See?! I told you that I'd be updating more frequently!

And a thank you to the only person who reviewed! I wish you would have signed in so I could give you a personal response, instead of just listing you here as Guest. (laughs)

I have too much free time, right now...

ANYWAY!
Please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: If I owned SquareSoft...it would still be called SquareSoft. Ahahahaha-

11

Intoxication

Seifer could only stand dumbstruck.

His eyes were wide as he stared at the fallen beast. Breath quickening, his feet finally decided to obey him and he ran forward, eyes scanning the ground underneath it. Pressing his shoulder against the behemoth's side, he began pushing, trying to lift the weight. "Come on…come on!" he cried out as he began using all of his weight to get any form of leverage. "Damn it, Leonhart! You fucking idiot! When I get you out of this, I'm gonna kill you!" His entire face was red as he kept shoving at the beast, but to no avail. He fell against it, panting, mind racing and eyes starting to burn.

The silence around him became deafening; not even the chatter from the bite bugs had picked back up. "Goddamn it, Squall…!"

He suddenly felt the behemoth begin to move. He jerked back, wondering how the beast could have possibly survived the thunder to its heart. Its back began to arch, lifting above the ground. However, it was not the beast that was moving on its own. As enough of the creature lifted up, he saw Squall using one of his arms, having apparently cast aero shortly before the beast fell. Seifer's chest sunk and he immediately moved back to the carcass, crouched down and grabbed Squall underneath his arms, pulling him out from underneath the purple behemoth. The moment his legs cleared the beast, Squall dropped his arm, cancelling out the spell and causing the creature's body to shake the ground when it landed.

With the last bit of his energy gone, he collapsed against the other man, breathing heavily as he and Seifer sat on the ground.

"I think I broke my shoulder," Squall said between breaths.

Seifer exhaled, his arms around Squall chest. "Yeah. Because you're an idiot."

"One who just saved your ass." Seifer did not respond. He hated it when other people were right. Squall shifted, cursing as he did. "Why is it every time you're around, I'm the one who ends up getting injured?"

Again, Seifer stayed silent, his mind flashing back to the memories of Squall on the floor of D-District Prison. He tightened his grip around Squall's chest.

"Uh…Almasy."

The way he thrust into Squall, causing the younger man to cry out in pain.

"Almasy."

How he kept going until Squall was raw and bleeding.

"Seifer Almasy!"

Seifer shook his head, being jerked out of his thoughts. He looked down at Squall, who was staring up at him, eyebrows up and face flooded with apprehension and confusion. Seifer shook his head again.

"What?"

He caught Squall's eyes.

Caught in the apprehension and confusion was a mixture of fear and uncertainty. That same look Squall had given him at that time. He had to process what was happening. His grip around Squall's chest had tightened to the point that Squall was experiencing his own flashback; afraid to fight back; not sure what Seifer would do if he tried. Seifer loosened his grip, but he could feel Squall's heart pounding through his chest.

"Sorry," he muttered as he let go and pushed Squall up. Squall sat up as Seifer climbed to his feet. He dusted off his pants, and then reached his hand down to help Squall to his own. Squall cringed and grabbed his injured shoulder. Even through his jacket, it was obvious the bone was out of place. He looked behind him at the lights of Garden. "Well, at least we don't have much farther to go."

Squall frowned at the obvious attempt to lighten the air.

"Oh, wipe the look, Leonhart. You act like you nearly died or something."

Squall just shook his head and turned on his heel to continue walking back to Garden. As Seifer sighed, he failed to catch the smirk on Squall's face.

"Darling, so share with me your love, if you have enough. Your tears if you're holding back. Or pain, if that's what it is."

Zell laughed and clapped along with some of the students and instructors as Irvine, in his drunken stupor, was on the small stage in the lounge of the hotel, belting out Eyes On Me horribly off-key. It had taken several pints of beer to get Irvine to finally crack a smile and, once he did, he would not stop talking about the most inane things. At one point, he was telling Zell how he once flirted with a girl when he was drunk, thinking that girl was Selphie. Then Selphie came into the bar in Balamb, ready to be mad at him. That was until Irvine started freaking out, wondering why there were two Selphies.

