Blond Silence 6/?
Disclaimers: Not even if I asked nicely would they let me have it, so I suppose this is all just for fun. I don't own ff8, didn't think it up.
Warnings: SAP...
Six
Irvine wondered if he could use a full life on Squall if he strangled him. "Come on. Please come."
"You are begging," Squall said, flat, just a statement.
The Winter Ball had started nearly forty minutes before and Irvine swore he wouldn't come without Squall. He wore his seeD dress uniform, polished and proper as Irvine ever got. He wasn't Galbadia anymore, but Balamb and he was pretty sure if he strangled Squall they'd kick him out. "Look. Seifer bloody well dressed up for you. He's waiting down there for you. And if you disappoint him I am not going to speak to you for a month."
"Don't be a girl," Squall said, turning his back to his friend. He had to have a moment to think. Seifer had dressed up… for him? "Seifer likes some brunette. You said so."
"What. Color. Is. Your. Hair?" Irvine left then, disappearing into Squall's bedroom.
A light came on for Squall. "He can't like me! I shot him!"
"And he electrocuted you? Is it my fault if you two are the garden masochists? Is it my concern if you tie each other up and do the naughty in the quad at midnight? I don't care! I just want to go to this damn dance and hold Sel in my arms. I've got a ring for her and I've been planning to give it to her for three months. If I miss that because you're too stubborn to go talk to the man you spend all your free time guilting and drooling over, I swear I'm gonna shot something."
"Alright," Squall said, taking the dress shirt.
"Alright? Alright? You'll go?" Irvine pulled Squall's dress pants from the closet, held them out."
"I said alright."
"Hot damn!"
Squall peeled his tee-shirt over his head, his belly tight, the muscles well defined. Irvine pulled a clean tee-shirt from his drawer and tossed it. Between the two of them they had Squall dressed in under ten minutes, hair, boots, a hint of mint cologne.
Moving towards the elevator, music filtered up, nothing classic and elegant, more throbbing and passionate, full of drums. It made Squall's heart race. "So let me see this ring?"
Nervous fingers pulled the white velvet box from his jacket pocket. "Here."
"You're nervous enough to shut up," Squall sneered, opening the box. White gold, a single heart shaped diamond, it wasn't that expensive of ring, but it was nice. He pulled it out of the box and looked for the inscription which read, 'Sel, I love you forever, Irvine.'
"Simple," Squall said, putting it back in the box and handing it back.
"You think it's too simple? You think she wouldn't like it?"
As the elevator doors closed, Squall sighed. "How should I know?"
"Oh man," Irvine fidgeted. "What if she turns me down?"
"There is a greater chance of the Lunar Cry raining candy on us than Selphie Tilmett turning you down. Don't be an idiot."
"What is eating you, Squall?" Irvine asked, but then the doors opened and for Squall, Irvine didn't even exist anymore.
Seifer stood laughing, a book in his hands, as he leaned against the wall. As the doors opened, Seifer looked up at them with green eyes, so green that Squall could simply limit his world to them and it would be enough. His breath caught, until Irvine gave him a shove out of the elevator.
Seifer turned so the left side of his face faced the elevator, as he put his book into his pocket.
Squall brought his hands up and meant to sign hello, meant to say something, but his words choked there just like his tongue had always failed him.
"Hello, Squall," Seifer signed. "I was hoping you'd come. Do you understand sign?"
Lip between his teeth, Squall nodded. "I'm sorry."
Scowling, ran a hand through his hair, turned away.
"I can understand if you don't forgive me. I'm sorry for what I did."
Looking over his shoulder, Seifer watched Squall, then turned, moved closer and reached for the tears with both hands. He smoothed them away, then drew his fingers over Squall's lips. "You saved me," Seifer signed, "You pulled me from the emptiness of nowhere because I was looking for your gray eyes. You never hurt me."
"I did," Squall sobbed, his own fingers reaching to the scar pocking Seifer's face. Fingers so light, so hesitant moved over the sensitive skin. "I did this."
"No, you didn't," Seifer signed. "Dr. Arwen said that was likely done by Ulitimicia. He said it was caused by slow acid."
