In retrospect, needing a week to realize he might actually be in a relationship with his Sun was a bit embarrassing. The clues had started out simple enough.

First had been the little touches. Skull was used to those by this point, though these were a bit more...intimate...than the ones Fon, Verde and Viper all used, with the rare occasion of Blaise. Luna often gave him surprise hugs because she was one of the rare few who could get away with it and not have him flinch the second he registered anyone within his personal space.

Renato used fleeting touches that would get him all hot and bothered, while smirking until Skull had enough and pounced on his Sun.

Skull would have cursed teenage hormones...if it wasn't for the fact he was actually having fun with them for a change. Last time he was fifteen his life had straight out sucked. And that wasn't getting into the sheer amount of anger issues as his Cloud instincts had been going haywire from being caged for so damn long and kept out of the loop.

So yeah, he was enjoying this maybe a bit too much.

The second clue was the outings. Skull originally though it was Renato's way of bonding with his Sky, which he didn't spend nearly as much time as he would like with over the school year. He was very grateful Skull went out of his way to make his Sun a bit more comfortable despite the separation issue and the fact that he should technically be stuck in a boarding school in the middle of nowhere (and Renato had checked the GPS coordinates for Hogwarts...it LITERALLY fit the definition of "middle of nowhere") for several months.

The third clue was the flirting...though to be fair, Skull was rather dense when it came to that sort of thing and originally thought it was some sort of game to see who could compete for the best pick-up lines.

Skull's experience when it came to dating (of either gender) was laughably limited at best, and disastrous at worst. He could count a grand sum of ten dates before the curse, quite a few of which ended rather badly or didn't really take off. To say nothing of the nightmare that was his school years, where such things were pretty much off the table.

Hence why it took Renato taking the initiative and kissing him in public with a smug smirk before he realized what was going on.

He almost hexed that damn Sun for being so bloody smug about the fact he hadn't figured out they were going out on dates in the first place. That being said, when he finally did figure it out it took him days before he could look Renato in the eye without blushing.

It took him a month before it fully hit that he could tentatively call Renato his boyfriend.

By that point he was fervently hoping Reborn didn't kill him when he got his memories back, or that he at least had one hell of a head start before the rather chaotic Sun came after his ass and not in a good way.

In France...

"That blond looked like he had seen a ghost," said Renato, openly amused and fascinated.

Considering the 'blond' looked far too much like a much younger Colonello (he looked really weird out of military fatigues) and the fact he had been staring pretty hard at Renato with what could only be shocked recognition, Skull was betting that they had found the Rain.

Which made trolling him far too much fun, especially since Skull's "Marauding Sense" told him that they'd have more fun if he cross-dressed today. Renato had been delighted that Skull didn't actually mind looking like a girl for the day, or that he could pass as a very pretty one if he put his mind to it.

The fact Colonello hadn't figured out who Renato's "girlfriend" was, either as Skull or Harry Potter, meant that they could spend a lot of time trolling him until he finally realized that the 'girl' was in fact a boy.

Needless to say Renato was all for trolling someone for the sheer hell of it because he could.

Colonello's reaction to the fact Renato was on a date with a boy a full week later (which was around the time Skull cottoned on to the fact they were actually dating) was glorious. Best of all they had caught it all since it was done near the bike. And Skull would be able to take copies of the look on his face from a pensieve if he were so inclined.

Skull noticed something nearby and a massive grin came across his face.

"Hey Ren...did you know there's a convention in town tomorrow?"

Renato perked up. Conventions meant cosplay, which also meant a lot of fun to be had.

"What kind?"

Skull eyed the poster, before replying "Looks like a Final Fantasy or at least a gaming one. They usually have some good stuff and this means I can stock up on my late night entertainment a bit early."

Ren rubbed his chin.

"What should we cosplay as then?"

"I don't know about you, but if this really is a gaming convention then I'm totally going as Zack Fair, from Final Fantasy Seven, just need to get the purple eyes and the right outfit with a fake Buster Sword and I'd be a shoo-in. Well, that and style my hair properly..." Skull admitted. He eyed Renato, before a grin came across his face. "And with your penchant for guns, we'd just need the right wig and some red contacts and you'd be able to pass for Vincent Valentine or something!"

