Title: Cat�s Cradle
Pairing: Squall/Irvine
Rating: G
Disclaimer: *sigh* not mine.
Cat�s Cradle
There was really not much for anyone to do. The Garden was hurtling through the ocean towards FH, but to the passengers aboard it may as well have been at a total standstill. They were all gathered around the bridge, waiting for something to happen. It was a beautiful day and the sunlight streamed through the huge front window in a double effect, from the clear sky above and shimmering like diamonds from the blue sea below. All the same, it was boring.
Zell and Nida were talking at the front of the bridge. Nida kept one eye on the view out of the window in the slim chance that they may come across an obstacle, his other eye watched Zell, which was no mean feat. Zell�s enthusiastic gestures and bounces contrasted dramatically with Nida�s more statuesque stance.
Quistis and Xu were also deep in discussion close by. Selphie and Rinoa were engaged in a game of Cat�s Cradle, giggling as they passed the patterns made of string from hand to hand. Irvine watched from a corner opposite the front window feeling nostalgic. The image of an energetic young girl raced through his head, trying to get people to play with her. He leaned back against the wall, crossing his legs and arms simultaneously and rested his chin on his chest. Drifting in and out of a pleasurable hazy daydream, feeling the warmth of the sunlight through his clothes, he recalled events that he had shared with several people who were in the room and lamented briefly that he was the only one who could remember.
From beneath the brim of his hat he could see Zell�s trainers, which skipped in and out of his vision, Selphie�s not so dainty shoes as she unnecessarily stood on tip toes to take the string from Rinoa, and Squall�s boots, one foot facing towards him, the other turned away at an angle. He didn�t need to look up to know that Squall was in his trademark stance, one hand on his hip, the other by his side, resting all his weight on one leg. Deceptively casual, as if he was trying to give the impression that he didn�t have a care in the world.
//He�s fooling nobody. //
Suddenly, Selphie�s feet bounced out of vision, then returned accompanied by Rinoa�s. They lingered for a second, the two pairs of shoes almost dancing back and forth together, and then they vanished, accompanied by the sounds of giggles. The lift began to whir and Irvine looked up in time to see Selphie grinning and waving him goodbye. Rinoa offered him a shy smile as the two girls slipped out of sight.
Mentally shrugging to himself, Irvine turned back and glanced at Squall. The stoic leader was still in his lopsided stance, but he was holding the loop of string that Selphie and Rinoa had previously been playing with. His brow was creased thoughtfully as his eyes darted over the circle of twine.
Irvine smiled to himself. The girls must have tossed it in his direction before they left. He fell back against the wall and let himself slip sideways slightly so that he was snugly wedged in the corner of the room. He was just about to pull his hat over his eyes and attempt a genuine catnap when Squall did something quite unexpected.
Squall stood up straight, smoothed out a non-existent crease in his top, and wrapped the string around both hands in turn. The first was slow and tentative, but the second was much faster, as if a forgotten memory had caught up with him. Then he slipped his middle finger of each hand under the string around the palm opposite and pulled his hands back, so that the string crossed, web like, between them. Frowning, he studied the result carefully, twisting his bound hands to look at the pattern that he�d made.
What had he made? How did he know how to do it? What the hell was he supposed to do with it now? He�d seen Selphie and Rinoa playing the childish game earlier but he�d paid no real attention to them. He had no idea what he�d just done or why, but it had felt so natural at the time. Once he�d started, he had just switched on to autopilot. He frowned deeper, he couldn�t understand it and he found it frustrating.
He was just about to shake the string from his fingers when another pair of hands entered his field of vision. They gripped the two crosses, pulling them out and under the string, then up again through the middle. Squall automatically pulled his hands away and the string was left on the other pair of hands, forming a flat area with a diamond shape in the centre.
Squall looked up and blinked at Irvine. The surprise was evident in his face, his lips parted in an unspoken question. His unguarded expression made him look younger, more like how Irvine remembered last seeing him and less like the unemotional block of ice that he pretended to be now.
�Used to play it all the time.� Irvine smiled in explanation. Then he leaned in closer, lowering his voice to a mock whisper. �Selphie made us.�
Squall still looked puzzled, his brow creased softly beneath his fringe. //This guy frowns too much. // Irvine decided as he raised his hands slightly to attract Squall�s attention. Squall�s gaze flickered from the cowboy�s face back down to the linked hands. His eyes widened in sudden recognition and, without thinking, he pinched the two crosses on either side of the diamond, pulled them outwards and back up through the centre.
