Madness of Mistletoe.

iii

Zell sat sulking in the cafeteria, his arms folded and his bottom lip stuck out in the childish pout. Selphie appeared with a Santa hat upon her head. He didn't even look up.

She sighed. "Zell do cheer up, you're making everyone else depressed just by looking at you."

He glanced around the room at the happy, laughing people. "They look fine to me."

She slid into the seat opposite him with a grin. "I know what will cheer you!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

She nodded and gestured for someone to come over. Another Seed placed a plate in front of him.

"It's a hotdog." He said.

"And-" She gestured for him to look closer.

"And-" He peered at it and frowned. "And it's got some sort of green shit all over it."

"It's a little piece of holy!" She grinned. "For Christmas."

"Oh." He sat back in the chair, looking depressed again. "Thanks Sef that did cheer me up." He said in a dead voice.

She sighed. "I don't know what the problem is."

"I told you, ma is going away this year for Christmas with family, only I'm not allowed to go! Stupid garden crap! So now I have to have Christmas here alone with you lot."

She frowned. "You know 'us lot' might be more fun than you think."

He winced a little. "I didn't mean there's anything wrong with you guys and all but it's just that… I always have Christmas with ma… it's traditional you know?"

She smiled. "I know." She stood from the table. "But who's to say you can't start a few new traditions this year, hmm?"

He frowned. "I guess." He grumbled.

"And I have lots of fun things planned! If you get time you could lend a hand."

"What sort of things?"

"Well…." She grinned. "I thought it would be nice to fill the garden with lots of red flowers, you know make the place look all festive."

"And Squall agreed to this did he?"

She nodded. "Uh huh he's exactly words were 'Just do whatever you want Selphie'."

Zell raised an eyebrow. "Was he drunk?"

She smiled. "Well he was outside his office with Irvine about to get into the lift…."

Zell nodded and chuckle. "….On their way back to the dorms to have lots of hot sex and you thought that was the moment to ask him about your Christmas ideas?"

She laughed. "Exactly!"

He chuckled.

"I had asked Irvy to- um- distract him a little bit to make him a bit more agreeable."

Zell gaped. "Irvine was in on the plan?"

"Of course."

Zell shook his head. "I hope for his sake Squall doesn't find out."

She smiled. "Oh it'll be fine, Squally's not so bad."

"Squally? Not even Rinoa calls him that… well unless blackmailing is involved." She looked up towards the entrance and slowly grinned.

"Oh my god!"

"What?" Zell turned in his chair. "Oh my god!" He repeated.

The rest of Seeds and cadets whooped and cheered staring at Seifer standing in the doorway kissing….. Quistis.

They parted, Quistis raised a hand to her head to straighten her Santa hat and Seifer turned around grinned wearing…. A headband with a mistletoe daggling above his head.

The blonde newly reinstated instructor walked past him and continued on her way to the counter for lunch as if she hadn't just kissed a former student in the hallway.

Seifer walked in grinning.

"Urgh." Zell said in disgust. "I hope he doesn't come over here, he'll gloat."

The cocky blonde headed straight towards them causing Zell to grimace.

Selphie chuckled at him. "Seifer where the hell did you get-?"

He walked up quickly on his long legs to stand in front of her, close up. "Mistletoe!" He announced, before kissing her on the lips.

She kissed him and laughed. "Bet you've been doing that to all the girls today haven't you Seifer?"

"Yep." He grinned. "And not just the girls either." He turned to grin predator like at Zell, who squeaked in alarm.

Selphie burst out laughing.

Zell leant so far back in his chair that he almost fell off it. "You can keep the hell away from me with that thing!"

But Seifer wasn't listening. As Zell's chair started to tip backwards, the older blonde grabbed it, his hands on either side of Zell's head.

The little blonde's eyes were wide. Seifer leant in and kissed him on the lips.

Zell's eyes got wider. "Seif- MmmmMMFFHH!" He put his hand on Seifer's shoulder to try and push him off.

He got even more alarmed when the older man took advantage for his parted lips and tried to put his tongue in his mouth. This was like mouth rape!!

Seifer pulled away grinning at him, pulling Zell's chair safely up to the correct position.

Zell glared at him, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

"There! That wasn't so bad was it?" Seifer asked.

"Worst experience of my life." Zell said dramatically.

Seifer pouted playfully at him. "I'm hurt, Chickie." He put a hand over his heart.

"Yeah yeah I'm sure you'll find plenty of willing victims to kiss you before the end of the day."