Renato scowled at him.

"I'm a Sun, not a Storm."

"Yeah, but it means you could walk around with a gold claw being the embodiment of Chaos and wielding a triple-barrel gun! I mean coloration aside, you'd fit Vincent perfectly...well except the side burns, but that's what the wig is for."

Renato blinked, before grinning.

"I forgot he had Chaos implanted in him. I'm in," said Renato grinning.

"To the cosplaying! We're going to need to work fast if we want to get our costumes ready!" said Skull enthusiastically, eyes gleaming.

Best of all, he could almost pass for Zack Fair, save for the penchant for big swords. They had a similar personality and everything!

Skull was practically bouncing in his spot when they reached the convention. Renato's annoyance at the color scheme aside, he was having a lot of fun cosplaying as Vincent Valentine.

Skull had taken one look at the Sun before snickering and sending a text to Viper.

He could feel the open amusement on her end of their bond from the comment of how Vincent Valentine and Sephiroth could have passed for a slightly older Xanxus and Squalo.

Viper only got the joke when Verde looked up the characters in question, only to cackle because Sephiroth was damn near a dead ringer for Squalo, and Vincent could have passed for a much longer haired, clawed version of Xanxus.

"Oh my gosh! Your Zack cosplay is dead on! How did you get the eyes right?" asked one girl.

"All natural!" said Skull with enthusiasm, which had the girl squealing and drawing the attention of the other fans.

"You have to try for best costume! You even have the personality right! Him though... he makes a passable Vincent, but the aura is all wrong," said the girl.

"Red is not my color," complained Renato.

Skull's costume garnered all sorts of attention from fellow fans, and it didn't take much for him to be dragged up on stage for the costume contest.

Admittedly, he hadn't really played the game in a while but he was sure he got the finishing move mostly right. He felt vindicated when he still won Best Costume... though that was mostly from his puppyish enthusiasm and natural purple eyes. Even though the spikes were a bit wrong, that was mostly forgiven since it was hard to actually copy Zack's signature hair style.

"I have to ask, how exactly did you win best costume anyway?"

"Long story short Zack has a bit of a nickname according to Final Fantasy VII canon, and the ones that came before it like Crisis Core," said Skull. "He gained the nickname of 'Puppy' among SOLDIER and it stuck."

"Ah," said Renato. He hadn't really played in a long time, after all.

Skull had a natural puppyish enthusiasm and combined with the picture he showed Renato the night before, he did resemble a younger Zack.

"Viper is going to kill you when she finds out you spent so much at the convention."

Skull grinned wickedly.

"She'll consider it a win if it keeps me quiet and not in the mood to make her day more interesting during the school year. Besides, I already warned her we were at a gaming convention and she knows how nuts I get around those. I'm as bad as a bored Verde at a tech convention for mad scientists...though in his case he has a habit of trying to one-up the ones being shown," said Skull.

Viper would chalk up the lost of money as a win, so long as it kept Skull from annoying her when he had trouble sleeping. He was usually pretty good about going into his special trunk to binge play games until he was too exhausted to stay awake, before crashing in his game room. His furniture was extra comfy and all the tech in it was Verde-made, which meant it could withstand even the most intense gaming session as well as have amazing graphics and sound. And that wasn't getting into his work with mixing magic and technology so it felt like you were literally in the game.

Skull absolutely killed it in first person shooter games and RPG's because of that.

Hence his addiction to the Final Fantasy genre, among others.

(The only reason he had yet to pester Verde into making Chocobos was because he kept forgetting. Though odds were Luna would be quick to join in on the begging once she found out what they were.)

Renato had to smile watching Skull relax completely while playing as Zack. It was the first time in a very long time he saw the stress and worry leave the tiny Cloud's shoulders and see him act like the kid he really was.

And while he wasn't that partial to cats, hearing Skull practically purr and turn into a puddle of goo in his lap when he gave the Cloud a shoulder rub was particularly satisfying.

