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Seifer Almasy sat alone in the Dollet pub, halfway through this third glass of watered-down local brew. It was awful, but this was Dollet after all – beggars couldn’t be choosers. It had been a week since SeeD had defeated the sorceress, and by extension himself, and despite it all he couldn’t shake a single one of the thousands of feelings he had about… well, everything.
When he said he was leaving Balamb, Fujin and Raijin had quite nearly thrown a fit. Raijin pleaded with him not to go alone, and even Fujin used complete sentences to try to convince him to stay. “It’s not healthy for you to go off on your own again,” she had told him, quietly so Raijin couldn’t hear – she had a reputation to uphold.
But Seifer would hear none of it. And so there he sat at the bar, half-drunk and thinking too hard about everything and thus solving nothing.
“Ugh, you smell like a brewery.”
Seifer turned so quickly he nearly spilled off of the barstool. He didn’t need to see who it was. He’d know Squall’s voice with his eyes closed.
“What are you doing here?” Seifer spat, defensively gripping his glass and glaring at his rival.
“I’d just as soon let you wallow in your own pity,” Squall returned with a shrug before moving forward and sitting at the bar next to him, “but Rinoa insisted something be done about…” Squall gestured at Seifer. “…whatever this is.”
Seifer reactively snorted. “Don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the word whatever in a complete sentence.”
“Whatev–” Seifer laughed again as a blush rose in Squall’s cheeks. “I could just leave, you know.”
“Oh come on, you haven’t even had a drink yet,” Seifer returned with a sappy grin, waving to the bartender.
“I shouldn’t even be serving you,” the man announced with a sigh, but quickly relented at the sight of a handful of coins.
Squall raised an eyebrow as Seifer slid the freshly-filled glass to him. “How many of these have you already had?”
Seifer grunted in response. “Not enough.”
Surprising both of them, Squall grabbed the glass and took a long swig. The stuff was truly awful, and the expression on Squall’s face made that clear as day. It also made Seifer laugh again.
“Look, you should come back to Garden,” Squall finally said after downing half the glass’s contents.
Seifer chuckled as he peered at the drink, finally raising his gaze to the other man. “Need more liquid courage?”
Squall was unamused. “You’re a real ass, Seifer.”
“…yeah.” The word came out quieter than Squall expected, and there was more than a tinge of sadness. Regret. He was sure if Seifer had been sober, he’d never have let Squall hear it.
“Look, I’m not good at all this feeling stuff, but…” Squall rubbed the back of his neck before taking another sip from the glass. “You gotta just… I dunno, do better.”
“Do better?” Seifer repeated with a snort. “Like I’ll get any opportunities to.”
“Stop feeling so sorry for yourself,” Squall snapped with a frown. “You screwed up. Get up and own it and do better.”
Seifer frowned. “What, just like that?”
“Just do better,” Squall repeated. “If you think nobody’ll give you a chance, you really haven’t been paying any attention.”
Seifer’s jaw clenched tightly, and while many might assume it to have been in anger, Squall knew full well it meant something entirely different. “You know, Mr. Leader, you really need to work on your people skills.”
Squall actually laughed. “That’s a joke, coming from you.”
“A toast,” Seifer returned with a smirk, “to men with no people skills.”
There was a good long uncomfortable moment of silence between the two before Squall shook his head, tried to hide a smile, and picked up his glass.
“Attaboy!” Seifer barked with a sloppy grin before crashing his glass into the other. It was a wonder he didn’t shatter them both, though he did manage to shower them both with beer.
Squall took another long drink. “If we head out now, we can catch the next train to–”
“No way.” This time Seifer just reached behind the bar for the closest bottle he could find.
Geez, where the hell is the bartender? Squall had no interest in provoking Seifer by taking the bottle away, but he was sure this wouldn’t end well.
“Come on, Seifer,” Squall pleaded, crossing his arms. “Rinoa’s expecting us back.”
“You really think she expects you to drag me back by my hair this quickly?” Seifer asked. “She knows both of us better than that.”
“Look, Seifer…” Squall’s brow furrowed deeply as Seifer again reached behind the bar to grab two shot glasses. “You’re gonna get thrown out of here.”
“Good.” Seifer poured out two shots and slid one of them to Squall. “Bottom’s up, chickenshit.”
“Wha–???” Squall pouted as Seifer stared at him expectantly. This was not how he expected their first bonding session to go. Well, what’s the worst that could happen? Squall sighed – loudly – and picked up the shot glass.
“Look at you, Squall Leonhart,” Seifer returned with a smile wider than any Squall had seen before. “Bottom’s up!”
And that was how Seifer got Squall fall-down drunk in the Dollet Dukedom.
The entire train ride home had been a nightmare. Every single sound that Squall heard seemed louder than an angry t-rexaur, and though Seifer seemed to very much be in the same boat, he also seemed extremely entertained by Squall’s suffering.
“…can’t believe I let you talk me into that.”
“Congratulations, Squall, you finally lived a little.” Seifer’s smile was weary, but genuine. “Guess I’ll have to thank Rinoa for forcing you to come fetch me.”
“No,” Squall returned with a wince. “You’re not gonna tell her anything about what happened.”
Seifer raised an eyebrow. “How do you plan to explain that shiner?”
“I–, well, I hadn’t, uh…”
Squall’s obvious discomfort once again prompted a laugh. “Look, Squall,” he began with a self-assured smile, “if there’s one thing I can teach you, it’s how to lie to Rinoa.”
The two men stared at each other in silence for a moment. “Do you hear yourself when you speak?”
Seifer paused a moment. “Yeah I guess that came out wrong.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Well, you don’t want to tell her the truth,” Seifer continued, “but you don’t want to lie…”
Squall quite nearly growled in frustration.
“Look, I have an idea,” Seifer offered.
“I’m sure it’s awful.”
“It’s perfect,” Seifer assured him with a grin. “Just tell her you don’t want talk about it.”
Squall frowned. “How will that help?”
“When you refuse to talk about it, she’ll come ask me,” Seifer explained. “And when I tell her the unfettered truth, she’ll never believe me.”
“…what?”
“She’ll think I’m making it up to embarrass you,” Seifer told him. “See? Perfect solution, with no lying.”
Squall sighed. “Fine, but if this doesn’t work–”
“What, don’t you trust me?”
Squall couldn’t help but smile. “Not even a little bit.”