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It was, unfortunately, a dark and stormy night. This was unfortunate because it implied a lot of things that didn't happen that night. These included high adventure and romance involving women who wear a lot of lace.
It included a room, however, with two peacefully sleeping people in it.
Zelgadiss was not the important occupant, for once in a Rachel fanfic. At the moment, he was in a state of deep slumber, regardless of the rain that poured down outside the inn to the occasional interruption of thunder. One of his feet was sticking out at a random angle, touching the floor, as was his opposite hand. He had fallen asleep reading the Slayers world's equivalent of "The Catcher in the Rye", and it was somewhere on the floor.
This isn't important either. It's merely an entertaining mental image.
You can picture him snoring, but I don't think that Zel's really the snoring type. So just picture him smiling occasionally and muttering terms of endearment in Japanese.
The other occupant of the room (chosen that day for its cheapness and the fact that it contained two beds, for doubling up and thus making it even cheaper) was not doing so well. Gourry Gabriev tossed. He turned. He put the pillow over his head. He took it off and threw off his blanket. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and lay still.
Abandoning this strategy, he ripped the blanket off the bed entirely and wrapped his head in it.
It was no use. He just wasn't sleeping, and he was damned if he knew why. Gourry unwrapped his head and sat up. He needed to talk to someone, and he needed it now.
He peered over in the dark to the bed by the window, noting suddenly the beauty of his face and hair as the lightening flashed...or he would have, had this been a yaoi fanfic, which it isn't. Instead he merely noticed that Zelgadiss, being the moody member of the group, had absolutely no right to peaceful repose while he, Gourry, was awake. He took deadly aim and threw a pillow full force at the Chimera's head.
"...ow..." said Zelgadiss, his reaction time slowed by the fact that he was still dreaming. "what're you doing that for, Ameria..."
He cuddled Gourry's pillow and went back to his increasingly interesting dream.
Gourry considered again, and decided that if he couldn't wake Zel up, he would at least get the damn pillow back. Rolling out of bed, he went over to its most recent location and yanked.
"Awp!" said the ever-articulate Zelgadiss, waking up with some force as the brief tug of war ended with his pitching onto the ground. To make up for his unclarity upon awakening, he sputtered for a moment and then said a couple of his favorite swear words.
"We need to talk," said Gourry.
Zel was already climbing back up the bed. "In the morning. Go away."
"I'll get you some coffee if you're too sleepy to talk," Gourry offered.
"Go away."
"I'll get out my sword," Gourry threatened.
"It's not the Hikari no ken. Who's scared? Go away."
"I'll give you some money," Gourry cajoled.
"I already have plenty. Go away."
"I'll tell Ameria about your dream," Gourry blackmailed.
There was one of Rachel's famous dramatic pauses.
"Okay," Zelgadiss allowed, "but you get me the coffee."
When Gourry got back from the inn's kitchen, Zelgadiss was back in la-la-land, so Gourry shook him until he acknowledged his existence. Covers still over head, he said, "Coffee? Where's the coffee?"
"Coffee's ready."
Zelgadiss stuck an arm out. Gourry inserted the coffee mug. The mug went under the covers. Glugging sounds were heard. The empty mug came out. "Next cup."
"Um...that's all I made." It was, for once, Gourry's turn to sweatdrop.
The arm drooped a little. The mug made its way to the nightstand. The arm withdrew. "Zel, this is important."
"All right, then, I guess a bargain is a bargain." Zel crawled out of bed and took a seat on the floor. "What's going on?"
"I'm worried," said Gourry.
"What about?" asked Zelgadiss, in tones best described as "grumpily curious".
"Lina."
Zel thought back a couple days. "She doesn't seem to be acting odd."
"No, I actually mean...well. Um."
Gourry was probably his most articulate male friend, Zelgadiss reflected, but that was because Xelloss didn't really count as a friend, and that meant only Gourry was left. "Go on."
"Lina seems like she doesn't care about me, even after we've told each other that we wanted to stay together. Everyone else just treats me like an idiot."
"Don't be stupid. I'd never treat you like an idiot."
"You just did. See what I mean? And you're one of the best ones about it!" Gourry got up and paced over to the window. "I know that I can't do magic, and that sometimes I don't figure out stuff that you guys can, or remember names very well, but that doesn't mean I'm not human. No offense to the nonhumans in the room, of course," he added.
"Well, maybe we are a little harsh on you," Zelgadiss admitted. "And we don't know much about you, either. You never told us much of anything."
"It's not very interesting."
"So you say. What about Lina? It seems like she's treating you more or less as normal, anyway."
"That's it. Normal - after two years together? It seems wrong. And I keep thinking."
"You were thinking, Gourry?" Zelgadiss decided, with the newfound tact he had finally discovered towards the beginning of this TRY season, not to say. He let him go on.
"That...maybe she might like you more than me," said Gourry at last.
For the second time in the three-season sweep of Slayers, Zelgadiss laughed. "Oh, please."
"But you two seem to understand each other so well - "
"That's - " (must pick word other than stupid. Must pick word other than idiotic) "not true, Gourry. Lina and I are friends. There...was a time," (Zel's turn to blush, now) "when I kind of had a crush on her, but I had to admit it a long time ago that it was really you that she cared about. You weren't there, but when you were captured that time, Lina ran after you until she coughed up blood."
"Really?"
"Would I try to deceive you?"
"Well, you did that time when you tried to buy the - "
"Shut up, Gourry."
"Okay."
"But do you get what I mean? We might treat you the wrong way sometimes, but you do matter. Especially to Lina. And Lina and I together...is kind of like me...help me."
"Having a death wish?"
"Doesn't really work."
"Acting on a death wish? Falling for Valgaav? Turning into a chair?"
"Now that's it. I hope you feel better, because I'm going back to bed." Zelgadiss closed the curtains, pulled Gourry away from the now-dark window, and pushed him in the general direction of the other bed. He lay back down himself. "Good night."
When Gourry was certain that Zel was asleep, he whispered, "Thanks a lot, Zel. I do feel better. I think you're nicer than you like to admit."
Unfortunately, Gourry was a poor judge of wakefulness. He was half scared out of his mind when he heard the voice from the darkness.
"No, I'm a heartless magic-using swordsman. And I'm awake. Leave me alone."