FF8 Fic - Wanderlust
Wanderlust
By Darksquall and Race Ulfson
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein belong to SquareEnix and we aren't making any money from this.
Warnings: Eventual Yaoi, teenage boys being teenage boys. This is our epic, guys.
Rating: PG for now. We’ll get it to a mature rating eventuall
Summary: Seventeen, lost and alone, Squall Leonhart is on the run from his father and Esthar - he never expected to run straight into the arms of Seifer Almasy. This chance meeting gives them a chance to bury the hatchet (Seifer/Squall eventual).
Chapter Four.
“To like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship.”
Sallust
March 19th
"Hyne be-damned piece of shit."
I awoke to the sound of Seifer bitching. It was almost like being home at Balamb, waking up to the sound of his almost inane rantings and ramblings. In fact, for a second I wondered what he'd done to knock me out this time.
However, the ground was too hard even for one of Kadowaki's infirmary beds and the air lacked the too clean smell of disinfectant and the irritating scent of the flowers that she kept on her desk week in and week out. I remembered that I wasn't still in Balamb; more to the point, I remembered I was with Seifer out in the Galbadian desert. Another day I'd stayed out of Esthar's clutches and away from the Hyne damned idiot who thought he was my father. Despite the pounding in the back of my skull, I permitted myself a moment of smugness before I sat up to growl at Seifer. "Keep it down."
"Squall," he replied in the calmest manner Seifer could possibly manage. He stood over his bike, one hand clenched in a fist at his side and the other on the handlebars as though he was about to hit it. "Since we'll be walking, you should get up now while it's still cool."
With my head feeling like my brain was attempting to implode, I doubted I'd be able to make it far. "Walking? What, why?"
"Half the oil dripped out overnight. I don't know if I have enough to get us and this piece of shit to the next town."
I looked at him as though he'd just told me Selphie had taken to wearing black and writing bad poetry. We were a good forty miles from anywhere with pretty meagre supplies for a trip like that. My head was killing me and I knew I had no chance of making it anywhere near that far in a week, let alone a day. Unless my brain stopped trying to break out of my skull with a pick axe. "We're miles from anywhere..."
"Yes, Leonhart," he gestured wildly over the desert, empty of life except for the odd cactus - not even rock geezards or cactaurs scuttled about in the red sand. "I can see that the magical city of Brigadoon has faded away once again."
Whatever he was talking about was lost on me. I had no head for those movies and legends he'd poured over when we were kids, but then I didn't have much of a head for anything any more. It didn't bother me, I'd just nod and not smile any time the others started reminiscing and find something else to do. We were too young to mourn what little childhoods we'd had, and there was no way of getting it back. "Don't take it out on me, just because your bike is a pile of junk."
"Sorry, Princess," Seifer shrugged and started angrily digging through one of his packs while I debated throwing a rock at him and stealing the bike. Not very heroic, but heroes aren't supposed to go running away from their reward, are they?
By the time he had found out a tool kit, wrapped in an oilskin that was probably older than Hyne itself, and a can of oil, I was dragging myself to my feet - much to the disappointment of my back. Sleeping in the D-district torture device had been more comfortable than the desert sands for one night, I was sure. "Why haven't you gotten it fixed yet?"
"The Geezards charge too much," Seifer said, gesturing at the wide open nothing of the Galbadian desert. I should have known he'd give me one of his sarcastic responses. How he could think clearly enough to be snide before coffee I had no idea; he obviously wasn't as far gone as I was. For a second, I half expected a geezard with an oil stained shirt and a baseball cap to roll up with a wrench in it's claws. That's when I realised I'd spent too much time around Selphie.
Still, I wasn't in the mood for his bitching, whether the motorcycle deserved it or not. I willed my back to return to one piece and took the tool kit from him before he hurt the poor bike even more. Knowing his talent with mechanical, it would shortly be a mushroom cloud of smoke and a black stain on the sand. I may not have wanted to walk to the next town, but I didn't want to be propelled there by explosion, either. "You've passed through towns."
