Author's Note: I had to make up my own for J, just because there was no place I could find that started with the stupid letter. I doubt you'll mind, though, really, once you read on. Again, it's an AU. :p

J is for Jolly Lane

Cloud yelped as he hit the ground, then flailed upward, stunned when his bare skin was met with cold wetness. "Bah cold make it stop!" When he realized he was just sitting on ice, however, he paused, then picked up a handful of the stuff, watching it in amazement as it melted in his palm. Looking around, he found his entire surroundings covered in the white fluff.

Shivering a little, he got to his feet and dusted himself off, then turned to peer down the hill, away from the tree that had a door shaped like a jack-o-lantern on it. He raised an eyebrow as he saw the little village below, lip curling slightly as the only word to describe it that came to mind was… cute. Ugh, where were the monsters, the ghouls that were supposed to scare children in the night?

…He should explore while he was here. Just so he had a good description to give his friends before they immediately called him a liar.

Looking up around where he was, he was met with a signpost that read 'Candy Cane Lane.' Cloud wasn't sure what a candy cane was, but he knew what 'lane' meant, and so he walked forward, down the hill, and the… cute… little town, which he now knew was called Christmas Town because of the brightly lit sign indicating it so. He paused as he saw another signpost reading 'Jolly Lane.' Peering down the new lane, he absorbed the view of a dozen gingerbread houses down each side, frosted lightly with the ice that seemed to be covering everything in this place (the only reason he knew what a gingerbread house looked like, however, was because his aunt had been a witch and lived in one).

He was tempted to continue onward, to the main area of the town, but was distracted when he saw something other than red, green, or white flash in the corner of his eye. Turning back down the lane, his eyes locked onto something brown, then slid inward to something that was, regrettably, red with white fluff.

It was a cat. Not a black cat—those were rare and usually slinked everywhere, so no one saw them anyway. No, this one was brown, and in his humanoid form currently. Cloud's tail began to wag when he realized how… attractive this cat was. His long brown hair was tied back out of his face with a red ribbon (not in a girly bow, thank pumpkins), exposing a pale, angular face with deep gray eyes. He wore a black pair of pants with white fluff around all of its hems, and a long red jacket that also had the fluffy white hems. His long, feline tail was twitching slightly, extending from under the coat that he realized must be keeping the cat warm.

He was tying what looked like red and green socks to the doorknobs filled with something or other, entirely absorbed in his task. Cloud's ears twisted to press against his skull; he'd never seen such an attractive cat before, and the full moon was near. He didn't want to jump the poor kitty, though…

Unconsciously, he moved closer, down the lane a little, then up the walk. He was close enough to breathe in the other man's scent—a spicy sweet one, like pumpkin pie, which he was familiar with. And that just made him want the feline man more.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Leon knotted the laces tying the stockings to the doorknob and smiled a little, figuring the elves would appreciate Mrs. Claus's cookies so close to the deadline. Once certain the stockings would stay, he turned to head back down to the road, only to squeak in surprise and jerk backward as he was immediately faced with intense, glowing blue eyes. "What the-!"

Before he could slip on the icy stoop and fall, a strong hand caught his upper arm and held him steady. "Sorry to startle you."

He stared at the other man for a moment, frowning in confusion when he saw the large, canine ears nestled in blond spikes. He'd never seen anyone with animal appendages like he did. It was tempted to stay and ask questions, but the weight of stockings laden with plastic-wrapped cookies in his hand reminded him that he was in the middle of something.

Pushing past him carefully on the snow, he murmured a quiet, "Excuse me." Then, he walked over to the next house to carefully tie more stockings to the last house's doorknob.

"…I've… never seen you before," the blond commented, trailing after him. "Have you always lived here?"

"Yes," Leon replied, shrugging. "Since Mrs. Claus found me on her doorstep as a baby." He paused to give the cord a tug, then turned around to face him again. "But I've never seen you around here before. Did you come from Halloween Town?"

The canine man blinked in surprise. "Yes, have you been there?"

The brunet raised an eyebrow. "No, but Jack still comes by every so often with cookies from Sally."

