Disclaimer: All places, characters are not mine, nothing here is mine, everything belongs to Squaresoft.

Double Take

Chapter 5

By Purple Penguin

Quistis hung up even more confused than when she first rung Zell.

“Well?” Selphie sat on the desk, swinging her legs back and forth.

“Squall’s in Winhill with Zell.”

“What?!”

“Whoever that guy is he isn’t Squall.”

“Maybe he lost his memory and now he thinks he’s Squall.”

The blonde woman shook her head. Selphie always had to think of a reason where no one meant any harm. Unfortunately it never worked that way.

“He’s an impostor?” Irvine said from the doorway.

“It looks that way; he’s the same as Squall apart from the scar and his personality.”

“He’s a real bad impostor; he’s got all the facts wrong.” The petite girl frowned. “Oh, I was just starting to like the new Squall. Seifer likes him too, have you noticed how they act together? It’s really sweet.”

Quistis and Irvine shared a look. “What are we going to do? Should we put him in a holding cell?”

“Why?! He’s not dangerous!” Selphie wailed.

“Not yet, but why is he here? Why did he want us to believe he was Squall?”

“What about Seifer?” The cowboy asked.

Selphie’s eyes went wide. “You’re not locking him up too, are you?”

“Of course not but he’s not going to like it when we take ‘Squall’ from him. What if he puts up a fight?”

The blonde woman shook her head. “Poor Seifer, he loves Squall, this guy is playing with his emotions. I just don’t want to see him get hurt.”

IN THE MORNING.

Seifer awoke slowly. He knew something was wrong. Firstly his back ached, he knew he wasn’t in his bed and secondly there was this solid warmth curled up next to him. The blonde snapped his eyes open, glancing around the living room. Oh, right, he remembered sleeping here so that Squall could have his bed. The warmth shifted in his arms, he gingerly looked down, already suspecting what he would see.

A big mop of chocolate brown hair tickled his chin; he felt the face that was pressed into his neck and the arms that held him tightly.

Seifer sighed, lifting a hand to push the hair from the brunette’s face.

“What are you doing here?” He whispered.

So much for ‘don’t get too attached to Squall,’ he was literally attached to him now.

Squall felt Seifer start to pull away so he moved upwards and nuzzled into the blonde’s neck.

“Oh, Squall don’t.”

The brunette opened his eyes and looked up at his lover with a smile. “Morning.”

“You were supposed to sleep in my bed, remember? What are you doing here?”

The brunette moved to lie on top of the blonde, linking his arms around his neck. “What? Did you think I could sleep alone? Without you? When we’ve slept together for five years?”

“Squall, we weren’t together for that long.”

The brunette frowned. “Yes, we were. It’ll be six at Christmas. You know that, right?”

Seifer opened his mouth to speak, but he shut it again, unsure of what to say.

The blonde’s eyes went wide as Squall decided to kiss him, it started as a light, gentle kiss until Squall decided to deepen it, opening his mouth to his lover. Seifer was going to resist, really he was but he didn’t want to hurt Squall by making him think he didn’t love him. He agreed that this would be the first and last kiss, as he eagerly explored his ex-lover’s mouth with his tongue.

“I love you.” The brunette whispered as he pulled away.

Seifer tensed and drew back like he’d been stung. He longed to heard Squall say that but he didn’t mean it, he was confused and Seifer knew he really loved Zell, so anything he did now would be wrong. The blonde smiled tightly and pulled the brunette down to his chest.

Squall frowned slightly. Why didn’t Seifer say it back like he usually did? That was Squall’s best tactic for getting his lover to smile that beautiful smile of his.

The brunette looked up into the blonde’s eyes hopefully. “Don’t you love me anymore?”

It broke Seifer’s heart to see the hurt and pain cross Squall’s features. He buried his hands into his ex-lover’s hair.

“Shh, of course I do.”

He expected the brunette to smile but instead he frowned more and lightly punched him on the arm. “Don’t do that, you scared me!”

The blonde chuckled. “So...” He thought this would be a good time to question Squall now that he had his trust.”

“How did your dad die? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“You already know.”

