Irvine placed his cup of coffee on the table and groaned audibly, collapsing into a chair beside Quistis Trepe.

"Good morning Mr. Kinneas." Quisits said sipping her coffee.

Irvine grunted a reply, taking a gulp of coffee.

"Late night?" the Instructor asked.

"I couldn't sleep" he replied, staring at the hot black liquid he hoped would give him some energy.

I know the feeling Quistis thought briefly. After swallowing a few gulps of his coffee, Irvine finally had enough energy to look at his friend. She looked tired, he noticed, and her brows were knotted in a frown as she sipped again from her cup.

"Something up Quisty?"

Her expression changed immediately as though his words had shattered whatever she was thinking. She smiled.

"No nothing, I'm fine"

"You look a little tired" he said. He had meant to be more tactful but he hadn't got the energy.

"Oh, I just woke up a little early. I suppose I must be nervous about the SeeD exams tomorrow."

"Why, you're not doing…..oh yeah, instructor….my brains just not functioning yet."

Quistis laughed softly, Irvine wasn't sure he'd ever heard Quistis laugh.

"You laughin' at me?" he said immediately, imitating Zell.

At this Quistis broke into a full smile.

"You have a pretty smile Quistis; you should smile more often.."

Quistis was caught off guard by this, but quickly recovered and changed the subject.

"So, have they told you the result of your assessment yet?"

The assessment she was talking about was the one Garden had been doing for quite some time. Irvine had already passed his written SeeD test and possessed G.F.'s prior to saving world, the Garden officials were simply assessing whether his part in saving the world from time compression was an adequate field exam.

"No" Irvine replied. "I don't find out 'til after the SeeD exam tomorrow."

Well, good luck, I suppose."

"Thanks."

"Just out of curiosity, what time does Selphie get back at?"

"11:15…why? What time is it?"

"11:12"

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

Selphie hopped up and down impatiently, inviting strange looks from Zell and Nida. It wasn't that she disliked their company, or even that she disliked being aboard the Ragnarok (in fact she enjoyed that quite a bit) it was just that she hadn't seen Irvine for roughly three weeks and she missed him.

"Selphie, will ya stop jumpin' around! You're makin' me nervous!" Zell said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Geez Zell, lighten up! I'm just excited that's all!"

Nida grumbled, he had been stuck with the two energetic eighteen year olds for 22 days and their antics had finally started to annoy him.

"Will you two both calm down? And in case you didn't notice, we just landed!"

Selphie raced out of the passenger deck and off the air ship.

"Irvy!" She squealed as she hugged her best friend tightly.

"Ah! Selphie, not so hard! I'd like all my ribs intact if you wouldn't mind." He said ruffling her brown hair playfully.

"Oh right… sor-ry!" the short brunette said cheerfully, stealing the cowboy hat from the snipers head.

"So" she drawled "Did ya miss me?" She finished grabbing Irvine's arm.

"Sure did." He replied as they strolled off.

Zell kicked the ground angrily.

"Jealous?" Nida inquired.

"Tch!"

Disclaimer: I hate disclaimers…I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Much though I may dream I do. OK? SATISFIED?

Note: If you do decide to review…be kind. I'm just a child!