Words: 2327

Disclaimer: I do not own anything FFVIII nor New Girl related.

"So, Sel!" Irvine said as he laid back in the sofa, stretching and placing his arms on the back rest. "A model, huh?"

She sat on their otto man, her hair brown and straight with her bangs covering her forehead. She sat straight, eyeing the three males that now sat in front of her, the brunette sighing as he leaned back into the sofa, the other two with examining her every move. Her big eyes went from Squall, to Irvine, to Seifer and back to Irvine and she decided to cut the silence, "Listen here, Rin is one of the best people I know… If you ever do anything to make her cry, I swear that I will come into this penthouse and skin you dead," She said as she leaned forward, crossing her arms over her knees, "Got it?"

Seifer relaxed and threw his arms up, "Got it." He said as he took a deep breath.

Irvine just smirked, "I have no clue of what you just said, sorry. Just trying to sear your face into my brain."

Selphie rolled her eyes, "Rin! What's taking so long?!" She yelled as she got up and started walking towards her friend's bedroom just to find her staring at herself in the mirror, wearing overalls and pumps with a tiny black bra. "Just… what in the name of Hyne are you wearing?" Selphie asked as she wrinkled her nose.

"Oh, Sel, didn't see you there." Rinoa smiled sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

"You're not wearing that to your date," Selphie finished as Rinoa looked at her questioningly, "I won't let you go to your first date dressed like that." She eyed the mess of dresses Rinoa had laid on her bed, "Not on those either…" She whispered, rubbing her chin. "I know!"

The guys sat in the living room, talking about this party that they were going to and about what they'd dress up, in Squall's case about what he wouldn't dress up as. Irvine rolled his eyes as Seifer kept on teasing him about how he liked to ruin things for people and their bickering got more intense as Selphie stepped out of the hallway wearing Rin's overalls.

She cleared her throat, "Well, gentlemen… I present you the Rin that you may not get to see too often." She smiled as she stepped aside and Rinoa came out dressed on a skin tight, sleeveless black dress and red pumps. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun with curls falling to each side of her face and her bangs perfectly straight.

"Whoa!" Irvine said as he stood up and laughed, clapping his hands and Seifer joined from his corner of the sofa, "Nice! Very nice, Rinoa."

Squall sat down straight, taking swallowing a lump on his throat and nodding at her.

"Thanks, Irvine." She said as she started to do one of her awkward dances.

"I knew it wouldn't last long," Seifer whispered as he took a sip from his beer.

"I'm going to text him, let him know that I'm on my way," she said looking at her phone and typing away.

Squall leaned back into the sofa again, "You've been texting him?" He asked as Rinoa nodded and he remained silent for a second before saying, "Nice. Have fun." He said smiling at her, as the girl just smiled back at him and headed for the door. "Alright guys, time for us to head out as well." He finished and with a grunt was standing off the couch and stretching.

They walked about two blocks away from the house to the party, the line was ridiculous and on the way down he had missed count of how many girls had turned Irvine down. Truth is that life without these two would, definitely, be boring, as crazy as they may drive him.

"Seifer, what are you dressed up as anyway?" Irvine asked as he came to a stop and Squall continued walking to the head of the line, looking to the inside of the party as the bouncer nodded at him.

"Is Xu here?" He asked the bouncer as the bouncer pointed his chin at him, "She's supposed to be her-" He heard that voice calling out his name again and he felt his body freeze. "Th-Thanks man, I- I think I found her." Squall stuttered as he turned around to face his ex girlfriend, "Hey- uh, hi there!" He waved at her as he couldn't bring himself to look at her eyes.

Seifer and Irvine were just staring, dumbfounded and waiting to see how he would handle seeing her after 6 months of no contact from her part.

"Thank you for getting us in to the party," He said to her as he scratched the back of his head, "You know how Irvine is."

She smiled at him, "No problem… I thought that maybe now you can stop drunk dialing and leaving messages," She giggled and Squall flushed, staying silent, "Don't worry about it. I was just kidding." The brunette said trying to make him feel comfortable to no avail. "How about we have a drink?" She asked him as he looked at her. "Catch up, for friendship's sake?"

Squall stared at her brown eyes and smiled, "S-sure! For friendship's sake." He muttered the last words of the sentence as Seifer sighed and shook his head in irritation.

"You look nice!" she told him as he nodded at her.

"Likewise," He replied as he motioned her towards the bar with his head, "Actually, Xu, I would like to ask you something," He said, bringing a hand to the small of her back as she lolled her head to the side. "Why did you break up with me?" He asked.

She stood straight and chuckled, "Really? You're asking this now?" He nods, "Well, I just… You seemed like you just didn't care about the relationship." She said as he took it all in, licking his dry lips and smiling at her.

"Gotcha…" He whispered, "Thanks."

Squall hadn't realized that this was the closure he needed, this is what he had been searching for. Her answer didn't hurt, it didn't hurt him to know why, quite the contrary, it brought him a sense of peace with himself as he pressed his hands against the small of her back, "Well, let's go!" He cheered her on as he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Kineas!" He heard the voice of Irvine's friend, Glenn, the one that they'd run into at the bar yesterday, and with him was Kevin, Rinoa's date. He quirked his eyebrow as he assessed the situation.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Irvine asked looking at Squall and back at Seifer.

Squall bit his tongue, moving past Xu and closer to his friends and the other two males, clearing his throat to make his presence known.

"What's up?" Kevin asked as Seifer stepped next to Squall.

"Where is Rinoa?" Seifer asked.

Kevin chuckled, straying away from Glenn and Irvine who were exchanging thoughts about the girls in costumes that they could see from the door.

"Squall?" Xu wondered as he raised his hand at her, asking her for a minute.

