~Chapter I~

Noel sat on a handrail of the floating streets and pavements of Academia, observing the flying traffic and the people milling about the city below. From his position near the Academy Headquarters, he could see almost everything from the teenagers hanging out near the shopping mall to the police patrolling the streets.

A fruit flavoured popsicle was hanging out of his mouth as he held onto the railing with both hands, he may be a careless young man but he wasn't stupid. A fall from this height would most likely kill him instantly or result in a slow and painful death. However the simple activity of eating frozen treats reflected Noel's peaceful and relaxing new way of life, especially when compared to the horrors of 700AF and his many travels through time.

Some would say that it would've made a nice change that he'd finally found a peaceful way of life with freedom to do as he pleased. Noel was grateful for this, but he also found that he was somewhat bored with this new life and grew to find daily routine of life on Bhunivelze and Academia quite tedious.

He'd tried pretty much everything…initially he had joined Snow in setting up the military for a few months and tutoring the men on certain Gran Pulse knowledge and survival tips he had picked up over the years. Over the course of those few months Snow and Noel had surprised each other by becoming fast friends, bonding over their journeys through time and their sense for adventure. Neither had expected it since they seemed to have opposing personalities, however they now saw each other on an almost weekly basis.

For only a week he had volunteered to help out Lightning in running the new state, however most of the work he was sent went completely over his head. Since he felt his aid was probably more of an inconvenience, he politely excused himself from being Lightnings aide via a telecom device.

The week after that was spent moping around Academia, soaking up a life of leisure, Noel had explored every inch of the new city and in doing so had exhausted the last of his gil. For the first time in his life, Noel was forced to consider getting a job. However he refused to even apply for any jobs in shops or cafes, because it would simply be ridiculous, the saviour of Bhunivelze and indeed the entire future working behind the counter at a clothing store, with a name tag pinned to his clothes, stocking the shop. However he reasoned it would be equally ridiculous and unfair to request for someone else to pay for his bills, food and various activites he participated in in Academia.

The only option he was left with was working for the Academy, since it was run by Hope, Hope would doubtlessly hire him because he knew Noels potential where other academic employers would've turned him down for lack of experience. So yes, Hope had given him a job and at the start of the week he had been very grateful for it, although he hadn't yet been set any specific tasks…

When he signed up for the job he had agreed when Hope had told Noel he couldn't work as a researcher within the facility without any training but he could work with researchers when they went out to do field work in Gran Pulse. He would be paid full time but only take part in defending and aiding field researchers in any way possible…the trouble was when Noel got the job the latest team of researchers had come back from their base in Gran Pulse and would be a few more days until they were ready to leave again…which meant Noel had spent the first four days of his week bored out of his brain, broke and wandering the streets of Academia, which is where he was now.

Noel sucked on the popsicle hanging out of his mouth and glanced over to the Academy headquarters. Every day this week he'd been to see Hope and part of him knew that it wasn't just to ask about whether the field team was ready to move out again or not. Hope was the best friend he had.

Sure he talked with Snow and Lightning and even met up a few times with Alyssa, Sazh and his kid. But it was Hope that he'd known the longest and had been through the most with, also he didn't intimidate him like Lightning (not that Noel would ever admit it), wasn't as loud as Snow and didn't annoy him over long periods of time like Alyssa did. Something about being around Hope made Noel feel able to relax completely, his normal guard been brought right down. There was something about Hope that Noel couldn't put his finger on which made him a little lighter when he was in his presence. As if being around him – and dear Etro he didn't want to use the goddamn cliché phrase – brightened his day. Noel reasoned it was because Hope was calm and serene most of the time and never seemed to let any bad news cloud his happiness. Being around people like that often makes everyone else feel better too.

Noel smiled to himself deciding he may as well go check up on the Director, and make his daily enquiry to see if the researchers were ready to leave for Gran Pulse. He turned round and jumped off the handrail, pausing for a second and looking round for Serah. Remembering he was alone he frowned and rolled his eyes at himself, forcing his legs to start walking as if someone would notice he'd just been looking for a girl who was no longer alive. He didn't often do this, in fact it was a lot less frequent than it had been before, it normally happened when he was in places he'd first visited with Serah.

Noel boarded the conveyor escalator down towards the Headquarters and removed the popsicle from his mouth, inspecting it before replacing it back in his mouth and looking up into the blazing sunshine. It was meant to be spring but for some reason there was a blazing heat wave, Noel blamed this on being in the city and added to the list of reasons why he wanted to leave Academia for the field work as soon as possible.

