Stuck in Second Gear

Chapter 5

The One With the Wedding

It turned out that it wasn't all that hard to avoid Seifer at Rinoa and Squall's wedding, that is, until well into the reception. Quistis' job as Maid-of-Honor kept her busy. Rinoa's uncle from the Heartilly side was staunchly anti-military, and she had been instructed please, Quisty, please, don't let him get near Daddy or Squall, by a begging and ever-apologetic Rinoa. She also was tasked with ensuring Rinoa's dress was always proper, delivering a speech, and showing up whenever Laguna started talking to Squall in case those conversations needed a tacful intervention.

The wedding itself was lovely and… extremely grand. In Trabia of all places. Why they were getting married in Trabia, no one was really sure. Apparently, it was a compromise between Laguna and Fury Caraway. Galbadia and Esthar were out, as Caraway would never agree to Esthar, and Laguna wouldn't agree to Galbadia, unless it was in Winhill, which, if both been were being brutally honest, was a dump. Neither man agreed on Balamb, as that was "Cid's turf", and so Trabia or Centra it was. And Centra was a giant desert.

So, Rinoa walked down the aisle, outside in the snow, the furs of a mountain leopard keeping her warm as a ten-piece orchestra played her mother's music. Squall was dressed smartly in his dress uniform, and Quistis swore his eyes were actually glistening as Rinoa marched purposefully towards him.

Had Squall and Rinoa been allowed their druthers, they would have married in the flower field in Centra with just a few friends. What only Quistis and Zell knew, was that Rinoa and Squall had secretly done just that. Zell had become ordained online and performed the ceremony, while Quistis acted as the witness about a month ago. They didn't trust Selphie to not spill the beans, so she was sadly not included. Zell was about seventy-five percent sure the marriage was legal and official, but in any case, the one in Trabia would fix it, if it wasn't.

The reception was, thankfully, held inside, so Quistis could shed her own furs. Rinoa had been wise in insisting on choosing both her own dress and the bridesmaids' gowns. Rinoa had her mother's dress altered, lace sleeves added to deal with the cold climate, as well as adding the stole. Laguna had kindly given her a necklace that once belonged to Raine, which she wore proudly.

The bridesmaids all wore black instead of blue, much to Quistis' surprise. But the whole wedding was a front-page black-tie affair. Each dress was a little different, accenting the wearer's features.

Quistis herself had a black flowing dress with an extremely daring halter neckline. It was backless and tied around her neck, the material dipping almost indecently before flaring out into a flowing wispy skirt. She was rather hesitant about wearing it, but Rinoa assured her she looked amazing. As had Selphie. She paired it with sparkling heels, her hair pulled in an effortless chiffon, and dangling crystal earrings.

Selphie wore an off-the-shoulder long sleeve black dress, with a slit that seemed a lot higher than the manufacturer intended. Irvine certainly seemed to appreciate it, and Quistis had to remind him no less than three times that they were in public, and for Irvine to stop sticking his hand up her dress.

There were a few more bridesmaids. Cousins of Rinoa, and Ellone, of course. One of them, a tall, leggy girl in her early twenties who clearly had both time and money to spend on her body, was donning a strapless body-hugging dress held up by huge fake breasts. Yet, they were tastefully done, Quistis hated to admit. Juiced-up lips, long cascading platinum blonde waves that went nearly to her waist. Perfect make-up. Thousands of gils' worth of jewelry, and designer heels. Quistis could never look like that. It took a team of estheticians, designers, surgeons, personal trainers, spas, and time to look like that. And that was currently cozying up to one Seifer Almasy.

She was shamelessly pressing her breasts onto his chest as she "leaned in" to hear what he was saying. Followed by giggling sweetly at whatever joke he had apparently made, as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. Seifer had his trademark cocky grin plastered to his face while he seemingly flirted with her, though he was keeping his hands firmly to himself. From what Quistis could see from across the room anyway. One hand was jammed into his pocket, and the other was leaning on the bar, holding a glass of amber liquid.

He was probably going to take the girl back to his hotel room at this rate. The stupid jerk. Which is what everyone did at weddings, according to Zell, who heard it from a mysterious friend he wouldn't name.

Whatever. He could do whatever he wanted.

What Quistis didn't notice, was poor Nida, trying not to cry into his glass as he watched her, debating whether or not to ask her to dance.

