Option One
by PrettyGothGirl
Summary:Gippal had three options when Rikku came to visit and maybe he should get some better advice about girls before implementing some of his ideas. AKA Option one did not go over well.
Author's Note: A pseudo sequel, alternate universe, start of beating on a dead horse (I have a total of four of these) to Option 3 which was posted over a year ago. So go read that to know all the options. Ahem Happy Birthday IceprincessD!
Gippal had decided to ignore her. Her, being Rikku, and he was going to ignore her absolutely. Deliberately not acknowledge the fact of her existence. While at the same time, he couldn't help but be aware of her, knowing her every move from her tiny facial expressions, her scent if the wind blew just right and the rustle of her hair. She tingled along his nerves, like being alone in the desert but sure just over the rise someone or something was watching. He couldn't let her presence get to him. He had to restrain his urges, practice self-control. Think of that big machine and what it could to Spira. He didn't need Rikku getting involved in that. It was bad enough she got messed up in that Sin business. He blamed the girl before him partially for that (the rest of him sensibly blamed Rikku as he knew her too well to know that she would just jump into dangerous situations like that without thinking.)
He forced a grin, leaned forward into the High Summoner's face, searching her features for even a hint of the Al Bhed good looks. Disappointment twanged through him. Her one green eye was pretty, but made her seem unfinished in some way. He'd heard a lot about her, he'd expected more he guessed. Still it was the Almighty High Summoner asking him for a job. It was too precious. Guess Yevon didn't give good retirement benefits to Summoners who managed to survive the final summoning. He bet the problem didn't come up too often. His grin turned real. He cracked himself up. Anyways, she was famous. What was it like to be that famous?
"Never been this close to a celebrity before." He said with a drawl. Rikku rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip. She hadn't been a celebrity when he'd been close to her. It was a true statement.
Yuna leaned backwards, her eyes widening and mouth turning down. "That's nice."
"I could get used to this." He smiled.
She grimaced and so did Rikku. "Let's not."
He straightened and shook his head. "Don't see why you would feel threatened by little old me." His eyes started wandering towards Rikku and he firmly reminded himself to focus on the Summoner. She couldn't just be here about a job. There had to be more to it. Someone checking up on him? Or checking him out?
She stiffened. "I'm not threatened by anything."
He raised his eyebrow. "Is that so. Well then," he waved a hand. "Didn't mean to invade your personal space." He repressed his inner sarcasm. Humans could be so touchy about their space and feelings. Paine had been closed off like that too, a touch naïve and with a touch of hero worship towards Noojster, but closed off physically and mostly emotionally.
Yuna shifted on her feet. "That's all right." She had this, 'now that you know' tone to her voice. She assumed they could move on. He had to bite his the inside of his cheek and curl his toes to keep from looking at Rikku with a skeptical 'you have got to be kidding me, this is the High Summoner who stood up to an entire religion' look. No wonder she was here about a job, probably someone told her it would be a good idea and here Yuna was. Rikku was the most likely culprit. She never could turn down a chance to make a little gil. Rikku fidgeted and shifted back and forth on her feet.
"Well good," He tilted his head back.
"We're here for the interview." A familiar dry voice said from behind him. He jumped and whirled.
"You!" Think of Paine and there she was. He shuddered. It was uncanny. He hated it when she did that.
Paine crossed her arms and stared at him dead in the eyes. "Paine. Nice to meet you."
He stared at her for a few more seconds. If that was the way she wanted to play it, fine. "Sure, sure." He muttered. He turned back to Yuna. "You sure you wanna dig. 'Cause we're talking about the desert ladies, not exactly a picnic." He directed that last bit towards Paine and Yuna. While Rikku might be a lady in some respects, she'd grown up in the desert. She knew it wasn't easy. That and he felt like Rikku was trying to bore a hole in his head.
Yuna put her hands on her hips and leaned back. "We're sure."
He sighed and shrugged. "All right then. You're hired. Welcome aboard. Don't know why a superstar like you would want to play in the sand. Well, do what you gotta do. Anyways, I've done what I can." Hey, if she wanted to snoop around. More power to her, it wasn't like she'd find much. He didn't have any superpower machine schemes going on at the desert. He tugged a letter out from his pocket. "Give this letter to a woman named Nhadala. You'll find her at the Bikanel desert."
Yuna stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Uh, thanks." She took it, turned it over in her hands and started to walk away. Gippal shook his head. Were all Summoners like that? If so, spare him from meeting any more.
