For as long as he could remember, Squall had woken up alone. He didn't remember a single morning where he had opened his eyes to meet someone else's. He supposed it was possible that when he was little, he may have slept with Matron or Ellone when he had had nightmares. But he had no memory of such a thing, so it may as well not have happened.
It wasn't so bad, flinging an arm out and finding the bed next to him cold. At least no one hogged the covers. He didn't get kicked during the night. Nobody woke him up with their snoring and he didn't find bruises on his shins in the morning. It wasn't all that bad, really. He'd never pitied himself because of it.
He hadn't realized he'd been missing out on anything until he opened his eyes one autumn morning and flung an arm out to hit warm, solid flesh. Hard muscles and soft hair. And, oh, shit. Last night came rushing back to him - hands tangled in hair, pulling each other closer, lips on lips and tongue and teeth, someone else's mouth finding places on his body he'd never even been aware of, and the dizzying sense of finally, at long fucking last, after so so long...Squall knew, even before he rolled over, who it was that lay in bed with him.
Irvine, as if sensing Squall's terrified gaze on his face, opened his eyes just a moment later, a sleepy smile curling his lips before he'd even focused on Squall's face.
"Hi," he said, his voice rough and low with sleep. Squall swallowed and Irvine's smile melted away.
"Hi," Squall answered.
There was silence for a while as they stared at each other, and then Irvine leaned up and kissed him, slow and deliberate. It took all of Squall's willpower not to melt into the kiss and let his muscles turn to jelly under the skilled mouth he'd dreamed of so many times.
When Irvine pulled away, he was just very slightly cringing. "Are you gonna hit me?" he asked.
Squall wondered if maybe he should. This was a very stupid thing they'd done, and it was an even stupider idea to continue this.
"No," he said, and despite the exponential stupidity of this whole thing, it was all worth it when a smile spread over Irvine's face, so open and honest that Squall couldn't have resisted smiling back even if he'd wanted to.
"Cool," said Irvine, still grinning like a fool. "Can we do it again?"