Tidus had met Yuna on the bus. Most of the time, they ended up sitting close to each other, so eventually, he'd said hello and introduced himself. After that, they always sat together: him, Yuna, and this big ronso guy missing his horn who was always hanging out with Yuna. He spent most of his time glaring silently at Tidus. Tidus felt like that was a bit of overkill, it wasn't like he was about to start acting like a creep.

He asked her once what she did and she told him she was learning to save the world. He'd figured she meant she was going to find a cure for cancer or AIDS or something. She was just that sort of person. Tidus told her that he was the star player of the Zanarkand Abes which may or may not have sounded more impressive than it actually was. They were definitely more minor league rather than major league, but he was the best blitzball player on the team, so that much was true. Tidus was a very good blitzball player, he was just waiting to get discovered and get discovered as so much more than just Jecht Mazer's son.

"You should come to one of our games," He told her one day.

Yuna smiled. "That would be nice." It was hard to tell whether she thought he was being serious or not. Tidus decided to go with the former.

"Great! I could get you some tickets for this weekend if you're free."

Yuna blinked a couple times. "Uh, yeah. I think I'm free." She looked over to ronso guy who shrugged. He was a man, er ronso, of few words.

"It's going to be pretty intense," Tidus said. "We're playing the Bikanel Thorns, they're our current archrivals, but if they go too easily, we might have to find a new one."

"Oh," Yuna nodded.

Tidus spent the rest of the ride that day telling her about the latest round of Blitzball rivalries.

Yuna looked surprised the next day when Tidus handed her an envelope with the tickets in it, telling her to bring a few friends. He made sure that they were good seats, too. The perfect view for watching him pull off the Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III. (Not that he was trying to show off or anything, he was just really proud that he managed to pull it off. Take that old man.)

"Hey, you were pretty good out there," one of her friends said afterward. (Tidus was pretty sure it was Wakka.)

Tidus shrugged with fake modesty. "Yeah, well, they don't call me the star player for nothing."

Wakka laughed and slapped Tidus on the back. Hard. "Listen, brudda, I play for a team and I could put in a good word for you if you're interested, ya?"

"What team?"

"Besaid Aurochs." Wakka smiled when he saw the look on Tidus's face. "Hey, don't look at us like that. We're going to win a game any day now. We just need some young blood."

Behind him, tall scary lady, another one of Yuna's friends, gave a very intimidating glare. "Wakka," she said in a warning tone.

Wakka scratched the back of his head. "Come on, Lu. It's not about that."

Tall scary lady raised an eyebrow like she meant business.

Wakka didn't seem to be bothered. He turned back to Tidus. "Anyway, I can't guarantee anything, but stop by if you're interested."

"Uh, yeah. I'll think about it." He was interested in the offer, but getting on the bad side of tall scary lady seemed like a bad idea. Her gaze was so sharp that he was honestly a little surprised that he wasn't bleeding from it. Hey, even a job with the worst major league team would pay better than his current job with the best minor league team.

Yuna told Tidus later that he kind of reminded Wakka of his younger brother, Chappu. Apparently, he'd been a rising star in the blitzball world a few years ago. He'd played in college and was a good kid: passionate, friendly, in the reserves for the Crusaders. He'd been recruited one of the big teams and went out and got drunk to celebrate. When Tidus looked it up, there were some pictures of the crash. It wasn't very pretty. There were also some pictures of tall scary lady at the funeral and captions describing her as the mourning fiance. That, at least, explained why she'd been so grumpy.

Tidus didn't really know much about Yuna, he didn't even know what her last name was. He did know that her father was dead. That had been an awkward conversation, but at least he could sympathize. His dad had gotten up and disappeared when Tidus was nine. He'd only learned later that he'd died when Auron showed up at his house and told him that Jecht had been with Summoner Braska on his pilgrimage. He didn't need to explain anything else. Everyone knew that people died on pilgrimages. Tidus was just pissed that he'd just left without telling anyone about it.

Yuna knew a bit more about him. Well, she didn't know all the details about the whole Jecht walking out and getting himself killed thing, but not a bunch of people really did. She did know his favorite food and that he was a blitzball player and about all the drama that was going on in his team and about how awesome the puppy he'd just adopted was. Tidus talked a lot. Yuna didn't seem to mind, or else she was just really good at hiding it. He liked to think that she enjoyed listening to him ranting about his day, or at least that she didn't mind it. The bus ride was one of the best parts of his day, which why it sucked when she didn't show up one spring day.

