A/N: PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!
Now that we've moved past that note...
I'm soooooo sorry you have no idea. I meant to have this up a while ago, but school got insane after midterms. Well, actually that's a bit of a lie. The first month I just got lazy and kept pushing it off. I kept telling myself: "Okay, this weekend, you gotta get your butt going and finish that chapter!" but I kept putting it off. Well, now that Spring Break has rolled around, I'm ready to write!
Leave a review telling me what you want to see from these two in the upcoming chapters.
I have about two weeks to fill in the plotline before something big happens, so any idea helps.
Once more - SORRY! -shoves a plateful of cookies to each reader- TAKE THE COOKIES NOT ME!
I put this is present-tense, because I don't like past tense. It annoys me when I write two stories at the same time in different tenses. I make too many mistakes :3 I'm also making this first person. Sorry for the confusion.
Chapter 3: The Party
Cloud's P.O.V
"Woah! When'd you man up and get a motorcycle, Leon?" Snow yells as he bursts through Leon's front door. "Serah? Did you see his motorcycle? Not something I'd expect Leon to be riding!" Snow taunts.
"That's because I'm not." Leon replies, slapping Snow on the shoulder in greeting. "Hello Serah. I presume this is your sister Lightning?" Leon waves at the other girl with pink hair. I find it strange that they both have pink hair. It's not all that common.
"Yeah!" Serah laughs at the face that Snow is making behind Leon, and it manages to get a smirk out of Serah's sister. "This is Cl- Lightning. She just switched colleges, so I figured I'd take her with me to meet some people." Lightning shakes Leon's hand, and Leon smiles, trying to be friendly. The girl retracts her hand and smiles.
"Hey! Where are the snacks at?" Snow yells from somewhere in the kitchen. He managed to sneak past me, entirely unnoticed. He must have practice at this.
"I hid them. They're not coming out until everyone gets here!" Leon yells back. I laugh, and it is only then that they realize that there's another person in the house.
"Uh, who's that, Leon?" Serah asks curiously, trying to be polite, yet sounding rude. I laugh it off because I know that's not how she meant it. Leon and I exchange quick looks. I decide that I'm just going to pretend to be a friend for now. I don't want to cause any issues with untrustworthiness.
"Hi I'm Cloud." I introduce myself. "I'm a friend of Leon's." I shake Serah and Lightning's hands. "Nice to meet you."
"Jeez, Leon. Where have you been hiding such an attractive man?" Serah kids. Just then, Snow reappears in the room, and wraps his arms around Serah.
"Mine." He states, jokingly. I lift my arms in surrender.
"It's cool, I'm gay anyway." I smile, hoping that they have nothing against it.
"Oh, really? Leon is too! Maybe we could hook you two up or something? Oh my gosh! Right Lightning?" Serah asks excitedly.
"Serah. You can't just assume that he wants to be with every guy he sees. You can't force it on him." Lightning chides.
"Aww. But they'd be so cute! Cloud here needs a cute little brunet with him! What about Noel?! There's this guy and he's our friend and he should be here soon and stuff and he's really nice and he's a brunet! You two would totally like each other!" Serah says.
"Yeah, somehow, I don't think that being with my childhood friend is such a great idea. Y'know, I was the first one Noel came out to, right? He's the one who gave me confidence in finding who I was too. We were pretty tight until our mothers moved away from one another, and slowly we saw less and less of one another."
"You know Noel?" Snow asks.
"Yeah. You have ears, don't you?" Lightning snaps.
"Woah. Calm down. Jeez. It was just a question." Snow defends.
"Le-Le? Can we have sodaaaaaa?" Sora asks, entering the foyer. "OHMIGAWSH! AUNTY SERAH! UNCLE SNOW!" Sora runs up to Snow, who picks him up and holds him.
"We're not actually related, but since we've all known each other for so long, Sora picked up on calling Serah and I 'Aunty' and 'Uncle' back when we were in high school together. Oh, in case if you were wondering, I'm three years older than Leon. We used to be next-door neighbors for the longest time, and hung out a ton." Snow explains. He pats Sora's head and then puts him back on the ground where he goes and hugs Serah's legs.
"Hi Serah! Hi lady who looks like Serah!" Sora exclaimed, referencing Lightning.
"Hi there." Lightning says, waving gently at Sora. Two girls and a guy then open the door.
"Whoa-ho-ho! Leon! When did you get a bike? Dude! Cool!" The blonde-haired teen exclaims.
