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It's the kind of show that Tidus likes to watch. Nothing sexy or attempting to play smooth as Inigo wrestles with his shirt - a goofiness that entirely makes up their friendship. He does as he's asked, mostly because he gets a treat for Holding on; only the smallest chuckle let out, with Tidus still there when Inigo's head finally comes out from its shirt cage.

He waits, for a second or so, before getting right back into it.

"Wow - you always strip for guys you meet?" Because of course that's part of the roleplay, with Tidus's eyes going down Inigo's chest. "Hmmm... good thing you came to the beach. You need to catch a tan."

"O-- Only when they're handsome!"

It's definitely the sort of line that Inigo meant to say in so much more of a smooth way, but he can't help the way the words tumble out of his mouth when he's still so flustered, making his voice hitch before he can force out the full sentence.

Especially since the remark about the tan makes him a little more flustered. He knows very well that Tidus just means it in a joking way, but there's a tiny devil running around in Inigo's brain that immediately makes him start to wonder if Tidus really thinks there's something wrong with the way he looks.

Even though he tries really darn hard to quickly shoo that tiny devil out.

"But-- you know, where I come from, they would consider pale skin a mark of the upper class!" (Or just a sign that you spent way too much time in a dark apocalyptic world and a train without sun, but ssh, ssh.) "You can get many tanned guys on the beach, but you can't get anything like this!"

The 'this' is definitely coupled with Inigo putting his hands on his torso, as if to show off - and trying really hard to ignore the sensation of his scars underneath his fingertips.

Tidus drags out an 'ohhhhhhh', a sound of awe and being impressed by Inigo's explanations of upper-class ways. It seems roleplay!Tidus has found an upper-class guy. Who sounds like he's not very impressed by a beach guy, but Tidus won't go too far with that angle.

"So I'm lucky right now, getting a high-class guy stripping for me. Is that it?" That's what it sounds like! He runs his hands down his own covered chest, shirt still on.

"Should I keep this on then? See if I can look presentable too? I might be wearing it for a while, though..."

It doesn't take a day to lose tanned skin like his! Or just being on the darker skin side of white to begin with...!

don't call inigo out for being the absolute whitest boy around in every sense of the word

"No!" He says, almost still sputtering, but then realises he needs to calm the heck down over here. Sucking in a deep breath, Inigo tries again. "No."

He puts his hands on Tidus's shirt too, gripping the fabric.

"I want to see what's underneath here."

.. not that Inigo doesn't already know what's there, but if Tidus is committing to this beach guys roleplay, then Inigo will also give it a try.

"You can't brag about your skin and then not show it off!"

Listen to Inigo being so bold. It tickles something in Tidus, not exactly the pinnacle of smooth that he can trick the other guy into thinking he is. Confidence, Tidus has it, but it does warm him to think of someone wanting to see how he looks like. A feeling close to shy, but excited, too.

Even if some small part of him can't help but wonder, What is this? - what has this lazy morning make-out turned into? But Tidus doesn't sweat the meaningless details, giving Inigo an "Alright, yes, sir" playfully, his smirk now more of a silly grin; but one that comes with Tidus raising his arms to grab the fabric at his shoulders.

And this he's smoother at, tugging up the shirt over his head and pulling it down with his arms. His smile widening, as he finds that need for confidence as he puts himself on display.

"Well?" he asks expectantly. "Am I the kind of guy you came to the beach for?"

Something tickles in his chest as he watches this. He pulls his hands off Tidus's shirt so the other can properly remove it, and then there's the usual display. Tidus without a shirt, something Inigo has seen so often..

.. and yet. There's that ticklish feeling. Maybe it's because of this dumb roleplay-ish thing they're doing. Maybe it's because of those specific words Tidus is saying, or the emphasis that is being put here on his bare upper body. Maybe it's all of it combined that induces that feeling inside of Inigo.

