Author: Chronos Mephistopheles
Genre: Family/General
Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy series, any of the songs mentioned, or NERF.
Summary: For as long as Roxas could remember, Christmas Eve was a bore (that was a lie, it'd only been boring the past seven years… he counted)
Rating: PG13 for a few 'bad' words
Author's Note: If you can tell me what game each of the characters are from (all names are actually drawn from Final Fantasy games), I'll totally do a oneshot of your request. Pairing and all. Not limited to Kingdom Hearts either, but we'll have to discuss the whole other fandom thing… I might not know the fandom.
BEGIN: Christmas Eve
For as long as Roxas could remember, Christmas Eve was a bore (that was a lie, it'd only been boring the past seven years… he counted). Sure there were five living generations in Twilight Town (if you ignored the fact Twilight Town was a part of Hallow Bastion and Hallow Bastion was the actual city) and it was always so wonderful to hear the family gossip. It was always interesting to see which of the numerous cousins he had fucked up once more and ended up with child.
The seventeen-year-old frowned at his father, a scowl he learned from Daddy himself; he refused to go to the gathering this year. It was too much (one teenager can only handle so many little kids). His single father, Cloud Strife, returned the look and even proceeded to lean against the small hallway wall. "Are we going to do this the hard way?" Roxas didn't respond. Cloud sighed, glancing down the hall towards his oldest child's room. "You could always ask Rikku to drive you. Then you both could leave when you've stayed a while."
Rikku peeked her head out of her bedroom, numerous braids clicking together in the quick movement. "Do you want to Rox? Then we only have to deal with Vaan and Penelo for an hour or two."
Roxas huffed and plopped himself on the couch, moping. It wasn't just because of the numerous little kids (oh dear god there were only 12 children under the age of ten last year… and so many more babies came this year!) or the hugging of old raggedy aunts he only saw once a year, or the fact none of the food brought for the potluck was edible.
Sora Leonhart, Roxas's cousin, hadn't been at the gatherings the past couple years. He was the only reason Roxas usually went without complaint. But when Uncle Squall ("Call me Leon dammit") and Aunt Rinoa were transferred to Pride Rock for their jobs, Sora got dragged off with them. It was a very depressing experience. Especially when Sora was the only true person he considered a friend. Axel didn't count, he never counted. He was a stalker freak. That's it.
His sister completely emerged from her room and he sighed. It was never safe to ride with Rikku. Ever. How Paine and Yuna somehow survived was improbable. Every time Roxas rode with her (five times) she got into a car accident (yes, five times). Roxas supposed it was because they couldn't be within each other's space for more than ten minutes before trying to kill one another. "I'll ride with Dad."
Cloud nodded and opened up the closet. He grabbed their jackets and tossed them to each kid. "Now remember, Grandma Rufia (Great Grandma to be specific) asked us to bring the vegetable tray and some toothpicks. Did anyone grab those?" Rikku rushed into the kitchen. "What about the presents for the gift exchange?"
"Wasn't that only if you had kids under the age of twelve?"
"…" Cloud rolled his eyes. "I was just checking."
"Sure you were," the two teenagers echoed. Roxas slumped further in his seat. The Strife family was suffering greatly from the economy; Cloud was stuck working six jobs (one full time, one part time, the rest were as needed), Rikku even pulled double shifts at the nearby MoogleMart and Roxas was forbidden from working (not because he did a bad job, but because he needed the time to focus on school work). The constant stress of barely meeting minimum payments on the bills and having to feed two teenagers, and somehow get sleep inside the schedule left the man forgetful at times.
Roxas licked his lips, fingering the flip in his hair, "Do you want me to drive?"
"Don't worry about it Roxas," Cloud smiled, "Mom's house isn't all that far away." Rikku fumbled into the living room with the vegetable tray and a large bag of homemade cookies (a project she decided to do after she got out of school). The father glanced up at the clock and motioned for Roxas to get up. "We're running late. I still have to help Dad set up all the chairs."
