Before we begin...

Story type: post Sorceress War, Lovers Drama

Genre: Drama

Pairings: Irvine x Selphie, Selphie x Squall, Squall x Rinoa, Irvine x OC

Warnings: Mild Language. Well, okay, not mild.

- About my stories:

Maybe it's best to say that I never create a perfect character. Everybody has flaws, and if a character has to suffer to make a believable flow, I am sure to make them suffer. Nobody escapes what needs to be done.

If you want a character that never suffers, perfect in attitude and appearance, never sweats, never have their clothes torn from fights or have his/her hair ruined or even a scrape after blowing up the world, my story isn't for you. To blow up a garbage bin, the characters in my story WILL suffer.

If there's any problem with wording and error in my old fics, please mention it, because I do revise everything every now and then. If some stories seem awkward on the first few chapters, please note the publish date, because it was most likely they were old. Later chapters of the same fics won't have this issue. Please tell me by PM or review, and I'll be sure to clean them up.

A short disclaimer: I don't own FF8.

6 January 2009-Revised.

Final revision 14 April 2012


Strawberry

By Cerespallas

Part One: Pretty and Sour


-x-x-x-

"You... are a plain person, Squall Leonhart. If I'm moving in, you'll see my stuff everywhere." Rinoa turned to him and smiled. "But I will make you the happiest person on Gaia. Are you ready for me?"

Squall leaned to the wall beside the door, arms crossed, eyes watching his girlfriend as she studied his room. There was only one item in his Spartan room that belonged to Leonhart; his gunblade resting beside the king-sized bed.

"Just tell me if there is anything you didn't like. I'll ask Irvine if he wants some of my furniture for their room."

-x-

"Sefie, open the door!" Irvine waited in front of their room; his hands sore, tired from holding stacks of boxes filled with his girlfriend's belongings. "Sefie…!"

"Coming!"

The door opened; his girlfriend stood in her green apron.

After the war, Irvine and Selphie moved in together into his room. For the sniper, it was the best decision. He had a plain white wall, not the shocking yellow-green stripes, and his carpet was green, not sparkling pink. He had given her a strict instruction, forbidding her to paint their room or change the carpet. He tolerated thirty different sizes of Chocobo and Pupu dolls she insisted to bring, now scattered all over their living room.

"What a 'precious' collection you got in here," said Irvine, stepping between numerous stuff doll and CDs on the floor.

"Did you say something?" Selphie stared at the microwave timer.

"I'm sayin' I can't wait for our dinner." Irvine placed the boxes on the floor beside the fridge before stretching his stiff muscle. Selphie took out the food with her napkin as her boyfriend stole a glance at their dinner, trying not to groan.

Once again, their dinner was a one massive portion of Strawberry pie with chocolate spread and marshmallow on top. Irvine would've shot whoever invented the recipe, if the person hadn't already died from diabetes and cholesterol from their own recipe.

How long was it since I ate another food for dinner? Irvine smiled to his girlfriend and sat down on the sofa, accepting the plate filled with strawberry pie and mushy marshmallows. ..How long since we've been together? Let's see... a week? No, no... Before we even defeated Ultimecia, I've been eating this… so it's about four months already…

Irvine glanced down to his stomach, wasn't sure if he would be panic or instead, setting the microwave on fire if his narrow stomach starting to bulge. Selphie sat next to him, turning on the television. She turned to Irvine, frowning when she saw her auburn-haired boyfriend narrowing his eyes to his own stomach. "Irvy…?"

Irvine blinked, looking at her. "...Yeah?"

"What's wrong? Is your tummy hurt?"

"Nah…" He grinned, took one spoonful of pies into his mouth and chewed it, trying not to show his disgust when the familiar sweets and mushy taste invaded his tongue.

Did the recipe inventor have a family? He would like to meet them and shoot them with his demolition ammo, or some strawberry pie ammo, since they had unlimited supplies inside the fridge.

"You know…" Selphie rested her head in his shoulder. "I just bought strawberry-coloured lingerie today…" Irvine snapped his head to her. "Maybe after this... you can help me put it on?"

This was the first time she saw Irvine finished the pie less than two minutes.

-x-

"I think this is nepotism…" Squall mumbled while reading the SeeD contract. Rinoa looked up from the worksheet in his computer. She sat next to him, at the same desk, only a few inches away.

"Who's going to complain?" His new assistant kissed his temple. "Seriously, Hon, stop being so uptight..."

"Don't call me Honey during work, that shows nepotism altogether." Squall signed the contract and shoved it into her waiting hand. "Copy it three times. Send one to Deling City and the client. Save one for us."

Rinoa left for the photocopier as the commander typed a new contract for Winhill. Five minutes later, his assistant strolled in and set down the copy of the contract on his desk. "Is it okay for me to go now? I'm going shopping with Selphie." She clasped her hands on her back. "I want to buy some stuff for our room."

