Hope checked his communicator, again, anxiously. No new messages.

He wasn't used to being in bars, and certainly not on his own. He'd been waiting for almost twenty minutes, and didn't feel comfortable approaching the bar by himself, despite now being of the legal drinking age in Palumpolum. He'd never ordered a drink for himself before. He wasn't even sure what he might like.

He happened to glance up at the door, and felt a rush of relief when he saw Yuj walking through. His electric blue hair was hard to miss, as well as his strikingly vivid dress sense. Hope waved a hand at him to call him over.

'So what're you having, Hope?' were Yuj's first words upon greeting him, not yet presenting Hope with the hug that he had risen from his chair to receive (Yuj hugged everybody, all the time). Instead, he had one hand resting on his hip and was pursing his lips and raising an eyebrow at the distinct lack of drink in the table in front of him.

'Oh, I'll just have a soft drink,' Hope said doubtfully, but no: Yuj seemed to have already decided for him.

'We're having cocktails. You're 16 now, time to start living the high life.' Without waiting for any resistance, Yuj started walking over to the bar, his hand already raking for money in a small satchel he was carrying. Hope sighed. He loved Yuj and his company very much, but he didn't know why he kept imagining it would ever be possible to have a 'quiet' night with him.

'Doesn't he want to see my ID? I'm not sure I have my ID,' Hope protested when Yuj returned some moments later and set a tall glass of ice and fruit and a yellowish-orange liquid in front of each of them, but it seemed that that was the last of his effort to protest. Gone.

Yuj had no problem summarily dismissing it, either. 'Pssh, not a worry for the hero of cocoon, dear. Practically everybody knows who you are. The guy at the bar wouldn't even let me pay for them when he realised. I imagine you're used to that sort of treatment around here, hmm?'

'I get quite embarrassed about it, to be honest. There are business owners all around the city who refuse to let me pay for stuff, but I don't want to feel like I'm mooching, you know… But then, some of them actually get upset if I don't visit often enough, and cry out in protest if I do try to pay! It's the same with Snow, too,' Hope added, a new line of thought coming to him. 'He wouldn't accept anything free from anyone, even on the first night of celebrations. The difference being, I suppose, nobody ever dared to argue with him when he put his foot down. Even now, the way he makes his living is so unassuming… he does manual work, leading teams of builders to help reconstruct things to the way they were before. And he doesn't take any more money for it than anyone else. He's so… proud, you know?'

'Honey, I was with him for more than a year in NORA before he met you – yeah, I know how proud he can be… but is it my imagination, or has he mellowed out a bit since, you know, the whole end of the world thing? I think that whole ordeal made him a little wiser.'

'Perhaps you're right,' said Hope thoughtfully. 'He can still be a stubborn ass, but not so much I can't like him for it I suppose. That always was my weakness.' He blushed slightly and smiled coyly.

Yuj must have noticed this. 'While we're on that subject, why exactly was it you wanted to meet me here, Hope? Normally I'm the one to schedule our little meetings. It sounded over the communicator like you had something on your mind. And I'm willing to bet my favourite shoes that "something" is 6'7", blond and has the personality traits of an excitable Jack Russell.' He took a sip from his drink artfully while maintaining an accusative focus on Hope.

'Ugh, fine,' Hope said moodily, cross about having to talk about it so soon. 'If we must talk about this now. Yes, it's me and Snow.'

'You guys are alright, aren't you?' Yuj quickly asked with genuine concern, taken aback by Hope's brash response.

'Yes, yeah, we're fine. I just… needed a bit of advice, you know. On guy stuff. And I figured you'd be the person to come to, you know, given how much you've been around.' Hope grinned cheekily, taking satisfaction in firing back for once. He could feel the alcohol swimming in his stomach already.

'You cheeky bitch.'

They were interrupted, however, by a finely dressed man carrying a pitcher and two clean glasses up to their table. He introduced himself as the owner. 'Some more drinks for you gentlemen – pitcher of sex on the beach, on the house of course.' He smiled and bowed away before they could even thank him.

'Gods,' said Hope, eyeing the volume of alcohol in front of them. 'I've not even finished my first one yet.'

