Title: Indifferent Attractions

Rating: T

Pairing: Noctis Lucis Caelum x Claire "Lightning" Farron

Summary: Love moves...in different directions? Of course, when you pair the school's idolized guy and the average, non-caring girl together. AU, Lightis

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XIII or Final Fantasy Versus XIII. If I did, well, you know... :DDD

Other pairings include VanillexLaris(oh damn, shotgun guy's popular name), SnowxSerah, and FangxRygdea. Please forgive me if they seem too OOC. T~T Oh, and POV's will be switching between Noctis and Lightning at times. Also forgive me and inform me if it comes off as confusing.

Well, here goes. :D

I could only stare blankly at the clock as the class wore on, its hands ticking away seconds of my time. No I can't sleep, or else I'd end up after school. Again. Dammit, this class is so boring. Someone needs to replace Ms. Nabaat, immediately.

I needed something to occupy the last remaining minutes of the damned class, and staring at the formulas on the board wasn't exactly my forte. Propping my head on my hands, and my elbows on my table, I scanned the room for signs for- at the least -some activity. My eyes traveled to a pair of girls in the front, who kept smiling and looking back at me. Ugh, being the 'most idolized guy on campus' isn't exactly my forte either. These people just do not know what the hell 'privacy' meant.

So I continued to swarm my vision across the room. Same activity from nearly all the girls. Oh hey, Noct! Would you like some candy? How about a soda? Do you wanna go out? Man, these girls cannot fuck off for at least a minute. It already feels like they're transmitting the same pick-ups to my head all the time. Then my eyes caught something.

My eyes stared to the side of me, where another girl sat. Lightning was her name I think. She was different. She didn't follow me home like most of these girls have already done. She didn't scream my name whenever she saw me. She doesn't stare at me from across the room for the whole period. It's like she doesn't know I exist. Real hardcore right there.

So I stared on her table. Lightning was doodling all over her Calculus notebook. From what I could see, a giant, shaded rose filled up the top half of the page, where on the bottom she was drawing a series of complex, yet similar looking swords. She's pretty good from my perspective-

"Mr. Caelum, if you can stop staring at our female students and be glad enough to answer this question, I'd appreciate it."

My eyes darted over to Ms. Nabaat, and a fit of giggles erupted from all over the classroom.

"Girls, quiet down and let Noctis demonstrate his genius." Another fit of giggles. Crap.

Hm. Five x squared minus eight x minus thirteen over x squared minus five if x is limited to 3.

"...Two." I rolled my eyes as Ms. Nabaat praised my ability to be able to calculate that within around five seconds, more or less. Another round of giggles and petty compliments. Yay.

I looked over to Lightning, and she didn't seem impressed. As always. She raised an eyebrow and glared at me, then returned to her drawings.

Well, that's fine by me. At least you're not howling like most of the girls in here. Even Ms. Nabaat. Ick.

"Oh, and I almost forgot. Noctis, I have a letter for you." She strode up to my chair with an envelope and firmly planted it on my desk. "I am so proud of you, Mr. Caelum."

So I reached for the envelope and stared at it blankly. "UCE? The University of Cocoon, Eden. You're kidding me, right?" I leaned back in my seat and glared at her.

"Yes, you've attracted the attention of the university and is giving you a complimentary seat on next year's admittance list." She was smiling and clapping like a little kid with ice cream.

"Alright..." Rolling my eyes, I stuffed the letter into my backpack, much to Ms. Nabaat's dissatisfaction. My eyes lit up with hope when, finally, the class bell rang.

"Alright students, remember to do your homework for tonight! God, I'm tired of this job..."

"So you guys will resume your work on your value paintings, right? So, let's get to work!"

Mr. Katzroy paced around the room, his eyes either lighting up or dimming down at his perceptions of artwork. "No, you have to brush that lightly...oh, that looks great!" I could only smile to myself as his expressions change constantly. "...Lightning, your piece is turning out magnificent! Would you mind if I show the class?"

"Absolutely not." In times where I feel my weakest, art is pretty much the only thing that'll keep me going. I know it sounds cliché, but it's the only thing I actually care about. Not even the oh, so amazing Noctis Lucis Caelum. Pssh, people ask me, but I don't care.

Speaking of Noctis, he's such a peculiar guy. I just wonder what the hell this bunch of so-called girls see in him. He's quiet like an emo, looks like a scene kid, sags his pants like most of the idiots here do, and yet still manages to get straight A's across the board. Of course, except for the occasional 'I was too bored to do it' speech. This year, I've somehow managed to get all my classes with him. Woopee. Oh, you're sooo lucky! What I'd do to get in your place! Is it awesome to spend all of your day together? I don't feel blessed. I feel cursed. And somehow, I think Noctis feels the same.

Mr. Katzroy- well, he prefers to be called Sazh -is almost done gloating my artwork, while I look a few easles down to Noctis. He's concentrated on his piece, and it's turning out great from what I see. A lone, silver wolf against a background of swirling hues, creating an image of a cliff in twilight. There lay a bright silvery white moon in the corner, and his values gradated drastically. Very bold.

