FFVI - Seasons - Summer Daze -
Title: Seasons - Summer Daze -
Author: Shaded Mazoku.
Email: herukatto@hotmail.com.
Part: ¼.
Disclaimer: FFVI and the characters therein belong to Square Enix and the people there. I just play with them for much fun and no profit.
Warnings: Yaoi, insanity, lemon, Kefka.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Killing time during a heat wave in Vector.
Pairing(s): Leo x Kefka.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI.
The weather was almost unbearably hot. Summer in Vector was usually nothing but pleasantly warm, as the city wasn’t that far south and the ever-present smoke from the factory tended to let little sunlight through. For the last week, though, it had been hotter than anyone could remember Vector ever being, and there was barely any wind, so they were all getting overheated very easily. By now, there was a water shortage as well, so cold baths or showers were not an option until the scientists came up with a way to get more water into the town.
Leo had opted not to wear his armor for now. He wasn’t technically on duty, and though he came from a southern town and was more used to heat than most of the soldiers were, the armor was just too hot in this weather. He wasn’t wearing his shirt, either, just the long vest he wore with his armor usually, and a pair of loose pants. Most people had chosen to wear similar things, barely covering enough to pass for decent.
There were only two exceptions to the rule. The emperor wore his usual robes, formality forcing him to wear the dark garments even in this heat. As a result, the scientists had put up large mechanical fans all over both the throne hall and the emperor’s quarters. Thanks to that, the emperor managed not to overheat, but he barely had the energy to move anywhere as long as the sun was up.
The other exception was Kefka, who did usually pride himself on being an exception to any rule, though this time, it was not on purpose. Kefka was wearing his usually multi-layered mismatched outfits, complete with cloak, and didn’t seem to notice the heat at all.
“I don’t know how you manage,” Leo told him, lying on his back in a shadowed area of Kefka’s balcony, watching Kefka, who was sitting on the rail, in the sun, dangling his legs over the edge.
Kefka tilted his head and looked at him, his crimson lips twisted into an amused smile as usual. “Manage what, Leo?” He said, absentmindedly tucking a loose strand of his hair behind his ear.
Leo sighed and sat up. “You’re wearing half your wardrobe,” he pointed out with a small smile. Kefka really did look as though he’d randomly put on half of what he had in is closet. He always did. “I’d die from the heat. I can barely stand wearing this much.”
“I’m not wearing half my wardrobe,” Kefka protested, disentangling one of his strange dangly earrings from his hair. “I’m barely wearing anything of the purple or yellow, and only some green and blue.”
Rolling his eyes, Leo ran a hand through his own hair, very glad he kept it so short. Even with it in a high ponytail like Kefka wore it, his hair seemed so hot in this heat. “That wasn’t what I meant, Kefka, and you know it.” At least Leo thought Kefka did. The other man didn’t really work the way most people did.
Kefka just grinned, showing off a pair of slightly elongated and pointed canines, just enough to look creepy and make people wonder whether or not he actually had fangs or not. “Not that hot,” he said, going back to staring into the distance, his eyes reflecting the color of the sky and seeming darker than they really were.
“Not that hot?” Leo shook his head. “Kefka, it was measured 43 °C at the warmest yesterday. People were frying eggs on the metal plates around in town.”
“Really?” Kefka didn’t sound all that interested. “No wonder my candles melted.”
Leo chuckled. Kefka had candles all over his room, and usually had all of them lit at night. He liked the flames, and the scent of the imported beeswax candles. Some of them had added scents as well. Occasionally enough different scents to make Leo, or any other normal person, somewhat dizzy.
“You really can’t tell how hot it is?” Leo asked, watching Kefka closely. The blond should theoretically be badly sunburned. He’d been sitting in the sun for hours, and he had such pale skin, almost white. He didn’t burn, though. Didn’t even tan.
