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“Seifer…”
Quistis’ eyes were wide as she looked up him, disbelief and what looked like joy radiating out of them. Her red lips parted as she reached up towards him with a trembling hand. She lifted herself from her stool only to promptly fall forward. It was only Seifer’s quick reflexes and strong arms that kept her from smashing her face into the ground.
“Well, you’re fucking wasted…” Seifer complained as he wrestled all the wiggly dead weight of her back onto the bar stool. The foam antlers of her head poked him in the eye as her head lolled back to face him.
“Thaaaaatsssss, very…ruuuuuu…rrruuu…not polite!” Quistis slurred, her face as red as the awful Christmas sweater she was wearing.
“That’s the truth, Trepe.” He told her as he held her by the shoulders. After a moment, he tentatively lifted his hands from her but she almost immediately began to sway dangerously so he retuned them their original position.
“You are a penis!” She cried out and lowered her head. What followed was what he assumed was an attempt to gore him with her fake antlers. He let it go on until the need for his blood apparently left her system and she lifted her head. “Y-y-you and your one, two…four brothers!”
“I’m the guy picking your drunk ass up.” Seifer asserted as he rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t know why you called me of all people.”
“Shh, shh, ssssshhhhhhhhhhhh!” Quistis pressed her index finger to her lips as she shushed. She gave him a wink. “Can’t tell you. Secret.”
Seifer sighed heavily, a headache coming on. This was way more trouble than it was worth. Balamb Garden’s Christmas Party was something he was adamant about skipping. Didn’t even bother sending a refusal. But, a frantic call from Quistis begging for help dragged him out of bed and on the snowy road to Balamb town at almost midnight. From what he heard over the phone, she sounded distraught and in immediate need of help. And truth be told she did look like she needed immediate help in not falling on her face but she was far from distraught. In fact, she looked happy to see him. Which was a first.
“Why me?” He demanded, as he stepped away from her. She seemed to maintain her balance, at least for mos. “Weren’t you here with the rest of them?”
“Oh, I told them to go home without me.” She explained while nodding her head repeatedly. “Wanted to stay and have a few more drinks.”
“How many did you have?”
“Only…uuuuuuummmm, seven…ish?” She said as she put her finger to her lips, her eyes looking up.
“Why?!” The hell was she thinking? That many would put him on his ass.
When her eyes returned to his, her face changed. She looked embarrassed and a deeper red settled over her face. They fell onto the hands that she folded in her lap. Silence followed. Seifer groaned.
“Can ya walk at least?” He asked as his hands went into his coat pockets.
“I think shhhhoooo but!” She held up her hand, index finger extended as lifted her chin proudly. Then she hiccuped. “I’m gonna be veeeeeerrry bad at it!”
The headache that had been pressing against his temples intensified. Of course, it wasn’t going to be simple. He should’ve known from the moment he hit ‘Accept Call’ on his phone that this was gonna be a long ass night. Not for the first time he wondered why he had even bothered. Then he looked down at her smiling goofily at him and at least some part of him understood. Still a pain in the ass though.
“Fan-fuckin’-tastic.” Seifer leaned down toward her. One hand at the small of her back, the other behind her knees. “Here.”
“Oh Hyne.” Quistis squeaked as she was lifted from her seat. Her arms went around his neck and shoulders. Her eyes looked ready to fall out her skull they were so wide. “W-w-w-what?!”
“You want me to throw you over my shoulder?” Seifer threatened as he adjusted his hold. She was lighter than he imagined she would be.
“No…t-t-thisshhhh isshhh just…” A sudden sobriety took hold of her features and the way she looked at him made Seifer’s throat dry. “Better than I hoped.”
“What?”
Several impossibly long seconds passed between them before Quistis shifted her body weight. She stuck out her right arm and leg as the movement forced him to stumble in a circle.
“Whee!!!”
“Shit, you’re plastered.” Seifer shook his head once he found his feet. Relief poured into him. That was almost…something else. Something that wouldn’t happen in a million years. “Just don’t puke on me, alright?”