"Slow acid," Squall asked, fingers drawing back from the scar that went from Seifer's jaw line to just under his cheekbone and back to his ear. "She tortured you?"
"I don't remember," Seifer signed. "Rinoa said you don't hate me."
"Hate you?" Squall stepped back just a little. "I don't hate you at all. I missed you. You don't hate me?"
"I love you," Seifer signed so easily, so open, not a hesitation in a single cell of his body. "I love you so much I feel like my heart will fly away when I see you. I thought you hated me."
"No," Squall said, finally putting the pieces together, this feeling of his heart doing just as Seifer had said, trying to fly away. "Will you dance with me?"
Seifer's grin was so crooked, so lopsided, and toothy, yet he was so unselfconscious. He threw two thumbs up and swayed right there in front of the elevator. Then as if aware that Squall was staring at him, he made to look smoother, more mature and bowed gracefully, offering his arm to Squall when he stood. Squall's laughter sparkled in the elevator hall.
"You're amazing," he said, offering his arm instead, then catching Seifer's hand and drawing it so that it rested on his arm. "But I'm leading."
With one hand held under Squall's Seifer didn't know how tell him that Selphie hadn't taught him how to follow in a dance! As they entered the ball, eyes turned to them. Squall was going to kill his friends. Yes, he was.
Rinoa hushed the band and the dancers parted like an ocean of pomp and glitter. The band started again, this time with a victory waltz.
Squall froze like a rabbit, murderous thoughts dancing like holiday plums. Seifer, always the more daring, stepped one more step down into the ballroom and held his other hand out to Squall. At first the clapping from the dancers was small, then it rose, egging them on. Squall was going to kill his friends. But first. He was going to dance with Seifer.
Onto the dance floor as if it were a battlefield, Squall lead Seifer. They wanted to see them dance. Well soooo be it. He pulled the taller man to him, hand at the small of his back, as Seifer laid an arm around Squall's shoulders. Their hands locked, out to the side, Squall's holding Seifer's.
For Seifer, it was a new form of signing and he believed then, as Squall's body pressed to his that Rinoa had been more than right. Squall loved him. The music faded, then started again. Right on beat, Squall stepped into the waltz. Seifer matched him, step for step, speaking a language as old as humanity, movement, music, and love. The hero and the villain of the war waltzed through an ocean of friends and comrades and the war truly ended, healed over just a little more as cheers rose around them. Squall forgot about wanting to kill his friends as Seifer's solid body melted against his. Squall forgot about the floor and the people and the music, there was just Seifer and he held him tighter, as if this might be a dream that he'd lose if he let go.
The song ended as they reached the far ended of the dance floor, trickling away with sparkling notes and slow violin sighs. Seifer pulled his fingers from Squall's hand, slipped them into dark hair and leaned to kiss Squall. A new song stuck up and Squall let Seifer's silent tongue into his mouth, a little lost by not leading. He stepped closer, pressing himself to Seifer, searching as their kiss stumbled on their tongues, lips, over feelings too profound for scripting. It was Seifer that saved the kiss, pulling back just a little, sucking at Squall's lip until Squall understood and dove into the kiss, taking Seifer's mouth, possessing him, marking him with passion like Squall had never known for any other person.
"Hey," Irvine interrupted, "But she accepted!"
Seifer pulled at the kiss a moment more, chasing Squall's lips, but Squall, now aware of the room again, pulled back, instead just lacing his fingers through Seifer's and holding on for dear life. "Does that make you Mr. Tilmitt," he asked, lips tingling still.
Selphie slipped under Irvine's arm, grinning ear to ear. "You're next Squall."
"Maybe," he agreed, too happy to really complain about anything. "What do you think, Seifer? Will you marry me?"
Green eyes wide, Seifer took him completely seriously, and nodded. Squall froze, only the warmth of Seifer's hand in his kept him from fainting. He'd just asked Seifer to marry him, and… he meant it.
"Excuse me," Xing interrupted. "I hate to interrupt the festivities, but Headmaster Cid needs to see you three. There is a mission."