With quiet footsteps, Leon slipped out of his bedroom and into Cloud's, neither doorway creaking, and no floorboard groaning. Grey-blue eyes squinted into the pitch blackness as he closed the door behind him and Leon waited patiently for his eyes to adjust.

Finally, he could see.

Lying on his side, facing Leon, was Cloud.

The blonde lay in the same position he was always in when he slept: one hand covering his eyes, the other placed against the sword which lay beside him. Leon knew that Cloud could never sleep well when there was light. That was the reason why he always covered his eyes. Apparently, it hurt him. Hurt his eyes to see the light.

Advancing on the blonde sleeper, the brown-haired Gunblade-weilder lowered his hand to cover the one that was placed against the smooth metal of the Buster sword. There was complete stillness; complete silence. A minute trickled by, Leon doing nothing. Simply waiting. Finally, one of Cloud's slender fingers raised just that little bit and stroked Leon's palm.

A smile warming his usually stern face, Leon let his hand ghost up the blonde's shoulder, coming to a stop to cup the side of Cloud's face. He always waited for the blonde to awake before touching him intimately. A blade through the chest was something that Leon wanted to avoid.

"I'm trying to sleep," whispered the blonde, but he did nothing to stop the brunette leaning over and pressing a warm kiss against his lips. "And so should you," Cloud added as Leon trailed his smooth fingers over the blonde's cheek.

"Couldn't sleep," Leon said, pressing gentle, feather-light kisses over the blonde's knuckles, the fingers covering his eyes flexing that tiny bit, still hiding those beautiful blue eyes.

"Do I want to know what you want me to do to fix it?" Cloud asked, a tiny smirk twitching at his smooth lips, granting the brunette with a glint of white teeth. It was barely three in the morning, but neither man really cared.

Leaning over and pressing a tender kiss against the blonde's throat, Leon straitened up again. "Just stay still," he whispered.

Rounding the bed, he slipped onto it behind Cloud, rolling onto his side and pressing a kiss against the back of other swordsman's neck. Sliding a hand up Cloud's leg, he let his arm slip around the blonde's middle, his fingers dancing over a taught stomach.

Closing his eyes and pressing another soft kiss against the back of the blonde's neck, Leon pressed his nose in between Cloud's shoulder-blades, against soft black material, breathing in the musky scent of the blonde, and let himself relax against the swordsman's unmoving, warm body.

They'd been together for at least a year.

It was still a secret.

"You promised," Leon whispered.

Unearthly blue eyes opened behind slender fingers.

It was the fifth time the brunette had said it. Every line perfectly spaced with at least a few weeks or more in between.

Leon felt Cloud take a deep breath before slowly letting it out, his ribcage trembling ever so slightly under the brunette's arm.

"Not yet," the blonde mumbled.

That was his customary answer.

Grey-blue, stormy eyes opened and stared at the crumpled black fabric in front of him. When? Leon felt Cloud shift; the blonde's smooth shoulder rotating, before the brunette felt a hand slide up his thigh soothingly, catching on his simple shorts and pushing them a little higher. Cloud's hand stayed there, cold from being against the blade of his sword for all this time; the hand placed against Leon's leg, keeping the brunette there. Against him.

Closing his eyes again, Leon let his hand slide under the fabric of the blonde's shirt and placed his palm perfectly against Cloud's chest, the warm flesh underneath his hand burning at his fingers as a beat of that heart pulsed under his palm.

"You promised," Leon whispered again.

Cloud stared at his fingers, stroking the thumb of his other hand over the warm flesh of the brunette's leg under it. The blonde closed his eyes again, the Gunblader's soft breathing against his spine lulling him to sleep.

"Not yet," he repeated breathily.

Hollow Bastion finally claimed it's rightful name once again.

Radiant Garden glimmered with the effort and heart of all the people living there; all the boulders moved, walls fixed, houses mended- everything was done. Finished. The world looked just as beautiful as it did before. Heartless occasionally popped up, but in fewer numbers than before.

