Disclaimer: I am not making any money from the characters and places contained herein and I do not make any claim to them.

Dedicated to Race and Rain, and Laughingwolfgirl For their anniversary and her birthday, both belatedly.

Just some silly stuff that Race gave me the idea for.

With thanks to Race Ulfson and Astraea Trepe.

~Seifer~

It wasn't until the figure was already past me and walking along the Estharian street towards the presidential palace that I realised who it was. I swear it was the lack of extra belts that threw me.

"Squall?"

He looked back over his shoulder, still a pale beauty of a man, storm blue eyes a smudge of colour in an otherwise alabaster face. He looked surprised to see me, which surprised me in turn. I'd been able to read a lot of his emotions but I'd never seen him react so openly, with so much clarity in his expressions.

"Seifer..."

I turned to face him fully, in a sweep of black leather. I almost smiled as his hand moved closer to his gunblade junction, the azure glow of the blade's power flickering into being at his hip as the weapon sensed his readiness.

Holding up my hands in surrender, I gave him the old Almasy smirk. The one that I knew had always pissed him off. "I'm unarmed, Leonhart."

That wasn't strictly true, I was junctioned, I had a fair amount of magic stocked but Leonhart had more to fear from my blade than my spells. He knew if I were to kill him, it would be with Hyperion, not some pithy little magic spell. Even if they did make awfully good distractions.

He lowered his hand slowly, and turned to face me, one hand on his cocked hip, his face slipping into the 'whatever' mode. "Where've you been?"

"Oh, here and there, you know." I took a moment to admire him. He was, for perhaps the first time in living memory, wearing a pair of bleached blue jeans and I'm damned if they didn't fit him as well as his leathers used to. The knees were faded almost to the point of being threadbare, and he had a pair of black sneakers on. Coupled with the white tee-shirt and leather jacket he looked so... so... normal. So what was it about him in normal clothes that made everyone, regardless of age or beauty, pale in comparison just as well as the leather and furs had? "Going to arrest me Leonhart?"

"Why did you go with her?"

Sometimes how cool and collected he could be amazed even me. Despite the fact I'd tortured him, tried to kill both his friends and him half a dozen times at least, he was still willing to listen to my reason. Though I half wondered if that was just because he and I were former lovers, as well as former rivals. I'm sure the chicken wuss would've offed me first and asked questions later. Even I didn't believe myself sometimes, so how he would, I had no idea. "I didn't have a choice."

He tipped his head, his bangs tumbling into his eyes. His eyes narrowed, just a little, as he judged me.

Squall may not have been the type to be able to read emotions easily, but I'd never been able to lie to him. Eventually he put me out of my misery and shrugged. "Then there's no need to arrest you."

"Easy as that?"

"If you were lying..." He shrugged gently, the faintest of smiles flirting with his lips. "You wouldn't be unarmed."

True. Hyperion would have been at my side and not settled under the bed back at my hotel room.

We faced off, the Hero and the Villain, perfect opposites. We always made a good pair. Even the passing Estharians, who had to be the least observant people in the entire world – and I should know, I've been everywhere- couldn't help giving us a few curious looks. Maybe it was our fashion sense, Hyne knows Estherian's haven't any.

"What are you doing here in Esthar? Shouldn't you be propping up a desk in Balamb, Commander?"

"Vacation. Kadowaki's orders." He scowled, and as always looked adorable when he did that. Yes. Adorable. I am allowed to think of him in that way, I'd seen him naked and writhing in ecstasy impaled on my cock, I'd seen him whimper in pleasure as he gets himself off while I watch, I'd seen him pout better than any runway model when I've been too tired to fuck him. So I think I can say when he looks adorable.

He should really thank me for giving him that scar. You think he'd have gotten to where he is without it? Who'd take orders from a guy who looked like a girl – though I say he's prettier - and dressed like a leather fetishist's wet dream? "Poor boy, stuck shopping with Rinny poo for the duration?" I tutted, arrogance curling my lips in a familiar expression. "Still using my cast off's Leonhart? This obsession you have with me is bordering on unhealthy."

"Unlike your ego I suppose." He countered my expression with a little smirk all of his own. So he could learn. Interesting. "Rinoa and I didn't last very long."

