Many many thanks to the wonderful AlexJ69 for the awesome betaing!! *huggles*
chapter 4
They stopped only once on their way back home, at the mall, Vincent curtly informing them that he had to run an errand. Half an hour later, he was back with a big brown bag he wordlessly placed in the trunk.
20 minutes later they entered the empty house, since Lucrecia and the boys were still out. Sephiroth and Yazoo followed their father inside, neither having spoken a word since they had left Reeve´s practice.
The boys awkwardly stood by the kitchen table as Vincent, who faced them with his back leaning against the sink, quickly gulped down a huge glass of water. The paper bag was standing beside him, next to the unwashed dishes piling up. From out of the corner of his eye, he could see the older boy shift and so he finally turned around. To him, they looked quite contrite now. Well, they had every reason to be, they hadn't been good boys at all!
Sephiroth cleared his throat, as the silence dragged on. "So… I suppose we are grounded now?"
Vincent mulled that over in his head, suppressing the instant urge to emphasize 'You bet you are! Period!'. Instead, he closed his eyes for a moment, and pinched the bridge of his nose, before he finally answered, "No, you are not. Your mother and I decided to not punish you this time. Under one condition: you will never EVER do such things again. Are we clear?"
He could see the confusion in their eyes. Sephiroth opened his mouth, probably to snidely point out that there was no way he could have talked about this with Lucrecia already, but then the boy wisely refrained from doing so. Instead, he just nodded, "Of course. It won´t happen again. We promise."
"Thanks dad," Yazoo came closer, drawing his arms around his father´s neck –he had to stand on the tips of his toes- and pulled him close in a weak hug. Vincent awkwardly reciprocated the hug, muttering a "You´re welcome," not quite used to such a display of affection. It wasn't that they didn't hug at all, it was just that the quiet man usually didn't know how to initiate such actions with his older sons, thinking they might have grown out of it.
Sephiroth quickly went over to him too, not wanting to be second to his younger brother. He gave his father a short embrace as well. "Yes, thank you."
"Well, well…" Vincent didn't quite know what to say. He still wasn't at ease with all the strange things that had happened not even 24 hours ago, but they seemed sincere enough to him…
"Before your mother comes home, you might want to do the dishes and mow the lawn. To relieve her workload a bit." Lifting his brow, Vincent looked into their none-too-enthused faces, but they didn't refuse the request.
"Sure," Sephiroth just nonchalantly replied, and Yazoo nodded his head, long moonlight hair waving a bit.
"Good. I am going to my office, there is work I need to take care of." He quickly grabbed his bag and went down to his home office, closing the door behind him, so he wouldn't be disturbed.
Finally!
Vincent exhaled a long breath, put the bag on his desk and turned on the air conditioner before he loosened his tie and got rid of his suit jacket.
It wasn't particularly hot today, but this whole situation was putting his body on edge.
Shooting the innocent-looking bag a sidelong glance, Vincent turned his back on it, walked to the high window and pulled the curtain aside to watch Sephiroth fight with the mower. So Yazoo was doing the dishes. Good. He didn't really want them together right now, even though he did trust Reeve´s judgement. Otherwise he wouldn't have taken his children there…
With a sigh, he sat down on a comfortable, worn out armchair his grandfather had used during his studies. Well, Vincent had to do some of his own studying now.
Hours had passed, and Vincent, being so absorbed in his reading, didn't even notice the door opening or the lithe body that had slipped in, until two arms wrapped around him from behind.
"Very busy, I see."
Vincent jumped a bit at the soft voice purring into his ear, and shut the book on reflex with a dull snap.
Clearing his throat, Vincent briefly squeezed the slender hand of his wife resting on his chest. "Welcome back. How was the zoo?"
Lucrecia withdrew with a sigh to sit on the edge of the desk, her skirt shuffling up a bit. "It was okay. The boys had fun, I think. How was it on your end?"
Vincent took a moment to carefully arrange his books and put some papers over them, before he answered, "Well. Reeve said that there is nothing to worry about. He came to the conclusion that it was a one time occurrence. But he agreed to see them once a week now, just to be sure."
"I see, that sounds good!" Lucrecia optimistically exclaimed with a smile that seemed very relieved. Her husband hesitantly nodded his head, keeping his hands on the desk. He was not so convinced.
"Well," she sighed, slipping from his desk. "The boys are hungry, and I promised them to make pizza, so I´ll be down in the kitchen."
"Good." Vincent still looked relatively expressionless, something that told her that he was carefully hiding his concerns to not bother her, but the wheels in his head were still turning.
"Don´t worry. Reeve knows what he is doing."
"I hope so." 'Yes,' Lucrecia thought, 'that didn't sound very convinced at all.' She placed another kiss on his forehead, leaving the matter until he had figured it out for himself and would come to consult her about the results later. He had already gone back to his studies, only looking up once more when she was almost out, asking,
"Could you please send Sephiroth and Yazoo down before you go?"
