Sweet (Suite) 16, The Crown Princess, Saturday Morning

[the_merriest]

It was mooooooooorning. Morning was all warm and cozy. Even though Rikku was a little sunburned and a little hungover.

Ooooh, and she had a nifty ring on her left hand. From Sven and Marina Fellina Katarina Whoknowsina's superfly wedding. She couldn't believe the attendants hadn't thrown them out. She'd have to ask if anyone got a tape. Fake-

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[raspberryturk]

Okay. Reno had spent two consecutive days completely hammered out of his mind. Which, upon further reflection, explained perfectly why his mind now felt as though it had been hammered out of his skull.

He grunted a little and winced, and then started taking mental stock of what had happened the day before. Bad clothing, drinking, obviously. A chapel?

He ran his thumb along the ring that was on his finger, and cracked open one eye. There was a fine art to waking up with a hangover, and Reno, fortunately, was a much-practised master of not killing himself with sunlight en route directly from the window into his brain.

"Heeey. Mornin', Mrs. Abergoo-Higurwhatever."

[the_merriest]

"Mooooorning, yourself." Mr. Abergoo-Higurwhatever got a kiss on the tip of his nose. "You okay? You really need to start wearing sunscreen, you know."

Pale redhead, so, he wasn't ever going to manage a tan. Probably.

[raspberryturk]

Pale redhead who hadn't even seen the sun through his childhood. He shifted onto his side and realized, yes, that he was pretty thoroughly crispy-fried.

"Ow," he confirmed. And then offered her a sheepish smile. "Sunscreen, next time. And a hat. Maybe I'll borrow yours, yo."

Her hat was kind of special. It almost matched his fish tie, if you squinted and pretended it was an attempt at art nouveau. "Some day yesterday, huh?"

[the_merriest]

Compared to: girl who grew up in the middle of the sand dunes. Just another bit of their crazy opposites.

"You'd look awesome in a pimp hat," Rikku said. Well. He would. "You could get the whole outfit together, hat, and one of those long coats, and a pimp cane? I'd totally be your ho."

She was eying him carefully, watching for any signs of panic. Maybe he hadn't woken up the whole way yet?

"It's not legal," she added quickly. "I mean. Since we used the fake names and all."

Pre-emptive warning.

[raspberryturk]

He eyed her for a moment, and then lifted his hand and looked at his ring.

.... It was a tire. That earned a bit of a grin.

"Does it make any difference if it is or not? We ain't plannin' on goin' our separate ways any time soon, are we?"

[the_merriest]

That. Was.

That was not entirely the response she had been expecting. She was going to blink at him.

A lot.

"No?" she managed, eyes wide. "I mean, I'm not, and ... you're not? And ... if we really were, I'd probably get ... a dress that wasn't ... so slutty? But ..."

.... was he still drunk?

[raspberryturk]

"That was a fuckin' horrible dress," Reno agreed without even missing a beat. "And I'm gonna take that tie and burn it the moment we ain't on the boat."

He stretched out backward, his hands behind his head and his sunburn and headache both protesting in a vehement, throbbing unison, and he looked up at the ceiling. Very calmly.

"I been thinkin'," he said, "I mean. We've been together a year. Known each other longer. We're makin' plans to follow one another outta high school to wherever it is we end up, zoto. So what if somewhere in the world, some guy named Sven is now married to some chick named Marina-fina-bo-bina? You and me, we kinda already agreed it was for thick and thin, and sickness and health and... all that other stuff."

Okay. So he really wasn't paying attention to the vows. Could anyone blame him?

[the_merriest]

Rikku rubbed her eyes. Okay. Okay! Eye-rubbings were good. Seriously.

"Say," she asked, conversationally. "Do you remember ... gosh, would've been last summer or so. We kinda got into a fight, because you were all 'boo, hiss, I'm never geting married, ever'?"

Not that she'd been about to propose herself, or anything. But knowing that the guy didn't ever think you'd be marriage material, that had stung.

[raspberryturk]

"Lotta stuff can change in a year," Reno replied, shifting just enough so that he could idly look at his ring again.

It was such a stupid ring. He kinda liked it.

"Last year, I was thinkin' I was gonna be a Turk the rest of my life. Wasn't even allowed to think somethin' like marriage. I mean, technically, I was walkin' on fire just havin' a girlfriend, yoto. There ain't been no Turks now since October last year. We're graduatin' this summer, and we're gonna change a world or two when we do, yo. Wasn't nothin' boo, hiss about it. I was gonna die a Turk, and anyone seen with me was gonna probably die first for it."

[the_merriest]

"It would've been my call," Rikku said, calmly. "To stay with you, no matter what that meant. And ... I want that. I mean, I always have. I just."

Didn't particularly think he did. And. Well.

It was hard to breathe, when her heart was racing like this.

"A-are you saying ... I mean. You don't mean you ..."

[raspberryturk]

"First off, I didn't really know what marriage was," Reno replied. Calmly. Rationally. Silently praying to the Advil gods to make his head stop throbbing. "Had to ask Romeo. The response there was somethin' kinda like 'the greatest shit ever,' so I had to look it up on the internet, here. The street-kid-to-Turk conversion don't really cover that whole love and marriage gig."

He paused, looking her way.

"And yeah. You're right. It would'a been your call. But I wouldn't ever be able to live with me, if bein' what I was happened to be the reason you got hurt. Marriage didn't scare me, Rikku. It confused the shit outta me. The thought of you dyin' so someone could get to me, that fuckin' terrified me."

[the_merriest]

"It could still happen," she said. Just as calmly. Because ... well. It could. "For either of us. You, for getting too close to someone who's got a grudge against the Al Bhed, or for being in the wrong place when something bad happens. Me, for you being a Turk or for some of the craziness on Gaia. I mean, I think we just have to accept that."

Life was always risky. Living somewhere like Spira showed you that in a hurry.

"It's ... permanent," she continued. "Marriage, I mean. It's ... forever. Okay, some people kinda undo it, but ... it's not supposed to be something you can undo. I mean, I'm glad they let them, in case something awful happens or ... people make mistakes, yeah? Just that ... I don't know."

[raspberryturk]

"If you say it and mean it, it's supposed to stick?"

Reno kind of figured he was starting to figure it out.

"Okay. So, it's the risks we gotta take. Bad shit happens. You'd think I'd be better at gettin' that through my head by now, yo."

A beat.

"I mean, just, you ain't plannin' on goin' anywhere without me an' not comin' back, are you?"

[the_merriest]

"Nope," she said softly. "You're kinda stuck with me, zoto. Spira, Gaia, Antarctica, the moon. It's supposed to stick. Forever, and not just for the good times. No matter what."

Heart: still pounding. Head: still processing. This was kinda surreal, here. To just sit and shrug and discuss this, and if he was still drunk somehowand took it all back later, she was never, ever going to forgive him.

... okay, she'd forgive him. In fact, she would probably hold it together long enough to find somewhere alone that she could cry.

"Reno, are you ... are you saying that you ..."

[raspberryturk]

"All I'm sayin' is that, I dunno. It ain't really like we got nothin' to lose. Whatever we did yesterday probably technically don't count, I guess. Names an' drunk an' all that. But I might wanna hang onto my ring anyhow."

...

"Even if it's a really stupid ring."

...

"Totally worth detention for life," he added with a bit of a wry grin.

[the_merriest]

"Mine has a kitty face on it," she said, leaning over and turning the ring on her finger so he could see. Tactfully skipping the question of whether he really DID have detention for life, or if she was going to have to yell at Deadpool. "Is that why you picked it? It's cute. If we ... leave them on, people are gonna think ..."