So!! Hiya!! My first fic. It's Squall/Cloud, so if you don't like...I warned you. D I'm horrible, so...go easy on me. And yes, I do have to thank my good budd Darkmousie for helping me out. She will be for other chapters to come...which I am sloooowly but surely working on.

Diclaimer: As much as any other fangirl, I owuld love to own Squall and Cloud...but Squeenix found them first. grumble

So, hope ou like it!! Review please!!

Chapter 1

Have you ever thought about how dull and repetitive life is?

Everyday passes, and nothing new happens. You wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to school. Then work, come home, eat dinner, watch the usual trash reality tv, and go to bed.

Riveting.

At least, that's how it was for the first 21 years of my uneventful life. Well, I suppose that's not entirely true. Perhaps I should start from the beginning. After all, that's how fairy tales usually begin, right?

I lived in a normal, run of the mill, cookie cutter neighborhood. Hollow Bastion was about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal. Not the good oatmeal that has the apple chunks and sugary goodness loaded into it. No, this was the boring, uneventful, lumpy, so-healthy-its-unhealthyvariety. Every yard was the same, each with perfectly kept grass and pruned gardens, filled with assortments of happily colored flowers. It was...sickeningly happy almost. My mother, however, never seemed to notice the lack of diversity and insisted that the neighborhood was 'quaint, unified, and just what this unorganized family needed!'.

Hm. Right.

In a way, she was correct in her justification; my family was unorganized...in fact, the word "unorganized" was an understatement. My younger brother, and youngest member of the family, was constantly on the go. Sora was born when I was six, and at the time I couldn't have been more excited to have a new member of the family. That is, of course, until I discovered that Sora was far from a calm, sweet, child...and could be more easily compared to a rabid monkey on a sugar high. Nonetheless, he was fun in his own way, and I came to have a soft spot for him. He seemed to be slightly less conformed than everyone else in the neighborhood...he was his own person from the start. My sister, who was one year younger than me, became like a mother figure to Sora. Tifa was tough, but kind, everything my mother wasn't. My mother fit in eventually with enough 'work'; with her quaffed hair and kitten heels. She tried harder than any of us to be 'normal', because, as a single parent, she was already an outcast. And school...that was the worst part.

By the time I was in high school, I was about ready to shoot myself. Not literally, although it did cross my mind several times. Don't get me wrong, I'm not normally the suicidal type, but after two years in that hell hole of a school, anyone would be thinking about the barrel. I remember the first day of my freshman year - one of the worst days of my life. Most of the students from the local middle school attended the private school located on the islands just off the coast. My mother, being the ever loving and thoughtful woman that she is, decided that it would be more important to have money for the new Ferrari she had her eye on than to send me to a private school for the better education. So, I attended Hollow Bastion High, the local public high school that was notorious for it's awful testing scores and drug dealers. The moment I stepped into my first class, I knew I was destined to be a social outcast, cut off from the rest of the student body. Not that I minded much; I was able to have more in depth conversation with my seven year old brother. My sister managed to find a clique, most likely due to her amiable personality and beautiful looks, and over the years managed to sneak me into popular parties and such, against my personal preference. Actually, it was my senior year at one of those said popular parties where my life changed - and my family became even more alienated.

It was any normal teenage party - filled with cheap beer, pounding music, and grinding teens wearing skanky clothing. Tifa somehow managed, over my protesting, to throw me in a pair of leather pants and a mesh shirt, both of which I was about ready to strip off in the middle of the dance floor. While I was pondering this idea, which was looking better and better by each passing song, a moment of pure...fate? Karma? Whatever it was, I was not expecting it - if I was, I would have fought harder to wear those baggy cargos. The previous slow song that had been playing came to a sudden halt, and Sexyback came pounding over the speakers. I felt the bile build up in my throat, and as I was attempting a quick getaway to the balcony, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I sighed, prepared to turn down another sophomore slut wearing too much makeup asking for a grind, turned around, and dropped the cup of coke I was currently holding.