After numerous checks and ID verification's Noel was allowed into the main room of the Headquarters. Noel smiled to himself as he saw Hope stood over his control desk in the centre of the room. He began to make his way over when suddenly a yellow blur jumped out in front of him.

"Hey Noel! Why didn't you call me back the other day?" Alyssa's peppy voice sounded as her face slowly came into focus in front of Noels, her hair bouncing slightly on top of her head as she bounced slightly from one foot to the other, staring up into the others eyes. Noel stared with eyes wide open at the sudden shock of her appearance before inching back slightly and removing the popsicle from his mouth.

"Alyssa, I'm sorry I must've forgotten, I've been quite busy lately" he apologized sheepishly, his free hand rubbing the back of his head, hoping Alyssa wouldn't see through his blatant lie.

Unfortunately she did,

"Oh you liar! Ever since you ran out of gil you've just been moping around with nothing better to do, so don't give me that sorry excuse!" she pouted as her eyes narrowed then suddenly looked down at the popsicle in Noels hand, before Noel could attempt a second apology the popsicle had been swiped from his hand.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" Noel complained reaching for it, but Alyssa just held it out of reach and took a few steps back,

"Thanks for bringing me this, it's been a pretty hot day at work and watermelon's my favourite, consider your apology accepted!" she said, putting the half-eaten popsicle in her mouth and giving Noel a playful salute, before turning round and beginning to walk off a slight bounce in her step.

Noel narrowed his eyes, pouting slightly and was about to walk off after her when he heard someone nearby chuckling softly, he turned to see that Hope had walked over to him and was now stood a metre away. Noel felt himself smiling,

"Don't worry about that, I'll buy you another" Hope said, his lips pulling into the neutral smile he seemed to always wear whenever Noel was around.

"Hmm, you should get one for yourself too. C'mon, take a break from all this work. I bet you haven't even set foot outside today" Noel said folding his arms and licking his lips, tasting the last of the stolen popsicle. He saw Hopes eyes dart to his lips for a second before Hope mirrored the brunette by folding his arms too, looking away to the side,

"Actually I was awake at five o'clock this morning and had a nice walk into work under the sun. Long before you probably rolled out of bed" Hope looked back to Noel now with a knowing look on his face. The brunette rarely got out of bed before eleven these days as he had nothing to do.

Noel resisted rolling his eyes but felt the smile on his face become a grin,

"Besides I've got a lot of work to be done here, I can't really take a break right now" Hope looked dissapointed shrugged in apology and Noel felt his heart sink a little.

"Ok…it's not like I can force you" Noel replied, "but you have to promise to come and meet me after your work is done, agreed?"

Hope's eyes brightened at the proposition and he gave a short laugh, "Right, agreed!" he said looking into Noels hazel eyes before realisation seemed to go across his face,

"I've also got some exciting news for you!" he said, motioning Noel to follow him with his finger before turning round and walking over to his central control desk.

"Really?" Noel asked as he followed the other over to where he stood over his desk, the many different screens all glowing a green light.

Slinging an arm round Hope's shoulder as they both leant over the desk. He felt Hope flinch and tense up a little, before relaxing into it slightly.

"What's the good news then?" Noel asked, looking out of the corner of his eye at Hope, enjoying the close proximity of the other and the fact Hope seemed to be concentrating intensely on the desk to ignore Noel being so close.

"Umm, well actually…" Hope started, praying that his cheeks wouldn't dust a light pink as they were so prone to do around Noel, before pressing a few buttons and sliding some screens around on the desk before opening a message,

"The field research team is going to be ready to leave tomorrow" he continued and Noel felt his heart skip a beat,

"Yes, finally!" Noel exclaimed, squeezing Hope with the arm wrapped round his shoulder,

"That's the best news I've heard all day" he finished, before releasing his grip from Hope and turning to face him, casually leaning on the desk. Hope stood up straight at shot a smile to Noel,

"I'm sorry it's taken them so long, I mean I promised you work and it's been almost a week until I managed to arrange everything properly", Hope apologised and Noel held up a hand,

"Don't mention it, I'm just glad I don't have to sit around in Academia all day anymore…" Noel said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand,

"It doesn't suit me, don't you think?" he looked to Hope for an answer who put a hand to his chin in thought, looking up slightly.

