Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVIII…wish I did, but then again, don't we all in the end? That's what I thought…so ya, don't own 'em, never have and sadly never will.
Note: I have only ever written fan-fiction once before….and this is my first yaoi…WARNING! yaoi!! Not in this chapter, but eventually there will be smut for all you on-lookers! O.o Enjoy!
Chapter 1
03:30 Hours.
'That's it, I can't sleep!' So I crawled out of bed, pulled on some black track shorts over my boxers, socks and shoes. I storm into the living room of my SeeD living quarters where I have my punching bag set up so I can get my frustration out by beating the shit out of it.
Punch. Punch. Jab. Kick. Punch. Spin, kick. Punch. Punch. Jab. Jab.
(It's a bit painful without my trusty gloves to protect my fists, but that's not my fault…)
Punch. Punch. Roundhouse. Jab. Jab. Kick. Kick. Punch. Roundhouse.
'Fucking Irvine…I'll kill him…'
Punch. Jab. Punch. Jab. Kick. Spin, kick. Punch. Punch. Spin, kick.
'Stupid Seifer…what the hell is his problem?! I've had enough of his shit lately! Next time I see him he'll get it worse…'
The previous evening…
"Squall!" Zell yelled at the commander storming into his office.
A surprised Squall just gave his friend one of his famous glares, "what is it now Zell, you can't just go bursting into my office."
"Oh, like hell I can! I've asked you three times to fix the bloody shower in my quarters! The water doesn't come out evenly and it's always cold and it shoots out fucking dirt!"
"There's no need to get all hostile Zell, I've been doing my best to get to it. You'll have to just keep using the cadet shower room until then."
"I've been using the freakin' cadet shower room for a week! I'm getting sick and tired of it! You know just as well that that thing is way too cramped! I'm a bloody SeeD for Hyne's sake! I shouldn't have to use the cadet shower room!"
"Fine, fine. I'll see what I can do…"
"You'd better…" Zell growled and stormed out of the office.
As he headed down the corridor back to the elevator shaft, he wasn't paying any lick of attention to his surroundings, just fuming and trying not to rage and storm all that noticeable, when he tripped over something and fell very ungracefully onto his front. He got up growling and turning on his heel to find out what had caused him to fall, tho he didn't have to look far.
"Well hello there Chicken-Wuss! Long time no see!" Seifer smirked at him.
"I don't have time for your shit Seifer!" Zell ground out and turned in the direction of the elevator once again.
"Ooo, someone's testy, what'd Squall do this time? Steal your hair gel?" Seifer mockingly laughed at the aggravated Zell.
"That's it!" Zell turn on his heel and punched Seifer in the closest body part available from his current position, which was on the side of his left bicep (not using all of his strength of course, because Seifer's arm would have snapped cleanly in two, no just hard enough to leave a mark for a couple of weeks) sending him to the ground and turned around to go back to his dorm room for the night.
Seifer just sat there stunned…Zell had never out-right attacked him before, well unless they were training together. He knew the little fighter was strong, stronger than that, 'hell he could have broken every bone in my body like twigs if he was pissed enough. Looks like he just meant to bruise my muscle…and oh, shit did that hurt! Little Chickie must be really upset about something…'
Seifer proceeded into Squall's office to gripe about a certain shower problem the commander has yet to fix, only to be informed that Zell's been having a rough couple of days recently for some reason and he'll just lash out for no reason and to just leave him alone for his own good for a while. 'Don't have to tell me twice…shit…' Seifer mumbled on his way out.
Present…05:30 Hours.
Punch. Punch. Kick. Jab. Spin, kick. Roundhouse. Punch. Punch. Jab.
Zell finished off with a back kick and leaned against the wall breathing heavily and covered in sweat. 'Great, now I need a shower and mine's still broken!' I stood up straight again and wandered to my room for some clean boxers, and to the bathroom to get my travel-sized shampoo and body wash and a towel. I grimaced 'Just my luck, my last towel and it's the smallest one I got…' I shoved everything into my pockets except for the towel, which I carried in my hand, and headed down the many corridors to the cadets' shower room. I didn't worry about my appearance because it was so early in the day and I planned on being back later before the students even began to emerge.
By the time I got there it was a quarter till 06:00 hours. I stepped inside and was hit with a wall of steam…'what the…?' I shrugged it off and stumbled to the extra benches against one side of the locker-ed room. I took the stuff out of my pockets and sat down to take my shoes and socks off and shoved them under the bench. I then stood up and took off my shorts and boxers, wrapping the towel around my waist I headed into the shower room. 'Uch' I hated this room. There were a total of 10 tiled stalls that were all about 4 feet tall with a shower head another foot and a half up and knobs in each. I walked over to the 3rd one on the left cuz I don't like being on the outside if I can help it, when I noticed another person in the last one on the right. He was facing the wall slumped over with his forehead pressed to it and letting the hot water hit the tops of his shoulders…I had no idea who he was and he looked like he was trying to wake up…well it is 6 in the morning. I hung my towel on the outside of the stupid short door and stepped inside and turned on the water, cold at first for a while cuz I was burning up (for more than one reason…I realized) and then gradually to slightly-warm.
