Stranger Than Fiction
Chapter Nine:
Squall
Author's Note:
Wow… I'm slightly overwhelmed… Thank you everyone for the reviews, it's really great that you like this fic so much. I'll try to stop it following the stereotypical 'high school/AU' preconceptions…
Thank you for all your support in your reviews! I really appreciate it and it helped me pull my head out of my ass. I realised that if I killed myself that you lot wouldn't ever find out what happened at the end of this fic and you'd hate me and deface my grave. Heh heh heh, so I decided that if someone wanted to read my writing that bad, then I really do have a purpose to keep on living! Also, my holiday was great!
Please check out my original writing at on My pen name is 'Neko Kate-Chan' but I can't find the link to put it here... My latest fic, Urien's House, was originally going to be a Kingdom Hearts fic, so I just adapted the names a little. See if you can tell which characters are which and e-mail me... This is a plea for reviews on it because I DO need the critism and/or encouragement to continue with it. Thank you...
This chapter is a Cloud/Leon chapter. I'm trying to build up their relationship a little before the next chapter, which is going to be almost completely Riku/Sora centric. Oh, and you're bishie kiss this week comes from…
Cloud: "You know, we could report you. This has to be exposure."
Reminds him of her threat of making Sora's dad fall in love with him.
Cloud: "Alright already! Line up, one at a time please…"
Disclaimer:
I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor any of the characters.
Riku grinned as he installed the game.
"Welcome to Matchmaker Simulator 2004…" A sensual voice said. Sniggering, Riku selected the 'New World' option.
"Please create yourself in the game. Be truthful otherwise it won't work!" The subtitles read. Riku looked at the 'customise' screen. Man, this is good. You can even create me in this game, and I've got pretty mix and match features!
Sense of Humour: Sarastic
Personality: Hard-ass
Attracted to: Innocence
Interests: Sex snigger
Hobbies: Reading
Music: Heavy Metal
Riku entered his character and then it came up with another screen. He created everyone, from Selphie to Mr Kikuta, and then he at last, did Sora.
Customising Sora wasn't hard, big blue eyes, spiky brown hair, slim build.
The personality side was harder though. Riku picked up his phone, texting him as Bob.
Fill this in for me:
Sense of Humour:
Personality:
Attracted to: (State an attribute of a person, not a name)
Interests:
Hobbies:
Music:
Thanks!
He then put the phone down. Waiting for a reply. He got it sure enough.
Has 2 b obvious, otherwise don't get it
Carefree
Hard on outside-soft on inside
Computer games
None?
Jazz.
"Jazz?" Riku said aloud. He never had Sora down for a Jazz lover… Oh well… He had trouble fitting Sora's answers into the drop down menu options, but eventually he got it just right.
He clicked the 'go' button and the opening movie started up…
Leon walked into Riku's room to find him laughing his head off as in full colour anime, he got slapped across the face by someone who was surely Yuffie. Not wanting to question what he'd done in his sick virtual world, Leon sat on his brother's bed.
"Oh yeah, in this world, it seems you and Cloud are dating. In fact," Riku double clicked on something, bringing up a window.
"You fell in love the moment you saw each other. You've been saying mushy, sappy stuff to each other for the past two hours and it's getting annoying. Especially as I keep on getting messages from you telling me what's going on in your virtual love life," Riku was grinning though. Leon rolled his eyes.
"You fixed it didn't you?" Leon asked. Riku turned to him, a puzzled frown on his face.
"Fixed it?" He asked. Leon sighed.
"You made it so myself and Cloud were identical in everything, didn't you?" He asked. Riku blinked, then laughed.
"You want to deny it that bad? No, Cloud and you had real life bios. Face it Leon, in real life you're practically drooling all over him. In this, Cloud made the first move and during your first meeting stuck his tongue down your throat. Of course, that didn't happen in real life, but give him a couple more weeks," Riku turned back to his game.
