Chapter 13

Cloud

The blizzard outside was enough to make him want to just cuddle under the blankets and drift to sleep, but noo.. he had to have a shift this evening and thus, was forced to go out there. Actually, all of them would have to get out and freeze their butts. The howling wind would probably blow him off. Hmm.. Now there was an idea, certainly. Maybe the wind would just lift him off and carry to somewhere hot and more pleasant. Sunny, even.

Cloud sighed, defeated.

It was New Years and he had promised to take an extra shift at the club since there was a bigger party arranged and they certainly needed more staff to work at the bar. It didn't bother him to work, of course not. He had kept the job even after he had gained all the money to buy the weapon to Squall for Christmas. Cloud smiled, fiddling with the hem of the kitchen window curtain. Yes, he definitely had figured something else he wanted to have. And that was something a bit bigger and a wee bit more expensive than upgraded weaponry.

Of course, he had not said a word to Squall. The man would only get more worried, which was enough for Cloud to shut his pretty mouth for the moment. He would reveal his plans if things would go well.

A jingling chime of the doorbell startled Cloud out of his thoughts, making him rush at the door and wonder who the fuck would be there at this hour. The twins were still in their room and Squall was taking a shower, so it was none of them. Maybe Reno was bored and was daring to interrupt their blizzard-filled evening?

Oh, but no. How wrong could one be. The man who stood behind the door was a complete stranger to him and it seemed to Cloud, that seeing him open the door was enough to make the other man confused too.

"This is the Leonhart residence, am I right?" The man was smaller than Cloud was, and tightly dressed in winter clothes which revealed only the blue, curiously twinkling eyes and pale, frostbitten skin.

"Yes..?"

"You ain't Axel so I guess Squally has taken either a butler or you're his new boyfriend." The scarf was tucked down and the hood of the jacket pushed down to the neck. Cloud was now able to see the facial tattoo of the blond man and what an interesting hairstyle, suddenly it was clear he wasn't the only one in the world whose hair defied the law's of nature. The words entered his mind after a moment and Cloud frowned. What did Axel have to do with Squall? "I'm Zell. Nice to meet you. Mind if I get in?"

"Sure.." Cloud was too baffled to say anything else and let the other walk inside the flat. After closing the door he froze to his feet. Wait. Did this Zell person just hint that Axel had.. been... Squall's.. Cloud's brains tried hard not to explode at this point. The thought of Axel.. THAT AXEL?! He was on the verge of punching the door, trying to control his facial expression enough not to reveal the furious jealousy that had shot up to his head like a rocket.

"Are the guys at home? I haven't seen the little pricks in years." Zell was taking off his warm jacket and just as he was hanging it up, there was a surprised squeal further from the flat. Sora had emerged from the twins' room and was now tackling the small blond man.

"Uncle Zell!"

"Oh shi.. Damn you have grown a lot Sora! You actually reach the lowest branches now by the looks of you!" Zell was all smiles and grins now, hugging the clinging boy tightly. "Where's your better half? I know he must be here since you never are separate.."

"Well, if it isn't the infamous wiener-man.." Roxas' snide was merely amused as he peered into the corridor to see what the racket was all about.

"Hey, that was only once and it was an accident. We do not speak about it anymore." Zell grinned even more wide, if it even was possible. Roxas let out a childish, very unlike of the boy, giggle and rushed to hug the man.

Cloud was standing there, feeling more than enough a stranger. It was uncomfortable to be there to witness such a warm meeting of people who obviously were very fond of each other. Roxas was the first one to notice how expressionless face Cloud was having and untangled himself from Zell, who was having his hands still full of giggling and squealing Sora.

"Ah. Cloud. This is an old schoolmate of Squall's; Zell Dincht. Zell, this is our roommate and Squall's second hand in about everything; Cloud Strife." Cloud didn't even notice himself to move, but he seemed to have put on a slightly warmer impression over his face and was shaking the hand of the tattooed man.

"Ohh.. Then you're not a boyfriend or a butler. Damn.. I could've sworn you to be either one." Next to Zell, Sora's smile suddenly had faded as he studied the clearly faked half-smile Cloud was giving to the grinning man.

