Snow Drift | By : Resting-Madness Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Irvine/Squall Views: 975 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1 |
Disclaimer: I don't own anything involving final fantasy 8, nor do I make money from this fanfiction. The only thing that's mine is the take on a plot that's been done by just about everyone. |
For January it's only mildly cold, which was nice considering they live near the sea, where the water can become ice cold and make the land it surrounds even colder. The clouds are like a sheet of gray snow in the sky, covering any bit of sunlight that might try to come through it; however, the sun's radiated warmth can be felt.
Squall and Irvine took the car given to them the other day while Zell drove in a different rental from the school; unlike last night, the car wasn't silent due to the radio being on, a lilting balled from a violin is currently playing. Squall's taste in music is all over the place; sometimes he liked classical, other times rock, and once Irvine even heard him listening to rap. He personally preferred the tunes from his homeland Galbadia which is a different language all together. You put on Reggaeton and those deep grooves make you wanna move.
Kait was seated upon Irvine's lap shaking the life out of a tiny teddy bear - - if it were alive, that is. He then bit the bear on the nose.
"Kid's kinda violent." Squall says to no one in particular after a quick glance to his right from all the movement.
Snickering, Irvine looked down at the kid, receiving big blue eyes back at him before the child was distracted with killing the bear again. "Maybe he's playin' mobster, tryin' to shake out some answers."
"Like why you're so happy to have a stranger's kid with us?" Again, Squall says out loud, but to no one in particular.
Irvine shrugged his shoulders. "For me, there are always two paths to take - - always, up or down, left or right, shifty or a field of flowers. Only with Kait.. I saw just one path, which was to take him with us, if we didn't find his family." Clutching the child tighter in his hold, the big-hearted Galbadian sighed. "I remember being a kid - - not a baby, but a kid... I'd of given anything to feel cared for - - really cared for; I could be good or I could screw up... But good or bad, in the end, the result is always that feeling that I'm loved and not alone."
Listening to that, Squall looked at Kait then back at the road ahead to where Zell's car has taken the lead of their little trip to the store. "Did you ever find it?" He wanted to know.
He and Irvine have been together for a while now, and whether he's shown it or not, he deeply cared for the former playboy. Squall often has a hard time expressing it by means other than being bluntly direct - - which can be humiliating - - or he would mumble, then end up talking in his head and not saying what he wanted to say. Irvine has never complained, though. So hearing that declaration Squall had to wonder.
He shrugged his hand. "I feel it in little ways, but, I don't know... Maybe my childhood only led me to the lonely life I feel I lead. Can't quite make the shift yet, ya know? But it won't be that way forever," He says to Squall with a smile, as if he knew what his over-thinking boyfriend might have been thinking. "And even if it's for a little while, it won't be that way for Kait; isn't that right?" He made faces at the child.
"Ahmamamama." Kait shook his head kicking his feet then tossed the bear to the floor.
Squall sneezed which startled the baby, who laughed seconds after then reached over for the driver.
"Sorry, Kaity but you can't sit with him." Irvine readjust the kid on his lap. "But he can hold you when we stop drivin', how's that?"
Kait responded with a long 'Hhhuuuu' into a scream before he smacked his legs.
"Hn. He sure blows hot and cold." Squall snickered. The vehicle pulled the car into the parking lot. He found a space quickly, then turned off the engine.
Zell drove his car over to the first empty space he could see, parking the car smoothly. He had called the girls during his drive, telling them to meet the three of them at the store. Rinoa and Selphie said they could come but Seifer replied with a very well spoken - - he'd rather be dead then go doily shopping like some girl; however, he then added for Zell to buy him a box of Cheeze-itz. Seifer can be such a child sometimes, meaning fussy but cute. Closing the door, the martial artist spotted Selphie jumping up and down waving her arms to catch his attention. Rinoa was looking over her shoulder at a woman walking by with a potted tree, she had to step aside, since the woman didn't seem to want to shove over an inch.
Pocketing his keys he walked through the parking lot, being sure to watch for any cars backing out. "Good morning my, pretty little ladies."
