Let Me Make It Alright
Chapter 21: Showtime
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"No, watch the plant! Irvine! IRVINE!"
Zell Dincht squealed at the sound of delicate china shattering into a myriad of pieces on hard marble floors. As a result to his shock, he dropped the box with Seifer's personal belongings that he had been carrying, inevitably jumping at the sound of more glass breaking.
Irvine Kinneas wasn't doing much better. His hands slipped off his side of the metal bedframe they had been lifting and he skidded away in horror. Unfortunately, Seifer was still holding on to his end of the bed, and he cursed rather loudly when his arms were almost yanked out of their sockets.
"Ouch! You fuckin' morons!"
He glared at the mess of smashed up glass and porcelain scattered about in intricate patterns on the floor. Sure, the plant hadn't been his, it was one of the pots carefully positioned in the Garden hallways as decoration, but all the other things that Zell had managed to wreck had been of his very own (and somewhat poor) belonging.
"That's grand, chickenwuss, thanks for ruining my favorite pair of shades!"
He sunk to his knees edgily and picked the debris of his things back into their box. Zell looked down at him in both anger and guilt.
"Sorry," he mumbled contritely.
"Sorry my ass."
He stood back up and shoved the box into Zell's hands, growling like a predator. Zell had to resist the urge to flinch away again, which, obviously, would have resulted in another disaster.
"There, hope you can carry it the last five meters without dropping it again."
He snorted before turning to the broken plant. Somehow, Irvine had managed to run the foot of the bed right into a large pot that anyone not visually disabled would have easily been able to steer clear from. Sure, positioning that thing right next to Squall's door had probably not been the wisest of choices, but regardless, Irvine was nothing short of stupid.
"Ah, fuck it, we'll clean that up later," he huffed and turned to Irvine. "Kinneas. Bed."
The cowboy eyed him suspiciously.
"You've been around that Fujin woman for too long, man."
Seifer's eyes narrowed to slits of emerald, and Irvine realized right away that he had better kept his editorial to himself.
"Do you want me to surgically remove that ludicrous cowboy hat of your's and your useless head right along with it?"
Irvine gulped at the murderous expression on Seifer's tanned face and jumped to grasp his side of the bedframe again immediately, flashing a forced grin. The blonde gunblader smirked with unconcealed pleasure.
"Yeah, didn't think so."
They managed to maneuver the bed into Squall's room after all, this time without shattering anything else. They had already made a few trips prior to this one, moving all of Seifer's clothes and his desk. Seifer had been awestruck by the unnaturally clean state of the apartment, but he had blamed it on Squall's sense of perfection.
Arduously, they cleared a spot right across from Squall's bed and eased Seifer's into place. While Irvine was rubbing his aching arms, Seifer looked around the room in satisfaction. The Commander's apartment was much bigger than his; Squall had a bathroom, a large living-bedroom combination and an open counter kitchen to call his own. Seifer had already given the place a "personal touch" by throwing his trenchcoat over a chair and scattering his clothes all over Squall's couch and bed. He did harbor plans of cleaning up before the brunette's arrival, though, surprising as it might have been. Squall had already blown a few fuses at the mere concept of rooming with anyone, let alone Seifer, so he figured there was no need to anger him any further any time soon.
"Was this all?" Zell asked hopefully.
"Think so."
Seifer glanced around the room once more, then decided to give Squall's fridge a go as his throat was dry as sand.
His eyes widened at its contents, though.
He counted exactly one apple, two bottles of juice and a dull looking piece of unidentified something… he guessed it to be cheese, but he wouldn't have placed any bets on it.
'Gee, no wonder he looks like the damned hospital bedspread. This isn't exactly what I'd call nutritious.'
"We're gonna need some groceries…" he started slowly, still staring at the open void in a blank.
Zell skidded past him to peek into the fridge and let out an acknowledging whistle.
"Wow. He's been splurging."
"No kidding."
"I'm gonna get you guys some groceries. Quistis and I need some, too, anyway."
Seifer cocked an eyebrow at the smaller blonde. Zell had been awfully nice to him, only distracted from his new, sweet course every now and then by Seifer's snide comments.
"Okay… thanks."
Zell smirked playfully and bounced back towards Irvine.
"Well, I guess we're done here," the cowboy sighed, "I'll be chowing down in the cafeteria if you need anything."
"I'll bring those groceries later, man."
The tall gunblader nodded at both of them in a gesture of gratitude and understanding before they left him alone with Squall's things.
Oddly, this had gone much better than he had originally anticipated.
'Oh well.'
