It's a battle of attrition, really. If the fortress is too strong for a direct assault, cut off their food supply and wait it out. Up against an army with superior numbers, strike from afar with arrows to whittle their forces down.

If it's Lightning and her obsessive need to overwork herself? Well, Fang's got artillery for that, too.

It starts early in the morning. Fang is well in-tune with her inner clock while Lightning relies on the digital variety. When the alarm goes off, the soldier is up and out of her grasp in seconds, already preparing mentally and physically for her day. So the huntress wakes herself early, her lover snug and warm within her arms. This is where she tends to strike too soon. The smell of Lightning, oftentimes lingering with the scent of sex from a long night previous, and the feel of her body pressed back against her so perfectly, Fang is restless. But moving in now gives Lightning too much time later to get her senses back together and her walls reinforced.

Plus, it's just not as much fun as what Fang has planned and she's patient, if all those years of hunting and crystal stasis taught her anything. She just has to weaken her target a bit before she strikes, and the reward would be glorious.

So she shifts Lightning slowly, gently without waking her, and casually drapes her own body across the soldier, weighing her down. The alarm sounds and Lightning jerks awake, automatically reaching to silence the obnoxious beeping. But she can't move, her auto-pilot effectively shut down as Fang's muscle-heavy form feigns sleep above her.

"Fang," she whispers with a bit of irritation, though the hand running through Fang's hair is tender and loving.

Fang murmurs, dropping lazy kisses over Lightning's chest as she pretends to awaken. But she can't get carried away, not yet. So she allows Lightning to roll out from under her. Before she goes, she kisses Fang on the lips, lingering slightly when Fang nibbles and Fang wonders if she's going to have an easier time of convincing Lightning of the day's schedule change. It's that moment of hesitation that she's looking for, the seeds of doubt to feed off the soldier's resolve until she can't think to say no.

Fang props herself on an elbow, letting the sheets fall to her naked waist and her eyes draw patterns over her lover's body. She knows Lightning is aware of her and her eyes flick constantly toward the bed as she moves about the room. She disappears into the bathroom.

She could go in now, Fang thinks. Wait until she hears the shower and then sneak in and surprise her as she presses her soapy form against the wall. But it would be over too fast and they would have plenty of time for that later if things went according to plan.

So she waits, continues to wait even when Lightning leaves the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Fang stretches on the bed, a pleased hum in the back of her throat that has Lightning's eyes snapping over to her. Hiding a smirk, Fang leisurely drags herself out of bed when Lightning is half dressed, pausing just long enough to trail a hand up the soldier's arm and plant a soft, moist kiss on her bare shoulder, murmuring a subtle, sultry 'Morning, love'. She moves away toward the bathroom, tossing a dark look over her shoulder and she almost laughs at the way Lightning stares at her, halfway into her shirt, confusion and indecision written all over her features.

But Fang knows she won't follow. She's still too strong. For all her lazy, sauntering display earlier, Fang is quick to finish her own shower and hurry to the kitchen. She can't let up her assault for too long and now she's relentless as she appears in merely a black bra and panties, sidling up behind Lightning while she's pouring her coffee. Fang reaches to the cupboard overhead for a cup and brushes against the soldier, making her jump and spill some of her coffee. Lightning curses, turning with the intent to glare at Fang but suddenly can't raise her eyes above her shoulders.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Fang says quietly, invading the soldier's space. Her arm is still reaching past Lightning toward the cupboard. Her eyes flick to the coffee drops on Lightning's gloved hand. "Want me to get that for you?" Lightning's eyes have raised, but only to get caught on Fang's tongue as it slips out and wets her bottom lip. It's a near thing, but Lightning's impressive fortitude wins out and she slips past Fang to grab a paper towel, mumbling that she'd take care of it.

They've sat themselves at the table now, breakfast and a newspaper split between them and it looks like Fang has given Lightning a reprieve, but all Lightning is looking at are the fingertips that Fang is idly dragging across herself, over her chest, along the swell of her breasts and the edge of her bra, up the strap to her shoulder and then back down.

"What?" Lightning asks, whatever Fang had said going right over her head.

"I said, what do you have going on at work?"

"Uh. Well, all the patrol routes are covered, so I'll be inside mostly. There are new recruits coming in. But they won't be fully transferred for a while. And there's always some papers to fill out." So nothing, really. Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. Or next week.

Fang raises her eyes from the paper, not having any idea what was in it. She places her elbow on the table and cradles her chin in her hand. Her eyes are seductively narrowed. "I suppose Hope knows how to do most of the paperwork," she says conversationally.

"Yeah," Lightning nods robotically. "Yeah."

There's a moment of staring before Lightning draws on the last remains of her willpower. She sucks in a breath as though to steady herself and glances at the clock. "I better go."

Fang follows her to the door, silent and close as a shadow. Lightning picks up her gunblade and turns to her half-naked girlfriend, fingers fidgeting on the handle of her weapon.

"Well, goodbye."

Fang is quiet as she watches her, but there's a gentleness in her forest green eyes that's beginning to do funny things to Lightning's heart. She's about to turn away before she's stopped. "Aren't you forgetting something, sunshine?"

She looks back and Fang hasn't moved so it's up to her to close the distance. Fang tilts her head slightly, eyes eternally adoring as Lightning raises up and kisses her.

After a moment, Fang reaches forward and closes her hand over Lightning's. Her fingers go slack over the gunblade and Fang takes it from her, dropping it to the side, disarming her at last. The weapon thuds onto the floor and there's no resistance left when Fang presses Lightning up against the door.

Their lips are gentle and eager as they move against each other and Lightning's arms slowly make their way around Fang's neck. Fang has already undone the buckles on Lightning's uniform by the time Lightning lets out a breathless huff and wraps her legs around Fang's waist. "Dammit, just take me to bed already."

Fang grabs her thighs and pulls her from the door, obeying like a good soldier even though she's feeling like a war hero. Clothes fall behind them in a trail like the tattered remains of Lightning's resolve.

It's a bit late by the time Fang releases Lightning long enough to call in sick, but her voice is pretty hoarse by then so no one's arguing.

Author's Notes:

Prompt #62: Fang persuades Lightning to call in sick and stay in bed with her.

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Just wanted to write something short and sweet, because I am incredibly slow when trying to write a story. Any other short/fun/fluffy prompts that I (hopefully) get around to writing, I'll just post here.

I really need more practice.