IV.
A strange array of symptoms
Suddenly, a lot of things made sense. Why Tifa was so tired all the time; why she was extra, extra sick. Why her tummy was swelling so rapidly, organs squished and shuffled and sore.
There are two babies in there… Denzel's brain all but dissolved!
He gaped at the curving knoll of evidence. Two babies… Two…
"She must be super good at hide-and-seek." (Now that they knew their heroine was home to a second life, Marlene had strong hopes for a sister.)
"Mhhh…" Tifa shoveled a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
Shoveled. She's eating for–… Three!
"Dinn'liketheprobewunnbitt."
Denzel swallowed. She must be so hungry…
Her bump respiring with soft, rhythmic breaths.
And... full…
"Fled like it was a Tonberry," Cloud's arm stretched lazily behind Tifa's shoulders. "The doc spent fifteen minutes trying to see if he was a boy. Until the other one gave him a kick and he turned right away from us."
Marlene giggled heartily. "That sounds like you two when Mr. Rufus visits."
Her guardians laughed. "Nodjuzzthescantho… Neetherovem like keeping stilladdawwl."
"Just like their mother," the bladesman quipped.
"And daddy," said Marlene.
"And daddy," Tifa agreed.
Merlot and mako locked fondly before the girl's curiosities (re)surged.
"So they really won't be identical?" she asked.
Tifa smiled down at her, "No… Identical twins grow in one placenta, but these little ones each have their own."
"Pla-senta?" Denzel pondered aloud. Wine met his stare and he blushed.
"They're growing in their own… bubbles," Tifa explained. "And inside those bubbles are amniotic sacs, which protect them and give them nutrients from my belly."
She stroked her rounding jersey as she spoke. Or, Cloud's jersey. Denz watched the loving trail of her fingers. She did that quite often now…
Between them, Marlene's moosey eyes creased in thought. "Are the amny-yottic sacs like… oxygen bubbles?"
"Kind of…" their guardian reached for the popcorn again. "They do give the babies oxygen… But they're filled with a special fluid too, which they can swallow."
"Is that all the food and drinks you have?"
"Some of it. They're made up of lots of things. They're… kindalikushinsdoo."
Edible cushions… Denz gawked at her caress.
Wow… he blinked dazedly. Pregnancy is… weird...
Moose mirrored his astonishment. "So… Tifa… will your tummy grow twice as big?"
"Well…" the addressed's tone held a nervousness, "bigger than it would with one baby."
Cloud gave her a squeeze and she smiled up blushingly. Cocoa lit up, "Ooooh! How big?" and he gently reached out.
His hand stopped near Tifa's knees, evoking gawks from their spectators. "No way!" Denz blurted in defiance. Her tummy couldn't grow that big! "That's impossible!"
"Not for twins," the man replied seriously. "These little guys have plenty of growing to do."
Marlene beamed. "Awww, you're gonna look beautiful, Tifa. We'll go shopping with Yuffie for pretty mommy-dresses, and Cloud can have all his shirts back!"
Tifa's cheeks turned crimson. "Um… thanks, sweetie…" She chewed her bottom lip a little as eyes of said hue met sea.
Denz watched her, brow in a wrinkle. The ninja had – more than once – insisted on taking Tifa shopping before the day's news. But the young to-be-mother seemed to be putting it off…
Her tummy was probably making her super nervous, the boy thought. Especially now… with… double the lives inside…
And Cloud…Behind the man's besotted daze pooled an… uneasiness. Its mako glow etched with a look that, for some reason, made Denz a little anxious too.
The couple smiled, tension trumped by the unspoken love in their gaze. Then Cloud looked down, free hand flattening a crease over Tifa's womb.
"If my shirts are gonna be intact…" he smoothed the wrinkled cloth of topic. His lips tugged harder at her mock scowl before drowning it with a kiss.
"Eww!" the children covered their eyes, as Tifa hugged his hand with both her own and tilted upward.
