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There was chaos after Cocoon fell. Fang and Vanille had saved the majority from total destruction, but with Orphan's defeat, much of the space inside was rendered unusable - at least for a time. With Raines dead and Dysley presumed so, the leadership of Cocoon was left in question. As such, the former l'Cie were forgotten, for the moment, and left to forge their own path.
Lightning and Serah decided to stay to help with cleanup efforts until it became apparent that some of the citizens who recognized Lightning as a l'Cie remembered what had happened and made that task difficult. Sazh decided to get as far away as he could, to keep Dajh safe from anyone who declared their own authority. Snow and his NORA friends were torn. In the end, the NORA guys stayed to do what Snow and Lightning couldn't, and help rebuild. Lightning took Serah and was gone, though Serah left a note telling Snow it was only for awhile. He was going to take off after them, but then he remembered the last member of their little gang.
Hope looked for his father, but no one could answer his questions. And he suffered the same recognition they all did; because of his onetime status as a l'Cie, most people weren't very eager to answer anything he asked. Eventually, Hope gave up on that, and left by himself. He swore not to give up on his dad, but he knew he'd have to wait until things with the Cocoon survivors calmed down.
So it was that Snow took off after the boy, instead of after Lightning and Serah. Light could handler herself, and she'd never let anything happen to her sister. But Hope was young, and still angry, still hurting. He'd come a long way, but Snow didn't like the idea of the kid out there in the wilderness of Gran Pulse, alone, without anyone looking after him. Besides, Snow had promised to get him home. And if there was no home to go to, then that promise wasn't fulfilled unless he could build a new one. No hero would go back on his word! He was sure Serah would understand.
Lucky for Hope - or maybe just for Snow's conscience - Snow found the boy a few miles away from fallen Cocoon. He'd found a cave to stay in, temporarily, and was holed up in it. Snow brought him a freshly killed animal they'd learned about from Fang and Vanille, cooked it for dinner, and Hope let him stay.
For the first few days, things were a little uneasy between them. Hope had forgiven Snow, and even come to like him, but their attitudes were pretty different, in general. Hope was prone to brooding, sudden silences. Snow's way of dealing with those was to try to fill them with his own voice, joking around or otherwise trying to engage the boy. Hope never appreciated that approach, and usually stormed off to find a place to be alone.
The third time it happened, Hope was gone for over an hour. Snow started to get worried, and finally went looking for him. He found the boy at the top of a large hill, sitting on the grass. His knees were pulled up to his chest, and he had his arms wrapped around them. He was looking off into the distance. Snow followed his gaze, and saw immediately what he was looking at. The form of the structure that had been Cocoon loomed in the distance, with the light from the setting sun reflecting off the crystal it now rested on.
Snow walked up and sat a foot or so away from Hope. "Homesick?" he asked.
Hope shrugged, then shook his head. "It's not that. I was just thinking. My dad is down there somewhere, you know? And I can't do anything. We're not l'Cie anymore, but they hate us anyway. And I don't know if he's alive, or a prisoner, or what! I can't do anything!" As he spoke, his hands tightened, leaving red marks on his arms where they clenched.
"Hey," Snow said. He reached over and pried one of Hope's hands loose. "Don't say that. Look how much we did, how far we came! We'll let 'em cool off for a few weeks, then we'll go find your dad, okay?"
Hope frowned. "We destroyed Cocoon!"
Snow shook his head. "No. We saved it from Dysley's plan. You can't regret that now. More people are alive than those Fal'Cie would have left."
Hope sighed. "I know! I guess. I know we did the right thing, but…"
Snow stood up, and pulled Hope to his feet as well. Then, much to Hope's surprise, the big blond man pulled him close and hugged him. "We'll make it. We'll figure it out," Snow said. There was so much surety in Snow's voice that even Hope had to smile. He brought his arms up and returned the hug, burying his face against Snow. They stood there like that for a long time before heading back.
Days passed. The pair stayed away from fallen Cocoon and kept to themselves, eating what they could and fighting off the monsters that they needed to. They were no longer l'Cie, but they could still manage well enough in most cases, provided they didn't run into any huge ones.
