Sassy's Note: 8D Hate me yet?
The World's Heart
"Know what, Riku?"
"Hmm?"
"I think Reno has a crush on Cloud."
"… what?"
Sora grinned at him as he hung upside-down from a tree branch. "He does."
Riku raised a silver eyebrow at the brunet. "And just how do you figure that?"
"I dunno," said Sora with a shrug that looked rather awkward from his position. "It's just kinda obvious."
"I think you've lost your mind," Riku sighed, and looked back down at his book. Sora pouted and crossed his arms.
"I'm serious, Riku!"
"So am I, Sora."
"Don't mock me."
Riku looked back up at him. "That's a bit hard to do when you're hanging like an ape from a tree, dude."
Sora shook his head and righted himself on the branch before jumping down onto the sand. "Okay. Now will you take me seriously?"
Riku paused as though pondering over it for a moment, then said simply, "No."
"You're an ass, you know that?"
"Uh huh."
"Reno has a crush on Cloud. So there."
---
Riku had never believed Sora until now when it was plainly obvious. All the sidelong glances the redhead had given Cloud, all the depressed sighs he had issued as Cloud walked away with Leon, all the times Reno had jumped to Cloud's defense when even Leon disagreed with the blond all came flooding back to Riku's mind, and he now could see what Sora had seen. He understood now.
Reno was jealous of Leon for being with Cloud.
Leon was distant from Cloud, but when he felt threatened by Reno, he immediately went on the defensive.
Cloud was caught somewhere in the middle and not happy at all.
Leon stood deadly still. His eyes narrowed, and his voice became a soft, venomous hiss. "Treat him like dirt? You think I treat him like dirt? Okay, we'll look at it from your way. I treat Cloud like dirt, and you treat him like a prize you're trying to win."
Riku saw Reno's fist clench, and he knew it was taking all the self-control the redhead possessed not to haul off and hit Leon. "I was wrong," said Reno, grinding his teeth. "You know what you're real problem is, Squall? You don't know how to deal." He drew in a ragged breath. "Well, here's a newsflash, we all have issues, Leonhart!"
Reno's rage flared up again. "We ALL have problems! It's just YOU who doesn't know how to fuckin' DEAL with them! If you can't be in a fucking relationship and treat your lover like you ACTUALLY love him, then don't start one in the goddamned first place!!"
Leon bristled and raised his fists as well. "You can't honestly-"
"Shut the fuck up!!I am not done!" Leon fell silent, and Reno cast a glance at Cloud before speaking to the scarred brunet again. "You've done nothing but turn into a COMPLETE JACKASS ever since the two of you got together! You say you care for him; you say you're happy; you act so overprotective of him is fucking anal, but if all of that bullshit is true, then why can't you see how unhappy he is!! Ever since this whole mess with Sora started, you've been more of a fuck-off than ever before. Sure, at first, you were supportive, and actually CARED enough to REASSURE your boyfriend that everything would be okay, but after that!? I haven't seen you say two goddamned words to Cloud!!"
Leon was finally given the chance to speak his mind as well, and oh how he did. "You have no right to judge, you fucking Turk!! Your answer to everything is just to run off and get damn-well drunk out of your mind! You say I'm the one who doesn't know how to deal? Look in a fucking mirror! All you've done since Sora went missing is go around chasing after Cloud like a lost kitten!"
And then Reno's anger became palpable, and Riku knew it had all hit the fan now. He took a step back closer to Kairi as if to block her if pieces of the wall started to fly.
"Cloud," said Reno simply, but his tone was enough to make the blond in question wince and try ever harder to merge back with the wall. "Cloud Strife. Strife. Strife. Cloud FUCKING Strife!! Here's a piece of advice for you, Leonhart!! THE WORLD DOES NOT FUCKING REVOLVE AROUND CLOUD STRIFE!!"
This declaration seemed to shock and confuse just about everyone in the room, especially Cloud. He turned his head to Reno, and Riku saw a bit of hurt shining in his eyes – but Reno didn't look ready to stop there.
It was Leon, however, who got the next words in. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked incredulously. "First you say I'm not treating Cloud right, then you say I think the world revolves around him?" He sneered. "You're not making any sense!"
"I'm making perfect sense!!" Reno snarled viciously. "To you, it's ALL about Cloud Strife, but instead of treating him like an actual person, you treat him like prized possession you're afraid of someone taking away! That's all you've been doing all these past weeks! Yeah, I'll admit right here, right now: I AM ATTRACTED TO CLOUD STRIFE! See, I said it, but you know what, Leonhart, I can still see that there are other things in this world that that take priority OTHER than GUARDING Cloud Strife."
At Leon's outraged look, Reno lost it again.
