I've been interested in the friendship between Leon/Squall and Sora lately. Leon goes from being pretty cold to Sora in the first game to a really friendly (or at least considerably more expressive) person in the second, so I assumed that him and Sora must have had some sort of interaction that affected that change... Eh, I dunno.

I don't know what's up with the title of this one. It's kinda silly. I apologize.

Well, anyway, reviews are certainly not required but are very much appreciated. Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy!

It wasn't long after their first meeting that Sora decided that he did not like Leon.

The man was an enigma—cold and distant, never speaking above a detached mumble unless he had to, and decidedly unsympathetic towards Sora's predicament, which the boy thought warranted at least a little compassion. He was taller than anybody Sora had ever laid eyes on, and a large scar he never seemed to want to talk about marred his stony face. He had steely eyes, like storm clouds filled with rain, and when he glared they could make you feel like a speck of dust.

He was more than a little intimidating, and not just physically. Sora had never met anyone like this man before. Everyone on the island had always been very warm and friendly, simply because no one had anything to be mean about. This man was only friendly (or as close as he would ever get to friendly) if he really owed you one. Most of the time, he was just stiff and uptight. It always seemed like the littlest thing might set him off, and judging by the size of the blade he hauled everywhere, a far cry from the wooden sticks Sora had always played with, he was the last person Sora wanted to get in a fight with.

Unfortunately, that was precisely how he was introduced to Leon. It almost seemed unfair to him at the time; what sort of person just walks out of the blue and assaults someone, especially a boy who's evidently lost and scared? Clearly not a very nice one, that was for sure. If Leon had just asked politely, and actually told him the reason he wanted the Keyblade, instead of making himself seem like one of the shady thieves Riku had always warned him about, Sora would have gone with him! Unfortunately, he quickly learned that "nice" and "polite" were not words that could describe Leon in any way, shape, or form, so really Sora couldn't have hoped for much better of an introduction.

The guy hadn't actually cut him during their fight, seeming to instead rely on his weird blade as some sort of blunt instrument, but Sora would be lying if he said it hadn't hurt like heck. Pretty soon after knocking Leon out (or so he thought), the exhaustion of fighting someone thrice his size finally came back to bite him and he fainted on the spot.

They say first meetings are everything, and Sora was not impressed.

He remembered waking up in that hotel with a scantily clad girl (who was not in any way Kairi) leaning over him, which only served to scare him more. Then Squall or Leon or whatever his name was came walking in and "explained" the situation in a decidedly cryptic, unsympathetic, and entirely unhelpful way. His explanation for the Heartless? "Those without hearts." Wow, how helpful. Sora may not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but the way Leon explained things almost made him think he was being mocked. Leon's general comments didn't help either:

"But why? Why would it choose a kid like you? ... Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

What a jerk.

Of course, when "those without hearts" starting swarming the town, and he was sent off by himself while Leon ran off to help as well, Sora quickly came to the grim realization that Leon was not someone he was going to be rid of for a long, long time. Not as long as he was also protecting this town, a town Sora quickly made friends in and grew fond of. Not as long as Leon and his friends relied on Sora to protect the universe. And despite his lingering dislike for the man who continued to treat him so coldly, Sora was by no means a cruel person, and would never not help them just because Leon wasn't always very nice or patient with him. So he continued to help them in any way he could, trying his best to be friendly to Leon and just ignore his frosty demeanor.

It wasn't much, but it was a-okay with him.

It wasn't long after their first meeting that Leon decided... that he had no idea what to think about Sora.

He didn't dislike the kid—that wouldn't really be fair of him, since the boy was the one who would (ideally, but Leon had his doubts) save them all. But upon confronting the one with the Keyblade, Leon had expected a strong, wise, broad-shouldered man who was experienced with a blade, a step ahead of everything and everyone, and completely and utterly confident in his abilities. It didn't even have to be that much; he simply expected someone who knew what they were doing. Was that too much to ask or something?

But fate had never been kind to Leon, if his changed name was anything to go by, so he wondered if he really had had it coming when it turned out the real Keyblade Master was a mere kid, a runt whose spiky head barely reached up to Leon's waist and who probably didn't weigh ninety pounds soaking wet. His blue eyes portrayed the luxuries of an innocent, carefree childhood and no knowledge of pain and darkness.

He seemed like a really sweet kid, and that was precisely the problem. A sweet kid was not what was going to save the worlds. A warrior was. A fighter was. So it only seemed logical to start transforming the kid now, if this was really what they were stuck with as a hero.

So he introduced himself with a fight, and was actually mildly impressed by the boy's resilience, but it still didn't take much to knock him out. The second there was a break in the fight, the kid was swaying on his feet and mumbling exhaustion-induced nonsense. Before Leon could catch him, as having the Keybearer crack his head open on the concrete was not ideal, the kid collapsed where he stood, landing spread-eagle on the pavement and still clutching the Keyblade.

To Leon's chagrin, Yuffie arrived then, and helped Leon pry the weapon out of the kid's fingers, which was actually rather difficult. Yuffie picked up the Keyblade and Leon threw the boy's diminutive frame over his shoulder, and with that they departed to the hotel, Leon grousing to an unsympathetic Yuffie about fate's bad taste in heroes all the way.

The kid woke about half an hour later, and it was immediately apparent that he didn't like Leon, though the swordsman couldn't much blame him. Unfortunately for this kid (who he soon learned was named "Sora", a fitting name for a kid who couldn't get his spiky head out of the clouds), Leon didn't really care what he thought of him, and thus continued to taunt Sora in his usual detached, scathing way, really just trying to see how the kid would react. And surprisingly enough, for a decidedly passionate (and tactless) individual, Sora mostly kept his cool, though whether that was the result of a very level or very dense head, Leon couldn't be sure, though he had suspicions it was the latter.

