PURPLE HIPPOPOTAMUS! Oh, and no, I will not be writing Tidus' night at his dad's.

Twilight Gaze
Chapter 2: Arrival
The next morning, Wakka met Tidus and Chappu at Jecht's front door, a huge grin plastered on his face. When Chappu asked what was up, Wakka could hardly contain his excitement. "We're getting new neighbors!"

Newcomers to the islands were rare occurrences, so were generally well celebrated by the people of the island. When Kairi and her family moved to the islands, the entire neighborhood threw a massive welcoming party that helped them make friends quickly. Wakka felt like he did back then, and it was obvious by the smile on his face.

Tidus and Chappu followed Wakka out to the road and into Riku's front yard, where the silver haired boy was waiting, and leaning against the front of his house. When he saw them, he stood up straight and grinned. The four boys proceeded behind Riku's house, into Wakka's backyard. Soon, they were on the road in front of Wakka's house, watching the massive moving truck backing into a driveway two houses down. Under close inspection, Tidus saw Selphie, Sora, and Kairi already at the truck, talking with what would appear to be the family's mother. There were also several of the teens' parents there, as well, but most of them were talking with the father on the other side of the front yard.

By the time Wakka and the boys reached the newcomers' front lawn, Selphie and the others had finished their conversation with the mother and were waiting for the boys.

"So what's up?" Wakka asked Selphie, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"They're the Dinchts," Selphie replied. "The mother's name is Lydia, and the father's name is Gerald, but Lydia told us to call her Ma Dincht."

"Do they have any kids?" Tidus asked.

Kairi nodded. "They do, but he won't be here until tomorrow. He had to stay at home for an extra night, waiting for something important to come in the mail, but Ma Dincht assured us that he'd be here tomorrow."

"She said that his name is Zell, and he's about our age," Sora added, excited.

"Look at us," Wakka said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "We're acting like a bunch of kids again."

Kairi's gaze fell on Tidus. "Hey, weren't you spending the night with Jecht? How'd that go?" she asked the blonde.

Tidus rolled his eyes. "For me, it was horrible. My old man wanted to stay up all night and 'bond.' Good thing Chappu was there, or I'da beat him senseless."

"Guess he's trying to make up for lost time, ya?" Wakka said, sneaking an arm around Tidus' waist.

Gerald Dincht approached the group and introduced himself, as the parents had moved on to talk with Ma Dincht. "Howdy there, kids," he said, tipping his cowboy hat and giving them all a warm smile.

"Hello, Mr. Dincht," Kairi said with a similarly warm smile.

"Ah, just call me Gerald," Gerald replied with a chuckle. His eyes fell on Wakka's arm around Tidus' waist and he smiled again. "Good to see Zelly won't be the only one here," he said, almost in a whisper.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Selphie asked the father.

Gerald shook his head, laughing. "Never mind me, kids. I'm old. I ramble on about nothing. It's good to know that Zelly'll have kids his age to hang out with around here."

"He's getting here tomorrow, right?" Sora asked Gerald, who nodded.

"S'right. He'll be here around noon tomorrow. With any luck, we'll have most of his stuff unpacked and in his room by then."

"That's good to hear," Kairi said. "At least he won't be moving into a jail cell, right?" she added with a nudge to Tidus' ribs.

Confused, Gerald let that comment go, but he turned to the truck. "I should start unloading."

"Want some help?" Wakka asked.

Gerald laughed. "Sure thing. We could use a big guy like you to help with the furniture."

The kids followed Gerald to the truck, and the group began to unload the Dinchts' stuff.

After three hours of tirelessly working together to get most of the truck unloaded, Gerald had the kids rest on the porch while Ma Dincht made some lemonade in the kitchen. She handed them all glasses of the sweet drink and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly – moving someone into a house is tiring work.

Gerald was standing in the opening of the moving truck, inspecting what was left to be moved in when Tidus noticed his father walking down the road towards them. He had obviously heard about the new people in town, and Tidus was sure he was coming over to invite Gerald over to see his athletic trophies and such. He had done that with Kairi's dad, too.

"Hey, there, need some help?" Jecht asked Gerald.

"Sure." Gerald jumped down and the two introduced each other with a friendly handshake. "Kids, go on," Gerald called. "I think the rest of this stuff can be done single-handedly."

The kids didn't move, as they were watching Jecht, but they all agreed that they were finished with the move-in.

