Corpse in the Cupboard

***** CHAPTER 21 *****

Laguna smiled fondly at Kiros across the dinner table. Despite spending all day with him, Kiros had somehow managed to arrange a special dinner to celebrate Laguna’s recovery and had even convinced the doctors to let him leave the hospital for a few hours. The only disappointment had been Squall’s absence. His son had received a message just before dinner and had gone to make some calls and sort out a problem that had emerged back at Garden in his absence.

It had been a long day, with Kiros filling him in on the business side of his lost seven months. He’d only glossed over the personal side of things but what he had said had left Laguna with more questions than answers. Vincent was his lover. He still had difficulty believing it. He grinned to himself, pushing his dinner across his plate absently as he pondered the reality. Sometimes the universe wasn’t such a bad place after all.

“Ok Laguna. Gonna let us in on what’s so funny?” Kiros teased from across the table. Damn, the man didn’t miss a thing. Laguna blushed at being caught out with his thoughts and laughed nervously, looking up at Vincent.

“Nothing. I…..um….just don’t understand a couple of things you said today. Now that Squall’s gone, could I ask exactly how Vincent and I got together?” he asked, trying to deflect the conversation from his naughty thoughts. Kiros glanced at Vincent but when the gunman remained silent he looked back at Laguna apologetically.

“I wasn’t there. I only met Vincent when I came to pick you up. You two were already together by then. Vincent, how about filling him in?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Vincent responded softly. “After the incident in your room, I’d worked out where I was and what had happened from the media reports. I wanted to speak to you again, to apologize for my behaviour and to….” His words trailed of and he seemed to be struggling to explain his intentions. “Honestly, you fascinated me. The leaders of my world are heartless, greedy and untrustworthy. You seemed to be the complete opposite. I followed you to the cabin and we met,” he finished quickly.

“But how, exactly, did we meet? Did you knock on the door? It’s just that, at that time, didn’t I think that you were a dangerous escaped creature or something?” Laguna pressed on, looking at Vincent and refusing to let the gunman avoid the details.

“I….I was in your room, watching you sleep and you woke up from a nightmare. I introduced myself and apologized for my previous behaviour,” Vincent stated nervously. Kiros began to chuckle and Laguna couldn’t help smiling. The gunman looked adorable when he blushed. His brain kicked into gear and he realised that the young man had been hiding in his room, watching him sleep.

“Were you stalking me, Vincent?” he asked, grinning like an idiot. Vincent looked down, shame faced and Kiros’ chuckle increased to a deep laugh.

“Gods, you two are so cute,” Kiros said happily. “Come on Vincent. You have to tell us how Laguna reacted to finding you in his bedroom in the middle of the night. Did he scream in terror?”

“Hey!” Laguna said indignantly. “What makes you think I’d scream like a girl?”

“He stood up, got tangled in the sheets and fell over…..twice,” Vincent answered with a grin. Laguna’s face flamed and Kiros laughed so hard he couldn’t breath. Laguna tried to frown at Vincent and failed, laughing out loud as well. Oh well, he’d made a fool of himself again. At least it hadn’t seemed to turn Vincent off.

“Would have loved to hear the conversation after that. Did he beg for mercy?” Kiros teased.

“There was no conversation. He stood up again and fell forward into my arms naked. I kissed him and then….,” Vincent’s voice trailed off as he grinned at Laguna suggestively. Laguna was gaping back at him in disbelief.

“Bullshit! You’re just making this up!” Laguna exclaimed. “Oh Kiros, shut the hell up,” he added, pouting at his friend who was now on the floor, laughing hysterically.

“Sorry but the look on your face was priceless,” Kiros said from the floor. “Oh, and he’s telling the truth. He never lies. Just goes quiet and says nothing if he doesn’t want to tell the truth. Takes some getting used to.” Kiros crawled back up onto his chair, wiping his eyes and looking at the gunman fondly. Vincent smiled at him before turning back to gaze at Laguna.

“It’s true. You threw yourself at me.” Vincent smirked at the President and Laguna smiled back in spite of his embarrassment. He was mortified that he had been so easy to seduce. Another question popped up in his mind and he grasped it, hoping to change the subject.

“You two get along so well. How did your first meeting go?” he asked. Kiros began choking on his drink and coughed a few times before covering his face with his hands.

“He tried to shot me,” Vincent replied casually. Kiros groaned and Laguna looked horrified.

“He tried to shot you?” Laguna sputtered.

“Oh, come on! I thought Laguna was in danger,” Kiros whined from behind his hands.

