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“Can we keep it? Pretty please?”
Squall sighed as he looked up from his book at the young brunette currently holding a stray cat he found on the street.
He could tell it was going to be a long day.
“No, Sora, we can’t,” he answered wearily, “No pets allowed, remember?”
The young brunette pouted, “But we can’t just leave it here!”
“Well, we could take it to the animal shelter.”
“Okay!”
Seemingly satisfied, the young boy dashed towards Castle Town. Squall let out a groan as he stood up from his spot on the stairs, “Jeez, you’re awfully energetic today”
As the fifteen year old made his way to the younger child, he thought back to when they first met. Sora was found unconscious in the fountain court with another boy- Riku. They didn’t stop asking about beaches and palm trees for weeks after they were found.
Ansem the Wise, the ruler of Radiant Garden, had met with the boys and had asked that someone keep a close watch on them. His friend Cloud and his mother took in Riku, she really seemed to take a liking to the silver-haired boy.
As for Sora…
“Hurry up, Squall!”
The brunette let out a small laugh as he matched his pace with Sora’s. “You’re really excited about dropping this cat off at the shelter,” he commented.
“I just want to make sure it can have a home,” the child replied, “It kinda reminds me of us, you know?”
Squall huffed out a small laugh. Sora didn’t want to be separated from Riku, but Mrs. Strife always took Cloud and Riku to visit them, so it wasn’t a very big difference. Since the quiet six-year-old wasn’t always there to keep Sora’s attention, Squall found that he would often lurk around him. Not that he minded much, but he was used to being alone. He expected Sora to go make friends with some other kids at the orphanage, but Sora seemed to latch onto the older boy the first chance he got.
It’s wonder how no one’s wanted to take the five-year-old brunette into their family yet.
“Hey! You’re slowing down again!”
The brunette's head snapped up ahead of him, where Sora was standing in front of the animal shelter with an angry look on his face (Looked more like a pout than anything, but it’s best not to mention that to Sora)
He laughed, “I’m coming, be patient”
——————
As they walked out, Sora tugged on Squall’s arm. “Look! It’s the ice cream shop!”, he said excitedly.
Squall groaned, “I do NOT want to buy overpriced ice cream from that cheapskate old duck.”
Sora pouted. “Please??? Pretty please with a cherry on top???”
Squall sighed, he could never seem to say no to the five-year-old, “Alright, but only small size okay? I don’t have a lot of munny.”
Sora swing his fists in the air and jumped around excitedly, “ALRIGHT!!!” He took Squall’s arm and ran towards the shop.
“Hey, slow down, it’s not across the entire town!”
They walked up to the counter, and were met by a particularly strange old duck. “Good day, lads! What can I get for ya today?” he perked up at the sight of the two boys approaching his shop.
Squall turned to Sora, “What do you want?”.
The younger boy took a look at the menu and pondered for a moment before spotting a flavor he wanted, “Sea salt ice cream!”
Squall turned back to the duck, “Two, please”
“That’ll be 400 munny!”
“That’s crazy!” Squall exclaimed. “I’m not paying 400 munny for some stupid ice cream!”
Sora looked salty at the two popsicles in the duck’s hand, “Aw, that’s too bad…”
Squall looked over at the young child, and sighed as he pulled out his wallet, knowing full well that he was now flat out broke. “Fine, here’s your stupid munny”
The cashier handed over the two popsicles in exchange for the munny. The boys left the shop and found a bench to sit on.
Sora’s face lit up as Squall handed him the ice cream. “Thanks a bunch!” he said as he bit into the ice cream.
“Not a problem” Squall replied as he watched the brunette child enjoy his ice cream.
——————
They finished their ice cream quickly, and continued to sit on the bench for a few hours. They watched the sun set a pretty red and orange as Sora let out a big yawn. “Getting tired are we?” Squall chuckled.
“Nu-uh, I’m still plenty awake” Sora mumbled in reply, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, but failing.
Squall stood up and plucked Sora off the bench. “Alright, buddy, let’s go home and get some rest.”
Sora whined. “But I don’t wanna go to bed yet.”
“Too bad.”
Sora poured as Squall transferred him to his back and carried him back to the orphanage.
Sora nodded off somewhere on the way back and Squall smiled softly as he tucked the young child into bed. He never thought he’d end up caring so much about the young boy, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, even if it meant spending 400 munny on some ice cream.
Having a little brother definitely isn’t the worst thing in the world.