A Day in the Life of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee

Author: Xanthos Samurai

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Some language and from Cid because, well, he's Cid. So far, some mild slash/yaoi references (Cloud/Leon) and there will be more pairings to come as the story develops. There will be spoilers for KH1, CoM and KHII in later chapters. You're warned!

Disclaimer: Everyone here belongs to Square-Enix and Disney and I'm not making any money.

Feedback: Yes, please!

Notes: I loved the idea of all of the Hollow Bastion crew crashing at Merlin's while they're trying to put Hollow Bastion back together and just knew that there was a lot of opportunity for some fun fanfiction to be written in that situation. Naturally, this is set during Kingdom Hearts II and I will be making references to all three Kingdom Hearts games, so you're probably better off waiting until you've beaten Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories and at least gotten part of the way through Kingdom Hearts II before reading this. Other than that, this is supposed to be kind of a peek into what I think it would be like if Yuffie, Aerith, Leon, Cid, Merlin and a few other random people really were all living there and what they do while Sora is off saving worlds and fighting Organization XIII. Have fun and happy reading!

Naturally, the routine began with Merlin. The headquarters were still situated at his house, despite Aerith's many assurances that they were in fact looking for a new location every day. The old wizard had some serious doubts that they were looking too hard, though. After all, why would they want to move into a place where they would have to pay rent and utilities and clean up and take care of all the fiddly little details that come with owning any kind of residence of their own? Why would they want to put up with all that when Merlin would do it for them? So it came as no surprise that the housing market in Hollow Bastion was surprisingly slow, according to their claims.

So the routine began with Merlin. He would wake up early and magic himself a strong cup of herbal tea with a shot of brandy (for flavor) and stretch his old bones and look around. The room was still dark and full of young people sleeping. Yuffie and Aerith were usually curled up in sleeping bags on the floor and Cid sawed logs while sprawled in his computer chair. Leon only slept at Merlin's about half the time – the other half he spent up at the castle itself. He muttered that it was so he could fend off any Heartless that decided to attack in the middle of the night, but everyone knew that it was just because he didn't like spending that much time around other people. And because Cid snored like Donald with a head cold. Sometimes Tifa joined them for the night as well, but she was still working on opening up her bar and usually slept there. She didn't mind doing her own dirty work, Merlin noted with a sense of wry amusement. God only knew where Cloud stayed his nights because none of them had ever seen him sleep.

Anyways, the routine began with Merlin. After waking up, he would tiptoe around the sleeping bodies and put the coffee pot on for everyone so that he wouldn't have to deal with four extremely cranky young people for too long before they got the caffeine in their systems. While the coffee was brewing, Merlin would walk over to the computer and turn it on and perhaps chat with Tron for a few minutes before the others woke up. Merlin was actually quite knowledgeable about computers and only acted ignorant to antagonize Cid, something he did at every opportunity.

"He acts like he's thirty-two going on seventy-five," Merlin chuckled to himself as he pushed Cid's arm off the keyboard. "If he wants to pull off the grouchy old curmudgeon act, he needs to wait until he really has something to complain about. Like false teeth. Or grandchildren who don't call enough."

Aerith woke up next, greeted Merlin sleepily and downed a cup of black coffee before going to take a shower. Despite her more-adorable-than-thou appearance and her predilection for pink, Aerith was no pushover. She could drink Leon under the table (then again, Leon couldn't have more than two beers before he got to the "giggling at everything like a little girl" phase) and give Cid a run for his money as well as play a mean game of strip poker. She also wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty and would pull her weight when fixing up the castle just like the rest of them. Merlin once asked her why she seemed to go out of her way to give the impression that she was such a helpless simpleton, but she simply smiled and replied, "Not everyone has to carry around a sword that's proportional to the size of their ego to have faith in their abilities. Besides, it usually always helps to be underestimated." Merlin had had a long laugh after hearing that and had to agree with her that Cloud and Leon seemed to invest a bit too much time making sure that everyone knew exactly how big and impressive their swords were.

If he were there that night, Leon would be up next and would promptly consume two or three heavily creamed mugs of coffee before even uttering a syllable. He enjoyed reading the newspaper with Merlin before Yuffie and Cid got up and tore it apart looking for the funnies and the sports sections, respectively. Merlin rather enjoyed Leon's company and would chat with him about current events (it was always a one-sided conversation, though Leon would nod intermittently as Merlin chattered) as Aerith came back in from the bathroom, her hair still damp and began making breakfast. The smell of eggs and bacon and pancakes would subsequently rouse Cid, whose snoring would be punctuated with long sniffs until he finally woke up with a snort and immediately cursed at falling asleep at the computer. The pilot would eye the computer suspiciously and mutter that "I musta forgot t' shut it down again last night. Or maybe this thing's just possessed 'n turns on by itself. Ain't right either way havin' a computer that can talk to ya. Dunno why Anesem'd make such a thing." Then he would straighten up with a grunt, feeling his back pop about six times and look at the rest of them. "Aerith, when's breakfast gonna be ready? I'm starvin'!"

