Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Different Type of Guardian ❯ Initiation ( Chapter 1 )

This whole thing occurs at Seymour-sama's place, y'know.. Right around when that whole marrying Yuna deal kicks in.

~~~

They had decided to spend the night after all.

The group had mostly retired to their quarters, save for Tidus. He was absolutely restless, and thus decided to explore. He found his way into the hall that they had assembled into earlier and walked around quietly. The teen appeared to be examining things closely and pondering over each of them for quite a while, but really he was just bored as hell. When he came to the table of fruit in the center, he poked at a large pear curiously to test if it was real or not, and, in seeing that it was, he smiled brightly, snatched it off the table, and began to chomp at it merrily.

The scene made Seymour, who was perched upon the balcony guard rail, smile warmly. He never did sleep much and had been looking out his window thoughtfully when he'd heard soft noises coming from the enormous room that they usually used as a welcoming hall. He was still dressed in his usual robes, and his position caused them to drape over the ornate rail like small banners in themselves. He cocked his head and fingered a blue lock as the spunky teen below him went for another fruit (an apple this time, he noted) and turned around to explore a bit more.

He had been thinking about the blonde almost non-stop since he had first laid eyes on him. It was only by chance, he figured, that Tidus should fall into his grasp so easily. He had planned to see him once more either way, but now that he had forged a makeshift friendship with Yuna and her several other guardians as well, things couldn't be better for him. Tidus was now looking at the holograms of the former maesters and frowning. "See something that interests you?"

Tidus whirled around and caught himself as he tripped on the edge of a step. Seymour chuckled as the teen stuttered for a bit and decided that it would be more effective to shove a hand back through his hair and look at his feet. The blue-haired maester laughed merrily and swung his legs back over the rail, landing gracefully and shaking his robes back into their place. Turning to face the rookie guardian once again, he found that Tidus had his hands in his pockets and was looking at him rather warily. "Relax, please, return to your thoughts. I meant only to... perhaps help where help may have been needed."

Tidus took his hands out of his pockets, but the look in his eyes signified that he was still rather tense. He looked at the carpet, back at the holograms, then back to Seymour, who smiled softly and clasped his hands behind his back. "I'm sorry if I woke you up... I couldn't sleep."

"It is understandable. You've been through a lot lately, have you not?"

"How did you know?"

"You are the young guardian of a beautiful lady summoner, who just happens to be the daughter of a very famous summoner himself. It would be abnormal for your situation to pass smoothly."

"Oh yeah, I guess you kinda went through all this stuff yourself, huh?"

A nod. "Are your accommodations not to your liking?"

Tidus shook his head violently. "No, no, they're great... I'm just... I guess I just have a lot on my mind." He turned his eyes away from the holograms on the walls and looked at the two cores in his hand. Then he turned back to Seymour and sighed.

"Would you like to talk about what is bothering you, young guardian?"

"You can call me Tidus, y'know..."

Seymour chuckled. "Yes, of course, my apologies...Tidus."

The teen smiled at that, causing Seymour's stomach to flop uneasily. Tidus grunted and sighed a bit before scratching the back of his head and looking around nervously. Then he mumbled, "Yeah, sure... I guess I could use someone to talk to."

Seymour nodded and turned from Tidus. "We can go to my personal quarters; I feel as if it is... too open, where we are." The two men started towards his room, and Seymour hid his grin and pretended not to notice when Tidus chucked the two fruit cores in an empty treasure chest against the wall.

When they arrived, the guard stepped aside and allowed Seymour to open his doors. Tidus whistled in admiration and threaded his fingers together behind his head, walking around animatedly and taking in all of the rich fabrics and ornate swords set against the wall. He thought that all summoners used staffs, but then again, maybe the man just had a thing for swords... who really cared? He was afraid to breathe for fear of breaking anything and invoking the anger of the ridiculously powerful man that also occupied the room. He could hear Seymour chuckle behind him, and the rich sound sent shivers up his spine.

"Surely you have seen such luxury before?"

"Not to this degree... This stuff is incredible!"

"Ah, yes. It is, isn't it?" The maester sat on the bed, positioned below a long window with a large sill so that if you reclined against the wall while on the bed, you could also easily look out the window. "It does get old after a while, though."

Tidus frowned at a large, delicately carved dagger on the wall. "I don't see how, but I guess I'll take your word for it." He turned around to face Seymour and gasped, running up to kneel on the bed and leaning out of the window. "Woah! Would you look at that!"

