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

Meant To Be

Chapter 16

By Purple Penguin

Squall hugged himself it was chillier than he thought. He smiled as he turned into Winhill, he was happy he had finally got a boyfriend, a nice one. He absently whistled to himself as he passed the old church with the boarded up windows. The brunette slowed down when he heard voices up ahead. He stopped and looked at the two guys he knew from his old school they weren’t the real bad guys but Squall was still wary. They hadn’t noticed him, they told there smoking and talking.

Squall backed away slightly. Better to be safe than sorry, he decided to go round the back way to his house, that way was darker and longer, he usually didn’t like to go that way but if he walked quickly it wouldn’t be that bad. Squall blocked out the journey, his mind drifted to Seifer. He only looked up when he heard glass smash; he thought he was alone, the broken glass lay at his feet.

The brunette slowly looked up at four guys from his old school, one them was one of the ones who attacked him in his new school when Seifer scared them off. His eyes widened when he saw the guy at the back in the shadows, it was Irvine. He couldn’t believe he’d hang out with those arse-holes. The cowboy also looking shocked to see him.

Kane was the first one to move closer to Squall; his eyes were glazed over with more than just alcohol.

“What do we have here? Didn’t expect see you again.”

One of the others, Zack his name was, sneered at Squall. “Is your boyfriend not here to protect you?”

The brunette swallowed and slowly backed up.

“Leave him alone guys, it’s not worth it.”

The two guys frowned at the cowboy. “Not siding with faggot are you Irvine? There were rumours about you two.”

The brunette didn’t hang around, as soon as they turned their backs he ran back the way he had come, they wouldn’t let him past without a fight and he couldn’t take all four of them on his own.

Zack glared at the cowboy. “Now look what you’ve done, you scared it away!”

Kane jumped up from the floor to follow Squall. Finally something to do, he was starting to get bored.

“Come on!” He gestured to Zack, who threw down his drink and followed him.

Irvine hesitated, as the other guy who was with them collapsed, but he soon hurried to catch up. “Wait up guys!”

Squall stopped outside the old church to catch his breath, he stared back to see if they followed him, he could heard drunken yelling and heavy footsteps so he didn’t stop for long. Squall pulled open the heavy stiff gate of the graveyard that surrounded the church. The windows in the building were boarded up but the door opened after only a little effort. As he slid inside the church the guys reached the gate, he was surprised Irvine was still with them, maybe they weren’t friends anymore but he didn’t think the cowboy would hurt him.

Squall remembered the church when it had been in use, now it was dark inside. He slipped through to the back where he remembered there was a back door. The brunette froze when he heard the door being opened and shouting from Kane and Zack, he didn’t hear Irvine but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there.

Squall fumbled around in the darkness, he was trying to be quiet but something clanged to the floor, he slapped a hand over his mouth even through he didn’t make the loud sound. He was sure they knew where he was by now but he kept moving until he heard the shuffle of feet from somewhere near him.

The brunette lashed out when someone touched his arm.

“OW! Jesus, Squall!” Someone familiar whispered.

“Irvine?”

“Yeah, I’m on your side I swear.”

Squall reached down to help the cowboy up. It was too dark to see each other so Irvine grabbed the other man’s hand and tugged him in the right direction.

Within a minute they were out the door and on the grass outside.

“Thanks.” Squall winced at Irvine cut and swollen lip. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Irvine gingerly touched his lip. “It’ll teach me to never sneak up on you again.”

They walked around the graveyard to the fence at the other side; they were half way over when the back door opened and Kane and Zack run out, yelling at Irvine for being a traitor.

“Don’t those guys ever give up?” Irvine muttered. He grabbed the brunette and ran up another road. “My house is just round the corner.”

“I know, I remember.”

Both guys ran up the road and into a gravel drive, Irvine hammered on the door. A woman with long brown hair answered the door. “No need to break the damn door in.” She frowned when Irvine and Squall pushed past her into the house. She shut the door and followed them into the living room.

“What’s going on? Irvy I thought you were with Kane and his friends.” She watched Squall peer through the curtains. “Squall I haven’t seen you for a while, what are you doing?”

“We were chased by some guys, bad guys.”

“What happened to your friends? You didn’t leave them did you?”

“They turned against me.”

“Why?”

“They were after me Mrs Kinneas, Irvine helped me, they’ve always hated me.”

“Well you’ll be safe here, you can stay here till tomorrow and you can walk back in the daylight.”

“Thank you Mrs Kinneas.”

She tutted. “Squall please, I’ve known you since you were able to walk call me Ann.”

The brunette smiled at her then turned back to the window.

Irvine’s mother put something on the low table. “Here, it’ll give you something to do to take your mind off staring out of the window.”

The cowboy smirked at the pack of cards. “Thanks mum.”

She frowned at him, studying him for a minute. “What happened to your face?”

He shrugged. “I stupidly snuck up on Squall.”

The brunette winced. “Sorry.” He said again.

Irvine shuffled the cards. “Want to play?”

Irvine’s mother brought him some ice from his lip and she handed Squall the phone. “Is there anyone you want to call?”

Squall took the phone and dialled Seifer’s number. He didn’t want to call home, they would think he was at Seifer’s place, if they knew it would only worry them. He waited a few minutes for someone to pick up but no one did. He sighed and hung up, Seifer wasn’t home yet.

He would go home tomorrow, now he just wanted to play cards and stop shaking.

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