Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The castle was quiet this late at night. All the day workers had long since packed up and headed home, and the Committee members themselves had soon followed, downing a late dinner before heading to bed. The noise from the town had thinned out some time ago. The lights from the market had dimmed as everyone closed up shop for the night. Even the heartless were sleeping, it seemed, although it was more likely that was the result of the town’s defence system working as it should. It had been a few months since the last heartless outbreak: so much time, in fact, that everyone had been comfortable declaring Radiant Garden darkness-free some weeks back and had thrown a party in celebration.

Darkness free seemed, in Squall Leonhart’s opinion, a bit of an overstatement. No one else agreed with him when he said his piece, though, but darkness free or not, everyone agreed there was still too much work to be done to fix the long-abandoned town back to its former glory. That was why Leon found himself the last one to leave the castle tonight, long past what would have been a reasonable hour. Yuffie had tried to pull him away for dinner, and then Aerith, but he was caught up in ironing the schedule out, and he had never been one to leave a job half finished.

Leon yawned and rubbed at his eyes. He added a quick note reminding Cid to tune up the defence system sooner rather than later. That was it. He was done. He rested the pen on the desk and stretched his arms out above his head. Shoulders cracked, the sound echoing loudly in the otherwise silent library, and he dropped his arms back to the desk with a contented sigh.

Hyne, but this had been time consuming. Another yawn, and he was blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He was more tired than he’d realised, it seemed. He rested his head on a fist as he shifted the papers around on the desk, trying to give them some sense of order. He jerked back awake a split second later at a sudden shift in the air. An unsettling, skin-crawling chill climbed up his spine, setting him instantly on edge. The shifting sense of darkness near. There shouldn’t have been any kind of darkness in the castle unless that tune-up should have been done today.

Glancing behind him, Leon peered out into the dimly lit room, pale blue eyes analysing the dark corners for any slight movement in the shadows. Nothing. He stayed looking, ever cautious as the small desk lamp he was using wasn’t nearly bright enough for him to see much.

A slam! on the desk in front of him, and Leon jumped. He was halfway out of his seat as he turned before he registered the glowing blue eyes flecked with green laughing at him, and he sunk back down into the chair with a scowl.

“Cloud,” he greeted crossly. The glare he shot at the man told the blonde exactly how happy he was to see him. That explained the darkness leaking into the air around them like a sieve, and the reason Leon thought declaring Radiant Garden “darkness free” was a gross overstatement. No one else seemed to agree with his assessment of Cloud, though, but then they didn’t have to deal with Cloud like he did. Cloud was doing this on purpose to get under his skin. This was not how Leon had planned to end his night. He was much too tired to deal with this shit. “When did you get back?”

The amusement in Cloud’s brightly burning eyes died down a bit, but the grin tugging at the corner of his lips stayed in place as he hovered above Leon, both hands planted firmly on the table and messing up the papers he had just arranged in proper order.

“A couple hours ago,” he said and offered no more. A familiar, predatory glint replaced the amusement glowing out of those eerie blue-green eyes, and Leon suppressed a sigh. He didn’t startle when a gloved hand clamped around the back of his neck and easily yanked him up out of his seat to lean over the table. Cloud smashed their lips together, shoving his tongue into Leon’s mouth in an instant. He kissed with ferocity, devouring Leon’s mouth and twisting their tongues together as teeth clashed.

Leon’s scowl deepened around the tongue in his mouth when he felt the familiar stirring of heat settle into his gut. His cock twitched in his pants. Cloud pulled away then, and Leon caught just the barest flash of contentment over his face before he found himself slammed down on to the table, pinned there by the tight grip on the back of his neck. He attempted to push himself up, but Cloud held strong, his fingers clamping tighter, and fuck, Leon realised, there were going to be bruises there tomorrow.

Of fucking course.

“You miss me?” Cloud asked, voice deep and heady as his breath tickled across Leon’s ear. His grip didn’t loosen for a second as he walked around the table to stand directly behind Leon.

Leon couldn’t glare at Cloud anymore, not from this angle and not with Cloud casually pinning his head to the desk, so he settled on snapping out, “What do you think?”

Cloud didn’t answer. His lips trailed over Leon’s jaw, the touch barely there and annoying just like his whole existence. He ground his hips roughly against Leon’s ass, erection jutting sharply into him through the pants, as his free hand slid down Leon’s side, meandering its way to Leon’s belts. Fingers slid underneath one, tugging lightly at the strap.

“Don’t break my belt,” Leon bit out in warning. Another sharp tug and the leather snapped apart at the buckle. “You fucking—“

His curse cut off into a sharp groan when Cloud abruptly pressed his hand down hard into Leon’s groin, gripping his cock through the thick fabric. Leon’s fingers curled around the edge of the desk, and he hissed when Cloud squeezed down again, sending electricity sparking through his groin up into his stomach.

“What was that?” the asshole had the audacity to ask him. The smirk bled through his voice, and the outline of his lips pressed starkly into Leon’s jaw.

“Y-you…f-fuck—,” he tried again, choking when Cloud squeezed even harder, kneading down harshly with his palm. Leon’s hips snapped forward. He moaned, rolling into Cloud’s grip. Cloud pressed in closer behind him as his hand continued squeezing Leon’s groin intermittently, forcing his ass into rubbing a consistent pattern against Cloud’s cock. Cloud’s breathing grew heavier as he made Leon work him off like that.

Face pressed into the table, Leon closed his eyes. He was breathless – panting as that hand, as magical as it was annoying, continued to toy with him through his pants, kneading and squeezing in a rhythm he couldn’t quite follow. Cloud’s other hand gripped the back of his neck harder for one second, two – and Cloud let out a shuddering gasp before he suddenly let go. Leon didn’t even have time to protest before the other two belts around his hips met the same unfortunate end as the first, not when he was a panting, moaning mess just from Cloud’s hand and the feel of him pressing against his ass alone.

Just like that, the hand was gone, too.

It took Leon a second to realise his hips were jerking forward into nothing because his ass still rubbed up against Cloud behind him. By the time he did, the belt on his waist was open, his pants were undone, and Cloud was already shoving everything down his hips. Leon came back to himself suddenly, shaking his head as he pushed himself up from the table. A hand planted in the middle of his back, keeping him from rising the rest of the way up.

