Hemoglobin
Chapter Three
Hemoglobin
Chapter Three
I began to arise from my soupy dream state, the fragments of what I had dreamt still floating around in my head. I couldn’t remember any of them, but knew that Seifer was present in all of them. My ears faintly heard that my alarm hadn’t gone off yet, so I let myself drift back into a light sleep.
After a few uneventful moments of blackness, I felt a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking it. I could tell that it was Seifer. I was beginning to feel that I knew his touch off by heart. I opened my eyes, looking at my clock. My alarm hadn’t gone off, even though I had set it.
"Seifer?" I looked up, meeting his eyes. The shadows in the room played on the angles of his face, making him look mysterious, like a black and white photograph.
"You slept in. I can leave if you want to sleep some more…."
I sat up, the blanket falling around my hips. I didn’t really notice. I was more aware of Seifer’s hand on my shoulder. I saw that his eyes swept over my bare torso. He turned away, pulling his hand back to his own body.
"Uh, I’ll let you get dressed or whatever…."
I was seriously close to pulling him down on the bed and saying, "screw everyone else. Let’s stay here and fuck." But I didn’t. I just nodded, replying "Yeah. I’ll just be a few minutes."
I got dressed as quickly as possible, surprised that my clothes even matched. I was wearing a pair of black pants and an old T-shirt that said "Balamb Basketball Tournament 1995" on it. The back had the number 12 screened onto it. I attached my chain wallet to my pants, just in case. I brushed my teeth thoroughly and put on my watch, Griever pendant, and a couple of spiked bracelets. I combed my hair, trying to mash down a few vagrant locks with the heel of my hand. I sighed, deciding to leave it messy. I wasn’t in the mood to have a war with my hair. I opened the door, almost walking into Seifer. He was wearing a soft golf sweater that was obviously used, for I had never heard of the "Pocaset Golf and Country Club". It was a pale, pale blue, which brought out his eyes, and looked so touchable. I could see the top of a white T-shirt over the collar of the sweater. His steel collar shone against his pale skin, seeming to draw my attention to his throat. I so wanted to plant a trail of kisses along the probably soft flesh, but stopped myself, knowing that I would probably get a punch in the face.
We walked in silence towards the quad. Seifer had his hands in the pockets of his baggy gray slacks. I was looking at the ground, almost afraid to meet Seifer’s eyes. They had a strange affect on me. When I did finally look at the man walking beside me, I caught his eyes studying me, roaming over my body and face. This was when I began to blush furiously, the red of my face contrasting greatly to the burgundy colour of my shirt.
"What?" I asked quietly, not really accusing him of anything.
"Huh?" He must have not been paying attention, because he had a look on his face that said I caught him off guard. "Oh, sorry."
"You were staring at me."
"You look different. Must be your hair."
I shrugged, blowing a lock out of my eyes. Internally, I was giddy at the fact that he noticed something different about me. We continued to walk in silence, myself sneaking glances his way. When we got to the quad, Selphie waved us over exuberantly, her slender arms flailing in the air. She was sitting beside Irvine and Rinoa, which caused me to narrow my eyes.
"Where’s Zell and Quistis?" I asked, sitting on a bench beside Seifer.
"Coming." She looked down at Irvine, smiling at him. Seifer and I shared a look.
"What was that?" Selphie asked, gesturing at us.
"What?" Seifer asked, totally oblivious to what she was suggesting.
"That look…." She raised an eyebrow suggestively, her green eyes glinting, appearing all the more green against her green tank dress.
"You’re just paranoid…" I trailed off, looking at Irvine. He was looking at Seifer. I felt that same tension that was in the library the previous day, but it disappeared, unlike the earlier occasion. Irvine blinked a few times, his eyes shaded by his hat. Seifer just sighed in what seemed to be relief.
"Hey, all my sweet bitches…" Zell exclaimed, jumping towards Selphie, making a motion to punch her in the face.
"You know, someday, you’re actually going to hit me, then it will be buggering time."
"You promise?"
"Look, this conversation is truly beautiful, but what the fuck are we going to do?" Irvine asked, leaning against the planter behind him.