Her thoughts were distracted by Zell grabbing her and dragging her to the dance floor to join Rinoa and an extremely embarrassed Squall (though he had the smallest of smiles on his face). A lively dance with an enthusiastic and surprisingly graceful Zell would cheer even the most depressed person up, and Quistis' spirits were immediately lifted. It was a formal dance, the kind she'd practiced at Garden for their SeeD balls; quite different than the dancing she had done at the bar a few weeks ago, but still enjoyable.

Her dress was even more stunning when it moved, the skirts flowing around her elegantly as she twirled and twirled, dance after dance. She knew she would tire long before Zell, but she was determined to keep up with him for as long as she could.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Seifer, who had his eyes glued on her. The smoldering look in his eyes was downright predatory, and he raised his glass in her direction, a smirk on his face, just as he had at the bar those weeks ago. Rinoa's cousin was still plastered to his side, playing with the lapel of his tuxedo jacket, but he still wasn't touching her, or even speaking to her. He wasn't even looking at her. Quistis wondered just how long Seifer had been watching her dance.

What the hell was he trying to pull here? He was just trying to make her get upset. Surely. He knew he was bugging her and he liked it.

"We were on a break!"

The shout jolted Quistis out of her thoughts and brought her dancing to a halt. When she caught Rinoa's eyes, the bride gave Quistis a pleading look. Quistis sighed deeply, knowing she was back on maid-of-honor duty.

There was only one person who would have shouted that particular phrase, and Quistis excused herself from Zell's arms to go track down the most on-again-off-again couple she knew: Selphie and Irvine.

The argument had been going on for years. Whether or not Irvine had cheated on Selphie when he had a drunken one-night-stand with some girl in Dollet, during one of their "off-agains". And whenever it resurfaced, it would result in Irvine and Selphie separating. Again.

She found them easily enough, and grabbed both of them by the elbow, steering them out of the ballroom where people were starting to notice the bickering pair. Down the hallway, far away, there were dressing rooms. She shoved them inside one of the empty rooms, and nearly slammed the door behind herself, cutting off both their voices.

"Quistis, tell Selphie it wasn't cheating if we were on a bre—"

"Quisty, tell Irvine that we weren't broken up, so it is che—"

Quistis leaned her forehead against the door with a deep sigh. "None of us are going to talk to you about this. You are at a wedding. Please. And if you upset Rinoa, Squall will kill you. So just remember that."

Hyne, help me, she thought. It was going to be a long night.

Being at the wedding reminded Seifer of exactly why he was dreading this event so much. Every single person from Garden was glaring at him like he was public enemy number one. Which to them, he was, official pardon or not. At least, to the ones that were around in the Second Sorceress War, who remembered what he had done with Galbadia Garden, and to Trabia. His reputation was hardly any better with the newer SeeDs either, who were constantly reminded of his past actions by the old guard.

The fact that he was in the top 3% of his class in law school didn't matter to them. The fact that he now spent his time helping victims of crime didn't matter to them. The possession didn't matter to them. He was unredeemable in their eyes. Though, truth be told, while his actions were mostly not his own back then, a lot of it a fog, he had made decisions, especially early on. His hands were far from clean, and he knew he bore the guilt of what happened. Seifer wanted so badly to be the hero. But, it was a freaking war, and he'd been convinced he was on the right side of history.

Fury Caraway, and, unbelievably, Laguna Loire, had done a good job with marketing the matter of his and Rinoa's possession to the general public. Making them sympathetic victims, rather than perpetrators that caused mass casualty. He knew neither of them had done that for his sake, of course. It was all for Rinoa. And Seifer had reaped the benefit. Even so, all that publicity hadn't done shit for his reputation at Garden. Nor for Rinoa's, thanks to Cid Kramer.

It was the only reason Seifer was even at the wedding. He kept reminding himself of that. You're doing this for Rinoa. Because, in the seven years since the whole mess, he really had become less of an asshole. And Rinoa had somehow, much to Squall's chagrin, and eventual acceptance, become a good friend. She was the only one who understood what he had been through. And he was the only one that understood her. It was those meetings with Rinoa over the years that had managed to lift away some of the fog.

As if sensing his irritation, Rinoa appeared in front of him, dragging him onto the dancefloor to lead her in some slower-paced dance. She shot a daring look to any of the Garden people at her wedding who might be thinking of giving them dirty looks. It did manage to cheer him up a little.

