-1 Midway from Fuu and Rai's apartment and his own, Seifer nearly dropped his sleeping passenger when the smaller teen's cell phone went off in his pocket, on vibrate. Unexpectedly having something small and square buzzing against his abs did nothing to calm his after-battle nerves, and having to fish around in Hayner's pants for the damn thing in the middle of the sidewalk was awkward at best. Finally retrieving the device, he dumped his charge on a nearby bench, being unable to balance the fairly tall boy in one arm. Flipping the phone open, he answered it, knowing without even looking at the ID that there could only be one person calling, considering his terrible luck.

"Seifer, why are you answering my son's phone? Is my baby okay? And the answer damn well better be yes."

Oh how he loved dealing with irate mothers, "Physically, he's fine. His throat might bruise and he might be sore for a few days, but nothing new is broken. He's sleeping right now."

"You do know when you say he's physically okay, you imply he is not mentally healthy?"

"He killed someone, they were trying to strangle him to death."

There was a long pause, during which he could practically hear the cogs of the almost-scary smart woman's mind turning. He expected shock, for her to demand to see him immediately, for her to yell at him for being unable to protect her son. Instead, when she finally answered her voice was calm, though it was clearly forced, "How did he react?"

Instinctively knowing that if he attempted to lie to make her feel less panicked about the mental state her son was in she'd know instantly and assume the worst, he decided to continue to take the blunt and straightforward approach, "Threw up, curled up into a ball and asked to stay with me for the night when I managed to pry him out of his favorite defensive position."

"Do you think you can handle him by yourself? He can be extremely unpredictable and could react violently."

"I don't know, but for now I'll just have to try. I offered to take him home, but he wanted to stay at my place instead, I think it's what he needs right now. No offense to you."

"None taken, if that's what he wanted, it most likely really is the best thing for him. Maybe for the both of you."

If there was someone he knew he'd never be able to completely figure out, Mrs. Dincht was that person. She had a way of making every conversation slightly uncomfortable by seeming to know more about you than you knew about yourself. You couldn't lie to her, couldn't hide any aspect of your personality from her for long, and it seemed like even from distances she could pick up on what you weren't saying.

"How do you figure?"

She sighed heavily, the exact way a mother exasperated with a slow or mischievous child would, "I'm not stupid, I know you love him, though you do have the strangest way of showing it."

He would have dropped the phone if his muscles even had enough sense left to react. It was fucking impossible that the blond mother had managed to figure it out that quickly. He just hoped she hadn't told her son, he wanted to let Hayner know on his own terms.

"Don't act so surprised. I'm fairly amazed that anyone could miss it if they knew what to look for. Even Roxas put two and two together after seeing you two interact for a day."

"Am I really so obvious?"

"Not verbally, no. It's more your actions. For one, you've made it clear you have no qualms about sleeping next to him. You're very much physically oriented as far as how you display affection, from what I can tell. I'm at a loss as to how Hayner hasn't picked up on it."

"Probably because he's too lost in his own crush."

The psychologist laughed, "You're most likely spot on. I don't think it's quite the way you see it though. I'd better let you go, I have a Turk to call and you have duties of your own."

"How did Hayner manage to slip out of the house? Tseng said he didn't want him anywhere near the Sandlot."

"No clue, though I'm certain it probably wouldn't be legal in a normal situation. Why don't you ask him once he's stable?"

"Which will be never, if you haven't noticed, he's moody as hell."

"That's half the reason you two get along so well. Good luck Seifer, screw up and I will come after you. Bye!" She added in a cheery voice before hanging up. Blinking at just being threatened by someone's mother and called a moody bitch (albeit indirectly), he snapped the phone shut and shoved it back into his newest responsibility's pocket. Lifting the lithe blond once again, he rolled his left shoulder a bit in an attempt to get it to stop complaining before setting off towards his destination.

After a few seconds the sleeping boy appeared to find him a suitable source of heat, snuggling into his chest cutely. It was oddly cold outside considering it was summer and the sun was still up, even if it was obscured by clouds. Glancing off to the west, he noticed a dark front moving slowly across the sky that served as explanation for the subnormal temperature. Icy eyes narrowed, he quickened his pace. He didn't feel like getting caught in the rain at the moment.

Just entering the building as the first downpour started with enthusiasm, he sighed resignedly before beginning the slow trek up the stairs with the brown-eyed senior in tow. Finally reaching his door, he fumbled for his key while balancing Hayner against the wall. The slow beat of rain on the roof above drowned out the sound of the lock clicking on the door. Shoving the noticeably worn key back into his front pocket, he dumped the slumbering male on the couch and immediately set about shutting all the windows. The wind was starting to kick up and it would soon be strong enough to blow the rain right into them. He didn't need a wet living space to go along with his other problems.

Looking over to make sure his companion wasn't showing any signs of waking, he went into his room long enough to remove his bloodied shirt, gloves and heavy boots. As an afterthought he pulled off his beanie and ruffled his hair irritably. Not caring that it stuck up in odd places, he walked back into the living room that was the center point of the domicile. A second cursory glance in the other occupant of the room's direction revealed that there was still blood on his hand. Knowing that if he'd just killed someone for the first time he wouldn't want to wake up to find their blood on his hands, he headed into the bathroom for a dark washcloth.

Once the dried blood was removed, Seifer threw the cloth into the kitchen sink and moved to stand by the window near the couch. Watching the forceful summer squall from such a high vantage point was immensely satisfying to his roiling psyche. He stared out on the distant lightning bolts and pelting rain, letting the worry he felt for the boy he loved be overcome by the anger he felt towards himself for not protecting him better. There had only been three people he needed to watch out for in the fight, and he had failed one of them miserably. If it hadn't been the senior's survival instinct kicking in and an easily accessible switchblade, he would have died. It was a crushing defeat for the bully that he hadn't been able to stop the whole thing from happening in the first place.

The lightning was nearer now, and the rolling thunder suited his increasingly dark mood. At some point he had jammed his fists into his pockets and was currently toying with the key and cell phone inside them. Eyes leveling a glare at the world, he rotated his shoulder again, the ache a reminder of his failure. When the thug had thrown the tanned skater up against the wall Seifer had indeed tried to go to his aid. One of the two adversaries left standing in the group he'd taken on had used his sudden distraction to grab his arm as he tried to go to his comrade. The combination of momentum and the strength of the gang member had resulted in the blue-eyed blond's left arm being jerked out of the socket.

Even if he was used to dislocations, the shock of pain had still brought him to his knees, and it took precious seconds to manipulate the limb back into place. By then the Ragnarok member was practically on top of him and had to be fended over before any further progress could be made. As he kicked the guy off of him, Fuu had screamed in panic (which generally meant you were well and truly fucked, since she was not the screaming type), and he whipped around to see the two fall apart. He still couldn't believe that the senior had killed someone, even if it had been a matter of survival.

One particularly close arc of lightning struck the lightning rod on the office building next to them, the shockwave rocking the entire building. Blinking away the temporary blindness caused by the incredibly bright light, he heard rustling from the direction of the couch. Another flash illuminated the room and the accompanying blast of thunder was met with a surprised squeak. The scarred blond couldn't help but bust out laughing at the meek sound the normally proud teen had made.

"Shut up, I don't like thunderstorms."

"You are such a girl. Little kids and overly jumpy dogs are the only ones who are bothered by a little storm."

"Fuck you, the building is shaking, this is not a light st-" The next electric bomb hit its target with an explosion of light and sound, somewhere to the right of the building, and suddenly the power went out. Less powerful flashes from the clouds served as their only illumination, the short glimpses unnerving. Even in the dark he could see how wide the scared high school student's eyes were. Not sure how to combat the fear the other boy was clearly feeling, he plopped down on the couch next to him, in the spot that had been freed up when Hayner sat up.

"Any idea how long this is going to last?" To his credit, his voice was both the normal tone and didn't shake.

"All night, from what the morning weather report said. It's supposed to lighten up around midnight to just rain. Gonna be a fun night for you, isn't it?" He said, smirking and earning himself a light punch in the arm. It reminded him that at some point, he'd need to teach the pipsqueak how to fight properly. At least the younger blond already had struggle techniques down pat, and had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knew his way around a metal pipe. It was a good start, but he'd never get anywhere if he didn't learn how to watch his back and fight hand-to-hand.

"How are you holding up?" His voice was suddenly serious, dark-adjusted eyes taking in the sandy-haired teen's slumped position and that he refused to make eye contact.

"I don't know. No matter how you look at it, there's no way to avoid acknowledging that I killed someone. I feel sick."

This was one of those rare instances where he had the sudden urge to hug someone, and it was damn hard to beat back down. Hayner's voice was heavy with a cocktail of emotions he didn't even want to begin to name and the younger student seemed so vulnerable that Seifer's chest felt like someone had just hammered nails into it. Just as he opened his mouth to say something along the lines of how it wasn't the slight male's fault, the latter's cell phone went off.

He looked at the number and stood up and walked over to the wall separating the living room from the kitchen, saying he had to answer it and wanting some privacy. Wincing and pulling the phone away from his ear when he was met with what sounded like a scream of "You fucking idiot", he waited for the person on the other end to calm down before he replied simply "Hello to you too, Roxas."

Tuning out the rest of the conversation out of respect for his charge's privacy, he instead studied the skater's body language. Shoulders slumped more than normal, and one of his arms had unconsciously wrapped itself around his midriff. His eyes in particular worried the larger man, whenever they were illuminated by the storm outside they looked broken. The blue-eyed man had never seen him this way before, and never wanted it to happen again. It seemed lately all his top priorities had to do with the senior as of late. Snapping out of his musings when the subject of his observation closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, he watched the tired teen lean against the wall and sigh.

It had taken mere moments, but Seifer was already fed up with the smaller boy's guilt. Screw meaningful conversations, he was going to force his crush to understand that what had happened was not something he should blame himself for. Eyes narrowed angrily, he strode over to where the eighteen year-old was resting, slamming his hands flat against the wall on either side of the shorter boy's head. Bodies almost touching, he leaned down an inch or so, eye-level with him.

"Hayner, I'm only going to say this once, so pay the fuck attention. What happened today was not your fault. Sure, your hand drove the knife into his chest, but you were barely even conscious at the time, your body was reacting on pure instinct. You couldn't have stopped yourself even if you had been physically capable of trying. Secondly, if you hadn't killed that scum, he would have killed you. Do you really think he would have lived after that? You did him a favor, he died quickly. If he had killed you, I would have broken most of the bones in his body before I finally let him die. Maybe you didn't believe me when I said I really did care about you, but I do, and I wouldn't have taken your murder sitting down."

After practically pinning the sandy-blond to a wall and preceding to yell at him, the last thing he expected was for the teen to hug him. Regardless of how little it made sense, slender arms encircled his waist and Hayner's chin rested comfortably on his shoulder. Maybe for once he'd actually done something right. Unaccustomed to physical contact that wasn't some form of brutality, he hesitated before returning the embrace. They must have stayed like that for over a minute, and even then it was the younger who broke the contact. He dropped his arms and backed away the few inches to the wall, thanking Seifer quietly.

Feeling abruptly cold from the loss of contact, the bully just nodded numbly. Noticing that the temperature in the apartment had dropped substantially in the short time since the power went out and the heat had shut off, he made a quick trip into his room to get both himself and his subtly shivering companion a suitably warm article of clothing. Maybe he was just possessive, but he liked the way his dark red hoodie looked on the skinny teen. It was large enough that someone could tell it wasn't the wearer's, but wasn't so huge as to be comical.

"The way you're staring gives me the sneaking suspicion I look like an idiot."

"And since when did you care about appearances? If it makes you feel better, you look no more idiotic than normal."