The family of blonde's hurried to what Roxas jokingly called the 'limo'. It was a long white suburban, paint chipping and gears screeching (a real death trap on wheels). It was the only car Cloud could afford after his bike (dear, sweet Fenrir) got destroyed during a high speed chase. The only benefit of the thing was it could fit the three comfortably and probably add in the Leonhart's or the Klauser's with no problems (the van was made to fit eight [or nine!] people).
Rikku and Roxas quickly fought over the front seat until Cloud demanded they stop. Rikku calmly took the front seat while Roxas had the whole back of the van to himself. The drive was somewhat quick (Cloud had a habit of speeding) and the three darted inside to help. They were only five minutes late and the three bedroom house was packed with people.
Grandma Rufia and Grandpa Luneth were sitting in the main living room, laughing with their sons Cecil and Golbez. Uncle Bartz was conversing with Krile, who held her newborn daughter. Uncle Squall's father Laguna (allowed at the gathering because he was family through marriage) sat in the living room playing with Terra's daughter Lightning. Terra wasn't that far off (she was helping Relm get the sandwiches set out for everyone to eat. Roxas stood in the doorway, letting in all the cold air as Cloud and Rikku began to mingle. His eyes surveyed the group, finally shutting the door when Bartz shot him a look.
Roxas would be the first to admit he had so many cousins and family members (some married in, some removed but still showed up at Christmas, some that never existed last year) that he had a hard time remembering names. That was why he stayed with Sora. Sora could remember everyone's name, and even knew the names of the new additions to the family. It was like one wasn't accepted into the family until Sora knew who they were.
With a sigh the seventeen-year-old slid between bodies to make his way into the next room, the den. If possible it was even more crowded in here (he attributed it to the fact the Christmas tree was in the room). There was a large gap of space in the center of the room, an unspoken rule that all the little kids played in the center while their parents watched from the sidelines. Not many of the faces were recognized. Cousin Zidane might have been there with his wife, Dagger (? What kind of name is Dagger? Roxas asked himself every year); their children Vaan and Penelo playing with the younger kids like Vanille and Hope (Roxas recognized them from the birthday party held a few weeks back).
An arm wrapped around Roxas's shoulder, "How you doing kid?" It was Grandpa Cecil, the man was a legend in the family. He had eight children (Firion, Guy, Cid, Cloud, and Rinoa were the ones that always showed up at the family gatherings), and was the main source of the entire population of Strife's.
"Doing just fine Grandpa."
"Good to hear it, good to hear it." Cecil pulled him into a hug. "How is school? Classes going well for ya? Hear anything about your grades?"
"Well you see –"
"Gramps, we need you in the living room!" Rikku's voice was somehow heard over the commotion. Cecil nodded and patted him on the shoulder as if to say 'I'll get you later' before slowly making his way over. Roxas watched him with worried eyes. Grandpa Cecil was getting up there in age, (though nowhere near as old as Rufia or Luneth) and he was constantly in fear of the man dropping dead. Roxas considered him one of the only family members worth his time.
There! Cousin Yuna got out of her chair! Roxas practically barreled over family members to get the seat. At large family gatherings, the rule was if you stand up, you lose your chair. The kids were the ones who mostly followed this rule (they would give up the chair if it was absolutely necessary [like Grandma Rafia or such], and could be really kind about it all), but the adults were catching on.
Sitting in the chair, he continued to survey the group. The rest of the Klauser family sat in the opposing corner, playing a game of Left, Right and Center. They were the only 'grandchildren' here close to Roxas's age, and he didn't care for them (you try telling your father they broke your toys or destroyed your cell phone and have him not believe you). He bumped his head against the wall, placed an earbud in his ear, turned up KoRn's version of "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" and proceeded to watch Christmas Eve unfold with a blank face and even blanker mind.
