Chapter 15

Squall

Squall was trying to be really sneaky and quiet when he was opening the front door and gliding softly inside. He had his heavy winter boots already in his hand, since it was really, really late and everyone inside were most likely sound asleep. But of course the door made a loud creaking noise when he pushed it open. He really should fix that at some point. He had been working late and had walked home in the nippy air. He had cursed quite badly when he had realized he had forgotten his cap and gloves somewhere and it was pretty damn freezing wind blowing down the streets.

Walking back home had evidently been pretty unpleasant, which made him seriously happy to finally arrive there and to find a single small light still lit in the corridor where they kept their jackets and shoes. Squall smiled softly since he knew it had been Cloud who left the light on just for him. Not that Squall minded about these things.

The best part of coming home at this hour was probably the feeling of warmth in here. The whole flat was silent, radiated that warm coziness that went straight to his heart and soul, and it smelled like.. Home. And food? Squall sniffed the air and a wider smile spread over his lips. The delicious smell of previously cooked food lingered in the air and made his stomach voice its emptiness with a loud growling rumble.

"If you're hungry, there's chicken and rice in the fridge." Squall startled as the Clouds whisper suddenly echoed from the darkness of the living room. He knew Cloud had not come to work with him tonight because of the overtime he had to do with his primary job, but had not anticipated him to be still awake at this hour.

"Why are you awake?" Squall tried to keep his voice quiet, not really wanting to wake the twins up. That would ruin the whole serenity of this moment. "It's almost 5am."

"Couldn't sleep after I came back from calming Sora down." Cloud lit up his reading light that was set next to the couch he slept. Squall cocked one eyebrow and studied his friends' appearance. Cloud looked a little sleepy in his loose t-shirt and pants, hair messier than usual. "Roxas was too tired to do it on his own so I stayed there until they both fell asleep again."

"Nightmares again, huh.." He was worried, as always, when there was something happening to the twins, but the fact that Cloud was sitting there and being calm, assured him the situation already was under control. No one could blame Squall for being a worrywart when it came to Sora and his ability to morph into the girl from The Exorcist…

"Yeah. I think I got some nasty bruises this time too. He sure can kick hard. I think my arms and sides have never had these kinds of bruises. And I've dealt with some serious beating in my short life." Cloud gave out a half a smile and stood up. "So. Are you hungry? I could use a cup of tea."

"An offer I simply cannot resist. Lead the way, my fair prince of the night." Squall bowed theatrically. Cloud snorted at this and stuck his tongue out before padding his way to the kitchen, Squall following him with a content smile over his lips.

After an hour

"You remember when you said, before Christmas, that you wanted to see the stars?" Squall was leaning to the back of the chair, stomach full and his hands cradling a tea cup. He gazed at Cloud sitting on the other side of the table, leaning his cheek to his hand and looking more tired than before. No wonder.. It was getting close to 6am already. Usually they got up at this hour, not the other way around.

"Yeah." Cloud sounded a little unsure. "Why?"

"No reason." Squall shrugged. "I just thought that we could've gone out now. It's a clear night and we're both awake. Unless you're getting too sleepy.." Easy as hell to trigger Cloud to say yes daring him to do something, even if Cloud was ready to go to sleep. Squall smiled to himself.

"You know it's fucking freezing out there." Cloud moaned. Oh, yeah. He despised of getting cold. An image of Cloud looking like a huge marshmallow just his hands and feet sticking out made Squall want to drop over the table and laugh. Blame the lack of sleep for the image being so funny. Cloud glared at him and his stupid grinning and probably thinking he had finally lost all the remaining marbles or something like that.

"We'll take the car, of course." Squall managed to refrain from grinning anymore wider and hid behind his tea cup, staring at Cloud over it. He was still looking hesitant. "I promise to warm you up if you get too cold. Just like a prince Charming would do!" Squall smiled. It was meant to be as a joke but somehow the thought was everything but a joke to him. He certainly would warm Cloud up. Gladly, if given the opportunity.

"Oh. Well, in that case..." Cloud grinned suddenly. "What are we waiting for?" Squall blinked few times, not really believing it had been this easy to convince Cloud to leave the warm house and go out to do basically nothing intelligent. But, Clouds word was his command and anyway Squall did rebel very little against anything Cloud said to him.