"No, he's definitely not a butler tough he does cook and do the laundry." A low voice sneered from the direction of the bathroom, where Squall had emerged, hair dripping water still and, on Cloud's opinion, looked drop dead sexy. Squall wore an unreadable smile over his lips as he studied the blond man who had made a fuss to their peaceful evening. "Nice for you to finally stop by. It took you almost 6 years to do so, but who's counting." Squall finally was melting into a devious grin.

"Hah, and you still are an ass. The years seem to have been rough on you, you old fart. You look old and wrinkled. Have the boys given you a hard time?" Zell had finally gotten rid of Sora's death grip and was trying to gather some air to his lungs.

"Hard time? Oh no. It would be the other way around more, I'd say."

"Well, that I can believe." The newcomer burst into laughter that reminded Cloud immediately about Reno. Maybe Zell was a distant relative or something as insane.

"So, what brings you here on this nasty weather?" Squall motioned the man to follow him to the kitchen and the two disappeared there, leaving Cloud standing in the corridor with the twins. He was having hard time to digest all that had happened in the past ten minutes or so. His brains were sort of not functioning at the moment. At all. He needed a moment of peace now. And yet all he wanted to do was to follow the two men into the kitchen and to listen everything they said, look at their faces and try to read everything between the lines.

"Earth to Cloud.. You still with us?" Sora was waving his hand before Clouds face and the man blinked, trying to focus to the surroundings a bit more. "You know, Zell's always like that. Kinda like Reno. Blurts stuff out of his mouth without thinking. So don't take the butler thing to your heart! To us… You know, you are more like a mothe...NGH!"

"What the twat here is trying to say, is that you are like a member of the family, nearly blood related." Roxas had once again quieted his brother with a hand slapped over the blabbering mouth and tried to save the situation as much as he could. Cloud did appreciate the gesture more than he probably did show.

"I'm fine." Cloud just stated and shot a look towards the kitchen, yearning to be there.

"Seriously, go there. I'm sure they won't mind." Roxas tried to keep his wriggling brother still, having never uncovered his brothers' mouth; pretending to be oblivious to the discomfort he was causing Sora. Cloud was hesitant tough, thinking mainly that this was probably the feeling after someone had performed a lobotomy on you.

After the twins had practically forced him to enter the room with the two men Cloud found himself standing stupefied at the kitchen door not knowing did he want to flee from the scene or did he want to strangle someone. Or did he want to sit down someone and interrogate Zell with highly dubious methods.

Zell was just explaining something with his hands waving in the air and Squall smiling a smile that made Cloud's heart skip a beat. Had Squall really been together with Axel? Had they been in love? How long? Who had broken up with who? His head was about to explode from not knowing, the feeling of it gnawing his insides so furiously it made him want to hurl. Maybe he had just misunderstood the whole thing.

"Ahah, I'm sorry about that before, man. Just was surprised to see a pretty boy opening the door and then to notice that you most likely could kick my ass thru the wall or something so I kinda figured you'd be his... Aaaann~nyway! So, I'm old friend from the grumpy's boarding school era." The smaller blond was smiling a genuine warm smile trying to convince Cloud about his intentions to be nothing but friendly.

"I'm still waiting for you to explain your reason to actually get your ass out in that weather." Squall motioned Cloud to come closer. "Don't just stand there, dummy. Sit." Cloud tried to shake the image of him being a dog out of his mind and simply slumped next to Squall who flashed him a reassuring smile. Oh that smile. It made his knees feel so weak he wanted to beat himself up for being defenseless before this man. He wanted to do the most embarrassing things with Squall, including whole lot of snuggling and dozing off under the same blanket. Why the hell had his mind turned into pink mush? Lucky for Cloud none of his inner turmoil was visible to anyone else. His face remained expressionless and distant. This should've been a big, flashing, red warning sign to Squall that something was off but he was oblivious to anything that sort at the moment.

"Oh yeah!" Zell moved on his chair the way it made him look like he had nearly jumped a bit in the air. "I'm a messenger. Sort of. Haha." He dug his pockets and pulled out a little wrinkled letter and slid it over the table to Squall. "That's my reason for my daredevil venturing out in the blizzard, though it wasn't snowing that much outside the town, u know, I came a looong way just to see your dazzling smile." Squall took the envelope and eyed it curiously. It seemed to have taken some damage during Zell's little journey here. The messenger was leaning to the back of the chair happily grinning as Squall opened the envelope and pulled out a card.

