A/N: Thank you to alice-harley-quinn who requested this prompt through my ask box over on Tumblr. What a fun prompt this was. I've no parental experience myself, so I kinda made this up as I went along and as I don't normally do family fics, I'm not sure if I crossed the line into sappy or if I stayed firmly in cute and fluffy. Please let me know what you think.
Fathers and Sons
Cloud sensed the tense atmosphere of the apartment the moment he closed the door and shucked his heavy work boots off by the coat rack. Knowing immediately the probable cause of the tangible distress, Cloud sighed and rubbed his tired face with a grubby hand. This awkward tension was getting to be a habit of late and it was beginning to wear Cloud down.
Rolling his shoulders to alleviate some of the tight knots in his corded muscles, Cloud braced himself for the inevitable stand-off that would be happening in the kitchen.
"This is so unfair, Leon." Sora whined as he squirmed under the scrutiny of Leon's glacial stare.
"Unfair?" Leon replied, his voice tight and clipped as if he were trying to hold himself back from something a little more explosive. "You know what I think is unfair? Lying to me about Riku so you can sneak him into your bedroom."
Cloud's gaze slid from their sulking child to the young boy sat next to him. The silver haired boy's face burnt a fierce red, his eyes locked down on his interwoven fingers as he tried to look anywhere but at the angry brunet.
"What's going on?" Cloud asked, cutting through the awkward silence. He put his keys down on the island in the centre of their kitchen, and the two young boys that were sat around it looked sheepishly to and fro between Cloud and Leon, sizing up the situation and the new dynamics now that Cloud was home. Sora swallowed visibly and had the good grace to begin to look contrite.
Leon unfolded his arms and threw his lover a warning glare.
The matter was deadly serious then, Cloud decided.
"Why don't you tell him, Sora?" Leon said, watching how the young brunet squirmed on his stool at the suggestion.
"Urgh, it was no big deal," Sora began, his cheeks beginning to turn pink. "Leon caught me and Riku making out in my room." He finished quickly, folding his hands under his arms defensively as he hunched his shoulders over. Cloud thought that if Riku ducked his head any further, he'd disappear into his own neck.
Trying his hardest to contain the smirk that threatened to ruin his serious frown, Cloud threw Leon a quick glance.
Really, is that all this is about?
The look Leon gave him back was searing enough to drag another sigh from the blond. This wasn't the first time in issue like this had been blown out of proportion by his older lover, and Cloud was beginning to get the feeling that there was something going on with Leon. Things were getting ridiculous.
"Did you ask if you could take Riku up to your room?" Cloud replied, all too aware that he was treading a fine line between angering Sora or enraging Leon. He'd end up doing one or the other, there was no escaping that fact.
"Yes." Sora replied quickly.
"You told me he was your friend. You didn't say anything about him being your boyfriend." Leon corrected him, folding his arms across his chest again.
Cloud's gaze flicked briefly to the silver haired teen sat next to Sora and immediately felt pity. The poor boy looked like he was going to die of embarrassment. At this rate, Sora would be lucky to even get him to speak to him again, let alone get another make out session. Cloud needed to do something to cool things down, and if he possibly could, save his adopted son's love life.
"I think we should let Riku go home." He suggested, not failing to notice the forlorn look Sora threw in his boyfriend's direction.
Leon sighed, but Cloud could tell he would give in.
"Fine. Riku, do you need me to drive you home?" The brunet asked.
Riku's head shot up, that mortified look on his face still clear and obvious as he shook his head vehemently.
"No, I'll be alright, Mr Leonhart." He replied quickly, already shuffling himself off the stool.
As soon as the apartment door swung shut and it was just the three of them once again, Cloud let out the sigh he'd been holding in since he got home and lent up against the work top.
"Sora, I think you'd better go to your room. Consider yourself grounded. One week." He said, his tone clearly tired.
"One week?!" Sora exclaimed, clearly outraged. "For having a boyfriend?"
"For lying." Cloud corrected him, his large blue eyes narrowed to the point of seriousness as he pressed upon their son the root cause of Leon's displeasure. That part wasn't hard for Cloud to work out. What bugged Cloud the most was why Leon was making such a big deal out of it at all?
Sora huffed dramatically and slid from his seat, marching off to his room with the dejected gait of a hard-done-by teen and slammed his door and Cloud turned to Leon with an expectant face.
"Don't give me that look." Leon grumbled darkly.
"Wanna tell me what you're really mad about?" Cloud countered.
Leon's narrow gaze sharpened even further, the corners of his mouth turning down into a displeased frown and Cloud wondered for a moment if he was going to be on the receiving end of one of Leon's lectures.
"You know why. You said it yourself, he lied to us." Leon turned his back and busied himself with preparations for dinner, gathering together pasta and tins of tomatoes and stacking them up on the side.
