Ball Two

Fang and Lightning sat across from each other at the diner. Their meals were finished before them, they were waiting on the check to come so they could leave. They had been going to the diner after their sparring sessions for a few weeks, and Fang was really enjoying the extra time they had together. They still mostly talked about their sessions, but here and there Lightning dropped little things, tidbits about herself or her life. Fang finally learned the name of Serah's boyfriend- Snow, said with a fair amount of vitriol- and how annoying he was. She also learned a bit more about the Guardian Corps. Lightning hadn't shared much about her past, but Fang was willing to wait.

It was Fang who did most of the sharing. She was naturally outgoing, so talking came easily to her. She told Lightning all about her life at the orphanage, her relationship with Vanille, her college life, and the differences she noticed between Gran Pulse and Cocoon. Lightning took it all in stride, commenting on and sometimes cracking a joke about something she said. Wry, dry jokes, but jokes nonetheless. Fang was sure those flashes of humor were a rare privilege, probably one she shared only with Serah, and relished the fact that Lightning was comfortable enough to show that side of herself to Fang. And it was nice having a conversation partner who wasn't talking as loudly as she did- with a lot of her other friends, Fang often had to compete to be heard. The value of a good listener had never struck her until her after-session meals with Lightning. Which was one of several reasons she sought Lightning's advice while they waited.

"You know Light, I'm starting to be a little sympathetic to your whole 'Snow situation,'" Fang said, breaking the companionable silence they shared. Lightning looked at her with mild curiosity.

"Oh? Why's that?" Lightning asked.

"Vanille started seeing someone."

Lightning arched an eyebrow at her, a smug look on her face. "Fang, you can't control who she falls for."

"Har har," Fang said sarcastically. "I know that, the problem is that I haven't even met the guy."

"Oh."

"Yeah I know. The way I see it, either she doesn't want me to meet him, which is bad, or he doesn't want to meet me, which is worse."

"Why is that worse?" Lightning asked.

"There're a hundred reasons she wouldn't want me to meet him- she's worried he'll like me more, or she thinks I won't like him, or- I don't know, something." Fang paused and leaned forward to emphasize her point.

"But if he doesn't want to meet me, it's because he's worried I'll mess things up for him. Maybe he's just using her, or he wants to control her or something," Fang fell back in the booth waiting for Lightning's response.

"You're making a lot of assumptions, and you haven't even met him yet? That's impressively over-protective," Lightning said, straight-faced.

"That means a lot coming from you," Fang grumbled.

Lightning's lips crooked into a half smile. "Maybe Vanille's just not that into him?" she offered.

Fang waved the thought away. "No, no, if you heard her talk about him you'd think he was the best thing on two legs. She's always going on and on about how sweet he is, how kind, caring, nice."

"He sounds awful," Lightning said. Fang pouted at her.

"The point is, she hasn't introduced us yet. If I just met him I'd know how to react, but this limbo is- it's making me act like you."

Lightning looked a little insulted and a little amused. "Be careful what you wish for. If you meet him and end up hating him, there might not be anything you can do about it. That's worse than your limbo, trust me."

"I'll try, but I still don't like being so uptight."

"It's what little sisters do to you. I'm glad you're finally seeing the light." The waitress came with the check. Lightning and Fang threw some bills on the table and headed for the door.

"The light, huh. You mean being paranoid and high-strung is a good thing?" Fang asked. Lightning smirked.

"It's a big sister's right to be high strung and paranoid. Keeps the younger ones in check."

"Sometimes I wonder about you, Light," Fang said.

Lightning snorted "Let me know how it goes," she said as they reached their parting intersection.

"Like you have a choice," Fang said with a wave. Lightning raised a hand in farewell, and the two parted ways.

When Fang got home she found Vanille waiting for her. The younger girl had a determined look on her face as she waved her into the living room and pointed to the couch, sternly waiting for Fang to sit down.

"What did I do now?" Fang asked, amused at the sudden show of resolve.

"Nothing, I just have to talk to you." Vanille frowned, concentrating on what she was going to say. "I think it's time you met Hope."

Fang perked up. "Damn right it is. Is he here now?" she asked, arching her neck to see around Vanille.

"No. I was thinking we could have a few people over, so it's not too awkward."

"Oh come on, how wimpy is this guy?"

"He wants to meet you, but you tend to be- a little intense all at once."

"Really, I'm not that bad," Fang scoffed.

