Author's notes: I've been re-playing Final Fantasy VIII for the first time in far too long. This is an idea I've had in my head as I've been playing it again. The characters do not belong to me, and be warned, folks - this fic contains some yaoi. Don't like, don't read, don't share your opinion, just go. For everyone else, enjoy the fic and don't forget to leave a review when you're done. Thank you!
"Ten minutes to show time, Mr President."
Laguna nodded, earning himself a quiet tut from the makeup artist who was using an array of creams, powders and solutions to erase the signs of ageing and tiredness from his face. Laguna sat perfectly still as she did her job, thinking to the task ahead of him.
Since the Lunar Cry incident, Esthar had been propelled back onto the world stage. With Galbadia and its missiles no longer a concern, and after negotiations with his cabinet which had stretched into many long nights, Esthar had decided to cease its use of the camouflage which had protected the city from the steely gaze of Galbadia. Naturally, Laguna had invited leaders from other cities to come and receive a personalised tour of the city, and had been able to improve Esthar's economy and fast-forward the clean-up efforts following the Lunar Cry as a result.
These things were, of course, all a good thing for Esthar and indeed had generated lots of positive publicity for him as President of this trailblazing city.
It had, however, also unearthed the circumstances of his ascension to Presidency. Other cities and its leaders criticised him for failing to hold an election in the years after the whole affair with Sorceress Adel. Some places had even gone as far as to refuse any contact with the city until they held an election with an array of candidates so that they could be certain that Esthar was a democratic nation.
Frustratingly, they had a point. It was no use to protest their words, when their claims were true. So, Laguna had decided to call the first Presidential election in a generation to see who would lead Esthar. Despite the long working hours and pressure the post put on Laguna and his cabinet, he couldn't imagine him doing anything else. Of course, he still enjoyed writing and relished having the opportunity to write his own speeches (with some vetoing from Kiros, inevitably), but at heart Laguna enjoyed helping others, and he genuinely couldn't think of another job which would enable him to help as many people as being President did.
"Five minutes, Mr President!" Another aide reminded him, and this time Laguna kept his face perfectly still, much to the appreciation of the young lady perfecting his makeup, who seemed to be adding some colour to his cheeks. Laguna tried not to feel nervous about the prospect of looking a little too rosy-cheeked on television – he trusted her.
Still, he was a man of honour, and there was one month until the Estharian Presidential Election. So, he was going to give a live broadcast from his Presidential office and deliver a speech to the people of Esthar, and to the world. He would be explaining his key priorities and promises to Esthar and what he had in mind for international relations.
Out of the corner of his eye, Laguna saw Kiros approach. He managed a small smile.
"Selphie wishes you the very best of luck in your speech," he said, rifling through several papers and planting one on the desk in front of him. Laguna's hand patted the desk in front of him, trying to find it, before holding it behind the head of his makeup artist to give the document a quick perusal. "It's your speech," Kiros added, with a smile. "No major changes, just a couple of syntax changes where the sentences sounded a bit clunky. You're getting better at this, Mr President."
Laguna snorted, eyes scanning his speech. It looked good. "I've always been the master orator, Mr Seagill. You know this." He heard the makeup artist give a little giggle as she understood the innuendo behind his words, and he sensed more than saw Kiros roll his eyes.
"You'd better not behave like this when we go on air, in two and a half minutes time," he warned, raising his voice slightly to stir some idling television crew into action. As the crew busied themselves with making sure everything was set up for the President's big speech, and the makeup artist showed Laguna her work ('very nice!', Laguna thought to himself, 'I haven't looked this young in years...'), Kiros leaned in and gave his long-term partner a tiny kiss on the tip of his nose. "Good luck, Laguna. You'll do great," he assured him.
Laguna shot him a smile that was a fraction too wide, betraying his nervousness. "Thanks. I can't wait 'til this is all over and I can relax in a nice, hot bath." He leaned in even closer and shot the other man a wink. "... Care to join me?"
Kiros rolled his eyes again, and stepped away from Laguna's desk. "Good luck, Laguna," he repeated, with an exasperated smile. He moved and stood to the side where Ward was standing, who was giving Laguna a look which said he wished him all the best. The President shot them both a thumbs-up ("One minute 'til we're live!") and began arranging himself at his desk, trying to make sure he was comfortable. A photographer came and quickly snapped his picture, and Laguna only hoped his smile hadn't expressed any nervousness.