“No,” he said, voice breathless as he tried to calm the heat in his groin begging for more and the too heavy pounding in his chest. His cock was so fucking hard, demanding even more attention now that it was free. Cloud’s hand slid feather-light over it, breaking through his focus well enough that it was a struggle to remember what he was trying to say.

“No fucking way. Stop,” he gasped. Cloud’s hand stopped. “We’re not…fucking on this desk,” he bit out. “You’re not…not ruining any of this shit.”

A pause, then Cloud nodded.

That explained how Leon found himself slammed up against the bookshelf a few minutes later, naked save the pants sitting tangled around his knees. A shelf dug a harsh line into his chest, but he was prevented from pulling away by Cloud, who held both his arms twisted up and pinned behind his back as he finished knotting Leon’s t-shirt around them as makeshift rope.

Leon was horny and annoyed, spilling pre-cum on the…fuck.

“The…the books,” he tried to protest, but a gloved finger shoved up his ass in retaliation choked the words out of him.

“Too demanding,” Cloud muttered, and Leon wanted to laugh at that, really (Cloud having the audacity to call him demanding? Seriously?), but Cloud pulled his finger out and jabbed it back in before he could, cutting off any response but an embarrassingly needy moan. The slide of leather into him was a weird feeling, a textured smoothness behind the slick lube that slid in and out of his ass aggressively. Leon bit his lip to stifle the sounds that kept trying to come out.

A second finger shoved in next to the first, pulling a weak, “Fuck,” out of him at the first hint of pain. He tried to pull forward instinctively, but Cloud kept a steady grip on his hip and refused to let him move as he fucked his fingers up into him, intent on ignoring where exactly Leon wanted them to go. Every occasional brush against his prostate sent sparks of pleasure straight through his impossibly hard groin and up into his throat. Leon’s breath came in fast spurts between moans as he was refused even the small pleasure of fucking back onto the fingers stretching him open.

It was just shy of satisfying, which was probably the most frustrating thing about it. Cloud fingered him carelessly, directionless, except for when he decided to tease him by skimming where Leon wanted him too quickly, the feeling gone before Leon could appreciate it. Leon groaned, frustrated, and banged his head on the shelf in front of him.

“You’re the-the fu…cking w-worst,” he hissed. His voice shook too badly for even him to take it seriously.

 “Mm-hm,” Cloud replied, and then a third finger shoved in unexpectedly.

“Fuck,” Leon breathed out, barely a voice to the word as he was forced to take it. That stretch burned. Cloud wasn’t trying to prep him as much as he was teasing him, and his ass was going to be sore from this for…gods, Leon couldn’t even focus on that because it hurt and it felt good and it was infuriating, except all three fingers suddenly jabbed directly into that spot inside. Stars exploded in Leon’s vision as he yelled.

“You were saying?” he barely heard over the sound of his own breathing. His hips jerked back and forth, desperate to get that again, but even though Cloud had let him go to do that, he kept changing angle, the asshole. Cloud’s hand stilled inside him, but Leon didn’t stop – Leon couldn’t stop fucking himself against it, desperation driving him insane.

“You look,” Cloud began, breath hot on the back of Leon’s neck. He cut himself off, gasping, then swallowed. “You look so…so fucking good like this.” The words were a whisper into skin. Leon could barely acknowledge them.

Cloud’s fingers disappeared then, leaving Leon empty and disappointed.

“H-Hyne,” he choked, twisting his arms to try and free them from his shirt. “I hate you.”

Cloud chuckled breathlessly. “No, you don’t.”

No. He didn’t.

Unfortunately.

Cloud’s other hand clamped down on his hip, smearing lube over skin. The wet tip of Cloud’s cock slid between his cheeks, until it pressed against his hole. Leon tried not to hold his breath in anticipation; he tried to keep his breathing steady. The knowledge – the expectation – was almost hotter than the thing itself. At least, that’s what Leon thought for the half a second before hips snapped forward, and Cloud buried his cock all the way inside him with one fluid thrust.

Leon let out a strangled yell, arms struggling to fight the cotton keeping them bound together. That hurt. Fuck. Too dry – the only lube what Cloud had left from his fingers, not nearly enough to make it comfortable – and the absolute asshole wasted no time snapping his hips back and driving in again, and then again, and again, a brutal, painful rhythm with no break, too fast for Leon to try to keep pace with. The angle was horrible, too. Every forceful slide right past his prostate had him moaning into the shelf, begging out stilted cries for more.

Leon tried to adjust his hips, to meet Cloud’s thrust and shove back in a way to get him hammering where Leon wanted. Cloud growled out a warning and stopped moving, buried inside him to the hilt, and forced Leon still, too, with the hands on his hips. Hyne, but this was even worse. Cloud’s cock was hot and heavy and painful and huge inside of him. Without the distraction, Leon’s ass burned, stretched too wide. He squirmed back against Cloud with a whimper, unable to stop, all but begging him to keep going. He still didn’t move. Leon felt wide open and pinned down. The sharp pain shouldn’t have made him harder, but this did, choking him with humiliation burned through him as he realised what Cloud wanted.

“Cloud,” he tried, voice weak and full of supplication, hips still shifting the little Cloud allowed.

“Mm-mm,” was the only response he got.

Leon swore.

“Stop,” Cloud added a second later.

Leon’s gasp was shuddering as he tried to stop himself from shifting. A second, and he was squirming again, biting down on his lips so hard he thought they might bleed.

“Squall,” Cloud murmured disapprovingly.

“F-fuck,” he replied, and then bit out, “hate,” as he finally forced himself still and struggled to stay that way until he felt the outline of Cloud’s satisfied smirk pressed into the junction of his neck. “Sh-shit,” he choked, unable to articulate what he wanted. “Hyne, f-fuck…you—”

“Shut up,” Cloud said. A hand on his hip disappeared, and three fingers were shoved into his mouth, cutting him off mid-sentence. The leather was cool on his tongue, and this was…this was filthy, those fingers had just been…Leon didn’t even want to think about that. Humiliation flushed through his whole body because that shouldn’t have made him harder, either.

Cloud moved again, slowly first, and then fast all at once, each dry thrust rubbing harshly into him. Leon moaned around the fingers in his mouth – couldn’t stop moaning until Cloud shoved them further in, forcing him to swallow around them or gag. He swallowed. Cloud groaned in response, and his hips drove into Leon even more erratically, pummelling so hard it felt like Cloud was going to break his ass, even as he still refused to give Leon anything direct against that place inside of him. He kept going past, not for, and Leon had to content himself with the occasional brush that sent him whimpering for more, had realised Cloud was purposely denying him satisfaction, but this brutal tease was driving him crazy.

