A/N: I'd like to say that I officially hate the universe. Just when I'd decided on weekly updates on this story, my computer broke. -_- It was awful. Still is awful. But now I'm back! I also posted a new piece in the Originals section . . . a piece that met with much criticism, an essay criticizing the NC-17 ban. Feel free to read + review, if you'd like. I'd love to hear some more opinions! Now, on with the freakin' show! Warning: Angsty suicidal tendencies in the future. Disclaimer: I'd forgotten to mention (teehee) I don't own any of these characters. They're all from Square's Final Fantasy 8 video game (and thus is it placed in the FF8 category). Like everyone else who posts his or her fan fiction on fanfiction.net, I'm just a fan. Although, so help me, one day I WILL own Irvine. Or at least a look-alike. And no, I won't post this disclaimer anywhere else. Action!

Waitress's POV

It was another ordinary day at the Balamb café, in the Balamb Hotel. Granted, the night before had been somewhat . . . noisy . . . but that happens occasionally. I couldn't help but think how wonderful all the young lovers must feel on this morning of peaceful, golden silence.

--- CRASH ---
--- SCREAM ---

"Well . . . I guess all good things come to an end." I walked over to the source of the clamor. Three young men and a young woman were all gaping at each other. Maybe they all woke up in the same bed. Who knows? Maaaybe I'll just sneak a little listen to their conversation.

"What the hell?!?! You two came to the Balamb Hotel together????????" A young blonde with a rather exotic tattoo was screaming at two of his companions. Maybe she was cheating on him?

"You're one to talk! I saw you kissing Seifer when we walked into the room . . . it's SEIFER! Come ON!" A feisty looking girl in a canary-yellow dress seemed equally perturbed. Maybe they were both cheating on each other?

Deciding that a brawl in the café wouldn't reflect very well on the staff on duty (basically, ME), I chose to attempt to calm the atmosphere a little. Putting on my best-feigned smile, I walk slowly toward the group, and clear my throat. Well, I have their attention now . . .

"Would any of you . . . care for a drink?"

Are those "death glares" they're giving me? Maybe they didn't want to be interrupted. In any case, I can't really turn back now . . .

"Would you like to be seated? You sound like you might want to discuss some things over breakfast."

The promise of food seemed to win them over, and they sat at a table in the corner. I'll just pray to Hyne that they don't break anything . . .

Zell's first-person POV

Luck is a strange thing. We SeeDs rely on it daily, in casting spells with side effects, or junctioning status effects to our weapons. While normally, I praise luck for its help, I'm currently cursing it. Seifer and I were simply fucked by luck (pardon the expression). We picked a rather poor time to enter our little café, and now two other SeeDs have seen us together . . . kissing. And yet, we have a little insurance for our situation . . . we saw THEM kissing too. : -)

After seeing what we saw (and in the process, being seen doing the same), we've calmed down a bit, and sat to breakfast together. Maybe this can be smoothed over with a little Dincht charm. ~_^ Then again, seeing the look of pure hatred Selphie is giving me, maybe it can't be smoothed over. Maybe I should focus on guilt-tripping Nida . . . he looks guilty for some reason. Guilty or embarrassed, I can't tell. It doesn't quite make sense to me though. Selphie is attractive, and everyone knows that Nida has a crush on her. Why would he be embarrassed? What could he possibly have done that he WOULDN'T want anyone to know about? I suppose I'll find out in the course of conversation . . .

"And you, what would you like?"

I look up to see a nervous-looking waitress with a pen and a pad of paper. I guess I was having a Squall moment. I'm so tempted to blurt out " . . . Whatever." but I somehow don't think it would help the situation any. No one seems to be in the mood for humor right now. Go figure.

"Oh . . . I'll have two orders of pancakes, some French toast, an order of waffles (pancakes are never enough), blueberry waffles if you have them, some sausage, some eggs, and one cup of decaf. Coffee. Oh, and some biscuits too, but no butter . . . I have to watch my weight."

I look back to my table, and everyone is staring at me for some odd reason.

"Why, what did you guys order?"

Selphie's POV

Well, Zell just ordered his breakfast, and I've been reminded of why I love him so much. He's still my little bro from the orphanage, you know.

