Disclaimer: The author does not own the characters of Final Fantasy VII.
Ugghhh, I'm so angry at myself for starting another story before finishing the next chapters for my other two stories. My inspiration is always so misplaced.
What Happens in Edge's chapter is being a little punk. I've written and rewritten and now I've got most of it, but I'm stuck. Sword and Sorcery's chap will probably be finished first... hopefully I'll get that up before this weekend. Gonna be busy busy this weekend...
Like most of my multi-chaps this story is going to be disjointed and pretty much plotless. Lots of time skipping between chapters. Mostly Sephiroth/Vincent cuteness with some drama (and maybe a little angst).
It was his very first day of school and Sephiroth already hated it. The kindergarten classroom was full of other children, each of them with a bright smile on their face, and he was alone; sitting at an empty table while the others laughed and played. None of the other children had spoke to him. Hardly any of them had even spared him a glance. Even the teacher was content to sit at her desk and do whatever it was kindergarten teachers did, unconcernede about one of her students suffering by himself in a corner of the classroom.
Sephiroth had never been to preschool. "Preschool is a waste of time!" his father had said. "All the little brats ever do is take naps and color." Perhaps it was true, but Sephiroth was staring longingly at the other children now. They had gone to preschool. They had met each other there and now they were all friends. Sephiroth was the odd one out.
His face grew determined and he stood, eyes set on a small group playing with multicolored building blocks on the carpeted floor. He approached them slowly, like he was trying to catch a pigeon not yet aware of his presence. Slowly so he wouldn't scare them away.
When he was upon them, the children turned. Sephiroth smiled at them hopefully but they did not return the gesture. His smile fell when he saw the fear birth in their eyes as they looked into his own unnatural pair. They shared meaningful looks with each other before leaving him without a word. He was alone once more.
It hurt. He had reached out to them and they had rejected him and it hurt. It was like when he had tripped and cut his finger, only the feeling was in his chest now instead of his hand. It made his eyes water and he felt sad but the sadness and the pain was suddenly drowned under a wave of anger. He hated kindergarten. He hated the other children. He hated his stupid, ugly eyes. He hated his father for never letting him go to preschool. The silver-haired boy glared moodily at the abandoned blocks on the ground, not bothering to stop the thoughts raging in his mind.
But then, just as Sephiroth thought he was going to burst from all the anger building in his chest, someone sat on the floor next to him. He turned, surprised, and found himself staring into eyes that were bright and red, like cherry-flavored candy, and nearly as unusual as his own. The eyes were incredibly serene and Sephiroth felt all the frustration rush out of him. The face that went with the eyes wasn't twisted in fear or unease, all Sephiroth could see was curiosity, and for that he was extremely grateful.
"Can I play here too?" the red-eyed boy asked Sephiroth shyly. Sephiroth replied with an eager, almost desperate nod. The other boy smiled kindly and Sephiroth's face burned. He was oddly relieved when the brunet turned away from him to examine the building blocks.
"I'm Sephiroth," Sephiroth said suddenly and the other boy turned his head to look at him, startled by his outburst.
"I'm Vincent," the smaller boy replied with another smile. Sephiroth nodded and began to stack the tiny blocks on top of each other, grinning to himself all the while. He was beginning to think school might not be so bad.
They built their block towers side-by-side. Sephiroth's tower was tall and precarious while Vincent's was small, but study. Occasionally they would ask the other for a wooden block politely, but beyond that it was relatively quiet. Neither boy minded, both were just glad to have made a friend.
After some time, a blond boy wandered over to the pair and began taking blocks from the small pile Vincent had gathered neatly near his tower. Sephiroth watched the boy, wanting to say something but Vincent didn't seem bothered so he did nothing. At least he did, until the blue-eyed boy grabbed a green, triangular block out of Vincent's hand just as Sephiroth's dark-haired friend was about to top his tower with it. Vincent made a small noise of protest when the blond began to walk away. At the noise Sephiroth stood and quickly caught up with the blond before giving him a none too gentle shove.
The other boy fell to the floor with a cry, dropping the triangular block as he hit the ground. Sephiroth picked up the block and handed it back to Vincent who stared at him in surprise, but took the offered block thankfully. "Thank you," Vincent said, bowing his head politely. Sephiroth simply nodded. No one was going to mess with his newest (and only) friend.
"Sephiroth!" the green-eyed boy looked up at the sound of the teacher's voice. She frowned at him disapprovingly as she helped the blond back up to his feet. "Don't you have something to say to Cloud?"
Sephiroth looked at Cloud, the boy's blue eyes were brimming with tears. "Yes," Sephiroth said. "Either learn to ask or learn to share, idiot."
-
Cloud and his group of friends were sending him dirty looks from the far side of the table, but Sephiroth was indifferent to their dislike. He was more than happy with one friend, all the other children were no longer worth his attention.
He unzipped his lunchbox and was disappointed to find only an empty water bottle and a less-than-half-made sandwich inside it. He remembered now, how his mother had begun to make his lunch that morning and then his father had started yelling...
Vincent slipped onto the bench beside Sephiroth. He reached into his red lunchbox and pulled out a sandwich cut neatly into halves and a tupperware box filled with apple slices. His pale hands placed the items neatly on the table near Sephiroth.
"You can have some if you like," Vincent said, taking half of his sandwich and leaving the rest for Sephiroth.
Sephiroth took an apple slice hesitantly and took a bite. His eyes widened. "Best apple ever," he told Vincent as he chewed. Vincent just smiled and nodded.
They spent the rest of their lunch in a comfortable and enjoyable silence.
-
"Grimoire Valentine. Wasn't expecting to see you here," a cool drawl said from behind Grimoire.
"Ah, Simon Hojo, it's good to see you," Grimoire hoped he sounded at least somewhat convincing, though even he could hear the strain in his own voice. He suddenly spotted the woman behind the scientist and smiled, "And Lucrecia as well. It's been too long."
"Or not long enough," Hojo muttered under his breath. "So what are you doing here at Midgar Elementary, Valentine? Hoped you might learn something?" he said at a regular volume.
"It's my son, Vincent's, first day of school."
"Is that so? It's Sephiroth's first day as well."
"Oh? I didn't realize the two of you had a child."
"Yes," Hojo said without affection. "And there he is now."
The silver hair was easy to pick out in the river of children flowing out of the building. The boy at Sephiroth's side Hojo didn't recognize, but the dark hair and red eyes were unpleasantly familiar...
"And there's my Vincent," Grimoire said happily, waving his hand so that Vincent could see him. Hojo rolled his eyes at the display though he was minutely grateful the two boys were able to find them quickly. The sooner he left, the sooner he could get back to the lab. Valentine's son, of all the people Sephiroth could have befriended... Sharp black eyes darted around the yard and Hojo's thin lips curled at the loud, obnoxious children playing on the grass. Then again, he supposed the boy could have done worse.
The instant Sephiroth was at his side, Hojo turned and began to make his way back to the car. "Hurry up, we're leaving." Lucrecia sent Grimoire a tiny, parting nod and followed after her husband, but Sephiroth stayed where he was, gazing at Vincent.
He smiled, suddenly shy and gave the brunet a small wave. "See you tomorrow, Vincent."
Vincent looked equally shy from his spot next to his father. "See you tomorrow."
Sephiroth left the dark-haired pair and walked towards the dark car that would take him home, feeling the happier than he had in a long time.