~one~

you can do it

"Tidus!" The dozing child jerked awake as Selphie shoved him into the sand. "What are you doing sleeping! Come on, Riku set up a campfire for Sora and Kairi! Let's go!"

Tidus reached up to wipe the sand off his mouth with a disgruntled look on his face. "Jeez, Selphie. Could you shriek any louder?" The boy spat out a wad of spit coated sand. "Now my tongue's all sandy."

"Whatever." Selphie rolled her eyes at him as she grabbed his arm and pulled until he stumbled to his feet. "Come on, we've got to hurry up! You know we'll get in trouble if we stay out too long past dark!"

Tidus crossed his arms. "So, the mayor's finally letting his pwecious wittle baby Kairi stay out late?"

Selphie giggled before she smacked his arm. "Don't be mean, Tidus!" She said, but she said it smiling. "But yeah! That's why we've got marshmallows and chocolate and everything! Although..." Her smile turned mischievous.

As the two of them jumped over a beached log, Selphie shoved Tidus back to the sand. "Hey!" Tidus rubbed his mouth angrily as he glared up at her.

"Last one there has to eat the burnt smores!" Selphie called out at him as she started to skip away.

Forcing his eyes to stop watering, Tidus held back a shriek as he felt the cold tide wash up against his bare feet. "I hate you," he mumbled as he pushed himself off the ground.

"Huh?" Selphie turned back to stick her tongue out at him. "What'd you say?"

His little hands balling up into fists, Tidus glared at her. He opened his mouth and then shivered as a cold night breeze whispered through his hair. "I hate you!" Tidus yelled as Selphie laughingly ran off towards the campfire.

Before he made his own tripping way after her, he took a moment to rub the goosebumps off his arms.

~two~

you're a blitzball player, aren't you? from zanarkand?

"Tidus!" The aforementioned boy let out a short shriek as a blitzball bounced off the back of his head.

"Wakka," Tidus groaned, rolling onto his back as he looked up at the still laughing boy. "What do you want now?"

The slightly older boy tossed his ball up into the air, not even needing to look to be able to catch it. "Come on, man! We haven't had a good game in weeks!"

Tidus let his head fall back onto the sand with a muffled thunk. "Go play with Sora or something." He let out a yawn. "I'm tired."

"Are you being serious?" Wakka snorted. "All that kid," he glared at the screaming boy being tossed into the surf, "wants to do is play sword fighting. He'd probably try to play baseball with this." Wakka cradled what Selphie often referred to as his baby with a protective look on his face.

Tidus just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'll play with you later, Wakka. I'm still bummed out about that freaking science project we've gotta do."

"Come on, man!" Wakka crossed his arms in his own version of a pout. "What happened to all your stupid little dreams of starting your own pro team?"

Tidus shivered as a cloud passed over the sun, the shade an unwelcomed respite from its heat.

"What about the Zanarkand's, or whatever you called it?" Wakka let out one last remark. "You can't start your own team if you're not even a member. Are you a blitzball player, or aren't you?"

Tidus groaned as he stumbled to his feet, ignoring Wakka's blinding grin. "Fine," he sighed, "but only if Selphie referees. You cheated about the scoring last time."

"Did not!" Wakka laughingly said as the two of them headed off to steal the pigtailed girl away from Kairi.

And then, as the sun reemerged from the clouds, Tidus couldn't keep himself from smiling.

~three~

i want to you to be my guardian

"Tidus?" Tidus cracked an eye open as Selphie sat down next to him. "What's with this stuff?" The girl cast a questioning look at the pile of books and magazines now half covered in sand.

"I'm supposed to pick out some career," Tidus groaned, glaring at a picture of some long haired guy in a lab coat. "But all I can find are these dorky ones about science or math or some shit."

Selphie giggled. "Stupid," she said, punching him in the shoulder. "Why didn't you just do it in class?"

"I tried." Tidus crossed his arms as he watched Wakka throw his ball at a flock of seagulls.

Selphie rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess. You picked something stupid, like blitzball hero or retired billionaire."

Tidus shook his head as he buried his flushed cheeks in his hands. "No..."

Sensing weakness, Selphie pounced. "Aw, come on! You can tell me! I promise I won't make fun of you or tell Kairi, if she ever snaps out of it."

Tidus cast one last loathing look at the pile of magazines before he abruptly stood and started to walk off towards the pier. "Hey! Wait up!" Selphie, quickly scrambling to her feet, raced after him.

"What's the big deal?" She asked later as they dangled their feet off the edge. "What could you pick that's that embarrassing?"

A seagull, its strong wings flaring out to catch the latest breeze, dove down into the water in front of them. Tidus watched it for a moment before he turned back to Selphie, cheeks still red but eyes watery.

"I said I wanted to be a guardian." Tidus mumbled at her, one hand rubbing rather harshly at his eyes.

Selphie blinked. "A guardian?" She parroted. "Like... foster care, or something?"

Tidus snorted. "No, not that. It's just... you remember in history class, when we were learning about the followers of Yevon?"

Selphie nodded at him as she kicked the back of her shoe against the weather-beaten wood. "Well, yeah. I'm not stupid, you know."

It took her a moment of watching him watch the sea for her to realize it, however. "Oh!" Selphie clapped her hands together, her hair flying out as she spun to face him. "You mean you wanted to be a guardian for a pilgrimage?"

Hazy eyes still on the swimming seagull, Tidus nodded.

"But..." Selphie worried at her lip. "Tidus, there haven't been any pilgrimages in a couple hundred of years. Well, I mean, there's still pilgrimages, or course, but none of the kind of that need guardians."

Tidus scowled. "You don't think I know that?" He asked but refused to look at her.

"Well," Selphie teasingly replied, "seeing as you said you wanted to be a guardian, of all things..." When Tidus failed to respond, she frowned. "Anyway, what do you want to be a guardian for? Even if there still were any, there aren't any pilgrimages anywhere near the islands. You'd have to go so far away!"

Tidus lifted his face up to the sun as he watched the seagull fly away. Selphie couldn't place the look on his face - it looked like something between nostalgia and regret.

But when he turned to face her, his scowl was firmly back in place. "So? Why would it matter to you if I left these stupid islands?"

Inexplicably, Selphie found herself having to force tears to stay out of her eyes. "What do you mean, you idiot!" She half-shrieked, overcome with hormones and pride and the ever-present fear of growing up. "I don't care if you're a guardian or whatever, but I still want you to live nearby!" Selphie was too busy talking to notice his sudden flinch as he stood up. "We're friends, aren't we? And besides..."

Selphie, still looking away from him at the sea, blushed. "I kind of like you... in a not-so-much as friends kind of way." Too afraid to look at him, she stayed silent for a few moments, waiting for him to respond. "Tidus?"

The tanned teen was gone. All that remained to show he ever had been there was a small pile of sand that slowly fell through a crack in the boards.

White teeth biting into a pink lip, Selphie turned around to watch Tidus disappear around a corner. Forcing herself to relax her tight grip the hem of her shirt, she looked to the sea and sighed.

"Tidus..."

~and~

don't worry. i can fly. believe.

"Yuna!" Tidus woke up with a racing heart, sweaty palms, and a sinking feeling of dread. He stared, eyes hazy and unseeing, at the starry night sky. Wakka slowly stirred awake beside him.

"Tidus?" The other teen slurred. "Who's Yuna?"

Tidus rolled over, resting his cheek in the hollow of his crossed arms.

"I don't know," he said, hating the ashen taste of the truth in his words.