lazy days, middle, sunshine challenge (pyre_flies)

[jaebility]

Title: What's Mine Is Ours
Setting: Sometime during the pilgrimage
Themes: 89) Lazy days, 50) In the middle, 75) Sunshine and daisies
Pairing: Auron/Rikku
Rating: K+
Warnings: Nope
Summary: Voyeurism leads to interesting conversation. Ending is sort of meh, but I got sick of seeing it unfinished. XP

Title comes from "Doesn't Remind Me" by Audioslave.


"Yunie would probably have a heart attack if she knew you were spying on her." Rikku's voice came drifting over, interrupting Auron's thoughts. "That or she'd smack you with her staff. Which would be pretty hilarious, actually."

Auron thought that his spot under the tree was a decently private place, but the Al Bhed had once again proved him wrong. He tipped his head upwards to look at Rikku who was perched on a branch and grinning down at him. "I'm not spying," he corrected, "I'm guarding."

"Oh, right, right. Me, too, then. Nothing wrong with guarding. 'Sides, it's not like they're even doing anything interesting. Lots of making gooey eyes at each other and saying dumb things like 'Oh, but I believe in you!' and 'Let's watch each sunrise together!' and stuff like that which makes me barf all over."

"They'd better stick to that," Auron grunted, "It'd be a shame to castrate Tidus, but I'm sure Jecht would forgive me."

Rikku laughed and kicked the tree branch with her feet, raining bark down on the scowling guardian below her. "Ah, youth," she said wistfully. "So innocent. So pure."

"You're at least two years younger than Yuna," Auron pointed out, "Hardly ancient."

"Never innocent, though!" She said with a laugh. More pieces of bark showered downward. "Brother has these magazines... Certain, probably illegal in most of Spira, magazines that would cause Pops to explode if he discovered they existed. But besides that, I'm not all good-as-gold like Yunie. I've looked at Brother's secret stash, and no one comes out unscathed from that. And I've been kissed. Twice."

"Which makes you an expert in all relationships, I presume."

"I'm an expert in everything," Rikku said with an insulted sniff. She swung down suddenly, hanging onto the branch with her knees. "I can do amazing feets of amazingness. I can catch fish with my bare hands. I can hold my breath way longer than anyone else. And I can pick locks like nobody's business." She ticked off her accomplishments on her fingers and then wiggled her three upright fingers for emphasis.

"Certainly things to be proud of."

"Damn straight!" She said with a snort - she deserved a trophy at least. "And I can do five cartwheels in a row without getting dizzy. A hundred gil says that you can't do that."

"I've never tried."

"What's stopping you? I would definitely pay to see you do cartwheels. That would probably be the best thing ever. I'd die happy if you did a cartwheel. You don't even need to do five. Just one will be enough. Will you? Please? I won't tell Tidus or anyone, I promise."

He titled his head back again to look up at her upside-down, quickly turning red face. "How much?"

She squinted her eyes in confusion. "How much what? How much of awesome would it be? It would be the ultimate of awesome."

"How much gil."

"Ah." Rikku pulled herself back up onto her branch and rifled through her pockets. "Hold on, hold on, don't go changing your mind. I've got at least fifty gil here. And I know that Wakka's got a good hundred on him. So... I'll give you two hundred gil. A whopping two hundred gil for one measly cartwheel."

"Your fifty plus the hundred you plan on stealing from Wakka equals one-fifty, not two hundred."

Rikku chortled with glee, and with a single fluid motion, twisted around and jumped down from her branch. Once on the ground, she giggled and winked roguishly at him, the tree, the pair of lovers in the distance, and all the grass in between. "Add on the fifty that you had in your pocket until very recently and you get two hundred."

He shoved his hand into his pocket - empty. "Rikku."

"Come on, ask me how I did that." She waited for less than a second and then exploded again with laughter. "Another totally awesome skill of mine. I've been up in the tree for like ever waiting for someone to come and amuse me." She plopped down onto the grass next to him and nodded her head sympathetically and knowingly. "You should keep your cash closer to you, you know; those big-ass pockets are easy to reach into. Someone might take advantage of that. Here, you can have it back. Look how gracious I am."

