Taking drabble requests and pairings. Eh, anything but Aerith/Cloud. And Reno/Rude... and, what-the-hey, no Lucrecia/Vincent. Actually, just go to chapter one for the pairings I like. Any topic—fluffy to tragedy. Please? Running out of ideas here. (Please note that this has minor spoilers for On The Way To A Smile: Case of Barret. Shera did have Geostigma.)
Denzel sighed, pacing impatiently in front of Edge's Middle School. He was late. Okay, only by five minutes and that was probably because of the traffic—he remembered Reno saying something to Tifa about massive road reconstruction 'cause of Bahamut SIN's attack. The point was Marlene was leaving today to stay with her dad for a week and he wasn't going to be able to say goodbye!
Almost no one had left yet. The trafficmust have been bad because there was only four cars in the pick up lane with at least a hundred students on the sidewalk. Denzel sighed. "Where is he?" He asked to himself.
One of the boys besides him—Rick, if memory served—frowned at him. "You're dad ain't here, either?" He asked in a thick sector three accent. Denzel wondered how he hadn't lost it yet.
"Nope," he said, sighing faintly.
Rick bobbed his head. "Practically everybody's parents are having a hard time 'cause of the monster attack." Suddenly, he perked up, turning to Denzel and grinned. "But, wasn't it amazing how Avalanche took out those guys!? My dad said they're the reason we're alive today 'cause of what happened two years ago."
Denzel nodded, hiding the faint blush on his cheeks by turning and looking down the road. "Yea, yea..." He mumbled distractedly.
"So, what do your parents do?" Rick asked, breaking off from his Avalanche high and turned to him.
"Well, my 'mom' owns a bar and my 'dad' owns a delivery service. He's always out," Denzel added somewhat sadly. All true, save for the fact that Tifa Lockhart and Cloud Strife were not his parents, legally or genetically.
Rick nodded in sympathy and let the matter drop. "My dad works with the WRO as a doctor and my mom's in physical rehab for Geostigma recovery."
"Your mom was sick?" Denzel blinked.
"Uh-huh. I heard you got sick, too—I'm glad you're okay." Rick smiled.
Denzel shrugged. "My 'dad' got sick, too. And my 'aunt' Shera... 'Aunt' Shera's in physical rehab, too. She got really, really close," he added, eyes locking to Rick's and understanding was met. Shera Highwind was at death's door.
"Enough with depressing topics! Where's—"
The sound of a motorcycle cut through the air and Denzel recognized it as the Fenrir. He turned to Rick, smiled and said, "Gotta go. That's 'dad'."
Rick nodded. "Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Sure," Denzel said as the black clad blond man on the black motorcycle pulled up. He turned to Cloud before he could see Rick's jaw drop in recognition. "Hey, Cloud," he said, running up to him.
Cloud smiled slightly, helping the boy up onto the back of the motorcycle. "Sorry for being late, Denzel. I got a call from Rufus to deliver something to Reeve," he explained, pushing a child sized helmet onto Denzel's head. "And the traffic from last week's damage isn't exactly helping."
"Uh-huh. I figured you'd be out on a delivery." Denzel gave Cloud a pointed stare.
Saving his dignity, Cloud muttered, "Someone has to pay the bills," completely forgetting the million plus bank account. He ignored the flat stare Denzel seemed to give him through the tinted plastic of the helmet. "Anyway," he said, revving Fenrir, "hold on."
Obeying, Denzel clutched Cloud around the waist tightly, holding on as the man released the brake and sped off. He turned his head to Rick who had seemed to recover and yelled over the rush of wind and the engine, "See you tomorrow!"
Rick could only nod and wave his goodbyes.