A/N – Big thanks to lazy cat! Please everyone feel free to point out mistakes or things that don't seem right, I really should get a beta D: Also review! REVIEWWWWSSs I live for dem :'(

Lloyd watched in eager anticipation as Reimi unwrapped his gift.

He had put the most thought into hers and he hoped she would like it.

The tiny pianist figurine had been sitting at the front of an antique shop he encountered on a lunch break walk through Soho, and it suited her perfectly. The elegant figure so lost in her music, sitting where she looked best, a small smile adorning her lips. Not that he had ever seen her play, but this was what he had imagined she would look like in his mind's eye.

She was pulling the last bit of newspaper away now; he studied her face hopefully.

And froze as her whole body stiffened.

Was that a good or bad sign?

He was so nervous.

It was just a present.

Doubt wormed its way deep into his mind as the silence stretched. Why wasn't she saying anything? He couldn't think of any way the present could be taken as offense. Then-

"Thank you Lloyd, it's great,"

…

Why did she sound so… off? He couldn't quell the disappointment rising in his chest.

Wait, what was he even expecting anyway?

He hurriedly berated himself and smiled.

"Don't mention it,"

Suddenly, Amy was hugging him again, blocking his vision.

And Reimi was gone.

He shoved Amy aside and stood up, starting to run for the door but was stopped by Elsa who drew her arm across it, stopping him from leaving.

"Let's let her go for now,"

"Why!?"

Elsa didn't reply. Lloyd made as if to try and push past but stopped when he realized Elsa wasn't planning on moving.

He groaned and walked a few steps back.

"I don't understand. What happened? Did I do something wrong?"

"Elsa, maybe we should go after her, something must have happened," Amy spoke softly. Lloyd was surprised to find her sounding genuinely concerned.

"No. Let me try calling her," The older girl sharply intoned. Then, keeping her arm firmly planted by the door, she dialed Reimi's number and listened as it worked its way through ten rings before hitting the answer machine. She hung up.

"I'll stay awake and wait for her to come back. She's probably just had a long day,"

"I'm staying up too," Amy chipped in, though she couldn't help the yawn that escaped her lips shortly after.

"And me," Lloyd chimed in fiercely.

"You're both up waaay past your bedtime. And Lloyd you had a mammoth shift today, you need to rest,"

Lloyd continued to protest but Amy wearily gave in. "Please, wake me up if she's not back soon, Elsie,"

Elsa nodded and Amy retreated into her room, throwing Elsa one last confused look.

"I'm staying up," Lloyd repeated to Elsa.

"No, Lloyd… I think I'd be the better one to talk to her in this situation,"

"…Why?"

"Look. Reimi's been going through a lot of stress with work recently. I think we must have caught her in the middle of something, it was just bad timing, Lloyd,"

He clenched his fists tightly together. "I care about Reimi just as much as you. I may be the newest member of this house but that doesn't mean I don't deserve to be told these sort of things as much as you!"

Elsa smiled, genuine warmth in her voice. "I know, I'm really glad to hear you say that,"

He faltered and struggled to find a response.

So instead he turned around and headed to his room.

Closing the door behind without a backwards glance, he fished his cell phone out from the dresser and dialed Reimi's number, twice, to no response.

Was it his fault? Somehow he felt as though he had upset Reimi, despite what Elsa had said. She had only run out after opening his present after all.

"I think I'd be the better one to talk to her in this situation."

What did that mean?

He decided to send Reimi a text and waited until his phone lit up with confirmation of her reply. When he got it he sighed, half in relief, half in discontent. He quickly drafted another message.

"Do you want me to come meet you? I know we haven't known each other very long but I'm always here to help you, just like you've been there to help me. Don't make me a charity case,"

He'd tried to invest some humor in that last sentence but it seemed to come across more as desperate and pathetic instead.

Lloyd leant his head against his phone, gripping it with both hands and tried to think of something better to write.

…

And woke the next day still fully clothed and holding his phone in both hands.

'Must've fallen asleep…,'

Groggily, Lloyd tried to recall the events of the previous night.

Reimi.

He hastily got up and headed into the kitchen. The house was quiet, but Amy was at the counter, eating toast.

"Hey, Lloyd," She smiled as she noticed him.

