Chapter Text
Somehow, Lightning could always tell when he was deep in thought.
For most people, this was easy, since Hope got an extremely furrowed brow and a certain kind of frown on his face when he was thinking. They could take once glance and know that his mind was a million miles away and that they needed a minute to get his attention.
It was extraordinary that his girlfriend could tell, though, since she couldn't really spare him a glance – at least with her eyes...
“You're humming to yourself,” Lightning said. Her voice was always enough to snap Hope out of his thoughts.
“What?”
“The humming.” She smirked, moving her hand a bit before it found the cup in front of her. Her grip tightened a bit before she tentatively lifted it and sipped her coffee. “It means you're thinking about something, so out with it.”
“Oh.” Hope smiled, leaning down and brushing their noses together in warning before a kiss came. “Just thinking about holiday plans. It's practically December.”
“Hmm.” Lightning tilted her head, probably mentally calculating the days. “You're right. Any ideas?”
“Not really.” Hope wasn't all that close to his father and didn't have many close friends, unless he counted the employees at the coffee shop he owned. This would be his first holiday in a serious relationship. “Do you normally do anything?”
“Usually I'm with Serah and Snow. We'd get up early and exchange gifts like little kids.” Lightning smiled at the memory, but it slowly faded, which made Hope panic a little. He hated seeing her frown. “That was when Serah and I lived together, though. I don't know if she'd wanted to spend the night here or vice versa.”
“Maybe she would,” Hope said, although he didn't sound too enthused about the idea. Serah and Snow had been together forever, but it'd be their first holiday as a married couple and Hope was sure they'd want to be alone, at least for a little while.
Lightning seemed to read his mind. “Right. I don't want to intrude or make them feel like they have to.”
“We could probably see them for dinner or something.” Hope said down, the scrape of his chair making Lightning turn more in his direction. “Uh, no pun intended.”
She smirked. “You know, I'm almost getting used to those.”
“Almost?”
“Yes. I might need to stick around longer to find out how much more I can take.”
He grinned. “Well, Light...” he said, taking one of her hands and leaning in a bit, “feel free to stick around as long as you'd like.”
There was a smile on her lips as they kissed gently, her mouth sweet with all the sugar she typically put in her coffee. It was a taste he'd never get tired of in a thousand years...and he never would with the rest of her either...
“BARK!”
They both jumped and broke apart at the interruption. Hope immediately caught sight of a golden retriever, who was obediently sitting and wagging his tail, looking up at his master with one of those doggie smiles.
“Odin,” Lightning murmured, reaching out a bit and relaxing her hand when it met his fur. “It's past time for you to go out, isn't it?”
“Want me to take him?”
“I've got it.” Lightning stood and pushed her chair in, hand drifting along the wall until she came to the alcove where she kept Odin's harness. She effortlessly strapped him in, and though Odin still looked excited to be going out, he was instantly at attention the moment it was on. “We'll be back in a bit. I might take him for a little walk, too.”
“Okay – wait, hold on.” Hope quickly went to her and tapped her jaw before capturing a kiss. “Want to continue that when you get back?”
She smirked at him, her eyes boring into his in that way he still didn't know how she pulled off. “...On one condition.”
“Oh?”
With a little chuckle, she opened the door and let Odin help her outside. “Only if you make dinner.”
“Wha – hey!” he cried, but his protests were lost when Lightning and Odin disappeared down the stairs, though he could've sworn she was laughing at him.
–
A few nights later, Hope found himself wondering about holiday plans again. It was just when he was about to ask Lightning her ideas that he found her in the living room, the TV turned to a recording of an old ballet. He would've thought nothing of this, but there was a wistful little smile on her face that made him curious and he wasn't about to ignore his love.
“Hey, Light.” He moseyed to the couch. “Mind of I join you?”
“Of course not.” Her voice sounded quieter than normal, but clearly she wasn't that lost in thought since she automatically leaned against him when he settled down on the couch next to her.
He was quiet for a minute as he stared at the screen – it looked like The Nutcracker to him, but then again, he wasn't a huge theater or ballet fan and they all looked the same in his eyes. Plus, there wasn't any sort of audio description like there was when Lightning actually found things she wanted to watch. It was just them, the screen, and the music.