.;.;.
Roxas rolled his eyes as cousin Tidus started passing out the presents to little kids. This was the noisiest part of the night. The kids shrieked and giggled as toys were revealed and paper was strewn about the room in fits of throwing and ripping. The parents laughed and smiled at their joyful faces ('Yeah, let's see how happy you are when you realize how much money you spent on presents dumbasses' Roxas thought) and were quick to break up possible fights.
Hope and Lightning both received Nerf guns with small laser (red beams of light, not lasers. They'd be a thousand times cooler if it was a real laser). But after Lightning tried to bash Vanille's head in with the handle, their parents grabbed the kids and decided it was time to leave.
And they forgot the Nerf guns.
With a small cackle, Roxas grabbed the two guns and returned to his chair. They weren't much. Could only shoot one foam dart at a time, they only came with three darts each, and the lasers were faulty. But they'd be some form of entertainment. As Roxas fiddled with the guns, he ignored the goodbyes family members passed his way, and only half paid attention when Uncle Cid cursed him out for his bad manners (did he care? Hell no! There were much more important things to attend to, like figuring out the Nerf guns and listening to Children of Bodom's remake of Oops I did it again).
When the room was practically empty, save for him and the three Klauser cousins (Sara, Josef, and Mateus), another family entered the room. Roxas ignored them, shooting at dart up at the roof, watching it stick before climbing onto the chair and using the gun to get the dart; he repeated this process until "You know you look really bored like that."
Sora Leonhart stood in the center of the room in his surfer boy-esque glory (always a wonderful contrast to his own skater boy look) and a large smile on his face. Roxas hopped off the chair, "You know not to say that word around my dad right?"
"What?"
"Bored." Cloud Strife always believed there was no way for a person to truly be bored. There was always something available to do. A common threat (one actually followed through on with Rikku's friend Paine) was to scrub the kitchen tiles with a tooth brush in punishment for saying the word.
"Ah right," the two spiky haired teens glanced for Cloud, and not seeing him promptly relaxed. Sora gave Roxas a large hug, the two sharing smiles. "How you been Rox? Haven't heard from you."
Roxas shrugged, hands fiddling with the guns again. "Same ol' same old." He raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing back in Bastion?"
"I thought you'd never ask!" Sora shoved his cousin on to the couch, joining him promptly. "Dad got transferred back here. But because we can't kick the renters out of our old house we had to find a new one." He rubbed his hands together in glee. "We live less than a mile away from you."
"What?"
"Yeah, just down the street."
"Fuck yes!" (Aunt Rinoa shot the boys a look, which they ignored as was necessary) Sora snagged a gun from Roxas, quickly shooting all three darts at the Klauser cousins in greeting ("'Sup guys?" "Nothing much you?" "Eh, nothing." "Want your darts back?" "Yes.").
Roxas shared his other earbud, both chuckling at the lyrics of Tenacious D's I Want and they split a sandwich. Soon they got into a competition with Josef and Mateus over who could do the best wannabe Matrix move with the guns (Sara was the judge). Then it turned into a wrestle match with laughter and bruises all around (it took three uncles to split the four from the knot they managed to tie themselves into).
As the eleventh hour rolled around, Cloud gathered his children and said his goodbyes. Roxas and Sora shared cell phone numbers and facebook pages before Cloud had to actually lift his son up to get him to leave the house (laughter from all the grandparents and remaining cousins followed).
Roxas glanced at his mp3 player, staring at the screen as the title of the next song rolled by and thought, "Maybe family get-togethers aren't so bad after all.
END: Christmas Eve
I haven't decided yet if I'm going to continue this, make a one shot for each holiday. This is actually based off my Christmas eve gatherings (mine was much more eventful with kids trying to kill one another with toys and someone breaking their nose), so if I do, it'd depend on if I attend any of the other numerous gatherings held throughout the year.
Happy Holidays everyone!