But whatever it is, he absolutely can't stop the edge of awe that's audible in his voice as he speaks up again.

"You're exactly the kind of guy I came to the beach for."

His tone is just a tad more breathy as he leans back in after having pulled back to properly admire Tidus. "How about I give such a beach prince the honour he deserves?"

Do beach princes even exist? Who knows. Inigo sure doesn't care. The only thing on his mind right now is kisses.

Edited 2021-10-05 21:13 (UTC)

Those eyes on him could warm him in place of the sun they don't have. Is it wrong, to like to be admired? And Tidus can mistake - or believe - the way he's being viewed right now is exactly that, though he doesn't need to question it, when Inigo does finally speak up. His lips press together as the swell of feeling inside his chest, pride and embarrassment.

It's somehow easier when Inigo comes back in close, a chuckle in his throat, his face coming to meet Inigo's. He wraps his arms to hang off his shoulders, like a guy getting comfortable.

"You do owe me a kiss," he points out. Because it was totally Inigo who was meaning to be giving the kisses. "I don't make an entire beach just for anyone."

Heheh.

Yes, because Tidus obviously put so much effort into this. Having to shift out from under the comfy blankets and standing up, just to be able to reach the projector and turn it on. What an effort. Truly something that cost him years of his life.

But Inigo won't argue it, knowing that this whole thing is just them doing some dumb jokey thing in the first place - as they're known to do at this point.

Besides, there are so many better things he could do right now than argue. Like..

.. well, pressing his lips to Tidus's. Briefly at first, pulling back just enough to be able to speak, though the proximity makes their breath still mingle.

"How about that one?"

He presses another kiss to those lips.

"Or this one?"

Is that enough kisses, bro? Is that all you wanted?

(Obviously he, too, is just teasing here.)

Thanks for acknowledging the effort getting out of bed takes, bro. That first kiss can barely be called a kiss, and Tidus would complain, if Inigo didn't come back to give him another. And then, instead of giving any verbal response, Tidus brings their lips together for a third, for a fourth. A fourth that tilts his head, that brings a hand around the back of Inigo's head; the flick of a tongue asking for more, as Tidus's other arm wraps around Inigo's back, bringing their bodies together just as close.

Just for a moment, but one that isn't short; enough to indulge in tastes and senses, a pleasant trip that when Tidus does withdraw, loosens his hold and frees his mouth, the feel of Inigo is still on his tongue.

"Like that," he finally says. "Beach guys like their kisses."

It makes them lose the ability to form more witty or cool remarks.

It's a moment that lasts long enough in Inigo's mind. All the moments they kiss do, really, but there's the enhanced factor here of the shirtlessness on top of it all - giving just that slight extra sensation when he's pulled close enough to have their bodies touch.

It definitely makes everything feel a little closer to some actual makeouts, leaving a red hue on Inigo's face even as they lips part again.

"I'm learning a lot today here," he quips in return, though there's a slightly dazed quality about his words. Like he needs a moment to recover from this.

Hence why he's still not moving. "Is there anything else I should know about beach guys?"

"Wellll...."

They like the dazed, confused faces of the people they're with, is something that Tidus could admit to; but he isn't quite sure how to phrase it, and he wouldn't want to fluster what's already a decent face. But he does give some thought to his next action, where he could take this. Flirt some more, that's a choice, and this could go somewhere sexy...

"Lesson two," he says as he decides, shifting his weight ever so slightly, "iiiis-!"

--and he flops himself, back on the bed, stretching in his back, chest puffing out as he enjoys it.

"--we like to catch some rays and relax!" he finishes. "Mmmm! Listen to the waves, Inigo!"

There's the temptation to make a comment about how there's no real rays to catch here.

But it feels too much like breaking the magic of this moment. Instead Inigo tries to shut off that part of his brain as quickly as he can - putting a smile on his face once it manages to break through the daze, and then just moving to lay back alongside Tidus on their bed-turned-into-something-that-looks-like-a-beach-towel.