Kefka shook his head, his ponytail swaying. “I can tell that it’s warmer than it is in winter,” he said, getting up, balancing on the rail. “But I don’t think it’s hot at all. Quite the opposite.” He walked over to where Leo was sitting, without getting off the rail.
“You’ll fall,” Leo said, though he made no move to get Kefka down. Kefka had excellent balance and Leo knew it.
Giggling, sounding more than half deranged, Kefka jumped off the rail and sat down next to Leo, putting one arm around Leo’s, and taking his hand with the other. “You’re warm.”
Leo looked down at their entwined fingers and the hand on his arm. Against Kefka’s pale cream colored skin, his own skin, dark even without the last week’s tan, seemed even darker. In contrast, the skin under his nails was lighter, where Kefka’s nails were long, wicked, crimson claws.
“Are you still cold?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. Ever since the magic infusion, Kefka had been complaining about the cold, even though his skin was always warmer, feeling feverish. It was more than a little unsettling, as everything about the infusion was.
Kefka pressed closer to Leo, almost nuzzling against his chest. “Mmhmm,” he murmured, affirming that yes, he was. “Feels better now, though.”
Leo reached up and pulled the hair tie and feathers out of Kefka’s hair, making it fall loose so he could run his fingers through it. Kefka made a very disheartened protesting sound, more as a habit than because he minded.
Chuckling, Leo gently massaged Kefka’s scalp, which resulted in Kefka pressing closer, much like a feline being petted. Leo smiled. Kefka often wore his hair so long in tightly gathered ponytails that his scalp hurt. Over the years, he’d learned how to soothe the ache as best he could.
If any of the others had seen them now, they’d no doubt gape like fish out of water. Kefka was as infamous for his vicious, cruel nature as for his whimsical, insane behavior. He was known to gleefully torture prisoners, or to use them for target practice for no real reason. Once, he’d pushed a soldier who had annoyed him by being in the wrong place to the wrong time down the long flight of stairs outside the palace, laughing as the soldier tumbled to his death. Nobody would suspect that Kefka could be sweet for any reason.
He could, though, and frequently was as sweet as his somewhat odd reality view would let him when he was with Leo. He’d curl against him, leaning against his chest, and twine their fingers together. Kefka was small and slender, not built at all for life in a military empire, standing 5’5” tall without shoes. He fit perfectly into Leo’s arms, and was happy to stay there, closing his eyes and listening to the taller man’s heartbeats.
It was enough to seriously make Leo wonder if his admittedly rather crazy lover had a bad case of split personalities. Because he acted so differently when he was alone with Leo than when he was with other people. At the same time, there were a lot of similarities. He had a sarcasm that even Leo got to notice, and the viciousness was still there, just channeled into different activities. Not all of Leo’s scars were battle scars. He had several on his back that he’d received during sex with Kefka, the smaller man forgetting, or maybe not even caring, that his nails were sharp as claws and easily dug into flesh.
For now, though, he was at ease, and so was Leo, just enjoying an all too rare instance of peaceful closeness with his lover. These moments were becoming rarer and rarer, because as much as Leo would like to deny it, Kefka was obviously getting worse. More and more the deranged court jester and less and less the highly intelligent but socially inept young man Leo had once fallen in love with. Leo shivered despite the incredible heat and pulled Kefka closer.
Kefka didn’t seem to mind. He moved his arms, placing them around Leo’s waist, and snuggled closer, closing his eyes.
Leo smiled. “Don’t get face-paint on my vest, Kefka,” he said softly, his own eyes closing. “It’s so hard to get off.”
Giggling slightly, Kefka looked up at him. The face paint didn’t seem to be smudged at all. “No worse than blood, Leo,” he said, his voice taking on a lilting sing-song tone. He giggled again and sat up a little, pressing his lips carefully against Leo’s neck, leaving crimson marks that looked like smudged blood.
Chuckling, Leo shifted his arm so he could embrace Kefka properly. He half pulled him into his lap and put his arms around his waist. Kefka felt nice in his arms. Warm and soft, and he smelled like spice and beeswax, and like magic, a smell that tingled in the nostrils.
