A/N: Just a reminder that I'm adhering to the FFVIII versions of most characters. That said, Seifer is 6'2. Those of you who are used to the KH version of him, just learn to live with the discrepancy. (He looks so puny in KH2, seriously…)

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: Leon/Cloud, Irvine/Squall, with some mention of Seifer/Squall and Zach/Cloud

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

First Snow

He hid his memories in the top of his closet.

He always disappeared for the first snow.

I want to know you better than this.

Not just who you are, but why.

And when your eyes will be on me alone.

Hey, would you miss me if I were gone?

Would you know what you'd lost?

Chapter Four: Tall Guys

Leon stood with his arms crossing his chest, leaning against the wall. He was trying to look disinterested, but the way his eyes followed Cloud around the room as the blonde packed his bag said volumes.

Cloud closed the duffel bag with a definitive zip. "It's almost August anyway," he said. "You know as well as I do that you don't want anything to do with anyone in August, least of all me. And I know as well as you do that you have no intention of telling me why. I need to finish things with Sephiroth anyway, so this is the best time of year to do it. We'll be out of one another's hair." He hated to say it. He wanted Leon to tell him 'no, don't go. I want you here. Stay with me. I need you,' but he knew Leon well enough to know this conversation wasn't going to end the way he wanted it to.

Leon wouldn't say it, even if it's what he was thinking. He'd been trying not to think about it for a long time—the 'Sephiroth Issue'. He knew Cloud would eventually leave again. He just didn't know it would be his fault. "…I understand," he said. "Be careful. I'll see you in a month." He pushed off the wall and turned towards the Bailey. There was work to do, things that needed fixing.

But the problem blooming between himself and Cloud…that was something he didn't know how to fix. He wasn't good at 'needing'. He was even worse at saying goodbye. He prayed this wasn't 'goodbye' but 'see you later', but all he had to go on was hope. And the worst part of it was that he had no one to blame but himself.

Cloud watched him go, hands stuffed in his pockets, shoulders tense, waiting…but Leon never turned around. He disappeared down into the Bailey without ever looking back. Cloud kicked the wall in irritation. "I love you too, you asshole…for what little it may be worth."

-----

Leon slumped against the wall, covering his face with a gloved hand. 'Damn you, Cloud Strife. You don't understand a thing!' In irritation, Leon kicked the wall, not realizing how much alike he and his blonde lover truly were.

-----

'Nngh-ah! Aah! Irvine!" The Smokey eyed youth arched, then collapsed against the mattress, chest heaving as he tried to get air back into his lungs.

Without warning, things had progressed on a downward spiral. Squall no longer even gave Seifer a passing thought. It was the blonde's own fault, really. He'd been missing for half a year and Irvine hadn't wasted a moment of it in the wooing of Commander Squall Leonheart. It hadn't taken much. Irvine was certain that Squall had spent the better part of his life just waiting to be wooed. Squall tried actively not to think about the fact he didn't protest as much as he knew he should, or about how flattered he was when he noticed Irvine was flirting with the girls at Balamb Garden a lot less than he used to.

"Squall," Irvine replied with a husky moan, long auburn tendrils falling around them as he kissed the languid teen before collapsing next to him. "I love you," he murmured, pulling the blankets up and cuddling into his new lover. He was willing to accept a split lip and a black eye if it meant half a year later at the end of summer Squall would be so completely his. Sure, Squall never really answered when he confessed like that. Mostly he just said 'hn' and let his eyes drift closed after they made love, but the fact that he was here in Irvine's bed told the cowboy everything he needed to know, and those gray eyes told him so much more than Squall would ever admit to that Irvine couldn't really bring himself to mind, especially on days like this one when he knew Squall really didn't have the time to humor him and yet, he was here anyway.

"I have to leave," Squall said after breath returned into his lungs.

"I know," Irvine answered. "Nothing I can help with, is it?"

Squall just shook his head negatively. "…I'll stay a few more minutes." He hated to admit how much he adored Irvine. It was hard to reconcile being self-sufficient for so many years with suddenly not being able to get through a day without seeing his lover. He knew he shouldn't. He had a lot of work to do. But as he lay here with Irvine in the afterglow he couldn't help but think 'it can wait a little longer, can't it?' He found it far too easy to fall asleep when Irvine's body heat was seeping into his bones like this…

The door slammed open suddenly and Squall turned his head languidly before jolting upright in surprise. "Seifer?!" Past him, he could see Zell had been tugging on the overbearing blonde's arm, trying to dissuade him. He looked apologetically from Irvine to Squall and back again.

