Author Note : Hello there! I like FF XIII the best among the other Final Fantasy series, and I love the Noel-Hope pairing the best. The story taken places on the New World, just a year after Lightning and friends beats Bhenuvelze. This fanfiction contains boy's love elements. If you don't like boy's love or yaoi, please don't read it. Original characters belong to Square Enix.

Picture on the cover was made by Suzumaru, I took the picture from Pixiv. He surely a great artist for those who love Light x Hope and Noel x Hope. Please enjoy the story.

– First Lesson -

It's a lovely day. The sapphire sky turned as red as ruby when the sun began to set. Hope stared at the sky through the window on the train. It has been a long time that he hasn't enjoyed such beautiful scenery. He usually spends most of his time by reading books at the Academia, or operating some machines he made. Hope looked at his phone as he smiled. He was really happy because Noel was just made a call, telling him to give a private tutor to Yeul who wants to enter the Academia.

Hope really missed Noel. Long time ago, they were teamed up together with Snow to save Cocoon from its fall. Working on the same organization made Hope and Noel lived together on one apartment, while Snow chose to stay separately on his organization base. Since he lived together with Noel, he became really close to Noel. However, as Bhunivelze took Hope, the distance between them became wider. Hope lost contact with Noel since Bhenuvelze using his body for his own will. He gained information about Noel again after the beginning of the New World that Lightning had saved.

He heard that Noel began his new life in the forest together with a young girl named Yeul. Yeul is a holly maiden, blessed with the power to see across time and dimension. It was a great ability with a big prices as the sacrifice… her life span. Long time ago people used Yeul's ability to get a guide for his career, love, or wealth. Noel didn't want Yeul to consume her life span anymore. That's why he hided Yeul from the society, so that no one will ask for her prophecy.

Noel said that lately Yeul has begun to feel lonely at the forest and she wanted to learn more about the world. That's why she wanted to enter the Academia. Noel was disagreed with her decision at first, but since Yeul insisted, Noel couldn't do anything.

Hope was agreed with Yeul's decision. Aside from incredible power she has, Yeul was just a normal girl who wanted to have a normal life. Hope thought that it's okay for her to go to school because Yeul has been able to control her power lately, and she promised that she wouldn't use her power recklessly.

Hope was wondered, why did his heart race after he heard Noel's voice on the phone. Hope still remembered about Noel's favorite food that he always cooks when they lived together on the apartment, his favorite clothes, his favorite movies, and everything that Noel likes. All that Hope could remember about Noel are all the happiness he shared with Noel.

Aside from all his happy memories, Hope also remembered about the time when they were having a fight. It was when Bhenuvelze who took his form as Lightning to lure him. Noel has warned him many times about the danger of chasing the Lightning images that he had in every of his dreams he has, but he never listens. At the end, they have a very big fight that ended up with a separation.

It was the only bitter memory that he has with Noel.

Since the beginning of the new world, Hope has tried many ways to contact Noel,. He really wanted to apology for what he had did to Noel before, but he had never got any reply from Noel. That's why he was really happy as he got a call from Noel, and he really hoped that he could fix his friendship again with Noel.

Just an hour earlier, Noel told Hope that he wanted to meet at the station. However, Noel cancelled it, saying that he got something to do. Hope was disappoint, but he tried to understand Noel's condition. Noel is a hunter who has a great responsibility to protect the town from the monsters and to keep the forest from any illegal hunters. No wonder he was really busy.

It's a little hard for Hope to find a way to Noel's house. However, after a very long walk, he was managed to arrive at Noel's house just before dark.

He was surprise as he saw Noel has been waiting for him in front of his house.

" HOPE! I'm glad that you've arrived here before dark. I was about to call you, but it was pretty hard to get any signal here…"

Hope gave Noel a small laughter. " The map you've made was really messy… Lucky for me, I'm already used to read your messy maps before…"

" I'm sorry for having no drawing ability… but I'm sure that with your intelligent, you would be able to read them… "

Hope couldn't help but laughed.

" Oh, yeah, since it's already dark, let's enter the house. I want to introduce you to Yeul…" Noel waved at Yeul who was still playing with her wolf named Caiuss.

Hope looked at the girl that ran toward him. Yeul looks just like what he read from the book before. A porcelain fair skin, a very long silky azure hair, and the deer antler as the ornament on her hair, all were written on the books. She has a very pretty face, but she showed lack of emotion on her face. It's really hard to know what she was thinking just by observing her.

