[FFVII] Stitching Together (Barret + Marlene, SFW)

[wallwalker]

Title: Stitching Together
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Barret and Marlene
Summary: Barret and Marlene working together on Barret's hobby.
Notes: No warnings, written for this prompt in fic_promptly's Lonely Prompt List. The prompt is kind of a spoiler.

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"Papa," Marlene said from below, tugging on Barret's pants leg quietly as he stood, writing on the counter in their little apartment. "Is it stitching time now?"

Part of Barret wanted to say no, it wasn’t sewing time. He had a lot to think about, and it was hard to switch gears and sit quietly and start planning designs, even with Marlene’s help. But when he looked down at Marlene's smiling face, he couldn’t help himself. “Sure,” he answered, grinning. "It's definitely stitching time!"

Marlene cheered and clapped her hands, racing over to his comfortable chair and the box next to it. She pulled it open and started rummaging around for a frame.

"Hey, now, be careful in there!" Barret followed her as fast as he could manage, but Marlene could be fast when she was excited. "There's needles in there, remember?"

Marlene looked up, embarrassed. "Sorry, Papa," she said, mollified.

He grinned as he sat in his chair. "I'll let it go this time, but you gotta be more careful. Don’t want you getting hurt. Now, why don't you grab... oh, that one, the tree I started a couple weeks ago. Let's see if we can finish it today, okay?"

"Okay!"

Marlene hops onto the chair, leaning to the side and holding out the frame with the half-finished green tree. The thread is still attached; there’s enough to last for most of the rest of the pine tree shape. The trunk is already done; he has to figure out what color they want the sky and the ground to be, but that can be later. He’s sure Marlene will have some input for that.

This had started out shortly after he lost his arm, mostly as a way to practice fine motor skills. Doctor had said that it’d be a good idea to do that, and he'd decided on cross stitching because Myrna had always liked cross stitching. It felt good to keep that little bit of home with him, even if it made him sad. Kind of made it feel like he was remembering her.

At first he’d done this by himself, didn’t let anybody else know. Marlene had been too young to help, back then. He’d managed to rig up a stand that he could use to hold the frames, although stretching the canvas hadn’t been easy. He’d figured it out, though; his stitching didn’t look nearly as good as his wife’s stitching had been, and his hand had been aching afterwards for hours. But he kept at it, no matter how ugly the things looked, he still felt better after he was done. Least he was learning to do something that wasn’t just hurting anybody.

Then Marlene had gotten old enough to notice when Papa was doing his stitches, and she started begging to help him. At first she’d just helped him pick out colors, and held the fabric when he needed to put a frame on it. Now she’d started holding the frames for him when he was stitching, and she was getting very good at holding it still; he hardly missed any stitches at all anymore. Someday, he thought, she’d probably want to learn to sew the things herself, and as much as he’d miss his little helper, he was still looking forward to teaching her.

"So," he said as he made a few more stitches to the edge of the tree, "what color do you think the sky should be, Marlene?"

"Ummm," she said, kicking her legs just a little. "How about... how about orange?"

"Like a sunset, huh? Sure, we can do orange."

"Great!"

He smiled, leaning down to give her a kiss on the forehead, and she giggled. They’d never believe it, the guys he worked with, if they saw him like that. But if it made Marlene happy, he didn’t care what anyone else thought.