Chapter 13 - Why Chocobos Don't Fly

Disclaimer:



Cloud: Brooke does not own me

Leon: Or me…no one owns the Lion.

Cloud: (Stares at him) WTF! No one owns the lion? What's up with that!?

Leon: What, everyone's always comparing me to one.

Cloud: Cuz you last name you idiot.

Leon: Idiot!? At least I'm not a dog.

Cloud: Whatever, and I saw your little boyfriend in KH2, Striker was it

Leon: Seifer, and I never dated him I went out with Irvine

Me: SQUEE!! (nosebleed)

C&L: Shakes head in shame

Cloud: Yeah, well nice hat!! And that belly shirt oh gawd, that's the guy that kicked you @$$ and gave you that scar?! (laughs)

Leon: (glares) At least I'm not a hopless cold vagabond in KH2, they gave me more emotions and I have my fluffy back.

Cloud: Yeah I must say you're looking sexy as hell in your new outfit, you hairs kick @$$ too.

Leon: Same to you, I'm liking that dress thing…

Cloud: IT'S A LONG JACKET!!

Leon: yeah, yeah, you looked good in it.

(Long silence, tumble weed rolls by)

Leon: wanna make out?

Cloud: shrugs sure why not.

-Insert hot sex scene here-

Me: (Gets video camera and watches) They don't belong to me so don't sue.

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The elevator gave a soft ding sound, the doors swooshed open for Leon Leonhart and Cloud Strife to walk through. Leon had seemed a bit down after seeing his father, but Cloud paid it no attention, `maybe he's sad that his dad is gone' they walked down the hallway passed Reno's place, it was quite this time, not a sound coming from it. Come to think of it, it was so quite in the hallway period, the only sound that could be heard was coming from Leon's feet. They reached the door and went inside. Leon sighed walking in the house, taking his shoes off and dropping his jacket on the floor, Cloud didn't take his off but instead watched Leon in amazement as he began to mess up his place. After throwing his shoes and jacket on the floor Leon began to walk over towards the couch. He looked down at it for a second or two, wondering if he should remove the pillows so they wouldn't get squashed, `frack it' he flopped down on it, squishing the soft pillows with the weight of his body. Cloud watched him seeing him break another one of his rules, No couch flopping, he took his jacket off placing it in the closet on a hanger, he then sat down on the floor and began to take off his shoes, he reached forward and put them in the bottom of the closet. Leon began to mumble something incoherently, Cloud looked in his direction, his baby blues giving off a look of worry. He stood up, taking a step towards Leon's shoes and jacket, placing them both in the closet. Cloud then began to walk towards Leon. He was now lying on his side, facing in towards the couch, with his back turned to Cloud.



“Leon?” Cloud asked softly but he didn't answer. Cloud waited a while watching him. Leon took a deep breath, his shoulders coming up a bit then sinking low again when he let it out, he then brought his knees a bit closer up towards his stomach. After a while of Leon shifting a bit on the couch and Cloud patiently waiting, Leon gave a soft “hmm?” and Cloud smiled. `At least he's responding.' He sat down on edge of the coffee table in front of the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.



“Are you alright?” he asked softly



“I'm cold.” He answered quietly and stiffly, Cloud smiled getting up from his seat.



“I'll get you a blanket then.” Cloud got up and dashed off over towards the window seat he usually sat and read at. He grabbed the folded up blanket and walked back over to Leon, “Here you go” he said at the foot of the couch, he grabbed the blankets ends, letting it spread out, he lifted it into the air and shook it out over Leon, placing it over him. He then walked to the head of the couch and pulled the blanket up some more, when he was satisfied with how much it covered Leon he smiled and sat back down on the coffee table. “Better?” he asked, Leon turned his head towards Cloud and smiled.



“Much better, thank you.” He turned back around bringing the blanket a bit closer to him and under his chin. He could feel Cloud's eyes on him still, so as not to be rude he turned on the other side. He began looking at Cloud with his deep gray-blues, Cloud looked back at him but let his head fall down to look at his hands. Leon raised an eyebrow at this. Cloud usually held there little stare contests, Leon would usually be the one to break them. `Weird' he thought, he let his gaze fall down to Cloud's hands as well, watching him fiddle with his thumbs.



“You know that's my favorite blanket” came a soft voice, Leon looked up from Cloud's hands to his face, Cloud was still looking down at them though.



“What?” Leon asked, not entirely catching what he had just said.



