OOC: RP Log Cloud and Leon
Who: Cloud and Leon
What: The dropping of the U from UST
When: Tuesday Jan 15th, 2008
Where: Leon's House
Why: Cause we can.
Also: Rated M for Mature. No witnesses. :| Part 1 of 2. [2 of 2 is here]
The light streaming through Leon's window woke him up the next morning, and the birds prevented him from going back to sleep. He rolled over and let himself wake up a little more before actually moving, only then noticing that he'd never really gotten under the covers, and that the blanket over him belonged on the fold-out sofa. Well, whatever. He shrugged and went to take a shower.
That woke him up the rest of the way, and he headed for the kitchen to make some coffee. On the way he glanced at the yellow fluff thing on the sofa and double-taked in confusion before he realized it was a sleeping Cloud. He slowed his steps and was careful to be quiet as he rummaged about in the kitchen for some food.
As quiet as Leon was being, Cloud woke up to the sound of retreating footsteps. He hadn't been very soundly asleep, having only just managed to fall back to sleep after his late-night conversation with Matt. It was too early to be waking up again and with a groan he buried his head under both the pillow and blanket, trying to force himself back to sleep.
Leon made himself coffee and toast quietly, and settled at the kitchen table to read a little more from his book while he ate. He didn't particularly mind Cloud sleeping in the next room, and he would be careful not to wake him, but he wasn't about to starve himself.
The turning of pages seemed about a thousand times louder than it should and Cloud groaned again. This was really not fair. He laid there for another twenty minutes, trying to block out the sounds and fall back to sleep.
Leon got up to put his dishes away once he reached the end of his chapter, and briefly contemplated going in to work. But he didn't know when Cloud would wake up and he'd learned enough manners to know that guests should never wake up to an empty house, so when he was finished he sighed and returned to the table again to read. He could always go in later, once Cloud left, or tomorrow if he stayed late again. It wasn't like he had some set schedule.
Eventually Cloud gave up on getting any more sleep and sat up on the bed. He could tell without even looking that his hair was an unorganized mess and that there were probably horribly puffy bags under his eyes from not sleeping enough. He shoved the blankets off of himself in hopes that the room temperature would be cool enough to make him feel more alert. He rubbed at one of his eyes as he yawned. After a couple of minutes he got up and headed into the kitchen where he sat down in the chair across from Leon, yawning again and resisting the urge to press his face to the cool surface of the table.
Leon stared from the moment Cloud shuffled into the room. "Did something happen to you?"
Cloud looked over at Leon and fought back another yawn. "No, why?"
"You look like you fell off a chocobo. And were then trampled." Leon went back to his book.
"You certainly know how to make me feel good about myself. First you call me fat. Now this. What next?" Cloud said, stretching in his seat.
"Come off it, Strife, someone who looks like you doesn't need constant reassurance that you're attractive," Leon replied evenly, his eyes never leaving his book. "You should take a shower, you'll feel better."
Cloud stared blankly at Leon for a moment before silently excusing himself to the bathroom. He was pretty sure he couldn't get there fast enough. As he shut the door behind him he leaned back against it and groaned. He could feel the blush that had started to color his cheeks before his hasty retreat from the table and mentally cursed Matt for saying any of what he said last night.
Leon glanced up when he noticed Cloud leaving, then shook his head and returned to his book. The man was acting weird.
Turning on the faucet, Cloud waited for the water to heat up. Once the shower was running nice and hot he stripped down and stepped under the spray. He moaned quietly as the heat began to melt away all the tension in his body.
Leon remained at the table. Sipping his coffee and reading.
Cloud hoped that Leon hadn't noticed that he'd been blushing when he'd left the table, wondering how he was going to explain it if he had noticed. This of course sent Cloud's mind onto another train of thought and he quickly turned the water to cold.
Leon thought Cloud was taking an awful long time, but then again, he had looked awfully tired. So he continued reading. If he didn't hear the water shut off in the next ten minutes he'd go to make sure the blond hadn't fallen asleep or something.
The cold water was doing nothing to calm his thoughts, or his body, in fact it seemed to only be making things worse. He let out a frustrated growl and turned the water colder and stayed under the spray until his teeth were chattering so loudly he could no longer hear himself think.
Leon finished another chapter and looked up in the direction of the shower with a frown. Cloud still wasn't done. With a sigh, he set his book down and pushed himself to his feet, then knocked the door with the back of his knuckle. "Strife? Are you still alive?"
Cloud turned off the water when he heard Leon say something, though he wasn't sure what it was. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a couple of towels, trying to warm himself up. If he had heard what Leon said he would have replied, but he'd assumed it was just a simple request to hurry up.
Leon frowned again. The water was off, but Cloud still hadn't said anything. "Strife?"
"Yes?" Cloud replied, shivering and his teeth still chattering. Please don't ask any questions that I won't want to answer, he thought, attempting to rub warmth back into his arms.
His tone sounded odd. Leon frowned and pressed his ear lightly to the door. "What are you doing?"
"Drying off," Cloud replied, his teeth still chattering. If they didn't stop soon Leon was definitely going to come and check on him and that would fall into the categories of not good and embarrassing.
Leon pressed his whole ear against then door. "Why do you sound so funny?"
"I don't," Cloud replied. He knew he sounded funny, but maybe he could convince Leon otherwise. He turned to face the mirror, noticing a slight bluish tinge to his lips.
"Yes you do." Leon tried the knob and found it unlocked, but didn't actually open it. "What did you do?"
Eyes going wide, Cloud stared at the reflection of the doorknob turning. Please don't open it, please don't open it. "I took a shower. That's all."
Leon cracked the door open and peeked his head inside. "For half an hour?"
Cloud's head whipped around to look at Leon, everything about him screaming 'ice cold shower'. "Yes."