Rubbing his hands together in malicious curiosity, he let out a small chuckle.
'Let's see what other wonders this place holds.'
Hours later, he had cleaned the hallway, finished stuffing his clothes into an empty closet and placed his toilet articles in the bathroom. Zell had even stopped by briefly to drop off a pair of paper bags with the promised groceries, so Squall's fridge and kitchen cabinets were actually looking quite satisfying.
He helped himself to an apple, a fresh one of course, and let himself flop into one of the chairs around the dining table. Glancing at the clock, he realized that there was still some time left before he was supposed to pick Squall up at the infirmary.
Chewing on the tangy fruit lazily, he recalled the previous night, when Cid and Quistis had proposed their plan to Squall…
----Flashback----
"That's a joke, right?"
Squall's eyes were burning with disbelief and slowly boiling anger, casting lethal looks at Seifer, Quistis, Cid and doctor Kadowaki.
"It's the best solution, Squall," Cid tried to soothe him, but to no avail.
"That's bullshit, I'm not a child anymore, I don't need a goddamn baby sitter! I can take care of myself just fine!"
The four exchanged knowing glances, perfectly aware of the fact that Squall was anything but capable of caring for himself on his own. Not in his momentary condition, anyway.
"Look, Squall, I can't let you out of here just yet without being under someone's supervision," Kadowaki tried.
"Supervision?" Squall's croaky voice almost stumbled over the word in sheer fury.
Seifer sighed in exasperation. He had known what this scenario would turn out to be like; he wasn't the slightest bit surprised. But of course, the others, in their illusionary fit of brilliance, hadn't wanted to listen to him. Well, he was going to keep his mouth shut and let Quistis and Cid handle the situation. They had brought this onto him and themselves after all.
"Look, Squall, you only have two choices: either you stay here until you're well again, or you go and room with Seifer for a while until your wounds have fully healed and your strength has returned."
"Come on, Squall," Quistis added hopefully, "I know you don't want to stay here."
"Up your's, Quistis!" Squall snapped back icily, only barely keeping himself from flipping her off.
"Squall…"
Her eyes almost popped out of her sockets, causing Seifer to give a rasp chuckle.
'This is almost hilarious.'
"Squall, no matter how much you hate the idea, those are your sole options. You're still sick, and doctor Kadowaki is going to keep you here if you don't agree into rooming with Seifer. So, since I'm aware that you don't want to be strung to this bed any longer, I think we both know what you should do, correct?" Cid smiled.
The brunette blinked angrily at the former director, before his steely gaze slid to Seifer. For a moment, they just stared at each other, and Seifer even forgot to flash his trademark smirk. Squall returned his focus to his blanket, his hands clutching the sheet so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"Whatever," he hissed sourly.
"Is that a yes?"
Squall's snowy features twitched and his gaze darkened, but finally, he managed to choke out a nod.
"Yes."
----Flashback End----
Seifer tossed his apple core into the nearest trash can. Laying in his chair, balancing it on the backmost legs, he decided that breaking the news to Squall hadn't been that bad, after all. He had expected a little more resistance, if futile. Then again, it wasn't like he had been any harder to convince than the brunette.
Somehow, they had both been blackmailed into the same boat, and by now, it was time to start rowing.
Mere two hours later, Seifer walked around the room with just a towel draped around his waist, rubbing his hair dry after a long, hot shower and casting an intruiged glance at Squall's TV and movie collection. What he found were some old Timber productions, a couple of dragon movies and far too many historical documentations.
'Oh, man. Well, it wasn't like I was expecting any tear-jerkers or porn flicks. Tsk - this is just about enough to make me gag, though.'
He shook his head and decided that he'd have to pay the Garden's movie rental place a visit. No matter how bad things would get, he'd rather be found naked and dead than watching a movie on "Stultz Jenkins, 97th president of Deling City."
Sighing, he slipped into a pair of baggy light brown pants and a black long sleeved t-shirt. Smoothing back his hair and brushing his teeth in the bathroom, he wondered what it would be like to room with good old Leonhart. He paused for a moment, toothbrush stuck in his mouth, then spat out in the sink.
'Hell.'
He rinsed his mouth before he went into the living-room and grabbed the spare key card he had gotten from director Cid. A last look around the room left him with the feeling that it really wasn't all that bad - all his things were pretty much in order and fairly unobtrusive - before he walked out the door and locked it with a flick of his card.
'Showtime.'
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To be continued!
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Oh my... a half nekkid Seifer...
WE WANTS ONE!
... Guess I'm not alone, eh ;)