Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts...I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer.

Chapter Two
Angel Without Wings

Blue eyes fluttered open slowly, scanning the room before stopping to rest on the navy sheets he lay under. 'Where am I?' He caught sight of the broken window, realization dawning.

He winced, examining the cuts and bruises on his forearms. His back was throbbing and he shivered as the storms strong winds pushed through the curtains. 'So this is pain.' he thought as a sharp sting ran up his spine.

"You're finally awake."

His head snapped towards the doorway, flinging droplets of water everywhere. There stood a tall brunette, leaning casually against the doorframe, a first aid kit hanging limply from his right hand.

"Is this your house?"

Leon scoffed moving so he was standing in front of the bed. "Yes. Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

"I fell."

Leon stared at the blonde for a moment, as if evaluating his seriousness. He shook his head, sitting on the bed and opening the first aid kit. "Care to explain how you fell through a second floor window?" Leon asked, dabbing at the cuts with a cotton ball.

The other man bit his lip, debating on whether or not he should tell Leon the whole truth. He was silent for a moment, watching the brunette dress his wounds. Chocolate colored hair fell into his face and a long diagonal scar decorated the bridge of his nose merging with thick black lashes to give him a rough yet vulnerable look. He seemed trust worthy (although the blonde wasn't sure exactly how he came to that conclusion). Of all the places on the earth for him to land, the fact that he had ended up in this room with this man had to mean something.

"I'm an angel. Well was an angel, which explains how I got here." the blonde said quietly.

Leon stopped what he was doing to look up at the blonde. "Are you serious?" he asked on the verge of laughter. One look at the blonde answered his question. 'He's insane!' Leon thought. 'There's a crazy man in your house, on your bed-Get him out!' Still, there was something about the blonde that made a little piece of Leon want to believe him.

He certainly had the face of an angel, and there was no other way for him to have gotten through the window other than coming from the sky.

"So, I'm supposed to believe that you're some kind of angel?" Leon asked his tone clearly one of disbelief as he placed a bandage on a particularly large looking cut.

"A fallen angel actually. Well I'm human now, even though I have no idea where to start." Blue eyes lit up with excitement as if he had discovered the answer to all his problems. "Maybe you can show me!"

Leon responded by merely turning the blonde around, breath catching in his throat as he caught sight of two extremely large and painful looking long gashes that reached from his shoulder blades, all the way down to the waistband of his pants. 'As if two wings were ripped away.' Leon shook the thought from his head. 'Whatever. Don't ask questions. Just clean him up and get him the hell out of here.' He raised a hand to dab at the wound but stopped as it glowed green for a moment before slowly healing itself right in front of his eyes. The only proof that there had ever been anything there was the two scars left behind. Other than that the blonde was good as new.

The man turned around, smirking as he saw the dumbfounded look he'd expected to see on the other mans face. "I'm Cloud."

Leon struggled to regain his composure before curtly replying "Leon."

"Well there goes the rest of my magic. Now I'm 100 percent human. Just like you."

Leon couldn't understand why, but something about Cloud's smile made him want to help him. 'With a smile like that...he'll never be 100 percent human...or just like me.'

They sat in silence for a moment, Leon fighting with his commonsense and his unexplainable (and thoroughly frustrating) attachment to the blonde. "Why..." Leon stopped as if coming to his senses, but continued anyway. "Why don't you just stay here?"

Commonsense had lost.

Cloud looked up at Leon hopefully. "You mean...you'll help me?"

'You're insane. You're inviting a possibly dangerous psycho to live in your house.' "Yes. There's more than enough room here." Leon said, shaking off that annoying voice in his head that Leon had always agreed with up until now.

Before he could register what was happening Cloud had thrown his arms around Leon, nearly knocking them both onto the floor.

"Thank you thank you thank you so much!"

Leon found himself smirking despite himself as he gently pushed the blonde away.

And just like that Leon was sure, for the first time in a long time, that he was doing the right thing.

'That should do it.' Leon thought as he stepped away from the window to admire his handiwork. Light taping on the plywood let Leon know the rain was slowly letting up.

He dropped on the bed with a sigh, enjoying his moment of peace. Everything was happening so fast he had barely had enough time to take it all in. The fact that the intelligent part of his mind seemingly had no affect on his actions was somewhat frustrating, but also exciting. He was doing something he wanted to do, something new, different and even a little bit crazy. That was all that mattered.

He'd explained to Cloud how to turn on the shower and then left the blonde to try something he'd "always wanted to" as his first act in showing the "angel" how to be human.

He wasn't sure if he believed that the blonde was an angel, but he was sure that Cloud wasn't lying when he said he was. If that made any sense at all. 'What makes sense anymore?' he thought dropping to the bed in exhaustion.

As if on cue, his cell phone began to ring, disrupting any and all chances of rest he may have been able to obtain. He brought the small silver object directly in front of his vision, without moving from his position on his back. He sighed, bringing two fingers to the bridge of his nose as he saw Yuffie's name on the caller ID. He didn't have anything against the girl, but he just wasn't in the mood for her right now. He contemplated just letting it ring, but in the end his conscious won and he flipped open the phone.