"Well, it should be up to Selphie, since she was the one who orchestrated this charade." Quistis looked at Rinoa and Irvine as she spoke.
"Charade?" Selphie asked, cocking her head.
"Never mind." Quistis waved her hand. "Well, what are we going to do?"
"Drink!" Zell suggested.
"Actually, that’s not a bad plan." Selphie concurred. "I was just going to fly by my ass."
"Then why did you want to do anything in the first place?" I asked.
"Well, I think of it this way. What’s the point of sitting around by myself being bored shitless, when I can be bored shitless with everyone else."
"You’re train of thought and intellect is truly sadistic." Zell muttered, checking his watch.
"Oh, come on! You guys weren’t going to do anything anyway!"
"How did you know that? We could have been doing something fantastic!"
Seifer made a jerking off motion.
"Hey!"
Quistis raised her eyebrows. "Was that your fantastic plan?"
"…Maybe."
I groaned. "Look, just somebody pick something!"
Selphie thought for a moment. "Oooh, I have an idea. But you’ll have to go along with it, no matter what!"
"Fine. Whatever. Just let’s do something," Irvine muttered.
"Let’s go to Balamb!"
"Why wouldn’t we have agreed to that?" Quistis wondered out loud, folding her arms across the black fabric of her softball style shirt.
"I don’t know.." She trailed off, looking at Zell. "We could hang out at your house…."
Zell groaned. "I don’t like where this is going…."
"Besides…" Rinoa piped up, looking at Irvine. "It’s raining out."
Zell, Seifer, Quistis and myself all exchanged glances. This went unnoticed by Irvine and Rinoa, but Selphie noticed. She just looked at us, a confused look passing across her cute features. She didn’t however, say anything.
After a few minutes of silence, Selphie sighed. "I’m sorry. I guess we aren’t exciting enough."
"Well, just someone suggest something!" Quistis muttered.
"Ah! Let’s play spin the bottle!" Zell exclaimed.
We all just sort of looked at him.
"Uh, why would you want to play it without Ashla around?" Irvine asked.
Seifer just quietly snorted at the irony that Irvine didn’t even realize inhabited his statement. "And, we aren’t eleven."
"What about strip poker?!" Selphie exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"What about strip poker and spin the bottle…" I suggested, meaning it as a joke.
"Yeah!!!!" Irvine cheered. Zell and Selphie smiled in agreement.
"Uh, I wasn’t being serious!"
Selphie grabbed both mine and Seifer’s wrists, pulling us up. "Let’s go!"
"Where?" Seifer asked, sounding less than enthused. "We can’t exactly strip down in the middle of the hallway.
"Squall’s got the biggest dorm room. We’ll go there."
I groaned. "That’s just great! I’ll have all your naked germs on my stuff."
"We won’t sit on the bed or anything…" Irvine muttered.
"I’ve already been there naked." Rinoa said, smirking at me.
"Me, too…." Seifer trailed off, a hint of mirth playing on his lips.
The idea of playing strip poker was now much more pleasant to me. I just hoped that Seifer was a bad player. We all walked behind Selphie towards my room. Why my room? I wasn’t looking forward to having everyone’s bare asses on my floor… Well, except maybe one.
Mental note: Get carpet cleaner…
"Okay…" Selphie stood in the center of the room so we all could face her. "We need to lay down some rules and boundaries."
Zell opened his mouth, but Selphie held up her hand.
"I will be dictating, Zell. I do not want to end up with another ‘baseball 2’ fiasco…."
Everyone groaned, except for Seifer, who just looked confused. "I don’t even want to know…."
"No, you don’t." I muttered, sitting on my bed. Seifer sat at my feet, his temple almost resting against my knee. I was hoping that he would stop being so damn desirable, because I was seriously close to a major boner.
"Now, seeing as how this is a hybrid game, here are the rules. Since it’s cards, there can only be one winner. The winner gets the opportunity to spin the bottle, seen here…" She held up a pop bottle. "And they get to choose who gets to remove an article of clothing."
"What about the issue of the moneys?" Zell asked.
"They moneys? What are you, Al Capone?" Irvine asked, his long black duster spread around him, a sea of fabric.
