Our Trio's Down To Two

Disclaimer: So, let's take a look at this... Final Fantasy VIII and its characters belong to Squaresoft, Juniko and Lloric belong to me, and Alia belongs to Alia. No DVDs were harmed during the production of this motion pi-- never mind. Anyway, no DVDs were harmed, though I can't say the same for the hot dogs and the contents of the coke bottles. *smirks*

Now, let's see... this is basically a small challenge I set myself to hook up Quistis and Zell without warping the characters too much. Don't get me wrong, originally I would have been one for the Seifer/Quistis romances, but they're kinda common, and besides, in our story, Alia's already hogging Seifer. So that leaves Zell, and hey, it should be interesting with Zell, since few people seem to do that. And there's also that little fact that along Once In A Blue Moon it appears that Quistis and Zell have already been getting quite a bit closer without the author's concious intervention. So let's see where this goes, ne?

Alerts: slight sap, and maybe slight OOC... though that's for you to decide.

Quistis Trepe strode down one of the hallways of Balamb Garden, hands in her pockets. As usual, her stride was purposeful, despite the fact that there really was no need for that right now. The hallway was deserted, as it tended to be on Saturday evenings at 6:00 pm when there was a big party down at one of the clubs in Balamb.

The Instructor stopped at one of the doors along the hallway. She briefly rapped on it, just in case someone was inside. No answer. Quistis craned her neck to look up at the top of the doorframe. It took her a moment to find what she was looking for: a small, flat, rectangular object stuck to the frame with a bit of sticky-tape. It had been hard to find, since it was exactly the same colour as the surface it stuck on.

Quistis stretched her arms up to remove the object which turned out to be a keycard. The one to this door, to be exact. Her friend Juniko had left it there for her, cleverly concealed in plain sight.

The medium-height blonde opened the door and stepped into the dark room. She flipped the lightswitch, revealing that the room was reasonably well kept. Mildly surprising, since Juniko wasn't really a tidy person. Quistis walked up to one of the two beds, and found a row of DVD cases, neatly arranged. She picked up the lot, which she was just barely able to carry. She doubted that all of them would be watched tonight, though it was always good to have the whole selection at hand.

As she walked out, Quistis hit the lightswitch with her elbow, successfully dousing the lights. The did the same for the small `lock' button outside the door. Luckily, to lock a door, there was no need to use a keycard.

Quistis made her way further down the hallway, and finally stopped at a second door. She kicked the door a couple of times, since she was unable to knock with her full arms.

A male voice answered in a melodramatic chant:

"Who is it that cometh to my house,
Is it Ultimecia, or maybe just
A poor abandoned little mouse?"

"Open the door, you poor excuse for a rooster!" Quistis called.

The door promptly opened, revealing a sloppily-clad Zell Dincht. He had ditched his usual attire for extremely faded, slightly worn out butt-sagging jeans and an over-large long-sleeved T-Shirt. However, his hair still remained spiked up, and his broad grin was in place.

"Why, Quistis, fancy meeting you here, laden with videos," Zell greeted her.

Quistis snorted and pushed past Zell into the room.

"Yeah, funny that. Especially since you invited me in here and all... quite unusual to meet me here, wouldn't you say?"

Zell closed the door and followed her with a grin. Quistis dumped the tapes on the couch, which Zell had just freed of all his clutter for that purpose. The Instructor stretched and plopped down on the couch next to the videos.

"It's just you and me tonight, Sunshine," she declared. "Judging by the way Juniko was cuddled up against Lloric when they were leaving, they won't have any fights for at least another week. I'd say she won't be joining us on any of the angsting-about-being-single sessions for a while."

Zell made a face as he sat down on the other side of the pile of videos, and started to sort through them.

"Well, at least she doesn't need those while she's out on a squeeze trip with Wolverine."

Quistis smiled briefly at Zell's reference to Lloric's ferocious use of the katals, his preferred weapon. Then she helped the newly-appointed instructor to shuffle through tonight's choice of videos.

"Ten Things I Hate About You?" she suggested.

"Oh yeah, I've still gotta learn that scene with the auditions for who should date Kat off by heart."

Quistis smirked.

"A simple `no' would have done just fine."

They kept shuffling through the DVDs.

"Die Hard With A Vengeance?" Zell suggested.

Quistis made a face.

