Author's Note: Children are so very hard to write. I can't remember really what it was like to think like a child, so it's really hard for me. Reeve has always seemed to me like he would be good with children, though, so I wanted to put him in a drabble with Marlene. Hopefully it worked.
Easy to Like
Reeve and Marlene
Reeve was sitting on a stool in Seventh Heaven reading through paperwork when Tifa brought Marlene and Denzel home from school. AVALANCHE was having a gathering that evening, and Reeve (since he lived close to Seventh Heaven) was getting some work done as he waited for everyone else to arrive from all corners of the Planet. Tifa only spared the time to give a quick greeting before she hurried off to finish preparations for the party. Both Reeve and Cloud, who was also in the house, knew they weren't much help with organizing gatherings and that Tifa ended up taking over the work from them anyway, saying that they weren't doing it correctly. So they simply stayed out of Tifa's way and kept an eye on the children for her as she set things up. Cloud ended up taking Denzel into the yard behind the bar for a lesson on sword fighting, and Reeve was quickly joined by Marlene in the bar.
"Mr. Tuesti?" The executive glanced down at the young girl who was looking up at him, holding something behind her back. Reeve turned away from his papers somewhat guiltily. He was supposed to be watching her, not working. besides, it wasn't as if this work needed to be done immediately. He shouldn't have ignored her.
"You can call me Reeve, Marlene," he told her, and pulled out a stool for her. "Now, is there anything I can help you with?" He was glad to see the nervous look Marlene had worn was replaced by the look of happy enthusiasm she usually wore.
"Uh-huh," Marlene said as she climbed up onto the stool that had been pulled out for her. She placed the items she had been holding on the counter in front of her. They were several pieces of paper and a box of colored pencils. "I'm supposed to make a picture for my teacher, but I don't know what to draw." She explained. "Can you help me? Tifa said that you were good at drawing."
It took a moment for Reeve to connect his diagrams of new workings for Cait Sith, plans for buildings, and schematics to the kind of drawing Marlene was talking about. He almost protested, but stopped when he thought of the disappointment that would be on Marlene's face, and the look that Tifa would give him. "Well, I don't know what your teacher wants you to draw, but I usually draw Cait Sith," Reeve said, taking one of the papers and grabbing a gray colored pencil. It would be odd to draw his cat when he wasn't designing an upgrade, but he thought the technical diagrams would bore Marlene.
"Okay!" Marlene said, grabbing her own piece of paper and art materials. I'll draw him the way he was when he was fighting Bahamut SIN, with Nanaki."
"Why don't you draw everyone fighting Bahamut SIN?" Reeve suggested, watching with slight amusement as Marlene's eyes lit up at the idea. He turned back to his own work, He had decided to draw Cait Sith on the Moogle that he little electronic cat had used to accompany. It had been destroyed some time ago, and he hadn't gotten around to making a replacement. It was something of a pity, because although the cat and moogle didn't really match he'd liked it, even if he'd gotten a lot of grief about it. His masculinity, sanity, and gender had been questioned because of it at some point or other.
Cait didn't really need it any more, though, now that the little cat didn't need to keep up with AVALANCHE traveling around all day. Instead, the little creature was acting as his secretary in his workplace, not yet ready to sit and collect dust.
Seventh Heaven was quiet while Reeve and Marlene drew. Reeve took a quick break to stretch his hand- he'd been writing all day, after all- and looked over at Marlene's work. It was impressive for a child her age. She had done a quick outline of Bahamut SIN, but hadn't put that much effort into it. Instead, the attention was focused on the somewhat crude spots of color that surrounded the dragon. Marlene had captured the battle particularly well. Reeve could remember seeing all the members of AVALANCHE doing the actions shown in the picture, though they happened at different times. Even if it looked a bit simple, and the people looked somewhat odd, Reeve admired the image.
"That is amazing, Marlene." he told her, and could not help but return her smile. "You are a very good artist."
"You are too!" Marlene said, looking over at his quick sketch. Without meaning to, he had turned it into a schematic, and had started thinking up ways to upgrade the little cat, so the paper was covered more with writing than with drawing. "I want to show this to Daddy when he gets here! Will you show him yours too?" Barret was coming for the gathering, but e had been off searching for oil fields for some time.
Reeve winced at the mention of the large man. "Barret and I don't really get along well." He admitted.
"Why?" Marlene asked, looking confused. "You're both in AVALANCHE, aren't you? Daddy likes everyone else who's in it."
"Well.. for most of their journey, I used Cait Sith to communicate and travel with them. Because of that, they never really got to know me. Cait Sith acts very differently than I do." He explained. "Also, I was working for Shinra even while Cait Sith was travelling with them. I was a spy so that Shinra could keep an eye on them. Your father doesn't like me for that."
"But you aren't spying any more!" Marlene protested. "And Rufus is in charge of Shinra now! Even if you were still working for them, you'd be a good guy now, like the Turks." She pouted for a moment longer before jumping down off her stool. "Thanks for helping me, Mr. Reeve!" She said as she headed toward the apartment above Seventh Heaven. "I like you, even if Daddy doesn't. You're nice."
Reeve listened to the sound of her going up the stairs for a moment, smiling slightly. "I hope Barret knows just how amazing his daughter is." He muttered to himself, putting his drawing away in his briefcase and taking out his paperwork again.