Speaking the Unheard Word

A/N: Well, here's my Cleon oneshot. I figured I've got a Clack story, I need my other favorite pairing in here somewhere. So voila! Enjoy~

~o+o~

The world was a quiet place for Squall Leonhart. Silence had been his constant companion for nearly three years now, due to a freak car accident. He remembered it clearly, even now—

He had been driving himself and his fiancée to a restaurant. Cloud was drumming his fingers quietly against the door handle, a quiet smile on his face. They were going to celebrate their four-year anniversary that night. Leon had planned on dinner at his lover's favorite place to eat, but before he could tell Cloud the other part of his plan, the blonde had given him a sultry smirk before claiming he had already planned the rest of the night after supper.

Leon didn't try to pretend that his words didn't go straight to his groin, but Cloud- that little minx- had deepened his teasing little smirk before striding off, swaying his hips in the way he knew drove Leon crazy.

They were stopped at the light, the red glare bathing their hair and the white shirts they wore under their suit jackets and vests. Leon had looked over to Cloud, and Cloud to him and they shared a brief smile, their hands intertwining without noticing.

A few moments later, Cloud had said, "It's green," tipping his head to the right to show he meant the light, and Leon pressed the gas before he even thought about it. Leon was just turning his head forward again when his lover's hand tightened around his painfully, his eyes going so wide that Leon saw it even out of the corner of his eye. But before Cloud could make a sound, they were thrashed about, and a few moments after, there was nothing but darkness for the brunette.

He remembered swimming in and out of consciousness, opening his eyes and seeing people move, but so out of it that he couldn't make much sense of anything. He saw people in white, and white walls, white, white, it was all white. It hurt when he tried to move his head. When he tried anyway and tensed from the stabbing sensation in his neck and ears, he felt a warm hand press against his forehead and stroke soothingly along his cheekbone, down to his jaw. Before it got any lower, he blacked out again.

When Leon finally woke and maintained a cognitive state of awareness, the first thing he noticed, before he even opened his eyes, was that it was quiet. It calmed him until it lasted too long, and then his sympathetic nervous system kicked in and let the adrenaline flow.

Almost immediately, there were hands on him, holding him down, forcing him to stay still. Leon's gray-blue eyes opened wide then, the blurriness staying for several moments. He saw humanoid figures standing all around him, but none he recognized.

He still couldn't hear anything.

Leon forced the practiced calm he knew very well, and settled down. Panicking wouldn't help, he told himself. If he remained calm, everything would become clearer and things would sort themselves out. Or, that's how the theory went, anyway.

As he calmed, he thought about his surroundings, and the last thing he remembered. From the way the people standing over him were dressed, he was in a hospital. The question was, why was he here?

Leon thought back to the car ride. He remembered Cloud smiling at him, looking into his eyes and nodding to the light that had changed the hue in his lover's hair from red to green. He remembered going forward, then…

A car accident?

Leon had looked up to the doctors and nurses around him in confusion, watching their mouths move but not hearing any words. He couldn't hear anything; not the sound of their voices, not the beeping of the machines that he was sure he was hooked up to, not the sound of any kind of background noise that hospitals were famous for, just…nothing.

Leon lifted the arm that didn't have a needle sticking out of it and tried to quiet the doctors, though he wasn't sure it worked.

"Why…can't I hear anything?" he asked, and though he felt his lips move and his vocal cords vibrate, he didn't hear the sound it undoubtedly produced.

The doctors stilled their motions and looked at one another, confusion evident in their faces, before they looked back at their patient in unison, the same dreadful expression on each face.

That was the moment that Squall Leonhart learned that he was deaf.

The doctors wrote down explanations, questions, comments, anything they needed to get across to him. Leon could still respond verbally to them, but seeing as he didn't know sign language, everybody else had to use a pen and paper to get their thoughts across to him.

The doctors soon learned that they weren't getting anything out of Leon until they found Cloud and brought him to the brunette. The doctor tried explaining that Cloud was okay, but Leon wouldn't hear it. He demanded that Cloud be in the room, or they might as well be talking to a wall.

After several minutes of useless persuasion, the doctor finally gave in and sent a nurse to retrieve the blonde. Leon sat quietly, ignoring everything around him as he waited for Cloud's spiky blonde hair to bob through the doorway. While they waited, the doctor started to snap in front of Leon's face to get his attention. Leon narrowed his eyes at the doctor, before looking down to the note he'd written for him.

They're explaining the situation to him, so he isn't surprised by your inability to hear, it said.

Leon grit his teeth and asked quietly if it was permanent.

