Things got very quiet in the small city for the big-time soldier...again. Most of his time spent at home was generally uneventful and resting unless he wanted it otherwise. That was the way things were before Seifer had stepped in to intrude. While he hadn't actually caught him anywhere in the past couple days, his presence was still floating somewhere inside Zell's skull.
Worst of all, he had to admit that if Seifer didn't come by sometime soon, he was going to go out looking for him. Which is what he didn't want to do. Yeah, he'd been nice and all the past few times he'd seen him, but that didn't erase all the wariness. There was still plenty of things going on up there that told him that this could be some overly elaborate joke played him by a very bored bully.
What if it was? He could take Seifer now. Easily, actually. Zell was better trained than ever, could junction a GF in a second and Seifer wouldn't have a gunblade. Seifer was probably real rusty, too. Still good enough to take on a dozen city toughs, but not good enough to take on Zell with his hands tied. So what was the big deal?
The big deal was was that this was reminding Zell all too much of how badly he had always wanted Seifer to respect him. To be his friend. All his life the measurement of good and bad had so often been dictated by the presence, attitude, and opinion of this one guy. Some of the most poignant times in his life had been when he'd been the one on top, showing Seifer how it was done.
Of course, as he'd gotten older, he'd realized just how different his experiences after leaving the orphanage were compared to the rest of them. He and Selphie had been the only two given the proper love to grow into a person. He had found his Ma and Selphie had always held the considerable power to make people love her on first sight. The both of them had always known what it was like to care for and be cared for by another person (except for Quistis, who remembered her parents and Squall who remembered enough to know he'd been abandoned).
So what did that really mean? Was Seifer a bad guy? Had he grown up? Was Edea's love for him enough to figure out how it was people were supposed to feel about other people? When did he start sounding so much like Sailor Moon?
The bed sheets were tousled, wound around his legs so tightly that if he rolled over again, he may rip them. His mattress was half uncovered and one of his pillows was halfway across the room. He groaned and put the other one over his face. It was too early on a beautiful vacation day to be awake, tossing and turning about his childhood bully-cum-adult friend.
Adult friend. that sounded kinda dirty.
"Zell! Breakfast!"
Well, that was it. He was up now. His ma always knew when he was up 'you're only quiet when you're asleep blah blah blah noisy' she would say as loudly as possible no matter where they were and no matter who was walking by. Sigh. Somethings never change. Seifer. He hadn't been around for...57 hours?
seifer.
For Hyne's sake, he was getting dressed already. He fumbled into a crumpled pair of red denim shorts and a random white tank top that he had been wearing yesterday to trudge sleepily down the stairs.
"You're going to mow the lawn today, right?" She asked him when he immediately came into sight. Hyne, she would never let him forget it. Yes yes, he'd get it done today. On his vacation.
"Yes ma." He replied, sitting down at the table with his eyes closed again. Waiting for the hot plate of food to be placed in front of him so he'd find a reason to keep them open next time.
"Now, I mean it. If you don't do it today I'll have to do it myself and then you'll be cleaning out the basement." Groan, the basement. The depository of every unkown, unwanted but still useful object that had ever come into the house. It'd gone ignored for at least a decade and Ma's new goal was to clear it out.
"Yes Ma." He sounded sorta dutiful and it must've worked because a moment later he had a steaming plate full of food.
"I'm visiting your Auntie Sophie today. The one to whom you haven't spoken to or visited since the last holiday, Zell. You know she misses you and wants to see how you're doing. I keep telling her that you're so busy up at that Garden. Living the legacy of your grandfather. Hmph! Your grandfather was a family man. Dah dah dah dah DAH. Blah blah clang rustling bag, footstep footstep cabinet door etc etc." It was better to stay silent and let her rants run their course. Yes, he did love his aunt sophie, but she smelled of disgusting perfume and would ask him endless questions about 'that Irvine boy' whose picture she saw on a telecast. It was beyond creepy and she would always inadvertantly stab him with her pointy nails. Oh, and his cousins were the most obnoxious pricks you'd ever seen or heard. And that was saying something when you compared them to Seifer. Old Seifer. The Seifer before this Seifer.
She cleared the empty plate from in front of him when he was finished, finally finishing her grandiose rant. It was always a good sign that she was still spoiling him even while complaining. When she got really mad, she removed all motherly services and forced him to live independently. Shudder. "What are your plans today, sweetie?" Sweetie? Guess she really got everything out with that rant.
"Um, Mow the lawn. Call up a friend, maybe Seifer. Whatever." Damn, why did he have to go and mention Seifer?
