Paine sat the bar, and sipped on some orange juice while watching one of the recent spheres they had found. It was nothing of importance, but the man inside it was telling a rather funny joke to some of his friends. Her lips curled slightly at the joke, and turned the sphere off. She got up and walked up the stairs to find a rather strange sight.
Rikku was on her bed, expelling the contents of a box that said in large read letters "Cracker Jacks". She shifted through the pile of food, before sighing loudly and muttering a few Al Bhed curses. Paine raised her eyebrow, trying to understand what exactly Rikku was doing.
"Rikku, what are you doing?" Paine said as she sat across from Rikku on her own bed.
"Looking for a ring of course silly!" Her swirly green eyes locked with Paines as she grinned, and went to opening a new box of Cracker Jacks and dumping out the contents once again.
"Why would you look for a ring in a box of cracker jacks?" Paine still didn't understand. Why the hell would you look for a ring in a box of food. And who the hell would put a ring in food?
"Cause Cracker Jacks have the coolest looking rings ever." She had already gone through 4 boxes by now, and Paine seemed to doubt that she would ever find one of those "coolest rings ever".
"Whatever, have fun with that." She got up and walked away, leaving Rikku to her ring hunting.
Couple hours later...
Paine sat on the deck, looking up at the night sky. The airship was on cruise control, and was slowly flying along. A cool breeze blew on her face and she inhaled deeply, relazing her muscles and laying down. She found her thoughts wondering to a certain blonde girl. Paine couldn't deny it, she was extremely adorable. Everything about her seemed to be perfect, even when she was annoying the hell out of Paine she found Rikku amazingly perfect.
Was it possible that, through her experiences with the Gullwings, Paine was falling for her thief of a friend? But wasn't that just who Rikku was, a thief? So in a way, it was expected that she would actually... steal Paines heart.
The thought troubled Paine, but she didn't have more time to think on it because the said thief stumbled onto the deck sniffling with watery eyes. Paine sat up and stared at her, worried at just what could have caused Rikku to cry.
"P-P-Paine... I never found a ring.." she sniffled a little more and sat next to the stoic warrior and wrapped her arms around her knees. Paines eyes softened, Rikku looked so cute. She wrapped one arm around Rikkus shoulders and pulled her into a small hug.
"Maybe you just need to look a little harder. I'm sure you'll find one soon enough" she gave Rikku a reassuring smile and picked her up, ignoring Rikku's cries of protest at the strange behaviour of the warrior. She carried her into the elevator and back to the cabin. She climbed the stairs with the still protesting thief and layed her on her bed. She pulled the covers over Rikku and grinned.
"Go to bed idiot. Look for a ring again tomorrow." Paine sat on Rikkus bed and gave her a pointed look that clearly said "you're not getting up so you might as well fall asleep". Rikku sighed in defeat and wiggled around trying to get in a comfortable position. She suddenly found herself actually tired and allowed herself to slip into a sleep that was filled with dancing cracker jacks and some awesome rings.
Paine, who had requested to stop in Luca, was smiling to herself, as she stepped off and walked into one of the nearest food store. She bought a couple bags of food and walked back to the the Celsius. She had a lot of work to do now..
In the morning...
Rikku awoke to the sun shining brightly through the window. Stretching she allowed a loud yawn to emit from her mouth. Sliding out of bed she shuffled to the bathroom to take a shower. Paine, who had stayed up all night working on a "project" was fighting to keep her eyes open. Chugging her third cup of coffee, she waited for Rikku to join her at the bar.
When the thief had finally gotten ready and sat at the bar, Paine had a sloppy smile on her face. Rikku eyed her, wondering what in Spira would cause Paine to act so differently. Her worries worsened when she saw Paine turning towards her with an even larger smile than before.
"Uhh Dr. P, is something wrong?" She looked Paine over and realized she was still in the same clothes as yesterday. "Did you go to sleep last night?"
Paine shrugged and said, "Nah, I was busy working on something. And actually, I have to go get it." She stood up and walked away, leaving an extremely confused Rikku behind.
When Paine returned, she had something clutched in her fist. Rikku stared curiously at it, but didn't say anything knowing Paine probably wouldn't tell her what it was. The thief waited a couple minutes to see if Paine would show whatever was in her hand, but when she didn't, she grew restless.
"Paine, what do you have in your hand?" Paine turned to Rikku and smiled, she then proceeded to grab one of Rikkus hands and slid her "project" onto her ring finger.
Rikku couldn't help but gasp in happiness, because on her finger was a cracker jack ring. She looked up at Paine and threw her arms around her neck saying, "Oh Paine thank you sooooo much! I can't believe you got me this! How many boxes did you have to open?!"
Paine wrapped her arms around Rikku's waist and replied, "Oh about 30 or so..." She had a large grin plastered on her face as the two pulled apart. Rikku grinned at Paine and leaned forward, quickly pecking the older girl on the lips.
Paine stared at Rikku, her mouth was in a small 'O' shape. Rikku laughed nervously and whispered, "Sorry. I couldn't help it I'm just so happy that you would do something like this for me.."
The warrior looked at Rikku and smiled sofly, she leaned towards Rikku and kissed her softly on the lips. Rikku smiled into the kiss, and kissed back, wrapping her arms around Paines neck. Paine wrapped her arms around Rikku's waist and pulled her onto her lap, deepening the kiss.
When the two pulled away, Paine had a deep blush on her cheeks. She looked away and let her embarressment get the better of her. Rikku smiled and pulled her into a hug, but Paine hesitated in hugging her back. Rikku frowned and whispered, "Paine, I know this may not be the best thing to say, but I think I love you.."
The thief could feel Paines body tense up, but when Rikku nuzzled her head into Paines shoulder, her body relaxed. Paine felt herself smile at the thought of Rikku loving her. She could finally accept the fact that she liked.. no wait, loved the young Al Bhed.
"I love you to Rikku."