Holly:
Aerith was weaving together holly boughs to decorate her house with, and Marlene was making holly crowns while Riku, Leon, and Zack were chopping, stacking, and bringing in firewood.
"Here Riku, you have to wear one too," said Marlene as Riku headed toward the backdoor after bringing in another armful of wood.
The silvered adolescent turned to the seven-year-old without a word and simply sat beside her on the floor. She smiled as she plopped the circlet on his head and stepped back to watch the effects of the green leaves and red berries against his hair. "You look pretty," she commented before sitting back down to make another crown.
Aerith stifled a laugh.
"Thanks, so do you," replied the teen easily before he stood up to continue the task he had been performing beforehand.
"Wait, I need to give these to Zack and Leon…and you need to come with me or Leon won't wear his," stated Marlene as she stood with two slightly larger crowns of holly.
Riku arched an eyebrow. "...And what makes you think he'll wear one for me?"
"Because he loves you, silly," replied the seven-year-old as though this were the most obvious explanation in the world.
This time Aerith was less successful in suppressing her mirth.
"He loves you too, you know," stated the cyan-eyed adolescent, looking away slightly to hide his eyes behind his bangs as he tilted his head downward. "He's just not one for saying it."
"Oh, I know he loves me too," Marlene stated certainly with a small nod. "But it's different from how he loves you. He loves you the way Rude loves Tifa and Zack loves Aerith…that means he'll do stuff for you that he won't do for anyone else…hasn't he ever told you that?"
Now, Aerith had tears in her eyes and a hand over mouth as her shoulders shook with suppressed giggles.
"Er, no…not in words anyway," replied Riku, now looking slightly uncomfortable.
"But you do know he loves you, right?" asked Aerith, her former mirth replaced by concern.
"Mm-hm," answered the silver-haired adolescent with a small smile, although he did not hold the unshakable confidence that Marlene had a moment before when she stated the same thing.
"I'm going to give Zack his," stated Marlene as she headed toward the back door. "You come out in a minute to get Leon to wear his, okay Riku?"
"Okay," the teen answered, then he glanced at Aerith, his expressive eyes clearly stating that he wanted to ask something but was hesitant to do so.
Aerith offered the boy a sympathetic smile. "I know Leon can be-"
"I know him too," Riku interrupted softly. "I'm not worried about that. I am worried about Tifa though…"
The green-eyed woman blinked in confusion for a moment before her usual serene smile returned. "I'm glad you know Leon loves you, although I'm not sure if you realise how much…but why are you worried about Tifa?"
"Why is she seeing a doctor today?" asked the cyan-eyed boy.
"Because she can't shake that flu she's been fighting," replied Aerith. "Just because she's been ill doesn't mean…oh, sweetie, I didn't even think…Did your mother have to see a doctor often?" The kind woman placed a hand on the boy's shoulder as she looked at him sympathetically.
"This isn't because of that," replied Riku. "Why haven't one of the rest of us caught this flu from her? And her scent is funny lately…there's this light to her that isn't usually there."
"I don't think I'll be able to understand the scent thing, but what do you mean by light?" questioned Aerith.
"You know how Cloud gets sort of…well, dark sometimes?" asked the silvered adolescent. Aerith nodded right away. "When that happens, he actually gains this touch of darkness that isn't there normally…it actually doesn't even seem to be his. It's the same with Tifa now, only its light instead of darkness and it's always there…and it's been growing…"
Aerith looked concerned and confused for a moment before she suddenly stilled. "Riku…how long ago did this light appear?"
"Well, it was a lot weaker at first, but I'd say a few weeks before she got sick is when I noticed it," answered the cyan-eyed teen.
Suddenly, Aerith smiled more broadly than before. "Why didn't any of us think of this? Rude says she's been sore and achy, Tifa's complained about feeling queasy, Cloud and Yuffie have both noted her eating foods she normally dislikes lately…and now this…it all fits."
