It was about an hour later that Zell left the party and headed for the dorms. He had decided to just wait in front of them for Squall after remembering that he still had to give him his keycard. The gunblade-wielder had not been anywhere to be found and after getting annoyed with searching for him Zell had just roamed the hallways he was allowed to enter after curfew. He wondered if Squall and that girl from before had gone somewhere to have some…fun, that meaning that the other wouldn't come back to his dorm until really late at night. Zell hung his head and shoved his hands into his pockets. 'That could still be HOURS.' He thought as he passed the entrance of the training center, stopping for a moment turning his head to look down the hallway.
He wasn't tired, hadn't drunken any alcohol tonight and his meal was about an hour ago so going to the training center sounded like a good idea to pass some time. He still pondered whether or not to go for a bit, but then his hand brushed against his gloves in his pocket and the decision was made. Sliding them on, he strolled down the corridor entering the indoor forest of Balamb Garden.
He took of his still slightly damp jacket off and revealed the dark shirt underneath. He rolled up his sleeves up and made some testing strikes into the air. Then he started to warm himself up, taking in the noises of his environment, bracing himself for a fight that could come at any time now.
Not soon after he was damp with sweat and surrounded by the bodies of dead Grats. Panting heavily, he ran a hand over his forehead and through his hair. Normally he had no problems with those ugly creatures but this last fight had been five at once. It had been hard to take, even for him and even more so after already finishing ten of them.
Zell went back to where he had left his jacket, wanting to leave and hoping that Squall would be back by now. Just as he reached for his jacket he heard a loud roar and something that sounded like several trees crashing onto the ground, followed by loud cursing of someone. By the sound of it Zell guessed that someone had gotten into a fight with a T-Rexaur. 'Not good, definitely not good.' Zell thought and prepared himself for another fight for the roaring became louder the longer he stood there.
Another loud crash reached his ear and then he saw someone running around the corner, followed by the huge creature he had been expecting. What he had not expected was Seifer being on his retreat. "Seifer?!" Zell exclaimed, not believing his eyes. Seifer stopped right beside him turning back to the creature which came to a halt as well, not able to decide which of them to attack at first. "Chicken-wuss." He panted, trying to retain his cool, but not once taking his eyes off of the monster in front of them. "Missed me? Or why are you following me?"
Zell could have sworn to have heard something like relief in his voice, understandable in such a situation. He had no time to think about it further because the T-Rexaur turned around to knock them off with his tail. Jumping out of the way, Zell yelled "Pure coincidence." back as an answer, now standing on the other side of the dinosaur, ignoring the fact Seifer was trying to tick him of in such a situation. "Need some help?" He asked then, seeing that Seifer was as exhausted as Zell himself. "If you don't mind." The other responded, dodging the next swipe of the T-Rexaurs tail.
Zell paused for a moment, making sure that the T-Rexaur was distracted, and junctioned sleep to his attack. He had to be very quick now, knowing the monster would kill him if he wasn't. Launching forward he jumped over the tail of the monster once more and used a nearby tree as a spring board to land on top of the back of their enemy. The T-Rexaur roared dangerously but before he could try to shake Zell off the boy jumped again landing a kick right to the middle of the head of the monster. Making it drop to the floor snoring the moment he hit him.
"Run!" He yelled at Seifer jumping off the back of the monster. He rushed over to the nearby stump taking his jacket from it. As he turned he couldn't believe his eyes. Seifer was still standing where he stood a moment ago paralyzed by the sudden turn of events and before Zell could think better of it he grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the training center.
They stopped running the moment the gate of the training center closed behind them. It took all Zell had not to collapse the moment they were out of danger. Leaning to the nearest wall Zell let go of Seifers arm. "That… was… close…" He said between pants, sliding down the wall to catch his breath. "You… think?" Seifer responded sarcastically but as short of breath as Zell, leaning on Hyperion for support.
"Hyne, only you would pick a fight with a T-Rexaur!" Zell laughed. Blame the adrenaline, but he was thinking this whole situation was hilarious right now. Seifer grinned, straightening himself while saying. "He looked at me funny." Zell and Seifer locked eyes for a moment, sweat dripping from their faces and onto the ground, both looking like hell. The silence was heavy but then they burst into laughter.
Once they calmed down again Zell had to wipe tears of laughter out of his eyes. "Haven't laughed like that for weeks." He said "And with you of all people!" Zell couldn't believe what was happening. At first he found himself dancing with Fuujin and now he was dying of laughter from a joke told by Seifer.
"Weird day, huh?" Seifer said leaning against the wall as well. Zell nearly started laughing again. The other asking him a question not only on a casual, but on a friendly basis? Zell was pretty sure he was going insane. But if going insane meant having a normal conversation with Seifer regularly, maybe it was at least worth it. He shook his head slightly at that last thought, trying to get rid of it.
