Warnings: Very, very large age gap, even if Cloud is essentially a 23-year-old until the end of time. Probably bad language. Eventually, sexual situations between a teenager and an adult. Violence, sort of. Uhh… That's it.
Disclaimer: Neither Riku nor the cast of Final Fantasy VII is mine in any way, shape, or form.
Pairings/Characters: Eventual (IT WILL BE LESS PEDOPHILIC BY THE TIME IT HAPPENS) Cloud/Riku, Tifa, Marlene, Denzel, mentions of Cid, Yuffie, Vincent Valentine.
Notes: This is pretty experimental. I have a bunch more written, but if I do end up publishing the rest, it will probably be only three or four parts, just for fun. Anyway, the setting and everything is canon for Cloud and the rest of the Advent Children crowd – only Riku is AU.

So here's the prologue!

**

The boy is two when Cloud meets him. Two, and adorable, with big blue-green eyes and a smile that is barely contained by his face. He babbles, reaching up for Cloud with his chubby toddler arms, and Cloud aches, because how is he supposed to tell this tiny, innocent creature that his parents are dead? There's no way.

Still, he does what he can. He kills the monsters that killed the boy's parents, packs up any valuables and searches the house for any hints regarding family members he can bring the boy too. He finds the uncle and aunt in the mom's cell phone, and a day later, the boy is settled into his new home. Cloud has to stand stoically and watch the heavily pregnant aunt weep into the uncle's collar, while the boy – Riku, his name is Riku – stares up at her bewilderedly from the circle of Cloud's arms.

Cloud is uncomfortable; he shouldn't be here watching this private moment, and he doesn't know this boy so why is he holding him? Soon, though, the aunt dries her tears and takes Riku, manages a wavering smile and tells him that she's going to take care of him for a while. He doesn't understand. Cloud clears out before he gets the message that his parents are dead. He isn't brave enough for that.

**

The next time he sees Riku, he almost doesn't recognize him. It's been four years, and the boy is thinner, taller, but no less cute. He has the same eyes, with the same thick eyelashes, and though his smile is smaller, it's just as contagious.

He isn't smiling now, though. He's cowered behind the statue that Cloud told him to run to, hands slapped over his ears, and Cloud has to wonder in the back of his mind as he slashes the Gargoyle to bits whether this is a coincidence. Riku is outside at night, it's true, but he's in a safe neighborhood, and there's no way he should be being attacked like this. With a few well-placed hits, the Gargoyle is dead, and Cloud wipes sweat from his forehead and goes over to Riku to see if he's okay.

The boy isn't crying, which impresses him, although he is trembling like a leaf, and the second Cloud appears around the bend he throws himself at the soldier, catching him around the waist. Cloud stumbles back a step, an expression of utmost panic on his face, but he can't push the scared child away. He's only human, after all.

"It's alright," he tries, not knowing how to comfort children any more than he's ever been able to. "You're not in any danger." This is, of course, a lie, as everyone is always in danger, but he feels like telling the boy that would be a mistake.

Riku nods wetly, pressing his face into Cloud's hip, and Cloud lays a hand on his head with the aim of reassurance. After a few minutes, the boy composes himself, and Cloud makes sure those blue-green eyes don't see the Gargoyle's corpse as he leads the boy to Fenrir and helps him on.

Back at the aunt's and uncle's house, Cloud looks through the window to find the aunt pacing frantically. When Cloud knocks on the door, she whirls around and runs to fling open the door, almost crying in relief as she sees Riku. She kneels down and embraces the child, telling Cloud in between sobs that she was so worried, and that Riku was out looking for his friend who had disappeared only days before, and that the uncle was out searching for him right now. She calls the uncle up, and when he appears in the doorway, white with relief, Cloud requests a talk with him.

He tries to be as calm, collected, as possible as he tells the man that Riku may be in grave danger. It's not likely a coincidence that his parents and his friend were murdered or kidnapped or whatever, and for him to be the victim of two attacks? Something's not right. He offers to take Riku to a place where he'd be safe, but the uncle adamantly refuses. Now that he has a greater awareness of the danger Riku's in, he'll be more careful, he says, and that Riku will be raised by no one but he and his wife. Cloud has to respect the man's decision, even if he leaves with a deep frown on his face. He makes sure they trade contact information, just in case.