"It hasn't leaked this much in ages - just a little drip," Seifer eyed me critically. "Maybe it was the extra weight or we ran over something."
"You," I poked him with a socket spanner, "were driving."
He rubbed his shoulder where I'd jabbed him as though he were mortally wounded. I hadn't even poked him hard enough to stain his clothes. "I know! I'm trying to think."
“I don't remember anything," I shrugged. That wasn't entirely surprising.
"Well, it's leaking like an overfull diaper now."
Seifer always came up with the most interesting metaphors. He was still angry, about thirty seconds away from kicking the bike if I knew him, so I pushed him away. "Calm down before you blow something too."
"Easy for you to say," he muttered, wearing one of his little sullen looks, but at least he gave me room to crouch beside the bike. It was the same oil leak I'd seen that first night - I guessed the seal had either blown or it had slipped. I was desperately hoping for the latter as I started loosening the part, and from the way Seifer was hovering over my shoulder, he was as well.
"At least I'm not telling you to relax."
It took him a second to realise what I was referring to, so at least I didn't feel too bad about taking a while to wake up. When it finally clicked, he grinned at me and asked "How can you think of sex at a time like this?"
That insignificant little crush I'd had on him flared into life as soon as he said it. Suddenly it felt like my cheeks were on fire, I was blushing like an idiot. At least without Shiva in my head I wouldn't have anyone making pithy little comments.
Hyne, I missed her.
"Whatever," I muttered, staring intently at the seal. If I could just ignore the crush for a while, it would be okay. I didn't know how long I was going to be acting like a lovesick schoolgirl and blushing over every little thing he said but it couldn't be too long - I'd been through this before and I'd managed to push it aside. This time would be just the same as long as he didn't keep cracking jokes like that.
"I never saw you tinkering with the cars and stuff at Garden... do you know what you're doing?"
While I liked to drive, I hadn't been in the garage at garden in years - I had been assigned a week's detention helping out in there when I was fourteen for fighting with Seifer. He'd gotten KP and I'd been assigned to work in the garage because it was on the other side of the Garden to where Seifer had been stationed. Garden took a while to figure out that distance wouldn't stop us fighting. "No, I'm going to blow us both up."
"Since our other choice is a forty mile hike through the desert," he paused for effect, rubbing his chin in thought. "Go ahead."
"Are you determined to be an audience or make yourself useful and make coffee?"
I heard the slap of his palm hitting his forehead. "Hyne!" Seifer exclaimed, turning on his heels and strutting dramatically back to the fire we'd had the previous night. "I must make coffee! For then we can fight properly."
This is what I get a crush on when I concede to my hormones? Hyne help me, I had impeccable taste.
"Good boy," I said, ignoring him as much as I could. As long as I kept my head down, and he didn't ask too many questions about why I was so red, I'd get through this just fine.
The rubber seal was already starting to fail. The oil had eaten away at it on one side so I turned it and hoped to Hyne it would at least get us to the next town. It was probably a long shot but it would do. While I was getting covered in oil, Seifer made coffee and set the cup down by my side. I took the time to wipe my hands before I picked it up just so I wouldn't have to put up with more grumbling.
It was drinkable.
No... it wasn't just drinkable. It was actually good. Probably the best coffee I'd had in weeks, even if it was made the way he liked it. So maybe my crush was a little warranted. "I think I'm still dreaming."
He crouched down beside me to peer at the bike again, misinterpreting my sarcasm. "Why is that?"
"This is actually drinkable."
"Practice, my man," he clapped me on the shoulder hard enough to knock me forwards and almost have me spill the coffee. It's a testament to my addiction that not a single drop hit the floor. "Practice."
I took another deep drink and sighed. That settled it, until we parted ways, Seifer was making the coffee. So it might not have been as strong as the stuff that I made, but it was warm and wet and did a little to sate the constant nagging pain in the back of my head. Now all I needed was a few painkillers and I might actually be able to pull off human for a few hours. "Arrogance."
"And a pinch of salt."
