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batsutousaiTitle: Noblesse Oblige
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison/tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhir
Chapters: 9 of 19
Rating: M
Pairings: Seifer/Squall, Irvine/Selphie, Zell/Xu, Quistis/OMC, Fujin/Raijin
Warnings: AU, major canon-buggery, OoC Squall, murder, slash/yaoi
Summary: No one thought to warn Squall against touching his younger self, and he leaves a part of himself behind when he returns to Time Compression.
A/N: I suppose I should warn that there's a bit of, erm, cross-dressing in this chapter. Poor Squall. XD
On the other hand, erm...
I finally got them together? Sorta.
XD
Oh, yeah. This is another kinda long chapter. Erm, it wouldn't stop.
I'm saying 'erm' a lot today, aren't I?
-0-0-0-
Don't Want the World
-0-0-0-
Seifer whistled a bit as they walked down the road to the Gustafson Manor.
"You're in an unusually good mood," Squall commented, hiking his bag a bit higher on his shoulder. Keeping Lion Heart inside tended to make it that much heavier, though walking around with his favoured weapon worn openly was just asking for an angry citizen to take a pot-shot. For the same reason, both he and Seifer had covered their scars again and wore clothing obviously not meant to be fought in, though they could have, if they needed to. "We just spent twenty hours on a train."
Seifer flashed him a grin. "I know. And now Chris is going to stuff me full of Jessie's best cooking."
Squall snorted, but he had to admit that he, too, was glad to be stopping in and visiting their adopted parents; Christal and Gregory had asked shortly after Squall's fifteenth birthday, five months ago, if they could formally adopt the two boys. Neither Squall nor Seifer had seen any reason to disagree, especially since they would be keeping their original last names – as much at their own request as for the safety of their new parents – and they had all agreed that fifteen was old enough to make their own decisions. The official change was just so the two SeeDs had somewhere they could call home and because the Gustafsons were getting older and they had no one to leave their wealth and home to upon their deaths.
The only thing that was a sticky subject – other than Christal's monthly attempts to get Squall and Seifer to resign from SeeD and find safer and less bloody professions – was what the two teens called their adopted parents. Having been orphans since before they could remember, neither boy was comfortable with using 'mom' or 'dad' to refer to anyone – hence the reason they'd only ever managed 'Mrs Dincht' when everyone else called her 'Ma Dincht' – not even their own adopted parents. It was something Squall had struggled with when thinking about Laguna or Raine, who he recognised as his biological parents, but he couldn't bring himself to even think of them with those terms.
Christal and Gregory had been a little upset to discover that the two boys weren't able to call them 'Mom' and 'Dad', but after a talk with Cid where he explained why Seifer and Squall couldn't, the Gustafsons backed off about the subject. They made do with the nicknames even Squall had finally started using and flushed with pride the one time Seifer referred to them in public as his parents.
"Well, well, if it isn't the prodigal sons, home from war at last," the guard at the front entrance of the manor called as the two teens came into range.
"Oh, shove a sock in it, Reg," Seifer shot back with good humour.
"Good afternoon, Reginald," Squall said as the guard pulled the gate open for them.
Reginald grimaced. "Come on, Squall, you know I hate my full name."
"And that's why he always uses it," Seifer replied with a grin while Squall just shrugged. "Is lunch ready?"
"Should be by the time you drop your stuff off in your rooms," Reginald agreed. "Kick Ed if he tries to forget to bring me some, would you? He keeps doing that..."
Seifer chuckled. "Will do."
The front door opened for them before they could reach it and the butler, Wyndham, nodded politely at them. "Good afternoon, Young Masters."
"Hey, Wyn," Seifer replied, grinning at the unsmiling man. He wasn't even sure that Wyndham liked him, honestly, considering he was always unfailingly polite to everyone, but he made Seifer envision a much older Squall and that always amused him.
Wyndham just blinked at him.
"We're taking our things upstairs," Squall said in the same even tone Wyndham had greeted them in. "Please let Chris and Greg know we'll join them in the dining room directly."
"Of course, Young Master Squall," Wyndham agreed, shutting the door behind them and turning to go to the dining room while the boys started up the grand staircase.
Their bags were left in their rooms and the two made their way downstairs to the dining room, where lunch was just being served.
"Hello, boys," Gregory said as the two teens stepped into the room. Next to him, Christal hurried from her own seat to bestow hugs on Seifer and Squall.
"Hey, Chris, Greg," Seifer replied, hugging his adopted mother tightly before leaving Squall to her, which the younger boy endured with his usual mix of fondness and irritation.
The food was served and Seifer immediately tucked in, starved from their trip. Next to him, Squall pinned Edgar – called 'Ed' by everyone except Squall and Wyndham – with a sharp look and said, "Reginald asked us to remind you to bring him food."
Edgar hurriedly swallowed his mouthful. "Yeah, yeah."
"By any means necessary," Seifer added between bites.
Edgar slouched in his seat a bit, well aware that the two boys could kick his arse six ways to Sunday without breaking a sweat. "As soon as I finish my plate," he promised.
Christal smiled at the byplay, then asked, "So what brings you boys to town? Is the President having panic attacks about his newest advisor already?" She smiled a bit, though the joke really wasn't much of one, considering Deling's last two advisors had been mysteriously murdered in their homes within three months of taking office. Truthfully, Squall and Seifer hadn't had anything to do with either murder, having been down south dealing with the occasional rebellions while they happened, but both Christal and Gregory were aware that the two teens had killed people before in their line of work.
"Not yet," Squall replied while Seifer continued to demolish his plate. "We're not even here for Deling, for once." Which was unusual, as he was almost always the one calling SeeD to Deling City.
Seifer swallowed his last mouthful and smiled when one of the kitchen ladies picked up his plate to refill it. "One of the neighbours is certain her husband is either seeing someone on the side, or plotting with conspirators. Either way, she wants us to follow him around for a bit and see what he's up to, then report back."
"So does that mean you'll be around during the day?" Christal asked hopefully. Most of the other members of the higher class left their clandestine meetings for the evenings, after all.
"Unless something comes up, yeah," Seifer agreed. "Thanks, Jessie," he added as the young woman set his plate back down in front of him. She winked before returning to her station near the door of the kitchen.
"We should have lunch out, then!" Christal exclaimed. "Maybe go to the cinema? Or one of the museums downtown..."
Squall and Seifer traded resigned looks while Gregory chuckled.
-0-
"I'm going with the prostitute theory," Seifer decided as their target, Lord Aaron Knightlinger, met up with a lovely young woman outside the Galbadia Hotel and walked in with her on his arm.
"There was nothing amorous about their greeting," Squall disagreed, rubbing carefully at the tip of his nose and resisting the urge to finger his scar, since that would disturb the make-up. "It's possible it's just a front."
"Maybe," Seifer conceded before pushing away from the wall of the building they'd been leaning against across the street from the hotel. "We'll have to come back tomorrow with bugs for any hotel rooms and actually dressed for the hotel club."
Squall nodded and moved away from the wall himself. "Let's go by the library; I'd rather check the hotel system from a public terminal than the one at the house." Hacking systems from Garden was one thing, but leaving a trail to the Gustafsons' manor was just asking to get their adopted parents in trouble. With any luck, Knightlinger always requested the same room, but if he just went with whatever was open, Squall could probably fix the system to point him towards a specific room; either way, he'd rather have a room to bug than go in blind.
At the public library, Seifer wandered through the stacks and grabbed a few books to check out that looked interesting while Squall hacked straight through the blocks on the library system and into the hotel system. He ran into a small snag when Knightlinger cleverly didn't use his own name to reserve a room, but the hotel security cameras, as crappy and outdated as they were, showed him and his lady friend going into a room signed out to a Miss Rose Hoyt. Miss Hoyt often requested that same room, and all those requests coincided with the dates given to the two SeeDs when Knightlinger hadn't been home until the early morning.
Squall slipped back out and wiped the browser memory, then got up and joined Seifer in the history section. "Why are you reading up on military history?" he wondered, picking up one of the three books in Seifer's pile and reading the description on the inside flap.
"It was that or the spy novels."
"Spy novels are more interesting." Squall put the book back on the pile. "These just look boring."
"Good, it'll help me sleep." Seifer put back the book he'd been looking at and picked up his stack. "Are we good to go?"
"Mm-hm."
Seifer checked out his books using his SeeD card – which would hide his name from their system, but allow them a direct line to deduct any fines from his account if the books ended up overdue – then they left the building and started the trek back to the manor.
"Her name is Rose Hoyt," Squall commented.
Seifer nodded. "I'll stay up and ring Garden tonight to request anything we've got on her."
"Is that your way of saying I shouldn't drag you out of bed at first light?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
Squall rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything else, someone running out of an alley slammed right into him and they both went down.
Seifer leaned down and pulled the young woman off Squall, giving her a narrow-eyed look while Squall got to his feet. "There a reason you're knocking into people without looking?" he demanded even as he took in the rips in her clothing and the trail of blood at the side of her throat.
"They're gonna kill me!" she gasped, panicked eyes looking back towards where she'd come from. "Please! You have to help me! Call the police! Something!"
A couple of men wearing nasty smiles appeared at the mouth of the alley, one of them flicking a switchblade opened and closed. "You'll have to excuse my sister, boys. She's not well," the one with the switchblade said in a smooth voice.
Seifer narrowed his eyes, tugging the frightened young woman behind himself. "I'd say you look like the reason she's not well. Maybe you should consider putting the knife away; it seems to be scaring her."
The man's nasty smile widened as another two men faded into view behind him and his friend. "Brave words from such a little kid. Why don't you just turn around and walk away?"
"So you can stab us in the back?" Squall asked quietly, his grey-blue eyes freezing over with disgust. Given, SeeD morals were questionable at the best of times, but there were some things that even they would never do, and terrorising young women in short skirts was on that list.
The man held his hands out in a motion of peace. "Do I look like the sort of guy who would do something like that?"
The two SeeDs snorted, then tensed when they sensed two more men appearing out of the night's shadows at their backs. They smoothly closed ranks, keeping the terrified young woman between them.
"Well, now you lost that chance, I'm afraid," the man said. "I want Violet alive, for now, but kill the kids."
"So your name's Violet?" Seifer asked in a light tone as he drew a couple of hidden knives.
"Y-Yes," the young woman stammered.
