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Chapter 4.

IIiiII

"God Seifer, you look like the walking wounded." Selphie said as she came into the house.

"Shut up." He hissed, sitting at the dining table with his hands spread out palms up.

Zell sat opposite, inspecting Seifer's damaged hands, which were red with angry looking blisters all over. "How the hell did you managed to do this to yourself?"

"I don't know, stupid roof, stupid hot stuff on the roof." He bitched.

"You know for such a tough guy you sure do whine a hell of a lot." Raijin said from his place on the couch with Rinoa and Selphie.

"Ow!" Seifer pulled his hands back when Zell touched a sore place.

"Sorry I was only trying to help. Don't be such a baby."

"Don't call me a baby chicken Wuss I'm not the one who got sun burnt."

Zell rubbed his reddened shoulders at the comment and frowned. "That's because only people who do work get sun burnt!" Zell argued. "Right Irvine?"

Silence.

They both turned, Zell looking over his shoulder to see the cowboy staring into space. Seifer followed his gaze.

A sweaty and topless Squall was leaning over the arm of the couch to reach the after sun from the coffee table.

Seifer rolled his eyes.

"Irvine!" Zell yelled.

The cowboy jumped. "What? Huh?"

The blondes chuckled at him.

He looked confused. "What'd I miss?"

"Always thinking with your dick aren't you cowboy?" Seifer gestured towards Squall and Irvine just shrugged.

"What can I say? I have eyes. It's not like I don't see you do it all the time."

Zell frowned. "You check out Squall too?"

Seifer frowned. "No not Squall, I have better taste than that, he means... people....in general."

Selphie came over with a large green first aid box and sat it next to Seifer.

The tall blonde sighed. "If only we'd brought magic I wouldn't be having these problems."

"Now we know that you must use loads of it back home at garden if you're this accident prone." Selphie said.

"I am not accident prone!" Seifer waved a hand in the air. "This! Is a result of my hard work."

Zell scoffed.

"Shut up Chickie." He scowled at the little blonde. "And I wouldn't have this bruise if it weren't for you being such a little Chicken Wuss."

Zell frowned. "I thought you said you'd forgiven me for that."

"Well maybe I take it back."

Zell glared. "You're such a whiny bitch sometimes Seifer."

"Hey! Don't call /me /the bitch!"

The little blonde got up and kicked him in the shins.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

Zell walked off to get away from the whining.

Seifer rubbed his sore shin with the back of his hand. "Stupid Chicken Wuss." He looked up to see Selphie and Irvine looking at him disapprovingly. "What?"

"You shouldn't be so mean to Zell, you'll confuse him."

"How?"

"Well one minute you follow him around like horny puppy and the next you're a complete asshole to him."

Seifer scoffed. "I do not follow him around." He chuckled then grew slightly worried. "Or at least I don't think I do." He thought about it more and then looked up in horror. "Oh god why didn't you point this out to me sooner?"

Selphie hit him on the arm. "Go and talk to Zell."

"Will people stop hitting it! I'm the walking wounded here."

Selphie glared at him.

"That's not how our relationship works don't you pay attention?"

Selphie shut the first aid box and went to take it away.

"Hey! I need that, bring it back."

"Not until you apologize to Zell."

"For what? I didn't say anything bad to him! He was just being a moody Chickie that's all."

IIiiII

Rinoa watched Zell walk towards her and Fujin and flop down on the grass behind them.

"What you talking about?"

Fujin frowned. "Girl talk, go away."

The girls sat on the edge of the grass, their feet on the gravel path and Zell was sitting up cross legged on the grass his back to the sea.

"Girl talk? Come on, I can do girl talk!"

They exchanged a look. "I don't know."

"Oh but I want to know too!"

Fujin frowned. "Fine we were talking about Irvine and Squall."

Zell blinked. "Irvine and Squall doing what?"

"Together, you know.... Together type together."

"Oh!" Zell said. "I get it, you mean like-" He stopped. "You mean Squall and Irvine are a couple and I didn't know?"

"No no you're just discussing the.... Possibility." Rinoa smiled.

"Oh." He paused for a second and then burst out laughing.

Both girls frowned in annoyance. "What is so funny?" Fujin demanded.

Rinoa started hitting him to get him to stop.

Zell finally stopped, wiping at him eyes. "Oh that was great, I really needed that thanks."

They both frowned at him. "If you don't want to talk about this then go away."

"There nothing to talk about, there is no possibility of Squall EVER being interested in Irvine!"

"But-"

"I know Irvine looks at Squall he's Irvine that means nothing!" He smiled. "People check people out all the time in a passing way that doesn't mean anything."

Rinoa gave him a disbelieving look. "It doesn't?"

"Like yesterday on the beach I-" He lowered his voice to a whisper and the girls leaned in to better hear him.

