Warning: This story will eventually contain yaoi. If you don't like it, then I suggest you get the hell out now. Also, this fic probably isn't for die hard Seifer fans. Rated R for language, violence and eventually yaoi.
Irvine: Ha! I knew you couldn't resist writing a fic about Zell and me.
Tanta: All right, all right. Rub it in why don't you? At least it's not a PWP.
Irvine: Isn't it? Damn. Those are fun.
Tanta: Also, to those few of you that are reading my other stories; Yes, I know I should be working hard to finish When I Grow Up and A Forest Owls Love Story, but this is just way more fun.
Irvine: If you don't know what she's talking about then you should check those fics out, like, right now!
Tanta: Oh my god. My muse is actually doing something he's supposed to. Anyway, this was meant to be the disclaimer, wasn't it? Well then, I don't own Irvine or Zell or Seifer or anyone else in this fanfiction. They're Squaresoft's, and I'm not getting any money of them, so don't bother suing me.
N.B. Italics indicate a flashback.
A Broken Black Line
He said that you were going to disappear…
I'm not. I'm not going to leave you…
You know, once when I was fifteen, I left Garden to look for you. My friends found me lying unconscious near the ocean two weeks later. Now I begin to wonder, was it worth it? You're all grown up. You don't need me anymore, do you? Still, sometimes I catch myself staring at you, especially when you smile, and I realise that even if you don't need me anymore, I still need you, and I find myself pleading.
Don't leave me again…
Chapter One: Revelation
A bruise was already starting to form on his face from where the camera had slammed against his cheek. He checked the piece of equipment in his hands once more, still not sure that the video camera could have survived a full blown punch from Zell Dincht without any damage.
Irvine sighed as Selphie came bounding towards him, a bubbly bundle of energy as always; Irvine's hat tilted comically on her head. She had stolen it minutes earlier, and was revelling in having one of Irvine's most treasured possessions in her possession. She stood in front of the sharpshooter for a couple of seconds, her hands on her hips, as she surveyed the forlorn expression on Irvine's face.
"Here," she said, grabbing the cowboy hat from off her head and plonking it back on Irvine's auburn hair. "You can have it back if it means that much to you."
Irvine continued to inspect the camera, only to find that the only thing wrong with it was a flat battery which he had already known about.
Selphie continued to watch him for a couple of seconds, quickly realising that Irvine didn't seem to be worried in the slightest by the brief theft of his ten gallon.
"Don't worry," Selphie giggled, hoping that she had actually come to the right conclusion this time. "We can get Squall on the tape some other time."
Irvine couldn't help but chuckle. Selphie could actually come up with some pretty brilliant ideas every so often, but most of the time, like right at that moment, the brunette could be absolutely clueless. He wouldn't have been surprised to discover that she was actually a natural blonde.
It was rather difficult to sum up Irvine and Selphie's relationship. Most of their friends assumed that the two of them were dating because of the amount of time that they spent in each other's company, and there had been a time when Irvine had hoped that they might get together, but time had passed and Irvine had grown to know and like Selphie more than he had ever liked a girl before. He didn't love her; not in the sense that he would love a girlfriend at least, but he did care for her so much that he didn't want to risk their friendship by adding sex into the formula.
Maybe his reluctance to deepen their relationship had something to do with the fact that they had grown up together. Selphie had seemed to take the news the best out of any of the orphanage gang. Zell however…
The snow was falling gently now, covering his face with a soft white powder that disappeared almost as soon as it touched the warmth of his skin. He had finally summoned the courage to remind everyone of what he had known all along.
They didn't seem to mind at first. Zell had put on a brave face and declared that it didn't matter. Everything was still the same, but now, almost an hour after Irvine had told them all, Zell was a nervous wreck.
He turned to watch the martial artist, who was sitting down, hunched miserably in the snow with his face in his hands. There was something about the sight of Zell, usually so bright and full of energy, sitting solemnly on the floor like that which compelled Irvine to stay.
He sat down on the cold wet concrete floor of the basketball court beside Zell and placed a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder. Zell pulled away from the touch quickly, causing Irvine to feel something akin to a stab in the heart.
"Zelly?" Irvine called softly.
Zell looked up at the sharpshooter with a pained smirk on his face.
"Zelly?" the blonde laughed doubtfully.
"It's what I used to call you when we were little, remember?" The blonde stayed silent and Irvine was forced to keep in mind that up until a couple of minutes ago Zell had not even remembered his own childhood.
"Zell, I'm sorry."
"Damn it Irvine!" Zell screamed, jumping to his feet. "This changes my whole life! I know I was acting like I didn't give a damn before, but I do! This turns my whole world upside down and you knew it would, didn't you?!"
