Lean On Me (FF7)

38

~Cloud's POV~

            All throughout lunch, I slip extra food to Denzel underneath the table, which he discretely shoves in his mouth. Barret sends us a few suspicious glances, and Marlene covers her mouth with both hands to hold in her giggles, but everyone else seems clueless. Hey, the poor kid needs to get some weight on him if he's gonna be on board the Highwind, because we're so big and scary and mean and stuff. Yeah.

           Handing him one last cookie fragment, he puts it in his palm, closes his fingers over it, and pretends to be gnawing at his nails. I pat his knee before directing my attention to Cid, who's talking about Sephiroth.

"Surprisingly enough, we haven't and a run in with that man for a while."

"It's kinda... creepy," Barret frowns. "That ain't the word I was lookin for, but it'll work."

"Kinda like the calm before a storm," Yuffie nods.

"I wonder if he's planning something big," Cid leans back in his chair.

"He's Sephiroth, of course he is. Always winning party of the year," I scoff.

"Have we checked the North Crater yet?" Barret sighs.

"From Wutai to Mideel," Cud mutters under his breath.

"He has to be somewhere, doesn't he?" Denzel scrunches up his nose.

"Obviously," Marlene rolls her big brown eyes. "It's not like he disappeared."

"Maybe he did," he shoots back.

"He didn't."

"Did too."

"Didn't."

"Did."

"Didn't."

"Did."

"Didn..."

"Hush," I hit Denzel lightly on the back of the head. He rolls his eyes and sticks out his tongue at the girl who is practically his sister.

"Pooey head," she mumbles.

"Marlene," Barret shoots her a warning look.

"But back to business," RedIIX sighs. "Where could he be hiding?"

"Under our noses," Cid shrugs.

"All I got under there is a beard, Gramps," Barret rolls his eyes.

"Somebody is feelin smart today," the pilot smirks.

"How's Vincent?" Denzel asks Yuffie, bored as he plays with his fork, bending and unbending it.

"Eh, grumpy as usual," she shrugs.

"Hmm," he hums, the top of the fork breaking from the handle. He quickly hides it under the table, but not before a shoot him the look and he ducks his head as if to say, "Okay, I get it, geeze. Next time I'll break a fork in the closet."

"Someone should bring him a knife just to scare him," I wiggle my eyebrows at Yuffie.

"How about no," she frowns.

"Aw cmon, you know you wanna," I nudge her with my shoulder.

"Leave me alone, fatso," she shoves back.

"Aw," I pout. Then I look at Denzel and whisper, "Go get a dead roach or something."

"Ew, no!" she hits the back of my head. "Don't."

"You're no fun," I laugh.

"You two are bizarre," Cid shakes his head.

"Tell me about it," Red scoffs. "Ears like these don't let me miss a word."