by NightsDawne
[Alright, it's been a long time coming in the Cowboy Saga. Irvine and Squall both grew up orphans, but they both have fathers. Can Cid and Laguna make up for the past with their sons? Disclaimer: The characters are Squaresoft's, yup.]
Cowboy Saga:
Cowboy
I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
Deuces Are Wild
Chapter 1: Forced Fun
Squall walked slowly out of the locker room. What the hell was he doing this for? Taking a day off had been Rinoa's insistance. It had been Selphie who ordered him to make it a group outing. This, though, this was all Irvine's idea. Damn his best friend and his ability to talk him into anything. He was going to look like an idiot.
"Squall!" Rinoa grinned to him and waved from the ladies' locker room door. "C'mon, they're all out there already!"
Squall clenched his teeth and started to turn back to the locker room. He'd just skip this. His feet got hooked up together and he threw his arms out, trying to keep his balance. It was no use. He fell squarely on his butt, feeling the heat of a blush creeping up into his cheeks. He wasn't even out there yet and he was making a fool of himself.
Rinoa was at his side in an instant, reaching down to help him up. "You alright?"
"I don't want to do this, Rinny." He got his feet seperated and pulled himself up by her arm.
"Oh, stop it. You can't always be afraid of new experiences."
"I'm not afraid. I just don't want to do it."
"It's not that hard, really, Squall. I'll hold your hand the entire time, okay?" She tilted her head, gazing up at him with those chocolate drop eyes and her peaches and cream smile. "You really need to have some fun and this is fun."
"I'm not having any fun."
"You're not doing anything yet." She turned and dragged him after her. He stumbled, wishing his girlfriend wasn't always so stubborn, barely recovering in time to keep from falling again. Rinoa stopped and opened the gate for them, stepping out onto the ice and looking back at him. "Okay, one foot at a time."
Squall exhaled slowly between his teeth, knowing there was no way out of his humiliation. He gripped Rinoa's hand tightly and put his left skate on the ice, then his right. "Okay, I did it. Can I go now?"
Rinoa wrinkled her nose at him. "No! Don't be such a spoilsport!" She looked to center ice and grinned as Irvine got up to speed with back crossovers, then turned forward and jumped from his left foot, pulling his hands to his chest, spinning three and a half times before he landed on his right foot without so much as a wobble. Quistis, Seifer, and Selphie broke into applause and whistles from across the rink. "See? Irvine just did a triple axel. All you have to do is skate."
"I can't even walk in these."
"OUTA THE WAY!" Squall looked to the side to see Zell barrelling towards them, waving his arms frantically. Rinoa started to pull Squall forward just as he put his foot back to step off the ice, the motions countering each other to leave them right where they were. Zell crashed into them like a bowling ball into two pins, all three of them skidding across the ice in a tangle of arms and legs. So this is what it's like to get hit by Doomtrain, thought Squall as they slowed to a stop, Zell's shin across his mouth.
"Zell Dincht get your butt out of my face!" Rinoa let go of Squall's hand to hammer her fists at the offending portion of Zell's anatomy. "Are you trying to kill someone?!"
"Okay, who needs a curaga?" Irvine arrived on the scene to help sort out the crash, the other three not far behind him.
Zell struggled to get his jacket untangled from Rinoa's blade. "Ow! I'll need one if Rinny doesn't stop hitting me!"
"Yeah, fists of steel." Irvine bent down and pulled Rinoa to the side to remedy the awkwardness of her position. Rinoa got in one more good slap.
"Toepick!" Zell yanked his face back quickly before he could lose a nostril to Rinoa's skate.
Quistis dropped to her knee and held Rinoa's boot down before she could get it up for a kick, then unwrapped Zell's jacket from the other skate. "It was an accident, Rinoa, no need to get violent."
"He's a menace!"
"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO STOP!" Zell crawled away from Rinoa and got up to his knees, rubbing his abused backside.
Squall just lay there quietly, eyes closed, hoping they'd think he was dead and therefore excused from any further amusement. He felt Irvine give his cheeks a gentle slap. "Heya buddy, you okay?"
"Squall! I swear, Zell, if you hurt him I'm going to shave your head!" Rinoa grabbed Squall's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Are you alright, Squall?"
"He's breathing." Quistis started checking for broken bones. "He seems to be alright."
"Oh man, Squall. I didn't mean to do it!" Zell grabbed Squall's boot, dragging him closer, then grabbed his jacket, pulling him up into a remorseful hug. Squall snapped his eyes open quickly.
