Post second game piece of fluff. Featuring Genis and Lloyd with sting hints of Gesea and Colloyd.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I believe that it belongs to Namco.

Dedication: for Story Weaver. Sorry this is so crazily late. I hope that you enjoy it though and that it fits the prompt OK. Thanks for the reviews. :)

Although he didn't like to admit it Genis found himself thinking that it was true there were some things which you couldn't learn from books. There were books about love and romance available but none of them seemed to apply in his situation. They were too perfect, too artificial, or too soppy. Somehow singing Presea a song or reciting a poem for her didn't seem right.

The trouble was was that he didn't know what did feel right. To an outsider the obvious thing to do would be to ask Zelos for advice but Genis knew that that would be a very, very bad idea. Zelos being Zelos he'd find some awful way to embarrass him and be no help what-so-ever.

As odd as it felt he decided that, for once, he'd have to ask for Lloyd's help. While his friend wasn't academically smart at least he was successful in the area Genis needed advice in, even if it seemed like it'd taken forever for him and Colette to finally admit the way they felt to each other.

As he looked around the campsite he pondered over when would be the best time to ask. Soon seemed like a good idea, the group would be spending a few more days together before splitting up to work on their separate tasks again so he wasn't sure how long it'd be before he saw Presea again.

He looked over to where she was now, sitting with Marta, Colette and Sheena. The latter two were trying to teach the others how to play a game using a loop of string to make different shapes and patterns. From the amount of good natured laughing coming from their direction it seemed that the pupils weren't learning very quickly. The laughter was, however, a nice sound, one which gave the campsite a pleasant atmosphere.

Emil and Regal were contributing to the pleasant atmosphere too by cooking a delicious smelling supper. It was nice, Genis thought, to have another good cook in the group and the situation had the added bonus of giving Raine less chances to cook.

His sister was sitting with Zelos having a surprisingly peaceful conversation which didn't involve Zelos being annoying for once apparently. He realised that that meant that Lloyd was probably on his own and looked over to the other side of the campfire to see that, indeed, the swordsman was absorbed by drawing in a sketchbook. Deciding that now would be a good opportunity to talk to him without being interrupted by any of the others Genis hopped up and walked over to his friend.

"Mind some company?" he asked then blinked in surprise as Lloyd quickly slammed the sketchbook shut. From what Genis had seen it had been sketches of jewellery that Lloyd had been working on, not something that was completely unusual for him to do.

Deciding that the lack of a negative response meant that it was fine to sit down Genis did so beside the swordsman.

"Thinking of making something for Colette?" he asked, nodding at the sketchbook.

"Maybe," Lloyd replied, blushing slightly and hugging the sketchbook close to his chest.

Lloyd was definitely being a bit weird Genis thought. But then sometimes Lloyd was weird just because he was, well, Lloyd. He decided that this line of conversation might be a good way of getting the information he wanted out of his friend without having to obviously ask, a route that was definitely more preferable than asking directly and being teased for hours, or possibly days, about his crush.

"So, how'd you two finally end up admitting to each other what was blatantly obvious to the rest of us?" he asked. Lloyd gave him a blank look in return.

"That you love each other," Genis elaborated then laughed as Lloyd blushed slightly. Lloyd glared at his friend for laughing then thought for a moment.

"It was when we were in Flanoir, after that guy decided to punch me first and ask questions later. She came over to cheer me up and I just, well, it felt right to tell her then. I kinda just blurted it out actually, I hadn't even thought about telling her then but, well, the words just tripped out of my mouth," Lloyd said, closing his eyes and scratching the back of his neck in a slightly embarrassed gesture.

"You mean after all that time you didn't even do anything special, didn't take her out some place romantic or anything?" Genis started laughing.

"Hey, it was special to us. And Flanoir's romantic," Lloyd glared at him.

"I feel sorry for Colette. You know you're going to have to do much better than that when you propose to her or she might say no," Genis laughed, realising that that might have something to do with why Lloyd was being so secretive with his sketchbook. His laughter soon stopped, however, when he saw the look on Lloyd's face. It was a look he recognised well from their childhood. The 'you'd better start running because when I catch you I'm going to give you a noogie you are never going to forget' look.

Genis leapt up and started running towards the nearest tree, hoping that climbing it might buy him some time before Lloyd caught him. As he grabbed onto the branches he cast a worried look down as he noticed that Lloyd was apparently still as quick at climbing trees as he had been when he was younger and realised that perhaps climbing the tree hadn't been the best idea.

He decided that a better idea perhaps, if he didn't end up with too many bruises, might be to ask Presea if she'd like to go for a walk with him after dinner. After all, maybe it might just feel 'right', as Lloyd had put it, to discuss things with her and if not then it would still be a pleasant way to spend an evening with a friend. Although from the look on Lloyd's face and the speed at which his friend was gaining on him he probably shouldn't keep his hopes up about the bruises.