Sweet Tooth

“...so then Cid had me collate some papers and dial a phone call to Edea. Now that she’s restoring the orphanage for the kids under five who can’t go to Garden yet, she has been working with the White SeeD and Cid hasn’t had the chance to see her. He missed her so much and when I asked him why he didn’t call her before asking me today, he told me he didn’t know how to use that new cell phone Quistis bought for him! Isn’t that funny, Squall?”

Rinoa typed a little more and paused when she hadn’t heard some form of response. “...Squall?”

Turning in her chair slightly, the young sorceress glanced back at her knight from where she sat at his desk. As commander of Garden, he’d been allotted a large room to himself, which was going to be made into a large suite, according to Xu and Cid, and both of whom had made Rinoa promise to keep it a secret. Still, Squall was practically engulfed by the couch cushions with his arms spread out and his head just poking above the beige fabric as the back continued to suck him in.

Squall, on the other hand, seemed to be oblivious to his plight – his eyes were trained to Rinoa’s left.

Curious, Rinoa pivoted her gaze from her knight, to the e-mail she had been writing to Watts and Zone that continued to glow on the laptop screen, and then to where Squall was staring.

A round jar filled with salt water taffy.

Rinoa jockeyed her glance between Squall and the taffy. She’d bought the candy earlier in the day from a traveling vendor in Balamb and had been munching on pieces now and then as she had been working – she had recently become a personal assistant to Cid so she could stay close to her friends and Squall without necessarily having to enroll as a student. (After she had taught the headmaster how to use his cell phone correctly, she had rewarded him with a blue raspberry piece of said candy and he had taken it greedily like an eager little boy).

Rinoa cocked her head to the side slightly, watching Squall questioningly.

He doesn’t seem to have noticed me staring at him... She giggled quietly.

She ended up having to press a hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter as the elite SeeD, gunblade specialist, and commander of Garden licked his lips. His eyes were bright and his whole body remained tensed like a lion stalking its prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.

This is too priceless... Rinoa glimpsed back to the desk and found a copy of Garden Rules and Regulations: Third Edition, Unabridged near the top right corner, grabbed it, and promptly dropped it to the floor.

A satisfying smack echoed throughout the room and Squall jumped so far that when he came back down, he got tangled up in the dowdy cushions – one boot-clad foot stuck out to the side and a leather-gloved hand reached up in the air. “Mmgwuah!” he cried in confusion and Rinoa toppled out of the rolling chair, holding her sides and laughing loudly. “Rinoa...” she heard him growl, but from beneath the cushions, it sounded more like, “Wingnoa...”

Wiping mirthful tears from her cheeks, Rinoa rolled onto her knees and rose. “Yes, Squall?”

“Cang oo et me up?”

Rinoa snickered. “Yes, I can get you up.” She leaned over, grabbed his hand as it started to sink beneath the surface of his cushiony, comfort furniture prison. With a good yank, the young sorceress popped her knight out and they toppled to the large area rug bearing the Balamb Garden crest.

“Ow...” Rinoa reached back to rub her head slightly, wincing slightly. “When they said ‘hardwood,’ they really meant it...”

Squall waggled his head before looking down at his sorceress. “Rinoa...” When she blinked up at him, hand still on the back of her noggin, she saw his frown twitch into a smile (even though he’d tried to stop it – quite valiantly, she was sure). “...There goes my sternness,” he mumbled. “And I had a scolding speech prepared, too.”

One of Rinoa’s thin, dark eyebrows arched upwards. “Oh? According to what directive?”

“Garden Code 493:5.”

“Article four nine three, line five? I don’t remember seeing it go beyond three hundred fifty...”

“Well there is,” insisted Squall. “You just haven’t seen it.”

“Oh?”

Squall’s smile widened fractionally. “Yeah. 493:5 states that Squall Leonhart will not be caught off-guard by Rinoa Heartilly more than her necessary allotment of ten times a day.”

