Originally written for QTC on LJ, First Line Challenge. Prompt was from Disney's Hercules.
"Well, you know how men are. They think 'No' means 'Yes' and 'Get lost' means 'Take me. I'm yours.'" Paine shook her head as she set her nearly empty gin and tonic down, and Yuna chuckled a little and passed the bottles across the table to her friend for a refill. "And according to half the men in Luca, 'I'm not interested' apparently translates to 'You're the man of my dreams, let's run away together right this minute.' They make no damned sense."
"I'll drink to that," Rikku muttered against the rim of her own glass. It had been a couple months since the three of them had seen each other last, and it was good to be like this again – clustered around a corner four-top in the cabin of the Celsius, feet up on the table when Barkeep wasn't looking, sharing drinks and catching up with each other. It was a little difficult to get them all together lately - Rikku was still running around with what was left of the Gullwings, Yuna was happily playing house on Besaid with Tidus, and Paine's status as a close friend to Nooj, Baralai and Gippal had made her one of the most famous people in Luca. They all had commspheres and they talked almost every day, but there was something about actually being together again that felt so much better than crackly conversations through spheres from half a world away.
"I'll say," Yuna laughed, flipping the bottlecap off another spiked lemonade. Rikku laughed when Paine shot her friend a look that could only be described as "Are you freakin' kidding me?"
"Yunie," Rikku said, "no offense, but-"
"But shut it," Paine cut her off. "You at least have the advantage of saying the position's filled." Rikku barely bit back an off-color crack about various meanings of "positions" - rum-and-colas had a tendency to loosen her tongue a little too much, and Yuna was a little scary when she was angry. Even more so when she'd had a couple of drinks, though she was only on her second one at the moment. Paine had been knocking back those awful-smelling concoctions like they were water, and they were having about as much effect on her as if they were – Paine had a much higher tolerance than her friends, and it showed sometimes. Yuna was more talkative than usual, and blushing a bit, and Rikku was giggly, even for her, but the only outward sign Paine gave of her line of empty glasses was that she smiled more than normal. Yuna laughed and leaned her head in her hands.
"You'd be shocked how obvious I have to be about that sometimes." She ran her left hand through her hair, light glinting off the diamonds on her ring finger. "And how many times they say 'So what?' It's a little aggravating after the fiftieth time or so." She leaned back. "And haven't you and Baralai gotten that sorted out yet?"
"It's…complicated." Paine almost looked uncomfortable. Almost. She never looked anything more than annoyed, when you got down to it. "Really complicated." Rikku glanced cautiously over at the door to the cabin – given the way things seemed to work around here, and the fact that they'd picked up Gippal, Nooj and Baralai earlier today, it would make perfect sense for one or all of them to waltz in and hear more than they were supposed to.
"As far as I can see, the only thing 'complicating' you two is that you're both too damn stubborn to admit you're still in love," Yuna said bluntly. Rikku could Inever/I have gotten away with that and not gotten her ass kicked from here to Kilika, but Paine just bopped Yuna on the back of the head.
"Yeah, says the girl living in a fairy tale," she said with a fond half-smile. "It's not that simple, Yuna – not for us, at least." She sighed. "Anyway, changing the subject now. We haven't gone diving into Rikku's love life yet, have we?" She turned to Rikku with a small, somewhat predatory grin. "Still in denial, then?"
"I have no idea what you mean," Rikku said, hurriedly draining her drink. Trying to look nonchalant wasn't exactly her strong suit on the best of days, and being tipsy didn't help that at all. "No idea whatsoever." She cocked her head for a second, looking over at the radio on the counter behind Yuna. "Ooh, turn it up, I love this song!"
"Stop dodging, Rikku." Paine crossed her arms and kicked her feet up onto the table, nudging a bottle out of the way with her heel. "Are you two gonna keep dancing around the subject for the rest of the week or what?"
"I, uh, still don't know what you're talking about," Rikku said, casting around desperately for a way to get off this subject.
"Bullshit." Both of them said it at the exact same time, with the same expression of "Give me a break, sister" and the same tone that implied that they weren't going to stop until they got a more satisfactory answer. Rikku blinked.
