TITLE. Shades of Sunlight
FANDOM. Final Fantasy X-2
PAIRING. Rikku/Gippal.
SUMMARY. On breaking up, and then getting back together. "Do you have a vendetta against clothes or something?"
DISCLAIMER. I own nothing, tragically enough.
NOTES. I love this pairing so hard. God, it's ridiculous.

Three months after she'd helped defeat Sin, Pops called her into his office in Bikanel. She was almost sixteen, covered up to her elbows in grease and her hair had grown out enough that she could do interesting, awesome things with it involving braids and beads. He snorted when she tried to scratch her nose and smudged it black in the process. "What's up, old man?"

"I'm sending you to Djose," he said simply, and grinned when she choked on nothing, the horrible, evil fiend. "There's a group of Al Bhed there setting up some sort of machine facility. I want you to help them out."

Oh, yeah, them. She'd heard all about them already, and who was leading them. She narrowed her eyes at him and grumped; she knew what this was about. It was another one of his schemes – one of the ones where he tried to get her married off because Shiva forbid Brother ever stopped being a spazz long enough to attract a girl, much less reproduce with one – and they always involved the same people. Him, her, and –

"I hope you know," she said, with as much dignity as she could muster while dripping black sludge all over her favourite boots, "that this is not going to lead to me marrying Gippal."

Because it wasn't. Last she'd checked, Gippal wanted to strangle her or maybe leave her for dead in the desert. Also, he'd been about five feet taller than her and looked like he hadn't eaten in months which was just so not attractive and really the only thing he had going for him was the eye patch and just. Ew. It was Gippal. He was annoying..

"Spira," Cid said, massaging his temples, "I wish it would."

She weighed the pros and cons of throwing a tantrum right there in the tent and only decided not to when Nhadala ducked inside and sent her a look that just screamed If-You-Mess-Up-My-Reports-I-Will-Murder-You-Slowly.

"I'll become a Yevonite," she threatened instead, and felt nauseous just saying it. Wearing all those clothes would be grossly unfair to life in general. She'd seen Yunie's summoner's robes, and those had apparently been horribly offensive.

No one batted an eyelash at Dona for some reason, though. Rikku took a moment to ponder her greatest source of entertainment. Cid coughed. "You don't have the modesty for it. The hover's picking you up tomorrow."

She looked at him blankly. Images of Dona and Barthello promptly exploded from her brain in itty-bitty pieces, like scantily-clad, comically voiced confetti. "TOMORROW?"

"Stop yelling."

"THIS IS NOT YELLING. YOU HAVE NOT EVEN BEGUN TO SEE YELLING."

"You're rustling my files," Nhadala said ominously, and turned to her very, very slowly. The sun somehow reflected off her goggles and gave them a menacing glint. Rikku cowered under the desk.

"... You can have my first born child?" she offered meekly. Cid cackled.

"Yes, she's already planning on having his kids!"

Rikku bit his shin.

She made a point of showing up at the temple in significantly less clothing than he'd last seen her in. Hopefully, he'd be so repulsed by all the exposed skin, he'd leave her alone and she wouldn't have to marry him ever. Then she could help Yunie bring back Tidus from the you-were-all-crazy-high-the-whole-trip-and-dreamed-me-dead and he could bring one of his tanned friends with him.

Later, she would realize she'd had managed to forget a few key things – like Gippal was male and she'd gone throw an amazing growth spurt during the pilgrimage and was no longer the flattest girl in all of Spira. So of course, when she showed up in a half-shirt and her green shorts and boots, thinking Gippal would never, ever want to talk to Cid's girl ever again from sheer mortification, half the growing Faction wondered if she was insane.

That might've been because she was muttering her evil plan out loud to herself, though.

"Maybe if I wear a skirt next time," she nodded, grinning at a rock, "Oooh, all that leg will give him a seizure. He'll probably be so overcome with icky he'll send me home!"

"Is she for real?" One worker turned to the other. "Seriously?"

"She was one of Lady Yuna's guardians," the other pointed out. "They're all kind of whacked."

Gippal chose to saunter out that moment in all his blond, eye-patched glory and strut towards her. Rikku looked him over. Still obnoxiously tall, but now–

Biceps! She thought gleefully, and then squashed the thought before it decided to take up permanent residence in her brain. EW, BICEPS.

She made a face. He stopped in front of her in what she thought to be the most flaming purple shirt in the world and squinted. Or pretended to squint while he very obviously stared at her chest. She made a point of not crossing her arms. The disgust would set in any minute.

"What can I do for you, sweetheart?" He raised his eyebrow at her, smirking. Rikku froze. That was not disgust. That was... suave. Flirty, even.

OH SWEET MERCIFUL IXION, GIPPAL WAS TRYING TO PICK HER UP.

She made an unintelligible noise. He leaned in closer, one hand on his hip. Rikku wondered-if-slash-prayed he was suddenly fiercely, dedicatedly gay. "Coeurl got your tongue, babe?"