Leon only glanced at him at first, but did a double-take when he saw how blue his skin was. He pushed the door open further with a concerned frown. "Hyne, Strife, what were you doing? Is the water heater broken?" It'd worked fine for him.
"It works fine. The hot water was putting me to sleep, so I decided to try for a cold shower," Cloud replied. It was a lie, but hopefully Leon wouldn't look to far into it.
"To the point where you're blue?" Leon asked in disgust. He grabbed Cloud by the shoulder and marched him from the bathroom. "Idiot. You need to dry off and put some warm clothes on before you catch hypothermia."
"I. Er..." Cloud couldn't come up with a logical response as Leon more or less manhandled him out of the bathroom.
"Sometimes, Strife, your stupidity surprises me," Leon muttered. He marched Cloud into his room, grabbed the foreign blanket off his bed, and threw it over Cloud's head. "Dry off and warm up."
Cloud would have taken offense to it, but he knew the cold shower was a poor decision and he wasn't going to argue with Leon over it. Peeking out from under the blanket, Cloud looked at Leon and asked, "I need clothes. My travel bag is in the living room." He was still shivering, but with the added warmth of the blanket it had lessened slightly.
Leon left briefly to grab it. He tossed it down on the bed and came over to grab a corner of the blanket so he could toss it over Cloud's hair again and scrub. "You'll never get dry if your hair's still wet. Why did you take a shower that cold for that long anyway? Were you trying to kill yourself in there?"
Cloud bristled and tried to pull away from Leon when he spoke. "I'm not suicidal, Leon. And I can dry myself off just fine." There was no way he could admit his reason for the cold shower.
"Well I don't see you doing it," Leon retorted, but he stepped back to give the man room. "You make absolutely no sense sometimes, Strife."
"Whatever. Are you going to stand there and watch, or do you trust me enough to get dried and dressed on my own?" Stupid Matt and his stupid shipping preferences. That's all it was really about. It couldn't really be sexual tension, could it? Cloud turned to glance back at Leon, waiting for an answer.
"Do you promise not to pass out on the floor before I come back?" Leon asked sarcastically. "Do you drink coffee?"
"Yes and yes," Cloud replied. He turned away from Leon again and took a step closer to the bed to lay out his clothes, the blanket catching under his foot and sliding off of him, taking one of the two towels with it, leaving him with just the one wrapped around his waist.
Leon blinked. And forced himself to turn away. He had no idea where Cloud had gotten the ridiculous idea that he was fat, because Leon thought he looked pretty toned indeed. "Coffee," he muttered, and strode from the room.
Cloud glanced over his shoulder when he heard Leon mutter. Something about the tone was off, but he shrugged and busied himself with drying off and getting dressed, glad he'd brought a sweater with him. Once he was dried and dressed, he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around himself before heading out to the kitchen.
Leon was ready with a steaming mug of coffee. "Sit," he instructed, setting the cup down in front of the empty seat before moving around to take his own. "Are you warm yet?"
"Warmer than I was," Cloud replied as he sat down. He reached for the mug of coffee and held it in his hands for a moment, absorbing the heat before picking it up and taking several long sips from it.
Leon watched him intently through narrowed eyes. He looked better. His lips weren't blueish anymore, anyway. Sighing, he draped his arms over the table and looked away. "Did you fall asleep?"
"I don't know, I might have," Cloud said. "I don't remember falling asleep, but I don't know where all that time went either." It was stretching the truth a lot, but again, if Leon didn't push it too much, he wouldn't know that it wasn't the truth.
Leon looked at him again, frowning. "You lost track of time?" he clarified. "Or you can't remember what happened to the time?"
"It didn't feel like I was in there all that long."
Leon didn't look away. "Even though there was no heat in the water?"
"Yeah..." Cloud trailed off, hiding behind the coffee mug as he took another drink.
Leon leaned his chin in his palm thoughtfully. "...Are you sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine." Cloud couldn't look at Leon when he was looking at him so intently.
Leon frowned. "You're acting a little strange."
"I should probably get going as soon as I finish warming up. I've got a long drive ahead of me." Cloud tried to change the subject. He was about to add that Tifa probably had several deliveries for him when he yawned again.
"I don't think you should be driving like you are," Leon told him, shaking his head a little. He shook some hair out of his eyes and continued to watch the blond. "Did you sleep at all last night? You have dark circles under your eyes."
"Maybe an hour or two." Cloud didn't care if it wasn't the safest idea for him to be driving like this, with as tired and jumpy as he was, he couldn't risk staying around Leon for too much longer. He was bound to slip up and say something stupid and then things would be awkward.
"What kept you up?"
"Er... um..." Cloud searched for a reply, anything that wasn't the whole truth. "Just a lot of thoughts running through my head."
Leon continued to watch him. He really was acting strangely. "Like what?"
"Just stuff." Cloud shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"What stuff, Strife."
"Stuff that I needed to talk to Matt about."
That made Leon frown. "Did you two do something again?"
"What? No. We just talked."
"About what?"
"He knows a lot about our video game series and we were talking about stuff that had to do with that." Not a complete lie and maybe, if Cloud were lucky, Leon would drop it at that.
"All night?" Leon asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Cloud glanced down at his coffee.
Leon sighed. "I'm not stupid, Strife. But if you want to keep your secrets, fine." He reached for his book again.
Cloud couldn't hold back the sigh of relief as Leon gave up pushing. Before he had the chance to blush he got up and headed back into the living room and laid down on the couch bed, burying his face in the pillow and draping the extra blanket over himself. Maybe he could just hide under these for the rest of the day.
Which more or less cemented the fact that Cloud was indeed hiding something, at least in Leon's mind. He frowned and tried to force his concentration back to his book, but he was finding it difficult. Cloud had been fine yesterday and now he wasn't. He wanted to know what had happened last night.