Pretty soon, Heartless broke into the hotel room and Leon immediately jumped into his protection mode, shooing off Yuffie and Aerith and dragging the kid outside to fight the Heartless. At this point Leon didn't care if the kid had never touched a weapon in his life; he just needed somebody to help him protect his home. And Sora did, without a single complaint.

All his doubts aside, Squall Leonheart finally came to accept the Keyblade's choice. Despite his many attempts to toughen Sora up, they never worked, and for some reason that didn't upset him. Sora smiled way too much and was clueless about basically everything, and was an all-around sweet kid, but he was still their savior, and really, Leon owed him one.

It was day of reckoning, for lack of a better word. Hollow Bastion's keyhole had been sealed (the Traverse Town party arrived just as Sora, Donald, and Goofy emerged from the Depths of Darkness), and it was finally time for the latter group to face Ansem in the final resting place of all worlds destroyed by darkness. It was the time to rise up, and the time to say goodbye.

The two groups conversed as normally as they could for a while, after Leon had delivered the unfortunate news that this was the last time they'd see each other. They chatted about Hollow Bastion's library and Cure spell improvements and how nice (and painful) it was to see daylight for the first time in nine years, but too soon the heroic trio realized the time passing, and too soon it was time to say their final goodbyes.

Yuffie hugged Sora fiercely, to the point where his eyes crossed, while Aerith gave some final soothing encouragement to the three. When Yuffie finally relinquished Sora, Leon saw the glint of moisture in her eyes that was just as quickly wiped away, but decided not to comment on it.

Soon, Donald and Goofy went to check that they had all the necessary supplies that would hopefully get them through what would most likely be a harrowing battle, and Sora finally garnered the courage to bid farewell to the scarred man standing silently in the corner. It was the least he could do, after probably making the poor guy's life so miserable these past months with his "non-stop jabbering," as a wise man named Cid so aptly put it.

He smiled weakly at the intimidating individual, already knowing the gesture would not be returned. "Hey Leon."

Steel-blue eyes surveyed him once before returning to their point in space. "Sora. Are you ready?"

Silently, with lips pressed together, Sora gave a single terse nod.

Leon nodded in approval, but otherwise didn't reply.

"Uh, Leon..." The man's eyes immediately focused on his face, and it was a bit deterring, but Sora was determined to say what he needed to say and plowed on, "I just wanted to say... thanks. For everything. I, uh... I probably couldn't've done it without your help. Without everyone's help. I really hope you guys can restore Hollow Bastion. And, I... I'll miss you. You're a really good friend."

The last two sentences were spoken very quietly, combined with a ducked head, mostly out of fear for how they would be received.

After a couple of moments, he dared a peek upwards to gauge Leon's reaction.

The man still stared down at him. His expression was unchanged, but something was different—his eyes seemed a little less stormy, his jaw seemed a little less clenched, he seemed a little more... human.

After a beat of silence, Leon simply said, "Well, we couldn't let our hero die. We'd all be doomed."

Sora sighed, a bit disappointed, though he wasn't sure what exactly he had expected. Leave it to Leon to make it seem like he was unwillingly chained to the Keyblade Master, to not reciprocate the tentative friendly affection, to not even give an indifferent "You're welcome." Leave it to Leon to be the jerk Sora was now confident that he wasn't (but often acted like).

He had meant for his frustration at Leon's comment to be only inside his head, but the annoyance seemed to have manifested into a sour facial expression because Leon gave a long-suffering sigh that recaptured the boy's attention.

"What I meant was... I hope you return to your islands and your Kairi and Riku." Leon paused, looking lost and more than a little uncomfortable. "And good luck. We're all rooting for you... I know you can do it."

Awkwardly, tentatively, he extended one gloved hand.

It was meant as a gesture of friendliness, but the kid stared at his hand like it may be covered in poison. His blue eyes (still as innocent and guileless as they had been the first time they met) focused upwards on him, unsure and seeking some sort of permission.

When Leon just quirked an eyebrow at him, privately marveling at how dense that spiky head still was, Sora's face abruptly broke into a teeth-baring grin and he enthusiastically slapped his hand into Leon's, giving a cheerful laugh. "Thanks Leon!"

Very slowly, very carefully, one corner of Leon's mouth twisted up in a stiff, awkward smile. It was small and sickly, like a plant left without sunlight for far too long, but it was a smile nonetheless. "... You're welcome."

All too soon, it was time for the heroes to go meet their destiny, and with some final well-wishing, encouragement, and suggestions to wear clean underwear (provided by Yuffie), they were off.

Even flying towards the end of his journey, the final confrontation, Sora was still smiling. He knew Leon wasn't a bad guy, and he knew Leon really could smile, so Donald owed him 25 Munny, which the duck grudgingly handed over.

He decided that maybe he did like Leon after all.

Staring after them, Leon nodded to himself as he headed towards the library.

Truth be told, there were a lot of things in the universe he didn't know: how Cid managed to hide all his liquor from Aerith's reproachful eye, how to correctly answer the question "Does this make me look fat?" (especially when the question was asked by Yuffie, in which case the wrong answer could mean a slow and painful death), if they were truly going to be able to restore Hollow Bastion. And if he was making a list of things he didn't know, he may as well add what to think about Sora, too.

One day, he'd find out, but today just wasn't his day.

And that was a-okay with him.