Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Strings Attached ❯ Harm From Healing ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six

Harm From Healing

 

It was quite surprising to wake up alone. Squall hadn't ever considered the ex-knight to be the stealthiest of men, but perhaps his undisturbed sleep could be attributed to their taxing activities of the night before. Still, after ten minutes of lazily dozing waiting for the knight's return, it seemed ever more odd that Seifer would have left the apartment completely.

 

Wasn't the blond always complaining about how he tried to get out of bed without warning? `Hypocrite,' Squall's mind accused.

 

On his side, he was curled in such a manner that he appeared to accommodate a second party. With his arms drawn to his chin, his elbows didn't obstruct the most familiar placement of the knight's arms about his waist.

 

The sheets were drawn up to his hips, barely covering his more private assets. As gray-blue eyes roved the room, he had to think for a moment before remembering how the night before had concluded. From sex in his room, they'd cleaned up in the bathroom, the blond knight annoyingly babying him in the bath, and then they'd settled in the less romped up bed for the night.

 

Tentatively, the brunet sat up. Raking fingers through oddly angled hair, he suppressed a yawn. Casting aside the sheets, the blanket long forgotten near the foot of the bed, he shifted to get out of bed. It took him a moment to register that something was wrong. Frowning at the lack of soreness, he tried to stand up. Staring incredulously at the closed door, as though sending his look to Seifer, he stormed from the room and into his own. Now he understood why the blond had chosen to conveniently vacate the premises. He'd kill Seifer.

 

Dressed in the first set of clothes in his hands managed to grasp, a pair of dark blue jeans and black long sleeve shirt, he was out the door and striding down the hallway. The fact that he could be running without injury was solid proof of the older boy's mischief making. Though, for the life of him, he didn't see how Seifer could have done it without waking him up.

 

Not much later than eight, he'd kill cocky knight and then go to his office.

 

**

 

“How many damn reporters do you guys let in here?” Seifer questioned in obvious impatience. With a flap, he shut the manila folder that held yet another profile of a pencil pushing, muckraking reporter.

 

To the right were several stacks of similar folders and to the left were even more, taking up a good half of the long table. Having gone through the ones on the right, he was quite sick of reading up on every damn reporter expected to be present at the next press conference.

 

Chuckling at the knight's lack of patience, Raijin reached across the conference room table to retrieve the folder Seifer had just thrown to the center. “The Commander's got a lot more to deal with than Commanders Trent and Zephlar.”

 

“I don't see why they give him so much grief,” Seifer mumbled. He was older than Squall and the moody kitten acted twice his age half the time. Wasn't it rather ageist to watch the brunet like a hawk? As an after thought, he questioned, “Why is there a press conference in the first place? This place is for mercenaries, not countrymen.”

 

“Like I said, it's different for Commander Leonhart, ya know?”

 

“Yeah, I know. These shit Commanders think that princess has to give a formal statement every time he sneezes.”

 

Hunching his bulky frame, the dark haired fighter regarded his friend solemnly. “He's a good leader Seifer,” Raijin assured.

 

“Workaholic is more like it,” Seifer spat loathingly. Reaching to his left, he grabbed another file. “That one,” he pointed to the folder in Raijin's hands, “Is fine.”

 

“Yes sir,” Raijin said while placing the file to the right of the knight.

 

Jade eyes scanned the first page, containing the most basic history and photo ID. After flipping to the next page, upturning the page to tuck behind the folder, Seifer's eyes narrowed. “This guy is out.”

 

Shaking his head, Raijin took the file from the blond and put it in a select pile for the people Seifer deemed unacceptable to see the Commander. “That's the seventh reporter you've slain like that man. What gives, ya know?”

 

“Just doin' my job,” Seifer explained. In truth, the reporter in that folder worked for Hark Here Press in Dollet. After checking out the stuff Tilmitt had dredged up on Epson, he'd pretty much memorized every name and namesake tied with the bastard. Most newspapers in Dollet had printed nothing but complimenting lies involving Epson Larkner, which was either due to fear or association. He wasn't going to ban every reporter from Dollet, just the ones who'd written several articles supporting Epson's company.

 

With a smirk, Seifer wondered what sort of crap stories they were writing now? Psychotic stalker's mutilated corpse found. Dollet freed from one yakuza leader's oppression… for two seconds before the second in command took over. He could care less what went down in Dollet. It could become the city of sin and he'd simply flip to another TV channel to watch anything else but the news reporting on the devastation and crime. However, if it affected his charge in anyway, he'd take more than an avid interest.

 

Raijin gave a gruff grumble in agreement, sounding more like he was questioning the blond's judgment but not saying anything.

 

“I'll never have time for all these. If I don't get back by eight, his royal highness is gonna have a hissy fit.”

 

Raijin's dark eyes sparkled with mirth. It almost sounded like Seifer was afraid of making Squall unhappy. So long as he didn't have to listen to them getting it on in locker rooms or offices, he was perfectly content to sit on the sidelines and watch the amusing relationship unfold.

