Zell sighed, pushing his mostly full plate across the table. He just wasn't hungry. He hadn't had a single hot dog since he'd come to Esthar, and it was beginning to show. He had lost five pounds. Maybe if Estharian food weren't so shitty...for being the most advanced country on the planet, with all of the technology and impressive architecture, you would think they would spend a little more time on their food. To Zell, it seemed like they only cared that it fed them, not so much about the taste.
He wondered if it was too soon to call Quistis again. She still wasn't in.
He felt endlessly restless, and wandered over to gaze out of the window wall and look at the city. Having traveled all around the world, Zell still thought that the lights over Esthar after dark were the most stunning things he had ever seen. They glimmered and twinkled and shined out to the end of the horizon, almost as if the stars in the sky had fallen to earth and decided to stay there. The scene brought out the kid in him, making him giddy and causing him to break into a huge smile. Quisty was missing out.
How she could stay out so late, working well into every morning, and starting over again at dawn, Zell had no idea. All that he wanted was to have her there, to hold her safely in his arms until he drifted off into peaceful sleep. Wow...the whole thing was so bizarre.
It had happened almost as an accident. They had gone out their first night in Esthar...strangely, it had been Quistis' idea. They downed shots, trying to one-up each other, until they both got so drunk that they couldn't stand straight. As they attempted to make it back to the Presidential Palace, rather unsuccessfully, Quistis tripped over her own foot, and rolled over and over until she stopped flat on her back. Zell had laughed hysterically, and tried to pull her to her feet, but only succeeded in falling on top of her.
His lips ended up resting on hers, and they had looked each other in the eyes, gauging the other's reaction. Quistis looked at him teasingly, and Zell's eyes had been filled with lust, desire that had filled him to the brim since...forever. He had still never been with a girl...
In her intoxicated bravery, Quistis had made the first move, kissing him gently, and then gradually wiggling her tongue between virgin lips to taste him. She had caressed his tongue with hers, and Zell, in his inexperience, let her take charge. She flicked her tongue across the roof of his mouth, causing him to jolt with the tickling sensation.
They had somehow managed to find their way back to her room, suddenly sobered a little by the heat they felt. She had pushed him to the bed, not even waiting for him to settle before pulling her dress up and over her head, leaving her body bare and exposed, skin glistening with beads of sweat still dripping from the muggy heat of the club. Zell remembered not being able to breath, that his throat had tightened so much from surprise and a lust he had never felt before that it left him incapable of drawing air into his lungs. He remembered a similar tightness in his pants, his dick so hard that it screamed out in the need to be touched, to be played with, to be relieved of the hardness that practically threatened to burst the skin.
Quistis had smirked at him, completely understanding what he was feeling. It had not been long ago that she was a virgin cadet taken by an experienced teacher. She remembered that the lust that had, for the most part, lain dormant for those 16 years of her life, had ignited in a fiery furnace under even the slightest of touches from the man. And when she had seen his body in all of its glory, the curved, broad shoulders, the muscular thighs, his straining cock, she had been on overdrive, no longer even thinking, just functioning alone on the primal urges her body had presented her with.
Zell had been taken over. As soon as her breasts had been exposed, falling and resting slightly against her chest, light pink nipples already hard and jutting from the milky curves, his dick had reached a whole new level of hard, almost feeling as if it were going to come on its own accord. His body had trembled almost violently, in a sort of pre-orgasm, and he felt his conscious mind take a back seat to the sexual being that he never knew lived inside his head.
Quistis had teased him long enough. She had crawled up the length of his body, pulling his head up to hers to steal another kiss, before resting her body along the line of his to grab his shirt, raising herself onto elbows to pull it non-too-gently over his head. Ooooo...a nipple ring. She had pulled on it gently, and then brought her mouth to it, grabbing it between her teeth and pulling until she produced a sound from him, slight pain, but overwhelming that, pleasure. She released the ring, looking up into Zell's eyes, almost unable to see the real him underneath all of pure pleasure his body was riding on. He looked desperate.