While he was laughing and carrying on, the small band on stage was asking if anyone wanted to perform some karaoke, which Zell, along with some of the students who had come down to the lounge, had cheered him on to sing something. He agreed, but the only song he could remember was Eyes On Me. Quistis and Selphie had left the small upstairs bar to move to the downstairs lounge and, seeing Irvine in his intoxication had Selphie relieved that he had finally loosened up and Quistis to shake her head, mainly over the fact that an instructor had gotten blatantly drunk and was making a fool of himself in front of a group of students.

Though, she was happy that he was no longer moping around.

As the song came to an end, Irvine fell into a bow at the claps and cheers that echoed from the lounge. Some of the students were screaming for an encore, while Quistis asked Zell if he should go up and retrieve Irvine before he made more of a fool of himself in front of all the students. Zell waved her off, saying that it was either that or have Irvine back in his saddened state. Contemplating, Quistis finally sighed and gave in. The small band on stage began playing a more upbeat song, which had Irvine calling one of the female students up onto the small stage to help him sing. Selphie did not seemed to mind and even began standing up and dancing and clapping as the two started singing.

As more of the people in the lounge started getting into the music, following Selphie's lead, who had even started dancing with some of the female and male students. Even Quistis was starting to get into it, swaying back and forth as she sipped on her drink.

While mostly everyone was dancing and having fun, two of the students approached Quistis. They both seemed awkward, constantly shifting.

"Um…Ms. Trepe?"

She turned on her stool to turn and face the black-haired female and brown-haired male. Though the drunk, she was slightly buzzed and felt a tinge of embarrassment at being talked to by students while she was in such a state. She tried to get her head straight and made eye contact with the speaker, the female.

"Yes?"

The male seemed to feel awkward – he himself was part of the Trepies – and the female with him nudged him in the side to speak up. When he just shot her a glare, she returned the sentiment and started. "Ma'am, we, uh…know who set the alarm at…Galbadia."

At the comment, her sobriety seemed to come back and her expression became sober and stern. She turned to fully face them, eyes turning serious. "Someone set the alarm?" she asked rhetorically.

Both of the students nodded. The female nudged the male again, but, this time, he decided to speak up.

"Ms. Trepe, it wasn't anyone from our school." She stared at them quizzically, but kept her silence, allowing them to continue. "A couple of the Galbadia students were showing us around and we were asking them about the sorceress." When he paused, he did not pick up, which left the female to continue the explanation.

"They said that if you summon any high-level magic in the school, it sets off the alarms."

"We were with Alexia and Thurston, too."

"Thurston said they were lying and one of them cast firaga. It set off the alarms and, well…."

They went silent, leaving their instructor with a questionable gaze. As cheers and laughter broke out in the lounge as Irvine and the female student hit the bridge to the song, Quistis brought her eyes to meet the two students'. "Do you know what the students' names were?"

Both of them fell silent.

They glanced to each other, as though trying to remember something, and, finally, the female spoke up, though still looking at her friend. "Didn't one of their names start with an S?" The male looked at the floor, as though trying to remember.

He shook his head. "Maybe, but I'm pretty sure the guy's name was Andrew."

Quistis just nodded. She made eye contact with them once again, trying to get through her understanding. "I don't want you two to worry. I'll talk to Alexia and Thurston, too. But as long as what you're telling me is truthful, there's no reason to be concerned." They both appeared to catch an air of relief. "Now, I'll take care of this in the morning, so, for the time being, let's just enjoy tonight until curfew, okay?"

They both lit up, nodding their heads and agreeing. They thanked her a few times before leaving her presence and going back to join their friends. As Quistis continued to watch Irvine and the female student sing, and the crowd in the lounge dance, her mind drifted and she found herself asking how Squall would handle the same situation. She chuckled to herself.

Here she was, Squall's mentor, asking herself how her once-then student would react.

She set her elbow on the bar and smiled as she watched Irvine and the female complete their finale, finding herself wishing Squall would have broken away from his over-zealous actions and come and joined them on their trip.

Squall cursed loudly, his shout echoing throughout the infirmary.

