Authors Notes: Next chapter! So soon you ask? Well I posted the first chapter after getting about half of this one done, so yay! Leon appears in this one. Hmm, implied pairing? Maybe.

You'll just have to wait and see. Maybe next AN I'll let that slip, but for now you can wonder. Wonderings always the most fun. I love writing Leon… he'd kinda interesting/funny to write. Well… until you get to the serious parts, heheh.

The duck thingy in this chapter—it's real. It lives on the next street over, and it does exactly what it does here as I wait for my bus to arrive in the morning. Scary ne?

Actually, he's kinda cute…

Disclaimer: I own a paupu fruit plushy, and I sleep with it every night. I don't own Kingdom Hearts however, no matter how much I mess with the characters in this little concoction here.

Chapter 2

Weapons Specialist

Kerthunk

"This is a new model, Magnum P-54S303, version six. Only used once or twice, but it was partially blown up, so we repaired it and now it's good as new.". A slightly tanned hand came up from behind the counter, holding a large, football sized bullet. "It can fire three of these within five seconds, and the damage can be quite substantial. Observe."

The tall, stoic, brown-haired man flicked open the bullet port on the back of the gun and slid the bullet inside. He closed it and locked it, then hefted it up onto his shoulder and aimed it at a false wall behind him, all without a single change in expression. He pulled the trigger, and with a loud BAM, the gun cut loose.

Once the dust cleared, there was nothing of the wall left—not even a single marble sized rock.

Despite himself, Riku's mouth fell open slightly. He'd never seen guns that capable of blowing things up.

"Of course, we offer the cheapest of prices one could get on this type of machinery. However, we don't sell to just anyone…" The brown haired man slammed the gun back down on the counter. He looked relatively bored.

"Uh… well, I'm just here to see Cid…" The silver-haired teen mumbled. He'd stayed the night at Tifa's, and he'd been directed to Cid's shop after a few hours of mindless boredom at the bar. Tifa told him that all the residences in this town were underground—as well as the stores and shops—because it was much easier to control the temperature. This shop was underground as well, and Riku had to admit, it wasn't a bad idea to build things underground like this when you lived in the desert.

Raising a brow, the brunette hefted the gun over to the rack where he'd pulled it off. As soon as Riku had stepped inside, this odd man had turned around and pulled it off, obviously expecting a customer. If I was a customer, I'd be impressed… But Riku needed not a gun. No matter how much he wanted one.

"This way." The stoic man said. He rounded the counter and walked towards the back, where a large, metal door concealed the "Employee's Only" area. "You Riku?"

"Yeah…" The teen muttered, following quickly. This must be that Leon guy… he kinda fits the description. Stoic. Cold. Emotionless. Quiet. Yup, that must be right.

"Mm." Leon pushed the door open, and didn't wait for Riku as he passed through. He led the teen into a dim storage room that smelled of grease and machinery. There were five rows of tables, all packed with mechanical parts and dangerous looking tools. Further in the back the room opened up into what seemed to be a huge airplane hanger, but it was so dark that Riku couldn't see anything. A form sat near that open area, huddled over a work table and wearing a helmet. Sparks sizzled in front of him, sharp cracking noises cutting the air. Leon led Riku over.

When Leon stopped, Riku leaned over to see what Cid was doing. His torch sparked, and Riku was promptly blinded. He let out a curse and rubbed his eyes, trying to brush bright spots swimming in his gaze away.

Cid stopped his work and looked over, pushing his helmet up with a thickly gloved hand. "That you Leon? Oh Riku too?" He smirked as he noticed Riku kneading his eyeballs. "Next time don't look at the fire when'm welding. It's known to cause blindness."

Riku grumbled something, pretending to know what welding actually was. Cid set his torch down on the table and kicked the machine, hitting the power button. "I s'pose you came to get that ride?" Riku nodded. "Well, I can't get to it today. I have a commission due this week, and if I don't finish this piece by tonight I'll be behind. I can take you tomorrow for sure though, that is if ya don't mind it bein' after noon."

