Author's note: ...is this the first Cid/Rygdea fic on this site? A pairing fic, specifically? I think so. Well! Being juuust about the only person who's written this pairing, figured I'd share the fic on this website. Welp. Have a drabble!

And while I'm at it, I'll pimp out my Cid/Ryg community on LiveJournal, Focused Roles. http:/ / community . livejournal . com/focused_roles/ (take out the spaces, wtf fanfictiondotnet) If you like the pairing, do join~!

Cid hadn't realized just how short his subordinate was in comparison to him until the first time that they had kissed. The fact that he had needed to bend over a little and that Rygdea had to lean up just slightly was enough to make him quirk a smile, but to chuckle or comment on it would have ruined the moment, so he stayed silent on it for the time. His mind was made busy by plenty of other things directly afterward, so the thought was put out of mind.

He couldn't help but think about it more in the time proceeding, though. Although Rygdea wasn't that much younger than him, there was something about the height (and personality, at that) that made him seem even younger than he was. It might have just been in Cid's mind, due to his vantage point, but he couldn't help but wonder if the same thought crossed the other members of the Lindblum's crew; Rygdea was often seen next to his commanding officer, and although he was of average height, in comparison to Cid, it hardly seemed so.

The first time he commented on it after their relationship had hit a new level, he received the same annoyed look that he'd gotten the first time he had commented on Rygdea's peculiar accent (which apparently was something the younger man got often). And yet, the look was somehow more endearing than anything, and Cid couldn't help himself from cracking a joke once in a while at his lover's expense. In private, of course; Rygdea was his second in command and he wouldn't make him look bad in front of the rest of the crew, but aside from that...

"You know, it's rather exerting to be kissing you sometimes."

"Somehow, I don't think you mean that in some kind of sexy way, huh?"

"Not exactly."

"...You're making fun of me again, aren't you."

"Of course not."

The backaches and shoulder aches he sometimes got from full-out standing up make-out sessions with Rygdea did have one advantage, and that was in the massages he'd sporadically get from him when no one else is around. "Complain again and you're going to get aches in a lot worse places," Rygdea would mutter as his hands worked on sore muscles. Cid could only smirk at that, though making sure that the other man couldn't see it.

However, what he'd forgotten was that turnabout was fair play.

Rygdea didn't shut up for at least a week after Cid had accidently smacked his head on the top of a low door frame. It was now Cid's turn to glare at the jokes made at his expense, and his teasing of Rygdea slowed down (had to reset karma and all, he supposed.)

For the moment, anyway.