This is a prompt written for Glitterberry over on Tumblr for the prompt: BATH SCENE. Anything is fine, it doesn't necessarily have to be smut.
It's been so long since I asked for prompts and received this one, that I have to apologize for the long wait. My muse got lost along the way, and well, I'm getting back into the hang of writing. So please excuse my writing if it's too repetitive or stale. I did some heavy editing but I'm sure it probably needs more. Anyway, please enjoy and let me know what you thought!
Disclaimer: I don't own FFXIII or Lightning Returns. I am not making any money off of the characters used in this piece of fiction.
Warnings: Some mildly racy stuff, but nothing to warrant an explicit warning. And some spoilers if you haven't played or finished the game.
…
No One Else
…
"She's glaring, isn't she?"
"A little bit, yeah," replied Sazh, scratching his elbow and glancing over at the ex-soldier a distance away. "What did you do to her?"
Snow sighed and looked over his shoulder, smiling and waving at his significant other.
She merely narrowed her eyes even further and turned her back to him, moving on to speak to her sister and Noel.
"I… I'm not entirely sure I know what happened," muttered Snow to his friend.
Sazh laughed and slapped his shoulder. "How could you tell that she was glaring at you then?"
The blond shrugged and scratched the back of his neck. "It's just this really weird feeling that I get that makes me feel all itchy. Usually I know why, but not today."
At least he hadn't done anything to purposely upset her, he told himself. Still, this was a curious mystery. All he had been doing was talking to some people he had known during his centuries as Patron. Luckily many of them had also returned to life and were now moving on.
It felt strange now to run into his former employees because many of them still insisted on calling him Patron. Snow wondered if they would ever call him anything else.
Their world was new and beautiful, ready to be explored and advanced. And best of all? Serah, Fang, and Vanille had been returned to them. The moment had been a cause for celebration, and while things seemed at peace for now, for some paranoid reason, Snow had been waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It wasn't that he couldn't be happy without a crises or something of the like, but in their experience, and the rest of the gang would agree, peace had been hard to come by. Despite being on alert, his life was good. He loved his wife and he enjoyed his job.
Things with Serah had seemed to just… fade away. They had become two completely different people after all of their adventures, and had both agreed that going their separate ways would be for the best.
And then… well, he hadn't counted on Serah moving on so quickly with Noel. Snow himself had found that there was more than just gratitude beating in his heart for his savior. He glanced over at her and watched the half-smile pulling at her lips as she listened to what her sister was saying.
"That's the look of an idiot in love if I ever saw one," muttered Sazh in amusement.
"Oh, yeah?" Snow grinned, winking at Light. Her head tilted to the side and a shapely eyebrow was raised in invitation.
Both were distracted from the topic when a cheerful young woman ran up to them with a basket full of flowers. "Look, my lord!" she exclaimed, handing over a small bouquet of red roses. "They've begun to grow in the surrounding areas on their own!"
Snow sighed, uncomfortable. "Stella, please don't call me that. I'm no longer the Patron, and we are not in Yusnaan anymore. I'm a normal human now."
Sazh let out a snort and bid them farewell before he walked off.
"Oh, you've told me that many times before, but it's just that I can't get used to the idea that I have to call you by your name. You protected us all for so long, it just doesn't seem right," she said in a sweet voice.
Snow half-smiled and turned to look at where his lovely warrior goddess had been standing and frowned when he couldn't catch sight of her. "Where did you go, Light?"
"I'm right here."
"Gah!" he nearly yelled at hearing her flat tone right behind him. Whirling around, he noticed her intense gaze taking in the girl who had been speaking to him.
"Who is this?" Lightning asked, an edge to her tone.
"Oh, this is Stella. She was once a waitress in the palace when I was Patron. I was just telling her that I'm plain ol' Snow now," he said with his easy grin.
"It's an honor to meet you, Savior," continued Stella, blinking at Lightning in surprise.
"No longer the Savior, either. Just Lightning," she muttered, shaking Stella's hand stiffly when the other woman offered.
"Well, we should head home," Snow said, waving at his former employee and wrapping an arm around Lightning's tense shoulders.
"Wait!" Stella called, bounding over to him and handing over the roses. "For your lady love," she said with a giggle before skipping away.
Snow smiled and brought the roses up to his nose, taking in the sweet fragrance, so reminiscent of Lightning's old battle attacks. "That was sweet of her, no?"
"Sugary sweet," sneered Light, pulling away from him and walking ahead towards their shared home.
Snow scowled at her mood and moved to follow before he caught sight of Noel and Serah shaking their heads at him. "What?" he asked in confusion.
"You still don't get it, huh?" asked Noel, smug.
