Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Strings Attached ❯ We Can't Be Together Forever ( Chapter 21 )

Chapter Twenty-One

We Can't Be Together Forever

 

Irvine reclined lazily, feet propped on a small step latter left over from festival preparation. He sat with his long leather duster buttoned up, the cold air slowly becoming denser with light snow showers.

 

There were tables scattered around the quad for the big night. A thin layer of snow covered the ground and bare trees. The stage was protected, a large awning in place to shield it from weather.

 

“Hey,” Selphie greeted, trudging across the open quad in her warm suede boots. The forecast was clear for the final finale on the coming Saturday, but it would still be cold. It wouldn't be a winter festival without snow.

 

“Hey darlin',” Irvine returned, tearing his violet gaze from the cloudy sky. As he took in her ambling trudge he chuckled, recognizing right away the mischievous aura around her. “You've been a naughty girl,” he said smoothly.

 

“Maybe,” Selphie admitted with an impish grin, sauntering the last few steps. Glancing behind herself she frowned. “Rui!” she yelled, not seeing the black haired boy following.

 

Grumbling, Selphie turned and stalked back a little ways, just to the bottom of the gentle sloping stairway. “Rui!”

 

“You should leave the kid alone,” Irvine drawled, hiding his serious feelings on the matter.

 

“But he's cute and Squall likes him,” she said after jogging back to the still seated cowboy.

 

She plopped down after brushing off all traces of snow. A cursory glance backwards told her Rui was on his way.

 

Rui approached hesitantly, none too willing to be subjected to more death glares from Marlboro man. Hadn't his day been bad enough? If Instructor Tilmitt kept fetching him right from his dorm, he'd start pitching camp outside the Commander's place until he was given sanctuary. Maybe if he looted her money each time then she'd like him less.

 

“So,” the gunman began, “I see you two are together… again.”

 

Selphie blinked innocently, still not sure if Irvine was being jealous or not. It wasn't her intention to make him so, even upon Quisty's advice that it'd be key to winning his affections back.

 

With trepidation, Rui sat down after fussing over making sure the chair had no snow on it. He wasn't intimidated by the cowboy, just resentful over not having crossed the gunman in any way that deserved such threatening looks.

 

Irvine tried to hold polite conversation, effectively masking his emotions. “So, what have you been up to, now that everything's finished ahead of schedule?”

 

“Oh, nothing much,” Selphie fibbed.

 

Rui scoffed at this. Now, every time he saw the Commander, he'd redden like a tomato for no good reason. Squall would probably think he was weird or something.

 

“Something wrong?” Irvine asked a little too bitingly.

 

“Yeah,” Rui replied just as harshly, not willing to take more crap without knowing what he'd done. “This is the tenth tour Instructor Tilmitt's given me. I could navigate this place with my eyes closed, yet she's insists on dragging me around and involving me in her perversions!”

 

With big green eyes, Selphie turned to the boy with a trembling lip. “You don't like me?” she asked with watering eyes.

 

In Rui's head, he imagined a different stream of words coming out of his mouth than what he actually spoke. Guilty about hurting her feelings, wondering why she finally chose this particular point to begin listening to him, he sighed. “No, I'm just,” he hesitated for the right word, “grumpy.”

 

“What does he mean perversions?” Irvine demanded, “Are you sleeping with him?”

 

Bright green eyes blinked in quick succession. Selphie looked at Rui and then back to Irvine, and then back to Rui. She noticed an adorable blush to the boy's cheeks. “He's certainly cute enough,” she joked.

 

Irvine sat up straight. “Darlin', tell me you ain't serious.”

 

“I ain't serious,” Selphie mimicked the cowboy's drawling accent. “Lighten up Irvy, of course I'm not sleeping with him.” Winking at the dark haired boy, she added, “Not yet anyway.”

 

“I swear to Hyne Valdez, if you lay a finger on her-” Irvine began his fuming threat, but was cut short as Rui stood up and slammed his hands down on the table.

 

“You'll what Marlboro man?” Rui interjected, fearing his life was forfeit.

 

“You know Irvy,” Selphie said calmly, “Squall is rather attached to the boy. It'd be hard to hurt him.”

 

Rui gulped, suddenly feeling less confident now that he remembered he couldn't run to the Commander very easily when he had no clue where the older boy was. Deciding to back down, he said, “I have a girlfriend, I wouldn't date my instructor.”

 

“Are you calling me an old hag?” Selphie questioned with a pout.

 

“No!” Rui proclaimed, wondering why everything he said was taken the wrong way.

 

“You should bring your girlfriend next time we hang out,” Selphie suggested with an accompanying nod.

 

Rui scoffed. “And subject her to Garden's biggest lecher?”

 

Irvine scowled. “Former lecher kid, but I might come out of retirement just for the occasion.”