Leon tried to pull his hands free again, desperate to jerk himself off, to – to give himself something. His whole body was flushed red already, but the reminder of how helpless he was burned through him even more. He hated it, but hell if it didn’t make him even more desperate.

“Cloud,” he tried to moan around the fingers choking him. Cloud grunted in response, cock raking in and out of Leon’s body, rubbing him raw, and his movements turned more erratic until he suddenly paused, breath stilted as his orgasm hit, spilling hot into Leon’s ass. Cloud leaned his head against Leon’s shoulder, panting hard as he continued to thrust through his climax. Leon jerked his hips back, trying to keep the mild satisfaction going even as Cloud deflated inside him. It did nothing. He whined, pressing his tongue against the smooth leather still in his mouth, licking against each finger.

Cloud slid out of him, finished. His hand came free of Leon’s mouth with an obscene pop that just made Leon’s cock leak more. His ass felt empty – too empty – squeezing desperately around nothing as his hips still jerked. He was still so fucking hard.

“A-asshole,” Leon groaned weakly. Saliva-slicked fingers shoved back inside his hole, one brutal jab directly against his prostate that forced out an embarrassingly high-pitched moan and left him breathless and shaky on legs made of jelly.

“You wanna say that again?” Cloud asked, and Leon would’ve, except when he opened his mouth, the very same cum-covered fingers were shoved right back inside. Leon was acutely aware of the feel of it all inside him, in his mouth, slowly leaking out of his ass, dribbling down his thighs, and he couldn’t stop the moan, eyes fluttering shut as he licked Cloud’s fingers off.

And then Cloud pulled away entirely. He slapped Leon’s ass, then turned him around, planting a brief kiss against his lips.

“Thanks,” the asshole had the audacity to say to him, the mocking evident in his tone, before kindly pulling Leon’s pants back up his legs, tucking his erection in, and retightening the lone surviving belt. Leon couldn’t think of a proper reply. He was too furious and still too horny, breathing fast as he tried to recover some semblance of cool, but all he could focus on was the way his pants pressed tightly over his cock. He barely even noticed when Cloud reached around him to undo the knots on his useless, stretched out shirt.

Cloud stepped away, and Leon sunk to the ground boneless, breath still hitching. Cloud wiped the pre-cum off the shelf with the shirt and then dropped the soiled cloth on top of Leon’s head.

“Now you don’t have to worry about the books,” Cloud said, and Leon wasn’t sure if there really was a hint of snideness there or if he was just projecting because Cloud was the worst. Either way that was all the goodbye he was getting because when he pulled the shirt from his eyes, he saw Cloud’s back strolling away, blending into the shadows without so much as a glance back.

Leon glared down at the filthy shirt. His hands shook from anger, frustration, irritation, need.

“Jackass,” he hissed, and yanked the thing over his head. He was too horny to sit still, and shaky hands grabbed the bookshelf. He leveraged himself to his feet, letting out another curse at the sharp pain radiating from his ass. Another when his cock throbbed against his pants.

Leon stumbled back over to the desk. Staring down at the mess of papers spread across it, he shook his head and mourned for the lost organisation. He wasn’t about to sort that again. Someone else could deal with that tomorrow. At least he’d thought about it before the mess on the shelves had ended up the mess on the desk and made him do it all over again.

The sharp pain when he bent over had Leon jerk back up, staring down at the belts on the floor forlornly. He couldn’t leave them. Any of them. Not unless he wanted Yuffie spreading gossip, which he didn’t. Slowly, he bent back down, biting down on his lip as if that in anyway counteracted the flare of pain in his ass. He grabbed the belts and then his jacket and clicked the lights off.

It took way too long for Leon to reach his home. His tiny one bedroom was one of the closer buildings to the castle – closer than Merlin’s, even – but each and every step was a trial, and he cursed himself for not thinking about the limp he was going to have tomorrow when Cloud first showed up. His ass was a throbbing, painful mess, and his erection still refused to flag – only seemed to get more insistent, demanding his attention. Not to mention he was still keenly aware of Cloud’s fucking semen leaking out of his ass to ruin his pants. Perseverance ran triumphant, though, and finally, after each limped, shuffling step, Leon made it. He slumped against the wall as soon as he was through the door.

Fuck, he wasn’t going to be able to walk right for days. Every fucking time, Cloud did this. Worked him up, fucked him raw, got himself off, and then left Leon hard and leaking in more ways than one. Leon could count the number of times Cloud had actually reciprocated – had taken the time to get him off, too – but it was too sad to think about, so he didn’t.

And yet Leon still let him. Every time Cloud showed up out of nowhere, horny and determined to fuck, he let him. And what did he get for it? This was so not fucking worth it, his achingly hard cock screamed at him.

Finally, Leon made it to his bedroom. Everything he was holding dropped to the floor, and he collapsed face first into the bed, tugging insistently at his belt. It came loose after some trial, his hands uncoordinated in his desperation, and he shoved his pants off, kicking them off when they got tangled around his feet, and then flopped over onto his back. His erection bounced free, aching almost as much as his ass. He glanced over at the side table, contemplating lube, but it was too far away.

Besides, Leon’s hand was already on his cock. He gripped himself tightly, squeezing in a way too reminiscent of Cloud earlier as he tugged harshly. A shameless, strangled moan pulled from his lips as he jerked up into his own grip. This, he thought angrily, was what Cloud should be doing. What Cloud should have been doing every fucking time they had sex. He slid his hand up and down with an intense fervour, bucking furiously into it. Hot and dry and it felt good, but it wasn’t enough – wasn’t quite right, not when he couldn’t stop thinking about Cloud’s hand, couldn’t get the feel of leather gloves around him and in him, two steps past painful, out of his head. Leon squeezed tighter, and his mouth fell open as he gasped. Short, stilted noises of need filled the room, echoing back to him.

It still wasn’t enough. Not after – after having Cloud inside him. Not with his ass a painfully stretched out, sticky mess still filled with drying cum. Leon rolled onto his side and reached his other hand down, shoving three fingers into his ass. The bit of leftover lube and mess of cum made it easier than it would have been, but fuck if it didn’t still hurt. Harsh pants into the pillow beneath his face, and Leon rolled his hips back onto his own fingers, fucking himself as best he could. If he closed his eyes it was easy to imagine a blonde head over him, glowing eyes smirking down at him and shoving a hand back up inside him, fucking into his sore ass without care and aggressively rubbing over his prostate so hard it hurt.