Seifer grinned. "Jealous?"

Zell scoffed. "As if."

The tall blonde dropped into the seat that Selphie vacated. "I've got a list of lucky people who had the pleasure of kissing me today."

"I'll bet." Zell frowned.

"Yep, including Fujin." He grinned.

"And Raijin." Selphie added, causing Seifer wince.

Zell's eyes lit up. "Really? What was that?"

Seifer frowned. "I bumped into him and of course I would have let it go but-" He scowled at Selphie. "She was there…."

Zell chuckled.

"And then all these others girls started cheering and…." He grimaced.

"You kissed Raijin!"

"Very quickly! Never mention it again!"

Zell grinned. "I might have to store away this information for when I need it." He threatened.

"I almost kissed Squall too." The grin slowly returned. "But Irvine snatched him away just in time…. I think he was worried that if his boyfriend got a taste of a sex god like me that he might not want to settle anymore." He laughed.

Zell shook his head.

While Selphie giggled.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Seifer looked at Selphie. "Squall wants to see you in his office."

"Now?"

He nodded.

She frowned. "Hmm, I hope there's nothing wrong with my festive plans." She skipped off in the direction of the lifts.

III

Squall sniffed, wiping his hand over his wet eyes for the hundredth time. He had had to escape to his office after everyone thought he was crying. Selphie had filled the garden in these flowers…. The flowers from hell!! They made him sneeze, his eyes watered non stop and he was starting to get a headache. The doctor had given him some pills that she said would take an hour to kick in… that was three hours ago!! He had cast about ten esunas on himself but nothing worked.

He was onto plan C now and that was get rid of all the flowers!

Selphie burst into his office without knocking of course, all bouncy and exciting.

"You wanted to see m-" He paused, her smile dropping off her face as she stared at him. "A-Are you crying?"

He glared at her through his red puffy eyes. "I. Am. Not. Crying!"

He pulled back from her as she reached across the desk to touch his face. "Are you sick?"

"It's your fault! You're the one who put all those flowers around a garden."

"Oh." She frowned. "The Christmas ones? Those aren't supposed to cause…. I checked before I…."

"Well you didn't check hard enough!"

She frowned. "Well I'm sorry."

"You have to get rid of all the flowers."

"What?! This soon before Christmas?!"

Squall glared at her. "Yes."

"But Squall! What if I just move them all into the ballroom for the party?"

"And how am I supposed to come to the party?"

"Well-" She smiled hopefully. "You never come anyway, right?"

He scowled. "I might have come this year."

"But you always say that and then you never do."

He opened his mouth to protest.

"I can't just get rid of them all completely this close to Christmas the junior class men will be upset, what with them being away from their families and with them all being…. So young." She sniffed in sudden sadness and sighed dramatically.

Squall sighed. "Fine, keep them all in the ballroom."

She grinned and almost hugged him, his wincing and leaning away from her reminding her who she was dealing with and managed to restrain herself.

"At least I'll have a good reason to tell Irvine why I'm not going to the party this year."

"See? Maybe I did you a favour."

He sniffed. "I wouldn't go that far."

III

Selphie picked up the large pot of one of the bigger plants and carried it towards the ballroom.

"Zell!" She called, spotting the little blonde.

He jogged over to her, raised an eyebrow at the huge plant being carried by the short girl. "Need a hand with that?"

"Would you?" She asked, knowing he would.

He took it from her.

"Thanks." She beamed.

"Where am I going with this thing?"

"The ballroom."

"I thought you have these things where you wanted them already."

"Yeah but-err- Squall make me move them."

"And you listened?" He chuckled.

"He's allergic." She said.

"Ah." He paused and glanced at her. "Selphie?"

"Yeah?"

"….I wondered if you-d…. never mind."

"If I'd what?"

"If you'd…. kiss me?"

Her eyebrows rose. "What?!"

He frowned. "It's Seifer, in the cafeteria he got in his 'one for the road' kiss and…."

Selphie started laughing.

"Stop laughing, this is not funny!" He scolded. "And now I have this funny taste in my mouth so-"

"Really? What does Seifer taste like?" She grinned.

He licked his lips, pausing to think about it. "I dunno but it's gross."

She giggled.

"Knowing Seifer he probably ate something he knows I don't like the taste of, as if the kiss itself wasn't enough to freak me out." He grumbled walking into the ballroom. "Where'd you want it?"

"Over here." Selphie gestured him over to the side of the ballroom by one of the pillars.

