Final Fantasy VIII - Seifer Almasy x Squall Leonhart
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Seifer Almasy x Squall Leonhart
Theme Set: Alpha
Rating: G to R
Notes: Omfg, this took me way too long. Warning for some slight game spoilers, for teh boys kissing (among other things :D), and for some semi-dark, angst-ish content in a few of them. Hyne, run-on sentences will be the death of me, I tell you all! The death of me! xD I like comments. :D Ah, quick thanks to all of those that commented before - love you all dearly.
# 1 - Comfort
He’s not sure when or why this ritual started, but he doesn’t really care, because the only thing that matters now are the heated hands sliding under his leather jacket and the lips tearing the air out of his chest with their bruising kiss, and he knows, somewhere in the deepest part of his conscious, that this is the only thing that they have left that can chase away the truth and reality of life that stings so harshly at their nerves, and he’s happy knowing that.
# 2 - Kiss
He's going to be leaving now - vanishing for good this time - and he leans down, body trembling in a horrible jumble of the emotions that he's so afraid of and refuses to face; he presses his mouth to Squall's slightly open lips, and he smiles as he stands to leave, because this is all that he needed to have as a last goodbye before he finally faded off into the background.
# 3 - Soft
They’d never allow their love to be soft - they were too brash for that, and too stubborn - and Squall moans as sharp teeth dig into the curves of his neck, marking the skin in a pact of ownership and showing that, even when they aren’t fighting with their gunblades at each other’s throats, their lives are never gentle.
# 4 - Pain
As a child, he never understood that dark look of pain in Squall’s eyes - the way that the once bright blue had turned to a dull gray, icy color - but now he can see the hurt that lingers in the back of those dull orbs, regardless of what the others say; he knows that his own eyes mirror that pain now, and he finally understands why that friendly blue turned to ice.
# 5 - Potatoes
A wide smirk slips onto Seifer's face before he lunges, snatching the french fry from between Squall's pouting lips with his own teeth, a triumphant laugh leaving his chest at the glare he receives as a reward for his victory.
# 6 - Rain
All it takes is one shiver - a quiver of gooseflesh caused by the chill rain soaking through his jacket and all of the stress and pressure and just life catching up to him all at one time - before Seifer reaches over to him, dragging him against his chest and wrapping the edges of his trench coat around his body as a hand brushes over his face to wipe away the rain that had collected there - which is enough to give him the shelter that he needs from just everything threatening to make his world crumble.
# 7 - Chocolate
Seifer’s always wondered why Squall’s hair is such a rich, chocolate color when the rest of him is so detached and ivory white; but he loves that little bit of color in all of the monotone of Squall’s appearance more than anything else, and he presses his face into the silky, chocolate brown and lets himself sink into its sweet touch against his chin and cheeks.
# 8 - Happiness
The only time that Seifer Almasy can ever remember feeling true happiness and not the bitter anger or pride that he bores in a constantly chiseled mask is when they are together, bodies intertwined and so many thoughts and meanings and silent praises passing between them without any words needed to tell them.
# 9 - Telephone
Squall rolls his eyes as he presses the glowing red button of his office answering machine, and he falls back into his chair, listening in shock as what he expected to be another call from his father or from the Galbadia Garden turns into the amused, oh so familiar voice muttering a single phrase: ‘See ya soon, Princess.’
# 10 - Ears
Can he hear him scream, hear him cry his name in hate and in love, and all of those things that he feels for him all at one time and doesn’t understand; can he hear him shout and cry out in a ring over the abyss of the lost world that he’s trapped in; can he hear him call out his name to bring him back to where he is, standing alone, waiting and waiting and waiting for the him to finally return.
# 11 - Name
Squall is probably the only person that he can think of, the only one that has ever seen him as him and not the ‘bad guy’, and the only one that knows him as ‘Seifer Almasy’ and not ‘the Sorceress’ Knight.’
# 12 - Sensual
Everything about Squall is sensual, from the way that he moves (in battle and out of) to the tight, form-fitting leather pants that cling to the contours of his thighs and the belts that hang from his slender hips - and Seifer swears that Squall does it on purpose, just to torment him because he can’t just jump him in the middle of class and fuck him into the desk (as much as he’d like to); and Squall’s smirk of triumph gives it away as he twists his hips just a little bit when he walks passed Seifer in the halls.