Squall frowned and glanced at his watch. It was not even lunchtime yet. She asked him if she could ditch a job to go shopping—

"Please, Squall?" Rinoa tilted her head, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Pretty please with sugar on top?" Squall glared at his girlfriend, but she seemed immune to it. Before he shook his head and warned her, Rinoa smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Hon! I'll make it up to you later!" She turned her body away, skipping out of the room while he gasped in disbelief.

W-what… D-did my assistant just step all over me? Squall stared at the paper he held onto, unsure how to react.

A few minutes passed, and while he was still busy choosing the right reaction for Rinoa's ignorance, Zell ran in and tapped his desk a few times, trying to get his attention.

"Yo! Yo! Squall!" He waved his hand in front of his face. "Did you just send the original data of our SeeD to Deling?"

"What?" Squall stood up from his chair and reached for the map. "No, it was right here, Rinoa faxed the copy…" his voice faltered. There was only one copy of contract inside the map, minus the original. Zell stood and staggered along with his best friend for a while, before he woke himself from the daze.

"Shit!" Zell sprinted out of the room, already forming a plan to keep the Garden unscathed out of the trouble they just got into. Squall sat down, and after he convinced himself that the original data had gone (that contained ten full SeeDs data that no one outside Garden should ever see), and that his new assistant –that just left shopping-sent that data instead of a fixed copy to Deling…

He banged his forehead on the desk. I know nepotism is such a bad idea.

-x-

-x-

"…Irvy…?" His girlfriend rapped their bathroom door. She was worried about him. Irvine bit his lip, trying not to moan or cry. He sat beside the toilet, glaring at the ceiling.

What is wrong with me?

Two weeks. Two sweet weeks, they had been together. A week ago, she asked him if he wanted to see her in that lingerie.

Of course he did.

But that was it. After he saw her in it, he suddenly felt an urge to sleep without her beside him.

There was nothing wrong with Selphie. Irvine was proud, he would say that she was the prettiest girl he ever saw in any lingerie, aside from Quistis, but he'd never seen the instructor in lingerie so his girlfriend still won the competition on that.

But he felt nothing. When Selphie asked him what they should do next –since somehow he looked drawn and tired— he lied and told her that his day was so long, the mission (which was catching newborn baby sharks near the Rinauld Coast before they moved and grew up near Balamb City) was very tiring…

She understood, smiled and changed her clothes into pajama. When she slept beside him on the bed, Irvine couldn't help but cringe every time her hand brushed his arm.

Why? Irvine buried his face in his hands. I love Sefie… why do I feel disgusted...?

After that, he tried his best to stay away from her. Four days in a mission, and he went home today, feeling so loved when she hugged him. She kissed him and told him how much she missed him, and he had thought maybe tonight was the right time.

That was, until he almost puked when he saw her began to undress and ran to the bathroom, locking the door and letting out all his digested dinner. Embarrassed, Irvine had stayed there for hours, until she began to wonder if he was okay.

"..Irvy," Selphie sounded so worried, it broke his heart. "Are you okay? Are you sick? Irvy, please open the door…"

He couldn't do this forever. He had to confess, if he wanted her to understand.

Irvine stood up, opened the door, and saw Selphie's face damp with tears. Irvine gulped with guilt when she hugged him.

"Irvy, what's wrong? You didn't catch anything during the mission, did you? Is it the pie?"

Irvine had an urge to blame the pie, but he steeled himself to tell her the truth.

"Sefie, listen…"

-x-

-x-

Rinoa hugged her knees. She sat on their bed, glancing up to the wall clock above the bed. Swaying her body to the tick, she began to wonder if he would ever walk through the door.

After her silly mistake a few days ago, he had yelled at her and fired her on the spot. The spot being their bedroom and she just went home from shopping. Sulking, Rinoa refused to talk to Squall afterwards.

Which had been her number one mistake: Her boyfriend didn't have any problem with that, and happy when he could go to work for fourteen hours and went home straight to bed, without her high-pitched voice in between.

Rinoa tried her mistake number two: burning the dinner she made for them. Squall saw the dinner, ate it and went to sleep. She ate it and spent three hours in the bathroom afterwards. The day after, Zell told her that SeeD training taught young cadets to eat all the monsters they killed during the camp training for two years not leaving anything but the bone.

Mistake number three: visiting him during work. The mistake? Squall had been in an important meeting in his office when she went in and called him 'my Honey bunny Squally' (or things like that, she didn't even remember anymore). With an unidentified expression, her boyfriend fisted the back of her blue duster and threw her out of the office filled with fifteen surprised high-ranking officers.

After studying her failed plan, Rinoa learned that Squall was agreeable when he was sleepy. When he was about to fall asleep, he would say yes to anything.

Apparently that didn't work all the time. He had said no when she asked him if they can have one male dog for Angelo. And he said a rough no when she asked if Angelo can sleep with them instead on the sofa outside their room.

Rinoa still tried, and when Squall went home yesterday, he found Angelo snuggle with Rinoa on the bed. Their bed.

