Serendipity

Sequence III: The Calm After the Storm


The stars were shining in the sky, but it didn't provide any comfort to the amount of confusion that was ringing in the mind of Hope Estheim.

He rested his hands on his upper thighs as he tried to catch his breath. He'd run further than he thought he would. Escaping that chaotic environment was definitely necessary. As he stood in a more secluded area outside of the casino, a small garden surrounded him. The fortune teller's tent was just directly to the left of where he stood.

Slowly, he began to walk forward, deciding he wanted to completely seclude himself in the confines of the peaceful area. Spotting a stone bench, he gratefully took a seat on it before moving to rest his head in the palm of his hands.

What the hell had just happened?

The vision of two of his close friends enacting such a sensual display made him feel so uneasy. It made him feel so messed up so quickly that he had felt the need to run away. That was so unlike him, to become so invested in another person.

Not to mention, he hadn't felt jealousy in such a long time. The feeling was unfamiliar, and he greatly disliked its presence. Leaning his head to rest on just his left hand, he glanced down at the ground. How ironic that is was him that was feeling so left out of everything.

This type of thing wasn't something that suited his personality. Sure if he had had a few more drinks he probably would've been more laid back about everything. He probably would've been able to brush off how Serah had practically thrown herself into the arms of the man whom he had been trying to act normal with. That was already hard enough given the circumstances from a week ago.

And now, it was going to be impossible to act normal.

Something shifted in his pocket and he pulled out a few coins that had been placed in there earlier that evening.

"I think you should take half since you probably gave me some good luck."

A tan hand slid a few coins into a pocket of the grey jeans that loosely clung onto Hope's legs. Noel could sense the obvious inhale from the other man as he did this. It only made him proceed in staying in that close proximity.

"Good luck..?"

It all seemed so utterly sarcastic now.

Hope could only imagine that they would probably be heading up to the bedroom in that very instant. Who wouldn't reject an offer from a woman like her? Surely they had developed some sort of feelings for each other after traveling together so long. It was only natural.

But in the back of his mind he hated himself for thinking such things. Inwardly he didn't want to believe that, especially with how much passion had been produced just from a single passing of lips between himself and the hunter. He wished that the threatening idea of those two delving into such sexual activities wasn't true.

Feeling that sheer curiosity, he had to have it satiated. Standing up, the young director began to make his way back to the hotel suite. There was only one way to confirm his fears.


"Noel…"

Serah was intent on initiating a rough kiss with the man whom she had been partnered with. The tips of her fingers ran over the lower part of his t-shirt just as the man in question pried himself away from her mouth just enough to speak.

"Serah, stop it. You're drunk."

"So? I still want to kiss you and-" Just as she went to lean back to start trying to kissing him once again, Noel used his strength to easily grab at the sides of her arms to hold her at arm's length.

"Stop. This isn't something you would normally do."

"I just…I thought that you started to like me. I mean you're always there for me."

"Yes, because I'm your friend."

The young woman looked off to the side, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed and a little hurt at the rejection she was receiving. She gradually began to move herself from his lap as he kept a steady gaze on her.

"Sorry about that." Her voice was almost a mumble as she glanced over at her empty glass.

"It's all right. Are you okay though?"

With a small smile, she waved off the question quickly. "I'm fine. I think I'm just gonna get another drink though."

Just as she went to stand up, her body slid a bit to the side and Noel used his quick reflexes to catch her in time.

"I don't think you need another drink."

"How do you know what I need?"

It was evident that Serah was the angry drunk type when she didn't get her way. With a roll of her eyes, she slid past him and headed toward the bar just as the blonde woman re-appeared with a far too excited look on her face.

"Ooooh that was definitely the highlight of my night. Where's Serah?"

Noel pointed over at the bar where the woman was now sipping yet another mixed drink. Alyssa quickly wondered over to her as she seemed to also be keen on getting another drink too.

The second he was alone, those sapphire eyes began to scan around the room. The one man he had been set on finding clearly wasn't here. Starting to feel a sense of impatience, he decided to leave.

If the silver-haired man hadn't already returned to the table by this point, then he had to assume the worst scenario had occurred. He must've seen what Serah had tried to do.

Shaking his head and growling lowly, he made his way over to the two women and had to almost scream at them from how loud the music had become.

"I'm going to go find Hope. Will you two be okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine! We might dance though, so if we don't see you later then we'll just see you back at the room!"

Noel wasted no time in turning and heading for the nearest exit.

Knowing the other man, Noel already ascertained that he was probably dwelling on the worst of everything. His mind was formed around that of research, so he would overthink and break apart every particle of what he had seen. That would also leave a huge space for misinterpretation.

The need to run began to work its way into his body as he escaped the sensual atmosphere that the club scene had induced. The night air greeted him and glancing around, far too many people were wondering around. It was difficult to pin point anyone from the large crowd.

He did a full circle of the central area. He came up unsuccessful.

