Love Like Morphine
Part Two && Second Movement
Acrimony
That one movie night soon turned into two. Which soon turned into four. Which soon turned into- You get the drift. The small group of friends grew tight and it was rare that one would go anywhere without being in the company of at least one other. At least, in Tidus's case it was. Xigbar and the aforementioned blonde continued to bask in each other's presence- platonically speaking- although Tidus occasionally wondered what it would be like to break that barrier away. And yes, the influence of Axel and Roxas' relationship that seemed to be absolutely perfect was probably a factor of that too.
Roxas, Tidus couldn't help but notice, always tensed whenever anyone mentioned the name 'Demyx' for some reason that he couldn't fathom. He especially frowned when it was Axel who mentioned the blonde musician, but Tidus always dismissed the frown as a trick of light.
Demyx, it appeared was on an on and off relationship with one very 'sexy' Zexy. Meaning that Demyx pretty much blew hot and cold depending on his mood. Yet, Tidus also couldn't help but notice that a certain Red-head might have something to do with that too… that, and Demyx wasn't always the most amiable towards the youngest Strife.
But maybe that was just a figment of his imagination. After all, Roxas and Axel fit together about as well as chocolate and marshmallows in S'mores. They were perfect, if you asked him. Their relationship was like a boat really. Roxas was like the sail and Axel was the playful breeze. And it was all smooth sailing.
At school, Tidus had continued to play Centre Forward, with the 'Hollow Hawks' steadily creeping up the ranks and preparing for the semi-finals. This meant that the time the blonde youth spent in the company of Xigbar was fairly limited. The Hawks' captain, Riku Leonheart, was surprisingly strict about training, hoping that for once the Hawks would actually win the Finals, and not come second to the Radiant –And Retarded- Roosters of Radiant High.
But even though the morning visits and after school visits were now limited, Tidus often found himself in the company of the painter on Friday evenings and occasionally the weekend. It was those kind of moments that seemed to be the highlight of Tidus' blitzball-filled weeks, and well… let's just say that Xigbar didn't object to them either.
As for Xigbar, he found himself agreeing to attend some Art Convention/Exhibition-thing in a few weeks. It turned out that his art was considered 'inspirational to the next generation' and he was to be the Guest Speaker. This, not only surprised Larxene, but caused Saix to walk into a perfectly immobile door out of shock. Some friends.
Tidus blinked and turned, only to come face to face with one Seifer Almasy and his two idiot lackeys. Or rather, one bumbling idiot and another poker-faced rock lackey; also known as Fuu and Rai. Fuu being the closet emo girl and Rai being the rocks for brains guy; both of them flanking the Beanbag-wearing blonde. All three of them were on the Blitzball team and they had a reputation for being absolutely ruthless during games.
Up until now, the three had absolutely nothing to do with Tidus. In fact, he pretty much ignored their existence, only noting them when Seifer got yelled at for being too violent, Rai for just being, well, Rai and Fuu for being an unco-operative bitch who hogged the ball all the time. Another noticeable incident was when they attempted to shove Roxas around only to end up getting a fist in the face for pissing him off again.
Vaguely, the tanned boy recognised the voice as belonging to Rai, his characteristic 'ya'know' being the only clue as to the owner.
"Yes?"
"You play really well, ya'know," Rai continued, heavily tanned arms latching onto a blitzball as Tidus nodded a faint blush out of modesty dancing over his face.
"Uh, thanks?" He offered meekly, he didn't want to say it but Seifer, Fuu and Rai sure as hell looked intimidating…
"Let's go hang" Seifer cut in suddenly, stormy eyes narrowing dangerously at the blonde, it was a look that clearly stated, 'You don't have a choice in the matter'. Tidus swallowed thickly, eyes darting nervously around the changing rooms and noting that it was empty of all persons, save for himself and the freaky Trio.
