Zell's body swung in time with the music he had blasting through his portable mp3 player which lay haphazardly on a pile of rubble that was the remains of Balamb Garden's former stage. The speakers he'd bought only a week before were up to full volume as he ran his hands through his hair and sang as loudly as he could.
"When it gets cold outside
And ya got nobody to love
You'll understand what I mean when I say
There's no way we're gonna give up!!"
Lost in his own little world, he didn't notice he had his own private audience, watching his every move. Squall folded his arms, not sure if interrupting the blonde would be more of a hassle than having to wait for his antics to end. The song ended, Zell stretched and waited for the next song to load.
~Oooo, good one.....~ he thought as he bounced around, fists punching the air in a half-dance, half battle with his own shadow.
"I've been crawling in the dark,
Looking for the answer"
The words to the song hit a familiar cord in Squall's mind, but he simply pushed it aside. Music was just that, and nothing more. He gave in waiting for Zell to notice he was there, and proceeded to step forward. The second song had ended already and another started to play. Squall stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide as he listened. Zell had started singing along with the third song, his body swaying seductively side to side in perfect harmony with the melody. But it wasn't Zell's dancing that held Squall captive, it was the lyrics of the song that Zell was singing. They were Japanese.
~Zell knows Japanese???~ Squall's mind raced with this new information. As far as he had known, he was the only one of his SeeD party that spoke another language. Zell sang loudly, his accent was off and he had some of the words mixed up, but Squall still stood frozen in amazement. It wasn't until Squall began truly listening to the lyrics that his heart started beating faster...
He knew the song well, Rinoa played it often in her room. It was "Addicted to You", and of all things it was a J-pop song by a girl named Utada Hikaru. Lost in his own thoughts of how Zell could have learned Japanese when no classes were being taught at Garden, he didn't notice that the music had stopped. Snapping back to reality, he looked up to find Zell blushing beet red and clenching his fists.
"Can't a guy get some privacy in this place???" Zell packed up his mp3 player and speakers quickly, trying to push past Squall and hide his embarrassment.
"Cid has new orders. We're to stay in the Garden until further notice, shore leave is cancelled." Squall didn't bother appologizing for walking in on Zell's little 'moment'. The stage was a public area, anyone could have walked in on him. Admittedly, the view was amazing as the garden floated silently in the open ocean, the sun burning a deep red as it set. Squall could see why Zell had chosen that location to relax in, if dancing like -that- could count as relaxing.
"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?! NO SHORE LEAVE?!?!" Zell's bag fell to the ground with a clatter as he began punching every piece of steel piping he could find in frustration.
"How do you know Japanese?" Squall asked, ignoring Zell's tantrum.
"Oh," Zell stopped punching and turned to him, once again a blush rushing across his face, "ya know, I just...picked it up, here and there..." Squall's eyebrow raised slightly in disbelief, and Zell began to panic. "I-I CAN LEARN ANY DAMN LANGUAGE I WANT!!" he yelled, once again grabbing his bag off the ground and storming up the steps, headed back towards the dormitory.
~Whatever.~ Squall followed shortly after, heading to his own dorm room, eager to nap after the migrane he'd just gotten from Zell's yelling.
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Forty-five minutes later, Zell sat on his bed with his head in his hands. His hair clung to his face, still damp from the cold shower he'd been forced to endure. His head swam with regret and confusion. He didn't know which to be angrier about, the fact that Squall had seen him dancing and singing, or that he'd screamed at Squall for no reason. ~I gotta stop doin this, I can't keep snapping at him everytime I panic...~ He wished Squall hadn't heard him singing, it was more embarrassing than anything else. ~At least he doesn't know I was singing about HIM, that much I didn't screw up today.~ Zell stood slowly and eyed himself in the mirror, his eyes still slightly red from the tears he'd been holding back. "Dincht, get over it, there's no chance in hell you're good enough for him." His own voice sounded so distant, so cold, he shivered and retreated to the kitchen to fix himself a snack. The chime to his room sounded, and he growled, wondering who it could be. Practically smashing the "release" button, the dormitory door slid open, and Zell came face to face with Squall yet again. He had been ready to slam whoever was bugging him when he was trying to get some grub, but he faltered when he recognized those blue-crystal pools that stared directly into him.
"S-Squall....yo, what's up?" Zell tried regaining his composure, but not before noticing Squall's clothes. His bomber was missing, and in his hands lay half a dozen mp3 memory chips.
"You're interested in Japanese, I figured I'd bring over some of my collection so you could learn more." Squall swallowed hard, eyeing the blonde before him. Zell looked like a wreck, and his hair was laying against his face in slight curls, an odd sight for the normally spikey teenager.