Noel was growing frustrated. With every second that passed, the silver-haired man was falling further into those dark thoughts of something that wasn't true. He could say this with certainty, because he would've been doing the exact same thing if he had seen what Hope had.

Resounding defeat, he decided to head up to the suite and just wait for him to return there. Surely he would. Hope didn't seem like the type to want to wander around such a place for very long.

The journey back upstairs seemed like a lifetime, but when the elevator finally arrived on the 11th floor, he practically jumped off the contraption and headed down the hall to the correct room. His keycard slid into the door just before he pushed it open.

The entrance light was on. They hadn't left any lights on when they left.

Looking around, he noticed that neither of the girls had returned. That only left one person who possibly could have.

He ran over to the right of the suite, letting his hand move down onto the bedroom doorknob and jolted it a few times. It was locked.

"Hope!"

The man on the other side of the door rolled over in the bed in which he lay. His head phones were plugged in his ears as the music drowned out any noise that he might've heard.

Upon his return to the room, he hadn't seen or heard anything scandalous going on. But that didn't leave him with the notion that they might do so shortly after he arrived. Feeling like he didn't even want to take a chance at hearing such things, Hope had settled with luring himself to sleep by listening to music.

That left Noel on the other side of the door, still banging on the wood that was separating them.

"Hope, we need to talk!"

The chance look over at the door had green eyes glancing down to see a shadow moving underneath the doorframe. As he pulled out his ear buds, he could hear knocking at his door and the voice of the man whom he had been worried about all night.

Feeling unsure of what to do, he slowly set his iPod aside. Moving off the bed, his feet led him across the room just as his hand reached out to unlock the door. With a great amount of hesitation, he opened the door and his eyes met that of sapphire which held a look of seriousness.

"What did I tell you about avoiding me?"

"I don't think it matters what I do. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were getting cozy with Serah."

The words stung and Hope knew they would. He stared at the man standing in the hallway with a look of stoicness. But he knew that his eyes were giving off a subtle look of disbelief.

"I wasn't. Nothing happened."

"It looked like plenty happened from where I stood."

"Hope, you've got it all wrong-"

"No Noel, I'm not getting into this. Whatever this is, it's nothing now. Just leave it that way."

Hope went to close his bedroom door just as Noel let his hand slam down onto it. Both men were unmoving as they stared at one another. It was a stalemate, but both were still intent on not setting aside their current feelings.

Hope felt nothing but uncertainty.

Noel felt nothing but frustration.

"I will not be ignored."

The warning from before shot through Hope's mind just as Noel began to move in for the kill. Those instincts ran through his veins as he stepped into the doorway and let his hand move from the door to grab onto Hope's forearm.

Tugging him forward, he used his other hand to grab onto bottom of the other man's chin. That same inhale of breath was heard as Hope felt frozen in the touch of this man. Staring up at him, those sapphire eyes beckoned him to remain; it was more like they were forcing him to.

"This is not nothing. You know it too."

That same dryness in his throat occurred, and he could feel his vision almost going hazy. The subtle hint of alcohol lingered after the words his captor spoke. Hope remained still, not saying a word. In his mind though, he knew that what was being said was true.

All of this wasn't just nothing.

Things wouldn't have escalated to the point of them both feeling so scattered in emotions. Jealousy wouldn't have made an appearance, and Noel wouldn't have been running to explain if something actually had truly happened.

"Even still, we should wait till we have clear heads again to deal with this."

Hope felt his body being released just as those blue eyes finally tore away from that intense stare.

"Fine. We can't keep putting this off though. It's not just going to go away."

As Noel turned and headed back to the common room area, the bedroom door was finally able to be closed.

The silver-haired man withdrew back into his hiding area. Moving back to the bed, he began trying to recollect everything that had just happened. Hope felt relief that nothing had occurred between the two, but at the same time, now he had to confront a whole new situation.

The same feelings that had been lying dormant and were brought to life a week before were all coming to a head once again. They were only growing more intense with every second that they spent together. Even just going through daily activities, Hope knew he was feeling far too much for his friend.

The jealousy he felt tonight had been a clear realization of that.

But was it really okay for him to feel this way? Could he really give into that intensity that had been offered to him before? He was always so used to having control. It wasn't like him to actually be longing for the man who caused discord in the most perfect of ways.

Hope buried his head into the pillow as he tried to focus on the music so he could eventually fall asleep from exhaustion.


The sound of the drunken entrance of the two women in their group had hardly stirred Noel from his slumber. He had been so exhausted from thinking too much on the conversation before he had gone into seclusion for the rest of the night.

Sitting up off the unfolded bed, he yawned and stretched while glancing over at the curtains. It was odd not having the sun showing at all. Opening the curtains, only the night sky greeted him.

Looking over at the clock on the wall, it was technically past noon. Shaking his head, he stopped in his tracks while contemplating what to do.

Surely the other man was close to being awake. Noel started gathering things to take a shower with, and as soon as he had everything in tow, he made his way to the bedroom on the right side of the room.

