So...I'm almost a little nervous about this chapter, even though it's one of my favorites so far. It's a little long, but it foreshadows other stuff that will be happening later, and I got to write a make out scene. Er...semi make out scene. So I hope you like this one!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Squall's little emo butt, that's Cloud's.

Have fun!!

Chapter 4.

I stuffed my hands in my coat pockets as I crunched through the snow, making my way up the steps to Cloud's house. It was Thursday, which I had off, and Cloud had invited me over to not only have dinner with his Mother, but with his entire family who was in town for the holidays.

Fun stuff.

I pulled my coat tighter around my neck and rang the doorbell, knocking some of the snow off of the bottom of my boots. A moment later, I heard loud barking behind the door and a muffled voice, "Sephy, stay OFF of Vincent!! Jesus, do I have to separate you two?? A dog should not have that much of a sexual attraction to a cat..." Just as the mystery voice finished yelling the apparent horny dog out, the door swung open, and there stood my fellow classmate Demyx. He smirked as soon as he saw me, opening the screen door to let me in. "CLOUD!! Your boyfriend is here!!!" "Demyx for the last time he is not my-" Cloud rounded the corner, obviously not expecting me to be standing there. "Oh. Hi." He blushed for the first time since I had known him, and pushed Demyx roughly out of the way of the door. "Well let him in!! It's freezing out there and you're making him stand out in the cold..." Demyx snickered, stepping out of the way of his own will, as it was quite obvious that Cloud didn't have the manpower to move him forcefully. As soon as I stepped a foot inside, the wonderful aroma of cider, baked goods, and potpourri met my nose. It smelled like home...like family, as cheesy as that sounds.

I took my coat off, hanging it on the rack along with many others. Cloud sighed. "Demyx, go…help mom in the kitchen or something while I introduce Squall to everyone." Demyx gave a fake pout, jutting his lower lip out. "What, you don't trust me to help show around our Squally?" Cloud gave him a glare, and Demyx shot his hands up. "Fine, fine...always the victim here...can't ever be trusted..." He muttered, making his way down a narrow hallway and disappearing out of site. Cloud finally smiled, pulling me over and giving me a small peck on the cheek. "Hi." I grinned myself, and before I could give him what I felt was a proper greeting, I was interrupted by an interesting sensation on my ankle and loud panting noises. Cloud and I both stopped dead, looking down to see...

...the notorious horny dog, making his entrance by humping my leg.

Cloud's face turned a shade of red that I had never seen before, grabbing the small dog off of my leg. "Oh Squall!! I'm so sorry!! I don't know what got into Sephy!! He's usually not like this! Well, he is, but it's usually only to our cat..." I chuckled, shaking my leg off. "It's no problem, really. At least we know I'll never forget tonight, right?" Cloud laughed nervously, tossing his dog off towards the stairs. "Go! Get, you stupid horny thing..." Sephy up righted himself in no time, flouncing off as if nothing had happened. I was still laughing as Cloud averted his eyes in shame, leading me into the family room.

"Dad? You here?"

I saw a head of thinning blond hair peeking, barely visible from behind a large lounge chair facing oppositely to the entrance of the living room. "Cloud?" A voice replied quietly. "Come over here, son! I was just reading the paper."

Cloud made his way over towards the chair, motioning for me to follow. It felt odd following him, though, like I was going into some forbidden zone that I wasn't supposed to be seeing. Cloud rounded the chair and leaned over, hugging the man that was apparently his father. "Hi, dad." He said warmly, kissing him lightly on the forehead. He looked up an noticed that I was still standing behind the chair timidly. "Squall, get over here." He laughed, grabbing me by the upper arm and pulling me over.

I finally saw the reason Cloud's dad was in the chair, and not up with the rest of the family. His hair was thinning like any other middle aged man, the same straw color as Cloud's, but the wrinkles in his skin were more defined, and he looked older than I knew he was. It was as if each line had been etched into his face, and he looked very tired. The baggy circles under his eyes, the slouched way he was sitting, his heavy breathing...they all gave the appearance of an overly exhausted man. I couldn't help but smile a little sympathetically.