The cowboy cursed under his breath and Seifer finally flung Zell off, pissed beyond reason at seeing his supposed boyfriend naked in bed with another man. His jaw was set in a firm line. Zell hit the wall with a sickening crunch and slumped to the floor with a curse.

"Squall, we're leaving. Now."

Squall at least had the common sense to look a little ashamed of himself as he whispered "…no."

-----

"I'm looking for someone," Cloud had told the teenagers he stumbled upon after landing in Twilight Town.

After some small degree of physical description, Hayner declared "well, I haven't seen anyone like that."

"Me neither," Olette answered.

"If someone like that came through town, I bet Seifer would know," Pence offered. Seifer had this weird way of knowing everything. It was kind of creepy, but if someone as strong as Cloud described this silver-haired male to be had passed through Twilight Town, Seifer had probably fought him at least once.

The word rang too many bells in Cloud's head. Seifer. Seifer. It wasn't a common name. "Where can I find this Seifer?" he asked as casually as he could manage even as bells and whistles rang through his brain at the coincidence. It had to be that Seifer. Cloud could feel it in his bones.

"Probably near the Sandlot," Hayner answered. "Can't miss him. Has a bad attitude. Wears a stupid hat. Has a scar right here." He traced a finger over the bridge of his nose that was identical to the one Leon bore. Cloud's chest constricted. Seifer. That was a name Leon had mentioned by saying 'dating him was a very bad idea.' All thoughts of Sephiroth flew out of his mind. Seifer would know what had happened back then. Leon had only told him so much and the details he left out hung precariously over their relationship as if just waiting for the perfect opportunity to ruin everything. He'd told Cloud a lot, more than Cloud had expected, but not as much as he needed to know. Leon's explanation left more questions than answers.

He knew that Irvine was important to Leon, that he'd left Seifer for him and that…something happened. He was confident that if Irvine was still alive Leon would still be with him. Leon hadn't said that Irvine had died, not in so many words, but Cloud wasn't stupid. If he loved Irvine this much even after so much time, even with another lover, there must have been some kind of tragedy, and Seifer would be able to shed some light on it. And Seifer had the same scar his lover had.

He needed to know the rest of the story.

-----

Seifer's eye twitched. Did Squall just tell him 'no'? Impossible. Squall was his not Irvine's! It had never dawned on Seifer to think of Squall as his own person. Most of the time he looked at Squall and thought of him as a pretty object, something he owned that did a decent job of satisfying his lust and that he could put on a shelf for future reference when he wasn't using it that no one else would think to pick up if he abandoned it long enough. It wasn't that he particularly wanted Squall. He just didn't want anyone else to have him. Their relationship had never been monogamous for Seifer's part. Squall was a convenience. Even so, he was enraged.

"Fucking whore," he spat, grabbing Squall roughly by the arm and tugging him from the bed, his grip bruising as he noticed the evidence of recent lovemaking on his supposed boyfriend's abdomen.

Squall hissed and tugged his arm away.

"Get dressed," Seifer demanded.

"…" Squall didn't know how to answer so he chose sullen silence. The defiance got him slapped across the cheek.

Irvine, stunned shock wearing off, finally scurried out of bed and pulled his pants on. "He told you to get lost, blondie, so leave him be," he demanded. He knew he wasn't really any match for Seifer, but that didn't mean he could just sit here and do nothing while Seifer slapped his lover around.

Zell cursed under his breath again, trying to get himself to his feet. He was dizzy—came with crashing head first into a wall, but Zell had always had a hard head—something the martial artist would gladly admit to.

"FINE!" Seifer declared. I'll just drag you through the halls naked, if you insist, stupid little slut." He grabbed Squall's arm again and Squall pulled his arm away again.

"You don't have any right to judge me, as many lovers as you have," Squall snapped bitterly. "I don't want to be with you anymore."

Enraged, Seifer whipped out his gunblade in the small room. Squall grimaced as blood splattered across his chest, but didn't know what had happened right away.

Irvine, a look of surprise, and then intense pain, crossed his features as he looked down at the blade that had accidentally speared through his midsection.

Seifer's eyes also widened in surprise as he realized the error his rage had caused. He might want Irvine Kinneas dead but not like this. His hand shook, the blade clattered to the ground, releasing Irvine's sternum as Irvine's hands came to the wound as if they could stem the flow of blood.

"Irvine!" Squall shouted and ran to his lover's side, fumbling in his nearby pockets in a panic, looking for a potion, a cure, something. It wasn't like Squall to look so openly upset. It wasn't like Squall to look so openly anything. Seifer backed out of the room, horrified. He'd only just regained the relative trust of those around him after that mess with Ultimecia. And now…

…where was he supposed to go now?