"Whatever," I shrugged and handed him the mug back. Even if I did want to finish it, I couldn't without at least giving him the opportunity to take a swig. To my disappointment, he did take it and finished the entire thing, but at least he went back to make another mug. "You need new seals, that's why it's leaking. If we fill it up and head for the next town, we might make it, but there's nothing else I can do without those."
"Okay," Seifer offered me another cup of nectar. "You are lighter, will it change the stresses if you drive and I sit in the back?"
"Like I was going to let you torture it more by driving?" I asked about three seconds before I realised that I was going to have him rubbing up against my ass for forty miles. Hyne, Leonhart, what are you getting yourself into? At least it was better than the other way around, he wouldn't notice any 'reactions' on my part with me in front. Sometimes I really hated being seventeen.
"Hey, I don't have to give you good coffee."
I threatened him with a particularly oily spanner. "I'm the only one of us who's vaguely mechanical."
"And I'm the only one who can cook," Seifer grinned, leaning as close to me as he could. It took every bit of strength I had not to draw back from him because I knew that he'd chase me and tease me and Hyne only knew what else. Even if we had been sleeping out in front of the fire all night, he smelt good. Wood smoke and his aftershave - something hot like cinnamon. Travelling with him was beginning to feel like a very bad idea. "Damn, let's get married."
"I'll pass. I have my sights set higher."
"Well, I wanted a rich broad with a chocolate factory myself," he rolled to his feet. Taking the mug back from me, Seifer finished the drink for the second time and rinsed it out with a little water before packing it away. I tried to focus on putting the oil line back into place, but I still managed to get it the wrong way around the first time. Fortunately Seifer didn't notice and if he'd done it himself he would have somehow managed to get it inside out.
"We're back to whatever. Pack up fast, we need to get to town as soon as we can - just pray they have the right parts."
It didn't take long. Fortunately I managed to sneak a couple of aspirin while he was stuffing his gear back into the saddlebags and I swallowed them dry. Human really was plausible by the time the town was in sight, but unfortunately it was pissed off human as the oil pressure gauge had been showing way too high the entire way. Seifer had been clinging to me all the way there too, criticizing my driving through prayer and cursing.
Hyne help him if I ever really opened her up.
"How long as it been leaking?" I asked, turning my head just a little. It made his cheek press against mine just for an instant and I swore to myself that as soon as we found a shower, I was going to commune with Shiva - as the guys at garden had called the ice cold showers that we were treated to if we didn't get to them at just the right time.
"Ever since I got it, but not so much lately. I usually have to put oil in every couple hundred miles."
Personally I thought it was a lousy design, and it had to have been deteriorating for a while but there was only one thing that had changed to make it suddenly give up the ghost. Me. "It must have been the extra weight."
"You don't weigh much more than a week's groceries, Squall."
He had a point. I hadn't been myself since the start of January after all but that wasn't my fault. Even if I had run away from Esthar, I sure as hell felt like I was doing better since I'd left the city than while I'd been stuck with my father and the rest of his entourage. "So how else would you explain it?" I asked, slowing down. The needle on the oil pressure gauge was starting to dip and then head back up, I was afraid something worse was going to happen and I didn't feel up to skidding down the tarmac without my leathers.
Seifer shrugged, looking over my shoulder to see what I was tutting at. I wasn't sure if he could see the gauge or if it was just a matter of him not understanding it like I did. Either way, I was relieved that he didn't panic or comment, and that he wasn't driving. "I'm just saying, it was going to bust sooner or later anyway."
"Probably, but it might have sped it up."
"At least you know what's wrong," he said, patting my leg. "Last time I let a yokel poke at it, he told me I needed a sixty-k gil new bike."
The ability of mechanics to spot a target was something that never ceased to amaze me. If I ever went back to garden I'd make it a policy to send all forward scouts to the SeeD garage for a year of training to take advantage of the fact. "You don't need a new bike," I told him, even though later I was sure to be of the opinion it probably would have been better to put the old machine he called his out of it's misery like a lame chocobo. "You need a couple of five gil seals and an oil change."
"I like your solution a lot better."