Seifer sat behind him on the bed, trying to tighten the bandages around Squall's now-in-place shoulder. But as Seifer had tightened the bandages, Squall found himself clenching his fists on his lap, trying his best to ignore the pain. Initially, Seifer tried not to injure Squall, but when it came to popping Squall's shoulder back into place, he had no choice. As it turned out, Squall's shoulder was not broken, but had been dislocated, which Seifer was willing to take care of. When he did pop Squall's shoulder back, the younger male yelled and wound up holding his shoulder for a good ten minutes, trying to get the pain and soreness to fade. However, an issue came when every time Squall would tried to move his arm, the pain would radiate down his shoulder and back. It was then that Seifer recommend bandaging it to keep him from moving it.

At first, Squall denied the aid, but he found himself cringing as he tried to do even menial tasks and allowed Seifer to bandage and splint it. Though his apprehension became overwhelming at having to be shirtless in front of the blond, the pain had him relent.

He clamped his eyes shut as he curled his fists on his lap, trying to bite back a shout as Seifer placed his hand on his back to give him leverage on tightening the bandages.

"You could be a little more gentle!" he yelled through clenched teeth.

Seifer scoffed as he wrapped the bandage under Squall's arm again. "Shut up. If you weren't such a damn fool, this wouldn't be happening."

"I'm a fool?" Squall cringed again. "You were the one trying to take on a level 70 behemoth on your own."

Seifer snickered. "Guess it was a good thing my knight in shining armour came to save me, then," he remarked as he focused on sealing the bandage in place.

"I thought that was your thing?"

Seifer stopped suddenly, staring at the back of Squall's head. His mind flashbacked to the time in the prison when he went on to Squall about his dream of being a knight. It was so childish – immature and foolish. Perhaps that was why Squall said it the moment he did, but Seifer could not help but reflect for a moment. After the pause, he snorted and shook his head. "Guess I've passed the torch."

Squall went silent as Seifer snickered at his own comeback.

As he finished the bandaging, he let his hands stay on Squall's back. It was apparent that Squall did not know whether or not the blond was done, so he sat still and silent, waiting for Seifer to finish. However, Seifer's eyes lingered on Squall's back – his small back that led to his slender waist and small hips. His hands left the bandages and began lightly tracing down Squall's back and spine. He felt Squall tense under the touch, but kept lightly moving his hands down, allowing only his fingers to travel down his spine.

The brunet pulled forward and stood up from the bed. He grabbed his shoulder with his good arm.

"Thanks," he spoke abruptly and finally.

Seifer let his hands drop as his mind came back.

He watched as Squall snatched his shirt from where it was sitting on the stool by the bed and attempted to put it on using only one arm. He kept his back towards the blond as he slipped it over his head and put his right arm through the sleeve. He left the shirt only half on, only pulling the right side down far enough to cover his chest. He turned back to face Seifer, muttering another thank you. Seifer merely shook his head.

"Stop with the apologies, Leonhart." He stood up and set his hand on the back of Squall's right shoulder. "You saved my ass, remember?"

At the comment, Squall raised his eyebrows. "Are you admitting you actually needed help?"

Seifer sensed the challenge, but shook his head, slapping Squall on the back with enough force to make the younger man stumble and shoot him a glare. "Don't get used to it. Now"—he pushed Squall in front of him, moving out of the room—"I'm going to thank you properly and I don't want you bitching."

"What does that even mean?" he asked, letting Seifer guide him out of the infirmary.

"In due time, Squall. In due time." He let his arm drop and moved to walk next to Squall down the hallway leading back to the main hall.

As they entered the circle, the late night air was apparent. The hall was devoid of all life, with the exception of them – not even students crowding up the hall, even though it was the weekend. Granted, most of them had gone to town and Seifer found himself glad they were able to take down the behemoth. If a group of students were to have encountered the creature, they would have had more than a few casualties to worry about.

They headed towards the dormitories, which was met with a curious look from Squall, but Seifer told him not to get wrapped up and for him to clean his mind. The comment was frowned on, causing Seifer to snicker and call Squall a pervert. He was trying not to do anything that would upset the brunet – now that he understood why the Commander acted towards him the way he did, Seifer was not about to extinguish what small amount of trust Squall had apparently placed in him. The fact that the younger man was not only holding conversation with him, but not putting forth effort to avoid him spoke volumes.

Squall always was a timid bastard.

Seifer bit back a laugh at the thought.

As they arrived at the door leading to Seifer's dorm, he punched in the passcode, causing the door to slide open. He had to tell Squall to follow him inside, whereas the brunet's apprehension was making itself apparent. As they walked in, Seifer went to remove his jacket.

