Okay, this is a really silly one-shot I made for the Successor Challenge. One of the prompts was 'what comes after?' so that's my inspiration. I thought it would be fun to imagine a little scene with Squall and Rinoa a few years down the road.
A chill went through the air and an uncomfortable silence filled the dim bedroom. The man laid on his back saying nothing and he was still as a stone. The woman rolled onto her side. The rustling of sheets was the only sound other than their breathing.
"This happens to men sometimes," Rinoa said.
Silence.
"It's not unheard of," she said.
Silence.
"Aging, I guess."
More uncomfortable silence.
"They have treatments for this sort of thing," her voice wavered before starting to break down into tears.
"Rinoa! Just stop!" Squall said while gripping onto the edge of the bed tightly. "It's probably just stress related!
"Yea, 'stress,' sure," she sniffled. "You mean 'me,' don't you. I'm what's causing your problem," she said as the tears continued to build.
"I'm the commander! I'm your knight! Everybody is always coming to me with their problems! And our kids are acting up at school lately! So, YES, stress! And, NO, not you! This isn't about you! It's about me!"
Her crying continued unabated. He slammed his fists to his side before tangling them into messy brown hair in frustration. He ruffled up his hair while letting out a long hissing sigh between his tightly clenched teeth.
Rinoa turned to him with a look of horror on her face.
"Noooo! Don't! You're going to make it worse!" she cried. "I keep finding more and more hair on your pillow in the morning! You're going to get a b... b... bald spot!" she said with her voice getting choked up.
Squall sat up in bed and faced her. His eyes narrowed in focus.
"If I go BALD, will you still love me Rinoa? Is that what our relationship is based on? MY HAIR? Sometimes men go bald. Like you said, it's not unheard of. Is my hair that important to you?"
She didn't waste any time thinking about her reply.
"I love your hair Squall! It was one of the first things I noticed about you. It was so fantastic and glossy and soft looking. I just wanted to touch it so badly," she said with emotion. "Who wouldn't?"
"And here I thought you loved me for my charming and suave personality," he said tonelessly while flopping down on his back.
She rolled over halfway onto his chest and slapped his arm.
"Oh you! You think this is a big joke, don't you? I just can't imagine you without your hair! Baldness hadn't ever even entered my mind as a future possibility for you. I mean, Laguna still has a full head of long hair. He doesn't even have that much gray for his age. He's aging very well."
"Hey, what is our rule?" Squall asked.
"Oh yea, sorry. 'No mentioning Laguna while in bed together.' Sorry," she replied while trying to mimic his voice.
"I can't believe I had to say that out loud and make it a rule. You'd think you'd KNOW not to mention him," Squall said.
"Well, OOPS! He is your father, you know! Sometimes he can come up in the course of a regular conversation!"
Squall glared at her until she stopped talking about Laguna. Once she was quiet, he continued their conversation.
"Well, you're acting like this is a huge deal. It's not like we're having a problem... with... you know..." Squall hinted.
Rinoa was silent.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Um, just be glad nothing is wrong with 'you know' the other stuff," he said.
Silence. The abrupt screaming of their kids from down the hall. Then more silence.
It took her a few moments, but then Rinoa gasped in shock when she picked up on what he was mentioning.
"I never EVER considered THAT either. You think THAT might happen as we get older too! But you're in great shape and so healthy!"
She started to sob now. Squall put his hands over his face in frustrated defeat. This conversation was not going well. He just wanted to relax and go to bed with his wife, he didn't want to be discussing... well, any of this.
"Well, you know, it's not unheard of. You should just be happy I'm JUST shedding a little bit of hair sometimes. Although, you should just calm down about that. Like I said, it's probably just stress. It'll probably stop once I relax. If I ever get a chance to RELAX!"
"I'm sorry," she breathed into his chest while trying to stop crying.
She pushed herself up a little bit to look down at his face in the darkness. The room was dim and only illuminated by the moonlight filtering through their bedroom window. His hair was still full and even looked shiny in the sparse moonlight.
Maybe I'm worrying for nothing. I'd love him even if he went bald. I'm not a shallow person. Squall is my valiant knight and the father of my children. Anyways, even if his hair gets thin, he'll still have his perfect face and fit body, she thought to console herself
Rinoa, I heard that, he thought at her.
What? Stupid bond! I didn't know we were connected right then.
So you're NOT a shallow person? he asked her in his mind.
A crash sounded from down the hall. He winced at it and sighed. Rinoa could feel the stress and tension building in him. She rubbed his chest to help soothe him.
"I'm sure it's nothing. They're fine," she said. "Let's just ignore them. Tweens," Rinoa shrugged.
He sighed again.
"How about we make un-stressing you a priority? Or de-stressing... or whatever the word for it is. How about we try to focus on that? Stress relief? How does that sound commander?" she said while giving him a lazy salute.
The salute was extra unprofessional as she was laying halfway on top of him in her thin pink nightgown with the straps falling down. She never really learned proper military protocol, but he didn't mind.
"De-stressing yourself will be good for your overall health. Maybe it will even help your hair shed less. It certainly will make you stop pulling on your hair so much," she said.
"Do you have any good ideas on how to do that?" he asked seriously.
She tilted her head to the side while looking him in the eyes.
"Well, I do have one good idea," she said while giving him a sultry wink.
Squall let out a short huff of breath.
"Yes, that is always your ONE good idea. Basically it's your solution to everything," he replied with a light head shake.
"Hey! It is a good idea! And it WORKS!" she said loudly.
"Yea, well let's hope it keeps on working."
"Oh you big meany!" she said with a laugh.
They both started to laugh easily while continuing to ignore the fight that was going on down the hall. It had been increasing in volume during their conversation.
"Mooooom! Make her stop being MEAN to meeeee!" a high pitched voice yelled from down the hall.
They'd hoped the kids would calm down on their own, but they didn't seem like they would. Squall sighed at the interruption before responding.
"Your mother is very busy doing mommy and daddy stuff with me! Come back later!" Squall yelled through the door.
"Eeeeeew, GROSS!" came the high-pitched reply.
The sound of feet running down the hallway was heard soon after. Then a door slam. Then there was wonderful silence.
"That'll keep them quiet," he replied with a smile teasing the corner of his lips.
Rinoa sighed while rolling her eyes towards the ceiling dramatically.
"Way to mentally scar your children, Squall," Rinoa said in a mocking tone.
"Well, if they're mean and have scars, then they truly are my children."
Rinoa collapsed onto him in a fit of giggles and he responded by laughing along with her. His tension was beginning to be relieved and he felt himself finally start to relax. This is what he'd wanted to come home to, he'd just wanted to unwind with Rinoa and have a pleasant time where he wasn't pulling his hair out in frustration.
His heart lightened as he looked up at her laughing face. The tears in her eyes were now from her breathless giggling. It was contagious and he couldn't stop smiling either. The day's stress was momentarily being forgotten, and he was glad for the relief. Squall figured that laughter actually was the best medicine, although in Rinoa's defense, some sex probably wouldn't hurt either.
The end.
(I almost didn't post this because I get embarrassed easily, but I thought it was a bit of silly fun.)