Standard Disclaimers Apply

Language warning, a lot of curses, and adult situations.

Family Affair, an Alternate Universe Final Fantasy 7 fanfic

Family Affair

Chapter 5

"So, what do you think? My Unicorn for your Pegasus?" Gary asked holding out a card.

Aidan shook his head. "Nah, but I'll give you a Level 4 Fire Gun for it."

"Deal." Gary handed the card over, as Aidan gave him his card. "What else have you got?"

The two friends continued to trade cards, not participating in the games around the playground.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Both boys looked up warily at Hiro Matsuko, the biggest bully in the school. At nine, he was two grades above Aidan and Gary, and almost twice as tall as Aidan. He looked at their cards and grinned when he saw Gary's cards. "Cool."

With that one word, Hiro grabbed the cards away from the younger boy. "Thanks, pest."

"Give that back!" Aidan demanded as he stood up, Gary followed and his behind Aidan. "It's not yours."

"It's mine now." Hiro smirked as he tucked the cards in his back pocket. "You got a problem with that, little red?"

Aidan's face burned in anger. "Give the cards back to him, Matsuko. I mean it."

Hiro laughed at Aidan. "Who's going to make me? You, a little crummy bastard!"

"Shut up, Hiro." Aidan said as he clenched his fists. He was sick and tired of Hiro calling him a bastard every time he passed by.

"Ooohhh, looks like I'm finally getting to you, eh? Bastard." Hiro taunted. "You think you're so good with all your toys. Hmph, they're probably just buying you all those toys so you won't feel bad about being a bastard!"

"I said shut up! Just give the cards back."

"No, I don't want to... they're mine now, bastard." Hiro replied, enjoying the rising anger out of the boy.

"Oh yeah? Well being a bastard isn't as bad as being a scum like you! Trailer trash!"

Hiro narrowed his eyes. "What did you call me?"

"You heard me, you're nothing but a piece of scum, no good son of a...."

Aidan didn't finish his insult as he was punched to the ground. He fell down hard, and he wiped the blood that flowed from his cut lip. The world turned black as Aidan launched himself at the older boy, knocking them both to the ground. Inexperienced at fighting, Aidan barely got a hit in as Hiro continued to punch him. The principal separated them shortly, after being alerted by some of the students.

"In my office, now!"

Aidan sat in silence and anger as Hiro told his father and the principal a twisted version of what happened. He could hear Principal Nokuo talking over the phone, asking his Aunt Elena about his father. He was out with a client, but Aunt Elena promised to call Reno and inform him that he was needed at the school. Barely twenty minutes later, the three occupants in the room nearly jumped as Reno barged in the room.

"What the hell happened to my son?"

Nokuo Kyo gulped. "Your son got involved in a fight. It's our policy to meet with the parents of the children involved and talk about the issue."

Reno glared, barely looking at his son. "Okay, let's talk."

"Would you like to sit down?"

"I'd rather stand. We don't plan to stay long."

Nokuo nodded. "I was informed that your son threw the first punch, unprovoked..."

"That's not true!" Aidan protested. "That's not what happened!"

He was silenced by one glance and Aidan looked in fear at what he saw. His dad's eyes were so dark. "Aidan, stand up."

Aidan did as he was told.

"You." Reno turned around and pointed his fingers at the kid. "Stand up."

"Don't you talk to my boy that way." Hiro's father Lin said with disgust at Reno. "Your kid started it."

"I'm not talking to you. Either he stands up or I'll make him." Reno replied glaring at Hiro. "Last chance."

When Hiro didn't move, Reno moved towards the boy and grabbed him by the back of the shirt, and ignored the protests of the principal and Hiro's father. Reno stood them side by side, as he grabbed Aidan's arms and stretched it upwards.

Aidan winced at his father's grip, but said nothing.

"Explain to me how my son can throw the first fucking punch when he can't even reach this boy's shoulders?" Reno asked, the intensity of his anger masked behind a cool voice.

He released Aidan and shoved the boy back to the chair without a glance.

"You called me and told me that my son got into a fight. I believe that. But don't fucking tell me that he started it because that I won't believe. Now, tell me what you plan to do."

"Fighting... involves a week detention for the first incident." The principal replied, his throat dry as he tried not to squirm in his seat.

Reno didn't even glance at Aidan. "You want me to sign something?"

The principal shook his head. "In this case, no. I just need the child's parent to know that they will be attending detention."

"Fine, you better be sure that Aidan isn't in the same place as this one." He said with a jerk of his head. He grabbed Aidan by the shoulders and took Aidan's bag. He gave the other father and son another look, before settling his gaze on the father. "You better make sure that this is the last time your son is anywhere near mine."

Reno didn't wait for an answer as he led his son out of the school.

