Title: Eros - Chapter 3
Pairing: Lanille (Lightning/Vanille)
Rating: M for language and Fang
Words: 1,783
Song Inspiration: None
Summary: Two of the unspoken rules of relationships is to never have one with your best friend's sibling, or your sibling's best friend. Somehow, Lightning and Vanille have managed to break both of those rules.

A/N: So this is a thing... I actually have had half this chapter written for the last three years. Thankful for it, since I had a place to pick up on it. Now, I will try to finish this fic out, but don't expect this to be a priority over anything else I'm releasing or writing. Sorry! The final chapter will be out when it's out (pretty sure it won't be three years lol). But please enjoy this one!

She's cold, way too cold! That doesn't make sense; it's spring… Whatever, she's still very tired. And very sore. Wow, really sore, actually. It's a delicious type of soreness, one that pulls and tugs at her muscles like a post workout ache. Vanille lets out a short mewl at her discomfort, pushing and pressing her body into… oh. Right.

"'Wake already?" a voice rumbles in her ear. "Too early. Back t' sleep."

Oh, Lightning's adorable when she's sleepy. But she's right. The sun hasn't even risen. Vanille shuts her eyes again. The arm and leg thrown around her tighten, pulling her closer. She feels engulfed, suddenly warm, and oh so safe.

Back to sleep it is.

When she awakens next, Vanille's groggy and sluggish with a peppering of disorientation. She swears she hears something akin to a door shutting in the distance, but ugh… maybe she should get herself oriented first.

She lifts her head, and her vision spins for a second, before she's pulled back onto the bed.

Lightning whispers from behind. "You're leaving now? At least let me make you breakfast first."

Vanille stretches out like a lazy cat, aiming to respond, until she hears shuffling outside the room. "Did you hear that?" She tenses, fear of a potential intruder paralyzing her.

It's now that Vanille realizes she's near naked. Her panties are missing, probably on the other side of the room, if last night's memory serves her well. Her bra hangs off one shoulder under one of Lightning's t-shirts.

Lightning herself doesn't have the same problem. She springs up in a second, snatching a tanktop off the floor as she marches out the room, closing the door behind her.

Vanille can hear Lightning's raspy morning voice from beyond the door. "Serah, what are you-"

That's sort of a relief to Vanille until an irritated string of Oerban catches her ear. Her heart drops immediately, and she gets a small case of the shakes.

Why is Fang here? With Serah? She realizes how ridiculous of a question that is considering she spent the night at Lightning's place.

"Lightning," Fang starts. She's calm, way too calm, an obvious sign she's beyond pissed. "Now, don't lie to me when I ask this, but… where's my sister?"

Oh, no! Vanille takes this as her cue to start moving. At this point, there's no escaping being found out. She scrambles out of bed, throwing her head around looking for her underwear. Just as she's found the discarded pair, Fang speaks again.

"What? Potcat got ya tongue? Answer me!"

Lightning is stalling, that much is evident. Before she answers, Vanille paws at the bedroom door, hanging her head, before pulling it open. The room falls silent as she ambles in, shaking to her core. She peers up. Fang glares at her with arms folded. The corded muscles in her arms flex as clenches and unclenches her hand. Yeah, she's totally pissed all right. Serah stands just a foot away from her, disapproval and disappointment marring her features. How did they even find out anyway? Were she and Lightning not careful enough?

"Oh, look who it is!" Fang's voice exudes venom. Vanille can't remember the last time she's heard her this angry.

Serah looks mortified. Her face drains of color, as if she can't believe her eyes. If Vanille had been standing in her shoes, she can't deny that she would have been just as shocked. With that thought, the first pangs of guilt stab her chest. Was any of this even worth it in the end?

"Do either of you wanna explain what's going on here?"

Vanille fidgets where she stands just behind Lightning. Lightning stands still as a statue.

"All right, well since neither of you wanna say shit." Fang directs her glare at Vanille. "How about you start talking, Vanille?"

Vanille's ears perk up, and both Lightning and Serah look uncomfortable. Fang has switched to Oerban, which she never does in the presence of company for fear of sounding rude. But at home, they spoke nearly all the time. It shakes her to the core.

Fang waits for an answer. Vanille knows she can't stall any longer. Oh dear…

At last, she croaks out a response, throat dry still dry from the night before. "Fang… I-I don't know what-"

"Van…" It's barely above a whisper but Lightning's voice comforts her, even just a little.

Fang interrupts. "You know what? Forget it. I'll start." And immediately, she's back to common language. "Lightning, did you fuck my sister?"

Serah's eyebrow raises as if she's eager to hear the answer as well. Which she probably is.

Lightning says nothing for a record time. Fang shifts her weight from foot to foot as her fist clenches and unclenches at her side. She isn't letting either of them off for this.

"Light?" Serah's voice rings out.

Serah's sort of a weakness for Lightning, and if Vanille didn't do something, she might spill more than intended. It's an underhanded trick on Serah's part, but effective, she knows.