"We won’t be using money. I know that we all can’t afford it…" Selphie shot a look to Quistis.
"Oh, I borrowed money from you once. Once!"
"We will just take everyone’s word for it and let the cards speak for themselves." Selphie searched her pockets, coming out with a pack of cards.
"You carry cards with you all the time?" Rinoa asked, blinking a couple of times.
"I think that toy truck I lost when I was seven must be there somewhere…" Zell muttered, sitting beside Seifer on the floor.
The heel of Selphie’s hand came down, making heavy contact with Zell’s crown. "Shut up." She held up her hands. "Does everyone get those rules?! It’s not that hard."
"Me no function beer well without…" Seifer muttered.
"I loved that episode!" Zell cried. "Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, leader."
"It wasn’t the best episode. The sugar one was."
Zell gasped. "That was fantastic!"
"The best was when Milhouse jumped off the waterfall and went "Ow, my glasses."
"Can we please get back to more serious issues, here?" Selphie cleared her throat. "Like strip spin the bottle poker?"
"Fine, fine. Don’t be such a recreation nazi." Zell held up his hands. When Selphie turned to him, he used Seifer as a shield. "I’m sorry."
"Way to give up your balls, dude." Irvine smirked.
"Let’s just go…" I said. It sounded as if I was exasperated, but it was really because I wanted to see how many articles of clothing Seifer would have to remove. Selphie placed the bottle in the middle of the floor with flourish, plopping down in front of it. She dealt out the cards, smiling widely.
"Oh, I’m so glad that I shaved my legs…" Quistis trailed off, inspecting her hand, no emotion gracing her features.
"Me, too," Zell muttered. "Aw, dammit!!!" He looked up. "I mean… Woohoo."
"Uh, I’m in…" Seifer raised his eyebrows at the smaller blonde.
"Can I have four?" Zell asked.
"Why am I not surprised." I laughed, asking for one card.
"One? Oooh, a big spender." Rinoa took two cards.
"How am I a big spender?" I asked, confusion in my voice. "We aren’t using any money!"
"It’s just an expression."
"So is you’re a moron."
She scoffed. "You are going to be the first to lose something, Leonhart."
"I will end up being naked, but I’ll still have my dignity."
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I don’t have any dignity?"
"Lover’s quarrel…" Selphie muttered, taking a card. "Want any?" She asked Seifer.
"No."
"Oh, someone’s got something good." Irvine said, trying to inspect Seifer’s expression. It was blank.
"Don’t try to find emotions. I created the poker face, and applied it to everyday life."
"Whoa, whoa. Let’s get back to the important thing," Rinoa interrupted. "Why don’t you think that I have dignity? Zell’s the one with no dignity!"
"Why are you dragging me into your little web of ego boosting?"
Quistis laughed. "All ready to show our cards?"
"I’ve got a Queen, and a six, and some other useless shit…" Selphie laid them out lovingly. "So, I guess I lose."
"Ego boosting?"
"Just show your cards, yo…" Zell muttered, laying out two pairs.
She shrugged, laying out a full house.
"Damn." Quistis flung her cards in the center. "Since when did a nine suck so much?"
"Ha ha!" Seifer flung out a full house as well, but his consisted of three aces and a pair of jacks. "Beat that, Heartilly!"
I groaned, tossing my cards. "When did you get so good?"
"Much practice at my poker shack in the swamps." He rubbed his hands together. "Alright. Since this juvenile excuse to see some hard core nudity was Selphie’s idea… Miss Tilmitt, please remove an article of clothing…"
Selphie gaped. "Why me? You pervert!"
Zell laughed. "I say we fling insults at each other instead of playing."
"Don’t flatter yourself, my dear." Seifer made a motion. "Off, off."
She grumbled and took off a shoe. "There, happy?"
"Immensely," Seifer replied dryly. He reached for the bottle. "Okay, so now I guess is the best time to tell everyone that I have Herpes."
"You have Herpes?" Irvine asked.
"He’s not being serious, you idiot…" I trailed off, praying that it would land on me.
"Okay, so what are the rules as far as same sex landings go?" Zell asked as the bottle spun quickly.
"The same as opposite sex. We’re adults, aren’t we?" Selphie replied.
