"Hey, hey! Guess what!" Tidus cried out, dropping a large crate of cables down next to the console Gippal was setting up.

"What?" Gippal asked flatly.

"No hangover!" Tidus was holding his hand out for a high five. Gippal just stared at it for a minute. "What, you sneaky desert geniuses don't high five?" Tidus shrugged.

"No, we do," Gippal replied, slapping a weak hand against Tidus's.

"Anyway, I popped one of Rikku's potions before I went to bed," Tidus smiled, proud of himself.

"And your wifey hardly let you drink," Gippal added without looking up. Tidus scowled.

"Well, yeah," He huffed, kicking at the dirt. The two men were shirtless in the sun, half setting up for the evening's concert and half working on their tans. Gippal wanted to stay the hell away from Dona and no one was allowed in the area where he and his faithful assistant were setting up. He was hoping to drag the process out as long as humanly possible.

"What's with that anyway? Yuna's a real stick in the mud, huh?" Gippal asked over his shoulder as he opened another case of sound boards.

"She is not, she's just, well," Tidus scratched his head looking for the right words. "I don't know, man. She's conservative. She always was, she was brought up different, you know?"

"I guess," Gippal shrugged.

"I thought it was a summoner thing, but I guess it's just a Yuna thing. I mean, take a look at Dona. She's an ex-summoner, and she, well she's something ELSE, man. That chick would probably do just about anything you wa-"

"She would," Gippal cut Tidus off. It took a moment, but Tidus broke into a knowing smile.

"Nu UH!" Tidus shoved Gippal in the shoulder.

"Once and only once and I'm NOT proud of it," Gippal sighed. Might as well get it all in the open now before someone else told him. Or she hit on him.

"Dude, seriously. How many women have you gotten with?" Tidus asked as he unloaded the large coils of cables.

"You don't want to know," Gippal replied.

"Uh, I asked, didn't I?" Tidus gave Gippal a look. Gippal stared back for a minute, then turned and headed back towards the Celsius without saying anything. "Come on!" Tidus whined, jogging a few steps to keep up.

"I'm not telling you," Gippal snapped.

"Dude. You were a soldier. Soldiers get babes. You're a mechanic. Mechanics get babes. You're like, the boss of this whole big giant corporate thing, and like, those kinds of guys get babes?" Tidus kept on as they each picked up the ends of a large crate and started hauling it back towards the set up.

"Yeah, with some fast math, you can see that it's lots of babes," Gippal said frankly.

"Hey, Bro. I was a professional athlete before my ride here with Sin. I KNOW about babes," Tidus said quietly, looking side to side to make sure they were alone. "I know about LOTS of babes," He raised a brow.

"And your charming over protective girlfriend, she's okay with this?" Gippal asked as they set the crate down.

"She doesn't exactly KNOW, but like, I wasn't even technically REAL back then? So I figured it doesn't count if you're in another dimension or whatever, right?" Tidus offered up a shrug.

"Oh, yeah, totally. That doesn't count at all," Gippal agreed completely, then shook his head at the thought of it. The lunkhead was making sense.

"So come on. How many?" Tidus punched Gippal in the arm and anxiously awaited the number.

"Too many," Gippal said, his voice tired just at the thought of it. "I lost count." Gippal shrugged and reached for his bottle of water from his pack.

"Wow," Tidus's eyes widened.

"I was with Rikku for a long time, though. A few times," Gippal said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but whatever, you cheated on her," Tidus snorted.

"Only the most recent time," Gippal shrugged. "Never when we were kids," Gippal busied himself with his work.

"Get out, how old were you, sixteen?" Tidus asked. "That's prime mistake making time!" Tidus threw his hands up.

"Man, could you like, not?" Gippal asked, turning over his shoulder.

"You know, Bro, I'd love to just drop it, but like, I can't cause you're both so OBVIOUS!" Tidus laughed.

"Excuse me?" Gippal stiffened and slowly turned around.

"I saw you two last night!" Tidus taunted, sending a serious of soft jabs into Gippal's shoulder. "Getting all cozy and laughing over by the trees?" Tidus raised a brow.

"You saw that?" Gippal looked around quickly. No one was around. They were all down by the water.

"Eh? EH? I'm right, I knew it. So, you guys, you know, get a little..." Tidus trailed off and made a few suggestive gestures.

"Fuck off, dude, you don't know what you're talking about," Gippal swatted at him, then turned back to his work.

"Oh come on! I think it's great!" Tidus whined.

"So..." Yuna trailed off.

"So what?" Rikku asked. She was lying on a lounge chair on the docks between Yuna and Paine. They were all taking their afternoon off to enjoy the warm Kilika weather. Yuna was reading. Paine and Rikku were soaking up sun and casually napping. They didn't want to admit to Yuna that they were napping off last night's hangover.

