Melancholy

AN: Change of plan, the story will have four chapters after all. This is turning out to be a much more complex story than I had EVER anticipated. But in a good way! Who can I hate that I get invested in a fandom that I didn´t want to write Fanfics for, haha.

Have fun!


"Hey, your coffee."

Seifer handed the hot cup over to Raijin, who was playing with his phone. They could´ve already been back at the station, but if executed right there was always a bit of time that could be tweaked off. Besides, the coffee at the station was just miserable.

He sat back in the car, taking a sip, waiting for Raijin to stop tinkering and start driving when a poster caught his eye. Some announcement of the world championship in Karate. It rang a bell somehow, but he couldn´t quite...

"Alright, grab your cup." Seifer snapped back from his musings just in time to keep his coffee spilling on his pants. Again. He already gave up the hope that Raijin would ever learn to start the car gently.

When he was back at his desk and started his computer it made click. That guy... the one he met at the wedding a few weeks ago, he had mentioned he did something martial arts. He couldn´t quite remember his name, something with Z, Zack? Zedric? With a shrug he started googling. The tournament homepage surely had some athlete biographies.

"Ahem."

He looked up, right into Fujin´s mean red eyes. Great.

"You busy?"

Trying to be inconspicuous, he clicked his browser away. "Not so much. You got something for me?"

She dropped a file unceremoniously on his desk. A big one. "In case..." She shrugged. "You´re not too busy."

"I wasn´t looking at porn!"

She gave him another mean look, but at least she grinned. He rolled his eyes and pushed the file a bit to the side. Alright, where had he been... it didn´t take him long to find the right one. Zell Dincht. Stupid face tattoo. He was quite impressed, when he had said athlete Seifer hadn´t really anticipated world class. Maybe... after skipping through the file and drinking the last bit of his cold coffee he made up his mind and ordered tickets for the rest of the tournament. He could say hello. They hadn´t really spoken much that day, just watched a movie until Seifer had to leave to grab his stuff and catch his train back to Deling City. He could thank him again for not kicking him out. Sounded like a plan.

He leaned back, grinning broadly. Perfect.

"Almasy! How come everyone´s working except for you?"

Wincing, he immediately grabbed the file, pretending to read it intently.

"Chief, you should pay better attention, I´m the foundation of the..."

Chief Kramer rolled her eyes, waving her hand to shut him up. "Spare me and stop googling porn!"

"I wasn´t...!"

He shrugged. Some fights were not worth fighting.


There were more people than he had expected. Karate didn´t seem like something that would attract a large crowd. A large crowd very vocal about their thoughts on the matches, making Seifer realize that he had absolutely no idea what the rules were or how they fought or when Dincht was on... Rethinking his plan he got up again, getting some snacks. It could be turn out to be a long afternoon after all.

Two hours in Seifer was just mildly bored by the relative repetitiveness of the whole event when Dincht finally showed up. He raised an eyebrow when he heard that he fought for Balamb. They had met in Timber, hadn´t even had a Balambese accent. Unfortunately his curiosity wasn´t satisfied when he realized that the Karate outfit didn´t show much skin. Guy with a face tattoo surely had a bunch of embarrassing tattoos.

The fight was short, Dincht didn´t even break a sweat getting his opponent down. It probably was impressive if Seifer had known what they were doing, but at least it looked good. Somehow. Dincht bowed, got off the mat and out of the hall and Seifer leaned back, a little disappointed. That had been a serious waste of time.

He left a bit miffed an hour later. Sports had never interested him all that much and it hadn´t changed that day, but a little chat... with a shrug he turned around and circled the gym until he found the back entrance. He had already wasted most of the day, he could waste some more and get results. That sounded good. Settling down on a bench, he grabbed his phone and texted Raijin. He probably had had a way better Saturday and knowing Raijin he would be delighted to inform someone about it.

