Protecting the Lion

Chapter Twenty-Three
Prisoners of Lust

“Lee me ‘lone,” mumbled a sleeping Seifer.

Groaning in annoyance, Squall squirmed within the blonde’s embrace. “Let go,” he hissed out again.

Tan arms squeezed the pale body tighter. “Go ‘way.” Seifer buried his head between the pillow and the crook of a slim neck.

Squall rolled his eyes. “I would, but you’re holding on to me,” he half shouted.

For the past five minutes, Squall had been attempting to get up. However, Seifer was proving to be a hindrance. The knight was sleeping soundly all the while gripping Squall sternly. It didn’t matter that it was rather comfortable, Squall wanted to get up.

Cracking an eye open, Seifer looked at the mussed chocolate hair and smiled contently. The moment he’d first felt Squall stir, he’d made sure to hold on firmly. “Can you blame me?” he asked with nip to the back of the brunet’s neck.

“You’re awake,” Squall accused.

“O’ course, love,” he replied roguishly.

Looking stoically towards the wall, Squall shifted again, intent on getting out of the bed.

Not wanting to anger the brunet, Seifer loosened his hold. Squall didn’t respond kindly to force, at least for the most part. His mind recalled how responsive Squall seemed to his domineering only a few hours ago. Oh, the images he conjured up at the thought of taking Squall. It was enough to make him consider losing a limb if only to hold onto the brunet for a few more moments.

Leaning up, propped back on his arms, Squall felt a slight soreness when he sat too far up. While he didn’t have any pleasure to accompany the sensation, it was hardly enough to keep him from moving around freely.

A quick glance to the tanned man beside him showed a pair of green eyes that held acute attentiveness. Seifer was watching his every move as though trying to memorize it. He couldn’t help but feel as though the blonde seemed a little hurt by his want to leave.

Sighing, Squall leaned over, holding Seifer’s gaze as he drew closer. Before he could close the distance completely, a tender hand came up to his face. Seifer stroked his cheek and traced a thumb across the corner of his mouth. At the prick of pain in his lip he remembered biting it too harshly before. Smiling slightly, he said, “I think our spars are less rough.”

Drawing an index finger along a pale smooth cheek, Seifer regarded Squall apologetically. In truth, he’d been a bit too rough, especially for the first time. “I’m sorry.”

Furrowing his brows, Squall leaned back and away from the blonde’s touch. Shaking his head in disapproval, he said, “That’s too bad. I thought I’d just done it with Seifer Almasy, not some second guessing push over.” Feigning disappointment, he sighed.

“Push over?” Seifer questioned incredulously.

“Nnh,” Squall sounded in affirmation, accompanied with a small nod.

Mumbling under his breath, Seifer pounced up from his reclined position. He was further encouraged by the fact that if Squall had wanted to move out of the way, he would have had no problem doing so. With Squall lying back, he propped his arms on either side of the man and glared down.

“Push over?” he questioned once more with a growl.

Squall almost laughed at the way those jade eyes seemed to dance. As Seifer drew close, trying to be menacing, he smirked.

Seifer cocked an eyebrow at the smirk Squall gave him.

Swiftly, Squall pushed up and reversed their position. He didn’t need to jibe the blonde any further, his actions spoke for themselves.

The imperturbable look on Seifer’s face was betrayed by the dance of fire in his eyes. Squall couldn’t help but find the blonde’s defensive nature amusing. He laughed, letting the ego-abused man know that he was goading him. It was a rare instance when he could be the one goading the blonde into an argument. Then again, he usually didn’t try to pick fights.

Glaring up sardonically, Seifer looked slightly less amused than his brunet counter part. However, the soft press of lips against his own abated his anger immediately. Sadly, before he could twine his fingers in silky hair and deepen it beyond the chaste touch that it was, Squall pulled away and moved to get out of bed.

With a final kiss, Squall decided to let Seifer mull over whatever qualms he might have had over their pleasurable escapades.

Standing up held a painful surprise for Squall when his legs nearly gave out. While he didn’t have anywhere near the same sized ego as Seifer, he still suffered in hurt pride when he realized why his lower back felt like it was about to spasm.