He was equally impressed by her brazenness and her naiveté. That foolish hopefulness for the future she had possessed back in Timber was still alive and well. It was what Seifer both liked and disliked in her. She still didn't live in reality. He may have been public enemy number one to Garden, but she was certainly public enemy number two. They hated Rinoa almost as much as they hated Seifer.

He didn't understand how she could marry the Commander of Garden. The organization that literally opposed her entire existence. At least Commander Bitebug Balls had the common decency to buy his new wife a house in Balamb rather than live in the poison swamp of awfulness that was Garden and Cid Kramer. Who was conspicuously absent from the wedding, interestingly enough.

Squall loved Rinoa. Seifer could give credit where credit was due. Squall was hopelessly in love with her, and would die before he saw a hand raised against her. He was a good Knight and would be a good husband, even if he sucked as a person. Rinoa loved him too, for whatever reason, probably because he was a shit-substitute for Seifer, who viewed Rinoa more as an annoying little sister than anything romantic.

Dance done, Seifer's mood was soured once again when he caught sight of Quistis. He couldn't be certain, but it seemed like she had been actively avoiding him the entire evening. When he did catch her gaze, she was shooting daggers at him, and looked like she was ready to unleash some holy hell of Blue Magic on his ass. What had crawled up her butt? Was she jealous of Squall and Rinoa?

That idea left a bitter taste in his mouth which he tried to wash out with a swig of Timber Bourbon.

The arguing voices of Irvine and Selphie died down inside the dressing room, and Quistis felt it was safe to leave. As she was making her way down the hall, back into the ballroom, she suddenly lurched sideways.

Strong arms grabbed her by her forearms and slammed her into the wall of another one of the small changing rooms. A quick boot to the door shut it behind her to prevent escape.

The push wasn't gentle, and it took some of the air out of Quistis lungs. Her SeeD instincts kicking in, she began to kick and thrash, only to have a hard body press her further into the wall, arms pinning her flat.

"Stop fighting, I'm not going to hurt you."

As her vision adjusted to the darkness of the room, illuminated only by a sliver of moonlight coming in through the window, she was met with a pair of emerald eyes staring at her.

"Dammit, Seifer. You scared me half to death. What the hell do you want?"

Seifer's grip loosened and his eyes widened in surprise at her language choice. Quistis never even used words like 'hell'.

"I'm wondering what the hell your problem is."

Quistis turned her face to the side to avoid his gaze, and crossed her arms in front of herself protectively, also creating more room between the two of them.

"I have work to do at this wedding, Seifer. Leave me alone." Her voice was icy.

Seifer stepped back, crossing his arms as well, and Quistis couldn't help but peek at him out of the corner of her eye. Seeing him up close, she was well aware of the effort he had put into his appearance. His hair was neatly done, his face clean-shaven, his tux perfectly tailored, with the contour of his chiseled chest on display, and the smell of a musky cologne assailed her senses. He stepped back, but kept the door blocked, clearly intent on an answer.

"We kiss. You bring me fucking cookies. Then you go completely AWOL, ignore my texts, and the next time I see you, you keep glaring at me like you want to rip my throat out," he said, jabbing his fingers towards her as if ticking items off a list. "I don't like my head being messed with, Quistis. I thought you of all people would be smart enough to figure that out. It's kind of a personal issue for me"

Quistis harrumphed. He was one to talk about preying on people's emotions. "Kind of hypocritical for you to be talking about messing with people's heads, Seifer. Don't you have to go sleep with Chantelle or something?"

"Sleep with who? What are you talking about?"

She finally turned to look at him, and was caught off guard by the fact that he looked completely flabbergasted at her accusations.

"Chantelle? Rinoa's cousin? The girl that has been hanging all over you for the last hour?"

Seifer barked out a dismissive laugh. "Her? You have got to be kidding. Ah… oh, I see. You're jealous."

"Jealous? Of a human floatation device? Don't be absurd."

His voice changed, confusion morphing to something else that Quistis couldn't identify, and he took a step closer to her. "I only have eyes for one person at this wedding, Quistis. I kind of thought that was obvious."

Quistis' arms inadvertently tightened around her chest, and a betraying shiver ran down her spine at his statement. "I don't like having my head messed with either, Seifer." She spat out his name like it was venom.

