Gippal was rather dismayed to discover that his best friend had tits.
He'd never noticed before, not really. Rikku had always been the rough-and-tumble sort – and while he'd known that she wasn't a boy, somehow she'd never struck him as particularly feminine, either. But, if he had gotten to choose the moment to come to the shocking realization that Rikku was, in point of fact, a girl, it certainly wouldn't have been while spending a day at the Oasis, watching her flirt with Amaj – who just happened to be Gippal's primary rival for the unofficial title of Teenage Playboy of Sanubia Desert.
And it was such a disgusting display, too, he mused. She was giggling and posing and tossing her silky hair just like a – well, like a girl.
Which she was. Damn. He just couldn't catch a break!
And Amaj was eating it all up, as if Rikku hadn't wiped the floor with him two days prior when he'd ridiculed her about Cid's refusal to allow her to go on a dive for ancient machine. She had a nasty right hook that Amaj hadn't quite been able to duck in time, and Gippal felt a surge of glee that he was still sporting the remnants of a bruise – a spot of yellowish-purplish skin high on his left cheek.
Rikku fluttered her lashes, a high-pitched, trilling giggle bursting from her throat as Amaj made some witty comment or another, and Gippal gritted his teeth against the horrendous sound. It was just about the most ridiculous thing he could think of – Rikku giggling. Nearly as ridiculous as seeing her in that brand-new skimpy yellow bikini.
It was yet another reminder that she wasn't actually a boy after all, and…wait, was it just his imagination, or was Amaj staring at her chest?
Infuriated, Gippal surged to his feet. He caught up a towel as he stalked towards Rikku and her less-than-subtle admirer.
He thrust the towel at her in irritation. "Put those away."
She blinked, completely befuddled, turning towards him – and he got the full frontal view of her ensemble.
Oh, bad. Bad, bad, bad. They weren't just tits. They were nice tits. No wonder Amaj had been staring.
"Put what away?" She asked, frowning.
"Never mind." He certainly wasn't going to explain to his best friendthat her breasts were amazing. Instead he tossed the towel over her head, ignoring her shriek of outrage. At least her chest was sufficiently covered – for the moment.
Turning to Amaj, he said: "You keep staring at her tits, and we're going to have a problem."
Rikku, who had managed to find her way out from beneath the towel, gasped in shock and indignation.
Amaj held up his hands in a gesture of placation. "Hey, I couldn't help it. They were just – there, you know?"
Gippal knew. Oh, man, did he know.
Rikku, however, did not.
She huffed her irritation, pinning both boys with a glare that could've fried an egg. "Gippal, you're such a…a boy!" Spitting the word as if it were the worst curse imaginable, she hauled off and planted her dainty fist right in his stomach. Then she turned abruptly on her heel and flounced away, muttering about the immaturity of men in general and Gippal in particular.
Though she'd succeeded in knocking the wind out of him, being bent over at the waist struggling to force air back into his lungs only served to make him realize that fabulous breasts weren't the only physical asset Rikku possessed.
She also had a pretty nice butt.
Maybe, he mused, having Rikku turn out to be a girl wasn't such a bad thing after all.