The Dish: An Angsty Seiftis Chapter 13: One Bed Scene, a final fantasy viii fanfic

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII belongs to Squaresoft. This story is in no way connected to Squaresoft or its subsidiaries or partners.

The Dish: An Angsty Seiftis

Part 13: One Bed Scene

"I can't believe I got to see him!" sighed Selphie as she hugged herself and twirled around the room. "He was too, too gorgeous! And he kissed me on the cheek—oh, he is so hot…" She pretended to fan herself, giggling. "He's just as gorgeous as his voice and I am so his number one fan!!! I am so lucky he signed all my CDs!"

Irvine, standing a good distance away, silently lowered his head so that the cowboy hat he wore shielded his eyes and threw a careful shadow across most of his handsome face. He was leaning against the window in a nonchalant posture, but if Selphie had looked more closely, she would have recognised the brief flash of insecurity that crossed the features of the easy-going, good-natured young man.

On the only bed in the room, propped up by five pillows, and tucked in warmly, was Quistis, still enveloped in bandages, and looking frail and not at all her old self. She was not smiling—her face and neck hurt too much if she did—and besides, she was a little worried about Irvine's silence. He had not said a single word since he and Selphie entered her room, Selphie leading and he trailing quietly behind her.

By Quistis' bedside sat Seifer, also unusually silent, training his eyes on her. He had been with her every waking minute, and he rarely ever left her side, although Squall had threatened him with a mission or two if he did not get some exercise and start showing his face around Garden a little more often. After all, it wasn't as if he was on no-paid leave.

Their relations, however, were extremely awkward. Quistis seemed to jump every time he moved, and she appeared rather determined to stay away from him, at least in spirit, because he was always physically close to her. She had awoken long after a marathon rescue operation in which the doctors had done several things—none of which anyone understood, but which didn't matter, because she was alive. And although Seifer had been with Quistis most of the time, and his face had been the first she had seen when she opened her eyes, there was a chasm between them, one that seemed strangely impossible to cross.

Seifer couldn't understand it and felt helpless and hopeless; he had never been in such a situation before, desperately in love and terrified that he would frighten her away because he was too clumsy or too stupid, or just totally a potato, or something. He should have been happy, and he was, partly, but he was also mired in self-doubt and fear. He didn't know if she cared. Never mind what Matron said. Quistis had never said anything and she was so skittish around him that he was afraid of upsetting her. It made the time they spent together extremely awkward. And if Quistis didn't care—it was difficult for Seifer to breathe, just thinking of that possibility.

"Well," muttered Squall, standing up. "Nice to see you're better. I have to go." He looked apologetic and gloomy, partly because Rinoa was away on a visit to her father (whom she had reconciled with, but that's another story for another time). "Work." He looked at Zell.

"Oh, all right," grumbled Zell, getting up. "And sure, you had to remind me about it!"

Quistis lifted a hand cautiously. She was getting stronger every day, but it was a pain to move. Her recovery period had been predicted to be anything from a year to two years, which dismayed everyone, particularly as a grand total of three months had passed. "You should take a holiday sometime, Squall," she whispered painfully. The mike she wore amplified her whisper for her; she had nearly lost her voice completely from the whip injuries inflicted around her neck, and it was still uncertain if she would ever regain it.

Squall nodded. "I'll think about it."

Zell just grinned a little. "I'll bully him into it, Quisty, don't you worry," he promised. "See you, and take care, yeah?"

Irvine shifted slightly and cleared his throat. "I think I'd better be going too," he said rather quietly. He glanced at Selphie. "Shall we, Selphie? It's almost four and I promised we'd take a look at the tea shop that's opened recently."

Selphie put a hand to her mouth. "Oh! I forgot! Oh, Irvine, I'm sorry! I can't go after all!"

Irvine paused. "Oh," he said neutrally. "I thought…" he allowed his voice to trail off with a faint question in it.

Selphie dimpled and blushed. "He's visiting Garden at five today. I'm supposed to show him round, you know, as part of the Public Relations Committee."

Irvine stared. "Who invited him?"

Selphie gave him a look. "He's visiting from Esthar and he's heard so much about Garden he wanted to see it for himself, so Headmaster agreed. Headmaster likes his songs too, you know!"

Irvine opened his mouth again, but then shot a quick look at Seifer and Quistis and closed his mouth again. He nodded briefly. "Take care, Quisty. Call me if you need anything. Later, Almasy."

Selphie looked after Irvine in surprise as he left, her face falling slightly. She chewed a little on her lower lip and then glanced around, suddenly finding that she was alone. "Well…" she murmured. "I guess I should go too," she said slowly. She suddenly winked at Seifer and Quistis. "Now, you two don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

The silence that fell after Selphie's departure was not unusual.

"You don't have to stay here, you know." You could walk away from me. It doesn't matter.

I'm not going to walk away from you, not now, not ever. You'll have to drive me away with everything you have, and even then, I'm going to keep coming back. I won't leave you alone. "I can spare the time," he answered carefully.

She was silent.

He looked at her, at the bandages, at the bruises, and the suffering in the beautiful, haggard face, and spoke impulsively. "Quistis—" he stopped, swallowing. "You never did answer my question."

She stared at him.

Green eyes, with fire in them, met guarded blue ones.

"Why did you want to die?"

She froze, eyes widening.

He held that shocked gaze. "You said you wanted to be left alone because you wanted to die…" His voice trailed away into the thickening silence.

Still she said nothing, but now she turned her eyes away from him. But he was not done. He wanted answers. He had one more question to ask and it took all his courage to do so. He took the plunge.

"Did I hurt you—so much—that you had to throw your life away?"

Startled blue eyes flew wildly to meet his, accompanied by a barely audible gasp from pale lips. That was all it took, but the damage was done. The answer was as clear as if she had spoken and it drove the blood from Seifer's face. It had been a shot in the dark. He had not really meant to say it, but something had told him—if it wasn't Squall who had hurt her—and if she'd really loved him—and if she'd done everything for him—and—

"Are you crazy or what?" he rasped suddenly and fiercely. "I'm not worth one second of your life, Quisty! Not one second! Don't you ever do something so stupid ever again, do you hear me? I—I'll—if you—ever—" He broke off, having found himself too close to tears to say anything else, and dropped his head into his hands.

It seemed an interminably long while before he was aware of something else. He felt fingers running lightly and slowly over his hair. Slowly, he raised his head, the lashes of his eyes suspiciously wet.

Quistis' hand slid down to rest against his cheek, and he captured it so that it lay imprisoned against his cheek, but he did so very gently so as not to hurt her newly-recovered fingers.

Then he looked straight into those brilliant blue eyes and said, quite simply:

"I love you."