Disclaimer: Don't own anything of the FF13 world, including characters or sequels.

Rating: T

Takes place in 3 AF, but despite that, the events of 13-2 have not happened (will be references to that game though). Also, slight adjustment to 13's ending.

The next day

Hope leaned his head back against the shore, thinking about a number of things. In the meantime, he sat shoulder-deep in a rapidly flowing river, about fifty feet away from a waterfall, which gave off a dull roar. All his clothes lay in a pile about ten feet to his right, and always easily in sight.

Mostly though, his thoughts were about Vanille. From what she'd said before, she didn't know what to do about his affection for her... neither a yes nor a no, just needed some thinking time. And that was the most difficult, he concluded, just waiting without having a clue what the final answer would be.

"Heeeeeeey!"

His head snapped up in surprise, looking forward. Only one girl would attract a person's attention that way: Vanille. And sure enough, she stood there on the other side, in the middle of waving her arms high.

"Hey!" he waved back, slightly louder to be heard over the dull roar.

"Can I join you? We need to talk!" she continued, her voice changing pitch after the first part.

He raised an eyebrow, which he didn't think she could see from here. Both of them together, in this river, possibly with no clothes... he involuntarily glanced at his clothes as his mouth worked of it's own accord: "Sure!"

"But don't you dare peek!"

He let out a weak chuckle, shook his head so she could see, then leaned his head back onto the rocky bank behind him. And for good measure, he hid his eyes in the crook of his elbow, so he could see nothing. He sat there for the next minute or two, breathing enough and trying to keep his thoughts from wandering...

"Boo!" he heard in his ear.

He was startled, but he heard her giggle as she retreated a bit. Like him, Vanille sat shoulder-deep in the water, floating away to two-arms length away: close, but not too close... and he couldn't blame her, considering that a glance told him her clothes were on the other bank. Nothing he shouldn't see, or hadn't already anyway.

"Does that make us even now?" he asked with a chuckle. Vanille simply nodded with a 'Yup!'.

There was a moment of comfortable silence, during which Hope silently struggled not to let his thoughts wander... they were just gonna talk; there was no reason to get flustered over what she wasn't wearing (and couldn't even see right now). "So, Vanille, you wanted to talk?"

"Mmh" she breathed, holding up her hands together, half-turning from him. "Yeah... I don't know what I should do"

"But, you do know about love, don't you?" he asked, tilting his head. "You do know what you're getting into?"

"Only what I've seen with Serah and Snow" she confessed. "Other than that, I've never really looked at people like that... or knew if people were looking at me that way. I just prefered not to think about it"

"And Fang?" he asked, smiling slightly, knowing she was too close to Fang not to ask her.

"Ah" she breathed. "She said to follow my heart, but I also didn't understand what she meant when she asked how far I intended to take things... I answered 'I don't know', but she seemed to take that as my answer"

Too far... and Vanille seemed ignorant of what exactly that entailed, partly with the less intimate details as well. That changed how he needed to do things, and he sat there looking at Vanille for a few moments, the water sloshing around them. "So... what does your heart say?" he asked gently.

She looked at him, eyes hesiatant and nervous. "We're friends, Hope" she said, glancing down at her joined hands. "We've been through much together, and we can depend on each other, even with our lives... but I don't know if there's more to my feelings"

He was prepared for it, but he did feel disappointment... which passed quickly. Learning that she was overall ignorant of love, he knew it was reasonable not to know or understand what love would feel like. He smiled, tilting his head as he came slightly closer, stopping at an arm's length as she sat there nervously. "Well, Vanille, I understand" he admitted. "You've never experienced this kind of love before"

Vanille dipped her head, along with another "Mmh" sound.

"But perhaps we can work on this together, slowly" he offered. "I can teach you about love, how it feels and so on, if you want"

"That's so sweet, Hope!" she said cheerfully, grabbing his hands in her excitement, to his surprise. "Thank you"

"You're welcome" he answered after a moment, chuckling. Vanille slowly looked at their hands, and pulled away a bit abruptly, looking nervous. "I've seen Serah do that a lot with Snow... that's love, isn't it?"

The naive question made him smile. "Well, it can be a way of showing love, but it's still something friends can do, though rarely" he assured her. And on a burst of instinct, he leaned forward a bit: "Just like this"

She gasped when his lips found her cheek. He lingered that way for a second or two, allowing her time to experience it, then gently pulling away. "And don't worry, we'll be completely slow. That's all that's gonna happen for awhile" he continued with a smile, picking himself up slightly and moving away, back to two-arms length so they'd both have their space.

"Hope..."

Something in her voice made him stop, and turned back around. Vanille had her fingers in that diamond shape she did, her face working but extremely nervous, and when she looked up, she made a small little 'Ah' sound.

"Vanille?" he asked, softly.

Vanille started moving toward him, her figure raising slightly. For a moment, he even thought she was gonna stand up, but it turned out she was simply walking toward him carefully. He sat still, his heartbeat rising a bit when she came closer, within an arms-length, where she hesitated. He understood, and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, much to her vocal surprise.

"Hope, I-" she struggled to say, her expression still completely nervous.

"It's okay" he whispered gently, smiling. "You can do it"

It took her several moments, but she did start slowly leaning forward, her eyelashes fluttering slightly without her knowing. He leaned forward a bit, but he made sure most of it was on her own, closing his eyes. With all the gentleness of a light rain, their lips touched, rather clumsily in her case. Vanille moaned at the sensation, but not in the way it sounded like... he knew better than to take it at face value; she made sounds like that all the time.

For several seconds, their lips stayed together gently, soft and wet. Then they pulled apart, slightly breathless from the kiss. Vanille's face was slightly red, and with another sound, she looked down as she floated away slightly, uncertain.

He smiled gently, knowing that she had liked it, but didn't know what any of it meant or what to do next. His work was far from over, and would take awhile, but he'd gladly face it with Vanille since she was willing to try.

"I-I" she stuttered faintly, nervous as she looked at him.

"It'll be okay, Vanille" he whispered gently. "We'll take this one step at a time, I promise"

She glanced down for a moment, then back up, slowly nodding. "Okay" she breathed.

After that, Vanille left while Hope stayed, getting dressed as he simultanously dried himself off.

Mentally, he still couldn't believe he'd gotten through that without blushing, considering all the factors... maybe something was wrong with him. Or maybe it was just his mature side, able to ignore what Vanille wasn't showing - okay, he had to stop right there. Can't let himself get carried away; not this early. He chuckled wryly at the mental struggle, dusting himself off as he finished.

"Well, that went well"

He should have been surprised, but somehow, all he did was sigh. "I should have known" he thought with a mental chuckle. "Were you spying on me, Fang?" he asked out loud, turning towards her.

Fang strode toward him, looking at him. "No, I just happened to be in the area, and I only listened in" she said blankly, then tilted her head with an amused expression. "Of course I was spying on you. The way you two were minutes ago... anything could have happened"

Only Fang would be that direct, he knew. "Well, nothing completely big happened, but don't tell me you watched us changing" he said.

"Oh come on, kid" she said, chuckling at his irriatation. "Even I wouldn't stoop that low"

After a moment, he chuckled. "I guess not, but I had to make sure" he said, walking past her.

"Just remember that if she's hurt because of you, you're gonna need help to survive, Hope" was called after him.

He paused in his walking, noting the sudden use of his name instead of 'kid'. Even without it, he knew she was serious... He kept walking after a moment.

"Don't worry, Fang. I'm well aware of what would happen" he said easily. And he had no intention of letting it happen.

And done :) Oh Fang

Will be followed-up sometime in the future.