"Nice to meet you!" he said before bringing a foot up and snapping it up and under the chin of one of his opponents, causing the man's head to snap back painfully. Another man got a knife between the eyes with enough force to crack through the bone.
On Violet's other side, Squall was calmly taking out his own three opponents, slashing one's throat while stabbing another in the middle and violently ripping the knife through his stomach, sidestepping the spraying blood with the moves of long practise. The last one looked like he was thinking about running, but an ice spell at his feet caused him to lose his balance, giving Squall time to walk up to him and snap his neck.
The leader had fled as soon as he realised his men were losing, which left the two SeeDs and Violet surrounded by five dead bodies in the dark night.
Seifer sighed as he pulled his knife from the one man's head. "I think I remember promising Chris we weren't here to kill anyone this time," he commented to his best friend.
"Your books are going to get blood on them," Squall replied, nodding to where Seifer's three library books had fallen when he'd drawn his knives.
"Oops." Seifer shoved his knives away and stooped to rescue the books from a growing puddle of blood. Then he looked up at the young woman who was still standing there, frozen, and staring at one of the dead bodies like she wasn't sure how to feel. "Hey, Violet, you okay?"
Violet's gaze jerked up to meet the concerned green eyes. "What are you?" she whispered.
"SeeD," Squall said drily. "And we should probably get out of here before someone comes. Unless you want to get dragged to a station again." The last was directed at Seifer.
The blond rolled his eyes. "I maintain that that was Brooks' fault, not mine," he replied, referring to fellow SeeD, Brooks Pippin.
"I don't care whose fault it was," Squall shot back, gently taking Violet's elbow. "Come on."
Violet numbly let herself be led from the scene of violence. After a few steps, Seifer pulled off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, drawing on Ifrit's natural warmth to keep away the January chill. Violet pulled it tightly around herself, whispering, "Thanks."
Seifer shot her a smile. "Don't worry about it. You got anywhere we can take you to be with other people? A boyfriend's? Your parents' place?"
Violet shook her head. "No. I don't..." She bit her bottom lip. "I was sold to that man, Barry Semans. I don't have anywhere to go..."
Squall and Seifer traded sharp looks, wordlessly debating whether or not to take the girl back home with them. After a moment, they both nodded and Seifer said, "We'll take you home with us; our parents will welcome you, no problem."
Violet hugged the jacket tighter around herself. "I'm a prostitute, though–"
"And we're murderers," Squall interrupted bluntly, making the young woman flinch.
"Squall..." Seifer sighed. "Social skills."
Squall snorted, but gentled his tone to say, "We chose our profession, you didn't."
"But they're your parents," Violet insisted.
"Adopted, yeah," Seifer agreed with an easy smile.
Violet stared up at him in surprise. "A...dopted?"
"Yup! So, really, don't worry about it." Seifer glanced over her head at Squall. "Bus?"
Squall nodded. "Probably a good idea."
They made their way to one of the many bus stops and Squall paid for all three of them while Seifer staked out some seats in the back. There were a couple other patrons who shot odd looks at the group, but Squall's icy glare convinced them to turn their attention elsewhere for the duration of the trip. By the time they reached the high class area of the city, they were the only three people on the bus – most people in this area didn't travel by bus – and Violet had fallen into a doze against Seifer's shoulder.
They weren't quite at the closest stop to the Gustafson manor when Squall reached over and pulled the signal to let them off, ever cautious about implicating their adopted parents any more than they did by simply visiting them during missions.
Seifer gently shook Violet's shoulder. "Hey, wake up. We're getting off."
Violet's head jerked up and she stared around for a moment with fear in her eyes. But then she took in the bus and relaxed. "Huh? Oh. Sorry..."
"Don't worry about it." Seifer smiled and helped her up as the bus came to a stop.
They waited on the pavement, unmoving, until the bus had moved out of sight, then started in the direction of the manor. It was about a fifteen minute walk, and they'd been walking for about ten of those minutes when Violet realised, "I don't know your names."
"Huh." Seifer shrugged. "I'm Seifer, he's Squall."
Violet nodded and they remained quiet for the rest of the walk.
"Uh-oh, someone got a girl," Edgar commented jokingly from his guard post as the three stepped in through the gate.
Seifer smiled at the guard. "Ed, shut up before I give you a new breathing hole."
Edgar mimed zipping his mouth shut. "Greg is still up, but I think Lady Chris went to bed already," he offered, moving his lips as little as possible.
"Are you trying to say something, Ed?" Seifer asked sweetly as he reached for a knife.
Squall grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the shrinking guard. "He's not worth it," he said to his friend, motioning for Violet to follow them.
Violet hurried to move in step with them, eyeing the manor with some trepidation. "I could always get a hotel room..."
"Woman, stop worrying," Seifer ordered as he pushed the front door open. "Greg? You still up?"
Gregory stepped out of his study as Squall closed the door behind them. He took a quick moment to consider the three younger people in the foyer, then turned to Squall, who tended to be more concise in his explanations. "I was under the impression this was a quick surveillance check."
Seifer snorted as he gently removed his coat from Violet's shoulders and accepted Squall's own light jacket before moving to hang them both up.
Squall shrugged. "It was. We ran into some trouble on the way back. Violet was sold into prostitution and her owner–" he spat the word, "–wasn't interested in letting her remain free when she got away."
Gregory nodded in understanding. "Seifer, perhaps a sandwich for our guest? Squall, have Laila make up one of the rooms and wake Chris; some of her older clothing should fit Miss Violet." Both boys shot off quick SeeD salutes, then moved off to follow his directions while Gregory motioned for Violet to follow him into the receiving room, which she did with wide eyes. "Have a seat, child," the master of the house directed as he took his own seat. "You look as though a strong wind might knock you over."
Violet practically fell into the loveseat, still staring at the man with wide eyes.
"Good. I am Lord Gregory Gustafson and my wife is Lady Christal. While you remain our guest, you may refer to us as Greg and Chris."
"Oh, I couldn't," Violet breathed.
"I think I remember saying something similar the first time I met Chris," Seifer commented as he entered the room with a tea tray. He set it on the coffee table and pressed a plate with two sandwiches into Violet's hands. "Eat those or I'll be insulted. Tea, Greg?"
Gregory chuckled. "Please."
Christal came swooping in, then, with Squall following at an easy pace. "This must be Violet. Well, dear, welcome to our home. I'm Chris, and you've already met Greg and the boys. Finish your sandwiches, then we can find you something nicer to wear and into a bed, perhaps."
"Yes, ma'am," Violet replied, looking a little cowed.
Christal smiled, then turned and touched the side of Seifer's face. "You're a good boy. Both of you." Her gaze flickered to where Squall had stopped at Seifer's elbow.
Gregory nodded and stood with his tea. "Indeed they are. Chris, I'll leave Miss Violet to you. Boys, my study?"
"Good night, Chris, Violet," Seifer said as he handed a cup of tea over to Squall. He grabbed his own before they fell in behind their adopted father, leaving the two women to sort themselves out. In the study, the two teens settled into the chair in front of the desk while Gregory took his own seat.
"How many dead thugs won't be showing up in the papers tomorrow?" Gregory wondered.
"Only five," Seifer said pleasantly.
"So far," Squall added under his breath.
Gregory sighed. "So you intend to pursue this?"
"We killed five of this guy's men and took one of his girls," Squall said drily, "I don't think it matters whether we intend to pursue it or not; it will pursue us."
"I suppose so." Gregory shook his head. "I know you two are always careful, but take special care in dealing with these people; they don't respect or fear SeeD like the normal populace, and they won't fight by any rules."
"Neither do angry mobs," Seifer pointed out, "and we've dealt with plenty of those."
"Angry mobs don't usually carry guns," Gregory replied.
"Hm. Yes, that could be a problem..."
"We'll be careful," Squall promised. "Seifer's already ringing Garden tonight to check something with our current mission; he can ask about this group at the same time."
"Very well..."
-0-
Early the next morning, before anyone in the house was awake, Squall crept into town and bugged the hotel room for their mission. He took the household car and wore a wig that was dirty blond to keep anyone who might have been looking from recognising him from the night before.
When he got back to the house, Christal, Gregory, and Violet were all up and just sitting down to breakfast. "Good morning," he said to them as he took his usual seat.
Christal covered a smile. "Squall, your wig."
Squall blinked, then reached up and pulled off both the wig and the cap, which he set to one side. "Forgot I was wearing that..." he murmured, earning him laughter from the two women and a fond smile from Gregory.
Seifer didn't end up coming down for breakfast and Jessie was clearly worried, twisting her hands into knots. When Squall rose from the table, she asked, "Is Seifer sick?"
Squall blinked in surprise and glanced at a clock. "No, he's just lazy. I'll take some food up to him and kick him out of bed."
"I could take the food up..." Jessie murmured.
Squall pinned her with an icy gaze. "I need to talk to him anyway. A tray, Jessie."
The young woman huffed and stalked into the kitchen. Behind Squall, Christal tsked. "Squall, that was a little rude. She's just worried about Seifer."
"You mean she wants to bed Seifer," Squall retorted, scowling.
Violet giggled. "He is rather cute."
Squall shot Violet an irritated look, which got both her and Christal laughing. As soon as Jessie reappeared with the tray, he took it and stalked from the room.
Seifer was just pulling on a shirt when Squall stalked into the room, scowling. "Wow, you are in a mood. What ticked you off this time?"
"Women," Squall snarled, setting the tray on the side table next to the bed.
"Uh-oh. Is Squally finally hitting puberty?"
"I will gut you."
Seifer laughed and settled on the edge of his bed to eat. "Sit down. Are the bugs planted?"
Squall huffed and settled onto the far end of the bed, his wig set next to him. "Yes. Any luck with Hoyt and Semans?"
Seifer nodded and turned a bit so he could see Squall better. "Rose Hoyt is twenty-six and a Timber native who moved to Deling two years ago. She's definitely in the prostitute business, and she doesn't seem to be affiliated with any of the Timber resistance groups. Her parents, however, are the founding members of the Train's Tracks, one of the largest groups, and the only one active at this time."
"So it's possible Hoyt is passing information between Knightlinger and the Train's Tracks," Squall deduced.
"My thoughts exactly. We'll just have to keep watching him until we're sure, one way or another. I'm not sure how much information about troop movements or whatever a Lord can get–"
"He's close to General Caraway," Squall interrupted, shaking his head. "Caraway is in charge of the Timber area right now, so he would be able to gather information about whatever caught his fancy." He sighed. "It's probably why Rinoa decided to join the resistance."
