Work Text:
The yearly fireworks celebration had already ended, brilliant colors fading into the night, but there were yet two sparks that had yet to be lit.
Lightning leaned her forearms on the railing of her back porch, staring out into the night. That she could easily separate the shadows of objects from that of the night sky still felt unnatural, despite having been trained to learn how; whether through a scope or the naked eye. It wasn’t a skill she felt necessarily proud of, but it was a way to help pass the time. This always felt like the longest night of the year. Thankfully the summer heat and had begun to disappear with the sun. Lightning always heard the tourists complaining about the humidity as well, but she supposed the atmosphere on a tropical island was something to get used to. She straightened up when she heard the door slide open and Serah humming her favorite tune, stepping out barefoot and still looking just as striking in that yellow sundress.
“Alright!” Serah set a long box between them and picked two slim rods out. With a quick click of a lighter Serah lit the sparklers simultaneously, handing one off carefully to her sister who eyed it somewhat dryly as it hissed to life. She tried to liven up a bit for Serah’s sake, however, and smiled.
’Cheers.’
“You know, sometimes I can’t tell if you enjoy these or the show on the beach more.”
“I can’t tell either,” Serah laughed.
“That’s not an answer.” Lightning arched a brow at her, but she just shrugged.
“I know, but I don’t have one. And I probably never will.”
"What are we even doing with these," Lightning asked wistfully, twirling her sparkler in her fingers. “We’re grown adults playing with sparklers.”
“We’re not just playing with them. It’s part of the celebration. You know.”
“I know. It just… makes me feel like a kid.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Serah smiled, ever optimistic. She waited for her sister’s response, knowing that the farther back in time her feelings reached the stiffer they became, but Lightning only stared at the flaming bouquet she held. Serah looked back into her own and said, “I kind of like it. I always remember Mom and Dad getting a kick out of us obsessing over these.”
Lightning half-chuckled at that; a single, short ‘humph’. But she smiled, and glanced away from her sparkler for a moment to elsewhere in the night to imagine the memory.
"She never liked us messing around with fireworks all that much, but she always loosened up on this night because we liked them so much. I never liked them as much as you did though.”
“But you still liked them.”
“Of course.”
Just as Lightning said that, her spark sputtered out, and Serah’s followed a moment later. Lightning turned toward her but she was already swapping them out for new ones.
Lightning stayed facing Serah and stood against the railing, crossing her arms and staring into this new spark. Memories of this same night throughout the years flared up brightly in her mind, passing in and out of order, as if she were watching them in her hand. “I remember how you’d run around in the yard until either you or all the sparklers burnt out, and if we ran out you’d get so upset.”
Serah smirked at her former silliness, but quickly turned it toward Lightning. “Luckily I had my amazing big sis who always gave me her last sparkler to make me feel better.”
“Starting this year I’m charging. That last sparkler’s gonna cost you.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yep. Better pucker up if you want it.”
“That’s all? I thought it was going to be something serious.” Serah flaunted a quick smirk.
Lightning waved her light around in front of her playfully, or more like absently, finding her attention beginning to fall more towards Serah and the sparks lighting her eyes, who seemed just as distracted as by her sister’s smile. Their gazes met perfectly innocently; Lightning tried to brush it off, but Serah was not so quick to give up and pushed their sparklers away to make room to sneak a kiss in.
Lightning grinned again. “I don’t accept early payment, you know.”
“That wasn’t for the sparkler, it was for you.”
Watching Serah's lips smile as she said that blossomed warmth within Lightning.
"Can I have another?"
"Greedy this year, aren't we?" Serah teased, despite leaning in to press her lips to Lightning's cheek.
"Only honest," Lightning murmured rather earnestly, finding Serah's hand and squeezing it. Serah remained close and squeezed back, studying her sister's suddenly heavy stare, understanding the kind of longing feeling it was full of.
"Hey. Don't go getting so sentimental on me now." Lightning half-rolled her eyes as an excuse to drop them to the wooden floor as their sparklers burned out into silence. “Claire?”
It had taken so many years full of mistakes, but Claire now understood her many sensitive and sentimental feelings with perfect clarity. Though she never learned how to put them into words, if only because Serah already knew without needing to hear a word.
"I just really love you Serah."
Serah plucked the dead sparkler from her hand and set them aside on the railing before stepping in and hugging her, arms snug around her back.
"I really love you too Claire."
Whether watching the grand firework festival on the Bodhum shore or privately celebrating their bond in their backyard; when they were together, they felt at the center of everything.