Taken For Granted
MeOw.
"Yuffie," Leon said softly. He was in the room they shared, sitting on his bed opposite hers. She had already gone to sleep, apparently, and was now in the bed, the covers obscurring her hair. For some reason it looked lighter than usual, but Leon shook it off as a trick of the light.
"Yuffie," he began again, "I'm...sorry. I...I didn't mean to...you know..." This was awkward, even if she was asleep. After all, Squall Leonhart was never one to apologize... "And...I..." He paused, taking a breath. "I don't want you to stay away from me," he said. "I didn't mean what I said about wanting you to get away. I want you with me, Yuffie."
The covers shifted a little as Leon's heart leapt. Maybe, just maybe--
"Leon?" a sleepy voice murmured. His heart dropped. That wasn't Yuffie's voice. "Oh, sorry, Leon, forgot to tell you..." Aerith yawned, laying her head back on Yuffie's pillow. "Yuffie and I switched rooms..."
"And you couldn't tell me this earlier, before I poured out what I felt?"
"Nope," Aerith replied sleepily, giving him a tired smile before getting up, sitting up in Yuffie's bed. "And since I just found out how you feel, why don't we talk?"
Leon sighed, preparing to go to sleep, before Aerith stopped him with a sigh.
"This is why your relationship is so muddled. You don't want to talk."
"..." That may be true. "Fine," Leon said, getting up again as he sat on his bed. "If it'll help with my situation with Yuffie..."
He gulped. "I'll talk."
Meanwhile, in Cloud and Aerith's room...
Yuffie sat on Aerith's bed, sniffling. Cloud was sitting next to her awkwardly, patting the ninja's back soothingly.
"He was just so mean that time, Cloudy!" Yuffie said. Her voice was sad with a tinge of anger in it.
"W-Well," Cloud said awkwardly, not sure what to do. After all, Aerith was the people person, not him... "I'm sure that Leon didn't mean it. He says a lot of things when he's angry, and..."
"But Leon wanted me to stay out of his life, and all of a sudden he's trying to talk to me and everything!!" Yuffie groaned, slumping against the wall as Cloud stood, walking to the bathroom. "THIS SUCKS! I mean, he's like a frickin history book! He's so hard to read!!" Yuffie groaned again, aimlessly throwing a shuriken.
"YUFFIE!" Cloud hissed as he ducked quickly, the shuriken nearly grazing his perfect hair. The ninja smiled sheepishly.
"Whoop. Hey! Not my fault!! You got in the path of the shuriken!" Cloud shook his head with a sigh.
"Yuffie, how do you feel about Leon?"
The ninja remained quiet for a second. "IlikehimandI'vehadacrushonhimforawhileIguess..." she said quickly.
"So why don't you tell him?" Cloud had, amazingly, caught everything in that sentence.
"BECAUSE!!" Yuffie said, pouting. She stood, stomped her foot once, and then sat down again. "He'd reject me outright! I mean, he's all stoic and evil just because...because he lost someone! Well we've all lost a precious person too!"
Cloud remained silent as Yuffie continued to rant. When she finally ran out of things to call Squall, she finally slumped down onto Aerith's bed.
"So?" Cloud asked.
"So I like him. But I can't tell him."
"And?"
"And I'm afraid that if he talks to me, he's going to tell me that he hates me."
"And?"
"And I...I want to at least be his friend, if I can't be something more."
"...So?"
"...So I have to talk to him."
Cloud smiled. "Right."
Yuffie paused, sighing. Then a cheery grin spread across her face. "Heyyy Cloud-o! You're not as bad as you think!!" Yuffie gave him a good slap on the back as he winced momentarily.
"Wanna go to sleep?" he asked.
"No," Yuffie the Insomniac said. It was already four in the morning. "Tired, old man?" she teased.
"No," Cloud replied, choosing to ignore the 'old man' part.
"Wanna teach me how to play Scrabble?"
"You know how to play Scrabble."
A pause.
"...So?"
"So what's your conclusion?" Aerith asked. They were having a much more calm and sensible conversation than Cloud and Yuffie.
"I don't know, Aerith," Leon muttered. He dragged a hand through his brown hair as he sighed. "I guess I'm...I don't know...nervous? Scared?"
"That's not a conclusion," she sighed. "And why would you feel like that?"
"Because...I guess I want to be able to protect Yuffie, and...somehow I'm the one that hurt her."
"So...?"
"I've tried talking to her, Aerith!" Leon groaned. "She's completely avoiding me!"
Aerith pursed her lips. For once, she didn't know what to do.
"I..."
Aerith turned her attention back to the struggling Leon, who was confused about his feelings. "I think I...might..."
"Love her?" Aerith asked flatly. "Yeah, Cloud and I figured that out a while ago."
Leon glared at her. Aerith smiled sweetly. She thought for a moment. If Yuffie was with Cloud right now, chances were that she was pouring her heart out to him. Cloud was probably trying to help.
"Try talking to her one more time," Aerith pressed.
"I told you! She--"
"Just try, okay, Leon?"
The Gunblade wielder sighed.
"Yeah. I'll try."
The morning air was tense as Cloud walked out of his room, ruffling the still-sleeping Yuffie's hair as he walked out.
Aerith was already making breakfast.
"Yuffie's still sleeping? Cloud, what were you doing last night?" Aerith asked.
