“It’s okay”, she replied softly, the slightest hint of humor in her voice, twisting the corner of her lips just a little. More than used to his ways – and possibly a little too keen on looking the bright side of every situation except those concerning herself –, she didn’t really mind his tone. If anything, it was his reaction that made her notice any sign of harshness in his remark.
The way Quistis saw it, in fact, it was actually a remarkable improvement, moving past the usual annoyed reaction. Even if they had crossed that line for a long time now.
“I could ask you just the same.” Even if not looking at her, he certainly could hear the smile in her words. For a moment, she averted her eyes from him, letting her gaze wander through the quiet surroundings. Not even close to the hurly-burly of cadets coming and going, let alone to what they had seen in times of war. No wonder why Squall seemed so serene.
“I guess I needed some time off… And though most people would say it is indeed a bad day for a walk, I don’t really mind staying out in the rain for a while. Quite the opposite, really.” She took a deep, satisfied breath, the scent of rain filling her lungs. Thankfully enough, Balamb Garden was enough of an actual garden, plants and earth enhancing the smell.
“Not to mention the quieter, the better.” Her gaze found its way to him again. “Don’t you think?”
Of course he did. She could only hope she wasn’t too much noise.
For a split second, he thought to retort that he liked the rain. But it was clear by her smiled voice she knew exactly that, and would chime right in had he managed to utter it. It came again, once long back before the end of the war, and now again beneath warm raindrops. She knew him. It wasn’t how he understood Seifer; he just got Seifer, they both knew exactly how the other would act and react to anything. But she knew him deeper than that. Somehow he had given it all away, some book whose spine was easily cracked and whose pages were read in one sitting.
It was unnerving and it made him shudder silently.
He knew she wouldn’t go away, and he knew he wasn’t going to admit he had felt isolated recently. Feeling like a floating stone forgotten in an ocean, and she always ended up being a persistent dinghy searching for lost souls. But if he looked at her, he’d keep swimming like the idiot he was.
Holding his hand out to catch some of the rain falling from the overhang, he took a breath of wet air as well. Reminded him of things.
It occurred belatedly he probably had been inadvertently avoiding her in his time back to Garden. Maybe he was so good at it he had forgotten what she was doing now as just a SeeD, some rank he shed gladly after things changed for him.
“…You should take a vacation.”
He was being hellishly painful, but for so long, it was talk between an instructor and a student. It was different now. It was free. And it was strange.
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