 

Smiling like a Cheshire cat, the burly man reclined back into the comfortable seat, falling short of placing his feet atop the expensive black table.

 

Seifer eyed his friend keenly. It wasn't often that the brown skinned man looked so smug. The friendly dolt was too insecure to wave anything over anyone's head. “Why're you smiling'?” the ex-knight asked cautiously.

 

“Cause it's almost nine o'clock, ya know?” Dark eyes held mirth as color drained from his friend's face.

 

“Shit!” Seifer cursed. By now, Squall would have been awake for some time, no doubt realizing the quick procedure he'd done. Hyne, he'd never hear the end of this one.

 

“Want me to drop these off at your place, like while your kissin' the Commander's feet, ya know?”

 

“Shove it Rai, you could of told me how long we'd been here,” the blond spoke with misdirected anger.

 

“Uh-huh,” Raijin intoned, none of his amusement lost. “Not my job, ya know? So what about all this?” He gestured to the mass of folders on the table before them.

 

Standing abruptly, pushing his chair back, Seifer scrambled to decide the best course of action. “No, don't send these there, Squall doesn't need any more reasons to get angry with me today.”

 

Curiously, Raijin eyed Seifer. Granted, it was entirely natural for couples to try and please each other and for anyone within a mile radius to fear the Commander's wrath, but their main man Seifer had never been like that. In fact, if he recalled the passed five years he'd known Seifer correctly, then the arrogant guy went out of his way to make Leonhart angry. “He knows you're, like, looking out for him, right?”

 

“Trust me, he'd hold a grudge on this one.”

 

Brows furrowed, the dark haired instructor gave his close friend a perplexed look. “I thought you lived to piss him off, ya know?”

 

Scoffing, Seifer waved the comment aside. “I still do, there's little else more gratifying than an angry Leonhart. But, I'm also living to fuck his pretty ass, so there's a certain balance I gotta learn to maintain.”

 

“I didn't need to hear that, ya know?” Raijin looked sardonically at the knight, wishing he'd managed to completely block out the sounds of his Commander moaning while being screwed.

 

“Don't worry, I'll send everyone a few videos to keep you occupied during the holidays.”

 

“Get going,” Raijin urged, preferring a Seifer being chewed out by Squall than a Seifer making sexual comments. “I'll keep these in my office, so stop by there next time, ya know?”

 

“Sure,” the blond agreed walking to the door of the conference room. “Give Fu my condolences.”

 

“What?” Raijin remarked a little loudly, an underlying concern for the silver-haired woman evident.

 

“For getting involved with you,” Seifer explained with a smirk.

 

Blushing furiously, Raijin averted his eyes to the glossy table. “You know `bout us?”

 

Seifer barked with laughter, hand on the doorknob. “I do now,” he chuckled, “You sounded like you'd just woken up on the phone. You've always been the morning person among us. `Sides, who else would you be keeping your voice down for?”

 

“Hey man, it's like just one of those things… like, ya know?” Raijin muttered with rushed words to soothe any faults.

 

Rolling his green eyes, Seifer reassured his brute of a friend that while he'd be teasing the guy mercilessly about it for the rest of his life, he wasn't upset about it. “Rai, if you didn't take her I was going to.” He winked while opening the door.

 

Laughing a bit forced at this, the brown skinned man corrected, “More like she took me.”

 

Seifer tensed at this, moments later he was nearly on the floor laughing. While he knew he needed to make haste, the idea of Fujin being dominant in such regards was hilarious. Raijin almost sounded like a violated little girl, but it probably just hurt pride at not having any leading roll in the relationship.

 

“Having fun?” a cold voice questioned from behind the fitfully laughing knight.

 

Amused laughter quickly turned into surprised coughs. Straightening up, the ex-knight cringed. Slowly he turned around to face his seething princess. With the most charming smile he could give, he beamed down at the pale brunet. It probably wasn't helping that seeing the angry fire in steely gray eyes was totally turning him on.

 

Rumpled bed hair, slightly flushed cheeks after roaming Garden and building anger, brightly emotional eyes, and pale skin with a healthy glow that was contrasted by flattering dark clothes.

 

“Training Center,” Squall hissed out before turning on foot and stalking away.

 

With an impressed whistle, Raijin congratulated Seifer on angering the Commander so much. Just seeing those gray eyes gave him a shiver. He'd never be able to stand up to the Balamb Lion like the ex-knight always did.

 

Part of Raijin was curious what Seifer had done this time, though a small voice in the back of his head was yelling not to ask. Still, he was usually privy to Seifer latest schemes to piss off Leonhart, so he figured this was no different. “What'd you do?” he questioned incredulously, implying that it must have been something big for such a reaction.

 

The tanned knight scratched the back of his golden blond hair. “You know me. I'm innocent.”

 

“Yeah, I know you, and you've done something. It's always the same, ya know?” Raijin shot back jovially.

 

“I gave him a potion. S'all, I swear,” Seifer defended with an innocent boyish grin.

