~Yuffie's POV~
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Kara jumps around me while I attempt to make pancakes on the stove.
"Shh! Daddy's still sleeping," I hush her.
"But it's Christmas!"
"And he's sleepy, so leave him alone," I command.
"Dang right I'm sleepy," someone says in the doorway, yawning.
"Reno, no one was talking about you," I took my eyes with a small smile.
"You sure? I think I'm one spectacular thing to talk about," he grins, sitting at the table.
"Positive."
"Nanny!"
"I'm gonna kill Cloud for even telling her that," he grumbles while Kara climbs all over him. If possible, his red hair is even messier than usual, T-shirt rumped up like a piece of paper, and he's wearing the same pair of plaid pants that he wears every stinking night. "You know what? I'll go easy on him, just because Christmas is my day off." I laugh and shake my head, flipping the pancakes that cook on the griddle.
"Kara? Let's go wake Daddy up," I smirk, heading toward the stairs. Kara and Reno follow. "Alright, we're gonna go in and jump on the bed, okay?"
"Kay!"
"Yup."
"Reno, don't crush him," I warn beforehand. He sighs and nods, sneaking into the bedroom behind us. Cloud's snuggling a pillow, crushing it to his shirtless body with his legs all tangled up in the sheets. "Go!" I whisper.
We all leap onto the bed and jump, chanting "It's Christmas, Cloud!" He groans and pulls the pillow over his head. So I sit on top of the pillow.
"Yuffie," comes the muffled grumble. "Get your butt off my pillow."
"No can do, Mr. Grinch. Now get up."
"It's too early."
"I let you sleep in, now get up before I grab your sword and chuck it in the fireplace." He instantly throws the pillow off and sits up.
"I'm up. Reno, get off my bed."
"But it's so bouncy!" The Turk exclaims, jumping again.
"I'm gonna set your head on fire," Cloud reaches toward the side table, opening the drawer to reveal a single fire materia.
"Ooo! Can I have that?!" I beg.
"No."
"Aw," I pout. "You're mean Cloud. You can't be mean on Christmas."
"And you can't use a holiday as bribery."
"Dang it," I mutter. "Well I've gotta go. See ya!"
"Where're you going?" Cloud frowns.
"Wutai," I call back to him, already on the staircase. Then I hurry to the kitchen to get the burning pancakes off of the burner.
"Hey Mama!" Kara wanders into the kitchen. "I fink I hungry so much."
"Go sit down," I command, pouring her a cup.of juice and using a pizza roller to cut a pancake into bite sized pieces. I learned that you need to do this the hard way.
"Fank you!"
"Looks good," Cloud appears in the doorway, still in his pajama pants. "There any for me?"
"Sure," I grin, flinging a pancake at his chest. He fumbles to catch it, rolling his eyes when Kara and I burst into laughter. Then he tears off a piece, swiftly pulls the front of my T-shirt collar out, and drops it down the front.
"Ew! There's pancake in my boobs!" I whine and he cracks up, Reno pausing when that's the first thing he hears upon entering the room.
"Um..."
"Gosh dang it, Cloud!"
"What?" He chuckles.
"You know what!"
"You want me to get it out for you?"
"Ew, no, boob groper!"
"Hey, that was some guy in Midgar, not me," he holds up his hands in defense.
"Can I just get breakfast?" Reno pushes past us. I frown at Cloud before grabbing what's left of the evil pancake and shoving it into his mouth.
"Mphanteeph!"
"Sorry, I don't speak retarded chocobo," I smirk. He rolls his eyes with a loud groan and takes his time chewing the food.
"Hey! Yuffie Servant! Juice!" Reno demands playfully and I scoff.
"Get juice yourself, stupid."
Cloud finally finishes his pancake and grabs my upper arm gently, turning me to face him before leaning down and kissing me.
"How does that pancake taste now?" He teases, pulling away and grabbing a plate.
"Better."
"Really?"
"Mhmm," I smirk, purposely bumping him with my hip when I walk by. He gives me a devilish smirk and grabs my waist, spinning me back toward him. Then he lowers his mouth to my ear.
"Don't be such a tease, Yuffie." I burst out laughing and pull myself free of his grip, going to the fridge.
"I'm not trying, Cloud."
"Well I don't think it's fair that you don't have to try and it's hard to even get your attention for me."
"Don't beat yourself up about it," I pat his cheek.
"I'm not!"
"You guys are loud," Denzel yawns, stretching.
"Hey kid!" I yell randomly, running over to make his hair a mess before running away to Cloud.
"... Who gave her sugar?"
"No one," I grin at the tall boy. "I got four candy canes off the tree."
"Oh Gods," Cloud buries his face in his hands.
"We're gonna die," Denzel groans.
"Where's the syrup?" Reno asks.