I just stood there for a few, letting the cold water hit my face to cool me off, one cuz I was burning up from working out, two because I was pissed off, had been for a couple of days, and three because Ifrit was just as pissed as I was, therefore making me feel hotter. I raised my hands to my face to rub some cool water into it, and when the water hit the backs of my hands I pulled away and hissed. 'Shit! Well that's what I get for working out for 2 hours without my gloves…fucking Irvine.' My hands were all bloody and scratched with a few deep cuts from my mid knuckles to the base of all my fingers and then my knuckle crowns were completely split open. Ouch, guess I had too much adrenaline to notice. Damn. I stuck them back under the water, hissed again, and pulled them out looking at them again. The bleeding wasn't bad but it wasn't stopping either… I refused to use Cure tho, not after last time… Sure it had worked and sealed up my hands like new but the skin on my fists was all tight and itchy, and it had taken forever for me to get it back to normal… I prefer the old-fashioned way…wrap it up good and tight with antibiotic and wait it out a few days until it healed well enough to start fighting again.
I held my breath all the while I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, my hands stung from the water as well as the stupid soap suds. I turned around to put my face back under the water to rinse the recent sweat away keeping my hands on the back of my head for good measure to keep them away from the water, when the guy at the end spoke up. Seeing as I was the only other one in here he had to be talking to me so I asked him to repeat himself, still keeping my face in the water.
"What'd you do to your hands mate? They look awful…sss…are they still bleeding?"
"Let's just say I had a run in with a punching bag and it won. And yes they are still bleeding and hurt like a mother." I said the last bit through clenched teeth because I felt another shot of pain go up my arm.
"Why don't you just use Cure or something?"
"Cuz I'd rather heal 'em the old fashioned way…"
"Okay… Well, I hope ya get ta feelin' better man, nothin sucks worse than that."
"You've had this shit too then?" I asked turning around finally to look at the guy but he was drying off his hair with a towel while standing in the mini-stall with his left side facing me, his arm in plain sight. "Man, what happened to you? Your arm's all green and purple!"
"Heh. Let's just say I pissed off a SeeD last night."
"Oh...who was…wait…Seifer?" I asked recognizing the bruise was in the shape of my now bloody fist.
He just froze, and then he pulled the towel down to look at me. "Chickie? … Sorry, I didn't realize that was you…" He looked shocked and almost…scared? But he proceeded to finish drying off.
I just growled in annoyance turning my back on him to finish rinsing off. "I wish you'd stop calling me names! My name is Zell Dincht! Not Chicken, Chicken-Wuss, Chickie, Short-Ass, or whatever else your mind has thought up of to torment me alright?!" I shot at him. I noticed he was still drying off but was registering what I'd just said with an unusual blank look on his face. I grabbed my towel and started to dry off as well. I finished and wrapped the stupid small thing around my waist, grabbed my soaps, stepped out and went over to where I had left my clothes.
As I sat down on the bench and leaned my head against the hard wall behind me, Seifer came over and sat on the bench across from me. I looked up to see him looking at me warily while untying his shoe laces. "What?" I asked as I grabbed my socks and jammed them on.
"I was thinking…I'm tired of all this… How 'bout we call a truce?" he asked pulling on his socks as well.
"Huh? I don't follow…" I said as I was pulling on my boxers under my towel, so I wouldn't be flashing the world, and currently Seifer.
"I'm saying we call a truce. I stop calling you names, picking/making fun of you, etcetera…and you don't hit me anymore" he said grabbing his left arm after pulling on his boxers and green gym shorts under his towel at the same time (trying not to flash me) because he turned it just right to make the spot where I hit him hurt more.
"Sorry 'bout that…" I said pointing at his arm, he just shrugged, pulling on a black tank top. "Okay, truce" I said as I pulled on my shorts.
"Seifer Almasy" he said sticking his hand out for me to shake. I took it carefully and said, "Zell Dincht, nice to meet 'cha." We then both laughed and sat down to put on our shoes.
"Do you think Dr. Kadowaki is up yet?" I asked looking at the clock on the wall, it read 10 till 7.
"Doubt it…why? You don't have any stuff for your hands at your place?"
"Nah, I ran out last time and forgot to get more…"
"Well, why don't you come over to my quarters and I'll get you fixed up."
I gave him a quizzical look, and then decided to take advantage of this new side of Seifer's hospitality (and friendship…?), "yeah, ok. Thanks."
"No prob. Let's get goin'."
We walked out of the cadets' shower room door and back into the corridor and walked in the direction to Seifer's room just as the sun began to rise.
