AN. Well hai you. You're back? WOOT! Got ya hooked don't I? anyway, this is the Christmas chapter, next is the New Year's one, and then I can take a break. And leave you all on a LOVELY cliffhanger. Cuz I'm evil that way.

Disclaimer: No lovee, I don't own Squenix. Or Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy. -pout-

Chapter Four, A Tentative Kiss

Cloud POV

I pushed open my door, in slight disgust and confusion. The boy had a serious inferiority complex, one that I had to prove wrong. He looked amazing in my clothes, it was true. I had noticed it on the ride over, all the way here, how the black shirt was tight enough to pull across his body. Mostly, girls eyes passed over skinny guys, I knew because Aerith and Tifa constantly did just that. But any girl would be crazy to pass him up, he was skinny in a compact way, I could see defined muscles in the darkness of the car.

"Welcome to the House of Strife, Master Leon." I pushed the front door open wide, and made a gesturing movement with my hand, a regal flourish to signal for him to come in, like I had seen in movies.

"Thank you, Master of the House." Leon bowed, in true court style, meeting my play acting perfectly with his own, and I laughed. It was so easy to be open with him, he was so new and different than my other friends; his attitude was a lot like Vincent's, quiet and reserved, yet a lot like Aerith, I could see his emotions light in his eyes, making them transform from grey to the lightest blue, and a lot like Tifa, I bet. He had a sincere trace of mischief that I could see buried deeply in his eyes, and it was part of my goal, I had to let it out no matter what I did.

"The kitchen's this way, why don't you go ahead and dig out all the sandwich stuff, or whatever you want to eat, the pantry is all yours to raid. I'm going to call Roxas and see how long they think they'll be at the movies."

"Okay…you sure, anything?" He twitched a bit, and I was reminded of just how skinny he was.

"As long as you stay away from the expensive looking stuff, it's all for us to steal." I paused in the doorway. "Actually, we could eat that too, I'm just warning you away from it because the shit tastes just like that- shit."

"Okay." his eyes got really big as he took in our pantry size. "Oh my."

I chuckled the whole way to the living room, and had to forcibly stop myself for a while, wheezing slightly as I tried to catch my breath before I picked up the phone and dialled.

"Hey, Rox, how long you guys gonna be at the movies?" stoic again, my voice held no trace of the amusement it held before.

"A few hours, then we're going to Kai and Nami's house for dinner. Wait, hold on the idiot is speaking up. WHAT SORA??! GODDESS IM ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!" I could hear heated conversation, and I had a brief flutter of worry about the fact that my eleven year old butter just said "fucking". I also heard Riku's out burst to the way my brother was talking to Sora, and a brief flicker of amusement shot its way through my mind. Riku had it hard (in a few years, quite literally, he'd be hard) for the retarded brunet.

"It's okay Rox, call me and I'll come get you and Sora-"

"Dumbo just said we're going to stay at Riku's, so you don't have to pick us up." -Click-

Bastard. He hung up on me again? But that was great, since I didn't have to pick them up…

"Hey, Leon!" I called into the kitchen. "Want to try some of my parents alcohol?" I saw Leon fidget as I walked into the room, and I laughed. I was trying to impress him, and it was all because I knew it was safe, since the boys had just called with the sleeping arrangement changes, and the plans for dinner. "We don't have to pick them up till tomorrow, we have the house to ourselves." I made a wide, sweeping gesture with my hands, and he blushed.

"L-Let's eat first?" he gestured to the table, which was layered with food. "I think I went a bit crazy when you said 'raid the pantry', sorry bout that." he scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "I was really hungry, but I'm not so hungry anymore, I-I mean I can just wait till I get home-"

"You're actually suggesting I eat without you? What kind of host is that?" I poked him in the rib. "Besides, you're super skinny. Eat boy, eat." I pushed him at the table, happy that he hadn't pulled anything fancy from the cabinets. I wasn't kidding when I said the fancy stuff tasted like shit. Eating in relative silence (he never seemed to pause in his eating…he put away almost twice as much as I did), we spent a few hours playing video games, the topic of the liquor dropped for the moment. But I wasn't going to give up, he needed to let loose horribly.

"Hey, here." I passed him a coke, and a large glass with ice in it. "I read about this in a book." I pulled the bottle of gin I had been hiding for the last hour or so out from its resting place in the cabinet. I poured a coke in my glass, and put gin in it, then did the same for him giving him a tad more liquor than I had given myself. I wanted him to open up and talk, not just sit there blushing all night.

