Future Strife

“Ugh! That’s it. I’m done.” This was followed by a long pause. “You said you were fine with him.” Another pause followed. “You lied? Why…? I said if-” Rolling of eyes. “At least he’s always honest with me!”

Sora watched Riku pace around in agitation. His silver-haired friend’s conversation had become increasingly like this and apparently had now reached critical hour. Sora was 99.7 sure he knew what this particular argument was about. That also meant that Kairi had been right and he owed her fifty Munny.

“I can’t deal with this right now. I’ll call later.” Riku angrily disconnected and strangled the device. “Why is he so fuckin’ difficult?”

Sora sipped on his smoothie. He knew better than to talk while Riku was still fuming. Best give him a few more minutes.

“And he calls me high-maintenance. He’s being the stubborn little bitch! It’s not like I’m asking him to spend quality time with him or anything!”

Riku was quiet for a few minutes and Sora decided it was all right to speak. “Let me guess, Cloud’s really uncomfortable with having Sephiroth actually being involved with the ceremony.”

Riku glared at the brunette.

Sora sighed and set his cup down. “Come on, Riku. You had to know this was gonna come up.”

“I just hoped,” Riku rubbed his forehead. He sat heavily beside his best friend, who graciously handed him his fruit smoothie. “I’m starting to think we should just elope.”

“Can two guys do that?”

“I don’t know.” Riku chuckled lightly. “But it sounds really good right now.”

“You know Mom would kill you if you bail out now. Not to mention Yuffie, Aerith, and Tifa.”

“Yeah; they’re the main reason we’re doing this stupid commitment ceremony thing.” That was a lie. Riku was secretly ecstatic about this whole thing.

When Cloud had decided they needed to move to the next stage, Riku had actually cried. He glanced down and twisted the silver band on his ring finger. It had come so unexpectedly. Riku always figured Cloud was scared of commitment due the tragic ends of prior relationships so he was content to be simply ‘dating’ forever.

Then during Riku’s last long visit, Cloud had done the unthinkable. He had taken Riku, along with Sora and Leon, to the hidden falls that had become their spot. A brief moment of panic had seized Riku’s heart, fearing that Cloud was about to say this was not working for him any more and only brought the others to keep him from wussing out.

...And when that little box had appeared, the tears just sprung. He felt like such a girl but he could not help it. It was the single most romantic moment of his life. He threw his arms around his blonde boyfriend before he even finished his little speech (Riku hadn’t even heard the beginning having been too overwhelmed).

They’d had some spectacular sex that night.

“You two will work it out.” Sora assured him. “Cloud loves you, and that means he’s got to deal with everything about you.”

“Yeah well you remember how long it took for him to deal with the whole Sephiroth thing in the first place.” Riku grumbled. He took a long drink. “This needs rum.”

“It’s too early for rum.” Sora chastised.

“It’s never too early. I thought you used to hang with pirates.” Riku smirked, leaning forward and resting his arms on his thighs. The moment of levity helped some but now he was back to his original problem. “It’ll work out. Somehow…”

“Yeah,” Sora nodded emphatically.

“Ugh. I’m supposed to call Seph now. He’ll know the second I open my mouth something’s up.”

Sora shivered. While he had long ago accepted the one (or was it three? It seemed to change count every time he saw him) winged angel as part of Riku’s really messed up family; he kept as much distance from him as he could. “Yeah, have fun with that.”

“What? You’re not going to listen in so you can reassure me after?” Riku looked disappointed.

“I’m helping my mom today so you’re on your own.” He tried not to smile but was not very successful.

“Bastard;” Riku stood, taking Sora’s smoothie with him. “Fine; this is mine now. Oh, is Leon still volunteering to help your mom?”

“Yeah; Mom can’t wait to meet him.” Sora rolled his eyes. “Have fun talking with Sephy.”

“You know, I really hate you right now.”

“Really...?” Sora teased as he got up. “I dislike you most of the time.”

Riku slugged him in the shoulder; “Dinner still on?”

“Yep, at six; Mom will kill you if you’re late.”

“I won’t be. Conversations with my brother never last that long.” Sora waved as he left and Riku let his shoulders slump. He turned and headed in the other direction. He would wait until he was safe within his house to call Sephiroth.

It was bad enough that at least a dozen of the Islanders had just heard him arguing with Cloud.

--0—0—

When Riku entered the kitchen, he immediately fell into a chair. “Does everyone go through this insanity?”

“From what I hear, yes.” Seiya laughed, handing him a beer. “Here. Dinner’s almost ready.”

“I am so looking forward to it.” He popped the top and took a long drink. “I swear I’m gonna be an alcoholic by the time this is finished.”

Sora walked in and peered over his mom’s shoulder. “Is it done yet?”

“Back, Sora.” Seiya batted him away. “It’s done when it’s done now go sit with Riku and make him feel better like a good best friend.”

“How’d things go with Sephiroth?” Sora slid into the chair beside Riku. “He didn’t try arguing with you too did he?”

“No which is the really annoying part. Seph has been perfectly cooperative about everything. Cloud’s just being stubborn.”

“Well he is with you.”

Riku whapped the back of his head; “Not funny.”

Sora grinned but spoke seriously. “It will all work out. You know Cloud better than any of us. Even Leon says Cloud doesn’t really mean most of what he’s saying.”

“I know,” Riku ran a hand through his lengthy hair. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Well, on to a brighter subject then.” Seiya came to the table, electric wok in hand. She set it down before them and grinned brightly. “What are we doing for your birthday?”

Riku laughed once. “You know, I haven’t even thought about that.”

“You better start then.” The woman settled herself in the chair beside Sora. “Turning eighteen is a major thing.”

“Yeah,” Sora scooped out a large spoonful of stir-fry. “Cloud no longer has to worry about getting arrested if he comes to visit.”

Riku shot him a dirty look and Seiya whapped him in the back of the head. Large blue eyes looked between them as Sora gave them a questioning expression. He shook his head and muttered. “You guys have no sense of humor.”

Seiya turned back to Riku, watching her surrogate son take a much smaller portion of food. “You are going to eat more than that.”

Riku rolled his eyes. “This is plenty, Seiya. I haven’t been hungry but I’ve been making sure to eat a little throughout the day.”

She narrowed her eyes at Riku but nodded and quickly grinned again. She really was almost as bad as her son was. “So, what do you want to do for your birthday?”

“I honestly have no idea.” The teen took a bite of food. “I guess I can just get the gang together and we can have a bonfire at the beach or something.”

“That sounds fun.” Seiya picked at her own food. “Will you invite anyone from Radiant Garden?”

Riku frowned a bit. “I doubt they can take the time. They’ve already set aside so much for the wedding, I don’t want them to fall behind any further.”

Sora glanced at his mother and a corner of his lip curled up. Riku did not notice. Seiya lifted an eyebrow at the brunet and continued talking about what food she should make for the get together. This discussion took up the rest of dinner.

--0—0—0—0—0—

So here it finally is: the last arc of the Cloud and Riku saga. For those that remember, this was originally titled And You Thought You Had Trouble With Your In-laws, but after some consideration, I changed it. Thanks to Riku-Rocks for the new title.