"Gee, thanks. Really appreciate the backhanded compliments. Would it kill you to say something without the insults next time?"

"Yes, it would."

Large brown eyes rolled in response, halting on the floor to their right. He couldn't see their expression, but from the lithe senior's stance, he could tell the other was thinking too much again. It was going to take a while for him to come to terms with the events of the past few hours, but for now Seifer could at least try to distract him from dwelling on them for too long.

"You know that guy you knocked out when you first ran in?"

"Yeah, what about him?" The shorter blond asked, head tilting to the side the tiniest bit in question.

"He was actually the leader of the crew. He must not have been expecting you to fight back, I can't imagine any other way you could have dropped him that easily. Without their leader to shout instructions, they pretty much fell apart after that. You made things quite a bit easier for us, especially by bringing along Reno. How did you manage to get out of the house under his watch?"

Smiling mischievously he answered, "I hit him in the back of the head with a sauce pot and ran. He couldn't keep up because I was on my board the second I got out the door. I left it under a piece of sheet metal in the alley next to it where everyone seems to dump their trash."

Trying and failing to keep from laughing at the mental image of the brown-eyed blond whacking the redheaded detective with a cooking utensil, he had to admire the resourceful male. He didn't know many people who would assault an officer just to run into a street fight and offer what help they could give. It was also impressive that he had convinced Reno to join in afterwards.

"Wow, that's gonna be circulating around the station for a while. 'Reno taken down on duty by scrawny teenager with a household object'. Elena and Rude are going to give him no end of shit for that."

"I tried to convince him to help you guys, but he refused because he was under orders to stay near me no matter what. I just fixed his problem by throwing myself into the fight. He'd have to help in order to fulfill his duty of keeping me safe. I'm just surprised my plan actually worked."

"Not bad, for a chicken-wuss."

He ignored the comment in favor of asking a question, "Are you just skipping work today? You're supposed to be on the clock right now, aren't you?"

"How the hell do you know my hours? Or even that they were set?" He affixed the slighter boy with a stare, not knowing whether to be angry that the kid was near stalkerish in his knowledge of Seifer's schedule, or happy that he cared enough to find out.

"Roxas told me a little while ago. He got it from Axel who got it from Demyx, who coerced Zexion into telling him. There really isn't much you can keep from them, especially Axel."

"You have a lot of disturbing connections Hayner...While on the subject, how did you figure out what time the fight was in the first place? Did you get Axel to play the little brother card with Reno or something?"

"No, though that was my second plan. I just got Mom to call in a favor with Tseng. They have what one might call a professional friendship. He owed her, and I don't think he expected me to be able to get away from Reno, so it wouldn't have done me much good, or so he thought."

From a purely business standpoint, convincing the struggler to join the Disciplinary Committee would be an obvious move. He'd not only get someone he could trust in a rough fight (anyone who would throw themselves into a life-threatening situation without being asked was trustworthy to him), but he'd get all the connections the senior had already established as well. But he had his honor and his pride, and he wasn't about to push someone into a position of danger without being sure they wanted to be there. Especially someone he loved.

"It's mildly frightening to learn your mother has the leader of the Turks twisted around her finger like that. Especially since he's with the mayor's son, who will likely be aiming for his father's job in the next few years."

"You know about Rufus and Tseng?"

"Most people who associate with the Turks get wind of it sooner or later. It's kept fairly quiet though, Tseng is worried that being gay might hurt the little prince's chances of election. I doubt it though, the biggest obstacle Rufus will have to overcome is his age. He's four years younger than Tseng, and at twenty-five, a lot of people think he's too young to be running for office next year as he plans to. He's old enough to be mayor legally, but the public would tend to disagree."

The only response he got was a blank stare, followed by a couple of surprised blinks. It amazed him that he could render the high school student speechless by doing something as simple as expressing a mildly intelligent insight into politics. Maybe he'd done too good a job of acting the idiotic thug in public. At least Hayner was adorable when he was startled, similar to when he was scared or angry. He really needed to come up with a new adjective for the dark-eyed teen, cute was beginning to seem inadequate to describe him.

There was an apprehensive look on the other's face was becoming recognizable as the one he wore just before saying something important. It was as if he had to mull over how he was going to word something for a few seconds before finally spitting it out. Being impatient by nature, it aggravated Seifer just a little bit, as well as the idea that the eighteen year-old was worried about saying the wrong thing. It made him feel unapproachable, which (at least with him) was not what the scarred man was going for.

"You said before that you were thinking about letting me join the Disciplinary Committee, but you didn't want to put me in danger with the Ragnarok crew closing in. Does the offer still stand?"

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't damn surprised the traumatized blond still wanted into the life the trio of fighters lead, but it was quickly overshadowed by a feeling of approval, "If you're interested. And don't think things will always be that easy. You WILL get the living shit beat out of you, and you'll have to agree to let me teach you how to fight, which will be less than pleasant. That said," he paused, deciding whether or not to admit how much he wanted this, "I'd appreciate the help. I'd even go so far as to say I'd be happy to have you on the team."

The small smile that played on his healed lips was enough to tell the leader of the Disciplinary crew the answer before he opened his mouth to say that he'd be glad to join. Their eyes met, both trying so hard to read the other that the younger didn't even start at the next loud rumble of thunder. Something passed through brown eyes before their owner restarted an older conversation, "You never answered my question. Are you skipping work right now?"

"Not really. Zex and a few of the older employees are working today and tomorrow, they'll be more than enough to take care of the shop. I was expecting to be out of commission for at least a day, and I don't really feel like telling them I'm okay yet. I'll just claim blunt head trauma kept me down tomorrow, no big. Mickey, or Mike as his nametag says, is a fairly lenient guy, he lets me take time off work for this sort of thing. Might be the fact that I've gotten his wallet back the last three times he was mugged though," the ice blue-eyed teen added thoughtfully.

"Won't they notice you went to classes though? Zexion goes there, I'm sure he'll see you."

He smirked, "Who said I was attending classes tomorrow? Fuu and Rai are in all my classes, they'll take the notes for me while I stay home and take care of a few things."

"What kind of things?" The other prodded curiously.

"You, for one. There's no way you can tell me you're really back to normal already. You don't get over these things quickly, if you get over them at all."

Despite his best efforts to appear stronger than he felt, narrow shoulders sagged and he looked away, seemingly unable to meet the fighter's gaze. Seifer felt the slightest bit bad for revisiting the disturbing events of little more than an hour ago so soon, but then again the first step was admitting you had a problem, right?

"Have you ever killed someone, Seifer?" The sandy-haired senior asked, still staring a hole into the floor to the left of his foot.

"Three. The first one was in a particularly bad scrape two years ago, Fuu had been knocked unconscious and Rai had a broken leg. All that was left of the Excalibur crew was their leader. I was bleeding from a few puncture wounds in my abdomen, so I had to get rid of him quickly before I passed out. He was a great fighter and twice as large as I was. I got under his next punch and drove a knife I'd grabbed off another one of the members up into his throat. That was around when the cops, especially the former Turks, started showing interest in us.

"Once they figured out that we were in it for the same reasons they were, to clean up the streets, we started working closely with Tseng and the others to lure out gangs and beat the shit out of them. The detectives would then show up and take the bloodied lowlifes in for questioning, and often one of the scum on the lower rungs of the ladder would spill all their illegal doings and agree to testify in an exchange for a lighter sentence. It let the Turks focus on other troublesome factions, such as drug rings, while we took care of finding and capturing the gangs for them. Not as shiny as people would like to think, but it works."

"Did you just take it in stride, when you killed someone the first time?" Chocolate eyes were on him once again, given courage by the knowledge that the older man understood, at least somewhat, what he was going through.

A wry laugh, "I'd have to be some kind of crazy to just pretend like killing someone wasn't an issue. I felt sick for a week. After a while I just recognized that under the right circumstances, anyone, from a child to a little old lady, can become a killer. I was protecting the people important to me, and myself. The person I killed had committed ten murders, among other various felonies, and he had no problems with killing me or my friends. I did what I had to. I don't regret it, and neither should you. There's nothing wrong with saving your own life."

Hands firmly stuffed into the large pocket on the front of the borrowed hoodie, the conflicted teenager seemed to consider this for a few minutes while the raging storm filled the silence between them. Shifting his weight onto his other leg for a while, he realized how odd they must look, standing in the middle of the dark living room with about five feet between them, not saying anything. It didn't matter that his bad leg was starting to ache from the strain of the day coupled with standing for a little too long, at this point, he'd be happy to hang upside-down from the ceiling fan while trying to drink tea if it helped his crush to recover. Because once Hayner was back to normal (or as close to normal as could be expected), the pain in Seifer's chest would probably go away and he'd be able to breathe normally again.

"Does it ever get easier?"

He was expecting the question at some point, but he didn't know if the answer would be what the senior was looking for, "No. You might not get sick next time, but it'll certainly haunt you for a while. If you started finding it easy to kill someone, you wouldn't be human anymore. But if anyone will be killing these idiots in the future, it's going to be me. I didn't want anyone else to learn what it was like to kill someone, and it definitely won't happen again if I have any say in it."

It was effectively an apology for failing to protect his charge from what had happened, and from the look on the attractive tanned face of the smaller male, they both understood that. Thirst for comprehension apparently quenched, all the energy the brown-eyed boy had been trying to hold onto fled in a breathy sigh. Worried he might just topple over from exhaustion, Seifer walked over and lifted him back into his arms. When the suddenly detached teen didn't raise a protest, the stronger male carried him over to the couch (did he ever mention how right it felt to hold and carry the lithe boy?) and set him down on the waiting furniture.

Settling down next to him, he opted for relaxing instead of attempting to make conversation with someone who was clearly too tired to participate. The dull patter of rain on the building coupled with the uneven rhythm of thunder was lulling, so it was hard to just lean back into the comfortable sofa and pretend like he didn't still need to make dinner. The power was out anyways, so that would have to wait.

After about an hour, during which he'd nearly dozed off three times only to have his alert companion jab him in the ribs lightly until he responded, the lights finally flickered back on. Groaning as unwelcome brightness flooded his eyes after such a long period of low light, he stood and stretched. A few of his vertebrae popped back into place and he lowered his arms with a heavy sigh. It was just one of those days.

"You hungry?" Blue eyes focused on the boy he was speaking to, getting a negative, to which he replied, "Too bad, you're going to eat something anyways."

Fumbling around the kitchen for fifteen minutes produced macaroni and cheese. Out of a box, but then again it was fairly short notice and he was a college student living on his own, he was supposed to live off food out of cans and boxes (even though he generally didn't). Shoving a lightly steaming bowl of it along with a fork into the skater's hands, he ordered simply, "Eat."

He knew how sick the senior was probably feeling right now, but it wouldn't help at all to let him skip a meal because of it. Maybe it was because he knew he had little choice in the matter, or he saw the sense in eating even if he didn't feel like it, but Hayner because grudgingly shoveling the simple fare into his mouth. Devouring his own meal, the temporary owner of the dwelling watched him out of the corner of his eye. Once the sandy-blond was done with his meal, a calloused hand reached over and thumbed off a bit of errant cheese to the right of his lips. Licking off his finger, Seifer smugly watched the other turn an interesting shade of pink. It was far too entertaining to taunt him.

Now that the heat was warming the apartment up again, the strong bully decided he'd be fine topless again and pulled off his sweatshirt. Battle-trained ears picked up the small hitch in the younger teen's breathing that signified some part of him liked what he was seeing. Maybe he was a jerk for flaunting himself in front of his newest crewmate, but really, who could blame him? Being able to fluster his crush with something as simple as taking his shirt off was a small victory in what was seeming an overly long fight to get the chocolate-eyed male to realize the older man liked him.