"If you're trying to take a nap," he called out, eyes on the page, "you shouldn't have drunk that coffee first."
"I'm not napping," Cloud said, his voice muffled by the pillow and blankets.
Leon lowered his book again. "Are you sick?"
"No."
"Hurt?"
"No."
"In some kind of trouble?"
"No."
Sighing, Leon laid his book face-down on the table. "Then what are you doing?"
"Keeping warm."
Concerned, Leon stood and crossed into the living room to peer at Cloud from over the back of the couch. "Are you still cold?"
Cloud groaned as he heard the approaching footsteps. "I'll be fine soon. Don't worry about it."
"You don't look fine," Leon told him bluntly.
"That's where the soon comes in, Leon."
Leon sighed. Without asking for Cloud's permission, he braced a hand against the back of the couch and leaned over set his palm against Cloud's forehead. After a moment he flipped it over to feel with the back. He frowned. "Well you don't have a fever."
Even with the touch being as innocent as it was, it wasn't helping things at all. "I told you I'm not sick. You don't have to do that."
Leon pulled his hand away to brace against the couch as well, though he didn't pull back. Instead he peered down at Cloud with a frown. "Then I don't know what's wrong with you."
"Go back to reading your book, I'll be fine." He still hadn't bothered to look up at Leon, and was pretty sure doing so wouldn't be a good idea right now.
"I don't know," Leon told him slowly, narrowing his eyes as he thought about his options. He remembered Cloud's all-too-recent shower stunt and shook his head. "I don't think I should leave you alone."
"I really think leaving me alone is the best thing you can do right now," Cloud said with a shaky breath.
"Why, are you going to throw up?" Leon mentally calculated the distance to the nearest trash can, and how quickly he could fetch it.
"No," Cloud replied, his exasperation at the situation evident in his voice now.
"Then what?" Leon demanded, growing exasperated himself. "You're acting sick but you're not showing any signs of it. What did you do last night that did this to you?"
Nothing that requires changing the sheets, he thought. Only, Cloud hadn't just thought it, he'd said it out loud without realizing.
Leon blinked. Then he frowned, because Cloud couldn't be referring to what he thought he was, and even if he was, it made no sense as to why he was feeling off now. "What?"
"What?" Cloud said, still oblivious to his own slip of the tongue.
Leon curled his fingers against the couch and frowned in an attempt to stave off the light blush he could feel heating his cheeks. He didn't normally talk about this kind of thing. "What did you mean about the sheets."
Cloud looked up at Leon wide eyed, "I said that out loud?"
Leon's eyes widened just a little as well. "You didn't mean to?"
Cloud's face went about as red as it could go. "No."
Leon quickly stood straight again and drummed his fingers against the couch as he rethought what the hell they were actually talking about. Then he blushed too. "Did you--?" he asked before he could stop himself.
"Did I what?" Cloud asked, wanting nothing more than to hide under his blankets again.
"Nothing," Leon said dismissively, turning away, but he quickly found himself whipping around again. "No. Did you really--" He stopped again. His stupid brain that he could never shut off was now trying delightfully painting a picture for him, and he wasn't nearly as disgusted as he knew he should have been, the knowledge of which was making his own stomach flip in a way it hadn't done in years. He turned away again. "Never mind. I don't want to know." Only he did. Which was exactly why he really shouldn't let himself.
Whatever it was that Leon was trying to say, wasn't coming out and it left Cloud on edge. "Just say it already! What is it you think I did?"
"Nothing." Leon waved him off and forced his legs to carry him back to the kitchen, where he could be alone a minute so he could think and try to figure out exactly why his idiotic body was trying to respond to the mental image of a man he hardly knew going at it on his new couch. It was deprived, he decided a moment later. That's all. It had just been a while, and he hadn't thought about that stuff, so the subject didn't matter when he finally did.
Cloud stared blankly after Leon's retreating form, his bewilderment quickly turning to anger. He quickly got up and headed into the kitchen where he slapped his hands down on the table and leaned across his face less than a foot away from Leon's. "Don't nothing me. That's all you ever say when I ask you anything. I answer your questions even when I don't want to. Why the hell can't you do the same for me? Dammit, Leon." He practically growled he was so irritated.
Leon blinked in mild surprise at the blond's outburst, then felt his face heat at Cloud's unexpected closeness immediately after--well. He pulled away. "Ask me a different question then, I don't like that one."
Cloud leaned in closer. "No, I want the answer to that one. You wouldn't let me opt out of answering your questions about Kadaj. Why should I let you get away with not answering this?"
Leon glared, now thoroughly embarrassed. "That was different," he argued. "That was something that meant something. This is stupid. I thought you were sick."
"Whatever." Cloud abruptly turned and headed back into the living room. "Fucking Matt. I knew it would make things awkward," he said muttering under his breath as he cleared off the pillow and blankets from the couch bed before putting it away and setting the cushions back in place.
"Make what awkward," Leon asked from the doorway, crossing his arms as he watched. "...What exactly did the two of you do last night?"
Cloud looked over at Leon. "When did you... never mind." He let out a sigh, "We talked. That's it. Nothing more."
"Then what was the comment about the sheets," Leon asked, trying to drag the truth out of the man so he wouldn't be forced to admit to the trail of his own thoughts.
"I'll tell you if you tell me what it is you think I did."
Leon shifted uncomfortably, and for a moment considered doing away with the entire situation altogether, but in the end his curiosity won out over his embarrassment. "Fine."
Cloud looked at him expectantly, only just now noticing how uncomfortable the other man was. "Well?"
Leon shot him a glare. "You first."
"No, I'm not answering until I know what the hell it is you think I did last night."
"Well you made the comment about the sheets," Leon said testily, flinging a careless arm at them. "And you already told me you two had fooled around before. What did you expect me to think?"
