Buttercup

By: .x.Sephy.x.

Rated: T

Warnings: Yaoi (As in boyxboy), Fluff, Probably OOC

Disclaimer: Trust me, you would know by now if I owned Kingdom Hearts, but just in case you're a little on the slow side, I DO NOT own it. Thanks!

A/N: LeonxCloud This is my first time writing anything but I'm sure it won't suck too badly, considering the amount of fanfiction I read! Well, enjoy!

Leon assumed it was just another ordinary day. The day began as it always had; the tall brunette reluctantly left the warm comfort of his bed for a shower, ate a quick breakfast, and scribbled something random on the sheet that was supposedly his homework.

Leon wasn't much for making good grades. Sure, he was smart, but Leon didn't see the point in wasting his valuable time on the annoying piece of junk. All the teachers were a bit confused as to why the boy slacked off in class and refused to do his work, but always aced every one of his exams. Maybe he just wanted attention…but that couldn't be it, considering Leon had to be the most quiet, serious, and stoic person you would ever meet. It was a mystery, alright.

Leon locked the door to his home after grabbing his books and began walking the short distance to school. The brunette repeated the same actions everyday, and he liked it that way. He felt safe in his routine. Speaking of routines, Leon thought, 3…2…1…

"Leon!"

Leon took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He gathered his patience and put on his normal mask of seriousness.

"Leon, wait up!" The boy caught sight of a small, hyperactive girl running to catch up with him. The girl wore the usual khaki shorts and sleeveless top with a thin sweater covering it, while her short black hair flew behind her as she attempted to steal Leon's attention.

"Yuffie, what a pleasant surprise." The man breathed.

"Leon, you're so mean! Why don't you try being a little nice for a change. It may be hard for you to understand, but I have feelings, too." The girl spewed as her lips formed an ineffective pout.

"Whatever," Leon grumbled. Yuffie continued babbling on about how Leon was so rude and unsocial until the odd pair reached the school.

"Bye, Leon!" The girl screamed as if she had no earthly idea what she was just talking about.

That was just the way Yuffie was, Leon mused, one minute she'll be angry with you and the next you'll be her best friend. Leon didn't really mind the girl's strange behavior, maybe because she was his only true friend, and the only one he could share his secrets with. For instance, Yuffie was the only person in the entire school that knew for a fact that Leon was gay.

He really didn't take to the idea of letting the secret out, but he knew that eventually someone would find out, and then everyone would know. It wasn't that he cared what everyone else thought of him, he just didn't think it was a matter worth bothering for. If anyone wanted to know, they could figure it out for themselves.

Leon's parents were already aware of their son's sexual preference, but like everything else Leon said or did, they really didn't care. Leon was happy with the way things were, he didn't like change.

Apparently someone up there hated him, for something in the normally quiet school was amiss. As he opened his locker and took out the appropriate books for his homeroom class, a boy with long, spiky black hair approached him.

"Hey Leon, did you know that there's a new kid here?" The boy inquired. He blinked his blue eyes up at Leon and put in place one of his usual goofy smiles.

"No, should I?" Leon responded, feeling relieved that nothing serious had happened. He didn't even turn his stormy grey eyes to look at his visitor, just continued what he was doing.

"Geez, Leon, you can be so uptight. Well, you should meet the new guy, he seems cool. Actually, I doubt you'd even get a chance to talk to him because of the swarm of girls in the way…but he seems to have a lot in common with you. I mean, he doesn't have a permanent scowl like you, but he's really quiet."

Leon glared at him for the comment and smoothly replied, "Better a scowl than that stupid look you always have on your face, Zack. So this guy, what's his name?" Leon attempted to look even the slightest bit interested.

"His name's Cloud. Funny, huh? What kind of name is Cloud? I mean weird, right?" Zack continued to babble excitedly about the new kid as Leon finished collecting his things and started towards homeroom, Zack right on his tail. The kid followed him practically everywhere. Leon guessed it was because he was such a good listener and never interrupted his hour long speed-talking sessions. Even so, Zack was a cool person. He respected Leon and didn't talk about him badly, sort of like a little brother.

Zack had just turned fifteen a few weeks ago, while Leon had already been fifteen and was awaiting his birthday in August. Yuffie was in between Zack and Leon, her birthday being in December.

