Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, characters and everything associated with the Final Fantasy world belong to Square Enix.

Summary: In which Cloud is late and rushes through his morning routine.

Warnings: Please note that some of the stories will contain spoilers or reference OG, Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus and Remake.

~No Time~

Cloud had slept through his alarm. The clock buzzed annoyingly loud and as soon as he glanced at the time, he muttered a curse under his breath and finally stumbled out of bed.

He was so late, he barely had time to comb through his gravity defying hair, brush his teeth or make himself look presentable.

If he didn't get this particular delivery to its destination on time, he would be losing a ton of good hard-earned money. This was a client he wanted to keep on good terms.

So he dashed through the hallway, practically somersaulting to avoid Denzel's pile toys scattered throughout the floor. Cloud recalled telling him to put away his belongings last night but obviously the kid did not listen. He'll scold him later.

Approaching the top of the stairs, Cloud leapt from the top to the very bottom, landing on one knee over the other without breaking sweat or a scratch. Too easy.

He skidded into the bar/kitchen area and swiftly gulped down his bitter black coffee. Despite it being very hot, it didn't bother him. He was a SOLDIER and could take on anything. After that, he peeled and devoured the last three bananas from the fruit bowl.

Whipping around, he roamed the corner of the bar area for the keys to his motorcycle. Upon locating them in the clear candy dish at the far opposite side from where he stood, Cloud went and slid down the bartop, and swiped the keys along the way.

Tifa, Marlene, Denzel and Barret watched in awe as Cloud completed the spectacular routine in just under ten minutes. Cloud made his way toward the garage and kissed each person down the row.

Two pecks each on Marlene's eyebrows, followed by a soft whisper, "Be a good angel to Tifa, Denzel and your Dad, got it?"

A pat on Denzel's crown-because he was a "grown up" boy who thought kisses had cooties-just before tousling his wavy chestnut hair. Cloud then gave him a warning with a wave of his index finger, "Put away those toys, or I'm gonna have to chop em' all up with my Buster sword."

For Tifa's soft sweet lips, a chaste kiss which lingered a few seconds longer than he planned.

And lastly, a smooch on Barret's right cheek.

Barret was caught by surprise by the gesture, wondering how the hell Cloud had not noticed the awkward kiss between them.

Cloud literally had to stand at the tip of his toes to reach Barrett's face, "Fool, what do you think you're doing?"

It had become a force of habit for Cloud to show his affection for his family. Barret was technically part of the family too, so why not?

"See you home later tonight, honey?" Cloud replied jokingly, giving the ex-Avalanche leader a cheeky smile.

Barrett scowled and attempted to give the blonde smartass a light punch, lunging forward ready to strangle, but Cloud quickly dodged away before stumbling out into the garage and jumped on top of Fenrir.

Cloud revved up Fenrir's engine and sped off toward Rocket Town.

~owari