"It's not mine. It's Cloud's." Leon explains, gesturing to me. "Cloud, Tidus. Tidus, Cloud." Leon introduces us, gesturing from one another. "The girl with the strawberry-colored hair is Vanille. The brunette is Yuna. She and Tidus are dating."
"Cloud, huh? Nice to meet ya. Mind if I take your bike for a spin sometime?" Snow asks me. My mind freezes up for a moment, and I have no idea if I should trust this man or not. I don't even know if I should trust Leon or not. I hardly know him. What am I even thinking? I've gotten myself into a potentially dangerous situation. What if he just decides to kick me out one day? What if he decides to kill me? I could die. All because I was too much of a wuss to stand up for myself.
I can feel my face pale at the direction my thoughts are going. It seems to have caught Snow's attention as he promptly apologizes.
"Sorry. I was just joking. I mean, I have a bike of my own, but Lightning would kill me if I tried to take Serah here on it." Snow winks at Serah. "But seriously bro, it was a joke. Are you okay?" Snow looks concerned, and Serah and Yuna look as if they are about to explode with worry.
"Y-yeah. Sorry. I just- " I begin to try to explain, but I have nowhere to go with this train of thought. Leon seems to sense my distress and quickly changes the subject.
"Hey, are Hope and Noel coming together?" Leon asks, his eyes flashing to the door.
"They practically live together! Of course they are!" Tidus exclaims as Snow sets Sora back on the ground. A few moments after Sora's feet hit the ground, the doorbell rings. Tidus flings it open, smacking Snow in the arm, who in return trips over Sora, who falls into a vase on the side table.
"Owwwwwy! Le-Le! My arm hurts!" Sora begins to cry, and Snow apologizes, and Tidus welcomes Hope and Noel into the house. Hope and Noel immediately look at Sora, who was bawling at that point. Leon rushes over to Sora and picks him up.
"Hey Noel, hey Hope. Sorry that you walked in on this. Someone introduce Cloud while I take care of Sora,please?" Leon's brows furrow and he holds Sora on his hip as he carries him into the kitchen to patch him up.
Serah is the first one to recover, and quickly rushes over to the two boys. Noel doesn't look as if he's changed a day. I can still recognize the same features of ' little Noel' in this current version of Noel. Noel looks up, and his eyes meet mine, and recognition flashes across his blue orbs.
"Noooooel!" Serah screeches into Noel's ear as she squeezes him. "Hoooope!" Serah screeches with just as much vigor into Hope's ear as he receives his hug too. "This," Serah points towards Lightning, "is my sister Lightning. She just switched colleges, and she's going to be around here more often! Oh, and this," Serah points at me now, "Is Cloudy-kins! Cloud, you don't mind if I call you that right? Good. Noel you know Cloud right? Good!" Serah responds to her own questions before Noel or I even get to answer them.
"Cloud! I thought it was you! How've you been?" Noel asks, stepping towards me. We embrace one another, and I smile. He smells exactly like he used to.
"Hey." I respond quietly. "I guess you can say that I've been better. It seems like it's been forever huh?" I ask, glad to divert the attention back to Noel.
"I've been great, actually. I graduated high school early, which is where I met Snow, where in turn I met Leon. We all kinda hit it off, so we've been close ever since." Noel explains.
Sora runs back into the foyer. "Axel and Ri-Ri and Kairi are heeeeere!" Sora sings. "That means we get to have snaaaaaacks!" Sora cries in a sing-songy voice.
"Shh Sora! Don't say the 's' word! Tidus might get hungry and confuse 'Sora' with 'Snack' and gobble you up!" Leon teases as he picks Sora up and tickles him. Sora laughs hysterically as the doorbells rings once again. Sora rushes to the door and opens it much gentler than Tidus did.
"Tidus, he's like, half your age and he can open a door without anyone getting hurt. Maybe he should teach you!" Snow jests.
"Hey! I'll have you know that I spent three years in door opening school!" Tidus yells back in feigned anger.
I look to the stairs and see that Roxas is making his way down them. As a tall redheaded boy walks in the door, Roxas practically jumps down the stairs.
"Axel!" Roxas cries as he tackles the tall boy.
"Ow! Roxas! You're going to break the Gameboy that I brought you!" Axel yells at Roxas. Thus far, I hadn't seen Roxas this excited.