"Dad..."

"You better have a good explanation, Aidan." Reno said as they walked at a brisk pace out to the parking lot and into his car. He glanced again at his son, and kept his anger at bay, not wanting to frighten the child even more. His face was bruised, eye swollen, lips cut, with scratches all over. He clenched his jaw as he turned the ignition and drove home.

Father and son walked quietly towards their apartment, each one preparing themselves for Yuffie's reaction. Reno opened the door and Aidan walked in slowly but was stopped by his father. "Does it still hurt?"

Aidan nodded.

"When your mother asks you, say no."

Aidan just looked at his father. "But it does..."

"Just do it, Aidan." Reno snapped, his anger still present, especially after Aidan told him the whole story of the fight on the way home. "Let's go."

Aidan followed his father inside the house, the wonderful smell of dinner being cooked wafted in the air

Yuffie hummed as she checked the roast pork in the oven. /Perfect!/

She took the roast out of the oven and her face froze when Aidan and Reno came into the kitchen. Aidan's short red hair was in disarray, his uniform torn, and his face...

"Aidan!" Yuffie cried out as she dropped their dinner and rushed towards her son. "What happened?" She asked as she looked up at Reno, then back to their son, gingerly touching the bruises. "Are you alright? Does it hurt?"

Aidan didn't say anything as his mother continued to fuss over him. His whole body was hurting all over, but he didn't want to make his dad madder. "I'm fine."

Yuffie just stared at her son in disbelief. "Stay right there." /Materia, she needed to get her materia./ She thought as she stood up.

Before she could move further, Reno grabbed her arms. "No." He knew what she was going to do the moment he saw Aidan's face, the reason why he asked his son to lie.

"But Reno..."

"The first aid kit is enough." He said, not releasing his hold on Yuffie.

Yuffie tried to free herself from his grip, but Reno just held her tighter. "Look at him, Reno! I have to do something!"

"He needs to learn this lesson, Yuffie. That fight was as much as his fault as was the other boy's."

His face softened as Yuffie started to cry. "He's my son, Reno. I don't want to see him like that, and he's hurt!"

Reno turned around. "Do you hurt anywhere?"

Aidan shook his head, not meeting his father's eyes.

"Reno!" Yuffie protested, already in tears. "He's just a baby!"

Reno sighed as he brushed her tears with his thumbs. "He's turning seven, Yuffie. We both know he's little bit mature for his age. That's why we told him about AVALANCHE." He whispered. "He's not a baby anymore. He's growing up. He needs to take responsibility for his actions. Using materia on him isn't going to teach him."

Yuffie's lip trembled as Reno held her face gently, to keep her attention on his face rather than Aidan's bruised ones. "We want him to live a normal life, Yuffie. Fighting in the playground whether we like it or not is part of it."

He was right, and she hated it when he was right when it came up to bringing Aidan up.

"Aidan, go to your mother's room."

Aidan ran, and right now, he didn't like his dad.

"Patch him up, I still need to talk to him." He said as he released her. "I'll buy something for dinner."

Yuffie wiped her eyes dry as she turned around to get the first aid kit as Reno looked at the fallen roast.

He raked his hands through his hair. He walked out of their apartment not wanting to be around Yuffie and Aidan as he worked through his anger. He was angry, not at Aidan, but at himself. Anger management was never one of his strongest trait, and he wanted to congratulate himself for not loosing control. He was so close, so close to grabbing that little punk and throwing him across the room. There were so many scenarios in his head on what he wanted to do.

He welcomed the fresh night air as he walked towards the diner around the corner. His own childhood came back, except the little redhead with blue eyes was the one that was feared, the one that started the fights, and the one that bullied. He grew up in the slums of Midgar, and fighting was the way of life, the way of showing who was the boss. But this was now, where the destruction caused by that surrounded the world was now just a memory. They were all nothing but memories as the world prospered. He was still a Turk as much as Strife would always be AVALANCHE.

The world that Aidan was growing up had no need for fighting. There was peace. He grew up in a world where he didn't have to fight to protect his territory, to learn how to steal to survive, to kill. His son had innocence, something that he and Yuffie didn't have the luxury of having. It was that innocence that Yuffie wanted to protect, for their son to grow up surrounded with love, comfort, and everything that his heart desired. As much as Reno wanted to agree with Yuffie, he knew that innocence would not last.

"Are you okay?" Yuffie asked for what it seemed like the hundredth time, and like always, Aidan simply nodded. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"I got into a fight." Aidan replied softly. "This guy was bullying Gary and me. He always bullies the other kids. He was taking Gary's MagicWar Cards."

"You tried to help your friend?"

Aidan nodded.

"That's good, Aidan... but fighting is wrong. You could've gotten really, really, hurt."