"Well, some of us are…" Rinoa trailed off, looking in Zell’s direction.
"Oh, thank you so much, Rinoa. You’re so much more mature than I am, right?" His voice dripped with sarcasm.
"What’s with insulting me tonight?"
Zell shrugged, smiling playfully, but I knew what he was thinking about, and I could tell that Seifer was thinking it, too. He looked at me, sighing.
Selphie giggled. "Ha, ha!" She pointed at the bottle. It was pointing at Seifer. "You have to kiss yourself."
"Uh, that’s a do-over.." He spun again.
"Hey, it might have been interesting to see you try to kiss yourself…" Quistis laughed.
"Just like trying to bite my own face, right?"
"That doesn’t work." Selphie stated, matter-of-factly.
Zell laughed. "It does when you try to throw a temper tantrum."
Seifer scoffed. "Okay, you’ll have to elaborate on that one later, but first you better pucker up."
Zell looked down. "Aw, man." He looked at Seifer. "You were joking about the Herpes, right?"
"Only one way to find out, sugar…" Seifer raised his eyebrow up and down quickly, which caused Zell to laugh. His laughter stopped as Seifer kissed him, parting the smaller man’s lips with his own. As I watched, I wanted to gauge Zell’s reaction, to see how he felt. He must have felt good, because he was now leaning into Seifer, deepening the kiss. I could tell that there was tongue involved. They kissed slowly, the pace like honey or molasses. My heart began to beat a little faster, wondering what it must have been like for Zell to kiss Seifer, to taste him, to feel his breath. I also noticed a little twinge of anger seep into my heart. Was I angry at Zell for kissing Seifer, even if it didn’t mean anything?
When they broke apart, Selphie cleared her throat. "Uh, okay…."
"You sure did get carried away there.." Quistis trailed off.
"Just setting the bar." Seifer smirked somewhat, looking at Zell with a devilish glint in his eyes.
Irvine looked away, obviously uncomfortable. "Okay, whose deal?"
"My God! Why weren’t you trying to molest me instead of beating me up all this time?" Zell asked, running his tongue against his lips playfully.
Seifer just looked at him. "Okay, you’re getting weird. Don’t kiss Zell! He’s strange!"
"That’s really not much of an insult."
"You would rather me molest you?" Seifer snorted. "That would have been good for the old reputation.
"Okay, okay…" Quistis began dealing out the cards. "Please elaborate on the face biting thing."
"What are you talking about?" Selphie asked, shifting so that she was sitting Indian style on the floor.
"Oh, yes! My tried and true temper tantrum scenarios. Okay, this works wonders… If you’re seven. Trust me, when you’re eighteen, it’s just retarded. When I was a kid, and my mom wouldn’t let me have my way, I would start biting at my face and thrashing around like I was having a seizure. Works every time."
I laughed, raising the pitch of my voice to sound like a child. "Mom, I want to eat that dog crap! No, Zell, that’s disgusting!" Then I started imitating him.
Seifer laughed loudly, his entire body shaking with the effort. His head rested against my knee, as he lost his balance. "Holy fuck! I can soooo see that happening!"
Rinoa just looked at me, while Selphie and Quistis mimicked my motions, making strangled noises in the backs of their throats. This caused Zell to do it, too.
"Dear God. You are a bunch of retards." Irvine frowned, picking up his cards.
"Lighten up!" Selphie chastised breathlessly.
"Mock if you must, but it works every time." Zell crossed his arms triumphantly, picking up his cards.
Seifer contained himself, noticing that he was leaning against my leg. I wasn’t protesting in the least, and almost frowned in disappointment when he sat up. He looked up at me, right in my eyes. I tried to chase the emotions away before he could see them, but a residue of the lust I was feeling must have been there, because something moved in the aqua seas of his irises. For that moment, we just stared at each other, unknown emotions going between us. It was barely a second, and nobody else noticed, but I felt it, knew it would haunt me for a while.
