Disclaimer: I do not own FFVIII

The bathroom was foggy due to the steam, whoever was showering was about to burn their skin off, or so he thought since he could barely handle the thick steam that came from the bathtub. One of his big hands made it to the mirror as he wiped it off and started to brush his teeth as Irvine opened the door and entered the room, taking the other mirror and slicking his short hair back.

"This haircut has to be the best 45 gil I've ever spent," Irvine muttered as he winked at his reflection and stood up next to Squall, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Squall, I need a huge favor from you." He said as Squall just quirked a questioning eyebrow at him, "I need you to call Xu."

Squall slowly bent over and spit out a mouthful of toothpaste, "No." He said calmly as he took a small towel and dried his face, then proceeded to turn off the faucet.

"Come on! She's the only one that can get me into that party at the new club downtown! Pretty please?" He whined as he clasped his hands together and bowed his head.

"No, and that's that."

Irvine sighed and slumped his shoulders, "You're going to have to talk to her eventually," he muttered as Squall shot daggers at him.

"Let's make this very clear, Kineas. I'm not calling my exgirlfriend just so that you can go motorboat some broads at a stupid costume party. Just no." He finished as he crossed his arms and stood in the middle of the gigantic bathroom they all shared.

Irvine bit his lip, "Come on, bro! This party will score me some sweet points with the girls at work and, hopefully, a promotion! This party means the world to me!" the red head begged as Seifer entered the bathroom to finish getting dressed.

The blonde stood in front of the mirror and smirked, "Squall, how hard is it to just talk to her without having to fake a British accent and being drunk?" He asked as Squall noted that if all three males were in the bathroom that could only mean one thing.

A snort was heard and a giggle followed it close by as his eyes traveled from Seifer to Irvine and to the foggy thick glass wall that stood in between them and the shower as Irvine shrugged and Seifer continued with his routine, "Somebody's in here you guys!" He heard her say as Irvine cackled.

"We know, dear!" Irvine called as Squall squinted his eyes at him, "We're leaving in 10 minutes, did you shave your legs?" Irvine asked as Rinoa fell silent, "I'll take that as a no and you should take this as a reminder."

"Ugh, I just did that and I'm done!" She yelled as she poked her head out of the glass, her damp hair falling over the only exposed shoulder, getting back in and coming out covered on her towel.

Squall couldn't take his eyes off her as she walked in between him and Irvine, her back completely exposed as he witnessed little droplets tracing patterns on her ivory skin and for a second he thought he could feel his mouth going dry and he couldn't help but to stare. He didn't know if it had been so long since the last time he bedded someone or if this was her, but it was most likely the fact that there's a pheromone machine in the house and it happened to exude with those of his liking.

"Irvine, while I know that this is an important social event for you, don't you think that you could go somewhere else and find someone as charming as you that would share your unique fetishes and well, maybe, want to make it a reality?" She brought her tiny hand to his shoulder to pat him as she smiled and left the bathroom.

Squall sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I- I think I'd like to kill myself now." He said as he excused himself and went to his room to start getting ready.

Breakline

They sat at one of the tables as Squall walked over with their drinks and handed them to their respective owners, "Water for Seifer, bottled beer for Kineas and… an incredible hulk for the lady."

"This should wind me up!" She said with a grin as the brunette sighed and waved good bye to the table. This was going to be a long night.

Squall's bar was quite nice, nothing too big but neither was it too small. The place wasn't too crowded for a Thursday night. She eyed the place, noticing that he stood behind an oak wood bar, then she eyed the corner, realizing that there was a DJ playing music and farther back there was a room for people to dance. Rinoa had never been to a place that served as both, bar and club before, even though she'd heard it all from the mouth of her models.

She took a long sip from the drink and released a deep breath as she eyed Squall doing his thing behind the bar, talking to customers and being friendly, you'd never think this is the same person that lives with them if you had met him while just at work.

"Hey! Look who it is, Kineas!" The voice snapped her back to reality and she looked around to see two guys walking up to her table and she decided to get up and leave before things got too awkward.

