Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Author's note: I feel absolutely awful that it's taken this long to give you chapter 6. All I can say that 'real life' is a major pain in the ass. Forgive me?
Gratuitous 'thanks' note: I want to thank each and every one of you—regardless whether you like it or not, whether you review it or not—for taking the time to read this story. I won't go all Sally Fields on you, but I just want it known that, despite the fact I am the slowest author EVER, I appreciate the fact you read this. And if you enjoy it, I thank you more. If you review it, three times the thanks. So. I'll shut up now, and get on with the story.
Chapter summary: Paine and Rikku finally have their first date.
Chapter 6: Fly Me To the Moon
Dinner was a simple affair. Both had worn their every day clothes and neither had prettied themselves up. Paine, because it wasn't her style, and Rikku because she knew it would only annoy Paine.
They didn't really talk while they ate, though occasionally—almost reluctantly—Paine complimented Rikku's cooking skills. The blonde wasn't quick to admit that Buddy and Barkeep had been humouring her and teaching her things here and there, but in the end she confessed. It got an amused and non-surprised chuckle out of Paine which made coming clean worth it.
After dinner and some good old fashioned and dependable ice cream for dessert, Rikku started to wheedle Paine into joining her on the deck.
"Why?" Paine asked, matter-of-factly.
"Because I'm cute and you love me?" Rikku put on her best pleading puppy dog look. Though the grin kind of ruined the effect.
"Nice try," the warrior replied. She stood and put her bowl on her empty plate, grabbing her glass with her other hand.
Briefly distracted from her mission objective, Rikku giggled. "Aw, thanks."
Paine paused and turned halfway to look at Rikku, right eyebrow lifting in question.
"For cleaning up," Rikku clarified, nose crinkling as she smiled. "Sweet of you to do that since I cooked."
The other woman snorted and made her way behind the bar to the sink. She said as she walked away, raising her voice somewhat to carry over the farther she got, "You have me mistaken for someone else. Do your own damn dishes."
Rikku contemplated milking this for all it was worth but she had to keep considerable ammo to get Paine to stargaze with her. So she grabbed her 'own damn dishes' and followed.
They cleaned up in silence, the thief plotting and Paine knowing she was plotting and preparing her defence.
Paine was drying her hands off on a towel when Rikku latched herself onto the taller woman.
"Come on, let's go stargaze!"
A full frontal assault, Paine thought with a mental smirk. Typical. Out loud she said, "I was actually thinking about going to bed."
Rikku frowned, pulling away. "It's too early for that! You don't even look tired."
Paine tossed the towel onto the bar and started to move around in front of it. Then she purposefully made her way towards the stairs. "Go by yourself," she tossed over her shoulder. Her tone lacked its usual quasi-venom, instead replaced with wry amusement. I'll be damned. I'm kinda having fun…
"I don't wanna go by myself!" Rikku all but leaped over the bar and scrambled to block Paine's path. Eyes bright, she pawed the air. "Pleaaase?"
Paine folded her arms over her chest and let Rikku plead for a while longer before replying. "What's so special about some stars?"
"They're romantic," Rikku answered. She settled down a little bit and clasped her hands in front of her, peering up at Paine through her bangs. "Come on…" She paused for effect. "I mean, you obviously don't gotta if you don't wanna… but…" Another pause and a hesitant, almost shy smile directed at Paine. "I'd really like you to." A lot of this wasn't even an act to get Paine to do what she wanted. While she acted rather brazen about this dating thing she was still a little unsure, hoping she wasn't pushing too hard or anything.
Though she'd never admit it, Paine—if she hadn't decided to go through with it in the end anyway—caved at 'romantic.' Okay, so sappy wasn't her style, but it wouldn't hurt anything, right? Least of all if she didn't make a habit of it.
So, with a little crooked grin twisting her mouth upwards, Paine rested her forearms on her friend's shoulders. "All right," she said. "One on condition. No mushy love talk, all right?" She pulled back after giving Rikku's shoulders a squeeze. "I just ate."
Rikku laughed and grabbed one of Paine's hands. "All right. Come on! Hopefully the sky's still clear."
Shaking her head, a bit bemused by Rikku's easy mood changes, Paine let Rikku lead her out of the cabin area and into the lift.
Hope I didn't just sign my death warrant…
"Brrr… chillier than earlier," Rikku said as they stepped out.
