Selphie coughed again, trying to muffle the volume by burying her face in her pillow. She stopped coughing long enough to see Zell standing beside her bed with soup and some medicine. Smiling slightly, she sniffled, looking up at him. "Why do you take care of me like this?" she asked.
"Because I love you, Sel," he replied, smiling back. He leaned in to kiss her forehead gently, stroking her hair. "I'll give you some medicine once you've finished the soup, hopefully it'll help your cough."
She nodded, slowly drinking her soup, so she didn't cough and spit it all over Zell. He sat down on the bed next to her, reaching up to stroke her hair gently. "You need to hurry up and feel better, it's no fun being the only bouncy one around here!"
Finished with her soup, she leaned in to kiss him on the nose, then giggled as he wrinkled it in response. "I'm fine, Zell. You know me, I never let anything keep me down too long! Don't try to give me that medicine either, it tastes disgusting."
"It may taste disgusting, but you're getting it if I have to force feed you," he laughed as she gave in and took the medicine from him, making a face after doing so. "That's an awful funny-looking face you're making, Sel. It almost makes you look unattractive."
"Whoever said I was attractive in the first place?"
Zell sighed quietly, "Selphie... you know how beautiful I think you really are. I mean, just look at you. You're damn near perfect!"
At that, she laughed, which made her begin to cough again. Finally, she managed to stop coughing long enough to reply, "I'm nowhere near perfect."
He smiled, touching a finger to her nose softly. "Maybe to me you are. That's all that matters to me, nobody could ever change my mind about you."
"I love you," she said, pulling him down until he was lying next to her and squeezing him tightly. "Nobody else would ever think this of me, except maybe Irvine, but he likes every girl he meets." She yawned, closing her eyes, thinking. "Zell... how long have you loved me?"
He shrugged, "Oh, I dunno. I mean, we've been together almost a year, right? And I liked you before then..."
He couldn't finish because she interrupted him. "So, a long time, right?" He nodded. "Well, now that I think about it, I really only remember being close to you back at the Orphanage. I mean, we were troublemakers, both of us. Always making Matron worry." She giggled, shaking her head. Zell grinned, reaching over to poke her side, which caused her to squeal and burst into a fit of giggles.
"Hm... seems like someone is feeling better," he smirked, still tickling her. "Maybe I can tickle all the germs out, ya think?" She squirmed, trying to curl up into a ball, that way he couldn't tickle her, but he had her pinned to the bed. She tried to get loose, but he knew just the amount of strength to use, so she couldn't budge. Still, she was detirmined to get out of his grasp. "Zell!" she squealed, bursting into another set of gigglefits. He smirked bigger, tickling her just a little more before letting her go.
She took a few seconds to catch her breath from all the giggling, then snuggled close to him. "You know that wears me out," she whispered, then yawned. He nodded, turning to wrap his arms around her waist tightly and kiss her forehead lightly. "You need the rest, so I figured I'd help you out."