Hooray, my first Leon/Cloud fic to be posted here! xD This one was written for Sorceress Fantasia's birthday because she totally rocks my socks. :3 Happy birthday, dear!
And she writes really awesome fanfiction, so I highly recommend her stuff. ;D

Anyway, onto the fic! Enjoy:D

He's a Coconut

It was pretty much common knowledge by now that Cloud had a giant sweet tooth.

Nobody knew this at first, of course. Before Cloud had became an addition to Merlin's humble little abode, he'd been a bit of an enigma; mysterious and cool to look at. Even the people that knew him – and that seemed to be everyone but Leon, much to the brunet's displeasure – didn't really know him all that well. It was when he'd knocked on Merlin's door, all bloody and battered after a particularly nasty fight with some Heartless that Leon decided that he definitely wouldn't mind getting to know Cloud a little better.

The blond had been living with the rest of the Restoration Committee for about a week when Aerith randomly remarked that her cookies were disappearing quite quickly.

"I didn't know you guys liked them so much," she gushed. "Especially you, Leon."

"I haven't eaten any," Leon replied. Aerith was great at baking, but she often came up with weird combinations that his tongue and stomach simply couldn't handle. This last batch of cookies had been some sort of fudge-peanut butter-cinnamon delights. No thanks.

"Oh," Aerith said with a frown. "Have you, Yuffie?"

"Just one!" the ninja answered. "But when I looked in the jar the next day, they were almost all gone!"

"Cid?"

"Don't look at me," he grumbled.

"Maybe it was Cloud," Leon interjected, folding his arms.

"No way!" Yuffie laughed.

"She's right...that old coot of a wizard is more likely the culprit than Spike," Cid muttered.

Of course, Cloud chose that moment to arrive back from training. Everyone automatically turned to look at him and he just shrugged and narrowed his eyes in response.

"I'm taking a shower," he said unceremoniously. For some reason, Leon's face almost heated up at the thought, but he brushed it aside.

"He's back early," was all he said.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "The sugar rush must've worn off." She said this so solemnly that it actually took Leon a second to realize that she was joking.

"Whatever," he said before retreating to his room. Visions of a towel-clad Cloud were dancing in his head.

--

It was about a month after the blond had moved in that Leon caught him in the act. No, that that kind of act...

It was nearing four in the morning, and Leon couldn't sleep for the life of him. He hadn't done very much work today as far as the Restoration Committee went, so maybe that was why. Pent-up energy or something.

Leon got up, thinking that maybe he'd have an after-midnight snack or something. He walked past the other bedrooms, hearing Aerith's light breathing and Yuffie mumbling incoherently in her sleep. Leon even heard Merlin snore lightly, even thought the door to his room was the size of a grapefruit. Wizards.

Cloud shared a room with Cid since they both snored horribly (something Cloud had wanted to keep a secret until Yuffie blurted out one morning that 'the lumberjack' was keeping her awake all night). Usually you could hear them in stereo – it was actually quite amusing when you got over the annoyance factor.

However, when Leon passed the room, he only heard one snorer, and then some kind of accented mumble. So Cid was asleep – what about Cloud? Oh well, maybe he was just restless too. Maybe he was getting a glass of water or a cup of cocoa...

Not stuffing his face full of ice cream like there was no tomorrow.

Leon froze in the kitchen doorway, his eyes widening at the sight of the blond, who was totally oblivious to anyone and everything. In fact, considering Cloud was eating vanilla ice cream and making some pleased, uncharacteristic humming sounds, Leon had to force himself to think of Cid and Merlin skinny-dipping so he wouldn't attack the blond like some damn horny teenager.

The brunet must have made a noise, though, because Cloud's head suddenly shot up and he couldn't have looked more surprised than if Leon had waltzed into the room in a poofy dress and started doing the can-can.

"Leon!?" he sputtered, nearly choking on the spoon. He coughed and quickly tried to regain his stoic composure. "What are you doing up?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that?"

Cloud sighed. "Just leave me alone, Squall. Forget you ever saw this."

Leon frowned. Only a stupid person would want to forget about Cloud having a positively orgasmic experience with ice cream. "Why are you eating this stuff in the middle of the night, anyway?"

"Errr...I couldn't sleep." Cloud seemed to be hiding something – no surprise there. However, he didn't realize that Leon still had an amazingly sharp mind even at four in the morning.

"You do this a lot, don't you?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Do what?"

"Come out here during ungodly hours of the night and gorge on stuff no one would ever dream of you eating. Am I right?"

"...Shut up."

Leon smirked. "I won't tell. But wake me up next time. I also enjoy the occasional sweet treat."

The brunet spun around and left, leaving Cloud to think that there was something behind that whole 'sweet treat' remark.

--

It was strange. Before Leon had caught Cloud during that late-night ice cream adventure, the two never spoke much besides about fighting Heartless or business or some such nonsense. Of course, Leon had the occasional perverted thought about the blond, but hey, he was a grown man. Cut him some slack.