# 13 - Death
There’s a horrible, dragged-out pause where warm, crimson liquid splatters onto his chest and drips in a sluggish path down his forearm from the hilt of his blade, and he stares, eyes wide in a molten emerald-colored mixture of shock and terror, as the lithe body tumbles, collapsing in a limp and broken heap at his feet; while all he can do is stand in stunned silence and listen to the sound of him falling.
# 14 - Sex
They had never had sex (it was just something that they figured that they didn't need in their relationship), but those little glances that they'd share - the flicker of concern and caring through emerald eyes or the gentle twitch of full lips into a smile that was so rarely revealed to the world - made up for it, if not more; because this way, Squall knew that what they had was real.
# 15 - Touch
Their hands brush over one another, as they pass through the crowded streets of Deling City, heading toward their own destinations and toward their own future, and no words pass from their lips as the step away from one another and vanish from each other’s view - but the touch carries more than words ever could: a true, unbreakable promise saying ‘Don’t worry; I’ll come back. Just give me time.’
# 16 - Weakness
They know all of each other’s drawbacks - each other’s fears and hopes and dreams, and all of the little things that can drag them down in the long run; all of their flaws in battle and their limitations in life or conflicts in their own minds; everything that has ever frightened them or defeated them - and that notion alone is all that it takes for Squall to sink into the unyielding grasp holding him close and shielding him from those persistent, prying weaknesses.
# 17 - Tears
He’d never cry in front of anyone, never let the tears show themselves over his pride and indifference, but for some reason, when he’s with Seifer, none of that seems to matter - and he lets the tears show themselves in his frustration and anger without even meaning to.
# 18 - Speed
It’s a fight that they share, a challenge between them to become stronger or faster than the other, to see who can overcome who in the end; however, Seifer knows that Squall is better, that he is stronger and faster, and so he pushes off of him to push him up to the top, even if it means his own downfall in the end.
# 19 - Wind
Seifer is like the wind - he comes with a sudden gust of strength, plowing everything over in his path, before receding to a gentle breeze in the background to leave the survivors with the challenge of rebuilding it all in the end; the challenge to picking up the pieces that the wind brought in its burst of fiery glory and honor.
# 20 - Freedom
Squall is fighting for Seifer’s freedom, struggling against the chains that bind him to the Sorceress and keep him trapped and locked on the opposite side; it’s a fight worth more than anything else, and he charges against the rain of attacks struggling to beat him down without fear for himself - because Seifer is worth it.
# 21 - Life
A crumbling friendship, a complex love, war, battles, blood, fire, ice, a whisper of madness, and a promise of home and the welcome that he deserves - all wrapped up into one complicated little package called life.
# 22 - Jealousy
He’s jealous - not because he was the loser and Squall ‘got the girl’ in the end, but because she took Squall away from him - and it hurts more than he wants to admit.
# 23 - Hands
Seifer gives a low groan as he wakes up, eyes blinking out over the flower field around him and toward the crowd of people standing nearby, and he smiles as he grabs the leather clad hand stretched out to him in a silent welcome home after being away for so long - and a welcome from him is all he’d need to let him know that the war is finally over.
# 24 - Taste
Even after so long, after all of the gunpowder and the separation and the battles that they’ve waged and all of the things that tried to make him forget, he can still remember exactly how Squall tastes.
# 25 - Devotion
Squall doesn’t understand Seifer’s devotion to her, and a sharp twang of pain flickers through his chest as he watches the man struggle to his feet, broken and tripping before him, his proud stature arched in his sad last stand against the enemy (against him) and his eyes bright with the desperate gleam of a caged animal; he wonders if Seifer would have ever been this devoted to him, had things turned out differently, but he clutches Revolver tight in leather bound fingers, expression blank as he charges, trying to force himself to push away that feeling that is wound tight in his chest and is about to snap.
# 26 - Forever
Seifer wishes that this moment can last forever, their bodies pressed together and wrapped in a warm mound of blankets with fingers laced and breaths coming in sweet, gentle sounds; and the groggy smile on Squall’s face fading away as he wakes makes that one night seem an eternity too short.
# 27 - Blood
He remembers the first time that he'd ever seen Squall bleed, that fateful night when it was just a sparring match gone wrong and not an epic battle between the Sorceress's Knight and the SeeD's pet, and he grins as he comes to a realization: the expression that washes over Squall's face and in his eyes is the same as it was that day, and he can't help but let that side of him that She has won over churn at that notion as he pulls the blade along the gentle curves of flesh, smiling at the look of sheer hatred and something more that glimmers in the deep pools of gray.
