Lightning x Hope: Final Fantasy XIII- You are My Hope

Chapter 7-2: Hopeless Hope

Hope Estheim lived a pretty long and eventful life up until this point. He had helped save the world more than three times, facing the gods themselves. He was the former director of Academia, tasked with the creation of Bhunivelze. Even with such accomplishments, Hope had lived thousands of years in the past, and was filled with life experience and wisdom...

But even still, he could only feel truly hopeless today. Lightning sat in his passenger seat, staring at the skyline of the beautiful coastal region that they lived in. It was a sunny day, no clouds or rain to interrupt the summer mood. Hope had his eyes on the road; he was always a careful driver but especially today. After all, he was with Lightning.

Hope was unfortunate that the first few centuries of his life back in the old world were focused on helping  guide humanity rather than dating and socializing. Hope ceaselessly and tirelessly worked on his projects for years, and never had time for himself. Every so often, one of the female Academia workers, or those close to Hope would have asked him for a date. The answer was always "no". It wasnt that Hope was not interested in women, but because he had other responsibilities.

Those responsibilities thankfully did not follow him into the New World. Here, Hope could enjoy his life as a normal young man. He could spend his days relaxing and working at his leisure, ask the girl he liked on a date, spend time with friends and family. When the fate of the world wasn't in his hands, even Hope had to capitalize on his newfound peace. After all, he had over five hundred years of fun to make up for!

Hope turned around to Lightning.
"Lightning, did you have breakfast yet? Do you want to stop by for something?"

"Hope, it's 2:00 in the afternoon."

"Huh?!"

Lightning chuckled. "You're way too nervous for this. Can you please relax?"

"Im just nervous, okay? I dont normally ask people out like this?"

"People?" Lightning asked.

"You know, women."

"Ah, I see." Lightning chuckled again.

"What is it?"

"Well, you're saying you see me as a woman?"

"Of course I do-"

Hope turned around to see Lightning's snarky grin. She was toying with him!

Hope took a deep breath, and gripped onto the steering wheel. He kept his eyes on the road without turning back . Poor hopeless Hope had fallen into another trap.

The date was only getting started.