A/N: I wrote this a few months ago, after receiving a prompt ("Cheesy hot spring awkwardness) from the lovely Sass-Bot (check her out, check her out, she's great!), in the Fic War. I also gave her a prompt for the 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors fandom, which you can find in her story, 'Fine'. So yeah, if you're into that fandom, you should go take a look. But since you're here, I'd like to apologize in advance for the fact that this is, in fact, a fic about hot springs and nearly naked teenagers. But if you're here, you probably have nothing against that, so enjoy!

Today marked the quietest afternoon Hope Estheim had had in the last 5 weeks. He laid back, taking in a deep breath to savor the smell. He'd never thought of it when he was younger, but hot springs smelt wonderful. And, more than anything, they were delightfully quiet. No new employees rushing in with papers or important phone calls, no mechanical beeps, no angry yelling from the other room, just silence. He smiled and closed his eyes, waiting to hear her tip toe from the changing rooms.

He'd made a deal with an acquaintance to rent the entire place for a day. The man had given him an odd look, then asked for a rather uncomfortable sum of gill, but he'd gotten what he wanted, and for now that's all that mattered. After all, there were some perks to being Mr Estheim, the renowned scientist. He heard footsteps to his left and tilted his head to look. Oh yes, there were a lot of perks to being Mr Estheim.

Vanille made her way to the pool, stepping carefully over the cold tiles. She was wearing an orange swimsuit. Hope didn't know much about fashion trends, but it suited her well. Actually, that was hardly saying enough. She looked gorgeous. She always did.

"What are you looking at?" she giggled.

"Oh, uh-" he looked away, for a second, before setting his sights on her again. Damn it, Hope, you're 27 years old. Act the part. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could voice a retort, she was once again ahead of him.

"I'd thought you might be less flustered, since this was your idea."

"Flustered? Who said anything about me being flustered?" he protested.

"Oh, right. You're just as cool as the water here," she laughed.

He pouted, but only for a few seconds, before he decided to take action. Grinning, he grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. Caught by surprise, she stumbled awkwardly through the water, jumping a bit to keep her balance, before landing next to him.

"Flustered, you say?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what do you know? Age does bring confidence" she replied.

"A-age?!" he blurted out. "I'll have you know I'm, what, 505 years younger than you?"

"H-hey" – he had her this time. "Didn't you learn not to comment on a lady's age, sonny?"

Sonny?!

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Oerba, " he laughed.

She groaned and pushed him playfully. One shove beckoned another, and soon their argument turned into a water fight. Loud laughing sounded off the building's walls, until the two former l'cie were panting and exhausted, and still they chuckled when they both fell down together, Hope wrapping his arm around his lover. Of all the things two youngsters could be doing alone in a hot spring, we've decided to play around, Hope said to himself. Well, I'll take this over anything if it makes her smile like that.

Vanille was radiating with joy, and that's all he could wish for. She looked at him, and they smiled, as he pulled a strand of hair away from her face.

The hot spring was very modern, just like the ones on Cocoon. White tiles covered the floors and the walls, only to be topped by a perfectly white ceiling. Pale yellow indicators pointed to the changing rooms and exits, and a large poster on one of the walls dictated all the safety rules for those who used the hot spring. Of course, nobody cared enough to read them. But it felt like a replica of any other such place in Cocoon. Pretty much every building on Pulse did nowadays. Vanille's home had started to look more and more like his. It was unrecognizable, and he knew it was difficult for her to deal with, though she'd done her best to hide it. He might have not even noticed it, had he not missed the old Pulse a bit as well. That's why they were here. It was a Cocoon building, but they'd gone to a hot spring before, and maybe that would be enough to make things better. Maybe he could take her back, just a little bit.

"Are you thinking about it too?" he asked.

"Mhm."

He tapped her shoulder a few times, a habit he'd developed for every time they'd sat like this, just remembering. Perhaps they were too young to think back as much as they did, to share the memories they had, but he could almost see them clearly ahead of him. He was 14 and 10 times as shy and stressed out, and she was 19 – sort of -, and just as beautiful as she was today.

He had no idea how the redhead had managed to convince him to visit a hot spring, but she had, and the only thing greater than his regret was his terrible anxiety over the situation. What was he thinking? A hot spring? He spent the entire trip scolding himself for the stupid decision, and while Vanille had tried to talk to him, his answers were brief and did not facilitate any conversation. After a few failed attempts, she gave up and admired the landscape instead. Before he'd even noticed, they had entered the woods – the only advantage of his inner admonishment over their trip to the hot springs was that, well, he'd actually forgotten they were going to a hot spring.

The realization hit him again, however, when the path began to clear up, and instead of trees, before him he saw a small lake, if it was even worthy of the title. Vanille stood triumphantly before the sight. If his lack of enthusiasm had bothered her, she did not let it show one bit. Instead, she urged him to get in, since they didn't have a minute to waste. It was probably their last trip to such a place until this whole l'cie thing was settled. And maybe then the last one ever, he thought. But he was sure it'd be better not to say it.