Leon shook his head, but secretly glanced at the screen. Sure enough, he and Cloud were in the corner of the screen, little love hearts flashing above their heads… Cute… If only it were true…
At school the next day, Riku laughed and joked, feeling in a much better mood. He and Sora were, in the Matchmaker Simulator, playing a little game of hard to get. It was… weird… that when he came back to school, it was completely different.
Sora was openly cheerful, but it was for other reasons. He talked about Sakura all day, how great she was, he even had a picture of her to show people… It was like he was in love with her…
Leon was the only one who knew how hard Riku was holding back his tongue. However, he wasn't the only one to notice that Riku looked miserable.
"What's the matter? I'm sure I can cheer you up, hon?" Yuffie batted her eye lids at him. He smiled but shook his head.
"No… No I don't think you can…" He replied. She frowned.
"What's wrong?" She asked. Riku didn't say anything. He reminded himself how he'd felt last night, when Sora had sent him a message, on the game of course, and it had sounded like Sora had sent it.
His phone beeped loudly, and he blushed, picking it up. Then he realised, Sora had just sent a message. Sora's eyes were as wide as saucers.
Riku picked up his phone, it was the 'Bob' one… Riku opened the inbox, desperately not looking at Sora.
"Er, Leon? This sounds weird, but that game I got… It's sending me text messages…" Riku frowned as he looked down his inbox. He hoped that Sora was dense enough to fall for this.
"Riku, what's your number?" Sora asked. Riku's throat went dry. He opened his phone book, accessing the number listed as 'Riku Private'. Sora seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw it, making Riku's heart sink in to his chest.
"What do you mean?" Leon asked. Riku grinned.
"Leon says: Me and my partner going on a date tonight. Don't forget to feed the cat. Cloud says: Leon invited me over tomorrow night. Could you make sure you're out. Kairi says: Please stop stalking me. Hey I wasn't stalking her!" Riku protested, looking down at his phone. He shrugged and threw the phone back into his bag.
"What the?" Cloud asked. Riku smirked.
"I got a game called Matchmaker Simulator 2004 last night and created all of you guys. It's interesting…" Riku glanced at Leon, who was looking at the ground purposefully.
"I take it that you've screwed with us to make matches then?" Cloud asked. Riku smiled. Amazing, they even think the same. Well, better not embarrass them…
"Kind of. Some bios I had to make up. Yours was so it might have been a little similar to Leon's…" Riku admitted. Of course, he'd done no such thing, he'd known exactly what to put for Cloud, Leon had pretty much told him everything there was to know about the blonde.
Sora was fiddling with his phone again. Riku picked up his bag and flashed them a quick grin.
"I left something in my history class. I'll be back…" Too late… His phone beeped again.
"It's you…" Sora said quietly. Riku forced his face into a puzzled expression. He picked his phone out of his bag and opened his inbox. He made sure that all Sora could see were messages from the game and other people and flashed it in his face.
"What's me, Sora?" He asked. Sora bit his lip.
"You're Bob, aren't you?" He asked. Riku felt like Sora would be able to hear his heart.
"No, you just want me to be. Listen guys, I'll see you later," Riku walked away. He went into the men's room, locking himself in a cubicle and putting his head in his hands.
Sora wasn't stupid. He was always going to work it out… But where did that leave him?
"Is he Bob?" Sora demanded, looking over at Leon. Leon really didn't know. He refused to look Sora in the eye. He had to admit, it could be, but then again, Riku was getting text messages from a computer game… How did it do that anyhow?
"I don't think so," Cloud said quietly. They all looked at him.
"For a start, Riku is completely different from 'Bob'. I've seen those messages from Bob, and they're not something Riku would say. At least not the Riku we know. I doubt Riku would ever say he loved anyone…" Cloud reasoned. Leon's heart sank.
It was Riku. Riku was a hopeless romantic sometimes, and he knew how to win people over. He knew what to say, when to say it, how to play people…
"Say Leon, what's Riku's favourite food?" Sora asked suddenly. Leon was saved from answering by the bell going. He almost ran from the group, but not before saying to Cloud.
"Meet me after school, we'll go back to my house," He called, turning into his classroom.
