The Kisses and the Bruises

AN: I apologize for the long wait. And for the mistakes I missed because I know there are probably a few, but it is sooo boring reading over your own work.

~*~

Chapter Four: A Sight for My Sore Eyes

Irvine sat on the same picnic table that he did a few days ago when he recruited Vincent as his pretend boyfriend. His eyes flickered between the visible entrances of the school. At any given moment Vincent would be waltzing through one of those doors like he owns the place and the thought gave Irvine the urge to throw up. The upcoming ‘impending doom’ was either going to make or break his relationship with his guardian.

While scheming earlier in the week with Selphie, Irvine realized that today was the perfect opportunity to set his plan in motion: grocery day. Squall leaves every second week on Wednesdays at exactly three o’clock to buy groceries. Irvine knew that his guardian had a specific routine that he followed every time he went out and bought groceries and Squall would be back home around five after four, just like he always did. The only difference this week would be the surprise waiting for Squall when he got home.

Irvine glanced at his watch for the third time for what seemed like forever but was in fact only five minutes from the first time he looked. He’s late, Irvine thought. He took a few deep breaths to attempt to calm himself down a little, with absolutely no luck; He was just as nervous and freaked out as he was this morning.

He remembered waking up at the crack of dawn trying to himself prepared for the days events. He had gotten off to a very shaky start, accidentally waking Squall up when he tripped trying to get out of the shower and somehow ended up falling flat on his ass. He proceeded to assure the questioning Squall on the other side of the bathroom door that he was indeed fine. Only after finally convincing his guardian to go back to sleep, was he able to do his hair and get dressed. Even though it was against school policy, Irvine put a little dab of make-up on, only a little so it wasn’t too obvious but enough that he looked more gorgeous than ever with a thin line of navy blue eyeliner outlining his already stunning eyes. After Irvine decided he was completely ready for school, he ran into Squall’s bedroom for his kiss and rushed off to catch the bus he was about to miss.

Ten minutes had past before movement caught Irvine’s eye. Vincent came strolling around the side of the school building heading in Irvine’s direction. Vincent held his blazer over one arm, his dress shirt untucked, and the top few buttons undone revealing his pale chest, his tie nowhere to be found. A dark red bandana that Irvine had never seen before had been carefully tied around the other’s head, stray pieces of long black hair falling out of it and flowing in the wind as he walked. As Vincent neared, he took one last drag of the cigarette that rested between his lips and flicked it into the grass, stray embers and ashes falling in its wake.

Irvine stared blankly at the teen in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak a few times but quickly closed it, forgetting what he was about to say. In fact, watching Vincent strut his stuff over to there was the most captivating thing he had ever saw. For a single moment, Irvine forgot about the reason why he was sitting there.

When Vincent spoke it snapped Irvine out of his trance. He didn’t know what the other had said, but he cursed. Hating the fact that he forgot about Squall even for a small second and had inappropriate thoughts about Vincent.

“I thought I told you to meet me here at three-thirty,” Irvine said. He tried not to look at Vincent when he spoke. He didn’t trust himself not to say something stupid.

Vincent’s only response was a quick ‘yeah whatever’ before he started walking back in the direction he appeared from.

“It’s lucky that you have a car,” Irvine continued. He hopped off the picnic table and followed Vincent’s lead. He was such a nervous wreck that he just kept rambling as he stared down at the grass. “We missed the buses so it might have been impossible to get home before Squall otherwise. Thank god because I don’t think I could handle the stress again if we failed and tried to do it again in another two weeks, but then again I’d have more time to prepare for –”

“Do you ever shut up?” Vincent asked as he unlocked the passenger door to his car then walked around and let himself in on the other side. “You’re starting to piss me off. I might just walk away if you keep annoying me.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m so nervous and I don’t know if this is even going to work. I mean, me and Selphie just thought this up three days ago and – ”

“Irvine, shut your mouth,” Vincent demanded glaring at the teen sitting beside him in his car.

“Oh right. Sorry …” Irvine trailed off. He wanted to keep talking, do anything to get his mind off of the possibilities of what could go wrong. Instead, he fidgeted with the sleeves of his blazer, pulling on the loose strings while he stared out the window and waited for the short car ride to be over.

~*~

When they walked in the house, Irvine had left Vincent standing in the living room while he darted off to his room to fix his make-up and style his hair a little better. Irvine had yelled a quick ‘make yourself at home’ as he searched for his eyeliner. He lost it completely when he realized that they only had about five minutes before Squall would arrive.

