Hey, everybody! I decided to take a break from the series I'm currently writing to write this one-shot. This plot bunny has been hopping around in my head since I put FFXIII-2 into my PS3. However, I wanted to wait until I finished the game to write this, and now that I have it's storytime!
Before you scroll down to the story PLEASE read this! I support SerahXNoel and as such this story will contain some not-so-subtle hints of this relationship. If you do not like this pairing DON'T READ. You have been warned. Oh and there are some spoilers!
Title: Hunter's day out.
Rating: T just to be safe.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy Xiii-2, or any of the characters. If I did, the ending of Xiii-2 would've never happened.
Summary: While in Academia 4XX, Noel, Serah and Mog decide to take a break from their romps through time and enjoy what the city has to offer. However, Noel might be a little more out of place than Serah would've thought...
Academia 4XX AF
"We'll be back once we find the last core, Hope!" Noel called over his shoulder as he, Serah and Mog exited the Academy's lab. "I'll be waiting!" Hope replied, waving. "Thanks again, you two!" Noel simply gave him a thumbs up as the door slid shut behind him and his companions.
As they crossed the threshold of the Lobby, Noel looked over to his pink-haired companion. "So, what do you want to do?" he asked. Serah jumped a little when he adressed her. She wasn't expecting him to ask something so out of the blue. "Don't we have to find the last Graviton Core?" she questioned, looking at him in a confuzed manner.
Noel nodded. "You're right, we do," he assured her. "But we've been jumping around searching the different time lines for so long, I thought you may want to take a break." Mog, who, up until that point had been floating next to Serah's head and twirling in circles, sent Noel what he considered to be a glare. "What about me, kupo?" he asked, feeling left out. Noel sighed. "Of course, Mog too," he said, giving the floating creature an "are-you-happy-now?" look.
Serah still had to admit, this was sort of out of character for him. Usually, Noel would be out the door in a hurry, making tracks for their next destination. But today, he was being a lot more laid-back. Still, it was obvious he was trying to consider her (and Mog) and she would be rude to turn him down. (His eyes were pretty hopeful, after all.)
She gave him a smile. "All right, I don't mind taking a break from all the fighting," she agreed. "Do you want to take a look around Academia?" she suggested. They never really got a chance to look around, since when they arrived here, they had gone straight to the headquarters. Noel nodded. "Sure, that sounds good!" Serah noted that her brunette friend seemed very excited. He was always eager to see what an advanced civilization like this was like, as he had grown up on a barren world.
With that, they walked out of the Academy Headquarters, hoping to see as much as they could before their day was over.
The sun felt nice as they explored the floating city. The climate change was very welcoming to them. The last place they had been in was the extremely cold and bitter Bresha Ruins 300 AF. They had gone there in hopes of finding a graviton core, but they were instead met with the viscious monters and freezing weather. Poor Mog had nearly frozen completely when they finally were able to leave that damned place.
The hustle and bustle of the crowds scared Mog a bit, as he would frequently cling to Serah whenever they got into a crowded area. Serah and Noel deduced that he was probably afraid to get seperated from his friends, or worse, get pulled away by cute-loving pre-teen girls like what had happened earlier.
As they finally were able to pull away from the crowds, a loud gurgling sound reached their ears. Noel instinctively reached for his Flaming Soul, but Serah caught his hand, stopping him.
"Wha-?" Noel asked, as he looked at her. "It's just Mog!" she replied with a giggle. That sound was music to his ears. Wait. Where did that come from? Shaking these thoughts out of his head, he looked up at Mog as the gurgling sounded again. It was coming from the Moogle!
"I take it you're hungry?" Noel asked, as Serah let go of him. Mog nodded, sheepishly. Another gurgle reached their ears, and Noel grabbed his stomach. An embarassed look showed up on his face. Serah laughed. "I don't think it's just Mog who's hungry, Noel," she teased. He nodded, looking around for nourishment. A bright sign caught his eyes. It said "The Cactuar's Petal".
