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KN: Every now and again, you should do something for fun and remind yourself why you put so much work into a longer project. A little break could lead to some inspiration. I'm planning for three chapters on this, but we'll see how it goes.

Warning: LeonXCloud.

-.-:-.-

Are you sure you want to do this?

…

I'm serious.

You'll regret it.

I'm not exactly…normal.

If you do this, we can't have a normal relationship.

Or kids, for that matter.

What if he finds you before I find him?

I can't fight him if you're a hostage.

You just don't get it!

…

You are SO stupid.

Or maybe you're just crazy?

I can't believe you.

But then, I can't believe myself either.

Leon…

-.-:-.-

"There's no guarantee I'll come back." Cloud says for maybe the hundredth time, his back to Leon, his sword in his hand, and perhaps an air of finality in his words? He's looking out of their room's window - though it's more Leon's room than it is theirs - as if trying to zoom in on Sephiroth's position before he leapt out of it. Not that he had the wing to make a safe landing, though Leon doubted that would stop Cloud if he really did see Sephiroth out there.

"I know." Leon responded for a number of times that equaled Cloud's. It feels like he's always responding to the younger swordsman rather than initiating anything. Funny how a person doesn't get tired of something until that feeling of unending monotony hits them.

"If I stay any longer, it's only going to get harder to leave." Cloud says without turning to look at the brunet, his gaze glued to the imaginary Sephiroth out of the window.

"That works for me." Leon replies. "I'd rather that you stay anyway."

"You know I can't do that." Cloud still doesn't look away from the window, from 'Sephiroth.'

"If you were going to leave, then you would've left already." Leon points out. It's then that Cloud finally does look away from his obsession with the window, eyes narrowed and flashing for a second as he frowns.

"Le-!"

"I know you're going to leave." The gunbladesman interrupts. "I know you're the only one who can defeat him and destiny and all that crap that you think I don't understand, but if you want to stay one more night, then you can." He manages to close the distance between them, his hand gripping one of the blond's shoulders. "This is the last time I'm going to see you for a long time. You can leave first thing tomorrow morning, but for tonight…" Leon puts his other hand on Cloud's other shoulder and pulls him closer, the blond's body now held tightly against his.

"This might be the last time you see me at all." Cloud responds quietly.

"I disagree, but if that does happen – not that it will – then that's all the more reason you should let me have this night." Leon continued on determinedly. "I know you're stronger than that."

Cloud let the silence hang in the air for a while before he finally reciprocated Leon's hug.

-.-:-.-

He doesn't remember how long he'd been sleeping before he woke up, but it doesn't feel like much time had passed. Considering what he sees, it's likely that he may be dreaming.

Cloud was still here, back turned to him and deathly still, but he had stayed.

Or at least, Leon thought he was deathly still. He had been with Cloud for a long time. One ends up being unable to ignore just how unsubtle the other swordsman could be.

…Trembling?

Cloud? Trembling? What kind of senseless dream was this? Cloud being scared? Of all things for his subconscious to come up with.

The buster sword user was only fighting a monster that had the ability to end an entire world singlehandedly, after all. A monster that the blond had a long, complicated history with.

Maybe it made sense for something inhuman and incapable of feeling to be unafraid. For something that was bred only to fight to only know how to fight.

But no matter what anyone thought of Cloud or what Cloud himself thought, wing or mako or not, Cloud was still only human. No matter how battle-hardened he was or how incredulously strong, the blond's allowed to feel scared even if he was reluctant to show it.

It's not a sign of weakness to be human.

And with that, Leon reached an arm over and gripped Cloud's shoulder, turning the blond around to face him. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of tears in the other man's eyes, but he reminded himself that this too proved that Cloud was not only human, but the strongest person he knew.

"Wha-?!" the blond started, surprise transitioning to anger, eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint of that glowing mako; all silenced when the gunbladesman gently laid a kiss on the other swordsman's forehead.

Leon held Cloud a little closer till the trembling stopped. Looking down, he could see those glowing blue orbs disappear under their lids. He waited to see if they'd reappear, maybe with an irritated tint or offended glare, but they had stayed closed.

He hoped that meant Cloud had gathered his resolve, but he didn't stay awake long enough to find out.

-.-:-.-

Light reflected off the walls in such an obnoxious way, Leon was reminded why his home had been called, "Radiant Garden." He groaned as he reluctantly sat up, the sheets gathering around his waist. He turned his head to the empty space where Cloud had been, his expression unchanging.

Did he really expect anything else?

He let out a sigh and made his way down to where Tron and his computer was. Even when Cloud had been here, he still had work to do to keep his home safe. Not just for the idiot swordsman to return to, but for the people who lived here that he wanted to protect too.

So it didn't really matter whether Cloud was gone or not.

