Seasonal Romantics

- Body Exposure,
(Summer; August)
Zell, Selphie

Zell Dincht had two tattoos in total- His most noticeable one, on the left hand side of his face which was in the shape of some tribal thing. His second was a small tattoo which consisted of two boxing gloves on his ankle. But now, Selphie was pressuring him to get a third and it wasn't that he didn't want one, it was just... what Selphie wanted him to get.

The two were sitting at a cosy looking cafe named, 'Sea Breeze.'- Zell had decided to take Selphie out for a bite to eat since they both woke up late meaning that only the absolutely disgusting food was left in the cafeteria. He knew that this cafe served tasty food; after all, he was a regular at this place. Normally he would come once a week but after his little run with Seifer, he decided to skip it for a week and so, here he was on the 8th of August with none other than Selphie Tilmitt. "..."

"So..." As Zell looked around the cafe for a waitress, Selphie twiddled her thumbs, "Are we going to the tattoo parlour after lunch?"

Throwing his head over the back of the chair, Zell exhaled loudly, "I guess..." Suddenly an idea popped into his head, "But only if you get a tattoo as well!" As a slim waitress walked past the table Zell clicked his fingers, "Excuse me, could I get a... large fry please?" The waiter politely nodded. Zell turned to his friend, "And you, Selphie?"

Giving Zell a peculiar look, Selphie squinted her eyes, No chance am I getting a tattoo... "Some strawberry cheesecake please."

The waitress smiled, "Any drinks?"

"Milk, please."

"Same."

Nodding, the waitress walked away in search of the kitchen. Selphie stretched whilst eyeing the tattoo on Zell's face. Would she be able to get one? Wouldn't it hurt? Wouldn't the person drawing the tattoo be all bald and scary? "Does it hurt Zelly?" Selphie asked, still staring at Zell's tattoo.

"What?" Zell followed her line of eyesight, "Ahh my baby!" He stroked his face, "Well this one did hurt since it's quite big and I hear it's more painful on the face. The one on my ankle..." He placed his hairy leg on the table and pulled his socks down. "This little one wasn't sore at all."

"Zell!" Selphie warned, pushing his leg of the table. Some other people in the cafe were now eyeing the two, suspiciously. "You know... I should really wax your legs some day! Oh my God! I should so totally do that!! We could get people to sponsor us and then whatever money we earned we could put it toward the next Garden festival!" Selphie imagined all of the possibilities of having more money for the Garden festival... Better performers! More alcohol! Tastier snacks! Male dancers! A bit of drool escaped from Selphie's mouth but she wiped it away quickly and avoided eye contact with Zell for a few seconds.

Zell was now afraid. Having Selphie as a friend did have its positives but it also brought quite a number of negatives and the main one was; she dragged you into positions that any normal person shouldn't be dragged into too. But that was one of the many reasons why he loved her... as a friend. Still... He wasn't about to let wax near his legs... "Selphie. My legs are like my children, no wax is going anywhere near them." He self consciously rubbed his legs under the table.

Selphie seemed to disagree, "We'll see Zell... We'll see." ...Male...Dancers...

At this point the waitress arrived with Zell's large fry and a slice of strawberry cheesecake for Selphie. "Here you go. I'll get you your drinks now," She said and walked away again.

"Hmm... Tasty!" Zell dug into his fried egg straight away. Bits of munched egg flew around the place as he continued his conversation with Selphie, "Aboush fish taffoo..." He swallowed the egg and started to poke at the remaining bits on his plat, "Why are you lookin' me to get a panda?" Stabbing his fork into his food resulted in a bit of fried egg flying onto Zell's cheek, "... A yellow panda nonetheless."

Looking up at Zell from her cheesecake, Selphie struggled to contain her laughter. The waitress had returned with the milk and was now staring at Zell's eggy cheek. Kicking Zell under the table and rubbing her cheek at the same time, Selphie finally got her friend to realise he had egg on his cheek. He picked if of embarrassingly and apologised to the waitress. She just smiled, placed the milk down and walked away in search of another table. "Eggy face!" Selphie piped once the waitress was out of earshot.

Zell turned red, "Shush."

"Aww Zelly! Don't go all sulky on me. You should be excited because..." She pretended to do a drum roll, "... You're gonna get a Selphie panda!!" Grabbing a napkin from Zell's plate, Selphie pulled out a pen and started to scribble something.

Still eating his fry, Zell murmured, "Selph.. What are you doi-"

"TA-DAAAA!!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The next thing Zell knew, he was lying on the ground with a really fat yet cute looking yellow panda scribble in his face. "Wh-what the hell just happened?!" He lifted the page from his face only to notice that everybody in the cafe was staring at him. Don't return to this cafe...Selphie's grinning face appeared above his head. She offered him her hand. "Oof." Hauling himself up with the help of Selphie, Zell grabbed the piece of paper with the panda on it. Analysing it, he said, "This is quite good... What is it?"

