Pins & Needles Chapter 13
Listen
By Asyria
Zell couldn't help but feel sorry for Seifer as he watched him sitting up, shaking, and seemingly freezing to death even though the room was warm. But he wouldn't say anything. Seifer, after all, did still hate being felt sorry for.
"Umm…you want anything? Another blanket?" Zell suggested.
"W-w-warm d-d-drink-k." Seifer said through clenched teeth.
Zell stood instantly. "I'll see what I can get ya! I'll be right back." He told him, leaving the room. In the office, Matron was sitting at the doctor's desk writing in her journal. Quistis was brushing her hair, having just got out of the infirmary shower. Wow…
Quistis had noticed Zell stand there, staring, for a few moments. Feeling the blush coming to her face, she smiled at him. "Yes?"
Zell snapped out of his gawking. "Sorry, it's just…that," he stuttered, "You should wear it down more often."
"Everyone says that, but it's such a pain to manage." Quistis said. Then she realized she'd completely ignored his compliment. "But thanks Zell. That's very sweet."
Edea looked up from her writings. "How's Seifer?"
"He's still shakin' real bad. I came to get him something warm to drink."
Matron frowned. "All we have is coffee and tea, but it all has caffeine in it."
"Raijin said he didn't sleep more than an hour today." Quistis added.
"Oh yeah!" Zell exclaimed, rushing over to his gym bag he'd brought with him. "I got some decaf tea."
Quistis's eyes widened in surprise. "You do!?"
Zell rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. "Well…I brought it for you, Quisty. I knew you liked tea and stuff, so I bought you some a week ago. But I accidentally bought decaf, and I didn't know if you liked that stuff."
Quistis rose from her chair and looked down at the box of tea. Decaf, but it was her favorite brand. "I love this brand."
"I know. I saw the label on the teabag at lunch a couple times."
Quistis took the tea from his hand. "You're very observant."
"Well…" He said, blushing. "I'm not just stuffing my face with hotdogs the whole time."
She giggled a little and began preparing to make the tea. "Thank you, Zell."
Zell smiled back. "No prob…um," He started backing toward Seifer's door, "I'm just gonna go…tell him it'll be…a minute."
"Actually, about ten minutes." Quistis replied.
"Okay…"
"Okay."
Zell huffed out his breath. "Um, bye."
Quistis looked back at him again. "Bye."
Zell finally went back inside the room with Seifer. Quistis watched as he shut the door behind him and her face turned red. She heard Matron laughing softly from the desk.
"Oh my!" Matron whispered. "He certainly hasn't grown out of that crush on you!"
Quistis gazed at her. "What?"
Edea smiled, her eyes sparkling in the soft light from the desk lamp. "He's been in love with you since the orphanage."
"Really?"
"Why do you think he kept telling on everyone when they did something wrong? He wasn't a…how did Seifer use to put it?"
"Crybaby?"
"Ah, yes. He wasn't a crybaby, he just wanted everyone to be good. So Quisty wouldn't have to work so hard keeping everyone in line, and have more time to play." Matron told her.
Quistis blushed even harder. "That's so sweet."
Edea raised her brow. "And it seems you've finally begun to return the affection."
Quistis smiled wider. "…Maybe."
Matron put her hand to her chest. "That's so wonderful! You don't know how happy it makes me to see two of my little orphans find love together."
Quistis quirked her mouth at her. "You make it sound like we're getting married!" She cried out, almost laughing. "It's a little too soon for that kind of thing."
Matron shook her head. "Would you like to know how long I'd been dating Cid before we got married?"
"How long?"
"One month."
Quistis' jaw dropped again. "That soon!?"
"Yes, and we didn't know each other almost all of our lives like you and Zell have."
"How did you know he was the right one?"
Matron shrugged. "You just know. Your instincts, your heart, your soul tell you. All you have to do is listen."
After Zell had relayed the message of a ten-minute wait for tea, they both sat there silently. It's gonna be a long ten minutes! Zell tried to think of something to do, something to distract Seifer from his physical affliction.
"How did you guys become a posse?" He asked finally.
Seifer smirked, seemingly in the mood to talk. "I m-met Fujin right after I c-came to Garden. W-we were in the s-s-same magic class. You know, the one w-where you first learn all the d-d-different kinds." Zell acknowledged him. "Well, w-w-we were partnered to-g-gether for a project. I don't remember what it was though…Anyway, I t-though fire magic was the b-best. So that's what I was special-izing in. Fujin was specializing in wind m-magic. I kept tellin' her t-that wind magic was pussy magic." He chuckled slightly during his tale. Zell also noticed that as he talked, he shivered and stuttered less. This is good. "She just smiled at me and t-told me to use fire. So I did, holding a little fire in my palm. She used Aero and b-blew out the fire, but she also knocked me on my ass!" He paused chuckling a little louder. Even Zell began laughing. "She kept trying to say she was sorry, but she was laughing too hard!"