"To be honest I never really thought about it…" Hope looked down again at Noel, it was true that Noel was born and raised a hunter and a guardian…but times had now changed, quite literally, he hoped that by now Noel would've settled into civilian life on Bhunivelze…but yet here he was still living in and walking the streets of Academia on Gran Pulse, right on his doorstep. No matter how much he had hoped that Noel would move out of temptations way so he would no longer cloud Hope's thoughts, it never happened and for some reason he was now working for him, doubtless to say they had now seen each other on an almost daily basis. Hope didn't mind, seeing Noel was always a high point of the day and he loved to have an excuse to talk to him. It was just that for the rest of the day, his concentration would be broken, no matter how hard he tried to focus on his calculations or experiments, images and thoughts about the brunette hunter just seemed to drift through his brain as a constant distraction.

Suddenly he realised he was supposed to be answering Noels question and he looked at the clothes Noel was wearing, the same ones he had always worn, and he refused to wear anything else. Needless to say this was one of his many traits that made him stick out like a sore thumb on the streets of Academia, it was as if they were his second skin, upon feeling his eyes staring at the brunettes chest where the clothing stretched tight across outlining all his finely toned muscles, he felt himself flush slightly pink and rapidly look up to lock eyes with Noel.

"But- I- uhh" Hope started, looking away to the left, "I can see now why someone so unused to the civilian life would start to feel so restless"

Hope had tried everything to get rid of these thoughts, especially in the first few months he'd known Noel, back when Serah was alive. He had told himself not to get too attached to the younger man because he had been convinced once the paradoxes had been solved Noel would simply vanish back to his own time. Yet here he was, 500 years in the future, 200 years into Noels past, stood right in front of him still alluring and attractive as he ever had been.

Noel tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow at Hope's behaviour,

"Right…" he stated, still looking across at Hope who still had his head turned facing another direction.

"Well, thanks again, I'll let you get on with your work!" the younger stated, leaning off the desk to stand up straight.

'Not that I'll be able to concentrate anymore…especially now I know I'm going to be meeting up with you again afterwards' Hope thought to himself, but instead he simply said,

"You're welcome! I'll see you after I've finished, if you meet me here at about ten?" Hope decided with a quick glance at his watch.

Noel shook his head, "You work too much" he muttered but he began to walk away, speaking over to Hope, "I'll be here at ten" he said and with that he walked out of the control room.

Alyssa observing that Hopes gaze never left the other mans back until the doors had shut behind him and he was out of sight. She grinned to herself and bounced over to where Hope was still stood facing the doorway.

"Had another visit from the charming Pulsian, have we?" she teased her boss, nudging his side with her elbow.

Hope felt his cheeks turning a shade darker. Alyssa was the only one who knew about his little fixation with the hunter and only because she had pestered him incessantly about what he was thinking each time his eyes glazed over in thought. She somehow knew before he'd even told her it was some sort of crush, Hope reasoned it must've been something similar to a woman's intuition.

"Alyssa, I thought you were working in the lab" Hope said calmly, turning back to his control desk and shutting down the messages he had received off the field research team.

Alyssa grinned inwardly, "I was" she said happily, walking a few steps closer so that she was stood next to the silver-haired Director.

"But I thought that your little experiment with Noel was far more interesting!" she giggled behind her hand.

Hope slammed his hands onto the desk, shutting his eyes in frustration,

"It's not an experiment Alyssa!" he snapped, turning his head to look at the amused researcher,

"Nothing is happening between us!" he stated, pursing his lips and hoping that the other would drop the topic now, but that was unlikely.

"And why not?" she pressed further winking at Hope, "It can't go on like this much longer, besides, what's stopping you?"

Hope sighed and leaned off the desk, to face the young woman,

"I've told you before, I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel the same way…I wouldn't want to embarrass myself or ruin our friendship" Hope said sadly, looking to Alyssa.

Alyssa shook her head, "And as I keep telling you!" she said loudly, pointing a finger at Hope with her other hand on her hip.

"You're never going to know unless you try! Do you think Snow sat for months on end worrying about whether Serah would accept him for who he was?" she asked, tilting her head knowingly.

Hope sighed again and ran a hand through his silver hair,

"But I'm not like Snow…and Noel isn't like Serah" he replied.

Alyssa giggled slightly, "Are you sure he's not like Serah? I mean of course they have their subtle differences but…" she said, putting her hand to her chin in thought and beginning to pace.

"They did travel through time together without ruining their close friendship, they both showed the same amount of care and self-sacrifice in everything they did together. And you know Serah well! Would she have stayed friends with someone who was so unlike her that they were mean and unkind?" she finished turning back to face Hope and wait for a reply.

