Disclaimer: All characters, most places things etc. belong to Square-Enix and Disney…or whatever, I don't own anything…so…don't sue me ok?

Chapter Four
Set in Motion

"Now, there's letters and numbers and decimals and shapes - first floor is split into five cases: A through E, F through J, K through O, P through T, and U through Z. Second floor is split into four: triangle, square, circle, and rectangle. But be careful, because sometimes the squares look like rectangles and rectangles look like squares. All information can be found on the spine of the book. Understand?" Quistis said, taking a deep breath after finishing her long and speedy spiel.

Cloud smiled brightly, "Gotcha."

Quistis stared at his happy face dumbfounded. In her five years as head librarian, she had delivered this speech many times and got many looks afterwards. A happy smile had never been one of them. "Are you sure? You seriously got all that?"

He nodded.

Quistis narrowed her eyes. "All right then, why don't you put these back?" she asked pushing a cart nearly overflowing with book towards him.

"Sure," he said grabbing the cart and wheeling it away.

She turned to return to her office, only to come face to face with her very giddy employees, practically floating after the blonde with hearts in their eyes. "Oh, get back to work!" she exclaimed rolling her eyes. "I swear, you'd think they've never seen a guy before," she muttered to herself before disappearing into her office.

---

"I'm baaack!" Yuffie exclaimed as she burst through the back doors. "Missed me?" she asked, sitting on the counter.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Was I supposed to?" he asked, although internally cheering for the girls return - another day like yesterday and he was sure to go insane.

"And where were you yesterday? I called only a million times! Sora thought you were dead somewhere," Riku asked, emerging from the back to lean on the doorway and await her explanation.

"Did not! You were the worried one!" Sora exclaimed from his place behind a shelf. He examined it thoroughly before kicking it over.

"What are you doing?" Yuffie asked bewildered.

"I'm making a mess," Sora said dryly before picking up the now empty shelf.

"Why?" Riku asked, eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"So I can clean it up," the brunette stated matter-of -factly. "It gives me something to do."

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose and Riku merely sighed.

"Anyway..." Yuffie said, brightening up again. "I just may have come up with a plan to bring in some customers!"

"I'm listening," Riku said.

"Well, you are definitely not ugly," she said, pointing for emphasis, "and neither is Leon or Sora. In fact, you three are as far away from ugly as possible."

"And... your point is?" Leon asked.

"Ugh! Boys are so dense!" Yuffie exclaimed, sitting back on the counter. "You use your sex appeal to charm and lure in the high school girls and house wives. Then, when the place is overflowing with females the guys are bound to come."

Leon sighed, returning his attention to the clock. "Should've known better than to expect Yuffie to actually have a good idea," he mumbled.

"No... No, hold on a minute. I think she may be on to something," Riku said.

"What?!" Sora and Leon exclaimed in unison. "Riku, you can't be serious."

"Why not? It won't hurt to try it. It's not like any of us came up with any better ideas."

"That's the spirit!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Now here's the plan..."

----

"I'm taking lunch!" Leon exclaimed as he headed out the store.

The weather was nice, spring was ending and there were little hints of summer all over the place. For some reason, the cool breeze and the bright shining sun made him think of Cloud and his feet took him to a bakery different than the one he usually frequented. He entered the small, modestly decorated bakery, passing by the cake section before turning back to it. He surveyed the rows of sweets he'd usually not pay attention to, before he spotted a small white cake, about enough for one person, decorated with red strawberries.

"May I help you sir?" the young lady behind the counter asked, after finally working up the courage to help the very angry customer.

Leon bit his lip, pointing to the cake. "I'll take one of those...please."

The waitress smiled, "Ah, my personal favorite! It's our best. Is it to stay or to go?"

"To go," Leon said with one last unsure glance at the cake.

The waitress disappeared for a moment, returning with a small white box held together with red ribbon. Leon looked at the box approvingly before handing the waitress some bills and leaving.

'That was stupid. You're stupid Leon. You don't even know if he likes sweets,' Leon thought as he hurried up the block, speeding towards the library. 'Who wants cake for lunch? If you were going to be stupid you might as well have bought him a sandwich'

Leon scrunched up his nose, shaking the berating thoughts from his mind. He paused at a department store, looking at his reflection in the window. "What is going on with you, Leon?" he asked the reflection, pausing for an answer he knew wouldn't come. "Get a hold of yourself."

