Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Lightning. ❯ Chapter, The Fourth: In Which Balamb is Visited. ( Chapter 4 )

Warnings: If you’re still reading, you already know: Yaoi, Seifer and Zell bastardization, Irvine torture, bad language etc, etc.

Disclaimer: We do not own Final Fantasy Eight or any of its affiliates, however, we do own the veritable flock of original characters that populate this fanfic. We do not make money off what we write, nor do we have any (owing to the fact that we’re uni students) therefore, to sue us would be useless. Plus, Hicky knows law. Ha! We’d beat your arse.

Pairings: Aha! XD

Author’s Notes:
From Kitty: Sorry it’s been so long. With my time in Bendigo and then without net, and Eoko’s recent uni-hell, it kind of got put on the backburner. But here it is! Do enjoy!

Eoko: Paper, Self Assessment, Action Plan, English skit, Vandalism presentation, two quizzes... and that was all in ONE WEEK! -_-

Chapter, The Fourth: In Which Balamb is Visited.

Zell strode out of the cafeteria and headed down the hall. As he went he caught snippets of conversation about someone getting their nose broken. That wasn’t really very interesting, considering it was a fairly regular occurrence. When the words ‘blonde’ and ‘scar’ were also brought into that same topic, things got a little more interesting.

The martial artist decided to stop by the infirmary and ask Kadowaki if Seifer had in fact been in with a broken nose. He turned down the path and walked through the doors.

“Oh, hello Mr. Dincht, how can I help you? Are you ill?”

“No no, I’m fine. I was just wondering if Seifer was here this morning?”

“Yes, he was. He had a broken nose. And I don’t believe it was monster inflicted either.”

Zell’s eyes widened a little. “You mean someone broke Seifer’s nose?”

She nodded and headed back to her desk. “Yes, but he was adamant about it being the work of a very sneaky Grat. I’ve seen almost every kind of Grat and T-Rexuar injury possible, and this definitely was human inflicted.”

Zell busted up laughing right there. Seifer had been caught off guard and had gotten his nose broken. Once the blonde had calmed slightly he smiled and waved a goodbye to the doctor before heading out.

Wonder who got the guts to clock Seifer one, other than me of course. Should give the person a medal of bravery for pulling a stunt like that.

He smirked to himself and went off in search of Mr. Almasy to do a little taunting of his own.

- - - - - - -

Irvine glanced at his clock and closed his books. Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to get to class, even if he were to be confronted which he doubted after his actions earlier this morning.

Seifer was probably trying to think up some wonderful scheme to get him back for it too. Irvine groaned at the thought and shook his head.

No, no, no, can’t think about that. Water is strong against fire. Junctioning Sleep to attack is very useful against T-Rexuars. One way of organizing magic is Restore-Indirect-Attack. Okay, okay, better.

He poked his head out into the hall, looking both ways before slipping out and heading to class. On his way he checked several times to make sure he had all the necessary stationary. His eyes darted about, hoping to avoid the blondes.

The breathed a sigh of relief upon making it to his classroom without even a glimpse of them. Now he could relax and take the test with no worries. He took a seat and brought out his writing tools.

“Are you ready for the test?” one of his fellow classmates asked him.

“Yea, I studied hard. I think I’ll do fine.” Irvine smiled.

“Hey, some friends and I are going to head out and celebrate if we do well. Since the results will be posted by five we can go get a drink or something. You up for it?”

Irvine considered for a moment. Out with a group and away from a certain duo. He couldn’t see a real downside to it. “Sure, that, like, sounds great.”

“Cool, so we’ll see you in front of the marks cabinet around 1730ish?”

“I’ll be there.” Irvine looked up to the front of the room when their instructor entered.

Instructor Aki stepped to the front of the room, a large stack of papers in his arms and turned to face his students. “I do hope you’ve all prepared for this exam. There will be no make up test, and those who do not have exceptional reasons for not attending will receive a zero. That said I will hand out the exams. You may begin as soon as you receive one.”

The instructor handed out papers to those students in the front desks who handed the piles back. He sat down in the chair behind his desk and took out a novel. “If you have any questions regarding the exam, please do not hesitate to come to the front and ask me. I will give no hint or suggestion, but if the wording is too difficult for you, I may simplify it. You have three hours. Begin.”

So, if we go ask him somethin’ he considers us to be, like, morons. Won’t be headin’ up to the front then.

