A/N: Honestly, I don't think you guys know how hard it is for me to write first person Leon with Cloud in the background or …whatever. I'm incredibly rusty on these two …this is going to take some practice, for sure.

Pocketship: Chapter Two
The Emotionally Retarded Lion and Wolf
Leon

The bell above the door jingled alerting me that someone had entered the store.

I turned around to see Roxas entering the store with a small blonde petite girl at his side. He waved to me as he began taking off his gloves and shoving them into the pocket of his jacket. I set aside the stack of records I was currently rifling through to give him my attention.

"Hey, Leon." He said, stopping short a few feet away from me. His small blonde friend had gone off to browse through the store while he talked to me.

"Roxas." I nodded to him, pushing a bin of records behind the cash register. "You're back in town already?"

"Yeah." Roxas replied, rubbing at his reddened nose. "I was in the area right now and I wanted to drop by to let Cid and you know that I was back in town so I could start working again. Is he …in?" He looked over his shoulder briefly to check on the blonde girl, and then turned back to look at me.

"He's out of town for the next two and a half weeks for the holidays." I started. "And I'm going to be out of town for the next week or so, so the store is going to be closed for awhile."

"…So, uh …"

"It'd be better if you came back after New Years passed. Cid won't be back, but I will."

"Well, alright." Roxas fiddled with his gloves as he pulled them out of his pockets. "I guess …you can just call me when you're back in town then?"

"I will." I replied, watching as he slowly backed away from the cash register and turned his attention to his friend who was looking at some CD's in the classical section.

He waved goodbye to me, and mumbled a word of thanks as he grasped the blonde's hand and gestured toward the door. She turned to look at me briefly, before saying something back to him. Roxas waved one last time and the two of them were out of the door.

I went back to what I was doing as if they had never interrupted me in the first place. I was so absorbed by my work; I became completely unaware of the amount of time that had elapsed. It was only when my phone started to vibrate against my thigh, did I realize how late it had become. I dropped a box back down to floor to check it.

From: Cloud

When are you coming home?

Fri, Dec 21st, 6:23 pm.

I already had a feeling it would be something from Cloud even before I got the chance to open my phone. I sent him a quick reply back—in the form of 'soon'— before turning my attention on the last pile of records that I was moving. When I was done, I went into the back room to go and retrieve my coat, and step outside to lock up and head on home.

My name is Leon Hart. Or Squall … but that's a name only reserved for my family.

There's nothing too interesting to know about me. I'm twenty three years old and I've been running my father's old record store alongside his partner Cid, ever since he passed away nearly three years ago. I'm currently living in the downtown area of Twilight Town with my boyfriend, Cloud. We've been dating for some time now and during the holidays this year; he's finally taking me to Traverse Town to meet his family.

…Yes, it's finally time for me to 'meet the family'.

I guess it's only appropriate that they finally meet me, seeing as Cloud's somewhat become integrated into my own. Honestly, my mother takes to him as if she had a third son and my little brother, Sora, is always finding excuses to come over so he can hang out with him.

Anyway, going back to the prospect of meeting Cloud's family, I can't say I'm jumping-out-of-my-shoes excited to finally meet them. Then again, who is when it comes to meeting your significant others, family? I just know that at this point in time, I'm ready to.

…Whatever.

The bus ride from the record store back to my apartment was shorter than I expected, which was perfect for me. I'm not too much of a fan of the cold anyway. I drew my jacket in tightly as I stepped off the bus and unclenched my arms once I stepped into the warm lobby of my building. After I nodded respectfully to the lobby attendant, I went to go check the mail and then backtracked for the elevator.

"I'm home." I called out the moment I opened the door, and withdrew my key from the lock so I could close it and lock it. "Cloud?"

"You're home a bit later than usual." Cloud said, looking up at me when I entered the kitchen. He was in poised in front of the sink, his hands submerged in the soapy water. "Did something happen?"

"I lost track of time." I replied, dropping the mail onto the kitchen table. I shrugged my jacket off and dumped it onto the back of one of the chairs, and went to sift through the mail. Bill, junk, bill, bill …a holiday card from mom and Sora …bill …

"Did you eat?" Cloud asked, from behind me.

"Not yet …" I murmured, separating the mail. The first thing I turned my attention to was the card from Sora and my mother. "What'd you make tonight?"

"Some pasta and vegetables. Something simple." Could responded. "Your brother called while you were out."

"Did he say what he wanted?" I began to pull the card out of the envelope and look it over.

"He was just calling to see when we were leaving."

"Did you tell him?"

"Yeah." He replied, shortly.

