Author's Note: Hello! So sorry for not updating sooner, I had a lot of things to take care of over the weekend, but I will make it up to you all. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Right now I'm going to make this chapter a lot on Squall, and the next, well Seifer based. I'm still teetering on the idea of doing things from character views, so if you think that'd be good, le'me know! Anyway, enough of my constant babbling, and on to part three, in 5, 4, 3, 2, *points to screen silently* (oh god that was sad) O__o

Wicked Little Town part. 3 "You……"

That night Seifer tossed and turned in his sheets. Small beads of sweat clung to the blonde's forehead. His face contorted in pain and his body flinched, sheets flew in a tangled flurry as the gunblader tore them off, a choked scream erupted from his throat and was swallowed by the dark room. Sitting upright in his bed, Seifer took a few deep breaths and got his bearings together, then flopped back against the creaky mattress bring his palms up and covering his face. His body glistened in the moonlight that slipped through the closed window, and trickled onto his bed, he inwardly groaned and ran his hands down his face, letting them rest upon his throat.

"It would be so easy…" Speaking softly to emptiness, Seifer let his eyelids close slowly. Always speaking to nothing, he rolled over, bringing the covers back up and curled in on himself as the night coaxed him into sleep again.

The sun made its presence known as it flooded over the hills creating a pastel image of the town. Squall was still in bed. The brunette cracked open an eye, slowly waking up he stretched like a feline in bed sheets. Removing the sheets and swinging his long legs over the bed, the brunette quietly padded along the hardwood floor making his way towards the kitchen to turn on his coffee machine. Scooping out the ground beans and filling the container with water, the former hero flicked on the switch for the maker, and placed half a bagel into the toaster and pushed the lever down, then padded off to take a shower.

Squall opened the door to the bathroom, flicking on the fan and light, and closing the piece of wood with hinges behind him. Removing his black boxers, the lithe brunette turned on the shower knobs and tested the temperature. Once to his satisfaction, he stepped inside the shower and closed the curtain. Steam unfurled from behind the curtain as the gunblader basked in the warmth of the water; it pelted against his chest like tiny pin pricks, sending Goosebumps across his body. His face turned up to face the spray; Squall opened his mouth allowing the water to collect, holding it there for a while, and then letting it over flow down his chin and back to the shower floor. He shook his bangs out of his face, and reached for the shampoo bottle, shaking it a few times until the fragrant substance oozed into his hand. Lathering his hair to a foam, he rinsed out the shampoo and moved onto conditioner, combing his hands through his hair and then kneading the ends with his fingers. Squall rinsed, then grabbed a bar of soap, lathering up a wash cloth, he started washing his neck and arms, doing his face and then his chest and back, or at least what he could reach of his back. Washing his legs, and moving slowly upwards, Squall found himself thinking a lot of his erotic dreams when he was in still at the Garden, about the days when he lusted, needed some kind of release after his heated dreams of Sei-he opened his eyes, not really realizing they were closed, was that smoke? Squall smelled the air…

"My bagel!" Squall quickly rinsed off any remaining soap and turned off the shower, forgetting completely where his train of thought was leading him, it didn't really matter, after all this is a bagel we're talking about. The dripping gunblader grabbed a towel, hastily drying his hair then his body, he wrapped the towel around his waist, the young man rushed out the bathroom, wet pats thrummed through the little house as he hustled into the kitchen.

Squall groaned inwardly, there was his bagel, all nice and black waiting for him, smoking and chard. A puddle of water had collected at his feet; he ignored it, stepping towards the bagel with a menacing look. The brunette scowled at it, then at the fridge and opened it. Nothing. There was a jar of pickles, and a…was it even food was more along the response of looking at it. He couldn't tell whether it had once been edible or not. Squall shut the fridge disapprovingly, then looked in the breadbasket, and then scowled again at the still smoking bagel.

"Make my day." He snatched the bagel then took out a butter knife from the drawer and proceeded in scraping off most of the burnt stuff, which, was a lot. Grabbing a plate from the cupboard and a mug, he walked over to his coffee pot, it was about the only thing Squall hadn't burnt yet, taking it by the handle he poured himself a mug full. Placing the mug beside his bagel at the table, the brunette went to go get dressed. Humming an easy tune to himself, he went into his room and rummaged around in the drawers for a while, tell he found what he wanted, and put them on. Pulling on a pair of faded jeans, rather tight if he'd say so himself, and a clean white tank, taking some socks off the ground, he put them on as well. Grabbing the towel from off the bed, Squall made his way back to the kitchen.

Dropping the towel over the wet spot left on the floor, he picked up his bagel and munched on the corner of it. Using his foot to wipe up the mess with the towel, he sat down and continued to eat his burnt bagel and sip his coffee. Squall looked thoughtful for a moment, and then finished his bagel and picked up the towel, and threw it into the washroom. Wiping his hands on his pants he swallowed the last of his coffee, no sugar, and washed the mug.

Outside Tess and her friend Tammy were flying a kite. The brunette watched for a while from the kitchen window. The two girls ran back and forth taking turns playing with the kite, then Tess, somehow managed to send it into a tree. The two stopped and stared at their treed fun, Squall smiled, never had he felt this calm and content before, to actually have a place somewhere, where people don't think of you as nothing but a soldier, but someone as a friend, or a little help to get back a little morning of fun.

Setting the mug to dry on a towel next to the sink, the former world hero put on his shoes and stepped outside of his little house.

"Need a hand at all?" He called out to the two kids. "HI!!" The two waved cheerfully at the lithe figure.

" Could you please help us get our kite down Squall? Tess lodged it in a tree." Tammy gave Tess a sharp poke in the side.