Sitting back down, he turned on the TV that was in the middle of the adjacent wall, the one between the living room and the bedroom. You had to angle yourself a little bit to watch it, but the well-built blond was used to having the couch to himself and usually leaned back against the farthest arm of the sofa. Flipping it over to the weather, he discovered that (surprisingly) the forecast hadn't changed since this morning. It was indeed supposed to continue raining through the night. Disappointed with the uncooperative weather, the smaller of the two snuggled further down into the large hoodie and glared at the offending reporter. Turning it off just as something about what 'appeared to be the aftermath of a gang confrontation' came on, the elder scoffed and tossed the remote onto the coffee table in front of them.

"So it's already on the news. Damn those nosey reporters are fast. Hope Tseng had time to tamper with some of the evidence before they got there. Wonder what his bullshit story is this time?"

"Does he always come up with excuses to get you guys into the clear?"

"Generally, yeah. Last time it was infighting among the group. That's the one he uses most, because it's the most common. On occasion it's even true, some gangs will totally wipe themselves out just because they're all greedy bastards looking out for themselves. It's kind of funny if you think about it. Like a pack of wolves suddenly turning around and eating each other. Idiots."

"Haven't you three ever gotten into a fight over something?" The new Twilight Disciplinary Committee member queried.

"A few times. Usually it's Fuu or Rai telling me to be more careful or not put myself into the line of fire. It's like a guy can't take a bullet for his friend without getting yelled at afterwards."

"They're just worried about you, I can't blame them. You go around pretending like you're invincible, when everyone, including you, knows damn well that you're not. Your ego is going to get you killed."

"Better me than one of you," he retorted, a little softer than he had intended.

"I can't decided whether you're a selfish asshole or a selfless asshole. I don't know how those two put up with you all the time. You're always putting yourself in danger for other people, what the hell do you get out of it?"

It was intriguing the way the volatile boy always got so touchy when anything involving Seifer's life being in jeopardy was brought up, "Did it ever cross your mind that maybe, just maybe, I'm a decent person who likes to try and help out other people who are unable to get themselves out of bad situations? And I didn't hear you complaining the first two times I risked personal safety to save your sorry ass. I fight these gangs and act like such a dick all the time because it keeps the would-be murderers, rapists and kidnappers distracted, and eventually gets them off the streets for good. A better question would be, why the hell are you so eager and willing to join me if you don't agree with what I'm doing?"

He could feel his temper getting out of hand as he went on, and it took most of his self-control to keep his voice level down. If there was anyone that could get him riled up, it was Hayner. He tried to remember why he'd let himself get so emotionally involved with the scrawny senior, and came up wondering when the kid hadn't been on his mind in some way. Even when he'd been out of contact with his favorite victim, he'd usually find himself looking forward to facing him in the bi-monthly struggle tournaments, or seeing him at the skate park. That was probably the most startling realization, that, on some level, he'd always liked the fierce little punk.

He'd already dug himself too far into this hole to get out, he might as well keep digging and see if it would pay off.

"I do agree with what you're trying to do, I just wish you wouldn't be so fucking self-sacrificial about it. Actually give a damn about your own life, and not because I told you so, because you truly care about it and find it worth living. You're no good to anyone dead, so stop putting yourself in such life-threatening situations. You'll never accomplish your goal if you die halfway. There are a lot of people that look up to you for what you've done so far, it would crush them if you got killed by some coked up idiot with lucky aim. You're their hero."

If they were going to lay all their chips on the table, he might as well see if what everyone said was right, consequences be damned, "I'm your hero."

Eyelids lowering to half-mast, the other was silent for a moment before answering, "Yeah, you are. I'd hate you if you died. The Seifer I look up to wouldn't even consider getting offed because he drew too much attention to himself. He's smart enough to get the fuck out when he knows he can't handle the heat."

Whenever he thought the pansy couldn't surprise him with anything anymore, he threw a fucking grenade like that in the bully's lap. Now he had to shoulder the responsibility of being the dark-eyed blond's protector, mentor, leader AND hero. But if that warm feeling in the pit of his stomach stuck around, he thought it might not be all that bad. It was an amazing feeling to mean so much to someone you loved, even if they didn't love you back.

"You're right, I am. I've never gotten the crew into a situation so bad I thought our lives were in truly in danger, though I've come pretty close. You can trust me."

Seemingly satisfied with this, the high school student burrowed a little further into the warm hoodie. Mouth fully obscured from view now, he looked positively adorable with the sleepy look on his face. Like a cat that dug itself into the blankets until all that was poking out was part of its head. The weather outside was calm for now, a slow rain, between pockets of more severe thunderstorms.

"Is your leg fully healed yet?"

The question jerked him out of his thoughts, and for a second he'd wondered if he'd imagined it, since he couldn't see the speaker's mouth move. But then large, pretty brown eyes shifted over to affix him with a mildly interested stare.

"Not really, but it barely bothers me anymore. What about your arm and ribs?" It was still hard to believe he was making what could be considered somewhat serious small talk with the hot-blooded pipsqueak he used to barely speak to except for a few insults here and there.

"My arm is healing fine. I've learned to tolerate my ribs."

"So they still hurt like a bitch?" A curt nod from the questioned, "I'll wait until you've healed from prior injuries before I inflict new ones by training you."

He scoffed, "Thanks for being so damn considerate."

Even though the youngest Disciplinary Committee member said it with dripping sarcasm, the blue-eyed man had learned to see past it and could tell he was indeed appreciative of being granted a temporary reprieve. Far-off rumbles of thunder could be heard now, and the lithe blond tried and failed to contain the whine of complaint that escaped his lips.

Expert eyes assessed his physical reaction, watching the lean body tense sharply. Knowing if he'd just gone through hell, he wouldn't want to try to sort his weasel-fucked head out with a knotted back, he generously offered to give his companion a massage. It wasn't just an excuse to take his crush's shirt off and feel him up, really.

After eyeing him with suspicion for a few seconds, Hayner decided whatever his new leader had up his (currently nonexistent) sleeve was probably not bad enough to outweigh the benefits of a decent backrub. Nodding, he let Seifer tug off the hoodie and shirt underneath, shivering a bit at the sudden change in temperature. Tossing the unneeded articles of clothing aside for now, he immediately focused on the bare back of the senior on the couch next to him.

Strong hands flitting to his shoulders, the fighter wasted no time in digging into the overly-taught muscle there. When a small groan of pleasure slid from the smaller male's lips, the icy man was suddenly glad that his crew member's back was turned and that he was wearing baggy sweatpants.

As he moved down to the shoulder blades and middle back, he had to admit that no one had ever been able to affect him this way before, and it scared him a little. He was getting turned on just giving an underclassman a massage. If someone had told him that would happen even just a month ago, he would have beaten them into the ground until they made sense. Now he'd think it was weird if he wasn't physically attracted to his new crew member.

Every bright flash or loud crack of thunder, the muscles under his skilled fingers would clench just the slightest bit. Being able to literally feel the way the eighteen year-old's body reacted to stimulus felt incredibly intimate, he was being afforded a view of the skater that he doubted anyone (except maybe Roxas) had ever been allowed to see. It was uniquely thrilling.

He kept working on the extremely tense and knotted boy until his thumbs tired of the excessive exercise. By that time the brown-eyed teen had practically been rendered putty, and they both made a silent agreement that, storm or no, it was time to go to bed. Lifting the object of his affection, he lazily dragged the limp blond towards his bedroom. Dropping him on the edge of the bed and kicking the door closed, the well-muscled man began removing his pants for bed, watching Hayner do the same out of the corner of his ice-colored eye. He pulled off the socks he'd been padding around with, throwing them into the pile of clothes waiting to be washed.

Glad he always stopped to make his bed before he left for classes, the owner of the dwelling slipped into bed, followed quickly by the other. As if on cue, the weather outside increased in violence, the building vibrating anew from the shockwaves of the severe thunderstorm. Burying his face into the large pillow, the sandy-haired male made a low sound of aggravation.

Rolling his eyes, Seifer slid his right arm under the skinny blond and dragged their bodies together. Chocolate eyes searched icy ones in the dark before the weaker man threw caution to the wind and laid his head on a broad shoulder. Powerful arms wrapped around him, and he fell asleep before the hour was out.

Bright blue eyes shot open when he heard the lock on the door into his apartment being picked, the sound loud in the silence, even through his closed door. This was precisely why he was a light sleeper, occasionally someone broke in and tried to kill him in his sleep. Of course, normally he didn't have a high school student to protect as well. His marginally blurred vision didn't make matters any better.

Shaking the younger awake, he waited until Hayner had gotten up before guiding him to the partially open closet, shoving him in, and whispering for him to stay put and stay quiet until otherwise instructed. Shutting the door quietly, he heard the steady footsteps to his bedroom door and grabbed the .9mm pistol he kept, loaded, under his pillow. Pressing himself against the wall next to the hinges of the door, so the person entering wouldn't see him, he waited. The wooden slab swung open slowly, and once the silhouette of the trespasser could be seen, the large man shot out from behind the door. Grabbing the supposed attacker by the back of the collar and pressed the gun to the back of their head.

"You have three seconds to give me a reason not to kill you."

A smooth, cold voice answered him, "You'll get twenty-five to life for killing an on-duty officer."

"Shit Tseng, you creepy bastard. What the fuck are you doing breaking into my place? Do you even know what time it is?" He said as he slapped the gun down on the desk to the left of him and flicked on the light.

"It is three thirty-six in the morning, I'm well aware this is an unwelcome visit, but this was the only time I could think of to stop by and let you know that Reno is taking blame for the murder today, and that we've already gotten a few of the gang members to agree to testify in exchange for a lighter sentence. If I came over during the day, people would get suspicious, and god only knows I can't call you."

"They bug your phone again?"

"Yes. Being a Turk means going undercover a great deal, and sometimes my colleagues begin to wonder if it really is just an act. Rufus is understandably pissed off, but I can't always stick to only being his bodyguard."

"Yeah, the department seems pretty strapped for personnel lately," shifting his focus to the closet door, "Hayner, you can come out of there now." The door opened to reveal a very sleepy, mostly naked struggler, who glanced from one to the other questioningly. His green cast stood out starkly on his otherwise largely uncovered body.

"Why was there half-naked jailbait in your closet, Seifer?" The foreign detective asked, normally detached tone taking on a bit of humor. The 'jailbait' in question blushed and glared at him, clearly not happy with the name.

"I'm only a year younger than him!" He spat, brown eyes beginning to burn with a fire the bully had missed since the sobering experience yesterday afternoon.

"He was in there because you broke into my apartment, and I thought you were someone coming to kill me. It was the closest safe place."

Dark eyes swept over the skinny teen before the cop made a hum of agreement low in his throat, "Good idea. It would have taken me an extra minute to think of checking there, in which time you could have easily killed me had I been an assassin."

"Poor wording Tseng, you ARE an assassin."

"Only sometimes Seifer. Same way you're only sometimes a vicious gang leader. Only when it is necessary."

"These days it's almost never not necessary for me to be the gang leader rather than a college student with the part-time job. How many known organizations are left?"

"Six, the largest of which being the Bahamut crew, but you already knew that part. After this last fight, they might be looking to challenge you."

"Good thing we just picked up a new member then, isn't it?" The scarred man said with a proud smirk.

Almond-shaped eyes zeroed-in on Hayner, who straightened a bit and stared right back, dangerous eyes seeming to dare the officer to say something negative. After searching those depths for a few seconds, the oldest's mouth twitched into a small smile.