Two hours later Seifer was convinced that he had missed Dincht somehow or he had taken the main entrance after all or maybe he slept in the gym and decided to call it a day when he saw a short guy in jeans and a hoodie with a sport bag on his shoulder exiting the building. Stupid face tattoo. His guy.

"Hey, Dincht!"

He didn´t even look up, just waved him away and pointed at his earplugs. Two hours weren´t shoved away by earplugs!

"Hey, wait a second, Zell!"

Seifer grabbed him, making Zell spin around and removing one of his plugs in the most annoyed way possible.

"What? I´m in a hurry, what d´ya want?"

Seifer stiffened immediately.

"Chill a bit, maybe, I´m not trying to convert you to the church of holy Hyne!"

Zell looked at him a bit more closely, narrowing his eyes.

"Have we met? You look kinda familiar."

"Yeah, Rinoa´s wedding."

Zell´s eyes widened in recognition. Still annoyed, though.

"Oh right, you didn´t leave my apartment. What was it, Mike?"

"Seifer. Noticed the ads for the tournament and thought it could be interesting to get a look."

Zell removed his other plug, nodding slightly.

"What d´ya say? It´s tough competition this year, Hitchinson was stronger than I anticipated." He shrugged, biting his lip. "But you know, maybe not gold, but I´m definitely in it for a medal."

Seifer frowned. That hadn´t been the name of the guy Zell had fought. Why hadn´t he seen that fight? Were there more areas in which they fought? Couldn´t they announce shit like that?

"Yeah, absolutely. Thought you were owning it out there."

Zell side eyed him hard before he broke out into a wide, toothy grin.

"You´ve got no idea whatsoever, right?"

Seifer shook his head, slowly. "Anyway, I didn´t really get to say thanks for taking care of me back in Timber, so what do you say, grab a beer?"

"Nah man, it´s late and I need to get some rest. Tomorrow´s the big day!"

Seifer bit back a nasty comment. Being brushed off like that felt like a slap.

"Sure. Good luck then."

He grinned again, toothy. It was almost atomic, Seifer was sure his chance for cancer was raised by ten percent. Plugged in his buds and jogged away.

Well. So much to that.


"The fuck am I doing here…" The person in the next seat looked offended, but Seifer decided to ignore him. Now he wasted his Sunday as well! And all just… just… He groaned, quietly. He felt like an idiot. But after he had been brushed off like that the day before he couldn´t help himself. And he already had bought the ticket, yes. The actual reason. Since he was already there, he might as well see how the tournament would end. If Dincht was actually going to compete for a medal he would probably do it in a way everyone in the hall saw it. With another sigh he arranged his snacks. It would be a long afternoon…

Three hours later Dincht was standing on the podium, getting the bronze medal. Seifer was bored out of his mind, but since the guy next to him started coughing really obnoxiously every time he took out his phone he just tried to think of case files he had to finish the next day… Right when the national anthem of Trabia started, he decided to flee. Maybe it was impolite, but that song had the most annoying tune, probably just picked so that Trabia can get back at the rest of the world for being a cold shitplace.

He walked over to his bench and got comfortable again. He was fully prepared to congratulate Zell and inform him that he was still up to invite him for a beer. To celebrate his lousy medal. To show that little jerk that he was above being insulted by his previous behaviour. Grinning to himself he took out his phone to play a little for the waiting time.

Not even an hour. Seifer didn´t even pay attention to the people leaving the building when someone nudged him and he almost threw his phone into the next bush.

"Hey Mike. A bit unobservant for a stalker. Is that proper behaviour for a cop?"

Seifer felt a vein on his forehead pulsate violently. He was just fucking with him!

"Actually I wanted to say good job for getting that medal, but you know what, fuck yourself." He got up, taking full advantage of his height. Zell didn´t seem very impressed.

"Right, of course. Listen man, if you want to ask me out, you can just do that. I consider it."

He grinned. Seifer turned around, there had been a bunch of people exiting and they were all standing a few meters away. Probably the rest of the team. Most likely listening to what was going on.

