FFVIII: Origins (Epilogue)

[edenbound]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Irvine/Selphie, Quistis/Rinoa, Seifer/Squall
Warnings: Sap
Chapter: Epilogue, final
Rating: PG13
Summary: And to every vacation there is an end.

Squall is the first out of the car, perhaps predictably. He looks around as if he’s half expecting Garden to have burned down, been nuked or else have had a whole new paint job without his approval, in his absence. In reality, very little has changed, except Xu now has a couple of fan boys. She, like Quistis, is possessed of a rather nice pair of legs perfect for being shown off by short, neat, regulation SeeD uniform skirts.

“Did anything happen while I was away?”

Xu rolls her eyes. “Well, let’s see… Galbadian forces attacked Garden and killed all the junior classmen, there was a revolt in Quistis’ class when a different instructor arrived to teach, Trabia Garden mutinied and formed an independent military academy, and Cid had a heart attack, but it’s all under control.”

“Business as usual, then,” Squall says, straight-faced.

“Pretty much, sir.”

Seifer gets out of the car, grumbling a little about the long journey. Squall looks at him and gives him a look that is half exasperated and half hopelessly, openly affectionate. Seifer smirks and wraps an arm around Squall. After a moment, Selphie jumps out of her own car, followed by Irvine and Zell, and Quistis and Rinoa emerge from the first car.

Xu looks round at them all. “It looks like a lot has happened for you guys since you left.”

Selphie nods, grinning and looking triumphant, as if she knew and predicted it all along – half as if it was all her own doing. “Seifer and Squall finally admitted that the whole rivalry thing was just sexual tension and now they’re fucking. Quistis and Rinoa got together as well, before Seifer and Squall did, and they’re just really cute and sappy all the time.”

“We’re not just fucking,” Seifer says, before he can stop himself.

“No, we’re not,” Squall says, agreeing. Seifer looks both surprised and pleased to hear that. And a little smug, too, of course.

Xu remembers that smug look from all the countless times Seifer did something to be proud of. Something he could be proud of, anyway, even if most people didn’t think it was particularly worthy of pride. And, she has to admit, somehow getting through Squall’s layer of inhibitions about relationships has to be a difficult task, and Seifer probably deserves some praise at least for actually managing it. Managing it and, what’s more, inspiring a look of softness and calmness in Squall’s eyes, which she remembers mostly as being cool and calculating.

Squall raises an eyebrow at her when she appears lost in thought. “Xu? Have you left me any work to do?”

“There’s some paperwork you specifically have to sign, I left that in your room. Other than that, there’s a couple of hours worth of paperwork left to do.”

“I’ll start on that now.”

“You’d better not be working late,” Seifer says, frowning a little. In answer, Squall actually steals a kiss – in full view of everyone – and walks off. Xu watches him go, and thus only catches Seifer’s proud, amused, happy smile as it fades.

Xu turns to Quistis, who is only too glad to talk at more length about what has been going on. Rinoa mostly stands with her, adding comments, but she breaks away for a moment to hug Selphie and Irvine goodbye – since she’ll be heading back to Timber shortly – and say something to Seifer, who gets a rather huffy look on his face.

When Squall walks into his office, papers in his hand, Seifer is waiting there, leaning back against the desk. His expression is neutral, and for a second Squall is actually worried that they’re going to have an argument about his workload already. Then he closes the door behind himself and Seifer moves to grab him – turning them both and pushing Squall back until he is the one against the desk, trapped by Seifer’s arms.

“Why was Rinoa going on about you needing a tall, blond and handsome young secretary?”

“Because that’s Rinoa for you,” Squall says, rolling his eyes. “Before we got together – before Selphie came up with the idea of a quest, even – she always used to say that either I had to make a move on you or hire a tall young male secretary, with blond hair and green eyes and a tendency to like men.”

Seifer kisses Squall eagerly – almost possessively. “That won’t be necessary now, of course.”

“Of course not.”

“And if you do get a secretary…”

“Hmm?”

Seifer kisses Squall again, pressing against him and moving his hands from resting on the desk at either side of him so that he can wrap his arms around him tightly, running his hands up and down his back briefly before hugging him tightly. “You have me now, to fulfil the criteria of tall, blond, handsome, young and green-eyed. And gay. So you won’t be needing that kind of secretary.”

Squall smiles a little. “No, I won’t.”

“So, if you get a secretary…”

“What?”

“It needs to be a woman. I’m thinking small, possibly old? Dark hair, of course, and… blue eyes. Brown eyes. Something like that. Preferably a lesbian.”

Squall snorts softly. “Don’t worry. Even if my secretary is tall, blond, young, handsome and gay and even if he’s wonderful in bed, I’ll make a point of being nasty to him.”

“Are you saying I’m not wonderful in bed?”

“There’re some points you can improve on,” Squall says, with a smirk that quite betrays all the lustful feelings stirred up in him, partly by the simple feel of Seifer’s body against his, and partly by the thoughts of being in bed with him. “I’ll write them down for your future reference.”

“I’m damn good in bed,” Seifer says, sounding a little stung.

Squall kisses him again. “You did make me scream.”

Seifer smirks a little. He isn’t planning on letting Squall go for quite a long time. Possibly the rest of the day. He doesn’t even particularly mind just sitting around and watching Squall working. He just feels an almost insatiable urge to be with Squall, watch him, touch him… He just wants to sit there and be there, be there, listening to the sound of his breathing, the scratch of his pen on the paper. Seifer feels almost hyperaware of all that, and he wants to savour it before he starts taking it for granted.

He’s glad to know more about his parents. But he’s even more glad that this quest somehow brought them together. He’s been so, so lucky.