005. comfort

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Squall picked Rinoa up into his arms from the passenger seat of his car before he shut and locked it. Once he got to the door of their house, he dug the key in its lock as he stepped inside. He gently lay his girlfriend onto the couch in the living room and sat beside her, carefully watching.

Even in such a state, she looked beautiful. She really spoiled him with her dresses. She was wearing a short black dress, a drastic colour change from the previous white one she wore from their first dance almost two and a half years ago. He found that black really suited her in all different types of clothing and he didn't complain at all... since that was all there was to it in his own wardrobe. And of course, Squall wore his signature SeeD uniform as required.

Rinoa was upset throughout the entire party though.

After his talk with Cid, (which admittedly took longer than he would have liked), Squall found Rinoa sitting alone at one of the tables, an empty bottle of champagne next to her. Her head was leaned against the headrest of the chair and at first, he thought she was asleep but when he sat down next to her she was in fact wide awake. It surprised him, because Squall was already fearing for the worst. Whenever Rinoa got herself drunk, she was an absolute mess. She was already cheerful and talkative normally, but being drunk during it all? It was hell on Earth.

However today... something was definitely off. Squall tried his best to initiate a conversation with her but all he'd receive back were quiet murmurs of 'yes' and 'no'. It ended up being awkward the entire time since conversations, especially long ones, were something Squall wasn't really accustomed to let alone even start one. That was always Rinoa's job since she couldn't get enough of him, for a reason he couldn't pinpoint himself even to this day.

He quickly became... uncomfortable.

Because Rinoa looked as if all the life had been sucked out of her.

Rinoa. Being quiet. It scared him, ironically.

And hyne. Squall never felt so lost before.

He felt bad enough that he was late but felt even more bad because he couldn't bear to see Rinoa... like this? He was afraid to say anything out of order so mostly stayed quiet along with her until it was time to go home.

"Rinoa..." Squall gently pushed back some of her hair from her face with his fingers, "Rin?"

Rinoa turned her head from the side to look at him. He contemplated a little but went to ask anyway. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she murmured stubbornly.

He shook his head. "No, it's not nothing. Something's making you upset. I can feel it."

She stayed quiet and Squall waited patiently, knowing she wasn't in the correct state of mind. He learned this from experience.

Time passed and Rinoa slowly sat up, her knees pressing against her chest as she wrapped her arms around her ankles. "Are you happy with me?" she suddenly asked.

Squall stared at her, not sure if he heard correctly. "What?"

Rinoa looked back at him, more solemnly this time. "...Are you?"

"Of course I am," Squall immediately grabbed her hands into his, paranoia seeping into him, "What... What the hell is making you think I'm not?"

"I don't know," she sobbed helplessly and blinked out her tears, "I-I just feel like I'm forcing you-"

"You're not forcing me into anything, Rinoa," he cut her off sternly and gave her hands a soft squeeze, "It was my decision to become your Knight because I want to protect you forever." He watched as Rinoa took a deep breath, her lips quivering when more tears fell down her cheeks. "That's... not what's bothering you though, is it?" Squall whispered.

She nodded, rubbing her eyes as she whined, "People are so mean, Squall..."

Sighing, Squall gently pulled her towards him, "I thought you said they didn't bother you anymore?"

"They don't. It's just..." Rinoa sniffed, "Argh, sorry. I probably look awful right now."

"It's fine," Squall wiped away some of her tears with his thumb, "You'll always look beautiful to me," he smiled before going back onto the subject, "What did they say to you?"

Rinoa wrinkled her nose. "Just, you know…" She then changed her voice into a high pitched mocking tone, "You're only here because the Commander is your boyfriend. You have no reason to be with Garden."

His lips bent into a frown. "Did you catch their faces?"

"No. I don't want you to throw them out, Squall."

"I won't."

"You will!"

"...Probably. But that's Cid's decision. I have no power over that," he said with a disgruntled look, "Rinoa, I'm sorry that this is happening to you and it shouldn't be. I don't know why people think they can just stick their noses wherever they want to, especially about this."

Rinoa rested her head against his chest. "It's okay, Squall. I guess it's just something I need to get used to, I already am actually. I don't think it would have bothered me so much if I didn't drink a lot."

"Yeah… " Squall let out wryly, "Next time I'm not letting you out of my sight when we're near alcohol."

"Hey, I'm not that bad right now!" she pouted at him.

"I know…" he told her, his expression serious, "I just don't like seeing you cry, Rin."

Rinoa smiled at him, her sobs and tears fading away as she rubbed their noses together. "Sorry. I'll try not to worry you too much anymore."

"No, it's okay," he reassured her and left muted kisses against her knuckles, "Just know I'm here if you need to talk about it."

"Does that mean barging into your office whenever I want to?" she joked.

Squall rolled his eyes. "You already do that."

Rinoa leaned closely against his face, her look growing hopeful. "You… don't find it annoying when I do though, right?"

He laughed quietly, pressing their lips together. "No, I don't."