It was odd to see him and Seifer together. Cute, but odd. I mean come on, the guy tried to kill us all so he could help destroy the world . . . I may have forgiven him, but that doesn't mean I want him to date my best friend.

Maybe it was the same for them to see Nida and me together. After all, I always told Zell whom I liked, and whom I was going on a date with, and all that other stuff . . . we were like sisters. Can I say that, now that he's gay? Is he gay? Is he just experimenting? Doubting? Confused? Should I ask?

"Zell . . . we need to talk." He looked up at me as though I'd frightened him out of a dream. I think he must've been having a Squall moment. He answered his assent, and I led us away from the table.

We stood in awkward silence, seemingly admiring the wall hangings in the café. The place was actually rather tasteful, for a hotel-café. The walls are adorned with reproductions of various famous paintings. Because we SeeDs are required to take at least one "Cultural" class every year, many of the paintings are recognizable to both of us.

"The Moulin Rouge. Toulouse-Latrek."

Zell was staring at the aforementioned, hanging on the wall behind the bar. It surprised me when he spoke up . . . I suppose he'd been thinking exactly as I was.

"I remember when we were learning about Trabian Culture in Humanities 101. That was right before the Sorceress War . . . when you first transferred to the Garden. We had the class together; we even sat by each other. I remember you were the only one who knew the painting. In fact, you knew most of the paintings already."

"Yeah . . . Trabia Garden was very proud of its artists." Silence ensued for another moment, our topic already exhausted. "Zell . . . I'm sorry." He made to interrupt me, interject some comment, but I stopped him. "No, let me finish. I'm sorry I judged you. If you want to be with Seifer, that's ok. I was just shocked to see you with him. You're like a brother to me, you know that, and I'm just afraid for you."

He let out a sigh, and I saw a tear in his eye (Yeah, it's sappy, but we can all use a little sap here and there). He took a moment to compose himself, and when he finally spoke it was soft, almost a whisper.

"Thank you Selphie. I'm sorry too." Short and sweet, but that's all it took. We pulled each other into a hug, both feeling a little misty-eyed. When e pulled apart, I couldn't resist the temptation to make a joke.

"So I guess I've got someone to discuss boys with now. Rinoa left, Quistis is too busy, and I'm not close to anyone else . . . So we'll just have to have sleepovers!"

This made Zell laugh. I'm glad it did. Our reverie was only broken by another, louder laugh, from Seifer, followed by a slamming door, from Nida.

Seifer's POV

Zell and Selphie walked away to the corner opposite our table, and I knew immediately they would end up forgiving each other. I had grown up with these people, after all. Seeing that I should probably make peace with Nida (after all, being on his good side might help me win Selphie's approval), I began to make small talk.

"So . . . you and Selphie, huh? I thought it might happen eventually." When he looked at me, I saw confusion and despair in his eyes. Seeing this, I decided to try to help him with whatever is bugging him. Hey, I'm not exactly Mr. Caring, but I'm not heatless either.

"You look like you have a problem. Look, I know losing your virginity can be odd, but-"

He shot an incredulous glare at me. It hit me that I must be missing something . . . something big.

"Something tells me there's something bigger than that. Do you want to talk about it? If you're embarrassed, don't be. I'm not going to make fun of you . . . after all, you saw me kissing another guy, you have great blackmail on me." I smirked, but he didn't seem to find it as funny.

"Seifer . . . this is very serious. If I tell you this, I'm entrusting my reputation, and my life to you. If this ever got out, I don't know what would happen."

Nida has this special look that only a few people see. It's very effective at getting a point across. It's a cross between "I'm going to kill you" and "I'm going to kill myself." It's a very desperate look, and a very frightening one.

" . . . Ok Nida, you can trust me."

He let out a breath and began to tell his tale, whispered, while I listened. . . . " . . .And when I asked her to have anal sex with me, she got very angry."

I would've laughed if I hadn't promised not to.

"Well, that's understandable. Lots of girls aren't comfortable with that idea."

He looked at me with stone features.

"You have no idea how 'comfortable' she was with it. I can see you're confused, so I'll explain." He paused, letting out a sigh, and gathered his next few words. "Selphie and I did have anal sex. She used her nunchaiku a sexual toys, and took my anal virginity from me."

