~Chapter II~

The journey down to Pulse had been relatively boring for Noel, listening to Hope and all the researchers talking to each other and going over briefing for when they landed on Pulse. Noel couldn't really understand any of the long words they were using and had pretty much just sat at the long table of the room they were in day-dreaming.

With his hand to his chin, leaning on the table he had shut out the voices of the many people he was working with and was deep within his thoughts. He may have been escaping the dull cityscape, but he could never escape the confines of his own mind. It was never really a good thing when he was left alone with his thoughts, most of the time he tried to avoid it by visiting friends and talking to others to take his mind off it, or if worst came to the worst and nobody was around Noel would put himself through rigorous exercises to take his mind off things. But Hope was too busy briefing his employees and the airship wasn't exactly built to have Noel running laps round it, never mind being big enough to have Noel running round it.

So Noels mind had drifted to Serah…even though he knew it wasn't his fault that she had died, part of Noel believed that he might have been able to do something to save her. Sometimes Noel just thought he should've gone on by himself and told Serah to stay in her own time so she wouldn't have had to die…but then again when he first met Serah he didn't know she could see the future and he didn't know just how much they'd need to travel through time to find the truth. However he should never have allowed her to go through with the final plan, as soon he realised she could see the future, as soon as Yeul warned them that Serah might die for their future if they continued, he should've told her to stop. He should've made her stay behind so she didn't have to see that final vision, the vision which killed her.

By the time they had reached Pulse, Noel was in a bit of a trance, his normal upbeat demeanour clouded by thoughts and what if's. He watched as the airship was unloaded, taking in the area and atmosphere of being on Pulse. If there was one good thing about this, it was that he was off that airship and into fresh air, and breeze, he thought as the wind gently moved the brown hair on his head. Looking around at the breathtaking scenery, the vast open plains with the broken land forming cliffs amidst giant plants and vegetation. It felt like he'd entered a new universe entirely from the futuristic cities he'd become so accustomed to staying in. Noel could never decide whether he necessarily liked Pulse or not, however whenever he was on it, he felt an overwhelming sense of freedom.

Eventually with all the gear and tents and equipment unloaded onto the convoy of five hovercrafts which were being used on their journey, the airship took off and headed back to Pulse. Noel watched it leave, holding up and hand as a shield to the harsh sunlight,

"Why's it abandoning us?" Noel asked as the airship quickly drew away from them and headed towards the shadow in the sky, which was Bhunivelze. Hope snickered slightly before walking towards Noel, the Director was in a completely opposite mood than Noel, having spent the entire journey becoming increasingly excited by this opportunity to get a few days out of the office. Alyssa had been right, it had been too long since he'd left his office, he knew that much because of just how excited he had got, merely talking about the various activities and samples to be found on Pulse.

"You say that as if we're in danger of being killed" Hope said grinning at Noels expression, which was deadly serious. Noel frowned a little at Hope, moving his hand back to his side,

"There are monsters on Pulse" he said bluntly, causing Hope to let out a short laugh,

"That's why we brought you remember?" Hope said, walking over to the nearest hovercraft and rooting through one of the crates which had been tied down before pulling something out and returning to Noel.

"Here" Hope said, handing over the brunettes dual swords, which Noel took into his hand. The weight of the swords felt strange, even to him, who had trained with them for so long…yet he hadn't wielded them in months. Noel unsheathed the smaller sword a little to inspect it, as if trying to remember what it looked like, then there was a hand on his shoulder.

"We're counting on you to go ahead and protect the convoy" Hope smiled at Noel, gesturing to the row of hovercrafts, the brunettes head turned and looked at them silently, the four near the back were heavily loaded with supplies while the front one was extremely lightly equipped and looked like a different model, built for speed more than carrying heavy luggage like the others.

Hope glanced across at the hunters vacant expression and chewed his lip a little before deciding to get his attention, he suddenly felt awful for being so happy when Noel was clearly so alienated from the researchers activities

"You'll be riding in the front hovercraft, to clear a safe path for the rest of us" Hope tried again.

