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So they're sprinting up the hill toward the comm tower and this is a bad idea, not what they were ordered to do at all, but Zell's not about to leave Squall alone with Seifer to face whatever's up there. His ma raised him better than that.
Besides, there's something weird about the way they're acting -- Zell's never heard Squall say more than two words to anyone, and just now he was making actual conversation with Seifer. Arguing, part of it, but still. And Seifer talked back, like they were -- not friends, exactly, but definitely more than just two guys who tried to kill each other before class this morning.
Another one of those snake things tries to ambush them -- Squall probably knows what it's called, but Zell never was that good in class. All he knows is that it's in their way, and he's not about to let Squad B down.
They're getting better at taking the things out, taking turns smacking them to keep them punch-drunk and distracted, and then drawing off the magic to feed their own GFs. It's a lot easier, Zell realizes, if he doesn't look up, if he pretends that the voice giving orders -- Go -- Now -- Dincht, your turn -- belongs to someone else. As long as he doesn't think about the fact that he's doing what Seifer tells him to, he's pretty good at it.
Still, he's dizzy by the time they get to the next bend in the road. This is a lot more magic than they've ever handled in one session during training, and the GF that Squall dumped on him on the beach is huge, bright and vibrant and buzzing along his nerves. Squall and Seifer might be up to this, but they're the best Balamb has. Zell's not sure he's up to their level.
And then Squall collapses at the side of the road, sprawled out on his back and staring at the sky. "Time out," he says, and he sounds giddy.
Seifer stops. "What's the matter, Squall, you can't keep up?" But he flops down in the dry grass, too, gunblade slung over his shoulder and that arrogant smirk on his face.
Zell wants to say that no, jerk, nobody can keep up with the kind of pace Seifer sets and he looks like he's struggling himself, but he bites his tongue. Squall would be so pissed if he stepped in.
"You keep telling yourself that," Squall says. "Sit down, Zell." Zell sits down without even thinking about it, and tries not to let Seifer's little amused snort get to him. He can deal with Seifer's attitude until the end of the exam. He so can. He's going to pass.
There's a kind of not-friendly silence for a minute, and then Seifer says, "Fuck, did you see that last guy's face?" He does this spot-on impression of the shocked look the Galbadian sergeant gave them when they surprised him -- and Squall laughs. Not out loud, not so you'd even really notice from anyone else, but from Squall it's like hysterics. Zell laughs, too, just a little, more nervous than anything.
Squall reaches into his jacket and pulls out a little blue plastic vial, and Zell feels a little sorry that he didn't bring any potions himself, because that sure looks good. Squall chugs it and reaches into his pocket for another. "Here," he says, tossing it to Seifer.
Seifer catches it one-handed and doesn't say thank you. "You got one for Dincht, too?"
Zell blinks in surprise, and opens his mouth to ask if Seifer's feeling okay, if he got hit in the head or has a fever or something --
"Shut up," Seifer says before he gets the words out. "If you're coming along, you'd better be useful. I don't want to have to carry your sorry ass back down this hill."
"Right," Zell says, taking the potion Squall offers him. "Thanks, Squall." This is too weird for words, but it's...it's okay, too. If he's not completely out of his mind, Seifer just admitted that Zell could be useful. He pops the top on the potion, and it tastes every bit as good as he expected it to, clean and tangy and herbal, making the strength in his muscles come back. "Ready when you are, captain."
The rest of the exam goes by in a crazy adrenaline blur, the tower and that spazzy transfer student and the soldiers up top and then the monster, and the cool focused look on Squall's face when he draws a GF right out of it, and then the tactical retreat that turns into a panicked scramble when the robot guard comes after them and just won't stay down no matter how many times Zell looses Quezacotl on it, and then Squall almost not making it onto the boat -- and Seifer's taut, frightened look when he hauls Squall up out of the water and holds onto him just a little too long.
Zell expects they'll all get yelled at for running off without orders like they did, but Quistis and Xu seem to assume it was all Seifer's fault, and he talks back to them like he doesn't give a damn if they think so. For the first few minutes that suits Zell just fine, but it gets uglier the longer it goes on. When they get back to Garden and Xu flat-out tells Seifer that he'll never be a SeeD, Zell can't help wondering what the hell is wrong with everyone. It's not like Seifer was the only one making any decisions out there, and besides, why let him take the exam if they already know they're going to fail him?
