Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfiction are copyrighted to Square Enix/Disney; I do not own any of these.
AN: Yeah, yeah, I'm procrastinating on "I Write The Stories" but it'll get written, its in progress just a case of figuring out where to send it all to now of where I have it stopped at the moment because it was slightly harder to write so as to answer a Reviewer's inquiry as to how Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis know one another. Which after much head slapping to the keyboard, I figured it out...just a case of figuring how to spin the tale thus far. Either way! I got bored one day on my Dad's laptop and while listening to "My Last Goodbye" by Trading Yesterday on YouTube, this inspired this. There is no angst meant behind it, the song title is the name of the book Leon is reading in this tale and kind of a thought on Leon's mind that if he can't get over his fear of continuing on his relationship with Cloud that he may have to say farewell to the man. Kind of the point behind this...And now I'll shut up and let you read.
They say the hardest goodbye is letting go of the one you lost, but why do they say the one that is only second best to that is letting go of a love that was mean to last? Love, what have I done to make you let go of it all? We may have had our share of fights, but why must it last like this…?
Soft scribbling pen marks began to run as falling raindrops caused them to run like the many times she had done before; she was preparing this time to run again, but something was stopping her. It was the hand upon her wrist that had been clenched hard to make the soft pen scratches upon the paper. That wrist was attached to an arm which was lead to a shoulder that she had cried time and time again upon; it was there again as was the somber eyes. Somber eyes who had time and time again been filled with their own tears, hatred, anger, confusion; every emotion she had ever shown. Now, they showed something she had never seen in for what had seemed ages.
"It doesn't have to end like this…don't let our final moments together end like this…" wrinkles gathered about eyes that had seen countless years of things passed as aging, arthritic fingers gently squeezed at an aged wrist, "…It's all in the past…we will have eternity to fight over and over again, even over the silliest things…"
Wet wrinkles about her own face began to let up as she shakily stood up, following him to the one place that was their sanctuary from the outside world. A room that held memories of old things; it was there they would surrender to one another and to time. Much like many of those times in younger days when they would fight, they lay beside one another, hands clasped in one another with smiles spread wide across their tired faces. In slumber, they found their resolve.
They found it in one another…
A soft sigh left the man's lips as he closed the book, wiping away soft tears that had pricked at his gaze while finishing up the final pages of a book, "…The Last Goodbye…"
"Leon?" a soft knock came to the door of the Castle Library, "Cid's here and he said, his words, not mine, that you better get your butt on the Gummi Ship to head home or he's leaving you here.."
The young woman laughed to herself, "I cleaned it up a little, but you get the point and you're welcome back anytime to borrow a book or two, I can even sen…Leon?"
He had not once lifted his gaze from the closed book, the red tapestry colored cover of the book becoming stained with his tears even still, "What's wrong?"
"…C-Can I take this one with me?"
She softly smiled to him as she admired the title; she had known long before what kind of person Leon was. A hopeless romantic much like the young women she had seen in the Village Square when they were pining after a handsome fellow traveling through town. She knew too what kind of life Leon had had before he had found himself living in the once Hollow Bastion, now Radiant Garden with the mismatched family he had clung to. He had told her countless times of his previous life and the dreams he had made about finding that one person like the almost gallant rescuer in the tales he had read as a young boy. Even now, as she watched him standing here, clasping the book hard against his chest; there was no saying 'No' to the man.
Softly, she pressed her hands in against his own, giving him a gentle wink, "Keep it; I've got other books to read…keep it, Leon."
"B-But…Belle…"
"Shh, just think of it like a gift from an old friend," her soft melodious laughter filled the expansive library as she was taken back by his embrace, "You better get going, Leon…"
Leon firmly held on as he gave one last soft embrace to her, "Thanks…and thanks again for letting me come by like this…"
"No problem, next time, at least try and bring Cloud around; you've told me all about the guy and I've hardly gotten to see him."
