Guh, I've had such a hard time with this chapter it's just not funny anymore (Not that it ever was but whatever) and Leon's part was unusually difficult to write and ends rather abruptly (That threw me off for a month or so, I was in major shock). RL doesn't help much and my blasted muse eloped with this chapter's notes and took off for Tahiti…I'm only half kidding, they couldn't get passports and sulked by getting lost in the bush. I've given up hope of finding them again.

Affection

It's been three months. A whole ninety-two days since he got Squall back, since he accepted and saw Leon as a part of his childhood friend. It wasn't their old friendship; not by a long shot. This friendship was tentative and shy. Cloud would go so far as to call it skittish; the slightest disapproval from other side was rather like making a loud noise while approaching a deer. It was a little annoying, their situation. A part of Cloud had always assumed that if –when- they finally reconciled, it would simply be a case of picking up where they left off. It was naïve of him and he knew it, just as he knew they'd both changed drastically since their adolescence. It was just…he hadn't expected it to be so frail. But, as the girls were fond of reminding him, it was something.

Something, Cloud reminded himself, was much better than nothing. He knew that from experience.

Comfortable was the only word he could use to describe their relationship (when it wasn't busy being skittish). It wasn't like when they were kids when Squall listening avidly to a steady stream of chatter from Cloud and they certainly weren't getting stuck up in trees these days (…well, maybe that one time when they were hiding from Yuffie…). No, instead they trained together and often sat in companionable silence during their spare time together, occasionally offering small talk of some sort.

When Cloud wasn't busy being in his perpetual pessimistic mood; he acknowledged that their friendship was strengthening again, rebuilt on the foundations of their childhood into something different, stronger somehow (though how it was stronger when a wrong word had them both sulking at each other was beyond him, especially since it contradicted the aforementioned skittishness). It was tentative and consistent (sans the sulking periods), it held pieces of their childhood days; the previous tantrum throwing over how hot cocoa was to be made had evolved into quiet disagreements over the coffee (Cloud thought Leon made the coffee too weak and Leon thought Cloud made it too bitter. Aerith made it too sweet so it usually ended with Leon quietly asking Cid to brew it) and 'playing hideaway' whenever Yuffie or Tifa took to stalking them which now consisted of retreating to Ansem's old study. They hadn't grown into sociable men –Leon had always rather lacked in that department and Cloud had long since joined the 'socially inept club' as well- but, as Cloud figured out quickly, Leon had made up for it with his skill at reading body language (Cloud made up for it by tactfully retreating from situations that made him uneasy).

The one thing Cloud did delight in was their old obsession with video games that was rekindled when Cid found and repaired an old game consol and found some games for it. Cid had thought Yuffie would be the one practically super-gluing herself to it, not two fully grown, overly-stoic men who actually growled murderously at anyone brave enough to block their view of the television. Cloud was sure that was a very, very daft thought on Cid's part, the man had occasionally babysat them as kids, he knew what they were like and video games were something you just didn't grow out of. You just learnt moderation and the regulating your time in a more mature fashion (re: weekends and rainy days were game marathon days, to hell with fixing that leaky roof). The familiarity of it all had Aerith throwing her arms up in despair on video-game days as she tried to coax the pair into eating at the dinner table and that no, they couldn't eat and play at the same time. Of course, Tifa lacked Aerith's infinite patience and almost always pulled the plug on the TV before literally throwing the men into the dining room (A notable change from the days where all she could do was push and shove and pinch, neither man knew which they preferred).

It was amazing how things that changed so much managed to stay the same.

xXxXx

Leon was in a quandary.

On one hand, he had Cloud's friendship back.

On the other, he had Cloud's friendship back.

It was all very confusing and if asked about it, Leon wouldn't know how to even begin to explain (If he were so inclined as to talk).

It wasn't that he wasn't happy, far from it; he was the happiest he'd been since the heartless first swarmed Radiant Garden.

Though hesitant and fragile, their friendship was almost unchanged; he could almost, almost convince himself that the last decade was mostly just a nightmare or something similar. It was nice, to spend his days off lounging around the television playing video games with Cloud, it was nostalgic and relaxing but when it was over, Leon was reminded painfully of the fact that they weren't children anymore, that darkness had found its way into their lives, and that there were more productive, helpful things to be done in his spare time.

That annoyed him a little.

But what really irked was the return of old habits, old feelings. Leon noticed that he'd begun to defer Cloud again, not in the important matters, like restoration, but in small matters around the house. And that one time he'd walked in to find a towel-clad Cloud in the bathroom had most definitely won a spot on his most awkward moment's list (he convinced himself it was Cloud's fault though, the bathroom had a lock after all). Leon had spent a few days maintaining a wide berth whenever they were in the same room (no matter how many times he told himself such idiocy was reserved for giggly teenagers or the many times Cid pointed out 'they'd fucking bathed together as kiddies and ain't got nothing the other hasn't bloody got').

xXxXx

It was the little things that gave it away.

The small, furtive look when the other wasn't watching, the slight softening of the eyes and the tiniest up-quirk of the mouth that gave it all away. The quiet confidence Cloud had once more adorned like a cloak. The thoughtful pauses of Leon in their conversations. All little things that gave it away to one who paid attention.

Aerith saw it all. Little passed the healer in concerns to her friends, be it their health, activities or feelings, she knew. Somehow she was always privy to their current state –it was something they all knew and appreciated, it held them together; to know that someone knew even without their saying it.

Long before the others, Aerith could see the two friends begin to dance around each other. Friendship assured one more, she could see them tentatively begin to hope, aspiring quietly for more. They took turns leading, following and retreating in their private, intricate dance that came to span across days, weeks and months with no definitive end in sight. Quietly she watched and restrained an excitable Yuffie from saying or doing anything that could cause a setback. Smiling she would join Leon in the kitchen to talk about her day as he helped to prepare the evening meal. Subtly she would push for details and give small nudges in the right direction all the while praying Leon would be happy when all was said and done. Then she would go to bed to wait for the next day when it would start all over again. Patience was a virtue; one Aerith had in spades and tempered with her resolution to let the boys sort it out on their own. Her greatest challenge in all of this was keeping Yuffie under control, lest her exuberance scared the pair off permanently. Unfortunately the only method she had of controlling Yuffie was through supplying her with hardcore yaoi manga and doujinshi…and her supplier was fast running of issues Yuffie hadn't acquired yet. Yuffie was now insisting that they hold a town festival with a love boat ride which could…ahem, break down after she shoved Leon and Cloud onto it. Cid kept telling her to lock the two men in a well fortified room, as well as encouraging her to knock Yuffie out or at the least send her off to visit someone out of town. On top of that she had the gullwings pinching her bracelets too.

Maybe she should've just listened to Tifa and just gotten them all blind drunk.

xXxXx

not what I was planning to do with this chapter, especially given how long it's taken but I hitting that critical point where it was only a matter of time before I seriously threw my laptop out the window so hopefully it's okay. Again, really sorry it took so long to update.