Well…. It's been forever and a day, but I finally have chapter two!


The main hall…was a disaster. It made Cloud's eye twitch just as much as the moody brunet standing right behind him. Sora giggled as he ran off, somehow managed to get around all the junk that was strewn about the floor and Roxas tiptoed after him.

'Don't ask… It was clean when I left.' Blue eyes closed as he ran a hand through his hair. Hoping that when he opened them…the mess would be gone, but it wasn't and he had to hold in the groan that was threatening to escape.

It was a disaster though, and it explained clearly why the twins were as dirty as they were. Toys lay all over the place; on the stairs, over the furniture, and of course on the floors. From the kitchen doorway there was a fine trail of white powder –no doubt it was flower or, heaven forbid, sugar. And the living room was in no better condition, with cloths thrown over the back of the couch and…was the TV on its side? Cloud shook his head with a sigh as he kicked toys out of his way and headed for the stairs, 'C'mon…I'll show you to the guest room.' Saying it, he hoped that it wasn't in the same state as the rest of the house.

Squall had been standing in the doorway the entire time. Despite the obvious need for a cleaning, the house was just as grand inside as it was on the out. The mess though, it was making his eye twitch and he wanted nothing more then to just put his bags down and clean. But, he took a deep breath, this wasn't his house and it wasn't his mess… Not that the small apartment he shared with his regularly absent father ever got messy to any degree. In fact, it was pristine. He blinked, as he felt something rub up against his leg, 'What…what is that?'

Cloud looked over from the stairs that he had managed to find and chuckled, but he covered it up with a cough, 'Oh, that's just Xigbar. Sora and Roxas's cat… Keep an eye on him or he'll trip you up.' Squall did not seem happy, he hated animals of all shapes and sizes –cats most of all. Their fur got everywhere and stuck to his cloths. 'Hurry up Squall. I am only showing you where shit is once.' The blond grumbled as he finished walking up the death trapped stairs. Squall grunted and followed, only tripping a few times glaring at the few snickers and giggles that came from down the hall, two tiny heads peeped in from around the corner of the kitchen doorway. He had a feeling this was going to be a long week.

Sora watched as his older brother and friend went upstairs and looked over at Roxas, 'Play?' Roxas grinned, a devil little look crossed his face and his brother fell into giggles. Oh, they would play alright and poor Squall was going to feel the full assault of their game. The little blond picked up a dishcloth off the floor and rubbed his face with it before handing it off to Sora, who took it and did the same thing.

Squall looked around the room as Cloud stepped in and to the side. It wasn't a large room but it was big enough. There was a bed, a desk, and a dresser –all of which seemed to be made out of the same type of wood and from what he had seen of the family so far it was probably expensive. He didn't quite understand why a family such as the Strife's would spend money so freely on furniture and other such things when they had two small children like the two he had witnessed. He knew now that the girls hadn't been just joking around on their expense when they said that it would be a hassle to get the kids to cooperate. The blond though didn't seem to be fazed by things as he pointed things out, so it would seem that the guest bedroom also had an attached guest bathroom…Squall could live with that.

'You can leave your shit up here I guess…and come down when you're ready.' Cloud brushed passed him and made his way back downstairs, calling for the two brats as he did so. There was a loud crash followed by collective giggles. Squall could only assume that Cloud had tripped and his brothers where laughing at him.

'No, Cloud, No!' A squeal came behind a laugh, and the brunet felt the need to investigate. Making his way to the top of the stairs he looked over the railing and raised an eyebrow. Cloud was holding Sora upside down while Roxas tickled him. Seemed as though the three of them got along well enough, though, he supposed, with their parents always going off on business trips they would.

'Me next, me next.'

'Alright Roxy, hold on a sec.' He chuckled as he set Sora back down and picked up the blond. Squall walked down the stairs, being careful of where he put his footing but not careful enough. He slipped on a dishcloth and landed on a skateboard. He landed with an ungraceful thump at the bottom of the stairs and Sora ran over to investigate. The little boy poked at the teenager with his foot and was rewarded with a growl.

'Cloud!' He whined and ran back over to his older brother. Cloud had set Roxas back down and made his way over to where Squall had landed,

'You going to be alright.'

'…' He wasn't going to answer. Not only was he going to have a bruise, but he also had hurt his ego and his pride. Cloud just shrugged and started picking things up, Sora and Roxas noted what he was doing and started cleaning up their toys. Squall had half a mind of going back home and not bothering at all with the project. He assumed that Cloud would be more then capable of taking care of his brothers for the week and there was no way that he would be able to survive anymore time in the house then he had so far.

'Are you going to move, or lay at the bottom of the steps all afternoon.'

