Paopu Fruit and 3 Weeks Abroad

For the 80 Prompts Challenge at CamoBeanie
Prompt 34: Travel
Rating: T for language

--

"So what's this I hear about you going on some sorta trip to Destiny Islands, Chickenwuss?"

It was the most usual of summer days, really. Except for the fact that it wasn't, because Seifer Almasy had just found out that his archrival was going to be out of town for the next two weeks.

Hayner merely rolled his eyes and barely smirked, looking up from where he sat on the bench before he returned to tightening a screw on his skateboard. "Yeah, Seifer, you're going to be rid of me for a few weeks, aren't ya happy to hear it?"

It had been a good while since simply hearing Seifer's voice made his expression contort into a scowl of defiance, defensiveness, or shocked rage. Not that Seifer was upset about it or anything, the lamer had to grow up a little at some point, right? All it meant for the bully was that he had to work a little more to get a rise out of the other boy. It was still easy enough, more of a… delayed gratification sort of thing. Yeah. The longest it ever took for him to piss the younger boy off was four minutes and 37 seconds (according to Fuu, anyways, and Seifer trusted her sense of time).

"What're you going there for? We have a beach here, lamer."

Hayner rolled his eyes again (Seifer really hated that). "Roxas is visiting his cousin and he invited me to go with him," he explained, setting his skateboard down again and standing, jumping onto it and bouncing a few times before grinning to himself. Then he turned a consternating eye towards the older teen. "Don't give Pence and Olette any shit while I'm gone," he warned, then kicked off and skated away before Seifer had a chance to retort.

--

The next three weeks were, for Seifer, excruciatingly boring.

He approached Olette and Pence only once, customary smirk on his face as he made his way over to the bench they were sitting on in the sandlot.

But something was wrong.

As he drew closer and closer with each step, Seifer's good mood had faded, his smrik along with it, to be replaced by a furrowed brow and a frown as he took in the slightly wary looks from the pair on the bench. He stopped when he was ten feet away from them, where Olette and Pence blinked at him and he blinked back. He had then scowled, turned on his heel, and stalked off.

--

Rai was the one that brought the news that Hayner had returned. Seifer had to force himself not to jump up and seek out the younger teen right away – doing so would mean he missed the chickenwuss, or something equally wimpy and pathetic. One did not miss one's rivals. One trained all the harder while they were gone just in case they had something to get the edge on you while they were away, not that Hayner could ever best Seifer in anything, that one Struggle match not withstanding.

If he decided he wanted to go out to the sandlot and enjoy the hot summer sun a little earlier than he might've otherwise, that didn't mean he wanted to see the lamer or anything.

Which he did – want to go to the sandlot, that is.

The fact that the moment he arrived was the same moment Hayner and his friends passed by on their way to ingest some more of that disgusting stuff they liked to call ice cream was pure coincidence.

"Well, look who's back in town. Did chickenwuss and blondie have fun on their honeymoon?" Seifer could feel his good spirits returning already, all he needed was to see that look of anger on the lamer's stupid fa—

"As a matter of fact, Seifer, yeah, we did. And I hear you even behaved yourself while I was gone," replied the brown-eyed boy – was that a smirk on his face?!

--

After they had left, Seifer would recall noticing things. Like how much tanner Hayner had gotten. His hair was probably a few shades lighter, too. And maybe it was just the fact that they hadn't seen each other for a while, but did the younger boy seem… taller? Surely he couldn't be as tall as Seifer, but he was definitely eye-level with Seifer's mouth… When had that happened?

And when had Hayner grown up so much that he didn't care about Seifer teasing him?

When had he stopped caring about Seifer at all?

--

It was the next day that Seifer passed by the lamers sitting on a bench and eating something weird and yellow and laughing (probably about something really lame, as usual).

He and Hayner made eye contact for a few moments as he passed on the other side of the street before he scowled and looked forward again, walking only a little bit faster.

Later, he was playing one-on-one hoops with Rai in the sandlot  (what, did you think all he did was Struggle?) while Fuu sat on the side, alternating between watching disinterestedly and reading. He most definitely did not pay attention and let Rai score on him when the wannabe-losers passed through the sandlot.

What did catch him off guard was when Hayner stopped, telling the other three to go ahead, he'd catch up, then turned to wave Seifer over and dig into his backpack to pull out a bright yellow – was it a fruit? That would explain the leaves that appeared to be attached to it. Whatever it was, the younger boy held it out to Seifer with what could've been a friendly grin.

Seifer frowned. "The hell is that, lamer?"

Hayner just rolled his eyes, giving the thing an emphatic shake to an effort to get Seifer to accept it. "It's a paopu fruit, dumbass. They grow all over Destiny Islands. Me n' Roxas brought a bunch back. There's some legend that if you share it with someone, your destinies become intertwined and they will stay in your life forever or something, so I…" he shrugged, looking away with a quirk in his mouth. "Thought you guys might want one," he finished, glancing back at the older blond from the corner of his eye and looking appropriately awkward for someone giving their rival a souvenir.

