Final Fantasy X-2: Let Go

Tidus brushed sand off his legs and stared at the machine Gippal was working on. "What's it supposed to do again?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Gippal eyed him. "Are you sulking again?"

"I'm not sulking." Except he was, he felt like he was always sulking, caught between why and so what and Wakka's farewell message of some things aren't meant to be, ya? He had been sulking for four months that felt like four years, and he was tired. But he didn't know how to stop.

"You're totally sulking, great." Gippal dropped his wrench and plopped down on the sand beside him. "Listen, I know it sucks. And yeah, so maybe you don't really have friends right now because all your friends were Yuna's friends. But it'll get easier."

Tidus stared up at the sky. "I don't think I'm sad. I agreed with her...sort of. She was different." He shrugged. "Feels like I don't belong here without her, though."

"Hey now." Gippal nudged him with a shoulder. "Your sphere break skills say different on game nights." He rubbed his neck. "And..."

Tidus bent his head. "And? And what?"

"Nothing, forget it." Gippal went to stand, but Tidus got a grip on a buckle and tugged him back.

"No chance." It wasn't like Gippal to keep his mouth shut, anyway. Tidus was used to all sorts of opinions out of him, and if there was one about him, he wanted to hear it.

Gippal gave him a strange look. "You might punch me."

Tidus grinned. "You have a really hard head." It was a joke, funny, but then Gippal pushed him back onto the hot sand and covered him. His back was on fire and Gippal looked serious in a way Tidus had only seen a few times before. Everyone gave him those looks sometimes, because of Shuyin, but the look on Gippal's face was different somehow. "Gippal?"

Gippal leaned down and it wasn't like Tidus didn't get it—it was just unexpected. Gippal's breath was warm on his lips, and when he kissed Tidus, slow and careful, it felt like a question he'd been waiting to ask for a long time. It was easy, then, for Tidus to slide his hands into Gippal's hair, damp with sweat, kiss him back and give the answer.