He stepped even closer, his chest now brushing against her crossed arms. "How, exactly, have I messed with your head, Instructor? I think I've been pretty damn nice."

Was he really going to drag this out? Fine. She would show him. "You may hook-up with lots of people at the same time. But, I don't. Whatever the other day was, it was clearly nothing. Now, please let me out."

Seifer growled in frustration. His hands came to her upper arms, squeezing slightly, though not enough to hurt her. "What the actual fuck are you talking about? I haven't been able to get you out of my head since… What the hell did I do?"

She closed the distance between them, until their faces were nearly touching, her voice laced with disdain. "I came to your place, and you blew me off for some girl."

He had embarrassed her. That was the crux of it. And Quistis was already feeling like garbage. He must have realized that by now. Seifer wasn't so much of an ass to be unaware that embarrassment was one of the most mortifying emotions one could have. Especially in a romantic situation.

Seifer nearly stumbled back at her words, leaning heavily against the door of the small room they were occupying.

"A girl…?"

He looked genuinely confused, until a look of dawning came over him and he actually laughed.

Fury rose through Quistis, adding insult to her already severely injured ego. He thought her emotions were funny? That asshole! She charged forward, trying to move his large body away from the door so she could leave. She knew it would be to no avail, given his size, and briefly considered screaming.

Realizing that would cause a ruckus, she instead stamped the heel of one of her stilettos into the top of Seifer's shoe. It was enough to catch him off guard, and she threw him out of the way to triumphantly march out of the room he had trapped her in, leaving a cursing Seifer behind.

Damn Trepe. She'd got it all wrong.

Seifer really hadn't been trying to make Quistis jealous with Rinoa's cousin, Whats-her-face. The girl had latched onto him the second he stepped into the reception, and he hadn't been able to get rid of her. He hadn't even been paying attention to a thing she said. She smelled rich, like she was going to be on one of those Real Housewives of Deling City shows in a few years getting needles stuck in her face. No thanks.

He was going to have to pawn her off on someone else though if he was going to get to Quistis and set the record straight.

And he had the perfect victim. The moron who'd caused Quistis to have all this unfounded jealousy in the first place. Feisty Quistis had Seifer's blood going south, and he wanted to tame that temper of hers in all the right ways.

He couldn't help but be a little pleased that she was jealous. Jealousy meant she cared. Even if she was jealous of Chicken-wuss of all people. Thinking he was some girl Seifer was running off on a date with.

Seifer inadvertently shivered uncomfortably at the thought of dating Zell. And tried not to vomit.

"Fucking Dincht. Manages to ruin things without even trying. Sweet Hyne," he muttered to himself before leaving the room and re-entering the fray that was Squall and Rinoa's wedding reception.

Whats-her-face was on him in seconds, and he quickly spotted Zell by the large table of food, stuffing cocktail wieners in his mouth. Seifer rolled his eyes, and guided the busty blonde in that direction under the guise of wanting food. He all but shoved the girl into Zell's arms.

"This is Chicken-wuss, he's an undefeated boxer and about to go to the World Games in T-board. Chicken-wuss, this is Rinoa's cousin, um… something."

Rinoa's cousin was a good fifteen centimeters taller than Zell, with the aid of her towering heels. She looked down at him and her expression morphed into a sultry pout. "Hi… I'm Chantelle. Nice to meet you, Chicken-wuss."

"Uh… my name is Zell, actually."

"Mmm, that's a nice name." With that, she leaned down and whispered something in Zell's ear that caused his entire face to go dark red.

Deed done, Seifer went off to search for Quistis. He found her speaking to some Galbadian dignitary about something probably extremely boring.

"'Scuse me," Seifer mumbled to the dignitary, and grabbed Quistis by the elbow before she had the sense to protest. He dragged her onto the dance floor, pulling her into the waltz that the Trabian string quartet was playing.

Hyne, sometimes he even amazed himself at his brilliance. There was no way she was going to make a scene on the dance floor. She'd be forced to talk to him through the rest of this dance, buying him about two and a half minutes. Perfect.

He could practically smell the fury radiating off Quistis as she glared at him, and of course, in true Quistis fashion, attempted to lead the dance.

"For the love of…" Seifer grabbed her hand a little tighter and pulled her closer to his body. "Let me lead, Quistis, you're making this impossible!"

