-Meeting The Family-
-An AU Fanfic-
I am never, not even on pain of death and possible extradition from my family, never attending another Altona family function again. The first one I attended when I was old enough to actually realise that these things were a bad idea was when I was fifteen, and my mother had gotten everyone to perform 'The Time Warp' on top of the tables. My boyfriend of fifteen months, Demyx, said that it'd be a great idea for him to come along with me as my guest so that he could 'meet my family'. I thought he would've learned by now to steer clear of my family after hanging out with my twin brother Ryu. I fiddled with the half-full champagne flute in my hand as one of my cousins came up to me, her orange hair bouncing about wildly.
"Hey Tora, I thought you said your boyfriend was here." she said. That's my cousin Aki, always asking about something that's not there. She sipped at the punch in her hand. Poor Aki is only nineteen, while I'm twenty-one. But she's pretty mature for her age, even if my Aunt Nina doesn't like her because she's my dad's niece.
"He is; Mum and Rune dragged him off to roast him alive." I replied, sipping at my champagne. Aki shrugged and disappeared back into the crowd. I now know why I can't have a steady boyfriend. My family would be after blood money from day one! I shuddered at that mental image of my family hunting down Demyx for a piece of him.
"Tora, you seen your older sister anywhere?" Ah, there's my stepfather. His name's Zack Fair, and he used to be in the army before deciding to settle down and marry my mother. It's actually their third wedding anniversary that this function is celebrating. He came into the family with three other sons, so now I have three stepbrothers to ask for favours and generally annoy. Annoying Ryu gets old after a while, really.
"She's with Mum, harassing my boyfriend." I replied dully, having some more alcohol. Zack looked thoughtful. When it came to my mother, you could only hazard a guess as to what was going through his mind. The good thing is that they're as energetic as five-year-olds. The bad thing is that five-year-olds are easier to keep under control. And I should know; I work in a childcare centre.
"Your lifeguard man?" he asked. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Demyx was a lifeguard. Albeit a very sexy lifeguard, but that's because I'm biased.
"Blonde hair, blue eyes...yep, that's him." I replied.
"Then it looks like I've got some work to do." I watched my stepfather disappear into the crowd and sighed for the...i-don't-know-how-many-eth time that night and put my champagne flute down. Sometimes Zack is as dense as a blob of cement in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but we love him anyway. I stood up and straightened my green cocktail dress, giving myself a quick once-over. I'm female; shoot me. Something heavy suddenly collapsed onto me from behind, and I froze.
"Ow..." I groaned. Heels and heavy work should not mix; let me tell you that right now.
"Hewwo...*hic* Towa..." a voice slurred in my ear. Well, shit. The person who has slumped over the back of my shoulders is my stepbrother Tidus, who is a bit of an irresponsible drinker...just in case you couldn't tell that already.
"Where's Yuna?" I asked, scanning the crowd for a sign of his girlfriend. I felt him shrug.
"Dunno..." he mumbled, snuggling into my back. I managed to refrain from hitting him, instead choosing to roll my eyes as a pretty brunette in a deep blue dress walked over, her eyes on her boyfriend. I managed to get Tidus off my back and into the chair I recently vacated.
"Tidus, how much have you had to drink?" Yuna asked, hands on her hips. His head rolled from side to side in a shake.
"Dun remember..." he mumbled. I rolled my eyes for the second time that night.
"I'm going to go find my boyfriend. Can you take care of yours?" I asked. The brunette nodded, and I disappeared into the crowd. How hard can it be to find Demyx, anyway? His hairstyle's easy enough to spot at twenty paces even if you were short-sighted. I suddenly heard smacking sounds, and crept around the corner I could hear them coming from. I smirked as I suddenly recognised the noises, but I decided to play it out.