"Nuh-uh!" "Ya-huh!" "Nu-HUH!" Tess stuck her tongue out. "My mom says if you stick your tongue out a bird'll poop on it!" The two argued a little further until Squall stopped them.

"Alright, so about where did you manage to fly it in the tree?" The brunette covered his eyes with his hand, squinting gently against the sun.

"Up at the top I think." The longer haired little girl chirped. Tammy was about a month older then Tess and had much longer hair.

"Okay, wait here I'll go and get it." Squall began to climb the old tree.

Seifer was just finishing up his breakfast when his watch went off. He glanced at his wrist, it was now 10:00, not bad, the tall blonde continued eating his eggs and hash browns, and then stuck the plate in the sink, he'd do it later. Today he was gong to get some stuff done, summer was here so he might as well take advantage of it, maybe a little training, pick up some groceries, work on fixing up the house a little, the day was still young.

Seifer was wearing faded blue jeans and a long sleeved shirt, walking into the washroom, the gunblader inspected himself, checking his teeth and giving himself a smirk.

" Still got the looks Almasy."

Walking back out towards the door, he pulled on his sandals and proceeded out the front and closed the door. Whistling down the path the tall blonde went over his agenda inside his head.

"Okay, Food means money, got money? //Check//, training, feel up to it today? //Oh yeah// house…what to do about the house, paint it? //Sure//, need a color. Hmmm. We'll see when I get there."

Seifer dug his hands in his pockets and continued to whistle a tuneless song as he walked along the dirt path, kicking little pebbles as he went.

"That dream, I wonder what it meant, can hardly remember it now though…"

The blonde talked inside his head a lot more often now, since there was no on to really talk to, why voice it.

Seifer laughed. " Jesus, I starting to turn into Squall…Wonder where the bugger is right now…" He found himself thinking a lot about Squall as the days went by. He was practically the only friend he had for awhile, until Rajin and Fujin had become his posse.

Speaking of friends, Seifer noticed Tess and Tammy looking up a tree at something. The blonde gunblader emerged from the forest path and walked along the meadow tell he was a few meters away from the little kids. Tess turned around.

"Oh, Hi Scott! My moms says that she'd have another job for you if yah want it." The shorter haired girl informed with a smile.

" Hi Scott." Tammy was more interested in what was up the tree, and didn't really turn to say hi.

"Sure, tell your mom any job is fine, I'll take it. So, what are you guys looking at?"

The tree stopped rustling momentarily at the conversation, then there was a "holy shit!" a snap and a thud, and out fell a Squall.

"Seifer!?" A rather stunned brunette breathed with a twig stuck in his hair.

The blonde gunblader's mouth opened and a choked sound came out.

"Squall?!" He looked around for an explanation, mouth opening and closing. " How-Why-…" Seifer waved his arms in the air and let them collapse at his sides, and then pointed at the tree.

"Why were you in a tree?"

"I-Why-Ho-…" The two just stared at one another for a while, both unable to really explain things.

Squall finally spoke. "Why are you here?! You're supposed to be dead or something!"

" You guys know each other?" Tess and Tammy looked back between the two.

"Yes!" the two gunbalders said, then looked at each other again.

"Seifer, I haven't seen you in ages, where the hell have you been? We were all looking for you! I was scared have to death that someone had tried to kill you!" The lithe gunblader put a hand on his chest and looked at Seifer with questions swimming in his eyes, they were a deep blue coloring at the moment.

The blonde just smiled. Not a smirk, not a grin, but a smile worth showing, and as far as Squall thought a smile worth waiting for.

" Good to see you too Squall." The brunette smiled back. " Mind given me a hand up?" He reached a hand up for Seifer to take.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed at you!"

The blonde couldn't stop smiling for some reason, he himself didn't know why, a surge of emotions had coursed through him when he saw his long time rival. Reaching down, he helped the brunette up onto his feet.

"Heh, still looks like Squall, nice curves, still has that lovely hair, thank god."

The taller of the two just couldn't contain it any more; he had to touch Squall, to know he was real. Still holding onto his hand, Seifer pulled him into a tight hug and picked the twig out from Squall's hair.

The smaller gunblader was a bit shocked by this action and sudden change in his former rival. But soon the brunette found himself wrapping his arms around Seifer's neck, it had been so long since they'd seen each other. And no matter what other people said, they were very close, rivals maybe, but they both shared something through mind and soul, but neither would admit it to the other.

"Ahem, Squaallll!" The two guys had forgotten about the little girls patiently awaiting their kite.

" Oh, yeah just a sec." Pulling back quickly the lithe blader started to climb the tree again, "I just got to get the kite down." Half way up the tree, Seifer watched the other man climb with much skill, giving the blonde a perfect view of the brunette's perfect rear.

He found himself smiling again, more of a devilish smirk to say the least, as many images floated through the taller gunblader's mind.

"Wow, oh god, I can't believe I've found him."

"Got it!" Squall slid down the tree, and hit the bottom with kite in one hand and slivers in the other.

The days were going to be different, in this wicked little town.

To be continued…

Oh man! Am I ever sorry for keeping you good people waiting! I would have posted sooner, but I guess there is no excuse for tardiness. But if you want to hear a list of excuses I'll email them to you if you want ^_____^. Well tell me what you think, is this good is this bad? Should I hurt myself for writing this awful story? Hey, you tell me.

Thanks a bunch to everyone!! The next chapter will hopefully be a bit better.

And I know! Squall is really out of character too.* starts crying* oh god I'm so sorry! *snork *

Ciao!

Tongari ^_______^.