I sipped (not daintily mind you, in a manly way!) at my own mix, the taste of the alcohol a treacherous undercurrent to the sweetness of the cola. Leon shrugged, a "what the hell" move, and started to gulp his down in nervousness. Needless to say, the liquor worked like a dream. After that, his whole demeanour changed from unhappy clam to opened up flower, it was that much different. He told me everything about himself.

"She beats me a lot you know, my mum does. Dad just hides in his room, his little office in the attic. I don't let her beat Sora, so she only beats me. That's why I don't live in the house anymore." he spoke up, his voice breaking the awkward silence that had filled the room after I had brought the alcohol out. "I go for food, and water and to be beaten, that's about it. Wanna see?" he reached for the hem of his shirt, and pulling it up, he pointed to a large yellowing bruise halfway up his side.

"That's from the other day, cuz I was out in the rain. And cuz I wasn't home, and she had to watch all the kids." I reached forward slowly, and gently ran my hand along the large mar, my warm hands meeting his cold skin causing him to shiver, and a weird fluttery feeling to erupt in my chest. "Your hands are really warm, it's nice." he grabbed another coke, and poured way more gin than necessary in his glass.

Oh dear. He was going to be roaring drunk, and it was all my fault.

"Why would they want to beat you?" I kept my hand where it was, and on impulse (I blame the gin…), I ran it slowly to the next one, which was partially hidden by his shirt. He gasped as my fingers made slow contact with his nipple, and yet my hand wanted to travel farther. I was blushing like mad and Leon looked like he was about to faint, from happiness, booze, or blood loss, since it all seemed to be centred on his face.

"Your hand is really warm."

"Your body's really cold, let's head to my room so you can try on those clothes, I have some out that are warmer than that tee-shirt." I stood up slowly, and grabbed my glass. What. The. Hell. When did I turn gay? Did I really care if I was or not, did I care if I was attracted to him? He was lovely…the only person I could be open with. He was really good looking too, so that wasn't amiss at all. The more I thought about it, the better the idea became, the more I sipped my gin, the braver I felt too.

"Th-thank you a lot Cloud. No one has ever been this nice to me, ever." he hiccupped. "Though, I wish they would stop saying I looked better than you in your clothes. You're really sexy." he blushed really hard, and I felt my face get really hot too.

"No, seriously you look really, really good in my clothes." I pulled a sip of cola and gin with my straw, the Christmas lights on our Christmas tree twinkling in Leon's shining eyes, which were as large as saucers when he saw just how big our tree was, my parents had gone all out this year. Of course, they weren't here to celebrate with me and Roxas, business trips had called them away. The house was depressingly empty too, since all of the serving staff had been given the weekend before Christmas off, and since Roxas was still at the movies, no loud banging thrashing music was filling the rooms.

"You have a really nice house, Cloud. And the tree…it's just…wow." he looked up, trying to see the top of our fourteen foot tall spruce. "the ornaments are really pretty too." gently he fingered one of the antique glass bells that hung from the sweeping green branches, and he laughed when it tinkled.

I cleared my throat. Something about his laugh made me uncomfortably tingly warm. "Yeah, their antiques, from Europe, they used to be pretty famous in the old churches or something like that. Want to see my room?" I grabbed the crook of his elbow and pulled him to the back of the house, then up the small set of stairs that led to my loft.

"This is my room." I pushed the door open, and pulled Leon into it in a rush. "Here, there's the clothes I found for you, try them on." I pulled him too my bed, where the large pile was. "Merry Christmas, Leon. Their all for you, and so is this." As and afterthought, I passed him my personal cell phone (I had two…one for Aerith and Tifa, and one for my other friends). I could easily get another one tomorrow. "So when someone beats you again, you can call me. I'll come get you."

"Oh thankee Cloud!" stumbling forward, he grabbed the phone from me. I had gotten him more drunk than I had planned, the liquor only instilling a small sense of warmth and scary courage in me. Leon stumbled again, and went flying, about to fall to the floor, and I, slightly drunk reflexes slower than usual, dove to catch him. I didn't quite make it, he ended up on top of me, both of us on the floor. "Ya know, that's the first time I've gotten a Christmas pressy since I was…ummm…" he counted on his long fingers. I like his hands a lot, one of the best things about him. "Since I was six."

