Chapter 14: Compliments, Not Comments

Later in the morning, Vanille had traded with me so I could finally get some sleep. When I woke, I was unsurprised as usual to see Lightning had completely packed up camp. She'd also prepared the chocobo to carry our gear. How the hell did she have the skillset to do all of that in the few hours that I slept?

"Snow and Sahz are on their way. Rygdea finally got the go ahead to send out a team to fetch us," Lightning said, nuzzling her face into the bird.

"Why did they send Snow, shouldn't they have sent out proper soldiers?" I asked.

"That was the deal. As long as they weren't making this a military operation, someone can come. Word got out that Vanille was awake. Apparently a ton of private scientists want first dibs on her." She turned to face her. "Sorry, we'll make sure to protect you once we have you onboard the Lindblum. You are the first crystal to awaken on record. The public doesn't know about us, and we've been working hard with the government to keep it that way."

Vanille released a heavy sigh. She wandered over and gave me a punch in the shoulder.

"If I'm to make my debut, guess we better get cleaned up then, huh?" Vanille grabbed me by the hand. "Alright, we'll be back in a couple of minutes, Lightning."

Once we reached a secluded area of stream, Vanille sprung her attack.

"So, how did things go last night? Did you finally have that first magical kiss you always dreamed of? Was she everything you ever wanted?" Vanille undid her hair ties and dunked her head in the stream.

"First kiss? Come on Vanille, I've done more than that with girls I've had fewer feelings for. I'm not a kid." I stripped to my bandana and boxers and lay in the shallow water.

"Keep telling yourself that. I meant your first kiss with Lightning. You made a move last night right?"

I scrubbed at my scalp, but I sputtered water at her question. I was relieved that the stream was cool enough to dampen my blush before it took over my face. If Lightning didn't want anyone to know about the bite, then she definitely didn't want Vanille to know that kissing had been the lesser of our transgressions.

Vanille was now shamelessly topless, splashing around in only her panties. She laughed gleefully.

"Now I have to hear this. Tell me all about it." Vanille lay at my side, her boobs thankfully covered by her hair.

"Tell her what?"

Vanille and I both sat up to see Lightning walking toward us. She was unbuckling her uniform and discarding bits of it on her way over. She placed it in a neatly folded pile. By the time she reached the water's edge, she was wearing only mismatched underwear. Her bra was of the functional sports variety, with a fashion logo I didn't recognize. I didn't get a good look at her panties because the second she noticed my eyes wander she ran and kicked water into my face. They looked like whatever the female equivalent of a boxer brief was. The three of us sat in a weird little ring.

"I thought you were staying with the chocobo?" I hesitantly reached for her beneath the water.

"Is that all I am to you? The Chocobo Wrangler? If anything, it's my duty to protect Vanille. They'd have my ass if they found out I let the two of you run around together." She shook her head when she noticed that hair was the only thing maintaining the girl's modesty. "So, care to tell me what you were gossiping about?"

"Nothing," I answered immediately.

Vanille started cupping water in her hands and dropping it on Lighting's head. For her part, the woman let her. She was too busy staring me down. With her hair wet enough, Vanille began detangling it with her fingers.

"That is not the face of 'nothing'," Lightning said, pinching one of my toes.

"This is just the face of someone you're in a completely platonic relationship with." I gave her a smirk I must have learned from Snow through osmosis.

She threw Vanille's arms off her. The girl had managed to complete half a braid down the back of her head. Lightning's hair pulled out of her face was weirdly cute. Not that I had ever put cute and her in the same sentence before. She dragged me by the armpits out of the water. Damn, she was strong as hell. Once I scrambled to my feet, I followed her further down the bank, just out of Vanille's line of vision.

"What do you want from me?" Lightning said, clenching her fists at her sides.

Swiping my hair out of my face, I took a deep breath. I clutched at her waist. Then I placed my other hand on the back of her neck, directing her gaze into my mine. I needed her to see me. I wouldn't let her escape this time.

"I want you to please stop giving me mixed signals." I tilted her head so I could whisper into her ear. "But mostly, I'm waiting for you to kiss me."

