edenbound | FFVIII: Persistant Pursuit

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Seifer/Squall
Warnings: Squall POV, sap
Rating: PG
Summary: Seifer will never give up on making Squall love him. Converted from a roleplay with candywrapper.

Seifer Almasy is one of the most annoying, arrogant, persistant and yet somehow endearing men on the planet. In fact, I think he might hold the number one prize for it, except I don't know everyone in the world and he is the only guy to ever chase me with quite that persistance. In fact, he's probably the only one to ever chase me, but then, I'm told I'm clueless about these things, too.

That day, he was waiting for me, sat on the steps in front of the elevator, so that when I (finally) got out of my office, he knew. The minute I was out of the elevator, he stood up, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and grinning a little. “Hey, princess.”

“Seifer,” I said, coolly and rather cautiously, raising an eyebrow slightly at him.

“Ah, you recognised me,” he said, smirking a little and tightening his arm around my shoulders, forcing me to move closer. He was enjoying himself far too much, enjoying the touch of drama he could put into it. “Was it my dashing good looks that gave me away?”

“What do you want?”

“A kiss,” he said, shrugging slightly.

He'd pulled the exact same scene before. Though I'd never heard him say it like that, so simply, so easily, just “a kiss”. And it made my heart leap.

I did like him, whether I showed it or not. And I admit that I enjoyed the attention. The fact that he wouldn't give up on me, no matter what I did, no matter what I said to him.

“And you think I'm going to kiss you... why?”

“Because you know you want to,” he said, smirking again, and reaching up to cup my cheek. His skin was rough against my cheek, though the touch was gentle.

Unfortunately, he was right.

I might even have kissed him then if I hadn't seen Xu going past. I'd been trying to get hold of her all day – and that wasn't just an excuse. I pulled away from Seifer quickly enough that he couldn't grab me, hurrying down the steps and turning at the bottom, looking up at him and feeling a little stab at his disappointed expression.

“See you later, Seifer.”

He lifted his hand and waved to me, smiling a little, and causing a little stab of longing inside me.

I wasn't oblivious to him, after all.

I was just... cautious.

-----

He loved being over dramatic, though. He had decided he was going to win me, whether I liked it or not, I think. And maybe he knew that I felt the same way about him, maybe he knew that I just needed to be persuaded to give in to my desires.

But I felt it was a little dramatic when he walked into my office as if he owned the place, walked around the desk and went down on one knee beside me, holding out a small black velvet box.

“What are you up to now?” I asked, as he did it, but just doing it was his only answer. I tried to be casual, glancing at him briefly and then returning to a troublesome column of figures. I think I counted up that column a million times while he was in the room.

“Hey, I'm asking you to marry me here,” he protested when it was obvious I wasn't going to say anything. He moved a little closer, staying down on one knee.

It still confuses me as to how he can do a thing like that, so casually, so easily, just almost on the spur of the moment like that. I'd never do a thing like that.

Mind you, I've never pictured myself married at all.

“Why? You haven't even managed to get me to kiss you yet.”

He shrugged slightly, offering a lopsided smile. “I thought you might finally go on a date with me then.”

“It's things like this that convince me you're not serious enough to have me,” I said, trying to sound somewhat absent, like I wasn't hanging on every word he said, memorising the tone of his voice, mentally undressing him every time I glanced at him. He probably knew anyway, but I made the attempt. I was on my third try at adding up that column of numbers.

“Oh no,” he said, sighing and getting up. I pitied him a little for a second, when I heard that sigh, and glanced at him as he stretched his legs and looked down at me with that oh-so-familiar look of disappointment. “But fine, if you don't want to...”

I hesitated, then said it, but I was careful not to look at him. The patterns on the wood of my desk suddenly became most interesting. “It's not that I wouldn't marry you, if you weren't so rash and impulsive and... changeable.”

About then, I managed to get that column of numbers added up, finally, but before I could write the answer down, he spoke, distracting me and sending the number straight out of my head again.

“Changeable?” he snorted softly, putting the box back into his pocket. “We'll see about that.”

“And how do you plan to prove yourself to me?”

I tried to sound dismissive. Disinterested.

It wasn't working.