Seifer snorted. "Ah, Rinoa. Is she still with daddy dearest right now?"
"For the moment," Squall agreed. "From what I know of her timeline, she should be heading to Timber shortly after her sixteenth birthday. So... next year sometime." He shook the thoughts of Rinoa away and asked, "Semans?"
Seifer's expression turned grim. "He's a fucking ghost, practically. He appeared three years ago in Deling City and started up a prostitution ring, which appeared legit, at the time. The old city boss at the time took him to task for starting a business in his town with his consent, then wound up dead two days later. Since then, Semans has been the unofficial city boss and his prostitution ring has been getting shadier and shadier.
"As for his background, we've got nothing. He's not on any of the registries – fuck, the name Semans isn't on any of them – so I can't tell you where he's from, what his folks are like, what sort of training he's had... Nothing." Seifer stabbed a breakfast sausage and took an irritated bite out of it.
Squall leaned forward and traced a finger over his scar, not caring if the make-up came off, since they'd almost certainly be remaining in the house until he and Seifer went out that night. "Trabia's records have always been a little sketchy, especially in the remote areas, but if he came from up there, he would have been more likely to set up in Dollet. FH doesn't keep a registry, and we don't have access to Esthar's databases, so he could have come from either of those places. Given his violent leanings, I'm going to guess Esthar."
"Well, that's just fucking great." He stabbed another breakfast sausage.
Squall snorted. "That means he's had access to advanced technology and Odine's pet projects for most of his life. I don't know much about their underground community, but I know their people in general aren't any more special than your average civilian on this side of the Horizon Bridge. I say, treat him like he's a high-ranked SeeD with GFs and magic junctioned."
Seifer sighed. "So, basically treat him like we're facing ourselves? Sure, should be a hoot."
Squall rolled his eyes. "We should probably go after Semans during daylight, given his business's natural after dark inclinations."
"You're going to drag me out of bed at the ass-crack of dawn tomorrow, aren't you?"
Squall smirked in response.
Seifer sighed again and set his fork down on the tray, finished, before turning on the bed to completely face Squall. "So, how do you want to handle Knightlinger tonight? If we go out as ourselves, that's just asking for trouble, but we'll never get anything if the receiver isn't close enough to pick things up."
Squall shrugged. "We go disguised. Both wear wigs–" he held his up, "–suits, and take the car. We could give you a nice scar and claim you were in the army." His eyes danced with wicked humour at the thought.
Seifer's lips curled with an evil little smile. "That might not be enough, though. That's not really the sort of club a couple of guys go to together. Now, a guy and a girl–"
"Fuck. No."
"Come on, Squally. You always look so fetching in that dre– Mumph!" Seifer pulled the wig out of his face and laughed to see Squall stalking from the room.
Because Squall had inherited so much of his mother's facial features and was naturally slender, he was one of the few male SeeDs capable of posing as a female without it looking particularly suspicious. The first time they'd talked him into a dress had been due to a bet the teen had lost against Selphie, and the little firecracker had demanded Squall pose in one of Quistis' few dresses – she would have used her own, but they were all too small. Seifer had proceeded to tease Squall horribly about it until Squall kicked his arse in a spar and threatened to take his head off if he didn't quit with the girl jokes. Wisely, Seifer had agreed to forget the event had even occurred.
About a month after that, Squall had been on a mission with Quistis that ended up requiring two women to gain access to the information they'd needed and Squall had, again, been forced into a dress. Except, that time, in the spirit of it being a mission, he hadn't run off in a huff after ten minutes and actually stuck it out for the full three hours the two were staked out. According to Quistis, he'd almost seemed to enjoy it, by the end, managing a rather good coy smile that had Quistis tripping over her feet.
After that success, Cid had suggested – it would have been an order if he thought that would have worked – Squall look into procuring his own female disguise for any future emergencies. Squall had waffled about it for a good month before Seifer had finally teamed up with Fujin and Selphie and dragged the boy out to get a couple dresses, some A-cup bras, a pair of flats – it would have been heels, but Squall had helpfully pointed out that heels would just get in the way, though he supposed they could act as a quasi dagger in a pinch – a slew of make-up, and a rather lovely wig that was almost the same shade as Squall's natural hair. Seifer had only seen Squall in the dresses while he'd been trying them on and, so far as he knew, Squall had never had to go to such drastic measures a second time.
'If he really does it, I am so taking pictures,' Seifer decided as he got up to return his tray to the kitchen.
-0-
"Seifer, get in here," Squall called as Seifer walked past the younger teen's cracked door to start getting his own disguise ready. Squall had vanished a good forty minutes before with no real explanation, but Seifer had just guessed he was being his usual pernickety self.
Seifer pushed the door open, only to stop and stare upon finding Squall struggling with the back of the silky grey evening gown he'd bought all those months ago. "Holy Hyne, you're actually doing it."
"Help me with this fucking dress or I'm ripping it to shreds," Squall snapped, shooting a glare over his shoulder.
Seifer hurried over and took over the zipper, which had caught on the back of the bra. Once that was done, he stepped back to watch Squall pull on the wig. "You're unarmed?" he realised, not seeing any sign of weapons on his friend.
Squall tapped his thigh and Seifer could see the faint outline of a knife sheath. "The handbag has a pistol in it, and my necklace is sharp enough to be used as a knife." He waved towards where an elegant silver stick on a chain sat next to the handbag that matched the dress. "And there's always the hair sticks, I suppose..." So saying, he reached back and twirled the long hair behind his head to make a bun, then reached for a couple wooden sticks with silver and blue flowers dangling from the ends, which he stuck in the bun to make it stay. "Go get dressed."
"Yes, ma'am!" Seifer replied, then ran for it. He made it around the doorway just ahead of the knife Squall had thrown after him, which stuck fast in the wall across the hall from the half-open door.
Chuckling to himself, Seifer slipped into his own room. It didn't take him long to slip into his suit and hide his own assortment of knives and a small handgun on his person. The dark, one-wash dye for his hair and the make-up over his scar took him a little longer, and by the time he finished and stepped back out into the hall, Squall was pulling the knife out of the wall and returning it to his leg sheath, make-up and jewellery in place.
Seifer considered his options for a moment – specifically, the likelihood of him getting stabbed for complimenting his best friend – then decided it was worth the risk and said, "You look, erm... nice?"
Squall shot him a look, painted lips pressed into a thin line for a moment before his expression smoothed out and he stepped over to take Seifer's arm. "I'm going to take that as an actual compliment, rather than further teasing."
Seifer let out a breath. "Good. I really wasn't looking forward to ruining a tux."
"Any further jokes about my outfit will make the tux the least of your worries," Squall promised him. "Now, let's get out of here before Chris or Greg sees me."
Seifer chuckled and clasped a hand around the one on his arm. "Oh, no, we are getting a picture of this."
"We are not!" Squall hissed back, tugging on his arm to free it from Seifer, but the older teen had expected that and held on all the tighter. "Seifer, let me go."
Seifer grasped for an idea to get Squall to agree to the photo and settled on, "You know at least one of them is going to catch us when we get back – they always do – and they'll want the photo then, after we've been out for hours and are thoroughly sick of each other and these costumes."
Squall sighed, conceding to the point. "Fine. But you're going in first and explaining things to them."
"Yeah, okay," Seifer agreed and they made their way down the staircase, Squall remaining on Seifer's arm mostly so he could get used to it. At the bottom of the stairs, Seifer let go and made his way into the small sitting room just past the receiving room, where Christal and Violet were watching some comedy or another on the television while Gregory read the evening paper. "Hey, we're about to head out," Seifer announced.
They all glanced up and Christal smiled. "You look so handsome, Seifer. Where's Squall?" Next to the woman, Violet was staring at Seifer like she'd never seen a man in a tux before, though Seifer supposed it could have been the almost-black hair that was earning the look. Or surprise that a violent SeeD could actually pull off fine dress?
Seifer grimaced. "Well, see, for our cover, Squall sort of agreed to dress up as my date. So he's wearing a dress." They all stared at him for a moment in disbelief, but then Gregory's lips twitched and Seifer hurried to add, "He gets really violent if you laugh, Greg. Please, for the love of Hyne, don't upset him."
"Yes, don't," Squall added in a silky voice as he stepped into the room and came to a stop at Seifer's elbow.
"Squall, you look absolutely lovely!" Christal exclaimed, quickly getting out of her seat. "Where's my camera?"
"Told you she'd want a photo," Seifer muttered.
Squall just sighed and shook his head.
Gregory set his paper aside and helpfully told Christal, "Check my study, Chris."
Christal flashed her husband a smile and hurried past the two teens in the doorway, saying, "I won't be but a minute. Don't move."
Gregory chuckled and leaned back in his chair, considering his two adopted sons with a faint smile. "Your mother must have been beautiful, Squall."
Squall flushed under his make-up and thought he might understand why women wore so much. "She was," he murmured, looking away. He'd mentioned, in a letter to Christal and Gregory years ago, that he looked very much like his mother, according to the people of his birth village, but he honestly hadn't expected Gregory to remember that. Given, both Gregory and Christal had already been overly fond of the two youngest SeeDs, even then, so he supposed it made sense that they would have taken care to remember every tiny detail Seifer and Squall provided them.
Christal hurried back in, camera in hand. "There we are. Okay, boys, closer together."
Squall placed his hand back on Seifer's arm and stepped just that littlest bit closer, and Seifer placed his free hand on top of Squall's, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Christal smiled at them. "Wonderful. Now, smile... you too, Squall."
Squall let out an irritated sound, which made Seifer and Gregory chuckle, but relaxed his face into a smile. When Seifer squeezed his hand gently in a silent show of support, the smile came much more naturally.
Christal took quite a few shots before she lowered the camera and beamed at them. "Okay, go have fun."
"Work is not 'fun', Chris," Squall informed her matter-of-factly.
"Oh, you know what I mean." Christal waved them off.
Seifer chuckled as they both turned to leave. Just before they could fully exit the room, Violet – who had watched everything in silence with an odd, almost jealous expression on her face – said, "You two look really good together."
Seifer shot her a smile over his shoulder. "Thanks, Violet."
