CHAPTER 2: Sex Gods

And I'm back! Yay! What, am I the only one cheering? That's so mean! If you keep that up, I won't post another word on FanFiction ever again!

…Still no cheers? You guys are so mean! Wah! T.T

…I'm better now. So, here's the chapter you've all been so eager to read (keep in mind I was using heavy sarcasm)…Chapter two! Yay! Let's have a party! With me, and…me, and…dammit! Why don't I have anyone to celebrate with me? I'm so unloved! Wah! T.T

Wait. No I'm not. Or am I…?

Well, even if I'm not loved and everyone's just being nice, I'd like you to be nice, too, and review, review, review! Hey! That rhymed! Yay!

Anyway, I had planned to update this on the first of every month, but because last month was November and therefore NaNoWriMo, I didn't. I alsmot forgot today, but I just remembered! Yay! So to the few beautiful people that actually bother to read this, here's an update for you!

On with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but very demented plot bunnies. Don't worry; I keep them in a cage…sometimes.

Present day…

"Lloyd! Lloyd, come on! That's no fair! She was mine!" a male voice called from a few yards away. A well-dressed man with brown, spiky hair was currently walking away from the man, arms around the waist of a young noble.

"What was your name again, hunny?" the one called Lloyd asked.

The girl giggled before replying. "It's Angela." She flushed a little.

"Well, the name fits. You are definitely an angel…" he purred. The girl giggled again.

Meanwhile, the man, who just happened to be Lloyd's best friend, was grumbling under his breath about "stupid, annoying kids". There was, indeed, an age difference between the two; Lloyd was seventeen, still just a kid, though barely, and the man was twenty-two.

"Better luck next time, Zelos!" Lloyd called back to him. The two of them had been competing against each other for as long as he could remember.

Zelos and Lloyd had met when Lloyd's family moved into the noble's district. How they acquired the house, Zelos had no idea. He supposed that it had to do with a lot of threatening, because his dad was scary as hell when he wanted to be. Kratos never trusted anyone at first, and would always glare at them with the creepiest glare. Naturally, Zelos had experienced this first-hand. When he had met Lloyd, he was playing with the tiny butterflies that flew around the city. Zelos had thought this was a little weird, so he went up to the four-year-old and told him to stop.

"You're embarrassing yourself," Zelos had explained. The boy hadn't understood that, so the Chosen took it upon himself to teach him how to live like a noble, being the "kind person" he is.

They had started hanging out a lot after that, mostly because neither of them had any friends. Sure, Zelos had lots of groupies, but he was lucky if he even remembered their names.

Soon, the two boys grew inseparable.

And then Zelos met Kratos.

"Daddy, this is Zelos. He's my bestest buddy ever!" the boy had proudly proclaimed. Of course, Kratos was still skeptical about his mysterious past, and therefore didn't trust Zelos. Kratos had glared at him until Zelos about peed his pants, his eyes tearing up and breathing becoming difficult.

"Um, h-hi…sir…" Zelos had squeaked. The man continued to glare at him until a brown-haired lady came into the room.

"Hi, what's your name? Are you one of Lloyd's friends?" she had asked with a warm, motherly smile. Then she spotted Kratos. "Kratos! What do you think you're doing! You're scaring him!" And then, in an undertone, she added, "He can't hurt him. He's just a kid." That had made Kratos relax a bit. Eventually, Kratos grew on him, and vice versa. Kratos became friendlier toward him, and once or twice he actually smiled. For the first time ever, he had experienced fatherly love. And from then on, Zelos hung out at the Aurion household as often as he could; one would think that the family had adopted him.

Zelos and Lloyd continued to grow, and soon they were in their teens. Raging hormones took control and Zelos taught Lloyd about the wonders of women. Because Lloyd looked up to the Chosen, he listened intently and took his word as law. Soon after Lloyd's "lesson" of sorts, the two of them became known all throughout Meltokio as "philanderers", "perverts", and, among the women, "sex gods".

They spent their days either out roaming the streets for some pretty women or competing against each other in sparring matches; they spent their evenings either out partying or chilling at Lloyd's house, listening to the latest music.

Sometimes, Kratos joined them in their sparring matches, and even trained them. He would play catch with them. He would do all sorts of fatherly things that Zelos had missed out on. And Lloyd's mom, Anna, would prepare the three of them lemonade on hot summer days and hot chocolate on the cold nights of winter. She was always happy and passive, and she was a great cook. Zelos loved coming to the Aurion household after Anna had finished making a batch of gooey chocolate chip cookies or her famous shortcake. And the bracelet that she always wore was very pretty, too.

Of course, another reason he loved coming to Lloyd's house was…his maid. When Lloyd was really little, about, three, his parents were walking through the Gaoracchia Forest when they stumbled upon a young girl, about five years old. Lloyd and Anna had told stories about the girl and how they found her, and from what Zelos had been told, she was obviously homeless, they could tell from the rags she wore and her dirty, greasy hair. They took her with them because Anna wouldn't let a little girl starve to death and made their way to Meltokio. The girl had been so grateful to them that she said that she would work for them to pay off the debt that she thought she owed them. So she became the Aurion's maid, and…well, Zelos likey. Unfortunately, Lloyd had first dibs because, well, it was his maid, but, still…a guy can dream, right? She was quite the voluptuous one, and clumsy, though she obviously tried to do her best. She was more a part of the family than a maid, and she could often be seen chatting with Anna about the latest fashion or hanging with Lloyd and Zelos around town. The other nobles turned their noses up at this idea, so they were pretty much outcasts when she tagged along, but they didn't mind. She was a lot of fun to be around.

