Yo! Back again, with another chapter, and with more in store, though I'm not really sure where this is going. But oh well. I'm really happy at all the reviews, they totally make my day and some are pretty thoughful. And we've reached 2000 hits:very happy:

Enjoy!

Broken Rituals- Movie

"Damn it."

Cloud took a moment to register the sound in the otherwise quiet streets of Traverse Town. It was cloudy, the sky threatening to unleash a violent storm at any minute, and the dark streets had been emptied for that reason. He turned his head the fraction of an inch necessary to catch Leon's form from the corner of his eye, and the moving shape in the otherwise still background was clear in his peripheral vision.

"…What?" the blonde finally asked, and he might have been curious as to why Leon was currently patting his chest and checking his pockets, his movements becoming increasingly more aggressive as frustration began to take over. But the urge to yawn and the weight of his tired muscles was rather distracting, and he kept on walking, regardless of whether Leon decided to follow him or not.

"Where's Griever?" Leon muttered, and Cloud resisted rolling his eyes. How would Cloud know? Heck, he didn't even know what Leon was talking about in the first place, much less where this 'Griever' was. But Leon had to be Leon, and if he said 'I can't find Griever', it would make him look irresponsible, and if he said 'I'm looking for Griever' it would have come out sharp and sarcastic, and Cloud would have been insulted and… had Leon actually tried to not insult Cloud?

The ex-SOLDIER shook his head, berating himself. He was looking way too much into Leon's words now. Instead, he raised his eyebrow, and when Leon finally caught sight of his slightly puzzled expression, he sighed and turned around.

"Griever, the chain I wear around my neck," and Cloud thought it had sounded like an especially vulnerable thing for Leon to admit, maybe because of the way Leon had said it, "I'm going back to the waterway to search for it."

"Wait, you mean the lion-shaped one?" Cloud asked, pulling Leon back quickly, "You left it in the bathroom this morning, remember?"

Silver eyes seemed to mull over this, dubious, "I took it off? And didn't put it back on?"

Cloud nodded, and Leon frowned inwardly, because it was so strange for Leon to have taken the necklace off, and then not remember to put it on—he was so meticulous about it, it was just… habit. There was a short internal debate over whether to believe Cloud— it wasn't, per say, that he doubted Cloud, but for Leon to have forgotten to put Griever back on was so very rare… but then again, why would Cloud lie?

"It was getting caught in your brush when you were brushing your hair, so you took it off so the chain wouldn't break," Cloud explained as the silence stretched out, and he could feel that Leon wanted to go back to the waterway just to double-check. He wasn't sure if he should feel hurt that he wasn't being believed, but then again, had it been important enough to Cloud, he would have rather double-checked as well. Solider-bred efficiency, right?

"…Hn…" Leon gave Cloud a thorough look, and Cloud hoped he wasn't wondering how Cloud had to have been very observant of Leon to have remembered all that, but all he added was, "You better be right."

The blonde shrugged, letting Leon begin to walk ahead of him, and yawned. He wanted to ask why the chain was so important to him, but if Leon wanted to share that with him, he could of his own accord. Neither of them were the prying type, but then again, neither was the sharing type either, so it took a little prying to get them to say anything. It was a wonder they were so compatible, at least to other people.

"You… seem a little more tired than usual," Leon said tentatively, sparing him a quick glance back to note his slowed steps and almost distracted gaze.

The blonde shrugged, making sure his steps quickened to match Leon's, "Well, there was more fighting today than usual. But I'll just sleep it off, so it's no big deal," his head ached though, and that was a bit of a problem. He hoped it wouldn't turn into one of those horrible migraines he periodically got. He held the bridge of his nose, slightly irked when the increased pressure only seemed to make it worse.

Thunder brewed its disrupting concoction in the sky, and they both looked up at the pale gray expanse—how was it that clouds that made the sky darker in the day made it lighter at night?

He wondered if that was symbolic of himself in any way.

