[Final Fantasy XIII] Bunking Together
Bunking Together
A Final Fantasy XIII Fluff-fic
By Jen-chan
January 17 - January 18, 2011
DISCLAIMER: This fanfic was written with knowledge of FFXIII derived from the game + episodes zero and one. The characters from FFXIII that appear in this fanfic do not belong to the author and are being used without permission from their owners, who include Square Enix.
SPOILER WARNING: No real spoilers for this piece; just fluff.
STORY SYNOPSIS: Lightning bunks with Fang for the night.
Comments and Criticisms are greatly appreciated!
The concept of bunking with a stranger is not completely foreign to Lightning; she did so when she was in the Guardian Corps's training academy. So when Rygdea tells her that she is sharing accommodations for the night with Fang aboard the Lindblum, Lightning is not altogether fussed.
Fang is a virtual stranger, they first met all of 12 hours ago, and yet, Lightning feels oddly at ease with her. As though she could trust her.
It is not in Lightning's nature to be trusting, and so she wonders why she would so implicitly trust a woman who should have been her mortal enemy under normal circumstances. But then, Lightning reminds herself, the circumstances are anything BUT normal.
For one thing, they are all l'cie, enemies of Cocoon. And tomorrow, they will attack the Palamecia to rescue their comrades and to defeat Galenth Dysley, Primach of Cocoon, the man who started the purge and the root cause of all their troubles.
Yes, Lightning tells herself, she only trusts Fang because they currently share common goals; she does not need to worry about Fang trying to assassinate her in the middle of the night when her guard is down. Fang's natural charisma has absolutely nothing to do with it at all. Nope; no way.
The room they are given is small, with just enough room for a bunk bed, a small table with a chair and not much else. Fang claims the top bunk quickly; Lightning doesn't care either way. They will be storming the Palamecia tomorrow morning; all she really wants is to get a good night's sleep.
Fang takes her sari off to get ready for bed as Lightning sits on the bottom bunk, idly watching the other woman even as she removes her own holster and side satchel.
The sari seems a funny adornment to Lightning; it does not seem a very practical item of clothing for a warrior (which Fang obviously is). The free-hanging top could get in the way of battle (not that it did), and the long skirt could cause one to trip (again, not that it did).
But it did look very good on Fang. Fearless. Captivating. Maybe that is the point, Lightning thinks, to distract your enemy with your presentation.
Lightning does not even realize that she is staring until Fang catches her eye and gives her a wink. The action is completely unexpected and prompts a traitorous blush to rise to Lighting's cheeks. She quickly turns away to finish her own undressing.
See - it works! Lightning thinks as she undoes the straps on her Guardian Corps jacket. It DOES distract your enemies!
Fang chuckles, even as she folds her sari up and puts it away and then turns to face Lightning, hands on hips and head cocked appraisingly. Lightning can't help but notice that under the sari, Fang wears more practical (though no less distracting) clothing: the black cropped top (which can normally be seen) and a pair of black short-shorts.
But it is not only Lightning paying attention to Fang now; the attention is returned, and it causes Lightning to frown, even as she removes her own jacket, leaving her in her ribbed brown shirt and skirt. Lightning does not know whether she likes or dislikes the look in Fang's eyes as the warrior looks her up and down. "What?"
"Just returning the favor." Fang winks again. "You're easy on the eyes too, Sunshine."
Lightning can't stop the look of surprise (pleasant surprise? No no no,) from coming to her face. Her own ogling was an innocent mistake; Fang's is not!
Lightning does not quite understand the conflicting thoughts in her heart, so she acts on instinct; she starts to get up to teach Fang a lesson. But before she can, Fang swings herself up onto the top bunk with graceful ease and out of sight.
Lightning can only sigh at the missed opportunity; she could get up and pull Fang off the top bunk, but it isn't worth the effort. She lies down in her own bunk, hands behind her head, and stares up at the bottom of the top bunk.
"You know," Lightning hears Fang say, "if this mattress weren't in the way... you'd be staring at my butt, yeah?"
Lighting's left eye twitches, but she refuses to rise to the bait. Damn that woman! She is insufferable! She tries to come up with a retort, but cannot. So she lets the stony silence be her response: shut up.
But Fang does not respond the way Lightning hopes. Instead, the upper bunk starts squeaking and creaking as Fang turns this way and that to get comfortable. "Ugh, and it would probably be more comfortable if this mattress wasn't here! It feels all weird! I liked it better sleeping on the ground!"
There is more creaking; Lightning guesses that Fang has sat up and is actually looking down at the floor. There isn't much of it though; not enough to stretch out on.
"Che!" Fang mumbles, lying back down again. "Can't even sleep on the floor..."
More creaking. Then a short silence. Then, "when Vanille and I woke up, we were lying on the floor. I wonder if we slept that way for 500 years. But my neck didn't feel like I did."
Lightning's left eye twitches again. "Do you always talk this much?"
"Sometimes, yeah." Fang admits. "But usually, I don't have to, 'cause Vanille will talk back."
"Yeah, well, I'm not Vanille," Lightning mumbles. She doesn't quite understand why, but just for a moment there, she did not want to be compared to Vanille.
There is an awkward silence. "No," Fang finally says. "You're not." Her tone is noticeably colder than before. "You're here, while Vanille is in some sort of Cocoon prison."
