A/n: Hey! I'd like to say very briefly that this is the first (and likely, last) smut I've ever written. Yeah. Noerah makes me go where I've never dared venture before. So, I can only hope that you enjoy, and a disparaging review about why I shouldn't write smut/ encouraging review about how I failed less than I could have would be appreciated.

Serah was getting more and more frustrated by the day.

She had been a one-piece swimsuit girl her whole life, and just the other day she bought an attention-grabbing bikini specifically to wear during their trip back to New Bodhum. This was what she was resorting to now.

Before it had been more subtle. She cooked delicious meals, hoping to butter him up. But that only made him go, "Mmm," and she couldn't take him practically moaning into his soup. The audio replayed in her mind nonetheless.

There had been massages, infused with the healing power of curative magic, of course. He wasn't tense, and they both knew it, but on she went, kneading his shoulders and leaning in close to ask him how he was feeling.

Straight-up talking to him about it didn't work either. Everytime it was the same old, same old: "I'm not touching you until you break up with Snow officially."

Stupid Noel and his stupid damned honour. Stupid Noel and his stupid shirt, clinging to his torso and showing off his back and chest. Stupid Noel and his stupid smell, driving her nuts no matter how close or far away she got from him. There was plenty more: his voice, his arms, his eyes. She just couldn't take it anymore.

She had proposed a midnight swim while they were on this break back in New Bodhum, and he'd raised his eyebrows but agreed anyway. Now, she changed into her swimsuit in the privacy of her bedroom and tried to imagine a successful outcome to this night. Heated kisses on the beach in the moonlight? That sounded nice. She let out a breath, opened her bedroom door and strode out onto the beach.

"I think they're a good fit."

"Yeah, thanks," Noel's voice steadily increased in volume as Serah rounded the grove of palm trees. The first thing that came into her line of vision was Yuj's back. The next thing was Noel's face, just over Yuj's shoulder. He saw her, too, giving a nod.

Yuj turned. "Whoa, Serah! I haven't seen this swimsuit of yours before," Yuj remarked, eyebrows shooting up in shock. Trust Yuj to notice the clothes she was wearing. But at least he'd drawn attention to it! Her gaze shifted to Noel, quickly assessing his reaction.

He was yawning.

Annoyed, Serah cleared her throat and kept her glare on Noel. She replied to Yuj, not wanting to leave him hanging, "Thanks, Yuj. It's new."

Yuj cleared his throat too, though it seemed more out of awkwardness than anything. He tore his eyes from Serah and turned to Noel. "That's great. Okay, I'd better, um, get to sleep. Noel, just leave the trunks out to dry after you're done."

"Thanks again," Noel said, nodding to the departing Yuj. She watched him take off like a bullet, then turned to Noel again.

Oh Etro blessed be, she thought. With Yuj no longer between the both of them, she had a perfect view of her partner, and she began to doubt her scheming ability. How had she thought she would have the upper hand in a situation where Noel would be half-naked? She was a total, bumbling idiot. She'd never seen him out of his regular clothes, but how could she ignore the bulge of his biceps from beneath his sleeves, and the definition of his back underneath those wings? They were out in full view now, along with - was there any doubt? - his well-segmented abdominals, his muscular calves and the barest bit of thigh. It seemed that out of all of Yuj's swim trunks, even the best-fitting ones were a bit small.

She couldn't stop staring.

Noel raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Ready?"

Her mouth seemed to dry out at this tiny question. She made herself walk forward toward the pier. She imagined that maybe, just maybe, he watched her back as she walked. She took out her hairtie, shook out her hair like she'd seen girls do in movies, and dove into the surf.

She surfaced gracefully, hair streaming behind her and light glistening off of droplets of water scattered around her. Take that, Noel Kreiss, she thought, smug.

But then a holler rang out, a wave of water overtook her, and she was completely waterlogged.

Noel had cannon-balled in. He probably missed the cinematic moment of her coming up and out of the water. She grit her teeth. He was such a-

"Slam dunk!" Noel's voice came from just behind her, and before she could turn to figure out just what he was doing, he forced her head beneath the water.

She flailed, blindly sticking her fingers out and brushing his stomach, tickling him. He let her go, and she sputtered to the surface. "You're dead meat!" she shrieked, but he only laughed, which made her even angrier.

