I was thinking about how to end this story and I have 3 different endings running around in my head. Hope I can figure it out by the time I get near the end!
When Sora was taken back to Vincent's home, the boy started piling up on food and eating in the kitchen.
"How's the eye?" Vincent asked, coming back into the kitchen with a Hi-Potion.
"Am I allowed to have that used on me?" Sora asked, pointing at the potion as he stuffed a sandwich into his mouth made of chips, ketchup, hot dogs, butter, sprinkles, and popcorn.
"…yes, now hold still," Vincent ordered as he poured the potion over the boy, healing the eye just a bit, "So…how's your first day of school?"
"Wonderful…my life is just getting better and better!"
"Enough with the sarcasm, please."
"Ugh! I realized I'm a terrible father!"
"So you finally agree on something with Cloud," Vincent cut in,
"I never said that!"
"But Cloud been complaining to me on how you're a bad father all the time."
"…What?"
"Nothing," Vincent shook his head as he recycled the empty potion bottle.
"Well anyway: I find out my son is the school's punching bag. And I find out my daughter has a boyfriend that my whole family knows about but me! Then I find out my son is crushing on a senior bad boy obsessed with leather, and don't comment on that! Then I find out the leader of the people that beat up my son is no other than my daughter's boyfriend! Then you know the rest. I punched the guy and I ended up at the nurse's office."
"You still think fate wants you to retry your life?" Vincent asked as he watched the boy stuff his mouth with food and shaking his head.
"No…no way," Sora shook his head, "My children are more important. I think my true mission is: helping out my son and daughter," Sora concluded after swallowing.
"Wow…your life does suck. I would hate to be turned young again only to nose in other people's lives," Vincent muttered.
"But you don't age at all!"
"Good point; well I'm gonna nap now, don't do anything stupid while I am…" Vincent walked off with a sigh.
"Are you sleeping in a coffin?" Sora teased and Vincent sent him a glare, "I was joking! Oh! I'll be out! I'm seeing my son! Cloud might call you so have a story ready!"
Vincent groaned, wondering why he didn't just throw the boy at Cloud and letting him take care of his husband that turned into a teenager.
Sora ran down the street until he reached his house. As luck would have it, he sees Roxas playing basketball out in front.
"Hey! Roxas!" Sora called and the blonde turned to see Sora running up to him,
"Hey Sora. You're alive! Wow! Your eye is looking much better too!"
"Oh, I heal fast! Forget about me! It was nothing!" Sora lied, trying to make Roxas forget about his stupid black eye, "So Roxas! Do you Struggle?"
"A bit…" he answered with a shrug.
"Alright then…show me what you got."
"…Do I have to?"
"Come on!" Sora pleaded, "Let's play a game!"
"Well alright…"
"And don't hold back! Even though I'm injured! Give me your best shot!"
Best shot indeed. The game ended with Sora on his back with orbs all over the already-messy backyard.
"Ow…how are you not on the team?" he somehow asked as he slowly got up, pain striking every muscle in his body.
"I don't know," Roxas shrugged and offered a hand to Sora to help the boy up.
"Ah! Ow! Well this just proved one thing to me: I'm getting you on the team."
"…You're getting me on the team?" Roxas repeated with a raised brow.
"Hell yeah! You're good. Okay? You're GOOD! You deserve a spot on the team! We're trying out together when try-outs come around, alright?"
"Um…I guess so…but Riku-"
"Who cares? Why would be beat up someone on his own team?"
"To make himself look better?"
"Roxas! Have some confidence!"
"That's a little hard when you have had your head dunked into the toilet for years…"
"Then hang around me! After my humiliating first day, it can't be as bad!" Sora offered and Roxas found himself nodding. But before he could say anything, they heard a honk.
"Oh, Dad's home. Come on," Roxas motioned and Sora followed the blonde out front to see Cloud and Tifa come out of Tifa's car.
"Thanks Tifa, I needed that," said Cloud in appreciation,
"No problem, Cloud. Anytime!"
"Hey Dad, hey Auntie Tifa!" Roxas greeted while Sora hid his body a bit against the house.
"Hey Roxas!" Tifa greeted back while Cloud gave the boy a nod in acknowledgement. Sora stared at Cloud as he started to head into the house with Tifa. He was knocked out of his trance when Roxas hits him over the head with the Struggle's weapon.