The commander called Zell. Zell held the hysterical Rinoa when her boyfriend put a leash on Angelo and brought her out of their room. He left the innocent dog in the secret area with lots of dog food and water before he locked the door.

Rinoa wailed all night outside the secret area as her dog howled along wondering why her mistress was crying outside the door. In the morning Quistis walked in, unlocked the door and took Angelo out to relieve herself. She told Rinoa that 'animals are allowed only in the training centre.' The blond woman even left her GF, Carbuncle, in the secret area and locked the dog and baby dragon together to prove her point. Rinoa wanted to scratch the instructor's stoic face, but Quistis held a better rank in her boyfriend's eyes, while she was not.

So here she was, lonely and sad, waiting for her hellish boyfriend to come home. Maybe on his permission Angelo could stay in their living room again.

I'm bored… Rinoa pinched their blanket. Why do I wait? I was never the one who wait…

Waiting was for Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine. They're SeeDs and they had to follow his orders. Rinoa was his girlfriend. She had to have some special right. Waiting for her boyfriend to come home? Rinoa rolled her eyes. When they were together, Seifer never told her to do anything. He let her do anything she wanted, and even helped her when she need an accomplice.

Hm…. Rinoa punched the blanket in boredom. When he comes home, I will tell him that Angelo will sleep on the sofa and there is nothing he can do, period. After all, I have the right to keep her in here!

Or did she? Rinoa frowned, reminding herself that she was not a SeeD. She was here for Squall. Rinoa was his girlfriend, which was why he let her stay in the Garden and his room. She and her dog stayed for free. Rinoa buried her face between her knees, failing to notice silent steps of the commander who opened the living room door and removed his jacket.

Squall walked inside the bedroom, ignoring the slump which was his girlfriend, and walking straight into the bathroom. When the shower had been turned on, Rinoa snapped her head up in surprise. She stood up and walked to the bathroom, peeking inside.

Squall massaged his tired muscle below the hot water, feeling Rinoa watch him. He sighed. "What, Rin?"

The girl pouted, wondering how he noticed every time she was checking him out even with his eyes closed. She walked in, staying out of the range of water.

"Can we talk?" She looked around and decided to sit on the counter.

"Spill it."

"No." Rinoa bowed her head. "Not now… you won't even care what I'm telling you right now. After you shower, can we just sit on the sofa and talk about it?"

Squall fluttered his eyes open. He was sore after three meetings in a row. Without an assistant, his workload doubled. Zell tried his best to help, but his best friend wasn't known for his compatibility with paperwork. In the end he sent the blond to the machine room, to fix whatever it was that stopped the gear from turning and Garden from moving.

He had a chance at twenty two hundred to find Zell, as he never came back up to his office. He found the blond fighting with spinning machinery and leaking oil from broken tubes. He managed to close the leaking pipe and stay away from the oil. It didn't ruin his clothes, but Zell didn't look as good as him. Together, they fixed the pipes, and now Squall was washing away the traces of dirt and sweat collected in his skin.

He hoped that when he went home, Rinoa had been crying all night about Angelo and fell asleep. He could bathe and went straight to bed, embracing his pretty girlfriend and waking up just in time to work before she did.

Her determination to talk was missing from his calculation.

"Yeah…" He moved his aching shoulder. "Just go to the sofa first. I'll be right there."

Rinoa left him in the shower. She walked into their living room, feeling happier than before and decided to make him something to eat.

Ten minutes later, Squall stepped in the living room with damp hair and black pajama pants. He raised his eyebrow when he saw Rinoa set a plate of noodle in front of the coffee table.

"Sit, and eat while we talk." She gestured to the sofa and sat on one end. Squall sat on the other end, his body facing her. His boyfriend reached for the plate and set it on his lap when she nodded to herself and began:

"Squall… you know how much I love Angelo, don't you?"

"Hn." Squall stretched out and rested the side of his head on the sofa, closing his eyes.

"Why don't you let me have Angelo back?" She studied her hands on her lap. "I need her."

"Told you not to let the dog on our bed…"

...Okay, she had to do this slowly. "I'm lonely, I need Angelo."

No answer.

"Why don't you spend a bit more time with me? I know they need you since Cid won't return, but… I need you too." She hugged herself. "I need you to be there with me, listening to me when I want to talk, with me when I want to share moments with you. You're never here… I want you to at least give me a bit of your time."

She continued, "I met you only an hour each day. I don't want to be here waiting all the time. When you came back, you only nodded to me and went straight to bed. How long has it been since we last hug each other? Why do you have to go to work so early? When I moved in with you, I thought we would share our feelings and do things together… but that's not what happened…"

Rinoa sighed before saying, "Why don't you share your burden with me? I know I'm not that reliable on the job and I don't understand the SeeD thing, but at least you can talk to me, speak to me about your work. I know some part of your job is secret but it makes me happy when you share your life with me, since I will be glad to spend my life with you. Don't you think so too… Squall?"

She glanced toward her boyfriend.

The Commander had fallen asleep.