A faint blush crossed his face, "I'll try, but I can't make any promises…"
"Bye Leon…"
The flight back to Radiant Garden had been silent thus far, but knowing Cid; he wasn't a man to like the peace for too long before he was doing something to stir it. Now and again, his gaze looked over to a happy faced painted Leon still holding onto the old tale in his hands. He would now and again run his fingers down the front cover; it had become like a long lost treasure that he had thought he had lost. Much like a child basks in the afterglow of the joy of finding a long lost toy in his or her room. Leon traced his fingertips against the words on the cover and now and again, flipped through the first few pages. Even getting lost in the pages once again, but this time, he could see himself so much in the tale.
It had never been as easy as it was now for him and Cloud to be as close as they were now. Bearing many a stormy weather of mixed hate and love for one another; particularly because Cloud had been unrelenting in his pursuit of Leon back then. Even threatening to leave the in progress Restoration of Radiant Garden to avoid the man overall, but that would've been selfish. Somehow, Leon's adopted sister figure Aerith had managed to get through to Cloud. Even then, it didn't last long. In the heat of battle in the Dark Canyon Ravine when the duo had been encircled by a group of Heartless during the one-thousand Heartless battle. Cloud had made in passing, the remark that once the fight was over and assurance was instilled that things could be left to the Keyblade Master. Leon would let Cloud into his life, he would hear Cloud out, and overall, he would let Cloud at least kiss him, if not let him do other things. At first back then; he had brushed it off as the heat of battle, adrenaline and the stream of Mako coursing through the man's body. Simple enough, but when the battle was over and things seemed to balance out for Hollow Bastion, only to turn to Radiant Garden; Cloud began to make good on his words.
A soft chuckle left Cid's lips as he shook Leon's shoulder gently, "Your life isn't that far over…don't go thinking that your life is going to be like that storybook tale…You've got your own tale to write…"
"I know, Cid…I know," Leon softly sighed as he closed the book, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back against the Co-Pilot seat, "…I've always…known…"
Leather clad fingers drummed against the wooden table as the cobalt blue eyes all but murdered the clock given to the mismatched family by a friend of the friends. He had been home for a good hour to hour and a half, only to find that the one face he had hoped to gaze upon when he walked in wasn't there. Aerith had told him that Leon was visiting to a friend at Beast's Castle and would be home eventually. But such words as those were not the ones he wanted to hear, hence the drumming of anger fingers against the table. Tonight was the six month anniversary of the battle in the Canyon against the Heartless where he had made the remarks he had made, a number of them had come to fruition already, but there was still the one Leon had been dancing around.
The kiss.
Or at best, the other half of that equation that he hoped Leon would eventually be open to doing, but he would never push him that far.
He may have blond hair, with seemingly, blond roots, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that Leon had a fantasy of falling madly in love with someone that shared the love that he could only return to that one person. And eventually live happily ever after. Cloud was hoping he could be apart of that happily ever after ending; if only Leon would give him the time of day.
"Doing that won't make him come home anytime sooner, Cloud," Aerith chuckled as she sat down across from the man, "Just you wait and see, he'll be coming through that door anytime no---"
Neither one had to wait long before the home phone was ringing, "That could be them now…"
"Ha, ha, ha, he's waiting on Leon all this time, huh?" Cid chuckled as he looked over the slowly stirring awake, now blushing, brunet, "Well, make sure to keep the wolf at bay till we land. We'll be there in five…Alright? Alright, see you at home, Aerith…"
Leon began to fumble about with the book in his hands; a sure sign of the man was nervous, "Don't worry, I'll make sure to defend your honor till the very end, Leon."