"... Okay, we are live in five, four, three, two..."
Laguna smiled to the camera, and took a deep breath. The autocue was working already, slowly scrolling his speech, and everything seemed to be going off without a hitch. Now was just the talking part to get through. He could do this.
Big, bright smiles now. Sell yourself to the Esthar public, and the world.
"Good evening Esthar, and to the world. I am delighted to be speaking to you live from the Presidential Palace here in Esthar.
"Tonight, I want to talk to you all about my key priorities if I were to be re-elected as President of Esthar. As you are aware, Esthar has been at the forefront of technological..."
Kiros smiled widely as he watched Laguna deliver his speech. It was times like this when he was incredibly proud of his partner. They had been together for longer than he cared to remember, but even after all of those long years, it still gave him butterflies to see Laguna doing what he does best – helping others. Inevitably, politics was a minefield for trying to appease absolutely everyone, but for whatever reason, Laguna was very, very good at what he does, and Kiros shot a private smile to Ward. Ward rolled his eyes in mock-exasperation.
"... Furthermore, education has and always will be one of my top priorities. If re-elected as President of Esthar, I promise to..."
Kiros stirred a little as he felt a little buzz in his pocket. He checked his phone as discreetly as he could, and smiled a little as he saw a little text from Zell appear. 'He's doing great!' it read. Kiros nodded in silent agreement. 'I'll get Laguna to give those two a call when he's done,' he thought to himself, folding his arms contentedly.
"... and again, I cannot emphasise this enough – Esthar is here to help, happy to help, and equipped to help. If re-elected, my office will pledge..."
Kiros began to breathe a little easier. The broadcast was almost over, and he could see Laguna relaxing as he got through more and more of his speech, his nerves melting away and the sensation of talking to a television camera becoming natural.
Then, things began to get a little strange. Instead of closing his speech as dictated by the autocue and the written script, Laguna hesitated for a fraction, and Kiros frowned. Was the autocue not working? He checked and he could see that it was. Laguna shot the camera an apologetic smile, aware that his minor misstep hadn't gone unnoticed.
"... My apologies to Esthar and the world. You see, my next and final policy has been an issue I have wished to implement for many, many years now. The aforementioned policies have been implemented or at least partially implemented already in Esthar, and so would merely be building on the strong foundations that my Office has worked so hard to create... but this next thing is something completely new to both Esthar, and to the world." Laguna paused, and gave another big smile, but it was a nervous one. He clasped his hands together on the desk in front of him, only to un-clasp them moments later to begin gesticulating as he spoke.
Kiros groaned – what was going on? He cast a helpless look at the television crew, shrugging to indicate that he had no idea what had gotten into Laguna's head, either. He shook his head though when the cameraman asked whether they should cut the entire thing – he wanted to see where this was going...
"For a long time, I have been very private about my personal life, and for the large part, this has been respected by the citizens of Esthar. Of course, following the events of the Lunar Cry, my personal life became the centre of media attention. A very detailed biography was released to the public about my life which I had no knowledge of. As a consequence, some of the details were incorrect and, perhaps worst of all, it revealed to the world the identity of my son. Worst still, my son was thrust into the limelight and hounded by the press for comments on a situation to which he had not been given adequate time to adjust to." Laguna paused here, a tiny flash of anger crossing his face – the memory of that still hurt him.
"However, there is one bit of information which did not get revealed to the world, which needs to come out now. It is something which has been a long time coming. Ladies and gentlemen, I am proposing that Esthar becomes the first city in the world to offer same-sex marriages to those who seek them, because people like... people like me deserve the opportunity to marry their long-term partner if they so wish. Currently I am unable to marry the person I love-" Kiros' stomach jumped – was this actually happening? Was he being... proposed to?! "- because there is no existing legislation in the world which allows same-sex marriages.
"What I am proposing – and perhaps, tonight, I am proposing far too much-" again, Laguna gave a nervous smile, but his voice rang with pride as he spoke, and again Kiros' stomach leapt, "is the opportunity for same-sex couples to have a public celebration of their love, to have a legal contract which gives their life-long partner security if their husband or wife becomes ill or injured, and to have the same rights as heterosexual couples." Laguna here paused again. "So, if I get re-elected, I will make Esthar the first place in the world to offer such celebrations of love.
"Anyway. To Esthar, and to the world – thank you for listening to this broadcast, live from the Presidential Palace here in Esthar. I wish you goodnight. Take care."