"Well…no..but-"

"EXACTLY!" she shouted and pointed both her hands at the Director, causing a few other nearby researchers to jump slightly and look over too.

"You've got nothing to worry about! Noel doesn't seem like the type of guy who would throw away his friends so carelessly, just give it a go!" she said, winking again before turning to walk away before Hope could argue back.

Instead of rising to the challenge Hope stayed quiet and let her go, because he couldn't be bothered to argue but mainly because he knew she was right. He was the one who was too scared to admit to anything, most of all something he was so alien to such as romantic feelings. Sure he'd had his fair share of crushes when he'd been growing up, hell even Snow had been one of them, but they'd all ended or faded away at some point, which with Snow Hope had been very grateful to Etro from relieving him of that weird fixation because Snow belonged wholeheartedly to Serah.

But for some reason Noel wouldn't vanish or fade away, mainly because he saw him on a daily and previously weekly basis. And of course thought about him on a disturbing daily basis…Hope of course understood it couldn't go on like this for much longer…but…he guessed he was scared of rejection.

Once again forcing Noel out of his mind, he returned back to his desk and began checking the screen as he had received an influx of messages from researchers calling him to the lab. Hope mentally thanked them for this distraction from his thoughts and fired a message back to them before locking the central desk and heading off for the laboratory.

Noel sat on the steps outside the Headquarters, it was approximately ten minutes past ten. Hope was approximately ten minutes late and Noel was quite cold from the chilling breeze and the fact the sun had gone down and was beginning to feel boredom creeping into his brain again.

After seeing Hope earlier that day Noel had tried to amuse himself by taking a walk around Academia, which had turned into a jog round Academia, a trip to the local gym, a shower and then falling asleep for five hour nap. After waking up at about twenty to ten Noel had hurried to redress himself and had ran across to the Headquarters, not wanting to be late and miss Hope's meeting time. In his mad rush through his apartment he had forgotten to pick up the last of his dwindling gil supply and his telecom device*. So he had no way of knowing what time it was, whether Hope had tried to contact him to tell him he was going to be late or have to call the meeting off and he was also out of gil for whatever Hope wanted to do.

Noel glanced up into the sky again, coming from the world of 700AF he had learnt how to roughly tell the time by the positioning of the sun in the sky, but he could barely see it as it had begun to set on the horizon and their were several other skyscrapers and buildings blocking its view. But Noel put an estimate on about fifteen minutes past ten, just then he heard voices behind him.

"Hey Noel!"

Noel raised an eyebrow and stood to turn around, that voice didn't sound like Hope and in fact it wasn't Hope. The brunette had turned to see Alyssa and Hope walking out of the Academy Headquarters, as the lights of the building shut down behind them.

"Hey Alyssa, didn't know you worked this late" Noel said, only slightly put out by the fact it wasn't going to be Hope and him alone together.

Alyssa skipped over down the steps to where Noel was and gave him a hug, which Noel returned with a smile before she bounced back to stand in front of him.

"Normally I don't, but me and Hope are working on a big project and we really have to start meeting these deadlines if we want to finish on time!" she said cheerily,

"Anyway, I don't want to talk about work, what are we going to do you guys?" she asked looking back to Hope, as did Noel.

Hope had tried to get Alyssa to go home early, but for some reason she seemed to know Hope was meeting up with someone tonight and when he finally told her it was Noel, she insisted on coming with them. Initially this had annoyed Hope as she had rudely invited herself, however after thinking about it Hope decided it wasn't the end of the world and he would just have to endure her presence.

Hope gave a small wave to Noel as a greeting before he spoke, "Well I thought we could just go out for some food?" he suggested,

"There's a new Pulsian cuisine restaurant which has just opened up on the west side of the shopping district, I thought we could try it out?"

Noel's eyes lit up at the mention of food, as did Alyssa's,

"Yes! I'm starving, let's get a move on and hope they're still serving people by the time we get there!" Alyssa exclaimed grabbing one of both the mens arms and pulling them down the steps of the Academy towards the conveyor footpaths.

After they had arrived at the restaurant it was just past half ten and the restaurant looked to be halfway through their dinner-time service. However with a little bit of persuasion the blushing waitress fell to Noels charming tactics and offered them a table, saying they would have to order within the next five minutes in order to eat with them tonight.

As they sat down at their table near the balcony Alyssa grinned,

"Way to go Noel, you sure knew how to work that waitress to get our seat!" she said, unfolding her napkin with the flick of her wrist and laying it on her lap.