She lunged at him, but he skipped out of the way everytime she tried. He even went up behind her sometimes, tickling her, and she retaliated by splashing him mercilessly.

Finally, she caught him, and having no qualms about getting physical after what he'd done, she forced him underneath the water and sat on his shoulders and tickled his neck. He stood and threw her off into the surf. She let herself sink down. She knew it was cruel, but she needed to get him back.

He walked over, toes just barely in contact with the sand, arms pushing water aside and simultaneously feeling for her.

She came up out of the water, probably looking like a shark, and pounced him. She wrapped her legs tight around his torso and her arms around his head, trying to give him a noogie.

She froze when she realized Noel wasn't doing anything back. Abruptly, she realized just how close they were, how much of their wet skin was touching. She loosened her grip on him, intending to slide down and apologize, when-

Noel's hands were on the undersides of her thighs, and he was looking into her eyes, holding her there.

Screw your oath, she thought, before crushing her mouth to his. His lips were warm, soft, perfect, just like she'd imagined, the tang of saltwater mixing in with saliva. Noel groaned, giving himself a moment of contemplation, before he was kissing her back. "Damn it," he growled into her mouth, which only made her tighten her grip around him and kiss him harder. She kissed him even as he began to walk out of the water, slowly doing the work of surfacing for them both. Water dripped from their elbows ands knees, cascaded down their backs and legs.

When they reached the edge of the surf, he let her go, only to pick her up again, bridal-style.

"What are we doing?" she asked him throatily.

He carried her effortlessly toward NORA house. "We're taking this into your room," he answered.

Her heart thrummed in her chest as he ascended the steps, passed into her room, set her on the bed, and closed the double doors. Her heart accelerated when he sat next to her, touched the side of her face, and looked at her like he loved her. And her heart nearly stopped when he leant forward and kissed her again, a kiss of pure passion.

She needed more. She climbed into his lap, straddling him, one hand in his sopping hair and the other on his chest. She wanted to be as close as possible to him - she wanted every part of herself to be touching every part of him. Her hands drifted lower, feeling the ripples of muscle gracing his abdomen and the muscle gathered at his shoulders.

He touched her feet. She nearly yelped. "What-"

"Sand," he answered, laughing into her mouth. He pulled her tighter to him, and she felt some exhilaration in that, knowing he wanted her close, too.

As they kissed, she let him rub her feet clean of sand, though she suspected he really just wanted to tickle her more. He rubbed his soles against the rug. By now her arms were over his shoulders and his hands were at her hips. One of his fingers slipped beneath the strings of her swimsuit, and she felt a fresh load of adrenalin hit her bloodstream.

She put her hands to his chest and pushed him backward, falling with him. His hands trailed down the outsides of her thighs, making her shiver, before they were back up, gripping her chin as he kissed her with more skill than she dared to ask him about. She shifted on top of him, her legs brushing the cold, wet fabric of his borrowed swimtrunks. An idea began to form in her head, one that scared and thrilled her.

She brushed his hair aside and looked at him. "You're getting my bed wet," she told him. Then she quickly pulled his trunks off, simultaneously sliding off the bed, and skipped to the far corner of the room.

He sat up now, far too comfortable with the situation. "Those aren't mine, you know," he said, his voice raspy from all the kissing they'd been doing.

She held them up tauntingly. "I know. Yuj said to let them dry outside." She held the swimtrunks up to the open window. "Just thought I'd help them dry faster."

He held out an arm. "Hey, I won't have anything else to wear... Oh." His expression shifted from mildly alarmed to smirky. "And that's the idea?"

"You bet," she laughed back at him.

"You forget," he said, lowering his voice, "I can stop you." He walked solidly toward her, his form slowly illuminating in the moonlight streaming in from the window.

She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling too much. "Oh, yeah? How?"

He answered her question by quickly closing the space between them, tilting her chin up to take her lips in a forceful kiss. His hands found the strings of her bikini top and he undid them, quickly pulling the top over her head. She kissed him hungrily and pressed her bare chest to his. This felt... too amazing. She hadn't ever thought she could experience so much in one night.