"Sorry! Now c'mon! Maybe if we work really hard we can get up to the first gym in Pokémon!" Roxas yells as he half-drags Axel up the stairs.
"Cloud, this is Ri-Ri and Kairi!" Sora introduces his friends like a little gentleman. The boy with silver hair that Sora introduced as 'Ri-Ri' has a faint blush across his face. He mumbles a hello and then turns to Sora.
"Sora, I'm Riku not Ri-Ri." He whines.
"Oh c'mon Ri-Ri! C'mon Kai-kai! Let's go play!" Sora runs up the stairs and his friends say goodbye to the rest of us quickly. Who'da thought that Roxas would pretty much turn into Sora when around Axel?
"So," Tidus breaks the momentary silence, "Snacks?"
The party wasn't anything special. I got to know the others a little better and I got to catch up with Noel. I never got around to telling him about my parents, but I'd tell him another time. I hugged Noel goodbye- just like we used to do as kids- and I could've sworn that I saw jealousy flash across Leon's face, but it was about one in the morning when they left. Sora's friend Kairi had to leave at about eight, and Riku and Axel were sleeping over. The younger kids had fallen asleep before everyone left, and Leon and I were left waving as Noel and Hope left as the last people.
That leaves me up to now.
Leon sits next to me on the couch as we are watching a movie. I told him as Noel left that I wasn't all that tired, and he said he wasn't either. We decided to watch some horror movie, but I didn't really care. I just needed something to do while I sorted out my thoughts.
Round one: Why not start with Leon. Leon the mysterious son of the biggest stars in the movies. Leon, the boy who takes in a stranger for unknown reasons. Leon, the caring and kind older brother with a scar across his face that makes one think otherwise. I don't know why I trust him. Maybe it's because I need someone to care for me. Maybe it's because he subconsciously reminded me of Noel. Maybe it's because he's just so attractive that I want to trust him. He almost seems too good to be true. I mean, he's incredibly kind and attractive, and he's gay? My life has just been too unlucky for this to be true. And I mean, what's with that scar across his face? That must've been horrible when he first got it.
What if he was a convict or something? There's so much that I don't know about this man, yet I'm so willing to trust him. Maybe it's his kid brothers? They remind me of Vaan. And then through them I trust him? I really don't know. What if he's just holding these kids hostage or something? What if he is evil? Maybe he got that scar on the battlefield trying to fight off a horde of wolves as he was covered in nothing but meat, and they slowly tore – nope. Stop that thought now. Keep his imaginary meat-clothing on.
"Hey, Leon?" I ask. I need to solve this issue with the scar so I can get that image out of my mind.
"Hm?" He responds.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that scar?" I ask, my voice wavering.
"It's a long story." He tells me. "Basically, I got into a fight. Nothing too bad, but I got careless."
"Oh." I reply like the idiot I am. And of course, I'm so stupid that I try to continue the conversation. "I mean one time I fell down my stairs and broke my arm and had to get surgery. That left a scar…" I drift off. I hope that maybe he'll offer up more information, but he just turns to me, face blank. His eyes bore into mine, as if he's reading my soul. After a few moments, he seems satisfied with what he finds, as he turns back to the movie. I'm left in a daze, staring at his figure that is highlighted by the flashes from the movie.
Before I know it, I'm fighting my eyes to stay awake, but I can't fight it, and succumb to the dreamy darkness that follows.
I wake up to the sun shining in my eyes. I go to sit up, and soon discover that there is a note on my head, as it falls off when I move. I quickly pull of the blanket that wasn't there when I fell asleep, and read the note.
Cloud-
I have to run out and do a few errands. So, Riku, Axel, and Rox should be fine until about ten. They usually tire themselves out. Don't answer the door if anyone knocks. It's usually paparazzi. I made pancakes earlier. Just pop them in the toaster oven or something when the boys all wake up. I shouldn't be home after two this afternoon .Feel free to eat/drink anything in the fridge.
Leon
PS: Feel free to watch a movie if you want. We have a massive collection of them.
Well he didn't waste any time explaining, now did he? I have to admit though, there wasn't much space on the paper. And what else would I have expected? A pretty picture of him and I frolicking in the flowers?
I wonder why I'm mildly disappointed. Well, my wondering doesn't last long because all four boys come rushing down the stairs yelling "Pancakes!" Sora jumps onto my lap, and Roxas pokes Axel's arm in excitement. Riku looks amused, and Axel looks hungry. Gotta love the pre-teens. Although, I must admit, Sora acts much younger than a pre-teen would, and Roxas acts as if he's already a teenager. I guess it balances out between the two. They're adorable either way.
