Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Lightning. ❯ Chapter, The Twenty-First: In Which Rubedo is Revealed. ( Chapter 21 )

Kitty: Yay! Rubedo is revealed!

Eoko: That's sure what it looks like!

Kitty: I wonder what Irvine will say! Oh wait... I already know. I wrote this chapter.

Eoko: Yes you did! And so would everyone else if I could manage to remember what day was Thursday... or even Friday...

Kitty: Well, it's okay. You've been busy. -pat pat- I forgive you.

Eoko: I've been busy? Doing what? Oh, oh is this to make the readers understand why I'm stupid? Okay! I was busy!!

Kitty: Oh a totally unrelated subject... What does it mean when you aren't even doing a search for yaoi but yaoi pics come up anyway...?

Eoko: An awesome day.

Kitty: Oh... yay!

Eoko: I think everyone wants to read this chapter. They have been waiting for the reveal for ages. We should shut up and let them read.

Kitty: Good plan. Enjoy the chappy!

Chapter, The Twenty-First: In Which Rubedo is Revealed.

Irvine allowed himself to just sink into the last ten chapters of the book Rikan had leant him and he let the plot and Benjamin and Phillip's problems take over his mind instead of his own. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Rubedo since the moment he had woken up, but he had always been able to lose himself in a book, and this one was very sad.

He'd tucked the note with Rubedo's number on it at the very last page, and promised himself he would decide what to do when he got to it, but he knew, in the back of his mind, he had already decided to call and find out if the biker was alright, and tell him what he had finally realised, with Rubedo's help.

He rolled onto his back, holding the book above him, and rubbed at his eyes. Hyne! It was so sad.

The thingsss we do for love, yesss?

"We?" Irvine sniffed. "You're a GF. You don't fall in love."

There was silence from Leviathan and Irvine shook his head a little, reading onward. By the end of the book he was in tears - it hadn't been the happy ending books were supposed to have. Rubedo's note slipped from the last page as he was reading it and he picked up the slip of paper, hand fisting around it as he cried his way through the final paragraphs. He closed the book and ran his fingers over the back-cover, thinking about all that had happened through its pages.

Then he lunged for the phone and punched in a number.

::Talk to me if you're sex-::

"Rikan, you jerk!"

::Er... Irv...ine...?::

"Why'd you give me such a sad book?!"

::Oh...:: Rikan laughed. ::That. Did it make you cry?::

"No," Irvine said defensively, sitting at his desk and smoothing out Rubedo's number, which he'd reduced to a ball. "Dammit!"

::Damn what?::

"Nothin'. Anyway, did it make you cry?"

Rikan snorted, but Irvine smirked.

"It did, didn't it? Ha!"

::It made you cry, too! I can hear it. And why did you call me, anyway, if it wasn't to complain that I made you cry? Unless it was to confess your true feelings!:: Rikan finished dramatically, and Irvine rolled his eyes, then glanced at the note under his hand.

"Actually..."

Rikan went silent and Irvine shifted the phone to his other ear.

"You remember that day you got threatened by the guy in the bike helmet?"

::Hell, yes. Who the fuck is he anyway?::

"He's... someone I care a lot about... I'm sorry, Rikan, but you gotta back off and stop tryin'... tryin' to do stuff... I, like, want to stay friends with you, but if you can't keep your hands to yourself, then we can't be."

::What d'you mean 'he's someone you care about'? You keep telling everyone you're not gay!::

"I... were wrong... He made me see that."

::Then... I...::

"Sorry, but you gotta find someone else. And I gotta go. I need to call him. See ya."

::Irv-::

Irvine hung up, took a deep breath, and picked up the receiver again, dialing Rubedo's number.

- - -

"Zell. Your bed's vibrating," Seifer called. He was sitting on it, but Zell had disappeared into the bathroom to fix his hair after an amusing half hour of attacking each other with blankets, thanks to Zell's chocolate-crazed moment.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he called back.

Seifer fished around the mess they'd made of the fighter's bed.

"It's your phone, dumbass. Here it is!" He glanced at the caller ID. "It's Irv-"

"Gimme the phone!"

Both of Seifer's brows shot up to the vicinity of his hairline and he held the ringing phone between his thumb and forefinger, waving it a little.

"I'll get it," he assured Zell, smirking.

"Don't you fucking dare, Seifer..." Zell lunged at the gunbladist, who jumped to his feet and simply held the phone out of the far shorter man's reach.

"Or what?"

"Seifer!"

Seifer flipped the phone open, thumb hovering over the answer button. The smirk on his face was positively evil.

Zell's hair was half in his face, half gelled up, and he showed Seifer his fangs, a demonstration of his displeasure.

"No...?" Seifer teased. "I shouldn't answer?"

"Give. Me. The. Fucking. Phone!"

"Okay, okay. Geez." Seifer held it out and Zell snatched it, gesturing the gunbladist to silence. Seifer pulled a face at him, but flopped silently onto the bed as the fighter answered the phone.

- - -

"Rubedo...?"