The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee held a celebration after they'd finished. Complete with Aerith's cooking, a few bottles of spirits- courtesy of a semi-reluctant Cid, and Sora even came and visited before he was called away again by his Keyblade.

The celebration continued on through the night, Yuffie clinging to Tifa, laughing over something none of them could discern, Tifa stumbling because of the extra weight, both the girl's glasses of alcohol sloshing over the edges and onto the floor.

Cid passed out over his computer and couldn't be awoken for the life of him, the two bottles of tequila he'd inhaled earlier dulling his senses immensely, oblivious to the computer's keyboard digging into his jaw. Sora, Donald and Goofy had popped around earlier and shared a meal, but, luckily, none of them had been that drunk back then.

Aerith had kept her alcohol-consumption to a bare minimum, but, despite that, it didn't stop her from behind yanked down onto the couch with Tifa and Yuffie, the three girls tickling at eachother mercilessly and laughing.

Merlin was floating, dead asleep, by the light hanging from the ceiling: a bottle of Port Royal's best rum clutched to his chest, the occasional amber-coloured bubble floating from the magician's mouth to change into the shape of a butterfly before popping, showering his beard with golden sparkles.

Leon stood by the oven, glass of brandy in hand, eyes roaming over the Committee, a warm smile tugging at his lips as he watched Yuffie pounce on an unmoving Cid and start to play with the man's goggles before putting them on and promptly falling on top of a giggling Tifa and Aerith.

Smile melting off again, stormy eyes slowly floated to the side- looking through the window to see the moonlight-soaked street outside, eyes roaming the blue-white toned stones. Finally raising his eyes enough, Leon saw a shock of golden hair high above the stairs.

Looking back at the girls just in time to see Tifa and Aerith gang up on Yuffie and start to beat the squealing girl with pillows, Leon placed his glass on the table in the kitchen and slipped noiselessly outside.

Boots tapping up the stairs, Leon finally came to the platform that lead to the tunnel to the bailey, Cloud standing on the edge of the stone wall that separated Radiant Garden from the wide, purple stone land spanning widely beneath it. The wire-fencing that had been placed along the stone wall had been moved, and the crane that sat by it had been removed too, leaving naught but smooth stone.

The blonde swordsman's back was facing Leon, Cloud's hands in his pockets, standing perfectly on the stone wall- almost like a statue.

Advancing slowly, Leon rose a hand and let his fingers drag down the side of the blonde's leg, feeling the strong muscle hidden under loose black fabric. Stormy eyes looking up, the brunette could see Cloud's unearthly blue eyes staring over the dark horizon before they lowered down to Leon.

With a small smile, Cloud motioned for the brunette to get up onto the wall too, the blonde swordsman shifting so he was facing Leon, his hands falling from his pockets to hang by his sides. Leon rose an eyebrow in question and the blonde just gave him his patented 'do what I say. You'll like it. I promise,' look.

With a quick roll of his grey-blue eyes, Leon jumped up onto the wall beside Cloud, soon feeling a warm, leather-clad hand curling around his forearm. Looking at the blonde, he got a quick half-smile in reply as those slender fingers gently kneaded into his skin.

The two of them had become bolder with showing their affection when they weren't hiding behind closed doors, but the blonde still didn't want anyone to know.

Leon went to lean forward to press his mouth against Cloud's, but the blonde took a quick step back, a smirk tugging at his smooth lips. The brunette wasn't amused. Smirk widening, Cloud dropped Leon's warm arm and easily walked briskly backwards along the wall, eyes locked with Leon's own, coming to a stop by the lookout-tower connected to the wall.

With a smug little wink, the blonde turned around and jumped onto the tower.

Staring up at the sky with an exasperated gaze, Leon let out a quiet growl. He hated games. Sighing, the Gunblader walked across the wall and jumped onto the tower too, arms crossed, really not in the mood for all this.

Cloud stood there; bright blue eyes on him, before the blonde rose a hand and gripped one of Leon's own, dragging the brunette over to him. Leon took a few extra steps and the blonde ended up pressed between Leon and the wall surrounding the edge of the tower, their bodies pressed together, hearts beating against one-another.