Riku sighed, but nodded in understanding. He wanted to leave as quickly as possible and get to the next town or city, but delays were a part of life. Besides, he wasn't really in a hurry.

"Is there an inn in the town? I don't want to steal Tifa's house any longer than necessary. The munny's no problem either, 'cause I have plenty." Riku looked up at Cid. Leon was just standing to the side, zoning at the furthest wall.

"Well, there's a run-down inn on the other side of town. I can have Leon show you where it is once I'm done here. He can't take you now 'cause someone's got to watch the desk. Hey, maybe you could get over and help us get things done?" Cid smirked. Riku frowned and opened his mouth to decline, but stopped. What else was he going to do? Tifa would be twiddling her thumbs at the bar all day, and he'd already offered to help her with things, but she'd organized everything in boredom. Besides, being in the sun all day didn't really entertain him either. He still had a bit of sunburn on his face, and it stung…

"Alright… as long as it isn't anything too dangerous."

Cid grinned. "Don't worry. You can help Leon grease the pistons on my old Highwind. Sierra's just finishin' off, all I need is a few more good propellers."

Leon's body gave a strong twitch, startling Riku. What was that all about?

"What's Highwind?" Riku asked. He hoped it didn't sound stupid.

Cid suddenly broke into a huge grin. There was a skip in his step as he walked over to a control board on the wall and flicked a few switches. Light poured into the dark hanger, and what Riku saw made his jaw hit the floor.

Sitting there were two of the biggest airships he had ever seen. The first one looked older than the second, and they were both facing at an angle away from each other. The older one was kept upright by metal holding poles. Two propellers were situated above, and there were three behind the observation deck. It looked a bit like a bullet with wings.

The one next to it was obviously more polished and new. As Cid had said, there were a few propellers missing, but that didn't mean the ship wasn't gorgeous. This one looked a bit like a sea-monster. It was a bit more intimidating than the sedate, older one beside it.

"That's my Highwind. Built her myself, save for parts of the engine. She's old, but she works just as good as ever. Her sister there is Sierra. I designed her and built her as well, and as you can see, she's not done yet. But boy, she'll be gorgeous up there in the sky." Cid looked very proud of these two airships.

"You built these?" He asked, staring in awe. Cid grinned.

"Well, I had a bit of help, but essentially yeah. These are my babies."

Riku took a moment to compose himself. Even then, he still looked a little surprised. "Well, we're greasing Highwind?"

Cid nodded. "Yup. Her pistons are runnin' dry, and I haven't had time to get up there and do it myself. It's a two man job, and I've been so busy working that I haven't been able to give Leon a hand. So, now you two can just grease her up."

When Riku understood the meaning of "grease her up", he regretted ever agreeing to help Cid.

He nearly slipped off of his metal rod as he reached for the brush he'd dropped. The pistons were about as tall as he was, and grease was something he never, ever wanted to work with. But alas, the black, gooey substance was now caked all over his body and his beautiful silver hair. He cursed and wiggled a little to get closer to the brush, and then he grabbed it and heaved himself back.

There were four pistons for each side of the motor, all of them sticking up in a locked position that Cid had done previously. After removing his gloves and shoving them in his pocket (without Leon noticing) Riku had finished two of his human-sized metal rods, and was working on the third one. He had a large bucket of grease that he and Leon were sharing, so he had to go back and forth whenever his brush needed a refill.

After the first piston was done, Riku didn't really care about getting dirty anymore; mostly because he had grease slicked all up his front when he'd leaned against the piston to reach the top. He started greasing up his hands as well as his brush and just rubbing the huge metal rods down.

He understood now why Leon had twitched.

It didn't take him too long to finish off his pistons, and once they were thoroughly greased, he walked back to the bucket and looked to see how Leon was doing.

The stoic brunette was working on his final piston, and when Riku poked his head around, he frowned. Leon wasn't as messy as Riku, but he had gotten dirty. His front too was soiled, and there were a few marks on his face. He'd started using his hands as well, because they too were covered in grease.

"I'll never agree to 'grease her up', ever again." Riku mumbled, resisting the urge to run his hand through his hair. Leon grunted and finished off the metal rod.