The window opened to the view of Guadosalam, which was currently nestled under a blanket of warm midnight. It was a full moon and the sky was dotted with stars, causing Tidus' face to light up as he leaned further out to catch the full effect. He looked for his favorite constellations habitually, but leaned back inside and frowned deeply when he remembered that he wasn't home anymore; that home didn't even exist anymore, and therefore neither did his stars. The realization hit him full-force and brought his whole reason for his mild insomnia back to the front of his mind.

Seymour frowned as Tidus did. What was ailing him? He had been enjoying the play of starlight on the teen guardian's face and how it caught on the edges of his smile when the smile vanished into a frown and the starlight faded from his perfect skin. Seymour shifted into a half-reclined position, folding his hands over his abdomen and rolling his head to one side. "You said you could use somebody to talk to. What is bothering you?"

Tidus sighed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and grabbing the silk comforter into a fist. "It's this whole guardian thing... It's like everybody just expects me to know about everything that goes on in Spira and stuff..."

"You do not know?"

Tidus began to explain that he was here from 1,000 years in the past, but stopped himself. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

"Why not tell me anyway? You've got nothing to lose except face, and is that really so bad?"

Tidus opened an eye and looked at the maester with it skeptically. The eye then closed and Tidus erupted into a sigh before shifting his position and taking a deep breath. "Well, I think I was on my way to a Blitzball tourney... Or maybe I was already playing, I don't know... But Sin showed up and chased after Auron and I-"

"You're familiar with Sir Auron?"

"He's kinda been a father figure to me since my old man was a big jerk."

"I see. Carry on."

"Anyway, Sin showed up and chased after Auron and I, and before I really knew what was going on, I think it knocked me unconscious, and then threw me a thousand years into the future to this ocean where I was found by the Al Bhed, but Sin found me there, too, and I washed up on the shores of Besaid after that."

"Fascinating. So you really are from the old Zanarkand?"

"How'd you know that?"

"You recognized it earlier when I showed you the sphere. Your story fits."

"Oh yeah. I guess it would. Anyway, from there, I met up with Wakka, joined a new Blitzball team, met some new people, broke a lot of rules, and even earned myself the title of Guardian, but I still don't know much."

"I see. "

"Speaking of Auron, I don't know what his problem is, anyway. I wasn't born into this position... How can he just expect me to know what I'm supposed to do? I was a star Blitzer, and now I'm a millennium into the future where my home city's been destroyed, I'm this fancy shmancy guardian to some chick I just met a few weeks ago, and I just don't know why or how everybody just expects me to accept this without asking questions. I feel so stupid all the time. I just want to go home!" Tidus released his grip on the comforter and appeared as if he was going to hit something for a few seconds before releasing a large breath and allowing his body to droop. "Sorry, I get kind of out of control like that sometimes."

Seymour had listened to the entire conversation with avid interest. A thousand years from the past? And from Zanarkand, no less! He blinked a few times and met Tidus' eyes. "Your father?"

"Yeah. Jecht."

"Ah. It must be very difficult to follow in his footsteps."

Tidus looked over at him before snorting quietly and looking at the floor. "You'd be the first to think so."

"I'm sure I wouldn't. What makes you say such a thing?"

"Everybody just expects me to be my father. Or if not him, at least as good as him. `Oh, you're Jecht's son, do that one Blitzball shot he always did!', or `Oh, you're the son of the great Sir Jecht! Lady Yuna is very fortunate to have a descendant of that great man in her party!' ... I'm sick of everybody making me out to be what I don't want to be."

"You do not want... to live up to your father's achievements?"

"Achievements...bah. He was a jerk, if you ask me. A drunk, mean jerk. I just.. I can't... Ooh, I hate him!" Tidus' voice cracked with his declaration as he pounded the bed beneath him, causing the water within the thick encasement to wave and tumble. Tidus hadn't noticed that he had been sitting on a water bed, and, despite the situation and his emotionality, he couldn't help but giggle a bit and shift his weight exaggeratedly, causing the water to shift once again. The distraction didn't last long, however, before he buried his face in his hands, pulled his knees up to his chest, and sighed shakily. "I'm so frustrated... I can't help the fact that I'm clueless, but I'm doing my best... I really am, and I always just seem to make things worse."

Seymour caught the single tear that ran down the teen's cheek within his gaze and frowned deeply. He reached out with abnormally long fingers and brushed the teen on the shoulder, causing Tidus to look up at him with red, puffy eyes. His heart broke at the sight of the young guardian, and he motioned towards himself. Tidus looked at the maester's chest quizzically before breaking into an open sob and burying himself into Seymour's body.

