Author's Note: This is something I wrote as a request from a friend and RP partner, and I liked it enough to post it here. c: It's short and sweet and simple (it's no Origins), but someone else might just like it, too.
(And yes, I am hard at work on Origins, for those of you who wandered here because you have me on Author Alerts for that story - the weeks leading up to finals, and the finals themselves, were absolutely brutal, and I'm still recovering - I hope to have a Christmas update, and if not, expect one next Tuesday.)
Zidane had said to come to him if Vivi ever had "girl trouble," but Vivi wasn't sure what counted as "girl trouble," or whether or not he had any of it. There was definitely a girl involved. Eiko was the strangest girl Vivi had ever met - she was loud, she was rude, she was pushy, and she made his stomach and tongue twist into knots every time he saw her. Was that "girl trouble?" Or was that just run-of-the-mill Vivi trouble?
Whatever it was, it was keeping him awake. Between the Black Mages who talked and acted just like him, the shock of coming to an entirely new continent, and... and Eiko, he wasn't sure he'd ever sleep soundly again.
Vivi rolled off of his blanket, taking care not to wake Dagger or any of the moogles, who were all sleeping in a cluster around the broken central fountain. It struck Vivi as odd, suddenly, that Eiko had decided everyone but Zidane should sleep outside. "More room," she'd said. Zidane, though, got to sleep in Eiko's house. Dagger hadn't argued, though Zidane tried to insist she should sleep inside, too; something about wanting some alone time. Vivi shook his head. There were some things he'd never understand, and Zidane was probably one of them. ...There were a lot of things he couldn't understand. Still, he couldn't stop trying to understand.
The Black Mages. Stopping. What Queen Brahne had done to Dagger. What Kuja had done to everyone. Why he'd gotten so caught up in all of this, when all he'd wanted was to watch just one play.
And Eiko.
He walked to the ledge overlooking the ocean, the place he'd found it easiest to think. Grandpa would know what to do, he thought miserably, knowing he was wrong. Grandpa wouldn't know what to do, either. No one seemed to know what to do now. No one but Zidane, he corrected himself, surprised by his own irritation. Why did it bother him if Zidane always knew what step to take next? Why did it bother him that everyone looked to Zidane for answers, for guidance, for protection? Why did it bother him that Zidane was so much more interesting, led a more exciting life, got everything he wanted? Vivi tugged his hat down tight on his head, groaning miserably.
Why did it bother him if the entire way to Madain Sari, Eiko had spoken almost entirely to Zidane, or if as soon as they arrived, Zidane was the only person she had questions for? Why did it bother him that she ignored everyone else, especially him, to talk to Zidane instead?
"She's just a girl," he told a lonely seagull. It squawked and flew away. Vivi sighed, tugging on his hat again. I just wish she'd notice me. Notice, without mocking him in the process. I wanna impress her, just one time, so she'll...
So she'd what?
Ask him lots of silly questions? Talk to him for more than a few seconds?
Look at him the way she looked at Zidane?
The seagull returned, perching on a rock with half of a fish dangling from its beak. Vivi looked at the bird, shaking his head. "I... I think... I definitely have girl trouble."