Just best friends
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: Squaresoft owns all the characters. I don’t own anything.
Just best friends
Chapter 3
Seifer patrolled the corridors near the cafeteria and the quad. He had the other members of the D.C. patrolling all around garden. Hs missed Raijin and Fujin. They were his best friends for years. No one could replace them, not even Squall.
But Squall was different.
He didn’t know how to put it exactly.
Squall was more than just a friend. Friends cheered you up by being supportive and funny, not by just being there like Squall could. When your friends were upset it hurts sure, but he couldn’t stand to see Squall in pain, it would tear him apart.
He felt like he had to protect Squall, he wanted to protect him.
If he were a girl Seifer would say he had a crush on Squall, but he knew he wasn’t gay.
The rumours people spread were childish. Since when did it matter if two guys were close friends. Squall wasn’t gay he’d dated girls. Well Rinoa was the only one he knew of, but he did look at girls he was sure of that.
~Flashback~
Irvine had forced Seifer and Squall to go out on the pull with him. In a pub in Balamb Irvine tried it on to every pretty girl in sight while Squall and Seifer just laughed. After the 12th rejection he came back to the table.
“You suck,” Seifer laughed.
“Like you could do any better.”
“I’m not in the mood.” Seifer turned to Squall. “What about you? You like any one here?”
Squall hesitated with a sad smile on his face. “No, I’m not bothered.”
Seifer’s smile faltered. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” His voice was sad and flat.
Irvine tapped Seifer on the shoulder.
“I bet you 10 gill that you have no better luck than I did.”
“You’re on.” Seifer smirked at Squall. “This’ll give you a laugh.”
Squall smiled for a second then quickly dropped it. His mood had decreased rapidly in the past few minutes and he knew if Seifer got luck tonight he’d be heart broken. He turned away and focused on the drinking. The next time Squall looked up Seifer was on the dance floor with a girl. His heart sunk.
“Dammit. Hey, Squall, you got 10 gill you can lend me.”
Silence.
“Irvine, I’m gonna head back to garden now okay?”
“What? Why? It’s still early.”
“I know. Tell Seifer I said bye.” Not that he’d care. He finished his drink and left.
Seifer smiled to himself. He’d beaten Irvine and gained 10 gill, not bad work for one night.
He looked up to grin at his friends. His smile vanished instantly, Irvine gave his a thumbs up but, Squall was nowhere in sight. He scanned the place first the bar then the dance floor finding no trace of his adorable brunette. He excused himself from his dance partner and walked over to Irvine.
The cowboy grinned. “Nice going. I don’t have any money on me so I’ll owe it to you and Squall said ‘bye.”
“What? He left?”
“Yeah about ten minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“I dunno he just left.”
Seifer frowned. “And you didn’t tell me because?”
“You were busy and anyway what does it matter? He wasn’t having fun.”
Irvine smirked looking behind him. “I think you have company.”
Seifer turned to see the girl he was dancing with standing behind him.
“Hey, buy me a drink?” She asked.
He paused. “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to leave.”
Irvine looked puzzled. “He can look after himself you know.”
Seifer stepped out into the dark street and walked down to the black railings that overlooked the sea. There were a few people there, mostly couples. One solitary figure stood out from the rest.
Seifer’s eyes were fixed on the figure who was trying his best to hide his tears. Seifer’s legs moved without his knowing. He approached the figure from behind. He caught sight of that tear-streaked face in the moonlight and he couldn’t resist. He carefully wrapped his arms around the waist of his best friend pulling the smaller body to his.
Squall gasped in shock.
“It’s me.” A voice said in his ear.
“What’s wrong? Why did you leave?”
Squall leaned back into Seifer’s embrace, resting his head on his friend’s strong chest.
“It’s nothing.”
“Do you always cry over nothing?”
“Nice view isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I can see why there are so many couples here. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t have an answer.”
“Will you come with me back to Garden?”
“Of course.”
Seifer reluctantly released Squall draping an arm over his friend’s shoulders as they walked home together.
~END FLASHBACK~
“Hi, Seifer.”
He looked up startled to see Quistis smiling at him.
“Er... Hey.”