There was something in his voice that sent a chill down my spine. My first thought was not a good one. "Not that kind of oil change!" I exclaimed, and Seifer started laughing so hard I was afraid he'd fall off the bike. I'd heard Irvine call oral sex an oil change, but I really hadn't meant it that way. Hyne, I'd not even been around him three full days and everything was coming back to sex. "Oh Hyne, forget it."
"I was being sincere, you know. I was only thinking of the standard kind of lube and oil," Seifer offered. If he hadn't still been laughing, he might have actually convinced me.
As I pulled into the town, I spotted the garage. It had only taken me forty miles and almost an hour to notice that it was starting to get warm and that I was still wearing Seifer's huge sweater. Obviously I hadn't had enough coffee and I felt like an idiot for not realising earlier so when I pulled over, I fought my way out of the shapeless thing. "Why didn't you tell me I was still wearing your sweater?"
"I figured you were cold," he took it from me and stuffed it in a saddlebag while I pulled my jacket back on.
"I'm used to being cold."
When I turned off the engine, he climbed off the bike first, stretching with his arms over his head. "Why get used to being uncomfortable?"
Of course he didn't know what it was like to junction Shiva. Why I had been able to walk through the Galbadian desert unfazed while wearing full leathers. Why I had been able to walk through the wastes of the Trabian tundra. In decades, I'd been the only one Shiva had accepted and the only one she'd permitted to actually summon her regularly, so I was the only one who knew what she felt like when she wanted to be with you. It hurt to think of her; I hoped Xu hadn't done anything to hurt her, even if any action against the Guardian Forces paled into insignificance just through the sheer length of their life. I hated to think of her being hurt because of her connection to me. "Shiva."
He looked confused, scratching his head. "I thought you didn't feel the cold?"
"Don't feel warm either. Let's go see if they have the seal."
Then, Seifer did it. I was not superstitious by a long shot but he said the words that always seemed to curse the events that followed no matter how innocently they had been uttered or how good things had been before hand. "Sure, how bad can it be?"
"Now you're asking for it."
"The story of my life," he grinned at me. "At least there's a grocery, so we can get supplies."
By Darksquall and Race Ulfson
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein belong to SquareEnix and we aren't making any money from this.
Warnings: Eventual Yaoi, teenage boys being teenage boys. This is our epic, guys.
Rating: PG for now. We’ll get it to a mature rating eventuall
Summary: Seventeen, lost and alone, Squall Leonhart is on the run from his father and Esthar - he never expected to run straight into the arms of Seifer Almasy. This chance meeting gives them a chance to bury the hatchet (Seifer/Squall eventual).
Chapter Four.
“To like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship.”
Sallust
March 19th
"Hyne be-damned piece of shit."
I awoke to the sound of Seifer bitching. It was almost like being home at Balamb, waking up to the sound of his almost inane rantings and ramblings. In fact, for a second I wondered what he'd done to knock me out this time.
However, the ground was too hard even for one of Kadowaki's infirmary beds and the air lacked the too clean smell of disinfectant and the irritating scent of the flowers that she kept on her desk week in and week out. I remembered that I wasn't still in Balamb; more to the point, I remembered I was with Seifer out in the Galbadian desert. Another day I'd stayed out of Esthar's clutches and away from the Hyne damned idiot who thought he was my father. Despite the pounding in the back of my skull, I permitted myself a moment of smugness before I sat up to growl at Seifer. "Keep it down."
"Squall," he replied in the calmest manner Seifer could possibly manage. He stood over his bike, one hand clenched in a fist at his side and the other on the handlebars as though he was about to hit it. "Since we'll be walking, you should get up now while it's still cool."
With my head feeling like my brain was attempting to implode, I doubted I'd be able to make it far. "Walking? What, why?"
"Half the oil dripped out overnight. I don't know if I have enough to get us and this piece of shit to the next town."
I looked at him as though he'd just told me Selphie had taken to wearing black and writing bad poetry. We were a good forty miles from anywhere with pretty meagre supplies for a trip like that. My head was killing me and I knew I had no chance of making it anywhere near that far in a week, let alone a day. Unless my brain stopped trying to break out of my skull with a pick axe. "We're miles from anywhere..."
