Near: Why do you like Tales of Symphonia better than us? :[

Matt: SHUT UP, ToS IS AWESOME.

Holly: Why do you raid my game closet?

Matt: Because I'm broke. :[

L: Mafia not working out too well for you guys?

Matt&Mello: SHUT UP.

Holly: So, yeah...My second Sheelos oneshot! Expect more adorableness to follow. :]

--Sheena's POV--

Beautiful. That's the best way to describe this..."dining hall," that's what he called it. Tables and tables of delicious looking food, a gorgeous space, and most definitely beautiful people. Gowns that looked like they cost more Gald than I've ever had, or ever will have, and debonair tuxedos abounded. Admittedly my dress was custom made, too, and it was probably quite expensive. But I still couldn't help but feel the slightest bit out of place.

Okay, I was sweating. Quite a bit.

Real attractive, Sheena.

The royalty- or whatever they were, I didn't recognize anyone, personally, but what do I know?- were schmoozing over their absurdly fancy dinners. I picked at my food, wanting more than anything to have some simple curry or ramen or something that didn't taste like rich people. (Ew. Bad mental image. Now I might just have to skip out on dinner...)

There was music. Strings, wings, percussion. The whole lot. And people were beginning to stand up and dance.

I was very close to vomiting.

I was totally unsurprised to see that Colette was soon out of her seat, dragging poor, innocent Lloyd onto the dance floor. Clearly neither of them could do anything vaguely resembling dancing. They eventually settled for sort of swaying and giggling at random intervals.

What did I do to deserve this?

The rest of my little group seemed a little less...eager to get out and dance. I mean, Regal had a perfectly good excuse, seeing as he can't use his hands. Genis and Presea were too small to dance with anyone but each other, and yep, I could see Genis trying to convince Presea to dance with him out of the corner of my eye. That had the same approximate chance of happening as, say...Mithos turning into a bubblegum fairy and doing a tap dance on Martel's head. Raine, surprisingly, seemed to be having a good time talking about the history of life, the universe, and everything. Or whatever. Maybe there were some archaeologists in the crowd, I don't know.

That just left me.

Well...That wasn't true, exactly.

Where the hell was Zelos?

Having successfully gotten the image of food-made-out-of-rich-people out of my head, I wolfed down the damn food, because...well, because I'm not paying for it and because it was really, really good. Yeah, yeah, going against principles, whatever, go away, I don't actually care that much.

That, of course, was when Zelos appeared.

He might as well have had a spotlight on him. I didn't know whether to laugh or blush- he looked like a prince in his little outfit, more than anything else. His hair was braided- no, seriously- and his sword still hung from his hip, though it looked more decorative than anything with that ensemble. He commanded all attention as he walked out from wherever-the-hell-he'd-been-all-night, men paying their respects, women swooning (ugh). He walked down the row between two tables, ignoring all the heads that were turning to stare at him, looking all pompous and regal. Eventually he sat, directly across from me, and all pretense disappeared in an instant. He grinned.

"What's everyone looking at me for? Let's freaking eat!"

I rolled my eyes as he started to dig into his plate without saying another word. I took a mental step back to look at myself. Sweaty...nervous...probably with some spinach or something in my teeth...Fabulous. Then again, it's Zelos. He might just be staring at my boobs all night.

This was going to be way fun.

We ate. That was uneventful, as you might imagine, though I did manage to not get anything on my dress (or stuck in my teeth, as far as I could tell). Even though I had a head start, Zelos, who seemed intent on cramming the entire universe into his mouth, finished first, wiping sauce from his lips and grinning like a moron.

Why do I even care what he thinks of me, anyway?

Because you like him.

Shut up, brain.

Shutting.

I finished soon enough, which led to several moments of awkward silence. To my surprise, he seemed just as awkward as I did, as he stared at his plate, blushed occasionally, and laughed nervously at other people's comments. Eventually, he stood, and, as dramatically as he had entered, departed. Or so I thought.

"...May I have this dance?"

I practically fell out of my chair.

Apparently Zelos hadn't left at all- he'd snuck around the table and come back to me from the side. His cocky grin had returned, though I could see a hint of a blush to it as he held his hand out to me.

Like a gentleman.

Who would've thought?

"Um...sure, okay. Yeah."

I was blushing like a madwoman. Of course I was. I suck.

I took his hand. His grin lost some of its swagger, and in return gained some real confidence. He led me to the dance floor- unlike Lloyd, I was perfectly willing- and put one hand on my hip, the other hand, still holding mine, pointing outward.

We started to dance.

Let me get this straight, first of all- I don't dance. I. Don't. Dance. Ever. Not that I have anything against it, really, I just...don't know how, and am easily embarrassed, and you can imagine how well those two things go together. But somehow, it was much...easier than I expected. I didn't need to stress myself out, I only needed to follow Zelos' lead. Clearly he was an expert by now. He didn't step on my toes once, even. I can't say the same for me, but hey, everyone starts somewhere.

"My face is here, Zelos."

"Eheh...sorry."

We were mostly quiet at first, moving in small circles, trying to look at things other than each other. Colette had somehow fallen mid-dance-step and taken Lloyd down with her. Raine had apparently dragged an unwilling Regal into her conversation. Genis had apparently given up on getting Presea to dance and was concentrating on his food instead.

Eventually, though, there was nowhere else to look.

I looked into his blue eyes, as, conveniently, he was looking at me (or perhaps he'd been looking at me all along?). His expression- strangely nervous, of all things, presumably because he knew I wasn't looking at him- cleared immediately, and he was all grin.

"That dress looks fantastic on you."

"Thanks? Um...Your...outfit looks good, too."

He laughed, and I couldn't help but grin.

"Can't you think of a better descriptor than outfit?"

"Nope. Sorry, Chosen boy."

We continued to dance. This time, our eyes never left each other's.

"You're blushing."

"What?"

Of course, him noticing only made me blush more.

"You're bright pink! You match your dress."

I looked down, immediately, breaking the eye contact. He stopped the dancing for a moment, taking his hand off my hip to touch my chin and push it up, gently, to look at him. His expression was gentle, his eyes soft.

"They call this color 'dusty rose,' actually. I thought it would look good on you...so I told them to put it in your dress. It looks even better on your face, though."

I kicked him in the shin- not hard. He just laughed.

He laughed, and then he kissed me.

"Oooh, now you're more crimson rose than dusty, I'd say..."

I kicked him again.

And I kissed him back.

Note: No, I don't remember whether Sheena's formal wear is actually 'dusky rose' or not. Don't be so picky! xD

Matt: HOLLLLLLLY! I CAN'T BEAT ABYSSION!

Holly: R&R or I'll delete Matt's ToS save file.

Matt: BUT I GOT ALL OF THE TITLES!

Holly: Tough.

Matt: T______T