"Excuse me!"

Zelos sidesteps a woman that bursts from the door to the teashop. Blonde hair billows past his face in waves.

"Ah, sorry, Zelos," she says, spinning on her heel to face him. With an apologetic smile, she continues to walk backwards. "Catch you later!"

"It's all good, but don't- Colette!"

In an instant, the woman is a mess of tangled limbs and long hair on the floor, muttering sounds of pain. Zelos rushes to her side as the bell above the teashop door jingles.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" Colette says quickly. Zelos extends a hand to her and she takes it with a tight grip. She's light, delicate, and the redhead has no trouble lifting her up.

With a shaky breath, Colette begins to dust herself off. Zelos gets the places she can't reach on her own, and once they finish up, she smiles at him.

"Colette!" Lloyd exclaims, approaching them with hurried steps. He looks between Zelos and the clumsy woman before chuckling breathlessly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Sorry, guess I'm too late. What did I tell you about running out of the shop, Colette?"

The blonde ducks her head. "Not to do it? Hehe." Once she looks up, she turns to Zelos. "Thanks for the help, Zelos! Now if I don't hurry, I'm going to be late."

Zelos begins to reach for his wallet. "I can get a taxi for you, if you'd like."

"Huh?" Colette stares at him for a moment, wide-eyed. When realization hits her, she shakes her head furiously. "No, no, it's okay! You've spent way too much money on us already, so please, Zelos, don't worry about me."

The leather wallet is already in his hand as Colette begins to move away from him. "I'm sorry! I'll see you later!"

Zelos stares at her back, watching her hair disappear into the distance.

A hand on his shoulder brings him out of his reverie.

"Don't worry about her, she'll be fine," Lloyd assures him. There's a gentle pressure in his grip, urging him towards the entrance to the tea shop. "Let's get some lunch, alright?"

"Are you sure she gets enough sleep?" Zelos asks, setting down his teacup.

Frowning, Lloyd deposits his chin into his hand. "To be honest with you, I don't really know. Sometimes she can't hide the shadows under her eyes, but otherwise... She's really good at hiding it. I don't know." His eyes linger on the table before meeting Zelos'. "She's always busy with volunteer work or school, and when she's not doing that, she's over here. It's insane, but none of us can talk her out of it."

Zelos feels himself mirror Lloyd's distraught expression. "Why? Why does she push herself so much?"

Lloyd shakes his head. "She's not satisfied unless she's doing something she thinks is useful. It's... I can't speak for her, and I'm not exactly a genius here, so I can't say I know."

Silence settles over them. Zelos recognizes Colette's smile, of course he does- it's the same one he wears everyday. A mask... But what is she hiding?

"But," Lloyd adds on, his hand clenching into a fist on the table, "I swear, I'll try my best to make sure she's happy. At least, I can try to make sure she doesn't collapse..."

"Hey, look- it's okay," Zelos says softly. The waiter across from him continues to frown, but he meets Zelos' gaze. "She's a fully grown woman, you know. I'm sure she can handle it."

Lloyd shakes his head slightly, averting his eyes. "I sure hope so..."

Zelos purses his lips. "I'll talk to her about it later."

"Alright..." The brunet shoots him a hopeless look, then sighs and brings his hands together. "Well, I trust that you'll take good care of her."

"Y... Yeah." As soon as he feels his eyes widen, Zelos regrets it. Grimacing, he tries to shake off his surprise. "Thanks... It's, uh. Been a good chat."

With a tired smile, Lloyd claps a hand to Zelos' shoulder briefly. "Yeah. Gotta clean up now, alright?"

Zelos nods and moves to help him. He goes through the movements automatically, not fully aware of his surroundings. It's been such a long, long time since he's heard such a sentiment aimed at him... His stomach twists into nervous knots at the thought.

Alright. It's time to put his resources to good use and find some info on his cute little angel.

Tonight, the moon hides behind clouds, shying away from the redhead waiting by the bus stop. Instead, his path is illuminated by a street lamp. His shadow stretches across the street, twice his size in length.

Zelos glances at his watch. She should be here soon.

The bus pulls up to the sidewalk with a quiet shudder. The engine coughs as it comes to a stop, the creaky doors revealing a bright angel. Colette stumbles onto the pavement, but regains her composure in time to give the driver her thanks.

As she turns, Zelos can see the exhaustion in her steps, the weight carried so carelessly. He hurries to her side and puts a hand on the small of her back to support her.

"Ah!" Even her sound of surprise is subdued. When her eyes meet Zelos', the tension eases from her shoulders. "Z-Zelos... This is unexpected!"

"Yeah. Feels like I've been blessed by the gods in this moment, greeted by a beautiful angel," he replies, voice low and, to his surprise, strangely sincere. The sound of it is foreign to his own ears.

With a blush, Colette attempts to draw herself into a straighter posture, but the effort proves to be too much. She leans against the redhead's shoulder and sighs.