On a windswept hill

Cloud

Luckily the wind was nearly non-existing and made the freezing cold a little less agonizing to Cloud. But it was definitely worth it all. His instantly cold fingers and toes, and absolutely frozen nose and all that unpleasant stuff that came with winter made him dislike this time of the year so much. It was the simple fact Cloud had volunteered for this excursion that kept him warmer than usual. And his stubbornness to admit it was mostly because he was feeling less hatred for coldness because he such awesome company.

He stared up into the dark sky and was feeling very, very tiny under the glimmering little stars. It was like he was reaching out there with his soul to join the twinkling and glistening choir. Cloud felt a bit embarrassed about him starting to think poetry at a moment like this, but he really had no other way to describe this wonderful scenery. The course of his thoughts made him snort aloud. Since when had he become this badly a sappy and mushy person? Almost made him sick. Really should take a grip of himself, honestly.

Next to him stood Squall, having his head tilted back and the long brown hair falling over the scarf and to his back. Equally beautiful scene, to Cloud at least. Ok, so he was comparing Squall and the nightly sky which was of course, quite ridiculous. But for him these two things were things to warm his heart.

These kinds of moments in life always made one to yearn for a loving touch and words. It was no different for Cloud who now found himself feeling an ache to hold someone and in return to be held back just as lovingly. Preferably that someone could… should be Squall. He weighted the possibility of getting whacked in the head for even trying to hug his friend. Wise to do? Maybe not. Worth to try? Definitely.

In the end, Cloud remained where he was, simply restoring the image to his memory.

"Your hair's getting long." Cloud said after mustering his courage to say something. Squall blinked and turned his head to Cloud's direction and looked baffled.

"Really? I haven't really been paying attention to it." Squall said and wiped one stray hair off his face with one gloved hand. Cloud stifled his laughter. He reached one hand to touch the brown locks with his already rather numb fingers.

"But I kinda like them longer. Not that you would be any less attractive with shorter hair." A small pause before Cloud flashed a grin."Tough I think I'd be a little horrified if you'd be bald."

"So you think I'm ugly? Gee! Thanks Cloud!" Squall played his being-offended-part well and smiled widely. "Who knows what you'll run into tomorrow morning in the kitchen... Could be a Boogeyman.. or then just me, bald."

"Oh crap, I'd never get over that. Your head being like a shiny ball. Unless you allow me to drill holes in your head and make it a bowling ball?" Cloud almost bit his tongue as the expression over Squalls face turned into something you could describe best with 'oh REALLY? Is that what you think asshole.'.

"Maybe I can turn your head into a soup bowl. It's large enough and already empty." Squalls' snide was almost believable. After few seconds the man burst into laughter. Cloud smiled, stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets and feeling the cold seeping under his coat.

"We should have brought a thermos of tea or hot chocolate with us. It's bloody freezing in here!" Cloud mumbled after a moment of silence into his scarf.

"You're cold? Poor little Spiky already badly frozen? And don't give me that look, I'm allowed to call you whatever the hell I want. Well, come closer." Squall motioned Cloud to step right next to him. Cloud glared at him suspiciously, not really sure was this offer going cost him a wash in the powdery snow or something else as unpleasant. To his surprise, Squall did do what he said would; wrapped his arm around Cloud's waist and pulled as close as it was possible with their thick winter clothes on.

Never mind the fact that their coat's were so heavy they wouldn't really share any of their body heat, but it was at least in Cloud's mind the thing that made him feel a little more warmer. The sheer happiness of being this close was all that it took to make one depressed swordsman happy. For the moment at least.

"You know… You could've said no when I asked you to get out here." Squalls quiet voice came somewhere close to Cloud's ear and Cloud buried his nose to his own scarf.

"I know." Cloud said and remained quiet for a while. It wasn't like he didn't appreciate this view and sky and everything, but he knew for a fact that had he been here alone, it would have never in his dreams been like it was with being here with Squall now. "It's worth the pain of freezing." He felt Squall tighten his hold of him and taking inhaling deeply. Yeah, this was exactly what made this all so nice and brilliant. Cloud smiled softly into his scarf and leaned more into the embrace just letting his mind empty about everything and to be filled with peace instead.