Yuffie said softly as she brushed his hair, Aidan's face now was covered with little bandages.

"He called me a bastard. Said you buy me all these stuff 'cause you were trying to make me feel better."

Yuffie embraced her son. "That's not true, Aidan. We just want you to have everything you want..."

"Then why aren't you and dad married? Like all the other parents?"

Yuffie embraced her son tighter. "Your dad and I are different from all the other parents."

She replied not knowing how to explain the situation to her son. "Your dad is very special to me, Aidan. I'm sorry if it hurts you, Aidan. You know your dad and I won't do anything to hurt you."

Aidan turned around and looked at his mother's eyes. He looked nothing like her,

He was an exact copy of his father, but he loved her eyes. He wished he had her eyes, they were so expressive, and he loved looking at her eyes the most. He buried his head against her neck and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"Yuffie."

Aidan looked at his father who was standing just outside his mother's door.

"Dinner's ready."

Yuffie nodded as she stood up, holding Aidan's hand. "Let's go?"

Aidan gripped his mother's hand as he nodded. His father didn't wait for them as he turned back to the kitchen.

Dinner was awkward, with Reno not looking at anything but his food, just like Aidan. Yuffie glanced nervously between the two. She was always the stricter parent, and Reno was more relaxed with Aidan, and she knew that this was the first time Aidan had seen his father acting so serious with him.

"I need to talk to you in your room." Reno said to Aidan, his voice calm, but his eyes were still cold.

Aidan looked at his mother for help who smiled and reached for his hands.

"It will be okay, honeybear."

Aidan stood up and walked to his room, head bowed down.

Yuffie looked at Reno, her eyes pleaded with him to be calm. He simply nodded and followed his son.

"I take it you didn't tell your mother everything?"

Aidan nodded. He didn't want his mom to know what he said to Hiro to make him mad. He sat on his chair and Reno sat on the edge of his bed, the two only a few meters apart. "Why?"

"I don't want her angry." He replied softly, but most of all, he didn't want her disappointed.

"Why do you think she'll be angry?" Reno asked, as he ignored the tug in his heart as his son continued to refuse to meet his gaze.

"I said some things I shouldn't have."

Reno nodded. "You know that you're wrong."

Aidan's eyes blazed as he looked up. "He started it! I already told you, he was picking on Gary and me... and he was making fun of me."

"So you decided to make fun of him?" Reno asked, and he felt like a hypocrite. Who was he to lecture his son on doing the right thing when he was no angel at that age either?

"He punched me first!"

"Would he have punched you if you didn't call him a piece of scum? A no good trailer trash kid?" He asked harshly. "You could have been really hurt, Aidan. If you get insulted, shut up. You don't retaliate just because you didn't like what somebody said to you. Fighting should be the very, very last option."

"You all fought, you told me... you even told me that my mom..."

Reno grabbed his son's chair and pushed it towards him, bringing them closer. "Don't compare what happened to you to what happened to your mother. Don't insult what she and AVALANCHE did. They fought to save the whole world, Aidan. I fought because I was under ordered to; don't even think of using our past as an excuse for your actions. That's not why we told you about AVALANCHE."

Aidan bowed his head again. "So what? It was okay for you but not for me?" He snapped. "It's okay for you and mom to run around with all your weapons starting fights... he stopped himself, as soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them.

Reno took a deep breath before answering. "You're being too smart mouthed for your age, Aidan. If that's what you think after what we told you that night, then I was wrong to think that you're old enough, mature enough to understand. If that's what you think of me, then fine. I won't deny it, Aidan. If I were that kid you insulted, I would've broken every single bone in your body. My life in Midgar and my time with the Turks isn't something I would want to share with you. You think I got a high walking around pushing people around to get my way? Fine. Think of it that way, but don't you ever, ever, think of that way of your mother and I sure as hell don't want you saying that to her. You don't know anything about your mother at that age, Aidan. We haven't told you everything, and right now, with the way that your attitude, I don't think we can tell you."

Reno stood up and walked over to the mini entertainment unit. "You have detention for one week. I'll be picking you up, not your mother. Consider yourself grounded. No TV, no videogames, no board games, nothing." Reno said flatly as he began to unplug the television from the socket.

"But..."

"No buts, you'll do your homework right after you help your mom in the kitchen every night."

Aidan didn't say anything as he watched his father push the TV out of his room.

It was almost midnight, and Reno still hasn't come back from their gym. Reno purchased an extra garage in the building, and converted it to his own personal workout space. Yuffie got out of bed and changed into her sweatpants and matching shirt and walked out of her room. She quietly looked inside Aidan's room before going to the gym to check on Reno. She found him, working his frustration on the punching bag, kicking and punching. He was moving in a steady rhythm, and Yuffie remembered how she loved watching him work out the first time they got together. He wasn't overly muscular, but he had a good body, and Reno knew how to flaunt it.

