Disclaimer: I do not own FF13, never will lets just get that clear.

Warnings: Fluff, Serah bashing (of course) Maybe Oocness( though I don't know where) Fang and Vanille not it crystal stasis.

A/N: Hey folks it's another SnowxHope story! I love this couple, I really, really do. Oh this is set before FF13-2. Light is still around :) I haven't played FF13-2, but I want to, I want to know who Noel is, he looks cool! And so I can make more pairing lol XD Anyway R&R and tell me what you think.

Oh and this is six months after the end of FF13, okay?

Enjoy!

Hope stared at the letter in his hands, wondering if he was reading right and double checked. Yeah, the letter hadn't changed but his mind still refused to comprehend what it said as truth. This couldn't be right, maybe Vanille had tripped and smacked her head on rock that made her hallucinate. Stranger things had happened, like her and Fang suddenly awakening from their slumber and arriving on Lightning's doorstep. That had indeed been a weird day and one he wasn't about to forget either; he had never seen Light blush so much. Still, this topped the list, no, this topped all records of strange happening in his life.

Apparently Snow and Serah had split up.

Hope couldn't understand it so he shook his head and then re-read the letter, still nothing changed, the neatly scrawled words refused to change. But this couldn't be right, when they had woken up from destroying Orphan and saving the many occupants of Cocoon, he had seen how happy Snow and Serah had been to back in each others arms, he had seen the look of pure love and happiness in their eyes and on their faces that continued to burn brightly even weeks after they had been reunited, it was one of the reasons he moved out of Oerba and into Sulyya Springs, the other reason being he just wanted some time to grieve for his lost family.

Seeing the happiness shining in everyones eyes day in, day out as they hugged family members hurt him to the core, knowing he was just an orphan and while his friends had tried to include him in the most trivial of things, he couldn't help but miss his fathers stern gaze when he did something naughty or his mothers warm, loving embrace when he did something that made her proud and so he packed up his stuff, a few building supplies and his trusty boomerang and headed for Taejin's Tower in the middle of the night. He had known that if he waited till morning, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere.

Even now when he was practically living in his own small hut on an outcrop of rock, the sound of the waterfall a soothing noise in the background, he could never truly get away from people. Vanille visited often, once a week if she could, if not she wrote letters. Fang was often dragged to visit by Lightning who brought him clothes, blankets for when it got chilly and any food he needed. She really was like a second mom to him, but her visits were only once a month. Sazh visited probably more than anyone, two or three times a week. Apparently Choco missed kwehing at him, and he liked the Chocobo's presence, Dajh liked him too, chattering happily about what he learned at school. Even the NORA members visited him, though he barely knows why, he had only met them briefly at the seige of Eden, and it was brief. However he couldn't complain watching Lebreau threaten Gadot was very entertaining especially when the big man refused to give in.

The only people who didn't visit him was Snow and Serah. Lightnings sister he could understand, she had never met him, only a glance here or a 'hello' there before she was distracted or busy, she had no real reason to want to visit him. Though Snow... Snow had no excuse and no matter how much Hope tried to deny it, it hurt to think that the blond had forgotten him.

Hope sighed and ran a hand through his hair, knowing thinking about Snow wasn't helping his present confusion or the pain in his chest that twisted ever tighter when just the thought of Snow forgetting him, or didn't want him as a friend anymore.

Knock, knock, knock.

Hope looked towards the door, a frown marring his features and making him look like a Lightning mini-me. The knocks sounded again and Hope was instantly curious, it was quite late at night and no one left Oerba at this time in fear of being eaten by monsters. Dropping the letter to the bed, he picked up his weapon, ready to use it at any moment. His fingers inched, like they were trying desperately to cast magic though he knew that was impossible, he was no longer an l'Cie.

The knocks came again and Hope crept towards the door, steeling himself with a deep breath as he swung the door open, his boomerang poised ready behind his back. Though it dropped uselessly to the floor and his eyes widened in suprised as he gaped and sputtered over his words.