"You told my last boyfriend you'd tear down the sky if anything happened to me," Vanille said.

"Well I would've. If he's so great he should have nothing to worry about."

"I'm worried, especially since I really want this to go well. I really like him."

Fang sighed. "Alright then. What do you have in mind?"

Vanille beamed and clapped her hands together. "Right. So Serah and Snow are already coming, and I was thinking you could invite one of your friends."

"Yeah right, most of my friends are drunks and layabouts. Don't think you want him meeting them if you think I'm bad."

A playful look took over Vanille's face. "Hm. I seem to remember a new friend of yours. Someone you see, I don't know, once a week? Sound familiar?"

"What, Light? I don't really think she'd be up for any kind of get-together."

"Can't hurt to ask, right?" Vanille prodded.

"Have Serah do it," Fang said. It was always a bother when Vanille got an idea in her head. And she seemed set on having Fang make a fool of herself.

"That'd just be weird. I can't tell Hope 'here are my friends, one's boyfriend, and her sister.' But I can say 'here are my friends and one's friend and one's boyfriend.'"

Fang took a moment to follow the logic there, and ended up hurting her head. "You think a friend of a friend is less awkward than a friend's sister?"

"Oh just do it," Vanille snapped. "You like her, right? This is a good opportunity to get to know her better outside your little fights. Who knows, maybe she'll look at you a little differently."

Fang inwardly cursed Vanille's ability to tempt her into doing the younger girl's bidding. "Alright, alright, I get it already. I'll ask her."

"Good," Vanille said with a pronounced nod.

"You know, you have a bad habit of berating me into doing whatever you want me to do."

Vanille looked at her smugly. "That's because I know what's best for you."

"Still," Fang said, rising to her feet. "You shouldn't talk to your elders like that." She advanced on Vanille, who began back-peddling quickly. She squawked when Fang tackled her, held her down, and gave her a noogie she wouldn't soon forget.

Fang wasn't quite sure how to broach the idea of Lightning attending Vanille's little get together. As with most things in her life however, she decided direct was the best course. After greeting the other woman, she decided to jump right in.

"So Light, I could really use favor."

"Mm." Fang took that as her cue to continue.

"I told you about Vanille's new guy?"

"Mmhmm."

"Turns out, she was the nervous one, didn't want me scaring him off. But we gotta meet some time, so she was thinking of getting a few people together; kinda ease our first meeting."

Lightning gave her a critical look. She could probably guess where Fang was going.

"Now before you say anything," Fang said, throwing her hands up, "this isn't about, y'know-" she gestured vaguely between herself and Lightning. "I want to meet this kid and judge him properly, and most of my other friends are hooligans. Plus Serah and Snow will be there."

"Serah?" Lightning asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Apparently she and Vanille ran into each other a few times, started hanging out. She didn't tell you?"

Lightning shifted, looked away. "It's been a while since we talked."

Fang hesitated, concerned that she might overstep her bounds. She plunged forward anyway. "Mind if I ask why?"

Lightning was quiet for a moment. "We had a fight. About Snow." She pursed her lips. "It wasn't pretty."

"Well that's perfect," Fang said cheerily. "I get to meet Vanille's boyfriend, you get to smooth things over with your sister."

Lightning continued to look away, pensive.

"Besides, I'd owe you one," Fang wheedled. "I could clean your house, wash your car, give you a massage- hey that's a good one!" Fang said snapping her fingers. Lightning arched an eyebrow at her. "You come to the party, I'll give you a nice, thorough rubdown. What do you say?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Lightning's face.

"Sounds like you win either way," she said.

"Nah, we both win either way," Fang said, smirking at Lightning.

"I'm sure. When is it?"

"Next Saturday night. My and Vanille's apartment."

"I'll go," Lightning said, surprising Fang with a quick answer. "But I'll pick my own return favor."

"Ah well. Can't blame me for trying," Fang said.

"No I do," Lightning said wryly. "But I'm not surprised. Come on, let's get started."

Fang and Vanille were setting up their living room when sharp, loud, police-style knocks echoed through their apartment. Vanille yelped and jumped and held a hand to her chest. Fang blinked and checked the time. Five minutes to nine. She had told Lighting they'd be starting around nine, but even she wouldn't show up to a party five minutes early, right? With a sigh Fang went to answer the door. That sounded exactly like something Lightning would do.

When she opened the door Lightning was there, in tight dark jeans and a matching low-cut top. She had on just a bit of makeup- likely all the other woman owned- and her hair fell perfectly-messy over her shoulder, tips of her bangs just at the level of her eyes. She looked fantastic.

