Disclaimer: Characters belong to their owners, not to me.

Warnings: Yaoi and fluff with some angst

Paring: SeiferxRiku; one-sided Soriku

This is the sequel of Silver Tears, and is set several months after those events. I wanted to set the two stories apart because this story is meant to contain more fluff than angst. However, considering the events that took place in the first part, I can't say that it's pure fluff. Riku's already haunted in the canon universe; I just made it worse for him.

The first segment here may seem out of place, but it will be alluded to later in this part, and hence why it's short.

Beta: Chibs

His silver hair fell like a curtain as he sat, looking at his books, and occasionally pushing some hair out of his face. Only when someone approached him did he look up.

"Go out with me." It was a blunt statement. Seifer always liked to get to the point.

Riku's face flushed with embarrassment, and a small smile appeared on his face. "No, Seifer. Thank you, but…I know your track record."

Seifer stared because he could. It was unfortunate for him that he wasn't quite at the right angle in the café to fully see Riku's face. He could tell that Riku had a slight smile on his face as he listened to his friends talk about who-knows-what.

Kairi sat straight up in her chair, hands clasped in her lap, and red hair framing her face. Her eyes sparkled with mirth, her smile stretching across her face to show her white teeth. Seifer could admit that she was pretty cute, though the way she held herself reminded him of a princess. At least she didn't act like one, but it still made Seifer steer clear of her. Besides that, it was the person beside her that made him never ask her out.

Sora sat directly across from Riku. He talked animatedly, his arms moving so much that it was a wonder he didn't knock things over. He appeared more relaxed than Kairi, but Seifer knew for a fact that he could be on his feet and in a fighting stance within seconds. As much as Seifer didn't like Sora, he admired Sora's strength. Those muscles came from fighting, and not a mere workout at a gym. No, Seifer had seen Sora fight. He was swift, innovative and could pack a punch. In a fight, his whole demeanor changed, his eyes sharp and piercing, the smile wiped from his face. Usually, however, he smiled. The huge grin that showed way too much teeth definitely gave Sora the aura of being a mere clown. His hair still looked like it had never seen a comb before. He had just enough fat on his body that he appeared younger than his age, but not enough to obscure his cheekbones.

Hayner, Pence and Olette, as usual, were also with them, but he didn't pay too much attention to them. Instead, he looked at what he could see of Riku.

Riku intrigued him from the moment they met. Riku spoke casually to him, almost as if he knew Seifer. His blue eyes felt like they had pierced into him, almost as if he could see all of Seifer's mistakes. That, or he had just been a bit angry at being called 'kitten.' Seifer didn't bother to ask.

His silver hair looked as if they would feel like thin threads of silk and they framed his oval face. And his lips…well, Seifer imagined that they were quite soft and full, even though the rest of Riku's body was quite hard.

Seifer knew that Sora wasn't the only one with strength. Before Riku's rape, he had fought, and given quite a few good hits to his opponents. His muscles weren't huge, but definitely defined, including his abs. Seifer dreamed about those abs, and just about everything else. He wanted to feel those long legs wrapped around his waist.

It was unfortunate for Seifer's brain that Riku started to wear even baggier clothing after the assault, though he could understand why. He missed the tiny glimpses of skin that could be seen when he moved. If the weather wasn't nice, Seifer was sure that Riku would have worn long, baggy sweaters instead of the oversized t-shirt he wore. Well, at least he got to look at his arms…

A kick brought him back to his senses. He glared at Fujin.

"Kick a little harder, why don't you?" he said.

"Staring," Fujin merely stated. She was a good friend, but often appeared intimidating to others. She barely showed any emotions on her round face, and spoke to a bare minimum. Sometimes Seifer wondered how he could interpret her one-word language.

"There's no law against staring," he replied.

"You're making them nervous, ya know?" said Raijin, sitting right next to Fujin. There were barely any other words but 'big' that could describe Raijin. He had grown to be a burly man…who also happened to have the mentality of a good teddy bear. Rai seemed to smile enough for both himself and Fujin.

Seifer glanced over at the others again. Hayner glared at him, which came as no surprsie. There was no love lost between them. However, Sora followed Hayner's line of sight, and soon two glares were directed in his direction. Despite his displeasure at the two, at least they were useful for something. Their actions led Riku to wonder what distracted them, which made Riku turn to look at him.

