Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Undercover Lovers ❯ Chopsticks and Valentines ( Chapter 16 )

CHAPTER 16: Chopsticks and Valentines

 

When Squall woke up the next morning he found that Seifer was spooned around his back. Glancing at the alarm clock he saw that it was just past 5:00 in the morning and he was wide-awake. Of course he had slept the greater part of the previous two days away. Against his rear he felt that Seifer had grown hard during the night and damned the fact that it probably wasn't because of him.

 

Reluctantly untangling himself from Seifer's arms he slid out of bed and noticed that there was a slight chill in the air. Turning he pulled the comforter up around the sleeping blonds body and gazed fondly down on him. Reaching out his hand he gently ran his fingers down the slight stubble that graced Seifer's jaw line, tearing his hand away he brought it up to his face and stroked down his own smooth cheek. Walking over to the closet he selected a white cable knit sweater and pulled it over his head. Thrusting his feet into a pair of loafers he left the bedroom and softly closed the door behind him.

 

Walking out on the deck he saw that the sun was just starting to rise over the bay, and it was promising to be a beautiful day. He would never grow tired of this view and found that he wanted to share it with Seifer. Smiling he hoped that the blond wouldn't be to much of a bear being woke up this early.

 

Going back into the house he entered the bedroom and walked quietly over to the bed. “Seifer.” He said softly. Getting no response he said the name a little louder and shook his shoulder, “Seifer wake up.”

 

Seifer opened on of his eyes and glared up at Squall and yawned, “What?”

 

“I want to show you something.” Squall smiled at him.

 

Seifer sat up and looked at the clock, “It's not even 5:30 can't it wait?” He groaned.

 

“No. It can't. Now hurry up and put on a sweatshirt or something it's chilly this morning.”

 

“This better be freaking important Squall.” He grouched and pulled himself from the warm bed. Fuck! Squall was right it was cold. His nipples going into tight little nubs and the goose flesh broke out on his arms. Still half asleep he stumbled over to the closet and pulled out his U of T sweatshirt and yanked it on. Shoving his feet in his sandals he followed Squall to the door.

 

“Close your eyes and let me led you.” Squall said softly and grasped Seifer's elbow when he had complied and led him out to the deck. “Now open your eyes.” He whispered not wanting to break the magic of the moment.

 

Seifer opened his eyes and looked out over the bay and saw just a small piece of heaven. The fog had settled over the water and the top of the Golden Gate Bridge was barely peeking out, the sun was rising and had painted the morning sky with purples, pinks and blues and it was breath taking.

 

Seifer was stunned into silence he had never seen anything more beautiful and he watched with amazement as the sun continued to rise up over the bay. He was still standing there staring half an hour later when felt a cup of hot coffee pressed into his hand.

 

“It's beautiful isn't it?” Squall said softly and took a sip of his coffee.

 

“Yes.” Seifer whispered. He was no longer grumpy over the fact that Squall had woken him up so early in the morning. He fought the urge to put his arm around Squall and draw him close. Looking over at Squall he saw such an ethereal look of contentment on the other mans face that it took his breath away.

 

Squall was so beautiful and it wasn't just the outer shell, it was also the rare pearl that was inside him, everything about him was just beautiful. And he found in that moment that he was sprung big time on the brunet. He had made the decision that he wanted Squall to be his. He just wasn't sure how to go about asking Squall to be his lover. Turning his head back to the bay he saw that most of the fog had started to burn off.

 

“Are you hungry?” Squall asked him.

 

“Yeah a little bit.”

 

“How do waffles sound?” Squall smiled shyly up at him.

 

“Sounds great.” Seifer replied.

 

Squall turned and walked back into the house entering the kitchen he pulled out the waffle iron and the ingredients that he would need for the batter. Grabbing a bib apron he shrugged it over his shoulders. Then sat about mixing up the waffle batter. Wishing that he hadn't gotten sick since it had put a kibosh on grocery shopping because strawberry waffles were sounding really good.

 

After breakfast he ask Seifer if he wanted to accompany him to the market, that way they could get foods that he liked as well.