"Do you know if Reimi came home last night?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Elsa didn't wake us up but they were both out by the time I got up,"

Lloyd slumped against the wall, defeated. He felt so… disappointed.

What now?

"So, Lloyd?" Amy asked cautiously. He acknowledged her with a glance. She had swiveled round in her chair and was now facing him full on.

"I'm meeting some friends in town today, but I thought… do you want to go get lunch first? My treat,"

"I thought I'd stay home today," Lloyd replied evasively, he wasn't really feeling up for anything at the moment.

"Please, I have to pay you back for that gift you got me!"

He shook his head. "I got them to pay you back for having me, it's nothing,"

"Noooooo!"

Amy continued to harass Lloyd with pleadings and 'it'll be fun's until he eventually caved in.

"Alright, alright, just… let me get changed…"

"Ooh! Good idea, I'll get changed too," Amy squeaked excitedly and was off before Lloyd had time to protest. Wasn't she already dressed for the day? He shook his head, a hint of a smile on his lips, then went to get himself cleaned up.

Twenty minutes later, and with what Lloyd thought was a lot of unnecessary faffing around in the bathroom by Amy, they left the house.

Taking a bus from the top of the main road to the next town over, Amy chattered excitedly and kept the conversation moving along. Lloyd could only summon the effort to nod or question now and again. He mostly took to staring out of the window.

He hadn't been to this part of the city before and a bit of curiosity overcame him. There was still so much he didn't know about this world and now that he had time, he felt much more open to exploring it. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

If only he could be bothered enough to care.

"Here we are!"

As they clambered down the steps and off the bus, Amy grabbed onto Lloyd's arm, drawing him round to an open doorway on their left.

He squinted; it was dark inside, and he couldn't see many other people.

"This place looks expensive," he muttered under his breath. For some reason, he felt unwilling to enter.

"Nah, not really. Anyway, it's my treat! I've been good with my student loan this term, so…," Amy broke off and led them inside, still holding on to Lloyd's arm, "Table for two, please!"

"Follow me," said the waitress, ready at the entrance.

She led them to a table near the back of the restaurant and Lloyd wriggled out of Amy's grasp then sat at the seat indicated. The waitress handed them two menus and departed.

He looked around feeling even more uncomfortable. There was no proper lighting, only soft rose bulbs and candles. Even the sunlight from outside barely penetrated the room.

"So!" He was brought back to the present by Amy. "What are you going to get?"

Time passed pleasantly enough. He found that with Amy, she calmed down if she got her own way and could actually be sort of nice to talk to. Maybe not about the things that were important to him, but day-to-day stuff was easy enough.

"So, what are your co-workers like?" Amy asked as they were tucking in to their starters. "Anyone nice?"

"Yeah, they're alright. I'm not really allowed to talk to them at work. I have to be 'devoted to the customers'," Lloyd sighed.

"I see. And is it an equal gender split?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, do you work with mainly girls or boys," Amy asked casually, poking her food around the plate with a fork.

"Er… I can't say, I really don't know," Lloyd frowned. He hadn't thought about it before. "I guess it's pretty even, but I only work there part-time. You could always visit and find out."

"I'd love to visit!" Amy exclaimed, making eye contact again. "I would've sooner but since it's nearly the summer holidays I have so many deadlines and classes…,"

Lloyd just smiled. "Well, when you're free you can visit, I'll give you a discount,"

"Haha, thanks!" she grinned, resting her hand on top of Lloyd's. He politely withdrew it after a moment to return to his meal. Amy paused then, "Excuse me for a sec, I need the ladies,"

She skipped off and Lloyd rolled his eyes, not unkindly.

After a minute or two of waiting, he got his phone out to check for messages and realized he didn't end up sending a text last night.

'Maybe I should send one now?'

After a minute or two of thought he ended with; "Hey Rem, where are you today? Are you home tonight?" and sent it just as Amy returned.

Slipping the phone back into his pocket they continued their meal until, after what felt like several hours later, they were ready to leave.

The afternoon sun had already begun its downward descent and Lloyd spied the bus stop just across the road. He realized Amy was staring at him and awkwardly started on a farewell.

