Title: Sunflowers
Chapter: 9/11
Author:
xpaperplanexRating: G
Word Count: ~1900
Characters: Sephiroth, Cloud
Genre: slice of life
Warnings: none
Summary: Is it exile? Is it a vacation? It's up to Sephiroth to find out.
***
Sephiroth arrived promptly at 10:00, and Cloud greeted him with a beaming smile and a hug, then presented him with what was apparently his required uniform for the party. He felt very silly with the brightly coloured cone on his head, and the elastic strap that held it on caught in his hair fairly regularly. Everyone else was wearing them, however, so he went along with it, hoping there wouldn’t be any pictures.
That hope was squashed quite quickly when Bob held up a camera and said, “Cheese!”
He blinked as the flash went off in his face. “I …”
“Sorry, Sephiroth, but Ger made me promise to get some pictures of you when I mentioned the party.”
“Come in, Seph!” Cloud tugged at his hand excitedly, distracting him from his protest. “Come look at my cake!”
The Strife house was small, but cozy. Streamers and balloons that said ‘Happy Birthday!’ hung from the ceiling and walls. A table held snacks and drinks. Tifa was there, munching on a handful of popcorn, and she waved when she saw him, spilling popcorn crumbs everywhere in the process. In the centre of the table was the cake, cut and decorated to look like Cloud’s favourite character from the mouse comics.
“Isn’t it cool?” Cloud asked. “Mom worked on it all day yesterday.”
“It’s really cool,” he replied. “She did a good job.”
“Thank you, Sephiroth, that’s nice of you to say.” Mrs. Strife came out from the kitchen carrying a plate of cut vegetables. “Help yourself to any of the snacks, but we’ll save the cake for after lunch.”
Sephiroth nodded his understanding. This was a celebration, and the cake was so nice that it seemed like there was probably a set tradition for serving it. “Are there any other rules I should know?”
Mrs. Strife smiled kindly. “No, just have fun. We’ll play some games when a few more kids have arrived. Cloud will help me to explain how to play, won’t you?”
“You can count on me!” Cloud jabbed his thumb at his chest.
Birthday parties were very boisterous affairs. Sephiroth had attended several social functions at Shinra, but compared to Cloud’s party, they were like night and day. When Johnny and several other children Sephiroth wasn’t as familiar with arrived, they played a game that involved being blindfolded, spun around until he was dizzy, then sent off to attempt to pin a tail on a picture of a chocobo. He wasn’t very good at that game. It had appeared simple at first, but although he had been certain he was facing the right direction and could remember the approximate height at which he should place his pin, when he took off the blindfold, he was way off mark.
Skill didn’t seem to matter much, however, and he even got a ribbon that said ‘Good Job!’. Shrugging, he pinned it to his shirt, then helped Cloud and the rest of the children with theirs so they wouldn’t hurt themselves. They went outside and played a game called tag while Bob barbecued hamburgers on the big grill he had wheeled down from his house. Sephiroth found that he was too good at tag, and that didn’t seem fair, so he helped Mrs. Strife with carrying things to the picnic tables instead.
Cloud insisted that they sit together at the table, and Sephiroth stuffed himself with three hamburgers and several cups of an overly sweet, carbonated beverage that he was certain Hojo wouldn’t allow if he knew about it. Cloud and Johnny talked excitedly about the latest issue of the mouse comic. It had come out on Wednesday, and he had read it out loud to Cloud since he was so slow at reading compared to him. He had to also admit that he liked making up voices for each character. It made it more exciting. He had been thinking about it a lot since then, wondering what was going to happen and coming up with ideas. Feeling defiant of Hojo’s disapproval, he poured himself another fizzy drink and leaned in to share his theory about the missing food supplies.
“Who’s ready for cake?” Bob suddenly called out, interrupting Cloud and Johnny’s rather poorly thought out idea for how they could make a fort in the forest. Sephiroth made a mental note to try and come up with something better as he turned his attention to Bob.
The kids quieted as Mrs. Strife stepped outside carrying the cake, then they began to sing in unison as she approached. Sephiroth looked around in confusion. Everyone was singing except for Cloud, and Sephiroth felt certain that he was supposed to be singing as well, but he didn’t know the song! The lyrics were simple, at least, and he was just about to attempt to follow along when Mrs. Strife placed the cake, which had seven burning candles in it, in front of Cloud and they all went quiet again.
“Make a wish!” someone yelled.
Cloud closed his eyes, then took a deep breath and blew out most of the candles.
“Ha! Two girlfriends!” Johnny said, pointing at the two candles that were still burning.
“Ew, no way!” Cloud blew again and Mrs. Strife took the cake back to begin slicing it and putting it onto paper plates.
Sephiroth accepted his quietly, and let Bob dole out a big spoonful of ice cream, but he felt like he didn’t deserve it. Cloud was still smiling, it was true, so he clearly hadn’t ruined everything, but he knew he should have done more research.