Selphie giggled clapping her hands together placing them at her cheek. "Why do the gay ones always flirt with you?" Her question was purely rhetorical.
Answering, though he knew she didn't really ask the question, Zell said. "Because there's no worry about follow through." He shrugged. Turning to face the lot he stood on tip-toes to peek over the cars as best he can. He managed to grow an inch when he hit nineteen, he's a whole 5'6" now. However, his dear boyfriend, as towering as he is, always finds a way to throw barbs at the lacking height.
Hand on Zell's shoulder, Selphie stood on her toes, as well with a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. "Where are they?"
"Probably haven't found a space yet, I saw them right behind me until I parked." Lowering himself, he looked left then right. "Where's Quistis? She couldn't come?"
"No, she has filing to do." Replied Rinoa. "I don't know how she can do it, being fired as an instructor then taking a secretarial job. I'd just prefer being a SeeD member."
"No way!" Exclaimed Selphie releasing Zell's shoulder. "I plan on getting a job at Garden. Its better than anything else. I'm gonna be an instructor someday."
"I thought so, too," Commented Zell. "but than I thought it'd be kind of cool to be a mechanic, too - - I'm kind of good at that sort of thing."
"But how would we all stay together?" Whined the newest Garden cadet, with a pouted bottom lip and cocked head, as though, this separated future was coming true within an hour or so.
"I don't know." Zell cocked a brow wondering when the conversation got so serious. They'd all be mercenaries until retirement anyway. What was so tragic?
"So like," Irvine's voice interrupted them like a car crash. "we goin' in or standin' around to decorate the sidewalk."
Squall snickered at the comment; they've been standing beside the reflective trio for about a minute and half while they discussed future dreams, and ways to stay connected.
"Eeee! You brought the baby!" Shrieked Selphie, hopping up and down, her bouncy flip of a hairstyle joined her joy, while her hands clap rapidly.
"You wanna hold him?" Squall practically shoved the seven month old into her arms.
"Can I?" Selphie asked reaching for the baby.
"Sure."
But Kait had other plans latching onto the fur collar of the bomber jacket and making a small verbal fuss until he's placed back within Squall's arms.
"Heh heh heh, guess he showed you who's boss." Irvine comments before starting towards the store.
"Aaaww." Rinoa caressed the child's cheek with her index. "He likes you."
"Don't I feel special." Squall followed after Irvine.
Leaning over to Zell, Selphie asked. "What's with him?"
Zell shrugged.
Dashing ahead a step or two, Selphie asked directly. "What's with you?" No sense in having a middle man, when the person who could answer is right with you.
"Nothing." Replied Squall. "I'm just not big on babysitting."
"But you're not doing it alone, you've got Irvine."
Squall couldn't disagree with that; its only been a day but his boyfriend was doing a lot more for Kait than himself. Changing the baby, feeding him, he woke up with the kid last night - - though he was forced awake, as well; however, Squall didn't have to leave the bed, so it wasn't so bad. The non responsible sitter figured that holding Kait for a while was the least he could do. And try as he might to believing otherwise, he had to admit the kid was kind of cute with his big blue eyes and messy brown hair, slightly tanned skin, although, it could be a sun tan from being in the Timber forest. Who knows how long the child was out there before Irvine had spotted him.
"What are we here for?" Rinoa asked when the cool air of the overhead AC washed over her.
"Food for the house, and stuff for Kait." Irvine replied. "Blanket, pillows, a crib - - I wrote it all out on these papers. Which do you want?"
"Baby stuff!" Selphie raised her hand. "I'll get anything themed and too cute to pass up."
Shaking his head, Squall warns in a kind but firm tone. "Don't go overboard."
"I won't." She seemed a bit taken aback by the tone.
"Good. The place is small with one extra room, so we can't crowd it out with junk - - plus, we may end up finding Kait's parents; we shouldn't get too attached."
"Someone's got postpartum." Whispered Zell to Rinoa, a hand placed beside his mouth.
She chuckled into her hand.
"I do not!" Barked said friend, overhearing Zell.
