A/N: OK, this fic just popped into my head while listening to the song. Name of the song is Pretending, and it struck me that this was a good song for this couple. Anyway, enjoy the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOEL~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Had her life since the fall simply been built on a lie? Serah sat on a fallen tree stump, pondering what was happening. Noel had gone hunting for their dinner, and Mog had wanted to explore the wastelands of the Steppe, so she was alone with her thoughts, which seemed to be a dangerous thing, lately. Ever since they had met Snow in Sunleth, really.

'Hard to believe that to us, it's been a week since that happened' she thought, standing and stretching as she moved to the small stream near the camp to wash her face.

Every night since the fall, since Snow left to search for Lightning, Serah had dreamed about the day everything would return to the way it should be. Lightning was standing there, watching her and Snow embrace each other, with that rare smile that only her closest and most trusted friends got to see on her face. Fang and Vanille had awoken from their crystal stasis, and were joining in with the celebrations. Hope was a little ways over, talking to Sazh and Maqui. The three of them were probably talking about airships and other machines, and Sazh was laughing at something Hope had said.

Except recently, since a few days after she set out on her journey, the dream was slightly different. Instead of a tall blonde, wearing his cocky-arrogant, Serah thought, before looking horrified at what she had thought-smirk, and clad in his usual trenchcoat- Which he never washes, Serah thought- there was now a person only slightly taller than she was, with messy chestnut-brown hair that almost glowed in the sun.

No, that was a dangerous line of thought to be going down, Serah decided, splashing more water on her face to try and will away the thoughts and feelings that were- slowly but surely- taking hold of her heart.

"Serah, if you keep splashing water on your face like that, you'll catch a cold." Oh, damn him and his horrendous sense of timing- which, though she'd never admit it, was something else that she loved about him.

"Noel Kreiss, I swear that if you don't stop sneaking up on me, I'll..."

"Oh? You'll what? Turn into 'Meanie Miss Farron' on me?"

"Well, maybe I will! And I'll be sure and give you extra homework and detention!" Oh, the things Serah would assign him as 'homework', or do to him while he was in 'detention'- no, Serah! Bad thoughts! She mentally scolded herself.

"Oh really? And what, pray tell, would said homework involve?" Oh damn Noel Kreiss to the pits of Valhalla!

"Hmph. Why don't you keep pushing my buttons and find out?" Oh, there was one button she really wouldn't mind him pushing-dammit, why wouldn't her mind climb out of the gutter today?

"Hmm. Well, much as I'd love to, I've got to get started on dinner, Serah. After all, we can't afford to starve, can we?" Again with that damnably adorable tilt of his head, that sent his messy brown locks flying to cover one side of his face. How did he know how to push all the right buttons with her? Was it intentional, or did he really have no idea what he did to her?

Oh well, it wasn't like she could ask him anytime soon, so she sat down on the tree stump and consigned herself to her new favourite hobby: Noel-watching. From here, she had a perfect view of his chest- not overly muscular, but definitely nicely toned, she noted- as he stoked the fire. Knowing that she would start blushing like a schoolgirl if she let her eyes travel south, Serah instead lifted her head to take in the view of his face. She managed to forget what she was doing while watching him- again- and so when he spoke, it shocked her so much that she fell backwards off her makeshift seat.

"Serah?" And there it was- the genuine concern in his voice whenever she got hurt, or even looked like she might have been hurt.

"Ow. Yes? What is it, Noel?"

"You were staring at me. Is everything alright, Serah?"

"Uh..." Damn! Now what could she say? "I, uh, was wondering... what you and Yeul meant to each other!" Oh, thanks a lot, brain. Etro damned traitor!

"Um, why?"

"N-no reason! Just, um, curiosity, that's all!"

"Oh. Well, I guess Yeul is like... a little sister to me. At least, that's what I always thought. Curiosity satisfied?"

"Oh. Um, yes. Thank you, Noel."

"No problem. Now if there's nothing else, I need to rescue dinner." And there it was- that genuine smile that said 'I'm smiling cause I want to.', and brightened Serah's day immensely.

Not to mention the fact that there wasn't any competition for Noel's heart-no! Bad thoughts, Serah Farron! 'Huh? Why are Noel and Mog both staring at me now?'

Noel looked confused, before a grin started to spread across his face, ending in him laughing out loud, tears of mirth streaming down his face, while Mog- who had just returned from his explorations in time to catch Serah's accidental outburst- looked at both humans, before deciding they were both acting weird and floating away to explore somewhere else.

"Um, Noel? Why are you laughing?"

"Because," Noel managed to say, between huge gulps of air, "you suddenly yelled out 'No! Bad thoughts, Serah Farron', that's why!"

"Oh goddess, I said that out loud?"

"Yeah. Guess you shouldn't daydream about Snow so much, huh?"

