A/N- I've sat on this for a while, argued with myself over it and rewrote parts. After being beta'd a couple of times I've decided to just run with it. I played with the idea of making this a bit longer but I wasn't sure how anyone's attention span would hold out with the conversations. Fic is loosely inspired by You've Got Mail.

Anonymous

Staring out the window wishing he were outside instead of stuck inside a stuffy classroom, Hayner stifled a sigh and stole another glance at the clock on the wall.

Fifteen minutes and I'm free.

With a yawn and a stretch, the skater ruefully decided he should probably pay attention to what his teacher was saying as she was basically handing them their next assignment.

"Now, I know that you are all at that stage in your lives where you would rather just hang out with your friends and be anti-social to the rest of the world, but I'm afraid there will come a time where you simply don't have that option. With that in mind, I've come up with a kind of unorthodox assignment that I hope you will, nonetheless, eventually enjoy. If you will recall, a couple of weeks ago I asked each of you to submit either a cell phone number or an anonymous IM name; most of you submitted both. Now, in an effort to encourage cooperation and to help get to know your classmates, I have randomly paired you all up and I will be passing out the numbers and/or IMs of your anonymous partners. For the next two weeks you and your partner are expected to communicate through texts, IMs or some combination of both in order to learn more about each other. Then, at the end of the two weeks, you will actually have to meet face to face to see who you have been talking to and the following Monday you will be expected to get up in front of the class and tell the rest of us some of the things you learned about your classmate. I expect any information traded to be appropriate knowledge for the rest of the class so don't go trading any secrets that could be potentially embarrassing. Any questions?"

A hand belonging to one of the kids in the back of the room went up and Hayner's teacher nodded her head in his direction. "Yes, Tidus?"

"What's the point? I mean, if you want us to talk to each other, why don't you just pair us up and have us talk in person. Why bother with all this secrecy?"

"Good question and the answer is because if you know who you're being paired with, you will be bringing preconceptions with you into this assignment. The goal of this project is to get to know someone without having already judged them." She paused and gave a small smile. "And also because I'm your teacher and I say so."

"But it's spring break!"

"Yes, and that will ensure that you have plenty of time and opportunity to complete this assignment, won't it?"

Hayner just rolled his eyes as his class mates let out a collective groan. So they had to talk to someone off and on for a couple of weeks; big deal. While their teacher passed out everyone's `partner' information, the blonde skater glanced once around the room and briefly caught the eye of Seifer, who was sitting in the back corner. The elder male leaned back in his chair and sent Hayner a glare which the other responded to by flicking him off when the teacher wasn't looking. Even though the two males had always been rivals, their fights lately had been more frequent and violent than usual. Hayner himself still didn't know why nor did he care. Well, if he were honest with himself he cared a little. Aside from being a total ass to him, Seifer was usually a decent person to other people and went out of his way to take on the roaming bands of petty thugs that populated the town. The skater actually thought that they could be friends if Seifer could ever look at him as anything other than a rival and irritant.

Taking the paper handed to him by his instructor, Hayner glanced at the sheet and saw that whoever he was paired with had included both a cell number and an IM. Regardless of whoever it was, at least it should be easy to complete the assignment with more than one option available to him. Tuning out the murmurs of curiosity and discontent, the lithe male folded the paper he'd been given and shoved it in his front pocket as the final bell rung and the rest of the class filed out looking more like a stampeding herd of cattle than a group of students. Following at a much more leisurely pace, Hayner swung by his locker to grab a few things before he headed home, cutting through the sandlot on his way. Halfway across the normally occupied space, the skater wasn't actually surprised when he heard a voice yell out from the sidelines, turning to see Seifer flanked by his two best friends, Fuu and Rai.

"What the fuck did you flick me off for, chickenwuss?" The bully asked as he stalked his way to where Hayner stood.

"Why the fuck were you glaring at me in class?" The skater responded, crossing his arms.

"I need a reason?"

The shorter male just rolled his eyes. "Yes, actually. People generally need a reason to be bitchy; or are you just on you period? I hear Midol does wonders…or would you prefer Pamprin?"

At the confused look Hayner just shook his head and sighed. "They're PMS pills, dumbass."

"I knew deep down you were really a girl."

Suppressing a groan the shorter male turned and began walking away. "I have a sister you moron…and don't even think of grabbing my arm to stop me from leaving; even for us this argument is lame and I'm not in the mood to continue it."

