Cleon one-shot this time.

Disclaimer: I think boys would stop playing Kingdom Hearts if I owned it.

Happy reading.


The first thing Leon noticed when he woke up that morning was that he woke up on his own; he didn't have a hyperactive self-proclaimed ninja jumping on his bed and beating him upside the head.

Why she hadn't barged in without knocking and instead knocking on his head, he didn't know. Only because (though he vaguely remembered) today was his birthday.

Oh joy and happy days.

To Leon, his birthday was just another day. There was nothing special about it. Apparently even Mother Nature didn't believe it should be anything special from the sounds of the pouring rain attacking the roof above. And when nature had no faith your special day, then there wasn't any reason that you should either.

Faintly Leon remembered his last birthday. That had been…the exact opposite of 'happy'. Namely because he was woken up earlier than he wanted, was forced to be smile (Yuffie insisted; wasn't there a birthday rule about you getting everything you wanted that day?) and he had been dragged from his work to have a party. All this even after a week of insisting that no one did anything. It was probably a stupid thing to say that to Aerith and Yuffie though. He should have known they wouldn't listen.

Let's just say that when the day was over Leon was left to pick bits of cake and frosting out of his hair (Yuffie just had to be the one to bring the cake to him right?) and he had a nice burnt hole through the middle of his shirt (did we mention the twenty lit candles?).

The man sighed to himself as he stepped out of bed and gathered clothes to wear for the day before heading for the bathroom to take a shower.

Once he was clean and dressed, he moved to the kitchen where he found Aerith cooking at the stove, Yuffie munching on some cereal, and Cloud drinking coffee.

"Leon, good morning," Aerith said, first to speak. He nodded a greeting, always finding that he especially didn't like talking in the morning after he woke up. He wasn't frequent talker normally and in the A.M., he really never felt like opening his mouth to do anything other than eat.

Leon took a seat next to Cloud, a contact of the eyes being the only form of greeting they offered each other. A silent 'hello' of sorts. At that point, the brunette was waiting or the onslaught of cheers, wishing him a happy birthday.

But even after Aerith served him breakfast, Yuffie placed her bowl in the sink, Cloud mumbled something and left the table, Aerith did the dishes after collecting Leon's dish and asked Yuffie if she would like to go down to the market with her today, and Cid came out and immediately went to work on something on the computer, not once did Leon ever receive a happy birthday. He didn't know whether to smile to himself or feel a bit depressed. It wasn't like the group (especially the two women) to forget his birthday.

And now that he thought about it, none of them even mentioned anything about it, asked him what he wanted, or questioned whether he would want some sort of celebration or not. To him, it was all way too strange. But wasn't it what he wanted all along? For everyone to act like today was just another day of the year. To basically ignore his birthday and let him be? Maybe it was the fact that in previous years everyone had always made such a fuss over this day; and now they just didn't seem to care.

Oddly, Leon felt a small jab at his chest.


Leon always found that the bailey was the perfect place to be by himself. It was calm and quiet and nearly no one came out here.

The man sat on the ledge, back against the wall, one leg bent with his arm casually placed on top. He stared out at the sight before him. The decimated castle stood firm, a secret beauty hidden within the pieces of scrap and junk. The rain had ceased during the day and most of the clouds were gone, leaving the sky to shine with a hue of oranges, reds, and yellows. The way the colors intermixed and flowed brought a small smile to Leon's face.

A presence made itself known and Leon looked up to notice a figure clad in black swing his legs over to sit on the ledge beside the man. The two sat in silence, just watching the colors of the sky reflect off the scattered clouds, watching as the sun sink lower and lower over the horizon.

A hand reached out, carefully touching the hand that hung off Leon's knee, brushing softly. Leon smiled a bit from the contact and moved his hands so that fingers could entwine together.

"Happy birthday," Cloud said quietly, knowing full and well that Leon could hear him. Stormy blue/grey eyes linked with bright cerulean ones. Cloud read Leon's thoughts, able to see what he was feeling for once on the man's face. "They didn't forget," he continued on. Leon understood that they didn't forget; he knew Aerith would never forget something like this. "They just knew that you would be happier if they didn't make a big deal out of it," he finished.

"I was expecting to go back and being tackled by a few people." Leon chuckled lightly, eyes lightening. Cloud allowed himself to smirk, eyes drifting back to the setting sun.

"Aerith's baking you a cake. And we all planned to go out tonight for drinks since you're now technically at legal drinking age," Cloud commented. It's not like age had really stopped them from drinking before.

"Hm. Now I can legally buy you a drink and not have to lie anymore. You still have a few more months though," Leon replied. He smirked when Cloud rolled his eyes.

They sat in companionable silence for the next few minutes until the sun had completely disappeared. Leon was the first to move, standing up. He still held Cloud's hand. "Shall we go then? I have a feeling this is going to be a good night."

The blond shook his head and stood up. Before the left Leon wound an arm around the younger one's waist and kissed him firmly. Cloud responded easily, sliding his lips over his lover's and allowing the tongue that stroked his bottom lip to touch his own. His hands moved to tangle with the brunettes locks. Cloud felt a hand travel over his chest, sliding down sinuously slow before disappearing under the material.

Breathing heavily, the two parted.

Cloud buried his face in Leon's neck, softly nipping at the skin.

Leon sighed contentedly. "Seriously can't wait for tonight," he breathed.

Cloud just smirked.


I'd write some nice smut but I'm too lazy. Settle for fluff, you'll live. Beside, then my Snora-chan wouldn't be able to read it. She'd just run away screaming.