Serah tugged on Noel's arm and smiled in pity. "Claire was jealous of that girl you were talking to."
The tall blond reared back in surprise. "What?! But why?" he asked loudly.
"All of your time with me and now with her has taught you nothing about women," Serah muttered, annoyed. "Look… Claire has changed a lot in the last few months. Including letting you into her heart. That doesn't mean that she's let go of all of her defenses… she probably sees that girl as a threat because you knew her and you both have history, even if it's an employee-employer type of thing."
"But… Light knows that I love her," Snow replied, still not believing what Serah was saying.
"She does, but it doesn't hurt to reassure her every once in a while," said Noel, taking Serah's hand and waving as they walked away.
Lightning… jealous? It was kind of hard to believe, really… but if what those two had said was true, then he needed to get to Light quickly and tell her that there was no woman in the world who mattered to him as much as she did.
He raced after her to do just that.
…
She was still stewing a little as she walked in the general direction of the home she shared with Snow. On some level she knew that she was being foolish, but it wasn't like she could help the way she felt. Snow had become such an important part of her life and heart that the thought of losing him made her seethe.
Sighing to herself, she bypassed her home and made for the outskirts of town, hoping that some fresh air would calm her down enough so that she didn't start an unnecessary fight.
Snow was allowed to have female friends and she was being irrational.
A hand came down on her shoulder heavily and Lightning reacted on instinct, twisting and pulling the much heavier weight clean over her and slamming him down on the ground.
Much to her chagrin, she realized that she had just flipped and thrown the object of her thoughts. Her eyes widened in shock as he groaned and rubbed his back.
"Shit, Claire, I think you may have pulled a muscle," Snow muttered, wincing.
"You should know better than to sneak up on me, Snow. Instincts die hard," she muttered by way of apology.
He sat up and groaned when he realized that his precious Light had flipped him right into a giant puddle of mud.
Lightning bit her lip to stop herself from snorting in amusement, because then he would be mad and he'd give her the silent treatment for the next hours. And, well, she was quite fond of Snow's chattiness; it was a counterpoint to her silence.
"Oh, so you think this is funny, huh?"
"No—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Snow had kicked her knees right from under her and dropped her right on her ass next to him.
Lightning sat still for a moment, feeling the mud seep into her clothes and run over her skin. It was warm and disgusting and Snow hadn't stopped laughing at the look on her face.
Gritting her teeth, she growled and lunged for him, dropping Snow back into what could be a small pool of sludge. Together they grappled for control, and even though Lightning had retained a lot of her strength through training, Snow managed to wiggle out of her grasp like a fish.
She finally called a truce and laid back with a splat, panting and trying not to grin. "Stupid," she muttered, hurling a handful at his face. A laugh escaped her when it made contact with his face and he sputtered and cursed.
"That was a cheap shot," Snow said, pushing mud out of his eyes and glaring down at her as he sat up.
"You started it," Lightning said as she stood with some difficulty. Her clothes were completely soaked and dirty, and so were her boots, she noted. How would they get into their home without making a mess?
"I just wanted to cheer you up. Why were you stomping away like that? Did I do something to piss you off?"
Lightning sighed and offered him a hand to stand up. He accepted and hauled himself up, wrapping an arm around her waist before she could move away. And promptly grimaced at the uncomfortable dampness of their clothes.
"Tell me," he pleaded, eyes intent on her face.
With the mask of mud, the blue of his eyes was even more pronounced and she sighed and shrugged. "I just—it was a stupid reaction to seeing you talking with that girl," she conceded, and hoped that the hot flush on her cheeks wouldn't show through the muck on her own face.
While he appreciated her honesty, he couldn't contain his pleased smirk; Light had just acknowledged to feeling jealous.
"Stop," she ground out.
"I didn't even say anything!" he exclaimed.
"You didn't have to."
Snow grinned. "You do know that there's no reason for you to get angry, right? I always saw her as just another employee; nothing more. If anything, she reminded me a little of Vanille, because she was always so energetic and bouncy."
His words placated her and she nodded, relaxing against him. "You spent every night in a room full of women, many who could twist around in some very flexible ways," she muttered.
Snow couldn't stop the chuckle then. "If I do remember correctly… you swung around some poles a few times yourself."
Lightning felt the blush increase as she pushed away from him and began the trek back home. "That was just to get to the ground floor faster," she muttered, attempting to shake off some mud. But despite how she tried, the weather was warm and the muck seemed to be drying quickly.
Snow followed after her and waved at their neighbors as they passed them by, no doubt wondering what the two of them had gotten into. As he rounded the house and into their backyard, he caught sight of Light bending over to remove her boots and socks and whistled appreciatively.