"It takes courage to sign onto one of the most life-threatening gangs in town after just killing someone for the first time. I have to say, I'm impressed. From what Reno says, you're not bad with kitchen utensils either. He also mentioned something about you being just the right kind of crazy to make a decent detective. I've got a hunch, and if you'd like to, come into the station sometime soon. You might make a good intern."

Crossing his arms over his well-defined chest, the blue-eyed blond tilted his head and gave Tseng a half-snarl that warned the other not to try anything funny with his blond firebrand. Brown eyes taking in his possessiveness with amusement, the ex-Turk looked back at the subject of the conversation, who said he'd think about it. Satisfied, he turned to leave before Hayner blurted, "How did you make it so it looked like Reno was the one responsible? My fingerprints were all over that knife."

"Simple. We removed your knife and replaced it with Reno's switchblade, which is of a similar design. The one you used was extremely common, so it was easy. We disposed of the real murder weapon by means I'd rather not explain to civilians, trustworthy or not. We're Turks, experts in the manipulation of crime scenes."

"Well that makes me feel safer."

Chuckling, he turned and left, locking the door to the home on his way out. Sighing tiredly and wondering if the point of the visit wasn't actually to attempt to lure the senior onto the police force. Hoping the supposed English major wouldn't go for it, he grabbed the gun and put it back in it's resting place. When he turned back, he was met with a look that he knew meant the smaller male wanted to talk.

"Is it really necessary to keep that there?"

"Ever try to take out an armed killer in the dark with nothing but your fists while half-asleep? It doesn't work so hot."

Blanching, he bit his lip and nodded, worry dampening the rebellious fire that had just seconds ago lit his eyes. Scowling, the older blond crossed the small distance between them and grabbed his chin, pulling the abused lip out. His fingers refused to release their light grip on the tanned flesh, and the blood-infused redness of the shorter man's lips made it really fucking hard not to lean down and kiss them. Realizing he had been looking at them for a little longer than he needed to in order to make sure they were okay, he lifted his eyes to meet their dark counterparts.

It was interesting how those large orbs seemed to search his own so often, he wondered what kind of answer the younger man got out of his endless hunting. He was never more grateful for those extra two or so inches of height over the sandy-haired skater than when he was up close like this. Eventually tiring of the heated staring contest, Hayner reached up to pull the strong, calloused hand away, lowering it and, unfortunately, remembering to let go. Sighing, he asked, "Can we just go back to sleep?"

Nodding, the fighter walked over to the wall to turn off the light and returned to the extremely welcoming mattress. This time, his companion snuggled up to him of his own volition. Finding it a welcome change, he rubbed the tension out of the slighter boy's neck before falling asleep once more.

Forcing his reluctant eyes to open, the thought that waking up with an attractive blond punk splayed on his chest was something he could get used to popped unbidden into his jumbled head. Except he hoped eventually they'd wake up this way without boxers. But that was probably just a pipe dream. Note to self: next time you fall in love with someone, make sure there's a chance they'll love you back.

Glancing at the clock, he nearly got up to smack it when it told him it was only six in the morning. A day off of classes and work, and his own body has to fuck it up for him by making him wake up early. It was even worse due to the late night disturbance. His eyes burned and he had a slight headache already. It was going to be impossible to go back to sleep like this.

Carefully removing the sleeping boy from him, he climbed out of bed and sighed heavily. It was going to be a long day. He put in his contacts before grabbing a pair of dark jeans and red boxers out of his drawer. Rolling his shoulder again, he dragged himself into the bathroom for an early morning shower. The hot water relaxed his tense muscles and temporarily allowed him to ignore his headache. Rubbing shampoo in his hair, he thought about how much things utterly sucked right now.

He had the man he loved sleeping in his bed right now, but it wasn't in the way he wanted it. He'd failed to protect Hayner from the atrocity of murder, and was failing at growing a pair and just telling the teen how he felt. And he still didn't fucking know who the other blond's crush was, though if he had his way he'd know by the end of the next struggle match with him. He didn't know what exactly he'd do with the information, but he'd have to do something, it was getting nigh impossible to avoid the urge to throw the smaller boy up against a wall and start molesting him. Really, it was what any sane person would do in this situation, the brown-eyed senior was too adorable not to.

He was amazed at how coordinated he was this early, he'd already finished cleaning himself in the time it took to muse on the biggest problem in his life right now. Sliding some conditioner through his hair so it wouldn't snarl as it dried, he turned off the water. Instantly missing the warmth, he dried quickly before the water on his body had a chance to cool further. Yanking on the clothes he brought with him, he smoothed his hair back until he was certain he wouldn't scare small children with it. Sneering at his own reflection's bloodshot eyes, he turned and exited the humid bathroom.

Opening an energy drink from the fridge (fuck coffee, he needed something stronger), he threw it back and chugged half of the sixteen ounce can. With nothing better to do, he sat at the kitchen table in silence and checked his upper body for bruising. Finding three discolorations on his abdomen from punches (or kicks) he couldn't even remember, he tested them to see the extent of the damage.

The angriest looking was a deep purple, about two inches in diameter, on his left side. It was aching dulling, right up until he chanced applying a little pressure. Biting down on the inside of his cheek hard enough that the slow sweetness of copper filled his mouth, he sucked in a breath through his nose to try to keep his cool. Well, that fucking hurt. Making a mental memo not to bump that any time in the next week. The others were a calmer blue color, when examined they produced very little pain, which was a good sign that the injuries sustained weren't very great. He had a feeling there was probably a bruise on his back from where the idiot had charged him from behind when he was distracted (and when wasn't he?) by Hayner as well.

In short, he was sore all over. His knuckles and legs especially, punching and kicking the crap out of someone wasn't as one-sided as it seemed as far as getting hurt went. Of course, his previously dislocated arm was quite happily bitching at him too. Cracking his neck a couple times, he took another swig of the beverage and crossed his arms on the table, laying his head on top of them. No matter how much he wracked his brain, everything after the other blond's arrival during the fight was a blur. A few bits of pain and glimpses of his own fists pummeling whoever was in front of him, but nothing terribly specific until the senior was being throttled.

The desperate, pained look on the boy's face was practically burned into his memory. When his eyes had closed and he'd started to go limp, the world might as well have been ending. Possibly the worst part of the whole ordeal was that Seifer had been unable to help in any way. It burned bitterly in the pit of his stomach. He closed his eyes and pretended like he didn't have things to do today. Or maybe that one of the things he had to do today was the teen sleeping in his bed. A guy can dream.

"Seifer, can I borrow some of your clothes? My pants have blood on them, I think my shirt does too, I'd rather not put them back on."

Opening his eyes, he turned to see a nearly-naked Hayner in the threshold between the kitchen and the living room. Not stopping to appreciate the view, mostly because it would be obvious and rude, two things he was trying hard not to be, he nodded sleepily. The equally exhausted younger teen disappeared again, presumably to get some clothes. Sitting up in his chair again, he took another sip of the drink in front of him. Rubbing his eyes again, he rested his head in his palm.

"You okay Seifer? You don't look very good." He walked up to the table, looking the part of a gang member in overly baggy pants and the loose-fitting hoodie he'd worn the night before. The look fit him better than his leader could have hoped.

He snorted with mild humor, "Thanks, great wording choice. I feel fine. What about you?"

"Tired of your bullshit. There are bruises all over your torso and you didn't get enough sleep, there's no way in hell you're fine. Seriously, you're not going to pass out on me, are you?"

He laughed, the sound hollow even to him, "I'm not a pushover, chicken-wuss. The more prudent question is how are you holding up?"

Under the careful scrutiny of ice blue eyes, his facade fell quickly. Thin shoulders slumped and he heaved a sigh before plunking down in the one of the other three empty chairs at the table. The senior looked like he was in pain, though Seifer couldn't tell if it was physical or mental. He guessed it was the latter, if it was the former the younger would be doing his damndest not to let it show.

"I'm...confused. Too much stuff has happened in too little time. I don't know what to do about it all."

The bully wasn't stupid, he knew there was something on his underling's mind other than the events of the past few days. It aggravated him that the smaller teen wouldn't tell him a damn thing. Hayner was a lot more open than he had been, but still, it seemed like there was something bothering him whenever they were in the same general area. And it only got worse the more time they spent in close quarters. He wondered what the hell could make the kid so uncomfortable around him.

"And I'm willing to bet you're not going to elaborate."

"You'd win that bet. I have nothing to explain, you already know what's happened. Unless you suddenly became stupid overnight, it shouldn't take much to figure things out."

He wasn't getting anywhere, so he decided to just drop the topic for now and move onto a new one, "Speaking of bets, you planning to go to the struggle tournament tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I figured I might as well. Why, you still planning on that bet thing? I don't know what the hell you could possibly get out of it."

"Then you're not terribly bright. Not much of a surprise, but really, I expected better. And yeah, I do plan on betting you on the outcome of our match still. If you don't come up with your side, I'll do it for you."

"I'm sure you're plenty capable of coming up with something lucrative enough to tempt me into doing something as idiotic as betting on a match I'm bound to lose. I'll just leave it to you."

Shaking his head, the leader of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee stared at his companion. He still didn't completely understand the quirky teen. If nothing else, his seeming inconsistencies were interesting. Most of the time he didn't let anyone else choose shit for him, but now he was happy to just leave the terms of a bet he was likely to take for the hell of it up to the older man. At least he kept Seifer guessing, it was kind of nice to have someone around he couldn't always read.

They sat in comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to fill the emptiness between them with pointless chatter. It was peaceful outside, the city was quiet after the heavy rains the night before. It reminded him of something he didn't notice at the time, but Tseng hadn't even had any water on him, though if memory served the soft cadence of rain the roof was still going when the detective arrived without pretense. Then again, very little about the raven-haired foreigner ever made a whole lot of sense. He was managing to get away with screwing the very man he was supposed to be protecting, after all, a little rain-avoidance was probably a walk in the park for him.

After a few more minutes of staring off into space and occasionally looking at the other occupant of the house, he finally got his ass in gear and went about making them scrambled eggs. It was a lazy breakfast, but damn it all, he was fucking tired. His guest made no complaints. Though the fighter had to wonder if the sandy-haired man would complain even if his host refused to feed him. He'd probably just find his own food or deal with it. He was one of the few people that stubborn actually looked good on.

As they ate, the cook couldn't help but notice the way the other avoided eye contact and seemed to lack much appetite. He was overly thoughtful this morning, and his protector didn't think it boded well for the rest of the day. If he only knew what was wrong, he'd do everything he could to fix it. The emotional stress the high school student was causing him by refusing to talk when he was in what appeared to be utter turmoil was actually causing the older blond physical pain. The sooner he could get rid of the strange ache in his chest, the better.

The one thing that probably nagged at him most was that he didn't know how to help the dark-eyed teen cope with having killed someone, more than what he'd already done. The big difference between Hayner now and Seifer when he'd first taken a life was that the bully had been living the gang life for a year or so. When you live in such a violent, dark world and routinely put people in the hospital, it's not as big a jump to put them in a morgue instead. But the other had lived in relative comfort, free of the lurking darkness of the streets. It was one of few ways they couldn't really relate to one another.

"What are we going to do today? We can't just sit around all day."

"I was planning on calling a meeting of the crew once Fujin and Raijin get out of classes. Tell them what Tseng said about the Bahamut crew. We need to figure out some way to even the odds."

Running a hand through his disheveled hair, the younger blond pursed his lips in thought for a few moments before offering, "Axel and his friends would be happy to help. Even if they're slightly insane, Axel's dad and Reno taught them all how to fight. They're not that bad."

