Chapter 21.

IIiiII

Rinoa laughed and whistled as Selphie whooped when Squall sat down at the breakfast table.

The brunette shot them a glare. "Shut up." He hissed. "Who told you? Irvine? Seifer?"

"Raijin." Rinoa said, gesturing to the large man who had moved to the sofa.

Squall glanced over his shoulder to look at the large man. "Oh." He said.

"Oh I see, you'll yell at us but not at him!" Selphie huffed. "Where's your lover boy then?"

"He's afraid to get up in case Seifer nicks the bed back."

The girls laughed. "Seriously?"

Squall nodded. "The two of them will probably be there all day fighting over it."

"Not all day." Selphie said. "I plan to do work today."

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Selphie you haven't done anything since we got here."

The petite girl put her hands on her hips to protest but then she just sighed. "Yeah you're right… but I motivated the rest of you." She smiled.

Rinoa smiled, humouring her. "You did."

Zell walked in. "Hey." He greeted.

"Hi Zell."

"Morning Zell."

He sat down next to Squall. "They still fighting over it?" Squall asked.

Zell nodded.

Squall sighed. "I err-" He started, waiting until the others were looking at him. "I've been in contact with garden…"

"You have?" Rinoa said. "Why? Is something wrong? Are we leaving early?"

He held up a hand to halt her questions. "Nothing is wrong, garden is docking here for a while. The headmaster wanted to see how the work was going, he said he had a few suggestions and we thought the Seeds and cadets could help out with the work."

"Oooh!" Selphie cooed. "We could play games on the beach with bigger teams!"

"That too." Squall agreed. "And-" He addressed Zell. "If you and Seifer want a bigger bed you can sleep back at garden and meet us here for breakfast."

Rinoa grinned. "So when are they coming?"

"Tomorrow."

"So Xu and Nida will be able to help us out too right?" Quistis asked.

Squall nodded. "As long as Headmaster Cid says it's okay."

"I can't imagine he'd mind." Edea said as she took a seat at the other end of the table. "What are the plans for today?"

Squall took a sip of his coffee. "I want to get the foundations done for the room at the back, then when help arrives we can leave they to do that and move on to something else."

They all nodded, used to Squall setting the tasks for the day.

"Help? What help?" Fujin asked as she came into the room.

"Garden is coming Fujin, isn't that great?"

The albino made a face. "Oh yeah, great."

Rinoa frowned. "What's wrong? The other Seeds and cadets can all help us, we'll be finished in double the time."

"But that little twerp will be here." She frowned. "Always following me around."

"Oh, do you have an admirer?" Edea asked.

She made a face. "An unwanted, annoying one, yes."

"Who?"

"Who is it?"

"That annoyed bridge guy."

The other girls shared a look. "Bridge guy?"

"You mean Nida?" Squall asked. "I always thought Nida was gay." He shrugged and drank his coffee.

Fujin frowned. "I don't think so, I don't know. I thought Nida was there before this guy's more… new."

Quistis looked at her. "Not a blonde scruffy looking little guy is it?"

"That's him!"

The blonde nodded. "That's Carl, he's new. We're training him to do what Nida does."

The albino shuddered. "He's creepy."

"He takes a little getting used to that's all." Quistis said.

"I don't want to get used to him, he follows me around and worst of all… he's not afraid of me."

Zell choked on his drink, laughing. "That's the worst thing? Maybe he likes you."

"Well he's a creepy stalker person from hell and I don't want him liking me." She folded her arms.

Raijin looked over his shoulder at her. "I've never seen him anywhere near you, Fu."

"Well of course you haven't, he may be a creep but he's not an idiot he doesn't come anywhere near me when I'm with you or Seifer."

"Well it's not like he'll see you alone here." Rinoa said.

"Yeah, you've got us." Selphie said. "And Squall's in charge so I'm sure he can give the guy a job somewhere away from us, right Squall?"

The brunette nodded. "Sure."

Fujin smiled. "Thanks."

Squall got up and stretched. "Time for work."

"Already?" Selphie whined. "But some of us haven't had breakfast yet."

"You've had breakfast." He pointed out.

"Well I wasn't talking about me, but shouldn't we wait for them."

Edea smiled at Selphie's attempt at getting out of working.

"No." Squall said. "Come on, I'll have to keep an eye on you now that I know you don't do any work."

The petite brunette deflated more. "Thanks for telling him that Rin." She flicked the other girl's hair on the way past.

"Hey!" Rinoa smoothed her hair down again.

A half naked Irvine strolled in five minutes after Selphie and Squall left the room, he stretched in the doorway and flopped down in the chair that Squall had just vacated, a stupid grin on his face.

"You look very pleased with yourself." Rinoa said smiling.

He nodded. "I imagine you've heard, right?

She smiled and nodded. "Raijin told us."

The cowboy glanced at the sofa where a hand waved over the back of the sofa to show that Raijin was there.

"You four kept me up half the night, you know?"

Zell looked sheepish.

"Sorry, man." Irvine said. "But don't you think a little sleep is a small price to pay for the happiness of your friends?"

Raijin snorted. "I don't know about that, you know."

"Where's Squall?"

"He's already started work on the house."

"Already? He's such a workaholic."

Rinoa nodded. "And he's put Selphie to work too."

The cowboy laughed.

