A Bit of Happiness
Summary: One-shot. A birthday fic for Cloud. AVALANCHE decides that the hero shouldn't have to spend his next birthday alone. Fluff.
His first birthday since the Crisis, since he had sorted through his memories and finally put an end to it all, and he was stuck spending it alone.
It was just his luck, really.
The house was as empty as it was when he had left it – empty and clean and quiet – and he let out a gentle sigh as he flipped on the light in the main room with a gentle brush of his hand. Another birthday by himself . . .
He had never had big birthday parties, even when he was a small child. Living with a single mother in the state that they were in caused him to have little money to hold a proper party, and he defiantly didn't have very many friends or family to invite to the bash. A small amount of guests meant a small amount of gifts. He was lucky if he managed to get a few new shirts every so often.
Of course, there was that one time that Tifa gave him that hideous doll, right before he left for Shin-Ra . . .
Brushing back that memory he frowned, shaking his head.
He was simply used to getting hardly any presents, having a homemade cake with sloppy cursive on it as a birthday wish, and having only two people to eat that cake together at a little wooden table in a one-room house.
Which was why he couldn't help but gasp as he cast another glance about the room, this time taking in all of the festive, glittering decorations and the heaps of confetti that were tossed across his carpeting and leading in a trail to his kitchen. Clean and tidy? Had he really been that lost in thought to not notice what his house really looked like . . . ?
Curious despite himself he kicked off his boots hastily, gathering them up and out of the path of the doorway to sit them to the side. Raising a single golden eyebrow he turned his attention once more to the room, taking in each decoration with a innocent sense of amazement.
The room seemed to be more lively with the shimmering additions, even if they did clash horribly with the dark, earthy colors of his living room. Vibrant, rainbow colored balloons were drifting lazily through the air in slow circles, others that hadn't been filled with helium blowing away from him as he moved the air with his strides. Strings of torn up construction paper made up the confetti, he realized, the strands tossed over everything from the living room to the hallway and probably beyond.
To top it all off, a large banner hung above the kitchen doorway, the letters that were pinned there in metallic blues, reds, greens and yellows saying "Happy Birthday Cloud" in a rather childish mixture of crooked font and falling strings.
A gentle sigh made its way from his lips at the sight, and he ran a hand through his hair, the smile that crossed his features going unnoticed even by him. Who in there right mind would take the time to–
"So, what do ya think, birthday boy? Did we do a good job?" Recognizing the voice almost immediately he turned on his heel, coming face to face with a set of vibrant sky blue eyes and a grin that he knew all too well.
"Why did you do this for me, Cid?" A gentle laugh worked its way from the pilot's chest, his hand clamping down on Cloud's shoulder and being used as a method to steer him into the kitchen that he had just turned away from.
"What . . . ?" His voice trailed off as he found himself standing in the doorway of his kitchen, several bright faces coming into his line of vision as various calls of "Happy Birthday" filled the air at his arrival. Startled he turned back to Cid, raising his eyebrow as if to ask the question he had asked before once again.
"Actually, it wasn't my idea. It was Vin's."
"And you had to walk out there before he could come in here and ruin the surprise, didn't you, Highwind?"
He didn't believe it.
Vincent arranged the idea? Vincent Valentine? They were talking about the same person, right . . .? Dark hair, red eyes, bad habit of ignoring everyone else . . .
His suspicions were shattered as said ex-Turk came up to him as well, a soft grin slipping onto pallid features as he took in the surprised expression that had covered the blonde's face.
"Is it really that hard to believe, Cloud? I do care, if you have not noticed yet."
He knew that Vincent cared, but enough to throw him a birthday party? How did they even know what day his birthday was?
"How did you–?"
"I told them." Turning away from Vincent he caught sight of dark brown eyes, a gentle gleam of admiration and amusement dancing in their depths at his rather confused and slow investigation. Right, even Tifa was in on this?
"We weren't entirely sure what day it was, so we went ta ask her. Figured it was the best idea."
All of them had gotten together to throw him a birthday party . . . ? A gentle frown creased his face as he glanced around the room, taking in the separate faces of the members of AVALANCHE, noticing absently that Nanaki and Reeve were absent from the crowd.
As if to pick up on what he was thinking Vincent shook his head. "Nanaki could not get here in time and Reeve was too busy with work, but both of them have sent you gifts and send their regards." A slender, pale finger rose to point to a small pile that he had glanced over in his shock, his eyes widening just slightly at the sight of the various objects.
". . . You guys really shouldn't have. It's not that important–"
"Whaddya mean 'it's not that important?' It's your birthday, kid. Lighten up a little and have fun."
"Yeah, the old man has a point. Come on Cloud, it'll be fun! We can have lots of cake – yeah, Tifa baked it, so I don't know if it's particularly good for you or not ("Shut up, Yuffie!") – and then you can open up all of your presents. I bet ya you're gonna like what I gotcha."
A cake, even? A party, with more than two people, presents, and a cake . . . ?
Startled he glanced around the group, the frown that had been previously painting his features fading away into the gentle upward tug of a grin.
It was nice to have people care, to know that he really didn't have to spend his birthday sitting at home by himself.
Even if those people happened to be this groupof idiots.
"So . . . Are we going to eat that mutated cake or is everyone just planning on standing there and staring at me all day?"
"Yeah! I call first piece!"
"Yuffie, birthday boy gets the first one! Not you!"
"Aww, please Tifa? Just this once?"
"She has a point, kid. It ain't your cake."
"But–!"
The smile on his lips widened as the small tussle broke out, his eyes turning to glance toward the taller man at his side with an appreciative laugh. "Really, you didn't–"
"Cloud. You deserved it. Just . . . have fun." He couldn't help but laugh at how absurd something like that sounded coming from Vincent's mouth and he shook his head, giving up on being modest. He did enjoy it.
"Just . . . Thanks, Val." A gentle brush of slender fingers bumped against his palm briefly and Cloud wrapped his hand around Vincent's, giving it a light squeeze to emphasize his gratitude.
"It was no problem, really." Vincent returned the gesture lightly himself before pulling away completely, the smile on his face clearly visible for the first time since they had met. "Now, I believe we should go prevent this fight from destroying your kitchen entirely."
". . . You're probably–"
"Dammit all Yuffie, get the hell back here!"
Crash!
". . . right . . ."
I desperately wanted to write something for Cloud's birthday – which is today, for anyone that didn't know – and this just came to mind. The idea of AVALANCHE throwing him a birthday party strikes me as cute. Hope you enjoyed it.
(Random: I have a pet fetish for Cloud calling Vincent 'Val,' so it's best not to ask about that one.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. If I did, there would be a lot more moments between Cid and Vincent and the Mako Crystal would have been a little bit different.