"Not funny, Cid…I'm just…I'm a little scared that tonight might be the night that we…"
"…Oh, you guys still haven't done…Oh boy…"
The young man's face buried into the book to hide the utter beet red look on his face, "I want to, but I want it to be a special thing…not because we have to…"
"Then tell the old wolf that, Leon. Geez, you two need to learn to communicate…"
If only it were that easy…
Cloud was long gone before Aerith had been able to hang up the phone; he had hopped upon his motorbike Fenrir and had headed like a bullet towards the Gummi Ship hangar. Screw waiting and double screw patience. Those had been the words of his philosophy once the battles had settled down in Radiant Garden against the Heartless; he wanted to do those things and much more. Unfortunately, Leon had found reasons to avoid him for the longest time. Eventually, he been able to pin the man down and within a matter of hours, days, weeks, and a number of months he had lost track of; he had been able to cross off a few of those promises. Leon was truly a delicate man and it had shown in the way he had been standoffish about Cloud being too close to him when they talked about Leon's past. Slowly, but surely, those barriers had begun to break down much like the Berlin Wall when the two had come down to the second promise. Cloud had been almost on top of Leon by the time they had finished hearing one another out and it had been sealed with a soft, chaste kiss.
Those kisses had eventually, over time, developed into deeper kisses followed by a small swipe of tongue against a tiny sliver of opening between one another. The kicker had come when Leon had opened up to Cloud to the man dip his tongue in a little further into the man's mouth. Cloud had been left with a long lasting smile on his face the rest of the day that day after what he had heard upon relaxation of Leon's mouth accepting him like he had. Neither one had gotten past just kisses against the lips, Leon had always thought of the idea of necking. Consisting of kisses along the neck and other parts of the upper torso was meant for heated passion that lead into other things he wasn't ready for. Cloud was willing to wait for the man.
Leon had been happy for that, but now, Cloud wanted to break down that barrier and get onto it, even if they had to do it on the landing strip of the Gummi Ship hangar, with Cid in plain view. But his inner conscious kept berating him; do it and Leon would never forgive him. And he would never get to the base he wanted to hit and all of Leon's barriers would go back up with steel reinforced bolts and screws. As Cloud began to come out of his own dream world of things he had planned to do to Leon for not letting him know of this trip. He looked up to see that the hangar was coming up in plain view as he slowed the motorbike to a near crawl, parking it nearby. Climbing off, he went inside to wait for the ship to land; he had to back up as the sounds of the air released began to fill the step off platform. Like something out of a Science Fiction movie of sorts, Cid seemed to step out covered in the smoke coming off the ship's landing, sputtering and coughing among his typical vulgarities. All the while, Leon was laughing and choking himself as he followed after Cid off the ship, book clutched in his arms.
Unfortunately, the smoke didn't help to hide him for too long from Cloud's waiting gaze, "C-Cloud?"
"Welcome home, Leon…"Cloud's smile showed no malice, but all it seemed to show was the man was happy to see his sanity home, "You ready to go home?"
"S-Sure…"
Cid shook his head at the spectacle as he watched Leon take Cloud's hand with a bit of worry to it all as the man helped him down the stairs and onto the motorbike. The man seemed to laugh at the sounds that came next; Leon wasn't too partial to riding on the back of the motorbike, but it was Cloud's only way around Town.
Leon was still sitting on the edge of the bed since he and Cloud had come home, still clutching on to his prized book. He had fear and loathing coursing through him of what was coming next because he had heard Cloud putting away First Tsurugi and had removed his shoulder guard and the skirting from around his waist. As well as his shoes and gloves, all that was left was for the clothing upon the man's body to come off.
That was where Leon's body began to freeze up.
Cloud walked back into the room as he crawled onto the bed behind Leon, his arms sliding about the man's waist as his legs straddled the man from behind while he sat on the bed edge. The brunet wasn't known for wearing any form of male perfume, but his fear was an exotic scent that filled even Cloud's senses that let him on what was scaring Leon.
It was him.
"…What's wrong, babe? You're shaking like a rabbit…"Cloud placed his chin against the bend in Leon's neck, his cheek nuzzling Leon's while his fingers played with trying to pry Leon's fingers off the book, "Talk to me, Leon…what's wrong?"