He didn't have her number, which was probably a good thing, because otherwise, he'd end up texting her nonstop. He tried to tell himself that she probably just had a doctor's appointment or something, but Yuna had never missed the bus, like ever. He didn't like to admit it, but he was worried. Especially when she wasn't on the bus the next day either. The day after that, she still wasn't on the bus, but the big Ronso guy was.

Tidus ran right up to him. "Hey, is Yuna okay?"

The Ronso nodded. "Yuna fine." He reached into his satchel and pulled out an envelope which he handed to Tidus. "Yuna give you this."

Tidus looked at it. His name was written neatly on it. "Uh, Thanks."

The Ronso nodded and didn't say anything else.

Since the conversation was obviously over, Tidus turned his attention to the envelope. He ripped it open and a generic invitation fell out. It looked like it'd been pulled off the shelf at the drugstore at random. There was a date, time, and address listed, but other than that his "presence was cordially requested" there wasn't much detail on what it was for. When he looked up the address, it turned out that it was for Besaid temple, which didn't tell him much. Maybe Yuna was getting hitched, but it didn't really seem like that.

He showed up at the time and place, Yuna had invited him after all, and was led out back to a little garden that he hadn't know even existed. Tidus didn't really spend much time in the temples, they left a bad taste in his mouth ever since what happened to his old man. There were only a handful of other people there, standing about in a tight knot with Yuna at the center. None of them noticed him.

Tidus cleared his throat. "Am I in the right place?"

Everyone turned to look at him. Besides Yuna, the ronso was there, as well as Wakka, tall scary lady, and a cute Al Bhed chick who he hadn't seen before. Everyone looked serious.

Tall scary lady glared at him. "You invited him?"

"Lulu!" Yuna cried, looking a little embarrassed. "He's my friend."

Tall scary lady shrugged and went back to giving Tidus the stink eye.

Yuna stepped forward and gave a little bow. "Thank you so much for coming." She didn't say to what. Was he just expected to know? "We should be starting soon, we were just waiting for you."

"Sorry to keep you waiting then." There was something different about her that Tidus couldn't quite place. "Mind introducing me?" He asked, gesturing to the little crowd.

"Of course." Yuna led him over. "You already know Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri." She gestured to Wakka, tall scary lady, and the ronso. "And this is Rikku, my cousin."

The blond Al Bhed chick gave a little wave. "Hi."

"They've all agreed to be my guardians," Yuna continued. "And, I know this kind of sudden and I didn't get the chance to ask you earlier, but I was hoping that you'd consider saying yes, too."

Tidus finally placed his finger on what was different about Yuna. She was wearing summoner-style robes. "You're a summoner?"

Yuna nodded. "Yes."

He blinked a few times. "I thought you were joking when you said you were going to save the world."

She shook her head. "Well, maybe a little." He could tell she was trying to lighten the mood and it just wasn't working.

"And you want to me to be your guardian? Why?" It made no sense. He was just some guy that she sat next to on the bus.

"Because I trust you, and," she hesitated, "because your father was a guardian to mine."

Tidus wasn't surprised that she knew he was Jecht's daughter. A quick search on the internet would tell you that. It was the fact that her father had been Jecht's summoner that surprised him. Tidus wracked his mind trying to remember who it had been. He had tried to block out that part of his memory. "You're Braska's daughter?"

Yuna nodded. "It's not really something I talk about."

Tidus wasn't sure what exactly to say. The first question she'd asked was hanging between them, clamoring for an answer.

"I, I don't know if I can be your guardian," he said at last. He'd left Yevon behind without a backward glance on the day his father had left him. It wasn't something that he could just go back to. Not all of sudden, not like this.

Yuna's face fell for just a moment. She smiled again, a little sadder, but it was a smile. It was more than Tidus could really manage at that point, but Yuna had always been something else. "Thank you for considering it at least."

"I'm honored that you asked," Tidus hurried to add. "I- I just don't if I can do it." People got killed on Pilgrimages. You had to travel outside of the safety of the cities to get to the temples. He'd heard that the fiends would eat gladly eat your flesh off your bones for a meal. "Sorry." It felt like a weak excuse.

"It's fine. I just thought I'd ask."

They stood there, an awkward silence between them until the cute Al Bhed chick walked up. "They're ready, Yunie. Whenever you are," She said gently.

Yuna nodded. She turned back to Tidus. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Tidus said.

Yuna took a few steps after the cute Al Bhed chick.