# 28 - Sickness
He stands there, dazed, looking back and forth between the ruins of what was and what is now, and he wonders, just briefly, if this was the only path they could take; if what they used to have could ever return again, and a cold sickness rests in his gut as he stares deep into sea-green eyes that were once filled with something other than burning hatred, and realizes that they were destined to crumble and fall like the buildings surrounding them and caging them in.
# 29 - Melody
The gentle rhythm of them dancing, the melody of their heavy breathing and the clash of blade against blade accompanied by the steady beat of boots hitting the metal floor, fills the room in a complex symphony all of their own.
# 30 - Star
The shooting star, glittering bright in the sky for just a brief moment of magnificence before falling to the black somewhere in the distance, reminds Squall - just a little bit, of course - of someone that he used to know a long time ago; someone that burned out just as fast, and in an equally beautiful flash of light, as that single star in the sky.
# 31 - Home
Sometimes he wishes that he had a real home to return to, a house that he could share with parents that love him and people that treat him as something other than ‘problematic,’ but he knows that that will never happen - and a part of him is happy, because, even without a house, he knows that Squall will be there; and as long as that stays the same, then he’ll have a home to come back to in at the end.
# 32 - Confusion
Confusion is his weakness - not knowing who he is or where he is, when everything is just a barren wasteland spreading out as far as the eye can see - and he’s afraid; so he wanders, tripping over himself, not knowing where he’s going or where he’s coming from - all he knows is that he’s searching for his voice in the midst of the confusion, and clinging to it like a lifeline when he hears the faint murmur of his name.
# 33 - Fear
It’s the fear that keeps him going, that keeps him fighting and struggling against the odds day in and day out, even when he can hardly stand own his own feet to fight on his own; it’s the fear that she’ll win and take Seifer away from him.
# 34 - Lightning/Thunder
The lightning illuminates them, each body twisting in a perfectly choreographed dance of life or death, and they spin, knowing that this is what they do best; the thunder of their clashing weapons rings in a scream of metal against metal as they press against each other and all the things that tie them back, and the thrill and exhilaration that comes from that look in their eyes of pure hatred and tainted love and something dark that lies in between is more than enough to keep them dancing.
# 35 - Bonds
He traces that violent, red mark down the smaller man’s face with the tip of his finger, following the curve and the indent upon perfect, ivory flesh with a sense of masochistic amusement, and he reaches up to his own mirror image of that mark, tracing it as he traces his with a look of utter enthrallment - this is their sign, the proof of their bonds and the things that tie them together, and Seifer gives a feral grin as he presses just a little harder against that symbol.
# 36 - Market
“Seifer, I’m never letting you anywhere near another shop after that little ‘let’s just see what this thing does’ incident,” Seifer snorts, and Squall rolls his eyes as he plops onto his lap and crosses his arm, “because there’s no way in hell I’m paying for you medical bill next time.”
# 37 - Technology
Seifer has never been good with the technicalities of life - like using the monitor system in class, for example - and he gives a loud groan as Squall leans over him, arm brushing over his chest as he moves, and presses the minute, red ‘on’ switch that he had somehow overlooked in his tirade.
# 38 - Gift
Seifer gave him a brief opportunity of peace - a moment of repose where he could rest and put life behind him without a care in the world - and that was the only thing he could have ever asked for.
# 39 - Smile
As strange as it seems, Seifer can remember a time when he used to see a smile grace those icy features, burn through the mask of the Ice Prince and gleam at him, faint and hidden by stubborn wishes to keep the façade in place, and he longs for that smile again, instead of the frown that had been painted over full lips ever since he had made that choice all those months ago; the frown that signaled that times had finally changed from when they were children, young and carefree, and that they had to move on.
# 40 - Innocence
Seifer knows that Squall is not really innocent, that he’s not the great warrior that the world portrays him as, and he loves that knowledge, he drowns in it as the man squirms, face flushed and mouth open in a string of curses mixed with pants that are wrapped thick around his name, his body pinned beneath Seifer’s own; only then does it become obvious that even the hero really isn’t as innocent as he the people believe.
# 41 - Completion
He’s looking for some kind of completion - an end to the story that would finally wrap up everything that has happened thus far and give him some kind of conclusion to all of this madness - and he glances up toward the sky, green eyes transfixed on the Garden as it drifts overhead; he wonders if maybe, just maybe, Squall has found the completion that they both strove to unearth in that distant place (without him) and a bittersweet smile creeps onto his slender lips as Garden (and Squall) vanishes from his view.
