It happens to all of us, misunderstanding someone's words, actions, sometimes even feelings.

This one-shot is based on misunderstandings that take place between Squall and Rinoa in the first year of their marriage/relationship.

Post-game, takes place before Salt and Lazy.

Misunderstandings

It was quarter to nine in the evening when Rinoa parted the kitchen curtains in the newly furbished maisonette she and Squall purchased. Squall was supposed to be home nearly three hours ago but still hadn't returned from Garden. She had tried calling him on his mobile a couple of time but after a couple of rings it would go straight to voicemail. Just as she was about to pick up the phone and dial Garden's number, Squall's keys jingled at the doorway and he stumbled in.

"Where've you been?" Rinoa asked with a frown.

She could hardly see him from how dark it had gotten outside. All she could make out was the silhouette of his body against the yellow street light outside.

"Long story." Squall grumbled as he shut the door and made his way into the house.

Limping his way from the front door Squall headed straight to the kitchen and pulled out a chair. Easing himself gently he sat down and let out a moan.

"What's wrong, Squally?" Rinoa asked sensing that something was wrong with his leg.

"Please don't call me Squally." Squall answered.

She had picked up the name a couple of weeks ago, a pet name for him as Selphie had for Irvine. He was supposed to talk to her about it but kept forgetting.

Rinoa sensed some annoyance from the brunette and immediately became irritated.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked insincerely.

Squall merely looked at her in surprise, it was unusual for her to front such coldness.

"Nothing." He said defensively.

She remained silent while his eyes continued looking at her questioningly. He was wondering why she wasn't all over him asking to see what happened to his leg or smothering him with kisses and comforting hugs.

Not able to take the silence and heavily desiring the need to let him know he had upset her, she finally cracked.

"What's wrong with calling you Squally, you call me Rin." She exclaimed folding her arms and refusing to look at him. Her forehead was defined with creases as the irritation grew.

"I just don't like it. And Rin is short for Rinoa." He explained, grunting at the pain penetrating from his knee.

Rinoa was about to reply with a calmer reasoning, but misinterpreting his painful grunt to an annoyed one, only caused her irritation to increase.

"Squall, if I've done something wrong just spit it out!" She replied hotly smacking her arms to her side.

"What?" Squall looked at her.

Not again. He thought to himself, he gathered it must be that time of the month, normally Rinoa was upbeat and hyper, yet nothing about her scowling face showed him that she was in such a mood.

"Tell me what your problem is." She yelled a bit too loud.

"Why are you shouting?" He asked perplexed at her sudden behaviour.

"I'm not!" She squeaked.

Her eyes were wide, she couldn't understand what was going through Squall's head. Nor could she understand why he was being so mean all of a sudden.

"You are, all I said was don't call me Squally and you're going psycho." He explained.

"Don't call me psycho!" She demanded shooting him a glare.

"Well, stop overreacting." He replied and immediately regretted it.

He could see the tears already forming at the corners of her eyes. She pressed her lips together withholding any emotion from passing out. She lifted her head and looked up at the ceiling, it was a trick she had learnt to stop her tears from flowing over.

His heart softened at her sight and he beckoned for her to come over to him. She, being stubborn, refused and continued to stare at the cream coloured ceiling.

"Rinoa, come here." He leaned forward just touching the tips of her fingers and pulled at them.

Giving in, she slowly made her way to him and allowed him to set her on his lap. Minding his knee, he placed her on his right thigh and used his thumb to wipe away one of her tear-stained cheeks.

"What's wrong?" He asked cooingly.

"You're mean." She sobbed not looking him in the eye.

"Rinoa, all I said was not to call me Squally." He could help but chuckle.

"You didn't need to be so mean about it." She sniffed.

"I wasn't. I didn't mean to be anyways." He explained. "I just don't like it, it doesn't suit me."

"Yeah but its not the first time I've called you that. Then you come home today, nearly three hours late, no 'Honey, I'm home', no kisses, you didn't even tell me how pretty I look." She sulked with her head down.

Squall lifted her head and forced her to look him in the eyes. He had noticed the short red satin dress she was wearing, the gold jewellery adorning her neck and ears, the seductive way her hair was pinned back and the sweet scent of the perfume that he had given her.

"You look beautiful." He said to her and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Thank you." She replied automatically while playing with the buttons on his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Rin. I didn't mean to be late and I didn't mean to be rude either." He further explained. "I'm actually in a lot of pain right now, so that's why I probably seem so grumpy, and which is why I was so late."

Remembering him limping in only a couple of minutes ago, Rinoa looked down to Squall's other knee spread far away from her.

"Well I was going to ask why you were limping but I got distracted. What happened?" She asked, her tears and irritation now all but vanished.

"Dislocated my knee." He said blandly.

"Aww, how'd you do that?"

"How else would it happen? Training Centre." He replied. "I was fighting a T-Rex, just finishing a limit break. I landed a jump kick wrong, and the way I had my leg plus the force of me coming down, plus me being off balance equals pain."

"Serves you right." She couldn't help but comment. She giggled when he looked at her in disbelief and so kissed him lightly on his cheek for compensation.

"I am sorry Rin, for making you cry; it wasn't my intention. I'm just grumpy and in pain and I was meaning to tell you before about the whole name thing but I kind of always forgot." He said hoping she wasn't too injured.

He hadn't realised just how sensitive she was, it seemed that recently it only took a wrong blink of an eye to send her bawling like a baby.

"It's ok. But next time, just tell me nicely if you don't like something I'm doing." She answered still fiddling with his buttons. "I can't always tell if you're upset with me."

"Why would I be upset with you?" He asked curiously, it humoured him, she'd be one of the last people he'd ever be upset with.

"I don't know, I hardly see you these days now that we're not living in Garden. You come home late most of the time and don't always seem sociable." She explained.

"Well, I did say you were welcome to come and join me at Garden-"

"Squall. You know I don't agree with SeeD."

"Ok, forget that then. But Rin," He amusingly smiled at her, "I never get upset with you, so don't worry about that. Unless I literally tell you to go talk to a wall or continuously reply with 'whatever', don't ever think you've done something wrong."

Rinoa sniffed and looked at his steel blue eyes, drowing in their beauty. She smiled brightly at him.

"Ok." She agreed, her mood instantly melting into the softness of his voice.

That's all it took really, some tender loving care from Squall and Rinoa's fragile heart was instantly mended.

"I should get your dinner ready." She informed him about to get off his lap when he held her down.

"Its kind of late now." He smirked at her. "Why don't we jump straight to dessert?" He winked.

Even though he apologised, I personally believe Squall was in the wrong. Rinoa didn't overreact, she rules. ^^ Lol, I'm only joking.