Moments were spent in silence. I sat dumbfounded by the idea. Then it hit me: Selphie had gotten a piece of ass, and I hadn't. I burst out laughing immediately, and Nida burst out of the room almost as quickly.

Oops.

I wasn't laughing at him, I was laughing with him, I promise.

Nida's POV

I couldn't wait for the elevator. As soon as I was outside of the café, I ran to the stairs, pushing myself higher and higher in the hotel. It wasn't long before I reached the top. Although Balamb Hotel had, like everything else, grown tremendously after the Sorceress War, it still had only four stories. That was high enough, though.

I broke the lock that barred the way to the roof. It wasn't difficult, especially with SeeD training. I met the crisp air with open arms, and made my way to the edge of the roof. It appeared further from the ground than it really was. I was always afraid of heights.

I stepped toward my death, not caring for anything anymore, but I was stopped. Pulled by a strong arm, away from my fall. I looked on my attacker, a short brunette in a canary dress. Tears welled in my eyes, as I choked out a sob. "Let me go." I don't know if she understood me or not, but it's what I meant to say. Either way, she got the idea.

"No, Nida. I won't. I can't let you go, if you're going to hurt yourself." She was so beautiful. I always thought that Selphie's strength made her more attractive. Lots of guys don't think that about girls.

"Selphie . . . please. You don't know how I feel right now. I'm so afraid. Afraid that no one will like me, afraid that people will do what Seifer did . . . afraid that I'm something I don't want to be."

Selphie's stare burned through me, giving me a strange mix of fear and comfort. It's amazing that she could make me feel two contradicting emotions at once but she can.

"Nida . . . It's not as bad as you think. No one needs to know, if you don't want them to. Seifer won't tell anyone. And if he does, I'll just say he's lying. Don't worry."

She stopped herself. She must have been considering what she would say next. She looked directly into my eyes, stirring up the paradoxical blend of emotions within me again. What she was going to say was obviously very important to her.

"Nida . . . I don't care what you are, or might be. I love what you are or might be. Please don't feel like you need to change that."

I was thunderstruck. Did she just say . . . that she loved me?

I stared at her eyes for a long moment. She was sincere. She looked for the same from me.

"Selphie, I don't know if I'm strong enough for you to love me."

It was the truth.

"Nida, I don't care. I'll be strong enough for both of us, if it's the only way."

She closed the gap between us, and we kissed. All my worries faded away, and I knew that I finally had someone I could truly depend on.

Seifer's POV

"It's about time. It's about time Nida and Selphie got out of the freakin' picture. Well, it's not like them, but still . . . this is supposed to be our story."

The look on Zell's face told Seifer that he wasn't happy. Crap.

"What's that supposed to mean, Seifer? Did you make fun of Nida on purpose, just to get him and Selphie to leave 'us' alone?"

Uh-oh. That "us" was in quote marks. Bad stuff.

"I wasn't making fun of Nida. Like I said, I was laughing with him, not at him. And you have to admit it was funny . . . hee hee . . ."

Zell did not look amused.

"I am not amused." . . .(See?) . . . "What you said nearly made Nida jump of the top of the freakin' building! Seifer, you almost killed someone . . . Maybe you haven't changed. And maybe we don't need to be together."

Zell's speech left Seifer dumbstruck. Even as Zell stood up and walked out the door, he still sat at his table, shocked.

~~~~~ End Chapter ~~~~~

A/N: Soooo, what did ya think? Looks like Selphie and Nida are hooked up now. They're not going to play as big a role in this story, now. This was all just set-up for the rest of the story ^_^ I won't be going into Nida's or Selphie's POV very often anymore. . . or at least I *probably won't. The story will now be focused almost exclusively on Seifer/Zell, although I will delve into other characters' minds to deepen their story.

Random Audience member: You mean this story will have DEPTH?

Me: Yeah. Go figure.

Anyway, Seifer and Zell have some issues now, huh? Will they work them out, will the be together again? Will Seifer prove himself to Zell? =) We'll see.

Oh, and I would like to apologize for my absence lately. I'm using my sister's computer when I can, so I still have a presence here, but it's by no means convenient for me :-/ So anyway. . . reviews and such are always appreciated. Be it hate-mail (trust me, I've gotten plenty of that recently) or praise, I do appreciate it when others inform me of their opinion of my work.