Corpse in the Cupboard

***** CHAPTER 24 *****


The next night Kiros and Vincent approached the President’s door determined to get answers. When Laguna opened the door he was holding a glass in one hand and he scowled before waving them inside.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have time tonight to entertain. I’d appreciate it if you two could just tell me what you want and leave so I can go to bed and get some sleep,” he muttered, turning away from both men without any kind of greeting. Kiros noticed a half empty bottle of scotch on the coffee table and realised that Laguna had been drinking. Any other time he might have walked away, deciding not to take on someone under the influence but this time he decided that the President’s lowered defences might work to their advantage.

“For fucks sake Laguna, what the hell is wrong? And don’t you even think about saying nothing because we are not leaving until we get some answers. You are treating us as if you can’t stand to be in the same room and there has to be a reason for it,” Kiros demanded angrily. Laguna glared back at him, ignoring Vincent who was silently watching the exchange from the sidelines.

“You want to be told the truth? Well, that’s a laugh, coming from you!” the President hissed at him. Kiros flinched at the venom in Laguna’s voice. “Maybe if you told others the truth, they might do the same for you!”

“Kiros has never lied to you, Laguna. It is unfair for you to speak to him in such a way,” Vincent interjected in Kiros’ defence. Laguna spun around towards the gunman with a look of pure malice.

“Don’t you dare start, Vincent. You have no right to lecture me on right and wrong after what you did. With him, of all people!” he spat back. Vincent flinched back at the realization that somehow Laguna had found out about the night of his heart attack.

“You found out, didn’t you?” Kiros said with a sigh. Laguna turned back to face him with a scowl and walked over to sit down and pour himself another drink. Vincent remained standing, frozen to the spot and staring at the floor in shame.

“I found out three fucking months ago,” Laguna muttered. “When you went to Galbadia for that stupid conference I wanted to borrow your camera to take to the concert that Vincent and I were going to. I went to your room to get it but when it wasn’t in its usual spot, I started searching further. I found a different camera buried in the back of your filing cabinet and when I checked it to make sure I wouldn’t be over taping anything I….I saw what was on there.” Kiros covered his face with his hands. He had completely forgotten about the camera hidden in his room and now this was all his fault. Gods, why hadn’t he just thrown the fucking thing away after confronting Vincent with it?


“My lover and my own son. It was so hard to believe, even with the proof right in front of me. I couldn’t face Vincent after that so I left him a message saying that I couldn’t make the concert and just sat there for hours, trying to work out if it was real or just some kind of sick joke. Then everything started to fall into place. For one, it explained Squall’s sudden surge of affection. Guilt can be a real motivator for some,” he said sadly, running his hands through his hair before continuing. “Secondly, I remembered what had happened between me and Kiros in the conference room, which explained Vincent’s reasons. I just couldn’t fathom why Squall would do such a thing.”

“That’s not the whole truth,” Kiros said softly. Laguna looked up at him questioningly.

“Yes it is,” Vincent interjected suddenly. Kiros looked up at the gunman sadly, realizing that the young man was trying to take the blame to save Laguna more pain.

“No Vincent. Enough is enough. He needs to know the whole truth. He deserves to know the whole truth.” Vincent looked down at his feet sadly and Kiros turned to Laguna who was silently watching the exchange.

“This is not easy to explain…and….well it’s going to hurt you,” he said, looking into his friends eyes and hoping that this was the right decision.

“I’m not about to break, Kiros. I just want all of this to be over and it will never be over until I know everything,” Laguna said simply. Kiros sighed and took a deep breath before continuing.

“You already know that you avoided Squall for months because you didn’t know how to tell him about Vincent. You also know that Squall spied on you and filmed us together in the conference room. Well, he happened to watch that video while sitting in a bar and got himself plastered after seeing the two of us together. He heard us talking about Vincent’s demons and decided that Vincent was a threat to your safety and that he had to get him away from you. Unfortunately, it happened to be the same bar that Vincent had gone to and he had already drunk himself stupid when Squall approached him. Vincent had no idea who he was but after Squall drugged his drink, he thought he was you. It was Squall that made the recording and put it in your office. Vincent still has no memory of what happened that night.”

Laguna was sitting perfectly still and seemed to be trying to digest the story. Vincent hadn’t moved an inch and was still staring at the floor. Kiros felt the tension in the room build to an uncomfortable level and was relieved when the President finally spoke.

“You kept this quiet to protect me,” he said so softly that Kiros only just heard him. “Why do you two constantly treat me like I’m some kind of fragile thing that will fall apart at the slightest bump? For fucks sake, do you two even realize what upsets me most about all of this?” Laguna added, his voice rising as he stood to face both men.

“What pisses me off the most is that you both lied to me. You both lied to me because you consider me so weak and pathetic that I couldn’t handle the truth!” Vincent’s head snapped up and he stepped forward to grab Laguna’s hands roughly in his.

“No Laguna, that is not true. We both love you and didn’t want to cause you pain. Can you not see that?” he growled out in frustration. Laguna stared at the gunman open mouthed and Kiros looked at Vincent and realized the reason for his shock. Vincent was crying silently, tears running down his cheeks and his eyes shining in pain. “Gods, you nearly died! Can you not see reason in this?” Vincent released the President’s arms, turning to walk away.

“Vincent?” Laguna whispered and the gunman froze mid step. Laguna walked around to face him and lifted one hand to wipe away the tears that were still falling. They both stood staring into each other eyes before Laguna reached up and began to kiss the gunman gently. Vincent returned the kiss tentatively and when Laguna pulled back his tears had stopped.

“When you found out about this last time, it nearly killed you. I didn’t want to risk losing you again,” Vincent whispered softly, as he wrapped his arms around Laguna and rested their foreheads together. Laguna sighed and closed his eyes.

“I understand. Just please, no more secrets, no more lies,” he said before tilting his head up to kiss the gunman again. Their kiss deepened and Kiros realized that it was time for him to leave. He’d done all he could do and now it was up to them. Neither man noticed as he silently stood and walked over to the door, exiting without a sound.