She lifted an eyebrow, and removed my hand from her back. She brought it to her lips and licked my palm. It felt incredibly weird, no wonder she had gotten angry when I had done it.

"Satisfied?" she said, letting go of me.

"Not even close," I answered honestly.

"Too bad. That's all brats like you get." She frowned at me. "We better make sure Vanille doesn't slaughter all of the wildlife." She stalked back towards the girl.

After we'd finished bathing, we'd lazed around waiting for our clothes to dry. We weren't in any rush as Snow kept checking in with us. Once they were close enough, we'd venture out onto the Steppe and greet them. If we wandered out early, we'd run the risk of attracting larger monsters.

I'd almost fallen asleep from boredom, but Lightning made sure to poke me. 'We were not on a vacation, I couldn't just nap away the day.' I understood her point, but she was also letting me lay against her on the warm grass. It was difficult to not be extremely relaxed and comfortable.

Vanille had had other plans for the morning. She'd simply put on the rest of her clothes, and then slipped off her underwear. She'd hung them to dry while she left to shear more sheep. Majority of the chocobo's inventory consisted of wool. The rest was random weapon parts we'd scavenged over the week. If she didn't have the tendency to collect crap, we wouldn't have needed the bird in the first place.

"Overall, I think this has been my best birthday so far."

"It's not like you've had all that many of them." Lightning swatted away my hand as I fiddled with her navel piercing. "But what makes it particularly great? We're stuck in hell. I'd forgotten how much I need indoor plumbing."

"That's simple, I get to spend it with you," I said, touching the ring again.

"You've spent the past three with me." She blocked her bellybutton with her hand, denying me access.

I rolled onto my side, propping my head on my arm. "This is the first time we get to spend it together, Light." I grinned. "Whether you admit to it or not."

Grumbling, she sat up and glared down at me. Her scowl softened as she bit at her lip. She tentatively touched at my chest, running her finger along with no particular pattern. Her eyebrows knit together, but it didn't appear like she was going to share her thoughts.

"You going to laugh at my T-shirt shaped sunburn too?" I said. "Just so you know, your back is equally pale."

"No, that's not it." Her fingertips took direction now, tracing from my sternum to my abs. "I've seen you shirtless plenty of times. You've always been shameless. But within the year, your build has been changing."

"Of course it has. I'm working out more. Holy hell, was I ever embarrassed when I realized how muscular you were compared to me. Like, I had a general idea, but when you let me touch you, damn, you're rock solid, like that humbaba we once fought."

"It's comments like those, when I'm positive you forget I'm a woman."

"Compliments, not comments," I said, correcting her.

I sat up, and pulled her into my lap in the same way I had earlier in the morning. We weren't constrained by our environment, so my grip on her was looser. This didn't stop our position from being considerably more intimate; most of the places our bodies touched were bare skin.

"What happens when they come for us," I asked.

"We already went over this. We meet them in the clearing and…" she began to say.

"That's not what I'm talking about. What happens between you and me?" I kissed from her shoulder to her jawline; she responded by looping her arms around neck. "Right now you can barely handle Vanille seeing me touch you. Are we just going to reset to the beginning again? I know you actually enjoy me being forward when we're out here, by ourselves. But I can't be aggressive like this all the time. It'll look like I'm pressuring you, the kid who can't take a hint, or a stalker. I mean, hell, Serah wouldn't even let me stay with you for fear I might take advantage."

"It's not me she and Snow were worried about," Lightning said quietly. "No matter how much time passes, you will always be the youngest of us. To them, you will always be a kid. They were worried that I might hurt you."

"That's rich, coming from a man who married a teenager," I scoffed, "I hope he knows that next time I visit New Bhodum, I'll be staying at your house."

"I won't have cleaned out my spare room by then," she said, twirling the hairs at the base of my skull with her fingers.

"Hmm, guess that leaves me no choice but to sleep with you," I said, sneaking a peck to her lips, "but you still haven't answered my question."

"Hope." She made a huffing sound and rolled her eyes. "I don't know."

She abandoned me to get fully dressed; once she was done she returned with my pile. Then she proceeded to drop it on my head and leave. Well, it was better than her having told me off. I could deal with silence.