Chapter 4 – Severing ties

A few days had passed since Squall shared his feeling with Rinoa. The Princess of Timber quickly planned to make him see that she was more than wiling to be there for him and still keep her precious Angelo.

The man in question wasn't oblivious to Rinoa's attempts to 'redeem' herself, but he wasn't making it any easier for the girl to approach him. The last few days were spent carefully plotting and he was quite proud of himself. He now had an idea for the one-man play he would put on at the Garden Festival. He was conscious to make sure it was enjoyable so as to not ruin the hyper active girl's show but it still allowed him to have a bit of fun at his friends expense. There ever-increasing worry about me is definitely a plus.

Walking down to the Quad in his black bondage pants and fishnet shirt that had brocade cross on the front, he turned quite a few heads with the daring display of skin. Many of the girls swooned, as they had never seen Squall show so much flesh before. He subtlety ignored them as he approached the mini tornado.

"Hello Selphie."

The girl turned cheekily toward the tall man and did a double take. She was slowly but surely getting used to Squall's new wardrobe, along with the rest of their friends, but that didn't mean it still didn't shock her from time to time. She raised an eyebrow suggestively at him. "Just what kind of show are you thinking of doing? A cabaret perhaps?"

"No, but I did want to talk to you about that."

Her eyes widened in alarm and she immediately began to softly pout incase she needed to pull the teary-eyed-puppy-face. "Hm, what is it? You're not canceling are you?"

"Nothing of the sort. I was wondering if I could go on last. I need to build a rather large set and it would be a hassle have to set it up and take it down."

"Oh well let me see." Sticking two fingers in the corner of her mouth, Selphie whistled loudly. Seconds later Irvine came rushing over holding his black cowboy hat in place. He greeted them both upon approach. "Irvy, could you get me my schedule book?"

The auburn haired SeeD nodded once, before digging into his long trench coat pockets and producing a small black book covered in stickers and handing it to the petite terror.

"Thanks." She quickly thumped through the book and found that there were no real problems with his request. Her hand reached out for a pen and Irvine produced one from his coat and placed it in her hand. She quickly jotted down the minor change in the line up.

"Congratulations Squall you're officially the last act."

Squall gave a brief nod and walked away back toward Garden's main hall. He cruised down the dormitory halls until he came to the door he wanted. He knocked twice and waited. Soon a blonde haired man with intense jade eyes filled his vision.

"Squall? What are you doing here?"

"I need your help."

"You know the deal, you better be able to pay up front for it."

"Whatever."

Pushing his way into the dorm he sat down on the couch and waited for Seifer to take a seat as well. He noted that Seifer looked kind of weird without the gray trench coat on, since he only had on the blue vest and pants and his trademark silver chain.

"So what do you need help with?"

"Building a set for my play."

A feral smirk appeared across Seifer's face. Oh the possibilities for me to humiliate Puberty Boy are priceless if he's doing a play. "What are you going to do Hamlet or Something so you can play the Tragic Hero?"

"I wrote it."

The smirk intensified. Even better, I'll get the Posse to film it. This is too good to be true.

"When and where?"

"Today, which is Wednesday, in about an hour till Friday in the Quad. The show is Saturday at 8:00pm"

"I'm not stupid Leonhart, I know today's date."

Squall just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Okay, I'll meet you there in an hour."

"See you then."

Squall stood up and made his way to the door.

"Hey try not to trip over those pants of yours, I would hate to miss the opportunity of you making a fool of yourself come Saturday."

"Whatever."

Making his way back to his room he wasn't surprised to find Rinoa standing out front waiting for him.

"Squall there you are, I've been looking all over for you."

"Ah…"

She stared hopefully at the black haired SeeD with red tips. "Anyway, I was thinking we could go out to dinner or something, just the two of us."

"I can't I have to work on my set for the play."

She was slightly dejected, but she wasn't ready to give up just yet. "Oh… well how about I help you?"

"I'm fine."

Her voice took on a whiney tone. "Squall you're closing yourself off again, why won't you let me in?"

Sighing in aggravation, he walked past the girl and opened his door to enter his room. I'd rather not have this conversation in the middle of the hallway. Maybe I should leave her out there, no I'll have to start what I finished.

He gestured for her to enter and she ran in and wrapped her arms around his muscular frame.