The look was enough; she was done taking it slow. She wanted Zell's cherry and she wanted it now. She had undone his belt, pulling it from his hips while he arched his back to make it easier. She unbuttoned his shorts, and jerked them and his boxers down his legs while Zell remained in the same position. He laid back down on the bed, and she pulled the clothing from his ankles, releasing his body into the full nudity it desired, and she had barely taken him all in before she walked on her knees, straddling his body, until she came to his cock, purple with need, and sat back, taking him inside of her in one smooth motion. He glided into her with ease, her wetness practically pouring from inside.
Quistis had found his eyes once again, and she knew that they were a reflection of her own: just on this side of total chaos. She gave in to the chaos, and felt herself finally slip away. She raised herself above him, and crashed down without regard for how it would make him feel. Although it did hurt, being as she was falling on his dick, the pain was blocked out, all white noise hissing behind the pleasure that was exploding all around him, flooding every sense in pure ecstasy.
She had continued to rise and fall like choppy sea waves, suddenly rising, unpredictable, reaching far, far above him, almost pulling herself free from his hardness, before pounding down, dropping all of her weight on his dick, using the momentum to thrust him deep inside of her, hitting places deep within that she could never reach on her own. As he felt the sudden pressure building within him, he had begun to thrust his hips upward to meet her, pounding and slapping into one another until the orgasm burst over her, causing her to buck and thrash, losing the rhythm they had built together. As she tightened around him, he felt himself begin to go, and he drilled his way into her, lifting her useless body himself, and smashing her down to his hips, while he continued to thrust until he finally came, his back arching, hands clenching on Quistis' hips.
They had fallen into each other's embrace, shuddering and laughing, enjoying the moment, the escape it was meant to be for her; the first time, for him.
And it had only grown from there. Quistis hadn't been aware of the feelings she had been harboring for Zell, her own student. What she had thought were the admiration and pride one felt when they were able to mold such a great student were really feelings of caring and compassion, feelings a teacher might feel for a student, but never express. They took advantage of the first night to have a second...and a third...and, unpredictably, they had grown to become a couple.
Zell was still surprised how in just a month, he had grown to care about her in such a way that he had never experienced before. He was genuinely worried that she wouldn't make it home, that something might happen, that he would never feel her body pressed against him again.
He heard a beep, and the door opened. She was home.
As soon as Roane opened the door and saw Squall's face glaring down at him from his raised desk, he knew something was up. He knew it had been too good to be true: Squall finally regarding him as a part of Garden? Hardly. The only reason Roane could think of that would make Squall "stoop" low enough to call him was a lack of bodies for whatever the mission was. He knew he was the last person Squall would ever send: petty on Squall's part, but absolutely true.
Rinoa had turned to look at him, trying desperately to make eye contact, which Roane adverted. Why did he always try to be so damn diplomatic? It was pointless. As much as Squall would like to say that he acted entirely professional, it was impossible to ignore the bias he held towards Roane, merely because he and Rinoa were together. It would always be that way. Rinoa felt bad for Roane: the bad blood between he and Squall was starting to put a damper on him, financially. At least Roane would be going with them to Trabia, even if he were only an act of desperation on Squall's part.
Roane strode into the room effortlessly, ignoring Squall's glare and Rinoa's searching eyes. He would give good SeeD face, assuming Squall wanted him for a "mission," and not just to persecute him in front of Rinoa and her friends. He walked to stand between the chairs that held Rinoa and Irvine with Selphie in his lap, keeping his eyes locked on Squall's, stopping within a foot of the desk, saluting. "Commander."
Rinoa had to admire him, putting on a smile and acting as if Squall was just the person he wanted to see. Roane had taken Squall's hatred for him on an entirely personal level, which Rinoa knew wasn't true at all. Squall would have hated anybody that Rinoa had been with, because they were with her, the woman that had betrayed him.
And of course, she had to admire his body...the solid black t-shirt clung to his his torso like a second skin, pulled tight across the broad expanse of chest. His nipples, hardened from the friction of the fabric, caused small bumps on the otherwise smooth plane. The shirt draped a little around his stomach, from his chest filling the shirt so well, but it met skin again at his waist, and it ended just above his pants. Rinoa knew that if he raised his arms at all, the hard, tight ripples of his stomach would peek out...just the thought made her want to run her hands across it, but she contained herself. The jeans he donned were faded and worn, the fabric threatening to fray in several places, and holes already worn through appeared on the right knee and on his left thigh, showing flashes of skin tanned a rich golden brown. Rinoa knew that it wasn't a tan- he looked that way year round. The black from the shirt matched his dark brows and hair, making his amber eyes look unnaturally bright, almost like cat eyes. Damn, he was beautiful. Rinoa crossed her legs, barely containing herself from jumping out of her seat and raping him right there in the middle of Squall's office.