“...Light?”
“This is stupid,” she immediately replied, fumbling for the remote. “I'll change it if you want.”
“No, don't. It's fine.” Hope wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “But can I ask why you put this on?” Lightning usually went for gory crime dramas, maybe because she didn't have to see any of the gore.
“I was flipping through the channels and I heard this,” she said after a long pause. “It...reminded me of something.”
“Of what?”
Lightning was quiet again for a minute before she answered. “When I was younger, I was fascinated with ballet. I like the dancers and the music drew me in.” She kind of smiled a bit. “I was a very...girly little girl, if you can believe that.”
“I can.” Hope smiled to himself, picturing the lacy, frilly dresses he'd once seen photos of her in. “Did you want to be a ballerina?”
“At first. I took a few lessons, but I was more interested in the person who played the piano during them and I told my mother I wanted to learn to play the piano instead.” She sighed. “But you know that never happened. Money got tight, for one reason or another.” She suddenly reached over and took his hand.
“Light...”
“Since I was still so fascinated with theaters and ballet and everything, my mother promised me that she'd save and save, so that when I was sixteen, we could all go see a big, fancy performance for the holidays.”
Sixteen. Hope's breath caught in his throat. “You never...”
She shook her head. “You know the accident happened when I was fifteen. And ever since then, the idea's fallen by the wayside.” She huffed to herself. “I guess there wouldn't be much point to it now, anyway. I could hear the music, obviously, but half of it is being able to see what's going on.”
He had no idea what to say to that, really. In a way, she was right – if you paid to see a performance at a theater, you expected the whole deal, not just being able to picture things in your mind. Surely some places would offer an audio description service, like they did at a few movie theaters they'd been to, but it wasn't quite the same for a live show, he was sure.
Even more than that, for as long as he'd known Lightning, he'd rarely seen her treat her blindness as anything more than a fact or life or merely an inconvenience. But now she looked...sad about it for the first time he could recall.
And if there was one thing Hope had promised himself when he'd fallen for her so completely, it was to make sure she was never sad again.
“Would you still want to go to one? If you could?”
She sighed and leaned against him, humming as he pressed a kiss to her hair. “I guess so, if it were possible for me to enjoy it the way it was supposed to. I've just never really thought about it until now.”
“It's the time of year everyone wants to see one, I guess.”
“I suppose.” She lifted her head a bit and leaned forward, an invitation for him to close the space between their lips. “At least you taught me some piano. I'll be forever grateful for that.”
“Anything for you, Light.”
And he meant it, because surely there was something he could do to keep that promise of anything.
–
Hope felt like he spent the next two weeks on the phone, calling and asking and researching, but he was pretty sure that it had all paid off.
At least...hopefully it had. He wasn't entirely sure what Lightning would think, but he was crossing his fingers for all good things.
Starting...now.
“Hey, Light?”
“Hm?” She paused, a mug of tea halfway towards her lips. She'd just gotten back from taking Odin for a walk.
“There's somewhere I'd like to bring you tonight,” he said carefully. Though Lightning never had any qualms about going anywhere with him, he knew she always got a little nervous in new places, even with Odin. It was quite understandable, really, since it was harder for her to map out a layout in her mind and be completely comfortable.
To his surprise, she seemed intrigued. “Really? Where?”
He wanted to keep the element of surprise, so he went and gently brushed a lock of hair aside before kissing her forehead. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation. It made his heart soar.
“Then let me keep it a secret.” He grinned and nudged her nose with his before a kiss came.
“Mysterious. Hmm...” she murmured in the space between their lips before she kissed him again. “Do I get a hint?”
Here was another part he was hesitant about. “I, uh, actually splurged and bought you a dress that'd be appropriate. I know you like to do your own clothes shopping or have Serah help you, but - ”
“But I trust you,” she interrupted, pulling back a bit with one of those strange stares that always seemed to pierce right through him. “And I suspect you know my taste as well as Serah does. What color is it?”
“Dark blue.” He'd always thought that color went really well with her skin and hair. “I left it hanging on the back of the bedroom door.”