"Thank you, Zelos," she murmurs, "But- what are you doing here? It's pretty late, you should probably head home soon!"

Zelos chuckles. "I could say the same to you, angel. You look worn out, what happened to you?"

"It's nothing!" She giggles, hiding her mouth behind a hand. "I just got back from some volunteer work. I'm sorry for making you worry."

"What, were you helping with the construction site downtown? There's no way you've just been 'volunteering'."

She bites her bottom lip. "No, they wouldn't let me help. I just came back from the animal shelter, that's all! Please, don't worry about me."

Her plea shoots through to his heart. He swallows a sigh and turns toward the bench by the bus stop. "Let's sit for a sec, alright? I'll give you a ride home after."

"Ah, but I wanted to stop by the tea shop for a bit-"

"Colette."

The force in his voice causes the blonde to look up. When their eyes meet, Colette deflates.

"Alright..."

Zelos guides her to the bench and they sit. He chooses to sit at the end of the bench, allowing Colette some space. However, she stays closer than he expects, the distance between them about the length of his arm. She fiddles with her fingers for a while, continuing to bite on her lip.

"I'm sorry," is the first thing she says, her voice tight, "I didn't mean to worry you, really! Did Lloyd say something about me? I swear that I'm alright, I promise!"

"Stop apologizing, please," Zelos replies with a wry smile, "Lloyd did mention something in passing, but you shouldn't underestimate me, hunny."

She nods. Her eyes fall back to the space between them. Zelos follows her gaze, steeling himself for the moment she returns his cautious stare. Once she does, they hold the others' gaze, Zelos' hands slowly curling into fists in his lap. It's like staring at a mirror, he finds, looking at his counterpart that chose to walk down the side of good rather than live the indulgent life that he clung to. They shared a certain exhaustion, carrying the weight of so many expectations and well-groomed self-hatred.

Colette reaches for his hand first. "Please, tell Lloyd not to worry about me," she says quietly, her voice just above a whisper, as if she were telling some dark secret.

"Even if I said something, he'd still worry about you," Zelos replies just as quietly. Their voices cut through the still darkness of the night nonetheless. "Hell, I bet everyone's worried. I'm worried, even more so now."

A small smile touches her lips. "But you understand... You understand me, right?"

"Yes." He squeezes her hand briefly. "The difference between you and I, however, is that you have people who genuinely care about you, even if you're not always the perfect angel you think you're supposed to be."

"People care about you, Zelos! I care about you, Lloyd cares about you, Sheena cares about you-!"

Zelos shakes his head. "You don't even know me."

"I..." Colette sets her mouth into a straight line. "Zelos..."

Chuckling, Zelos shakes his head. "Alright, alright, you win. But those other guys..."

"They can learn to love you, Zelos. They will, I know it!"

She leans forward and wraps her arms around his shoulders. "Maybe one day, we can... we can tell them."

"There's no guarantee they'll understand," Zelos mutters.

"I think... At least, they'll be happy that we shared."

The redhead hums his agreement. With a sigh, he finally returns her embrace.

"So what is it that you're inheriting, hunny?" he asks, resisting the urge to bury his face in her hair.

"My family runs this charity, Guardian Angel-"

"Really?" Zelos regards Colette with wide eyes. "I've done promos with them. That's actually a huge project."

The blonde smiles with a strange, foreign, and wry quality to it. "You don't think I know that already?"

"Right," Zelos laughs nervously, "Go on, my darling little angel."

"Well, you know it already. We do events all over the city, and we've just started to set up shop in the neighboring cities. As the organization gets bigger, we need more people to help out. It's a great cause and we're popular enough to keep things running smoothly, but we're starting to run short of hands because of the expansion- and now they expect me to give up on teaching so I can take my father's place."

"That's tough."

"I guess..." She sighs. "I don't want to disappoint them."

"Why don't they just hire someone else?"

"I don't know. It's like they think I'm destined to take his place."

"They should be grateful that you've even decided to help in the first place!"

Colette giggles. "You're getting pretty worked up about this."

"Sh-Shut up. You don't deserve to take anyone's crap, especially not from your own family," he grumbles, trying to fight the flush threatening to rise to his face. Almost as if to spite him, Colette pinches one of his warmed cheeks.

"Are you really in the right place to say that, oh Zelos the great?" she asks, smiling.

He huffs. "Let's not go there, hunny."

Colette shrugs. Slowly, she unwraps her arms from around his shoulders and stands. "It really is getting late, Zelos."

"I'll call my driver," the redhead says, joining her.

With a firm shake of her head, Colette loops an arm around one of Zelos'. "No, it's alright, I live a few blocks away from here."

"I'll walk you home, then."

"Such a gentleman, oh Zelos the great."

"If you're not going to say it properly, I'm afraid I'll have to limit your uses, angel."

She giggles and begins to lead him down the street. "I think that could work!"