Momma's Boy
From the very beginning, Lightning had been unsure about becoming a mother. She hadn't known if she could handle it. Sure, she had taken care of Serah after both of their parents had died, but she had practically shoved her away at times. She hadn't listened, and because of that the whole l'Cie disaster happened...and now Serah was gone. She hadn't been the greatest big sister, so how could she be a mother? She hadn't looked after Hope too well in the beginning either, and he was the one that had wanted to try and have children in the first place. He never once forced anything upon her or pressured her, but rather calmly talked about it with her time and time again, promising her that she would be a great mom. After they had discussed it thoroughly many times, and she bore a healthy son two years into their marriage.
His name was Rain, and from birth he showed signs of looking like his mother as he was born with a head of her thin pink hair. However, he didn't act like her in the slightest. He was a rather quiet and easy baby, and that much she was thankful for. However, he would frequently cry when she wasn't holding him, and when he grew into a toddler he was still very clingy with her.
"He's your son, alright," she muttered to her husband one day, who simply chuckled nervously. Perhaps he knew he too had been like this when he was his son's age.
His first word was, of course, "Mama," followed by "Dada," as most first words of babies are. But the one that followed was "Light." Yet another sign that he was a momma's boy. She sighed whenever he suddenly came up and gently hugged her, but never once scolded him for it or shoved him away. He came to know when she was busy or simply not in the mood for any hugs, and as he grew a bit older he eventually outgrew it entirely.
However, his little sister Serah turned out to be the same way, repeating the cycle of clinging all over again. It bothered her a bit, but she was grateful that neither one of her children were loud, obnoxious, or hyper. None of that would have been tolerated.
Rain turned out to be the perfect big brother as well. Serah was three years younger than he was, but even at a young age he began looking out for her. When she started crawling he followed her to make sure she didn't get into anything she wasn't supposed to, and when she first started walking he was there to hold her hand to make sure she didn't fall.
Lightning always smiled at this, but at the same time they reminded her so much of herself and her own deceased little sister that it almost hurt. Neither she nor Hope had hesitated to name their daughter after her, but sometimes she wondered if it had really been a good idea...Would she die young, too? She forced those thoughts away, not allowing herself to think such things as she reminded herself that she would protect her children, no matter what.
"You're such a good big brother," she told her now six year old son as she ruffled his hair and kissed him on the forehead as he willingly (but annoyingly) played dolls with his sister.
"And when I grow up I'm gonna be big and strong like you, Mommy!"
It soon became known that he did indeed want to follow in her footsteps. When the cape of one of her uniforms got torn, he had kindly asked for it, and then worn it as a scarf as he pretended to patrol around the house with a toy blaster and her old military cap. He also quietly sat beside her whenever she took apart and cleaned her weapons, entranced by the shiny objects, but knowing better than to touch any of them. He never bothered her once by doing so, so she let him, and answered his occasional question about how something of hers worked.
Then, after he turned fifteen, he asked her if she could teach him how to fight with her gunblades.
"Why do you want to learn how to fight all of the sudden?" she asked him, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I just do, is that so wrong?" He folded his arms, looking her in the eye as he now stood as tall as she did.
Over the years, it turned out that he had gotten a bit of her attitude.
"You were my age when you joined the military, and dad was a year younger than me when he learned."
"I only joined because I had to take care of my sister, and your father was a l'Cie at the time. YOU, Mister, should focus on school."
He couldn't help but scoff and roll his eyes. The lowest he had ever gotten on anything was an A-, and he had skipped a grade as well as completed a summer internship at The Academy. He was the perfect student, and even with his attitude he never once got into a fight or picked on anyone.
"Honestly Mom, do you think I'm going to learn how to fight, then drop out and join a street gang or something? I said I wanna be strong like you, didn't I? That's all."
He turned away from her with a "Humph" as he leaned against the wall, no longer looking at her. He had played this game before, for it was the equivalent of him pouting, moping, and ignoring her all rolled into one. He would fall silent until the odds were again in his favor.
She glanced over at Hope for support, but he only shrugged and sipped his coffee. Clearly this one was on her.
"Fine," she said with a sigh. "But don't expect me to go easy on you."
She did push him each day as they trained, yet he didn't complain once no matter how harsh she was. She also noticed that he seemed to pick up on it all rather quickly, but of course had a long away to go before he reached her skill level no matter how stubborn he was to push himself.
After he graduated high school, it became known that he wanted to join the Guardian Corps. Both his parents were against it, not wanting him to get hurt, and while legally there was nothing stopping him from joining, he wanted their approval. A compromise was reached: Two years' worth of college first. He did it in one.
Lightning smiled at him when she saw him in his uniform for the first time as he went out on his first mission. She gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, still not believing that her little momma's boy had grown up into a strong, independent young man so fast.
"You be careful out there."
"I will Mom, and I'll make you proud."
"I'm already proud of you, Rain."
She and Hope watched him leave, and then Hope sighed as he gently wrapped his arms around his wife.
"He's your son, alright."
Author's Notes
Been hanging onto this for a while...Drew a picture to go with it and was going to wait until it was colored to post, but meh. Didn't like it that much anyway. So yeah, another cute little oneshot with my OC Rain, HopexLight forever! ^_^ Thanks to shippudenfanatic betaing.