Characters don't belong to me.
This is a Shounen-Ai, MxM, don't like? Don't read.
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For Me?
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Leon understood why many of the kids in his town were afraid of him; though truthfully, he thought he was pretty average to any other boy about. He wasn't tough, since he would be the first one to hide inside a closet whenever his guardian was ever angry at him, or one to hide under the covers whenever there was a thunderstorm. But some things were worth pretending.
He had gotten the tough guy reputation when he had broken professor's Xemnas nose at the beginning of his fourth grade year.
It was a fracture well deserved, he thought.
He would have been kicked out of school if he didn't have a truly valid reason for his transgression, and in the end, the one who was kicked out of the facility was the professor Xemnas himself.
After all, what good citizen of Radiant Garden would allow a criminal to go on with their criminal ways?
Leon would admit to himself that he would have let the matter pass if the criminal's victim wasn't his much beloved brother. He later thanked his guardian Ansem endlessly for his instructions in the fighting arts, though young and skinny he might have been, defenseless he was not.
The book which he used to commit such action was neatly placed next to his bed, covered in a white cloth that he would always gaze at before getting out of bed, in remembrance of the promise he had made to himself that day. He will suffer no one hurting his dearest.
Therefore, when the population thought him a menace, he made sure everyone knew his valued company, and eventually, no one ever came close to looking at Cloud in any wrong way, at least when Leon was around.
The brunet couldn't remember the first day he met Cloud, since they were in each other's lives practically forever when they, along with a few other orphans, were placed in the care of Ansem, who became a well loved parent to the five younglings. But even though Leon was unable to remember the first time he saw the smaller blond boy, one thing he had always remembered, and that was that no one messed around with his little sibling. Yes, including the other three girls… but they were girls, no one bothered girls, at least, not in the mind of a protective young boy.
And so, seeing as Cloud was frailer than everyone else, who got ill more often than the others, and always caught the attention of bullies, Leon made sure that the blond boy would eat sufficiently by force, made sure that Cloud stayed warm on winter days by threatening to choke him with a scarf if he was out for too long, and by making the impressions of 'If looks could kill' whenever someone looked his way.
Unfortunately, not knowing a kinder way to show Cloud that he was being looked after, the smaller boy was also afraid of his protector.
The logic was lost to Leon, who only saw the reasons behind his actions and nothing else.
Therefore, he never understood why Cloud would attack back at any benefiting comment thrown at him. Leon only saw this as stubbornness, and stopped questioning the reasons.
Now, as he stood outside their moderate two story house, waiting for the rest of the siblings to finish up the last touches of preparation for a new school year, Leon unconsciously took in the temperature and deemed it a too cold of a day. He narrowed his eyes toward the door, to see how Cloud would be dressed once he came out as well.
The long gray haired Ansem stepped outside with a warm coat, ready to start the car to drive his children to school. His features were a bit tensed, but Leon didn't blame him after the happenings of that early morning. The youngest, Yuffie had tied Pluto next to Lucifer in the basement, and you can guess the consequences… luckily Aerith found them and untied them before they did any serious damage to each other.
Ansem seemed quite tired, and Leon found himself feeling tired as well. Yuffie never saw the danger of certain pranks, but the hyped girl sought attention in any way possible. After a moment, the older man turned and looked at Leon, and after seeing the forlorn expression on the brunet's face, smiled and clapped his hands together.
"Hey, how are you feeling at almost starting your first day of a new school year?" he asked happily, willing a smile to the young man's face.
"Ah, nothing to worry about old man, I'm going to be seeing the same people I see around here, so I don't think it'll be any different. And of course, how can I forget the classes you gave me over the summer… that will definitely boost me in my studies. Thank you again."
"Anytime, just remember… try not to get into any trouble, now Merlin may be a good friend of the family, but his responsibilities as a principal of a school, he has rules to go by. And I don't want to have to visit any of your professors regarding troublemaking, Leon."