Leon entered the classroom and immediately noticed a small crowd of people gathered around the otherwise empty desk at the back of the room. He caught a glimpse of messy golden blond hair as he passed to take his seat next to the mob, one seat to the right of this new guy who was all of a sudden 'oh-so-special'.

The brunette didn't bother to join the crowd of course, instead taking a notepad out of his bag to write in. Yes, Leon wrote poetry. It wasn't girly, it was a form of writing used to express emotion. Poetry was Leon's sanctuary from the outside world, where he didn't have hyperactive children clinging to him or teachers shouting at him. No, poetry was Leon's only real hobby; it took up pretty much all of his spare time.

As the bell rung and the mob cleared, Leon absently glanced to his right and something immediately caught his eye. The boy sitting there, as he had observed, had a head full of messy blond hair, along with brilliant blue eyes, and amazingly feminine-looking features. Not only did the boy look quite a few inches below Leon's own height, but he also had a cute, petite looking frame.

Leon's thoughts came to a screeching halt. He hadn't just thought the boy was cute, had he? Leon quickly dismissed the thought and suddenly realized that he could se those beautiful blue eyes all too clearly. Leon's eyes widened a bit as he realized he had been staring, and now the boy was staring right back at him.

The boy next to him gave him a small, tentative smile with a very slight but noticeable blush on his face. Leon noted how adorable that looked. Wait! No! He hadn't meant to think that, really! Leon swiftly turned his head back to the front, causing his equally messy, thick brown hair to tickle over his face from the movement.

Leon now understood Zack's comment about the girls, then he absent-mindedly wondered who the obviously desirable blond would choose. Leon was also a popular choice to girls, but after repeated rejections, the 'Leon' crowd had dispersed in favor of those self-proclaimed "ladies' men". Leon snorted at the thought.

Just then the teacher walked in. She was a pretty brunette woman who always wore a pink dress and had sparkling green eyes. She was the most kind and gentle woman Leon had ever met, and by far his favorite teacher.

"Hello, class." She delightedly spoke in a sweet tone. She entered and stood at the front of the class, giving the crowd a small smile.

"I hope everyone had a good weekend! I would love to talk about everyone's experiences, but unfortunately the school requires me to take roll. Please respond when I call your name."

"Yuffie Kisaragi".."HERE!" The girl proudly shouted.

"Vincent Valentine"……"Present.." The inconspicuous figure responded quietly.

"Zack…there appears to be a smudge, I can't make out the last name, my apologies."..."I'm not here!" Zack goofily replied, earning him a few chuckles.

"Uh-huh, whatever you say, Zack. The teacher said, cracking a small smile.

"Tifa Lockhart"…"Here." The girl calmly responded.

"Squall Leonhart"…"That's Leon." The brunette replied in a firm tone.

"And…Cloud Strife? I don't recall that name."

"I'm new here…the counselor said this was my homeroom class." The blond replied shyly.

"Oh, that's excellent! It's always great have a new face! Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

"Well..I..um…before now I was being homeschooled, so I've never been too actual school before." The blond nervously addressed the class.

"That's certainly interesting..," The teacher concluded, noticing the boy's shyness,"Why don't we start on today's lesson?"

After school ended, Leon trudged to his locker to get his books, usual frown of seriousness on his face.

As Leon completed his task, he shut his locker and turned to his side, only to be startled by something different in the hallway. Adjacent to his current location stood the blond turning the combination lock on the ordinarily empty locker next to Leon's.

Apparently the blond hadn't noticed Leon yet, for he slammed his fist against the locker cursing at it, only to yelp in pain at the locker's unforgiving hardness and curse louder.

Leon normally would have coolly walked away, but the blond had caught his attention and now he was curious.

Leon casually leaned against his locker and stated smoothly,"Need some help?"

The blond jumped in fright and whipped his head towards Leon only to relax a little at the realization that it was just the boy from his class. Leon could have sworn he saw a tiny blush creeping across the boy's cheeks and onto the tips of his ears. As Leon followed the blush, he noticed a very attractive earring in the boy's left ear., similar to his own except considerably larger.

"Um…okay." The blond anxiously replied. Leon could now definitely spot the pinkness of the boy's face without having to really look for it.