Her tummy wasn't the only thing growing… Denzel peeped through his fingers. At their (extra) unsettling grins, he had the suspicion that their newfound PDA was on purpose…
Marlene's cringe wasn't enough to save his mushy brain though, and sky's gaze, for the hundredth time that evening, glued itself back to bump.
Was Tifa's tummy really going to grow that big? Was that what Cid had meant by her becoming a Bomb?
No – Cid didn't even know there were two babies in there! He had thought she'd look like a Bomb with just one!
The to-be-mom beamed wider, chasing Cloud's lips when he pulled away, and as merlot opened to half-lidded a world of affection was exchanged.
"Kicking?" he searched her softly.
"Yeah," she smiled back down.
She petted tenderly along her left, "This little one especially."
Mako twinkled. "Working hard on his hello for us, huh?"
"Mmm…" she hummed, augmenting their touch on her right. "They both are."
"Or she," Marlene enthused and Tifa wrapped her up in a cuddle.
"Or she," latter kissed former's temple, watching her feel.
"I hope one's a girl…" Marlene muffled into her. "Cait Sith can't always be wrong, can he?"
Cloud grinned. "He did bargain on one baby, so you might be in luck…"
"Maybe… this one – since she kicks less… I hope we feel them soon."
"You will," Tifa assured. "They're growing strong, like their papa."
Cloud's eyes shone as they traced her tummy, and Denz swallowed the sudden little lurch in his own.
Mako held its timidity, yet seethed with the love of the cosmos. The boy reached for the popcorn bowl, disappointed to find it empty.
"Twins?" Mira echoed, night's orbs wide in their sockets.
"Yeah," Denz whispered quickly as he gave the playground a scan.
His butterflies calmed again, grip on his swing-bars slackening. No buggy-eyed or freckly faces were in sight. And the group of kids by the slide were well out of earshot.
Though, still, the boy couldn't hide his blush…
"But Tifa's had tummy scans before, right? How did a whole baby get missed?"
"'Cause the sonoggiffer lady was an idiot."
Mira blinked curiously, and Denz's cheeks grew hotter.
Dammit. Just like Marlene… Why were girls so interested in all this… baby stuff?!
"It happens sometimes," he mumbled, trying to recall Tifa's words. "But that's normally with identical twins… something about separate sacs and stuff, where one can hide behind the other."
"O…kay…?"
"But the babies aren't identical... so… well… the sonoggiffer missed a whole sac."
"Wow…"
"Yeah… Cloud said she was totally useless."
Cloud had cursed the doctors too, for not having checked things properly with Tifa's severe and supposedly "early" sickness. Cloud had not been pleased with Edge Medical Centre at all. In fact, Denz was certain he'd phoned every doctor in Midgar last night…
"…direct exposure, and Jenova from me with the uh, microchimeri–… sorry? …Yes, direct... Well, Tifa just on the thir– my third time… With the Soldier procedure, and then um, in North Crater I– and I've had Geostigma too…"
XxXxXxXxXx
"…not poisoning. Well, Tifa didn't get poisoning. I got poisoning– twice. But not the third time – in the Lifestream… Come again…? The Lifestream… yeah… literally, like I said, we both–… hello…?"
XxXxXxXxXx
"…hyper-exposure without over-exposure, or poisoning, you know? And the uh… hang on, what was it again… hyperemesis gravy–… gravidarum… She's got it rough, Doc. Really rough… oh, um, no…? I don't think she has… yeah… n– no, I don't think–… wait. What's eclampsia?"
XxXxXxXxXx
"So how big is her tummy now?" Mira's voice drowned the boy's musings.
His lips tugged softly, "It's a bump." He released the swing-bars, drew an arch before his middle, "A real bump."
The girl grinned.
"But," Denzel stretched his arm out dramatically. "Cloud says it's gonna be this big."
"No way," his friend gasped. "Her tummy can't grow that big!
