(10)

Of Trust and Schemes

"Fiancée!" Squall gasped, "Since when?"

Rinoa raised a brow but a voice in the doorway stopped her short.

"I assume you can leave now since the introductions have been made." Seifer glared at Rinoa, his mother standing a few feet behind him.

Squall looked hurt and dumbstruck, "Excuse me, maybe I will leave you two… betrothed… couple to arrange the course of your lives."

The brunet brushed past his blonde counterpart, who caught his arm, "Where do you think you are going?"

Squall smirked and after a long, contemplating pause uttered the truth, "Nowhere."

Pulling away from Seifer's hold he walked out the beach house, leaving the blonde to glare and mutter.

"Come back here, Squall."

"What do you want with a servant!" Seifer's mother snapped, "Will you stop playing hard to get and decide on a wedding date?"

The door shut softly behind the brunet. Seifer turned to follow his lover but Rinoa clasped his arm, "He's your lover, isn't he?"

"Don't be ridiculous, young lady. Seifer doesn't go that way. And even if he did, that stupid brunet wouldn't fit Seifer's extravagant tastes. Believe me, I know."

Seifer clenched his teeth, "Actually, that 'stupid brunet' as you so flamboyantly put it, does happen to be my lover. And Squall, for your information, fits my 'extravagant taste' perfectly; unlike some cheap imitations of perfection and nobility."

Seifer turned his harsh glare to Rinoa, "and I really don't think you should touch me with your filthy hands, my dear, after all I do belong to that boy who served you a glass of water."

Rinoa sighed, "Please, Seifer, I can't take this much longer."

Seifer laughed harshly, "Then go drown yourself, hang yourself from a damned tree, hurl yourself from my balcony, drive into a fucking wall, or swallow a bottle of detergents because I will NEVER marry you. Not now, not tomorrow, not the next we meet, nor the time after that, nor EVER for that darn matter."

Raine gasped and Rinoa's hands fell to her sides.

Seifer sneered, "That is exactly how I feel towards you, my dear, so you might as well save yourself from further humiliation and disgrace, and leave me the hell alone."

Seifer snorted as he walked past his mother and left his own house in search for his lover.

Squall walked into the bar he had spent half of his life in. It was still hours before opening, but Squall had come in search of his old friend Denzel.

The twenty-year old brunet was lying asleep much to Squall's dismay; it was almost six pm.

"Man, I can't believe you sleep so late."

Denzel opened an eye and smiled at Squall, "Look who decided to show up? What can I say, you were the only freak around here that woke up early and made it his business to wake others as early too."

Squall chuckled but soon he was in tears. Denzel sat up and rubbed his eyes of sleep, "What happened? Where's Angel?"

"He's engaged!" Squall threw himself into his friend's arms and cried away his confusion and hurt.

Denzel let his friend sob, patting him on the back once in a while and humming crazy melodies he knew would soothe in no way.

When Squall had run out of tears Denzel smiled, "I really should have gotten some pails and buckets; you cried enough to fill ten of each."

Squall gave a teary smile, but Denzel soon turned serious, "Whatever do you mean?"

Squall hiccupped and wiped the tears of his face, "The girl told me…She said she was his fiancée…she even thought I was part of Seifer's serving staff."

Denzel frowned, "When? Where?"

"We were in Seifer's beach house. Rinoa, Seifer's fiancée and Seifer's mother came. And I saw Rinoa in the kitchen. Seifer's mother told him to leave a servant like me alone!" Squall wailed, "They were talking about the wedding date! Denzel, what am I going to do! Seifer's getting married!"

A fresh surge of tears coursed their way down the brunet's cheeks and Denzel pushed the boy's head onto his laps and began to stroke Squall's hair, whispering reassurances he himself wasn't sure of.

Seifer looked ragged and annoyed as he walked into the hospice Squall's mother was staying in.

A nurse ran to stop him, "Visiting hours are over, sir, please come tomorrow." Seifer let out and impatient sigh, "Is Squall here? His mother is in room 44, Trisha…that's her name…"

"No, all the visitors have been cleared out… it's almost nine. Squall did come in the morning though, you were with him too."

Seifer whirled around and left, pushing the door open and kicking his car tire before hopping in to drive around, searching for the brunet.

Denzel looked up as the door opened and Seifer walked in. "So, when's the wedding, Angel?" Denzel's voice reeked with sarcasm and Seifer stopped to frown at him.

Denzel couldn't help but notice the blonde looked extremely enervated and there was a roguish look to his muddled form, "Where is Squall?"

"Where are the invitations? Don't we get one?"

"Denzel, stop playing games." Seifer warned.

"I told you before I won't let you hurt him, but I see you have done just that. Were you planning on telling Squall about the engagement or were you waiting for when she delivers the heir to your reputed riches?"

Seifer sighed in exasperation, "Listen Denzel, I don't have time for this"

"You should have told me that before I tried so hard to make you his!"

Seifer dodged the blow that was aimed to his face, "Dammit, Denzel, this is all a fucking misunderstanding!"

"Tell that to Squall!"

"I will when I see him you retard!"

Seifer caught Denzel's fist. The brunet stared at him for a long moment before he turned and shrugged, "You won't get any help form me this time. Squall's cried himself to sleep in my room, although from your loud yells I suppose the whole neighborhood woke up."

"You were the one doing the yelling. I never yell, I roar." Seifer smirked as he bolted up the steps and walked into Denzel's room.

Squall was sprawled prone on Denzel's bed, his face buried in the pillows, but an occasional hiccup told the blonde Squall was awake and crying.

"I wonder why," Seifer started as he walked over to the brunet, "The weather forecast forgot to mention all the thunder and rain today."

Squall jumped up and wiped away all the tears, "Go away."