Vanille speaks up. "Yeah, yeah we did. All night." Both Fang and Serah recoil at the statement. "Because we chose to. Because we made that-"

SMACK!

Lightning falls against the wall with a thud. Vanille's heart sinks to her stomach as time seems to slow to a halt. Fang's able to land two blows to the face before Lightning shields herself and Serah pulls her back by the collar, yelling at her at the top of her lungs. And Vanille stands there, frozen in time, trying to move but just not finding the courage.

"I swear to fucking god, Lightning, I will kill you!"

Vanille seethes on the inside, partly understanding why Fang would even think about lashing out like that, and partly because Lightning did nothing to defend herself. Why?

Fang allows herself to be held back by Serah who continues to yell in her ear, threatening to do all types of unrealistic things to her aside from just leaving.

Vanille kneels next to Lightning, examining for wounds. Her lip's cut pretty badly on the left, more so from her own teeth than the actual blows. Her left eye, however, puffs red under the socket. She's seen that many times before with Fang. It'll be a black eye sooner than later.

Fang paces around angrily, muttering every swear under the sun, Oerban included. She stops, glaring at Lightning, then Vanille, then paces again. It takes some time, but Serah ceases her yelling at Fang to check on Lightning. Fang snorts at this and watches with a roll of her eyes.

"Claire. Look at me. Can you see me?" Serah says, going through a slew of questions for her well-being.

Vanille stands, gritting her teeth as she stares Fang down. Fang stands there, face turned up in disgust. Finally, she gathers the courage to yell in Oerban. "Get out."

Fang stares her down, turning up her nose.

"NOW! Leave, Fang!"

Fang takes her sweet time staring at Serah huddled over Lightning, but eventually, she stomps out of the condo, muttering to herself and slamming the front door.

Vanille sighs, hands shaking as she places them over her mouth. She squeezes her eyes shut before turning to sit next to Lightning, whose propped up against the wall. Tears burn her eyes.

"Hey, Light, you okay?"

Lightning doesn't answer, not immediately anyway. Instead, she huffs, shaking her head. "I… I should have said something." She pauses before speaking again. "I knew I should have said something."

"Maybe, but that doesn't give Fang the right to go off on you like that," Serah chimes in. "I shouldn't have brought her here in the first place."

"Stop, Serah. I think you at least had some right to know."

Vanille ignores both of them. She cups Lightning's cheek, rubbing her thumb just below the puffy eye. She honestly can't begin to comprehend the pain and embarrassment that Lightning had to be feeling right now, especially after taking the blow following Vanille's words about them. If Vanille could switch places with her she would. "Please tell me how you're feeling."

Lightning scoffs. "Like I got punched in the face by my best friend. I knew she had a mean hook, but not that good. Gonna have to take some pointers from that one."

Vanille sighs, a hint of annoyance marring the exhalation of breath. It dissipates in seconds as she leans forward to rest her forehead against Lightning's, her hand resting on the back of Lightning's neck. Serah is temporarily forgotten; nothing else in the world mattering except Lightning. Her Lightning.

They sit there for an undetermined amount of time.

Serah clears her throat, and Vanille acknowledges her existence again. "I didn't know it was this serious between you two."

"I should have told you…" Lightning repeats, breaking away from Vanille.

"It would have been nice to know," Serah says, and Vanille can hear a hint of annoyance in her voice. "But, sis, you know you can talk to me about anything."

Lightning shakes her head. "I know…"

Vanille can hear Serah smile. "We can talk about this later. I should go talk to Fang."

"Okay."

Vanille finally pulls away to turn towards Serah. She almost can't bare to initiate eye contact. "I'm sorry about this Serah."

"Later, Vanille. Just take of Light for me, please?"

Vanille nods.

Serah gets up and leaves, locking the front door behind her.

Vanille nearly collapses by Lightning before she springs up, forgetting about Lightning's injury. She throws ice in a plastic bag and runs to the bathroom to wrap it in a towel. She returns, watching Lightning stare at the floor and touching her face. The bruise is already setting in.

"Here. Put this on." She hands Lightning the ice.

Lightning takes it, reluctantly, and sets it on her cheek. She doesn't say anything, just stares at the floor like she's deep in thought.

"Light…"

She doesn't answer.

"Light, look at me."

She does.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Do what?"

Vanille purses her lips and tilts her head. Lightning can try to play dumb all she wants, but she isn't getting away with it. "You didn't have to take that. Light… why- why didn't you fight back? It's Fang. You could have put her in her place-"

"Van, please."

"Lightning. Tell me." Vanille cups Lightning's free cheek, trying to get her to make eye contact.

Lightning hesitates. She sighs as she links her fingers with Vanille's. "I felt… like I deserved it."

Vanille's heart drops to the pit of her stomach at Lightning's words. She leans in once more, wrapping her arms around Lightning's neck as tears burn her eyes.