They managed to get out of the house and into the car without further distractions. Seifer took the driver's seat while Squall took the passenger seat, since it was rather unusual to see a female driving in Deling – though not impossible – especially an upper class female, like Squall was dressed as.
Edgar hit the controls for the car gate, then came over to poke his head through the window while it slowly opened. "Evening, Seifer, Miss." He cocked his head to one side. "Where's Squall?"
Seifer snorted, but it was Squall who said, "I'm right here, you blind idiot."
Edgar turned wide eyes on Squall. "Holy fuck, it is you! Why are you dressed like a chick? Some sort of kink–"
Squall casually pulled the pistol from his purse and cocked it between Edgar's eyes. "Continue," he practically purred.
Edgar's mouth snapped shut and he quickly backpedalled away from the car.
Seifer burst out laughing while his friend slipped the gun away. "I think you're actually more frightening as a woman, Squally."
Squall smirked faintly. "I suppose I had to get something out of this ridiculous costume. And call me Raine."
Seifer nodded in understanding and slipped out the gate once it finished opening all the way. "Does that mean I'm Laguna?"
Squall sighed. "Yes, might as well." He glanced back towards the house with a faint frown. "The gate wasn't that slow this morning."
Seifer glanced up through the windshield. "Maybe the cloud cover is worse?"
Squall shook his head. "That shouldn't affect the gate. It's a remote-controlled system run on ra...dio... Oh."
"Oh?" Seifer chanced a glance at the younger teen. "You have to give me more than 'oh', Squ– Raine."
"I told you that long-range radio communication is impossible because of Adel's Tomb, right?"
"...Oh."
Squall nodded and turned to look out the window at the passing city. "It doesn't happen often, but my guess is that the Tomb happens to be on the near side of the moon right now, and the moon is directly over the city. Not that we can see it, with the cloud cover."
"Is that going to be a problem with the bugs?" Seifer asked, frowning.
"Possibly," Squall agreed. "The radio signals for the gate are relatively weak, and Galbadia Garden boosted the output on the bugs for days that the interference is particularly bad, but there's no guarantee that we'll be able to catch the signal in the club, since Knightlinger and Hoyt's room is the top of the hotel, on the opposite side from the club. We might be better off just getting a room near them."
"So our fun night out on the town is completely skipping the 'fun' and going to the 'fucking in the hotel room'?"
"Don't be crude."
Seifer chuckled. "Do you want me to get us a room as soon as we get there, then? Or try the club, first?"
Squall considered that for a moment, then shook his head. "We'll go for the room, first; I'd rather not chance missing anything important."
"Sounds good."
-0-
"Okay, he's got a pretty sweet deal, there: Sex with a pretty woman and a contact to pass information on to," Seifer said as Knightlinger finally left.
"Whatever." Squall stood from the bed where he'd been perched and took a moment to stretch. He'd been off and on dozing for the past hour, being more of a morning person. Seifer had faithfully transcribed all of the actual talking that had come through the bugs, knowing the younger teen would want to read it when he felt more awake.
Seifer took a moment to stretch himself, having been sitting in the same chair for almost three hours, then stood and started gathering the receiver and his notes. "Do we need to do this again tomorrow?"
"No." Squall headed for the bathroom, pulling the sticks out of his mussed wig so he could fix it. "Caraway's got a party planned for tomorrow night that he'll be going to, and the night after that is dinner and a film with his wife." He stepped back out of the bathroom, hair once again immaculate. "You heard more than I did; do we need to return for another night?"
Seifer considered that for a moment before shrugging. "I'd kind of like to know what he's getting out of this, other than the sex. Betraying your wife from an arranged marriage is one thing, betraying your country is something completely different, especially when the price is so high."
"We may not be able to find out why he's doing this," Squall pointed out. "He may be getting no more than grim satisfaction."
Seifer shrugged again. "There's always a chance, and Cid would hardly begrudge us an extra week with our parents; that's the only reason I can see for him sending us on a rookie mission."
Squall snorted. "If he needs us back, he can ring the house; yes, we can keep on this for another week."
Seifer smiled at him, then motioned to the door. Squall took a moment to check that he had everything, then nodded and they stepped out.
The trip out of the hotel was fine, but a couple of young men were hanging around the car park, looking for trouble, and they zeroed right in on Seifer and Squall.
"Lookin' fine tonight," one of them said, eyeing Squall like something particularly tasty on a buffet line.
"I know, why don't you dump this loser and come have a good time with us?" the other one added, licking his chops.
"What is it about us that brings suicidal idiots flocking?" Seifer wondered tiredly.
"They're suicidal, clearly," Squall replied in the same light voice he'd been using all night to disguise his gender, before shooting the two punks a cold look. "Fuck off, boys."
"Now, now, that's not the way a pretty lady should be talkin'," the first one replied with an easy smile as he stepped within reach and touched a hand to the side of Squall's face.
"I don't know if you're deaf or just really fucking stupid," Seifer hissed as he clicked off the safety of his gun and pressed it against the side of the punk's head, "but when a lady says to fuck off, you fuck off."
The other punk, who had stayed back, let out a laugh as the safety of another gun clicked off and he pointed it at Seifer. "No one wants this to turn ugly, so why don't you put the gun down?"
Squall had used Seifer's distraction to pull his own gun from his purse and he stepped forward to press it against the crotch of the guy in front of him. "Tell your friend to lower his gun, or I make you a eunuch," he murmured with a dangerous smile.
The punk's eyes widened and he raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "Ted, man, lower the gun; this chick's way too serious for us."
The other guy lowered his gun and Seifer backed off, lowering his own gun. Squall nodded and moved his pistol from the guy's crotch. "Go."
The two punks ran for it, clearly not willing to chance any further rich people that night. Squall and Seifer both slipped their guns back away once they were out of sight.
Voices sounded from deeper inside the car park, heading for the entrance and the two SeeDs. They both took a moment to look each other over, ensuring everything looked innocent.
"Sq–Raine, your make-up," Seifer realised. When Squall sent him a confused look, he clarified, "Your scar."
"Fuck." Squall reached for the bag he usually kept a small, travel-size thing of the make-up in, only to remember he'd left it attached to his trousers back in his room, having forgotten to transfer it. "Fuck. Do you have yours–?"
Seifer shook his head. "Didn't think I'd need it."
The group coming from inside the car park was just coming into view, and the area was too well-lit for them to miss the scar. Of course, it was always possible that they wouldn't think anything of it, especially on a woman, but it wasn't a chance Squall was willing to take.
So he turned and used Seifer's jacket to pull the slightly taller teen down for a kiss.
Seifer was momentarily stunned, but then he was sliding his arms around Squall's waist, pulling the younger teen just that littlest bit closer and trapping Squall's hands between them. He tilted his head slightly, getting their noses out of the way, and pressed back with equal force.
Squall had a memory of one, slightly awkward, kiss between the Ghost and Rinoa, and he honestly hadn't thought much of kissing, after that memory. But now, with Seifer, it didn't feel awkward or forced. There wasn't even any real confusion, just the sense that this was where they'd been going for all those years at each others' sides, training and going on missions together. Always thinking, first, of how the other one was doing during downtime when they were apart.
Seifer finally managed to pull back, one of his hands leaving Squall's waist to cup his cheek. "Well," he croaked and cleared his throat. "That was...unexpected..."
Squall freed one of his hands and covered Seifer's hand on his cheek. "But not entirely unpleasant," he replied carefully, his own voice unexpectedly rough.
"Rather the opposite, I think," Seifer agreed.
Squall took a deep breath and took a few steps back. The hand on his waist dropped away, but the hand on his face remained, as did his own covering it. "We should head back; early morning tomorrow."
"Yeah," Seifer agreed, but neither of them moved.
A loud laugh outside, from the street, jerked them back to reality and they finally dropped their hands from where they'd been pressed together over Squall's cheek. Seifer moved to Squall's side and he slipped his hand back onto Seifer's arm before they started to the car.
The trip back to the manor was silent, both of them wondering where this was going, but neither willing to be the first to ask. They remained silent on the way through the car gate – opened by Trigg, the night guard – and into the house, which was darkened with the late hour, everyone else asleep.
Outside Squall's room, before the younger teen could do more than open it a crack, Seifer said, "Squall?" and Squall glanced back at him questioningly. Seifer took one step forward, closing the distance between them, and cupped Squall's cheek again. "I'm going to kiss you," he murmured, then leaned in to do so.
Squall's hands moved, almost of their own volition, to rake through Seifer's darkened hair. Seifer let out a strange sound – half-growl, half-moan – and pulled back for a moment before pressing his lips back against Squall's with far more force.
This time, it was Squall who brought an end to the kiss, pulling back and putting a finger against Seifer's lips before the other boy could start again. "I'm waking you up at six," he warned.
Seifer groaned. "Hyne damn it all."
Squall offered him a small, honest smile. "Good night, Seifer."
Seifer's hand, which had remained on Squall's cheek, caressed the side of his face once, then dropped away. "Good night, Squally," he replied, turning to move on to his own room.
Behind him, Squall touched his cheek, which seemed to almost burn from Seifer's touch, then shook his head and slipped into his room to get out of his dress and make-up. 'Maybe dressing up as a girl isn't so bad,' he thought. 'If we hadn't been acting as lovers, I never would have thought to kiss him. And then where would we be?'
-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-
A/N: Ahahah... The world conspired against me during that last bit. Shara came home from work, then my father called, then dinner was ready... It's kinda hard to eat and type at the same time.
I guess Barry Semans will just have to wait a chapter. XD
Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season, whatever you celebrate. (For the record, I celebrate Yule, but I won't go into a apocalyptic fit if you wish me 'Happy Christmas' or whatever. XP)
Updates for both Noblesse and Sins will continue on their stated days, in spite of the many coming holidays, worry not.
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
1 - Touch of Memory ||| 2 - No One Here to Save
3 - Burn Up the Tracks
4 - Orphans and Widows ||| 5 - Close the Last Window ||| 6 - Melodies of Life
7 - Lie Under the Night ||| 8 - Not Invincible |||9 - Don't Want the World
10 - Dance With the Enemy ||| 11 - Everything I Have in This World ||| 12 - Running Out of Days
13 - Wake Up and Fight ||| 14 - Crimson Sky ||| 15 - Heroes Waiting
16 - Light in My Eyes ||| 17 - Lying Next to a Ghost ||| 18 - Living For Today
19 - Some Things Are That Simple
..