"Squall," Cloud breathed in a slow voice, trying to ignore each of the brunette's hands- one of which trailed over his side to spread over his hip, the other sliding up to cradle the back of his neck. He smelt like brandy and it made Cloud's head swim a little, his heart beating faster.

Leon nudged his nose against the blonde man's- stormy eyes, half-open, staring into those glowing blue ones. "Hm?"

Smiling, Cloud pressed a quick kiss against the brunette's lips before pulling back again, looking to the side. "Look."

Grey-blue eyes following the blonde's gaze, Leon stared from his place high on the tower, his eyes able to roam over every street of Radiant Garden, every home- the whole town quiet and content. "Look," Cloud told him. "Look at what you've finished. What you've made."

A smile spread across the Gunblader's face. From the ground, his work seemed just superfluous. Like it didn't matter. Too little, too late. From here, he could see how big the town was. And just how much he'd done.

Looking back at the blonde in his arms, Leon eyed Cloud as the other man fingered Griever's chain mindlessly, blue eyes roaming over the chest in front of him. Pressing forward, Leon placed a gentle kiss against the blonde's forehead, nuzzling the golden spikes of hair that tickled his nose. "Thank you," he mumbled, moving back again.

All he got was a simple shrug. "You can pay me back later," the blonde smirked, his teeth and eyes glinting in a smug manner that spelt out that Leon would be in pain in the near future, or naked, or very warn out– or all at once.

Smirk tugging at his lips, the Gunblader's stormy eyes roamed over Cloud's face before the smirk slowly melted off. Almost like someone had whispered lies to him, pulling him away. The blonde noticed the other man's change and rose his eyebrows simply in question, his slender fingers tracing the outlines of Griever in the warm metal pendant.

Licking his suddenly dry lips, Leon glanced away before looking back at the blonde in his arms.

"You promised," he murmured.

Blue eyes stared unwaveringly at him. Cloud's face was blank- no emotion on his face, nor in his eyes. It was like he was made of ice. Slender fingers had stopped, frozen over the lion pendant hanging from Leon's neck; unmoving.

Finally, Cloud's eyes slowly closed and he tilted his head ever so slightly away from the other man, his blue eyes slowly dragging open again, staring somewhere into the distance over Leon's shoulder.

"Not yet," he said.

Leon was starting to hate that statement. "What are you so afraid of!" the brunette hissed through his teeth without a thought.

Cloud's eyes snapped back to him.

It was dangerous to call any warrior a coward, but especially not the Buster-sword-weilding man himself. Leon was quite sure he'd at least lose a limb or more for such a thoughtless statement, but after a few tense moments where the blonde's eyes just stared into his own, Cloud let his eyes fall to his feet.

"... Honestly?" Cloud whispered, fingers picking at the white material covering Leon's chest. The brunette blinked in surprise, but that didn't stop him nodding, urging the blonde to continue, Leon's fingers gently kneading into Cloud's neck.

A tiny, almost loathsome smirk flickered across the blonde man's face before he looked back up at the brunette, all of his emotions locked back; hidden. For Cloud and only Cloud to know about.

"For something bad to happen."

Something inside Leon clenched when he saw not a flicker of emotion behind those eyes. The blonde was as open as he could be with the brunette, but sometimes the walls just snapped up around him and stopped anyone seeing anything. It hurt Leon not to be able to see.

"Why do you think--?" he began to ask, but Cloud cut him off with a sharp tone.

"Look at it from my point of view," the blonde snapped, his emotions leaking through the cracks, jumbling together; mixing, making his eyes flicker and glow with raw power.

"You have feelings for me, I never thought you actually would." Leon felt the need to open his mouth, but the way Cloud was talking forced him to be quiet and let the blonde say as much as he wanted. "Sephiroth is gone, thank God," Cloud continued. "We're together. Never thought that'd happen. Hollow Bastion just got finished. All because of you. And, Sora said that he was close to locking Kingdom Hearts again."

The blonde fixed him with an unwavering stare. "See the pattern?" he asked.

Leon really didn't, but he didn't need to say anything, because the other man was already talking again. He was slowly starting to sound hysterical.

