-1Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, Final Fantasy, or any mumbo-jumbo like that, I just write the fan fiction.

Rated: M or R if you like

Warning: Yaoi, meaning guy on guy action. If you no like that, then don't read this, or anything I write here for that matter. If I get a flame yelling at me about the Yaoi, you will get a very nasty and biting response from me, one guy and I had a huge fight over a flame he sent me…haven't heard from him since…Mwahahaa

Song of Desperation.

The shop was fuller than Cloud expected it to be. In fact, he didn't think there would be enough room for all the customers. Every table was packed, and every stool at the counter was taken, kids even stood along the walls or sat n the windowsill. Every single one was a college student, and every one had some sort of coffee or cappuccino in their hands.

"Oh Cloud there you are, come here a sec would ya?" Riku waved him down as he was forced to step over some kids who had taken the steps as their seats. When he got around them he made his way over to the counter.

"Yeah?" Cloud asked.

"Take this to the back room and put it in the safe would ya? And don't run off with it or Leon will hunt you down and slit your throat." Riku handed Cloud a box. "Then come back, there are some people I'd like you to meet."

"But I don't know the comb-"

"Doesn't matter, just take it back there, you'll figure it out."

Cloud groaned and took the box before maneuvering his way around a bunch of college kids blabbering about some Government project that was due soon. Once he got into the back room though, he felt safe. There were no more people around him, it was quiet, and it was fairly dark.

Feeling at ease, he decided to see what Riku had for him to put in the safe. He opened up the box and peeked in. The first thing he saw was a piece of paper, on it was his name, and under that was a wad of money.

"Cloud." It said. "This goes in the safe, the combination is 23-4-16. If you rob me Ill hunt you down and shoot you. If you don't rob me, I'll give you a left over cookie.

-Sincerely, Riku

Cloud couldn't help but to smirk. The note was cute, and fit along with what he could tell of Riku's personality. At least now he had the combination to the safe.

Cloud walked back past all the shelves, searching around for the safe. The storeroom was bigger than what he had first thought, but not too big. It was quaint, like the rest of the shop that Riku ran. A quick thought crossed his mind as to how old Riku actually was, but he ignored it. He was going to live with the guy for four months, he was sure that he could find out personal information later.

Finally he found the safe, stuffed back behind some boxes. Cloud fumbled with the dial and put the money box in the safe. Just as he was about to close it, he heard someone clear their throat.

Cloud shut the door and looked over his shoulder. A kid who looked about Riku's age was standing behind him. He had spiky brown hair was as lean and muscular as Riku was.

"What are you doing?" the kid inquired.

Cloud frowned. "I could ask you the same question. Who are you and what are you doing back here?"

"That was what I was going to ask you." Suspicion crossed the brunette's face. "Are you breaking into Riku's safe?"

"If I were breaking into it, would I have just put money into it? I work here kid."

The brunette blinked. Cloud could just see the rusty gears in his head trying to turn and process the information. "I didn't know Riku had hired anyone. Why didn't he hire me?"

Cloud shrugged and stood up. He was almost a foot taller than this kid, then again, Cloud was tall. "I don't know, or care. Leon sent me here, and I'm only here for four months anyways."

The boy's face brightened at the mention of Leon. "Oh, Leon sent you here. Well that's ok."

Cloud shook his head and pushed the kid's shoulder. "Get out of the storeroom. Employee's only."

The boy laughed and moved out of the way. "It's ok, Riku lets me back here cuz I'm his best friend."

Cloud growled and tried to grab the brunette. "I don't care, you're bothering me, move it."

The boy continued to elude him, and Cloud was staring to get angry. Finally, he caught the kid by the back of the shirt and proceeded to drag him out of the storeroom. By the time they got out of there, the place had calmed down. It was still full, but it wasn't crowded.

Riku looked up when he came out of the storeroom. "Oh good, you're back. I wanted to…Sora?" Riku stared at his friend who was now hanging from Cloud's grip. The brunette smiled.

"Hi Riku! I didn't know you had a new employee."

Riku signaled for Cloud to drop Sora, which he did. Sora hit the floor with a rather loud thump. Riku glared at Cloud but Cloud just shrugged in response.

"Sora, were you bothering Cloud?"

"No." Sora replied.

"Yes." Cloud said.

Sora glared up at Cloud then glanced back over at Riku. "So his name's Cloud. He's a decent catch, a little old though."

This time it was Cloud's turn to glare. "What is that supposed to mean shrimp?" He managed to miss Riku's blush at the comment.

Sora looked at Cloud strangely. "You mean you don't know? Riku's g-"

Riku shoved Sora toward the door. "Don't you have a math class to attend? You know I don't allow ditchers in here!" Sora smirked and winked at Cloud just before he was shoved out the door.