Leon was embarrassed by how his voice sounded as he began to answer, "I've never gone all the way before…I'm just…I'm scared alright. It's not easy to loosen up when someone knows they're going to lose their second virginity…"
A dark blush crossed Leon's face as he dropped the book and covered his face with his hands; luckily, Cloud managed to catch the book in mid drop as he brought about to catch the title. Lately, all Leon had been reading was romance novels, and it seemed that the one he had been clasping hard like a little doll was the latest one. It seemed Leon had bookmarked the part of the tale of the lovers in the tale's first time; it brought in prospective all of Leon's fears. Cloud softly chuckled to himself as he placed the book on the nightstand as he unlocked himself from Leon, moving about the bed as he sat on his knees in front of Leon.
Taking the man's hands in his own, he softly began to kiss the man's knuckles, "…What makes you think we're going to go that far tonight? Remember what I told you that one night? We only go that far if you want us to go that far…I may want to screw that patience, but I'll doing it when you are up to it…I don't ever want to hurt you…"
"It's just…we've only ever just kissed…and…I know you want to do it, but…"Leon began to wring his hands in Cloud's as he began to shift relentlessly on the bed, "…I want to make you happy, so, I'm willing to swallow my fear and pride and do it tonight…"
Cloud softly shook his head as he stood, one knee placed itself between Leon's thighs as the other straddle his right thigh. His fingers slowly gripped in against the cuff of Leon's jacket as they began to slowly work the man's jacket off his shoulders and down Leon's arms. Stopping it only as far as the man's elbows; his forehead rested in against Leon's as he kept his eyes singularly on Leon's. Leon's hands had moved to about Cloud's waistline and slowly worked up along the fabric length of the man's back; Cloud began to move down to kneel on his knees about Leon's form. One hand came up to cup Leon's face while the other rested upon Leon's waist, fingers fisting a small amount of the man's t-shirt fabric. Cloud's gaze never once left Leon's as he began to move his nose down so that it was brushing against Leon's, their lips were merely inches from another. Leon was never one to play the beggar, but he could feel the heat wafting off Cloud's own, his lips began to buck themselves forward to reach for Cloud's. Cloud's fingers that fisted the man's shirt fought hard to not brush up under the man's shirt and begin rubbing out the abdominals he knew the man had to possess. Eventually, Cloud gave into Leon's hungering and thirsting lips as the cupping hand seemed to grip against Leon's shoulder. Leon let out a soft moan that had Cloud pulling away momentarily as he saw that the knee between Leon's thighs had accidentally brushed in against the man's nether regions.
"W-Why…Why did you stop?" Leon softly panted as he flexed his fingers against Cloud's back, the other flexed against the man's lower back where it had fallen to and had gripped hard when his body had felt the brush, "Why did you stop, Cloud?"
Cloud's face was broken out in a deep smirk, "…You moaned…"
Leon tried to hide his blush, but Cloud had already seen what it did to Leon as he pushed back in with hungering lips. Cloud pushed the man on to the bed; knee once again brushing in against Leon's parts. And like before, Leon couldn't help what came from his mouth as his hands began to run back up towards Cloud's scalp as he felt air come back to his lips. Cloud had begun to attack other parts of his face, Leon's head flew back slightly when an intermix of knee to groin and Cloud's teeth against the fleshy part behind his ear threw off his senses.
So strong.
Strong, loving, passionate…
He wanted more…
Baring his neck further, Cloud took it as a sign that Leon was in for it all, but he wouldn't go down any further then the man's chest unless otherwise instructed. Leon began to mewl at the lapping gnash of teeth and tongue against his neck even a bared shoulder. A soft, airy chuckle of happiness left Leon's lips as he felt the searing heat from Cloud's lips burn into his shoulder; he wanted to feel more of it.
