Disclaimer: (See Part I.)
A/N: Chayn is a character that I made up, along with Buzz and Garold, and anyone else that I throw into this story that have nothing to do with FF8 whatsoever; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.
To QueenAdreena: Sorry about the lack of cuteness; I don't know if it'll be back anytime soon.
To Lady Pyrefly: Sorry that the last chappy didn't live up to your expectations. I hope I've done better on this one. Chayn's motives will be revealed very soon; don't worry.
-.-.-.-.-
Zell told Chayn everything that had happened between him and Irvine, he even told him about the stupid dream that Irvine had had about Chayn, which made the younger boy laugh. As Zell concluded his story with the fact that Irvine couldn't stay with any one person for very long he noticed that Chayn was looking at him with surprise. "What's the matter?" he asked.
Chayn blinked. "Nothing. It's just that, I would have never thought that you were gay."
Zell made a face. "And? Do you have a problem with it?"
"No, of course not." Chayn waved a hand in a gesture of disregard.
Zell gave a sigh of relief. He didn't want to lose another friend. "So, what's your advice Doc?"
"I agree with you. If Irvine liked to look at other women while he was with Selphie, then I do not think that he would change just because he was with you. You are probably better off without him."
"I know," Zell said disappointedly. "It's just that... I've never met anyone else who was interested in me like Irvine is, well, was."
"You should not worry about that. Someday, someone will come along who is just right for you," Chayn tried to comfort.
"That's what they all say."
"If that is what they all say then it must be true."
This made Zell smile a little.
"What time is it?" asked Chayn, out of the blue.
Zell looked to the clock on the wall. "6:50PM."
"Would you like to come and have dinner with me?"
"Yeah!" Zell exclaimed, but then a sad look befell his face. "Oh wait. I'm outta cash. I used the rest of my money on my lunch, but it was worth it for that wonderful, wonderful taste of a hotdog." Zell smiled serenely at the rememberance of lunch.
"That's all right. I'll pay for you; my treat," offered Chayn.
Zell's eyes lit up. "Really? You serious?"
Chayn nodded. "I've got plenty extra gil from helping out at the Balamb shop." He moved to the door and waited for Zell to follow.
"I didn't know you worked at the Balamb shop."
"Well, there are a lot of things that you don't know about me." Chayn closed the door behind them.
-.-.-.-.-
After buying their dinners, Chayn and Zell sat down at a free table in the centre of the cafeteria. Chayn was going on about how he had been talking to the Headmaster earlier about the cafeteria hot dogs and food selection, and about getting a more healthy menu for the students to choose from.
Normally, Zell would have objected to this and started a whole debate about how hotdogs were the best food in the world, but he was more focused on Selphie and Seifer at sitting side-by-side at a table nearby, feeding each other their dinners.
Selphie offered her boyfriend a spoon-full of what looked like chocolate pudding. Seifer tried to eat it off the spoon, but missed and it went all over his nose, and due to Selphie's giggling, his second attempt gave him another spot of brown on his chin. Selphie wiped it away with a napkin and he gave her a kiss.
Zell quickly brought his attention back to Chayn.
"Don't you agree that hotdogs are the least healthy thing for you?" asked Chayn.
Zell took another bite of his dinner. "Uh huh," he spoke through a mouthful.
"I know!" Chayn went on. "That is what I said to the Headmaster..."
Zell's eyes moved from Chayn to just over his shoulder where he could see Rinoa and Squall sharing a milkshake together. Why did everyone have someone special in their lives but him? He looked back to Chayn and tried to ignore the couple behind him laughing about some inside joke that they had shared.
-.-.-.-.-
After dinner, Zell thanked Chayn and prepared to turn in for the night. Besides, he still had some homework that he needed to finish. Hopefully that would help him get his mind off of his problems.
"Hey Zell," Chayn stopped Zell before he could fully open his dorm door. "Cheer up. Things are not as bad as they may seem. Seeing you unhappy is making me unhappy. You and Irvine can still be friends, it is not the end of the world."
Zell nodded, thanked Chayn again, and entered his dorm.
Chayn returned to his own dorm and was thankful that his roommate wasn't anywhere to be seen. He and his roommate, Buzz, had absolutely nothing in common with each other. Chayn was currently working on switching rooms with another student, but Headmaster Cid was having trouble finding another student who would agree to be Buzz's roommate. Chayn was only stuck with him because he had came to the Garden after the start of classes, and Buzz was the only SeeD-in-Training that didn't already have a roommate.
Chayn moved across the incredibly mess floor, nearly stepping on a plate of pizza that had been left to rot, and went into his side of the dorm. The room was clean and spotless, but it didn't always look that way. There were nights when Chayn would come back to the room to find all of his belongings dishevelled and strewn about after some party that Buzz had managed to have in the small space.