She was gonna need another drink.
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Most of the time, Rikku enjoyed flying. She enjoyed the vibration of the ship's engines under her feet, the Iincredible/I views, and the wind in her hair on the deck. She enjoyed having her friends with her, and she enjoyed having things be almost like they were two years ago, with the jokes and the teasing and Rikku rolling her eyes at the schmoopy looks and random blushing. She really enjoyed being able to run around with them all without having anything on the order of "save the entire world all by yourselves" hanging over their heads.
But given that airships tended to have very thin, not at all soundproof walls, there were a few things she didn't enjoy. This was one of them.
Rikku was going to have to have a pointed chat with Yuna in the morning regarding Silence spells and their varied uses. There were some things she simply did NOT want to know.
She finally gave up on trying to distract herself or block her ears with her pillow, and slid out of bed. She yawned, slipped on her old fuzzy chocobo slippers, and as an afterthought, threw the pillow against the wall. It hit with a satisfying whumph, which of course went completely unnoticed by the lovebirds on the other side. Go figure. Rikku stalked out into the hall, mumbling under her breath in Al Bhed.
She headed out onto the deck and sat down on the cool metal. Buddy had landed them on a small, remote island in the middle of nowhere for the night, and it was warm enough out that she didn't feel cold in her jammies. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.
Lately she'd had too much stuff to think about and not enough quiet time in which to think about it. Between helping Yuna plan her wedding (Rikku had now resolved that if she ever got hitched, she and Gi – er, whoever would just elope, none of this nonsense – though the party after they got back would be epic), helping Buddy keep Brother from jumping off the deck of the ship in despair over Yuna falling in love with someone else, listening to Paine complain over spherewaves about Spiran politics, nosy reporters and how stupid "her boys" were being that day, and occasionally, when they had time, going off and finding some spheres…well, she hadn't had time to think about much of anything.
Judging by the footsteps from the hallway behind her, she wasn't going to get that time now, either. Rikku sighed and scowled – privacy was a bit of a rarity on the ship, and she was a little perturbed at losing yet another chance at a minute or two of calm. She turned her head and looked over to see who'd come out to disturb the first bit of peace and quiet she'd gotten in a week. Whoever it was, they were getting grouched at, loudly and at length.
Or not. The only exception to that, it seemed, was a shirtless Gippal. Shirtless and in loose slouchy silky pants and with his hair all messed up. And fuzzy pink moogle slippers – what a dork. She'd forgotten just how nice his arms were under that silly looking shirt, too. Rikku found herself too busy staring to give him guff for bothering her. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing, because although he looked really, Ireally/I good by moonlight, he had disturbed her me-time, and this was a shouting-match-worthy offense. At least, it should be. At the moment, she was having a little trouble putting that many brain cells in a straight line. ISo much for being over him,/I she thought ruefully.
A splash from beneath the ship made her turn her head around fast enough that her braids whipped her in the face. She found herself reaching for her usual daggers as she got to her feet, and muttered a quick curse when she remembered that she was completely underdressed for any sort of battle. She leaned over the rails along the edge of the deck, trying to remember as much as possible of the unarmed-combat stuff that Paine had insisted they all learn, as she scanned the surface of the water for any sort of disturbance.
"Whoa, whoa, stand down, soldier. I don't wanna have to fish you out of there," Gippal said from right behind her, making her jump. She looked back at him, and he laughed a little at the expression on her face. "Instincts get the better of you again?"
"Little bit," she said, forcing herself to calm down. Three years of nearly continuous adventuring had given her some pretty unique reflexes, and one of them was a tendency to react to anything strange or unexpected with various combinations of blades and fists. It had saved their skins a few times on the road, but it made her a little unpredictable when surprised. She took a deep breath and leaned against the railing, closing her eyes and trying to turn off the adrenaline. Rikku tried not to think about how much of that rush was due to her reaction to a possible threat, and how much was due to Gippal's hand on her shoulder and the smell of his cologne.