"... I hate my life," she whimpered, and buried her face in her hands. Everyone sucked. This sucked. He wasn't supposed to be hitting on her – he was supposed to be running, preferably screaming, in the opposite direction. And he wasn't supposed to be oddly sexy, either!

"Aw," he petted her hair, and Rikku tensed at the familiarity of the gesture. "Can't handle being a princess anymore, Cid's girl?"

"YOU," she shrieked, and jumped back several feet. He snickered. "YOU – YOU -"

"Me, yes," he repeated blandly. She marched in demented circles for a few seconds, spluttering.

"YOU NINCOMPOOP."

"... I see maturity has been kind to you," he said. It was so sarcastic, it practically oozed out of him. She backtracked and entertained thoughts of him as a giant Flan. The visual was disturbingly fitting. "Are you done scaring my workers half to death or do you need another couple minutes to re-enact your fifth birthday?"

The fact that he even remembered her screaming that insult at him when they'd been toddlers blindsided her for a second. Then she remembered she was really, really, really unimpressed with him. "I'm not marrying you."

He blinked once, slowly. "Good to know."

She nodded, expression solemn. "And I'm not giving Nhadala our first born child."

"That," he paused, rubbed his chin, "that is a very good idea, actually."

"She can have Wakka's."

"Whose?"

Rikku shrugged and decided they could be friends again since he wasn't going to try and have her kids. "He's a fatty. Now show me around! This is boring."

He cocked his head as she fell into step beside him. She beamed up at him until he cleared his throat and looked away. "Your attention span is ridiculous."

"Thanks!"

"And by ridiculous, I mean non-existent."

She huffed and stalked ahead of him. "Now I'm back to being mad at you."

She made it to the temple doors. Then a lightning bolt shot out of nowhere. She swore she felt it graze her leg. "GIPPAL IT WANTS MY BLOOD."

He looked sideways at her, where she was curled around his shoulders and gripping his hair. "You're a whole new brand of psychotic, you know that?"

"I would dignify that with a response," she said haughtily, "but such insults are not worthy of my – IT TOUCHED MY BUTT IT'S MOLESTING ME WHY IS IT HERE."

"Lightning temple, remember?" He hauled her over his shoulder and pushed the doors open. Rikku jerked wildly until another bolt of lightning struck down directly in front of her face. "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm going into shock," she said seriously. Her paralysis abruptly ended when he pinched her butt. She aimed a kick for his ribs and missed. "YOU CREEPY CYCLOPS PERV."

"Yup, you're fine," he said blithely, and kept walking.

"It's been three days. You have to come out sometime."

"I'll come out," she said in her best negotiator voice, "when it leaves."

"It's lightning. It's not going to just leave."

She glared at her door as if it had done her a great injustice instead of Gippal. She hoped he could feel it through the wood. "Then I'm not coming out."

"Well," she gestured violently when he brought out The Drawl, "then I'll just have to come in, considerin' I have the master key and stuff."

She barely had time to dive behind her bed when he walked inside. "... Rikku, you know you've always been shitty at Hide 'n Seek, right?"

She sprung up from the floor, but whether it was because he'd called her out or because she was suffering from a heart attack, she couldn't decide. "You called me Rikku!"

"Yes," he said slowly. "That is your name, isn't it? Unless that's changed since the last time I saw you, too."

He sounded angry, almost. She tilted her head, curiosity burning. "Are you mad at me?"

He sighed. "No, not you. Never you, even if you are absolutely insane."

She smiled at him, wide and toothy, until her cheeks hurt. He was looking to the side when she opened her eyes. "I'll, um, I'll get over the lightning thing. 'Cause it's annoying and all and yeah."

"I don't know," he grinned at her crookedly and maybe her heart did a weird flip that vaguely resembled one of Tidus' stupid blitzball moves. Maybe. "I kind of like having you jump all over me every three seconds."

"Mood: killed," she deadpanned, flopping face down onto the bed. "Go away, you stalker-rapist-man."

"Your insults just get wittier and wittier."

"You seem to be sucking the intelligence out of me."

"Maybe I should leave, then." He looked painfully solemn. "I mean, it's not like you can afford to be giving what little you have away."

She threw her mattress at him. And then tried to take it back. "Oooh, I'm sorry, don't take it away, it's so comfy and not made of sand."

His eye was slightly wider than usual. He was probably just trying to get over the shock of her being a total badass. "I'll see you in the lobby in ten. Try not to blow anything up between here and the lift."

"It's like, three feet away!"

"That's three feet too many," he snarked, and ducked out of the room when she attempted to pick up the wardrobe. She brushed off her clothes and tried to straighten her hair. Light flashed outside and shot her already frazzled nerves into the ground.

She sprinted out the door and vaulted over the stairwell-railing, landing on her feet next to a repair machine, screaming. "GIPPAL IT'S BACK."