"What about there?" Serah asked, all ready knowing the answer. Noel and Mog nodded, eagerly, the excitment in their eyes. "All right, let's go," Serah said, making tracks for the resturant with Mog in tow.
Noel stayed in the same place for a moment, holding the hand that Serah had caught earlier. It felt like it was tingling... NO! he mentaly kicked himself. She's your friend! And besides that, she's engaged! To that idiot... he added bitterly, as an after-thought. Technicaly speaking, Snow was gone... "Bad!" Noel snapped aloud, drawing the attention of several passerbys that gave him weird looks. He smiled sheepishly before he chased after Serah (and Mog, but that's not important).
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he caught up with Serah, who asked him where he had gone off to. "Oh, I was just, uh, window shopping?" he tried to lie his way out of it. Serah arched a brow. "My, Noel. I didn't think you were a fashionista," she said playfully. Noel gave her a quizical look. "What?" he asked, moving out of the way of several children who ran by them.
"The last shop we passed was a fashion boutique, Noel," she informed him, causing him to face-palm. "I was... just. Curious...?" This wasn't working. But it was better than nothing. He couldn't say to her "Oh, I was back there thinking about how since your fiance was dead we could be together!" or anything along the lines of that.
Serah smiled warmly. "I was just kidding, Noel. Every man has the right to be curious about dresses," she laughed. Noel couldn't help but crack a smile. He hadn't seen Serah in such a good mood in a while. They didn't usually have time to just be together and enjoy the company. They were usually fighting battle after battle or hunting for artefacts.
They continued walking in a comfortable silence, as they entered the Cactuar's Petal. The restuarant had a homey feel to it. There were pots on the windowsils that had (surprise, surprise) Cactuar Petals in them. It wasn't overly-crowded but there was a good amount of customers waiting to be served. They found a nice table next to the window where they could see the Academy's Headquarters in it's full glory. It was truly a magnificent sight.
Noel thought he would try being a gentleman and pulled out Serah's chair for her. All though, in the process of walking to the chair he tripped over his own feet. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! he cursed himself in his mind. He had looked like such a fool! But wait. Since when had he thought about what anyone thought of him? When had he cared what Serah thought of him? Since when had he decided to be a gentleman? And more importantly, why was he taking cues from some girl's boyfriend that he had passed by?
"Thank you, Noel," Serah said thankfully as she sat down. Noel nodded. "No problem," he said. He wished he felt like it was no problem. In fact he was kicking himself. What if she thought that was cheesy? Even when he was with Yuel in the future he hadn't done something like that... Maybe it was because he didn't feel as strongly about her or something? Or maybe he didn't want Caius to make fun of him for doing something so out of character? he couldn't remember now...
As he sat down, Mog floated over to him. Noel wasn't extremely fond of the floating... thing, but it was times like these that he wished he could throw that little Moogle off into the distance and never see him again. "You're acting funny, kupo!" he stated the obvious. Noel decided not to assualt the moogle. It was only a question. Yeah right, more like an accusation. "I'm not," he responded hastily, this earned him an odd look from Serah. Crap.
"And your face is turning weird colors!" the floating nuisance continued. This of course made his face turn even redder than it all ready was. He needed to change the subject and quickly! He glanced at the cactuar petals and got an idea. "Hey, Serah?" he asked. "Hmm?" she responded, still a little bit concerned at his odd behaviour. "Remember when we found that Cactuar?" he asked, hoping Mog would shut up now.
She let out a small laugh as she remembered their recently aqquired companion. "Yeah, he was a lot of trouble, wasn't he?" He still was actually. The little ingrate still launched needles at Noel when his back was turned. In response, Noel would always shout at it and give it violent death threats. Serah never even tried to contain her amusement at these moments. After Noel and The Cactuar's last disagreement, the poor hunter spent three and a half days plucking needles out of his clothes.
