"Not the most...graceful win. If it was Chappu, he'd still be standing."
Lulu stared at Wakka on the blitzball pitch. He floated, exultant one minute and slumped over the next, the obvious result of what could only be called the game of his life. You're doing it again, Lulu quietly thought to herself. Do you always have to compare him to Chappu? Is the measure of every man cast in the shadow of Chappu?
"Hey, aren't you being just a little unfair?" Tidus addressed her plaintively, and Lulu frowned.
He is right. You know he is. Still, Lulu couldn't prevent the flash of anger that caught in her throat, an unwanted flare of emotion that Tidus provoked with his judgment. "Excuse me?"
"I know I could never take Chappu's place." Tidus continued. He met her gaze squarely, defiance playing behind his eyes. "You're the one who told Wakka that, right, Lulu? And I don't think Wakka would ever try to take Chappu's pl-"
"You don't want to finish that sentence." Venom dripped from her words, but even as she spoke, she felt herself softening. He doesn't mean harm by it. Leave him be, Lulu.
Tidus merely shrugged and moved toward the locker room. Lulu watched him go, and breathed a strained breath, low and through the nose. She closed her eyes, clenched - then unclenched - her fists, and let her anger subside. Short fuse, she thought. Wakka always says I have a short fuse. Perhaps he is right. She opened her eyes, recalling Tidus' words. Perhaps they are both right. Somewhere behind her, Yuna cleared her throat.
"You okay, Lulu?"
Lulu forced a smile - not a natural action for her - and placed a gentle hand on Yuna's shoulder. "I'm fine, Yuna. Let's go see Wakka and the team."
As they walked, Yuna in front and Lulu behind, the Lulu worked to calm herself. Stoic, am I? That was another word Wakka used to describe her. She hadn't objected when he said it, in part because she was shocked by its presence in Wakka's vocabulary, but mostly because it was true. She was stoic - even-keeled, unemotional, level-headed, take your pick - except for when Chappu was involved. Not just Chappu, a small part of her whispered. Wakka, too. These last words sprang unbidden to her mind, and she shook them off even as the thought formed.
"…Lady Yuna!"
"Are you okay?"
Lulu snapped back to reality as the team crowded around Yuna, Datto and Letty and Botta beaming, their hands a mass of flurried gestures as they recounted the game to the now-safe Summoner. They have a right to be this excited. Their first set of wins in 23 years, she thought. Even with Chappu they never managed a win. And somehow that big lug pulled it off… She looked up reflexively at the thought of Wakka, and met his brown eyes from across the room, where he sat upright on a bench. Tired, she noticed. Tired but content. He really did it, huh.
"All right!" Wakka spoke now, and all heads turned toward him. He stood up from his seat on the bench, grunting softly with the apparent effort. Though Lulu knew he was hurting after the brutal match, she watched him draw himself up to full height, gritting his teeth in a passable smile. "I got something to tell you boys. After this game…" he paused, eyes searching till they found Lulu's. Holding her gaze, he spoke again. "After this game, I'm retiring. I promised myself this would be my last tournament. Win or lose, I'm quitting blitzball."
Lulu thought she caught a flash of something in his eyes - a mix of relief and sadness - as he spoke. Wakka...
"But you know...since we're here, we might as well win!" His pained grin split wider as the team erupted in cheers, and he clapped Tidus on the shoulder. "I'm warming the bench. He's taking my place." He turned his eyes now from Lulu to his team. "All right boys, let's win this one! Let's make Goers goners!"
"Let's blitz!" Tidus took up the cry, and exited the locker room followed by Yuna and the eager Aurochs.
Alone in the room, several moments passed in comfortable silence. Wakka, still grinning despite the pain, whorled a blitzball in his hands. Watching him Lulu felt a pang of emotion catch in her stomach, unexpected this time instead of reactionary. She couldn't parse out it's meaning. Warmth? Happiness?
Love?
She forced herself to look away from Wakka, shaken by the traitorous thought. Not him. Not Wakka. He's my friend. He's my older brother. He's…she refused to summon the image. Instead she cast her gaze to the floor, then back up. She moved toward him. Slow steps.
"I saw you floating there, on the sphere." She said quietly.
Wakka drew in a sharp breath, smiling fading. "You weren't supposed to see that," he murmured, suddenly stumbling forward and collapsing into Lulu's arms. She swayed slightly under his weight, as near as they'd ever touched, the emotion in her stomach spreading like electricity across her skin. You big lug...you really did give it your all, didn't you? Even as she set him on the bench he started to rouse, eyelids fluttering and lips mumbling almost-unintelligibly. "Sorry, Lu. I didn't mean to do that, either." He made as if to sit up, but Lulu put a soft hand on his chest, forcing him down.
"Shush, Wakka…" He doesn't know when to quit, does he? Not now, not when it comes to Blitzball, not when it comes too…, she paused, fighting the emotion, fighting the thoughts it spawned, losing all the same.
Not when it comes to...us.
