Why Not?, a final fantasy viii fanfic

Disclaimer: FFVIII is owned by SquareEnix. Long Shot is a song sung by Kelly Clarkson (or Katy Perry. Which ever version you like better).

Why Not?

/I felt it, the wire touched my neck
And then someone pulled it tighter
I never saw it coming, I started to black out
And then someone said good morning
I took it as a warning
I should have seen it coming
So now I'll take a chance on
This thing we may have started
Intentional or not, I don't think we saw it coming
It's all adding up to something
That asks for some involvement
That ask for our commitment
I think I see it coming
If we step out of that limb/

Zell stirred from his sleep. This was strange... Why was there so much warmth, and why did his bed feel so different. He crackled his eyes open and yawned, stretching as he awoke. His arm flew out haphazardly and he smacked something. It sounded like it hurt.

The contact startled Zell and he bolted up. He turned his head to face where his arm still remained and the events of the night before came flooding back. Had he actually slept with... Seifer? No, there was no way. This was SEIFER the most egotistical, annoying, rude, perverted (besides Irvine), annoying, angry, insane, selfish, annoying, tall, mean, sexy, handsome, strong... Ah! What the fuck! Where did that come from?

Zell shook his head almost violently and got out from under the covers and stood quickly. "I have to get out of here..."

"Where are you going Chicken?" Crap. He was awake.

"U-uh... Well... I was going to get ready for class? Yeah. That." Zell was trying to find any excuse to get out of there.

"It's Sunday." Seifer sat up. Zell just realized the taller blonde wasn't wearing a shirt. He checked his own body. Oh good. He wasn't nude.

"What... did we do last night?" Zell was getting nervous which Seifer noticed. The tattooed boy was adorable when he blushed and fiddled nervously.

"Nothing. Regardless of how much you begged!" Seifer smirked at the shock that formed on the other boy's cute face. "You really don't remember? I guess you were more drunk than I thought."

Zell blinked. What did he do last night...? Oh. Right. They had a party to celebrate Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin becoming SeeDs. That's right. But why was here in this room with Seifer, alone.

"You and I talked a lot during the party and... One thing led to another and I kind of made an idiot of myself. I don't really want to repeat what I said but you're as stupid as ever and can't remember." Seifer stood up. Oh good, he was wearing boxers. Zell sighed but then held his breath when Seifer was only an inch away from him. Seifer lifted his face with his finger under his chin and stared into Zell's blue eyes.

Zell's cheeks flushed and he tried to clear his throat. "W-what are you doing?" Ugh. He sounded horrible.

"Zell... I love you." Seifer then lent down and kissed Zell on the lips. It was warm, soft, firm, wet, dry, amazing. It was what Zell had always wished in a kiss but... He pulled away.

"What the hell man! Ugh." Zell spat and turned away from Seifer. "I'm leaving."

"I'll see you around Chicken Wuss." Seifer waved to the smaller boy who bolted out of the room as quick as his small feet could move him.

/My heart beat beats me senselessly
Why's everything got to be so intense with me
I'm trying to handle all this unpredictability
In all probability/

Zell sprinted down the hall way toward his room. What the hell just happened? Seifer, the guy who he hated and who, he had assumed, hated him had just kissed him! And why wasn't he mad or disgusted? He actually liked it... But there was no way. It would never work out with Seifer. Not in a million years. He couldn't get involved with him. This is the guy who tormented him all his life and who had be the Knight of Ultimicia. It just couldn't work.

Zell made it to his room and slammed the door shut. He huffed, trying to catch his breath. What was going on with him? His face was still as red as a ripe tomato, and it wasn't from the running. He slumped down and sat on the floor, his back against the door. Did he... have feelings for Seifer?

The kiss had been perfect. The extra warmth while lying in bed was nice. Seifer's body, being so close... It was like magic. Zell touched his chin gently. When Seifer had touched his chin it was like electricity and birds singing and all that romantic mumbo jumbo.

"What the fuck..." Zell banged his head against the door and stood slowly. Tears started to slowly stream down his cheeks. "I actually... love that fucking asshole." He wiped the tears away from his face and slapped his cheeks sharply. "Okay Zell... Gotta go apologize..." He opened the door and ran out. He had to Seifer how he felt.

