Author's note: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or its characters. This is for the 30 Kisses challenge using list iota. This is set after the game and is slightly AU. Theme 1: The Ring's on the Other Hand.

A Little Too Late

Seifer was a man on a mission. He hadn't seen his girlfriend for more than five minutes in the past week, and today he was taking her out to lunch, even if he had to kidnap her to do so. Quistis had been sitting in on the inter-Garden leadership meetings along with Squall and Xu. She was mostly there as an observer and to make sure no one killed each other. Seifer had no doubt that the whole thing was giving her migranes.

He had plans however. Lunch today, and hopefully, dinner tomorrow night. There was a diamond ring tucked away in his sock drawer that Seifer had bought just before his latest mission. He had everything planned out: dinner, dancing, and a walk along Balamb's waterfront. Now all he needed was Quistis.

Luck was with him. Seifer caught sight of Quistis slipping out of the conference room, her arms full of papers.

"Quistis."
A smile lit her face, and she made her way over to him, tucking the papers into the crook of her arm. She raised her left hand to brush the hair out of her face, Quistis had taken to wearing it down lately, and he caught sight of a delicate saphirre and amethyst engagement ring. The butterflies in his stomach turned to stone. He was too late. Someone had beaten him to asking her, and she had accpeted.

"Hey," Quistis smiled. "I'm done for the day. Do you want to do something?"

"Who is it?"

"What?" She looked confused.

"Who is he, Quistis?"

"Seifer, what on earth are you talking about?" A frowned marred her pretty face.

He grabbed her wrist, holding her hand between them. "This, Quistis. Now who is he?"

"Oh. Oh." Realization dawned, and a gentle smile softened her face. "It's that ring Matron gave me for my twenty-first birthday. The one she said was my mother's. I normally wear it on my right hand, but one of the student's accidentally clipped me with a fire spell. It's not a bad burn, but it hurts too much to wear the ring there today. I will admit, though, it came in handy today."

The angry, panicky feeling in his chest was starting to ease. "Oh?"

Quistis blushed. "I, um, told the imstructor from Trabia that kept hitting on me that it was yours. It was the only way I could get him to leave me alone."

"Then you'll marry me?" It slipped out before he could stop himself.

She looked up at him, surprise written all over her face. "Was that a proposal?"

It was too late to back out now. "Yes."

"Yes."

He swooped down to kiss her. Quistis dropped the papers as her arms came up around his. Seifer finally pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.

"Good." He smirked. "The ring is in my sock drawer. I was going to ask you tomorrow night."

"Seifer!" She smacked his shoulder before kneeling to retrieve her papers. "It better not smell like your socks or I'm making you get me a new one."

He just laughed. "So, lunch?"