Disclaimer: of course, I own nothing of final fantasy.
A/N: This is pretty much just a little story that I felt like writing. Nothing special. It's just, I haven't found many good Rikku/Paine stories on here, so I wanted to create one of my own. I am very fond of the Rikku-Paine pairing, it's one of my favorites. And I needed this to get away from some of my other stories for the moment, so here you go. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
A few things about the story… It takes place aboard the Celsius. It doesn't really have a time setting within the games, but it's from before they found Tidus so… yeah.
This IS a yuri shoujo-ai lesbian girlxgirl whatever-you-want-to-call-it story, so… IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT. No flaming please.
Rikku was surprisingly light. But oh god why had Paine agreed to carrying the sleeping girl back to the cabin? First of all, making it to the lift was difficult enough, but next she knew she had to walk up a set of steps. As mentioned before, Rikku was quite light, but that wasn't the problem; carrying a sleeping person bridal-style in a stuffy elevator and up a flight of stairs was just plain awkward.
Scowling, and trying not to stumble as she made her way across the cabin, Paine glanced down at said sleeping girl, only to see Rikku's eyes quickly flutter shut. "I saw that," Paine muttered under her breath.
Rikku looked up guiltily. "Sorry," she replied with a nervous laugh.
Paine kept right on walking, scowling next at the steps she would soon have to battle her way climbing up. "How long have you been awake?" the warrior demanded quietly.
"Pretty much since you picked me up."
"And you were going to let me suffer by carrying you all the way to your bed?"
Rikku gave another little laugh. "I can walk from here, if you put me down." She paused. "…Am I really that heavy?"
"Not heavy," Paine replied as she began working her way, step-by-step, up the stairs. "just… awkward. And no, I'm not going to let you walk from here. I started this and I'm going to finish it."
"Whooo-hoo mission time!" Rikku exclaimed in her usual loud, perky voice, also throwing a cheering arm up into the air as she did so. Paine, balanced on the heel of one foot, and with the other foot lifted and ready to catch the next step, of course lost her balance at Rikku's shifting weight, and fell backward.
The two girls began to tumble down the steps together, but Paine managed to get a foothold halfway down and did a back flip, landing gracefully on the ground. That left Rikku to topple the rest of the way down, doubtlessly getting bruised and scraped all along the way. Finally she landed on her bottom at Paine's feet with an "oof!" and began to rub a bump on her head. "Owie," she said miserably.
"That's what you get," Paine said coldly, even as she crouched down to examine the other girl's hurts. She sighed. "You seem to be alright. Nothing too serious. Nothing sprained. Nothing broken. You'll be fine. Now get up off your butt and go to bed."
Instead of doing as Paine so kindly suggested, Rikku just had to be difficult. The blonde girl looked up at Paine with big watery eyes, filled to the brim with false tears and innocence, and stretched out a hand close to the other woman's face. "It got scraped on the rail on the way down," the blonde said, her lower lip trembling. Paine didn't have a clue what the girl was talking about though; as far as scrapes and bruises go, she couldn't see a thing wrong with the Rikku's hand.
"What do you want me to do about it?" she finally demanded with a raised eyebrow.
"Kiss it and make it better?"
"No-way," she said flatly. Ugh, sometimes she just couldn't believe the things Rikku came up with.
"Please?" the girl asked all innocently, putting on her best pouty-face.
Paine sighed, irritated beyond words. The girl would never leave her alone until she did. She could just see it now; Rikku running up to Brother and Yuna in the bridge and telling them on and on about what a "big meany" Paine was for not "kissing it and making it better."
So, she landed a quick peck on the girl's hand.
With that, Rikku grinned hugely and popped right up onto her feet. "Thanks!" she squealed happily, and Paine couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Whatever."
Just then, Rikku threw her arms around Paine, squeezing tightly. "Hey!" the warrior exclaimed. "No hugging! I don't do hugging!"
"Aaaaaww, you know just what to say," Rikku replied in the most infuriating voice ever.
"Get-off-me-NOW." It was Paine's "do what I tell you or die" voice, which usually didn't work on Rikku, but she still used it a lot anyway.
Rikku finally did, thankfully, let go and give Paine some room to breathe, and Paine spent the next few minutes chasing the girl all around the airship with sword in hand, ready for the kill. Rikku, who spent that particular time running from her, simply giggled and taunted the warrior, hiding behind corners and random objects, then popping out at the most inopportune moments to give Paine another tight hug or, even worse, a peck on the cheek.
Rikku must have thought of it as a fun little game; Paine couldn't have said half as much.
That night, Paine woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare she couldn't even remember, heart pounding wildly in her chest. Staring up into the darkness, she hoped that she hadn't woken either of the other women. As she sat up, though, she saw with surprise that both Yuna and Rikku were missing from their beds, and were in fact, not in the cabin at all. Getting out of bed, she quickly slipped on some pants -since she usually just slept in her underwear… what was the point of changing at night if she was just going to put on the same leather clothes again in the morning?- and left the cabin.
After a little searching, she finally found the other two girls in the engine room, sitting on the stairs near the floor. Why here though? She had expected them to be somewhere more predictable, like the deck or the bridge… but surely not in the stuffy engine room. It took Paine a moment to realize that Yuna and Rikku were having quite a serious conversation. At first, she didn't think much of the way Rikku was sitting -hugging her knees and with her head down- or about how not-perky and un-Rikku-ish the girl was being.
