Authors Note: I revised the first chapter a little. ^_^ I think it sounds better that way.

Chapter Two:

Melodies Of Life

Squall curled gently against his pillow, not yet ready to give up the uncharacteristically pleasant sleep he'd fallen into. All his stress and frustration simply melted away as he slept. With a contented smile he snaked his arms around his pillow intending to pull it closer when he realized something very important… his pillow was moving…

In one fluid motion his eyes snapped open and he flew away from the figure he'd been… 'cuddling' a few moments before, too shocked to gain any sense of balance or control. Sadly his attempted getaway was a total failure for he careened into his desk taking a nightstand, a lamp, and an alarm clock with him. The loud crash that followed woke the blond with a snap.

"What the hell?" He muttered groggily, obviously not a morning person. If it was for his confused terror at the oh-so-very-wrong sight that he'd awoken too Squall would've laughed at how unthreatening Seifer looked just after he woke up. The tall blonde's sleepy gaze roamed over the room until it rested on the brunet's stormy blue/gray gaze. Seifer's smirk grew exceptionally large for the unhynely hour of the morning that it must have been. Squall looked really adorable when he was helpless, although Seifer would never admit it. "You don't know how to let people sleep peacefully do you?" He said, his voice just oozing with his typical arrogance. Squall just glared at him making it very difficult for the blond not to laugh.

"Whatever…" the brunet got up, carefully avoiding the broken glass of the lamp and stalked to the closet to get his robe, thick terrycloth black.

Seifer shook his head, his smirk looking dangerously like a smile at this point. "You get some breakfast ready and I'll clean up the aftermath of the S.S. Squall." He mumbled, mostly to himself as he stooped to pick up the broken bits of lamp.

Squall found it very odd that neither of them had said anything about… last nights very very wrong sleeping arrangements. However, since he didn't like to talk much, especially when it came to awkward situations he simply shrugged and stumbled through the living room and into the kitchen. All things considered it was better just to feed him and then part ways as soon as possible. It would be a strain on his will as it was, spending time with Seifer today. Then again… if he hadn't woken him up… he might've never seen him again… that's the way he'd planned it… But sometimes….fate just doesn't go your way…

While our favorite lion was busy cooking breakfast and in deep inner monologue mode Seifer was busy straightening up his room. He'd just about finished when heard Squall call him into the kitchen. He had to smirk. He'd eaten with Squall before, in the cafeteria, but never in one of their dorms. It was nice… When Squall handed him the bowl with a small fruit salad in it he had to try exceptionally hard not to smack himself. He'd been spending way too much time with Squall if he was starting to have interior monologs.

They sat and ate in silence for a few moments before Seifer opeaned his mouth to speak… Unfortunately before he could start, what would undoubtedly be a mostly one sided conversation when the lights surged brightly and went out. "What the hell?!" Seifer said jumping up at the same time as Squall. Sure there was a chance that is could be just a simple power outage, but after their recent struggles in the sorceress war they were more inclined to believe that Garden was under attack. They had both just begun to charge for the door when a battery operated walkie-talkie mounted on the wall near Squalls phone cackled to life.

"*Crackle* Squall….*fizz* okay. *More crackling.* Just *Fizz* power outage *Still fizzing* Stay put *Fizz* *Crackle* *Die completely*"

Squall and Seifer looked at the walkie talkie, to each other, then back at the walkie talkie. After a few moments they relaxed and returned to their seats at the kitchen table. More silence. Squall began to rhythmically drum his fingers against the table in the attempts to distract himself from some very wrong urges. "So…" He said at last. "Guess we're stuck here for a while…. Hu?"

