Final Fantasy XIII is owned by Square Enix and I make no money off the use of their characters. I'm still just doing this solely for the hell of it.

You know I had this idea for a while is some from or anther but now that I'm reading it I don't know what to call it. I wanted to write this argument between Hope and Lightning but I don't know what genre it falls into.

It's not overly romantic, dramatic, comical or anything. So really this could be something or it could be nothing. It's really up to you.

Filthy Habits and Dirty Secrets.

By Slayzer

Hope woke up this morning to a terrible realization.

It was gone.

'No, this can't be happening. I was sure I left them hidden in the inside pocket in my coat before I went to sleep last night. Damn it where are they!?'

Hope scrambled around the area where he slept the night before, searching for what he had lost.

"You alright Hope?" Snow asked seeing that the youngest member of their team had become distraught.

"No, I lost something important."

Vanille walked over to Hope and put a hand on his shoulder. "Slow down and think about the last time you had whatever you lost."

Hope took a deep breath. " Right, last time I had them was just before I went to take over Light's shift for the night watch. I thought they were still in my coat when I went back to sleep but now their gone."

"I'm sure you'll find whatever your looking for. Thing's don't just get up and walk away." Vanille said trying to reassure Hope.

Hope looked up and saw everyone looking at him seeing if they could help with his lose.

Well almost everyone.

Lightning was standing far away with her back turned to Hope and eyes focused straight ahead. She was trying so hard to look like she had nothing to do with what was going on that it only made her look guilty as hell.

Hope could have burned a hole in Lightning's back he was glaring at her so hard. "Actually things do get up and walk away if someone helps them."

Lightning winced at Hope's suggested accusation. Being such a honorable woman and so morally upright made Lightning a terrible liar. Guilt stood out on her even more then her pink hair did.

"I can't believe it! You went through my stuff last night." Hope said as he got to his feet. The anger and hurt in his eyes had twisted his face into something unrecognizable.

Snow quickly put himself between Hope and Lightning. Not that he thought Hope or Lightning would do something rash but he wanted to let tempers cool. "Come on Hope were all friends here. I'm sure Sis had a reason for taking your... …." Snow stopped as it dawned on him that he didn't know what this was about. "... What did she take you?"

Hope looked away sheepishly. "That's not the issue here."

Fang smirked at both Hope's evasiveness and Lightning's reluctant to say anything in her defense. "It can't be that bad. What was it, secret stash of candy? A girly magazine Hope had hidden away? Snapshots of Lightning and a pair of her dirty panties?"

Fang seemed to be enjoying this to much but the truth wasn't as bad as her wild imaginings.

Hope got very defensive and crossed his arms. "Light stole the pack of cigarettes I keep hidden in my coat."

While it wasn't as bad as all Fang was say it was still a bit of a shock to everyone. Hope who looked so clean cut and cute was an under-aged smoker. He could feel the unspoken judgment of him in his friends silence.

"Look everyone has bad habits but I need that pack of cigarettes back."

"Why so you can kill yourself slowly." Lightning said refusing Hope request.

Sazh was the first one to speak. "Look we've all been through a lot and I don't blame you needing to unwind a little but you don't need cigarettes to do that. I had to quite smoking when Dajh was born and it was hard, it get's harder the longer you smoke."

"It's not just the cigarettes but the pack I need. That pack is where I hid something more important then my nightly nicotine fix. That's where I hid the letter and photo Larissa sent me before all this happened."

Snow cocked his head to one side and thought about it. "Larissa? Hope I don't think you've ever mention her before. What is this girl to you anyway?"

"Important." Was all Hope said on the subject of the girl named Larissa.

Lightning didn't look too closely at the pack of cigarettes she confiscated from Hope. Truthfully she thought the fact that Hope had them at all was enough to justify her taking of them. After all it was her job to protect Hope even from himself. Then on the other hand legal or not that pack of cigarettes was still something that belonged to Hope. How could Lightning take something else from the boy who had already lost so much?

Lightning reached into one of her empty ammo pouches on her belt and pulled out Hope's lost pack of cigarettes.

She then tossed it to him.

Hope popped open the top and found the letter and photograph he had hidden away there. Seeing that Larissa's last message to him was safe Hope sighed as a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

Then almost as an afterthought Hope flicked a cigarette up from the pact and brought it to his lips. A little bit of fire magic and cigarette lite as Hope took a deep satisfying drag of nicotine. That taste, smell and heat burning Hope's throat took him back to another world for a moment.

The moment passed and Hope blow a well practiced cloud of smoke and smirked. "Sorry, I'd offer you guys one but it's my last pack."

Lightning fixed Hope with a hard look, her cold eyes alone seemed to steal the burn from the cigarette smoke. "That is your last pack Hope. You understand me, your absolutely last pack."

Lightning was not at all happy with this arraignment but what could she do other then trust Hope.