"I know. I've seen them get into scuffles with lone wolf thugs who try to mug kids on their way home. This guy broke Zex's nose and stole his backpack, Axel and the crew came to me and asked where he was. After calling one of my contacts, I gave them his address and out of curiosity followed them. I doubt his own mother recognized him afterwards."

"I heard about that from Roxas. I didn't know they went to you though."

"A lot of people do. I have access to a lot of people, so if someone street-smart wants information, they usually come to me. Though the only ones who know my cell number are you, Fuu, Rai, my coworkers, my contacts and the Turks."

"Anyways, where will the meeting be?"

"Coffee shop downtown, Cold Turkey. It's run by an old detective who up and quit in the middle of a big case. Turns out that his partner was corrupt and planned to off him if he got too close. He figured it out and informed the Turks, who ended up arresting half the department for corruption and other charges. He opened up a coffee shop a few blocks away from the station, it's a haunt for the Turks and a safe place to talk for people like me. The owner's known me since I came here."

"Sounds like an interesting place. What time are they going to get out?"

"Three. Until then, I suggest you arrange to meet your annoying little friends. They're probably worried about you."

"Are you planning to come with?"

"I've got nothing better to do. Besides, I don't trust you to get there without tripping and killing yourself. You have shit luck lately, even if some of it was your own fault."

A small smile played at the corners of the tanned senior's lips, "You know, I'd like to tell them that you are actually capable of genuinely caring about someone other than yourself, but I don't think they'd even believe me."

He could feel the scowl forming on his face, but by the mirth in the other's eyes, he didn't mean a word of it. It was probably true that few people would believe that he cared, but he knew Hayner did. Everyone else could fuck themselves. The brown-eyed blond stood up from his mostly eaten meal and pulled his phone out (it was amazing he was smart enough this early in the morning to remember to transfer it from the pants he wore yesterday to Seifer's), dialing one of his posse as he walked into the living room.

Troubled that the already skinny boy didn't finish his meal, the scarred man removed their plates, dumped what remained of the eggs on his guest's into the trash, and set the dishes in the sink to be bothered with later. He was starting to feel the caffeine kick in, and the world was already seeming that much better. Of course, a confrontation with his newest member's friends was going to be hellish once they found out, but at least he'd be awake to deal with it. As much as he didn't want to go, he knew it had to be done. If nothing else, it would pay to be on speaking terms with them if he ever managed to get the volatile senior to go out with him.

"Seifer, is swinging by the Usual Spot at noon alright with you?" The engaged eighteen year-old called from the other room.

"Yeah. Warn them that I'll be coming."

Another couple minutes passed before he returned to the kitchen to find his protector leaning against the counter. By the time pale eyes raised to look at him, he was already halfway across the room, intent on something. As the younger skater entered what Seifer considered his personal bubble, he realized that his companion wasn't after proximity for the sake of talking, but instead had finally gotten a good look at the dark purple bruise on his torso. Before there had been a table blocking the worst of it.

A gentle hand ghosted over the area darkened by blood, and the overly-sensitized skin practically shivered beneath it. Hayner's face was only inches from his own, their gaze straight down to the site of injury, so at least he didn't notice the bully's face flushing. The tough college student couldn't believe he'd let it get so bad that a single touch could send a thrill down his spine.

"How'd you get this?" He was startled out of his thoughts by the quiet query, and tilted his head to the left so that his blushing face would be less visible.

"I don't remember. Most of yesterday is a blur. I don't usually recall a lot of things about a fight. I'm surprised this thing didn't show up earlier, or that I didn't notice it if it had. Then again, we were in the dark most of last night."

"I don't think I'd ever be able to take a hit like that and not notice."

"You aren't used to fighting. Eventually you'll pay less attention to what hits you give or take than to the fact that you're breathing."

"Do your injuries hurt a lot right now?"

"Not really, but I wouldn't suggest applying pressure to them. I might unintentionally knock you on your ass."

The lithe boy backed off a bit, frowning and jamming his hands into his pockets. If the taller man's intuition wasn't on the fritz, his crush didn't like to see him hurt. The thought brought a small smile to his face, though he wasn't entirely sure why he should be that amazed that his newest member cared enough to get upset. They moved in unison to the living room then, sitting down the on the couch, the eldest flipping the TV on. At some point the dull droning of the newscasters lulled him into nearly nodding off despite the energy cocktail that was thrumming through his veins.

Ironically, the thing that jerked him back to attention was that the brown-eyed teen behind him had already fallen asleep and slumped over to land against his back. When he didn't immediately rouse, the high school graduate couldn't bring himself to try harder. Instead, he got up and sat behind the slumbering blond, leaning against the arm of the sofa and pulling his charge into his lap. Leaning against the broad chest, Hayner curled up a bit more inside his large clothes and continued to sleep undisturbed. It was the dictionary definition of cute.

He was content to just watch the tired boy sleep and watch the news, it was nice to relax a bit after so much stress. Two hours and a few scattered minutes later, and the slight blond woke up again. Once his confusion passed, he turned pink and apologized for falling asleep. The scarred fighter had laughed and shaken his head, saying he needn't feel sorry for being tired. They got up and went about doing the things they needed to before leaving, since it was eleven-fifteen and they needed to leave in a little under half an hour to be able to walk to the Usual Spot in time.

The golden-blond finished dressing, putting on a dark blue t-shirt and donning his favorite boots and beanie. As a gesture of goodwill, he decided to forgo his leather gloves. He wasn't planning on getting into any fights today, well, any fights that required heavy physical contact. He grabbed his cell out of where he'd forgotten it in his pants pocket from yesterday and put it in the pocket of the jeans he was currently wearing.

Hayner borrowed one of his combs and used a little water to flip up the hair that had fallen down from it's normal formation. The owner of the apartment then kicked him out of the bathroom so the older male could shave the stubble that was beginning to show along his jaw line and brush his teeth.

"Done yet princess?"

He could feel his eye twitch in aggravation as he turned to glare daggers and whatever sharp objects he could think of at the smug struggler waiting in the bathroom threshold. Spitting the fluoride into the sink and wiping his mouth, he resisted the itch that tingled on the ends of his fingers that wanted nothing more to smack that mocking look off his face. Settling for sneering and shoving him out of the way, he made his way to the door, the smirking boy following on his heels.

The walk there was actually pleasant, even if the older man was quiet. If Hayner had to guess, he wasn't looking forward to the Usual Spot group's reaction to the news that their friend had joined the Disciplinary Committee. If he was going to be honest with himself, he wasn't either. It went without saying that his friends wouldn't be happy about him joining one of the most dangerous gangs in the city. He just had to hope they'd understand it was his choice. It wasn't just a chance to be with the love of his life, it was a chance to actually do something with himself, and get a little life experience along the way.

He'd already gotten some yesterday, he didn't think he'd ever be able to shake the sickening images. After Seifer's constant berating him about how it hadn't been his fault, he'd decided that he would try to accept that it had happened and continue on with his life. So far it was only barely working, he still felt sick to his stomach and it was hard to even enjoy the freshness of the after-rain air. The despair that clutched at his heart was all but gone now though, in its place a solemn regret and a resolve to become a better fighter so he wouldn't end up in a situation where he needed to kill someone to survive.

It was with a strange lightness compared to his gloomy mood that he realized that after yesterday, things would be that much easier. As sick and twisted as it may be, he didn't dread the thought of fighting a band of thugs twice the size of him that much anymore. Once you've actually driven a knife through someone's heart, beating someone who was out to kill you unconscious didn't seem as terrible. He'd never get to the point where he actually enjoyed fighting to stay alive, but at least there might be some small good thing that came from the hellish event.

"You're thinking about it too much again."

Blinking to clear his head, he looked over to the scarred teen, the other's pale eyes appearing genuinely concerned. How many weeks had it been since he would have never have been afforded that look in a million years? So much had happened in so little time he opted to just not think about it, it was making his head spin.

He was closer than he could have ever dreamed to the attractive bully, but it only seemed to do more harm than good every time the older male would open up to him or touch him casually. He could touch, talk to, and sleep next to what he wanted most in life, but he simply couldn't have it. It was only a matter of time before he lost his mind.

"Earth to chicken-wuss, either stop thinking or start talking. That's an order."

"Ever been so close to something you really want, but know you can't have it?"

"Yeah, I have. Drives you fucking crazy, doesn't it?"

If he didn't know better, the brown-eyed teen would think they were actually talking about the exact same thing as he hummed in agreement before continuing, "Well, that's what's been bothering me the most lately."

"I'd agree, except most of my brooding time has been spent taking care of your ass. You're pretty high-maintenance when you want to be."

"You don't have to bother, you know. Don't bitch about something you're not being forced into."

"Oh, like I'm really going to leave a comrade to put himself back together. What the hell kind of asshole do you think I am? Besides, I'm not bitching, I'm just saying that I haven't had a lot of time to lament on problems I already have plans to fix."

If anyone was well-versed in the Seifer-meanings of things, it was the senior walking next to him, and unless he was mistaken, the blue-eyed blond had just said he didn't mind taking care of him. Catching sight of the Usual Spot ahead of them was enough to quell the treacherous swell of warmth in the pit of his stomach. Making sure he entered first, to take the brunt of the expected hostility towards the gang leader, he slipped in quietly.

The first one to greet him was Olette, who was nothing but a bright green blur as she tackled him in a hug that was carefully calculated to miss his still injured ribs. Even if she was petite, the brunette projectile had caught him off guard and he lost his balance. Hard arms wrapped around his waist as he crashed into the man behind him. Letting loose a small gasp of surprise, the green-eyed girl backed away from the newly entered pair.

Three sets of eyes watched them, no doubt noticing that not only had the cold man actually shown up, but he'd just caught their friend like it was normal for them to be that close, and was a little too slow to let go. Cerulean eyes seemed to understand this change in their demeanor, but Pence and his girlfriend were at a loss.

"We're glad you're safe Hayner, we were all so worried when we heard about it from Axel," it was, as always, the sole female in the group who broke the ice.

"Sorry, didn't mean to freak you guys out, but I'm going to have to again. I joined the Disciplinary Committee."

As he knew it would, the gathering place that held so many memories went silent. He had only to wait a few seconds and-

"WHAT?" Impressively, they all seemed to find their voices at the exact same time, the exclamation unison. He flinched and gave them his best sheepish smile. Violently blue eyes flicked from the gang leader to his underling, settling on the latter accusingly. Hayner could read his best friend like a book, the golden-blond thought he was just doing this to get closer to his crush.

"Look, it's what I want to do, there's nothing you can do to stop me. I've made my choice, you guys will just have to deal with it."

"But Hayner, you're involving yourself in gang wars," Pence put in, emphasis on the last two words, "You're going to get yourself killed."

"I've nearly gotten myself killed a lot lately, at least this way I'd be risking my life for a purpose. Besides, I can't just pretend like everything is going to go back to normal. I've gotten in this deep, I might as well stick with it."

"Axel heard from Reno that you might end up facing off with the most feared gang in Twilight Town soon. He offers his services, along with Zex, Dem, Marly and Larxene. Sure you're up for something this big?"

"If we have help, I'm sure we can handle it. Will you join in too Rox?"

A slow smirk spread on the slightly shorter senior's face and he nodded, "I wouldn't miss it for the world. Besides, someone has to keep Axel in line."

"Not you too Roxas! Don't you two understand how dangerous this is?" Olette fumed, green eyes alight with disapproval as she leveled them on both boys, then the last remaining blond, "And Seifer, how can you possibly let them risk their lives like this? You should have been the first one to tell Hayner he shouldn't do this!"

Amazing everyone there, the fighter took the high road and simply explained himself in an even tone instead of shooting off a remark, "He asked me if he could join. I told him it wasn't going to be easy or safe, but he wanted to anyways. It's not my place to make his choices for him or tell him he can't do something because it isn't healthy, and I'm not about to refuse good help just because they're my friend."

