"The Final Realization that Happened in the Kitchen"

Selphie had a massive party planned for her thirtieth. Everyone was due to arrive tomorrow, the day of, and she was busy making all the preparations, enlisting Nida's help mostly while Seifer tended to the business of the fields and the fruit selling business. Each on their own, Selphie and Nida were satisfactory cooks, even really good, but working together they were unstoppable in making the most delicious of creations. Of course, neither of them seemed to be as adept at making blueberry pancakes as Seifer, who had found his true calling in life ever since that first day making them.

Nida's turned out all right. The pancakes weren't for the party, but to keep the cooks fed and energized. The carbs would sufficiently keep them full so they didn't feel the need to steal scraps of what they were making for the party, which were not to be consumed until the party under any circumstance, desperate or otherwise.

"Here, I'll clean up while you start the next thing," Nida said. "Er-" He checked the tablet that held all the recipes Selphie had bookmarked, which Nida hadn't read until they were ready to make the next one. All he knew was the ingredients they had bought; what they were going to be used for was a complete surprise to him. Now as he read the next one his eyes bulged. "Are you sure this is a real thing?" He scrolled through it. "It sounds terrible. It might as well be called garbage can stew. I don't think there's one food group that's not in there."

Selphie snatched the tablet from him and wiggled her fingers for him to clean up. "I've read good reviews about it." She began picking out the ingredients for it and setting it on the newly-opened table space as Nida cleared away dishes.

The back door opened and Seifer came in, sweaty and covered in soil. He opened the fridge with an elbow, took out the pitcher of lemonade and drank straight from it.

"Seifer, use a glass," Selphie said.

He kicked the door closed and started to the cabinets that held the glassware. Nida, turning around sharply from the sink to grab the last dishes on the table, collided with him. Then came the sound of shattering glass and Seifer grunting, along with a chair as the big blond pulled it down with him in a vain attempt to catch himself.

"I'm so sorry!" Nida said, moving to help Seifer.

Selphie nudged Nida to the side and took Seifer's forearm, pulling him to a sitting position where he could rest back against the fridge. Seifer, eyes shut, clutched the side of his head, groaning. "The party isn't supposed to start until tomorrow," he complained.

Leaning her hands on her thighs, Selphie said, "Sorry, sorry. How bad does your head hurt? Do you want some ice?"

"No," he said and opened his eyes a little.

Selphie smiled. "Hey, there."

Nida held up three fingers. "Can you see okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Seifer closed his eyes again. "This guy serious?"

Selphie chuckled. "I'll tell him to lay off the booze next time. You got that, Nida?"

Opening one eye, Seifer, said, "Who the fuck is Nida?"

"What?" Nida's jaw dropped and his face went pale. "It's Nida-your pal! We used to go to Garden together. We-we-we-" He pointed a finger as he found the right word: "-worked together! trying to take down Sanctus, remember? I was always following Selphie around."

Selphie lifted a hand and bit down on a knuckle to keep from laughing.

Nida put his hands on Seifer's shoulders, shook him a little. "For the love of Hyne, please tell me you remember! Should we take you to a doctor?"

"Relax," Seifer said, pushing Nida off and getting to his feet. He was a little wobbly, and Selphie offered a hand to help him steady himself. He rubbed his head and then grinned down at Nida. "I know who you are, idiot. I'm just messing with you."

Nida blinked and then his shoulders sagged. "Oh. You . . . You remember. Gosh, I can't believe I fell for it." He chuckled a little. "Don't scare me like that, man! I was really worried there."

Selphie laughed now and put a hand on Nida in support.

"I wouldn't forget you, Nida," Seifer said, slapping him on the arm playfully.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Nida asked.

Seifer shook his head a little, as if clearing his equilibrium, and then nodded to answer Nida. "Yeah, yeah. Just a little bump. You think a fall like that would take me down?"

"Give it ten years," Selphie said and Seifer shook his head at her.

"I'll clean up that glass," Nida insisted, sweeping the two of them into the corner of the kitchen while he slowly and carefully began sweeping every inch of floor that might have contained glass.

Selphie put a hand on her hip and looked up at Seifer. "Your head really okay? Or were you just acting all macho?"

Seifer rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "I really wanted that lemonade."

"That's what you get," she said, poking him in the arm, "for not using a glass."

He grabbed her fingers to stop her poking him and held on tight so she couldn't escape. "I drink out of it all the time," he grumbled.

"Sure, but not when it's lemonade for guests," Selphie said and gave up tugging her fingers out of his grasp.