"They're all good things!" Cloud hissed, his teeth bared before he threw his head back, blue eyes staring up at the dark, starry sky. "Good things," he repeated to himself quietly, almost seeming fascinated about how those two the words slipped off his tongue. "I hate good things!" he barked at the sky, almost as if he was blaming it.

He let his head fall back into place and he fixed the silent Leon with a burning glare. "Have you any idea how much it hurts to get used to good things, and then have it shatter under your feet?" The brunette just watched him, and the blonde quickly went back to speaking. He was almost yelling now.

"It hurts! Bad things always come back and shatter the good. It's how it is! I don't like it, but that's how it's been for me!" Cloud dragged in a shaky breath, fingers clutching the material of Leon's shirt, the tiny hints of tears glinting from the edges of his eyes.

"Something bad will happen to shatter what we have, Squall," Cloud said with a forcefully even voice, the blonde swallowing thickly. "I don't see why we should tell them about something that will eventually be gone."

Leon stayed silent for a few moments, waiting for the blonde to continue, but he didn't. The brunette's face was wooden, almost icy. Finally, he took a breath. "Why are you with me, then?" he asked.

Cloud blinked.

"If you think it'll end, why not stop it before you get too attached?" The Gunblader was trying his best not to sound bitter. He leant close. "Because you want it to last as long as it can, right?" he whispered.

The blonde could smell the alcohol on Leon's breath. He knew it wasn't enough to affect the brunette's thoughts; just make his inhibitions seem just that little bit less-important. Cloud swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Exactly," Leon stated flatly. Not making a move to lean back, the hand cupping the back of Cloud's neck gently threading through the short spikes tickling at his glove. "You want the happiness you get when you're with me to last. Why not let other people share in that?"

There was a quiet snort of disbelief. "How can you share happiness?" Cloud asked shortly. "It's not food."

"You remember when Sora said he'd found Riku?" Leon asked, letting his fingers rake over the blonde's ear and through silky hair. Cloud blinked at him in reply. "Didn't you feel happy for him?"

Blue eyes staring at the brunette's shoulder in thought, the blonde looked back at Leon after a moment. "I suppose..."

With a nod, the brunette moved forward again and pressed a tender, chaste kiss against Cloud's lips.

"That's how it'll be for the others when they find out about us," he murmured against the blonde's soft mouth. "Hopefully."

The two swordsmen just stood there for a long moment, kissing gently under the dark, starry sky, bodies fitting together perfectly like they were made for one-another, hands slowly dragging over smooth muscle and warm clothing.

"Hopefully?" Cloud finally asked as they pulled apart, one hand tangled in the brunette's brown hair, the other gripping the lion pendant hanging around his neck.

Leon shrugged. "Tifa might not be so chuffed."

Cloud broke into a good-natured grin.

"Cid might not like the thought of you being a fag, either," the brunette continued.

"Just me?" smirked the blonde. "Not you too?"

"Hey." Leon gave the other man a light poke in the chest. "I preferred women until you came around. I still do, as far as I'm concerned." He smirked. "You're pretty enough to be one, so, I hardly think I'm a gay."

The brunette got a bruise across his cheek a split-second later, and inside Merlin's house, Yuffie; who was drawing butterflies wobbly onto Cid's face with a red pen –her eyes kept on going out of focus. It was a little hard to draw like that, but with her mighty-awesome ninja-skills, she persevered– vaguely thought she could hear the sound of a fist-fight outside.

Two days later, after everyone had slept off their hangovers and the living-room had been properly cleaned and refurnished, everyone was called into the room, and were all sitting in a circle in the comfy couches –save for Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku and the like. They were working on closing Kingdom Hearts–.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Leon, who was the one who told them to come. The brunette was staring down at his feet, thinking silently on how which words to use. Finally, Yuffie got bored of the silence and the slight fog of tension floating over them and piped up. "Why'd you want us here again, chief?"

Grey-blue eyes snapping up to drag over Cid, Yuffie, Tifa, Areith and Merlin, the brunette let out a quiet sigh.