“Silly creature,” Leo murmured affectionately, burying his face in Kefka’s hair. “Love you.”
Kefka shifted, crawling all the way into his lap, and returned the embrace, though his arms were around Leo’s neck, not waist. He made a sound that sounded almost like a purr.
The small blond never returned Leo’s statement of love. Leo occasionally wondered if Kefka was even capable of such emotions at all. Kefka admitted to attraction and desire, and even to being attached to Leo, but he had never claimed to return his love. It hurt Leo a good deal, but he’d long ago learned that with Kefka, one had to make do with what one was given. And even tolerance from the strange man was a rarity. Actual affection was unheard of towards anyone but Leo. It seemed to be the best Kefka was capable of. His strong emotions were reserved for hate and loathing.
To Leo, it was enough. Kefka didn’t seem able to give him any more than he already did, so Leo didn’t expect anything more. Besides, Leo got to touch him, and to hold him, while he’d badly hurt anyone else who tried touching him. He got to kiss him, and did so now, as always taking a moment to marvel over how Kefka’s lips felt feverishly hot against his, even warmer than his skin. Almost too hot, in the current heat, but then, Leo would never let something like that keep him from enjoying the rare moments of peace he got with Kefka.
Kefka made a soft, pleased sound into the kiss, one hand creeping into Leo’s hair to let him pull the taller man closer and deepen the kiss.
Leo gave a slight, choked moan and tried touching some of what little skin Kefka’s outfit revealed. He had to make do with his hand, stroking the skin there softly with his thumb.
“Too hot for anything but kissing,” Leo said.
Kefka closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Leo’s neck. He didn’t seem particularly bothered about Leo’s statement, but then, Kefka seemed to enjoy curling up to Leo without any real reason, and took every chance to do so.
They sat in silence, quietly embracing each other for a while. Too few days where like this. It had been months since they could last just sit there, enjoying themselves without worrying about duties or orders. The emperor was running all of Vector hard lately, working on the Magitek project as hard as they could. Kefka had another project going on, too, though he refused to tell Leo much about it yet. For now, though, they were free to just enjoy each other’s company and embrace.
“Oooh…” Kefka suddenly said, opening his eyes again. They’d taken on the slightly gleaming appearance they got whenever Kefka had an idea he thought was brilliant. “I have just the remedy for the situation.” He got to his feet and ran into his rooms, pausing only to motion for Leo to stay put.
When he came back out, a few moments later, he was carrying two glasses of lemonade, which he had put wooden barbeque spits into. He put the two glasses on the ground in front of Leo and dropped himself down to sit behind them.
Holding the spits upright, he grinned at Leo. “Take over here for me?” He tilted his head to the side.
Leo did as he was instructed, though he wondered what his lover was up to this time.
Kefka grinned again and put his hands around the two glasses, on hand on each glass. As he did, his eyes seemed to go even paler for a brief moment, taking on the white with blue shadows hue of a glacier, though it passed quickly. He moved his hands away again, and tugged at one of the spits. It loosened, as did the lemonade, turned into a lemonade icicle by the ice magic Kefka wielded.
”For you!” He said happily, holding out the cone of ice to Leo.
With a small smile, Leo accepted the ice and cautiously put his tongue to its surface. It still tasted lemonade, just blessedly cold. “Thank you,” he told Kefka, putting his arm around his lover’s waist again. Sometimes Kefka was brilliant ideas. Though not usually this harmless.
Kefka giggled slightly, licking his own lemonade ice, obviously pleased with himself. Leo didn’t mind. A happy, smug Kefka was a lot easier to handle than a not so happy Kefka. He pulled his lover closer still and licked at his ice, savoring the combination of his lover’s presence and the cold lemony taste. Perfect. It might not last forever, but for now, it was enough.