Leon calmly stepped forward and asked,"What's your combination?"

The shorter boy replied,"41..36..25."

Leon expertly twisted the lock and opened the locker with a small click. When he turned to the blond, he looked immensely relieved and muttered a quick,"Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever get it open. I owe you one."

The blond gave Leon a rare, but beautiful smile. Leon was mesmerized by the sight, and the action in return caused the corners of his lips to twitch upwards slightly, causing the boy to give him and even larger smile. Leon decided then that he may have misjudged him.

"So..your name's Cloud, right?" Leon inquired with a little more softness than usual.

The boy nodded. "I know it's strange, but I blame my parents.."

"Well, I didn't necessarily mean I disliked your name, it's just…different. And really, your parents are only half as crazy as mine, I mean, they named me Squall. It got so annoying that I changed it."

"What are you talking about, that's a really cool name! Hm…It's funny isn't it, that Squall means a storm and my name is Cloud?" The boy gave a shy laugh at that.

Leon decided he also really liked the sound of that laugh.

Leon noticed something strange thing happening in the next few days. The crowd of giggling girls usually following Cloud had disappeared. He wondered why…

Over the next few days he also noticed something strange within himself. He felt…happier since the blond had arrived at the school. He couldn't deny it anymore, he definitely felt some sort of attraction towards the blond, but he wasn't really up for freaking the poor boy out.

Leon recalled the first and only time he had ever tried to ask someone out, his best friend Roxas from a few years ago. Of course, they were no longer friends, and hadn't spoken since that day. Leon still remebered Roxas' very insulting choice of words as he ripped up his heart and stomped off, never to return. Leon had never risked it since.

The attraction grew, however. Cloud was all Leon ever thought about, his shy smile, his awkward clumsiness, and his pretty feminine looks. Cloud and Leon were almost friends now, they often talked about favorite video games and foods at their lockers, although each found it puzzling that the other never seemed interested in talking about girls.

Leon remembered a few days ago when he dropped his pencil, reaching to pick it up, only to find that the blond had done so at the same time, causing their hands to touch. He had felt something akin to a spark jump between himself and Cloud, and had immediately withdrawn his hand, then noticing that Cloud had done the same. They had both blushed and pretended that the event had never occurred.

The next day something really weird, but surprising happened. Leon was scribbling a poem when a note landed on his desk right over the spot he was writing. He opened it to find very admirable, neat handwriting. He glanced around and noticed a blushing blond eyeing him. So it was from Cloud.

He observed the neat little scribbles, which read,

'Guess who I like?'

Leon's heart fell. He should have known this would come. Well, he did have to know so he could kill the person, so…

'Can't you just tell me?'

'No, you have to guess.'

'Um…Tifa?'

'No'

'Please tell me it's not Yuffie!'

'Nope!'

'Wait, is this person in this class?'

'Yup'

'But I already guessed the only girls…'

'And..?'

'Oh…didn't see that one coming…'

'Hehe'

'Uhhh…Vincent?'

'Nooo'

'Oh no, it's Zack isn't it?

'Nuh-uh'

'I don't understand, I guessed everyone.'

'No you didn't…Here, I'll give you a hint: If there are three people in a room, and one person counts two people, who did they leave out?'

'That's easy, themsel-

Leon dropped his pencil and let out a quiet gasp. He shot his head to the right to find Cloud looking away, but with a very pink looking face. Leon, for the first time in a long time, blushed a very unbelievable color of red.

Leon took a moment to gather himself. CLOUD LIKED HIM??!! Alright, Leon sighed, now I feel much better. As the situation finally sunk in, a huge smile cracked over Leon's face. Zack, who sat to the left of Leon, looked at the brunette like he was a maniac. Zack wondered if this was a sign of the apocalypse.

Leon noticed that the teacher was writing notes on the board, so he leaned over and—RING!

Leon cursed the bell as the blond hurriedly rushed out the door looking like a tomato. Leon saw his chance and quickly hurried after Cloud. When he finally caught up with the blond, the boy seemed to be completely oblivious as to where he was going, still pink in the face.

Leon put his hands on the boy's shoulders and, not really caring who could be watching, gently shoved the blond against a nearby locker. They stared at each other for a few moments, Leon smiling brightly and Cloud looking utterly confused as to the brunette's behavior.