Rinoa looked sheepish. "Yeah, someone -soooo not me- might have told Squall that Selphie doesn't do any work so he's making sure she does today."

The cowboy laughed. "Rather her than me."

"Did you win?" Zell asked. "The bed war I mean."

The cowboy smiled. "I think it's a stalemate. Seifer threatened to pee in it to mark his territory."

"Eww gross." Rinoa frowned.

"I'm not sleeping there if he pees in it." Zell said.

"That's what I told him." Irvine looked at the table. "Is there coffee?"

"That was half a hour ago when the rest of us got down here." Quistis told him.

"Oh." He looked disappointed.

Edea rose from the table. "I'll make some more."

He grinned at her. "Thanks matron, you're the best matron ever."

She rolled her eyes.

Zell looked up, past Irvine's head and smiled. "What took you so long to get up?"

The cowboy looked over his shoulder. "You better not have peed in the bed or else no one will sleep in it and you'll be on the floor!"

"No I didn't." Seifer took the seat Selphie had been sitting in.

Quistis stood up. "I'm going to go see if Squall and Selphie want a hand with work."

Raijin got up and went too.

"Are you sure you're awake enough to do work?" They heard her ask as they walked away.

"So what did you do?" Rinoa asked Seifer.

"Nothing." He said.

She studied him.

"I swear I couldn't think of anything else to do! Well…. Besides going to bed early tonight before the cowboy has a chance to get there."

Irvine frowned. "I'll have to go earlier than your early then."

Seifer frowned at the challenge. "Maybe I'll go even earlier than your earlier than my early."

"Oh yeah! Well I'll go even more early!"

Zell raised a hand. "Will you two stop!"

"No, no let them Zell it'll be funny." Rinoa said. "I'll look forward to them running to get there first later on."

"Maybe you two should share the bed that way you're both happy." Zell suggested.

Seifer and Irvine glanced at each other and frowned. "No, that won't work." Seifer said and Irvine shook his head in agreement.

"It was Squall's bed originally." Rinoa said.

"But he gave it to us!"

"He leant it to you." Irvine corrected. "And I thought it was nice of him to do that so now you have to be nice back and give the bed back."

Seifer scoffed. "You never get anywhere though being nice to people."

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "It's only for one night, garden is coming tomorrow, it's docking here and you and Zell can sleep there if you like."

"Garden's coming?"

She nodded.

"And staying?"

Again she nodded. "The Seeds and cadets are going to help us fix the house and headmaster wants to see how it's going."

Seifer made a face. "Cid's coming."

He got a smack on the back of the head. "OW!" He turned at looked at Edea. "What was that for?"

"For badmouthing my husband… again!" She set a cup two cups of coffee down, one in front of Seifer and one in front of Irvine.

"Thanks matron." Irvine said.

"I didn't say anything!" Seifer protested.

"But you were thinking it."

"So I can't even think stuff now?"

She walked away and he just frowned at the table.

"Don't be such a brat Seifer." Rinoa scolded as she stood and tucked her chair in before leaving the table.

"Where's everyone going?"

"Squall's putting people to work." Zell said. "Especially Selphie because she doesn't do much."

Seifer frowned. "I've done work here…. Sort of… but every time I do something happens. Like getting sunburnt or getting poisoned by that stuff I found or getting punched in the face or-"

"I've just realized how incident prone you are." Irvine said. "How the hell do you survive at garden?"

"It's only because he's whines and gets bored." Zell said. "Then playing around with something he shouldn't and then he wondered why he gets hurt." Zell rolled his eyes.

"What next?" Irvine smirked.

"Well I haven't fallen off the roof yet."

"Don't say that!" Zell scolded. "It's tempting fate!"

Seifer scoffed. "There's no such thing!"

"I've fallen off the roof." Irvine said.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that." Seifer said. "But I caught you so that doesn't really count."

Zell stood. "We should at least look like we're done some work today, let's go."

The other two quickly drank down their coffee and followed the little blonde outside. They found Squall dictating what the others were doing.

"Run." Raijin warned. "He's in full commander mode."

The three guys traded a look but pressed forward. Squall caught them and quickly put Seifer and Zell to work.

"Aye aye captain." Seifer said with a salute.

Squall rolled his eyes.

"What about me?" Irvine asked grinning at Squall.

The brunette frowned at him. "What took you so long?"

"I had…. Discussing to do… with Seifer."

"You mean you were arguing about that bloody couch."

The cowboy looked sheepish. "Umm maybe."

"Hmph." Squall walked off.

Irvine followed. "Are you okay? You seem… stressed."

"I'm fine." He continued walking until he was around the corner and out of sight from the others then he stopped and let Irvine pull him in for a kiss.

The brunette slowly kissed him back and his arms wrapped themselves around his lover's shoulders, one hand running through Irvine's hair.

"That's better." Irvine grinned at him. "I was starting to think you were avoiding me."

"I'm trying to get some work done around here before Cid turns up tomorrow and finds out we haven't done anything."

"We have!"

"Not a lot."

"Well this is our vacation, he'll understand." He starting kissing Squall's knuckles, nibbling on his fingers.

"I thought you said no fraternising on the job."

Squall looked up at Zell sitting on the roof. "How did you get up there? You're not supposed to be working on the roof." Squall pulled his hand back from the cowboy, walking around the building, going back into commander mode. "Get down from there."

The cowboy sighed and went to help the others.

IIiiII

TBC