"Wait," Tidus said. She stopped and looked at him. "When are you leaving?"

"The day after tomorrow, at noon."

"I'll come and see you off." It was the least he could do after knowing her so long.

Yuna smiled. "We'll be leaving through the east gate. I look forward to seeing you again." Then she left. One by one, the rest of the people in the courtyard filed after her, following the Yevon priest into some inner sanctuary, leaving Tidus alone. A couple of them looked back at him as they left, but for the most part, he was ignored.
He left, too. Tidus didn't want to spend any more time in that place than he had to. Too many bad old memories, and some fresh ones as well, apparently.

Yuna wasn't on the bus the next day, neither was the Ronso guy. At practice, it felt like the picture of his dad in the locker room was staring at him and mocking him behind his back. You're too much of a coward, it said. I should've known better than to think you'd have the guts to follow my footsteps.

"It's not like I cared about your opinion, Dad," Tidus mumbled to himself. He threw a towel over the picture and hoped that nobody noticed.

He didn't really have his best practice that day. At least three different people yelled at him to get his head back in the game. Look, Tidus wanted to yell, so I'm having an off day. It's perfectly reasonable. It isn't like you guys have to face your past every day either. Part of him wished that he hadn't met Yuna on the bus, that she hadn't started this whole ball rolling in the first place. It was bad enough that a pilgrimage had taken his dad from him, did one really have to take his best friend as well? Not there was anything he could do about it.

Tidus was making himself dinner when he thought this (really just reheating take out, he didn't actually know how to cook) and did a double take. He hadn't thought about it too much, but Yuna was one of his closest friends. Sure, he dicked around with the guys on the Besaid Aurochs, but Yuna was different. And, as much as he was loathed to admit it, there was something he could do about it.

It would be insane. He couldn't just abandon his life and become a guardian. He had a dog and he hadn't paid his taxes yet. Plus, he was the star player of the Zanarkand Abes and he might be able to get in the major leagues of Blitzball if the Abes won the championships for the third year in a row. But he couldn't just leave Yuna alone, not without him feeling guilty about the whole thing for ages afterward.
Things were getting way too complicated. Tidus decided that he would sleep on it.

The next day, everyone else was at the east gate already when Tidus got there. Yuna, Wakka, cute Al Bhed Chick, tall Ronso dude, tall scary lady (seriously, did all of Yuna's friends have to be taller than him?), and one person that hadn't been there before, Auron.

"So you're Yuna's friend," he said. "I was wondering who we'd be waiting for."

"What are you doing here?" Tidus asked. "You show up, tell me the bad news and disappear? Was it too much to stop by and say high?"

"Can we please not fight today?" Yuna asked.

Tidus breathed in and out. Today was for Yuna. "Fine." He glared at Auron. "But you still owe me an explanation."

Auron shrugged. "I had things to do. I promised Braska to look after his kid, you looked like you were doing fine on your own."

"That doesn't mean you have to just abandon me."

"Duly noted."

Tidus turned to Yuna. "It'll be lonely without you on the bus," he said. It seemed like a stupid thing to say, but were there really words that could capture just how he felt?

"I'll miss you too," she said.

"Uh, good luck on your pilgrimage." If felt like such a generic thing to say. He could probably find a greeting card somewhere with that phrase.

"Thank you."

That stupidly awkward silence was back again.

"Goodbye," Yuna said. When Tidus just stood there, she turned to leave.

Tidus didn't think. "Wait!"

She stopped. "Yes?"

"I, I think I can be your guardian after all," he stammered out. "If you'll still have me."

Yuna smiled. "Of course I will."

Tidus left the city that day. It was mildly insane. There was still food in the fridge that would go bad. He hadn't let anyone know that he was leaving town and he hadn't packed a change of clothes. But he was following Yuna and for now, that would be enough for him. He did leave a voicemail for the Zanarkand Abes though. Just so they'd know that he wasn't being a complete prick by abandoning them right before the playoffs and so they'd know to take care of his dog.

After all, he liked to think he was better than his old man.

AN: I started this back in July only just now got around to finishing it.

For the record, the Besaid Aurochs are basically the final fantasy version of the Browns. They suck, but they have this really passionate fanbase.

This started off as a modern AU, but then it turned into this modern-fantasy hybrid and I just liked this idea of Tidus getting to know Yuna first before he learned she was a summoner. They're totally going to kiss before the pilgrimage is over, but other than that, I have no idea how this ends. Hope you enjoyed reading this!