They had one other friend: Sarani Bryant. She was Master and Mistress Bryant's child. That family lived in Altamira, so they didn't get to see her as often, but occasionally the family would stop by Meltokio for a few days on a business trip and Sarani would come over to play with them. She was kind-hearted, cheerful, and outgoing, yet very stubborn. Though, one had to be when training to take over a business. She liked to think she was older, but in reality, she was only seven. Lloyd and Zelos looked at her like a younger sister, and loved to play with her.

When Lloyd's maid and Sarani weren't around, they had competitions on anything. Races to various shops, eating contests, strength tests, and, of course, women scouting. They would look for the prettiest woman in town and woo her, just to prove that he was better at getting girls. This was a favorite past time, and they were constantly doing it, taking home a different woman every night, and sometimes even more than one. The times spent with Lloyd were the greatest ones Zelos had ever had, and whenever he was with his Bud, he could forget that he didn't have parents of his own, and how no one ever wanted him to exist.

Zelos was headed over to Lloyd's house for the third time that week—and it was only Tuesday. When he reached the giant marble manor, he knocked on the ebony wood door with its brass knocker and waited patiently for one of the maids to answer. He was quite pleased to see that it was his favorite.

"Hey, Zelos. Come on in," she said and moved aside to let him in.

"How's it going, Sheena?" he asked, looking at her pretty brown eyes. Her shiny black hair was sticking out of the maid's cap she wore and hung loose on her face, framing it beautifully. Her dress was the traditional mint green, but she didn't wear an apron as the others did. She didn't really need to; no one ever made her actually clean anything except her room.

"Oh, I'm fine. How about you?" Sheena shut the door behind him, and then walked to where he stood.

"I'm doing great. Do you know where Lloyd is?" He looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of his gravity-defying hair somewhere.

"Hm…I think he's out getting some groceries. I offered to go, but he said that he couldn't make a lady do that kind of work. Hmph. How am I supposed to be a maid if no one ever lets me work?" She shook her head. "Oh, well. Make yourself at home—oh, you already did." He really had. He had taken his boots off and was currently lounging on the sofa in the parlor. Sheena rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever. Lloyd should be back soon. I'm going now." She walked back into the kitchen, leaving Zelos to do what he pleased.

Some magazines were spread out on the coffee table, and Zelos picked one up and began to flip through it until Kratos walked into the room.

"Hey, Zelos. Lloyd's—"

"Not here. Yeah, I know. He went to get some groceries. I'm just waiting for him. So, what've you been up to, Mr. Aurion?"

"I just got back from work." Kratos worked at the Elemental Research Academy. "You know how Sheena's a summoner? Well, we've been trying to get her to come to the lab for some tests and maybe some training, and we finally got her to come. Isn't that great? And by the way, son, you don't have to be so formal with me. We have known each other for fourteen years." Kratos had nicknamed Zelos "Son" for some strange reason, probably because he was always over at the house, mooching off them.

"Right, right, Kratos, so everything's good?"

"It's not good; it's great! We finally have a summoner to research." Kratos was lost in his own world again…Zelos sighed. He always did this when there was a breakthrough at the lab. "Maybe she can summon the Summon Spirit in the lab."

"Wait, you have a summon spirit at the Elemental Research Academy?" Zelos asked. He'd never said anything like this before.

"Yes. Corrine, a man-made Summon Spirit. She's our most prized possession. We've been running tests on her, trying to see what makes the others tick. It's very fascinating."

"I'll take your word on that, Mr. Aur—Kratos." Kratos was usually very laid back, except when meeting new people, but when he got to talking about his job…it was a little weird. He was very passionate about it.

"…Lloyd's home," Kratos said suddenly, the far-off look melted away.

"He is? I don't hear anything…" Zelos bit his lip. How did Kratos hear so much stuff? He could see really well, too. When Zelos had first met him, he had thought that Kratos was delusional. But every time he said that something was coming, sure enough, a minute later, something would pop up and prove Kratos right. It was infuriating, all right, but he had learned to accept it. Kratos was just weird.

A moment later, Lloyd pushed open the door, carrying three large paper bags of food and other necessities.

"Lloyd, buddy! What took you so long? I had to listen to your old man ramble on about his job! It was torture!" Zelos said sarcastically. Lloyd just rolled his eyes.

"Well, sorry, but I had to go get some food. You're staying for dinner, right? Did you want to starve?" Lloyd handed the bags to one of the maids, Annette, that had run into the room to help, and she waddled away.

Zelos' put a look of mock distress on his face. "Starve the Great Zelos Wilder? How could anyone do such a thing to little old me? What would my hunnies say?" Then Zelos pretended to faint onto the couch, but ruined his dramatic performance by laughing.

"If you died, the world would be a better place," Lloyd said, smiling as he sat down next to the Chosen.

"That's harsh, Bud." Zelos sniffled a bit and made a puppy-dog face. Lloyd rolled his eyes again.

"Never worked before, never will work. Sorry. Now, come on. We've got at least thirty minutes before dinner is ready. We can play Tales of the Abyss for a bit!"

Tales of the Abyss was their favorite game, so Zelos couldn't refuse. They both ran upstairs, trying to beat the other.

Lloyd won.

Well, that's that. Sorry about that long-ish background story in the middle, I figured that it was necessary to show how Lloyd turned out the way he did this time. Anyway, review, please! Oh, and if you have any ideas for things that could happen, feel free to tell me. I'll probably use them, because your ideas are good. Even though I've never met you and therefore do not know whether or not your particular ideas are good (which they probably are). But that's a minor detail.