Disclaimer: The story, plot, and some minor characters are mine. The rest are Square Enix's.
Chapter 01: Devil May Care
"When the day is through, I suffer no regret," said Zell, nodding his head in agreement to what he said.
Letting a puff of smoke out through her lips, Quistis quickly examined Zell's look before saying, "Quite unbecoming for someone who is going to be my fellow instructor in less than a week."
"No kidding," affirmed Zell, chuckling. "Conspiring the whole enactment of Seifer's second chance to be part of the Garden. Actually, most of the credits go to you, Quistis."
They went silent for a while, merely enjoying the tranquil environment the tavern they were in offered them. They were in Winhill, as well the Garden was. Quistis had proposed to Commander Squall that with the Garden's ability to fly the students would gain more battle experience by visiting places with different monsters than those they met around Balamb town. It was Winhill because Seifer worked there as a warden whose purpose was basically to keep the monsters away from the town; also, Zell and Quistis thought that it could be a great way to show the students how nonthreatening Seifer was now.
"You should stop smoking."
"I don't smoke," replied Quistis nonchalantly.
Zell pondered over what Quistis just said but discarded the matter after a couple of seconds. "Fine."
"So, should we settle the tab?" asked Quistis.
"Uh, what?"
"Yes, it's already eight AM. You said you had a plan with Seifer tonight."
"Uh, right." With that, Zell called the waiter to bring him the bill.
The waiter returned immediately with a tray and a bill on it, from which he then checked the amount and took several Gils from his wallet and put them on it. "I'll see you again tomorrow then."
"Sure, have fun," said Quistis, fixing her purse's strap on her right shoulder.
With that, Zell left the tavern to Seifer's place, which was a small abandoned house—actually too disheveled to be referred to as a house. Seifer had the money to buy a proper house, except no one let him stay too near to the residential area at first, and now although most of the citizens in the city no longer held any grudges towards him, he just felt that there would be too much hassle to move when he was already enjoying his current home.
"Knock knock," uttered Zell, knocking on Seifer's door with his left hand and opening it with the right one.
"Chicken wuss? You're right on time. I just finished making some noodle stew," said Seifer loudly from the kitchen, which was directly adjacent to the dining room, only separated by several oaken panels from the living room.
"Yay!" Zell uttered energetically, skipping towards the kitchen. "Where did you learn to cook from, Seif?"
"Local library. Borrowed some cooking books," answered Seifer, serving the stew in a large oval yellow glass bowl. "I substituted beef with Ochu's tentacles though."
"Are they edible? Aren't they poisonous?" asked Zell, glancing at thin slices of Ochu's tentacles in the stew.
"Domestic Ochus aren't poisonous. And trust me, they taste great," said Seifer. "Hyne, I'm such a mess." Walking toward the laundry basket, he pulled off his sweat-soaked, soil-covered, and Ochu's-blood-stained t-shirt and put it in. He took a fresh towel and wiped the sweat off his body, and then also put the towel also in the basket.
"Yeah, and I'm curious to how you cooked it. Doesn't seem to be a complicated dish." Zell gave Seifer a perplexed look.
"Out of gas, and it was already seven, so I had to run up and down all the slopes and unpaved paths to the shop to buy a heavy tube of gas—it wasn't a pleasant trip—I stumbled over a stone on my way back home; a huge stone that suddenly appeared right there with only one intention, to kill me—thank Hyne the tube didn't explode cause I swear I heard a loud thunk when it fell. And once I was home, I still had to prepare the ingredients before cooking them—clean the tentacles, chop them, and all. Anyway, let's eat."
Zell was nonplussed at the whole imagery of Seifer stumbling over a rock for a while before snapping back to reality.
"Uh, I should come earlier in the future so we could trade off and share the load," said Zell, who paused when he saw a bruise on Seifer's right collarbone; and erased was his doubt. "Does it still hurt?" asked Zell, pointing at Seifer's collarbone.
"Don't worry about it. And, we already do, in terms of giving and receiving," said Seifer in a teasing tone.
Zell cast Cure on the bruise and it looked significantly better now. "I don't think there's any places but the Garden or any monsters around to draw Cure from."
"Thanks. Now let's eat."
A while later they were already finished with their dinner when Zell said, "I have bad news."
"Which is?"
"Squall has agreed upon letting you go back to the Garden. You'll leave within this week. And I'll be the one to keep watch over you as well as a new instructor."
Seifer stopped washing the dishes for a moment in shock. "That's magnificent!" exclaimed Seifer in awe. "You know what? You've been really good to me, too good even."
"What sweet words you say. Well, I'll look forward to seeing you attend my future classes," said Zell, snickering, standing next to Seifer, close enough for him to smell Seifer's mixed reek. "Would you... hug me?" asked him, playing shy.
Seifer was so excited he hugged Zell immediately, forgetting about his unpleasant odor—only to realize it a while later. "Gross, now you smell just as bad as I."
"More the reason for me to shower with you."