While still staring at the hovercrafts, Noel absently took hold of the hand on his shoulder while putting his swords safely on their holster on his back with another. Still not really paying attention, Noel gave Hopes hand a gentle squeeze, before turning to look at him,

"I'll protect you, don't worry about a thing" he said, before letting go of Hopes hand, walking, then jogging over to the front hovercraft, easily jumping up onto the side of the hovercrafts body and sitting on its side, holding onto the frame in front of him. Hope watched, a light blush dusting his face as it always seemed to do, he then quickly turned away, clenching and unclenching his hand, trying to forget the feeling of Noels hand on his. Hope felt himself pouting slightly, he knew it was wrong of him to think of little things like this as signs of intimacy, but he couldn't help it.

As he climbed safely into the passenger seat of the middle hovercraft, he wished he knew Noel better. I mean of course they were close friends but…Noel rarely ever talked to him about his past, even though he knew all about Hopes. Sometimes this made the silver-haired director feel a little left out, a little like he did today, he could see Noels pensive expression and he wanted to know what he was thinking about. He sighed and leaned back in his seat, deciding to return focus on the beautiful world around him, maybe he'd be able to appreciate it more now that he wasn't a fugitive of the entire human race.

At first Noel had been a little bit rusty in combat, but it was nothing he couldn't overcome and after the first few encounters he found he was fighting just like he had been back when he'd travelled the timeline. And just like back then, he found it so easy that he began to enjoy it and had forgotten all about his thoughts towards Serahs death, instead concentrating on fighting a clear path for Hope and his researchers. So far he'd mostly come across many sub-species of wolves and flans, nothing too big or that he couldn't handle, but as the sun started to set in the sky they saw a large shadow on the horizon. The pilot of the scout hovercraft, Rina, increased the speed as they usually did when sighting a monster in order to get close enough to Noel to jump off and fight it and for the researchers behind to keep their distance as it wasn't yet safe.

"Target sighted!" Rina said as they got closer the shadow of the monster they'd spotted. Noel narrowed his eyes, peering at the silhouette against the sun, he could see a spiked weapon on the four legged creatures back and it's tail was quite long flicking out with a deadly spiked wheel on the end. The hunter quickly realised it was a behemoth,

"Stop here!" Noel said to Rina, shaking her shoulder to make sure she heard and didn't get too close,

"Rogggeerrrr!" She said, gently braking as they drew closer, to reveal a King Behemoth against the horizon,

"Woahhhh…now he's a big 'un!" she marvelled, leaning forward in her seat,

"I've only ever seen the files on these creatures, never seen one in real life!" she continued, while Noel narrowed his eyes, observing the monster and trying to remember what he could from his previous fights against behemoths. They weren't his favourite, but having defeated them before in 700AF he wasn't too scared and with the recent fight with Caius, he was sure this would be a piece of cake. Then the behemoth suddenly turned, it had seen them.

Noel frowned, before cursing as the behemoth started off towards them at a run,

"Quick, turn around and go wait with the others, these creatures are extremely violent" he said, jumping off the hovercraft and unsheathing both swords from his back, while Rina made a sharp u-turn coming back to Noel.

"DIRECTOR HOPE SAID NOT TO LEAVE YOU ALONE!" she yelled, leaning out the side of her hovercraft. The brunette sighed, typical Hope, always over-protective. That thought cause him to smile a little, before turning and yelling a reply,

"You're not going to be safe here, I wouldn't be doing my job properly by putting you in harms way" he said, turning back and noticing that the behemoth was now about thirty metres away and was massive. Noel couldn't remember them being this big…maybe it had just been a long time since he'd fought one…

With the whirr of the hovercraft suddenly starting up and jetting away from him, Noel dug his feet into the ground and prepared him to fight the behemoth. From what he could remember he had to stagger it, and fast before it had time to transform. The hunter frowned in concentration, while a smirk broke out on his face,

"All right…" he shouted, just as the behemoth closed in and slashed at him with its razor sharp claws, the brunette skilfully rolled under the attack and was ready to jump out of the way before he could get lashed by the monsters tail. He landed in a shoulder roll before quickly standing up and taking up an offensive stance, muttering magic under his breath to summon fire to attack the beast as it tried and failed to make a u-turn after its reckless charge. As he watched the behemoth trip and roll across the ground uncontrolled and engulfed in fire magic, he grinned and started running across to his target before it had even stood up again.