Squall's settling back into his usual crappy mood, too. It was pretty easy to just read that as normal before, but now Zell's seen him more relaxed -- it almost looked like Squall was having a good time, in those last few battles before they got to the tower. But as soon as they got back -- no, actually, as soon as Quistis and Xu started yelling at Seifer -- he went right back to brooding. Which sucks. It was nice seeing him...happier, or something.
When Squall and Zell get called up to the headmaster's office and Seifer doesn't, Squall looks about ready to kill something.
There aren't many people there, though. The two of them, the transfer girl, some other guy that Zell doesn't know -- and that's it. Only four of them passed, out of twelve students taking the exam. Zell fidgets, always a little uncomfortable in the headmaster's office even when he knows he hasn't done anything wrong this time. Squall, beside him, stands tense and alert as if he's going into battle.
Headmaster Cid walks in, and beams at them that way he does, like he's somebody's rich uncle come to take them out for ice cream. He opens his mouth --
And Squall says, "We're not starting yet, are we?"
Cid blinks a couple of times, looking just as stunned as Quistis does when Squall speaks up in class. "I'm sorry?"
"I said, we can't start yet." Squall glares, and Zell thinks, oh shit, he's not, and Squall goes right on, "Squad B is missing its captain."
"Ah." Cid clears his throat delicately, looking uncomfortable. "We believed that Mister Almasy, ah, didn't display the necessary judgment --"
"Bullshit." Everyone's staring now. Zell wonders if anything like this has ever happened at Garden before. "We made those decisions as a team. We weren't just blindly following orders. If you're going to pass us, you should pass him."
"Well." Cid shifts, not meeting Squall's eyes. "I'm afraid it's not really that simple...."
Zell takes a deep breath. He's going to fail the exam for this. He's going to get kicked right out of Garden. He's making a big mistake.
It's the right thing to do. "It -- actually it is that simple, sir. Squall's right."
* * *
Gooey sap splatters his face, and Seifer brushes it away irritably as the grat thrashes, its tendrils flailing, and then collapses in a little heap. He's already moved on, already looking for the next one. They're not enough of a challenge, but they're here, and he needs to kill things before he's ready to make nice with the new graduates.
He knew it would go like this. He wasn't expecting anything different. Parry, sidestep, swing, pull the trigger. Xu told him, right? He'll never make SeeD. Shouldn't come as any surprise. And it fucking well shouldn't piss him off just because Squall is going to be Garden's bright new star, either.
Except they're the same, he and Squall. Wipe the blade clean, track down a new target. Son of a bitch has no right to show him up like this. They're a matched set, and they belong together.
There's a crackle and buzz as the intercom system comes on, a whine of feedback from the loudspeaker. Seifer Almasy, please report to the headmaster's office immediately. I repeat....
Seifer curses. He's not in the mood for one of Cid's little fatherly chats about what makes him such a troubled young man and how much potential he has. He pictures himself actually telling Cid what's wrong -- Well, the piece of trash I've been fucking just made SeeD without me -- but he's pretty sure the words would stick in his throat. He knows Squall's better than that, and apart from one very specific lie -- Nothing; nothing's the matter -- he's not very good at them.
He goes anyway, because it's not like dispatching the endless parade of grats is doing much for his nerves. Better to just get this over with.
Except the office isn't empty when he gets there. The new graduates are standing awkwardly at attention, and Seifer freezes. What, this time they want to give him the lecture in front of the others? In front of Squall?
Cid clears his throat, smiling nervously, like a man with a gunblade pointed at him. "Well," he says, "now that we're all here --" and he pauses, looking at Squall and then at Dincht like he expects to be interrupted -- "let's get started, shall we?" His smile broadens until it almost looks natural. "Congratulations, graduates."