The maester had never had anybody this close to him, and he decided that it felt good to have another body hugged tightly against his. He wrapped his arms around Tidus and rested his chin on the top of the boy's head, rocking slightly back and forth as his mother had done to him once when he was a very small child. Tidus cried hard against the man's chest and hated himself for doing so, hated himself for being such a crybaby, but he couldn't stop the rush of frustration and anger that had overtaken his body and he needed to let it out. He grabbed the sleeve of Seymour's robe in his hand and sniffed sadly, his sobs dying down as quickly as they had appeared, before wiping his eyes on the sleeve and blinking down at it. "...sorry."

Seymour cocked his head at the blonde hair below his nose and threw his hand forward past the teen's face, causing his sleeve to pull back and reveal a very elegant hand. He reached up to the soft face at his mercy and brushed away a section of a wet trail left by a tear that had rolled down one of the cheeks. Tidus made a noise similar to a hiccup and laid his head back down on the solidly built maester's chest, trying earnestly to calm himself. He had momentarily forgotten that he was now in the arms of one of the most powerful people in the current world, and knew only that he was being cradled against a warm, rock-hard chest and his back was being rubbed by a strong hand that sent tingles of comfort down to the tips of his toes.

"Tidus..."

"Yeah?"

"What is it like to kiss someone?"

Tidus started a bit and sat back on Seymour's lap to fully look him in the eye. He wasn't sure he had heard correctly... Maester Seymour had never kissed anybody? "Excuse me?"

"Have you not kissed before, either?"

What were the beginnings of a very large blush appeared on Tidus' cheeks. "I... well, of course I have, I mean... Being the star blitzer of Zanarkand and all, girls practically threw themselves at me, but I never thought that someone like y-"

"Then what is it like?"

"I.. eh.. um, it's kind of hard to explain... You've got good kisses and bad kisses, and the ones that are in-between... And the ones that don't mean anything, and the ones you WISH meant something..." Tidus shoved his fingers back through his bangs and threw a helpless look at the maester. Receiving a curious look in return, he sighed and accepted that what he was about to do would probably give poor Wakka a full-blown heart attack.

Placing his fingers along the jaw line of Maester Seymour, he leaned in and delicately touched lips with the blue-haired beauty.

Seymour's eyes widened a bit at the foreign softness against his own lips when Tidus opened his eyes and looked at the maester with amusement. Seymour looked back at him as their contact broke with a soft smacking sound and Tidus chuckled quietly. "It's better, I think, when you close your eyes."

The blue-haired maester did so slowly, and when the teen's lips once again came in contact with his own, he discovered that he liked it better, too. Tidus took Seymour's bottom lip and sucked on it lightly before letting go and sitting back on the older one's lap.

Seymour's eyes drifted open a moment later; his fingers lifted to his now-slightly-moistened bottom lip. He turned a habitually closed expression to Tidus, who became very self-conscious and, once again, put a hand through his hair and looked off to the side. "It was kind of the only way I could think of to explain..."

Seymour reached forward, grabbed Tidus at the nape of his neck with a gentle palm, pulled him forward, and claimed the teen's mouth with a sensuality he hadn't known that he had previously possessed. He had remembered to close his eyes, he noted with a bit of pride, but didn't really know what to do beyond that. Tidus obviously did, however, and though he was glad for that, he was still a bit nervous. Specifically when he felt a tongue jab at his lower lip. What was he supposed to do now?

He touched the other tongue shyly with his own. His answer was a slow invasion of his mouth by a warm, slick twisting muscle that was apparently very experienced in the art of...whatever it was doing to him.

He was loving it.

Trying to mimic the actions of the sultry teen, he couldn't help but feel a bit awkward. Was he doing this correctly? Was Tidus enjoying this as much as he was? What was he getting himself into?

Who cared?

There were hands on his shoulders and thumbs hooked into his robes. His eyes opened to look Tidus in the eye, and though he wanted to ask why Tidus was looking at him if he liked to keep his eyes closed, the teen guardian beat him to speaking.

"I'm going to assume that since you've never kissed anyone before, you've never had sex before either." It was more of a question than a statement.

Seymour looked at the chest in front of him, taking in the lanky boy's body structure. He hadn't seen many Blitzball players, but he could remember none being so...small. "No, I haven't."

Tidus frowned and brushed the tip of his tongue over the maester's lips. "Would you like me to show you that, as well?"

Seymour wasn't lying; he never had had sex before. Not with a woman, not with a man. He knew that there were discriminations against same-sex pairing, but he had never paid much attention to society, what with just trying to accomplish his duties as a summoner. He couldn't help but be curious, after catching stray conversations between his guards about how "amazing" and "mind-blowing" it could be. What was he missing out on? He must have been lucky to have someone like the young guardian to show him.

Not that he couldn't find somebody else...

"I...would like that, I think."

Tidus chuckled. "I'll try my best... I've never done this with a guy, y'know."

Seymour smiled softly. "That makes two of us."