Author's note: this is written for the "FFVIII character week" challenge on Tumblr, dedicated to Laguna Loire! Prompt: La Résistance. Part of the dialogue is taken from the game, with small adjustments here and there.

HEROES OF THE REVOLUTIONS

"Laguna, for the love of Hyne. You want to get to know your son, right?"

Laguna raises his eyes to his friend, looking at him as if he just told him Adel was resurrected. "Of course!" he answers, and he's almost ready to launch into a long tirade about how he wants to do things right when Kiros raises his hand to stop him.

"Then you shouldn't send this letter. You'll scare the kid away for this life and the next too."

Laguna simply watches him, dumbfounded. "You think so?" he says, after a while, crossing his arms and looking pensive. Kiros shakes his head, opening his arms as if words are failing him.

"You wrote we could kill two pigs with a stone and I can tell you all about my adventures, son. This is not how they say it and since your son comes here to kill Elnoyles in our streets I don't think he'll be very much sold on the killing-pigs part."

Laguna still looks deep in though.

"May I add you really shouldn't mention your manly charm and how you'll teach him to woo the ladies if you plan to invite also his girlfriend? The girlfriend who happens to be a Sorceress?"

"…"

"See? Ward agrees."

Laguna shrugs. "You just don't want to admit I have a mean way with words and-"

"Ok, you know what? I'll write the invitation. At least this way the poor kid won't try to get his DNA changed."

"What?"

"…"

"Ward agrees. Again."

"You're just jealous, I tell ya. J-e-l - oh wait, there's an A in there somewhere, right? Lemme try again. J-a-e-l-"

Kiros sighs and turns to go and write an invitation that won't scar Squall for life, and Ward opens his arms, shaking his head.

"Come on, you can't say that," complains Laguna. "I may not know how to spell 'em, but I have a mean way with words."

"…"

"I heard and resent that!"

"Squall, for the love of Hyne. It's just an afternoon! You sure can spend a few hours relaxing with your girlfriend and your father-" and here she dismisses his disapproving grunt with a flick of her dainty hand "-especially after killing Elnoyles on Esthar's streets."

"I'd rather kill more Elnoyles, thank you," he says with a gruff voice, especially when he realizes she is sitting on the reports he's looking for.

"Rather than spending time with me?" she pouts, but her eyes glint with something that tells him she is toying with him. She is having fricking fun teasing him and he truly doesn't understand her.

She is bewildering and dumbfounding and that's probably why he loves her and this is a little scary, to tell the truth.

"Spending time with you specifically or with you and my father?"

"Oh come on, he can't be so bad! He just wants to get to know you. And maybe tell you something about your mother, you know?" She raises her hand to close her fingers around her rings when she mentions his mother, and he sighs, tugging on his report a little so she gets the hint and raises her butt.

"I've been in his head, Rinoa. I heard his thoughts. I-" He stops just before adding There are no words I can use to tell you how jumbled and moronic his thoughts are! He sighs; she isn't getting the hint, and he actually thinks she has planted her butt even more firmly on his documents.

"You heard his past, Squall. Maybe it's time to think about the present."

I really don't think he is less moronic in the present though, but he wisely doesn't say it out loud. Rinoa squints her eyes at him, and for a short, terrifying moment he thinks she may be able to read his mind.

"I think there's something you're not telling me," she says, pointing an accusing finger, and when he sighs in relief because at least she can't read his mind, she adds, "I saw that. Spit it out!"

"Will you let me work on those reports if I do?" he says, pointing at the documents she is sitting on.

"Ok," she chirps, planting her butt more firmly on his desk, just in case. He sighs.

"I'm not…" He closes his eyes, rubbing his scar as if he's trying to find the right words and pull them out of his brain. "…Sociable enough for the kind of person he is," he admits, looking away from her. "And right now he wants to spend time with me because he doesn't know me, but maybe when-" He falls silent.

"You're afraid he won't be willing to spend time with you if he gets to know you more?" she says softly when he doesn't continue.