Reluctantly, he glanced back at the blonde. It would be the last nail in the coffin if he saw sympathetic or apologetic green eyes staring back at him. To his relief and slight annoyance, Seifer held none of those emotions. The tanned man had sat back with his arms leisurely behind his head and a bare chest on display. Now, the blonde looked at him with a grin and eyes that were keenly amused.

Flashing a broad smile and showing off his pearly whites, Seifer questioned rhetorically, “I’m that good, huh?”

Scowling, Squall shot daggers at the cocky blonde. Seifer continued to beam up at him, his usual manner restored. After a moment, he broke down and gave a faint smile. He much preferred the cocky asshole to the not so self-assured man he’d seen briefly a moment ago. He supposed that sex did that. What had happened between them had hit something deep within the blonde.

Straightening up as much as he could, Squall hid the grimace that threatened to surface with the effort this act took. He tried to keep his steps as normal as possible, though he wasn’t sure what that was since he didn’t usually walk around with such acute pain in his ass. He could only hope that what he felt now, which was a few hours after, was the worst it would get.

Moving about the room, Squall gathered a fresh set of clothes, not the least bit hesitant to be nude while doing so. SeeD members hardly had the luxury of modesty, especially on missions in close quarters for extended amounts of time. And besides that, he rather enjoyed the sudden gleam Seifer’s eye took on while watching him.

With his clothes, he left the room and headed for the bathroom. A hot shower would be quite welcome. He didn’t feel disgusted, but it was uncomfortable to have Seifer’s drying semen all over his thighs, not to mention in certain places less visible.

Once Squall shut the door, Seifer hit his head back against the pillows a few times and groaned. “Cock tease,” he sighed exasperatingly.

Throwing the sheets aside, he regarded his hardening member with a bothersome glare. His lovely little princess was more than a tease when walking around with that firm and lithe body entirely on display for his viewing. Not to mention the marks he’d left, which stood proudly as testimony to whom the pale man belonged to.

“Hyne,” he mumbled, wondering just how he’d manage to fulfill his duties when he could hardly manage to keep his hands off the brunet. Squall had no idea just how far he was falling. As much as he felt like the one in control, he was entirely the prisoner.

**

Hot water shot out of the showerhead in a fast torrent. First feeling with his hand to test the temperature, Squall noted with relief that his fingers were back to normal. No longer dulled to hot or cold, he felt the soothing heat for what it was.

Stepping beneath the spray, he let the water wash over him. The warmth from it spread through his body.

With a deep sigh, he let the torrent massage and sooth his body. Plastered to his head, his hair was nearly black and hung down his neck. He raked a hand through the darkened mop, to clear his sight.

Once he’d scrubbed and washed himself, he felt inclined to linger a few extra moments and let the water spray on his lower back.

With a small smile he turned the faucet off and relished his newfound knowledge. The idea of sex was no longer set in textbook terms for him. He had indeed learned first hand why a man would choose to be fucked as he had. It was beyond enjoyable, it was euphoric. He couldn’t help but wonder how it compared to being with a girl though.

Shaking his head, he rid himself of such thoughts. Irvine was the member of their group obsessed with sex, not him. All he needed to know was that he was inexplicably attracted to Seifer and that making out and having sex with the man was something he would enjoy doing many more times.

Squall walked back into the bedroom while ruffling his hair with a towel. Seifer was wearing his boxers and gathering the sheets and bedding together. They’d made a bit of a mess. With practice, they would surely manage to accomplish their debauchery in the most revealing of places without leaving a single trace.

There was a shoot in the bathroom for laundry. It was a standard asset to each SeeD dormitory. Not for the cadets though, they were the ones who did the laundering.

As Seifer walked passed Squall, he ruffled the damp mop of hair and said sternly, “Don’t leave without me.” He could tell by the trademark black leather pants and white shirt, that Squall was ready to work straight through the next forty-eight hours.

Not waiting for a response, since he wasn’t likely to get one, Seifer left with the bundle of sheets.

While Seifer was in the bathroom, Squall felt compelled to go to his office. It was more than annoying when he found himself unable to go against the blonde’s wishes.

Instead of leaving, Squall contented himself with finishing the progress reports he’d been pushing off.

At first, he’d plopped the folders onto the countertop of the kitchen nook. However, once he sat down on the stool, he conceded that the couch might make his work a bit more comfortable.

