Wonderful World (the extension package):

Happy Father's Day
A previously undocumented event taking place in the AU parody inspired by "As Good As It Gets".

Wow, I've sure been away for a while now. I'd kick myself in a place of good impact, but my feet don't reach that angle.

...I was very, very certain that I would not be writing any more on this one, cos' I didn't know where I'd go without tarnishing the good name of the movie it was inspired by. But then the kids talked me into it.

No, not my kids; I don't have any. I mean my usual "accomplices" of Flypipe and Howling. Those kids. One of them insisted I left it off with so much room to continue, the other kept throwing ideas at me like I was a savage Tonberry on the march.

First of all, I want to mention and credit sakurabatou for inspiration; reading the doujinshi prompted me to try again.

To everyone, I just want to say thank you, for the encouragement, for the reviews, and for the inspiration.

One in a series of Father's Day specials. Hope I make it in time.

"... Five more minutes..." was the mumbled promise. There was no one to really respond to: his current and only "drinking buddy" was the bartender himself, busy with cleaning his glasses.

Old Pride Leonhart swirled the glass of Corel Alcohol in his hand, staring distractedly as the dark liquid spun in its own miniature whirlpool before him. Then he tilted his head back and downed the whole glassful in one swallow.

When he came back up for air, he found himself coughing, choking on his own breath.
... Used to down a whole bottle without breaking a sweat; I am getting old...

As he poured himself a second glassful, he heard the chime of the bell as the door swung open hurriedly. Then he smirked as he heard the shocked gasp of what had to be the receptionist.

"Mr. President! I-!"

"Quick! I was supposed to meet someone an hour ago! Table for Leonhart! One 'e', no 'i'! Is he still here?"

"Uh...yessir, Mr. President! He's by the bar-"

Barely gushing a word of thanks, President Laguna Loire hurried pass the stunned receptionist and the equally stunned crowd. Even as he seated himself, the air was filled with hushed murmurs.

Then Pride decided he had had enough, and turned to face the still hovering civilians.

"Nothing to see here, soldier...now take your girlfriend somewhere else! DISMISSED!"

The murmurs paused, then the indignant crowd slowly dispersed once more. With a defeated sigh, Pride swung back around and downed another glassful of alcohol.

Beside him, Laguna blinked, regained himself, and started chuckling as he shook his head.
"...still can't leave the army, can you?"

"Get off my back," Pride mumbled, setting the glass back down as he stifled another cough.

At that moment, the bartender approached them. "Can I get you anything, Mr. President?"

"A bottle of what he's having, and sudden mass-amnesia to make everyone here forget I'm in charge of their city. Thank you."

Then the bartender hurried away, and the two men were left sitting by the counter, finally left in peace.

"So...thanks for coming."

"Yeah, sorry I'm late."

"You're the president, a nation hero, and a celebrity in these parts; I'm surprised you got out of the building at all."

The bartender came back, setting a second bottle of Corel Alcohol and a remarkably clean glass before Laguna with absolute gentleness. Then he was gone again.
There was another pause, and Laguna picked up the bottle, popped off the pre-opened cap, and poured himself a glassful of the liquid.
"What did you want to talk about?"

"First, drink half of that."

Laguna obliged him, tilting the glass back and slowly draining its contents.

"I'm bringing your son over come weekend."

The glass was promptly jerked back down as Laguna sprayed Corel Alcohol over the once-shining counter top in what had to be an overly dramatic spit take.

Even as Pride smirked, the entire staff broke out in fluster.

"Mr. President! Is there something wrong with the beverage? We apologize, sir! We'll have it replaced! We'll fire whoever was involved! We'll refund! We'll-"

"I'm fine," Laguna coughed out, clearly exasperated. "Just get me a rag to clean this up."

"Yessir, Mr. President! We're so sorry, Mr. President!"

If the counter were clean, Laguna would have supported his arms by the elbows upon it as he groaned into his palms. Next to him, he heard a barely suppressed snigger.

"...you...did that...on purpose."

"I'm one foot in the grave. I'm entitled to a little fun," Pride answered easily, setting his own glass and bottle at a safe distance as panicky staff hastened to mop up the spillage.
"But it's true; I talked to a friend of theirs over the phone - gonna surprise them tomorrow, then fly them over here."

"So Squall's really coming..."

"...you didn't know?"

"My secretary didn't mention any...oh..."

"Yes," Pride agreed solemnly. "Time for you to specifically instruct the desk to file 'Leonhart' properly under 'family', instead of with the faux claims."

Laguna waited for the cloth to swipe the area in front of him dry before he landed face down upon it, groaning into the marble surface.
"What am I going to do," he murmured. "What do I say to him? I'm ashamed to admit, but I know almost nothing about him since the last eight years..."

"First off, he changed his name to Leon, so no calling him 'Squall'. Secondly, he got burgled and assaulted with his own merchandise, so do not mention his work. Thirdly, a...lot...has happened in eight years, so don't start getting critical about how he leads his life."

