Blond Silence 3
By Nix Winter
Disclaimer: I don't own ff8 and I'm just writing this story for fun.
Three
"Why don't you go see him," Irvine asked, not looking in Squall's eyes anymore than Squall was looking in his.
Squall made a small sound, shrugged. "You said he was alright."
Irvine pressed his fingers slowly over his eyebrows. "Yeah. I did. He is. He's getting quite a vocabulary with those fingers of his."
Squall looked up, grimacing. "What?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure 'Fucking bastard' was not in the signing dictionary. You should see him before your next mission. It's been seven months since his trial and you haven't talked to him once. After what you said for him at the trial, I thought you cared about him. Are you really that pissed off?"
"No." Squall went back to the book he was reading, though the words didn't have any meaning to him. He couldn't help Seifer. Didn't they know that? Didn't they understand that Seifer was like this because of Squall? "He'll be alright."
"Well, yeah," Irvine said. "He got into a fight about two weeks ago. You should have seen him. I got it all wrong, you see. I thought they were picking on him because of well, the war, but it wasn't that at all."
Squall closed his book. "Who was picking on him?"
"It doesn't matter now," Irvine said, grinning, pretty sure he'd gotten Squall's attention. Irvine had promised Seifer that he wouldn't tell Squall about Seifer being afraid, or being shy, but he hadn't said anything about not telling Squall when Seifer came out on top. "Yeah, so this guy walks up behind him and pours pink dye on Seifer's head."
"Who?" Squall said, anger flashing, lips so tight color faded from them.
Irvine held up a hand. "I told you, don't matter. But Seifer spun and the guy froze, like he was really seeing something more than a mute artist…"
Squall interrupted, "Seifer's still not speaking? He can't?"
"You sure as hell don't listen really well. No. He hasn't made so much as a sound since he got back."
"How does he talk?"
Irvine made the sign for idiot, while smiling really sweetly. "He signs. His therapist Janyn has been teaching him. He can't write, but he can type. They think it's a psychological block of some kind."
Like from a spell gone really dark, Squall thought, his heart melting under black guilt. "He'll get better. What happened with the other student?"
"Seifer moved like so fast. Unbelievable fast. I saw it and I still didn't believe it. He blocked the guy's punch, caught his arm, pinned it behind his back, then put rubbed pink dye in the guy's hair. They both had pink spots for a week."
"I'd have loved to have seen Seifer Almasy with pink hair," Squall whispered, knees drawn up to his chest, arms around them. "Was he very angry?"
Irvine sighed. "He doesn't seem to get angry anymore. I know you don't remember him from when we were kids, but he's more like that Seifer that I knew. Since then, I guess whoever was harassing him has backed off a bit. He hasn't been skipping classes. You should go see him."
"He'll be alright." Squall said again, almost bending his paperback. "He's Seifer."
"Yeah," Irvine said, irritated. He'd also promised not to tell Squall that Seifer half floated every time he saw Squall. "He's Seifer. Why can't you just go see him?"
Squall closed his eyes, drew his knees in a little tighter. "I'll see him at the Winter Ball. He's coming? Who is he coming with? Does he have a girl he likes? A boy?"
Sighing, Irvine wanted to know why his three best friends were a mute, an idiot, and a maniac. "He's coming. I don't think he has a date," Irvine said, flashing Squall a suggestive smile. "He might ask this brunette he knows, if the guy shows any interest."
Squall's eyes glazed over. Seifer had found someone, a guy, a sweet guy who wouldn't hurt him. "I'm not going."
"Well why not?" Irvine scratched his head, pulled his hat back into place. He had to bite his tongue. He'd just about given it away, about flat up told Squall that Seifer wanted to ask him. How much clearer could he possibly get? Gods. "I mean, it wouldn't hurt anything or anything and you're not going to have any missions then."
Shrugging Squall rose. "I'm going running. He'll be alright."
Well, if Squall didn't want him, then Irvine would give in to Sel's plan and they'd fix Seifer up. Yup. That's what they'd do. "You do that. He's fine. You just leave it all to me."