Sora thought long and hard about the phone incident. He had seen Riku's inbox, with no messages from him in it, a new message from whatever game he had but something nagged at him…
Two coincidences? Was that possible? What if it was Riku?
That got Sora. He felt deeply for Bob, but Riku… Riku wasn't the same… Riku was tough, vindictive, violent… He couldn't be Bob. There was no way he was…
Stop being stupid. There's a way to sort this. You've got to text Bob… He won't lie to you…
Leon opened the door to his house. Cloud was the first non-family member, apart from Eva, to enter the house.
Cloud entered the house gingerly, following Leon's lead and removing his shoes and putting his school bag down under the shoe rack. Leon watched Cloud take in his house and knew what Cloud was thinking…
"Mom wanted to meet you," Leon said quietly. Cloud smiled and nodded.
"I bet she's a really great mom. When does she get home?" Cloud asked. Leon beckoned Cloud over. His mother's room was downstairs in the house, only his and Riku's bedrooms were upstairs, and her bedroom over looked the sea.
"Hey Eva," Leon greeted. He took in Cloud's face. It was priceless. He looked so shocked…
"Mom!" He squeaked. Leon laughed.
"Cloud, this is my mom, Amy. Mom, this is Cloud," Leon introduced them. He watched the blonde's expression as he looked over his mother. To his credit, he wasn't surprised.
"Hello," He greeted, but his tone was sad. Leon briefly wondered why, but then remembered, Eva was his mother. She may have mentioned something to him.
"Riku was right, you know, he is good-looking," Amy winked at Eva, giggling slightly. Cloud blushed.
"Mom, have you got Riku's phone bill yet?" Leon asked suddenly. He was curios to find out if Riku really had been texting Sora. Sure enough, when handed the bill, Sora's number was listed all the way down.
"He sent a lot of text messages to that one number. I guess he's seeing someone and not telling me," Amy said lightly. Leon bit his lip.
"He's not seeing someone. He's texting them… Seemingly pretending to be someone else…" Leon looked at Cloud with a meaningful look. Cloud folded his arms.
"Sora's going to spaz out…" He commented. Leon nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Eva asked. Cloud and Leon shared a look.
"If this is something to do with Riku, I need to know," Amy insisted. Leon shook his head.
"You don't want to know this mom," He replied. Her face fell.
"Squall, you'll tell me now," Damn, that was cheating…
Squall? Who's he?
"Squall is Leon's real name," Eva explained, seeing Cloud's confused expression. Leon smirked.
"You didn't think my parents were so cruel as to name me Leon Leonhart?" He asked. Cloud laughed nervously.
"Well, I kinda wondered…" He replied. Amy however was getting a little impatient.
"What was it about Riku?" She demanded. Leon- no, Squall- looked about to cower, so Cloud took the lead.
"Sora is my childhood friend, who I must admit, I've been hitting on since I hit puberty… Damn you Riku…" He flashed Leon a grin. "Recently, Sora's been getting anonymous text messages. It developed into something more, they got together. The text messages were from Riku, but Sora's too dense to work that out, so we go around again…" Cloud explained. Eva choked.
"But Sora's straight!" She protested. Cloud shrugged.
"I don't think even Sora knows what he is. All I know is he says he loves this person who's sending him text messages…" The blonde looked to Squall to back him up.
"Which turns out to be Riku…" She said grimly.
"What about me?" Riku poked his head around the door. The room fell deathly silent.
"Hi Eva. You can shoot off-" He then realised Cloud. He grinned evilly.
"Aw, so the love birds are here too?" Riku teased. No! Riku how could you do that? Are you that cruel? Squall looked at his brother, but the effect was spoiled by a slight blush…
"What?" Eva and Amy said together.
"Oh, just a private joke between me and Leon, don't worry about it. Er, sorry Cloud, for embarrassing you in front of your mom," Riku then disappeared. Eva and Amy looked at each other, then the two awkward boys and shared a smile.
Just a joke… That's so cruel… Leon's- Squall's- just playing with me, isn't he?