That’s how Leon did it, fingering himself mercilessly until he was writhing on the bed, jerking into his hand in short, stilted bursts.

“Fuck,” he choked into the pillow as pressure pooled in his groin. His whole body was hot, sweat clinging to skin, and a low moan caught in his throat. He jabbed his fingers harder inside, the sharp pain going straight through his cock. “Fuck, Cloud, fuck,” he continued, repeating those two words over in staccato, and over, and over as pressure built inside him, his balls tightening up. He pressed down blindingly hard inside of him, bursts of pleasure exploding through him, and one more tug on his cock had him climaxing, coming with a shout of Cloud’s name.

Leon wound down slowly, barely breathing as his heart hammered away in his chest. He pulled his fingers out of his ass and winced at the sharp soreness. That maybe hadn’t been the best idea. If he thought sitting wasn’t going to be fun for the foreseeable future before, now it felt like a nightmare. He hated Cloud so much sometimes.

Leon’s ass was a mess, his stomach was a mess, his sheets were a mess, both hands, even the clothes on the floor were a mess, covered in cum, both his and Cloud’s. Showering would be smart. Lethargy spread through his body, though, mixing in with a contented sigh, and he flopped over onto his stomach to go to sleep.

Leon had a problem, he realised. And his problem’s name was Cloud Strife.

Chapter Text

This thing between Cloud and Leon had started just over a year ago, and really, Leon had no one to blame but himself. Cloud was hot, and he was horny was what it came down to. Well, it was a little deeper than that. Tifa was fairly attractive, too, but Leon had never even considered the possibility of sex with her. Cloud was more his speed. Quiet like him. They got along fairly well. Neither of them were naturally inclined for romance. There was the whole “darkness” thing, but that hadn’t bothered him too much.

It made sense at the time.

And Cloud had gone for it. He’d been surprised at first, Leon could tell – though to be fair, Leon had surprised himself by broaching the subject to begin with – but the next day, he’d caught Leon alone in Merlin’s kitchen, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in to kiss. Cloud had gone for it and hadn’t stopped going for it whenever he showed up in town. Leon honestly wasn’t sure if he might have miscalculated.

Which, to be fair, didn’t explain why he wouldn’t end things. Didn’t want to end things. Ending things with Cloud wasn’t even a valid consideration in his mind, and that was what burned more than anything else. So really, the real victim here was Leon’s pride.

And also his ass.

Leon jerked awake, disoriented. It was still dark outside and earlier than he normally woke. He lay there, blinking the sleep out of his eyes and wondering what could possibly have woken him. He shifted and froze, and the fingers pressing into him slid their way out of his sore ass then slowly pushed back in. Leon hissed. He turned his head over to see Cloud laying naked on the bed next to him, propped up on one arm.

“Oh, good, you’re awake.” Glowing blue-green eyes raked their way over Leon’s body, piercing and intense and gleaming with approval. Joy. Cloud dragged his fingers against Leon’s sore rim, and he hissed again, jerking down into the mattress when they shoved back in, prodding right into his prostate. Leon groaned and did his best to ignore his half hard cock pressing into his bed, stopped himself from squirming back desperately around Cloud’s hand. For the millionth time, he seriously reconsidered the fact that he’d given Cloud a key. For the record: Squall Leonhart made terrible choices sometimes.

“Seriously?” he asked, and he couldn’t stop it anymore, he squirmed against the fingers lightly toying around inside him, biting his lip at the sharp pain when he clenched down. Cloud’s lips twitched. “What do you want?” Leon muttered, muffled by his face still smashed into the pillow.

Cloud didn’t deign that with a response. He rubbed over that spot inside him again, and Leon’s hips canted, jerking down even as he let out a curse.

“Not even a ‘good morning’,” he groused quietly, breath catching.

“Morning,” Cloud shot back, determined to continue to be an ass. He didn’t let up with the weirdly gentle fingering as an answer, and Leon groaned, strangled, rocking softly into the bed. “You’re filthy,” he continued, a smug look stretching across his way-too-attractive face. “Didn’t bathe last night?”

Leon’s whole body flushed with embarrassment. He hadn’t even stopped to pull off his soiled t-shirt, and the stench of sex permeated the room, clinging to his skin. “I’m too sore to fuck,” he said bluntly. Cloud still smirked like he’d won, probably because Leon still couldn’t stop rocking back onto the fingers up his ass. Asshole.

And then they were gone, and Leon hissed. The sudden emptiness was always disconcerting – so disconcerting he almost changed his mind. The twinge of pain when his hole clenched reminded him to stay strong. Cloud flopped over onto his back and then sat up, leaning back against the headboard, and for a split second Leon thought he’d given up.

Of course not.

A heavy hand clamped down on the back of Leon’s head, fingers tangling through his hair. Cloud dragged Leon’s head over and dropped it into his lap. The blonde’s erection nudged against his cheek, smearing a line of pre-cum over his face.

“Blow me,” Cloud said – ordered, rather. Leon sighed. Sleep was lost to him, it seemed. He wasn’t going to be getting any more when Cloud was like this: needy and annoying. One arm stretched up to bat Cloud’s hand away from him.

“I’m tired,” he groused, and rolled over to climb off the bed, ignoring the way his whole lower body seemed to hurt as he pulled himself to his feet. He was rather proficient at ignoring that these days. “I’m not going to blow you just because you woke me up balls early in the morning.” Cloud frowned, and then pulled himself off the bed, too, following Leon into the bathroom.

“Squall—,” he tried.

“Don’t fucking ‘Squall’ me right now,” Leon snapped, cutting Cloud off before he could get another word out. He headed for the shower, stripping his shirt as he went and ready to clean himself like he’d been too tired to do the night before. With Cloud staring at him now, following him around and making comments about his filth, he felt extra grimy and filled with an immediate desire to cleanse himself. Even at an unreasonable time in the morning.

