Author's Note: In this episode I introduce a plotline for Rikku, Shuyin, Gippal, continue a Baralai plotline, as well as a new character. Yes, this is an original character, who is guest starring in this episode and will recur a little through this season, and I might make him a full out cast member if you all like him. Let me know! (P.S. his name is Tommy).

Episode 1.3: Happy Birthday

Cast: Baralai, Gippal, Yuna, Tidus, Shuyin, and Rikku, with a special appearance by Lulu

Guest Starring: Auron, Wakka, Tommy, Nooj, and LeBlanc

The girl sank back into the covers of the down bed, pulling the man on top of her. Blonde hair flipped back onto the dark pillows, almost luminescent in the dark room. The man's graying hair sparkled in the minimal light filtering through the window, the curtain being only hastily pulled over the glass, letting in only jagged rays of light.

Her think frame was nothing compared to the bulk of the older man straddling her, ready to push himself inside her. Not to say that he was overweight or anything of that sort in the slightest, he just had a natural bulk to him, which was what made him so attractive to certain girls, even as he grew older.

The age difference was apparent, but neither cared. So what if they got dirty looks every once in awhile? Nobody that saw them on their "dates" would ever see them again, and the girl always wore sunglasses and a hat so no one would recognize her. Certain precautions were being made, since she might soon become famous.

Nails scraping over naked back, she writhed under his body as he pulsed inside of her, nearly coming back out, then thrusting in again. The motion repeated itself again and again, each pulse growing more urgent, more daring. The need to be released was growing with intensity in each passing moment, and she wanted to scream, scream and never stop.

Biting down into the sheet that fell across her face was the only thing she could do. Her hands were all over his back, needing to feel his heated skin, to feel his feverish flesh.

"Auron! Auron!" She finally shrieked, letting loose.

A firm hand fell over her mouth. He leaned down, his mouth close to her ear, and finally he climaxed, releasing into her. As he was slowing down the rhythm he whispered in her ear, "Shh... baby. We don't want to make too much noise. These walls are paper-thin you know."

The girl shifted as it ended, rolling onto her side, letting Auron curl his body to fit along hers. Her face fell into the light, Al Bhed eyes glistening in the frail beam of light.


It had been a few days and Gippal still had heard nothing from Baralai. The last he knew the other man had shut himself up in his apartment, refusing to come out or even talk to anyone. Now he sat across from Nooj as LeBlanc worked her magic on his shoulders. There was a hunger in her eyes that told him she wanted more than this contact, that she wanted to rip his clothes off and do him right there on the table, and Gippal was more than grateful that Nooj had her on a leash.

So, so terribly grateful.

"You have no idea what he is up to?" Nooj asked in his serious voice. One of his top boys had suddenly gone crazy and locked himself up in his room. This could be a problem.

"I think he might actually be writing," Gippal said honestly. "Something happened to him a couple of days ago, and I think he might be venting something out. Ya never know, right? He might just be crazy, but we won't know until he comes back out."

LeBlanc leaned over Nooj's shoulders, draping her arms deep into his lap, hovering her lips so close to his ears. Gippal wondered for a moment if Nooj did not like heated air blowing into his ears, then decided, on second thought, he really would rather not know. Just to be on the safe side, right?

He had to tell himself something to keep the dirty, nasty images from completely overrunning his mind.

"Okay, let's give him a few more days. If he still says nothing, then I want you to just move on."

"Move on?" Gippal wasn't quite sure he understood.

"Pedal's Crushed could use an experienced Synth player such as yourself to help them through this transition. To make them truly famous they have to have greatness working with them."

Gippal gaped at the man across the table from him. "That would be betrayal to Baralai," he stammered, dumbfounded that Nooj would ever think he would do that to his best friend.

An evil glint shone in Nooj's eye as he put his elbows on the table and leaned closer to Gippal, saying, "Some of us like to have jobs to go back to in the morning. I'm sure you understand."

The pair rose, LeBlanc falling into place beside him, her lips finally finding his neck as the door swung shut behind them, leaving Gippal alone in the room, staring at the bland tan walls and the faintly oriental pattern on the carpet.

What was he supposed to do with this?

"Fuck," he whispered into the empty air. Baralai, what are you doing?


The knock sounded and Tidus did not particularly want to get up to answer it. He had just gotten out of the shower and dressed, but decided that sleeping sounded really good at the moment and wanted to fall back onto his bed and sleep a deep, satisfying sleep. Grunting, he pulled himself up and stumbled across the room, running a hand through his messy hair, just beginning to knot up after air-drying.

Opening the door a little, he peeked into the hallway, not expecting who to see and surprised beyond anything to see Wakka standing there, holding a bouquet of white roses, smiling.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, unable to keep the shock out of his voice. Didn't this guy dump him a few days ago?

Wakka put one hand up, ruffling his hair beneath his headband, saying awkwardly, "Well, ya know man... I thought it was really brutal of me to diss you like that a few days before your birthday. I wanted to take you somewhere."

Not that his heart was all fluttery after seeing this man again, but Tidus could not keep his suspicions to himself. "Where? Why are you doing this?"