"Fits what?" questioned Riku. "So…she's okay?"
"She's more than okay," replied the green-eyed woman. "Don't tell anyone else unless they're just as worried about her as you were, but it sounds to me like Tifa's pregnant."
"Oh," Riku simply stared at the woman for a moment. "Actually that does fit…I wonder why I didn't think of that…"
"Because pregnancy isn't really something you need to worry over or familiarise yourself with," answered the green-eyed woman. "Now this stays between the four of us, alright?"
The silver-haired boy raised his head to look directly at Aerith with obvious confusion. "Four of us…?"
"Well, naturally I'm going to tell Zack and I wouldn't expect you to keep it from Leon," explained Aerith with a smile. "But make sure you tell him not to repeat it. I'll do the same with Zack. I'm sure Tifa and Rude will tell us all soon enough."
Riku smiled, pleased that Aerith had just offhandedly placed him and Leon at the same level as her and Zack. "Of course; Leon's good about that sort of thing…he won't tell anyone."
Suddenly, Zack's laughter could be heard drifting in from the backyard. Aerith's smile deepened, Riku looked somewhat curious.
"You know what's going on out there, don't you?" asked the green-eyed woman. The adolescent merely shook his head. "Marlene is probably scolding Leon for not making his feelings for you clearer. You're too hesitant when asked about that."
"I think that's more due to my issues than his reticent nature," stated Riku evenly.
"All the more reason for him to make sure you don't have any doubts," replied Aerith simply.
"I think I'm going to go help him out," replied the cyan-eyed teenager. "And I did tell Marlene I'd come out to help her with the holly."
Aerith smiled and returned to weaving holly branches together for her stair rail as the boy left the house.
Riku stepped outside, and was immediately met with a gust of cold air, as well as the sight of Zack laughing with a crown of holly on his head. Marlene was staring up at Leon with her small hands on her hips; the steel-eyed man looked torn between confusion, amusement, and annoyance.
Riku wrapped his arms around himself and grinned as he walked forward, "Hey Marlene is Squall refusing to be festive?"
The little girl jumped and then turned to face Riku, "He isn't cooperating at all."
The cyan-eyed adolescent moved to stand beside Leon, who immediately wrapped an arm around the shivering teen's shoulders. "Why not, Squall? Both Zack and I are wearing them too…"
"Yeah…and Riku looks really pretty, doesn't he?" Marlene demanded more than asked before adding, "And even Rude wore one for a bit…but then it scratched up his head since he doesn't have any hair, so I told him he could take it off."
"That was nice of you," Riku commented. Then, he looked up to meet the scarred man's eyes. "So, why aren't you cooperating?"
"In all fairness, she hasn't simply been pestering him about the crown," said Zack as he wiped his eyes.
Riku looked down at Marlene and asked seriously, "Is this about what you were saying in the house?"
"Rude tries to either say something nice to Tifa or do something just for her everyday because he says he wants her to know how special she is to him and that he hasn't forgotten how lucky he is to have her," stated Marlene.
Zack and Leon looked at one another. "Wow, I never Rude was such a romantic," commented the violet-eyed man.
"Neither did I, but how often does the man actually speak around us?" replied Leon.
"Good point, he's even more taciturn than either of you are," remarked Zack, this earned him a slight glare from the Gunblade wielder and slight shrug from the teenager.
"And Aerith says that Zack always shows her how much he loves her in little ways," continued Marlene, causing Zack to look torn between embarrassment and amusement. "He calls her a special name when it's just them, and looks at her or touches her arm a certain way when they're out-"
"Okay, I think Leon gets the picture," interrupted the former SOLDIER. "Why does Aerith have answer all of your questions…?"
"Because she's nice," replied the seven-year-old before she returned her focus to Leon "So, do you do anything like that?"
"It's not the same for me and Riku, Marlene," explained Leon gently as he subconsciously tightened his grip on the boy. "We can't make it that obvious that we're together. Do you understand that?"