Seifer didn't bother to glance his way, he only nodded. There was more silence and Squall took this time and shadowing darkness to examine what he could see of Seifer. With a smile no one else have ever seen he admitted that he really liked Seifer's company. Everyone one else would worry about him and try to get him to talk, but not Seifer. He was content to let Squall be his own way. Silent, contemplative, even broody. He never looked at Squall with pity, which Squall was extremely grateful for. He was the one person, if there was any at all, that understood him the best. "So…" came Seifer's voice, immediately breaking Squalls line of thought. Squall looked up, a little surprised, into the familiar cocky smile of his friend. "What do you wanna do?"

~~~ (20 Minutes Later) ~~~

"Seifer… I can not believe I let you talk me into this!"

"Oh, come on Squall! You know you're having fun!" Squall couldn't decide whether that comment was sincere or some other form of challenge. Friendship and al, they still loved to try to best each other; even if that meant pushing buttons.

"Just spin the stupid arrow!" Squall growled impatiently. Yes that's right, two of the highest ranking officers in the highest ranking military organization in the world were sprawled on the floor playing Twister.

"Alright I got left hand blue…" Seifer mused putting the board down to move his hand over Squalls waist to the nearest blue dot. Squall, who was blushing furiously at the moment tried in vain to hide it. He was facing the ceiling, and Seifer the floor (Different strategies for winning twister I guess.) and after that last move they were practically sandwiched Seifer on top of Squall. Hence Seifer's excellent view of Squalls face and Squalls inability to hide his blush. Seifer had to smirk when he saw it. No one blushed like Squall, just lightly over his cheekbones. Hell no one was anything like Squall. He took a moment to note that his thoughts had been dwelling on the usually scowling brunet for some time now. This unexpected time together was so… nice. Especially since they hadn't tried to kill each other yet. Seifer smiled, not smirked, smiled unconsciously at Squall, who was again scowling trying to hide his blush. He really did look cute like that…. It would be so easy too… Seifer shook his head what the HELL was he thinking?! Squall was his friend. JUST his friend. That's all! He gulped a little trying to get a grip and mumbled. "You're turn."

Squall spun the arrow and of course he had to get something that would put them in an even more odd position. With an inward groan at what he'd be forced to do. Slowly he moved his leg to the green dot near Seifer's leg. If he could pull off this one Seifer wouldn't be almost on top of him anymore, he'd be directly on top of him. He held his breath as his struggled for balance and his foot neared it's target…closer…closer…and…

*THUD!*

Gravity had it's way as both SeeD members went crashing to the floor, a muffled groan coming from both of them. "Great…. Just great…." Squall thought to himself. "This really helps…." Seifer pulled away at the same time that Squall turned his head to ask him to get off. They both froze in their movements, Seifer and Squalls faces hover inches apart, and neither knew just what to do…. This was so…right?!

Fate chose that moment to intervene. The lights flared on quickly followed by the wall video intercom. Both Squall and Seifer scrambled apart blushing like mad. Squall stalked to answer the video while Seifer busied himself with putting them game away and other pointless tasks in the attempt to force the awkwardness from the room.

"Hello?" Squall said as an image of a slightly frazzled Quistis appeared on screen.

"Hello Squall. Sorry about the power outage. No need to worry though. It was just because someone" she glared at someone off screen, "was overloading the power circuits with their massive amounts of hair care products." Quistis turned her attention back to Squall, "Anyway we managed to fix the problem, only a few blown fuses. Everything should be perfectly fine, but just for securities sake we've decided to cancel all classes and kee Garden as quiet as possible for the day, just until we can make sure there was no further damage."

Squall nodded understandingly and Quistis was about to continue when a hyperactive yellow blur lunged at her, tackling her to the ground just off camera with a roar, "GIVE ME BACK MY CURLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There was a small scuffle off screen that left everyone with a big sweat drop on their face. "DOWN SELPHIE!" A crack of a whip resonated over the intercom and Selphie reluctantly retreated, but not before she shot out a few healthy death glares directed at Quistis, who was holding the side of her head. "Ahem… as you can see there are a few more things we need to handle but nothing that you need to concern yourself with." She paused again to pick up a piece of paper. "Oh, but Headmaster CID did want to see you sometime today. Got all that?" She asked looking up again. Squall, still slightly shaken from Selphie's attack only nodded. Quistis saluted and was gone.

"Well then…" said Seifer from behind Squall after they'd both taken time to recover from the attack of the hyperactive yellow blur, "I'd better be off. I have a few errands to run, and you've gotta see Cid. Later Leonhart!" he said waving at Squall over his shoulder.

"Goodbye… Seifer…" Squall said after he was well out of earshot. The look of pain in his eyes was too strong to be masked. What he had to do would probably kill him inside, just like being closed up had almost done, but he just couldn't risk his heart… he was too much of a coward… With a sigh he pulled himself from his room and started the long walk to headmaster Cid's office. The walk that would solidify his transfer to Galbadia garden once and for all. He'd never have to bear his heart, he'd never have to risk anything, he could stay in his own little bubble forever… that was what he wanted after all… right?