Cloud fell back onto the couch with a low groan. After a moment he started laughing, albeit almost hysterically sounding. "Do you really think that little of me? Do you think I'd do something like that when I'm a guest in someone else's home?"
Leon stared in a mix of confusion and shock, recognizing that Cloud was somehow managing to simultaneously make fun of both of them. Then his feet were carrying him in front of Cloud so that he could clench his fists and glare down at the man for also managing, somehow, to simultaneously piss off, embarrass, and arouse him. "My brain wasn't letting me do much thinking at all! Hyne, what else would keep you up so late you nearly killed yourself in the morning?"
Cloud couldn't breathe as Leon leaned in like that. Everything about him was sending signals to his brain that weren't entirely unwelcome thanks to the conversation with Matt. The tone of his voice, the body language, the glint in his eyes, the color that was faintly visible in his cheeks. Cloud whimpered and sank back further into the couch, trying to keep his body from reacting the way it suddenly wanted to.
Licking his lips, Cloud exhaled and tried his best to answer Leon's question. "I told Matt good night an hour before I actually went to sleep. We were talking about y-" he couldn't finish his sentence.
"Me--" Leon began to repeat in confusion, then stopped, eyes widening as he recalled what Cloud had said about this Matt; he was familiar with their games. A million different possibilities ran through his head and his eyes instantly narrowed again as he leaned forward to hiss, "What exactly did he say about me?"
"You..." Cloud repeated, biting down on his lip as Leon leaned in closer. He was so close, too close, not close enough - Cloud wasn't sure anymore.
Leon didn't back away, his eyes never leaving Cloud's. "I what, Strife."
Cloud swallowed and licked his lips again. "You... I... We... Uh..." Words were completely failing him.
Some of the tension left Leon's face at that. Cloud hadn't been on his original world; whatever Matt had told the man, it wasn't about his time there. His traitorous eyes tried wandering to the sheen Cloud's tongue had left on his lips, but he quickly forced them back up again, now frowning in genuine confusion and curiosity. "We what?"
Relief flooded through his body as Leon no longer looked like he wanted to strangle him, though when he tried speaking all that came out was gibberish. His face was as red as the couch was blue.
Leon felt his cheeks heat just a little too, after finding himself so close to the man he'd been picturing in a bit of a compromising position just a few minutes before. But he refused to back down until Cloud had given him an answer, though the blond's embarrassment confused him. "...What?" he asked more gently, his previous anger quickly dissipating. "What did he say about us?"
Leon's voice was going straight through him and Cloud let out a quiet moan. He closed what little space was left between them and brushed his lips across Leon's, hardly enough to be considered a kiss. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, but didn't pull away.
Leon froze, a jolt going through him at the unexpectedness of Cloud's actions and of how good they actually felt and of the knowledge that while he was well aware that he probably should pull away, he couldn't quite get himself to. His breathing was suddenly uneven and his heart had quickened and his indecision over whether or not his reactions were due to anger or arousal left him confused as to whether he should lean forward a little more or draw back far enough to punch him. So he hesitated.
They were both hesitating. Neither making that last move, but also neither pulled away. Sucking in a breath, Cloud reached up and grabbed Leon by the shirt, the fabric scrunching in his hand. Tugging, he pulled Leon into his lap, their lips smashing together with the momentum, eliciting a moan form Cloud's mouth.
Leon choked on the sound that tried slipping from his throat, it was a mixture of so many different things, but then he landed in Cloud's lap, one hand on his thigh, and his eyes slipped closed as his brain shut down and let his body take over for a change. Before he'd even fallen all the way he was bracing himself against Cloud and the cushion beside him in order to press the blond backwards against the couch and kiss him harder, the fire churning in his gut making it nearly impossible for him to swallow his next moan.
Matt had been right. The words echoed over and over in his head until thoughts of What now began to replace it. He parted his lips, sliding his tongue out to press at Leon's mouth, urging him to do the same. He wondered just how long he'd been waiting for this, just how long all of this had been building up. It was a train of thought he'd have to focus on later, when he didn't have a lap full of Leon and god was this great. He dropped his hand from Leon's shirt, moving one up to his hair, threading his fingers through it, the other dropping down to his side, sliding around his back and just under the hem of his shirt.
Leon was trembling in the wake of Cloud's touch; he'd always been incredibly sensitive to that kind of thing, and having abstained from it for the last few years had only re-heightened whatever edge Rinoa had taken off previously. His mouth opened on its own as instinct took over and he thrust his tongue against Cloud's, kissing him needily as the hand on the couch came up and tangled in the blond strands on the side of his neck. It was uncomfortable bending over like this, though, and he tried urging the man sideways so that he could kneel on the couch as well.
At first Cloud had thought Leon was trying to push him away, however, his tongue was saying something completely different and the real message permeated his lust hazed brain. Pulling Leon with him, Cloud laid down on the couch, his teeth lightly grazing Leon's tongue as they moved, the space between them closing even more.
Leon made a strangled sound as his kiss went from needy to hungry, his tongue delving into Cloud's mouth possessively as the hand in his hair tangled and tilted the blond's head back a bit to give himself better access. He supported himself on one hand, clutching tightly at the cushion next to Cloud, and his knee, pressed flush against the corner where the couch's back met the cushion, as he dazedly hitched his other knee up too, trapping Cloud's legs between his own. He had no idea where all that pent-up lust had come from or why Cloud was the one unleashing it, but at the moment he didn't particularly care.
His heart racing and his breathing uneven, Cloud focused what he could into the kiss with Leon. It reminded him vaguely of that first make-out session he'd had with Kadaj over two months ago, except this time he wasn't wondering about what kind of game was being played or if he was going to be left alone on a cold floor when they were done. There was no quasi-incest or talks of changing loyalties, no mind games that would leave him as a toy to be played with. Everything that had been wrong with that relationship very clear. Was this what Leon had meant about it needing to be more than just feeling good?