"You know I haven't been up early enough to watch the sun rise in ages…" he said thinking out loud.
"I'm normally up at the crack of dawn anyway; normally this is my favorite time of day…" Great now I'm thinking out loud.
"What do you mean by normally? Is it cuz I'm with you this morning?" Seifer said jokingly, although he sounded a bit hurt as well.
"What? Nah…just had a bad past few days that's all. Couldn't sleep this morning, and I took out my anger on my punching bag for a couple of hours…" I held up my hands for emphasis.
"I've never seen your hands look that bad before…" he said pointing.
"Well, I didn't have my gloves on at the time, and didn't notice how bad they had gotten until I was already in the shower." I said looking at my now again bloody hands. I wrapped my damp towel around my hands. We walked in silence for a while and before I knew it he was punching in his code on his door lock.
"Welcome to my humble pad" he said with a grin opening the door to let me in.
"Nice. Hey, why aren't your quarters with all the other SeeD's?" I asked. Seifer had come back after the whole Ultimecia thing still wanting to be a SeeD. He had to make up 3 years in one in order to do so; otherwise he didn't get another chance at it. Fujin and Raijin had decided to join him; he got higher marks than the both of them combined. They all 3 made it to SeeD level and even got to go on a few missions with the already-SeeDs (Squall, Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, Xu, Nida, and myself). All SeeD have quarters on one side of garden, the cadets on the other, and for some reason, Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin had quarters in-between the two.
"I think it either has something to do with Squall being an ass, Squall pissed because we actually made it in, or they just ran out of room and wasn't expecting us to succeed in the tests."
"I think it was probably a combination of the 3, if Squall was involved…" I said with a sour look on my face.
"Is that where you were coming from last night when I, uh…ran into you?" Seifer asked cautiously.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Stupid fucking Squall…" He threw me off guard and I was still pissed at Squall. He just looked at me in disbelief with his eyebrows raised about cursing my friend. "What? You never heard me cuss before?" I asked crossing my arms carefully.
"Well, no I haven't. But I've never seen you so pissed; least of all at Squall…I thought you guys were supposed to be friends?"
"Well, that's what I thought…it's a long story…he's just bein' an ass now tho."
Seifer looked at my hands, free from my towel; they had started to bleed again. "We should get you patched up before you lose anymore blood" he said pointing at my hands.
I nodded and mumbled, "K…" and followed him to his bathroom. He had me sit on the toilet lid sideways and put my arms on the counter with my hands over the sink. I just did what he told me, seeing as how we were using his stuff to fix my hands.
"K, this is gonna sting, well maybe in your case burn like hell, but try not to move too much, k?" he said holding a dark brown bottle up close to the sink to pour some liquid on my hands. When I noticed that it was Hydrogen Peroxide I just let out a groan and let my head fall onto the counter between my outstretched arms.
He took that as an 'okay' and grabbed one wrist and began to pour the bubbly liquid over my bloody hand. I let out hisses, groans, and growls through clenched teeth as he continued the same motion on the other hand. When he stopped pouring it, my hands still burned a little as little white bubbles appeared and disappeared on the wounds. He got some tissues and wiped off the excess liquid from the backs of my hands and my finger tips and the underside of my hands.
"Can I move yet?" I hissed in pain when my hands started burn again.
"Still sting?" he asked. I just nodded as best as I could with my head still on the counter. I felt a cool sensation on the backs of my hands and looked up to see him fanning them dry with a piece of folded paper. "Aaah thanks" I breathed and let my head sink back down to thunk the counter again. He just laughed at me…eh, what do I care if he's helping me?
"So why do you want to do this the old-fashioned way? Cure would be a lot faster ya know…and a lot less painful." I looked up to answer him.
"Yeah, well, last time I did something like this to my hands I did use Cure. Afterwards my hands never felt the same. The newly healed skin was all tight and itchy and it took me forever to get my fists to feel normal. So the next time I busted up my hands I had Kadowaki wrap 'em up so they could heal on their own. They went back to almost normal feeling, plus they had some extra protection from the scars left behind. Ever since then, when my hands got cut up I never used Cure, and I never will again."
"Well that makes sense. Plus, after this you'll have some battle scars."
"Tch, yeah right…this is nothing compared to what it has been. That's another reason I wear my gloves all the time; I don't want everyone to see how scarred my hands have gotten… They'll probably try and fix 'em which will make my fists all itchy again…"
After they were mostly dry he rummaged and found some antibiotic ointment and some q-tips. He told me to hold my hands like I was holding onto tennis balls to bend the wounds a little so he could get the ointment in before my skin dried around them, and like earlier I did what he said though it hurt as they cracked a little, and made me feel stupid with the positioning of them.