I don't know. We've got to run some tests, find out what's wrong. I won't promise anything until I know more.

Leon nodded tersely, before staring into space again. When Cloud entered the room, the brunette looked up, his eyes softening at the sight of his lover. The other man ran to him, closing his arms around his neck and squeezing. Leon felt Cloud's lips moving against his neck, felt the warm air of his breath near his skin, but he couldn't hear anything that was said.

Instead of acknowledging his deafness, Leon rubbed his hand up and down Cloud's heaving back, while he wiped the tears he'd begun to feel away from the blonde's cheeks. Cloud lifted his head when he'd calmed, and looked into Leon's face. Their blue gazes met, and the silence they used so often with each other became their understanding.

Leon learned that his hearing loss was due to damage to the cilia cells in his ear. The only part that the brunette cared about was that it was irreversible, and that he would probably never hear again in his life. He also found out that the truck responsible had t-boned them, running through a red light. Leon asked why they ran the light, and the doctor said that it appeared the driver of the truck had been texting, and hadn't noticed the light was red. Leon had then looked in the mirror, frowning at the gash across the bridge of his nose that he had to remember the accident by.

If the situation hadn't been so depressing, Leon would have laughed at the irony of it; he had said before that he wouldn't mind the world going silent. What he hadn't taken into account was the loss of Cloud's voice, too.

Back in the present, Leon leaned against a bookcase, waiting for his lover to decide on a piece to read. He had turned toward the window, watching the scenery move by, watching people walk, watching birds fly. When he reflected on all this watching, Leon frowned at the thought that yes, he had been doing a lot of looking since the accident. He needed to get a hobby.

A tap on his shoulder disrupted his perturbed thoughts, and he turned. Cloud stood next to him, a smile on his lips. Leon's expression softened, and he decided that maybe he should just start watching Cloud only. The blonde inclined his head toward the door, silently suggesting they leave. Leon looked down at the bag held in one of the other's hands and nodded, his eyes going toward the exit.

Cloud followed the brunette outside, not surprised when his hand was captured and held. Ever since the accident, Leon disliked not being able to see or feel him nearby. Cloud always smiled to himself when he thought about it, reminding himself that Leon really cared about him.

They made their way through the park that lay between them and their apartment hand in hand, taking a leisurely pace on the winding sidewalk. Leon glanced to an older couple on a bench staring at the two men incredulously, obviously whispering about them. Leon sighed.

"I'm deaf, not blind," he muttered, rolling his eyes and continuing onward.

Had he looked back, he would have seen Cloud hiding his chuckles behind the hand that held his purchases. He felt the blonde squeeze his hand however, and he knew that his lover heard him.

Cloud was still smiling softly, still amused several minutes later. Though Leon didn't speak much to begin with, not it was a very rare occurrence. When the brunette did speak, Cloud listened and memorized every sound. He loved Leon's voice, and it hadn't changed even after the accident. It was still low and deep, and it was interesting to him that Leon could still pull off that sensual purr he got when aroused.

When they reached their apartment, they entered and started to take their jackets off. Cloud turned to lock the door, lifting his hand to grab the knob. Just as he turned the deadbolt, he felt hands on his hips. The blonde leaned back, placing his hands on top of Leon's and threading their fingers together, the bag of books lying dropped and forgotten on the floor nearby. They stood that way for a while, just breathing and feeling each other. Not long after, Leon lowered his head to nuzzle into Cloud's hair.

Though Cloud enjoyed these interludes, he suspected that part of it was out of guilt, or perhaps shame. Even tough Cloud had assured him numerous times that he wasn't upset or unsure about anything in their relationship, Leon was still wary. He felt like a burden Cloud would eventually be too tired to carry. Perhaps it was selfish, but he wanted to blonde to know that he loved him; he never wanted him to leave.

Cloud turned into the embrace and leaned up, moving his arms to twine around Leon's neck and pressing a kiss against the corner of the brunette's mouth. Leon's arms wrapped around Cloud's lower back as he leaned down to meet his lips while in a more passionate embrace. When they parted for air, Cloud rubbed his nose against Leon's before leaning forward and nipping at his ear. This caused the brunette to let out a groan, one of his hands falling from Cloud's back to his ass and squeezing.

The blonde jumped, his legs unconsciously spreading as he moved closer to his lover. One of Leon's thighs went between Cloud's as he pinned him up against the apartment door, pressing their foreheads together. Their eyes were closed as they stayed in that position for several moments, sharing and enjoying the intimate contact.

Cloud broke their stalemate, leaning up until their lips were touching.

"I love you," he whispered.

~o+o~

The End (?)