"I promise dad, but you just have to understand… I never look for trouble, it's the other way around," he almost whined. "And besides, wouldn't you do the same if our places were switched?"
"Tifa and Aerith are very well prepared to defend the others, don't forget that. And Cloud can fend off for himself too, and who in the world will face off such a culprit as Yuffie?"
"But that's not the point…" he complained, knowing that Cloud wouldn't do enough to protect himself. "Cloud is not strong enough…"
"Says who?!"
Both male turned around to stare at an indignant Cloud standing in between his sisters, he was pouting, looking at Ansem to deny what his brother had so obviously exaggerated.
Before Ansem had a chance to respond, Leon had looked over at Cloud, and decided he didn't like the way he was dressed for the day.
"What? You think its plain summer out already? Or do you like how people can see how skinny you are without enough clothes on?"
"Shut up, I'm not skinny," the blond argued, already wondering if in fact, the people will really see how skinny he was.
"Another sweater will fill you up a bit, and no one will make fun at you," Leon suggested. Ansem smiled inwardly before walking toward the car.
Seeing the look of anger in Leon's face, Cloud hurriedly went back inside the house to put on something that will make him look less skinny, leaving a smirking Leon standing outside.
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On a warm summer day, when the excitement of being out of school was still fresh, the girls had been taking a swim in the pool, and Leon had been climbing the apple tree to try and get a midday snack, a curious Cloud had watched his older brother expertly maneuver himself between the branches of the tall tree. Amazed, he excitedly wanted to give it a try as well. He thought that maybe he would impress Leon too.
Once Leon saw Cloud approaching with eager eyes and his hands reaching out to reach for a branch, he realized at what the blond was about to do. The thought of having the blond boy climbing any tree was enough for Leon to snap at the younger boy to stop him from getting any further ideas. But perhaps telling an indignant Cloud that he would look like a yellow monkey climbing a tree was a very bad idea.
Having been angered, Cloud yelled back at the offender that in fact, the only monkey in the area was already up in a tree, and to prove to himself that he was able to climb it without having Leon call him a monkey yet again, he ignored Leon's warning and grabbed onto his first branch.
"Get down Cloud, I'm warning you!" Leon straightened out, miffed that Cloud had once again ignored his order.
"If you can do it, so can I! You always think you're better than me," Cloud yelled, while reaching for another branch, already huffing and puffing.
"I said get down!" the brunet thought that his eyes would pop out of their socket as he watched the blond get further from the ground.
"Make me!"
Leon growled and started climbing down, wanting to get to the boy's side at least to keep him from falling down. Unfortunately, Cloud thought that his brother was coming after him to get him down by force, and he felt the beginning of fear building inside.
He wasn't aware that the fear was making him nervous, and his movements clumsy. A moment later the blond found nowhere to grab onto, and he held down a cry of panic. His foot hold was lost, and a second later, he was falling.
He screamed out at the same time Leon did.
Leon knew that the he felt the fall more strongly, literally felt the impact even though he was still safe in the tree. He stood frozen on its branches, but Cloud's crying knocked him out of his stupor.
When he reached the bottom, Leon saw the Cloud was holding onto his wrist, crying as if nothing as painful he had ever experienced.
Reaching his side, he quickly looked over the blond to see if there was any more damage, but luckily the only thing that seemed wrong was Cloud's wrist. When Leon tried looking at it, the blond turned away, still crying in pain.
Ansem had come out from the den, and Leon was amazed at the effortless swiftness in which he had picked up Cloud from the ground, and hurriedly carried him into the house.
After the amazement, there was jealousy, because then and there, Leon wished for Ansem's physique.
Cloud's left wrist had been placed in a cast the same day, but his happy mood had returned as soon as Leon asked him if he would allow him to sign it. Though things went back to normal, the brunet had made one more promise to himself.
The next day, Ansem walked in on a fifteen year old Leon, beginning a new exercise regime.