This was going to be an easy fight.

Hope nervously paced back and forth next to Rina's hovercraft. He had walked over about ten minutes ago after he'd got worried about Noel. They couldn't see what was happening because the convoy had decided to wait behind a steep hill, so that they would be safe so that the monsters couldn't see them, but as the sun began to fade, Hopes concern for the hunter seemed to grow.

"Director, I'm sure he's fine" Rina started, her chin resting on her hand as she sat on the side of the hovercraft, her long black boots squeaking slightly against the metal hovercraft and she moved slightly to get comfortable. Hope continued pacing,

"He's been gone over half an hour now" Hope complained, looking at the ground with his arms hugging himself. He had been enjoying himself thoroughly up until this point, journeying across the vast open plains with friendly company and a brilliant view of Pulse of course. The other researchers had also been exploring Pulse along the way too, whenever they were waiting for Noel to finish defeating the monster ahead of them. For example they had been taking samples from a regional flower found on Pulse when Hope suddenly became aware over how long Noel had been alone with the sighted behemoth.

"I knew I should've hired someone else to go with him" he muttered under his breath as he continued shuffling nervously back and forth.

Rina sighed and flicked a bit of bleach blonde hair behind her ear, jumping down off the hovercraft and deciding to stretch her legs a little with some gentle muscle exercises.

"Ehhh I'm sure he's ok though" she sighed, with the relaxing feeling of stretching her muscles after being sat down so long,

"behemoths are just a tough monster to take down solo" she finished, moving to stretch her calf muscles while Hope never slowed pacing.

Hearing her reply the director frowned slightly, he knew perfectly well what a behemoth was and what it was and wasn't capable of. In fact he could remember from his time as a l'cie when he and Lightning had to rescue Snow from the King Behemoth, the stupid human-tank had charged straight in as usual and hadn't been able to stagger it on his own, allowing the monster to transform into its powered up state and Snow had been unable to finish it off alone.

Hope stopped his pacing completely and felt his eyes go wide, he stared at the grass beneath his feet.

"Rina quick, get in the hovercraft!" he said dashing past the pilot and opening the crate in the back of her hovercraft, once again rooting round for something.

Behind him Rina pouted at having to get back into the driving seat again, before walking over to the hovercraft, watching Hope rooting through the large crate strapped to the back of it.

"Sir, what are we doing?" she asked curiously as her boss kept rummaging through the box, clinks of metal were heard as he went.

"We…are going to help Noel" Hope stated, not looking up from his current task, leaving Rina to tilt her head to one side, observing him still.

"He needs our help?" she asked, tapping her foot against the ground,

"How can you be so sure?" she continued, hearing Hope make a noise of recognition, having found what he'd been looking for. She watched him pull out an item encased in cloth, which Hope quickly removed to reveal a bright orange boomerang.

Hope stared at the boomerang, putting the cloth back into the crate and shutting it, he had packed his weapon in case such an emergency would arise and he grinned slightly, thank god he had brought it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to help Noel.

But now he looked to the pilot, "I've done this before, if we don't go now, he could be seriously injured" Hope said, sounding incredibly authoritative, enough so that Rina quickly stood up straight from her slouched position.

"But Sir?" she started nervously, twiddling her fingers, "Won't you get hurt too?" she asked, looking up into her boss' eyes, referring to that fact that he was no longer a l'cie and hadn't fought anything properly in years. Hope suddenly realised the same thing before shaking his head and waving her to get into the drivers seat.

"I'm prepared to risk it to give Noel whatever aid I can" he said, while Rina giggled. Hope raised an eyebrow at her, causing her eyes to suddenly go wide,

"Oh! I'm sorry sir that sounds so noble of you!" she grinned, while her boss glared slightly,

"It's fine, let's get moving!" he urged, holding his boomerang and jumping onto the side of the hovercraft as he'd watched Noel do.