Silence, but for the beep for yes. The sharpshooter sighed, relieved. He'd been an inch from hanging up, certain Rubedo wasn't going to answer.

"Are you alright? I mean, you left so suddenly... I... Did I do somethin' wrong?"

/No./

"Then why...? Why did you leave like that...? I wanted..." ...more... "Can I see you again...?"

There was only silence.

"...Please..." Irvine's throat was tight, tears threatening again. "Please! You... You made me realise... Rubedo... I... I'm... I'm the same as you! You made me understand... I'm gay."

Still silence.

"Please... I have to see you again..."

/Yes./ The answer came after another long silence.

"Thank you... When?"

- - -

You know I can't answer that... Try again.

::Today...?::

Zell glanced at Seifer who was watching him in silence, highly intrigued by the silent conversation.

/No./

::...T-tomorrow...?::

/Yes./

He could hear the pleased tone of Irvine's next word and his stomach flipped horribly. Hyne, he was terrified.

::Then, you'll pick me up? We can go somewhere?::

/Yes./

::Then it wasn't my fault... that you... that you left?::

/No./

::Will you... tell me? Will you explain?::

Zell shut his eyes, swallowing.

/Yes./

::I... guess I'll see you tomorrow, then.::

/Yes./

::Alright. Pick me up out the front of Garden... about twelve?::

/Yes./

::Bye, then. Take care, Rubedo... I... I...::

Please don't say it...

::I'll see you tomorrow.::

Zell let out a slow breath, closing his phone.

"I'm gonna tell him tomorrow..." he said without looking at Seifer. "Tomorrow... I hope... I hope he doesn't hate me..."

- - -

Irvine waited on the same flower box the next day, in a pair of faded jeans and his usual vest, his hat perched at a jaunty angle on his braided hair. He couldn't help grinning. He hadn't been able to stop since he got off the phone with Rubedo the day before. As if to echo his mood, the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun shone warm against his back.

He leaned his weight on his hands and looked up at the whispy clouds floating slowly across the blue expanse. The prospect of seeing the mysterious biker made his stomach flutter and his heartbeat quicken.

A car pulled up at the curb and a SeeD he didn't recognise stuck her head out the window and waved at him. Mystery was playing on her radio and Irvine grinned even more as he waved back, humming along with the tune.

It wasn't long before a group of girls came out of Garden, giggling and talking among themselves. They smiled at Irvine as they passed him and he tipped his hat to them, his usual lady-centered smirk touching his lips. They drove off, the last strains of Mystery fading with them, replaced by the rev of an engine Irvine recognised in a second.

He was soon wrapped around Rubedo, helmet in place and motorbike growling beneath them both.

Rubedo took him to the same place as Friday night and they sat down together in the grass. Irvine wanted the biker to hold him like he had then, but Rubedo didn't seem inclined to move. After they had sat in silence for a long while, Irvine finally spoke.

"Are you okay...?"

Rubedo shook his head a little, biting his lip.

/It's time,/ he wrote suddenly, and his hand shook. /I can't do this anymore./

"What...?"

/I have to show you who I am./

Irvine's eyes widened and he stared at Rubedo, a slow grin coming to his face.

"Really...?"

Rubedo nodded.

Irvine's hands fisted against his thighs and his heart thudded in his chest. Finally! He was finally going to see Rubedo's face for the first time! He'd tried to imagine what the biker would look like but, just like he hadn't been able to imagine his voice, he couldn’t picture anything that fit. Finally! Finally...

Zell’s hands shook slightly. He gripped the notebook and pen hard, scribbling almost illegibly on the paper.

/I meant what I said… I care about you… I’m sorry./

Zell dropped the pen and notebook, lifting his hands to undo the strap of his helmet, then placing them to either side.

Irvine’s eyes were too intently focused on Rubedo to even look at what he had written last. He’d get to see… finally, be able to see…

He lifted the helmet and rotated it off his head, still hiding his face from Irvine’s eyes. He took a slow, deep breath and lowered the helmet to his lap. “I’m sorry…”

...And everything Irvine had built inside of himself for this man came crashing down. He shook his head, tears coming to his sky-blue eyes.

"No..."

"Irvine-" Zell started, but Irvine made a violent movement with his hand.

"No! You... You..."

"Please, Ir-"

"Even you... Even you couldn't be so..." He trailed off, tears running down his cheeks, and got to his feet in a hurried, stumbling movement.

"Let me ex-"

"You set me up! You made me care!" the sharpshooter shouted, then softer, a broken thing; "You set me up... I... hate you..."

Irvine turned and started to walk away, sobbing, but Zell grabbed his wrist.

"Irvine, please... Please, don't just-"

"I don't want to hear it..." Irvine whispered.

"I'm so-"

"I don't fuckin' want to hear it!" The sharpshooter wrenched free of his grasp and turned a vicious, terribly, horribly hurt glare on him. They stared at each other for a long, long time, then Irvine turned and ran, screaming at the top of his voice; "I hate you!"

I hate you...