"Alright, y'all, calm down." Reaching for the child he took him easily from his pissy boyfriend, setting him down into the cart he's got prepared with the thick blanket laying over the bench in the child's seat area located at the cart handle. Tugging Kait's legs through the square holes, he grabbed the handle bar. "I'll go with Selphie for baby stuff. Squall, you go with Rinoa for food - - Zell?"
"Hmm, decisions, decisions..." He dramatically taps his finger to his chin. "I'll go with you two." He walked beside Selphie. "I'm a sucker for kids." He shrugged as though an explanation was necessary.
"We'll meet at the register in an hour." Says the commander in him as he's gone into mission-mode just to pick up food. Not only does he have a list to look over but, knowing Irvine, and he's sure that he does, he'll have to change just about everything on it to something they can both eat. Or he'll end up starved to death or have to commute to the Garden cafeteria for a meal.
"You got it," Says Selphie. "Come on, I know where the baby section is."
The three drift away from Squall and Rinoa, who walked to where the refrigerators are.
Allmart was stuffed with people considering how early it is. Maneuvering in some sections was a little tricky; and it seemed that everyone and their mother - well, father - was shopping today; mostly it was for snacks for the big games coming up. They need party food for their friends and themselves to watch it with. The aisle was like an obstacle training course. Somehow, Squall fought his way into the assault of elbows, incidental butt brushes, and unexpected hand touching when bags were reached for at the same time. The commander offered a few death glares, clearing space for himself, if only for a moment. He looked thoughtfully over some bags of tortilla chips, wondering if he could get away with chipotle dusted chips instead of the jalapenos that Irvine put down.
"Look at this stuff," Squall flaps the limp list between through the air with his fingers, it kinda resemble a wet noodle in movement. "Five alarm chili, spicy chicken, I can't even pronounce this... Is he trying to burn a hole in my stomach?"
Chuckling, Rinoa poked his cheek. "Are you afraid of a little heat? What would the guys at Garden say?" She joked.
"They wouldn't get a chance to say anything, because I'd be pouring this stuff down their throats." Retorted the embittered. "I'll meet him halfway with this." He says to himself.
Rinoa cocked her head to the side; her big brown eyes at a squint as her mouth turns into a thoughtful smirk. "Do you hate him, the baby - - what did Irvine call him? Kait? Do you hate him?"
"Why would I hate him, he's just a baby?" Squall answered very nonchalantly while picking up a bag of honey barbecue drummies rather than the spicy bag next to it.
"Something about him seems to be bothering you."
Squall shrugged. "Don't know."
"Don't you?"
"Don't care."
Raising a brow, she sighed. "You can tell me - - if not Irvine. It's better to get it off your chest."
"There's nothing much to tell. I don't want to get attached to someone that isn't gonna stick around, and I don't think Irvine should either - - it isn't healthy; just listen to him ...He's already completely in love with Kait."
"He does seem to like him, but... I don't know, isn't it better to just enjoy the baby while he's around?" She looked off in the direction said baby may be. "You don't have to love him - - no one is asking you to."
"Whatever." Retorts the young man, pushing the cart out of the freezer section as aggressively as his limits were being pushed on the sudden, yet frequent, conversations about the orphan.
"Darn," she twist her face up. "I was hoping someday you would grow out of that."
Squall scoffed. "I should have done this alone." He says to no one.
Overhearing, an elderly man smiled at them, then nodded. "I feel the same way about my wife when we shop together, nag, nag, nag." He chuckled with a rasp in his throat.
Rinoa smiled at the man then chuckled, as well. Who was she to tell the guy about her relationship status.
Squall brusquelly pushed his cart past the nosey old man; saying very clearly and in a dead-serious tone. "I'm a homosexual."
"With the way my wife is, so will I be soon enough!" He exclaimed, laughing merrily. Nothing was gonna get him off the high of teasing youths.
That made Rinoa laugh out loud. It's nice to see two old prudes having a battle of patience and impatience in manners, and language barriers; sadly for Squall, the old man was winning by a milestone, as he easily deflected the brooding bad attitude.