Roane noticed the motion out of the corner of his eye, and couldn't contain the beginnings of a grin from his face. He loved the way she reacted to his body, like she knew no other when he was around. He felt exactly the same way about her. Hyne, she was the hottest fucking thing in the Garden. He couldn't see how Squall hadn't appreciated her.
Squall took the time to explain the situation to Roane, even mentioning that the only reason he was asking Roane to come was because there was no other SeeDs available. Roane managed to hide the hurt from his face. He wanted nothing more than to be close to all of Rinoa's friends, but Squall outright hated him. Zell...well, he was too out there for him. Quistis and Selphie were both great to him. And Irvine, well, Roane knew him from Galbadia, and Irvine wasn't petty enough to hate him just for being with Rinoa.
Roane nodded. "I understand. What's the plan?" he asked.
Squall squinted his eyes at him in irritation. He had just been getting to that. He leaned against the desk again, settling in the wood. "Galbadia hasn't made themselves too comfortable just yet. Trabia has only been under their occupation for three days. If we can get in there by tomorrow, and take control of the flight deck, then we should be able to get them to surrender. Galbadia doesn't use guardians, and we have plenty of them, so they shouldn't pose much of a threat."
Rinoa glanced over to Selphie, who looked like a different person, with the ferocity and anger that was burning in her eyes. She had only seen Selphie like this once before- when she had learned that Trabia had been hit by the missiles that Galbadia had launched to destroy the Garden. She wasn't herself until she fulfilled the internal promise she had made: after they destroyed Ultimecia. Rinoa had the feeling that as much as Selphie had been in the fight to save the world, or to save her friends, she had probably been just as focused on getting her revenge. This time was no different.
"So are we just going to barge in, kick ass, and hope that we can defeat however many troops are there?" Roane asked, challenging Squall's plan. "Are we sneaking in? What? What the hell are we doing? Because 'taking control of the flight deck' sounds pretty vague to me."
Rinoa's jaw dropped. Roane was just asking to get his ass booted from this mission, his one chance to prove himself to Squall. Looking at Squall's face, she thought that he probably felt the same way.
"Well, Roane, seeing as we aren't exactly there right now, it's impossible to say exactly what we're going to be doing. Unless you have some master plan," Squall suggested with an intense glare directed at Roane, his voice hissing between clenched teeth.
Roane stopped himself before he said something really stupid, swallowing his pride. "No, Commander," he said, dropping his eyes.
"Alright then, we're leaving at 18:00 hours. Meet at the front gate," Squall said, dismissing the group for the rest of the day.
They stopped just outside of the door to Selphie's room, Irvine looking down at the tiny fragile woman that was grasping his hand as if he were the last solid thing on the earth. She hadn't said anything since they had left Squall's office, and Irvine hadn't expected her to, and hadn't tried to fill the silence himself. He knew that she needed the time to think it all through. Fucking Galbadians. He hated to see her like this- hurt, shocked, pained...broken.
He rubbed his thumb reassuringly across the back of her hand, drawing her eyes up to meet his. He gave her a comforting smile. "Selph, I'm so sorry. Things are gonna be all right, you know they are. I'll bet they're shivering in their cheap boots just thinking about the wicked Selphie that took down Ultimecia coming and knocking on their door."
She forced a small smile. "Thanks, Irvy, but I need to be alone, so..." she trailed off.
Irvine took her other hand, and clasped them both between his own. "Oh, I don't think so. I'm not gonna let you get trashed before we go off to save Trabia." He hadn't known for a long time that Selphie dealt with her problems in one way- alcohol. Whenever something bad happened, Selphie became what was known as a "functioning alcoholic." Not terribly smashed, just drunk enough to have a great buzz and still get things done.