"Good. Then I won't either."

Riku blinked. That was the most Leon had ever said to him alone, without a gun in hand. "Hm…"

Leon sighed and looked at his sludge covered hands, a little annoyed. Riku frowned and looked at his own hands too.

"…I take it this stuff isn't gonna come out easily…"

"…"

"Though so…"

Riku almost whimpered as he wiggled his fingers. Grease felt so wrong when it slicked between the digits. The scent was thick and slightly metallic, but that could just be the ten ton motor sitting beside them.

"Uh… I don't suppose Cid has a place to clean this stuff off does he?"

Leon grunted and turned around suddenly, tossing his brush into the grease bucket. Riku frowned but mimed his actions, and Leon hefted the bucket up and started climbing down the stairs and out of the engine chamber. Riku followed him slowly, wondering what Mr. Ice had planned. As they walked back towards the room with the tables, Leon set the bucket down and strolled to a door near Sierra. Riku followed him inside and frowned. It was a bathing hall…

Riku froze and paled, his hand flying up to tighten the neck of his cloak. He was going to shower with Leon?

No. Way.

"Uh… you don't have private stalls? And what the hell is a shower hall doing in this place?"

Leon turned and gave Riku a strange look. His eyes moved up and down Riku's body, and a small smirk curled his lips.

"Modest?"

Riku's cheeks flamed despite himself. "N-no! It's… well…" He couldn't tell Leon why. No one would ever wrestle him out of these clothes.

"Cid bought this place from the military. It used to be a rest station."

Glad that the subject was changed, Riku looked up. "Is he rich or something?"

Leon shrugged and removed his shirt. Riku realized that he didn't have a change of clothes either. Dammit! Why hadn't he thought about the consequences before he'd gone and slopped crap all over himself?

"I don't have any clothes." Riku muttered, hoping that would settle the issue. Leon looked at him over his shoulder as he loosed the belts on his pants. The silver haired teen turned away and mumbled something under his breath.

"I have clothes upstairs. You can use them."

Shit.

Riku was getting a little nervous now. "I can just take a shower later." Alone.

"That stuff will be even harder to remove if it just sits there." The brunette said lightly, carefully taking off his pants and folding them along with his shirt. Riku was relieved to see that he was wearing boxers. Not that Leon wasn't nice looking. On the contrary, he was gorgeous. Riku forced his gaze away from Leon's taught backside as he pulled the boxers down and focused on a spot of mold on the wall.

Don't blush Riku. He's got nothing you don't have. He and you are the same.

"Besides, that cloak of yours looks a little more than dirty."

Riku turned and opened his mouth to retort, but stopped himself short with a highly undignified squeak.

Apparently Leon did have a little more of something than Riku had.

Despite his chant of don'tblusdon'tblushdon'tblush, Riku's body betrayed him and his entire face burned. He twisted his body away and tried to rub the redness away.

Screw the backside (though Riku suddenly found, with a bit of utter horror, that he wouldn't mind doing that).

Shit. He didn't know he was gay.

Oooh crap. When had that surfaced?

"Riku?" Leon's eyebrow lifted. Riku flinched heavily and waddled towards the door.

"I'll get in when you're done." He spat, pushing the door open with a little more force than necessary. A smirk curled Leon's lips.

"Modest."

"Am. Not!" SLAM!

Later, after brushing away the majority of the sludge caked on his body with a dirty rag he'd found buried in the tools, Riku sat watching Cid 'weld' with his torch. It was rather interesting when the flame wasn't burning the retinas out of his eyes. The metal was red hot, and it was pliable to the touch, but after a few moments it cooled and hardened in whatever shape it had been twisted into. Leon had been in the shower for about half an hour now, and Riku dreaded how long it would take him to clear the grease away. Leon had said it got harder to wash off after staying there…

Riku sighed and wiggled uncomfortably. His body felt stiff, and he smelled like machinery.

Something suddenly came flying at him and Riku caught it on reflex. He blinked down at his hand. A long sleeved shirt and some jeans.

