FICLET: We're Not People Persons (But Maybe That's Okay) ~ FFVIII ~ Seifer/Squall ~ General

[batsutousai]

Title: We're Not People Persons (But Maybe That's Okay)
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: General
Pairing: Seifer Almasy/Squall Leonhart
Summary: Seifer and Squall find time to talk while trapped indoors by a blizzard.

A/N: Every winter season, I send out cards to anyone willing to give me their address, and I decided two winters ago to start adding fic to the cards. This year, I settled on the very loose prompt of getting stuck in a cabin because of a snowstorm. Which some fics held to better than others, whoops. XD

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"How," Seifer asked of the world in general, "is this my life?"

Unsurprisingly, the world didn't offer any response. Neither, of course, did Squall, who happened to be the only other person in the chilled little cabin they'd just barely managed to find in the storm.

Trabia snowstorms, it turned out, were no laughing matter (they'd have frozen to death without their junctions), and he was seriously starting to wish that at least one of the two of them had had the sense to listen when they were told to wait it out in the village they'd docked at. But, of course, Squall was desperate to get this mission out of the way so he could return to his duties at Garden. (And his sorceress, Seifer assumed, though the fact that neither of them had mentioned her going on the mission with Squall was suspicious. Trouble in paradise?) Seifer was just far too glad to no longer be under house arrest, and he hadn't been about to let something like a blizzard stop him from stretching his legs.

Seifer took a bit to cast around for burnables – their junctions protected them from the cold, yes, but only to an extent, and Seifer wasn't interested in testing how long they could last that evening – and came up with two massive logs sat just to the side of the fireplace, and a wooden chair that had seen better days.

When Squall didn't comment on him chopping up the belongings of other people, Seifer paused in his act of vandalism and looked back to find where he'd got to, spotting him sitting next to window on the far side of the room, which he was looking out of. His expression was as blank as ever, but Seifer was familiar enough with the position to make a pretty good guess at what was going through his head. So he asked, "Rinoa, or your paperwork?" Mostly to fill the bubble of silence inside the cabin.

Squall didn't so much as twitch, and Seifer huffed and turned back to the process of chopping up the chair, which was a lot sturdier than it had looked.

He lasted long enough to get a fire going before the silence started to get to him again. "If it's the paperwork, well, it'll still be there when you get back. Assuming Trepe doesn't get through it all while we're gone."

That earned him a quiet snort, which was practically a belly-laugh, from Squall.

"Should we start making bets on how much is left? Because I'm gonna put in for none, right now. Just saying."

"We're not betting on how much of my work Quistis does," Squall said in that flat, unimpressed tone that Seifer had long learnt meant he was hiding how amused he was.

"You just know I'm going to win."

Seifer didn't have to look to know Squall had turned a bland stare on him, but he turned to shoot him a grin anyway, if only to watch the way Squall's face spasmed as he tried to hold his stare.

Seifer turned back to the fire, gave Squall a moment to collect himself, then asked the question he'd been biting back since Squall had named the two of them for the mission: "Why didn't you bring Rinoa?"

Squall's quiet sigh was telling, and Seifer couldn't keep from turning to look at him. He hadn't shifted posture, really, but there was a sense of defeat around him that was utterly unfamiliar, and Seifer had to bite his tongue to keep from saying or doing something he'd regret later.

"It's complicated," Squall said after a long beat, staring out the window like the storm was the most interesting thing in the world. Or, more likely, like he couldn't bring himself to look at Seifer.

Seifer forced himself to take a moment before responding, but he still wanted to cut out his own tongue when what came out was, "Every social situation is 'complicated' to you, you bloody ice queen."

"Really," Squall said, turning that flat expression that meant 'danger!' on Seifer.

Seifer cleared his throat and waved a hand between them. "That's not– Look. You have trouble with people, people have trouble with you. It's a, a thing. Constant."

"Pot, kettle," Squall returned flatly, but he didn't look like he was trying to figure out what to paint with Seifer's blood any more, so he counted that as a win.

"Different problem," Seifer muttered, and turned back to the fire so he didn't have to see whatever look Squall turned on him. "Look, I'm not promising anything, but talking about it might help." And Seifer was the only other (former-)knight alive, not to mention he had experience with dating Rinoa; he'd probably have the best chance of helping Squall out, of all the people he'd be likely to talk to about whatever had happened. (And, somehow, despite everything that had happened, Squall was willing to talk to Seifer about things, though usually only about matters relating to being knight to a sorceress.)

Squall was silent for long enough that Seifer honestly thought he wasn't going to respond. He was just opening his mouth to change the topic, when Squall said, "We're not compatible."

Not compatible? As sorceress and knight?! Did that mean their resident sorceress was running around without a balancing influence?!

"In terms of a relationship," Squall said before Seifer could finish turning to demand clarification. There was a wry, tired sort of twist to his mouth, and Seifer wished that didn't make his chest ache. "We're both too set in our ways. It works, with the sorceress-knight bond, but not–"

"In the bedroom?" Seifer suggested with a smirk, amused in spite of himself that Squall still struggled with how to discuss sex.

Squall let out a nearly silent sigh, only audible because of how quiet the rest of the world around them was. "Yes. She's been seeing someone in Garden for the past few months."

"Who?" Seifer asked, frowning, because this was the first he'd heard of such. Given, he was hardly at the centre of the rumour mill, but still. Their local sorceress seeing someone other than her knight would get around pretty fast.

Squall shrugged, turning his attention back to the window. "Don't know, don't care. My only request was that they attempt to be discreet."

"Rinoa, discreet?" Seifer muttered, though it was clear she'd managed pretty well so far, if the rumour mill had no clue. "What about you?"

The unimpressed stare Squall had turned on him morphed into a quick show of confusion before he regained control of his face and blanked it. "What about me?"

Seifer rolled his eyes. "Rinoa's got someone, so you're free to date around."

"I don't have time for relationships."

Seifer turned his best impression of Squall's unimpressed stare on him.

Squall held out for about two minutes before he sighed and shrugged, turning again to look out the window. "Do you honestly think there's someone out there who would accept me as I am?" he asked in a quiet, vulnerable sort of voice.

Seifer swallowed, because he was all too familiar with that fear. "I would," he offered, because age and distance had shown him the real reason he'd always been so focussed on Squall. Not that he'd ever intended to tell Squall as much. But, well, too late to take it back.

The shock would have looked normal on anyone else's face, but it looked rather comical on Squall. "You– What? Why?"

Seifer shrugged and turned to stare at the crackling fire. "Because."

Anyone else probably would have pushed for more, but Squall could read Seifer as well as Seifer could read him. So he was quiet for a long beat, then said, "I'd accept you, too."

Perhaps it wasn't so bad that they'd braved the snowstorm.

.