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It was said that multitasking wasn’t real. That being able to focus on several things at once wasn’t really possible. Anyone who said that had never met Leon Strifehart. He was pulling up a vague lesson plan for the following day based off of a time table he’d created a few years prior. Beyond a few tweaks here or there it hadn’t needed many changes that didn’t involve school events or weather related issues getting in the way. History didn’t often change and it meant his lessons were usually unaffected by time.
There were emails from the administrator he would get to eventually but at least he’d read them which was more than some other professors in his department could say. That wasn’t as important to him as getting his grading done so his students would have their grades back and for the few who truly cared, they’d be able to factor it into their GPA for the term.
His aide had wandered off but he’d gotten a fairly good one recently who didn’t need much hand holding. It meant his work was going even more smoothly than usual.
Even with the workload in front of him, he still had his cell phone pressed to his ear, listening to Roxas quietly whine even though he swore he wasn’t whining.
“But can i go with him?” Roxas asked for the third time.
“If papa said no, then why are you asking me?” Leon asked, ignoring a new e-mail that appeared. It certainly seemed like the time of year they were trying to get him to volunteer for something. He had to explain to his colleagues over and over that one did not volunteer for things at work when they had seven children at home already soaking up every bit of attention and free time.
“But i could if you said i could.” Roxas attempted as if that were a clever argument. The kids seemed to be under the impression that Cloud did whatever he wanted which was laughable. He wasn’t even entirely sure what they’d done to convince the kids of that beyond being careful to not have any serious arguments in front of them.
“It’s just an errand, Roxy.” Leon said. “He won’t even be gone an hour and Yuffie is coming. You love it when Yuffie comes.”
“Well, i know but-”
“But?” Leon cut him off. “But what? Why do you want to go so badly?”
He could hear Roxas shuffling around in the background and he wondered when Cloud would notice his cell phone had been commandeered.
“If it was just one of us going too then i could go with papa.” Roxas attempted vaguely but it was enough.
“No.” Leon said firmly. “If papa said no because he’s taking his bike, then no. You know the rules. You don’t get to go places with papa on his motorcycle until you’re thirteen.” It had been a compromise he and Cloud had agreed on.
There wasn’t specifically an age minimum requirement for passengers on a motorcycle but there were very real dangers to be taken into consideration. The bike wasn’t conducive to their everyday life and Cloud only got to pull it out on rare occasions anyway. Seven kids couldn’t fit on it and even when they were divided into other cars, three or four wouldn’t fit on the bike either.
Cloud had proposed the age thirteen where they could be fitted for the appropriate helmet and would better fit in his hand-me-down riding jackets for safety. Given how seriously he took their safety, Leon had agreed.
“But Riku and Vani have been on it!” Roxas complained.
“Sitting on it when it’s parked doesn’t count.” Leon said calmly. “If papa says it’s okay you can do that too.” He had no problem with pretending. “But none of you are thirteen yet so none of you will be riding papa’s bike with him just yet.”
It was going to be miserable when Ventus and Vanitas were allowed before everyone else. He had to assume it would be equally miserable when everyone but Xion was allowed since she was the youngest.
Regardless, Cloud could still only take one or two of them out at a time.
“But daddy…” Roxas complained. “I’d be careful. Real careful.”
“Little Bit.” Leon said softly, pulling out his baby nickname. “It’s not about you being careful. I know you would be. It’s about you being too small right now. The bike is fast and other drivers will always be a factor. Papa was even older than thirteen before he was allowed.”
He would not bring up the fact that Cloud hadn’t gotten the bike until he was older. If the kids didn’t think to ask then he wouldn’t volunteer the information.
Roxas sighed. “Okay.”
“You’ll have fun with Yuffie.” Leon promised. “I’m sure you can talk her into Wutian food for dinner.”
“Okay.” he repeated, a little placated.
“I’ll see you when i get home, baby.” Leon said. “Give papa back his phone.”
Roxas chuckled a little and Leon really wondered if he’d just slip it back into Cloud’s pocket without a word. “Okay. Bye daddy.”
