Chapter 7.
IIiiII
Irvine leant on the doorman's booth, gazing up at the sky as he waited for Squall and Quistis to show up. He glanced down briefly, trying to keep from frowning in irritation. Evan was stretching and exercising opposite from him. His lips quirked up slightly as he watched the other man swivel his hips like an old fat lady in the fitness video. This guy was more irritating than Zell before a mission at least that little guy was cheerful, enthusiastic, bouncy. The cowboy glanced back up at Evan who had a serious look on his face as if he was going for a run or something. He bent over to touch his toes and then back up. He'd do little jumps on the spot and then…. He felt Irvine's eyes on him and glanced up.
"Something wrong?" He asked.
"What are you doing?" Irvine asked.
"Stretching, getting my muscles ready for battle."
"Uh huh." Irvine raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that we have to cross the sea on the ship first so any 'battles' we have won't be for a while yet."
The seed shrugged. "I know, my old instructor taught me it never hurts to be prepared early."
"Right." Irvine nodded sceptically.
"I bet you have your own methods of preparing before battle huh?"
"Yeah of course." Irvine said, though he wasn't sure what that was.
Evan bent over to touch his toes again. "You probably have a different type of preparing for me, with you being a gunman and all."
"Hmm." Irvine said and then frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Evan was stretched his legs one at a time. "Well you know, it is less physical so-"
"It is physical!" Irvine shouted at him.
Evan looked up innocently. "I didn't mean it like a bad thing."
"Look just because you get to wave your fancy ass sword around being the big cool guy doesn't mean you're more fit than I am." Irvine argued.
"I just meant that I'm sure you have mental preparation to do instead! To steady your nerves and that sort of thing."
"Oh." Irvine said. "Well yeah I guess so."
They fell into a silence for a few minutes, Evan doing his stretches and Irvine watching the clouds drift past.
"Why are the heroes, the top people always swordsmen anyway?" Irvine asked. "I think gunmen look way cooler!"
"I don't know." The other seed mumbled.
The sound of footsteps approaching interrupted them. "Boys." Quistis greeted as she nearer them, of course she headed straight for Evan. This made Irvine roll his eyes.
"I see you're getting ready for action." She smiled.
Evan grinned. "Never hurts to get ready early."
"Good idea." She complimented.
Quistis glanced over at Irvine, the cowboy was staring out into space. "What are you doing to prepare Irvine?"
"I'm preparing mentally." He told her.
She followed his line of sight and frowned. "No you're not, you're staring at those girls over there."
He grinned at her. "Well we all have our own methods."
She rolled her eyes.
"Ready?" Squall asked.
Quistis jumped slightly, not having heard Squall approach.
"Always." Irvine said, pushing off the walls.
The other two just nodded.
"Good, let's go." Squall walked past them and towards the ship, the others followed.
"I thought other people were going with us." Evan said.
"They're already on the ship." Squall explained.
The other seed just nodded.
The ramp was down and a female seed who was standing beside it saluted Squall as they neared. "Sir." She greeted formally.
"Everything ready?"
"We are ready for take off sir." She answered.
He nodded walking past her into the ship, the little group and the female seed followed him.
On the bridge Nida was in the pilot seat. "Sir." He addressed Squall. "We are ready for take off."
"Good, head for the base of the Trabian mountains." Squall said.
"Aye aye Sir." Nida replied.
Squall frowned at the reply and Irvine squashed a smile.
"Nida next time you throw a hot pant party don't forget to invite me." Irvine said.
The pilot laughed. "Sorry Irvine I don't invite any girls to my parties."
"That's okay, girls are good but boys can be fun too."
"I'll remember that." Nida said.
Squall glowered at the cowboy. "Don't bother the pilot you might put him off and he'll fly us into the side of the mountain."
Irvine smirked. "Sure you're not just jealous?"
Squall scoffed, walking past the cowboy and going down in the lift. Irvine waited for the lift to come back and then followed the brunette. He found Squall sitting in the front left row of the briefing room. He walked down the middle hearing Quistis giggle and spotting her and Evan looking very close sitting in the back right row. He swallowed most of his disgusted look and walked to the front and sat in the seat next to Squall who only briefly glanced at him.
"Those two seem… close." He frowned.
"I thought you'd be happy."
"Happy?"
"If those two hook up together the other girls will see that Evan is taken, they will lose interest and come flocking back to you."
"Oh yeah." Irvine said. "I guess I could live with that then, especially as he might stop looking at your ass."
Squall scoffed.
"Then I'll be happy." Irvine added.
"He does not look at my ass, you're paranoid."
"And you're blind."
"I'm not, I notice when you do it." Squall said, keeping his gaze ahead of him and trying not to look at the cowboy too much.
"That's only because I want you to notice that I have feelings for you."
This time Squall did glance at him with disbelieve in his eyes. "You don't have feelings for me."
Irvine opened his mouth to protest.
