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A Break in Character	By : Resting-Madness Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Irvine/Squall Views: 919 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or setting of the Final Fantasy VIII universe and make no money from this work of fan fiction. It's all for fun.

Chapter List
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'Something's wrong. He's too quiet.' Thought Squall, shooting glances at Irvine, he waited until they hit a red light to look directly at him. "Are you ok?"
"Huh?"
'He's not. I knew it!' His conviction to track down and annihilate the perpetrators grew ever stronger. "Are you ok?" He politely asked again, instead of blurting out righteousness and declarations of protection.
Irvine would hate that, being treated like a victim. He, himself, would hate it, if the situation were reversed. But still... The thought nagged at him that Irvine was in pain. And needed him. But what could he really do for him? People say just being there is perfect, but, is it for everyone? Squall would let Irvine talk himself hoarse, if need be. He would listen with tireless ears, but Irvine is silent.
"Oh, yeah." He waved it off. "Pfft. It's like I told Zell, had they not used magic, I would have been fine. I know how to protect myself."
"It's kinda lame of me to ask, but, why are you so quiet?" The car resumed moving when the light shone green.
"I'm thinking."
"About who'd done it?"
"Yup." Figuring there was an "and" coming, he added. "Can't think of anyone."
"Would you remember their voices?"
"I might."
"It's a start." Squall gave a single affirmed nod.
The drive out of the city and back to the fields grew silent, and remained as such until the car was parked inside the lot in Balamb Garden.
"I'm glad you're not hurt anymore." He thought to lean over and hug Irvine, if that was something he needed. He actually needed it for himself. Combat is one thing, but he's not seen a monster work Irvine over the way those thugs had. Irvine was lucky. He was damned lucky to have been found and helped, especially.
'Hyne... Irvine could have been killed. He wasn't junctioned, no weapon. If they had hurt him any further, or even used Stop...' Squall felt sick. No wonder Irvine was so quiet. He has to be. To know who did it, to keep them from doing it again. Because he likely realized the same thing that Squall just has. If the brutes decide to strike again... 'Fuck who sees. He's been my friend before my boyfriend. Nobody will think anything of it.' Squall turned in his seat and wrapped his arms tightly around his boyfriend, who was stunned by the sudden show of affection that, after a moment of composure, he put his arms around him in return.
"We're gonna find who hurt you. I promise." He said firmly. While on the inside he could scream anger and sadness, outside, he sounded controlled and sure.
...
The headmasters gathered the students as they had yesterday. Everyone stood in a straight line behind an instructor from their respective Garden. The mood is as bright as the day, for most of the cadets, while a select few felt a storm coming in, and they were surely the ones to bring it.
"Cadets..." Cid began, a grim tone to let them know this was not a joke, or lighthearted moment of cheering them on from yesterdays events anc unto today. "I have devistating news, I am greatly disappointed to have to deliver."
A few murmurs went up. Devastating news? What is he going to say? Did someone cheat? He is so overly dramatic. When are we going to start? And such other whispers, during the brief pauses in speech. The orphanage gang all kept their eyes moving in search of a face in the crowd that was either a bit too smug, too guilty, or too vacant to Cid's words. That person would be placed on the suspects list.
"One of our fellow cadets was brutalized last night."
That shifted the mood drastically. Who was it? How did it happen? A few jerks in life muttered that whomever it was should be de-ranked out of shame for not being tough enough.
"The guilty persons.." And he allowed the plural to hang in the sentence. "Are still at large, and stand among us, presently."
"It was someone from Garden?!" Was heard before a bluster of other words of shock and distrust.
I wonder who it was? Probably some jealous asshole. It's stuff like this that let's us know these bonding exercises are bs. How do they know it was someone from Garden?
"Those responsible should come forth. Volunteering will lessen the punishment; and wouldn't you rather be accountable for your actions, it's a responsible, adult, choice." His eyes cast a net of authority over the field of cadets, SeeD, and instructors alike. "No one?" He took a deep breath then let it out. "I see. That is very regrettable. The Garden Games have officially been cancelled."
