Hello Yello, I'm still alive. Amazing A lot has been going on in my life tbh. So, super busy. Anyway, I was motivated by my sibling to write about my rare pair to get back into fanfic writing.

This is a one shot, featuring Zidane and Amarant. This takes place after the events of the game. So in the game, Amarant and Zidane first met 2 years prior, so there's a 2 year time skip here. Basically 4 years since they first met. I did that so Zidane won't be 16 when this happens.


He had fucked up. Zidane had royally fucked up.

'You're shitting me.' Zidane though, beads of sweat rolling down his round, flushed face.

Maybe. He might be ok. No. Actually–

'Fuck me, why him?'

It was hard to tell. It was always hard to tell how knee deep in trouble you were in when it came to Tetra Master Tournaments. Usually Zidane wasn't afraid of even losing the lead in sad card matches. (Hell, he wasn't opposed to cheating a little. A thief's a thief and a swindler.)
But right now was not one of his days truly, as he sat in the vestibule with his next opponent.

"Scared yet?" the blue skinned, mercenary Amarant said in his low gruff voice. "Or maybe you were scared as soon as you saw me."

Zidane knew he was talking to him. Minus the weird looking midget in the room and a few boogie lords and ladies, there was no one he would be talking to. He could feel it. Despite Amarant's stupid mass of red hair, he could tell he was looking at him without even turning his head.

"Stzz–" Zidane coughed into a scoff, his way of covering up the coming stutter to his voice. "Ssscared? Who, me? Nah!" Zidane laughed slightly. But felt his act was failing to impress the man beside him. So he got up from his seat, letting his cloak dance in the wind as he spun around to show off his boastful attitude. "Not in a million years! Just look at me, this ain't the face of a scared man."

"Didn't expect you to show up here." Amarant said dismissively. His arms folded tightly, he was slouching sloppily, not a care in the world for whoever saw him or murmured some things under their breaths.

"I should be saying that!" Zidane piped, unable to even understand why Amarant would chance coming back to a city that labeled him a wanted man.

"No you really shouldn't." Amarant tilted his head back, his pointed beard pointing to the ceiling as he moved his lips slowly, "Your Highness."

Zidane felt petrified suddenly. His feet suddenly couldn't move and his breath felt hitched. He had an urge to lunge toward the man to cover his mouth but he didn't follow it. "Hey–"

"Relax." Amarant lowered his head again to look at the gnome. Well, what appeared to be him looking. "I'm not gonna expose you."

"Then why did you–" Zidane strained his lips abruptly. He needed to lower his voice. He was clearly upset and it was obvious, he knew it. "Why did you even say it then? Do you know where we are?"

"Course I do." the blue skinned man snorted smugly as if he was amused that the blond gnome was frazzled by him. "What? Did that make you mad?"

"Yes!" Screw it. No need to keep his voice down. Especially with that stupid smug cheshier cat grin.

But that outburst just made it worse. Amarant was laughing at him. Laughing. Zidane couldn't help but blush. It was both embarrassing and shocking to hear the never amused, burly man laugh.
Amarant stood slowly, he stretched and cracked his neck with a hand on the back of his neck.

"Like I said: I'm not going to expose you. But I could."

Zidane furrowed his brows at him. "What are you talking about….are you blackmailing me?"

"Maybe." Amarant smirked this time.

"What the hell–"

The abrupt sound of the trumpet signaling the start of the Tetra Master Tournament.
Zidane's eyes had widened when he heard it, he wasn't ready. At all. What the hell was going on? Why was Amarant here so randomly? And why was the man trying to blackmail him? Was he though? It was hard to tell with Amarant, his expressions were almost impossible to read even when he was in a joking mood.

The mercenary turned to Zidane who was lost in thought. He smirked, taking the chance to lean in and whisper in his air. "Just Don't cheat."

With that, Amarant parted from the thief, giving him a rough pat on the shoulder like a friendly competitor. Zidane watched as the man waltzed into the Card Stadium Hall along with the other viewers.

And yet, Zidane couldn't move.

This was a fucked up joke or a trap. He was being set up for something and he didn't know what!

'I could bail. Right now. No one would say anything…' Zidane thought, his eyes scanning the room with his peripheral vision. Fast exits were everywhere but his eyes caught Amarant's crimson hair in the doorway far ahead of him. He was staring him down.
And smirking.