-----

"You're Seifer." Cloud stated it certainly. There was no question in his tone at all. He was positive. With a scar like Seifer had he was hard to mistake. The man was huge. He had more than half a foot on Cloud Strife, who looked downright puny by comparison.

"Who wants to know?" Seifer retorted. His hat covered most of the scar, but a bit over the bridge of his nose could still be clearly seen.

"Do you remember a guy named Squall Leonheart?" Cloud asked without answering.

The tension in Seifer's shoulders gave him more than a sufficient answer. "What's it got to do with you, pipsqueak?" Seifer retorted. Squall Leonheart. He hadn't thought about Squall in a long time.

"I'm his boyfriend, not that it matters," Cloud quipped.

Seifer laughed as if he found the comment hilarious. Cloud blinked, not expecting the laughter. "Wh-what's so funny?!" he demanded. Leon had dated this guy? He was totally not his type, first of all, and secondly, he was a jerk! Cloud was tempted to hit him as hard as he could just to get him to stop laughing, but something about Seifer's laughter made him feel embarrassed.

"I don't believe you," Seifer blanketed when he was finished laughing.

"Why the hell not!?" Cloud demanded. Was he not good enough for Leon or something? He was good enough! He'd given up hunting down Sephiroth for Leon. Leon was the one who was being difficult!

"Because, Short Stuff," Seifer answered, bitter amusement laced in his tone of voice. "Squall only dates tall guys." Seifer chuckled. "Next you're going to be telling me he's on top." He waved Cloud's declaration off as an impossible joke.

Cloud blinked. Tall guys? Leon liked tall guys? Since when? Cloud frowned a little sulkily, feeling like an unattractive midget at Seifer's declaration. Leon had said himself he preferred guys shorter than him. Had he lied? Cloud's memory traced back to early in their relationship after a shared shower.

His hair was wet and flat against his skull. It's usual spiky volume normally made him look at least a bit taller, but Leon wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist and propped his chin on top of Cloud's head. "Don't pout," Leon told him.

"Why not?" Cloud retorted, feeling too short and too thin next to Leon's sturdy build, not bothering to claim he wasn't pouting. Looking at his reflection in the mirror he knew that argument wouldn't hold any weight.

Leon graced him with a faint smirk and moved slightly to the side, tilting Cloud's chin up to claim his lips in a sweetly lingering kiss. "Because," he answered. "You look cute when you pout and we just bathed. Yuffie will kill me if we use up all the hot water again."

Cloud slumped against him. "Don't call me 'cute'. It makes me feel like a little kid," the blonde protested.

"Sora's a little kid," Leon replied. "You're just short."

"Hey!"

"But don't worry," Leon continued to tease. "I prefer short guys anyway."

"…"

"Cloud…"

"…you're finished growing, right?" the blond said sulkily.

"Pretty sure. Yeah," Leon answered in his 'what are you getting at?' tone.

"Good," Cloud answered, turning to wrap his arms around the taller, broader male. "Because if you get any taller I might not love you anymore."

Leon smirked, kissed him again, and said "likewise."

But Seifer wasn't even remotely short. He doubted he ever had been. So why had Leon said that. He paused, silent, uncertain and then declared on a sudden impulse…

"How tall was Irvine?"

Seifer tensed and turned. That dropped name had him convinced. This pipsqueak really was Squall's current boyfriend, or at least knew him extremely well. There was a long silence before the man answered. "…six foot or thereabouts. A little shorter than me. You really do know Squall."

'Not half as well as I'd like to,' Cloud thought, but just crossed his arms over his chest, frowned and said "…yeah."

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To Reviewers:

Krad and Lauren: not much to say but thanks. I appreciate the support.

Sorceress Fantasia: I'd like to know what happens next too! Hah. I have some ideas, but mostly I'm just winging it. It's funny though that I update quickly now, because way back when I was fairly infamous for taking my sweet old time. Actually, I'm just trying to finish the story before a move I'm making in the next few weeks. If I'm lucky I'll finish it in time. If not, I'll just end up uploading a bunch of chapters at once when I get back from said move. We'll see if I can keep up the current pace for updates. Sorry if you think the pace is slow, but I'm sort of taking my time and exercising some degree of subtlety as I go. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I do hope you're enjoying the story anyway.

scarlettHuntress: I'm not fully certain I understand everything you had to say, but I will say that despite what some people will tell you, FFVIII is a highly entertaining game that I fully recommend if you can get your hands on it and Kingdom Hearts really only does justice to Squall (don't get me wrong, I love the KH series too, but they did a much better job on the FFVII characters than they did on the FFVIII ones.) Thank you for the flattery and I will try to keep the story entertaining.