"Don't do this to me, Irvine. Fucking Galbadia had invaded Trabia...the Trabia that I've been working so hard to fix. I need a drink," she ended, leaving a weight in the air that said she would not be denied.
"Selph...it's not healthy. Drinking all the time. I know things haven't been great or anything, but-"
"No, Irvine, no they haven't been great, or good, for fuck's sake," she said viciously, ripping her hands away. "I don't want to hear this from you. Up till now, you've had Squall...and Rinoa's had Roane...Zell's still playing the virgin; Quistis, the instructor...and me..."
She sighed, looking up and up into Irvine's eyes. "I haven't had anybody. Nobody, Irvine. Not even you. You've been so wrapped up in Squall the last few months, and Rinoa, with Roane...Quistis has been away for a month...hell, I didn't even have Zell to talk to."
Fuck, had he really been that self-involved that he hadn't been there for his friend as her life fell apart? Had he really alienated her so much as to drive her into depression? And now she was drinking to solve her problems...not just casually, but from the tone that Selphie had taken on, and from what she said, it screamed addiction.
Irvine grasped her shoulders lightly, his fingers kneading the tense muscles. "Selphie...I hadn't realized.." He pulled her into a hug, clutching her small body to his in an effort to show just how sorry he was. "Now that Squall and I are..I'm not going to ignore you Selph. I can't believe that I ever did. I'm sorry..." He rubbed her sides, absentmindedly, with the tips of his fingers.
Selphie stood in his embrace, her arms to her sides. He was hugging her for his own benefit, not for her's. She knew it. He felt bad for not being there for her. He didn't feel bad for what she was going through, only guilty that he hadn't been there for support.
Irvine finally loosened his arms, releasing her. She took a few steps back, making it easier to meet his eyes, not having to crane her neck back. His face bore tear streaks, leading from his eyes down to his chin. He did feel bad. She felt guilty for ever thinking that Irvine would intentionally hurt her.
"Oh Irvine..." she whispered, pulling him into a hug that rivaled the intensity of Irvine's. She pulled back after a moment, holding his hands at an arm's length, looking again at his sad face, this time with a bright smile on her face. "It's ok! Really, it is. Just don't forget me again, all right? You wouldn't want me to have to kick your ass," she said with a small wink.
This produced a slight giggle from Irvine, which ended up becoming an all-out laugh, until he was left gasping for breath, bent in the middle, hands braced against knees.
"Hey, it wasn't that funny! Irvine, stop laughing at me!" Selphie said, jerking on his arm, pulling him upright.
Irvine managed to stop laughing, a startling contrast to the tears that had been flowing only seconds earlier. Wow, he was an emotional wreck.
"Selph, let's get out of here, eh? How 'bout you and I go into Balamb and get some lunch? My treat."
Selphie grinned at him. It might take a while, but she felt like things between them would return to normal, eventually. She could trust him again...they could be best friends. Life didn't suck so badly, after all. "Of course, Cowboy, since you're paying. I'll be sure to order everything on the menu!" she said, tapping the end of his nose with her index finger.
"Oh, you brat!" He laughed, putting an arm around her waist and rumpling her hair as they walked off to the garage to get a car and relax for the rest of the day.
300 channels and nothing on. Zell dropped the remote on the empty couch cushion beside him. Living is Esthar was torture. Torture! Spending a month in Esthar would drive anybody crazy, he thought. Sure, it was all high-tech this, and nifty-gizmo that, but Zell didn't want that. He wanted room to run around, to do back flips, to do anything. It was all so cramped and space-conscious.
He looked around the room, which was probably no different than the million others that made up the Presidential Palace. White walls, white drapes, whiter couches. Cream-colored paintings in off-white frames. White carpet with a white throw rug. Hell, even the TV was white.
He pulled himself heavily from the depths of the over-stuffed couch, and walked to the windows that made up the far wall of the room. He pulled a drapery aside, looking over the town...anything to break the monotony of white that was the apartment. Not that pink and purple plastic was anything new either...
He missed Balamb. He just wanted to go home, and get teased by Selphie, glared at by Squall, humored by Rinoa, and joked around with by Irvine. He missed them. He missed being in with the group. The dynamic was shattered when they were separated.