Rikku stepped in front of him. He blinked back into focus. Damn she was gorgeous. Her hand whipped out of nowhere and she slapped him. His ear rang with the blow.
The bridges and courtyard quieted until that could be heard was the chattering of monkeys and the hiss of the wind.
"Hmph." Rikku stuck up her nose, tossed her hair and stalked away, hips swaying and shit that skirt was short he could almost see…
Someone snorted. It broke the hush as another person started laughing, which triggered another and another.
Heat rushed to Gippal's face. Aw hell. He reached up and gingerly touched his face. "Happy digging." He muttered and retreated back to his temple. And it was a retreat, as he knew that the story would be all over the temple and even in the desert by the end of the day. Next time he had a great plan like that, perhaps he should get another woman's advice first before implementing it, because as of right now, he was screwed. Rikku could hold a grudge like no other, especially with him. He paced back and forth in the little room. Maybe his only choice was to grovel and pray it worked.
--
A worker tipped him off to their arrival, the killing of the fiends was going well, but still required supervision. "Hey, boss, Gullwings coming." He said in Al Bhed.
Gippal's head jerked up and he turned to look. There they were, all three of them headed towards the temple. "What are they doing here?" He muttered in the same manner.
"Well, Rikku always did like a good fight."
Gippal turned his head and looked at him hard. "Don't remind me."
"You can take your knocks like a man." The worker grinned.
"Thanks. I think." Gippal took a step away. And when Yuna and Paine stopped, Rikku didn't so they sort of met in the middle. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arm around her waist, burying his head in her chest, closing his eye. He made sure he kept his eye patch out. He didn't want to see anyone's reactions to this. He heard start coughing in one ear and Rikku's pounding heart in the other.
She didn't say anything for a few seconds. He waited. "What are you doing?" She hissed.
"Groveling." He said, her skin muffling his voice.
She poked his shoulder. "Groveling?"
He nuzzled her. "Sorry, sorry, please forgive me, don't slap me again. Groveling."
Someone coughed harder.
Yuna spoke. "You two seem close."
Gippal wrapped his arms tighter around Rikku. He wasn't going to answer that one. He was in enough trouble already without responding to that loaded phrase.
"So they do." Paine said.
At this point, Gippal was sure Rikku was glaring lightning bolts. He couldn't be sure, because he didn't dare look. "Do you forgive me?" He asked.
"We were friends." Rikku said and her fingers ran through his hair. Well, that was one way to put it, he decided. He sighed. She was warm and smelled good, like peaches. He liked peaches. "You can let go now."
"Uh uh, not until you forgive me. I don't want to be slapped again. It hurt."
"You're being a big baby." Rikku petted him again.
Paine moved closer to Yuna. "I think she's hiding something."
Maybe he should kiss Rikku and show Yuna and Paine what she meant. Now that could be fun… and he could be slapped again. So maybe not a good idea, he sighed. He liked kissing Rikku. Kissing Rikku was fun.
Rikku teased the back of his neck. "I forgive you."
He grinned and leaned his head back to rest his chin on her chest. "Why are you here anyways?"
"Well, if you have fiends, we thought we could help you out." She paused. "For a fee."
He frowned. "Oh. Don't you guys hunt spheres?"
"Usually." Rikku nodded.
Yuna clasped her hands together. "Right now, we're helping out."
"For a fee." Gippal repeated what Rikku said. "That's not help, that's business." His eyebrow rose. "Look, we can't keep running to you every time we get into trouble. You aren't going to live forever. It's time we stood on our own. We can handle our fiends."
"Show off." Rikku muttered, but she was still stroking the back of his neck, so he wasn't going to complain about her psuedo insult.
He grinned and stood up, not letting Rikku go and her arms stretched around his neck. "If we need you, someone will call you, probably in a panic." He grinned. She grinned back. Ah, what the hell. He could give Yuna and Paine something to pick on Rikku about. He was going to be picked on. It would make him feel better if she was too. He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. She gasped and clamped her lips to his, mouths opening, tongues tangling.
"Oh, I see, friends." Paine said.
Rikku broke the kiss to glare at Paine. Gippal untangled her arms from his neck, picked her up, turned her around and pushed her away. "Get. I have work to do and I can't do it with you around."
Rikku flushed and looked over her shoulder at him. "Don't get hurt being stubbornly manly." They walked away, Yuna giving long glances at Rikku.
He snorted and rubbed the back of his neck. He turned around and leaned over to beat the dust from his knees. He looked up and met his worker's eyes. He smirked as the guy shook his head and burst out laughing.
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