Chapter 13.

IIiiII

"Huh?" Selphie frowned in confusion at the two sleepily blondes on the folded out sofa.

"Aww." Rinoa said, seeing Zell curled by beside Seifer.

"But where's Squall?"

Seifer pointed up at the top bunk where Zell used to sleep.

Selphie scampered over there and stood on the bottom bunk to peer at Squall, the brunette just woke up to Selphie's face staring at him.

"Ahh!"

"Hello!" She said.

Squall sat up with a frown. "What are you doing over here?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." She smiled.

"What?" He asked, before his sleepily brain woke up. "Oh." He looked around at the bunk he was now lying on. "Yeah well they just-" He gestured in their direction. "Yeah." He said as if that explained everything.

"I never knew you had a romantic side."

Squall frowned. "I don't."

Selphie chuckled. "I didn't say there was anything wrong with that."

"They were being loud and irritating that's all, I couldn't sleep."

She chuckled to herself as she hopped down again.

Squall turned to find Irvine smirking at him too.

"Don't you start."

"What? I didn't say anything, I think you did a nice thing for Seifer and Zell."

"Hmph." Squall turned and swung his legs over the side of his bunk walking back to the sofa to get clothes.

Raijin sat up sleepily the last to wake up. He blinked at Seifer who sat up on the side of the fold out sofa. "You're not sleeping with Squall too now are you?" He asked.

Seifer scoffed.

Irvine laughed.

Zell sat up beside Seifer and Raijin nodded in understanding. "Oh I get it, you know." He looked at Squall. "Where did you sleep then?"

"In Zell's old bed, on the top bunk."

"Oh."

"Yep, Squally here is turning into a romantic." Selphie said.

"I am not!" He put a leg into his pants and hopped around to get them up. The brunette grabbed a t shirt and left the room.

"I think we scared him away." Selphie pouted in disappointment.

"Yeah you're getting good at that." Seifer said. "At least it's not us this time."

The petite smiling demon spun round to grin at them. "That reminds me, where did you two sneak off to last night?"

"Selphie thought you were eaten by a bat." Fujin said.

"What?"

"We had a bat like visitor in the room, it bit Raijin and got into bed with Squall." Rinoa explained. "Then when we couldn't find you Selphie thought it ate you."

"So did you!"

Zell rolled his eyes. "I think I could fight off one little bat."

"Did Squall scream like a woman, when it was in bed with him?"

"No he sliced it in half with his comfort blanket."

"Oh." Zell said, then frowned in confusion. "With a blanket?"

Selphie shook her head. "Never mind that I want to know what happened to you two last night?"

Seifer shrugged. "Just went for a walk."

"Do anything interesting on this 'walk?'" Fujin asked with a smirk.

Seifer frowned. "Wait till you get a boyfriend, I'm going to embarrass you so much."

"Maybe I'll turn into a lesbian."

He waved a hand. "Boyfriend/Girlfriend whatever."

"Maybe I'll become a nun."

Zell scoffed. "You'll have to give up the Marlboro horror movies."

"Why? I bet nuns secretly love horror movies."

"Oh yeah and porn." Seifer said.

Raijin groaned. "Nun porn? I don't want to know, you know?" He shuffled out of the room and Quistis went too.

"I saw a porn film once with nuns in." Irvine said.

"You did? Why am I not surprised?" Seifer said.

"I didn't say I watched it! I just saw the box!"

"I bet you watched it." Seifer said.

"I didn't, I saw it in Squall's office."

They fell silent and looked at him. "Squall watched it?"

"No he confiscated it from some students."

"Well that's what he told you." Selphie said. "How do you know it wasn't his?"

The cowboy frowned. "I just don't think Squall would do that. Besides I thought he was gay so lesbian nuns probably wouldn't do it for him."

"They were lesbian nuns?"

Zell climbed from the bed. "Okay this conversation is getting too strange for me." He grabbed some clothes on the way past and headed for the bathroom.

Raijin, Quistis and Squall were seated at the table eating their breakfast, the first ones to appear.

Zell walked in shrugging his arms into a red t shirt. "Hey guys."

They all smiled at him expect Squall who just nodded at him. "What are we going to do today?"

"Work." Squall said, eyeing him.

Quistis smiled.

"I know that!" The blonde sighed dramatically.

"I thought we could start work on the far room at the back."

"You mean the one that hasn't got any walls? It's just few bricks and some old tiles were the floor used to be."

Squall nodded.

Zell slouched in his chair. "Oh man that'll take ages."

"I thought you said you were feeling energetic, you know?"

"That was before Irvine started scaring me with ideas about lesbian nuns."

Squall surprisingly half smiled. "He didn't watch it we just looked at the box."

When Quistis and Raijin gave him strange looks he added. "I confiscated it from some students. They were talking about movie night and Irvine snuck up on them to see what the film was, I was with him at the time so I confiscated it." He frowned. "Can't have students watching porn."

"So it's better for them to be forever horny?" Raijin asked.

"Yes, more reason to past the Seed exam." Squall said.

Quistis looked confused. "How does it help exactly?"

Squall looked at her like it was obvious. "When they pass the exam they have less rules about…. That sort of thing so they will be free to screw as many people as they want."

Zell shuddered. "Just the idea of nuns in porn is bad enough for me."

IIiiII

"Why the hell don't you just kiss him and see what happens?" Seifer asked as he perched on the roof carefully.