About three blocks and several deep breaths later, he reached the library, pausing again in front of the closed door. He narrowed his eyes as he attempted to come up with something, anything to explain his sudden drop by.

'See?' the voice sneered yet again. 'Stupid. Won't you see him at home? Give it to him then.'

But before he could stop himself he was pulling open the door and entering the well lit building. He surveyed the area for wild blonde spikes.

"May I help you?" a young red-headed girl asked, placing an armful of books on a nearby table.

"Uhm... I'm looking for a new employee here, Cloud?"

"Oh, I know him!" she exclaimed. "Tall? Blonde hair and blue eyes?"

Leon nodded.

"Go up the stairs and turn to the left. He should be right there."

"Thank you," he mumbled, heading for the stairs. Sure enough, there was Cloud staring intently at the spine of a book. Leon felt a small smile tugging on the corners of his mouth at the sight of the blonde concentrating so hard.

"Working hard?" he asked, slowly approaching.

Cloud turned, face lighting up as he laid eyes on his roommate. "You bet! I'm almost done here."

Leon nodded, leaning against the table to wait.

"I'm really glad I tried out this work thing, Leon. People are actually pretty nice. A bunch of my coworkers even made me lunches... I'm not sure I can eat it all, but I'll try," Cloud said as he re-shelved the book and grabbed another one.

Leon sat up a bit when he heard this, noticing for the first time the stack of boxes at the edge of the table. He also noticed the females all around the floor, taking time out of whatever it was they were doing to throw glances at the oblivious Cloud. He felt a tinge of jealousy and possessiveness tug at his chest. He said nothing as he watched the blonde restacking the books. He watched the muscles in his back pull together and apart as he moved his arms, trying to picture the wings that had once been there. So lost was he in his thoughts that he didn't realize the pile was getting smaller until he found himself staring into deep blue pools. Leon cleared his throat, looking away.

"All done?" he asked.

"Yep," the blonde said, smiling. "Hey... what's that?" he asked, pointing to the white box.

"Oh... uh... a cake. I figured you might be hungry, but I wasn't sure what you'd want so... uh... it looks like you have enough food all ready, so maybe you can just bring it home and eat it then?" Leon finally finished, mentally kicking himself for rambling so long.

Cloud smiled, taking the box in his hands. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "Smells really good!"

Leon smirked, patting him on the head. "I better get back to work. I'll see you at home."

The blonde watched Leon's retreating form, fighting the urge to call him back. He wasn't sure why exactly, but it felt just a little colder with the other man gone.

"Ahem."

Cloud looked up to see his coworkers, Kairi and Larxene, hovering over him with big knowing smiles.

"So who was that, eh?" Kairi asked with a glint in her eye.

"Huh? Oh, you mean Leon?"

"Leon eh? Boyfriend?" Larxene asked, moving behind the counter

"What?!" Cloud exclaimed. He could feel the blood rushing to his face. "No! We're friends!"

"With benefits?" Larxene asked, raising an eyebrow.

"NO! Just friends!"

Kairi and Larxene exchanged glances.

"Yeah... sure," Kairi said, making air quotes. "'Friends'."

"Working hard?" Larxene mimicked, acting out the scene with two books. She held up the Cloud book. "You bet! How about you let me work you hard, you –"

"LARXENE!" Cloud exclaimed, his blush deepening. "That's inappropriate."

----

"Come on, Olette, we're gonna be late!" cried Selphie, a local high school girl, as she ran in a vain attempt to get to class before the last bell.

Olette, who had already been late three times this month, complied, running as fast as she could only to crash into the back of her suddenly immobile friend. "Why'd you sto-oh."

In front of a crowd of women, leaning seductively against the back wall was a beautiful boy with spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes. The world seemed to stop spinning as the other boy turned toward them, silver hair moving in slow motion as he lifted his hand, brandishing a flyer.

"Rent movies? Come to my store," he said quietly, his voice husky.

Somewhere near the front of the crowd, several women fainted.

---

a|n: edited May 25, 2009
changed other girl to Olette, that last scene always makes me giggle :)