Summary: If I tell you I'm strong, will you play along? Or will you see I'm as insecure as everyone else?

Hey guys, this is my first fic, which is going to be a LightningxHope Fic. Yes, I know, the summary is some lyrics from a song by the Dave Matthews Band, but that's beside the point. I will likely be writing other stories with this couple in the future as well as well as maybe a CloudxTifa fic somewhere in the future.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of this. It all belongs to Square Enix and company.

Hope Estheim ran his fingers through his hair as he walked down the side walk. He was headed to Lebreau's bar for the obvious, a drink. Hope was twenty now. It's been six years now since he came out of crystal stasis, and oddly enough, he was the only one to come out of crystal stasis at the time. He was much taller now, at least five feet, ten inches. His build was also much more muscular now. He was no longer a scrawny teenager, more rather a full blown adult, he had Snow to thank for part of that. Hope wore a black T-shirt with a pair of simple jeans. He had chosen to abandon the old look, as he eventually found it looked rather childish. The only thing he still kept was the turquoise bandana that he always wore around his neck. It was no longer worn around his neck, rather it was now tied around his right forearm.

Hope walked into Lebreau's bar and took a seat at one of the stools.

"Heya Hope, what can I get you?" Lebreau said as she casually walked up to the silver haired b—no, man.

"Something not too heavy this time, I'm not looking forward to another hangover." He replied, earning a hearty chuckle out of the bartender as she began prepping a drink for her customer.

It was right around one o'clock, so her bar wasn't too particularly busy. Hope preferred to come in during those hours, for the sake of actually being able to talk to Lebreau. The two had become close friends over the past year, especially seeing as Hope found himself coming to her bar much more often now.

Of course, Hope still kept in touch with his other friends for the most part. Serah and Snow came out of crystal stasis roughly a month after he did, followed by Sazh and Dajh four months after that. The only person that remained was Lightning. Oddly enough, she remained in crystal stasis for an incredibly long time after the other ex-L'Cie had come out of their crystal slumber. It wasn't until four whole years that she finally came out of crystal stasis. Serah and Snow had tried their best to hold out on having their wedding for when Lightning actually did come out of crystal stasis, but it wasn't in the best interest of the budding community that was New Bodhum for them to hold out.

Time and time again, Hope would drop on the newly wedded couple to congratulate them and give them their presents that he had gotten for them. Nowadays, Hope wished that he actually had time AWAY from Snow, seeing as Hope and Snow were elected the region explorers by the town council. They knew of Hope and Snow's previous adventures in the region and couldn't find anyone better to explore the areas surrounding for resources and potential dangers. Despite this, Snow and Serah had managed to have a little one of their own, Jade Villiers, whom of which was almost two years old now.

Sazh had taken up a job transporting supplies from one settlement to another, but still, his residence still resides in New Bodhum and he would occasionally take time off to accompany Hope and Snow on their various adventures around Pulse.

Lightning was a different story. About eight months after coming out of crystal stasis, she was tasked by the council to train new soldiers up to assist what little forces they already had in defending the settlement from feral creatures, namely, the Gorgonopsids. They would occasionally swoop in and attack the now medium sized settlement in pure spite of the fact that their territory was overrun by humans. Despite this, Serah and the others still attempted to try to get her to spend more time with the group, instead of mindlessly working away at her job.

This especially bugged Hope.

Hope had done everything he could to try to get the woman to spend more time with everyone. He had held parties, cook-outs—hell he even tried to bribe her with upgrading her gunblade to a better model. None of it worked. She would always give the same reply. "I'm too busy and everyone needs me to be strong and help the settlement," she would always say to him. It wasn't until two years ago he finally had it with her, on the day of Jade's first birthday.

Flashback

Two years ago.

"Hey Light, we're having a cookout at Sazh's place for Jade's first birthday and Serah really wants you to come!" Hope nearly shouted as he caught up to the soldier leaving her house.

"I'm sorry, Hope, I really don't have time, I have a fresh batch of recruits that the council wants battle ready in two months." Lightning said flatly as she lazily looked at Hope. Hope could've sworn her eyes could burn holes into him at this point.

"But Light, Serah was really hoping you could show up to this, especially since you weren't out of crystal stasis for their wedding, it would mean a lot to her if you went," Hope pleaded with his best puppy-dog eye look that he could give.

Lightning looked away and shook her head before mumbling something along the lines of "I'm sorry Hope." With that, she turned and walked away.

'What the hell?' Hope angrily thought to himself before jogging to try to catch up to Lightning.

"So you're seriously not going to go?" Hope asked with a serious look, hoping she would at least turn around and reconsider. Much to his discontent, she only turned her head a bit to look back at him.