"Zell, let go of me or somebody will get hurt."
"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Zell hugged Squall again in enthusiastic relief. Seifer came to the commander's rescue by grabbing Zell's collar and yanking him away from Squall. Squall sat up, pulling his knees up and draping his arms over them sullenly.
Selphie bent down and ruffled Squall's hair. "That was the coolest wipeout I've ever seen." Squall looked slowly up at her and pushed her hand away, then got on one knee and worked at standing up again. Five pairs of eyes watched him with anxious encouragement. Seifer just smirked and put his arms around Selphie's waist from behind. Why did they have to make it worse by watching him? He kept his eyes on the painted advertisement on the boards in front of him. Cloud's Surf And Skate Design. Great, with his luck someone would notice and suggest surfing for their next adventure. He squared his shoulders as he managed to get upright, then looked down at his skates, which had decided of their own accord to start drifting in opposite directions. He looked back to the gate longingly, an impossible thirty feet away.
"Way ta go, Squall!" Irvine grinned and clapped Squall on the back, sending him reeling into Rinoa, who grabbed him, doing a bit of footwork to keep them up. Irvine rubbed his hands together. "'Scuze me a minute, but I'm gonna steal your girlfriend, Seif."
"The hell you are." Seifer dropped his chin on the top of Selphie's head, hugging her possessively.
"But she's the only one who knows how ta do jumps!" Irvine pouted slightly.
"Yeah, and I know why you got into pairs skating, remember?"
Selphie giggled, pushing away from Seifer gently and taking Irvine's hand. "Don't worry, Seify. He does anything out of bounds and Quisty'll break his neck before you even get to him."
"That's right." Quistis winked and gave Irvine a kiss. "Okay, you two, show us what you can do."
Squall sighed with relief that the attention was off him as everyone watched Irvine and Selphie skate together, twisting to skate backwards, Irvine watching Selphie's skates to adjust his stride to them.
"Double double?" Irvine grinned as Selphie gave a nod over her shoulder. Irvine cut to the diagonal, Selphie following. "Okay, three.. two.. one.." Both spun and kicked off, spinning two and a half times, landing on their off feet, then springing up immediately from the double axel into a double toe loop, arms out to the sides, palms up as they landed, their timing that of a team that had been skating together for years. Even Squall let go of Rinoa to join the applause.
"They ought to go into competition." Rinoa glided back a bit to wrap an arm around Squall, making it seem just a gesture of affection although he knew it was to make sure he didn't fall again. He looked over to her, glad she was helping him hide his awkwardness.
"They'd need a coach. And a choreographer." Quistis tilted her head, eyes on the two as they circled around each other, Irvine dropping to a crouch, one leg horizontal to the ice in front of him, his hands on Selphie's waist as she bent over, kicking one leg up behind her. "They're both good, though."
"Oh, I could choreograph a program for them!" Rinoa clapped her hands together, eyes lighting up. Great, thought Squall. They don't stand a chance of backing out now that she's got the idea in her head.
"Xu used to be a champion skater, I bet she'd coach them!" Zell was getting into it as deeply as Rinoa.
"It'd be a great morale booster for the Garden." Squall looked at Seifer in surprise. He was in favor of the idea as well?
"They'd need plenty of time off to practice." Quistis looked over to Squall. "What do you think?"
Squall looked at all of them. What, it was up to him? Didn't Irvine and Selphie get a say in their future athletic career? "... Whatever." Personally, he thought it would only last until Selphie managed to trip and put Irvine in the hospital.
"Great, it's settled then. Are we gonna skate or what?" Seifer pushed off, turning to cast another smirk at Squall as he skated backwards.
Squall groaned inwardly. He knew that Seifer had only learned to skate a couple of months ago himself, but he'd already gotten several lessons from Selphie. Now he was going to thoroughly enjoy Squall's suffering. Well, if Seifer could do it, he'd do it as well. He wasn't going to let Seifer get away with gloating. His eyes narrowed as Seifer held his hand out mockingly, fingers beckoning for Squall to go ahead and give it a try. Squall reached down to take Rinoa's hand and pushed off. How hard could it be? Rinoa blinked, but hurried to keep up with him and provide support.
"Oh wonderful." Quistis sighed. "Here we go again."
Zell leaned against her, shaking his head. "Well, what else did you expect was gonna happen?"
"You have a point. I just hope they don't realize the weaponry value of hockey skates."
