FicWad

Tidus is twelve when he's picked as a potential reserve for the Zanarkand Abes, and Auron finds himself tailing the boy to practice, joining the small line of hopeful parents while his mother nurses a migraine. The boy's first dive into the sphere pool is like a knife, clean and straight and seems to dive down and down and down-- and for a moment Auron holds his breath-- then the slyphlike body does a sudden whip, curving like a crescent, then bursting upward like a firework freed, with bubbles sparking his wake. When he floats up one spherical side, magnified by the convex, he is grinning cheekily at Auron, bubbles escaping his pearly smile.

Auron merely stares back, face completely blank as ever, until Tidus swims away to pursue the ball. Afterwards, he swears to himself, he'll buy a pair of sunglasses. And then he breathes again.