'Well get a wriggle on, then,' Yuj replied. 'We've got a lot to get through, and it would be rude not to drink all of it, when he offered it so graciously…'

They spent some time chatting about how their lives had been going – Yuj with his fashion design, and Hope with his academic research. Apparently Yuj was about to receive his first big break with a catwalk event coming up in midsummer that would showcase a few of his designs, and Hope relayed about how well things were going in the department of technologies that he was informally studying / apprenticing in. Eventually, however, the conversation drifted back to their entire reason for being there – Hope's relationship with Snow.

'So you said that things are alright between the two of you,' proffered Yuj. 'But that you wanted some advice on "guy stuff". What would that be?'

Hope took a deep breath before responding, bracing himself for what was to come, but by now he'd almost finished his second drink and was certainly tipsy enough to discuss it. 'Sex. I want to talk about sex.'

Yuj clapped his hands together with excitement. 'Excellent! There's very few subjects on this world quite so titillating, I find. So how is your sex life? I'm presuming the two of you have…?' He trailed off suggestively, making a vague waving motion with his hand.

'Oh, yes. I mean, we've done stuff. Plenty of stuff. But we've not gone, you know, all the way yet.'

'So I'm guessing, from what you're saying, that this would be your first time going all the way with… anyone?'

Hope shuffled in his seat a little. 'That's right.'

'Mhmm, mhmm,' said Yuj, frowning in concentrated thought. Then his eyes widened slightly as a new realisation struck him. 'Hope, I don't think we've talked about this before, but… have you ever done… anything with another guy before Snow?'

Hope tried not to look uneasy. 'I… there was this one guy. Back in school, before the purge. I was 13. He was 16. The best basketball player in school, and everyone knew it. We kissed, one time… he later pretended like it never happened though. And that's all we did.' Hope looked up, and saw a look of curious sadness on Yuj's face. He'd never seen him look that way before. 'What is it?'

'Nothing, I just…' Yuj smiled plaintively. 'I sometimes forget how young you are.'

'I'm not young. Not anymore. I fought in the –'

'I know, I know… after all you went through, you've more than earned the right to be treated like a man. Maybe that's what makes it a little jarring when I think about… how much you've still got ahead of you, you understand.' Yuj reached forward and touched Hope on the hand caringly.

'I get it. I know I'm inexperienced. But the fact is, I've never really had anyone to talk about this kind of thing with… It was never a topic in school before the purge, and now with my studying at the academy, it's all so different… like having different kinds of friends. More like colleagues than friends, and they all look at me weird, like I saved the world so I should know all of this stuff, but they're all older than me anyway… and obviously my parents died so, so…' Hope was beginning to well up.

'Listen, listen, it's ok. We're friends. We can talk about anything you want. Right. Take a moment to steady yourself, I'm going to go powder my nose, and when I get back we're going to talk about more sex than you could ever have dreamed of.'

Yuj rose from his seat with a smile and strutted away to the bathrooms. Hope considered himself lucky to have him as a friend; he had no idea who he would talk to about this stuff otherwise. He looked around the room, at the coloured lights and the people drinking and laughing, and sipped more of his own golden-orange drink. Yes, he definitely liked this cocktail. He would need to remember that for the next time he was in a bar. Before long, Yuj had returned, and he tried to force his mind to drift back onto the topic at hand.

'Right then,' commenced Yuj, with the air of an imperious PI. 'Sex. Sexy sex. I'm guessing Snow's the top?'

'What's a top?'

Yuj didn't mask his blatant surprise quite soon enough. Hope scowled. 'Sorry, sorry. I'd better explain. Ok, um, the "top" is the one who… does the penetrating, so to speak. Conversely, the bottom is the one who, who doesn't.' Yuj picked his words tactfully, but saw that Hope was still confused. 'I'm asking if he's gonna fuck your ass.'

'Oh, I, uh, huh.' Hope murmured a series of disconnected syllables that didn't really answer the question.

'I'm gonna take that as a yes. As if the fact that your first kiss was with the sexy older basketball captain and you're now dating a guy seven years your senior and at least double your size wasn't clue enough.'

'He wasn't the captain, he just –'

'First off, there's absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about,' Yuj continued, ignoring him. 'If you intend to be the receiver, so to speak, that doesn't mean you're the "girl" in the relationship, and it doesn't even mean you have to be the "submissive" one. It depends on your personalities, I guess. Which, judging from your blank expression, you haven't ever thought about before…' Yuj sighed, rubbed his eyes a little and took another hefty drink from his glass, circumnavigating the straw this time.