They walked to the left and sat down at the edge. The night was indeed clear enough for the moon to shine brightly onto the ocean's surface and the moored Celsius. Rikku pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, tilting her head back to survey the sky pinpricked with stars.
"That's usually what happens when day turns into night," Paine murmured, letting her long legs drape over. Her gaze turned to the bright lights of Luca and she smirked. "So, what did you do to convince the gang to go out and party?" A low laugh. "And for them to take Barkeep with them?"
"Buddy didn't mind taking Barkeep so much," Rikku said. She turned her head and laid it on her knees, smiling at the warrior. "Brother did, of course. Shinra couldn't've cared less, especially since he apparently had something to do, anyway. Though… beats me why he didn't do whatever when we were here. I mean, we just left…" She trailed off.
Paine shrugged, eyes lifting from Luca to the stars above. "When does Shinra ever make sense? But it doesn't matter." She glanced at Rikku, expression blank save her eyes. "I'm… impressed you managed to get them out at all."
"Wanna know a secret?" Rikku grinned impishly.
Paine merely raised an eyebrow.
The thief let her legs straighten out next to Paine's as she scooted closer, leaning to whisper in the taller woman's ear. "I'm magic."
Paine tried not to laugh. Instead she asked, "Oh? And how is that?"
Rikku lowered her voice to an 'interesting' pitch and said, "I can get anyone to do anything I want them to."
This time Paine did laugh, though it seemed tinged with some indefinable emotion. "Oh…" She shifted away, head tilted back to the heavens.
The thief pouted, straightening back up. "Hey, that wasn't mushy love talk!"
"No," Paine agreed, voice strong. She didn't look over, though. "But it was flirty love talk."
"None of that either, huh?" The blonde couldn't help but smile.
All Paine did was shake her head.
So the two sat gazing at the stars, saying nothing, flirty or mushy or otherwise. Though they occasionally shifted positions to avoid getting cramped by sitting one way for too long, neither of them closed the half-a-foot distance between them.
But after a few minutes of fidgeting, Rikku broke the silence. "Paine?" she asked quietly.
The woman in question glanced over and lifted a questioning eyebrow.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Paine shrugged a little. "Sure. But I might not answer."
"That's fair," Rikku said. She leaned back on her hands and kicked her legs out over the side of the ship. "Are you in love with me?"
Not too long ago, Paine would have said something rather nasty and gone to bed. But, right now… Paine took a few moments to think, eyes on the sky.
"Honestly…" Paine began. She turned her head to catch the other girl's gaze and shook her head. "No," she continued. "I'm not." Mentally, she winced, preparing herself for Rikku to go all emotional on her.
Instead, the thief merely smiled. "Okay, good."
Well, that was unexpected. "Good?"
"Yeah!" Rikku laughed and nudged Paine in the shoulder with her own. "I mean, I was just wonderin'… I was gonna be surprised if you were. I mean, I didn't think you were, but you never know, 'cause… well, you're hard to read and everything!"
Paine tried not to get lost within Rikku's rapid fire speech.
"If you were, that'd be okay, but," Rikku narrowed her eyes, though kept smiling, "that'd be a little out of character, don't you think? I mean, we're friends and everythin', but—"
One of Paine's hands snapped up and clamped over said friend's mouth. "Slow down." She felt Rikku purse her lips under her palm. "Stop. I know what you're saying." This time, Paine was the one to narrow her eyes. "You're not in love with me, either, are you?" A negative shake of a head was her answer. She slowly pulled her hand away. "Good. Then that's settled."
"Mmhmm."
Silence again for a while until Paine ended up frustrated with it.
"Why'd you ask that?"
"I wanted to know before we did anything," Rikku answered.
The warrior turned slightly to face her. "'Did anything?'" Paine repeated.
"Yeah." Rikku's usual smile broadened into a grin. "You know, like—"
"Okay," Paine interjected quickly. She looked away. "Okay."
"But I do like you," Rikku whispered, moving a little closer. "A lot." She smiled slowly. "A lot, a lot."
Paine had a hard time not chuckling over Rikku's choice of words. "Oh?"
This time she got a nod.
"Well…" Paine glanced at her, then away once again. She had to, or else she'd end up smiling or something stupid like that. "Despite the fact that you're often annoyingly hyper, disgustingly cheerful…"
"Don't forget overbearingly but endearingly cute," Rikku added with a giggle.
"Overall agitating…" Paine continued without missing a beat. "Despite all that, you're kind of okay."
