Hello everyone, I'm sorry I haven't uploaded in months but first I went NYC to see my favorite group perform live. After that I got sick and by the time I was better my sister came for a visit and then her and my niece headed out. Following all that a girl from a Jpop group I follow left and it hit me really hard along with Thanksgiving happening at that time. After all that I got sick again but this time I had bronchitis and by the time I was better I went to A2F and got to cosplay for the first time. My first cosplay was none other than Hope Estheim FFXIII ver!

After all that explanation I have a very good reason for posting this today. Today is my friend's 23rd birthday and I told her I would dedicate this chapter to her. She's an amazing friend and cosplayer. I hope you enjoy this chapter and have an awesome birthday! You're the best Lightning I've ever known.

Now time for the replies~

Chocobocolina: I will try thanks!

Dewagonet: Yeah I know people have tried this before but I really do want to finish this. I'm glad this looks promising and that you seem to enjoy it. I will keep trying my best!

Shadow-Wolf-S: Thank you very much. I tend to leave things on a cliffhanger but I keeps you coming back for more right?

Thank you all for the reviews, follows, views, and favs.

Please leave a review I love to know what you think of this.

Disclaimer: Once again don't own FFXIII or any of it characters.

Now on to the fanfic!

Chapter 5: Meeting Up

It was Saturday and the group was suppose to all go to Hope's place for dinner. Because of this Hope was super nervous all day and Nora was excited about meeting her son's friends.

The plan was they would all come over at 5 pm and dinner would be ready at 6 pm. Since no one knew where Hope lived they all decided to meet together and Hope would show them to his house.

"I'm so happy that I get to meet your friends! It's been so long since you had friends over. I believe it was when you where in 5th grade." Nora asked her son who was fully recovered from the incident.

"Yeah, I know it's been awhile since you have met any of my friends but please don't embarrass me." Hope pleaded to Nora who just smiled before responding.

"I can't make any promises." She said as she left the room smiling.

At the moment Hope was getting ready to pick everyone up since he wanted to show them the house before dinner. He was going to meet them at the park in town and since it was near the time he decided to head out to meet them.

Once he was done he ran to the front door almost knocking his mom over. "I'm going to head out now. Remember, no embarrassing me!" Hope yelled as he opened the door.

"And like I said no promises. I'm your mom, you should expect me to embarrass you." Nora called out before she heard the door close.

'He's so excited. I can't wait to meet his friends especially that Lightning girl he keeps going on about.' Nora thought to herself before going back to her housework.

As Hope walked to the park he thought about who would be there. Hope's dad had the day off but was out getting ingredients for dinner and was going to be home before Hope got back. Hope's mom was doing some house work before the group got there. All of Hope's friends would be there, including Lightning which made Hope extremely nervous.

"I just hope everything goes well tonight..." Hope said to himself with a sigh as he walked to the park before sitting down on the bench at the spot they all agreed to meet at.

They decided to meet at about 4:30 so they could get to Hope's house in time. Hope couldn't help but wonder how things were going to go for dinner. He also was curious to see how everyone's casual clothes looked like since he only ever saw them in their school uniforms. The 14-year-old himself looked down at his outfit for the day.

What he wore was simple green t-shirt with a gray undershirt and black jeans. He didn't really look any different than usual.

Hope sat there thinking about everything when he heard a loud voice call out to him. "Hey Hope!" Turning his head to see who it was the silver-haired boy saw Snow come running up to him with a grin.

"Hello, Snow." Hope said with a smile to the big guy. Snow was wearing a blue shirt and a pair of black jeans. He also wore a black bandanna over his blond hair.

"How are you doing buddy? Did you get enough rest since the incident?" Snow asked Hope like a concerned big brother.

"Yeah I'm all better now! I should be able to get back to club activities on Monday." The younger of the two said with a huge smile.

"Well I'm glad to see you better and I'm sure Lightning will be happy too." The blond-haired man said with a huge smile of his own before patting Hope's back.

"See I told you he would be here Fang!" A voice Hope knew all to well said before he turned around to see Vanille and Fang coming up to him.

Vanille was wearing a short pink skirt and a white blouse with black lace trim. Her hair was in the her same old curled pigtails and she was wearing silver hoop earrings. She had on light pink heels.

"I heard you, Vanille. Good afternoon, Hope and Snow." Fang said with a slight laugh in her voice as she came to a stop. Fang was wearing black skinny jeans, a dark purple t-shirt and black boots.

"Good afternoon to you too, Fang. And hello Vanille." Hope responded with a smile to the two young ladies.

Before Hope knew it Gadot, Lebreau, Yuj, and Maqui all showed up together followed by Noel and Yeul. Lebreau was wearing shorts, a purple shirt with gold butterflies on it and black wedges. Gadot wore a black t-shirt with white shorts and sneakers. Yuj had on an orange shirt and black leather pants and black boots. Maqui was wearing a black jacket and khakis along with sneakers. Noel had on a plain black t-shirt and blue jeans. While Yeul was wearing a simple white sundress with beige boots.

"Hey you guys! So, everyone's here except Lightning and Serah?" Lebreau noted as she looked around.

"Serah just texted me and said they would be here in a minute." Snow said after checking his phone.

"That's fine but I wonder what was taking them so long. Usually those two are the first ones to get here not the last." Lebreau said with a confused look on her face.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Fang said with a shrug as she hugged Vanille.

"Oh! Here they come." Vanille said as she pointed to two girls walking up to them.

Hope looked to see the Farron sisters walking and talking about something that seemed to be irritating Light. Serah noticed the group and quickly grabbed Lightning's hand running to the group.

"Sorry we're late. Claire was taking forever to get up today." Serah said as she winked to her sister who just glared in return.