"Dad, this is Squall. Squall, this is my father." Cloud introduced us to each other formally, and I held my hand out to shake his. "It's very nice to meet you, sir."

Cloud's dad snorted. "So formal. Please, call me Richard." He halfheartedly scolded me, smiling just as warmly as Cloud and taking my hand in a surprisingly firm grip in both of his hands. "O-Okay, Richard." I smiled back, and in a way it was as if we made some unsaid bond. I never had a father, and now he would be my new father figure.

Cloud's dad looked m up and down for a moment, and Cloud didn't find this to be out of the ordinary at all, ad he watched his father do it. "I like him." Richard eventually decided. "He looks strong, both physically and mentally. I approve." Oh...so that's what he was doing...

Cloud's voice had grown softer, and I'm guessing in some way he was thanking his dad without words. "Thanks, dad. So much." Richard nodded and then picked the paper back up, lifting it so that it was covering his face. "Now go introduce Squall to the rest of the family, I'm sure they would all like to meet him before dinner starts." Cloud agreed, obviously, because he took my hand and led me out of the room and down the hall where Demyx had disappeared before.

I took the small walk to observe the house where Cloud had grown up. There were pictures everywhere, all of smiling and laughing babies. Some were older pictures, obvious due to the fact that they were in black and white, and others were newer pictures. A few of them I could place as Demyx, or looked like they could be members of Cloud's immediate family. Cloud groaned out of nowhere.

"Ugh...my baby pictures. Mom insists we put them up everywhere for the world to see, but it has been the reason for many of my friend's teasing me over the years..." He chuckled as if remembering. I grinned. "I think they're cute." Cloud blushed lightly. "Yeah, well...thanks..." He looked like he was about to say something else when I was practically mauled from the back by an unknown object.

"Oh. Excuse me." Ooh...that somehow sounded less than sincere.

"Roxas, stop that!! You're sixteen, and old enough to handle it when I bring someone home." Cloud was scolding the source of the voice who was still standing behind me. I turned around to get a look at my attacker, who was currently standing with his arms crossed, a sour look on his face. He had spiked blond hair, just like Cloud, though his was a little more tamed than his older brother. He had the same clear blue eyes, and he reminded me oddly of Sora, though Sora in no way would have ever had this much of an attitude.

"Yeah, whatever." He scoffed, pushing past us. Cloud sighed, embarrassed from the actions of his little brother. "I'm so sorry, he's usually not this bad, I promise...he always gets a little moody when I bring other people home, but I've never seen him be quite this bad..." I laughed. "Good to know that I was the one to put him over the edge." Cloud shrugged sheepishly, shaking his head. "He'll get over it eventually..."

He continued down the hallway and eventually turned into a giant kitchen, filled with food, people, and mayhem. "CLOUD! Thank God you've come back. I need your help, here." A small, beautiful middle aged woman came bustling over, and shoved a bowl with a few ingredients in it into Cloud's hands. "Make the apple pie for me, will you dear? And oh, is this Squall? He's very handsome, sweetie, I knew you would pick a good one." I turned my head to Cloud, raising and eyebrow, but he looked in the opposite direction, making his way over to the counter. "Yeah, mom, that's Squall. Don't scare him off, okay?" Cloud's mom giggled. "Now darling, how would I scare him off?" She turned to me, her frazzled hair coming out of it's long plait.

"Squall, dear, would you mind making the peach pie for me? It would help me out so much." She shoved a bowl not unlike the one Cloud was currently working with into my hands, and bustled off, whapping a child who had stolen a few cookies off the counter on the head.

"Uhh..." I don't know if Cloud mentioned this to his mother, but I was possibly the worst chef on the face of the earth. And she had just given me the responsibility of making a pie for their family dinner.