"Oh." Squall let out an almost surprised gasp and then smiled. "So they're finally making it official, huh."

"Yeah. Took long enough 'cuz Irv ain't around so often because of his job. But now he got a promotion or something like that and can stay in town all the time, which of course led into this." Cloud was following the conversation in silence, having already figured what the letter most likely was.

"My other two friends from the same school Zell and I went are getting married. Finally." Squall turned to face Cloud and smiled. "We've waited this since we graduated." He eyed the card again. "You know.. Selphie would kill you if she knew what state the invitation is at the moment."

"Agh, don't even dare to go and tell about that to her! She'd rip me in pieces… In mere seconds!" Zell did manage to look a little guilty. "Honestly. Dude, have you heard the word 'bridezilla'? She's exactly like that. Irv's safe and sound and manages to squirm out of Selphie and her rage-range easily, but the rest of us.. not a chance. Nu'uh, never." There was a hint of panic in his voice and the blue eyes momentarily seemed to flash tired. But only for a fleeting second and then the small man was grinning again.

The two continued their conversation while Cloud kept his mouth shut, just observing silently. Of course, there was nothing alerting about Zell, now that he had the time to listen the man chatting happily about things that had happened since the last time the old friends had gotten together. Cloud glanced at Squall, who wore an unexpected little smile over his lips. Squall was visibly pleased to see and hear news about these people. Cloud had never really understood that aspect of thoughts, his own past was mostly so painful and full of more or less angry people wanting him to be dead or something as negative as that.

"So. Squall.. You will come with the boys?" Zell finally asked, looking almost serious for a moment. He also shot a curious look over at Cloud. "And perhaps your.. friend too?"

Squall startled and looked at the man sitting next to him, like the suggested idea was something that had never crossed his mind. Which was probably true. Cloud sighed to himself and offered the baffled Squall a lop-sided smile.

"I'm sorry, but it is not really my place to be as I am not connected to the family in any way. But thank you for being considerate. Also I have my job to consider because I can't get off easily." Squall's eyes revealed nothing to him, not even a hint of disagreement. Zell was shooting curious looks between the two, trying most likely to figure was someone going to explode. Cloud stood up, averting his eyes downward. "I still need to take a shower. Squall, we need to get to the club in an hour or so. Zell, was nice to meet you." He escaped the room as gallantly as he could without his anxiety pushing thru.

This was getting out of hand, this feeling. He should calm down or he would ruin the whole evening. Cloud retired into the bathroom, feeling so rotten he wanted to hurl right now. But, he was determined not to lower himself to a level of a nervous little girl. Straight into the shower then, eh. Most definitely a freezing cold one! Maybe that would cut the green monster from his shoulders and grant him the chance of speaking normally again.

30minutes later

After the calming shower, and some angry tears that sneaked into the stream of falling water unnoticed, Cloud felt stable enough to return to the midst of his friends. The twins greeted his appearance with long silent glares when he stepped into the living room.

"We're almost late." Cloud growled at the boys, who looked more or less eager to scold him or something as cheery. "What?"

"You sure you aren't on periods or something? You kinda behave like someone has pissed in your morning cereals." Sora sniggered, tilting his head towards his brothers' shoulder. The blond twin flashed an evil grin this time, not even trying to keep his mouthy brother quiet.

"And for what do I deserve these comments?" Cloud cocked one eyebrow at the twins.

"Well... You could say it has something to do with your behavior with certain people about 30minutes earlier." Sora continued his smile disappearing slowly. "Dude, you were so transparent. Makes you rude as hell, you know. Good thing Zell is used to Squall's blunt statements so he just ignored you." Cloud managed to look at least a bit embarrassed.

"That was just.. because.." Cloud stammered, thrown off his balance. Fantastic. He should just shout his every thought out loud since he was so transparent.