Hope noticed that Serah was wearing a black skirt and hot pink blouse with simple black high heels. He then turned his attention Light. When he looked at her, Hope's breath caught. Lightning was wearing white jeans and a purple plain t-shirt with a black cardigan. She had on black boots and a lightning bolt necklace.

"It's no problem. We can head over to my house now." Hope said with a smile on his face to the group before he began leading them to his house.

"So how far is it from here?" Light asked looking around the area as they walked.

"It's just a five to ten minute walk from here." Hope replied as he looked at the rose-haired girl.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Serah responded as she held hands with Snow.

As they entered the residential area everyone noticed how big the houses around looked. "Umm... Hope? How rich is your family?" Noel asked as him and everyone else looked around n amazement.

"Well, my dad has a job at a top-notch research facility. So I guess you can say we're pretty well off..." Hope said before drifting off and staring straight ahead.

"It must be nice living here. I want a big house one day with a huge family!" Snow said with a huge grin on his face as he looked at Serah who just giggled and slapped his arm.

"It's okay I guess but I don't really hang out with most of these people." The silver-haired boy said with a shrug.

Everyone didn't know what to say as they looked at the many houses. After about three minutes of walking down the street Hope stopped causing everyone else to stop and look at where they were.

"Well here we are." Hope said before he started to walk toward the house. Noticing no one was following him, the silver-haired boy turned to see everyone looking between the house and Hope.

"What? Is something wrong?" Hope asked very confused at his friends reactions.

"You live here?" Fang asked in disbelief as she looked the boy with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, I do and I would love to give you a tour of the house if you all like." Hope with sweet smile that made everyone wonder just what kind of life he lived.

Light decided to walk toward the house unable to get over how big the house seemed. It was about three-stories tall and looked pretty spacious on the outside with a big front yard. "I would like to see the inside of the house." She said with a small smile of her own.

"Okay then. Mom and Dad should both be home now." Hope said as he turned around and went to the door now with everyone following him. He opened the door and everyone looked amazed at that moment.

"Mom! I'm back with my friends." Hope shouted and went to where Lightning assumed was the kitchen.

"Who knew the kid came from such a rich home?" Gadot said looking at everything still amazed.

"Well, I guess it explains why he wasn't very good at fighting..." Snow said nodding his head more to himself.

"Just because his family is well off doesn't mean he can't fight." Light said more defensively than she should have. Her face was a little pink but it seemed the only one who noticed was Serah who just smirked a little to herself.

Before anyone could say anything else Hope returned with a woman and a man. Everyone could see that the two must be his parents.

"Sorry for the wait. Everyone these are my mom and my dad." Hope said motioning to the two adults behind him who smiled.

"It's very nice to meet you all. I'm Nora and this is my wonderful husband Bartholomew. Hope's told me so much about you all." Nora said as she shook everyone's hand and smiled brightly. Lightning's could tell that Hope clearly took after his mother.

"He said that Gadot's hair was like fire and he wasn't kidding about it. It looks really cool." Nora said as she looked at Gadot's hair in amazement.

"Thank you so much." Gadot said with a grateful smile on his face.

"Did he talk about anyone else?" Vanille asked in a very curious tone.

"He mention that you were very cheerful, Vanille. He said that Fang was really cool and like an older sister. I heard Yuj was very fashionable. Hope said Maqui always wears goggles even if they break the dress code. He mentioned that Lebreau is a great cook. He said Yeul while looking small and fragile was actually very mature and that Noel was a great classmate who seemed to be very straightforward." Nora said all this while looking at every person she was talking about.

Looking at Serah, Nora continued to talk. "He said that you were a sweet person if not a little scary but that you gave amazing advice if he needs it." Serah thanked Nora before smiling at Hope, who was embarrassed by everything she was saying.

"You must be Snow. Hope mentioned that you were really tall and big but I thought he was exaggerating since he's so small." Nora said with a laugh as everyone did too except Hope who just pouted his face really red.

"I'm not that small, Mom." Hope said as he looked at Lightning with pleading eyes which caused the corner of Light's lips to quirk up.

But before Lightning could say anything, Nora looked at her with a soft look. "Hope's talked about you the most. He said you were really beautiful and he wasn't lying."

"Did he say... anything else?" Lightning asked a little cautiously not knowing why she even asked in the first place.

"He mentioned that you are really caring especially when it comes to your friends and sister. He said you are really helpful even if you can be really strict." Nora finished with a motherly smile on her face.

"Now Hope, why don't you show our guest around the house?" Nora asked as she went to the kitchen with Bartholomew following behind knowing that Hope wouldn't want him there to spoil the fun.

"Okay then, who wants to start at the top floor and make our way down?" Hope said trying to ignore the fact that his face was surely red.

"Sounds like fun!" Lebreau said noticing that Hope didn't seem to want to be questioned about anything now.

"Yeah! I want to look at the ground from the top floor!" Maqui said jumping up and down and grinning.

As everyone began following him, Hope noticed that Light was still standing there staring off into space. "Light? Are you coming?" He asked concern clear in his voice.

"Uh... Yeah. Sorry I was just thinking." Lightning said before following behind the group deep in thought about what Nora had said.

'She said Hope told her all those things. But why would he say things like that about me? Well it doesn't matter right now... He's a sweet kid anyway. I guess I'll just leave it be.' Lightning thought before smiling to herself slightly and catching up to enjoy the tour of the house that Hope was giving.

Sorry I took so long upload this. I will try to get the next chapter out much sooner. But I will tell you that soon things are going to start happening. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter a lot.

The next chapter will continue the tour and dinner! Who knows what might happen?

If you see any grammar or spelling mistakes please tell me. I also accept constructive criticism so tell if you have anything to say.

Please review! Hugs for everyone~

Oh! Once again happy birthday to my dear friend!

Thank you and love you all~ ^_^