Laguna promptly bolted upright again. "He's self-mutilating? Growing out his hair? Going punk? Don't tell me - I knew it! My son's become a rebellious teenager-"

"He's twenty-five, for Hyne's sake; calm down."

When Laguna finally settled again, Pride continued.

"He's also married."

Laguna stopped himself from pouring himself another glassful, and carefully set the bottle down as he waited for the other shoe to fall.

"To his academy buddy Cloud. He's gay."

Laguna promptly fell out of his chair. Next to him, Pride calmly drank his own glassful of alcohol before concluding:
"Now you at least know something about him."

"... I...don't know whether to be strangely fascinated...or blown away..."

"You're on the floor. Decision made."

Slowly, Laguna peeled himself off said floor and eased himself back onto the barstool. Mercifully, Pride allowed him to down two glasses of Corel Alcohol before they resumed their conversation.

"...I still don't know what to do. I mean, I'm no good with advice-"

"You don't have to be; just be there for him, listen to him, and let him know you care. Oh, and have your wallet ready.
"As it is, he's at the lowest point of his life, and right now, he doesn't need advice. He needs a father."

Laguna allowed himself a chuckle. "...a father, eh?"

Pride smirked, waving the bottle that he was now directly drinking from. "I had to play 'Dad' for the both of 'em since they were five; your turn to sprout a head full of gray.
"Barkeep, get me another bottle."

The next few minutes passed in silence as they waited for the third bottle of Corel Alcohol to show. When it finally did, it was another one minute of pouring, swirling and downing before anything more was said.

"... you've missed them all these years, haven't you?"

"Until it hurts. Those kids...they...I raised those kids for a good portion of my life; I always figured even if I were too old for my job, I'd never be too old to be there for them. Guess I needed them more than they needed me."

"Then why hand them over to me?"

"... I can't go to bed angry."

The final confession came out barely above a whisper. By now, the third bottle was half empty, as the alcohol loosened his tongue and let his true feelings flow.

"... If I'm not carrying unpleasantness down to my grave, neither are the kids, and neither are you. You and Sq...Leon...you both deserve at least one good shot to fix things. All these years, I let one stupid mistake turn into something ugly, and let another stupid mistake make it all the more worse. I couldn't breathe my last, look up and face my daughter knowing that there was so much left undone."

"... I had my faults, too -"

"We both did. But now is not the time for blame; now is the time to put things right."

Pride turned in his seat, placing a firm hand on Laguna's shoulder.

"Take care of them...son."

"Thank you, sir."

The last of the bottle vanished straight down the old man's throat, his face now flushed as he wavered in drunk musing. Finally, he took his hand back and buried his face in it.

"Why don't...err...you go on back first, eh? I think...I'll pass out here..."

Laguna got to his feet and gently shook the older man. "Come on; let me take you back to your room."

"But I like it here," the older man replied, stubbornly staying on his spot, even as he nearly fell flat on his face when his elbow slipped.

Ignoring the drunk protests that kept on coming, Laguna pulled the older man to his feet. Pride uttered something unintelligible as he fumbled in his pocket and attempted to cast his entire threadbare wallet onto the table.

"Man's gotta...pay his debts."

Then he was out cold.

Shaking his head, Laguna paid the bill for the both of them, then took back the wallet. As he attempted to slide it back into Pride's jacket pocket, a slip of something came free, jutting out of the bottom.

Setting the old man back down, Laguna carefully opened the wallet, and retrieved the paper. It was a card - old, probably older than the wallet itself, that it looked ready to fall apart at the very creases. The words, though, were still recognizable, and were scrawled in a child's handwriting with a black pen. His son's handwriting he suddenly realized.

...he meant so much to you.

Carefully returning the card to a safer recess in one of the many compartments that barely held together, he reached forward to help him up again, only to instead place the hand on the head of greasy hair that hadn't been washed yet. Awkwardly, not knowing what else to do, he started to scratch almost timidly at one particular spot - the same spot he remembered from when he was young, still recovering from his cliff jump, watching Raine tease her sleeping father by scratching it as though he were a really big dog.

The result was still the same, as the old man started to mutter something that sounded like very comfortable approval. As Laguna was prompted to keep scratching at that spot, he sat down once more. As the muttering continued, he smiled.

Pride probably couldn't hear him now, but the words came anyway.

"Thank you, Dad. For everything."

To Flypipe, seeing as how I know you'll be reading this - you've probably got the bloody thing BOOKMARKED in Mozilla Firefox:
I truly do appreciate how supportive you've been, and thank you for donating Pride Leonhart to me. Yes, I know, you're still upset that ol' Pride doesn't appeal to his audience in Case of Leonhart, but it has nothing to do with his character. Read Wonderful World again, and you'll see how many people liked him.
Tell Howling I said hi. My best to the both of you.

Err...BACK TO MY STATION!

Coming up: more stories of life back at the academy for Leon and Cloud.

Anyone with a suggestion? Anyone with a personal request? ... REVIEW AWAY!