“Well, tell me again.”

“He went to rescue Ellone from Esthar while my mother was pregnant with me. But Adel was too strong, she had him put to death and she become stronger from Ellone’s powers, by bring Ultimecia into the present, then she killed Ellone too.”

Seifer nodded slightly. It seemed all of what Squall had said was different because of Laguna. If he had died Esthar would still belong to Adel, The sorceresses would rule the world and SeeD would be fighting them.

“I’ve never seen him, but I’ve seen pictures.”

Seifer pushed Squall off him. “I need a shower.”

“Can I come?”

The blonde smiled slightly. “We better not.”

Quistis glanced at her friends as she knocked on Seifer’s door. She was nervous, Seifer wasn’t going to like this but they could go on letting this guy play with their friend’s feelings, it wasn’t fair.

Squall answered the door. “Hey guys.”

The three friends walk in around the brunette, keeping a close eye on him. He seemed really happy, which was very unSquall-like.

“Where’s Seifer?”

“He’s in the shower; I can go get him if you want.”

“Ye-”

“No, wait.” Everyone turned to look at the cowboy. “Maybe it would be best if we did this without Seifer, yeah?” He looked at the girls.

Quistis nodded but Selphie looked unsure. “But he should at least be here so we can tell him, right?”

Irvine moved towards the brunette. “Loo, we know Squall’s in Winhill so why not start telling the truth?”

Squall glanced between the three friends. “What? What’s happening? I don’t understand.”

Quistis studied him. “Who are you?”

“You know who I am.”

“Look Sq-, er whoever you are, maybe it would be best if you came with us now.”

“But Irvy, you said locking him up would be a last resort.”

Squall’s eyes went wide, staring at his so-called friends.

“Oops.” The little brunette realized her mistake.

Irvine lunged for the impostor. “Quick don’t let him call for Seifer!”

“What the- mhff!” Quistis slapped a hand over the brunette’s mouth.

Squall struggled, starting to panic. What the hell were his friends thinking? Why were they listening to the cowboy? He was a stranger and Squall didn’t trust him at all.

“What the hell are you two doing?!”

Everyone turned to see a half-naked Seifer standing in the doorway.

Quistis’ hand slipped from the impostor’s mouth. “Seifer! Help me, they’ve gone mad!”

The cowboy pushed ‘Squall’ backwards as the tall blonde loomed towards them.

Selphie stood in his way. “Seifer calm down, this is for your own good.”

His 6:2 frame towered over her 5:1 and he easily pushed her out of the way.

“That’s not Squall, he’s in Winhill! We phoned Zell.”

“What?” The blonde looked over at Quistis to see if what Selphie said was true. The blonde woman stepped up and gently touched Seifer’s arm. “I’m sorry, I know you love Squall but that’s not him.”

The blonde turned sad eyes on the brunette that was staring at him. Hesitantly Irvine moved aside to let Seifer near the impostor. “Who are you?”

Squall blinked in disbelief. This couldn’t be happened. Why didn’t they believe him?

“No, Seifer not you too. Please tell me you don’t believe them! Please!” His eyes pleaded with his lover.

The blonde looked into those grey/blue windows to his soul; Squall never showed anything emotional unlike this guy. Words could lie, but eyes couldn’t. This guy might not be Squall but he did love him.

Seifer wrapped his arms protectively around the brunette, glaring at his friends.

“We thought it would be best if we took him down to a holding cell.”

The blonde tightened his grip on Squall and fixed the glare on Irvine.

“Just for tonight, if he starts to cooperate.”

“No! You can’t take him!”

Quistis watched sadly. “Seifer, please. I understand but that’s not Squall.”

The blonde man’s eyes narrowed as the door opened and half a dozen SeeDs poured in, all fully armed. Irvine offered him a tight smile and gestured for him to give up the brunette.

“We don’t want to hurt you, but we have to question this guy, you understand, right?”

“Can I go with him?”

Quistis spoke up. “Of course you can.”

Seifer led the brunette out of the room, still tightly holding him. The SeeDs led the way. Squall looked fearfully at the strangers and tightly held his lover.

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