Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Lightning. ❯ Chapter, The Fifty-Eighth: In Which Selphie Guides. ( Chapter 58 )

Kitty: I don't know if I'd let Selphie guide me...

Eoko: I know I wouldn't. What or who is she guiding? Oh, this is my chapter. I should know...

Kitty: Well, it's been a while.

Eoko: This is true. Oh my, it's been going on so long!

Kitty: Some might say too long. But, what can we say? We're long-winded.

Eoko: Very much so. Possible future fics probably won't be so long.

Kitty: I highly doubt it.

Eoko: Hm, this sounds like last chapter banter...

Kitty: But it isn't.

Eoko: NOPE!

Kitty: Almost, though. We're getting close.

Eoko: Yes, so, start preparing now.

Kitty: Uhuh. The end is nigh!

Chapter, The Fifty-Eighth: In Which Selphie Guides.

Seifer was losing it, and more importantly Seifer knew he was losing it. Alright, Irvine Kinneas was a very beautiful and sexy individual. In fact, he was probably one of the most beautiful and sexy individuals Seifer had ever met.

After escaping the cafeteria he’d fled to his room and proceeded to fall face first on his bed in hopes of smothering himself with his pillow. Sadly, the mass of his head, despite the inflated ego, was not enough to suffocate him, and thus, end his misery.

Wasn’t it bad enough to be thinking about the cowboy every moment since he woke up? Wasn’t it bad enough that he was “drawing” pictures of that cowboy? Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d been staring, and nearly drooling over that fucking cowboy and his fucking banana?

But noooo, that couldn’t be bad enough. Now Irvine had to suggest the unthinkable! The chance to do it again… the chance to be together again without tricks or sneaky little blond fighters. Well… certainly the sneaky little blond fighter could be a part of it too. But the willingness, the little sound of hope that tickled the back of Irvine’s voice.

It was driving him crazy! He couldn’t! He hated the cowboy! He’d taken away Zell, he’d messed everything up, he hadn’t done anything the gunbladist had thought he’d do. He was completely unpredictable.

Alright… so he couldn’t really make the ‘he stole Zell’ argument since he’d been the one to make Zell cheat, not the other way around. And now that he had Zell it was even less of a moot point. Furthermore, the blond had never known the sharpshooter enough to predict his real personality in the slightest, and you couldn’t say the imminent fear at the sight of a certain person was one of his personal traits.

He wasn’t exactly happy with himself at the moment. Insulting Irvine was out of the question. He couldn’t do it, and what’s more, he didn’t want to. And on top of that he felt bad about having insulted him all those months before.

Alright, that was it. He was changing, change bad. He should just pack up and head straight off the cliff. Yep, that’d be perfect. Almasy on the rocks, and not in the liquor and ice sense either.

The gunbladist sighed and rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t know what he should do. What he wanted… oh, what he wanted was a very plain and simple thing. But was what he should do, and what he wanted for once in his life the same thing?

Zell had set up that night for a reason, and somehow he didn’t think it was because he was too tired to help them out. He snorted at the idea of Zell losing too much stamina to fuck, or be fucked, or make love… He sighed happily to himself.

He reached over to his phone and tugged it closer by way of the cord. He lifted the phone and dialled a number, bringing the receiver to his ear and waiting as the annoying ring tone sang through his eardrum.

-Selphie Tilmitt speaking! How can I make your life perfect today?-

Seifer rolled his eyes and snorted. “Selphie, it’s Seifer-”

-I knew by the snort!- the girl declared.

“That’s just… great. Can I talk to you?” he asked, one of the fingers on his free hand looping around the cord.

-Sure, I’m not busy. What’s up?-

“Could I talk to you in private?”

-Ooooh, in private? Alrighty then! I’ll be over in four point eight-seven minutes!-

Seifer blinked as the phone line went dead, and seriously considered changing his watch to timer-mode and seeing if she made it. But the thought of her actually being accurate to the hundredth of a decimal place scared him, so he decided against it.

The phone was put away and the pillow was brought from under his head and dropped over his face. He grabbed it hard and screamed into it once, hopefully releasing enough… whateverthefuck it was that was pent up before Selphie got there.

Selphie entered Seifer’s room exactly four point eight-seven minutes after hanging up her cell. She had in fact been there just under a minute before, but it took her a few attempts to hack his code and get inside.

The little brunette cocked a brow and rested her hands on her hips. “If you’re dead this is going to be a very one-sided conversation.”

“I hade yoo,” Seifer mumbled through the pillow before he felt Selphie seating herself on the edge of his bed and picking the pillow off his face.

“Whyyyy?” she inquired, smiling as brightly as ever.

