Surprise! A fic that has nothing to do with receiving a request. Uh... not likely there will be many of these. ^_^

High School A/U. Noel is older than Hope by a year and about 17 in this one. Fic includes angsty teen!Hope, mentions of bullying and two boys making out.

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters... do own the bad writing.

Telling

"Caius kissed me."

Hope stopped writing as he looked towards his best friend Noel, who was currently spread out on his back across Hope's bed. The older boy had supposedly come over to study but had yet to crack open a single text book, instead choosing to stare at nothing while Hope did his own homework.

That in itself wasn't unusual; Noel had a knack for girl trouble that often left him confused and neglecting his studies. Most times these silences tended to be punctuated with phrases like 'I messed up…' or 'But she asked!' before Hope would remind Noel that he was better off ranting to Serah about his girlfriends. Hope could care less about his love life.

This was different.

"I thought he hated you." Noel groaned in response as he flipped over to look at Hope.

"Yeah, me too. Caius has always been a dick to me in class." He scratched the back of his head, one of the brunet's nervous ticks, before continuing. "He said that confessing to me was one of his steps in group."

"Caius goes to group?" Homework forgotten; Hope set down his pencil to give all his attention to Noel. He didn't care that Caius had kissed his friend, not at all, he was just curious about Noel's reaction. Hope always had the impression that Noel was straight, the older jock certainly had more than a handful of girlfriends in the time they had known each other. So the fact that Noel hadn't gone postal over Caius kissing him was... interesting.

"Yeah, some kind of anger management, love thyself thing. I told him that next time he wants to confess his feelings he should use words instead of his tongue."

"So, how'd he take it?" Hope found himself digging for more details in spite of himself. His assumption was that Noel had rejected the upperclassman but what if he was wrong?

"He was probably glad I didn't punch him in the face. He apologized and then told me to stay away from his sister."

"Didn't you already go out with her?"

Noel snickered.

"Yeul? Sure, a long time ago but he doesn't need to know that." The older boy went silent, his face becoming a bit more serious than usual. "It's just-" Another pause, Noel sounded nervous. "I didn't hate it." Hope felt his heart clench lightly in his chest. That certainly explained Noel's melancholy.

"Okay." Hope began to wonder if maybe he should just change the subject before Noel spoke again. What his friend was saying was starting to feel too personal. There was a reason why Hope always vetted the touchy-feely stuff to Serah; he just didn't know how to respond when Noel got emotional. It brought up feelings he didn't want to deal with; not that he actually cared about who Noel went out with, or talked to, or did anything with.

That wasn't any of Hope's business.

"That's all you have to say?" Noel asked, incredulous. Unsure how to respond, Hope just kept his mouth shut, though he turned his head away from the older boy and started looking back at his text books. "Hope, I like guys."

"So?" Hope still didn't turn back, instead picking up his pencil and making like he was going to go back to his homework, even though it was the last thing on his mind.

"So? Come on Hope, I'm trying to tell you something important and you're putting me off." Hope jolted when he felt the brush of Noel's hand against his shoulder not noticing that the brunet had come down from the bed and was now on his knees next to him. It was too much, too much and Hope found himself slapping that hand away as he turned towards his best friend and let it all out.

"Fine, you're gay or bi or whatever… Congratulations, welcome to the club!" Shit, he hadn't meant to say that.

"You're gay?" Blue eyes were wide as they watched Hope as he tried to recover from blurting out everything he had never meant to say. "I honestly thought you were asexual or something. You never talked about liking anybody."

"It doesn't matter." It didn't. Years ago Hope learned he was better off keeping that kind of information to himself. The one time he hadn't resulted in his back being slammed against the lockers while his crush at the time and his friends beat him up. That was before he even met Noel but it was enough to keep him from ever telling anyone his preferences again.

The only one who knew was his mom because she just knew him so well and loved him regardless. Unfortunately that resulted in him going out of his way to convince her that Noel wasn't his boyfriend when he brought the older boy home the first time and begged her not to say anything.

