Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Protecting the Lion ❯ Morning Rituals ( Chapter 46 )

Chapter Forty-Six

Morning Rituals

 

Sunday mornings were Seifer's favorite time of the week, at least starting that Sunday.

 

With an entire day open to goofing off and basically having no obligations other than watching Squall, the blond was grinning madly before the brunet even woke up.

 

As concerned as he was over what had happened during the night, he couldn't help but feel elated.

 

Covered in the blanket, the little lion slept soundly, curled against him. The knight had found himself unable to sleep when he could wallow in the ridiculous feeling of happiness. Propped against the headrest, his ears took in the sound of the icy storm outside and near inaudible breaths of the smaller man. Stroking the head of silky dark hair, which lay against his stomach, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

 

Squall loved him.

 

Their relationship was practically a defiance of the fates, the mismatched pair who scarcely agreed on anything. Yet, there was no one else better suited for either man.

 

Confident and cocky, Seifer was an overall very dominating person. But, if he settled down with some submissive lover, he'd lose the fighter inside of him. Dating was fun, especially if he actually liked the girl he was with, but the idea of spending more than a few days with any of the young ladies he'd wooed was the biggest turn off ever. Even the clingy Rinoa had known that being together for more than a couple days on the weekend would cause Seifer to break it off.

 

Sex was usually the main objective, though he had met a few women who carried interesting enough conversations to keep him around for simple company. He wasn't a lecher or ladies man like Kinneas. He had high standards, even when looking for a one-night stand.

 

On rare occasions, he'd expressed feelings of love. He even remembered whom it was to. Wendy, Terra, and Rinoa. Wendy had been the first woman he'd slept with. At fourteen, she'd been twice his age. His words of affection had been a spur of the moment, a result of a clouded mind coming down from an orgasm. He hadn't meant it, and Wendy knew that. Terra might have been someone he might have grown to love, but he'd been premature in his declaration to keep the girl happy. A discontent girlfriend was not something he enjoyed dealing with. And then there was Rinoa. The raven-haired girl had also been a case of appeasement. He'd been a bit depressed after a three-day excursion with the chatterbox, and he needed to say something so that when they met the next time, he wouldn't be in the doghouse.

 

Now, he rested, half sitting, half lying down. His formal rival sleeping contently in his hold, and he actually felt that clichéd romance story feeling. He wasn't on drugs, but he felt like he'd taken a whole bottle of anti-depressants. His heart strummed, and he couldn't stop smiling.

 

If Squall woke up and found him in such a… giddy state, then he'd be nursing a black eye or sore bump on the head. Still, he couldn't help it. It was becoming a habit of his to lose control of himself around Squall.

 

Unable to stop fighting and trying to out-do the brunet. Unable to stop following the Commander's moves after the war. Unable to stay away. Unable to stop thinking lewd thoughts. Unable to keep his lips off his lifetime rival, even if it meant using force. Unable to settle for anything but everything.

 

He had no defenses around Squall, just his naturally arrogant and boisterous manner, which seemed to, in turn, tear down all of the brunet's defenses.

 

He was selfish. But, he felt no guilt about it. There was no person alive who could possibly resist the temptation of having Squall. His selfishness grew because of Squall, learning that he'd been the first person to be so intimate, to take the brunet. Now, he was the first person the young Commander ever loved. Selfishly, he would take it all and still want more.

 

Squall was his. His claim was staked not just with the marks of ravishing that pale, lithe body, but from the honest utterance of endearment that had come from those soft lips in the middle of the night. And because he was a selfish man, he'd never let go, even if it made the Commander's life difficult.

 

It was partly Squall's fault, for being so damn alluring. He couldn't think about anything else for more than ten minutes at a time.

 

He would have to talk with Trepe, and square things away. His contract was basically just until the stalker was taken care of, but he wouldn't leave now. So, he'd see if the contract couldn't be altered. He'd suggest remaining as the Commander's bodyguard indefinitely.

 

Squall began to stir. Lightly, he kept his hand twined in soft hair, allowing for the waking man to move. Slowly, that refined face looked up at him. Bright blue eyes blinked a few times before the haze of slumber lifted completely.

