SUMMARY: Response to Andromache’s V-day challenge to write a fic using the following quote: “I'd like to think that it was only a dream. A bad dream, one I want to forget....But by now I can't forget it. For the first time, I know what it means to be in love. Now I realize why you were so infatuated. You kept telling me I had no passion, but it seems that even I can be passionate! If I can forgive you, will you forgive me, too?” This is decidedly NON CANON-BASED, so don’t get your knickers in a knot over the fact that THIS IS NOT A SQUALL/RINOA ROMANCE. 
AN: I’m going to have to take a bath in acid to get rid of all this sugar-coated nonsense, but that’s the risk one takes when writing a romance. Some of you will notice the absence of Rinoa in this fic. She is currently 
vacationing somewhere in Centra, having a lovely time of it. =) (See? I’m being nice to Rinoa, according to the demands of the challenge...) 

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“Content,” by IngridSarah
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“I'd like to think that it was only a dream. A bad dream, one I want to forget....But by now I can't forget it. For the first time, I know what it means to be in love. Now I realize why you were so infatuated. You kept telling me I had no passion, but it seems that even I can be passionate! If I can forgive you, will you forgive me, too?” Squall put his hand to his head as if he were summoning a GF and then glanced up at Selphie through the spaces between his 
fingers. 

“You can’t be serious,” he said. His lengthy stare looked suspiciously like eye-rolling.

“Squall!” she scolded, sitting next to him on the steps of Balamb Garden’s new and improved theater, “this play is revolutionary. It’s not just about the drama! Didn’t you get to page nine?”

Squall looked at her like she had said something crazy, and then flipped to page nine. She eagerly watched his eyes travel from edge to edge of the paper. 

“The *princess* rescues the *knight* from the dragon?” 

Selphie smiled. He actually seemed taken aback. It was just the reaction she had hoped for from her audience.

“This is going to take the drama world by storm!” She announced, really getting into it, “It’s not just about making the dragon more realistic or bigger, or making the princess more beautiful, or even making the knight’s armor shinier. Things will never be the same after this!”

“Somehow, I believe that.”

“Squall!” she cut him off before he could protest again, “Remember. You *owe* me a favor.”

“Remind me ‘why’ again?” he requested, looking pained because he was already anticipating his embarrassment.

“Because I got you out of the SeeD dance. I *covered* for you! I had to pretend that you were *allergic* to my homemade cookies! Nobody would even eat them after that!”

“Aright, aright. But you did get me into this mess in the first place.”

“Whadaya mean?”

“You were the one who kept trying to set me and Rinoa up. Come to think of it, that *music* you played was a little...revolutionary itself.”

“How was I supposed to know that the flute part was written for the other piece of music? Besides, I think it sounded cool.” She paused a minute, standing up and stretching the leg that had been tucked under her during her conversation, and then she paused to consider.

“I am sorry, you know. For trying to shove you two together like that. I guess I was just trying to make you happy. You never seem like you’re happy.”

“A person doesn’t have to be in love to be happy. A person doesn’t even have to be happy...to be content.”

“I know that,” she sighed. “Squall?” Her face looked odd. It took a moment for him to place what exactly was so odd about it. Then it hit him: she wasn’t smiling. He had never seen Selphie Tilmitt without a smile before in his life.

“Yeah?” He asked, looking away.

“I know you’re not in love, but are you happy?” Her voice sounded wobbly. 

“Happy? No. I wouldn’t say I’m happy.”

“But a person doesn’t have to be happy to be content, right?”

“Selphie—“

“Are you content?”

He turned around to look at her, not sure why he was expecting that she would be crying by now. She wasn’t, though. Her eyes were bright and the smile was back on her face, but she didn’t look happy at all. She didn’t even look content.

“Maybe someday...” he answered the question without really remembering what it was. Then, again, without 
knowing why, he continued. “Selphie, the play’s great.”

Unexpectedly, she laughed. 

“You haven’t even read it yet.” 

“But the end...It really is different. Maybe it’s good to try something new once in a while...as long as I don’t get eaten by the dragon, that is.” She grinned at his joke, and then frowned a little. 

“Actually, you may want to take a look at the ending. I—I wanted to change it, but the committee said that one big change was enough, and we didn’t want to disorient the audience, but I can always go back to them and...”

“Let’s take it from here,” Squall cut her off, with a new sense of confidence sweeping through him. She scrambled for the page.

“If I can forgive you, will you forgive me, too?” Carefully, he tried to inject some feeling into the words. He saw what was coming up ahead, but it was distorted and small on the horizon, and he didn’t know yet which way it would turn out.

“Maybe I can.”

“Maybe?”

“The dragon said it was the power of love that helped me save you.”

“A kiss,” Squall acknowledged, looking out at their invisible audience, daring one of them to stop him. Selphie nodded quietly.

“And since I saved you, maybe that means I have to ki—“ *Selphie’s ending was far too long,* was all he could think as he reached out for her. As they kissed, some small measure of him felt, for the time being, if not happy, then at least content.

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END