And now it is time for the conclusion of Cloud's 14th birthday party! You guys ready? Here we go!

Ch.41

Cake had been eaten, and everyone agreed that it was a good choice. But now that time had passed and had come the most exciting part of the day for Cloud; the presents.

Since he had lived in a small family, major gifts were not common for neither him or Zack. Both of them had a few toys, but nothing else from that. Most of the time when they got a present from their parents it was something their mother had sewn or a small knick knack. But even then it was only small or simple things.

But now it was different. Now before him, he had five different presents. Though they were not huge boxes, they were far bigger than what Cloud had expected. He almost couldn't believe anyone other than his parents and Zack would buy him a gift. It seemed so strange, but then he recalled Sephiroth. His mentor had taken him out for an ice cream reward. Technically that was the first gift anyone had given to him that wasn't family. But it had been so strange that Cloud didn't think to really question it.

Aside from that, Cloud went back to looking at the gifts before him. He held up one of the boxes and examined it. It was medium sized, rectangular box with blue striped wrapping paper. Cloud picked up the note that was attached to the top of it and read who it was from. He then made eye contact with Kunsel who smiled at him.

"Hey, any friend of Zack is a friend of mine. Especially if it is his little brother. To be fair I had to get some advice from Zack on what to get, but I hope you like it."

Cloud nodded before he went to tear the wrapping paper off. When he opened the box and pulled back the tissue paper he let out a loud gasp. Reaching into the box he pulled out two large chocobo figures. One was golden yellow and the other black, and they were soft to the touch. Upon seeing them, Cloud knew exactly what they were. Two nicely made chocobo plushies.

"Wow! These… These are. I mean I haven't seen these toys since I was a kid," Cloud commented, almost at a loss for words.

"Yeah, Zack told me how much you two loved to collect those as children. So I thought I'd go nostalgic and buy something along that route," Kunsel answered.

"It's really great. I had always wanted these again. I appreciate it a lot," Cloud spoke quickly with a smile.

Just as soon as he laid those down, he reached for the gift that was right next to it. It was a square-shaped box with black and white wrapping on it, simple and clean.

"I'm not the best at gifts, but hopefully it's good," Cissnei spoke up, indicating that one was from her.

Cloud couldn't wait to see what it was then as he tore into it quickly. Under the wrapping paper was a hard box, which looked quite fancy, and sported a flip-open lid. Cloud pulled it back and looked at what was contained inside.

Cissnei had said she wasn't good at gifts, but he hadn't expected this. Once he saw that everyone was staring at him, waiting to see what it was, he carefully picked up a silver wristwatch. His eyes widened as his fingers traced over the band of it, which felt cool to the touch and slightly sparkled as the light hit the metal. The design was simple, yet unique, with square-like parts lining the outside of the band and slightly larger links connecting each outer band. The face of the watch was a smooth and hard glass, with 3 miniature clock faces inside arranged in a triangular pattern. The thing Cloud noticed when he started looking at it closer was that in the background was a chocobo. Upon seeing that, he turned the watch over and noticed on the back that there was a chocobo engraved there as well. His eyes lit up even more.

"Wow this is really awesome! I like the design of it a lot Cissnei. This means so much. I'll start wearing this everyday," Cloud replied happily as he beamed at her with a smile.

She couldn't help but smile back, seeing the look on his face. "It's something I thought you would like. Plus, it matches the style of your hair." A faint snicker emanated from her mouth.

Upon hearing that comment, the room lit up in laughter. Cloud was slightly embarrassed at first, a bit upset they were teasing about his hair again. But soon enough, he was also laughing along with them without a care. After he placed the box down, he immediately put the watch around his wrist and snapped the band on. He looked it over on his person for a moment before looking back at Cissnei.

"Thanks, Cissnei. I appreciate it."

"Of course," she replied lightheartedly.

After some more brief chatter, Cloud moved on to grab for the next gift. As he did, he noticed that there were only two left. However there were three people there left that had not given Cloud anything yet. A look of confusion swirled on his face as he thought about what might be the reasoning behind that. He almost spoke up and said something, but he felt that it may be rude to ask.

Marcus could see the look on Cloud's face though as he spoke up. "I think I know what you're thinking. The amount of gifts there is right though."

"Oh it is?"

"Yeah, go ahead and pick up the envelope and open it. What happened was, I was trying to think of something, but couldn't really come up with anything creative. So, I decided to ask Wei here," he admitted as he pointed to his friend beside him.

"I asked him what he was getting and he told me that he was thinking of taking you to buy you a tattoo. And I was like 'Wait hold on. I don't think that's really a suitable gift for a 14th year old's birthday.' So I convinced him not to go through with that."

"I thought it would be cool," Wei replied. "After all, I have one."