"Oh, we know. You got a wee bit baffled because he burst here without a warning, called you Squallies boyfriend and then even semi-invited you to the wedding with us. Almost like as a family. Enough to make one snappy." Roxas finally spoke, ignoring his snickering brother. Cloud shuffled on his feet, staring at his toes.

"Long story short; Squall's a bit pissed at you." Sora smiled that annoying smile of his.

"Well, not sure if he's pissed at him, but more likely annoyed." Roxas corrected, his smile as annoying as the similar one next to him.

"Yeah, that's the word."

"So, basically I'm fucked." Cloud groaned. The twins grinned in unison.

In the car…

The twins had been lured into defying the calming blizzard by Zell, who was going to his hotel and wanted the boys to escort him there. Twins had insisted Zell to stay at their place but the tattooed man had just grinned and the subject was left at that. Also, Sora and Roxas had agreed to this adventure in the snowy streets because they wanted to force Cloud and Squall into same car and to sort out the little misunderstanding, before they would be sucked into working all night long.

That was the reason for Cloud sitting in Squall's car, staring out without really seeing anything. Ok, so he was still feeling a bit pissed because he didn't want to have this information about Squalls past. It would have been easier if he didn't actually know Axel that had laid hands on Squall. It irritated him that he had been acting like a petulant child. Squall was driving in silence, which made Cloud want to just say something. Anything!

"You know.. uh, Squall. I'm sorry that I was an ass. Before. Towards your friend."

"Mmh.."

"You know.. I just got baffled. Because he's more talkative than Reno and Sora put together."

"Oh.. true that one." A hint of a smile appeared to the corner of Squalls lips finally. Cloud swallowed hard, deciding to reveal the reason for his bluntness. If he didn't he would soon drown into his jealousy.

"He also said something about Axel." Cloud's voice was as emotionless as he could make it. Squall's eyes widened for a moment, the smile disappeared fairly fast, which was enough for Cloud to realize his fears were few steps closer of being true after all. He just couldn't make himself to ask the question.

"Oh. That." It was rare for Squall to be at loss for words and now it made him feel even worse, hearing it. "I've known Axel a long time. He used to hang out with me when I still lived in Twilight Town." Squall was avoiding Cloud, simply staring out over the steering wheel. Cloud wanted to scream; Yeah?! Just like we are just hanging out?! But he remained quiet and just nodded.

"Kinda figured."

The silence crept upon them like a sneaky thief, trying to cut their ability to speak at all. After a while, Cloud just couldn't take the pressuring silence anymore.

"I hope it won't get too packed."

"Don't worry. If you start feeling bad you can just escape to the backroom. Or just send me a message and I'll come dashing to save you." A highly meaningful pause. "Again." Squall grinned lightly, causing Cloud to snort, but smiling anyway too.

After midnight

Since it indeed was New Years, and there was a party thrown for it and like in almost every bar there was in town, it was expected to attract a lot of people. But Cloud had never in his wildest dreams, nightmares, in this case, had imagined the club to be this full. It was almost frightening, but he had decided to keep his head cool and get thru the night. Alive, if possible.

The amount of people inside of course caused the bar itself to be the busiest place and had forced the workers to increase their numbers up to six -usually there was only three of them- and even Axel had joined their merry group.

There was pretty much no moment of peace granted to any of them, but somehow Cloud managed to keep his eyes on the handsome owner, who was laughing with the customers so freely and flirting shamelessly. He could somehow see why Squall had set his eyes at Axel. The man was seriously gorgeous if you just got past all the weird twitchy moving and facial tattoos. Not to mention Axel had the most vivid green eyes that seemed to undress anyone just by looking. If he hadn't been so pissed off he might have thought Axel to be quite charming too. The man was fluent with his interacting with people and made everyone feel like they were definitely the only ones getting his attention at the time.

The music was so loud, there were a bunch of DJ's performing tonight and Cloud had hard time hearing the orders that were shouted from the other side of the counter. He tried to keep his attention focused on his work and customers but his eyes inevitably found their way back to the red spikes no matter how much he tried. Axel usually let his red hair flow free but tonight it was so hot inside even he had put the locks on a ponytail. Sadly Cloud noted it made Axel look even cooler than he already was. The same questions kept spinning in his head on and on, like a huge wheel that would never stop; Really? When? Serious? Why they had broken up?