She somehow managed to hear him facepalm from three floors up.

"Well?" Cid looked decidedly pleased when he came to visit them. "Any progress?"

"Gippal's trying to seduce me," she whined, and batted his hands away from her sides. "Pops, take me home with you. Please."

"Nope!" he said cheerfully. He sent Gippal a relatively terrifying look. "You have to marry her before you get her pregnant, ya hear?"

Gippal beamed and crushed her to his chest. "Yes, sir!"

"I HATE ALL OF YOU," she moaned, covering her face. "YOU MEANIES."

They shared a look over her head. She hated when they did that. "Well," Gippal went, "it's a step up from 'nincompoop'."

Cid winced. "... She is almost sixteen, right?"

"I AM RIGHT HERE."

"Much to my ears' dismay," Gippal mumbled into her hair. She paused long enough to wonder just what his face thought it was doing there and who gave it the right to do that because it sure as heck wasn't her when she felt his lips move against her scalp. "It's not the end of the world, you know."

"I AM SAVING MYSELF FOR DEAD BOYS," she shrieked, and stomped on his foot. It didn't do much – he was wearing steel-toed boots. She pouted as hard as she could and reached for her father. "Vydran, if you don't take me back with you I will seduce every single one of his workers and not marry any of them and have bastard children everywhere."

Cid blanched. Gippal actually sort of half-cackled, half-growled against her ear. "Not happening. Watch this."

He then proceeded to tell his entire camp she was his girl. Rikku stared at the ground, willed it to open up and eat him, and when that didn't happen, despaired as tragically and loudly as she could until Gippal eventually decided to shut her up.

"YOU JUST RAPED ME."

"It's called kissing, you freak."

"NO. KISSING IS CONSENSUAL. THAT WAS NOT."

"Oh, please, I felt your tongue in my mouth."

She wheezed. "Tell me I'm on the Farplane. Tell me I died and this is my eternal punishment for being too awesome and not hitting on Auron more."

"Nope," he kissed her cheek sweetly, and far more carefully than she'd ever expected him to. His eye was a brighter green, and even though she'd bedazzled his eye-patch in an attempt to thwart his affection for her, it still looked good on him. His fingers glided over her shoulder. "You're stuck with me."

"My life is so hard," she sobbed, but got up on tiptoe when he bent down to kiss her again anyway.

When Gippal wasn't being a complete jackass, she realized, he was actually quite nice. Which was why it totally sucked that she was going to have to break up with him and his fabulous hair that almost rivalled hers in shiny-ness.

"So," she said, not entirely sure how to go about dumping him, "I found this sphere today."

"Yeah?" He was playing with a piece of her hair, other hand splayed out across her stomach. He made a rather nice pillow – she was going to miss this. "What was on it?"

"... A guy," she muttered. "A blonde guy."

He tensed a little behind her. "A blonde... crazy guy?"

"Maybe," she mumbled. "He might've been a blonde, crazy, dead guy."

His fingers stopped tugging at her hair. "You're going to give it to Yuna, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

His palm curved over her hip. "You're going to help her find him, aren't you?"

"Mhm."

He kissed the back of her neck. "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

"I'M SORRY," she wailed, and curled into him. "But it's not like I can take you with me 'cause you've got the faction and all and it's just easier 'cause then I won't have to worry about you finding another girl who is somehow as awesome as me and hitting on her like you did me that one day even though I'll probably worry anyways 'cause I do really, really like you but you won't have to worry about me finding my own crazy hot dead guy and—"

"You aren't allowed to find any guys," he stated. "Ever."

She ploughed on. "—and I won't even want them because I'll just keep thinking about you but we have to break up anyway because it's the principle of the thing or something. I think."

"Okay," he said, sounding eerily content. Rikku bit her lip. "Okay, we'll break up."

"Really?"

"For now," he finished ominously. Rikku squeaked. "And then once you're done making your cousin blissfully happy, you have to come back here."

"Okay."

"And be my girl."

"Okay."

"And have mind blowing sex with me all the time."

"Oka – WHAT."

"I was hoping you wouldn't catch that."

She alternated between beating him with the nearest pillow and smothering him with kisses. "You loser!"

The next day he hugged her like nothing had changed, and it hurt a lot more than she thought it would to get on Brother's airship and say goodbye to him and his crooked smile and studded eye-patch and stupid lavender shirt. Because nothing really had changed.

So she was totally going to worry about girls trying to molest him.

"Did you break Gippal?" Brother asked over the intercom. He sounded oddly hopeful. "He looks... emo."

She paled. "OH SPIRA HE'S GOING TO KILL HIMSELF BEFORE I SEE HIM AGAIN."

She clawed frantically at the windows. Buddy sedated her with a Chocobo plushie. "Don't worry, Rikku, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I hope he ends it bloodily!" Brother chirped. Rikku broke several important, expensive things before storming up to the bridge and throttling him with her scarf.