For a second Seifer thinks he's been brought up here to watch the others get their acceptance speech. It wouldn't be surprising, given the way the administration treats him. Then it sinks in that Cid is talking about the five of them representing Garden, and the responsibilities that entails. The five of them. And just for that minute Seifer feels like as much of a kid as Dincht, because he wants to yell, wants to laugh, wants to shove it in his instructors' faces -- he can do this, see? He can make SeeD, and he can do it without having to follow stupid rules just because they're there. Squall won't look at him, but there's a faint curve to the corner of his lip that makes Seifer think he's glad they passed together, too. Maybe the bastard even thinks it was his performance in the field exam that did it. And okay, he was almost as good as Seifer out there. But they'll still have to set that one straight tonight.
"And now you're free until the dance tonight," Cid is saying, and Seifer realizes he's ignored the entire speech. Well, not like it matters. "Congratulations once again, and good luck."
Dincht's bouncing on his heels as soon as they're dismissed, already chattering at Squall, and Seifer rolls his eyes. He doesn't envy Squall the task of trying to shut the kid up, and he figures he'll just duck out for now. There'll be time enough for him to congratulate Squall properly later on, after they've gotten their new rooms. After he's given the disciplinary committee the good news.
He's smiling as he leaves the Headmaster's office, for maybe the first time ever. Fuujin's going to be so happy for him.
* * *
Zell just won't stop talking. Squall thought he was bad before, but it's nothing compared to now, when he actually has something to be excited about -- he's going on all the way down the hall about how cool it is that they've graduated, and won't it rock if they get missions together, and the look on Seifer's face when he realized he passed the exam.... He follows Squall right into his new room, bright-eyed and happy as a puppy, chattering on obliviously as Squall takes his jacket off and hangs it up by the bed.
Before Squall's really figured out how to get him to go away, the door bangs open a second time. "Tilmitt told me what happened. What the fuck were you thinking?" Seifer asks. He slams the door behind him and crosses the room in two steps, grabbing the front of Squall's shirt and shoving him up against the wall. "I don't need your goddamn pity."
Squall meets his eyes without flinching, without fighting. "We didn't do it because we liked you, asshole." Seifer's eyes flick to the side for a second before he dismisses Zell and looks at Squall again. "If they could pass me and fail you for doing the same damn things, then being a SeeD wouldn't mean anything."
Seifer laughs a little in what sounds like disbelief. "You give a shit about that now? I could've sworn none of this meant anything to you anyway."
"Maybe," Squall shrugs. He hates it when Seifer's right, when Seifer knows him too well. Sometimes it feels like that's all the damn time. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me."
Seifer smirks, and before he can come up with some smartass remark that'll turn this into an argument, Squall grabs him by the front of his coat and hauls him closer to kiss him. Seifer stiffens in shock, eyes wide. On the other side of the room Zell makes a little stunned noise, and Seifer seems to take that as a challenge, because suddenly he's kissing back, hard, holding Squall pinned against the wall.
"Ready to tell people about this, huh?" Seifer asks, his hands busy between them, and Squall feels the first of his belts slip free and fall to the floor. "You want Dincht to see what you let me do to you?"
Just like that, just like turning a corner and stumbling into a rexaur, this is totally out of control. Squall wants to protest, wants to put the goddamn brakes on, but Seifer's got his other belt undone and is working on his pants, and he's already hard for the roughness of Seifer's gloved hands.
"I didn't," he says, but his head's thrown back so Seifer can bite down on his throat, and whether he meant to start things or not, it looks like they're going to do this now. "Fuck, Seifer...."
"Yeah," Seifer says, tugging his shirt up, and Squall lifts his arms to cooperate, shivering at the cool air against his skin. "Strip."
Squall hesitates, looking from Seifer -- lips flushed from kissing him, eyes hungry and possessive -- to Zell -- blushing and staring like he's panicked and needy both at once. "Fuck," Squall says, "you really -- we're going to --" and even while he's protesting he's still kicking his boots off, skinning out of his clothes, trying not to look at Zell too much because fuck, he's doing this with an audience?
Seifer shrugs out of his coat and tosses it aside carelessly. "Like what you see, Dincht?" he asks, running a hand casually down Squall's back to cup his ass. Squall shivers, trying not to feel so much like a toy, or maybe trying not to like that feeling too much. Zell doesn't say anything, just nods helplessly, and Squall thinks for a second how ridiculous it is that they've finally found a way to shut him up. Then Seifer goes on, "Stick around, and maybe I'll let you have him when I'm done."