The nights were getting colder. Snow managed to get his NORA friends to get some supplies, but it was still rough. The days were okay, but the temperature once daylight was gone was like nothing they'd ever experienced. Weather all across the board in Cocoon had been more regulated. Hope lay awake in his sleeping bag, shivering. They had a fire, but he couldn't seem to keep warm. Snow eventually noticed. In truth, he was having a hard time, too.
"Hey, you're practically freezing, kiddo. Why don't you come over here? I'll keep you warm."
At first, Hope resisted that, but the cold won. They rearranged the sleeping bags so they'd be laying on top of one and under the other. Snow also laid his coat over top, figuring any help was worth having. He had to pull Hope pretty close so they'd both fit, but the shared warmth did the trick. After that night, Hope didn't offer further protest about sleeping with Snow; it was much easier to sleep when he wasn't freezing.
He still didn't sleep all that well; he hadn't since before the Purge. One night he lay there, warm but awake. He lay on his side, facing away from Snow. After awhile, he rolled over. It was a bit of an ordeal, considering the lack of space, but he managed. Snow was laying on his back, fast asleep and oblivious to the boy beside him. His mouth was slightly open, but for once he wasn't snoring. Hope just looked at him for a long time, noticing him in a way he hadn't before. Snow was a loudmouth pain in the ass, but he meant well. And he was…good looking. Even the scruff on his face didn't detract from that. Hope wondered how he never noticed it before. Actually, noticing it now was kind of embarrassing. He was glad Snow wasn't awake. He could feel his face get hot, thinking about that, and turned away. He rolled back over and closed his eyes, wishing for sleep to return.
After that, Hope found himself staring at Snow other times: when they were walking, when they were building the fire, when they were cooking whatever they found. If Snow noticed, he didn't say anything. If he caught Hope looking at him, he generally just smiled at him and went back to whatever he was doing.
Once, he did obviously notice. He was fixing something on Hope's boomerang. It wasn't collapsing properly, so he'd volunteered to take a look at it. Hope sat a few feet away, watching him, thinking about how odd it was that someone with such big hands could even fix the small components in the weapon's hinge. And Snow did have big hands. He was a really big guy in general. He had big everything. That thought made Hope blush a little, so naturally that was the moment Snow picked to look up at him.
"What are you thinking about?" he teased, seeing the look on Hope's face.
Hope's eyes widened slightly, and he shook his head. "Nothing!"
Snow laughed. "I'm just teasing. You should see your face!"
Hope wrinkled his nose, not at all amused. Snow finished fixing the hinge and brought the weapon back over to Hope. "Good as new," he said, grinning.
Hope stood up to take it. He tested it, making sure it both folded and flew properly. Snow sat down on the grass nearby and watched. When Hope was satisfied, he turned back to Snow.
"Thanks." he said, meaning it.
Snow waved a hand. "Nah, don't worry about it. Told you I'd take care of you, didn't I?"
Hope reached out, on a whim, and grabbed the blond's hand as he waved it around. Snow raised an eyebrow at him, but before he could say anything, Hope leaned down and pressed his mouth against Snow's. Snow's eyes went wide with surprise. Hope could feel him tense a little, and he pulled away. He could tell his face was bright red, and he had every intention of running off. Clearly kissing Snow was a stupid idea, and he had no idea what had possessed him to do it.
Before he could run, though, Snow's hand tightened on his. "Hey, hey, you can't just kiss someone and then run off!"
"Let me go!" Hope said, half-yelling the words, and tried to jerk away. "I'm sorry!"
Snow hauled himself to his feet, not letting the boy go as he did. "Relax! Why are you sorry? I mean, okay, that was probably a really awful kiss, but I was kinda surprised, you know?"
Hope stared up at Snow, a worried look on his face. Snow reached for him with his free hand, and tilted the boy's chin up. "Here, I can do better," he said, and bent down to prove it. This time, it was Hope's eyes that went wide. Snow didn't push him, but he didn't let him go, either. He waited for a moment for Hope to relax and return the kiss. It took the boy a few seconds, but he finally did just that. It was only then that Snow let his hand go. Unsurprisingly, Hope no longer felt the urge to run off.