"Easy there Sora." I say, trying to push him off without hurting him.
"PANCAKES!" Sora squeals.
"Sora, I can't get to the pancakes unless you get off of me." I attempt to reason. Sora jumps off my lap and darts towards the kitchen.
"FOR PANCAKES!" Sora yells, lifting one hand into the air as if he were holding a sword. Riku laughs at this, and Roxas drags Axel into the kitchen. I get up, place the blanket back on the couch, and head for the kitchen.
The four boys sit down, places already set. I figure Leon must've done it since there was a seat left for me. I lift up the tinfoil to find that the pancakes are still warm. Leon must've made them right before he left. I bring the plate of pancakes over to the table, and let the boys grab however many they want.
I quickly grab my pancakes, pour some syrup on them, and divulge in their excellence. Leon truly does have the best pancakes. I can entirely understand Sora's excitement for them. They are light and fluffy, and when covered in the right amount of syrup, practically dissolve in my mouth. I nearly moan in pleasure when I take a bite of one, but decide against it. The pre-teens don't need to hear my pancake-sex noises.
Pancake-sex? Well that's an idea…
Nope. We are stopping that thought right now. Pre-teens can be just as perverted as normal teens. They do not need to see me with that specific problem.
"Hey Cloud, where's Leon?" Roxas asks me.
"Said he had a few errands to run, why?" I ask. I have no idea exactly where Leon is. I almost wish he left me his number somewhere.
"Curious. He almost never leaves us. Especially with someone he met two days ago. You must really remind him of Zack or something. Well, you two are alike. In actions at least." Roxas reasons. The rest of us simultaneously stop eating, frozen in shock. For me, I was frozen because I didn't know that boy could say that much in one go. But for the other two, I'm pretty sure they froze at the mention of Zack. I can't say that it isn't strange that a complete stranger to me trusts me, a complete stranger to him, to watch his kid brothers and their friends. Maybe the errands were just that important that they couldn't be skipped.
The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence, as the boys soon after ran back upstairs. Sora was yelling something about a pillow fort, and Roxas was yelling something about beating the next gym leader. They left their plates behind, but I am fine with it. I don't have to deal with anymore little kid yelling and whatnot.
I pick up all of the plates and their respective utensils and rinse them. I toss them into the dishwasher. I guess that now I have some time on my hands, I should make some coffee. In about two hours or so, I'll check on the boys, just to make sure everything is fine. Maybe I'll help with that pillow fort that I heard about.
I brew some coffee within minutes, and begin to sip it as I walk to the table. I sip and ponder my life for a few minutes. My parents are gone. Utterly and impossibly gone. I'm sort of glad that we didn't fight before they had died though, or my guilt would be tenfold. There's nothing I can really do about their deaths though, so I might as well make the best of it, right? I don't think I'd be where I am if not for their deaths. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm devastated, I just can't really process the whole 'dead' thing.
I wander into the living room, and set down my coffee cup and turn on the TV. I watch the news for a while. There's nothing really interesting going on, but next week is supposed to be warm. I guess that's a good thing. I don't really care though. I'm bored, and I figure I should go check on the boys.
I'm not quite sure where their rooms are, so I follow the sounds of screeching and fun. I figure since this room could very be a dangerous pillow-war-zone, I should leave the hot coffee outside.
I open the door and all of the commotion stops. Roxas is enthralled in his game, and Axel gives him pointers every now and then, as if they don't really notice I'm there. But Sora and Riku, on the other hand, are frozen in what I can only assume is wrestling. I decide to break the silence.
"So, I heard there was a pillow fort up here?" I ask, smiling with my most innocent. Sora and Riku share a look, and as if they came to an agreement, separate and run behind the couch. Two couches were combined, and pillows were used to make a roof. Sora stands up in a gap in the window and shrieks.
"NO ADULTS!" Sora cries, and begins to throw pillows at me playfully. This seems to capture Roxas' attention, as he closes the top to his Gameboy, and looks at Axel with a mischievous smile.
Roxas tosses the game to the side, and runs to the fort, Axel following suit. They grab all the pillows they can find, and I know this is going to be a full out assault.
"Oh come on! Four on one? That's hardly fair!" I cry in fake anguish.