Leon really shouldn’t have been surprised when he didn’t make it to the shower. Cloud caught up with him easily in the small confines of the room, reaching out a hand to grab Leon’s arm. An easy yank, and Leon found himself slammed up against the wall, Cloud’s naked body pressed up against his own, the blonde’s erection jutting sharply into his thigh. Lips touched his own in an unexpectedly soft kiss, and Cloud rested his hands on Leon’s ass. They gripped each cheek tightly, kneading strong fingers into the muscles, and Hyne did Leon wish that did not feel so good.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Cloud breathed out against Leon’s mouth.

“You never make it worth my while,” he stated flatly, pulling his head back. It hit the wall almost immediately. No extra space between them because there wasn’t anywhere for him to go trapped up against the wall as he was.

Cloud arched a blonde eyebrow. “I always make it worth your while.” He pushed a leg between Leon’s, pulling the man down into him so that his cock was grinding against the top of Cloud’s thigh.

“Fuck,” Leon hissed. His resolve was beginning to waver. “That’s a – a lie and you know it,” he added breathlessly. Cloud hummed and pressed his thigh in harder, rubbing over the sensitive skin at the head of Leon's cock. Leon moaned, the sound soft and fleeting on the air around them. His head fell back against the wall, mouth open and panting lightly. The soft, warm feel of Cloud’s naked skin against his cock had him hard before he knew it, and Leon didn’t even need Cloud’s encouragement to keep rocking into him, all but straddling his leg.

One of Cloud’s hands let go, the other pulling his ass cheek wide, and then fingers pushed into him once more, forcing a short, pained hiss out of him as they irritated his sore ass. He could barely focus on that, though, as Cloud crooked them inside, pressing just so, and pleasure ran hot through his whole body. He shuddered.

“Agh – Cloud,” he moaned, and Cloud did it again. That was it for Leon – the end of his resolve. He fisted his hands in Cloud’s hair and yanked his head forward, smashing their mouths back together.

“I hate you so fucking much,” he muttered into Cloud’s lips, but the words trailed off into a groan when Cloud refused to let up.

“Blow me, and I’ll get you off,” he replied easily. Leon groaned, hips jerking when Cloud shifted his fingers again. He choked on the sarcastic reply, humping Cloud’s thigh as his eyes slid shut. Shit. His body was hot for it, desperate, and his mind was slowly falling into agreement, especially when Cloud’s fingers pressed perfectly inside him again. He shuddered, panting for more.

“Well?”

Hyne. Hyne, Cloud was the worst, but Leon had reached “too horny to care”, and all he could think about was Cloud getting him off – his mouth on him or his hand, or anything, Leon didn’t care, but all the ideas sped through his mind until he was shaking. The more skin rubbed against skin and fingers played around inside of him, driving him out of his mind with pleasure and just the right side of pain, the better the deal looked.

Cloud dragged his fingers out again, and Leon whined, cracking his eyes open in confusion. Cloud’s smirk grew. Both hands settled on Leon’s hips, pinning him in place as he pulled his thigh back, leaving Leon’s leaking erection without any kind of satisfaction.

“Cloud,” he whimpered – not begging – and broke off into a moan when Cloud reached a hand down between Leon’s legs to fondle his balls. He tugged and Leon’s whole body seized and shuddered, his mouth open in wordless pleas.

“Or I could fuck you,” Cloud continued, uninterrupted. Teeth dug into his lower lip, doing nothing to stop the noises he was making when Cloud rolled his balls around in his hand. He let go then and drifted his hand further back. Fingers pressed into his perineum, and then dragged over his hole, pushing at the skin around it but not pushing to breach him. The pain went straight to his groin, but even as hard he was, this still wasn’t enough to get him off.

“But you said you were too sore for that.” Cloud pushed one finger back in, just to the knuckle, and yanked at his sensitive rim. Leon yelped, jerking Cloud in for another kiss, and Cloud swallowed the sound down as he did it again. “Either way,” he breathed out when he pulled pack, “I’ll get you off.”

Leon couldn’t remember why he was protesting to begin with. “F-fine,” he panted. “Fine; fuck, yes. I’ll do it.”

“Good choice.” The grin had disappeared from Cloud’s face, but it was still buried in his words, in the intense way his eyes raked over Leon – still filthy from last night and even more wrecked now – and then his hands disappeared off Leon entirely. Leon’s mind blanked in confusion, the only clear thought there getting off. His hand drifted down towards his cock, but Cloud clamped a fist down around Leon’s wrist before it could reach. He slammed it back up against the wall and squeezed tightly.

‘Don’t touch,’ the message read clearly, and Leon almost scoffed. Cloud didn’t control what he did with his own body. Except Leon was too caught up in the promise Cloud had just given him to bother protesting, so he nodded and Cloud let go. Two hands fisted in Leon’s hair and he found his knees slamming into the tile floor as he was shoved down, suddenly eye level with Cloud’s cock. He pulled back instinctively, but Cloud’s grip held strong – too strong – and pulled his face in closer.

Cloud dragged the tip of his cock over Leon’s lips, smearing liquid over his face. “Open up.” Leon thought about refusing – about keeping his mouth shut because that was irritating – but then he thought about Cloud’s hand up his ass, working him off, and his mouth dropped open. He gagged, choking as Cloud shoved all the way in with no warning. Leon whined and tried to pull back again, but the hands threaded through his brown hair held tight, seemed to pull him down even further, except that couldn’t be the case because Cloud’s cock was already down his throat and his balls rested against Leon’s chin.

Leon tried not to choke, whined again then swallowed around him, and Cloud let out a series of soft, pleased breaths above him. “Yeah, like that,” he grunted, the praise pointless when Leon wasn’t calling the shots. Almost as if proving the point, Cloud jerked Leon’s head back, giving him barely a second to breathe before he was yanked back down, over and over again. Cloud fucked Leon’s mouth even more relentlessly than he’d fucked his ass last night, treating him like a toy there only for his use. Leon pushed the thought out of his mind, unwilling to examine the rush that sent to his own groin.

Cloud’s hips began to jerk erratically, and his hands stilled, holding Leon in place as he thrust once – and then again, and he came with a groan, exploding into Leon’s mouth. He pulled Leon in all the way again, holding him there with no choice but to swallow until he couldn’t anymore and gagged. Cloud let go and Leon pulled back, coughing as leftover cum spilled out of his mouth.

“Gods, that’s hot,” Cloud whispered. Leon glanced up. Cloud was breathing heavily above him, pale skin flushed red. Glowing eyes stared back down at him, soft and pleased in a way that made Leon scowl as he wiped angrily at his mouth. That only succeeded in putting that thin smirk right back over Cloud’s lips.