The sound of Cloud's raspy breathing only intensified Leon's own, but a kiss wasn't nearly enough. Leon wanted to feel the other man squirming beneath him, so without a second thought he rearranged his knees so that he scooted down on the couch and could slowly lower his body atop Cloud's, pausing their kiss briefly in order to groan at the warm contact.
Cloud whimpered when Leon paused the kiss, a combined reaction between the lack of tongue sliding against his own and the warm body pressing against his own. "Does the cold shower make sense now?" he mumbled against his lips, arms wrapping around Leon's body to hold him closer.
Leon shivered, shifting to fit himself more comfortably against Cloud and opening his eyes just enough to peer at him through the lust. He tried to speak and made an odd sound before closing his mouth briefly and trying again. "Even then...?"
Cloud shifted underneath Leon, almost cursing the fact that he'd bothered to put the pull out bed away. He nodded and reached one hand up to tangle in Leon's hair, cutting off the conversation with another kiss.
Leon moaned softly and quickly lost track of whatever they'd just been talking about as he kissed Cloud back, his newly freed hand drifting down the blond's side before catching at the waistband of his pants, callused fingers working their way beneath the shirt there so he could touch actual skin.
Cloud arched under Leon's touch, surprised at how much Leon wanted this. He always seemed so cold to Cloud, so distant and unreachable, mysterious and unresponsive. And yet there were all their fights interspersed with moments of companionship, little touches and gestures that didn't seem to mean anything. Cloud moaned, thinking about the motorcycle ride, how close he'd got while trying to look at the GPS, giving directions in his ear. How was it that it took Matt to point this out to them? Matt who didn't even know about half of these things. How was it he knew and they didn't?
Taking that as a very good sign, Leon let himself slip his hand all the way up Cloud's back, feeling out the muscles on his way before gripping the back of the man's shoulder. His hips thrust suddenly on their own and he groaned, shivering, forced to break the kiss again when his focus was shifted elsewhere.
"Leon..." Cloud gasped as he thrust against him, all remaining thought escaping him as his brain focused on feeling. He was far more aroused than he'd been last night when he'd hastily said good night to Matt, far more than he'd been when he'd taken the frigid shower - the same shower that had it not happened would have left this tension lingering between them for who knows how much longer.
Leon moaned and quickly re-initiated the kiss again, his hips thrusting again, then again before settling into a shaky rhythm interrupted frequently by pauses to simply roll his hips hard against Cloud's.
Cloud couldn't do anything but react. Each thrust of Leon's was met with one of his own, each roll of the hips echoed, each flick and stroke of tongue encouraged. Everything was moving so fast now and there was no time to think, his body going on instinct and want alone.
As much as Leon hated to admit it, he hadn't done this in a while, and his body wasn't going to last much longer. He whimpered into Cloud's mouth when he realized it, fingers tightening in his hair as he shifted his weight so that he was pressed more firmly against Cloud's body.
After having denied himself twice in the last several hours, Cloud wasn't going to last much longer either. He bit down on Leon's lip as the fingers in his hair tugged harder, his own fingers tightening their grip in Leon's hair.
This rough, quick treatment wasn't helping Leon's predicament any. The hand gripping Cloud's skin slid quickly downward to hook halfway around the man's ass, dragging it forcefully against himself as his hips thrust and bucked forward a few times erratically. Then he found himself arching hard against the blond as he came with a slightly delayed cry, his body going rigid as his brain faltered to keep up with it in the wake of his orgasm.
His breath hitching as Leon thrust hard against him, his fingernails digging into whatever surface they could find, Cloud gasped and moaned. His own orgasm followed not far behind Leon's, every nerve in his body alert and tingling as his body went limp beneath Leon's, basking in the afterglow. He released his hand from his hair and let his fingers slide across Leon's cheek, pulling him in for another kiss, this one soft and unhurried.
Leon returned it in much the same way, breathless as his body lost any of the rigidity it'd previously held and collapsed loosely on top of Cloud's. Even after a full night's sleep, he was having trouble keeping his eyes opened, surrounded in the warmth and scent of another body as he was, the feeling of relief still coursing through his system.
Reluctantly, Cloud broke the kiss, his eyes flickering open to look up at Leon. He didn't know what to say or do now, but sleepiness was setting in and bed was sounding like a very good idea.
Leon sighed and his shoulders relaxed as well, until he opened his eyes and saw bright blue instead of brown. Frowning, he braced his hands against the cushions on either side of Cloud and pushed himself up so he could see more clearly, then froze when he recognized the blond beneath him. His brain didn't, though, and this time it took a moment for his body to catch up. He'd just--with Strife of all people, and he was still mixed up over Kadaj...
He quickly pushed himself up the rest of the way and moved to climb off the couch, the unavoidable brushes against Cloud and the moisture in his pants making the entire experience all the more embarrassing. He needed to go somewhere private to think and recollect himself and wash and reconsider what the hell he was doing.
Cloud propped himself up on an elbow as Leon walked away, his confusion evident in his expression. Why wasn't Leon saying anything? Why had he frowned? Why was he walking away? Realizing that his pants were wet and sticky, it occurred to him that Leon's were too and he was probably just going to go clean up. With a sigh he fell back again, relaxing after the slight bit of worry. He yawned and struggled to stay awake to wait for Leon's return, but after five minutes he was fast asleep.
Leon headed straight for the bathroom, and shoved the door closed behind him before bracing his hands on the sink and staring intently at his reflection in the mirror. His cheeks were still flushed and his lips a little swollen, and he knocked his palm against the image in uneasy irritation, then left it there so he wouldn't have to see it anymore. What in Hyne's name had he been thinking. Not only was Cloud not ready for this thing right now, but he wasn't either, and the disgust coiling in his gut only made his guilt over letting himself take advantage of the younger man all the worst. He was a better man than this. Cloud was attractive, yes, but vulnerable, and he didn't need Leon's building romantic problems added to his own.