Leo couldn’t think of a better way to spend a summer day like this.
Author: Shaded Mazoku.
Email: herukatto@hotmail.com.
Part: ¼.
Disclaimer: FFVI and the characters therein belong to Square Enix and the people there. I just play with them for much fun and no profit.
Warnings: Yaoi, insanity, lemon, Kefka.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Killing time during a heat wave in Vector.
Pairing(s): Leo x Kefka.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI.
The weather was almost unbearably hot. Summer in Vector was usually nothing but pleasantly warm, as the city wasn’t that far south and the ever-present smoke from the factory tended to let little sunlight through. For the last week, though, it had been hotter than anyone could remember Vector ever being, and there was barely any wind, so they were all getting overheated very easily. By now, there was a water shortage as well, so cold baths or showers were not an option until the scientists came up with a way to get more water into the town.
Leo had opted not to wear his armor for now. He wasn’t technically on duty, and though he came from a southern town and was more used to heat than most of the soldiers were, the armor was just too hot in this weather. He wasn’t wearing his shirt, either, just the long vest he wore with his armor usually, and a pair of loose pants. Most people had chosen to wear similar things, barely covering enough to pass for decent.
There were only two exceptions to the rule. The emperor wore his usual robes, formality forcing him to wear the dark garments even in this heat. As a result, the scientists had put up large mechanical fans all over both the throne hall and the emperor’s quarters. Thanks to that, the emperor managed not to overheat, but he barely had the energy to move anywhere as long as the sun was up.
The other exception was Kefka, who did usually pride himself on being an exception to any rule, though this time, it was not on purpose. Kefka was wearing his usually multi-layered mismatched outfits, complete with cloak, and didn’t seem to notice the heat at all.
“I don’t know how you manage,” Leo told him, lying on his back in a shadowed area of Kefka’s balcony, watching Kefka, who was sitting on the rail, in the sun, dangling his legs over the edge.
Kefka tilted his head and looked at him, his crimson lips twisted into an amused smile as usual. “Manage what, Leo?” He said, absentmindedly tucking a loose strand of his hair behind his ear.
Leo sighed and sat up. “You’re wearing half your wardrobe,” he pointed out with a small smile. Kefka really did look as though he’d randomly put on half of what he had in is closet. He always did. “I’d die from the heat. I can barely stand wearing this much.”
“I’m not wearing half my wardrobe,” Kefka protested, disentangling one of his strange dangly earrings from his hair. “I’m barely wearing anything of the purple or yellow, and only some green and blue.”
Rolling his eyes, Leo ran a hand through his own hair, very glad he kept it so short. Even with it in a high ponytail like Kefka wore it, his hair seemed so hot in this heat. “That wasn’t what I meant, Kefka, and you know it.” At least Leo thought Kefka did. The other man didn’t really work the way most people did.
Kefka just grinned, showing off a pair of slightly elongated and pointed canines, just enough to look creepy and make people wonder whether or not he actually had fangs or not. “Not that hot,” he said, going back to staring into the distance, his eyes reflecting the color of the sky and seeming darker than they really were.
“Not that hot?” Leo shook his head. “Kefka, it was measured 43 °C at the warmest yesterday. People were frying eggs on the metal plates around in town.”
“Really?” Kefka didn’t sound all that interested. “No wonder my candles melted.”
Leo chuckled. Kefka had candles all over his room, and usually had all of them lit at night. He liked the flames, and the scent of the imported beeswax candles. Some of them had added scents as well. Occasionally enough different scents to make Leo, or any other normal person, somewhat dizzy.
“You really can’t tell how hot it is?” Leo asked, watching Kefka closely. The blond should theoretically be badly sunburned. He’d been sitting in the sun for hours, and he had such pale skin, almost white. He didn’t burn, though. Didn’t even tan.
Kefka shook his head, his ponytail swaying. “I can tell that it’s warmer than it is in winter,” he said, getting up, balancing on the rail. “But I don’t think it’s hot at all. Quite the opposite.” He walked over to where Leo was sitting, without getting off the rail.