"Sure, but that's not what this is about, is it?" Cloud cut through his lover's obvious charade. He'd known him too long to be fooled by the excuse.
"What else would it be about?" Leon replied, attempting to sound board and disinterred but the act didn't fool Cloud.
The blond steeled himself for the reaction he knew his next words would cause and prepared himself for a night of being ignored by both his partner and his son. He'd known he wouldn't be able to escape one or the other, but the prospect of having to deal with both was pushing it just a little too far.
"You're being too hard on him. You have been for a while now and I'm not the only one that sees it. Sora does too."
As expected, Leon ceased his meal preparations and turned around, that thunderous look usually reserved for Sora now burning a hole in Cloud's forehead.
"Too hard?" Leon replied sternly. "I just caught him making out with some kid. He's fifteen, what do you think would have happened if I hadn't caught them when I did?"
"Exactly, he's fifteen, Leon." Cloud implored, turning to face his partner better and rested his hip against the counter. "He's not a little kid anymore. You have to give him some space."
Leon's eyes flashed dangerously, the silver in them shining brilliantly for a moment before he looked away, his jaw locked and tense and he turned his back on his lover, busying himself once again with making dinner.
Cloud sighed, recognising the beginnings of the silent treatment that he was going to have to suffer through this evening and briefly wondered if he could return to work. The building site would be closed now, but Tifa's bar was an option.
As tempting as that solution was, Cloud was all too aware that the problem would still be waiting for him when he got home. If he wanted this dealt with, he'd have to tackle it now, head on. There were changes that were happening to their little family and the subtle vibrations that they caused were having an impact in places Cloud couldn't even begin to fathom.
Leon was far from a novice when it came to parenting Sora. He'd been just nineteen when the death of his estranged half-sister had forced the unlikely adoption if her five year old son onto Leon and with his usual tenacity and deep rooted sense of right and wrong, Leon had risen to the challenge. That part of him had been why Cloud had fallen so hard for Leon in the first place; the additional baggage of a young child had hardly fazed the blond at all. In fact, Cloud had quickly grown fond of Sora. The bond between him and Leon was something that Cloud had always been amazed by. But quickly doing the math in his head, Cloud realised that ten years was a long time and that change was always going to be inevitable, and most of all with Sora. They simply couldn't have the same relationship they'd had ten years ago. Sora was growing up and that, Cloud realised, was probably half the problem.
Cloud nudged himself off the side of the counter and approached his lover with caution. Reaching up a hand he rested it gently on Leon's waist and softly pressed himself up against the brunet's back.
"Is that what this is about?" He asked, his tone hushed, his breath stirring the hair around Leon's neck. He felt the tension leave the brunet's shoulders reluctantly, the hard muscles giving way and relaxing inch by inch as Leon gave in and with a sigh he dropped the knife in his hand and set the unpeeled onion aside.
"I just… feel like I haven't had enough time with him." Leon confessed, his words low and hushed. He'd never been good at voicing his worries but this admission was progress.
"It's been ten years." Cloud reminded him, feeling his heart clench at the man's vulnerability. After all these years, he really was finding it hard to let go.
"And in another three he'll be gone." Leon replied almost sulkily, resting his weight through his hands as he braced himself against the counter.
Cloud pressed his smile into Leon's shoulder, curling his arm tighter around his lover's waist and brought his other arm up to cross Leon's chest, hugging him securely.
"You're gonna miss him." Cloud acknowledged, understanding where all of Leon's strange behaviour was coming from.
"I already do." Leon replied, placing his own hand over the arm across his chest. "He's changing so fast, I can't keep up. Didn't think we'd have to deal with boys quite so soon." He added with a small half laugh.
"Have you forgotten what it's like to be fifteen?" Cloud asked incredulously, pressing a light kiss to the brunet's neck.
"Guess so." Leon chuckled, the sound almost sad.
Letting go of his lover, Cloud turned Leon by the hips until he was facing him and reached up a hand to cup his cheek.
"Go talk to him," he said softly. "Don't leave it like this or he'll spend the last three years with us thinking you're angry with him."
"I'm not angry with him." Leon protested, hating that he'd come across that way.
"I know that." Cloud reassured him. "Make sure he does."
Leon's frown gradually eased out, his troubled gaze softening the longer he looked at Cloud. Eventually, with a soft smile that made Cloud's heart flutter, Leon turned his face into the blond's palm and kissed him there.
"What would I do without you?" He asked as he pushed off from the counter and made his way to Sora's room.
"Screw everything up?" Cloud replied, watching as Leon disappeared down the hallway. Picking up the knife, he started to make dinner and waited patiently to see if his son would forgive him as easily as his lover had.