“Oh, no. You’re been hanging out with Squall for too long. You just did that spaced out thing he does so well.”
He grinned sheepishly.
“I was just thinking.
“Ahh. Fancy some lunch?”
“Why not? It’s about time I had a break anyway.”
Seifer lapsed into silence again as they walked to the cafeteria.
“What were you thinking about?”
“Private stuff.”
That means love life stuff right?”
“I guess.”
“Sure you don’t want to share? You can trust me.”
Seifer smiled. “I know I can, Quisty, but it wasn’t my love life I was thinking of.”
“Oh?” She frowned.
They sat at a corner table. He leant across the table to avoid being over heard.
“Squall’s okay isn’t he?”
Quistis softly smiled. “Why’d you ask?”
“When was the last time you saw him with someone romantically?”
“Why are you worried about Squall’s love life?”
“I was thinking he might be lonely. He seems to get upset easily when we go out sometimes.”
“It’s not for me to say. I promised to keep quiet. Sorry.
“Rinoa’s the only person I’ve seen with him and that was more than a year ago. Besides Rinoa?” Seifer shuddered.
Quistis giggled. “You liked her before. What did she do to upset you? Dump Squall?”
“No, I was glad they split up.”
Quistis smirked. “Ah, so you didn’t like her with him.”
“Yeah.” He looked up at Quistis’ knowing smile.
“It’s not what you think. I care about him, but not in that way.”
“Are you sure about that?”
The blonde sighed. “No, I’m not sure, but I’m not gay. I’m positive I’m not gay.”
She nodded.
ATTENTION PLEASE. CAN QUISTIS TREPE AND SEIFER ALMASY PLEASE COME TO THE HEADMASTER’S OFFICE A.S.A.P. THANK YOU!
“You wanted to see us sir?” Quistis said as Seifer and herself entered the office.
“Yes. Three new cadets have been transferred from Trabia garden. They are ahead of all the classes but they still need training and I want you two to train them.”
“Us? Why? I would have thought Squall would be better.” Quistis asked.
The headmaster chuckled. “Do you really think Squall would have the patience for the job? Besides he’s got lots to do already. Any questions?”
“When do we start?”
“Tomorrow morning. I’ll leave it up to you two to plan a time table. Dismissed.”
Back in the cafeteria. Quistis had gone into serious mode thinking about their assignment.
“Will you come to my dorm at 1900 hours to plan the timetable?”
“I can’t. I have plans.”
“Seifer this is important I’m sure you can cancel whatever else you were going to do.”
Seifer shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He was supposed to go watch a new movie with Squall and he knew his friend had been looking forward to that for ages. Still this was important and the movie would still be there tomorrow. He’d make it up to Squall.
“Okay, on one condition.”
“What?”
“That we drop this boring crap until later and you answer me a question I’m been meaning to ask.”
“Okay what question?”
“You and Irvine.”
She blushed.
“Do you like him?”
“Maybe.”
He smirked. “Are you gonna tell him?”
“Of course not. He’s an avid lady’s man I don’t think he does relationships.”
“For you, I think he might.”
She blushed again.
“I know how to prove it.”
She looked up interested. “Really? How?”
“We could make him jealous.”
“You and me?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun.”
"You’re not coming onto me are you?”
Seifer scoffed. “No. No offence, but you’re not my type.”
“Yeah I know you prefer quiet brunettes.” She teased. “Fine you’re on and while you’re at it, you figure out whether what you feel for Squall is love or not.”
It was Seifer’s turn to blush. “Why is life so complicated?”
She smiled. “That’s what makes it interesting.”
“Quisty, about this timetable thing. Can’t we quickly make it up now?”
“Okay, I guess. Wow, to volunteer to miss your lunch break you must have big plans. What are you doing?”
“Going to see a movie with Sq... someone.”
She smiled knowingly. “Ah, someone. And you don’t want to disappoint this someone.”
“Right.”
Squall posed in front of his full length mirror. He tucked his shirt in and pulled it out again trying to decide which looked best. Whilst leaning forward, his precious hair had fallen out of place again. He’d spent ages gelling it down with about half a tub of hair gell.
