Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ One in a Million ❯ Healing ( Chapter 2 )

Title: One in a Million

Author: I_nv_u50

Pairings: SquallxZell

Warnings: Shounen ai

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I wish I did, but all I have are my muses. And you're welcome to those. (Kicks Seifer)

Seifer: Look, it's not my fault I killed him!

I_nv_u50: (glares at Seifer) Just try and keep him alive next time I need to write!

Chapter Rating: PG13, because Squall and Zell sleep together in this … (stares around) Not like that!!

Squall: Damn.

Zell: Here I was thinking she'd be nice and put you in bed with me …

Squall: And when she does …

Zell: (pouting) We don't DO anything!

Squall: (sarcastically) I'm 15. What more do you want from me?

Zell: (eyes Squall) …

I_nv_u50: (cuts in) Don't worry Zell .. It'll happen … maybe …

Author's Notes: I'll be posting a new chapter every Monday that I'm available to do it, if I can't make the deadline, you'll either get an Author's Note with a good (and probably non-working) excuse, or a snippet/cookie from the next chapter, or both … Anyway, they do sleep together in this chapter, but nothing happens except sleep and some weirdness O.o; And if you flame me, for either keeping the sexual relations away, or including bare skin in the chapter (I'd laugh SO hard if that were the case …) then … well, you get a special cookie :D

… Anyway, for those I haven't scared off yet, please enjoy this chapter, and please review!! ^^

Cheers and chocobos until next week!! ^^

When Zell eventually found the sparring room, Squall was already there, doing battle with an impressively sized elnoyle. Zell, quite astonished to see a 15 year old take on such a huge monster all by himself, stood back and merely watched, taking note and admiring, because this was certainly not the normal activities of teenagers.

Slash, duck, run in, slash, fire, run out …

It was a routine, one that Squall knew deep inside of himself, impossible to erase. Squall also knew he could beat this monster, he had done it before, and even though he knew that was nothing to go on, he also knew it signified an improvement to when he couldn't face these monsters at all. But even as he sensed the end was near for the beast, a flash of gold in the corner of his eye distracted him for the tiniest second, and he paused, hesitating.

The pause was all the elnoyle needed. It flew in, and with one cruel swipe, disabled Squall's left arm. Squall gave a startled cry of pain and anger, and dashed into the fray again, attacking the sadly overpowered beast furiously. It never had a chance. The overwhelmed elnoyle fell to the floor with a bone crunching, sickening thud.

Squall did much the same, his knees just giving out as he slumped to the floor, clutching his arm, his face screwed up with pain. It hurt. A lot.

But then Zell was beside him, apologizing profusely, and all Squall could think about was how cute he was, with the trademark tattoo only serving to enhance the bright blue eyes and golden hair.

Banishing the thought with a shake of his head, he tuned back into what Zell was saying.

"Oh baby, I'm sorry, that was my fault wasn't it? Are you ok? You move your arm? I've never seen a fight like that, Hyne, you were awesome. Baby, Squall, are you alright?"

Squall nodded slowly and let his eyes win the battle, softly sighing in relief as they slipped closed. Dimly, he heard Zell swear and felt the warmth of Zell's hands on the injured arm, heating up as Zell muttered the curaga spell.

And slowly, slowly, Zell came back into focus when Squall opened his eyes. He could still feel the warm pressure of Zell's hands on his arm.

"Shit, Squall, you ok?"

Squall nodded slowly. "Tired …" he mumbled. Zell looked helplessly at his watch. It was too late to wake anyone up now, and even if he could, he didn't really remember where all the rooms were.

"Squall? Can we leave your gunblade here?"

"Mm…" Squall was obviously half asleep, it was an unfortunate side effect of most curing spells.

Zell took that to mean yes, and slid one arm around Squall's back and the other under his knees, before standing up, staggering to keep his balance.

Squall, all defenses down, snuggled closer, making Zell blush a little, but he managed to pull the map out of his pocket, juggling Squall's weight as he pulled it out, and he held it in front of him as he walked.

The kid wasn't heavy, but he wasn't a bag of bones either, and every time Zell stopped or paused to hoist Squall up further so his grip wouldn't slip, Squall would snuggle closer and mumble something. Unfortunately for Zell, this heightened Zell's awareness of how slim Squall really was, thus reminding him of the youthfulness of this particular fighter, and make him slightly uncomfortable.