"Oh-ho. well, I've left some things in the fridge. Perhaps you could invite him over for lunch and make sandwiches? The weather is supposed to be beautiful." His Ma still thought of lunch as the ultimate attack of mid-day socializing. "If you mow the lawn, maybe you could even have a picnic!" Oh yes! A picnic! And if he hurried, he could plant some daisies for his hair before Seifer got there.
"Awww Ma! We're soldiers, we don't picnic"
"If you say so!" She smiled indulgently and hefted her full bag over her shoulder and gave him a wave. She clearly did not believe him. "I'm off! Be good while I'm gone!" She called, running out the door. Finally.
Tch! Him and Seifer! A picnic! What had she been drinking before he woke up?!
He showered and dressed in a forcibly leisure-like fashion. After all, he couldn't just go looking for Seifer at 10am, could he? that would be a little more forward than he'd like to be. Instead, he did every kind of hygienic routine he could think of. He trimmed his coiff, he clippes his nails, he flossed twice. He did a rinse and repeat, moisturized his face, buffed his nails, ironed his shirt, chose his outfit with excruciating care.
He took a moment to comprehend that he was technically cleaner than he had ever been in his entire life. He'd cleaned out his ears and his belly button, done every type of beautifying activity that he had ever performed on himself, plus an extra (the buffing) and had nary a wrinkle on his garments. He was wearing some long shorts with various hanging straps gleaming silver against its artifical black and a fitted ringer shirt that was white with red, sporting a matching red design of an antique 'killer robot' toy on the chest. He wore black and red sneakers to match and a simple black wristband.
He stood in front of the mirror and took one deep breath. When he was a kid, he thought for sure that when he grew up and was all muscular and had some money that the world would be his. He was glad that he hadn't known that no matter how strong you are, there's always something that'll get to ya. He smirked wryly at his reflection before stepping away and heading down the stairs. He had a mental list of locations that he would look for Seifer at.
The first and perhaps most embarrassing, was his workplace. He didn't want to talk to the foreman, or anyone like that. He planned on scouting out the location first, seeing if Seifer emerged from below the decks of one of the various ships in repair at the Balamb docks. He found himself situated between a bush and a stonewall overlooking the maintenance harbor that was on the other side of the train station. Nope, no Seifer so far.
"See anything interesting?" A smooth voice asked from behind. Zell whirled around, his fists instintively raised to defend himself. He was rather surprised, it'd take someone of at least considerable training to sneak up on Zell. Someone with training like Seifer's whose cold blue eyes he was now looking into.
Zell dropped his fists from their defensive stance, one hand going over his eyes as he gasped for his lost breath.
"Fucking shit, Seifer! You scared the piss outta me!"
The taller man smirked, his body taking on that old stance. The one that spoke of danger and confidence. "Heh, I knew you couldn't stay away for too long."
"Whatever. I was keeping up on some smugglers that were rumored to be in this port."
"In other words, you were spying on me."
"I was n-!" There we are, just like always. but not this time. "Whatever, Seifer. Think what you want, but you came up here for a reason." He pointed a finger at Seifer, as if there had to have been some illicit reason for his arrival at the scene. Maybe he had been watching Zell all this time? That'd be like him. Watching him to see when he'd go looking for him and then surprising him at the right moment. But it'd be way more effective with a crowd. Maybe he was being recorded!
Seifer, on the other hand, seemed entirely nonplussed about the situation at this point. He'd been hoping that this visit would be friendly, if not subtly romantic. Maybe he'd ruined the mood when by first scaring and then teasing Zell."Yes I am. The reason is is that this is where I usually take my breaks." Good save!
Zell mentally re-evaluated the pros and cons of finding Seifer. Suddenly there were very few pros and very many cons. He'd come, he'd seen, he could leave with sound mind. He gave a curt wave and walked briskly past Seifer. "Fine. I'll see you."
"And the drug smugglers I assume."
"Them too." He replied, giving him the finger over his shoulder.
Seifer watched him walk away. Down the hill and around the corner. He swore he could have seen Zell's head bobbing through the busy crowd. He swore at himself for leaving without him. Truth was that he had the rest of the day off. The perfect situation which he had perfectly ruined.
He sighed and started walking down the hill some twenty minutes after Zell had left. He'd spent the time staring up at the sky and asking it when was it that he decided to ruin every good chance that came his way. Yeah, he didn't know either.
----
End Chapter 9
Author's Note: Yeah, I know this part is a bit raw. But I've been working on this fanfic for months now. Since September of last year and I really would like to finish it. So I may speed up the process and edit later. I hope you'll forgive me, but I expect that there are no particularly large flaws.