"It wasn't about Snow." Serah's brain finally managed to catch up with her mouth, and immediately slapped six shades of Sunday out of it for being so stupid. Clapping her hands to her mouth, Serah let out a small shriek of horror at what she had just said. Noel just sat there, looking like he had been pimpslapped by a behemoth... the mental image of that brought Serah out in a fit of giggles.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because, I just imagined you getting pimpslapped by a behemoth!"

Noel couldn't help it, that image was funny, and he started laughing too. Once they had both recovered from their laughing fits, Noel's face suddenly became serious again.

"Serah, you said it wasn't Snow you were thinking 'bad thoughts' about. So who was it?"

"Um... who was it what?"

"Who was it you were thinking about, Serah?"

Oh crap. Looks like her mouth had wound her up in a heap of trouble this time. She could lie, and say that it was Hope- no, he either fancied her sister or Alyssa, she was certain- or Caius- just no, said her brain, who had managed to keep up this time. And she sure as hell wasn't going to say the names of any of the NORA gang, or her female friends, like Fang and Vanille. Oh well, in for a gil, in for a million gil, her brain yelled at her.

"Um... I was thinking about..." Serah whispered the word 'you'. Unfortunately, Noel misheard her whispered word.

"Yeul!"

Oh, how Serah wished that the Long Gui over there would just squish her right now. "No, not Yeul. You."

"Me?" Noel pointed to himself, looking confused at the turn of events that had taken place suddenly.

"Ugh. Yes, Noel, you. I was thinking dirty, perverted depraved thoughts about YOU!" Serah screamed the last word with such anger that Noel actually flinched away as though she had hit him.

"But... I thought that you and Snow were..."

"Engaged, yes. But... recently, I've been thinking. What if you were right? I mean, when I introduced you to Snow, I told you we were engaged, and the first thing he says is, 'It's on hold for now.' What kind of boyfriend, or fiance, does that? He could have at least said he was looking forward to being introduced as my husband or something, would that have been so difficult? And really, when I'm away from him, yes, he does his own thing, but even when we're together, he does his own thing, without asking me if that's alright, and even when he does, if I say no, he goes and does it anyway! At least with you, you listen to me, and change plans based on what I say. But you at least correct me when I'm wrong. You know one time, I said to Snow that a cat was just a midget dog, and he just went along with it. He never challenges me, even when I'm wrong. At least with you, there's some semblance of give and take, push and pull, attack and counter-attack. And honestly, since I first met you, I kinda started imagining my perfect life with you instead of him, and nothing changed except who I was with in the daydream."

Serah now just sat there, panting and worn out, with tears starting to well up in her eyes, exhausted from all the conflicting emotions inside of her; happiness, sadness, guilt, excitement, terror. Oh yes, terror. That word just wouldn't do on it's own. Sheer, unadulterated terror hammering an icy stake into her heart was a better term for the emotion overriding everything else. The first tears started to run down her cheeks, and one fell through the air. Before it had even hit the ground, though, Serah was being swept into a tight embrace by Noel, and held against his chest- warm from the fire, Serah dully noted in the back of her mind- as she finally broke down, and just started crying out in anger at herself-she was with Snow, for Etro's sake! She shouldn't even be thinking of being with another person!

The two sat there for five minutes, Serah's choked sobs gradually growing quieter, until they were silent, and the only things that told Noel she was still crying was the way her shoulders were shaking, and the deep, shuddering breaths Serah was taking. Finally, even those stopped, and Noel opened his mouth, looking down at Serah, and realizing that she had fallen asleep. He closed his mouth again-what he wanted to say could wait until she had got some rest.

An hour later, Mog had returned for dinner, and was just finishing of the last scraps of chocobo meat that Noel had cooked. Noel had got his own dinner, and was halfway through it, mulling over everything that had happened with him and Serah that day. He had kept her dinner ready for when she woke up, as he had a feeling she would be extremely hungry after her outburst earlier. Looking over to where she lay, he realized that she was beginning to stir, and quickly began to shoo Mog away, saying he would explain later, but needed to talk privately with Serah for now. Mog didn't seem too happy about this, but complied with the young hunter's wishes- after receiving one of Noel's patented 'I'm gonna disembowel you and make you eat it before you die' glares, of course.

"Uhn. What, what happen-oh." Well, she remembered what she had said to him, Noel thought dryly. Guess he wouldn't have to repeat everything she told him.

What Noel hadn't been expecting, however, was for her to throw herself at him, and start apologising as much as possible, as fast as possible.

"Uh, Serah?"

She flinched away at the sound of his voice, which instinctively made him draw her into his arms and hold her there.

"Listen, Serah. I wanna ask you something. How long have you been hiding all this from me?"

Sniffing slightly, Serah tilted her head up so she could meet his gaze. "Which part? The imagining my perfect life, or actually really loving you?"

Oh, she had used the 'L-word'. Yep, if Noel ever met Snow again, one of them would most likely end up dead. And judging by the size of Snow, it would probably be Noel.

"The...second one." Yes, Noel knew he was being a damn coward, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud yet.