"Lightning," she said first, in greeting. Lightning nodded.

There was a surprise next to Lightning. A tall, narrow guy with silver hair was also at the door. She hadn't met him, but Fang could guess who it was. And as tempting as Lightning looked, Fang wasn't about to ignore the object of Vanille's affection.

"And you must be Hope." The kid startled and looked at her fleetingly. He was dressed well enough, but his wispy frame left the clothes hanging off of him, instead of being worn. He was younger- younger than Vanille even, but there was some potential there. For now, he was boyishly cute, Fang decided.

"Uh, yes ma'am," he said. Well, cute until her opened his mouth. She opened her own to tell him you should never refer to a young woman as 'ma'am' when Lightning cut in.

"Are you going to let us in?" she said. Fang closed her mouth and stepped out of the doorway, gesturing them inside.

Vanille ran up with a squeal, embracing Hope tightly before pulling him further into the apartment. He looked at Fang apprehensively, but Fang sent him a smile to calm him down, at least a little. It didn't look like it worked.

"Poor kid," Fang said jovially. She smiled at Lightning. "Hey there beautiful."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "He was staring at the door when I got here. He couldn't bring himself to knock. Maybe you should cut him some slack," she said.

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Didn't think you'd be worried about some kid."

"Didn't think you'd be so hard on one."

Fang smiled. "Fair enough. Come on, make yourself at home," she said as she grabbed Lightning's arm and guided her further into the apartment.

Fang and Vanille sat their guests in the small living room and hurried to finish setting up. Vanille fiddled with her phone and the speakers until some pop-y music filled the apartment, and Fang grabbed snacks from their kitchenette and brought them out. Before she got to sit down, another, quieter knock at the door sounded, and Fang let in Serah and Snow. She kept a close eye on Lightning as the couple greeted everyone and sat down. Lightning kept a neutral look, even meeting Serah's frosty greeting with her usual nod.

"So," Fang said, clapping her hands together. "Drinks?"

She was met with a chorus of cheers, and one unenthusiastic sigh. With a laugh she gathered some drinks, and when she made it back out to the living room Vanille and Serah were excitedly exchanging ideas about what to do first. Lightning and Hope both looked apprehensive, but Snow was listening interestedly. Eventually the pair settled on Kings, a card-based games where they would take turns picking face-down cards and carrying out actions related to the card pulled. It was a sociable game, where everyone would get involved and get drunk doing so. Fang nodded approvingly.

Everyone pulled their seats close to the coffee table in the middle of the room and Vanille spread cards in a circle in the middle of the table. Vanille and Fang took turns explaining the rules for each card, and Vanille took her turn first, grabbing a card and flipping it face-up on the table. They all went in turn, around and around the circle, flipping cards, yelling excitedly and crying out in despair in turn. Fang found herself a favorite target of penalties and cards where the winner could choose a victim; between Vanille and what was probably her desire to see a friendly Fang, and Lightning what was likely her desire to mess with Fang, she finished two drinks over the course of fifty-two cards, almost twice what anyone else had to drink.

Still, Fang prided herself on her ability to hold her alcohol well, and hadn't forgotten her agenda for the evening. She kept a sharp eye on Hope throughout the game, and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw. He was quiet- quieter than Vanille, Serah, and Snow, at least- and careful, meticulous in his movements. But he was engaged, following the game and the conversation, participating when he could. His desire to get to know Vanille's friends was clear, and from what Fang could tell, genuine. Maybe he was a little timid for her tastes, but it was clear that he worshipped the ground Vanille walked on.

After the game finished, Vanille and Serah had everyone help them clear a space in their living room. They had Fang move their dinner table to the space that had been made. Twelve plastic cups filled with water, six on either end, where added, two ping pong balls were found, and their setup for beer pong was complete.

They split into teams of two, with Vanille excitedly calling for couples to pair up. Fang could only chuckle nervously at the look on Lightning's face as she moved next to the other woman.

"That's just Vanille being a goof, I swear."

Lightning looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything about it. They played a few rounds king-of-the-hill style, where the winning team stayed at the table and the third team took the place of the losing team. It quickly became apparent that Lightning was too accurate to be fair. After sinking the last cup, beating Serah and Snow for a fourth time and sending Serah into a rant on her sister's skills, Vanille ended beer pong and started setting up another game.

