Seifer was awake by dawn and pulling on Zell. It was a nice way to be woken up. He looked up to see Seifer's arm reaching far from the bed. "What is it Seifer?" Timmy in the well again?

Seifer's eyes glanced around the room. Zell stood up. "Food? Are you hungry?" Seifer shook his head.

"A book?" Nope. "Water? Do you want the window open? Dammit Seifer! You need to talk again!"

Seifer nodded.

Zell swallowed. Really? "You mean, you're ready to try and talk?"

Seifer nodded again causing Zell to jump up in the air. "Yeah man! We can do that! I'll go have Dr. Kadowaki get those phonetic flash cards!"

He ran out of the room. This was great! The man had been walking yesterday, and today he would speak. They would have their Seifer back! He wouldn't feel so damned guilty all the time.

He called the doctor on the infirmary phone and she told him where he could find the cards. Zell was beginning to feel like he was an assistant there. Once he had the cards in hand though, he was thinking that Irvine should be there.

"Hey Seifer, I'm just going to get Irvine. Is that okay?" Seifer nodded, his hands pointing upwards. He wanted the window open. "Hey, pretty soon you'll be able to ask me to get that for you."

Irvine slept naked. It wasn't that surprising to anyone that knew him. Just like they would have guessed that he was a thong type guy. Sleeping naked meant that it took longer to answer the door. Zell bounced outside his door impatiently. "Dammit Irvine! I've got news!"

"I'm getting dressed! Do you want me to answer the door naked?" he yelled.

"He wants to talk today!"

The door was instantly opened. Irvine, with a thong on, one leg in his pants, stared at Zell. "No way."

"Don't rush it man! You'll get it soon enough. I mean, hell, most people wouldn't have even come out of the coma!"

"Zell!" Irvine looked shocked. You don't just say that to someone. Though, he understood that it had been a long day. For three hours they had been sitting watching Seifer stare at the words trying to form them on his lips. The flash cards had the words broken up into syllables. Seifer couldn't even get out one of the syllables. As time wore on, Seifer's face was turning more and more red. He was frustrated with himself and the situation.

"Hot....dogs..." chanted Zell.

Seifer's faced turned purple and his arms just moved. They didn't do anything much, they were just an expression of Seifer's anger.

"He's not a pet Zell!"

"I never fucking said he was! I'm just telling him that we just need to be patient."

"He knows that!"

"So fucking sue me! Like I know how to deal with this!"

Seifer wasn't moving anymore. He was watching the two combatants.

"YOU don't know how to deal with this? What about Seifer? He's been working his ass off, he doesn't need you to tell him how to do things."

Zell stood up, his chair flying backwards and falling over. "You think that I've been playing or something?"

This had become a bad situation fast. Normally Irvine was the voice of reason, but he had just spent an awfully lonely night with large hopes and was seeing them be put on hold. All he wanted was a friend to hold him and instead he had the guilt of nearly destroying a decent man. Irvine had allowed Seifer to be an idiot, when he had known that the consequences could be dangerous. Every day of his life he regretted not stopping Seifer.

Irvine stood up too, but slowly. He then walked out.

Seifer wasn't speaking to him. Well, he wasn't speaking to anyone. But Zell got the impression that Seifer was specifically not speaking to him.

No matter. Zell fully intended on sleeping in the infirmary chair anyway. He had earned his badge of martyrdom. He was going to stay in the chair and guard his territory.

He just sat back and watched Seifer fall asleep. What if Seifer couldn't speak at all? What if day after day they tried and it was just all in vain? Zell couldn't help feeling pessimistic. He hated the fight he had had with Irvine. For weeks, they had been inseparable partners. It felt uncomfortable to be arguing.

It was bothering him more than he would ever have imagined it would. His skin felt to tight. He wanted to go fight something, to think about something other than Irvine's icy glare.

Irvine wasn't going to be able to sleep. He didn't know why he was kidding himself. After discussing more plans for a mission coming up with the Headmaster and fighting an exorbitant amount of petty monsters, he still was wound up. Why had he been so harsh to Zell? He was just trying to help Seifer. Hell, that was the goal of both of them.

In the infirmary, Zell still wasn't asleep. He looked up when Irvine came in. The moment was suddenly awkward.

Irvine, wearing jeans for a change, squatted in front of Zell's chair. His whispered words were so heartfelt. "I'm so sorry Zell."

Zell smiled. "Hey, that's okay..."

"You and I both have feelings about Seifer and I think I was just angry about that." The night went completely still. Irvine wasn't the type to keep secrets. His life was pretty much an open book and he was sick of having this competition between them. If Seifer wanted Zell, he could have him. Irvine didn't want to lose the friendship that he and Zell had developed. It was too cozy. "It's stupid to fight over him. You are my best friend."

Zell's eyes looked blue even in the darkness. Of course, they were wide open which made them easier to see. "You're mine too. I don't... You're right. We should just let him choose and stop worrying."

Irvine smiled happily at his friend. "Cool."

"I........d..d...d...on't...w....w...ant...eith...er...of...you..." came a metallic voice from the infirmary bed.

Both men whipped their heads around to the bed. Seifer's mouth was still open as were is his eyes. The joy that filled the room then was unmatched by any scene in a hallmark movie. Zell would never confess to the tear that slid down his cheek. Seifer was really going to be okay. There was a happy ending ahead.