"Ow! What was that for?" Sora exclaimed, rubbing his head.
"You wouldn't answer me," Roxas replied bluntly. Tifa and Cloud turned, both seeing Sora clearly…well they spotted the spiky hair and black eye first but they spotted the boy nonetheless.
"Who is your friend, Roxas?" Tifa asked, "He looks a lot like you! Oh my! Did he get into a fight?"
"Oh, he's a new kid and got beat up at school. But he's okay! This is Sora. Sora Valentine. He's Uncle Vincent's nephew. Sora, this is my Dad and his friend, Auntie Tifa!" Roxas introduced.
"Vincent has a brother?" was the first question that left Cloud and Tifa's mouths in unison.
"Er, he's a mysterious man…I didn't even know Uncle Vincent existed in my family until a year ago!" Sora lied and gave them a smile that would hopefully have them drop the topic.
"Well that does sound like Vinnie," Tifa nodded in agreement,
"Vinnie?" Sora repeated and tried not to laugh at the nickname while Cloud stared hard at Sora,
"What's wrong, Cloud?" Tifa asked but Cloud didn't answer as he continued to stare at Sora and slowly approached him.
"Um…something wrong, Mr. Leonhart?" Sora asked as innocently as possible.
"Ah, that'll be Mr. Strife! He's taking back his last name!" Tifa corrected. Cloud leaned down to get a better look at Sora who only leaned back to avoid getting too close to Cloud's face.
"Something wrong, Dad?" Roxas asked with concern. In a second, Cloud's hands grabbed a hold of Sora's face and Sora felt violated as he had one too many people touch his face like that. Not only that, his bruised eye caused some pain.
"No way…"
"What?" both Tifa and Roxas questioned at Cloud's strange behavior.
"You look just like my husband…at least when he was in high school and minus the black eye. He never got beaten up…at least not this badly. This is just…" Cloud tilted Sora's head in every angle and eventually the hand started feeling the spiky hair, "Oh my god…this is unbelievable. You're just like him…the spiky hair, the blue eyes, the-"
"Cloud, Sweetie, calm down. I'm so sorry! This divorce is taking a toll on him!" Tifa apologized and slowly started to pull Cloud away,
"Okay, Tifa, you have to admit that's frickin weird!" Cloud pointed at Sora who was trying to get feeling back in his face.
"Hehe, it IS weird! But it's okay!" Sora reassured with a fake grin.
"Cloud, Honey, take in a breath and let it out. You have to get over Leon if you're going to go through with this! Find someone new!"
Roxas was leading Sora back to the backyard but upon hearing those words, Sora spun himself around,
"Let's take a break and play basketball," he suggested but before Roxas could even reply, he pulled his son over to the basketball in the grass.
"Yeah I guess…" Cloud shrugged.
"Like Yuffie said: We need to get you back on the market."
Sora found his body twitching at that quote while he retrieved the basketball for Roxas when he throws it.
"I guess so…" Cloud slowly nodded as he stared at the ground.
"And I agree with Yuffie. Look at yourself! You're not even excited! Which you should be! You need someone to tell you you're incredibly attractive and will love you forever but MEAN it!"
When Sora caught the ball, he threw it back harder than he intended due to some strong emotions that rose in himself and almost knocked Roxas off his feet when he caught it.
"Yeah," Cloud finally looked up at his friend, "Yeah you're right. The sooner I find someone the sooner I can get Leon out of my head…"
"Oh! Yuffie said she's already got someone in mind!"
"Oh no…I rather not go on a blind date with someone Yuffie picked…no offense to her of course."
"She told me it was someone we all knew so…it can't be THAT bad," Tifa reminded with a shrug and Cloud sighed again,
"Well alright…one date couldn't hurt…"
Sora turned his body, jealousy ruling his judgment, to say something only to get hit in the back of his head by the basketball and his face met the ground.
"Sora!" Roxas cried, running up to the body.
"Oh my, is he's alright?" Tifa asked as she and Cloud went over to Sora, helping the boy roll over and sit up.
"You okay?" Cloud asked with concern and Sora wanted to scream at the top of his lungs a big "NO!" and then lecture his lover about how he's completely against this blind date idea. But due to his current situation, all that bottled up emotion stayed inside him for him to vent to Vincent later.
Nope, today was not a good day at all…
"I can't believe you," Vincent stated when he was called and awoken from his nap just to pick up Sora who was 'knocked unconscious' from a basketball.