"Yup," he nodded smartly. "It can for twins. These little guys have plenty of growing to do. I'm telling you, she's gonna be a Bomb."
Accompanying the aches as their (Bomb-to-be) heroine stretched and swelled, the babies' flutters (Babies. Babies.) brought a fresh joy to her 'glow'. A beauty that overshadowed her persistent fatigue and nausea – along with an additional array of strange symptoms.
XxXxXxXxXx
"Gaia, that looks revolting."
Tifa followed Yuffie's gaze to her pickles and peanut butter. "Mmmm, well," she petted her abdomen, "the little ones wanted both…"
XxXxXxXxXx
"Um, Tifa…? You sure that's a good idea?"
"S'fiiiiine..." she gorged through her fourth helping of lemon pie. Rubbed her (chock-full and apparently) starving stomach, "'mmeatin' f'three, Mar'ene…"
XxXxXxXxXx
"It's Buster tonight."
Cloud caught her hips with a stagger, lips seized unabashedly before he'd made it through the door.
"The whole shebang?" Cait Sith blinked as their bellies molded together.
Yuffie smirked evilly. "Mmmmmh… the whole shebang…"
Denz didn't know why on earth all the adults kept talking about swords lately. Nor why their guest was wearing such a creepy grin, chuckling in his country brogue.
"Mmmmm, welcome home…" But the boy rued not looking away sooner, as Tifa enhanced their lip-lock in a way that would scar him well up until the time her womb was ready to pop.
He turned to help an awestruck Marlene with her wordfind.
Puzzles that made sense.
Pregnancy is really weird…
XxXxXxXxXx
Scratch that. Love is really weird.
Denz was certain the couple's… thumping that night had nothing to do with the Buster Sword.
"Tifa–… mmph…"
"Mmmgghh… more…"
"Mmmmmgghhh…"
"Before– rmmm'mawhale–… mmmggghh–… rrnnnngghhhmmmmmggghhh…"
Denz couldn't decide whether their moans and Tifa's pleas for… whatever through the wall were more perplexing or scarring.
Not that said thumping was… new, per say… Between their wedding night and Tifa becoming pregnant – boy, were those nights a story.
Though with her hyper-emmy-gravy-whatever now, such occurrences were rare.
"Rrmmmmmggnnnnnnnggghhh… Ohhhh… Cloouuud…"
Thankfully.
Denz yanked his pillow over his head. What in Gaia were they doing in there?!
Of course, there were other mysteries too.
Like the (insisted) fact that the babies' sleep schedule somehow – perfectly – aligned with Tifa's work schedule.
"The movement rocks them," she explained to a trio of squiggled brows. The blondest of which only teemed with concern, its owner leaping up to the reach high shelves for her like a Ho-chu.
Nights, however (in the hyper-gravy-non-thumping sense), were the opposite story. Not to mention (two lives wriggling in Tifa aside) the growing toll now suffered by her bladder. Which, of course, led to additional tolls on rest – and not just for the exhausted mother-to-be.
When the babies couldn't sleep, Tifa couldn't sleep. Which also meant that Cloud couldn't sleep.
And unfortunately – curse his hearing – Denz found himself in that circle too.
Which may not have been so bad if the couple's insomnia didn't coincide with his midnight drink ventures. In which – adding to up-end and bladder revolts – the boy was amazed to stumble upon a third cause.
Grrrwwwwwwwwwmmmm.
"Sorry I woke you…"
Dark a cover, he crouched on the bottom stair, peering across the bar to find them on the rug between couches. Tifa was curled in Cloud's lap, bump beneath their fingers. Beside them: an empty box of rice crackers; a half-consumed jar of peanut butter; and a tin the boy could have sworn had been brimming with dried banana chips before bed.
"I'm sorry…" merlot drifted up, smile bashful. "I couldn't ignore it anymore."
"It's fine," Cloud chuckled, kissing her forehead. "Besides, I couldn't let you eat the whole pantry by yourself. There'd be nothing left for the kids' lunchboxes."