"If you'd pull your head out of your ass, maybe you'd see that!! You've SOMEHOW managed to project all the ill fucking emotions your feeling about Sora's circumstances onto CLOUD! You think this entire situation is about ME trying to steal CLOUD from you! How about you GET OVER YOURSELF and start looking at your BOYFRIEND as a HUMAN BEING then you'd get over this RETARDED need you have to hold him away from the world and start worrying about SOMETHING ELSE other than someone trying to STEAL HIM AWAY!!"
"THEN STOP TRYING TO!!" Leon managed to shout.
Reno actually laughed at this, but it was a horrible sound. When he spoke, his voice was even. "Still on that, Leonhart? You really think I'd do that? Well, let me tell you something, fucker, even I'm not that fucked up! Maybe if you'd be the one to comfort Cloud, give him the affection that you obviously haven't been, I wouldn't have to be the one trying to get the poor guy to just smile!"
At this, Cloud's eyes fell to the floor, and they shone unusually bright. He looked… like he might start crying.
Reno stood up straight, waves of anger still flowing off him, but he looked calmer. "And one more thing, Leonhart," he said, voice deadly. "Don't run up to me and blame me for trying to steal Cloud away when you're the one who's been neglecting him."
Reno, back straight and proud, walked forward a few steps. He turned to Cloud; his eyes softened. "I'm sorry, Cloud. I didn't mean to cause nothin'." The blond just stared back at him, face emotionless and eyes shining. "See ya later, yo." The redhead shoved by Leon and walked ever so calmly down the twisting hallways and out of sight.
For a moment, everyone was silent. Then, Cloud slid down the wall to the floor and covered his face with his hands.
---
Riku was rather numb as he and the others made their way to Tifa's bar. Why hadn't he seen it before now? Looking back it was so obvious. He wondered how Sora had been able to see it but he hadn't.
Everyone was silent. Demyx was worriedly gnawing his fingernails away, and Riku got the feeling that the Nocturne had known all along about Reno's feelings for Cloud. After all, Reno and Demyx were really good friends.
They made it to the bar and quietly slipped inside. To Riku's surprise, Rude was sitting at the bar, conversing in low tones with Tifa. Reno was nowhere to be see, but Riku hadn't expected the redhead to be anywhere in the near vicinity. When Rude felt the presence of the somber group, he turned his head slightly. Tifa followed his gaze, and she sighed sadly when she saw them, obviously noting that neither Reno nor Leon and Cloud were with them.
It was after Reno stormed off that Riku, Kairi, Yuffie, Aerith, Kioshi, and Demyx had slipped away from the study without a word to Cloud and Leon. Riku didn't even want to image the conversation the two men were undoubted having right then.
"Stiff drinks all around, then?" Tifa asked with a strained smile. Demyx was the first to take a seat at the bar, and he rested his head on his arms.
"Yes," he said with a whine in his voice. Kioshi sidled beside him and rubbed between his shoulder blades.
"Don't worry yourself too much, Demyx," said Rude suddenly. "This encounter has been coming for a long time."
Riku moved in closer to the large Turk. "You knew?"
Rude shrugged. "I could tell both Leon and Reno were reaching a breaking point with each other. This morning, the way Reno acted… I knew something was going to happen."
"So you steered clear? Good job, big guy," said Yuffie, hopping up onto a stool. Tifa eyed the ninja for a moment and then sent a glass of lemonade her way. Yuffie almost seemed offended when she realized it had no alcohol in it.
When Tifa had given drinks to everyone else – yes, all of them were strong, save for Yuffie's who did not need alcohol – she sat down with them. She looked worried. "I wonder how Cloud is going to handle this."
Aerith's eyes fell as she took a sip of her drink. Riku had never actually seen her drink anything alcoholic but champagne. "I don't know." She bit her lip. "But whatever happens…"
"Yeah." Tifa nodded. "We'll be here."
The group went silent for awhile. Riku just kept playing the encounter over and over in his mind. On top of everything else, this was really going to screw everyone up. He could hardly imagine what Cloud was dealing with. For that matter, Riku found his sympathies with Reno as well.
It wasn't that Riku was blaming this on Leon, but looking over the situation, he found Leon to be in the wrong more than anyone. He himself had noticed the coldness the scarred man had shown to his lover, a lover who used to be the closest thing to a best friend the man ever had.
"Hey… hey, guys," Kioshi said slowly. Everyone looked at him. "Uhm, I know this probably isn't the best time for this, but… has anyone talked to… Valeria?"
Riku stared at the silver-haired musician. Then, his blood ran cold.
They had completely forgotten to get in touch with Sora's girlfriend.
To be continued…
Sassy: Mwahahaha. Thought I'd forgotten about Valeria? Nope. Just who is Valeria? You'll see.
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