Cherry Kisses
Today was not a good day for Rikku. Not a good day at all.
Currently, she was leaning over the toilet in the bathroom of the
Gullwings airship, where she had been for the last hour or so. Tonight,
Brother had insisted on cooking dinner instead of Barkeep. Initially,
the overall response of the crew was something like ‘Hell no’ or a
variant of it, but Brother’s incessant whining and stomping around
eventually made them cave in. “What could it hurt? It’s just one night.”
Buddy said, although he certainly wasn’t at his most enthusiastic. It
had indeed turned out to be a terrible mistake.
The dinner was nothing short of a disaster. Her idiot brother had
attempted to make dinner rolls, but the end result looked like small
lumps of charcoal. Rikku resisted the urge to throw one at Brother.
Shinra pocketed one (later she would see him analyzing it to see if it
really was supposed to be a bread roll) Apparently, after no one tried
to kill themselves by eating a roll, Brother assumed everyone was
eagerly awaiting his piece de résistance. He ran into the kitchen, and
came back with a large plate with what appeared to be cheeseburgers.
After he unceremoniously dropped a burger on everyone’s plate, Rikku
looked closely at it. Well, it wasn’t any weird color, and it didn’t
smell old, (Brother once ate a sandwich from the back of the cooler that
had mold on it and didn’t even notice. Best to check) Maybe, she
thought, she’d misjudged him. Maybe he did finally learn how to do
something right for once. She decided to eat.
Worst mistake ever, Rikku. You should have known something was up
when no one else ate anything, except Brother himself. And he drank all
the antidotes they had left on the ship after he realized that his
cooking wasn’t up to par. The big jerk, he could at least saved me
one.
Rikku moaned in annoyance, and sat on the bathroom floor. It seemed the
nausea had gone for now, so she could relax a little. She tilted her
head back so it rested on the wall and looked up at the ceiling.
“I’m going to kill him later...” Rikku said to no one in particular,
Well, unless you count the fly looking down from the ceiling. Even a fly
had sense enough not to touch Brother’s food.
“You know, I don’t think you’d be able to do much damage with your head
stuck in a toilet.” A voice spoke. For a second, Rikku thought the fly
was the one making snide comments, and her eves opened in shock, but
then she noticed the trademark heavy, black boots of Paine in her
peripheral vision.
Rikku managed her trademark grin somehow, despite the fact her head and
stomach were aching from dinner. Why is my head hurting? What did he
use to make those burgers, exactly?
“Haha. Very funny, Paine. I think you may have missed your true calling
stand-up comic. Couldn’t wait to make fun of me until I’m feeling
better?” Paine smirked in response. Ah, man. Something’s up.. I hope
it isn’t ‘hurt time’ - she wouldn’t hurt a sick person, would she?
“What are you looking at me like that for? I’m not going to hurt you.”
Paine said, interrupting Rikku’s train of thought. “I just thought you’d
want some help getting over.. whatever you have.” She turned to leave.
“Wait, wait! I’m sorry, I thought you were going to do something, but
well.. you know you.” Paine nodded. “If the offer still stands, I’ll
take it. I can’t stand being like this.” She tried to do her best
charming smile to convince Paine that helping her was the right thing to
do, and hoped it would work.
Paine smiled. That was rare. Maybe my charm is even more effective
than I thought. “Well, meet me back in the cabin. But before you
leave,” Paine smiled even more. “..you might want to brush your teeth.
You have a piece of lettuce stuck in your teeth.” With that, she walked
out the door.
“I..” She turned to look in the mirror, and saw that indeed, there was a
large amount of greenery stuck in between her front teeth. Grabbing her
toothbrush and toothpaste, she started to work. How could she not notice
something so large stuck in her mouth? She couldn’t really tell if she
was more embarrassed or annoyed. Oh well, at least Paine was offering to
help her, which was surprising. I mean, unless it was a life or death
situation, Paine had always left her to deal with her own mess.
Weird. Maybe she’s going soft. But Paine, any other way than she is?
Impossible. And with that seemingly ridiculous thought out of her
mind, she continued brushing her teeth.
Ten minutes later, Rikku entered the cabin. Paine was behind the counter
mixing some noxious-looking drink together. No one else seemed to be
around. Still irritated about the lettuce incident, she approached her
friend. “So, what’cha making?” She asked, looking uneasily at the
liquid.
“This? It’s something I learned how to make from Nooj, after your friend
Gippal ate some of what the Crimson Squad called ‘rations’ for the first
time. Paine smiled a little again. “Maybe it’s just that the Al Behd are
picky eaters.” Rikku glowered at Paine, who laughed quietly before
continuing to make the drink. When she got done it was a weird orange
color, but still looked a lot better than something Brother could come
up with. “You might want to go to your bed. This is pretty strong
stuff.”
“I can take it, I think.” Rikku stated, sure that it couldn’t be as bad
as Paine said it was. Paine only shrugged in her typical fashion and
pushed the tall glass over to the thief. Rikku downed it in one gulp.
The next thing she knew, she was on her back (They really should make
that barstool more sturdy) with Paine standing over her, looking down.
“See?” was all Paine said as she knelt and picked Rikku up in her arms
and carried her up to her bed. What ever stunned state Rikku was in
disappeared quickly when Paine dropped her onto her bed.