“Bullshit,” Vincent answered. “I had my tongue down his throat. I hardly think that looked dangerous.”

“I hate you,” Kiros muttered, his hands still over his face and Vincent started to chuckle softly.

“Kiros, why did you try to shoot him?” Laguna asked curiously.

“He was jealous,” Vincent answered for him, smiling cheekily. Kiros dropped his head to the table and moaned in humiliation. Kiros had been jealous of him and Vincent? Kiros was attracted to him?

“I still hate you,” Kiros muttered dejectedly.

“Don’t worry Laguna. It took you six months to discover that before. Even then you only found out when Kiros….hey!” Vincent yelped as Kiros kicked him under the table. “Oh, fuck….sorry Kiros,” the gunman added, his face growing serious.

“I only found out when Kiros what? There’s no way in the world you two are getting out of this room without finishing that sentence,” Laguna demanded, his agitation at his memory loss surfacing. Kiros finally lifted his head, looking like a lost puppy. Vincent just stared at his hands, refusing to say anything more.

“Laguna, you’ve only been awake two days. I really think that this would be alot for you to take right now. I’d rather wait and ….,” Kiros began before Laguna interrupted him.

“Oh no you don’t. I’m not about to have another heart attack so you can just forget about putting this off. I want to know what happened right now. Do you have any idea how fucking annoying it is to not be able to remember any of this? Kiros, please tell me what happened.” Kiros looked at him sadly before turning his eyes to the table before him.

“Um….well, after six months of trying to get used to you and Vincent being together, I decided to retire and leave. I’d done a good job of avoiding you up until my last day when you tricked me into seeing you by setting up a fake meeting with a Galbadian official. I was pretty mad when you turned up instead and tried to convince me to stay,” Kiros paused, chewing on his lower lip nervously. “I started yelling and you yelled back and then….um….well….”

“Then what? You told me you liked me?” Laguna asked frowning.

“He threw you up against a wall and fucked you senseless, from what I saw,” Squall answered from the doorway. All three men spun around in their seats to stare at the Commanders sudden appearance. “What? It’s true, isn’t it?” he added flatly. Laguna glanced at Kiros who looked like he was trying to disappear into his seat. Kiros had……oh, fuck. He’d been unfaithful to Vincent with Kiros. He glanced at Vincent who was looking at him, concern shining from his eyes.

“I’m so sorry Vincent,” he whispered. Damn, he was beginning to wish he hadn’t asked. No wonder nobody had wanted to tell him.

“It’s ok, Laguna. Kiros and I have been working this out, while you were unconscious. We’ve made our peace with each other,” he stated, leaning forward to take the President’s hand in his. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m ok. Just shocked. All this…well it’s a lot to absorb in one day,” he replied, sweezing Vincent’s hand. “Hang on a minute,” he said, looking at his son. “You said, from what I saw. Are you telling me you saw us?”

“You stopped calling me. I got worried so I sent one of my agents to Esthar to check out what was going on. He reported back that Kiros was leaving and you had a mysterious new bodyguard that bore a striking resemblance to the creature that had destroyed Odine’s lab, so I came here myself to find out what was going on. When I heard that you and Kiros were going to be in the conference room, I set up a video camera and when I watched it later, I saw what happened.”

“Fuck,” Laguna muttered. “I’m sorry you saw that, Squall.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll live. Pretty impressive for a couple of old guys,” he joked, smirking.

“You’re not even slightly funny,” Kiros muttered, glaring at him. Squall just raised an eyebrow at him and continued to smirk.

“I think we should call it a night. Laguna needs to rest and I think he’s had enough revelations for one day,” Vincent stated, as he gazed at the President. Squall and Kiros said their goodnights and left, leaving Vincent to see Laguna back to his room.

Vincent was quiet as he walked Laguna back, refusing to leave until the President was in bed and resting comfortably. As he began to turn away from the bed, Laguna reached forward and grabbed his hand, pulling the gunman back around to face him. Vincent looked down at him with a smile and the President couldn’t resist leaning up to gently kiss him on the lips. He heard the young man sudden intake of breath and was worried for a moment that he had done the wrong thing. That thought was washed away when Vincent threaded a hand behind his head and kissed him deeply, their tongues dancing lightly together. As they drew back from the kiss, Vincent smiled affectionately before saying goodnight and leaving the room. The President realized that even if he never remembered the last seven months, he still wanted this beautiful man in his life. An image of Kiros flittered across his mind unexpectedly and he couldn’t help but wish that there was some way that he could have them both.