Come Home

Description: Inspired by the Ashika Sakura story of the same name. A single night's mistake separated them for six years. When chance throws them back together, it will take more than love to heal the wounds and bring them home. Cleon, Soriku, AkuRoku, Zemyx, and Yuffietine.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix. This should be nothing new to anyone.

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I needed a break pretty badly.

35. Cloud

There is a tray on the table in front of him. There are dishes on the tray, and on the dishes there is food. However, he is not eating. His stomach will not let him. It is too busy alternately flipping and roiling, as if it can't decide whether it wants to sink into his feet or crawl up his throat to escape through his mouth. Either way, putting food into it doesn't seem like a good idea right now.

Squall is sitting across from him, quietly eating his lunch, oblivious to the turmoil going on across the table. He wonders how the other man hasn't noticed his rampaging panic. The wall of disinterest that he threw up for defense feels like it is crumbling and about to fall at any moment. When it does, the whole world will see what a pathetic, disgusting failure he is.

"So," Squall says, breaking the silence, "how was your weekend?"

His stomach lurches painfully, and his hands begin to feel hot and sticky. "Fine," he says from behind the wall, even though it's the absolute opposite of the truth. His weekend wasn't fine. That night wasn't fine. The next morning wasn't fine. He wasn't fine then, he's not fine now, and he won't ever be fine again.

"That friend of yours, she okay?"

He wonders if it's possible to throw up not just what's inside one's stomach, but the stomach itself. It seems like his body wants to find out.

"Yeah. I mean, no. She's still upset, but she'll be okay eventually."

"Hn," his boyfriend responds and sticks a french fry in his mouth, not knowing that he's been betrayed. Not knowing that this simple, quiet lunch is all a lie. That the world has cracked like the glass on a cheap snow globe and that the sweet perfection within is slowly being destroyed. That he is trying so hard to hold on to it and keep it safe but he can't because the sparkly liquid keeps sliding through his fingers, never to be replaced again.

"You want to hang out after this?" Squall asks.

His heart screams. He needs help. He can't do this alone. He needs divine intervention. He needs Tifa. He needs someone. The wall is disintegrating faster than he can repair it, and he doesn't know what to do.

"Sure," he says.

"Good." The gray eyes that have been watching him suddenly narrow a bit. "Are you feeling all right?" his gentle, perfect, betrayed boyfriend asks. "You look pale."

"Just stressed," he says, and it's such a terrible, terrible lie.

"Oh, okay." Squall regards him for a moment, then points to his pasta salad with his own fork. "You going to eat that?"

He wants to laugh. He wants to scream. He wants to run away and hide. He wants to throw himself at Squall's feet and beg for forgiveness. He wants to die.

"No," he says, pushing his entire tray forward. "Help yourself."

Squall smiles at him. His heart shatters.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

xXx

With a tired sigh, Cloud gently closed the door to Sora's bedroom and leaned his weight against it. Inside, his two boys were curled up with each other on the bed, both asleep. Sora had cried himself into unconsciousness a while ago, after which Roxas had told Cloud all the details of what had happened that afternoon. They had lapsed into silence after that, Roxas on the bed with his brother, Cloud sitting next to it with his hand on his son's head. Eventually, the blond twin had fallen asleep as well, at which point Cloud deemed it acceptable to leave the room and care for himself.

His heart felt heavy as he descended the stairs to the first floor and turned towards the kitchen. Wanting something to eat but nothing too fancy, he fished out a bag of tortilla chips and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. Destiny had followed him and was sitting by her food dish hopefully, thumping her tail, but he ignored her. He could tell from the detritus by the sink that Roxas had already fed her this evening. Satisfied with his own choices, he wandered into the family room, dog at his heels.