Unsure what else to do right now, he decided to take a shower and cool down, and not let the reminder of what'd they'd just done grip his mind again as he peeled off his pants. He would have to talk to Cloud later, he decided as the cold water ran down over his skin. Make sure he knew he'd meant no harm. And somehow keep mental images of the blond's heated face from his mind while he did.
In his sleep, Cloud rolled over and buried his face against the couch cushion. He was sleeping better now than he had since he first went to bed the night before. He was peaceful and relaxed, his cheeks still lightly pink and his lips curved up just the slightest bit into a smile.
After his shower Leon didn't bother drying his hair, instead letting the water running from it help keep his body under control. He balled up his dirty clothes and clutched his towel around himself as he exited toward his room for new clothes. On the way he caught a glimpse of Cloud on the couch and made himself move faster, feeling his cheeks heat again despite the cold water. Dammit, he didn't know what he was getting himself into, and that was usually very, very bad. He didn't want another Rinoa--
The thought made him pause just inside his room, his stomach twisting in that half-familiar way. He'd just told Cloud not to fool around with people just because it felt good, dammit, and here he was doing the same--because Cloud was not that kind of person to him, he hardly knew the guy, and he didn't want anyone becoming that kind of person when memories of the last one were still so fresh.
Cloud remained asleep, shifting a little bit as he entered into a deep sleep, vivid dreams filling his head.
Leon dressed quickly, mind buzzing, before leaving his room again with the intention of waking Cloud up and discussing what had just transpired between them as quickly as possible. One look at how comfortable he looked, though, that little smile on his face, and he hesitated. After a moment or two he realized he was staring and quickly forced himself to look away. Dammit. He was feeling more restless than he had in ages, and he needed to get that energy out of his system without waking Cloud.
Work. Work always exhausted him. But he didn't want Cloud waking up and thinking he'd done something stupid like...well, like running away. Which was not what he was doing. Scribbling down a quick note, he grabbed his jacket, tugged his shoes on, and headed out the door. He'd be back when his mind slowed back down to its normal pace.
What: The dropping of the U from UST
When: Tuesday Jan 15th, 2008
Where: Leon's House
Why: Cause we can.
Also: Rated M for Mature. No witnesses. :| Part 1 of 2. [2 of 2 is here]
The light streaming through Leon's window woke him up the next morning, and the birds prevented him from going back to sleep. He rolled over and let himself wake up a little more before actually moving, only then noticing that he'd never really gotten under the covers, and that the blanket over him belonged on the fold-out sofa. Well, whatever. He shrugged and went to take a shower.
That woke him up the rest of the way, and he headed for the kitchen to make some coffee. On the way he glanced at the yellow fluff thing on the sofa and double-taked in confusion before he realized it was a sleeping Cloud. He slowed his steps and was careful to be quiet as he rummaged about in the kitchen for some food.
As quiet as Leon was being, Cloud woke up to the sound of retreating footsteps. He hadn't been very soundly asleep, having only just managed to fall back to sleep after his late-night conversation with Matt. It was too early to be waking up again and with a groan he buried his head under both the pillow and blanket, trying to force himself back to sleep.
Leon made himself coffee and toast quietly, and settled at the kitchen table to read a little more from his book while he ate. He didn't particularly mind Cloud sleeping in the next room, and he would be careful not to wake him, but he wasn't about to starve himself.
The turning of pages seemed about a thousand times louder than it should and Cloud groaned again. This was really not fair. He laid there for another twenty minutes, trying to block out the sounds and fall back to sleep.
Leon got up to put his dishes away once he reached the end of his chapter, and briefly contemplated going in to work. But he didn't know when Cloud would wake up and he'd learned enough manners to know that guests should never wake up to an empty house, so when he was finished he sighed and returned to the table again to read. He could always go in later, once Cloud left, or tomorrow if he stayed late again. It wasn't like he had some set schedule.
Eventually Cloud gave up on getting any more sleep and sat up on the bed. He could tell without even looking that his hair was an unorganized mess and that there were probably horribly puffy bags under his eyes from not sleeping enough. He shoved the blankets off of himself in hopes that the room temperature would be cool enough to make him feel more alert. He rubbed at one of his eyes as he yawned. After a couple of minutes he got up and headed into the kitchen where he sat down in the chair across from Leon, yawning again and resisting the urge to press his face to the cool surface of the table.
Leon stared from the moment Cloud shuffled into the room. "Did something happen to you?"
Cloud looked over at Leon and fought back another yawn. "No, why?"
"You look like you fell off a chocobo. And were then trampled." Leon went back to his book.
"You certainly know how to make me feel good about myself. First you call me fat. Now this. What next?" Cloud said, stretching in his seat.
"Come off it, Strife, someone who looks like you doesn't need constant reassurance that you're attractive," Leon replied evenly, his eyes never leaving his book. "You should take a shower, you'll feel better."
Cloud stared blankly at Leon for a moment before silently excusing himself to the bathroom. He was pretty sure he couldn't get there fast enough. As he shut the door behind him he leaned back against it and groaned. He could feel the blush that had started to color his cheeks before his hasty retreat from the table and mentally cursed Matt for saying any of what he said last night.
Leon glanced up when he noticed Cloud leaving, then shook his head and returned to his book. The man was acting weird.
Turning on the faucet, Cloud waited for the water to heat up. Once the shower was running nice and hot he stripped down and stepped under the spray. He moaned quietly as the heat began to melt away all the tension in his body.
Leon remained at the table. Sipping his coffee and reading.
Cloud hoped that Leon hadn't noticed that he'd been blushing when he'd left the table, wondering how he was going to explain it if he had noticed. This of course sent Cloud's mind onto another train of thought and he quickly turned the water to cold.