Yuffie, being the youngest and the most disposed to sleep outrageous amounts, was the last to wake up. Despite being a self-proclaimed ninja with "lightening reflexes," Yuffie had been known to sleep through everything short of Ansem himself walking through the door. Curled up in her sleeping bag, she would sleep like a rock until someone, usually Cid, would take it upon themselves to rouse her.

"Geddup, ya damn lazybones. We ain't got room in this organization for no good-for-nothin' ninjas." Cid would growl at her as he prodded her ribs with a booted foot.

"Nnnn…" Yuffie's one arm would emerge from the depths of the sleeping bag, reaching for her shuriken in her sleep. The others had learned through painful experience to move it out of her reach prior to attempting to wake Yuffie up. Even in her sleep, she had a good arm and had more than once sent Cid howling across the room, clutching his foot as blood spurted from it. Naturally, Yuffie was completely asleep as she skewered Cid's foot and whole ordeal that followed and had to be told about it later, much to her surprise. It had nearly killed her not to giggle in front of Cid and learned that even smiling in his presence for about a week after the event would be met with dire consequences.

"Up, Muffin!" Cid would finally say. "Last chance or I'm eatin' yer breakfast."

"M'name's not Muffin… 's Yuffie." She would mutter sleepily as she finally crawled out of bed. "Aeriiiiiiiiiiiith… don't let him eat my breakfast while I shower, kay?"

"Of course not. But hurry up, it's almost done." Aerith didn't even turn around most days. Cid and Yuffie enjoyed baiting one another and got so much amusement out of it that it would be mean to stop them. Cid called Yuffie "Muffin" and she would flush his cigarettes down the toilet and he'd file the points of her shuriken down and so on and so forth. Cloud, Leon, Tifa, Aerith and Merlin had a running bet going as to who would finally top the other. Most bets were on Yuffie, but Cloud firmly believed that one day, Yuffie was going to do something that would cause Cid to hang her upside-down by her toes above Rising Falls.

All of the usual goings-on had already happened this morning and Yuffie had just emerged from the shower, now as full of energy as a rechargeable battery. As she joined the others at the breakfast table, she found that they were already in the midst of a discussion.

"Tifa said that she would help us with the south entrance today if some of us could help her with the roof of her bar tomorrow. Considering what a mess the south entrance is, we're going to need all the help we can get." Leon said.

"Why do we gotta do the south entrance today? That's gonna be the hardest one, what with the area bein' covered in Heartless, as if Risin' Falls isn't enough of a pain in the ass to deal with in the first place." Cid chewed on a cigarette, clearly agitated by the news. "I hate Risin' Falls."

"You wouldn't hate it so much if you weren't so picky about getting wet." Remarked Merlin as he got up and went to get himself another piece of toast. "Honestly, it's ridiculous to see a grown man grouch about it like you do."

"Siddown and drink yer goddamn tea!" Cid roared at the wizard, pissed off that he could feel himself blushing. Yuffie, who hadn't been aware of Cid's aversion to water prior to this, was already thinking of a million ways to rig a water balloon canon where he would walk into it.

"Enough. Cid, you're going to have to deal with it and we're going to need Tifa and Cloud as well. Has anyone seen him lately?" Leon looked around at the rest of the crew. None of them said anything.

"Typical." Leon rolled his eyes. "I'll look for Cloud. Aeris, you go tell Tifa about the plan and Yuffie and Cid go down there and start working on clearing some of the mess up. Everyone got it?"

"You only want to go find Cloud yourself so you can go make out with him!" Yuffie proclaimed.

The rest of them looked at her. Leon's eyes were icy and anyone with an iota more common sense than Yuffie would have just stopped there. Then again, common sense had never been Yuffie's strong point.

"It's completely true," she said. "You totally wanna make out with him."

"…I'm going to go to Tifa's." Aerith wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood up. "I'm sorry, Merlin, but would you mind doing the dishes? We need to get an early start."

"Not at all, my dear. Go ahead." Merlin turned away as well, supposedly busying himself with dishes. In fact, he was trying his best not to laugh at Yuffie's bluntness. Everyone knew that Cloud and Leon hopelessly crushed on one another, but both of them were much too stoic and manly to admit it.

"Let's go, Muffin." Cid lifted Yuffie bodily out of her seat, despite her surprised struggles. "If we have to go to that goddamned place, I want to go and get it over with."

"Hey, wait a minute! I'm not ready yet!" Yuffie protested.

Leon's blue eyes followed Yuffie as Cid essentially dragged her out, but he didn't move until it was just him and Merlin. He finally stood up and grabbed his coat and gunblade.

"I do not have a crush on Cloud." He told Merlin.

"Of course not. Now get going so you can find him."