Silence descended upon the room as the broadcast ended, and it seemed to last a decade.
Then, from the wings, the makeup assistant began clapping, holding her makeup bag between her legs as she did so. Laguna's face broke into a tired, but happy smile as more and more people joined in slowly. He could see amongst the crowd that some of them had been less than pleased with his ad-libbing, but this response was more than he had hoped for. Finally, and slowly, he turned his gaze to face Kiros. His heart and high spirits dropped to the floor.
Far from looking happy, the former Galbadian soldier looked... annoyed. Stressed. Ward nudged the man, but he did nothing. The gargantuan man shrugged, taking the other man's phone from his pocket and blocking all inbound communications. Already he had fifteen missed calls, almost as many voicemails and incoming texts. Ward replaced the phone in Kiros' pocket, and glared at the crew in a way which asked, "Why are you still here?"
The television crew started, and they mumbled something about how they would 'clear everything up in the morning', wished the President a mumbled and hasty goodnight, before they left. Ward nodded at the couple, who still stood at opposite ends of the room to each other, before leaving as well.
The sound of the door closing rang loudly throughout the room.
Laguna pulled the socket from his phone. Granted, only three or four people in the world were privy to the phone number in his office, but he didn't want to be disturbed. Anxiety was breeding in his stomach, and he felt his leg begin to cramp out of nervousness.
"How did I do?" he asked, not wanting to address the obvious. Kiros gaped at him.
"Are you kidding? What the hell was that?" Kiros asked, his second question raising to a shout. Laguna winced, rubbing his eyes.
"It was the truth. It was something that's been in my heart for a long time, and-"
"Just ad-libbing your speech," Kiros carried on over Laguna's voice, and he charged so quickly at the desk where Laguna was still sat that he almost jumped out of his seat in fear. Instead, Kiros began pacing in front of the President's desk, carrying on with his rant, "it's so irresponsible! You're the President. You could have said anything, absolutely anything, I've never been so terrified in all my life!"
Laguna stared at his desk. "I did throw you off a cliff once," he said in a small voice, "don't forget that."
"And THEN! Then you make these jokes like 'you're proposing too much' – what in the name of Hyne was that about?! Was that your idea of a proposal? What the Hell were you thinking?!" Kiros ended this by slamming his hands down on the President's desk, wanting answers more than anything else.
Laguna suddenly felt very small. He wished he could melt into his seat and be forgotten about forever. It was remarkable that he could be President of the most advanced city in the world, and yet his partner could make all of that seem worthless and stupid in one instant. He closed his eyes and began to rub them, wiping off much of the makeup which had done such an excellent job at making him look young, well-rested and handsome again.
"Look..." Laguna started, and he sighed heavily. "I'll accept that I should have okay-ed that part of the speech with everyone else first. Yes, it was probably dumb of me to do that. Yes, it probably caused people a lot of stress. But was I wrong in saying what I did? No."
Kiros paused for a second, and he abated slightly, but Laguna still had his eyes closed.
"... Was I perhaps wrong in the way I asked you a very serious question? Probably. Maybe you'll let me do it properly again someday since I once again got it wrong." At this, Laguna opened his eyes and looked at Kiros, but it seemed to him more like he was being looked through rather than looked at. Laguna managed a watery smile. "For now though, I really need that bath."
With that, Laguna got up from his chair, and left his office. He had half-expected Kiros to grab his hand, his arm, to run in front of him to block his exit, anything... but the other man did nothing, so he left the Presidential office feeling both happy and sad at the same time. As the door closed behind him, it occurred to him that his legs felt quite weak, but he did not stop walking until he reached his private quarters, nodding numbly and mumbling polite comments back to those who spoke to him on the way.
Fifteen minutes later, Laguna had walked to his chambers, gave a quick word to security about how he did not want to be disturbed unless there was another Lunar Cry-scale crisis, and had sunk into a warm, scented bath.
He had hoped the warm water would soothe him and calm his nerves a little, but it hadn't. Laguna stared up at the bathroom ceiling, trying desperately to ignore the emotions swirling in his stomach, occasionally making him feel nauseous. What made him feel worst of all, he decided as he washed himself, was the rejection from Kiros. It really hadn't been the right way to go about things, had it? He stared at his toes as he wriggled them so that they peeked out from the foamy water, but he wasn't really looking at them. He felt numb. He felt like crying out of sheer frustration, but found himself too distracted to focus long enough to do so.
