Club Fantasy

Cloud was right, the second Vincent saw him, he was told to sit down and wait while the older man got the others.

Unlike most days, Tifa was going to be working the same shift as him that night so it was one of the few days when all of them were home together for more than a few hours.

And as usual, after Cloud told then everything, all four of them had very different problems that needed addressing.

Vincent was worried about too much exposure, while more of it meant that more people would notice if one of them suddenly went missing, it also meant a higher likelihood that people who wanted them to go missing would find out about them faster.

Aerith was worried about her flowers, they where all in pots, but some wouldn’t do well with being moved about, also all the flowers were used to being under the plate, everything Cloud had heard about Club Fantasy said it was an above plate establishment, and the Quiet young girl wasn’t sure if the sudden increase of light would overdose and hurt them or not.

Tifa was just worried about running into some of the more unscrupulous rich folks, it was not uncommon for the police to ignore what was being done under the plate for a few extra gil, Don Corneo was proof of this, and some of the top plate folk had more money than him by far, the small family had no idea if any of the topsiders were as bad as the Don, and if they would be safe enough.

All Cloud really wanted was to keep their little family together and happy.

Somehow the discussion got out of his control, it went from talking amongst each other, to the other three making a list of things they would need before they even allowed Cloud to consider joining.

Cloud yawned.

“Are you guys done yet?”

“Not yet honey, you go to sleep, we’ll have it done by the time you wake up.”

“Don’t forget you have the same shift as me Teef.”

“Yeah, but I’ve had some sleep already, I’ll get a bit more in a couple of hours.”

Cloud didn’t argue, swallowing the last of the sandwiches Vincent had made instead of breakfast, he made his way up to his room, tossing his coat on the clothes hamper as he went.

It didn’t seem like he’d had more than a few hours sleep, but that wasn’t uncommon for him as he got to the middle of the week, it was usually Monday he was very energetic, by Wednesday he started to slow down, and by Saturday, he was the stripping zombie, though people couldn’t tell while he was on stage.

It wasn’t surprising to see Chaos already getting the coffee together, the demon’s coffee was thick as tar and twice as strong as Cloud’s, but it was just what Cloud needed this morning.

Chaos was just happy that it was the middle of the week, during the last couple of days before Cloud’s day off, the blonde had been known to snarl, and growl his way out of bed, everyone, even Chaos knew to leave a clear path between Cloud’s room and the coffee machine.

The first, and only time the coffee machine had broken down, The blonde had left a path of destruction from the apartment all the way to the repair shop, the repairman had taken one look at the caffeine deprived teen and made it a rush job.

Quickly. Chaos handed the first coffee of the day over before getting his own.

Tifa wasn’t long after Cloud, going to the kettle for her and Aerith’s tea, before getting dinner ready, a simple lamb stew with spices and veges.

Once they’d all sat down for the meal, and Cloud finished his second cup of coffee, Aerith gave him the list.

Aerith because she was the only one who didn’t raise Cloud’s un-caffeinated ire.

“It would be ok if he only fulfilled a third of these.”

Cloud stared at the list in his hands, it was three pages long, and written in small print, he took one look Aerith’s timid face and sighed.

“Sure, lets see how it goes.”

Cloud was pretty sure Zack would give up after he saw the first page.

Possibly even the first request.

1: Major advertising NOT allowed.

What Club owner wanted new acts if he couldn’t promote them.

TBC