He gave the punching bag one last punch before turning to face Yuffie.

She walked towards him, and offered him a towel and the bottle of water she brought with her. "How do you feel?"

"Peachy." He replied grabbing the both items from Yuffie. "You have no idea how much I wanted to kill that other kid." His anger still radiated in waves, and Yuffie didn't know what to say to calm him down.

"Well, hopefully, this would be the first and last time."

Reno snorted. "Never been in a playground brawl before, have you?"

"I didn't go to school, I was tutored."

"Of course, how can I forget." Reno muttered after drinking almost the entire bottle. "I can't believe that I just grounded my son. I always wanted to be the cool parent. But shit, Yuffie... do you want to know what he said to the other boy to make him so mad?"

"He told me that the other boy was picking on him and Gary, I didn't want to push him into telling me."

Reno gave a harsh laugh as he hanged the towel around his neck. "He called the boy a no good trailer trash kid, and a piece of scum..." He seethed. "I was that kid, Yuffie! Aidan was the kind of boy I would have beaten up. He's the kind of boy I would have hated because he had everything I didn't!"

Yuffie looked at Reno in shock. "He said that... Reno,"

"I did not bring my son up to be an arrogant little brat!"

"He wasn't being arrogant, Reno. I'm sure Aidan didn't mean it. It was wrong for him to say that, but he was upset. People say things they don't mean when they're angry. Being called a bastard didn't help the situation either."

"And whose fault is it that our son is being called a bastard?"

Yuffie looked at Reno as if he slapped her. He swore as he placed both hands on his hips.

"That was out of line, forget that I said anything."

"But that's what you think."

Reno shook his head. "I asked you to marry me."

"Not because you wanted to! Reno, we just can't get married like that!"

"Why not? You live with me, don't you? Unless you're planning on going out to marry someone else..."

"Of course not!" Yuffie cut him off. "That's not it. We... "

"Have a son. We always talk about what's best for him; we always do what's best for Aidan. What could be so wrong about getting married?"

"Because I don't know if that's the best thing for us." Yuffie replied, old feelings that she kept under control were threatening to burst. "We have a pretty good arrangement."

"An arrangement, you call this a good arrangement? Do you see what's happening to Aidan?"

"We never had any problems before. Why should it be different now?"

"Because I want something more for Aidan!" Reno replied with a shout. "You know it's what he wishes for every year of his birthday when blows that cake."

"I know that! How can you think that I don't?"

"Then why don't we?"

By this time, they were both shouting, but neither cared.

"Then why won't you marry me?" He repeated.

"I just can't!"

Reno threw the towel from his neck the floor. "I've already dealt with enough bullshit today, Yuffie. I don't need to hear any from you. Tell me why."

"Because I'm afraid that you'll just change your mind and leave!"

The anger that Reno was controlling slipped from his grasp. "Seven fucking years, Yuffie! Seven! I've been doing everything right, what the hell have I done to make you even think that I would leave you and my son?" Each word was followed by a step towards Yuffie, who stepped back. Up against the wall, Yuffie had nowhere to go when Reno slammed both hands on the wall, trapping her in between.

"I'm not ready, Reno... I told you." She replied, her voice trembling, Reno's closeness was making her nervous.

"No, that's what you told Brian, I'm not as stupid like that ass. Give me a better reason why you won't marry me."

"He wasn't asking me to marry him, he was asking me out on a date!" She snapped and Reno moved even closer.

"Give me a reason, Yuffie."

Yuffie blinked, trying to distance herself away, an impossible task considering that Reno has blocked all access for escape. "We... we don't have a normal relationship... you're the one that told me I'm allowed to go out!"

"I lied." Reno responded, taking full advantage of the situation. One way or another, they were going to resolve this issue. "So sue me."

Yuffie turned bright red at his reply. He was so close, his head bent down to look at her, their thighs almost touching. She could feel herself trembling as she thought of an answer. "You don't love me."

Reno smirked. "What's love got to do with it?"

Yuffie's jaw dropped as she felt her own anger rise. She placed both hands on his chest and shoved him away, only for Reno to grab her wrist and pinned it against her sides.

"Stupid jerk! And you're asking why I don't want to marry you?"

"Answer my question, Yuffie. What's love got to do with it?"

"Because I think it's important! How can you marry someone you don't love?"

"What makes you think I don't love you?"

At his question, All of Yuffie's thoughts faded away. "What... what are you saying?"

Reno let her wrists free as he held her face in his hands and held her gaze. Blue against gray, He risked it all. "What do you think?"

EnD Chapter