“Sephiroth, what’s wrong?” Bob asked, frowning.
“I didn’t know the song,” he admitted. “I’m sorry.”
“Se-Alde, I’ll be back in a moment. Come with me, Sephiroth, let’s have a chat.” Bob put down the ice cream scoop and took him around to the front of the house to sit on the porch.
“I’m sorry,” he said again as he sat down. “I can leave.”
“You’ll do no such thing, son, and there’s nothing to apologize for, so I don’t want to hear that again.”
“But I should have known it,” Sephiroth protested. “I thought it was okay because some of the kids didn’t know the rules for the games too, but they all knew the song.”
Bob wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in tightly against his chest, making Sephiroth stiffen. He had gotten used to Cloud and some of the other kids hugging him, but he’d never been hugged by an adult before. “They all grew up with it, Sephiroth. They’ve heard it countless times, so of course they know it, but you didn’t, and that’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you ahead of time and that it made you feel awkward, but you can trust me when I say that nobody minded.”
“Really?” The hug was actually quite comforting, and Sephiroth relaxed a little bit.
“Really. If anyone even noticed that you weren’t singing, they would have thought that you just didn’t want to sing, which is also okay. Not everyone likes to. Personally, I just move my lips and pretend to sing. Nobody wants to hear my attempts at a melody.”
Sephiroth lifted his head and blinked a few times. His eyes felt like there was some sort of pressure behind them. “You’re sure?”
“I’m-”
“Sephiroth? Where’d you go?” Cloud poked his head around the corner. “Are you in trouble for something?”
Bob let go of him and patted his back. “Not at all. Run and get Sephiroth’s cake for him, then will you help me teach him the happy birthday song?”
“Sure!” Cloud disappeared again, seemingly unfazed by his ignorance.
***
He was feeling much better by the time they gathered inside to watch Cloud open his presents. It helped seeing how happy he made everyone when he took the final swing at the funny thing called a piñata and cracked it open, spilling candy everywhere. And like Bob said, it seemed that nobody even realized that he hadn’t known the song. He was glad he knew it now, though. He would sing next time.
They sat on the floor in the living room as Cloud tore into colourful paper that kept what was inside the packages secret. Cloud got several new books and toys, as well as a plush mouse with a sword that made him shriek in delight.
“Looks like that’s everything, Cloud,” his mother said. “What do you say?”
“Wait,” Sephiroth interrupted. “I didn’t give mine.”
Mrs. Strife looked towards him in surprise. “Oh, I didn’t realize. Bob told you that you didn’t have to, right?”
“He said, but I wanted to. It’s not very good, though. I couldn’t think of anything.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the envelope. “I didn’t know about that nice paper, either.”
“That’s fine, Sephiroth. I’m sure Cloud will like it, whatever it is.”
Cloud was practically bouncing with excitement. “Can I open it? Can I open it?”
Smiling, Sephiroth handed over the envelope.
“Coupon,” Cloud read out loud when he took out the paper inside. “Good for one favour.” Cloud stopped reading and stared at the paper with wide eyes.
Sephiroth flushed and reached to take it back. “It was just a joke, I’ll get you a real present.”
Cloud slowly lifted his head. “Any favour?” he said disbelievingly. “Anything at all? You’ll do what I say?”
“Yeah, but-”
“This is the best present I’ve ever gotten!” Cloud yelled, clutching the coupon to his chest. “I’m gonna save it for something super important! Oh, man, I can’t believe it! Thank you!” Cloud ran over and hugged him, then showed it to the other children, though he wouldn’t let them touch it. “Look, it’s made out to me. Right there: For Cloud. See? No one else can use it.”
To his surprise, the others seemed to think it was a good present as well. They gave Cloud all sorts of suggestions for favours he could ask for, and Cloud took them all into careful consideration. It was funny, since everything they suggested were things he’d been doing all summer long, with no coupons involved.
He stayed after the children had been picked up by their parents to help clean up, though Cloud demanded that the decorations remain up a while longer. Mrs. Strife insisted he stay for dinner as well. It was nice sitting at the table with her and Cloud, and he wondered if most families ate their meals like that. He knew that it was probably because it was more convenient for her, but it made him surprisingly happy when she said that he should just come for dinner every night instead of eating alone. They had more cake for dessert, and ate it while sitting out on the porch and listening to the crickets chirp.
“Happy birthday, Cloud,” he said quietly.
“Are you gonna invite me to your birthday party?”
Sephiroth turned and looked at his friend, who was still wearing his party hat. “Sure, but you might have to come to Midgar.”
“I always wanted to go to the big city. Can I sleep over at your house?”
He thought of his small, well-organized apartment and the disaster Cloud would definitely make of it. “Sure.”
***
Previous Chapter |
Next Chapter