Maybe he had always wanted for them all to be together because that was the only way he fit in. He sighed, fogging up the glass a little. It was like, when they were all together, he was tolerated, sort of a comic relief for the rest of them. Because nobody seemed happy to see him when it was just they and Zell. They always started searching, eyes darting around the room, trying to find somebody to help them keep Zell in check.
Maybe he was just being paranoid. He always had been. That's why it had been so hard to be around girls...
But he was different now. He felt like he had grown up a little. Maybe it was finally breaking that last barrier, when he and Quistis had gotten together...he didn't have to worry what girls thought of him now, just what Quistis thought. If one girl could like him, then surely, if things ever went wrong, there would be more.
"Zell, what're you doing up so early? Don't you ever take advantage of sleeping in?"
Zell dropped the curtain, turning to see Quistis. She was standing in the bedroom doorway, in a white silk robe that fell far short of her knees, and that was cut so low around the neck that if she had tied it any looser, he breasts would have been exposed. She yawned, her small mouth straining open, and she smiled at him, sleep still glazing-over her eyes.
"Quis, I'm even surprised that I'm up before you. You didn't have some sort of a meeting, or thing to plan, or...something?"
Quistis frowned at him, crossing her arms across her chest, which, Zell noticed, caused her robe to reveal about an inch more thigh than it had been showing before. "I'm not all work and no play, Zell. Sometimes I do stay in for the morning..."
"Sure," interrupted Zell. "If by 'stay in,' you mean actually getting a full night's rest. Quis, you work too hard...that's all that you've done since you got here. We're gonna be heading back soon...do you really want to waste the time we have left? Do you really want to go back, and have to work even harder?" Zell crossed the space between them, resting his hands innocently on her hips, and meeting her glaring eyes. "Can't you just skip work today? Please? For me?"
Quistis tried to hold her composure, but Zell was too damned good at making puppy eyes. "Zell, you know you're corrupting my perfect work ethic," she said with a grin.
"I know, Instructor Trepe," he said, emphasizing the 'instructor' part. The fact that she had once been his teacher, and now she was his lover drove her crazy. She hated the stark difference of it all. "But you need to let you're hair down every once in a while. All this Lunatic Pandora bullshit is turning you into a granny."
Quistis' mouth dropped in surprise, and Zell dashed away before she could get a swat in. "I am not a granny! You better take that back, Dincht, or it'll be detention for you!"
"Oh, Instructor, I know I've been bad..."
Quistis threw a pillow at him, which he dodged easily. She leaned forward, with her hands on the back of the couch. This could be fun. "So, what in the world do you have in mind to corrupt the life of an innocent SeeD like myself? Debauchery? Gambling? ...Sex?" she said, biting her bottom lip, and running her hands down the edges of her robe toward her chest.
Zell gulped, his face turning the slightest shade of red, which made Quistis laugh. She vaulted herself over the couch, revealing a long line of thigh, and placed herself in front of Zell, pressing her body to his, not so much in a sexually suggestive way, more like a comfort, like a full-body hug.
"Zell, you do know that we have been having sex, don't you? S-E-X? Do you know what that is?" she asked teasingly.
Zell blushed lightly again, and wrapped his arms around the small of her back. "I know...I know...but, you know how new this all still is to me, Quis. I only used to imagine what it was all about...and now I have it, and I have you, and you are so, so beautiful...so sue me! A pretty girl can still make me blush with innuendo. I'm but an innocent schoolgirl yet. My cherry wasn't picked long ago, you know," Zell joked, making Quistis herself blush. "A-ha! See, it's not just me! You're embarrassed that you corrupted innocent ol' me! Making me lose my virginity! Naughty teacher!"
Hyne, but he was so right. But this...this was so right. She had never felt so comfortable with another person before. It probably helped that they had grown up together, and that they had been friends before. "So," she said, clearing her throat, and asserting her authority. "What are we doing today, then?"
Zell winked at her. "Well, I was thinking..."
Confusion over time differences between Balamb and Esthar? I figured that their world would probably have time zones like ours does, so Esthar is…12 hours ahead? Yeah, that's it :D