"Well, um, a long while, I think. But I only realized it about a week ago."

A week ago. That had been the same time that they had said goodbye to Snow, Noel realized.

"I'm sorry, Noel. Can we...can we please just forget the whole thing ever happened? Please?"

Oh damn. Serah was using the 'kicked puppy' look that Noel adored, and couldn't seem to ever say no to.

"I, um," Oh to Valhalla with it, Noel mentally yelled, simultaneously silently cursing Pulse, Etro, Mwynn, Lindzei, Bhunivelze, and any other deity that may or may not have existed, "To be perfectly honest with you, Serah, I've not been entirely honest about my own feelings."

In for a gil, in for a million gil, Noel thought, unaware that his companion had thought the exact same thing earlier that same day. " All this time, since after we took down Atlas, I've been in love with you. But I was pretending that I didn't, so that I wouldn't lose your friendship, because I value that more than anything in my life, Serah." Well, he had said it. On the spur of the moment, certainly, but at least he had admitted it to her. Now all he could do was wait for the inevitable fallout. What he wasn't expecting, though, was for her to hesitantly brush her lips against his- seemingly unsure of what to do.

Blinking slightly, he realized what was happening, and before his brain could tell him that Snow could appear at any moment and beat the crap out of him, he started to tenderly kiss back. Eventually, the two pulled back, blushing slightly as the reality of what they had just done- and said- washed over them, like the waves on Valhalla's shore. Finally, Noel broke the silence.

"What about Snow?"

Serah just looked at Noel like he had said something stupid. "What about him?"

"Well, what do we do with regards to the fact that you are technically still engaged to him, Serah?"

"I guess... next time we see him, I'll just have to tell him. That I'm with you, and that it's over between us."

"Yeah...Something tells me that if you say that to him, he'll hunt me down and kill me."

"Well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, won't we, Noel?"

Lying back on the grass, Noel looked up at the stars above the Steppe. "Yeah. I guess we will. Cause ya know, Serah, now that I've got you, I don't intend to let you go. Just so you know."

Serah joined Noel, interlacing the fingers of their hands, smiling all the while. "Good. That makes me feel...secure. Safe. Wanted. I mean, Snow... he just up and left me. I know it was to find Lightning and all, but I felt like he just didn't want me after a while."

"Well, better get used to having someone who doesn't like to let you out of his sight for a boyfriend, Serah."

The two smiled at each other, before lapsing into silence and gazing at the stars.

"Do you think Lightning would approve?"

"Huh?"

Rolling her eyes, Serah tried again, repeating her original question.

"Oh. Well, I really wouldn't know. But something tells me that if she didn't approve, we'd already know about it. I wouldn't put it past her to crush someone under a mountain, if she didn't approve of them dating her sister."

"Hm. I guess so. And you're right, that does sound like something she'd do. Do you know, when I first told her I was dating Snow, she chased him up and down the length of Bodhum with her Blazefire Saber, threatening to 'completely and utterly eviscerate his manhood'."

Noel meeped, and instinctively reached down to protect his important parts, causing Serah to giggle slightly. There was silence again for a while after that, until a sudden, instantly recognizable sound broke the stillness of the night.

"KUPO!" Mog went flying past Noel and Serah, who had both leapt to their feet the moment they heard the cry, knowing it only meant trouble. And sure enough, bearing down on them was a massize Behemoth on it's hind legs.

"Mog, remind me to punch after this!" Noel ran towards the Behemoth, who swatted him to one side with the back of it's hand. Upon seeing this, Serah's initial reaction was to worry, but when she realized what had just happened she instead began to laugh uncontrollably. Noel stood up, looking at the strawberry-blond girl laughing her head off in front of him.

"Um, Serah? What's so funny?"

Between her demented and uncontrollable laughter, Serah explained. "Noel, do you realize that you just got...ha, ha... pimpslapped by a behemoth?"

Realization dawned on Noel, and like Serah, he began to laugh uncontrollably. The behemoth, now ignored by both time travellers, looked from one to another, before looking at Mog, and grunting, in monsterspeak, 'Humans are weird.'

To which Mog simply replied, "Tell me about it, kupo."

Meanwhile, in the tallest tower of Valhalla, a pink-haired ex-soldier watched the scene, a wistful smile quirking her lips upwards slightly. "I hope you can be happy with him, Serah."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SERAH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Whew, finally finished! I typed this up on impulse after having; A. Listened to this song, and B. Watched the ending to FFXIII-2. Not many games can move me to tears, but that ending did. Only saying one thing about it: BRING SERAH BACK! If Square Enix do not bring her back in the sequel, I shall be royally pissed off, and rightly so. Also, am I the only one that thinks this pairing is more likely to be canon than SnowxSerah? And that actually is canon! As always, remember to review. Flames shall be used for Serah and Noel to toast marshmallows on, and feed them to one another. MWAHAHAHA! You cannot stop me!