“I said that that's my favorite blanket…” He looked up, trialing his eye towards Leon's. “My mom made it for me” he smiled widely, his eyes softening, “I think I was five or six when she made it. It's actually a really stupid story…” he trailed off laughing lightly. Leon kept his eyes on Cloud, though he wouldn't express it, he really did like it when Cloud talked about his past.



“Why stop now?”



“Well” he reached back scratching the back of his head nervously, “I didn't think you'd really want to hear it.” He answered honestly, Leon gave him a solemn look `Why would he think that?' he thought. Cloud still looked a bit hesitant and Leon, not being in the mood for sternness, just gave a small sigh.



“Please?” He asked softly, Cloud's eyes widened a bit at the words, yeah Leon was nice to him and patient as well, but he never heard Leon say please to him. He couldn't help but smile, `what a change' he thought, while sighing and leaning back a bit on the table.



“Well like I said, I really don't remember exactly when, but it was around when I was six or five. I use to always have him with me” Cloud paused a slight blush came onto his face, Leon raised an eyebrow. He was still lying on his side looking up at Cloud with an interest in his eyes.



“Him who?” Leon asked, Cloud's blush never did fade. He looked away from Leon again and back down to his hands.



“He was my best friend…” Cloud whispered softly, he furrowed his eyebrows a bit, trying to think of when this had taken place. “It wasn't then, no, no maybe…” his eyes widened and his head shot up, “I remember! I was six years old not five, but I had it ever since I was two. My mom said my dad bought it for me before he...” Cloud paused again searching for the right word to use, “passed...” he said slowly. Leon's eyes went a little wider `His fathers passed?'



“I'm sorry”



“It's alright…” there was a long silence. Cloud was looking down at his hands still and Leon was looking at him.



“So what did your father give you, this blanket?”



“Huh? Oh I'm sorry I didn't finish did I?” he smiled, “Well I'm my parents only child, my dad was a biologist and my mom was and still is a school teacher. When I turned two according to my mom, my dad said that I happened to resemble his favorite animal, which he use to raise in the corrals back at home.” He paused with a smile on his face, “So in order to honor that he thought he'd buy me one, but my mom said she didn't want me near them so my dad bought me a stuffed one instead.” Leon raised an eyebrow still a bit confused.



“So he thought you looked like a?” Cloud blushed, running a hand through his hair.



“A Chocobo… He thought I looked like a Chocobo.” Cloud said with haste trying to say it and get it over with.



“A Chocobo?”



“Yes”



“That big yellow bird”



“They come in an array of colors, but yellow is the most common one”



“…”



“…”



“…phfft” Leon tried to hold it back but his laughter could not be suppressed, Cloud brought his head up in shock, was Leon…laughing? And if so, at him? His blushed grew even redder, and here he thought that they were friends.



“That wasn't suppose to be funny!” he exclaimed crossing his arms over his chest. Leon continued to laugh rolling on his other side, Cloud could see his back shaking from the force of his laughter. He pouted slightly. “jerk”



“Heh heh. I'm sorry Cloud, but I never realized it. You really do look like a Chocobo.” After awhile Leon's laughter began to die down. He looked over to Cloud, Cloud was looking over towards the window now, an unreadable look on his face. “Cloud?” he asked questionably.



“They…” he began softly, “They always use to laugh at me, saying mean things to me, like…like I was weird or a disgrace.” He looked over to Leon a sad smile on his face, “You know, I would go into to town for milk or bread, whatever my mom wanted me to get, and those kids would always make fun of me…But I never did anything to them…nothing. My mom would always say, “Its jealousy”, but over what? I'm nothing to be jealous of.” He gripped the edges of the table, his knuckles turning white. “I never did anything to them, but wave and say hi, neither did Jax. He was with me until I was five. I brought him with me everywhere, he was my best friend” His eyebrows furrowed, “my only friend, and they still took him from me. I ran after them asking them, begging them to give him to me, but they didn't. They ran up the mountain, I know she told me not to go up there, but I couldn't just leave him there.” He paused, looking down, he sniffled a bit, “When I finally got up to the top of the ridge he acted as if he was going to give it to me, but he threw it off…he threw him off” Cloud smiled again, looking up towards Leon, “heh, I know it probably doesn't make any sense…but that's the day I found out that Chocobos don't fly” Cloud nodded, as if confirming his story. “I guess some things never change” he then stood up abruptly, walking out of the room towards the hallway. Leon was still lying on the couch, still a bit dazed about what he had just heard.



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`Oh God, oh God, oh God'



He rushed towards the bathroom, with his hand over his mouth. He opened the door quickly, rushing inside. The door slammed shut. He took his free hand, bringing it to his forehead, then running it from the front of his hair to the back, he then brought it back to the center and gripped the hair there.