 

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Seifer greeted, still smiling like a mad man.

 

Squall hesitated, conflicting emotions battling within. Part of him wanted to tell the blond to wipe that silly grin off his face, but at the same time he wanted to pounce the man and hold on.

 

Shiva was going to pay. While he didn't think that she intended for it to turn out the way it had, his Guardian Force had overstepped her boundaries. Though, he was rather grateful in a relieved sense. Now, he knew without a doubt how he felt, even if he'd wound up acting like a tearful fool.

 

Settling for an in between reaction, Squall frowned.

 

“No good morning kiss?” Seifer chastised with mock feelings of hurt. Shifting his hand, he gently cupped the back of a slender neck and directed Squall to move closer.

 

Complying, Squall broke away from his curled sleeping form and propped himself upright to bring his lips chastely to Seifer's. Before the knight could deepen the contact, he pulled back and stared into mischievous jade eyes. “Good morning,” he greeted in return.

 

“I won't ask about last night,” Seifer stated randomly, his eyes becoming serious.

 

Brows furrowed, Squall wondered at the knight's statement. When a dawning understanding came, he gave a small smile. It seemed the blond knew him better than he knew himself. He hadn't even begun to question whether or not he should explain about the nightmarish dream. And, before he could even worry, Seifer prevented any trouble from forming.

 

`Stupid knight,' the brunet's mind berated. Why did Seifer have to turn out to be so good for him? If it had just been sex, then maybe his emotions wouldn't be so flippant and out of whack. But no… that would have been too simple. Beneath that arrogance, buried where even he didn't see all the time, the blond had to be considerate, caring, gentle, and almost sweet. It was like some recipe for the perfect man, character flaws aside. The fact that Seifer was extremely handsome and that the sex was unbelievably good made the knight irresistible.

 

Now he was in love, for so many odd and conflicting reasons as well as unknown ones.

 

Shifting to swing a leg over the reclining knight, Squall straddled the man. Seifer still wore all his clothes, though they were wrinkled and out of place. He, on the other hand, was completely naked, especially as the blanket fell from his form while moving atop the blond.

 

With an air of curiosity, Squall took one of Seifer's hands in his own. Bringing it to his chest, he flattened the warm and rough palm over his heart. With a calm, and almost serene, expression he spoke in slight wonderment, “So, this is love.”

 

Green eyes widened in surprise. Seifer could feel it clearly. Beneath the toned muscle of the fighter's chest, was the fast paced beating of a heart. Gulping, he simply stared for an elongated moment, losing himself in those bright eyes.

 

Eventually, Seifer pulled his hand away and wrapped his arms around the lithe torso. Bringing Squall against himself with a bump, he hugged the bare man tightly. “If you keep this up, I doubt I'll let you leave the bedroom ever again,” he said, pressing his mouth against the smooth junction of Squall's shoulder and neck.

 

“I need a shower,” Squall replied, effectively calling for an end to the sickly sweet moment being shared.

 

With an impish grin, Seifer conceded to the replacement of emotional boundaries. At this point, it didn't matter if Squall appeared composed on the outside, since the brunet had just shown him what was really going on beneath it all. Besides, if they weren't going to exchange in the lover's banter about who loved who more, then they could begin to act out every perverted little fantasy in his head.

 

From food and aprons to showers and soap, Seifer was making a mental list of all the things they could do on a Sunday free of work. And, that was just within the confines of the apartment.

 

His grin widened when he considered wooing the Commander into doing it in the Headmaster's office, or in the conference room. Garden was a big facility, and like any alpha male, he felt inclined to marking the territory by screwing the brunet in each place. Though, Raijin and Fujin would probably kill him.

 

However, at the moment, since the brunet wouldn't agree to most of his ideas, he'd settle for another enjoyable morning shower.

 

“A shower sounds like a good idea,” Seifer commented, nipping at a collarbone.

 

With a small smirk, Squall was forced to admit that he just might have as big an appetite for sex as the blond. While he wasn't keeping score, he'd say that for all the times Seifer had wanted to go at it, he'd been more than willing.

 

Grinding his hips down, Squall replied, “I suppose we agree on a few things at least.”

