Spider

It was close to midnight when Squall opened his front door and shuffled inside the darkened foyer. He hadn't planned on doing overtime at Garden, but with a backlog of paperwork piled up and an upcoming inspection, he couldn't afford to waste nights curled up on the sofa with Rinoa, watching movies and listening to her drone on about her daily events. No, the Commander (although he would never admit it) painstakingly sacrificed his socialising time with wife dearest to take place behind stacks of reports and cadet files well into unsociable hours.

A dim glow from the upstairs hallway lamp could be seen descending half way down the stairs, but not a sound other than Squall's breathing could be heard. Squall assumed Rinoa was already fast asleep. A couple of nights ago he had returned home to find her sitting up in bed, swiping away at her phone while waiting for him - well, at least that's what she claimed, but he had a hunch she had developed an addiction to the games on her phone and that, in reality, was the reason for the dark circles under her eyes.

Squall discreetly kicked off his shoes and began tiptoeing his way to their bedroom. He softly turned the door handle, letting out a flood of bright, yellow light onto their landing. He smirked to himself, thinking he'd find her in an upright sitting position, knees bent with one hand resting her phone while the her index finger slashed away at the screen.

Yet when Squall entered the room he abruptly stopped; it was devoid of human presence. Their bed lay in a mess; sheets crumpled and thrown across the floor. One of the pillows was left propped up against the headboard while the other was missing.

Squall scanned the rest of the room; everything else seemed to be in its place, their bedside lamp was still intact, as was their laundry basket and chest of draws, including all the items they'd been swearing to clear from weeks ago.

Not wasting any more time, Squall checked the bathroom for his missing wife, but that was completely empty. Ignoring the silence he so carefully respected minutes ago, Squall raced downstairs, feet thumping on each carpeted step until he reached the front passage and made his way into their living room.

As soon as he turned on the lights, there nestled into a ball was Rinoa, eyes closed and arms hugging her pillow. He approached her carefully and placed his hand on her forehead. Her eyes shot open, her forehead creased. When she realised who she was staring at, her lips parted to form a smile.

"Your hand's cold," she observed.

"What are you doing in here? I went into the bedroom only to find it's a complete tip and you're no where to be seen."

Rinoa blushed as she rose into a sitting position. "There was a spider in our bed," she moaned.

Squall let out a hearty chuckle, shaking his head at her.

"Seriously?"

"No!" Rinoa cried out, already concluding what thoughts Squall was currently processing. "It wasn't just any spider, it was those thick, black ones. I went to get in bed, and when I threw open the covers, it scurried right across the mattress and went behind the headboard." She shivered in disgust.

"Oh my . . . Okay, c'mon." Squall nodded toward the door. "Let's go see where this spider went."

Rinoa hurriedly followed after her husband, still clenching onto her pillow. Squall obviously couldn't comprehend the severity of the situation; the spider was a villain who broke into her house, attacked her and then went into hiding. If she wasn't already expecting her husband, the commander of Balamb Garden to come home, she would have sent word for SeeD's finest to put an end to such felony.

Back in their bedroom Squall began checking their duvet, mattress and the back of the headboard for the convicted spider. Unfortunately, for the sorceress, it was no where to be seen.

"Pull the bed out and check," Rinoa pleaded.

With a sigh, Squall obliged but found nothing. "Nope, no spider here," he confirmed, pushing the bed back into it's rightful position. "Wherever it was, it's gone now."

Squall took Rinoa's pillow and began re-making their bed. Rinoa picked up the king-size duvet she had earlier chucked on the floor and attempted to place it over their bed quite unsuccessfully.

"Here," Squall held out a hand to her and took the duvet. Giving it one big whip, he managed to spread the entire duvet over the bed.

Rinoa smiled as Squall tucked himself into the newly made bed. Squall managed to catch it in time and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You inspire me."

"What?" He was baffled by the sudden statement, almost sure she was about to make a remark on Garden's bed-making techniques. Indeed, amongst fighting monsters and evil sorceresses, Garden also stressed highly on the practise of household chores.

"You inspire me," Rinoa repeated as if Squall had misheard.

". . . Okay," Squall shrugged as he lay his head down and closed his eyes.

