Well, it could be worse.
Gippal had always walked the line between thinking before he acted, and acting before he thought; he was the type to reflect on situations, maybe, but not people, and certainly not himself. He was curious, so he might try to figure out how some people worked—he wondered about her a few times, that's for sure—but that was as far as it went. Gippal was a confident man, and that certainly hadn't changed. He had a strong sense of self-preservation, and while he might not mind charging headfirst into good trouble, the entertaining kind, but the, "sorry, I'm still in love with my ex," trouble was the bad kind of trouble. The last thing he wanted to be was on a losing end of a love triangle, and his instincts started to scream at him. Instincts he normally listened to. Then she came along.
The Machine Faction—it wasn't really a faction anymore, and probably needed a new name, but since everyone who joined still called it that, it stuck—had moved everything inside when they found out a storm was going to rain all over Djose Temple; machines and rain don't mix. They finally had everything in the temple when he heard someone knocking at the door, and he couldn't say he expected to see the woman who saved the world twice standing there looking a lot like a lost, wet puppy. A lost, wet puppy with boobs, and a white, revealing shirt that just happened to be soaked. Yeah, like hell he was going to turn her away. Plus, he did enjoy her company, it was fun to fluster her up when he invaded her personal space, and for all of her fidgeting and hip swaying, she seemed to enjoy it too. He respected her, and was as attracted to her as he was any other attractive woman, but something about Yuna had always set off a warning in his head.
A warning that he conveniently forgot when she started asking him questions about machina—it seemed she knew the way to his heart, whether she realized it or not—and started talking about how returning to Besaid after her adventure with the Gullwings had left her feeling unfulfilled. He couldn't recall exactly what his thoughts were at the time—Oh, I'll fulfill you, Yuna—well, maybe he could, but he'd decided to keep them to himself. She seemed wrapped up enough in what she was saying that he didn't feel a need to throw his input in; that was a first. Yuna seemed a little more playful than he'd seen her before, and when she told him that she felt like there was something else out there for her, something great, it took more willpower than he realized at the time to declare himself His Royal Greatness and see where she wanted to go with that. This wasn't to say that he had completely behaved himself. He hadn't, and the day that Gippal behaved was the day he showed up for anything on time.
The storm continued on for a few days, and even after it stopped, Yuna wasn't in any hurry to leave. She'd joined herself to him at the hip, and the two of them could often be found leaning forward and talking about anything and everything under the sun. Gippal liked to talk, Yuna liked to listen. Once, he teased her and told her he'd give her a test on a machine he was working on; she seemed disappointed when he told her the next day that he was kidding with her, and told him that she'd been up studying all night. Sometimes, he'd whisper something to her and watch her explode into a fit of giggles; the other members of the machine faction weren't quite as amused as she was, because they often assumed that the jokes Gippal was telling the High Summoner were at their expense. The days faded into weeks until he was getting a bit restless himself.
For someone who didn't reflect on himself often, Gippal was rather self-aware; it didn't take him long to figure out that his attachment to Yuna was getting stronger and heading into dangerous territory. He'd heard from Rikku that she journeyed through all of Spira looking for records of the last man she'd loved; he was the star player of a blitzball team from over one thousand years ago, her true love, all of that. Gippal wasn't much for true love, he was the guy who would teach you to fly a hoverbike and use it as an excuse to cop a feel. He was restless, he couldn't stand an obligation the second it started to feel like one, and by all accounts, this Tidus guy was a real hero. He, on the other hand, was about as heroic as his curiosity, and the fact that maybe he didn't want to see the world he'd wanted to keep safe destroyed. That's when it hit him.
Yuna didn't need a hero now; she was one.
At first, he'd thought she was like Nooj—a deathseeker. Her original choice of profession didn't do much to dispute that theory; if someone became a summoner for a reason like fame, they wouldn't last. Yuna lasted through all of Yevon branding her a traitor, and she was still ready to sacrifice herself. She launched herself into trouble headfirst, and seemed to have absolutely no trouble throwing her life in danger. The fact that she didn't even seem to think about it confused him; of course, he respected Nooj, too, but every time the man treated himself like a walking time bomb Gippal wanted to punch his lights out. But, the more time he spent with her, he realized that wasn't the case; Yuna wasn't looking for a place to die, she wanted to make sure the world around her had a place to live. Her heart was probably made of a combination of gold and pink lace, but her experiences through the last few years had taught her something invaluable; she knew how to guard it.
He wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse that she didn't decide to guard it from him.
The weeks turned into months, and Gippal felt his restlesness finally getting the best of him; he knew that while Yuna was satisfied, her travels had instilled a bit of an adventurer's spirit in her, and he asked her to join him. He'd taught her how to pilot, and the first time she crashed the motorbike and sent him flying ass first into a cactus was the first time he kissed her. She'd looked so embarrassed and concerned and utterly kissable that he couldn't help himself, and while she'd been distracted by trying to remove the needles (and here, he thought she was groping him), Yuna had kissed him back.
Gippal made it clear that he appreciated it when people were straightforward with how they felt; he was the same way, and he didn't like to beat around the bush. He always saw that as a waste of time, and preferred to just get to the point. Yuna seemed to as well, but the night that she fidgeted her way to him and told him that she wanted to stay close to him with a distracting sway of her hips, she wasn't very specific with what she wanted. So, he asked. He came right out and asked her what she wanted, what she wanted from him, and where her heart was. Gippal noticed where she hesitated, when she had something that was difficult to say, and by the time the conversation was over, her hands were clutched together so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Yuna told him that some part of her would always love Tidus, but the feelings she had for Gippal were different. Tidus was a part of her past, she wanted Gippal to be a part of her future. He waited until she was finished, then reached for one of her hands with his own in an unspoken commitment.
She smiled sheepishly. "Did I do okay?"
"Wonderfully, if I do say so myself."
On the journey home, Yuna had spotted an injured squatter monkey in danger of being hit by a hover, and before she could leap out to grab it, Gippal was moving and held it out to her as he shouted an apology to the confused driver. That, he realized, was when things really changed. The monkeys that hung around the temple did no more than irritate him, but he grabbed the damn thing before Yuna could throw her life in danger again. Yuna, of course, wanted to take the monkey back with them to Djose Temple, and it seemed that as much as she liked it, it liked him. He had no idea what she was feeding that thing, but it grew to be the fattest, most spoiled squatter monkey he had ever seen in his life. Gippal suggested taking it to Zanarkand to let it find its true love after she told him how she chased everyone out of the sacred place; he then jokingly asked why the monkeys got to have all the fun, but she seemed preoccupied with the fact that he wanted to get rid of her pet. One look at Yuna's disappointed face told him that it was here to stay.
She'd fidgeted her way into his room again a few nights after the monkey had healed and gained about fifteen pounds, and while he was sleeping, she curled herself up to him. Gippal was a light sleeper and she woke him when the door creaked as it opened, but he let her believe that she snuck up on him. Unfortunately, the blasted monkey also liked to sleep with him, and since Yuna took its spot, it decided to find a new one.
Gippal woke up with a face full of monkey ass the next morning. He picked it up and attempted to negotiate with the creature that didn't understand a word he said, and he thought Yuna was going to pull a muscle from laughing so hard at the exchange.
"Yuna, please. If I'm going to wake up with an ass in my face, I'd rather it be yours."
She showed that she was embarrassed by what he said, even now, by starting to fidget nervously. That determined glint in her eye said otherwise, and Gippal felt like maybe, just maybe, he was going to have something to really look forward to tomorrow morning.
The next morning, he woke up to a long tail thwapping him in his good eye.
Shinra proposed a joint operation to improve the Commspheres after a long discussion about them. Both men agreed that they had good taste in declaring the other a genius, and after some talk of revolution, Gippal agreed to collaborate; they would see just how innovative two of the most ingenious minds that Spira had to offer could get. He was almost finished with the part that he'd been working the longest on when he spotted a pair of dark boots with light laces.
"Morning," Yuna greeted, her hands behind her back.
Gippal stood up and scratched the back of his head. "You know, Yuna, I'm beginning to think you like that monkey more than you like me," he teased. "You feed it before you even tell me good morning. Come on, I don't see you waking up early to make me breakfast."
Yuna moved closer to him, started to swing her hips, and got that mischievous look that he'd grown to love. "I think it's fair," she started, and her smile grew.
"Oh?" He smiled, feeling just as mischievous as she looked.
"I don't kiss the monkey."
Yeah, it could definitely be worse.