Noel mirrored Alyssas actions with the napkin and gave a short chuckle,

"What can I say? I'm quite persuasive when I need to be" he said, smirking at Alyssa who giggled.

"Didn't you see how the waitress was blushing Hope?" Alyssa asked slyly, her eyes sliding over to where Hope was seated on their rectangular table next to Noel.

"She totally had the hots for our Noel!" she said, smirking as Noel also looked across to Hope for an answer. Hope felt his cheeks going pink, yet again and quickly snapped open a menu holding it in front of his face before mumbling a reply that Alyssa and Noel didn't quite catch.

Noel looked confused and shot a questioning look to Alyssa, Alyssa rolled her eyes at him before turning to Noel.

"Don't worry about it, he's just had a really long day at work" she said and Noel nodded understandingly, while Hope continued to hide behind his menu waiting for his cheeks to return to a normal colour until the flustered waitress returned and took their order.

Thankfully it didn't take long for their food to arrive and they were equally thankful that it was actually quite good. Within less than an hour the trio had finished their starters and mains and were currently picking at their deserts with full stomachs.

Alyssa poked at her cheesecake with her fork, cutting off small pieces but only bringing them halfway to her mouth before replacing them back on the plate. She looked at the strawberry cheesecake sadly, she had been so looking forward to desert yet her savoury courses had left her stomach feeling a little too full. She looked across at Hope who also seemed to be struggling with the chocolate cake he ordered, and pushed the plate away from himself.

"I'm full, please don't let me eat anything else" he groaned leaning back in his chair,

Alyssa nodded in agreement, pushing the cheesecake away, "Agreed" she said, rubbing her stomach with her hands, before looking across at Noel.

To the other two's surprise Noel was tearing through the remains of his rich desert and finished, pushing his empty plate away. Smiling and rubbing his stomach happily,

"That was amazing" he said, before notcing that the other two hadn't finished their deserts. Hope saw Noel eyeing his chocolate cake hungrily, he sighed and pushed it towards the brunette,

"You can have it" he said.

Noel thanked him before demolishing the remains of the cake and starting on Alyssas desert too. Alyssa watched on in horror,

"Do you not feel sick?" she asked after Noel had finished all three of their deserts and their plates had been cleared away. Noel laughed a little and shook his head,

"No, I feel fine! My hunger has been satisfied" he said, patting his stomach,

"Besides, I need to eat a lot before we leave for Gran Pulse tomorrow!" Noel announced happily, stretching his arms above his head before relaxing.

Alyssa looked slightly taken aback and glanced to Hope, "We?" she asked, thinking Noel had meant he and Hope were going together.

Hope rapidly shook his head, "No, he means he's going to help research team Gamma on their expedition to Sulya Springs tomorrow" he corrected Noel, which in turn caused the brunette to look to Hope with a slightly disappointed expression on his face.

"You're staying at the Headquarters?" Noel asked sadly, he had been sure that Hope would've come with him, but now he thought about it, it did make sense for the Director of the entire Academy to stay behind.

Hope nodded and shrugged lightly, "I'm afraid so" he said apologetically.

Hope's attention was caught by the young woman sat across from them who was shaking her head,

"Hope, you should go!" she said, leaning on the table with her chin resting in her hands.

Hope looked slightly shocked, "What? I can't go, there's too much stuff to manage at the Academy!" he said, "That project we're working on-"

He was cut off as Alyssa flicked her hand in the air, "Don't worry about that stuff, I can step in and manage things while you're away, I know everything that you do about the project we're working on, it shouldn't be a problem." She smiled, "Besides, I can't remember the last time you took a few days out of the Headquarters!" she stated.

Noel nodded and gestured across the table to Alyssa, "Thank you Alyssa!" he said before turning to Hope, "See, I'm not the only one who says you need a well-earned break from your Headquarters!" he announced folding his arms, glad to have someone else on his side.

For once Hope was lost for words, he had never contemplated going with the Gamma research group however it did seem that he would be able to go. It was true that Alyssa would be able to manage the Academy for a few days without him, today when they had been working together they had pretty much both been asked the same questions and given similar answers. It was also true that when various employees were unable to find Hope they referred to Alyssa, who seemed to have unofficially become recognised as second-in-command of the Academy. Hope also wouldn't mind another visit to the wilds of Gran Pulse, for all the safety and comfort that Academia had provided the wilds still tempted him with nostalgia and a sense of adventure.