"So I guess you could say when you first met her, she blew you away!" Zell told him.
Seifer chuckled harder. "That's p-pretty lame Zell!"
Zell pointed at him. "Hey! You didn't call me Chicken-wuss!"
Seifer blinked a few times. "No, I guess I didn't." He smirked at Zell's shocked expression. "Maybe I don't f-feel like callin' you Chicken-wuss anymore."
Zell smirked back. "Damn, just as I was getting use to it."
Seifer grinned wider. "Yeah, I'm a prick like that!"
He shook his head, then lifted it and looked toward the door. He could hear Quistis laughing softly with Matron. "Hey, Seifer."
"Yeah?"
"Back…before all that stuff, you know…" Zell started. Seifer nodded, understanding the meaning. "Were you and Fujin, umm, dating?"
Seifer shook his head. "That's top secret information, it'll cost ya!"
"What?"
"Just trade me a secret, long the same lines."
Zell rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… I really like…"
"Stop."
"What?"
"'I really like' means 'madly in love with' when you say it like that!"
"Fine! I'm madly in love with…Quisty."
Seifer groaned and rolled his eyes. "That's no secret!"
"So far, you're the only one who ever figured it out. Well, at least the first person to tell me about it."
Seifer waved his hand. "I'm not sayin' it was obvious to everyone. Just to me."
"And why is that?"
"The way you stare at her d-during lunch from across the room, but unlike those retarded 'Trepies', you actually t-tried to cover it up. You follow her around like a dog!" Zell's brow creased deep. Seifer backed up a little. "I'm not insulting you. But you do have that lovesick puppy thing going! I know, I've been there."
"You!? A love sick puppy!?" Zell exclaimed.
Seifer nodded. "You know how everybody thinks of Fujin, right? She follows me around like a love sick puppy, does whatever I tell her to, right?"
"Right."
Seifer smirked. "C-couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, the rolls are switched. I'm the one following her. And when I wasn't, she was there just to make sure I didn't get into trouble and get k-kicked out of the Garden."
Zell shook his head. "Well, then what about Rin…" He stopped fast, thinking he might have gone too far.
Seifer nodded solemnly. "It's alright. Rinoa?" Zell nodded. "Me and Fu were fighting a lot that month before I went to Deling. I failed the test, again. She was pissed, said I needed to get my head out of the clouds. I went to Deling, met Rinoa. She was just g-getting started on her 'rebel against daddy' faze. She needed a hero. Well, you've probably got a pretty good idea of what the whole stupid Romantic Dream was."
Zell nodded. "Yeah, but I don't think it was stupid."
Seifer huffed. "You don't?"
"No, I think you just wanted it too much. You didn't want to wait until the right time." Zell spoke, looking down at the floor. "I guess I've had that romantic dream for a long time. I can't remember when I wasn't in love with Quistis. But she didn't love me. She didn't even notice me unless I was making an ass of myself. But I didn't give up. Instead of going after her, I waited. For the right time." He laughed a little, looked back up at Seifer, who seemed to be listening attentively. "Took a long fuckin' time, but…she's worth it. She's finally noticed all the things I try to do for her. And…I think she finally likes me back. Hyne, it was so worth the wait!"
Seifer smirked. "Maybe if I hadn't been so impatient…things would have been different."
"Don't feel too bad! There were times when I just felt I had to run up to her screaming my love for her at the top of my lungs. It's frustrating."
"No shit!"
"Why do you think I always took you callin' me a Chicken-wuss so hard? Half of me knew I should wait. But the other half was thinkin' I was just a chicken."
"I was just callin' you Chicken-wuss to impress Fujin!"
"Tch! Women!" Zell said, in mock exasperation.
"What about them?" Quistis asked from the door.
Both men jumped in their seats. "You need to stop doin' that!" Seifer said, slightly scowling.
Quistis just laughed softly. "Tea is served." She told them, then left the room.
Seifer stopped Zell from following after. "Thanks for lettin' me talk, it helped out a lot."
Zell shrugged. "Thanks for lettin' me listen."
Seifer smirked. "And if you ever w-wanna borrow this room for a little while in the future, so you and Quisty can have some private time, don't hesitate to ask."
Notes: Here's the revised ch.13. Nothing really different. Again, sorry for the foul-up! Be patient with me, I'm a dork.
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