It's been a month.
A whole month.
Leon's mood deteriorated from just visibly missing Cloud in private, to sitting in the living room of Merlin's house for all to see, with his head in his hands, giving no one an explanation for his mood; just sitting there.
Sora had appeared recently to visit Pooh, but the moment he came back out of the magical book, he stared silently at Leon, who was just sitting there, staring blankly at his knees.
At a sharp dip in the couch, Leon glanced beside him, to find Sora settling himself on one of the cushions, his legs crossed, looking thoughtful. At the feeling of someone watching him, the little Kayblade-master looked at Leon, and promptly beamed at him.
A small smile tugged at Leon's mouth. Sora didn't want him to 'talk' about it. The kid had learnt that Leon didn't 'talk' about anything. Sora was just telling him that he was there, and would always be there to help.
Raising a hand, Leon gave Sora's nose a sharp tweak.
"N'RF!" Sora cried, slapping a hand over his nose and staring, watery-eyed at Leon.
Smirking, the older brunette leant back on the couch, feeling just that tiny bit less lonely. Sora poked his tongue out at Leon cheekily, his hand still plastered over his sore nose; a smile spreading across the teen's face regardless.
He'll come back soon, Leon assured himself, refusing to mope over the blonde, choosing, now, to just do jobs around Hollow Bastion, working away his frustration and sorrow.
A week later, the brunette was wandering back from smashing down an old, three-story building, to find Cid, Tifa and Yuffie in the living room of Merlin's house. Tifa was talking very fast to Aerith, motioning her hands around a little, Cid at her side, and Yuffie was blabbering something about 'evil twins' to a wide-eyed Sora, waving her arms around her arms about her head in an overly-enthusiastic manner.
The moment Leon entered, Yuffie's attention shot to him, she let out an ear-peircing squeal of 'SQUALLIE!' and threw herself at him, slamming into his chest and pulling him into a rib-crushing hug.
Not even attempting to tell her that he didn't go by that name anymore, Leon patted her on the head, giving Tifa and Cid a small nod in greeting, which he got a wave and a nod in kind.
"Where's Strife?" Leon murmured when Yuffie had finally released him.
The ninja blinked up at him. "He's not here yet?" she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. Leon felt his chest warm. Cloud was alive. He was fine.
Feeling Yuffie yank him toward Sora by the hand, the brunette vaguely heard the ninja babbling on about someone called 'Reno' and 'genova's head'.
"Come!" she cried, shoving Leon into the seat beside Sora, despite the older brunette's grunt of disapproval. "I wanna tell you about what we did! Beat Sephiroth! And, I just got to the good part too! Lotsa fighting! I kicked ass, as expected. But Cloud did good too!"
Placing his chin in his hand, Leon listened.
Four days later, the Gunblade wielder found himself sitting in the kitchen at the early hours of the morning, the sun having yet to rise. Leon just sat there in the semidarkness, his eyes just staring blankly at his hands, holding a full glass of water, just thinking.
'Cloud's fine!' Leon had heard Tifa say a day or so prior, to Sora. 'He's just taking a different rout here. He said he wanted to see the sights. With Sephiroth gone, he feels like a free man again, I suppose.'
Running his fingers absently over the smooth glass, Leon listened to the sound of soft pattering of early-morning rain on the roof and umbrellas of Merlin's house.
When Cloud came back, Leon would have to forget his feelings for the blonde once more. Running a hand through his hair, the brunette supposed that was the easy part. Waiting for Cloud, on the other hand...
There was a creak, and Leon looked up, in the direction of the dark living room, where the sound had originated.
Moving to his feet silently, the brunette stroked a finger along the hilt of his Gunblade, which was hanging from his hip, before moving to the archway, leaning his shoulder gently against the smooth wood, his grey-blue eyes roaming around the messy shapes of grey and black.
Finally, his eyes fell upon a recliner in the corner by the window.
A tiny glint of light from somewhere outside flitted through the window and a line of light highlighted bright blue eyes that looked up from behind a messy golden fringe to fix on Leon's own eyes.
A warm smile spread over Leon's face before he could stop it. "Strife," he greeted.
"Hello, Leonhart," replied Cloud smoothly from his recliner, the brunette's eyes adjusting to the darkness, able to see the blonde sitting there comfortably, one ankle crossed over the other. "Is this the part where you tell me I shouldn't come into a house uninvited?" Cloud smirked.
Despite himself, Leon couldn't help but grin. "I think we've already had that conversation," he murmured.
Arching his back into a perfect bow and stretching his arms over his head, Cloud let out a languid groan, his back popping a few times before he let body go slack, slumping once again against the recliner, both arms hooked over the back, his head tilted to the side, relaxed. "Yeah, I think we have," he smiled.
Leon could practically feel the difference in Cloud.
Before, Cloud rarely smiled at all, and yet, here he was, just short of glowing, and he was relaxed, just sitting there, completely open, his arms slung over the back of the couch, content and radiant.
Did Sephiroth really take this version of Cloud away?
Leon didn't care. Cloud was back, he was unhurt, and he was happy. That's all that mattered.
Turning away, the brunette walked back into the kitchen, retrieving something, before walking back into the living room, circling the couches, falling into the couch opposite Cloud and sliding a beer over the coffee table between them, the beverage coming to a stop in front of the blonde.
A smug grin melting onto his face, Cloud leant over, picked up the beer and held it up to Leon, who rose his own in return.
It was Leon's own kind of 'congratulations and welcome home', except, the brunette didn't have to say anything.
When the sun began to rise, a pile of at least more than fifteen empty beer-bottles were on the coffee table. Leon was sprawled across the couch, an arm thrown across his eyes, tapping a tune out on his half-full beer which was held to his side, and Cloud was on his recliner, lying with his head on one arm of the couch, his legs thrown over the other, and balancing his nearly-empty beer on one finger before him.
By the time Aerith had woken up and entered the scene, Leon was sitting in the kitchen, his forehead pressed against the kitchen table, his hands gripping his head, letting out a quiet groan or pitiful curse at absolutely any noise whatsoever, and Cloud was fast asleep on his recliner, his face buried in a pillow, blocking out all light, and a beer-bottle balanced on his knee.
Letting out a quiet sigh and making her way to the small lake of empty beer-bottles, Aerith went to work cleaning up, ignoring the occasional moan of agony which came from the kitchen.
((TBC. I loathe the start of this chapter and Emo-Leon still makes me die a little, but, yes. Final Fantasy Advent Children happened between when Cloud left, and came back. I tried not to mess that up. Loved that movie. I like the thought of Cloud and Leon drinking to excess. I don't know why, I just do. Anyway, read, enjoy and review, as usual! WTF?! Over one-hundred reviews?! ... You treat me too kindly! Thank you so much!!))