"Yes, Leonhart," he gestured wildly over the desert, empty of life except for the odd cactus - not even rock geezards or cactaurs scuttled about in the red sand. "I can see that the magical city of Brigadoon has faded away once again."
Whatever he was talking about was lost on me. I had no head for those movies and legends he'd poured over when we were kids, but then I didn't have much of a head for anything any more. It didn't bother me, I'd just nod and not smile any time the others started reminiscing and find something else to do. We were too young to mourn what little childhoods we'd had, and there was no way of getting it back. "Don't take it out on me, just because your bike is a pile of junk."
"Sorry, Princess," Seifer shrugged and started angrily digging through one of his packs while I debated throwing a rock at him and stealing the bike. Not very heroic, but heroes aren't supposed to go running away from their reward, are they?
By the time he had found out a tool kit, wrapped in an oilskin that was probably older than Hyne itself, and a can of oil, I was dragging myself to my feet - much to the disappointment of my back. Sleeping in the D-district torture device had been more comfortable than the desert sands for one night, I was sure. "Why haven't you gotten it fixed yet?"
"The Geezards charge too much," Seifer said, gesturing at the wide open nothing of the Galbadian desert. I should have known he'd give me one of his sarcastic responses. How he could think clearly enough to be snide before coffee I had no idea; he obviously wasn't as far gone as I was. For a second, I half expected a geezard with an oil stained shirt and a baseball cap to roll up with a wrench in it's claws. That's when I realised I'd spent too much time around Selphie.
Still, I wasn't in the mood for his bitching, whether the motorcycle deserved it or not. I willed my back to return to one piece and took the tool kit from him before he hurt the poor bike even more. Knowing his talent with mechanical, it would shortly be a mushroom cloud of smoke and a black stain on the sand. I may not have wanted to walk to the next town, but I didn't want to be propelled there by explosion, either. "You've passed through towns."
"It hasn't leaked this much in ages - just a little drip," Seifer eyed me critically. "Maybe it was the extra weight or we ran over something."
"You," I poked him with a socket spanner, "were driving."
He rubbed his shoulder where I'd jabbed him as though he were mortally wounded. I hadn't even poked him hard enough to stain his clothes. "I know! I'm trying to think."
“I don't remember anything," I shrugged. That wasn't entirely surprising.
"Well, it's leaking like an overfull diaper now."
Seifer always came up with the most interesting metaphors. He was still angry, about thirty seconds away from kicking the bike if I knew him, so I pushed him away. "Calm down before you blow something too."
"Easy for you to say," he muttered, wearing one of his little sullen looks, but at least he gave me room to crouch beside the bike. It was the same oil leak I'd seen that first night - I guessed the seal had either blown or it had slipped. I was desperately hoping for the latter as I started loosening the part, and from the way Seifer was hovering over my shoulder, he was as well.
"At least I'm not telling you to relax."
It took him a second to realise what I was referring to, so at least I didn't feel too bad about taking a while to wake up. When it finally clicked, he grinned at me and asked "How can you think of sex at a time like this?"
That insignificant little crush I'd had on him flared into life as soon as he said it. Suddenly it felt like my cheeks were on fire, I was blushing like an idiot. At least without Shiva in my head I wouldn't have anyone making pithy little comments.
Hyne, I missed her.
"Whatever," I muttered, staring intently at the seal. If I could just ignore the crush for a while, it would be okay. I didn't know how long I was going to be acting like a lovesick schoolgirl and blushing over every little thing he said but it couldn't be too long - I'd been through this before and I'd managed to push it aside. This time would be just the same as long as he didn't keep cracking jokes like that.
"I never saw you tinkering with the cars and stuff at Garden... do you know what you're doing?"
While I liked to drive, I hadn't been in the garage at garden in years - I had been assigned a week's detention helping out in there when I was fourteen for fighting with Seifer. He'd gotten KP and I'd been assigned to work in the garage because it was on the other side of the Garden to where Seifer had been stationed. Garden took a while to figure out that distance wouldn't stop us fighting. "No, I'm going to blow us both up."
