Fanfiction

[elkica]

I have a feeling that if I don’t post this now, I never will. 

Fortitude

 

Pairing: Leon/Cloud, Riku/Sora

Disclaimer: Oh, I wish, how I wish…every month I send a letter to Santa, but nothing, nothing. That makes me wonder if he really exists.

Warning: Fluff (too much fluff) and love and aghast, smut may be cast in it later.
Summary: This is actually the continuance of my first fic Valour, full of mistakes and commas and things like that. Well…let me just say that Leon and Cloud are together living (like a couple) in a house and Riku lives with them. 

Silver, soft light was shining through darkness gently illuminating the objects, attaching to them almost invisible shadows and fracturing the dark spell of the dusk. The stars, which were a glowing yellow-gold were like a field of rarely scattered shining roses on the black blanket. The hum of a slight breeze was playing with the leaved crown of tree tops was the only sound breaking the silence of the night. Almost invisible to the naked eye, melted with the shadows of the roof, the lonely figure sat high on edge of the rooftop, with his knees bend to his chest and staring off into the distance.

 

He pushed the silver locks that were falling before his eyes back behind his ear, but they just kept falling back into his eyes, tickling his eyelashes.  His mind was occupied with guilt and the feeling of wrongness that plagued him for such a long time. He thought that when they came back home to Destiny Islands that things would have been different, that he might settled in, that his soul would stop its search for the place to fit in, that he would be content to be home with his friends. But it was still there, the urge to leave, the restlessness that kept him awake at night.

 

When he came Radiant Garden half year ago to help with restorations and to help chase away shadows that were lurking about, the whispers of restlessness became silent and then after he moved in with Leon and found in him a good friend, they disappeared completely along with the feeling of misplacement that hunted him for such a long time.

 

He felt a pang of quilt because it was so easy to start a new life, so easy to leave everything behind, not that he had anything to leave behind except Sora… the dull ache made his heart beat wildly in his chest.

 

Sora…the hardest thing he had to do in his life was to leave Sora behind, but Sora was alright now, he was strong enough to take care of himself and the best he could do for his friend was to stay away from him, he had put him through too many troubles already. He fucked up so many things in the past, he didn’t wanted to… even when the reasons of his leaving were the right reasons, a big wave of guilt came anyway…and when the thought that he still didn’t tell Sora of his permanent stay here blinked in his mind…the big wave washed over him and left him panting for air.

 

But it was alright, he made his mistakes, he had learned from them or at least he hoped that he did and a little pain here and there wasn’t so bad; he deserved it anyway. If he would receive the appropriate repayment for every one of his fuck ups, he would still be screaming in agony.

 

Life was all right as long as he woke every morning and he was still breathing, then he was just fine.

 

“Riku, why are you still out there? Come down.” voice from below awoke Riku from his musings, he didn’t mind the distraction, he was thinking of going in the house anyway.

 

Riku knelt, gripped the edge of the roof and swung his body on the shelf below, then walked over the small distance toward open window.

 

Leon gripped Riku’s collar and pulled him in through the window. “I hate when you do that. You are not a ropedancer, so why do you act like one?”

 

Riku smirked and pulled himself free from Leon’s grip. Leon on regular basics acted like a mother hen toward him and Cloud and that was something new to Riku. Nobody in his life ever took care of him, ever looked after him, except now Leon and sometimes even Cloud. It felt good to have somebody whose posture said, I’m there for you whenever you need me. “I have done a lot more dangerous things like this.”

 

“I know you did.” Leon’s face was frowning slightly, he was remembering something disturbing then he pointed his look at Riku. “What have you been doing at the roof anyway, moping again about Sora right?”

 

“I don’t mope.” Riku protested. “And besides Sora is still my friend, so there is nothing to mope around.”

 

It was now Leon turn to smirk. “And who was almost sobbing when Sora had to go home and when the sleepover felt through. I could bet that your disappointment had nothing to do with your friendship.”

 

“I was not sobbing.” Riku hooked his finger behind his belt. “I was just disappointed because I wanted to spend some time with my best friend, that’s all.”

 

Leon snorted, turned Riku toward the doors and pushed him trough. “Yeah, yeah. You are so clever when others are concerned, but in your case you are not capable to see beyond your nose.”

 

Riku gazed back over his shoulder at Leon with perplexed look in his eyes. “What do you mean?”

 

“If you don’t know then…I think you have to figure on your own.”  They were now standing before the door of Riku’s room.

 

“Leon,” came the yell from the half-open door of the room opposite to Riku’s. “Have you already tucked the kid in for the night?”

 

“Hey, I’m not the kid.” Riku yelled back at the yeller.

 

“Yes I did.” Leon chuckled then with the hushed voice said to Riku. “He is only kidding.”