As the machine set off Hope quickly regretted not wearing the holster for his boomerang, it was very difficult to hang on with just one free hand. He carefully steadied himself and found a comfortable position, he then peered ahead of the hovercraft noticing a large shadow in the distance of the plains. He felt his heart suddenly miss a few beats in his chest as the thought of what he was doing finally seemed to enter his brain. Yet as scared as he was fighting for possible survival for the first time in years, he was more worried over the safety of Noel, he couldn't stop praying he would be ok. If Noel was injured he would feel the guilt, for getting too wrapped up in his sampling and research of the flowers, when what he really should've been doing is looking out for his friend. His grip on his weapon increased, he would never forgive himself if anything had happened to him, in moments like these Hope had realisations of how deeply he cared for the other man and those thoughts, scared him even more.

The fight had started off reasonably easy and Noel had the upper hand throughout the initial sparring of their encounter. However as the behemoth had become significantly enraged it had, much to Noels horror, transformed onto its hind legs into a being reminiscent of a human and was using the weapon off its back as a sword, which Noel only just kept narrowly dodging. The monster was so strong so the hunter couldn't afford to get hit by even one of his attacks otherwise he'd be at a massive disadvantage, however the behemoth was also very fast and left barely any time for Noel to attack in between its own strikes. So although Noel hadn't been injured just yet, he was beginning to get worn down by the behemoths relentless assaults and endless stamina and he found himself becoming slower and attacking less frequently…this fight was not only dragging itself out but was becoming more and more dangerous for Noel.

Noel had just dodged a large downwards strike of the behemoths sword, when he heard the sound of a hovercraft behind him, next thing he knew, there was a massive blazing inferno of fire magic, much stronger than anything he was capable of summoning, engulfing the creature in front of him. The behemoth staggering backwards, waving its arms around desperately trying to get away from the flames, Noel allowed this time to look round to see who had joined him.

He turned to see Hope jump off the hovercraft behind him and suddenly he felt his heart skip a beat, was he insane? He thought as the silver-haired man stood up properly and dashed over to where Noel was stood, the hunter ran over to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Are you crazy? Get out of here, you're going to get yourself hurt!" he spoke urgently, his eyes full of concern for the others safety. Hope allowed Noel to shake him by the shoulders for a few seconds as he quickly looked the other up and down, luckily he seemed to be unharmed and he felt a sigh of relief leave him, before he realised what Noel had said to him. He glared determined back into Noels brown eyes,

"I couldn't just sit around there and wait!" he protested, looking down to his boomerang and holding it in both hands, feeling suddenly stupid and embarrassed for worrying himself so much,

"I was so worried you might be hurt" he explained, fiddling nervously with the weapon in his hands.

Noel watched the man in front of him and he felt himself smiling, Hope was always so sweet when he became all worried like this. He moved a hand from Hopes shoulder and used it to take hold of the others chin, lifting it up slightly, so their eyes could meet. Forgetting about the situation, Hope felt his heart flutter being handled this way by the one he loved so much.

"Hope I'm ok, you didn't need to worry" he said, smiling gently at the other, feeling a warm sensation inside his chest which Noel recognised as the warm feeling that was so rare these days, knowing that others were looking out for him, knowing he was loved. The two stayed like this for a few moments, Hope feeling his palms becoming sweaty through his gloves and feeling sure that his pale skin had betrayed him once more to give him suitably feminine pink cheeks. However they were both broken out of their trance by a piercing roar behind them.

They both suddenly whirled round and saw the behemoth had managed to finally stop Hopes fire magic. It was now looking royally pissed off and was slowly stomping its way, menacingly, towards them, sword at the ready, glinting in the fading sunlight.

"Hope" Noel turned to face his friend, as did the other upon hearing his name,

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Noel asked, concern laced in every word as he looked to the silver-haired one. The last thing he wanted to happen was Hope to become injured all because Noel had been too foolish not to take the behemoth down solo when he'd had the chance, he didn't want Hope to suffer for his mistakes.

