Thanks very much to the few people who have reviewed this, I appreciate it very much. This is the last chapter, you may be pleased to note, and though I don't like it much (it smacks too much of the 'easy finish') this is what I have been intending to write, seven chapters of opening up.

I dedicate this fic to my sisters, Lisa and Spam, er, I mean Sam, for getting me unstuck and for being general fun.

Tomorrow, or, noticing the time, later today, I'll start work on my new FF8 fic. It's going to be 30,000 words long, and Seifer/Squall, so if you want a long read (and hopefully finished within the month, anyway), well, look out for me. The idea is tentatively titled 'Jumping to Conclusions', but that may or may not stick.

Anyway, sorry for the long author's notes! I'll stop boring you all now, and just tell you to enjoy. :)


Zell was quite surprised when I came and sat next to him, without any coaxing or suggestion from him or any of the others. Actually, they all looked at me in some surprise.

"Hey, Squall," Selphie said, perhaps a little cautiously. "I thought you preferred sitting on your own?"

I shrugged. There's no point in going into the fact that I'm actually trying to open up to them a little. Trying is trying, not necessarily doing, and to be honest, while I do want to know more about them and have them know more about me, opening up to people who don't understand me in the way Seifer does is still daunting.

Speak of the devil.

"Budge up, Princess," he says, nudging me with his knee, and I move up, giving him a glare for the hated nickname.

"Princess?" someone wonders, Zell, I think, and I turn up the wattage of my glare. I've said this before, but damn him. He never knows when to shut up.

He just grins, of course, never daunted one bit. "You forgot this." He adds the glass of juice to my tray, giving me a more honest smile, and sliding his own tray onto the table next to mine, sliding into the seat with a soft 'oof' sound. "These fucking chairs are too flimsy, I swear."

"Maybe you're getting fat."

He gives me a look. "Right, you're asking for it now, Princess."

Quistis arches an eyebrow, giving us both a rather searching look, "Since when were you two best friends?"

Seifer leans back in his chair with an entirely too satisfied look on his face. "Who says we're best friends?"

Irvine smiles, lazy, and waves a hand at Quistis, "You know better than to ask, Quisty, Squall won't ever tell us and Seifer is, well, himself."

That hurt, Irvine. I know I'm closed off, but…

Well, I guess I would hide things from them. Would hide this from them, if Seifer wasn't currently sticking a finger into my side in encouragement to open my mouth and speak my mind.

"Actually, if it's that important to know…" I trail off, trying to find the words, grasping at straws.

Selphie makes it easier, "You're not fighting anymore, are you?"

"No… we're… together," and the rush of heat to my cheeks tells me that I'm blushing. Damnable reflex, why were humans ever born with it?

Seifer chuckles, but I elbow him before a comment about how Princess-like I am can come out. Honestly, I hate this man sometimes. Well, I would, if I didn't… you know.

"Awww!" Selphie grins, reaching over to ruffle my hair, "You told us!"

I told them? That's more important than the fact that we're actually together?

I really don't understand this group of people, my… my friends, I guess, more than team members or whatever, and certainly not just people I order around. I'm a part of this group, but I don't understand why I am, or why they actually want me to be a part.

Maybe it is time I took that chance, too.

It really is Seifer's fault that I'm thinking like this.

"Why shouldn't I tell you?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"You never tell us anything!" Zell says, crossing his arms.

I shrug, trying to tell myself that I can change that. I know I can, but the way they react sometimes… it scares me. I need to be out of reach, invulnerable… untouchable…

Seifer pokes my arm. "Drink your damn juice, already, and let's go."

He has an uncanny way of knowing when I'm second guessing myself.

Quistis smiles at me, her cool humour easier for me to deal with than Selphie's exuberance or Zell's energy. "Don't get lost in a supply closet on your way to the office, Squall."

"I'll try not to," I say dryly.

Seifer gives her a pathetic look, "Oh, Quisty, how could you? I was looking forward to making him late for work."

I refuse to contemplate the slow wink that Irvine sends Seifer.

It's better than I thought to know that these people will stand by me. I don't need to let them all the way in, but I do want to know them. I'm not sure I want to know what they all think of me, and I still feel vulnerable, now that I've opened up just a little.

But like recovering from an operation that cut a person open, it's little by little, step by step. Them knowing about my relationship with Seifer today, joking and laughing and teasing a little, and maybe tomorrow I'll actually talk to one of them about it, not laughing.

I don't know. I feel damned uncomfortable about some of this, and it's all Seifer's fault. He's always been good at unshelling me, opening me up, and leaving me vulnerable to anything and everything that wants to get in.

This time, I don't mind so much. I think that if I don't open up, it'd be worse. Maybe it will be good to have friends I can talk to instead of myself. People I can go to, as well as people who can hurt me.

Before, I was on a pedestal, simply because I held myself apart from them. Now I've made myself a part. Maybe that's less vulnerable than the way I was, protected by them now instead of by my own shell.

Vulnerable, a little more open, and no longer untouchable.

Seifer squeezes my hand gently.