"Uhm, I can't. I have to get home to finish an assignment," Training was on for two hours and a half after school, if Tidus was lucky, he would manage to get to home with forty minutes or so to spare which he could spend on homework before heading over to Xigbar's for another Movie Night. That night they were going to watch 'The Brother's Grimm', one of Yuna's favourite movies that the blonde boy had not yet had the chance to watch yet.
"Really? I'm in almost all of your classes Tidus, you don't have any assignments," Seifer answered darkly and latched onto his arm in a blood-cutting grip. Glancing over at Rai with a sharp jerk of his head, he pretty much dragged the blonde out of the Changing Rooms and into the hallways; Fuu snickering darkly to herself with Rai at the end, towing Tidus' bag along.
"I told Roxas that I'd help him with something," Tidus tried feebly, attempting to dig his heels into the slippery linoleum floor only to continue being dragged towards an unfamiliar section of the school.
Hollow Bastion High was a large two storey building, two wings decorating the sides and several small study rooms ornamenting every where else that wasn't occupied by the large class rooms and other necessary resource rooms. The 'Solander' Wing was where the Science rooms were, and the 'Yunalesca' Wing was for the creative arts. The wings were named after the first Headmaster and Headmistress of the school, and Tidus, so far had never set foot in the Yunalesca Wing.
"Oh but we won't be long," Seifer taunted with a sickeningly sweet smile as they stepped into a large art room. Sculptures stood in corners, paintings on the wall, a clay station at the back of the room and two elongated and very large tables were in the centre of it all. Several canvases stood isolated from the palettes and other painting implements and several large pieces of Calico were torn up in a heap elsewhere. It was artistic chaos at best.
A poster was pinned into a notice board bearing colours and a simple slogan, 'Art Exhibition!' the finer text revealing that the school was only going to let five students attend the exhibition as it was a highly prestigious opening for some Art Gallery. However, a small name caught a cerulean eye, 'Xigbar Rasted'. Ah, Thought Tidus with a grin, so that's what's got him so worked up about picking three paintings.
"The art rooms?" Tidus asked incredulously after snapping out of his temporary stupor, eyes settling on the stoic, silver-haired Fuu in confusion. The girl merely shrugged and gestured towards Seifer whom had slipped away to stand in front of a canvas and ultimately, it's painting.
It was a pretty thing really, a blonde boy was cowering outside a door, head tilted upwards, his face a picture of fleeting pain as blue eyes connected with mockingly emerald orbs. Crimson hair protruding from the transparent figure's head as its torso seemed to lean out of the door, wry smile dancing over the paled cream. It was simple, yet not. The red-head wasn't even fully solid. He was more of a ghost. A corporeal creature who looked so perfect with the blonde.
In the corner of the artwork, Tidus noticed with a small smile that a simple name was messily scrawled in watercolour-blue, 'Naminè'
Tidus was so focused in absorbing the sheer emotion of the painting that he hardly noticed when Seifer began rummaging through a bag that Fuu had carried, grinning triumphantly he procured a lighter.
"Hey, Tidus, bring the painting over here for a bit will you?" He covered the lighter with his hand as the blonde absentmindedly picked up the painting and headed towards the trio. A decidedly evil sneer was on Fuu's expression and Rai just looked bored. Seifer, on the other hand seemed to be on the verge of laughing hysterically.
Pity, Tidus didn't notice.
"This is really good…" He muttered distractedly as he held it out for Seifer to examine.
Now let's just think about this for a moment. Given the fact that Tidus didn't actually know Seifer very well, he naturally assumed that Seifer wanted to see how Naminè painted it and all of that other artistic jazz that Seifer would naturally want to know. Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that Naminè was Roxas' best friend and therefore was on Roxas' side by proxy. Nor did it have anything to do with the fact that she did better than Fuu in art class. And neither did the fact that Naminè was just little miss perfect have to do with what would happen next.
"Yeah, it is. Now hold it out for me"
Two seconds later there was the flickering sound of a lighter flaring.
Three seconds later the flame was held close towards the corner of the painting.
Five seconds later the lighter was retracted.
Six seconds later a small ember rose into a glowing flame.
