FFVIII: Spellbound (4)

[edenbound]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Squall/Rinoa
Warnings: Squall POV
Chapter: Four
Rating: PG
Summary: Seifer needs Squall and Rinoa's help. For multi-chapter fics, warnings and pairings are chapter specific.


I didn't even wait for him to tell me more. I just got up, leaving a half drunk coffee there, feeling his eyes on me, hurt and... and wanting. He didn't call after me. I went back to Garden, back to my office, and buried myself in work.

At about lunchtime, I finally called my room to get hold of Rinoa.

“I found out what's wrong with Seifer,” I said, simply, not bothering with a greeting. No doubt that would annoy her, but I wasn't thinking of her feelings right now. I needed her to help me in a more professional sense and well, if she's going to work with SeeD now and then, she has to get used to our ways.

“Oh?” she asked, sounding only a little miffed. I sensed the way she would be leaning against the wall, pushing at something on the floor with her foot, impatient but not about to ask further. Shy. Embarrassed. She was neither of those things really, I thought, and nearly huffed out loud, rolling my eyes. Then I shook the thought off, going back to the right thoughts. Business.

“He's under a spell.”

“What kind of spell?” she asked, and I could almost see the little furrow between her eyebrows, the more intrigued, puzzled frown that said she was already putting two and two together. I used to think she was utterly stupid for planning all her plans on the floor of a train carriage in five minutes flat. The plans were stupid, but it showed she could think quickly, I supposed.

“A love spell.”

“Oh... oh!” she spoke with the air of someone who suddenly saw everything become clear. “A love spell. He's in love with you!”

I wished she wouldn't sound so pleased about it.

“Yes. I need your help to break it – ”

“I'll talk to him,” she promised.

I put the phone down quickly after that and went back to my work. I didn't expect to be disturbed again all day, but apparently that's too much of an ambition. Not too long after that phonecall, Xu opened the door to my office, poking her head in with a nervous smile. “Commander?”

I wanted to bang my head against the desk or something. Instead, I just sighed. “Yes, Xu?”

“Rinoa Heartilly and Seifer Almasy are here to see you.”

That combination spelt trouble.

I sighed again. “Let them in.”

For once, Rinoa didn't make a beeline for my lap. Instead, she and Seifer both took seats on the other side of my desk. It took me a while to figure out why Rinoa hadn't just come around to me. But it was obvious when she cast a sympathetic look at Seifer. She was trying to spare his feelings. Making sure he didn't have to see me with her.

It was ridiculous.

“What do you want?” I asked, rubbing my temples and putting aside the piles of work.

“I... I scanned his brain, but I can't find a trace of the spell. I need help finding it,” Rinoa said, quietly, fidgeting a little. For some reason, Seifer was smirking. His eyes were on me, intense and almost like a physical touch, even when I was trying to ignore it.

“I'm not a Sorceress,” I said, carefully. “How can I help?”

“We have a plan,” Rinoa started, and Seifer took a deep breath, getting up and pacing around a little.

“Rinoa suggested this, not me. So...” he paused, giving me another intense look. I almost squirmed a little. “I need to kiss you.”

“What the...?”

Rinoa stood up as well, leaning over the desk and making eye contact with me. “Squall, just listen before you decide, please. The spell has been really well camoflagued. But from what Seifer says... he's straight really, so normally he wouldn't, you know, want you. The spell makes him want you as well as love you. If he kisses you, maybe there'll be some spark there, you know? Maybe I'll be able to find the spell when it's working.”

“Seems to be working now,” I said, quietly, bitterly. Rinoa glanced over her shoulder and nodded slightly at seeing the way Seifer was staring at me.

“Well, yeah, but it needs to really work hard. Squall, please?”

Letting him kiss me would let her find the spell. Which would help her remove it. And if she removed it, then maybe Seifer and I could go back to normal. But would it be normal? After he'd fallen in love with me and all that? After he'd kissed me? And I didn't really want him to kiss me. The thought was... more than odd. It was completely alien. He was my rival. Not a potential boyfriend or whatever.

But I'd get back my sparring partner.

Was that worth letting Seifer kiss me? Letting him touch me? The idea of him kissing me made my stomach churn in a not at all comfortable way. At the same time, there were butterflies in my stomach at the thought. Hell, never mind butterflies, that's a girl thing. My stomach felt like a mess. And not in any kind of good way, at least, I didn't think so.

He was in love with me. Letting him kiss me, that would help Rinoa find out where the spell was. That would help her deactivate it. And then... Seifer was straight, before the spell. He'd be straight again. He'd be as disgusted by the memory of the kiss as me. That might just inject something new and better into our fights anyway.

Maybe it would be worth it.

I blinked a little as I realised they were both looking at me, waiting. I ran through the thoughts just one more time, biting my lip. I saw that Rinoa was biting the inside of her cheek, fidgeting a little. I didn't know if it would upset her if I said yes. Maybe it would and it wouldn't, simultaneously. I'd be helping Seifer, but also, well, cheating on her. I suppose. I wondered if she really wanted me to do it. If it was the only way. But she seemed to want me to do it – if Seifer was telling the truth and Rinoa came up with the plan, not him, things would be okay. Right?

“Alright,” I said, sighing and shaking my head slightly.

Rinoa clapped her hands, smiling brightly, “Okay! You can go on a date tomorrow!”

A date?

I repeated the thought aloud.

“Yeah, of course!” she said, smiling, far too enthusiastic for someone who was arranging for her boyfriend to go on a date with another man. “I need you to have the whole setting.”

I stayed silent.

Seifer smirked. “Gonna chicken out now, Leonhart?” he asked, without any of the old bite. It stung anyway.

“No. Fine. A date.”

“I'll sort out everything for you,” Rinoa said, still smiling brightly in a way that was becoming both infuriating and a little frightening. She leaned over to kiss me softly, then gave Seifer a soft kiss on the cheek. “Promise I'll help you if I can, Seifer.”

“Thanks, doll,” he said, with an odd look on his face. He looked at me again, his eyes hungry, and I finally understood that look. Want, need, love, desire, all of it. No wonder it made me shiver. I wanted to stop him looking at me. Kick his ass. But I knew it wouldn't help. Fuck, it'd probably have made him fall more in love with me or some stupid thing like that.

There was a short pause while Seifer looked at me, I looked at my desk, and Rinoa smiled in a pleased sort of way. Then I reached for my work and, one smirking, one smiling brightly and sweetly, both knew that was the cue to get out. They got out.

I buried my head in my hands and sighed softly.