 

Squall grabbed a quick shower mostly so he could try and get his hair to do something, but it didn't work so he left it in casual disarray. The outfit he chose to wear was a pair of faded blue jeans and a baby blue tank top. Once again he put on his necklace and went out to the living room. Where he found that Seifer was still taking a shower in the other bathroom.

 

Walking down the hall he entered the spare bedroom and sighed. The new furniture would be ready in a little over a week and he was going to lose Seifer sharing his bed. In the past few days he had grown used to having the bigger man in bed beside him. He didn't snore and he wasn't a cover hog. And no matter what he said he didn't drool in his sleep. It had been nice waking up with another body wrapped around his, he had missed that comfort. He was tempted to put a hold on the order just so he could keep Seifer in his bed for a little longer.

 

He had known the handsome blond for less then a week and he already knew that he was in love with him. Oh he knew that he hadn't fallen in love with Seifer at first sight. Lust, most definitely but not love. It hadn't taken to long for him to fall for the big Texan though. He realized it this morning when he took Seifer that cup of coffee out on the deck and saw the serenity on his handsome face.

 

Hearing the shower go off he knew that Seifer would be emerging anytime now and then it was off for another fun filled day of shopping.

 

Seifer walked out of the bathroom and shook his head in bemusement. He was dressed in direct opposite to Squall wearing a pair of the Indigo 501's that Squall had bought him and a royal blue tank top. He also saw that Squall was wearing that unusual necklace again.

 

Seifer had wanted to ask about it but then Squall had gotten sick and he had forgotten. “That necklace is really unusual.”

 

Squall rubbed his fingers and thumb over the lions head, “It's part of the Leonhart family crest. My grandfather gave it to me for my birthday the year I turned 13. It's one of the few pieces of jewelry that I try to wear all the time along with this.” Squall held out his right hand.

 

Seifer saw the lion's head ring that was on his ring finger. He had never noticed it before, of course when people looked at Squall one of the last things that they noticed was his hands.

 

Squall and Seifer finished most of the grocery shopping as the noon hour was approaching.

 

“Come on Seif, let's go eat.”

 

“And what are you going to have today, food guru?” Seifer quipped.

 

“Sushi, if that's okay with you. If not I'm sure we can talk them into scraping out the bottom of the tempura pots for you or perhaps find you a nice grease sandwich.” Squall smarted back.

 

“I happen to like sushi.” Seifer retorted.

 

Arriving in Japan Town Squall had Seifer find them a table, “So what do you like?”

 

“I leave the choices up to you guru.” Seifer smirked at him.

 

When Squall returned he had two plates filled with a variety of sushi on them. Handing one to Seifer he took the other for himself. “I had them put the ginger in a dish for you, I wasn't sure if you liked it or not. I can't have it, I'm deathly allergic to it.” He picked up his chopsticks and proceeded to eat his meal in a leisurely fashion. Letting the different flavors melt on his tongue. Glancing across the table he saw that Seifer hadn't touched his yet.

 

“Is there something wrong with your sushi?”

 

“I don't know how to use chopsticks.” Seifer replied.

 

“Watch and learn.” Squall instructed and showed him the proper way to hold and use them.

 

Try as he might Seifer just couldn't get the hang of them. “Can't I get a fork?” He whined.

 

“Only if you want to look like a tourist. Jesus Christ Almasy a five-year-old can do it.” Squall let out an exasperated breath as another piece of sushi turned into a mound of rice, fish and nori. “Oh for the love of god.” Squall put his chopsticks down and pushed away from the table.

 

Going behind Seifer he put his arms around him picked up his hand and showed him how to use the chopsticks. By guiding the first piece to his mouth. While he was leaning over him, Squall caught the smell that was distinctly Seifer Almasy and groaned. He felt himself harden in the tight confines of his jeans and knew that Seifer had felt it too since his groin had been pressed up against Seifer's back.

 

Squall missed the evil look that passed over Seifer's face, he was a Military brat and his dad had been stationed in Tokyo for a while to get special training. He knew how to use chopsticks as well as Squall did, granted he didn't have the graceful elegance of it but he could hold his own.