"I've got something I think I should tell you," he said, eyeing the people around him.

Yuffie blinked. "Spit it out, then, Leon," she said.

Unfortunately for her, the male brunette was finding this far more difficult than he'd expected, still trying to find out just how to use delicate words, but still get across the idea of 'hey, Strife and I have been screwing each-other like rabbits for around a six months now. You cool with that?'. The ninja looked to the person sitting at Leon's side for information.

"You know what he's talking about, Cloudie?"

Cloud sat silently by Leon's side on the same couch- a hands width between the two men. The blonde was silent as he had his arms crossed over his chest, eyes staring fixedly at the coffee-table in between them all. Blue eyes flickering up to Yuffie at her question, he slowly dragged his unearthly blue eyes to stare at Leon's profile.

The blonde said nothing, just eying the other man, as though waiting for something.

That was not what Yuffie wanted at all. Slapping a hand sharply onto Tifa's knee, which was beside her own, but damned as hell she wasn't slapping her own knee or Cid's, she pouted and ignored the bosomy brunette beside her, who let out a squeak at the sudden pain in her thigh. "Speak, man!" the ninja barked.

Cid slumped against the arm of the recliner he sat in, eyebrow raised. Yuffie continued pouting from her place beside him. Tifa rubbed her red knee quietly, a cup of tea held in her other hand. Aerith sat beside Tifa, watching everything play out with beautiful green eyes, a teacup clasped in her lap, and Merlin sat beside Aerith, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

Licking his dry lips, Leon stared down at the floor for a while longer before finally straitening up, a plan in his mind, and let his back sink into the couch beside him, looking to Cloud with stormy eyes.

Everyone watched his movements and were shocked when he rose a gloved hand and gently took one of Cloud's, making the blonde uncross his arms, Cloud doing utterly nothing to stop him.

Sweeping his thumb gently over Cloud's own hand, which was ever so slightly stiff, Leon looked into the blonde's unearthly blue eyes to see Cloud watching him silently; uncertainly. He still didn't want to do this, but, he trusted Leon. The brunette gave the blonde a quick, reassuring smile and leant toward him, tenderly pressing a kiss against Cloud's cheek.

Pulling back again, Leon stayed close to the blonde, eyeing him as Cloud looked at him silently, their breaths mingling and wafting over the other's face. To his surprise, the blond swordsman nudged his nose against the brunette's, pressing a gentle kiss against the edge of his mouth.

"I trust you," Cloud breathed, barely audible. "You know that, right?"

A smile tugging at his mouth, Leon pressed a tender kiss against the blonde's mouth, letting his other hand rake through those silky spikes, feeling more then hearing the quiet trill of contentment from the blonde as Cloud pressed back.

"Yeah," the brunette agreed against Cloud's mouth, pulling back slowly. "I know."

A smile tugging at the edges of his supple mouth, the blonde watched him with unearthly blue eyes before quite suddenly something snapped into place in his head and his pupils shot wide in shock, almost making his whole eyes black before he snapped his eyes and face to look directly in front of him.

The Restoration Committee stared back.

They saw.

They knew.

Actions spoke better than words. Leon knew that. That's why he did what he did.

Cid sat on his recliner, mouth hanging slightly open, cigarette dangling dangerously from his lips, face blank with shock. Yuffie, beside him, wasn't as mild in her surprise. It looked like her jaw was unhinged and her eyes were on the verge of popping out of her skull. Tifa sat there beside the ninja, eyes wider than they usually were, her whole body rigid.

Aerith was smiling. Her bright green eyes were glittering, and she looked like she was glowing- almost as though she'd known all along. Merlin sat beside the flower-girl, white eyebrows a little raised, but not looking shocked; merely contemplative.

Leon felt Cloud's pulse quicken by the blonde's hand which he was holding. Giving the soft appendage a gentle, soothing squeeze, he just waited and watched the committee for any reaction other than stunned silence.

Tifa was the first to come back to reality. The beautiful woman let out a quiet cough and she placed her teacup on the coffee-table in front of her. She mumbled something about getting more tea and got out of her seat quickly, hurrying out of the living-room and passing through the kitchen, into the hall, disappearing into her room, the door clicking closed behind her.