But then she caught the first few snatches of quiet conversation over the loud clanking of the moving machines. "Why won't you tell me what's the matter?" Yuna asked. The former summoner was crouched down at Rikku's side, looking concerned and doing her best to see the blonde girl's hidden face.
"It's just…." Rikku sighed. It sounded like she was crying. Paine stopped in her tracks, crouching down quickly so that neither girl would notice her. She sat near the edge of the balcony, listening intently to the girls below. "Yuna, you wouldn't understand."
"Try me," the young optimist replied.
"Well…." Rikku seemed to be having difficulty with getting her words out. "It's hard… it's hard to say what I'm feeling. I'm just so confused." Yes, Rikku was definitely crying, if the sudden broken sob and sniffles were any indication.
"Oh, don't cry. It's alright." Paine peered over the side to see Yuna with an arm around Rikku, who was still hiding her face from view. "Come on, you can tell me what's wrong." When Rikku still didn't reply, Yuna went on. "I owe you so much Rikku. You have protected me all this time, through my journey and even now, afterward. You faced Sin with me, as my guardian and as my friend. You comforted me and gave me a boost of energy when I needed it. You were always the life of the party." Yuna laughed lightly. "Goodness knows we needed it. Everyone else in the group was always so serious. You were always there to make us laugh, and be happy, even when we were in the worst predicament. You added… comic relief, I guess you could say."
Paine was surprised to find that Yuna's words to Rikku actually… hurt a little. Of course, Rikku had always been so dedicated to Yuna. She had always been so willing to lay her life on the line… for Yuna. Paine knew, that Yuna thought she knew why Rikku was always so eager to help her out…. Yuna thought that Rikku was just a really good friend. Yuna thought that the reason why Rikku always smiled whenever she was around, was just to cheer her up. And maybe that last one was true, a little. But Paine had… different thoughts on the matter.
"I've never known a truer friend than you," Yuna continued. Paine saw that Rikku had finally lifted her face, staring at Yuna and listening carefully to her words. "So of course, I'm always here to help you, and for you to talk to, whenever you need it. You helped me in such a way that… I can probably never repay you. But I will try. If you're sad, I'm not just going to step aside and watch you cry. Please, you must tell me what's wrong. It will make you- it will make us both feel much better… and maybe this time, I can be the one to cheer you up." Yuna smiled slightly. "If it's a secret, I promise, I won't tell."
There was a long moment of silence before Rikku answered. Finally, the girl gave a sigh and spoke. "Thanks. For the compliments. It does make me feel better. I was always so happy to protect you. Sometimes, it seems like I didn't protect you enough. But, I'm glad that we're friends. I'm glad we're in the Gullwings together. But I…." She trailed off, and would not continue.
Why was this so difficult for Paine to hear? Was it because she felt bad about eavesdropping?
"What is it, Rikku?" Yuna asked. "It's okay, you can tell me."
Paine glanced over to see Rikku nod once. The girl had her back turned, so Paine couldn't see her face. "Well… all those times you said I was there for you, all those times I helped you out and everything…. Well, I know how much you love Tidus and all but… didn't you ever feel anything… more? From me?"
Paine held her breath. Inside she couldn't help but think, I knew it.
"More…?" Yuna asked quietly. She took a deep breath and sighed. "More." There was another long moment of quiet, except for the noise of the engines of course. "Rikku," Yuna finally began. She said her words slowly and carefully, saying them as if each one might accidentally set off a ticking time bomb if spoken the wrong way. "If I ever felt anything more than friendship from you, it was a closeness like… sisterhood. A family bond. But nothing other than that."
"…Oh." Rikku sounded disappointed, but not completely devastated. "That's okay. That's what I figured anyway…. So that's why I don't care about you that way anymore. I mean, I do still love you Yunie, but it's like you said; just as family, like sisters or something. But still… as much as I treasure you as friend and family, there's someone else right now who is very... special to me. Like our star blitzball player is to you." Rikku gave a little laugh. Paine had never before heard the girl sound so serious.
"Well, I'm very glad to hear that Rikku," Yuna replied. In fact, she did sound quite relived. Paine couldn't help but feel a little relief herself. "But that still doesn't explain why you're crying," Yuna continued.
"…Well, the person who I like… I don't think that person really cares about me that way. And… I can't tell her- uh, that person." It was a small slip up, but it made Paine smile. So… Rikku liked a girl eh? A girl other than Yuna? Now, who could that possibly be?
She had heard enough. Slowly, and as quietly as possible, Paine made her way back to the lift and left, headed for bed again. Rikku would tell her, in time, she was sure. But for now, she was content with waiting. All those surprising little hugs and kisses on the cheek, how she had wanted Paine to carry her even while she was pretend-sleeping… a lot of things suddenly made sense.
It was at least another hour or so before either Rikku or Yuna entered the cabin for bed, but Paine was already dead asleep. She wouldn't even wake when Rikku sat at her side on the bed and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. She wouldn't even wake when Rikku laid a hand lightly on one of hers. And of course, Paine wouldn't wake from the contented silence of Rikku sitting next to her, watching as she slept, and Paine wouldn't wake from the peace and comfort she felt as she laid there with one hand clasped unconsciously with one of Rikku's.
Rikku didn't think Paine knew her true feelings yet, but then again… that was okay. For now, everything was… everything was okay.