'I will move. When I feel like moving.' He growled, but got up nonetheless and made his way back up the stairs and into the guest room. Cloud didn't have any problems with Squall locking himself away, the less time that he had to spend with the brunet the better that it would be for both of them. Bringing a few dishes from the living room into the kitchen he sighed, his parents couldn't of left him the house in a worse state then they had. All the while he did the dishes, Sora and Roxas played in the living room with their cartoons blaring on the flat screen TV, and he kept glancing towards the stairs as though somehow he was expecting Squall to walk back down. He knew better, of course, then to actually think that the brunet was going to come down any time soon. Squall was upstairs, lying in the bed, reading a book with his laptop opened in front of him. There was no way that he was venturing back downstairs anytime soon. He had more then enough objects to keep him amused, plus an attached bathroom, and as far as food was concerned he was sure he would be able to hold off –after all he had mints in his jacket.

However his plan was soon thwarted as he heard giggles come from outside the door. It unnerved him greatly as he didn't hear the footsteps approach on the padded carpet as the twin terrors maneuvered themselves around the mass of toys on the floor. Getting out of the bed Squall made his way over and slowly cracked the door open and saw Sora drawing on the wall opposite.

'I don't think you should be doing that.'

The kid looked over and stuck his tongue out at him before going back to his doodling. Squall felt his eye twitch and he went over, taking the marker from Sora and went back towards the room. A mistake in this situation was both taking the marker away and then turning his back on the three year old. With a war cry that would rival the Spartans, Sora ran and collided with Squall's legs, bringing them both down. Unfortunately for Squall his nose hit the floor first and there was a crack and then he felt a cool liquid run down his face. He growled and Sora screamed, running down the stairs, calling for his brother the entire time.

Cloud was making his way towards the stairs as Squall was coming down them, hand over his nose as the blood poured through his fingers.

'That brat broke my nose.'

Cloud snickered and waved for Squall to follow him as he went back into the kitchen and pulled the first-aid kit out from under the sink. 'And what did you do to provoke him?'

'You say that like he's some wild animal…' He glanced at the smaller brunet who poked his head in the room from the hall and sighed, the kid was like a wild animal. '…He was drawing on the wall and I took the marker from him.'

Cloud frowned and looked over at Sora who puffed out his cheeks and looked like he was about to call Squall a liar, and then remembered that he had been drawing on the wall and all Cloud had to do was walk up the stairs. So instead of making up a story the little boy deflated his cheeks and nodded, 'Sora, you know better then that,'

'Sorry… Cloud…' With a sniffle he turned around and went back into the living room where his brother was coloring in his book.

'Well move your hand.' Squall raised an eyebrow, he sighed, 'Move your hand so I can clean it.' He waved the gauze and peroxide in his face and Squall wrinkled his nose –which caused a searing pain to run through his face and he instantly dropped the expression.

'I can do it myself.'

'Yeah right, if it's broken it'll have to be reset and I highly doubt that you can do that on your own. Now move your hand.'

Squall growled but did as he was told. Wincing when Cloud wiped his nose with a wet cloth, the blond was in no way being gentle. And then there was a flash of pain as Cloud reset his nose, a crunch sounded through the kitchen and Squall had to close his eyes to blink back tears he refused to show in front of anyone.

'There now that wasn't so hard, was it?' His voice was mocking and Squall glared at him,

'Don't fucking touch me again.' He swatted at the hand and got up,

'You're welcome.' Cloud rolled his eyes and washed his hands before going back to drying and putting away the dishes.

Squall just watched him and shook his head, rubbing his nose. It was still sore but at least it wasn't broken anymore –and it would more or less be tender for a few days at least.

'Hey you brats, what do you want for supper?'

'Pizza!'

'Chinese!' There seemed to be a large disagreement between the two twins and they argued between each other in the living room and even started throwing things between the two of them. Cloud shook his head, there was no way he was ordering two completely different things, so he looked over and sighed,

'Italian?' It seemed to be a reasonable settlement as the two stopped and grinned with a shout of 'Yay!'

Squall had to agree that pasta did sound really good. But what he wasn't prepared for was the fact that they where going out. He was brought to this fact by the kids putting their coats on and Cloud dug out their sneakers.

'Where are we going…' He had to ask and the blond gave him a look,

'We're going out for supper. There's no where close enough that does take-out with Italian food.'

'With those two?' He couldn't really believe that Cloud was going to take his brothers out into the public, but it seemed as though he was as the blond ignored him in favor of putting on his own coat and sneakers, 'And how are we getting anywhere, all there is, is your bike.'

'We're using your car.' Cloud said it like it was final and Squall didn't have a say in the matter –and as he looked down at the twins he knew then that he didn't. Sighing he grabbed his jacket and ran upstairs to retrieve his car keys.

'Fine, lets go then.'

Cloud nodded and ushered the twins out of the house and into the car before he got in as well. Squall looked at the scene and wrinkled his nose, which still hurt; it was not something he would like to see again –two little kids in the backseat of his car and someone sitting in the passenger seat. Shaking his head he jogged down to the car and started it, backing out of the driveway. This was going to be one dinner adventure he would never forget…


So it's not all that long, but it's decent and leaves it open for the mis-adventures of Cloud and Squall later on... I realized that I did not once call him Leon this entire chapter -which of course doesn't really matter but hey XD