 

Riku sulked until the same voice then before was heard. “Then bed. Now.”

 

The sly grin appeared now on Riku’s face, he whispered to Leon. “Your wife is calling, you better go.”

 

“If he ever hears you calling him that you will be in a big trouble. Now go to sleep.” Leon waged his finger at Riku then turned around. “I’m coming.”

 

“Good night.” Riku yelled before he went in to his room.

 

***

 

Leon tried to blow his hair out of his eyes in vain. He sighed in annoyance and wiped the hand in the apron he was wearing before he removed his bangs out of his face tugging them behind his ear and leaving a spot of flour on his face.

 

His gaze was glued to the sheet of paper with the ingredients written on it. His thoughts were occupied with the checking if he put everything in his dough because the damn thing was crumbling beneath his hands instead of being the smooth mass that it supposed to be.

 

A light smack landed on his ass making him jump in surprise.

 

“What the hell?” He turned around with a hard look in his grey eyes and a lopsided grin on the boyish face greeted him.

 

“Don’t do that again,” Leon complained and dragged his hand through his hair completely forgetting on the flour that was sticking on it.

 

Cloud chuckled. Apron and specks of flour on Leon’s person, that was …adorable. He cupped Leon’s chin and leaned closer for tender, delicate touch of the lips, his hands wrapping around Leon’s neck.

 

Leon absorbed the gentle pressure, pressing himself against the other’s body. His arms wound around Cloud’s waist.

 

With a sigh Cloud pulled back. He could stay in Leon’s arms forever, in that warm embrace that always make him feel secure, safe from all the world’s troubles, in a hug which said that nothing bad was ever going to happen not as long Leon was there to protect him.  His fingers gently toyed with hair on the Leon’s nape while his gaze travelled around the mess in the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

 

The brunette slipped out from embrace, a slight frown decorating his forehead. “Why are you home and how did you get in?”

 

A chuckle was heard from Cloud. He had seen Leon cook, he actually cooked pretty well, not that he did that kind of stuff a lot of times. It was usually him or Riku who prepared food or they went in the castle for lunch, annoying Aerith in the process; she complained that they should at least announce their arrival so she could know how much food to prepare. 

The sight that he never expected to see was Leon in the apron in the middle of the disarray. That was so not Leon. Everything around Leon had to be in perfect order and even if he found him self in the mess, it was never ever caused by him or tolerated. And the apron! “I’m on my lunch break and I got in through the bedroom window”.

 

“Uh…I forgot to close those.” Leon went to the sink and washed his hands then turned and leaned  his hip on it.

 

Cloud closed the distance between them and started to remove specks of flour from brunette’s hair. “So…what are you doing?”

 

Leon submissively stood under blonde’s administration.  “Chocolate cookies.” His gaze was directed over blonde’s shoulder toward the dough. “I think I have done something wrong.”

 

“Chocolate cookies? Are you serious?” Cloud finished his task of clearing Leon’s hair and shifted his focus on the mass on the counter.

 

On Leon confirmation he asked, “Why?”

 

Leon coughed in embarrassment. “You know how Riku is mopping around. I thought that… I wanted to do something for him and chocolate cookies…you know.”

 

Cloud shook his head. He didn’t know if he should laugh or be annoyed. The first thing was that Riku wasn’t a child anymore who you could console with cookies and the other thing…nobody except his mother ever made cookies for him and Leon was his boyfriend goddamn it, if he was making cookies, those cookies should be made for him not for the teenager who was living with them. He sulked. “What about me. You never made cookies for me to cheer me up.”

 

The brunette grinned on that and slid with his palm temptingly over Cloud’s chest, over narrow hips and tenderly squeezed the tight ass under his palm. “Oh, I have other ways to cheer you up.  Don’t you prefer this over cookies?”

 

Cloud gulped. Oh, yes. If he had a choice between cookies and Leon’s hand seductively stroking him, he would definitively not choose the cookies. Never. Ever. Leon’s caresses had always put him in the state of daze so he had to mentally gather himself up before he removed himself from Leon’s reach. “Ok, I will help you.”

 

He went to the drawer and drew out another apron, which he put on and then with his hip pushed a stunned Leon out of the way so he could wash his hands. “What?”

 

Leon positioned himself before the dough looking at it with narrow eyes. “Do you even know anything about baking?”

 

Cloud joined him. When he was a child, he was isolated and bullied by other children so his favourite time was sitting by the table and watching his mother cook or bake. They talked about various topics and more times than not he helped her. He peeled potatoes, kneaded dough or stirred something. He learned quite a lot on those occasions, he was one fine cook if he wanted, not that he was telling that to others or displaying his cooking skill. “By the look of it a lot more than you do.”

 

Leon started with picking up the cups that were lying on the counter and put them in the sink. “I don’t know anything about baking, so you're probably right.”