"I don't really feel like something like that right now," she admitted. "Save The Last Dance?"

Zell snorted.

"If you really want to see something like that, we could just go down to spy on Juniko and Wolverine."

He held up another video case.

"Spaceballs?"

Quistis made a face. "Ghost?"

Zell sighed and put down Spaceballs.

"Fine. You obviously won't come off the chick flicks tonight."

Quistis grinned.

"You can pick the one after that."

Zell nodded and disappeared into the small `kicthen' in the corner. Quistis could hear the crackling of CC's bags and the clink of coke bottles contrasted by the odour of hot dogs as she put the disk into the DVD player and switched on the TV. Zell reappeared with his stash of eatables and turned off the lights as soon as the TV screen was on.

The two instructors sat down on the couch, each with a large pillow and an open coke bottle. As the movie progressed, the number of hot dogs and corn chips began to dwindle.

Two hours later...

The last of the credits rolled over the screen. Zell pushed himself up from his sitting position, and took Ghost out of the DVD player.

"So, what's next?" he asked, turning to Quistis.

Quistis hid a yawn behind her hand.

"You pick. I'll probably fall asleep during the next one anyway."

Zell shrugged and put Scream into the DVD player before sitting down on the couch again. It really was just like Quistis to be tired so early in the evening, at a time when Zell thrived the most. Unlike the older instructor, Zell was well and truly a night animal.

Another two hours later...

Zell leaned back against the sofa, preparing to get up to change DVDs again. Once he had returned Scream to its case, he cast a questioning look at Quistis.

The blonde had indeed fallen asleep. Zell scratched the back of his head, then walked up to her and gently poked her in the shoulder. Quistis mumbled something incoherent, bleary eyes opening at half-mast.

"You wanna stop the movie marathon for tonight?" Zell asked.

Quistis gave a small grunt which sounded like "No."

"You sure?"

"Wake me for the next one," she mumbled.

Zell shook his head and grabbed Quistis's feet, then manouvered her so she was more or less lying down on the couch. She immediately curled up on her side, stifling another yawn.

"Back in a minute," Zell told her after a moment's contemplation. He returned with his spare quilt and tucked the other instructor in on the couch, since she was too tired to protest.

"Sleep tight, Aurora," he said with a small grin.

Quistis snorted and pulled the quilt around herself more tightly.

"There's your choice for the next movie," she mumbled before going back to sleep.

Zell shook his head and sighed in resignation. However, some of his old obedience for Quistis must have remained, for the next DVD he took out of its case was indeed Disney's Sleeping Beauty. He placed it into the DVD player with a crooked smile. At least this one wasn't too long.

That done, he managed to find some space to sit on the couch between Quistis's knees and elbows. What he didn't realise as he was watching the storybook introduction of the old classic was that his right hand was resting on Quistis's upper arm, and that he was stroking her shoulder with his thumb.

A few minutes later...

Quistis's eyes fluttered open at a slight pressure on her shoulder. What was...? Her bleary eyes caught sight of Zell, slightly illuminated by the TV screen, and she realised that the weight on her shoulder was his right hand resting there. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, Quistis told herself. She closed her eyes again and dropped back to sleep.

A little over an hour later...

Zell pressed the `Stop' button on the remote control, only leaving on the TV screen. The screen promptly emitted that ridiculously blue light it did when the DVD player was turned on, but nothing was playing. Zell put down the remote, and turned to Quistis, who was still sleeping peacefully. The short blond noted with a small grin that in her sleep, Quistis looked a lot younger and more peaceful than when she was awake. Maybe people truly were younger when they slept. They certainly tended to look that way.

Zell sighed, finding himself reluctant to wake her again and to see that young and peaceful look leave her features. But it was already past 11:00 pm, and having any attractive young woman, even Instructor Quistis Trepe, in his dorm so close to midnight wasn't a particularly good idea.

Just about to reach for her shoulder and lightly shake it to wake her, Zell realised that his hand was already there. How long had it...? He shook his head, dismissing the question. Not important. He leaned forward slightly and shook her shoulder. Quistis mumbled something incoherent, but didn't quite wake. Zell leaned a little closer and lightly tapped her left cheek.

"Wake up, Quisty," he said quietly.

This time, he had been a little more successful. Water-blue eyes opened, and a slightly dishevelled blonde head rose from the arm of the couch.