A few hours later, we were still sitting in a circle, still slowly derobing. Selphie was the closest to being naked, only wearing a pair of black underwear with a lacy bra to match, but Zell was close, only having on his boxer briefs, socks and a wifebeater. Irvine was pantsless, his shirt and jacket covering up his pale blue boxers. Quistis sat barefoot and topless, a butter yellow camisole covering her up. Rinoa was in her underwear and shirt, sort of mumbling that everyone had chosen Selphie to be the nude one. Seifer was the closest to being fully dressed, much to my disappointment. He was still in his pants and white T-shirt with the Deceptacon logo on it. He was barefoot, having begged someone to choose him so he wouldn’t have to sit around in one sock. The next time I won, I knew that I would be choosing him. I had chosen him once already, but I didn’t want to pick him every time, for although I wanted him badly, I didn’t really want the rest of the group to know that. As for myself, I was now shirtless, and sitting on the floor beside Seifer. I had gotten off my perch on the bed when I had to kiss Quistis, and now that I was sitting beside Seifer, my bare skin occasionally brushing against his arm, I wouldn’t have moved for the world.
As far at the spin the bottle portion went, Seifer and Zell had kissed a total of three times, each time involving tongue and a prolonged amount of time, much to my vexation and everyone else’s confusion. Irvine and Rinoa had kissed a couple of times, under the watchful eyes of Seifer, Zell, Quistis and myself. Selphie didn’t seem to notice or care. Rinoa had begun to notice the stares that we were giving her, but I didn’t think she knew exactly why we were doing it. Irvine had been the most skittish, especially when it had come to kissing Zell and myself. I made it as painless as possible, as did Zell. I figured Zell was saving all his tongue action for Seifer, a thought that made my blood boil. The most interesting had been when Selphie and Rinoa had kissed, and Selphie had grabbed my former girlfriend’s breast just to get a rile out of the guys. It hadn’t worked as far as Seifer and myself had gone. I was too busy thinking about him, and Seifer seemed wholly disinterested. It had worked on Zell, thought.
"How much longer are we going to play this?" Irvine asked as he grumbled, folding his hand.
"Until we’re all naked!" Selphie cheered, taking a couple of cards.
I sighed sadly. The others decided to stay in against me, thinking I was upset with my cards. I actually had a straight flush, but was mulling over the fact that I had yet to kiss Seifer. I had kissed Quistis, Rinoa, Irvine and Quistis again, but no Seifer. The one person with whom I so wanted to touch lips. The seeming amount of passion that he was showing in his kisses with Zell was driving me retarded. The most confusing factor was that when he had kissed Selphie twice and Rinoa once, there wasn’t as much emotion. He had locked tongues with Selphie, but that was more her doing than his. I was determined to ask him about that.
"Staying in, Squall? I don’t think you should, I have a good hand…" Quistis trailed off, trying to glare me down.
"That glaring isn’t going to work on me, my dear. Besides, it isn’t very threatening."
"Isn’t threatening? What is it then?"
"Arousing." Selphie suggested, a dopey grin on her face.
"Can I have two cards?" Zell asked.
"Why do you think it’s arousing?"
"It just is. It’s threatening in that James Bond girl way." Selphie explained.
"Can I have two cards?" Zell repeated.
"James Bond always got the best gadgets." Rinoa said.
"Yeah, he also got the most cunt." Seifer answered, handing Zell two cards.
"Thank you. At least someone’s paying attention!"
Rinoa, the dealer, looked up. "Huh?"
"My God, you’re useless."
"That was rude." Rinoa pouted, taking three cards for herself.
"Oh, we can get soo much ruder." Selphie made a face as she threw down her hand.
"Ready?" I asked.
"When I get shit on, it’s not a big deal, but when it happens to Rinoa, it’s like I anally raped her mother or something." Zell muttered.
"My mother is dead." She put out her hand. Two pairs.
"All the more reason to do it."
Irvine snorted. "That’s disgusting, man."
"Well, it makes the offense all the more great, now doesn’t it?" Zell asked.
Quistis revealed her cards. She had a full house. "Well?"
"Booya, Grandma, booya!" I chucked my winning hand in front of her. "How do you like them apples?" I grinned, satisfied.
"You know, there’s a such thing as being a bad winner."
"Not as bad as Zell’s little victory dance." Seifer muttered. "Especially in his underwear."