I bit my tongue against the question of 'why'. He wouldn't answer, and I half suspected that Rinoa had been a last ditch effort to convince himself that there might have been the smallest possibility he was straight.

As if.

He looked around, and frowned. He really was surprising me, smiling, smirking... I'd always been able to read some of his reactions in his eyes but this... this was so different. Maybe Rinoa had been a good influence on him.

Poor guy.

Crowds don't make him nervous. And if you ever suggested the fact he'd more than likely scowl at you, make the temperature drop five degrees and stalk off with a 'whatever'. He just hated most people.

"If you want to keep talking, can we move?"

"Offering to talk? You really have changed."

"Whatever, Almasy." He didn't mind being teased as much as he made out, though whether that was because it was me doing the teasing, I wasn't quite sure.

"You have somewhere in mind, Leonhart?"

He simply turned on his heels, and headed off, threading his way between the crowds. I had to jog a little to catch him up, walking only a heartbeat behind him so he could lead me to wherever he had in mind. It felt rather surreal to be walking along a street in the world's most advanced city with a guy I'd been trying to kill only six months before. He was in internal monologue mode, and I half wondered if he was thinking the same as I was.

As it turned out, he led me to one of those Hyne damned awful intercity transports. If you ever think of insulting the Deling bus service again, try one of those Estharian floating chair things. They're more evil than a whole pack of sorceresses; I swear Adel invented them as a torture method for former knights who happened to find themselves in the city. I'd been on five, and two had broken down on me.

Squall sat, leaning forward, elbows on his knees as usual. I very nearly protested that I had a perfectly good pair of legs but he'd only do what he always did when he thought I was scared. Raise an eyebrow and look smug, one corner of his lips curling up in a ghost of a smile. Instead, I lounged in the seat right beside him, slipping into starfish mode. Spread out and cover as much ground, and more importantly as much of Leonhart's personal space, as possible.

The seating wobbled up and headed off to destinations unknown.

For all of three minutes.

With a cough, and a wheeze like an asthmatic ruby dragon, the lift floated down to the base of the transport route and died.

Make that three times these things had stranded me.

Squall cursed softly and looked up at me. "Looks like we're stuck for a while."

"Looks like."

He regarded me silently, and frowned. "Why didn't you contact us?"

I had an almost all consuming urge to touch his face, brush the bangs that hid his eyes from me and cup his cheek. The pale skin always made me want to do that though, Squall was the closest thing I had to an addiction. "I didn't think you'd want me to." There was no reason to lie to him. He'd know, and I'd hate myself later.

There's the Leonhart glare. Okay, he was only doing that to make me want to jump him, I swear.

"You should know better." He turned his head away again and silence reigned supreme for a few minutes. If he kept quiet, there was a chance I'd be able to get through this without fucking him. I did not need to have his moans haunting me for the next six months.

Yes, I'm still head over heels for him. I still think about him. Fuck off.

I watched as Squall's hands wrung slowly.

It was the enclosed space, I realised. The nervous action that made his fingers tangle with one another and squeeze before changing their position and repeating it all over again was because he felt trapped. The prison must have gotten to him more than I'd guessed.

Just as I was about to slide an arm around him, despite my better judgement, the lift floated up again. He sat back in relief and glanced at me as it sped us onward.

We must have covered all of twenty feet when it dropped like a stone and hit the base of the shaft with a jarring shudder that tossed Squall against me like a rag doll. When the creaking had stopped and I was sure that neither of us was about to die or scream, I dared to open my eyes and swore to myself I was never setting foot on one of these pieces of crap even if I did get a Leonhart in the lap as a reward for my bravery.

Squall looked up at me, hair mussed, from where he was stretched out over my lap. I realised a little belatedly that I was half hard and probably poking him in the chest, though I wasn't sure if it was that that made him scowl.

He sat up slowly, pausing when he was barely an inch away from my face and glaring at me. He really has the most beautiful eyes. "Problem, Almasy?"

