Chapter XXI
Squall surfaced sometime later, feeling distinctly like he was fighting his way out of stinking sludge. His skin burned and itched, his mouth tasted vile, and he smelled….unbelievable.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, commander." Irvine's voice drawled.
Squall blinked his eyes open and had to squint a bit before they adjusted to the flickering firelight. Once they did, he focused on Irvine, who sat next to him. They'd laid his bedding on the ground next to the fire, for some reason, and Irvine had a pot of spring water and a cloth, and a rapidly fading expression of concern on his face.
"Not commander anymore," He mumbled, tongue feeing thick, and his mouth dry.
"Here." Irvine handed him a full water bottle.
Squall eyed it warily, asking, "Boiled?"
"Purifying tablets. Boiling would take too long." Irvine answered.
Squall grimaced and drank deeply, suddenly feeling very dehydrated.
"You weren't kidding when you said it was dangerous here," Irvine said. "Zell and I were both pretty worried that we'd have to sail your boat home by ourselves and explain what happened to your girlfriend."
"Well, that's why I asked you guys along. I knew I could count on you." Squall shifted and frowned at his arm, which looked reddened and irritated. The rest of his skin, his torso in particular, was in a similar case. It looked almost as though he'd gotten a really bad sunburn….in patches.
"Is this from that slime that…three-headed lizard thing spat at me?" Squall asked.
"Zell's been calling it a tri-face. And yeah. We weren't sure if it was some kind of bio-acid or venom or both." Irvine answered.
"Why am I naked?" Squall asked. What the hell had happened to his clothes?
"They were saturated with the stuff. They had to come off. You'd started taking them off yourself but the poison got the better of you, so we had to help." Irvine answered.
"So, what happened? What did you do? Whatever it was, it worked." Squall asked.
"How are you feeling?" Irvine asked.
"Like I've been dipped in acid and thrown into a sewer." Squall answered, then adding with a grimace, "I smell like it too."
"Yeah well," Irvine said, coughing to hide what had sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Squall narrowed his eyes suspiciously at this but remained silent.
Finally Irvine relented, saying, "We needed to wash that stuff off you, and had a hard time with it. Didn't have nearly enough water with us and things were getting pretty desperate. No way did we have time to drag you four hundred plus meters to the beach or back to the waterfall here at camp."
"So what did you do?" Squall asked him.
"Well, Zell figured since it was acidic, and like maybe was a kind of molecular venom…" Irvine began when Zell interrupted.
"Hey, it wasn't just me!" He protested. "And it did work!"
"What did you do?" Squall asked again, growing suspicious, and eyeing them both in turn. What he saw didn't encourage him.
"Um…" Irvine began, exchanging an uncomfortable glance with Zell and clearing his throat. Finally he answered, "We…uh… we peed on you."
"You peed on me." Squall echoed, then repeated, at a higher volume, "You peed on me?"
"Hey, it worked!" Zell said, "I was kind of hoping that the stuff was sorta like jellyfish venom and…"
"You peed on me! I can't believe you peed on me! Didn't you see the medicine in my pack? In all of our packs?" Squall demanded.
"Well, uh…" Irvine began and Zell finished sheepishly, "We sorta…forgot about it. I'll admit it, we panicked."
"Speak for yourself chocobo-head." Irvine said. Zell glared at him, arms firmly crossed.
"Oh, my Gods…" Squall said in disgust. "I'm going to go take a bath."
Squall climbed to his feet, far more slowly than he would have liked. Still, he did manage to walk more or less steadily to the pool.
"You'd better not pass out in there and drown, 'cause I ain't givin' you mouth to mouth!" Irvine called after him.
Squall answered that comment with a single, upraised middle finger. Irvine and Zell both burst out laughing.
Rinoa tossed Angelo's squeaky toy again half-heartedly, sending the dog bolting after it with a happy bark. This was Day Two of Squall's hunting/exploration trip to his island, and despite the frightening array of weapons and ammunition that he'd left with, she was still worried. She tried not to think about what might possibly go wrong and focused on the fact that he'd be returning tomorrow evening.
In the meantime, her PR job with the Bears was certainly keeping her busy. Her first official date with Squall had been a playoff game that they'd won. They'd had a bye the following week, then the playoffs resumed with a second-round game against Esthar, which they'd won. Rinoa had been working furiously since to promote the games, which had resulted in more than a few late nights.
That had played into the amount of time, or lack thereof lately, that she and Squall had spent together. Occasionally, she had to pull some late nights getting post-game interviews lined up with the players, double-checking the ad copy and promotional materials to make sure they were up to snuff, and putting out the inevitable fires that sprung up at a moment's notice.
