Who Says Reading Isn't Fun?
Lightning had a confession.
Okay, maybe that wasn't the right word. A confession implies you did something wrong. Lightning believed she didn't do a thing wrong. She worked in law enforcement. Doing something morally incorrect went against her very nature!
Lightning had a secret.
No, still wrong. It wasn't a secret, per se, but rather something she just didn't talk about. Not something dark and mysterious like an edgy protagonist would have. Just…something private.
Lightning had a hobby.
Tch…not quite there. A hobby is something you do casually for fun. There was nothing simple or casual about this activity of Lightning's.
You know what? Let's just get right into it. Enough dawdling.
After checking around for familiar faces, Lightning tucked her legs up into the chair. She nestled her head back into the comfy recesses of pillow, and sighed.
One more look around for lingering library-goers who might know her, and Lightning slipped into the dream that was reading.
Lightning had picked up reading as a hobby. Growing up, there wasn't time in her life for such trivialities. Serah needed care, and so reading became wistful thinking.
Now Serah lived at college. And Lightning was lonely.
But behold, the library! A trove of wonder for those discontent with mundane life, longing for a reprieve from taxes, bills and reality's other sorrows. A rabbit hole made of paper, taunting all whose eyes strayed over tightly bound pages. An antidote to the poison that is worry, sadness and fear.
Lightning had the fortune of living near a library that stayed open during the dead of night. On Saturdays from dusk 'til dawn, the officer read. She poured over the pages, sometimes devouring a single book in a day.
The whole library was her garden to peruse, she mused. The whole place felt damn near empty at midnight. Miraculously, the institution did not change its policies and begin closing doors sooner.
There was something about the library that had Lightning glued inside it. The same reason she never checked out a single book.
The night worker.
Lightning did not know when she first began her campaign through the vast array of tomes, but the reason she stayed was not the books.
Oerba Yun Fang, the very attractive librarian, had Lightning in the palm of her hand. She just didn't know it.
Because in the months she'd frequented the building, the one thing she had not partaken in was speaking with the single worker in the library.
That meant for hours on end, it was just the two of them in a large room. It felt lonely, if you asked Lightning. Not that she'd ever admit to saying that, of course.
The officer loved the place, and hated it. A constant relief to her lonely life, while simultaneously taunting her with a gorgeous woman.
It wasn't fair.
She buried her nose further into the pages, as if to snort the ink like cocaine. Courage on the job was easy. She wore a uniform, and every task felt natural.
But when wearing a simple tank top and shorts, her confidence waned. It shriveled like a sprout in the sun.
What if Fang thought her ugly? Or what if she'd only laugh at Lightning's advances?
Seldom did she feel unprepared. Lightning lacked the ingredient that spiced up any romantically intended conversation: experience.
Of all people, Snow's words flittered through her head. "The best way to make any friend is to make a fool out of yourself first." He'd said it to Lightning soon after beginning to date Serah.
She'd punched him for it. But now, that advice could just be true. Not that she'd ever admit that to Snow.
The damn idiot already had his head inflated enough.
Fang went back to the assistance desk in the middle of the room. She pulled out a book of her own, and began to read.
Now's your chance! her mind crowed.
Lightning cowered further into the pages. In doing so, she missed the casual glance Fang spared her.
What would she say? Nothing, Lightning had zero things to say to Fang. Well, except how attractive the librarian was. But that sounded creepy for obvious reasons.
Then she was on her feet.
What?
Walking to the desk.
What?
Making eye contact with Fang.
What.
She was committed now. No turning back.
"May I help you?" Fang asked with a mischievous smile. Her tone, had Lightning noticed it, clearly said she was going to help no matter what.
"I…er…needed help finding a book." Lightning set the current book she was reading on the desk. "This one just…uh, isn't right for me."
"Well, what kind of story are you looking for?" the librarian purred. She leaned forward, giving the library's patron an ample view.
Fighting to keep her eyes locked on Fang's, Lightning continued, "I prefer the kind of stories with more…romance."
The librarian's eyes flashed. "I think I know exactly what you are looking for."
She stood up with the elegance Lightning didn't know you could have in such a simple action. Gesturing with a finger, she pulled the pink haired woman with an invisible string.
The pair walked between the shelves into the fiction section. Fang trailed a finger along the spines of the book. She turned a corner, going behind a shelf.
Lightning turned that same corner. Fang jumped her, attacking the officer with her lips.
"Taunting me for months!" Fang murmured through kisses. "Now I'm getting my revenge!"
Lightning didn't end up finding a romance book with Fang.
She got the real thing instead.
It seemed like a fair trade. And that was Lightning's last conscious thought before Fang claimed all her attention.
Author Notes: FUCK ME.
Ahem, sorry.
I just got back from the dining hall, and there was this super cute girl sitting by herself in a corner, and I thought about talking to her, I could have just gone and sat next to her and started a conversation because I'm really good at that but then I saw a friend of mine so then I DIDN'T TALK TO HER! FUCK ME! DAMMIT!
Sigh, it's okay. It brought you this fic. I'm going to go bash my head against a wall.