“Bye baby.” Leon said, hanging up and dropping his phone on his desk. He needed to reread that paper he’d been grading. Okay, maybe multitasking was harder when his kids were involved. They were all in love with Cloud’s bike and Leon was quietly dreading it. It wouldn’t be much longer before Ventus and Vanitas were thirteen and he was a touch sick over it. He was too young to have teenagers and the thought of them growing up so fast was painful. He wasn’t ready.
He worked another half an hour, promptly ignoring his office phone since he knew who it was. They were trying to shift his class schedule and he was going to pretend he didn’t know a thing about it for as long as possible. If they were going to inconvenience him, he was going to inconvenience them back.
“Professor.” His aide popped his head into his office, knocking belatedly on the doorframe as he did so. “Do you have a second?”
“Depends.” Leon said, finishing up an e-mail to a student asking questions on an assignment. “What is it?”
“You have visitors.” He said.
Leon made a slight face. “From which department?”
“Uh, i don’t think they work here.”
“What?” Leon turned to face him, brows knitted together in confusion. “Who is it?”
He smiled in a way that was half amused and half ‘please don’t shoot the messenger’. “She said it would be better if it was a surprise.”
Leon snorted, not sure if that was interesting or annoying. “Whatever, send them in.”
“Yes sir.” his aide was snickering as he backed out again. Maybe this aide actually was too annoying and he’d need to find a new one.
A few moments later there was a another knock on his door frame and he couldn’t help his surprise when he looked up.
“Sis?”
“Squall!” Ellone greeted with a large smile. She never had gotten the hang of calling him Leon. He got up, opening his arms so she could throw hers around his neck and squeeze him into a tight hug.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, hugging her back.
“What, do i need an excuse to visit my brother?” She asked, pulling away enough to look him in his eyes while hers were practically sparkling.
Leon rolled his. “No, but it must be something if you came to visit me at work instead of going straight to the house to play with the kids until i got home.”
“What fun is that?” Smirking, lingering in the doorway was Irvine.
“Ugh, you’re here too?” Leon did make an exaggerated face at his friend his time.
Ellone laughed. “Did you think i would leave my husband home?”
“I was hoping you would.” Leon said without missing a beat.
“Damn, and here i was hoping having so many of those kids would have made you nicer over time.” Irvine mused, looking far too entertained for Leon’s liking.
Leon rolled his eyes again. “Like i’ve forgiven you for marrying my sister.”
“We’ll call it even for you skipping town, getting married and not even bothering to tell anyone you were dating.” Irvine grinned at him.
“I don’t owe you details.”
“Either do i.”
“Now, now.” Ellone laughed, hugging Leon again before pulling away a second time. “There’s no time for your silly arguments. I wanted to see you and i’ve never seen Radiant University other than in pictures so it seemed like two birds with one stone. It’s very nice here and the students were so polite.”
“Sure darling, polite.” Irvine mused and Leon at least had the satisfaction of knowing no one was rude to Ellone. Irvine wouldn’t have tolerated it. “Nice digs.” he added, looking around the office and taking a seat. “It’s the weirdest thing. I can see you as a teacher so easily but at the same time it doesn’t fit. How do you manage not to call your students dumbasses?”
Leon puffed out a laugh. “Believe me, it is hard on occasion but i suppose it’s because i’m the one that’s supposed to teach them not to be.”
Irvine hummed, pulling out a chair for Ellone to sit. “Sounds like you have your work cut out for you.”
“Hey, now. According to Sora you are the bestest teacher in the world.” Ellone smiled warmly. Leon had to admit, the words made him smile too.
“He’s a little biased, but that’s good to know.”
“Awe, there’s our soft Leonhart.” Irvine cooed.
“Fuck off.”
Irvine barked out a laugh. “That’s him for sure.”
Leon shook his head and fought a smile because that was not funny. Not at all. Nope. “What are you two doing here?”
“You keep asking that as if we aren’t allowed.” Ellone mused but to that, Leon just raised a brow. He hardly believed this was just a spur of the moment visit. That was far more likely something his father would do before his sister.
“Go on, darling.” Irvine shared a smile with her. “Show him.”
“Show me what?”
