Tidus and Gippal were on their way to class when the blonde realized he hadn't really gotten an answer for Baralai.
"So, uh… Gippal about you and Rikku…"
"I don't think we'll stay together as a couple. I would like to be friends with her though. She is a nice girl."
"Yes, she does seem nice."
"And you know Tidus… if you have a crush on me that's okay. I do think you're pretty cute."
Tidus' eyes widened, "What? No!"
Unfortunately the pair had just entered their classroom when Tidus shouted.
"Despite your passionate outburst against it we're still having a pop quiz Mr. Spardas."
The class giggled, Tidus blushed, and he and Gippal took their seats.
"Also, you and Mr. Ibanez are late. Detention after school."
Tidus held in his groan. Detention? Rin was going to kill him.
-------------------------------
"You got Tidus a detention?" Lulu asked, pointing a french fry at Gippal.
"I didn't mean to. The clocks in our house must be slow."
"It's okay Gippal." Tidus said. "I don't think we would have gotten detention if I hadn't shouted about the test."
Neither Gippal or Tidus spoke about the real reason Tidus had shouted that morning. Tidus hadn't told Baralai yet either. The fact that the silver-haired teen looked so eager for new was killing Tidus. There was also this detention he had to look forward to. The blonde sighed and looked up as Shuyin walked by with his friends.
"I'll be right back."
Tidus got up from the table and walked over to Shuyin.
"Shu? Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure. What's up?"
Tidus took his brother aside. "You'll have to come and get me from school at 4:15. I have a detention."
"Ooo. Rin is going to kill you. What did you do?"
"I was late for class."
"Well that's not so bad. Maybe Rin will have mercy on you and kill you quick instead of slowly." Shuyin grinned.
"Ha ha. Very funny."
"I'll be here at 4:15 to pick you up, bro."
"Thanks."
Tidus returned to his friends and sat down, digging into his lunch hungrily.
-------------------------------------------
The dismissal bell rang at 3:10. Tidus and Gippal had five minutes to reach the library. They both sped-walked down the hall as fast as they could (running would earn them another detention). They reached the library with one minute to spare. There were quite a few others already there: Wakka, Barthello, Botta, Letty, a girl Tidus didn't know, and…
"Rikku?" Gippal smirked.
"I ran down the hall at full speed nine times before a teacher noticed and gave me a detention." She giggled.
"Rikku-baby, you're the best."
Tidus sighed as Gippal went to sit with Rikku. He glanced around at the other tables, Barthello gave him a look that gave him chills, then opted to sit alone.
"Hey, Shuyin's brother! Come sit here!" Wakka called.
Tidus blushed and moved to sit beside the redhead instead.
"I have a name you know." Tidus smirked.
"Ya, I know. Tidus." Wakka grinned.
"Very good." The blonde teased.
Wakka was about to retort when their supervising teacher walked in.
"You're late." The girl Tidus didn't know said.
The blonde looked at the clock. The teacher was indeed late… by one minute.
"Don't get smart Ms. Crescent or I'll add thirty minutes onto your time. Right then, my name is Elma Ramza but I'm Ms. Ramza to you. Your detention is an hour long. You may talk but not loudly. You may get up but you may not run or leave the library without my permission. No cell phones, black berries, GBAs, PSPs, or any other technological gadgets. Understood?" The students nodded. "Also…" She eyed Gippal and Rikku. "No love birding."
Gippal and Rikku rolled their eyes at each other. Ms. Ramza went to sit at an empty table and pulled a stack of papers from her bag. Wakka leaned back in his chair, arms folded behind his head, and grinned.
"We lucked out. Ramza is lenient with the detention rules. So? What are you in for?"
"I was late for class. You?"
"The teacher caught Letty and me tossing paper airplanes at each other. Mine got stuck in some girl's hair and Letty's landed in the teacher's potted plant."
Tidus chuckled, "No wonder you got caught."
"Not our fault. There was this mysterious wind…" Wakka joked.
"Yeah right."
The two laughed. Elma gave them a sharp look and they quieted.
"So Tidus, want to go up behind the stacks and be naughty?"
"Excuse me?" Tidus blinked, fighting hard not to blush.
"Y'know…talk loudly and run around." Wakka grinned. "What'd you think I meant?"