He sat on the counter on the other side of the sink and began to put the ointment on my hands with the q-tips. After one got too bloody at both ends, he threw it away to use a new one. He went to grab my wrist with one hand to keep me still while he worked; only when he touched me he yanked his hand away like I shocked him or something. I looked up at him confused, "what?"
"Y-you burned me…your skin is like100 degrees above normal man!" he said feeling my arm carefully with one finger.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's just Ifrit throwing a tantrum…nothing to worry about" I informed him, I did after all have the GF junctioned.
"Oh, well that explains it" he said sarcastically, giving me a look. "What's got into him?" He started back at my hands with the Q-tips, using only them to touch me because he didn't want to touch my skin again.
"He just loves throwing tantrums and being pissed off right along with me, especially these past couple of days…" I continued on when he didn't get what I was saying. "Ifrit's normally a very high-strung, short-tempered GF, and since he's fire based, when he's pissed off at something my temperature goes up a lot higher than if I'd had a fever."
"Well that explains the hot skin but what about the whole pissed off with you thing?"
"Oh, that. He found out that I don't really handle his tantrums very well when I'm in a good mood. So when I'm pissed, or angry, or upset, he goes off to do what he does best…piss off other GFs that have crossed his path. He found that it works better that way, because I don't bother stopping him. See, I love it when I'm pissed and someone tries to touch me…Ifrit just fries 'em. So pretty much if you see me in a bad mood, its best not to get to close to us." I finished with an evil smirk.
Seifer stopped with the q-tips and ointment to just look up at me like I was on crack, and then accusingly. "So that explains it!" he said glaring at me.
"Explains what?"
"Has Ifrit been after one particular GF more than the others?"
I thought about it for a moment, and then I remembered having a conversation with him the other day. "Yeah, he said that Shiva had crossed him for the last time…apparently she did something awful to him the other day. Why?"
"Because I have Shiva junctioned, that's why! She's been in a right state these past couple of days!" I was horrified. I didn't want Seifer to get hurt because of me…even tho it wasn't technically my fault.
"So what's been up with you these past few days anyway Zell? I've never in my life seen you this…this angry before…" he sounded worried, but he continued again with the ointment still, being careful not to touch my skin too much.
"I'm sorry about Shiva…I didn't realize Squall had her junctioned to anyone." I mumbled out, I really didn't want to cause discomfort to Seifer any longer.
"I think he did it to me on purpose…ever since my first mission he gave her to me with this evil grin on his stupid face… Now I know that that meant that someone had Ifrit. Everyone knows they don't get along too well so they try to not have them junctioned at the same time…Fire and Ice just don't mix." He finished with the ointment and was putting it up and looking for something else while I closed my eyes to enter to my own mind to speak with Ifrit.
Ifrit, you there?
I am here my master.
Did you hear our conversation?
Yes, unless you didn't want me to, then No.
No, no, it's alright. I just…just don't want to hurt Seifer anymore, because he has Shiva, see? And now that we're friends, which is weird in itself, I don't want to ruin what could turn out to be a good thing.
I understand.
So you'll calm down for me for a while then?
For a while, yes.
Alright, thanks a lot.
But when you are angered yet again master, I will make my final strike and be done with it.
I think I'll be making my final strike soon, if not today even, but I'm not too sure, I will let you know soon enough.
Farewell.
I felt his presence fade slightly, but not disappear altogether, allowing me to snap out of our conversation to find Seifer staring at me. "What?"
"You were talking to Ifrit?"
"Yeah, what about it? I told him to back off for a while, at least until my retaliation, and then he's more than welcome to come out if he wishes. That will be his last strike on Shiva." I informed Seifer.
"Aww, I didn't know you cared" Seifer teased. I just rolled my eyes. "You're gonna have to help me a bit with this part" Seifer said holding what looked like a roll of gauze and gauze pads and a pair of scissors. He cut the gauze pads to where there were individual ones along my fingers and one long one on the top of my knuckles. He had me hold each one as he proceeded to wrap the roll of gauze tape over and around them. He bandaged each finger individually so that way they could be separate, and wound around the top of my hand, to finish he covered it in strong bandage tape to make sure it didn't slip at all. When he finished with one hand he copied his movements onto the other one.
This all took about an hour and a half to finish. I was very grateful because my hands didn't sting anymore and the bleeding seemed to almost quit altogether.
"Now, you know you can't do any hand to hand combat for a few days, right? No punching bag, no monsters, and no people" he added 'people' with a smirk directed at me.
"Look I said I was sorry, just be lucky I didn't break it. I'm not that much of an asshole. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, all you had to do was annoy me in the tiniest bit and I would have exploded."
"Ah, but you did explode, more so than usual" said Seifer pointing out the obvious.
"Yeah, well I was high strung to start with and Squall had just pushed me over the edge."
"What were you in ole Squall-y's office for anyway? There wasn't supposed to be anyone in there before me."