“Hey! You didn’t have to do that, ya big meanie!” Rikku exclaimed,
sitting up on the bed.
“I told you to come up here and sit down, didn’t I? It’s payback for not
listening and for me having to carry you.” Paine stated in her usual
calm voice. Rikku swore there was a note of smugness in her tone. “Oh,
and here.” Paine pulled a piece of Rikku’s favorite candy out of her
pocket and handed it to her. (How’d she know? Was she actually
listening all those times Rikku asked [whined to really] Brother to stop
by Luca so she could buy more?) “Helps with the aftertaste.” Rikku
noticed that there was a burning sensation spreading inside her throat.
Bleh.. but at least her headache/stomachache was rapidly vanishing.
Popping the cherry-flavored candy into her mouth, she smiled
appreciatively at the silver-haired girl, who simply looked back.
“My favorite, how’d you know?” Rikku asked. Paine looked past Rikku and
through the window. “You always talk about it.” was all she said. Rikku,
still not satisfied, continued. “Why’d you help me?”
Paine turned to her. Her eyes softened for a second, but quickly
returned to her steely gaze. “Because you were holding up the bathroom.
And you’d whine all tomorrow about no one helping you.” Rikku pouted.
Paine was quite possibly the most difficult person she’d ever met. “So,”
she tried again. “I see why they call you Dr. P now. So.. what do I owe
you, Doctor?” she asked playfully, leaning against Paine’s shoulder, and
looking up into the older girl’s eyes, green swirled eyes meeting dark
crimson ones. Paine pushed her away, and stood up.
“First off, stop that. Second, you don’t owe me anything - I was just
helping a friend.” She turned to walk away. But of, course Rikku stopped
her by jumping into her path of escape. Paine sighed. Yeah, it’s not
that easy to get away from me! “...What?” Paine sounded irritated.
“It’s more than that, I know! And no matter how many times you glare at
me or push me is gonna convince me otherwise!”
“Forty-six, Rikku.” Damn, I forgot to put the respect points in my
rant.
“It’s not gonna work, even if I get down to negative forty-six.” Rikku
said, even though knowing her, it’d take forever to get back to zero
after that, much less forty-six if that happened.
Paine glowered. “Well.. what do you think it is?” The only way to get
Rikku to stop annoying her would be to answer her question... but
might as well annoy her before answering, Paine thought, smiling
inwardly.
Rikku kicked at the floor with her right foot absentmindedly. She didn’t
know exactly why she was still pressing the issue. Maybe it was the fact
that it just all seemed so weird, Paine taking care of her of all
people. Maybe because she hoped it was something else? At that thought,
all the recent actions of Paine, odd separate incidents, fell together
to create an obvious reason.
“Paine,” she asked looking up at the warrior. “..do you, um, like me?”
she asked warily.
“Yes. But I might not feel that way anymore if you keep annoying me.”
Paine replied, sounding exasperated again.
“No! Not like that...” Rikku said, then thought on how to word what she
wanted to say. “ I mean like like me.” Well, that wasn’t the
most eloquent way of putting it was it? Poopie.
“...” Paine just looked blankly at her. Well, she hadn’t tried to
leave, or anything, which would mean a ‘no’, so... was it? Why couldn’t
she just say Yes or no like normal people?!?
Rikku had had enough of this entire guessing game. She reached up, took
hold of Paine’s shoulders and kissed her. Paine didn’t seem to mind, at
least she hadn’t pushed her away yet, anyway. Pulling away after what
seemed like forever, she looked up at the other girl’s face. Paine
looked back at her, with a calm look.
So she wasn’t mad.. but, then again she wasn’t trying to kiss Rikku
back.. maybe she was just counting how many respect points to take
away... oops. Rikku turned to leave and go find somewhere to die of
embarrassment, but then she felt a gloved hand grab her arm and pull her
into an embrace. Well, that was unexpected.
Paine smiled again, an event that was quickly becoming more
common than rare. Her eyes had the same soft look they had earlier when
she was sitting on the bed talking to Rikku. “The answer.. is yes.”
Rikku’s eyes widened at the sudden display of emotion from the usually
apathetic Paine. If it was possible, they widened even more once Paine
leaned down and kissed her.
Paine’s kiss was a lot more passionate than Rikku’s was, but still soft,
gentle. Not to be outdone, Rikku returned the intensity, running her
tongue over the other girl’s teeth, seeking entry. The older girl
willingly obliged. Now their tongues were vying for dominance against
each other. The taste of cherries spread from Rikku’s mouth to Paine’s.
She seemed to like the new taste being introduced.. well, that is, if
that light moan coming from her was directed towards that. Rikku
smiled to herself. She wondered what someone would say if they walked
in. Probably ‘About time’ or something. How could she be so dense not to
know her own feelings?
The kiss lasted a few minutes more, before Rikku pulled away. She didn’t
feel like killing Brother anymore, that was for sure.
She beamed at Paine, who couldn’t hide her own matching smile if she
wanted to. Still in Paine’s embrace, she sighed happily.
“You know, I wish I had gotten sick a lot earlier.”
Today had actually been a good day for Rikku. A good day after all.
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