"Your wife must be a saint to put up with your bad humor." Snarled Squall, unable to believe he has stopped to continue exchanging words.
"I'm the saint. My bad humor is the reward for loving the little devil I now live with." This time the old man slapped his knee during his hoot of a good time.
When Squall's left eye twitched, he knew it was time to go before he started getting any deeper into this thing. "Don't have an asthma attack from laughing too hard."
"And don't have a heart attack from all your greasy cheese burgers, whippersnapper." Called the man after Squall's retreating back.
Walking through the bread aisle, he muttered to Rinoa. "You can stop laughing, it isn't funny."
"I was just thinking that I can't wait to see you as an old man. You're gonna be so high-strung, they may as well have hospitals on standby for you."
The not-so-old commander spared the girl a look.
"Come on," Getting back on subject, Rinoa goes on to say. "It's only been half a day since you got him, and Kait really seems to like you. Look at how happy you make him just by holding him."
"Rinoa, Kait giggles when you sneeze; I'm sure he'd cozy up to anyone in a heartbeat." After saying that he reached into his pocket. 'That reminds me, I have to call Sis' to see if she can care for the baby while we search for the parents, or someone else in his family.' Speed dialing the young woman, he waits out the rings but there came no human reply, he got the voicemail. "Ellone, this is Squall, I really need to talk to you. Call me when you get this, at any time, I'll pick up."
Squall's eavesdropping friend shook her head in dismay, knowing exactly what that call was about. "I can't believe you would just give him to someone else, Squall how could you?"
"He's not my kid." He answered simple enough.
"You know, he kind of looks like the two of you - - you and Irvine," Rinoa says as if to clear up the 'two' of whom she spoke. "Cute, blue eyes; he only lacks that bit of extra color the two of you carry, but brown hair, Irvine's skin tone. He could easily be yours."
'At what point is she going to realize I'm no longer listening to her?' Wondered the commander while deciding over brands of breads.
He hates shopping, all shopping. He missed the simple life of going to the cafeteria and having a nice bite to eat. Not meals that need to be prepared, or babies that need feeding, or anything else other than eat, sleep, mission, train - - when not on a mission - - good, simple, things.
"Don't you agree?" Rinoa continued.
'Agree, to what? Okay, so it is eerie that Kait could pass as Irvine and my kid, but he isn't. That's a fact. And somewhere out there, his parents are looking for him or they're dead... and he needs to start getting paperwork done for a good home found for him by an adoption agency.'
"I'll bet that in a week - - tops - - you'll love him."
Shocking himself that he'd been listening enough to reply, Squall states very bluntly. "You'd be surprised. Kait is like Irvine; he seems to like people until the do him wrong... I'm the opposite, I dislike you until you do right by me - - just look at Seifer. It took a long time to convince myself that his constant presence in my life wasn't always going to be a problem, that he'll eventually be a good person, at least somewhat of a good person."
"Aaand?" She questioned due to missing the point.
"And he's Seifer, he'll never change, not your face, anyway - - Zell has begun saying otherwise about him, so he can't be all bad." Especially if a guy once hated on-sight suddenly becomes your bed-buddy. Seifer must have a secret side for such relationships.
"But Kait's a baby, what harm can he do?"
"We don't know anything about him, where he came from, why he was left in the tree in the first place... A mystery is a mystery, and until its solved I'm gonna have my guard up."
Rinoa groaned inwardly at how stubborn men can be - - this man in particular. But there's nothing she can do but hope Irvine has everything under control, and that Squall will eventually come around.
# #
"I'm actually surprised that you didn't want to join them, Seifer." Remarked Quistis, while the ex-knight held the door to the third floor office open for her. "Thank you." She said it like: "Did you know when the traffic light turns yellow, that red is the one to follow". "Zell's with them, and the baby."
"Yeah, because my goal today was to hang out only in places inhabited by Dinky, but maybe," he used a giddy tone, that would scare a horror villain. "snag a peek at the cute little ticking time bomb, wrapped in a baby's skin." He followed her in, since their conversation hadn't ended.