Squall furrowed his brow, trying to get the hang of keeping his momentum going forward. He knocked against Rinoa, but she was ready for it and just gently pushed him back in line. Seifer snickered, hands in pockets as he leaned to the side, back crossovers steering him around the corner of the rink. "You skate about as well as you dance, Commander."
Rinoa scrunched up her nose. "He's doing just fine, Seifer." She pulled Squall with her through the turn. He let go of her hand, glaring at Seifer as they approached the next corner.
Seifer laughed. "Going solo already, huh?" He crossed his right foot behind his left and made the turn in three smooth strides.
"Whatever." Squall picked up his left foot and dropped it over his right, almost smiling as he started changing direction.
Seifer leaned forward, beckoning him on. "C'mon, slowpoke, you can make it." Rinoa bit her lip, skating a bit behind Squall and keeping an eye on him.
Squall put his hand out and pushed himself away from the boards to finish the turn. "I'm keeping pace with you."
"Well, how about we just pick things up a bit?"
Rinoa shook her head at Seifer. "Just let him practice, Seifer."
"I can handle it." Squall put a bit more effort into his pushes.
Seifer snickered, coming back to skate circles around him. "Little faster. You can do it."
"Seifer!" Rinoa cast a pleading look at her ex-boyfriend, but it was ignored. Squall lifted his head to watch Seifer, his jaw clenched. He realized that even Irvine and Selphie had stopped, watching the two perpetual rivals worriedly. They thought he was going to blow it, but he had to put Seifer in his place. He leaned his weight forward and started truly skating, pushing off into nearly a sprint. Seifer chuckled and sprinted next to him. Squall cast an angry glare to his subordinate.
"Squall! Boards!" Squall looked forward again at Rinoa's warning, but it was too late. From the corner of his eye he saw Seifer throw his weight back, twisting his skates to send up a shower of shaved ice as he stopped. Squall had no time to do anything and hit the boards with full force, his momentum carrying him completely over them, flipping him in the air. He landed on his shoulder and back on hard concrete, the blow dazing him. He could hear Rinoa and Seifer on the corner of the ice.
"Seifer! Why couldn't you have left him alone?!"
"Hey, he's the one who decided to bite off more than he could chew. Ow!"
"Let go of my wrist, meanie!"
"Don't hit me, then."
"Alright, you two, break it up." Quistis had arrived to keep Seifer and Rinoa from getting into it.
Squall saw Irvine climb over the boards and crouch down next to him. "You okay, Squall?"
Squall sighed. "I think I've had enough skating for today." He sat up slowly, Irvine helping him out with a hand behind his shoulder. Squall shook his head, trying to clear it.
"You need a healin' spell?" Irvine checked Squall over for injuries.
Squall pulled away from him slightly. "I'm fine. I just.. should get back to the Garden. I've got a lot of work to do."
"You're supposed ta be havin' some fun."
Squall looked at his best friend without speaking for several moments. ".... Does this look like fun to you?" He let Irvine help him up to his feet, then started limping for the locker room. "I'm going home."
When he got back to the Garden he snuck some ibuprofen from the infirmary, his head pounding. Why did his friends insist on forcing him into these things? Squall knew they just didn't want to see him turning into a workaholic, but he liked his job. He hadn't asked for this responsibility, but now that he had it he wasn't about to let Headmaster Cid down. He made his way into the elevator, hitting the button for the command level on the third floor, then leaned against the back of the car, rubbing his sore shoulder. The doors glided open and he walked out, refusing to limp as he crossed the foyer to his door.
"Commander?" Squall stopped, glancing over his shoulder to Katia, the receptionist he and Cid shared. She smiled a bit. "There's a letter on your desk for you from President Loire."
Squall nodded and walked into his office. Great. Laguna the lamebrain. He still didn't get how an airhead like that could run an advanced country like Esthar. He had to be a figurehead with his assistant Kiros making all the decisions. A former soldier, journalist, and movie star, Laguna had a ton of charisma, but Squall had been inside his head and in his opinion, Laguna was an idiot.
He sat down at his desk and looked at the letter. What did Laguna want now? Galbadia, the major aggressor against Esthar, was still licking its wounds from its last attempt at invasion. He picked up the envelope. It didn't have the official presidential seal on it. It was just a plain stationery envelope with a handwritten address. Laguna Loire, President's Palace, Esthar. He didn't even put his title before his name. His curiosity piqued, Squall opened it up and took out the handwritten page inside.