It was almost a shame when summer began to draw to a close. On the plus side, he had a lot of fun getting Skull drunk on his birthday, so it wasn't a total loss.

Skull took one look at the book assigned for Defense and grimaced.

"Please, for the love of Loki don't tell me Fudge got it in his head that Dumbledore was raising an army because the idiot has been crowing about Voldemort's early return..."

"I wish I could, brother. I take it you know who we're dealing with?" asked Viper.

"If it went the same way it did last time, then we're going to deal with Delores Umbridge. That being said I have absolutely no issue with you completely destroying her mind so that we can use her as a puppet while I get everyone's skills up to standard," said Skull in disgust.

"Bad?" asked Fon.

"She's one of the main supporters of the anti-werewolf bills and would happily have all muggleborns branded simply because they weren't pure bloods," said Viper bluntly. "Was she a Death Eater before or after the big reveal that Voldemort was back?"

"I never did figure that out. I know she had that tacky brand on her arm, but considering the sheer amount of supporters we've been taking from the idiot I wouldn't be surprised if she did have it, or is about to get one," said Skull scratching his head. "Knowing her she'll target Fon and Verde, since she wouldn't be stupid enough to go after you or me. At least this time I know about the political clout I have to keep her from pissing me off too much."

Blaise walked in with his copy of the year's list of books required.

"Have you seen the defense book?"

"Spread the word among the Slytherins that I'm posting another bounty on the yearly sacrifice. And that they don't have to limit themselves to just humiliating the sacrifice...they can permanently maim or give them a slow death if they want to get really creative so long as they don't get busted for it later."

"You really don't like this one. What gives?"

"Let's just say I have a score to settle with that pink-clad bitch and leave it at that. And I'll never consider it enough that Hermione lead the toad into a herd of very pissed off Centaurs and then basically offered her up as a sacrifice for them," said Skull darkly.

Viper winced at the implications alone, but then again she was a girl and knew damn well what Centaurs did to 'female prisoners'... especially if they had a reason to hate them.

Fon hugged her tighter.

"Actually..." said Skull after a moment, before a positively evil idea occurred to him.

"What are you planning now?"

"Who's up to recreating all those ridiculous horror movie cliches as a way to motivate the kiddies into actually studying and then watching that bitch of a toad suffer until we get bored and finally off her fat ass?"

Viper's eyes gleamed.

"Go on."

"Well I know Luna needs some practical experience and this is a great way to sound out how many morals she really has... though let's keep Hermione out of this until she's had a good taste of that bitch's ideas about first gens and agrees to look the other way at our antics."

"I'm sensing fun and a great way to de-stress from studying," said Blaise intently.

"Name one person who hasn't wanted to play the big bad monster in the movie that has endless sequels, like Jason or Aliens," snorted Skull.

Fon's eyes gleamed. He wasn't the only one.

"I call dibs on Chucky!" said Verde.

"Well yeah, who else could possibly find a way to recreate that psycho doll?" said Skull.

"Dibs on Freddy and the Hellraiser ones," said Viper, already darkly gleeful.

"I call the vampires," said Fon.

"Why vampires?"

"Ever heard of a jaing-shi?" asked Fon, grinning wickedly.

"Oh man, you mean those things that are a cross between zombie and vampire?" said Skull. "In that case we might as well go for broke... Verde, can you remake the Five Nights with Freddy animatronics?"

"Child's play," said Verde with a sniff.

"In that case I am soooo doing Jason," cackled Skull. "And we could have Luna play Wednesday Addams!"

"I almost feel sorry for our yearly sacrifice," chuckled Blaise.

"But?" said Fon, grinning.

"But I've run into Umbridge before, and she has views on people of mixed heritage, pure blood or not. She was not particularly impressed with my lineage or the fact my mother keeps remarrying, only for her husbands to end up mysteriously dead. I'd be careful if I were you, Fon. She's going to take the fact you're clearly foreign as an excuse to try and make your life hell," said Blaise.