Title: Ready for It
Author:comeandgetmebabe
Disclaimer: I own THE GOOFY MOVIE ON VHS! SUCK ON THAT!
-NOTE- Okay, I'm gonna say this once: I'm continuing this for a few reasons:
1) I want to.
2) Obviously a lot of you want me to.
3) Kuroi Kokoro threatened me with a spork. That's reason enough. And, just for the record
4) I want to.
However, I personally think it's pretty damn good as a one shot (especially since I thought it up at, like, three in the morning and needed to GET RID OF THE DAMN THING BEFORE IT MADE MY HEAD IMPLOAD). And I've noticed that my writing tends to go downhill the longer it gets, which is why if you REALLY like it you should probably just consider it a one shot and not read this. However, I'm also mostly writing here to get better at writing (and because I like mansex), so any tips on how I can get better with this story and my others would be greatly appreciated.
And I've never played Final Fantasy VIII, so I probably got Leon's limit wrong. Forgiveness is asked for.
I WENT TO COSTA RICA AND GOT A SUNBURN THE SIZE OF DETROIT! WHOO HOO!
/o/O/o/
Leon stood at next to the synthesis shop. He was just walking aimlessly through the Market, not really pay attention to anything.
Except Cloud.
Cloud was a few steps below him, stalking around the Market square, murmuring to himself. A few of his words floated up to Leon. "How do I block a meteor…Sin Harvest Angel is devastating…what if I fail…" Whenever he said this, the blonde would always look up at Leon for a brief moment. Leon would pretend not to see his stare. But he couldn't help but smile when Cloud said, after looking at the brunet, "I won't fail. I can't."
Leon went over to Scrooge, who was playing with a skateboard he'd just made. "How much for two ice creams?" Leon asked.
He could practically see the dollar sign's in the ducks' eyes. "Why that'd be…hmmm…let me think…one thousand munny."
Leon blanched. "One thousand! You cheating little—"
"No munny, no ice cream sonny," chided the duck, shaking a finger at Leon. Leon glared and pulled out his Gunblade. Now it was Scrooges' turn to turn white. "And by munny I mean a simple five hundred munny! A fifty percent discount, how do you like that Leon?" he said in a high pitched voice. Scrooge reached into the overlarge refrigerator that housed his ice cream empire and handed Leon two Sea-Salt Ice Cream pops. Leon begrudgingly handed him the munny and Scrooge snatched it away, eagerly calculating how much that five hundred added to his already immense fortune.
Cloud was lost in his own world, one filled with acidic green eyes and long silver hair and snake-like smiles when Leon tapped him on the shoulder. He whirled around, ready to attack, and was confronted with ice cream on a stick.
"Jeez, calm down," said Leon, smirking. "You looked hot. I got us ice cream."
"Thanks," said Cloud, taking the ice cream. He went and sat on the steps next to the armor shop, quietly licking his ice cream and not looking at Leon. He had to stop himself from shivering when Leon sat down very close next to him.
Leon grinned. "Ice cream isn't that cold, is it?" Cloud just glared at him and sucked on his pop.
It'd been like that since they'd gotten out of the elevator. After bearing the brunt of Yuffie's teasing ("But you two looked so ruffled!") Leon had stopped hanging out at Merlin's house and had opted to spend time in the Market. He made it obvious, but not too obvious—certainly not obvious enough for Sora to tell—that he was there to watch and be with Cloud. Not many other people had figured it out either; Aerith, who'd always had a knack for figuring these things out, had just smiled at Leon, giving her silent approval. No one else seemed to have a clue, although Merlin kept winking at Leon. But then again, he might have his beard caught in his eye, so who knew. But regardless, Cloud and Leon tried to keep their relationship under the radar. And for only one reason. Leon's face darkened, remembering the reason they couldn't tell anyone they were together.
Sephiroth.
A week had passed since they'd been stuck together, since they'd admitted without admitting that they were smitten with each other. The two nights after they'd gotten out, Leon had visited Cloud's room after taking a shower. They had both decided not to stay at Merlin's house, simply because it was too small to house four people, regardless of magic. They were instead staying in two rooms that had already been completed in the castle. One of them, supposedly, had been Riku's room back when he was working for Maleficent. Ironically, Cloud was staying in that one. Leon was in the room next to his and just down the hall was a large water leak above a hole in the ground they'd thrown a bit of fence over that was considered the bathroom. Leon leaned against Cloud's doorway, his leather pants pulled lazily up his legs, resting on his hips, no shirt, just a towel strewn around his neck. It was still wet with water droplet dripping from his hair.
Leon didn't meet Cloud's eyes. "When are you gonna fight him?"
Cloud was sitting on his bed, staring, transfixed, at Leon's body. He fought the urge to gulp. "Soon."
"How soon is soon?"
"I don't know, Leon."
Leon looked up, blue eyes snapping towards Cloud's green ones. "I need to know, Cloud."
Cloud looked down at the coarse (hand woven by Yuffie when Aerith forced her to do something productive) blue blanket that covered his mattress. He picked at a loose end. "Why?"
Leon walked into the room and sat down next to Cloud. They didn't look at each other. "I have to know how much longer I'll have to wait."
Cloud sighed and leaned against Leon. He'd never been able to feel this sort of physical comfort with anyone else in such a short amount of time. He couldn't even deal with Aerith hugging him, but he yearned for Leon's touch. "You've only been waiting a few days. Are you that impatient."
"Yes."
Cloud snorted a laugh. "Pervert."
Leon reached a hand up to Cloud's head and ran his fingers through the spiky blonde hair. The feeling of Cloud's leather coat (which he never seemed to take off) against his naked chest was a cold reminder of how close and yet how very far Leon was from the younger man. "It's not that. I just…I've been waiting for you longer than two days. I've been waiting for you…"
"Don't say since you first met me."