'...Fuck it.' Somewhere, Zidane's pride won out in his head. Unfortunately, it also won over his instincts and logic too.

Maybe after two years living in Alexandria Castle, with Garnet, was draining his senses. He wasn't able to see his friends as freely as he wanted, lest Beatrix and Steiner would give him an earful. Indeed, whatever Zidane did had to be for Garnet's sake. Two years and it seemed even the woman he thought he was falling for was reverting back to her old princess ways. She had to to an extent. She was a Queen now. A Queen trying to marry a thief.
But Zidane wasn't bred for such a thing, nor raised to be in that sort of position. And yet he was trying his damndest, at the cost of everything he once knew how to do: Keeping his cool, not freezing up, talking circles around frustrated or frustrating people, and knowing when to bail out of a bad situation.

All of this, he was slowly forgetting.

Zidane never realized this until he met up with Amarant again after such a long time.

And he learned the hard way how much he had fallen off.

"So," Amarant droned, downing a mug of some foreign crappy liquid that Zidane really didn't care to figure out. "You lost."

"Yeah yeah…!" Zidane scoffed angrily. He had his arms folded under his cloak as his left leg bounced erratically. "Rub it in, asshole…"

Amarant smirked, putting his mug down carefully. The wooden utensil looked stupidly small compared to the mercenaries large hands. His entire frame actually was comically large compared to everything in the Pub. The chair he leaned back in lazily, and the table where he put his dirt caked boots on. Zidane even felt incredibly small compared to the giant man. Maybe that was why no one dared report him to the authorities. The only ones that bothered to acknowledge his presence were brave bounty hunters or foolish fame- chasers.

Amarant lulled his head from side to side lazily as if taunting and mocking the annoyed ex-thief before him.
It made Zidane hiss at him. "You know it was just luck."

"There's no luck in Tetra Master, just strategy." the blue skinned man shrugged with a hand raise. He was calling over a barmaid.

"And there's no blackmail either." Zidane shot back. He adjusted his posture, leaning on the table slightly with his forearms and hands on it. There wasn't a lot of space especially where Amarant's legs were concerned.

"Oh, I am soooo sorry." Amarant droned rolled his head. His head looked like a red hair brush waving in the air. "Didn't know cheating was allowed either."

"I wasn't gonna cheat." Zidane grumbled feeling his tail curl between his legs out of shame of the truth. . He watched the barmaid come to Armarant with another drink that she held on a tray stiffly. She was scared. Zidane could tell by the way she stared at Amarant with wide, green eyes when she approached. No doubt she knew who he was. There wasn't a single spot in the streets of Treno where the Flaming Amarant, the Salamander's face wasn't printed up on a wanted poster.

But Amarant didn't seem to care nor pay attention to her. Even as he somewhat rudely took the mug from the now fleeing woman, Amarant kept his attention on his drink. The barmaid scurried off to the back of the check in desk.

"And I should believe you because…?" Amarant hummed, swirling the mug in circles. He looked like the equivalent of some blue-blooded jackass with some military experience to justify the muscles and scars. The way he was acting and sitting was pissing off Zidane in a weird way and he was tired of it.

"What the hell is this about?" Zidane demanded harshly.

"What is 'what' about?" Amarant asked back, taking a sip from his drink. He arched his lip up a bit in disgust.

"This!" Zidane hissed with a gesture of his hands like knives pointing at the table. "You show up here knowing full well you're wanted, not only playing a card match against me but also threatening to reveal who I am. Do you know how much trouble Da–" Zidane cleared his throat,"Garnet, would get into if word got out I was not here on official business?" Zidane was done being discrete. If he was looking frazzled or angry, so be it.
He had a reason. And it was sitting across from him unphased.

"Wow, you really sound like a prince neglecting his duties."

"Just answer me, man! For fuck's sake!" Zidane swore finally with a long groan. "What the hell, I thought we were pals."

Amarant smacked his lips loudly making a 'pop' noise. He took another swig of his drink, a bigger one this time. He slammed the mug on the table afterwards making Zidane flinch slightly.
The mercenary stared at him, no head turning or lazy posture. He even leaned in, with his left arm coming to rest on the table and the other on his hip.

"You remember I am a wanted man but forget what you did to me?"

"Oh my god, is this about what happened in Madain Sari? I thought we were over this–"

"I'm talking about four years ago."

Silence then.

"Oh…" Zidane coughed a little.