"I actually thought I saw Seifer- for a brief second- check me out. I was so shocked there for a minute that I almost had a heart attack!" He held his breath waiting for their reaction.

The girls glanced at each other and looked back at Zell amused. Rinoa started to chuckle and Fujin shook her head.

"What?" He asked. "He did! Seriously!"

"Zell you're such a idiot." Fujin said.

"Hey!"

"Don't be so dense Zell, Seifer looks at you all the time." Rinoa said.

He scoffed. "Yeah right."

They looked back at him with serious expressions.

He smiled disbelievingly. "No." He said.

They nodded.

His smiled dropped off his face. "Seriously? Since when?"

Fujin waved a hand. "Oh god, ages."

"Ages?" He echoed. "Oh my god!" He went pale, trying to get his head around this new information.

"But as you said, just because he looked doesn't mean anything right?" Rinoa teased.

"Are you mad? This means everything!"

The girls looked amused.

"See? That's what we said about Irvine and Squall.

"Well for Irvine it doesn't mean anything, he's the horniness guy in the world! God, he'd check out a dog if he was horny enough. But Seifer is completely different!" He held onto his head. "Oh my god!" He repeated.

Fujin frowned at him. "Now you can't go telling him that you know 'cause he'll blame us and more importantly he'll blame me!"

"Tell him? Of course I'm not going to tell him that might-you know- encourage him somehow."

Fujin rolled her eye. "Well you were the one touching him up this morning."

"I was NOT touching anyone up!! I was concerned, that was my concerned face." He stared. "Oh god, what if he thought I wasn't just being concerned?!"

Fujin sighed. "It's not like he's going to molest you or anything."

"Exactly Seifer would NEVER do that." Rinoa said.

Zell got up and stumbled off to digest this new information still muttering things to himself like. "I can't believe it." and "Oh my god."

The girls shared a look. "He'll get over it.

IIiiII

Later in the day when the sun was low in the sky the gang set out for a walk across the beach. Irvine had suggested going to look at the old lighthouse like they used to when they were kids. Rinoa and Selphie were getting left behind as they kept stopping to pick up pretty shells.

The usual people were up the front of the gang Seifer, Raijin, Fujin, Irvine and normally Zell, who today hung back at the rear of the group. The little blonde had been acting strangely all afternoon and it had bothered Seifer slightly to find him missing. Selphie had said something stupid about his feelings getting hurt, what the hell did she know? He had tried to explain to her that hurling insults at each other was just his and Chickie's way of communicating.

A voice whispered close to his ear. "What you thinking about?"

He snapped out of it and spun round. "Ahh!"

Irvine laughed.

Seifer put his hand to his ear. "Don't do that! You freak!"

"Why? Did I turn you on?"

Seifer scoffed. "Dream on cowboy."

Fujin glanced back at Zell who was at the back of the group deliberately hanging back. Seifer was going to realize something was up at this rate and then he would probably blame her.... And Rinoa. Maybe if she got in there first she could blame everything on Rinoa, but then the other girl would deny it and then who would Seifer believe. A year ago she knew it would be her for certain, now she wasn't so sure. She paused, letting everyone pass her and then fell into step with Zell. The little blonde flinched when she scowled at him.

He finally glanced nervously at her. "Fujin?"

"What are you doing back here?"

"Just walking."

She grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to stop. "So why are you not up there ahead like normal?"

He shrugged.

"Seifer's going to know and then he'll blame me, he'll kill me for telling you!"

"Is that all you're worried about? What about me? What am I supposed to do?"

She sighed. "Don't be such a little idiot!"

"Hey!" He protested.

"Seifer would never hurt you or start anything 'cause he's way too much of a coward!"

Zell's ears pricked up at that. "A coward? See, and he called ME the Chicken Wuss."

"Unfortunately for some strange bizarre reason that I can never understand he has feelings for you." She shook her head as if trying to get her head around something impossible. "God knows way, you're short and annoying and loud-"

"Hey! Is this supposed to be a pep talk?!"

"No it's supposed to be a 'get over it' talk. There's zero that you can do about it so just get over it." She said.

"Just like that?"

"Yeah, now come with me." She started to pull him up to the front of the group.

"H-Hey!" He tried to tug his arm back but she was stronger than she looked.

Raijin watched them. "Hey Fu stop hitting on Zell, you know."

She dropped his arm and looked up with grimace. "Please, I have better taste than that." She moved past the little blonde and walked up to where some of the others were staring up at the old lighthouse.

"Wow!" Selphie said. "It's so big."

Seifer gave her a look. "Of course it is, it's a lighthouse. How are ships supposed to see the light if it's not high up?"

She punched his arm. "Shut up, I was just-" she shifted around looking uncomfortable. ".....saying-"

"I remember sneaking in there when we were small." Irvine said.

"Yeah." Quistis agreed. "Of course I tried to talk you out of it but when no one was listening I joined in." She laughed.