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/
batsutousaiBeta: Shara Lunison/
tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhirChapters: 9 of 19
Rating: M
Pairings: Seifer/Squall, Irvine/Selphie, Zell/Xu, Quistis/OMC, Fujin/Raijin
Warnings: AU, major canon-buggery, OoC Squall, murder, slash/yaoi
Summary: No one thought to warn Squall against touching his younger self, and he leaves a part of himself behind when he returns to Time Compression.
A/N: I suppose I should warn that there's a bit of, erm, cross-dressing in this chapter. Poor Squall. XD
On the other hand, erm...
I finally got them together? Sorta.
XD
Oh, yeah. This is another kinda long chapter. Erm, it wouldn't stop.
I'm saying 'erm' a lot today, aren't I?
Don't Want the World
-0-0-0-
Seifer whistled a bit as they walked down the road to the Gustafson Manor.
"You're in an unusually good mood," Squall commented, hiking his bag a bit higher on his shoulder. Keeping Lion Heart inside tended to make it that much heavier, though walking around with his favoured weapon worn openly was just asking for an angry citizen to take a pot-shot. For the same reason, both he and Seifer had covered their scars again and wore clothing obviously not meant to be fought in, though they could have, if they needed to. "We just spent twenty hours on a train."
Seifer flashed him a grin. "I know. And now Chris is going to stuff me full of Jessie's best cooking."
Squall snorted, but he had to admit that he, too, was glad to be stopping in and visiting their adopted parents; Christal and Gregory had asked shortly after Squall's fifteenth birthday, five months ago, if they could formally adopt the two boys. Neither Squall nor Seifer had seen any reason to disagree, especially since they would be keeping their original last names – as much at their own request as for the safety of their new parents – and they had all agreed that fifteen was old enough to make their own decisions. The official change was just so the two SeeDs had somewhere they could call home and because the Gustafsons were getting older and they had no one to leave their wealth and home to upon their deaths.
The only thing that was a sticky subject – other than Christal's monthly attempts to get Squall and Seifer to resign from SeeD and find safer and less bloody professions – was what the two teens called their adopted parents. Having been orphans since before they could remember, neither boy was comfortable with using 'mom' or 'dad' to refer to anyone – hence the reason they'd only ever managed 'Mrs Dincht' when everyone else called her 'Ma Dincht' – not even their own adopted parents. It was something Squall had struggled with when thinking about Laguna or Raine, who he recognised as his biological parents, but he couldn't bring himself to even think of them with those terms.
Christal and Gregory had been a little upset to discover that the two boys weren't able to call them 'Mom' and 'Dad', but after a talk with Cid where he explained why Seifer and Squall couldn't, the Gustafsons backed off about the subject. They made do with the nicknames even Squall had finally started using and flushed with pride the one time Seifer referred to them in public as his parents.
"Well, well, if it isn't the prodigal sons, home from war at last," the guard at the front entrance of the manor called as the two teens came into range.
"Oh, shove a sock in it, Reg," Seifer shot back with good humour.
"Good afternoon, Reginald," Squall said as the guard pulled the gate open for them.
Reginald grimaced. "Come on, Squall, you know I hate my full name."
"And that's why he always uses it," Seifer replied with a grin while Squall just shrugged. "Is lunch ready?"
"Should be by the time you drop your stuff off in your rooms," Reginald agreed. "Kick Ed if he tries to forget to bring me some, would you? He keeps doing that..."
Seifer chuckled. "Will do."
The front door opened for them before they could reach it and the butler, Wyndham, nodded politely at them. "Good afternoon, Young Masters."
"Hey, Wyn," Seifer replied, grinning at the unsmiling man. He wasn't even sure that Wyndham liked him, honestly, considering he was always unfailingly polite to everyone, but he made Seifer envision a much older Squall and that always amused him.
Wyndham just blinked at him.
"We're taking our things upstairs," Squall said in the same even tone Wyndham had greeted them in. "Please let Chris and Greg know we'll join them in the dining room directly."
"Of course, Young Master Squall," Wyndham agreed, shutting the door behind them and turning to go to the dining room while the boys started up the grand staircase.
Their bags were left in their rooms and the two made their way downstairs to the dining room, where lunch was just being served.
"Hello, boys," Gregory said as the two teens stepped into the room. Next to him, Christal hurried from her own seat to bestow hugs on Seifer and Squall.
"Hey, Chris, Greg," Seifer replied, hugging his adopted mother tightly before leaving Squall to her, which the younger boy endured with his usual mix of fondness and irritation.
The food was served and Seifer immediately tucked in, starved from their trip. Next to him, Squall pinned Edgar – called 'Ed' by everyone except Squall and Wyndham – with a sharp look and said, "Reginald asked us to remind you to bring him food."
Edgar hurriedly swallowed his mouthful. "Yeah, yeah."
"By any means necessary," Seifer added between bites.
Edgar slouched in his seat a bit, well aware that the two boys could kick his arse six ways to Sunday without breaking a sweat. "As soon as I finish my plate," he promised.
Christal smiled at the byplay, then asked, "So what brings you boys to town? Is the President having panic attacks about his newest advisor already?" She smiled a bit, though the joke really wasn't much of one, considering Deling's last two advisors had been mysteriously murdered in their homes within three months of taking office. Truthfully, Squall and Seifer hadn't had anything to do with either murder, having been down south dealing with the occasional rebellions while they happened, but both Christal and Gregory were aware that the two teens had killed people before in their line of work.
"Not yet," Squall replied while Seifer continued to demolish his plate. "We're not even here for Deling, for once." Which was unusual, as he was almost always the one calling SeeD to Deling City.
Seifer swallowed his last mouthful and smiled when one of the kitchen ladies picked up his plate to refill it. "One of the neighbours is certain her husband is either seeing someone on the side, or plotting with conspirators. Either way, she wants us to follow him around for a bit and see what he's up to, then report back."
"So does that mean you'll be around during the day?" Christal asked hopefully. Most of the other members of the higher class left their clandestine meetings for the evenings, after all.
"Unless something comes up, yeah," Seifer agreed. "Thanks, Jessie," he added as the young woman set his plate back down in front of him. She winked before returning to her station near the door of the kitchen.
"We should have lunch out, then!" Christal exclaimed. "Maybe go to the cinema? Or one of the museums downtown..."
Squall and Seifer traded resigned looks while Gregory chuckled.
"I'm going with the prostitute theory," Seifer decided as their target, Lord Aaron Knightlinger, met up with a lovely young woman outside the Galbadia Hotel and walked in with her on his arm.
"There was nothing amorous about their greeting," Squall disagreed, rubbing carefully at the tip of his nose and resisting the urge to finger his scar, since that would disturb the make-up. "It's possible it's just a front."
"Maybe," Seifer conceded before pushing away from the wall of the building they'd been leaning against across the street from the hotel. "We'll have to come back tomorrow with bugs for any hotel rooms and actually dressed for the hotel club."
Squall nodded and moved away from the wall himself. "Let's go by the library; I'd rather check the hotel system from a public terminal than the one at the house." Hacking systems from Garden was one thing, but leaving a trail to the Gustafsons' manor was just asking to get their adopted parents in trouble. With any luck, Knightlinger always requested the same room, but if he just went with whatever was open, Squall could probably fix the system to point him towards a specific room; either way, he'd rather have a room to bug than go in blind.
At the public library, Seifer wandered through the stacks and grabbed a few books to check out that looked interesting while Squall hacked straight through the blocks on the library system and into the hotel system. He ran into a small snag when Knightlinger cleverly didn't use his own name to reserve a room, but the hotel security cameras, as crappy and outdated as they were, showed him and his lady friend going into a room signed out to a Miss Rose Hoyt. Miss Hoyt often requested that same room, and all those requests coincided with the dates given to the two SeeDs when Knightlinger hadn't been home until the early morning.
Squall slipped back out and wiped the browser memory, then got up and joined Seifer in the history section. "Why are you reading up on military history?" he wondered, picking up one of the three books in Seifer's pile and reading the description on the inside flap.
"It was that or the spy novels."
"Spy novels are more interesting." Squall put the book back on the pile. "These just look boring."
"Good, it'll help me sleep." Seifer put back the book he'd been looking at and picked up his stack. "Are we good to go?"
"Mm-hm."
Seifer checked out his books using his SeeD card – which would hide his name from their system, but allow them a direct line to deduct any fines from his account if the books ended up overdue – then they left the building and started the trek back to the manor.
"Her name is Rose Hoyt," Squall commented.
Seifer nodded. "I'll stay up and ring Garden tonight to request anything we've got on her."
"Is that your way of saying I shouldn't drag you out of bed at first light?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
Squall rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything else, someone running out of an alley slammed right into him and they both went down.
Seifer leaned down and pulled the young woman off Squall, giving her a narrow-eyed look while Squall got to his feet. "There a reason you're knocking into people without looking?" he demanded even as he took in the rips in her clothing and the trail of blood at the side of her throat.
"They're gonna kill me!" she gasped, panicked eyes looking back towards where she'd come from. "Please! You have to help me! Call the police! Something!"
A couple of men wearing nasty smiles appeared at the mouth of the alley, one of them flicking a switchblade opened and closed. "You'll have to excuse my sister, boys. She's not well," the one with the switchblade said in a smooth voice.
Seifer narrowed his eyes, tugging the frightened young woman behind himself. "I'd say you look like the reason she's not well. Maybe you should consider putting the knife away; it seems to be scaring her."
The man's nasty smile widened as another two men faded into view behind him and his friend. "Brave words from such a little kid. Why don't you just turn around and walk away?"
"So you can stab us in the back?" Squall asked quietly, his grey-blue eyes freezing over with disgust. Given, SeeD morals were questionable at the best of times, but there were some things that even they would never do, and terrorising young women in short skirts was on that list.
The man held his hands out in a motion of peace. "Do I look like the sort of guy who would do something like that?"
The two SeeDs snorted, then tensed when they sensed two more men appearing out of the night's shadows at their backs. They smoothly closed ranks, keeping the terrified young woman between them.
"Well, now you lost that chance, I'm afraid," the man said. "I want Violet alive, for now, but kill the kids."
"So your name's Violet?" Seifer asked in a light tone as he drew a couple of hidden knives.
"Y-Yes," the young woman stammered.