"He sure was, not to mention the amount of times it ran from us when we tried to capture it!" he continued, chuckling. Serah laughed as well, and to his relief, she (and the flying jackass) had seemed to forget his weird behaviour. They continued idle conversation as they flipped through their menus, trying to find something that sounded appealing. Noel looked at something on the menu in such a way that Serah had to bite back her laughter.
"Serah?" he asked quietly. "Yes, Noel?" Noel squinted to make out what this said. "What's Pie-zzzza?" he asked, feeling extremely sheepish. Serah arched a brow. She had no idea what he was trying to say so she reached for the menu to inspect it. "Can I see?" she asked. He nodded, muttering several variations of the word under his breath.
She looked at it for a second and once again had to contain her laughter. "It's pronounced Pee-zaa, Noel. See?" she said, showing him the menu. He formed an "o" with his mouth and gave her a sheepish smile. "Thanks... Um, what's it like?" he asked curiously. Depending on how it sounds he just might buy that.
"It's like... hmm..." She trailed off, thinking hard. How could she explain that? She absently remembered being a little girl and having Lightning explain to her what pizza was. Poor Lightning had been as stumped as she was and was irratated that she had to ask something like that. She could swear Lightning was watching her now and saying "How do you like it?" with a smug grin.
Fortunately, whatever God there was pitied her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a waiter go by holding a tray with pizza on it. "It's like that!" she exclaimed, pointing to it. Noel followed her finger and his eyes widened. That did look good. "Mmm..." he muttered as he watched it go by. "I want that," he decided, looking back at his menu. Serah anticipated this question as she answered it right as he opened his mouth. "Pepperoni is like meat shaped in little, red circles," she explained in one breath.
He shut his mouth with an audiable click, causing her to giggle in amusement. She couldn't help but think that this would be almost like teaching the children back in Bodhum.
When the waiter came, he looked at Noel's outfit in an almost disapproving way and eyed Mog in bewilderment. Noel cleared his throat. "Take a picture buddy, it might last longer," he said rather rudely. Serah bit back a laugh at the waiter's surprised face. It was almost like he didn't think he would annoy them with his staring like an idiot. "Ahem, my apologies, sir! I just umm... Allow me take your order," he said hastily, not making eye contact with Noel who was glaring at him.
Serah had ordered the Ceacer salad, while Noel (of course) ordered the pepperoni pizza and Mog... decided he would eat their food when it came. Serah had no problem with this, but Noel would kick that thing across the city if he came near his pizza. He didn't tell him that of course, as he didn't want to upset Serah. They had also ordered Soda. Noel just ordered it becuase he liked the name. "Mr. Pibb. Hee hee" he had giggled at the name.
When the waiter came, he, like last time, refused to make eye-contact with Noel as he served them all their food and drinks. As soon as he had left, Noel couldn't contain his excitement. Pizza was shaped so weird. That was the first thing that had come to mind when he saw it. Like a really pointy triangle... He bit into it, and his eye widened and lit up like a christmas tree. Serah giggled as she ate her salad. His face had been priceless and she wished she had a camera to take a picture. As Noel had said, it would last longer.
"Wow..." he whispered. He stared at the slice of pizza in his hand as if it was the most amazing thing he had laid eyes on. He looked at it like a man would stare at a beautiful woman in fact! Serah couldn't help but think that he looked like he would marry it if he could. "It's so good..." he muttered to himself. Serah refused to laugh at him, she worried it may hurt his feelings. But this was just too good!
He went to take another bite, when Mog swooped in and hovered around his face. It was clear what he wanted. He wanted his precious pizza! Little devil! Noel shooed him away. This was his! Mog looked dejected but stopped bugging him. Stupid thing had to look all cute, though... Noel took a piece off of his slice and (reluctantly) handed it to Mog, closing his eyes as the Moogle consumed it.