"Since our other choice is a forty mile hike through the desert," he paused for effect, rubbing his chin in thought. "Go ahead."
"Are you determined to be an audience or make yourself useful and make coffee?"
I heard the slap of his palm hitting his forehead. "Hyne!" Seifer exclaimed, turning on his heels and strutting dramatically back to the fire we'd had the previous night. "I must make coffee! For then we can fight properly."
This is what I get a crush on when I concede to my hormones? Hyne help me, I had impeccable taste.
"Good boy," I said, ignoring him as much as I could. As long as I kept my head down, and he didn't ask too many questions about why I was so red, I'd get through this just fine.
The rubber seal was already starting to fail. The oil had eaten away at it on one side so I turned it and hoped to Hyne it would at least get us to the next town. It was probably a long shot but it would do. While I was getting covered in oil, Seifer made coffee and set the cup down by my side. I took the time to wipe my hands before I picked it up just so I wouldn't have to put up with more grumbling.
It was drinkable.
No... it wasn't just drinkable. It was actually good. Probably the best coffee I'd had in weeks, even if it was made the way he liked it. So maybe my crush was a little warranted. "I think I'm still dreaming."
He crouched down beside me to peer at the bike again, misinterpreting my sarcasm. "Why is that?"
"This is actually drinkable."
"Practice, my man," he clapped me on the shoulder hard enough to knock me forwards and almost have me spill the coffee. It's a testament to my addiction that not a single drop hit the floor. "Practice."
I took another deep drink and sighed. That settled it, until we parted ways, Seifer was making the coffee. So it might not have been as strong as the stuff that I made, but it was warm and wet and did a little to sate the constant nagging pain in the back of my head. Now all I needed was a few painkillers and I might actually be able to pull off human for a few hours. "Arrogance."
"And a pinch of salt."
"Whatever," I shrugged and handed him the mug back. Even if I did want to finish it, I couldn't without at least giving him the opportunity to take a swig. To my disappointment, he did take it and finished the entire thing, but at least he went back to make another mug. "You need new seals, that's why it's leaking. If we fill it up and head for the next town, we might make it, but there's nothing else I can do without those."
"Okay," Seifer offered me another cup of nectar. "You are lighter, will it change the stresses if you drive and I sit in the back?"
"Like I was going to let you torture it more by driving?" I asked about three seconds before I realised that I was going to have him rubbing up against my ass for forty miles. Hyne, Leonhart, what are you getting yourself into? At least it was better than the other way around, he wouldn't notice any 'reactions' on my part with me in front. Sometimes I really hated being seventeen.
"Hey, I don't have to give you good coffee."
I threatened him with a particularly oily spanner. "I'm the only one of us who's vaguely mechanical."
"And I'm the only one who can cook," Seifer grinned, leaning as close to me as he could. It took every bit of strength I had not to draw back from him because I knew that he'd chase me and tease me and Hyne only knew what else. Even if we had been sleeping out in front of the fire all night, he smelt good. Wood smoke and his aftershave - something hot like cinnamon. Travelling with him was beginning to feel like a very bad idea. "Damn, let's get married."
"I'll pass. I have my sights set higher."
"Well, I wanted a rich broad with a chocolate factory myself," he rolled to his feet. Taking the mug back from me, Seifer finished the drink for the second time and rinsed it out with a little water before packing it away. I tried to focus on putting the oil line back into place, but I still managed to get it the wrong way around the first time. Fortunately Seifer didn't notice and if he'd done it himself he would have somehow managed to get it inside out.
"We're back to whatever. Pack up fast, we need to get to town as soon as we can - just pray they have the right parts."
It didn't take long. Fortunately I managed to sneak a couple of aspirin while he was stuffing his gear back into the saddlebags and I swallowed them dry. Human really was plausible by the time the town was in sight, but unfortunately it was pissed off human as the oil pressure gauge had been showing way too high the entire way. Seifer had been clinging to me all the way there too, criticizing my driving through prayer and cursing.