He tries to shrug as if this isn't the truth and he doesn't really care, but she can understand him, now, even though she doesn't read his mind. She shakes her head, raising from his desk to sit on his lap in a fluid motion he tries unsuccessfully to ignore.

"You're so scared of being yourself," she says softly, touching his cheek with the back of her hand. He closes his eyes, leaning into her touch. "You shouldn't be."

"You're saying this just to convince me," he grunts, and she giggles, taking his nose between her index and middle finger and pulling a little.

"I'm saying this because it's true, silly," she says, leaning down to kiss his nose when he scrunches it. "And now I'll let you work. Don't worry, I'll take care of the invitation."

That is exactly what worries him, though. "Rinoa-"

The door of his office is already closed, though, and he sighs. Better pack some painkillers before leaving for Esthar.

"Come on in, now," says Laguna as he opens the door to his private apartment in the Presidential Palace. "I swear Esthar does tea better than it does fashion."

Squall puts his hand to his forehead, something that he does frequently, Laguna notices. Rinoa, on the other hand, giggles in a very sweet way, pulling her boyfriend's hand so they can sit together on a sofa near the glass wall at the other end of the room.

Laguna watches as his son begrudgingly sits down, while Rinoa kind of… squints at him? He's not really sure. Kiros was so wrong – the boy apparently needs some lessons in manly charm, because his girlfriend doesn't look exactly pleased with him now. He pours some tea into the cups and pushes two of them towards the young couple.

"Thank you for inviting us, Laguna," says Rinoa with a smile, and he grins back, as Squall is rubbing his forehead.

"You look way too serious, Squall," he says finally, watching Rinoa gently nudge his son with her elbow. "Why don't you loosen up a little?"

"Sorry," mumbles Squall, pushing his bangs away from his face. "I'm just a little tired, I guess."

"Yeah, those Elnoyles are no fun at all," says Laguna with a firm nod of his head. "But I want to tell you we are all extremely grateful for your help in getting rid of those nasties. I would do it myself, but Kiros and Ward were not so keen on the idea. I tried to tell them we would kill two pigs with a stone, as they say-"

"What?" says Squall, already reaching the limit of Laguna-babbling he can endure.

"Two pigs with a stone! Killing the monsters and getting some good ol' exercise, ya know?"

"That's… not how they say it," tries Squall, but Rinoa's not-so-gentle-now nudge silences him. He turns to growl a "what?" to her too, but she simply gives him a sweet smile and a homicidal look.

"Yeah, Kiros always tells me that don't say it like that, but I like the pig version more."

Rinoa giggles. "You three seem like a lot of fun, really!"

Laguna smiles a little sheepishly, scratching his neck with his hand. "Yeah, I guess you saw a lot of our adventures thanks to little Elly."

Rinoa shakes her head. "Oh, I didn't! I'd like to hear about them though," she says, turning sharply when Squall tries to nudge her with his elbow, not so subtly and not so gently either. "What? I know you're curious too!"

Squall's eyes widen, but he can't say anything because Laguna is already happily launching head-on into his – obviously embellished – tale of his past adventures.

"Aaaaah, I knew you wanted to know! I bet you've been wondering what the heck has he done with his life all this time. But you are way too serious and didn't want to ask, right? Well, it's a good thing you found yourself this pretty and nice girl! Guess you took that manly charm from me, after all, eh?"

Squall wonders why he let Selphie junction Carbuncle, because it sure would help to summon the guardian force and beg it to please, please, please let him crawl into its black hole. The sheer embarrassment of his father's words – and to be fair, the second-hand embarrassment he's feeling too – is enough to redden his cheeks to an impossible red and hot degree, and he cringes even more when Rinoa gives a little, strangled laugh.

"Oh sure," she says, sounding as if she can't breathe between laughs. "Manly charm… Squall sure has plenty of it."

"That's good!" exclaims Laguna, oblivious of the reason Rinoa is almost crying with laughter. "But…" He turns serious, looking at Squall until his son raises his eyes to meet his gaze. "I just know you must have some questions. And you sure have been wondering what happened, especially after…" He falls silent again, as Squall crosses his arms and looks away. "I… just would like to explain."