Squall

It already had been two days and still Squall had not heard a word from Cloud. Obviously, it was making him nervous and paranoid to the point where he was constantly checking his phone if there was a return call from Cloud or any messages. And when he had tried to call, the operator informed him the number was out of use. Like, what the fuck? Where the hell could Cloud be! He had tried to reach Tifa, but she said she had not been at home for the past week because she was with Elena, visiting Yuffie at the moment.

Squall signed, unable to concentrate on his work. Not that there was much to concentrate on when he was only cleaning the coffeemaker. The bell chimed happily, informing a new customer stepping into the café. Squall sighed again and turned towards the desk trying to force a smile upon his worried face and do his job. The forced smile faded quickly as he saw a familiar redhead to stand on the other side, casually leaning over the desk.

"Hello Reno." Squall stated monotonously feeling nothing even close of enjoyment at seeing his friend waltzing in.

"Why the long face, yo?" Reno was smiling brightly, like there was nothing that could make him feel down. Never. Ever. How badly it did annoy Squall that someone was able to grin like that when he was not.

"None of your business." Squall growled low, trying to keep his temper at bay. Maybe Reno would just go and disappear if he ignored his presence.

"Aww, come on Squally, you know if there's anything I can do for you, you just need to say the magic words!" Reno wiggled his eyebrows and smirked in a way that hinted way too much and made the man look like a cat stalking its prey. Squall frowned. "Well, I would offer you the services of my brother but I think that ship has sailed for good, huh."

"Stop that. I'm not going to do anything with you. Or with Axel." Squall grimaced as the image of Cloud yelling at him about Axel came back to him. Reno faked a sad face at this. "Fine! I'm just worried about Cloud, that's all. Haven't been able to reach him and Tifa's not home either. And since he had no shifts this weekend at the bar, I really don't know where he could be." He just blurted out all the thing that kept him occupied at the moment.

"Yeeaah, I heard she went for a little trip with Elena or something.. Wonder what the two are up to, since they kinda always hang out together these days." Reno tapped the counter with his fingertips. "Anyway! So the earth has swallowed good ol' Spiky?" He wiped the stray hair off his face and tilted his head.

"Seems like it." Squall sighed, running his hands thru his hair frustrated. "Would've checked the house but can't. It's not like I have keys to get in there." Cloud had never given him the keys to house and why should've he done so? There was nothing for Cloud now that they had moved Cloud in with Squall and the boys. So why had Cloud never come back home? Although the bar was Clouds previous home Squall had his doubts whether Cloud would want to return to 7th Heaven at any time because the place was so gloomy.

"Oh." Reno grinned. "Why didn't you say so! You know... I just happen to have these little things called keys, to there." Reno burst into giggles when he saw the confused expression on Squall's face. "Now, what were the magic words again?"

"Give them to me or I'll beat you into a bloody pulp?" Squalls eyes flashed dangerously when the silver key surfaced from Reno's pockets.

"Something like that." Reno looked merely amused, knowing full well Squall would never lay a finger on him. "Though next time, sweetie… You could try 'please' instead of threatening to damage my pretty appearance." He cackled evilly.

Afternoon

The bar felt rather abandoned and quiet when Squall stood before it on the street. No lights in any window to suggest someone to be inside. On the other hand, it was still day time and artificial lights were not needed. Damn! Squall stood before the doors, seeing the note Tifa had wrote about the bar being closed for a week. Heart racing and his mind buzzing with terrible worry and fear because he wasn't sure what he would do if Cloud was not in here. Squall walked around the house and approached the back door which led to the kitchen. The key made a soft clicking noise and the door opened quietly.

It was eerily silent inside. There was light pouring from the kitchen windows and thru to the doorway leading to the side where the bar was, illuminating the faint gray dust that floated in the air now. Squall walked further inside and peered into the bar. Nothing. There were no dishes in the kitchen sink to reveal the possibility of someone having been, or being there.

"Cloud?" Squall had to whisper as it felt like a crime to call out with a loud voice. He cursed silently. It felt like a haunted house, seeing it empty like this. Oh sweet mother of mercy.. what if he isn't here? What if he is and is dead or something? Ok, now he was getting a little too carried away. Squall shook his head, heading to the stairway that led upstairs. Like anything could kill Cloud for real. Just think about it! The man would have kicked anyone's ass to the pits of hell and just laughed after. What possibly could tie that man down anywhere?