"Well, at least the mud is dry enough to not run off on the floor," he commented as he toed off his own boots and reached down to fold his pants high up his legs so that the material wouldn't drag on the floor. Light could be a bit of a clean-freak, he reminded himself.
She opened the door and before she could take a step forward, he swept her up into his arms and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Lightning grunted as her world tilted and she slammed a palm into the middle of his back.
"A warning would be appreciated!" she snarled.
"Sorry," he said, amused as he patted her behind and led them to the bathroom.
He stopped in the shower and started the warm water over the two of them, not bothering with removing clothes. "I promise I'll clean the floor once we're done here," Snow assured her as the water rained down on them.
Lightning watched him in silence as he cupped her face and rubbed gentle thumbs over her cheekbones, her skin a rosy pink underneath.
"There she is," Snow said quietly, leaning down to kiss each cheek.
Lightning closed her eyes at his display of affection and smiled to herself as she pulled his damp shirt from the waistband of his pants, tugging the dirty material over his head. Scooping up the bottle of his favorite peach scented shampoo, she squeezed a healthy amount onto the pale strands of his hair and had him bend a little closer to her so that she could scrub with a little less gentleness.
The bubbly substance helped in making the mud run off and soon she could see the sharp angles of his face quite clearly, welcoming the flutter in her stomach at the sight of his handsome features. Her eyes trailed down his thick neck and wide shoulders, down an impressive chest and even more attractive stomach. The man was… attractive.
"I always knew you just wanted me for my body," he chided, amused as her hands trailed over the defined muscles of his chest.
Lightning smirked and turned away to grab more shampoo for her own hair. She sighed quietly at the feel of his lips on the back of her neck, tugging her shirt up with quick fingers and following with the rest of her clothes.
"Here," he said, taking the bottle from her and rubbing it through her tresses gently, massaging her scalp until her eyes closed and she slumped back against him. Snow guided her back under the spray of water and made sure that no trace of mud remained on her face and hair.
"This is taking far longer than it should," she commented.
Snow merely grunted and squeezed far too much body wash into his palms and started off with her shoulders and back.
Lightning nearly moaned as he used the right amount of pressure on her muscles, tense after a long morning spent looking for a wedding dress that her sister could use in her upcoming marriage. Lightning had never been big on shopping and even worse for dresses, but she'd made it through the day. Better yet, so had Serah. Especially after the debacle involving different shades of white.
Trailing gentle hands down her arms, he gripped her hands and pressed them into the tiled wall. His touch followed the curve of hips, up over her waist, and over the taut skin of her stomach. He would never get tired of touching her. His dear Claire seemed to bring out a need in himself he'd never known he had.
"The water is cooling." She shivered as his hands travelled lower and continued the sensual rubbing.
"Do you want me to stop?" he asked, long fingers trailing up the inside of her thighs.
Damn it, no, but they would feel the cold soon when the hot water ran out. "No," she growled.
"Good," said Snow as he turned her around and took her lips in a kiss that stole her breath away, all tongue and teeth. Then his lips followed a trail down her neck, kisses hot between the warm spray of water.
Despite the way he was going, his touch remained somewhat chaste, merely sliding over her skin with the aid of the soap.
Those big hands smoothed up her trim waist and over her ribs, making a slight laugh escape her. His digits then trailed down over her hips and down her thighs as he kneeled before her. Blue eyes rolled up to watch her as he closed the distance with her body… and lifted up her knee so that he could scrub the mud off her calf.
Lightning's head fell back against the shower wall and she let out a heavy sigh as he grinned and continued with her other leg.
"Feeling a little restless?" he asked, voice practically purring as he leaned in and bit the inside of her thigh.
She tugged on his damp hair and pulled, forcing him back up and Snow's lips to hers in a heated kiss. "What do you think?"
"You still have soap in your hair," he murmured, pulling Lightning under the cooling spray of water and watching with a smile as she closed her eyes and let the soap wash away.
When her eyesight cleared away, she gave him the same treatment, though her own fingers were rougher with the speed in which she wanted him clean. Snow had awoken a desperation in her that she wanted to sate quickly.
No matter what she was doing, he loved to watch her. The look of concentration in her eyes made her even more beautiful than he would've imagined, though he'd never told her that. Lightning could be a little weird when it came to receiving compliments.
And when he couldn't tell her the things he was thinking, he preferred to show her with kisses. No matter if she'd be in the middle of dressing for the day, or when she mopped the floor rather intensely, and especially when he caught her training, he always found a way to taste those perfect lips.
