Changing Tides

Raising a child can be hard. Raising Ventus is harder.

A series of one-shots dedicated to our favorite blonde couple as they endure, enjoy and love each moment of parenting.

...t.h.u.n.d.e.r…

Because fear is the first thing a parent must learn to console.

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"Mommy…?"

Another crash of thunder shook the house.

Ventus clutched his favorite toy bear closer to his chest and whimpered as his entire body rattled with the vibrations. The entire house was silent, save for the intermittent claps of thunder and howling of the wind. It was also nearly three in the morning.

Ven looked fearfully at his stuffed companion before turning his eyes anxiously to the clock looming above his dresser. The numbers were all meaningless in the small boy's eyes, but all the same he knew it was late…and that both of his parents would be sleeping—as in not wishing to be disturbed by their four year old son's fearful cries.

Ven cast another forlorn gaze towards the open doorway which was illuminated by the faint glow of his chocobo nightlight and then back to his own bed. He bit his lower lip, hesitating.

Maybe he could just settle down, hide under the covers and then….CRASH!

The clock hanging above his dresser fell noisily to the ground and a sudden streak of lightening flashed through the window illuminating the small boy's fearful face luridly.

Ven bolted for the door, doing his best to keep his body steady as more roars of thunder shook his tiny frame. His parents' room was just down the hallway. He didn't have far too go.

Ven's feet padded across the wooden floors softly as he made his seemingly eternal trek to the other end of the hallway. He made sure to keep himself prepared for the encore of thunder that was sure to come by keeping his body tense and his bear pressed close to his chest.

However, Ven hadn't quite planned on the shadow monsters creeping along the walls. The night usually kept most of the hallway dark and clear of spindly shadows. Yet, hints of light still managed to creep through casting ghoulish shapes along the normally serene blue walls. Ven bit his lower lip harder, shutting his azure colored eyes tight as he began to dash the few remaining feet to his parents 'door.

As always, it was slightly ajar and little Ventus had no trouble at all entering as he quickly scrambled inside.

"Mommy…?" Ven called again, this time beside his mother. Naminé, his mother, stirred slightly at her son's voice, but then turned on her side and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep.

Ven pouted and tightened his grip on his bear as he made his way to the other side of the bed, to his father.

Ven pulled on his father's arm, his voice beginning to quiver again as lightening shot through the window. "Daddy…? Daddy I'm scared…please wake up!"

Roxas' eyes flickered half way opened. His sight was blurry as he tried to blink the sleep from his eyes.

'What time is it?' Roxas eyes flitted to the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand beside him. The big red numbers read 3:30 am. Roxas resisted the urge to groan as his tired eyes moved over to his son.

He could tell his son was afraid. It was written clearly across his small face—not that he'd tried to hide it, considering he was only four after all. Roxas weaved a hand through his hair and pulled a weary smile on his lips, "What's the matter, bud? Storm got you scared?"

Ven's lip began to quiver again as he looked up at his father with fearful blue eyes, and simply nodded. Roxas sighed, but lifted the small boy up onto his lap, "Ven," Ven looked up at his father, "There's nothing to be afraid of. The storm can't hurt you."

Ven still looked unconvinced, "How do you know?"

Roxas smiled and ruffled his hair, "Because kiddo, Mommy and I would never let anything hurt you, especially not some dumb little storm."

Ven held his bear tighter, but still didn't smile. Roxas frowned at the reaction. He was the father. He was supposed to know how to handle this kind of stuff. Yet, looking at his son's still frightened and dissatisfied face, Roxas was beginning to get the feeling that he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He set the boy down first. That was right, wasn't it?

Ven's eyes widened at the action. Roxas grinned, 'Hey, maybe this isn't so hard after all.'

"NOOOO!" Ven began to wail .

Or maybe not.

Roxas' own eyes widened as he began to motion for the small boy to be quite with frantic streams of 'shhh's' bursting from his lips, but the four year old refused to cooperate. Tears started to stream down Ven's face and Roxas grimaced as he snuck repeated glances at his wife. She was still sleeping. Thank God.

Roxas then cast his full gaze on his son. The boy was still crying.

Roxas sighed and his voice was beginning to lose its patience, "Ven, Mommy is sleeping."

"B-But Daddy! " Ven cried and reached for his father's arm.

"No buts Ven," Roxas pried the boy's hand off gently but firmly, "You need to go to bed. Mommy and I are trying to sleep."

Ven stomped his foot on ground and crossed his tiny arms,"I don't wanna go!"

"Ventus," Roxas' voice was stern, " you need to go to bed. It's just a storm."

Ven uncrossed his arms and looked at his father incredulously for a moment before bursting into more tears. Roxas ran his hand down the front of his face. He was starting to want to cry too.

"Ven—"

"Do you want to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed tonight?" Both blonds looked up startled at the sudden disturbance. However, it only took Ven a second to process the request as he nearly jumped up onto the bed.

"Yes, please Mommy!"

Roxas looked between his wife and now calm son, in utter disbelief. I spent nearly half an hour trying to get him to go to sleep, and she just—Roxas shook his head and glared accusingly towards his wife, "I thought you were sleeping."

Naminé looked up at her husband and only grinned smugly as their son happily nestled himself between the two of them.

"I woke up."

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Haha I hope everyone enjoyed the first installment of Changing Tides. I'm not used to writing one shots so I hope it isn't too horrible, but I'm hoping after posting more I'll get the hang of things. Updates for this story, however, will be varied, but will most likely come little after I post a new chapter for one of my multi-chapter stories.

Anyway, I just thought this would be a cute little series and it doesn't seem like many people group these three up as a family so I just felt like adding some more in the NxR community.

-Also if you have any ideas for one shots you would like to be added please leave me a review or send me a Private Message with your ideas. I'm hoping this fic will become popular enough that there will be people willing to do so.

REVIEWS=LOVE AND COOKIES:D

On another note, for those of you curious about Half Alive and are reading this little fic, I actually have good news. I have Half Alive Chapter 12 completely outlined and will start as soon as I finish my paper which is 12-15 pages long and due Friday. I'm actually starting to outline the entire fic so the updates hopefully won't be so horrible.