FFIV: The Concept of Feet In Mouths
Fandom: Final Fantasy IV
Pairing: Kain/Edge
Warnings: None
Rating: PG13
Summary: Edge, trying to get under Kain's skin. For lassarina, for Christmas, horribly belated and possibly horribly written since parts of it were done in the depths of writer's block. Hopefully not the latter!
"Not dancing?"
Kain barely bothers to look up at Edge. He tenses up, though, battle-trained senses all suddenly on the alert, his stance stiffening. Edge isn't in the slightest bit daunted or impressed. He rolls his eyes.
"Silent treatment? You know I can always get you to talk." He sighs softly and finds a section of the wall -- near Kain, but not too near -- to lean against, closing his eyes to block out the sight of Rydia dancing, bright and happy and beyond him. He nudges Kain. "I'd've thought you'd be with Cecil and Rosa. I know they've missed you, and you've probably missed -- "
"Shut up," Kain says, quietly. His voice sounds heavy, sad, and as though he hasn't spoken to anyone in a while. He's only been off Mount Ordeals a couple of days, Edge remembers, and sighs at the dragoon's idiocies. Not that he himself is much better sometimes, but -- "Shouldn't you be with Rydia?"
He's sure that tone in Kain's voice is mocking. "No."
"Why not?"
Edge ponders, for a moment, the part of him that is suddenly caught by the vague interest on Kain's face, caught by the glitter of his eyes and the brief flash of a smile waiting there for a reason. And then he shakes his head, trying to shake those thoughts away. "She doesn't want to dance with me today, god knows why. You know. A woman thing, I think."
"I wonder," Kain says, and gives him an odd look.
"What?"
"She's free now," is all he says, now, and Edge takes one look at him and goes, annoyed and stung by the dismissive look in his eyes.
---
It only takes a second of looking at Kain to know that something is wrong. Mind you, Edge thinks, ruefully: with Kain, something usually is. Still... he turns and follows Kain along the corridor, falling into step beside him and waiting to be acknowledged -- not noticed, because Kain will have already noticed him, evaluated the pros and cons of saying hi, and dismissed him as irrelevant.
Edge doesn't know about anyone else, but he hates the idea of being irrelevant.
"I noticed Rydia turning you down," Kain says, after a minute of silence. Edge stops walking. Surprisingly, Kain stops as well, crossing his arms in front of his chest and regarding Edge with a cool look in his eyes -- as if no matter what Edge does, he isn't going to be anything but distant and disinterested. Edge hates that, too.
"Yeah, well, I said she was being like that," he says, with a shrug.
"She was dancing with that courtier."
"You know," Edge says, narrowing his eyes a little into an almost-glare, "if I wasn't really, really trying to make an effort and be friends with you, I'd punch you right now. What Rydia does is none of your business, and whether I'm interested in dancing with her or continuing to follow her around like a lost puppy isn't your business either."
"I'd advise against it."
"Against what? Punching you? I could take -- "
Kain rolls his eyes. "Making an effort. Trying to be friends with me."
Edge opens his mouth to retort and then, for once, looking before he leaps, closes it and tries to figure out what the hell is wrong with Kain. The dragoon stands there and waits, patiently, as if he has absolutely nowhere else to go, and that's probably absolutely true. Edge sighs softly. He hates guessing games, even ones like this where it isn't really a game and more like some dragoon's social life totally put on the line. "Why?"
"It's just not worth it."
There's something in Kain's tone which suggests that, first off, he actually believes that, and secondly, he has no idea why anyone needs to actually ask. Edge tries to think of something to say in response, but Kain has already stalked off, closing a door firmly in his face.
Well then.
---
"Whoa!"
Kain blinks a little and slowly lowers the lance, the guarded look on his face not fading even a little. Of course, it wouldn't. Edge is starting to think Kain'd look naked without it. He holds up a bottle of wine, trying to look sheepish.
"Drink."
He has no idea why Kain actually lays the lance aside and steps back, letting him in, but he figures it's a good thing. He even remembered glasses -- something that, when he tried to use this tactic on Rydia, he sort of failed on. He sits down on Kain's bed, figuring he might as well make himself at home, and fiddles with the cork for a good minute before Kain takes it off him, an almost bemused look on his face, and gets rid of the cork.
"I thought you might like some company," he says, as if that explains everything, and fills his own glass.
"I don't drink."
"Your loss," Edge says, shrugging.
---
He'd like to say he hasn't slept so comfortably in a long time, but, in fact, he has, a lot more comfortably, even. Kain is all bony and they don't fit together particularly well, at least not when they've passed out on top of each other after what felt then like the millionth bottle of wine. Keeping a stock of decent wine was a good idea at least, although drinking a lot of it, maybe not so much.
"Mrrfff," is about the best he can manage towards a 'good morning', which doesn't produce entirely wonderful results in itself, since Kain sits up quickly enough to almost knock Edge onto the floor, only grabbing him as a kind of afterthought. "Wha -- ?"
"Did we...?"