"Nice to meet you!" he said before bringing a foot up and snapping it up and under the chin of one of his opponents, causing the man's head to snap back painfully. Another man got a knife between the eyes with enough force to crack through the bone.
On Violet's other side, Squall was calmly taking out his own three opponents, slashing one's throat while stabbing another in the middle and violently ripping the knife through his stomach, sidestepping the spraying blood with the moves of long practise. The last one looked like he was thinking about running, but an ice spell at his feet caused him to lose his balance, giving Squall time to walk up to him and snap his neck.
The leader had fled as soon as he realised his men were losing, which left the two SeeDs and Violet surrounded by five dead bodies in the dark night.
Seifer sighed as he pulled his knife from the one man's head. "I think I remember promising Chris we weren't here to kill anyone this time," he commented to his best friend.
"Your books are going to get blood on them," Squall replied, nodding to where Seifer's three library books had fallen when he'd drawn his knives.
"Oops." Seifer shoved his knives away and stooped to rescue the books from a growing puddle of blood. Then he looked up at the young woman who was still standing there, frozen, and staring at one of the dead bodies like she wasn't sure how to feel. "Hey, Violet, you okay?"
Violet's gaze jerked up to meet the concerned green eyes. "What are you?" she whispered.
"SeeD," Squall said drily. "And we should probably get out of here before someone comes. Unless you want to get dragged to a station again." The last was directed at Seifer.
The blond rolled his eyes. "I maintain that that was Brooks' fault, not mine," he replied, referring to fellow SeeD, Brooks Pippin.
"I don't care whose fault it was," Squall shot back, gently taking Violet's elbow. "Come on."
Violet numbly let herself be led from the scene of violence. After a few steps, Seifer pulled off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, drawing on Ifrit's natural warmth to keep away the January chill. Violet pulled it tightly around herself, whispering, "Thanks."
Seifer shot her a smile. "Don't worry about it. You got anywhere we can take you to be with other people? A boyfriend's? Your parents' place?"
Violet shook her head. "No. I don't..." She bit her bottom lip. "I was sold to that man, Barry Semans. I don't have anywhere to go..."
Squall and Seifer traded sharp looks, wordlessly debating whether or not to take the girl back home with them. After a moment, they both nodded and Seifer said, "We'll take you home with us; our parents will welcome you, no problem."
Violet hugged the jacket tighter around herself. "I'm a prostitute, though–"
"And we're murderers," Squall interrupted bluntly, making the young woman flinch.
"Squall..." Seifer sighed. "Social skills."
Squall snorted, but gentled his tone to say, "We chose our profession, you didn't."
"But they're your parents," Violet insisted.
"Adopted, yeah," Seifer agreed with an easy smile.
Violet stared up at him in surprise. "A...dopted?"
"Yup! So, really, don't worry about it." Seifer glanced over her head at Squall. "Bus?"
Squall nodded. "Probably a good idea."
They made their way to one of the many bus stops and Squall paid for all three of them while Seifer staked out some seats in the back. There were a couple other patrons who shot odd looks at the group, but Squall's icy glare convinced them to turn their attention elsewhere for the duration of the trip. By the time they reached the high class area of the city, they were the only three people on the bus – most people in this area didn't travel by bus – and Violet had fallen into a doze against Seifer's shoulder.
They weren't quite at the closest stop to the Gustafson manor when Squall reached over and pulled the signal to let them off, ever cautious about implicating their adopted parents any more than they did by simply visiting them during missions.
Seifer gently shook Violet's shoulder. "Hey, wake up. We're getting off."
Violet's head jerked up and she stared around for a moment with fear in her eyes. But then she took in the bus and relaxed. "Huh? Oh. Sorry..."
"Don't worry about it." Seifer smiled and helped her up as the bus came to a stop.
They waited on the pavement, unmoving, until the bus had moved out of sight, then started in the direction of the manor. It was about a fifteen minute walk, and they'd been walking for about ten of those minutes when Violet realised, "I don't know your names."
"Huh." Seifer shrugged. "I'm Seifer, he's Squall."
Violet nodded and they remained quiet for the rest of the walk.
"Uh-oh, someone got a girl," Edgar commented jokingly from his guard post as the three stepped in through the gate.
Seifer smiled at the guard. "Ed, shut up before I give you a new breathing hole."
Edgar mimed zipping his mouth shut. "Greg is still up, but I think Lady Chris went to bed already," he offered, moving his lips as little as possible.
"Are you trying to say something, Ed?" Seifer asked sweetly as he reached for a knife.
Squall grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the shrinking guard. "He's not worth it," he said to his friend, motioning for Violet to follow them.
Violet hurried to move in step with them, eyeing the manor with some trepidation. "I could always get a hotel room..."
"Woman, stop worrying," Seifer ordered as he pushed the front door open. "Greg? You still up?"
Gregory stepped out of his study as Squall closed the door behind them. He took a quick moment to consider the three younger people in the foyer, then turned to Squall, who tended to be more concise in his explanations. "I was under the impression this was a quick surveillance check."
Seifer snorted as he gently removed his coat from Violet's shoulders and accepted Squall's own light jacket before moving to hang them both up.
Squall shrugged. "It was. We ran into some trouble on the way back. Violet was sold into prostitution and her owner–" he spat the word, "–wasn't interested in letting her remain free when she got away."
Gregory nodded in understanding. "Seifer, perhaps a sandwich for our guest? Squall, have Laila make up one of the rooms and wake Chris; some of her older clothing should fit Miss Violet." Both boys shot off quick SeeD salutes, then moved off to follow his directions while Gregory motioned for Violet to follow him into the receiving room, which she did with wide eyes. "Have a seat, child," the master of the house directed as he took his own seat. "You look as though a strong wind might knock you over."
Violet practically fell into the loveseat, still staring at the man with wide eyes.
"Good. I am Lord Gregory Gustafson and my wife is Lady Christal. While you remain our guest, you may refer to us as Greg and Chris."
"Oh, I couldn't," Violet breathed.
"I think I remember saying something similar the first time I met Chris," Seifer commented as he entered the room with a tea tray. He set it on the coffee table and pressed a plate with two sandwiches into Violet's hands. "Eat those or I'll be insulted. Tea, Greg?"
Gregory chuckled. "Please."
Christal came swooping in, then, with Squall following at an easy pace. "This must be Violet. Well, dear, welcome to our home. I'm Chris, and you've already met Greg and the boys. Finish your sandwiches, then we can find you something nicer to wear and into a bed, perhaps."
"Yes, ma'am," Violet replied, looking a little cowed.
Christal smiled, then turned and touched the side of Seifer's face. "You're a good boy. Both of you." Her gaze flickered to where Squall had stopped at Seifer's elbow.
Gregory nodded and stood with his tea. "Indeed they are. Chris, I'll leave Miss Violet to you. Boys, my study?"
"Good night, Chris, Violet," Seifer said as he handed a cup of tea over to Squall. He grabbed his own before they fell in behind their adopted father, leaving the two women to sort themselves out. In the study, the two teens settled into the chair in front of the desk while Gregory took his own seat.
"How many dead thugs won't be showing up in the papers tomorrow?" Gregory wondered.
"Only five," Seifer said pleasantly.
"So far," Squall added under his breath.
Gregory sighed. "So you intend to pursue this?"
"We killed five of this guy's men and took one of his girls," Squall said drily, "I don't think it matters whether we intend to pursue it or not; it will pursue us."
"I suppose so." Gregory shook his head. "I know you two are always careful, but take special care in dealing with these people; they don't respect or fear SeeD like the normal populace, and they won't fight by any rules."
"Neither do angry mobs," Seifer pointed out, "and we've dealt with plenty of those."
"Angry mobs don't usually carry guns," Gregory replied.
"Hm. Yes, that could be a problem..."
"We'll be careful," Squall promised. "Seifer's already ringing Garden tonight to check something with our current mission; he can ask about this group at the same time."
"Very well..."
Early the next morning, before anyone in the house was awake, Squall crept into town and bugged the hotel room for their mission. He took the household car and wore a wig that was dirty blond to keep anyone who might have been looking from recognising him from the night before.
When he got back to the house, Christal, Gregory, and Violet were all up and just sitting down to breakfast. "Good morning," he said to them as he took his usual seat.
Christal covered a smile. "Squall, your wig."
Squall blinked, then reached up and pulled off both the wig and the cap, which he set to one side. "Forgot I was wearing that..." he murmured, earning him laughter from the two women and a fond smile from Gregory.
Seifer didn't end up coming down for breakfast and Jessie was clearly worried, twisting her hands into knots. When Squall rose from the table, she asked, "Is Seifer sick?"
Squall blinked in surprise and glanced at a clock. "No, he's just lazy. I'll take some food up to him and kick him out of bed."
"I could take the food up..." Jessie murmured.
Squall pinned her with an icy gaze. "I need to talk to him anyway. A tray, Jessie."
The young woman huffed and stalked into the kitchen. Behind Squall, Christal tsked. "Squall, that was a little rude. She's just worried about Seifer."
"You mean she wants to bed Seifer," Squall retorted, scowling.
Violet giggled. "He is rather cute."
Squall shot Violet an irritated look, which got both her and Christal laughing. As soon as Jessie reappeared with the tray, he took it and stalked from the room.
Seifer was just pulling on a shirt when Squall stalked into the room, scowling. "Wow, you are in a mood. What ticked you off this time?"
"Women," Squall snarled, setting the tray on the side table next to the bed.
"Uh-oh. Is Squally finally hitting puberty?"
"I will gut you."
Seifer laughed and settled on the edge of his bed to eat. "Sit down. Are the bugs planted?"
Squall huffed and settled onto the far end of the bed, his wig set next to him. "Yes. Any luck with Hoyt and Semans?"
Seifer nodded and turned a bit so he could see Squall better. "Rose Hoyt is twenty-six and a Timber native who moved to Deling two years ago. She's definitely in the prostitute business, and she doesn't seem to be affiliated with any of the Timber resistance groups. Her parents, however, are the founding members of the Train's Tracks, one of the largest groups, and the only one active at this time."
"So it's possible Hoyt is passing information between Knightlinger and the Train's Tracks," Squall deduced.
"My thoughts exactly. We'll just have to keep watching him until we're sure, one way or another. I'm not sure how much information about troop movements or whatever a Lord can get–"
"He's close to General Caraway," Squall interrupted, shaking his head. "Caraway is in charge of the Timber area right now, so he would be able to gather information about whatever caught his fancy." He sighed. "It's probably why Rinoa decided to join the resistance."