When Zell reached his door and kicked it open, he realized there was only one bed. It was a big bed, yes, but it was still only one.

Squall was injured, so he should get the bed. But Zell was a famous singer, and couldn't remember the last time he had slept on the floor, but he remembered it had been really uncomfortable.

Sighing, Zell laid Squall on the bed and pulled off his boots and jacket. Then, before the blood on the shirt could dry and crust around the wound, making it harder and more painful to get off, Zell cut off the shirt carefully, tossing the shirt onto the floor and watching Squall's bare chest rise up and down with each breath, wondering even as he did so why he was doing it.

Pulling off his own tank top and boots, Zell crawled onto the bed, pulled the covers over both of them, and tried to go to sleep.

It was proving strangely difficult, mainly because Squall would insist on snuggling up to him, and the sensation of bare skin touching bare skin was erotic, no matter how many times Zell told himself he wasn't gay.

Eventually, however, he gave in, and still muttering about it, wrapped his arms around Squall, who sighed happily and cuddled closer. Zell smirked sleepily.

Cute kid.

When Squall woke up, it was to find out that his pillow had a heartbeat. Not wanting to explore further into this discovery, he accepted it, and let it lull him into a doze again, almost dropping off before he realized that he had his arms around something warm and breathing, and that thing had its arms around him, hands clasped at the small of his back.

He wrenched himself away, into sitting position, unconsciously leaning on his injured arm, which was still rather weak and sore, and gave way, making him yelp - a sound that was muffled against Zell's shoulder.

Zell drowsily raised his head. "Dela'bgha?"

Squall froze in place, and Zell tried again. "Shit, baby, don't you think you could sleep a bit more?"

Zell twisted his head and squinted at the alarm clock that was on the bedside table. "It's only half-past-three kid, shut up and sleep."

And Zell firmly but gently pressed Squall's wide-eyed head down onto his shoulder before relaxing and falling back into slumber, leaving Squall in the unusual and novel position of having one arm thrown across Zell's chest, with Zell's right hand on his head, and Zell's left hand on his shoulder.

Squall stayed stiff until Zell's slow beating heart lulled him into a relaxed doze, and he fell asleep soon after.

Five hours later, Seifer rapped sharply on the door.

"Zell! Zell, damnit! Wake up! You have an interview at 10! Get up Zell!"

Zell, startled awake, found a peacefully sleeping Squall lying almost on top of him, with one leg thrown across his thighs and most of Squall's chest on his own. But the most interesting sensation was Squall's warm breath passing softly through slightly parted lips and ghosting across Zell's neck, and Squall's expression.

Gone was the defensive and impenetrable mask that Squall was learning to keep up, instead he looked beautifully innocent, like the teenager he really was, the band-aid's curling edges only adding to the image.

"Zell! Wake up! Are you in there?"
Squall's eyes fluttered lightly, then squeezed together, his arms tightening their hold and a low incoherent moan escaped on his exhale.

"Hold on Seifer! Damnit, I'm coming!"

Seifer grumbled on the other side of the door, but he left, his footsteps padding away on the thick hallway carpet.

And Zell, looking down, saw Squall looking up at him, watching quietly. The mask wasn't in place yet, only a delightful sleepy expression, enhanced by the confusion wrinkling his brows together.

"You alright now Squall?"

"Mm?"

"Your arm." Prompted Zell quietly, and he slowly and a bit reluctantly pushed Squall off to sit up and start getting ready.

And by the time Squall had levered himself up, using his good arm this time, his mask was still on, hindered by the only half awake face Squall was still sporting.

Zell almost missed Squall's weight and warmth, but he didn't do anything, and Squall stood up groggily, absently rubbing his hand up and down his bad arm.

Before either of them could say anything else, a more insistent knocking came from the door.

Both Squall and Zell froze when they heard Laguna on the other side.

Noticing the deer-in-the-headlights look in Squall's eyes, Zell gestured towards the bathroom. Squall darted in, and Zell kicked the discarded and forgotten clothes under the bed before acknowledging Laguna's request to enter.

He glanced around curiously as he entered, and started when Zell spoke.

"Laguna?"

