This one-shot was inspired by a short doujinshi made about Lightning and Hope. I found it fairly humorous and eventually found myself thinking of a different approach to the scenario. Quite a bit has been changed, and after a lot of thinking, I'm finally writing it up, hoping to make at least half an impact as that simple comic made to me.

The Surprise

The fight had been over for several months and the unexpected settlement of Cocoon citizens on Gran Pulse had been progressing steadily. Free from their l'Cie marks, Hope and Lightning had decided to aid the NORA members in rebuilding a new village just below their crystallized form of their former home. The creation of homes had been priority, but with most people happily settled in, the crew had begun working on building various stores and restaurants, with a new café for Lebreau currently in production.

Lebreau had been exacting on her design and it had taken the group more time than they had anticipated to build, but the finishing touches on their soon-to-be new hangout was nearly complete. Lightning would've preferred to complete the work that day, but the sun had been setting and she had to accept that it would have to be finished after a night's rest. And she wasn't going to admit this to anybody else, but she could use a break since the work had been non-stop and the day had been long.

Lightning put down the drill she had been using and looked over to the dishevelled boy beside her. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he hammered in a nail with a steady rhythm and she noticed small beads of sweat fall down the sides of his face, stopped by his signature green bandanna. A small smile crept its way up her mouth. Hope had also been working non-stop since he had arrived to help out a few hours ago, speaking to no one except to ask for more supplies on occassion.

Breaking him out of his focus, Lightning spoke up as she prepared to leave for the night. "Hope, have you finished moving in yet?"

Startled, Hope inwardly flinched as his hammer just narrowly missed his thumb as he swung it a final time. That would've hurt. "N-no, sorry. I'll bring in the rest tomorrow. I know we're getting close to finishing this place so I wanted to be here. But, I did bring most of it."

Light nodded with understanding. She had doubts anyone would mind if Hope hadn't come that day (Snow hadn't bothered to make an appearance that day, the soldier had noted with slight annoyance), but she wasn't going to argue. "Alright. I'm heading home now, if you'd like to come. I'll start making dinner."

Glancing at Lightning before resuming his work, Hope shook his head. "Sorry, Light. I want to finish this up first. I'll head over later."

"I'll keep your dinner warm, then." Nodding to the various NORA members who had planned to stay later into the night, Lightning headed out the door and walked the short route to her new home. As she approached, she noted that her door had remained unlocked. Hope must have forgotten to lock the door...she assumed, a bit surprised that the boy would be so irresponsible. It didn't seem like him to forget something so important.

Flicking a light switch on, she noted all the boxes lined up against a wall to a door that would be Hope's bedroom. Hope had been living with Snow and Serah since they had all awakened from their crystal stasis, but the two's wedding preparations were finally coming to a close and the date was steadily approaching. Feeling like he'd be intruding on the couple's start of a new family, Hope had decided to move out. When he had first approached the woman, she had hesitated and was about to refuse when Hope seemed to anticipate her answer and apologized before saying he'd just have to get a home of his own. That had caught her off guard and Lightning agreed to let him live with her. The thought of Hope living alone worried her, and she found that concern justified when she discovered her door unlocked. Lightning had made the right decision.

In the kitchen, Lightning spotted a curious brown paper bag sitting on the counter. "Did Hope buy some groceries?" she asked herself. She had insisted that it was unnecessary, since she had stocked up on food a few days before in preparation of the new occupant. Amused, she was reminded of a conversation with Serah she had while shopping together. "Hope is very helpful around the house, Light, so don't worry about doing any more chores. You might have a bigger problem trying to prevent him from doing all the work!" Serah had laughed. "You know this is the first time I have managed to do the shopping myself? Hope insisted on handling it the entire time." Lightning had nodded at this new information, wondering if he knew how to cook too. While she didn't need help with the rest of the chores, she would have no complaints if someone else took over the kitchen.

Sighing to herself, Lightning approached the bag, ready to put away the excess food when she stopped, upon discovery of the actual contents. It wasn't groceries, but comic books. Lightning never took Hope as a boy who liked to read those types of things, but she guessed wrong. With this new discovery and the unlocked door incident, Light knew the two would learn quite a bit more about each other in the near future.

Lightning picked up the bag to bring it over to the rest of Hope's belongings when curiosity got the better of her and she found herself putting it back down so she could have a better look at the contents. This lack of self-restraint slightly embarrassed her and went against her training as a soldier, but she justified it by telling herself it's just for research purposes. Perhaps as a gift she could get him a subscription to one of these things. But she would have to know what type of comics he liked first.

"Big Sister Complex – Super Edition!? What's that?" Lightning said aloud, perplexed by the title. The cover didn't seem to answer her question as much as she had liked, featuring a big-chested, scantily clad, red-haired woman on the cover, lying on her side in such a way that her way-to-short mini-skirt hitched up even higher on her legs and to complete the look, one finger was to her mouth with her tongue lightly licking it. She didn't know what a 'big sister complex' was, but she knew what that look was supposed to suggest and she didn't like it. Despite her better judgement, she opened the comic, flicking through the contents.