“Was that really that hard?” Cloud asked, and Leon glared.

“Yes,” he croaked through hoarse voice if only because a pun that bad deserved the rebuff. “Now get me off already.” It was all he could think about now. He was horny and sore and irritable, all patience gone. His cock sat heavy and erect between his legs, screaming for attention. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t rush me.” Leon’s glare sharpened, especially as Cloud stepped back and shrugged. “I said I’d get you off,” he added. “I didn’t say when.” That fucking— “You could rub yourself off against my leg.”

“Strife,” he snapped, low and warning. Cloud was teetering on the edge, an inch away from finding himself kicked out of Leon’s house. Permanently. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” This was the last straw. Leon was ending it right now, cutting Cloud off because he was an irredeemable jackass who…who was barely containing a laugh, amusement glinting through too-green eyes.

“Yeah. I am,” Cloud replied, and then shoved him over, sending Leon crashing down into the ground. Before he could reorient – or even decide if he was leaning more towards angry or forgiven – Cloud was stretched up on top of him, pressing a kiss against his mouth. “I made a promise. You know I’m good for it.”

“Do I?”

Cloud rolled his eyes. He pressed another kiss into Leon’s neck this time, then trailed his lips further down, placing another against chest, then abs, over Leon’s belly button, and then – with a firm grip on Leon’s hips keeping him pinned flat to the ground – onto his cock. Leon hissed. His skin tingled where Cloud’s lips had touched – was still touching – and the irritation slid away in time with Cloud’s hands sliding underneath his legs.

Fingers dug into his thighs, hot burning brands into his skin, and then Cloud pulled them wide as they could go before dancing his hands back up to Leon’s ass. The next kiss landed on the juncture between thigh and groin, and Leon’s cock knocked into Cloud’s cheek. He felt the trace of a smile, and then teeth dug sharply into the sensitive flesh.

“Fuck!” Leon yelped. The sudden, harsh pain made him jerk against Cloud’s grip. It was impossible. As always. Cloud was just too fucking strong – overpoweringly strong – and that thought sent weird butterflies of pleasure dancing straight down past his stomach.

Cloud let go, pulling another hiss out of Leon. Teeth were quickly replaced by tongue, lapping over the still smarting bite and then licking a line straight from there to his balls. Leon gasped at the sudden, wet touch and threw an arm over his face. His other hand stayed at his side, knuckles white from how tight he clenched his fist. Teeth scraped lightly over his balls, and Leon cursed.

“Fuck – fuck, Cloud. Shit! Oh, fu—” His words cut off completely when Cloud closed his mouth around them. Leon bucked his hips – not much at all with Cloud’s fingers still digging sharply into his ass. Cloud pulled back then, letting them fall out of his mouth, and Leon let out a whine that left his whole body flushed with humiliation.

Cloud sat between his legs on the cold floor, staring down at him appraisingly.

“I love seeing you desperate,” Cloud commented idly, hands kneading into Leon’s ass. Leon couldn’t process the words – moaned again as fingers massaged his muscles.

“Hurry up,” he demanded. Desperate was the only word for it. His whole body was a line of tension, and he was left squirming pathetically as Cloud continued to stare at him, doing nothing. Even in this – even in this – he continued to be the worst.

“I’m gonna tie you up one day,” Cloud continued. The hands on his ass pulled both cheeks apart, holding him exposed, and every movement tugged sharply at his sore rim, built inside of him. Pleasure and pain had long past blurred together. “I’ll fuck your ass all day long, whenever I want. Just keep you there. You can tell everyone you’re sick.”

“Whatever,” Leon snapped back, eyes squeezed shut and head falling to the hard, cool ground beneath him with a loud thud. He’d let Cloud do whatever the fuck he wanted if he would just finish this already. That’s when Cloud’s tongue shoved straight up his ass.

“Fuck!” Leon gasped, eyes shooting wide open. He glanced down, eyes widening even more at the sight of those blonde spikes between his legs. Cloud glanced up, cocky glowing eyes catching Leon’s gaze. His head dropped back down when Cloud licked his way out of him, and then shoved his tongue back inside.

“Oh, Hyne,” he groaned, hips trying to jerk against the slow, lazy thrusting Cloud was doing with his tongue. The hands pinning him down clamped tighter until he couldn’t shift at all, and that was better and worse, he couldn’t decide, couldn’t think past the feeling of Cloud’s hot tongue twisting around inside of him. Leon whimpered. It hurt still, he was too sore for even this, but holy Hades – holy every god he knew existed did it feel good. He writhed against Cloud’s face.

It still wasn’t…quite…enough. His cock screamed for attention; he couldn’t come from this alone. He needed more. Leon reached a hand between his legs. Fingers brushed his cock, and pleasure shot through his groin, cranking his moans up a notch. Cloud let go of one side and captured Leon’s wrist, clamping down before he could manage a proper grasp on himself.

Cloud’s tongue was gone, and Leon whined.

“Don’t do that,” Cloud commanded, green-flecked eyes staring harshly down at him. Leon stared blankly back at him, unable to process the words going into his ears. The hand still on his ass shifted, and Leon jerked when Cloud’s thumb shoved up inside of him. The noise he made was indecipherable.

“You want me to get you off,” Cloud continued, “you get off however I decide.” Part of Leon wanted to glare, but he didn’t have the energy to split his focus like that, not with Cloud’s thumb up his ass. He squirmed, trying his best to grind down against it, hissing at the blatant reminder of how sore he still was as his hips shoved down in what was ultimately an unsatisfying endeavour. It just wasn’t enough, even when Cloud twisted his hand and jabbed at that spot inside him.

“Okay?” Cloud pressed.

“Whatever, fuck. Just – do something!” he snapped. Cloud rolled his eyes. The thumb dragged back out of him, flicking at his tender rim hard enough to make Leon yelp, and Cloud let go of his wrist. His head dipped back down between Leon’s legs, hitching them up over his shoulders this time, and a second later, his ass cheeks were pulled wide once more, Cloud’s tongue back with a vengeance. Leon moaned, forcing both hands by his side, clenching his fists even tighter to keep them from drifting back down to his leaking cock. The one clear thought in his mind was that this would stop entirely if he did that again, and fuck, the last thing he wanted was for Cloud to stop.