"Heh, I wasn't invited, I busted in…like he can stop me. My shower's been on the fritz and he refuses to fix the damn thing! It's been over a week and I've asked him politely twice, threatened him once, and then yesterday…well, let's just say no one but me could get away with that… And what do you mean 'before you'?"
"I had called and said I was on my way, so he could stop doing whatever perverted thing he was doing before I got there… My shower started acting retarded a couple of days ago. I was up there to get him to fix it."
"Not much good that'll do you. I've been using the damned cadets' showers for a fucking week and I'm sick and tired of it."
"You, I'm like a foot taller than the stupid shower heads in there, it sucks."
"Um hmm. I'm hungry…ya wanna go catch breakfast?"
"Yeah, sure, what time is it anyway?"
"ACK! It's 08:25!" I declared jumping to my feet.
"What's wrong with that? If we leave now, we'll beat most of the crowd at least half way there. No one leaves their dorms until 08:30 anyway."
"I was planning on being back in my room by now! I can't go out there shirtless in front of all those damn cadets, my rooms too far away!" I was bouncing around nervously.
"Shit, calm down would ya?! You can just borrow one of my shirts for today; just make sure I get it back tho."
I calmed down a bit…would his shirt even fit me? "K. You sure?"
"Yeah, just chill for once alright?" He got up and went to his room and started digging around in his drawers. I followed to the door frame. "Here." He'd tossed me a red t-shirt, I put it on with a little difficulty and it was surprisingly tight, it showed every one of my muscle lines. Not that I'm complaining, I normally wear close to the same thing, this is just tighter than I'm used to. He was looking at me weird. "What?"
"Um…one I didn't know you were that muscular" he said pointing at me, "and two I didn't think you had a broader chest than mine, if anything I thought you'd be smaller…you know cuz you're shorter…?"
I looked at him weird, "Just cuz I'm short doesn't mean anything" and I crossed my arms, being careful of my newly bandaged hands.
"Right. Shall we head out then?" he gestured towards the door and we were about to leave when I noticed I had my stuff in my pockets.
"Um, do ya mind if I left my towel and stuff here?"
"Sure, just make sure you get 'em later or Fujin will think I'm up to something…"
I emptied my pockets of my soaps and my dirty boxers and stuck them inside of my somewhat bloody and damp towel and sat them on the floor beside the door frame inside the bathroom. When I finished Seifer had put away all of the first aide kit supplies and turned out all of the lights. We left his quarters and headed to the cafeteria.
It was weird walking beside Seifer; I mean we'd only been friends for what 2 hours? I must admit that it is an improvement to my current problems; at least I have someone who's nice to me, well now anyway. "Thanks for fixin' me up by the way, I appreciate it."
"It's no big deal, what are friends or eh?" he looked at me from the corner of his eyes and smiled (definitely not used to that one, yet). "Besides, Fujin taught me a bunch of stuff, that being one thing. I've only ever had to do her leg and my hand before so… but I don't mind really."
"Well, you sure are a hell of a lot nicer than Kadowaki. Last time I went in there with cuts and stuff she had to scrape shit out of 'em. It hurt like a mother." I reclined my arms behind my head while we walked so I could stretch out from being huddled over in that bathroom.
We walked on in silence the rest of the way to the cafeteria getting strange looks from every one passing or following us. We were both SeeD and therefore supposed to wear SeeD uniforms at all times, and here we are in gym shorts and tennis shoes. Well, that and the fact that me and Seifer are normally at each other's throats, not being nice, quiet and friendly. I like the change; he's really a nice guy once he cuts out with the whole macho bad-ass act.
We reached the cafeteria and walked inside. I followed him up to the counter to get oatmeal and coffee. "Since when did you switch over to the normal side from hotdogs?" he asked me looking at my oatmeal.
"Since I had food poisoning from the stupid things about 4 months ago. Trust me they aren't as good the second time around, now I'm off of 'em for life."
He just laughed at me as we sat at the end of the designated SeeD table with our oatmeal's and coffee's across from each other.
"Never thought you'd give up hotdogs…guess we all change right?" Seifer asked after a bit.
"Right" I replied smiling. We started our breakfasts and occasionally asked each other a random question or started a random conversation; like movies, books, my Ma, etc; laughing and having a good time catching up a little.
Then I saw to my horror as the group of SeeDs made their way with their breakfasts over to the table. Seifer noticed the change in my mood from happy and laughing to somber and put-off. "Hey, what's up?" he asked looking over his shoulder at where I was looking at the group of SeeDs walking our way. "Hey man, I thought they were your friends. What's wrong?"
"I've had enough of all of them. They've all sided against me for some lame ass reason…"
Squall, Rinoa and Quistis sat at the other end of the table we were sitting at, with about 6 chairs in-between me and Squall with the two girls on Seifer's side, 5 chairs there. I noticed them giving me questioning glances, Squall going so far as to mouth 'what are you doing?' with a nasty look on his face. I just shot him an evil glare and turned away from them back to Seifer to finish what I had started to say.