"No," answered the girl immediately, "Why not?"
Riku squeezed Leon's hand before kneeling down until he was level with the seven-year-old. "Some people will have a problem with us being together…and there's even some laws that say we can't, so you see, if everyone knows, we could get hurt or be forced to be apart, and we don't want that."
"But none of us care," stated Marlene. "Why can't he do that stuff when he's just here or at our house?"
"Well, we talked about that recently," said Riku. He bit his lip and then glanced at Leon before continuing. "We wanted to wait until we were sure everyone was comfortable with it, and now we are, so we aren't holding back as much, okay?"
The brown-eyed girl did not look convinced. "Then why-"
"We aren't as obvious as the others, and Leon isn't as romantic as Rude and Zack, but that's fine," interrupted Riku gently. "I love him just as he is, and he does do little things with me that he doesn't do with anyone else, unless someone might see who shouldn't. You just saw him put his arm around me…have you seen him do that to anyone else?"
Marlene seemed to think for a moment, Zack shifted his gaze to Leon. "No…neither of you ever touch anyone else…" answered the girl finally.
"See?" said the cyan-eyed boy. "He also strokes my hair or kisses my head sometimes when we're alone, and I'm the only one he allows to call him Squall. So it's the same with us, just downplayed a bit, alright?"
"I guess so…," answered Marlene. Riku sighed, his teeth chattered slightly and he wrapped his arms around himself once more.
"Why don't we talk about it more later?" suggested Leon as he gripped Riku's shoulders and guided the boy into a standing position. "Riku isn't used to the weather here yet, and it's getting too cold for him."
Marlene looked at the older man suspiciously, and then took in the teenager's shivering form.
"If you're still worried about this later, then we'll talk about it some more, okay?" said Riku.
"Okay," said Marlene, now back to her usual cheerful and confident tone.
"But first, give me Squall's crown," stated the silvered adolescent with a subtle grin. "He needs to be festive too."
Marlene handed over the circlet of holly with a smile, and Riku immediately turned to Leon, who arched an eyebrow.
"Zack, Aerith, Marlene, and I are all wearing them." Riku pointed out; "Do we look stupid?"
"You look beautiful, and of course Marlene and Aerith look nice," steel blue eyes darted over to the other man before Leon smirked. "Zack looks kind of stupid though."
"Ah, the air here is thick with envy," stated the violet-eyed man as he adjusted his holly wreath.
"Please?" Riku said softly.
The smirk turned in to a smile, "Fine…" Leon took the holly from Riku's hand and put it over his head. "There, happy?"
Marlene beamed as Riku smiled, "Mm-hm…thanks." Then, he kissed the scarred man's cheek.
"Alright, I'm taking Riku home now," said Leon.
"Bye Marlene, Zack," said the cyan-eyed teen as they turned to walk around the house.
Leon wrapped an arm around the silver-haired boy as they crossed the street. "What happened in the house that got Marlene set on that?"
Riku shrugged and looked away, "Long story short; I hesitated and you've never told me that I'm special…it seems in girl-world, this means I need reassurance."
Leon did not seem to find that amusing. He tightened his grip on the boy, "Do you?"
"…No," The cyan-eyed boy leaned into the scarred man slightly. "I meant what I said to Marlene."
"Good," answered the Gunblade wielder. "I-"
"Don't," Riku said softly. "I don't want you to feel like you have to say something. I like knowing that everything that comes from you is real."
Leon smiled as he unlocked the front door to his house and guided the adolescent in ahead of him. Once the door closed behind him, he pulled Riku close again.
"This is real," stated the Gunblade wielder before he raised the boy's chin to kiss him. After a moment, he parted their mouths just enough to whisper, "And you are very special to me…you're my Sydän…"
Riku smiled, "You know my mother taught me that language, right? She was from the same continent as you are."
"I know, and I've heard you use it when startled," answered the scarred man.
Riku's smile took over his eyes before Leon closed the short distant between them again.