She immediately got to her feet and headed there, her fingertips brushing against the walls to guide her way. Hope followed with nervous anticipation, glad that she couldn't see how terrified his expression was. If she hated the dress, that might spell disaster for the rest of the evening.
But Serah had given it a thumbs up, so maybe it'd be okay. He knew nothing about fashion, so she'd helped him pick it out – it was made of soft, smooth fabric and had long sleeves with a V-neck and wraparound waist. The skirt would fall in graceful folds a couple of inches above her knees, which was nice because he never got tired of her legs. Or her anything else, really.
Lightning's hand stilled when she felt the dress on the door, her fingers slow as she mapped out the shape, the feel of the fabric, all the details. For a long time, she didn't say anything, and Hope kept shifting his feet, watching her face for a reaction.
Finally, he was rewarded with a smile.
“I like it.” She reached up and plucked the hanger from off the door. “Wherever we're going, at least I'll look okay.”
He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. “Light, take it from me...” In an instant, he was right there for another kiss. “You always look beautiful.”
“You're biased.” She smirked and kissed him again. Funny how they couldn't seem to stop doing that.
“It's the truth!”
“To you, maybe.”
She hushed any retorts from him with her lips, and Hope couldn't help but wrap his arms around her waist, mindful of the dress still in her hands, and pull her close. Honestly, if he hadn't spent so long putting this evening together, he would've loooved to forget about it and indulge in her over and over...
“You're distracting me,” she muttered during a pause, though she didn't sound all that annoyed. “When are we leaving for whatever you have planned?”
“Hmmm...” He didn't answer right away in favor of another kiss, though afterwards he actually did crane his neck to look at the clock on his nightstand. “We don't have to leave for another few hours.”
“It doesn't take me that long to get ready,” she murmured. “And I have to get undressed anyway...”
“Light, this is your night.” He took the dress and hung it back up before immediately pulling her close again. “Your wish is my command.”
She smirked. “Let's see how you feel about that in a minute.”
He grinned and kissed her smirk. “Anything for you.”
–
Hope was glad that they needed to drive to their destination, because if they'd had to walk, they definitely would've been late.
“It's not my fault you know what I like,” Lightning replied when he mentioned as much. He just chuckled, reaching over the center console to squeeze her hand.
“I like to think I do.” That counted the rest of tonight, hopefully.
At a stoplight, Hope glanced over at his ridiculously beautiful girlfriend. The dress fit her like a glove, which was a relief. Since it was a blue color, she'd styled her hair with a sapphire clip – something that'd belonged to her mother, apparently. She'd even put on a bit of makeup, which she rarely bothered with.
There was zero doubt that Lightning didn't need any of those bells and whistles, but when she put everything together, the effect was dazzling. If he didn't have to drive, he wouldn't have been able to look away.
Maybe when she found out her surprise, he'd be rewarded with another smile to go with it.
“So are you going to tell me where we're going?” she asked.
Speak of the devil. He pulled into a parking spot, not surprised that the lot was barely full. It was early in the evening, after all. “Well, we're here, so why don't you come and find out?”
“Hmph.” She didn't seem mad, though, and easily climbed out of the car, waiting for Hope. He'd advised her not to bring Odin - though he did have her cane folded up in his pocket just in case - so hopefully his arm would be enough.
As they went inside the enormous, ornate building, Hope watched out of the corner of his eye. Lightning seemed to be listening intently, her fingers brushing against the walls as they walked around. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and he couldn't help but smile at the confused expression on her face. Hopefully soon things would come to light.
“Hang on, I need to ask for someone,” he told her before he stopped, waiting a moment to make sure she didn't stumble or anything. When she remained quiet, he called out, “Excuse me? I'm looking for Mr. Amodar?”
A second later, someone came out from behind the front desk, a wide grin on his face. “Ah, Mr. Estheim and Ms. Farron?”
“That'd be us.” Hope shook Mr. Amodar's hand with his free one, and after a pause, Lightning awkwardly put her hand out as well.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “I'm afraid I don't know what any of this is about.”
“Keeping it a secret, huh?” Amodar chuckled at Hope's nod. “Well, just come on back when you're ready. I've got one of the ushers around to show you where to go.”