Seifer chuckled. "And Chickie wouldn't go any further than the doorway because he was afraid of ghosts."

Zell frowned. "Hey! I was not scared I was being cautious, unlike the rest of you."

Seifer grabbed a hold his collar and pulled him back, his head on the little blonde's shoulder from behind. "Aww little Chickie was afraid!" He said, his chuckle vibrated against Zell's ear.

The martial artist shivered and jumped away from Seifer rubbing at his ear and neck where Seifer's breath had tickled his skin.

"I was not!" He hissed, turning away as a blush crept up into his cheeks.

"Everything looked so quiet and creepy I remember." Selphie said. "It was full moon and Seifer started making spooky noises to scare everyone." She chuckled.

"Maybe we should go have a look inside tomorrow, Matron said she had the key." Quistis said.

"Yeah!" Selphie cheered "That would be so cool!"

"I want to see too!" Rinoa said.

"What do you think guys?" Irvine asked the others.

Seifer shrugged.

"Whatever." Squall said.

Raijin chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I think that's a yes, you know."

They turned and went back up the beach, all chatting to each other. "Come on Chickie." Seifer said.

"Stop calling me that!"

Seifer pouted at him in that fake teasing Seifer-ish way.

Zell batted away the hand that had reached for him. "And get off! Stop touching me all the time, it's weird."

Seifer frowned. "What the hell's up with you Chickie?"

"Nothing." And he walked quickly up the beach to catch with the others.

IIiiII

The gang were arguing about what to watch in the living room when Seifer gave up on the lot of them and went into their bedroom.

Zell was rummaging through his suitcase, which was on the floor beside Seifer's bunk.

"Hey, as soon as they stop arguing and pick something we're going to stick in a DVD okay? You coming?"

"Hmm? Err- Yeah in a sec." He looked over his shoulder when Seifer paused in the doorway to wait for him.

"You can go on ahead I'll be there in a minute."

The taller man bit his lip. "Okay look, I'm sorry."

Zell frowned, turning on his heels from his knelt position. "For what?"

Seifer sighed and shook his head. "I really don't know but you've been weird all day and Selphie said some crap about you being annoyed at me." He took a step forward and leant against the top bunk.

"So if it's my fault I'm sorry okay? Now let's go watch this movie."

Zell frowned. "You can't apologize if you don't know what you're sorry for!"

"Why not?"

"It doesn't work that way."

Seifer frowned, moving to sit on his bunk. "Then why don't you tell me?"

Zell stood and at first Seifer thought he'd walk away but then he sat down next to Seifer and thought about it for a minute. "No!" He said.

Seifer looked surprised. "What? What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, no, I'm not telling you. Fujin would kill me."

"Fujin? What's Fujin got to do with this?"

Zell slapped a hand over his mouth. "It's nothing." He moved to get up and leave but Seifer grabbed a hold of his shoulder.

"Let me go!"

"No!" He pulled him back hard and he fell back across the bed.

"You're such a little chicken Wuss you know that?" Seifer propped up beside Zell, with an arm across the little blonde to hold him in place.

"Would you stop calling me that?!" He looked down at the arm and then back up at Seifer and swallowed hard.

"Get off me already! You're really starting to creep me out!"

Seifer scoffed. "Please, I scare /you/?"

"Yeah, why you'd have to keep touching me all the time for?"

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Didn't realize I did. If you tell me what wrong with you, I'll let you go." He smirked.

"And if I don't?"

The smirk grew evil and he closed the gap. "Well then I suppose I can find something else to do with you while you're here."

"Eep!" Blue eyes widened.

"Aww is little Chickie afraid of me?" He teased.

Zell leaned his head back as Seifer leaned in until he couldn't go any further back. And then the unthinkable happened.

Seifer kissed him.

Not forcefully or dominating like he would have expected from Seifer but soft and almost hesitantly.

Wow. Seifer and hesitant in the same sentence?

Zell was so stunned that he just lay there and let Seifer kiss him.

Then there was this rushing sound of footsteps hurrying in their direction and then Seifer was gone, sitting up quickly just as Selphie came into the room.

"Movie's starting guys, are you coming in?" She paused and looked at Zell.

"God Zell are you okay? You look kind of flushed."

"Huh?" Was the best response he could manage.

Seifer stood and pulled him up by the hand. "Go and watch the movie Chickie."

Selphie frowned. "Aren't you coming?"

He shook his head. "Nah, bit of a headache coming on, you guys go ahead though."

"Oh." Selphie visibly deflated. "Well, I hope you feel better, coming Zell?" She walked slowly away waiting for the little blonde to catch up.

Zell hovered in the doorway, looking at the other blonde who was lying on his bunk, his face turned away from Zell and the door.

The martial slowly turned and followed Selphie down the hall.

IIiiII

TBC