A/N: Hello, everyone. Not an update on Vacillitation – sorry! – but I hope you appreciate it just the same. Yet another Lightning/Vanille piece, I really hope you like it; it's one of the most tender things I've written.

Note: this story is quite AU. They're not L'Cie; just university students, probably around 18-19 years of age, but Fal'Cie exist etc.

Apologies for not replying to my reviews yet! College/sixth form has gotten awful, exams are very soon and I haven't been online at all. As always, enjoy.

"This is really nice."

"Mmn?"

"Just like, um, this."

"Yeah…"

"This."

"Yeah. Yeah it is."

The café-goers flitted nonchalantly about the pair of them as they conversed, everywhere and nowhere at once, a living atmosphere. Vanille couldn't care less; Lightning was looking at her again, for the twelfth – yes she counted – time that day, and it was equally as dazzling as the last eleven times.

I think I'm developing a problem, she thought idly, following the motion Lightning's tongue made as she licked a droplet of coffee from her lips.

Lightning leaned forward and tapped her on the end of her nose with her middle finger. Vanille snapped to attention, blushing prettily. Lightning smiled.

"We should spend more time like this, yeah?" She murmured, and Vanille jumped as her foot was nudged by another one under the table. She agreed with an enthusiastic bob of her head, and Lightning fell silent, content to gaze quietly at her.

They'd been doing this for a few weeks, actually. Seeing each other on the odd occasion for several precious minutes to share hot chocolate or coffee had become something of a regular event for the two of them since meeting. It was strange, Vanille thought, how she'd not noticed Lightning on campus sooner. Not so strange though, when one took into account what little willpower Lightning possessed for going to parties, and the (extreme) lack of love she had for gallivanting like a drunken lunatic.

She was very different from the others. Focused, steadfast, intense – attributes Vanille would rarely submit towards one of her fellow student companions – and outshone her peers by miles. She was doing a degree in law, Vanille had learned, and was recently offered a starting job that would provide her with an absurdly high salary. She turned it down in favour of keeping her options open and possibly waiting out a better opportunity, and Vanille almost laughed outright but then Lightning had started picking at her nails with a bored expression and somehow she knew then that she was being deathly serious.

The possibility of copious amounts of money shooting from her every orifice aside, she was very, very alluring. Too alluring, Vanille thought, as a waiter almost underwent an epic pratfall at the sight of Lightning flicking her hair over a shoulder. The woman in question regarded him coolly for a moment, with an expression that seemed to say 'how unfortunate', before turning back to Vanille again. She had her legs crossed and was gently touching Vanille's leg with the foot that she had in the air, and the latter had to fight off the urge to simply dive over the coffee table and ravish her at the motion.

"So."

Vanille almost started again. "Y-yeah?" She replied, trying not to redden as Lightning peered at her.

The pink haired woman leaned forward to grab a sachet of sugar from a small container on the table. She ripped the top off and gently emptied the entire contents into her still-steaming cup. Once she was done, she pinched a spoon with delicate fingers, twirled it expertly, and began to evenly stir the mixture. Vanille just watched.

Lightning brought the cup to her lips and took a sip.

"Are you just going to stare, Vanille?"

The girl in question tried not to nod in response and said, "Well, I um, can't really help it."

Lightning raised a slim eyebrow in question.

"You just… You're…" Incredibly beautiful and it's really quite silly but I think I'm falling for you.

"I'm just…?" She looked somewhat entertained.

Vanille mock-huffed. "You know…" She trailed off, gesturing to the older woman's face before moving her hand in a wave motion at the general position of Lightning's body.

"No I don't." Lightning laughed slightly, and the sound was rich and warm. She took another sip and put the cup down, resting it on an elegant little plate that she held up with her other hand. "But you are right, this is good." She looked out the window that they were sat next to, "this is good."

Vanille didn't really know what to say and it showed in how her eyes kept darting from Lightning's lips, to her eyes, to her hands, and to her lips again.

"There's a party tomorrow night."

Lightning glanced at her but didn't move her head.

"It's um, Snow's actually."

Her companion almost looked like she wanted to laugh. Her lips twitched in mirth. "The Villers guy?"

"Yeah," Vanille responded, finding momentary solace for her nerves in the conversation, "his parties are usually pretty good, that's if you don't count the flan incident…"

"…Dare I ask?"

"He uh," Vanille shifted, looking at her hot chocolate with a poorly concealed smile, "he wanted everyone to have jelly and ice cream, like kids parties, you know? But then, this little flan had somehow squeezed into the whole mess – through a cat-flap! – and people almost ate it."