.. an oversized beach towel, but still. These projectors can only work so much magic here.

"Now that's got to be a lie."

Inigo is still smiling as he says it though, like he's more fond and amused than anything else. He closes his eyes once he's fully on the bed, a hand resting on his stomach.

"I don't think I've ever seen you stay still for more than ten seconds." (And that's being generous.)

"Hey! Liar." Inigo gets a nudge of an elbow, a thwap of a hand for his shameless lie. "Give me a beach and sun for real, and I'd be doing this there, right now!"

Which he's only doing because - unlike Inigo's picture of him he's trying to create - he really doesn't want to do much. Even pretending to catch rays that aren't there is better than the thought of getting up and doing things. At least the projector also comes with the light acoustics of beach-y sounds.

"Roland's gonna be the guy who's up, thinking about getting stocks and whatever else paperwork he can make up. And the people serious about team chores or cooking in the kitchen. Who cares about any of that?"

Not this guy, slipping his hands behind his head.

".. guess I can't deny that."

After all, both of them know Roland way too well at this point. That guy somehow doesn't know how to relax even when he's brought to an island meant for relaxation - which means he's even worse than Inigo. And technically Roland didn't even spend time in a postapocalyptic world like him that could have birthed trouble with taking breaks like it did for Inigo!

He lets out a little amused sound, turning his head - but only moving that part of his body - to look at Tidus as he speaks up again.

"Did you know I had to drag him around back on that island to actually get him to take a break?" Because Naga knows Roland would have been looking around for.. for clues, or he would just have started working on some team management, or whatever. He was about to do so back there! Inigo saved him from the most cruel of fates!

"Didn't we both?" There's a huff, a glance from the corner of his eye at Inigo without turning his head. "Remember, ditching him with Saku - Lord Gyousou? And us running off with Taiki? Man - talk about a lifetime ago!"

A lifetime when Lightning was still around; when he'd barely been around on the train, just after his second mission. ...a time when Yuna was still around. The last month she was.

He bends his knees, eyes up on the ceiling.

"You know, other than the weird vision stuff? That was my favourite stop. It wasn't as...strange, as that recent stop we took. Aquafir. Being around people on holiday, being the same as them, but we're not even supposed to be there?"

Too strange.

There's a lot Inigo could say. That he's not sure how he feels about that stop, because sharing this most awful and vulnerable memories with Gyousou of all people, someone he looked up to, was absolutely miserable. Because he saw a vision of himself being executed right as the train stopped there, and it haunted him the entire time, even as he was going along with everyone else's shananigans. Even as he was trying to pretend so hard that he was okay.

But he doesn't want to say it. Doesn't want to ruin this moment. As long as other people are happy with something, especially someone as important to him as Tidus, then it's fine, isn't it? He can celebrate that, no matter his own experiences.

"I'm glad you liked it," he instead says, turning his gaze back up to the projection of the blue sky and the sun. "I'm really not surprised you'd like just being on a beach the most of all. That's where you belong, mister beach guy."

It wasn't perfect for Tidus, either. It didn't have a lot great, the ending of it leading to the eventual breakdown that had him in despair following Yuna's departure - he wouldn't want to go back to those days, but an island, just where they could be themselves without the flair of regular life-

"Hey, we had a good time too, right? Remember ditching Gyousou and Roland-" a smile twists into a grin- "and then, when we agreed to make bread? We got so many berries - there's still a bunch in my arms!"

Because they were always for Taiki, but shh, he can have Taiki rations on him, alright!

"You think berries were the highlight?"

That's totally not what Tidus is saying here - or at the very least, it's definitely not the main point of what the other is saying, but it's a small, playful thing to zoom in on. He knows that the berries have more worth to them for what they mean to Taiki than for what they are for the two of them specifically.

And they are still a better thing to focus on than all of the things that straight up haunted him on the island.