“By not giving up until you give in,” he said, simply, grabbing my hand and taking it into his, pulling it up and brushing a kiss over the back of it. I thought it was the palm of the hand that was supposed to be most sensitive, but apparently I was wrong. Nerve endings sparked all over the place and my heart skipped a beat again.

“No matter how long that takes?”

“If it takes me till we're both old and gray,” he said, grinning a little.

“Why?” I asked, and made the mistake of turning to him, raising an eyebrow. And found I couldn't look away when I wanted to distance myself again.

I'd been a little bitch when I was still a cadet. Apparently, I'd lost the knack, somewhere between then and after the war. It was probably Rinoa or Laguna's fault, though it's very hard to pin the blame exactly for things like that.

“One of us has to do it,” he said, shrugging.

I snorted. “What kind of reason is that?”

“A good one,” he smirked, pulling away from me, blowing a kiss as he left.

What an idiot.

I loved him desperately, even then, and though I wanted him and longed for him, I was frightened that once I gave into him, he'd consume me, let me love him too much, and then, impulsive as ever, leave me. I was frightened of things changing, frightened of tipping the balance between us, always delicate, the wrong way.

-----

I knew he'd react when he heard the rumour. I was hoping that he would be understanding, but I wasn't about to go and talk to him. That was always his job. He would always come to me, and I wasn't about to change that.

He wasn't as understanding as I'd hoped.

And that, I think, is an understatement.

He came into my office in the same way as always, as if it belonged to him, not bothering to knock, but this time he slammed the door shut behind him and stalked up to me, slapping his hands down on the desk and getting up in my face, glaring, his voice raised. “Sometimes I really wonder I even fucking bother with you.”

I admit that I flinched a little.

“What the hell are you going on about?”

“You. You and this client guy, I don't care who he is,” Seifer made a visible effort to calm down a little, his hands clenching into fists at his sides, “you slept with him!”

I raised an eyebrow at him, trying to be the exact opposite of him. Calm. Cool. It wasn't working. His presence normally set me on edge, and his anger brought my own out, hot as his. “And why is that any of your business?”

His eyes narrowed. “You ask me to be serious about you, and I don't even fucking question it. I just do it, and you can't even do the same for me? You're scum, Leonhart.”

It hurt.

“We never discussed me being serious about you,” I said, cold as ice, scribbling down a number before he could drive it from my head like before, still trying to work, trying to be calm.

His fist slammed into my desk and then he grabbed my shirt, dragging me closer across the desk. “That's not fair and you know it.”

“You're not helping your case here, Seifer,” I snorted softly, breaking his grip on me and sitting back down. It hurt to know that he couldn't even trust me. That he wouldn't even ask whether I'd actually done it. Or fuck, why I'd done it.

The fight went out of him all at once, and for a split second, there was that fucking disappointed look again that made my heart lurch in my chest. He turned to go. “Fine, whatever, see you around.”

I let him get almost to the door before I shoved my chair back, catching up with him and stopping him, catching him by the shoulder so he swung around to face me. I held still for a heartbeat, two heartbeats, and then leaned up, kissing him hard and quickly, stepping away before he could get his hands on me.

“Asshole, I didn't sleep with him.”

He looked stunned and that did wonders to my stomach. He reached up to touch his lips, as if he couldn't believe what I'd done.

After all the fighting, after all his persistance, after he'd stood there and shouted at me just seconds ago, I'd shut him up, I'd made him speechless, I'd made him feel like he'd died and gone to heaven and the feeling of it, for me, was intoxicating.

“You could have asked me,” I said, softly, looking up at him and giving him a hint of a smile, “instead of assuming that that stupid rumour was true. Besides, I go for blondes, the guy they're talking about has black hair.”

I turned and walked back to my desk.

He took a moment to move, and when he did, he walked out almost dreamily, grinning like an idiot.

-----

Seifer took his plans a step further after that. He wasn't put off at all, by anything, now. He was there every time and I turned around it – and I liked it. I loved to be with him, even if I'd never show it, even if we were barely together more than five minutes each time.

I was with my father, Laguna, when he came up to us. Most people left me alone when he was in Garden. Even my secretary and Quistis. They let me have the time with my father that I'd never had with either parent before.