Zell dropped back down on the floor again, resting his forehead on his hand and unintentionally ruffling his spiked up bangs in the process.
"You know," Zell began speaking again, much more subdued this time. "The entire time I've been at Garden all I wanted to do was be like my Grandpa. I was so proud to be related to someone like that, but now I know that he's not even my real Grandpa! Eden's arse Irvine! My ma isn't even my real ma!"
Irvine understood how Zell felt, but the quick pains of Zell rejecting his initial offers of comfort made him want to ignore how Zell felt altogether. If it had been anyone else he would have stayed silent and concentrated on making Zell feel better, but the memories of all that had been lost between the two of them had opened as fresh as they had when they had met at Galbadia Garden. Ever since that day he had felt just as cheated as Zell did now, and he lashed out at the blonde.
"How do you think I feel then?" Irvine yelled. "At least you have someone that wants to be your family, even if you aren't blood related. I lost my only family when I was six! I thought that maybe I had them back now. I hoped that maybe they would want what we had before, but they obviously don't!"
Zell looked up at the sharpshooter. Irvine caught a glimpse of confusion on Zell's face before he turned and fled from the scene, hoping that Zell couldn't see the tears that were streaming down his face….
Irvine subconsciously reached a hand up to his face, feeling the tender flesh that Zell had injured earlier in the night. The sharpshooter had hoped that maybe; just maybe, he and Zell had worked everything out, but obviously they weren't yet good enough friends that Zell could ignore something like the revelation that Irvine had bestowed upon him a couple of hours earlier.
Selphie caught the action and a smile lit up her face as she finally realised the true reason behind Irvine's melancholy mood.
"You're not still upset about him, are you?" Selphie asked, lifting Irvine's hat slightly off his head and staring him straight in the face.
"He punched me," Irvine muttered.
"He punched the camera," Selphie corrected him.
"And the camera connected with my face," Irvine concluded. "So he might as well have punched me directly, don't you think?"
"It wasn't your fault," Selphie muttered. "Hasn't he ever heard the saying 'don't shoot the messenger?' I think you should go talk to him."
She motioned towards the door to the ballroom, where Zell was leaning against the door frame, trying to look inconspicuous.
Irvine tried to summon a smile for the girl, then turned around and walked towards the blonde, hoping that Zell had calmed down a bit.
"And Irvine!" Selphie yelled to him, causing him to turn around in his tracks. "I'm starting to remember a few things about our childhood." Irvine raised an eyebrow at the brunette in question. "I remember what the two of you were like as kids, even if he doesn't."
Irvine's smile this time was genuine.
"Thanks Sephie," he told the girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zell scowled as he realised that Irvine was walking towards him. This was going to be incredibly awkward, he concluded, taking note of the bruise slowly blooming on the side of Irvine's face.
He knew that he shouldn't be taking out his anger on Irvine. That would be just stupid. The truth was that he just couldn't control his emotions sometimes, and it had been Irvine that had told him the bad news.
Why was it always Irvine that had to give him the really bad messages, he wondered. First it had been the news that he was adopted, and that had been bad enough by itself, but the latest piece of information was even worse.
Seifer Almasy was returning to Balamb Garden.
Apparently Squall had guessed that Zell would go psycho if he told him the news, and had dumped the job on Irvine, hoping that the sharpshooter would find a way to tell his friend that would cause the minimum amount of damage from Zell's fists that was possible under the circumstances.
Zell tried to look casual as Irvine approached him, mentally wincing as he saw how bright the bruise on Irvine's face was already.
"Hey Zell," Irvine called, tipping his hat slightly in greeting.
"'Sup Irvine?" Zell returned.
"I'm sorry that I had to tell you what I did before," Irvine sighed.
"Hey man, it's not your fault," Zell tried to sound as though it wasn't as big a deal as it felt like to him. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. Squall and Headmaster Cid are right. I need to learn how to control my temper a little, that's all. Can you forgive me?"
"You were forgiven before you hit me Zell," Irvine said, a cocky grin appearing on his face as though nothing had happened. "You two must really hate each other though. You've been in a jumpy mood ever since I told you."
"Yeah," Zell said simply, not wanting to reveal too much to Irvine. It wasn't just Seifer's constant harassment and name-calling that made Zell never want to see the Sorceress' Knight again as long as he lived. In fact, there had been a time when Seifer's chicken-wuss taunts might have actually seemed kind of cute to the martial artist, but not any more. Too much had happened between the two of them for things to ever go back to normal, and too much had happened that would remain only as dirty secrets inside both of their minds. He knew that there was one revelation that Irvine would probably never hear from him, and it involved Seifer.