...Wonderful.

"Uhh...C-Cloud?" Suddenly the bowl was taken from my hands, and my savior sighed. "Gosh, if you can't even cook, then what good are you going to be to Cloud?" I turned and saw none other than Roxas, pouring out all the ingredients into the bowl as if he had made peach pies all his life.

"Oh...um...thank you?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "It's fine, but if I were you I'd learn how to cook something pretty soon. This family tends to live off of carbs, if you didn't notice." I chuckled nervously. This little kid was getting to me, for some reason he was more intimidating than Cloud's father.

We stood for a few moments in silence at the counter, the only noise coming from the rush of people trying to prepare behind us. Roxas seemed calm despite it all, and I did my best to get the ingredients for him as quickly as possible. While I was doing the very exciting task of measuring water, I glanced over to see Roxas tapping eggs against the hard edge of the counter, and then cracking them one handed into the bowl.

"How did you do that?" I said in awe, watching a sixteen year old pwn my ass in baking. Roxas scoffed. "Like it's hard. Any buffoon can crack eggs. Of course, a buffoon is probably smarter than a family invading dumbass."

Oh, snap.

I closed my eyes for a moment. He's just a little kid. Don't let him get to you. He's...man pms-ing or something. Oh hell, even I'M not that pissy when I'm man pms-ing...this kid's got some serious issues.

"I won't deny the fact that I'm a dumbass, but if I might remind you, it was your brother that invited me over."

"Don't you dare try to blame this on my brother!!" Roxas slammed the egg shell that he was currently holding down onto the counter, smashing it and spraying sticky yolk everywhere. He didn't seem fazed. "I'm not trying to blame anything on him!! I'm just saying, I don't understand why you're so angry at me!"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT ANYONE HURTING HIM WHEN HE'S ALREADY IN PAIN!!"

Roxas whacked the bowl of batter, spilling it's contents all over the floor in front of me before racing out of the room.

Everyone in the room was dead silent, and Cloud coughed lightly. "I'll go see to him, then." He set down the pie he was about to put in the oven and left the room after him.

I was stunned. I couldn't believe that I was such a burden to Roxas...and he mentioned Cloud already being in pain...what could he possibly have been talking about? I'm assuming that Cloud had been dumped by a previous boyfriend, perhaps, and that Roxas was afraid for his brother getting in a new relationship...

Cloud's mother clapped her hands and everyone in the room looked over at her. "The main course is ready!! Let's all go to the dining room area, please!" She called out, making her way over to me. I stood there awkwardly; my whole reason for being there and security blanket now upstairs with my new enemy. "Go ahead and go on with the rest, you can sit and I'll go fetch Cloud and Roxas." She smiled warmly, patting me on the shoulder. Now I knew where Cloud got his winner smile. I nodded, following the herd of toddlers and tweens into the dining room, where all the family was sitting. It was a long table, overly long for a normal sized family, but it was completely filled, and two other card tables had been set up to accommodate the younger kids. I found an empty seat that had another seat open next to it, for Cloud when he came back. I picked up my glass to take a drink out of it...

...and nearly dropped it when I felt a hand on my knee.

I covered it up with a cough as I noticed members of the family near me staring, and they went back to their normal conversations. I suppose it may have been wise to take a look at who I was sitting next to before I sat down. I set my drink down carefully and looked to my left, where a teenage messy haired blond sat. I was guessing it was another one of Cloud's close relatives due to the resemblance, but I didn't look at him long, because he winked at me whenever he caught me staring.

"Sorry, did I miss anything? Roxas can be a handful sometimes." I don't think I've ever been so happy to hear Cloud's voice in the few weeks I've known him. "Oh, hey. No, nothing really." I'm sure the look on my face gave away that I was slightly uncomfortable with the male sitting next to me, and Cloud laughed. "Oh, you met Tidus, did you? He always tends to give guests a warm welcome, especially when they're as attractive as you." I wasn't sure whether to be worried or pleased as dinner began, and I eventually became at ease as Cloud introduced me to almost all of his family during dinner.