He reached the doorway to Cloud's room. The door was open and the room dark and quiet. It took a moment for Squall to adjust his eyes to the darkness and see properly. The desk was empty as the old computer had been thrown to trash and the new laptop was permanently staying at their place. There were no clothes laying anywhere, as if Cloud would have ever been able to just drop clothes on the floor, and the bed was untouched…

No. Wait.

Squall stepped inside the room and walked towards the bed. There was someone laying on it. Under the blankets but there definitely was someone. Squalls heart tried to break free from his chest and run over the hills and far away, so badly he feared there either was Cloud, but he was dead or injured OR there was someone else OR there was Cloud with someone else! With one trembling hand Squall reached for the blanket and lifted it.

"Oh.. Cloud." Squall breathed out. There Cloud was, alone and breathing. Squall sighed deeply, trying to calm his mind and his heart which was nearly killing him. He sat on the edge of the bed. "Cloud? Are you awake?" Cloud wasn't moving but was breathing deeply which only indicated him to be sleeping. Squall took a deep breath and took a better look around the bed area. There were dozens of crumbled tissues and lonely cup that was half empty with some dark liquid in it. Was Cloud sick? He reached again his hand out but this time to try Clouds forehead. Squalls fingers found the damp skin. Oh yeah, definitely sick.

Sighing, Squall got up, closed the door behind him carefully and returned downstairs to the kitchen.

Few hours later

Few hours, one phone call and couple of small cooking mistakes later, Squall was walking back to Cloud's room, with a tray in his hands, trying hard not to fall down since that would have made a heck of a noise and definitely would wake the sleeping patient up. There was very little he could do really, he only guessed Cloud was suffering from fever and was sneezing and coughing; these symptoms Squall had heard even into the kitchen, but it was no rocket science to figure that Cloud probably just had a very bad flu.

Squall entered the room after managing to open the door with one hand and set the tray on the floor, next to the bed and moved to the window to open it and let in some cold fresh air, then returning to the sleeping form on the bed.

"Hey sleepyhead.. Time to wake up." He shook Clouds' shoulder gently. Cloud groaned, slowly turning to his back. "Wake up, you lovable twit." Squall smiled when Cloud finally managed to open his eyes, unfocused. He tried to speak but only managed to start coughing hard and reached to fetch a tissue. After few moments of sneezing and more coughing the man was blinking with watery eyes and bright red nose towards Squall who waited patiently.

"Squall..?" Clouds voice was so nasal and crackling it must've hurt to speak. He made small cough and shot a disbelieving stare up to Squall. "Why are you here?"

"Well. No one could reach you for two days so I had to break in to see if you're dead." Squall said and saw how Cloud's eyes widened in horror. "Idiot. Of course I didn't break in here. I got the keys from Reno."

"Really? Two days? What the hell.. Why didn't you call me?"

"Your phone is shut." Squall cocked one eyebrow. Just how out of it all had Cloud been these few days? Cloud was now turning from side to side, lifting the blanket and pillows. After a moment of searching he found the phone and sighed.

"The battery has died. Sorry.. I didn't realize no one could reach me." Cloud sneezed again, leaning heavily against his pillows. "You know, I've been out of it all this time. I just remember locking the doors downstairs and feeling all groggy. I thought I'd take a short nap but… I guess I fell asleep. Woke up the next morning and felt like shit. After that... I don't have many memories. I guess I've been sleeping." Cloud sighed and tried to breathe thru his nose, which failed miserably and caused him to gasp for air thru his mouth.

"Figured as much. Good thing it's weekend. Your work would have suffered from your sudden absence quite badly. But seriously, you are not healthy yet and I am definitely either going to stay here myself or move you back home where you belong. You should've just called me when you felt bad and I would have picked you up." Cloud stared at Squall behind his half open eyelids breathing slowly, not saying a word. Who knew what the man was thinking at the moment. Squall averted his eyes to the floor.

"You're cute when you're worrying over me." Cloud's voice might be raspy and very nasal, but Squall could still hear the smile in it. Lifting his eyes back up he found Cloud having closed his eyes completely but the smile was still lingering over his lips. Squall felt his insides tighten as the wave of warmth washed over him. It was a good thing the room was so shadowy.