Hope felt a little weird after the kiss ended, but Snow just ruffled his hair and flopped back on to the grass like nothing had happened. Hope wandered away after that, telling Snow that he wanted to test the boomerang some more. Really, he just wanted to think. Snow let him go, but told him not to go too far.
Hope had never kissed anyone before. He still had no idea why he had kissed Snow. Snow was in love with Serah, after all. And he was a grown up! And awhile ago, Hope had hated him. But now, after all they'd been through, he just…had wanted to. He was surprised by how soft Snow's lips had been against his own. Of course, his face wasn't soft, and his stubble had scratched against Hope's chin, but not unpleasantly. Actually, it had felt kind of…nice. He wondered if Snow would object if he did it again. It didn't seem likely that he would. But then what? Would Snow kiss him like an adult? He had no idea how to kiss like that. And he sure as hell didn't want to ask Snow to teach him. He felt awkward enough about it as it was!
Hope didn't quite manage to clear his head - or get thoughts of Snow and his big hands and soft lips and scratchy face out of it - but he did go back to their camp before it got dark. Snow was waiting there, of course. Once again, he acted like nothing happened or was weird. Hope did his best to go with that, but he still felt awkward.
Despite that feeling, he still crawled into bed next to Snow that night. It was still to cold to do anything else, so he really had to. Snow made sure he was warm enough, then closed his eyes and was asleep almost immediately. Hope found sleep to be elusive. He would have tossed and turned if there had been more room. As it was, all he could do was roll over, which ended up bringing him closer to Snow, not further away. Snow, in his mostly-asleep state, drew the boy close to him so he was laying with the big man's arm around him. Laying like that, he was pressed up against Snow, and could feel the man's body more acutely than he was prepared for. Snow was basically all muscle, with hard planes and nothing soft. Hope felt smaller than ever, laying there against him. Surely he'd never be anywhere near that big, himself.
He found himself remembering how he'd thought everything about Snow was probably big. He was still a little embarrassed by that, but he couldn't get the thought to go away. It was accompanied by the remembrance of the kiss earlier that day, and the things he'd thought afterward. Those thoughts, coupled with the fact that he was pressed against Snow like he was, turned his body against him. When he realized how hard he was getting, he practically fought his way out of Snow's arms and the sleeping bags, face burning the whole time.
Of course, all the commotion woke Snow up, and he sat straight up, puzzled and on edge. "What, what's goin' on? You okay?" Snow saw Hope standing a few feet away. He kicked his way out of the covers and got up to go over to the boy. He reached out to put a hand on Hope's shoulder, but Hope jerked away.
"Don't!" he said, his voice tight and almost strained. He didn't even turn to look at Snow; he couldn't bear to, just then.
Snow pulled his hand back, startled by Hope's reaction. Weren't they past this? "What the hell? What did I do now?" he asked, sounding as annoyed as he did confused.
"Nothing!" Hope replied, wrapping his arms around himself and wishing he could be angry or something, and convince his body to go back to normal.
"Damnit. Come on, Hope, whatever it is, it's okay. Come back to bed before you freeze, though," Snow said, reaching out again. This time he got Hope turned around to face him before the boy could duck out of his grasp.
Snow wasn't the most observant person, but Hope was so undeniably uncomfortable that he looked the boy up and down to make sure he was really okay. Since he was paying that much attention, it was impossible for him not to notice what was bothering Hope. He stared down, obviously aware of the boy's erection, and said, "Oh. Is that why you freaked out?"
Hope turned redder than ever and pulled away, seeking to escape Snow's grip on his shoulder. Snow didn't let him go, though.
"You know, it's not a big deal. I mean, I get it, I'm a guy. You probably want to be alone and all. I can, I don't know, if you wanted a few minutes or whatever…" Snow did let go of Hope, then, and looked away awkwardly. It was a touchy subject.
Hope made a frustrated noise, almost like a sigh. "You're an idiot," he said, before he could think better of it. Snow looked more confused by that than anything, so Hope continued, "It's not that I want to be alone. It's you. I was thinking about you, and you were just laying there beside me and I…"
"Me?" Snow asked, incredulous. "Jeez, kiddo, you should just say, then! I can help you with that, if that's what you want."
Hope glared up at Snow. "Don't tease me!"