Seven seconds later, Tidus noticed that there was smoke coming from the painting.
Eight seconds later Seifer, Fuu and Rai ran out of the art rooms, dark laughter trailing in their wake.
Ten seconds later and Tidus was panicking. The flame had grown into a small blaze. The painting was on fire.
But it was all ten seconds too late.
A high-pitched scream tore Tidus from the flame-induced stupor. His gaze had been focused on the climbing flames, the painting burning and the image of tranquillity turning into a disgusting smoke. He glanced once at the vocalist and swore. Someone. Kill me.
Oh, Well, "Fuck"
Naminè.
It was roughly seven thirty when Xigbar finally gave in to Larxene's horrible nails-on-chalkboard screeching and pressed the play button on the remote. Resisting the urge to sigh angrily as the blonde bitch simply snatched the black, plastic 'stick from hell' (to quote a drunk Saix) in order to skip through the previews.
"Finally!" She crowed and then pressed the play button, enraptured by the amusing opening scenes. Xigbar, in the mean time was annoyed. Annoyed, worried and confused. You see, there was something wrong with this particular Movie Night.
They were missing a blonde.
Roxas was curled up on the carpet beside Axel, eyes focused on the television screen and Demyx… was scowling. Larxene was sitting next to Saix and himself, as usual and well… Vexen was the only other 'blonde' that he knew, save for one. Tidus Faye was not there.
Usually, the blonde would be over at around five thirty, but then again, he had heard that Riku demanded that they have a Blitzball Practice until five thirty, which meant that he should have arrived at six. Instead of Tidus, Sora and Riku had arrived straight from Blitzball and upon the golden-eyed man's inquiring, had mentioned that they thought Tidus had left as soon as practice was over.
Smiling innocently at Xigbar's question, Roxas had simply told the painter that maybe Tidus was late. For once. But the painter couldn't help but think that something- something or anything was off. It just wasn't like Tidus to do something like this. It wasn't anything that the cheerful blonde would do.
It was at this moment that Xigbar left the couch (having kicked Marluxia off it earlier) and headed towards the kitchen in order to grab himself a bottle of beer. Or maybe two. Or three… let's just make it four. Not that it was all for him of course, Axel wanted a bottle and so did Saix. And well, knowing Saix and his chronic addiction to beer… Xigbar was willing to bet that the azure haired male would relieve him of the third bottle.
Xigbar, it could be noted, was still on edge. And this perhaps was what caused Roxas to shrug off Axel's arm and follow the eye-patched male into the kitchen with every intention of a confrontation. Roxas Strife was not exactly close, close with Xigbar, but he was getting there. Throw in a Xigbar-being-worried-about-Roxas'-newest-friend and you get an encounter. And that was exactly what the blonde had intended on…
If he didn't crash into Xigbar's back two seconds later, that is.
"Heh?"
No reply.
"Xigbar?"
"…What is he doing?"
"What? Xigbar, are you okay?"
"…Where is he going?"
"What?"
Roxas caught on. Vivid blue eyes following a single gold orb he as he finally realized what, or rather, who had captured the older male's eye. Ah, the benefits of living on the same street as 'the object of your affections', the blonde thought with a wry smirk and debated over whacking Xigbar over the head in order to pull him out from the Blitzballer-induced stupor.
"Oh." The youngest Strife then muttered and nodded his head in what appeared to be a horrible attempt of a sagely manner. Then, "You know, if you wanted- I mean, since you've already seen this movie and all- too, you could go and uh, take a walk. Like. A really long walk."
Xigbar pulled his gaze away from the window and the distant figure of a blonde disappearing behind the slope of Second Avenue's hill, in order to glance down at the stocky youth and arch a brow. Roxas sustained his smirk before continuing what he had previously stated, "Actually, you should go for a walk. I mean, one of us is gonna have to. And if you please, I kind of want to stay here and make sure that nothing… happens"
Realization dawned on Xigbar as he nodded to Roxas' suggestion. Pulling open the refrigerator's door and collecting a trio of beer bottles before dumping them into the blonde's arms, ("Try not to kill him if he tries"), exiting the kitchen and picking up a coat. As he headed out the door, Xigbar could hear with vague amusement Axel's interrogation.
