Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. These ditties are mine, as are Duke and McCallister. All of the awesome reviewers who've been reading this and have provided such lovely feedback deserve super special awesome potato casserole!

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031 – Fetch

McCallister told her that Leon had left over two hours ago and not come back. Tifa was far from worried about that: Leon was a big boy. He didn't need anybody holding his hand anywhere. But it was an excuse to get out of that stuffy building, so she took up the charge of hunting him down.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting to find, but this was not it.

Leon was sitting on the hill in the makeshift park overlooking the less-massacred districts of Radiant Garden. Just…sitting there in the grass, lost in his thoughts…a dangerous place to be.

"You never struck me as a sit-and-ponder person." She greeted, walking up behind him.

He didn't turn around, just looked down the hill. "Idiot tolerance ran out."

"And it's barely noon." She snickered, sinking onto the grass beside him.

She was about to ask what he was doing if not sitting and pondering, when Duke tore up the side of the hill, clump of mangled wood in her mouth. The dog nearly ran over Leon in her haste to get the stick to him, dropping the item practically in his lap, tail wagging so hard it shook her entire spine.

Tifa couldn't hold in a laugh. "You never struck me as a guy who plays fetch either."

Leon absently picked up the gnarled stick and reeled back slightly, throwing it back down the hill. Duke barked and ran after it euphorically, chasing that sucker down.

"She's been stuck in the apartment for three days. Needed some fresh air." He replied.

Tifa sat back on her hands, crossing one leg casually. "What're you throwing?"

"Wooden golfing trophy from Nestor's office." Leon answered shamelessly. "Little bastard was an ass yesterday."

Tifa snorted, "More so than usual?"

He just grunted as Duke reached him again, this time fighting him as he tried to take the stick of wood that used to be a trophy from her mouth. He finally wrestled it free and Duke keened, bouncing back a few feet and sticking her hind end in the air in anticipation.

"Can I?" Tifa requested, "I need to throw something before I start throwing punches too."

Leon wordlessly handed the mangled trophy to her. She took it and threw it hard down the hill, into the trees. Duke's eyes followed it like they were attached to the wood, and she ran after it.

Oddly, Tifa felt better now.

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032 – Outdoor People

High of 95 Fahrenheit. Eighty percent humidity. Winds up to 30 miles per hour. Sun beating down like it had nothing better to do.

Oh, it was glorious.

Tifa wiped sweat from her forehead as soon as the last of the cracked wall collapsed. It had been damaged beyond repair by the latest Heartless attack. The walls surrounding the Castle Gates had to be broken down and reconstructed from scratch. It was difficult, it was taxing, and it was grueling.

Yep, still glorious.

After she'd lost track of how long she'd been stuck in that damn office, filing reports and signing dotted lines, a little manual labor and elbow grease were gifts from the gods.

Her team continued to cart off the busted concrete and stones, the sound of sledgehammers and jackhammers making a downright delightful cacophony around her. She had another two days of demolition before Leon and his reconstruction team came in to start…well, reconstruction.

Enjoying the ache setting into her arms, she unscrewed a bottle of water and took a drink from it, looking up at the old castle entrance just in time to catch Leon immediately looking away, toward the broader work team. Tifa grinned, shamelessly watching him until he dared to look at her again. She was in too good a mood to be put off by his…Leon-ness.

When he finally caved and looked at her again, almost like for a reprimand, she smiled and waved. He tilted his head slightly as if to say: seriously, how old are you?

She just chuckled and finished off her water, getting back to busting concrete.

Absolutely glorious.

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033 - Hangover

Duke was wearing a sweater.

Wait…what?

Leon blinked, waking up completely. He'd barely been conscious for two minutes, sprawled face down on the couch, and all he could see from that angle was Duke, wearing Tifa's green sweater as she ate something out of the pizza box on the floor.

He started to sit up but pain shot in ramrods through his skull, rolling down his spine and making his stomach double back on itself. With a groan, he slowed his motions, pushing himself upright on the couch and looking around slowly.

The apartment looked like a bomb had gone off. There was a duct tape Stop sign on the wall. Three DVD cases of Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants were on the coffee table, and three bottles of tequila were stacked in a simple pyramid on the kitchen counter. The sight of them made his nausea worsen.

Dragging himself to his feet, he walked gingerly into his bathroom and splashed water on his face. Lipstick was written on the mirror with the message: NOT THE BLUE ONE. Whatever that meant. Drying off his face, he grabbed the wall to stop the floor from tilting as he made his way back into the living room. Looking at his hand, he realized his index to pinkie fingertips were labeled numbers one through four in black ink and there was a star drawn on his thumb.

Two pirate swords were sticking out of the recliner and a marble bust of Mickey Mouse was on the kitchen table. It was wearing a plastic glasses-and-mustache disguise. Confused, he limped into the kitchen, and nearly stepped on Tifa.

"Argh." She groaned, having either fallen asleep or passed out on the tile floor. Her eye patch had fallen down over her cheek.

"Are you okay?" He asked, still groggy himself.

"Ah, stop yelling at me." She winced, rubbing her eyes and looking up at him. "Why am I on the floor?"

"Why aren't you wearing pants?" He replied.

She looked down at herself, clad in only an overlarge T-shirt. "Oh…fuck…" She moaned, slowly getting up off the floor. "Were we robbed?"

"Only if we robbed ourselves." He said, waving Duke away from the pizza box.

The pizza, he noticed, had all the crust removed, leaving only the pizza part of it.

"I've got an idea." Tifa climbed laboriously to her feet, leaning heavily on the counter. "How about we don't drink anymore?"

Leon cradled his head in his hands, looking at her and hardly able to focus. "Never again."

Tifa looked positively nauseas as she looked around the partied-out apartment. Then her eyes lingered on the Mickey Mouse bust.

"When did we get that?"

Leon groaned and sank back onto the couch.