Title: Dreams of a First Dance
Author: Idimmu
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Type: Shounen-ai, mentions of het
Pairing: Rinoa+Squall, Squall+Zell
Rating: G-PG
Summary: The dance scene, in Squall's POV
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII. Squaresoft does, and I'm very glad they make these games.
Challenge: "May I have this dance?"
Time Taken: One hour
Notes: Completely composed of thoughts and observations. No dialogue, but I hope it goes along with the challenge criteria. My first time doing a challenge.


Here I am, standing in this boring party. I mean, sure I'm glad to finally be a SeeD now,
but do they really have to throw such a pretentious party to celebrate? By now, after
having been standing here for about fifteen minutes, both Zell and Selphie have come to
talk to me. Selphie wanted me to join that Garden Festival of hers, no thanks! God, I'd
have to talk with people to accomplish that, and talking is not my forte.

I take another glance at my surroundings as I sip my watered down cocktail. Guess
there's no hope in me breezing through this dreaded affair drunk, I think to myself as my
gaze falls upon the Disciplinary Commitee. Seifer and his croonies seem to be taking
advantage of their position again, as I see them harassing a cadet.

I take my eyes away from them to look at the dance floor. Standing in the center,
amoungst all the dancers, is a solitary girl. She looks young, and by the way her eyes are
moving around to look at everything with awe, I'd say she's not from around here. I must
have been looking at her for too long though, because next second her gaze connects with
mine. The smile she gives off unnerves me a bit, enough to make me cock my head at her
in invitation to come over to me.

The first thought I have of her is that her skirt is too short. Next one is that she's a little
too inquisitive. As she leans in closer and asks me to dance with her, I am overwhelmed
by the scent of her perfume. I don't know the name of it, but it's obviously the kind that
is designed to lure a guy in. I don't fall for it though, as I look over her shoulder at the
buffet. Zell is there, bouncing around as usual, a hotdog in each hand. When he turns
around I notice that he also has a half-eaten hot dog in his mouth. Waving at me, he starts
to head over.

However, at that moment, this girl that has been droning on in my ear about dancing with
her suddenly gets a little more aggresive about it. I only have time to put my glass on a
waiter's tray as she forcefully drags me to the dance floor. As I look back, I can see Zell
with a slight pout on his face. The hot dogs are gone, and he's looking like I betrayed
him or something. Then the girl with the too-short dress and supposedly seductive
perfume drags me to face her and manipulates my arms to suit the dance.

Now lets just say I don't like dancing. I try to walk off, wanting to go back to Zell. She
grabs my hands again. I figure I might as well try, being as though this girl I shouldn't
have encouraged is not going to give up. The rest of the dance goes flawlessly, I must
know this dance unconsciously, from some prior moment in my life. Hearing the piece
end, I quickly let go and walk away. Whatever protests she might have are lost on my
ears, but she had only asked for one dance.

Quistus approaches me on the balcony, where I had gone after the dance. She wants me
to go meet her at Balamb's make out point'. I always knew she liked me, but I don't like
her at all, not beyond respecting her Instructor status.

I glance around the ballroom as I walk through it again. The girl seems to have
disappeared, and Zell doesn't appear to be around anymore either. I can see Selphie
talking with some cowboy-ish guest though. Tacky clothes, in my opinion. The walk
back to my dorm to change was uneventful though. Until I got into the dorm building
itself, that is.

Zell was standing there, seemingly waiting for me. I'm kind of relieved to see him
though, only vaguely listening as he tells me that I have a new room, and that all my
belongings have already been moved. He starts to walk away, and I'm tempted to stop
him. Memories of the look on his face as the girl dragged me away to dance flitted
through my mind. They continued to all night, in fact. I ignored Quistus as she spoke to
me later on. And back in my dorm late that night, I fell asleep thinking that I never
wanted to make Zell look like that again. I couldn't explain why, I just didn't.

I had dreams filled with a fantasy of asking Zell to dance that night. They weren't
fulfilled until a few months later, right after that girl, who I'd learned was named Rinoa,
had kissed me. Between a kiss from a girl, and a dance with a boy, I'd choose the dance
anyday.