FicWad

The summer in Timber was hot and humid. Kiros didn't know how he'd let Laguna drag him off to the little city, but sure enough, on one early August afternoon, they stood on the bridge-road overlooking the train tracks, talking quietly and trying to deal with the heat.

Some of the soldiers stationed there recognized them, and even without uniform, they were finding it harder and harder to avoid the sharp salutes from the other men. It wasn't making them too friendly with the locals who didn't know Laguna, but Laguna insisted that their presence would no more insight revolution than if you put a Galbadian in Balamb.

If it weren't for the cold little glare they kept getting, Kiros would be inclined to agree. As it was . . .

"Wanna go to the beach?"

"Is there a beach?" Laguna shrugged a little, smiling up at the sky.

"It's a bit of a drive. But nobody really goes there." Kiros smiled a little, leaning out over the bride railing just as a train roared by underneath.

Laguna's arms were tight and secure around Kiros' waist, his voice a growl in his ear: "Don't do that. What if you fell?" But Kiros just shook his head a little, contentedly sighing and leaning back in Laguna's arms.

A group of what looked to be school-aged young girls stood at the end of the bridge, watching them, talking and giggling behind their hands. Kiros wasn't used to that, though Laguna just tightened his hold with one hand and waved at the girls with the other.

They giggled more and a few shyly waved back.

"You're horrible," Kiros said with a grumble.

"Aw, c'mon. What's the harm?" But Kiros just shook his head and watched the girls walk away. He'd left his village too early in life to really remember girls being interested in him-though he could always remember his parents pressing girls his way-so it was a little strange to have girls nearly his own age fawning over the sight of him.

Or perhaps they were fawning over Laguna? With his goofy, charismatic nature, that would be the more logical assumption.

"The beach?"

"If you want to." He could almost feel Laguna roll his eyes, and smiled over his shoulder at the older man. Laguna shook his head, and kissed him chastely on the corner of the mouth.

"You're entirely too indecisive. C'mon: beach-no beach." Laguna shook his head a little and said, "There isn't much else to do besides the beach. Well, shopping but . . . I don't know."

"We could visit your parents."

Laguna's face went white for a second, and he met Kiros' gaze very slowly, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. Kiros kept his eyes serious and his face shrewdly even.

"You're serious, you actually want to suffer and meet my mom." Kiros nodded slowly, drawing another nervous laugh from Laguna-that one was perhaps more strained than the first, coupling with shyly wild eyes and a slight color coming back to Laguna's cheeks in an embarrassed flush. "Really?"

"I'll meet her at some point, won't I?" He was careful not to put a presumptuous tone into his words when he said 'her'-perhaps Laguna just didn't talk about his father, or perhaps there really was no father to be spoken of.

"Not if I have any say in the matter?"

"You don't." Laguna swore then, leaning his head against Kiros' shoulder pitifully. Kiros sighed and softly said, "If you really don't want me to meet-."

"No, no, no. No, it's not that I don't want you to. It's just . . . she . . ." The flush grew brighter on Laguna's face. "She doesn't know/. I mean, about me and . . . and about /us and everything. She's still holdin' out for me to bring home a nice Galbadian girl to make babies with."

"You still could."

Laguna gave him a very scolding look, and rolled his eyes after a moment. His hand slid into Kiros', and they started off, towards the center of town, where the houses rose precariously over the street as duplexes.

The front door was flung wide open, and a steady stream of high female voices bounced around and out into the street. Laguna halted well out of sight of the door, a slight cringe on his face. Kiros squeezed his palm gently, and gave him a soft kiss on the side of the mouth.

"You can't do that in front of my mother, you know?" He sniggered a little, winking sagely. "I don't want my mother and sisters to see how much I want to ravish you."

"You have sisters?"

"Four of them." Kiros laughed, smiling gently. Perhaps he'd get on with the Loire's better than he'd thought.

The house was only slightly cooler than the outside air, and was silent for all of half a moment as the five woman standing in the crowded sitting room looked up and saw them. Then, there was a massive rush for Laguna, hugs and kisses passed around to him, commentary on his choice of summer attire and questions as to "What have you done with your /hair/, child!?" from Laguna's mother.