Blinking in surprise, Seifer lowered the hand he'd raised to do just that and watched the skater exit the lot; maybe they had been doing this too much lately…

Finally making it home, Hayner toed his shoes off by the door and proceeded into the kitchen to grab a snack before heading upstairs to do homework; let everyone else procrastinate until the end of break, the blond would do it now and be done with it. Opening the fridge the lithe male quickly made a selection of easy to eat, yet surprisingly unhealthy goodies, with a bottle of strawberry milk to balance it out, before retreating to the safety of his room.

Several hours, sixty pages read and an essay later, Hayner leaned back in his chair with a stretch and a yawn. The assignments hadn't been all that bad, really, and now he was free to do whatever he wanted for the next two weeks. Well, aside from the anonymous talking thing. Humming a little to himself, the brown eyed male opened his door and sniffed experimentally; someone was home and it smelled like spaghetti was for dinner. Grinning at his good fortune, since the skater loved any kind of pasta, Hayner slid down the banister and poked his head into the kitchen to see if it was his mother or sister that was cooking; his sister would chase him back out again but his mom would probably let him snag a piece of the garlic bread he could now smell.

Luck was again with him as his mom was the one currently pulling the hot loaves from the oven and he went to beg a piece. Spinning tales of a harrowing journey home and a mountain made of homework that had left him famished (he was wasting away, really) his mom just rolled her eyes and let him have a piece of bread with the admonition he not get any garlic butter on the couch cushions. Snagging a piece quickly, lest she change her mind, Hayner happily took a bite and wandered into the living room to see what his sister was doing. Rikku was twenty to Hayner's seventeen and was working her way towards a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry at a nearby college. The younger teen wasn't exactly sure what she intended to do with the degree but he hoped it came with a hazmat suit; he still remembered the Christmas Rikku had received the "Little Scientist's Chemistry Set: Safe Science Fun For All Ages!" …How she'd managed to blow a hole in the wall of her bedroom with it was still a mystery.

Currently she was sitting on the floor working through a set of equations for one class or another, mumbling a little to herself.

"Dinner will be ready soon."

Glancing up briefly, Rikku frowned a little seeing that Hayner had wheedled himself a snack. "You couldn't have waited?"

He grinned and took a bite. "Nope."

Hayner turned back towards the kitchen as his sister just rolled her eyes and pushed herself to her feet to follow him. Hayner's family didn't usually get to spend much time together as they were all fairly busy with one thing or another, but every Friday was different in that they all got together to have dinner. This was where they caught up with each other and Hayner's mom was given the opportunity to involve herself in her children's lives, albeit briefly. Her son personally thought that no one worked as hard as she did to provide for her family, his father having ditched them all when he was three, and he loved her all the more for it.

Filling their plates, the trio sat around the table and talked about the past week's events; Rikku's story about how some of the other Chemistry undergrads had managed to set the lab instructor on fire with a Moogle plushie had them all laughing until their sides hurt.

Wiping her eyes, the matriarch of the house then turned to her youngest. "So, since it seems you've managed to finish all your homework, do you have any plans for Spring Break?"

"Nothing really concrete; I'll hang out with Roxas as usual but I'm not sure when since we haven't talked about it." Brown eyes closed in bliss as Hayner took another bite of his pasta. "I do have one more assignment to do but it's kind of an odd one."

"How so?"

"Remember when I had to turn the IM name and my cell number in for class?" His mother nodded "Well, my teacher has decided that we all need a lesson in social interaction so she partnered us all up with someone random from the class and we have to spend time messaging that person while we're on break."

His sister let out a snort. "What's the point? You can all just say you did it and go on with your break."

The sandy blond just shook his head. "We actually can't; we all have to get up in front of the class and tell everyone what we learned about the other person when we go back."

"Huh. Could be worse I guess; who'd you get?"

"Dunno. She wanted this all done anonymously so that there wouldn't be any preconceptions about the person brought into the assignment."

His mother quirked a smile. "That's not a bad idea, actually. It's harder to hate someone right away if you don't know who they are."

A shrug. "I don't really mind it but you should've heard some of the others bitch; you'd think it was the end of the world or something."

Standing to put his dishes in the sink as the family separated, his sister suddenly let out a laugh. "Oh my god…can you imagine what it would be like to have Seifer as a partner?"

Hayner grimaced. "No idea but with how Seifer normally acts, I feel sorry for them. At least with all the people in the class I can be sure it isn't me."

Tossing his backpack aside, Seifer closed the door to his apartment and leaned back against it with a sigh. After a moment contemplating the rut he seemed to have fallen into, the scarred male moved farther into the room, tossing his jacket and beanie on a nearby chair as he went. Normally when anything bothered the teen, he either shrugged it off or beat up the source of the problem but that was proving difficult in this particular case. He and Hayner had been fighting each other for years but today was the first time the younger male had walked away without so much as a single punch being thrown and it had made the elder of the two stop and really think about the way things had been lately.