Irvine hurried back into the living room as fast as he could. He found Vincent looking at a picture of a small Irvine and Squall standing in front of their house the day after they had just moved in. Vincent had a small smile on his face as he stared at the old photograph, but it was gone the second he noticed Irvine in the room and quickly replaced the picture frame in its original place on the table beside the couch.

Irvine shrugged off Vincent’s out of character behavior and walked around the couch to stand beside the other teen. He felt extremely awkward as he searched for the words to say but Vincent beat him to it.

“We should get started on this before your boyfriend gets here,” he said glancing out the window that overlooked the lawn and driveway. They had parked a far ways down the road to avoid any suspicion. Irvine didn’t want Squall to know that Vincent was here until he walked in on them.

“Yeah, of course,” Irvine agreed. “Um, whatever we’re going to do we have to do it on the couch …”

Vincent stared blankly at him, not one emotion showing on his face.

Irvine got even more nervous under the intense heat of Vincent’s gaze. He felt like he had eaten a bunch of butterflies and the very tips of the insects’ wings were brushing up against the thin lining of his stomach. He felt like he was going to throw up again.

“The front door opens up into the living room,” Irvine explained quietly, trying to fill the awkward silence that filled the room. “The couch is pretty much the first thing you see when you open the door.”

Vincent looked over his shoulder at the front door as if he didn’t believe the statement Irvine had made about his own house. When he turned back to Irvine, the smallest hint of a smirk played on his Vincent’s lips and in the next second he had the brunet sprawled out on the soft cushions of the couch.

“What are you –” Irvine began but was quickly silenced by Vincent’s mouth. He felt a warm tongue being forced past his lips, sliding sickly along his teeth to greet his own tongue. This time he actually wanted to throw up. He pried his face away from the assault, his head almost hanging of the side of the couch, as he took short rapid breaths and tried to keep his gag reflex in check; this is not what he wanted Squall to walk in on.

“Relax,” Vincent said running his fingers through Irvine’s loose hair. He was surprised to see that Irvine had taken it out of its usual ponytail. He figured that it was rare for anyone to see him with his hair like that. The strands were so soft and wavy and smelt faintly like fruits that he almost didn’t remember what he was going to say next. “I’m just doing what you brought me here to do.”

Irvine didn’t say anything. He continued to stare at the blank screen of their forty-seven inch TV; his mind was racing, but the rest of him was almost perfectly still. Irvine wouldn’t agree or deny anything. He knew full well what he enlisted Vincent to do; he just hadn’t anticipated the other to come on so fast and he certainly hadn’t expected Vincent to be that forceful.

Vincent glared down at the boy he was straddling. The so-called ‘love of Irvine’s life’ was going to be there soon and he wanted to have a little fun with the kid before all hell broke loose. The truth was that his heart had skipped a beat when Irvine first approached him that day; Vincent had always thought that Irvine was damn sexy, but never imagined that he’d get a chance, even if it was a fake one, with the teen.

“Look, Irvine, if you really want this guy to believe that we’re going out, the best way to do it is make it real.”

Irvine turned his eyes to Vincent but his head stayed where it was. “I know.”

“And your guy is going to be here soon.”

Irvine finally turned to face Vincent. He stared up into Vincent’s eyes trying to find the right words. “I just … I don’t know. I’ve never done this sort of thing before and I was wondering if we could take it just a little bit slower …”

“Slower?” Vincent said, raising his eyebrow and almost laughing at the suddenly shy teen under him. “Listen kid, this isn’t a fairy tale. I’m not your prince charming and we don’t have any time left to be romantic and shit so just sit back suck it up if you want this to work.”

“Well that’s only half true,” Irvine confessed, looking anywhere but at Vincent’s face.

“What do you mean?” Vincent shifted his hips to put himself into more of a sitting position and caught them both off guard from the unexpected friction it caused. Not caring that he had just asked the other teen a question, he moved back into his original position of hovering over Irvine. He lost himself in the depths of Irvine’s violet eyes, slowly inching his face closer to the brunet’s.

Irvine found himself blushing at the intense look in Vincent’s eyes. Something had changed in Vincent; there was the same thing in Vincent’s eye now as there was when he had been looking at the photograph. He felt naked in front of his pretend boyfriend even though he was well aware that he was fully clothed. The butterflies in his stomach seemed to morph at that moment, into something bigger with a much larger wingspan. “Vin-Vincent …” he trailed off not even knowing what he wanted to say.