"I have a feeling you're hiding something." Leon's voice muttered quietly as he toweled his hair dry. He was now wearing a dark blue tee-shirt and some jeans. Riku's expression darkened as Leon placed his cool, smoky blue colored gaze on him.

That was a nice shade of blue. But it wasn't Riku's blue.

"I didn't see you go past," Riku admitted, ignoring his comment and carefully holding the clean clothes away from his dirty body. Leon shrugged.

"Went upstairs with the back door."

"Oh…" Riku blinked and slid off the table he'd perched himself on. Leon leveled his cool gaze on the silver haired boy.

"After you wash up I'll take you to the Inn." He muttered, pulling the towel out of his shoulder length auburn hair. Riku gulped and peeled his eyes off of Leon's body.

"Okay."

And off he went.

Riku would grudgingly admit to himself that, yes, it was kind of nerve wracking when half of the things that surrounded him had no name or picture in his mind. He didn't know what welding was, nor grease or pistons, and now that he did know he felt just a little bit better. However, animals that he didn't recognize…

Well, that was something else entirely.

Leon had been leading him down the road. It was about mid-noon, and there were quite a few people milling about in the market area, full of people selling animals like chickens and dogs and cats, and food, like fruits and vegetables. He'd just been following the brunette quietly, curiously looking at all the things that he couldn't name and wondering what they were, when it appeared.

It was… well… Riku really didn't know what it was. It looked like a duck, but it wasn't a duck. It had a red crest over it's head, and it was black. It's feet were webbed. When it spotted him, it suddenly started growling; growling as it walked towards him, it's strange tail whipping back and forth.

Riku had frozen in the spot and stood there, staring at it with barely suppressed shock. It came closer, growling some more, and Riku stepped away, unnerved.

"What are you doing?"

The silver-haired teen nearly had a heart attack. He froze and whipped around, staring at Leon. "N-nothing!"

Leon's gaze turned to the growling thing and his eyebrow lifted. "Are you afraid of it?"

"No!" Riku growled, sending a death glare towards the 'thing'. It was now growling and waddling it's way towards Leon. The brunette took his eyes off of it and looked at Riku again.

"Never seen a chicken-duck hybrid?"

So that's what it was? Riku grumbled something and stomped forward. Leon rolled his eyes and followed. Once they were through most of the crowds, Leon once again took the lead. They soon came upon a four story building—second biggest besides what Leon said was the main import building. They went inside and Riku rented a room. Leon, since the clerk knew him, was sent to lead Riku upstairs. There was no elevator, Riku realized, but with only four stories they didn't really need one.

They reached his floor, the third one, and Leon led him to the last door in the hall. At the end of the hall was a floor-to-ceiling window with drapes feathering the edges. Riku looked out at the city and found himself caught in the beauty. The town wasn't really all that big, but further out he could see the golden expanse of the desert. There were huge rock ridges spanning as far at the eye could see, and he wondered mildly if it was possible to see the glow of the city he'd left behind from here at night. He'd have to take a look later…

Leon opened the door and Riku turned around to enter the room behind him. He looked around once he was inside. It was small, but tasteful and clean. There was a window across from him, a small couch with a coffee table to his left, and a tiny little kitchen to the right. Past the couch and beside the TV was the door leading to the bedroom, and probably the bathroom inside.

Before Riku could say anything, the door clicked shut behind him and locked. His eyes widened and he spun around, but he wasn't fast enough. Leon grabbed him and twisted around, slamming him against the door. Riku gasped at the impact, but narrowed his eyes into a glare. Leon's cool glare met his and they clashed dangerously. A snarl curled Riku's lips as he struggled against Leon, who was by far much bigger and stronger—in brute strength—then Riku.

"The hell?" He spat, trying in vein to move his legs, which were trapped hard against the door by Leon's thighs.

"Who are you?" The brunette hissed, pressing Riku harder into the door. The silver haired boy froze.

"No one," He growled hastily. This wasn't good…

Suddenly, Leon's free hand came up and he yanked the front of Riku's shirt down past his shoulder, removing the scarf that the silver-haired boy had wrapped around his neck after the shower. Riku froze, and Leon's eyes widened.

"Oh my god…"