For about ten minutes after settling himself onto the couch, Cloud just ate chips and drank water. Destiny started out with her head in his lap but, after realizing that she wasn't going to get any of the chips, ended up curled at his feet, dozing. Not for the first time, Cloud felt comforted by her warm presence. It helped soothe the hard, aching knot that had lodged in his chest sometime in the middle of Roxas's explanation. He had easily kept its existence hidden from his son, but now that he was alone to think, the pain it caused nearly brought tears to his eyes.

A terrible need was rushing through him and trying to sweep him away. He was fighting it, but he was losing. His eyes kept straying to the phone sitting on a nearby table. He knew he shouldn't do it, that it would be asking far too much when he really didn't have the right to ask anything. And yet, in spite of knowing how wrong it was, his hand was suddenly on the receiver, and a moment later, it was in the air and his fingers were pushing the small squares, causing little electronic tones to sing out and disrupt the quiet of the room.

The other line rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello?"

"Leon," he said softly, "it's Cloud."

"Oh, hey Cloud. What's up?" He paused, and when he spoke again, Cloud could hear the smile in the other man's voice. "You making sure I don't forget our lunch date?"

An answering smile quickly spread over Cloud's face as well. That was right. They had scheduled their date for the next day. He had forgotten about it with everything else that had happened. Knowing that, it made his call even more unreasonable, but the need had yet to go away and he couldn't stop himself.

"No, that's not why I called. I … Leon, can you come over?"

"What? Right now?"

Cloud closed his eyes and resisted the urge to gnaw on his lower lip. "Yes, right now."

Leon was understandably surprised and confused. "You do know what time it is, right?" he asked.

"Yes, I know." He inhaled very slowly and deliberately, trying to keep the knot from unraveling just yet. "I know what time it is, and I know that I have absolutely no right to ask this of you, but I … I want to see you. … I …" I need you. But he couldn't say that, so he didn't.

Thankfully, Leon understood what went unsaid, even from the other end of a phone line. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

Cloud nearly fainted with relief. "Thank you," he managed to choke out before he had to end the call or risk Leon hearing his breakdown. Throwing the phone onto the couch next to him, he doubled over himself and just cried without restraint. The hard ache in his chest was dissolving at the thought of seeing Leon, and he was so happy and so relieved that he couldn't stop the emotions from overflowing. Even if he could, he wouldn't have tried to stop them. He wanted them out and gone by the time Leon got there so they wouldn't get in the way of what he had to do. Of what he had to say.

True to his word, ten minutes later Leon was standing in Cloud's front hallway, removing his coat and being sniffed from the knees down by a curious golden retriever.

"Destiny, knock it off," Cloud snapped when she tried to stick her head in Leon's coat pocket.

"So this is the lady who's taken over the Strife household," Leon grinned amiably. He held out a hand to Destiny who proceeded to lick it with vigor. "Nice to meet you, girl. I hear you've been having trouble taking your rightful place on the couch."

"Not just the couch," Cloud groaned as he hung Leon's coat in the hall closet. "My bed, too. The boys keep trying to get her to sleep with one of them, but she insists on being with me. And shutting the door on her doesn't work because then she whines and paws at it all night long."

"Wow, Cloud, you sound henpecked."

"Shut up, asshole."

While Cloud busied himself getting drinks for the two of them, Leon sat down at the dining room table and continued to make friends with Destiny who seemed intent on getting on his lap. As if by unspoken agreement, neither one mentioned Cloud's late-night summons until they were both seated with drinks before them and the dog safely tucked away beneath the table. The moment Cloud pulled his chair in, the mood in the room shifted as if a switch had been thrown. He looked over at Leon and saw in the other man's expression that the time for casual conversation was over.

"Thank you again for coming," he began before Leon could question him. "I need to talk to you about some things, and I wanted to do it face-to-face rather than over the phone."

Instantly, Leon's face shut down, and Cloud very nearly smiled. He knew exactly what the other man was thinking, but rather than reassure him that it wasn't that, he decided to just push on with what it was instead.