"…Wait…"pushing Cloud up slightly, Leon moved his hands down to pull his shirt up off over his head, but when he found one of Cloud's there; he stopped till he looked up into the man's face, "…Together?"
As in one fluid motion Cloud helped Leon's hands remove the man's shirt from up over his head; Leon then leaned in as his teeth brushed in against the zipper of Cloud's shirt. Pulling it down with a sultry, fluid movement down the man's chest that stopped just short of the man's waistline; teeth, tongues and lips began to mash again together as Leon's hands fumbled up to remove Cloud's shirt. Now, both men were shirtless. Leon's form was everything Cloud had dreamed it would be as he wrapped his arms about Leon's waist, lifting him up just so as he began to lavish affection against the man's chest. Teeth taking in a small nub on Leon's chest that had the man's head falling back and gasping for air while his hips rocked against Cloud's still placed knee between his thighs. The man's hair was plastered against his head with utter sweat from the heat forming in the room, but he began to fill the room with heady moans as he felt Cloud beginning lavishing on the other while a hand tweaked at the still hard one.
So good…all of it…so good…
"Cloud…"hurried hands grasped at Cloud's head as he brought the man's lips up to his; hips still rocked in against the knee and thigh till both men were toppling backwards; Leon beneath Cloud.
The knee replaced itself so that it was doing as it companion had been doing all night. Cloud's hands had stilled on Leon's face as Leon's own remained in the man's locks, even as the man rose to height. This had gone beyond simplistic kisses; the fear of being hurt that had been in Leon's eyes had been replaced by lust and it showed in how the man lavished affection on the man's neck. But oh how it kept Leon's gaze and mind off where Cloud's hands had begun to play near; the heat had all but plastered the leather pants on Leon's form to the man's body. The only good thing was, it allowed for showing form that the man was still reared from the former playing of before; Cloud's hands slowly undid the man's pants.
Staring up at him was all he had hoped would be there, "…Love you, love you so much…" Cloud mouthed in between kisses against Leon's throat, shoulders and then down his torso; tongue dipping slowly into the man's navel, leaving Leon utterly pacified, "…Make love…love make to you…"
Leon couldn't make out what the man was saying, and it wasn't till he felt the man's mouth upon the thing he had felt rearing in hard against his plastered leather, "Aaah! C-Cloud…W-What…what are…oh…oh…so good…"
"Mmnh…Hmnh…" the man hummed to himself as he let his teeth graze against the head as he pulled up and off; his ears were granted with a heady mewling moan that told of disappointment, "…You'll get yours soon enough…I don't want you to come without me…need to make you ready…"
"C-Cloud…love you…love you so much…make me feel loved, Cloud…"
All of Leon's mewls and moans, even love filled words began to go to his groin as the man brushed in against the man's lips, leaving a few soft nips as he pulled away, "…Don't worry, Leon…I will, you will always feel loved…even when we leave this world…I will always make you feel loved…don't you ever forget that…"
"Cloud…"Leon's lips came up hard against Cloud's as he cupped the man's face hard, sitting up as much as he could as tears streamed down his face; his fairy tale ending was coming, "…Prove that to me…"
It was only a matter minutes apart that the old couple had left the world of hateful words, old promises that had never come to fruition, broken hearts and entered into one where their fairy tale ending. The very one they had waited for, for so long, it came to them as they sat upon a porch swing that looked out onto a distance sunset; hand in hand, clasped firmly between them. Oh what a sunset it was. To think, they would get to share this same sunset over and over, for all the times to come in eternity.
The End…
Cloud softly smiled as he closed his lover's fairy tale like tale, placing it back down on the night stand as he leaned down, gazing upon his lover's translucent, happy, content face. Leon had received his fairy tale happy ending; his sunset was sitting here beside him, basking an afterglow as well as the glow of his lover's happy and beautiful face. His fingers softly brushed aside Leon's locks from his face as he softly kissed the man's forehead, "…Thank you for making my own happy ending come true…"