Cloud followed Squall out of the room and up the stairs fifteen minutes later, his heart heavy. So Squall thought he was a joke, did he? Sighing, he knew that he couldn't be angry with the brunette if he tried…
"So, you have any homework you have to do?" Squall asked, leading Cloud into his room. Looking around, Cloud realised it was a typical boy's room. The walls were royal blue, and it was pretty messy. Cloud knew he was the stereotypical 'tidy' homo, but he never thought he was that obsessive.
He twitched slightly. This room was just too messy… It's Squall's room… Let him tidy it… Don't you dare! CLOUD!!!
"I, er, meant to tidy up but got kinda… side-tracked…" Leon apologised. Cloud grinned.
"I'll help you if you'd like?" Cloud asked. Squall/Leon nodded, flashing a smile of his own. Cloud avoided putting clothes away, knowing that it would be a little too much for him to be going through Leon's draws.
He made the bed however, put some of Leon's DVDs, books, CDs, computer games, random pieces of crap, ornaments, dirty cups, etc away or in the bin. He only realised that Leon had stopped working when the room was cleared and Leon was watching him with a bemused kind of grin.
"This is the first time I've seen the carpet since I moved in…" He said, looking down at the deep blue carpet. Cloud chuckled, sitting down on the bed. A question burned on his lips, but the question was, whether or not to ask… What the hell?
"Uh… Do I call you Leon or Squall?" He asked. There was silence, and Cloud felt awkward. Finally Leon looked up.
"Leon was a name I created for myself when I was in New York. I used to be part of, well, an underground-fighting ring. 'Squall' isn't really a name that you want to use as a feared fighter, is it? So, people began to refer to me as 'Leon'. Riku learned about it, he started calling me it, then it just carried on… I just use that name now…" He explained. Cloud frowned.
"That didn't answer my question," He replied. Leon chuckled.
"You're right… I guess no one calls me Squall anymore except my mom… But if you want to, it's okay if you do. It would be nice to hear someone say my real name for a change…" Squall smiled. Cloud returned it. God, did Squall realise what that meant to him?
"Squall…" Cloud tasted the name. "Yeah, I think I will call you that. I like that name, it's different…" He noticed Squall's eyebrows shoot up at that.
"And you're name isn't? 'Cloud' is a pretty unusual name if you ask me," Squall said. Cloud lay back on Squall's bed, so the brunet was looking down at him. For a moment, Cloud just stared… How could Squall be so innocent looking and so damn sexy all the time?
"Er," He faltered, trying to remember what Squall had just said. "Yeah… Most people think it's a girl's name…" Cloud said quietly. Squall lay back too, his face mere inches from Cloud's. He could almost taste Leon's breath.
You could claim it was an accident! Just inch forward and…
"I don't think it's a girl's name. It suits you. I mean, you'd have to have a rare name, I couldn't see you as a Simon or a Peter or something…" Squall's voice trailed away. He was staring into Cloud's eyes.
For God's sake! Just DO it!
Cloud closed the gap and pressed his mouth against Squall's.
Squall's breath caught as he felt Cloud's lips upon his own. Whoa!
He tried to respond, but his brain seemed to have shut down. All he could do is lie there and let Cloud kiss him. Not that he didn't like that, the combination of butterflies in his stomach and the warmth on his lips was sending him into some kind of Cloud-induced coma but…
He felt Cloud pull away violently, almost falling off the bed. The blonde stood up, blushing terribly.
"I shouldn't have done that. Shit! I'm so sorry! I better go…" Cloud jabbered, turning to leave. Squall tried to stand up, but fell over his own feet and ended up crashing into Cloud in the doorway.
He straddled the frightened blonde's hips, trying to get him to look in his eyes.
"Don't… Please don't…" Cloud whispered. Confused, Squall stood up, taking a few steps back. Cloud leaned against the wall, a tear slowly falling down his cheek.
"You made the first move!" Leon protested. Cloud shook his head.