 

Cloud took the recipe under his inspection: 250g oat flakes, 150g butter or margarine, 150g sugar, 250g flour, 1 baking powder, 100g chocolate, 2 eggs, 1 grated lemon peel and ½ dcl… He frowned. Aerith must have been in a hurry, because he couldn’t make out the last word and her writing was always illegible when she was writing fast. He showed Leon the paper pointing with his finger the word. “Can you make out what is this?”

 

Leon leaned closer his eyes straining in a try to make the word out. “No, but it’s probably nothing.”

 

“Yeah right, nothing.” Cloud smirked. It was some kind of liquid and a lack of it made dough all dry and crumbling. He finally decided to replace whatever it was with milk because you can never go wrong with milk and the word was probably milk anyway.  “I need milk.”

 

Leon obediently went in the fridge and brought a carton of milk, which Cloud poured in the bowl where he had previously put what Leon had been making earlier.

 

Leon took a cloth and started to clean the surface of the counter. “I know is stupid to think that cookies will make Riku feel better, but… I don’t know what else I could do.”

 

Cloud reached with his hands in the bowl compressing the dough. It was really stupid, but intention was honourable and sometimes that was enough, not in this case though. “You can’t do anything to help him, you know that, he just needs to get over whatever is bothering him. “

 

“Yeah. I know.” Leon threw the cloth in the sink and went to Cloud. He wrapped his arms around Cloud’s narrow waist and leaned his chin on other’s shoulder. “I just wish I could do something.”

 

Cloud rubbed his cheek against Leon’s. He knew that between Leon and Riku a bond was made similar to those that brothers shared. He didn’t understand how or why this had happened but it didn’t really matter even if he was a little jealous sometimes. “I know.“

 

“I just wish for him to be happy like I am.” Leon pressed a chaste kiss on the back of Cloud’s neck.

 

Cloud wiped his hands in the apron and turned around in Leon embrace, putting his hand around the other’s neck. “Are you?”

 

Leon raised an eyebrow. “Of course I am.” He leaned on the blonde with his body. “You are making me happy.”

 

Cloud blushed in pleasure. Leon never told him that he loved him and he never told Leon that he loved him too, not really. The only time when question arose he said maybe to brunette and that was even before they become lovers. But every time Leon’s said something like this it sounded like a love statement to him, which made him all fuzzy and warm inside. “You are making me happy too.”

 

Leon’s face neared the blond’s, his breath caressing Cloud’s lips before he closed the distance and engaged Cloud in slow, delightful kiss.

 

A tingling sensation spread in the pit of Cloud’s stomach, his throat producing a shaky laugh when the kiss ended. “You better stop.” He gently removed Leon’s hands from his person and put the mass of cookie dough in the refrigerator.

 

“After half hour when you shaped them, bake them in the oven at 200°C for 15 minutes.” Cloud untied the ribbons of his apron and hung it on the hook on the wall.

 

“What? Are you leaving?”  Leon pouted and took in his hold Cloud’s arm pulling it toward himself. 

 

Cloud just chuckled. He still had a half an hour before he had to head back to work, but when Leon thought that he had to persuade him in to something…. “Maybe. Why did you have something in mind?”

 

Leon’s lips curved in naughty smile and he first eyed the doors, then the table with a calculating spark in his eyes. “Maybe.”

 

 

 

Authors Notes: I really, really need some help. The first thing is that I need all the information that I can get about Anti-Sora, so please, please tell me everything you know about Anti-Sora, I begging you.

 

Oh, and I couldn’t decided if I should write smut here or not, so if you thing that I should tell me (if there is more than five people for it, I will write it), but you should tell me also who should be seme in that case.  

And I would also like to thank chiiaroscuro (my lovely beta), because with outher this fic whould be unreadable and if you happen to find any mistakes, they are mine, all mine.

EDIT: This fic is disconnected.

Comments

[tresa-cho.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwww. baking!Leon! So cute.

[elkica.livejournal.com]

I know. xD

[fantasia0829.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, Leon is such a mother hen. But it's really sweet when he's being all mother hen and protective over his friends. There's just something so appealing about him being that way. XD And he even tries to bake! Double the squeal factor. XDDD

Maa maa, Cloud, you gotta be more sympathetic towards Riku, you know? XD

Anyway, I just noticed two things you might want to change:

His gaze was glued to the sheet of paper with the integrants written on it. and Aerith must have been in a hurry, because he couldn’t make out the last word and her writing was always inapprehensible when she was writing fast.

I think you mean 'ingredients' and 'illegible', respectively. 'Inapprehensible' means 'cannot be understood', while 'illgible' refers specifically to handwriting that cannot be deciphered properly.