"Sorry…" Sora apologized with a bandage on his nose and an ice pack on his forehead, "Come on, Roxas threw that ball pretty hard and I hit the ground pretty hard. If I didn't know better, I think I broke my nose!"
Vincent only shook his head,
"Just…stay here and occupy yourself while I steal a bear from your fridge unless Cloud threw them out already…"
"…So THAT'S where they disappeared to!" Sora exclaimed before getting a warning shot from Vincent to keep quiet about what he says.
When Vincent appeared in the kitchen, he went straight to the fridge, but saw no beer, so instead he took a soda.
"So Vinnie, when did you have a brother AND a nephew?" Tifa asked, causing Vincent to realize his surroundings. He must be more tired than he thought if he walked by Tifa and Cloud at the kitchen table without noticing them.
"Huh? Oh…I don't know," he shrugged and opened his drink to get SOME energy so he can withstand having Sora in his home later today, "And don't call me that."
"But Vincent, it must be a really young brother if his son is THAT young," Cloud stated, "Roxas says they're in the same grade…" Cloud suddenly gasped, "Don't tell me your whole family stopped aging too!"
"Oh trust me, that's not the case…" Vincent shook his head, taking a sip.
"But Vincent, that boy-"
"Cloud, it's okay. It's probably just a coincidence and Vinnie's really mysterious so we probably shouldn't bug him about his family," Tifa advised.
"Yes, please!" Vincent added right after her statement.
"But Sora looks…ugh…fine…" Cloud lets out a breath, letting the topic go…for now.
Until Vincent took Sora home, Cloud spent most of the time sneaking peaks at Sora. Trying to take it all in. But no matter how many times he looks at Sora, he just can't stop imagining Leon as a teenager again.
It was his second day of school and Sora was getting laughed at due to the fight and now a bandaged nose. But other than that, he admits that it was better than the first as he didn't get beaten up at lunch and missing his remaining classes. Now he took his first step, of his new life, into Health Class…
His face immediately brightened up when he saw Naminé but it went into a frown as soon as he saw Riku was also in the same class and he leaned over after he sat on her desk, so the two can make-out. Sora wasn't sure if he was more pissed off about yesterday with Cloud trying to find someone new or the fact that Riku wasn't suspended for beating him up yesterday and is tongue-ing his daughter.
"Excuse me!" Sora's foot kicked the desk as he passed by and Riku lost his balance, forcing his mouth to leave Naminé's if he wanted to catch himself. Riku got on his feet to meet eyes with Sora once more,
"You again?"
"Yeah me again you got a problem with that?" Sora commented as he sat down behind Riku who was tempted to knock the lights out of Sora if the teacher wasn't eyeing him so closely.
"You just can't keep running into trouble can you? As soon as you step foot out of this classroom you're dead, wuss. I almost feel sorry for you. I never gave a beating to someone that looks as unmanly as you before," Riku taunted.
"At least I won't go around &$%ing anything that moves!"
"For your information, I'm quite loyal," Riku raised his arm to point at Naminé and Sora glared harder at the man in front of him before said-man leaned over to kiss her again; that became Sora's last straw.
Sora shot up from his desk and tackled his now-mortal-nemesis, landing the first punch on him again when they were on the ground.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"I'm here on the second day of school, this might be a record," Vincent stated, staring down at Sora sitting in the office with an ice pack on his right eye.
"I hate school…" Sora didn't even comment back on Vincent's statement, "Hate it so much…"
"Oh come on, it's only 2 beatings," Vincent almost chuckled.
"Hey just because I have another black eye, it doesn't mean I lost and got beaten!"
"Oh really? On YouTube it looked like you were getting your sorry ass kicked…" Even Sora could hear Vincent trying to hold in a laugh.
"Already on YouTube?" Sora groaned and fell back only to yell out in pain when his head collided with the wall.
"If Sephiroth wasn't me and Cloud's mortal enemy, I would talk to him just so we could laugh at you getting beaten up twice in a row by his kid that also left without a scratch on him."
"I bruised both cheeks of his face! That's still something!" Sora argued.
"Yeah…two 'bruised' cheeks compared to two black eyes make you look so much less pathetic," said Vincent sarcastically and Sora only growled at him. His self esteem can only be so high for so long…
Hey Happy (late) Thanksgiving everyone!
Please R and R!