Okay, so I know it's been a long, LONG time since I uploaded this fic, but I had the second chapter in progress on my laptop and then..well...my laptop got wiped, so I never recovered the second chapter, and I guess I never wanted to finish it until now. I vaguely remember what I'd written, so here you go.


It seemed as though Leon had been tossing and turning in his bed for endless hours, but as he glanced at the dark hands ticking of the dimly lit clock at his bedside, he discovered it had only been three hours since he had retired to bed. He had left much earlier than the others, who may have still been downstairs playing cards for all he knew.

He hated these nights. These nights where all he could do was groan and shift restlessly in his bed, eyes shut as far as they could go, but he couldn't force himself to sleep. They often resulted in mistakes during the day; accidently using Cloud's toothbrush, forgetting to shut down the computer in Ansem's study, or even destroying half the basement while sparring. Often he'd consider taking something to help him sleep, but he convinced himself that these nights didn't happen often enough to actually use that solution, and also he didn't want the others to think he was some kind of pill-popper or insomniac. Although he rarely showed it, he did care highly what his friends thought of him.

A low groan escaped his lips as he once again turned over in his bed, pushing the burgundy sheets away to release some of the trapped heat that was beginning to cause him to sweat. He ran a hand through his hair before settling back down into his pillows. However, a split second later his silence was interrupted by a creaking on the landing. He immediately tensed up, instinctively grabbing the handle of his gunblade, which rested loyally by his bedside. His instinctive reaction caused him to sigh silently and roll eyes at himself as he realised it was probably one of the others heading up to bed. He waited for the light on the landing which seeped in from under his door to pass, along with the footsteps creaking along the wood flooring.

However, unlike he expected, the hall light never turned off, and the footsteps seemed to halt outside his bedroom door.

The grip on his blade, which he hadn't released, tightened, as he squinted his eyes towards his bedroom door, listening intently to the silent presence.

A few moments passed before the latch on the door clicked, Leon's eyes adjusted as the strip of light from the hall spilled in through the opening of the door, revealing a silhouetted figure that caused him to loosen the grip on his gunblade.

"Aerith..." he mumbled in a hoarse voice, letting the gunblade slip back into it's position by his beside, rubbing his forehead and looking at her through squinted eyes. "Is something wrong?"

His vision of her focused as she took a step towards him, inviting herself into his room. "I just came to wish you goodnight; I knew you'd still be awake." Her hushed voice flowed through the room and soothed his tense body, causing him to inadvertently relax.

"Thanks..." he replied, "but you should really get to bed, it's pretty late."

And then she did something that caused him to replay that moment in his head, just to make convince himself that it wasn't a figment of his imagination. The sound of the latch on the door clicking and the disappearance of the light from the hallway confirmed to him that Aerith had shut the door behind her.

"Aerith...?" He mumbled in a confused tone, his eyes barely making out the silhouette of her dusky pink dressing gown wrapped loosely around her frame.

"What's wrong Leon...? I told you I came to wish you goodnight..." her hands released the door handle before she stepped towards him, the long, loose curls of her hair bouncing behind her as she gracefully slid down to perch on the edge of Leon's bed.

"..." Leon tried to form any words to address the situation, but all that came out of his lips was confused mumble, causing a smile to form on Aerith's dimly lit face. He felt himself pushing his body upwards in the bed to sit up, his eyes gradually accustoming to the light and focusing on the pale arm travelling towards him. "Aerith...I – "

His speech was suddenly interrupted by a soft, cool finger pressing itself lightly against his lips, causing Leon's eyes to widen in further bewilderment. His confusion only grew as the gentle fingertip slid over his bottom lip, Aerith's eyes lowering towards the movements that stopped Leon dead in his tracks.

Before Leon could move a muscle those gentle fingers that had hushed him were carefully tracing along his neck, guided by the movements of her eyes, until she glanced up at him. It was a look he had never seen before, it was so unlike Aerith, yet it suited her perfectly. The sultry gaze pierced right through him, and the subtle parting of her lips indicated to him something that he had never expected, but could hardly resist once the opportunity presented itself. But before he was even able to move an inch towards her, her slender fingers cupped his chin, and she planted a soft kiss on his stunned lips.

Aerith parted her lips teasingly before pulling herself away; her eyes fixed on his, as her hands glided over her shoulders and gently pushed the hem of her dressing gown, causing it to fall in a light heap on the bed. Leon's attention was suddenly drawn to the now clear outline of her slender figure, her ivory skin illuminated by the moonlight. His gaze traced down to her perfectly accented chest, now bare before him. He was at a loss for words. He felt his whole body heating up, he was sure that his hot skin would burn her if they touched.