Hope nodded his head. "I understand. My last pack till we save the world."

"No, Hope. That is absolutely your last pack of cigarettes, Ever."

Hope was about to protest but thought better of it when he saw that Lightning wasn't going to budge on this. Reluctantly he agreed.

With that odd unpleasantness out of the way the group of l'Cie started out again. Still it felt a little awkward for Hope, having somethings he rather keep to himself dragged out into the open like that.

=That Night=

Hope sat lone on a hillside with his memories while the rest of the team slept. In his hand he had Larrisa's letter and photograph while a lite cigarette hung from his lips. Hope was so caught up in the past that he didn't hear Lightning's footsteps as she walked up to him.

"Mind if I sit here?" Lightning asked.

"Not if you mind that I smoke."

Tension flashed across lightning's face for a moment but she beat it down and took a seat next to Hope. Now the cigarettes were only half the hidden story and Lightning couldn't help wounder about the rest. "Larissa huh, that's a nice name for your girlfriend."

Hope waved a finger at Lightning for her obvious attempt to fish information out of him. "That's not going to work. Besides if I ever dared called Larissa my girlfriend she'd leave me right then and there. She's just the girl that buys me cigarettes and sometimes we do stuff together for fun."

Lightning nodded her head a clearer picture forming in her mind. "So she's older then you are, old enough to buy cigarettes at lest."

Hope's gazed into the trails of cigarette smoke as if he could followed it into the past. "Larissa did a lot more for me then that. I don't think I'd ever know what fun is without her. She's just so wild and always up for a good time. Whenever I light up a smoke the smell take's me back to that hotel room she bluffed our way into. Waking up to those smokey bedsheets and her sweaty body next to mine and the softness of her sexy curves..." Hope stopped reminiscing when he remember who he was talking with. Lightning was very shocked to hear Hope talk so causally about being sexual with an girl. "... Well you know just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I'm a virgin."

Lightning quickly snatched Larissa's photograph from him. Larissa was nothing like what Lightning imagined her to be. Lightning thought she'd be a young woman about eighteen or nineteen at the most, she was clearly well in her twenties. Larissa long black hair with honey toned skin and a knockout body. In the picture she only had on was a near see through sheer teddy, stockings and a lustful smile.

"Age is just a number." Hope said as he took Lairssa's picture back from Lightning.

"What number exactly?" Lightning asked a hard edge creeping into her voice.

Hope dismissed Lightning's disapproval with a wave "She's only twenty-three."

Lightning's jaw came unhinged. "She's 'ONLY' twenty-three!"

"Yeah, maybe it's because I'm young but I find older woman very attractive. You know when a woman starts to come into her own and is full of strength and confidences. There's just nothing sexier then a strong women."

A long stranded silence followed as Hope became quite and Lightning grew pensive.

"So, even though you and Larissa do those kind of thing you two aren't very close."

"Not really. Like I said she'd try to kill me if I ever called her my girlfriend. What we are..." Hope stumbled his face frowning for a moment. "... No, what we were was just something passing, causal and sometimes passionate."

Hope reached for another cigarette while Lightning looked on disapprovingly. "Hope you need to quit smoking and do it soon."

"Why?" Hope asked rolling a cigarette between his fingers. He was just waiting for Lightning to get on his case like she was his mother or something.

"Because I hate smokers. To me it doesn't matter how smart, kind, handsome or how young he is. I'd never let a someone who smells of smoke and tastes like ash kiss me." Lightning leaned in closer to Hope and whispered something in his ear. "I'd never let a smoker kiss any part of my body."

The cigarette in Hope's fingers snapped in two as his body went rigged with tension. Lightning just got up and left Hope alone there on a hillside with his cigarettes. Hope looked down to his pack of cigarettes and over to Lightning's retreating back. Really if he could only have one then which one would he keep?

Hope cast a small Fire spell and incinerated the pack of cigarettes with Lairssa's letter and picture.

"Yeah, Cold Turkey is the way to go." Hope said to himself and he went to brush his teeth and then get some mints.

Then if Hope was lucky he try to find Lightning and see where that would take them.

-End-

The idea I had for this was to give Hope to have a bad habit like smoking and then have Lightning find out. Then they would argue about it.

First issue was how did Hope get cigarettes anyway? The answer changed the whole story. His twenty-three year old friend with benefits bought them for him.

As I wrote this I tried to justify Lightning's bad reactions to Hope's smoking. The one thing I didn't want this to end with was Hope saying "Your not my mother!" and how could I have Light try to stop him without preaching down to him.

Then it hit me.

Lightning would flirt with Hope to get him to quit. Light would be willing to make out with Hope even if he was a kid but not if he keeps smoking. a little aggressive and OOC for Lightning i think but I usually make her to passive.

I don't know what to call this but wrong on so many levels but maybe you guys can help by leaving a review.

Thank you for reading and till next time.