Wissse choiccce, Massster.

He cracked his knuckles and loosened up his hand for at least a couple hours of writing.

- - - - - - -

Irvine looked over his test, glanced up at the clock and looked at it again. It wasn’t too bad. There were a few questions that he had to bullshit his way around, but at least his answers seemed convincing.

He stood and gathered his things, heading to the front of the room and placing the test on the pile that was slowly forming. He was in the top third of people already finished. That was good.

Irvine tipped his hat to the instructor who merely raised a hand, eyes glued to the pages of his novel.

‘A Love to Dream’…? Freaky…

The cowboy headed out of the classroom and made his way swiftly to the cafeteria to grab a late lunch. The test had kept his mind off food but now he realized he was hungry, so he got a few things and headed back to his room. Didn’t want to be cornered in the cafeteria. Without incident he made it back to his nice little sanctuary and flopped down on his bed to nibble at his lunch.

The test was over. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. There was no use worrying now, even if he was the worrying-about-test type. It was over, done, finished. Nothing could be done, so why bother thinking about it?

Since he had no more classes to worry about today he flicked on his TV and waited for 5:30 to roll around.

- - - - - - -

Irvine lazily drew his arm up to look at his watch. Time to head out. Man, afternoon TV just turned you into a vegetable. He switched off the set and got to his feet, stretching out all his muscles.

He glanced over to Exeter and considered whether he should take it or not. Just heading to check his marks and all… either he would have done well, and would go out in a group, less likely to be attacked by pitiful monsters, or he would do poorly and he’d take it out on some Grats. He could come back for it if that was the case, and he really hoped it wasn’t.

He went over to his mirror and checked himself over. Lifting a hand to remove his hat, he turned left and right and decided to keep his hair in the braid. He dropped the hat back atop his head and headed out his door to meet his peers and check his marks.

A few minutes later he was on the second floor and amongst a crowd of fellow students, pushing and squirming to see their marks. Irvine, being tall, didn’t exactly have to push to the front to get a decent view. He found his student ID number and followed the line over to his mark. He’d gotten an A, very high percent too.

He smiled proudly to himself. Just then a hand clapped his shoulder and he turned to see the classmate from earlier that day.

“Hey there! So, howed you do? Someone got 98% on that exam! Can you believe it??”

“Uh…” Irvine glanced around. “That was me.”

The other boy stared at him like his brain was visible and twice its actual size.

“Well, I did use a lot of para-magic fightin’ the sorceress and all, remember? It’s like, hands on experience.” Irvine smiled and scratched the back of his neck.

“Man! You’re too much, Kinneas! So I guess that means you’re coming out with us, ne? Me, Terry, Anasha, Illo, Harada, and Rikan all scored in our standards, so we’re going to head into Balamb!”

“I don’t think I ever caught your name?” Irvine commented as he was pulled over to a group of five other young men and women.

“Oh me? I’m Hiro, thought I said that earlier.” He grinned, embarrassed at his forgetfulness.

“Nice to, like, meet you, Hiro.”

“Yo, guys, this is Irvine Kinneas. Irvine, this is Terry, Illo and Rikan,” he said indicating the three other men. “And this is Anasha and Harada, maybe you know them?”

“I believe I’ve had the pleasure of the lovelys’ acquaintances,” he smiled charmingly, tipping his hat which received him a set of soft giggles.

“I hope he’s just talking about the girls,” Rikan commented.

Illo gave him a sideways glance that was pretty obviously saying ‘like you’d care’.

Rikan punched Illo in the arm and the whole group laughed.

Irvine felt a little out of place. Sure he was friendly and all, but it wasn’t very often he was drawn into a group all by himself. Well, good to make friends. Maybe he could hide- hang out with them and avoid certain other people.

“So, are we all ready to go?” Anasha asked, looking around. “Me and Illo are driving cause we don’t drink.” She smiled and gave a peace sign.

“Yea,” Illo added. “So feel free to get smashed.”

Getting smashed was not something Irvine was about to do in a group full of people he had met only several minutes ago, but, it wouldn’t stop him from tossing back a couple.

“Woohoo, let’s go celebrate our A’s!” Terry called and started running down the hall. The whole group followed suit and before Irvine even considered it he was alongside them, not even noticing the tattooed blonde standing to the right on the hallway.