# 42 - Clouds
The dust has cleared away, has let them settle back down into life and living, and everything seemed to finally fit back together again after so long of being lost to the clouds of indifference and abhorrence that She polluted them with.
# 43 - Sky
He looks up to the sky, takes in the bright blue above and the clear horizon shining around him, and he lets himself relax - because he’s going to be seeing him again soon - and as the wind cools his blood and his face is warmed by that light, even as the rest of him goes cold, he smiles.
# 44 - Heaven
Lying there, bound in a cocoon of plush blankets with Squall's slender, nude body warm and comforting in his arms and spread over his form, he realizes that this is as close as he'll probably ever get to any kind of heaven - and that's good enough for him.
# 45 - Hell
And they learn what it’s like to be entangled in war.
# 46 - Sun
Seifer is the sun, all bright vibrant emotions and burning rage; all sharp rays and stinging, blinding emotion; all explosive, unpredictable actions with the moon as the only thing to calm it, if only for a momentary eclipse.
# 47 - Moon
And Squall is the moon, all dim emotions and withdrawn mystery; all cold emptiness and silent, icy beauty; all gentle, tame rays and a hidden light that only the sun can bring out.
# 48 - Waves
The words ‘whatcha doing?’ bring Squall out of his daze, his eyes tearing away from the waves lapping at his grungy old tennis shoes, and he casts a little glance at Seifer through blood rimmed eyes; and Seifer knows exactly what he’s doing, because this is what they’ve always done, and a small hand grips his as Seifer just stands at his side in silence, knowing that his presence is enough to make ‘big sis’ going away at least a little less painful.
# 49 - Hair
Fingers trace through his hair, tug at the soft, auburn strands until his scalp stings and he can feel the strain on his flesh; a sharp tug of possession, of desire and want and need, and all of the other things that symbolize them and their kiss and the love that passes between them.
# 50 - Supernova
The tense silence finally snaps, the break almost audible in the nearly empty room, and hands are meeting flesh and mouths are fighting for dominance; that supernova of emotion that had been held back for far too long finally washes over and engulfs them, swallowing them whole.
Pairing: Seifer Almasy x Squall Leonhart
Theme Set: Alpha
Rating: G to R
Notes: Omfg, this took me way too long. Warning for some slight game spoilers, for teh boys kissing (among other things :D), and for some semi-dark, angst-ish content in a few of them. Hyne, run-on sentences will be the death of me, I tell you all! The death of me! xD I like comments. :D Ah, quick thanks to all of those that commented before - love you all dearly.
# 1 - Comfort
He’s not sure when or why this ritual started, but he doesn’t really care, because the only thing that matters now are the heated hands sliding under his leather jacket and the lips tearing the air out of his chest with their bruising kiss, and he knows, somewhere in the deepest part of his conscious, that this is the only thing that they have left that can chase away the truth and reality of life that stings so harshly at their nerves, and he’s happy knowing that.
# 2 - Kiss
He's going to be leaving now - vanishing for good this time - and he leans down, body trembling in a horrible jumble of the emotions that he's so afraid of and refuses to face; he presses his mouth to Squall's slightly open lips, and he smiles as he stands to leave, because this is all that he needed to have as a last goodbye before he finally faded off into the background.
# 3 - Soft
They’d never allow their love to be soft - they were too brash for that, and too stubborn - and Squall moans as sharp teeth dig into the curves of his neck, marking the skin in a pact of ownership and showing that, even when they aren’t fighting with their gunblades at each other’s throats, their lives are never gentle.
# 4 - Pain
As a child, he never understood that dark look of pain in Squall’s eyes - the way that the once bright blue had turned to a dull gray, icy color - but now he can see the hurt that lingers in the back of those dull orbs, regardless of what the others say; he knows that his own eyes mirror that pain now, and he finally understands why that friendly blue turned to ice.
# 5 - Potatoes
A wide smirk slips onto Seifer's face before he lunges, snatching the french fry from between Squall's pouting lips with his own teeth, a triumphant laugh leaving his chest at the glare he receives as a reward for his victory.
# 6 - Rain
All it takes is one shiver - a quiver of gooseflesh caused by the chill rain soaking through his jacket and all of the stress and pressure and just life catching up to him all at one time - before Seifer reaches over to him, dragging him against his chest and wrapping the edges of his trench coat around his body as a hand brushes over his face to wipe away the rain that had collected there - which is enough to give him the shelter that he needs from just everything threatening to make his world crumble.