It was true that he and the brown eyed skater had been fighting with more frequency and on too many of those occasions he'd found himself hurting the lithe teen even when he hadn't meant to. Even worse than the violence was that Seifer didn't even know why. Growling a little in frustration, the bully turned his mind towards something he could actually do something about; that stupid assignment his teacher had given them. It wasn't really that big of a deal but the fact that he'd have to play nice with whatever idiot he'd been given as a partner was an irritation the blond really didn't need right now. At least he wouldn't have to meet the other person for a couple of weeks and if he managed to find out enough about the other fairly quickly, he wouldn't even have to talk to them the entire two weeks of vacation. Feeling slightly cheered at the prospect, Seifer dug the paper he'd been given out of his pocket and seeing that there was both an IM and a cell number, he flipped open his phone.

No time like the present, I guess.

Not up for much after dinner, Hayner had opted to spend some time reading a book other than one assigned for class and after a few minutes consideration, had finally settled on a Sherlock Holmes novel. Sprawling across his bed in a way only a teenager could manage, he opened the book and prepared to lose himself to the story.

"In the year1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course described for surgeons in the Army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northhumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed…"

The sudden sound of Army of Me playing from across the room snapped the teen out of the story not even a minute into it. Closing the book with a quiet growl of frustration, he then moved over to his desk to see who the text was from, vowing to change the way his ringtones were set up so he could read with less distraction next time. Frowning slightly to find the message was from an unfamiliar number instead of Roxas like he'd assumed it was, the teen opened it.

Hey. I know it's pretty early to be starting this but I figure if we do it now we might not have to text the entire vacation.

Blinking a little in surprise, Hayner moved to flop back on his bed, digging the paper from class out of his pocket as he went. Confirming that the mystery text was indeed from his partner in this exercise, he put Sherlock away for the moment and set about composing a reply.

Good point; I'm sure we could manage to find enough out about each other to satisfy the teacher in a fairly short amount of time. Since we aren't supposed to know who the other is I'll assume questions like 'who are you' or 'what do you look like' are out of the question.

Hitting send, the teen wondered if he'd be able to read a little more before getting a response and was actually reaching for the book when his phone went off again. Apparently not.

Agreed. As unusual as this assignment is, I'm willing to play along and talk anonymously for a week or so. I suppose we could always start small; what are you doing right now?

Letting out a snort not unlike Rikku's earlier, Hayner settled back into his pillows as he typed. The smart ass answer would be that I'm texting you. Before that however, I was just starting to read a book.

Which one? And yes, that would be the smart ass answer.

A Study in Scarlet.

That's Sherlock Holmes, isn't it?

As a matter of fact; I own all of them but haven't read but maybe one. I don't have much time to read for pleasure anymore.

You read anything else or just the classics?

I'll read pretty much anything though it really depends on what kind of mood I'm in. What about you?

I'll read on occasion but usually only mysteries or crime dramas. I don't do many of the classics outside of class.

So what else do you do in your spare time if you don't read much?

Hang out with friends, play video games... Seifer thought for a moment before he mentally crossed 'beating up other gangs' off of his list of things to share …and work out. Those are the usual things though I do occasionally deviate from that by going to the beach or something.

I do the exact same things, actually, though I usually spar with someone for my workout rather than just go to a gym and work on the machines.

Any particular reason?

Yeah. Working on machines can just get too repetitive but when you spar with someone, it's always different and there isn't as high a risk of stagnation.

Good point.

So what kind of games do you play…?

It wasn't until several hours later when they said goodbye for the night that Seifer realized just how long he and his partner had been texting. They'd basically started off making small talk but that had quickly moved onto in depth discussions about their interests in video games which had led to talking about fighting styles which had then turned into talking about their favorite martial artists. They'd finally stopped before getting into actors they enjoyed and favorite movies when the other male (it had to be a guy he was talking to with what they'd covered; the bully just couldn't see it being a girl) had realized what time it was.

Seifer had to admit that he was surprised; he'd expected to find talking to a stranger a chore but instead he'd actually enjoyed it. Whoever it was certainly wasn't the idiot he'd expected to be paired with. Even more surprising to the blond, however, was that even though they'd definitely gotten enough information about each other to satisfy their teacher, he wanted to learn more. The scarred male actually found his unknown partner interesting and looked forward to talking with him again. Maybe his teacher did know what she was doing after all.

