Overnight

See disclaimer in drabble #1

Everyone had their favorite parts to Sora's sleepovers. The uninhibited socialization, the movies, the dancing and singing…

Cloud's was a little bit unusual, as compared to most other people's.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with Aerith behind the kitchen counter, very carefully drizzling a trail of strawberry syrup over his vanilla ice cream. Almost everyone else had gotten theirs from the various cartons Ansem had crammed into the cooler he'd hauled all the way from his place to Sora's, and they only had to fight for room with Sora, dumping even more almonds onto his already nut-choked Rocky Road, and Yuffie, dumping sugar onto her orange sherbet.

Aerith herself gently shook the nearly-empty can of whipped cream before spraying some onto her vintage cherry chocolate chip, the kind that had maraschino cherries mixed into vanilla ice cream instead of cherry, like Edy's and most other ice cream brands carried. It was extremely hard to find, and Ansem prided himself on always being able to get it for Aerith, who loved it more than any other kind of ice cream.

Waiting until Aerith was done and reaching for the little jar of chopped nuts, Cloud reached over to her ice cream bowl and slipped his pinky finger into the white cream. He was still sucking it off, thoroughly enjoying himself, when she turned back around. Seeing, she just smiled, shook her head, and moved her bowl over to one side.

This was a tradition that the two of them had always held throughout their childhood—their love of ice cream had tied them together, as Cloud's enrollment in the old school's kendo club had brought him that much closer to Tifa. Everyone who saw them as young children, running hand in hand after the ice cream truck on its rounds, remarked on what a cute couple Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough would make when they grew up.

At least, they had until Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie had managed to talk Cloud into wearing a carefully prepared dress and tights to school one day. Then all people could talk about was what a shame it was that that cute little Cloud Strife had turned out to be just another silly gay boy in the system.

Well, at least it had attracted Sephiroth's attention, if only to amuse the silver-haired young man. It had served its purpose.

Yuffie headed off, slurping her sherbet; Sora scooted down to give Cloud and Aerith more room.

Ice cream had always been a special thing for Cloud. Not only as a fond childhood memory when he was feeling nostalgic—it was on his first real job as an employee at the local ice cream parlor, Diamond Dust, that he'd gotten to know Ansem and Leon, who had stopped there often. And that had helped their unorthodox but unbelievably real relationship form.

Aerith gave Cloud a smile and headed off to sit with Tifa; Sora, finally emptying the bag of almonds, went over to Riku and Kairi.

Cloud was looking at the ingredients, wondering if there was anything else he wanted to add, when he felt soft arms fold around his body, holding him against someone else's warm chest.

Though usually he would've tensed up, tonight Cloud relaxed into the gentle embrace, leaning back into those supportive arms. It didn't really come as a surprise to him that Ansem had come to join him like this. Usually, the two of them didn't have that much to do with each other, but it was always different when they were at Sora's. It went the other way, too—Cloud could see that Sephiroth was lounging along the sofa, beautiful and elegant as always, with his head resting on Leon's shoulder. While even at home, Sephiroth was seen as Cloud's territory, on nights like this, he saw Leon as belonging to him as well, in the same fashion that Leon shared Ansem with Cloud. It was equally due to the warm atmosphere in this loving home and the fact that all four of them had been so intimate with each other earlier. This closeness might dissipate in the time that lapsed between now and the next sleepover, but some of it would remain. Sora was drawing the four of them together, slowly but surely.

Ansem was kind, gentle, considerate, and always worried enough that he and Leon would end up hurting Cloud's feelings with their relationship that it had just gotten impossible to hold any jealousy towards him. In addition to his passion for ice cream, which made even Cloud smile, he also had that rare, admirable trait of being able to weave tenderness into his dominance in bed. And while Cloud was captivated by Sephiroth's hair and Leon's eyes, he found himself always thinking that Ansem had beautiful hands. Their scarring only made them seem more unique and intriguing, though Ansem would never believe it himself.

The two of them remained in that position for what seemed like several minutes but couldn't be, or Cloud's ice cream would be melting, and hell would freeze over before Ansem would let that happen. Then, on some unseen cue, the dark-skinned man reached around Cloud for one as-yet unopened ice cream container, picked up the scoop, and took out one perfect ball of the ice cream to place on top of Cloud's strawberry-smothered vanilla. It didn't seem like any ice cream Cloud had ever had before—probably due to the fact that it was a pure robin's-egg blue.

"It's called Blue Moon, and it's almost as rare as Aerith's cherry," Ansem murmured. "I think you'll like it." Just as nonchalantly, he closed the container again, set the scoop down, and leaned in to plant a very soft kiss on Cloud's cheek before drifting off to wherever he'd been before.

After making Sephiroth stop hogging the couch, Cloud sat down to his ice cream. He saved the scoop of Blue Moon for last, careful to eat around it until everything else in the bowl was gone.

It was delicious.

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NEXT: Just because the lights are out does not mean the girls are going to bed. Oh, no. Sleep? When there are important things like girly talk, dress-up, and truth-or-dare to do? You must be out of your mind.

Drabble no. 10: "Life on Venus"