"Where's Xiggy going?"
"For a long walk"
"Really? To do what?"
"I'm not going to say"
"Awwws! But Rox- mmph!"
It was nice to know that those two were so co-operative.
Number Seventeen… Eighteen… Why am I even doing this? Xigbar found himself standing outside a cedar door, having previously knocked the handle, waiting patiently for the resident of the house to open the damn door and let him in. But that was a really good question, just why was Xigbar there visiting a friend- he supposed Tidus was a friend, after all, you wouldn't call him a stranger or an acquaintance, even-? He would be lying if he said that he didn't care about the small blonde's emotional state. He would be lying if he said he didn't care about Tidus at all. He would be lying about whatever it was that he felt for the cerulean-eyed youth, and that was enough to force drastic measures.
Well, drastic enough for a Painter who didn't care about anything as long as everything looked the same.
"X-Xigbar?" The door was pulled open and the eye-patched man was greeted by the aforementioned youth, his hair was even more unruly than usual and his eyes were tinted pink indicating tears. Wordlessly stepping aside and sweeping an arm in a horribly practiced looking manner, Tidus's eyes flickered from the door towards the inside of the house. None of the lights were on, save for one upstairs. Probably his bedroom…
Arm mindlessly groping along the wall to find the hall's light switch –and flicking it on-, the blonde walked through the hall way, gesturing for his 'street neighbour' to follow; the door soundlessly swung back to close as the pair left the hallway to enter a still dark Living room. Or, what appeared to be a living room at least. Mumbling a soft apology and switching on the lights before sitting down on a couch and motioning for Xigbar to do the same.
"I came to check up on you, I- we noticed that you didn't come over, earlier, like you were meant to," He supplied, quickly covering up the minor slip and changing it into the idea that the whole group of friends were concerned over the Blitzballer's suspicious absence but evidently it wasn't done well enough since Tidus immediately flushed at the slight implication. Xigbar, of course, didn't notice, "We were worried"
"Oh," Was the only answer Tidus could really give. Guilt clawed at his stomach as his mind remembered the platinum-blonde Namine's anguish at the fate of her painting; and it was this that prevented him from unleashing all of his woes upon the unsuspecting Painter. Painter, if Tidus told Xigbar what he'd inadvertently done, well; let's just say that the blonde really doubted that Xigbar would be sympathetic towards him. If anything, he'd be sympathetic to Namine. And Tidus didn't really need that at the moment.
The pair lapsed into a companionable silence with Xigbar unconsciously studying the youth's profile a little more carefully, noting how the light played against tanned flesh and a small frown creased over his forehead. Shoulders were slumped in a downcast manner as lips were tugged into a small frown. That did it, something was undeniably wrong and Xigbar was going to find out what it was. No matter how long it took.
"She hates me," Tidus then bluntly stated, looking up slightly to look at Xigbar, sadness dancing through cerulean eyes. Xigbar's reaction was a slow blink. She? It figured that someone like Tidus would be angst-ing over a girl. The painter couldn't help but narrow his eye slightly, all of this fuss over a girl?
"She?"
"Namine Eldorne," Tidus answered, fingers tapping restlessly against the surface of a small table whose only occupant was an ivory-coloured lamp. Namine? Isn't that one of Roxas' friends? Xigbar thought to himself, privately he wondered why anyone would like her. She was such a… sheep. To quote Axel.
"Oh?"
"I burned her painting-," Throwing all caution to the wind and then shifting his body till he was full facing Xigbar, Tidus proceeded to recount what had happened.