With a bottle of water and laptop, he logged all the numbers into the system. There were only ten files out of the thirty that required close inspection. So, for the most part he could just see how each student was doing and what program they were involved in without reading any personal information.

Long before he’d even become a SeeD himself, he’d had a few ideas on how the system could be changed for the better. As it was, the specialty training was not nearly wide enough to encompass the skills a mercenary should have.

Most every kid came to the Balamb Garden and was divided off into a single group. Whether they wanted to be a technician, a fighter, a spell caster, a summoner, an instructor, etc. The list when on, but no one was ever given the opportunity to be as many of those things as they could. In a time of war, Squall and everyone else had been forced to become prominent in most every aspect. But, as he observed the curriculum he saw that it had been a fluke. It had been a circumstance of war that pushed for fighters to become better. He would change that.

Finishing the last file he became angry with himself. It hadn’t taken long at all. He should have been able to finish it that day in his office or the other night, but his time had been spent on Seifer. Whether he was with Seifer or thinking about the arrogant blonde, he had become inexcusably consumed.

Perhaps it was finally fulfilling his desires that cleared his head. He had, after all, been able to log the files fairly swiftly and with little trouble.

The door to the bathroom opened and stirred Squall from his internal monologue over responsibility. Stalking out in naught but dark blue jeans and a towel over his shoulders, Seifer didn’t even spare him a glance before moving to the other room.

As Seifer walked into his own room to grab a shirt and his gunblade, he called back, “There’s something you should know.” He was already grimacing at the unsavory reaction the brunet would have at learning that he’d not mentioned Fenrir’s death.

Narrowed bluish gray eyes followed the retreating tanned back. “What?” he asked in a serious tone.

“Can you at least agree not to kill me?” Seifer half shouted into the other room. Searching through a large duffel bag, which he had yet to unpack, he found a random shirt.

“Seifer,” Squall replied in a dangerous tone. His first guess was that it was linked with why the blonde was on the phone with Quistis earlier. He should have pressed the matter before, asking details about what Quistis was handling.

With his hands through two sleeves, Seifer paused a moment, looking back and forth at nothing in particular in the room. It was his ears he was using more than his eyes. He was trying to pick out any undertones to Squall’s little growl. The brunet had a million different ways of saying a single word, which was exactly why the quiet man hardly needed to string more than two words together to convey a point. “Can I get your word on my life first?” he asked, slightly in jest. He shrugged the rest of the way into the shirt and waited.

Squall sat poised on the couch, his legs drawn up with a closed folder in his lap. Tilting his head slightly, sending damp strands to shift across his cheek and inadvertently send a cold chill down his neck, he thought for a moment.

It wasn’t that he regretted what he’d done with Seifer, far from it in fact, but if he had refused the blonde and gone to the office, he’d be that much further in dealing with the huge mess. Not to mention, he’d know what Seifer was talking about.

“Squall?” Seifer asked tentatively, walking to the doorway and glancing at the brunet when he received no answer. The pale brunet sat comfortably in silent thought. He knew that look very well. Head angled to the side and lips pouted, while that sharp brain worked swiftly to piece some puzzle together.

“The missile was from Esthar, right?” covering all his bases, Squall decided that he’d confirm what he thought he already knew.

Green eyes gazed piercingly across the room at the absent look on Squall’s face. What was his little lion up to now? “Yes,” he responded, still just as wary.

Squall had no intention of killing Seifer, maybe just beating him up, it depended on what the blonde had failed to mention to him earlier. Regardless, his willful nature forbade him from agreeing to not reprimand the knight justly when he could quite possibly figure the matter out for himself.

“Dollet was unharmed, unless there were ships that left harbor early. Did President Loire call?” He tried to find some misgiving in the blonde, to see if he was getting closer or not.

Seifer grinned when he realized what Squall was trying to do. It wouldn’t work however, since the last thing Squall would guess would be that Fenrir was dead.

“Is this something I need to know before I go charging head long into the political mess out there?” It felt odd to refer to all his troubles as though they existed elsewhere. It was as though, where he was now, within his apartment or maybe just with Seifer, was away from it all.