Seifer snorted. "Ah, Rinoa. Is she still with daddy dearest right now?"
"For the moment," Squall agreed. "From what I know of her timeline, she should be heading to Timber shortly after her sixteenth birthday. So... next year sometime." He shook the thoughts of Rinoa away and asked, "Semans?"
Seifer's expression turned grim. "He's a fucking ghost, practically. He appeared three years ago in Deling City and started up a prostitution ring, which appeared legit, at the time. The old city boss at the time took him to task for starting a business in his town with his consent, then wound up dead two days later. Since then, Semans has been the unofficial city boss and his prostitution ring has been getting shadier and shadier.
"As for his background, we've got nothing. He's not on any of the registries – fuck, the name Semans isn't on any of them – so I can't tell you where he's from, what his folks are like, what sort of training he's had... Nothing." Seifer stabbed a breakfast sausage and took an irritated bite out of it.
Squall leaned forward and traced a finger over his scar, not caring if the make-up came off, since they'd almost certainly be remaining in the house until he and Seifer went out that night. "Trabia's records have always been a little sketchy, especially in the remote areas, but if he came from up there, he would have been more likely to set up in Dollet. FH doesn't keep a registry, and we don't have access to Esthar's databases, so he could have come from either of those places. Given his violent leanings, I'm going to guess Esthar."
"Well, that's just fucking great." He stabbed another breakfast sausage.
Squall snorted. "That means he's had access to advanced technology and Odine's pet projects for most of his life. I don't know much about their underground community, but I know their people in general aren't any more special than your average civilian on this side of the Horizon Bridge. I say, treat him like he's a high-ranked SeeD with GFs and magic junctioned."
Seifer sighed. "So, basically treat him like we're facing ourselves? Sure, should be a hoot."
Squall rolled his eyes. "We should probably go after Semans during daylight, given his business's natural after dark inclinations."
"You're going to drag me out of bed at the ass-crack of dawn tomorrow, aren't you?"
Squall smirked in response.
Seifer sighed again and set his fork down on the tray, finished, before turning on the bed to completely face Squall. "So, how do you want to handle Knightlinger tonight? If we go out as ourselves, that's just asking for trouble, but we'll never get anything if the receiver isn't close enough to pick things up."
Squall shrugged. "We go disguised. Both wear wigs–" he held his up, "–suits, and take the car. We could give you a nice scar and claim you were in the army." His eyes danced with wicked humour at the thought.
Seifer's lips curled with an evil little smile. "That might not be enough, though. That's not really the sort of club a couple of guys go to together. Now, a guy and a girl–"
"Fuck. No."
"Come on, Squally. You always look so fetching in that dre– Mumph!" Seifer pulled the wig out of his face and laughed to see Squall stalking from the room.
Because Squall had inherited so much of his mother's facial features and was naturally slender, he was one of the few male SeeDs capable of posing as a female without it looking particularly suspicious. The first time they'd talked him into a dress had been due to a bet the teen had lost against Selphie, and the little firecracker had demanded Squall pose in one of Quistis' few dresses – she would have used her own, but they were all too small. Seifer had proceeded to tease Squall horribly about it until Squall kicked his arse in a spar and threatened to take his head off if he didn't quit with the girl jokes. Wisely, Seifer had agreed to forget the event had even occurred.
About a month after that, Squall had been on a mission with Quistis that ended up requiring two women to gain access to the information they'd needed and Squall had, again, been forced into a dress. Except, that time, in the spirit of it being a mission, he hadn't run off in a huff after ten minutes and actually stuck it out for the full three hours the two were staked out. According to Quistis, he'd almost seemed to enjoy it, by the end, managing a rather good coy smile that had Quistis tripping over her feet.
After that success, Cid had suggested – it would have been an order if he thought that would have worked – Squall look into procuring his own female disguise for any future emergencies. Squall had waffled about it for a good month before Seifer had finally teamed up with Fujin and Selphie and dragged the boy out to get a couple dresses, some A-cup bras, a pair of flats – it would have been heels, but Squall had helpfully pointed out that heels would just get in the way, though he supposed they could act as a quasi dagger in a pinch – a slew of make-up, and a rather lovely wig that was almost the same shade as Squall's natural hair. Seifer had only seen Squall in the dresses while he'd been trying them on and, so far as he knew, Squall had never had to go to such drastic measures a second time.
'If he really does it, I am so taking pictures,' Seifer decided as he got up to return his tray to the kitchen.
"Seifer, get in here," Squall called as Seifer walked past the younger teen's cracked door to start getting his own disguise ready. Squall had vanished a good forty minutes before with no real explanation, but Seifer had just guessed he was being his usual pernickety self.
Seifer pushed the door open, only to stop and stare upon finding Squall struggling with the back of the silky grey evening gown he'd bought all those months ago. "Holy Hyne, you're actually doing it."
"Help me with this fucking dress or I'm ripping it to shreds," Squall snapped, shooting a glare over his shoulder.
Seifer hurried over and took over the zipper, which had caught on the back of the bra. Once that was done, he stepped back to watch Squall pull on the wig. "You're unarmed?" he realised, not seeing any sign of weapons on his friend.
Squall tapped his thigh and Seifer could see the faint outline of a knife sheath. "The handbag has a pistol in it, and my necklace is sharp enough to be used as a knife." He waved towards where an elegant silver stick on a chain sat next to the handbag that matched the dress. "And there's always the hair sticks, I suppose..." So saying, he reached back and twirled the long hair behind his head to make a bun, then reached for a couple wooden sticks with silver and blue flowers dangling from the ends, which he stuck in the bun to make it stay. "Go get dressed."
"Yes, ma'am!" Seifer replied, then ran for it. He made it around the doorway just ahead of the knife Squall had thrown after him, which stuck fast in the wall across the hall from the half-open door.
Chuckling to himself, Seifer slipped into his own room. It didn't take him long to slip into his suit and hide his own assortment of knives and a small handgun on his person. The dark, one-wash dye for his hair and the make-up over his scar took him a little longer, and by the time he finished and stepped back out into the hall, Squall was pulling the knife out of the wall and returning it to his leg sheath, make-up and jewellery in place.
Seifer considered his options for a moment – specifically, the likelihood of him getting stabbed for complimenting his best friend – then decided it was worth the risk and said, "You look, erm... nice?"
Squall shot him a look, painted lips pressed into a thin line for a moment before his expression smoothed out and he stepped over to take Seifer's arm. "I'm going to take that as an actual compliment, rather than further teasing."
Seifer let out a breath. "Good. I really wasn't looking forward to ruining a tux."
"Any further jokes about my outfit will make the tux the least of your worries," Squall promised him. "Now, let's get out of here before Chris or Greg sees me."
Seifer chuckled and clasped a hand around the one on his arm. "Oh, no, we are getting a picture of this."
"We are not!" Squall hissed back, tugging on his arm to free it from Seifer, but the older teen had expected that and held on all the tighter. "Seifer, let me go."
Seifer grasped for an idea to get Squall to agree to the photo and settled on, "You know at least one of them is going to catch us when we get back – they always do – and they'll want the photo then, after we've been out for hours and are thoroughly sick of each other and these costumes."
Squall sighed, conceding to the point. "Fine. But you're going in first and explaining things to them."
"Yeah, okay," Seifer agreed and they made their way down the staircase, Squall remaining on Seifer's arm mostly so he could get used to it. At the bottom of the stairs, Seifer let go and made his way into the small sitting room just past the receiving room, where Christal and Violet were watching some comedy or another on the television while Gregory read the evening paper. "Hey, we're about to head out," Seifer announced.
They all glanced up and Christal smiled. "You look so handsome, Seifer. Where's Squall?" Next to the woman, Violet was staring at Seifer like she'd never seen a man in a tux before, though Seifer supposed it could have been the almost-black hair that was earning the look. Or surprise that a violent SeeD could actually pull off fine dress?
Seifer grimaced. "Well, see, for our cover, Squall sort of agreed to dress up as my date. So he's wearing a dress." They all stared at him for a moment in disbelief, but then Gregory's lips twitched and Seifer hurried to add, "He gets really violent if you laugh, Greg. Please, for the love of Hyne, don't upset him."
"Yes, don't," Squall added in a silky voice as he stepped into the room and came to a stop at Seifer's elbow.
"Squall, you look absolutely lovely!" Christal exclaimed, quickly getting out of her seat. "Where's my camera?"
"Told you she'd want a photo," Seifer muttered.
Squall just sighed and shook his head.
Gregory set his paper aside and helpfully told Christal, "Check my study, Chris."
Christal flashed her husband a smile and hurried past the two teens in the doorway, saying, "I won't be but a minute. Don't move."
Gregory chuckled and leaned back in his chair, considering his two adopted sons with a faint smile. "Your mother must have been beautiful, Squall."
Squall flushed under his make-up and thought he might understand why women wore so much. "She was," he murmured, looking away. He'd mentioned, in a letter to Christal and Gregory years ago, that he looked very much like his mother, according to the people of his birth village, but he honestly hadn't expected Gregory to remember that. Given, both Gregory and Christal had already been overly fond of the two youngest SeeDs, even then, so he supposed it made sense that they would have taken care to remember every tiny detail Seifer and Squall provided them.
Christal hurried back in, camera in hand. "There we are. Okay, boys, closer together."
Squall placed his hand back on Seifer's arm and stepped just that littlest bit closer, and Seifer placed his free hand on top of Squall's, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Christal smiled at them. "Wonderful. Now, smile... you too, Squall."
Squall let out an irritated sound, which made Seifer and Gregory chuckle, but relaxed his face into a smile. When Seifer squeezed his hand gently in a silent show of support, the smile came much more naturally.
Christal took quite a few shots before she lowered the camera and beamed at them. "Okay, go have fun."
"Work is not 'fun', Chris," Squall informed her matter-of-factly.
"Oh, you know what I mean." Christal waved them off.
Seifer chuckled as they both turned to leave. Just before they could fully exit the room, Violet – who had watched everything in silence with an odd, almost jealous expression on her face – said, "You two look really good together."
Seifer shot her a smile over his shoulder. "Thanks, Violet."