Despite this, his arm reached forward to capture her neck, and was greeted by the cold porcelain which soothed his body, pulling her beside him feel the soft, plump –

Daylight.

It seeped through his eyelids, that orange glow forcing his eyes to flutter open. It took a few moments for Leon's eyes to register that it was in fact now early morning, the blends of red, pink and yellow flooding his room.

Morning.

He was definitely sure that the previous events had occurred in the deep night, but suddenly it was morning.

Is this a dream? He thought to himself. Although he was almost certain that he wouldn't fall asleep with a half naked Aerith looming over him. Definitely not, unless he had in fact taken something to help him sleep. However, he was quite certain he didn't do that either.

Leon tried to arrive at various conclusions which ensured that the events with Aerith hadn't been a figment of his imagination. Unfortunately, even he couldn't convince himself.

"A dream..." He groaned and rubbed his temple, pushing away the covers and swinging his legs over the side of the bed before he stared out of the window. Judging by the state of the sky, it was around 8am. He gradually stood up and leaned against the windowsill, his eyes in taking the view of the Hollow Bastion market beginning it's daily routine; stalls opening; people hovering around; however, his mind was elsewhere. He rarely dreamt, and his occasional lengthy sleeps were usually occupied by dreams filled with random events of no sense, nothing like what he experienced the night before. Everything seemed so distinct to him, every sight; every smell; every touch; every taste...

He rubbed his forehead once more before banishing the thought from his mind, deciding to forget about the whole thing. After all, it was only a dream, and dreams mean nothing. Dreams are only a recreation of certain mundane events thorough the day. Although this thought did cause Leon to question whether anything during the day would have provoked this dream. He'd never viewed Aerith in a sexual way, and she never intentionally presented herself in a sexual way to anyone, so what could have brought this on?

And he was thinking about it again, but thankfully a knock on his door interrupted his thought process.

"Leon, you awake? Breakfast is ready!" For a split second he thought it was the voice that had invaded his subconscious, causing him to tense, until he recognised the deeper undertones of Tifa's voice.

"Yeah...I'll be down in a minute." He released his captive breath, before composing himself as he walked towards the bathroom. His mind was clearly elsewhere as he barely noticed the surprised Yuffie brushing her teeth in the mirror as Leon ran the taps, splashing cold water over his face.

"Hello – Leon? I'm brushing here!" She raised her eyebrows and scrunched up her face in a confused expression, raising her toothbrush in protest as Leon continued to wash his face without even acknowledging her presence.

After leaving a bewildered and irritated Yuffie in the bathroom, Leon headed downstairs, greeted by the inviting smell of toasted bread, sizzling bacon and roasted coffee.

As he stepped into the open kitchen, he noticed that everything was how it usually is. Cloud was sat at the table, his hand cupping his coffee mug as he read the newspaper, Tifa was just sitting down beside him; tying her hair into a loose ponytail in preparation for her morning run; and of course, Aerith was serving breakfast.

Although Aerith was all but useless in the kitchen, the one meal which she prided herself on was her early morning fry-ups, which kept everyone going throughout their busy mornings. Rashers of bacon, eggs: boiled; scrambled; or fried (Leon's personal preference was boiled), sausages, beans, everything anyone could possibly want from a fry up. And of course, for those in a rush, was toast, cereal or porridge. Leon suddenly found himself staring in slight wonder as Aerith busied herself amongst the pots and pans, and was amazed at her ability to cater for everyone's needs in the morning. He then found himself thinking how strange it was to think how something that seemed so mundane to them all was suddenly impressing him.

He almost leaped out of his skin when he heard the voice that had been plaguing him all morning, address him.

"Leon, 2 boiled eggs, a slice of toast and some bacon as usual?" Aerith half turned her body towards him, smiling sweetly as she recalled his usual breakfast order.

"No." He replied suddenly, slightly shocked at his own response and averting her gaze, he lowered his voice, trying to compensate for his rude behaviour. "I'm going out early to the study, Cid and I have things to do. I'll grab something on the way there."

Aerith blinked. "Oh are you sure? I can wrap you up some toast if you want..." But before Aerith could finish her sentence, the door had already slammed shut and Leon was out of sight, leaving everyone in the room gazing at his odd behaviour.

"What's wrong with Leon?" Tifa questioned, tying the laces of her trainers, as she glanced over at Cloud and then to Aerith.

Aerith frowned at glanced at the food she had prepared before turning her gaze back to the spot where Leon had disappeared, and couldn't help wonder if it was something she did.


Thank you for taking your time to read this, and I'm sorry it's taken me over 2 years (Jeez, really been that long?) to update. Please review if you'd like to give your thoughts or any criticism :)