And what do you want to know about anti-Sora? To make things simple, he is the fifth form Sora can turn into. He looks like a shadow (cue for black body and yellow, beady eyes) but with wisps and tendrils of black smoke lingering on his limbs, and he sorta glides across the ground instead of walking across it. In the game, there's no way to intentionally make Sora go into this form, but the changes of morphing into Anti-Sora seems to increase when you abuse your other forms a bit too much. XDDD In case you're unsure, the other 4 forms are: valor (red), wisdom (blue), master (yellow) and final (white).

P.S. I really doubt Riku would refer to himself as 'watashi'. He seems like the type who'd use 'ore'. XDDD Sora might use 'boku'. XDD

[elkica.livejournal.com]

I love Leon when he is a mother hen, so I like to describe him like that and what can I say about Cloud…my Cloud is sometimes very insecure and possessive about Leon…Leon is his, goddamn it. XD

I changed what you have pointed out. You know I'm very grateful for you to point things like that to me, but I'm also a little concerned that my beta or the people are going to think that because of the small mistakes like that, she isn't a good beta, because she is, she is very good.

Well… I was wondering how Anti-Sora fits in the story of KH and wasn't Sora fighting him, when Riku kidnapped Pinocchio and I'm focused on interaction that anti-Sora and Riku had (they did had interaction, right?)

P.S. You are right. XD I always forget (because at my lessons we are learning just the polite/famine forms) that watashi is used manly by girls. Have corrected it.

[fantasia0829.livejournal.com]

I agree with what you say, but only partially, to be quite honest. I mean, we're all human, and humans make mistakes. XDD So I'm sure that was just a careless slip-up on your beta's part. God knows how many stupid mistakes I've made in my writings, and how many times people have had to correct me. XDD

Erm... /that/ isn't actually anti-Sora. The idea of anti-Sora appeared only in KH2, and the scene you're talking about is from KH1. I guess that was just a shadow clone of Sora. As for what interaction Riku had with that shadow clone... I can't remember! XDDDDDD

[elkica.livejournal.com]

knows how many stupid mistakes You should see mine. I'm dyslexic, right (so at least I have excuse)xD but...well I used mopping instead of moping... through all of the first chapter (every time; how funny and embarrassing is that ) and I usually forget to add 's with it. I'm just horrible. And how my beta puts up with me...I just don't know. xD

That wasn't ant-Sora...oh, gosh which dark form in the shape of Sora should I use now. *cries* And I had all planed.

[fantasia0829.livejournal.com]

Ha ha... I used to have the same problem, and though it's gotten better in recent years, I still wonder how my betas could stand me back then. XDDD

Well... maybe you could work around it. Both of the dark forms could have interacted with Riku, so...

[bandicootman.livejournal.com]

Umm, I just had one little note on the grammar side. I'd just like to point out that contractions are your friends. Nothing chops up dialog worse than hearing


“I don’t know anything about baking, so you are probably right.”

You could change the "you are" to "you're" and make the sentence run more smoothly and make it sound as if someone could've actually said it. Aside from that itsy-bitsy problem, everything but some spelling spots look really good. Keep up the good work!

[elkica.livejournal.com]

I change it. Thank you for pointing it out.
Aside from that itsy-bitsy problem, everything but some spelling spots look really good. Keep up the good work! Well...you should see the un-beta-ed version. Horrible. But hey, I do fanficion so I can improve my English.

[dix19.livejournal.com]

The other ccommenters covered ll of the grammar issues. Everything else was great! ^^ (And you should post smut. Why? Because yaoi-y smut is excellent. xD)

[elkica.livejournal.com]

Thanks. But for the lack of grammar mistakes my beta is responsible, not me.
Because yaoi smut is excellent *agrees*

[anc-q.livejournal.com]

you made a progress! I think you shoul draw more )))
I like his eyes

[elkica.livejournal.com]

Drawing chibi is easy, I wish I could draw so easy the normal or anime style. I suck at those, but I am practicing, so that I will some day.

[anc-q.livejournal.com]

you sure will!

[anc-q.livejournal.com]

“Your wife is calling, you better go.”
haha - that's funny XD I like your stories coz they have funny moments like this one XD

“No, but it’s probably nothing.” haha - just like me XD that's why I can't cook XD

Cloud blushed in pleasure aah, cute ^^

ya ya - I finally laid my hands on your writing that I haven't read yet XD did you think I forget? =P
one more to go!

[elkica.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that you like that...I thought that nobody notice them or they aren't funny.
did you think I forget I didn't think that you forgot, I thought that you wont bother with it...but you did. That is so NICEEEEEEE. *hugs*

[anc-q.livejournal.com]

well... maybe they were just busy and then just forgot - I dunno but it has funny moments ^_-

*hugs back and leans* nya ^^

[elkica.livejournal.com]

*snuggles*