Rinoa half-smiled, rolling her eyes. “I haven’t gone over ten today...”

“Yes, you have.”

Her arms reached around his neck, hands clasping at his nape, and dangled loosely from there. “But I’ve barely seen you.”

Squall briefly inclined his head to the side once. “I know. I’m sorry. But you still caught me off-guard. And you dropped one of my books.”

“It’s your own fault for gaping at that jar full of taffy and being so out of it.” Rinoa stuck her tongue out at him.

Squall turned red up to the tips of his ears. “I...I was not gaping at it. I was—”

“Admit it, Leonhart, you were staring at that candy, I know you were! You didn’t hear a word I said.” Rinoa pushed him off, feigning offense. “And here I was, missing you,” she said, standing with her hands tucked behind her back and bending over at the waist slightly to admonish him. “And now you expect me to just take the fact you found salt water taffy more interesting than me—”

Rinoa ceased talking abruptly as Squall’s bare fingers touched her lips. She trembled slightly, wide-eyed and he smiled somewhat, warm.

“I’m a SeeD, Rinoa, and I’m not supposed to have weaknesses. However, as you may have noticed, all SeeDs do and the headmaster even said he doesn’t want us to blindly follow orders, so I guess weakness serve a purpose as making us individuals. In my case...” He moved his other hand, also gloveless, to her hair – both gloves were stowed in the pocket of his pants. “I have a sweet tooth. I like pretty much any kind of candy and salt water taffy happens to be my favorite candy. I haven’t had some in a while so I got a little sugar-crazy.”

Rinoa gave a voiceless nod. They stared at each other for a long while and it was the flash of the laptop going to the screensaver that brought the young sorceress back to her senses. Her face felt hot and the way Squall was gazing at her – warm but mischievous – was not helping matter at all.

“S-so,” she began shakily just as Squall lowered his hand from her mouth and set it to the curve of her hip, “if you had such a sweet tooth...why didn’t you just ask me for some?”

Squall gave a half-shrug. “Figured you’d tease me. The others wouldn’t let me live it down, especially...you know, I think they’d all torture me fairly equally.”

With a laugh, somewhat disbelieving yet good-natured, Rinoa murmured, “Oh, Squall... Well, you can have some – as much as you want, okay? Just leave me some.”

He seemed to consider this. “Hm...” he hummed. “Nah. I think I’ll pass.”

Rinoa stared at him, clearly bemused. “But, I thought you wanted the candy...”

“I did want the candy but my sweet tooth has...” he gave a boyish smile, “shifted a little bit, if you will.”

Squall reached over to the jar and unscrewed the lid with one hand, still keeping Rinoa in his grasp. Pulling out a piece of cherry taffy, he held it out to her, where the sorceress took it warily. Slowly, she put it in her mouth and chewed – her eyes on his.

What is he up to...? she wondered briefly. Then, Squall dipped his head and kissed her firmly but tenderly. Rinoa was surprised – her knight wasn’t usually so forward or so...romantic.

Most people wouldn’t call this romantic, she thought vaguely, scooting up closer to him, but for Squall...this is. Might as well enjoy it. But the kiss ended quicker than she hoped and Squall leaned back, a smirk on his handsome face.

“Hey now! You can’t just end a kiss that quick!” pouted Rinoa, waggling a hand at him. Squall continued to smirk at her before chewing slowly. She stared at him in disbelief. “You...! You stole the taffy out of my mouth!”

“Yup,” he agreed unabashedly. He munched some more before finally swallowing. “I was able to curb my sweet tooth for now by getting two sweets at one time.”

Rinoa narrowed her eyes, though she was far from angry. “All that...for your taffy.”

“Well,” he began to slip his gloves back on, “I think you’ve developed a bit of a sweet tooth yourself now.” He tilted his head to give her a chaste kiss. “Besides, it makes up for you slipping cough syrup into my mouth last month.”