"So Tidus told me this morning that he saw you and Gippal being cozy last night," Yuna teased.

"He's lying," Rikku said flatly without moving. She was stretched out in the perfect tanning position. She was wearing sunglasses and trying to ignore Yuna. Paine was doing the same on her other side.

"He doesn't lie!" Yuna gasped.

"Not that you're aware of?" Rikku sassed back.

"Well! I was just going to say I was happy for you!" Yuna settled back into her chair, turning the page in her book.

"She was saving him from Dona's clutches. It was all an act," Paine piped in. As much as she enjoyed giving Rikku a hard time, she much more enjoyed peace and quiet.

"Thank you, Dr. P. You can tell your little boyfriend that I was helping him out because Paine made me. End of story," Rikku said tartly.

"Oh please," Yuna scoffed. "Rikku, it's NEVER the end of the story."

"What?" Rikku propped herself up on her elbows in order to more deliberately give Yuna a dirty look.

"I know you think I'm naive, and maybe that's true," Yuna sighed, tucking a bookmark into the pages and setting the book down on the dock. "But I'm not stupid. None of us are."

"What are you talking about?" Rikku yelped.

"I know he hurt you, we all do," Yuna carried on.

"Which is why you all know he's a butthead!" Rikku jumped on Yuna's words.

"He's a butthead who's trying, though," Paine added in. Both Yuna and Rikku stared at her with surprised faces. Paine never seemed to care about this sort of thing.

"Well he's going to have to try a little harder than this! He cheated!" Rikku snapped.

"So did you," Yuna reminded her.

"Only after I knew he did! And he cheated A LOT!" Rikku pointed hard at Yuna. "I cheated out of spite when I knew it was really over. And all that fun I've been having since we broke up was well deserved! He hurt me!" Rikku crossed her arms over her chest and looked out over the water.

"And fooling around with half the male population of the planet has proved to be an EXCELLENT form of healing," Paine rolled her eyes.

"Excuse you!" Rikku shouted.

"Calm down, Rikku," Yuna tried not to laugh.

"Why did he come here? Why did he come with us? Shouldn't he be off running his stupid business or whatever?" Rikku fell back down onto her elbows and picked at the threads on the towel she was lying on. Her voice was small.

"We needed him," Paine shrugged.

"Couldn't they have found some tech junkie from New Home who had nothing better to do and would probably cost a hell of a lot less and wouldn't have those stupid shoulders and swagger and HELLO! Fifteen YEARS of stupid history with ONE OF THE FREAKING GULLWINGS?" Rikku cried, throwing her hands up. "Whose idea WAS this?!"

"Good afternoon, Gullwings!" Buddy came strolling up the dock carrying a clipboard. He was dressed a little more casually. He was smiling wider than usual.

"Hi Buddy," Yuna said pleasantly, offering up a small wave. Rikku was still seething. Paine was trying to pretend she was asleep. She still wasn't quite sure what to make of Buddy these days. She knew Gippal was working for free and that Buddy was treating him like crap. She also knew Buddy was shamelessly hitting on Rikku a lot more than usual.

"Just wanted to check in on my girls and make sure everything was going well," Buddy smiled, glancing at his paperwork. "Where the hell is he?" He asked himself.

"Who?" Yuna yawned, settling back into her chair. The high afternoon sun was getting to her.

"Oh, no one. I asked Gippal to meet me down here and he's late," Buddy sighed.

"I thought he was setting up with Tidus?" Paine decided to be awake.

"He is, he is, oh! Good!" Buddy looked up as Gippal came running down the dock. He was covered in sweat and out of breath. Rikku looked away. If he was going to walk around in just work boots and shorts, she was going to need to go blind in a big hurry. Her tiny bikini wasn't helping his work ethic much either.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to put a patch on some of the audio cables, something ripped in the case last-"

"Fascinating," Buddy cut him off. "Girls? Do you need anything? Lunch? Water? New towels?" Buddy grinned at them.

"I'm thirsty if you're offering," Paine shrugged. Rikku and Yuna glanced at one another and nodded.

"Good. Gippal?" Buddy turned to the exhausted mechanic. "See to it that the Gullwings all get a glass of ice water."

"What?" Gippal squinted at Buddy. "I'm your sound technician, not a slave!" He stood up straighter and put his hands on his hips. He was bigger than Buddy.

"You're on the staff, and right now, I need someone on the staff to get my girls hydrated," Buddy said firmly.

"Really, we don't need it," Paine looked up at Gippal.

"No. By all means," Gippal sneered at Buddy. "Let me get you ladies a glass of water," He got out through gritted teeth.

"I'll take one as well while you're at it," Buddy grinned. Gippal's lip twitched as he stalked off towards town.

"Buddy," Paine took of her sunglasses and looked Buddy in the eye. "That was a bit much."

"Nonsense," Buddy chuckled. "It's his JOB."