“Thank you very much.” Hope gently nudged Lightning's shoulder with her own. “We'll be back there in a minute.”
“Take your time! It's a real honor to be doing this.”
Lightning waited until Amodar's footsteps had faded away before she turned her head towards Hope. “I think I know where we are.”
“Hmmm.” He gently tugged on her arm, an indication for them to start walking. “You do?”
“Yes.” She held her hand out to the side, her fingers brushing over the walls, the doorframe, and as they proceeded further, the rough upholstery of seats. “The question is why.”
“I have my reasons.” He squeezed her arm. “But do you really want an explanation or do you want to figure it out for yourself?”
“Just confirm my guess that we're at that old theater outside of town.”
“Got it in one.” He wondered if she'd been here since she'd lost her vision, and if not, how she could have known so easily.
She merely hummed, and at first Hope wondered if this had been such a good idea. Sure, Lightning wasn't the type of person to jump and down in glee when she was happy, but she wasn't giving off any indication that she was all that excited to be here.
At least until they reached the stage.
There were just the bare minimum of lights on, so it looked almost spooky. It was hard to believe that mere hours from now it'd be filled with dancers and scenery. Right now, it seemed vast and bleak.
But when Lightning put her hand on the smooth finish of the wood, feeling how tall it was and how far it was from the seats, the way her eyes lit up proved to be brighter than any stage lights.
“We're really here,” she said quietly. “I never thought I'd ever get this close to a stage.”
Hope took her hand and kissed the back of it. “That's not all.”
After checking with the usher that Mr. Amodar had mentioned, they carefully climbed the stairs up to the stage and walked around. Maybe it was an effect from being with Lightning for so long, but he could actually feel the difference under his feet. There was a sort of echo and weightlessness compared to being on the floor that was just different.
Lightning smiled and gripped his arm. “We're on the stage, aren't we?”
“Yeah. We're in the middle of it right now. I think it's kind of a small stage compared to other theaters.”
“It's probably still really daunting to perform up here.”
“True.”
They stood there for a bit, letting her really get a sense of it all, until he tugged on her arm again. “C'mon.”
She arched a brow. “There's more?”
“A lot more.”
He led them backstage, Lighting's fingers brushing along the curtains as they went. A young girl with her hair already tied up in a tight bun looked up, probably about to kick them out, but comprehension seemed to dawn and she smiled. “Are you Mr. Amodar's guests?”
“Yes.” Once again, Hope held out his hand. “I'm Hope. This is my girlfriend, Lightning.”
“How exciting!” The girl shook their hands. “I don't think we've ever done one of these since I've been dancing with this company.”
Lightning frowned in confusion. “Done one of what?”
The girl beamed. “A touch tour!”
“....Excuse me?”
“Tonight we'll be performing The Nutcracker. It's the holiday season, you know – so we've got a bunch of the props and all the costumes out. Well, not all of them, but the most important. You'll be able to touch Clara's dress and the Mouse King's mask for sure - ”
As the girl went on and on, Lightning's confused expression gradually gave way to comprehension and then awe. It may have been the lighting back here, but he could've sworn her eyes suddenly filled with tears.
But she blinked and they were gone. The girl had flounced off, going to talk to another dancer and explaining why there were two random people backstage. Since she presumably sensed they were alone now, Lightning turned to Hope, making a grab for his hand that he gladly met.
“You did this for me?” Her voice was steady as always, but threatening to waver with emotion.
“I hope you don't think it's silly.” He squeezed her hand. “After you told me that story about how you never got to see a ballet, I started looking up stuff to see if there were ways someone sight-impaired could see it. Uh, so to speak.” He chuckled. “I knew that an audio description probably wouldn't really cut it, so I found out that a lot of places do these 'touch tours.' I got a hold of Mr. Amodar – I had to make a zillion calls to finally talk to him, he's the manager of the building – but once I explained, he and the director of the show were totally for it. I figured that if you got an actual feel for what the costumes and props were like, it'd be easier to see it in your mind that way when you hear the music, plus I just - ”
His rambling was cut off when she suddenly flung her arms around him, nearly knocking him off his feet with the force of her hug...which was definitely not like her at all, but he gladly returned the embrace after the shocked subsided, holding her as closely as possible.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “This is beyond anything I could've asked for.”