"Sorry Zell. Selphie and Irvine have planned to go to the fair after your interview. Do you want to go? It's famous." Laguna grinned ruefully. "I wanted to go as well, but Kiros and Ward insisted I stay …"

Zell's face lit up. "I'd love to go! Who else is coming?"
Laguna considered. "Probably just Irvine, Selphie, Squall and you. Well, maybe not Squall, I couldn't find him earlier."

Zell prayed he wasn't blushing, and asked in what he hoped was an unconcerned voice. "Doesn't he like to practice?"

Laguna looked up, his eyes calculating, silently at Zell. "Yes, I haven't tried there yet. I'll go ask if he wants to go. If he doesn't, it'll definitely be Selphie and Irvine." Laguna paused, grinning. "You'd better hurry, Seifer's on the war path."

Zell grumbled and made a rude gesture with one hand, and Laguna just laughed as he left the room.

Squall slowly came out. "I've … got to go …"

"Yea."
"Can I … have a shirt …?"

Zell smirked inwardly, but started rooting around in the closet for a shirt. The only clean one was his favorite, a specially made black silk shirt with golden trimmings. It was the one he wore for his first concert ever.

Only the slightest bit of hesitation, and he tossed the shirt to Squall, who caught it and started to struggle it on.

Zell watched for a minute, grinning at the attempts Squall made to avoid his wound with the material.

Zell moved to help him. "It won't hurt too much, you know. It's made out of silk, it's a soft shirt."

"Is it …?" Squall's voice was curious. "I've never worn silk before."

"Well, you've started now."

Zell stepped back and surveyed Squall, who was examining the shirt with interest.

"All set. You'd better go…"

Squall nodded, and walked to the door. Turning around before he opened it, he glanced at Zell again, something uncommunicated in his eyes. "Thank you."

And he stepped out, leaving Zell with the feeling of anti-climax.

It was curious, Squall supposed, at just how much Zell's shirt comforted him. It was made of silk, a rippling, shimmering black, with gold trimmings, Zell's trademark colors.

It also, Squall reflected idly, smelt of Zell. A hint of spicy aftershave, and the natural, somewhat sunny scent of Zell all over made him wonder why he cared so much. Even as he berated himself for doing so, Squall wondered absently if Zell would give him one of his shirts that he could keep forever … maybe sleep in it or something…

And then, before he could tell himself how stupid that idea was, he opened his bedroom door, and there was Ellone, smiling at him. "Where were you Squall?"
"Training." He replied shortly, and she left it at that.

"Selphie and Irvine are planning to go to the fair today with Zell. He's already accepted, would you like to go too?" She paused for his answer, obviously expecting an argument, and perfectly willing to argue with Squall until he agreed to go, but Squall just nodded and started to think up other places that they might go. The fair wasn't his most favorite place to go. Ellone stood up.

"Ok then, I'll go tell Laguna." She grinned at him. "You agreed without a fight, I tell him that and he's going to think you're injured."

Squall gave a small smile at this, but since he usually only gave small smiles, Ellone just said goodbye and left.

Squall sat on his bed and put his chin in his right hand, staring blankly at the wall.

He had. He had injured himself, and he knew it was partly Zell's fault for distracting him. But he also knew that Zell hadn't meant to, and he had invited Zell in the first place, for reasons unknown to him still. Added to that the fact that Zell had actually helped him, disregarding the question of how he got into Zell's bed, and Squall decided he had to thank him.

He also hoped that Zell would keep his injury a secret from Laguna, or at least how he had received the wound, because Laguna tended to go a little overboard in protectiveness, one of the reasons that Laguna allowed an in-palace training center was because Squall had promised to stay uninjured.

Hoping fervently that Zell wouldn't mention this to anyone, Squall left to go get some breakfast, neglecting to take off the shirt.

When it was time to leave, and Zell had finished his exclusive interview with Quistis Trepe, a top-notch reporter and Ellone's best friend, the 3 teenagers and Zell slid into the limo.

Adopting Irvine's now automatic listening techniques to Selphie's chatter, Squall let the words flow meaninglessly around and over him. Leaving it to the other two to keep Zell entertained and occupied, Squall turned his attention out the window to wonder what he could get as a thank-you gift for the famous blonde singer.