"Remember how I told you that Sora was dating Riku? You warned me about Riku's history and advised me not to allow it, but I went ahead and decided to give him a chance anyway. Do you remember that?"

The man across from him blinked several times in mind-halting confusion. Cloud sipped his drink and waited for Leon to recover.

"Yes?" Leon eventually replied, not entirely sure.

"They broke up this afternoon."

Finally, understanding crept into the brunet's expression, and he relaxed into his seat. "Is that what's wrong?" he asked rhetorically, sounding a bit disgusted at how trivial the matter was. Cloud forgave the insult instantly, knowing as he did that there was more to it. Instead, he waited, watching as Leon picked up his own drink and continued to talk. "I knew that fake bastard hadn't really changed. Poor Sora, though. Is he upset?"

"Heartbroken," Cloud answered, his eyes never leaving Leon's face.

The other man shook his head in sympathy. "Poor kid. He'll get over it, though. He's way too good for that piece of shit cousin of mine." After taking a drink and setting down his glass again, he asked, "So what happened? Did Riku cheat on him?"

"No," Cloud answered with a small shake of his head. "Riku didn't do anything. As far as I can tell from what I've heard, he's been nothing but a model boyfriend from day one. No, Sora broke up with him."

Confusion re-entered that handsome face across from him although this time to a lesser degree. "He did?" Leon asked. "Why?"

Even though he knew the question was coming, Cloud couldn't help but frown a little. "I'm not entirely sure," he admitted, twirling his glass slowly on the tabletop. "Sora himself hasn't said a word since I came home. I got what details I know from Roxas, and some of his information he told me were just educated guesses. What we know for sure, though, is that today Sora found out about that history of Riku's you warned me about and that before now, Riku had been hiding it from him if not outright lying about it. And Sora …" He paused and shook his head as the memories from the twins' earlier years flooded back. "Neither Sora nor Roxas have much tolerance for lies. They were lied to too many times when they were children, and they have yet to recover from that. It's no surprise that when Sora found out Riku had been lying to him, he broke up with him immediately, even though by doing so, he broke his own heart."

Leon's eyes were on him, and the man's fingers were softly drumming on the table next to his glass. "Cloud," he said after a moment of silence, "why did you ask me here? This is going to be difficult for Sora, and it will definitely affect your family as a whole, but so far I see no reason why you couldn't have told me all this over the phone or tomorrow at lunch. What are you holding back?"

A small smile crept tiredly onto his face. "Am I that easy to read?" he asked.

"No," the other answered, "but I'm getting better with practice."

That made Cloud laugh a little, but it soon faded away. He dropped his eyes to his drink and began to fiddle with the coaster nervously. "I realized something as Roxas was telling me all this," he began. "I was sitting there, listening to my son tell me why my other son is acting like his life is over, and I realized that I …" Carefully, he lifted his eyes to meet Leon's gray ones. "… I sympathize with Riku."

The other man's eyes were not cold, but neither were they warm. If anything, they were guarded. "You do?" he asked evenly.

"I do," Cloud confirmed. "I know what it feels like to hold a terrible truth inside you, one that you don't want the one you love to know because you know that if they find out, they'll reject you. I know what that kind of fear is like. How it feels to know that you're utterly doomed, that there is nothing you can do to stop it, but that maybe you can delay it for just a bit if you keep it hidden inside. And Riku --" Here he paused, choking slightly on the thickness that had invaded his throat. "Riku never actually cheated on Sora."

The brunet head before him bowed as the stormy eyes lowered to the table in understanding. "I thought," Leon said quietly, "that you most certainly did not cheat on me."

"I didn't," Cloud replied with a little self-deprecating laugh, "but I did lose my virginity to someone who wasn't my boyfriend. And then there was that month and a half, almost two months, of pretending everything was all right when it most definitely wasn't."