A small knock was made on the door. The frustration that he had felt when he first laid down in bed had slowly faded away. His thoughts still hadn't led him to an appropriate answer, but he had a feeling that things would slowly work themselves out in due time.

For now, he just wanted a shower and a good meal.

A sound of stumbling was heard just before Hope opened the door and looked up at him with a rather sleepy gaze.

"Good morning. Mind if I use your bathroom?"

Hope shook his head while moving to the side as Noel made his way to the bathroom nearby. The young director yawned loudly just as he looked at the clock on the bedside table.

The entire morning had been slept away by everyone. With an exasperated sigh, he decided it was probably best that he began getting ready as well. The last thing he needed was to throw off his usual sleep schedule too much.

Deciding to avoid a possible encounter in the bathroom, Hope began to head to the other bedroom in the suite to wake up the other members of their entourage.

"Alyssa, Serah, time to wake up." He knocked on the door lightly just as something thudded against the door lightly. As he raised his eyebrow, he could hear a loud moan of unhappiness.

"It's too early!" The voice was obviously that of Alyssa.

"My head hurts." Serah's voice followed soon after just as both girls began to stir from the bed.

"We're gonna get ready. If you two aren't ready soon then we're going to eat without you."

Hope then curtly left his role as messenger and wondered back over to his side of the suite.

The sound of the shower running was heard just as he moved to get his bag to start pulling out what he needed to get ready. It was surprising just how calm he was feeling after everything that had occurred last night.

The stripper. The best friend making moves on his other best friend. His best friend coming into such close contact with him again. Said best friend making indications that something was developing between them. Yeah it had been easy enough to sleep off.

But as he heard the shower shut off, and the remembrance of just who was in that shower-Hope felt his heart beat in an odd way all of the sudden.

Quickly trying to find something to occupy his attention, he continued with shoveling through his belongings just as he could hear footsteps behind the bathroom door.

The door opened and revealed Noel clothed in another set of loose blue jeans as his chest was covered in a white t-shirt and an unzipped, navy blue jacket hung loosely on top of that.

Hope glanced over amidst him trying to distract himself just as he starting piling everything he needed into his arms. The bathroom was free so he brushed past the other man and dumped everything onto the counter.

"Are the girls awake?"

"I told them we were going to eat soon. I'm not sure if they're going to be ready in time."

"I highly doubt it. They are women after all."

"Right."

Both stood there for a moment just as Hope wasn't really sure what to do. He watched as Noel remained unmoving.

"Well, I'm going to get ready now so..."

"I'll wait for you outside."

Noel got his cue to leave and he exited the room just as the other man closed the door for his privacy.

Things were going smoothly so far. It seemed like they were finally going to have some time alone with each other. Perhaps they would finally get a chance to talk things out face-to-face.

If anything, that was what they both needed at this point.

The time ticked away slowly, and within twenty minutes time, Hope was exiting the bedroom ready to go. Deciding to dress down again, he had slid on a pair of black jeans and a slate, grey t-shirt. He slid his hands into his pockets just as he saw only Noel standing in the common room.

"Guessing they're still not ready."

"I don't even think they've moved from bed yet."

"They're probably really hung over."

Hope shrugged slightly as he remembered how Alyssa was quite the drinker on their off-days. More than once had she invited him to the bar in town, but he had only gone once. The one time he had, he regretted it.

"Let's head out then."

Noel took the lead, exiting the hotel room as Hope followed closely behind him. Nothing was said between them as they headed through the motions of going down the elevator and heading to the hotel restaurant.

Even at this time, the restaurant was still bustling. The hostess managed to seat them at a booth in the corner of the restaurant, just as they were handed menus and left to ponder over their meals.

"It's amazing how the night never ends here." Hope stared out the nearby window to look at the stars that were even visible from where he was sitting.

"Yeah, that leaves the never-ending slew of drunks too." The noisy crowd toward the other side of the room was proof of that. Both men shook their heads as the resumed looking at the menus.

A short amount of time passed as they decided on what to have and placed the order with their waiter before the real conversation could be focused on.

Noel sat a few feet away from the other man who was currently leaned back against the comfortable booth. Tan hands moved onto the table as he let his body prop itself up on his elbows.

"Why don't you tell me what you were feeling last night?"

The question didn't necessarily startle Hope; it just made him feel nervous. This was obviously going to be the time whenever Noel was going to corner him into answering those questions he had been avoiding for over a week now.

"I'm sure it was obvious enough."

Hope looked at anything but Noel. It was not easy for him to confess any sort of feelings about anything. He preferred being the strong, silent type. Only speaking when it was in regards to his research.

Not when it was in regards to what he might have been feeling about another person.

"Maybe so, but I would prefer if you would tell me."

"Why?"

Noel leaned a bit to the side, moving closer to the man whom he had his eyes set on. His voice lowered in a gentle yet serious tone.

"Because then it becomes real."