Lloyd hung back, unsure whether to step back outside or to run into another room. "Uhm..." he said, licking his lips nervously. "Are you two... busy?" he asked, dumbly.
"Why yes, we are," Zelos informed him. For a moment Sheena thought she might have to smack him for his insolence, but then he kept on: "Sheena was just teaching me some martial arts moves. I've been thinking of maybe broadening my horizons, maybe not stick to swordsmanship only. Right, Sheena?"
Sheena hopped off of him, quickly. "Yeah!" She said, louder than needed. "O-of course! But I'm- uh- tired now so..."
"Oh, but of course," he said, getting up and bowing to her chivalrously. Ringing the bell again for a maid, he said, "If you could please lead Miss Sheena to her room, hunny?" he asked the maid, who giggled in that annoying way fangirls do, and left Zelos with Lloyd.
Lloyd coughed, uncomfortably.
"Well, don't leave the door open!" Zelos said, striding past Lloyd to slam the door shut, and lock it. Even he knew better than to leave it unlocked at night, especially with the recent crime wave. "You'll let the cold out, hunny."
"Don't call me 'Hunny'," Lloyd muttered, edging away from Zelos, who chuckled.
"Heh, Lloyd," he shook his head, tapping his nose knowingly. "Don't you know? Everyone is my hunny!" He winked. "Whether they know it or not." After a few seconds more of leering at Lloyd in that disturbing way he had, he said good night and left Lloyd with another maid, who led him to his room.
"Ehm, actually, could you tell me where Colette's room is?" he asked the maid as they were walking.
"Certainly ♥" the maid said, changing directions and going down a few flights of stairs. Honestly, did Zelos really need such a big house? Lloyd sighed, thanked the maid, and waited until she was gone to turn at the door. Suddenly, this didn't seem like a good idea. Especially since he couldn't see any light under the door way...
But, needing to see Colette, he knocked on the door. "Colette?" He hissed, tapping the door so as to not wake anybody else. After a few moments, he decided to just drop it, but as he was about to leave the door inched open to reveal a tousled blond head.
"...Lloyd?" Colette asked, blinking and rubbing her eyes.
"Oh jeeze," Lloyd said, rubbing his head. "I'm so sorry for waking you, Colette. I just wanted to- oof!" he didn't get to finish his sentence, because he was tackled by the sleepy angel.
"Lloyd!" she said, hugging him around the middle, tightly. "I was worried about you! Are you OK? I heard you got arrested... again."
Lloyd managed to laugh, hugging her back. "Yup, I'm fine... but you're going to squash me, Colette!"
"Oh... sorry."
"Hey! I thought we'd gotten rid of that bad habit," he grinned at her, holding her a small distance away so he could get a good look at her face. "Now what's up? What did you and Sheena do today? Me and Regal just beat each other up the whole time at the Coliseum. Then I... uh... you know."
"Come on inside, I'll tell you all about it," Colette said cheerfully enough. Lloyd couldn't help but get the feeling something was off, though. He followed her inside and she settled down onto her bed, patting the space next to her to invite him up. He hopped up and plopped down next to her, sprawling out on the bed with his head resting in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair lovingly, but her blue eyes were distant. Nevertheless, she went on to explain how they had hit almost every shop in Meltokio. He listened intently, chuckling at her descriptions of Presea and Raine and managing to find more adjectives to define her new clothes than just "Cute on you" or "Nice."
Colette stopped at the part where Regal came in with his mood-spoiling news, and there was an awkward silence.
"I guess I'd better leave-" Lloyd began, starting to get up.
"-if you want to stay a little longer I don't mind," Colette said at the same time.
"Uhm." Lloyd was sitting up, crossing his legs Indian style. "Well if you don't mind-"
"I don't!" Colette said quickly, hands in her lap. "I mean, if you don't." A red tint came to her face. "Since we didn't spend the day together I thought you might... want to..."
"..Spend the night? Together?"
"Uh, yeah," she muttered, looking away. Then she sighed and buried her head in her hands. "Oh, Lloyd. Forget it. I was just worried because you were arrested again and I thought- well- you would want to-"
"Colette-" he hesitantly reached a hand to touch her, but she stood up and briskly walked to the door, holding it open with her face scarlet.
"Well, yeah, now you know," she said. "I guess I was being silly to ask something like that. You're too nice to- I mean, you'd want to wait until we were married, right?"
"Colette..."
"G-Good night! I'll just- I can sleep in the other room, I mean. Good night." She rushed out, her entire face bright scarlet as she slammed the door behind her.
Lloyd winced. "I'm a moron..." he muttered.
A/N: Yes. Yes you are. But I love you anyway.
And a note about the ages in this thing. These are the ages that, I, personally, have seen for myself in the game to be true.
Lloyd is seventeen in the game. In Dirk's house, he talks to the Professor and he says, "Hey! I'm seventeen, you know."
Presea is twenty-eight in the game. Talking to Alicia's grave, she says, "Things have finally started to move from that day sixteen years ago...I'm twenty-eight now, can you believe that?" But, using this, we know she has the body of a twelve year old.
Sheena is nineteen. In the Ice Temple, there's a Z skit, where Zelos says you must be more sensitive to the weather when you get old, and Sheena exclaims, "I'm only nineteen!"
Colette is sixteen- "Because of you, Lloyd, I've been able to live these past sixteen years to the fullest."
Using my gray matter, I can assume that Genis is twelve in the game. Observe the Z Skit, paraphrased because I can't remember it word for word:
Raine: So tall now...
Lloyd: Who?
Raine: You. I remember when I first met you, you were no taller than Genis.
Lloyd: Hey, that's right!
Raine: And your voice hadn't changed either.
Lloyd: Soon I'll be the same age as you when you first met me. That's kinda cool.. and sad.
Raine: Why?
Lloyd: I was no where near as mature as Genis when I was his age... and now I'm almost your age and still not as mature as you.
AND, one time, Raine yells at Lloyd... "Haven't I taught you anything in these past five years?"
Using these as an example, Raine was eighteen-nineteen when she met Lloyd. Now it's five years later, and she is probably twenty-three, or twenty-four years old. And since he's seventeen now, five years ago he was twelve. Uh-OH! Does this mean Genis was twelve in the game, and not fourteen like I have him in this fan fiction? Probably. But until I get solid proof, I'm going to say Genis was fourteen in the game so that he can be sixteen at the time of this fan fiction. Yay for loop holes. So, to clarify everything, I'm going to put the ages of the characters RIGHT NOW in the FANFICTION. Not officially, like in the game. This is just for the fic.
Lloyd: Nineteen
Colette: Eighteen
Sheena: Twenty-One
Raine: Twenty-Six
Presea: Thirty (Her body is that of a fourteen year old)
Regal: Just a guess, I'll say he's Thirty-Five. That seems to be a safe estimate.
Zelos: Twenty-Four (because I say so)
Genis: Sixteen
And there you go! If anyone knows the real ages of all the characters, I'd be glad to know! Send it... in A REVIEW! Sorry for the long A/N, you won't get another like it, I promise. Next chapter- Raine gets a late-night visitor! Who could it be?