tampered | Don't understand?

Don't understand?

When; Sept. 22nd
Rating; ...PG-13?
Characters;

leon_dormant
Summary; Seifer's capable of being nice?
Log;

It was funny sometimes how a new day could change someone's view on a matter. Yesterday he'd been all but convinced that he'd been telling Squall the truth, and today he was having his own doubts about the matter. Probably one of those curses. That or he'd been totally out of his mind, and really once was quite enough that. Therefore it couldn't possibly have been him.

At least, not entirely him. Nope, blame was entirely the city's and he was standing outside the door to Squall's place well... because it wouldn't do to have his rival mope forever. That and he had a vague feeling he should try to put things right.

"Hey, Leonhart. You in there?" he called in the general direction of the door. Knocking wasn't real his style, after all.

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If Seifer expected to get a response out of Squall's apartment, he was mistaken. Squall was certainly there - if only because Seifer knew Squall's patterns well enough by now to know that there were only two places he possibly could be; brooding alone in his room, or venting his frustrations in the Training Center, and there was no Training Center in the City, just the Underground.

No, Squall was definitely home, but there was no reply from inside the apartment. Silence from Radio Free Garden. Or something like that.

Figured. Squall Leonhart, world's best moper. Well, it was about time someone snapped him out of his funk. And if he was the first person to think of it well, that was hardly his problem. If Squall had wanted someone better suited to it he could have gone and asked himself.

"Don't think I don't know you're in there," he continued, not bothered in the least that he hadn't gotten an answer. "And I'm pretty sure you're gonna want your door intact."

That at least stirred Squall enough to get a response, although Squall's voice through the apartment door was muffled, flat, and toneless - as though he really didn't care much one way or the other.

"Go away."

"Not gonna happen," Seifer shot back. "Now are you gonna let me or do I break down the door?"

Because like hell was he actually leaving. He'd decided his course of action and he'd see through come hell or high water. Y'know. Standard Seifer operating procedure and all that.

Silence. And then, right before Seifer could get around to making good on his threat to break in the door, it opened, and Squall stood in the doorway and stared out through it at Seifer with a tired and vaguely sullen expression. The world's best moper had been in the middle of a marathon session, it seemed.

"What do you want," he said, in a voice that held no inflection at all: flat. Depressed. Lacking even the energy to make the words into a question.

Tch. And here he'd been looking forward to breaking in Leonhart's door. Apparently he wasn't too busy moping to ruin Seifer's fun. Besides, doors were easy enough to replace, right?

"Though I'd come 'round and say hi," he answered with a grin. If Squall thought he'd get right to the point then he'd need to think again.

Squall should have known. Maybe he did know, but he opened the door anyhow - his first mistake.

He stared at Seifer for a long, silent interval, still with that fame flat expression - almost with no reaction at all. Then, without saying a word, he began to shut the door in Seifer's face.

His first mistake and one Seifer intended to make the most of, throwing his weight against the door. He wasn't going to let Squall just lock him out. Or throw him out, not that it seemed he was likely that he was going to be doing that in the near future.

"Not so fast, Puberty Boy," he snapped, dragging out the old nickname entirely for the sake of (hopefully) forcing a reaction. "You aren't getting rid of me that quick."

"Haven't you done enough already?" Squall fought to hold the door, but Seifer outweighed him and his strength just wasn't quite enough to force his rival back out into the hall. Realizing it, he gave up on trying to force the door closed on Seifer and stepped back instead, letting it fly open - and taking advantage of the opening to throw a punch.

Possibly not the reaction Seifer was aiming for.

Not quite, no, and with it being so abrupt Seifer didn't have the time to get out of the way. Unless him taking an unconscious step afterwards counted, but by then he'd already been hit. But on the bright side it was a reaction.

"You mean that shit yesterday?"

If he was gonna get beaten up, he'd like to know what for.

"What do you think?" Squall demanded. He didn't go quite so far as throwing another punch - yet - but he stood braced and ready, hands curled into fists at his sides, shoulders tight with contained violence. "Get out."

Yep, that would him still being sore about. Just like Seifer had figured, and knowing the truth didn't really make it any easier to do what he was trying to do. But he could try.

And hope he didn't get too beaten up for it. It would be so much easier if he could just let himself do what Squall asked. But it just would be him, and there was a sigh before he spoke up again. This... was going to be fun.

"Funny what sort of a difference a day can make."

If he'd been a little more objective, Squall probably would have caught on to what Seifer was getting at with those words. But at the moment, it was hard to want to listen. He lifted his chin stubbornly, scowling.

"What do you want, Seifer."

"Oh, for–" Seifer began, before cutting himself off. Getting mad at Squall wouldn't help. Probably get him punched again too, and once was plenty.

"I'm trying to say it wasn't all me. It's a crazy theory anyway."

"Wasn't all you?" Squall repeated, an incredulous look coming over his face. "You're saying yesterday was just part of a curse?"

At least it was enough to keep Squall from trying to punch Seifer again. A knock-down-drag-out, as satisfying as it might have been, wouldn't do anything to help the situation.

Probably.

"So how much of it was you?"

Oh, Seifer wouldn't be adverse to a good spar once things were cleared up. He generally wasn't. But he could also tell when it wouldn't be the greatest idea. Now was one of them.

"The theory wasn't me?" he answered after a slight pause.

That got Seifer another incredulous stare.

