by PrettyGothGirl
All Disclaimers Apply
Summary: Gippal doesn't want to get in trouble with Rikku and then precedes to do so, immediately.
A/N: This is 4 words away from chapter status. :P LOL Requests, suggestions, etc are welcome!
Gippal was trying his best not to do anything to get himself in trouble with Rikku. And since he hadn't figured out what did get him in trouble with Rikku, as a result, he was a nervous wreck. She still wasn't telling him things. She was still expecting him to pick up on little infinitesimal clues and-
Nooj cleared his throat. Gippal jumped. "What?" He asked, covertly rubbing his palms on his pants, or he hoped it was covert.
Nooj lowered his voice. "If you don't want us to know your interest, stop staring at her."
Gippal felt heat rush to his face. "Who?"
Nooj sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Rikku."
"Cid's girl?" It slipped out.
"I heard that." Rikku shouted from across the clearing.
Gippal jumped again and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry." He muttered and glared at Nooj. Great. All it took was a few sentences by Nooj and here he was, in trouble with Rikku, again. Nooj had the gall to merely look amused. Gippal sighed.
"She's not going to hurt you." Baralai said.
Gippal stared at him. "Yes, she would. Just- never mind." He kicked at the ground with his boots. He didn't want Rikku to get mad at him, yell at him or manhandle him in front of Nooj and Baralai. It would be humiliating. Yuna, Paine and Tidus didn't matter. They didn't have these ideas about love that say, Nooj had or weren't as contained of people like Baralai was. They didn't have expectations about his maturity level, and Rikku screwed with his maturity level. He didn't want them to know how much Rikku already had him wrapped around her little finger, because he was wrapped around her little finger. Especially since he hadn't done anything about the whole her interrupting him in the shower incident or did the making her learn to table dance made up for it? Was there some sort of comparison chart for embarrassing moments and adequate revenge?
Baralai shook his head.
Gippal shrugged his shoulders. "It not like she abuses me." He paused. "Too much."
"Well, you abuse me too." Rikku said from his elbow, his blind side elbow.
He jumped, and promptly glared at her. How did she sneak up like that? He would think her peach perfume would warn him a little. But the wind was in the wrong direction. He hissed. "I do not."
"There are many kinds of abuse." She said, blinking her eyes slowly.
Baralai's brow furrowed.
"Okay, saying if I abuse you, you abusing me back doesn't make things okay."
"Our relationship has always been mutual abuse." Rikku rolled her eyes. "I swear, when we were three-"
He interrupted. He knew this story. "You punched me first!"
"You called me a whiny poop head. You deserved to be punched. You didn't have to punch me back."
"Just because we abuse each other had nothing to do with that."
"It had everything to do with it and still has everything to do with it. And let's remember my size as well. I'm smaller than you and female. It's not polite, gentlemanly or good manners to punch me. Bully."
"I was three!" He threw his hands up. She always did this, brought up the past to prove a point now. It made no sense. "This is ancient history, why are we arguing about it?"
She sniffed. "I was just proving a point."
"What point?"
"We've always abused each other."
"All right then. You stole my blocks and toy hammer."
"I was one! You took them back." She paused. "After you bawled and your mother told you to take them back."
"You hit me over the head with said hammer."
"And I'm sure I had great fun."
Baralai looked between them. "You two need help."
Rikku raised her eyebrow. "Are you volunteering?"
Baralai shook his head rapidly.
"I don't need help. She needs help." Gippal muttered. "To stop being so female."
"I like being female. I was born that way. You can't change it." She stomped her foot. "You- you just want me to think and be like a male, except when it suits your purposes."
Gippal's eye widened. Oh shit. "I do not. I did not say that. Stop putting words in my mouth."
"You didn't have to say it. You've implied it for years."
Neither noticed Nooj and Baralai edging away and retreating with dignity to where Yuna, Paine and Tidus were on the other side of the clearing.
"I have not!"
"Months then!" She scowled.
"Have not!"
"Have so. I'm female when you want me to be and that's-" She snapped her mouth shut.
He leaned down. "That is nowhere near the truth. I like you perfectly well as a female all the time."
"You don't act like it!" She waved her hands. "I know I'm not particularly feminine Gippal. I can't apologize. It's how I was raised. You know why I am the way I am, why can't you just accept it and stop saying you wish I was less female."
"I don't say that! All I'm saying is I don't understand you because you're female." He quieted his voice. "I like you because you're a girl and you're you."
Rikku suddenly flushed, opened and shut her mouth quickly and then glanced over her shoulder, looked back at him with an 'oh shit' expression. She crossed her arms and he steeled himself for whatever was coming next. "You're just jealous."
His jaw dropped. "What?!"
"Pops has asked all these other men to take me out and he hasn't asked you!" She stuck her tongue out at him.
He wanted to reach out and shake her. "I am not!"
"Are so!"
"I'm sure he hasn't gotten around to me yet." He smirked. "He's saving the best and sure thing for last."
"And how are you a sure thing?"
He smirked. "Because I'm me."
She reached over and shoved him. He shoved her back, laughing, then ran away.
--
reviews are love, love me?!