"Make yourself comfortable," he said as Squall looked around the large room. Seifer merely shook his head as Squall walked and sat down on the small couch underneath the window opposite the door. He kept looking around, face overcome with confusion. "Yeah, I get it. You're shocked that it's clean. Calm down." He laughed when Squall shot him a glare, Seifer obviously having been correct on what the Commander was thinking about.

He tossed his jacket on the bed and walked over to the dresser. He crouched down to open the bottom drawer and pulled out a bottle of cognac. He turned and showed it to Squall. "Aged ten years. Drink?"

Squall knitted his eyebrows together, but nodded. "Sure."

Seifer nodded and stood up, pushing the drawer closed with his foot. He walked over to the table by the bed and took out two glasses from the bottom shelf. He carried everything over to where Squall was sitting and sat down next to him, placing the two glasses and bottle on the coffee table, which was really a wooden box he had painted when he first came back to Garden. "I'm gonna cheat," he said, which garnered a curious look from Squall, but was answered when Seifer summoned a small ball of ice and dropped one into each glass. Squall shook his head as Seifer popped the corked bottle and poured a fair amount into each glass. He set the bottle down and picked up the first glass, handing it to Squall. "You should feel honoured. I don't crack into my cognac often."

"Having liquor on Garden premises is against the rules, you know," Squall said as he took a small sip. Seifer stared at him and blinked.

Was Squall really going to get on him for having alcohol for no reason?

"As a former Disciplinary Committee member, you should know better." He darted eyes up to Seifer, who had actually appeared surprised at such a comment coming from the Commander. Squall snickered into the glass as he took another sip and leaned back on the couch.

A smile started to grow on Seifer's face and he released an airy laugh. "Oh, bite me." The comeback was lame, but hearing Squall keep the air light around them gave him a sense of reprieve. He took more than a sip from his own glass, then inhaled and sat back, propping his feet up on the makeshift table. "So tell me, Commander: what do you usually do on weekends?"

Squall shrugged and swished the liquid around in the glass before drinking more. "Make up for your messes."

Seifer frowned, laughing mockingly as he followed suit.

"Ah, Leonhart, let's stop the games." Squall sent him a curious look. "After the night we've had, I say we down this bottle." Squall stared at him intently as Seifer downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. He released a breath and leaned forward, slamming his glass down on the table. He looked at Squall, whose eyebrows were raised before he stared at the rest of the drink in his own hand. Seeming to contemplate, he released a sigh, and then repeated Seifer's actions.

His face contorted as the liquor stung going down, causing Seifer to laugh.

Squall set his glass on the table, as opposed to slamming it, and motioned for Seifer to pour more. Seifer snickered. "Sure you can handle it?" he asked as he began filling their glasses again.

"You saying I can't?"

Seifer shrugged as he watched Squall take his glass and take a large swallow. He held back a laugh when Squall tried to withhold his initial reaction to the alcohol going down his throat. He finally laughed when Squall shook his head and stared into his glass.

"I take it you're not a fan of brandy," he commented as he took an equally large drink, as though attempting to humor Squall's idea of a challenge. When Squall did not respond, Seifer laughed. "No, no. That's too simple of an excuse. You just don't drink often, do you?"

"Please. I could drink you under the table."

Seifer released a chuckle, shaking his head. "Squall"—Squall looked at him, not having been used to Seifer call him by his first name—"don't take up a challenge you will lose."

At the remark, Squall narrowed his eyes at Seifer before dragging his gaze back to his glass. Without hesitation, he shut his eyes and downed the glass in a large shot. He bit back the urge to gag and, instead, slammed the glass on the table, holding his head down. He released a breath and looked to Seifer, whose eyebrows were raised. Shaking his head, he silently accepted the challenge and quickly took the rest of his own drink. Unlike Squall, he did not mind the taste and smoothly set the glass down. He took the bottle and refilled their glasses.

A little over an hour later, the intoxication was obviously hitting both of them – the brunet more-so than the blond. Squall had his head lying back on the couch cushions and Seifer was sitting with his elbows on his knees, wondering why he accepted such a challenge in the first place. Squall laughed, his voice bouncing around the room and drawing Seifer's look.

