Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This collection is mine. Enjoy!
..:-X-:..
161 – Pour Some Sugar on Me
For raiko. EXE
Leon was sitting at the table in the break room of headquarters, chin in one hand, staring at the kitchen cabinets, eyes just starting to drift closed, when Tifa walked in, banging and clanking the whole way. He snapped back to himself, blinked several times, and groaned, rubbing his eyes. Sleep deprivation was the devil.
"What's wrong with you?" Tifa chirped, pouring herself a glass of milk.
"Lack of sleep." He grunted, watching her pull out the bottle of chocolate syrup. "You?"
"Why do you think something's wrong with me?" She asked, pouring some of the syrup into the glass of milk.
He stood and crossed to the coffee machine, pulling out the pot to pour himself a mug. "You don't go chocolate milk unless you're pissed." He noted.
Tifa looked at him flatly, "It's creepy when you do that." She sighed, "But you're right." She started mixing the concoction, "It's all because Yuffie found a foghorn and Cid thought—"
Leon wasn't sure if she just stopped talking or her lips stopped moving…either way, he stopped listening. She lifted the mixing table spoon out of the drink and sucked on it for a moment, taking her time as she tugged the spoon out of her mouth.
Picking up the chocolate syrup again, she popped off the lid and looked over at him. Her wine colored eyes were suddenly very large and very…soft looking.
"—but I love chocolate…" She was saying, slow and sultry.
Then she climbed on top of the kitchen counter, sitting on her knees, facing him. She tilted her head back and ate some of the chocolate syrup straight out of the bottle.
"It's so sweet and…sticky…" She continued, drawing a line of the chocolate from the bottle, over her bottom lip, down her chin, and then down her neck.
Leon just sat there, unable to think about why this would be an odd situation…unable to really think about anything at the moment except the fact that Tifa was suddenly wearing a set of deep red, lacy lingerie.
"Oops." Tifa didn't sound sorry at all as the chocolate syrup spilled down her neck, over her collar, inching slowly lower toward her breasts. "Clumsy me."
She turned her body and reclined across the counter, giving him a full side silhouette of her. "Now I'm a mess…" She did a little jiggle, and her hair spilled over her shoulders.
She still had the bottle of chocolate in her hand, and she drew a long line of the brown syrup up her leg, keeping her eyes on him the whole time. She propped the leg up. Her other arm hung off the edge of the counter, like she had just landed there and not gotten up.
Tifa traced a finger across the chocolate that had gathered on her stomach, lifted it to her mouth, and licked it off. "You want to help me clean it off?"
Leon stared at her, at a loss.
Literally, there was nothing going on in the Upstairs Brain at this moment.
"But first," She said, sitting up slightly in just the way that made every single one of her curves stand out. "I need to ask you a question."
She lowered her voice and faced him again, climbing off the counter. She sank to the floor and crawled on her hands and knees over to him, almost up into his lap.
"Do you like chocolate?"
Something was burning his hand.
"Leon!"
Leon blinked once, twice, and looked down. Coffee was spilling over his cup onto his hand, where he had been pouring it without regard to how full the mug was.
"Geez, pay attention much?" Tifa said, back in her normal clothes and not covered in…chocolate…as she grabbed up a towel to help clean up the coffee spill.
He grunted something along the lines of an apology before abruptly turning to walk out of the break room.
"Where are you going?" She called after him, "I was in the middle of a rant and now you want me to clean this up all on my own?"
"Er—" He mumbled, not daring to look over at her, knowing his face was red.
"Where are you going that's so important?" She barked after him.
"To take a cold shower." He threw over his shoulder.
There was a small crash in the kitchen. "Ah, great, now I spilled the syrup!"
Leon walked faster.
..:-X-:..
162 – Cuddle in the Crossfire
For Atramentous Love
"How do I get myself in these situations?" Leon grunted, slumping down in the back of the old green jeep.
Tifa was slouched against the side across from him, hugging one knee. "It's a talent."
He looked at her flatly, "We should just leave."
She frowned, hearing Aerith and Cloud still arguing. They had been calmly exchanging words for the past—she checked her watch—fifteen minutes, but now whatever they were arguing about was starting to get heated.
"We can't do that." She replied, eying him. "Then they'll know we were here the whole time. They'll be embarrassed and it'll be awkward."
"It's a fight. People fight."
"But this is different. It's personal."
"…So we're just eavesdropping instead." He folded his arms, "Makes sense."
She shot him a glare and slouched farther. "Aerith NEVER raises her voice and Cloud…well, c'mon…" She shrugged.
Leon's deadpan expression at that made her smile. "I was stuck in Merlin's for eight HOURS while you and him screamed at each other. I'm not doing that again."
"You want to make yourself known, get caught in the crossfire, and let them drag you down with them?" Tifa lifted an eyebrow, "I vote we hunker down, wait it out. They're both marshmallows around each other. This'll blow over."
Deep down, she wasn't sure about that. She had been trying with all her might not to listen in on the argument taking place just ten feet away from the jeep…Honestly, who decided to have a relationship fight in a garage?...Well, they probably thought it'd be empty and private.
"What possessed you to hide in the jeep in the first place?" Leon said, sounding irritable. It was probably the claustrophobia of the cramped jeep.
"What possessed you to hide in here with me, smartass?" She snapped back, but there was no heat in it.
He averted his eyes at that, looking like a pouting five year old. She snorted, tuning out the sharp voices outside as she shifted, sliding across the jeep and sitting directly beside him, their shoulders pressed together now.
"No." He looked away.
She chuckled at that, propping her head on his shoulder, "No what?"