A confused look on his face told him that he was a little too harsh, that Wakka was really a good guy who only wanted to please his ex. Give him one last hurrah sort of thing. Not that Tidus was complaining, but he still did not like being told he was going someplace and then being denied the location.

"Come on, I just wanted to do something for you," the red-haired man said, flashing him one of the smiles that drew Tidus to him in the first place.

Giving in, he sighed, "Okay, let me go get some things, and I'll be ready." He looked out the window to see the sky afire in an orange glow. The day had seemed to pass rather quickly, but he was just fine with that. The quicker the days go the quicker he will get over this.

Actually he had forgotten it was his birthday. Wakka had been the only one dead-set on celebrating it, and that had only happened once. He grew up in a broken home that did not recognize many different occasions at all, the very least being someone's birthday. He had explained the whole situation to Baralai, whom had understood and promised not to barge in on his personal life in that way. Wakka heard the story and laughed, saying the whole thing was ridiculous. Everyone had to celebrate their birthday, right?

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Wakka said, slapping him on the back as Tidus returned, a smile playing over his face. This might not turn out too bad after all. He knew that Wakka did not want to get back together and he knew and understood why, but maybe they could settle for friends. Yeah, that sounded nice.


Rikku opened the apartment door, closing it as silently behind her and keeping her back to the room behind her. She felt the presence there, and did not want to turn around, but knew she was caught. It had been what, almost twenty-four hours straight? A little strange, even for her.

"Where have you been?" Lulu's motherly voice scolded from the dark.

The younger girl turned, her cheeks turning a shade of pink. Just as she had envisioned, Lulu sat on the back of the couch, facing her. Her hand fell neatly onto her lap, folded over each other, extremely proper, the way she had been raised. Eyes were hard to see in the dim, but they looked as dark and piercing as ever, from what Rikku could tell. Not a good sign. Actually, this would classify as one of the bad ones. She had been hoping her impression of Lulu would be an overreaction, but as things turns out, it was right on target.

Horrible, horrible sign.

"I'm supposed to be watching out for you. Cid would kill me."

Rikku decided to take the offensive. "You're not much older than I am, why are you responsible for me?"

There was a tone in her voice she did not recognize as her own, and that she did not exactly like, but this was a personal matter. Very, extremely, definitely personal.

Lulu seemed to be taken aback. "What?" she whispered harshly, rising to her full height, which was taller than Rikku, although not by much. She took a few steps across the room. "We are a team, and we have to stick together if you truly want to succeed."

"Oh, yeah?" Rikku snarled. "Then where's Yunie?"

"Out with Shuyin."

"Well maybe I've found someone myself!" Rikku said, feeling like a child. Who was Lulu to tell her what to do?

Lulu scoffed. "You'd have told us," she said with a smile.

"Maybe not! You do not know me as well as you think you do." Rikku was getting heated at not being taken seriously. "As a matter of fact I did find someone really special, and he's all mine! You don't have to know about him, who he is or what he does, that doesn't matter to me. I don't need you 'watching out for me'! Got it?"

Lulu held up a hand. "Fine, I'll let you live your life. But you will not be able to keep secrets from us Rikku. When we make our first concert appearance and announce our first single, Nooj is going to make sure we are plastered over everything. We cannot afford to be bickering between us as we approach the threshold to fame!"

Yeah, she's right, Rikku thought, but I still don't have to explain myself or anything that I do. "We all have secrets," she whispered.

"Don't let it be one that gets us hurt," Lulu said, and turned away, leaving the room with out a sound.

"Damn," Rikku said. "I'm supposed to be sneaky, how the hell did she learn that?"

In the dark she felt compressed, like she could not breathe, and ran out of the room, finding comfort in her own bed. She was tired, and desperately needed a few hours of solid, deep sleep.


Yuna and Shuyin were walking home; passing by the Label's building, when LeBlanc came out of the shadows. Her scantily clad form scared Yuna for a moment before she realized who it was, and gingerly let go of Shuyin's arm, which she had squeezed hard.

He didn't seem to mind. The big bad Blitzball player that he was, one little singer's grip was nothing.

"Yuna, Nooj needs to meet with you," LeBlanc said, skipping any form of greeting.

"Good evening to you, to," Yuna spat. She certainly detested the woman, but if she was going to continue acting like a slut, which she probably was, then Yuna was going to have to show her the lady-like way to act.

"He's waiting. It's urgent."

"Fine, fine," she said, sending an apologetic look to Shuyin.

He nodded, saying, "It's cool, I understand. I'll wait for you in the lobby."

Leblanc moved close to him, mouthing to Yuna over his shoulder, "I'll keep him warm for you."

Sending her a few ice-coated daggers with her glare, Yuna knew that Shuyin would never go after a girl like Leblanc, if even for a one-night stand. She would definitely go after him, but he was too good for her. Too good might even be an understatement.

Shuyin was perfect, and she trusted him. End of story.

Walking up the stairs she looked over her shoulder to see Shuyin trying to ignore LeBlanc to the best of his ability, and she promised that she would be a quick as she could.