"Well, she'd been texting me all day, trying to get to know me and whatnot, I just want to fuck her, not marry her, geez! Talk about suffocating." Kevin said with a smirk.

Seifer sighed, "Did you at least tell her you weren't going to the restaurant?" The blonde asked.

"Pfft. Yeah righ-" He didn't get to finish the sentence.

Squall's punch had met him right in the mouth, as he fell down to the floor and Squall stood over him menacingly with Seifer by his side, "You asshole."

Kevin spat, "What's your problem, dude?!" He asked as he wiped the blood off his lip and looked at Squall, swallowing hard when he met his cold gaze.

"Sorry, Xu, there's someone that needs me right now." He said as he waved away from Xu, leaving her confused, "Irvine, are you coming?"

Irvine looked at Xu, back at the inside of the party, back at Xu and then back to Squall, "Are you serious, bro?"

"For the last time, Irvine, do not try to make bro happen." Squall said to him as him and Seifer started to walk away, "So, coming or not?" He asked as his pace fastened.

"This can't be happening right now." Irvine muttered, watching as a girl dressed up as a cheer-leader waved at him to come inside and moved to see Squall and Seifer's form getting smaller by the second, "Goddamit!" He whispered as he started to run behind the other two males.

They ran through the streets as small droplets of water fell. Squall could feel the cold sting of the air in his lungs and his thighs aching with each stride he took, but he didn't care, Rinoa was by herself at a restaurant, waiting for another guy who had just hurt her and he couldn't let her deal with that by herself. He, too, knew what loneliness feels like, and it's not something you want to sucumb to, so he ran faster, the strides taking a toll on his shins and he damned the time he decided to stop exercising.

He didn't remember when was the last time he ran, or why he ran. Hell, he couldn't even remember what made him start caring about the well being of his new roommate after just two days of knowing her, but he had to get to the damn restaurant as fast as possible and damn it all if he was going to let the fatigue win this battle.

The waitress came for the sixth time that evening as Rinoa looked up with an apologetic glance, "Do you think I could just get one more glass of water? I'm sure he'll be here soon," She finished as the waitressed smiled at her.

"Sorry, but we need the table," She finished and just then she was interrupted by the heavy breathing of a brunette that now leaned on one of the chairs.

"S-Sorry we're late," Squall said between breaths as Seifer stood next to him, bringing his arms to his waist and taking deep breaths, "We're her dates." Squall said, standing up straight and taking short breaths, his eyes never leaving Rinoa's.

Irvine ran inside, standing next to the server, "Could you, please!, bring me some water!" He begged as he sat down on one of the chairs, "I feel like I just ran a marathon."

Rinoa could feel tears welling in her eyes as she smiled at them, "What are you doing here?" She asked letting some tears fall.

"That guy was an asshole," Seifer said as Squall nodded.

"Couldn't agree more," Irvine said from his chair, "Where's the water!?" He screamed in frustration, "Goddamit, Seifer, what are you training me for? Even Squall is in a better shape than I right now!"

Rinoa chuckled as she eyed her roommates, "You guys ditched a party for me?" She said in between sobs.

"Yes, and oh the many hot girls I could've gone home with! This is a sacrifice you know?" Irvine said as he reached for her glass of water, "You better not be leaving a tip for this waitress." Rinoa chuckled.

"You guys did that for me?"

Squall smiled at her again, "Yeah, I- We like you," He caught himself before he said something he could regret later on, "We- we care about you." He finished as she dropped her face into her hands and continued crying, "Whoa, whoa… Umm… Could you, could you not cry in front of everyone here?" He whispered as Rinoa looked up. "Stop, stop it please." He continued whispering.

"Rinoa, stop…" Seifer whispered as Irvine just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "STOP IT!" He yelled, but Rinoa just kept on going.

"If you stop crying… I promise to take you home so we can watch Dirty Dancing again. I'll even sing with you." Squall said as Rinoa immediately stopped her crying and looked up, making Squall regret the moment he decided to make such a stupid promise.

The four of them sat on the couch, Squall to the far right corner, next to him Rinoa cuddled up to Irvine and by the other end Seifer drinking his beer as they all watched the tv in silence, the last scene of the movie coming up.

"You know, Rinoa, this movie is actually pretty good," Squall said as Rinoa nodded.

"Thank you for tonight, she said looking at Squall and smiling at him.

"Rinoa, I know you've had a rough patch," Irvine said, his eyes not leaving the tv as Rinoa looked up to him, "But just so you know, and this is coming from me, not any of the other males in this room, but solely me…" He sighed, "No matter what, whenever you need me… I would totally do you." He said as Rinoa just smiled at him and cuddled up closer to him.

"That's so nice of you, Irvine!" Rinoa said with a smile.

"I know, right?" He beamed.

"Seifer!" Rinoa called and last thing Irvine knows he was being slapped in the back of the head.

"You're disgusting, Irvine." Squall muttered as he took a sip of his beer.

"Couldn't agree more," Rinoa said as she scooted closer to Squall, who had brought his arm around her shoulder.

Irvine whined and complained about the smack that Seifer had given him as the four of them continued talking about what a great night it had been and Irvine went to describe, into full details, the things he would've done with each girl he could've taken home and Squall complained about how much more disgusting he could get, as Rinoa closed her eyes and thought to herself how life was so colorless before she met these three men.

A/N: Welp, there's the chemistry that we all know these two have, and there'll be more, and more fluff but nothing major until later chapters... Sorry!

Cheles Noir, Thank you for the lovely comments! They made my day! If you have Netflix you can watch the first and second season of the show; it has definitely become one of my favorite shows.

Thank you, everyone, for reading! See you soon.

VanyT