Now things had ratcheted up to a fever pitch as the Bears had managed to make it to the final championship game...scheduled at home against the defending champions, the Trabia Snowlions, the coming weekend. Squall was planning to see it with her, and was fully as excited about it as she was. As busy as she'd been in the lead up to the game, at least it kept her distracted, though she still missed him dreadfully and couldn't wait for his return the following evening.
"Hi Rinoa," a female voice addressed her pleasantly, and Rinoa stifled a sigh, recognizing it.
"Hi Kaylee." Rinoa responded without enthusiasm.
"No boyfriend today?" Kaylee asked, curiously.
"No, he's working." Rinoa answered reluctantly. She really didn't want to talk to Kaylee, and her obvious fishing was downright annoying. Rinoa had no interest in providing the girl with any ammunition that she might have a use for.
Angelo trotted back, mouthing her toy happily to the tune of its shrieking squeaks. Rinoa took it from her and tossed it again.
"Again? Too bad," Kaylee said insincerely. "He's been gone a few days now, hasn't he?"
"Yes." Rinoa said, sighing. "It's been busy for both of us."
"What's he do for a living, anyway? I could never get him to talk to me," Kaylee said.
That's because he can't stand you… Rinoa thought, then answered "Oh…he's self-employed."
"Doing what?" Kaylee pressed.
Rinoa huffed slightly in exasperation, asking, "And this interests you why?"
Kaylee shrugged, strolling nonchalantly toward a nearby tree and leaning back against it. Rinoa didn't know if the girl was deliberately trying to be provocative or if it was simply part of her nature. Certainly the expression on her face, all innocence on the surface, with sly calculation hiding behind her eyes, did nothing to inspire Rinoa to confide in her.
"He's a mystery," Kaylee answered finally. "I can't peg him. His accent is from Balamb but he's come here from Esthar, from what I've heard. He keeps odd hours; not your usual nine-to- five guy. And he looks slightly dangerous, with that scar. He could be anything, from a sailor, to a soldier, to a cop to…a spy. I'm simply curious." She finished with a shrug.
"And again, I'm wondering why this interests you?" Rinoa asked her coolly.
Kaylee met Rinoa's gaze, green eyes icily challenging, and asked her in turn, "How long have you two been dating now? Two months? Three?" When Rinoa didn't answer, Kaylee shrugged and said, "Surely you've been together long enough now for the 'L' word to have popped up."
Rinoa swallowed. Kaylee was right, and while it had been very much in her mind….she could only guess at what was in Squall's.
She hadn't said it to him, nor had he said it to her. She knew what she felt for him; it throbbed to the beat of her heart, a soft, heavy weight, a joyous ache, a craving need that had settled deep into her bones. She loved him.
She was less certain of Squall's part of the equation. Certainly, he'd never made her feel that he didn't care for her; his attraction was obvious. She had no doubts where the physical part of their relationship was concerned. And he seemed to enjoy her company even when there wasn't sex involved. He was by turns affectionate, gallant and romantic. At times anyway. He did tend toward broodiness on occasion, and she had seen hints of his temper, though they'd yet to have an actual fight.
But no, for whatever reason, the "L" word had not yet turned up.
"He hasn't said it yet, has he?" Kaylee asked. Her exaggerated innocence made Rinoa suddenly want to slap her.
Rinoa clenched her teeth, but was saved from having to respond by Angelo, who returned with her toy, dropping it at her feet and sitting down, panting happily.
"Maybe he's waiting for something better to come along." Kaylee said snidely, strolling off.
Well, it sure as hell isn't you! Rinoa thought, glaring after her. Pocketing Angelo's toy, she clipped the lead back onto her collar and led her home.
Squall had never given Rinoa any reason to think that he didn't care for her. He'd quit his job and moved to Deling City for her. He might frame it as a change that was a long time coming, and perhaps that was the truth. But it was also true that she'd been the driving force behind it; he'd admitted as much. That argued that more than just a simple fling, a momentary infatuation was at work. A man doesn't just make such drastic changes based solely on the physical aspects of a relationship, regardless of how spectacular it may be.
So she knew he cared about her, he was just taking his time arriving at the conclusion that he LOVED her. And really, that was something that should not be rushed. Hard as it was for her, she'd wait for him to arrive at that acknowledgment on his own.
But there was a small part of her that felt the seed of doubt that Kaylee had planted, start to burrow deep into her mind and heart, and hated her for it.