Zell’s eyes followed Irvine as he zipped by, almost tempted to call out ‘no running in the halls, Kinneas’.

Fuck, I really am spending too much time with Seifer.

The blonde strolled into his room to grab his helmet. Maybe a visit to Ma was in order. He stripped out of his training jumper and wandered over to his dresser. He chose faded black jeans and a red long-sleeved shirt. From his closet he grabbed a black leather vest, then tucked his helmet under an arm and headed out.

He put on the headgear before even entering the car park. If the people Irvine had been with were still there then he couldn’t blow his identity. As it turned out, they had already left. He got on his bike, turned the key and revved the engine. Moments later he was whizzing past the two cars, one carrying Irvine.

Irvine glanced out the window of the passenger seat. He had called shotgun, pretty much just because it had the words ‘shot’ and ‘gun’ in it. His attention was caught by a vehicle passing the car.

The biker…

Zell skidded into Balamb and parked the bike in the gas station, turning it off and whipping off his helmet. “Gastón, Pierre! If anyone asks who owns this bike, what do you do?”

“Salute, Zell!” Pierre replied. “We say we do not know, oui?”

“Yes,” Zell grinned. “Thank you very much.”

“It is no problem.” Pierre waved as Zell zipped off and into his Ma’s house, earning a warm greeting and a hug almost instantly.

- - - - - - -

Anasha and Illo pulled into a couple parking spots and the whole lot piled out. “I say we head to the bar, play some Triple Triad and discuss that exam-”

“Not necessarily in that order though,” Harada added, giggling.

“Dunno, the exam maybe be a more interesting topic if drunk.”

Illo hit Rikan in the arm this time, then flung and arm around Harada and headed in the direction of the pub.

“Aw, we’re not going to the Pelican Zone?” Rikan whined, obviously trying to be annoying.

Terry rolled his eyes. “You’re not dragging us there, Rikan. You can go by yourself.”

Rikan raised a hand to his forehead and feigned shock. “It’s too dangerous for an innocent child, such as myself, to tread those grounds unescorted.”

Anasha giggled merrily. “You’re not a child, nor are you innocent, although maybe it would be better if you went with someone. Maybe Irvy will go with you!”

“Would ya, pal?” Rikan asked, dropping an arm around Irvine’s shoulders.

“I… I’ve never heard of the Pelican Zone.” Irvine looked around, a little uneasy about the arm around him.

“Leave off him, Ri-chan,” Illo called back.

“Leave off the anime! You and Harada watch too much!”

The two supposed anime fans turned to each other as if in shock, then turned back to Rikan. “Least we don’t wanna drag everyone off to gay bars.”

Irvine stiffened.

“They’re fun, and I’m bi, so I’m allowed to go to gay bars.” He stuck out his tongue.

Terry rolled his eyes a second time and grabbed Irvine from his dramatic friend. “Sorry, Kinneas. Don’t mind him. He’s not harmful… or contagious. Let’s go, yea?”

“Yea, sounds great!” Irvine smiled brightly despite his sudden wariness towards Rikan. Was it just him, or were the stereotypical homos all somewhere else? Rikan was built, like Zell, tall like Seifer and had his dyed red hair done up in short spikes.

Where were the easy to spot, pink-frill wearing, make up enhanced, lispy, flamboyant fags? Irvine needed to avoid them. Not because he considered it wrong, but because he didn’t want anymore fuel for the Blonde Brigade to use against him.

Soon everyone was sitting at a large half-circle booth, sipping drinks and chit-chatting. Anasha and Rikan were into a game of Triple Triad and the others were cheering them on between sips and breaks in their chat.

They were pretty nice people, but Irvine still wasn’t going to get his guard down, or get completely drunk. But he was going to enjoy himself.

- - - - - - -

Zell sipped tea and talked with his Ma. They played a few rounds of Triple Triad, causing the blonde to lose a few of his better cards.

He frowned at his mother across the coffee table. “When’d you get so good?”

“Oh, dear, I’m not getting any better. But I think you’re getting worse.”

“Gee, thanks, Ma.” Zell rolled his entire head then dropped his cheek into his hand.

“How are your missions going? Is there something on your mind?” she asked, pouring more tea for the two of them.

“Eh, missions are okay. Our little hero group doesn’t get sent on too many anymore, not unless it’s really serious. Otherwise just one or two of us lead smaller missions, so more free time.”