'Alright, I guess we'll just cover the mechanics of it all and you can work out the rest between the two of you. That's always the fun part anyway, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.' Yuj winked knowingly. 'I guess the first thing I have to ask – and remember that however sensitive a subject this may be we're friends and can tell each other anything – do you masturbate anally?'

Hope choked on this drink that he was sipping from, and though no great harm was done it took several moments to stop spluttering. 'Wh-what?!' he finally managed.

'Come on, like I've said already, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm just asking if, on your own, you've ever taken your fingers and –'

'Yes,' Hope admitted, though he was staring at the floor and had turned a distinct shade of puce.

'Well, that makes things easier. Um, strictly out of curiosity… do you think about Snow while you're…?'

'…I don't see how that's relevant.' Hope transcended from puce to plum.

'How cute. Does Snow know about that?'

'No. I guess I was kind of embarrassed about it.'

'Well he'd probably find it a turn-on, being the egotistical blockhead of a top that I'm sure he is. But never mind that. This is good, it means we're not starting from square one, so to speak. In that case, the first thing for you to bear in mind is not to be nervous. Having one thing shoved up there as opposed to something else isn't as much of a step up as you might imagine. There's very little reason to be worried about –'

'Actually, we might have a problem there,' Hope cut him off.

'What's that?'

'Well, it's Snow. He's… he's quite… well…' Hope eventually gave up on words, and held his hands out in front of him with around nine inches of suggestive space between them.

'Oh I see,' said Yuj shortly. He cast an apprehensive eye over Hope's small frame. 'Well, looks like someone's in for a bit of fun. I'll let you in on a secret. You remember Gadot?'

'Gadot? One of the other guys from NORA? Yeah, he does some work with Snow still. Why?'

'Well, the two of us have… had our history, shall we say. Not so much a relationship, but over the years, there have been some… mutually enjoyable… arrangements…'

'You mean like friends with benefits?' asked Hope, cutting Yuj short. 'I'm not completely naïve, you know.'

Yuj pursed his lips again. 'Yes, something like that. Well anyway, Gadot was also quite a… a large man, so to speak. And yes, maybe it was a little more difficult getting used to it at first… but I like to think of it as like getting a new sweater. No matter what size it is, it's always a tight fit at first.'

'That's reassuring,' said Hope dubiously.

'You get used to it, of course. Honestly. It just might take a little practice. And given how horny I know the both of you are, I doubt that will be a problem.'

'Excuse me?'

'Oh, come on! Every time I come round to visit there's a half hour delay between me knocking on the door and you actually opening it to me, both of you looking dishevelled and red in the face when you eventually do. What's a girl supposed to think the two of you were getting up to?' He made a face and shrugged his shoulders in feigned innocence. Hope pretended to be oblivious, but didn't manage a very good job of it.

'Well anyway,' Yuj continued, 'the key things you have to remember have got to be lubrication, patience, more lubrication and more patience. And the state of your psyche can have an effect, too.'

'My psyche? What do you mean?' Hope frowned.

'Well, depending on your state of mind… it's possible to will yourself into making it feel bad, if you think it's going to feel bad. Don't think of it as your body being invaded, thinking of it as letting in the man that you love. Just let yourself relax, and it'll feel good. But a good rule of thumb is: if you don't think you want sex, you probably don't want sex. It's all in the mind.'

'I'll try and bear all of this in mind…' Hope said wearily. This was an awful lot of information to take in at once, and even if he were given all of the best advice in the world, there was still one final niggling doubt at the back of his mind that he suspected would never be shaken. 'Yuj… there's one final thing. Perhaps the biggest worry of all. What if… what if I'm not any good?'

For a moment it flashed, like the glimmer of light off the surface of rippling water: that look in Yuj's eyes again, that look of realisation, of remembering how young Hope really was. 'Hope,' he said in the gentlest tone Hope had ever heard him use, 'there's no way to instruct someone on how to be "good" at sex… but half the job is being a caring, attentive lover who listens to his partner and aims to give them what they want. And besides all that – I've seen how Snow looks at you. Babe, I don't think it would make the slightest difference to his opinion of you whether you were the best in the world or the worst.'

xxxxx

xxxxx

Hope was enjoying the walk home. Yes, summer was definitely on its way – it was 8pm and the sun was only just setting in the sky. He felt so much better now, like it was such a relief, a relief of physical burden, to have spoken with Yuj about those things. He supposed that maybe, he had felt sort of alone before, with nobody to talk to about it, which made him feel like he was the only gay man in the world. But with Yuj to talk to (and talk they did, extensively – the latter half of their meeting was him basically recounting all of his past lovers and flings to Hope; how he met them, how good they were in bed, and why he didn't regret any of them, even the bad ones), oh, with Yuj to talk to it was like a lifeline into a whole other world, reminding him that other gay men did exist and had all been through the same ordeal and no, he was definitely not alone.

