52.

Cloud made his way down the stairs, the words spoken under his son's breath, pounding dully into his mind.

"I wouldn't be calling you…"

You.

You, who may be the biological father, are not the father I recognize. You threw that man out after you broke his heart, took everything from him, and left him with a house that might as well be a tomb of old memories. You're not fit to help anybody so how can you be called a father? You're barely a man.

When Cloud reached the kitchen, Sephiroth was standing at the island, an open newspaper infront of him and two cups of coffee beside that. The blond took a seat at one of the stools across from the silveret. Sounds of loose pages being turned, caffeine being nursed, and the low humming of the refrigerator passed through Cloud, who was lost in numbing thoughts while staring down at his own dark mug.

He'd always harboured some jealousy towards the older man –amplified and mixed with embarrassment now that they shared a household. It was wrong to compare. He knew this. But it was entirely inevitable for the thoughts, cowering at the back of his mind, to come forth at least once in a while. Because of the marital status; because of the fact that it was a homosexual relationship; because it was Sephiroth, comparisons cannot help but be made, and the result left one word in Cloud's mind: diminutive. Cloud exhaled the thought as he brought the coffee mug to his lips.


Sephiroth lifted his gaze from an article about General Motors to his husband, not failing to notice that the soft sigh had not been intended to just cool the coffee he was drinking. The tired, glassy look beneath hooded eyelids was unmistakable.

He'd known of the tension between Cloud and Roxas for quite some time, which had slowly ascertained the relationship of the twins with the Leonhart. He'd known Cloud for many years and had been seeing his for just over a month. (Fast, yes. He was aware.) And in that time, Sephiroth had come to learn many things about the man he decided to spend the rest of his life with. Among them was the tendency for Cloud Strife to sulk.

He was a proud man, had a strong core, and quite a large ego. Cloud was ambitious and had a great sense of purpose. It was Cloud's aura of strength that had first attracted him in the first place. Cloud loved doing things his way and having control. So when along comes a person who just won't have being told what to do, Cloud's great ego becomes greatly hurt. All that strength, all that power, converts to major brooding. In other words: 'when it rains it pours'.

"How did you do it?"

"Which?" Sephiroth returned.

"Raise four kids, three of them past their teens."

The older man took a beat, regarding his husband apparently asking for the 'secret key of parenting'.

Sephiroth sipped his coffee, briefly wondering about the best and truest way to do this.

"There was a time, when the boys were about four or five, when they all had ear infections. All four of them," Sephiroth stated. "It would start off as though it were a cold. But then they would get a high fever. And when it didn't get better they would be crying all night, not sleeping, barely being able to lie down for more than a few minutes, it was horrible. I don't know where Loz found the endless supply of air to cry. Yazoo kept picking or pulling at his ears and playing with the pus that came out. And about a year later when Kadaj had gotten it, the child actually lost some of his balance for a while –it was very worrisome.

"I believe those were the days the Crescent family had never had so many headaches. If it wasn't because of the infection, it was because of the constant crying. My boys could belt and my ears would be ringing for hours." Sephiroth paused, and the side of his lips quirked into a small, somewhat rueful, smile. "So I told myself one night, when I had finally gotten Kadaj to sleep for at least twenty minutes: 'these children rely on me. Who else will be there for them, if not me?' It's easy to shut the door and let them scream and cry. But I held them for hours and days because as tired and pained as I was, I knew they had it worse. When you're a child, everything feels as though it is indeed the worst." Cloud blinked, a smile of his own forming at the story.

"And then, of course, six years later, Riku went through a similar phase." Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at the memories, sipping his coffee, though still not without the gracefulness of his arm lifting the cup and setting it down. "Ah, but teenagers. Teenagers," he mused. "I heard this saying once, a while ago, that went: 'you're not raising kids, you're raising future adults.' When Loz left for college, there was the most surreal feeling in our house for the longest time. It was then that I did some reflecting, on how I faired as a parent, and I'm sure many others have done this at some point. I thought of the things I did to teach him discipline, the answers I gave when he came to me with questions, the way I shaped his view at life, and what that would mean for him." A long pause followed, and the silence was palpable.

Cloud absently added 'voice' to his mental list of why he was so in awe of the Crescent, at some point during the story. Sephiroth's voice had such musicality to his way of speaking, the man could be talking about manure and the listener would still feel educated and enriched just from standing within earshot. With such a deep, rolling, smooth tone, the silence that follows stands no chance and for some reason it feels like the air has changed. After Sephiroth breathes a sentence, the air, the atmosphere, the world is never the same. And it's so very obvious.

"I can say that not all of the things I did were necessarily correct, but it sums up to a lesson for both the parent and the offspring. If something is not working, you acknowledge it and move on. Eventually, you'll try something else."

Sephiroth downed the last of his coffee and placed the empty cup in the sink. He walked towards Cloud, grasped the man's shoulders and dropped a small kiss to his cheek, before exiting the kitchen to prepare for work.

'There is no secret key to parenting.'


No words can describe how happy I am to have updated.

YHS
xDelfin