**

The call comes a year later, and even though Cloud was expecting it, it doesn't make him feel any better about it. The aunt is crying, shrieking, and she tells Cloud to come quick, because they are all in danger now. He leaps onto Fenrir and makes it there in scant minutes, but still not fast enough to save the uncle's life. The aunt weeps, stricken, in the wreckage of her home, her own child wrapped tight in her arms, as Cloud helps the seven-year-old Riku onto Fenrir.

"I'll take care of him," Cloud promises, and she manages to halt her tears to give him information about what Riku likes, what he's allergic to, what he's afraid of, what he knows about his past. She and Riku's cousin are running to some friends in Gongaga, which would make Cloud withdraw into memories and guilt except he's too busy to dwell on the past. He knows that she'll be in no danger once she's away from Riku, so he lets her go, keeping her number in case something happens. He doesn't want to think about that something.

Riku is confused, and now he cries, big fat tears of despair and uncertainty, and he screams pleas to go back to the aunt as the always-stoic Cloud drives him away from his home into a life of battle and metal and blood. But Cloud holds tight with one arm around his chest, and the boy's shouts subside as they drive into the heart of Edge.

They get to the bar and find it in full-swing, rowdy drunkards sloshing beer over the rims of their tankards as they toast to anything and everything, and Cloud quickly hustles the boy upstairs, into the bedroom. He sits on the edge of the bed awkwardly, letting the boy cling to his hand, until Riku's exhausted tears carry him into sleep.

Then he goes to find Tifa. She's furious, or at least vehemently denies Cloud's requests, until Cloud fully explains the situation. "He's in danger," Cloud murmurs, leaning against the door jamb and casting the small form in the bed a sideways glance. "And I know that you could take care of him. There will be things that try to kill him, and you have to protect him."

She still protests, because she doesn't want her bar torn to bits, but she's getting older, no longer the eight-year-old who tried to cross Mt. Nibel, the 15-year-old who tried to take on Sephiroth, the 20-year-old who dressed Cloud up in drag to save Aerith, or even the 22-year-old who helped him rid the world of Geostigma with a few affectionately spoken nonsense words. She's in her 30s now, and getting older yet, and she wouldn't say no to a child of her own, so he trusts her to love Riku like her own son. Besides, she'll have help.

Marlene is 16 now, lovely and sweet, more like Aerith than any of them wants to admit. Denzel is 22, and he stayed close to home to tend the bar and fend off admirers. The problem with this, though, is that there is no extra room for Riku. Cloud offers to give up his own and stay in the church, but he receives smacks and a scolding for that, so he assumes they'll make it work somehow.

The morning after he brings Riku to Tifa, Cloud is called away on a long delivery, and it isn't until another two weeks are up that he returns to the bar. It's only three PM, so the bar isn't open yet, and he walks inside to find Riku perched up on the countertop as Marlene mops the floor, talking to her exuberantly. When he sees Cloud, he goes dead silent, turning his face away with a pout. Cloud realizes that Riku blames him for his uncle's death, for taking him away from the only home he knows, and he sighs, backing out of the bar. He can find somewhere else to stay. Riku needs to be somewhere with people he feels comfortable with, not around someone he hates. As he leaves, he can hear Marlene telling Riku who Cloud is and what he means to her, and he thanks her for it, but this isn't the time. Riku will someday learn that he is not the enemy, but for now, the boy needs time to grieve.

Cloud plays it safe, only coming to the bar when Riku is busy or asleep, and although she is clearly worried, Tifa lets him. She tells him stories of Riku, how he is adapting and helping her out, and he feels more at ease when his assumptions are verified: Riku will be a son to Tifa. The boy needs some stability in his life.

Cloud stays away, biding his time. The boy will learn.

**

[Author's note:] It will not be this angsty forever! It gets much happier and more dialogue-y and bantery and fluffy as time goes on. Just bear with me here. Oh, and this is really experimental, and I have a lot of other things that I'm writing right now, so it would be really helpful to get some sort of feedback on whether I should continue this. I hate begging for reviews, but I just want to know – is there any sort of audience for this? Should I write the rest?