AN: Here's the latest chapter!

Review Thanks!

madapocket: Glade you liked the chapter :)

ben4kevin: They are cute together aren't they!

NekoEiko: Yay! Melting hearts was what I was going for!

simply anonymous: They were smitten with each other! It just took them that long to figure it out.

HopeReincarnated: Thanks! Glad you are liking the story.

thewhitespirit: Here's your update. Hope I don't disappoint ;)


Chapter 9 Beginnings

Ever since his breakdown Hope couldn't help but notice that Noel was different. The man almost seemed nervous around him. In fact Noel reminded Hope very much of the many girls at the academy. They would never look him in the eye, they would stutter when they spoke to him, and they would blush a lot. He could never understand why they did it and he had no clue why Noel would be doing it.

Maybe he was just the type of person that wasn't meant to get along with others. He always had a difficult time making friends even before he became a l'cie. That wasn't an excuse though. If he had done something to upset Noel then he needed to find out what he had done and apologize. It was the least he could do after everything the other man had done for him.

Hope grabbed his jacket as it was getting much cooler and headed outside. Noel had left early that afternoon to go hunting. Hope had offered to go along but Noel said he could do it himself. Even though the splints had come off several days ago Noel still didn't like the idea of taking him along. It was obvious that Noel didn't want his company but he was going to get it anyway. Hope had to fix whatever was wrong between them.

Noel never traveled too far away from the house so it didn't take Hope too long to find the other man. He was currently fighting a megistotherian. Noel seemed to be holding his so Hope decided not to distract him. Instead he kept his eyes open for gorgonopsids as several of the animals often hung around when one of the larger animals was near. He got his boomerang out just in case.

It was a good thing that he did to. As soon as Noel used a finishing move on the megistotherian Hope saw a gorgonopsids sneaking up on the other man. He decided the he would use some of his magic as he wanted to take it out in one shot. He knew that it would tire him out but he didn't want to take the chance of Noel getting hurt. Better that he be tired than something happen to Noel. The other man meant a lot to him and he didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

The animal pounced. Hope threw his boomerang and he couldn't help but feel some excitement as he saw fly through the air with one of his spells. Until this moment he hadn't realized that he had missed doing this. Even though he had lived on Pulse while he was in the Academy they hadn't let him do things like this. He was too important. Not to mention that he didn't want them to find out that he could still use his magic. They would ask too many questions that he wouldn't be able to answer.

Hope let out a small cheer as it hit the monster in the chest and it went flying back. It hit the ground with a loud thud and laid still. His boomerang came flying back to him and Hope easily caught it. He felt tired from doing the spell but he could cast another if he needed to.

He watched as Noel looked behind to find the dead animal. Noel then looked around almost frantically. When his eyes landed on him Hope couldn't even begin to tell what the other man was thinking; there was such a mix of emotions on his face. Noel then slowly started making his way towards Hope.

"What are you doing here?" Noel asked a slight edge to his voice.

"Saving your life," Hope snapped not liking the tone of Noel's voice.

"I had it under control," Noel said with a wave of his hand.

"Under control?" Hope asked in disbelief.

"Yes under control," Noel snipped.

"If I hadn't been here that animal would have ripped you to shreds!" Hope shouted the reality of what could have happened finally sinking in.

"I…you should be at home," Noel said with a shake of his head.

"My splints came off a few days ago, remember," Hope told him as he held up his now completely healed arm.

"That doesn't mean that I want you hunting with me!" Noel yelled. Hope wasn't overly surprised but the other man' statement but it still hurt and more than he thought it would.

"Fine you don't want my help bring them home yourself," Hope said as he turned around and headed back towards home. In doing so he missed the look of devastation that crossed Noel's face.

Hope fumed all the way back to the house. His apology couldn't have gone worse. It didn't help matters any that Noel's words had hurt him. What made it even more confusing was that he didn't know why. It was true that Noel was the only friend that he had left but there was more to it than that. There was something different about the other man. What Noel thought of him really mattered.

Even though Noel told him he thought that he wasn't weak Hope wasn't sure that he believed him anymore. Why else would Noel not want him to go hunting with him. When he thought back on it whenever he offered to go along with Noel and Serah they always told him no. It hurt him when Lightning thought him weak but with Noel it actually made his heart ache.

He was never really able to prove to Lightning and the others that he could help and he would never be able to. Hope wasn't going to let that happen with Noel. There had to be away to show Noel that he could help. Be of use. He didn't want to live off the other man he wanted to live with him. Not be a burden.

