This is one of those rare times when I let not a hint of what I'm up to out to my friends. I'm adamant that even my dearest friends with a host of archangels can drag out of me the sekrit plot that I have planned out for this.

As you can tell, I'm quick with updating these fics. ;)

Seifer POV

The car pulled into the car park and he got out, looking tired, rips in his clothes and patches of dried blood on his shirt betraying the fact that he'd been out training alone, probably somewhere far from Garden. No doubt he never even imagined that anyone was waiting for him, since Loire's lackey phoned Garden and told Quisty that the Commander would be back in Garden by noon that day.

It was past nightfall when I stood in the car park waiting. I wasn't worried, of course not. I just wondered where the hell he was.

I was there to annoy Quistis. Squall too, of course, but mainly Quistis. I overheard the phone call from Esthar as Squall's personal boot licker tried to have a serious conversation with me, and then, eventually, she told me to report to the Commander when he got back, and just to piss him off and annoy her by being incredibly literal, I'd waited for most of the day to report to him the very minute he got back.

I'd been getting steadily more pissed off and steadily more inclined to annoy him as much as I possibly could when he got back.

But thoughts of annoying him faded as I took in his tired appearance. He must have been training very hard for the effects to show like that, and I knew then as I know now, he only trains so hard when he's upset or pissed off. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so tired. But he never does like showing people any weakness.

He leaned against the side of the car for a moment, eyes closed, apparently too fatigued to even think of the long walk to his room so soon. He noticed me standing in the shadow eventually, of course, but slower than usual.

His voice made me jump anyway, even though I saw him open his mouth before the sound came out. "Seifer. What do you want?"

"You're late," I offered him a small smirk, recovering.

He looked vaguely pissed off at that. He has a way of furrowing his eyebrows just a little bit; crinkling the scar I gave him, which makes him, to my eyes, look even sexier than usual. He had that expression on his face then, and I couldn't take my eyes off him. "Why do you think that?"

"Seagill, President Loire's guy, called. While I was in Quisty's office. Said you'd be back at noon." I didn't miss the way his face darkened a little at the name. I don't miss much about Squall.

"I see. Been misbehaving again?"

"You know I do it just to annoy you."

"Unfortunately, yes," he murmured, the troubled look not fading from his face. I leant back against the wall, taking the moment to just watch him, my eyes fixed on his face. He didn't notice, of course. I used to think he'd deliberately blocked himself from noticing when people flirted with him. That way, I though, he didn't have to deal with turning them down.

All to the good, I suppose. I got to stare at him, and he barely even acknowledged my presence. The first bit was good; the second bit was not so good, of course.

"So, what's bitten you?"

"A couple of bite bugs, some pissed off t-rexaurs, a funguar or three and lots of other monsters that I don't remember," he stated, a faint hint of a smile appearing on his face. In his own way, he liked to annoy me by being so damned literal. Still does. His sense of humour is dry and understated, but believe me, he has one.

"And apart from those? You're acting like a fourteen year old boy, just into puberty, who has just been dumped by his seventeen year old girlfriend who was way too cool for him in the first place."

He shrugged. "I'm just tired."

"You've been out training, of course you're tired, idiot." I snorted softly at him, shaking my head. "But something obviously pissed you off so you went training. Otherwise you'd have been in your office again three seconds after you got back, working away like a good little boy."

"Shut up."

I put on a hurt expression. "Hey, no need to be like that, I'm only trying to help."

He huffed a soft sigh, shaking his hair out of his eyes. "And failing. I'm going to bed. I suppose you'll be in my office in the morning?"

"Of course. But I'm not done with you yet." I caught his arm, and surprisingly he didn't yank himself away instantly. I narrowed my eyes at him, turning him to face me more and stared down into his face. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Leonhart?"

It was good, at that moment, to think, 'at least he can't deny the way I'm looking at him now', though knowing him, he probably did anyway.

"Why do you care?"

Yup, he is that clueless.

