Disclaimer: I don't own FF12, though I love it so...
Paper Walls
The wall between their rooms is thin as paper.
Night after night they sleep side by side, their hearts nearly beating in time, their bodies almost moving perfectly in synch. They share a strange intimacy: she hears him stirring in the night, or practicing his eloquent mannerisms where he thinks none can hear, or groaning when he wakes with a hangover from an especially wild night; he, in turn, hasn't even noticed how thin is the wall between them.
They are separate but together; lonely but never alone. She is satisfied with this, and life continues.
Then, wistfully gazing up at the ceiling, she hears something new in the dark: a woman's moans.
At first, even she doesn't notice the change in herself, the way her steps are less bouncy and her smiles more strained. When before she didn't want to wake come morning, now she is eager to leave her paper wall (and his side) behind. Her laughs are too loud, and her movements too sudden.
…and night after night, the moans continue.
Sometimes they trick her, not starting until late into the dark, but they are always there. Every night, every single damned night, and she hasn't really slept in weeks. She can't sleep any more, her eyes scrunched shut so tightly that tears start to drip from their corners.
He finally notices she isn't quite right, asks her if all is well. She wants to scream at him, yell that she can hear him and it's driving her crazy but she doesn't. She just mumbles something about nightmares and he suggests she share a room with Fran, as company might lessen their intensity. She says nothing, and he sighs and leaves her. She steals a glance at his retreating back.
Ashe's (it must be Ashe, if not Fran) moans continue, and she still can't close her bloodshot eyes.
Giving the usurper a name, though, isn't what emboldens her to finally roll out of bed and walk down the hall, violently thrust open the door to his room, and say deadly calm, "Shut the fuck up. Some of us are trying to sleep."
She doesn't do it because she is cruel, or because she is feeling especially confrontational. She does it because Ashe is crying for Rasler in the depths of the night…
…and her partner certainly isn't crying for Ashe.
Now the moans have stopped for good, and she almost misses them, because now he knows that she can hear him whispering sweet nothings to her late at night, that she can hear him through their paper wall.
Penelo, though, has changed, and she doesn't believe in things like "true love" and "destiny" anymore. She has matured, discovered a new feeling, something stronger, and it consumes her. Hate.
Life continues, though she is far from satisfied. After all…
The wall between their rooms is thin as paper.
CY: Another "Banelo" fic. Poor Penelo... Someday, I'll write one where they hook up, I swear! Today, though, I was in a bitter mood, and I didn't want it to spill over into certain other fics that I should be updating. Idea came from a KH fic I read (don't ask me which one, I don't remember) where two unlikely characters get together b/c their (similar-looking) love interests aren't available and end up falling in love.