Shuyin watched her disappear up the stairs before turning to LeBlanc, saying, "Why do you make it so difficult?"

Reclining on the couch, she retorted with, "If I acted any differently they might suspect something was up." She flashed him a smile that dripped with venom.

"Whatever," he said, dropping onto one of the hard plastic waiting-room chairs.

"You sound grumpy."

"Do you think I like doing this?" he almost yelled at her. Concentrate, don't get too mad, he told himself, repeating it over and over. Don't get too mad.

"You like your Blitzball career, right?"

His eye's met hers with an intensity that would have knocked any normal person over. "Yes."

"I guess the question just comes down to this, then: What do you love more? The game, or her?" Leblanc relaxed for a second, letting her chest push out slightly. The way her dress was cut it revealed a little more than Shuyin would like to see.

"What do you have to gain from this?" he asked, ignoring her question for the moment. He really did not want to answer that.

"So much. Nooj and I have this little plan, and we need to get any dirt on those girls that we can. To this point, you are the only real link we have to them besides the girls themselves, and what are they going to tell us, major record label executives?" Leblanc could have gone on, she really did enjoy the sound of her own voice, but Shuyin held up a hand to stop her.

"What is your plan?"

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" she hissed between her teeth. "Let's just say we want them exposed for anything they might be."

Shuyin leaned forward. "So you are purposefully setting them up for failure?"

A quick nod was deadened by the sound of heels clicking on the stairs.

"I don't know why they couldn't have waited until tomorrow!" Yuna shouted back up as she came into view, and suddenly Shuyin was filled with a strong guilt. How could he do anything to her?

She ran into his arms and the mask resumed its position on his face, shielding her from everything he had to keep hidden.


Wakka was leading Tidus down the bad part of town, where the prostitutes lined the streets and pimps beat men who wouldn't pay the full price right there on the sidewalk.

Nudging him in the side, Tidus once again demanded to be informed where they were going.

Staying strong and not answering, Wakka stopped in front of a small place called "The Palace". "Here," he finally answered, gesturing for Tidus to go ahead of him.

"A strip club?" Tidus seemed only a little incredulous.

Wakka smiled bright. "You need to get back on your feet, and what a better rise than hot boys strutting their stuff?"

"Oh... my... Yevon." Tidus said, staring blankly at the shining building before him. Never before, for any reason, had he ever come to a club such as this one. What had Wakka been thinking?

"What?" he kidded. "It's just like walking into any other place you find. Let's go!" He grabbed the uncertain boy by the arm and pulled him inside.

Music blared off the walls, lights erupted from hidden places in the ceilings and walls, but there were no performers on stage at the moment. Wakka checked the listing before they arrived and knew that the next performance would not start for a couple minutes.

He led Tidus to a table towards a darker corner of the room. They sat and Wakka took care of ordering some drinks, which Tidus was unsure if he was going to drink or not. He had not had anything to drink in a long while, and starting again now did not seem like the brightest idea. He was not doing too well socially, financially, or spiritually, and alcoholism did not seem like the right path. Sometimes people have morals. Strange, strange.

The drinks arrived and the lights dimmed. A hush settled over the room as a mist started pouring over the stage. "Don't worry," Wakka said, "We're not close to the stage, but they come out on the floor."

"Wonderful," Tidus said, hunching lower in his seat.

A troop of male dancers entered the stage, filling out in a line. Pumping techno music blasted from the walls and each male grabbed something different to dance on, whether it be a pole or a chair, or struck some pose, ready to begin. A chord was struck in the music and they began contorting their bodies in various ways.

None of them were really Tidus' type, but Wakka was hooting and hollering beside him. If Wakka thought this was anything close to what he wanted or enjoyed, he really never knew him.

It was only after a couple minutes that Tidus noticed him. He was dancing along a pole, sliding his graceful body up and down. His head was slightly oblong, more of an egg shape than the circle most people had, but only enough to notice. Dark brown bangs fell into his eyes, but there was not much hair to grab onto in the back. Black streaks ran through his hair, barely visible in the low lighting. His eyes shone out across the room, filled in something that Tidus could not quite place, some longing that struck deep within Tidus. He could not have been any older than thirteen or fourteen, and looked almost too pretty to be a boy. And yet there he was, dancing for older men, hoping that the lust he could shove at them would be enough to accumulate a decent amount of tips.

Tidus just wanted to save him, to take him away, but realized he couldn't. While the other boys came down to ground level, he stayed up there, seemingly unsure of what he should do. He had to be new.

What is your name? Tidus asked himself, and did not realize he said it out loud until Wakka leaned over and shouted, "What?" against the throbbing beat of the music.

"Oh, nothing," Tidus yelled back.

While the other men draped themselves over Wakka, Tidus slipped out, unnoticed by his red-haired ex. This just did not suit him.

Heading home, he could not get the picture of that boy out of his head.

A/N: Hey! Yeah, this was slightly longer! Woot! Anyways, I wanted to flesh it out a little from what it was supposed to be because I probably won't be able to write another chapter until Monday! Sorry! But I will work hard, promise! Let me know what you thought about the dancer! He he, Tommy will be fun to deal with, if y'all like him!