuan opened his mouth to argue, but sighed and sat down.

Once it was treated, Yuan thanked him and looked away. Lloyd turned around quickly at the sound of thunder, then realized he was still wearing Yuan's cloak. He returned it to him, thanking him shyly.

Yuan looked up at Lloyd and smiled, to which Lloyd returned. He almost turned away again in embarrasment, but was surprised to find Yuan pull him down to eye level. His expression was serious and they looked into each other's eyes for a while. What am I doing? Yuan asked himself, to his odd behavior.

What does he want from me? I thanked him. Lloyd was a split second away from giving Yuan a simple kiss in thanks, when Raine walked in, still ignoring them. She set Lloyd's homework on the table.

Lloyd took this oppurtunity to get away from Yuan, and looked at his homework. But his face fell when he saw that he'd missed every problem and Raine wanted him to do it over. Behind him, he heard Yuan trying not to laugh, again.

The brunette sighed. "Fine, if you're so much smarter than me, help me this time." Yuan shook his head, but Lloyd turned to him and put his hands on his hips. "Come on, it's the least you could do for all my help."

"You call being a moronic klutz help?" Yuan shot back, though his eyes were smiling.

Lloyd frowned. "Please?" Yuan rolled his eyes and got up, going over to the moronic klutz.

The blue-haired angel ended up having to explain nearly all of it to Lloyd, who usually didn't get it. But he finally checked it all and everything was right. "Wow, thanks Yuan! You're really smart!" He beamed at his tutor, who raised an eyebrow.

"No, you're just really stupid. But maybe that'll change now that you understand everything." He helped Lloyd get all his things and the boy was about to leave the room, but turned back to look at Yuan one more time, giving him a small smile. Then he took off down the hall, trying to hide his red face.

Yuan felt his own lips turn into a smile as he thought about how his opinion on Lloyd had changed so suddenly.

And like a flash of light, the relationship between the two had turned around completely.

Fin

by: Nakoya T.