A/N: Written for Fandom Stocking.

Concern

"Damn it," Seifer muttered and reeled in the fishing line. He'd definitely had enough of that for one day. Fishing was peaceful and all, and Fujin insisted it was good for him, but there was only so much he could take of sitting on his ass, not catching anything.

He got to his feet and packed everything up, but it wasn't until he turned fully around to start walking that he noticed the slim figure in black leather standing just before him. Oh, hell. What had he done to deserve this?

Okay, yeah, that was probably an unnecessary question.

"Leonhart," Seifer said and continued down the dock, brushing past him. "I'd say it's a pleasure but we both know that'd be bull."

There was a brief pause before Seifer heard the sound of Squall's boots against the wooden dock, following him. "Almasy, would you stop?"

Seifer took a deep breath. It wouldn't do to blow up already, right? He stopped, dropping his fishing gear unceremoniously onto the ground. "Yeah, fine, I'll stop, long enough for you to tell me what the fuck you're doing here."

Squall opened and closed his mouth a few times, shifting uncomfortably. Same old Squall, getting two words out of him was an achievement. "I'm here to see you," he said finally.

"Here to gloat? To see the famous Seifer Almasy just scraping by? Or maybe you wanted to congratulate me on miraculously not getting executed by Galbadia." Or any of the other places that wanted him dead, which was, oh, yeah, all of them. Thank you to the bleeding hearts who had plead for him because he was, wait for it… 'a victim'. "Oh, I know- you want to finish the job anyway." Seifer spread out his arms. "Here I am, come and get me. Let's see how you do when you don't have your friends backing you up."

"Fuck, will you just shut up for one second?" Squall ran a hand tiredly through his hair. "Just… shut up."

Wow, that was an actual emotional outburst. Seifer was impressed. "I'm listening."

Of course, then Squall seemed to be at a loss as to how to continue. "I… I came to see you."

"You said that already." The poor guy probably should've written a script beforehand.

"I wanted to see how you were."

"Great, thanks for the concern, but as you can see, I'm fine. Well, you can go now, bye bye." Seifer spun back around to leave before remembering that he'd left his fishing stuff. He bent down to retrieve it and felt a hand on his shoulder.

He jerked away. "What the hell? Leave me alone! You beat me, you saw me beaten, isn't that enough for you?"

Squall's face was contorting in some mockery of an expression. It looked like it might be kind of painful. His hand was still hovering in midair near Seifer. "That's not what I meant."

"Well, unless you'd like to enlighten me, I'd appreciate it if you fucked off."

"I… I just… I wanted to see how you were," Squall said again, looking like he desperately needed Seifer to get it.

And maybe Seifer did get it. "I don't want your pity."

Squall's mouth quirked slightly, like he was actually thinking about smiling. "If there's one thing I've never done, it's pity you."

Seifer stood there, watching him, wheels turning in his head as he tried to fathom what was going on in Squall's head. Oddly enough, it was starting to make sense. "Uh, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but are you trying to say that you… You think you're friends with me or something? You missed me? You were worried about me?"

The growing dismay in Squall's eyes only increased Seifer's glee. "Holy crap. I'm right! Aw, Squall, you care about me, that's so sweet."

"Shut up," Squall mumbled, averting his eyes, a flush glowing in his pale cheeks.

Seifer moved in closer, letting his hand rest against Squall's upper arm. "Come on, since we're friends and all now, I'm gonna invite you over to my place. Like friends do, friends who care about each other." He let his lips stretch into a smirk. Oh, he was going to have so much fun with this.

End