"…" Leon glowered at the wizard's back before he walked out. "I do not have a crush."

Other than possibly Tifa, Leon was the best of the group at figuring out what went on in Cloud's head. He could usually find the spiky-headed blonde if he wanted to. Leon couldn't always understand Cloud, of course, but after having known him for so long, he could usually tell when Cloud needed to be left alone and when he just needed a good ass-kicking.

This time, Leon guessed correctly that Cloud was at the Postern, one of his favorite places. As Leon walked up, he saw Cloud sitting on the low wall that surrounded the round area, staring out into the distance. His sword was leaning against the wall beside him and his one wing, which he rarely wore out in the open anymore, was exposed. The wing had been acquired as part of the deal that Cloud had made with Hades, but after the events that followed, Cloud had begun to see it as a sign of the darkness within himself and kept it hidden. It didn't make any difference to Leon what Cloud did with his wing, though he wasn't surprised that Cloud took the opportunity to "stretch" when nobody was looking.

"Cloud." Leon called his friends name as he approached. Startled, Cloud turned around and folded his wing up against his back. Leon shook his head and walked over to the wall where Cloud sat. "Don't bother, I've already seen. Not that it matters."

"Yeah, well… Nobody really wants to see that side of me." Cloud answered, relaxing a bit. He didn't mind so much if Leon saw, but it was a bit more awkward around people like Aerith and Tifa. "What are you doing all the way over here?"

"We need your help today, unless you're too busy learning how to use that thing." Leon nodded at Cloud's sword. "I know how badly you need the practice."

"Ha, you wish. I bet you couldn't even lift it," retorted Cloud.

"Whatever. If you had my sword, you wouldn't be able to hit anything with it. Not even if you threw it at a Large Body."

"So what? At least I could get it up off the ground."

Leon smirked. "I could get your sword up if I wanted to."

The second after the words left his lips, he realized quite how… gay it sounded. Cloud seemed to notice as well and coughed once.

"Well, uh… You needed help, huh? Sorry, but I'm not interested in helping unless there's something in it for me. I'm not a 'good guy' like the rest of you."

"Fine. You're invited to dinner with us tonight and to the poker game on Thursday, then."

Cloud raised a brow. "I have an open invitation from Merlin and Aerith to show up whenever I want, thanks, and Tifa's already invited me to the poker game. Try again."

"I'll keep Yuffie out of the liquor if you come."

"Done." Cloud shuddered at the memory of the last poker game he had attended, when Yuffie had accidentally gotten into Cid's "private stash." None of them would forget that night anytime soon. The wing vanished into his shirt as he stood and he took his sword in hand. "Let's go then. Where to?"

"Rising Falls. Cid and Yuffie should already be there and Aerith is getting Tifa. We have a lot of work to do around the southern entrance."

"Are you out of your mind? There are more Heartless there than anywhere else put together. We'll be killing them for a month before we even start on the construction part." Cloud looked at Leon with a skeptic expression. "Why are you so nuts about getting that cleared out all the sudden?"

"It's the part of the castle with the most technology. If we can fix it up first, cleaning up and rebuilding the rest of the castle will be a lot easier. Besides, that's also the area where the library and a lot of the bedrooms are. I want to make sure the Heartless don't get in there and wreck anything."

"The library I understand, but why the bedrooms?" Cloud swung his sword to rest on his shoulder as he began walking down to the Bailey with Leon.

"I'm really sick of sleeping outside and I think Merlin's about to kill us. Besides, nobody pays rent on the castle, it's all powered by magic and I'm fairly sure that Ansem isn't going to just suddenly stroll in and want his castle back. I'm pretty sure it's up for grabs."

"Oh yeah, it'll be great once we cleanse it of all the darkness and, you know, get rid of the portal to evil that he unlocked in the basement." Cloud snickered. "Sounds like a great do-it-yourself weekend project."

"Now you have the right idea. I'd tell you to wear a hard hat, but I'm pretty sure that your hair will effectively take care of any falling debris before it hurts anything vital."

"Ha ha. Watch your back, Leon."

Leon smirked. "What, you think you can take me from behind, Strife?"

Once again, why did that inadvertently come out so gay! Leon wanted to beat his head against the wall, but Cloud didn't seem to notice. He was still talking trash and walking along the Bailey with Leon. The brunette shook his head. If Cloud didn't notice, then there wasn't any harm in those occasional Fuckable slips. Freudian slips. Freudian. He smacked his forehead with his palm,

Dammit, I have got to stop doing that!

Leon hoped that the rest of the day would be a success.

To Be Continued...

Notes: Leon's faux pas are so fun to write. Well, hopefully someone found this amusing. I know that Cloud isn't exactly in his Kingdom Hearts characterization, but I like the way he's characterized better in Final Fantasy VII, so I wrote him a bit more in that style here. More of a sense of humor and not quite so stoic. Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed and there will definitely be more chapters forthcoming!