A defiant growl resounded between them. He blinked, stroking its source incredulously, "Still hungry…?"
Tifa gazed down through hooded lids. "Mmmmm… starving…"
Her stomach burbled again, wine heavily drifting shut. "I'm so hungry, Cloud…" she murmured into his neck. "I'm so hungry…"
Denzel gawked. She'd been eating the whole day!
Well, more like snacking really, but–… the whole day!
Even those new crackers that tasted like cardboard and… well, there was a reason that banana chip tin had been full…
"Tiiiiiiiifaaa?"
"Hm? What's the matter, sweetie?"
Marlene's head popped out from the freezer, "What happened to the ice-cream?"
"Oh…we, um… ran out."
"Did you forget to buy more?"
Denz blinked up from his comic. Tifa never forgot to by ice-cream!
Especially the Cosmo Caramel flavor she now craved like a Hungry!
The kids watched their guardian worriedly as guilt crossed her features. Lowering her dishtowel, she gnawed her lip. "Look… there's… something we need to talk about…"
XxXxXxXxXx
"What about the bills?"
Denzel stared at the floorboards. The knot in his chest tautened at the leap in Marlene's tone.
"The bills are fine, sweetie. We've just got a lot to think about, with two babies on the way, and…"
Tifa's voice trembled a little. Cloud gave her an encouraging look.
"We're gonna cut back on luxuries a bit… for a little while... That's all…"
Is this my fault? Denz frowned at a lengthy crack. Would they be doing this if…
…if they had that special grant money…?
"I could pay for ice-cream," his sister offered with enthusiasm. "I've got 220 gil in Moggie – and that ten from Daddy last month."
Hope quickened the boy's pulse. "Yeah! We can both help – together!"
A feeling that vanished quick as it'd come at Cloud's tense and the swirl in bourbon.
"That's really kind of you two," Tifa smiled back guiltily. "But you keep your money, alright? Cloud and I will work something out."
Said working-out had ended up a mix of lame healthy stuff. A change which, while supposedly good for the babies, seemed to make Tifa's queasiness worse.
"No more," she mumbled at her husband's offer of a 'pickled cruskit'. She rubbed her congested and warbling upper-tummy, "I'm so full, but its like my belly doesn't know I've eaten…"
That night Tifa was so sick that Denzel ended up sleeping with a bladder full. A resignation at getting up twice to find the bathroom occupied with – severe – retching.
"You should get some sleep…" she muffled woozily through the door. "Tomorrow's deliveries… you're gonna be exhausted…"
"Then I'll be exhausted," Cloud murmured back. "I'm with you. I'm not going anywhere."
"No… please… I just want–… I just w– want you to be safe and–… uuurpp…!"
"I'll be focused, I promise," he soothed as her tummy (noisily) resumed its upheaval. "You just focus on yourself for once. That's–"
"Uuuurgkhh!"
"–w– what'll assure me…"
"I'm sorry…" Tifa croaked after a long session of dry-heaves. "I'm sorry, I–… ooogh… oooooghh, I feel so ill…"
"Shhhhh, it's alright, Teef… Just t–… try to rest…"
A shuffling followed, "Here…" with Cloud's voice, a tender muffle. "We'll take a container to bed, okay? Just let me know when you're ready…"
"Mmmmmhh…" Tifa muffled back, "…Cloud… I… thank you…"
"I'm with you…" he murmured devotedly. "Just rest now… try to rest…"
Their brief calm was interrupted by a gargle. And a fresh onslaught of nausea by the slur in Tifa's voice.
"I don't think…" she breathed shakily, "they like c– cod after all..."
Stupid, fussy babies! Denzel's gut coiled a little tighter.
Grrrooouuuwwwwmmm.
In their present cuddle, the warbles from Tifa's tummy resumed. Cloud's hand smoothed beneath his (ex-)shirt, caressing the knoll of her skin.