They managed to get out of the house and into the car without further distractions. Seifer took the driver's seat while Squall took the passenger seat, since it was rather unusual to see a female driving in Deling – though not impossible – especially an upper class female, like Squall was dressed as.
Edgar hit the controls for the car gate, then came over to poke his head through the window while it slowly opened. "Evening, Seifer, Miss." He cocked his head to one side. "Where's Squall?"
Seifer snorted, but it was Squall who said, "I'm right here, you blind idiot."
Edgar turned wide eyes on Squall. "Holy fuck, it is you! Why are you dressed like a chick? Some sort of kink–"
Squall casually pulled the pistol from his purse and cocked it between Edgar's eyes. "Continue," he practically purred.
Edgar's mouth snapped shut and he quickly backpedalled away from the car.
Seifer burst out laughing while his friend slipped the gun away. "I think you're actually more frightening as a woman, Squally."
Squall smirked faintly. "I suppose I had to get something out of this ridiculous costume. And call me Raine."
Seifer nodded in understanding and slipped out the gate once it finished opening all the way. "Does that mean I'm Laguna?"
Squall sighed. "Yes, might as well." He glanced back towards the house with a faint frown. "The gate wasn't that slow this morning."
Seifer glanced up through the windshield. "Maybe the cloud cover is worse?"
Squall shook his head. "That shouldn't affect the gate. It's a remote-controlled system run on ra...dio... Oh."
"Oh?" Seifer chanced a glance at the younger teen. "You have to give me more than 'oh', Squ– Raine."
"I told you that long-range radio communication is impossible because of Adel's Tomb, right?"
"...Oh."
Squall nodded and turned to look out the window at the passing city. "It doesn't happen often, but my guess is that the Tomb happens to be on the near side of the moon right now, and the moon is directly over the city. Not that we can see it, with the cloud cover."
"Is that going to be a problem with the bugs?" Seifer asked, frowning.
"Possibly," Squall agreed. "The radio signals for the gate are relatively weak, and Galbadia Garden boosted the output on the bugs for days that the interference is particularly bad, but there's no guarantee that we'll be able to catch the signal in the club, since Knightlinger and Hoyt's room is the top of the hotel, on the opposite side from the club. We might be better off just getting a room near them."
"So our fun night out on the town is completely skipping the 'fun' and going to the 'fucking in the hotel room'?"
"Don't be crude."
Seifer chuckled. "Do you want me to get us a room as soon as we get there, then? Or try the club, first?"
Squall considered that for a moment, then shook his head. "We'll go for the room, first; I'd rather not chance missing anything important."
"Sounds good."
"Okay, he's got a pretty sweet deal, there: Sex with a pretty woman and a contact to pass information on to," Seifer said as Knightlinger finally left.
"Whatever." Squall stood from the bed where he'd been perched and took a moment to stretch. He'd been off and on dozing for the past hour, being more of a morning person. Seifer had faithfully transcribed all of the actual talking that had come through the bugs, knowing the younger teen would want to read it when he felt more awake.
Seifer took a moment to stretch himself, having been sitting in the same chair for almost three hours, then stood and started gathering the receiver and his notes. "Do we need to do this again tomorrow?"
"No." Squall headed for the bathroom, pulling the sticks out of his mussed wig so he could fix it. "Caraway's got a party planned for tomorrow night that he'll be going to, and the night after that is dinner and a film with his wife." He stepped back out of the bathroom, hair once again immaculate. "You heard more than I did; do we need to return for another night?"
Seifer considered that for a moment before shrugging. "I'd kind of like to know what he's getting out of this, other than the sex. Betraying your wife from an arranged marriage is one thing, betraying your country is something completely different, especially when the price is so high."
"We may not be able to find out why he's doing this," Squall pointed out. "He may be getting no more than grim satisfaction."
Seifer shrugged again. "There's always a chance, and Cid would hardly begrudge us an extra week with our parents; that's the only reason I can see for him sending us on a rookie mission."
Squall snorted. "If he needs us back, he can ring the house; yes, we can keep on this for another week."
Seifer smiled at him, then motioned to the door. Squall took a moment to check that he had everything, then nodded and they stepped out.
The trip out of the hotel was fine, but a couple of young men were hanging around the car park, looking for trouble, and they zeroed right in on Seifer and Squall.
"Lookin' fine tonight," one of them said, eyeing Squall like something particularly tasty on a buffet line.
"I know, why don't you dump this loser and come have a good time with us?" the other one added, licking his chops.
"What is it about us that brings suicidal idiots flocking?" Seifer wondered tiredly.
"They're suicidal, clearly," Squall replied in the same light voice he'd been using all night to disguise his gender, before shooting the two punks a cold look. "Fuck off, boys."
"Now, now, that's not the way a pretty lady should be talkin'," the first one replied with an easy smile as he stepped within reach and touched a hand to the side of Squall's face.
"I don't know if you're deaf or just really fucking stupid," Seifer hissed as he clicked off the safety of his gun and pressed it against the side of the punk's head, "but when a lady says to fuck off, you fuck off."
The other punk, who had stayed back, let out a laugh as the safety of another gun clicked off and he pointed it at Seifer. "No one wants this to turn ugly, so why don't you put the gun down?"
Squall had used Seifer's distraction to pull his own gun from his purse and he stepped forward to press it against the crotch of the guy in front of him. "Tell your friend to lower his gun, or I make you a eunuch," he murmured with a dangerous smile.
The punk's eyes widened and he raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "Ted, man, lower the gun; this chick's way too serious for us."
The other guy lowered his gun and Seifer backed off, lowering his own gun. Squall nodded and moved his pistol from the guy's crotch. "Go."
The two punks ran for it, clearly not willing to chance any further rich people that night. Squall and Seifer both slipped their guns back away once they were out of sight.
Voices sounded from deeper inside the car park, heading for the entrance and the two SeeDs. They both took a moment to look each other over, ensuring everything looked innocent.
"Sq–Raine, your make-up," Seifer realised. When Squall sent him a confused look, he clarified, "Your scar."
"Fuck." Squall reached for the bag he usually kept a small, travel-size thing of the make-up in, only to remember he'd left it attached to his trousers back in his room, having forgotten to transfer it. "Fuck. Do you have yours–?"
Seifer shook his head. "Didn't think I'd need it."
The group coming from inside the car park was just coming into view, and the area was too well-lit for them to miss the scar. Of course, it was always possible that they wouldn't think anything of it, especially on a woman, but it wasn't a chance Squall was willing to take.
So he turned and used Seifer's jacket to pull the slightly taller teen down for a kiss.
Seifer was momentarily stunned, but then he was sliding his arms around Squall's waist, pulling the younger teen just that littlest bit closer and trapping Squall's hands between them. He tilted his head slightly, getting their noses out of the way, and pressed back with equal force.
Squall had a memory of one, slightly awkward, kiss between the Ghost and Rinoa, and he honestly hadn't thought much of kissing, after that memory. But now, with Seifer, it didn't feel awkward or forced. There wasn't even any real confusion, just the sense that this was where they'd been going for all those years at each others' sides, training and going on missions together. Always thinking, first, of how the other one was doing during downtime when they were apart.
Seifer finally managed to pull back, one of his hands leaving Squall's waist to cup his cheek. "Well," he croaked and cleared his throat. "That was...unexpected..."
Squall freed one of his hands and covered Seifer's hand on his cheek. "But not entirely unpleasant," he replied carefully, his own voice unexpectedly rough.
"Rather the opposite, I think," Seifer agreed.
Squall took a deep breath and took a few steps back. The hand on his waist dropped away, but the hand on his face remained, as did his own covering it. "We should head back; early morning tomorrow."
"Yeah," Seifer agreed, but neither of them moved.
A loud laugh outside, from the street, jerked them back to reality and they finally dropped their hands from where they'd been pressed together over Squall's cheek. Seifer moved to Squall's side and he slipped his hand back onto Seifer's arm before they started to the car.
The trip back to the manor was silent, both of them wondering where this was going, but neither willing to be the first to ask. They remained silent on the way through the car gate – opened by Trigg, the night guard – and into the house, which was darkened with the late hour, everyone else asleep.
Outside Squall's room, before the younger teen could do more than open it a crack, Seifer said, "Squall?" and Squall glanced back at him questioningly. Seifer took one step forward, closing the distance between them, and cupped Squall's cheek again. "I'm going to kiss you," he murmured, then leaned in to do so.
Squall's hands moved, almost of their own volition, to rake through Seifer's darkened hair. Seifer let out a strange sound – half-growl, half-moan – and pulled back for a moment before pressing his lips back against Squall's with far more force.
This time, it was Squall who brought an end to the kiss, pulling back and putting a finger against Seifer's lips before the other boy could start again. "I'm waking you up at six," he warned.
Seifer groaned. "Hyne damn it all."
Squall offered him a small, honest smile. "Good night, Seifer."
Seifer's hand, which had remained on Squall's cheek, caressed the side of his face once, then dropped away. "Good night, Squally," he replied, turning to move on to his own room.
Behind him, Squall touched his cheek, which seemed to almost burn from Seifer's touch, then shook his head and slipped into his room to get out of his dress and make-up. 'Maybe dressing up as a girl isn't so bad,' he thought. 'If we hadn't been acting as lovers, I never would have thought to kiss him. And then where would we be?'
-0-0-0-
A/N: Ahahah... The world conspired against me during that last bit. Shara came home from work, then my father called, then dinner was ready... It's kinda hard to eat and type at the same time.
I guess Barry Semans will just have to wait a chapter. XD
Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season, whatever you celebrate. (For the record, I celebrate Yule, but I won't go into a apocalyptic fit if you wish me 'Happy Christmas' or whatever. XP)
Updates for both Noblesse and Sins will continue on their stated days, in spite of the many coming holidays, worry not.
~Bats ^.^x
1 - Touch of Memory ||| 2 - No One Here to Save
3 - Burn Up the Tracks
4 - Orphans and Widows ||| 5 - Close the Last Window ||| 6 - Melodies of Life
7 - Lie Under the Night ||| 8 - Not Invincible |||
10 - Dance With the Enemy ||| 11 - Everything I Have in This World ||| 12 - Running Out of Days
13 - Wake Up and Fight ||| 14 - Crimson Sky ||| 15 - Heroes Waiting
16 - Light in My Eyes ||| 17 - Lying Next to a Ghost ||| 18 - Living For Today
19 - Some Things Are That Simple
..
