FFVIII: 0300 Hours

[edenbound]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Rating: PG
Summary: Squall couldn't fathom why Zell would come to him. For 30_friends.


"...so I told her to go away, y'know, because -- "

Squall pushed himself up on one elbow, pushing his hair out of his face and rubbing at his eyes. "Zell. One, what are you doing in here? And two, are you drunk? Because you're sure acting like it."

"I'm not drunk. I mean, I've been out, but I haven't had that much and I was just telling you about the girl I went with, y'know, the girl from the library, and how that really didn't turn out well for a first date but I guess you weren't listening."

Squall flopped back onto the bed and found the insides of his eyelids incredibly interesting, hoping Zell would take the hint. He didn't. Instead he sat down on the edge of Squall's bed. When he opened his eyes to peek at what Zell was doing, he found him staring at the floor.

He looked pointedly at the clock, which was proudly telling the world that it was three o' clock in the morning, as if it was an achievement.

(Squall had issues with that clock. It always seemed to mock him, with its brightly luminous green hands and its incredibly shrill alarm.)

When Zell didn't say anything, Squall huffed softly. "Are you here at just after oh-three-hundred hours just to inform me that you got dumped?"

"...I guess so."

"Couldn't you bother someone else?"

Zell got up hastily, running a hand through his hair. He refused to meet Squall's eyes and simply muttered an apology, turning to go.

Squall suddenly hated his newfound conscience when it came to friends. He put a hand over his eyes and sighed softly. "Get your stupid ass back in here and sit down and talk about it if you need to. I'll listen."

If friendship was about sitting up until oh-five-hundred hours listening to Zell talk about the library girl and how things had dramatically failed with her, Squall decided that he'd been right, before, to avoid friendship like the plague. But now he had it, he didn't want to lose it, either.

Tricky little thing, friendship.

Comments

[lassarina]

I like this, especially the way you intercut the military time statement with the demands of friendship. It works.

[siva630.livejournal.com]

That's lovely. I think it's always touching to see Squall opening up to the other characters -- especially Zell, as he seems like the most sensitive of the bunch. Well done. :)