"Oh. Oh, that Christmas Town," the blond mumbled, reaching up to tug on an ear. "I remember that. I was just a kid when Jack wanted to take over Christmas, but… I remember that."

"I do too. I got this—" He pointed at the scar across his face. "—from the chaos after Santa was kidnapped." He paused, then added, "My name's Leon. What's yours?"

"Cloud." The werewolf tilted his head. "…So… You like it here, then?"

"The elves' kids can get on my nerves, but I usually help Mrs. Claus in the kitchen anyway. So, yeah, I like it here." Leon shrugged and scratched his cheek absently as he began back down the lane. "I mean, I realized a long time ago that I probably came from Halloween Town, but since I was raised to make children happy instead of scaring them, I wouldn't be happy there, especially come Halloween. And it would be rude of me to just visit without helping out, so I figure just staying here is better than trying to figure out where I came from," he explained, turning to look at his walking companion. "So what are you doing here?"

Cloud shrugged and shoved his hands into his ratty pockets. "I was running from a friend and fell through the door. It's my fault, really; I should have sensed her coming."

The brunet raised an eyebrow. "You were running from a friend? Must not have been a very good friend."

"No, she's actually a very good friend. She's loyal, and she's fun. Unfortunately, I'm not a fun person." The werewolf smiled a little. "She doesn't know what the word 'no' means, so she just keeps pushing. I didn't want to deal with it today, so I ran."

"CLOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUDDDDDDD! Thinking that I wouldn't follow you here, you jerk! You promised to hang out with me today!"

Leon turned and watched as the blond was slammed into and sent rolling across the ground, then looked at the girl that had taken his spot, hands clenched into fists as she glared at him. Various parts of her were wrapped in bandages tinged with red—blood, he supposed. "So… are you… a zombie?"

The girl turned toward him sharply, stunned, then smiled brightly. "Close! I'm a restless spirit! I died without achieving my dream, so I came back even after death! I'm a ninja! My name's Yuffie; what's yours?"

He liked her cheerful attitude. "I'm Leon. Are you the friend Cloud was talking about, the loyal one that likes to have fun but doesn't know what the word 'no' means?" he teased, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

Yuffie blew a raspberry. "I know what 'no' means! I just choose to ignore it!"

"Well, that's different," Leon agreed, nodding. "Hey, I have a couple of candy canes with me. Would you like one?"

She blinked. "What's a candy cane?"

Cloud, grumbling as he finally got to is feet, made his way back over to them and rubbed the bump steadily healing itself on his head. "She's not old enough to remember when Jack tried to take over Christmas."

"…It's just as the name suggests. It's candy," Leon stated, to which she immediately held out her hands. "I thought so."

"Mmmm, it's minty!" Yuffie squealed joyously, crunching on the treat, before reaching out sticky fingers to grasp his hands. "You're my new best friend!"

The feline raised an eyebrow, then tilted his head innocently in confusion. "…Okay…"

"So I'll come visit you when I don't hafta help Aerith put up decorations or help make candies for Halloween, okay?" she continued, bouncing in her excitement. "And you'll have to come visit me, too! I live in the big orange house in Guillotine Square! Just come find me and we'll go scare people, okay?"

"Yuffie, Leon doesn't like scaring people," Cloud sighed, reaching out to pry her fingers off the other man's hands.

Leon frowned. "I like helping people. Sorry."

"That's okay! I'll teach you!" she replied cheerfully. "You just come see me after one of your dates with Cloud and then I'll begin your scaring lessons!"

"…Yuffie, he's not my boyfriend—"

The brunet shrugged. "Okay. But just so you know, I don't think I'll be any good at it. Maybe I'll teach you to help people instead."

"HA, you're funny." Yuffie smiled and reached up to tweak one of his ears. "Well, Cloud promised Tifa that he'd help her move the cinderblocks from Dr. Finkelstein's lab, so we hafta go! See you later, Leon!"

"Bye. …Don't kill Cloud."

As Cloud was dragged away, he frowned, then brightened at what he'd realized. "Did he just agree to date me?"

"Yeah, you're lucky I'm around to help you with this stuff," Yuffie mumbled, scowling. "You definitely would have ruined it."