A/N: Final Fantasy X-2 is property of Square Enix and not of me
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Last Night
Part Two
By Ringy-P
Sometime after Last Night Part OneRikku pushed Gippal's beer towards Baralai. "Remember, sobriety is a good thing," she told Gippal with a wink.
Baralai opened his mouth to say something. He looked at Rikku and then looked at Gippal who was looking coolly back at Rikku and then Baralai looked back to Rikku. A grin tugged at the corners of her lips. Baralai shut his mouth.
"You may not want to remember," Gippal drawled and peered down at Rikku.
Paine leaned forward. "Sounds like you know something we don't."
"You need to be careful at these Al Bhed parties," Gippal leaned back and grinned. "You never know what could happen."
Baralai choked, grabbed Gippal's beer and quickly downed it. Rikku's eyebrows rose to her scarf line.
"You want something stronger?" She asked. "I'm sure the kitchen can oblige, but that would defeat the purpose of being careful."
Baralai shook his head, gasping as the alcohol burned his tongue. Paine leaned over.
"What's gotten into you?" She hissed in his ear.
Once again Baralai shook his head and Paine narrowed her eyes, skeptical.
Yuna snuggled into Tidus more, he leaned his head on top of hers. "So, what happens?"
Rikku snorted and looked about, everyone was well on their way to being out of it. "Stick around and find out. Just be careful of the drinks if you wish to retain your memories."
"Sounds like you're going to leave!" Yuna protested.
Rikku's eyes widened. "I didn't say that!" She glanced at Gippal. "Did we say that? I thought it was just a friendly warning, beware the drinks."
"I don't think we have to say it," Gippal said and wiggled his eyebrows.
Rikku made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat, stood up, pushed away from the table and vaulted over the nearby counter to reach the mess' stock of alcohol. "Okay, now I want something harder."
Gippal laughed. "There's some cacti wine back there. Best to keep it away from the lightweights here though."
"Yes!" Rikku cheered and thrust up a squat square bottle. On her way back she grabbed a pair of shot glasses. "One hundred percent fermented cacti juice," she handed Gippal the bottle and the glasses.
"You're going to bother with shots?" Gippal set them down.
"Salt and limes," She muttered and turned back around. "If I'm going to get shit laced, I am going to do it correctly."
"Well, I'll try to remember to record it this time too," Gippal uncorked the bottle and waved it under his nose.
Rikku halted in her tracks. "What did you say?" She stuttered. Paine perked up. She smelled blackmail material, something much sweeter than what Gippal was enjoying the smell of. Baralai paled.
"Gippal," he whispered. "Tell the girl you're joking."
Gippal smirked at Baralai. "Keep out of it, mate."
Yuna, Tidus and Paine looked at each other and shrugged. Rikku leaned over Gippal and placed a saltshaker and tray of cut limes on the table. She looked over at him, "A recording?"
Gippal's eye caught hers, "Mmmhmm," He nodded, "Some very interesting stuff."
Baralai groaned. "Please say your kidding."
"Pour Gippal," Rikku ordered and straddled the bench next to him. "Baralai needs fortification."
"There are only two shot glasses." Gippal was already pouring.
"I need fortification." Rikku said firmly and began to salt her fist.
Gippal waved down a man with a tray covered in pitchers of beer and indicated he should leave one on the table. Rikku knocked back her drink as Gippal refilled Baralai's mug. Gippal then held out his fist to Rikku to salt.
"It makes horrid sense," she said between sucking the meat out of a lime. She grabbed the cacti wine bottle and refilled her glass. "So, when do I see it?"
"Hey, you sure you want to know what happened?" Gippal asked her and she frowned and stared at her glass.
"No fair using my own question against me," she said to the top of the pale amber liquid.
Gippal sighed, "when your sober."
She looked up and grinned. "That's no fun."
"You two are terrible," Baralai sipped the beer.
"I worry about you man," Gippal managed to say with a straight face, "however, I worry more about all the women whose hearts you should be breaking." He raised his shot glass in Baralai's direction as if in a toast to Baralai, Rikku reached over and clinked her shot with Gippal's.