"More paper airplanes." Tidus replied, inwardly congratulating himself on his swift reply.
Wakka chuckled, "Nah. I've learned my lesson about paper airplanes…for today anyway. So… Shuyin tells me your mother was Maya Spardas. Sorry to hear about what happened to her and your father."
"Thank-you."
"I almost lost my dad once but I was too little to remember it. He had a battle with cancer when I was about two years old. They only gave him a few years to live but he beat the odds. Been a healthy man ever since."
"Wow. That's amazing."
Wakka smiled. "It truly is."
"So tell me about this game you invented."
"Ah. Blitzball. It's like underwater rugby. It's not a spectator sport yet though since it's played below the surface. Letty and Keepa are working on special blitzball pool designs."
Normally sports talk would have bored Tidus to tears, but he was truly interested in blitzball.
"It's really hard to tackle someone underwater even if you're a strong swimmer." Wakka continued. "It's even harder when Datto cheats and slathers himself with baby oil…the little bugger. You and Shuyin should come play sometime. I bet you two would be good."
"It does sound interesting. I'll talk to Shuyin about it."
"Good." Wakka grinned.
"Hey Wakka." Botta said. "Will you help me with my homework?"
"Ah. Sorry Tidus. Duty calls."
Tidus just smiled and nodded. Wakka went to sit with Botta and help the younger redhead with his homework. Tidus looked over at Gippal and Rikku. Gippal was whispering to the girl and she was giggling softly. Ms. Crescent was reading a book, Letty was doing homework, and Ms. Ramza was still grading papers. Tidus' gaze fell upon Barthello. The teen was doodling on his binder and not looking at Tidus but just the sight of the big, burly teen made Tidus' skin crawl. Tidus moved his gaze back down to the table and he tried to occupy himself. He didn't have any homework to do and hadn't brought anything interesting with him.
Well…Ms. Ramza did say that we could get up…
The blonde slowly got to his feet and walked to one of the rows of books. When Ramza didn't yell at him or even glance up he started to browse freely. Soon he selected a book and went to sit down and read it.
----------------------------------
When Tidus looked up from his book it was 4:13. Two minutes of detention left. The blonde got up and put his book back on the shelf. Everyone, even the teacher, seemed to get antsy as the clock ticked onto 4:14.
"Almost free." Wakka murmured, smiling at Tidus.
Tidus smiled back and nodded. Everyone fidgeted. It seemed like a lifetime had gone by before the clock read 4:15.
"You are dismissed." Ms. Ramza said, rising from her seat.
Everyone else stood and started gathering their things.
"Need a ride home, Tidus?" Wakka and Gippal asked in unison.
The two gave each other a look-over and Tidus chuckled softly, trying not to blush.
"No. Shuyin is picking me up. Thanks for the offer…offers though."
Both teens nodded and headed off, Gippal with Rikku and Wakka with Botta. Tidus made sure he had everything before he left the library. He made sure to stay as far ahead of Barthello as possible and made his way out to the parking lot where Shuyin was waiting for him. The blonde jogged over and got into his brother's vehicle.
"How was your detention?"
"Boring. How did Rin take the news of my detention?"
"Pretty well actually. He didn't seem all that upset."
"Good."
Shuyin started his truck and drove off. As they made their way home Tidus told his brother all about blitzball.
"Yeah, it does sound interesting." Shuyin said once Tidus was finished. "Sounds like it could become a mega-popular sport. I don't know if I can tryout with you though. My schedule is pretty full, but,…I'll have a look."
The younger blonde just smiled and nodded. Thoughts of Wakka were still running through his mind.
Those thoughts vanished when Shuyin pulled up in the driveway though.
"Are you sure Rin isn't too mad?"
Shuyin smiled at his younger brother. "Rin is fine." He shut the truck off. "Come on. Let's go inside."
"Okay…"
The blondes got out of the truck and made their way inside.
"Hello dears." Rin smiled. "So, you were late for class today Tidus?"
"Yeah…" Tidus blushed. "Gippal said his clocks were slow…"
"Well that's okay. If he picks you up again make sure he's earlier."
"All right."
"See? Told yah he wasn't mad." Shuyin smirked, ruffling Tidus' hair.
Tidus smirked back and Shuyin went to get a snack from the kitchen.
"Hey Rin? Can I talk to you?"