I heard the water stop running, so I looked up from the card to see Cloud looking expectantly back at me. "What?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing." Cloud began again, albeit looking a bit distracted. He wiped his wet hands down on a paper towel and then turned to look at me again. "Are you hungry? I made you a plate for when you came home."

I shrugged, sitting down at the table. "A little."

Cloud walked over to the microwave and pressed a few buttons and a few seconds later was walking over to me with a steaming plate of pasta and vegetables. He sat down in the chair across from me and rifled through the mail as I ate.

"Mom and Sora sent us a card."

Cloud picked the card out from the mess of envelopes and opened it up to read it. "…Hmmm." He laid the card back down a few minutes later. "Are you all packed and everything for tomorrow?"

"For the most part, yes." I answered, stabbing at a piece of broccoli.

He drummed the side of the table again, as if he wanted to say something to me but was skirting the issue. Finally, he stood up abruptly just as I was finished eating. "I'm going to go get ready for bed." He said, "Just put your plate in the sink, I'll take care of any stray dishes in the morning. Don't stay up too long, alright?"

I nodded wordlessly to him and he left the kitchen without another word. I had felt the stress permeating off of Cloud the minute I had stepped into the kitchen. This proposed visit was probably taking more of a toll on him than I realized.

My mother always said to me that Cloud and I were a match made in heaven. The both of us—as she so often put it—were the strong and silent type. We were often unwilling to speak our minds, so on and so forth. I don't know how that made us a match made in heaven. I know we were similar, but it also set us up for conflict at times. Take my word for it; I knew our communication skills needed a lot of work.

It made our relationship a whole lot more difficult because we were always dancing circles around with each other. We were always trying to avoid confrontations and always trying to hide how we were truly feeling. When it came down to it, though, I genuinely cared about Cloud and I knew—or felt like—he cared for me in if not the same way, perhaps close to it. I suppose it was pointless to dwell on it for too long. If something was bothering him, I knew he'd eventually come to me on his own terms and talk about it.

It's pointless to try and force things out of people when they don't want to talk about them.

-x-

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not much of a morning person.

I abhor all that it is to wake up at the crack of dawn and to get out of the warmth of a comfortable bed. Cloud, however, completely unlike me, is a morning person. He's always up before the crack of dawn and goes to bed just a few hours after the sun sets. So when my alarm went off the next morning, and I woke up to find that it was still dark outside and beginning to snow, you can see how I merely wanted to snuggle back into my bed sheets and fall back asleep. But no, as if on cue, Cloud had come back into our room to wake me up the minute my eyes had begun to close again.

"Leon. Come on, you have to get up." Cloud whispered, shaking my shoulder with an all too warm hand. "We have to get a move on so we can hit the road early."

In response, I merely groaned and buried myself in the sheets again. "Five more minutes."

"I already gave you an extra half hour. You were supposed to be up at five thirty." He paused, shaking me again. "It's six."

I inhaled sharply, "Mus' we leave so early?"

"Yes." Cloud whispered again. "Come on, we have to leave so we can beat the crazy traffic. I made you some breakfast; it's on the kitchen counter."

It's about a two and a half hour drive from Twilight to Traverse Town. Cloud opted that we take the train, but during the holiday season tickets usually get sold out like no one's business and I didn't want to get caught up in the rush.

I sighed, rolling over in bed just in time to see Cloud disappear out of the room. I pushed myself into an upright position, yawning loudly as I stumbled out of bed and planted my feet firmly onto the shaggy blue carpet underneath the bed. Cloud had already taken the liberty to lay out something 'presentable' for me to wear, so that took care of searching for an outfit for the morning.

I took a quick shower, and got ready to go within a matter of minutes. When I was done with the essentials, I found Cloud sitting in the living room watching the weather channel. He turned to look at me the minute I entered the room, and then looked away when I walked into the kitchen.

"Weather man says it's as cold out there as it is here. I hope you packed warmly."

"I did." I called back, turning my attention to one of the counters, "Cloud, I presume these waffles are for me?"

"Yeah." He called back, his voice growing distant as he moved away from the living room and toward somewhere else in the apartment. "When you're done, wash it off and put it in the dish washer!"

"Right." Did I happen to mention Cloud's a bit of a neat freak? He keeps the apartment pretty close near to immaculate. Part of it is due to his allergy to dust the other part is just …instilled neatness, I suppose.

Whatever.

The minute I was done with my dishes, I rinsed them out and stacked them in the already full dish washer and walked out of the kitchen to find Cloud had already begun stacking our bags near the front door. He was back in the living room, this time watching the morning news without much interest. He had thrown his jacket over his lap and his boots were unlaced as if he were about to put them.

Cloud turned his attention on me, blue eyes a bit curious, "Are you ready?"