"To breaking hearts," she said.
Baralai unconsciously took a sip of beer as they downed their shots and Rikku noticed. She began to cough as she laughed and the alcohol went down the wrong way. Gippal pounded her back and Rikku shook her head.
"Care to enlighten the rest of us?" Tidus asked. "And to remember that we're here as well?"
"Yeah, care to?" Baralai shifted in his seat and glared at the two across the way.
"Oh, sorry," Rikku frowned and looked between them.
"It's not nice of you to keep secrets," Yuna pouted.
Gippal snorted. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you, well Baralai would," he paused.
"Gippal," Rikku hissed.
"But yeah, we're keeping secrets." Gippal finished.
"My lips are sealed," Rikku demonstrated.
"Until you get drunk enough not to care," Gippal snickered.
"Hey," Rikku pouted. "You can't say anything."
Gippal tugged her braid. "Quiet you."
"I want to know," Yuna sighed. "I hate it when people have a secret and won't tell me."
"Agreed," Paine took a sip of her drink. "I say we torture it out of them."
Rikku ignored them. "I am not wasting a good drink by dumping it on you." She hissed at Gippal.
Gippal's mind jumped in a hundred different directions and none of them he dared to say in front of the others, which meant Rikku, had one-upped him. 'Damn,' he thought. Rikku's smirk assured Gippal that she knew exactly what she had done. Gippal thanked Yevon that he was still somewhat sober. It seemed when he was totally drunk he lost all sense of reason or discretion. Now, when it was just the Al Bhed around it was no problem. They were as bad off as he was, but Rikku and his friends were here at this party as well and things could get sticky quickly if he didn't maintain some facility of reason.
It seemed Rikku wasn't keen on the idea of others knowing about them. It angered her that Baralai knew, despite the fact he wouldn't if her anger hadn't gotten out of control earlier. Gippal was angry as well, but for different reasons. Clandestine relationships seemed more fun, more romantic somehow and the fact Baralai could blow it into the open was annoying.
So he judiciously ignored her and turned to the group. "Torture, Baralai doesn't have personality, nor does Yuna or Tidus. Guess it's up to you, Dr. P."
"I'm not good enough to take the both of you," Paine observed and took a sip of her own drink.
"Come on, just tell us." Yuna whined.
Rikku looked between them all. "Less talk, more drink!" She admonished.
"I thought we were supposed to be careful!" Tidus protested.
"Fuck careful," Rikku shrugged and poured more drinks for Gippal and her.
"Rikku!" Yuna exclaimed.
Tidus grinned. "I like the sound of that."
"You would," Baralai rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on, we could have Nooj here to bother us with his morose version of being drunk." Gippal observed.
Rikku elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow, what was that for?" Gippal rubbed his side.
"You can't talk," she reminded him sweetly.
Gippal sighed and looked over to Baralai, "And you were worried?"
Rikku grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, any girls on your list to seduce Baralai?"
"No," Baralai snapped.
"Not even Paine?" Rikku frowned. "Damn, and I put money down on that one too."
"Respect points," Paine ground out.
"Oh relax, I was joking." Rikku rolled her eyes. "Unless, you want Baralai to seduce you, now that makes me wish I had put money down."
Paine's eyes narrowed and she directed a look of rage at Rikku. Gippal began to snigger into his glass as Baralai went white. Leave it to Rikku to turn the tables on both Baralai and Paine.
"Respect points," Rikku tittered. "Shemect points, why can't the two of you just loosen up and relax a bit. Drink your beer, forget your morals and live it up. Like Tidus and Yuna over there." Rikku gestured with her glass. "Though they don't need alcohol to forget their morals."