After a while, what appeared to be the youngest girl turned and spotted Kiros, standing shyly in the doorway. She smiled and stepped over, grabbing his hand.

"Are you a friend of 'guna's?"

"Yes, something like that," Kiros grinned. She beamed at him, then engulfed him in a friendly hug, nearly pressing the air out of his lungs.

"It's good to meet you. Come in, sit down. They'll both have tea, won't they, mom?"

"Of course!" It was too warm for tea. Ms. Loire was a tall woman with rosy cheeks and a simple way around her. She looked very much like a typical Trabian, with sharp eyes and dark hair. Kiros could see where Laguna got a lot of his looks.

"You never write any more, 'guna," one of the sisters complained. Laguna rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

"Ain't much to write about, Jay, you know. Is their, Kiros?" Kiros just shrugged, unwilling to be pulled into a bout of sibling rivalry.

"Well, what are you doing in Timber of all places?" one asked. She looked to be the oldest of the girls-maybe ten years older than Laguna, her hair just starting to gray in light, distinguished wisps. Laguna smiled at her gently.

"Visiting my favorite ladies." The other three girls cooed and spoke of how 'cute' that was, but his mother and eldest sister just shook their heads.

The one who looked to be the youngest-she was still at least two years older than Laguna, to look at her-was staring rapturously at Kiros. It was massively unnerving; Laguna seemed to notice and scowled a little. "Natali, leave Kiros alone. He's not interested."

"How do you know?" the girl, Natali, asked in time with the girl sitting next to her. Laguna rolled his eyes and leaned forward on the table.

"Because I live with him, you ninnies."

"Laguna, get your elbows off the table and come in here to help the old women finish tea."

"Mom-."

"/Now/, Laguna. Girls, treat your brother's friend politely." There was a chorus of attentive affirmatives to her admonishment, and then Kiros found himself staring down three very firm looking steel-eyed girls. He swallowed thickly, and offered a shy smile.

Natali finally said, "If you're going to be living with Laguna, you might as well learn our names. I'm Natali. She's Hanna, and she's Jaymi. Older Sister is Marisha. Do you have any sisters?"

"Sev-six." Even after so long, it was very hard to correct himself for his middle sister's death. Natali, however, didn't seem to notice the slip. She nodded, and began on a tirade of how he'd better treat Laguna /right/, because he knew that sisters were mean when their little brothers got hurt.

Laguna came in a fluster, grumbling about invasive woman, and sat heavily beside Kiros, barely conscious of seeking out Kiros' thin palm and squeezing gently.

All the ladies in the house noticed however. The three younger girls all gave each other meaningful glances; Laguna's older sister and mother just shook their heads and brought in the tea.

It was several hours later that they lay in their hotel room, a breeze rippling the curtains off their tiny balcony. Laguna had his fingers running through Kiros' fine, loose hair, and Kiros was humming quietly, flipping through a copy of Timer Maniacs.

"I'm sorry."

"About what? I had fun today. And you were wrong: your mother wasn't upset about anything."

"Yes she was. She gets real quiet when she's upset." Kiros sighed, closed the magazine and set it on the nightstand. He rolled over, and bowled Laguna into the sheets on his side of the bed.

Sitting astride his stomach, he dug his elbows into Laguna's shoulders, and met his gaze evenly.

"Nothing went wrong. It was a nice afternoon. If my family didn't absolutely despise me for leaving, I'd say we should rent a boat from Fisherman's Horizon and sail out to the Islands just so you could meet them as well." He kissed Laguna gently and said, "I like your sisters. They love you a lot. They worry about you."

"They worry I'm gonna make an ass out of myself."

"I'm sure they're well passed worrying about /that/."

"You're horrible." Kiros just shrugged, and kissed Laguna again. He hummed softly, arms coming up to wrap around Kiros' slim waist. When they broke, Laguna cocked a brow and asked, "You really liked meeting them?"

"They're much friendlier than my sisters. You don't want to meet them."

"Are they anything like you?"

"Worse." Laguna laughed brightly, hugging Kiros to him.

The breeze died for a moment, and it was simply a warm evening in Timber's humid summer. At some point, as they lay in the quiet, Laguna drifted to sleep.

Kiros decided it was pleasant, and that he would like to come back here when they weren't in the military. To see everything, and enjoy the summer.