Written for the holiday-themed challenge for Page of Cups' CloudRiku livejournal community, Love Like Winter. It's my first challenge; I'm excited. Based partially on fact, since I did just wake up at 3 am to see snow outside for the first time this winter, and I seriously wanted to wake up my significant other so he could see. I refrained in favor of writing this down, and he's probably much happier for it. XD

Disclaimer: dood, fanfiction. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and the characters and universes therein are the property of Disney and Square Enix. I receive no remuneration for this work; it is a parody and as such utilizes the Fair Use clause of the Copyright Act.

"Cloud. Cloud, wake up."

After a few more minutes of quiet, persistent wheedling and nudging, Cloud's face scrunched up slightly and bleary blue-green eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times, eyes eventually focusing on an overly-excited (and far too awake) Riku hovering over him, hands and knees on each side of his prone form. He blinked again as his lover's grin suddenly grew, nearly threatening to split the younger man's face in half.

"...Riku?" he asked stupidly, rubbing his left eye briefly. He looked around at their not-so-darkened room and squinted a little. "Wh...what time is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing," Riku said immediately, bending to kiss Cloud soundly on the mouth. "It's about three in the morning. Get up, c'mere." He sat back and pulled the blond with him, swinging off of his lap and onto the floor. He tugged insistently on Cloud's limp arms, biting his lip to contain his grin (a completely futile effort, the elder noted sleepily), aquamarine eyes nearly glowing with excitement.

"Riku?" Cloud queried again, sliding his bare feet onto the cold floor and slowly rising. "...What's going on?"

"C'mere. You have to see this!"

"See what?"

Riku just grinned and hugged him tightly, then dragged him over to the window. He pulled back the curtain with relish, looking back and forth expectantly between his lover and the deep, heavy blanket of freshly fallen (and still falling) snow.

"Uh. It...snowed," Cloud said, squinting his eyes again before rubbing them with both hands. "...Yay?"

Riku's face fell. "Well, I was excited about it. I've never seen snow before on Christmas..."

Upon seeing his silver-haired lover's crestfallen expression, Cloud frowned. "Oh. I...I'm sorry, Ri," he said, wrapping an arm around Riku and pulling him into a half-hug; the youth rested his cheek on Cloud's shoulder, staring at the silent, peaceful scene out the window. "I didn't think...didn't remember. The Islands; no snow, right?"

"Yeah... Well, I mean, I have seen snow before. In the Land of Dragons," he clarified. "Just...not like this...not on this day."

"Hm. Merry Christmas, Riku," Cloud whispered, pressing a soft kiss to the crown of silver hair.

"Merry Christmas, Cloud," Riku replied quietly, a smile creeping back onto his face. He slipped his arms around Cloud's waist and kissed his cheek gently. "I'm sorry for waking you..."

"It's okay." He bent to press his lips to Riku's, an affection which was happily returned. "I'm sort of glad you did. It's nice and quiet now; wait until the others wake up and see all this." He motioned towards the window with his free hand. "Yuffie and Sora will probably squeal like little girls and drag everyone in the neighborhood out of bed to go 'play in the snow'," he said teasingly, coaxing a small grin out of the younger one. "It'll be madness."

"Heh, yeah." Riku ran slender fingers through haphazard blond spikes, gazing fondly into his lover's sleepy eyes. "Back to bed?"

"Mm. Yeah," Cloud replied softly, kissing Riku once more. He smiled as Riku walked him backwards towards their bed, mouths touching tenderly several more times before the backs of Cloud's thighs met the mattress. He sat slowly, hands propped behind him, and Riku smirked a little and straddled his legs. Cloud peered up at the impish smile, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Should I be afraid?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, really?" One blond eyebrow lifted, intrigued.

"Hn. Maybe not; it is early in the morning, you seem like you might be tired." Riku punctuated that last word by settling himself a little more comfortably on his lover's lap.

The corner of Cloud's mouth turned up, and he suddenly found himself with a rather tempting reason to stay awake. "Bring it on."