He'd ended up drinking a little less of the pitcher than Yuj had. He didn't want to be drunk, and besides, his tolerance for alcohol was less than Yuj's anyway. He felt quite gloriously tipsy now though, feeling like his fears had been allayed, feeling like the world was less of a scary place, feeling like he was 16 and nobody could tell him what or what not to do…

Feeling like he needed Snow, too.

It was true, he hadn't really been thinking about anything else for the last four hours. He'd missed Snow again before he left that morning, and so hadn't seen him all day. He was surely at home right now, unwinding after a long day of work, flipping through a magazine or watching TV. He might even be naked. Yep, probably naked. Hope couldn't wait to get home. He just wanted to be in his arms, and his day would be complete. There was nothing more he wanted right now.

It seemed like far too long before he was finally walking into his building, finally ascending the stairs, finally approaching his door and turning the key in the lock. The rush he then felt of relief, of yearning, of joy at seeing Snow sitting there on the sofa was virtually indescribable.

'Hey kid, you alright?' Snow looked up from the magazine he was reading and stared straight into Hope's eyes. Hope knew that other people asked questions like that in a phatic sort of way – like they're asking if you're alright just to be polite, and are not actually interested – but one thing that Hope had learned about Snow from their time together was that he was always, always interested.

Hope didn't answer at first. He just surveyed his boyfriend. Sitting there. Looking perfect. He was almost right in his guess, in that Snow was almost naked – he was naked except for a pair of his trademark white boxer briefs, large in size but still tight enough to show off a pretty impressive bulge. Snow had never looked sexier. And he thought that Hope was sexy too. There could only ever be one, very obvious consequence of two people finding each other to be irresistibly sexy, and that was what Hope wanted. Right now.

'I feel great,' said Hope, finally. 'I feel more comfortable than I have in ages. And all I want is you.' Snow had a look of slight surprise on his face when Hope shrugged off his jacket and discarded his boots and climbed on top of him. Hope wanted to be as close as he could, have as much of his body be in contact with his boyfriend. He buried his face in the crook of Snow's neck, and Snow put his arms around him protectively, just like he'd wanted. With one eye open, Hope watched his own hand trace its fingers over Snow's pecs, and over the valleys and lines between his abs, around his bellybutton, down to the waistband of his underwear and then back up again.

'Sounds like someone had a good night. I was thinking about you, you know. While you were gone. Thinking about how happy I am with you, and how I don't want it to stop. I want to be with you forever, Hope.' Snow spoke softly and calmly, and it was too much for Hope to bear. He leaned up so that he could look at Snow face to face.

'Take me,' he said.

'What'd you say?'

'Take me,' Hope repeated. 'I need you. I'm ready. I want you inside me.' His facial expression was one of cosmic repose.

'You're… you're sure?' Snow asked, not because he doubted Hope had thought it through, but because this had come so suddenly he could barely believe it.

'I'm sure,' Hope said. He stood up, took Snow by the hand, and led him to the bedroom.

xxxxx

xxxxx

'I'd… better fetch that lotion again,' said Snow, unaware if Hope was even able to hear him, so coolly and deliberately was he unbuttoning and removing his clothing. It was a very arousing sight. He tore his eyes away long enough to leave the room and locate the bottle of lotion, knowing that they would need it, and reminding himself that if this was something Hope really was ready to do, he had better go slow. Horny as hell he may be, but if he ruins the kid's first time he might not be so willing to try it again.

When he returned, he almost dropped the lotion in stupefaction. Hope was lying on the bed, slinky and feminine, totally naked, writhing slightly, using one hand to trace a finger over his nipple and the other hand, thrust between his legs, to gently probe his own entrance. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open slightly in pleasure of anticipation. After a few moments of taking the scene in totally stunned, Snow looked down – yep, sure enough, his dick was as hard as a broomstick.