The change was inconsequential.

-.-:-.-

"Security systems?"

"They are functional."

"Town status?"

"Normal."

"All right." Leon checked off the last item on his list. "Run a scan on your operating systems for infections, Tron."

"Right away."

Radiant Garden was still safe for now. Leon set his list down and walked over to the monitor to see the scan's progress. If all was clear, he'd generate some blueprints with Tron's advice and take those to Cid for further improvement. Then he'd talk with Merlin about the construction plans, make sure Yuffie wasn't causing any trouble, visit Aerith while she was tending to the plants, tell Tifa that he hadn't seen Cloud, and do a quick patrol around the town.

After all that, he'd get some paper work done and go home to make sure Cloud didn't-!

"…User Leon?" Tron's avatar moved closer to the screen - though that wouldn't actually help him get a better look at the man who was on the other side of it – leaving the scan to run its course, humming in the background.

The gunbladesman didn't respond, both hands covered his face as his figure trembled slightly.

That's right, Cloud was gone. Only this time it was a different kind of gone than Cloud's usual habitual disappearances. It didn't matter if they all thought Cloud could beat Sephiroth. It didn't matter if Cloud always came back.

Because this time, Leon gets it. He had always been warned about getting involved with Cloud, usually by Cloud himself, but it never hit him this hard until now.

Cloud might not come back this time. And the possibility of losing Cloud after knowing him so intimately for this long... If he lost Cloud, it would hurt.

And he didn't think he could recover from that. It was the reason for him keeping his distance, after all, but he had thought Cloud was worth the risk. What if he was wrong?

"Leon?" Tron persisted. The brunet wiped away his tears and looked up to see that the scan had finished.

"I'm fine." He didn't expect his voice to come out so cracked. He cleared his throat and fixed up his appearance a little before continuing. "Let's get to work." He typed in the search engine to find the plans he had been working on prior to the other night.

"…" Tron moved away as the file appeared on the screen, any hint that Leon had been crying dissipated. "All right, User Leon."

-.-:-.-

Tron had been perplexed. In all the time he had known User Leon, he had never seen the man express something like that. Usually, Leon was quite stoic and task-oriented. Yes, there were those times when he'd narrow his eyes into the beginnings of something akin to irritation or frustration, but those didn't last long.

There were also those times when Leon would cover the top half of his face with one hand when he was truly exasperated. Leon would smile sometimes too. They weren't very wide nor very often, but they were smiles. There were also those times when Leon's eyes would widen or a pink shade would cover his cheeks.

Come to think of it, Leon was much more expressive around User Cloud. It seemed like the other swordsman would enter the computer room for the sole purpose of intentionally annoying User Leon. Though, it wasn't as if all Cloud ever did was annoy Leon, and the brunet never seemed to ask him to leave.

User Cloud was a lot like User Leon in the sense that they were both quite stoic most of the time, but Cloud also smiled, got irritated, and blushed luminescent at the times Leon caught him off guard.

So if User Cloud was the reason for most of the diversity in Leon's expressions, then perhaps Cloud was the reason for this other, rather intense expression as well? User Cloud had been gone for longer than usual now… Was the other swordsman avoiding the gunbladesman?

It wasn't in Tron's power to be able to bring Cloud to Leon. He hovered around in his dataspace as he pondered how he could help Leon. He didn't want his most frequent user to suffer, after all.

And then he got an idea.

-.-:-.-

Leon wasn't sure how they all seemed to instinctively know that Cloud had disappeared again, but they did. They even seemed to understand that Cloud had gone off to fight Sephiroth. He didn't understand how they all felt so confident that Cloud would return, though.

"Cloud went an' disappeared again, didn't he?" Cid asked first thing when he had arrived with the blueprints. Leon didn't even reply to his question as he handed the blueprints over. "Eh, he'll be back. He wouldn't let someone like Sephiroth do him in." Cid continued on casually as he looked over the plans.

"Oh, did Cloud disappear again?" Merlin had asked when Leon showed him the revised blueprints that Cid had edited. "Well, he'll return soon enough. I'm sure a warrior of his caliber won't allow such a dastardly villain to be his demise."

"Cloudster went off to fight Sephiroth, huh?" Yuffie asked as she swung off a pole. She made a landing any professional acrobat would be jealous of. "He'll beat him this time." She gave him a wide smile, one that didn't scream mischief for once. "So don't worry too much, Squally-Wally!" He didn't even get a chance to tell her "It's Leon" before she ran off.

"I know." Aerith simply said. "It's written all over your face that you're worried." Leon denied that, but she only chuckled. "Cloud'll come back." She gave him that eerily knowing look in those green eyes of hers before she turned back to tend to her flowers.