 

When Squall composed himself he regained his own seat and started to eat his own meal once more, pleased that Seifer has learned how to use the chopsticks under his tutelage.

 

After they finished Seifer smiled across the table at him, “You know I'm an Military brat right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I guess I forgot to mention that my dad was stationed for six months in Tokyo.” Then started to laugh, “I know how to use chopsticks.”

 

“You shit. Just for that I won't be stopping by the bank today and withdrawing that million dollars for you.” Squall's laughter joined Seifer's. “Come on we still have more grocery shopping to do.”

 

When they arrived home the trunk of the BMW was packed with a variety of different groceries. Making short work of getting stuff carried in and put away they saw that they had about an hour of down time then they needed to get ready to go to work.

 

Vincent Valentine waited in his blood red Mercedes outside San Francisco International Airport. He really wasn't looking forward to this visit. He had left New York eight years ago to get away from the `family business'. And now thanks to Sephiroth he was about to get involved again.

 

“Damn it!” He swore. Then having nothing better to do thought about the past. He had gone to Harvard Law and had graduated at the top of his class. He knew that his father expected him to work for the family. He had no desire to do it so he packed up and moved to the west coast changed his name from Vincent Valentinius to Vincent Valentine. Started at the bottom in one of the cities law firms. Within three years he had made a name for himself. He still had brief contact with his family after all he was a good Italian boy.

 

Looking over he saw them and groaned, “Jesus, could they be anymore fucking obvious. Why not wear big fucking neon signs that say, `Yes I'm with the Mafia'.” All he wanted to do was pound his head repeatedly against the steering wheel.

 

Exiting the car he walked over to where his father and the goon squad were. “Dad, it's good to see you again.”

 

“Vincent. How's my son.” His father greeted him with a hug.

 

“Fine.” Vincent returned his fathers hug. “Let's go. My cars over here.” And started across the parking lot.

 

Once they got in the car all formalities were dropped. “So what is this favor that you need? It must be important since you called me.”

 

“It is. There's this young man that I know.”

 

“You want a mark on him?” Goon number one asked from the back seat.

 

“If I wanted him dead. I could have taken care of that myself.” Vincent growled. Stopping at a red light he turned to face his father, “Is there anyway to discuss this privately?”

 

“Of course.” Angelo Valentinius replied to his son's query. Turning in the seat he ordered, “Get out and meet me at the hotel.”

 

“Boss are you sure it's safe?” Goon number 2 spoke up.

 

“Idiot, I'm with my son. How much safer can I be then that. He made his bones when he was 12. And how dare you even question me. Get out of the god damn car.” He snarled.

 

Seatbelts were quickly undone and car doors opened as they made their exit. Vincent started laughing as he pulled away from the light. His father was swearing in Italian under his breath.

 

“Are we going to your penthouse?” Angelo asked.

 

“No! I don't feel safe talking there at least not until I have it as well as my office swept.” Vincent replied as he continued to drive on in silence. Finding a nice quiet street he pulled over.

 

“Okay son. What's going on?”

 

Vincent quickly told his father about what had transpired between he and Sephiroth. He was careful not to mention any names. And laid the plan out to his father. “All I need is if anyone comes snooping around wanting information on him is for you to say that he's part of the family.” Vincent got really quiet, then continued, “If you do this for me, I'll leave my practice here and come back to New York.”

 

Angelo looked over at his son and replied, “Vincent I'll do this for you. As for you moving back to New York, you don't have to. In 30 years, you out of all my children have never asked me for a favor. But I want to know why. What's so special about this particular man?”

 

Vincent shifted in his seat and looking at his father he said, “He was my lover at one time.”

 

“Was?”

 

“Yes he dumped me?”

 

“He dumped you and you want to do a favor for him. Why?” His father shot out.

 

“Dad, he had every right to dump me. I knew how he felt about fidelity and I cheated on him.”

 

“I see. What's his name?”

 

“Squall Leonhart.”

 

Angelo smiled and stepped out of the car. Flipping open his cell phone he placed one call and told the person on the other end what was expected of them.