Chapter 3: Christmas in September

As it usually happened, Kadaj woke up first. He sat up groggily, wondering where he was and why he still had all of his clothes on. He lay back with a soft sigh as the memories flooded back. This was Cloud's house, Cloud's room, Cloud's bed. Last night the blonde had stopped Kadaj mid-seduction, explaining that Yuffie had probably installed a hidden camera somewhere in the room, and they shouldn't do anything too serious until they found it.

Speaking of Cloud...the silver-haired teenager crawled over to his lover and poked him in the ribs, "Cloud?"

Cloud snorted in his sleep and rolled over. Kadaj frowned and poked him a little harder. "Cloud? Cloud!"

The swordsman did nothing.

"Well, if you insist, I'll just have to shower by myself..."

Again, nothing. Cloud must have been under more stress than he had admitted to be exhausted like this. Kadaj gave his lover a sympathetic nuzzle and hopped over to the bathroom for a shower.

Cloud was still asleep when his silver-haired love threw open the curtains about a half an hour later.

"Wake up, Spiky!" Kadaj called cheerily, flicking damp silver tresses from his eyes. "The sun has come to see you!"

Cloud growled something about how the sun could take its happy rays and shove them up its happy ass before turning over yet again. Kadaj stalked over to the bed, flipped the older man onto his back, and climbed into a sitting position on his chest. "Cloud. You need to get up and eat something. Now."

The ex-Soldier glared up at him sourly, sapphire eyes rimmed with red. "You really are an ass in the morning. Did you know that?"

Smiling sweetly, Kadaj brought one of Cloud's hands to his own well-formed backside. "I thought you loved my ass...?"

Cloud chuckled, giving the former remnant a playful swat before sitting up and cuddling with him. "How about a good-morning kiss?"

"Will you take a shower?"

"What's the point if it's not with you?" he pouted.

"Hate to break it to you precious, but most people take showers to get clean, not dirty." Kadaj smirked and slid off the bed.

"Hey, what about my kiss!?" The blonde protested.

"You'll get it when you come downstairs, clean!" Pretending to be deaf to Cloud's disgruntled mutterings, Kadaj took the stairs two at a time. He passed Tifa in the hall, tossing her a confused glance when she scowled at him.

He took her recently vacated chair at the kitchen table. "Good morning."

"Mornin', pretty-boy." Cid muttered over the top of a very large newspaper. Marlene smiled shyly at him over the table, but Denzel seemed to absorbed in his pancakes to do anything else. Vincent was humming dreamily at the stove, cooking. His cloak was hung over the back of one of the chairs, and he looked, if at all possible, quite tame without it.

Kadaj beamed at Marlene, happy that she was glad to see him, and then said to the part of the pilot's head that was sticking out over the top of the paper, "I do have a name, you know."

Cid folded his paper and crossed his arms. "My apologies. What was it? Cabbage?"

"Kadaj, actually," the former remnant forced a grin, thanking Vincent politely when the man set a large plate of breakfast down in front of him.

Cid snorted. "Kiss-ass."

Kadaj decided to ignore the man's comment, instead asking, "Where are Red and Yuffie?"

"Red had to go back to Cosmo early. Some kind of emergency or somethin'."

"And Yuffie?" Kadaj speared a sausage and dipped it in his maple syrup.

"Sleeps in."

"I see." Breakfast continued in silence for a while, Vincent eventually getting his own food together and sitting down. The dark-haired man glanced critically over at Denzel, eyeing the untouched eggs on his plate. "Denzel, how about you eat those eggs?" he suggested quietly. The boy looked up with a disgusted look on his face.

Kadaj tutted softly. Denzel stared at the silver-haired man for a few seconds, and then began to shovel the greasy yellow lumps into his mouth as if they were toxic waste. In a matter of minutes, his plate was clean and he was rinsing it off in the sink.

Cid watched it all with wide eyes, and when the two children had left the room, he barked, "Dammit, I've never been able to get that boy to eat his eggs!"

Smirking smugly, Kadaj took his own plate to the sink. "I like children."