Tifa hadn't shown up at his office ever since Cloud left. The thought that she might have gone after the blond when he disappeared wandered around his mind for a bit. Would she be safe in a battle between those two? Tifa may have been another one of the strongest people he'd known, but against Sephiroth…

"I have to find him." The fist fighter once said. "I have to remind him not to fear the light, so that he can beat that man and come back." If she had been here, she probably would've told Leon the same things everyone else had been telling him. Maybe she even would've said it before she pursued him.

The amount of optimism was a little unsettling, but it only goes to show how much faith they all had. Leon wanted to believe it too, but it just seemed far too simple.

Sighing, he made his way back to where his computer and Tron was to get some paperwork done.

…

"Ah, User Leon, you have returned." Tron's greeting fell on deaf ears as Leon could only focus on the other program that now shared a screen with him.

"Tron." Though the brunet had addressed him, his eyes were still concentrated on the other program. "What…?"

"Is he to your liking?" Tron asked as he gestured to the other program.

The "he" in question kept silent and looked at Leon blankly with mako blue eyes. From his spiked blond hair to the black turtleneck sweater to the bandaged sword he carried on his back, the program Tron had most likely created was the spitting image of someone Leon knew well.

"…is he useful to you?" Leon asked, casually brushing a bang away from his sight. "You created him with intentions to make your work more efficient, right?"

"Eh…uh…" Tron faltered. "Data Cloud is a mainly aesthetic interactive program… I had hoped User Leon would like another virtual companion to keep him company."

"I don't need a poor substitute for a person." He hadn't meant for that to come out as harsh as it did, but it seemed too late to take the tone back now. And besides, a data program could never live up to the actual Cloud. "I already have the one interactive program I need, Tron." He continued in a softer tone. "You're that program. If Data Cloud can't help with Radiant Garden's reconstruction, then he's just using up space that could be put to better use."

"We actually have more than enough data space for-!"

"Hold it." The 'Data Cloud' ordered coldly, crossing his arms. Leon's eyes widened at the accuracy of that tone. Aside from the sync-like pitch, the program's voice was perfect. "Where do you get off insulting me when it hasn't even been five minutes since our introduction?"

"Eh…wha…?" Now it was the brunet's turn to falter, apparently.

"I can probably finish most tasks in minutes compared to the days it would take you to do the same." The Cloud look-alike continued. "So I'd say you were the unneeded one here."

…it seemed Data Cloud wasn't just accurate in appearance and voice. Leon continued to stare in stunned silence while Tron tried to placate the other program. The Cloud look-alike just crossed his arms and turned away as if telling the older program, 'Why should I have to apologize to this rude prick?' Tron sighed and turned back to Leon.

"My apologies, User Leon." The older program bowed to him. "I was trying to make Data Cloud as similar as possible to User Cloud, but I didn't expect him to react in such a way… His profile information did say he could be fairly cold to new people, though."

"No, this is fine." Leon grinned slightly. "He'll do better than I expected…" Data Cloud shot him a suspicious glare while Tron beamed happily. "Is there any way I can do some minor…edits to this program?"

"Oh, of course, User Leon!" Tron brought up an editor with multiple icons and drop down menus on the screen. "You know User Cloud the best, after all, so this menu will always be open to you."

"Hey, don't show him tha-!" Data Cloud was interrupted when a wing materialized on his back. He jumped slightly and looked back at the new appendage in surprise. "Wh-what…?!" The wing curled over him before stretching out. The Cloud look-alike turned back to him with a frown. "What do you think you're-?!" He was interrupted again, but this time with an outfit change to a black tux.

'I could have a lot of fun with this program…' Leon realized as he looked through more of the editing options. 'Don't know why Tron has a tux customization option, though. Then again, it is an aesthetic program…' He clicked on another drop-down menu and found more lists of clothing customization choices for the program. Data Cloud shot him another angry look as soon as he saw the new menu.

"I'm not a dress-up doll, you…scar-faced moron!" The Cloud look-alike was awfully expressive for an accurate aesthetic interactive program. And loud, for that matter. Leon checked another area of the program editor and found one that focused on more core changes rather than physical ones. The categories weren't limited to just intelligence and empathy. There was also attitude.

"Tron, you really think of everything." Leon commended before he literally adjusted Data Cloud's attitude.

The younger program shot him a defiant look, as if saying, 'It'll take more than that, you moron.'

-.-:-.-

KN: I want to write more LeonXCloud… Oh, and I get that they're men and men cry too, but that doesn't mean they need to bawl like infants. Everything about the way I write Leon and Cloud is that they are restrained. They don't express a whole lot. It doesn't mean that they're emotionless in any way, hell no, they are not emotionless, but they're going to express intense emotions the way I think they would. By trying as hard as they can to hold it back and hide it.