"Yeah. You're the reason I can't live here anymore." Amarant said in a low tone. Not even a grumble. Clear cut and straight to the point.

"You're…still mad I framed you?" Zidane sighed, a bit ashamed he forgot something so serious. Usually he didn't care too much about such things.
In all honesty, he didn't think he would end up befriending the guy whose life he ruined. He never considered those things or the people he affected with his criminal antics with Tantalus.
Life really was a funny bitch sometimes.

Amarant stared at him, the real expression in his eyes hidden behind thick, scarlet locks. Zidane fought to match whatever look the mercenary was giving him but he couldn't help feeling small. As if he was being crushed under the weight of past crimes and guilt that piled up, Zidane allowed the silence to hang in the air. There was no noise but the hum and buzz of the ceiling lamps swaying above them, the thumping of heavy boots coming and going from the Tavern, and the semi soothing rush of water that was below the building.
Finally, Amarant broke the silence,
"No. I'm not mad." he said leaning back to assume his old position, chair leaned back. But feet were on the ground this time, he was just manspreading.
Zidane nearly flipped the table at the man in anger, "Then what the hell is this all about! The hell was that silence for?!"

Amarant chuckled slightly while shaking his head. Honestly, two years back, Zidane would have been thrilled to have Amarant act like this. Joking, laughing, snickering over a cup of rancid liquid that may or may not get them drunk in some alley.
But right now, all this was doing was making him want to punch the man int eh face and go back to Alexandria.

"..." Zidane stared daggers at the man before saying, 'You're just fucking with me, aren't you?"

"To a degree." Amarant gave the man a toothy grin. "I do want something from you."

"Then just spit it out already, what do you want?" Zidane sighed heavily. He should have expected this. Zidane was the only one whose occupation had changed.

Amarant said nothing for a while, but his smile did slip away. His usual resting bitch face returned. The mercenary turned his head left then right, it took a moment for Zidane to realize he was checking to see who was around them.

"I don't want much, but I'd like an apology of some sort. Some compensation for the bullshit you put me through." Amarant raised his hand in a dismissive shrugging fashion.

An apology? That was it? Wait…

"What do you mean 'of some sort'?" Zidane asked with a raised brow. "I can't just say I'm sorry and we squash this?"

"They say there is no honor amongst thieves–" Amarant started. Instinctually, Zidane finished it.

"But that's a lie a thief made."

Silence again, between the mercenary and ex thief of trade.
Zidane sighed once more, his earlier anger slowly disappearing and being replaced with heart thumping anxiety.

"How can I apologize to you?"

The blue-skinned man smiled then. It wasn't a smirk or a snarky grin, just a simple smile. He raised two meaty fingers and said, "One, you can return what you stole four years ago–"

Zidane couldn't help but snort then. "That's not gonna happen."

Amarant had stopped talking when Zidane snorted. He looked frozen, like he was processing what to do next. "...andt why is that?"

Zidane explained with a huge smile and smug huff, "Do you know how much and how many things the Tantalus Groupe has stolen over the years?" the blond smirked with a raised hand in gesture, "We haul all that in our secret vault, to which only Baku has access too. Not only that, it's been four years. I don't even know what I stole is even still there, let alone where it is.`` The gnome then looked at Amarant, dropping his hand and leaning on the table with his elbow.
"I like ya Red, but there is no way I'm fightin' Baku. And I am so not traveling all the way to Lindblum to get my ass kicked…possibly."

Zidane was flexing his bravado right now. Not only bragging about his old groups' ventures of conquest of riches and gold, but also letting it be known Amarant isn't going to outplay a master thief. Ex-thief or not, Zidane was un-connable. He was in his element. So much so, he dared to call Amarant by a nickname Zidane knew his old partner Lani used to use.

The gnome wasn't sure if that was why he sensed he may have messed up severely. The mercenary across from him said nothing for the longest time, but he did eventually continue when Zidane pressed him too.

"What's the other option?"

"Nothing bad." Amarant said simply, "Since you do like me, it shouldn't be too much trouble."

"As long as it has nothing to do with Baku, anything is fair game." Zidane laughed.

"Tell the Queen what you did."

Something fell over in the back kitchen of the Tavern. There was a loud crash. Actually, everything suddenly got loud for Zidane. So loud, he thought he didn't hear Amarant right.

"Huh? I'm sorry, wha–" the gnome coughed a little with a nervous laugh.