Leon gave the boy a quick smirk right before he quickly leaned in towards Cloud and captured the boy's full lips in a perfect kiss. Leon absolutely loved the feeling of Cloud's lips under his own, the sensation sent shivers down his spine. He allowed his eyes to drift shut in pleasure.

Meanwhile, as Leon first pressed into Cloud's lips, the blond's eyes shot wide open and he for a moment struggled at the foreign feeling, but finally concluded that he enjoyed the new feeling. Suddenly what Cloud suspected was Leon's tongue licked along the length of his own lips, causing Cloud to reflexively part his lips.

The brunette's soft tongue passed through the waiting lips and started tentatively exploring Cloud's mouth, gently mapping out the inside of the blonde's mouth. Cloud let out a soft sound when Leon sucked on his tongue, which he decided he liked very much.

Just then the late bell interrupted the two boys' fantasy worlds and they both cursed and ran in opposite

Directions, hoping to reunite soon.

At lunch, the girls noticed that something was different. Cloud and Leon were sitting at the same table, eating but not really paying attention to their food as they passed the other odd looks. Tifa sat there cluelessly with Yuffie giggling madly beside her.

Tifa became angry and screeched,"What's so funny?!"

Yuffie giggled some more before replying,"I think Cloud and Leon are dating." Yuffie figured that the cat would soon be out of the bag, so it wouldn't matter that Tifa knew.

Tifa's mouth dropped open,"You're not serious?" Tifa hadn't expected that.

Yuffie feared the worst as she responded with a quiet, "Yea."

Tifa's face all of a sudden changed into a cheery smile, almost the equivalent of Yuffie's. She let out a long, "Awwwww…" and suggested that the two go see them.

The girl's sat down at Cloud and Leon's table and were greeted with distracted "hey"s. The two started giggling and Leon, being quick-minded enough, caught on and let out a,"Yuuffiiieeee…", along with the massive blush that appeared on his face.

The girl replied,"Sorry, Leon…It was only Tifa, she won't tell. Besides, you two are absolutely adorable together!"

The boys cast each other horrified looks at this statement. If you had glanced over at the table at that moment, you would've sworn there were a couple of girls chatting with tomatoes.

Yuffie delightedly exclaimed,"Can you two kiss for us?"

Leon was about to let out another annoyed scolding at the girl when oh-so-soft lips closed over his. He heard squealing in the background, presumably Tifa's. After all, she hadn't even known that Leon was gay.

When the two broke apart, each had a loving look on their face, along with a silly-looking smile.

Leon, once again unaware of his surroundings, reached out and brushed the stray hairs from Cloud's face to get a better look at those breathtaking blue eyes.

"Wow.."

Leon recognized the voice and looked up to find Zack standing over him with another one of his trademark goofy smiles plastered on his face.

"I had no idea you were…" Zack said jokingly.

"Sorry for not telling you…No offense, but you're not the best secret keeper." Leon stated contentedly.

"None taken dude…so Cloud.." Leon could see that this conversation was taking a turn for the worst.

"Have you thought of any pet names for Leon yet? Zack inquired, now smirking.

"Yea," Yuffie chimed in,"Squall needs a better name than Leon…"

"Don't call me that.." Leon growled.

"Buttercup."

Everyone looked curiously at the source of the strange word. Cloud.

"Buttercup." He repeated.

"Cloud, what are you talking about?" Tifa asked confusedly.

"I'm going to call him Buttercup." Cloud was now smirking at Leon.

Everyone 'Awwwwed' as Leon looked at the blond disgusted.

"You're kidding!" Leon answered, exasperated but somewhat happy.

"Nope….Buttercup." Cloud added very quietly.

Leon's sharp ears picked it up, however, and the blond smirked as he swiftly stood from his chair and ran towards the cafeteria doors.

"Oh no, you don't!" Leon shouted as he began his pursuit of the blond.

Everyone at the table laughed amusedly as they watched the new couple disappear off into the distance.

I really hoped at least someone liked that. I know it's not all that good since I've never written fanfiction before, so please go easy on me. Perhaps the next one will be better. .

P.S. Huggles for Reviewers!!!