Leon laughed once, a sad, almost-resigned noise. "You have no idea how much that period of time haunted me after you left. For years, I kept thinking about what a fool I had been, about how you were just pretending to be mine. I felt so used. Like every moment we shared was fake because you were really laughing at me inside."

Cloud bit his lip and hung his head, no longer able to look at the man across from him. "I … I never …" he tried to whisper.

"I know that now," Leon interrupted, his tone kinder than it had been a moment ago. "But back then I had no idea what you were thinking. You hid it too well. And when I did notice that something was wrong, you always brushed it off as stress, remember?"

"Yeah. I remember." Cloud shut his eyes. He most certainly did remember. The initial panic had worn off after a few days of being around Squall, but he had never lost the guilt and that terrible feeling of being stained. He had always been afraid that Squall would discover the filth that lingered on him, that he would feel it when they touched and taste it when they kissed.

"I'm sorry, Squall," he whispered, purposely using the discarded name. "For being weak. For being scared. For hiding and for lying. For everything that I did to you in the name of protecting myself. I'm so very, very sorry."

For a long moment, Leon did not respond, and when he did, it was not in the way Cloud expected. Instead of the angry resentment of refusal or the warm love of forgiveness, Leon's tone held a soft neutrality as it spoke his name. "Cloud?"

"Yeah?" Still unsure as to what to expect, Cloud opened his eyes but did not lift them.

Leon's gentle voice washed over him soothingly, easing his nerves. "I never told you this, but the night you left me, I had decided that that was the night I was going to finally make love to you."

Surprised, Cloud lifted his head and finally met those haunting eyes with his own. The little tender smile on Leon's face sent a thrill racing through his body. "Really?"

"Yeah. I had it all planned out. Candles, wine, the whole nine yards. I wanted it to be a night to remember."

He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help but smirk. "Seriously?" he asked. "Candles? Were the silk sheets covered in rose petals, too?"

It had been a joke, but the way Leon's face fell told him he had hit a little too close to the mark. "They weren't silk," the brunet mumbled, turning his face away a bit in embarrassment.

"Oh my God, are you shitting me? You had rose petals on the bed?"

"I said I wanted to make it a night to remember."

"Oh my God."

"Shut up."

"You realize I would have laughed my ass off at your expense?"

"Well then, I guess it's good that you fucked someone else and dumped me, huh?"

Cloud froze, the laughter dying on his lips. Across from him, Leon's eyes widened as his brain caught up to his mouth. His cheeks flushed and his gaze dropped. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"No," Cloud quickly told him. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed at your good intentions. And really --" He smiled sadly, the melancholy mood taking over once more. "-- it's good that you and I didn't have sex that night. I'm pretty sure I would have forced myself to go along with it, and I would have felt so awful the entire time. All of your efforts would have been for nothing."

Leon said nothing in response and turned his head away. A dark silence quickly settled over the two of them. Cloud could feel it pressing down on him, trying to get him to shrink into his chair. He fought it on principle more than for any real reason. He honestly didn't expect to be forgiven tonight. A small optimistic part of himself wanted to believe that he could be, but his larger realistic side acknowledged that it was very unlikely. He had called Leon over so that he could repent his sins in the presence of the one he had sinned against, not for any other reason.

Not knowing how to break the silence or even if he should, Cloud leaned back in his chair, fixed his gaze upon the ceiling, and thought of Sora. The next few days were going to be so difficult for his sweet and cheerful son. He had already decided to allow both of the twins to stay home from school tomorrow if they wished, but one day was all he was willing to give them. Sora would have to find the strength -- as Cloud had, as Leon had -- to move forward and continue on with a life that did not stop for any reason. More than anything, Cloud wanted to be able to give Sora that strength or to take the burden upon his own shoulders and carry it instead of his son, but he knew that he couldn't. The most he could do was be there for Sora if the boy needed him, and it hurt to know that he couldn't do anything more.