Seifer marched toward the exit, eyes ever forward as he tried to focus on anything besides the warm body in his hands and pressed against him. It was really fucking hard.
“Oh my, they’re enormous.” Quistis commented out of the blue as the door came into sight.
“What the hell are y—?” Seifer’s question was pushed aside as strong, slender finders grabbed a rather large portion of his pec. “Okay, how ‘bout we not?”
“But they’re shoooo big and shhhhquisshhhy!” Quistis whined as she squeezed again and again.
“Let go.” He growled dangerously. There were a lot of confusing feelings inside him right now. This was not fucking helping.
“Just until the car!” She pleaded with a pout and big, puppy dog eyes. He could not believe how fast he caved.
“You know, if the roles were reversed I’d have already been a stain on the ground, right?” Seifer grumbled as he pushed open the door to the restaurant and stepped into the cold night air. Snow was falling gently.
“I know!” Quistis grinned as her fingers went back to kneading his chest. Seifer was thankful he was carrying her and the blood was flowing into the muscles of his arms and legs. Otherwise, it would gone to other, unnecessary places. “I’m so lucky!”
The fucking audacity.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”
The walk to the car was thankfully without incident. He lowered her gently to the ground and opened the door for her. Quistis managed to sit down without too much trouble, even buckle her seatbelt without assistance. Seifer took the chance to take a few calming breaths as he walked over to the driver side and took his seat. The drive back to Garden was mercifully quiet but he noticed that his passenger kept trying to discreetly look at him during the entire ride. He kept his eyes on the road.
By the time they pulled into Garden Vehicle Bay his shoulders were rigid and the knuckles on his hands had gone white. Seifer didn’t even look at Quistis as he stepped out. He stomped his way to the passenger side and quickly opened her door.
“Alright, out.” He ordered as he held out a hand for her. He ignored the skip of his heartbeat as she took it and tried to stand. She got to her feet but it did not look like she was going be able to stay there. His other hand grabbed her shoulder.
“Someone made the floor all…wibble-wobble-wibble-wobbly!” She whined. Her hands found his shoulders. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach.
“If I carry you…” Seifer began slowly, looking everywhere but her. “Can you promise not to grope my chest?”
“I cannot!” Quistis announced loudly. Thankfully the late hour meant the vehicle bay was empty. He gulped as she captured his eyes in a serious look. “That…would be lying! And lying ishhh baaad!”
The headache came back.
“I’m tossing you over my shoulder.” He stated flatly, brows lowering.
“Ooooooo, that would be shhhhooo nice!” She exclaimed, an ecstatic smile in her face. He dreaded asking the next question.
“…why?”
“Cause then I get full accessh to your juicy butt!” To emphasize her point, Quistis made several grabbing motions with her hands. Seifer’s patience frayed.
“I could just drag you by the foot behind me…” He threatened, shoulders square. Quistis gasped, hand on her chest, fake antlers undulating on top of her head.
“Yooooouuuuuuu!” She began to poke him in the chest. She continued to poke him for far longer than necessary he felt. “Youyouyouyou would not! Cause that is not chivlar—Kevlar—shiv—shy…? Knightly! It wouldn’t be knightly.”
That was the last straw. He was done with this and done with her for the evening. He did everything a decent person would have done by bringing her back home. She could stumble her way back to her dorm or fall asleep in the hallway for all he cared.
No more drunken bullshit.
Fifteen minutes later…
Seifer stood in front of the door to Quistis’ dorm, Quistis in hand, her arms wrapped around his neck, smug smile on her face.
“There.” He set her down. She stood in front of her door quietly, not moving. Not even swaying. Her neck was red. “You goin’ in or what?”
“Want to know the secret?” She whispered nervously. “Of why I called you?”
“Huh?” Seifer’s tired mind tried to remember back to the beginning of his shitty evening. She had slurred something about a secret near the start of their misadventure but that had long since fallen to wayside. Before he could give her an answer, she gave her own.