Edge raises an eyebrow. Kain looks uncomfortable, of all things, edgy. Certainly not distant or withdrawn, though he'd obviously prefer something a little more positive. Still, a response is a response is a response. "Did we what? Get drunk on wine? Unfortunately, yes. And that last bottle, I think, wasn't so good as the rest. What do you -- "
Kain's face hardens into blankness again. "Did we have sex?"
"Are we naked?" Edge asks, annoyed now by the blankness and by the flicker of maybe-perhaps-disgust in Kain's eyes.
"Did we?"
"I wish," he says, finally, annoyed by Kain's denseness and now, somehow, annoyed that they didn't. He gets up and straightens up his clothes as much as he can, heading for the door. He half hopes that Kain will follow him, but at the same time, he really hopes not.
---
Eblan has never been so boring, not even after everyone came and stayed for weeks, filling the place with life for that time, and then all leaving on the same day. There's stuff to do -- there's always stuff to do -- but none of it holds Edge's attention, because he's thinking, for reasons unbeknown to himself, about Kain, and how stupid Kain is, and how he wishes (somehow, maybe) there'd been more.
And how stupid he is, if he's honest, which he prefers not to be.
He shouldn't be quite so pleased to hear that Kain has arrived demanding to see him, but somehow, he is. Somehow, he got some kind of reaction from Kain and by now he realises he doesn't even care whether Kain wants to kill him or kiss him. It was Rosa, he realises, belatedly, that caused Kain's deadening. Four sentences or so into a conversation with him and he'd put his foot in it and not even realised.
Well. He realises now.
"What did you mean by 'I wish'?"
"Kain," he says, rolling his eyes at the lack of greeting.
"Edge," Kain says, belatedly, as if realising that maybe some acknowledgement would fit in there. Edge wonders exactly how much Mount Ordeals did towards wearing down his social skills. "What did you mean by 'I wish'?"
There're lots of things he could say to that, some of them sarcastic. But he really, really isn't in that kind of mood, so he just shrugs a little, like he didn't know, like it was a spur of the moment thing. Easier that way, really.
Kain hesitates for a moment. Finally he shakes his head, turning on his heel. "I wouldn't be any good as a lover anyway."
Lover. Oh.
Edge jumps up and runs after him, catching his wrist and forcing him to turn around -- which is a harder task than it maybe should be. "You're an idiot," he says, in a decisive tone, and then kisses Kain eagerly, and Kain kisses back with the kind of cautious eagerness that Edge, first off, finds a big turn on, and secondly, realises means that Kain really has wanted this for a while, and maybe it wasn't all Rosa.
Well, then.
"We can always try," he explains, when he pulls back and catches Kain looking rather confused. "The lovers thing, I mean."
Pairing: Kain/Edge
Warnings: None
Rating: PG13
Summary: Edge, trying to get under Kain's skin. For lassarina, for Christmas, horribly belated and possibly horribly written since parts of it were done in the depths of writer's block. Hopefully not the latter!
"Not dancing?"
Kain barely bothers to look up at Edge. He tenses up, though, battle-trained senses all suddenly on the alert, his stance stiffening. Edge isn't in the slightest bit daunted or impressed. He rolls his eyes.
"Silent treatment? You know I can always get you to talk." He sighs softly and finds a section of the wall -- near Kain, but not too near -- to lean against, closing his eyes to block out the sight of Rydia dancing, bright and happy and beyond him. He nudges Kain. "I'd've thought you'd be with Cecil and Rosa. I know they've missed you, and you've probably missed -- "
"Shut up," Kain says, quietly. His voice sounds heavy, sad, and as though he hasn't spoken to anyone in a while. He's only been off Mount Ordeals a couple of days, Edge remembers, and sighs at the dragoon's idiocies. Not that he himself is much better sometimes, but -- "Shouldn't you be with Rydia?"
He's sure that tone in Kain's voice is mocking. "No."
"Why not?"
Edge ponders, for a moment, the part of him that is suddenly caught by the vague interest on Kain's face, caught by the glitter of his eyes and the brief flash of a smile waiting there for a reason. And then he shakes his head, trying to shake those thoughts away. "She doesn't want to dance with me today, god knows why. You know. A woman thing, I think."
"I wonder," Kain says, and gives him an odd look.
"What?"
"She's free now," is all he says, now, and Edge takes one look at him and goes, annoyed and stung by the dismissive look in his eyes.
---
It only takes a second of looking at Kain to know that something is wrong. Mind you, Edge thinks, ruefully: with Kain, something usually is. Still... he turns and follows Kain along the corridor, falling into step beside him and waiting to be acknowledged -- not noticed, because Kain will have already noticed him, evaluated the pros and cons of saying hi, and dismissed him as irrelevant.
Edge doesn't know about anyone else, but he hates the idea of being irrelevant.
"I noticed Rydia turning you down," Kain says, after a minute of silence. Edge stops walking. Surprisingly, Kain stops as well, crossing his arms in front of his chest and regarding Edge with a cool look in his eyes -- as if no matter what Edge does, he isn't going to be anything but distant and disinterested. Edge hates that, too.
"Yeah, well, I said she was being like that," he says, with a shrug.
"She was dancing with that courtier."