After a while of trying, but failing to distract himself, Laguna sighed, and reached for the side of the bath for his phone, and he saw that he had about 70 missed calls, voicemails and texts since his broadcast. He cringed a little. He would sort through them later, when he wasn't feeling so fragile. But there was one person who he did really want to speak to, even if he wouldn't handle him with the care he probably needed...
"Pick up..." Laguna murmured to himself as he dialled the all-too familiar number for Squall's office in Balamb Garden. It rang a few times, and then someone answered.
"Hello, Squall Leonhart's office?"
Laguna's face broke into a small smile, despite himself. "Hey Zell, it's Laguna. How's things?"
He could almost see the look of relief and excitement on the blonds face, and for a moment he was able to forget about the anxiety dwelling in the pit of his stomach. "Yo! Laguna! Saw your speech. It was great! I don't know what you were so worried about!"
Laguna blinked. "R-Really?"
"Yeah!" Zell shot back straight away, "it was awesome! You seemed really confident, and the bit at the end was great! Did he say yes?"
Laguna became aware of the feelings in his stomach once again. "... Not quite. I don't really want to talk about it, though," he added quickly, trying to sound reassuring, but thinking he was coming off pathetic. This wasn't going well.
"Awww, well, um... okay then. Anyway. Squall is here right now now, but he told me that if I was waiting for him and making such a ruckus about how he always works too hard, then the least I could do would be to help him by answering the phone when it rang," Zell said, trying to change the subject. Laguna was, of course, always interested in his son's doings. He could almost see Squall frowning as he heard what Zell was saying.
"He's still working?" Laguna asked, checking the time quickly on his phone. "It's way too late for that."
"I know, that's what I said! But he never listens to me. I might as well record myself saying the same things and stick it on loop for all the good it does." Zell sounded a little deflated, and then Laguna heard some rustling, one sharp word, and then the sound of his son's voice on the end of the line.
"Father," Squall sounded somewhat amused, "nice speech."
Laguna smiled, genuinely. It wasn't easy for Squall to be nice to him – he knew that his son thought of him as a gullible idiot who probably only got to where he was through a series of fortunate events and a whole lot of luck, so it made the compliment, however small, all the nicer to hear. "Thanks." Then, he tried to make up for the however-many-years-he-had-been-an-absent-father with one sentence. "You're working awfully late."
Squall sighed, and Laguna heard a slight creak as if he was leaning back in his chair. "Yeah. We've had lots of applications for the Garden, as well as lots of internal applications for promotion through the ranks. Got to sort through them all. Decisions must be made."
"Don't work yourself too hard," Laguna said, wondering if his words would have any effect. He doubted it. "Anyway, it occurred to me the other day that we haven't met up for a while. When you've sorted through all the applications, why not pop across to Esthar? We can all go out for a nice meal together. I know how much you like Estharian cuisine!" Laguna tried not to sound too hopeful, but he crossed his fingers all the same, the resistance of the water making the motion feel odd.
"More like you want to generate lots of good publicity for your election..." Squall said sarcastically, and Laguna heard Zell shout something at him in the background, and a thud which sounded suspiciously like a punch to the arm. Laguna figured he'd better be honest.
"Well, okay, yes. It would make me look like the perfect family man if we were seen together, yes, which would get me the family-man vote." He admitted, "But it's also true that I haven't seen you for a month, and from the sounds of it you need some time away from that place. Those people asking for promotion? Say that they can have it if they look after Garden to the standard you expect whilst you're here, and then if they don't, then you have a good reason not to promote them or give them a pay rise" he said, really hoping that Squall would accept. Zell would love to see him again, he knew, but Squall...
"Hmmm..." Squall said. Laguna shifted slightly in the bath, the water getting a little bit cold, and Squall must have heard. "... Are you in the bath?" Squall asked, his tone sounding unimpressed and a little... grossed out.
Laguna started. "Well, yes. But-"
"OKAY okay, look, we'll come see you. Yes." Squall leaned back again in his chair and frowned, gesturing to Zell to fetch his calendar. He scanned it quickly and then said, "Alright. Give me two days to sort through all of this stuff, and then we'll come over for a week. Okay?"