Hayner woke the next morning in a pleasant frame of mind, still thinking about the conversation he'd had the night before. He'd gone into this assignment like it was just another unpleasant task to be plowed through but had found as the night wore on that he was reluctant to let the conversation end. The skater didn't think he could say the same about any other talk he'd had with someone, not even his friends. Humming a little to himself, he grabbed his phone and headed downstairs in search of breakfast, nearly running into his sister in his preoccupied state of mind. She just raised an eyebrow.

"Someone's cheery this morning."

"So I am. Your point?"

She just shrugged and moved to sit down. Even his mother, currently reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee next to her hand took notice. After a moment studying her youngest offspring, she set the paper down. "And what has you in such a good mood this morning?"

"Nothing really."

A moment of silence, then, "Did you relieve yourself this morning?"

A look of puzzlement flickered across the male's face. "What?"

She finished folding the paper. "Teenagers, especially male teenagers, usually have certain urges that need to be satisfied and when they have been, the subsequent release of endorphins…"

Realizing with a start just what she was talking about, Hayner's face turned red and he stuttered for a moment. "Mom! No! Just, no!"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of; after all it's just a natural part of life and with all the hormones coursing through your body…"

"MOM! I did not…" Taking a breath he tried again, a little calmer. "I'm in a good mood because I talked to my partner for that assignment I'd told you about yesterday and it went better than expected. That's all." Honestly, he'd forgotten to lock his door once…

"Oh." She blinked for a moment. "Well that's nice to hear. Do you have any idea who it might be yet?"

Shaking his head, Hayner got himself a bowl of cereal before continuing. "It's fairly obvious I'm talking to a guy but that's about it; we have a surprising amount in common which was a shocker."

"Well good! It's nice that you have something to talk about then; it would be really nice if you could become friends after this. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that you're so close with the friends you have, but it would be nice to see you with a few more."

Making a non-committal sound the lone male just sat and began to shovel breakfast into his mouth, finishing around the time his mother gave her usual mom talk about being careful when he went out, saying she loved them both, and grabbing her things as she headed out the door to work. It only took about thirty seconds after she left for his sister to start snickering.

"…did you relieve yourself?"

Shooting her a disgusted look just made his sister laugh more so Hayner resolved to eventually find something equally embarrassing that he could hold over her head later. Standing with a stretch the sudden sound of his phone going off had the skater scrambling to answer it, expecting a text from his partner and only mildly disappointed to find it was Roxas instead. The crestfallen look on his face just made his sister laugh some more.

"Damn, Hayner. If I didn't know any better I'd think you had a bit of a crush on this mystery guy of yours."

Sending a quick reply to his best friend, brown eyes turned with a glare. "He's not mine and go screw yourself."

A chuckle was Rikku's only reply as her brother hurried to go change and meet his friend.

I wonder if it's too soon to send another message.

Scowling a little at the thought as well as the irrational connection he felt with a complete stranger, Seifer shoved his phone back in his pocket and kept walking towards the sandlot. There really wasn't any reason to keep talking to his classmate; the bully kept telling himself that, but every time his attention wandered he found himself reaching for his phone anyway. It really wasn't his fault though; he really hadn't expected to enjoy the assignment, let alone be paired with someone so eerily similar to the scarred male himself. There really wasn't any harm in continuing their conversation though. I mean, the other might actually turn out to be a complete asshole, proving last night was a fluke and then the bully could write them off completely until they had to meet in person…or they could continue from where they left off and the blond could find out how much more they have in common with each other… Realizing his phone was once again in his hand, Seifer let out a growl of frustration and shoved it back in his pocket for the umpteenth time that morning.

Damn it.

"Jesus, Hayner, quit checking your phone."

Realizing with a start of surprise that he was doing just that, Hayner shot his friend a sheepish look before putting the offending electronic device away. "Sorry, Rox."

Shaking his head the other skater crossed his arms with a sigh. "You cannot possibly be that excited to talk to this guy again."

Hayner hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. "I can't really explain it, we just seemed to click; like I've known this guy for ages but we never really just sat down and talked."

One eyebrow rose over a cerulean eye. "You've lost your mind."

"Probably." The other replied with a grin.

With an unbelieving smile, Roxas stood with a stretch. "Come on, let's go get some ice cream or something…and so help me God if you reach for your phone again I'll take it away."

Pulling his hand away from his pocket, Hayner looked slightly guilty but smiled and followed his friend anyway.

Four hours, some sea salt ice cream and another lecture which did indeed result in his phone being confiscated and later reclaimed, Hayner took the stairs leading up to his room two at a time, shutting the door and plopping down on the beanbag chair he had in the corner. Digging his phone back out he typed a quick message and then hesitated, thumb hovering over the send button.

