Disclaimer: Squaresoft Owns. I only write.

Warning: Mature content.

AN: Kaio: Its Seifer; of course he'll be an ass.

Zell opened his eyes again. He had fallen asleep in Seifer's arms at least a few hours ago he realized; looking at how high the sun had risen, and noticed he was alone in the room. It was a number of minutes, spent lazily, and happily laying in Seifer's bed, before he thought that there might be a number of reasons Seifer wasn't there when he woke up, and the number of bad ones far outweighed the only good one Zell could think of; Seifer having an appointment to make. Dragging himself out of his roommate's bed, Zell shrugged on a shirt and pair of shorts, and, after running a hand through his hair, set out to find Seifer.
Seifer was in the Training Center, Zell found, having searched every other section of the Garden first, only realizing at the end that it was the logical place for someone who uses violence as an answer to everything to go to think.

"Seifer?" Zell ventured quietly at the trench coat-ed figure warming up with his Gunblade, back to Zell.

No answer, just a slash in the air from the moving weapon.

"Seifer…talk to me. What's wrong?" Zell didn't like the feelings he was having; the dread was practically choking him.

It was a long time in silence; the only sound that of air parting before the blade, before Seifer answered, softly, and very coldly. "You used me."

Zell blinked. "No I didn't. What we di-"

"You USED me." Seifer interrupted, the usual fire of his temper was ice cold now, and Zell was more than slightly scared of the tone.

Zell didn't know how to reply, and so he stayed quiet, fidgeting nervously, as Seifer turned around slowly, his right hand gripping the Gunblade so tightly it was shaking.

"I was drunk, and you took advantage of me. You used me as your damned sex toy."

"I was drunk too! And if you hadn't wanted to do it, you damn well wouldn't have." Zell didn't know why he had added the swear into that, but it had felt good.

Seifer's reply was non-verbal, and entirely physical. A twitch of his wrist send his Gunblade swinging out toward Zell, who only managed to pull his head back at the last moment, feeling the blade slice into his face, cutting into his nose, right below his eye, after that, his sight went red, and not just from the blood flowing from his wound. He took a few hits from the blunt of Seifer's blade in the next few minutes, but managed to get a far better number of blows in on Seifer. After he decked Seifer in the jaw and the older man fell to the ground stunned, Zell took the chance and fled the battle, and the training center, the gash along his face stinging from the salt of the few tears that slipped from his eyes.

Quistis approached Seifer carefully.

"Seifer…" She took a breath and kept going, talking to the man's back. "What happened to Zell…he looked like he was in pretty bad shape when he came running out of here…"

Quistis sighed, as she got no response from the man. "We can't find him. We've searched the Garden. He was bleeding pretty bad…" Quistis reached over and pulled on Seifer's arm, trying to turn him. She wished she hadn't. Seifer's face was already heavily bruised, with a black eye, and swelling badly. "Seifer."

"Go away."

"We can't find Zell."

"So?"

"There's only one place we can't check…a balcony on the second floor. The doors stuck. Will you try to talk to him? Please…?" As soon as she said the door to the balcony wouldn't open, Seifer's expression had flashed with shock and fear, then his normal mask came back, and he pushed past Quistis without another word, heading to the balcony, where he knew Zell would have gone. And, if what he feared was right, was going to finish what he tried on his birthday.

The door blew open after a judicious application of fire magic to melt away Shiva's ice, and Seifer strode through, slamming it shut behind him again, stepping up to stand beside Zell, who was staring out at the water.

Seifer leaned out over the edge and closed his eyes, feeling the wind on his face. "I'm sorry Zell."

A mumbled reply, sounding oddly like 'Alright'.

Another pause

"Do you remember, when we were little, when someone adopted me from Matron's for a few months?"

"…Yeah."

"Did you ever hear just why I was sent back?"

"No"

"The guy, he was totally normal, in almost every way. After I had been there a little over a week, he began to make sure I didn't turn out like his son did. Every day, he would slip some kind of message about how being gay was bad, into every conversation he could. I found out that his son had run off with his boyfriend. His wife left him over how he took the news. He just became a crusader to save others from 'corruption'" The last was said with a cold tone. "If he ever saw me doing anything he thought might lead to me being gay, I would be wearing long sleeves, until the bruises healed. So many things set him off, I can't even keep track of the times anymore."

Zell didn't know what to say. "Shit, Seifer, I'm sorry, I never knew."

"Nobody does, I never told anyone. Matron knew, because they returned me to her, but she was the only one who knew. Every time I try to think of you and I being a couple, I see him again, hear him ranting. Feel bruises long since healed."

No response from Zell.

"You're probably wondering why I'm telling you now…probably because, I wasn't really all that drunk last night, I still was a bit in control of myself…and I…I enjoyed it. And then I keep thinking about him, and what he said about his own son, and how there are so many people like him out there…and I just…don't want to see you hurt like that. So if I keep denying it…maybe it'll go away, y'know? Besides, I thought Squall would be the gay one out of the entire group, not you…us."

"Squall? Why?"

"The bondage pants."

"Ah."

Zell turned to look at Seifer, and Seifer saw that he had left his mark on Zell, the cut was identical to his own scar, but it looked so out of place on that tattooed face. Pushing past his doubts, Seifer bent down, and pressed his lips to Zell's, probing slightly with his tongue, until he felt enough time had passed, and broke the kiss and murmured. "Lets get you to the infirmary before that scars."

AN: Might not be what folks were expecting, but who said I try to meet your expectations? Its not the end of the story, but we are drawing ever closer.

AN v2: I didn't like the way draft one of this chapter was, so I rewrote certain sections. So there.