Gippal decided to lean back and let Rikku take control. He noticed that Rikku had stopped drinking and that the others tongues were becoming looser as the night went on and they downed more alcohol. Baralai and Tidus began arguing about blitzball. Alcohol brought out the blitz freak hiding behind Baralai's mask. Yuna jumped in and tried to impress the others with her 'knowledge.' Until, he and Rikku were the only coherent ones sitting around the table. It took another hour for the music to start and the dancing to begin. Their group began to break up as Tidus pulled Yuna into the mass of humanity. Rikku giggled as they 'swayed' to the 'beat.' It didn't help that the musicians were as drunk as the dancers, not that either cared.
Gippal watched Baralai and wondered how much more drink it would take for Baralai to ask Paine to dance. And how much more would it take for Paine to accept?
Rikku turned to him, "No tabletops, please." She stood up and held out her hand.
Gippal used her hand to pull himself up, though he didn't need to do so. He surreptitiously swiped the bottle of cacti wine. "How about countertops?" He asked, as they walked away, hands no longer together.
"There's no fundamental difference," She shook her head, ponytail swaying.
He leaned down and whispered into her ear, "How about bed tops?" He flashed the bottle at her.
She grinned up at him and looked around. No one was paying any attention to them. "That's a different dance all together."
He grinned back and they slid through the mass of dancing people and made it out of the room without anyone seeing them.
Paine leaned over to Baralai, "Spill," she murmured.
"They're right, you wouldn't believe me," He shook his head.
Paine snorted. "Try me."
"Rikku and Gippal are," Baralai involuntary looked for them, "gone." He blinked.
Paine searched the dance floor. The two stood out even in a sea of Al Bhed but Baralai was right. The two were nowhere to be found. "Okay," she murmured. "Where'd they go?"
"His room, most likely," Baralai reached for the pitcher to refill his beer and then noticed that the cacti wine was gone. He decided he didn't want to think about what Gippal and Rikku would do with it.
Paine's eyes narrowed. "Why there?"
Baralai took a swig. He'd forgotten how many mugs he'd had now. "Are you that dense?"
Paine's brain was working slowly. She knew she couldn't count the drinks she had on one hand or maybe two. She should know the answer to what he was talking about and she frowned harder. A furrow formed between her brows. "You're going to have to spell it out for me, before frustration kills me."
Baralai inhaled. "Gippal and Rikku are sleeping together."
Paine suddenly became glad she was drunk. For one, it dampened her emotional response to the situation and out of respect for Rikku she was drunk enough to forget. It wasn't like Paine could be mad at Rikku. It was Rikku's decision. She was an adult no matter how often she didn't act like it. Yet, it was also the Rikku who she hung out with everyday that was fucking with Gippal, a guy that Paine knew in the past and also considered her friend. It was too weird, though Rikku had said she had someone who made her heart pound. "I need another drink," Paine grimaced. "So I can pretend I didn't hear that."
"Does Rikku know what she's getting into?" Baralai asked, his state of mind unhinged. "This is Gippal."
"And you think Yuna and Tidus don't get it on?" Paine stated dryly and wrapped gloved hands about her mug.
Baralai's face twisted.
Paine smiled slightly. "We're people, Baralai, not our stations. Besides, being a Gullwing isn't about being chaste. Rikku's always been aware of what her body does to men." She took a swig of the beer. "Look at Brother or Buddy, well Buddy, he oozes sexuality and self-confidence. Brother is just over the top."
"Words, I don't like hearing from you," Baralai rested his head on his arms.
"Jealous?"
"No."
"I think you are."
Baralai sat up and licked his lips. He needed another drink as much as he needed to stop drinking. Yet, the prior wish was a lot easier to fulfill considering where they were. He didn't want to continue this conversation. It led to unsafe realms. "Think what you want."
"I always do," Paine laughed.
Baralai rested his chin on his hands and resisted the urge drink more. He watched the dancers who seemed to be moving extraordinarily slow. "I just don't want Rikku to get hurt by the playboy."
"Gippal," Paine coughed and threw her head back in laughter. "A playboy!"
Baralai frowned and turned his head to look at her. "What?"
Paine caught her breath. "That man is a hopeless romantic and Rikku is the same way. In that manner they are perfect for each other."