A minute or so passed and he felt Rinoa's head rest on his shoulder. He cradled his left arm over her and gave her a kissed on the head.

"You didn't ask what I meant by that comment."

"Hmm, I assumed you'd tell me anyway without my asking."

Rinoa pinched at his rib for his over-confidence. So she was a little predictable, recanted every detail of her day's events over dinner, and confided in him most of her secrets. That didn't mean she would tell him everything. Did it?

"Whatever," she mimicked him. She could feel his muscles against her head stretching to a grin. "I was saying you inspire me because, even with being the world's saviour and commander to the best Garden, you come home and it's like you take on this whole different role."

Squall frowned. "What do you mean?"

Rinoa looked up so she was facing him and rested her chin on his chest. "I always thought you couldn't be two things at once. Like, when I was younger I wanted to be a lawyer, but then I thought I wouldn't be able to get married and have kids alongside having this huge career. But you go on missions and save people's lives, then you come home and search for spiders and make your own bed. You make it look easy."

Squall shook his head, uncertain of Rinoa's sincerity. "Rinoa, it doesn't much to make a bed."

"No, I know that. I'm just saying, I don't know how you juggle your personal life and Garden together."

"It's easy," Squall remarked. "As soon as I enter that door, I leave Garden outside. Why do you think I ignore their calls on the weekend, unless it's directly from Cid's office? I like to keep work at work and home right here with you. Mixing the two is when you end up with problems; people stressing you out when it's your day off, or bringing up personal problems when you're on a mission."

"Is that why you won't join my gaming group?" Rinoa asked.

"That along with the fact that I don't understand how you dedicate so much time to your Crunchy Pets."

Rinoa burst into hysterical laughter, covering her mouth when she realised how loud she was being; she didn't want the neighbours to complain.

"It's Candy Crush and Pet Rescue."

"Whatever!" Squall rolled his eyes. "Either way, I don't do these phone games; my phone is a device I use for communication. And while I don't mind the rest of the gang, you have people like Nida and Xu part of the group and they're more work colleagues."

"Hm, fair enough, I guess," Rinoa replied.

"Even when they wanted to play Triple Triad, I made sure it was only in the cock-pit. I'm not one to mix games and work together," Squall remarked.

Once again, Rinoa let out another laugh, this time more of a snort. "You liar! If I had a gil for every time you'd make us wait while you challenged people to Triple Triad during the mission against Ultimecia, I'd be a gillionaire."

"I didn't do that for fun; it was to refine items," Squall fought back defensively.

"Yeah right!"

"I did! And you lot weren't complaining when you got better weapons and equipment." While they both were joking, Rinoa knew there was slight resentment in Squall's tone. Commenting on his work ethics was a touchy subject.

Nevertheless, whether he played for fun or not, she gave him a loving squeeze.

"Anyway, it's really late and I have to get up early. Let's go to sleep," Squall yawned.

Rinoa lay on top of him for a little while longer, before Squall turned away to a more comfortable foetal position.

"Sorry, don't mind, I can't sleep when I'm hot," he excused himself.

When they had first started sleeping next to each other it was very difficult to come to a common ground; Rinoa was adamant that couples fell asleep cradled in each other's arms, while Squall argued that no couple could get a decent amount of sleep with a dead arm or a ribcage for a pillow. Sleeping in the spooning position proved bothersome when he was the big spoon; Rinoa's normally silken hair coiled into his face, making it rather itchy and difficult for him to breathe.

Suddenly aware of the missing spider, Rinoa gathered the hair around her ears and used it to cover them; the last thing she wanted was the spider to lay eggs in her ear holes. She moved closer to Squall, making him feel hotter so he kicked the duvet off his body and willed his body to accustom to the room's temperature.

"Squall?"

"Hn?"

Rinoa kissed the back of his neck but got no response from him. She kissed again, harder and in several sensitive areas of his back but still nothing. Rising up on one elbow, she peered at Squall's seemingly sleeping expression. She placed several more kisses on his cheeks, temple, jawline and eyelid.

Squall chuckle tiredly. "Rin, what do you want?"

"I just want to kiss you. You've been away all day."