But Seifer never did like following unwritten rules. We had enough trouble getting him to obey written rules, after all.

“I'm sorry, can I interrupt for just a minute?”

I gave Laguna an apologetic look and turned to look at Seifer. I was gruff, as if I didn't want to see him, though there was a smile fighting its way out. “What now?”

He reached into his pocket and I almost sighed at what I knew was coming. He sank down on one knee, looking up at me, his gaze as teasing and hopeful and loving as every other time.

I blushed. And then I looked at Laguna, seeing that he was just smiling indulgently, and then looked back at Seifer, a little snappish. I hadn't expected him to do that in front of my dad. “Don't you get tired of doing that?”

“Not as long as I might get yes as an answer.” He opened the box, letting me see the ring that I had yet to even properly look at. I resisted the urge to take it from the box, look at it, maybe even say yes. “I told you I'd never give up.”

Instead of taking the ring, I refused to answer and looked away, glancing at Laguna, who smiled a little more and reached to wrap an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Squall, don't leave the poor man hanging like that.”

I rolled my eyes. “How many times have you done this now, Seifer?”

“This marks number five,” he said, undaunted, shrugging slightly. His eyes didn't move from mine. And he kept smiling.

“Get up, you idiot,” I said after a moment, smiling back at him, just a little.

“Is that a yes?” he asked, raising his eyebrow, and the hope in his voice... I closed my eyes, listening so closely that I could hear him breathing, and I fought back the urge to say 'yes'.

“No. It's an 'I'll give you my answer soon'.”

But I didn't, couldn't, stop myself from moving close and kissing him, not quick enough this time to catch him completely by surprise. He kissed back and all I wanted to do was fall into his arms and stay there.

But that isn't my style. I pulled away.

It was only our second kiss.

“I'll leave you be, then,” he said, unperturbed.

“Thank you,” I said to him, and then, as he left, turned to Laguna. “Sorry.”

He smiled brightly, shaking his head and watching Seifer as he left before turning to look at me again. “He must be pretty stubborn if that was the fifth time.”

“He's been chasing me for four or five years.”

“That long? That's admirable.” Laguna's eyebrow went up, but his expression was amused more than anything else. I hoped he wasn't laughing at Seifer, because it was me that forced Seifer into the stupid chasing game. And I was almost ready to give in.

I shrugged slightly and tried to change the subject. “If you want to talk more, why don't we go to my office or something to be more comfortable?”

He nodded, but didn't drop it, smiling and putting an arm around my shoulders again. “You're a lucky man. He seemed pretty devoted to you.”

“Sort of,” I said, a little absently. I had used the same trick on Seifer so many times, and though he never bought it, I'd hoped Laguna would. He didn't. He knew how much Seifer meant to me right then, probably. “I wouldn't... That was only our second kiss, just then.”

His eyebrow went up again. “I see. So why haven't you said yes yet? Or no?”

I trusted Laguna then. That change I can pin the blame on Rinoa for. She ordered me to speak to her, Laguna or Seifer when I was upset, and somehow, with her urging me, I'd got into the habit. And it was mostly Laguna that I spoke to, though I'd never told him about Seifer before.

“Because...” I said, and then trailed off, looking for the words as I showed Laguna into my office. “I do love him. And want to marry him. But the he is, he's... irrational and impulsive and changeable and that... I guess it frightens me that I could get vulnerable to him and then he could change his mind.”

“He's been after you for almost five years... and you're afraid he's changeable and impulsive?”

Put like that, it sounded pretty damn stupid.

“He used to be, anyway,” I said, almost defensive, as we both sat down and I found the tips of my fingers the most interesting thing in the room. “The way he asked me to marry him the first time, he just walked in, went down on one knee and asked me as if he really expected me to say yes. I doubt he even thought it through properly.”

Laguna's laugh was soft, almost gentle, and his smile was gentle. “Okay, impulsive maybe, but I can't think of any other man who wouldn't have given up after over four years.”

“He knows I want him. That's why he keeps it up.”

He gets up, moving closer to me and wrapping his arms around me. A father's embrace. It's funny, I thought I'd never know it, had never known it and didn't care, but it was nice. “So he wants you. And you want him. And you both know it. I'm missing the problem, Squall.”

“I can't...”