Hope gulped, looking from Noel and up to the King Behemoth which was now towering over him, similar to how it had done so many years ago. Moments like this made him regret leaving the comfort of the Academy Headquarters, or even the convoy which was hidden behind the hill. It's blood red eyes seemingly glowing of their own accord as it advanced on its targets.

"Y-yeah, I can do this" he stuttered, shocking himself as he thought that the shy little boy within him had been broken in and left long ago. He quickly looked at wrist where the same band was wrapped around, reminding him of everything it represented.

"Are you sure?"

Hope heard Noels voice as he looked at the band and back up to the monster in front of him, a determined look creeping onto his face.

"Let's go!" Hope said loudly*, quickly running forwards towards the creature and launching a few magic spells ahead of him before throwing the boomerang, giving him time to dodge under the colossal sword of the behemoth. Noel blinked, not expecting Hope to have done such a bold manoeuvre so well for his first time back on the field before quickly jumping up and joining in the fight himself.

Fighting with Hope had been a lot easier, not only was Hope able to stagger the behemoth a lot quicker than he had been on his own, but he was amazed at just how strong Hope was. They managed to defeat the behemoth easily within the next ten minutes, they were both able to work together like a dream. When he had first learnt Hope's signature weapon was a boomerang, Noel had been somewhat sceptical, but now he had seen him in action, he was well and truly amazed…he may be an even stronger fighter than Serah was. Idly he wondered what it would have been like if Hope had travelled the timeline with him instead of Serah, how that would've panned out. Hope's voice snapped Noel back into reality,

"That was great!" Hope said happily, his eyes glowing brightly as he folded away his boomerang, walking towards Noel, away from the monster which lay lifeless on the floor. Hope had initially been afraid but after he'd learnt that Noel was unharmed and that the two of them were stronger than their enemy, it had all become a game to Hope and he found himself enjoying it.

"I haven't had that much fun in a long time!" he continued, while Noel blinked slightly at how much the other was grinning, before returning a smile.

"If it makes you happy, you should do it more often!" the hunter spoke truthfully, feeling slightly exhausted as he realised what time it was and just how long he'd spent on his feet today fighting, while Hope tilted his head a little to think about it.

"Are you saying you wouldn't mind me joining you tomorrow?" Hope asked, hopefully*.

Noel chuckled a little before shrugging, "Sure why not? It's not like I can refuse that offer, you're my boss now after all".

It was only when people mentioned it that Hope realised he was currently employing his friend, it was a bit of a weird thought, probably why he never tried to remember it properly.

"Uhh, right" Hope nodded, suddenly feeling awkward and guilty for having a better job than Noel, but he quickly banished this thought with the fact that he had given Noel a job to help him out.

"You're actually quite handy with that weapon of yours" Noel said off-handedly, gesturing to the boomerang in Hope's hands. Hopes heart did flips and he felt himself glowing from the compliment,

"You really think so?" Hope found himself blurting out before he could stop himself, leaning forward a little to Noel, waiting for his answer with anticipation.

"Yeah…you really are skilled with your…uhh…boomerang" Noel smirked, resheathing his swords and hooking them onto the holster on his back. The comment made Hope's face beam with happiness,

"Thank you" he said, bowing his head slightly to the hunter, Noel watched him as he did this, really the Director was just too polite sometimes,

"Not that I couldn't have handled that myself" the brunette said smugly, not being able to resist the boastful tease, flipping his hair before turning round and attempting to walk away, only to wince as he put his weight on his right leg and fall to the ground. As much as Hope wanted to mock the other for his previous comment, the caring soul within him took control and Hope was instantly alert, dashing over to where Noel had fallen,

"Noel, are you ok?" he asked quickly, supporting the other mans back as he struggled to stand up, squatting down next to him.

Noel winced again as he put more weight on his foot, struggling to stand,

"Ah, I guess I got a little too cocky" Noel muttered between his clenched teeth, karma could be a total bitch, as he struggled to stand again, not really understanding his injury, having been fine a few seconds ago during the last of the fighting.