Leon’s mind was a haze of pleasure, of pressure building up in his gut, in his groin, balls tightening up into him. He could feel it growing, slowly building together as Cloud’s tongue continued to play with his insides, twisting and licking and just being too much. Leon’s breath came in short, stilted bursts, too fast as he writhed against the tongue up his ass, still too much and not enough all at once. And then a hand was on his balls, squeezing, and orgasm and a yell ripped out of him simultaneously.

Leon’s whole body shuddered as Cloud pulled away. He stared up at the ceiling in a daze, breathing hard as he tried to blink the stars out of his eyes. That was why he hadn’t kicked Cloud to the curb yet, he remembered. Cloud didn’t deliver often, but when he did, he did in spades. Maybe he wasn’t quite as much of an asshole as previously decided.

Leon sighed. There was no energy left in his body. He was limp and relaxed, content to lay in that spot for the rest of the day and not move – or at least the next few hours until it was a more reasonable time of morning to get up. Cloud shifted and then crawled on top of him, leaning down for another kiss. Leon was too lethargic to protest.

Cloud pushed himself up, then – proving himself to be just as much of an asshole as Leon had originally determined, current pleasant afterglow notwithstanding – reached down and dragged Leon up to his feet, too.

“Let me alone,” he muttered, batting Cloud’s hands away from him to little success. Cloud rolled his eyes.

“We both need a shower,” he replied, gesturing to his hair that was rather prolifically decorated with splotches of Leon’s come. “Might as well do it together.” He left Leon leaning against the glass shower door as he stepped inside to turn on the water.

“Or you could take one, and I could just…go back to bed.” That sounded like an excellent idea, even better than a shower, even if the steam did make the wide flowing stream look ever more enticing. Cloud laughed.

“As much as I like you in bed, this is a better idea,” he said, and then dragged Leon in under the spray, ignoring the low grumbling. The low grumbling stopped as soon as the warm water hit his body, melting him into a pile of goo. Leon let out a happy sigh as water and contentment washed over him. No, Cloud wasn’t an asshole. Not really. Why had he ever been irritated with him?

Cloud shoved him over and out of the perfect spray, taking Leon’s place under the water. His happy bubble burst as he knocked into the wall, and Leon remembered. And scowled. Cloud just smiled, a thin, cocky line drawn between even thinner lips as he threw a washcloth. The wet cloth hit Leon’s face with a splat, sticking to his skin for one second before it slid down. He barely caught it as it dove for the ground, and then only narrowly managed to grab the bar of soap Cloud lobbed at him from mid-air.

“Thanks,” he said dryly.

“No problem,” Cloud shot back. He turned and pulled the shower door shut behind him and then picked up the shampoo sitting on the ledge. Leon narrowed his eyes. Cloud squeezed the bottle, and a thick spurt of shampoo – too much shampoo, one might say, given it was Leon’s extremely nice, somewhat expensive shampoo that he had not bought to share – plopped into his hand, leaking over the side and getting lost to the drain.

Leon sighed again. He let the water wash away his irritation and focused instead on bathing himself. The bar rubbed over the cloth until it bubbled into a nice lather, and he put the soap on the ledge. They showered in silence, Leon scrubbing his body while Cloud washed his hair. The silence was a familiar comfort between them. Usually Leon was content with that, but this time something was gnawing away at him, prompting him to break their ritual and speak.

“What are you doing back in town?” he asked, careful to keep his voice light. He wasn’t trying to be accusatory, even if the pain in his ass made him want to be. Cloud was a pleasant conversationalist when he wasn’t being an asshole. Leon liked him plenty outside of their sex life. And shower life. “Thought the tournament wasn’t supposed to end for another three weeks.” That’d been the main reason he’d declined the invitation to accompany Cloud. He couldn’t afford that much time away, not with how much of Radiant Garden was still in need of mending.

“A month, actually,” Cloud replied. He tilted his head backwards under the showerhead, letting the soap rinse out of his hair. Out of the corner of his eye, Leon tracked the flow of it down Cloud’s spine and only half caught, “Sephiroth’s back.”

The washcloth Leon was using stopped, paused on top of his abs. He turned to glance at Cloud over his shoulder, cocking an eyebrow.

“Sephiroth’s back?” The last thing Cloud had said on Sephiroth was ‘I took care of him,’ which Leon had taken to mean in a more permanent way.

Cloud shrugged. “It was bound to happen. Not like I killed him. That’s kind of impossible to do.”

“Only because he’s part of you,” Leon threw out. He resumed washing himself. Cloud huffed and didn’t answer, instead moving on to the conditioner. He squeezed even more of that out than the shampoo. “Keep wasting that, and you’re gonna have to pay for it,” he said warningly, stepping over and elbowing Cloud out of the way so he could stand under the stream. He ignored the faint limp in his movement as best he could. That wasn’t about to go away any time soon.

‘Ugh,’ he realised suddenly, ‘especially not with Sephiroth around.’ Cloud was bad on the best of days. With his darkness lurking nearby, feeding into him…Well. That certainly explained last night. And this morning.

“How do you plan to make me do that?” Cloud didn’t squeeze extra out to be an asshole, but Leon could tell he wanted to. He scowled again. He could very rarely get Cloud to do anything he didn’t want to do, even if the man was freakishly good at getting Leon to change his mind about anything. Also, and more importantly, Cloud was perpetually broke.

Silence fell between them once more. Leon was finished cleaning himself now, but he didn’t want to move. It was comfortable here, relaxing under the water, and he yawned.

“How’s reconstruction going?” Cloud asked then. He didn’t push Leon out entirely this time, instead choosing to sidle up next to him, pressing their bodies together as he rinsed the conditioner out of his spikey hair. Leon’s eyebrow arched up again.

“…Decent. You actually care about that?” As far as Leon was concerned, Cloud wouldn’t give a damn if Radiant Garden burned down around them except that he’d probably miss Tifa’s bar. He’d just move on again, settling down wherever they chose to settle next.

“No,” Cloud replied bluntly. He grabbed the soap Leon had rested down. “But it’s all you do with your life, so there’s nothing else to talk about.”

“That is not all I do with my life,” Leon grumbled. Cloud snorted. Leon shoved him.

“You ever hear of a hobby?”

“Triple Triad,” he snapped back, completely offended. His card collection was very carefully curated: a lifetime’s work. “And that’s rich coming from you. Your hobby is Sephiroth. Trying to kill him is all you do.”

