AN: May 8 Prompt was "Favorite Relationships."

Cloud flips a pancake and hears Tifa laugh behind him.

"Did you really? How was it?"

He can hear Barret's excited shouting from here - Tifa is checking in with him and the kids. They're staying with him in Corel and are currently on a trip to the Gold Saucer.

Cloud and Barret didn't always get along. For a long time, Cloud wasn't sure if they'd ever understand each other. But he's always appreciated what Barret did for Tifa - taking her in, watching out for her, never abandoning her. Sometimes Cloud regrets that someone else had to take care of her when he couldn't, even though he knows it's not his fault, but at least it was someone with a good heart. Barret became like a new father for Tifa - she looks up to him in many ways, even when they disagree. She can be honest with him while also seeing his perspective. And after traveling through Corel a couple of years ago, Cloud can say that he and Tifa finally had a much deeper understanding of this man who claimed he only wanted to save the planet.

Barret had his demons, and he almost let them catch up to him. But he had Tifa, and Cloud, and lead him out of his own darkness.

Tifa always maintains that she owes him her life. She was struggling to find any real direction in Midgar, beginning to feel lost in the sea of people that inhabit the slums. Afraid of becoming another cog in the wheel and that her hatred would consume her. But Barret gave her a purpose. Even though she always had issues with their methods, Tifa loved Avalanche with all her heart because they became her family - Barret, their father and leader, holding everyone together with his strength and will. Barret showed her that she could strike back against Shinra - even though he never knew what her exact motivations were until their journey, he knew she needed to do more. He understood her feelings of helplessness, understood her drive and determination - Barret saw a lot of himself in Tifa. He wanted to help her, so he invited her into the fold.

"Marlene rode that rollercoaster by herself?!"

Cloud chuckles as he adds a pancake to the stack and starts another. Marlene helps keep them all grounded, as precocious and observant as she is. Sometimes when the adults were too busy being stubborn, she would be the one to say what needed to be said. Cloud is grateful that Tifa had Marlene to lean on during their rough period, though Tifa hates to admit how much she depended on the child. But Marlene has depended on Tifa since she was a baby, and Tifa has beautifully filled the motherly role for her. Tifa has done as much for her as she could, raising her like she were her own, and Cloud marvels at the amount of love that radiates from that woman's heart. He remembered speaking to Marlene about Tifa once he returned home, and she'd told him that she didn't mind if Tifa depended on her - Tifa had done and sacrificed so much for her that she would do anything to help. And even though Cloud knows that's no position for a child to be in, he knows it comes from the love that Tifa has put into her.

"You can tell Denzel that I didn't like that hotel much either… some of the effects are so corny but some are a little too realistic."

Cloud presents her with a hearty stack of pancakes and a cup of orange juice. Her eyes light up in that brilliant way he's always loved, and he leans across the counter to kiss her forehead before getting back to work. Her love for the young boy started out of some mixture of guilt and pity - it did for them both. He was a victim of the sector seven plate collapse and Geostigma was killing him. They related all too much to him. But, their love - and Tifa's especially - blossomed into something neither one of them could have predicted, and Denzel's adoration for them grew as well. He was like the final piece to their little family, and just when they thought they couldn't love anymore, they found out they could.

He joins Tifa at the counter as she's wrapping up her call.

"I love you too! We'll see you soon. And Cloud sends his love as well."

He only smiles as he begins to eat.