Work Text:
Lightning never lied about the time. Anything but perfect punctuality annoyed her, and she practiced it herself because she knew how frustrating it could be for others. Most people assumed it was a habit drilled in by her time in the Bodhum Security Corps., but Serah knew that she had always been this way. And they both knew that Serah above all was the person Lightning wanted to offend the least in this regard.
And yet, here Serah sat alone on the couch, not so much offended as worried.
“What could be taking her so long…”
Random and unfortunate delays were inevitable, sure, but it had been almost an hour past when she said she’d be home… closer to forty minutes, really, but that was still too long. Serah had plans for them to watch a movie over the dinner that she was ready to cook, but now she imagined that Lightning was sure to be bristling with impatience due to whatever currently kept her. Not that it took long to console her. At worst, it only required that Serah set her mood with a little flirting; nothing she couldn’t manage. She only wondered what was keeping Lightning so long since she hadn’t answered her text. Or her call. Serah checked her phone again for the fifth time, finding no messages from her sister. Unless her phone had died, but Lightning was always so responsible about keeping it charged. She must gotten caught up in some kind of huge delay after all…
Until Serah heard a car engine rolling up and stopping but a minute later, its door shut a little harder than usual, and the front door open. Lightning trudged in with two or three bags of groceries in either hand, looking just as aggravated as Serah expected her to. Lightning tried to relax upon seeing Serah’s concerned eyes, but couldn’t clear her frown away, cemented by her many layers of frustrations.
“Hi, Light,” Serah said gingerly, standing from the couch to greet her.
“Hey,” she sighed while she set the bags down. “Sorry. I got most of the groceries, but I had to go to three different places to get it all.”
“Oh. That’s what was taking so long?”
Lightning only nodded as she slid her hands down her face, finding it just as ridiculous. With her foot she shut the front door behind her and leaned back against it.
“That’s not the worst part, by the way.”
“What was? Unless you don’t want to talk about it.”
Lightning counted on her fingers: “There was some kind of small festival or something happening by the theatre so the market was closed—so no banana muffins, by the way—and I had to get around it through all the traffic. Plus the sausage links were on recall, so I got some others that I hope are okay. I had to waste time driving all around town, and not to mention the most annoying part of it all: I had to put up with Fang calling me, totally drunk off her ass. That got old quick so I put my phone on silent and stopped answering her.”
“Was Vanille not there?”
“I’m Fang’s second pick to talk to when Vanille’s not there, so I don’t think she was.” Lightning shrugged it off; she didn’t really care as long as Fang wasn’t bothering her any longer.
“Well, what did she want?”
“Who the hell knows. Every time was about something different.”
“She called you multiple times? Why didn’t you just tell her you were busy?”
“I did,” Lightning growled as she kicked off her shoes. “But you know how much Fang loves pestering me. Especially drunk Fang. I ended the conversation and hung up on her, but she just called me right back and asked,” and Lightning paused to try her best imitation of Fang that she could manage, “‘Why’re you always gettin’ so shy about fucking your sister?’”
Serah giggled at her poor mimickry and Lightning instantly regretted it, but tried to pass it off as mocking Fang instead. “Are you laughing at what Fang said or my shitty impression of what Fang said?”
“A little of both.” Serah laughed again, leaning on the couch with her hand and her hip. “You’re not as shy about it as you used to be,” she added with a complacent smirk.
“Yeah well, neither are you,” Lightning retaliated, expecting Serah’s grin to grow until she dropped it suddenly.
“But how did you reply to Fang when she asked you that?”
Lightning flashed a curious glance, wondering if Serah wanted to know her real answer. Or if Serah just wanted to know if she actually wanted to fuck, if that might make her feel better after everything she’d had to deal with today.
Lightning wasn’t sure, so she stuck with the truth for now: “I told her I was just trying to shop for groceries in peace. She asked me why when I ‘have a full meal waiting for me at home,’” Lightning said in her vaguely Oerban accent again, “and I had to explain to her that that ends up being me just as often. Fang’s too much for me sometimes. Props to Vanille, I don’t know how she does it.”
“To be fair, she’s known Fang for a really long time. She must be totally used to her by now. But you should have teased Fang back about her and Vanille!”
