AN: Thanks to ben4kevin and Roxprincess741 for your reviews :) Happy V-day everyone! Here's Chapter 4. Chapter 5 will either be up on Wednesday or Friday depending on my schedule. Please leave a review and tell me what you think.

AN2: As for Sandra don't worry she's not a Mary-Sue. She won't even be a regular. I don't do the love tri-angle thing. I more for beating the boys up and boy do I have plans for them (evil laugh).

Chapter 4: Leaving

"Are you sure that you'll be alright?" Noel asked for the tenth time that morning.

"I'll be fine," Hope reassured him yet again. If Noel didn't seem so genuinely concerned Hope would have been insulted that the boy…other man didn't think that he could take care of himself. He shook his head. It was hard getting use to the fact that Noel was now the same age as him.

"Maybe I should just stay here and wait for a trader or something," Noel said as he looked toward the horizon.

"Noel I'll be fine. Really. I can fight you know. Lightning and the others taught me how," Hope told him. True he hadn't done a lot of fighting in the past ten years but he made sure that he didn't lose the skills that he had learned. What they had taught him was all he had left of them.

"You're still recovering," Noel told him.

"It's been over a week," Hope countered. If they were going to make living together to work Noel was going to have to start trusting him.

"I know it's just…" Noel said and then shook his head. "Take it easy while I'm gone. Okay. Don't do anything stupid."

"Just go already," Hope said as he shoved Noel out the front door.

"Right, right," Noel said as he headed to where he kept the lone chocobo penned. "Now I'll be gone for at least five days but no more than a week."

"I know. You showed me where all of the settlements were on the map," Hope reminded him. Noel nodded.

"I suppose I should get going," Noel said as he finally got on the back of the chocobo.

"Noel I really will be alright," Hope told him.

"I…I'll see you soon," Noel said and then rode away.

Hope watched him leave with mixed feelings. It always seemed like people were leaving him. If he was honest with himself he was just as nervous as Noel was about him leaving but for different reasons. While Noel seemed worried that he couldn't take care of himself Hope was worried that he wouldn't come back.

Hope watched him ride away until he was nothing but a spec off in the distance. Not knowing what else to do he went back into the house feeling even more lost. He couldn't remember the last time that he was alone and he had nothing to work on.

He spent the last ten years studying and working for the Academy for one reason only and from what Noel told him he accomplished that. Hope didn't know what to do with himself now. It didn't help that he was sent to Noel's time instead of back with his friends. Anytime he thought about them it hurt. He wanted to see them again but in a way he didn't. The last thing Hope wanted was them getting injured or disrupting the timeline because of him.

Feeling exhausted even though he had only been up for a few hours Hope laid down on the couch. He had never realized how uncomfortable it was. He should have given Noel his bed back days ago. He had offered to take the couch once but Noel refused.

Noel had him really confused. The man was either hovering around him and treating him like he was going to break or distant and cold. Hope hadn't meant t to disrupt his life; not that he had any choice in the matter. Noel and him still hadn't talked about their living arrangement. He just said that he would be picking up some things because Hope would be staying there.

Maybe Noel really didn't want him here and he was just trying to be nice. It was obvious that the man valued his privacy. The closest settlement was a hurter's camp and that was over a day's ride away. He knew that Noel could go months without seeing another person.

He would have to talk about it with Noel when he got back. Hope wouldn't think about Noel not coming back. He couldn't. If Noel disappeared on him Hope knew that he wouldn't survive that.

It took Noel two days to get to the hunter's camp instead of the normal day and a half. The weather was being unpredictable. What made it worse was the fact that he had left Hope by himself. He was every quickly becoming attached to the other man and if something happened to Hope while he was gone he wouldn't forgive himself.

He knew that Hope could defend himself. Noel had seen him do it but…he couldn't explain it. The more time Noel spent with him the more he wanted to look after him. It was confusing. He never felt this way before. True he wanted to protect his Yeul and then he wanted to protect Serah but it was different with Hope.

"Hey there Noel," Sandra said as he walked into her shop. The Hunter's camp that Noel went to for supplies was also a trader's camp.

"Hey," he said as he smiled at her. Sandra was a very ambitious woman. She actually owned a lot of the trading posts in the other settlements. This meant that she had goods that they otherwise couldn't get. Like things they could only find in Academia "It's been over a month since you've been here."

"I've been busy," Noel said as he began to look through the clothes. He was picking out mostly pale blues and off whites. He figured with Hope's coloring that he would look good in them. He then spotted a midnight blue outfit that would look stunning on Hope.

"These clothes are kind of slim and tame for you," Sandra commented.

"They aren't for me," Noel said as he started to put the clothes on a pile and realized that he had more than he realized.

"If they aren't for you who are they for?" Sandra asked as she began to fold them.

"My…" Noel started to say and then stopped. What was Hope to him? He was more than just a friend and housemate but what?

"Oh I see," Sandra said with a smile.

"It's not like that," Noel said quickly.

"Right," Sandra said with a smirk and Noel rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to put this on your tab?"

"That would be great and could you wrap it up to. I need to get a few other supplies and then I'm going to be heading back," Noel told her anxious to get home.

"You're going to start to head back tonight?" Sandra asked and Noel nodded. "Did you take a look outside? A storm is coming and it's coming in fast. There's no way you can get to the shelter before it hits."

"I guess not," Noel said as he heard thunder boom in the distance. The shelters were set up along the main routes to make it easier to travel between the settlements.

"You're worried," Sandra said looking a bit surprised.

"He's just getting over a serious injury," Noel said as he watched the storm roll in.

"I'm sure that he'll be fine," Sandra said trying to sound reassuring. "Is there anything else I can help you get?"

"Actually there is," Noel said and pulled out his list and Sandra laughed.

"Whoever this person is must be someone special," she said.

"He is," Noel agreed. He may not know what Hope was to him but he did know that the man was special.