"..." Cloud remained silent, but one could see his left eye twitching as he recalled the Scrabble incident.
xx
"I WON!"
"You lost."
"I WON! THAT'S NOT HOW YOU PLAY!"
"How the heck are you playing?!"
"...MY way! I won!" Yuffie did a victory dance. Cloud sighed.
"Alright, now you know how to play Scrabble. Can we go to sleep now?"
"NO! Admit it! I won!"
"..." His left eye twitched. Cloud groaned.
"You didn't win! You cheated! 'Zarbeg' isn't a word!"
"It so IS! Zarbeg is...um...an exotic fruit!"
"Oh son of a--Yuffie! JUST GO TO SLEEP!"
xx
"We had an incident with Scrabble," he said. Aerith chose not to ask anymore about it. "What did Leon decide?"
"...He wants to talk to Yuffie. What about Yuffie?"
"She wants to talk to Leon..."
Cloud smiled. "Does this mean that you're sleeping in our room tonight?"
"Yeah." Cloud didn't hide his relieved expression. He came up behind Aerith, wrapping his hands around her waist as she leaned back into his shoulder.
"Good, because I don't think I can stand playing Scrabble with Yuffie one more night," Cloud muttered.
Yuffie pranced out of Cloud and Aerith's room, hopping to the table.
"Woot! Breakfast!"
"Yuffie," Aerith said, laughing, "It's one 'o clock."
"...Woot! Lunch!" the ninja cheered, biting into her food enthusiastically.
An awkward pause came upon them. "Erm...Aerith? Where's Squally--Leon?"
"Leon is training, I believe," Aerith frowned. "Hm...I think he's at training, at least. I'm not totally sure."
Yuffie nodded. She finished her food quickly, pocketing some shuriken and grabbing Conformer.
"Oookie dokeh, then, I'm gonna go find him."
"...Yuffie, be careful outside," Aerith warned. "For some reason, there are a lot of Heartless sightings today..."
"Aww, don't worry, ma," she said with a playful wink. "I'll kick their asses!"
With that, the ninja ran off.
Yuffie struck gold the first place she looked: in the secret waterway training area that she and Leon always used.
"..." She gulped, peeking to see Squall training. She took the first step forward. All of a sudden, Yuffie was feeling uneasy.
"I can hear you from a mile away," Leon said suddenly as Yuffie tensed, and then huffed.
Leave it to Squally to interrupt one of my reflective thought times!
Leon turned around, his hold on the Gunblade slacking a little as he ran a hand through his hair. Yuffie told herself not to stare at his face. His eyes were turned to the side, slightly out of focus, and his hair fell around him, framing his face. And, of course, that scar just totally added to his sexiness! Yuffie gulped.
"Squally--erm...Leon," she said awkwardly. Leon turned towards her, suddenly snapped out of his reverie. "I...erm, uh..."
Leon cut in, thankfully. "Yuffie."
An awkard pause.
"Yuffie, I..." he sighed, trying to find the right words. "I didn't mean what I said." Yuffie's expression was now that of a fish. "I...I do want you near me."
Suddenly the Gunblade wielder found himself in the water, Yuffie on top of him, hugging him. He tried to find the right words to say.
"That's all I needed to hear, Leon."
"It's Squall," he said softly. Yuffie pulled back from her attack-hug, surprised. Then, she smiled. A real, happy smile.
"Alright...Squally."
Leon suddenly jerked her downwards as her lips crashed onto his. He knew that this was wrong; she was seventeen, he was twenty-six.
Yuffie blinked in surprise, but kissed him back willingly, hugging him.
Ah, who gives a shit.
A Week Later++
Cloud and Aerith walked to Yuffie and Leon's room, about to knock and tell them it was dinnertime, when...
"I WON!"
"Yuffie, 'varkna' isn't a word."
"It so IS, Squally!"
"It's Leon! And no, it isn't!"
"Yes it is, Squall!"
"Alright, tell me what it means then!"
"..."
"That's right."
The sound of a Scrabble board hitting the wall made Cloud stifle his sudden laughter.
"That was childish," Leon's voice was calm, cool.
"SCRABBLE'S EVIL! YOU'RE EVIL!"
The sound of an 'OOF!'
"Why'd you tackle me?"
"BECAUSE! YOU'RE EVIL!" Yuffie's voice came from inside the room.
Then there was a long silence.
Aerith giggled lightly as she and Cloud walked back to the table.
"So now Leon's suffering the Scrabble issue, huh?"
"I swear, they're the weirdest couple ever," Cloud muttered.
Inside the room, Leon and Yuffie were still kissing.
"Aw, Cloud! At least they're in love!" Aerith giggled.
Inside the room, Yuffie just happened to fall asleep suddenly as Leon sighed. This girl was crazy. He brushed some ebony bangs away from her face as the girl suddenly shifted, grabbing onto his hand. She snuggled.
"S...qual...ly...Nn. Mine."
Leon smiled.
He was never, ever going to take her for granted.
Ever again.
And they lived happily ever after...
Erm, until the next Scrabble game, that is.
Kya! I'm done!! Hope you guys liked! I want to start a new AU fic...Oooh. It's going to be:
Squiffie, Soriku, Clerith, AkuRoku, Zemyx...and yeah. Yaoi! Yay!