"I just can't right now, Hope. I have to go now." Lightning hurriedly said.

"Fine, goodbye, Lightning."

Hope was broken out of his musing of the past by a hand being waved in his face, said hand belonging to that of Yuj.

"What's wrong, Hope? Still down about Lightning? I figured you'd be over her by now, man," Yuj said patting a hand on Hope's back.

"Back off, Yuj. You damn well know not to talk about that!" Hope scolded his blue haired companion before looking back down at the slightly clearish-reddish beverage he had in front of him.

"Sorry Hope, I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit, you seem extra down today,"

It was true, today he hadn't exactly been having the most wonderful day. First, he forgot to buy more coffee, so he was already grouchy from that. On top of that, he received a call informing him that he and Snow would be venturing out to Valis Media, then to the Yaschas Massif, to check for any sort of resources in that area in a few days. He hated the Yaschas Massif for the fact that many of its known creatures used ambush tactics to subdue their prey, rather than just brute force.

He was brought out of his brooding by the beeping of his cell phone, which he swiftly pulled out of his pocket and answered.

"Hope Estheim speaking,"

"Hey Hope! It's Serah, Snow told me about where you guys were headed here soon," Hope could only smile. Serah had always supported Hope and Snow in their adventures, and had once ventured with them to the Central Expanse of the Archylte Steppe, which was a fairly safe trip in itself.

"Yeah, I'm not particularly excited about it, but it is what it is,"

"Well, if anything, this should help, I just got off the phone with Sazh and he has agreed to tag along with you guys,"

"I hope you're not pulling my leg here Serah, I put up with Snow's bad jokes enough as it is"

He could've sworn he heard her scoff, but dismissed the thought.

"I'm not joking, promise! Oh, and you should really give Lightning a call, she wants to catch up."

Silence. Dead silence. It seemed to last forever.

"Oh… Alright Serah… Thanks… I will."

"Alright Hope, see ya around then!"

With that, he snapped his phone shut. Lightning? Wanted to catch up? This had to be a joke. There was no way it wasn't. He hadn't spoken to her in nearly two years. At least, not a full conversation. There would be the occasional greeting as they passed by in the neighborhood, as everyone lived relatively close together, but no real conversations.

Hope shook his head before knocking back the rest of his drink and reaching into his wallet to give Lebreau the correct amount of money to cover his drink. Much to his surprise, she stopped him and shook her head.

"Don't worry about the cost Hope, this one's on the house. You looked like you could really use it."

Hope flashed Lebreau a grateful smile before returning his wallet to his pocket. He thanked Lebreau and left the bar. He almost had no intention of following through on calling the person on his mind.

Almost.

He stopped out in front of his house before reaching into his pocket and retrieving his phone. He clicked around into his contacts and scrolled down until he reached the number he was looking for.

Light 789-3402

Hope closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly moving his thumb over the 'call' button. He nearly jumped out of his shoes when his phone began beeping.

He nearly did a double take when he read the caller ID. It read:

Incoming call

Light 789-3402

He chuckled inwardly. 'Looks like she beat me to it, Serah.' Hope thought to himself as he pressed 'accept call'

"Hope Estheim speaking,"

"Hope? It's Lightning… Um…" There was a slight pause before she seemed to find the correct words. "I know it's a bit sudden, but I was wondering if you wanted to maybe catch up later?"

Hope couldn't believe his ears. After shooing off every attempt to try to get her to at least hang out with everyone, two and a half years later, she suddenly decides she wants to "catch up"? Normally, Hope would've been enraged, but at this point, he didn't really have the energy to think up some long drawn out argument as to why she suddenly decides she wants to start communicating.

"Sure, I guess. When?"

"Tomorrow at three sound good? That's right around when I get off of work."

To Hope, she almost sounded relieved. Maybe she felt bad? Maybe it was some sort of plan to draw him into the work force?

'Okay, Hope, you're not being rational here…'

"Sounds good to me, see you then." Hope closed his phone shut and sighed. He didn't know whether he should be excited or angry. Part of him was jumping for joy and calling it a date, seeing as he had feelings for her for quite some time. The other part of him was confused, angry, and a bit upset. Why would she suddenly do this? It didn't make any sense to him. He quickly dismissed the thought as he stepped into his house and kicked his shoes off before lazily wandering into his room to retire for the day. He was going to need a nice long vacation in the near future before he went insane. It was only nine at night and the Estheim usually stayed up until around eleven or midnight, but he had been through enough already for one day.

Please Review! Don't be afraid to give me some constructive criticism! I'm new at this and could definitely use all the help I can get! :D