"Leon! Hiya!" The girl exclaimed before he even had a chance to speak.

Leon winced at the girl's volume, moving the phone away from his ear. He looked at the clock, "Yuffie, you do know it's one in the morning. Please tell me there's a good reason for this phone call."

"Oh but there is! I just came up with the most super fabulous idea!"

Leon opened his mouth to respond but stopped when he heard a loud scream.

"What was that? Who's there Leon?" Yuffie asked.

"LEON!" Cloud screamed from the other side of the house.

The brunette sat up quickly. "I have to go Yuffie."

"No wait! My ide-"Yuffie tried to protest but Leon had already shut the phone, tossing it carelessly onto the bed as he rushed towards the hallway. He met a hysterical Cloud at the door, dripping wet wrapped only in a towel. Leon was momentarily distracted by the droplets glistening on his well developed chest before Cloud's terrified babbling brought him back to reality, blushing as he realized he'd been staring.

"Slow down. What's wrong?" Leon asked putting his hands on the other mans shoulders to steady him.

"I'm dying! Three hours as a human and I'm already dying!"

"What?" Leon asked bewildered. "How can you be dying Cloud?"

"Shh! Listen! Did you hear that?"

Leon raised an eyebrow at the blonde. He was about to speak when a warm hand covered his mouth.

"Just listen." Cloud said quietly.

Sure enough, after several moments a low growl sounded from Cloud's midsection.

"Something's inside me! Get it out! Get it out!"

Relief dawned alongside realization as Leon pieced together the situation, struggling to keep his composure and failing miserably. Another look at desperate cerulean eyes set him off. What started out as small chuckles slowly grew until he was practically rolling on the ground.

Cloud frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "What could possibly be funny about this?"

Leon regained control of himself, leaning against the door for support as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "You're not dying Cloud and there's nothing wrong with you. Your stomach is sending you a message that you're hungry."

Cloud nodded in understanding, embarrassed at his overreaction. "Oh..."

Leon sighed. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

Cloud smiled, happy that even in his embarrassment he was good for something.

"Come on, I'll make you something to eat." Leon said leading the way out of the room.

Cloud followed close behind but stopped when he saw the book room. Leon stopped a few paces ahead when he realized the blonde was no longer following.

"What's wrong?" he asked walking back to stand beside Cloud, peering into the room to try and see what was wrong.

"Are these all yours?" Cloud asked inching his way forward, only to pause at the doorway.

"Yea. I've only read about half of them. Past down from some relative I never knew and don't care about." Leon answered nonchalantly. "You like books?"

Cloud shrugged, tearing his eyes away from the books for a moment to rest on Leon. "I never particularly liked to read the books back home but, these are all written by humans right? A human's idea of how humans should be. This is perfect. I could learn so much! Then I'd know what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. That way I won't embarrass us in public!"

Leon looked at Cloud, letting it all sink in. His excitement at something so normal interested Leon to say the least. "You're so strange." Leon said patting his head affectionately.

Cloud smiled proudly enjoying the brunette's hand in his hair. Another low growl resounded as if urging the boys toward the kitchen.

"Of course, maybe we should eat first. I've always wanted to try food." Cloud said smiling sheepishly.

Leon shook his head, leading the way to the kitchen.

Leon sighed as he washed the dishes for the very early morning meal. After several hours of what seemed like unending questions from the blonde they were both well fed and content. Leon chuckled to himself as he remembered the amazed look Cloud gave him as he made the pancakes. 'It's kind of nice...having some in awe of your every action.' He thought putting away the pans.

Everyone who knew Leon would put him right at the bottom of the list of people willing to offer their homes to a stranger in need. But with Cloud things were different. There was something about him that made you want to help, to see how far he could go.

Leon turned off the water, yawning loudly. He made his way up to the bookroom where Cloud had retreated after their meal to work on his humanity to tell him it was about time they went to sleep.

He pushed open the half closed door, stepping into the quiet room. The walls were white and the carpet a deep mahogany color, tall cases filled with books were spread wall-to-wall and large leather chairs gave it a homey feeling. Cloud sat in one of the chairs, two piles of books on either side of him. Leon assumed the smaller pile (consisting of only about three or four books) was literature already finished and the larger pile was literature Cloud planned on reading.

The blonde in question lay asleep, overwhelmed by the night's events and the sheer comfortableness of the room. Leon's naturally hard gaze softened instinctively when he laid eyes on the other boy, who currently looked nothing short of adorable. Leon frowned as he took the book out of sleeping hands, folding the page to save his place. 'I've never used that word to describe anything in my life,' he thought.

He looked at Cloud for a few moments longer before switching off the light. Something was definitely changing in him, and he couldn't say he minded.

"How do you do that?"

Leon looked up from the pancakes to raise an eyebrow at Cloud who was currently comfortably sitting on the counter, watching him in amazement. "How do I do what?" he asked, flipping the pancakes over.

"That! The flippy thing!" Cloud exclaimed, imitating the motion with his hands.

"You just move the spatula under, lift, and turn. Want to try?" Leon asked, holding the spatula towards the blonde.