"So anyway they all think that I have my head too far up my ass to have any 'fun' lately."
"What does that mean?" Seifer asked genuinely confused and glanced back at them to notice them glaring at him now. "And what's their problem with me?"
"Eh?" I looked over and saw them glaring daggers in Seifer's direction. "They probably don't like you hanging around me or something…" I turned back in his direction to answer his first question. "I don't know the whole story, just what I got from Irvine. Apparently they were plotting something several days ago to get me to 'relax'. They said that I needed to get a girlfriend and loosen up and stop trying to work myself to the bone all the time. So what if I workout every morning? That has nothing to do with my sex life, and neither is any of their business unless it concerns my health, which is great; my duties, which are fine and I'm handling them better than most of them anyway; or my mental and physical stability, which have been fine up until they started messing with me. So they figured if they…" I trailed off because Selphie had walked up to me and Seifer and was looking at me kind of wary. "What do you want?!"
"I only wanted to check and see how you're doing…" she said defeated, all of the happy-cheerful-bouncing Selphie voice gone.
"Well, just fine until you lot screwed me over. And you had better catch your 'darling Irvine' before I do, or you'll probably never get to say goodbye." I said glaring at her.
She just nodded quickly and practically ran away from me to go sit by Squall, lessening the amount of space between us.
Seifer watched her go looking utterly lost and confused, "what was THAT about?"
"I'm getting to it" I waved my hand at him and he just nodded. "Anyway, they figured that if they take something that's constantly distracting me form having any 'fun' away that I'd 'loosen up and go get a pretty girl to have fun with'…it's like they think I can't run my own life. They think that I'm getting into the whole SeeD thing too seriously, 'all work and no play is never a good thing'…just because they don't SEE me having fun doesn't mean I'm not. Besides working out is fun to me…I don't know why they can't see that." I sat there and fumed wondering if Seifer got anything out of my rambling.
"So what you're saying is that they think you need excitement in your life so they're trying to get you a girl? And they took something of yours? What was it?"
"Yes, but they're wrong on both. Yes, but more specifically Irvine. And my gloves."
"WHAT?!" Seifer exploded dropping his spoon and causing the other SeeD to look over at us. I told him, "Keep it down would ya?! I don't want them to hear, they think that I'm not catching on…I'm smarter than they play me out to be after all…"
"Sorry, but that's like stealing my Hyperion! That's just unthinkable! So Irvine took your gloves? Where is he?" he started to look around but to no avail.
"Irvine's on a mission right now…he took my gloves while the others distracted me and left for his mission not long after. He told me if I wanted them back I had to get a girl and give him proof that we'd had 'fun' as he put it. Or I could do something for him…which I didn't want to know, he's too perverted for his own good. I got what little information out of him before he left but still didn't get my gloves back."
"Now that's an all time low in Irvine's book, well everyone's really. But what do you mean about that they're 'wrong about both'?"
Oh, shit, did I actually let that slip. "Ah, well yea, I've got enough excitement in my life thank you and if I wanted more I'd go and find it. And they're wrong about me finding a girl."
"What do you actually have one and you're just hiding her?" he was laughing at me now…I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell him would it? No one else knows, and I do need someone to talk to occasionally…Aight here it goes…
"Nooo…look can you keep a secret?" He nodded and crossed his heart and held up 2 fingers and said 'Scout's honor', so I preceded, "Alright, no laughing." I leaned across the table to whisper it so no one else could hear, "No one else knows this, but…I'm gay."
I was expecting a stifle of his laughter or a mocking look in my direction but I wasn't expecting what he did… He just looked at me in disbelief and there was something going on in his mind I could tell. Then he leaned back and asked me, "Now can you keep a secret?" I nodded, crossed my heart and held up 2 fingers mimicking his 'Scout's honor' making him laugh. He leaned back across and whispered, barely audible even to me, "I'm gay too."
Now I couldn't believe my ears. Seifer, gay? No way, he's always been so arrogant and stubborn and mean. No way he's gay. I looked him straight in the eye and asked, "You're not just telling me that to make fun of me are you?"
"Nope, always have been…why, you don't believe me?"
I looked him in the eye again, and then answered; "Now I do."
"Good then", he smiled at me.
I glanced over to where Squall and the others sat. They were all casting curious looks in mine and Seifer's direction, probably wonder why we were getting along great instead of yelling at each other. I just laughed to myself, finding it ironic that my so called friends had turned against me and my, now, new friend used to be my sworn enemy.
"What'cha laughin' at there Chicken, ya know?"
I turned to see Raijin and Fujin a couple of feet behind Seifer. Seifer jumped at the sound of Raijin's voice and turned around, "Hey guys look who I found" he said pointing at me. I just crossed my arms over my chest (awkwardly because of the bandages) and gave him an incriminating look.