"You didn’t like it? I sure didn’t get that from your kiss…" Zell trailed off, batting his eyelashes stupidly.
Seifer just scoffed.
"You should continue to scoff, Seifer Almasy…." I trailed off, smiling evilly at him. "You are by far the most dressed. Take it off!" I said it jokingly, but inside, I wanted to shove everyone except the tall blond out the door and remove his clothes for him.
"Fine." He removed his shirt in one fluid motion, tossing it on my bed. I found this motion to be incredibly sexy. I couldn’t help but stare at his chest, marveling at it lines and muscles. He was built, but without being bulked. I found that my vision got stuck around his navel and the taunt abdominals that surrounded it. I had always had a navel fetish. I then looked at his nipples, which were decorated with numerous piercings. I had seen pierced nipples before, just in magazines and stuff, but I had never actually seen someone with each nipple pierced more than once. His left nipple had two barbells, intersecting to make a cross. The right nipple had three hoops hanging like a silver ladder.
"How long have you had them?" Zell asked, poking at it.
"Must you do that?" Seifer smacked his hand away. "Since I was, like, fifteen."
I felt relieved that I wasn’t the only one staring at his chest. My eyes lingered longer than everyone else’s, though, but not long enough to be caught.
"Okay, spin the thing!" Selphie exclaimed.
"You mean the bottle?"
"Yeah, that thing."
I chuckled. "Move that thing that is next to the thing…."
"Just do it… Jesus!" Zell exclaimed.
"My name is Squall, dumbass." I spun, not really interested in where it landed. But my attention was caught when it landed on Seifer.
Fucking YES!!!!
I maintained my outer composure, looking at the man beside me to see what he was thinking. Seifer was as stone-faced as usual. I twisted my torso lazily, but I was so eager, so willing, so thrilled. I knew that I had to control myself, because I didn’t want to get an erection with everyone else sitting around. I put my hand on his chest in order not to fall over, but it was actually to touch his naked chest under my bare palm, feel the heat of the flesh, the blood running under its pale surface, the heartbeat pounding under my splayed fingers. He tilted his head slightly, letting me decide everything, waiting for me to make the move. The front wisps of his honey gold hair tickled my forehead as I leaned towards him. His breath on my lips made my entire body shiver.
When his lips did touch mine, my eyes rolled into the back of my head, as I seemed to lose all control over myself. My body seemed to collapse under the sheer weight of my desire. His mouth burned like he was on fire, like he was feverish. His lips had only touched mine, not even making a kissing motion yet, but already I knew exactly why Zell had kissed Seifer so passionately before. He could have told me to rip my lungs out, and I would have done it with pleasure. Seifer now had a complete hold over me, and I loved it. I kissed, tasted him softly, lightly pressing my lips against his, wanting to savor the feeling, make it last. The blonde seemed surprised at my slow pace. He imitated it, gently suckling at my bottom lip, doing what I could only describe as tasting me, discovering my flavor. His tongue moved across the now wet surface of my bottom lip as he pulled it further into his mouth, the soft, fleshy tip branding me, burning me as my mind reeled. It was at that point that I eagerly opened my mouth against his, urging him silently to press forward, deepen our connection. He bit down on my lip, almost teasingly. He wanted me to make the moves. So I did. I pulled my lip away from the delicious vice that his teeth were making, replacing it with my tongue. He must have been caught off guard at my fervor, because I felt his muscles tighten under my fingertips. I jammed my tongue into his mouth, wanting to taste his hot, honey flavor with all my taste buds, feel the sensation of his saliva rolling over my tongue in slow honey waves.
When Seifer began massaging my mouth with his tongue, I curled my fingers against his chest, pulling the flesh under my fingertips. I could feel the cool, hard metal of his piercings gently caressing the heel of my hand as I contracted my hand into a fist. I could hear the rustling of sheets as Seifer’s arm moved up, brushing against my bed. He lightly put a hand on the curve of my waist, just above my hip. The touch was extremely gentle, feather light. He turned his hand around, tracing the curve of my side with his short fingernails, which made me shiver. His hands on my bare flesh were more than I could have ever asked for. Just him touching me was sending me into a tailspin, one that I didn’t really care to get out of. I leaned into him further as our tongues tangled together, surfaces touching as much as possible. In the back of my mind, I thought He doesn’t feel the same way as you do. This is just a game… I tried to silence the voice, wanting to concentrate on the wonderful burning that was now filling my chest cavity, moving all through my body.