The teenager strode down the hall, in the direction of the stairs, intent on seeing where Cloud had gotten too. Just before the turn onto the stairs he heard two voices; one he recognized as Cloud's immediately, though the other he had trouble recognizing. It dawned on him that he hadn't heard Tifa speak yet, and concluded that it must be her. He sank into the shadows and listened, trying to catch what they were saying.

"I said no, Tifa."

"But Cloud—"

"No."

The dark-haired woman whirled around the corner, cheeks red, eyes glittering with tears. She rushed past Kadaj without noticing him. Cloud followed a few seconds later, looking more than a little angry. Kadaj stepped out of the shadows. "Cloud?"

"Oh!" The blonde swordsman stepped back, surprised. "Kadaj!"

The younger man smiled, a little perplexed, and slipped his arms around his lover's shoulders. "What was that all about?"

Cloud sighed, pulling Kadaj into a tight hug. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

The swordsman sighed again. "Tifa wanted me to take her back."

"What?" Kadaj pulled back slightly. "You were never together, were you?"

"Not according to her. She's not really taking 'us' well."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the younger man said. "I hope we can, um...work it out."

Cloud startled his lover with a laugh. "You sound just like Zack!"

"Who?"

"Don't ask," Cloud chuckled a little. "How about that kiss, then?"

"My pleasure," Kadaj purred, tilting his head up to meet Cloud's lips with his own. It turned fast and hot quickly, the two men's tongues writhing and twisting around each other, Cloud squeezing his lover's waist seductively.

Suddenly, two large hands grabbed both of their collars, pulling them apart.

"GET! A! FUCKING! ROOM!" Cid shouted, punctuating each word with a violent shake. "THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THIS HOUSE!"

He let them go then, and stomped upstairs, grumbling something about perverts.

Both Cloud and Kadaj were blushing, Cloud perhaps a little more so. He cleared his throat, trying not to burst out laughing. "I'm going to go get some breakfast."

"Well...have fun with that. I'll go start unpacking." Kadaj giggled and began climbing the stairs.

About halfway up he was stopped by Yuffie. She looked a little disheveled, her hair ribbon crooked. "Hey, Kadaj!"

"Yeah?"

"I bought a present for you a while back. Wanna see it?" The young Wutaiian smirked impishly.

"A present? For me?" Kadaj was confused as to what warranted this sudden kindness.

"Well, mostly for you, but also for Cloud." Her grin widened.

It took Kadaj a minute to understand, but when he did, he smirked back at her conspiratorially. "Oh, for the both of us, you say? Who's the pervert now?"

"At least I don't try to seduce my partner on the stairs," she giggled. "Do you want it or not?"

"Why not?" The former remnant heaved a great sigh and followed Yuffie up to her room. She brought out a large box and handed it to him, eyes sparkling devilishly.

"How about you try it on?" She asked sweetly.

"Try...it on?"

"Yeah."

"All right," the teen was thoroughly curious by now. He retreated to his own shared room with Cloud and opened the box. Inside he found a pair of black leather short-shorts, leather arm- and ankle- bands, and a leather collar. Kadaj paused to contemplate the significance of the various leather items.

Then, he stripped and struggled into the tight black garments. He opened the door and let Yuffie oogle him. "What do you think?"

She grinned, averting her eyes. "I think there's a reason Cloud likes you."

The silver-haired man laughed. "Any other secret plots you would like to discuss?"

"Well, I was planning to get everyone out of the house for a few hours, except for you and Cloud. Maybe." Yuffie winked.

"I think that's a fine idea."

- - - - -

Notes: Ha, I bet you all thought I was dead, didn't you?

I must admit the Kadaj's happy-cutesy-polite-ness is a bit out of character...

Maybe he's on medication...? XD (-joking-)

Hope you enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it. Only two or three more to go.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get them done faster then this one. :)

Happy to hear from you!

Ciao for now,

-Dove

P.S. I insist you go watch this youtube video. It is most definitely the best I've ever seen.

Go to youtube and search for "boogie wonderland advent children." It'll probably be one of the first ones. Um... I think it's by hewiealbino. I think.