Ellone laughed quietly and dug around in her purse for a second before carefully withdrawing two pictures that had been loosely kept safe by a large paper wrapped around them. “Here, you impatient man.”
Leon blinked once, but took them, inhaling a second later when he instantly knew what he was looking at. Sonogram pictures. “Sis!” He was smiling now, moving to pull his sister right out of her seat to hug her tight.
“Hey now!” Irvine laughed. “Careful with the precious cargo.”
Ellone erupted into laughter. “I knew he’d be excited! Congratulations! You’re going to be an uncle!”
He squeezed her again before setting her back down into the chair. “I dunno how to be an uncle but i’ll give it a shot.”
“You’ve been a dad for so long, i’m not worried.” She said softly. “I hope you don’t mind when i’m calling you for advice.”
Leon snorted. “Been so long since i even held a baby.” He missed it. There must have been something in the air. Tifa had only told them the previous month that she was pregnant. It was almost funny how many people were expanding their families at once. “You sure it’s Irvine’s.”
“Don’t be so prickly.” Irvine offered a lazy grin. “I’ll probably be calling you for advice too.”
“That so?” He looked at the pictures again and only just barely knew what he was looking at. He could find the baby’s head at least but it was all head and squiggle at this point. She wasn’t showing at all and he had to assume she was somewhere between eight and twelve weeks pregnant. “Has dad lost his mind yet?”
Irvine nearly winced but Ellone just laughed again. “The poor man is so excited. Thank goodness i’ve told you now. He’s been bursting at the seams to talk about it with you.”
“You got him to keep a secret, nicely done.” Leon mused, looking at the picture. He hoped she framed it or something. With all of his kids being adopted he never really got to enjoy this stage.
“Call him tomorrow or something and let him know before he explodes, would you?” Irvine asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Leon shrugged, he called home decently often these days. Of course now he could just hand the phone off to any of the kids who were more than happy to talk to grandpa for a while. “You came all the way here to show me these?”
Ellone beamed. “You’re my little brother. This was something i wanted to do in person.”
Leon was happy for her, how could he not be? “Thanks, sis. Cloud will be thrilled too.” He’d also get to be an uncle for the first time, though frankly they were just waiting for Marlene to show up one day and tell them she was expecting.
“I thought maybe we’d come round for dinner?” Ellone phrased it like a question.
“Of course. You can’t come all the way here and not stay for dinner. How long are you staying?”
“A few days.” Irvine said, “Thought we’d sightsee a little. I’d like to see your husbands studio too.”
Ellone nodded. “I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a client for dad but that shouldn’t take up too much time. Figured i’d pencil it in since i was here anyway. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Nah.” Leon shrugged. Ten years ago, he might have. Too weighed down by the chip on his shoulder but now he was just too happy for his sister to care about something like that. “The kids will be so happy. They’ve never had a cousin before.”
Well, some of them were technically each others cousin but they weren’t raised that way so it didn’t matter.
“Just so long as they don’t expect seven of them.” Irvine snickered. “That’s…a lot.”
“Yeah, well, five gil says it’s the first question out of one of their mouths.” Leon mused with a smile. His money was on Sora or Xion. Then he would have to explain to them that having a baby was not easy to do.
“Maybe one or two.” Ellone’s face was pink but she was delighted. “We’ll see. Do you have much more work to do?”
Leon heaved a sigh and shook his head. “Nothing that can’t wait for tomorrow. Did you two rent a car or get a cab?”
“We got a car but we left it at our hotel.” Irvine said. Even if they had had a spare bedroom, which they absolutely did not, Leon got the feeling that Irvine was not mentally prepared to stay in a house with seven kids overnight. Ellone had before when she’d been on her own but the hotel room made sense now.
“We thought it would be easier.” Ellone offered, but it was her way of giving him a little push to leave with them.
“Fine then. I’ll drive.” Leon said, packing up his things for the evening. It was an hour or two early then he’d intended to leave but it wasn’t every day his sister arrived out of the blue with such happy news. The kids were going to be excited to see their aunt and uncle and the news of a baby would go over big. “Hope you like Wutian.”