A/N: I can't believe I'm starting another story -_-. I've been replaying FFVII again and I just... Ack, they're so cute. CloTi and Yuffietine are just so... Ack! Anyway, I don't own FFVII, SquareEnix does. Please leave a review :)

Every morning, Cloud Strife would wake up and begin his morning ritual. He would have a quick shower, give his teeth a brush, throw on his clothes and just as he would be leaving his room, he would run a hand through his blond hair. Downstairs, he would pop two slices of bread into the toaster and pour himself a mug of freshly brewed black coffee. Just as the toast pops, he would drop his empty mug into the sink and snatch up the toast in his hand as he locked the door and left for work. This is how a normal day would go for Cloud. However Cloud never had a normal day. The last normal day he had was years ago before he left his hometown. Now, he lived an extraordinary life. Of course this extraordinary life included being tested on in a lab, losing five years of his life, losing himself to a homicidal manic who was trying to destroy the world... Losing a friend. All these seemingly outlandish events were what led him to be where he was now. And that was in his own bedroom above the bar of Seventh Heaven in Edge.

True, he did go through the same morning ritual as he would in a normal life, but once he opened his bedroom door, it became obvious to him that a normal life was just an idea in the back of his mind.
When he opened his bedroom door, instead of being greeted by the silence of an empty apartment, his ears were abused with the yelling and whining of children downstairs. The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his black slacks and made his way down the stairs to face the day.

"Marlene, I'm almost done. Just hold still for one minute longer!"

As Cloud slowly entered the kitchen from the hallway, he let his mouth turn up into a half smile. Marlene was seated on the island counter as Tifa brushed a few strands of the little girl's chocolate hair, before folding it into the braid and grasping another section of hair to brush.
The girl was squirming to look over her shoulder to see what was going on on the television screen in the front area of the kitchen, where Denzel was perched on the couch with his cereal.
Cloud made his way over to the wooden cupboards that housed the bowls and assembled all that he would need for his breakfast. Just as he was about to sit down beside the brown haired boy, something caught his eye.

"Uh, Teef?"

"What?"

She was still wrestling with Marlene's hair as she held the pink ribbon between her teeth while she weaved the girls hair together with her nimble fingers.

"Is the iron supposed to be smoking?"

Tifa dropped the ribbon and Marlene's hair and whipped around to see what Cloud was talking about. On the ironing board in the middle of the kitchen, a black smoke began to rise from the blue dress she had been ironing.

"Oh sh-"

Grabbing the iron and waving the smoke away, she groaned as she inspected the damage on her dress.

"It's ruined!" she cried out, leaning on the ironing board on her elbows.

"My favourite dress! Agh!"

She quickly yanked the plug of the iron out of the socket and snatched her dress up before storming out of the room with frustration.

Cloud was left with Denzel, who was turned around on the couch to observe the situation, and Marlene picking up the ribbon to put in her hair.

"Just let her burn her anger off," Denzel said off handedly, as if this was a common occurrence. Suddenly realizing the accidental pun in his words, he sniggered and bit his lip.

"Too soon?"

Cloud rolled his eyes before setting his breakfast bowl onto the counter, freeing his hands to lift Marlene down.

"Thank you Cloud!" and with that she hopped over to the couch to watch the animated movie that was on the television.

With a long sigh, Cloud finally sat down between the two children with his breakfast and dug in.

So no, Cloud Strife did not live a normal life.

"Cloud?"

"Yes Marlene?"

"Why do you put sweet chili sauce in your cereal?"

"Why do you put milk in yours?"

He wasn't questioned any further.