Leon thought Cloud was taking an awful long time, but then again, he had looked awfully tired. So he continued reading. If he didn't hear the water shut off in the next ten minutes he'd go to make sure the blond hadn't fallen asleep or something.
The cold water was doing nothing to calm his thoughts, or his body, in fact it seemed to only be making things worse. He let out a frustrated growl and turned the water colder and stayed under the spray until his teeth were chattering so loudly he could no longer hear himself think.
Leon finished another chapter and looked up in the direction of the shower with a frown. Cloud still wasn't done. With a sigh, he set his book down and pushed himself to his feet, then knocked the door with the back of his knuckle. "Strife? Are you still alive?"
Cloud turned off the water when he heard Leon say something, though he wasn't sure what it was. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a couple of towels, trying to warm himself up. If he had heard what Leon said he would have replied, but he'd assumed it was just a simple request to hurry up.
Leon frowned again. The water was off, but Cloud still hadn't said anything. "Strife?"
"Yes?" Cloud replied, shivering and his teeth still chattering. Please don't ask any questions that I won't want to answer, he thought, attempting to rub warmth back into his arms.
His tone sounded odd. Leon frowned and pressed his ear lightly to the door. "What are you doing?"
"Drying off," Cloud replied, his teeth still chattering. If they didn't stop soon Leon was definitely going to come and check on him and that would fall into the categories of not good and embarrassing.
Leon pressed his whole ear against then door. "Why do you sound so funny?"
"I don't," Cloud replied. He knew he sounded funny, but maybe he could convince Leon otherwise. He turned to face the mirror, noticing a slight bluish tinge to his lips.
"Yes you do." Leon tried the knob and found it unlocked, but didn't actually open it. "What did you do?"
Eyes going wide, Cloud stared at the reflection of the doorknob turning. Please don't open it, please don't open it. "I took a shower. That's all."
Leon cracked the door open and peeked his head inside. "For half an hour?"
Cloud's head whipped around to look at Leon, everything about him screaming 'ice cold shower'. "Yes."
Leon only glanced at him at first, but did a double-take when he saw how blue his skin was. He pushed the door open further with a concerned frown. "Hyne, Strife, what were you doing? Is the water heater broken?" It'd worked fine for him.
"It works fine. The hot water was putting me to sleep, so I decided to try for a cold shower," Cloud replied. It was a lie, but hopefully Leon wouldn't look to far into it.
"To the point where you're blue?" Leon asked in disgust. He grabbed Cloud by the shoulder and marched him from the bathroom. "Idiot. You need to dry off and put some warm clothes on before you catch hypothermia."
"I. Er..." Cloud couldn't come up with a logical response as Leon more or less manhandled him out of the bathroom.
"Sometimes, Strife, your stupidity surprises me," Leon muttered. He marched Cloud into his room, grabbed the foreign blanket off his bed, and threw it over Cloud's head. "Dry off and warm up."
Cloud would have taken offense to it, but he knew the cold shower was a poor decision and he wasn't going to argue with Leon over it. Peeking out from under the blanket, Cloud looked at Leon and asked, "I need clothes. My travel bag is in the living room." He was still shivering, but with the added warmth of the blanket it had lessened slightly.
Leon left briefly to grab it. He tossed it down on the bed and came over to grab a corner of the blanket so he could toss it over Cloud's hair again and scrub. "You'll never get dry if your hair's still wet. Why did you take a shower that cold for that long anyway? Were you trying to kill yourself in there?"
Cloud bristled and tried to pull away from Leon when he spoke. "I'm not suicidal, Leon. And I can dry myself off just fine." There was no way he could admit his reason for the cold shower.
"Well I don't see you doing it," Leon retorted, but he stepped back to give the man room. "You make absolutely no sense sometimes, Strife."
"Whatever. Are you going to stand there and watch, or do you trust me enough to get dried and dressed on my own?" Stupid Matt and his stupid shipping preferences. That's all it was really about. It couldn't really be sexual tension, could it? Cloud turned to glance back at Leon, waiting for an answer.
"Do you promise not to pass out on the floor before I come back?" Leon asked sarcastically. "Do you drink coffee?"
"Yes and yes," Cloud replied. He turned away from Leon again and took a step closer to the bed to lay out his clothes, the blanket catching under his foot and sliding off of him, taking one of the two towels with it, leaving him with just the one wrapped around his waist.
Leon blinked. And forced himself to turn away. He had no idea where Cloud had gotten the ridiculous idea that he was fat, because Leon thought he looked pretty toned indeed. "Coffee," he muttered, and strode from the room.
Cloud glanced over his shoulder when he heard Leon mutter. Something about the tone was off, but he shrugged and busied himself with drying off and getting dressed, glad he'd brought a sweater with him. Once he was dried and dressed, he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around himself before heading out to the kitchen.
Leon was ready with a steaming mug of coffee. "Sit," he instructed, setting the cup down in front of the empty seat before moving around to take his own. "Are you warm yet?"
"Warmer than I was," Cloud replied as he sat down. He reached for the mug of coffee and held it in his hands for a moment, absorbing the heat before picking it up and taking several long sips from it.
Leon watched him intently through narrowed eyes. He looked better. His lips weren't blueish anymore, anyway. Sighing, he draped his arms over the table and looked away. "Did you fall asleep?"
"I don't know, I might have," Cloud said. "I don't remember falling asleep, but I don't know where all that time went either." It was stretching the truth a lot, but again, if Leon didn't push it too much, he wouldn't know that it wasn't the truth.
Leon looked at him again, frowning. "You lost track of time?" he clarified. "Or you can't remember what happened to the time?"
"It didn't feel like I was in there all that long."
Leon didn't look away. "Even though there was no heat in the water?"
"Yeah..." Cloud trailed off, hiding behind the coffee mug as he took another drink.