Eventually, all he could do was sigh, shoulders sagging as the tension started to go out of him. "So, what," he said, voice gone flat again. "None of it was actually true? It was just something the curse made up?"

So sometimes he liked poking at people. Although not usually to the extent he had the other day. That had been different, and he still wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

"Near as I can tell," Seifer answered. "Didn't see anything suggesting Ultimecia was anything other than kinda nuts while I knew her."

And if he hadn't noticed that odds were it wasn't there, right?

Squall studied Seifer's face for a long while, as though he thought he could tell just by looking at him whether or not Seifer was trying to yank his chain. Whatever conclusions he reached, though, he didn't really let on. "So... you don't actually believe any of it."

There was a momentary silence at that, as Seifer reached to find the right words to get what he was trying to say said. And to manage to get the truth of them across right

"Yesterday I'd've told you I meant every word," he finally answered. "Today it's the weirdest damned shit I've ever heard let alone said."

Again Squall was silent, processing this, trying to get the information through the emotional turmoil that's had him paralyzed since yesterday. Stupid curses. Stupid city. Stupid Seifer knowing how to push his buttons.

"...fine," he said at last, and turned away.

"You aren't fine."

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. But it was pretty damned obvious to him at least. He just didn't have a really good idea of what to do about it.

It stopped Squall short, and he turned a sharp look toward Seifer over his shoulder, not bothering to face him fully. "What do you care?" he asked harshly.

"Moping ain't gonna bring her back, y'know."

The question of why he cared was quite simply ignored. Wouldn't catch him admitting to that, oh no. Not him.

"I know that." As he said it, Squall looked away, staring off ahead of him at nothing. "It's not like I want them to bring her back here for my sake, anyhow."

"You're still moping, though."

Although he had to admit that what he'd said the other day probably hadn't helped any. But things always looked better in retrospect.

Squall couldn't really dispute it. He was moping. Intellectually, there wasn't even a reason for it - as far as anyone had been able to tell him, he'd go back sooner or later himself, as though he'd never left, and in the meantime Rinoa would be safer. But still...

"So what if I am?" His voice had gone flat again. "Is that against the rules now?"

"Nah," Seifer answered with a grin. "But I wonder what Rinoa'd say if she saw you like this."

Of course, she wasn't around and that was part of the problem but there wasn't much he could do about that. So he'd just do the best he could, in the meantime.

Speaking of Seifer knowing how to push Squall's buttons... Squall grimaced. He could imagine a couple of the things that Rinoa might say if she were to turn back up and find him in this mood.

"Yeah, well," he said through gritted teeth. "She's not here to have an opinion."

"How much have you gotten done since she left?"

Given the way Squall had been moping, he was inclined to say 'absolutely nothing'. But he wasn't entirely sure on that one yet.

"That's none of your business."

Which is to say... not much. He'd been showing up for his duty shifts for the police force, but with both Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye gone and the prison blown up, that doesn't entail much more than being available in case a crisis broke out.

Which amounted more or less to keeping his Network device turned on.

"See, that's where you'd be wrong. Can't have you getting out of practice, can I?"

Sure, he could always go and pick fights elsewhere but there was something about fighting someone who used the same weapon.

"Besides, you'd make a shitty commander like this."

That actually got a flinch, even if it was just a tiny hitch of Squall's shoulders. Dammit. Ignoring Seifer was easier when he wasn't making so damn much sense.

"--fine," Squall said, with an irritated huff of breath through his teeth. "I won't get out of training. Is there something else you want, or will you go away now?"

"I don't know," Seifer answered with a grin. "Thought I might try my hand at getting you to stop moping."

Or maybe he was just going to hang around for the hell of it. It was sometimes hard to tell with him.

It sort of worked out the same either way... but maybe for Seifer, annoying Squall was a step up from having him mope around endlessly.

If so, then the situation was definitely showing some signs of improvement. Squall's voice was sharp with sarcasm. "Yeah? How were you planning on doing that?"

Edited 2009-09-24 03:56 (UTC)

"I thought I'd work it out as I went along."

Hell, he'd really only showed up to explain the thing about the curse, and even then he hadn't had much of a plan to speak of. But he figured he could work something out later. Not like it hadn't worked before.

Squall didn't seem to be quite sure what to make of this. He fell silent for a long, increasingly awkward interval, watching Seifer with a steady, uncomprehending look on his face, until finally he sighed again. His shoulders dropped a little as the breath went out of him, as though in capitulation, as though he were realizing once again that there was just no use in arguing with Seifer about... anything.

"Fine," he said, "whatever. Knock yourself out. I'm gonna go get some training in."

Because if Seifer was determined to hang around annoying him into submission, then he might as well give in and get something productive done.

Seifer couldn't help but grin at that admission. Looked he'd managed to make a difference after all. How long it would last he couldn't say, but he didn't have the slightest bit of a problem with coming back and doing the whole thing all over again.

"Thinkin' about doing a bit of that myself."

Surely Squall wouldn't mind a bit of company?

Squall didn't really pause to look back at Seifer as he retrieved and shouldered his gunblade and started out of his apartment, turning off the lights as he went. "Not like I can stop you."

"Got that right."

The only one responsible for what he did these days was him. And sometimes the City, although he wasn't going to be mentioning that one. Instead, he'd just follow Squall on out. Sitting in a dark room wasn't exactly his idea of fun.

Edited 2009-09-27 00:44 (UTC)

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