Lightning.

Hicky:
Well, hello readers, are you enjoying it so far?style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Sorry about the shortness of the first few
chapters. We’ve decided to try to do a
minimum of about 5 or 6 pages now.

Kitty: Man, I wish class=SpellE>uni involved bishounen and
killing things etc, instead of assignments and exams and EVIL re-enrolment
processes... *kills Student On-Line* Only two days to
go! Woo! ...Oh yeah. Enjoy the fic. ;)

Hicky:
We really need more bishounen and killing and
missions in school. Okay, let’s make
Garden! Who’s with me!??

Chapter, The Third: In Which Seifer Pays a Visit.style='font-size:16.0pt'>

Good Seifer.

It still irked him. Two days
later, and it still irked him. No one talked to him like that, like a
dog, not even Zell. Especially not Zell, little Chicken. And he wouldn't
tell Seifer what the hell he was planning that he was 'doing out of class=SpellE>Balamb'. Which also irked him.
Now, it was a competition. He had to get Irvine
to admit what was inside of him before Zell did. He would.

That being said, it was time he
went and found the cowboy, before he disappeared like he had so rudely the day
before. Seifer knew Irvine
had a test today, so he wouldn't be going far. Truth be told, he was probably
still in his room. Time to pay him a visit.

Seifer stood from where he sat
in the Cafeteria, dragging his trench coat off the back of the chair and
pulling it on. He straightened the collar as the coat settled, then lifted
Hyperion to his shoulder and strode out of the Cafeteria doors, a smirk set on
his features.

In moments he was knocking on w:st="on">Irvine's door.

Whether it was because he had
just woken and wasn't thinking straight, or whether it was because the day
before he had managed to escape without harassment from sunup to sundown,
Seifer would never know, but Irvine
answered the door without asking who it was first.

And he was naked.

Well, not naked. class=GramE>But nearly. He only wore a soft, imperial purple towel slung
low around his hips and the muscles in his arms and torso flexed a little as he
rubbed at his hair with another. He stopped and his eyes widened when he saw
who was there.

Seifer swallowed. He didn't
think he could trust himself to open his mouth. w:st="on">Irvine's nipples were both pierced.

w:st="on">Irvine reached up and the door started to
hiss shut, but Seifer put his foot out and the door registered it, pinging and
opening again like an elevator would.

"That isn't polite,"
he murmured.

"Just go away."

"Now that really
isn't polite. I'm a visitor. You're supposed to invite me in."

"Fuck. Off."

"Tell me where I can find
him, and I will." Seifer dropped his voice. "Or maybe we could call you
Off and I could fuck you, hmm...?"

w:st="on">Irvine swallowed and took two steps back.
Seifer followed one, smirk growing.

"Seifer..."

"You'd like that,
huh?"

w:st="on">Irvine scowled, drew his fist back, and let
fly with a rather impressive right hook that Seifer never saw coming. Something
cracked and the gunbladist staggered backward,
holding a hand to his bleeding nose.

"Great to have visitors,
really, but I've got a test in a couple hours. Good mornin',"
Irvine hissed,
and jabbed the button to close his door.

Seifer slapped a hand to it,
leaving bloody fingerprints, and called out.

"I'm only trying to help
you, Kinneas! You'll thank me sometime."

Silence.

"I've seen how you
are!"

Still
nothing.

"You never kiss them! You
never do more than touch a hip or put your arms around a pair of pretty
shoulders!"

"Shut up!"

Aha. Raw nerve, hmm...?

"They're all over you and
you just smile and turn them aside, not so anyone would notice, but you do. I
notice. I see."

"Go get your nose seen to.
I think it might be broken!"

" w:st="on">Irvine, you fucking-"

"Piss off!"

" w:st="on">Irvine!"

His footsteps retreated away
from the door, and another door within slammed shut.
He wouldn't hear anything anymore, even if Seifer screamed his lungs out.
Besides, the sharpshooter was right. His nose was fucking broken. He
turned and headed for the Infirmary.

* * *

Hyne, how could he have ever
been so stupid? To open his door to Seifer Almasy?
Where had his mind been? Actually, he could answer that. He knew where it had
been. With the biker. He'd been thinking about the
biker, so engrossed in remembering every detail of the ride back that it hadn't
even occurred to him to do his habitual check of who was at his door.

The biker...

w:st="on">Irvine shook his head to clear it and dropped
the towel from around his hips, reaching for a brush and working it carefully
through his hair until all the knots were gone. Then he swiftly plaited the wet
locks to keep them out of his way during his test.

A little more study before he
went, and he'd be all set. He was pretty certain Seifer wouldn't bother him
anymore today, and Zell would probably be glued to his side commiserating.

Hitting Seifer had kind of
really rocked.

w:st="on">Irvine grinned, then
went to his little fridge to find some breakfast. A couple of cold slices of
pizza zapped in the microwave were just right and he sat and devoured them
while quickly skimming his para-magic notes.

Today was shaping up to be a
beautiful day.