Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This collection is mine, as are McCallister and Duke. Enjoy!
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120 – Breakfast in Bed
For justagirl8225
A warm hand brushed over Tifa's shoulder, sliding the hair away from her face and resting on the back of her neck.
"Good morning." His voice was low and husky and she grinned, waking completely.
Opening her eyes, she blinked in the golden morning sunlight that was streaming through the curtains of her bedroom. She felt warm and fuzzy all bundled under the blankets. Leon was sitting on the edge of her bed, rubbing her neck with one hand.
"Morning." She greeted, shifting onto her side. "Something smells good."
"Well, I would hope so." He grinned, twisting in his seat and turning again to hold up a breakfast tray. "Tada."
Homemade pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a tall glass of orange juice.
"My, my." She shifted, sitting up. "Breakfast in bed. This is a nice change."
He placed the tray across her lap. "You deserve better than toast on the go."
Was it just the light, or was Leon looking extra attractive this morning? Feeling her cheeks warm up, she sipped at the orange juice.
"So what's on the agenda today?" She asked, feeling the stupid grin on her face and making no effort to stifle it.
Leon looked at her for a long moment and she returned the gaze, chewing on a bite of eggs. God, he could cook too…More blood to her face. His eyes were still on her, stormy blue, gorgeous eyes…Oh, who was she kidding, Leon had a gorgeous everything.
"Nothing." He finally said. "Whatever you want."
"I doubt that." She chuckled, "There's always something to do."
"I put McCallister in charge of everything for the day." He replied.
"And she was okay with that?" Tifa set the tray aside, sitting up completely, facing him.
Leon usually liked his personal bubble, but apparently today he was bending that rule, because he was totally up in her bubble right now. Not that she minded, but it was different from the casual comfort zone they typically established.
"You know McCallister. She never complains." He said.
Tifa smiled, "True, but what happens when—"
Leon closed the distance between them then, cutting her off with a tender kiss on the lips. Tifa was effectively silenced, her eyes drifting closed. She felt one of his hands light on her back, running up between her shoulders. After a moment, she leaned into the kiss, lifting her hands to either side of his neck.
He tilted his head and deepened the kiss. Tifa began to recline, heat spreading down her neck, but then withdrew from the liplock.
"I have a meeting today." She said quietly.
"Skip it." He kissed her jaw, working his way to her neck.
Tifa fought the urge to cave in to this. "I can't. I need to take a shower."
Leon chuckled, and she felt his breath across her collar. Her eyes drifted shut and she let her hands wander from his neck to his chest, broad and well muscled.
"Then maybe I can join you." He whispered under her ear, kissing her again.
Duke started barking.
Tifa's eyes flew open and she found herself lying in bed. No tray. No breakfast. No Leon. There was, however, a spot of drool on her pillow. Blinking, she rolled over.
"Hey, you awake?" Leon's voice made her sit ramrod straight, eyes wide.
"Y-yeah." She cleared her throat, rubbing her face.
Leon was tottering around in the kitchen, and walked past her doorway, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. "There was an attack on the Bailey. We gotta go." He paused, looking at her, "You all right?"
Tifa scrambled out of bed. "Fine, fine. What about breakfast?"
"Here." He tossed her a piece of toast and finished tying on his boots.
She exhaled, getting dressed and heading out the door after him. Dreaming? Fantasizing? About Leon? What the Hell was that all about? She shook her head to clear it and kissed her day off goodbye.
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121 – Trustworthy
For kikofreako
"I got two words for you! Know. Your. Enemy!" The little goatman was saying.
"THIS is NOT an ENEMY!" Tifa said, emphasizing her words as she punched and kicked through the swiveling pots and baskets that were mocking her on the training grounds.
"It's the closest thing you're gonna get until you prove me wrong!" Phil barked. Then in a lower voice. "Dames. They think they can just fight Zeus himself."
Leon was a few feet away, looking over the designs that the people of Olympus were supporting for reconstructing the Coliseum. "You want to tell her that?"
Phil smoothed the hair between his horns, "I wouldn't mind to try."
One of the pots smashed into the wall above Phil's head. Broken pieces rained down on him and he turned red in anger. "Hey! You wanna watch where you're aiming?"
Tifa stood in the carnage of broken training pots, sweating and breathing hard. "I was."
Leon turned to hide a snicker and eyeballed the map, making a few corrections.
"You want to do this the easy way or do you want to do this the right way?" Phil said, fists at his sides.
Tifa stepped out of the training ring, peeling off her fighting gloves. "I've been fighting Heartless for years. I don't see what we're even doing here."
Phil's hand reached up and grabbed Leon around the collar, pulling him off balance. Leon was forced to bend down to the satyr's level. Phil promptly pointed between his eyes.
"This is what you're doing here." He said. "So this—" He poked the scar between Leon's eyes. "-don't happen to you."
Leon grumbled, swatting off Phil's grip. "You've made your point."
"Both of you's just sit down." Phil instructed. "You two have been trained to fight, and you fight well, I admit, but you're single minded."
Leon exchanged a look with Tifa, who folded her arms and stood beside him.
"You've worked in teams before, but not like this. Two people fighting on the same team is different and harder than three or more." Phil said, rounding on them. "You are the only one watching the other's back, and you gotta trust that the other's got your back. Now, Rule Number 43: Trust your allies."
Leon had the lurking feeling that the satyr just made these rules up as he went. Regardless, he was renown as the greatest trainer on Olympus, so that had to mean something.
"Now, to build trust, I've got this obstacle course—" Phil started.