"You know…." She grinned as Zell once he had put the pot down. "He only does it because he likes you."

He stared. "Urgh don't even joke about it."

"I wasn't joking." She giggled. "He does like you, it's obvious."

He wrinkled up his face.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Zell blinked. "Me? Nothing, why? What am I supposed to do?"

"Well I think you should do something about it, like talk to Seifer."

He frowned. "Can't I just hide and wait for it all to go away?"

"No!"

"Why not? That's what I would normally do."

"I know that's why you're single and alone at Christmas while ALL your friends are paired up." She smiled suddenly. "Including me for a change!"

"Thanks for that reminder, you really boosted my spirits." He scowled at her and walked away from her quickly. "I have to go and train."

He jogged off the training centre quickly in case Selphie decided to chase him, which she had done before.

Once inside the training centre he headed straight for the secret area. He really wasn't on the mood for fighting but he knew this place was likely to be Selphie-free as she was too busy being festive to kill monsters.

Selphie had covered the outside of garden with fairy lights that were visible for the balcony in the secret area, making it an even more popular place for couples. He leant in the railing, putting his chin on his arms thinking he was alone.

Something moved behind him, he jumped and quickly looked over his shoulder.

He caught a hint of a grey coat and the figure in the corner smirked at him.

"Seifer?! What the hell are you doing in here?" He flinched.

"Don't worry." The taller blonde said as he pushed off the wall and walked up beside him. "I left the mistletoe with Nida, I thought he could do with it."

Zell smiled. "That's…. nice."

"Yeah he needed it more than I did, it's like giving to charity you know?"

"I'm sure he'd love to hear you say that."

"When some of us…" He paused and closed the gap between them in two long quick strides. "Don't need a plant to help us out." He grabbed the little blonde by the hips.

Zell yelped. "What are you doing now?"

"Don't play hard to get Chickie, it's not you." He kissed him and Zell hesitated for a fraction of a second before he wrapped his arms around Seifer's neck and kissed him back.

The little blonde suddenly hit his lover on the shoulder. "You asshole, don't kiss me public like that again. What the hell was I supposed to say to Selphie?"

Seifer frowned. "Mistletoe Chickie, it was perfect excuse!"

Zell wrinkled his face up. "And what the hell did you eat before the you kissed me last time? I have a gross taste in my mouth for ages!"

"Oh yeah." He smirked. "I had a cigarette."

Zell made a face. "I thought you quit."

"I did but I confiscated a pack from a cadet and- and they were there, looking at me so-"

"The cigarettes were looking at you?"

"They were calling to me."

"Well no more for you if you want to keep-this- thing we have together."

Seifer pouted at him.

"None of that either." Zell shut his eyes to avoid falling for the puppy dog eyes look. He sighed. "Shame garden crap got in the way of our plans."

"There's always next year."

"If you're still putting up with me by then." He grinned.

Seifer returned it. "You can't get rid of me that easily Chickie."

Seifer pulled away. "Anyway we should go into the lobby I heard Squall's going to make a speech and that's always entertaining." He smirked.

Zell shook his head. "You're so cruel, he might do a good job this year."

Seifer scoffed.

They walked out into the lobby, they had gone out separately. Zell went first and spotted Squall standing outside the lifts on the top step waiting to start though he didn't look very well.

"How can we have speech if the commander won't stop crying?" Someone asked.

"I.AM.NOT.CRYING!" Squall yelled into the mic that Selphie had given him, to avoid another disaster like last year, when he mumbled the whole thing and no one could hear Squall at all.

"It's the stupid red plants!" He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Anyway Merry Christmas and blah, blah, blah all that stuff and…. Whatever I said last year." He dropped the mic and wandered off.

Seifer smirked. "Another stunning performance from Squall then." He stood behind Zell.

They watched Irvine try and comfort Squall who seemed desperate to go back to his office.

Selphie picked up the mic. "Hi everyone! The party will start in the ballroom tonight at seven, I expect you all to be there…. Except you Squall." She called to the commander who glared at her from the corner, before disappearing in the crowd.

"What if some of us have better things to do?" Seifer shouted.

She frowned. "Nothing is better than my party, Seifer." She scolded. "I could still use a hand with… a few… minor things." She smiled. "If anyone wanted to lend a hand then just-"

Suddenly everyone was moving, trying to leave at the same time until the lobby as empty.

She frowned. "Oh." She said to… no one as there was no one left. "Oh well then." She skipped off to the ballroom to find some other victims to help her decorate.

III

End