Title: Vanilla Soufflé 2
Author: Sorceress Fantasia
Pairings: L/C
Warnings: AU, romance, sap, fluff, OOC-ness
Disclaimer: As much as I would love to lay claim to Cloud, I'm kinda scared of Leon's gunblade. So well, I don't own Kingdom Hearts and its character, and neither do I own the various Final Fantasies and their characters.
Note: This is a series of spin-off drabbles and ficlets meant to explain some events in my other fic Vanilla. Also talks about the minor characters in Vanilla. Done on request by Hanae da Firefly! Dedicated to you, dearie!
Summary: Leon thought his secret was very, very well-kept. So how did all his friends find out about it?
He had no idea when it started.
He had even lesser idea why it started.
But Leon couldn't deny that he kept catching himself shooting surreptitious glances at the quiet blond whenever he could.
The way the blond would stare out of the window, his eyes soulful and expression gentle… The way he would frown sometimes as he tried to understand the teachers' ramblings, his nose a little scrunched up together… The way he would pout when his best friend suggested something outrageous, his cherry lips cuter than usual.
It seemed only natural that Leon's eyes always found themselves turning to Cloud's direction, glued to the blond.
It seemed even more natural –not to mention inevitable- for Leon to find his mind stuffed full of thoughts about Cloud.
At first, it was nothing too over the top. Just an image of Cloud smiling at him sweetly, or maybe a whisper of Cloud's voice drifting through his head and imprinted in his mind, or even the sound of Cloud's soft laughter. It was as though the blond had taken up residence inside Leon's mind, even if the blond didn't know about that.
Leon was just one step away from doing the cheesiest thing and filling the margins of his notebook with Cloud's name surrounded by little hearts. Or, heaven forbid, write Cloud Leonhart-Strife.
And then, he had seen Cloud struggling and laughing while trying to get away from Yuffie's tickling attack. She had pinned him to the ground, tickling him crazy for being too quiet one day. When she had finally stopped, Cloud remained slumped supinely on the ground, his chest heaving as he panted heavily, cheeks flushed and rosy, his lips slightly open, and his uniform rumpled beyond belief. Those long lashes were still whispering against his cheeks, soft and enticing. And when those lashes finally lifted to grace Leon a glance of those precious blues underneath, Leon's heart had skipped a beat.
Why had he never realized how blue Cloud's eyes were? They sparkled brilliantly even under the harsh fluorescent lights; it made Leon wonder how stunning they would look under the moonlight, when their gaze was directed at him and him only. It made him shudder to even think of that. Eyes were the windows to one's soul, he'd heard. And if Cloud's eyes were already so beautiful, Leon couldn't imagine how beautiful his soul would be.
And as Cloud's lips remained parted, softly moaning as the stitch in his sides left him, Leon had felt his own breath being stolen. Both of them breathless, though for very different reasons.
In the few minutes that Cloud had remained lying on the ground, Leon could not move or tear his gaze away. Not that he even wanted to try.
That very night, Cloud looked very… different and sounded very… different in Leon's dreams. Cute didn't even begin to describe it. Arousing didn't do it justice. Sensual wasn't the right word.
Cloud just looked so… Cloud.
From that night forth, Leon found himself staring at Cloud even more.
His thoughts got less… innocent too. More than once, Leon had tried to imagine how soft Cloud's lips would feel under his own, or how nicely Cloud's hand would fit in his own, or how silky Cloud's hair would feel between his fingers. And once -just once!- he had daydreamed about Cloud lying under himself, looking at him wildly, incredulously, and yet, enticingly. Too bad that daydream was interrupted by the untimely dismissal bell; Leon really wanted to take up Cloud's offer. The blond looked like he was begging to be ravished.
But Leon did not act on any of his daydreams. He couldn't. Cloud was like a beautiful free bird; once startled, he would just take off and never return.
Leon didn't want Cloud to leave him.
And so Leon never told any of his friends about his little crush, because he was well aware of the likely consequences. Riku would forge a sappy love letter and toss it into Cloud's locker under his name. Tidus would chase off the poor guy sitting next to Cloud and demand that Leon move there. Selphie the little broadcaster would, in her sugar high, tell the whole wide world about his crush and tell everybody in person again just in case they had missed her announcement. Aeris would only giggle, being the kindest and most understanding of the bunch. Then again, the last time Tidus had a crush on Selphie, she had giggled innocently before them and then ran off to tell Selphie behind everyone's backs.
Therefore, it was only understandable that Leon kept it a secret from all of them.
But one thing Leon did not take into account was his tendency to keep staring at Cloud.
And his friends, being around him most of the time, were bound to notice just who he was staring at one way or another.
Cloud had smiled again that day, when Yuffie had bounced over from the next class to pull him away for lunch. His blue eyes positively sparkled when the girl mentioned her favourite pudding and how she was going to make him like it too.
Leon would have been jealous if he didn't know Yuffie and Cloud were just best friends.
Sitting under his favourite tree while eating lunch with his bunch of friends, Leon was about to let his mind wander off to his daydreams when his ears perked up at the sound of someone's name.
"You know, I was just thinking of asking Cloud out."
Leon blinked. Did Riku just say what he thought he'd said?
Tidus did a double-take. "Are you serious?"
"Why not? Cloud is rather cute." Riku grinned casually. "Now, any suggestions for where I can bring him to? Maybe that new ice cream parlor nearby? I've heard their sundaes kick ass."
"Not to mention they have cute servers," Aeris giggled. When everyone turned to her in disbelief, she flushed and quickly held up her hands. "I didn't go there to check them out! Honest! I just overheard some girls talking about this two cute twins working there."
"Yeah, sure."