"Go ahead," says Squall, looking back at him, now. "I only know what I saw during those dreams Sis sent so…"

"That was… not the entire story, right?"

Squall simply nods. Rinoa, having recovered from her laughter, slowly lets her hand slide on Squall's thigh to subtly hold and squeeze his hand.

"Right. So… what do you think happened, exactly?" asks Laguna, scratching his head again.

"I really don't know. I just know what Ellone showed me. You were a silly Galbadian soldier. I didn't like your attitude at all. But I understood the bond between you, Kiros, and Ward. Then you changed, after you went to Winhill. Then Ellone was abducted by Esthar and you went on a journey. A journey to get Ellone back. You wrote articles and appeared in movies to get by. You were trying to find a way into Esthar. You somehow got into Esthar and rescued Ellone."

Laguna nods. Straight to the point, his kid, eh? He must have taken this from his mother.

"That's what happened, in a very broad outline. I got a lot of help along the way, though."

Squall nods. "I get why you did what you did," he says finally, after pondering over his words as if afraid of using the wrong ones. "I guess what I don't understand is… why are you the president?"

Rinoa nudges him again, and Laguna raises an eyebrow – his son will probably have a sore spot on his ribs at the end of this afternoon. The girl smiles sweetly at him, though, so he waves a hand to dismiss whatever rudeness she thinks his son is projecting. "Can you believe me I really don't understand it either?"

"Oh, I absolutely-"

"No," says Rinoa forcefully, choosing not to nudge this time, opting for another homicidal look instead. "We really can't believe it," she continues, ignoring Squall's grunt. "I'm sure it's such a cool story!"

"Well," starts Laguna, scratching his chin. "I only set out to rescue Ellone. You have to believe that," he adds, with a hint of something in his voice that compels Squall to look at him. His son nods, slowly, a little uncertainly, Laguna thinks, and he feels the immense gratitude of knowing Squall somehow understands that you don't always hold your destiny in your hands. "Of course, that wasn't the end of the story… Esthar was ruled by Sorceress Adel, with the ingenious yet inhumane Odine. Both of them were interested in Ellone, and that's why I felt she would be safer away from this country. Anyway, we couldn't just pack and leave! Odine was scared of Adel. He was worried she would find out we had rescued Ellone, because that meant his research was of course over and he only thought about his research."

Laguna looks briefly at his son, and Squall nods again, without saying a word. He notices Rinoa is still discreetly holding his hand, and his son is moving his thumb on the back of her hand, as if he is the one comforting her. It's nice, to think his son has such a presence in his life. He deserves to be loved.

"Anyway, while researching under Adel's orders, he was still making many inventions… and one of those inventions was a device to seal magic. I truly can't say how he managed to invent and build that under Adel's reign, but hey, all that matters is that in the end, it worked, right? So I thought that maybe Adel could be defeated. I owed a big favor to the resistance, because those guys helped me rescue Ellone. So I spoke with my comrades and two issues came up."

Laguna takes a sip of his tea before continuing. "The first one was the Crystal Pillar. We needed to stop it from calling monsters from the moon and destroying everything, and we were right about that because we saw what happened the last time it was used. You're still cleaning up the mess," he says casually, without realizing that Rinoa is now holding her rings in her free hand. Squall loudly clears his throat, squinting at him as if he's trying to say something telepathically, but Laguna doesn't really get it, and when Squall nods towards his girlfriend, he still doesn't take the hint. Oh well, it's obviously not important enough. "Of course, the second issue was freeing Esthar from Adel's hands."

"Sounds like those are two fucking big issues," mumbles Squall, and Laguna nods enthusiastically.

"Yeah, exactly! So we planned and planned and planned some more. Of course, everything was based on my brilliant ideas." He sips his tea again, letting his audience soak up his poignant pause.

"Brilliant? Seriously?" mumbles Squall again, and Rinoa nudges him for the umpteenth time.

"So basically we went back to the Lunatic Pandora Research Facility… we had only one goal: solve the Crystal Pillar's issue. Odine gave out instructions and we managed to operate the panel and move the pillar, setting its course and its stop point in the middle of the ocean. So when the pillar reached the designated point and stopped… well, hello, goodbye!"