Hyne help him if I ever really opened her up.
"How long as it been leaking?" I asked, turning my head just a little. It made his cheek press against mine just for an instant and I swore to myself that as soon as we found a shower, I was going to commune with Shiva - as the guys at garden had called the ice cold showers that we were treated to if we didn't get to them at just the right time.
"Ever since I got it, but not so much lately. I usually have to put oil in every couple hundred miles."
Personally I thought it was a lousy design, and it had to have been deteriorating for a while but there was only one thing that had changed to make it suddenly give up the ghost. Me. "It must have been the extra weight."
"You don't weigh much more than a week's groceries, Squall."
He had a point. I hadn't been myself since the start of January after all but that wasn't my fault. Even if I had run away from Esthar, I sure as hell felt like I was doing better since I'd left the city than while I'd been stuck with my father and the rest of his entourage. "So how else would you explain it?" I asked, slowing down. The needle on the oil pressure gauge was starting to dip and then head back up, I was afraid something worse was going to happen and I didn't feel up to skidding down the tarmac without my leathers.
Seifer shrugged, looking over my shoulder to see what I was tutting at. I wasn't sure if he could see the gauge or if it was just a matter of him not understanding it like I did. Either way, I was relieved that he didn't panic or comment, and that he wasn't driving. "I'm just saying, it was going to bust sooner or later anyway."
"Probably, but it might have sped it up."
"At least you know what's wrong," he said, patting my leg. "Last time I let a yokel poke at it, he told me I needed a sixty-k gil new bike."
The ability of mechanics to spot a target was something that never ceased to amaze me. If I ever went back to garden I'd make it a policy to send all forward scouts to the SeeD garage for a year of training to take advantage of the fact. "You don't need a new bike," I told him, even though later I was sure to be of the opinion it probably would have been better to put the old machine he called his out of it's misery like a lame chocobo. "You need a couple of five gil seals and an oil change."
"I like your solution a lot better."
There was something in his voice that sent a chill down my spine. My first thought was not a good one. "Not that kind of oil change!" I exclaimed, and Seifer started laughing so hard I was afraid he'd fall off the bike. I'd heard Irvine call oral sex an oil change, but I really hadn't meant it that way. Hyne, I'd not even been around him three full days and everything was coming back to sex. "Oh Hyne, forget it."
"I was being sincere, you know. I was only thinking of the standard kind of lube and oil," Seifer offered. If he hadn't still been laughing, he might have actually convinced me.
As I pulled into the town, I spotted the garage. It had only taken me forty miles and almost an hour to notice that it was starting to get warm and that I was still wearing Seifer's huge sweater. Obviously I hadn't had enough coffee and I felt like an idiot for not realising earlier so when I pulled over, I fought my way out of the shapeless thing. "Why didn't you tell me I was still wearing your sweater?"
"I figured you were cold," he took it from me and stuffed it in a saddlebag while I pulled my jacket back on.
"I'm used to being cold."
When I turned off the engine, he climbed off the bike first, stretching with his arms over his head. "Why get used to being uncomfortable?"
Of course he didn't know what it was like to junction Shiva. Why I had been able to walk through the Galbadian desert unfazed while wearing full leathers. Why I had been able to walk through the wastes of the Trabian tundra. In decades, I'd been the only one Shiva had accepted and the only one she'd permitted to actually summon her regularly, so I was the only one who knew what she felt like when she wanted to be with you. It hurt to think of her; I hoped Xu hadn't done anything to hurt her, even if any action against the Guardian Forces paled into insignificance just through the sheer length of their life. I hated to think of her being hurt because of her connection to me. "Shiva."
He looked confused, scratching his head. "I thought you didn't feel the cold?"
"Don't feel warm either. Let's go see if they have the seal."
Then, Seifer did it. I was not superstitious by a long shot but he said the words that always seemed to curse the events that followed no matter how innocently they had been uttered or how good things had been before hand. "Sure, how bad can it be?"
"Now you're asking for it."
"The story of my life," he grinned at me. "At least there's a grocery, so we can get supplies."