Snow looked right into Hope's eyes without a hint of teasing. "I'm not teasing you. Will you please come back to bed with me?"
Hope's eyebrows knitted together and he shook his head. He still had no idea how to deal with anything he was feeling. Snow sighed, and reached for him again, this time with both hands. Hope looked uncertain, but didn't run. Snow dropped to one knee in front of the boy, pulling him into his arms as he did. He kissed Hope on the forehead, gently, then on one cheek, then the other, then finally on the mouth. All his kisses were soft, almost tentative. Hope just stood there, sort of in awe that any of it was happening at all. Snow touching him wasn't doing anything to make his erection go away, but for the moment, maybe that was all right.
"You okay?" Snow asked. Hope nodded. "You gotta tell me no or I don't know what you're thinking."
"I don't want to tell you no," Hope said, softly.
Snow's mouth crooked up on one side. "You did a second ago."
Hope shook his head again. "No, I…didn't want you to laugh at me. I mean, you have Serah, and I'm just-"
Snow put one finger on Hope's lips. "Shh. Honestly, kiddo, I don't know what's going on with me and her right now. I know you're here, and you're beautiful, and I don't wanna push you or freak you out, but if you get hard just laying with me, I mean…"
"Did you just call me beautiful?" Hope asked, disbelief clear in his tone.
Snow's half-smile turned into a full-out grin. "Sure did. 'Cause you are."
The only other person who had ever called him beautiful was his mom. He got a little choked up thinking about that. The last ting he wanted just then was to think about something sad. And so, impulsively, he veritably threw himself into Snow's arms, pressing his lips to the man's again, insistently.
Snow caught the boy, wrapped strong arms around him, and kissed him back. He slid his tongue along Hope's lower lip, and the boy tensed, but his mouth opened all the same. Snow was gently, not wanting to scare him away. But once the kiss started, it was Hope who was eager for it, and he returned the kiss as well as any overeager fourteen-year-old. Even if it wasn't exactly perfect, Snow didn't mind. This was much easier to handle than Hope's bad moods or brooding silences.
"Come lay down with me," Snow said, softly, when the kiss broke. This time, Hope nodded, and followed him back to the mess of sleeping bags and Snow's coat. Snow straightened it out enough to satisfy, at least for the time being, and pulled the boy down onto the pile with him.
"You tell me no, and this stops, no questions asked," he said, sounding more serious than he usually did. Hope nodded his understanding, but he had no thought in his head of saying no.
Snow kissed him again, just as deep as last time, now that he knew Hope would let him. As he did that, he moved his hand down Hope's front, stopping at the waistband of his shorts and sliding it back up under his shirt. Hope shivered, but he wasn't cold, not right then. He sort of wriggled under Snow's hand, not sure what he was supposed to do, other than get goosebumps. Snow seemed to sense the way Hope was feeling and decided not to leave him waiting. He moved his hand back down the boy's stomach and unfastened his shorts.
"You're sure, right?" he asked, pulling back from kissing Hope so he could look into his eyes.
"Yeah," Hope said, without hesitation.
Snow pulled the zipper on Hope's fly, then moved to tea the boy's shorts off entirely. "Less messy this way," he explained, pulling those and his underwear off all at once. Hope was surprised enough that he forgot to be embarrassed about being half-naked, out in the middle of a field on a still-strange world. Snow didn't seem embarrassed, after all.
The blond man left Hope's clothes in a pile at the bottom of the sleeping bags. He ran one hand up the boy's leg, feeling him tense again. The boy's legs parted a little, on instinct, as Snow's hand moved further up. As that hand wrapped around his erection, Hope thought again about how big Snow's hands were. He might have felt inadequate if it didn't feel so good to be touched like that.
Snow moved his hand along Hope's cock, slowly, gently, like he'd done everything up to then. Hope's hips pressed upwards, unbidden, seeking more than he was getting. Snow leaned down and kissed him again, still moving his hand as he did. Hope was too distracted to be very good at returning the kiss, but Snow didn't mind. Because Hope was young and inexperienced, or maybe just because he was so turned on, it didn't take very long for him to come, clinging to Snow as he did so. Snow wiped his hand of on the sleeping bag, unthinking, and held on to Hope for a few minutes. They lay there, both breathing hard; their breathing was the only sound in the air for awhile.