"Ooft!" Noel exhaled sharply as his back hit the floor, Hope had pushed him down by his chest, preventing him from standing up. Noel looked to the hand on his chest and traced it up to the others eyes, holding their gaze with a small frown.

"Hope, I'm fine" he said calmly, trying to remove the others hand from his chest, however the silver-haired man shook his head and let go of his boomerang, letting it hit the soft grass as he held the brunette hunter down with both of his hands. Noel glared up into the eyes of the other, recognising that the annoyingly parental and over-protective Hope had taken control of the previous one who'd been enjoying the fight.

"Please stop struggling so I can see what's wrong with you" Hope explained, but when he looked to the others right leg, he suddenly realised it would be too dark, as the sun had long since begun to set, for him to see what he was looking for, despite how experienced he was as a medic. It was weird how fast his mood could change around the other man. Suddenly Hope felt movement underneath his hands again,

"Just let me up, I'm sure I just tripped" Noel complained, taking hold of both Hopes wrists, in an attempt to pull them off him. He didn't want to be babied by Hope, he felt like he should be the one looking after him, not the other way round and even less did he want to be seen by the other researchers in such a weak state, he was meant to be the one protecting all of them for crying out loud.

Feeling Noel pushing him away with a lot of force, Hope pushed back, the hunters head hitting the soft grass yet again,

"Noel please, just let me call Rina to come and pick you up" he attempted to persuade Noel, but the hunter was having none of it and continued to struggle even more. Hope quickly found himself losing patience with the other man, it was at moments like these where Noels stubbornness reminded him somewhat of Snow.

The last thing Hope wanted was Noel to try walking on his injured leg, if it got worse before it got treated then not only would Hope have felt such terrible guilt, but also with Noel injured, the entire research expedition would be held back by a few days. That's when he felt Noel trying to push him away with his left leg, Hope tsked slightly under his breath, feeling irritated that Noel was too proud to know what was good for him.

"Stay still Noel" he said, reaching quickly for his telecom device to call Rina, but the hunter didn't let up and Hope found he needed both hands to keep Noel still. Just then the hunter tried moving his right leg and let out a sharp hiss of pain, but he didn't stop moving. This just confirmed Hope's ideas that he was injured, and needed help.

"Don't make me sit on you" Hope threatened, and it wasn't an empty threat, he was getting irritated by this point and when Noel continued to thrash and pull on his wrists, he quickly hooked his left leg over Noels body and sat himself down on his hips, stunning the hunter beneath him and giving Hope the chance to pin down both Noels wrists above his head.

Noels eyes were wide as he stared up at the sky, the man sat on top of him straightening his back so he could look at his face. Hope was wearing a small frown as he glared at Noel, clearly unhappy with his behaviour. Holding the brunettes wrists in one hand he reached for the telecom device with the other, quickly speed dialling Rina.

"Hi Rina, we finally killed it, I need you to come and pick us up, Noel's injured" Hope spoke quickly and to the point,

Noel heard a faint buzzing which must've been Rina's reply, to which Hope smirked a little,

"No it's just his leg and it's not as if he'd been sapped of all his strength either" Hope replied, glaring at Noel with the last comment.

"Ok, see you in a few seconds" Hope finished after Rina had replied one last time. He tucked the phone away in his pocket, letting out a large sigh before absently looking down at the hunter between his legs.

Between his legs.

Noel.

Sat on, top of, Noel.