"I just have to get the car keys and double check to make sure I didn't miss anything." I called over my shoulder as I headed back toward our bedroom. I did a once over in there to find everything in order, and then headed off to the bathroom to do the same thing. "Alright."

Cloud quickly put his shoes on and turned off the television in the process. I checked out the kitchen to make sure everything was in order while Cloud got ready to leave. When I came back into the living room he was by the door, waiting for me. I looked around us, and then nodded.

The sun was beginning to peak up over the horizon the moment we stepped outside. The snow that had been falling earlier had ceased and a thin blanket of white flakes were scattered across the concrete side walk. With me carrying the brunt of our bags, Cloud led the way to the car a few steps ahead of me. When we finally got to my sedan, I popped the trunk, threw our bags in and then rounded back around to the driver's side so Cloud and I could both get in. With a loud yawn, I started the car and blinked a couple of times to clear my eyes of the tears that formed at their corners.

"Want to stop for some coffee?" Cloud asked as he turned up the heat.

I shook my head, "Later. We'll get something on the road." I replied, glancing at him briefly. He shrugged at me in agreement. I pulled out of our spot and we were off.

-x-

The drive to Traverse Town was longer than I expected.

Remember that supposed two and a half hour drive? It didn't happen. It became nearly four hours with the rate at which we were going. With traffic, the occasional pit stop—three bathroom breaks, twice for gas and food—and getting turned around quite a few times, the trip wasn't exactly the easiest. But it made it all the better when we finally arrived at our destination.

Cloud's family lived in a quaint little gated neighborhood just outside of the more commercial parts of Traverse Town, in what was known as the "Third District." I had been to Traverse Town a few times before with my family when I was younger so I was somewhat familiar with the area.

The First District, being the largest district, was the home to the more commercial parts of Traverse Town such as shopping, entertainment, local universities, tourist attractions and the like. The Second district catered to more of the business aspects of the town, along with some residential, schools and shopping areas. Finally, there was the Third District which was mainly a residential area and compromised mainly of families and elderly couples. There was a rumor that they were going to split the Third District into a 'fourth' district because the area was so large, but that remained to be seen.

Whatever.

The moment I pulled into the drive way of Cloud's house, I saw the curtains in the front of the house flutter and a few minutes later, the front door flew open and a small blonde girl was standing in the doorway. She was grinning from ear to ear and waved at us before we even got out the car.

"…That would be my younger sister, Rikku." Cloud murmured as I turned off the car. He looked up at me as I was getting ready to get out of the car. "Leon?"

"Yes?" I paused, looking right back at him.

"There's …something I should have told you before we left …" He looked past me out the window and to the door. His sister had disappeared, but then came back to the door again with a blonde woman a few inches taller than she was. "…And it's a bit imperative that I let you know this now."

"What is it, Cloud?"

"My parents …rather, my family, doesn't exactly know about certain …choices I've made about my life style right about now." He said.

"You're saying …?" I questioned, already dreading the feeling I was getting from where this was going.

Cloud looked away from me, watching his sister making her way over to the car at that moment, all the while tugging the taller blonde girl after her. "They don't exactly know that I'm …"

"…Gay." I finished for him.

He sighed. "I'll elaborate more on it later, but not now. We've got company." Cloud leaned over at that moment, gesturing for me to lower the window so that he could speak to his little sister who was currently running across the spacious front yard.

She stopped short of the car, nearly smacking into the side of the car as I lowered the window. Rikku grinned, poking her head slightly into the small space. "CLOUD!" She exclaimed, just loud enough to pretty much damage my hearing for the moment. After Cloud acknowledged her, she turned her attention to me, "And you must be his friend, Leon." She grinned widely at me, "He's a cute one, Cloud."

I nodded courteously to her, and then glanced at Cloud briefly to find that he was completely focused on Rikku.

"Ooooh, you don't know how happy I am to see you, Cloud! Quistis is being her usual stick in the mud self and LeBlanc is here showing off her newest boy toy to mom and dad. 'I'm so totally going to marry this one!' She says. Puh-leaze. Five hundred munny says she'll dump him before Hanukkah is even over." She paused to take a breather. "Do you need help unpacking? I tried to get Quistis to come and greet you with me but she was all, 'Durr, I have to help mom find one of the good menorahs!' …stick in the mud that she is." Rikku grinned, "I'm guessing you guys have your stuff in the trunk? Pop it and I'll help you get it out!" She disappeared around the edge of the car without another word.

I turned to look at Cloud and he shook his head at me mouthing the word; later to me. He got out of the car, closed the door and followed after Rikku. I pressed the button in front of me to release the trunk, and sunk back into my seat and sighed loudly as I massaged the front of my face.

…This was going to be one hell of a week.