The first misting droplets of water were sauntering down to haze the air as they shook off their coats at the front door and walked in. The house was quiet, Cid was probably in the gummi garage, and unless they wanted to hear some rather colorful vocabulary, they'd leave him there as long he wanted. Aerith around this time was probably either helping him or doing some housework—it wouldn't be until about two more hours before she began making dinner. And Yuffie—well, Yuffie could have been anywhere.

With the Buster and Revolver leaning casually against a corner of the living room, Cloud made a beeline for the couch for his daily nap.

"You might want to change your shirt," Leon interrupted, and the blonde looked down confusedly, only to see the messy stains of a hard day's work gracing his shirt. Sighing heavily—he really had just wanted to lie down and sleep— Cloud headed up the stairs to his room, rubbing his temple sorely as the bright lights inside made him squint painfully. Leon watched him quietly from the kitchen doorway, and as soon as his figure disappeared past the top of the stairs, walked inside the kitchen. He had something quick to do before retrieving Griever.

When Cloud descended the stairs to head straight for the couch, he'd intended to walk past Leon, maybe expecting a soft stroke of his wing along the way, but Leon held out a glass of water in front of him, wrapping Cloud's fingers around the glass himself when the blonde didn't take it at first.

"Here," was all he said, and now he was the one who walked past Cloud, and indeed, there was a gentle touch that ghosted underneath his chin and along the skin of his neck, then disappeared.

Cloud turned to ask for an explanation, but Leon was gone, and so he could only frown confusedly and shake his head, stopping as the movement resulted in a tremendous pound of his head. He set the glass aside to be forgotten on the table, but accidentally knocked something over. His eyes narrowed confusedly as he saw that the item was a bottle of aspirin that had definitely not been there before. Then it clicked. So that was what the water had been for…

"Thanks," he murmured gratefully, downing two pills and taking a swig of water.

"Spiiiiikey, Squaaaaally!"

Cloud jumped at the sudden noise, beating his chest in an attempt to keep from choking on the pills and glanced up as the door was slammed open and Yuffie practically blasted herself in. Would that girl never learn subtlety?

"Hey, Yuffie," he managed tiredly, and she gave him a thumbs up, "Hey, Aerith," he added as the flower girl entered much more sedately behind her, closing the door.

"How was the day?" she smiled at him, hefting the groceries in her arms.

He shrugged, "Uneventful."

"What's with all the noise?" Leon grumbled, scowling and coming down the stairs, Griever back in its rightful place swinging from his neck and stroked by a callused hand, "Can't you see some people are trying to sleep?" Cloud blushed to know that he was defending him, even if Yuffie, for Aerith surely had, didn't recognize it.

"But I have a better plan that boring ol' sleep," she grinned, bouncing cheerfully up to Leon and waving an item in front of his face, "You guys wanna watch a movie?"

"It looks good," Aerith added.

Leon looked at Aerith blankly after reading the summary, having snatched it from Yuffie, "It's a romance."

"It's got awesome ninja action it though!"

Leon looked at Cloud, and Cloud looked back and shrugged, "Why not?"

"You sure?" silver eyes flickered to the aspirin bottle.

Cloud had to admit that he was amused that Leon was so concerned with him, "Yeah, it's not going to kill me to skip a nap," he purposely avoided mentioning the headache, because Aerith would go into mother-hen mode, and Yuffie wouldn't be any quieter anyway.

The brunet looked dubiously at Cloud before turning the same gaze on the girls, "…Whatever. I'll sit with you guys, but I'll be reading."

"What a lame-o," Yuffie smirked, swatting Leon on the head as she bypassed him to stick the tape in the VCR. Leon scoffed and drew a book from the shelf, settling next to Cloud on the couch, since it was the only place that had a lamp next to it.

"I've been wanting to watch this forever," the ninja girl rambled on, "It's got some reeeally cute actors in it," and to Cloud's horror as a man, both Yuffie and Aerith giggled at that. Leon's raised eyebrow told him he shared the same thoughts.