He and Irvine were putting new tiles down as the other ones had all fallen off over the years.

"I know what would happen! He'd punch me!"

"It worked for me."

"Yeah but Zell isn't as aggressive as Squall is he?"

"I suppose not." Seifer said. "He didn't punch you last time though."

"No he just past out, he was drunk."

"Get him drunk again then but not as drunk as last time."

The cowboy rolled his eyes. "Great idea Seif, then he'll never trust me."

Seifer scoffed. "Trust? What'd you want that for? I thought you just wanted to fuck him."

"You think I'd still be here putting up with his… shit if that's all I was after."

Seifer frowned. "Probably not, but I know you like a challenge."

Irvine chuckled. "Well yeah that too."

They fell into silence. Seifer had a clear line of sight to the other group of workers on the far side of the house, luckily for him Zell was included in this group and was walking in their direction. He leaned down a bit to see the little cute blonde way past the side of the house.

He whistled at him then quickly shifted back out of the way so Zell couldn't see him.

The cowboy shook his head watching Zell turn around to look behind him and finding nobody there. The little blonde shrugged and carried on walked.

Irvine chuckled. Seifer grinned and put a finger to his lips, silently telling his to keep quiet.

Seifer wolf whistled at him this time, not having to move away as Zell had already walked past them.

The little blonde scowled at the only people he could see, which were Selphie, Fujin and Rinoa. "What are you guys doing?"

They blinked at him. "What?"

"We're working! God, you don't have to check up on us."

Zell blinked. "No, no I meant…. Didn't you…. Say anything to me or something?"

They looked between each other. "No."

"Oh."

Irvine laughed. "You are so cruel."

Selphie looked up and noticed them. "What you laughing at, Irvine?"

Zell looked up and saw Seifer. "You! You asshole!"

The tall blonde laughed.

"I thought I was going crazy there for a second."

"You are crazy, I'm just helping you to see it."

The little blonde grumbled and stalked off in a huff.

The girls looked at each other and then up at the guys. "What was that about?" Rinoa asked.

"Never mind, Seifer was just playing with Zell that's all."

Selphie rolled her eyes. "When are you going to stop teasing him? I thought now that you guys are a couple…."

"But it's fun! Are you trying to take my hobby away from me?" Seifer looked shocked and horrified, putting a hand to his chest.

"And Chickie likes it really he just pretends that he doesn't." He looked at Irvine. "Hey maybe you need to start teasing Squall, works wonders for me."

The cowboy rolled his eyes. "I don't think that would work somehow."

"You need a toothpick." Fujin said.

"Excuse me?"

"I chip away at the ice."

Rinoa laughed.

Seifer grinned. "But an ice pick could take years, I say you need a sledge hammer."

"That's such a you thing to say." Fujin said. "You never had any patience."

Seifer snorted. "Patience is for idiots, if you want something done do it now in case you never get a later."

Irvine frowned. "You know that does kind of make sense."

Seifer looked pleased. "Of course it does, I always make sense."

"If you want my advice…." Selphie started to say.

"I don't." Irvine interrupted. "I'd had enough of other people's advice. I'll do things my way."

They all groaned. "In that case you'll still be pining over him years from now."

"He's not a glass figurine! You don't have to be so afraid of breaking him you know?" Selphie said.

"Selphie I think you're already picking up that 'you know-ing' habit from Raijin."

She frowned at Seifer then turned back to Irvine. "Now listen to what we think you should do."

"No, no, no I told you-" He stood and started to leave carefully across the roof, trying to walk on the parts that he knew would hold his weight. "I don't need any advice I'm fine…" He wobbled slightly on the roof, Seifer edging nearer in case he fell off. "Everything's under contr- AHH!." He fell head first off the roof.

Seifer dove forward and caught his ankles leaving the cowboy hanging upside down, his head about three feet from the ground and Seifer hanging precariously off the roof too in an effort to hold into him.

"What's going on here?" A stern voice caught their attention.

Irvine looked up into the angry maybe slightly curious eyes of Squall, his head was about level with the brunette's many belts.

"Oh hi Squall." He greeted cheerfully with an upside down grin.

The brunette just stared at him.

"I err fell off the roof, Seifer caught me." He pointed up to the blonde who grinned at Squall.

"The girls were picking on me and I lost my balance."

The Squall glare trained in the three guilty looking girls who looked like they were trying to blend into the background. "Maybe you three can find work to do somewhere else."

They turned and run off quickly.

Squall turned with folded arms to frown at Irvine.

"You couldn't give me a hand here could you Squall?"

The brunette stepped forward and took hold of the cowboy's shoulders, hands under his arms. "Let go." He told Seifer.

The blonde dropped him and the cowboy hit the ground hard, the weight of his lower body hitting the ground pulled Squall down on top of him.

Squall put his hands down, one on the ground beside Irvine's hip and on the other on the cowboy's thigh to steady himself.

He looked back at Irvine who smiled at him. "Thanks." He said, even though his legs hurt from hitting the ground.

Squall pushed himself up to his feet. He held a hand out to help Irvine up, which surprised the cowboy. "Thanks." He repeated.

Squall looked up at Seifer who was watching them. "Haven't you work to do?"

The tall blonde smirked and he didn't argue for once and disappeared back onto the roof somewhere.

"Perhaps you'd better find some work on the ground this time." Squall suggested then turned and left.

"Sure thing commander." Irvine called after him, saluting when Squall glanced back at him.

TBC