He nodded slightly and ran his fingers through my hair, squeezing me gently. “Think about it.”

I was quieter than ever when I finally spoke. “I'm afraid of what will change if I let him in.”

I didn't expect Laguna to laugh.

But as always, his voice was gentle. And this time, almost teasing. “Are you sure he isn't already in?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think you let him in long ago,” he smiled, knowingly.

“How d'you mean?”

“You love him,” Laguna said, patient, but laughing a little. I think we both found it absurd that he was advising me about relationships. We both knew how bad he'd been with Julia. “He's gotten to you already, the only thing that would really change if you said yes is that you'd be spending a lot more time together.”

And we'd share a bed. And fuck. And he'd be there at night, holding me, close to me –

I cut off those thoughts quickly and focused on Laguna's words instead, nodding slowly. He ran his hand through my hair again, smiling a little, and watched me for a moment before pulling away.

“You keep thinking about that, but not too much. I'm going to get a little rest.”

In that moment, I made a decision.

I think I'd been making the decision, quietly, in some part of myself for years. I think that part of me had it's heart set on marrying Seifer from the first time he went down on one knee. It'd had it's mind made up for a long time. And it suddenly became the dominant part of me.

“Okay. Do you need me to show you to the room where you usually stay?”

“I think I can find it without getting lost by now,” he said, shaking his head, and I was relieved. I thought I knew where I could find Seifer and I wanted to find him right then.

“If you get lost, someone else will probably know,” I said, and showed him out of my office, watching him to make sure he at least started in the right direction before almost running for the elevator, taking it down.

I was heading for the quad, where I knew Seifer often hung out during the day, when there was nothing much else to do. I'd never gone to look for him myself, of course – he was the one who chased me, after all – but I still knew where to find him.

My heart jumped when I saw him there, and I tried not to run over to him, but my legs were listening to my heart, not my head. I stopped in front of him and caught my breath quickly. “Get the stupid ring out and go down on one knee, if you want to do it properly,” I almost snapped, and he moved quickly, near throwing himself down on one knee and grabbing that black velvet box that I'd seen five times already, taking my hand and holding it in his gently.

I looked down at him, taking it in again. His eyes, brighter than ever with hope, and fixed on my face. He was smiling, not smirking, and it wasn't like he felt he'd won. He was just smiling. And his hand was warm.

“Yes. I'll marry you.”

I offered him a shy smile as he slipped the ring onto my finger, brushing a kiss over my hand before standing up. I stepped closer, biting my lip and then he wrapped his arms around me, suddenly, tightly.

“I love you.”

“I know,” I breathed, pressing close to him and wrapping my arms around his neck, “I love you too.”

And he kissed me. Not like our first kiss, hard and brief and possessive, stating that he belonged to me and I to him. Not like our second kiss, which was just reassurance. A real kiss. A kiss that had me moving closer and tightening my arms around his neck, praying I wasn't being clumsy. A real kiss with closed eyes and too many feelings to count.

“Do you want to go somewhere more private so we can work out the 'details' of this?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, mostly teasing, stealing another kiss before I could even get coherent enough to answer.

“If I've been in your dreams as often as you've been in mine, I'd say it's long overdue,” I said, softly, teasing back a little, but still a little serious too.

He nodded, kissing me deeply and hmming softly. He pulled back with a little grin. “Why aren't we going yet?”

I laughed. “We are. Now.”

I caught his hand in mine, tangling our fingers, pulling away from him reluctantly and pulling him along out of the quad.

-----

The first time we had sex was amazing and perfect and so good that I don't think I'll ever have words for it. It was exactly what I'd been longing for, and hopefully, exactly what he'd wanted, too. We stayed there in bed, wrapped up together, for a long time, not even bothering to speak.

After a while, though, I snuggled a little closer, tangling our legs and nuzzling against his shoulder until he reached up to brush my hair out of my face, kissing my forehead and nuzzling back gently. I pressed closer, feeling that I could never be close enough.

“Was I worth the wait?”

“More than worth it,” he said, and gave me a soft kiss, wrapping his arms tightly around me.

“You're sure?”

“Absolutely,” he said, laughing quietly at my insecurity. I put my hand over him mouth to stifle his laughter, stealing a kiss first, and giving him a mock-hurt look.