Hope lowered his body so that he could stare Yeul face to face. " Good day, little missy. My name is…"

" Hope Estheim, the youngest professor of the Academia. You were graduated with outstanding grades and you have got a lot of titles and achievements due to your inventions in machinery and science. However, that was a big incident last week, where some of your robots went insane and caused some uproar on the city. You managed to stop the incidents, but the Academia has warned you to be careful about your next inventions…"

" Wow… Noel must has told you about a lot of things about me…"

Noel shrugged. " No, I'm not telling her about that… Here she goes again, using her ability to read people's mind and memory…"

Yeul stared at Hope. She surely has very beautiful eyes. " Are you afraid of me?"

" … " Hope shook his head. "Don't worry, I have known about your ability from Noel. He told me everything about you when we lived together before."

" … " Yeul turned over and ran toward the house.

Hope sighed. " I'm sorry Noel… I don't think that she likes me…"

Noel patted Hope's shoulder. " What are you saying? It doesn't looks like that. She was just to shy to show that she was happy to meet such a great person like you… Anyway, let's enter the house, I will cook for you."

" Noel, are you sure that you can cook?"

Noel looked a little bit annoyed by Hope's response. " Excuse me, it has been hundred years since you hasn't seen my ability. Watch me, I will show you my great ability now!"

Noel forcefully pulled Hope into the house.

Noel took Hope into Yeul's room and left two of them alone.

The truth is Hope still wanted to have a little chat with Noel, but he couldn't say it. Hope had a bit uneasy feeling since it was his first time visiting Noel's house. Noel's house is just as he ever imagined. Ethnical ornaments made of deer antlers, wall decoration made of hide and bones, and the other exotic decorations were hung on the wall. Noel's hand must be really skillful on making those decorations. Hope was sure that they could make a lot of money if he sold all of them.

Yeul turned on the light on the desk and sat in front of it.

Hope sat across of Yeul. " So, Yeul, how should we start today?"

" Anything is fine…" Yeul answered with her emotionless face.

Hope pulled some books from his bag and handed them into Yeul. " Is that so… Then, how about GMAT? A lot of students failed on this subject… Have you ever read these books before?"

Yeul looked into the books. She turned the pages over and over without saying anything.

" So… anything you want to ask about the subject?"

" Hmm… interesting…" Yeul mumbled as she took a pencil and writing on her notes.

Hope was completely lost about teaching Yeul. It was his very first time that he felt the difficulty on teaching a subject. Well, he knew that it wasn't Yeul's fault for living hundreds year alone as the holly maiden. She must have lost a lot of her time in her life to socialize with the other peoples. Hope tightened his fists; he must not give up on teaching Yeul.

" Hey, Yeul… I was surprised when I heard that Noel could cook… You know, back then when we lived together, he was really bad at cooking. Yes, as he hunter, he was really good with his knife on the hunting field, but never on the kitchen. Back then, I always be the one who do the housework and the cooking…"

" So, are you happy when you lived with Noel?"

Hope nodded. " Yeah… even we has a lot of differences, but he was the best roommate that I ever had in my life… Always being spirited, always full of stories and laughter… and he always protect me…"

" …"

" Ah, sorry for telling you about my boring past. I was sure that you taught him well about cooking, so that he has mastered it now…"

" Noel hasn't change… He never cooks here either…"

" Really? But… just a moment ago, he said that he wanted to cook something for us…"

" Noel just want to impress you, that's all…"

" What?" Hope stood without hesitation. He quickly opened the door and headed into the kitchen.

Hope has a bad feeling. He ran all over the house as he looking for the kitchen. His feeling was right. As he arrived on the kitchen, he saw Noel was holding at his hand, which was bleeding. Hope approached Noel's hand and examined the wound.

" Thank goodness, it isn't really bad…" Hope used his healing spell on Noel's wound.

"…"

"…"

" I'm sorry…" Noel lowered his head.

" Why do you do all of these?"

" The truth is… I want to surprise you. This morning, I got a mission for hunting the Behemoth that attacked the town. It surely took some time, so that I couldn't pick you up at the station. As my apology, I want to make something good with the monster I got. And also… I heard that your invention was failed last week, so I want to cheer you a bit…" Noel sighed. " But here we go again… I made another mess again…"

Hope closed his eyes as he took a long breath. " Noel, when you ignored me, I think that you were upset to me because I said that you are never good at cooking… I'm really sorry for saying those words…" Hope opened his emerald green eyes and showed Noel his brightest smile. " You don't have to push yourself that hard to make me smile… You know, just seeing you is already making me very happy right now…"

Noel just realized that Hope's face became more beautiful if he smiled like that. Noel pulled his hand and turned his body. His heart is fluttering a bit. He was wondered if he still had his feeling for Hope even it has been hundred years. Yeah, Noel had a feeling for Hope, but it was a long time ago.