A few groans went up, but others understood. They didn't want to compete or be on friendly terms with anyone who would do such a thing. Imagine jumping a fellow member of Garden. But which Garden was responsible? Which cadet was attacked? Was it best not to tell them? Most likely, thought more than half of the young adults on the field.
"I will say one more thing. Until this matter is handled, all Gardens will be docked at our current location. Classes will resume."
There was a collective amount of groans as well as indifference. Here or there, Gardens are mobile for a reason.
"Those responsible will be found and punished. Don't relax if it takes longer than a day, you will be accountable for your actions. That is all."
"Dismissed." Said headmaster Kabisch.
The cadets from Balamb, Galbadia, and Trabia give each the eye before they dispersed and headed back to their respective Garden. How could anyone attack another cadet? Why? What purpose did it serve. It could have been any of them. Each Garden has their reason. Balamb and Trabia can easily harbor distrust towards Galbadians and Edea Kramer after the part they'd played in the war, so they'd attack as a lesson to not try anything like that again. Galbadians could harbor distrust due to fear that there will be cohabitation amongst them and the other Gardens, and it's possible they could have attacked another Garden to let them know they aren't concerned with how others feel or felt about them in the past, and if anyone wants to hurt them they would strike first.
It's a mad world people have to endure.
'Who would wanna hurt Irvine?' Squall wondered this as he sat in class half-listening to the instructor teaching about who, but those listening, knew what. 'He's one of the nicest people I've met. So he flirts a lot.. maybe it was a jaded girlfriend, and she sicked her new boyfriend on him. The guy brought some friends along...' He shook his head. That scenario was too ridiculous. Was it just hatred? 'Irvine is Galbadian, but he helped Balamb during the war... It could be either group or even both.'
"Mr. Leonhart, question four? Your answer.."
Squall, hearing his name, looked at his screen then punched in the answer.
"Correct. Please look present in class. I know we're all thinking about what the headmaster said, but we still need to learn academically as well as socially."
"Yes, ma'am."
Class went on, but he remained distracted. Pleasantly thinking about Irvine had distracted him before, but now the sniper's battered face keeps appearing. How alone he must have felt. How scared...
'Excuse me.' He got up and left without an audible word for the bathroom. He neded to wash his face to clear his head, cool the anger. And afterwards he returned to class, and continued to listen to the lesson as a distraction rather than for knowledge.
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"I was in the chat room under a false name," Zell was saying quietly around the table during lunch, once everyone was seated. Barely any of them made for their food, too distressed to be hungry. "I looked through a good portion of messages, so far, nobody is defending the attackers. Obviously if they did they'd immediately be suspects. Mostly everyone was upset about the games being called off." He grunted a scoff. "This one chick said was ready to throw elbows with the losers. She wanted to scavenger hunt with her boyfriend, she's dating someone from Galbadia."
"I got the same on my end." Selphie chimed in. "Mostly everyone was upset. A lot of other people wondered who the victim was. They think it was a girl, someone named Bushra. Seems she gets teased from time to time, but it's never been violent. Until now, they assume."
"How old are we? We shouldn't be bullying each other at any degree." Quistis sniped.
"What about you, Squall?" Selphie asked. "Squall?" He was gone, and it wasn't missed by anyone.
"I'm glad Cid didn't mention any names. I thought he'd blow it for sure." Zell commented.
He began eating his lunch at an unenthusiastic pace, he'd gotten three hot dogs today because as it turned out, many cadets couldn't stomach the idea of some thugs amongst them. They could strike again. Without knowing the full story, they assumed it was quite a few attackers, it didn't dawn on them that they would use magic in an unauthorized time. No cadet is allowed to be junctioned unless they're training or on a mission. It's so drilled into them that it wasn't a plausible scenario.
Zell set down his hot dog and punched his hand with his fist. "I just wish we had some clue to go on."
"Maybe we could... no, that won't work." Selphie waved off her unspoken words.
"Sel'?" Questioned the former instructor.