"Not necessary." Leon lifted a hand.
"Yeah, I trust him with my life." Tifa shrugged, as if this was common knowledge, although to hear her say it, Leon was a little startled.
Phil's eyebrow went up. "Yeah? And what about you, kid?" He asked Leon.
"Of course." Leon said immediately. "She's saved my ass enough times."
"Huh." Phil put his hands on his hips. "And you've fought together?"
"Radiant Garden is the hub for Heartless activity." Leon said. "Yes, we have."
That was an understatement.
"I forgot who I was talkin' to." Phil gave an absent arm gesture. "Whoop dee doo, but I got one piece of advice for you: trust will keep you alive, but skill and heart, that'll win it." He shoved a thumb toward the training ring. "Your turn."
Leon exhaled, picked up the Gunblade, and walked toward the ring, where more of the swiveling pots and baskets had been placed. Tifa stretched her arms over her head and sat on the stone bench on the side.
"Aaand you, my dandelion," Phil sat on the bench, sliding into Tifa's lap. "Can eat your heart out." He clucked his tongue at her.
Tifa made a disgusted noise and shoved him off. With a bleat, Phil hit the ground, grumbling as he climbed back up onto the bench, sitting away from her now.
"Dames." He folded his arms and sulked as Leon took his turn on the training cycle.
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122 – Top Dog Part Four
For justagirl8225
"They're on number 9 and she's 24. That's an hour or so." Tifa said, walking into the back room. "Why is she wet?"
Duke sat surprisingly still as Leon dumped a bucket of water on her, displacing the soap that he'd lathered across her back.
"She got into something. It was a mess." Leon said. "Hand me that towel."
She took up the towel and unfolded it while he got Duke out of the little tub. Duke looked like she was lapping up all of the attention and kept trying to lick Leon's face. She'd managed to soak most of him by splashing around in the bath. He avoided her dog kisses and took the towel, starting to dry her off.
"What's it looking like out there?" He asked, in the best act of nonchalance he could do.
"There're a lot of veterans out there, but some of them are a little…over the top." Tifa noted, "There's one crazy lady out there with a husky named Boo Boo in a pink bow."
Leon paused, looked at Tifa, and then to Duke. "I promise I will never do that to you."
Duke responded by licking his jaw. Leon spat the side and resumed drying her with the towel. Tifa got another towel and worked on the dog's hind quarters, letting Leon take the licking end of the animal.
"Oh, and just so you know, they refer to female dogs out there professionally." She said absently.
"What does that mean?" He said, working on Duke's fore legs.
"The judges are going to call her a bitch." Tifa said, as though to ease him into the idea.
Leon just grunted, moving on to Duke's shoulders now. The dog watched Tifa, tongue hanging out of her mouth, eyes bright. Tifa smiled and helplessly petted her.
"What number was Nestor's entry?"
"Blond purebred retriever named Anthony, number 4." Tifa said. "Judges liked him."
"Hmph." He grunted.
They toweled Duke dry and started brushing her fur out.
"Not bad for a stray from the street." Leon said, scratching behind the dog's ears.
Tifa peered toward the show room. "They're on 14 now. Moving faster than I thought. I can finish getting her cleaned up, you should clean up yourself."
Leon looked down at himself, soapy and more than a little soaked, and straightened, "Right." He picked up the bag he'd brought with him and went to another room to change.
"He's silly." Tifa told the dog, as soon as the door closed.
Duke's ears perked up and Tifa put the new red collar on her.
"But he wants to win this more than he's letting on." Tifa continued, "So…I know you don't like listening to me, but…behave, will you?"
Leon returned soon after in fresh clothes, not the casual he usually had. Maybe a few steps up the classy ladder, but not enough for Tifa to poke fun at him.
But she might sometime later anyway.
Duke was on her feet, starting to look restless from being cooped in the same room for more than an hour. Leon sat heavily in one of the chairs, but looked ready to spring to his feet at a second's notice.
"This is starting to feel really stupid." He said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "We both have a thousand more important things to do than…this."
"True," Tifa sat beside him. "But how often does Duke get to strut her stuff?"
Duke yipped as though to back her up on that, and Leon smirked, watching the dog paw at a run in the carpet.
"Purebred, huh?" He said after a moment. "Y'know, I've never…I mean, Duke's not…"
"Trust me when I say, this mutt has more spunk in her than any of those thousand munny breeds out there." Tifa said, ruffling the fur under Duke's chin.
Leon only looked mildly reassured by this.
Number 20 was announced and over the screen, they watched the big husky with the pink bow trot out with his master, a careworn woman in a carpet jacket.
"Yikes." Tifa sat up, watching the case as the judges evaluated the dog.
As the remaining competitors between Boo Boo and Duke went through, Leon put the leash on Duke and prepared to take her out. He paused and looked back to Tifa.
"This is absurd. There's no—"
"Go." Tifa shooed him, chuckling at how nervous he suddenly looked.
"She's going to flip out when the cameras start flashing." He argued.
"Then let her go on a merry chase. It'll be funny if nothing else."
"You mean humiliating."
"Hey," She said, as he was turning to walk out.
"What?" He moaned, looking at her.
"Go kick Nestor's ass." She winked.
Duke licked his hand as if to say: come on, it's my turn! Leon sighed, hung his head, and walked her out. Tifa chuckled and watched from behind the wall.
(To be continued…)
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A/N 120: I had to do at least one fantasizing ditty, haha. I mean, Tifa is a woman after all.
A/N 122: There will probably be only one more installment of the Top Dog continuance. I don't want it to get old.