A flickering of something danced in the depths of Cloud's blue eyes as he stared after Tifa, his face wooden. He looked back at the coffee-table, where, sitting innocently, was a completely full teakettle beside the lady-brunette's empty teacup. He said nothing as he felt Leon's fingers gently knead into his hand in a comforting manner.

Cid was next. He rose a hand and grabbed his cigarette which nearly dropped out of his mouth, licking his lips and blinking a few times. He then eyed the two men sitting before him and let out a grunt. "No sex on my computer. Got it?"

Cloud blinked, but Leon nodded. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said.

The grouchy man nodded, heaving himself out of his recliner to shuffle over to said piece of machinery, plopping himself onto the seat in front of it, fingers dancing over the keys in a blur as words flew over the screen.

That went better than expected, thought Leon. Glancing back to the blonde at his side, the Gunblader noticed that Cloud's eyes were staring fixedly at Aerith. Leon too looked at the flower-girl, and her warm smile seemed to widen.

"I'm glad you two finally decided to come out about it," she smiled, her voice warm and comforting. Not condescending, despite her words.

Cloud stared. "How did you know?" he asked albeit hesitantly.

With a quiet giggle, the flower-girl traced her fingers over the designs in her teacup which was in her lap, her smooth lips forming into a beautiful smile. "Love is hardly something you can hide, Cloud."

"It's like an aura," agreed Merlin, watching the two swordsmen with a thoughtful gaze. "Beautiful, and unseen by people who can't notice the signs."

"It was all over you both," continued Aerith gently. "And since they both got stronger the same night- it was rather easy to guess who you were in love with." She sounded almost proud of them. Delighted.

A quiet strangled sound alerted them that Yuffie was still struggling with the information.

Aerith placed her teacup onto the table and slipped beside the ninja. "You okay, dear?" she asked soothingly. Yuffie let out a squeak. Aerith nodded. "Yes, they love each-other." Another strangled sound. "I know that it is sudden." A whistle-like sound. "I agree! They do look rather cute."

Cloud's eyebrows shot up. "'Cute'!" he hissed, eyes wide with horror. Leon bit back a scowl.

After a few soothing rubs from Aerith, Yuffie finally came to terms with the fact that Leon and Cloud were 'together'. The moment it clicked, her face promptly went beet-red and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Kiss again!" she gushed, waving her hands at them, an enormous grin plastered on her face, clearly quite overjoyed with this new outlet of entertainment. "Again!"

The blonde swordsman was about to tell her to sod off –a little less politely with more than a few less-than-nice words thrown in–, but his chin was quickly grasped by the brown-haired Gunblader and his mouth was promptly being violated by Leon's tongue. Not that he minded, of course.

Neither man really heard the squeal that exploded from the hyperactive ninja, the embarrassed cough from Merlin, or saw the pretty little rosy flush that appeared on Aerith's cheeks.

As Leon dragged his hand slowly down the blonde man's chest and felt the speeding pulse under his fingers, he heard Cloud's words echo in his mind. 'Something bad will happen to shatter what we have, Squall.' He pressed closer to the blonde, nails digging into his side.

He didn't care.

If something was going to screw up what they had, he'd fight it with every breath he had; every glimmer of light; every ounce of strength. Making it as memorable for Cloud as he could; making the blonde happy for as long as he could was the only thing on his mind.

"I'd do anything for you," Leon whispered against Cloud's swollen lips. "You know that, don't you?"

The blonde nodded against him, letting Leon press closer again, but didn't say what was on his mind.

You shouldn't, Squall. I'll hurt you in the end.

((THE END. I do believe my fingers just died from the terrible longness of this, and the very slow start. But, I want to thank you all for all your just downright squeal-inducing reviews and support, and tell you I have some good news for you, and bad news for my atrophied fingers: I have a sequel to this story glinting and winking prettily at the back of my mind. I'll start writing it up in the near-future, so, look out for it if you feel like it. Read, review, and most importantly, ENJOY!))