"He flirts with anything that moves," Baralai pointed out.
"And lately?" Paine raised an eyebrow.
Baralai quieted and looked back at the dancers. "Ah," he wracked his brain maybe it was the alcohol. "I can't remember. Why are we discussing Gippal's love life anyways?"
Paine shrugged and took a sip of her beer. "You brought it up. We could go back to talking about us, despite the fact there is no us or your jealousy problem."
"No thanks," Baralai muttered.
"And then there is the just not talking option," Paine finished.
"If we don't talk what would we do?" Baralai asked. He glanced back at her. Her face was a few inches from his. Baralai's eyes fastened on her lips. She twitched her shoulders.
"We're drunk. I'm sure we'll think of something."
Baralai smiled softly, "Remember that, if you can." He murmured and leaned in to finish closing the distance between them and kissed her softly.
--
Baralai woke first. His head pounded, his mouth was dry and he could remember nothing from the night before. He squinted his eyes as soon as he woke, the sun coming through rock lined windows making his head hurt even more. He groaned and rolled off Paine, flesh sliding over flesh with ease.
'Paine,' his mind stuttered through the waves of agony pulsing through his skull. He swore he could feel the back of it. 'Oh, shit,' he thought and covered his eyes. Evidently not liking the lack of warmth he provided, Paine rolled over and snuggled into his side. He glanced down. 'This is not good. Where are we?'
He took in the room and hoped that they were someplace safe, but it looked like a typical bedroom but it held no personal objects so perhaps they were in a guest room. Gippal had plenty of those. 'Oh fuck, Gippal,' Baralai looked down again, remembered his situation and Gippal's previous situation and their similarities. He bit back curses. 'I am such a hypocrite.'
A stray ray of light fell on Paine's eyes and woke her. Baralai watched and waited for her reaction, not entirely sure how she would react.
Paine twitched and took things in methodically. One, her head hurt, as did strange regions of her body. Two, she was nestled up against a warm but naked body and she squinted as she looked up. Three, it had Baralai's face. 'Of all the people,' she thought. 'It had to be him. I like him, but I don't like him. Damn it, what happened? Other than the Yevon be fucked obvious.' She checked out the room. Four, they were in Djose. And five, she couldn't remember anything about how they'd gotten into this exact position. She opened her mouth to speak and discovered it was too dry to do so. She swallowed a few times and moved her tongue about to try and make her voice work.
"So," she asked. "You got an explanation for this?"
--
END PART TWO!
Ahh, Gippal and Rikku, a bed and essentially a bottle of tequila, smell the smut. SIGH, too bad ffnet doesn't allow it. Oh well, and (gasp) once again there is another part of this story. There was only going to be two and someone asked a question, which got me thinking and so there shall be ONE more part to this, which hopefully I'll have done by next week. So, onto the shout outs because I know you love them.
Naith: Thank you, I love writing them as well, they are so much fun. I'm nowhere near done posting yet. I just have to finish some things.
DerektheRogue: Cid and Brother, damn you, now I have to write more! And ah yes, the evilness of me, heh.
…: Well, I had the story finished and what's on the sphere. Do you have a dirty imagination? If so, use it.
Beautifulwings: Please, don't kill me! See, I've continued and there's one more part!
ZARRIE03: that sphere, that sphere had lots of smut on it, what else! And I can't post it here! SIGH… I hope this makes up for the lack of the sphere.
Embobo: Thank you for your comment about my style. Getting the right tone is hard, so I try to stick with what I'm good at.
Xpunky-galx: thank so much, I tend to write longer chapters. I can't see the point in a 200 word story.
Ichigo: (bows) thank you for reading and here is your update!
Lily Anderson: Am finishing! Was finished! Yes, Rikku and Gippal, must have Rikku and Gippal!
Gippal and Rikku x3: Updated, the same day you asked. Is that fan service or what?
Clover: hmm… I must be good on the fan service or the timing… glad you think the story is awesome!