Hope smiled when she noticed Rafael walking up to her in the hall. He had disappeared for most of the morning and she had missed him. "Hey," she breathed before pulling him into a kiss when he was close enough to touch. She pulled back, letting their hands fall linked at their sides. "Where were you this morning? You kind of went AWOL."

Rafael turned and pulled them into a walk. "I- uh just had to do some things." She frowned at the cryptic response and was going question it when something caught her eye.

"Um, what it that?" Hope inquired sharply when she noticed the purplish bruise on the side of his neck. He tensed, before shaking his head in annoyance.

"It's nothing." He tried to keep them walking which only pissed her off more. She grabbed his arm firmly, making them stop.

She crossed her arms tightly, eyes trained on the mark. "It sure doesn't look like nothing."

"I- don't want to talk about it." He sighed regretfully, eyes darting down the hall.

"You're joking right? You have a hickey that I didn't give you and you don't want to talk about it? What the hell is going on?" She tried to search his eyes but he was avoiding hers.

"Hope!" Alaric suddenly called, poking out from his office doorway. "We need to talk."

She ignored him, eyes firmly fixed on Rafael. "In a minute."

Alaric gave a look of exasperation. "Uh, Hope. We need to talk now." When he didn't get a response, he huffed, "It's about monster-related activities. Activities that a certain someone insisted they be apart of."

She turned to him with beyond annoyed expression. "Fine! I'm coming." She looked back at Raf. "I-" She didn't even know what to say to him, so she walked away.

"Hope-" Rafael began helplessly, but she was already walking into Alaric's office. "Damn it." He cursed.

"Ah, ah..you almost broke the bet, Rafie." Maya tsked, from behind, making him jump. "You know the point of this, is you can't tell Hope."

Rafael pulled her to the side. "Maya, Hope's really mad at me, you got your reaction."

She rolled her eyes. "I got an interruption. Let's regroup for when Hope talks to you later."

"If she talks to me later." He said pointedly.

She smirked. "Please, Hope Mikaelson is going to have plenty to say to you later."

He shook his head. "You're enjoying this too much."

"It's not my fault it's one of my kinks to ruffle Hope's feathers and yours by proxy every now and then."

"You do know this is not how normal friendships work."

"I told you I was never good at normal."

A smirk tugged at his lips. "Hope going to kill you when she finds out."

"You mean after she kills you for going along with this?" He frowned as realization kicked him, making Maya giggle.

"C'mon Mr. Alpha," She linked their arms. "You jumped into this grave with me, let's roll in the dirt a bit."

"Why do I let you drag me into things?" He groaned as she pulled them along.

"You know you love me."

"I really hope you have a better explanation." Hope said stalking towards Rafael, who was sitting on a picnic table outside. He immediately stood at attention. She couldn't get the image of the bruise on his neck out of her head, the entire time she talked to Dr. Saltzman. Well, it was more like Dr. Saltzman talking and her pretending to listen. A lot of emotions were running through her but the only one she wanted to express right now was rearing its head.

He raised his hands warily. "Hope, calm down…"

"Don't tell me to calm down when you have a literal hickey on your neck, Rafael. A hickey you didn't have last night. A hickey that magically appears after you've been gone most of the morning. So where were you?"

"Hope, it's not what you think." He tried to grab her hands, but she snatched away.

"I want to know why it looks like some desperate girl has been sucking on your neck!"

"A girl has not been sucking on my neck, Hope!" He said almost flustered at how loud she had said that. A few bystanders watched them curiously.

"Then talk to me!" She exclaimed, almost desperately. "Where did you get the hickey, Raf!?"

"I gave it to him."

Her blazing eyes shot to Maya who was walking up, with Jed and Ethan trailing cautiously behind. The guys made a beeline to the picnic table, i.e. farthest from Hope. "Excuse me?"

"Remember that comment you made about my makeup skills, last week. Well.." She licked her finger and slid it across Rafael's neck, smearing the now obvious makeup.

Hope felt dumbfounded for a second before relief rushed through her that was immediately followed by extreme irritation. "Seriously? You had nothing better to do?"

"Mr. Alpha wanted to play poker, it's not my fault he lost."

"More like cheated." Raf grumbled under his breath.

"You played poker with Maya?" She deadpanned like it was the dumbest thing anyone could do. She wasn't wrong.

"I was gonna win. She cheated, Hope!"

Maya scoffed. "I did not cheat. You were just too cocky for your own good."

Hope turned to Ethan expectantly with her arms crossed.

"I told him not to play with her." Ethan shrugged with amusement, drinking a sip of his water.

Her eyes shifted to Jed. "Hey, I honestly just wanted to see if he would go through with it." He said with his hands up in surrender, a smirk playing at his lips.

Maya got up and wrapped her arms around the reluctant Hybrid. "Oh c'mon Hope, it was funny." She began tickling at her waist.

"It was so not funny. Stop." Hope squatted away the girl's hands before whirling around to Rafael. "And don't ever do that again. I don't care what stupid bet you lose."

"Trust me, I won't." He grabbed and pulled her into his arms.

"Um, hello so are you going to apologize?"

Hope looked incredulous at her. "Apologize for what?"

"For trashing my makeup skills, when clearly…" She gestured toward Rafael. "I kick ass."

"If you think I'm going to apologize after what you just did, don't hold your breath." She said as Raf pressed a kiss to her cheek, making her smile a little. Maya was unimpressed.

"So you can go back to being all lovey dovey with him, but we can't kiss and make up?" She pouted.

Hope rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, Maya. I apologize for criticizing your makeup skills. You're clearly far more talented than I realized."

The brunette smiled triumphantly. "And I apologize for making you get your panties in a wad over my superior skills. And for almost making you put Rafie in the doghouse. No pun intended of course." She said innocently.

Hope smiled, despite herself. "Apologize accepted."

Maya leaned forward giving the hybrid a dramatic kiss on the cheek.

Rafael raised a brow, looking down at her. "Aren't you going to apologize to me?"

She feigned thought. "Nope. I won that bet fair and square." She patted him on the chest, before going back to her seat.

"I know I say this a lot," Jed began, lying onto of the table with an arm folded behind his head. "But I honestly think becoming friends with the four of you is the best and worst thing that could have happened to me."

Maya shrugged, playfully kicking at his boots, while stealing a twizzler from the pack he brought. "I've always looked at that as a compliment."

Rafael's lips brushed against Hope's ear, making her shutter. "You know I'd never have a hickey by anyone but you, right?" He husked. She covered his hand that was rested on her waist, squeezing it with a nod.

She turned and leaned up to capture his lips heatedly. Rafael's hands slid around her waist to the small of her back, gripping.

Maya smirked, biting at her twizzler. "That's hot."

"Get a room!" Ethan yelled obnoxiously, throwing pieces of grass at the couple, making Jed laugh out loud.

They ignored them, kissing deeper.

They're friendship was unconventional. Two vampires, two werewolves and a sole hybrid…but they wouldn't want it any other way.

Notes: This fic is apart of a series of unrelated one shots about Hafael and random things in their relationship. This follows the same dynamic and characterization that I created in my multi-fic Lover. It wasn't explicitly stated but Maya and Ethan are vampires here as well. This series will have fun with the friendship between the five of them like above. I would seriously love for this dynamic to be displayed on the show but I'm realist. Thank God for fan fiction.

Hope you enjoyed! R&R. Follow me on Tumblr compulsivepoetics

We can yell about this fic, Hafael or any pairings I write about :) you can also make requests.