"You do?" Cloud asked.

Wei nodded. "Got a dragon head tattoo on my back. It's pretty cool."

"Ooh, that's neat. But I don't think I'd want a tattoo," Cloud replied as he lowered his head slightly. He only hoped saying that, didn't upset or offend Wei too much.

"It's fine. It was only a thought I had."

"Anyways," Marcus continued. "I was talking more with Wei what would be a good gift, and then we both had the same idea. So… we chipped in together and got this gift."

Cloud looked down at the envelope before tearing it carefully open. Inside were two pieces of reactular paper. He took them out and read what they said to himself first.

His eyes widened. "Wow! Two vacation tickets to Costa del Sol?!"

Marcus smiled. "Yup, thought it would be nice to go someplace cool next time you get time off from work."

"It really is awesome! I… I never would have expected something like this. Thanks guys. You are truly great friends," Cloud beamed, his voice slightly shaky from the surprise.

"No problem Cloud, you're a cool friend too," Marcus said with a smile. "So who do you think the second ticket will be for?"

Cloud hummed thoughtfully, but he didn't really have to deliberate too long on the matter. "Hm, I think I would bring Zack of course. We've never had a vacation so it would be nice," he said aloud as he looked towards his brother.

"Of course that's what you answered. Should have expected that," Wei replied with a laugh.

"Hope you guys can get some time off to have fun," Marcus added.

Cloud nodded in approval as he looked towards Zack again. His brother just gave a smile before speaking up. "I guess you know who the last gift is from then. Go on an open it Cloud," he insisted.

"All right then."

The first thing that stood out most about Zack's present was the wrapping paper. It was covered in a blue background with cartoony chocobos, cactuars, and moogles all over package was in a rectangle shape and was slightly bulged up a bit on the top. Cloud wondered why it was like that, but assumed that Zack had packed it tightly full of something. After admiring the paper, and chuckling at it, he started to rip into it as his patience was wearing out.

Once he got it open, the first thing that he noticed was there was a shirt in there. He took it out and held it up to see what it was. It was a black t-shirt simple enough, but on the front there was a specific design of a yellow chocobo on the front with a text bubble that read 'Wark!'.

"Okay this is really cool. I like the shirt Zack. You really planned this around chocobos didn't you?"

Zack laughed. "Well it is your favorite thing right?"

Cloud knew that his brother was right. "Yeah, I guess so."

After he put down the shirt, he noticed something else that was inside of the box, situated under some other wrapping paper. He dug it out and was surprised by what he saw. It was actually a hat, but it wasn't any regular hat. The hat was white with a curved bill on the front, and on the top of it was something like an antenna. It was a spring with a red, furry ball on top. It almost looked like-

"A moogle antenna? It almost looks like Mog…" Cloud said.

"Mog? Who's that?" Zack asked curiously.

Cloud thought that he had said that to himself. He felt a bead of sweat drop down the side of his face. "Umm, it's nobody. Just a, um… a moogle character I saw in a shop or something…"

"Haha! You're right that it is a moogle antenna. I thought it would be fun."

Cloud was relieved Zack nor anyone else pressed the issue of who Mog was. Though, he did have something else on his mind.

"I do like it, but uh… do you want me to wear this everywhere?"

"I mean, if you want to. You should try it on to see how it looks though," Zack said as he grabbed the hat from Cloud. He then leaned over his brother and shoved it on his head, trying to get it down over Cloud's naturally spiky hair. Once the hat was nicely sitting on Cloud's head, Zack stepped back. "Maybe you need a haircut, your hair is too spiky,"

"I think you're the one who needs the haircut," Cloud retorted before laughing. He couldn't see what he looked like with the hat on, but he could see from the expressions of everyone else, it must have been silly looking.

Before long everyone broke out into laughter. None of them could really explain it, but there was something about all of this that brought amusement. Maybe it was how silly Cloud looked, or how childishly Cloud and Zack taunted each other. Cloud wasn't sure, but he was glad to spend time with his friends.

"You know," Marcus said once the laughter died down. "I didn't expect this party to be chocobo themed. If I had known that, I would have thought of a different gift."

"At this rate, Cloud could even get a chocobo tattoo one day if he wanted," Wei laughed jokingly.

"I don't know about that," Cloud said. "But maybe a chocobo earring?"

Wei shrugged. "Whatever suits you."

Cloud started to laugh at the comment, enticing everyone else in the room to join in with him. The apartment continued to be filled with more laughs, jokes, and fun times on into the night as everyone took the time to enjoy themselves. It wasn't something that would happen often, but Cloud was happy that it did happen this once. It was something he would never forget.

Idk how it got so random with all the chocobos, but hope you guys enjoyed! Now we are slowing approach the start of CC. But first more fun awaits! :D