"UPSET. CHICKEN?!" Fujin looked in my direction with her one red beady eye and grabbed an extra chair form the next table, spun it and sat in it backwards at the end between Seifer and me. Raijin on the other hand had chosen the seat beside Seifer.
I went to retort back but Seifer interjected cutting us both off, "Fujin, Raijin; Zell and I have made a truce." Fujin stared at him for a while, glanced towards me and then back to him.
"EXPLAIN."
"I, that is to say we, will not call him names, pick on, or make fun of him anymore."
"EXCHANGE?"
"I won't hit him anymore, nor will I you unless you downright deserve it."
"Huh? What do ya mean 'anymore', ya know?"
"Zell here punched the shit outta me last night…" for emphasis Seifer turned slightly so they could both see the huge grapefruit sized bruise on his left arm.
"OUCH." Fujin said squinting.
"Holy shit, ya know?!" said Raijin jumping back down into his seat.
"I consider it about 13 years pint-up frustration all packed into one huge little bruise…you're just lucky I didn't want to break your arm…" I put in my two cents.
"So anyway, we're friends now" Seifer spoke up again and motioning to me he said, "Fujin, Raijin, I'd like you to meet Zell Dincht. Zell…Fujin and Raijin."
I shook hands with them respectively. Fujin seemed to relax a bit but Raijin still seemed jumpy. Eh, well, ya can't get all of your enemies to like you as a mutual friend in one day.
"HANDS?" Fujin asked me pointing.
"Damn cowboy stole my gloves and I attacked my punching bag bare-handed, my knuckles got torn up." I told her holding my hands down in front of us so she could see.
"FAMILIAR. SIEFER?" she asked pointing at my hands and looking at Seifer.
Seifer seemed to falter a little, "So you recognized my handiwork eh, Fu?"
"AFIRMAITVE."
"He says that you taught him how Fujin" I said nodding to her.
She seemed shocked that I would be talking to her like nothing had ever happened before, then she did something I only ever heard her do once in public before. She whispered, "I did, and he caught on very quickly. It seams that he's become the right pro" she said grinning at me.
She then turned to Seifer, "SEIFER."
"What is it Fu?"
She leaned in and whispered to him to where I could barely hear what she was saying, "We still on for tonight?"
Seifer nodded and said, "Yep, sure thing, wouldn't miss it" then he looked over at me and thought about something, then he turn back to Fujin, "hey, do ya mind if Zell tags along? He's been through hell the past few days and I think we could help loosen him up."
Fujin looked at me and was thinking about Seifer's question, she then apparently seemed to catch on to something and said, "Sure, why not? See you guys tonight then" she winked at Seifer (who rolled his eyes at her) and got up, "RAIJIN!" Raijin stood up very quickly and went to her side as they walked out of the cafeteria.
When they left the door I started to laugh, I couldn't help myself, those two were really quite funny when they weren't trying to kick my ass.
"What is your problem?" asked Seifer with a grin on his face.
"They really are quite funny together, I never would have guessed!"
"I think the coffee's getting to your head…"
"So, where are you guys dragging me off to tonight?" I asked finally having stopped laughing.
"Oh, I hope you don't mind. I just figured you might want to get away from all of this" he waved his hand to the other end of our table where the other SeeDs were still sitting, looking at me like they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"I don't mind at all, it'll give me a chance to get to know y'all better…so are we goin' to Balamb?"
"Yeah, it's only gonna be me and Fu, Raijin doesn't really like to go anywhere with us if he can help it. We normally go around to different clubs and such. Mainly gay ones, you know? That's why Raijin never tags along. Fu gets a kick out of it because she can sometimes find a straight one that's 'lost'…Heh, she mainly likes to just sit around and watch really."
"Um, Seifer, I've never really been to any gay clubs before, I'd probably just make a fool of myself…"
"Ah, don't worry; I'll be there to help you out."
'Hmmm, this trip into Balamb doesn't sound too bad. Hee hee, then I can find a guy and show Irvine and Squall and the rest that I don't need their help! But what the hell do you wear to a gay club? I've been to gay bars and such, but no clubs…I'm sure it's different. Maybe Seifer will help me figure it out, sounds like he's been several times before… Gosh, who would've thought that today would be the day I made up with my enemy, became good friends with him and his lackeys, and now he's taking me to a gay club with him tonight. Uh-oh, what if he thinks it's like a date or something?! Wait, he hasn't hit on me all day…guess that's a good sign right? Oh, I don't know…I mean blonds are my type, but Seifer? Nah, just being friends is enough to make me happy, and he's getting me outta of this place to help clear my head of all the crap that's been happening…'
I was brought out of my rambling thoughts by his voice, "So, what are you gonna do about your Irvine problem?"