“Is this slow enough for you?” Vincent asked. His breath lightly ghosted over Irvine’s lips before he gently closed the distance between them in a soft kiss. The pair of lips beneath his was velvety smooth and he regretfully pulled back a moment later. He rested he forehead against Irvine’s. Vincent suddenly had the urge to take the brunet right then and there; he didn’t care if Irvine’s guardian walked in on them like that. In fact it would be better to walk in on them having sex on the couch. Who knows, Vincent thought, maybe we could put on a show for him …

~*~

Squall stared at the little piece of paper in his hand that was his shopping list. He had been wandering around in the store an extra half hour longer than usual and it was seriously beginning to affect his mood. All but three items on his list had been crossed off: Bumble Bee biscuits, Fantasy Gingerbread Cookies and Olympus Ice Cream. He had never heard of those things, but Irvine had assured him before he left for school two days ago that they were real and that he wanted to try them. Even the four employees he had asked didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about.

Squall was ready to give up and go home when he heard someone call his name. More specifically he heard someone call out his bar name. He turned around to see the blond he had met approaching him being followed by a smaller kid with bouncing gravity defying spikes, just like Cloud’s. The two shared the same glowing blue eyes, but the younger of the two had brown locks that strongly contrasted Cloud’s blond.

“Hi,” Cloud greeted, but Squall only glared at the pair. The likeness between them was amazing, the only real differences between them were their hair colour and the fact that the brunet was smiling cheerfully and Cloud was almost scowling. This kid has to be Cloud’s, Squall thought bitterly. He had some nerve to judge me the other night. At least Irvine isn’t my son.

Cloud seemed to catch on to the fact that Squall was staring at the teen he was with. He put an arm around the brunet hugging him; the kid’s smile only grew wider at the contact, hugging Cloud back. “Sorry Leon, this is my little brother, Sora.”

Sora gave Squall a small wave, smiling so much that it looked like his face was going to split in two at any second. “Nice to meet you.”

Squall forced a quick smile down at the kid. Great, now I’m jumping to conclusions and being judgmental. Before he knew what was going on, Sora had excused himself and slipped off somewhere, so it was just Squall and Cloud standing in the middle of the cookies and crackers aisle. “Sorry,” Squall said, not really sure what to do next. He had never encountered anyone he knew at a store in the past so he really had no experience with these kinds of situations. All he knew was that he just wanted to go home; he hated grocery shopping and grocery stores. “I have to get going. Irvine will worry if I’m late.”

A look of disappointment flashed across Cloud’s features. “Yeah, sure,” He said. He shoved his hands in his pockets and pretended to inspect a specific brand of animal crackers.

Squall had been ready to take his leave, just as Cloud started talking again.

“Maybe sometime we could go out for coffee or something,” He avoided Squall’s eyes like a preteen schoolgirl with a crush. “That is … if you wanted to.”

It took Squall a second to register that Cloud was actually asking him out. He considered the idea for a moment; it had been a very long time since he had last been on a date, since before he took Irvine in. If he did decide to go out with Cloud, he’d have to keep it a secret though. After all, he had no idea how it would affect Irvine.

He didn’t even know the blond, only having met him a few nights ago when he came in with Reno. But obviously that’s why people have first dates, to get to know one another. Squall thought Cloud was fairly attractive, he noticed now that the other’s eyes glowed all the time and not just from the florescent lights from the bar.

Cloud held out a business card he had taken out from god knows where, and Squall accepted it, placing it neatly away into the pocket of his leather jacket without even glancing at the letters and logos that decorated its surface. “Alright,” Squall said giving a small wave as he turned to leave. “See you later.”

Cloud smiled as he watched Squall walk away. “Later,” he echoed quietly to himself before he went off in search of Sora.

~*~

Squall finally turned into his driveway, thankful to finally be home. He wondered if Irvine was pacing around the house sick with worry. It was a likely possibility since that’s what he always did when Squall wasn’t home when he was supposed to. Irvine would just about run around the small house in a state panic if he hadn’t received a phone call telling him that his guardian was going to be late.

Squall got out of the car, and took two bags of groceries with him as he made his way up the walk to the front door. Irvine always leaves it unlocked for him so Squall just let himself in. He set the groceries down by the door and froze when he the unmistakable sound of his adopted nephew moan.