She nodded, and closed the door behind her, walking down the corridor to her oldest son´s room. The door was open and she found him sitting cross legged on the bed, one of his beloved electronic guitars on his lap, earphones sitting atop his head, amplifier switched on.
Loz was crouched on the ground, one of his tools in hand, brows knitted in concentration. Lucrecia could never grasp how he managed to distinguish between his tools, so many of them were littering the floor of his room! But Loz was very good at everything that could be fixed with his hands and she was truly thankful for that because her husband was all thumbs when it came to such things.
"And?" Loz just asked, unaware of his mother leaning in the doorway with her arms folded over her chest, watching them.
Sephiroth´s thumb brushed over the strings, filling the air with vibrations but no sounds, and his face lit up with a small smile.
"Works perfectly again."
"Great." Loz got up with a grunt, padding the amplifier with a satisfied and slightly proud expression. "Just call me if it acts up again, we might need to exchange one of the input jacks, it´s pretty loose."
"Thanks." Sephiroth just looked up, putting the guitar aside, when he noticed his mother in the door, and his face became guarded again, albeit questioning.
Lucrecia inwardly sighed. She wished these teenage hormone years would have spared them, she felt as if they were driving her kids away from her. Only in moments like the previous one, when she caught them unguarded did she feel like she was really seeing their true selves.
"Your father wants to see you," she explained with a smile, keeping her face from contorting as his face became even harder.
Lucrecia didn´t wait for Sephiroth to reply, but went to Yazoo´s room instead. She poked her head inside to find Kadaj jumping excitedly on the bed with the plush giraffe she had bought him, telling Yazoo all about their awesome adventures.
"And then the chimpanzee baby like, dug its finger into its mom´s ear and put it in her mouth and it was sooo gross!"
"Hm-hm," Yazoo distractedly hummed in front of his computer screen, fingers flying over the keyboard at an insane speed without him even so much as glancing down.
"You aren´t listening to me!" Kadaj complained from the bed with a huff, stopping to maltreat the mattress with his little feet.
"Chimpanzee, ear, gross," was the monotonous repetition that didn´t really placate the littlest. When he spotted his mother waiting by the door, Kadaj jumped from the bed, flying at her with an eager smile. "Is the pizza done already? I´m hungry!"
"Not yet my dear," she replied, stroking over his head, as he didn´t seem very pleased. "Yazoo, Dad wants to see you in his study."
There was some more clicking, until the keyboard got a rest and Yazoo got up, tilting his head. He didn't ask what Vincent wanted either. Well, there weren't many possibilities anyway.
Lucrecia watched him cross the room and vanish as he headed down to his father´s study, just like Sephiroth had a minute before.
Tbc
AN: Hm, I decided to continue this for a bit because it is fun and gives me something to relax^^ I think this fic will concentrate more on the boys now, how they live and what they do etc. *rubs hands* I luff the shm, so they should be the center of attention this time, and I will try to keep the dark themes somewhat under wraps ;)
Review replies, yay *(^___^)*
Aeriths-Rain: Yeah, poor Vincent, he´s being played :( It would have been a good point to end it indeed, but some plot bunnies scampered past, and I couldn´t resist XD
oztan: Oh, I like your ideas for a continuation! So much potential for drama!!! Hm, I will see if I can include something like that ;)
Soyna: Hehe, I love them manipulative as well XD They are the total opposite of Vincent, I guess, who is really a bit frigid... On the other hand he managed to produce 4 kids though... XD
Psycho Steph: Haha, so true! I bet Vincent wouldn´t take his eyes off them one second if he could XD He knows them all too well... So they must be careful now!
Gismo1: Hahahahahahhahahahaha, we´ll so see tongue in a bit XDDD I promise!
IA1979: I must admit that I have no actual numbers about how often incest happens between siblings (and those numbers wouldn´t be very valid anyways), but I can imagine that if you´re close, it does make sense to try these things out. Close friends do it quite often when they hit puberty. Oh, I must admit that so far, I haven´t a thought out plot for this story – which is a good thing because it keeps me writing and I discover things while writing^^ If the plot is drawn out in my head I tend to get tired of it too soon and end the story abruptly, because it´s getting boring for me XD So don´t hesitate to throw ideas my way^^
natzilla: HAH!!! You will not know this chapter or the next two to come :P Be surprised and in awe now o^o I like old-fashioned Vincent, he strikes me as the gentleman type, a bit dusty and stiff, but well... also, he is a concerned parent, never underestimate THOSE! And yeah, I like to make fun of shrinks, how did you notice? XD
Spazzy Mandy: Very well then, your wish is my command ;) I hope you liked the new chapter^^
PoppetlurvesZexion: Hehe, those two are good liars indeed^^ Yes, parents always search for something to blame it on when things get wrong and it is much easier to shove responsibility into the media´s lap than actually facing one´s own mistakes -_- But I suppose in Vincent´s eyes his boys are innocent and pure, so something else had to corrupt them; they cannot possibly have these desires from within ;)
Many many thanks to everyone who reviewed and I hope you´ll continue to do so, because it keeps me writing^^ *such a review whore*