When the fire began to reach my groin, I became wary, realizing that we weren’t alone. He must have thought the same thing I did, because he pulled away at the same time. We looked at the people in the room. Nobody seemed to really have noticed anything out of the ordinary, besides the fact that I was kissing Seifer, my lifetime rival. The amount of time that the kiss had taken up was surprisingly small, but I was still shocked nonetheless, that nobody had sensed the sheer sexual desire that I was feeling. The only person whose eyes had an intrigued look in them were Selphie’s.
"Okay, let’s go!" Zell dealt out the cards.
"Uh, Zell, the cards are supposed to be face down…" Quistis muttered as some of the cards flipped face up.
"Oh, damn."
"I fold…" Irvine muttered, smiling at Rinoa. Quistis then frowned.
"I have a pair of twos!" Selphie cheered sarcastically.
I didn’t pay attention to this. I was still looking at Seifer. He cast a sidelong glance at me, some sort of emotion barely registering. I wished that I could decipher what he was feeling.
"Okay, they are face down now.." Zell muttered, sticking his tongue out at Quistis.
We played this hand in basic silence, knowing that the game was winding down, and curfew was upon us.
"Straight…" Seifer said, showing his cards.
"Not by the way you kiss…" Zell murmured, teasingly batting his eyelashes. He folded his cards.
Everyone folded their cards. Seifer then smiled, rubbing his hands together. "Selphie, my dear. Seeing as how this is the last hand, it’s only fair that you’ll be the only one who has to show anything…."
Selphie just sighed, removing her bra. Zell stared appreciatively, which drew ire from Irvine. Her breasts were on the small side, but were nice and round and symmetrical. I was about to say something catty to Irvine about looking at Rinoa’s tits, but Zell couldn’t look at Selphie, but decided to keep my mouth shut.
"Happy?" She asked, putting her clothes back on. "Look, that was really fun, but I think that we should get drunk, too."
"What is it with you and wanting to get drunk?" Quistis asked, putting her shirt on.
She just shrugged. "See you in the morning. Irvine, are you coming? You need to study."
He grimaced. "God, only losers study all the time!"
Zell laughed, looking at Seifer.
"Yeah, yeah. I’m the butt of everyone’s jokes…"
"No, that’s still Zell."
Zell groaned at Quistis. "God, will you stop shitting on me?!"
Selphie waved as she exited, Irvine in tow.
"Can I at least pull my pants up first??"
Rinoa shook her head with amusement, following. "It’s been real.."
"No it hasn’t. When in real life do people play a strange hybrid of spin the bottle and strip poker?" Zell asked.
She just waved her hand at him, following behind Selphie and Irvine.
"Okay, they’re gone. Let’s talk about them." Zell flopped on the bed.
"You’re laying on my shirt…" Seifer stated.
"Come and get it…" Zell replied huskily.
"Yeah, what was with you two?" Quistis leaned against the wall, looking concerned. Her mind was elsewhere.
"Oh, what? Two guys who’ve hated each other can’t make out without being scrutinized? What has this world come to?"
"That was very dramatic…" I trailed off, feeling the residue of Seifer’s taste on my lips.
"Oh, you were tonguing him, too!" Zell exclaimed, reclining so that he could look at me. "He’s that good…"
"This flattery is going to get to my head… and stop talking about me like I’m not in the room." Seifer sat beside Zell, remaining shirtless, much to my joy.
Zell sat up, wrapping his arms around Seifer from behind and resting his tattooed cheek on the taller blonde’s bare shoulder. "So, Quistis, what are you going to do?"
"I don’t know, I don’t know…" She looked at them. "What are you doing?"
Zell shrugged. "Seifer’s mine now. Look what you’ve done, Almasy."
Seifer just sighed. "There wasn’t actually concrete proof that something’s going on. I guess we didn’t choose the best form of recreation to catch them doing something naughty."