'Snow, please…' Hope purred. Snow had heard Hope when he was turned on, but never quite like this before. It had an almighty effect on him. 'Please… take me…'

'Slow down, kiddo,' Snow said, stripping off his boxers and throwing the useless garment across the room. 'One thing at a time.' He kneeled down at the foot of the bed where Hope was playing with himself, who instinctively raised his legs a little for Snow's inspection. Snow moved in closer, taking in Hope's scent, admiring his hairless hole and pert little balls and fully hard cock, already leaking a copious amount of precum.

'S-Snow? What are you – ah!' Hope cried out in surprise as Snow, with no warning, leaned in and ran his tongue over Hope's entrance, up over his balls and finally his cock. The stimulus was amazing, and the added feeling of then being wet and having Snow's warm breath falling onto his skin, well – it was heaven. 'Please…' he begged. 'More… more here…' He cupped his balls with one hand and raised them slightly, giving Snow better access to his hole.

'With pleasure,' Snow complied, and spent the next several minutes rimming Hope like a champion. Hope loved every moment of it: sometimes Snow was gentle, sometimes probing, sometimes fast and aggressive; it all just felt so good. He kept panting and sighing in pleasure, unable to help himself. When Snow used his arms to hold Hope's legs back further, it made him moan louder. It was just so intimate – having the man he held so much affection for basically shoving his face into the most private part of his body.

'I'm gonna start getting you ready, babe,' Snow crooned, barely lifting his face from his lover's body. Hope just murmured his assent, nodding slightly, his face flushed from the passion of it all. Snow grinned inwardly, and – as gently as he could – probed Hope's entrance with one finger, massaging it at first and then slowly slipping it in.

Hope gasped in surprise at the feeling, trying to remember the advice that Yuj had given him – allow himself to relax, he wasn't being invaded, this was the man he loved massaging him from the inside – and managed to settle into it. Before long, he realised he was subconsciously bucking his hips up at Snow, asking for more. When the second finger was slid in, he opened his eyes and moaned again at this fresh sensation, more intense than before, and just what he felt he needed.

'Gods, kid,' said Snow. 'You're making me want to fuck your brains out right now. Uh, in a loving way, I mean.' He kissed Hope lightly at the top of his leg to show his non-threatening intentions. Hope giggled.

Snow eventually inserted a third finger, which this time didn't feel like as big of a step up, and didn't require much getting used to on Hope's part. After a while, Snow figured that Hope was likely as ready as he was going to be. 'I think you might be nearly ready, Hope,' he said, hoisting himself up and over his lover's body, bringing their faces closer, and still keeping his fingers inside him. 'Do you feel like you're ready?'

Again, Hope remembered Yuj's advice. Did he feel ready? Did he feel in the mood? Yes, he did.

'I'm ready,' he replied, as softly and seductively as he could manage. He leaned upward to kiss Snow, slowly and passionately, and took advantage of evidently catching Snow off guard by grabbing his engorged member. This apparently didn't go unnoticed – Snow growled into the kiss, and thrusted his hips abstractedly into Hope's receiving hand.

While still kissing Hope, Snow blindly found the bottle of lotion with his hands and applied a generous amount to his generous cock; Hope helped him spread it up and down the length. Once it was nice and slick, Hope took the bottle from Snow and squeezed some onto his own fingers, which he inserted into himself and moved around so as to provide as much lubrication as was possible. He figured he would thank himself later.

'Ok,' said Snow soothingly, 'I'm… I'm gonna start putting it in. Let me know if it's too much, or if I'm going too fast. I'll try not to –'

'Stop treating me like a china doll and just fuck me,' Hope commanded impatiently. Snow grinned.

Snow leaned over Hope once more, bringing him into a kiss, and Hope raised his legs and wrapped them around Snow's waist. He also wrapped his arms around his lover's neck, wanting to be as close to him as he could, wanting to embrace him fully and be embraced in return, wanting to feel Snow inside of him. If there were any doubts left in his mind as to whether this was the sexual role he wanted to play, they were definitely gone now.

As they kissed, Snow expertly gripped his cock and rubbed it against Hope's ass, up and down, pressing the head around and against the entrance, teasing the both of them and building anticipation. Finally, with enough pressure, the head slipped in – Hope broke the kiss to cry out, partly from pain and partly from pleasure, and Snow used to opportunity to nip Hope on his exposed neck, partly from lust and partly by way of apology. Snow let Hope get used to the sensation before sliding in another couple of inches, which made Hope cry out again and grip the bedsheets tensely with both fists.

'You okay, babe?' asked Snow, highly conscious of his partner's wellbeing.