“Not true. I do you, too.” Cloud waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Leon shoved him again. Cloud just laughed, the asshole.

“By the way,” he said suddenly, a thought sparking in his mind.

“Hm?” Cloud glanced over, still washing his body.

“My belts. You’re paying for what I need for repairs.” He had more, sure – had learned to keep more since this thing with Cloud had started – but that wasn’t the point. Yuffie would notice if he decided to start wearing all different belts all of a sudden. No way was he about to deal with that questioning.

Also, his belts were broken.

“Or what?”

Leon didn’t even bother rolling his eyes this time. Cloud might be better at convincing Leon to do things, but Leon knew the one threat guaranteed to make Cloud cave every time.

“Or I’ll get Tifa involved,” he said evenly, leaning back under the spray. The water felt like satisfaction, and so did the indignant squawk Cloud made.

“You’re gonna tell Tifa about our sex?”

“Fuck no. I will tell her where you sleep at night. Good luck running from her then.” It was Cloud’s turn to scowl. Finally. The sight brought joy to Leon’s heart, and he threw Cloud’s favourite smirk out back at him.

“Fine. You play dirty, Leonhart.” Cloud pushed him back out from under the stream. He threw his washcloth at Leon, and it hit him right in the middle of his chest, too fast for him to catch. It slid down his body, hitting the floor with a splat. Leon didn’t bother trying to pick it up. He stared, bemused, at Cloud, one eyebrow arched curiously upward.

“I play dirty?” he returned, managing to keep the indignation out of his voice. “You’re the one who woke me up fuck all early in the morning and then proceeded to bribe me into blowing you.”

“So you regret it?”

Heat rushed through Leon’s body, but his skin was already pink from the water so the flush of embarrassment disappeared. Of course he didn’t regret it, though a large part of him wished he did.

“Didn’t think so,” Cloud continued when no answer was forthcoming. He wrenched the shower knob around, shutting the water off completely. Leon was closer to the shower door, so he pushed it open. He grabbed two towels off the rack and tossed one at Cloud, hoping to hit him in the face. Cloud, always aiming to disappoint, snatched it out of the air and began to dry off.

“Thanks,” he said. Comfortable silence settled in for one minute before Cloud broke it again with, “So meet at the fissure later? Spar a bit?”

Leon lowered the towel from his face to glare at Cloud. “Won’t be much of a spar, given I can barely fucking walk,” he shot back pointedly. Not a single hint of contrition passed over Cloud’s face. He leered at Leon, eyes raking up and down his hot body as he watched him rub the towel over himself.

“C’mon, Squall,” Cloud needled. “Think of it like…endurance training.” If Cloud winked, Leon swore to every god he could think of that he would punch him.

Unfortunately, Cloud was also too smart to do that, even if he wasn’t smart enough to accept ‘no’ as a valid answer sometimes. Unfortunately for him, he was going to have to this time. Leon wasn’t moved.

“No.”

“It’ll be fun.” Cloud was determined. Leon rolled his eyes.

“I said no. Besides, I have way too much work to finish. Why don’t you go accomplish something with your life? Do what you came here for and go hunt down your wayward darkness.”

Cloud groaned, wise enough to recognise a battle when it had been lost. “Fine. Your loss.”

“Whatever.” His gain, more like. Finished, Leon threw the towel he’d used at Cloud. The blonde yelped when it smacked him in the face this time, and Leon smiled, satisfied. A yawn caught him by surprise then, and he rolled his shoulders, turning to the door. “I’m going back to bed,” he called over his shoulder. “You can let yourself out.”

“Terrible hospitality,” Cloud chided.

“Just like you fucking let yourself in.”

He laughed. “Sure. But also, maybe next time I get you off, you can actually scream my name like you did last night when you were by yourself.”

Leon froze. Cloud…he hadn’t just said what he thought he did. Leon absolutely had not heard correctly. Face red and burning, Leon slowly swivelled back around. Cloud’s smug smirk was wide and insufferable, a knowing glint in his green-tinged, brightly glowing eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said stiffly. His hand clenched into a fist at his side as he stared Cloud down, daring him to challenge him on that and admit he’d been spying.

“Of course not,” Cloud replied easily, not breaking eye contact as he finished drying himself off with one hand. “You definitely have no idea what I’m talking about. I have no way of knowing what you did last night after I left you in the library.”

The smug asshole. How long had Cloud been in his apartment? Had he slept here last night? Leon fumed at the thought, making a note to check his spare room more frequently before he went to sleep. Now he would never be sure how long Cloud had been in his bed before he’d woken him up. Why the hell had he given him a key?

Cloud dropped both the towels he was holding onto the floor, and Leon’s eye twitched furiously. Cloud knew he hated it when he did that. The rail for the towels was literally right next to his head. They weren’t that hard to hang up! Cloud was doing it on purpose, intent on antagonising him for some reason, as if that would in any way endear Leon to spar with him.

Cloud, still too smug and begging for Leon to hit him, shoved past Leon, not bothering to step around him despite all the space just a few inches to the right.

“If you slap my ass…” he warned, and Cloud froze like he’d been caught, not recovering as smoothly as he probably wanted to think he did.

“Why do I put up with you?” Leon muttered to himself. He turned, watching Cloud as he began to pull his clothes back on. He ignored the slight twinge of disappointment as Cloud’s body disappeared under layers of heavy fabric. Just past him was the bed, and that sight was more appealing than Cloud’s body could ever be. He was already yawning again and blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he started moving, pulled towards the mattress by the magnetic force of sleep.

“Because you like the sex.”

“Not with you,” Leon replied easily, collapsing face first into the covers.

“Especially with me,” Cloud corrected. It was true, but Leon wasn’t going to admit it. He climbed the rest of the way into bed instead, pulling the blanket up over his shoulder.

“And put the fucking towels on the bar,” he added, a muffled grouse into his pillow. The bed was soft, pillow softer, and they were both reminding him that it was still too early for any of this.

“Yeah, sure.”  Leon smiled, satisfied, and sunk further into the pillow, letting the relaxing flow of sleep wash over him once more. When he awoke, Cloud would be gone, the towels would be righted, and life would be better. His breathing slowed, and as he finally drifted off, Leon rested assured in the fact that for as long as he was asleep, he didn’t have to deal with the never-ending complication and conflicted feelings that Cloud brought to his life.

Thank Hyne.