I haven't heard from him all day…I might be bugging him or he may not be as interested as I am in talking anymore…

With slightly frustrated growl Hayner hit the send button, deciding the worst that could happen was the other telling him to piss off.

Saying goodbye to his friends, Seifer turned towards home in a slightly sour frame of mind. Fuu and Rai were his best friends, had been since they were kids, but now that the two were dating he couldn't help but feel like the third wheel on a bicycle. It wasn't as if they meant to exclude him, he knew that, but they had a tendency to zone out to everything around them when together for more than a few minutes at a time. The really sad thing was that Seifer knew they'd try to curb the behavior if he said something, but he didn't want to try and shove himself in the middle of what they had; it just felt too much like he'd be intruding. Pulling off his beanie to run a hand through his hair in frustration, the bully stopped at the sound as the chorus of Burn came from inside his jacket. Finding a message from his mystery partner brought a small smile to the blonde's face as he felt his mood lighten a little.

Hey, I hope I'm not bothering you…I was kind of hoping you wanted to continue our conversation from last night.

You aren't bothering me; I'm just on my way home.

Oh? I just got home myself. Were you working or something?

No, I spent the day with some friends. You?

The same actually, only it was just one friend since the others couldn't make it today.

Finally making it home, Seifer took a moment to change and flip the T.V on before sending a reply.

Do you normally spend a lot of time together?

Hmmm. Yeah. Some would say too much.

Why? If you're friends I don't see what the big deal is.

I don't either but there are some rumors floating around that we're dating just based on how close we are.

I take it that means you aren't then?

Nope, just friends. There's someone else interested in him right now and I fully expect them to start dating before there are dire consequences.

Dire consequences?

Yeah, if he doesn't just give in and date the guy already I may have to tie him up and toss him in the other guy's apartment as a gift. I swear I feel like banging my head into the nearest wall whenever they're together; I'm not sure if he's just stupid or what.

Seifer couldn't help but smirk. I felt the same for a while in regards to my friends. They eventually stopped beating around the bush and got together on their own though.

Lucky you; I think I may actually be jealous.

Don't be, it isn't as wonderful as it sounds. We're still good friends but I can't just hang out with them like I used to since the vast majority of the time they only have eyes for each other.

Hayner blinked for a moment in surprise; it had to be his imagination but he couldn't help but detect a slight note of bitterness. Which was ridiculous since it was a message and not a face to face conversation. I take it you aren't seeing anyone right now?

No, I haven't found anyone I considered interesting enough. Attractive, yes, but if they continually get on my nerves there's no point. Which was an understatement as far as Seifer was concerned; there really wasn't anything worse than a shitty personality wrapped in an appealing package. What about you?

Hayner shifted a little as he stared at the screen of his phone. His teacher had warned them about revealing potentially embarrassing things and if he let too much slip this could come back and bite him in the ass. In hindsight it might not have been the best idea to inadvertently reveal that Roxas was gay but he'd already come out so Hayner didn't think there was much harm. Besides, he hadn't listed any names and if his partner hadn't said anything about it, he probably didn't care. Still, one couldn't be too careful sometimes.

I'm not dating anyone at the moment, no.

Anyone in mind?

Again Hayner hesitated. I…had someone in mind once. A couple of years ago. It was pretty obvious that they would never feel the same way so I gave up on them. There hasn't been anyone else since.

What made is so obvious?

It's fairly hard to miss when someone hates your guts. I'm sorry, but can we maybe talk about something else?

Leaning back into the couch, Seifer sat a moment and thought about what he'd just read. It was fairly obvious that his partner was gay, or at the very least bi, and most likely hadn't come out yet by his hesitance in revealing the gender of his crush. It was also obvious that he still had that crush or he wouldn't be so uncomfortable talking about it. For some reason that fact pissed the scarred male off, which didn't make any sense. Something to examine later he supposed. In the meantime though…

That's fine. I never did find out what your favorite movie was…

The next week seemed to fly by as the two continued to talk back and forth, mostly by phone but occasionally online if one or the other was working on something. Dragging himself out of bed Friday morning, Hayner grabbed his laptop and headed out to the sandlot where he'd be meeting Roxas. There was a struggle match set up for Saturday and as usual the place was full of people practicing for the competition. Glancing over at the sidelines, the skater noticed Seifer surrounded by his ever present shadows though the bully didn't seem to be paying attention as he was busy doing something on his phone.

Setting himself up in the opposite corner of the lot, Hayner opened his laptop and logged on to do some research on struggle equipment, noticing he had a message from his partner asking what he was up to.

Nothing much; I have to practice for the upcoming Struggle tourney in a little while but in the meantime I've got some things to look up online while my friend is practicing first.