~|~|~|~|~
"OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS GOSHNESS! CLOUD I LOVE YOU!"
"Finally," he sighs teasingly. "I've been waiting for that the two years we've been married."
"IT'S SO CUTE!"
"Stop yelling," Denzel groans, rubbing his temples.
"Why!" Reno and I yell back at the same time. Someone bangs on the door.
"That's why," Cloud grumbles, going to the door. I can hear the shriek of an old lady and the deeper voice of Cloud as he tries to calm her down. When he comes back, one side of his face is completely red.
"What happened to you?" I ask, stroking the new kitty on my lap.
"I just got backhanded by a ninety year old woman," he huffs, sitting down on the couch. "Because we were disrupting her 'morning prayers'."
"Demon woman!" I shriek.
"Shh! She hits hard! Next time, you're answering the door!"
"But I..." Someone knocks on the door again. Cloud smirks.
"Go."
"But..."
"Nope."
"I hate you," I huff, standing and walking toward the door. I rip the door open only to be staring down the end of a gun barrel. I release a short scream before slamming the door shut. "Cloud?!"
"What?"
"Crazy old lady was just aiming a gun at me!" I stand on my tiptoes and look through the peephole. "Oh no you did not..." I swing the door open angrily. "VINCENT VALENTINE, I WILL FREAKING KILL YOU!" I shout, kicking tall man hard. He doesn't even notice, just cracks up laughing. Full on doubled over laughing. Not those tiny smiles or short chuckles he gives. The rare full on laugh. Frustrated, I do the only thing I know how to easy cause him pain.
"Ow! Holy crap, Yuffie!" He cringes. Tifa appears behind him, pausing when she sees him bending over slightly and wincing.
"Do you always cripple men first thing in the morning?" She raises an eyebrow at me.
"Maybe," I shrug, stepping out of the doorway and moving back to the living room. "Cloud! I crippled Vincent!"
"You evil woman," he furrows his eyebrows. I grin and plop down onto his lap, picking up the cat off the floor.
"What should we name him?"
"You're already treating it like a child," he groans.
"Mommy!" Kara jumps around. "I see Tifa!"
"Go get em," I wave her off, studying the orange kitty. "I think his name should be Frank."
".. Weirdo," Denzel shakes his head before getting tackles from behind by Marlene.
"Denny!"
"Ow! Mar, you're pulling my hair!"
"Derek! You owe me twenty gil!" Marlene happily skips to the silver haired boy. He sighs and hands her the money.
"Did you seriously pay her to attack me?" Denzel stands, fixing his hair. He's obsessed over it almost as much as Cloud lately.
"This place is huge," Tifa looks around. "And you got all the furniture I ordered, right?"
"I don't know how you keep track of all that, but yes," I nod.
"And you owe us over two thousand gil," Vincent follows behind her.
"She does not," Tifa elbows him in the ribs.
"Ow!"
"Tifa! Guess what?"
"What?" She smiles down at Marlene, who holds up a box.
"This has your name on it!"
"Aw, Yuffie," she sticks her lower lip out at me. I just point my thumb at Cloud. I'm still lounging on his lap, and he's really comfy. He absent mindedly grabs my lifted hand and runs his thumb over my knuckles, watching the kids rip open all the crap that 'Santa' brought. Frank dozes off on my lap, his ears twitching every once in awhile.
"Reno! We're gonna have to play this together sometime!" Denzel holds up a video game and the Turk grins.
"Yeah, and I'll kick your butt!"
"You don't even know how to use a controller!"
"Psh, I learn how within the next hour or two."
"Race you upstairs!"
"You're on."
"Cmon Derek!"
The boys (plus Reno) run up the stairs, shoving each other out of the way.
"Bet you fifty gil that Reno won," I raise an eyebrow at Tifa.
"You're on, Yuffs."
"Hang on," I mutter, swinging my leg around so that I'm straddling Cloud. Then I let my arms hang around his neck and snuggle my head into his chest. "That's better." I shut my eyes and doze off.
~|~|~|~|~
"Vincent, I have to make you cook for us every year," I sigh, stuffed and sitting on the couch. Cloud fell asleep a little bit ago with his head in my lap. Tifa's phone buzzes and she automatically covers her face with one of the couch pillows the second she opens the message up. Vincent and I give each other a confused look before looking back at her. Her laugh is muffled by the pillow, but it's still pretty hysterical.
"You alright?" Vincent asks. She hands him her phone, still laughing. Vincent frowns and reads the message, his mouth breaking into a smile and finally a silent laugh while he shakes his head, passing it to me. I blink and look over the small screen. It's a text from Shera with a photo attached, but I force myself to read the message first.