He groaned at her movement, fingers contracting briefly around the muscle of her lower back. His hands moved, palms at her ribs and thumbs hovering over each one of her nipples. She shoved her chest to him again, and he smiled into their kiss at her eagerness, warm hands gliding over her breasts. She relished every touch. He broke their kiss to suck a pulse point along her neck, which made her hands ball up into fists, and then he was moving further down, kissing a long stretch of untainted skin. He ended up on his knees in front of her, strings of her bikini bottom between his teeth. "May I?" he smiled and asked her, despite their already compromising position.

She couldn't say yes fast enough. The bottom fell, and she stepped out of it, now conscious of how wet she had become. He was still kneeled on the floor, but he looked up, drinking in the sight of her in the moonlight. "So beautiful," he said, to her or to himself she wasn't sure.

It was silly given the situation, but she wanted to blush. He'd said it with so much reverance that she wasn't sure how to respond, but her thumbs moved of their own accord, drawing circles over the skin of his shoulders.

He rose to his full height. His hands closed around hers, warm and firm, and he dropped a kiss to the palm of each. He looked straight into her eyes, and once again, she felt her heartbeat quicken. Her breaths were coming fuller, deeper now, and so were his. They breathed together as he backed her against the wall and ran his thumbs over her hipbones. She shuddered, anticipating his next move. She could feel him stiffening against her abdomen as she grew even wetter in response.

His eyes asked her silently: are you ready? She threw her arms over his shoulders and kissed him by way of reply.

He bent, hooking a hand under each of her knees, and spread her legs, hoisting her up. She held onto him ever tighter, pulling at his hair, thighs clamping tight around his hips and locking her ankles together behind him. He put his face to the side of her neck, sucking her neck so hard she was sure she would bruise. The pressure increased as he entered her slowly, both of them moaning. This was... delicious.

They continued that way, his body pinning hers to the wall as he thrust slowly in and out of her. She arched her back, thrust her hips to his, too. How did he keep such a slow pace? She wanted - needed - more of him. "Not fair," she mumbled past his ear, then lowered her head to bite his shoulder.

He chuckled lowly, letting up on her marked neck. "Be my guest," he told her.

She gladly obliged, finding all the right spots that had him humming into her ears. The second she found a pulse point, licked and sucked on it, he thrust into her, hard, and she gasped. "Do that again," she whispered against his skin, so he did. "Harder," she told him, and he obeyed. Her breathing was becoming laboured, and she could taste sweat on his skin.

With every thrust, she felt him deeper and harder than before. He was so good, so, so good. Every thrust had her moaning, and every moan from her mouth made him thrust faster. His hands were at her bottom now. She imagined indents from his blunt fingernails littered all over her private skin. She was his. And he was hers.

She was going to- She threw her head back against the wall and called his name, eyes shut tight. And then he drove into her one, final time before moaning her name into her neck, reaching his release alongside her.

She didn't know how he managed it, but he held her up for a while longer as she stayed locked around him. She planted a kiss to his sweaty temple. He kissed her open-mouthed without hesistance. Then he carried her to the bed, and when she refused to let go, he rolled them both onto it. She let out tired giggles. He pulled the bedcovers aside and lay back, tossing a pointed look her way. She smiled and lay her head against his chest. His heartbeat was still loud, but somehow, they both fell asleep, arms around each other.

Serah woke up sticky and very warm. She cracked an eye open, simultaneously cracking the case of why she was so warm. She smiled up at Noel, who had already woke. In the light of a new morning, his eyes were breathtakingly blue. "Good morning," he told her. His hair was a mess, sticking up in all directions, but this only made her smile wider.

"Good morning," she greeted back, inching up to kiss him, unafraid of morning breath.

He didn't seem to mind, either. He grinned wide at her. "So, guess what?"

"What?" She couldn't stop smiling.

He mock-cleared his throat. "Someone found a pair of swim trunks and a bikini top on the beach this morning."

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "My top?"

He gave her his prize-winning smile. "Threw it out the window."

She sat up quickly, pressing her hands firmly to his bare chest. "Noel Kreiss, you're a dead man."

He just narrowed his eyes and smirked up at her, muscular arms pillowing his head. "Oh, yeah?"

She smirked back at him. "Oh, yeah."