Seifer frowned and looked up from his phone to glance around at the various people scattered around the sandlot, spying Hayner off to the opposite side. There were several people the bully recognized from class also dotting the area though he hadn't given any of them much more than a quick look upon arrival. He hadn't noticed the skater, though, which means he had just gotten there.

So you struggle?

Yeah, whenever I can; I don't miss many of the tourneys though I don't always have the time to practice ahead of time. This, of course, would be the exception since we're on break and I have nothing else to do.

Seifer took another look around the lot; he was fairly certain his partner was actually there but it was hard to figure out who it was as most of the familiar faces currently had their phones out. Well, Hayner was working on his computer but that didn't matter since he obviously wasn't his partner anyway.

I take it your friend also participates since you said he was practicing before you.

Yeah, at the moment though he's practicing and failing; I don't know what his problem is today.

Looking over at the ring, Seifer couldn't see who one of the fighters was but he recognized the other right away as Roxas. There was NO way… A shout from the far side of the lot had the bully jerking his head up in time to see Hayner stalk over to the ring, yelling something about defense as Roxas missed an opportunity to block. Throwing his hands up in disgust he then went back over and began typing on his computer again. A few moments later, Seifer's phone began vibrating to let him know he had a new message.

Let's change that to totally failing. My grandmother could block better than that.

Seifer inhaled sharply at the realization that he was indeed talking to Hayner; that he'd been talking to him for over a week with no idea that it could possibly be the shorter blond. The idea of them having a civilized conversation or anything in common was so ludicrous that the older male hadn't even entertained the thought that they could be talking to one another. It was fairly obvious that the other had been thinking along the same lines or he never would have said some of the things he had over their various messages. Trying to think of something to say so as not to betray his new found knowledge, Seifer's eyes roamed around and came to rest on Roxas, who was almost finished with his match.

So what does your friend look like? I might have seen him at the matches before.

Glancing over, Seifer watched as Hayner looked up from his computer screen to stare at his friend with a small frown on his face. He looks kind of like a chocobo…though at the moment not a very graceful one. I think it's all that flailing around he's doing in an attempt to keep balance.

So…he looks a little retarded. No offense.

Actually…he kind of does.

Seifer couldn't help but smirk. A retarded chocobo.

Yeah. :D How terrible of a friend am I?

Not terrible. I've got something you might find a little funny; hang on while I find the link.

A quick search later and the bully was sending the link to a comic he'd found quite a while ago, looking up immediately after to see Hayner's reaction. The lithe blond stared at the screen for a few moments, lips twitching until he suddenly burst out laughing. Now finished with his match, Roxas wandered over to see what his friend thought was so funny and stood for a minute looking down at the screen.

"Why the hell are you looking at a picture of retarded chocobos?"

Hayner just laughed harder and typed out a quick message while the other blond grabbed a towel in order to wipe his face off.

That was good; I need to get going since it'll be my turn soon. Are we still meeting up tomorrow morning?

Yeah. 9am by the pier?

Works for me; I look forward to finally meeting you. I'll see you then.

Yeah, me too.

Closing his computer and stashing it in the bag he'd brought with him, Hayner stood and began to stretch. Seifer just put his phone away and sat thinking; tomorrow was certainly going to be interesting.

Walking out to the pier, Seifer continued to wonder what Hayner's reaction was going to be when he realized he'd been talking with the well-built bully. Well, he actually had a fairly good idea; it was more or less going to come down to how bad the reaction would be. Rounding the corner towards the docks, Hayner could be seen in the distance, leaning against one of the rails, looking out to sea. Steeling himself, though he couldn't say against what, the scarred male began walking towards the lithe male. As soon as he heard the footprints, Hayner's head whipped around and shocked brown eyes met blue. Seifer continued walking until he was within arms distance of the other teen.

"Hey."

Hayner's mouth worked for a moment but nothing came out. "You? I was talking to you?"

Seifer's mouth twitched a little. "Yeah. I guess preconceptions are a bitch."

Hayner was silent for a few moments more as his mind attempted to make a connection between the person he'd been speaking to for over a week and what he knew, or thought he knew, about the person standing in front of him. Seifer would swear later he'd heard his mind snap.

"You're lying; it couldn't possibly have been you."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Why NOT? You hate my guts! You've hated me for years! You can't expect me to believe…" With a frustrated growl the skater tore his hands through his hair and paced away before whirling back. "You are an asshole; even for you this is too much."

