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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176 – Are We There Yet?
For AThousandSuns
"Why is it so quiet?"
"Dude, get off me."
"Can we turn up the AC? It's boiling back here!"
"How much farther it is?"
"Ugh, Cooper, was that you? Argh, what did you have for lunch today?"
"Shut up, Marcus!"
"The heat…I'm…dying…"
"Why can't the Nobodies hide on the beach?"
The incessant, annoying rambling had gone on since the bus had pulled out of the Gummi hangar from the World That Never Was. All five of Leon's recruits and Tifa's five recruits had been complaining or rambling about one thing or another since the driver had started the engine.
Leon and Tifa had taken the two front seats, putting a safety cushion between themselves and the recruits. Unfortunately, this left Private McCallister to sit closer to the newbies. The four hour long drive through the deserted city was taking far too long, and the soldier was losing her tolerance for their…annoying-ness.
She finally spun around and glared down the aisle. "It's quiet because it's a 'deserted city'. There are a dozen other seats, if he's bothering you that much, then MOVE. There is no air conditioning on this bus, so just…deal with it. Cooper…whatever you ate today, don't eat it again…and Marcus…don't be juvenile."
The ten of them blinked at her for a moment.
"Geez, McCallister—"
"It's SOMEBODY's time of the month—"
"No air conditioning?"
She groaned and turned back around to find Leon eying her in amusement, a bag of peanuts in his hand. She flushed slightly with embarrassment at her behavior, but lifted a hand.
"I'm sorry, but they're being obnoxious." She said. "How you and Brigadier General Lockhart put up with them is beyond—"
He tilted his head, reached up, and tugged an ear plug out of his ear. "What?"
The private blinked, snorted, and shook her head. "Never mind, sir."
She leaned sideways and looked at Tifa, who had taken a whole seat to herself, back against the window, legs stretched out, head tilted back, mouth open, asleep. How she managed to sleep through those annoying recruits' yammering, the soldier couldn't fathom.
Something flew across the aisle and McCallister started slightly, looking back at Leon.
"Sir, did you just see—"
Leon picked up another peanut and nonchalantly flicked it at Tifa. McCallister balked as the nut flew over and bounced off the woman's shoulder, landing in her lap. She didn't move at all. Soldiers tended to be very light sleepers—McCallister had knocked over a book once when Leon was taking a nap in his office and had nearly experienced Death by Laptop—but there were several peanuts littering the seat and her lap, so Tifa must have been a pretty hard sleeper.
While McCallister processed this, Leon picked up another peanut and proceeded to flick it at Tifa again. This one thudded against her neck and slipped down her shirt in her cleavage. Tifa grunted but didn't move.
"Sir…What are you doing?" She lifted an eyebrow at him.
Leon flicked two more peanuts—one of which landed on Tifa's collar and the other of which bounced off her jaw—before answering. "It's a four hour drive. It's either this or listen to those guys bicker."
McCallister watched him toss another peanut at Tifa in utter bewilderment before a grin spread across her lips. "And when she wakes up and finds her shirt full of peanuts?"
"I'm blaming you." He shrugged and flicked one more peanut.
This one sailed across the aisle and promptly landed in Tifa's mouth, like a hockey puck in a goal net. Leon did a small fist pump of victory…then cleared his throat and looked to McCallister again just as Tifa started to stir.
"Whatever you say, sir." She sighed, sitting back in her seat.
Tifa opened her eyes, frowned, and looked down at herself. "What the Hell…"
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177 – Yours, Mine, Ours
For justagirl8225
"Keep them closed." Leon's hands were on her shoulders, guiding her.
"What is this all about?" Tifa said, keeping her eyes closed as they walked.
It felt like they had been walking for twenty minutes now, and Leon still wouldn't let her open her eyes. It smelled like the new Residential District, by the aroma of freshly cut wood and concrete. She could even hear the hammers working a few blocks away…So maybe they were near the first completed buildings.
That's what this big surprise was? She had seen the Residential District hundreds of times. She didn't understand what was so special about—
"Watch your step." He instructed. "No peeking."
She took a careful step forward and found a stair step. Ascending it slowly, she let Leon steer her through a shadow before she distinctly felt them leave the outside for the inside. The inside of what, she couldn't quite figure, but it smelled like paint.
"What're you—"
"Okay," His hands left her shoulders, "You can look now."
Tentatively at first, Tifa opened her eyes. The dim light of the room made her blink a few times. As her vision adjusted, she looked around.
"It's…an empty room." She said noting the wood floor, soft red walls, and lack of any evidence that someone lived here.
"Uh huh." He said, coaxing her on.
She stepped out into the middle of the room, leaning sideways to look down the hallway. The walls were unblemished by nails or other fixtures. A completely clean slate.
"It's an empty room…in an empty house." She commented, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked into a potential living room.
Quick recon through a naked window told her that it was close to the entrance to the new district. So this WAS one of the first homes completed in the new residential zone.
"Getting warmer." He said.
Tifa made her way around the room and then stepped into two more rooms before ending up in a modest kitchen. There were basic appliances, a fridge, an oven, and an island counter in the middle.