"All right," Squall gave her a quick peck on the lips. "There you go, now sleep," he commanded.

"No, that was too soft."

Their lips met again, but Rinoa being in a more dominant position kept her's over his, massaging his lips and lightly biting the bottom of his lips. Squall broke for breath but only for a second before Rinoa clamped her lips over his again.

She could feel him stifling a giggle through their kiss. Finally, he was able to free himself from her grasp.

"Okay, enough. I need to sleep, I have an early morning," Squall moaned.

Rinoa clamped her arms over him and rested her head on his. Squall moved further to the edge of the bed, but Rinoa only moved closer to him. Other than the excessive body heat emanating from her body and her hair tickling his face, he couldn't sleep with the feeling of being wrapped by a Grat - normally he wouldn't liken his wife to a monster, but at times the situation couldn't be more precise.

"Rin, move up," Squall demanded.

"No, the spider is still in here somewhere."

"What? How does that explain why you're pressed right onto my back?" Squall struggled to turn. "I'm gonna sleep on the floor if you don't move."

Rinoa stared at him, calling his bluff. Squall waited for Rinoa to give in, but when she didn't, he swiftly rolled onto the floor with his pillow. Sighing to himself, he lay down on the floor. At times he could entertain her playful nature, however, he needed to be up in a couple of hours and needed all the undisturbed sleep he could get.

"Squall, get on the bed!"

"No, leave me alone."

Rinoa huffed. "I was joking, come on."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine here. Just go to sleep."

"You can't sleep on the floor."

Squall sighed, "I've slept on harder surfaces. Just go to sleep, please."

"The spider's going to crawl into your ears!" Rinoa cried.

"Good, maybe he'll sing me a lullaby and put me to sleep."

The bed creaked and Rinoa's footsteps descended next to his ears. Soon enough, she lay down next to him on the carpeted floor, cuddling up to him. Squall opened his eye and stared at her. She only smiled in return.

"What? Why won't you let me sleep?" the commander moaned again.

"I wanna sleep next to you."

Squall shot up off the floor and returned to the bed. Rinoa took seconds to follow him but only managed to get her knees on the bed before being stopped by Squall.

"I'm telling you once: I have to get up early, if you won't let me sleep, I'm going back to Garden," Squall warned, he stared at her in seriousness.

Rinoa knew he wasn't bluffing and nodded in agreement. However, once they settled their drowsy heads onto the pillows, Rinoa wasn't done.

"Squall? Squall . . . Squall?"

"What!"

"Play with my hair," Rinoa whispered.

"No."

"Please, it relaxes me," she pleaded.

With a final huff, Squall took his hand and began scratch at Rinoa's scalp. He didn't know what he'd do with her. He had promised to love her for eternity, but he wasn't so sure he could do that with induced insomnia. He was used to sleeping rough while on missions without a hotel in sight, or staying up late into the wee hours of the morning when a deadline was approaching. But this was something else.

He hadn't realised how long he had been contemplating, but minutes had passed by and he began hearing the soft sound of Rinoa snoring.

"Finally," he whispered.

He turned over to his other side, feeling something tickle his arm. Looking down, he focused his eyes in the dark to see the missing spider, now flattened on the mattress. He picked it up to throw it away, but suddenly had a different idea.

The clock beside his bed showed 00:57. He smirked as he turned back to Rinoa. He gently placed the dead spider centimetres from her face. That way, if he didn't hear his alarm, she would be sure to wake him up.

Author's Note: Have to give thanks to my husband for being the inspiration for this oneshot (and many to come) as well as putting up with all my bedtime antics - apparently, I have an addiction to games on my iPhone.

I know I hugely suck at updating my fics, but I really do appreciate those that have stuck around and still read. I'm not sure when the Mini's will be complete, heck I'm not even sure if they ever will be. I have so many ideas for the Mini's, and some longer Squinoa oneshots, one of which I will be posting soon enough (like I'm gonna give you guys a date that I will most definitely miss) - I have the outline in my head, just need to get it on the computer.

Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews, it's nice to return to this community and meet people who share a love for this game, and make the characters come to life when the game is over.

P.s. Yes, it's 3 year since I've updated the Mini's. Please don't kill me!