And there it was. The last word that cancelled out the importance of anything else he might have said. The brunette girl's eyes cooled in confusion, then slow understanding crept across her face. The two teens standing close together near the entrance were friends now, the larger male was probably the most adverse to the idea of the skater on his crew out of all of them. This wasn't Seifer using their friend, it was him accepting that the brown-eyed boy had the right to make his own choices, regardless of how ill-advised they were.

"I still say you're all crazy, but if that's really what you want to do Hayner, we'll be there for you. It doesn't matter who you hang out with or how much trouble you're in, we'll always be friends, right?"

"This seems way too easy, but yeah."

"Your mom is going to kill you man," Roxas piped up, cheerfully crashing his best friend's temporary good mood.

"Actually, she's probably going to kill him, if anyone," the sandy-haired teen answered, jerking a thumb in the bully's direction. The eldest of them scowled in response, shifting his weight to the other foot nervously. His companion didn't blame him for being a little hesitant to want to explain to a terrified mother why her son was joining a gang.

"What are we doing just standing around, let's go out and get some ice cream, my treat!" Olette suggested with a bright smile, again trying to break the bit of tension left in the air. It was one of her specialties, even when things went to shit between the two hotheads of the group, she was usually able to calm everyone down before they started throwing punches. Her parents were also both well-off, so she generally paid for everyone's ice cream herself. Hayner had no clue what they would do without her, she was like a sister to both him and Roxas.

"Sounds good, especially since I'm not paying," the blue-eyed senior agreed, getting down from the stack of crates he'd been sitting on.

As the five made their way to the ice cream shop in the shopping district, the well-muscled blond glanced at the way to the Sandlot and suddenly remembered something, telling them to go on ahead while he went to go get something. The lithe struggler had wanted to come with him, but he just shook his head and took off towards the lot. Shrugging and guessing whatever it was wouldn't take very long, the dark-eyed boy followed his friends. They were just getting their sea salt ice cream bars when he came skating up on what the lanky male recognized as his own board.

"Forget something dumbass?" The icy shards that leveled at him were glinting with self-congratulations rather than derision as he handed the younger blond his skateboard, which had been spared from the rain by the hunk of steel on top of it.

"Thanks, I did forget about it. I'm surprised you were even listening when I told you where I'd hidden it, or that you remembered."

Muscular shoulders shrugged nonchalantly, brushing it off, though it seemed like he'd wanted to say a bit more. Even if the hard gang leader was being a bit more like himself, they were still in a public place. Certain images needed to be maintained. Olette was asking everyone what flavor they wanted, having already gotten hers and Pence's because they always ordered red, and once she got to the two taller blonds, they both answered that they wanted green.

She giggled and they stopped and stared at each other for a second, and Hayner this close to killing Roxas as he gave them both a teasing smirk. Doing their best to pretend like this wasn't an awkward situation, they didn't bother adjusting their choice of flavor, and ignored the pretty brunette's smile as she handed it to them. They headed to the clock tower above the station, their favorite place to eat the salty-sweet dessert and hang out. Though they were half done with the frozen treat by the time they got to the top, it was still worth it to hang their feet over the edge and take in the view while they finished.

Seifer hung back, leaning against the wall behind the ledge. The day was starting to warm up, but it was still cool enough that the still injured senior wasn't hot in his protector's heavy clothes.

"Hey, Hayner...Are you wearing Seifer's clothes? I don't recognize them."

Trying his best not to blush at his friend's 'is there something you want to tell me' look, "Yeah, mine had blood on them. I really didn't want to wander around in bloodstained clothes all day."

"That would be a little conspicuous," he agreed with a grimace, finding the thought unpleasant to say the least, "You holding up okay?"

When he answered that he was doing fine he received a skeptical snort from behind him, the pale-eyed blond offering his opinion on the matter in a non-verbal manner. Three sets of eyes watched Hayner with worry, but when he met their gaze, they let the issue drop. He didn't feel like being pressured into admitting that he was less than okay about the things that had happened. They should already know that anyways, it didn't take a genius.

"Have you even looked at the study material for our classes Hayner?" The green-eyed girl asked, switching the subject quickly. Both younger blonds groaned, neither of them had started on it.

"You two aren't planning on studying, are you?"

"Nail on the head 'Lette. We have, what, a week left of school? No one but you cares anymore. The tests are going to be easy, and even if I managed to get zero points on all of them, I'll still pass all my classes. It's no big."

"You two are infuriating! You never seem to give a damn about your schoolwork!"

"Isn't that what a normal high school senior does, not care?" The college student finally piped up. She seemed to run out of steam at that point, settling for crossing her arms on her chest and silently vent her discontent. The green-clad girl had always been an honors student who had near perfect attendance, she didn't seem to understand that some people didn't enjoy anything relating to or in the general vicinity of school.

They hung around and talked idly until about one in the afternoon, when Roxas had to leave for work. The couple left to go study together (nerds that they were), leaving the recently inseparable pair to themselves on the quiet tower. The larger came over to sit next to his charge, at just the right proximity so that their shoulders brushed. He was offering companionship, the slighter male recognized.

"I think that went over pretty well. Thanks for handling that better than you normally would."

"I'm pretty sure that was a mild insult, but you're welcome. You know, you never used to thank me for anything without looking like you were being forced into it."

"And you used to be nothing but an ass to me and my friends. Things have changed a lot recently. I like it better this way."

He smiled, for once it was real, and the high school student was so caught up in it he barely heard him say, "Me too."

"Good to see you still breathing, Seifer, the others are waiting in your usual booth. Is this the new kid?" A man who looked to be in his forties asked, dark brown eyes shifting from the older man to the younger one holding a skateboard.

"Yeah, this is Hayner. Mind taking care of some evidence for me?" The blue-eyed blond asked as he tossed the black garbage bag with the bloodied clothes in it towards him over the counter.

"Heard about that fiasco, sorry to hear it too. Don't worry, I'll make sure this stuff never existed," he added in reference to the clothes, which he slipped under the counter, winking at a waitress. As he scanned the coffee shop, he saw their fellow members in a small booth in the corner, and a at a table sat none other than Rufus Shinra, calmly sipping at a cup of black liquid and eyeing the two new arrivals.

The owner introduced himself as Jack White, to which he immediately added that it wasn't his real name. Some detectives used aliases, and some carried them to their graves. He offered the smaller teen his condolences and wished him the best of luck. As they passed the strawberry-blond in his signature white suit, he spoke, "So, you're the one who managed to outsmart Reno with a saucepan? Tseng seems interested in you, from what he said this morning. I do apologize for his late night intrusion, he takes his job far too seriously."

"He still hasn't come by for his lunch break?" The strong blond asked, curious.

"No, he's been taking them later and later. He's been quite busy lately. There was something he wished to speak with me about in relative privacy, so I've been waiting. Good luck, by the way, it sounds like you might have a tough time of it soon. Believe me, the city appreciates what you're doing."

"Spoken like a true politician."

"Thank you, I try. I am running next year, I may as well get used to it now," he said with a crooked smile.

With a curt nod and the necessary pleasantries, Seifer steered them out of the conversation and towards their waiting members. The scrawny high school student wasn't sure what he thought of the mayor's son, but he knew one thing for sure: the twenty-something was dangerous. Sensing that the bully wanted to sit on the outside, the younger slid into the booth first, balancing his board in his lap.

"So, Bahamut, what the hell are we going to do?" Their leader started simply.

"TEMPORARY RECRUITS," the silver-haired female said, voice kept to a dull shout.

"Roxas, Axel, Marluxia, Demyx, Zexion, and Larxene. Aside from Hayner, who is a full-fledged member. That puts the odds at three-to-one, assuming their member count hasn't changed since it was last checked. Considering how tough these guys are, and that most of our members aren't fully trained, that's still not great."

"We could see if the Turks could free up that day so they could help us out, the Chief of Police would probably be a lot more likely to let them because it's the largest gang left, ya know?" Raijin offered helpfully.

"I thought no one else knew about their methods?" The brown-eyed blond piped up.

"Well, the Chief does, he just pretends like he doesn't. He's managed to convince everyone so far. And yeah Rai, I think we could probably convince the Turks to help us, at least I know Reno and Rude will. If Axel's involved, his brother will come to help regardless of whether he's allowed to or not, and where Reno goes, Rude generally follows. We'd probably be able to snag Elena the same way. If we can get all three in on the deal, we're looking at much better odds."

"ANNIHILATION."

Chuckling at the red-eyed girl's enthusiasm, he nodded once, "Now we just need to get people to watch the Bahamut's movements, start getting hard evidence against them for when we finally bring them in. You two think you could handle getting in touch with some friends?"

They agreed, the woman's single visible eye determined. They were brought coffee by one of the noticeably well-endowed waitresses, told it was on the house for a job well done. Maybe he was paying too much attention, but he noted that ice blue eyes didn't stray to her ample cleavage as she leaned over to place their cups down. It was strange that an assumedly straight man wouldn't be checking out the hot waitress. Unless there was already someone on his mind.

Pale irises flicked over to him and he averted his gaze. As expected, the scarred man drank his coffee black, flipping one of the many cream containers supplied in his fingers. They relaxed in the quiet atmosphere, Rai and Fuu relating the way the physics professor had managed to shock himself while giving a presentation. Apparently their physics teacher was as much of a dickhead as his was, so he found it hilarious. Suddenly the lone female stopped paying attention to her boyfriend's story and focused on the door. They all turned discreetly to see the awaited Turk enter and immediately stride over to his partner's table.

"Someone's gonna be sleeping in the doghouse, if Rufus's expression has any indication. I'm pretty sure he's been waiting for a couple of hours," the older struggler commented wryly after seeing the clandestine couple's greetings. Indeed, the blue-eyed man looked downright irritated with his raven-haired companion. The sandy-haired teen had to wonder just what was always keeping the exotic detective so busy all the time.

The Disciplinary Committee finished their beverages and left, eventually separating into two groups, each heading to a different side of town. The odd couple were headed to their apartment to start work on one of the annoying term papers they had to finish for Friday next week, and the pair of blonds headed to the smaller boy's house. Dreading explaining the reason he joined a gang to his mom, he was glad he had a couple of hours before she came home.

"You could hang around if you wanted, I'm sure she'd be at least momentarily happy to see you."

A snort, "She'd probably come after me with sharp objects when you got around to telling her you'd joined up with us. In the interests of personal safety, I'm going to head home. Good luck, you're going to need it. You can keep the clothes, and try not to do anything stupid before next Saturday."

Rolling his eyes and saying goodbye, and watched the lone fighter walk a ways down the sidewalk before unlocking the door and walking in. Dumping his skateboard in an out of the way place in the entryway, he immediately headed upstairs. Groaning as he flopped on his bed, he discovered that he already missed the larger man. It was a small comfort that he'd been allowed to keep the golden-blond's clothes, maybe it was odd, but he felt like he was carrying around a small part of Seifer when he wore the other's clothes.

Toeing his shoes off, he curled up on the bed. The coffee and earlier nap did little to relieve his lethargy, and he wouldn't mind falling asleep right here and never waking up. He honestly wasn't looking forward to the final week of school. As much as he could pretend otherwise, he was a little anxious about the unit tests most of the teachers gave the last real week. He would pass his classes with decent grades even if he bombed them, that was true, but he really disliked failing much of anything academic. Being average in something was fine, but failing was just...depressing.