“You’ll fall,” Leo said, though he made no move to get Kefka down. Kefka had excellent balance and Leo knew it.
Giggling, sounding more than half deranged, Kefka jumped off the rail and sat down next to Leo, putting one arm around Leo’s, and taking his hand with the other. “You’re warm.”
Leo looked down at their entwined fingers and the hand on his arm. Against Kefka’s pale cream colored skin, his own skin, dark even without the last week’s tan, seemed even darker. In contrast, the skin under his nails was lighter, where Kefka’s nails were long, wicked, crimson claws.
“Are you still cold?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. Ever since the magic infusion, Kefka had been complaining about the cold, even though his skin was always warmer, feeling feverish. It was more than a little unsettling, as everything about the infusion was.
Kefka pressed closer to Leo, almost nuzzling against his chest. “Mmhmm,” he murmured, affirming that yes, he was. “Feels better now, though.”
Leo reached up and pulled the hair tie and feathers out of Kefka’s hair, making it fall loose so he could run his fingers through it. Kefka made a very disheartened protesting sound, more as a habit than because he minded.
Chuckling, Leo gently massaged Kefka’s scalp, which resulted in Kefka pressing closer, much like a feline being petted. Leo smiled. Kefka often wore his hair so long in tightly gathered ponytails that his scalp hurt. Over the years, he’d learned how to soothe the ache as best he could.
If any of the others had seen them now, they’d no doubt gape like fish out of water. Kefka was as infamous for his vicious, cruel nature as for his whimsical, insane behavior. He was known to gleefully torture prisoners, or to use them for target practice for no real reason. Once, he’d pushed a soldier who had annoyed him by being in the wrong place to the wrong time down the long flight of stairs outside the palace, laughing as the soldier tumbled to his death. Nobody would suspect that Kefka could be sweet for any reason.
He could, though, and frequently was as sweet as his somewhat odd reality view would let him when he was with Leo. He’d curl against him, leaning against his chest, and twine their fingers together. Kefka was small and slender, not built at all for life in a military empire, standing 5’5” tall without shoes. He fit perfectly into Leo’s arms, and was happy to stay there, closing his eyes and listening to the taller man’s heartbeats.
It was enough to seriously make Leo wonder if his admittedly rather crazy lover had a bad case of split personalities. Because he acted so differently when he was alone with Leo than when he was with other people. At the same time, there were a lot of similarities. He had a sarcasm that even Leo got to notice, and the viciousness was still there, just channeled into different activities. Not all of Leo’s scars were battle scars. He had several on his back that he’d received during sex with Kefka, the smaller man forgetting, or maybe not even caring, that his nails were sharp as claws and easily dug into flesh.
For now, though, he was at ease, and so was Leo, just enjoying an all too rare instance of peaceful closeness with his lover. These moments were becoming rarer and rarer, because as much as Leo would like to deny it, Kefka was obviously getting worse. More and more the deranged court jester and less and less the highly intelligent but socially inept young man Leo had once fallen in love with. Leo shivered despite the incredible heat and pulled Kefka closer.
Kefka didn’t seem to mind. He moved his arms, placing them around Leo’s waist, and snuggled closer, closing his eyes.
Leo smiled. “Don’t get face-paint on my vest, Kefka,” he said softly, his own eyes closing. “It’s so hard to get off.”
Giggling slightly, Kefka looked up at him. The face paint didn’t seem to be smudged at all. “No worse than blood, Leo,” he said, his voice taking on a lilting sing-song tone. He giggled again and sat up a little, pressing his lips carefully against Leo’s neck, leaving crimson marks that looked like smudged blood.
Chuckling, Leo shifted his arm so he could embrace Kefka properly. He half pulled him into his lap and put his arms around his waist. Kefka felt nice in his arms. Warm and soft, and he smelled like spice and beeswax, and like magic, a smell that tingled in the nostrils.