Maybe if Hope went hunting by himself that would show Noel. Hope walked into their home and studied one of the maps; Noel had a lot of them. After he had his route planned he marked it on a second map and left a note for Noel. He may be upset with the other man but he knew that Noel would worry if he came back and found him gone. After he had that taken care of Hope packed a small bag of supplies just in case and headed off.

As Hope walked he couldn't stop his mind from wandering. He couldn't figure out why the other man's opinion mattered so much. His friends' opinions had mattered but more like older siblings especially where Lightning, Fang, and Snow were concerned. Sazah was like an uncle. Vanille was an odd one. She was like a doting big sister. The one that looked after him emotional. He never had to prove anything to her.

Noel did not fit into the sibling category as he didn't treat Hope like a brother at all. For some reason this made Hope happy. The last thing Hope wanted was for Noel to treat him like a brother. Of course Noel also treated him like he couldn't do anything which frustrated him beyond belief. The man was confusing. But if he wasn't like a sibling then what was he to Hope.

The man was a friend but he was so much more than that. Hope never felt this way about anyone before. What he need was someone to talk to. Maybe they could help him understand what he was feeling but the only person that he knew was Noel and this was a conversation he did not want to have with the other man. Just the idea of it made his face heat up. Whatever these feelings were he would have to figure them out by himself.


Noel just stood there as he watched the smaller man walk away. He couldn't believe he had said that. Of course Hope misunderstood him. Hope believed that Noel thought him weak or he couldn't take care of himself. That was far from the truth. He just didn't want to see Hope hurt again. If something happened to Hope he wouldn't be able to handle it. Once he finally accepted his feelings for Hope he came to realize how much the other man truly meant to him.

After Noel could no longer see Hope he let out a sigh. He was supposed to be winning Hope's heart not driving him away. Not really caring about his hunt anymore Noel left the kills behind; something would eat them soon enough. He very slowly started to make his way home. He wanted to give Hope time to cool off. Noel also wanted to think about how he was going to tell Hope how he felt about him. Even if Hope didn't return his feelings Noel wanted him to know. If he didn't they would never truly be able to get along.

As he walked home Noel started thinking of ways that he could tell Hope. He could just blurt it out and be straight forward. Make a fancy dinner and explain. Maybe he could be all romantic about it and tell Hope in some creative way. He could take him on a starlit walk and tell him then.

By the time Noel made it back to the house it was nearly dark out and he had thought of at least twenty different ways that he could tell Hope. None of them sounded good enough. He was also starting to feel sick. What if Hope didn't feel the same way? He could lose the other man's friendship. Not that he believed Hope would be upset with for how he felt but it would make things awkward between them. Of course things were already awkward.

No longer sure what he was going to do Noel walked in their home only to find it empty. This worried him greatly. Maybe something had happened to Hope. He didn't see any signs of the other man on the way home but he had been lost in thought. He was about to go out and look for him when Noel happened to see the open map on the table.

He went over to look at it to see a path marked along with a note. Noel felt his heart sink as he read it. Hope went out hunting, alone to prove himself to Noel. He felt even worse than he did before. He had never meant for Hope to doubt himself but it seemed he had. He knew that he had been slightly overprotective but it looked as if he took it too far. Especially since Hope didn't understand why. He really wanted to go after the smaller man but Hope needed this and more importantly Noel needed to let him.

Just because Noel decided to let Hope be that did not stop him from worrying. He paced the length of the living room watching the clock as it slowly ticked the seconds. It was moving so slowly he was sure that the thing was broken.

Eventually the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes into hours. It grew dark outside and Noel didn't know how much longer he could wait. Remembering how someone else he knew went hunting alone and didn't return Noel knew that he couldn't wait any longer. He would rather have Hope be upset with him than not have him at all. He opened the door it see a live, albeit, a tired looking Hope.

"Ah…hi," Hope said as he gave him one of his rare shy smiles. Noel feeling so relived at seeing him pulled Hope close and gave him a rather passionate kiss. Noel quickly realized what he was doing and abruptly pulled away. He then quickly left the house not giving Hope a chance to respond.

Hope just stood their rubbing his thumb over his tingling lips. To say the he was stunned was an understatement. His heart was pounding so hard he thought that it would break out of his chest. Noel kissing him was the last thing he expected when he came home. He expected the other man to be upset with him…not…Hope once again rubbed his lips. He needed to find Noel and talk to him. He had to know what the kiss was about. Even though he enjoyed it, a lot, it also confused him.

He walked outside and scanned the horizon. He was relieved when he spotted the other man not too far away from the house. Hope slowly walked over to where Noel was sitting on the ground. Hope sat down next to him. The two of them sat there in silence. Hope kept glancing over at him but Noel was making a point of not looking at him.

"Noel…"

"I'm sorry," Noel muttered still without looking at him.

