"You're right. I lied to everyone. And everyone who doesn't know, I'm gonna keep lyin' to. Because the day it comes out all over school who I work for, that's the day I get the order to go back to Edge, and-" Fuck. "And I don't want to, because maybe this place is home, now, and maybe I wanna graduate, and maybe I don't wanna have to leave you behind." Fuck. "Or whatever. Jenny and I are 'or whatever,' and we say shit, and that's that. I got no interest in Jenny or Doji, nothin' worth even mentioning. Ciss- and Ruba ain't never gonna happen, any more than Payido is."
He paused, eyed her for a moment, and then shook his head.
"I trust you and Romeo enough that the thought didn't even cross my mind you two might'a gone and done anything after you dumped me. But if this is the conclusion you're drawin' from those two, then I gotta wonder where you're pullin' it from. Did you and Romeo-" ... "I mean, wouldn't even be mad or nothin'. Doji might wanna know what you're doin' with her man, is all."
And. Okay. More. Still talking. It's good.
"It wasn't supposed to feel like you were a joke. I... I didn't mean it that way, if it did. I think you're plenty good at it, Rikku. Shit, one of the best. If you don't want me to think you're cute, sure, I can stop. I just- when you blush and you fidget like that, it's damn attractive, and I don't know why. I can stop."
And then, another long pause.
"The rest of it- I'll tell you all of it, if you wanna hear me out, and stop throwin' in assumptions, and, I dunno. Okay, I dunno. ShinRa ain't the Turks. It ain't. He wouldn't tell me to drop the plate for ShinRa. He'd tell me to do it, because if I don't, then they kill me. Not him. ShinRa. Who ain't the Turks. It's complicated. That don't mean I don't wanna tell you."
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He paused, eyed her for a moment, and then shook his head.
"I trust you and Romeo enough that the thought didn't even cross my mind you two might'a gone and done anything after you dumped me. But if this is the conclusion you're drawin' from those two, then I gotta wonder where you're pullin' it from. Did you and Romeo-" ... "I mean, wouldn't even be mad or nothin'. Doji might wanna know what you're doin' with her man, is all."
And. Okay. More. Still talking. It's good.
"It wasn't supposed to feel like you were a joke. I... I didn't mean it that way, if it did. I think you're plenty good at it, Rikku. Shit, one of the best. If you don't want me to think you're cute, sure, I can stop. I just- when you blush and you fidget like that, it's damn attractive, and I don't know why. I can stop."
And then, another long pause.
"The rest of it- I'll tell you all of it, if you wanna hear me out, and stop throwin' in assumptions, and, I dunno. Okay, I dunno. ShinRa ain't the Turks. It ain't. He wouldn't tell me to drop the plate for ShinRa. He'd tell me to do it, because if I don't, then they kill me. Not him. ShinRa. Who ain't the Turks. It's complicated. That don't mean I don't wanna tell you."