Seifer felt the scowl tugging at his features as he stalked forward to invade the younger male's space. "Even for me? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You know damn well what it means! Even for an anonymous assignment you couldn't just act like yourself so…what? You act like someone you aren't to lure whoever you're talking to into a false sense of camaraderie, make them like you, and then deliver a big fuck you when it's all over."

The bully sneered. "I'm sure you'd know all about acting like yourself seeing as how you don't have the balls to come out of the closet."

Hayner paled; he'd never come right out and said he was gay but in hindsight it wouldn't have been hard to figure out from what he'd both said and refused to say during their conversations. His teacher had warned them all about sharing information and even if he hadn't meant to, it was now biting him in the ass.

"What? No snarky comeback?"

Lacking an appropriate verbal response, Hayner's fist spoke for him instead.

The fight was brutal, even for them, and it wasn't just the physicality of it though that was the worst it had ever been. In the space of a few minutes each had managed to bloody the other, all while hurling insults or just stopping to scream at each other. It wasn't until Seifer heard the sickening crack of bone breaking that he came back to himself and stepped away. Hayner was on the ground cradling his left arm, face pale, and he was drawing in pained breaths through clenched teeth. It was like being doused with cold water and, after a minute, he did what he should have done to begin with, he walked away.

Seifer was two steps into his apartment when the guilt caught up with him and he punched a hole in the wall. God damn it.

Rikku was waiting for Hayner when he got home from the hospital, left arm now encased in a dark grey cast. He felt it suited his mood perfectly. Ignoring the look of sympathy on his sister's face, the banged up skater instead went to rummage around in the fridge.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Hayner…"

Slamming the refrigerator door shut, Hayner whirled, his expression a mix of hurt and anger. "What, Rikku? What do you want me to say? You were right, maybe I did have a little bit of a crush on him, or at least on who I thought I was talking to. I thought I'd finally found someone I could really connect with, someone I didn't have to act around, and instead of that I find it was nothing but a damn lie! The whole fucking thing was nothing but a lie."

"Hayner…"

"Just forget it."

Deciding that food was overrated, Hayner went upstairs, shutting the door to his room, before curling up on his bed. After a minute he pulled his cell phone out and started typing out a message, realizing that it was addressed to Seifer only as he was getting ready to send it. Growling in frustration Hayner instead turned and threw his phone against the wall, watching as it shattered.

Seifer did whatever he could to keep from thinking about Hayner and what had happened when they'd met at the pier but by Monday he'd run out of ways to occupy his mind and his apartment walls had acquired a few more holes. By Tuesday he'd lost count of how many times he'd picked up his phone to send a message before setting it down again and walking off in frustration. The guilt was nearly overwhelming; he and Hayner fighting wasn't exactly a new thing but he'd never broken anything more than the smaller male's nose before. By Wednesday the bully broke down and sent the skater a message, logging onto the computer to send another one when he didn't get a reply. And then another…and yet another a few hours after that. Seething with frustration the scarred male had his phone in hand to try again when there was a knock on his door. Getting up to answer it, Seifer wasn't really surprised to see Fuu but he did raise an eyebrow when he realized she was without her boyfriend, Rai. They were practically glued together now that they were dating and seeing one without the other was rare. Waving her inside, the bully got two cans of soda and joined his friend on the couch before asking what brought her over.

"TALK."

"About what?"

"HAYNER."

Seifer grimaced; he'd told his friends what had happened, of course, they knew about every other fight he'd gotten into with the lithe male and after this last tussle he'd needed to vent, if only to try and figure out why this last time had gone so wrong. He still hadn't figured out why their fighting had suddenly gotten so bad in the first place so he didn't really have any hope of puzzling out this last encounter either.

"I'm working on it."

Leveling her one visible eye at the bully in a glare, Fuu just crossed her arms and waited.

Letting out a sigh the blond set his soda down and scrubbed at his face with one hand. "I've tried sending him messages, Fuu, he refuses to answer me. I don't even know why I'm bothering…it isn't going to change the fact that I broke his arm or that I can't seem to control my temper around him anymore, or that…"

Leaning forward Fuu interrupted what was gearing up to be another frustrated rant by flicking the bully in the forehead, hard.

Seifer rubbed at the spot. "What was that for?"

"IDIOT. THINK."

"That's what I've been…"

She shook her head. "JANUARY. MALL."

The scarred male frowned. "I don't…"

"START."