Lightning looked surprised. "People actually almost ate the damn thing?"

Vanille giggled bashfully. "Yeah. It was yellow, so it kind of looked like jelly. I think Hope fainted when he ate it. It was messy, y'know?" She ran a hand through her hair self-consciously, "I didn't though!"

Lightning's eyebrow was still suspended upwards.

Vanille pouted, "I didn't faint." Lightning's brow raised even more if that was possible. "I didn't eat it. Stop looking at me like that."

Her companion smiled and the corners of her eyes crinkled charmingly, "I bet you didn't. You're a smart girl." She turned and looked out the window again.

Vanille bit her lip, and little did she know that Lightning saw this through her peripherals and actually tensed the tiniest amount.

"Are you gonna go?"

"Hmm?" Lightning replied, affecting a bored tone but Vanille knew she was listening. She always did listen to her.

"To the party!" Vanille exclaimed, pouting. "I'd like it if you came, we could," she worried her lip thoughtfully, trying to decide on what to say next whilst keeping it PG but having difficulty due to talking about Lightning and the word 'came', "hang out. Yeah."

Lightning caught the pause but made no motion to indicate that she speculated its implications. She turned around and took another sip from her drink, which was cooling slightly. "I don't mind, but isn't that what we're doing now? Hanging out." She'd uncrossed her legs when she faced the window before but crossed them again when she turned around, and her leg stroked Vanille's with the motion.

"Well, yeah but," the girl tried not to shiver, as she moved her leg in what she hoped was a subtle way back along the length of Lightning's own, "not at a party."

"You mean," Lightning began, and it was evident she was trying not to chuckle, "not in the presence of swarms of sweating, heaving and disturbingly hormonal teenagers… and alcohol."

"Arghh, you don't have to if you don't want to… I mean! It would just be nice." Vanille glanced down at her shoes, cheeks pink. "I… I never get to be with you in them." She said quietly, not quite intending Lightning to hear.

Her companion stared at her in silence, unreadable, but boring into her as if studying her every move, breaking down her every intention by just a flick of her eyelashes, or the slightest rise of her chest. Lightning looked utterly unflappable, but there was a hint of emotion in her steely blue eyes.

After a long moment of silence, she spoke up.

"We'll have to rectify that, then."

Vanille looked up, dazzled by the sudden ringing clarity of Lightning's voice. "Sorry?" She asked, blinking.

"How about we have a party?" Lightning inquired, and her eyes danced with barely noticeable playfulness, crinkling charmingly at the corners. "Just me and you."

She ran.

She ran faster than she ever could have done, and the rain bore heavily on her shoulders with unrelenting wrath. It was a disaster, it was always a disaster, and she had no idea why she bothered going.

Lightning

She only ever stared at her phone when she went nowadays, looking longingly at the plastic screen for even just a hint of contact, something small, a message, asking her to come over, asking what she was doing tomorrow, anything. When had she started doing that? Oh right.

Lightning

Vanille wasn't sure what was happening anymore. All she was really aware of was that Lightning didn't want to go to that stupid party, and neither of them even liked 'the Villers guy' that much anyway; why was she still going?

There were so many things to Lightning that she admired – adored, even – and so much she wanted to know, wanted to feel. She was different, so, so different, possessing intelligence and wit and good values and morals, and despite what anyone else might tell you, she was so gentle, so warm and caring, and she had no idea, not a clue.

And when she started talking to the girl, this strange something started balling up in her chest, something powerful and ever-growing; something tender and unspoken. She couldn't even concentrate anymore. She couldn't even look at the woman without wanting to just fall into her, without just telling her everything.

Lightning

Vanille kept running, and her lungs screamed their protests as they rattled in her ribcage.

I love her.

She knocked on the door to Lightning's room three times. Her living space was off-campus, near to class but not caught up in the dorm social space. After a few brief moments – which all felt like eternity – the door opened and soft light shone out into the wet gloom.

Just breathe Vanille, just breathe, just…

Lightning poked her head out from behind the door, looking a little irritable at first but upon realising that it was Vanille, her expression softened and she smiled.

Just-

"Why are you soaked," Lightning called softly to her, eyes twinkling merrily, "even though you have an umbrella?"

Breathing out sharply, it felt as though everything she'd ever done amounted to this. Could only ever amount to this. Should only ever amount to this.

Vanille fell forward into Lightning's arms and shuddered, helpless in the face of her own adoration. The door was closed behind them, and the umbrella lay outside in the pouring rain on Lightning's doorstep, forgotten.

"I was being serious, you know." Lightning said quietly, mixing a mug of hot chocolate for her trembling companion, "about having this party of ours."