"You know," Edge says, narrowing his eyes a little into an almost-glare, "if I wasn't really, really trying to make an effort and be friends with you, I'd punch you right now. What Rydia does is none of your business, and whether I'm interested in dancing with her or continuing to follow her around like a lost puppy isn't your business either."
"I'd advise against it."
"Against what? Punching you? I could take -- "
Kain rolls his eyes. "Making an effort. Trying to be friends with me."
Edge opens his mouth to retort and then, for once, looking before he leaps, closes it and tries to figure out what the hell is wrong with Kain. The dragoon stands there and waits, patiently, as if he has absolutely nowhere else to go, and that's probably absolutely true. Edge sighs softly. He hates guessing games, even ones like this where it isn't really a game and more like some dragoon's social life totally put on the line. "Why?"
"It's just not worth it."
There's something in Kain's tone which suggests that, first off, he actually believes that, and secondly, he has no idea why anyone needs to actually ask. Edge tries to think of something to say in response, but Kain has already stalked off, closing a door firmly in his face.
Well then.
---
"Whoa!"
Kain blinks a little and slowly lowers the lance, the guarded look on his face not fading even a little. Of course, it wouldn't. Edge is starting to think Kain'd look naked without it. He holds up a bottle of wine, trying to look sheepish.
"Drink."
He has no idea why Kain actually lays the lance aside and steps back, letting him in, but he figures it's a good thing. He even remembered glasses -- something that, when he tried to use this tactic on Rydia, he sort of failed on. He sits down on Kain's bed, figuring he might as well make himself at home, and fiddles with the cork for a good minute before Kain takes it off him, an almost bemused look on his face, and gets rid of the cork.
"I thought you might like some company," he says, as if that explains everything, and fills his own glass.
"I don't drink."
"Your loss," Edge says, shrugging.
---
He'd like to say he hasn't slept so comfortably in a long time, but, in fact, he has, a lot more comfortably, even. Kain is all bony and they don't fit together particularly well, at least not when they've passed out on top of each other after what felt then like the millionth bottle of wine. Keeping a stock of decent wine was a good idea at least, although drinking a lot of it, maybe not so much.
"Mrrfff," is about the best he can manage towards a 'good morning', which doesn't produce entirely wonderful results in itself, since Kain sits up quickly enough to almost knock Edge onto the floor, only grabbing him as a kind of afterthought. "Wha -- ?"
"Did we...?"
Edge raises an eyebrow. Kain looks uncomfortable, of all things, edgy. Certainly not distant or withdrawn, though he'd obviously prefer something a little more positive. Still, a response is a response is a response. "Did we what? Get drunk on wine? Unfortunately, yes. And that last bottle, I think, wasn't so good as the rest. What do you -- "
Kain's face hardens into blankness again. "Did we have sex?"
"Are we naked?" Edge asks, annoyed now by the blankness and by the flicker of maybe-perhaps-disgust in Kain's eyes.
"Did we?"
"I wish," he says, finally, annoyed by Kain's denseness and now, somehow, annoyed that they didn't. He gets up and straightens up his clothes as much as he can, heading for the door. He half hopes that Kain will follow him, but at the same time, he really hopes not.
---
Eblan has never been so boring, not even after everyone came and stayed for weeks, filling the place with life for that time, and then all leaving on the same day. There's stuff to do -- there's always stuff to do -- but none of it holds Edge's attention, because he's thinking, for reasons unbeknown to himself, about Kain, and how stupid Kain is, and how he wishes (somehow, maybe) there'd been more.
And how stupid he is, if he's honest, which he prefers not to be.
He shouldn't be quite so pleased to hear that Kain has arrived demanding to see him, but somehow, he is. Somehow, he got some kind of reaction from Kain and by now he realises he doesn't even care whether Kain wants to kill him or kiss him. It was Rosa, he realises, belatedly, that caused Kain's deadening. Four sentences or so into a conversation with him and he'd put his foot in it and not even realised.
Well. He realises now.
"What did you mean by 'I wish'?"
"Kain," he says, rolling his eyes at the lack of greeting.
"Edge," Kain says, belatedly, as if realising that maybe some acknowledgement would fit in there. Edge wonders exactly how much Mount Ordeals did towards wearing down his social skills. "What did you mean by 'I wish'?"
There're lots of things he could say to that, some of them sarcastic. But he really, really isn't in that kind of mood, so he just shrugs a little, like he didn't know, like it was a spur of the moment thing. Easier that way, really.
Kain hesitates for a moment. Finally he shakes his head, turning on his heel. "I wouldn't be any good as a lover anyway."
Lover. Oh.
Edge jumps up and runs after him, catching his wrist and forcing him to turn around -- which is a harder task than it maybe should be. "You're an idiot," he says, in a decisive tone, and then kisses Kain eagerly, and Kain kisses back with the kind of cautious eagerness that Edge, first off, finds a big turn on, and secondly, realises means that Kain really has wanted this for a while, and maybe it wasn't all Rosa.
Well, then.
"We can always try," he explains, when he pulls back and catches Kain looking rather confused. "The lovers thing, I mean."