Once the meal was over, (which was AMAZING, now I knew that Cloud must be a fantastic cook if he lived with this woman), Cloud kissed his mother on the cheek, thanked her for dinner, and turned to me. "Come with me, there's a room I want to show you." I thanked his mother as well, and Cloud led me up the squeaky staircase and down a hallway to a large door. "Okay. Ready?"

I smiled. "Ready as I'll ever be." Cloud grabbed onto the large brass handle and pulled the door out. I took a few steps inside.

I was standing in one of the most amazing in home libraries I had ever seen. "Well?" Cloud inquired, obviously excited. "What do you think?"

"This is amazing..." I breathed as I gazed around. The amount of books located in the single room was insane. All the walls were lined with bookcases, and books of all sizes filled each and every space. Most looked old, but none looked dusty, as if they had been read frequently. A fireplace was located on the far wall, along with a giant ornate rug and a few old pieces of comfortable furniture.

Cloud sighed, walking in farther and taking a seat on one of the couches. "I come in here a lot. It's kind of my sanctuary from my siblings, when I need to rest. Or sometimes I just feel like reading a good book. I found that romance novel you were reading the other day in here, by the way. I think it's older than you realized."

I nodded, making my way over and sitting next to him, being engulfed immediately by the heat of the fire. It was relaxing. I looked over at Cloud, who was scanning the books, his perfectly carved face being enlightened by the yellow flames. On an impulse, I took his chin and turned him towards me, kissing him on the lips lightly. They were as feather soft as I had remembered. He looked surprised, so I quickly thought up an excuse.

"...I didn't give you a proper greeting when I arrived, so I figured now was as good a time as any."

How it happened, I'm not really sure, but one minute I was smiling happily next to Cloud, and then next minute the gap between our faces had closed, and Cloud was kissing me, long and deep.

I hadn't really been in these situations much (okay, I'm lying a bit...so I had never been in one of these situations...), but it seemed like my body knew what to do of it's own accord, and I didn't have to think about anything but the way Cloud's lips were moving against mine, and the way I could feel his tongue darting out timidly every time his mouth opened.

I lifted one hand up to run through his soft locks (cliché, I know) and moved the other to his waist, my body holding him in place so he wouldn't leave. I somehow managed to scooch over closer so that our shoulders were touching, and Cloud made an amazing noise from the back of his throat.

I wanted to hear it again.

I did everything in my power to please him, trying every move I knew to make the moment more magical, more amazing. Eventually I broke away from his mouth, only when my lungs were screaming for oxygen, and occupied my mouth and it's hunger for Cloud's taste by laying soft kisses along his jaw line and down his neck.

I felt Cloud shiver for a split second, his breath becoming short and his arms wrapping around my shoulders. I worked at his neck for a moment, kissing and nibbling. I only stopped when I felt Cloud's arms travel slowly down my sides and to the bottom of my shirt, tugging on it lightly.

"...O-Off.."

My stomach jolted, and I pulled away. My body was aching for more contact, but I knew that we were going way too fast. "C-Cloud...maybe we shouldn't...be doing this...

(And off in the distance, A fangirl dies.)

Cloud's eyes were dark and frosty, a pale pink staining his cheeks. "B-But why not?" "I think...maybe we're going a little too fast...I mean, we've only known each other for a few weeks, and I don't want to rush things..."

As if coming to his senses, Cloud shook his head. I could still hear his voice shaking lightly, the blush still lingering on his cheeks. "Of course, I'm sorry...I don't know what got into me..."

I righted myself, pulling my shirt down and smoothing it back to it's proper place. "Yeah, same for me. It's fine, really, don't worry about it." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

We spent the rest of the night talking about good literature and our families...

...and stealing kisses.