"Still not sharing, huh?" his tone masked the emotion in mako. Glittering sea-hued pools of… Denzel frowned… sorrows and guilt?
"Mmmmh…" Tifa hummed into his collarbone, "but they love demanding…"
Cloud kissed her hair, rubs making tender rumples in the fabric. "They're growing so fast…" she muffled drowsily, "I think they have your appetite."
Denzel's lips twitched a little. With all the mako seethed in his cells, Cloud's appetite matched the rest of the family's put together.
Well, that was until Tifa had fallen pregnant. Though she was – literally – eating for half the family…
"Maybe…" Cloud mused with the softest of smiles. "Though not in the selectivity department."
His wife chuckled. "Mmmmhh… that's not from me either. Though…" her leaden lids drifted shut, "I'm definitely carrying two yous…"
A powerful burble followed, and Cloud was overtaken with compassion. She burrowed into him embarrassedly, blushing as he scooped her up.
"Let me make you something decent," he murmured, settling her on the sofa. She made to sit but before he could protest, fatigue pulled her back down.
"Rest," he whispered, kissing her brow. "I won't cook you poison, I promise."
Tifa gave him a half guilty half revering smile.
"Besides…" his free palm massaged her tummy, "we want 'em to keep it all in this time."
Bourbon held sea, love seething through tiredness.
"Now, when my appetite needed filling as a kid… Mom used to grill me a good old pear and cheese sandwich."
Tifa smiled sleepily. "Pear and cheese…?"
"Yup. They say it's great for pregnancy too." Cloud's thumb brushed tenderly atop her hairline, "Let's see… Fiber, potassium, and a bit of extra folate… cheddar in the place of feta… and… mozzarella for the taste buds."
Adoration filled merlot. "How do you know all this?"
"I did my homework," the man blushed a little. "Figured she must've lived off the stuff while pregnant with me."
Tifa chuckled. "From whose demands, I wonder…"
"Well…" he augmented his fondle. "I didn't have the exact genetics of these two back then."
"If their taste buds come from your side though, it might just mean a settlement."
Cloud grinned. "So we're on? We'll have to make do without the mozzarella though…"
"Mmmmh…" Tifa searched him lovingly. "A pear and cheese sandwich sounds wonderful."
A burble resounded as if on cue, and the couple smiled down. The young mom hugged her husband's knuckles, "You've got a threefold yes."
Cloud's expression grew longing as a silence settled between them. But by its fall a few seconds later, still only Tifa could feel the kicks.
He leaned in to place a kiss on her brow. "Let's get these little Hungries fed…"
"Thank you…" wine succumbed to exhaustion. Only to immediately drift back open.
"The kids… I haven't yet… could you do their lunches too…?"
"Of course," Cloud murmured lovingly.
"Thanks… they're not a fan of the new rice crackers, so I've just been adding a bar. Though the hazelnut's got gluten, so give Denz one of the others… Oh, and in the fridge… on the second shelf there's–"
"Grapes and yoghurt?" her husband finished tenderly. His lips returned to her forehead, "Vanilla for Denz, strawberry for Marlene."
Tifa hummed quietly, muffle unintelligible. "Now rest…" Cloud murmured into her brow, and she snuggled up with the cushions.
Denz snuck back to bed with a throat dry in more ways than one. Which, of course, only appeased his insomnia.
Denzel…
Denzel…
"Denzel! You still on the Planet, boy?!"
Denzel opened heavy lids, to the monobrowed frown of Mr Dicker.
"Think it's funny to take a kip here?" he growled, dangling The History of Knowlespole in his face. "Well, you can continue after reading paragraph 6 to the class."
The boy reddened wildly, realizing his snickering audience.
XxXxXxXxXx
"What's with you lately?" Mira fidgeted absently with her plush doll. Heels thudding back and forth against her tyre, "You look like a Black Water zombie."
The boy found his lips in a quirk. It was a private joke between them, having shared the – literal – experience together. Not that he could truly remember much, though, between stepping into the lake in Forgotten City and waking up beneath Tifa's motionless body under the Shinra Monument.