Irvine almost laughed out loud at the sight of Squall, deep in concentration, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he manoeuvred into a position to take the Cradle from him. He didn�t though. Squall suddenly looked so small and childlike, he didn�t want to risk hurting his feelings. Instead, he dropped his hands away, leaving Squall proudly holding an arrangement of string that resembled tramlines.
He looked up at Irvine eagerly. His grey eyes shimmered in a way that Irvine had never seen before and it clean took his breath away. Sure, Squall had been one of the first things that he�d noticed when he came to Balamb Garden, but his stony expression was continually set on his face and it ruined him. It was a crime to be that beautiful and mar it with perpetual scowls. Besides, there were plenty of other people, both male and female, to keep Irvine occupied. He had simply chalked it up as a sad waste and not looked back.
Until now.
Squall smiled. If the bright enthusiastic eyes had knocked Irvine for six, the smile knocked him for a baker�s dozen. Then the frown began to set in again, Squall�s eyes narrowed as he wondered quite what Irvine was staring at and why he wasn�t taking his turn.
//Oh, no no no no no� Enough with the frowns. //
Irvine jerked forwards and hooked his fingers under the central lines of string, crossing them over as he did so. He pushed his hands back up through the middle, grazing past Squall�s palms as he slipped the Cradle from his fingers.
That brief feathery touch of warmth had felt good and Irvine didn�t want to pretend that it hadn�t. His gaze caught Squall�s and locked there. Squall didn�t blink or look away. The frown that had threatened earlier had passed and his eyes were wide, steel that shimmered. Irvine could understand how those eyes could look cold and grey, how the feeling could spread to his whole face, making him look detached and unapproachable. But right now they were dancing. Irvine imagined that with enough stimulation those expressive eyes could become like a wild storm. Squall really was beautiful when he didn�t look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, when he forgot to care, when he wasn�t so lost in his damn thoughts.
Through the remains of the earlier smile, Squall�s lips parted and he took in a deep breath. His chest moved with the exaggerated action and his tongue darted out of his mouth to lick his bottom lip, leaving the soft flesh moist. Irvine couldn�t help but look away as he swallowed and told himself to cool down.
Squall cocked his head almost innocently, only Irvine was certain that there wasn�t a trace of innocence in the action as he felt Squall�s gaze rove over his face and then down to his hands. He jumped as Squall moved forwards, he�d completely forgotten that he was holding the Cradle.
After much consideration, Squall took hold of the two crossing parts of string and pulled them up through the middle. Only, he didn�t do something right. Not only did he get himself stuck, Irvine also still had his hands tangled in the string, which was wrapped too tightly around his fingers for him to remove them. Squall tugged his hand in an attempt to free it.
�Arrgh! Don�t pull!� Irvine said, his voice going a little higher than he�d have liked it to go.
�Sorry,� muttered Squall.
�You were never any good at this,� Irvine replied as he began to ease a finger out of the loop that it was caught in. He was sure that his little finger would fall off at any minute from lack of circulation, but he didn�t mind. In this position, he was forced to be close to Squall, their arms were tangled together, their hands unavoidably brushing each other. He didn�t really need his little finger anyway. �Used to really piss Selphie off.�
His finger slid out, raw with a friction burn, and the tension in the string disappeared, allowing both pairs of hands to untangle themselves. Squall held the string up to look at and burst out laughing. It was a clear, honest, soul-cleansing laugh, completely uncontrollable and it sounded crystalline to Irvine�s ears. Squall grabbed his arm and pulled him down so that they were both bent over.
�Yeah,� Squall spluttered between chuckles. �I was crap, wasn�t I?�
Irvine laughed then as well. He wanted to sink down onto the floor, dragging Squall with him. And when they had both finished laughing, Hyne only knew what he may feel compelled to do then� But he didn�t, they were in too public a place, and with Squall, baby steps were probably required. So he simply laughed and held onto Squall�s arm, glad of any �accidental� touches that he was blessed with.
�Um� Squall?� Zell�s voice marked the end of Squall�s laughter. It just stopped dead, something that Irvine couldn�t help but notice, something that made his heart constrict ever so slightly. �You should take a look at this.�
Squall straightened up, offered Irvine an apologetic smile and handed him the loop of string. Those eyes were already glassy, their coldness spreading to the rest of his face, as he turned and walked away.
Irvine watched as Squall, Zell and Nida discussed something that the Garden�s radar system had picked up and prepared himself for whatever the problem was. But he smiled to himself. Now he�d seen that Squall Leonhart didn�t have to remain on his �Sad Waste of a Pretty Face� list, he�d make it his duty to whip up a storm in those eyes.