"You don't honestly mean to tell me that you really think that baby has a bomb in it, do you?" She opened a filing cabinet rifling through, until she found the correct folders that she needed. Quistis then proceeded to file the papers away within them.
"Tch. You don't know where or why that baby was put in that tree, and you sure as hell don't know if it isn't carrying something. It could have been a trap."
"Seifer," she adjust her glasses with a very controlled snooty look on her face. "I had no idea that you possessed such a suspicious mind."
Seifer shrugged; he took a seat at the desk. "Hey, I hate 'em first and" Rocking his hand back and forth to show the degrees. "we'll see them later."
Rolling her eyes; Quistis wanted to tell him to grow up, but decided against it. Reforming Seifer would take a person their entire life, and she has plans.
"Can I ask why you didn't go, Miss Trepe?"
"I have work, as you can see." She stated very matter-of-factly.
"Mm. Wanna eat lunch with me?"
Nodding, she then shooed him from the desk. "I have to concentrate now. Beat it."
"Excuse me."
"Your excused. Close the door on your way out." She waved him off with her back turned to him.
Seifer walked to the door then right through, it leaving it as open as it can be; laughing when he saw the look on his childhood friend's face.
# #
"Good thing we brought separate cars, there's a lot of stuff." Irvine glanced to the back of the large car he and Squall drove to the store in, when the trunk closed causing the vehical to jiggle. Clipping the buckle into the latch he checked it giving a few quick tugs ensuring that it won't move away if the car hits a bump in the road or something. "Hn. Not bad for my first go."
"We'll be right behind you guys." Says Zell before walking away from their car to return to his own.
"I can't wait to see the place. I've never been to the barracks before..." Selphie can be heard speaking with Rinoa as they walk back to the car they came in.
"Did you get everything he needs?" Asked the tempering grouch.
"Every thing we could think of." Irvine answered. Smirking he gave his boyfriend a nudge. "Got some other things, as well."
"Such as?"
"I'll show you when Sis' comes; knowing you, you called her and she's on her way."
Shaking his head, he replied. "She didn't pick up, but I left her a message to call me back."
"Mm." Turning in his seat he says to the rambuncious baby. "You'll be stayin' with Sis' while I'm off on a mission. But don't you worry, she's one of the best people in the world. She'll take good care of you until I get back."
"If we don't find your parents by then." Squall chimed in.
Nodding, Irvine repeated. "If your horrible parents don't come back for you then - - ohf." His eyes close as the teddy bear smashed into his face after leaving Kait's grip.
Squall laughed outright. "Guess he doesn't like you badmouthing his parents."
Returning the bear to the child, Irvine turned back around in his seat unfazed by it. "Not like it ain't true."
The car quiets for about a minute or two, so Irvine reached for the stereo restoring the classical tunes that were playing earlier in the day. For most of the way home it was enjoyable silence to the sweet sounds of piano with a Japanese flute, which knocked the baby out cold.
"So like, after disecting seventy-five percent of the shopping list, is there anything edible for lunch?"
"Check the bags when we get home." Squall replied a little too casually.
Smiling, Irvine chuckled softly. "This is gettin' kinda romantic now; we've got the home, we've got the baby - - I may just have to put a ring on your finger darlin'."
Squall scoffed. "I'd sever it afterwards."
"Heh heh, no you wouldn't."
"Wanna try me?" He looked at the finger-sniper a second.
Holding his hands up in defense he replied. "Not for a second, but the thought is nice, though, havin' a family that will be there for ya - - one you can call your own." After a thought he added. "Not that I would trade my family now for a second, but you know what I mean."
'I do. That's what scares me, wanting something so bad and then it all just goes away. Can anyone really talk so uncertainly about something just based off hope? Sometimes I feel like I know too much to dream like an emotion-driven child... yet other times I can't stop dreaming, or smiling at what the dreams consist of. But aren't some things better left unsaid - - like how you truly feel about some one? Because what if it all did just go away... I need to stop thinking.'
So to Irvine he says. "Sort of."
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