"I AM THE KING!" Sora yells, and launches a pillow, triggering all of the boys to throw pillows. I attempt to deflect the pillows, to no avail. It seems that right after they throw a pillow, they have another one ready.
I pick up one of the discarded pillows, and throw it back. It hits Sora and he falls over dramatically.
"I'M HIT! I'M GOING DOWN! RIKU! YOU MUST CARRY ON THE KINGDOM WHILE I RECOVER! TAKE DOWN THE ADULT!" Sora yells, half laughing. He pretends he is in a hospital for a while, as we have a cease-fire. Then, Riku stands up on the couch.
"FIRE AT WILL!" He yells, and Roxas and Axel both throw pillows at me. Riku pokes and tickles Sora until he gets back up.
I duck behind a bean bag, and grab as many pillows as I can. I see another bean bag close by, and decide to run for it. I stand up, toss three pillows at the boys, none of which hitting them might I add, and duck behind the other bean bag.
I pop up from behind the bean bag to throw more pillows, just to be assaulted by four more. One of them manages to hit me in the face, and I decide it's my turn to be dramatic too.
"Oh no!" I fake cry out in pain. "My weak point! How did you know! Not the face! Nooo! I'm melting!" I drop onto my knees. "I can see the light! I'm dying! Oh lordy lord! Is that you grandma?" I drop onto my side and make a 'dying noise.' Sora comes over and pokes me.
"Cloudy dieded." Sora says, sounding cute. "THE KIDS RULE AGAIN!" Sora yells, as he jumps on top of me. I quickly sit up and wrap my arms around him.
"But I'm a ZOMBIE!" I growl jokingly. Sora screeches and wriggles in my arms. "NOM NOM NOM! BRAINS! SORA IS MY ZOMBIE FRIEND NOW! MUAHAHAHA!" The other three boys giggle and get back in their fort.
"GET SORA AND CLOUD!" Axel yells. They all begin throwing pillows at the both of us, as Sora and I rush the pillow fort. Just as we reach the pillow fort, the door to the room goes flying open.
"Are you guys okay in here?" Leon asks, worry prominent in his voice. He quickly looks over the situation and decides there is no threat.
"We were playing. Sorry. It kinda got out of hand." I apologize.
"Le-Le, Cloud and I are zombies and we're going to eat your brains!" Sora cries as he jumps on Leon. Leon seems to catch on pretty quickly, as he pretends to be a zombie, and we attack the pillow fort.
Leon, Sora, and I quickly overthrow the pillow fort after we 'zombify' Riku. After the pillow fort collapses, so do we, in laughter.
"That was fun!" Sora yells.
"Yeah! Cloud and Leon are good evil zombies!" Roxas yells in agreement.
"Hey! I'm not always an evil zombie!" I fake chide the twins.
"Or are you?" Leon asks, and we all break into laughter again. After a few moments, Leon gets up and brushes himself off. He offers a hand out to me, and pulls me up off the ground. I lose my balance momentarily, and wind up falling into Leon.
I blush profusely and quickly regain my balance. As attractive as Leon might be, I don't want to seem like I'm coming onto him. His friends may have told me he was gay, but that doesn't mean he's going to like me.
"So, who's up for lunch? Wanna go out to get lunch at Kupo's?" Leon asks, and all four boys' faces light up. I don't really get the excitement of this restaurant, but I'm up for it. Leon looks at me for agreement, because we both know that the boys are in.
I could never say no to four puppy-dog faces at once, so I nod. The boys jump up and begin to rush down the stairs to put their shoes on. Leon hangs back, as if he has something to say to me.
"Thanks." He tells me. He seems to have put some of his guard back up, but he smiles softly, and I know whatever he's thankful for, he means it.
"For what?" I ask, not being able to hide the curiosity in my voice.
"Everything really. I know you probably don't know why I trust you, and the truth is, neither do I. There's just something about you that I like. But thanks for watching the boys and playing with them. I don't get an awful lot of time to do that anymore." Leon sighs, and his shoulders slump. I catch this as a moment of opportunity to sweep in, and rest my hand on his shoulder.
"Leon, whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. You're letting me stay in your house. There's no way I could possibly repay you for that. In reality, I should be thanking you." An emotion swirls in Leon's eyes, and he nearly looks confused. "C'mon Le-Le." I joke, using Sora's nickname for Leon. "Let's go get some lunch."