Disclaimer: I do not own FFVIII.

Squall was working in his office when he heard the sound of someone turning at the locked door, followed by impatient knocking. He sighed. He knew who it was. Only one person was stupid enough to interrupt him when his door was locked...Rinoa.

"Hold on," Squall said, not trying to hide his irritation.

As Squall got up to get the door, he threw the reports he had been reading down on his desk and watched as they knocked over the pile of already finished reports and fell to the floor, mixing together.

Great.

Squall grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. No one could give him a headache like she could. Then he heard more knocking.

For the love of Hyne, settle down

"I'm coming," Squall said in an even more irritated voice.

Finally Squall made it to the door, unlocked it, and threw it open. He looked down at the annoying little creature in front of him and just said "What?"

Rinoa just stood there with her hands behind her back, twisting her foot into the ground.

She's trying to act cute again, who does she think she's fooling?

Then she randomly pointed her finger in the air like she likes to do before finally speaking. "Well, I missed you!" And then she suddenly hugged him. Squall did not hug back.

We saw each other a half an hour ago...

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"I mean, why did you miss me already?"

"I don't know, I just can't help it!" And she squeezed him tighter. Squall grimaced and pushed her away.

"Hey, what was that?" Rinoa said putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm busy. You got to see me, so if that's all you wanted, I'm going back to work now." And Squall made his way back to his desk.

"What's wrong with you?"

Nothing is wrong with me, you're the one who can't be alone for thirty minutes.

"Nothing."

"I'm not going to take that for an answer! Now tell me what's wrong!" And she randomly pointed at the sky again.

Hyne, not that again...

"There's nothing up there, you know."

"What?"

"Where you're pointing. There's nothing there. There never is."

Rinoa hastily put her arm back down by her side and gave Squall a glare. Squall however, did not see said glare because he was already back at his desk trying to organize his now mixed up papers.

"Pay attention to me, Squall!"

"I pay attention to you enough! Can't you see I have other things to do?"

"More important things than me?"

Squall sighed in frustration at being forced to answer such an obvious question. "Yes."

Rinoa gasped. She looked like she was about to cry. "You're so mean, Squall! You should be grateful that I put up with you!"

"No one is making you 'put up with me', you know. You're free to leave me any time you want." Squall secretly hoped that that time would be now. This meeting had been the last straw. He could not deal with this woman anymore and it would just be easier on him if she was the one to break it off.

"Are you saying you don't think we belong together?"

Right now we don't even belong in the same room...

"Rinoa...let me show you something."

Then Squall got up and walked past Rinoa and towards the door. Rinoa being Rinoa latched on to his arm on his way by.

What is she doing? I thought we were fighting...

They roamed the halls for awhile until Squall suddenly stopped.

"Look at them, Rinoa, and then look at us," Squall said as he pointed to a couple fondling each other and giggling in the corner.

"That's just Irvine and Selphie. What about them?"

"Like I said, look at them. And then look at us. See any differences?"

Rinoa took her time looking back and forth between the two pairs and finally came up with a genius answer.

"One of them has a hat."

Squall smacked himself in the forehead.

I can't believe her...

"Rinoa, look at them enjoying each others' company. Notice how both of them are equally participating, and how both of them look happy about it. Now look at us."

Squall wanted Rinoa to see how she was always clinging to Squall while he just looked annoyed and hopefully she would realize that this wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

"Squall," Rinoa said as a small smile crept over her face, "are you trying to tell me that you think we need some alone time?"

Squall was mad now. Even more than he usually was all the time anyway.

"Hyne, what's wrong with you?" Squall shouted as he broke free of Rinoa's grip.

"Squall, calm down, everyone is looking at us now," Rinoa said as she looked around at all the watching eyes.

"Well good. Then everyone will know what happened so they won't have to spread silly rumors."

"What are you talking about?"

"Rinoa...we're through."

Rinoa looked heartbroken. "You can't be serious? We've been through so much together!"