"Don´t be so ungrateful, I would´ve written you a text if I had your number."

"Ah, you want my number?" The atomic teeth showed again. He could punch him right into his ugly tattoo.

"Whatever. Enjoy the rest of your life." He turned around, ready to walk through the little crowd to get to his car. He might´ve felt like the biggest idiot in the history of the world, but there was no need to show it.

"Mike, wait a second."

"Seifer." He turned around, reluctantly.

"Right, Seifer. Sorry, such a weird name. Here you go…" He scribbled something on an old receipt. Seifer raised his eyebrow. Now what? "I´ll be here till tomorrow afternoon, so we could get a coffee. Happy now?"

Seifer ripped the piece of paper out of his hand and stalked away. He wanted to throw it in the garbage. He actually crumpled it and threw it in his car where it landed between other crap on the floor, old wrappers and bottles. At least he was strong until the next day, until he dug through all the garbage to find the little paper again, strong enough to text him around noon and not at eight AM. That was an accomplishment. That little jerk didn´t deserve more.


It took him almost half an hour to get to the café on the other side of the fucking city! He had to stay longer for this, his lunch break wasn´t nearly long enough to get something and drive back and all because he… what? He couldn´t even explain it himself. Something was set in motion and the immense pettiness inside him didn´t want to back off.

Rolling his eyes, he located Dincht who was playing with the ice in his glass, two plates next to him. He already got lunch it seems.

"Hey. What´s this all about?"

"Hello. Nice to meet you again. Have a seat please. Do you want something to eat?"

Seifer glared at him, not sure if he should throw a plate at his head.

"And I might remind you that you texted me, so…"

The waitress came and Seifer ordered, stalling an answer for another minute. Sadly, she walked away immensely fast.

"Yes, I did. So?"

He shrugged, looking over the café. "I don´t know, I just thought all that business with the wedding a few weeks ago was over and done on Saturday. And then you reappeared!"

"We don´t even know each other."

"I didn´t propose to you, did I? I live on the other side of the continent anyway."

"Yeah, about that…" Seifer stopped for a second. What exactly was he getting at? "What are you trying to say?"

"I thought you were alright enough when you didn´t leave my apartment and you´re somehow cute, so when you´re over visiting Rinoa you can stop by. Get a drink. A fuck. Whatever."

"Who says…" Yeah, who was he kidding. He was going to visit Rinoa the second she asked him to come over. "What are you even doing in Timber? You´re from Balamb. `s nicer weather there."

"People move, that´s not a hard concept!" Dincht visibly tried to calm down, stirring his ice tea again. "Timber is nice enough. So you don´t object?"

Seifer contemplated it while his sandwich arrived. He contemplated it while he took a bite. He stopped kidding himself the moment he swallowed.

"I´ll decide when I´m there." He paused for a second. "You know, you don´t even deserve my attention."

Dincht laughed, loud enough for some people to turn around. "Whatever you say. Bet you already checked me out back then."

"I did. Wanted to find out if that thing on your face is the only embarrassing ink you´ve got."

Dincht eyed Seifer´s arm, the sleeve rolled up to the elbow. "You´re one to talk. Is that an infinity sign? And, oh, a dandelion. Classy."

Seifer felt his face getting hot and quickly pushed the sleeve further down. "Thought it was a great idea when I was younger. At least it´s not on my face."

Dincht leaned back, absolutely satisfied with himself. "Well, I like it. Your taste is not my problem. Anyway, I gotta go or I miss my train, you can pay for me, ´s for the washing machine. Right?"

Right.


AN: Obviously I have no idea how Karate tournaments work, so ... if I wrote complete crap, feel free to inform me. Also, for all of you who wanted more of Seifer being a cop, I also don´t have a good idea how cops work besides what I know from TV. Imagine Seifer being like the more serious version of Jake from Brooklyn 99. Or maybe not all that serious. But honestly, his job doesn´t really play a big role for the rest of the FF either, sorry.