"So what's our talley today?" Irvine asked, sitting down next to the cheerily burning campfire.
Squall, who was busy cooking their dinner for the night, shrugged and replied, "Ask Zell, he's the one keeping score."
"Yeah, and if I weren't, you wouldn't remember even half of the beasties we'd fought over the last two days." Zell supplied, notebook open on his lap, pen in hand.
"That's one of the reasons I brought you guys. I can't be expected to think of everything." Squall said.
"Well, you weren't kidding about the monsters here. This is a dream for big-game adventurers. I'll bet we could convince some of our SeeD buddies to come here for some sun, sand and monster hunting." Zell said.
"That's not a bad idea. Guided adventure hunts…for say, four hundred gil a head?" Irvine speculated.
"I'd been thinking along those lines but do you think anyone would pay that much for a hunting trip?" Squall asked.
"And let's not forget about liability. What if someone gets hurt?" Zell added.
"Might have to run that by Ms. Delectable Lawyer Trepe," Irvine said with a wolfish grin.
Squall shrugged, "there's always liability insurance and release forms. So long as it's understood that they're hunting here at their own risk. But, yeah, I'll talk to Ms. Trepe about it."
"Going by what we've encountered just in the last couple of days, Squall, we shouldn't have any problems with the fee. The trophies we've taken so far are amazing. The dragonhide alone is worth a mint." Zell said, jotting down some information in his notebook.
"Well, we certainly earned it," Squall said, handing a bowl to Irvine and Zell before filling one for himself and sitting down.
"No joke there," Irvine said with a sigh, taking a bite of his dinner and reaching over for his bottle of water and taking a drink.
"Okay, so far the tally is: one tri-face thingy, one blue dragon, two wendigos, a huge behemoth, two thrustavis, four ochus and about a half-dozen grats. For trophies we've got the horns, teeth, claws and hide of the behemoth and the blue dragon, and the hides of the wendigos. We also have the pollen and the tentacles from the ochus, and the sleep-spores from the grats. Should be able to sell all of that for a tidy sum." Zell said.
"Cool. Split it three ways?" Irvine asked. Zell and Squall nodded. "I was kinda hopin' we'd be able to bring back some good trophies and stuff."
"There'll be plenty more where that came from." Squall said.
"Yeah, you weren't kidding when you said this place is lousy with monsters. Tough ones, too! That dragon had me really worried that we wouldn't make it." Zell commented, adding, "That medicine you brought from Esthar is a real lifesaver, that's for sure."
"I wish you'd remembered it before you guys peed on me," Squall grumbled. Zell and Irvine both snorted, and then gave in and started laughing in earnest at Squall's glare. Squall just shook his head and grabbed his water bottle for a drink.
They lapsed into silence as the fire burned down, listening to the nighttime sounds of the jungle around them. There was a high, bright moon but it was waning, throwing its dim, cool light against the thick canopy of the trees with little effect. The perpetual rushing splash of the waterfall added a droning undertone to the buzzes and clicks and chirps that ensured that the night would not be bereft of music. The water lent freshness to the night as well, adding its cool scent to the rich bouquet of volcanic earth, and semi-tropical greenery.
Squall looked around at what the flickering firelight revealed, liking it more and more. He'd thought the island beautiful on his first, somewhat hasty visit, and now that he'd spent more than a couple of nights there, he concluded that yes, he could indeed live there. Of course, that had more or less been the plan all along….more now, since he'd met Rinoa.
"When are we leaving tomorrow?" Irvine asked.
"First light." Squall answered.
"Anxious to get home to Rinoa, aren't you?" Irvine asked.
Squall hesitated, then gave himself a mental kick to get over his ingrained impulse to deflect, avoid, deny what he felt. There was no longer any reason to hide the fact that he was seeing someone and that he cared for her. He was no longer in a position where that mattered. Where it could be a liability. Where it could be dangerous for either him or for her.
"Yes," he finally answered.
"That...is awesome." Zell said softly, smiling at Squall. "I never thought I'd see you actually dating, much less be this gone over a girl. How'd you two meet anyway? I don't believe you ever mentioned it."
"There's a lot of things he ain't mentioned," Irvine drawled. "Like what you did for money over the last two years while you were helping Ellone out. Chemo treatments ain't cheap. Especially in Esthar."
Squall hesitated again, but for entirely different reasons. He hadn't been very forthcoming toward his friends with regards to his recent past and his current present, particularly where it touched on his financial matters. And no, he'd said nothing at all about how he and Rinoa had met.