"Tidus!? What- what are you doing?" Was the first thing out of the small blonde's mouth as pale blue eyes surveyed the burning painting with an expression of abject mortification. She squinted slightly, trying to recognise who had annoyed Tidus enough to warrant this kind of revenge. She could vaguely recognise it form somewhere…
Red spiky-hair…
Tidus ignored her, running quickly towards the sink and flinging the burning object into the metal tub, turning on the cold water and watching as the flames turned into drowning embers. Rubbing at his eyes as plumes of grey smoke lashed at him, he twisted the tap's knob towards the right allowing the small stream of water to turn into a strong torrent. Two seconds later when all traces of fire was gone, he reversed the knob until the currents ceased altogether. Namine, in the meantime had approached the blonde from behind, trying to remember why the colour Red screamed at her so much.
And then she put it altogether and collapsed crying softly. What had she done to deserve this?
"That painting's mine, isn't it?" She managed to mumble over and over again.
It appeared to be a scene out of a movie as suddenly the smoke alarms turned on and sprinklers that decorated the ceilings started gushing out water droplets, liquid drenching Tidus' spikes as Namine's blouse hugged her figure. The girl's tears seemed to be camouflaged among the water trickling down her face but Tidus knew better; the muffled sobs coming from her shaking frame being an indication as to the platinum blonde's current state of mind.
"N-Namine," He gaped slowly, as though finally realising that she actually was there, Sure, earlier he had thought it was her, but he was kind of preoccupied with putting out the small fire that was her painting. He just had to have had the best of luck, didn't he? "It isn't what it looks like, really!"
She looked at him with a broken expression. It was obvious that she knew he was lying.
"Okay no," He sighed and tried again, attempting to step towards the shaking girl but she whimpered and stepped back; she didn't want to be anywhere near the blitzballer, "Scratch that. It actually is exactly how it looks. Kind of. But it wasn't me who did it!"
"Namine Eldorne, Tidus Faye. What is the meaning of this!?" A light, articulate tenor voice weighed down with shock stopped Tidus from elaborating on his oxymoron. Resisting the urge to impale himself on the nearest paintbrush, Tidus couldn't help but fume and curse at whatever sick deity was out there.
Headmaster Ansem was at the doorway of the Art Room, tanned face an expression of astonishment as he surveyed the two sprinkler-drenched teens. With sharp gold eyes and dreamy silver hair, Tidus's only solace was the fact that Ansem was a dead ringer for 'grumpy old Xemnas'. And well, that was about it. Could he help it if he had a lame sense of humour and found amusement in the fact that Xemnas and Headmaster Ansem looked like they were twins gone wrong?
"H-Headmaster Ansem!?"
"So, am I to believe that Seifer Almasy, Fuujin Torrens and Raijin Thames somehow coerced you into visiting the Art Rooms where you happen to have never been to before during your stay in our school and tricked you into holding out Namine's painting as Seifer managed to light it on fire with you noticing only when it was almost completely incinerated?," Headmaster Ansem pinched the bridge of his nose with his fore finger and thumb. Tidus never really understood why people did that; apparently it helped relieve one's stress. But when he had tried he had earned nothing except an aching headache.
"NO! I mean, yes. But, no. But-" Tidus couldn't decide on what to answer with. Did Ansem really have to turn him into such an antagonistic evil-doer? He didn't do it on purpose, already. But the silver-haired male really only succeeded in wedging the slab of guilt into his heart even further.
The trio had left the Art rooms, with Ansem smashing a button in order to turn the sprinklers off and calling the Fire Department in order to call off the siren-ing fire brigades. Now, they were back in the Headmaster's Office. Ansem sitting with an aura of disappointment in his office-like chair with Tidus sitting opposite him with a mahogany desk in between and Namine sitting by his side, tear tracks still ornamented her face as slightly bloodshot eyes looked with a strange hollowness at the window. The cerulean-eyed male frowned again as Ansem raised a brow. He didn't want to deny what had been done. But he didn't want to admit to doing something he hadn't done, especially if it made him sound like a criminal.
For some odd reason he had a theory that as soon as word got out about what had happened, Roxas would skin him alive. Roxas and Namine weren't best friends for nothing, after all.
