Current chronology: Call of Duty, Blackmail, Qualifications, Exposed, Clean, Demand, Officer Down, Recovery. Chapters not posted here can be found on LJ (more info in my profile).
¿Habla español? Cacell has very sweetly asked to translate these into Spanish, and I very happily said yes! Chapters I post here on ffnet will also be posted here by her, and the mature chapters will be available on yGallery as collabs between us. Call of Duty and Blackmail are posted already, check 'em out!
Disclaimer: dood, fanfiction. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and the characters and universes therein are the property of Disney and Square Enix. I receive no remuneration for this work; it is a parody and as such utilizes the Fair Use clause of the Copyright Act.
Call of Duty: Recovery
It's a struggle each time Cloud tries to lift his eyelids. They feel heavy and numb, and don't want to do what he tells them to. Nothing wants to do what he tells it to. He can't move his legs, his arms, his head, can barely breathe for the weight he feels compressing his chest, and through the thick, nauseating fog he starts to panic a little, making a low, pained noise in the back of his throat that he doesn't even register as his own voice.
"Cloud? How are you feeling?"
That—that voice, he recognizes. The distant, familiar baritone sends a warm, welcome rush of relief flooding through him, only taking seconds to calm his struggle. He stops trying to open his eyes, and instead tries to replay the question in his mind, focusing on each individual word and then attempting to absorb the overall meaning through the cotton in his head.
It's some time before he comprehends it well enough to come up with a suitable response, though there really aren't any words to describe how he feels. He has to work his tongue in his mouth and swallow a few times before he can even try to speak, and each time is agony, abrasive like he's swallowing thirty grit sandpaper instead of spit.
"Like I've been hit by a car?" he offers weakly, wincing with the effort it takes to manage just that.
He still can't quite open his eyes all the way yet—he's exhausted and it's far too bright—but he hears Leon sigh, hears a small rustle of fabric and feels the gentle pressure of warm lips against his temple, right below a bruise he can now feel throbbing with each heavy, liquid beat of his heart.
"You're going to be okay," Leon murmurs, breath stirring his hair briefly and tickling his ear. The reassurance seems to be as much for Leon's benefit as his own, and though it's clear that he doesn't want to elaborate past that, from the tone of his voice Cloud gets the feeling things must have been pretty serious.
Leon pulls back reluctantly after a few seconds. His presence and proximity are comforting, and it takes Cloud a moment to figure out why he's moving away when he clearly doesn't want to, and when he must know that Cloud doesn't want him to, either.
"Hey, sleepyhead," comes another familiar, ironically sleepy voice from the other side of his bed.
Tifa.
Tifa's in the room.
Tifa's in the room and she had to have seen that. Them. Together.
Panic ripples again through his already-tight chest and wrenches his eyes the rest of the way open. Though he can't move much for the sickening pain and blinding bright lights that blur his vision, his eyes somehow find Leon, then shift to his friend and colleague as she approaches, and then look back again, even wider than before.
"She knows, Cloud," Leon says, more somber reassurance. "It's okay." He sighs and carefully brushes Cloud's messy bangs out of his face before dropping his hand to his own lap. "She's not the only one, either."
Cloud closes his eyes and licks his dry lips and swallows again, grimacing at the rawness of his throat. Though he's still groggy from whatever drugs they have him on, the unexpected rush of adrenaline has made him a little more coherent, if a hell of a lot more light-headed, and apprehension filters cleanly through the thinning fog to settle into his brain.
"What's gonna happen now?" he asks softly, pausing halfway through the question because of the grinding sandpaper roughness, though he doesn't really want to hear what he thinks Leon will say.
"The captain stopped by earlier. I think you were still out of it then," Leon tells him, quiet and weary as if he's been up for hours and hours just sitting by the hospital bed. Which, knowing Leon's unfailing dedication, he probably was.
But he doesn't sound nearly as upset as Cloud thinks he should be, considering their two year secret is now out in the open.
"He wants to talk to you again when you're feeling better," Leon continues after a moment. He settles back into the chair he has beside Cloud's bed and rakes a hand through his hair, jaw working briefly to fight off a yawn. "He is planning on moving me to days so I won't be directly in command of you anymore, but I don't think there will be much of a reprimand otherwise."
Cloud absorbs this without a sound, without even blinking. He's really too weak and stunned to do much else.
"It's a good thing it's Hewley, too," Tifa chimes in, noticing his silent disbelief. "He's going to be more understanding than most." She smiles at him then, a small, sad thing that only curves one side of her lips. "I don't know if you remember—they were very careful about it—but he was very close with..."
She doesn't need to say the name; her pause speaks well enough for her. Cloud closes his eyes again (it's increasingly difficult to keep them open, he's noticing), and breathes in and out shallowly through his nose, mouth tightening into a firm line that has nothing to do with the physical pain he's in.
"Yeah," she concludes softly in confirmation, careful to avoid the IVs as she rests her hand over the back of his own. The gesture does bring him a small measure of comfort, because he knows she knew Zack too, but right now he's miserable on too many levels and can't bring himself to acknowledge it.
After a quiet moment, she squeezes her fingers into his palm and lets him go, then glances between the two of them.
"I'm going to get some coffee, I think," she says, trying to sound a little more cheerful, though even Cloud in his drugged-up state can feel how forced it is. "...Sergeant?"
"It's Leon, Tifa. We're off duty, remember?"
"Habit, sir. Sorry." She smiles thinly, shrugging one shoulder and tucking some of her dark hair behind one ear. It's only then that Cloud notices her hair is out of its regulation ponytail, draped loosely over her shoulders. She looks just as mussed up and worn out as Leon, and he wonders how long they've been here. How long he's been here. How long he's been out of it, and what happened after he blacked out.
Leon nods and smiles faintly back at her. "Coffee would be great," he says, voice stirring Cloud out of his meandering thoughts. "Black. Thanks."
She hums and nods in acknowledgement and turns towards the door, one hand rubbing wearily at the back of her neck.
"...Tifa," Cloud manages hoarsely before she can leave, because the urge to fall back asleep is steadily growing stronger and he's not sure if he'll be awake when she returns.
"Hm?"
"Thanks...for coming."
"Of course, dummy." She comes back and reaches to ruffle his hair affectionately, but the fresh wetness shining in her dark eyes belies her casual tone. "We're family, remember?"
He nods haltingly, but it's not because he doubts what she says.
"Go to sleep, Cloud," Leon murmurs once she's gone, and Cloud is just able to turn his head enough to meet his lover's solemn, quietly concerned blue gaze before the weight of his eyelids becomes too much to fight. "I'll be here when you wake."