"Hmph. I brought you some food. You should eat it before you drift back to sleep." Squall said trying to hide his slight embarrassment. Cloud opened his eyes quickly and he eyed him with obvious disbelief.

"You cooked something? Holy shit.. Am I gonna die because of it?"

"No. But you might if you continue with an attitude like that. The fact that you are sick makes it only easier for me to strangle you.." Squall snarled but turned his vicious tone quickly to a smile and stood up to fetch the still warm bowl of something that looked like a soup. Cloud had risen from his laying position and was now leaning against the wall. Squall had to bite his lip to prevent himself from saying something like 'oh you are so adorable aren't you!' since Cloud was way too huggable like that. His hair was so uncontrollably and furiously pointing to every direction, the blue eyes were tired and the nose was christmas red from sneezing. That crumbled up baby blue shirt did not really help at all. "Here.." Squall managed to mumble, before his eyes would drop out from all the ogling he was doing.

"You sure you're not sick too? You look weird." Cloud took the bowl and sniffed. "I don't really know why I try to smell this since I can't smell a thing right now." Smiling lightly and then tasting it. Squall was half waiting of some rude comment about it but it never came. "Seriously, there could be a bowl of shit here and I wouldn't taste it. Stupid flu." Cloud smiled widely at Squalls disapproving expression.

"As much as I hate you sometimes, I still wouldn't go as low as serving you a bowl of shit." Squall snorted and sat on the floor before Cloud, leaning his head to the mattress and looked towards the window he had opened, the curtains moving slowly because of the draught. "Should I come here, since you seem to be quite sick? It might be a bad idea to make you get out." He felt pressure on his head, an awkwardly made caress. What the..? Lifting his head he found Cloud having a spoon sticking out his mouth and one leg sticking out under the blanket. That mentioned leg was obviously the part that had.. eh, caressed his hair. Squall was unable to describe how hilarious the situation was so he just returned to his resting and smiled.

"Dunno. I don't really care where I am. I have a firm intension to sleep a lot more. There is only one thing that makes me worried." Cloud sighed deeply, tapping his lips with the spoon. "Tomorrow is Monday and I should be working. I'm not in any condition to do pretty much anything and there's just Josh, you know, the other driver we have, to do all the work. What the hell am I going to do?" Squall lifted his head up again.

"Well…" Squall stretched the word thinking at the same time. "I don't have to work tomorrow and I'm quite sure the idiots are home too, so…" A glimpse of hope had appeared into the feverish eyes.

"So if we can help in any way, just give us some guidance and we'll do what can be done. Though that means I have to move you back home." Squall said but the smile Cloud was giving him right now was enough for Squall to forget about something as trivial as the changing of the resting place.

"You have no idea how grateful I'd be if you guys could help me out that much." Cloud had to blow his nose and for a moment it looked like he had tears in his eyes but must be just because he was sneezing like mad. Still, Squall felt a little uneasy how being sick could turn even the most ass kicking man into a teary child.

"Mmh.. Well, you're seriously going to be our slave for the next decade or something for this, but hey.. You just love it anyway." Squall grinned and Cloud tried to kick him in the face for that but Squall easily evaded the half assed kick. "Now now, behave yourself or I'll take my offering back!" Cloud stuck his tongue out at him which of course sent Squall into a fit of stifled laughter.

"You don't have to be so mean! This is entirely your fault anyway." Cloud sulked leaning more heavily to the wall behind him, having exhausted his remaining strength already.

"What? My fault? Like hell it is." Squall looked offended and frowned at Cloud.

"Oh yes it is. You're the one who convinced me to get out last week when it was bloody freezing and you know I hate cold..." Cloud was pouting. Nope, it didn't help much. To Squall Cloud looked even cuddlier like that.

"What should have I done then? Kissed and made out with you, so you would have stayed warm enough?" Squall said that without much thought, just spitting out what came up to his mind first.

"Well, would have been nice!" Cloud stated almost angrily. A silence fell upon them after Cloud had closed his mouth with a snap and gone bright red, when he'd realized what had escaped his lips.

"... what?" Squall blurted utterly confused. The statement took Squall completely by surprise and he was only able to stare at Cloud sitting in front of him. Cloud was already red but was rapidly turning crimson.