"Which is it Mister Faye? I do hope you realise that lying will get you nowhere and that we hope to deal with this quickly so that Miss Eldorne will be able to receive compensation of some sort. Or so that we can at least punish whoever is responsible. Also, if you didn't notice, the Art Rooms have Video Cameras... So rest assure, Mister Faye, I will know if you are lying"
"But I didn't burn the painting! Why would I do it? No offence, Namine, but you and I aren't close enough for me to have a personal vendetta against you"
"What about Seifer, Fuujin and Raijin then?"
"Seifer? That's easy," Tidus mused to himself, "He probably doesn't like you because you're Roxas' best friend. Therefore you are on Roxas' side by Proxy. Fuujin though… well, she does seem to be the type to hold grudges. And well, Raijin is just a tag-a-long…"
Namine flinched. Try as she might, the feeling of unease continued to claw at her. Her? Namine Eldorne not liked? Blasphemy. Everyone liked Namine Eldorne. It was one of the few facts of life! She wasn't mean, she didn't backstab… she was a great friend and she was smart. She was perfect. Or as close as anyone could get to being perfect. Namine wasn't used to the idea of not being liked. Even if it was by low scum like Seifer, Fuu and Rai. At least, that was Tidus' impression of what would be running through the blonde's head right now.
"…You do understand that this supposed 'recount' you're telling me sounds remarkably like a very poorly constructed excuse," Ansem said darkly. Tidus sighed, briefly wondering why the hell Ansem had brought up the topic of recorders if he wasn't even going to use them as evidence or whatnot.
"I swear that that's what happened. I don't go around burning people's paintings for petty revenge. Because that's just rude," The blonde male repeated with a frustrated sigh. How the hell did he get himself into this situation anyway? Oh yeah. That's right. He was dragged along to witness and 'take part' in the burning of Namine's artwork. I'm going to murder Seifer, He thought to himself, glaring at an annoyingly gay snow globe that sat on Headmaster Ansem's desk.
"Tidus, I'd like to believe you, but you already admitted to being there at the scene of the crime and that makes you look incredibly guilty already."
"You could check the video recorders you know" Tidus finally snapped, angrily glaring at the silver-haired male, "And are you by any chance related to Xemnas?"
"Ah. I suppose I could, but I was hoping it wouldn't get to that; it's very tedious. And why yes, I do have a brother called Xemnas. How do you know that?"
"He's… a friend of a friend," The blonde frowned as he vaguely realised something. It was Friday. Friday equals Movie Night. Movie Night then equals time with Xig- friends. And he wasn't there. Xigbar was going to murder him. Well, not if Roxas did first. Brow creasing over with the sheer weight of frustration at Ansem, anger at Seifer and his idiotic lackeys, and for some odd reason a lack of sympathy for Namine crashing down on him. Add stress over how annoyed Xigbar would be at him not showing up (Not that Tidus knew how badly Xigbar was fretting at the moment, although he was hoping) and Tidus was prepared to lose his mind, "Would I be allowed to go any time soon? I have someplace urgent to be". Nevermind being rude, Tidus was on the brink of insanity with the need to get out of Ansem's office. And not incur the wrath of Xigbar.
"Wait a moment longer, Tidus, my assistant will be here with the tapes and then we can decide," As if on cue, a tall, thin and sickeningly pale green woman stalked into the room. Knobbly body looking dwarfed by the dress she wore and gripped in her pale hands was a tape. Turning towards a shelf where a television set lay innocently on one of its benches –Briefly Tidus wondered how the hell he didn't notice that earlier-, pushed the tape in and pressed the play button.
Looking expectantly at the screen, Ansem scowled darkly as his assistant pressed fast forward towards the part where the Art Rooms actually had occupants. Sure enough, Seifer, Fuujin and Raijin sauntered into the room, looking like they owned the place with Tidus bearing a 'lost puppy' look. Watching with sharp eyes, Ansem blinked with a note of contemplation as Tidus held up Namine's Painting (Which shall from here on be referred to as 'Pink Spider') and commented on it. Seifer snorted and rolled his eyes; except now looking on from the Camera's point of view, Tidus could distinctly make out the bean-bag wearing male pull out a lighter from a bag and then hide it cleverly from the blonde at the time of the crime.