"Whazzamadda?"

Zell tried to remember whether he had ever heard Quistis drop her prim Instructor façade so completely. If he had, he couldn't remember. He looked at his wristwatch.

"It's almost 11:30," he said in a low voice.

Quistis let out a small grunt of resignation and tried to rise. She failed, for two reasons: firstly, she was still too groggy from the sleeping state she had just been in, and secondly, Zell was still sitting on the couch and leaning over her, effectively blocking the way.

The latter reason caused Quistis to realise that they were at extremely close quarters. Not only that, but the fingers of Zell's hand were still lightly resting on her cheek. Apparently, he had forgotten to remove his hand after waking her.

However, when she risked a look in his face, she suddenly doubted that he had `forgotten'. His eyes were intensely studying her features, as if this were the first time he was really looking at her. The left side of his face was illuminated in the blue light of the TV screen. Somehow, the slightly flickering light caused his tattoo to look intriguingly like it was moving. Quistis half-expected it to ripple like water. What did that remind her of...? Shiva. Yes, that was it.

So engrossed had she been in studying the effects of the light on the tattooed half of his face that she hadn't realised that she was now just as guilty of staring as he was. Not only that, but she had also failed to realise that the tip of Zell's middle finger was tracing the line of her cheekbone, and moving on to her jawline.

Quistis raised her own hand to lightly grab hold of Zell's right wrist. Apparently, that action had woken him from whatever sort of trance he had been in, for he immediately started to snatch his hand back from her face as if it had been burnt. Oh no, bub, you aren't just going to be able to drop this now. Quistis's hold on his wrist stopped him from completing his action.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

"S'okay," she breathed.

There they were again, his fingertips tracing the contours of her face. Eyelid, nostril, cheekbone, lips, jawline... though his hands weren't particularly large, they were extremely strong, making the gentleness in them so unexpected. With a slight shift of his hand, Zell cupped the side of Quistis' neck in his palm, leaving only his thumb free. And still, he could once again trace the lines of her features with it, finishing at the earlobe.

How long had they been sitting like this? A few seconds? Minutes? Half an hour? A thousand years? Her right hand came up to mirror Zell's action. Her index finger traced the hard black lines of his tattoo. Was it just her imagination, or did the skin the actual tattoo was on feel different? A little softer, maybe?

Zell's hand shifted a little again, and came to rest at the back of her neck. Again, Quistis mirrored his action. A prickling warmth came from the hand on the back of her neck -- sans glove, Quistis realised. And that self-same hand was slowly but surely bringing her face closer to Zell's.

Quistis suddenly became aware of her heart frantically beating in her chest. Did she really want to...? But she couldn't have pulled away now, even if she had wanted to. Her breath was already warmly mingling with Zell's, and he suddenly seemed to have developed some strange and slightly frightening magnetic pull.

What does one do in a losing battle, when there is no getting out of it? One launches into it headfirst, recklessly. That was precisely what Quistis Trepe did. She closed the gap of the last inch between them, and kissed Zell Dincht.

She wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly hadn't been the softness of Zell's lips. How many times would he still surprise her? Here she had thought that she knew him inside out, when she was nowhere near that point. Even the strong, muscular arms which wrapped around her waist at the same time she wrapped hers around his neck seemed to come as a surprise. And she should have at least expected that, since she knew very well how strong Zell was, despite his short stature.

They broke apart, breathing a little more heavily than before. If they hadn't been so tangled up, they might have blushed and jumped apart like startled rabbits at that moment, but as it was, their lips locked once more. The late hour and the still switched-on TV were forgotten.

The light of the full moon spilled into the hallway of Balamb Garden's dormitories. The only thing disturbing the quiet were two fair-headed figures wandering from one door to another one, a few doors away on the opposite wall. The blonde woman was padding along the hallway in her socks, her shoes dangling from her middle and index fingers. She hadn't bothered to put them on again for the short walk.

The pair stopped at the door which had been their destination, and hesitated.

"So, what are we going to tell the others tomorrow?" Quistis asked in a whisper.

She could see Zell shrug in the darkness.

"I don't know. We can figure that out tomorrow, I guess."

He took a step forward, laced his fingers with those of Quistis's free hand, and gently touched his lips to hers.

"Sweet dreams, Instructor. Tomorrow is another day."

~owari~

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