That was definitely no sophomore slut - and they were definitely NOT wearing makeup of any kind.

Standing two inches behind me, wearing a cocky smirk accented by ripped jeans and a sleeveless shirt, stood a tall, lanky creature with shiny brown hair pulled back into a long ponytail and beautiful blue eyes.

And oh yeah. Male. Can't forget that.

"Hey." He said smoothly, he smirk widening. "You wanna dance?"

Now, how long I stood there staring at him, I'm not sure. It all depends on how long it took me for my brain to register that yes, this was indeed a male (not my previous assumption of a muscular, flat-chested female), and yes, HE was asking ME (another male, thank you very much) to dance.

"Uh...uh..." My jaw was stuck in place on that one word, evidentially, and I'm sure I appeared to look as intelligent as a fish.

A dead fish, in this case.

Apparently this didn't faze my tall friend, and he took my incoherent mumbling as a yes. Grabbing my wrist, he dragged me into the packed crowd of underage dirty dancers and pulled my hips into his, grinding with me. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Tifa, currently sporting a white tank and black mini which, (combined with her knack for dirty dancing and…. How shall we say….well-endowed figure?), attracted the attention of a few Senior boys. As she was attempting to shrug them off, she caught my eye, and her jaw dropped clear out of its hinges. I shrugged with a sheepish look on my face, and realized that my hips were moving to the beat of their own accord. Stop that!! I scolded them mentally. Stop wiggling voluptuously! ….wait….voluptuously?!?! What the hell! I'm not supposed to be dancing with another guy!! Do I look gay to him!?!? Oh. Wrong thing to think. It appeared as if my body was getting a little too comfortable, and it was at that point that I realized that this was just about the worst possible night for me to be wearing tight pants.

Of course, I had a long, interesting chat with Tifa that night about my humiliation. Every excuse that I could come up with for reasons why I was NOT gay and getting turned on in the middle of a dance floor by another male was perfectly normal for a straight guy, Tifa came up with twenty more as to why I WAS gay and then new ideas for potential boyfriends.

Enter - personal hate and more social alienation.

Granted, even though I didn't come out to anyone else, OR my mother, the personal shame I felt for the entirety of my senior year and a large chunk of my summer vacation would be enough to put a damper on Sora. And it remained personal, where I liked it to be. At least, until a little birdie told the whole high school that Squall Leonheart was a flaming homosexual.

My sister tried to stick up for me, but I insisted that she stay out of it. She had her own life, and I had mine, however pitiful it was. The more she tried to beat up the jocks for my sake, the more she came home with black eyes, and the more my mother questioned it - and the more hurt I became for her sake. I didn't want Sora to go to HB High with the reputation of being the siblings of the notorious Gay Squall and Bully Tifa, so we tried to stay away from others for the most part. My mother became more and more suspicious, and eventually came to Tifa and I when I rude hate letter was left on our front porch.

She kicked me out.

It upset me at first, knowing that my mother couldn't accept me for who I was, but my senses came to me eventually and I focused on getting a decent job that would send me to college without the financial support of my mother. I visited Sora often, and he seemed to be doing just fine at HB High, even with having a social outcast as an alumni. I managed to get a job at a book store on campus, allowing me to attend school on a (rather large) loan. So I lived my life peacefully for a few years, working on a degree in writing. And then my peaceful little life stopped...

...for an angel.

It was a normal Monday afternoon. The store wasn't very busy, as usual, and I took advantage of the peace by reading a good book I had found while restocking the drama and romance section.

"SQUALLY!!!" Twitch. Of course, the peace couldn't last for long. I felt the precious book being pulled out of my hands, and instead of beautiful literature, I saw the pearly whites of my boss.

Yes. Boss.