"I thought we could ask someone to go around acting like they're happy it happened, and if anyone bit," she made a snapping gesture with her hand. "We'd nab 'em for questioning." She shrugged. "But, that wouldn't work, it'd just get whoever did it beaten up or wrongfully accused, if they talk like they don't care."
"That might work," Squall, finally breaking his speaking diet, replied.
"Are you nuts?" Wondered the martial artist.
"No. Just thinking about the scenario." Squall looked from friend to friend. "What you and Selphie said combined might work."
Confused, Zell asked. "What did I say again?"
"About being under a false name in the chat board."
Catching on, Quistis helped explain. "We create dummy accounts and stir up conversation about it not being a big deal, that it was amusing or just.. it could lure the culprits out, and possible others, if nothing else."
Squall nodded that she'd hit the nail on the head.
"Alright! We got us a plan!" Selphie put her hand in the center of the table. Clearing her throat when left hanging, she smiled when Zell placed his hand over her's only after setting down his lunch now that his appetite has returned. Quistis, through a sigh, placed her hand on Zell's. "Well?" The initiator coarsed Squall.
Squall breathed in and set his finger atop the pile.
"Close enough. Woo!" Cheered Selphie as they pressed their hands downward in a cheer. Now to get word to Seifer and Irvine to do the same at Galbadia, and Selphie said she'd ask a close friend to do so within Trabia. They are going to hit the ground running, and come back triumphant!
During class they paid attention, and within the frame of the last five minutes which were usually considered as "free time" to take notes, ask questions, or get belongings together, they diligently scoured the message board under disguise, saying little mean things here and there. So far, no one bit. Not in the way they'd wanted. The message board was so congested with cadets just talking to each other about random things that their comments were lost in the flood. Now and then they would get a reply of how wrong they were, they should shut up, or grow a pair. They were accused of being the assalters, but no one agreed with them. The general consensus liked others from Galbadia and Trabia.
A few honest cadets, the sleuths shared in the privacy of Squall's dorm, which was appointed as headquarters for their meetings, shared that some were upset at Galbadia because of the war times, but not enough to be cruel. They were worried that some of them might be mentally damaged, and still looking to pick a fight with them. But, that was as far as those trails ran. It was the same on Trabia's end, so reported Selphie's friend over a Face chat. Seifer said he got nothing. Irvine didn't say anything. He was quiet through it all.
When the others cleared out of his room he firmly closed the door, locked it, and called his downtrodden boyfriend. It took far too long for him to answer. And he wasn't his usual smiling self, he simply waved. Squall knew why, and decided to put on a happy face of his own. If Irvine was breaking character, so would he. For Irvine. His Cure may have worked on Irvine's body, but his mind was still injured, he needs a different remedy.
"I finally caved and tried yogurt without it being in a smoothie or protein shake."
Irvine's brow furrowed. He was clearly thrown by the unusual topic of conversation. "Did you like it?"
"Not really." He smiled. "It tasted like old warmed milk gone cold, that spoiled three days prior to use."
Irvine smiled. Small, but visible. "Wait a minute, was it regular or Fisherman's?"
"F.H."
"No wonder, you gotta get the good stuff, their's is too tangy. It's better for sauces."
"Do you eat it?" He was glad that the more he spoke, the less he sounded distant.
"Original, yeah. F.H is more occasionally."
Then came silence. Awkward. Thick. Unwanted, because both had so much to say but felt uncomfortable saying it.
"The book I'm reading is pretty good." Irvine tried.
"What's it about?" Squall tried harder.
"A guy escaping the law suddenly gets amnesia after a bad fall, he falls in love, and gradually the cops start to track him down under his new name."
"Sucks for his lover." Irvine's snicker was music to Squall's ears, even through the audio of his phone. He understood Irvine, as he too, once had to pleasure himself after taking a call with the ear buds in. He is in love with the sniper's voice. "What?"
"You saying "lover", it sounds funny - in a cute way."
"Don't tease me, I get enough from the others asking if I'm winded, or need a cup of water from saying "hi"."