“I was already so done with her that I couldn’t even begin to think of anything to say if I’d wanted to. And I didn’t want to in the first place because I’d rather not know anything about their sex life anyway. Which is just another reason why I don’t like talking to drunk Fang.”
“Does she actually talk about that with you?”
“More like she talks at me, but only sometimes thank god. I try to tune her out. Anyway,” she sighed, realizing how off track she’d gotten, “I was already pissed off dealing with her, but because I had my phone on silent I missed a call from the dentist telling me that they had to reschedule our appointments, and by the time I saw it they were already closed. So I have to do that tomorrow. Then my phone died because your dumbass sister forgot to charge it so I couldn't respond to the texts that I'm sure you sent.”
“Shut up Light. You're not a dumbass, it happens to everyone. I'm just glad you're alright because I was starting to worry.”
“I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you in the dark.” Lightning punctuated her story and her consolation with another frustrated breath, dropping her arms and all of her baggage in front of Serah, who moved over to hug her.
“It's okay. I'm sorry you had such an annoying day,” Serah tried, rising onto her toes to kiss Lightning’s forehead. “At least you get to come home to dinner and a movie, and your sister, right?”
“Yeah…” Lightning said heavily, despite her expression easing with Serah’s sweetness.
“Something else wrong?” Serah asked, now unsure if Lightning was withholding the rest of her story or just feeling that frustrated still.
Her shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath through her nose, closing her eyes only to avoid confronting Serah’s knowing stare. As blessed as Lightning felt having a sister like Serah who knew what was on her mind so she didn’t have to sort through her own feelings as much, that also left her cursed to have a tough time hiding anything from her, which was exactly what she wished to do right now. But with how her day had gone so far, she felt willing to surrender to this last inconvenience.
She looked at Serah while she considered it. For a long time. Serah’s brows knitted curiously at first but in more concern as Lightning hesitated. Lightning gave quickly, not wanting to cause Serah any more concern, and pulled her phone out.
“Oh, right,” she hissed when it didn’t turn on. “Can I use your phone for a minute Serah? I just need to show you my email.”
“Sure. Here.”
Serah unlocked and handed it over, and Lightning logged into her email and returned it to her just as quickly.
“I’ll just let you read this for yourself. It’ll be easier than trying to explain, and I don’t feel like it anyway.”
Serah took it in both hands with a worried glance and started reading. Lightning walked away toward the kitchen, wondering why in the world she didn’t just delete it as soon as she got it, but watched Serah’s reaction in her peripheral. Her disbelief as well as her smile grew slowly with every line she read. Serah raised her brows at Lightning and followed behind her, doing little to hide how humored she was, and even cupped her mouth with her hand as she kept reading. She reread it once more, just to be sure.
“This is for real?”
“Yeah,” Lightning scoffed.
“And what do you think about it?” Serah asked while walking back over to her, trying to avoid laughing at how vehemently she knew Lightning was about to refuse.
“Not a chance.”
“But why not? A modeling shoot sounds like so much fun! Getting to wear a bunch of exquisite and expensive outfits and dresses and having some nice pictures taken…” Serah scrolled through pictures of some samples of clothing, murmuring some ‘oohs’ at some pretty and some rather chic outfits that were totally not Lightning's style of choice, before finding the number to call should she show interest. “This is real, right?”
“I looked it up because I couldn’t believe it either. It’s a real fashion label alright.”
“How did they contact you? Just, scouting people online or something?” Serah asked, feeling just as dumbfounded by the outlandish offer.
“Again; who the hell knows,” Lightning sighed, sick of talking about this already and wondering what kind of god or fal’Cie she’d offended now for all of this to have happened to her today. “Probably saw something online on some kind of social media. Maybe one of the interviews I had to do at work. What I do know is that I don’t want any part of it.”
“Why not? After everything you’ve gone through today, this is a good thing, isn’t it?” Serah tried to flip it into a positive for her, but Lightning only shrugged her off. “Well, I’m jealous that you got an offer.”
“Be my guest. I’m sure they’d rather have you over me, once they see how pretty you are,” Lightning said all too honestly, despite her harsh undertone.
“Aw, I’m flattered. But I’m not the one that they asked for.” Serah returned the phone to Lightning, who logged out without a second glance.
“Here.”
Serah left her phone on the counter rather than putting it back in her pocket, and turned back toward her sister.