# 7 - Chocolate
Seifer’s always wondered why Squall’s hair is such a rich, chocolate color when the rest of him is so detached and ivory white; but he loves that little bit of color in all of the monotone of Squall’s appearance more than anything else, and he presses his face into the silky, chocolate brown and lets himself sink into its sweet touch against his chin and cheeks.
# 8 - Happiness
The only time that Seifer Almasy can ever remember feeling true happiness and not the bitter anger or pride that he bores in a constantly chiseled mask is when they are together, bodies intertwined and so many thoughts and meanings and silent praises passing between them without any words needed to tell them.
# 9 - Telephone
Squall rolls his eyes as he presses the glowing red button of his office answering machine, and he falls back into his chair, listening in shock as what he expected to be another call from his father or from the Galbadia Garden turns into the amused, oh so familiar voice muttering a single phrase: ‘See ya soon, Princess.’
# 10 - Ears
Can he hear him scream, hear him cry his name in hate and in love, and all of those things that he feels for him all at one time and doesn’t understand; can he hear him shout and cry out in a ring over the abyss of the lost world that he’s trapped in; can he hear him call out his name to bring him back to where he is, standing alone, waiting and waiting and waiting for the him to finally return.
# 11 - Name
Squall is probably the only person that he can think of, the only one that has ever seen him as him and not the ‘bad guy’, and the only one that knows him as ‘Seifer Almasy’ and not ‘the Sorceress’ Knight.’
# 12 - Sensual
Everything about Squall is sensual, from the way that he moves (in battle and out of) to the tight, form-fitting leather pants that cling to the contours of his thighs and the belts that hang from his slender hips - and Seifer swears that Squall does it on purpose, just to torment him because he can’t just jump him in the middle of class and fuck him into the desk (as much as he’d like to); and Squall’s smirk of triumph gives it away as he twists his hips just a little bit when he walks passed Seifer in the halls.
# 13 - Death
There’s a horrible, dragged-out pause where warm, crimson liquid splatters onto his chest and drips in a sluggish path down his forearm from the hilt of his blade, and he stares, eyes wide in a molten emerald-colored mixture of shock and terror, as the lithe body tumbles, collapsing in a limp and broken heap at his feet; while all he can do is stand in stunned silence and listen to the sound of him falling.
# 14 - Sex
They had never had sex (it was just something that they figured that they didn't need in their relationship), but those little glances that they'd share - the flicker of concern and caring through emerald eyes or the gentle twitch of full lips into a smile that was so rarely revealed to the world - made up for it, if not more; because this way, Squall knew that what they had was real.
# 15 - Touch
Their hands brush over one another, as they pass through the crowded streets of Deling City, heading toward their own destinations and toward their own future, and no words pass from their lips as the step away from one another and vanish from each other’s view - but the touch carries more than words ever could: a true, unbreakable promise saying ‘Don’t worry; I’ll come back. Just give me time.’
# 16 - Weakness
They know all of each other’s drawbacks - each other’s fears and hopes and dreams, and all of the little things that can drag them down in the long run; all of their flaws in battle and their limitations in life or conflicts in their own minds; everything that has ever frightened them or defeated them - and that notion alone is all that it takes for Squall to sink into the unyielding grasp holding him close and shielding him from those persistent, prying weaknesses.
# 17 - Tears
He’d never cry in front of anyone, never let the tears show themselves over his pride and indifference, but for some reason, when he’s with Seifer, none of that seems to matter - and he lets the tears show themselves in his frustration and anger without even meaning to.
# 18 - Speed
It’s a fight that they share, a challenge between them to become stronger or faster than the other, to see who can overcome who in the end; however, Seifer knows that Squall is better, that he is stronger and faster, and so he pushes off of him to push him up to the top, even if it means his own downfall in the end.
# 19 - Wind
Seifer is like the wind - he comes with a sudden gust of strength, plowing everything over in his path, before receding to a gentle breeze in the background to leave the survivors with the challenge of rebuilding it all in the end; the challenge to picking up the pieces that the wind brought in its burst of fiery glory and honor.
# 20 - Freedom
Squall is fighting for Seifer’s freedom, struggling against the chains that bind him to the Sorceress and keep him trapped and locked on the opposite side; it’s a fight worth more than anything else, and he charges against the rain of attacks struggling to beat him down without fear for himself - because Seifer is worth it.