“Oh gawd” he looked behind him at the door, looking at it warily, he quickly snapped his head back forward squeezing his eyes shut. “Oh gawd” his breathing started to pick up its pace, he dropped down to his knees, letting the hand in his hair come forward to brace his descent. His eyes started to sting.



“Please God…” he lurched forward. “uh” he lurched again. His throat tightened, he then crawled over towards the toilet, kneeling before it. Cloud grabbed the lid and opened it up, slamming it back against the tank. He started to gag, softly moaning while he did. He leaned forward a bit and



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Leon heard the door slam. He looked over towards the hallway.



“frack.” He got up, throwing the blanket off him and onto the couch. He shot for the hallway.



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Cloud brought his head up. There was a loud banging on the door.



“Cloud!” his eyes widen, `Leon…' he crawled away from the toilet, bringing his arm up to wipe his mouth. “Cloud! Open the door”



“I'm fine..” he whispered softly. Then realizing Leon couldn't hear that he raised his voice, “I'm fine” his voice cracked a bit when he yelled, he wince at the apparent weakness and fragility in his voice. Leon put his ear to the door, all he could hear was sniffling and shuffling.



“Cloud, open the door, I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at the thought.” He brought his hands up to the door knob, yanking hard at it…He went back and forth, yanking even harder “Cloud open the fracking door” he yelled at the top of his lungs.



Cloud looked over towards the door, hearing Leon yell at him. `He's going to kick me out, tell me I'm not welcome here. Why did I have to open my big mouth…' the tears he tried so hard to hold back began to fall. `It's just like at the restaurant'



“Cloud!” Cloud gripped the front of his shirt. `I'm sorry…'



Leon looked around the hallway, he put his head towards the door, Cloud had stopped moving around, he didn't think Cloud was crazy enough to kill himself, but after hearing that story and seeing the look in his eyes he wasn't to sure. “Cloud?” he asked desperately.



There was no response…



“Cloud!?” he still didn't hear anything, he stood back up glaring at the door. He looked around the hall again. Searching for something…anything, but to no avail, there was nothing. “frack...” he cursed under his breath. He stepped back a bit further, he brought his foot up and kicked hard. The door crashed open, flying back and hitting the wall causing it to close again. Leon pushed it aside, rushing over to Cloud. “Cloud?” he kneeled down in front of him. Cloud was sitting against the wall all the way in the back of the bathroom, he was wedged in the corner by the toilet. “Cloud?” he reached out touching Cloud's shoulder. Cloud flinched at the touch, he had his head on his knees with his arms wrapped around his legs, trying to be as compact as possible. Leon looked down at him, trying to see if he was okay, “Cloud?



“Leon…” he started gently, “I'm sorry…I know what you think of me…” he looked up his eyes red, his cheeks stained with the tears that still threatened to fall down, “but I'm not like that anymore” he shook his head as if trying to emphasize what he was saying, “I'm…” Leon gripped his shoulders, Cloud looked down at Leon's hand, then back up to the man himself, “I”



“Shut up Cloud” his said bitterly his eyes were closed, Leon may had brushed Cloud off or paid him no mind, but was Leon now so disgusted with him that he couldn't even bare to look at him. Cloud let his head hang down, he already knew what was going to happen.



“I understand. I'll just”



“No you don't Cloud. You don't understand a goddamn thing. What is wrong with you?” Leon was looking at Cloud now his eyes intense holding what looked like anger or disappointment and Cloud was looking back, “You think because of some stupid @$$ kids from your hometown didn't accept you that I won't? How many times do I have to tell you Cloud?” he paused, bringing his other hand to Cloud's other shoulder, “We are friends…You think no one likes you? Yuffie likes you, my father likes you, and anyone who would actually give the time of day and meet you, they'd like you too.” Cloud's eyes started to well up, he looked down at the floor, bringing his hands up to gripped on the front of Leon's shirt.



“I'm sorry Leon…” he sniffled, Leon smiled softly.



“And how many times do I have to tell you not to be sorry for who you are?” he whispered softly in his ear. “It's the reason I like you…” Cloud looked up at Leon, he couldn't help it, he began to sob, never had someone been so sincere to him. Leon got from off his knees shifting to sitting on his bottom. He brought Cloud into his arms and just held him, letting him cry away all his pain and possibly a bit of his past.