"That's just it, Rinoa. We went through a very stressful time together and in our weakness clung to each other. We should stop kidding ourselves. Our relationship was just situational, not fate or anything stupid like that."

"But I love you, Squall! Don't you love me?"

"No."

Rinoa was quite for a while. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Rinoa, when am I not serious?"

And with that, Rinoa started to cry and ran off. A few random girls in the crowd that she must have made friends with went after her. Squall watched them all run off for a bit before heading back to his office. He stopped when he felt a hand on is shoulder. He turned around to see Irvine and Selphie standing behind him. Irvine was the first one to talk.

"So buddy, you going to be okay?"

Why wouldn't I be okay? It's not like I need her to survive. I don't need anybody.

"...leave me alone."

"You sure you'll be alright, Squall? I mean, I'd be pretty upset if Irvy and I broke up," Selphie said as she hugged her boyfriend.

Yeah, you probably would be. But that's because you still like him...

"Whatever."

Then Selphie glomped Squall.

"What the hell was that for?"

"I'm sorry, it's just, you like to hide your emotions so I'm giving you a hug to cheer you up in case you're lying about being fine."

"...why would I lie about it?"

"Well, because you're Squall, that's why!"

Squall shook his head and then looked up and saw the smiling cowboy.

You look awful happy for someone who's girlfriend is currently on top of another guy.

"What are you smiling at?

"Just relieved you don't seem to be enjoying this, otherwise I'd be afraid you'd steal my Sephie away from, being a single man now and all. But you don't seem to appreciate her, so I'll take her back now and let you get back to your constant brooding."

"..."

Irvine helped Selphie up, and they linked arms as they got ready to get out of Squall's way.

"Well it looks like you'll be okay, Squall, but if you ever do need anything, just let us know."

"...whatever."

Two weeks later, Squall was working in his office when he was rudely interrupted.

"Commander, you have a phone call."

"Who is it Nida?"

"It's President Laguna, sir."

Squall performed a classic face-palm. "I'm not talking to him. Tell him I'm not here."

"Well, sir, he told me you'd say that. And he told me that if you won't talk to him, to just give you this message."

"Fine, what's the message?"

"Word got around to him that you had broken up with Rinoa, so he was wondering if you were interested in going to visit him in Esthar, and um, going to the bars to pick up chicks together. He thinks it would be a good bonding experience."

The flash of rage in Squall's eyes was enough of a response for Nida. He quickly left the commander's office to report the bad news to Laguna.

"I'm sorry, President Laguna, he's...too busy at the moment." He felt bad telling the poor guy the truth because he knew he was really trying his best to bond with his son, but their opposite personalities really made it quite difficult.

"All right, I understand. Just let him know my offer always stands! Even if he doesn't want to go to the bars with me, oh man, he's actually not old enough to get into bars yet is he? Tell him I'm sorry I didn't think of that, but I could probably get him in anyway, but anyway, the point is that he can still come visit whenever he wants. Oh! Tell him Ellone says 'hello', too! And tell him that I did some digging and found out when his birthday is, because a father should know that sort of thing, and that I'm going to come with a cake big enough to make up for all the years I've missed. And..."

"Okay, sir, I got it, have a good day!" click Nida hung up the phone as fast as he could because frankly, he knew that the president would keep going if he let him. Didn't he have a country to run? Oh well.

Back in his office, Squall had already pushed the interruption to the back of mind, but he was distracted once again by Nida.

"I'm sorry, commander, you have another phone call."

"Who is it this time?"

"It's Rinoa."

Oh Hyne, not again. When will she give up?

Rinoa had been calling ever since they broke up trying to convince Squall that they could work things out, and that she didn't know what to do with her life without him.

"Would you like me to tell her you're not in, like usual?"

"No, put her through this time."

Squall picked up his phone and Nida transferred the call. He waited for Rinoa to speak first.

"Squall! Is that you? I'm so glad I finally caught you, we need to talk!"

"Please don't call me ever again."

"But I love you, Squall!"

"Whatever."

Then he hung up the phone.