Squall feels his face get hot, and when Seifer pushes him toward the bed he goes, stumbling a little. He sprawls across the sheets, turning to watch Seifer peel his gloves off with a predatory smile. He doesn't know when they got this bad, when he got so addicted to this that he'd let Seifer push him this far. There must have been a time when he could have stopped, before he learned to read what Seifer was going to do with him just by the look in his eyes, before Seifer started carrying lube with him everywhere so it'd be easier to bend Squall over a railing or shove him up against a wall any time the urge hit. But that time's gone, and now Squall's lying back and spreading his legs as Seifer climbs onto the bed with him and runs a hand up his thigh.
"You want this bad, don't you," Seifer croons, and he never goes slow with the preparations but Squall doesn't mind that anymore, letting out his breath in a hiss as Seifer shoves slick fingers up his ass. "Don't you," Seifer says again, and reaches up with his other hand to turn Squall's head, to make him look over at Zell. "Speak up, Squall. Wouldn't want Dincht to think I was forcing you." He twists his fingers brutally, and Squall gasps.
"Hha -- yes, I, fuck, want it." He tangles his fingers in the sheets and holds on, rocking down onto Seifer's hand. "Go on, you bastard. Do it."
Seifer laughs. "Well, how can I turn that down?" He shifts his weight -- when did he unbutton his pants? Squall doesn't even know -- and leans over Squall, lining up. "You need my cock that bad, I guess I'd better give it to you." Then he does, hard and fast and deep, and Squall grits his teeth because it's always too much at first. Seifer wouldn't want it any other way.
If he's being honest with himself, Squall wouldn't either. He shivers, gasping out harsh moans at each hard thrust, rocking down to meet them. He reaches for his cock -- this feels like a warm-up fuck, Seifer just taking the edge off before they do it again for real, so if he wants to come this time he'd better hurry.
"That's right," Seifer says, "jerk off over this. Look at you, desperate for it. Only thing that'd make this better is if you were taking more cock at once, huh? You'd like that, having Dincht's cock down your throat while I pound your ass, yeah, bet you'd look real good stuffed full at both ends...."
"Fuck," Squall moans, "oh fuck," and usually he half-ignores all the shit Seifer says to get himself off, but that's hotter than he expected it to be, and he realizes he's saying, "Yes, hha, yeah, fuck," and he's learned to get really good at finishing fast when he has to and now he thinks he couldn't slow down no matter what, and his back arches as he comes hard with Seifer still fucking him, still talking --
"Yeah, fuck, you get so tight when you come, keep moving just like that, you little whore, yes," and Squall looks up so he can see it, can watch the desperate, lost expression on Seifer's face as he comes.
The vulnerable moment passes fast, though, like always. Seifer rocks back on his heels, pulling out carelessly, and smirks at Zell. "How about it, Dincht? Think I'd like to watch you fuck his mouth. You going to help me out?"
Zell swallows hard, looking like he can't decide whether he should be fleeing or sticking a hand down his pants. "Squall?" he says nervously.
"It's okay," Squall says, half sitting up, weight propped on one elbow. "Come on." He reaches out, and Zell still looks terrified by the idea but he comes over, lets Squall pull him into bed. "Here."
Zell sits at the head of the bed, leaning back against the wall, and Squall slides up between his legs. "This is, um, kind of sudden," Zell says, watching Squall unzip his shorts, "isn't it?"
Squall looks up. "Are you complaining?" He doesn't give Zell a chance to answer before he leans down and wraps his lips around the head of Zell's cock, which is a very Seifer thing to do, but sometimes being a bastard works.
It shouldn't surprise him that Zell's less demanding than Seifer -- he's too nice a guy to really thrust, just shivering and gasping as Squall sucks him slowly. One of his hands comes to rest carefully on Squall's shoulder, the touch light as if he's afraid of doing something wrong, and he keeps whispering, "Oh god, oh god."