"Don't worry, Tidy-Widy! No matter how cute those twins are, I'll still always love you!" Selphie exclaimed and quickly jumped into her boyfriend's open arms, who upon catching her, declared his sappy love for her too. Drama queens, both of them.
"Ah, it feels so good to have a girlfriend," Tidus sighed dreamily before turning back to the silver-haired teen. "So Riku, you're finally ready to settle down with someone too? It is a good thing. But why Cloud?"
Riku shot them a mysterious smirk. "Because Cloud, my dear friend, is a hidden gem. I'm surprised no one has asked him out yet. Have you even noticed how blue his eyes are? They're so blue I swear it makes the sky jealous and the sea envious!"
Leon had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from retorting that Cloud's eyes did not make the sky jealous or the sea envious. Cloud's blue eyes did not evoke jealousy and envy; they stirred up protectiveness and tenderness.
"And have you seen him when he smiles? He looks so utterly cute with a smile."
Cloud did not just look cute with a smile. Cloud looked gorgeous, dazzling, stunning /and/ beautiful when he smiled.
"Besides, Cloud is absolutely adorable when he laughs."
That wasn't accurate either. Cloud looked absolutely adorable whether he was laughing or not. Cloud looked adorable /just/ being himself.
"So guys? Any suggestions on where to bring him to?"
"Well…" Aeris trailed off, contemplative. Selphie looked like she had a vague idea.
"Nowhere."
Leon was surprised when everyone turned to him and stared. That was when he realized that he had been the one to put forth that last suggestion.
Riku narrowed his eyes. "Why nowhere?"
"Be… because you and Cloud won't go well together. He's not your type."
"I could have a try… I mean, it's not like I'm talking marriage with him," Riku replied, shrugging. Tidus and Selphie nodded vigorously, encouraging him.
It only irked Leon more.
"Don't date Cloud if all you're looking for is a fling. He deserves more than that," he growled, low and threatening.
"Because you like him?"
Riku's sudden question threw Leon completely off teeter. He blushed hotly, unable to keep his composure and wits together. Stammering, he quickly averted his gaze lest he gave more of his secret away.
"If you like him, I can give up. You know I'm not the type to fight with my buddies," Riku said seriously. When Leon did not answer, he wagged his eyebrows. "So… do you?"
"Do… do I what?" Playing dumb was the easier and best tactic to employ sometimes.
"Like Cloud? I won't fight with you if you like him, you know."
If Leon had been paying attention to his friends' anxious and anticipating looks, he would have noticed how strange they were all behaving. If Leon had even looked up for one second, he would have seen the tug on Selphie's lips, like she was trying very hard to suppress her giggles.
But Leon was too embarrassed to look up. So he bought Riku's story, hook, line and sinker. If admitting /it/ to Riku would prevent a potential conflict between the two of them, there was no reason why he shouldn't, right?
"…yea… yeah."
Tidus had to slap a hand over Selphie's mouth to stop her giggles from spilling out.
"You said something?" Riku asked.
Just say it! Leon steeled himself and lifted his head, meeting his best friend's eyes, glare for glare. Despite the bright scarlet colouring his face, Leon still managed to look rather threatening.
"I said: I like Cloud. So don't you dare try asking him out."
Selphie screamed in delight, hoping off Tidus' lap to dance around the area. That was the first sign that something was completely wrong.
His second clue came from Riku's reaction, which was very far from what Leon had expected. He had expected the silver-haired teen to slump in disappointment, or even to pout and try to talk Leon out of liking Cloud, but Riku did none of those. Instead, Riku punched the air triumphantly before turning to Tidus.
"See? I told you! You owe me fifty bucks now! Ha!"
Tidus' reaction was pretty much unexpected too. He pouted. "Damn it… I didn't think Leon would say it out loud so easily… Argh! Leon! You made me lose fifty dollars! I could have taken Selphie to that new ice cream parlor with that money!"
"But it's fifty dollars well lost, if we made Leon admit his crush out loud!" Aeris chuckled.
"Wait." Everyone turned to look at him. "Did you guys… bet on me?"
"You bet we did." Riku sniggered, letting his body fall to the ground and stretching out like a cat. That was a pretty good analogy too, because the silver-haired teen looked like a cat that had polished the cream /and/ eaten the canary. In fact, if he opened his mouth right now, feathers would probably come flying out in droves.
"Riku bet Tidus that he could make you admit your crush on Cloud out loud," Aeris supplied helpfully.
Leon felt his heart still. His secret! His well-kept secret! "You guys knew?"
"It's kinda hard not to, when all you do everyday is stare at Cloud," Tidus snickered.
"Not to mention gaze longingly and hope he'll turn and look at you like you're his Romeo and he's your Juliet. Ah, young love." Riku wiped an imaginary tear away, earning himself another round of laughter from the group.
"Oh, don't worry Leon. We won't tell a soul." Aeris winked at him before launching into a heated discussion with the others about how to get Cloud to like Leon too.
Leon just felt a headache coming, and if pounding his head against the tree wouldn't worsen his headache, he would have done so.
-tbc-
Teaser for next chapter: There is a reason why you should never let Yuffie find out about your secrets, and Leon is learning this the hard way. No, scratch that. The /very/ hard way.
A/N: I noticed that many of you have been dropping ideas for future chapters of Vanilla Souffle in the reviews, so please keep that up! The problem is: either a few of you are giving me the same ideas or I already have something similar planned! XD So I'm gonna give a list of tentative future chapters here, just in case you wanna see it. Credit for ideas is given to the first person who gives it to me.
1. Yuffie finds out about Leon's crush. Leon POV. Next chapter.
2. Leon's POV at Yuffie's funeral.
3. The first time Riku and the gang steps into the ice-cream parlor, thus starting Riku's flirting with Sora (Idea provided by Zenelly). Probably Riku POV.