"Tell Queen Stella what you did, or tell Garnet about it." Amarant said again, stone faced.

The silence after was deafening. Though, Amarant gave a sneeze of sorts. A reaction that made his whole body twitch once, or maybe he was holding back a snort or a laugh at Zidane's reaction. Surely, the gnome made an impossibly, comical face.

"Wh…wha…" Zidane felt slack jawed. It was hard to find words but he did. "What? What?! What the fuck?!"

"Saying what doesn't make anything different."

"Shut the hell up!" Zidane spat with a slight squeak in his voice, "Who the hell asks..I can't just do that!"

Amarant simply tilted his head and arched his lip. It was a look of confusion. Makes sense. Zidane wasn't forming full sentences.

"Wha–"

"Hey!" Amarant spoke up. Like a barked order almost. "First of all, sit. You're making a scene."

Zidane hadn't even realized it. He had sprung out of his chair in shock at Amarant's request. He didn't know when but maybe it was a subconscious reaction. The gnome couldn't help the blush that came to his face as he realized how he was acting and how some people were actually looking at him. He sat down making sure his cloak was straight along with his tail.

"Ask me whatever."

"Why are you acting so calm about this?" Zidane covered his face. "You can't just…do you hate me or something?"

Amarant didn't answer which made Zidane blush harder. The gnome peeked from between his fingers to look at him but the man wasn't giving him eye contact anymore.

"You're living a lie, Zidane." Amarant said simply, "While I'd like to live here again, I don't care. I left here to follow after you. And that's what I did. But I followed the Thief Zidane, not some princeling of a nameless place."

Zidane remained silent for a long while.

"This has nothing to do with me. This is what's between us. You wanted to squash the beef between us, so I'm giving you the floor to confess or get what you stole back."

The weight of Amarant's words hit him hard. Not the truth of it all, but somewhere deep down, this felt like a way out. If Zidane confessed, that would end his relationship with Garnet. They would no longer be engaged nor would he have to go through this prim and proper routine princes needed to learn. He would be—

Zidane looked down at his hands that were clasped together on the table.

But if he didn't confess and just got back what he stole, that would also end his ties with Tantalus. He would wholeheartedly no longer be a thief.

No matter what happens, Zidane and Amarant's relationship would persevere. But Zidane's life…

The gnome leaned forward and groaned deeply into his hands. "Can't I just suck your dick and call it a day?"

Silence. Zidane wasn't sure if Amarant heard him or was ignoring him. When he looked up from his hands, he was surprised by what he saw. A smile.

"That sounds like the Zidane I know."

The comment made Zidane blush for a different reason other than embarrassment. "Wh-wha–"

"You'd rather find a solution that would preserve everyone's feelings and your connections to them." Amarant shook his head and ran his hand through his red locks. "And here I thought you had gone full noble on me…"

Zidane was…speechless. He had been lamenting this whole time that he wasn't the man he used to be. Which is why he always ran off to Treno, falsifying talking to Professor Tot; but he was really playing around. When the gnome saw Amarant, he thought it would be the end of the small amount of freedom he had. Amarant wasn't the type to hold his words or feelings back. He often said things that even exposed deep wounds or issues.

Something Zidane found annoying but also enduring.

"Heh…hehe." Zidane started to chuckle and rub the back of his neck. "Jeez man, you really have a way with words."

"I get that a lot." Amarant said in a low grumble. He wasn't offended, he was just being his usual self.

It made Zidane feel calm and happy. It felt like forever that he didn't feel anxious, or that eyes were always on him. Maybe he was still recovering from his past, his conversations with Garland and who he was.
But he had to simply remember that he wasn't trapped, that there were ways out and around.
Maybe this small blackmail was just a friendly reminder that Zidane was in control of his own fate.

"Haha, did you plan this man? You're more sympathetic than I thought." Zidane laughed.

"Huh? This wasn't planned. I just wanted to mess with you." Amarant shrugs, lifting his mug.

Zidane rolled his eyes, "Yeah whatever. So…are we cool again?"

"Oh, we were always alright, I still expect an apology of some sort." the mercenary sipped his drink.

"Oh come on–"

"I'm serious. I'll take that blowjob gladly."

Or maybe the blackmail was just blackmail.


This was something I wrote to shake off the rust of things. Sorry if it left ya'll feeling empty. If you possibly want more, I could maybe turn this into a 2 chapter thing. IDK really. It's been years since I wrote a fic.