But after than night, the two suddenly seemed to be joined at the hip. They didn't really realize this at first – one now naturally just wanted to follow the other, whether it was to visit the Marketplace, to go get a snack (sugar-free during the day, of course), or to check up on Tron, even though Cloud was about as able at the computer as Sora.

The others were beginning to notice and were getting veeery suspicious. Besides Leon and Cloud acting all buddy-buddy, the supply of sweet in the house was rapidly dwindling. Yuffie suspected that the two 'coincidences' were connected, but Aerith wasn't so sure.

The ninja was on the case the moment the guys walked in the door, silent and brooding as ever. "Have you guys been snarfing all the cookies and ice cream and stuff?" she demanded to know.

Cloud blinked. "No."

"Leon?"

"Me neither."

Yuffie 'hmmmphed' and dismissed it, but Leon hid a smirk. Of course they were lying out of their asses.

--

"Man, this stuff is salty."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "What did you think sea-salt ice cream would taste like?"

"I dunno. More sweet, I guess."

The brunet chuckled and scooped another spoonful of goopy blue goodness. He really enjoyed these middle-of-the-night endeavors with Cloud – they were both tasty and informative. It had taken awhile, but Cloud was slowly starting to open up about himself. The two really were getting awfully close – in fact, they'd taken to sharing one bowl of cream with two spoons or one slice of cake with two forks. Cloud usually ate most of whatever they shared, but Leon didn't really care. Cloud fascinated him too much for him to really concentrate on eating.

Except for now.

"Well, we'll have to stop by Scrooge's shop later," Leon said. "You can tell him it's too salty. I think it's fine."

"Hmph."

"What?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying there's something wrong with the fact that I don't like it?"

"No, no, not at all."

"Then what are you implying?"

"Nothing, Strife. Calm down."

Cloud rolled his eyes and took an enormous spoonful of the ice cream, grimacing as he ate it. Leon could have laughed. Cloud didn't let anyone make a fool out of him, that was for sure.

Well, that was what he thought back then, at least.

--

"I got a transmission from Sora's ship," was the first thing that popped out of Cid's mouth when Leon walked into the room that morning.

"Alright..." Leon frowned. He was still an early riser, even with his late-night sugary rendezvous with Cloud, but Cid was up at the crack of dawn. That man never needed much sleep. Maybe his own snoring kept him awake.

"They said they're all stoppin' by," Cid continued, bringing Leon out of his sleepy thoughts.

The brunet nodded. "Okay. Actually, that's probably good since they can go and get Tron to install that new security program for us."

"Yep." Cid returned to his typing.

There was a sudden explosion of smoke and Leon heard the words 'crazy old coot' from Cid before Merlin emerged from the smoke in a huff. The wizard and Cid had their typical morning 'argument.' Leon could only smirk – as much as Merlin complained about the machinery and the noise, Leon knew he didn't mind the company. Plus, with Sora coming by, it would give the old wizard a chance to show off his magic.

Next up with Aerith. Even though she herself didn't drink coffee, she made some for everyone else because hers was simply the best. Leon still couldn't figure out why her way of scooping coffee grounds into a filter and pushing a button was any better than, say, when Cid did it, but it just was.

"Sora's stopping by today," he told her, inwardly smiling when she noticed how much less sea-salt ice cream there was in the freezer.

"Oh, is he?" Her expression brightened. "We haven't seen him in so long. I should bake something. Oh, I wish my cookies weren't gone..."

Leon cleared his throat. "How about a cake?" he suggested. He could go for some of that tonight.

"Good idea," she agreed, rummaging around the cabinets for the cake pans. "Ah, it'll be a coconut cake. Everyone loves coconut."

Mmm, Leon sure did. "Sounds good," was all he replied before he got a cup of coffee.

Cloud and Yuffie woke up while Aerith was halfway done with the cake. As soon as the two sleepyheads had sufficiently opened their eyes enough, Leon sent them on a Marketplace run and to patrol the city for Heartless. He usually went with Cloud for this chore, but he knew Sora would want to talk to him and he didn't know when the kid would be arriving. He shrugged an apologetic gesture towards Cloud as he left with the ninja, but it went unnoticed – or unappreciated. Hmph.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived about an hour later, babbling on and on about the king, the other worlds, and the insane amounts of Heartless and Nobodies. Everyone listened and gave advice when they could while Aerith served them all cake, which everyone gobbled up happily. Leon managed to put away a rather large piece, claiming that it was for Yuffie, to which everyone went 'aww' at. Leon just scoffed, glad when Cloud finally returned.

"Hey, Cloud," Sora greeted, grinning up at the blond. "Where's Yuffie?"

"Having a talk with Mr. Scrooge," he replied, slowly walking past everyone, probably to his room. "She's wondering if sea-salt ice cream can magically disappear."

"Aw, phooey," Donald whined.

Leon just smirked. He didn't know how Yuffie had found out about the missing ice cream, but oh well. As long as no one suspected him or Cloud, it was all good.