It wasn't that Chayn just didn't care about the state of the room, he did. It was just that everytime he got it all straightened out, Buzz would throw another party because the place looked nice and there was room for more people. Chayn had eventually just given up. It was amazing that Buzz was still allowed to be in the Garden, but the Headmaster had told Chayn that he had seen potential in the troublesome boy.
Chayn sat down on his bed and pulled out a box from underneath it that, thankfully, Buzz and his rowdy friends had never found, or else they would surely try to smash it open. He took the key to the box out from under a loose floor board and placed the key carefully into the lock, turning it slowly.
It clicked open and he opened up the box to view what anyone would call an absolute obsession.
Inside the box were bits and pieces of everything Zell. Pictures or Zell at all different angles, a clipping of hair that he had managed to get when he had fallen asleep during on of their study sessions, there was even a piece of a stale hotdog bun that Zell just couldn't force down one day.
Chayn took out a picture of Zell, his favourite one. He had taken it one day when Zell and another student had been laughing about something. In it, Zell was brushing his hair back with one hand and he had a huge smile on his face. The sunlight was hitting him so that it appeared that he had a halo. Chayn smiled at the picture and ran his index finger down the side of Zell's tattooed face.
The dorm door clicked opened.
Chayn jumped out of his thoughts and slammed the box closed. Quickly locking it he threw it back under the bed and the key back under the floor board. Then he pulled a large book off of his night table and pretended to read it before Buzz could ask what he had been doing.
-.-.-.-.-
"ZELL!" Irvine sat straight up in the dark room. He blinked a few times. Where was he? He relaxed a little, realizing that he was still in his dorm and not falling off a cliff after a failed attempt to save Zell. It was the dream again, only this time it seemed even more real than it had been before. There was something strange going on and Irvine didn't know what to make of it.
He had to warn Zell again. There was something that he just didn't like about Chayn, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He knew that Zell wouldn't listen to him, but he had to give it another try. He couldn't just stand by when he knew perfectly well that something was going on.
Maybe he could sneak a monitor into Zell's dorm that would let him listen in on Zell's conversations with Chayn. Then he was sure that he would be able to find out something more, and he knew just the person to go to to get a monitor...
-.-.-.-.-
Zell sat alone in the cafeteria chowing down on a hotdog that he was lucky enough to have paid for him by the student in line behind him, whom had felt sorry for him when the cafeteria lady wouldn't let him have his hotdog without any money.
Rinoa walked with determination to where Zell sat and sat down across from him.
Zell smiled at her and continued to eat his hotdog without a word.
"Hey Zell, who was that cute boy that you were eating dinner with yesterday?"
"Who, Chayn? He's just a kid in my class."
"At that age? He looked like he should still be in training."
"He is," Zell confirmed. "He's just really smart and got put into my review class."
"Oh..." said Rinoa, "and why aren't you talking to Irvine?"
Zell was silent for a moment. "I don't wanna talk about that right now; maybe some other time."
Rinoa stood up. "All right, I'm gonna hold you to it." She walked away.
-.-.-.-.-
Irvine wandered through the Quad with his eyes locked on the ground. He was on his way to meet with Garold, a SeeD with incredibly extensive knowledge of all things involving technology. It was a rumor around the Garden that Garold was the reason that Balamb Garden was still running and had survived so many attacks. Also, to the ignorance of the Garden Facutly, it was also a rumor that Garold had sold many illegal items around the Garden to students who dare approach him. This rumor was true, however, many students were too intimidated by his intelligence to tell the Faculty on him. With his connections, Garold could probably have any student who was going to rat on him assassinated before they could even make it to the Faculty.
Irvine wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but he had to do something and this was all he could come up with at the moment.
He hoped that Zell would forgive him for invading his privacy, but once Chayn was found guilty of brainwashing Zell, he would surely understand why Irvine had done this and forgive him.
Irvine looked up as he passed a group of SeeD's working on something in a group. Just behind them he noticed Seifer and Fujin, and before he could look away Seifer had caught his eye and waved friendly-like to him.
Irvine snarled and thought, 'Stealing, no good, backstabbing- Uh-oh, better wave.' He waved back less enthusiastically, though it was more of a 'yeah, whatever, leave me alone' kind of wave, and continued on his way.
At the very end of the Quad Garold was standing in a shady corner waiting. Irvine approached him cautiously. This was the first time that he had ever done business with the dark haired boy, and what he knew about him was only based on what he had heard from others, and that wasn't very good.
"Did you bring the cash?" Garold asked, not wasting any time.
"Yeah." Irvine flashed him the bag of a whopping 2500 gil.