"That was truly brilliant, Laguna," says Rinoa, turning to look at her boyfriend. "Don't you think so too, Squall?"

Squall clears his throat again. "Yeah, I think that dropping it in the ocean was a good idea. Should have thought about surveillance though -hey!" he huffs, looking at his girlfriend. The two are apparently having a staring contest – or better yet, a squinting contest, Laguna thinks.

"Yeah, well. That was the easy part, anyway. Unfortunately, the sudden disappearance of a massive Pillar was noticed by Adel, and we were found out. So we gathered for a final battle."

Squall looks back at him, and Laguna feels proud: his son still doesn't know it, but he is about to hear how his father became the hero of Esthar's revolution. He will be so proud!

"Final battle?" says Squall, with a kind of suspicious tone in his voice.

"Yeah. We waited for her at the Sorceress Memorial, where the sealing facility was stored. Of course, she appeared as we expected and asked what was going on. I told her that we had hunted down the culprit who had moved the Crystal Pillar, and that he was inside the Memorial, holding Ellone's hostage. I knew she would go in right away if I mentioned Ellone."

"And she did?" asks Rinoa, now sincerely curious. Squall seems a little more attentive too.

"Of course! My brilliant ideas never fail."

The smack of Squall's hand against his forehead is loud enough to gain Laguna's attention. "Is something wrong?" he asks.

"Just… go on," says Squall. Laguna thinks he hears some mumbling about final battle my ass, but he's not sure, so he ignores it and continues his tale.

"I followed her inside, where she saw Ellone. I mean, her hologram! She realized she was fooled and she turned and asked me if I thought she would fall for that trick. But it was already too late! I pushed her with all my strength, telling her that of course she would fall for my trick, my plans are always perfect. She fell into the sealing facility and I signaled Kiros and Ward to go ahead. And she was trapped inside the facility, unable to use her magic."

"I can't believe it really worked," mumbles Squall.

"Why not? Adel was careless. She may have been a sorceress, but she was human too, after all. She thought herself invincible and that was her true weakness. Of course, we couldn't keep such a dangerous sorceress around as a trophy… she also was an incredibly ugly trophy, I tell you. So then we decided to shoot her in space. I have to admit… I really am a genius."

Squall looks at him blinking, but Laguna doesn't even notice. "Seriously, I am just so awesome. Genius, I tell you! Dropping the Pillar in the ocean and Adel into space! Nobody could have come up with better ideas!"

"I…" starts Squall, but then he shakes his head, letting go of Rinoa's hand. "I really don't know which one of you two could come up with the craziest plan and manage to make it work anyway," he says finally, looking almost at a loss.

"Why? What crazy plan are you talking about?" asks Laguna, scratching his chin with a pensive look.

"It was probably my plan to hijack a train and kidnap President Deling to discuss Timber's independence," finally interjects Rinoa.

"What?" says Laguna, widening his eyes.

"Yeah… that's how me and Squall met, you know. I contacted SeeD to help with the plan."

"You hijacked a train?" asks Laguna, looking at her almost with admiration.

"Yeah, we had intel-"

"Wrong intel," interjects Squall.

"Well thank you Commander Obvious, at the time we didn't know it was wrong," she says, squinting at him. Laguna thinks the girl will have wrinkles way before their natural time, if she keeps that up, and apparently being with Squall will make her squint a lot.

Squall simply shrugs.

"Anyway," says pointedly Rinoa, letting a brief pause linger to see if Squall has something else to say. "We had intel Deling was coming to Timber, so we decided to swap a dummy train car with the presidential one, essentially kidnapping him so we could… negotiate."

Squall clears his throat at that, and Rinoa turns to squint at him again. For a moment, Laguna remembers how much Raine squinted at him, too, and he thinks maybe he and his son have something in common. Other than the manly charm, of course.

"How did you fool them, though?" asks Laguna, scratching his chin. "Back when I was a soldier, Deling was wary of everything."