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About half an hour later…



Cloud's sobs had subsided, Leon had pushed them back against the tub, so that his back wouldn't pain him from all of the sitting. Leon looked down at the blonde sitting in-between his legs and looked sadly. He had his legs on either side of him, bent slightly at the knees, Cloud just lay against him with his whole body melded onto Leon's, he head was resting on Leon's chest, and his hands were gripped tightly in his white shirt, as if holding on for dear life. Leon had one of his hands resting on Cloud's back, going up and down in a soothing way, while the other laid horizontally with the rim of the bathtub. Cloud's legs were under Leon's, he was laying on his side.



“Are you alight now?” Leon asked, he couldn't help how cold it sounded. Cloud rubbed his cheek on Leon's shirt.



“Yeah…” he looked up to Leon his eyes red and his face tear stained. He gave him that smile that could stop your heart the moment you looked at him. “Thank you Leon.” He raised an eyebrow.



“For what?”



“Caring of course…” he laughed slightly turning his head away from him and towards the window. “I didn't finish my story...”



“I don't care to hear the rest of it,” Cloud looked up at Leon and frowned.



“It's…Well I'll tell you anyways.” He turned around, placing his back against Leon's, he leaned onto him and placed his hand between his legs. “Well, after what happened at the mountain my mom was pretty upset. One at me for going up there and two because it was the only real gift my father had left me. So she began to work on my quilt. It's made from my father's favorite shirts, which all had the same design with the Chocobos on them.” He laughed, “Mom always said he had a bad sense of style…but he had like six of those shirts and each a different color, so my mom cut them into huge squares. She went out back and went up to Granger, he was my dads prize winning black Chocobo, she took all his down feather and stuffed it in my quilt. I never even noticed her doing this, she worked for months, and on August ninetieth, she gave it to me. `In essence of your father' she said. I've kept up with it ever since.” Leon stayed quiet for awhile, soaking in what he had just heard. “It's my most prized possession.” Leon smiled.



“Mine is this” he grabbed the pendant on the chain that was around his neck. “It was the last gift my mom and Laguna bought together, they gave it to me a month before they announced their divorce.” He paused, “A chain, ironic huh?” Cloud pushed forward getting off of his back and Leon. He turned around and crawled on his knees towards Leon.



“Ironic…” Cloud repeated questionably, looking at the chain. “Can I see it?” he asked hopefully, Leon took it off and handed it over to him. Cloud smiled, “It's heavy. Do you have a name for it?”



“Griever” he answered simply, watching Cloud look at it. The blonde put it over his head and grabbed the pendant, holding it into his hands.



“You got that quilt on August ninetieth, is that your birthday?” Cloud nodded, Leon chuckled, “Mines the twenty-third.” Cloud looked up and smiled.



“Cool” he exclaimed. Still looking at the pendant. Leon looked towards the clock that sat above the vanity. It was already eight and he was tired. He looked back down at Cloud and pondered what he should do.



“I'm sleepy” he yawned out.



“Yeah, me to.”



“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?” Leon looked down at Cloud raising an eyebrow. “Will you sleep with me?”



“I know what it means, how do you?”



“Yuffie was singing it when she was training me and she told me what it meant in English. She said it was a dirty song.” He scoffed, “I don't see how.” Leon brought his hand up rubbing his temple.



“Don't sing that song Cloud.”



“Why not, I like it”



“It's not very…appropriate.”



“Why not.”



“It just isn't” he stood up then bent down grabbing Cloud underneath his arms and helped him stand up. “But yes, you can come and sleep with me if you want. Don't lose Griever, I'll be in the shower.” Cloud walked behind Leon and up the stairs, smiling the whole time. He watched Leon grabbed some clothes and walk into the bathroom. He ran over and jumped on the bed, turning on the television, `I'll just take a shower after Leon' he flopped back onto the bed, the remote went flying off as he did. “Oops” he scooted off the bed. “Where'd it go?' he looked around and still didn't see it, `maybe it's under the bed.' He bent down and looked under the bed, not even a spec of dust was down there. He stayed down though crawling around looking for it.



“There you are” he reached under the nightstand coming up with it in his hands, “Ow!” he bumped his head on it, he rubbed the sore spot, glaring at the night stand. He never even noticed that that picture from the office was here to, “Irvine”



“Who is he to Leon? They were friends?”



“No…Lovers. Guys can be with guys”



His eyes widen, remembering that Leon... he was, gay. He looked over to the bathroom door and back at the photo. He dropped the remote and picked up the picture, holding it tightly in his hands. Leon wasn't, he couldn't be, Yuffie had to had been lying. Not that he had anything against gay people. It's just that his mom, the bathroom door opened and out walked Leon



Tbc



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Review please!!! I brings me such joy to read them!! :P

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