A/N: This was actually written long before any of the other chapters or even before I thought about putting a series of drabbles on here at all. Just me digging into Laguna's character a bit and I finally realized that this would fit in rather nicely here!
Title: First Meetings
Warnings: Uh...just slightly angsty Laguna?
Words: 574
Summary: Laguna's thoughts when he first meets Squall face to face.
Laguna stood staring out the window, watching as the lights that never seemed to go off flickered and pulsed. He shook his leg out a bit as the familiar pain began creeping up the limb. He was nervous about the upcoming meeting but not for the reasons one would expect. Sure he was worried about his country and hoped that these SeeDs knew what they were doing, but what made him really nervous was actually meeting with them - or more specifically their unofficial leader, Squall Leonhart.
He remembered a few weeks ago when a newly reunited Ellone sat him down with a serious look on her face. She had told him that Raine had been pregnant and that for the past 17 years he had a son wandering the planet. It was a lot to take in and he still really hadn't come to terms with it. But of course things had to get more complicated and that same name that Ellone had said had graced the top of his paperwork that morning and the owner of said name would be gracing the floor of this very office any minute.
Squall Leonhart, his son. Hyne, he had no clue how to approach this, how to tell him. Would the kid even believe him when he said he hadn't even known of his existence until a few weeks ago and sorry for not being there for you for 17 years but it totally wasn't my fault? Yeah right. The kid was likely to lash out, deny the truth. Hell he would probably do the same in his shoes. But he had to try...he had lost Raine, he wasn't about to lose his new found son as well.
He froze as he heard the doors open and hesitated for a few moments before turning around. The first thing he noticed were the eyes. Cold steel blue grey, Eyes that mirrored hers perfectly. He couldn't look away and it took him a few more moments before he took in the rest of him. Her eyes, her hair and coloring but in the chin and cheekbones, in the long lanky limbs and straight nose was the unmistakable evidence of him. It took his breath away to see such a perfect mix of him and Raine right in front of him.
He wanted to hug him, to hide him and keep him safe from everything but he knew that was impossible, and taking in the hard look in those eyes he realized he was likely too late to do any protecting anyways. He looked at the rest of the ragtag group and swallowed heavily. They were all so young...Hyne, Squall was only 17 himself! The oldest in the group couldn't have been over 18! Taking in the hard looks in their eyes and their exhausted countenances it hit him. These people, these children were being sent off to war and he would be the one to give the orders. He had to grip the edge of his desk to stand upright, gulping down the sudden nausea that rose within him. He realized now that he couldn't reveal anything to Squall or the others. They had enough on their shoulders, he didn't have the heart to make it worse. So he gathered his courage and stepped forward to introduce himself.
"Hello, my name is Laguna, Laguna Loire...president of Esthar."