Yes, you're a wet dream waiting to happen and I want to fuck you here. "What..." the word was cut off abruptly as he kissed me. Yes, Leonhart. Ice princess. Leon-heartless. Whatever you want to call him up and kissed me and I didn't even respond. When he stopped, I finished the word. "Ever."

Rolling his eyes, Squall slid a hand over the press of my erection against my pants. The kiss had made me harder. Whatever had happened to the quiet little iceberg? The old Squall would never have dared to kiss me first. Well... he probably would've but I was always there first.

At least he wasn't wringing his hands like a little old lady any more.

This time, I kissed him. If we were going to play this game again, it was going to be on my terms, no matter how badly he needed the distraction. I cupped his cheek and licked his lips, almost smirking as he parted them and allowed my tongue to fill his mouth exactly like I always had. His fingers found my fly and unfastened it, and I let him.

Maybe six months of imagining him moaning wouldn't be so bad.

When I released him from the kiss, he looked at me expectantly. Always the good little soldier, he waiting for orders.

"What are you waiting for?"

His eyes flickered from mine down to the swollen length of my erection cradled in his hand and back again. He was trying to fathom out what I wanted but I honestly didn't care. Either a hand job or a blow job was going to keep me in masturbation fantasies for a month.

Leather clad fingers rubbed along the underside of my cock as Squall's mouth covered my own, his tongue dancing over my lips. He'd learnt well, and our time apart had only served to increase his eagerness. He felt like silk against me, all heat and tender pressure and Hyne dammit I wanted to feel it forever.

This was not supposed to happen. I'd tortured him, he was supposed to hate me, not... oh Hyne he was wrapping his lips around my cock and sucking. In the few moments that I'd turned my attention inward he'd shifted so he could lay with his head in my lap, his mouth tending to my hard sex.

I fisted a hand in his hair and rocked my hips up, thrusting shallowly into his waiting mouth. His tongue was like fire as he lapped at me, letting me fuck his mouth slowly.

Squall and I are just... physical. There's nothing more to it, no deep meaning, no great secret. We love to love and hate each other. Whenever we're together, we either kick the crap out of each other or fuck one another into comas. There's a lot more going on under his skin than he'll let me know about, and the same with me. But he's a good fuck and we were less likely to kill each other in bed.

I tangled my fingers in his hair and leant back, letting him move now. I was going to hurt him if I kept going and he'd make me stop before I came if I did that. He took it all in, rocking his head as he sucked and swallowed, his fingers teasing my balls.

I could feel my orgasm approaching rapidly and I tugged on the soft brown locks gently to warn him. He pulled back, stroking my cock as he sucked on just the head sharply.

"Fuck, yes... Squall..." I kept a hand on the back of his head as I arched up, spilling into his mouth. I wanted him to swallow it all, my own meagre claim to him indelibly etched into his flesh and blood.

Though I hardly needed to make him, he'd always swallowed.

The cranky bitch side of me wondered if Rinoa had ever realised her boyfriend had loved to suck her ex's cock.

I let him up when I was done, and he sat up slowly, watching me. I sure as hell didn't have a clue what to say so I kissed him again, gently. Yeah, I got off on the fact he tasted of my come, you would too. I let him tuck me back into my pants silently, and slid an arm around him to make him stay close. Not that he had much choice, we were still trapped somewhere over Esthar and were at the mercy of the Estharian technicians for at least a while longer.

"I thought you were dead." He spoke so quietly I barely heard him.

"It was easier that way."

"For you, maybe." He glared at me, folding his arms over his chest like a teacher scolding a naughty school boy. "Bastard."

"Aww... Did you miss me, Pee Bee?"

Squall just gave me The Look. I think he'd had it patented before he was fifteen, no one could do it quite like him. I wasn't sure if I got it because I'd hit the nail on the head or I'd dared to accuse him of maybe even having a human emotion. He muttered his catchphrase of "whatever" and turned his head away from me.

The chair shuddered up again and I held him even tighter, swearing to myself I was never ever going to take one of these stupid transports again. "Keep your fingers crossed."

He simply turned his head and nuzzled against my shoulder. Now that was the last thing I expected.

This time, the transporter deposited us reasonably safely a short walk away from the presidential palace. I let him go reluctantly – I love the little bitch, so sue me, I already admitted that didn't I? If not, I meant to – and stood up. "So, are we done talking?"