“I wanted you to come for me…” She whirled far more quickly and gracefully than her supposed drunken state should have allowed. She was up on her toes, pressing her lips against his before he could do much as blink. She tasted of alcohol and peaches. She tasted damn good. He missed her when she pulled herself back to stare up at him with eyes full of so many emotions it would have stopped his heart if the kiss hadn’t already. “…and you did. Thank you.”
It was impossible to know how long he held his breath or how much time passed as they stood there. All he knew was that a part of him didn’t want to leave. The other part of him, the smarter part, noticed that as much as she was trying to hide it, Quistis was still have trouble standing straight. This could all be an act of drunken stupidity she wouldn’t remember in the morning.
“No problem.” He schooled his face into a stoic mask. He nodded at her and made for his own room. It was best to leave quickly. If he was lucky she would chalk it up to a drunken dream. That was for the best. No way she would do that sober. He got a step before his arm was captured by a pair of shaking hands.
“Seifer…” The plea in her voice made him crack immediately. He turned to her and found tears welling in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.
“This…am I what you want?” He demanded quietly.
“Yes.” Was her immediate answer.
“And in the morning? When your sober and hungover?” He challenged, unable to quash the fear and hope waging a war inside. “You sure you’re gonna want me then?”
“Yes.” She took his hand into hers and the stupid side of him believed her. The rest of him did too. “I’ll call.”
“Huh?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Quistis enunciated talking a step closer to him, eyes intense. “I will call you.”
Seifer’s jaw shifted back and forth.
“Promise?” He sounded so small and pathetic.
“Promise.” She sounded so sincere and sure.
They parted, hands hesitantly pulling away. Seifer’s heart was still hammering by the time he made it to his dorm. Despite his exhaustion, he slept in fits and starts, constantly checking his phone throughout. Seeing if the morning arrived. The morning bell announcing the start of the day in Garden came and went with no call.
Seeing as sleep was probably impossible to achieve at this point, Seifer instead opted to brush his teeth and shower. His phone was never more than an arms length away at any time. Once cleansed and clothed, he decided to head to the cafeteria. Not for food but for the strongest cup of coffee he could find. He hated that shit. It tasted like burnt, wet ass and made him jittery but the caffeine would be the only thing able of keeping him sane.
The hours passed. 0900 hours. 1000 hours. 1100 hours. All passed without any sound from his communication device. He paced the halls, moving from place to place, irritation growing with each passing step. Many cadets and SeeD’s gave him a wide berth. The quad was the final destination of his journey. Because of the cold outside, he was sure it would be empty and he was right. He leaned against one of the railings, staring at his phone.
1203 hours.
His lips pursed as he shoved the phone into his pocket. Maybe it had been his dream. He wondered what he would do for the rest of the holiday. Maybe take a page out of Quistis’ book and get hammered. Try to forget this ever happened. He let out a breathe through his nose and pushed off the railing.
“Seifer.”
The voice, the one he had been hoping to hear all morning, crashed into him like an avalanche. Unsure if he was imagining it, he hesitated lifting his eyes. More than enough disappointment visited him today. Still, the possibility, the chance, was too great to ignore. He looked up.
There at the top of the stairs stood Quistis Trepe. Red-faced, hunched over and out of breath. She wore a simple hoodie, leggings and sneakers. From the sweat on her brow and the windswept srare of her hair, it looked like she had been running around all of Garden.
“Would you believe…hah…that in my infinite, drunken stupidity…hah….I did not realize…oooohhhh…that my phone…the one I meant to use to call you…phew…is still at the restaurant?”
Seifer brow furrowed and his lips went tight. His attempt to restrain himself did not last long. The tension and anger in his chest was obliterated by loud, raucous laughter erupting out of him. It filled the quad. His stomach hurt when it was all over. He looked up at Quistis with a crooked smirk.
“Didn’t come to your senses?”
Quistis let out a laugh of her own. It was a real pretty sound.
“Guess not.”
Seifer walked up the stairs. When he was a step below her he stopped, looking her straight in the eyes.
“Wanna talk before ya do?”
That earned him another laugh. Her blue eyes sparkled.
“Wouldn’t stop even if I did.”