"S-snow?" The blond grinned, though it was a little sloppy, like he hadn't smiled in ages, years even. He leaned heavily against the doorframe, his fist ready to knock again. His hair was still half hidden by the black bandana, his long silver trench coat was matted with monster blood, his black gloves dripped the stuff causing Hope to wrinkle his nose slightly. However, despite the normal look Snow wore, he looked...terrible. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy like he had been crying though no trace was found on his face, he looked exhuasted as if he had been fighting Orphan all over again. He continued to stare stupidly until something his mother used to say flash into his mind ' Hope we have a guest that is upset, what do we do?' And he would reply with; ' We invite them in, listen to their troubles and give them a hot beverage, and we make sure we do this with a smile.' Hope jerked, remembering the countless times his mother had opened the front door to a distressed neighbor and invited them in with her famous soft smile. He opened the door further and tugged Snow in, ignoring how Snow's boots tracked dirt in. He would clean it up later.

He pushed Snow towards the little couch Vanille had some poor souls deliver to his house and left the blond there while he filled the kettle up on put it on the open fire he had as a cooker. While a lot had been saved from Cocoon, there were still things they had to go with out, an electric or gas cooker was one, TV was another. Many of Pulse's machinery was still being found and even then it took ages to figure what it was for and how the Hell they were suppose to use it. It was slow progress.

He walked back into the living room, noticing how Snow just sat there, looking at his hands like they had some mysterious stain on them and he was trying to figure out how to get it off. Hope felt sympathy for the man, pushing aside his own hurt at the man. He could question the man later, right now the blond needed a friend and he had obviously come to Hope.

In a matter of minutes, Hope had made hot drinks and brought it into the living room, giving Snow a strong cup of coffee to help the man along while he stuck to something with less caffine. It wasn't that he didn't like coffee, it just tended to make him a little...Well, okay he acted as if he had drunk a six pack to himself, it gave him the same affects as alcohol. He would always wake up the next morning with a pounding head and he barely remembered what happened.

Hope shook his head, he was running away with his thoughts and he had Snow sitting on his couch looking as if he had lost everything. So Hope plastered a smile on his face and spoke.

"How have you been Snow?" The blond sipped silently at his drink, the big grin that had been on his face moments before was now gone and replaced with a grimace. Snow shrugged.

"Alright. I guess you heard about me and Serah?" Hope nodded, sipping his tea and waited for the blond to continue, but all he got was a depressed chuckle. This confused him and he glanced up, swallowing when he found Snow glaring accusingly at him.

"You left without a word. Why? I've been asking Light but all she ever did was bitch at me. Sazh was more help than a dead body and Vanille refused to say what was wrong and instead poked me until I stopped asking." Hope gulped past the large lump in his throat and looked away, he shrugged one shoulder wondering why Snow had turned this on him.

"I just...Why did you and Serah break up? You both looked so happy." Hope breathed a sigh of relief when Snow took the distraction and gulped his coffee, wincing when the hot liquid burnt his tongue. Snow laughed suddenly, and Hope shivered. The laugh had been empty, hollow with no feeling except sadness and a little anger. The silverette felt pure hate flare in his chest, while his and Snow's relationship as friends had been strained at the best of times, he hated the idea of the normally cheerful bulk of man ever being sad and hurt, it just didn't seem to suit the other what-so-ever.

"She got jealous. She said she felt like she could never compare to you, like she was my second lover. Said she didn't like the fact that I kept asking after you, and always worrying where you were. She left after I laughed at her and said that you and I were just friends, that she was just paranoid. Funny enough, Light agreed with me, though it didn't stop her from punching me." Now that Hope looked closely, he could see a dark bruise over Snow's cheek bone, though he blushed when he realised that Serah had accused them of having a fling. He cleared his throat awkwardly as he was still embarrassed over the fact that Serah had really thought that him and Snow were more than friends.

