DISCLAIMER: Still not mine, never will be. Damn.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, obviously I decided to continue this "weather" type collection of short stories. This particular one was inspired by the rain. We've had rain. A lot of rain. For the past five days. I swear, if we weren't in the foothills we'd be flooded. And no thunder or lightening either, at least not that I've heard or seen. Soooooo, considering I'd had an image in my mind anyway - and Taming isn't up to actual Squffieness yet - I decided to do another one of these, and I'll do more in the future. If you have any weather types you'd like to see me use, go ahead and suggest 'em, otherwise I'll probably still be trying to decided until I get fed up with the weather here again.
I do like this type of rain - it's awfully soothing to fall asleep to the sound of a shower when you're nice and warm. Being out in it, however, is a different story, so I took that idea and ran with it. An alternate ending to "Gusts," the one I talked about with Cid getting hit in the head with a flashlight, is up on my livejournal as well: www . livejournal . com / users / tairako (copy, paste, delete spaces). Hope you enjoy.
(Soundtrack: "Geek in the Pink," by Jason Mraz, from the CD Mr. A-Z.)
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"Well… this sucks."
The statement summed up the situation nicely. All they'd wanted was some time to themselves, something that was in very short supply when surround by others as constantly as they were. So it made a lot of sense to steal off before the others were awake for a drive up into the mountains, a place where people hardly ever went at any time, much less in early spring. But March was living up to its reputation: no sooner had they set foot outside the truck then the downpour began, sending them scrambling for cover once more and ruining all plans of enjoyment.
"It's the forests. It's gotta be the forests. They bring us bad luck and we should just avoid 'em from now on," Yuffie said, leaning her forehead against the chill window and peering up, trying to see if there was any relief coming.
"There's not many other places to go, Yuf," Squall replied, arms draped over the steering wheel and watching out the driver's side window. "Except the shopping centers."
Yuffie shivered violently at that, clearly expressing her opinion on that idea. "No thank you." And she knew he liked those places even less than she did. "Maybe when it gets warm enough we can go to the lake."
"Maybe." Noncommittal at best, but there were so many people there… "Should we just head back, do you think?"
"Hell no." She shifted, pulling back from the window and wrapping her arms around herself, wishing she'd worn more than her windbreaker. "I'd rather sit this out and have at least some private time than go back where we'll be swamped, and you know we will be."
Squall turned a doubtful eye upwards once more. There was no thunder, no lightening, and the sky was that uniform, dull, leaden gray that promised long showers, not brief storms. This wasn't the type of rain to be "sat out;" this was the type to be enjoyed inside, perhaps with a fire and a book and a hot drink if you were a romantic. Which he was not. But she was right; the moment they returned, they were guaranteed to be drafted into doing whatever project Cid and Aerith had planned for the day, and they both just needed a break.
And it wasn't like the were in the same position as last time, being lost and nearly getting hypothermia with no way to find help…
He yanked the keys out of the ignition and stowed them in his coat pocket, settling back against his seat as Yuffie looked at him quizzically. "Let's see how long it takes this to die out, then."
She nodded with a smirk, knowing exactly what he'd been thinking, and then turned around to grab something from the backseat. The truck was a few years old, but large and spacious, big enough to fit all five of them if Yuffie was one of the ones that sat in the second row. The cover was over the truck bed, so it wasn't filling with water from the steady rain. Yuffie straightened up again, holding a thermos she had pulled out of the bag they had brought, that held food they had planned to cook for their lunch, and two plastic cups. "Want some tea?" she asked as she unscrewed the lid.
"Please."
She quickly poured the tea, handing him one of the cups and sealing up the thermos again to keep the warmth in, setting it on the floor next to her feet. It was nice, she decided, to just sit there in the truck with him, nothing electronic screaming at them for attention, no phones, no housemates yelling for help with something or other, the rain beating a soothing staccato on the roof only inches above their heads. It was relaxing. She felt like she could just go to sleep like this and sleep for a week with him next to her and the rain around them.
Well, almost like this. Yuffie moved the thermos so it wouldn't get kicked, and then inched down the truck's seat, glad it didn't have a divider, to Squall. As usual he could tell what she was thinking without her having to say it, and he turned sideways to lean against the door, while she crawled up to lean with her back against his chest. The arm not holding his tea came around her waist in what had become her favorite position, and she nodded slightly as she got comfortable. "This is nice."
"Yeah." He wasn't one to say much, but with her he didn't have to. Yuffie took another drink of her tea, watching the water roll down the windshield with her head on his shoulder, then set her cup down next to the pedals and snuggled into him, stealing his warmth for herself, which he didn't mind.
It was peaceful, and she could have dropped off into sleep right then and there – if Squall's jacket hadn't suddenly erupted with a horribly distorted version of some classic guitar riff, making them both groan. Yuffie quickly reached in the pocket and pulled out the shrieking cell phone, glaring at it as if her gaze alone could set it on fire, then handed it to him with a grumble. "Aerith."
He sighed, glancing at the number himself. "It would be." They had nothing against the flower girl, but she was certainly the one most likely to worry if she woke and found them missing – as she apparently had. Squall hit the talk button and brought the phone to his ear as Yuffie nestled in once again, moving his own cup of tea down to join hers on the floor. "Hello?"
"Leon!" Yuffie could hear their friend clearly over the phone's speaker, and grumbled a little more. "Where on earth are you!"
"Not there, Aerith, and unless there's an emergency we won't be until tonight."
"You two need to come back, we need your help getting furniture up the stairs-"
"Aerith," Yuffie said, tilting her head up to be closer to the microphone, "the world ain't gonna end because we don't haul stuff around for a day or two. Give it a rest, we're taking a break – grab Cloud and take one yourself."
"And please don't call us again," Squall added before Aerith could say anything. "We won't pick up." Without any more preamble, Squall ended the call – and waited, not putting the phone away. Within three seconds, it began to ring again.
Yuffie glanced up at him. "Door?"
He nodded. "Door."
As Squall hit the talk button one more time, Yuffie twisted and reached around him for the handle of the driver's side door. Finding and undoing the latch took only a moment, and it was easy for Squall to toss the phone over his shoulder and out of the truck, Aerith's voice calling their names cut off as Yuffie pulled the door shut once again.
"Much better," she said, with a smirk very like a satisfied cat, as she resettled herself in her position against him.
"Much," he agreed, wrapping both arms around her waist again and resting his head on hers.
The rain continued to stream down as the voice over the cell phone, now lying in a patch of mud, continued to call their names. And they simply continued to ignore it all, stealing a few hours for themselves before going back to the chaos of life.