Squall placed an insistent hand on the sleeve of my trench coat and led me toward the palace. "Not quite." He motioned to the guards on the door that everything was fine.

I shoulda guessed a guy like him would be staying in there. Only the best for a world hero.

They didn't even blink at me as he led me inside, no curious looks, no scowls, no glares. Either they were the most apathetic guards in the entire world or they didn't know who I was. I half hoped it was the first; I'd at least like to think I was known. What's the point in helping to almost cause the destruction of all time when you can't even get a couple of dirty looks for it?

Squall didn't say a single word to me until we reached a door, where he paused and looked back at me. From the look in his eyes I thought he was going to confess something, instead he just opened it and pulled me inside.

It was a nice bedroom, that was about as much as I could ascertain before Leonhart grabbed me and hauled me into a deep kiss.

Sometimes he really surprises me.

I was expecting all the usual rigmarole of him denying what he really wanted even though he was dying for a good fuck. I guess he'd really missed it while we'd been apart because he'd never been this eager while we'd been fucking at garden.

"Frustrated, Leonhart?" I let him push my coat off my shoulders and kiss down my throat. He's cute when he's trying to be the one in charge, even if he's never going to be able to pull it off.

He looked up at me, all moody and hungry, his eyes dark as a storm waiting to break. I expected him to say his usual mantra but he surprised me again, instead replying "I want you."

Letting my fingers linger over the task, I unfastened his belt , and his jeans, sliding my hands underneath the denim to explore the smooth skin of his ass. He felt so fucking amazing I couldn't stand it, I wanted him against me, his skin on mine.

"Take your shirt off Squall."

He did as I commanded. I half wondered just how much he'd do, how far I could go. Suck my cock Leonhart, finger fuck yourself Leonhart, ride me Leonhart.

If I didn't stop, I was going to fuck him against the door and have done with it.

I pulled the belt free of his jeans and pushed them down far enough for them to make the rest of the journey under their own weight. He was achingly hard against me by the time I was through, the leaking head of his cock brushing against my thigh. Fuck I missed that.

He leant his forehead against my chest, making a breathless noise of lust as I brushed my fingers along the shaft, seeking out and teasing all those old familiar spots that I knew made his breath hitch and his body ache for more. He was so easy to please like this, maybe he was just a sucker for the attention, I don't know for sure but I know I could make him scream with pleasure with just a little patience.

Thank Hyne he'd given me the blowjob on the transporter or I wouldn't have been able to do this half as well.

I finally let him get me out of my pants and kicked them away, nudging him towards the huge bed. Who needs a bed that big? It was like one of those horribly tacky magazines that told the world how their bedroom should be, decorated in dark silver and blue silks and someone tell me why people will need three dozen pillows and those sausage shaped ones? Well... other than Dincht, he'd love those.

Hell, he'd probably try to eat those too.

I pushed Squall onto the bed. "Get on your knees Leonhart."

His eyes flickered to the belt still in my hands briefly and put his hands on the head board, up on his knees with his legs spread just a little. Good boy. Even though I loved how he was waiting for me, I folded the belt and gave him one lick with the looped end across his presented ass. For a soldier he marks so easily. In the course of our fucking, I'd given him enough marks to make the instructors suspicious.

Hey, it wasn't my fault he bruised easy and loved to be fucked hard. The two don't go well together, but when Squall Leonhart begs you to 'do it harder!' you're not going to say no, no matter who you are.

"You trust me Squall?" I asked, not giving him a chance to reply before I lashed his wrists together with one end of the belt and tied the other end to the head board.

"Always did." He gave me a small smile that I couldn't resist kissing. If he kept looking at me like that I was gonna have to stick around longer than I'd planned. Squall was dangerous. A threat. A down right fuckable threat, but a threat nonetheless.

"Good." I hauled my shirt off over my head and tied it over his eyes. He'd be able to smell me that way, hear me as I fucked him, and be completely surrounded by just me. I'm a handsome devil, I know it, but I'm thoroughly a devil. I debated a gag briefly but I wanted to hear my name on his pretty lips, hear him begging for more, hear him moaning in pleasure.