She walked up to the bar and sat in front of Squall, who handed her a plate of chicken wings and fried cheese sticks, "Here you go. Straight to the thighs." He added as he handed her a side dip of ranch and another one of marinara sauce.

"Bless!" She beamed as Squall smirked.

"Why aren't you over there with them?" He asked her as he polished a glass of wine.

She looked up flatly and saw that his eyes were now on the glass he was cleaning, "This is not my thing, you know? I don't know how to hide my awkwardness, haha," she said as his eyes moved to hers.

"Well, I don't think you even try to." He mentioned as his eyes went back to his chore.

She pouted and quirked her eyebrow as he put the glass down and fetched another one so that he could continue his cleaning ritual, "Well, maybe that's why you got dumped." She said as his hands stopped working on the glass and his eyes moved to hers.

"Come again?" He said softly as she shrugged.

"You heard me, maybe that's why you got dumped, for being an ass and me for being weird and awkward," She finished as she grabbed a cheese stick and dumped it on the sauce, bringing it to her mouth and taking a bite from it, "I know, for a fact, that I've never been good at being social." She finished as she giggled, "Hyne! These things are delicious!" She said in a sing sang tone as he chuckled and shook his head and she smiled at him, looking down to her fidgeting fingers, "Sometimes I wonder what could've I done better, you know?" She whispered as he handed her another drink.

"You'll be fine." He mentioned as she looked up.

"What about you?" She asked and he felt his breath catch up with him.

"I think I'll be ok." He finished as he felt the warmth of her fingers creeping into his hand and before he knew it her little hands were covering one of his and he caught himself smiling genuinely for the first time in six months.

Suddenly one of the guys that was talking to Irvine came up and sat down next to her. Squall retracted his hand as he eyed the man - tall, with sharp cheek-bones and a short trimmed haircut, definitely military.

"Hey," he whispered, "What are you drinking?" The man asked Rinoa as Squall started prepping their glasses and Rinoa smiled playfully.

The rest of the night had gone as Irvine said, smooth and it was fun, she came to the bar, walking as she waved good bye to the guy whose name was Kevin.

"I did what little Irvine here told me to do, just nod and agree, giggle and look cute and I scored myself a date! Dinner and then that costume party!" She beamed as she high fived Seifer who proceeded to ruffle her hair and pat her shoulder. "And THAT's how you do it!" She sang as she mocked the raise the roof move.

"You're ridiculous." Squall laughed owning a stare from Irvine and Seifer. "By the way, I texted Xu, we're going to that party."

Irvine's smile lit up as he reached across the bar and kissed Squall straight on the lips, the brunette pushing him away, "Thank you, bro!" he exclaimed as he owned a glare from Squall and a disgusting stare from Rinoa and Seifer.

Rinoa proceeded to sit down next to Irvine as she was handed her third drink of the night and Seifer joined, sitting next to her, "So, you texted your ex, huh?" Rinoa asked with a smile as Squall just nodded.

The walk home hadn't been half as bad, the guys were walking in front of her as she got to admire the streets of Balamb during the night. It was a sight not many got to experience, the smell of salt fresh in the air and the gusts of wind tousling her waves as she took the scenery in. The town was definitely something completely different at night, people could be seen walking down the street, all with smiles plastered on their faces, as if there wasn't a single worry on their minds and playful conversations between friends and amorous exchanges between lovers could be witnessed all over.

Her eyes traveled back to the pack in front of her, seeing how they playfully pushed each other and teased each other yelling names, eventually ending on Seifer and Irvine sandwiching Squall on a side hug as the tall man tried to escape the unwanted affection by stopping and shimming his way out of it, turning around and waiting for her to join the group. Seifer extended his arm, holding his hand out as Rinoa caught it, his fingers locking around her wrist as he pulled her in for a small side hug which Irvine joined. Squall looked at the group as they invited him and he declined and started walking, bringing his hands to his pockets as the group caught up with him and they exchanged jokes and laughed into the echo of the night.

A/N: The development between these two will happen, just not as fast as some of you may want it to! First we will have them go through some peculiar situations and eventually love shall bloom, but for now it'll be mainly friendship development. See you soon!

VanyT