"Come on," he grunted, shutting of the water and pulling her out of the shower. He took his time again as he pulled a towel from the rack and wrapped it around Light to dab away at the trailing water droplets.
She was perfectly capable of drying herself, but she rather enjoyed when Snow pampered her. Sighing quietly at the feel of his large hands cupping her breasts, she let her eyes close and drifted along with the sensations, her body feeling lax. His hands followed the same path as before, setting goose bumps from head to toe and she shuddered at the intimate touch.
"There," he muttered, throwing the towel into the hamper and then walking out of the bathroom in nothing but damp skin and dripping hair.
Lightning had to take a minute to get her senses back in order before she could even form a thought. Her eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth at his sudden desertion. One minute he had been rubbing her in just the right places and the next he had just walked away? Son of a…
She stormed out of the bathroom and found him already in a pair of loose fitting pants and laying on the bed, arms behind his head. His eyes followed the movement of her nude body like a hot caress and it made her wonder why he hadn't continued what they had started in the bathroom.
Pulling on one of Snow's large t-shirts, she turned to glare at him, arms crossed over her chest. "What was that all about?"
"That was a shower," he informed her with a smirk. "C'mere," he beckoned her with his hand.
Lightning walked over for him and didn't protest when he pulled her down to straddle him. "I just think it's important that we finish our previous conversation first."
"Yes, because I want to talk more about the women you surrounded yourself with," she deadpanned.
"Well… how about we talk about that guy you went on a date with as the world ended," said Snow, laying back and looking at her expectantly.
Lightning froze at his words and floundered around for a retort. "I—didn't know you knew about that."
"Of course I did. You were in my city," Snow said, narrowing his eyes. "I met him, too."
She sent a fist into his stomach. "Were you keeping tabs on me?"
"Yes!" he yelled, trying to cover vital parts as she began to slap and punch him anywhere she could reach. Again they turned their squabble into a wrestling match to see who would overpower who.
It was difficult with the softness of the bed but she managed to get the upper hand and roll him onto his stomach, his arm twisted behind his back.
"I hope you know I'm letting you win," Snow grunted as she bent his appendage a little harder.
"Oh, really?" she asked, smug and breathing a little hard.
"Yeah."
"Look, I didn't go on a romantic date with that guy. I felt sorry for him, and well, he offered a steak dinner. Why would I resist?" Lightning asked, sitting on his back as she let go of his arm; she really had no wish to damage him in any way.
"But you keep regular contact with him now," said Snow, missing the scoff she released as he turned over onto his back, forcing her to move off of him or tumble down.
She settled on her side and looked at him, reaching over to push his damp bangs away from his eyes. "He's really funny, and a little bit sad. He's still searching for his girlfriend. I don't know whether she died permanently or was reborn into another part of the world. I keep contact just to know if he's found her yet."
Snow gave her an intense look before moving forward to press a kiss to her forehead. "Claire, you have a heart of gold."
"I don't—" she started.
"You do. You care so much about people, every person whose soul you managed to save. You care enough to want them to be happy, even now. And I love you for it. No one else has ever captured my heart the way you have."
Lightning smiled at his words and let him bring her into the warm circle of his strong arms. There were days when she needed to feel sheltered and she could admit that she loved feeling Snow's larger form enveloping her completely.
"I love you, too," she whispered into his skin. "Even though your hair is still ridiculous." She grinned at his bark of laughter and snuggled into his arms, closing her eyes and breathing him in.
The cadence of his heart lulled into a doze until she felt his hands drift over her curves in a teasing manner, causing her eyes to slide open in interest. "Ah, I see that now you want to finish what you started in the shower."
"What? Don't you?" he asked, pushing her onto her back to lock lips again. Her eyes slid closed as he slipped his tongue into her mouth and coaxed her own to follow into his mouth. As hands began to travel and skin warmed, she sighed and pulled back to look him in the eyes.
"Just be warned that if you leave me hanging this time, I will break your kneecaps."
"Wouldn't want that," said Snow, pushing the old shirt up and up.
When he felt her hands on his face, pushing him back, he paused and looked at her.
"We're okay, right?" Light asked, chewing at her bottom lip.
"We've always been more than okay. I thought you knew that," Snow murmured, kissing the corner of her mouth.
She let out a sigh of relief and nodded, smiling.
"I guess I'm just going to have to remind you often," he said, rolling his eyes.
Lightning smirked and tugged on his hair. "Shut up and kiss me, Snow."
He grinned and did just that.
…
…
…
…
I'll leave the ending to the reader's Also, I realized that it was somewhat inspired by 'No One Else Comes Close,' by the Backstreet Boys so go listen to the song if you don't know it yet. Let me know what you thought and enjoy your weekend!