To his surpise, Mog made a weird face and said "Blech!". Noel almost gasped. Serah looked at the Moogle, worried. "What's wrong, Mog?" she questioned. "It's spicy! Yuck!" the Moogle exclaimed. Noel couldn't believe his ears! That little heathen! He ATE his pizza and didn't even like it! How dare that little abomination!
Noel almost went to drink his soda when something weird happened. It... bubbled. It was supposed to do that right? He took his straw, unwrapped it and placed it in the cup. But to his surprise, it made a weird hissing sound!
It sounded like it was sizzling! Noel almost jumped, putting as much distance as he could between that thing as he could in this chair. Serah noticed his horrorfied expression and was about to ask what was wrong when he whispered something. "What?" she asked. "Why's it doing that?" he whispered again, gulping. This time, she couldn't hold back a laugh. "It's soda, Noel. It always does that," she told him gently. "But... Yours didn't do that!" he hissed, hoping the soda wasn't a flan in disguise or something. Serah took her straw and put it into the cup. And just like his, it "sizzled!"
She gave him a "I-told-you-so" look, and he slowly bent down to place his mouth on the straw. He at least knew how to use a straw and sucked the stuff through it. It felt sort of funny as it went down his throat. But a good kinda funny! Like it did when Serah was around. Gah! No more of these thoughts! "Wow..." he whispered, stunned. It was like the liquid version of pizza! Mog wasn't getting anywhere near this! Fortunately, he didn't seem interested in the soda anyway.
After they finished eating, Noel paid for their meal and was quite pleased with the result. Serah had smiled and thanked him, and this really made his day. In fact, it took all of his will-power to not skip around the city singing a happy song. But why was he so happy? She had always smiled and thanked him. Maybe it was becuase he had pulled off being a gentleman? That must've been it.
The sun was setting as they continued wandering around the city. Noel was having the time of his life as Serah could tell. She couldn't help but find it extremely cute the way his eyes lit up everytime he saw something new. Wait, cute? No! She couldn't think that! Noel was just her friend! And she was engaged! But still... Noel had stayed by her side the entire trip through time. He was also kind to her all the time and was gentle... Not to mention she had to admit that he wasn't bad-looking at all.
Snow was gruff, could be rude, and was loud. There wasn't anything wrong with this, but she kind of preffered Noel's gentle to Snow's gruff. Snow had left her and hadn't contacted her in years! While it was true that he did it for her, he just up and left without any warning whatsoever! And when they had met up in the Sunleth Waterscape he didn't even hug her! He was just like, "Oh! Hey, what's up?" the entire time. He had seemed to become even more arrogant since he had left, refusing to back down against that monster even when she had practicaly begged him to!
She didn't agree with the way that Noel had yelled at him and he had said some harsh things, but at the same time he was right in a way. Snow disregarded his own life far too many times to count. He didn't think about what it would be like to everyone else if he got himself killed. He acted like he was invincible all the time and always declared that he was a hero. She had found it cute and endearing when they were dating but recently, it had gotten annoying...
Noel noticed how she had become rather absent as they were walking and he tried to think of a way to get her attention without being annoying. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but think that she wasn't anything like he expected her to be.
When Lightning had sent him to find her, he expected someone similar to Lighting: tough, a born leader, stern and perhaps a little frightening. But while Serah was strong, she wasn't in the same manner as Lighting. Serah was able to stay strong even after she had lost her beloved sister and her fiance. She had continued her career as a teacher and was a joy to everyone in the town even though inside she was hurting. Noel found this attractive in a women, someone who could take care of herself, be tough in her own way and still be gentle and kind at the same time.
Not to mention, when Lightning had said "younger sister" Noel expected a pre-teen girl perhaps. Not a full-grown woman! And she was certainly easy on the eyes in Noel's honest opinion. And she also looked good in that dress... he liked how it hugged her body and... accentuated her curves just right... Bad Noel! he thought to himself. Lightning would skin him alive if she knew he was thinking something like that about her dear, little sister!
