Theme 36: Acknowledgement

Pairing: Squall Leonhart/Lightning Farron

"Let's go out on a date."

Lightning's hands froze from where it held a page she was about to turn between two fingers as her blue eyes, peering beyond her reading lenses, trailed upwards to the scarred man sat on the windowsill. With but a glance she could instantly tell that Squall tried his best to remain aloof with one arm wrapped around his drawn leg, pointedly facing away and, to an onlooker, somewhere outside that only he could see.

His ploy was all-too obvious to her; Squall was intently watching her reflection off the glass wind eye.

Placing the bookmark in its new housing, Lightning shut her with one hand before placing it at her side. She leaned forward towards him, resting her cheek against her supinator, which itself was planted on her reading sofa's arm.

"Run that by me again."

Squall caught her reflection's teasing eyes and his gaze immediately shifted away.

"You know what I said." He returned simply. With his gaze no longer watching her, Squall couldn't see the playful smirk on the older militant's face. "So?"

"So I didn't hear you properly." Lightning shot back patiently. There was still the undercurrent of teasing palpable in her voice; she enjoyed seeing the normally stoic man so flustered. She wondered if it was a trick of the light that his ears seemed to sear with red. "I can't reply to something I'm unsure."

Squall's face turned to her at that. He knew she was goading him, gleefully prolonging this very moment of awkwardness for him. His jaw tightened and he took a deep breath, and repeated clearly.

"Go out on a date with me."

"Too forceful." Her chiding made his eyes narrow in annoyance, to which she merely waved off lazily with her other hand. "Try again."

"Go out on a date with me." He repeated, this time less like he was making a demand and more like he was asking her.

Still, it wasn't exactly what she was looking for, and Lightning replied, "One more time."

Squall pursed his lips. He brought his leg down so that he was sat fully facing her. "Lightning, do you want to go out on a date with me today?"

Lightning nodded to herself with a pleased smirk. "Why, yes Squall. I'll allow you to take me out on a date."

Squall blinked at her choice of words before realizing what he should have earlier; she was in a playful mood.

Hyne help his soul.

"Still," Her voice cut off his inner grumblings. "I find it weird that you're asking me this now." Squall tilted his head to the side questioningly, and she elaborated. "We've been going out for what, two months already?" He nodded curiously. "And you've already seen me naked. More than once." Squall shifted uncomfortably. "Hell, we've even screwed around. A lot." He rolled his eyes in an attempt to keep impassive from her blatant pun; was she trying to be funny? "I've even let you tri-"

"If you would get to the point?" Squall swiftly intervened on behalf of his rapidly growing embarrassment. Lightning would have teased him about it, but even she could feel the temperature rise by several degrees. Never would she willingly give him ammunition, for he had proven to mount effective counters even without.

This was her time.

She cleared her throat and set her reading spectacles down on the table next to her.

"A-anyway, I find it really curious that you're asking me this, now."

It took him a second to digest her statement. "Well," Despite his best attempt at aloofness, Lightning smiled at the trifle of uncertainty in his voice. "I felt this is a good a time as any to ask. It's only proper. And normal."

"You asked." She pointed it out to him.

"I did." He replied immediately.

"You asked me out on a date, Squall." She clarified. Sure, it took a bit of coaxing, but he did as she explained.

"Yes. I did." He crossed his arms. "I'd also like an answer."

"Of course it's a 'yes', idiot. I've already replied, but that's not important." She pushed against the chair to sit upright, before catching herself and his frown. "I mean, yeah it's important, but there's something else. You asked, Squall."

"Y-yeah." Squall's stoic mask cracked against her persistent hammering. He knew she knew that he knew what she was getting at. They were just too similar that way, or it may have been his unconscious hesitance to lock eyes with her directly, or both. "So," he cleared his throat, "Shall we make a move?"

Lightning sighed heavily; he was playing this cool. Like they always did. She raised her arms towards him. "Fine. Help me up, Squall."

Squall stared at her outstretched arms warily. "No. You're gonna pull me towards you." He stated.

Once bitten, twice shy.

Her brow twitched with fleeting patience. "I'm not." She countered with her distaste known to him. "Now, pull."

Choosing to trust her, Squall pushed off his perch and grasped both her hands and did as she commanded.

A startled breath left his chest when her head collided with it, followed by the rest of her body as he toppled backwards with Lightning in tow.

"Ugh," Squall groaned when his back hit the floor and Lightning's weight fell upon him. He glared at the smug blue eyes peering up at him. "Knew this was gonna happen..."

"Well, I didn't pull." She gloated before her eyes mellowed warmly. "And you're enjoying this, anyway."

"I'm not." He grumbled his protest.

"Oh really?"

Lightning suddenly shifted so that her hands were planted at either side of his face. Her pink hair cascaded down like a one-sided curtain, though Squall barely paid this any mind; not when her full lips and mesmerizing sapphire eyes had grasped his full attention.

She smirked deliciously.

"You're enjoying this, schoolboy." She teased. Her thigh gently prodded him. "Your body's just too honest, eh?"

Squall rolled his eyes and offered her no retort, though Lightning didn't really need any. Still, she did ease up on her teasing before she rested her head on the crook of his neck.

Lightning breathed him in.

"I liked your asking me out." She admitted to him softly.

At her honest tone, Squall's eyes immediately sought hers out, but she denied him such yearning. Figures. Instead, she planted her palm against his chest as she felt for his racing heart.

"It's…nice."

Lightning still wouldn't look up at him even as his warm hand embraced hers.

He really did know what she was getting at.

Theirs was truly an odd relationship. With both their tongue's dishonest nature and their pride getting in the way, displays of their affection for one another was always delegated to action; a fleeting touch, a knowing look, and a warm embrace.

It was hilariously pitiful, really.

Their interactions were almost like a business transaction composed of 'hi's and 'see you again's. Possessive words like 'you're mine' flittered about, but very rarely did they ever acknowledge to others- and even to each other- that they were dating. 'I need to buy something and you're coming' was a common phrase with which they employed to coax the other into a date.

They were…partners. And lovers. Where one went, the other was not too far behind. When one felt ill, the other tended. And this fact they professed with their bodies.

While they both were happy with the way things were, they also felt that things could still get better.

Squall…

Squall was trying to bridge that gap in their relationship.

And so he asked again, "Lightning, do you want to go on a date with me?"

Lightning finally deemed to let their eyes meet, and she nodded. "I told you already earlier. Yes."

A wry smirk tugged at Squall's lips, and he squeezed her hand.

"Then get off me." He commanded, and Lightning found the challenge incredibly very sexy. "Or we'll never leave this floor."

They never did.

A/N: An update! =o OOC! Huzzah! There's an odd cloud of déjà vu hanging as I write this o.0 Odd, eh?

I've just moved out of my old place and back to my aunt's where, between her and my uncle, I can't seem to get a minute's peace _ And it's only been three days since coming here…It also doesn't help that I sorely want to argue against my uncle about certain topics, but he's too set in his ways to listen. I've tried; it's a futile effort and a complete waste of energy.

In other news, FF8 fans, if you've not read it yet, I highly recommend Syc0ticEpis0de's Triple Triad King J

Toodles o/