Hope felt heat rush his cheeks as he suddenly realised what he'd being doing so casually a few seconds ago was basically straddling the brunette. He knew his eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped open slightly as he felt shocked that he had so casually ended up in this intimate position. His eyes locked with Noels brown ones, which were looking up into Hopes just as shocked, presumably, as he was. Noel did look extremely enticing right now too, his cheeks were flushed from the exertion of fighting the behemoth, he was out of breath still too and his arms were pinned to the floor by Hopes grip around his wrists. He could feel Noels blood pulsing through his wrists on his fingertips; suddenly Hope felt incredibly hot;

"Uhh…hi Hope" Noel said quietly breaking his gaze with the other, just staring up at the other man, unsure of what was going to happen next,

"Hi Noel" Hope couldn't look away or think of anything other to say than repeat Noels dumb phrase right back to him, all he could think about right now was how perfectly kissable the brunette was looking right about now. He saw Noels tongue dart out to quickly lick his lips and his mind couldn't help wondering just what that kiss would taste like…

Noel meanwhile found himself being lost in Hopes gaze, he never expected Hope to climb on top of him, he had no idea the other could be so bold and he couldn't really explain what he felt, all he knew was that he couldn't look away, out of shock or fascination he wasn't sure why he couldn't. Not that he would want to…the way the dying sun in the sky was illuminating Hopes face in a way that made him much younger than his true age and Noel was finding his eyes were fixated on the other man. Maybe it was just because he had a handsome guy sat on his hips, who was pinning his wrists to the floor and Noel hadn't had even the slightest act of intimacy towards him in such a long time, but as Noel looked up at the man above him…he realised he found Hope quite attractive.

"WOAH, looks like things were hotting up around here!"

Rina's loud voice made both men almost jump out of their skin, as Hope quickly scrambled off Noel to sit by his side, remembering to still push Noel back down again as he hurriedly tried to stand up. If Hope had been red before, he was glow in the dark red now.

"R-rina, could you help me get Noel to the hovercraft?" Hope stammered, cringing like mad as he did so. Why did everything embarrassing always seem to happen to him? Noel looked up off the floor to Rina as he was being held down again. The weird and special moment they had been sharing had just been broken.

Rina looked from one man to the other, both wearing a similar guilty expression. She couldn't help but laugh,

"Ahaha, don't worry" she said, winking slightly at the two guys, and clicking her fingers,

"Your little secrets safe with me!" she promised to the two men who both suddenly started protesting at once. The pilot grinned to herself, walking over to help Hope carry Noel to the hovercraft, ignoring everything the pair were simultaneously yelling at her as she did so.

She helped both the men fit onto the hovercraft, all the while wordlessly nodding to the sound of their excuses. She'd seen it all before, in her best friend and in her work colleagues, she knew the first step was denial…either that or they really didn't want her to tell anyone. Either way, Rina ended their journey by promising she wouldn't speak a word to anyone.

The ride back was silent and by the time they had both arrived back at the group of hovercrafts, the other researchers had already set up all the tents and made a dinner for the others while they were waiting for them to return. Rather than continue into the night they thought that the place beneath the hill where they were waiting for Noel and Hope was a good place to set up camp and so they had done. The researchers, including Rina, had already eaten by the time Noel and Hope had arrived back in at the campsite, the pilot served them some rations before wishing them a good nights sleep, along with another embarrassing wink in Hopes direction, before vanishing off into her own tent.

The two quickly realised how hungry they were, forgetting momentarily about their close encounter, once they smelt the food that had been prepared for them, they ate it all as if they were competing to see who could finish first. After food had been digested the two made eye contact and remembered what he been making them so nervous before, both realising the situation, they forced awkward conversation for a while, neither of them mentioning anything to do with the compromising position they'd been caught in by Rina earlier, it was simply too embarrassing for them both and although the topic was avoided entirely it was still at the back of their minds and they both knew it. In an attempt to try and normalise the situation; Noel finally gave Hope permission to check on his leg underneath a torch so the medic could see more clearly. It turned out to be poison, nothing too extensive and Hope easily managed to cure it with his esuna magic. He was happy to waste such a strong spell on such a small injury, as long as he didn't have to get any closer to Noel, such as using a herbal rub or any kind of massage…he wasn't sure how much of his contact Noel would tolerate in one day.

And when the sun finally died in the sky, turning the world into darkness they both hastily agreed it was time for bed.

Surprisingly it took Hope a while to fall asleep, he was tossing and turning, worrying about how Noel thought about being casually pinned by him, if he'd completely blown his cover or had the evening sun managed to hide his flushed cheeks.