The things I have to put up with. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her in return.

"Will you come to my play?"

"Of course why?"

Sighing for dramatic effect, he pulled away and turned his back to his girlfriend.

"I wrote it about us."

Rinoa squealed in delight. Her past grievances were forgotten, as she was overcome with immense joy.

Turning his head to look over his shoulder he regarded her with a stoic expression. "Just don't bring him."

Back in the Quad, Seifer had arrived to help Squall with his little project. He wore a simple white t-shirt and black jean shorts. He didn't want to risk getting his usual attire dirty. Fujin and Raijin both tagged along dressed similar to their friend, with black t-shirts and blue jean shorts.

The trio stood around watching a few students run in and out the area. They had to resist the urge to restrain and write up some of the students. After a few minutes Squall appeared at the top of the steps. Fujin and Raijin watched as he made his way down the stairs. They expected him to fall over with the bondage pants on, but he didn't have any problems.

Walking over to the group, he gave them a wave of acknowledgement before leading to a far corner of the room where several blocks of foam and piles of wood laid untouched. Sitting next to that were several cans of paint ranging from brown, black, red and gray.

"So what exactly are we building?"

"I want to use the foam to make five to six trees that are about seven to eight feet tall. However, there's a surprise twist to it." Walking away from the group he returned with rubber hoses and some plastic wrap like material. "I'll explain how to use these later." Picking up piece plywood, he turned back to the assembled group. "We'll use this as the base of the trees and a way to keep them upright. I've all ready made several hollow boulders that can be used to hide the necessary materials to provide extra weight and such."

Moving on he grabbed some novelty candles and balloons shaped like hearts.

"Getting a bit sappy eh Leonhart."

Squall leveled Seifer with a withering glare.

"IGNORE AND CONTINUE."

"I want the balloons filled with a special mixture." Reaching into his pocket he produced a folded piece of paper that he handed to Fujin. That's the recipe, just following it exactly. "Once they're filled, they'll be hung the ceiling over the stage."

"That doesn't sound too complicated ya know."

"NOT TOO DIFFICULT."

"You'll owe us big time, but I'm interesting to see how this alls comes together or fall apart."

Seifer and Squall quickly paired off as well as Fujin and Raijin. The two rivals worked together to set up the trees. While the siblings worked on the hearts and special arrangements for the trees. They all worked in companionable silence.

Of course there was an unspoken challenge between Squall and Seifer to make the most trees before the day was over. At the end of the night, there was only one large foam block left and they reached for it at the same time. Their eyes locked in silent challenge, but Fujin grabbed the block and lunged it away, interrupting them from any impending duals.

"RAGE! HAVE ENOUGH!"

Craning their heads to the left. They were six painted foam trees off to the side drying.

"Looks like you got lucky Puberty Boy, I was just about to seal the victory."

AN: I decided to give everyone two for the price of one today. So enjoy chapters 4 and 5. Woot. Responses in this chapter and normal notes in chapter 5. BTW Chapter 5 is probably one of my favorite chapters in this story. Only second best to… well I'm not telling right now.

Zer0 Touma: I'm glad you don't think Squall is going OOC. I was trying so hard to make him seem believable as Squall/Iroi hybrid while still maintaining the fact that's he Squall Leonhart underneath it all. I hope I'm able to accomplish this in the rest of the fic.

DDR is great, haven't played in a while (fractured my ankle). Though I do enjoy a good game. My favorite is 5th Mix and Extreme. :D! Though I love Guitar Freaks, I just need lots of practice along with Pop N' Music.

FloralBlackMoon : Thank you! I thought long and hard on how to throw Rinoa for a loop. What better character than her lovable Angelo? Plus I'm glad you liked my special brand of humor.
You're right about Quistis and Squall. I can guarantee they have some unique interactions. evil grin

SsKnight: I'm glad you're loving it. McDonalds song cues in her head I'm glad you liked my jokes. BTW, there's plenty more to come.

Chrischi: Thank you. Another problem I tried to tackle was staying true to all of the characters in terms of their interactions and reactions. If it were any other way, they wouldn't be the O Gang.

Achenar: Personally, I'm sometimes attracted to stories that I wouldn't normally read, but something about it just piques the interest and you don't know why. Oh well, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. Thanks for reading.