# 21 - Life
A crumbling friendship, a complex love, war, battles, blood, fire, ice, a whisper of madness, and a promise of home and the welcome that he deserves - all wrapped up into one complicated little package called life.
# 22 - Jealousy
He’s jealous - not because he was the loser and Squall ‘got the girl’ in the end, but because she took Squall away from him - and it hurts more than he wants to admit.
# 23 - Hands
Seifer gives a low groan as he wakes up, eyes blinking out over the flower field around him and toward the crowd of people standing nearby, and he smiles as he grabs the leather clad hand stretched out to him in a silent welcome home after being away for so long - and a welcome from him is all he’d need to let him know that the war is finally over.
# 24 - Taste
Even after so long, after all of the gunpowder and the separation and the battles that they’ve waged and all of the things that tried to make him forget, he can still remember exactly how Squall tastes.
# 25 - Devotion
Squall doesn’t understand Seifer’s devotion to her, and a sharp twang of pain flickers through his chest as he watches the man struggle to his feet, broken and tripping before him, his proud stature arched in his sad last stand against the enemy (against him) and his eyes bright with the desperate gleam of a caged animal; he wonders if Seifer would have ever been this devoted to him, had things turned out differently, but he clutches Revolver tight in leather bound fingers, expression blank as he charges, trying to force himself to push away that feeling that is wound tight in his chest and is about to snap.
# 26 - Forever
Seifer wishes that this moment can last forever, their bodies pressed together and wrapped in a warm mound of blankets with fingers laced and breaths coming in sweet, gentle sounds; and the groggy smile on Squall’s face fading away as he wakes makes that one night seem an eternity too short.
# 27 - Blood
He remembers the first time that he'd ever seen Squall bleed, that fateful night when it was just a sparring match gone wrong and not an epic battle between the Sorceress's Knight and the SeeD's pet, and he grins as he comes to a realization: the expression that washes over Squall's face and in his eyes is the same as it was that day, and he can't help but let that side of him that She has won over churn at that notion as he pulls the blade along the gentle curves of flesh, smiling at the look of sheer hatred and something more that glimmers in the deep pools of gray.
# 28 - Sickness
He stands there, dazed, looking back and forth between the ruins of what was and what is now, and he wonders, just briefly, if this was the only path they could take; if what they used to have could ever return again, and a cold sickness rests in his gut as he stares deep into sea-green eyes that were once filled with something other than burning hatred, and realizes that they were destined to crumble and fall like the buildings surrounding them and caging them in.
# 29 - Melody
The gentle rhythm of them dancing, the melody of their heavy breathing and the clash of blade against blade accompanied by the steady beat of boots hitting the metal floor, fills the room in a complex symphony all of their own.
# 30 - Star
The shooting star, glittering bright in the sky for just a brief moment of magnificence before falling to the black somewhere in the distance, reminds Squall - just a little bit, of course - of someone that he used to know a long time ago; someone that burned out just as fast, and in an equally beautiful flash of light, as that single star in the sky.
# 31 - Home
Sometimes he wishes that he had a real home to return to, a house that he could share with parents that love him and people that treat him as something other than ‘problematic,’ but he knows that that will never happen - and a part of him is happy, because, even without a house, he knows that Squall will be there; and as long as that stays the same, then he’ll have a home to come back to in at the end.
# 32 - Confusion
Confusion is his weakness - not knowing who he is or where he is, when everything is just a barren wasteland spreading out as far as the eye can see - and he’s afraid; so he wanders, tripping over himself, not knowing where he’s going or where he’s coming from - all he knows is that he’s searching for his voice in the midst of the confusion, and clinging to it like a lifeline when he hears the faint murmur of his name.
# 33 - Fear
It’s the fear that keeps him going, that keeps him fighting and struggling against the odds day in and day out, even when he can hardly stand own his own feet to fight on his own; it’s the fear that she’ll win and take Seifer away from him.
# 34 - Lightning/Thunder
The lightning illuminates them, each body twisting in a perfectly choreographed dance of life or death, and they spin, knowing that this is what they do best; the thunder of their clashing weapons rings in a scream of metal against metal as they press against each other and all the things that tie them back, and the thrill and exhilaration that comes from that look in their eyes of pure hatred and tainted love and something dark that lies in between is more than enough to keep them dancing.