He wasn’t prepared for the scene that awaited him in the living room. A girl with flowing long hair down to her back was facing the other way on top of Irvine. Squall was thankful because as far as he could tell, they both still had their pants on, but the girl’s shirt was hanging down around her elbows.

Squall cleared his throat loudly as he entered the living room, but the two seemed to be too caught up in what their actions to even notice anything besides the noises that they were making in the otherwise silent room. He approached the end of the couch where Irvine’s feet were hanging off the end of the armrest, and cleared his throat again.

The movement on the couch froze. Irvine suddenly struggled to get out from under the girl; he ended up stumbling off the couch, almost taking his friend with him. He stared up at Squall from the floor, his face completely flushed.

“You’re home,” Irvine trailed off unable to think of anything else to say to break the awkward tension that filled the air in the room. Breathing hard, he got up off the floor and crossed his arms in a futile attempt to cover up some of the hickeys and bite marks that stained his otherwise flawless chest. He knew Squall had already seen what they were doing, but that’s what he wanted, right? Irvine felt the guilt creep up on him; he couldn’t remember ever feeling this empty and alone.

A quiet ‘yeah’ was all the response Squall could force out at the moment. The whole situation seemed so surreal to him. It was like a bad dream he couldn’t wake up from. His eyes kept scanning up and down Irvine; it was like a train wreck he couldn’t look away from. And the fact that Irvine’s pants were undone and threatening to fall off his slim hips wasn’t helping either.

Finally the girl, who hadn’t moved at all since Irvine left the couch, turned to look Squall in the eyes. He was sure he was wearing a look close to something like a deer being caught in the headlights now; the ‘girl’ was in fact a boy.

Irvine almost died when Squall looked over at Vincent. It was like the situation had finally sunk into his guardian’s head; that Irvine had been fooling around with another guy in the living room. He needed to get Squall’s attention away from Vincent and back on him. It didn’t matter that Vincent was there anymore, only Squall’s reaction mattered, and Irvine had to pay very close attention to everything that Squall did.

“Squall this is my –” Irvine paused. Boyfriend? Somehow he just couldn’t bring himself to say it. “Friend, Vincent.”

Squall’s eye twitched slightly, Irvine had almost missed it, but it was there. He couldn’t tell yet if it was good or bad; Squall had all kinds of reasons for doing that. He was still more or less glaring at Vincent; it was like the two were trying to stare each other down.

Vincent smirked. Not breaking eye contact with Squall, he stood up and moved closer to Irvine, wrapping himself around the other and he whispered something into Irvine’s ear. “See you at school,” He said louder, now looking at Irvine. “I’m off.” He fixed his shirt so it rested properly on his shoulders but he couldn’t be bothered to do up the buttons.

Squall glared daggers after Vincent. If only looks could kill, he thought.

Irvine was busy frantically pulling at his pants and doing them up again. His face had darkened three more shades when Vincent had whispered that his fly was down. He couldn’t even believe that Vincent had done that. Worst of all he didn’t even remember the other teen pulling the zipper down or even undoing the button.

The sound of the front door closing echoed in Irvine’s ear and for the first time in his life he dreaded being alone in the same room with Squall. He had been so lost in the moment with Vincent earlier that he completely forgot all about the plan and even Squall. Irvine had been so ready to have sex with someone that wasn’t his guardian and the guilt was now eating him alive.

Irvine chanced another look at Squall. The man was staring at him with a look of shock, confusion and a hint of anger thrown into the mix. Irvine didn’t know what to do or say so he just continued to watch his guardian, trying to read him like a book, desperately hoping for some tiny signal that said Squall didn’t hate him.

Squall stood, struggling to keep his emotions under control, and that was something he rarely had a problem with. After several moments of him staring at Irvine and clenching and unclenching his fists, he remembered about the groceries that were still in his unlocked car. Thankful for the distraction, Squall headed for the front door, stopping when he put his hand on the knob. “Put your shirt back on and help me bring in the groceries,” Squall said, closing the door behind him as he disappeared from Irvine’s sight.

~*~

AN: So, you'll be happy to know that this is the longest chapter I've ever written (or maybe disappointed because it's still not as long as other stories out there). Oh, and I do apologize if the paragraphs seem somewhat jumpy. I know they just kinda went from what one person was thinking straight to another randomly. There was just so much info I wanted my readers to know, but it really didn't all fit.

Oh and one more thing, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story, every reviewer and everyone who will read this. So, thanks.

This chapter is dedicated to Hairspray (I've seen it four times already).

August 20, 2007:
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