I found a tube of strawberry flavoured lubricant in the table on the right hand side of the bed. I knew it'd be there, Squall is nothing if not a creature of habit.

Now I had everything I wanted, I crawled onto the bed behind him. He looked so good there stretched out and waiting for me patiently. The patience wouldn't last long, I knew that from experience.

I slid my hands over his ass, admiring the welt the belt had bought up on his pale skin. It'd only last for a few hours before it faded again, I'd not hit him hard enough to bruise. "Did you miss me Squall?" I asked, sliding my tongue out to lap at the tight knot of muscle at his opening, smiling as I heard his breath hitch and he shifted to make it easier for me.

"Yes." He admitted quietly.

I arched an eyebrow at him, though he couldn't see, and slid my hand between his legs to tease his balls. I knew he probably meant just the fucking, the fighting, but... I allowed myself to think that maybe he missed a little more than that too. Can't blame a guy for trying.

The gasp as I pushed my tongue into him the first time was enough to make my cock ache to be inside him already. For an ice princess, he melted fast. I thrust my tongue into him slowly, measuring the hitches of his breath, his body trembling a little every time I pushed into him. He whispered my name huskily, letting his head drop forward, his back shaking as he tried not to move back to get more.

Pulling away from him, I kissed up along his spine to the back of his neck. "You still moan like a whore Pee Bee."

"Fuck you."

"No, I'm going to be the one fucking you actually." I slid two slick fingers into him slowly, moving so I could watch his face. He ground back onto them eagerly, biting his lip, and I half wondered if he'd fucked anyone while I'd been away. It wasn't my business and I'd only be jealous if he had, so I dismissed the thought to savour the vision of Squall's mouth falling open in bliss as I brushed over his prostate.

Squall Leonhart is made to be fucked. For all the leather and ice and belts and bitchy silent attitude, he reacts better than anyone I've ever seen.

"Oh fuck, Almasy..." He writhed, all slender beauty and whimpering pleasure. Fuck he was beautiful.

"Feel good?"

He nodded, rolling his hips as I thrust the fingers into him, deep and hard, the way he always loved. "Fuck yes."

"You want more?" I scissored the fingers, stretching him, turning my head so I could see the tight body swallowing up my fingers greedily. Even if he said no I was going to have to fuck him. After so long without him, I wanted him so badly I couldn't stand it. I'd over estimated my patience.

"Fuck me." He pleaded quietly, turning his head towards my voice.

As the villain, I probably should have left right there but... well fuck that.

I spread his legs a little wider, moving up so I was leaning right over him, the head of my cock brushing against him as I nuzzled the back of his neck. Oh I'd fucked him in every position I could think of, used toys to drive him wild, but this was always going to be my second favourite position, because I loved to have him vulnerable like this. Waiting, longing, lusting...

My favourite was facing him of course. So I could see every little feeling and watch the mask crack. He really was fucking beautiful.

"Please." He whispered. "Please..."

I pushed into him slowly, wanting to savour this since it was going to be the last time. I'd never see him again. I was determined of that. He was just as tight and good as I remembered, and it was all I could do not to break down and fuck him hard and fast right there.

He felt fucking amazing. And the way he moaned my name, writhing against my body and tugging at the belt that bound his wrists just served to make me all the hotter, all the more eager to pound into him.

"Missed that?" I ground out huskily, stroking his thighs slowly as I nuzzled against his soft hair. A lesser man might have wept at it, the sensation, and the feelings that overwhelmed me. But I'm Seifer Almasy, I don't weep. I make other people weep.

He nodded, rocking back onto me as much as he could, held back by his bound hands. I smiled into his coffee coloured hair and bent my head to bite at his earlobe roughly.

"Tell me how you want it."

Tossing his head, grinding his ass against me, Squall whimpered. His voice was so low, so rough and husky I could barely stand it. "Fuck me, please. Hard. I need it."

I braced my hands on his hips and pulled almost all the way out of him before I thrust into him again, deep and hard, slamming my hips against his. He arched his back and almost screamed my name as I filled him up fast, the way he wanted. The way his body moulded around me, squeezing me as my cock melted into his body, made me dig my nails into his thighs. Another mark for him to remember me by later, when the bed was cold and I was long gone.