(Please let Gyousou be back home and okay somehow. Please, please..)

"I thought that when looking back on the best moments there, you'd at the very least go for the ultimate hot springs battle." You know, when Roland tried to boil them. Fun times.

Tidus scoffs loudly. "And him coming in thinking we were making out?" Flirting, making out, whatever - the memory is enough to get Tidus punching the air, even half-kicking up a leg to remember that whole embarrassing event. "That guy! What's memorable about that? He always has the worst timing - and when he made us go through all the candy we grabbed during Della's spooky party. It was free candy! That anyone could take!"

Has this now become a Complain About The Old Man Roland session? Yes, it sure has, Tidus apparent offence to these events being stifled by the humour in his retelling, the grin on his face.

At least he remembers something to turn his head to Inigo, remind him, face no less cheery: "Me and Taiki taught you swimming there."

See? So many good memories.

Inigo won't object to this Complain About The Old Man Roland session when it's entirely accurate criticism. Just leave it to Roland to let his mind carry him away entirely while just seeing the two of them hanging out in the hot springs together..

But it's the latter part of what Tidus says that gets Inigo to turn his head towards the other, staring for a moment, his eyes a little wider than a moment before.

.. he slowly starts to smile, though. Especially when he turns his head to look up at the ceiling-turned-sky again.

"I liked that part." There's something soft about the way he admits it, like it really is a fond memory he treasures in his heart.

"But it doesn't even matter that we were on an island for that. As long as I'm with you guys, I like being anywhere. Even when we're trying to herd strange animals in the middle of the jungle, or bickering over food on floating islands."

"Sure," Tidus can agree with that sentiment, "but it's nice when the world isn't falling down around us."

Despite the negatives that came with the one island, it technically wasn't a mission - just a grievance, to everyone who had to suffer it what it shared, forced. The parts that Tidus isn't focusing on, head tilted back, eyes on the ceiling too. Thoughts of 'ifs' just in his focus, but none he wants to voice out loud.

If they could be anywhere they wanted--

If they could be normal for a while--

If they could be whoever they wanted to be.

He lets his eyes close, rocking his head a little, a sigh quietly exhaled.

'I wonder how Spira's doing,' is what he wants to say, but instead goes for a subject safer.

"Think we should keep bothering the train again? Now that it's answering us."

There's a hum from Inigo's side. It's most likely a hum of agreement, though it's at first hard to tell without any words elaborating on it. His eyes are momentarily closed too, the smile on his face fading just a little bit.

"Anything in particular you want to focus on right now?" It usually works a little better when they send in multiple messages about one particular thing, right..? Though even that is no guarantee with how weird the train can be about their requests. "Or do we just throw everything at it at once?"

"First things first," Tidus says, then falls into a silence where he now has to think. For some people that comes first, but not this guy.

"We tell it..." Dot dot dot... "...it sucks."

Also not what this guy is doing: taking his day off as seriously as the subject might give the impression of. But he does grunt, as if relenting to unspoken rejections to his suggestion.

"Okay, okay, uh... ask it more about how we end up here? Where our bodies end up? We're not actually in the void or something, right?"

Right? He does squint at the ceiling, his brain in no state to be thinking - especially when it comes to science mumbo jumbo.

If Inigo thinks that the usage of the word bodies in combination with Tidus's.. let's call it 'unique state of existence' is awkward at all, he doesn't show it. Instead he just seems to think for a moment with his eyes closed like that, slowly breathing in and out.

"Sure. Though the answer to that might end up being so complicated that we'll have to ask Senku to take care of it."

You know, because they sure aren't the big brained boys over here. Inigo's a mature enough guy to admit that!

A big brained answer, huh... if there's a threat of that-

"...Should we have the memoris on us to take pictures of the screen, in that case? I'm not gonna write anything down before it leaves."

Especially under that threat. It'll be gone before the time Tidus's had time to whip open his notebook, most likely.

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