Brows furrowed, Seifer opened his mouth and then quickly shut it, his expression growing thoughtful. What had happened at the mall in January? He wasn't at the mall very much in general and he'd only been there twice that month; Hayner had been there once that he could remember. So what had happened? He'd been sitting in the food court with Fuu and Rai when he'd noticed Hayner at a nearby shop; it wasn't unusual to see the skater there but what had drawn his attention was who he was with. Standing next to the younger male was Squall Leonhart, the leader of another gang that occupied the other side of the city from the Disciplinary Committee, and he was flirting with Hayner. Outrageously. Hayner wasn't encouraging the behavior but he wasn't telling the brunette to take a hike either. Seifer tried to just ignore them but his eyes had continued to stray over and when Squall reached over to touch the shorter male, Seifer had nearly lost it; his fighting with Hayner had taken a turn for the worse after that. Eyes widening slightly as memory returned, they flicked over to look at the silver haired girl next to him with surprise.

She just gave him a small smile and then pointed to the door. "GO. FIX."

Hayner had barely left his room since getting home from the hospital and as far as he was concerned he never had to leave it again. He sure as hell wasn't going to school on Monday, his teacher and her 'project' be damned; he'd take the fucking zero. When the knock sounded on his door he ignored it in favor of shifting into a more comfortable position on his bed. When the knock came again he growled out a 'go away' that sounded more like 'fuck you'. Instead of taking the hint, however, the knocking continued.

"Oh for the love of…" Rolling off his bed, Hayner unlocked and then wrenched the door open. "Damn it Rikku, I said…" Whatever else the skater was going to say suddenly stuck in his throat as he realized it wasn't his sister on the other side of the door, but Seifer. There was a moment of silence and then Hayner attempted to slam the door shut, only to have it blocked by the taller blond.

"We need to talk."

Hayner crossed his arms and turned away. "I have nothing to say to you."

"You don't have to say anything then, just listen."

"Still not interested; just get out."

Clamping down on his irritation, Seifer entered the room and shut the door. After a moment's consideration he locked it, the click making Hayner's head whip around in surprise.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Ensuring you can't go anywhere until we've had this out; I have things to say and you're damn well going to listen to them."

Sucking a breath in through his teeth, Hayner glared at the room's only other occupant before stalking over to sit on the windowsill. After a moment of silence he gestured for the bully to continue.

Telling his pride to go sit in a corner Seifer took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. "I'm sorry."

Brown eyes flickered over in surprise but their owner remained silent so the scarred male continued.

"Look, I never meant to hurt you…I hadn't even intended to fight with you when we met at the pier. I just…I wasn't…" Pulling off his beanie, Seifer ran a hand through his hair and started pacing. After a minute trying and failing to find the right words he spun towards the silent blond with an oath. "Fuck it."

Acting before the other could realize what was going on, the bully took a step forward, wrapped a hand around the back of the other's neck and smashed their lips together. Hayner went ridged with surprise, eyes wide, until Seifer pulled their bodies flush together with his other arm and deepened the contact. Eyes fluttering closed, Seifer felt Hayner relax into the contact as he brought his own hands up to rest on the elder's chest. The docility turned to war a moment later, however, as the kiss heated up and the two males began fighting for dominance. Tongues pressed against and tangled together as Seifer shifted their position and pressed Hayner against the wall, leg coming to rest between the shorter male's thighs as Hayner's hands came up to tangle in the bully's hair. After a few minutes, the need for oxygen broke the two apart and Seifer just rested his forehead on Hayner's, not saying anything. After a few minutes spent searching the older teen's face, the skater's lips twitched.

"Preconceptions really are a bitch, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they really are."

The following Monday Seifer showed up at Hayner's house in order to walk him to school, which garnered them some odd looks from the other students on their way in. Those were nothing in comparison to the looks they both got in class when, after Hayner had finished telling the class what he'd learned about Seifer, minus the fight and subsequent confrontation in the skater's room, the elder of the pair just pulled the younger into a hard kiss and sat down with a smirk. Pretty much the entire school knew about it by the end of the day and the bully mentally congratulated himself on successfully claiming the skater as his. Things were actually going well between the pair, even with the fit Roxas had at the news that his best friend and the scarred male were dating. After a while it ceased to matter very much, however, as the blue eyed teen had other matters to worry about.

Watching as a very flustered Roxas bolted through the sandlot followed by a taller male with bright red hair and a grin, Hayner just shook his head with a frustrated sigh.

Smoothing away the crease forming in between his brows, Seifer leaned down to steal a kiss. "What's on your mind?"

"Dire consequences."

The scarred male was silent for a moment before he suddenly smirked. "I'm pretty sure I have some rope somewhere…"

Hayner just laughed as his boyfriend laced their fingers together and they began walking home, hand in hand.

Fin

A/N- The link for the comic referenced in the fic is: comics/?strip_id=72

And the songs are Army of Me by Bjork (off of the Suckerpunch soundtrack) and Burn by Papa Roach.