Apartment 29B
Disclaimer: I don't own FF8, Squaresoft has that right. This applies for the whole fic.
AN: Ok, this is an AU fic.
Here are some of the ages:
Squall: 19
Rinoa: 19
Seifer: 19
Quistis: 19
Zell: 18
I have never really been a fan of Selphie or Irvine so I doubt they will appear in the fic, but you never know. (Selphie and Irvine lovers please don't flame me).
Squall is OOC but I wrote him like that and I hope you guys don't mind but that is how he needs to be for this to work out.
Out with the old, in with the new
Rinoa Heartily grunted as she tried to open the door of her new apartment. The doorknob was stuck and she couldn't turn the key to open the lock.
After trying for several minutes she settled for backing up to the wall and kicking the door open.
A loud bang from next door jerked Squall Leonhart's attention from his weights. He groaned tiredly as he set the bar back into its place above his head and sat up. He grabbed a bottle of water from his refrigerator as he walked to his door and stuck his head out.
There was a pretty brunette standing in the hallway outside of the apartment next to his. She was around 5' 3" and had shoulder length dark brown hair with golden highlights and brown eyes. She was wearing black shorts and a black tank top with a blue duster over it. She looked over at him as his head poked out of his doorway.
"Is there a problem out here, Miss?" he asked politely.
She blushed as she shook her head.
"No, I couldn't get my door opened, that's all," she replied.
He gave a small smile.
"Yeah, my door used to do that when I first moved in too. Hang on a second and I'll get something to fix it," Squall offered.
The unknown woman nodded gratefully and his head moved back inside his apartment.
Squall came back into the hallway carrying a screwdriver and a small can of grease.
Rinoa got her first look at her new neighbor. He was around 5' 8" in height and had brown hair that hung down to his chin. His eyes were a shocking blue. He was wearing black jeans and a white t-shirt.
"If you want to get started unpacking I can get this fixed really quickly for you, ma'am"
"Oh, we haven't been introduced. I'm Rinoa Heartily. I just moved here."
"Squall Leonhart, lived here all my life."
She shook his hand and went inside the apartment to have a look around. He knelt down next to the door and began to dismantle it with the screwdriver.
He had both knobs off and was fiddling with the latch when Rinoa exited the apartment and went down the stairs.
She returned several minutes later dragging a heavy suitcase. Squall saw her reach the landing on their floor and stood up from his work on the door and went to help her with the heavy luggage.
He placed it in her room and went back to work on the doorknob while she went back downstairs to get more bags and boxes.
Each time she would arrive at the top of the stairs with her bag or box Squall would be there to take it from her hands and carry it to her room.
By the time she had gotten all of her bags and boxes up to her new apartment, he had finished dismantling the doorknob, realigning the latch, and reassembling the doorknob.
Squall stood up from where he was kneeling by the front door and Rinoa walked over to examine his work.
He demonstrated his repairs by turning the knob back and forth and closing the door. He opened it again and she tried her key in the lock. It worked perfectly.
"Thank you so much for your help."
Squall shrugged.
"It was nothing."
They stood there for a moment in silence before Squall turned to leave the room.
"See ya," he said quietly as he left the room.
Rinoa stretched as she finished setting up her bathroom. Since her furniture had not arrived yet she had little else she could do until she had furniture.
She inflated the air mattress that she was going to use until her bed arrived and then decided to make some supper.
She found her pots and pans in a box in the kitchen and unpacked them. Then she decided to make spaghetti.
When she turned on the water, however, she heard a loud creaking noise and water gushed from the cabinet under the sink.
"Uh oh," she said as she stared at the puddle forming on the floor.
Squall was taking his dinner out of the oven when he heard someone pounding on his door.
He sighed and set his dish of chicken alfredo on the counter as he went to answer the door.
Rinoa stood on the other side, looking panicked.
"Squall, the pipe in my kitchen burst. Can I use your phone?"
He nodded and stepped aside to let her in. He pointed her to the phone and went over to check on her house.
When he returned she was just hanging up the phone.
"A plumber should be here soon to have a look at it."
"It'll be okay until they get here. I turned the water off in your apartment so it's not flooding anymore."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
"So what were you doing when the pipe burst?" he questioned.
"I was trying to make dinner," she responded.
As if to validate her statement her stomach growled loudly. She blushed and he smiled.
"Take some of mine," he offered her, gesturing to the dish of chicken and noodles in sauce that sat, lightly steaming, on the counter.
She shook her head, "I couldn't take your dinner."
He didn't listen and fetched two plates from a shelf. He scooped his own portion onto one of the plates and set it aside. He scooped another portion onto the other plate and offered it to her.
She reluctantly took it from him and he motioned to the small round table that stood nearby.
"Have a seat," he offered and she slowly sat down.
He joined her a moment later and handed her a fork as he sat across the table from her.
"Thank you very much for dinner Squall," Rinoa said as she began to eat.
"No problem, you didn't have any and you don't know your way around yet so it was just easier to give you some of mine," he said before digging in to his dinner.
The two neighbors didn't say anything else until they were both finished eating. When Rinoa pushed her plate away, finished, Squall took it and his over to the sink and began to wash them. He pulled back in surprise when his new neighbor appeared at his shoulder and took them from him as he finished rinsing them.
"I ate half of your food, I should at least help clean up," she explained as she began to dry the dishes.
After they finished the chore of doing the dishes they reseated themselves at the table with drinks and began to talk, waiting for the plumber to arrive.
"So what do you do?" Rinoa questioned as she sipped her water.
"I'm a mechanic," Squall replied. "What do you do?"
"I'm a writer," she responded.
"What kind of thing do you write?" he asked her, drinking from his water.
"I'm in the process of writing a novel but I also write for a column at a newspaper in Deling City."
"Is that where you used to live?"
She nodded in response.
Before either could say anything else they heard a knocking sound coming from down the hall.
Squall went to the door and checked.
"The plumber is here," he stated as he turned back to Rinoa.
She nodded and stood to leave.
"Thank you very much for supper."
He shrugged.
"No big deal."
She smiled at him and turned to walk away.
"I'll see you around," she said over her shoulder as she walked up the hall to meet the plumber.