He was dressed in leather pants with the usual three belts, a black shirt that in a certain light looked see-through and the usual fur rimmed leather jacket.
A knock at the door startled him from his preening. Checking everything was right one last time, before he opened the door to see Seifer dressed in usual gear. He still looked good, but to Squall Seifer could wear a bin liner and still look sexy.
“Hey, ready to go?”
“Yeah.” He smiled.
As Squall turned to close and lock the door Seifer raised an eyebrow at his friend.
“Are you sure you’ve got enough after shave on there Squall?”
“What? It’s good to be smart when you go out.”
“Yeah but there is such a thing as over doing it you know.”
Squall just shrugged.
“You want to walk to Balamb? I don’t felt like driving.”
“Okay.”
The night was cold and Squall shivered slightly as they walked to Balamb.
“So I heard you got a new assignment with Quistis.”
“Yeah, Some new cadets have been transferred and we gotta train them. Talk about boring.”
“So that’s what you were discussing with Quistis. Irvine told me you were with her all lunch.”
Seifer smirked. “We were talking. I was picking on her about Irvine.”
Squall raised his eye brows. “Irvine? Why?”
“She likes him. Haven’t you noticed?”
“No.”
“How can you not? It’s so obvious.”
Seifer stepped off the path to admire the view. The tide was high and the full moon danced on the waves. It was quite beautiful. His companion stood beside him. Seifer glanced at Squall, noticing how the moon rays shone through his hair making him look even more adorable than ever. He cocked his head as he continued to stare at his friend who had yet to notice. He was trying to resist running his fingers through the brunette’s hair.
“Shouldn’t we get going then?”
“Huh?” Seifer snapped quickly out of his trance as he looked up at the puzzled expression on Squall’s face.
“Something wrong? You’re looking at me funny.”
“Oh. It’s nothing. Let’s go before we miss our train.” Seifer quickly walked on ahead before Squall could question him again.
They walked to the station in silence. Squall had tried to make conversion several times, but Seifer seemed jumpy and kept answering in one word sentences.
Seifer entered the ticket booth at Balamb station stopping when the arrival sign caught his attention. They had missed their train.
“Excuse me.” He asked the ticket seller. “Was that the last train to F.H tonight?”
“Yes, sorry.” She smiled sympathetically.
Seifer sighed. Shoulders hunched he walked back to Squall who was leaning against a wall.
“Sorry we missed it.”
Squall stood up straight looking at Seifer. “Well, what now? You want to hang out in a bar or something?”
“Nah, I’m not in the mood for alcohol. You can go though if you want. I’m gonna go back to the beach.”
“The beach?! Why?”
“I’ve got thinking to do.”
Squall frowned. Why was Seifer acting so weird? He’d been different since he’d last seen him in the morning. Squall’s eyes narrowed. Since he’d been with Quistis. Irvine had said they had looked cuddly when he’d seen them. But Quistis knew how he felt about Seifer and she wouldn’t do that to him. Would she? And didn’t Seifer just say she liked Irvine. This didn’t make sense.
Seifer deep in thought walked out of Balamb. Squall didn’t hesitate to follow. With a choice to sit alone in a bar or to be with Seifer it wasn’t a hard choice.
Seifer looked down at the high tide. There were some rocks at the top of the beach that weren’t engulfed by the surf. He walked down the steps to the beach and clambered on to a decent sized rock. He glanced back at the stepped. It seemed Squall had decided not to join him. It was disappointing. Squall had looked beautiful under the moonlight and he’d wanted to see that again.
At the sound of footsteps he looked up. Squall stood gazing out to sea. His whole body was bathed in white light and he looked young and innocent. To Seifer he looked like an angel.
The blonde smiled as the brunette turned to face him.
“Seifer?”
“Come here.”
Squall sat beside his friend. “What is it?”
The night was perfect, it was too perfect. If Squall reacted badly, if he was straight or just not interested it would ruin everything and Seifer definitely didn’t want to do that.
“Will you sit here and admire the view with me for a while?”
Squall nodded.
The blonde put an arm around his companion and Squall leaned his head on Seifer’s shoulder.
END OF CHAPTER 3.
TBC.