Cloud looked at Leon for a moment before turning his gaze to the spatula. Hesitantly, he wrapped his fingers around it as Leon had. Leon wrapped his hand around Clouds and guided the spatula under the pancake before letting go and allowing the other to do the rest.

"See, you got it." Leon said

Cloud looked up, smiling widely. "That's not hard at all!"

With that, Leon couldn't help but smirk, patting the other on his head. "Why don't you finish the rest while I go get dressed and find you something to wear?"

"We're going out?" Cloud asked excitedly

"Yea, you're gonna need clothes and stuff right?"

The blonde grinned again, nodding as he turned back to the pancakes.

"Uh..."

Leon stabbed at a dead pancake with his fork, trying to force his way through the thick black crust that had accumulated on the surface.

Cloud smiled sheepishly from across the table. "I think I may have...done something wrong."

Leon blinked at Clod before sighing. "It doesn't matter. We'll get something to eat on the way." He said standing up and throwing out the plate of what was supposed to be pancakes.

He brought the dishes to the sink, cleaning up as Cloud dressed. The blonde emerged just as he put away the last plate.

"Do I look normal?" Cloud asked, tugging at the ends of his t-shirt nervously.

Leon nodded. He had picked out his simplest clothes for the blonde, not quite sure of his personal style. A simple black t-shirt and pair of denim jeans seemed sufficient. There was nothing Leon could do about the others glowing blue eyes and impossibly spiky hair and he knew the blonde was sure to turn heads.

"Perfectly normal. You'll blend right in." Leon said grabbing his wallet and heading towards the door.

"Hey Leon," Cloud said as they exited the small café where they had quickly gotten breakfast. "What does this mean?" He began waving his arms frantically above his head.

Leon's eyes widened and he grabbed the blonde's arm, shaking his head. "Don't do that. Where'd you see that?"

"Over there, the short one was doing it." He said pointing towards a table right in front of the café's window.

Leon groaned slapping his forehead with his hand as he spotted Riku and Sora making their way over to him, a smug smile graced Riku's lips and Sora looked way too excited for his own good.

"Hello Leon." Riku said, smirk widening as the brunettes glare hardened. "Hope we're not interrupting anything.

"Hiya I'm Sora! I work with Leon, nice to meet you." Sora exclaimed grabbing Cloud's hand and shaking it fiercely.

"I'm Cloud." He said, throwing the boy a dazzling smile that only succeeded in making Sora squeal happily.

He turned to Leon with an excited hop. "You've been holding out on us all this time! Secrets are bad, aren't we friends?"

"I haven't been holding anything out from anyone." Leon said through clenched teeth.

"So where we headed?" Sora asked.

"Uhm…I need clothes."

"Wonderful!" He exclaimed linking arms with the blonde and launching into detail about the perfect store, leading him swiftly through the weekend crowd.

The brunette's eyebrow twitched when he realized he was being ignored and he turned his angry gaze towards Riku, whose face told him he was loving this situation.

"Can't you control your boyfriend?"

Riku laughed shrugging. "I guess we'll be joining you then."

Leon scowled, walking ahead. "Whatever."

"But really, who's the blonde? He's pretty cute." Riku said jogging to catch up.

"He's a friend I'm helping out right now." Leon said annoyed.

Riku's smirk only widened. "Yea, ok I understand. I'll leave it that." He winked at Leon before jogging to catch up with the other boys.

Cloud stopped at the door. "Are you coming in Leon?" he asked hopefully.

Leon nodded hurrying over.

"Thanks so much for everything Leon!" Cloud exclaimed, placing his bags in the corner of his room. "I got to see Hollow Bastion and I got to meet your friends."

Leon merely grunted his reply grabbing his towel and mumbling that he was going to shower.

"Are you angry?" Cloud asked, surprised at the brunette's sudden change in behavior.

Leon sighed. He stopped at the doors to the bathroom, before shaking his head no. He stayed that way, as if debating on whether or not he had something else to say, before entering the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

Cloud winced at the sound, staring at the closed doors for a moment before retreating back to the bookroom.

Leon sighed, letting the hot water wash away the city grime that had accumulated throughout the day. The fact that he couldn't explain why he was upset frustrated him. He turned off the water, stepping out of the tub. 'It's not like I have anything against them.' He thought drying himself off and applying a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

If it was possible, he had wanted to keep Cloud to himself, at least for a little while and for Sora and Riku to just show up and take him away only magnified his frustration.

'It's not like he's yours or anything.' Leon scolded himself.

"Duh." The brunette answered to his reflection. He sighed again, resting his head on the mirror. "I guess I owe him an apology."

Slowly Leon made his way toward the book room, stopping when he reached the door. 'I'm sorry.' He thought just to test out exactly what words were used. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. 'I've never said those words to anyone.'

"I'm sorry."

Leon looked up surprised. "What?" he asked.

Cloud looked up from his book and smiled softly. "You weren't happy and I didn't notice. I'll be more observant next time okay?"

Leon shook his head looking at Cloud in disbelief. "You're incredibly frustrating, you know that?"

a|n: edited May 25, 2009