"Good," she said, turning her nose up and away from him, though she did stop fighting him so much on the dancing. "What do you think you're trying to pull here?"

Gods, this woman drove him nuts sometimes. She was so damn infuriating. It totally did it for him. This Quistis he understood. This was the Quistis with passion, the passion he had finally seen when she had danced at the club, lurking just below her perfectly coifed and controlled surface. The Quistis that had kissed him in his bathtub. The real Quistis. Not the robotically perfect prodigy of Garden.

"I was meeting Chicken-wuss. The day you came." He kept his voice low.

"Zell?"

That was enough to catch her off guard and she stopped trying to lead completely, making their dancing flow more easily.

Seifer took the opportunity to pull her a little closer, their bodies now touching as they continued the dance.

"You're jealous of Chicken-wuss. The 'girl' you think I went to see? Gods, this is so freaking embarrassing… I can't even say it out loud."

"You're dating Zell?!"

Their waltz stuttered and froze for a chaotic moment, but Seifer quickly recovered and pulled Quistis back into step.

"What?! That's where you went with that?"

A small smile crossed her features and Seifer felt a wave of relief.

"You and… Zell? Hang out?"

"Don't tell anyone. My status would be ruined. But, yeah. We sometimes watch sports in the same area. That's it. It was too late to call him and cancel when you showed up. You can ask him if you want."

He could see her internally debating whether or not to do just that. "Did you mean what you said? About…me?"

Seifer deliberated answering. A big part of him wanted to deny it, to keep his cards closer to his chest. But, Quistis was clearly just as insecure about whatever was happening between them as he was. Hell, she was insecure about herself, period. For whatever insane reason. The woman had a real-life fan club. There was no point in denying it, why hurt her? He found he really didn't want to.

"Well. Yeah. I can't seem to get you out of my head."

"Me neither." She admitted quietly, and Seifer grinned when she flushed prettily.

He had never wanted to kiss anyone so much in his entire life. He wanted to feel her soft lips again, taste her. Unfortunately, they were smack dab in the middle of the dance floor at Rinoa and Squall's wedding. And as far as all these guests knew, (including the newlyweds themselves), they were nothing more than old acquaintances, at best.

"Dammit… is there anywhere private around here?"

"Balcony. Five minutes." She was gone in a flash of golden hair and black dress before he knew it, the waltz having ended.

Seifer strode off the dance floor and pretended to eye the food spread while he waited. Five minutes seemed like an eternity. Zell was still there with Whats-her-face. He was now nearly turning purple with whatever filth she was whispering in his ear, and she had seemingly glued her body to his. Poor Zell was still as a statue, completely unsure how to react. Zell was used to ignoring female attention, mostly due to his complete obliviousness, but this woman was downright brazen.

Seifer had underestimated her. He assumed she was a trust fund kid, looking for another trust fund first husband. Instead, she was clearly a man-eater who was trying to make daddy upset. And a stage-five-clinger with crazy eyes, for sure. Zell was in way over his head. Well, it made for good entertainment at least. And maybe Zell could burn off some of his annoying energy on her. And finally stop talking about that stupid girl in the library who dumped his sorry ass, doing him a massive favor. She was about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Why was he even thinking about this? He could not give two shits what happened to the Chicken-wuss and Whats-her-face.

He had an appointment to keep.

Quistis was waiting for him on the balcony, shivering madly. She apparently hadn't bothered grabbing her fur stole, and Seifer kicked himself inwardly. He should have been there first. Instead here he was, making her wait in the freezing cold for him.

He quickly tugged off his tux jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, in a truly gentlemanly flourish, rubbing his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm her up a little.

"So…" He trailed off, his mind blank.

Seifer had never felt hesitation or lacked hubris in his entire life, but he found himself, at the moment, rendered speechless.

Quistis broke the silence. "Did you tell Zell about me?"

Oh, so that was it. She was worried her dirty little secret was out. Was she ashamed of going to his apartment? Because of who he was? Emphasis on was. He had grown up a lot. The whole thing of narrowly escaping a lifetime in D-District Prison had helped, certainly. Damn. He needed to be sure to give Rinoa huge hug today.

"Nope. No one knows you were in my bathtub." He said it with more anger than he intended.

Quistis' eyes narrowed for a second, before a look of understanding crossed her face. "Seifer, I… I just want to figure out what we're doing before anyone interferes."