Shera: It took a prank or two, but Cid's all ready for the holidays XD
Then I clap a hand over my mouth and throw my head back, trying not to wake Cloud up. The picture is of a very POed looking Cid, half of his hair Reno red, and the other half bright green. Then I purse my lips together, force a laugh back, and text her back.
Me (Tifa): NICE! You've made me proud, Sher ~Yuffie
Tifa tries to catch her breath, wiping her eyes and fanning her face, but the second we all make eye contact again, we burst out laughing as quietly as we can.
"I've been inspired," I whisper, wheezing.
"Shh, we're gonna wake Cloud up," Tifa hushes us.
"Nah, he's a heavy sleeper," I wave her off. Then I slide his head off my lap and stand.
"Cmon guys," I wave the toward the kitchen. "I'll do the hair, you're in charge of the sharpies."
"Just doodle all over him?" Tifa grins.
"And someone had better write 'Cloud wuvs Yuffie' in his forehead," I add, tossing two black markers their way. "All I have to do is break open some permenant markers and scrub the ink into his hair. With his shade of hair, it'll stay for maybe a week. Maybe more, maybe less."
"Sounds great!" Tifa giggles, dragging Vincent behind her by the hand. Such a rule hugger.
"Orange, hot pink, red, light blue, and bright green. Ooo, purple too!" I list to myself. "Time to be evil."
I cut the ends off and take the fuzzy and plasticky ink thing out after putting a pair of yellow rubber gloves on. I don't feel like being blamed. When I get out to the living room, I see Reno, Derek, Marlene, and Denzel have joined them, signing their names and writing inside jokes all over his face gently and silently. I guess Kara must've fallen asleep somewhere. I get to work, cutting the ink things open and wiping them over every inch of blonde hair on his head. When we finish, I rub my jaw where it itches and toss the gloves out, burying them at the bottom of the trash can. Thankfully, no one else has ink on them.
"Who's gonna wake him up?" Tifa asks.
"Hold up," I turn to the guys, plus Marlene, minus Vincent. "Derek, Denzel, Marlene, and Reno. Go upstairs and continue whatever you were doing. Look really involved."
Tifa and Vincent go back to where they were sitting on the couch, Vincent 'reading' and Tifa on her phone. Then I lift Cloud's head slowly and set it back on my lap. How is he sleeping through all this?
"Cloud," I say quietly, poking his cheek. Nothing. "Cloud?" Butthead. I bend over and gently press a kiss to his lips, pulling away to sit up again. He manages a small smile when his eyes flicker open.
"Well that's a nice way to wake up. You should do it more often." I roll my eyes.
"What, wake you up from naps?"
"Don't be difficult," he yawns. It's all we can do not to crack up at the words and doodles all over his face.
"I'm not, poo head."
"Well you're feeling nice," he scoffs, sitting up.
"Guess what?" Tifa sits up. "Shera dyed Cid's hair green and red with Kool-aid."
"What?!" Cloud's eyebrows raise. Whoever gave him a unibrow is my new best friend.
"Yep," Tifa shows him the picture quickly enough that he can't see his reflection.
"Hmm," he hums, stretching.
"You have a tacky bedhead," I giggle. He groans and pushes his hand through his hair to fix his hair. Then he grimaces, pulling his hand back. We all draw in a breath, but thankfully, his fingers only touched the yellow. "My hair feels really gross. I'm gonna go take a shower." He heads up the stairs.
"Don't let him see himself in the mirror!" Tifa hisses. I roll my eyes and jog up after him.
"Need company?" I ask casually when I get to our room, digging through my drawers for a change of clothes.
"I wouldn't mind," he turns his head to look at me, a steady smirk on his face.
"Cmon then, weirdo," I send the look back, walking toward the bathroom. He mutters something before following. The second he shuts the door, I pull him closer to me and brush my nose to his to distract him. He closes the small distance between us, backing me into the wall across from the mirror. Good.
"Chillax, kid," I mumble against his lips.
"Don't wanna."
"Weirdo."
~|~|~|~|~
"He hasn't noticed," I whisper to Tifa. We've managed to keep him too occupied for three hours to notice his hair or face. I even dried his hair for him so that he didn't notice the colors that came off. They're a little faded, but staying strong.
"Let's just hope we can keep this up."
"Guys," Denzel sounds scared. "Dad... I mean Cloud just went into the bathr..."
"YUFFIE!!!"
"I am so dead," I whimper, hiding behind Vincent's cape. So so so dead.
SUP GUYS! SO SAD TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE THE LAST :'(. BUT THIS CHAPTER WAS 3X LONGER THAN THE ONES I'VE BEEN DOING LATELY, SO BE HAPPY FOR TdHAT! AND WOULD IT BE WEIRD IF I JUMPED TEN YEAR INTO THE FUTURE FOR THE LAST CHAPTER? YEAH? WELL THAT SUCKS. I'M DOIN IT ANYWAY ;)
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