"You OK?" he asked . "You look all flustered." She swallowed hard and nodded.
"I'm fine. Just…just gotta come back down." She shook her head and laughed. "Thanks for shocking me outta that – I probably would have scared the fish pretty bad."
"You scared Ime/I pretty bad, that's a hell of a drop," he said very seriously. "You could have gotten hurt." Rikku shot him a curious look, and she smiled a little when he bit his lip and blushed.
"What are you doing out here at this time of night anyway?" she asked.
"Couldn't sleep. Nooj'll never admit it, but he snores like a buzzsaw. Baralai disappeared to somewhere, which seemed to me like a sensible course of action, so here I am." He looked up at the stars, smiling when she giggled. "Besides, it's hotter than hell tonight, so a little fresh air seemed like a good idea. Yourself?"
"Similar reasons. Noise pollution, way too hot, etcetera, etcetera. And I like being out here at night – it's really peaceful." She trailed off, staring out over the water. This was one thing that hadn't changed, apparently – there was still no such thing as an awkward silence between them. It was always this sort of easy lull in the conversation. Even after the last two years, it seemed they were still as comfortable with each other as ever. Rikku didn't even think of resisting when his arm slid around her shoulders, just leaned against him, closed her eyes and smiled. He set his chin on top of her head, and she laughed a little.
"I missed you, ya know," Gippal said softly. "And… I'm sorry things ended the way they did last time."
"Me too. On both counts." Rikku tipped her head back and looked up at the stars. "What was that last fight about, anyway?"
"It was, um…wasn't it – you know, I don't remember either, honestly," he said with a laugh. "I know it wasn't the one about you stealing my favorite tools when you've got a perfectly good set of your own. Because I remember the aftermath of that one, and it didn't involve epic shouting matches. Well, it did involve you doing a bit of screaming, but—" he broke off when she punched him in the arm. "Hey!"
"Well, watch your mouth, then," Rikku laughed and leaned her cheek against his shoulder.
"Gippal?" she asked a moment later.
"Yeah?"
"Why are your slippers making kupo noises?"
"Um. Because they were a stupid gag gift from Paine, and I haven't figured out yet how to make them stop that. It's some sort of enchantment, I think."
"Why the hell are you wearing talking moogle slippers?"
"Because they're comfy. And I left my other pair in Djose, and the floors in this thing are cold."
"But your feet are making kupo sounds." Rikku started to giggle. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is?"
"I…er…ah, shut up," he said with a laugh.
"Make me," she giggled, and grinned up at him as she turned to face him and clasped her hands behind his back.
"Glad you said that." He slid one hand behind her neck, leaned down and kissed her into silence. After a little while, Rikku pulled away, slightly breathless.
"I like your methods," she said with a bit of a laugh. "But your slippers are still being noisy."
"Yeah, they get stuck like that sometimes. Like I said, they're a little old."
"Do they keep talking after you take them off?"
"No…now there's a thought." He smirked at her, and she laughed softly.
"Hey, hey, don't think that it's gonna be that easy. You're not all the way back in my good graces yet, you know." She giggled when he kissed her nose.
"Rikku?"
"Hm?"
"You can just shut up about moogles, because your chocobo slippers are wark-ing." She closed her eyes and sighed, blushing just a little.
"So they are." She opened her eyes and looked up at him, and both of them started to laugh.
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"Damn it." Nooj rolled his eyes and dug into his pocket. "I was sure he was gonna blow it. Again." Buddy chuckled and sipped his cup of tea.
"Don't matter. Fork 'em over, man." Buddy slipped the handful of gil into the zip pocket on the side of his vest. "Pleasure doin' business with ya." He smiled at his friend. Nooj just scowled – he looked distinctly uncomfortable with a delicate little teacup in his hands instead of a massive mug of coffee. His scowl and glare also lose some of their effect when combined with a fluffy bathrobe and slippers shaped like Moombas. "So who're all the silly slippers from, again?"
"Paine. She's a little weird when it comes to presents sometimes." Nooj glared down at his feet as the sound-producing charms in the slippers went off. "More than a little weird."