memory; au
Hope tried not to let his eyes glaze over as he listened to a friend of his father's talk on and on and on about something he didn't have any particular interest in. If he could have, he would've found some way to bow out of the conversation, but he knew he couldn't. Like he needed another lecture from his father.
Honestly, he hated this life that he was forced to live - the world of the upper-class, politics, and schmoozing. Hope wished that he could make his way through life on his own without the Estheim name attached and without people trying to use him just to get ahead in their own lives.
Of course, as he caught sight of a long-legged, pink-haired server that was balancing a tray as she walked around the room, he remembered that there was at least someone who didn't give a damn about the social class attached to his name…
She'd had a terrible night at one of her jobs, which didn't surprise Hope at all - the place was sleazy and he constantly wished he could get her out of there, but she was stubborn. There was no other way to support her sister, she claimed. And she would do whatever the hell it took to make sure her sister was taken care of.
"But you need to take care of yourself, too," Hope had said.
"…I do. Enough, anyway."
He hadn't been convinced, not at all. "Lightning…"
How they'd ended up back at his condo was anyone's guess. Something about her ride not being able to make it and getting locked out of her apartment. Instead of leaving each other alone, they'd been drawn to each other - two lost souls on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.
Somehow, this had translated into her taking out her emotions on him in the form of desperate touches and hungry kisses, the rustling of the sheets on their bare skin doing nothing to hide her gasps and his murmurs of her name. For one blissful night, his status and her poverty meant nothing.
Not that she gave a damn about his place in the world at all.
And the more he recalled the memory of that night, the more Hope was convinced was that was how it was meant to be. Though she was literally here to serve him and these high-class snobs he was surrounded by, he knew that Lightning was a better person than any of them would ever be.
But as she passed him with the tray, her eyes hiding a bit of shame, he knew it would take a lot to convince her of that…and more than anything, he wanted to be the one to do it.