"I.. uh. You heard me." Cloud glared straight at Squall, stubbornly. Squall tried to figure if it was the fever talking or was Cloud actually serious for once and not just joking around, like they did most of the time when it came to this sort of subject.

"Should I..." Squall wasn't really sure what to actually say at the moment and cleared his throat. "You want me to… do something about it?" Not that he was ready right now to do anything; Cloud's flu was something he definitely didn't want to catch. Cloud was staring at him, possibly also at loss with words like he was.

"No…" Cloud managed to mutter. "Not... right now, you know." For a moment Squall had thought the whole thing had been a joke but as Cloud had continued his sentence it seemed like it really was something Cloud had wanted to get out of his chest. Now this was really weird. Squall remained quiet a while, just trying to figure what went on in the Clouds pretty head.

"I should clean up before we get out of here." Squall mumbled averting his eyes from Cloud. Avoiding the topic they should have been talking about, Squall got up and started to gather the tissues Cloud had dropped beside the bed. Also, he was quite certain this conversation should absolutely wait for the time when they both were healthy. Cloud was quiet, staring down at the bowl in his hands. "You just finish that and I'll clean, then we're good to go." Cloud merely nodded.

Later that week

Tifa

Tifa was rummaging thru some bags where seemed to be Cloud's old clothes when the phone rang. First she didn't even bother to get up and the ringing ended after a long while. Probably someone unimportant.

Why had Cloud left his clothes here anyway? He should've gotten rid of these, since they seemed to be from his teenage times, or further from his past, who knew. Tifa scoffed in the ghostly and silent room, glancing at the empty walls, the bed, the corner where the table used to stand. It had been Clouds room and she was trying to get rid of most of the remaining things there as quick as possible. Had she said anything to Cloud about it? No. Would she? Probably not. She had a feeling Cloud wouldn't be missing any of these things as he had taken what he needed with him when he had moved in with Squall.

She hadn't even seen Cloud in a while. Last time she heard from him was thru Squall who had informed him that he had hauled Cloud to their place since he had gotten down with flu. Amazing, truly, that Cloud even was sick. Hell must have frozen or something..

Tifa was vaguely aware of the buzzing and vibrating phone in her pocket and when she finally noticed it, the call ended angrily. Not even bothering to pick it up, she stuffed the old clothes back into the bag and threw it to the corridor.

Her phone started to vibrate again. Wrinkling her nose displeased when she was forced to end her brooding packing and dug the phone out of her pocket.

"Tifa."

"Good grief woman you're harder to reach than old Spikey! I tried to call you two times before this! What the hell are you doing there even? Having someone over, hmmm?" Yuffie's high voice reached Tifa's ear and she smiled to herself.

"That was you? I'm sorry. I'm just cleaning here and I guess I was lost in my thoughts. Anyway, what's up?" Now that she had been interrupted she felt grateful. Brooding had never been her specialty. It was Clouds.

"Well, everything is pretty much the same here. I'm getting all exited 'cuz I'm gonna start at the kindergarten as a permanent employee tomorrow and Marly will be going to secondary school the next autumn –she just won't shut up about it, so damn excited!- and Barret is just bawling like a little baby because her little baby has started to grow breasts!" Tifa heard Yuffies howl of laughter and smiled herself at the idea of Barret getting emotional about his daughter. "Of course there is the matter of me trying to reach Vinnie because the bastard never lets me know where he is and whatnot, but he aint no match for the mighty Yuffie!"

"Sounds like everything is normal there then." She really missed the town where she had lived a short period before moving here.

"You remember that thing you asked me to do? Well, I did some sniffing around and... I think I found something!"

"You did? Tell me everything!" Now this was something that washed her gloomy evening feeling away completely.

"Weeelll..." Yuffie seemed to giggle silently. "It seems there is a woman from Leon's past.. I mean Squall's. Sorry, old habit. A dark haired pretty thing, even. Hahahaha. It's like Cloud has you as his dark haired pretty thing from his past, you know, funny coincidence!"

"Yufs... If you don't start talking sense I'm going to come thru the phone and kick your bony ass.." Tifa groaned. One of Yuffies most annoying traits was to go on rambling about something else than she was supposed to.

"Now don't rip your panties yet my darling.. I'm just getting to the point! And I dug up something that might involve those two lovable twats..."