And friends, being friends, would want to know. It was simple human nature. Everyone wanted to hear the whole romantic "boy meets girl and falls head over heels in love" story. Squall had thought he'd dodged the necessity of explaining how everything had come about because Rinoa's friends already knew. He hadn't thought that Irvine and Zell would also be curious about it.
It wasn't an easy thing to explain either. He wasn't ashamed of what he'd done in the past, but he knew that there were some people that would have a problem with it. He didn't think Zell or Irvine would, but….they would give him a lot of shit for it. Irvine in particular.
Finally, he decided to proceed with caution, answering, "Well, we met through my work."
"And here's where you elaborate and tell me exactly what kind of work it was that you were doing." Irvine stated firmly. He folded his arms across his chest and waited, watching Squall expectantly. Zell simply nodded in agreement and leaned forward on the log he was sitting on, elbows on his knees.
Squall sighed, the nodded, "Yeah, okay." Taking a sip of water to gather his thoughts, he continued, "I worked for a spa resort in northern Esthar, called The Golden Chocobo Ranch, as head of security and part-time concierge."
"You worked as a concierge at a resort? Really?" Zell asked incredulously, trying to wrap his mind around the idea that Squall had once stood at a hotel's front desk all day, attempting to smile and be pleasant.
Irvine however, had an entirely different reaction.
"You gotta be kiddin' me. You worked there? As a concierge?" He asked, grinning widely. "How the hell did that come about?"
"I take it you've heard of the place. Why does this not surprise me?" Squall asked, rolling his eyes. Irvine simply laughed at his reaction.
"Ok, somehow, I'm getting the idea that 'concierge' in this case, is not what I think it is," Zell said.
"No, it isn't." Squall said shortly. Zell raised his eyebrows and waited expectantly, while Irvine looked on, trembling lips only just holding in his amusement.
Sighing, and giving Irvine a dirty look, Squall continued, "In Esthar, prostitution is legal. You get a license, you have to pass a blood test every two weeks, and they tax the hell out of it. A concierge is pretty much the same thing as an escort, only within the confines of the resort." He paused, waiting as that information sunk in.
"Wait. So does this mean that you were…" Zell began.
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe it. You?" Zell asked, still not convinced that this wasn't simply an elaborate joke.
"Believe it Zell. Squall was a whore for two years!" Irvine finally said, unable to restrain himself any longer and bursting into laughter again.
"Not exactly two years, and not just a whore. A concierge, which is…a bit different." Squall clarified.
"A high-class whore then," Irvine said with a shrug. Squall glared at him.
"How is it different?" Zell asked curiously, "and how does Rinoa enter into it? Did she hire you?"
"Because I was paid for my time. I taught self-defense as part of my job, kind of as an offshoot to my head of security gig and also part of the role I played as concierge. I catered to my clients' fantasies, whatever they might be, and made sure that their entire visit to the spa was as enjoyable as possible. Whatever they wanted to do, I arranged for them: golfing, snorkeling, a day being pampered in at the spa, fine dining and entertainment, and yes, sex, if that was what they wanted. For however long my time was paid for, I was theirs, and would do whatever they wanted me to do, barring certain limits which I made sure my client was aware of before anything got started." Squall elaborated.
"What limits? I thought if they paid you, you had to do what they wanted." Irvine asked.
"We had the right to refuse a client and refund the fee if we felt it necessary." Squall told him, then continued, "Each concierge has his preferences listed, and each woman would be directed to choose from a specific list of men who would best match what she was looking for. My preference listed blonds, no fetishes, open to kink but no men. And I preferred one on one, threesomes can get ….complicated." Squall said. Irvine's mouth simply dropped open in shock and he stared at Squall, momentarily speechless.
"Open to kink? What the hell does that even mean?" Irvine asked after finally finding his voice again, staring at Squall as though he'd grown a new head. That one phrase was more than enough for him to see his former commander and friend in an entirely new light. Obviously, Squall had kept a lot of things to himself.
"Mainly that I'm willing to be adventurous. Role-playing, costumes, maybe a little BDSM, though I'm really not that into it. Most of the time, it's what happens between the ears that gets a woman off, rather than between the sheets. Play to that, and no matter what you end up doing, she'll be satisfied." Squall replied with a shrug.
"Okay, so that's interesting and all, and you obviously got a serious education in…well seduction. I think you could give Irvine a run for his money at this point. But how does Rinoa figure into this?" Zell asked again.
"I was her birthday present, essentially." Squall answered simply.
"Wait. So she just…what? Picked you out of a catalogue and…bought you?" Zell asked incredulously.