"No, really, Lu, I'm fine, you know? I'm -" Lulu kissed him with a ferocity that surprised herself, and he fell back against her unexpected ministrations. Shush, Wakka. A fire burned where they touched, her lips against his, an ember of passion stoked after years of unconscious dampening. She pulled herself on top him now, prone, breasts crushed against his chest, hair falling around them like a black veil. A low moan resonated in the air - Lulu didn't know if it came from her or Wakka - and she found her hands sliding uncommanded across Wakka's body to the fastenings of his uniform. Wakka grunted - That was him, she thought with guilty satisfaction - and pushed himself up on his elbows. He broke their kiss to address her in a strained voice.
"Lu, what are you doing?" When he looked at her there was almost sadness in his eyes. Lulu sat back on her heels, lips throbbing, and regarded him. Her eyes narrowed slightly, characteristically, and her mouth drew into the wan line she often affected.
"I knew you were lacking in the imagination department, Wakka, but I'm surprised even you need an explanation of what that was." Her words sounded haughty and harsh to her own ears as she spoke. And once again I drag him down from the heights of joy. Why? Why must I always hurt him?
"I…" Wakka opened his mouth and began to speak, but faltered, casting his eyes away.
I'm breaking his heart, Lulu realized. He thinks I see Chappu in him. He thinks -
"Don't do this to me, Lu. You know how I feel about you."
She did know. She had known Wakka's feelings for her, even when Chappu was alive. It had been easy to brush him away, easy to shrug off the feelings of the affable Blitzer. And he had respected that, and her, in her gladness when she loved Chappu and her grief when she mourned him. Wakka had loved her unwaveringly for a decade she suspected - since they were children, really - and had never once asked something of her.
Until now. Lulu pulled away from him and retreated to a spot an arm's breadth away on the bench. Its slats felt cool and hard, a stunning contrast to the explosion of heat that had bloomed between her and Wakka moments before. Emotion choked in her throat, and she was seized by a sudden, primal urge. To weep? No, Lulu never wept. Not even when Chappu - Lulu cut her own thoughts off. Must it always come back to him? No. She shut her eyes, Wakka regarding her with resigned sadness. No, it needn't come to that. Chappu is gone. He is dead. He is just a memory. A memory of a boy you loved. Put him to rest, Lulu. Leave him in peace, and face this man - the living breathing man - and tell him what he deserves to know. Lulu open her eyes and faced Wakka.
"Wakka, I…" Lulu wasn't sure what to say, or how to say it. "I couldn't…" She broke off. Wakka looked expectant now, almost curious, seeing Lulu hem and haw. Spit it out, damnit! "You - you're a good man." She managed finally. "I wouldn't…," she sighed, "I wouldn't...you know...if I didn't...if I didn't really care for you. For the man you are." She frowned, and Wakka regarded her with puzzlement. "I care for you like that, Wakka." She was grumbling now, impatient with Wakka and embarrassed with herself.
"Lu?" For Wakka's part it was less a question and more a statement of disbelief.
"Oh, for Yevon's sake." She looked him square in the eyes - kind eyes, brown eyes, brimming with a levity she had never possessed. "For Yevon's sake," she repeated, moving so their faces were scant inches apart. "Kiss me, Wakka."
His lips hovered a finger's breadth from hers, a hot magnetic current beckoning her closer. Will he have me? She wondered. Then, a softer voice in the back of her mind. Do I deserve him? Seconds stretched out into an agonizing eternity.
"Lulu…" He reached out wide, calloused fingers and gently cupped her pale cheek. He nudged her buttocks with his other hand, pulling her lightly atop him, splayed across the bench as they had been before. She could feel his penis beneath the folds of her dress and the fabric of his pants. It was hard and almost febrile with need, pulsing with the rhythm of his heartbeat. Yet he did not kiss her. He grinned instead, looking down his nose at her and tracing one hand upwards along the back of her dress. He was panting lightly, too, but Lulu suspected it wasn't from his earlier fatigue. His hand caught at the top of her dress, fingers seeking purchase in the fur lining. He tugged it down, softly, freeing her milky-white breasts. They rested maddeningly against Wakka's own warm, tan chest, exposed partially by his blitzball uniform. Lulu heard him suck in a breath, and both hands moved now to trace the outline of her taut nipple with his thumbs.
Almighty Yevon! Lulu thought, Wakka's tender ministrations sending bolts of thunder arcing through her body to meet at the juncture of her thighs. I didn't expect him to be so subtle...or skilled. Lulu had always imagined Wakka the lover to be the same as Wakka the man: bumbling, overeager, and unrestrained. Apparently not. He splayed his fingers now and cupped the full weight of her breasts, groaning a little bit.