He really hated himself for going over these things when he should have definitely been just happy the relationship didn't exist anymore and Squall was free to direct his attention towards Cloud. Ahah, yeah right. Like that would ever happen. But still, it killed him to even think Squall touching someone else, or ever looking at them.

He was too busy with his thoughts to notice Axel had disappeared at some point. Cloud shot an angry searching gaze into the crowd behind the wall of thirsty customers. The red hair should be easy to spot, at least.

His blue eyes moved swiftly, almost panicking about the room that was filled with people clothed in black and flashing lights, looking for that one person he so much wanted to glare but was unable to find his target. It didn't definitely help at all when the people ordering drinks tried to hit on him, no exceptions. Most evenings he found it mostly amusing and slightly annoying, but not today. Cloud felt like his faked smile was starting to fade very rapidly the more he was forced to endure the half assed suggestions. He could let Squall to beat them into a bloody pulp… His eyes moved automatically towards the stage and the DJ's stand to see his friend.

Suddenly his heart seemed to stop.

Squall was indeed on the stage and looking good in every way. The only thing that was making Cloud almost completely lose his self restraint was the teeny tiny fact that the person he had been looking for was to be now found next to Squall. And looking as dashing as one can while very obviously trying to hit on the person next to you. Cloud nearly evaporated steam out of his ears as the two men on the stage were smiling together to something Axel had said.

It tore his heart apart to see those two close like that when he had no damned right to feel like this. And having to witness that little caress over Squalls bare arm with the redhead's slim fingers… He shivered almost violently because of suppressed anger.

Cloud squeezed the lemon slice into his fist, the juice squirting over the table. Fuck that! If Squall was so eager to let his ex-lover to touch him then Cloud was free to do as he wished. Why was it that Squall nearly jumped out his skin if Cloud accidentally touched him. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Of course, Cloud never admitted to anyone else the only person he wanted to make out was Squall and no one else. He was too furious and had to rip his eyes off of the flirting couple on the stage, focusing on his chores for the moment, angrily making the drinks. He got questioning looks from the co-workers of his and naturally from the customers who had to receive his stubborn anger thru the making of drinks that nearly fell all over the counter.

He had to do something or else he would end up screaming at someone who had nothing to do with his foul moods.

"I need to take a break." Cloud yelled at the younger man next to him working. Riku just nodded and merely lifted one eyebrow, asking silently if everything was ok. Cloud just waved and fled the counter as smoothly as he could in that state of mind. He would apologize later to Riku of his behavior.

Now, he had not planned to go to face Squall and Axel, never, but.. it seemed he was on his way towards the stage and to actually confront the two men. Or to beat them. Just because he felt like it was just the thing to do to ease his painfully throbbing heart. He was nearly reaching his destination when he bumped into someone.

A flash of green eyes and pointy red hair. Reno grinned widely at him.

"Thought you were working!" The smaller man yelled into Cloud's ear.

"I was. I mean I am! I just.. had to.." Reno was standing face to face to him. Cloud could feel the narrow body and its pulsing heat thru his thin shirt. He could almost feel the heartbeat too. Or maybe it was his. Those green eyes were drilling into his skull and emptied it swiftly.

Before Cloud could even think properly he had grabbed the redhead and pulled him close and into a rough kiss.

Reno's body seemed to stiffen for a moment. It took just a fleeting second for him to take action and grab a hold of Cloud's head in return, forcing their faces even closer and the kiss to deepen.

Cloud felt like his world was spinning fast around him and he could do nothing to stop it.

Finally he freed himself from the now curious looking Reno. Cloud said nothing and did nothing. He was stupefied by his own stupidity. Now what exactly had been the point of doing that? The thought of Squall's kiss lingered somewhere in his thoughts and he was comparing it to this kiss he had just participated. Oh yeah, Squall. He had wanted to punch Axel's face and do something evil to Squall too. It all seemed so vague and irrelevant now.

As Cloud finally had lift his eyes to the stage he found Squall still there and found the man was looking rather gloomy and was glaring at Cloud directly. No.. actually that face was blank as white paper. Which could only mean that Squall was pissed off. Badly.

Time for Cloud to flee from the scene…