"We knew and accounted for that too. We swapped the cars when the trains were moving!"

"WHAT?"

Rinoa laughs. "Yeah, there was no other way. We were prepared though! We did a lot of simulations-"

"Wait, you mean you tried to swap other train cars before trying with the presidential one?" Laguna is more and more dumbfounded – but he has to admit, the girl has guts, and he is more and more impressed too. Julia would be so proud! And Squall should stop to make his girl squint at him so much. He will be caught in a Firaga one day or another; Rinoa sounds like a feisty one.

"Well, of course not. We built an in-scale model, connected it to a simulator for the uncoupling mechanism and used that. Then we called in the SeeD, and Squall was the leader."

"What did you do, son?" asks Laguna.

"…Dangled down a moving train to enter some codes she was yelling at me to uncouple the cars. Twice," Squall says, in a flat tone.

Laguna looks at them both with wide eyes. "And you were saying my plan to trap Adel was crazy?"

"Hey, it was not crazy!" complains Rinoa. "I worked a lot on that plan, you know!"

"Yeah, I have to admit it was a good plan, considering the experience and the funds they could use," says Squall. "Should have worked more on getting the right intel though."

"That was not Watts' fault, they fed him wrong intel on purpose!" rebuts Rinoa, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, and you didn't account for the possibility the intel was wrong, as Laguna didn't account for the Lunatic Pandora to be found and used again," says Squall, in a matter-of-fact tone, as if he's explaining something very simple and very obvious. To his credit, Laguna thinks, he doesn't sound too haughty as he does. It's almost as if his son thinks the plans would have been good, if they paid more attention to details.

"Still, Laguna managed to avoid another Lunar Cry for years," counters Rinoa, with a defiant look.

"Yeah," Laguna says, siding with the young woman. "And Rinoa managed to hijack the train successfully!"

Rinoa smiles at him, raising her hand. Laguna gives her a very enthusiastic high-five.

Squall looks at him, and then at his girlfriend, and then at him again, and when his eyes finally settle on Rinoa he sighs, as if defeated, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Hyne," he mutters, and he does sound a little defeated. "I swear only you two could manage to bond on your crazy plans that somehow inexplicably worked."

"It was a good plan, boy. Nobody knew where we dropped the Pillar, only those who were at the Research Facility at the time, and no one of us ever spilled the beans about its location. And you have to admit that sealing Adel's magic and shooting her into space was kinda bulletproof too."

Squall shrugs. He guesses it's a moot point discussing it, and he feels already drained.

"My plan was good too, Squall. It worked just fine, even though Watts trusted his intel a little too much. Still, we prepared a lot, the simulations were seamless, and the fact you managed to uncouple the cars without issues proves that. Plus, our model was perfect!"

Squall can't help but snicker. "Perfect?" he says, with a kind of smile Laguna has never seen on his face. To be fair he hasn't seen smiles of any kind on his son's face, but there is something intimate in the way his lips curl as he watches Rinoa. Something almost… teasing.

"Yep," she says, looking at Squall like she doesn't understand what he means. Laguna realizes it's probably true.

"Even your model?" smirks Squall.

"My mod- oh Hyne you can't be serious!" she exclaims, with a loud facepalm that makes Laguna cringe – that must have been somehow painful. Rinoa doesn't say anything though, just smacks her hand against Squall's thighs when she realizes he's chuckling at her expense.

"That thing was unsightly, Rinoa – I seriously think you scarred me for life. Can't be unseen," he counters, and Laguna watches dumbfounded as his son relentlessly teases his girlfriend.

"I've already told you it was that bad only because I deeply hated that man and that train car was the symbol of how much I despised him for what he did to Timber!"

"I'm sure your hate had some part in making that model that bad, but I'm also sure it was that bad because you just suck at painting."

"You know, you're not nice. I worked seriously hard on that model!"

"I know," says Squall, and for a moment Laguna sees something tender in his son's gaze. "I'm just kidding."

"Ah! They say in every joke there's some truth, though. What do you think, Laguna?"