 

“Fine, we're even then. You joked about my girlfriend and I joked about yours, now please stop looking at me like I'm a target or something.”

 

Irvine gave a small nod, his eyes still narrowed beneath the brim of his hat. Selphie didn't go for the younger ones anyway. “So what perversion is he talking about?”

 

Selphie's mind scrambled for an appropriate answer. Luckily, she had several perversions. “My obsession with Squall's fan club,” she answered proudly. “Rui doesn't wanna join cause all the guys in it are gay.” Technically, it was true. She'd tried to get Rui to join, but he'd said that he wasn't obsessed with the Commander.

 

Irvine gave a small nod, his mind already wandering again.

 

“Did you hear the news?” Selphie spoke again.

 

“I've been out here all morning,” the gunman pointed out.

 

“But it's freezing!” Selphie exclaimed, “Are you sulking again?”

 

Sighing, Irvine prompted, “What's the new babe?” He raised a hand to tug the brim of his hat lower, settling in his seat once again.

 

Selphie gave a momentary frown, staring towards the gunman in a calculating manner. When her lack of response became noticeable and Irvine finally lock eyes, she grinned.

 

Lacking the ability to deny the bouncy woman a soft smile in return, Irvine subsequently felt a small life in his spirits.

 

With an approving nod, the copper haired woman answered, “It's Quisty!”

 

“Did our Head Instructor finally get laid?” he jibed lightly.

 

“Even better!” Selphie assured, waiting for the gunman to ask her what happened.

 

Violet eyes glanced out from beneath the low black rim of his Stetson. “Did our mother hen run off and elope?”

 

“Is she dating anyone?” Selphie asked with intrigue, settling down for a change in topic.

 

“Better not be,” Irvine growled.

 

Selphie rolled her eyes. “I'm beginning to see why you have jealousy management problems.”

 

Sitting forward again, the cowboy defended, “I don't…” Irvine trailed off, composing himself once more.

 

“I'm going to grab lunch,” Rui stated, a little cautious that the copper haired woman would ask for him to wait a little longer.

 

“Say hi to Zell for me,” Selphie requested, glad she didn't have to ask Rui to leave in case the conversation became too personal.

 

Rui departed with a shake of his head. One second, the woman was dragging him by a leash and the next she was acting as if she wished he would leave.

 

“So, are you going to tell me the news or torture me with a list of people you think Quistis is involved with?”

 

“I'm game for torture,” Selphie cheered.

 

“Darlin', you already torture me every time you wear that short jumper you've got on. I don't think you should be letting other men see so much of your legs.”

 

“Jealousy management problems,” Selphie lilted with laughter.

 

Trying once more to guess, Irvine questioned, “Is there a instructor of the year award that I don't know about? Or have the Trepies pooled their money together to buy her a leather whip engraved with her name?”

 

Too excited to keep it to herself any longer, Selphie blurted out, “Squall made her the Headmistress!”

 

Violet eyes narrowed dangerously. Although Irvine knew he should be happy for Quistis, his focus was on the Commander. “Did Squall say why he did it?”

 

Frowning, Selphie pouted at the gunman's reaction. While she knew that she sometimes became more excited than everyone else, she felt certain that this was the sort of situation that called for celebrating. “Quisty said it was just time for it, that Squall said he should have done it ages ago.”

 

“Any particular reason why he did it now?” Irvine questioned, thinking about Seifer.

 

“Hmm,” Selphie sounded in thought. Eyes lighting up, she suggested, “Maybe because he's done it with Seifer so many times that he's not up tight any more and thought he should work less.” She laughed at her joke, recalling just how much Squall had loosened up lately, enough to do it in the Training Center.

 

“Babe, that's not very funny,” Irvine said softly, hating the thought of Seifer taking Squall. He still found it hard to forget about seeing them that morning when the blond bastard set him up.

 

“Are you still mooning over Squall?” Selphie huffed whimsically, her laughter cut short.

 

“Not exactly,” Irvine said. “We had a nice talk a few days ago.”

 

Selphie seemed mildly surprised, her green eyes staring skyward in thought. “You mean at the firing range?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I didn't want to push it, but since I know you two did talk, how'd it go?” Hunching slightly, she pulled the long sleeves of her plain white shirt down to cover her hands. During winter she usually wore something under her yellow jumper, a shirt or leggings.

 

“You wanna go back in? You're a tiny thing, I can't imagine you liking all that snow.”

 

Selphie grinned. “I'm fine, I love the cold.”

 

Heaving a sigh, Irvine stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. “It went alright, so far as having a heart to heart with Squall can go.”

 

“Anything change in the past few days? Do you like him any less?”

 

Irvine thought about it, knowing the answer already. “He gave me a lot to think about, surprisingly. I can't deny that he's real hung up over our resident ex-knight, but who knows what'll happen now that the press knows.”

