A/N: Okay, Rain, Fluff chapter, ACTIVATE! I hope you like it ^_^ Starts of very slightly angst, but grows into amazing fluff. I also vaguely worked Hope's secret in.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. This chapter's dream scene is based off the song 'Belochka' by Lena Katina; I translated the song and changed it up a bit, that's all I can claim.

Summary: Hope has an interesting dream before they go off to find and confront Barthandelus, and Snow's there for him. "It's hard to be something you aren't, it's also hard to hide; maybe I could become a squirrel and you could become a rabbit…"

Extra info: When Hope says 'HE' (in caps), he refers to his father. It goes through different perspectives in his dreams, he talks to himself saying the things others (namely his father) told him, then becomes himself and it kind of bounces back and fourth from those perspectives, then wakes up and it goes back to third person.

Hope napped against the brick wall, the sun hitting his face at a perfect angle. His peaceful face belied his thoughts, going one hundred miles a minute in Dreamland.

Images flashing in his mind; distorted memories of a time he hated.

A time his mother assured him it would all be okay, that they needed to stay with Daddy and it would all be alright. The grown-ups needed each other for things to be alright, yet it seemed it was never alright.

A time his father left him with thugs, locking him up, tying him up, tearing him up. Bursting into tears, unintentionally bleeding. Wear this scarf, Mommy can't know. If she sees it, it was an accident.

Everything is serious and secret and Mommy can't know. Mommy won't save you, Mommy won't care and it's all my fault because it's hard to be like a boy on the outside when you're like girl within; it's hard to be like a girl when you're like a boy outside.

Maybe I could disappear; maybe become an animal and escape.

And what if I ran away and everyone forgot me? And what if I wasn't getting pushed over edges and didn't have to hide?

But I'm a picture of fakeness and too scared to remove the paint and show the awful picture below; answering questions untruthfully because HE says that's how it has to be.

And maybe one day I'll take off the mask and become an adult, until I realize it's just the opposite; adults wear masks and children are free. I must be an adult because it's hard to be a boy when you're a girl and it's hard to be a girl when you're a boy and so I hide…

But maybe it will all be fine because HE isn't here… And maybe I'll be untainted and maybe I'll disappear and maybe I'll become a little squirrel and maybe Snow will become a little rabbit and maybe I'll grow up and maybe I'll be strong and maybe I'll be fake and maybe I, maybe I, maybe I…

Hope woke, eyes suddenly shooting open but nothing else moved. Snow noticed though; Snow notices everything, for as oblivious as he acts. For all his stupidity and indifference, he really did care.

The first thing Hope saw was Snow, a very comforting thing to wake to. The sun felt warm on his skin, not unforgiving like his first day on Pulse.

Snow put his arm around the teen's smaller frame, who immediately curled up to him.

"What's up, kiddo?"

"…Just a stupid dream…" Hope answered, seeming slightly more quiet than usual. Snow could understand, he could tell by now that, while sometimes Hope liked to talk to him for hours -about everything or nothing; he didn't seem to care- Hope generally leaned more toward wordless cuddling.

But it was Snow we were talking about here; of course he would ask anyway. "Wanna talk about it?"

Hope stayed silent for so long that Snow thought he was ignoring him. Then he suddenly spoke, surprising Snow. "It's just…it's hard to explain, I mean, it was just a stupid dream, but I feel like it…no… I don't know, I guess it's just kind of silly…"

"What was so silly about it?"

Hope looked up at Snow, into his sparkling, blue eyes, a vague smile on his face as he reiterated a line that didn't seem to make much sense from the dream: "It's hard to be something you aren't, it's also hard to hide; maybe I could become a squirrel and you could become a rabbit," he said, punctuating the phrase with a kiss to the blonde man's lips before turning back to his original position beneath Snow's arm.

Though he said it with the hint of a smile, it sounded kind of sad. The phrase didn't seem to mean anything to Hope, but Snow found a most appropriate meaning for it.

After a bit of thinking and a slight pause where he'd pulled Hope onto his lap to place both arms around him, Snow said in probably the most serious tone he'd ever used, "I know you wouldn't like me to treat you like a kid, but you don't have to become an adult yet. Anything you ever want to say, even when you're fully grown, you can say it to me. And you can always be you around me, even if the rest of the world wouldn't want to see it," he said, ending with a small peck to Hope's cheek.

The rest of their day was put to good use with blissful nothingness and those fuzzy feelings that some might argue were wrong. If something so wrong felt so right to them, they wouldn't mind being wrong for the rest of their lives.

A/N: Did you like it, Rain and others who may be reading this? Tell me what you liked and what I can fix if you'd like. Sorry for the delay, my life got in the way. Anyway, it's New Year and I actually got invited to someone's party before writing this, so later! (I promise to be responsible…and write the next chapter when I get back home ^_^)