“Hmm, don't laugh at me.”

He licked teasingly at my hand and, as I pulled it back, kissed the inside of my wrist. “I've got to do something now I can't run up to you and propose any more.”

“I'll sort of miss that,” I admitted with a snort. “You'll have to think of something else.”

He kissed me, a hand resting on my hip as he pushed up against me, his kiss eager again after a time of purely soft and gentle kisses. “Running up to you and kissing you senseless.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Or drag you here to make up for lost time,” he suggested, kissing me again and tugging at my lower lip with his teeth. I made a soft sound and pressed close, giving him a teasing look.

“We could just stay here all the time.”

“I wouldn't protest that.”

“But I suppose I have work to do...” I huffed, exaggerating my disappointment a little. Then I sighed, not exaggerating so much this time. “We should get up, and dressed, soon, and go see my dad.”

“Hmm, soon,” he said, and kissed away a protest quickly, prompting me to wrap my arms around his neck. “First I want to see if we can repeat our earlier performance.”

“Oh?” I asked, smiling coyly, and he pushed up against me with a soft groan that answered the question perfectly.

-----

Laguna was sat on the small couch in my office, looking out of the window and trying not to seem too bored when I finally returned to my office. I gave him a quick, apologetic smile and returned the hug he gave me.

“Where have you been?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I had to go and see someone.”

“Oh?”

“I...” I wasn't sure what to say, and that brought a blush to my cheeks. I lowered my eyelids, looking at him carefully through my eyelashes. “I went to find Seifer, after we'd talked, and I... I said yes to him.”

He hugged me again instantly. “Squall, that's great!”

“It is,” I agreed softly.

“You see, it wasn't that hard or complicated at all,” he said, beaming at the fact that he had been right.

“There was one change that you didn't mention would happen,” I said, half teasing, a quarter embarrassed and a few fractions of other things, one of them being serious.

“And what's that?”

“You said we'd spend more time together, you... you didn't mention that I'd start wanting to spend all my time with him,” I explained, snorting softly and glancing at the door as, with perfect timing, Seifer came in. We'd agreed that he'd wait outside when I told my dad, but he was only too happy to do that. He walked straight to me and wrapped his arms around me, like he had to have a hold on me or he'd be scared I'd reject him again.

He had a point; though I would never go back on the decision my heart had made, I'd taken long enough to go with it.

“Hi,” he said to Laguna, smiling a little, and Laguna smiled back.

“You must be Seifer,” he said, a little ridiculously, since he'd already seen Seifer before, when he proposed to me for the fifth time.

“Yes, he's Seifer. And Seifer, this is my dad, call him Laguna or he'll flap around and assure you that you really don't have to call him president Loire and that, in fact, he'd hate it if you did.”

My dad had the good grace to look a little embarrassed.

“Will do,” Seifer said with a snort, nuzzling against my neck.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Seifer,” Laguna said, clearing his throat and gathering his dubious dignity. “But I think I should be on my way again.”

“You haven't been here long...”

“We're on our way to Deling City, really,” he said with a sigh, and then smiled teasingly. “And we could have talked more, but you were busy...”

I nodded, blushing a little. “It's your fault for persuading me to accept him, then. Anyway. You should visit again soon.”

“I will,” he promised. He put a hand on my arm, squeezing gently for a moment, sparing me the hug. He couldn't've have got to me for a proper hug, anyway, with the way Seifer was holding me, and much as I'd got to appreciate Laguna, I preferred Seifer's hold to his and wasn't about to wriggle free.

“And you'll have to visit when we get married.”

“Of course! I wouldn't dare miss it.”

We said our goodbyes and he left, leaving me and Seifer alone again. Not that I minded.

“I think that means everyone knows by now,” Seifer said, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me softly.

“Mmhmm. You haven't asked...” I bit my lip slightly, glancing up at him, wondering if I should mention it, “why I came to you, why I accepted you this time...”

He shrugged, running his hands up and down my back. “I'm just happy you did.”

“Okay.”

He kissed me again, and I kissed back, and let him hold me, and let him help me forget that I had three piles of work to finish by the next day.

FFVIII: Persistant Pursuit

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