"What was that all about?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow at Riku. Riku shrugged and went back to cleaning up an already spotless counter.

"Nothing, he just gets a little excited over stupid things sometimes. Don't worry about it."

Cloud watched Riku clean the same spot over and over again. Finally, once he got tired of watching the rag going round and round, he ventured a question. "What was he going to say though? He said you were guh something…I couldn't hear the rest."

The rag moved faster and Cloud was staring to worry that Riku would burn a hole in the counter. "It was nothing." Riku mumbled.

"You sure?" Cloud asked.

"IT WAS NOTHING!" Riku looked up with a dangerous glare on his face. If looks could kill, Cloud would have combusted on the spot.

"Sorry!" Cloud backed up and put his hands up in a defensive gesture. It was about this time that he noticed everyone in the coffee shop was staring at them, and most were chuckling.

He looked back in time to see Riku disappear into the bathroom, a deep blush on his face.

'Great.' thought Cloud. "I made him mad at me already. Just great.'

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­-Later that day-

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Cloud was starting to worry. After curtly informing him that he would be upstairs the rest of the day, Riku had disappeared and not come back. Leaving Cloud to deal with the rest of his customers. Many of which ordered things that he didn't know how to make.

Sora came in later to help him, but he wouldn't elaborate anymore on what had made Riku mad. Cloud was left to sit and wonder what he had done to insult his young employer.

And while Cloud was downstairs suffering, Riku was upstairs grumbling about how dense Sora was.

Riku was sitting on the edge of his bed, running his hand through his hair. He wanted to kill Leon for sending Cloud over, not that he was a bad worker. Riku had only known him one day and he had already shown proficiency at the job. No, it was none of that. Riku just couldn't believe that his brother sent over such a gorgeous man when he knew that Riku was gay, and single.

"Conniving little bastard, I'll slip a razor in the next cookie I send him, yes, that will do. But it still doesn't fix the problem of Cloud…" Riku slapped himself on the forehead and let his hand slide down his face. "This is just great, I have a hott guy in my house, and I have no idea if he's gay, and I'm too afraid to tell him that I am, and even if he is, there's no chance in hell he'd consider trying someone like me. There's a 5 inch difference between us dammit!"

Riku thought about it a while longer, trying to figure out how to approach this problem. After much deliberation, he finally decided that searching Cloud's room was the only option.

Riku clambered out of bed and snuck into Cloud's bedroom. The blonde-haired man had stayed away from the upstairs to avoid Riku's wrath, which made it all the easier for him to sneak into Cloud's room.

A quick search found nothing really interesting. A pair of shoes, several pants, and several shirts. The only interesting pieces of clothing the man owned was a tight black muscle shirt, a pair of tight leather black pants, and a collar with spikes. That raised a little interest in Riku, but it didn't necessarily mean Cloud was gay, he could be a wacked emo, or some kind of freaky goth, or loner…too many stereotypes could fit those clothes, and they didn't fit any stereotype exactly.

There was only one other thing in the room that grabbed Riku's attention. On Cloud's bed, there was a binder, and the cover of it was marked with a title in large bold black letters, "Song of Desperation."

Riku flipped to the first page and read the first few paragraphs. The writing style was interesting, and the dark beginning captured his interest. He sat down on Cloud's bed and read over the whole first page, then the next, then the next. Before he knew it he was captured in the pages.

Riku had almost finished the second chapter when he heard someone coming up the stairs. Panicking, he dashed out of the room and ducked into the bathroom. He heard the footsteps stop a moment, then there was a knock at the door. "Riku?…You in there?"

It was Cloud. He probably wanted to use the bathroom. Silently Riku berated himself for ducking in there instead of his room, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

"Yeah, what do you want?" His voice came out a little harsher than he expected, but that was because he was stressed. He Didn't want to be caught with Cloud's stuff, Cloud might not like him if he knew he had been going through his stuff.

"Um…I'm going to lock up…is that ok?"

"Uh, yeah sure, go ahead." Riku knew it was too early to lock up, but he wanted to get Cloud out of his hair. He could afford to close early for one night.

"Okay…" Riku heard steps move away from the door, but then they came back. Riku's breath caught as Cloud knocked again. "Um Riku?…"

"What?" an exasperated Riku snapped.

"I'm sorry…" And then he was gone.

Riku stared at the door for a few minutes, not daring to breath or move. Cloud had apologized. He was sweet. Too sweet. Beneath that hard, un-talkative, unsocial exterior was a good man.

After making sure Cloud was gone, Riku bolted to his room, taking Cloud's manuscript with him. Once he was safely inside his room, he re-opened to the page he had been on and started to read again.

After all, the best way to see an author's soul, is to read his books.

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