Enjoy ;)
Calm
Rinoa slid Squall's arm from across her waist, rolled over him and off the bed, while the brunette let out a heartfelt yawn. Taking his brown shirt off the floor, she popped it through her head and slipped on her blue tartan shorts.
"Do you want something to eat before you shower?" She asked while brushing her fingers through her hair.
"Yeah." He replied whilst still lying on the bed.
"I'll make you a sandwich, c'mon." She said and led the way downstairs.
Once in the kitchen Rinoa took our all the necessary items, bread, salami, lettuce, cucumber, mayo, mustard, ketchup. Squall walked in shirtless and took a seat on the breakfast bar watching Rinoa at work.
It wasn't a difficult task to make a sandwich, but it was while she was trying to squirt the ketchup out that the red sauce wasn't giving way. Using her force she pressed the plastic bottle hard, squirting an enormous amount of ketchup onto the bread and splattering quite a bit on her t-shirt.
She looked at the brunette sheepishly.
"Sorry, I got all over your shirt." She apologetically confessed. "I'll wash it."
Squall merely sighed and nodded his head.
Squall was busy working in the office sorting out the financial proposal forms for the recent Garden extension Cid was requesting. A phone call startled him out of his deep thoughts and he picked up the receiver after the second ring.
"Hello." He spoke deeply.
"Squall?" Rinoa's sweet voice came through the other end.
"What's up, Rin?" He asked.
"Oh er, well you know how you said I could borrow your car?" She answered receiving a confirmatory grunt from him. "Well, I was driving down the town and I parked on the slope outside the hotel because there were no other parking spaces but the road is downhill and I kinda forgot that you said to lock the wheels and because it was downhill it kinda started rolling and then well I didn't realise until a man pointed it out but by then it was too late and it sorta kinda hit a street lamp."
Squall sighed heavily before replying.
"Were you hurt?" He asked.
"No, I wasn't in the car." Her voice came back sympathetic.
"I'll be there in a bit." He replied before putting down the phone.
"Ah Squall!" Rinoa quickly tried getting his attention.
"Hm?" He asked putting the receiver back to his ear.
"Er, after it hit the street lamp, the car was stationary. But then this van was following down the same road and… the back got a bit totalled." She whined.
Squall just sighed.
"Squall, your jacket is a bit dusty." Rinoa said inspecting the fur collar of Squall's black leather jacket as small pieces of flint wood and saw dust fell to the floor.
"Yeah, the last mission required some heavy labouring." Squall explained rolling his eyes.
"I'll give it clean." Rinoa offered taking Squall's jacket into the laundry room.
"It's alright, Rin. I'll take it to the dry cleaners." He answered absentmindedly as he flipped through the TV channels.
"I don't mind doing it, sweetie." Rinoa said cutely.
Half an hour later and Rinoa unloaded the washing, getting a sick feeling in her gut instantly.
"Oh crap!" She whispered loudly.
"What's wrong?" Squall asked from the couch.
"Oh Squall." She moaned while holding up his black jacket now damp with soap water with half the fur completely shredded off. "I think I put it in the wrong setting."
Squall bit his lip, remaining calm and sighed.
"I'm sorry." Rinoa pouted apologetically.
"It's fine. I've meaning to chuck it out." He lied to make her feel better.
She smiled back at him sweetly and walked over to plop a kiss on his cheek.
Squall returned to the TV, taking a deep breath and sighing. It was his favourite article of clothing and she'd just made mince meat of the collar.
"Oh no." Rinoa groaned holding up her red bra and several of Squall's now pink shirts.
"What you doing, Squall?" Rinoa asked sweetly. Pop.
She walked behind him as he sat on his computer chair and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Paper work." Squall replied to Rinoa as she kissed the back of his head.
"How boring." She answered following by a loud pop. "You want some bubblegum?" She asked.
"No, I'm ok." He replied with amusement.
He hadn't had bubblegum since is was kid. But the smell of the sweet strawberry was salivating his mouth with a sweet tangy taste. Not to mention Rinoa's constant bubble popping was distracting him from his work.
She tightened her grip on him and leant in a bit forward, trying to peek a look over the top of his head.
"So, what's the paper work about?" She asked making conversation.
"It's a proposal for the shareholders, building an extension for Garden." He answered.
Pop.
"Cool, what are you thinking of adding into Garden?" Rinoa chewed loudly.
"Cid reckons a gym would be a good asset along with the training centre. He also wants a bigger cafeteria to accommodate the increasing numbers of students that will be attending in the up coming year." He replied while scribbling small notes at the corners of the each page.
"A gym would be good." Pop. "You could make extra money by letting outside people use the facilities." Pop. Rinoa suggested her chin vibrating on Squall's head.
