standing still; au

If anyone asked Hope if there was a downside to living with Lightning, his answer would be an automatic no way. Really, it was the perfect arrangement - her place was a stone's throw from his school, which saved him the hassle of applying for a cramped dorm; and in return, she had someone to help around the house after Serah left to live with Snow after their marriage.

Yes, it was perfect…except for one tiny, little, itty-bitty thing…

…His not so tiny, not so little, and definitely not itty-bitty crush on her.

It was something that had been building up ever since they'd met. First it was simply admiration - honestly, a lot of Hope's self-motivation came from her. If Lightning wanted something, she did whatever she could to get it, and he tried to do the same.

But the closer they got, the one thing he realized he couldn't quite convince himself to get was a chance with her.

So against everything he was striving for, he hid it. Hope kept his little crush on her right to himself, and it seemed to work well enough. She never seemed to notice the way he knew he smiled at her or how kind his voice became when he wished her a good night.

That was fine. Totally fine.

Honestly, Hope really was okay with it. He knew it was a long shot that she felt the same way, so since he was keeping this to himself, he could avoid any awkwardness whenever they hung out. He was sure as far as she was concerned, they were simply just friends.

Close friends.

Who liked to hang out…which was what they were currently doing. Hope was confused at the fact that he often had to break up his thoughts into little chunks like that when they were together. It was as though she took over his mind when she was close by, or something.

Lightning was still totally unaware as they remained sitting on the couch one lazy afternoon, attempting to find a movie on TV. She went through various button-pressing cycles, muttering to herself.

"I should have never let Snow program the TV."

Hope glanced over at her with a soft gaze, despite her annoyance. "Want me to try?"

She shook her head. "I'll get it." There was that determination he adored - even if it was for something ridiculous, like channel-flipping. Or attempted channel-flipping. "It's just that I've always had the basic services. This is…" She gestured to the extremely wordy menu on the screen. "…not that."

"Aw, c'mon." He tried to reach for the remote. "Let me try."

"I said that I got it."

"No, you don't." Hope's voice had a challenging tone to it, and predictably, Lightning glared at him for it. He simply grinned, attempting to reach for the remote and huffing in both amusement and annoyance when she transferred it to the other hand in an effort to keep it away from him. "Just at least let me try. I bet I can get it. We're gonna miss half the movie at this rate."

"No, we won't."

"Light - " Hope struggled again to reach the remote, which she was now holding away from her as it was pointed at an awkward angle at the TV. The more he reached, the further she held it, which didn't at all aid in helping fix the problem.

And then it happened.

Somehow, he misjudged where to guide some of his weight or something - it happened so fast that he couldn't quite figure how happened, but somewhere, he slipped on nothing. He ended up all but falling on top of Lightning, their legs in a messy tangle and his face mere inches from hers.

Wait, how had she gone to halfway lying on the couch? The logical part of Hope's brain pondered this, but the rest of it was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that Lightning's faces was only inches from his.

He swallowed heavily, eyes wide and his heart completely racing in his chest. Her breathing was a bit ragged, maybe from their scuffle over the remote - he couldn't imagine any other reason.

For awhile, it felt like everything had just…stopped. They both remained still in their rather awkward position, just staring like they were seeing each other for the first time. Hope had looked at Lightning plenty of times, sure, but…never quite this close. He'd never noticed how long her eyelashes were, how blue her eyes were - her bangs always seemed to obstruct them - or how her skin looked so…soft, which was surprising, given that her outward personality was really anything but.

Her lips parted, expelling a quick breath that he immediately took notice of. She was so close…

"…I never noticed that before…" she murmured, sounding a bit far away, like everything around them really had gone still and they now had all the time in the world.

"Noticed what?" Hope asked, hoping she didn't notice the slight tremble in his voice.

She started to lift her hand, then stopped - then moved it and hesitated two more times before finally brushing a lock of hair out of his face. It was all he could do to stay right where he was.

"You have freckles," she said in the same low voice, looking a bit amused. The corner of her lips had quirked up slightly.

He blinked in surprise. "I do?"

"Yeah." She hastily dropped her hand. "A few. They're a little hard to see." She met his eyes and Hope thought his heart would burst. "I guess you just have to look very…closely."

There was something in her voice that changed as she spoke. It was an unintentional kind of suggestion that was easy enough to pick up if you noticed it…at least, if everything around you was calm enough to notice it at all.

Hope noticed.

"Then, uh - " He swallowed again, eyes raking over her face. "Guess you should look a bit more…closely."

Her eyes were already fluttering closed as he leaned in, shifting his weight more comfortably. He could feel her breath on his lips the closer he came, which sent a pleasant shudder down his spine, wondering if this was really happening -

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

They both gasped and jumped, narrowly avoiding bonking heads. Hope's heart was racing again, but now just from shock. "What was that?!"

"This," Lightning replied in annoyance, picking up the remote. At some point, she'd actually dropped it without their noticing, and it had somehow managed to connect to a channel they didn't have…which apparently alerted them with the most obnoxious beeping noise ever.

Hope stealthily took the remote from her, wincing at the noise as he managed to click over to something, anything else, and sighed in relief once he had. "Guess that's how they get you to buy all the extra channels and stuff."

"…Guess so." Lightning looked…shocked, maybe, and Hope's heart fell into his gut. The world around them was moving again. That moment from before was over, all thanks to an obnoxious noise.

He bit his lip nervously. "So, uh, did you still want to find that movie…?"

"Actually…" She stood up. "I think I'll go over to Serah's."

He knew exactly why she was doing that. Honestly, he didn't blame her. Everything had happened so fast and out of nowhere, and he knew she needed a little warning.

But, as he thought about it in that split second, he realized that he'd liked the way the world around them stilled when they were together. It was as clear as anything.

A surge of courage shot through him as he impulsively grabbed her wrist before she could walk away. She stopped short, hesitating before turning to him wordlessly.

This was it. Time to go for what he wanted, now that he'd had an inkling of what it was like.

"Did you…" He met her eyes. "…Did you want to properly see a movie with me sometime?" He tried to laugh. "Heart attack-inducing beeping noises not included."

For a moment, she didn't answer. It was as though the question was completely beyond her realm of understanding. But as always, he watched her. He watched her eyes widen; he watched them stare at the comfortable way he held onto her; he watched them meet his own, maybe looking for more of those freckles on the way.

And she smiled.

"Throw in dinner, and you've got yourself a deal."