fandom: Final fantasy VIII
title: This Road We're On
genre: General, romance (kinda)
rating: G
pairing: Irvine/Selphie
summary: Takes place awhile after Squall and Rinoa split (throw tomatoes all you want, bitches, I'll just eat them... mmm lycopene). Selphie sort of questions the relationship between herself and Irvine. (premiered 09/20/05 at 607am.)

If it could have been any darker that night, you would have sworn someone had just dumped a bucket of black paint on the entire world. The new moon had risen; the only things offering even the tiniest sliver of light were the stars, which were particularly brilliant on this mild summer night.

Irvine Kinneas lay on his back in the cool grass just outside of Balamb Garden. With the Ragnarok available to the team now, Squall and Cid had both decided the Garden should be grounded again. There was no use for it to be mobile anymore, especially with no imminent threats present in the world.

One of his arms was behind his head, elevating it a bit so he wasn't lying completely flat on the ground. The other was at his side, acting as a pillow for the petite Selphie Tilmitt, who was lying by his side. She'd been quiet for several minutes now — no, forget that; it had been all day today and she hadn't once made her rounds to persuade people to join her beloved Festival Committee.

Kinneas worried about her because of this. It wasn't like her at all. In fact, it was her idea to come out here in the first place. "Let's go outside," she'd said, her voice so... un-Selphie that he'd wondered if Squall had switched personalities with her (too bad he couldn't find Squall, or else he'd have compared). He'd agreed, with a casual, "As long as I get to be with you," which got a little smile from her.

The only thing she'd wanted to do was be completely alone with him, lie in his arms and think about things, take a break from her normally "sugar-driven" (thanks, Zell) lifestyle to see what was so great about brooding. Squall liked it. Of course, it was foreign territory for Selphie, and she was not at all welcome to it. Squall sure liked strange things.

"I never asked you," Irvine said finally. His voice was smooth and calm, so much that it sent a shiver through Selphie when she heard it. "What's up with you today, Sefie?"

She was quiet for awhile, trying to think of how to answer that. "Well..."

"...Well, what?"

"Squall and Rinoa."

"What about 'em?" Oh. Right. Rewind. Garden's most well-known couple had split just a little over a month ago. (And it was just now getting to her? Well, it made sense, really; the girl was always too busy to have to worry about those kinds of things.). Rinoa had returned to Timber, but had promised to keep in touch and visit, of course. Squall hadn't seemed much affected by it, but then again, how could you really tell when all the guy did was hang out with his good friends Paperwork and Responsibility, no matter what?

"That's... not gonna happen to us, is it?"

The uncertainty in her voice made Irvine's ladies' man part of his mind scream at him for not just assuring her with a passionate kiss. Of course, the rational gentleman part of his mind took over and told him to use those nifty things called "words" instead.

"No," he said with confidence. "'Course not! Listen. Squall and Rinoa are two people on two different roads. Always have been and always will be. Between their roads is a median, which they really can't cross at random 'cause then they'll end up in a wreck. And see, we all thought they were perfect for each other, 'cause it turned out that their roads merged together into one. But then the road split again, and it'll keep doing that, Sef, because that's how life built 'em." Well, damn. Maybe his secret passion was philosophy.

Selphie considered this for a bit. It made perfect sense, and oh Hyne, what a great way to have put it.

But he wasn't finished. He still had to tell about them. "But us, Sefie, we've been on the same road forever. Life put us on a one-way highway and we're gonna be ridin' alongside each other, takin' the turns and speeding up and slowing down and just cruisin'. It'll always be like that." With a satisfactory smile, he hugged Selphie closer to him.

The redhead smiled as well and willingly pressed into the larger frame of Irvine. Her Irvine.

She certainly was glad to be on the same road with him.

AN: I'm currently in the process of moving several of my stories from my personal writing journal on LiveJournal (607am) to here. I'm keeping them at the aforementioned journal, though ... just putting them on here as well. :)