"Come on, Squall, you can do better than that," Seifer says from behind him. "You need a little encouragement?" There's a shifting sound, Seifer moving closer, and then Squall moans in surprise as Seifer's fingers push into him again. Suddenly this is a lot more urgent, and he leans down further, taking all of Zell's cock down his throat and rocking back onto Seifer's hand. "Yeah, there you go, wouldn't want your new friend to think I hadn't taught you right."
"Please," Zell says, and his hand tightens a little more on Squall's shoulder, "oh please," his thighs flexing under Squall's hands.
"Go ahead," Seifer tells him. "What are you waiting for? Come in his mouth. He wants you to."
Zell reaches for Squall's hand, gripping panic-tight, and Squall swallows around him again, and that's all it takes -- Squall chokes as Zell's hips buck helplessly, and then he tastes the bitterness of come on his tongue, and he swallows it down.
He pulls up, gasping for breath as Seifer thrusts deeper inside him, stroking at just the right angle. It's not quite too much, but almost, making him shiver and squirm. "Ah, fuck," Squall manages, "Seifer...."
"You okay?" Zell mouths, watching him with wide, worried eyes.
"Yeah," Squall pants, "yeah, hha, good," and when that doesn't seem to be reassurance enough he drags Zell down into a kiss, sloppy and wet. Zell kisses awkwardly at first, like he wasn't expecting it or like he doesn't know how, but he picks it up pretty fast and then he's moaning into Squall's mouth, his still-gloved hands carefully tracing the lines of Squall's chest and shoulders.
Squall's getting hard again from Seifer fingerfucking him, rocking his hips into the steady teasing rhythm and making hungry little sounds that are muffled by Zell's kisses. "Please," he says when he can pull free for a minute, "I -- again?"
Seifer laughs, and his strokes get rougher. "You need more cock, Squall? Is this getting you hard?"
"Yes," Squall says, "yes, yes," and he's holding on tight to Zell now, face buried in the hollow of Zell's shoulder. This is going to be one of those nights when Seifer fucks him raw, leaves him used and brutalized and barely able to walk, and he wants it so fucking much, wants the total exhaustion that comes at the end of a session like this.
"I'm reasonable," Seifer says. "I'll fuck you again," and his fingers twist again, just right, "as soon as you get your cock up Dincht's ass."
Squall shudders, but he can still feel how tense Zell gets, the sharp hitch in his breath. He nuzzles at Zell's throat, nips at his ear. "Do you want to?"
Zell's breathing is ragged and fast, his voice pitched low enough that Seifer won't hear it. "Will it -- is it going to hurt?"
Fuck. Zell's never done this before. "No," Squall says. He can make sure it's true, probably. Maybe. "It won't."
"Okay," Zell says, sounding more like he's just agreed to torture than to sex, but he starts squirming out of his clothes all the same, letting Squall help him, and he's -- this also shouldn't be any surprise, but he's built so differently than Seifer, small and compact, every muscle cleanly defined, and why hasn't Squall ever really looked at him before? The kid's not bad at all, and the way he looks when he's spreading his legs, golden and sleek, is damn hot.
Squall reaches back, and Seifer slicks lube over his fingers. "Make it a good show," Seifer says. "Make him moan, Squall."
No way Squall's about to let Zell know he's never done this either, this way, not when Zell needs to believe he's being taken care of. Instead he just reaches down between Zell's legs, stroking, pressing, trying to remember how it went the first times with Seifer and how he would have wanted it to go -- slower, more careful, and Zell's hands close bruise-tight on his biceps and Squall murmurs, "Relax."
Zell nods frantically, but it takes a minute before it sinks in and he actually does, and it's a good thing Seifer's too interested in watching to actually thrust hard -- if Squall were still getting fingered like before he'd have a bitch of a time concentrating.
"There you go," Squall murmurs when he feels the tension actually drop out of Zell's body a little, "like that," and then he can actually push deeper. It takes a couple of tries for him to find the sweet spot that makes him moan when Seifer toys with it, but he knows right away when he does, from the way Zell's eyes go wide.
"Oh god," Zell whispers, "oh god, that's..." But he doesn't have words for it, any more than Squall did the first time Seifer made it good for him, and fuck, it's hot -- no wonder Seifer wants to do this to him all the time.