“Cause Zell talked to you, then Zell arranged last night, so I assume you know everything and I know nothing. So I hate you until you tell me everything you know.”

“Wooo,” the brunette fell backwards with the exhaling sound. “Well, first off, girls love it when you-”

“Everything you know regarding Zell and last night!” he clarified quickly before he got a lesson in lesbian love he’s be remembering for years in the depths of his strangest nightmares.

“I know that last night you slept with Irvine.”

“Shockingly, so do I…” Seifer said, eyes narrowed slightly. “Please, Selphie, I’m going insane! I can’t stop thinking about him. Everything I think, it’s him, even without thinking, it’s him!”

Selphie went wide eyed and giggled. Irvine had practically been eager to sleep with Seifer again. And the gunbladist didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea, at least not according to his heart, or mind, or whatever controlled emotional thought processes.

“Alright, Seif-Seif. Why do you think Zell came to talk to me?” she inquired, hugging the pillow to her chest and smiling warmly.

Seifer sat up and moved back to rest against his bed head. “I told him to go talk to you after he beat his hands bloody and body into exhaustion.”

The brunette’s eyes looked glazed and sad for a moment. “You must have some idea why he did that…?” she inquired, prompting Seifer to actually realise most of what he was trying to understand was pretty obvious.

“I don’t… know,” he said, giving a frustrated sigh. “I think… I think it had something to do with one, or maybe both of us. Irvine and me, I mean. It’s something he’d deny and not tell either one of us, if something was wrong…”

“Is there anything wrong?” she asked. It was amusing how easily Seifer had answers to what were really parts of his own questions. But she didn’t want to start giggling and ruin his sense of informational rhythm.

The blond furrowed his brows and tilted his head to look up at the ceiling. “Back then? That was just after the night where he turned us both down. It was fair, I get that, but I don’t think a single one of us wanted it to happen like that. None of us wanted to alone then.” Seifer’s eyes came back down to lock with her’s, a shimmer of possible understanding in them.

“Is that… it? He doesn’t want us to be alone… He doesn’t want us ever to have to be alone. If Irvine and I- if we could be something too… if we were all together- ohh!” Seifer curled his knees up, resting his elbows on his thighs and cradling his forehead in his palms.

“You think you understand, Seifer?”

“If we’re all together, we’ll never be alone…” he mumbled, definitely to himself.

“And would you ever have considered the thought had you not seen how much Irvine could really be?” she urged, voice soft and warm.

He shook his head in his hands. “No,” he admitted, and wanted to kick himself for it.

“And now?” she inquired. It was all he needed. Seifer was a smart cookie.

His hands fell away from his face and his jade eyes met hers of vivid green. “And now, I can’t think of him in any other way.” A slight smile curled up the corners of his mouth. “That’s alright. That’s what Zell wants.”

“And?” she pushed, making sure he really said what he needed to.

“What I want.” He gave a firm nod of confirmation. “I made a lot of mistakes… a lot of them, but I won’t mess this up any more. It felt too good, I wanted it too much. It has to be the right thing.” His smile grew. “Thank you, Selphie.”

She almost giggled then, at the sheer gratitude embedded in the two simple words. “You’re welcome, Seifer. But you didn’t need me as much as you might think. You’re the one that answered your own questions.” She smiled slyly and winked at him. “You just needed a bit of guiding to where your answers were.”

“You sneaky minx!” he accused, grabbing up his second pillow and thwapping her with it gently.

“Hacha! Now what are you going to do about your new found understanding??” she asked, hopping to her feet and pointing at him with gleeful intensity.

Seifer looked up at her and blinked. “Uh… Good question. What do you think I should do, Selph?”

She giggled merrily and hopped from foot to foot. “I think you should march over there and give that cowboy a piece of your mind, tell him what you want and make him half your own!” she exclaimed with a tad too much cheer than was sane.

Seifer raised one elegant brow at her antics and then considered it. The idea of Irvine being his own even in part made a shiver run up and down his spine. To be able to lay claim to that body in any way would be a blessing. Did Zell want that? Did Zell really want them to be together like that?

And could it work? Irvine hadn’t gotten bitchy and jealous when he had kissed Zell “across” the table, and he’d been trying to elicit that reaction. And honestly, the sight of the two of them together was far more likely to bring out want and need in his rather than jealously. Maybe it really could work.

Before Selphie knew it Seifer was off the bed and had his arms around her. “Thanks, you hyperactive little nutjob. Thanks.” And before she could so much as squeak out another ‘your welcome’ Seifer was through the door, trench coat swirling into place around his shoulders.

- - -

About an hour later Seifer realised exactly how much his semi-dramatic exit had been wasted by not asking a simple ‘where are Zell and Irvine?’ question. Initially he’d gone back to the cafeteria, just able to hold back the urge to throw both doors wide open with his entrance.