Seifer frowned, "You don't want that."

"How do you know what I want!" Squall cried.

Seifer pulled the brunet into his embrace, "You will see."

He pushed Squall into the pillows and pressed a kiss to his jugular, feeling Squall's frantic beat with his lips, "By the time I'm done, you're going to be crying out what you want in all the languages of the world."

Squall tried to push Seifer off but the blonde would not be deterred. Squall let out a little cry as Seifer's cold fingers slipped under his shirt to caress his taut muscles.

"You should have asked me for an explanation…for my side of the story before you left." Seifer reprimanded harshly before he took Squall's lips in a not too gentle kiss that was meant to emphasize his anger and irritation.

Squall moaned and parted his lips for Seifer's tongue, his brain barely able to comprehend the flaxen's words.

Seifer's breath was harsh against his lover's ear, "You should have waited before running off, leaving me to lope around in search of your being."

Squall whimpered as Seifer's tongue expertly teased his ear. The blonde pulled off the brunet's shirt and his mouth took one of Squall's nipples and began to suck. Squall's back arched off the mattress and he cried out Seifer's name.

"You really should have trusted me…you don't trust me, do you?" That seemed to anger the blonde and he fought to stay gentle with his lover, "How could you not trust me!"

Seifer pulled the bottle of lubricant that Denzel had hidden under his pillow. "Why don't you trust me?"

Squall moaned as two oiled fingers penetrated his opening. Seifer's breathing was ragged as he fought to stay in control, "What is it you want, Squall? Tell me."

"Seifer, please." Squall moaned, trying to move his hips, which Seifer held secure with one hand, "What is it Squall? Please what? Beg me."

Seifer's fingers hit Squall's prostate, making the boy beneath him cry out in pleasure and need, "Seifer, please…"

"What do you want? Say it dammit."

"I want you!" Tears streamed down Squall's cheeks but the blonde was too caught up in his own misery to notice or care. Grasping Squall's hips firmly he thrusted into him, finally giving the brunet what he wanted.

Squall's tears tasted salty as the blonde licked them off his lover's cheeks. With a small cry Squall came, the blonde following suit. Seifer collapsed against his lover, who was holding onto him and crying against his shoulder.

"You know…I'm not going to marry Rinoa…that's all my mother's crazy plans for a crazy girl like her."

Squall opened his tearstained eyes, which seemed to glitter in the dark, "But"

"You left too soon, Squall. I'm not getting married, not to her and not to nay other girl, you know. My mother came up with this crap of me being betrothed to that stupid brunette since I was six, dammit!"

Squall sniffled, but his smile returned, "You love me, right?"

Seifer's anger seemed to leave him at the sight of Squall's smile, "Yeah, I do…considering you already received your punishment."

Squall closed his eyes and buried his face in the crook of the blonde's neck, "If this is what my punishment is lie, then maybe I don't have to be so damn careful all the time."

Seifer bit Squall, who yelped and laughed, "Sorry, sorry…hehehe."

Raine slapped Rinoa across the face, "How dare you lose him again. You talk back and act superior! Don't you know you decrease your chance of getting married to him!"

Rinoa glared at the elderly woman, "It's not my fault you are in this mess. You are paying for your own sins. No one told you to cast yourself onto another man the same day your husband died!"

"Are you calling me a bitch?"

Rinoa shrunk in fear from her mother, but that didn't weaken her resolve, "I don't want to marry Seifer! He's my half brother for God's sake. Haven't you sinned enough!"

Raine cried in horror as her daughter frowned and continued, "If he finds out about you, heh, what do you think will be his reaction? He would be angry, I suppose, and horrified that his mother slept with a man the same night his father was buried."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I don't want to get married. Maybe if you will leave Seifer alone he will never find out. However I do know if you persist in your foolishness, your cover will be blown, and who knows, maybe he'll post it in the 'Dailies' like he so usually does when he wants to get someone off his case."

Raine smiled, "It's for your own good, my darling."

"I don't"

"Listen to me…this time I have a plan that would snare Seifer for you for sure."

"Well, lovebirds," Denzel announced as he walked in, "Since you are all in love and okay…Seifer, take your pampered lover out of here and keep some beeper on him…I do get repayment for having to stand his heartbroken tears, don't I? Heh, the guy cried like he found you body lying in a sewer or something."

Squall frowned, "That's what friends are for. And stop being such a big mouth."

Seifer smiled, "Really? He cried that much?"

"Seifer!" Squall whined.

"Yeah, man, if I had known I wouldda gotten an umbrella or something. The kid finished my box of tissues too!"

Seifer chuckled, "Sorry for all the trouble, what would you want for repayment?"

Denzel looked thoughtful for a moment, "Nothing, really. Maybe just my room back, if that's okay with the two of you."

Squall blushed and nodded, "We will be going."

Seifer threw the bottle of oil at Denzel, "Sorry, but I finished it."

"Damn! That thing was half full when you found it. Dude, you really pamper that kid…you're going to spoil him."

"Stop it!" Squall cried bashfully.

Seifer grinned, "Wouldn't wanna hurt him, such a tender, fragile thing, Squall is."

Denzel nodded agreement, "Bet you bedded girls who were tougher than him."

"Denzel!" Squall moaned.

Seifer nodded, "And I assure you they cried less too."

Squall snorted and pulled on his wrinkled clothes, trying his best to ignore them.

"No way, man, it must be tiring to have to tame a cub, eh?"

Seifer chuckled, "But one thing is for certain. None of those tough, insensitive girls were as pleasing and heartwarming as Squall."

The brunet looked up at him and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I agree with you." Squall's friend laughed, "Betcha none of them were as soft as him too."

Denzel wasn't fast enough to dodge the pillow that was hurled straight into his face.