The next chapter gets PG-13 for suggestive imagery! Are you excited? I am!
Worst of all, he had to admit that if Seifer didn't come by sometime soon, he was going to go out looking for him. Which is what he didn't want to do. Yeah, he'd been nice and all the past few times he'd seen him, but that didn't erase all the wariness. There was still plenty of things going on up there that told him that this could be some overly elaborate joke played him by a very bored bully.
What if it was? He could take Seifer now. Easily, actually. Zell was better trained than ever, could junction a GF in a second and Seifer wouldn't have a gunblade. Seifer was probably real rusty, too. Still good enough to take on a dozen city toughs, but not good enough to take on Zell with his hands tied. So what was the big deal?
The big deal was was that this was reminding Zell all too much of how badly he had always wanted Seifer to respect him. To be his friend. All his life the measurement of good and bad had so often been dictated by the presence, attitude, and opinion of this one guy. Some of the most poignant times in his life had been when he'd been the one on top, showing Seifer how it was done.
Of course, as he'd gotten older, he'd realized just how different his experiences after leaving the orphanage were compared to the rest of them. He and Selphie had been the only two given the proper love to grow into a person. He had found his Ma and Selphie had always held the considerable power to make people love her on first sight. The both of them had always known what it was like to care for and be cared for by another person (except for Quistis, who remembered her parents and Squall who remembered enough to know he'd been abandoned).
So what did that really mean? Was Seifer a bad guy? Had he grown up? Was Edea's love for him enough to figure out how it was people were supposed to feel about other people? When did he start sounding so much like Sailor Moon?
The bed sheets were tousled, wound around his legs so tightly that if he rolled over again, he may rip them. His mattress was half uncovered and one of his pillows was halfway across the room. He groaned and put the other one over his face. It was too early on a beautiful vacation day to be awake, tossing and turning about his childhood bully-cum-adult friend.
Adult friend. that sounded kinda dirty.
"Zell! Breakfast!"
Well, that was it. He was up now. His ma always knew when he was up 'you're only quiet when you're asleep blah blah blah noisy' she would say as loudly as possible no matter where they were and no matter who was walking by. Sigh. Somethings never change. Seifer. He hadn't been around for...57 hours?
seifer.
For Hyne's sake, he was getting dressed already. He fumbled into a crumpled pair of red denim shorts and a random white tank top that he had been wearing yesterday to trudge sleepily down the stairs.
"You're going to mow the lawn today, right?" She asked him when he immediately came into sight. Hyne, she would never let him forget it. Yes yes, he'd get it done today. On his vacation.
"Yes ma." He replied, sitting down at the table with his eyes closed again. Waiting for the hot plate of food to be placed in front of him so he'd find a reason to keep them open next time.
"Now, I mean it. If you don't do it today I'll have to do it myself and then you'll be cleaning out the basement." Groan, the basement. The depository of every unkown, unwanted but still useful object that had ever come into the house. It'd gone ignored for at least a decade and Ma's new goal was to clear it out.
"Yes Ma." He sounded sorta dutiful and it must've worked because a moment later he had a steaming plate full of food.
"I'm visiting your Auntie Sophie today. The one to whom you haven't spoken to or visited since the last holiday, Zell. You know she misses you and wants to see how you're doing. I keep telling her that you're so busy up at that Garden. Living the legacy of your grandfather. Hmph! Your grandfather was a family man. Dah dah dah dah DAH. Blah blah clang rustling bag, footstep footstep cabinet door etc etc." It was better to stay silent and let her rants run their course. Yes, he did love his aunt sophie, but she smelled of disgusting perfume and would ask him endless questions about 'that Irvine boy' whose picture she saw on a telecast. It was beyond creepy and she would always inadvertantly stab him with her pointy nails. Oh, and his cousins were the most obnoxious pricks you'd ever seen or heard. And that was saying something when you compared them to Seifer. Old Seifer. The Seifer before this Seifer.
She cleared the empty plate from in front of him when he was finished, finally finishing her grandiose rant. It was always a good sign that she was still spoiling him even while complaining. When she got really mad, she removed all motherly services and forced him to live independently. Shudder. "What are your plans today, sweetie?" Sweetie? Guess she really got everything out with that rant.
"Um, Mow the lawn. Call up a friend, maybe Seifer. Whatever." Damn, why did he have to go and mention Seifer?