Feeling no resistance, he let go. "I would have drunk the whole thing anyway, leaving none at all for 'our guests.'"

"Well, there's none for them now," Selphie said, watching Nida, "so I guess it all came to the same end. I'll need to go get more lemons."

"I can get some," Seifer said.

Selphie smiled. "Thanks. Then I can start on that stew."

Seifer groaned. "That Hyne-awful recipe you showed me yesterday? Selphie, it's shit. It's what you feed to dogs when there's nothing good you can make with it for humans."

Nida lifted the dust pan full of glass, waved to them, and made his way out the back door and out of sight.

Selphie leaned around Seifer to look out the window. "Where's he going?" She glanced up at him. "We have a trash can, right?"

"Why are you looking at me? I didn't do anything with the trash can. You've been cooking in here for hours," Seifer said, looking down at her. He blinked and started a little, perhaps surprised at her proximity to him. But he quickly recovered and said, "He's probably going to melt it down and make another glass sculpture."

"Mmm," she hummed. "A plausible scenario. You should be a detective." She bit her lip and then laughed a little at that. "Detective Almasy, a cigarette in his mouth, a gun in his hand, and a woman on his arm. Criminals don't dare go out when Almasy's on the beat."

Seifer snorted. "The hell you talking about, Tilmitt?"

Again, she went back to poking him, but only once, in the chest. "Remember, you used to be on the Disciplinary Committee. You have experience. I'm sure they'd hire you."

He took her hand, even though she had only poked him once. "I'm not going to become a detective. Let people solve their own problems."

"Mmm," she hummed again with a smile. "I still think you'd make a good one. And I'm sure Esthar would hire you on as a cop, at the very least."

Seifer's eyebrows raised slightly, but he said nothing, just stared at her.

They stayed that way for a minute, and then Selphie said, "Can I have my hand back?"

"What?"

Maybe he hit his head harder than he thought.

"My hand," she said, eyes glancing down dramatically.

He let go and then gently moved her aside. "I need to go clean up. You have fun with that 'stew.'"

"I will," she promised him. "Thank you."

Seifer looked at her for a few seconds, and then when her eyes widened a little in a question, he started towards the living room.

A thought crossed her mind. "Hey, wait." She reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, stopping him. "You should still drink some water if you've been out all day. One sec." She held up a finger and then quickly took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the tap. "Stay hydrated. Remember how they used to say that at Garden? 'Dehydration is a soldier's worst enemy.'" She offered the glass to him.

"Right," he said, carefully taking the glass and chugging the whole thing down.

Selphie wiggled her fingers, asking for it back so she could set it in the sink.

Seifer looked at the glass, brows furrowed, and then extended it to her. She took it, but Seifer didn't let go. They both stood there, each holding the glass.

"Uh, Seifer?" Selphie prompted. "You sure you don't need any ice? Maybe you should sit down."

Seifer moved towards her, his hand still on the glass, until he stood right in front of her. "Thanks," he murmured, as he looked down at her, a gentle but unreadable expression on his face.

"No problem," she whispered, heart thumping in her throat. Okay, he definitely hit his head harder than he thought.

"Selphie," he said in a low voice, lips barely moving to say it. His hand lifted to cradle her face and then his head moved down, lips meeting hers.

The glass fell to the floor between them and shattered on the ground near their feet.

Selphie's hand came up, gently wrapping around Seifer's wrist, but she didn't try to pull him away, she just wanted to hold him. Because her chest was fluttering, much differently than when she had kissed Irvine so many years ago. The fluttering was hot, and the faster it got the more it spread the heat through her body until her face felt like it was burning, her lips most of all. She knew the heat of Ifrit well, had used it to power herself during a fight, but Ifrit was ice compared to Seifer. The fire that Seifer gave her was enough for her to evolve into a guardian force herself, more powerful even than Bahamut and Eden.

She had to take a breath, and it came out as a gasp. Seifer kept near, his forehead touching hers, a small, awed smile on his face. She breathed, "Seifer, I think you hit your head a little too hard."

Seifer laughed once, a soft one she'd never heard before.

The door slid open and Seifer pulled away to an unsuspicious distance.

"All taken care o-" Nida looked at the floor in despair. "Did I miss that?"

"I dropped a glass while you were gone," Seifer said. "I wanted to see if it would break."

Nida laughed in confusion. "Ha, what? Well, let me clean that up too. Selphie, you don't have shoes on, be careful!"

"Oh, you're right, I can-"

Seifer's arms moved behind her knees and he scooped her up into his arms. "I got shoes on."