Every time I bucked into him, as deep and hard as I dared, he gasped in pleasure, writhing for more. He'd be the death of me if I didn't leave.

It was gonna be hard.

I didn't touch his cock, instead angling my thrusts to rub against his prostate. He was going to come without me touching him, I was determined on that. And I didn't have to wait long; he writhed against me violently, the belt clattering against the metal bed stead as he yanked it.

He almost screamed my name as he came, his body so tight around me I couldn't stand it a moment longer and I came too.

Now he was marked both ways. Mine forever no matter how many guys or girls he fucked because I was first and because he'd begged for it. Even after I'd hurt him, tortured him, scarred his pretty little face he'd begged for my cock.

The fuzzy feelings are enough to keep you awake at night.

I left the blindfold on him as I collapsed with him on the bed. Spooned against me as he was, I could almost forget that I had to leave.

Eventually, I pulled out of him, kissing his hair and whispering "Sleep." The spell landed so easily and took so quickly I thought he was faking, but I realised he wasn't junctioned. He wasn't even carrying a gf. Poor fucker, Kadowaki must have had to rip them out of his head. I loosened the belt enough so he'd be able to escape with a little work and noticed he'd rubbed his wrists raw. He really was going to be feeling me for a while.

I snagged a shirt from his closet, one that'd be huge on him but fitted me just fine, and pulled on my pants. I headed for the door, shrugging into my leather jacket, casting one glance back at the beautiful form on the bed. My work of art, my lover curled on pillows and silk and looking for all the world like a sleeping angel, if you ignored the red flesh where my nails had bitten into him.

Then the door opened.

And a pretty hot for a forty something year old guy blinked at me. Then at Squall.

Oh shit.

He opened his mouth and yelled "Guards!" before I had a chance to get a silence spell off and next thing I knew, I couldn't cast magic, and half a dozen very pissed off Estharian Palace Guards were escorting me to the holding cells.

I hate anti-magic fields.

Just before they tossed me in the holding cell, one of the masked fuckers whacked me across the back of the head with the butt of his weapon and as I fell onto the too thin bunk, the world went blissfully black.

~Squall~

I'd had one hell of a time trying to get Seifer's location from Laguna after I'd woken up. He wouldn't stop babbling about doctors and tests and photographs of my injuries. Finally, after four hours of almost none stop babble, I'd figured out they hadn't just killed him off and he was in the holding cells in the basement of Laguna's palace.

I swear my ears were bleeding.

Kiros had joked with me once that they'd put them in there for when Laguna got too annoying. Now I was wondering if that really had been a joke.

So, I found myself standing at the bars of one of the holding cells, watching my old rival pretend to be asleep. He was stretched out on the cot that ran along the back wall, his trench coat being used as a makeshift blanket and one arm folded under his head as a pillow. He should have known by now that pretending to be asleep wouldn't work with me, I had the patience to wait for him to get bored and give up. I was probably the only person in the entire world who could.

Eventually, I won and he rolled onto his side with a sigh to glare at me. "What do you want Pee Bee?"

Gods I hated that name. It made me want to throttle him. It made me want to call him a lap dog but I had more restraint than that. "Where were you going to go?"

He shrugged, sitting up and scratching the back of his head. "I dunno, Fisherman's Horizon probably. See if the mayor still hates my guts." Those jade green eyes focused on me and I took a step closer, leaning against the bars.

"Haven't you ever considered going back to Balamb Garden?"

He laughed. A short, humourless sound and my heart sank into my boots. I missed him more than I had words for, despite how much of a bastard he could be. In his absence I'd realised I was in love with him. Not just because he was the only one who could come close to kicking my ass in training, but because he gave me what I wanted and didn't ask questions. Because he was a handsome bastard and I hated him for making me feel, making me love him.

"Oh chicken wuss would just love that."

"The decision is Cid's. And in his absence, mine."

He eyed me flatly, standing up slowly. He had to brace a hand on the wall and I wondered how much the guards had had to hurt him to get him into the cells. He crossed to me, standing so there was barely a foot between us, the bars and only his hesitation separating us.