The silence continues.
Lightning doesn't understand why, but the coolness in Fang's voice... hurts. She feels regret, but can't understand what causes her to feel that way. "... well... if it makes you feel any better... her prison is probably a bit more luxurious than this room."
Lightning's attempt at a joke works, and Fang gives a short laugh.
"Yeah, tell me about it!"
There is silence again, but it is of an amiable sort.
It is very strange. Lightning had wished for silence, but now that she's got it, she wants to break it. A question rises in Lightning's mind. She wants to ask: Hey, Fang... what is Vanille to you? Is she your girlfriend?
But there is no way that Lightning would ask that. She frowns at herself. Why did that question come to her mind?
She didn't care.
And it was none of her business.
... and she didn't care.
Wait - she'd thought that already.
Lightning gives a grunt of annoyance. Great - now that Fang's shut up, her own brain wouldn't. She isn't sure who is more annoying.
With supreme effort, Lightning gets her brain to shut up. And finally, there is silence.
But that doesn't last for long.
"Uh! I just can't sleep on this!" Fang grunts. She is tossing and turning so much that the whole wobbly bunk bed threatens to topple over. "The springs in the mattress are digging right into my back!"
"Just deal with it and go to sleep!" Lightning practically begs.
There is silence for a moment, and then Fang's head pops over the side of her bed, hanging upside down. She is looking at Lightning appraisingly again.
Lightning scowls at Fang's up-side down face. "What?"
Without warning, Fang suddenly swings down onto Lightning's bunk.
"! ! !" Lightning stares at Fang incredulously as the taller woman totally violates her personal space with her elbows and knees and long limbs and lean torso and says, "Ah! This is much better!"
"What are you doing?" Lightning demands, feeling heat rising... everywhere! "Get off!"
"Why?" Fang asks. "There's lots of room. And your bunk is better."
"But it's MY bunk!"
Fang waves her hand dismissively. "It's not yours. It's Raines's. And he told us to share. So, don't complain. Besides, I've been told I'm a very considerate bedmate. So goodnight!" And then she rolls over, facing away from Lightning.
For a moment, Lightning wonders if she should just push Fang off the bed. She finally decides against it; the other woman just may take it as an opportunity to wrestle, or something, and Lightning isn't in the mood for it (well, her brain tells her it might be fun; she has to tell her brain to shut up again).
So Lightning turns away from Fang and tries to go to sleep again.
Except that the silence doesn't last; Fang sighs loudly.
Realizing that she will not get to sleep unless Fang gets something off of her chest, Lightning finally exasperates, "What? What is it! Just say it!"
"... Don't think poorly of me." Fang finally says.
Lightning frowns, irritated by Fang's enigmatic words. "Why would I think poorly of you?"
"Because we just met each other 12 hours ago, and now we're sharing a bed together." Fang says flatly. "I'm not... I'm not normally like this, you know. I just... I don't know why I feel... ok with you. I've never trusted someone right off the bat before. Not even Vanille."
Lightning is silent as she tries to absorb the information - the fact that the same sort of anxiety she is feeling, is being felt by Fang too. The knowledge makes Lightning feel... comforted. But she doesn't know how to express that to Fang.
So, she doesn't. She simply says, "Fang?"
"Hmm?"
"If you snore, then I'll think poorly of you, and push you off the bed."
Fang laughs. "Ok. But you won't; I'm a considerate bedmate!"
Lightning grunts. "Humph. We'll see about that."
There is another pause.
"... Goodnight, Light."
"... Goodnight."
And so they try to go to sleep. And they manage to. For an hour or so.
... until Fang rolls over in her sleep in the middle of the night and throws an arm onto Lightning's face, waking her up in the process.
Lightning slaps Fang's arm away, but it just keeps coming back every few minutes to be slapped away again. Finally, Fang murmurs a complaint at the abuse in her dreams and snuggles right up against Lightning.
Lightning's brain stops working. This should have been the last straw; she should have kicked Fang out of bed then and there and giving her a thrashing for good measure!
... but instead, she does nothing. Her body, all tensed up upon first contact, slowly bleeds the tension out. She closes her eyes, and can feel her own chest rising up and down with each breath; can feel Fang's beathing too. She can feel the warmth from Fang's body at her side, the ticklish feeling of Fang's hair poking against the side of her face...
... she has not been held this way since she was a child, when Serah needed a sister-sized teddy bear to sleep at night...
... and, Lightning realizes, with a sort of dull epiphany, it feels... nice.
Lightning turns her head to look at Fang's face. Fang's sleeping face is peaceful, as if it is saying, ah! All is right in the world! I am a good, obedient child! Hug me!
Lightning's expression is non-pussed, as though she wants to say, look at how inconsiderate you are; you're not a good bedmate at all. If we had blankets, you surely would have stolen them all!
But then Lightning's expression gradually softens, as if to say, *sigh*, it can't be helped, and finally, she manages to go to sleep, wrapped up in Fang's arms.
In the morning, Lightning wakes up to see Fang smiling smugly at her. She realizes that at some point in the night, their positions switched. Lightning has snuggled up into the crook of Fang's arm like a child.
Fang grins cockily. "See? I said I was a good bedmate."
Lightning decks her.
- end -