"Oh my God, in a public place and everything!" I screamed, covering my eyes dramatically. My older stepbrother Cloud rolled his blue eyes and pushed his boyfriend Squall (I can see him kicking my ass for calling him that) Leonhart off him. I grinned and straightened up, dusting off my shoulders in the 'who's-your-tiger' fashion.
"You have got to stop working in the arts, Tora." Leon said. Yeah, that's what he prefers. Some days I piss him off and call him 'Squall', just to get a reaction. He combed his fingers through his brown hair in a desperate attempt to flatten it...semi.
"Up yours, lion boy. Anyway, I'm looking for Demyx. You seen him anywhere? Mum, Rune and Zack should be grilling him by now." I asked.
"I think they were at the pavilion. At least, that's where I saw Rhea coming from." Cloud replied. I told the two to keep the hickies to a bare minimum and walked away, amidst curses and pretty finger signs. I am going to have really sore feet tomorrow. I walked to the pavilion ad folded my arms. Dammit, why can't anyone stay in the one place when I want to find them?
"Where are you, Dem?" I asked myself, walking back into the party. A pair of arms snaked themselves around my waist and pulled me into a tight embrace.
"I love your family!" Demyx exclaimed in my ear. I was stunned.
"What?" I asked. My boyfriend spun me around and I could see the huge grin on his face. It made him look really cute, but I forced down the urge to pinch his cheeks.
"Your mother and older sister absolutely bombarded me with questions, then your stepdad had a go at me-" Please tell me they didn't burn him too badly, "-and they said they really liked me!" I just stared.
"So they didn't ask if we've had sex yet?" I asked.
"Oh, they did; I just told them that even though we share a bed, we haven't gone all the way." he replied casually. It was times like this that really made me want to kill whoever I could get y hands on, myself included. I steered Demyx to two vacant seats, and we sat down.
"What else did they ask you?" I asked.
"Oh, you know, just stuff, like how we met-" At the pool, where he fixed a graze I got from the bottom of said pool, "-what our first date was-" A moonlit picnic in the park with him serenading me on his sitar, "-how our first kiss was-" Public. It took Cloud and Demyx's friend Axel to push us together (literally), "-our first argument-" I'd come home after work one day to see the house in a mess. Enough said, "-and what it was I loved about you." I went blank at that last one.
"What is it you love about me?" I asked. Demyx suddenly turned bright red. It reminded me of the first day we met, where he kept fumbling with the medical equipment.
"Well...you're beautiful and talented...I love how you think of everything...I love your temper, your eyes, your smile, your-" I cut him off mid-ramble with a gentle kiss.
"I get it Dem, it's okay." I said, smiling.
"Ah, there you are." God dammit... Zack came stumbling over, clearly whacked out of his mind, Leon's younger brother Sora jammed under his arm. Sora came as my younger stepbrother Roxas's guest, only because Leon doesn't trust him at home alone. Apparently he broke a microwave by putting aluminium foil in it.
"How'd you get under there, Sora?" I asked, hiding a laugh in my boyfriend's shoulder.
"Rhea loaded him onto me." the young Leonhart replied, lifting my stepfather off him. Zack fell to the floor with a loud THUD!
"Spray Cloud with punch for me." I said, dragging Demyx away from the scene.
"Wanna go home?" he asked.
"I thought you'd never ask." I replied. My boyfriend put his arm around my waist and led me out to our mode of transport – his pale blue Toyota. Hey, it may not be some fancy car, but it's practical and gets us from point A to point B. Besides, we had our first make-out session in its backseat. We were waiting outside the clinic for Roxas to come out of his doctor's appointment and got bored...yeah, good times, good times...
"Just think Tora, you've yet to meet my parents!" Demyx said cheerfully. I introduced my forehead to the dashboard.
"Let's just get over tonight first, okay?" I said.
Disclaimer: The disclaimer applies to the characters of 'Kingdom Hearts' – SquareEnix and Disney – the character Zack Fair – 'Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core', created by Testuya Nomura – and Tora and her family – me.