Thud.
Thud.
"So…?" Mira's shoulder gave his a nudge. "Are you?"
Sky locked with dusk, catching her message. Are you okay?
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
"It's the stupid babies…"
"The babies?"
Thud. Thud. Denzel glared down to find his own feet in a swing.
He scowled at the woodchips, "They demand food all night, and then decide that they don't like any of it."
"And…"
Thud.
"…this is affecting you…?"
Thud. Thud, thud.
"Off course."
Mira's lips tugged.
Thud, thud, thud.
He frowned.
She burst into chuckles.
Denzel blinked up at her, brow knitting tight. "What's so funny?" he demanded, but she only laughed harder.
Dusk grinned, "You're, like, the pro-est eavesdropper ever."
"What?!" the boy blurted, blushing wildly. "I don't eavesdrop!"
"In the middle of the night. Uh-huh."
"It's–… it's the mako or whatever– from the Black Water!" I can't help that I hear everything. And besides–… you have it too!"
"Uh-huh." The girl's smirk only widened, and at its knowing jestfulness Denzel sighed in defeat.
"Fine… I… eavesdrop. But only sometimes! And, it's only when… well… only because…"
He blinked, frown returning to the ground. Why did he do it, exactly…?
"You're worried about her," Mira said quietly.
"I…"
That was partly it…
"Yeah…"
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Is she still really sick?"
"Yeah. She tries to hide it, but… I just feel… bad, you know?"
"Well…" Mira nudged him playfully. "It's not like you can grow the babies."
Denzel's mouth twitched a little. That much was true…
Plus, it's not like Tifa would let him buy the ice-cream…
"Well, for what it's worth," his friend leaned in conspiratorially, "you made the Cetra's migration sound way more fun than Mr. Dicker."
Meeting night's tease, the boy's cheeks grew a little warmer. "So…" Mira twirled the little pink pom of her plushie. "For the project, would you like to–?"
"Denz! Mira!"
Brock's voice rang loudly across the playground, followed by Alfie's. "There you are!"
Denz jumped, heart ajolt as they watched the duo approach. "Don't tell them," he muttered quickly, soothed by Mira's smile.
"Mr Dicker was mean," said Alfie, plopping on the tyre opposite them. "And boring. Denz wasn't the only one asleep!"
Mira chuckled.
"You okay though?" Brock asked. "You look really out of it."
"I'm fine," Denz mumbled quickly. The two boys eyed him suspiciously.
"Denz is working on his zombie skills," said Mira. "Ex-Geostigma flare-up, you know."
Alfie and Brock's expressions turned solemn.
"Oh."
"Well… that sucks."
Sky and dusk exchanged the smallest of smiles. Thanks… (Being the only ones in the group to have had the illness, said lie was a handy scapegoat.)
"Oh, speaking of zombies…" Alfie's eyes lit with excitement. "The new Moats and Monsters expansion pack is coming out next month!"
"Really?" Denz enthused, heaviness dissolving. "When?"
"The 15th. Though, Junon gets it on the 1st."
"Is that the Blue Dragon one?" asked Mira.
"Ark Dragon," the boys replied.
"What's the difference?"
Alfie's jaw dropped, eyes popping dramatically. Then he leapt off his tyre.
"Only that the Ark Dragon is the coolest, most badass Monster on the Planet! It has six wings and a super long neck – like a snake – and it breathes fire!"
"Flame Thrower is one of its Abilities," Denz explained to the girl. "The Blue Dragon uses Ice type moves, and its massive."
"But it's really fat and its wings are too small to fly!"
"That's why the Ark Dragon's Alf's favorite," said Brock. "Even though the Blue Dragon's stronger."
Their buggy-eyed friend looked ready to burst from his skin and take flight himself. "Yeah, but Strength isn't everything. Right Denzel?"
The addressed grinned. "Nope. No stat is on its own. Except for Speed."