"An empty room, in an empty house, in the new residential district." She said, looking back.
Leon was leaning against the entryway of the kitchen, hands in his pockets. "Bidding started last week."
"I don't remember hearing that." Tifa grinned. "Is it the first house up for bids?"
"Yes."
"Is it still up for bids?"
Leon checked his watch, "For five more minutes."
"Wow." Tifa ran her hands across the smooth countertop. "This is…this is huge." She looked at him again, beaming. "I know you've really put a lot of time and effort into this." He gave an awkward little shrug—the guy never could take a compliment. "I'm proud of you."
While he awkwardly dealt with that, she explored the rest of the uniform, two story house. Bedrooms, bathrooms, study rooms and a living room. It was small enough to be a starter house, but big enough to not be a matchbox.
"Bidding just ended." Leon said, reading a text on his phone.
"The lucky winner nabbed a good house." Tifa said, hands on her hips.
"So it gets the Tifa Nod of Approval?" He prompted, watching her walk around the empty living room.
"Oh yes." She nodded, "This beats a cramped apartment any day."
"Good, I was hoping you'd say that."
"Oh? Why?" She looked back to find him grinning.
Leon pocketed his phone and glanced around before looking back at her, "It's ours."
"You mean—you were—it—" She stammered, unable to process what he'd just told her, beyond one word, which made butterflies creep through her stomach: ours.
"If you were interested." Leon lifted his hands, "I know it's presumptuous, but—"
Tifa jumped on him then, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. "I love it."
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178 – Keeping Abreast of Things
For justagirl8225
Leon was sifting through a mass of papers that had been stuffed in the file—Yuffie's handiwork, he wagered—when a loud, frustrated groan came from Tifa's room.
"Oh, this is impossible." She snarled.
His back was turned to her room, but he looked up and found Duke looking back at him. The dog licked her own nose and her tail wagged once. Deadpan, he heard Tifa bumbling around behind him and sighed, pinching the skin between his eyes before turning.
"What are you doing in there?" He asked, one arm on the back of the couch.
"I'm—it's—ow!" She cursed. "I could use some help!"
Heaving a sigh, he set the files aside and stood, walking over to her room and turning the knob, pushing the door in.
Tifa was standing in the middle of her room, arms sticking straight up in the air, looking like she had been in the process of pulling her shirt over her head when the cloth became too tight and refused to come off, leaving her upper torso, head, and shoulders trapped in the blouse.
Hearing him come in, she stopped writhing around and stopped, arms still akimbo above her head, slightly out of breath. Leon sweatdropped at the display.
A beat passed.
"I think I'm stuck." She conceded, rolling her shoulders a few times to try and dislodge the caught material.
"I see that." He said flatly, crossing over to her. "What is this?"
"A stupid—it's a—it's a stupid—" She couldn't even form sentences as she tried to escape the shirt prison. "It's Yuffie's."
He blinked, unsure where to start. "And you…decided to hide in it?"
"No!" She barked in exasperation. "She lent it to me for this—this party and I—"
"Wait," He walked behind her and started trying to work her elbow through the mutated sleeve. "You borrowed a shirt from Yuffie?"
"Yeah." She grumbled from inside the inverted blouse.
"That's a little…" He paused, unsure how to phrase this. "I mean, she and you are—"
"I know, I know, but it fit fine when I put it on!" She growled. "Then I tried to take it off and it just—argh!" She flailed.
Leon saw the problem, but there was no way to tell her delicately. "If you hold still—er—no, I think you're pretty stuck."
"What? Why? Guh, it's too tight."
"That's why." He worked the material back down her arms, finding her head and pushing it back down so that she was wearing it properly.
Tifa's face was red from exertion and her hair was sticking out, static making it drift around in all directions. She looked down at herself.
"So, what, I'm trapped in it forever?" She said.
Leon's suspicions were confirmed as the blouse fit all too snugly around her bosom. Why in Kingdom Hearts she had thought she and Yuffie would both fit into the same shirt—
"Hey, eyes up here." She snapped her fingers and pointed at her face. "How do I get it off? I managed to pull it on, but now it's—"
"Does Yuffie ever wear this?" He said, reaching into his pocket.
"I don't think so."
"Then hold still." He pulled out his pocketknife.
Her eyes bugged, "What is that for—"
He found the seam of the blouse, slipped the blade into it, and held the fabric as he sliced up the side a few inches. Now that the tear had started, he put the knife away and started to pull the shirt apart. Tifa yelped at first, but then started tearing it apart herself.
Soon, the blouse was a shredded mess on the floor and Tifa was rubbing her sides, taking deep breaths now that the restraining cloth had been removed.
"Geez," She wheezed, pushing her hair back and snatching up her usual shirt to cover herself. "That was kind of barbaric." She smirked and looked at the ruined shirt. "Thanks."
"No problem." He shrugged.
"Yeah, I bet." She remarked, pulling her new shirt on. "What am I supposed to tell her?"
He scratched his head, "Kind of self explanatory…I tore it off of you."
She laughed and nodded, "I look forward to her reaction."
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A/N 177: Where this goes depends on the reaction to it. Let me know what you think!