Title: Kinetic Energy
Challenge: Emotion Challenge - Lust
Rating: PG-13 for sex and language
Warnings: Mechanic sex.
Summary: Hot days, busted airships, and engine grease.

Gippal was starting to think that asking Rikku to help him out with this was a bad idea.

It wasn't that she was a bad assistant, or that she complained; she was just as fascinated by the workings of the airship engines as he was. And she was damn handy with a wrench in her own right.

No, the problem was that she was fucking distracting.

For what felt like the fiftieth time in the past hour and half, Gippal caught himself about to drop the wrench in his hand, and cursed under his breath. This ship was his baby, his prize, and fixing these connections should be a snap, especially with another pair of hands. Especially-especially since those hands belonged to someone just as sharp with machines as he was.

Unfortunately, that someone was Gippal's girlfriend, and the combination of Rikku's barely-there outfit and the smudges of oil and grime on her skin were having a very strong effect on him. She was lying on her back on a pipe a few feet above him – Shiva only knew how she balanced like that – with her head lower than her feet and toes tapping a syncopated rhythm on the wall. Gippal was trying hard not to think about just how much that belt-sized skirt was riding up her hips, or how close she was to falling out of that tiny little bikini top, or how she smelled like citrus and engines and girl – everything he liked, in short. There was a thin trickle of gear oil running down her arm, dark brown against the peach-cream of her skin. She had both hands buried in the tangle of wires and tubes, so she had to hold the flashlight in her mouth…

Gippal was trying very, very hard not to think of other things roughly that size and shape in Rikku's mouth. He wasn't having much success.

For her part, Rikku kept finding her gaze drifting from the tools in her hands to her boyfriend's arms, or his back, or his butt – damn. She was almost glad for the sweltering heat, because Gippal looked damn good with his shirt off. She smiled a little smugly. Sometimes it was nice to remind herself of just what a fox he was. Especially when he was all sweaty and up to the elbows in bits and pieces of engine and biting his lower lip as he forced one of the stuck gears back into place. The only thing that could make this situation any more tailored to her tastes was the inclusion of chocolate and dance music. Well, since she'd been working so hard, might as well reward herself a bit… Rikku took one last look up at the tubes she'd been futzing with, made sure the connections were all fixed, and settled back to ogle him.

She had to admit, even though he could look damn goofy at times – the frumpy formal clothes he got forced into for political events jumped to mind – right now, well, "goofy" was about the last word she'd use. "Smoking hot" was a more likely term, what with the muscles and the grease and the blessed lack of shirt. She'd spent most of the last hour and a half trying her best not to think those things, which for all the good it had done, she might as well have not even bothered. Willpower was not much good in opposition to a sweaty, buff boyfriend a few feet away from her, without his shirt on, covered in engine grease.

She was trying her hardest to ignore just how bad she wanted to jump him, at least until they were done with the repairs. After this was done, she was planning on a nice long shower – preferably with company, and with less emphasis on getting clean and more on being dirty. For now, though, ogling would have to suffice. And really, that was kinda fun in its own right…

Rikku wasn't sure how long she'd been staring at him before he looked up at her and smirked.
"Enjoying the view?" She froze for a second, then grinned at him. That expression was one she knew well – it usually translated to "You want it? Come get it."
"Just a little." She swung down off the pipe, landing easily on her feet. "Though I do think I'd like a closer look," she said lightly as she slid her arms around his neck and drew him down to kiss her. Gippal laughed a little, smiling against her lips as he pulled her close to him. Her hands skimmed over his arms, fingers brushing trails in the sheen of sweat and oil on his skin, and he muttered something about distractions as his lips moved to her collarbone. She arched against him when he pushed aside the small triangles of fabric composing her top, fingers easy and gentle against her skin, and giggled when he lifted her up onto one of the ledges and slid one hand up her leg, hooking his fingers under the thin strip of fabric at the side of her panties. She ground her hips against his, one hand at the small of his back, pulling him closer against her –

"You two have been down here for two hours, why isn't my ship in the air yet?" The loud clanking noise of high-heeled boots on the stairs, as well as Paine's aggravated voice, jerked them back into reality. The cranky pilot came sweeping down into the engine room like a thunderstorm in black leather. "You said yourself this should be easy, Gippal, what the hell's taking so long?" Rikku hissed a few choice words in Al Bhed as she worked her top back into place and jumped down onto the floor; Gippal looked down and mentally cursed his own fondness for tight pants as she ducked under his arm and out of reach. Paine stopped in front of her friends and glared at them for a second before she noticed the heavy breathing and blushing. She blinked, shook her head and turned on her heel. "Actually, you know what? I don't want to know."