Sora agreed to go into Tron's world to ask him about the security program, so Leon and Cid walked the trio there while Aerith headed into the Marketplace to find Yuffie and Merlin just disappeared to who-knows-where. Leon inwardly hoped that Cloud wouldn't discover the piece of cake he'd hidden and eat it all – he wanted a bite of that sweet stuff, too.

And not just the cake.

Once Sora, Donald, and Goofy were safely inside the computer, it was relatively easy to get Tron to help them seeing as how the MCP was no more. Cid grunted his approval and straightened out Ansem's old office for a bit – those Gullwings liked to periodically barge in and mess up the place while hunting for treasure – and Leon guided everyone through the program until the trio reappeared back in the real world.

"Thanks for the help," Leon nodded. "This should be even more effective at keeping the Heartless at bay."

"No problem." Sora grinned and crossed his arms behind his head. "So what now?"

Leon shrugged. "Back to the house, I guess. I'm sure you three have other people hear you want to talk to."

Sora nodded, so Leon called Cid and the five of them strolled back to the house, pausing to fight random groups of Heartless on the way. Leon couldn't help but miss Cloud during these fights since the blond was a fabulous fighter.

Well, in his humble opinion, anyway.

Aerith and Yuffie were standing in front of the door when they arrived. "Oh, thank goodness you're here!" Aerith exclaimed. "We're locked out and Merlin's nowhere to be found. Cloud must be asleep or something because no one's opening the door."

"Yeah, and we were banging on it for like five minutes!" Yuffie whined, but then she spotted Sora and instantly grinned. "Hey, you guys!"

"Hey Yuffie," Sora laughed, giving her a hug. "We were just doing some stuff for the town."

"Heroes as always," she teased.

"Alright, alright, enough of that," Cid grumbled, producing an oddly-shaped key from his pocket. "Y'all are lucky I keep a spare with me." He opened the door and Yuffie rushed in first, but suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Cloud!" she gasped.

Leon shoved through everybody and ran inside only to find the blond on the floor, his face swollen and red and his breathing shallow. He groaned when he saw everyone rush towards him, obviously embarrassed to be seen like this.

Leon, however, was unconcerned about that. "Cloud? Cloud!" he cried, weaving an arm around the blond's shoulders and hoisting his torso up. "What happened!?"

"Unngh..."

"Cloud!"

"That...ugh…ca..."

"That what?"

"That...cake.."

"Crap," Leon muttered. So Cloud had discovered it – but that didn't explain his condition! What the heck was going on!?

"What...in it...ugh..."

"'What was in it?'" Leon translated.

Cloud nodded gravely – well, as gravely as he could with a swollen face. Leon looked up at Aerith – hey, he didn't know what the heck was in it. He was no baker.

"Erm, well...eggs, butter, flour, sugar, coconut..." she began listing. Cloud's eyes widened at 'coconut', and Aerith suddenly gasped. "Oh no!" she cried. "Cloud's horribly allergic to coconut! He could die if he eats too much of it!"

Leon was not normally a panicky guy – in fact, he was the one most likely out of all of them to keep a cool head in emergencies – but hearing 'Cloud' and 'die' in the same sentence sent him into full-fledged panic-mode. He gasped and paused for a moment before hurriedly pressing his lips to Cloud's.

"What the -!?!?!" Cid yelled, the only legible voice over everyone else's gasps and squeals. Cloud wasn't moving a muscle, so Leon dove deeper into his mouth, brushing his tongue over the other's. He did taste like coconut, and Leon was glad that he himself wasn't allergic. After what seemed like hours, the brunet finally pulled back, panting heavily, but it was nothing compared to Cloud's wide-eyed look.

"Wha..." he sputtered.

"I, um..." Leon cleared his throat. "I, er, thought make I could suck it out...you know, like you would a snake bite."

Sora burst out laughing, followed by Yuffie, then Goofy, then everyone else – except for the two men in question. Aerith stepped forward and quickly performed a Cure spell, which instantly cleared up Cloud's swollen face and hives. The spell, however, did not cure the redness.

"Leon, you sly guy," Yuffie giggled. "You can't suck an allergy out of someone. If you wanted to kiss Cloud so badly – "

"That wasn't a kiss!" Leon protested. "I was trying to help him!"

Sora waved a hand. "Pfft, whatever."

"Hey, I - !"

"Don't worry about it," Cloud suddenly interrupted, carefully standing up. "I'm fine now." He squeezed Leon's shoulder as he stood, which sent a warm tingle through the brunet's spine. "I think I'm going to, um, lay down for a bit." He glanced at Leon for a brief moment before starting to exit the room.

"Hey, wait a sec," Yuffie suddenly called.

"What?" Cloud frowned.

"...What were you doing eating that cake in the first place? I thought you hated sweets."

The blond glanced at Leon and without warning, the two darted out the door and into city parts unknown.

Busted.

---

Oh Leon, you dog. xD

This is actually kind of based on a true story where my sister put coconut on a cake and didn't tell me, and I pretty much felt like I was about to die. X.x Only there wasn't a Leon out there for me to 'suck the poison out', darn. ;P –kills all coconut in the world-

Reviews would be very much appreciated:D Cake for all who do!...well, any cake except coconut. xD