"Don't snuggle up on me and expect me not to be irritated. I'm annoyed with you right now." He looked away.
"Aw." Tifa just invaded his space more, both to make him uncomfortable and because being close to him made her more comfortable. "No you're not."
Leon deflated and glared at her, but it was more playful this time. She offered a cheesy grin and he rolled his eyes. A yawn crept on her and she turned her face against his shoulder to stifle it. A quiet beat passed.
"This is juvenile." He muttered. "Why are we hiding in here? There's work to do."
She snorted, "You'd rather be working than cuddling in the back seat of a car with me?"
He made an exasperated noise and nudged her. "As soon as they leave, I'm out of here."
"Not if I fall asleep on you." She let the second yawn escape, closing her eyes.
"Don't—"
"I've been awake since four this morning. Tifa needs a nap." She said.
"Then go home."
"I'm comfortable right here." She poked his arm, leaving her head on his chest.
He sighed in defeat and she grinned in victory.
"You suck." He responded weakly, making himself more comfortable to stay in the back with her for a while.
"Yeah, yeah, and you're full of crap." She chuckled, closing her eyes.
"So when the others ask why I missed patrol…" He chided.
She didn't move, "Just tell them the truth: you were with me in the back seat of a car."
He rolled his eyes, but she just snickered and promptly took her nap.
..:-X-:..
163 – Devil in Disguise
For justagirl8225
It was a bad idea. Aerith thought she was helping, but it was going to backfire.
As if to illustrate this point, Cloud stomped into Merlin's house, looking for the flowergirl, looking as exasperated as Hell, and found only Leon, alone in the house with a beer and the gunblade in pieces on the table, cleaning it. Both men locked eyes for a startled moment, and it took all of that moment for Leon to figure out what had happened.
Aerith didn't understand why Cloud and Tifa's friendship had summarily deteriorated. So she had conned, threatened, and cold shouldered Cloud into attempting to talk it out with Tifa. Tifa didn't want anything to do with the blond at this point, and—by the spectacular bruise coming in on Cloud's face—she had finally gotten fed up and clocked him.
Now he had come back to show Aerith how impossible this little mission of hers was, and maybe get a little sympathy for his efforts. Instead, he had found only Leon, who had gotten his fill of Tifa and Cloud's arguing and was in no sympathetic mood. He'd made his position on this situation clear…as had Tifa's fist.
Still, he felt a pang of pity for Cloud. The man honestly had never meant to mess Tifa up the way he did. You couldn't control who you fell in love with or didn't fall in love with. Sure, the way he handled it made Leon want to throttle him, but then again, Tifa hadn't handled it with a large degree of elegance either.
But he would never tell her that. He was on her side…Someone had to be.
Besides, the idea of Tifa chasing after Cloud and trying to get his attention and his affections gave Leon a nauseating pit in his stomach, so he tried not to think about it.
"Nice shiner." He muttered.
Cloud's face said 'Bite Me', but his mouth said, "Where's Aerith?"
"Running errands." Leon set down the piece of the gunblade that he was cleaning. "Won't be back for another hour."
Cloud looked ready to just leave right then, but Leon sat up a little in his seat.
"She might be back sooner." He stood and shrugged, "You can wait here for her."
"No, I—"
"Right now, Tifa is doing one of two things." Leon interrupted, "She's either stomping around looking for Heartless to bash in, or wandering around looking for something to distract her from you." He tried to keep the lump out of his throat as he said it. "If I were you, I'd hide out here. Either way, you don't want to run into her again."
Cloud sighed and poked at the bruise. "You're right about that."
Leon grunted at that. He was in a constant state of irritation with Cloud. He couldn't be complacent with the man's flight risk and lack of emotional responsibility…but being irritated with him all the time was exhausting. He opened the fridge and stared hard at the interior of it for a long moment, collecting his thoughts on the matter.
"Here." He plucked out two beers, offering one to Cloud.
The other man hesitated, with good reason. Leon knew he wasn't Cloud's BFF any more than Cloud was his. But they had enough real enemies without being overly bitter at allies. So he offered the beer, an olive branch, a truce. The terms were clear.
Take the beer, wait for Aerith, and stay away from Tifa.
Stay out of my business, drop the holier-than-thou attitude, and take care of Tifa because I can't.
"Thanks." Cloud replied tersely, taking the beer.
The air in the room lost some of its chill.
Leon popped open his own beer and returned to the task of cleaning the gunblade. Tifa was most likely out bashing in Heartless right now. She had been less brooding and upset about the whole situation lately. She was really and actually getting over the whole ordeal, and if Leon was Cloud, he would stay away from her as much as possible in order to let her get over it.
Then again, if Leon was Cloud, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have mucked things up this badly.
But maybe he would have.
And what right did he have to judge anyway?
He didn't have that Sephiroth maniac on his case.
So Cloud wasn't this devil in disguise after all, maybe, but a truce didn't make them friends.
Because if Leon had been Cloud, he never would have let Tifa go in the first place.
..:-X-:..
A/N 161: Ridiculous? Possibly. Over the top? Maybe. Entertaining to write? Oh yes. Title taken from the Def Leppard song…no affiliation!
A/N 162: The words 'Leon' and 'cuddle' in the same ditty just amuse me. So I pounced on it. Hope the fluffy didn't choke anybody.
I've decided to start wrapping up this collection in order to focus more on As the Sun Sets on Mushroom Clouds. So, if you have any more prompts you'd like to see, please submit them in a review for this chapter or a PM! Don't worry, I will answer all outstanding prompts that I have now, so there are several chapters left to post on this, but I'll be working on winding it down to an ending now.