Moving onto another topic before he could get worried enough to pick up one of the textbooks and legitimately study from it, he ran into the brick wall that was tomorrow. He knew that he was going to show up, most likely agree to whatever crazy bet the bully had come up with, and would lose in what would be at best a one-sided fight. The blue-eyed blond would be pretty determined to win, and he put decent odds on the idea that not even being hit by a train could stop the muscular teen when he had his mind set on something.

The worst part was that he didn't care that he was going to get the crap kicked out of himself, because it was another chance to see his crush. Some part of him knew that the surprisingly caring man would probably patch him up after he inevitably scraped his knees and cut his palms while being knocked around the ring. Part of him wanted tomorrow to just come already, so he could get the stupid match out of the way and find out what the heck his hero wanted of him, and the other, more sane half wanted today to last forever because it didn't look forward to being beaten into the ground with a padded bat.

Not thinking sounded like a wonderful idea at this point. Rolling onto his back, he sighed and closed his eyes. Forcing himself to let go of all his problems for the time being, his mind wandered before he fell asleep again.

Waking up in the arms of someone he cared about was definitely something he could get used to.

"Mom?" He mumbled as he opened his eyes to see her looking down at him. He was cradled in her lap, and it looked like she might have been crying. Frowning in confusion, he shifted to sit next to her.

"Sorry honey, I guess that's sort of a strange thing to wake up to. I'm just glad to have you home safe and sound. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I joined the Disciplinary Committee."

Well, that wasn't exactly the way he'd wanted to go about it, but at least that part was done. In a rare moment of complete and utter speechlessness, the blond woman stared at him for a few seconds while she attempted to process this. Then, a questioning eyebrow raised, her lips pursing. It was better than his friends' reaction to the news .

"I wanted to help him, for once in my life do something instead of just worry. Besides, I had a feeling I was in too far to try to get out now. It's what I want to do, even if it's dangerous. Seifer's always protecting everyone else, it's time someone protected him."

"You've grown Hayner. A year ago your only reasoning for joining up with them would have been so that you could get closer to the man you loved. Now you have a legitimate reason for risking your life. You really believe in this, in him. And while I in no way enjoy you being in a position of life-threatening danger, I have to say I think you've done the right thing. It's just that often the right thing is not what makes a mother happy."

"Sorry Mom. Try not to worry too much, I'm pretty sure nothing will happen to me as long as the others are around," he assured her, wondering just how the hell he had the luck to get such an understanding mother. She may not be happy with his decision, but at least she seemed to approve of it.

She laughed, "Nothing's going to stop me from worrying, logic or not."

"Seifer wants me to go to the struggle competition tomorrow, is that alright?"

"You know you're not supposed to struggle until your arm and ribs are fully healed," she reminded him with a look meant to guilt him out of it.

"Mom, I was in a gang fight yesterday. I don't think being smacked with a padded bat is going to aggravate my injuries if that didn't," he loved being able to make a valid point.

"Fine, if you really want to. Try not to come home bloody," she relented.

He smiled and lied, saying he wouldn't. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but instead got up and threw over her shoulder that he should try to do something productive if he was going to his homework as she left. He grabbed one of the many non-school-related books he hadn't gotten around to reading because of various other things eating up his time and began reading it. It probably counted as productive to someone.

Wondering just what the fuck he was doing, he narrowly dodged the blue bat aimed at his side. He'd just willingly bet on a match he knew he was going to lose. And when he lost, he'd have to do precisely what he hoped he'd have the guts to do on his own. He'd have to finally tell Seifer who his crush was. It made no sense that the bully would be so intent on finding out unless he had some sort of agenda of his own. Hayner didn't remember what the other side of the bet was, he didn't care. This was possibly the least painful way he'd ever been presented with to tell the man he loved how he felt. At least after today, he'd be done with it, for better or worse.

He guessed a smart person would spare themselves a thrashing and just forfeit near the start of the fight, but as he was knocked back by a particularly powerful blow from his opponent, he knew that neither of them would be satisfied until the fight was well and truly won. Never once had the younger blond thrown in the towel, and he wasn't about to start now. This was the type of fighting he enjoyed, no life or death situations, just him and his eternal rival and object of affection in a ring.

Something about the way they fought each other conveyed in motion what they always failed to in words. While the scarred man was vicious in the way he kept coming at his slighter opponent, he almost always limited the amount of force behind his swings. He wanted to defeat Hayner, not hurt him. The weaker boy always tended to be on the defensive, blocking his ice blue-eyed companion as much as he could. When he did get offensive, he usually darted below the well-built teen's guard and knocked a few of the balls on his struggle vest off before getting back out of his range. He was afraid to get close to his crush.

Adrenaline making this body hum like high-voltage power lines, he jumped back to avoid a horizontal swing aimed at his torso. Unable to regain his footing in time, he took the diagonal backswing on the shoulder, losing another dozen points or so. He was losing hard and fast, the next hit he failed to avoid striking him hard enough to send him flying to the side. Skidding on his knees, he grimaced as the ring bit into them. Rolling away from the advancing fighter, he jumped to his feet, noticing the look of mild regret on the handsome man's face. His knees must be bleeding then.

The timer was winding down and he had half the balls he'd started with. The match was almost over, so he switched tactics. Snarling, he rushed the college student and began battering him with fast blows. Shock evident on his features, the aggressive gang leader took a couple of hits before he managed to react. Jamming the handle of the weapon into the smaller boy's chest, Seifer recovered from his momentary surprise and began returning the enthusiasm in kind.

Air escaped from his lungs in a single grunt as he was sent back down, this time landing on his back and elbows. Launching himself back up he jabbed the taller teen in the ribs, knocking off struggle balls neither had any intention of picking up. It had ceased to be about anything but the players themselves. The brown-eyed male used light, quick hits to exhaust his rival, who blocked most of them. Catching onto the strategy quickly, he went back on the offensive, taking the lithe senior's attacks in order to make heavier-hitting strikes of his own.

Telling the rules to fuck themselves, the skinny skater dipped down to make a ground-sweeping kick, the older man's legs buckling under him. Landing hard on the ground, he looked up at his cheating opponent with a smirk. A quick glance at the referee revealed that he was just as entranced by their fight as the rest of the silent crowd. He wasn't about to stop them unless they did something incredibly stupid.

As the seasoned fighter rose, he ducked low and rammed his shoulder into a scrawny abdomen. Pain surged through the dark-eyed struggler as he fell backwards once more, managing to flip mid-air so he landed forward on his good hand, which had released the bat. A stray rock cut into his palm. Grabbing his weapon up again, he had just enough time to turn around to face his opponent before the muscular nineteen year-old was quite literally on top of him. One hand pinning him to the ground, the bully was straddling him for the last few seconds of the match.

When the buzzer sounded, the only other sounds was their tired panting, chests heaving from the overly violent match. The crowd was still awed into silence, they had never seen such a vigorous showing by the two delinquents. The referee didn't need to make the announcement though, it was clear who won, to Hayner, Seifer, the crowd, and indeed whatever higher power might have been watching. Icy eyes glinting in satisfaction, the leader of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee had won by at least thirty points. He stood, removing the hand that had been holding down his friend and occasional enemy, holding it out to instead help him up.

Taking it and being jerked to his feet, the senior was conflicted. He felt like the world had fallen out from under his feet. He felt like he'd just had a huge weight on his shoulders removed. He felt like he'd just done one of the most enjoyable things he'd ever done in his life. He felt like he'd just been thrown down a flight of stairs. Above all, he felt the feeling of despair rising up in the pit of his stomach as he was stripped of his struggle gear and lead by the hand away from the ring and out of the Sandlot entirely by his crush. Roxas, Demyx, Axel, and Zexion had come to see the match, and they seemed as rooted to the spot as the rest of the crowd, watching as their friend was dragged away.

Once they were out of range, the college student pulled him into a wide alley and immediately pressed him against the wall of one of the buildings with one hand fisted in his shirt. Meeting the hard gaze head on, he almost wanted to stop a second to admire the view. The bully had a sheen of sweat on him from the heated match, and his eyes held a mix of resolve and foreboding.

"A bet's a bet, you lost, now spill it," he growled. Guessing the sky wasn't going to take pity on him and fall already, he decided it was time to end all of this running away from his problems.

"You. I love you. I've had a crush on you for years, and up until now you haven't paid a damn bit of attention to me. Happy?" If someone could just ever so conveniently snipe him off right now, that would be great. He sucked at dealing with rejection.

"Fuck, this entire time you've been bitching about me? Am I really that blind?" Pale eyes roiled with confusion and sudden understanding. Caught up in trying to come to terms with his own lack of observational skills, he said nothing about how he felt towards the boy he had pinned against the wall. Something inside the senior finally snapped. He punched the gorgeous man right in the jaw, hard.

Reflexively letting go of the sandy-haired teen, Seifer staggered back a couple steps to get out of the volatile male's immediate range.

"What the fuck was that for?" The assaulted snarled, tasting blood.

"I finally tell you how I've felt for so long, and you don't even have the common courtesy to tell me where you're at about it? A little fucking feedback would be nice, instead of lamenting the fact that you're a fucking idiot who wouldn't see a brick wall in front of him until he smacked into it. Normal people don't go 'damn, really, how could I not have seen it?' when someone tells them they love them. They either reject them or return the sentiment. Is it so damn hard to give me a straight answer?" He yelled, not caring who the hell heard him at this point. The golden-blond's self-absorbed attitude had him pissed.

The larger male opened his mouth to retort, then shut it again, a strange look in his eyes. Rising aggravation was instantly dispelled when the heavily-muscled man stepped back towards him and wet, abused lips crashed against his. The kiss was sloppy and tasted of a mixture of sweat, blood, and Seifer. Stunned, he searched his crush's eyes, finding them to be watching him just as intently. A strong arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him flush against the other, the gang leader's hand tangling in Hayner's hair. He responded by moving his own arms to rest on the taller man's shoulders, clasping his hands together behind his neck.

Opening his mouth when he felt the older teen's tongue on his lips, he let his eyes fall closed. As the kiss deepened, he shut his mind off to avoid contemplating just what the hell was going on. The lithe senior engaged the small appendage, shoving his tongue against it. They momentarily fought for dominance before he gave in under the stronger teen's relentless attacks, letting him take the lead. When breathing through their noses ceased to be enough, the broke apart.

"Sorry that answer wasn't 'straight' either," the blue-eyed blond joked, pausing before adding in a more serious tone, "I love you, too."

Best. Day. Ever. Something told him that if his crush had just said it, he wouldn't have believed him. This way, he'd be hard pressed to explain why in hell Seifer would make out with him if he didn't love him. Still, as he buried his face in the fighter's broad chest, he couldn't help but wonder if this was just a really realistic dream. Except that he was bleeding in several places, and he ached all over. Most dreams didn't include pain.

"I'm sorry."

Not really in a position to talk, he hummed questioningly at his leader.

"For causing you so much grief by being an idiot. I could have spared us both a lot of heartache by paying more attention."

Regretting his earlier outburst, he pulled away from the warm sanctuary and bit his lip, "You're not an idiot, I didn't really mean that. I'm sorry for punching you...I was just frustrated."

"I don't blame you. If I were you, I would have done that a long time ago. At least you would have gotten my attention."

"We should head back soon, the others are going to come looking for us."

"Too late lovebirds!" A voice belonging to one incredibly annoying pyromaniac chimed in from the entrance to the alley. The group strode into view, Roxas a little red in the face. Of course, he did just watch his best friend make out with another guy(or at least that was the only logical explanation for why they were all there), so it could be expected. The newly confessed couple separated, the slighter blond blushing against his will.

"You all owe me twenty bucks," the cerulean-eyed senior told Axel and crew. Grumbling something about 'a stupid bet', they all forked over the specified amount, the spiky-haired blond smirking smugly.