"And what would your boyfriend think of that?"

Boyfriend? My mind cycled through as much of our earlier conversations as I could remember to try and think of what he could mean. "What boyfriend?"

"Green eyes, long hair, control of the guards and jumps to conclusions at the drop of a hat. Kinda hot. Didn't figure you were into older guys Leonhart."

It clicked and I wondered how he could be so dense. But then, I'd only noticed the similarities between my father and myself after I'd seen the results of the paternity test, after I'd seen the proof in unquestionable garden medical reports. "...You think he was my boyfriend?"

"Certainly seemed protective enough of you." He rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest, still not moving closer. I, however, sagged against the bars, choking back the laughter. My shoulders shook with the effort to not just laugh in Seifer's face, it wasn't his fault, he didn't know, he hadn't been there when Laguna had decided to tell me about Raine and leaving and all those years of waiting. "You're not finally having a heart attack are you? Fuck, he'll make sure I get the death penalty."

"He..." I had to pause, and regain my composure, unable to swallow the smile that had attacked my mouth from no where. "He's my dad."

"...Your what?"

"My father." I couldn't suppress a snicker, and I supposed I'd done quite well to only get away with that. "Laguna Loire. I found him during the war. Well.... He found me."

He just looked at me, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. When he regained his composure – which took quite a while by Seifer standards, I guess they really had hurt him – he gave me the old smirk. "Well aren't we the lucky little fuck."

I shrugged, still smiling. Laguna's been a good influence on me I suppose. "Tell me if you'll come back to Garden and I'll respond to that."

"You honestly want me back?" Seifer crept ever closer to the bars, inching his way towards me and closing the gap between us.

"Yes."

"Why?" And he wasn't fishing for compliments. He really was blind to my feelings and had no idea what I wanted to say to him.

I narrowed my eyes on him, reaching through the bars to take his hand. He was so warm to the touch, I'd missed that. I'd missed him. Every day when I'd gone to the training centre, when I'd showered, when I'd walked past my old dorm I'd thought of him. His cologne, his feel, his taste, his brand of love that no one else could ever hope to match. However, I couldn't just say that, no matter how hard I tried. Not here, with bars between us and him still a stranger to me. Some day I would, when I worked out how to say it and not sound like a love sick idiot.

I settled on simply replying "because I want you there."

He cupped my cheek and brushed his thumb over my lips. "What are you admitting Leonhart? You want a training partner, a fuck buddy, more?"

For the first time, I could hear the hope in his voice. "I was thinking more along the lines of lover."

The door behind me burst open and my father's voice wafted through the air. "This is the pervert who raped my baby. Squall, what are you doing?!"

Laguna really has the most impeccable sense of timing. I sagged against the bars again and laughed into Seifer's chest. Today really had been too much for me, I just couldn't take it any more. It was either allow myself to laugh, or punch someone and I don't think broken noses are good for father son relationships.

"I didn't rape him." Seifer replied indignantly over my head. "But I think you broke him." He poked my back lightly, which just made me laugh harder.

"I told you Squall wouldn't bring someone who was a threat into the palace Laguna." Kiros' voice. If I looked up and he'd bought half the guards down with him I was going to have to rethink the broken nose thing. "Even if it is Seifer Almasy."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Seifer. Shush." I looked up, my laughter finally under control again – I have the weirdest sense of humour at times – and scowled at my father. "He didn't rape me, is that why you were talking about doctors?"

"You were tied to the bed and bleeding!" Laguna is sweet, but you could whack him over the head with a two by four marked 'clue' and he still wouldn't get it. I'm sure I could be as blind to the blindingly obvious as he could sometimes but I liked to think that Raine's genes had influenced me more than Laguna's had.

"I like it rough." I replied simply, sliding my hand into one of Seifer's back pockets to make sure he didn't retreat. "I'll explain later, we're discussing garden matters, can we have some privacy?"

I watched the cogs turn slowly and Kiros dragged him away, shutting the door. Remind me later to worship the ground Kiros walks on, I'd never have survived this long with Laguna without his help.

