"...hey, Squall?"

"Nnn?" His voice was agitated as Rinoa bothered him for the fifth time since he'd sat down to do his work. If his little Forest Owl noticed she was pestering him, she didn't acknowledge it.

"How much longer are you going to be?"

Squall sighed. "As long as it takes, Rinoa. Longer, if you keep interrupting me. Now I'm trying to concentrate..."

"...oh. Sorry." Biting the inside of her lip, Rinoa looked around for something to occupy her time. Anything. Issues of Weapons Monthly magazine, the Centra Encyclopedia, and Advanced Triple Triad just weren't going to do it for her this time. She'd suffered through them all already these past few weeks.

She rolled around on the floor behind Squall and reached up onto his bed, fishing the pillow off his mattress before rolling back to her original position. Squall felt the object just skim and tickle his back as she placed it behind him and laid her head down. "Sorry," she said again when she saw his back tense.

Squall shook his head. Absently, he muttered, "It's okay."

Rinoa gave a half-smile up to the ceiling as she wiggled her toes and fidgeted with one of her blue sleeves in her hands. The urge to hum something was almost irresistible. It was quiet in Squall's room- too quiet- and the sound of Squall's pen gliding across his homework was deafening.

It started low at first- Squall thought she was testing his patience and sanity- but the longer it took for him to acknowledge her song, the louder it got. Eventually, as she passed the intro to the song and began humming the first verse, he recognized it.

Rinoa, lost in her own reverie, didn't hear Squall set his pen down. He closed his eyes and felt his chin hit his chest, listening as the world fell away from them and they lost themselves in her melody. He felt the pillow move and he knew she was dancing on her back to the beat behind him.

She seemed to catch herself halfway through the second verse and stopped suddenly, flaring with embarrassment that she'd gotten so loud. With a start she lifted her head and turned around to face Squall, horrified that she could see his pen down when she looked over his shoulder at his work.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked. His voice was soft and warm.

Rinoa blushed. "I'm sorry... I barely realized I was humming at all."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure they could hear you all down the hallway."

His joke was met with silence and Squall cursed himself for it. He rarely teased, and because of that, his jests were always misread as truth.

Squall twisted his back to look down at Rinoa, who was crimson with embarrassment, and swiveled his crossed legs around so he could look down at her face. A nervous gaze stared back at him, her features upside-down beneath his own.

"I was just kidding, Rinoa. That was... really nice. I like that song."

His heart surged as her expression went from concerned to happy. "You do? ...I'm surprised you know it, actually."

"C'mon... I'm not THAT bad." He hesitated for a moment. "What's it called again?"

Rinoa let out a small laugh. "'Eyes On Me.'"

"Ah. Right." His lip curled up on one side in that way that made her swoon and he swiveled back around to face his papers. The scratching noise of the pen resumed just moments later, then stopped again. "...Aren't you going to continue?" he asked softly, in a tone that let her know it was a genuine question, not a tease- a request, really.

Flipping onto her stomach and smiling, Rinoa scooted forward and slowly ran her forehead up and down Squall's back. She couldn't see it, but he smiled wide at the affectionate gesture. She began humming again and he worked to the nostalgic song, though he didn't quite know why it made him feel so happy. Maybe it was the warm tone in which she hummed it, or the feeling of her touch on his back, but whatever it was... he loved it. And he very much loved her.