"I'm sorry… I know that… You can't possibly care about me like that… I don't want to be in another relationship that's just about… about sex!" Cloud's eyes flashed dangerously, but Squall was confused.
Why was Cloud suddenly bringing that up? Hadn't Squall only kissed him? What was the problem?
"I don't want another relationship like the one I had with Kuja," Cloud said, his voice quieter. Squall clenched his fists.
"You think I'm like Kuja? You think I'll use you? Is that it Cloud?" He yelled. Cloud looked up, tears falling down his face.
"No! I just know you can't love me like I love you!" With that Cloud turned and ran away. Squall stared at the empty doorway, his heart aching suddenly.
Cloud had run away from him… because he… loved him…
"Riku, stop hiding in the hallway," Squall said quietly. Riku stepped through, concern printed on his features.
"You want to talk?" He asked. Squall nodded.
"I have nothing better to do now…"
Cloud flew out of the house, passed his startled mother, and into the road. He was such a dork!
You thought that by telling him he would make it all go away? Stupid fool… Squall was using you for a good time, that's why he was angry… But you told him you loved him… You'll never be able to look him in the eyes again…
Cloud found himself running down a familiar street. He turned into one of the drives, knocking on the door.
A girl answered, about seventeen in age. She smiled at him warmly and let him in.
"So who broke your heart this time?" Tifa asked.
Sora didn't text Bob. He decided that he wasn't going to anymore. If it was Riku, then he'd know soon enough. He knew there were plenty of people who he could get Riku's number off…
"Sora?" Selphie stood in the doorway sheepishly. She held her mobile out, Sora noted that Cloud had called her.
"He said you're mobile was off. He sounds upset," Selphie explained. True, Sora's phone was off, he didn't want Bob to text him. As far as he was concerned, he had to concentrate on his and Sakura's relationship. Maybe he could force himself to like her?
"Sora, speaking," Sora said wearily. He heard a sniff.
"Sora? I've just made the biggest fool of myself… I told Sq-Leon I loved him…" Cloud whispered. Sora blinked.
"Great, what did he say back?" He asked. There was silence.
"Cloud?" Sora pressed.
"He didn't say anything… I ran out of the house before he could have possibly replied…"
"That was dumb. How could he say he loved you too?"
"Get real Sora. Guys like Leon don't fall in love."
"Why the hell not?"
"Let me rephrase that, guys like Leon don't fall in love with runts like me."
"Okay, runt boy, why is he your friend?"
"Because…"
"There is no specific reason why, correct? Why isn't he your boyfriend? Because you put bloody obstacles in the way!"
"You think so?"
"I know so! Maybe you should just cool it a little and gather your thoughts a little…"
"Yeah… I was planning on avoiding him… You'll avoid him with me, right?"
"Um…"
"Thanks Sora, I owe you one!"
"Cloud, Wait-!" the line was dead.
Sora gave the phone back to Selphie and stared at his feet. So Cloud and Leon weren't so together as everyone thought…
Well, everyone had their problems… Sora especially…
Ending Notes:
Not quite sure where that came from. You see, Leon was supposed to tell Cloud all about his life, however, Cloud just went for it and then they got confused, because I got confused, and now they're avoiding each other…
Well, it works with the plot line…
May I remind you that there will be no lemon in this fic. Maybe in the sequel, but I'll have to pester a few author's to write it for me. Yes, I did say sequel… That's in the development stage though, and I only have a few thoughts on it…
I have just written Chapter Seventeen of this fic and the first coupling. It's so sweet. Shame you'll have to wait so long to read it... Heh heh heh... To those interested in helping me write 'Running' the sequel to STF, please mail me. No offense, but it you have no fanfictions online already, or no examples of your writing, please do not bother, as I wish to check out who I'm writing with. I'm only asking for an author who will 1) give critical advice on my own writing 2) Work to the plan I already have and 3) Who is willing to write lemon for me. Of course, job perks include getting all the chapters I've written so far of STF, and previewing and beta reading the 'Running' chapters. Whoa, this sounds like I'm so big headed... pops head with a pin Those interested