"Oh-ho. well, I've left some things in the fridge. Perhaps you could invite him over for lunch and make sandwiches? The weather is supposed to be beautiful." His Ma still thought of lunch as the ultimate attack of mid-day socializing. "If you mow the lawn, maybe you could even have a picnic!" Oh yes! A picnic! And if he hurried, he could plant some daisies for his hair before Seifer got there.
"Awww Ma! We're soldiers, we don't picnic"
"If you say so!" She smiled indulgently and hefted her full bag over her shoulder and gave him a wave. She clearly did not believe him. "I'm off! Be good while I'm gone!" She called, running out the door. Finally.
Tch! Him and Seifer! A picnic! What had she been drinking before he woke up?!
He showered and dressed in a forcibly leisure-like fashion. After all, he couldn't just go looking for Seifer at 10am, could he? that would be a little more forward than he'd like to be. Instead, he did every kind of hygienic routine he could think of. He trimmed his coiff, he clippes his nails, he flossed twice. He did a rinse and repeat, moisturized his face, buffed his nails, ironed his shirt, chose his outfit with excruciating care.
He took a moment to comprehend that he was technically cleaner than he had ever been in his entire life. He'd cleaned out his ears and his belly button, done every type of beautifying activity that he had ever performed on himself, plus an extra (the buffing) and had nary a wrinkle on his garments. He was wearing some long shorts with various hanging straps gleaming silver against its artifical black and a fitted ringer shirt that was white with red, sporting a matching red design of an antique 'killer robot' toy on the chest. He wore black and red sneakers to match and a simple black wristband.
He stood in front of the mirror and took one deep breath. When he was a kid, he thought for sure that when he grew up and was all muscular and had some money that the world would be his. He was glad that he hadn't known that no matter how strong you are, there's always something that'll get to ya. He smirked wryly at his reflection before stepping away and heading down the stairs. He had a mental list of locations that he would look for Seifer at.
The first and perhaps most embarrassing, was his workplace. He didn't want to talk to the foreman, or anyone like that. He planned on scouting out the location first, seeing if Seifer emerged from below the decks of one of the various ships in repair at the Balamb docks. He found himself situated between a bush and a stonewall overlooking the maintenance harbor that was on the other side of the train station. Nope, no Seifer so far.
"See anything interesting?" A smooth voice asked from behind. Zell whirled around, his fists instintively raised to defend himself. He was rather surprised, it'd take someone of at least considerable training to sneak up on Zell. Someone with training like Seifer's whose cold blue eyes he was now looking into.
Zell dropped his fists from their defensive stance, one hand going over his eyes as he gasped for his lost breath.
"Fucking shit, Seifer! You scared the piss outta me!"
The taller man smirked, his body taking on that old stance. The one that spoke of danger and confidence. "Heh, I knew you couldn't stay away for too long."
"Whatever. I was keeping up on some smugglers that were rumored to be in this port."
"In other words, you were spying on me."
"I was n-!" There we are, just like always. but not this time. "Whatever, Seifer. Think what you want, but you came up here for a reason." He pointed a finger at Seifer, as if there had to have been some illicit reason for his arrival at the scene. Maybe he had been watching Zell all this time? That'd be like him. Watching him to see when he'd go looking for him and then surprising him at the right moment. But it'd be way more effective with a crowd. Maybe he was being recorded!
Seifer, on the other hand, seemed entirely nonplussed about the situation at this point. He'd been hoping that this visit would be friendly, if not subtly romantic. Maybe he'd ruined the mood when by first scaring and then teasing Zell."Yes I am. The reason is is that this is where I usually take my breaks." Good save!
Zell mentally re-evaluated the pros and cons of finding Seifer. Suddenly there were very few pros and very many cons. He'd come, he'd seen, he could leave with sound mind. He gave a curt wave and walked briskly past Seifer. "Fine. I'll see you."
"And the drug smugglers I assume."
"Them too." He replied, giving him the finger over his shoulder.
Seifer watched him walk away. Down the hill and around the corner. He swore he could have seen Zell's head bobbing through the busy crowd. He swore at himself for leaving without him. Truth was that he had the rest of the day off. The perfect situation which he had perfectly ruined.
He sighed and started walking down the hill some twenty minutes after Zell had left. He'd spent the time staring up at the sky and asking it when was it that he decided to ruin every good chance that came his way. Yeah, he didn't know either.
----
End Chapter 9
Author's Note: Yeah, I know this part is a bit raw. But I've been working on this fanfic for months now. Since September of last year and I really would like to finish it. So I may speed up the process and edit later. I hope you'll forgive me, but I expect that there are no particularly large flaws.
The next chapter gets PG-13 for suggestive imagery! Are you excited? I am!