Laguna's face brightened. He was going to see his son! "Can't wait!" He said, genuinely meaning it. He mouthed 'whatever' mere moments before Squall said it down the phone, and he chuckled at how well he knew his son already, despite the absence. He was desperately trying to bridge the gap, even though it would probably never work. "Anyway, I need to get out of this bath before everything wrinkles up some more. See you in two days, Squall!"
Squall gave out a little grunt at the mental image Laguna had unwittingly provided. "Yeah. See you."
Laguna could just make out the sound of Zell shouting a 'goodbye!' down the phone as Squall hung up. He threw his phone a little distance away from the bath, and he sighed, staring at the ceiling.
He stayed like that for a little while, processing everything that had happened to him during the day. Eventually though, the water got cold and Laguna couldn't refill the tub with hot water anymore without the risk of flooding, so he got out and began to dry himself. He had hoped that Kiros would have walked in by now, wanting to talk things through properly... but it just hadn't happened. Laguna felt his stomach prickle once more with anxiety and sorrow when he saw that Kiros was not in their shared bedroom for the first time in about ten years when he walked through, dry and in a new pair of boxers. He ran a hand through his damp hair worriedly.
Exhaustion was making Laguna's eyelids that little bit heavier, and his mind that more sluggish. He made his way over to the bed, making sure he slept on his side so that when Kiros eventually came round and wanted to come to bed, he would be able to sleep on his side as if everything was normal and nothing bad had happened.
Laguna had a tumultuous sleep. It took him a long while to drift off to sleep, and when he did sleep, he dreamt. Firstly he dreamt that Adel was back, that his plan hadn't worked, that it had been him that had been frozen – then, his son had drifted off into space, dying, slowly suffocating as the oxygen reserves in his suit expired – then, he woke, and drifted off again. This time, he dreamt that Raine had been watching him in a grubby, packed apartment as he delivered his speech, eating cereal and shaking her head in dismay as he fumbled his way through an engagement. "At least he got an engagement!" she cried, just as Laguna woke up again.
Kiros' side was cold and empty.
At about 6.30am, Ward walked into Laguna's room without knocking as he normally did, then froze and stared at Laguna until the President opened his eyes. He was exhausted. He blinked several times to clear the sleep-induced blurriness in his eyes.
Despite being unable to talk, both Laguna and Kiros could gauge what the hulk-of-a-man was saying judging from the look on his face. Right now, the muscled man looked concerned, curious.
"He was mad at me," Laguna croaked, voice garbled from sleep and emotion. He turned onto his side so that he could talk to his friend and advisor better. "We have slept in the same bed for ten years, Ward. Can you believe that? A proposal should guarantee some sort of sex-" he caught the 'too much information' look on Ward's face, and paused. "-sorry. But he's mad at me. He hates me. I messed up." Laguna looked as sad and pitiful as he sounded. He stopped looking at Ward and starting tracing the embroidery on his bed-sheets with a finger.
Ward stared at Laguna's despondent form, shocked. Then he forced himself into action. He racked his brain, trying to recall both Kiros and Laguna's schedule for the day. Giving himself a small nod in celebration, he reached into the warm bed covers and pulled Laguna out. The President yelped in surprise, and then all-but yelled, "Let me go!" as Ward hefted him bodily onto his shoulder.
Ward paid the squalling man no mind as he left the President's chambers. He was a man on a mission. He nodded politely to those he saw in the corridor, as if the sight of the half-naked President of Esthar being carried out of his bedroom by his old pal from the Galbadian Military was a regular occurrence. Laguna kept beating his fists against Ward's back, but his heart wasn't really in it. Ward paid him no mind, either, his broad shoulders more than enough to carry the svelte man to wherever he needed him to be. Reflecting on how useful this had been and its merit for future incidents, Ward turned down yet another corridor and then, eventually, mercifully, opened a door and threw Laguna down from his shoulder, hauling him ungracefully onto a sofa.
Laguna yelped indignantly. "What's the big idea?!" He wanted to shout, but the words died in his throat as he saw Kiros sat on the sofa opposite him, face pale compared to the darkness circling his eyes. He seemed to be wearing the same clothes he had been yesterday. He looked shocked to see him there. Laguna didn't know what to do.
Ward gave them both a knowing look, and then settled himself on a separate chair alongside them. The look on his face seemed to say, "Start talking. Now." He hefted his Galbadian-issued harpoon across his lap, and he palmed it over and over as he watched them both look at him rather than at each other.
They were in no position to argue. Laguna took a deep, shaky breath, and forced a smile onto his face. "We need to talk," he said.