/It's a long shot, but I say why not
If I say forget it, I know that I'll regret it
It's a long shot just to beat these odds
The chance is we won't make it
But I know if I don't take it, there's no chance
'Cause you're the best I got
So take a long shot/

As he ran Zell had more time to think. He didn't know if they would be a couple for long, or if they would work out at all but he wanted to try. He loved Seifer.

How had he been so blind to his own feelings? Wait...

Zell halted his charge. Did he... actually have these feelings? Or were they just a side effect of the affection that Seifer had shown him? It doesn't matter. Zell needed to see Seifer again. That's all he knew.

The blonde started off again and in no time he made it to Seifer's room. He didn't bother knocking; he barged into the room.

Seifer jumped up from where he was sitting. "Zell...?"

Zell stormed over to the much taller teen and, with some difficulty, planted a strong kiss on his surprised lips.

/I realize that there is all this starting
Things we're both scared about
That we'll never see them coming
Throw caution to the wind
And we'll see which way it's blowing
And to this pulling on
We'll never see it coming
Until it's much to close to stop/

"I don't know if we're right for each other. I don't know if these feelings are real. I don't know if if this all a dream, or if I even like you! But I don't care. I want to give this a shot Seifer. I want to." Zell spewed out his feelings to the shocked Seifer, who simply stared. "I think I love you. And if not, I want to learn to love you... I want to be with you Seifer."

"Zell... That's..." Seifer backed away from Zell. "It took me a long time to come to terms with how I felt. If you don't feel the same way I'll understand but I can't be with some one who doesn't even know how they feel."

"B-but... I want to try..." Zell reached out to Seifer who backed away.

"Zell, listen to me. You need time to think. I'll be here when you come to your conclusion. What ever that may be. I'm sorry about kissing you earlier. I kind of got ahead of myself. Now you should leave." Seifer walked to the door and opened it. "I'll be waiting." He flashed Zell his usual cocky smile and pushed the martial artist out the door.

"W-wait. Seifer!" The door shut in Zell's face. What just happened?

/My heart beat beats me senselessly
Why's everything got to be so intense with me
I'm trying to handle all this unpredictability
In all probability/

Seifer wanted Zell to think so that's what he did. He spent days brooding over what had happened and how he really felt. Sometimes he felt that he wouldn't be able to live if Seifer wasn't in his life. Other times he felt like kill the man himself, though Seifer didn't help that with constant teasing. Sometimes he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice when classes ended, or the people he bumped into while walking.

It was during one of these more intense thinking exercises that Zell ran into a very busy and moody Quistis.

"Zell! Watch where you are walking!" Quistis had used her Instructor voice which rarely never worked. Zell didn't seemed fazed. "Zell! I'm talking to you!" But the boy kept on walking, his head down.

Quistis walked up behind him and spun the boy around. He looked up at her and blinked stupidly. "Oh, hey Quisty. What are you up to?" He seemed completely oblivious to what had just happened.

"I was talking to you and you completely ignored me. You have to pay attention while walking around the halls." Quistis' voice had changed to its more neutral form. "What are you doing? Daydreaming?"

"Oh, uh. No. Not exactly. I'm just thinking."

"Thinking? What are you thinking about? It must be pretty important. You missed the hot dogs in the cafeteria today. We were going to save you some but Irvine was hungry." Quistis stared at the tattooed boy who shifted his eyes away from her. "You don't want to make eye contact. What's wrong?" Her Instructor voice appeared slightly, again.

"N-nothing. Stop... I'm fine." Zell turned away from his friend. "It's personal."

"Zell..." Quistis was now using her older sister voice, gentle mode.

"I'm fine Quistis!" Zell started to walk away quickly but Quistis kept up easily. "Stop following me!"

"Zell. I can tell when you are lying. Why won't you talk to me?" Quistis rested her hand on Zell's shoulder and spun him around again. "What is it... Tell me, please?" Quistis' gentle eyes broke Zell's wall.

