Title: Word of the Day v. FFIV
Author: Garnet Eyes
Archived: fanfiction .net, livejournal .com
Last Updated: 12 Mar 2011
Summary: 21 January 2000 edition.
Rating: M
Characters/Pairings: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Cecil x Rosa, suggested Kain x Cecil
Author Notes: propound, transitive verb;
1. To offer for consideration; to put forward; to propose.
Disclaimers: Final Fantasy IV is owned by Square-Enix and I in no way, shape, or form profit off of my writing. This is simply for my own pleasure, and may at any time be removed and/or modified as I see fit.

...

Cecil didn't remember the previous night. At all. He didn't have a bad headache, but the only explanation for his current position was that he'd gotten so drunk he'd blacked out. And he hated drinking to excess, so that didn't make any sense either. But he was not in his room, not in his bed, and he knew damn good and well that it was not his wife's arm slung over his unclothed hip; if the rumbling snoring at the back of his head wasn't enough of a tip, the naked hardness digging into his lower back was a dead giveaway. The paladin was caught between leaping from the bed in a blind panic and stealthily disengaging and fleeing with his dignity intact. Clearly, he'd slept with a man. He didn't know why he'd slept with a man, but he'd definitely done so. To make matters worse, from what Cecil could currently see of the room, he had no clothes to wear. So he hadn't been wearing clothes when he'd entered this chamber. He really didn't want to know what had happened the prior evening; he could only pray that it wasn't too damaging to his name and house.

Half fearing what he would see when he turned, the paladin nevertheless shifted just enough to glance over his shoulder. At Kain. Kain, who abruptly stopped snoring as he felt movement and woke up almost instantly. Blonde brows furrowed at first and the dragoon flexed his sleep-stiffened muscles, mentally and physically shrugging off his wooziness. Not having a clue as to how to approach the subject, Cecil stayed silent and watched his best friend look around the room and begin to take stock of their situation. From the widening of chocolate eyes, the paladin felt safe in assuming that the taller knight had been given a shock from their situation as well. The blonde shifted behind him, his spear grinding into the younger man's back with the motion, and both of them froze. Color flushed across angular cheeks as the dragoon jerked his hips back while removing his arm from being dangerously close to territory that was only supposed to be known to the paladin's wife.

"Cecil..."

For several seconds they stared at one another awkwardly, neither knowing what to say. The door opened suddenly and without warning, letting in Rosa, and Cecil flushed in shame and humiliation for betraying his wife with their best friend.

"Oh good, you're awake now."

For a moment the younger knight's jaw worked without a single sound issuing from between parted lips. Closing his mouth with a light click of his teeth, the paladin swallowed once before trying again, his voice slightly shaky.

"P-pardon?"

The white mage smiled first before she frowned disapprovingly at them both as she got further into her explanation.

"It was enough of a hassle just to get you both in here. Honestly, it's one thing to celebrate, but you both went overfar last night. Getting so drunk as to vomit on yourselves. What were you thinking?"

She moved further into the room then, and Cecil felt such a surge of adrenaline in his system that he was surprised his heart wasn't pounding through his ribs.

"Y-you disrobed us?"

Pale eyes blinked before her brows quirked, as if confused.

"Well I couldn't leave you covered in such filth."

Allowing his head to fall to the bed in relief, the paladin closed his eyes and felt the dread lift from his shoulders.

"Then we didn't..."

"...Didn't?"

Cecil coughed and opened his eyes, his cheeks pink as he replied to his wife's question, eyeing the pile of fabric in her hold.

"Never you mind that. You brought a change of clothes?"

With a short nod and a smile, the white mage set down the cloth in her arms on the nearest table.

"One for each of you. I'll leave you to dress; breakfast has been prepared."

Beside him, Kain's deep voice rumbled from his chest.

"Thank you, Rosa."

Smiling warmly toward the dragoon, she nodded once and then turned away and left, shutting the door behind herself.

"You're welcome."

For a moment after she left, neither man moved, but then they both rose up as one in a mixture of relief and disgust with themselves, intending to sit upright on the guest bed and gather their wits. Cecil only got about halfway before he gasped loudly and fell back, his hands immediately pressing against his lower back as the motion shifted something inside of him and his body expressed displeasure. Both knights froze, their eyes widening as they stared at one another before the paladin turned bright red. It was bad enough when he'd thought that he'd slept with a man as the man, but this...

There was a knock on the door before Rosa spoke up from outside, allowing them their privacy.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, you fell backward into a table at one point, Cecil. I didn't see a bruise but you might want to be careful."

Raising his voice enough to be heard on the other side of the heavy door, the paladin replied to his wife's words.

"Thank you for the warning, Rosa."

Still watching one another warily, the knights waited another moment before the young king cast a mild healing spell on himself and then moved to sit upright again. This time he could do so, and Kain followed suit a moment later, passing over Cecil to stand up and go retrieve their clothing. Gratefully accepting the articles, Cecil promised himself as he dressed that he would never drink more than a single mug of mead on any given day for the rest of his life. The scares of this day were more than enough of a lesson for him.