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor brought Cloud's attention back to the present with a jolt. He snapped his gaze back down to find that Leon had risen and was walking towards the end of the table. For one heart-stopping moment, Cloud was afraid that the other man was leaving, but Leon turned the corner and continued on until he had stepped directly up to the seated blond, gazing down at him with a slight smirk.

"What -- ?" Cloud started, but Leon's hand against his cheek cut him off. Stunned, he watched with wide eyes as the brunet leaned down and brought their faces within inches of each other.

Amusement danced in Leon's eyes as he said, "I promised myself last week that the next time I saw you, I was going to kiss you thoroughly. I think I'm ready to fulfill that promise now."

Before Cloud could say anything in agreement, refusal, or question, soft lips were pressing firmly against his own. He submitted almost instantly, eyes sliding shut and jaw going slack so that Leon could deepen the kiss without resistance. He had absolutely no idea what had gone through the other's mind to take him from the silent, brooding creature he had been to this, but truthfully he didn't care. Leon was kissing him, Leon was kissing him with tenderness and passion, and nothing else mattered at the moment.

The hand on his cheek slid around to the back of his neck, another hand slid around his waist to grip the opposing hip, and suddenly Cloud was on his feet. He linked his hands behind Leon's head, bracing his elbows and forearms against the man's chest for support, and a moment later was extremely glad he had as Leon spun them both around halfway. A couple of kicks with his foot to move the chair farther away from the table, and the brunet sat down where Cloud had been a moment ago, bringing the blond down into his lap, still kissing him.

Cloud's mind was swimming, misting over with a soft warmth that, thankfully, wasn't too arousing. The position they were in certainly was suggestive, but Leon's kiss stayed tender and respectful. There was no desperation in the slow way that tongue was stroking and curling against his, and when those lips caught one of his and sucked on it, it was to taste and savor, not to devour. Lazily, Cloud unlinked his hands and ran one through Leon's hair, appreciating the feel of the strands as they slid against the soft webbing between his fingers. An answering hand was soon massaging his own scalp and the other gently explored the expanse of his back, leaving little trails of shivering pleasure behind. Eventually, the kiss slowed, and when it finally stopped, Cloud rested his forehead against Leon's and sighed, feeling without a doubt thoroughly kissed.

Through half-lidded eyes, he gazed into those equally half-hidden storms and whispered, "I love you."

"I believe you," Leon replied.

"Really?" Cloud asked, hope springing up within his chest. "You do?"

Gray eyes lowered for a moment, but they soon lifted again. One of his hands reached back over his shoulder to link with one of Cloud's. "This believes you," Leon stated, bringing Cloud's hand up and pressing the knuckles against his head. "This, however …" He lowered their hands, pressed Cloud's against his heart, and covered it with his own. "… needs a bit more time."

Cloud smiled and, internally, pushed the hope back down into its usual resting place. "I understand," he replied. "However much time it needs, I'll wait."

"So you said," Leon smiled back, tilting his chin up again.

Cloud closed his eyes, expecting another kiss, but before Leon's lips met his, something cold and wet pressed itself against a rather personal spot of his inner thigh. He jumped, biting back a screech, and snapped his head down to be met by a pair of brown eyes gazing up at him from a happy, furry face.

"Destiny!" he hissed. "What the hell?"

Destiny just wagged her tail and nuzzled him again.

"Jesus," he complained, pushing her face away from his leg. "Don't do that!"

"I think she's jealous," Leon snickered as he rested his head against Cloud's shoulder.

"I don't give a shit," Cloud grumbled. Pointing harshly to the other room, he barked, "Get off! Go lie down!" When the brown eyes turned soft and guilt-inducing, he just frowned more. "Don't look at me like that. I said go lie down!"

Leon was outright laughing now. "What a possessive mistress you have, Cloud," he teased.

"Shut up. Shoo! Scat! Just go away already!" The dog nudged him in the leg for a third time, and he hissed violently. "Look," he snarled, "I don't care what you think. You belong to the boys, not me. You are not my dog, and I am not your human, so leave me the hell alone!"