He smirked at Riku, not even bothering to hide his previous actions. This earned him a slight coloration of cheeks, as well as a roll of the eyes, before Riku turned around to talk to the others.

"Seifer, man, you're worrying us," said Raijin, shaking his head. "Dontcha think this obsession with Riku's a bit much?"

The lack of the statement 'ya know' that Raijin often overused to end a sentence made him focus back on his friends. He frowned.

He supposed that there were good reasons to worry about him. He never hesitated with relationships. If he found someone attractive, then he'd go after that person. If they said 'no,' then he'd just shrug his shoulders and move on to someone else. He suspected that his friends weren't exactly supportive of such methods. On the other hand, he didn't go around and have one-night stands all the time. In fact, he usually at least tried to know the person. It simply wasn't his fault he didn't find any of them attractive enough to stay with them for longer than a few weeks. The point was that usually he didn't allow rejections or past relationships to get in the way…usually, but not this time.

After helping Riku, Seifer's focus on others kept straying. He tried to hook up with a few people, but as time passed and he watched Riku getting better, physically and mentally, Seifer had trouble actually doing anything beyond making-out. He'd imagine those piercing aqua eyes and long silver hair, and he couldn't continue with the relationship. It somewhat humiliated him, especially as rumors spread that he was having a dry spell. He even once caught Hayner joking about it with his friends. That led to another fight between them.

After the incident, Fujin and Raijin pulled him aside to talk about it. His actions were very atypical, and they knew immediately why.

Raijin thought that perhaps because he had helped Riku, then he felt some sort of connection to him. Seifer could not decide if that was wisdom or some sort of weird earthy-voodoo-something idea. Fujin remained mostly quiet on the subject, but occasionally, he thought he saw her smirk out of the corner of his eyes whenever he watched Riku.

Then, about a week ago, he decided that waiting was overrated. He approached Riku in the library and asked him out. Riku's voice was soft when he rejected him. This time, however, the rejection left a bitter taste in his mouth. He knew that Riku had to be somewhat attracted to him in order to talk to him on occasion and even blush if they stood too close. Not that Seifer did that on purpose…

"What's there to worry about?" he asked.

"It's not like you to want someone this bad, ya know?"

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Yeah, I know."

For just a second, he thought he saw Fujin smirk again, but when he looked at her, she merely raised an eyebrow. One day, he was going to catch her.

"What?" he said instead.

She shrugged.

He didn't have a chance to question her when the shout of, "Sora," from numerous voices made him look once more in Riku's general direction.

Fujin and Raijin stood up as Sora approached them, a frown marring his face. His friends stood as well, looking over at them to see what would happen, slight frowns on their faces to indicate their agitation. Riku, however, blushed an even darker shade of red, which delighted Seifer. It was a shame that Sora came to stand right in front of him, blocking his view.

Seifer remained seated, leaning his head on his curled hand and looking up with a smile on his face.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I don't want to play any games with you. I know what you did for him, and I'm grateful for that, but from now on, stay away from him."

Seifer stood up, the smile no longer on his face. "You're not his boyfriend. What right do you have to talk to me that way?"

"Because I'm his best friend, and I know you asked him out. I don't want you using him and then throwing him away. He deserves better than that."

All of Seifer's muscles tightened. He thought about starting a fight, but knew that wouldn't earn him any points with Riku.

"Who said I'd do that?"

"I've heard about your relationships. I know that you don't exactly just play with people, but you've never stayed with anyone, either."

"Maybe this time'll be different."

Sora snorted. "He won't go out with you. He doesn't trust you."

"Then maybe I'll just prove to him that I can be a reliable boyfriend."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Court him?" The half smile on Sora's face was mocking. It really pissed Seifer off.

"Sure."

This one word seemed to stun Sora, who took a step back, all expressions wiped from his face except confusion.

"Huh?"

Seifer smirked. "Thanks for the idea. That sounds like the perfect plan."

He walked around Sora, his mind already formulating several different ideas as he walked towards Riku. He ignored everyone else.

"Seifer," Riku managed to say before Seifer took his hand in his, and gave it a kiss.

"I hope you don't mind too much, Riku, but I'll prove to you I'm serious."

And with that, Seifer left the café.