"Sorry?" Hope asked confused.

"For kissing you," Noel said quietly as he looked down at the ground.

"Oh," Hope said feeling hurt. "If you didn't want to kiss me why'd you do it?"

"It's not that I didn't want to," Noel said finally looking at him. "I'm just sorry for the way I did it."

"Oh," Hope said once again as he felt his face heat up and his heart start to pound.

"We need to talk," Noel said as he got up and dusted off his pants. Hope nodded wordlessly as he too got up. The two of them then walked back to the house in a very awkward silence.


"So why'd you do? Why did you kiss me?" Hope asked him as soon as they stepped into the house. Noel turned around to look at him. Hope had such a curious expression on his face.

"The same reason anyone kisses someone else," Noel said. Hope just continued to look at him curiously. Noel sighed. "I kissed you because like you."

"Oh," Hope said for the third time but this time he turned a nice shade of scarlet. "No one has ever liked me before."

Now it was Noel's turn to be confused. When he saw Hope at the academy there was always a giggling group of girls and some boys too nearby. It was the same even when he had that research complex on Pulse. Then there was Alyssa. He thought that the two of them were together. She was always, literally, hanging on Hope. It was true that Hope always shrugged her off but Noel always thought that it was because Hope didn't like public displays of affection.

"I always thought that you and Alyssa…" Noel started to say but stopped when Hope paled and plopped down on the couch. "Are you alright?" Noel asked as he sat down next to him. Hope shook his head.

"I'm sorry about Alyssa. That artifact she gave you was a trap. I almost lost you because I trusted her. I should have…"

"That wasn't your fault," Noel said quickly cutting the other man off. "Besides whatever her trap was didn't work." He wasn't about to tell Hope what happened to him and Serah when they went through the Historia Crux that time. The smaller man already carried too many burdens. Noel did not want to add to them.

"I know but still," Hope said with a shrug.

"Come on," Noel said as he put a hand on Hope's shoulder. "Cheer up. This is a confession after all." He felt his heart flutter when the blush returned to Hope's face.

"I don't see how someone like you could like someone like me," Hope mumbled. If it was anyone else saying Noel would thinki that they were playing at being humble but he knew that the other man was serious.

"You have no idea how attractive you are," Noel said as he looked at Hope.

"I'm not attractive," Hope said with a shake of his head. "You on the other hand…"

"You think I'm attractive," Noel said unable to stop the smile that spread across his face. Hope's face turned even redder.

"I…You…" Hope stuttered. "You stole my first kiss!"

"Oh yeah," Noel said feeling extremely lucky to be the person that gave Hope his first kiss. "What did you think?"

"I don't know," Hope said as he looked down at his fingernails suddenly looking bored. You couldn't tell that just seconds ago he had been completely flustered. "I have nothing to compare it to."

"Do I need to give you another demonstration?" Noel asked as he gave Hope what he thought of as a charming smile.

"It might help," Hope said as he looked over at him lazily.

Noel then kissed Hope of the second time that night. This time though he had no plans to pull way and run from the house. He was savoring this kiss. Unlike the last time when it had been out of worry and desperation this time it was because they wanted it. And it was nothing like Noel imagined. It was better. There was something different about kissing Hope than the other people that Noel had kissed. There was no word that Noel knew to describe what that thing was and he doubted that there ever would be.

"So what'd you think?" Noel asked when they finally broke apart.

"Still not sure," Hope said as he looked at him quizzically. "we might have to do that a lot for me to come to an honest conclusion."

"I'm here to please," Noel said with a smile and then kissed Hope again.


AN 2: Well there's the end of the story and they all live happily…oh wait yeah there's more. Here's the bitsy at the end of the credits. Enjoy!


The person made sure that they were properly wrapped in darkness as they watched the two men. They sneered and almost growled at the sight. There was something between. Something special. Anyone with eyes could see that. The men had grown close and they did not like that. That was not acceptable.

They ran their hand through the rough fur of the silver lobo at their side. They had to stop to the men's relationship. Hope was theirs. They regretted not taking Hope the night that he arrived but they did not have the strength then. But now…now was a different matter entirely. Now they had power. Hope would be theirs.

First though…first they had to get rid of Noel because as long as he was around Hope would never belong to them. When that man was gone Hope would be at their mercy. After they had claimed Hope then they could put their plan into action. Because then there would be no one to stop them.

The person then turned around and disappeared into the darkness the silver lobo walking calmly at their side.


AN 3: Well there's chapter 9 and the villain for the story has been introduced! Trust me they have a lot planed for the boys (evil laugh)! Luckily they might get some help from...*cough*...*cough*...sorry cold. Anyway please leave a review.