"Good afternoon, Ms. " I said monotonously. "Squally!!" She huffed. "How many times to I have to tell you to call me Yuffie before it sinks into that thick head of yours!" She knocked on my skull for good measure, placing the other manicured hand on her hip. I rolled my eyes. We had such a professional relationship. "A few more times, Ms. . You know I don't like calling you Yuffie during work hours. I, unlike yourself, prefer to remain as professional as possible in front of customers." Yuffie turned her head to the side, looking at the barren shop. "...Riiiiiight. Well, I just thought I'd let you know that Riku needs this Friday off, and that I need you to fill in for him."

Of course, Yuffie can never come over for a friendly chat. I raised an eyebrow, relifting my book so that only my eyes were visible. "And I would do this why?"

"Oh c'mon Squally!! I really really need you this time!! I have a date on Friday, so I can't fill in, and Reno is already going over his hours for this week! I need you just this once!" She pouted, stamping her foot on the carpet. She was so intimidating, really. I sighed. "Fine, fine, as long as you promise to pay me for overtime...and you'll stop whining and let me read." Her face brightened considerable, and she practically lunged herself over the counter at me. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!! I promise to pay you for overtime!! And why do you want to read that icky book anyway?" I snorted underneath my breath. "It's not 'icky'. It's a tragic tale of -"

"Two lovers, brought together by accident, who are separated by their feuding parents but see each other secretly. A Romeo and Juliet kind of story, really."

I stared at the person who finished my description for me. He smiled, setting a stack of book on the counter next to Yuffie. "I finished it last week, it's a good book." Yuffie followed his every movement and he fished his wallet out of his back pocket, and then looked over to me. Then suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone off in her head, she beamed, bouncing off the counter. "Oh yes!! Good, good book! Well enjoy your stay! 5 o'clock on Friday, Squally!!" She shouted over her shoulder as she flounced off.

"Squally?" I blushed ferociously, fumbling to put the book down and scan the large ones currently sitting on the counter. "Y-Yeah, my boss tends to tease me." He laughed warmly, the sound coming from his chest. "She seems fun. I wish my boss was as nice."

After I managed to scan all of his books, I stole a look. Oh, his face was as pretty as his voice. He was pretty short, but he looked to be around my age, with golden blonde hair spiked all over the place and baby blue eyes. He looked over and caught me staring, chuckling. "Yes, it's natural. And no, I'd rather you didn't touch it." I felt my ears warm. "I'm sorry, w-what?" I stammered, coming out of my daze. "My hair. You were staring at it, and that's usually the question I get after I catch someone staring." "Oh...right..." Awkward. I bagged his books, and we exchanged cash and the bag. He took the bag and continued to stand at the counter. "So where are you?"

"What?"

He laughed again. "In the book. What part are you at?" "O-Oh..." I said dumbly, picking up the book and shifting through the pages quickly to find my spot. "Well...Raphael was killed, and Guinevere is at the funeral." "Oh...that was sad. I needed a quart of Ben and Jerry's after that." He said, laughing again. Man, I could never get tired of that laugh...it seemed to make him happier every time he listened to it. He couldn't help but smile himself. "So I'm guessing you're in Byrum's class?" The man shook his head. "No, but my brother Demyx is. He didn't want to read the book, so I read it for him and told him what it was about." I chuckled, remembering. "I know Demyx. He's in my class, actually. I tutored him one semester." He smiled. "Ah, so you're THAT Squall. I've heard about you." I felt myself redden again. If this kept up I'd be permanently pink for the rest of my life. "I'm Cloud, by the way." He smiled again, the dimples in his cheeks appearing. Goddamn, he was cute.

Beep Beep Beep.

Cloud groaned and took out a phone from the pocket of his corduroys. "I'm sorry, but I have an appointment. Can we maybe...finish this conversation later?" Oh hell yeah!! I mean..."Yeah, sure. Maybe over a cup of coffee? How's Friday?" Cloud smiled, putting the phone back in his pocket. "Friday's great." He took out his receipt and scribbled on it, handing it to me. "Call me later, okay?" He winked and waved, taking his bag of books and walking out the door. I watched the swivel of his hips as he left.

Yup. Definitely gay.