 

Selphie scoffed. “Irvy, since when do either of those two care what the rest of the world thinks. I promise you that it won't even chink the shiny coating over their cozy relationship.”

 

“Cozy?” the gunman questioned.

 

“Cozy.” Selphie repeated, then adding, “In a they've already tried to kill each other and seen the worst of each other for the first fourteen years of their relationship sort of way.”

 

“Reporters can be vicious, it's not school yard gossip. Slander can have legal repercussions. Plus, it's going to effect Squall's job as Commander directly.”

 

Frowning, Selphie wondered what Irvine was getting at. “Squall's had some pretty rough days before. With Quistis as Headmistress, I'm sure it won't be anything he can't handle. I heard that Headmaster Martine left in a huff, but I think Squall handled him `cause he's shut his mouth since then.”

 

Irvine thought about Martine, remembering what an asshole his old Headmaster had been. It was somewhat satisfying to think of Squall coming out on top in a war of words with the old man. “Do you think Squall's happy now?”

 

“For once,” Selphie muttered grumpily. “You'd think after all he's accomplished, he'd take a little pride in it. I'm a little insulted that our reuniting during the war didn't make him very happy. I mean, who doesn't cheer up with a little bit of world saving victory and orphanage buddy reminiscing?”

 

Agreeing wholeheartedly with his little lady, Irvine commented, “He says he needed Seifer or something. I'm not sure how literal he was being. I'd take a lifetime with Zell over a day with Seifer.”

 

“What's wrong with Zell?” Selphie pouted.

 

“Nothing, except he doesn't sleep. You know I need my beauty rest.”

 

Selphie fell quiet, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “Irvine,” she began, waiting for him to acknowledge her seriousness.

 

“Yes darlin'.”

 

“You don't think that if… that is someday… or if something ever happened, and Squall had to choose,” she stopped for lack of proper wording. It wasn't even coming together in her head.

 

Irvine knew where she was going, having been there the second she told him about Quistis. “If circumstance should have it, would Squall choose to stay here with us or run off with Seifer?”

 

Whimpering at the thought, Selphie felt her mood drop through the ground. “You don't have to say it like you've been thinking about for a while.”

 

“I have babe. That's why Quistis becoming the Headmistress worries me.”

 

“What?!” Selphie cried, tears brimming in her eyes. “You think that Squall's going to resign?”

 

“Hey now, I didn't say that. You know how dedicated he is. It'd take a hundred Ultimecia's to pry him from his job.”

 

“Or one Seifer,” she stated deadpan.

 

**

 

“Come in,” Squall called out, barely glancing up from the contract he was reading.

 

“Howdy,” Irvine greeted, warily glancing around for his least favorite knight.

 

“Seifer's not here,” Squall commented, not even bother to glance up this time.

 

Chuckling lightly, Irvine suppressed the urge to state he could totally beat Seifer's ass in any fight that didn't include gunblades. “No secretary today?” he questioned.

 

Squall grit his teeth. “Seifer gave her the week off.”

 

“Call me Mr. Obvious, but I didn't think he was running Garden.”

 

Taking the comment to heart, Squall shot the gunman an icy glare. “Quistis gave the go ahead.”

 

“Ah,” Irvine intoned in understanding, settling down in a chair before Squall's desk. “And she would have the authority now, wouldn't she? I wasn't sure if I'd still find you in this office.”

 

“She starts for the new semester, I've still got a couple more weeks here.” Setting the pack of papers down, he folded his hands on top of it before giving Irvine his full attention. “Is there something you need?”

 

“A few words,” Irvine stated, not a request.

 

Squall gave a small smile. Standing up, he strode around his chair and stood before the large window. It was beginning to snow more heavily. “I figured you'd be the first to figure it out.”

 

Violet eyes watched each movement. His heart sank. He'd come to talk and put to rest any doubts he might have had. He hadn't expected his suspicions to be true. He frowned deeply, brows drawn as he tried to understand. “How long have you been sitting on this? Did you not think we'd need to know the moment the thought occurred to you?”

 

Rolling his eyes, Squall gestured dismissively. “Surely you've known that our time together was short.”

 

“I thought you'd cared enough to make it last,” Irvine shot back, feeling his own heart break at the prospect of Selphie's heart breaking. “We belong together.”

 

“We're not kids anymore Irvine, we belong where we choose to be.”

 

“And you choose to be with Seifer,” he stated in a whisper, almost not believing the conversation he was having. “Don't let that bastard corrupt your mind like this. Think about it!”

 

Squall raised a hand to gently touch the cold glass. Sighing, he watched a small area fog up before clearing again. “Seifer doesn't know,” the brunet admitted.