"The pervert who raped my baby?" Seifer chuckled as I turned my attention back to him.

"For some reason, he insists I'm his baby even though I'm seventeen." He looped an arm around my shoulders and I watched him, I couldn't help but admire that profile, those eyes, those lips.... "So, will you come back?"

"You really want a..." He hesitated over the word, as though tasting it, testing how it felt on his tongue. "A lover?"

"I'd say boyfriend but it sounds so teenage." I rolled my eyes, resting my chin on his chest. Sometimes I didn't mind being shorter than him by over half a foot.

He opened his mouth to respond, then paused and blinked at me. "Squall, we are fucking teenagers."

"I know. Doesn't mean we have to sound that way."

"Lover'll do fine. But... I don't want any special treatment. If I pass the exams, I want it to be because I deserved to, not because I can make you scream." He squeezed my ass enough to make where he'd hit me with the belt earlier throb faintly. "That's just a perk."

"Alright, whatever." I released him and pulled away to retrieve the key to his cell from my pocket. I'd taken it from one of the guards, promising to kick Seifer's ass if he tried anything again. "Are you going to be a good boy?"

"You wouldn't like me being a good boy Leonhart, you get off on me being bad."

That was true I supposed as I unlocked the door and allowed him to hug me. "You know, if you don't pass and make SeeD, I'll switch you from lover to sex toy so I have an excuse to keep you around."

He growled my name, pushing me against the cell door and kissing me hard, pressing his body against mine, grinding his quite prominent erection against my hip. I think he quite liked the idea of being my sex toy, even if he did deny it adamantly.

~Seifer~
Six months later

I had one dance at the SeeD ball. With Squall, of course, and despite several others asking us to dance – ha, like I'd let him dance with anyone else – we snuck off back to our room for our own celebration. Yes. Our room. Despite how often we argue, and how much of a cold bitch he can be when the mood takes him, we haven't killed each other.

Yet.

I fucked him hard enough to make him scream between black silk sheets – his choice, he chose most of the furniture and fittings to our shared dorm and I had to admit, his good taste extended to furnishings as well as men – and let him recover while I fetched a bottle of champagne he'd stashed in the fridge. Fortunately when the cork popped it didn't shatter anything horribly expensive, bouncing off the leather sofa to roll under the foot stool. I'd retrieve it later.

He sat up, thoroughly mussed and accepted the champagne flute I offered him.

"So. Do I have to start calling you commander in bed now?"

"Yes." He smirked at me, stealing my Hyne damned trademark expression. Bitch. I'd spank him for it later.

I'd finally made SeeD. Maybe I'd just needed a good reason to try.

They didn't come much better than Squall.

I clinked my glass to his and downed most of the bubbly liquid in one go. And I choked on it when I thought I heard Squall speak. When I'd recovered what little was left of my dignity and wiped my mouth clean of the sweet, tangy liquid I looked at him, to make sure I really had been hearing things. "Say that again Leonhart? I thought you said..."

"That I love you? Yes. I do."

"...Why did you wait until now to tell me? You wanted to make sure I made the grade?" I was stupidly angry, I'd wanted to tell him that ever since the palace and never found the courage. I was upset that he'd managed to say it first. This shy, angry, angsty little bitch of a lover of mine.

"No, I've wanted to tell you for ages. I was just... waiting for the right moment." He smiled and kissed me and I instantly forgave him. I even forgave the fact that he had his father's timing, he instinctively chose the worst moments to tell me shit like this.

He finished his glass and pulled me closer, and I admitted quietly "I love you too."

"Oh, I know."

Living with Squall Leonhart is like doing the Estharian Times crossword in ancient Centran. Fucking confusing and way too difficult for your own good, but goddamn rewarding if you manage to work it all out. "And how, pray tell, do you know that?"

"You talk in your sleep Almasy."

Of all the answers I was expecting, I don't think that was among them. "Oh." I shrugged and kissed him, and spent the rest of the night getting him drunk on champagne and fucking him in ways that'd make him blush if he were sober.

You haven't lived until you've seen Squall Leonhart drunk on champagne.

Maybe I'll tell you about that some other time.

If you're lucky.

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