Another fic where something weird happened. Quite dark. Just fyi, I'll be away to a pretty grueling seminar for my job, and will not have the time or internet access to update this until Saturday night or Sunday. Sorry!

Theme provided by: pretzel-logic

Rating: High T


046. Reversal

It's not something Seifer expects, which he supposes is the entire point. His world suddenly doesn't make much sense anymore, but that's probably what Hayner is going for, and succeeding spectacularly. He would comment on the role reversal, except there's a knife against his throat and Hayner is pinning him to the wall looking mad as hell and when the fuck did he get so tall? The older blond is still taller by a couple inches, but it's just another thing that makes this whole encounter disturbing to his section of the fabric of reality.

"So, where is this going?" He asked finally, not sure if he really dislikes the feeling of the sharp metal scraping against his skin so close to vital things.

"Wherever I want it to, asshole," the brown-eyed man spat, voice tinged with an odd mixture of anger and something else, arousal?

"I can definitely see that, Hayner, but I was looking more for specifics. Why are you pissed off?"

"For fuck's sake, Seifer, are you stupid? You nearly got yourself killed the other week, ended up dragging me into it, and earlier today three guys from the same gang we fought with show up at my apartment and I end up throwing one of them out the third-story window. You are fucking up my life and don't even have the balls to care about it."

"Why did you move to Traverse if you weren't okay with gang violence and throwing people out windows? It is a large part of what most people do here, I assure you. Local window makers are probably the richest people in this shithole. I still fail to see how any of this is my fault."

"You are picking fights with the wrong guys and are going to end up getting yourself and possibly me killed. I came here because I was looking for Roxas, not because of what this city had to offer me in terms of life-threatening activities. I'm only still here instead of in Radiant, where he went, because of you. So if I get killed, it will be directly your fault and I don't think you'd even feel guilty."

The reality of the situation stabs him in the gut and he frowns deeply, at once surprised and sad. He really didn't know that the sandy-blond had stuck around because he was here, and of course he'd care and feel awful if anything happened to his friend-crush-enemy-rival. The truth of the matter was he was here to try and find Fuu and Rai, and he was pretty close to tracking them down. When people disappeared, they ended up in Traverse, often with little to no memory of who they were or where they had been before. It was a stupid system of combating the Heartless; when someone was cornered they got sucked through a portal that took them here, to the crossroads of worlds. They didn't lose their hearts, but if they didn't remember who they were, they had no way to get back. It was why the crime rate was so high, hundreds of people who didn't even have a name wandered the streets looking to vent their frustrations on the nearest living thing.

"I'd never let anything like that happen to you, Hay. I care a lot about you, okay? I'm not doing any of this on purpose, I'm just trying to find Fuu and Rai and get out of here. You don't have to stay if you don't want to, I'm not going to just…what, forget you?"

"I'm here because you're here, and I want to be…" And he trailed off, not really needing to finish his sentence for Seifer to know he was going to say 'where you are'.

"We'll go together, alright? Once I find them, we can all head to Radiant and you can be with your stupid friends in a rainbows and sunshine world where you don't have to throw people through windows. Just need you to be patient for a few more weeks."

"You can't die on me, you prick."

"Wouldn't leave you alone, chickadee," he replied quietly, the affectionate nickname inappropriate for this town, this damp, dark and dirty back alley.

The knife moved, and for a second he thought that maybe the pretty twenty-something was done being pissed and irrational, but a sharp sting told him he was wrong. The cut on his collarbone was fairly deep but not very long, a slash in his skin that was going to scar quite cleanly. Cupping his face with one hand, Hayner leaned down and sucked at the wound, drawing a hiss from his companion because that fucking hurt. Using the younger male's distraction against him, he suddenly grabbed both of his wrists and slammed him into the opposite wall, hard enough for him to groan when his head struck the masonry. The blade clattered to the ground after he reflexively let go of it, turning the tables once again in Seifer's favor. Except this time, he questioned if this was actually how it should be. The dark green coat that the lithe blond had adopted somewhere between here and Twilight was rough under his fingers as he gripped the sleeves tightly; he was probably going to leave bruises on the other's wrists.

"You're such a bastard, Almasy. Let me go."

"Why bother? Even if I let you go you'll still be mine, and you know that."

"Hate you," he spat, glaring and struggling slightly against the scarred man's grasp.

"No, you don't. Since apparently those assholes know where you're staying, and you're short one window, you're coming over to my place for the night."

"No way in hell, Seifer. Now let me go!" He said, raising his voice as a hint of desperation crept in, like it always did when he was restrained for any period of time.

"Wasn't asking."

Removing his hand from one of Hayner's wrists, he landed a quick blow to the dark-eyed man's temple and watched him black out immediately. Slumped limply in the larger blond's arms, he seemed small and fragile. His rival was twenty-one, Seifer remembered finally, having forgotten their ages for a bit, details lost in the swarm of thoughts in his head. No wonder he looked so young when he was unconscious, all the guardedness and anger bleeding from his face. Draping the thin male over his shoulder, he grabbed the knife and pocketed it, heading for what was currently his home.


Lighting a cigarette, he took a hard drag off it before exhaling in a deep sigh. Before long his younger counterpart came to and began struggling against the belt that was wrapped around his wrists to keep his hands behind his back. Seifer didn't really trust him at the moment unless he was reasonably helpless. The smouldering anger in his dark eyes also kind of turned the scarred man on, so there was that too.

"You are a terrible person," Hayner hissed at him, glare intensifying.

"And you're downright cruel when you know you've lost. We all have our faults. So tell me, why did you cut me? Kind of a bitchy thing to do, even for you."

"As much as I'm sure you'd like to believe it, you really don't have a monopoly on ownership kinks."

And then it made a strange kind of sense, "So, you were just marking your territory, chickie?"

"Something like that. Mind untying me? I've still got my clothes on so this is obviously going nowhere interesting. Promise I'm not going to stab you or anything. Or, at least not much."

"You are so fucked up. We are so fucked up," Seifer amended as he walked over to where the younger blond was sitting propped against the wall so he could release him.

The second Hayner was free he tackled the larger man to the floor, starting a wrestling match that he ended up losing, but not before managing to bite into Seifer's shoulder hard enough to draw blood. The blue-eyed man pinned his hands above his head on the floor and straddled his hips to keep him down, then finally crashed their lips together because it was bound to happen eventually and he was not a patient man. The lithe fighter below him tasted like metal and sweat and Seifer's blood and the kiss itself was loving in its roughness. They loved each other, deep down, and did so far too much to bother with gentleness. Not now, in this city, on the floor of a dark room in an even darker apartment complex blanketed by a star ocean that was slowly blinking out of existence.

"Would you do this, for me? If I disappeared, would you look for me here like you are Fuu and Rai?"

"You know I would, Hayner. I love you, I wouldn't just leave you here."

"I wouldn't leave you either, even if you are going to get me killed. Would rather die than live without you, you stupid bastard. Fuck you, I love you."

Bruised and bleeding, they curled together on the bare floor and slept as peacefully as they could. It took them another week to find the scarred man's friends, and when they finally left Traverse behind them, it was together.