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There was a time when Cloud found himself getting used to Leon's ways without noticing, finding that they did have things in common and much to talk about, a day when he found himself going up to Leon for advice or help.
Leon noticed the change soon after Cloud had turned thirteen, and he inwardly felt joy that he had gotten Cloud's trust in mostly everything in life, though still not as strong as he wanted to be, Leon made sure to keep the blond away from harm and troubles.
There was calmness about it all, and they were both happy with it.
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There was one thing confusing Leon, confused him when he found himself staring at Cloud sometimes, but he didn't know why. He also didn't understand why he would have odd dreams about the blond too. He was at a lost as to why his face would heat up whenever Cloud smiled his way, or when the other got a bit too close to him.
He came to the realization one day while walking down the park on a winter day, snow up to his ankles and flurries blowing all around.
"I feel like a bear," mumbled Cloud, who happened to be wearing quite the many sweaters and extra pair of pants that Leon made him wear if he even thought of stepping outside that day. He could barely move, and he felt that if the scarf was any tighter, he would get strangled, his fur hat almost covering his eyes.
"You are fine, why it bothers you to be warm?" questioned Leon.
"It doesn't bother me, but having all this stuff on me is a real nuisance. Why, you haven't got on yourself as many as I have on me. If it's so cold that I need all these clothes on me, shouldn't you need it too?"
"I'm way older than you Cloud, I can take this weather."
"Nonsense, as always," Cloud said with a barely visible smirk. Leon smiled and pushed him away.
"Don't push me you big dork," the blond responded, almost falling into the snow covered ground. He gathered a fistful of snow and formed it into a hard snowball which managed to hit the side of Leon's face.
It hurt, and stung, and the look that Leon sent Cloud's way was enough to make the barely movable blond try to run for his life.
Leon watched as Cloud did his best to get as far away from him as he could, looking back to see his progress. The blond had a wide smile on his face, and concentrating more on moving his feet more than anything else, managed to stumble against an object under the snow, and he fell face first into the whiteness.
The brunet was on his side in an instant, picking him up and brushing away the snow that had gotten into the blonde's hat and face, concern marring his handsome face, but soon broke away when he heard the laughter from Cloud.
Leon could only stare at the laughing blond, enjoying the sparkle that seemed to light in his eyes, and the feeling that came a second later was enough to throw him in a whirlpool. Because the desire to kiss those pale lips was as much of a shock as it was a feeling of alarm.
The older teen didn't question why he was running away from the blond a second later, and he ignored the voice calling after him.
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Leon stayed away from the blond as much as he could after that, disgusted and angered by what he felt that day and by what he was feeling still.
And when the time came for him to apply to a university, he made sure that he applied to the ones that were not in Radiant Garden.
The reply came back a few months later, unfortunately not the furthest away, but it was still not in his hometown, and he was relieved.
Ansem had been surprised by Leon's choice, but when he confronted him, the brunet had simply told him there were things he needed to think over, and to do that, he needed distance and time. His father had not questioned him further, trusting his son's decision and supporting him as best as his heart could.
His sisters were confused at first, but they bought the story of Leon getting a better education outside Radiant Garden, though they were saddened by it.
Cloud had been angry and hurt. He had been for a long time. Leon becoming more distant and spending less time with him had pained him deeply, but the decision to move away to Twilight Town was even worse. The young teen felt that he was the reason for the happenings, and felt angry at himself for causing such circumstances.
When the day came for Leon to take the ship out of Radiant Garden, Cloud had locked himself in his room, and didn't open it for anyone.
Leon had felt a twinge of regret, but quickly thought of the consequences of staying in Radiant Garden, and so, he didn't bother to wait out Cloud's tantrum, and left without saying goodbye, though he hoped that the blond knew that he would miss him terribly.
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A year later, Leon saw how good a decision it was to leave, he forgot about the odd feelings for his brother, but still saw fit to do everything in his power to be able to protect him when he met him again. He met friends, he met girls, and he met with the life that he believed he was supposed to lead.
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