by PrettyGothGirl
All Disclaimers Apply
Summary: RG It's tradition, almost forgotten... Rikku remembers things while Gippal paints her nails.
Author's Note: Something I wrote for a three word challenge at the LJ Community quitethecouple a long time ago and just realized I hadn't posted it here. The three words were nail polish, bridge and screwdriver.
The brush slid over her fingernails and she stared at him as he held her hand still and dipped the tiny brush back into the bottle of nail polish to get more of the shiny enamel. It was a long and almost forgotten tradition. She could feel the warmth where their knees touched and her other hand rested on his knee.
The brush left trails of shiny yellow that he spread across the nails and made them feel heavier than they really were. He set the brush into the bottle and took a sip of his drink, orange juice and vodka and he put it down and went back to her fingers without once looking away from them. Screwdriver was a silly name for a drink but rather appropriate for the Al Bhed.
Neither of them spoke, her watching him paint and he watching her nails, trancelike.
He didn't have to do this and she'd protested and said she knew how to paint her own nails thank you very much and he'd grinned pulled her down to a quiet corner of the bridge and said. "But I like to."
They hadn't spoken since.
It was tradition, almost forgotten, like the time she'd fallen down and scraped her knees running after him and he'd painted her nails in apology or the time he'd blackmailed her into working on an engine after she'd just finished her nails and they'd been chipped within an hour and he'd cleaned them up and repainted them arrogantly saying "I'm better at it anyways." Then there was the one time she'd plunged her hand into some chemical and it'd melted all away but she hadn't cared because it'd been really thin and spotty and he thought it wasn't right for her to go around with bare nails and had fussed until she'd relented and let him paint them after dinner. Like the shy little kiss they'd shared afterwards, almost forgotten but not really.
"Rikku," Gippal said.
She started and blinked. "What?"
He took a sip of his drink. "All done."
She blinked again. "Oh," she murmured and blew on her nails.
He chuckled. "They're dry, you've been sitting there so long thinking."
She flushed and bit her lip. "Cunno."
"I don't mind."
She kept her head facing down at her lap and looked at him through her lashes. "Thanks."
"It's tradition." He said.
She bit her lip and remembered that shy little kiss. "May- maybe we should make a new one." His eyebrows rose as she placed her hands on his knees and leaned forward. It didn't matter that he could see down her top, like there was much there to see and she moved forward slowly giving him every chance to tell her no, to make her stop this insanity. She tilted her head and brushed her lips across his. She paused and her tongue flicked out and licked his bottom lip to taste, sweet and bitter like his drink.
He grabbed her waist and pulled her onto his lap, her hands sliding up his chest as he deepened the kiss. He broke away and looked at her, licking his lips. "I think-" he paused.
She grinned. "What?"
"I think I'll be painting your nails a lot more often." He murmured and kissed her again.
She giggled. "I'm sure there are other ways you can find to get kisses."
"Oh?" He asked.
She ran her nose along his. "Yep. Like stealing them."
"Like this," he said and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth for a second. "Or like this." He parted her lips with his tongue and delved inside, Rikku's eyes closed as their tongues tangled.
"Rikku!" Yuna gasped from across the bridge. "Gippal!"
They pulled apart. Gippal smirked and ran his hands up and down Rikku's spine. "So, shall I paint your toenails next?"
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