Ever since Serah's death, Noel was suffering a lot. Hope was the only one who saved him that time. By giving the courage, and by leading him into the future plan to save Cocoon, Noel was pulled little by little from his sorrow. Lately Noel was aware that he has fallen for Hope. However, when he wanted to confess his feeling, Hope was already obsessed with Lightning's images that he saw every night on his dreams. He gave up his feeling when he knew that Hope and Lightning were living together on the same town since they built the New World together. Noel was really jealous, but he still wished for the best for Hope.

" Hope, how is your relationship with Lightning?"

" Hmm…?" Hope looked a bit surprised.

" Well, I'm just wondering… you are going out with her, right?"

" Well…" Hope looked a bit uneasy. " Well… It didn't go really well… Light was really busy lately, and I was too concerned about my work too. We had fight a lot… but at the end, we were agreed to end this relationship…"

" I see… It must be really hard for you…"

Hope shook his head. " I don't know… but somehow… I feel so relieved… "

" Hope…"

" Ahaha, let's end this topic. Since we were together now, how about we resume the cooking? Let me do the the cook, and I want you to prepare the table…"

" Got it!" Noel took the plates from the cupboard and arranged them on the table.

" You know… doing something like this again remind me about the time we shared together before when we lived together… Even we have faced so many troubles, but we solved them together… It was really fun back then, wasn't it?"

" Yes… it was fun…"

Hope smiled. " If only we could go back into those times…"

" Yes… I'm thinking about the same things too… And hearing that you have end your relationship with Lightning made me think about something too…"

" Hmm?" Hope asked, as he was still busy with the dish.

" The truth is… aside from Yeul's problem; there is something that I want to talk to you. Mm… Hope, do you want to live with me again?"

" Huh…?"

Noel embraced Hope from behind. " I mean… How about we live together again? Not as a friend, but as something more…"

Feeling the warmth from Noel's body, Hope's heart couldn't help but beat so fast. " What do you mean, Noel?"

" I love you, Hope… I have loved you for such a long time, but I was never aware of my feeling before. However, after we were having the fight… after you was abducted by Bhunivelze, I was realized how fool I am for letting you go that time. I don't want to lose you again, Hope…"

" What are you talking about, Noel? Please, it's not funny at all. You're with Yeul now, please consider her feeling…"

" It's just a misunderstanding, Hope. Yeul is not my lover. I treat her as a sister." Noel put his jaw on Hope's shoulder, so that he could have the scent of Hope's body. " How could I joke about my feeling to you, Hope…? The time when I was living together with you is the best time in my life. I don't want to lose you anymore…"

" But… why did you ignore all of my calls and emails? I… I think that you hate me… and I think that you were live happily with Yeul…"

Noel released his grip just to turned Hope's body, making Hope facing his face. " That's not right, Hope… Yeah, I was upset with you because you choose to be with Lightning rather than being with me… But I was also upset at myself who couldn't erase my feeling to you even it has been hundred years…"

" Noel, I'm sorry… but…"

" Hope…" Noel moved forward and kissed Hope.

Hope's eyes grew widen as he felt his lips caressed by Noel's. The feelings inside his minds got mixed just like a lollypop. There are confusion, scared, surprised, and a bit of happiness. Hope pushed Noel's away, but Noel pushed him back into the wall and deepened his kiss. Noel kisses were rough, but somehow, Hope was wondering why he enjoyed it.

" Mmm… Mr. Estheim…?"

Noel and Hope were shocked when they saw Yeul was standing in front of the door. Noel released Hope's lips from his.

" Your phone was ringing over and over… I think it was an important call…"

Hope pushed Noel away as he took his phone. It was 7 missed calls from Alyssa. Hope called Alyssa back. Alyssa told him to get back soon because the robots he invented went on a rampage again.

Hope stared at Yeul, " I'm sorry, Yeul… it seems that I have to go back now. I'm sorry for not being able to teach you today…"

" We can study together again tomorrow, right?" Yeul asked.

Hope took a glimpse at Noel. Noel looked so awkward for what he had done before. Hope looked into another way, hided his face that was still red.

" Please…" Yeul asked again with the sparkle in her eyes.

" … " Hope nodded. " Okay, let's study together tomorrow…"

Yeul smiled. It was the first time Hope saw Yeul's smile. She was really cute when she was smiling.

" Well then, see you tomorrow…"

" Hope, please let me escort you…" Noel approached Hope.

Hope moved away from Noel. He still shocked from what had happened before. " Mm… it's okay, Noel… I don't need it, but thanks anyway…" Hope took his bag and rushed into the entrance.

Noel was unable to move as he saw Hope acted like that.

" You are too aggressive, Noel…" Yeul passed Noel as she went back into her room.