"You just want to sleep with me." Squall said.
The cowboy paused for a second. "Can't say that wouldn't be a nice bonus." He grinned at Squall, leaning his face nearer and nearer and Squall was leaning further and further back. He put a hand on Irvine's shoulder and gently shoved him back. The cowboy prided himself about getting a little smile out of his Squall though, well a slight turning up of the lips. He relaxed back in his seat looking ahead. "You could give me a chance."
"I could but-"
"And it's not like I'd need anyone else if I had you."
Squall opened his mouth to protest when he was interrupted by Nida's announcement on the speaker system.
"All seeds please come up to the bridge, we are approaching the destination."
They all got up and hurried up to the bridge.
On the bridge Irvine watched the mountains come into view, getting nearer and nearer then he looked down at Evan and Quistis who were holding hands. He wondered briefly what Squall would do if he tried to hold hands with him. Then decided it wasn't worth the risk. He was going into battle soon, hopefully he didn't want to get beaten up before he had met any monsters. The ship set down at the base of the Trabian mountains and the party of four left and started off up the side of the mountain. Irvine pulled his coat tighter around himself, feeling glad that he dressed in layers. He had a vest top, a short sleeved t shirt, a long sleeved t shirt, a sweater and his usual long coat. Squall had looked a little cold when the wind had first hit them. The commander was moving ahead of them now, striding forward. Quistis was right behind Irvine with Evan behind her. They walked for ages, or it seemed like ages to Irvine until he looked up ahead and he couldn't see Squall anymore.
He stopped and glanced back at Quistis. "Squall?" The cowboy called, moving forward.
"Squall!" Quistis called. "Where did you-?"
Squall looked out from somewhere in the side of the mountain, he tucked Irvine in with him. The cowboy looked around inside the strange cave, the walls were a light blue and it seemed warmer now that they were out of the wind. The four of them stood in the entrance for a minute then Squall started forward again. "This way!" He announced.
"How do you know that is the way?" Irvine muttered under his breath, following Squall reluctantly.
"Now the last place she was seen in was somewhere beyond that wall." Squall said as he walked through the small passage way into… somewhere. They others followed him.
"So she should be around here somewhere." Squall said.
"Err… Squall?" The brunette turned to Irvine. The cowboy was standing frozen mid step and a green elf fairy woman matching the picture was right in front of him.
"Cowboy." She greeted, voice echoing slightly.
"Whoa." Evan said from a few feet behind Irvine, standing there with Quistis.
"How did you-?" Squall said, walking back and drawing his gun blade.
Irvine shrugged, standing almost nose to nose with the guardian force. "Guess I just have a way with women."
IIiiII
"What time is it?"
"Urm…." Zell pushed himself up just enough to look at the digital display on the alarm clock beside Seifer's bed. "12:03." He flopped back down, cuddling up with his cheek on Seifer's chest.
The taller man blinked, raising a hand to run his face. "Maybe we should get up."
Zell opened his eyes again. "Get up? Why should we do that?"
His lover chuckled. "Well it is getting kind of late, people might wonder where we are and I thought you'd be hungry."
Zell groaned and sat up beside Seifer. "I suppose I could use a hotdog or two."
Seifer nodded. "We'll get up, get some breakfast…" He looked at the clock. "I mean lunch."
"And have a shower." Zell added, getting up from the bed completely naked. He walked around the bed.
Seifer's eyes followed that hot little ass and he smirked wickedly. He stood up, stretched and followed Zell into the bathroom. The little blonde turned his back to switch the shower on and he was tackled to the floor.
"Eek!" He shrieked. "Seifer! I thought you wanted to get up."
"I did." He buried his face in the back of Zell's neck, kissing and nibbling on his skin. "But then you went and flaunted your sexy ass in my face."
"Get off." Zell said.
"But-"
"In the shower." Zell stood, squeaking when Seifer's hands wandered.
The little blonde turned on the shower and pulled his lover in after him.
Although they had planned get up after the shower they didn't stumble into the cafeteria for 'lunch' until four in the afternoon.
Rinoa eyed them with a smile as they wandered in, together, holding hands. "Have you two just got up?"
They looked sheepish and Seifer slid into a seat across from her. Zell remained standing, hovering behind Seifer's chair.
"Well we got up three times actually." He explained.
"And each time we never got out the door." Seifer added.
Zell walked away from the table and headed for the food counter.
Rinoa grinned at Seifer. "Took you long enough. Happy now?"
"Very." He grinned. "The only reason we left was because Zell's hotdog cravings kicked in."
The little blonde came back, handing Seifer a coffee and sat down. He had a pile of hotdogs and a drink of his own. He took the top hotdog from the pile and handed it to his lover.
"Thanks."
"Aww." Rinoa said, laughing at Zell actually sharing his hotdogs. "It must be love."
Zell blushed. "Shut up." He muttered.
IIiiII
TBC