"Yeah?" Squall shifts, licks at the shine of sweat on Zell's neck. "Ready?" He might be rushing things, but he's so hard, and Seifer's fingers are still moving inside him, and --
"Ready," Zell says, and his voice shakes like he's not, but Squall's too impatient, not to mention Seifer, and he's going to have to be ready enough.
Squall pulls out and slides forward, and Seifer moves with him, making sure he stays full the whole time as he eases Zell's thighs up and positions himself and pushes and oh god -- "Fuck," Squall moans, "oh god, Zell, oh," and Seifer's hand on the small of his back holds him still when he's slid all the way in.
"Now just stay right there, Squall," Seifer purrs. He lets his fingers slip from Squall's ass at last, and then he's replacing them with his cock, the head blunt and hot and thicker than his fingers. Squall shudders when Seifer thrusts in, stretching him open and rubbing him raw, and his little hiss of not-quite-pain makes Zell grab his hand and hang on tight.
"Yeah, that's better, isn't it?" Seifer says. "Just what you needed, having my cock up your ass." He thrusts in, and the motion pushes Squall forward, makes him rock deep inside Zell, and he thinks he might just die of this, Zell hot and tight around him, Seifer thick and hard inside him like this.
"Oh," Zell is saying, very quietly, every time one of Seifer's thrusts makes them all move. "Oh. Oh." And he doesn't seem to want to let go of Squall's hand, so Squall braces his weight on that elbow and reaches down with his other hand to take hold of Zell's cock. He doesn't have the coordination to actually stroke, not with everything he's feeling right now, but he can at least give Zell something to push against and from the frantic little noises Zell makes, he thinks it'll be enough.
It's already as much as he can stand, being filled and fucked and pushed deep into Zell's heat -- Squall bows his head, resting his forehead on Zell's shoulder, and lets his hips just move, and he thinks Seifer is talking, can hear the low vicious hypnotic tone but he can't make out the words over the thrumming in his nerves and the need building and it's never been quite this good, never, god, never this roaring bright heat through him that focuses right at the base of his cock and then explodes outward and makes him sob --
And Seifer's still going, hard and merciless, "Fuck, you're so hot, you bitch, don't you dare stop moving," and Zell's hand is wrapped around Squall's hand wrapped around Zell's cock and trying urgently to get him to really stroke, and Squall has no coordination left at all but he tries and it must be enough because a minute later Zell arches under him and cries out as he tightens down hard around Squall's cock and comes all over Squall's hand --
And then they're both just hanging on to each other and trying to ride it out, and Seifer's saying, "Yes, yes, you look so fucking good, both of you, fucked hard like that," and then the words desert him for low needy sounds and Squall pushes back against him and he can feel it when Seifer shudders at the end of one last deep thrust and lets go.
Squall winces a little when Seifer pulls out -- he was right about winding up raw and sore; he's probably going to need a dose of cure before he goes down to the graduation party. He tries to be more careful when he pulls free of Zell, but there's a little flicker of discomfort across Zell's face anyway, and Squall might apologize if he didn't think it'd make Seifer insufferable. He's shaking when he lowers himself down to the mattress between them, and the bed's way too narrow for this to actually work for more than a few minutes, but right now none of them seem to be willing to move.
"Not bad," Seifer says at last, and he might sound casual but the way his hand rests over the curve of Squall's hipbone is too intimate, too affectionate to be normal. "Maybe I'll be able to put up with having you bastards on my squad after all."
"Your squad?" Zell says. "Who says you get to stay captain?"
Seifer laughs. "You going to fight me for it, then?"
Zell bristles, and Squall can't tell if his shakes are from being upset or just from being fucked hard.
"Both of you cut it out," Squall says before they can start actually fighting. "We did okay in Dollet, right?" He presses a quick kiss to Zell's temple, right where the tattoo ends, and Zell relaxes immediately. "We'll be fine."
Seifer snorts. "Your confidence is such an inspiration," he says dryly, but when Squall rolls his eyes in annoyance, Seifer leans in and kisses him.
Yeah. They'll be fine.