Selphie slapped his arm, "It's a panda! D'uh!"

"This..." He stuck his finger in the panda's stomach, "This fat mess is what you want me to get imprinted on my chest?!"

Jumping up and down on the spot, Selphie screeched, "YEEES!"

Zell scratched his neck, "Why though? You won't even see it!"

Embarrassed, Selphie sat down at the table and continued eating her cheesecake, "... I just... Think it would be cool." Of course, this wasn't the entire truth. This was about 1/8 of why she wanted him to get the tattoo; the other 7/8's being that she wanted Zell to remember her, not that he was going anywhere or anything but she wanted to be with him. Over the past four years their relationship had grew significantly, they still considered each other as friends but lately, Selphie was beginning to think that maybe something more was blossoming. "You know, any future girlfriends you may have would be like, 'Whoa, you're such a man Zelly, look at that big panda!' Know what I'm saying?" Selphie winked.

Zell scratched his neck, again, "Somehow... I doubt that. They'd probably think I'm a bit on the gay side, y'know?" He followed in Selphie's footsteps and sat down at the table once more. Gobbling down a sausage Zell looked up at the ceiling, "I was thinking more of a... Gun or something!!"

Selphie pretended to hit her head of the table, "Booooring!" Finishing the last of her cheese cake, she raised her eyebrows, "It is your decision... But, personally I think you would look totally hot with a big fat, cute, yellow Selphie panda on your chest."

Totally hot...? Biting his lip, Zell thought for a moment. If I get the panda... Maybe Selphie's right; more girl's will start to notice me. And I've definitely got the upper body to walk around without a shirt. I'm such a big head... Guess I should go ahead with it. Yeah, why not? "Alright, Selphie. I've got a proposition for you." Zell ate the rest of his fry, "If I get your panda then you have to get... Me on your shoulder!"

"What?!" Selphie raised her eyebrows, "You're getting on my shoulder?!"

"No, no! Get a chibi version of me on your shoulder! I've had a few conversations with the guy at the tattoo parlour and he's into anime and stuff. I even saw him draw some girl's boyfriend as a chibi on the girl's back." Zell smiled, "So... What do you think? Panda for me. Me for you."

Selphie was shaking her head vigorously at this point, "Umm no! Anybody who sees me with you on my back will think we're going out or something!"

"True... Right, let's just go to the tattoo parlour and we'll decide from there. You are gonna get one though!"

The outside of the tattoo parlour was unusually clean, Selphie noticed. She thought it may have been littered with used plasters and bandages, and not to mention crowds of scary looking men covered in tattoos but, it wasn't. It was a deep red building with a few pictures here and there of people's tattoos which Selphie thought looked pretty darn cool. Then, there were more pictures to the left with a number of pictures, showing people with their thumbs up beside some eccentric looking guy. There was a sign above the tattoo place which read, 'Sammy's Tattoo Heaven.' Original. Selphie figured the weird looking guy was Sammy since he was in all of the photographs. "I'm so excited!" She admitted, performing a very random victory dance.

Zell rubbed his hands together, "So you should be! The name speaks the truth, it is like heaven!" Zell could remember coming here for the first time when he was sixteen with his mum. She wasn't too keen on the whole 'tattooed face' ideal but eventually, he persuaded her somehow. Thinking back on it he didn't have a clue how he persuaded her, his mum was one tough lady. He had called into the parlour a couple of times every month since he had clicked so well with Sammy- the first time he was here. The second time Zell came in to get a tattoo was with the boy who looked up to Zell as his idol. Zell's neighbours had nicknamed the boy, 'Big Bad Rascal.'

Big Bad Rascal was now sixteen and had wanted to get a tattoo ever since Zell got his. So, after talking to the boys mum, Zell took him to get his first tattoo about five months ago. This was when Zell got the boxing gloves on his ankle, the boy had asked Zell to go first so he could see if it hurt or not. When he seen Zell not flinching at all the boy jumped right into the seat to get a tattoo up the back of his leg, at the end of it he was crying his eyes out.

Zell laughed loudly.

"What's funny?" Selphie asked.

Zell noted that she looked slightly nervous as he could see her fists clenching then unclenching, "Just remembering some stuff... Is something up, Selph? You look kinda nervy."

Looking to the ground, Selphie mumbled something, "Just a little scared..." She looked up when she felt Zell's hand holding her own.

Zell gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't be! If I can get two then you can definitely get one!"

Clasping onto Zell's hand, Selphie also smiled. "Alright! Let's do it up!"

And that's the end, bit abrupt lol. Btw, the date at the start- 8th of August was just a random day I picked, it's not suppsed to be todays date or anything. :)
I haven't made my mind up about whom the next chapter will be about yet, but there'll be more information about Zell and Selphie's new tattoo's.
This wasn't really romantic, so I decided to change the genre to friendship as well. Thank you so much for your reviews, they really put me in a good mood, make my day for sure. ;) So, who do you guys want the next chapter to focus on?