 

Sucking on the tender flesh of Squall's neck, Seifer gave a soft groan. He doubted he'd ever be able to run any marathons when he couldn't keep his hands off his new sex kitten. Not that it mattered. Who would want to go running, when they could screw Commander Leonhart?

 

 

They never made it to the shower, though they were close.

 

Seifer took Squall on the bathroom floor. Too involved with each other, they'd grown impatient. The brunet was prostrated before the knight. The lithe form arched flexibly, chest pressed the floor while Seifer took the man from behind.

 

Moans of pleasure reverberated off the tiled room, sending trills of fulfillment through them as they heard what they were doing to each other.

 

Squall didn't just love Seifer. He loved what the blond did to him. He couldn't get enough of being filled and thrust into. The painful bliss and ecstasy brought with each violent thrust was addicting. It was in this way that he'd first learned to relax and let go, to accept the mind numbing lust.

 

Prompted by Seifer to repeat the simple three-word phrase of endearment, Squall was taken again under the shower's spray.

 

**

 

Selphie was in a particularly good mood that morning. Marching along the circular path that wrapped around Balamb Garden's fountain, she kicked her booted feet out rigidly with a gay smile on her face.

 

Her new favorite person was going to meet her near the elevator. As she drew closer, oblivious to the odd stares from every mulling student and instructor, she giggled at her own musings and continued to march like a soldier in line.

 

Stopping abruptly, forcing a few people to suddenly change direction to avoid hitting her, she waved a hand above her head madly and called out, “Good morning!”

 

Loosely bound dark hair fluttered as Laguna turned around at the singsong greeting. Smiling brightly in return, he waved in a bit of a goofy manner.

 

The copper haired ball of energy had been up since the crack of dawn, beginning preparation for the winter festival. When word of Esthar's President arriving reached her ears, she'd been psyched to enlist the help of the carefree man. Laguna shared her interest in such activities. And, while he wasn't as much a fanatic as she was, it did mean some good brainstorming and cheerful help.

 

It also meant bringing the older man to see his son, and wrangling a free breakfast out of Squall. As it was, Zell had some crazy inkling to take the head chef on a weekend trip to his mother's house, something about the ultimate cook off. So, without Greta, the cafeteria's food wasn't nearly as good. Squall's was better to begin with, not to mention free, but it wasn't as though they could all just show up every time they were hungry.

 

Momentarily sidetracked in her thinking as she bound up the stairs to greet the loveable former Galbadian soldier, she asked, “Where did Squall learn to cook?”

 

Unfazed by the odd question, Laguna smiled while answering, “I have no idea.”

 

“I want waffles,” she thought aloud, rubbing her stomach with one hand and pressing the button on the elevator's panel with the other.

 

Laguna may not have known his son very well, which was something he desperately wanted to rectify, but he did know that the Commander didn't enjoy surprises. “He knows we're coming, right?” he questioned.

 

As the elevator door opened with a ding and the pair stepped in, Selphie answered happily, “Nope”

 

If she was lucky, then when she made Laguna wait in the hallway and went in ahead to tell Squall, she just might catch the two kissing again.

 

In her own little world, she gave off a squeal of excitement, startling an uninformed Laguna.

 

His smile fading, Laguna questioned, “Are you alright?”

 

Overexcited, Selphie grinned broadly. “I just really want waffles,” she covered. It wasn't exactly a lie.

 

 

With determination, Selphie marched into Squall's apartment uninvited. Outside, she left a half assured Laguna, the man still afraid of upsetting the Commander and losing brownie points.

 

“Hello?” she whispered meekly. “Squall? I just came to tell you, your dad's here and I wanted waffles….” She let her words trail off, barely loud enough for even her to hear.

 

Satisfied that she'd made a proper enough greeting, warning anyone within a foot of herself why she was there, the mischievous girl crept into the living room.

 

She could get into so much trouble, but that was half the fun.

 

When she reached the couch, the sound of the shower running reached her ears. With all three doors along the wall closed, she didn't know who was where. It wasn't like Squall to sleep any later than six, and it was already eight. So, she figured that the Commander was in the shower.