"Excellent." The dark haired boy took a small device out of his jacket. "Here is your monitor. Just press this button and stick it onto something - the underneath of furniture is usually a preferable place - and you're all set. You can listen in with this little speaker that fits into your ear."
Irvine nodded, handing over the money bag in exchange for the monitor. "Thanks."
"Oh, and one more thing," Garold continued. "I don't do refunds." He tucked the money into his jacket and slipped out of the Quad.
Irvine looked down at the monitor in his hand. Now he just needed a way to get it into Zell's room with out him knowing.
-.-.-.-.-
As evening approached, Zell made his way toward Chayn's dorm room. He had never been there, but Chayn had told him where it was and pleaded that he only to go there if he absolutely needed to because he was so ashamed of it. Zell didn't know what the boy was so worried about though, he had seen Zell's messy dorm and Zell didn't care.
He knocked on Chayn's dorm room door.
Buzz opened the door to let the blasting heavy metal music out into the corridor. Zell was a little impressed that he hadn't heard the music as he was approaching; Buzz must have sound-proofed the room. Shouts and laughter came from behind Buzz and a huge puff of purple smoke enveloped Zell.
"Whadaya wan?"
Zell's eyes started to water as he suppressed a cough and stared up at the huge kid. He was taller than Irvine, as wide as a boulder, and if he hadn't have been so scary, it would have taken Zell a lot of self-control to stop himself from asking Buzz if he was high.
"Is Chayn in there somewhere?" asked Zell, refering to the heaps of clothes, grabage, and who know what else on the floor.
"Naw, I think he's studyin' in that library thing, but I don know why. Studyin's fer losers."
Zell slowly nodded his head. "Okay, thanks."
"Whatever." Buzz closed the door.
-.-.-.-.-
"Whatcha studying?" Zell asked coming up behind Chayn.
"This mathematical equation. I have to give proof that F'(x) equals lim as h approaches 0 (f(x+h)-f(x)) divided by h equals v(x)u'(x)+u(x)v'(x) when f'(x) equals u(x)v(x).
Zell blinked stupidly. "...What!"
"It's the Product Rule," Chayn explained. "Did you ever have to learn this?"
"Thankfully not. They must have added that in after I became a SeeD," Zell replied with relief.
"Hey you two, could you be a little quieter please?" asked a girl at a nearby table trying to read.
"Sorry," Zell whispered. He turned back to Chayn. "Anyway, I came here to say that you were right about what you said the other day about Irvine. I think I'm over him, I mean, there wasn't much to get over, right? Besides, it would have never worked out between us."
Chayn nodded in agreement.
"So, thanks for helping me figure things out."
"Oh no, you don't have to thank me. It was you who figured things out for yourself. You just needed to talk to someone about it."
"Whatever." Zell shrugged. "Oh, guess what. I met your roommate."
A fearful look crossed Chayn's face. "Y- y-ou did?"
"Yeah," said Zell, remembering the experience. "He's quite... interesting."
"He wasn't having a party was he?" Chayn held his breath and closed his eyes waiting for Zell's answer. He could only imagine the damage that was being caused in the room.
"Sorry," said Zell. "I've gotta go find Irvine now and tell him how I feel."
Chayn nodded. "I have faith in you."
-.-.-.-.-
Irvine walked down the hall on the way to his dorm, noticing Zell at his own dorm unlocking the door.
"Hey Zell," he greated, hoping that he might start talking to him again.
"Irvine!" Zell exclaimed. "I was just about to go and find you. I wanted to talk to you about something. Would you mind coming in?"
Irvine couldn't believe his luck. He had been trying to find a way to get into Zell's room and set up the monitor, and now, here he was, being invited in. "Sure."
"Have a seat," Zell offered, moving some clothes aside.
Irvine sat down on the squeaky couch.
Zell sat next to him. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry that I haven't been talking to you these days, but things just aren't working out between us," he said.
Irvine nodded. "I understand, but now you have to understand that I'm not going out with the library girl."
"It doesn't matter if you are or not, you can do what you want, and be with who you want to be with," Zell said understandingly. He stood up and placed a pile of clothes on his table.
Quickly, while Zell's back was turned, Irvine leaned down to 'straighten his pants' and slipped the monitor under the couch. He sat up again just as Zell turned back around.
"We can still be friends though, can't we?" asked Zell.
Irvine nodded again. "I had that strange dream again last night, only it felt more real this time."
"That's because you don't stop thinking about it," Zell reasoned.
"No, it's a sign!" Irvine insisted. "You should stop hanging out with Chayn right away!"
"Irvine, you're being ridiculous and juvenile. Talk to me again when you are finished believing that Chayn is up to no good."
Irvine left the dorm without saying a word. He still wasn't sure if he should be spying on Zell, but he convinced himself that it was for his own safety.
-.-.-.-.-
End of Part XVI.