Looking back he was glad he possessed restraint. The pair he sought had already left and wandered off somewhere else. Next he checked Zell’s room, then Irvine’s, and unless they were at present fucking in Irvine’s room and therefore ignoring the twenty-three door chimes they weren’t in either.

He sighed, now sitting on one of the benches around the main aisle of Balamb Garden. His initial drive had died down, but the need to take Irvine in his arms and kiss him was still there. And the need to tell Zell it would all be alright now.

At present, his seat gave a good view of the halls to the Library and Training Center. Several students had mentioned seeing the pair head down this way. He’d gladly rush into the Training Center if his logic and luck didn’t team up to explain no matter which way he went, it would be almost certain that the two people he sought would also be moving in that same direction, and therefore the chance of catching up to them was greatly reduced.

The library… no. He refused to go in there. Books mysteriously fell on or flew at him every time he stepped in there. And when the perpetrator was not being quite so coy, she’d simply roll up a magazine and beat him over the back for “stealing away her Zell”.

Crazy bitch… he thought to himself as his eyes hovered at the entrance to the library. He knew Zell liked to stop by there with either of them, cling to his arm, or probably having Irvine cling to his while he ‘looked for a book’. This behaviour was also known as the ‘fuck you, Dorothy’ act.

It was only about fifteen minutes later that the two young men he was seeking appeared at the end of the hall, Zell gesturing wildly with his hands and Irvine nodding and probably chuckling.

He stood as the two drew nearer, making his appearance known. Irvine, again, saw him first, smile lighting up his face. Irvine wasn’t sure exactly what it was that danced behind his eyes, but whatever it was he knew he liked it.

Zell saw him not long after, a grin that could only truly be described as ‘Zellish’ spreading across his face. In another moment he was enveloped in the fighter’s arms while Irvine paused a couple steps back.

Seifer returned the hug affectionately, but his eyes lifted a little to Irvine. It did feel wrong him holding back, staying out of the embrace. He couldn’t believe how much his perspective could change with just one night and one talk with Selphie.

Hyne, what was he saying. Selphie had enough… whatever it was she had to change a person with one look let alone one talk. He smiled at the sharpshooter and got one in return, though with a bit of a surprised blink. He supposed considering his previous behaviour; cursing, throwing pens, mouthing unfinished insults, he could understand why a smile from Seifer Almasy might add to some confusion.

“Zell,” he said, releasing the boy in his arms and taking a step back to look him in the eye. He smiled again, wider, warmer, and Zell cocked his head to the side in curiosity. Everyone knew Seifer did not smile, and those that knew he did knew that that was only the case with good reason. And since this was a big smile, it had to be a big reason.

“Zell,” he said again, looking up at Irvine and back to the fighter. The cowboy stepped forward, curious as all hell about what he was going to say next. “I understand,” Seifer said softly. “I understand why you beat yourself up two weeks ago, why you couldn’t tell us, and why you and Selphie planned last night to happen.”

The warm expression was once again turned to the cowboy as the little blond stared up at him, quite dumbstruck. “Irvine.” He gestured with his hand for Irvine to come closer still, eyes looking into sky blues. “Irvine, I… want to apologize for all that shit I put you through before. I was a fucking moron, and I’m sorry.”

Jade eyes fell to the floor, but were back in no time, shame not an emotion an Almasy ever accepting living with long, no matter how much it weighed on them. “If I know Zell, and I’d hope I do, I would think he’d have made a promise to make up to you everything he did wrong.”

Irvine gave a little nod, obviously too stunned by everything that was spilling out of who he thought was Seifer Almasy’s mouth to speak. All he could do was move his head a very little bit, and focus on listening. Zell was very much the same, if not a tad more immobile.

“If you’d let me- if you’d both let me, and I think this is what Zell wants, I’d like to do the same, and make it up to you, for everything I did wrong to you in the past.”

The sharpshooter’s eyes sparkled, and he regained the use of his vocal chords. “You have a lot to make up for,” he whispered, taking the one more step he needed to be practically against Seifer. “That’d take a long time to make up for…”

Seifer grinned at the reply. The cowboy really did have a backbone, a sense of humour, and a way to just bring out good will in those around him. How that had ever annoyed him he couldn’t understand at that point in time.

In the next moment he had his arms around Irvine, and in return, the auburn haired man’s arms were around him as well. He sighed, content to be able to finally give into the desires that had plagued him since his eyes had first opened that morning.

“Boo-fucking-ya, baby!” Zell shouted, jumping up in the air and throwing a fist skyward. And you’d think that would ruin the mood, but it was Zell and it… didn’t.