As fun as table-drinking games could be, they weren't too useful for getting to know somebody. Fang suspected that was the entire reason Vanille was pushing games so hard, so she wouldn't judge Hope too harshly. But then, she could be pushy too.

"How 'bout a break from games, yeah? How about it Light? Take a load off big guy."

She knew Lightning would go along with a break, but she could only hope that Snow would as well. Luckily, he was up for a break, and seemed pretty oblivious to Serah's stink eye. She must be in cahoots with Vanille, Fang figured. Fang grabbed Snow and together they went to fix drinks.

Fang could almost see Lightning's point of view on Snow. The guy was a little rough around the edges, and he wouldn't be winning any academic awards any time soon. He was brash and outspoken, with high-flying hopes and dreams. But he was sincere, too. And Serah certainly seemed to believe in him, and she could find someone smarter, or richer, or more polished with better prospects, but as for love- well, Fang saw plenty of that between the couple.

They returned with drinks and settled in seats with everyone else. Fang got to talking, asking Snow what he did and how he met Serah. She figured it would be easy to follow up by asking Hope as well, but she hadn't counted on how much most of the people there liked to talk. Snow, Serah, Vanille, and yeah, even herself were big talkers, each butting in and talking over each-other. But that was alright too.

The conversation flowed easily, from Snow and Serah, to the games they had played, to the music that was on, to their favorite drinks, and so on until Fang had had two more drinks. Everyone else had mostly kept up, and they seemed pretty content to while away the rest of the night sitting and drinking and talking.

The night wound down. Fang kept an eye on Lightning, wondering if she was having a good time. The other woman rarely contributed- mostly only when Fang asked her a direct question- but occasionally Serah dragged her into a story she was telling. When Serah excused herself to make another drink, Lightning followed after, ostensibly to get a drink of her own, but more likely to talk. They didn't return for some time, though the others were too involved in a drunk discussion about classes to notice.

Fang tuned back in to the conversation, happy to find Hope opening up. The kid was apparently academically oriented, judging from his passion for the subject at hand. He was so caught up, his nervousness had disappeared completely. It was clear how important his classes were to him, and even more clear how important Vanille was to him. Hope was a refreshing change of pace from the guys Vanille was typically interested in.

The conversation slowed, with laughs replaced by yawns, and excited interest replaced by heavy eyes. Lightning and Serah returned, and Lightning touched Fang's shoulder and leaned in to tell her she was leaving. Fang insisted on walking her to the front of the building.

"You know I'm not drunk, right?" Lightning asked once in the hallway

"Huh? You had as much to drink as anybody," Fang said.

"As much water, maybe. I didn't have a drink after the first two you gave me."

"Sneaky bugger."

They reached the front door to the building. Fang didn't want to see Lightning go.

"How'd it go with Serah?"

"Fine. Not great, but fine."

"That's a shame," Fang said. "Guess the night was a bust for you, huh."

"Mm." A pause. "Hope seems alright."

"Better than alright. Smart kid, absolutely smitten with Van, absolutely terrified of me. Great combination, great combination."

"Ha. Consider yourself lucky."

"I do, trust me. But y'know, Snow's not all that bad either."

Lightning's face soured. Fang hurried to explain herself. "I'm just saying, Serah could do worse than someone like Snow. He'd die for her."

"Sometimes I wish he would," Lightning said, deadpan.

"It's scary that I can't tell if you're joking."

Another pause. Fang watched Lightning shuffle a little, look towards where her own place must be.

"Did you at least have a good time tonight?" Fang asked. Lightning looked back to her.

"Better than I expected. And at least Serah is speaking to me again."

"Glad I could help. And you know, I'd love to see more of you."

Lightning gave her a look, something between exasperation, amusement, and acceptance. "I know."

"Aha, that's cold, Lightning."

"I know." A small smile. Fang was pleased she could get the other woman to respond so positively, even if it was at her own expense. She was so beautiful when she smiled. Well she was beautiful all the time, but that smile- maybe she was more drunk than she had thought.

"Fang?"

"Nothing, just- man your eyes are blue." Definitely more drunk than she had thought. Luckily Lightning only rolled her eyes.

"Get some sleep. Let me know when you're sober."

"Gotcha, compliment your eyes when I wake up."

A huff of laughter from Lightning. "Go," she said, pointing to Fang's building. Fang started walking backwards waving, to Light as she started for home. Fang watched until the other woman disappeared in the distance, then turned inside to sleep it off.