Giving up, Seifer rubbed the back of his neck and told the Commander the news, “Governor Fenrir was assassinated early this morning. Estimated to be about an hour after the missile hit.”

It was a delayed reaction when Squall’s eyes widened. Not even wasting his time on cursing, Squall scrambled from the couch. The folder fell with a messy flutter of papers. “My blade?” he inquired, on his way to the door.

“My room,” Seifer answered, moving from sight to retrieve the item.

Hastily, Squall pulled his boots on and laced them. Swinging his jacket around his back, he slipped into it and habitually jerked on the front of it to set it into proper place. Even though he had no clue what all it meant, he felt an impending sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The last time he’d felt that was when they’d learned that a more powerful sorceress had controlled Edea. Suffice to say, he was acting on his gut feeling and knew without a doubt that his life was about to get a whole lot more frustrating.

Taking Lionheart from Seifer’s hands, he secured it at his hip with deft ease.

“So, I’m off the hook?” It was perhaps the stupidest question Seifer could have asked. Squall seemed to have forgotten his intentional indiscretion, and then he went and reminded the brunet. He couldn’t help it, because he was cocky and wanted to see just how much he could get away with.

Teeth clenched, Squall glared at the blonde. In a manner that was becoming easier to pull off the more he tried, Squall sauntered closer to the blonde. Thinking for a quick moment, he wondered just how he might punish the blonde. To be sure, keeping such information from him was enough to warrant his wrath and anger. But, he didn’t have time to go off the Training Center and beat Seifer up.

A couple days ago he would have felt sheer horror and embarrassment at his actions, but since he knew of the effect he had on the blonde, he felt fairly confident.

Seifer watched as Squall stepped closer. The smile that played across those soft lips was far from reassuring.

“I’ll forget it, if you keep your hands to yourself,” Squall said.

Before Seifer could question what Squall meant, the brunet was on him. Pressing him against the wall, the smaller man was kissing him sensually while standing on tiptoes. Delicate fingers twined through his damp hair, sending shivers down his spine at the soft touches to the back of his neck.

Pressing closer, Squall rubbed his hip against Seifer’s crotch. The intent was to arouse the man with as little consequence to himself. While he kept the pressure constant and gave a small motion every now and then, Squall continued to kiss the blonde.

When he felt himself becoming lost in it, he broke away. Raking his fingers across the soft material of Seifer’s gray shirt, he repeatedly grazed hardening nipples. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the movement of the blonde’s arms. To his dismay, Seifer stopped before touching him.

Kissing Seifer again, Squall continued to push the blonde as far as possible, closer to the breaking point. Trailing from the taller man’s lips, he clutched at the cotton shirt and worked for some leverage as he moved higher. Along a stubble free jaw line, towards the soft lobe of an ear.

Grinning, Squall nibbled on the lobe, figuring that if it felt anything like what the blonde did to him then it would feel quite nice. Licking the shell of the ear, he paused just a moment to watch the aroused knight’s arms hesitate from touching him once more. Hoping to make the blonde crack he breathed hot breath into the ear and whispered, “I want you inside of me again.”

Seifer’s breath hitched while his mind continued to shout every curse it could think of. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he swiftly wrapped his arms around the lithe man pressing against his body. Turning his head to lay claim on warm red lips, he plundered the velvety mouth and lost himself to the lust he was so prone to feeling around Squall.

Dangerously close to losing himself, Squall broke away and squirmed out of the embrace. Panting slightly, he shook his head to clear it. “Then it’s settled, you’ll pay later.” With that he strode for the door.

It took Seifer a long moment to put together what had happened. His own anger flared. If he wasn’t completely hopeful of fucking the brunet in the near future, he’d run after the man and either screw him in the middle of the hallway or draw Hyperion for a fight.

As it was, he was left banging his head back against the wall, muttering curses, all the while nursing a very hard cock that needed attention. “That was harsh,” he finally mumbled, retreating further into the apartment to make himself presentable. Then, he’d have to hurry off and catch up with Mr. Cock Tease and still pay further later on. It wasn’t fair. Since when did Squall pick on him that way? ‘Since he knew he could,’ he resolved.

Leave it to Leonhart to use every resource and shred of information as leverage. The guy had a fierce side. That’s why he liked the sexy brunet so damn much.


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