 

Irvine stood up, rounding the desk and standing nearby the pale Commander. He couldn't deny that Squall seemed back to his old self, the beautiful young SeeD he'd first met before their mission in Deling City. If he'd been as enamored with the brunet back then as he was now, they'd probably be held up in his bedroom instead of talking about the near future that held radical changes. `No,' Irvine thought, `If I'd tried to date Squall back then, it would have been a one night stand.'

 

“Whether or not he knows doesn't mean it wasn't his influence,” the gunman retorted.

 

“Actually, Seifer's the only person I'm afraid to tell. He's going to flip out on me.”

 

With interest, Irvine studied the shorter boy, wishing he could read thoughts.

 

“It's not set in stone, which is why I don't want anyone to know. I can't let anyone else trying to talk me into it or out of it.”

 

“It has to be your choice?” the gunman rephrased.

 

Squall hummed in agreement. “Don't tell the others, not yet.”

 

“So, do you enjoy playing with all our lives like this? You haven't decided yet, which means we may or may not have the ground crumble from underneath our feet.”

 

“Stop being a bastard,” Squall snapped. He'd already been stressing about it silently for the past week, the incredulous idea growing until he couldn't ignore it. When he once found solace in silence, it was tearing him apart that he couldn't tell anyone, especially Seifer.

 

“You're right, that's your job.”

 

“Irvine, don't confuse your attachments to all of us being together with your anger over not getting to fuck me.”

 

Angrily, Irvine grabbed Squall, turning the Commander around and roughly slamming the smaller brunet against the window. Had it not been reinforced glass, he'd be yanking the man back after shattering the pane. “Aren't you the Ice Prince that wrote about not being able to take the humanity out of any human being, even mercenaries? Tell me if I'm mistaken. I read that article, and even if you wrote it to please Quistis, it had emotion, something that implied the writer believed in the words.”

 

“Do you have a point Kinneas?” Squall hissed, not in any mood for being badgered about his role as Commander.

 

“My point is that we shouldn't be just faceless SeeD to you. If you have any shred of humanity, you'll know how doing this will hurt us. We all look up to you, that's why we're here. Stay with us, keep us together.”

 

Squall gazed into Irvine's eyes, never wavering or hinting at his inner turmoil as he spoke, “Whether or not I remain as Commander of Balamb Garden, I will not be your Commander.”

 

“What do you mean?” Irvine demanded, squeezing Squall's narrow shoulders.

 

“This Saturday, I'm announcing the finished reconstruction of Trabia Garden. It's a surprise for Selphie, no one expects it to be finished for another year, but with the help of President Loire, who has kindly been on board since the beginning, it was finished a week ago.”

 

Violet eyes widened in disbelief. “Trabia is rebuilt?” the auburn haired man muttered in disbelief. There was nothing that Selphie held dearer to her heart than her old Garden.

 

“I'm transferring Selphie there, if she accepts.” Squall wouldn't force her to go, but he couldn't imagine anything keeping her away, not even the orphanage gang. “I'm offering you a transfer as well, to go with her.”

 

“Squall,” Irvine sighed the name, overwhelmed with conflicting emotions.

 

“No one can know Irvine, I need your vow on this,” Squall asserted firmly.

 

“What can't anyone know, and why the hell is Kinneas touching you?” Seifer's deep voice bellowed from the doorway.

 

Squall composed himself, tearing away from the window he was pressed back against, shoving past Irvine a little roughly in a show of how he wasn't in need of saving.

 

Taking a few seconds to master himself, Irvine stared blankly at the vacant spot Squall had left. Hiding his emotions over what he'd just learned, he turned around. Smirking, Irvine declared, “I promise not to tell a soul Squall, especially Selphie. If she knew what transpired between us, it would kill her.”

 

With an almost giddy feel of victorious mischief, Irvine watched as jade eyes narrowed at him dangerously. He wondered if Seifer would try to kill him right before the Commander's eyes.

 

“Irvine,” Squall groaned, “Just keep your mouth shut.”

 

With a gesture of zipping his mouth, the gunman strut out of the room, pointedly tipping his hat to an enraged ex-knight.

 

Seifer was a bare thread away from pummeling the lecherous sharpshooter. “Squall,” the blond warned, “If you don't explain to me why that horn dog was in here, I can't be held responsible if his tiny dick is severed by my blade.”

 

“I'm sending him on a new assignment, to the D-district prison. We discussed the details of the contract, it's top secret,” the brunet lied.

 

Seifer clenched his jaw. “Real nice princess, go ahead and lie to me some more, maybe I'll believe it the more you do it.” Hurt that Squall would presume to lie to his face like that, especially given his sensitivity to anything dealing with the cowboy, Seifer shook his head in disappointment. “I didn't think we had much to lie about to each other anymore,” the blond commented before stalking out of the office in an angry rage that went beyond acting out physically.

 

 

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