The only reason Hope felt the need to object to going to Gran Pulse was that he would be stuck with Noel 24/7 for about an entire week. He wasn't sure that this was a good idea.

"…are you sure?" Hope tried, aware of his incredibly weak argument as he asked Alyssa,

"It'll be a lot of extra work for you…" he explained in an attempt to put her off, but she just shook her head again.

"I'll be fine! Take a few days out, you've earned it!" she announced as the bill was placed on the table.

"Yes, please come with us!" Noel requested, his eyes glowing with the idea that his friend would come with him on a journey to Gran Pulse.

Hope looked between his two closest friends, each glowing with excitement. He felt himself cave under the goodwill of his two friends and he sighed, shrinking a little in his seat.

"Ok, I'll go" he said quietly while Alyssa clapped and Noel patted him on the shoulder.

"Good choice! It will do you good to get outside again!" he grinned to Hope, which caused Hope to smile back.

Alyssa meanwhile was currently reading the bill,

"Holy Tonberry!" she exclaimed, "I wouldn't have ordered the Adamantoise if I'd have known how much it was going to cost me!"

She placed the bill back on the table and opened her purse, counting out the gil.

Suddenly remembering that he had no gil, Noel snatched the bill and read how much he owed the restaurant.

"1,000 gil for just three courses?" he said, his eyes going wide before looking across at Alyssa who was still counting her money and then across to Hope, turning his face into a sheepish expression.

"I forgot my gil reserves, on my way out of the apartment…I don't suppose you could cover this for me? I'll pay you back at the end of the month when I get paid" he pleaded, looking at Hope with his deep brown eyes.

Hope blinked slightly, "Sure…in fact don't worry about paying me back. You earn a lot less than me so I don't mind"

Alyssa looked over to Hope, "Wow, that sure is generous of you Hope, would you mind covering mine as well? I earn a lot less than you too…unless you're paying for Noel for some other reason…" she said smiling sweetly while mentally applauding herself for such a tactical manoeuvre.

Hope narrowed his eyes slightly at Alyssa, trying not to speak through his teeth his politely answered of course he wouldn't mind paying for his closest two friends while making a mental note to leave her extra work to do before he left as payback.

After Hope had covered the bill they all wandered outside again, into the now dark streets lit up by the lamps at the sides of the walkways. Alyssa hugged herself to stay warm while Noel rubbed his bare arms.

"Well I guess I'll see you both tomorrow then" the brunette said to his two friends who nodded,

"Sure, I'll come say goodbye to you both before you set off!" Alyssa offered politely and Hope nodded.

"Yes…until tomorrow then I guess" Hope said before giving Noel instructions on what time and where to meet him tomorrow in the Headquarters.

"All right, before we freeze to death, I'm going to have to say goodbye" Alyssa said, feeling herself starting to shiver. Hope took pity on her and wrapped a warm arm round her shoulders, noticing how Noel seemed to stare at this action before he snapped out of it.

"Yeah…goodnight Alyssa" he said, starting to walk away, "Sleep well Hope" he said over his shoulder.

"Night!" Alyssa called after him before turning to look up at her boss, snuggling closer to the other mans warmth as they both started to walk back towards the Academy employees apartment blocks, under the glow of the eco-friendly streetlamps they had both developed together.

"Well…I thought tonight went well don't you?" she said happily grinning to herself as she felt Hope twitch slightly before he quietly muttered;

"Honestly, you're lucky that I love you"

A.N.: Ok, first chapter down and out of the way! How was it? I know that not much is happening yet but honestly I wanted to have a go at writing in some progression. xD To outline their relationship at the beginning of this fic basically; they are close friends, Hope has feelings for Noel, Noel has feelings for Hope but is unaware they are romantic.

Also I didn't want to put Alyssa in there because I really really resent her creation in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and she's just an incredibly weak and pointless character from my point of view but I felt the need to use her just so that the dinner scene wouldn't be too awkward.

Also sorry if there's too many massive chunks of text with descriptions and thoughts but again its the first chapter and I need to set the scene. These massive paragraphs will decrease don't worry!

telecom device*

I just starred this because I'd like to tell you what it is…it basically functions exactly like a mobile phone, however I didn't want to use the term 'mobile phone' or 'phone' in a fic which doesn't already have them in it…because it seems a bit out-of-context.

NEXT CHAPTER; See's Noel, Hope and the Gamma research team beginning to make their way to Sulya Springs across Gran Pulse!