Oh damn, what the hell can this guy not do?

"Alright, enough of my rambling. Get back to your paintings; we only have twenty minutes left. Lightning, this is amazing. I see great things for you." Sazh gladly handed back the canvas, an image of a reddish pink rose with swirling petals.

I looked back at Noctis, and coincidentally, he was staring at my work. Then we both looked up. Oh crap, staring contest. This happened occasionally, in most of our classes, where we'd just have a staredown and then return to normal. Awkward...

And so the bell rang. Aaaah, lunch.

"Hmmm... Apples. Grapes. Apples or grapes. Light, apples or grapes-"

"...Vanille, please just shush. I'm trying to concentrate on my sketches. And why don't you just eat both?" Rubbing my temples in frustration didn't seem to be helping at all.

"Sheesh, someone's cranky.." Okay, that comment didn't help.

I really liked my time here in the secluded school gardens. No one ever came here, since they'd all either be laughing in the cafeteria, roaming the halls with spray paint, or making out in the parking lot. Of course, I liked it until Vanille discovered where I kept running off to during lunch. But now, it's not as bad as it was the first time, which was one of the reasons why I turned to the gardens for relaxation. Oh, I'll remember the day when Vanille started dating Laris, one of Noctis' best friends. That got her to shut up about him...

"Light? Yoohoo! Cocoon to Lightning?"

I snapped out of my black and white trance and shook my head. "Huh, what? Oh. No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Ugh, you're never hungry! That's exactly why I buy twice as much food from the cafeteria!" Vanille pouted at me and I could only sigh at her childish behavior. Sheesh.

"...Y'know, I'm betting Laris would like to share that food with you, am I right?" I flashed a forced smile to her, hoping she gets the point.

"Great idea! I'll see you in class! Oh Laris, you hungry...?" She skipped away from the bench where we sat, her fading voice resembling the witch in Hansel and Gretel.

So I resumed doodling on my notebook, a jumbled mess of Calculus equations and flowers. Why I drew flowers, I have no idea, but that could easily be countered by the amount of swords and guns I have archived here.

As I was fixing up a detail on a gunblade- some sword that collapses into a machine gun -I heard some soft footsteps on the grass around the garden. I looked around, feeling just a little bit cautious. To my surprise, Noctis walked out of somewhere, rubbing the back of his neck and setting his backpack on the ground.

"Fucking girls are annoying...keep following me..." He kept mumbling about girls and sat down at the base of the tree in front of me. If he can't notice me sitting on a bench a few feet away, then man I'm such a nobody.

I have no idea why, but I kept watching as he stretched himself out and put his hands behind his head. As he closed his eyes, his stretched out form made his school vest and shirt ride up a little, showing about five or six inches of plaid, dark blue boxers above the waist band of his slim school pants.

...Whoa, why am I looking there?

My eyes closed for about a moment or so, then snap wide open. Turning my head to my left, and my eyebrows furrow at the sight of a familiar, stoic, strawberry-haired girl.

"...Lightning. What are you doing here? You're not here to cuddle me to the death, are you?"

I nearly laughed at her reaction, a mix of glaring and disgust.

"Wouldn't dream of it, loverboy. Besides, don't you have girls to flirt with?" Oh, her comments were cocky. I liked that.

"Heh, I could care less about those bunches of breast-baring embarrassments that call themselves 'girls'." I continued to lean back on the tree trunk, giving her a blank stare.

"Whatever. Oh how it'd be nice if you actually had a plan to keep the 'girls' away, huh?"

I have no idea how, but that just sparked something in my brain. I could feel the gears turning already. Though I'm not sure whether or not it'll be the right thing to do, at least in the end I'll have some sort of protection against them.

"Well, I'll be going now. Don't wanna lure 'girls' here with my girlyness." Nearly smiling, I watched as she stood up while the bell rang.

As she walked off, I immediately stood up and grabbed my backpack and followed her. After all, we had the next class together. Ahem, all our classes together.

"...Um, why are you following me?" She asked, with a tone of caution.

"In case you forgot, we have all our classes together, remember?" I stated matter-of-factly. She didn't seem too pleased when I reminded her of it.

"...So what's the deal? You want anything, something?" Of course, I needed something. Just needed some verification from her. It's a pretty foolproof plan. It's a proven that if someone's crush is taken, then they'll back off, since they respect that...

"Lightning...would you be my girlfriend?"

"...You're kidding, right?"

Hehe, there you go. If you haven't already noticed, it's gonna be a running gag with Noct and him treasuring his sleep and Light and her drawings. :P

Well, please review nicely, or else Light will unleash Odin on you and Noct will go whoosh with his weapons. Dx

(I'm kidding.)

(Yeah, I'm kidding.)

(No, seriously, review.)

(...Nah, I'm kidding. [insert smiley face])

(So yeah, there's that pretty little button down there. :D)