Of course, Mog picked up on Noel's strange behaviour. "Kupo! Why are you walking so funny, kupo?" he asked, loudly. Noel almost decided to kick him like he had considered at the resturant but decided against it. He caught sight of something.
An ice cream stand! He had never had ice cream before but what he had heard about it from Serah sounded brilliant. "Serah!" he called, excitedly. She jumped, turning to him. "Yes, Noel?" she asked, surprised. His eyes were practicaly gleaming. "You want ice cream?" he asked, hopefully.
Dang, that sounded good. She found herself nodding excitedly. "Great, let's go!" Noel responded happily, grabbing her hand without even thinking and bringing her along with him. When they got to the stand, he still had her hand in his and he didn't even realize it. "What kind do you want?" he asked her. She was slightly distracted that her hand was in his, but looked at the menu. "Um, Chocolate Mint looks good," she said. Noel nodded. "All right, I'll buy it," he said. "Wait!" Serah said, stopping him. "You don't have to buy it!" she told him. He shook his head. "I know, but I want to." Serah felt really warm inside when he said that... "Mog, you want anything?" he asked. The Moogle danced around in the air. "Strawberry!" he exclaimed. Noel nodded. "All right, I'll be right back." He let go of Serah's hand and jogged over to the cart.
Serah couldn't quite put her hand on it, but when he let her go... Something happened. She felt... strange... Like she wanted him to never let go... But she was engaged... But at the same time, Noel felt so... right. Even more so than it did with Snow... She looked up and saw Noel come back, looking happy as ever. He had Her ice cream in one hand and Mog's in the other. He had used his two fingers to hold his. He hastily handed Serah hers so he could get a good grip on his own, and handed Mog his.
"Thank you, Noel. That was sweet," she smiled. He felt his face heat up. "Oh, no problem!" he said, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. "Yeah, thanks, kupo!" Mog said happily. Noel nodded, gesturing to a bench.
They walked over to it and sat down, eating their ice cream. From where they were, they could see the Academy's Headquarters. It was there that Serah decided she and Snow had to talk whenever he came back. She didn't know if they were as right for eachother as she thought...
"Hey, you okay?" Noel asked her, concerned. She pushed her thoughts aside and smiled at him. "Oh, I'm fine! Sorry to worry you," she apoplogized. Noel shook his head. "It's all right. Is it good?" he asked, glancing at her ice cream as he licked his own. "It's delicious! Thanks again, Noel. What about yours?" she asked. He grinned. He had gotten Peanut Butter flavored and it was brilliant. "Awesome!" he told her, licking his lips. She giggled. "Enjoying yourself?" she said in a teasing tone. "Yes I am, thank you," he responded with a big smile.
She smiled and continued hers. "I'm good too, kupo!" Mog reminded them he was still there. "Of course, Mog! I was just about to ask you!" Serah lied. She was distracted with Noel. "This place is so big," Noel said, looking over the city. Serah couldn't help but agree. "I know. And there's so much we haven't seen yet, either," she responded, with a smile. "Yeah," Noel said softly. "Hey, Noel?" Serah asked. "Mmm-hmm?" he responded. "What do you say to spending tomorrow here as well?" she asked, hoping he would say yes. "Yeah! We could see more of the city that way," he responded. That same excited look had returned to his eyes. "Okay, then it's settled. We can stay here in the city tonight and see more tomorrow, right?" Noel nodded. "Yeah, we really could use the break," he agreed. She smiled and they fell into a comfortable silence.
Serah considered leaning her head on Noel shoulder but decided against it. She couldn't act on her feelings until she talked to Snow. But she could look forward to her possible future.
Serah and Noel could both agree, today was one of the best lazy days ever. And tomorrow would be even better, as long as they were together (With Mog!).
A little fluffy at the end there, which surprised me as I usually can't stand fluffy stuff, but oh well. So leave a review please and tell me how it was! Thanks for reading!
LaDude.