Laguna really wishes he was somewhere else, now, because his manly charm tells him he should side with the young lady, as gallantry requires, but he also doesn't want to disappoint his son. So he shrugs, scratching his neck as he sheepishly asks, "Well, I guess it depends on your model…"

"I'd rather keep Adel around as an incredibly ugly trophy than have to watch that model again," says Squall.

"SQUALL!" shrieks Rinoa, as her cheeks redden and she bursts out laughing. "That's not a nice thing to say about your girlfriend!"

"Wow, that model must truly have sucked," mumbles Laguna, and Rinoa turns to look at him, shocked.

"Laguna! I thought we were a team!" she says, still laughing, and he scratches his head, hoping he didn't offend her. He didn't think she could hear him, with the shrieking and the laughing. Apparently, Sorceresses have a stunning hearing. He'd better remember that.

"Still, I think managing to hijack a moving train by uncoupling the cars is pretty badass. You should be proud," Laguna says. Maybe, if he's lucky, she'll forget his comment about her model.

"I am!" she happily chirps, nudging Squall's with her elbow, as if she's trying to say ah, beat that!

Squall sighs, still with a small, intimate, and teasing smile. Somehow, seeing his son smile makes Laguna happy. "Fine, you both win. Just don't build or paint a model to celebrate Timber's independence though."

"Deal," she smiles.

Laguna claps his hands. "Well, all's well that begins well!"

"That's not how they say it, Laguna…" starts Squall, but another little nudge silences him.

"Yeah, well, it's the thought that matters, right?" continues Laguna, undeterred. "But listen to me, Rinoa. Be very, very, very careful when people talk to you. I wasn't paying close attention while they made me up to be this hero of the revolution, and I ended up being president. I would hate for that to happen to you too, dear!"

Squall facepalms, Rinoa laughs, and Laguna thinks that yeah, all's well that begins well. Or maybe it was that ends well? Ah, it doesn't matter. His son is smiling, Rinoa is laughing, and ugly trophies in the form of sorceresses or badly painted train models will not ruin their beginning.

She is still laughing when they retire for the evening, and he pulls her, gently but firmly, into the room he was assigned. She gives him a warm, smoldering smile and follows him inside, giggling a little more when he lets out what sounds like an entire day's worth of sighs.

"Tough day?" she asks, sympathetically.

He sits down sprawling in an armchair by the windows and leans his head against the headrest, his eyes closed. "Tiring," he says, and he listens to her moving into the room, until he feels her weight on his legs, her flowery perfume wrapping around him in a kinda weirdly comforting way, and her fingers gently combing through his hair.

"You're not used to social interactions," she comments. Her voice is weirdly comforting, too, and he still keeps his eyes closed, enjoying her closeness. "You still don't know how much you can take. It will take time to understand that."

"Guess so," he says, non-committal. Then, in an uncharacteristic bout of playfulness, he adds, "It will be harder if you continue to team up with him though. I can't possibly deal with two heroes of the revolutions. I have my limits, Rinoa."

She bursts out laughing, leaning against his chest a little more. "I bet your ego is all bruised, seeing how we came up with amazing plans and managed to make them work. In such a spectacular fashion too! We are awesome geniuses, I tell you," she replies, mimicking Laguna's words.

He cracks an eye open and watches her through the slit of his eyelid. "Yeah, right. All bruised. Wanna kiss it better?"

"Squall!" she squeals, and her laughter is beautifully throaty and breathless when he moves a leg, tipping her off balance and making her fall completely on his chest. He closes his arms around her and squeezes, until she cups his face with her hands and brushes her nose against his.

"So I guess the answer is a yes?" he asks in a husky voice, and while she nuzzles his neck he stands up, effortlessly picks her up in his arms, and then throws her on the bed, and she doesn't even have the time to laugh; he is upon her; and she just thinks this afternoon went better than expected before his lips capture hers.

Later, when she's all tangled in him, listening to his heartbeat and his breathing, in the darkened bedroom only slightly illuminated by the faint lights of the city, she feels his fingers move up her spine until they reach the nape of her neck.

"You were right," he whispers, softly, so low she could think she imagined it.