Leon wasn't really interested in the movie, but the book he had wasn't exactly a thriller either, and so he found himself glancing occasionally, when the action in the movie or the book stilled, at Cloud. He thought it was kind of cute how he'd curled up on the couch, his legs tucked comfortably underneath him, leaning his head on the armrest, simply gazing at the screen. Leon might have tried doing the same, but the position wasn't as comfortable for Leon, considering Cloud was so much smaller than him. He also wondered how it was that his wing was folded behind his back, poking out like a misplaced sign of the apocalypse, without causing him discomfort. He wondered why Cloud had bothered watching the movie, since his eyes would droop every once in a while, and it appeared like he was only half-absorbing the action anyway. But every once in a while, Cloud would covertly glance at him, only to find Leon's eyes already trained on him, and they would both stare for a moment before hurriedly refocusing their attention on the book or movie. After it happened for the third time, though, Leon firmly forbid himself from looking at Cloud… directly, at least. But Cloud's foot was lightly pressed into his thigh, creating a warm spot, and the physical reminder that Cloud was there, next to him, made it nearly impossible to resist looking back. He kept him in the corner of his vision, but he was blurry there, and with that kid of restraint, he found the book at last held his attention more than the love-sick movie Yuffie and Aerith were alternatively squealing and sighing over. How old were they, anyway? He thought only love-struck teenage girls made noises like that… but then he thought of Selphie, and Rinoa and Quistis, and remembered their silly romance movie marathons, and how even Quistis had been unbearably girly for days after those.

The pain had lessened, but Cloud still felt overly foggy and tired. The movie barely made sense, and only a few words filtered through the haze in his head, but at least he could understand what was going on visually, even if he wasn't working very hard at deciphering it. He realized just how little he was absorbing from the movie though when Yuffie and Aerith suddenly burst out laughing, and when Cloud looked over, startled, saw even Leon had a small smirk on his face. Apparently, he had missed a joke. A good one, judging by the fact that even Leon had enjoyed it.

He had, after that, tried to pay attention, but could not figure out the deeper implications of much of the dialogue, and only managed to catch one or two of the straightforward jokes. The action was good, he had to admit, but he just couldn't focus with his eyes closing periodically, and the presence of Leon hovering over him. He could hear the page of his book turning occasionally, and his toes were pressed against Leon's leg, but he didn't want to call attention to it. If Leon hadn't said anything, it meant he either hadn't noticed or didn't care.

With his head lying on the armrest, he was free to slide his line of sight from the movie to Leon without moving his head more than a fraction of an inch. To his surprise, the first time he glanced over, Leon was just watching him, as one watches something vaguely interesting, or awe-inspiring, like a dew-covered flower in the morning breeze. It took a moment for Leon to notice that the object of his attention was now returning it, and when the realization hit him, his eyes immediately widened, and he flushed, turning back to his book as Cloud tried to figure out what was going on in the movie once again. It happened two more times, however, each time leaving the blonde more and more amused at Leon's discomfiture when he was caught staring. It was probably because Cloud was too sleepy to care, otherwise he might have been embarrassed too. It only happened three times, and after that, Cloud was free to sneak in glances whenever he wanted, because the other man didn't look back.

In the dim lamplight, Leon's profile was incredibly striking and enticing, as light curved over his features and left contrasting shadows and different values of shades to form contours over his face. His eyes involuntarily followed a line of motion that traced the curve of his eye, where light glinted, drawing his eyes immediately to it, down the graceful, almost delicate slopes of his forehead, nose and chin, and ending at the strong line of his jaw. It was true that while there was an air of unmistakable masculinity and strength about the brunet, accentuated by the casual stray locks of hair that seemed to rest pleasantly on his shoulders, there was a touch of femininity to his face. Many people called Cloud effeminate because of his face and small body, but Leon's pale, smooth skin could rival Aerith's on any day, and his eyes, framed by thick, long lashes, were an entrancing silver that glanced almost coyly at one. Cloud would guess that these effeminate features had been even more pronounced during his teenage years, when a childish roundness of the face would have eased the jut of his jaw, filled his cheeks and made his eyes look bigger. He wished he could have seen him when he was younger, Cloud was sure that he too had been confused for a tomboyish girl more than a few times when he had been young.