Soon however, something else worried him. He didn't have a swimsuit, and he was mighty sure Vanille hadn't been sporting one under her clothes either – that is to say, he couldn't know for sure, but he saw no reason why she would. How would they solve that problem? Embarrassed to even bring up the issue, he starred at the ground for a few moments, before finally bringing himself to face the redhead and ask.

"What about our-" he chocked on the last word. Clothes. Vanille was not wearing them anymore. Stunned, he starred at his friend, who was now only wearing a bra and a pair of panties, both shockingly pink, very characteristic of her personality and very fitting to her form.

She looked at him, not bothered in the least, and a tiny bit confused. "What are you waiting for then? You're not going to swim in that, are you?" she looked at him as if thinking, boy, Cocoon people sure are weird. Hope felt his cheeks turning the same color as Vanille's undergarments.

"Uhh, you…want me to take my c-clothes off?"

"Would you rather get all of them wet?" she tilted her head.

"No, it's just that…" he didn't even know how to finish the sentence. He could think up a dozen reasons why he wouldn't want to undress in front of the girl, and he couldn't quite decide which one he should voice. He grabbed his scarf, and just before untying it, he paused. Vanille was still looking right at him. He contemplated asking her to look away, but he found no point, as she would see him undressed anyway. With a sigh, he carefully took off his scarf, and then his shirt and then – slowly and carefully, while starring the opposite way and pretending like his friend wasn't watching him closely- his pants.

He turned towards her again, trying to look as if this wasn't the most embarrassing and plain weird experience of his life. It didn't help that he noticed her eyeing him over. And it helped even less that he had his black boxers on him. They had white skulls on them. He hadn't cared prior to this, because, really, who cared what underwear he wore? It wasn't like anyone would see it! Until now. He felt trapped. And so upset with himself he could throw those boxers away in a heartbeat. If it wouldn't leave him naked in front of Vanille, that is.

She giggled. He cursed in his mind. He wouldn't even dare ask if it was because of his boxers, or his attitude, or whatever other reason she might have. Instead, she spoke first.

"If you're done with your little crisis, we should probably get in."

"Uhh, yeah. Sure," he nodded, a bit agitated.

She was already ahead of him, as always. She was the first to step into the water, and he followed. The water felt surprisingly good. Maybe there would be one thing he wouldn't dread about this. Vanille had closed her eyes and drifted off. How is it that she didn't find any of this odd? Maybe this was just something Pulse people do? True, the girl had said they were all like family here. Though if that meant Vanille saw him as family, he didn't know if he should feel flattered or worried. Sure, she meant a lot to him, and he would be pleased to know she felt the same, but being her brother, or cousin, or whatever that implied, wasn't quite what he had in mind.

He shook his head. This wasn't what he should be thinking about. It'd be much better if he could figure out some way to make their situation as l'cie better. He'd done this before, always going back and forth, recalling that dream they all had and trying to think something up. He didn't like the dream much. It was only a dream, but he found it severely unsettling. Of course none of them would want to tear down Cocoon. But what if it was a prediction? What if it was set in stone as their own cruel fate and there was nothing they could do to change it?

No. He closed his eyes. He couldn't afford to think like this, it solved nothing. Instead of that, let's review what we know about the l'cie…it's not like I've done that a billion times before. After minutes of fruitless thought, he was not presented with any sort of idea, but with a splash of water in his face. Startled, he opened his eyes to see Vanille pouting in front of him.

"Serious thoughts are banned from the pool!" she proclaimed.

'Wh-what?' he stood there for a few moments, confused, brewing up a comeback. "Oh, sue me, pool police!"

She froze. 'Uuuh, sue? What does that mean?'

He starred at her, and then burst into laughter.

"H-hey!" she protested, swinging her hands.

His laughter, however, didn't cease, and in a fit of exasperation she started splashing him with more water. The boy fought back, and soon their trip degenerated into a childish fight. Not that either of them was bothered by that. Soon, however, Vanille tripped over the rough rocks that composed the spring's floor. Hope instinctively grabbed her hand and caught her. They stood like that for a bit, both registering the position they were in, Hope keeping the girl from falling. He chuckled. In that moment, Hope Estheim felt particularly bold.

'I guess I win,' he said, helping the girl back up on her feet. As soon as he did, though, he felt her foot swipe at his ankle, and all of a sudden their previous position was reversed.

'Or do you?' she teased.

He gritted his teeth. She was one step ahead of him once again.

Two steps to the front, then one backwards. A gentle sway. Two smiling youngsters danced lazily around the pool.

"Is this your idea of having fun at a hot spring?" Hope asked. His voice was soothing, as if afraid to break the silence of the moment they'd been having.

"Mhm," she smiled. "I do tend to improvise a lot."

'Why that?'

She shrugged slightly, while stepping away from her partner only to be drawn back. "It's fun. And sometimes a necessity. Don't you do it?"

He thought for a moment. 'Not much. I'm more used to planning ahead. Comes with the job, I suppose.'

"Hmm. Must be difficult being you."

He smiled. No, surely it's tougher to be as wonderful as you are, Vanille.

"No, it has its perks."

A/N: Thanks for reading!