“But seriously, Light. You would totally kill whatever outfit they put you in, and effortlessly I’m sure. You look more stylish than you care to admit.”
“Now it’s my turn to be flattered. Even supposing that turns out to be true-”
“-which it is.”
Lightning slimmed her stare at Serah but continued: “I don’t think I have what it takes to pull off modeling, and posing, and all that.”
“Why not? You do it great for me,” Serah murmured sweetly.
“That’s different,” Lightning huffed as she shifted to lean on her other leg.
“How so?” Serah followed her closer and slid her hands down Lightning’s waist. “All you have to do is stand there however they tell you to and look pretty, which is easy for you. Plus, you know how to take orders.”
“You’re a tough customer to please.” Or Serah pretended to be, at least, but she didn’t make it easy and Lightning didn’t expect the photographers to either.
“And yet you always do such an amazing job. So taking some pictures should be simple. But I know how camera shy you can be, so we could practice, if you’re worried. Keeping your eyes focused on me in the heat of the moment, just like a camera,” Serah suggested, still using that seductive, oh-so-innocent lilt to melt her icy mood, transforming this opportunity of Lightning’s into her own.
“You say that like you’ve never forced me to before. Sounds to me like you just want to have your way with me.”
“I want to take care of you since you’ve had such a bad day. That’s what sisters are for, right?” Serah reminded her, even as her hands wandered shamelessly around Lightning’s hips and hugged every very familiar curve.
’Say fucking less, Serah…’ Lightning was already way past gone. Once Serah played that sweet sister card—acknowledging it as if they weren’t already living in sin—Lightning folded every time. Had Serah taken her hand and led her to their room, or started undressing her right there against the countertop, she would have followed along without another word, but Lightning thought it better to fold her arms and play stubborn for Serah a little longer since they both loved these little conversations.
“Some sisters we are,” she said after a short chuckle and a short kiss from Serah who hummed, amused: a dark little tinted glass laugh.
“It’s not like you don’t have any say in how you do it. You can negotiate a little,” Serah said, trailing nails slowly on Lightning’s skin under her shirt. Her silence was a good sign of progress. Quiet consideration of how exactly Serah was going to reward her for playing along. “And I’m sure that the more you work with them, the better acquainted and comfortable you’ll get and the more freedom you’ll have. Case in point,” Serah said, freely feeling up Lightning’s sturdy abs and pressing closer to her.
“It depends on how I get paid,” Lightning argued, choosing her words carefully to best tempt Serah’s already lascivious stare.
“You know these kinds of shoots pay well.”
Lightning couldn’t begin to think it. Imagining a random number was the last thing on her mind, being far too distracted by counting the number of kisses Serah left on her chest.
“And how do you feel about it?” Lightning asked, genuinely curious, ignoring for the moment how Serah’s hands left her stomach to pull down the collar of her shirt.
“I think you should try it.” Serah left a slower smooch, her innocent glance up betrayed how she tried to leave a mark behind already. “It might be fun. I’ll even go with you for support.”
“Yeah right. You just want to see me being awkward while they take some pictures. Or maybe you want a chance to catch me while I’m changing. Think you can behave yourself?”
“Not at all,” Serah confessed in a heavy breath, letting her shirt go to hold both of her hands. “Just think about it: whatever they dress you up in, you can be sure I’ll get you out of it the moment you get home. We could practice that if you want, instead. What you’re wearing now is fine.”
Serah smirked, wondering if Lightning could refuse that invitation, but she finally smiled back.
“Let’s see how good of a show I can put on for you.”
The smile was all that Serah was looking for. She never intended on getting quite so carried away, but that modeling offer presented a golden opportunity to spice up her seduction that she couldn’t pass up. They could talk it out seriously another day; dinner and the movie could wait until later tonight too.
“Light, wait.” Serah stopped just as she started leading her off. “Do we need to get any of the groceries out of the car first?”
“No, I brought all the important ones in already. The rest can wait.” Lightning couldn’t help but grin at how responsibly irresponsible Serah could be, worrying about the groceries spoiling only moments after a successful seduction and only minutes before sex.
“Okay, good. Then back to business,” Serah sang, escorting her to their room. For now she had to follow through and reap what she’d sown to make sure that Lightning’s day ended as pleasantly as possible.