 

Raijin grinned right back at the ex-knight. Reaching down he picked a box off the floor and set it on the table to place the stacks of folders in. “Better get goin' ya know? I should be the one giving condolences here,” he snickered before adding, “You're so whipped, ya know?”

 

Affronted, Seifer scoffed and glared at the quarterstaff user. “And I'm sure you won't be buying Fujin a bouquet of flowers before you go to her tonight.” That said, Seifer left the dark haired man to transport the many files to another room. Meanwhile, the he was not looking forward to meeting up with Squall in the Training Center, which was a first.

 

**

 

Side stepping a dangerous slash in barely the nick of time, Seifer growled out, “It was just a damn potion. You couldn't even walk!”

 

“It's my call!” Squall spat vehemently.

 

“Not when I did it to you,” the knight countered, also countering with a slash of Hyperion.

 

“I'm SeeD, we don't use potions for anything but battle,” Squall affirmed not for the first time during their roe.

 

“And I'm not, so I can use it to heal any well fucked asses that I want!” the knight shouted, a bit too loudly for discrepancy's sake.

 

“Not mine!” Squall replied, jumping back to avoid Seifer's blade.

 

Seifer Grinned cockily, loving the fight, but getting a little fed up with the stubborn boy's relentless nature. “Baby, your ass is mine,” he said, but immediately regretted the comment.

 

Gritting his teeth, Squall glared icily. With the highest compatibility possible, Shiva's summoning time was instantaneous.

 

When Seifer breathed out and saw his own breath, all he could think to do was curse and hold Hyperion up in defense. The air was stolen from his lungs as wave after wave of deathly cold air blasted his way. There was a feeling of déjà vu, just like that day in Dollet when the Commander had summoned the Ice Queen to freeze the waters.

 

Panting down on one knee, Seifer cough a bit and struggled to recover from the attack. He was shivering madly, needing to take a warm shower or crawl under a bundle of blankets. Raising his head, he found Squall was gone.

 

“Dammit!” the knight cursed. Couldn't they go a single day without having a fight? What was the big deal? After last night, there was no way Squall would have been able to go about a normal day of work. So, he'd kindly administered a potion, nothing fancy.

 

Actually, it had been quite nice, rubbing it on both the source and giving an encouraging kiss that the brunet was half asleep for. He'd do it again, unless that meant facing the ice prince's wrath each time. Hyne, but the Commander seemed to be an uptight prick at times. And damn his masochistic self for only finding this quality all the more endearing for its perseverance like aspects.

 

Having opted to warm up in the shower, Seifer trudged in a defeated manner to the locker rooms. He was surprised, to say the least, to find Squall quietly sitting on one of the benched between the tall rows of lockers.

 

Giving the brunet a cursory glance, not sure where they stood at the moment, he was trapped by guarded gray-blue eyes. Unable to tell what Squall was thinking, which was something that didn't happen nearly as much since his return, he testily strode closer. It was one thing for Squall to remain pissed at him, but the pretty boy was not about to shut him out. Roughly reaching down, he grabbed hold of the pale man's black shirt, stretching the material that clung quite nicely to the lithe frame. With no reaction, the smaller man allowed himself to be yanked into a standing position.

 

“I can warm up much faster with a little help,” the ex-knight suggested lightly, testing his angry lover's mood.

 

Not betraying any emotion, Squall leaned up with his impassive features and chastely pressed his lips to Seifer's. “You're showering alone,” he whispered while reaching to unclasped the knight's hands from his shirt.

 

Having gone right to the fighting and not exceeding ten minutes, neither needed to shower for the sake of washing away sweat and easing sore muscles, but Squall knew why the blond had come in here. The man's lips were almost blue, but he didn't feel the least bit guilty.

 

Not looking too pleased, Seifer stalked away while gruffly shedding his shirt.

 

Sighing, Squall realized that while he didn't regret summoning Shiva, he hated making Seifer have that angry and dejected look in his eyes. Even if the arrogant, assuming, and overly assertive man deserved it, he didn't enjoy it. Stupid knight, always doing things without telling him.

 

It was only made worse by the fact that now he was simply waiting for the blond to finish raising his body temperature, because after their argument last night, he felt strongly compelled to not go anywhere without Seifer. It was sad, terribly sad, but there was nothing he could do about it.

 

So, while he waited, with a flush to his cheeks every time he thought about what he could be doing, he mulled recent events over. Eventually, he became tired of feeling more and more guilty for something that he was right about, so he thought about the day's agenda.

 

After running into his father, he was now obligated to dinner with Laguna. But, somehow it wasn't as heavy an obligation as it used to be.

 

Sighing, Squall crossed his arms and continued to brood. There was an approaching press conference that he didn't even want to think about, let alone participate in. All the festival cheer was starting to get to him, the happy air permeating through the halls, the smiling students. He had no problem with letting them have their fun, but when he was expected to reflect such an attitude, he wanted to ban all staff and students from coming anywhere near him or his office.

 

TBC…