"Heard you danced with Fuu." Zell was startled by that. "She told ya?!" He asked not sure what to think of it. Seifer sighed. "No, actually I saw you." He confessed, expression unreadable. "Oh." Zell responded, he had thought that Seifer had been absent during their dance.
"The drink to the face though…" Seifer stopped speaking for a moment shooting him a glare. "You did not hurt her, did you? Because if you did I…" Zell was startled again. "NO! 'Course not!" He exclaimed and raised his hands in a defensive gesture.
"You like her?" Zell blinked confused. When had Seifer gotten this serious? "Wha? N-no." Seifer raised a brow at that and Zell faltered for a moment. "Well, not in that way ya implying." He scratched his head before continuing. "The dance was more of a friend-thing." Zell shrugged.
At first Seifer was silent but then he nodded slowly, adding a short "Good." before saying. "She's already taken." Zell raised an eyebrow at that. "By whom? You?" Seifer snorted shortly as if it was ridiculous to even suggest it. "Don't be stupid."
Zell furrowed his brow, thinking, and then it hit him. "Raijin? Seriously?" Seifers lips twitched into a small smile. "Yep, head over heels, ya know?" The older blonde said mimicking the catch-phrase of his best friend. Zell snorted at that but thought about it for a moment before he answered. "Kinda makes sense, though." He received another nod from Seifer. "Don't tell anyone." Seifer said soon after. "Rai would be pissed if he found out." Now it was Zells turn to nod, yawning while doing so. "Won't do that. Promise." He rubbed his eyes when he heard the other yawn as well and smirked tiredly. Looking at Seifer for a moment, he realized that they both should get some sleep soon. 'Sleep… Dorm… Keycard… Wait…' Zells thoughts trailed off and the then remembered why exactly he had gone to the training center in the first place.
"Squall!" He yelled suddenly and shot up from the ground, clearly startling Seifer. Zells legs were still a little weak and he was so tired from all the fighting and running that he almost fell over again. "Whoops…" He exclaimed, flailing his arms for something to hold onto before getting caught by Seifer. "The hell, Chicken-wuss?" Zell felt the warm of Seifers hand on his arm, a thought crossing his mind of why the other wasn't wearing his gloves like normally did, but he shoved him off the moment he found his balance again. "Don't call me that!" Zell responded, glaring at Seifer.
"Then don't startle me yelling the name of that stupid ice-princess so loud it could wake up the whole Garden." Seifer growled, expression as hard as before their little encounter with the T-Rexaur. Again they only stared at one another, but this time they were both sure to not end up in a casual conversation afterwards.
Seifer was the first to break the silence again. "…Go find your boyfriend." He added with a snarl, voice thick with anger and something else Zell wasn't able to pinpoint out of his own aggravation.
Zell clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white, only barely stopping himself from punching Seifer right in the face. "He's not my boyfriend." He snarled, then extended his index finger and pointed it at Seifer. "You're the one who gave me his key card so I could pass it on to him. So don't pull that crap on me!" He huffed now out of sheer annoyance, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Wasted almost the whole night lookin' for him now."
Seifers expression softened, albeit only a little bit, and he responded "Whatever." before shouldering his gunblade and starting to walk towards the exit. Zell watched him in bewilderment, before picking his jacket off of the ground and following him. "That's it? No further insults?" He asked, scolding himself for sounding way too disappointed at that.
Suddenly Seifer spun around, taking Zell by surprise and slamming him into the nearest wall, using the arm that wasn't holding Hyperion for pinning the martial artist in place. "Listen to me, wuss." He growled lowly, pressing his arm harder against Zells throat, almost choking him by doing so. "It was a really shitty day for me, and I had to deal with way too much of your crap up to this point."
The older one paused and Zell held the stare of the cyan eyes right in front of him. They were filled with so much anger, frustration and disappointment that Zell began to feel bad for the other instead of getting pissed at his actions. "So you cheered Fuu up, fine. You tried to cheer me up. FINE." Seifers eyes narrowed at that and he continued "But don't expect me to go easy on you for anything you do for me or my friends, BECAUSE I FUCKING CAN'T!" That last bit was yelled straight into Zells face.
The silence that followed was tense and they stared wide-eyed at one another, both of them taken aback by Seifers last words. As usual, Seifer was the first to move. Zell watched as he dropped his gaze and stumbled backwards until he hit the opposite wall and then, the martial artist realized later on, the older one ran for it. Sure, Seifer had been trying to retain his composure by straightening up and leaving as slowly as he possibly could, but Zell knew that it would not have made any difference if he had actually run from the hallway.
"He… can't?" Zell asked after Seifer was out of his view and clutched at the fabric of the jacket in his hand. "What is that supposed to mean?" He wondered aloud, slowly starting to walk out of the hallway as well, not sure if he even wanted to know the answer to that question.