"Gah! Fine! You're so nosey... It's about Seifer." Zell mumbled the last half as his sentence but Quistis heard him. She may have bad eyes but she could hear just fine. Some think she has a super power.

"What did he do now?" Quistis was serious now. Seifer and Zell never really got along but Zell never devoted his time to using brain power on his enemy.

"He kissed me."

"He what!?" People walking by turned to look at the blonde pair standing in the middle of the hallway. Quistis looked around and coughed, embarrassed. "I mean.. He what?" She spoke more quietly so as to not draw attention to them.

"He kissed me." Zell looked down and blushed slightly.

"He kissed you? Did he.. touch you?"

"What!? No! What the fuck Quistis..." Zell was slightly angry. What was she asking?

"Sorry, sorry. It's just a shock... He kissed you? Wow. Hmm..." Quistis was now in deep thought. "And?"

"And what? Oh.. He told me he loves me... Like love-love." Zell kicked at the ground lightly.

"And what did you say to him?" The Inspector's arms were now crossed over her chest.

"I kinda freaked out, and then ran away. And then I went back and told him I love him too but... He told me to think about it and to be sure that I love him. So that's what I've been doing..."

"Do you want to be with him, Zell?" Quistis' was using her older sister voice again.

"I... think so." Zell trailed off and his cheeks flushed a deep red.

"Well... From what I can gather from this situation, using my genius powers, you may regret going out with him." Zell looked at her and glared.

"Excuse you me? What do you mean by that!? It's not your decision what I do. How can you tell me what I will regret!?" Zell started to walk away.

"I didn't finish Zell. You may regret going out with him, but you will regret not even trying. Isn't that right?" Quistis wrapped her arms around the younger teen. "Do you love him?"

"Yes..." Zell wrapped his arms around his friend. "Thank you..."

Quistis giggled uncharacteristically and pushed Zell away slowly. "I didn't do anything. Now, you should go to Seifer and let him know how you feel, okay?" Zell nodded and started to head off. "Oh! And tell him he'll get detention if he's late to class again!"

/Oh I waited for fact to come of fiction
And you fit my description
I never saw you coming
But we'll make it/

It took Zell a good while before he spotted the trademark trench coat of the blonde boy he was looking for. He sprinted toward the teen and tackled him from behind.

"What the hell?" Seifer had barely budged from where he was moving when something hard collided with his backside. He turned his body slightly to see what had started clinging to him. "Zell? What are you doing?"

"Hugging you..." Zell had his arms wrapped around Seifer tightly and buried his face into the scarred teen's back. "I love you Seifer... I love you..."

Seifer smiled down at Zell and reached down. He lifted him up into his and hugged him. Zell wrapped his arms around Zell's neck and clumsily kissed Seifer. "So... You finally figured it out Chickie?"

Zell nodded and smiled at Seifer. "Yeah."

"Are you sure you want to do this? It may change things... and if it doesn't work out..." Seifer started up again like he had earlier that week.

"I don't care. All I care about is here and now and right now I want to be with you, for how ever long that will be. There may be some troubles a long the way, I may hate you sometimes, and who knows how people will react but... That doesn't matter. I love you Seifer." Seifer smiled at Zell again and kissed the boy.

"I give us a week."/It's a long shot, but I say why not
If I say forget it, I know that I'll regret it
It's a long shot just to beat these odds
The chance is we won't make it
But I know if I don't take it, there's no chance
'Cause you're the best I got
So take a long shot/

There were some issues they did encounter, like the library girl being jealous and becoming a stalker. That was weird.

There was also the convincing Raijin and Fujin that Zell hadn't brainwashed Seifer, and also with convincing Squall that Seifer hadn't brainwashed Zell.

But Seifer was wrong. They didn't last a week. They made have had their differences, their arguments, and their hurdles to over come but because they took that risk and chose to love each other they found happiness. This happiness lasted their entire lives. So, no, they hadn't lasted a week. They lasted a couple thousand.

/There's no chance, there's no chance
'Cause you're the best I got
It's a long shot but I say why not
If I say forget it I know that I'll regret it
It's a long shot just to beat these odds
The chance is we won't make it
But I know if I don't take it
It's a long shot but I say why not
Oh you never saw me coming/