"Are you going?"
He didn't have anything to say, and he could only let his sapphire gaze wallow in Shiva-blue.
The blond eyed the spot somewhere over Leon's shoulder. "Well?"
It wasn't like the blond to be this pushy. At least, not the Cloud that he knew. As for the Cloud that Tifa once knew and loved, that was a different matter.
Leon tightened his grip on the silky envelope, traced the stamped wings on its back. He knew who it came from, could already tell by the whisper of perfume. He knew where it came from – the time before this one, the place other than here.
He shrugged, winced at the habit that was already returning to him. He forced himself to speak, but only because he knew that Leon would have said something, even if Squall wouldn't. "I don't know yet."
Cloud grunted.
Leon shoved the envelope into his pocket. "How about lunch? I think I heard Aeris mention…"
"You go ahead." The blond brushed his hair from his eyes.
"Nah. I'm not hungry anyway." Leon trained his gaze on the blond's lowered head. There was too much to lose here if he just shut up. Now more than ever, he needed to be able to say what he meant. "Cloud."
Cloud tossed his head but didn't move, didn't raise his gaze, didn't even narrow his eyes.
"I really don't know if I will go or not."
"You should."
Leon paused. It was not the response he had been expected, had been half-hoping for. "Why?"
"They're waiting for you." Cloud lifted his eyes and met Leon's evenly, mouth set in a firm line.
"Are they?" Leon realised that his hand was in his pocket, still clutching the letter, crinkling it as he clenched his fist.
Cloud wasn't looking at him anymore; he was looking at something beyond this single pair of eyes.
Leon crushed the letter into a ball, tight in the palm of his hand. "Do you even know what it says?"
"No." Cloud exhaled, a defeated breath scooting along his lips. "But I…"
Leon waited.
"I didn't go even though I could have. I thought… I just hoped you wouldn't either." Each word pulled from the heavy weight buried at the back of Cloud's mind, dredged up from the pit of his stomach.
Leon pulled his hand out of his pocket, the letter dissolving into ashes as a flame danced around it.
Cloud clenched his jaw, eyes wide, hopeful, afraid.
"You waited. So I'm staying." Leon looked straight at the blond, looked through him and past him at this particular world and at this particular person who made everything comfortable against his skin.
It was enough to say those words out loud in a single breath, feeling the words unwinding inside him. "I'm staying."
Here with you.