“What are you doing to busy yourself?”

Zell leaned back against the sofa. “This and that. I train, I demonstrate for some classes. I’ve gotten into reading a bit more, bet you’re happy about that.”

She smiled brightly. “Well, you did love books when you were little, and you didn’t have much time for them in Garden. I’m glad you have some time to relax. And your love life?”

The blonde nearly spit out his latest sip pf tea. “Do all parents take such keen interest in their children’s love lives?”

She shook her finger at him. “That doesn’t matter either way, and I’m pretty sure they do, so? Do you have a boyfriend yet? Are you and Seifer-?”

“Ma, please, Seifer? How many times did I call and whine to you about him, or run away from Garden because of him?”

“Well, you’re friends now, aren’t you?” She cocked her head to the side.

Zell looked up in thought. “Yea, we are.” They were almost always together. Seifer was who made him realize the truth about him. But they weren’t a couple. They weren’t going out or anything like that. “But that doesn’t mean we’re suddenly a couple.”

“He’s cute.”

“Ma!”

She smiled brightly. “Well, there’s no denying the truth now, is there?”

Zell raised an eyebrow at her. “Can’t you at least call him something like ‘hot’ or ‘handsome’ and not ‘cute’ like a puppy or a girl?”

“Why? Will he come beat me up?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him.”

They both grinned before starting to laugh. Zell recovered a little after his mother, wiping a stray tear from his eye and turning to look out the window that looked out over the main street.

He looked at his watch, then back out the window and at the cowboy heading by. It wasn’t too terribly late, and he was alone. Seemed like he was going back early.

“Hey, Ma, it was great seeing you, but I should get going.” He stood and went over to give his mother a hug. “I’ll stop by again soon, okay? Need to win back my cards and all.” He grinned and headed for the door, picking up his helmet on the way out.

“Be careful on your way home, Zell,” she called, smiling and waving at him.

He gave her a thumbs up before closing the door behind him and putting on the helmet. Irvine was already half way to the archway. Zell grinned to himself and headed over to get his bike, wheeling it out onto the path just under the arch and got on, turning the key in the ignition and revving the engine.

Irvine stopped and turned around at the sound of the engine. He smiled slightly and lifted a hand to wave at the man on the bike.

Zell returned the wave then cocked his head at the back of his bike.

“Offerin’ me another ride, are you?” Irvine called from his short distance, already starting to walk back.

Zell nodded and shifted to get out the extra helmet, leaving the seat open for Irvine to put his hat away for safe keeping.

“You know, if ya keep doing this I’ll have to, like, give you somethin’.” Irvine placed his hat in the little compartment and took the helmet from the biker.

Zell lifted a hand and shook his head.

“Well, you’re very kind then.” Irvine put the seat back down and flung a leg over the bike, arms going around the other man’s waist. He didn’t want to be jolted about on a stomach half full of alcohol.

Zell smiled to himself. Irvine was already so much more willing than the time before. Of course, that could be because he was out drinking and he wasn’t thinking well. He revved the engine and headed off towards Garden.

Irvine rested against the rider. It was darkish, only them, no one would see, and it wasn’t anything really. Maybe he had had a bit too much to drink. But that was alright, he had an excuse. Besides, the rider was warm on a cool autumn evening and it felt nice.

When they got back to Garden, Irvine was a little slower to get off the bike. As he was getting off he noticed a tattoo on the back of the biker’s neck. The Balamb Garden insignia… lot of good that was. Tons of people probably had that.

The biker popped the seat and reached in to get Irvine’s hat, holding it out to him.

Irvine smiled and took it, removing his helmet and handing it back to the man on the bike. He placed the hat back on his head and tilted it into place. “So, do I get to know who you are now?”

Zell raised a finger and shook it back and forth, shoulders shaking in a silent chuckle.

Irvine placed a hand on his hip. “Not even a word or two? You’re very secretive.”

The masked blonde cocked his head to the side, then lifted a hand and waved.

“Uh, is that a good night, then?”

Zell nodded.

“Hm, good night to you too, Mr. Biker.” Irvine turned and walked off, waving a hand back and forth until we was out of the car park.

Zell removed his helmet and rested his elbows on it, cheeks palmed in his hands, and smile on this lips. “Mm, g’night, Irvine."