He smiled into her hair. “Technically, you didn't ask for it.” She lightly whapped his back and he laughed. “I just...really wanted to make you happy, Light. I wish I could give you my sight for an evening so you could experience the show the way you always wanted to, but this was the best I could think of.”
“Shut up or I'll do something stupid like cry.” As it was, when she finally let go of him, her eyes were strangely glassy and she had to blink it away. He only smiled again and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Come on. Let's get you acquainted with the show.”
He stayed close every time she touched a costume, held a prop, felt the bumps of paint on the scenery under her fingertips. With every new discovery, her expression grew more and more awed. Though he did join in a couple of times to touch the costumes – some of those outfits were a lot heavier than they looked and he wondered how the heck anybody could dance in them – mostly he just watched emotions play across Lightning's face.
A few of the dancers who hadn't yet gotten into makeup even allowed her to map out their faces, which surprised and pleased him. Ever since he and Lightning had become official, he'd gotten too used to people treating her with a kind of fake, sickly-sweet niceness simply because she was blind. They always meant well, but it'd leave a bad taste in his mouth and put Lightning in a sullen mood for hours afterwards.
This, though, was different. Everyone back here seemed genuinely excited to show her everything they could and kept saying what an honor it was to do this. Maybe they were performing, but he didn't think so.
And the smile on Lightning's face said that she believed it was all real, too.
–
Though the theater did offer an audio description service, Lightning opted not to use it that evening. Instead, at every change in scene, Hope would lean in and whisper who was onstage and what was happening. His reward was always a soft little smile as she would listen, undoubtedly letting the feel of the costumes and props fill in the blank spaces in her mind. Much to her – and his – surprise, one dancer had even let Lightning try on a pair of old ballet slippers, so it was easier to form the whole picture and imagine what it must be like to dance onstage.
Hope had admittedly never had much interest in theater or ballet, but he had to admit that he was captivated by the music and the show before him. Then again, maybe he had the advantage of seeing what awed expressions crossed Lightning's face, which honestly added to his enjoyment of everything.
“It's incredible,” she murmured at one point in between acts. “If I concentrate, I can hear when they land a jump or they're doing some kind of spin.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The stage echos in a certain way.” She leaned against him. “I don't think I would've been able to separate that from the music if you hadn't taken me up onstage and showed me.”
At least that was the perfect confirmation that this had been a good idea.
Nobody clapped harder than Lightning when the show was over. She remained in her seat long after the curtains had closed and people were still milling around, talking and leaving. He simply held her hand, waiting until she gave the okay.
When she finally spoke, her voice was thick emotion. “I know I said it already, but I don't think I could have asked for anything more than this. Tonight was...” She squeezed his hand. “It was perfect. It was as though I could actually see what was happening.” Her eyes were glassy again when she looked up at him. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. I think...for the first time, I'm actually okay with the accident taking so much from me. Not once this whole evening did I wish in the back of my mind that I had my sight back.” She reached up for him, her fingertips grasping air until they touched his jaw. “Because I have you.”
Hope had never imagined that she could possibly stun him into silence, and yet here they were. Of course he figured that something like this would mean a lot to her, but for her to say something like that...
“Hope?”
“I... I'm just...” he trailed off, staring at her ridiculously beautiful face, wondering how he'd gotten so lucky to be with someone who also had such a ridiculously beautiful heart. “I'm amazed you'd think that,” he finally said, leaning in to gently kiss her. He smiled into it, which he was sure she could feel. “All I want is to make you happy.”
“You're definitely doing a good job of that.” She smiled, leaning up to kiss him again.
He was pretty sure they were going to be kicked out of the theater any minute, but that didn't stop him from initiating another kiss. “Kinda makes me wonder, though.”
“Wonder what?”
“How I'm going to top this next year.”
She chuckled. “I'm not sure if you can, but you're welcome to try.”
There was time for one more kiss before they were kicked out, he was sure. In between their lips, he made sure to breathe a promise for her ears only.
“Then I'll try forever, because that's how long I'll be with you.”