"Sure thing."
Shuyin got his snack and went to his room to do his homework. Rin motioned for Tidus to sit at the table.
"Want a snack, Tidus?"
"Sure." Tidus replied, sitting down.
"I need to find a job. I actually baked this morning." Rin smirked, setting a basket of muffins on the table.
The blonde laughed, "Maybe you should stay a housewife, Rin. You're good at it."
Rin snorted and Tidus took an apple cinnamon muffin out of the basket.
"Tea?"
"Green if we have any."
Rin put water on for tea and sat with Tidus. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Well…one of my friends, Baralai, likes my other friend, Gippal. Gippal is currently with a girl named Rikku but Baralai wanted to know how Gippal felt about her. So he asked me to ask Gippal because Gippal is well…he's not that smart."
Rin chuckled softly and stood to make the tea. He made a mug for himself and Tidus and brought them over to the table.
"So what happened?" Rin asked.
"I asked Gippal and he thinks he just wants to be friends with Rikku. However he proved to be more observant than I thought but not quite enough. He thinks that me asking all those questions about Rikku means that I have a crush on him. But I don't…." Tidus took a nibble of his muffin and a sip of his tea. "So what should I do? Tell Baralai or should I tell Gippal that it's not me who has the crush on him, but Baralai…?"
"Hmn…" Rin took a sip of his tea. "I think you shouldn't give away Baralai's secret crush, but I do think you should make sure Gippal knows you don't have a crush on him. I don't think Baralai would mind much if you told him about what Gippal thought so that decision is up to you."
"Thanks Rin."
"You're welcome, hun."
"I'm going to go call him right now."
"Okay."
Taking his tea and muffin with him Tidus went to find Baralai's number. Once he found it he took the cordless phone outside for some privacy. Tidus finished eating a piece of muffin before dialling Baralai's number. After a few rings a woman answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi. May I speak to Baralai please?"
"One moment."
The woman set the phone down. A few moments later it was picked up again.
"Hello?"
"Hi Baralai. It's Tidus."
"Hey. What's up?"
"I talked to Gippal today about Rikku."
The silver-haired teen sighed softly, "…What did he say?"
"He said that he might want to just be friends with Rikku."
"What? Really?" Baralai sounded excited.
"Yeah. There's something else, Baralai."
"What?"
"Gippal thinks I have a crush on him."
"Huh? Why? I mean… do you?"
"No, I don't. He thinks I do because I was asking him about Rikku."
Baralai laughed softly, "Guess Gippal is sharper than we give him credit for."
"Yeah."
"Are you sure you don't have a crush on him?"
"I'm sure." Tidus chuckled. "I think I might have a crush on someone else."
"Oooh. Who?"
The blonde chuckled again, "Not telling."
"Aw. Too bad. Thanks for talking to Gippal for me. I owe you a big hug when I see you next."
Tidus laughed, "Yes you do."
"So Tidus, have a date for the Halloween dance?"
"No."
"Want to go with me?"
"Sure."
"Great. Well I gotta go. Mom says supper is ready."
"All right. Goodbye Baralai."
"Bye Tidus."
Tidus hung up the phone. He finished eating his muffin and drinking his tea before going inside. He put his dirty dishes in the dish washer and went down the hall to his room. Shuyin was sitting on the bed, chewing on the end of his pencil, and cursing at his math homework.
"I have a date for the Halloween dance." Tidus grinned, jumping on the bed and sitting beside his brother.
"Oh? Who?"
"Baralai."
"That guy who was feeling you up?"
"He wasn't feeling me up! And he likes someone else, Shuyin. We're just going as friends."
"Uh-huh."
"You're a dork, Shuyin."
Shuyin chuckled, "Thanks."
"So, who are you going to go with? Lenne?"
Shuyin's cheeks turned slightly red. "I don't know. Maybe."
"You really like Lenne, huh?"
"Maybe."
"Awww. My brother has a real crush on someone."
"Shut up, Tidus. As if you've never had a real crush on someone." Shuyin smirked.
Tidus laughed and moved over to his bed. He lay down on it and smiled dreamily up at the ceiling.
Shuyin is right about one thing. I may have a real crush on someone after all…
Aww. Shuyin and Tidus are so cute (pinches their cheeks) XD;; R&R Please :)