Selphie blinked.

Nida looked at the arrangement with a tiny smile. "That's great. Thanks, Seifer."

Leaving Nida, the two of them vacated the kitchen. Well within the safe confines of the living room, and where Nida couldn't see them from the kitchen, Seifer set Selphie down.

"I should go get cleaned up," Seifer said, his voice betraying nothing, as if just a few seconds ago they hadn't been kissing in the kitchen over some broken glass. He looked like the same old Seifer, if only his gaze was a little softer than usual.

Selphie looked at him and faintly said, "Okay."

He took one step and Selphie was saying, "W-wait-Seifer, wait." She took his hand, her thumb running over one of the creases in his palm, filled with dirt from working in the fields for hours.

The nonchalance lifted, and he looked a little scared. You hate anything that breaks down that tough guy exterior you have. You probably kissed me without thinking, didn't you? And now you're regretting it.

"I wasn't just joking earlier," she said, voice careful and slow. "When I go to Esthar, it'd be nice if you came with me. You could do whatever you wanted there. You don't have to stay in Winhill forever."

He frowned. "After what I did, Selphie? They'd never let me back there."

"They will," Selphie said firmly. "I know them. Just like I know you. What's important is that you'd want to go. That's the only thing I'm worrying about."

Seifer tried to pull his hand away, but she held on tight.

"Come with me when I go," she said. "When I wake up and realize it's time to leave here. Come with me then. Roomies until we're eighty."

"Roomies?" he laughed a little and shook his head.

Selphie didn't laugh. "Okay, not roomies." She swallowed and then moved close to him, as he had done to her in the kitchen right before the kiss. "Something else, then."

Again, he breathed out her name: "Selphie . . ." But his face turned away. "I shouldn't have done that in there."

"Why not?"

"I'll just fuck everything up," he said. "I did it with Rinoa, I did with Garden, and I'll do it with you, too. That's just what I do."

Selphie scoffed. "If you ruined everything, do you think I'd still be here right now? What about Sanctus? What about you taking care of Amma and hunting monsters around here when no one else would? How about you going to Edea's and helping fix things up? You and the rest of the orphanage gang are all on good terms. If you really fucked things up all the time, you wouldn't be here either. You wouldn't have people that love and support you, that you love and support right back, even if you won't admit it."

She grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "Two years ago I wanted you dead, and now today I'm in love with you. How's that for a turnaround, huh? Does that sound like you fucking up?" She let go of his shirt and just rested her hand against his chest, suddenly self-conscious. Her eyes darted away.

"You should do what you want to do," she whispered, "instead of letting your fear of the future and the past hold you back. I know it's hard sometimes, but . . . that's why we're in this together. We have been since we met each other again at the orphanage. So, will you go to Esthar with me?"

She looked at him again.

Seifer was smiling the tiniest bit, and the warmth returned to her chest. "I'm an idiot," he said.

"And I'm a stubborn dumbass," she finished. "This isn't news."

Seifer laughed a little and touched her cheek with a thumb. "I'll go to Esthar with you. Of course I will. But I'm not going to be a damn detective."

Her whole body brightened and she couldn't keep the grin off her face. "Really? Wow. Okay, I-I didn't expect you to agree so quickly. It's almost as if you've already thought about-" She stopped, blinked a few times, and then said, "You've thought about this already, haven't you?"

He nodded and added his other hand, so he was cradling both sides of her face. "You really think after everything I did that I deserve this?"

"You don't need me to tell you that," she whispered. "Or anyone else. What do you think?"

Seifer moved his face close to hers, his lips just half an inch away. "All I know is that somehow I fell in love with Selphie Tilmitt, the Messenger Girl from Squad A. Right now, I guess that's all that matters."

He took her lips slowly, and only for a few seconds. Then he pulled himself away from her and said softly, "I really need to go clean up."

Selphie beamed at him. "Okay." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "'Kay, I'll be over in the kitchen with Nida. If you want to help when you're done."

"I'll make some lemonade," he said, backing up towards the stairs.

"I'll have Nida make us a new pitcher with the broken glass," Selphie said.

Seifer just shook his head, a smile in his eyes, and then he was up the stairs.

Selphie tiptoed back to the kitchen and poked her head in. Nida was sitting at the table, a dustpan full of glass beside him. When she said his name, he looked over his shoulder, face entirely red.

"Were you listening?"

"Sound carries in here!"

But Selphie just laughed. "I'm going to get shoes and then we can start on the stew."

Nida got to his feet and saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"