She props on her elbow, holding the sheets tight against her breasts. In the dark, she can't see his expression, but she feels his fingers move from her neck to her cheek, brushing her hair away from her face. "About today?"

"Yeah. Maybe it isn't so bad," he says, without elaborating further, and she chuckles, stretching to kiss him lightly on his lips.

"See? Awesome genius I am. Told you!"

He chuckles too, tangling a hand in her hair to cradle her head and lie her down again on the bed, carefully aligning his body with hers. "Sure. Your model still sucks though."

"Squall! Have some respect for the hero of Timber's revolution!" she squeals, laughing, as he steals her breath once again with a kiss.

"So, everything went ok?" asks Kiros, swirling his beer bottle, as the trio sits outside on Laguna's balcony, enjoying the fading warmth of the day and the comfort of old friendship.

"I think so," says Laguna, with a confident smile. "Kid's too serious for his own good, though. I guess he loosens up when his girlfriend is involved. It's just… I don't know. I think he was a little awkward?"

"…"

"Ward's right, you know," comments Kiros.

"Yeah, maybe I was a little overbearing. They seemed interested in our adventures though. Especially, how I became president of this country."

"And pray tell, how many times did you mention you're just a genius?" Kiros teases him, and Ward's chuckle shakes his giant body until he has to put his beer bottle down.

"A couple of times, I think?" answers Laguna, without realizing his friends are making fun of him. "It's not my fault my plans are always perfect and always work. You're just envious because I'm so awesome," he concludes, and Kiros is laughing too, now, in a way that reminds Laguna of Rinoa laughing to tears when he mentioned Squall's manly charm. Somewhere in his brain, realization dawns on him. "Hey, are you making fun of me, you two?"

"I'd never try to," says Kiros, and Ward nods too, hiding his smile in a sip of his drink.

"Anyway, his girlfriend managed to hijack a moving train by uncoupling the cars. Pretty bold plan, if you ask me. That's how they met. He assisted her," continues Laguna, sipping his own – fortunately non-alcoholic – beer. "She's a hero of Timber's revolution, basically. Kinda like me!"

"So you're telling me Squall had to jump into time to defeat a sorceress from the future with the help of his girlfriend, who had asked him to help her hijack a moving train, and then found out he had a father who decided to drop a giant pillar in the ocean and push a sorceress with all his might into a sealing mechanism." Kiros lets the silence linger, sipping his beer while all three ponder over his words. "No shit the poor kid felt awkward."

"…"

"Ward, that's not really nice, you know," pouts Laguna. "Also, you're wrong! He may look a lot like his mother, but there's also something he took from me!"

"Thank Hyne, it's not his sense of direction," interjects Kiros.

"…"

"Yeah, as Ward says, he also doesn't trip on his own words. Kid looks very put together."

"Anyway," says Laguna, taking a page from Rinoa's book and using a small pause for dramatic effect. "He has my manly charm!"

Kiros almost chokes on his beer, while another chuckle rumbles low into Ward's stomach. Laguna joins him in laughter, for an entirely different reason.

"He accepted to come again," he says finally, when the laughing has subsided and Kiros can breathe normally again. "I told him I'd like to tell him about Raine, too. About Ellone's kidnapping… even if those are the most painful episodes of my entire life."

There's a melancholic note in his voice, now, and he hears the sliding of the wrought iron chairs on the marble floor of his balcony. Then, Ward's big hand engulfs his neck, warming him in comfort, and Kiros' elegant, long fingers squeeze his shoulder.

"I'm sure he'll understand, Laguna," says Kiros. "He is probably awkward because he still doesn't know how wanted and loved he was, even back then."

Laguna nods.

"…"

"Yeah. Yeah. I know you'll both be by my side," says Laguna, nodding again.

"Plus, we need to check that you listen to what he says. We were off to find some food and when we came back you were not only Esthar's hero, but Esthar's President too. Who knows what you'd end up accepting this time!"

"…"

"Hey! Have some respect for the hero, you know!"

Author's note: as usual, beta-read with Grammarly as English is my second language. Feel free to point out mistakes!"