"Ahaha! They're messy, but they're ours." His shoulders bounced as he silently laughed at their friend's sense of humor.
"Yeah." He felt a lightness in his chest that Irvine sounds more like himself as the conversation went on.
They talked about sports, animals, food, weapons was a nice long conversation. Then, alas, Squall had to say good night. Another day of classes tomorrow, another day of private investigating.
The next day.
Zell wandered out of the training center, and into the hall. He was still so disgusted by what happened, and needed to blow off steam. "Hey! You, the.. guy who wanted to sit with us the day before!" He pointed to a cadet on his way somewhere with a box in his hand.
"Me?" Ferris pointed to himself.
"Yeah," With a hand towel he wiped a line of sweat from his hairline that travelled down along the back of his neck where it was headed for his back. "What were you doing yesterday night? I saw you standing outside of Squall's dorm room."
"I wanted to ask him if he was alright. He seemed pretty shook about what happened, the victimized cadet... I think Squall knows him, and I wanted to make sure he was ok."
"He's a big boy, he'll manage." Replied Zell, coolly crossing his arms over his perfectly toned chest. "I have another question for you,"
Ferris adjusted the box in his grip, as if to say "make it quick, my arms are killing me".
"Why didn't you knock? It looked like you were just standing there, eavesdropping."
"I didn't wanna just say anything. I was pumping myself up, Squall isn't so easy to just talk to." He then added. "And you must not have thought I was so shady, since you didn't come over and say anything."
Zell's expression of authority twitched, the little creep had a point. "Just... Don't get so cozy in someone else's personal space, o.k.?"
"Sure."
He watched Zell depart, wondering just what was his problem? Was Squall so sacred another guy can't visit his room without it being a big deal? He shook off the encounter, and headed for the library with the box. It's loaded with books from an order. He volunteered to pick them up at the front gate, after he checked out a book a few days before. He really likes Idola, but she hadn't noticed any of his advances, so naturally he thought to play the gero card, and linger about in wait for any odd jobs to come up to help her out with them.
"Here's the books, Idola."
The girl grinned, her dyed dark-coffee Bob framed her face as she leaned over the box with a box-cutter to remove the tape. "Thank you for the help. Shipments can be a back and arm breaker sometimes."
"Why do you order so many books?"
Idola looked at him as though he'd lost it. "People like reading, it's not all computers and internet TV."
"Sorry."
"It's fine." She said in a light tone.
"Now or never.." He coached himself.
"Hmm?"
"Uhh, I was wondering, this weekend... are you free?"
The librarian smiled, then nodded. "Yup. Any reason why?" She teased his nerves.
"Some people do things in their free time, like movies, or food.. Wanna do any of that with me.. maybe?"
"You're asking me out? O.k. sure. I'll go out with you."
Stunned, he asked in a mumble. "Yo.. you mean it?"
"Uh-huh. Be at the front gate by eight." Her dark blue gaze shifted past him. "Hey, Selphie!"
"Hi. Are those the orders?"
"Yup. Get your kink, and be gone with you." Her smile said otherwise about Selphie and her "kink".
Selphie giggled at the not-too-far-off joke. She searched through the box and located a Boys Love romance novel that she asked for. "Remy and Alden are finally getting together in this one." She was becoming more open about her secret find. And why not? What was the harm?
"Ooh, baby." Idola laughed.
"Disgusting." Ferris spat.
"Excuse me? Why?" Selphie looked the cadet up and down, recognizing him from the Games.
"Because it is. Men and women are supposed to be the only pairs. It just makes sense."
Blinking, Selphie said in a very chic manner. "That's your opinion." She waved good bye with the hand holding the book, and went to check it out.
"Gross."
"You're right. It is." Replied Idola. "I might have been embarrassed to order the book, but I'm humiliated by you. Forget the date, it's off." And she ceased speaking to him, and busily put away returns.
"But... Are you serious? Over that?" But he got no reply. "Idola?" Dead-air. "Pssh! Whatever." He marched out of the library feeling the whole world against him.
X x X
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A Break in Character