Glaring darkly at the television's screen as he watched himself hold out the painting innocently and the next ten seconds passing by in a flash.
Namine, sitting next to him gasped out loud in horror as she witnessed what had really happened and Ansem too looked on with an expression of sheer disbelief. Scowling darkly as the lady pressed the stop button and was excused ("You may leave now, Maleficent"), Ansem quickly pulled out a manila folder from a filing cabinet, rifling through its contents until he found a certain file. Picking up a few sheets of paper and picking up the phone he proceeded to punch in a number and promptly forgot about the two blondes as he moved on to talk about a certain Seifer Almasy's behaviour with what Tidus presumed would be Almasy's father.
"- and she kept telling me that it wasn't my fault, but I know it's my fault! If I wasn't such an idiot and punched Seifer then none of this would have happened. Pink Spider would still be intact, I would have been here to hang out with you and Seifer wouldn't be screaming bloody murder at me upon sight! I'm such a fuck up! And do you know what's worse?" Tidus breathed in, a pink flush working its way along his face and neck causing Xigbar to involuntarily and unnoticeably gulp at the flustered and dare he say it, cute blonde licked his parched lips slightly before continuing, "Pink Spider was a competition entry!
It was so she could enter some Art Competition that would get her into some fancy Art Exhibition in a few weeks! And I burnt it! Okay, so maybe I didn't, but I inadvertently caused it! And now she can't enter the stupid competition! And now she won't win because nothing could be better than Pink Spider! It was just, that good"
Slightly miffed at the insinuation that his paintings weren't as good as this 'Pink Spider', Xigbar immediately ignored it and focused on the fact that Namine's painting was a competition entry for an Art Exhibition.
And Art Exhibition where Xigbar's paintings would be one of the main features of the Exhibition.
An Art Exhibition that Xigbar was going to invite Tidus Faye to come along to.
And that Xigbar Rasted had only one pass for.
"And, I'm no artist. So I can't draw her anything that she could enter instead, either! And she really wanted attend the Exhibition!" Tidus paused again and looked at Xigbar. The golden-eyed painter's eye glinting with sympathy for the blonde's predicament, he, of course had a way out of the problem. But the question was… whether to be selfish and force Tidus to forget Namine and attend the Exhibition with him, or tell Tidus to give the girl the damn pass. Xigbar was torn between the two options.
All of a sudden Xigbar's pocket began to vibrate. Pulling out his cell phone and pressing the 'receive' button, the ebony-haired male greeted the caller gruffly, talking for a few moments before a small smile crept along his scarred features. It was good news.
"Guess what" He said as he re-pocketed the cell, the smile on his face not moving. He had a feeling that Tidus would be back to his usual cheerful self after he told him this. For some reason, Xigbar didn't like the idea of Tidus being upset and stressed. If anything, he missed the cheerful, laughing blonde that so innocently inquired about his paintings and whatnot.
Blinking, and looking at Xigbar with a hint of confusion, Tidus answered with the obvious, "What?"
"You know the Art Exhibition that's displaying my Art in a few weeks?" Tidus nodded slowly, still not comprehending, "Well, a friend of mine who was going to come along just pulled out. Do you know what that means?"
"I'm going to be selfish for a moment and assume that you did not just get a ticket to the Exhibition for Namine"
"Better. I have one for you and her"
"Are you serious?"
Nod.
"I love you"
And the next thing Xigbar knew, he had Tidus' very kissable lips pressed up against his own.
Life was good.
A/N: -Is busy yelling profanities at the world and homework, and obnoxiously annoying mothers, and idiotic writing, and stupid stories and stupid un co-operative characters-
REVIEW. Now. Stress is getting to me.
Love, Acrimony.