"Says the Monk-in-training," Brock smirked.
Mira giggled. "And the Moats and Monsters master."
Denzel beamed proudly, warmth flooding his chest. Cloud and Tifa had taught him all the tricks in the book – not to mention the latter's firsthand training with–
"Not for much longer."
Alfie crossed his arms defiantly, and the former's heart sank, recalling his non-Monk status at present…
"Next month I'm gonna be the master! You'll see."
Next month was out too… And the four after…
And then… Denz swallowed… With double the distraction…
Dread filled the boy's belly. Would Tifa have time to train him?
What if having babies meant that she… couldn't anymore, and–
"So you guys decided what you're doing for the project yet?"
"No," Alfie's snort broke his thoughts. "We're not starting for another three weeks!"
"Yeah but, we have to have our partners and topics decided by Friday," said Brock.
"What? Since when?"
"Class an hour ago," Mira giggled. "Were you listening to Mr Dicker at all, Alfie?"
Said boy blushed.
"Of course not," Brock snickered. "He only woke up when Denz started reading."
Denz couldn't help but chuckle. (Though admittedly, he'd missed those instructions too…)
Alfie scrunched his face in a long moment of thought. "Well, I'll pick right now then… I begs the War in Wutai!"
Dammit…! Denzel thought, smirk fading. Why didn't I think of that?!
As much as he loved his friend, Alfie was a terrible homework partner…
"What about you, Denz?" Mira asked curiously.
"Oh, um…" The boy squiggled his brow.
Wutai would mean a huge advantage, literally having the heiress living under his roof…! But then again, this was only the first assignment of three… so he could save that for the big one…
We need outside sources for research… the boy thought to himself, on a conflict… Well, with his guardians' friend group, that wouldn't be a problem…
He could do Nibelheim… But… his chest sank, that would give Cloud and Tifa an extra burden with all their work…
The Battle of the Gi in Cosmo Canyon? He could call–… Nah. Nanaki can't use a phone…
Vincent knew a lot about Nibelheim too… and Forgotten Capital… But, dammit, Denz was pretty sure Vincent didn't even own a phone!
As for Rocket Town… well, Rocket Town was boring… Which left only one sure option… "I dunno, maybe, Corel."
"Oh, I wanna do Corel," said Brock. He shot the boy a hopeful smile. "Let's be partners, then?"
"Sure..." Denz nodded, catching the disheartened look in dusk. Earlier, was Mira going to ask him to…?
Just at his gut's guilty twitch, the bell rang, ending recess.
"So can we do it at yours?" his freckled friend asked while they walked back to the classroom, sending a fresh flutter through Denz's intestine.
"Oh, um– how 'bout yours this time?" he said quickly, cheeks reddening.
Brock frowned. "It'll be too noisy."
"Oh, uh– same," Denz lied. "The bar's gonna be super busy…"
"How come?"
He inwardly cringed. "Tifa, um… she's got a ton of work to catch up on– since she's been sick, y'know? Yours is cool."
"Oh." Disappointment crept across Brock's face. "Well… okay then… but my sisters are gonna annoy us…"
His friend smiled, relief sinking in. "Aw, c'mon… your sisters aren't that bad…"
"They're bad," Brock said seriously. "And Darcy's teeth are growing now. She cries, like, 24/7…"
"Oh yeah…?" Denz chuckled nervously.
"Yup. Babies suck. Especially baby sisters… They cry over–… everything. And by cry I mean scream."
Denz cringed, imagining a wine-eyed, blonde-tufted creature of said description; an icky substance trickling her bib while she wailed in Tifa's arms. And another, this one a male, tugging Cloud's wayward spikes. Dribbling while his lungs projected a rival chorus, sticky fists flailing all around…
Brock sighed, nose wrinkling in unpleasant memory. "You're lucky, you know," he said seriously, "with Marlene."
The boy swallowed, chest sinking in doom.
Two of them…
He was getting two of them…
TBC