But the movie dragged on, and the aspirin was wearing off, and his head soon began pounding, often in rhythm with the painfully grating clangs of swords or numchuks or whatever they were. He shifted to a sitting position, rubbing his head sorely and hating how his vision seemed to tilt slightly. It still wasn't at migraine level though, and he hoped it would stay that way. Staring blankly at the screen, fogginess overtook him, and he felt his head sliding to the side. But before he had time to really process it, and even further, to stop himself, his head landed on a firm, soft pillow. And because it was comfortable, and unresisting, he left it there. In fact, he shifted a bit to make himself more comfortable against it.

As soon as Cloud's head thumped gently against his shoulder, Leon froze. Cloud had apparently sat up, but that hadn't worked for long, and he'd now fallen asleep—directly on Leon. For a couple moments, he didn't look or move, feeling much like the proverbial deer in the headlights, afraid to call attention to this… incident. Had Cloud done it on purpose? Did he realize that he'd just leaned his head on Leon's shoulder? And—did he just… snuggle against him?

Leon finally drew in a shaky breath—when, and why had his pulse began to race, and why was breathing suddenly a conscious act, where he had to control each tight breath that passed through his lungs? Closing his eyes briefly, he finally gathered the courage to raise his head and turn in, not sure why it was that it took courage to do so. His first instinct was to reel back upon being met with a faceful of hair that tickled. But the smell… it was sharply scented chamomile, with just a hint of cinnamon, and he recognized the shampoo that was in the shower, the one he bypassed in favor of melon or blueberry or something-or-the-other. The hair was soft, brushing against his face ticklishly and softly, and he cautiously buried his face in further, savoring the silky feel. Somewhere in the back of his head there was a vague thought about how ridiculous this was, and what was he doing? But it felt good, and the opposing side told him that Cloud was sleeping, and Yuffie and Aerith were too enthralled with the movie to look over. The sweet smell was calming, reminding him of the gentle whirl of aquamarine eyes that had the same effect on him, and he leaned his head over a bit to catch sight of the sleeping face.

His eyes were closed, and for the first time, Leon thought he looked strangely vulnerable and child-like. Leon wouldn't say he looked exactly peaceful, as his brow was slightly furrowed in mild discomfort, he discerned it was probably because of the headache. But he did look younger, and unguarded, as most people did when they slept. For a moment, the thought that he looked the same way when he slept scared Leon. Young and unguarded was the least of the things he ever wanted, no, needed, to look like.

He nearly jumped when Yuffie's exclamation over something in the movie startled him, and was about to shove off Cloud instinctively, but saw that they were still too caught up in the movie to notice anything else. He gauged that it would still be a while before the movie ended, and in the meantime… he glanced down at the sleeping blonde pressed against him. Well… he figured he had no reason not to leave Cloud were he was, he was sleeping well enough, and Leon knew he'd been tired—for one, he had been when they'd come home, and secondly, he hadn't had that daily nap of his tonight.

It was easy to tune out the sounds of the girls and the movie, and his world soon shrank to the confines of the lamp-lit couch, his vision limited to the words of his book and occasionally, the sleeping form resting against him. The pressure on his side and shoulder made him subconsciously shift, and he suddenly realized, though he didn't bother to correct it and continued reading, that he in turn had leaned his head on Cloud's.

He was jerked from his book by Yuffie's sudden wail, "Why'd he have to dieeee?" and found Aerith and her hugging each other tightly, crying like… goodness, like something had actually happened that merited crying. The ending credits were scrolling down the screen, and the room, save for the lamp, was bathed in the quiet afterglow of a movie ending.