Jecht and Gerald continued to unload the truck, talking up a storm as they went. It turned out that Gerald had been a rodeo star back in his hometown, and Zell was really into T-boarding. In fact, that's what he had to wait on back home: a new T-board. The two dads hit it off well, talking about Tidus' blitzing skills and Zell's kickboxing capabilities, gloating about their own respective trophies, and how life is lived here on the islands and back where the Dinchts came from.

"Looks like your dad made a new friend today," Kairi said, poking Tidus in the shoulder as the teens left the front yard and headed back to Wakka's place.

"It would seem that way, wouldn't it?" Riku said, not entirely convinced.

"He is human, you know," Kairi said, sending Riku a dirty look.

The kids talked about this and that as they walked back to Wakka's, and after they got there, and well into the evening. Tidus' stay at Jecht's had been forgotten, and Tidus was glad for that. He didn't want to tell the others that he had actually kind of enjoyed himself. Chappu was quiet about it, as well, and Tidus silently thanked him for that, too.

The next morning, the kids returned to the Dinchts' house to see if anything needed to be done before Zell arrived. When Gerald and Ma Dincht said no, the kids started home, but Ma Dincht invited them in for an elegant breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage links, bacon, biscuits, and creamy gravy that Sora just couldn't get enough of.

Sitting at the rather large dinner table that the Dinchts had brought with them, the kids couldn't stop laughing as Sora took thirds and fourths of biscuits and gravy. Riku wasn't laughing, however. He was blushing with embarrassment.

"How can you eat so much?" the white haired boy growled at his boyfriend.

"Maybe it's you, giving too much to his heart, you're starving the boy," Kairi laughed. Sora tried to chuckle, but food fell out of his mouth. He was really pigging out.

Riku put his head in his hands and sighed. "I'm heading out," he said. He stood up from the table and looked over at Ma Dincht, who was washing dishes at the sink. "Thank you, Ma Dincht. Breakfast was delicious. I'll be going now. Do you want me to do something with my plate?"

"No, Riku dear, leave it there, I'll get it in a moment," Ma Dincht replied with a kind smile.

Riku left the table and headed out the door, leaving the other kids to laugh at Sora, who was working on his sixth sausage link.

Riku treaded his way over to the driveway and looked at the Dincht's garage, separated from their one-story, quaint little house. There were three cars. Riku paused for a moment. Hadn't there only been two cars yesterday? He was sure of it. Riku snuck up to the garage and had a peek inside.

The punching bag at the back of the garage swung up, almost hitting the rafters of the garage, before swinging back down, only to be assaulted again by a flurry of punches and kicks that sent it flying higher than before. Riku didn't think that punching bags could withstand such abuse, but this one obviously could. Intrigued, Riku made his way into the garage until he saw the abuser of the bag.

The boy's gloved fists were like lightning and his blonde, gelled hair didn't waver as he ducked in and out of the bag's returning swings, only to throw a massive kick, planting his hightop sneaker into the punching bag, sending it away again. There was a strange tattoo surrounding the boy's oceanic blue left eye. The boy wore shorts and a jacket that only kind of hid a muscular frame. When he spun around for a roundhouse kick, Riku noticed that the kid had a massive chest, probably from throwing so many punches, displayed by a low-cut tanktop.

Finally, the assaulter of the punching bag ceased his onslaught and wiped his brow with the back of one gloved hand. He turned and looked at Riku. "Who are you?" he asked. Riku was stunned by the boy's blue eyes, but he was able to respond. "The name's Riku. I take it you're Zell?"

The blonde nodded. "That'd be me." He smacked the punching bag offhandedly and made his way out of the garage, kind of pushing Riku out with his presence.

"We weren't expecting you until noon today," Riku explained.

"I sped," Zell replied, not giving Riku another glance. Riku didn't like this kid's attitude. It was too, "Why are you looking at me?"-ish.

Riku rolled his eyes and headed off towards his house. He didn't need this, this early in the morning.

Zell made his way towards the house. He hadn't wanted to move again – his dad's job was always making the family move from one place to another. Previously, Zell had been lucky to stay in the same school district for two moves. This particular move, however, was outrageous. It was on an island! There couldn't possibly be anything fun about an island.