"This is...much better than holding a couple of blitzballs." He half-whispered, half-croaked. Lulu coughed indignantly and made as if to sit up. Wakka smiled and pulled her back down, pushing her dress down past her hips as he did so. "A joke, Lu. It was a joke." Lulu rolled her eyes, but Wakka turned the gesture from exasperation to ecstasy, his hand reaching down to nestle in the black curls between her legs and probe the wetness between them. His fingers were blunt and thick, but Lulu welcome the intrusion. She shivered as he danced them between her folds, alighting first at her swollen, pearl-like clitoris before slickly entering her, one finger at a time. His other hand still played over her breast - pinching, thumbing, caressing - until an aching pleasure almost robbed her of her ability to speak. Two fingers massaged inside her, impossibly long, and she gasped out a hoarse breath.
"I said...kiss me...idiot…" She was the one panting now, shaken by the intimacy of Wakka's touch. He grinned wider and removed a hand from her breast to pull her lips onto his. Their kiss was as shocking as she'd found it the first time, a fine meaure of tenderness and urgency, the balance tipping slowly toward the latter. Lulu found her lips responded instinctually to his, parting when he parted them, pressing when he pressed into them, pursing when he nipped her lower lip. His tongue darted into her mouth, testing. He pulled two wet fingers, almost squelching, from inside her and used them to massage her lightly throbbing clitoris. She almost lost herself right then and there, but instead hung on, refusing to be swept away just yet by the waves of pleasure crashing over her. I have to get out of this stupid dress.
"Undress me, Wakka." She rasped, pulling upward to undo the big man's own fastenings as she spoke.
"I thought you'd never ask."
She placed an arm on either side of his body, suspending herself above him as he yanked her dress over her hips and pile it at her ankles. She kicked lightly out of it, stunningly naked as her shoes were easily cast aside. Wakka whistled low in appreciation, and Lulu impatiently pulled him out of his blitz uniform. His cock sprang forward eagerly as she unbelted his pants.
"Oh…" Lulu paused, catching sight of it. He's...well, I suppose what he lacks in the imagination department, he makes up for here. Indeed, by Lulu's reckoning Wakka had been blessed with the most glorious cock she had ever seen. Erect, pulsing, and enormous, the thought of him entering her sent a primal shiver down her spine. She reached to touch it, rubbing some of her own wetness across its blunt tip. Wakka tensed and closed his eyes as she did, unmoving but for the quickening rise and fall of his chest. Finally he prized his eyes open and spoke.
"You...uh...you okay with...you know...in a locker room?" Wakka's concern even at this late stage in the game of lust caused Lulu to smile, rare and unforced.
"Please," she scoffed with fake annoyance.
Freed from the confines of her dress she straddled him, grinding her pelvis along the length of his shaft. The friction was exquisite, breathtaking, even, and it wasn't long before Wakka was urgently guiding her hips toward penetration. She was damp and ready for him, but moment still stunned her, like the shock of cold water on a hot summer day.
"Oh Yevon…" Wakka groaned.
Lulu answered him with a low and strained moan, sinking down to his hilt and drawing in a ragged breath. His hands moved from her hips to her buttocks, cupping and thumbing her pink nipples. She began to gyrate slowly atop him, certain she might come if he so much as thrust into her. And at that moment he did, bouncing her slightly and clenching his buttocks. The light slap of skin-on-skin and the sounds of his entry and exit within her wetness made a pleasing symphony. Maddeningly, Lulu felt the almost-forgotten refrain - orgasm - play across her body. She tensed at the precipice of it then cried out, softly, body relaxing and womb contracting reflexively against the cock inside her. The caress of her ecstasy must have proved too much for Wakka to withstand, for he answered her cry with a growl of his own. Lulu felt the hot spurt of semen inside her, and lowered herself to kiss Wakka, trembling slightly.
They were still joined at their hips when, a short time later, Wakka sat up upright and pulled Lulu onto his lap.
Puzzled, Lulu arched a quizzical eyebrow. The capacity for speech had been slow in returning.
"It's...uh...almost halftime, Lu. You - we - might want to get dressed before they get back in here." Wakka grinned sheepishly and blushed faintly, less lover and more friend now.
Lulu didn't mind. She slid off him, stooping to gather their far-flung scattering of clothes. We should do that again sometime, I think. She eyed the blitzball sphere as the clock counted down. Somewhere more private.
"I've got a room booked at the Inn, Lu. A single. Team captain bunks alone and all that." Wakka seemed to have guessed what she was thinking, but he averted his eyes, suddenly made bashful by his own suggestion.
Lulu - fully clothed now - gathered herself and stood, turning only her head toward Wakka as the big man struggled into his uniform. I'd go now if we could.
"How wonderful for you," She replied instead. Her stoniness was returning in tandem with Wakka's abashment, though the effect was somewhat softened by the smile that still played about her lips. Wakka seemed instinctually to understand this, and despite himself he moved boldly toward her to take one of her hands in his own.
"The boys are comin' in now, Lu. I think I'm going back out. Wish me luck."
Lulu let her smile bloom for a moment. Wakka squeezed her hand, returning the soft smile, then let go as the Aurochs and Tidus tumbled into the room, back-slapping and whooping.
Good luck, Wakka.
She turned to leave, glowing with the warmth of unexpected contentedness.
Goodbye, Chappu.