"You mean before they talk you out of it." He pulled his hands from his arms and stuffed them in his pockets, looking away from her purposefully, shivering slightly in the cold air now that he no longer had his jacket.

Quistis didn't respond.

He knew how Garden saw him. Zell and Rinoa were the exception, though neither of them were really part of Garden, not officially anyway. In his new life, no one looked at him that way. They were in awe of the reformed bad-boy, the new Seifer. Once word got out, thanks to Ginger, that he was invited to 'The Wedding of the Century' as it was headlined in a bunch of those dopey magazines, he had every girl from law school begging him to be his plus-one.

He'd chosen to go stag, for one purpose. And that purpose was standing in front of him, basically admitting she was embarrassed that she spent time with him. Then what the fuck were the cookies about?

Seifer shrugged, and attempted to show that he didn't really care.

"This is all suddenly seeming like a lot of work. So, maybe next time you want to use a bath, find someone else. Hell, Fu and Rai live on the tenth floor of my building, knock on their door."

If he wasn't mistaken, Quistis actually looked hurt. Good, the bitter part of his brain told him.

Quistis tugged his jacket tighter around her shoulders. "Seifer, it's not the bath."

"Yeah. No shit. It's you."

Hostility and anger had now taken over any compassionate part of his brain. And if there was one thing Seifer knew, it was how to find the right words to hurt the right person.

She looked like she was shrinking underneath the size of his jacket and Seifer could see the damage was done.

"Why are you acting like this?" Quistis asked quietly

She turned to pretend to look out at the vast snowy nothingness beyond the balcony, so he couldn't see her face.

So, she expected him to act differently? Did that mean… she thought better of him as well?

"I was going to ask you to dinner, you know."

She became completely still, and Seifer saw her take a shaky breath and hold it.

With a deep breath of his own, Seifer made a decision. He knew that if he didn't do the right thing now, any chance with Quistis would be out the window. Time to swallow his pride, just a little.

"I… I was going to ask you to dinner," he repeated, reaching forward to cautiously put a hand on her shoulder. "Here. But, if you're embarrassed—" Saying that word out loud hurt. More than he cared to admit.

She surprised him then, and reached up to grab his hand. "Like a date?"

Seifer didn't respond.

"Seifer, I'm not embarrassed. I just… I want to keep this this between just us. For now. I… I thought if other people got involved it would…"

Disappear.

"Be different?" He thought he understood. It was like they had a secret world between the two of them, and the idea of sneaking around behind Garden folks' back did feel a bit like a thrill. They could figure out whatever the hell they were doing, before going to the bother of figuring out how to tell people. There might be nothing to tell in the end, anyway.

Quistis nod was so slight, it was almost indistinguishable. "Yes. I didn't want it taken away. Talking to you has been… it's surprised me."

"In a good way?" He asked, though he knew the answer. He just wanted to hear it.

She turned around and faced him. "Will you still take me to dinner?"

"Fuck yeah."

Grabbing the sides of her face, he pulled her up to his lips for a kiss. She responded immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck, his jacket falling to the snow. His hands snaked around her and splayed against her bare back, as he marveled at the softness of her skin, the tight muscles discernable underneath.

One hand dared to rest on her hip, dipping lower unless she stopped him, which she didn't. The other traveled higher along her back until he was toying with the halter tie of her dress.

She actually moaned into the kiss, and Seifer thought he might just die on the spot.

His kisses moved down her cheek, to the shell of her ear where he nibbled, eliciting a gasp.

"I've been meaning to tell you, you look downright sinful in that dress."

She stiffened, and for a moment Seifer was afraid he had gone too far. Especially after he had told himself he was going to be a gentleman with her.

Then her cold cheek pressed against his and he felt her hot breath on his ear, causing a shiver to run through his entire body.

"Fifteen," she whispered.

"Fifteen?"

"My room in the lodge."

And with that, she bent down daintily to grab his jacket, handed it to him, and disappeared back into the ballroom.

What god had blessed him with this information, he had no idea. Maybe it was the wedding, the wine, the romantic setting, the emotions milling around; people did crazy things at weddings all the time.

All Seifer knew was, he was done for. And after tasting the delicious messy perfection that was Quistis Trepe, there was no way he could go back.

Thank you to my beta colobonema! I promise Nida will have a happy ending. Just for you :)