The way Seifer said ‘naughty’ sent chills up my spine.
"I guess not. What the fuck should I do?!"
"We aren’t going to be able to tell you anything. Only you’ll be able to make up your own mind." Zell muttered, his voice coming out muffled against Seifer’s shoulder.
"You guys aren’t really much help."
"Wait for concrete proof.." Seifer repeated.
She nodded absently, leaving without any more words.
"Okay, I’m going to bed. Seifer, I’ll see you in my dreams, baby." Zell got up, gathering his clothes.
"Why does that sound so disgusting coming from you?" Seifer paused after he had spoken, smirking slightly. "Well, I guess it will be coming from you, right?"
Zell laughed sarcastically. "That was so funny." He quickly leaned in, running his tongue across Seifer’s cheek. "Later."
Seifer cried out, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Gross."
Zell opened the door.
"Uh, don’t you want to put your clothes on?" I asked.
"…No." He left. We heard someone gasp in surprise, the sound muffled through the door.
Seifer shook his head. "That is the last… and only time I play spin the bottle strip poker." He reached for his Deceptacon shirt, pulling it over his head. I sneaked one last glance at Seifer’s navel before it disappeared under his shirt. He stood, facing me.
"Do you want to train again tomorrow?" I asked, my voice sounding shakier than I would have liked.
"A glutton for punishment, Squall?" He smiled slightly.
I nearly melted. My name had never sounded more beautiful than when Seifer said it. "I guess so…."
We just stood facing each other in silence. I was using all my willpower in not reaching out for him and removing his clothes again. I could still taste him on my lips, feel the ghostly sensation of his fingers tracing the curve of my hip, still feel my lungs burning. I wondered if he felt anything, if our kiss had affected him in the least, or was it just messing around, meaningless, like it had been with Zell? I studied his face as if there would be a test on it, memorizing every curve, every angle. My heart rose to my throat when I thought I saw a faint tinge of pink pass across his snow-white skin. I blinked a few times, figuring it was just my imagination, or another occurrence of fleeting emotion that would soon die away, but it was still there, creeping across his cheeks.
"Well, see ya.." He left.
"Don’t go…" I whispered, but it was too late. He didn’t hear me.
I sighed, flopping down on the bed. Zell had also been on it, but I could smell Seifer’s shampoo. It was intoxicating, seductive. I lay my body out, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about Seifer, thinking about the way he felt, the way his presence felt on my body. It was like a poltergeist, all around me, haunting me. I rolled on my side, curling my body into a ball, letting it all debilitate me. I felt something soft brush against my cheek, tickling me. I opened my eyes slowly. It felt the same as the feeling of Seifer’s fingernails against my waist. I was disappointed when it wasn’t him, rather the soft feeling of fabric. It was Seifer’s pale blue sweater.
"Must have forgotten it…" I whispered, trailing off. I sat up, taking the sweater in my hands, running its baby soft fabric through my fingers. I contemplated going to his room to bring it back, but instead ran the sleeve across my cheek, nuzzling against it. It smelled like soap, faintly mixed with peaches. I sighed loudly, so many emotions passing through me. The soft angora felt so good against my bare chest, but it was a poor imitation to the feeling of Seifer’s hands. I stood, taking my pants of so that I was in my boxers. I was suddenly very tired, all of the emotions flitting through me taxing me greatly. Before I crawled back into my bed, I found myself slipping on Seifer’s sweater. It was much too big for me, the sleeves falling limply around my hands, the collar around my breastbone, but I didn’t care. Right now, this was the closest I could get to being held by Seifer. The wool tickled my flesh to the point of caressing it seductively. I lifted a sleeve to my face again, breathing in the scent, reveling in it.
"Seifer…." I whispered, curling up on my bed. My heart constricted as I realized that my bed had never felt so empty. I was surprised when a tear escaped my eye, leaving a forlorn trail down my cheek. The pale blue wool absorbed it. I felt badly that I was getting Seifer’s sweater wet, but the tears wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t really place my finger on the exact cause of my tears, but I knew that only one thing could stop them. I continued to silently weep, lulling myself into a lonely sleep.