He stiffened and whirled about, then stared helplessly at Cloud, not sure how to move him aside before the girls finally looked over. He really didn't want to disturb him, but he had only a couple moments before they glanced over, and Leon wasn't sure how it would look to have Cloud snuggling against him. So he used his free arm to budge the blonde off his shoulder gently, hoping that he wouldn't wake him up, mentally wincing and feeling slightly guilty as he had to push harder for Cloud's body to fall to the other side, once again against the armrest. The blonde's head lolled uselessly to the side, a soft moan sounding from his throat, and Leon couldn't help but feel overly guilty. He had always been easily pushed into guilt-trips when he'd been younger, and that particular characteristic hadn't left him even into adulthood.

"That was so good!" large, ridiculously mournful eyes turned to him, and he rolled his eyes and sighed, pretending that he had not just been nearly freaking out over what they almost had seen. He set his book down and stretched as if that had been all he'd done during the whole length of the movie.

"I wouldn't know," he said smoothly. Aerith too finally glanced over, and her eyes alighted immediately on Cloud, softening noticeably as she wiped a few stray tears from her face.

"Aw! He fell asleep! How cute! You should have seen him when he was younger, he was the most adorable thing ever!" Yuffie cooed upon seeing Cloud as well, and Leon glared and pressed his hand over her mouth.

"Not so loud," he muttered.

"Uell, we waf foo waikim up;—" she began, through Leon's hand, and he sighed and removed it, "The movie ended, we gotta wake 'im up so he can go to bed."

He scowled, "No, we don't. I can take him up," he mentally frowned as he realized that he'd just offered to carry Cloud, and he looked at Aerith warily to gage her reaction. But all she did was smile.

"That'd be good, it'd be better if we didn't wake him up."

He gazed down at the blonde, and rather reluctantly bent down, sliding his arms carefully underneath his legs, which he had to semi-straighten out first, and across his shoulder blades, and Cloud moaned softly. He hefted him carefully into a secure position in his arms, surprised that he wasn't as heavy as he'd imagined, and at how easily his body cupped against his, his cheek lying against Leon's collarbone.

"…You're very gentle with him," Aerith noted quietly, watching Leon, and Yuffie's gaze was sharply calculating too, and it made him feel unnerved. And the worst part was to realize that he was, and not just now, but always. Why…? It's not like Cloud wasn't strong enough that he couldn't take rough handling, and Leon himself wasn't the type to nurture and fuss over… gentle? Leon?

"I—No, I'm not, I'm just—" he wasn't sure how to justify the way he was holding Cloud, or any of the other actions that now flashed by his mind, "I don't know what you're talking about," he finally said, but he wasn't too sure either of how convincing that was.

"Right, right," Yuffie grinned widely, and Aerith only smiled mysteriously and stood to pick up the popcorn Yuffie had eaten practically on her own and tidying up.

He grunted in annoyance at their disbelief and climbed up the stairs, nudging Cloud's door open with his foot and depositing him on the bed, wishing that his body wasn't so automatically careful in pulling the blankets over him, or that his fingers didn't want to linger on his face and brush his forehead, down the dip of the bridge of his nose and lifting up gingerly at the tip of his nose.

He bit his lip and as if in response, noticed for the first time Cloud's. Small and thin, like the rest of him, but beautiful, and out of those lips came a soft groan, and Cloud turned his head to the side. Leon felt the urge to let his hand stroke his hair, and somehow couldn't find the will, or reason, to stop it, and so he let his hand fall upon his forehead, stroking it tenderly with his thumb as his fingertips massaged his skull. Cloud's drawn eyebrows relaxed and his face tilted up almost expectantly, querying.

"Zax…?"

Leon's hand paused, and then he completely removed it, lowering his eyes. He found that he could no longer look at Cloud's face, because there was an odd feeling constricting his chest, and though he couldn't understand it, he wanted it to be his name that came out of those lips he'd been staring at.

He talked about this Zax an awful lot, Leon admitted to himself, and that was all he dared to admit as he closed the door behind him.

Pretty soon, when I have enough content for a full chapter, I'll post two more LeonxCloud fics, and am actually really interested in Axel/Roxas/Zexion (yeah, I know, where the heck did I get that?) But anyway, thanks a LOT for all the reviews, it's totally awesome! Hope you liked