Her hand slid into his pocket to stuff the stolen money back to its proper place. "Of course," she mused almost dreamily as she rummaged, "A lesser person might just take this ability sphere you've been holding onto, and being an honest sort of girl, I'll admit that it is rather tempting..." She peered up at him hopefully.

He arched on eyebrow over the rim of his sunglasses and Rikku withdrew her hand and cleared her throat with as much chagrin as she could muster. "Well," she said to her knees, "I hope you learned a valuable lesson about paying attention to the right things and stuff." She stood up, brushing dirt from her bottom. "And someday, you need to show me a cartwheel."

Without looking at him again, Rikku did five cartwheels in a row. Auron almost applauded, but Rikku was quicker than him, and in a moment she was over the hill and out of sight. He turned his attention back to his other two wards; he had time to attend to them now, but Rikku would be back soon. She always came back.

Comments

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

This is all kinds of win. I get twitchy when people gloss over the age difference, but Rikku deciding to pester Auron because he's like the hot professor all the students get a crush on -- and showing off her own amazing Rikku-ness in such a fashion that he's actually quite entertained, in that Mr. Grumpy way -- that's perfect.

I love her pickpocketing prowess. So many fun details in this thing. :D

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I definitely agree with the "hot professor" characterization of Auron. He thinks he has the upper hand, but precocious Rikku sometimes gets the better of him. XD

Thanks for this review! Turned my mediocre day into a great one. :)

[virusq.livejournal.com]

I think you captured Rikku perfectly! I'm still waiting for Auron to do a cartwheel, though. You tease!

I love it. :D

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

XD Thanks so much! Some day he'll finally do that damn cartwheel... Some day...

[fwe.livejournal.com]

That was so awesome. I love your Rikku. Nice characterization. Very cool. I like the tone you put to this, too. Nice pace, nice... well, everything. Good job. Nicely done. :)

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was worried that Rikku was too childish, so I'm glad that someone else liked her character in this. :D

[lilah-kelly.livejournal.com]

Auron's doing cartwheels in my mind as we speak! And it's a fascinating sight...*drools* Anyways, I loved your story to bits! Too cute! And the ending is very well done, not "meh" at all! lol ^_^

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

Picturing Auron doing cartwheels is both hilarious and sexy. XD

[charmingsponge.livejournal.com]

Cute, cute story! I didn't even consider the idea of Auron taking off his coat in order to cartwheel! So for a moment or two, I was worried he'd get all tangled up in it, and fall over D:.
Poor Auron. My giggles are totally at his expense!

And is that Iriquois Pliskin Solid Snake with earmuffs in that icon you've been responding with?!

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

And why, yes it is. Snake's such a cutie. ;3

[demeter918.livejournal.com]

Dude, that was awesome. A Rikku and Auron story without all the angst and yet managed to incorporate their personalities and quirks. Their conversation was all sorts of love, especially the fact that Auron actually inquires how much money she'd pay him to do a cartwheel. And then their conversations gets dragged into what was in his pocket and how he should be careful and it's all quite natural and just Rikku and Auron.

The ending line? KICKER!

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

Heehee, thanks! I think that Auron's got a soft spot for her, even if he won't admit it. ;)

[should-b-workin.livejournal.com]

Absolutely perfect portrayal of it all :)
Amazingly cute, write more plssss

[verdictlesslife.livejournal.com]

Eee thanks! I'm glad that you liked it! There's a lot more where this came from - I have 100 themes to do for the pyre_flies community, and I tihnk I've completed about... 10 or so. So many fics I need to write...

[airelement.livejournal.com]

I have several mental images in my head - Auron doing cartwheels, Yuna whacking him with her staff, and Rikku stealing his stuff - and they all make me laugh =) Thanks for making my day good!