"No," Squall answered shortly, giving Irvine another glare as he guffawed again at Zell's reaction. "Her friends hired me. It was basically just a big mix-up. They had no idea that they'd sent Rinoa to a brothel/resort and bought my services, while I wasn't even supposed to be available. I'd requested the weekend off."
"Really?" Irvine asked, interested. "So, this was just a weird twist of fate then?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Squall replied, thoughtfully.
Zell, a romantic at heart, smiled wistfully and asked, "So, what happened, when you first saw her? What was your first thought?"
"That I was going to kill Marti because I wasn't supposed to have a client that weekend." Squall answered. Zell sighed in disappointment and he replied, "Hey, you asked."
"Pretty safe to say then that it wasn't love at first sight. Right?" Irvine asked, and Squall nodded agreement.
"What was your second thought?" Zell asked again.
Squall sighed, recalling that first meeting, and answered, "That I was in big trouble."
"Yep, you definitely are, bro." Irvine said with a smirk.
"So, Rinoa's friends hired you to basically give Rinoa the best weekend of her life. And you fell for her after one weekend?" Zell asked, puzzled.
"She must have been really good in bed…" Irvine began, to be interrupted sharply by Squall, "I refused her."
"What? Why?" Irvine asked, confused.
Squall frowned and gazed toward the waterfall, finally answering, "She had no idea what I'd been hired for. She though it was just a spa weekend with some self-defense training provided by me. And….she was a virgin. I couldn't…" his voice trailed off and he swallowed, then continued, "I refused, that first night, and refunded her money. The next night though….she seduced me."
"So, you weren't paid to have sex with her then? It just sorta…happened?" Zell asked.
"Yes. There's a reason why I stipulated only blonds, on my list of preferences. I'm not made of stone, Zell. I'm very attracted to petite brunettes, and that, coupled with …well, her…. I was lost." And I have been ever since… Squall answered softly.
"Yeah, well that's romantical and all, but now you mean to tell me you've fallen head over heels in love with a brunette virgin because you were her first lover? And don't deny it, because it's written all over your face." Irvine said.
"I won't. I can't. And it makes no more sense to me than it does to you. It just is." Squall said with a shrug.
"Have you told her?" Zell asked him.
Squall looked over at him, then slowly shook his head, "No. No I haven't."
"Perhaps you should. Women like to hear stuff like that. They like to know that they matter to you." Zell said seriously.
"She knows. I'm sure she does. I show her, whenever I'm with her…" Squall defended.
"You should tell her." Zell urged.
"I agree." Irvine said.
Squall looked from one to the other, suddenly feeling cornered. And very surprised that Irvine was backing Zell's assertion. Not the playboy sniper's usual stance on that particular subject, that's for certain. The fire, burned down mostly to coals, popped suddenly, its sharp report echoing in the not quite silence of the night. He should tell Rinoa how he felt. He'd tried, by degrees, but …..the words weren't quite there. He'd never been very good at that sort of thing, though Ellone had told him more than once that it simply took practice.
Irvine's voice interrupted his thoughts as he asked, "So…BDSM huh? You like getting tied up and whipped?"
"It's called flogging and no. I told you I'm not that into it. If a client expresses an interest in that area, she's sent to a professional Dom. They're registered and regulated and have even more rules to follow than I did. Mostly, it was just blindfolds and silk scarves and I was the one in charge." Squall explained.
"Kinky." Irvine replied with a smirk.
Squall snorted, "Not even close."
"Sounds kinky to me," Zell added with a shrug.
"I still can't get over the fact that you were paid to have sex with beautiful women and you quit. It just boggles my mind. I mean, yeah, you obviously love Rinoa but… wow. Just, wow." Irvine said, shaking his head.
"It was only ever meant as a means to earn extra money so I could recover what I spent on Ellone's treatments. I never intended to do it as a career for the rest of my life. I won't deny that I enjoyed it, for the most part. But I didn't want to do it forever." Squall said.
"And then Rinoa came along." Zell said.
Squall nodded, "And everything changed."
Irvine smiled at him slightly, and said, "Yeah, it certainly did."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes. I am EVIL...(muahahahha!) sooo... didn't manage an update of THIS story for Squall's birthday, which if you fellow fangeeks remember, was Saturday. I did manage to update Dragonfire though. So at least I did SOMETHING. More fun is coming, maybe a little bit of friction (and not the good kind...) and then...i dunno if i want it on this next chapter or somewhere down the line, that Ball...Which trust me, is going to have a LOT of stuff happening there! anyway, enjoy, and I'll catch ya'all on the next update.. whenever that might be...