'Yes… yes, it's good, but… ahh… you're so big…' Hope pulled Snow back into a kiss, and bucked his hips again to indicate when was ready for more. Snow slid his cock in a little further, so that about half of the whole length was inside Hope now. When he deemed that the resistance pushing against him had subsided, Snow gently pulled back so that only the head remained inside his lover, and then pushed again so they were back to the same position. Hope gave a whimper – so this was what it was like to be fucked.

It felt pretty good.

Snow continued a steady motion, gradually picking up in pace, and Hope revelled in the rush of sensations he'd never felt before – he felt that he was giving himself up, putting all of his trust in his boyfriend, and that was exactly what he'd wanted to be able to do for years. The sensation of having Snow inside him was foreign, unusual, but not unpleasant – certainly something he could get used to – and although Snow was occasionally thrusting into that magical spot he'd heard about which made him feel giddy and euphoric, he was getting just as much psychological pleasure from the thrill of being able to physically satisfy his partner.

'Snow, you… you don't have to hold back,' Hope managed to stammer between pants. 'I can take it… I want to take it all…'

'If you say so, babe,' Snow replied, beads of sweat now forming sexily on his chest and face, and plunged his entire length into Hope, who screamed in pain, pleasure and triumph. He had taken on Snow's enormous dick and won.

Sweating himself now, from the heat and the effort, Hope waited for the stars before his eyes to dissipate and begged Snow to fuck him more, faster and harder. He found himself moaning loudly and involuntarily, crying 'yes', panting Snow's name – completely unable to help himself. Snow picked up the pace, grunting and moaning as well now, obviously having a fantastic time.

'Fuck me Snow, ah, oh, yes, fuck me!' Hope cried out, vigorously running his hands over Snow's muscly body, over his arms and his chest and his back.

'Fuck yes!' Snow roared in primal pleasure, and knelt up, pulling Hope by the hips into his lap. He threw his head back like an animal and thrust into Hope ever more aggressively, using his hands to pull Hope's ass back onto his cock with every thrust. This new angle stimulated Hope's prostate even more intensely, and he felt his hand instinctively reaching for his own cock, which was as hard as it had ever been and was leaking precum all over his pale, slender stomach. He stroked himself aggressively to the same rhythm that Snow was pounding him at, and the combined sensations were almost overwhelming. The bed creaked loudly beneath them, and their confluence grew and grew in intensity until Hope realised he was reaching the point of no return, could feel himself reaching the most powerful climax he could ever remember experiencing, and then –

'Ahhhh!' he screamed, releasing his pent up tension and lust, spraying an impressive load horizontally over his own body and vertically up Snow's. Snow growled in excitement, and released a final few almighty thrusts into Hope before discharging his own load deep into him. With this done, he gently rocked his still-hard cock inwards and outwards, slowing down in pace, before collapsing onto the bed on top of his lover.

'That… was the best…' panted Snow, his long blond hair matted down to his face from the sweat.

'Don't… take it out just yet…' said Hope, his own hair similarly matted. 'I like… the feeling…'

Snow embraced him, and the two shared a hot and passionate kiss. 'So… what did you think, Hope? How was your first time?' Snow asked, with his trademark grin, once they'd regained their breath and cooled down a little.

'It was… amazing!' Hope exclaimed truthfully. 'I got kinda worried about it before, but… I honestly never realised it could feel so good…'

'Haha, that's good to hear,' Snow said, and rolled the two of them over so that Hope was resting on his chest. 'I'm exhausted now.'

'Me too,' Hope replied. 'We'd probably better get some rest. I'm going to want sex a lot more tomorrow. You're not working, are you?'

'Not now I'm not,' Snow laughed, and gently stroked Hope's hair. 'I love you, Hope.'

'I love you too,' Hope replied. He felt tremendous.

After years of a difficult childhood, of not fitting in, of being so unlucky and getting involved in the purge, seeing his mother die before him and have huge responsibilities thrust onto him, seeing his father then die too and have to struggle on his own at the academy, after having to fight tooth and nail for everything he ever had, he felt like he'd finally caught a break, something important had finally gone his way, and he couldn't remember ever being happier.

xxxxx

THE END

xxxxx

So there we have it! I hope you enjoyed this fic; it was my first one uploaded to the site. Please let me know what you thought, and, given enough support, I have a few ideas for some "sequel" shorts set in the same world that I could follow this up with... Thanks for reading!