He looked down at me, and seemed to just then notice he was lying on top of me, and another one of his blushes erupted all over his face. "Umm…I'm sorry 'bout that

"Your really cute, Leon."

"U-umm." he just looked away, still laying on my chest. "Oh, gosh, sorry I'm still laying on you." he slowly, I think, reluctantly, rolled off of me, and as soon as he met the floor next to me, I instantly missed the weight of him, and his cool body, and I knew that I'd have to fix that error. Sitting up quickly, I grabbed him and pulled him up to face me.

"Leon…"

He gulped. "Y-yes?"

"Leon…" I gulped too, and I felt my face get hot.

"What, Cloud?" he twitched nervously.

"This." and swooping forward, I kissed him.

Leon POV

I was drunk, but when he pulled me into his room, my mind became crystal clear, one thought beating its way to the forefront of my mind. I was in his room!!. And then, when he told me I was cute, all coherent thought fled completely. But, when he kissed me, it all came rushing back. Maybe there really was a Goddess, maybe wishes really came true? Thoughts like those swam chaotically in my mind, and I unintentionally broke it before a two seconds had passed.

"Leon…I-I'm sorry about that." he blushed, my angel was nervous, and apologising for answering my prayers. "I don't know what came over me. It must be the gin."

"No. it's nothing to be sorry about. On the contrary…" I moved in on him, capturing his lips with mine. "I've been waiting since we were in elementary school for that to happen. Since you saved me from Sephiroth." I kissed him again, but stopped when he froze.

"You were the boy I saved from him?"

"Yes." I looked at him confused. No, no, no. please don't let him not like me now.

"Oh." he looked down. "Well. Seems I just keep saving you from things, don't I?" he laughed and then grabbed me, pulling me down to be on top of him again. He looked uncertain for a minute, but then resumed the kisses. Oh goddess it was lovely, beautiful. Cloud Eliziar Strife was kissing me, Leon. The uncool kid, the one that people beat up, was kissing the most sought after guy in school. Ohmygoodness.

"Leon, I like you. A lot." he spoke into my neck, trailing kisses down towards my collar bone. "It started when I first talked to you, and tonight…Goddess tonight I just couldn't help but notice how wonderful you are." he kissed me again, and this time I tasted the alcohol. He was drunk, maybe not as drunk as I was, but drunk. He didn't mean any of it, I was sure of it now. It was the alcohol talking.

"Cloud, I've been in love with you for years." he reached down and pulled the hem of my shirt up over my head, his warm, fire hot hands trailing my cold body, passing lightly over the bruises so as not to hurt me, I guess. Those ugly bruises. "I been dreaming about this for so long…" I didn't care if he was drunk and didn't remember it. I had been kissed by him, and he was touching me and trailing light, like a comet, in my soul.

He didn't answer my confession, his hands trailing lower and lower, and I fumbled with his own shirt, pulling it up over his spiky halo of hair, his toned and muscled chest greeting hungry eyes. I saw my own expression of hunger echoed in his eyes, and the errant thought of 'maybe he means it really' passed through my mind, only to be squashed by realism. Not possible, ever. Period.

His hands reached into my pants, which had magically come undone, and brushed against the skin of my butt, and I shivered in ecstasy, oh Goddess. I reached down and started to unbutton his pants, but a wave of dizziness and nausea passed over me, reality finally catching up with me, ruining my dream and fantasy.

In three short words, I passed out.

Cloud POV

I was on fire, burning inside and out and the cold of his body proved to be a challenge that my hands had taken upon themselves to complete. To warm him inside out so he could be on fire like me too. My hands ran up and down his back, his chest, his sides, and then my left hand daringly shot down and undid his pants, as my right hand searched the new, uncharted territory.

Goddess, it was just so right. That is, it was until he passed out on top of me as he was working to release the button on my pants.

Oh my gosh, what the fuck? And it was all my fault, since I was the one that got him drunk… I pushed him off of me slowly and carefully (he fit me perfectly, I didn't want to let him go at all), and looked down at him. He was beautiful (did I say that already?), and more importantly, he was mine. I stood up, and slowly bent down to pick him up, gently wrapping my arms around him, and carried him to my large, empty bed. , tucking both of us in under my warm comforter. I rewrapped my arms around him, and with a sigh, fell slowly asleep, my fire finally warming the cold body next to me.

"Merry Christmas, Leon..." a soft sigh, barely audible even to me, and i was the one that, on the edge of sleep said it.