 

Creeping closer, Selphie took unnecessary steps that balanced precariously on the balls of her feet. Her hair bounced as she continually turned her head to check vacant corners.

 

She would check door number one first, Squall's room. Then, she'd work her way down.

 

Irvine would kill her if he knew what she was up to. `But, I had to,' the copper haired girl reasoned for future excuse. `Poor Laguna, wanting to see his only son,' she thought with sympathy.

 

Of course she'd play the mediator. She couldn't let Laguna not see Squall, but she also couldn't not warn Squall before hand. Logically, this meant letting herself in and perhaps catching her new favorite couple in the act of morning smooching.

 

Before she could even turn the handle on Squall's door, a shocking sound reached her ears.

 

“Aah! Seifer, harder!”

 

“So fucking tight!”

 

Green eyes widened while Selphie gave an audible slap of her hand against her mouth.

 

Maybe she'd heard wrong.

 

Taking a step closer to the bathroom, she nearly keeled over at the continued sounds of sex. Gulping, Selphie felt her cheeks burn. Frozen in place, she was incapable to moving.

 

Both voices were recognizable, but nothing like what she'd heard before.

 

“Call my name,” came a deeper, huskier voice that belonged to Seifer.

 

Before Selphie's mind could even scoff at the idea of Squall ever calling out the knight's name, she heard the slightly higher pitched voice of her Commander respond immediately.

 

“Seifer!” came the cry, sheer ecstasy riddling the wanton voice.

 

And that was when she heard the thumping of some wall within the bathroom.

 

Shocked to a standstill, Selphie was completely grounded. This was not what she'd expected.

 

Without conscious thought, her other hand came up and slapped her own cheek. Startled back to reality, she turned tail and fled.

 

`Oh, oh, oh' her mind kept repeating, unable to find proper words even in her head. She so beat Quistis with this one. The Head Instructor might have seen the pair kiss twice, but she practically saw them doing something way more adult.

 

Once the door opened, she ran out, not stopping until she was halfway down the hall. Remembering about Laguna, she stopped and turned to trot back to a confused president.

 

“Sorry, now's not a good time,” she said with an obviously forced chuckle.

 

“Oh,” the longhaired man said with an understanding tone of dejection.

 

Realizing the misunderstanding the cheerful girl exclaimed while waving her hands frantically, “No, no, it's not like that.”

 

“He's not sick, is he?” Laguna questioned, jumping from one conclusion to the next.

 

“No, just tired, I'm sure,” she winced at the stretch her mind made to make her words true. It was plausible that after finishing what they were doing, the Commander might be tired. “He was up late fulfilling his duty.” Leaving off the last part of, `to his new boyfriend,', Selphie settled for telling the truth that her own mind construed. It was probably true, maybe. A lot of new couples started out hot and heavy. Considering the two rivals had been brought together by lust in the first place, it stood to reason that they were rutting like two cats in heat.

 

Selphie giggled at the idea of the Commander being in heat. She was so going to tease Squall.

 

Lost in reverie for a moment, Selphie didn't notice that Laguna was holding a hand out.

 

“Selphie,” the laidback man called the girl to attention. Holding out a handkerchief, he offered it to her.

 

“What's this for?” she asked.

 

“Your nose is bleeding,” he pointed out, even more confused that she hadn't even noticed. These kids that saved the world sure were weird, but if they were his son's friends, then it didn't matter. Kiros thought he was pretty weird at times, so it wasn't like he could be judgmental.

 

Blushing further, Selphie took the small cloth and wiped her nose. With a wave of the hand she motioned for the President to follow her.

 

“Where're we going?” Laguna asked, wondering if he'd be able to see Squall today. The way he'd left things in Dollet was kind of unsettling, and he wanted to smooth things over as soon as possible. He'd thought that when someone from Garden had given an invitation to stop by anytime and stay for the winter festival, that Squall had made some gesture.

 

Muffled with the cloth tissue against her nose, Selphie managed to say, “Quistis makes good eggs, and I have some bragging to do.”

 

Confused, Laguna followed along, striding next to the short girl. With a shrug, he figured they could at least discuss more plans for the festival.