"Roxas...did you seriously bet on us getting together?" The tanned skater couldn't believe his friend, though, if he thought about it, maybe he could believe that Roxas would do something like that. Eyes narrowed into a glare, he began calculating whether he could catch his friend if he decided to give him a mild ass kicking.

"We'll just leave you to it then, wouldn't want to intrude," the redhead said quickly, sensing when it was time to get the heck out of there. Grabbing his boyfriend, the tall man left quickly, not wanting to find out just how pissed off Hayner was about the wager. His friends followed. Vowing to get his infuriating friend back for betting on his love life, he turned to the more important blond in his life. A small squeak fled his lips when he was almost instantly swept off his feet and into powerful arms. The well-built teen carried him out of the alley and showed no indications of wanting to let him down.

"Mind if we head to my place? We really should clean the scrapes on your knees and elbows. I've got the rest of the day off, always have struggle days free."

"Why does your manager let you have so much time off?"

"Because he likes me? And besides, I'm only part-time, it's easy for me to swap hours with someone."

"Are you always going to go to struggles?"

"If you're there, yeah. If you quit doing it, I wouldn't come anymore either, for a long time you were the only reason I bothered to show up. The other contestants are a joke, and not nearly as fun to fight. At least you beat me occasionally."

"And here I thought you just threw the match sometimes to be nice."

He snorted, "I never lose on purpose, no matter what it is. By the way, you should play dirty more often, that was far more fun than a normal match."

"Were you trying to word that suggestively, or did it just come out that way?" The dark-eyed senior asked, trying not to blush. The man carrying him just smirked. As he rested his head against the firm chest, he suddenly remembered something from yesterday.

"I hope I missed your bruises. I wasn't really paying much attention to where I was aiming."

The scarred man laughed, "I could care less if you did or not. There's too much adrenaline running through me for me to really notice the pain. It was a fight Hayner, the whole point is to use your opponent's weakness to your advantage. Besides, I wasn't exactly being gentle with you either. Sorry about knocking you around so much. I really hadn't intended to make you bleed."

The high school student scoffed, "I stabbed someone through the heart after nearly being strangled to death and then willingly joined a gang, do you really think a few scrapes bother me?"

"I don't think much of anything bothers you. You always seem to get up after being thrown on your ass, even if it takes a couple days. You're pretty tough, for a pipsqueak."

Rolling his eyes at the backhanded compliment, he nestled himself in further against the man who (unbelievable though it was) loved him. People were giving them strange looks as they traversed the streets, but one glare from ice-colored eyes was enough to make them avert their gazes and hurry past. The sky was mostly clear, and Hayner decided that was indeed heaven, curled up in his long-time crush's arms, staring up into the sky while listening to a strong heartbeat from the beside his head.

Once they finally reached the tall building, the senior waited to be put down so that his protector wouldn't have to carry him up the stairs. It never happened. As the blue-eyed college student ascended the stairs, the boy he was holding couldn't help but ask why he was doing it in the first place. He answered simply, "I like to carry you."

Guessing that was as good an explanation as any, he wasn't about to complain. Because the truth of the matter was that he liked being carried, as long as it was by Seifer. He was thoroughly impressed that his stronger counterpart could climb so many stairs with a considerable amount of extra weight and not even be breathing heavily by the time they arrived at his door. Balanced precariously in the crook of one arm, he watched the older blond jam the key into the knob and open the door without difficulty.

"Did you do that when you carried me here Thursday?"

"Yeah, why?" Light brows arched slightly, wondering why the question was even being asked.

"I kind of assumed you'd dumped me on the ground in order to open your door. It was sweet of you not to."

Setting him on the kitchen counter next to the sink, he pursed his lips a bit before turning to leave, "Be right back, going to get the disinfectant."

Thinking this was disturbingly similar to how this whole thing started when he was attacked on his way home from school, he had to wonder what was going to happen next. Although he'd done little to hide it from passersby today, it was still unknown whether the leader of the Disciplinary Committee wanted to make their relationship public, or indeed if he'd want one at all. It could be assumed, but one could never be sure. The person who was almost always on the scrawny struggler's mind returned with oxygen peroxide and a cloth.

Pouring a small bit of the chemical on each injured knee, he leaned forward and locked lips with the boy he loved. This was infinitely better than the first time around in the store bathroom, the eighteen year-old thought to himself. It was easy to ignore the sting of the solvent on his scrapes in favor of focusing on the hot lips on his. Wiping the blood, chemicals and grains of rock out of the wounds with one hand, the pale-eyed bully let the other trail up Hayner's spine slowly. The shivers that jolted through him were enough to make his toes curl inside his shoes, it could best be described as torture.

Pulling away to check on the state of the injuries he was supposed to be attending to, he seemed to find them properly cleaned. He then moved on to Hayner's hand where he'd landed on it and torn a chunk out on a small rock. Grabbing him by the shirt collar with his bad hand, the slighter boy pulled the other into another kiss. He could feel the smirk on the stronger male's face, but he couldn't bring himself to care. It wasn't like his protector didn't like this as much as he did. Kissing Seifer was one of the most addicting things he'd ever done, he didn't want to stop for anything.

Unfortunately, his oxygen-starved brain had other ideas and he eventually broke the contact again. It was so disappointing he nearly pouted. Stunning blue eyes were a little unfocused for a few seconds as they both remembered how to breathe normally.

"You really should call your mom and tell her where you are. Unless you really plan to go home today," this time, the brown-eyed blond knew he was purposely being suggestive, but he also made a good point.

"I think we both know I'm not going back home soon," he returned as he pulled out his phone (he was lucky it could take a beating because he always forgot to take it out of his pocket when he struggled) and began calling the aforementioned mother.

"Even if you tried, I wouldn't let you leave," the college student said seriously, sliding his hands up under the black shirt the sandy-blond always wore to struggles to tease over the planes of his back just as the person on the other end picked up.

"Hayner? Did something happen? You're normally home by now."

"Yeah, kind of, I'm going to be at Seifer's until tomorrow at least be-" His explanation of the situation came to a screeching halt when a gloved hand slipped around to his chest and tweaked one of his nipples, a devilish grin on the man's face as his victim squeaked loudly.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, her voice edged with suspicion.

"N-No, not really. Seifer just can't keep his hands to himself."

"Oh good, remember dear, common sense applies, safe sex and all that. Have fun, try not to get home too late tomorrow," she said cheerily before hanging up, leaving him to stare at the phone in confusion.

"She say something weird?" The golden-blond inquired knowingly.

"Very. She doesn't seem to have a problem with me staying, at least. Did you really have to do that when I was trying to talk to her though?"

"No, but damn was it entertaining. By the way, unless you have issues, I'd like to let our relationship be public."

Well that was unexpected, "Aren't you worried about what people will think of you? You seem to care a lot about your image."

He laughed genuinely, "The rest of the world can fuck itself if they don't like it. I'm not about to avoid you in public just to maintain the illusion that I'm a cold asshole who doesn't give a damn about anyone else. It might actually be true, because I care way more about you than the rest of the general populace. And this way, a lot fewer people will fuck with you, because they know I'll beat the living shit out of them. So unless you're worried about how you'll look, it's a no-brainer for me."

"Do I look like I care what people think of me? If I did, I wouldn't have let you carry me across half the city."

"Well, if that's all settled, let's get back to business," the taller teen said with finality before lifting the senior off the low counter and carrying him into the living room. As their lips met again, Hayner was sure that all those months of pain and loneliness were well worth the reward.

It had been a little under a month since they'd become a couple after confessing their feelings in an alley. Sitting in Seifer's lap on a bench that had recently been added to the corner of the Sandlot, the younger of the two mentally reviewed the events of the past few weeks while he waited for their 'guests' to arrive.

When his boyfriend had said he wanted their relationship public, he wasn't kidding. The next Monday he was waiting for the brown-eyed teen when school got out. When the senior had gotten nervous due to all the nasty looks he got (really, who wouldn't react like that when faced with such blatant hatred?), the gang leader had not only glared right back, but snatched the slighter boy's hand up in his and held it for the remainder of the walk to the latter's home. It was surprising to say the least that the tough bully would do something so...sweet.

Once out of school, the smaller male had gone to hang around the college student's workplace. After a week of loitering and directing customers who apparently though he worked there, Mike gave up and just gave him a job when one of the older employees quit so he could move to another town. Conveniently, the manager saw fit to give the couple the same hours. Of course, it was soon discovered that the stronger man really couldn't keep his hands off Hayner, and would take every opportunity that presented itself to practically molest him in the middle of the aisle they happened to be restocking, or indeed anywhere in the store, visible or not.

He'd long ago gotten used to his partner's way of physically expressing himself when he couldn't do so properly with words. Being with him made love a contact sport. He always said 'I love you' verbally at least once a day when he felt it fit, but he said it dozens of times every waking hour by way of lingering touches and stolen kisses. It seemed so strange that someone who had a reputation for being an asshole without feelings could be so caring when he let his mask fall. Still having a strange fascination with carrying the boy he loved, he often piggybacked the scrawny skater to and from work when the latter was tired. They'd stopped getting looks now, the locals had gotten used to it.

His Fridays were always hectic, because instead of working in the store while his leader went around delivering things, he was at the police station working as an intern under the Turks. After Tseng discovered that, as he'd expected, the graduate had a gift for handwriting comparison work, as well as doing Reno's largely ignored paperwork, the raven-haired detective had 'offered' (you don't refuse the Turks) him an internship at the station for Friday nights. Since there was pretty much no end of the pros of doing the ex-gang members favors and becoming friends with them, he took the job.

Even though he often worked until midnight or later, Seifer would always come over once he was done with his deliveries and wait until his charge was done with work and carry him, half-asleep, home. Elena thought it was positively adorable. Rufus seemed to find something funny about how loyal the more muscular of the two was, but tactfully declined comment other than a small chuckle whenever he caught the other blue-eyed blond sitting on the desk his boyfriend was diligently working at late at night.

At this very moment working for some of the most elite detectives in the region was coming in handy, as three of the four lay in wait in a dark alley just outside of the lot. Axel, Roxas and their crew were waiting near the other entrances, that way the Bahamut crew would be totally surrounded once they entered the chosen fighting ground. Of course, they had no clue what they were walking into. The only visible adversaries were the four permanent members of the Disciplinary Committee.

"Here they come," the golden-blond said quietly as the small army appeared, moving toward the entrance near where the Turks were hiding. He softly kissed the boy in his lap behind the right ear before they both got up. Cracking his neck a bit, he added, "You ready?"

"After all that training, I'd have to hope so. Besides, it's not like I have to worry with you around."

The gang leader quirked a smile for a second before his face became about as expressive as a rock, turning to their enemies. Crossing his arms over his slight chest, the younger fighter grinned at the 'Oh fuck' look on the larger gang members' faces as they massed at the center of the battleground only to see the hidden Committee allies appear from all sides. All the people assembled to take down the felons wore similar looks of amusement mingled with pre-fight excitement. Hayner's mind hadn't formed the words before they left his mouth in a taunting tone.

"Hello boys."

And...there it goes. Yes, it's probably rife with errors, yes, the ending probably sucks, and no, I don't care anymore. I've worked on this chapter for nearly 100 hours and I'm tired of looking at it. I'm sure you're tired of waiting for it. I can't wait to go to sleep before 3 in the morning now that I'm done with this. If anyone truly hates this last chapter, I might attempt to revise it, but likely I won't, because this is what I had planned all along. Some things were purposely left open or untouched, because I plan to write a few oneshots based in this little universe I've created. Feel free to suggest some ideas/plots for short little 1-4k deals. Thanks for all your positive reviews, they're the only things that kept me going for so long. Love you guys.