"You're strange, Almasy." The blond looked at him curiously. Squall lolled his neck before facing the older man. "You do so many horrible things, but yet...," he shut his eyes as he tried to form his words without slurring. "But…you came after me tonight." He kept his eyes closed as he rolled his head back to facing the ceiling. "Why? Why come after me? You don't make sense, sometimes…."

Seifer kept his gaze on the brunet, his eyebrows furrowing, shimmering with remorse.

"Maybe because I worry about you more than I should."

The response seemed to have caught both of them off-guard, whereas Squall's eyes opened, leaving him to stare at the ceiling. There was a long moment of awkward silence around them, but Seifer did not let his gaze travel from Squall, as though awaiting a particular reaction. After a few notes of awkward silence, Squall rolled his neck to look at him.

They held eye contact.

Squall groaned as he sat up, mimicking Seifer's posture, setting his right elbow on his knee as he stared down at his glass. He inhaled, trying to sort his brain, before coming out with;

"Why?"

Seifer stared at him, not understanding the question.

Squall turned to face him, eyes shining. "Why worry about me? It's obvious I'm a complete screw-up, isn't it?" Still, Seifer kept his eyebrows knitted together, as though trying to gauge whether or not Squall's question was legit. "I'm not really the one people should…worry about." He sighed and let his body fall to the side, his head resting on Seifer's shoulder, causing Seifer to tense. "It's crazy…."

Seifer shook his head, causing Squall to breathe heavily, his body starting to relax from the alcohol. "No. It's not." Squall opened his eyes, staring blankly in front of him. "You're too damn intelligent for your own good, Leonhart. And I don't get what it is with intelligent people – but you all have this really shitty tendency of thinking the worst things about yourselves. I just want to smack the shit out of you for it."

Taking a moment, Squall groaned and sat up. He brought his near-empty glass to his mouth and drank the rest of it, and then leaned forward to set it on the table. Clumsily using his only good arm, he took the bottle of brandy and poured another ounce into the glass; Seifer watched him as he set the bottle down and picked the glass back up, debating whether or not he should cut the brunet off. As Squall kept his silence while he took a small sip, Seifer could not help but watch him intently. It was apparent that the younger male was processing what was said.

He turned to look at Seifer, his eyebrows forming creases in his forehead. The blond gave him a curious look. "I can't have been the first person to tell you that," he said bluntly as Squall shrugged and looked back at the liquid the glass. As Squall went quiet, Seifer silently cursed himself. For over an hour, they had talked about nonsense and kept the tension low – so low, in fact that they had been laughing together. And now the air had grown thick, filled with an air of awkwardness.

Squall inhaled and turned back to look at him, a light smile on his face.

"You're an ass, Almasy."

Seifer nodded in a sarcastic sense, but was caught off guard as the brunet leaned forward to brush their lips together. Getting over the initial reaction, he shut his eyes and pushed forward, cupping the side of Squall's face as he put more effort into it. After a moment, they separated, still staying in close proximity. With his eyes cast downwards, Squall released an odd laugh before collapsing forward, falling into Seifer as his breaths evened out, leaving the blond to hold the back of his neck. He sighed and, while holding Squall with one hand, took another sip from his drink in the other.

He released a small laugh, shaking his head.

He leaned forward to set his glass down and moved back to shift Squall, letting Squall's head set on his chest. He put his arm around Squall's shoulders, rubbing his right as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Even in his intoxicated state, he knew that this type of moment would probably never happen again and tightened his grip on the Commander. He shut his eyes, setting his chin on Squall's head, listening to the sounds of Squall's breathing and feel the beat of the younger man's heart.

"You claim to hate me, but yet you trust me enough to get drunk and pass out on me." Seifer chuckled as he continued to rub Squall's upper arm. "You're something, Leonhart. You really are."

-to be continued

All right! Show of hands!

Who saw that coming?! ::looks around, only to be disappointed:: Ouch, y'all. My pride...

I kept thinking I didn't have that much longer to go in this fic, only to realize, no. No - no. I have a lot more to go.

Goddamn it...
I'm hoping to end this at chapter 15, but we'll see how that goes.

Okay!
Please review and let me know you're still out there! If no one reviews, I always assume the worst and that people either A) don't like it or B) don't even read it. That's horrible, I know. But think about it: if you thought no one out there was reading your stuff, would you keep posting?

Anywho, I'm out for this chapter. The next is gonna be interesting.