New Pet

"Leon!" Sora's muffled voice permeated through the front door. Leon levered himself off the couch and opened it.

"What is that?" He asked warily, the burden of Sora's impossible to miss since it was large enough to obscure the teen's face.

"I got you a pet!"

Leon gingerly took the box from his friend's arms. Whatever that was in it was heavy; even for him.

"Put it on the table!" Sora directed, ushering Leon to a corner of the living room. Leon did as instructed solely for the reason that he had to dump the thing somewhere.

"Did I ever mention that I wanted a pet?" He grumbled.

"...Nooo..." Sora looked down and scuffed a foot. "But I thought it might be nice. Y'know, having company that you don't need to talk to. Besides, there are lots of health benefits from keeping a pet!" He dug in one jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled magazine article. "Look! They lower your blood pressure, reduce stress-"

Leon cut him off. "What kind of animal did you get?" He knew he didn't sound happy; knowing Sora, the energetic kid probably bought a puppy (Leon hated exercise), a kitten (Leon was unreasonably fond of his unmarred leather couch), or something like a rat or ferret (...the less Leon had to say about rodents, the better). Whatever the 'present' was, Leon was sure it would leave stains in the carpet and Leon hated cleaning the carpet.

"Open it up and see!" Sora's eyes were round and shiny with excitement.

"..." Leon stood and frowned for several seconds, glaring at the box; perfectly content to live in suspense and totally free from pet-related responsibilities.

"Okay, fine," Sora huffed in exaggerated impatience. He opened the box himself.

Leon peered in the tank that was revealed. "Is that-" he trailed off.

Sora cried out, "A jellyfish!"

"..." Despite himself, Leon was rather impressed. Sora had managed to get him an animal that wasn't dirty, loud, or needed to be fed live insects.

Sora was studying Leon's expression intently, and smiled widely when his friend didn't immediately react with disparaging or sarcastic remarks. In fact--Sora craned his head closer to Leon's face and squinted--Leon almost looked pleased.

"You like it!" Sora's triumphant declaration was accompanied by an impromptu dance involving lots of twirling and head-shaking. Leon watched his antics in amusement and didn't refute the teen's statement; that lack of response did betray that he did really like the gift.

"Oh yeah!" Sora shouted. "Do I know you or what?" He stepped close to Leon and poked him in the middle of his chest with one finger. "Y'know, you're getting to be predictable, Leon."

Leon huffed and feigned affront. "Really?" He crossed his arms. "If I'm so predictable, what am I going to name it, then?"

Sora thought. "Let me consult my magic Leon crystal ball..." He waved his hands in the air and faked concentration so hard that his eyes crossed. "The spirits tell me..." he began in his best effort at a spooky voice, "that Leon will name his jellyfish..." Sora dropped the theatrics and grinned up at Leon. "Um... Herman?"

"Herman?" Leon snorted with mirth that threatened to turn into an actual laugh. "Why Herman?"

The keyblade bearer's smile turned slightly sheepish. "Ah, because that was the first boring name that popped in my head?"

"Boring? Didn't you tell me you have an uncle named Herman?" The man's left eyebrow rose.

Sora fluttered his hands like he was erasing his last sentence from the air. "Don't tell him I said that!"

Leon rolled his eyes, but he was smiling the tiniest bit. "I won't." He turned back to watch the jellyfish.

"So," Sora said, standing next to Leon and watching the coelenterate float in the water, "What are you going to name it?"

"Well definitely not something boring," the man replied, laying disdain thickly on the

adjective.

"Oh yeah?"

Leon met the challenge without any inflections of teasing or retribution.

"Sora," he said quietly. "I'm gonna name it Sora." His hand roughed up Sora's hair as he straightened.

The boy squawked. "You can't name a jellyfish after me!" He protested, trying to fluff his hair back up into its usual spikes.

"Yes I can," Leon retorted smugly, as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"No you can't!" Sora half-wailed, chasing him.

Leon didn't stoop to contradict him again. He just pulled two bottles of juice out of the fridge and handed one to Sora.

"Leeeonnn!" He tugged at the man's arm. "Why?"

"...Because. Now I'll always be able to remember this day and who gave it to me." Leon turned his head away while he spoke, but Sora still saw the unguarded expression of embarrassment.

When Sora found his voice, all could say was, "Really?"

"Yeah." The man turned back to look at his younger friend, and smiled. A rare, real Leon smile that even allowed Sora the tiniest glimpse of his teeth.

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Now for the absurdly long "10 Things" aftermath.

For those interested, The origins of this chapter:

Me: "What should I write about for another chapter for my Leon and Sora fic?"

Boyfriend: "I dunno. I don't know the characters."

Me: "Well, it's kind of an alternate universe fic anyway."

BF: "Ah... jellyfish?"

Me: "Hmm... Okay! Thanks!"

BF looks surprised

Note: Jellyfish probably aren't good pets for people who don't work at aquariums. But, hey, this is fiction! Let's just say you feed 'em and exchange the tap water in the tank occasionally. Literary pets are much easier to take care of than real ones.

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Thien: I agree- "sweet and fluffy" is strangely not my thing. I couldn't believe it when the first few parts of this story came out with no swear words! I'm glad that I've been doing well with portraying Squeon (ooh! I just found my new nickname for him!).

Nierx: Hooray for the cuteness! Hopefully, at least you can understand the trouble I have thinking up story titles.

CZG: I'm trying. :) I hope my additions are satisfactory.

leonhart-less: Glad you like it! I've dabbled in origami myself, and I just love that little detail about Leon pulling out a knife to sharpen folds.

flaxon-eyes: That full inbox did make me happy. I might've danced; though I think I checked my email that day around 7:30 am, so I may not have. You gave me so many things to respond to, I won't respond to all of them; but I enjoyed reading your stories and anticipate the time when/if you write and post more. "It was supposed to be chapter 10" will be finished sometime soon- just haven't been in a writing mood in the past couple days (um, perhaps finally buying FFXII has something to do with it...).

Junsui-san: Here is the tenth chapter. I hope you enjoyed the major "aww" factor at the end.

To everyone who's favorited and alerted this story: Thanks! I am happy that so many of you liked this!

To those of you who haven't reviewed yet: I'm sure you were just wait for the tenth chapter to be posted. Right? Right?! (Kidding! Well, kinda...) Now that it's here, you're going to click that review button and leave one or two or 57 words; I don't particularly care if you simply tell me your favorite flavor of jelly bean. I have just discovered that I am a review wh- (ahem) appreciator.

Seriously, I'm amazed and grateful for how much attention this collection has gotten in such a short amount of time. I hope this encourages some of you to post your own little ficlets!

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Though I'm probably not done adding to this, I have come up with a few different plots for L/S and alternate pairing stories. I'm working on three KH ones right now; all slash, I'm afraid, so sorry all you friendship-only fans (be assured that "10 Things" will always have only the slightest tinge of shounen-ai).