"Yeah man, c'mon in. I was just grabbing something ta eat." Zell backed away, letting Squall in and shutting the door behind him. He cleared some things off of the rest of his bed and offered Squall a seat. Zell was still sneaking glances at his Commander's figure, not used to seeing so much of the boy exposed. Sure, the showers had been open during their time as cadets, but they were SeeDs now, and had showers of their own. The GF's hadn't helped either, erasing memories with no consideration for how precious the owner may deem them. It was a damn good sight, Squall's muscles flexing beneath his white tank top, at some points daring to stretch the fabric past it's limits.
"Most of the songs on these chips are Japanese, done by various artists in various genres...There may be a few English songs thrown in there, you can skip over them."
"Yeah? Lemmie see!" Zell grabbed at one of the chips and plugged it into his mp3 player, which had resumed it's position on top of a set of 4 foot tall speakers in one corner of the room. Zell skipped through the songs idly, listening for just a moment to each one until he'd found one in English. He burst into fits of laughter, grabbing his sides and falling over. Squall's face lost it's color and he turned away, regretting having brought over the chips. After a few more awkward moments of Zell's shrieking, he stood and headed towards the door. Zell quickly got off the floor and darted in front of him, barring his path. "Yo man, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make fun of it, it's just.....it's a damn perfect song for YOU to like! It just was real amusin' how well it fit." Squall refused to look at the blonde, replying with a grunt and another attempt to reach the door. Zell blocked his path again, refusing to budge. "C'mon Squall, don't be a party pooper. Ya gotta admit, 'Enjoy the Silence' is a cliche' for YOU." Squall remained silent. When the song had ended, silence filled the room. Apparantly it was the last song on the chip and the player wouldn't repeat unless Zell moved across the room to press play. But moving would mean Squall could leave. He didn't want that, he had to convince Squall to stay.
The silence seemed to drag on forever, when finally Zell gave in and pushed Squall backward. Squall had been taken off balance, but only for a moment as he glared at the blonde angrily. Once again, Zell attempted to push Squall backward, this time he dodged. Squall growled and swung at Zell's head, missing completely as the experienced martial arts master dropped and swung his leg out, knocking Squall down to the ground...-hard-. Shocked and angry, Squall had began getting up when Zell pounced on him, straddling his waist and pinning his shoulders to the floor. What little was left of Squall's headache had returned full force when his head had slammed into the ground a second time thanks to Zell's pouncing. He winced and tried to focus his vision, but failed. Blinking, he began to panic. "Zell, get off me, my eyes are blurry. I can't see straight." Staring in shock, Zell quickly leaped off of Squall and helped lift him to his feet. After a few moments of sitting Squall on the bed and hoping the situation would clear itself, it was obvious that this was serious. Zell ran to his intercom and smashed his fist into the 'medic' button. Dr. Kadowaki's voice rang out in the room, "Yes, may I help you?" Zell practically yelled into the speaker for Dr. Kadowaki to get to his room right away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Three days had passed, and Squall's vision still hadn't cleared up. He could see things, but it was as if he were seeing them drunk. Everything swam and circled, nothing could focus, and it made him sick to keep his eyes open. He spent most of his days in his room, trying to sleep off the constant ache of his eyes, which were strained past their limits.
The only bright side, if it counted as one, was that Zell came to visit him mutliple times throughout the day to keep him company or to bring him food. Zell had even created a game of "Guess the Mush" for Squall to try to figure out what it was he was eating that day. Not that he played along most of the time. He was still angry about being taken off of active duty.
Zell had been regretting the day of the accident every waking moment. The image of Squall's head banging against the floor ran over and over in his mind, and he beat himself up over it every night, he had the bruises to prove it. Making his way to Squall's room, he was about to hit the access code (which Squall had given him so that he wouldn't have to get out of bed to answer the door), when he heard a faint sound. He pressed his ear flush against the door, listening intently. There was no mistaking it, every guy knew that noise. It was the sound of a guy breathing frantically when they're getting themselves off. Zell bit his lower lip, swallowing down a half-groan that threatened to escape his lips and ruin his moment. Zell ached to see more, he wanted to open the door and watch the scene, but he knew opening the door would alert Squall to his presence. "...Aw fuck it," he snorted and smirked, deciding to have some fun with it. He'd open the door and walk in, busting Squall's chops for jerking off at this time of day, or somethign like that. Zell punched in the code and jumped through the door as it quickly opened and closed. What he saw, he didn't expect....
There was Squall, but he wasn't laying on his bed like Zell had expected. He was on the floor, naked, sitting with his legs to either side of his bed. His groin was pressed hard into a full length pillow he had propped up against the corner of the bed. Zell stared in shock, Squall had been fucking the pillow like it was a real person, whimpering into it so that no one would hear him. Squall sat frozen, his hand grasping his arousal and his eyes wide with terror staring at the solid pillow in front of him. He knew that only Zell knew the code to the room, he just didn't know if anyone else was -with- Zell. Whatever wisecracks Zell had planned on yelling at Squall were forgotten as the blonde stammered and tried to process the vision before him while hiding his own hard on that pulsed wildly inside the confines of his own pants.