"Yeah, sorry about that, girl," Leon laughed, scratching Destiny's ears with one hand. The other slid around Cloud's waist and pulled him slightly closer. "You're too late. I've already claimed him. He's mine."

Shock straightened out Cloud's spine like an iron pole and froze every one of his muscles. He stared, open-mouthed, at Leon who also had gone rigid, realizing in a matter of seconds just what he had said. Wide gray eyes turned to meet his blue ones. As he looked deeply into them, Cloud could see surprise and fear and worry, but what he didn't see was regret. Leon obviously hadn't meant to say that, but it wasn't a lie. If anything, it was a truth of which Leon himself hadn't completely been aware.

Slowly, Cloud's tension melted, and a smile slipped onto his face. He lowered his head to rest against Leon's and stretched out his hand to cover the one still partly behind Destiny's ears. Before long, the other man relaxed as well, and the two of them simply sat there, faces close but not touching and hands gently petting and scratching an extremely contented dog whose tail drummed against the floor without stopping.

Later, after Leon had left and Cloud had retired to his room, Destiny clambered onto Cloud's bed and curled up directly in the center of it. Rather than chase her out like he did every other night, Cloud merely slid under the covers, finding what space he could for himself, and turned out the light.

xXx

The next day at work, Cloud found himself in the office's small conference room, being amused, disgusted, horrified, and generally just entertained by Cid's and Xigbar's various and sundry stories about previous jobs and clients. It really was unbelievable just how stupid people could be, in spite of how much book-learning and on-the-job experience they had.

"So I get this call," Cid was saying, "and it's the damn heating and cooling guy. He tells me that he went and put the vents in the building but that one of my beams was in the way of where he wanted to put the main vent. Then he tells me that he took care of it but that I should probably come back and make sure it didn't screw up anything. So I go ahead over, thinking that he put it too close or something and I'll just have to do some quick calcs to make sure everything is still okay." He paused, changing the lollipop in his mouth to the other cheek, and fixed his eyes on Cloud's attentive face. "Do you know what that fucking moron actually did?"

Cloud shook his head because that's what a polite listener does when asked a question like that.

"He cut the beam out! Completely cut it out of the wall. Just sliced it where he wanted his vent to go and left the extra parts hanging around. I know!" he responded to the look of horror on Cloud's face. "He's lucky the whole damn ceiling didn't fall down on him."

Xigbar snorted, implying with that one sound that the engineering world would have been much better off if it had.

"So," Cid continued, leaning back in his chair, "I looked at it for a bit, and then I told my team to open up that damn vent and put the beam back in. We cut a hole in each side, stuck the beam through, welded it to the parts that were still there, and then closed the vent back up again." He grinned at Cloud who was trying not to snicker too much. "Then, I called the guy back up and told him I had fixed the problem but, oh, the air-conditioning was making this weird sound now so he might want to look into that."

"And that," Xigbar said while Cloud laughed, "is why I love working for Cid so much." He winked with his good eye. "Even if he is a cheap bastard."

"Hmph. You know, there ain't no rule that says I have to give you a raise every year."

"Yeah, I know. There also isn't one that says I have to keep working here if I don't want."

"Go ahead, although I doubt anyone else in the industry will hire you. I've seen what you do to my drafters."

"Eh, they're big kids. They can handle it."

A knock on the doorframe interrupted their mock argument, and all three men turned to find Watts standing in the opening. The secretary had an apologetic expression on his face and a small vase of flowers in his hand.

"Excuse me, sirs," he said respectfully, "but this just came for Mr. Strife." He held out the flowers in Cloud's direction.

"For me?" the blond asked, rising to his feet. When Watts nodded, he walked around the table to the smaller man and took the offered gift. "Whatever for?"