Snow turned to him, a small grin on his face, looking a little more like his normal self. "You wanna know something funny?" Hope nodded, his silver brows furrowing when Snow chuckled, though this was much more light hearted. "I wasn't even upset when we broke up and she kicked me out...I just felt relieved. Is that wrong of me Hope?" Hope stared at him for a moment and noticed that Snow did look as if he had a ton of weight lifted off his shoulders, though he still looked terrible. But is feeling relieved after breaking up with someone who was suppose to be the love of you life wrong? Hope would have to answer yes, but he had noticed that while Serah had been accepting of Snow's personality, she still tried to change him in small ways. Like how she kept asking him not to wear is bandana, to dress a little more appropriately instead of just his normal outfit, which was just wrong, if you loved someone, you loved them for who they were. Though Hope had to admit that Snow looked awkward in a turtle neck.

Hope snickered under his breath at the memory but focused back on the question and shook his head, smiling brightly. "Of course not, Snow. Why should you feel guilty when it was her that was making you unhappy?" However, this didn't explain why Snow looked like he had bawled his eyes out for days on end but Hope didn't have the heart to question the blond about it, and instead stared into his luke warm tea. They sat there for a few minutes, Hope wondering if he had gotten away with not answering Snow's earlier question, but the blond wasn't that stupid and repeated the question and Hope knew he had no choice but to answer. After all, Snow had answered his. It was only fair. 'How can I explain it without sounding insensitive?' Hope wondered to himself while Snow stared at him obviously waiting for an answer. In the end Hope shrugged and answered as honestly as he could.

"I guess I just wanted some time on my own. Everyone was so happy, I felt as if I was ruining all that- mmph!" Hope blinked when he found himself pressed against Snow's chest, luckily missing the monster gore covering the other man. Snow was hugging him tightly, crushing the air from his lungs but Hope couldn't complain, it had been a long time since he'd be hugged. Everyone tended to give him pats on the shoulder, or in Light's case, a stiff nod. Hope absorbed the warmth from the other, pondering the fact that despite being covered in monster blood, Snow oddly smelt of lavender and coffee.

"You daft- How could you think that you was ruining our happiness?" Snow asked, sounding mystified but also annoyed at the fact that Hope could think such a ridiculous thing. Hope shrugged.

"You said yourself that Serah broke up with you because you worried too much about me- ow!" Hope frowned, rubbing his arm where Snow had punched him a little to hard. The usually cheeful blond was glaring at him, his blue eyes seeming to glow in the dim light set by the candles. Hope blinked.

"That was because you disappeared. If you had stayed in Oerba, I wouldn't have worried. Stupid." Hope slumped, Snow unfortunately had a point.

"Sorry." Snow sighed and pulled Hope in for another hug, they fell into another silence though this one wasn't awkward. It was a few minutes later Hope yawned and blinked a few times, making Snow want to coo at the cuteness.

"C'mon, into bed Hope. It's late." Hope frowned, a stubborn look passing over his face before he sighed and nodded. He muttered that Snow could sleep on the couch as he wandered into the little bedroom to grab some extra blankets that Light had brought.

Hope blushed as he wandered in on Snow shedding his vest, watching as the muscles in Snows back flexed with the movement. He gaped for several moments before he shook his head and cleared his throat, a trembling hand holding out the blankets and a spare pillow he had picked up from his bed. Snow smiled in thanks before flopping length ways onto the couch, draping the blankets haphazardly on top of him. Hope stood staring at the back of the couch and then realised he was suppose to be going to bed.

"Night Snow." He muttered from the doorway to his room and heard snoring as his reply. Snickering under his breath, he shut the door and the proceeded to flop on his bed and rub his still flushed face. 'What in the world has gotten into me! It's not like the first time I've seen him with only pants on!'

He lay there for a few minutes, wondering back on why he had reacted the way he did, why he had felt hurt when Snow hadn't visited him and when he realised why, it felt like Hope had been hit by Barthandelus's Ultima again.

'I-I have a crush on Snow!'

A/N: Dun, Dun DUUUUUUUUN. Yeah first chapter, it's okay, personally I tried to make it better but, well... Review and tell me what you think, okay?