“Silly creature,” Leo murmured affectionately, burying his face in Kefka’s hair. “Love you.”
Kefka shifted, crawling all the way into his lap, and returned the embrace, though his arms were around Leo’s neck, not waist. He made a sound that sounded almost like a purr.
The small blond never returned Leo’s statement of love. Leo occasionally wondered if Kefka was even capable of such emotions at all. Kefka admitted to attraction and desire, and even to being attached to Leo, but he had never claimed to return his love. It hurt Leo a good deal, but he’d long ago learned that with Kefka, one had to make do with what one was given. And even tolerance from the strange man was a rarity. Actual affection was unheard of towards anyone but Leo. It seemed to be the best Kefka was capable of. His strong emotions were reserved for hate and loathing.
To Leo, it was enough. Kefka didn’t seem able to give him any more than he already did, so Leo didn’t expect anything more. Besides, Leo got to touch him, and to hold him, while he’d badly hurt anyone else who tried touching him. He got to kiss him, and did so now, as always taking a moment to marvel over how Kefka’s lips felt feverishly hot against his, even warmer than his skin. Almost too hot, in the current heat, but then, Leo would never let something like that keep him from enjoying the rare moments of peace he got with Kefka.
Kefka made a soft, pleased sound into the kiss, one hand creeping into Leo’s hair to let him pull the taller man closer and deepen the kiss.
Leo gave a slight, choked moan and tried touching some of what little skin Kefka’s outfit revealed. He had to make do with his hand, stroking the skin there softly with his thumb.
“Too hot for anything but kissing,” Leo said.
Kefka closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Leo’s neck. He didn’t seem particularly bothered about Leo’s statement, but then, Kefka seemed to enjoy curling up to Leo without any real reason, and took every chance to do so.
They sat in silence, quietly embracing each other for a while. Too few days where like this. It had been months since they could last just sit there, enjoying themselves without worrying about duties or orders. The emperor was running all of Vector hard lately, working on the Magitek project as hard as they could. Kefka had another project going on, too, though he refused to tell Leo much about it yet. For now, though, they were free to just enjoy each other’s company and embrace.
“Oooh…” Kefka suddenly said, opening his eyes again. They’d taken on the slightly gleaming appearance they got whenever Kefka had an idea he thought was brilliant. “I have just the remedy for the situation.” He got to his feet and ran into his rooms, pausing only to motion for Leo to stay put.
When he came back out, a few moments later, he was carrying two glasses of lemonade, which he had put wooden barbeque spits into. He put the two glasses on the ground in front of Leo and dropped himself down to sit behind them.
Holding the spits upright, he grinned at Leo. “Take over here for me?” He tilted his head to the side.
Leo did as he was instructed, though he wondered what his lover was up to this time.
Kefka grinned again and put his hands around the two glasses, on hand on each glass. As he did, his eyes seemed to go even paler for a brief moment, taking on the white with blue shadows hue of a glacier, though it passed quickly. He moved his hands away again, and tugged at one of the spits. It loosened, as did the lemonade, turned into a lemonade icicle by the ice magic Kefka wielded.
”For you!” He said happily, holding out the cone of ice to Leo.
With a small smile, Leo accepted the ice and cautiously put his tongue to its surface. It still tasted lemonade, just blessedly cold. “Thank you,” he told Kefka, putting his arm around his lover’s waist again. Sometimes Kefka was brilliant ideas. Though not usually this harmless.
Kefka giggled slightly, licking his own lemonade ice, obviously pleased with himself. Leo didn’t mind. A happy, smug Kefka was a lot easier to handle than a not so happy Kefka. He pulled his lover closer still and licked at his ice, savoring the combination of his lover’s presence and the cold lemony taste. Perfect. It might not last forever, but for now, it was enough.
Leo couldn’t think of a better way to spend a summer day like this.