"I don't know, sir," Watts replied quickly. "The deliveryman didn't know anything. They usually don't since they're just doing the delivery. But there's a card, sir." He pointed to the small envelope stuck into the vase by a plastic fork.

"You got a secret admirer, Cloud?" Xigbar joked, and Cid barked out a laugh.

A sliver of dread curled around Cloud's stomach as he lifted his head and scanned the room for Jessie. He found her standing at Biggs's table, the two of them previously going over some drawings together although now both were gazing in their direction, curious. The girl smiled at Cloud when she met his eye, but the confusion in her face indicated that the gift had not been from her. Thoroughly at sea, he handed the vase back to Watts, took the envelope out of the plastic holder, and fished out the card.

A moment later, he laughed.

"So?" Cid prodded. "Who's it from?"

"My lunch date," Cloud answered, smiling back at him. He placed the card in his front shirt pocket and took the flowers back.

"You have a date today?" Xigbar asked, grinning.

"Yeah," he confirmed, not bothering to keep his voice down. "It's been long enough. I'm ready to get back in the scene."

"Your boys okay with that?"

"Yeah. Both Sora and Roxas approve of us. They're really excited actually." He flicked his gaze over to Jessie without giving away that he was looking at her. Her face had brightened upon hearing that Cloud was available again, but it had quickly faded into disappointment to learn that he already had someone he was serious about. Internally, Cloud breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to hurt her, but he really was sick of having her hanging around him all the time.

"Congratulations, sir!" Watts chirped, but then his face fell a little and he looked at the flowers in confusion. "But, uh, why is she sending you flowers?"

"Yeah," Cid added with a raised eyebrow of interest. "Isn't it usually the guy who sends the romantic shit to the girl?"

Cloud took a moment to examine his flowers. It was just a small and simple arrangement, some blues and oranges and a bit of red. The type of bouquet that was meant to say hello and brighten up a room rather than one that was supposed to represent burning passion and never-ending love. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of the sender picking it out for him. He certainly didn't mind being on the receiving end of a such a gift. He was the "pretty one" after all.

Turning back to Cid and the man's unanswered question, he shrugged as if to say that he didn't really know either. "Guess we're just not a normal couple," he said. "I'm going to take these to my office."

"Yeah, all right."

He walked through the main room, passing by Jessie who had gone back to talking with Biggs although with a lingering expression of disappointment on her face. If she had looked at him, he would have offered her a heartfelt smile, but she kept her eyes on her work and ignored him when he passed by. Knowing that she would get over it, Cloud continued on to his office and, once inside, set the vase gently down on the corner of his desk. He looked at it for a heartbeat, then removed the card from his pocket and read it again. It was only a single sentence, no greeting, no signature, written by hand in Leon's neat script.

Because your dog isn't the only one who needs to know that you're mine.

Smiling peacefully, Cloud placed the card down next to the vase, exited his office, and shut the door.

A/N: You know, it's been amusing to me to read everyone's speculations on how mad Cloud and Roxas were going to be when the whole Sora and Riku thing finally blew up and how they were going to make Riku's life a living hell. I've known from the beginning that neither would be angry in the slightest. Because Sora is Seiji and that means Sora has always been the one to call it off. Yeah, if Riku had broken Sora's heart, Cloud and Roxas would have gone on a rampage, but, as Cloud says here, Sora broke his own heart and because of that, the two who would do anything to protect him can only stand by and watch. Which is not to say that I want the speculations to stop. It's just that those in particular made me feel like an evil, cackling overlord, looking down on my terrified prisoners and rubbing my hands together in glee. "Ah, my pretties, you have no idea of what is going to happen to you! Muaha ... muahaha ... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" :)

On another note, I will be trying to finish something up for you guys in time for Christmas, so this may be the last "Come Home" update in a while. I do have the next chapter planned out, but I think I'd rather take a hiatus on a happy chapter than on an angsty one. Figured you might appreciate it.