"'Kind of okay!'"
Not seeing any harm in it, Paine let herself laugh and look at Rikku. "Yeah."
"I tell you I like you and you tell me that I'm 'kind of okay,'" Rikku said, clearly put out.
"Uh huh."
With a loud huff, Rikku pouted and folded her arms, pushing away. "I can't believe you! That's like—that's like…!"
Putting one arm behind Rikku's back, Paine leaned over and murmured into the blonde's ear, "I like you, too, Rikku."
The thief fell silent. Though she kept pouting and tightened her arms across her chest. "You're mean," she all but whined.
"You're just sensitive," Paine responded, her voice still a low rumble in Rikku's ears.
The younger woman shivered and slid her eyes sideways. "You're still mean."
"Okay, I'm mean." Paine's mouth twitched into a small, crooked grin. "Is there any way I can make it up to you?"
A little thrown off by Paine's change in mood, though it hadn't been abrupt, Rikku leaned closer. "Stargaze with me," she said, tone no-nonsense.
After a few minutes of silent stargazing, Rikku jerked in surprise.
"I thought you said no flirty love talk!"
Paine pursed her lips against a smile, forcing her expression into seriousness. "This was all under my conditions. They just altered."
Deciding that it wasn't worth arguing over, however playful, Rikku merely snuggled up to her friend in retaliation.
Allowing the contact, for both her and Rikku, Paine lifted her other arm and pointed. "That cluster of stars right there… looks like a ship, doesn't it?"
"Airship?"
"No, a boat."
"Mmn, yeah, kinda. Oh! Hey, that looks like a blitzball!"
"…Rikku, that's the moon."
"I know that. It still looks like a blitzball."
Sigh.
"That was fun," Rikku said. They had just gotten ready for bed, content to let silence rest between them.
Paine mumbled wordlessly, pulling down the sheets on her bed.
Rikku looked at her hopefully.
"Unh-uh," Paine growled. She sat on her bed and pointed at the one next to hers. "You're sleeping in your own bed tonight."
"But—"
"No. The night's still under my conditions."
Rikku bit her lower lip, contemplating the pros and cons of fighting.
The warrior merely lifted an eyebrow, her stare just as challenging.
With a defeated sigh, Rikku fell back with a bounce on her bed. "Okay, okay," she mumbled. "…Meanie."
Paine just grunted and crawled into bed, getting comfortable.
"Goodnight, Paine," Rikku said. She was already sleepy, by the sound of her voice.
"…Goodnight," Paine echoed softly.
An hour passed. Moonlight shone through the windows, occasionally blocked by thick clouds passing over the celestial body.
Try as she might, Paine just couldn't sleep. She waited several minutes, eyes closed. By the sound of it, Rikku wasn't having any trouble at all falling asleep. But that didn't surprise her. Rikku had the ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. If Paine didn't know better, she'd swear the thief had narcolepsy. That'd be kind of funny and might even make a little sense: A hyperactive kid like her, with narcolepsy…
"Ugh." Paine released a puff of air, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Grimacing, she pushed back her covers and slung her feet onto the floor.
"Damn," she grumbled. She stood and took the few steps to Rikku's bed.
The younger woman was curled into a ball sleeping peacefully, her back to Paine.
As quietly as she could, Paine pulled the sheets back and crawled into bed with her friend. She gently eased behind the smaller woman.
Paine hadn't snuck in as planned, because Rikku immediately flipped over.
"Paine…?" Rikku whimpered.
"Shh… ku pylg du cmaab, Rikku," Paine whispered, getting comfortable. She combed long fingers through the girl's hair, closing her eyes and hoping Rikku did, indeed, go back to sleep.
"'Gyo…" Rikku murmured into Paine's shirt. She'd slung an arm over Paine's waist and was half on top of her, head resting against her chest.
I better damn well be able to sleep, Paine thought as she wrapped an arm around Rikku. She tightened it protectively. Otherwise, this is going to be embarrassing in the morning. …Tonight wasn't so bad. I actually feel better about this… She cracked open an eye to peer at the blonde. Whatever 'this' is. She closed her eye, body relaxing except for the arm around Rikku. …Yeah… not so bad…
A few minutes later, both women were asleep, dreams pleasant but to be unremembered come morning. Only the feeling of warmth would remain.
Al Bhed translation:
Ku pylg du cmaab means "go back to sleep."
'Gyo means "'kay."