"Oh Hope, I'm so sorry." Warm arms wrapped themselves around Hope's body as Noel hugged him. "I didn't know." Dammit, Hope could feel the tears starting in his eyes as he pushed Noel away again, though it didn't seem at all like the other boy was offended. Noel knew Hope didn't really like to be touched, though he often ignored that fact when he was excited, or when he thought Hope needed it regardless of what the silver haired teen said. Noel was far too good at reading him sometimes. It was honestly a bit surprising that he hadn't just figured out Hope's interest in other boys. Though Noel could be pretty stupid too. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah." Hope nodded as he wiped his eyes clear. "I uh, had a bad experience in junior high so I just don't tell anyone anymore."

"I'm sorry." Noel apologized again, though Hope didn't know why. He wasn't the one who hurt him.

"It's okay." He let out a mostly not-bitter laugh. "Obviously you're okay with it if you can handle Caius kissing you."

"True, though he's completely not my type." Noel chuckled before he turned serious again, scooting closer to Hope. "You know, I almost didn't tell you. I was scared you wouldn't want to be friends anymore but Serah said I should get it out in the open. Said I could trust you if you were really my friend."

"Wait, you already told Serah?" Hope looked Noel in the eyes, a small blush covering the brunet's cheeks.

"Uh, yeah. The kiss was recent but I've actually known for a while." Noel confessed. "I just didn't know how to tell you."

"Well, I'm glad you did." Silence punctuated the atmosphere as the two sat next to each other. So much had happened so quickly, saying anything just seemed weird. Of course a little weird never seemed to stop the brunet.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" Noel asked and Hope sighed. There was no getting out of this now so he might as well be honest. Besides, now that Noel was 'out' chances were that Hope was going to be the one that Noel went to about all his guy troubles, which sucked.

"No, I haven't." Not that he'd ever had the opportunity. That one time he opened himself up to someone backfired so badly, he forced himself to forget about being with anyone. Besides, relationships were messy anyways if Noel's love life was any indication and Hope liked focusing on his studies to get him through life.

"You're missing out. Kissing's pretty awesome."

"I wouldn't know." Hope rolled his eyes and flipped the pencil in his hand again, contemplating going back to his homework before Noel prodded him with more idiotic questions.

"I could show you." The pencil dropped as Hope's brain short circuited, green eyes widening at what Noel was saying. Not that he was given any chance to reply before Noel's hands came up to cradle his face and warm lips pressed against his own.

The kiss didn't last long but when Noel let him go, Hope felt completely breathless. His face and lips tingled where the other boy had touched him and Hope found himself unconsciously licking his lower lip as though it would tell him something about what the hell just happened. "That was, um…"

"Good? Nice? The best thing that's ever happened?" Noel was practically giggling at Hope's reaction. "Want to do it again?" Hope felt his face go completely crimson at the prospect but still found himself nodding regardless.

From there, Hope knew he wasn't going to get any homework done. No sooner than he'd given Noel permission he found himself on his back with Noel's body pinning him against the carpet, lips locked against his as the older boy slowly tested the boundaries of how far Hope would let him take this moment.

Of course with Noel's full lips moving against his own and the way it felt to finally give in to feelings that he'd been holding back for so long, Hope couldn't help but let the older boy do whatever he wanted. So when Noel opened his mouth and slid his tongue inside to play with his own, Hope couldn't stop himself from reciprocating the action. Nor did he mind the way the other boys hands trailed up his body, the calluses that Hope had always noticed creating a delicious friction against his skin that he didn't think was possible; and when Noel pulled off his shirt before taking off Hope's so they could fully press skin to skin against one another as hands continued to roam between kisses, he also couldn't hear the opening of his bedroom door.

"Oh I just knew you two would get together!" Nora Estheim's voice squealed as she walked in on her son and his best friend. Hope broke the kiss, eyes wide and somewhat guilty looking as he stole a glance at Noel who looked pretty ravished and not at all insulted.

"Mom, get out!" Hope yelled before pulling Noel back against him.

Noel was right; kissing was awesome.