– A Kind of Magic –

This was getting on his nerves.

Yes, he had been the one to suggest they'd take a break and yes, he had been the one that said she could pick out the place to rest at, but… He blamed himself for all this, really. Still… the look on her face when she saw the slot machines, and especially the expression she wore when spotting the many chocobos at the tracks was, so to say, adorable. It was just the fact she had seemingly forgotten all about their mission that aggravated him.

Noel leapt into the air in surprise as a siren went off, accompanied by Serah's squeals of excitement.

"Noel, Noel, I won!" she exclaimed, bouncing in her seat like a five-year-old. "I actually won! Now we can get that wild artefact!"

With a blank look on his face, Noel lowered himself to his knees to stare at the screen, and then saw the microchus all lined up. He blinked and slowly began to clap. "Con – congrats," he mumbled in disbelief, eyes slowly widening.

"Told you I'd win sooner or later," chirped the rose-haired girl, her lips curled into a wide smile. "But of course mister skeptic here wouldn't believe me," she added, pointing an accusing finger at Noel.

"Serah, the odds of you winning were really small –"

"No, the cat girl said the machine was on fire," Serah interrupted stubbornly, her arms folded across her chest. "So I did have a pretty good chance at winning."

Noel rolled his eyes and gave a sigh, not wanting to continue to argue, "Alright, alright, whatever you say. Let's just get the artefact and then go. I'm sick and tired of this place."

"You're such a spoilsport, Noel," giggled Serah, crossing the hall to get to the eccentric chocobo lady behind the exchange desk.

"Sure I am," mumbled the brunette, settling down in the seat Serah had just been in. "I don't get what all the fuss is about."

He inserted a coin with a rather amused look on his face and pulled the lever. Just as he had expected, he got zilch. And even though he had foreseen it, and despite the disappointment, he felt hopefulness. Maybe, just maybe he could win more coins, and if he did, they'd be able to purchase the rare chaos crystal as well. So he inserted another coin and pulled the handle once more.

Nothing happened.

"Pff," he grumbled, inserting five coins swiftly. "I will win; you hear that, machine? If I can defeat behemoths and violent Cie'th, I sure as hell can win from you!"

Serah watched from a short distance, the wild artefact she'd just obtained glimmering in her hands. Her lips twitched in amusement as she watched Noel angrily yank the lever down, again and again, hoping he'd win. She slowly walked up the steps and lowered herself down to his eye level.

"Noel, I know what you need in order to win."

The brunette looked up, eyebrow quirked, looking as skeptical as he had when she'd been in his place. "What's that?"

"This."

Serah leaned in toward him, gently placing her lips upon his cheek just as he pulled the lever down for the last time. And soon enough, the microchus danced about on the screen again, and the siren echoed throughout the hall. Dumbfounded, he held a hand to his cheek, touched the light pink skin and then stared at his companion.

"How did you – what was – how –?" he stuttered, his gaze switching from the machine to her and vice versa.

But Serah winked and placed a finger over her lips, shaking her head. And "Magic," was all that crossed her lips.

LOL, lame, but I still like this somehow. Just wanted to write a little SerahNoel stuff since there need to be more stories about this awesome couple! D:
R a i d e n OUT. /shot