Thirty minutes later, Lightning had decided she had enough. Were all his comic books like this? She wondered, going through the bag and pulling out volume after volume. Big Sister Complex – Holiday Edition, Sexy Older Sister volumes 1-5, Forbidden Liaisons, and even more Big Sister volumes all sat within the bag, waiting to be read and 'appreciated'. Lightning felt her cheeks heat up.

This was all Hope read, she was sure of it. There was no other genre within these books, all the stories were about the different scenarios of how the adorable younger brother and the sexy older sister found themselves in compromising situations. And liked it. Serah had told Lightning that she didn't actually want Hope to leave, but he had insisted on it. Were these books the reason why?

Her entire face red, Lightning quickly put the books back where she found them and headed off to her room. She was too embarrassed to eat now, and just wanted to go to sleep and perhaps forget about what she had discovered. Lightning felt fortunate when she found herself dozing off, despite her mind racing with all the images she had seen.

"...ight? Light?" A voice called out to her. Opening her eyes slightly, and slightly growling that she had been woken up in the middle of the night, a figure stood beside her, his own pillow in hand. His wild shock of white hair seemed even more out of place than usual, perhaps from bedhead, but Lightning couldn't be too sure. "Hope?" she mumbled.

"Light...do you...mind if I sleep with you tonight? I thought I heard something outside..." he whispered, his eyes wide and his lips trembling. He clutched the pillow closer to himself, as though a shield.

Lightning's initial reaction was to tell him to grow up and to handle his worries himself. She had taught him better than to act so weak. But as she looked at his quivering lips and his eyes full of fear, she felt compassion for the boy. "Yeah..." she said, moving over on her bed to give him room.

With a grateful smile, he climbed into bed and under the sheets with the older woman and before she could resist, he held her close, his face resting in her breasts. "Thanks, Light..." he murmured his breath softly tickling the skin beneath her shirt. "You always make me feel so safe..."

Somewhere in Lightning's mind, she enjoyed the feeling of his breath and his body against her. It felt warm, but not uncomfortably so, and she wanted to continue lying with him in this fashion. But the part of her mind that kept itself planted firmly in reality told her to push him away. She struggled with the inner conflict of keeping him close and keeping him at bay for a few moments before finally giving in to the part she knew was right. Shaking the sleeping boy awake, Lightning whispered, "Hope, if you want to stay in my bed tonight you can't be so close. If you can't do that, you're going to have to go back to your own room."

Not moving his head from his current position, he lazily mumbled back, "Why Light?" Stifling a shudder from the sudden rush or warm air from his mouth, she gently shoved him back and forced him to look directly into her eyes. "I don't need a reason. This is my home, I make the rules.

"Light...I'm sorry. I understand." Hope responded, his eyes and voice not betraying how crushed he felt. Despite knowing she was in the right, Lightning couldn't help but feel guilty. His eyes looked like they were tearing up, and his soft lips had begun trembling again like they had been when he had been spooked into going into her room earlier.

"No...I'm sorry. I overreacted. I actually don't mind," she said aloud without thinking. As if to encourage him, she opened up her arms and let him curl back up into the same position they had been in before. Hope smiled once again and she felt relieved.

The boy draped his arms around her back and she enjoyed the feeling of one of his hands slowly gliding up and down her back while the other slide up the skin of her stomach, under her shirt. She gasped softly as she felt his breath against the skin on her back. Lightnin had no idea when she managed to edge his way up there but she didn't question it. "Do you like this, Light?" he asked her in a low voice.

She nodded slowly and found herself face-to-face with the green-eyed boy her lips just mere centimetres apart from his own. Hope inched in even closer and Lightning shut her eyes, concentrating on the feel of the stealthy hands that had made their way to her chest his hands cupping them softly and willing them to start playing with her breasts.

"No, Hope, what are you doing?" Lightning yelled, dropping the copy of Big Sister Complex – Super Edition! To the ground. Light looked around, her heart pounding against her chest, her face warm and flushed. She wasn't in her bed, and she wasn't even in her own bedroom. She was still in the kitchen, and night hadn't even arrived yet.

Lightning threw the book into the bag in humiliation. She had just imagined story three "Nightmares No More", with herself and Hope as the new main characters. The shame was great. No wonder Hope had such thoughts. These books could really get to a person. "I can't believe I would even think about such things with him."

Dazing off again, the woman once again found herself shouting to no one, "Hope, not right now, everyone's watching us!"

Hope, meanwhile, had finally completed the table he had been working on since he had arrived at the construction site. This was the last set of tables needed to complete the café seating arrangements and he wanted to finish it that night so it could get a coat of varnish with the rest tomorrow. Wiping his forehead with his bandanna, Hope nodded in satisfaction. "Great, I can head home now."

"Get there before Sis for me, will ya? I was over at LIght's place earlier and forgot to lock the door. She'll kill me if she finds out," Snow said playfully ruffling the younger boy's head, having arrived just mere moments earlier.

Shaking off the large hand still in his hair, Hope ignored the statement. "Why bother coming here now when we're done for the night?"

"Hey, I've been busy with wedding stuff, you know. We've put it off long enough." Snow replied easily.

"So what's with the detours?"

Smirking to himself, Snow lowered his voice and put his hand on Hope's shoulder so only the younger boy could hear him. "I went over to Sis's to give you a welcoming gift. Figured you'd like to have a present to help you adjust with your new living arrangement. Just don't let Sis see them."