"I wasn't going to. I'm trying to calculate. About six months. It wasn't since you left and then came back that I realized…you know…" Cloud turned his head to look into Leon's eyes. Leon's eyes were on the opposite wall.
"It was always there," continued Leon. "I just didn't realize until you…"
"I know."
And that was all they needed to say.
"…We shouldn't tell people."
"Tell them what?"
"About…"
"Us?"
"Yeah."
Leon sat up straighter, making it so Cloud could no longer lean against him. Now he was looking into the blondes' eyes. "Why not?"
"What if he finds out?"
Leon felt a sting of anger shoot through him. He was so sick of Sephiroth. The name, the idea of him, Cloud's never ending preoccupation with him, everything. "So what?"
"He'll come after you Leon."
Leon said nothing, just continued to stare into Cloud's eyes.
"He doesn't want me to have anything good in my life. He doesn't want me to be able to feel the light. He doesn't want…he doesn't want me to be happy. And you make me happy. Even though you tick me off every now and then."
Leon didn't smile at his joke like Cloud hoped he would. Instead he just leaned in close and said, "If he comes for me, I'll fight him. And you'll be there to finally defeat him. I'm not leaving you Cloud."
"I never said you had to!" exclaimed Cloud, shocked and turning red at the intensity with which Leon spoke. "I just said…we shouldn't make it…you know...a public thing."
Leon pondered this, then nodded slowly. "That makes sense."
"Good."
They were quiet again, neither of them moving. When Leon finally did move in to kiss Cloud, the only sound that was made was his hand moving over the bedcover to prop him up easier. And when Cloud reached his arms around his neck to pull him closer, the light from the moonlight hitting the emblem on his jacket wasn't the only light in the room.
And when Leon left a few minutes later, after they held each other, after they didn't do what either of them truly wanted, Cloud promised himself he would defeat his darkness.
But that was the problem, thought Leon, slipping back to reality from his memories and taking another lick of his ice cream. Cloud just promised. He promised and swore and vowed but he never actually fought. Leon sighed and finished off his ice pop, licking the stick clean. Something had to be done. He placed his stick on the ground next to him, stood up, stretched, and turned to Cloud. "Get up."
Cloud looked up, lips still wrapped around his ice cream. "What? Why?"
"We're gonna spar. Come on, let's go."
Cloud rolled his eyes at Leon. "Come on, Leon, let me relax."
"Nope. Either you spar with me or you to the Dark Depths."
Cloud nearly chocked on his ice cream. "What! Right now?"
"Right now. Make your choice, Strife." Leon smirked. Regardless of how he felt for the blonde, Leon was still his friend. Which meant he was still allowed to be a jerk.
Cloud narrowed his eyes, placed his stick on the ground next to Leon's, and stood, pulling out his Buster Sword. "Fine. Let's go."
Leon's smirk reached his eyes and he pulled out his Gunblade. "Pretend I'm Sephiroth. Let's see how you'll do."
Cloud glared daggers at Leon and ran foreword, slashing at Leon. Leon pulled out of the way in the nick of time—Cloud almost cut him. He retaliated, blasting a shot from the end of his sword, which Cloud flipped over and nearly cut Leon's head off. "MOVE!" he roared, rising into the air and diving at Leon.
Leon gulped.
He jumped into the air the second before Cloud was to hit him and yelled "FATED CIRCLE!" an energy wave blasted from the end of his Gunblade and hit Cloud, exploding. Cloud fell to the ground.
"Oh no, CLOUD!" yelled Leon, landing on his feet and running to the blonde. He reached down to grab his arm and pull him up, apologizing so fast he himself could barely understand what he was saying, but Cloud waved him off. He climbed to his feet and glared at Leon, Darkness emanating from him. Leon knew what was coming next. He'd seen it at the Coliseum. HE had to stop himself from screaming.
"Cloud. Don't use Omnislash."
Cloud clenched his teeth. "Why. Not."
"That would kill me Cloud," Leon explained in a calm voice.
Cloud sighed and the darkness dispersed. "But it wouldn't kill him," he murmured, slumping down and sitting on the ground. The Buster Sword disappeared. Leon put away his Gunblade and sat down next to him. He awkwardly reached his arm around Cloud's shoulders, not sure if he looked like a lover or if he looked like a good friend to the shop owners who had been watching their fight, wide eyed.
"Maybe…maybe you're going about it the wrong way. Maybe you need to fight his darkness with light." That was the obvious solution. But Leon could hear Cloud's answer even before he finished his statement.
"I don't have any light left within me. It's all being used, right now, to stop him from taking me over."
An image of Sephiroth leaning over Cloud, who was overcome by darkness, their lips barely touching, entered Leon's mind. He shook that thought away with a shudder. "Then…" Leon sighed and leaned his head on Cloud's. He didn't care who saw, not right now. "Then I don't know Cloud."
Cloud turned his head and quietly kissed Leon on the cheek. "I don't know either."
Standing behind them on the roof of the weapons shop, Sephiroth smiled.
/o/O/o/
OH SNAP!
SEPHIROTH!
BITCHIN'!
Sephiroth: HOHOHO! ANCIENTS RULE NUMBER ONE!
Cloud: NOOO! HUMANS FOR THE WIN!
Leon: …uh…
SO! Whaddya think? I have a plot spread in my mind, in case you haven't figured it out already. I doubt this story is going to be very long, maybe three or four more chapters if even that. But God knows, I need to update my other two things. THEY'RE OVERDUE FOR AN UPDATE! WHOO!
My brother left for college today. I'm very sad.
Please review! And tell me what you think! AND DANCE! DANCE, WATER, DANCE!