"No, the facilities at Garden are solely for students and SeeDs." Squall explained.
"Yeah but-Oh!" Rinoa cried.
"What?" Squall turned his head to look at the raven head.
"No Squall, don't move." She cried again trying to pull his head back.
"Why?" He asked moving his head away from her.
"I just… got gum… on your hair." She cheekily answered moving her hand and trying to tug it out.
Squall sighed, got up off his chair and walked to the bathroom.
Ten minutes later and a handful of gelled down hair, the newly cut lock stuck up high on Squall's head.
"You can hardly notice it." Rinoa tried being sympathetic while pressing down on her lips.
"Rinoa you'd have to be blind not to notice this." Squall replied slightly annoyed.
"I'm sorry." Rinoa said sweetly putting a hand to Squall's back guiltily.
"It's fine." He sighed.
"Wow, you're really calm, I'd go nuts if someone dropped gum into my hair." Rinoa truthfully spoke.
"Not the end of the world." He retorted and looked away from the mirror.
"No it's not. But it's still something to get upset about. But you're so calm." She said quite astonished.
In fact Squall had been calm through ever little misdemeanour and slip up Rinoa had made.
"I'm a calm person." He replied looking at her seriously. "It'd take an apocalypse to freak me out."
Rinoa giggled at that, hugging him and then trying feeble attemps to keep the pointed lock of Squall's hair down.
"Squall… Squall… Squaaall!" Rinoa cried from the bathroom.
"Yeah!" Squall yelled back from the bedroom.
"Where'd you put my shampoo?" She asked while looking through the bathroom cabinet.
"In the cabinet." He replied.
"It's not here." She moaned.
"Look on the top shelf." He said while dressing himself.
"No, it's not here." She called back.
"Rinoa, I just saw a bottle on the top."
"Well it's not here now." She whined.
He grunted and quickly pulled his shirt on. They'd slept in. Well they hadn't, but that was to be their excuse. But if they didn't get a move on then they'd be very late for Squall's presentation and the excuse would be hardly believable.
"Rinoa, I know its on the top shelf, I just saw it. A complete full bottle." He replied while grabbing his socks and walking towards the bathroom.
"Where?" Rinoa asked as he walked in and pointed to the open cabinet.
"There!" He said and took down the pink bottle.
"Squall you idiot, that's conditioner I already saw that!" She moaned. "Where's the other bottle!" She asked her eyes wide, agitation growing.
"Oh, that I chucked it out." He answered while looking at the conditioner bottle with interest.
"Why!" She screamed at him.
"It was finished. I used the last bit." He replied in defence.
"Argh!" Rinoa sighed. "What am I suppose to use now?" She cried folding her arms expectantly.
"Just use this, we're going to be late." He said and handed her the bottle.
"No that's conditioner, you cant use that to wash your hair!" She retorted and pushed his hand back.
"We're going to be late." Squall warned her.
"I can't go to the presentation with my hair all sweaty!" She cried.
"Ah, just use this." He tried handing her the conditioner bottle again but failed.
"That's conditioner!" She yelled.
"Rinoa it doesn't matter, we're going to be late just use it."
"No! You used my shampoo and now I don't have anything to clean my hair with. You always do this, use my stuff and don't replace it. I'm not going!" She huffed and walked back to the bedroom.
Squall tightened the grip on the conditioner bottle and sighed.
"Rin, please!" He begged walking back in. "You have to come."
"Squall, I'm not even clean." She whined.
"No one will notice." He tried reassuring her.
"Yes, they will." She whined again and pulled her legs up on the bed.
Sighing Squall lowered himself to her and looked into her brown orbs.
"Please Rin, I can't do this without you, I need you there to be my pillar of support. No one else makes me feel calm, I don't think I can speak in front of so many people without knowing you're there to make it easy." He said with earnestness.
"Aww, Squall." She said putting a hand on his cheek her face melting into a smile.
"So you'll come?" He asked with pleading and hopeful eyes.
"Sure I'll come." She said pecking him on the lips and hurrying into the bathroom with the conditioner in hand.
"Sucker." Squall chuckled to himself.
"What was that?" Rinoa asked.
"Oh, nothing, I-I love you." Squall quickly recovered.
"Aww, I love you too." Rinoa said grinning, taking a step towards him.
"Quickly, we're going to be late." Squall ushered back into the bathroom.
With the door to the bathroom closed, Squall heard the sound of the shower going and Rinoa's gentle humming. He was a very calm person indeed, hardly ever stressed out over something so futile and arbitrary.
It would take an apocalypse to stress Squall out, but Rinoa was sure hurrying up that process.
Yes, there is a difference between shampoo and conditioner.