"I'm interested in what has got our little hero so twitchy."

"I'm not a hero."

"Sure, save the world and you're, what, nobody?" I rolled my eyes at him, and tightened my grip on his arm. "Out with it, Leonhart, just tell me. What's that they say, 'a problem shared is a problem halved' or some such shit."

"Fine," he hissed, and his eyes glowed luminous in the darkness, bright with his rare emotion. "I want to fuck my father, okay?"

I stared at him, for once utterly speechless.

He used my shock to pull away from me, and headed for the exit and escape. But of course, I'm quicker than that and I pride myself on being able to act quickly in tricky situations.

"Let me get this straight," I said, hand on his shoulder to restrain him as I blocked the exit with my body. "You have a father." He nodded. "And you want to fuck him." He nodded again.

I looked at him, perfectly serious, for once not mocking at all. I only mocked him if I wanted to bring him out of his shell, or if I thought he could handle a little teasing. Right then, he looked just about to fall apart.

"Who is he?" I asked him softly.

His tone was a little bitter. "I thought you were more intelligent than that, Seifer. It's not hard to figure out. He even looks like me a little, if you think about it."

"President Loire?" I was incredulous. And yet, I saw in a split second how it all made sense. And my heart ached for him. He should have been glad to have a father, some connection to wherever he came from, but really, the fact just took away the only mother he'd ever known – Matron – and changed everything, not to mention taking away his chances of being with someone he'd allowed himself to think of in that way.

"Yeah."

Squall was ice, I never pretended he wasn't. But even ice can break. I knew that and I feared it, right then. I knew he was strong but surely… everyone has a breaking point, and looking at his face then, I was afraid he'd found his.

"So, what's the problem?"

He looked at me like I was insane. "He's my father."

"So? You didn't know that. It just means you can't do anything about how you feel now. I know it's hard, but you've got to move on." I couldn't find the words, all that I did find came out harshly, belittling whatever he might have felt.

I've never been good at handling Squall when he's upset. Seeing him upset puts my world off tilt, too used to seeing him as an emotional void, and then I never know what to say, I just have to say something, anything to make things normal again.

He snorted softly, rolling his eyes. "And I'm supposed to live like that?"

"He isn't expecting you to act like his son all of a sudden, is he? I'm sure he'd give you time…" My words trailed off into nothing at the look on Squall's face.

"I acted horribly to him."

"So? Crap father he is if he can't accept that he turned your world upside down."

It surprised me then, how talkative Squall was when he was upset. But really, that night, I think he wanted any assurance that someone didn't give a shit whether he wanted to fuck his own father or not. He probably thought I didn't give a shit about him at all. How wrong he was.

He shook it off after another moment, and pushed away from me, the moment and the brief closeness, as far as he was concerned, gone. "Get out of my way."

"You know," I said, slowly, partly to annoy him, partly to take my time in saying it. "You don't have bad taste in men. Your dad is pretty hot, but I prefer the son. Men my own age are more my style, you know?"

I walked out, leaving him looking at me with widened eyes. I turned to look at him for just a moment, savouring those wide eyes and that open mouth, and then I smirked. "Good night, Commander."

I think that was one of the few times in my life when I completely and utterly shocked Squall. He should have known how unpredictable I am, really.

I walked away, heading into the darkened hallways of Garden, walking a little faster than I might usually. I didn't want Squall to confront me about what I'd said – at least not just then, not before we'd both had a good long think about it. I was having trouble believing I'd said it, actually.

I'd never really imagined telling him that I cared at all. It was something I never did. I never even told Fuujin and Raijin that I loved having them around, and they were my closest friends. There has only been one person closer to me than those two, in my whole life.

And I'd just told Squall that not only did I think his dad was hot, but I thought he was hotter. I think I must have temporarily lost my mind that night. But I just shrugged it off. I'd always known I cared about Squall; so what if he knew?

I couldn't help but be a little apprehensive of what he might say the next time I stood before him for bad behaviour.