# 35 - Bonds
He traces that violent, red mark down the smaller man’s face with the tip of his finger, following the curve and the indent upon perfect, ivory flesh with a sense of masochistic amusement, and he reaches up to his own mirror image of that mark, tracing it as he traces his with a look of utter enthrallment - this is their sign, the proof of their bonds and the things that tie them together, and Seifer gives a feral grin as he presses just a little harder against that symbol.
# 36 - Market
“Seifer, I’m never letting you anywhere near another shop after that little ‘let’s just see what this thing does’ incident,” Seifer snorts, and Squall rolls his eyes as he plops onto his lap and crosses his arm, “because there’s no way in hell I’m paying for you medical bill next time.”
# 37 - Technology
Seifer has never been good with the technicalities of life - like using the monitor system in class, for example - and he gives a loud groan as Squall leans over him, arm brushing over his chest as he moves, and presses the minute, red ‘on’ switch that he had somehow overlooked in his tirade.
# 38 - Gift
Seifer gave him a brief opportunity of peace - a moment of repose where he could rest and put life behind him without a care in the world - and that was the only thing he could have ever asked for.
# 39 - Smile
As strange as it seems, Seifer can remember a time when he used to see a smile grace those icy features, burn through the mask of the Ice Prince and gleam at him, faint and hidden by stubborn wishes to keep the façade in place, and he longs for that smile again, instead of the frown that had been painted over full lips ever since he had made that choice all those months ago; the frown that signaled that times had finally changed from when they were children, young and carefree, and that they had to move on.
# 40 - Innocence
Seifer knows that Squall is not really innocent, that he’s not the great warrior that the world portrays him as, and he loves that knowledge, he drowns in it as the man squirms, face flushed and mouth open in a string of curses mixed with pants that are wrapped thick around his name, his body pinned beneath Seifer’s own; only then does it become obvious that even the hero really isn’t as innocent as he the people believe.
# 41 - Completion
He’s looking for some kind of completion - an end to the story that would finally wrap up everything that has happened thus far and give him some kind of conclusion to all of this madness - and he glances up toward the sky, green eyes transfixed on the Garden as it drifts overhead; he wonders if maybe, just maybe, Squall has found the completion that they both strove to unearth in that distant place (without him) and a bittersweet smile creeps onto his slender lips as Garden (and Squall) vanishes from his view.
# 42 - Clouds
The dust has cleared away, has let them settle back down into life and living, and everything seemed to finally fit back together again after so long of being lost to the clouds of indifference and abhorrence that She polluted them with.
# 43 - Sky
He looks up to the sky, takes in the bright blue above and the clear horizon shining around him, and he lets himself relax - because he’s going to be seeing him again soon - and as the wind cools his blood and his face is warmed by that light, even as the rest of him goes cold, he smiles.
# 44 - Heaven
Lying there, bound in a cocoon of plush blankets with Squall's slender, nude body warm and comforting in his arms and spread over his form, he realizes that this is as close as he'll probably ever get to any kind of heaven - and that's good enough for him.
# 45 - Hell
And they learn what it’s like to be entangled in war.
# 46 - Sun
Seifer is the sun, all bright vibrant emotions and burning rage; all sharp rays and stinging, blinding emotion; all explosive, unpredictable actions with the moon as the only thing to calm it, if only for a momentary eclipse.
# 47 - Moon
And Squall is the moon, all dim emotions and withdrawn mystery; all cold emptiness and silent, icy beauty; all gentle, tame rays and a hidden light that only the sun can bring out.
# 48 - Waves
The words ‘whatcha doing?’ bring Squall out of his daze, his eyes tearing away from the waves lapping at his grungy old tennis shoes, and he casts a little glance at Seifer through blood rimmed eyes; and Seifer knows exactly what he’s doing, because this is what they’ve always done, and a small hand grips his as Seifer just stands at his side in silence, knowing that his presence is enough to make ‘big sis’ going away at least a little less painful.
# 49 - Hair
Fingers trace through his hair, tug at the soft, auburn strands until his scalp stings and he can feel the strain on his flesh; a sharp tug of possession, of desire and want and need, and all of the other things that symbolize them and their kiss and the love that passes between them.
# 50 - Supernova
The tense silence finally snaps, the break almost audible in the nearly empty room, and hands are meeting flesh and mouths are fighting for dominance; that supernova of emotion that had been held back for far too long finally washes over and engulfs them, swallowing them whole.