"I'll be heading home now then, thank you for the meal, Amy,"

"Anytime, it's nice just having you and me talk,"

"Y-yeah," Lloyd nodded, feeling that with all the silence punctuating their conversation she was expecting something more from him then he knew what to give. "Well… goodbye,"

"Bye," then she leant forwards and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Lloyd burned up.

"A-ah," he held up his hands in defense, too surprised to say anything.

Amy tilted her head, little spots of pink on her cheek then laughed. "See you later, Lloyd!" and winked as she headed off down the opposite end of the street.

Lloyd watched in disbelief for a second, holding his cheek where Amy had kissed it then, when she was out of sight, left to catch the bus home.

'Girls are so weird…' he thought to himself.

That evening Lloyd finally got a reply to his text.

He had spent most of the day sat by the window again, just thinking stuff over. Things were getting complicated and he had no idea why. He didn't know what was going on with Reimi and he certainly didn't understand what was going on with Amy.

Just as his stomach let out a hungry growl, telling him it was time for dinner, his phone alerted him to the promise of a new text. He hurriedly opened it when he saw it was from Reimi.

"Out with a friend, back late,"

He stared at the screen, eyes narrowed. Reimi had never mentioned any other friends before, though he supposed she must have them. He thought about replying to the message but was tired of getting empty responses. She couldn't stay out forever, he reasoned, next time he saw her he was sure they could sort it out.

The weekend and subsequent week continued to drag and brought downpours of rain with it. Lloyd began to doubt he would ever see Reimi again since she was up early and out late almost every night with this 'friend', or at work.

He felt tired from it all, he felt lonely, and most of all he really missed Reimi.

Amy was also getting to be quite clingy and Lloyd had started making an effort to avoid her. Was this what had happened to him with Reimi? He panicked. For that matter, when had it become so important to him? It didn't make sense. Why did this feel like such a big deal?

He spent most of his free time sat on his bed, pretending to have early nights, whilst playing the games on his phone. He wasn't focused or interested enough to do much else.

Where was she tonight? He wondered.

Suddenly he heard the sound of keys in the front door. He bolted upright. Amy and Elsa were already home so…

He listened.

"Reimi!" Amy's voice called out.

Lloyd stood up.

He wanted to immediately rush out and question Reimi, but suppressed his urge to hear her conversation with Amy. Despite feeling a little rude for eavesdropping, he leant in close to the door to catch what they were saying.

"…barely seen you around, I'm really worried you're gonna overwork yourself,"

"No, I'm fine… Actually, I was about to go out again and see a friend for a bit,"

Who was this friend of Reimi's? Was it someone she had just met or had she known them for much longer? Lloyd returned his attention to the girls' chatter.

"Nononono I haven't spent any time with you in ages. We're all gonna sit down and do something!"

"Amy, ple-"

"Okay. That's it. We're playing a game,"

"W-what?"

"I don't care what it is but we're playing one, tonight… right now!"

"No, really I…"

Lloyd heard Reimi continue to protest, then the sound of footsteps, so he backed away from the door just as Amy quickly rapped her knuckles against it. Lloyd managed to pick his phone back up so it looked like he was doing something, then Amy opened the door without waiting for confirmation, and popped her head round the side.

"Reimi's back and we're going to play a game, meet you in the front room! I've gotta try waking Elsa up…"

Lloyd nodded and she left, keeping the door open a fraction of an inch behind her. He could see Reimi through it, sitting with her back to the door, crouched in front of the Gamecube with a lot of wires in her hands.

It was now or never.

"So, you're back…" He spoke, opening the door a little more but remaining in his room.

She spun round.

"Ah! Yeah. Hi, Lloyd,"

He searched his mind for something to say, which approach to take. He was feeling angry, relieved, hurt and excited all at the same time, and it was very confusing.

"Are you okay?" Reimi asked in a small voice.

"Am I okay… Am I okay…? …What about you?"

Reimi frowned. "I'm fine," He watched as she carefully changed her expression to a smile. "Are you going to play a game with us?"

"Reimi," Lloyd walked forwards, dismissing her comment. "What happened that night? Did I upset you?"

"No, of course not,"

Anger gave way to frustration. "Please, please tell me if I have. I want to know. I want things to be normal again, you've been so distant… I miss seeing you at the coffee shop,"

Reimi bit her lip. "I miss you too,"

"Then what's wrong?"