On his left, his right, on his back, he even tried curling up into a ball, before he decided sleep wasn't going to come to him too easily that night. How could he have allowed himself to do something so stupid around Noel? He knew he should've never left, it was always a bad idea to pair himself with Noel and only a handful of other individuals, he was bound to slip up at some point and reveal his true feelings. AND SO SOON ON THIS TRIP AS WELL. His brain was too busy thinking about pointless regrets again, if he were still back at the Headquarters he could use this time to do some further work or finish up on some filing he needed to do the next day. However he was stuck in a tent in the middle of Pulse with only a bunch of sleeping researchers and stubborn hunter for company.

He dreaded the fact he was going to have to be with Noel tomorrow, inevitably they were going to talk about the incident sooner or later. He hoped Noel wouldn't hate him for it. Hope pulled his covers in tight to his body, he was probably over-thinking it, Noel had probably brushed it off by now and forgotten about it. With that thought in mind Hope attempted to forget about his troubles too, slowly drifting into a deep sleep from exhaustion.

However Hopes presumption about Noel wasn't exactly correct, flashbacks of looking up at the other man kept moving through his mind every time he tried to fall asleep. And the worst part was he could feel himself becoming excited, butterflies were developing in his stomach when thoughts of how innocent Hope had been looking down at him, despite the fact he had been pinned to the floor.

The thoughts were driving him crazy and he tried to shut them out. It was selfish and wrong of him to think of his closest friend this way, how horrified would Hope be if he knew how badly he had wished for the silver-haired man to lean down and press his lips against his own- maybe even more-

Noel cringed, curling into a ball and rolling violently to lie with his back facing Hope. He'd never thought about Hope in such a way, much less been in a compromising position with him as they had been before and Noel promised himself he only felt this way because he'd been so long without with some kind of sexual contact. And he hoped to hell that the other wasn't going to bring it up tomorrow, he didn't want such a stupid incident to create further awkwardness between them. He found it hard to believe that it was only this morning he'd only been able to think about Serahs death and his crushing guilt, now that whole issue was clouded over by such a trivial thing such as this.

He desperately tried to forget about it, shove it to the corners of his mind and focus on what tomorrow would bring. In last ditch an attempt to take his mind off things he started going through all the monsters on Pulse he could remember to pass the time, mapping out their weak spots and basic movements in his mind.

Surprisingly it worked and he fell asleep whilst remembering the twentieth sub-species of flan, but he would only know it had worked one he woke up again the next day.

A.N.:

"Let's go!", Hope said loudly* -

I regret this cheesy line so much but I couldn't think of anything to replace it with :x If you think of anything please tell me so I can change it!

Hope smiled, hopefully*

- I didn't even try to think of another word, I decided I couldn't avoid this from happening, so why fight it? HOPE CAN BE HOPEFUL DAMNIT! XD

I'M SO SORRY. I know this update is majorly over-due. I never should've even thought I could finish this fic in two weeks, jesus that was a little too optimistic...in fact screw that, WAY TOO OPTIMISTIC. But I'm glad I finished this chapter now! Phew another one out of the way ^-^

I'm not sure if this chapter maintained a sense of continuity from the old one...I tried as much as possible to maintain that balance but this chapter was getting too long, I had to cut out a scene at the end because I was only meant to have written half of what is here before I had reached it Also about Rina, I just made her up on the spot to fill the Alyssa-shaped void in the fic...I don't think I could write this with just Hope and Noel, it would get a bit dry, so she had to happen, as much as I hate the stereotypical peppy girl in slash fics who aids the two in finding their true feelings for each other. That said, I will try and keep her part to a bare minimum don't worry.

Hmmm well, reviews are always appreciated and thank you to everyone who has followed this story, if you're still reading this anyway...I'm not going to promise a particular date for this next chapter, whatever happens, happens, ok? Encourage me with reviews haha, I say it as a joke but it has actually worked before in the past. o: THANKS FOR READING! (Chapter may be subject to further editing, but I'll tell you in future chapters if that happens ¬w¬;;, thanks again for your patience)