Vanille watched her in silence, not having said a word since she came in besides her friend's name. She shivered from her place on the sofa and pulled the oversized fluffy pink towel Lightning had provided for her tighter about her person.

The woman in question placed the steaming mug on the coffee table in front of her, and Vanille noted with an odd warmth blooming in her heart that Lightning had managed to illustrate a white 'V' and a heart sign in the mixture. She did say she worked in a café once. Her eyes began to heat up.

Lightning sat next to her, placing a pillow behind Vanille and taking a spare nearby towel. With impossible tenderness she undid the ribbons in the girl's hair, releasing it and allowing it to cascade partway down her upper back in gentle waves. She took the towel and dabbed at the dripping ends. Vanille stared and stared.

After the tips of her hair became dry, Lightning gently ruffled the locks with the towel and put it down. She gestured to the mug on the table. "Drink." She said, smiling.

Vanille took the mug.

Lightning looked so warm at the moment, warm as in a state of being, not in the sense of temperature, but the former notion could have applied too. She was dressed very simply in a light brown turtleneck jumper that appeared made for winter, which hugged her svelte body in a tantalising, yet not overtly so, manner. Her jeans were dark and frayed, ripped fashionably in some places, and accidentally it seemed in others. Her hair was as messy and unkempt and gorgeous as usual, and there was a gentleness about her as she relaxed in her own space that was never seen outdoors. She just looked so… comfortable. Comfortable and homely.

Lightning met her gaze suddenly, and Vanille tried really, really hard not to choke at the warmth she saw in her eyes. She was so beautiful, and she didn't even have to try.

"Oh hey," Lightning said, her smooth voice doing little in the way of making Vanille jump this time, "I've got something that goes well with that, actually." She leaned over and opened medium-sized tin that was on the table. She pinched what appeared to be a lump of chocolate covered breakfast flakes all stuck together and offered it to Vanille.

The latter blinked and took the proffered treat, noting mildly that the alcohol that had been burning through her veins previously had just about worn off now. She bit into the chocolate, and was a little surprised.

"Rocky road?" She inquired, her voice rising and betraying her glee.

Lightning nodded, reaching for a napkin. "Yeah. They had a three for two deal at this off-licence I go to. I thought you liked them, so…" She shrugged.

Vanille chewed thoughtfully, looking right at her. After finishing her morsel and swallowing, she brushed any errant locks of hair from her eyes and smiled the sweetest smile she could muster at Lightning, hoping the wetness she could feel pooling at the corners of her eyes wasn't noticeable. The flaxen haired woman raised a brow in question.

"Thank you, Lightning." She whispered, and Lightning almost strained for how quietly it was uttered.

"Mmn, it's fine." Lightning replied gently, meeting her gaze. "Anytime, Vanille."

Vanille took a breath and blinked rapidly. "Anytime…" She repeated, murmuring. Why was she here again? Right, yes, because she couldn't stand that atmosphere.

Because there was so much smoke and booze and sweat and suddenly she couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand all the sleazy guys and party girls. Couldn't stand the wreckage, couldn't stand being in a crowd and still feeling very much alone. Couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand the fact that Lightning wasn't there, and the hand that grasped at her buttocks wasn't Lightning's, and the words whispered into her ears weren't from Lightning's lips; there was none of her there.

Her cheek felt wet. Tears.

At the realization she almost bolted up and out, readying herself to volley off a series of apologies whilst sprinting for the nearest exit. But a hand rested on her shoulder, and its warmth pushed past the rain-induced cold, pushed some feeling through to her. Lightning was dabbing the napkin over her lips.

"Crumbs." The older student said quietly, gently gathering them with her napkin. They were cleared, but she was still pressed very close; Vanille could feel her breathing reach her skin.

Then Lightning crossed the meagre distance between them, kissing away the tears that were streaming down Vanille's cheeks. She smiled, and the sheer warmth and tenderness in her expression made Vanille's heart break.

"Crumbs." She said again, bridging the gap once more and kissing her full on the lips.

A/N: Whew! How was that?

For once, no sex, hurr.

In my defence, I don't want to be known as one of those awfully frightening lemon writers that sit in corners touching themselves-I MEAN, being in far too much isolation. Forgive me?

The title doesn't make much sense. I think it could refer to how Vanille feels so tender towards Lightning, and how the latter treats her so gently. HURFF, I don't know, pretend I'm clever and original! :D?

I hope you appreciated it, I love these two actually. I'll probably do some Lightning/Fang fics too, to balance things out. Please read and review as you see fit. Kee[ safe everyone, much love.