Reimi looked at her hands, in thought. "I guess I've been taking work too seriously recently, things have been super busy at the office and… I made a new friend,"

Lloyd scowled. "Well… Your other friends miss you too, you know,"

Reimi lit up a little. "Really? You guys missed me? It's only been a few days,"

"Yeah well, it felt like a lot longer," he sighed, closing his eyes and missing the expression of happiness on Reimi's face. "Just… promise you won't work too hard, okay?" he opened his eyes again.

"Alright…" she replied quietly, the smile still playing across her lips.

"Okay, good, cause otherwise I'm going to have to go in there and drag you away," he laughed, gentle relief washing over him.

"She's awake!" Amy cut in. Reimi immediately turned from Lloyd and continued setting up the wires for the game.

"What are we playing?" Elsa grumbled, still half-asleep.

"I thought we could try Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. It's the game I bought when we went to London that time," Reimi held up the cover for the others to get a look.

"There are 4 classes to choose from and 8 characters from each class, so we can all personalize who we want to be. Also we need to use Game Boy Advances as controllers I brought my old ones for us to use," she explained.

They spent awhile going over each of them and picking their names.

"Oooh, there really are so many characters to pick from!" Amy gasped excitedly. "I'll be this lady, she's sexy,"

"Magic users, for the win," Elsa deadpanned, though Lloyd could tell from the controller already gripped in her hands that she was excited too. Especially since she didn't play games very often.

"Who are you going to be, Reimi?" Amy asked, looking over at Reimi's Game Boy Advance screen.

"Ah… I like all-rounders. So I'm going to be a Clavat,"

Amy gasped. "We nearly have all the classes! Lloyd you HAVE to be a Lilty,"

"What, those little vegetable things?! Why?" He moaned.

"Becaaaause," Amy couldn't think up an additional excuse.

"Becaaaause what?" Lloyd laughed.

"Lilty's have the best attack stats. They're also quite speedy," Reimi added quietly.

"Oh… Really?"

"And they can lift heavy enemies,"

"Cool," Lloyd nodded cheerfully and with a smile from Reimi he was sold.

"Alright, now we can get started," Amy cheered.

They watched through the introductory sequence and beginning of the game quietly. Then, as it got to 'the wordy crap', as Elsa put it, she decided to make up her own story for the characters.

"We're on a mission to get coal for a general furniture mine, and they've run out of chairs so we need to go get some more,"

"Wait, what?" Amy spluttered, confused, still trying to concentrate on the screen. "A mine that produces furniture? And what are we doing? Collecting chairs or coal? You said both,"

"Yes," Elsa stated.

"…Yes, what?" queried Lloyd.

"Yes, yes," Elsa replied.

Reimi burst out with laughter. Then, "Whose that, Elsa?" she pointed at the mayor of their village, who was currently onscreen.

"That's Rupert Bingbong. He needs a back massage. Lloyd; volunteer,"

"W-what the-! Why me?!"

They continued into the game for about an hour and Lloyd was happy to see Reimi's demeanor had completely changed. She seemed happy again, it cheered him up too.

As they were shutting the system down after completing the first dungeon, Amy mentioned she was thirsty so Reimi went to go make them all some hot chocolate.

"Ahh, the famous brew of the Reimi clan…" Elsa laughed. Lloyd stared, he had never seen her like this before. 'She might be a bit drunk…' He finally realized.

Reimi smiled and headed to the kitchen. "So, what have you guys been up to the last few days?"

"Nothing much," Elsa replied, reclining on one of the sofas.

"Yeah… Same old, same old," Amy continued. "But, oh! Me and Lloyd had lunch together the other day,"

Elsa stopped smiling and turned to look at Reimi in the kitchen.

"O-oh nice. How was it?" she replied, her voice faint.

"Good, but the service was so slow. Never go to the Aqua Brasserie,"

Lloyd didn't know why but he hated the turn the conversation had taken. Why were things so tense now? And why did he feel like it was something he needed to hide?

After that, the housemates stayed up a little later chatting, but it felt like the night ended on an awkward note, though he did feel as if a weight had somewhat lifted from his chest.

And the next day Reimi ate her lunch at the coffee shop again.

REVIEW PLEASE! I will love you forever! And sorry if this chapter feels a little rushed, I really had trouble ending it but it'll continue properly next time!