It was early in the morning when Leon awoke, the sun had barely risen over Hollow Bastion. The dark-haired Gunblade-wielder moved through the small halls of Merlin's house, hands tucked in his pockets, his fur collar tickling at his ears.

The moment he entered the kitchen, he heard the soft sound of breathing floating through the small arched doorway which connected the kitchen to the livingroom. Leon slowly made his way to the doorway, his hand placed on the hilt of his Gunblade, which hung from his hip, his fingers stroking the smooth metal.

Leaning his shoulder against the arch, Leon's stormy, grey-blue eyes wandered the dark livingroom, finally setting on a figure sitting in one of the recliners.

The moment his eyes fixed on a messy head of golden hair, Leon's hand fell from his Gunblade.

Cloud sat on one of the recliners, head tilted back ever so slightly, eyes closed, his breathing even and quiet. The blonde man was known for disappearing for months on end, and then appearing early in the morning without a word of where he'd been, or what he's been doing.

Leon's eyes floated over Cloud's sleeping form. Even unconscious; the blonde man was elegant. His legs were crossed at the ankle, and his arms placed neatly on the arms of the recliner.

"It's rude to stare," came a breathy whisper.

Snapping his eyes up to Cloud's face, Leon only just noticed the tiny glint of blue under the other man's lashes.

"It's rude to enter a home uninvited," Leon returned, leaning more of his weight on the shoulder pressed against the arch between the kitchen and livingroom, opting for an uninterested stance, despite the fact nearly all his attention was on the blonde.

The edge of Cloud's mouth twitched upwards, giving Leon a quick glint of white teeth. "Uninvited?" he questioned, his voice a quiet croak. Leon guessed that Cloud hadn't used it in at least a month. "I've been urged to stay here."

"Not by me."

Again, Leon was granted a glint of white teeth in the form of a smirk. "Alpha-male or not, I'm not going to report to you every time I do something." Cloud breathed. He had yet to move any part of his body besides his mouth, and even then, Leon barely noticed.

"Alpha-male?" smirked the brunette. "Aren't you going to offer me competition for the title?" Personally, the title amused him to no end. He found it fitting, to a certain extent, but he preferred just plain 'Leon'.

Cloud let out a quiet exhale through his nose, in what Leon knew was his version of an amused snort. "Ah, Leonhart," sighed the blonde, his eyes fluttering half-open, glowing an unearthly blue in the semi-darkness, watching the other man through his blonde eyelashes. "I'm not much one for harems and ripping off chunks of flesh." The edge of his mouth twitched up again. "So uncivilized."

The brunette nodded, bowing his head to hide his smirk. Leon turned back to the kitchen. An idea struck him, and he paused, before looking back at Cloud, who had yet to move, his blue eyes still on him.

"... Coffee?" Leon offered, flicking his head in the direction of the cabinet that usually held the coffee, his fringe swaying from the action.

The blonde thought about it for a moment, before closing his eyes and bowing his head in a single nod. Leon murmured an 'okay', before turning away completely and moving to make two coffees.

A few minutes later of complete silence, Leon entered the livingroom with a hot mug of coffee in one hand –two sugars, and depending on the time of day, cream– , a piece of toast in the other. He held the warm drink in front of Cloud, who just looked at it, then at Leon.

Pursing his lips in irritation, Leon carefully lowered the mug down to the armrest of the couch, keeping it balanced on the soft material as Cloud's gloved fingers slowly curled around it. After a moment, making sure Cloud had a good enough grip of the mug, he let his hand drop back to his side, and looked back at the blonde.

"You should be a housemaid," the blonde smirked.

Leon took it as a 'thank you', gave Cloud a quick kick to the shin in return –his own little 'you're welcome'–, and walked back into the kitchen to make the rest of his breakfast.

((TBC. It is with great reluctance I post this first chapter of my 'Let Me' series. Yet another one of my LeonCloud fanfictions that has crawled itself out of the rotting, foul confines of my brain, bribed my fingers to work double-time with promises of gay porn, and finally got itself out onto an ever-expanding file. It was only supposed to be ten chapters long, but, as soon as I started planning them out, the ten chapters suddenly turned into twenty-one. Be not afraid, the chapters won't be too long. Hopefully. Seems to me, my fics don't care what I think, and they do whatever they want. Fuck. Well, enjoy, and please. Review. I like reviews. They're like cookies.))