Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix Co., Ltd. & Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Kingdom Hearts II © Square Enix Co., Ltd. & Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Final Fantasy VII © Square Enix Co., Ltd.

FlippingJinx, Inc. presents…
HEY, YOU!

-#&-

Prologue: All the Blind Idiots

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You know how life sometimes has this strange little roundabout way in letting you know how important something is to you? That little insignificant, minor detail that just hangs out in the back while you're busy getting on with whatever you do? Because no matter who you are; the bassist of a world-famous rock band, the head chef of a successful bakery, a highly-skilled assassin trained since young, or a mechanic in a small, run-down workshop in the middle of nowhere with minimum wages and a pet fish to feed, life will decide to kick you in the ass one day and tell you that you are one. Blind. Idiot.

And that, my dear, is our story for today.

I was a mechanic in a small, run-down workshop in the middle of nowhere with minimum wages and a pet fish to feed. I also had to pay for the bills; basically, I was the one who put bread on the table for all three of us: Zack (the fish, who survived on fish food and a tank full of water), myself, and Leon.

Leon was 23 (one year older than yours truly), my housemate, a writer, and a huge pain in the ass. Sometimes. Because he only got paid when he actually gets something published (which never happened during his stay), I had to shelter him from the elements. He wasn't really good company, but sometimes, I guess I was glad that he was there.

Back then, I woke up at eight-thirty. Leon woke up at noon. He'd always find breakfast in the oven, though. A little cold, but he never complained. I'd have socked him in the face if he ever mentioned it. Of course, being the one who stayed at home most of the time, he kept the house as homely as possible and cleaned Zack's tank once a week. He also mowed the lawn and repaired broken pipes, thus saving me the cost of repairmen's fees.

Now, you're wondering how the hell a person like me with such meager pay somehow managed to get a flipping house in the first place, right?

I was my uncle Barret's favorite nephew, and when the old man (technically, he wasn't really an old man, only thirty-two) died of cancer, he left me a generous sum, and I decided that a house would be a lovely change from six years of living in the stuffy apartment I shared with a few other guys. I spent the rest of the money on this beautiful specimen of a fish (what species, I have no idea) whom I named Zack, in honor of the only friend I had in college. He died in his final year, due to an accident. I think I was in love with him for a while, but he never paid me enough attention for me to figure it out, because he was always with his best friend, Sephiroth.

…So what if I was jealous? I knew they were best friends, but still.

Anyway, I digress. Zack – I'm talking about the fish, here – was the most beautiful fish I'd ever laid my eyes on. Okay, so maybe I was biased, but it was love at first sight. I just had to have him. The girl who sold him to me put the little fella in a plastic bag filled with water, and I took the critter home, where he had a whole tank to himself.

And then Leon came along.

It was a rainy day, barely two days after I had moved in. I returned home from work, not giving a damn that my grease-stained overalls were drenched in sky juice, or that my hair was limp and sticking to my face (thus giving people the impression that I was some cheap transvestite), and found this brunet sitting on my doorstep like some cruel mockery of a parcel left by the mailman who got tired of waiting. He was soaked to the bone and shivering violently, and this one part of me that I thought I'd lost – the boy in me who always took lost puppies home and received a scolding in return – insisted that I allow him in and boil a pot of steaming, hot tea. We talked over the dining table and cups of tea, and I learned that my uninvited guest liked his with a nice amount of milk and one sugar. He told me that he had just been kicked out by his landlord, due to the fact that his writing didn't pay much (actually, it didn't pay at all) and he couldn't afford the rent. He hadn't had a proper meal in two weeks, and I could see that the fingers wrapped anxiously around his cup were bony. He had precious few belongings, and spent most of his time tying to squeeze out ideas onto a ratty notebook with a pen that barely worked (his landlord stepped on it). I was surprised when he told me that a friend gave him my address. After a short moment of rummaging in his shirt pocket (his clothes were hanging to dry; I lent him mine), he produced a wet scrap of paper. One look at the handwriting and I knew exactly who his friend was.

"Cloud, this is Leon. I'd like you to let him stay at your place for a few days. Please? I'll bake you cookies every week if you'll help him.

Thanks."

– Aerith

Aerith lived with two other girls, so I understood why she chose me for the task. She knew that I'd do anything for her cookies, but that wasn't the only reason I decided to let Leon stay. Despite having Zack around, I sometimes felt lonely. Human company would do me good, and Aerith was a smart one.

Leon promised that he would leave as soon as he found a new place, but I predicted that his chances of succeeding would be less than zero. True enough, he was still under my roof after two months. He started looking a bit healthier, though. It was probably because of all the food I forced him to eat.

Three weeks later, he told me that he was moving out. I knew that it was only because he felt bad for freeloading, but at that time, I told myself that I would not let someone who willingly vacuumed under my bed walk away just like that. You do not want to know what I had under my bed. After a few heated arguments and a small tantrum on my account, he finally agreed to stay, albeit a bit grudgingly.

As I have mentioned, Leon dealt with the household stuff while I was at work, and I returned at two with something I picked up at the café on the way home for lunch, then went back to face the rusty tools and greasy insides of malfunctioning automobiles. Leon would come along at about seven and we'd leave for dinner. After a filling amount of pasta at the Italian restaurant where Tifa worked at, we'd walk the five blocks home together, neither one speaking as the moon's gentle glow washed over our side of Earth.

We fell into the routine with ease, and the same ritual went on for three years. A few things happened along the way (and in the end), but we got along just fine.

But this isn't the end of my story.

This is only the beginning.

-#&-

The story begins in the first chapter.

-#&-

Preview of chapter one:

Within the next two minutes, while Axel and I rolled about on the floor, cackling like manic mental patients, going over oil patches and kicking tools that lay in our way, Sephiroth burned down my hometown in another universe. Or at least, that was my way of thinking of him as someone psychotically evil.

Back in the universe I occupied, Cid yanked his door open, and yelled at us to shut up.

-#&-

Author's note:

Why, hello thar. 8D

I got the idea for this fic at about two a.m. one day, while I was raiding the fridge. I started writing the first chapter with snippets of Leon's journal and some bits in third-person, but that didn't appeal to me, so I ditched that version and switched to Cloud's POV. I guess I like it better this way.

To be honest, I have issues with Cloud being portrayed as a fun, bubbly guy in most fics. The Cloud that I see in FFVII and KHII (I have yet to finish KH, actually) is a quiet person who dwells too much on the past, and tries too hard to be the hero. His attempts at being cold and aloof often fail, because deep down inside, he's just someone who wants to make his friends (i.e., the people he cares about) proud of him. (I mean, look at him. He wanted Tifa to notice him – and everyone else to acknowledge him – by going all the way to Midgar to join SOLDIER.)

Then again, maybe that's why everyone writes him as a normal guy who likes fun as much as any other person. Because we want to think of him as someone whom we would enjoy being with, not the emo muffin we see in-game. We want to see him happy, for once.

But that's just my opinion. Don't hurt me. :D;;

Anyway, I went too far off-topic. cough Hopefully, you didn't find it too sucky. Thank you for reading.