Finally, Hope shifted in Snow's arms. Snow looked down at him, smiling his dorky half-smile. "You okay?" he asked again.
"Yeah," Hope said, though his voice shook slightly. "More than okay."
Snow chuckled and moved away. He grabbed Hope's clothes and handed them to him. "Don't want you to get cold or anything," he explained.
Hope's face flushed, but he didn't say anything. He wiggled back into this clothes as quickly as he could manage it, then snuggled back up to Snow.
"Hey, Snow?"
"Yeah?"
"I…kinda want to…" Hope started, but he trailed off, uncertain.
"Kinda want to what? You can tell me, it's okay," Snow said, encouragingly.
Hope swallowed. He was sure he was bright red again. "I want to touch you, too."
"Don't be embarrassed," Snow said. "I was kinda hoping you would. Gets uncomfortable, laying here like this." To illustrate his point, he caught one of Hope's hands and pressed it against his crotch. His rather large erection was pretty obvious, even through the thick cloth of his pants. Hope let out a breath he didn't realize he was even holding, all at once, and moved his hand down then back up along the bulge in Snow's pants. Snow's breath hissed in through his teeth.
Hope sat out so he could figure out what he was doing a little easier. He undid Snow's pants with slightly trembling hands. Snow helped him, reaching down and pushing his own pants and boxers down and kicking his way out of them.
Hope was glad that he had all his clothes on again. He'd been right about all of Snow being big, and he felt pretty inadequate as he stared down at the blond's hard cock. Hesitantly, he reached out and wrapped his hand around it. Snow's skin was hot, which shouldn't have been surprising, but was, a little. Hope let his hand move over the considerable length of that erection, up and then back down. He slid his thumb over the velvety tip, curious, and felt Snow sort of twitch under that. He did it again, and got the same reaction.
"Hope…" Snow said. The word came out hurried. Hope looked at him curiously, and stopped moving his hand altogether, though he didn't let go. Their eyes met, and Snow said, "Don't tease me, huh?"
"Oh. Sorry," Hope said, and looked back down at his hand. He moved it again, sliding it up and then back down. He did that again, tightening his fingers just a little. Snow's eyes closed and he let his head fall back while Hope's hand moved along him. Hope glanced up at Snow's face, decided he was probably doing fine, and looked back at his hand. He sped up his movements. After a couple minutes passed like that, Snow reached up and grabbed the front of Hope's shirt, then jerked him down to him. Their mouths met. This time, Hope was better at returning the kiss. He managed to keep his hand going, too. He could tell Snow's breathing was a little ragged.
Timeless minutes passed like that, with Snow holding Hope close and Hope's hand moving along his cock. Hope wasn't quite prepared when Snow came, and because of how he was laying, it got all over his hand and his shirt. He sat up again, almost abruptly.
Snow tried to work through the post-orgasm brain fog faster than he normally would have, and managed. "Sorry 'bout that."
Hope shook his head, quickly. "No, it's my fault, I should have…" But he didn't know how else to finish that sentence, and stopped.
Snow reached up and pulled him back down. "We'll wash it in the morning, it's fine, c'mere," he said. Hope resisted for a second, but only for a second. It was hard to resist Snow, at that moment. Other times he'd had no trouble, but considering everything that had happened that evening, he was having a much harder time. And really, right now, he didn't want to resist, he was just new to the whole thing.
"You sure this is cool with you?" Hope asked, settling against Snow again, trying not to feel like they'd done something wrong.
"Yeah, 'course it is, I told you already."
"But-"
"Shh. It's okay. I wouldn't do it if I didn't like you, too. You get too hung up on little details." Snow, of course, sounded sure of himself. He moved away for a minute to pull his pants back on. So they'd have a bunch to wash tomorrow, but it wasn't like they hadn't been washing their clothes up to this point. They'd manage.
Snow laid back down and pulled Hope closer so the boy was laying with his head on Snow's chest. Surprisingly, it was Hope who fell asleep first, with his clean hand clenched in Snow's shirt like he was afraid to let him go.
"I told you, I'm gonna take care of you," Snow said, though Hope wasn't awake to hear him. "No matter what that means."