Jealousy Chapter 4: Sazh

Title: Jealousy
Pairing: SnowxHope
Genre: Romance and Humor (I hope)
Rating: T
Warning: As the previous one, not many jealousy in it since after Hope, Sazh is my fav character (Snow is the 3rd, sorry Snow!). Some Snow's fantasy which contains mildly hinted mpreg.
Disclaimer: The game Final Fantasy XIII and its characters does not belong to me in any ways.

Chapter 4: Sazh

This time it was Sazh? Interesting.

He wasn't even around the man that much, but from what he knew of Sazh… He sympathized with the dark skinned man. He had lost his son to the Cocoon fal'cie, just as he had lost Serah to the Pulse fal'cie.

To see your loved one turned to crystal before your very eyes, it was torture, it was the most anguished proof of your incompetence. That was probably why Sazh was rather doted on Hope. He treated the boy kindly, always cheered him up in his own way… as if Hope was his son?

Snow meant it when he said he was glad to see Sazh and Hope went scouting Oerba to look for Bhakti's part. It was long since the last time he saw Hope truly this enthusiastic about anything. The boy's face was bright and his eyes shone of adventurous resolve. To see the boy face lit up whenever he found a new missing part of the more-than-500-year-old robot was absolutely delightful.

However, and for the last time, there were not any dark clouds with thunderstorm over his head (as Vanille put it) when he saw Sazh tickled Hope by poking at his rib, making the other squirmed and let out those lovely squeaks. The boy's skin was covered with a thin sheet of sweat, his cheeks were painted a rosy color, a little tear at the corner of his eyes, and his hair was slightly messed up…

-SxH-

"Sazh is a wonderful dad, don't you think?" Hope asked suddenly.

"Yeah… If I had a father, I would want him to be like Sazh too." He answered, smiling wanly.

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Hope's voice faltered, having recognized he had touched a sore spot.

"It's okay." Silent took over for a minute or so, and then the boy spoke again.

"You know what, Snow? I have always thought you will be a terrific father. You have all the strength in world to protect your children. The man of the family, that's who you will be." Giving him one last confident and trusting smile, Hope walked away with his hands folded behind his back, humming a soft lullaby tune.

He chuckled to himself. His mind wandered and unconsciously brought him to a picture of himself while taking care of his kid – a cute little toddler with platinum white hair and a pair of oceanic blue eyes.

Yep, future was good. He probably should go ask Sazh for some advice now. It was never too soon to be prepared.