Squalls face then contorted and his head fell forward, wincing in pain as blue balls set in and seemed to cripple him. Zell once again was the reason Squall was in pain, and it stung him almost as badly as the pain Squall felt in his groin. Hesitating for only a moment, Zell took a few steps towards Squall, dropping to his knees behind him. Zell inched forward and fitted his body behind Squall, his legs inching under Squall's so that Squall was now sitting halfway on Zell's lap and being pinned against the pillow. Zell tore his gloves off frantically and reached around Squall's side, following the path of his arm down to his erection. He removed Squall's hand and replaced it with his own, slowly dragging it up and down the semi-erect shaft. Zell slid his other hand around and up Squall's chest, pulling him back firmly and holding him tightly, his lips dropping tender kisses against Squall's neck. Squall's eyes, now widening in disbelief, began to glaze over. The pain in his balls was easing, and Zell had started grinding into his backside. It was something Squall thought he would have been outraged at, but somehow it felt so good...
He panted, rocking his hips back against Zell's confined erection and thrusting up into Zell's hand. Zell whispered gently in Squall's ear, reassuring him, increasing the pace of his hand with Squall's rocking. Squall's mind went blank, his head lolling back against Zell's shoulder as he let out a deep throated moan. That was all the encouragement Zell needed to bring his hand to a frantic pace, grinding against Squall's ass and biting his neck gently. Squall bucked in Zell's grasp, reaching his arms back and grabbing fistfulls of Zell's thick, blonde hair and almost screaming Zell's name as he came hard, feeling the warm splatter of his own cum against his sweat-slicked stomach. His body spasmed one last time and he slumped forward, falling over the corner of his bed, the pillow sticking to the wetness of his body. Zell panted heavily, his own erection throbbing painfully beneath Squall. His mind raced with the image of what had just happened. ~Did...Did I just jerk Squall off?!?!~ He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, eyeing the uncomfortable position his love interest had just fallen into. Zell picked Squall up gently and lay him down on the bed, noting that the commander seriously needed a shower unless he wanted cum all over the bedsheets. On that note, he looked down at his own hand that still glistened. He hesitated, then began licking his fingers clean. ~Oh god he tastes so good....~ Zell hummed as he finished cleaning off his hand, looking down and realizing Squall was watching him.
"...I can see you."
Zell panicked, wiping his hand on his pants. "I..I...look I'm sorry I walked in on ya, and...." ~How do you appologize for jerking off your best friend and Commander, who's straight?~ Zell gave up trying to voice his words and sighed.
"No....I can see you. Clearly...." Zell looked up, his eyes lighting up. Squall's concussion had subsided! That was a relief, it meant Squall could go back on active duty and stop moping around in his room. Squall sat up and stared thoughtfully at the floor. After a few long minutes of silence, he looked up at Zell again. "How long have you wanted me?"
Zell fell over, landing hard on his ass and wincing. He'd feel that one later. "...um...for a while. Since we were kids....but back then it was different."
"How was it different?"
Zell laughed and blushed. "Well, back then, we were too young to be horny, so I was just in love with-" He stopped. ~Did I just say LOVE?!?! FUCK!!~
"You're in love with me?"
Zell swallowed hard, feeling like he was close to vomiting. Unable to speak, he simply nodded. This was it, Squall was gonna ask him to get the hell out and never come near him again, he could feel it. You don't just jerk off someone, tell them you love them, and expect them to jump for joy. Hell, he didn't even have Squall's PERMISSION to touch him, he just took advantage of him. Zell's stomach fell, he wanted to die.
"....That means you don't plan on just screwing with me and leaving, right?" Zell looked up at Squall, who had a hopefull look in his normally monotone eyes. "You'll stay?" Zell's breath held in his chest.
"Only if you want me...." He couldn't believe it. Squall was asking him to stay...Squall didn't want him to leave!
"I do..." Squall stood and eyed himself, frowning. "I need a shower." Zell laughed and nodded.
"Yeah man, hey how about while you're in there, I"ll get us somethin ta eat?" Squall nodded his approval and Zell darted out the door.
The water pounded down hard in the shower, steaming and tingling against Squall's skin. He finished washing his silky brown hair and started scrubbing his skin thoroughly. His head still swam with thoughts of Zell, how the blonde had loved him since they were young. How long had he been pushing everyone away? Since he lost Sis, that was it. He was taking a huge chance, finally letting someone get close to him. His shoulders shook as he slowly slid down against the wall of the shower and cried. He didn't know why he was crying, it felt that good to finally love someone....and to know you were loved in return. He couldn't wait until Zell came back with the food, he wanted to hold him in his arms and never let him go.