Sigh. "Oh, I don't know. He gets back sometime between today and tomorrow afternoon…if I knew the exact time then I'd jump him at the gate…"
Seifer glanced over to where Squall sat chatting to Quistis, then turned back to me saying, "Come on, I got an idea. Get your dishes and come with me…"
I grabbed my bowl and coffee cup and follow Seifer to put the dishes on the return belt. I noticed Squall was watching me carefully and it was beginning to hack me off again. Damn him, and I just got into a good mood too! Grr, I hate it when he does that, like I can't take care of myself and he has to baby-sit me!
As we were walking away from the return belt towards the exit of the cafeteria we were passing the SeeD table when Squall called out, "Zell, why are you hanging around him all of a sudden? What's wrong with having breakfast with us?" Fucking little negotiator…
"You?! What's wrong with you?! Honestly! You back stabbing son of a bitch!"
"Zell you really do need to calm down…"
I gave him the finger in reply.
"Zell…" he said warningly.
"FUCK YOU SQUALL!!" I went to jump him but a pair of strong hands grabbed me by my biceps from behind as soon as I started to leap into the air at him and then sat me back on my feet again, holding me there. Squall looked utterly terrified of me at the moment…well he should be! Not only was I about to kick his ass (which would scare anybody) but from the jostling, my hair was covering most of my face, showing only my eyes and the evil glare directed at him.
"Zell, not now…I'll let you beat the shit out of him later I promise...and maybe I'll help too, but nows not the time nor place…plus your hands are still hurt." Seifer said, barely above a whisper, all the while glaring at the Headmaster, and held me tightly while I struggled slightly until I stopped squirming and flipped Squall off again then he directed me to the exit and began to lightly push me along by my shoulder blades until we were out the door.
Back At the SeeD Table…
"What the hell was that?" Quistis asked.
"I thought Zell was gonna kill you Squall!" squeaked Rinoa.
"What is his problem with you Squall?" asked Selphie.
"Um, well, besides the obvious short temper…his shower's been on the fritz for over a week now…and he's kinda asked me a few times to fix it and then he blew off his rocker yesterday at me…"
"You mean to tell me that you've been making one of your top SeeD agents take his showers in the cramped cadets' shower room instead on his own? Even after he asked you to get it fixed?!" said Quistis.
"Yeah, well now Seifer's shower is also broken…and it looks like Zell and him are good buddies now, at least it seamed that way…"
"If I were you I'd get both of those showers fixed, and soon, before Seifer decides to turn Zell loose" said Selphie.
"Yeah, you're right…" sighed Squall.
Now Outside the Cafeteria…
I just wanted to scream…I fucking hate Squall right now, I wish Seifer would have let me go so I could've kicked his ass right then and there. I now notice that we're outside the cafeteria…
"So what's this idea you had?" I asked Seifer trying to get my mind on something else and running my fingers through my hair to get it back into somewhat control.
"Oh, yeah…come on" he said and grabbed my elbow and we ran to the elevator. He pushed one of the buttons and off we went.
"So where're we headed?" I asked.
"Squall's office…" Seifer replied as the elevator opened to the hallway that led to the commander's office.
We ran until we saw his new receptionist then skidded to a halt. "What are you two doing here this early?"
Seifer was quicker to respond that I was, "Squall sent us. He's in his quarters and he's sick, he wanted you to go down there to him so he could give you some stuff he needs done."
Her eyes lit up and she ran off like a cheetah. I just started laughing, "How'd you know how to get rid of her?"
"All of Squall's receptionists are drooling over him…I used it on his last one too when I wanted to get into his office."
He then proceeded up to Squall's door and punched in the code. Apparently he's done this quite a bit to have the code memorized.
"Seifer, what are we doing here?" I asked looking around.
"Finding out when 'darling Irvine' is comin' home…" he replied sitting at Squall's desk and typing in a bunch of stuff into his computer.
I went around to the back of the chair to watch. Seifer stopped typing and his eyes scanned the screen. "Ah, today at noon!" he exclaimed. I was gonna get my gloves back before tonight!
"Alright, now let's get out of here." Seifer and I walked back out and locked the door behind us and walked back to the elevator in silence.
Once we got in I asked, "So what are we gonna do then? I wanna jump him but we need to make a plan…that is if you wanna help me."
"Of course I wanna help you! It'll be fun! I have an idea, but we need to go back to my dorm first."
"Why?"
"So I can get my trench coat and Hyperion."
"Oh-ho, you are wicked" I said sarcastically.
"Shut it you! And listen to me!"
He told me of his 'perfect plan' on the way to his dorm, then once we got his coat and Hyperion we headed to the main gait to await our new arrival.
TBC! …
Hope y'all liked the first chap! I'll be posting more later on…it all depends on how super busy I am…lol! Please R&R, I need feed back to know if I should post more!