Room 504, Saturday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Being back in Fandom was a peculiar… sort of disconnect.

Ino was curled up on hers and Zack’s pushed together beds and pretending to read. Which was rather futile because she knew it was pretence and so it would have been more productive to actually do something…

But she didn’t really feel like it. There were a lot of things she had to think on, but those thoughts felt almost like she was clinging to broken glass in her hands, and that hurt.

Like a toothache, however, she couldn’t quite stop poking at them. Even when doing so only hurt things more.

And, turn the page. Keeping up appearances, even just to herself, was important.

She was supposed to be reading. Would claim to be reading.

But her gaze wasn't on the book.

[Open door and post!]

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[intraspective]

Because was totally not a good enough answer again, was it? Was it?

It was the one that kept coming to mind.

"Because I don't want you to tickle me," she decided, wriggling away. Still giggling.

[puppy_fair]

"Why noooooot?"

And now Zack was flopping over, rolling around and laying on his back and grinning up at her with bright, glowing-blue eyes. This was probably the most smiling he'd done in weeks, now, wasn't it?

"I liiiike tickling you!"

[intraspective]

Oh, well he was flopping down and grinning that way and that meant she had to roll over to press herself against him because that was just what she wanted to do.

"Well," she mused, "there's better things you could be doing..."

[puppy_fair]

"Do I have to guess?" It was entirely possible that his voice, which had been almost mellow for the better part of a year now, was lifting just a tiny bit, to that almost giddy lilt that he'd spoken with almost constantly before things had gone so badly with Angeal.

When Zack threw himself into denial with a vengeance, he didn't half-ass it.

"I could probably come up with some pretty crazy guesses, you know."

[intraspective]

"Ooooh?" Colour her amused. And--the denial was painful, in a way, and yet it was something they both needed right now, right this second. "Guess for me?"

And she'd even give him a wide-eyed adoring gaze in hopes that would spur him onward.

[puppy_fair]

"Weeeeell..." Since she'd asked so nicely, he was going to purse his lips, look up at the ceiling, and put some serious consideration into this. "Better than tickling?"

Serious, serious consideration.

"I could be doing squats," he mused, "or sorting my materia. And then there's probably studying to do, and working out, and feeding Mr. Winkles..."

Yep. He was putting a lot of thought into this.

"Or..."

This was, of course, where Zack managed to get from the flat of his back to his hands and knees, pinning her, grinning down at her playfully, and then stealing a kiss. Naturally!

[intraspective]

He could steal all her kisses, he truly could. Ino was certainly not protesting the sudden change of angle or how he was above her rather than under her.

Instead, she was going to use her time wisely to kiss him back.

"Kissing me," she murmured, placing another kiss to the side of his mouth. "Is on the same level as sorting your materia?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack laughed softly, leaning in to kiss her again, just because he could.

"No way," he replied. "Kissing you outranks it all. Easily."

[intraspective]

Her laugh was just as soft when she drew back from that kiss.

"I love you," she said, quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."

[puppy_fair]

"I love you too, Ino."

There came Zack's usual tone again, in shades of wry and mellow.

"Promise?"

Wry, and mellow, and maybe a little scared, but he was covering that all up with a smile and a sigh.

[intraspective]

She smiled up at him.

"Always," she promised, reaching out to brush a finger along his lips. "Forever and always, yours."