Zell was fuming when he stepped in through the front door of the house. He took a few steps until he saw the kitchen, where his mother was, and the dining room, where a rather large array of people about Zell's age were chowing down on Ma Dincht's specialty breakfast of biscuits and gravy.

"Hey, Ma, who the hell are these people?" Zell cried.

Ma Dincht furrowed her brow. "Zell! What have I told you about using that kind of language in our house?"

"I didn't think that applied to this house yet," Zell muttered, crossing his arms behind his hand and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "It only applied to the last house for two months."

Ma Dincht sighed and went back to washing a plate in the sink. "These are the neighbors' kids, Zelly. They're all about your age, and they came over to see if you'd gotten here yet. I'm surprised to see you this early."

Kairi stood up and walked over to Zell, a hand outstretched. "My name's Kairi," she said, rather chipper. "Nice to meet you, Zell!"

Zell leaned against the wall separating the kitchen from the den and looked down at Kairi's hand. After a moment, Kairi pulled it back, her smile gone, and Zell looked over at Ma Dincht. "So when're we moving again?"

"Your father has told his company that he wishes to stay here until you finish your first year of college," Ma Dincht replied, not looking back at her son. "He's threatened to quit if they didn't allow it."

Zell's eyes went as big as saucers. "That's nuts! We're on a damn island!" he cried, leaping to his feet and gesturing violently. Kairi had to back up to avoid being smacked in the face by his gloved hand.

A clinking noise was heard from the sink and everyone's attention was drawn to Ma Dincht, who was shaking slightly. "ZELL DINCHT!" she screamed, turning to face her son. "I never want to hear you insult this place ever again, especially in the presence of people who have lived here longer than you! It is rude, crude, socially unacceptable, and downright mean, and I want you to apologize to each one of these fine youngsters."

"Tch," Zell scoffed, leaning against the wall and looking away.

"NOW!"

Zell jumped, as well as everyone else in the room, and the new kid blushed. "I, uh, guess I didn't mean that," he said sheepishly. "Sorry."

Ma Dincht was red in the face, but her expression softened considerably. "Your room is the first door on the left. Please go make sure nothing was left out in the move."

Zell nodded without a word and turned towards the hallway, turning into the first door on the left and closing it soundlessly behind him.

"You'll have to excuse my son," Ma Dincht said, bowing deeply to the other kids in the room. "He hates having to move all over the place. We were only at our last house for two and a half months, because of Gerald's job, and before that, we were lucky to stay for a whole six months."

"No worries, Ma Dincht," Selphie said, raising herself from the table. "My family used to move a lot, too. I know what it's like. Maybe I should talk to Zell about it sometime?"

"I think he'd appreciate a little empathy, dear," Ma Dincht replied with a warm smile. She caught a glance at the clock on the kitchen wall. "Oh dear, it's almost noon. You kids should head out. I'm sure you have a great day planned for yourselves."

The younger generation of Destiny Island thanked Ma Dincht for the exquisite breakfast, cleaned off their plates for her in the trash, and headed out the front door, each with one of two expressions: a warm smile for Ma Dincht, or a sullen, worried look about Zell.

Once the kids were out of earshot of the Dinchts' place, Wakka spoke up. "I don' like him."

"He's just upset," Selphie replied, not looking at her redheaded friend. "I know what it's like. It's tough moving around so much, not being able to hang onto your friends for more than a couple months, and having to start all over if it's a really big move."

"I still don' like him," Wakka said defiantly, looking down at his feet as he walked.

"He's cute, though," Kairi giggled. "I'll give him that. He's easy on the eyes."

Everyone agreed, but Chappu kept his mouth shut. He merely chuckled, like he would have done had he not been interested. But the truth was, he had been. He'd noticed Zell's gleaming blue eyes as well. He'd probably noticed Zell's eyes more than anyone else in the room. The others hadn't seen it. Chappu had. Whenever Zell had been looking at them at the table, Chappu had seen the look. He'd used that look several times, and he knew it. The look that said, "damn, where have you been?" But that isn't what bothered Chappu.

What bothered Chappu was that the look had been directed at Wakka.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN…Again, this fic has a helluva lot of stuff planned for it, and that's just the first sample. Some things to look forward to are:

Kairi/Selphie!

Jecht/Ma Dincht!

A Lemon including a hamburger and a television set!

Moogle poaching!

Okay, so I'm lying, but there really is a crapload of stuff in store for this fic. R&R Pwease.