"You think I'm gonna believe crap like that?" Seifer sneered, feeling appropriately miffed for someone receiving a gift from someone he most certainly did not want a gift from. But he held out his hand anyway, catching the fruit as it was dropped into his palm. The – what was it? Oh yeah – the paopu was appropriately heavy in his hand, a good, steady weight, and the skin was smooth and soft and felt a little bit delicate, like it might bruise easily.

Hayner just snorted. "Whatever, man. It tastes good, so who cares? Later." And with that, he shouldered his backpack once and again and left.

Seifer stood and watched him leave for a good 15 seconds, gripping the fruit in his hand so tightly it did indeed bruise. He then shoved it into one of the large pockets in his cargo pants, stalked back to Rai to inform him that the game was over and he was going home, and then proceeded to do just that.

Once home, he set the fruit on a plate in the kitchen and stared at it for a good long while. When he got so angry that he was about to lash out at something, he stormed upstairs and took a blindingly cold shower, standing under the spray until his teeth chattered, then turned up the heat and washed his hair.

He would've eaten the fruit by himself, curiosity getting the better of him, but before he sunk his teeth into its flesh, something made him stop. He stared at the fruit for a minute before setting it down and calling Rai, then Fuu. The pair showed up 15 minutes later, and the three of them shared the paopu fruit. Neither one questioned him.

The paopu was delicious.

--

The next morning, after a very long night during which Seifer did a great deal of thinking and not much sleeping, the blond teen went for a run.

With the sort of timed precision that only happens in bad movies, Seifer began his cool down in the sandlot as Hayner happened to stroll past.

"The hell are you doing awake, lamer?" Seifer asked.

The younger blond frowned, rolling his eyes. "Jetlag, duh. Destiny Islands is 2 hours ahead of here. Plus I got used to waking up early cuz the best times to go to the beach are in the morning." He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at Seifer. "Besides, you're hardly one to talk, being awake yourself," he retorted.

Seifer shrugged with a grunt, bending sideways in a stretch and not looking at the other boy. "Didn't sleep well."

"Oh. Sorry."

Seifer just grunted again.

A long moment of silence stretched between the pair before Seifer spoke again. "So, uh… thanks. For the fruit."

Hayner blinked, surprised, then shrugged, looking away again. "No problem."

Another moment of silence, then – because Seifer did actually figure a few things out while he laid in bed not sleeping – "You got any left?"

Another blink of surprise. "Yeah, one. Why?"

A shrug. "You saving it for someone?"

A pause. "Not really, no."

"… Wanna share it?"

Hayner looked up, eyes wide. "Huh?"

Seifer smirked, looking back at the younger boy. "Someone's gotta stick around to keep you in line, lamer. Ain't no one better suited to than me."

Hayner tried to look annoyed, but Seifer could see the glimmer of a smile in his eyes.

--

It wasn't long after this that Rai finally got the guts to ask Fuu out. She punched him and called him an idiot, which was basically Fuu-speak for "yes."

This sort of seemed to start something, because not two days after that, Pence and Olette announced that they had decided to date as well.

Naturally, a week later, Roxas spilled to Hayner that he had finally agreed to go on a date with Axel, the 'annoying redhead that wouldn't leave him alone when he was working at the ice cream shop.'

Seifer could tell Hayner was happy for his friends.

But.

Always the But.

So when he ran into Hayner in the sandlot again one morning, sitting on a bench and looking kind of sad in a way that made Seifer's insides twist uncomfortably, the older blond sighed and plopped down next to him.

"Look, chickenwuss, I'm sure you're concerned about them abandoning you or some shit, but the four of you have been friends since you were in diapers. That shit ain't about to change just cuz they decide they wanna do some stuff with someone other than hang out and eat that nasty crap you call ice cream all day." Seifer did his best to sound sage-like and full of wisdom. Hayner just snorted and shook his head, but he was smiling now, so Seifer felt a little bit better.

"Yeah," the younger boy said finally. "I guess… it's the same for you, isn't it…?"

Seifer frowned, looking away and scratching his neck awkwardly. With Rai and Fuu… things were the same, but not, and it was… frustrating. So finally he sighed and said "yeah… You could say that."

It shouldn't have been a surprise, especially after how he had heard that Roxas had somewhat begrudgingly given a paopu to Axel, after the way he watched Rai and Fuu eat their portions of the fruit and share the last piece when Seifer claimed he didn't want it, after how the fruit that was given to Pence was not eaten wholly by Pence himself… It shouldn't have been a surprise when Hayner reached over and pulled Seifer's face to him, planting his lips squarely on the older blond's. A pleasant surprise, but a surprise none the less.

Hayner had the decency to be blushing just a little as he pulled away, but he met Seifer's gaze directly, brown eyes defiant, daring Seifer to say something.

Seifer didn't. He simply grabbed Hayner's collar and kissed him back.

"And one more thing, chickenwuss," he murmured at one point between kisses. "Don't leave like that again."

Hayner just laughed and kissed him again.