Leon leaned his chin in his palm thoughtfully. "...Are you sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine." Cloud couldn't look at Leon when he was looking at him so intently.
Leon frowned. "You're acting a little strange."
"I should probably get going as soon as I finish warming up. I've got a long drive ahead of me." Cloud tried to change the subject. He was about to add that Tifa probably had several deliveries for him when he yawned again.
"I don't think you should be driving like you are," Leon told him, shaking his head a little. He shook some hair out of his eyes and continued to watch the blond. "Did you sleep at all last night? You have dark circles under your eyes."
"Maybe an hour or two." Cloud didn't care if it wasn't the safest idea for him to be driving like this, with as tired and jumpy as he was, he couldn't risk staying around Leon for too much longer. He was bound to slip up and say something stupid and then things would be awkward.
"What kept you up?"
"Er... um..." Cloud searched for a reply, anything that wasn't the whole truth. "Just a lot of thoughts running through my head."
Leon continued to watch him. He really was acting strangely. "Like what?"
"Just stuff." Cloud shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"What stuff, Strife."
"Stuff that I needed to talk to Matt about."
That made Leon frown. "Did you two do something again?"
"What? No. We just talked."
"About what?"
"He knows a lot about our video game series and we were talking about stuff that had to do with that." Not a complete lie and maybe, if Cloud were lucky, Leon would drop it at that.
"All night?" Leon asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Cloud glanced down at his coffee.
Leon sighed. "I'm not stupid, Strife. But if you want to keep your secrets, fine." He reached for his book again.
Cloud couldn't hold back the sigh of relief as Leon gave up pushing. Before he had the chance to blush he got up and headed back into the living room and laid down on the couch bed, burying his face in the pillow and draping the extra blanket over himself. Maybe he could just hide under these for the rest of the day.
Which more or less cemented the fact that Cloud was indeed hiding something, at least in Leon's mind. He frowned and tried to force his concentration back to his book, but he was finding it difficult. Cloud had been fine yesterday and now he wasn't. He wanted to know what had happened last night.
"If you're trying to take a nap," he called out, eyes on the page, "you shouldn't have drunk that coffee first."
"I'm not napping," Cloud said, his voice muffled by the pillow and blankets.
Leon lowered his book again. "Are you sick?"
"No."
"Hurt?"
"No."
"In some kind of trouble?"
"No."
Sighing, Leon laid his book face-down on the table. "Then what are you doing?"
"Keeping warm."
Concerned, Leon stood and crossed into the living room to peer at Cloud from over the back of the couch. "Are you still cold?"
Cloud groaned as he heard the approaching footsteps. "I'll be fine soon. Don't worry about it."
"You don't look fine," Leon told him bluntly.
"That's where the soon comes in, Leon."
Leon sighed. Without asking for Cloud's permission, he braced a hand against the back of the couch and leaned over set his palm against Cloud's forehead. After a moment he flipped it over to feel with the back. He frowned. "Well you don't have a fever."
Even with the touch being as innocent as it was, it wasn't helping things at all. "I told you I'm not sick. You don't have to do that."
Leon pulled his hand away to brace against the couch as well, though he didn't pull back. Instead he peered down at Cloud with a frown. "Then I don't know what's wrong with you."
"Go back to reading your book, I'll be fine." He still hadn't bothered to look up at Leon, and was pretty sure doing so wouldn't be a good idea right now.
"I don't know," Leon told him slowly, narrowing his eyes as he thought about his options. He remembered Cloud's all-too-recent shower stunt and shook his head. "I don't think I should leave you alone."
"I really think leaving me alone is the best thing you can do right now," Cloud said with a shaky breath.
"Why, are you going to throw up?" Leon mentally calculated the distance to the nearest trash can, and how quickly he could fetch it.
"No," Cloud replied, his exasperation at the situation evident in his voice now.
"Then what?" Leon demanded, growing exasperated himself. "You're acting sick but you're not showing any signs of it. What did you do last night that did this to you?"
Nothing that requires changing the sheets, he thought. Only, Cloud hadn't just thought it, he'd said it out loud without realizing.
Leon blinked. Then he frowned, because Cloud couldn't be referring to what he thought he was, and even if he was, it made no sense as to why he was feeling off now. "What?"
"What?" Cloud said, still oblivious to his own slip of the tongue.
Leon curled his fingers against the couch and frowned in an attempt to stave off the light blush he could feel heating his cheeks. He didn't normally talk about this kind of thing. "What did you mean about the sheets."
Cloud looked up at Leon wide eyed, "I said that out loud?"
Leon's eyes widened just a little as well. "You didn't mean to?"
Cloud's face went about as red as it could go. "No."
Leon quickly stood straight again and drummed his fingers against the couch as he rethought what the hell they were actually talking about. Then he blushed too. "Did you--?" he asked before he could stop himself.
"Did I what?" Cloud asked, wanting nothing more than to hide under his blankets again.
"Nothing," Leon said dismissively, turning away, but he quickly found himself whipping around again. "No. Did you really--" He stopped again. His stupid brain that he could never shut off was now trying delightfully painting a picture for him, and he wasn't nearly as disgusted as he knew he should have been, the knowledge of which was making his own stomach flip in a way it hadn't done in years. He turned away again. "Never mind. I don't want to know." Only he did. Which was exactly why he really shouldn't let himself.
Whatever it was that Leon was trying to say, wasn't coming out and it left Cloud on edge. "Just say it already! What is it you think I did?"
"Nothing." Leon waved him off and forced his legs to carry him back to the kitchen, where he could be alone a minute so he could think and try to figure out exactly why his idiotic body was trying to respond to the mental image of a man he hardly knew going at it on his new couch. It was deprived, he decided a moment later. That's all. It had just been a while, and he hadn't thought about that stuff, so the subject didn't matter when he finally did.
Cloud stared blankly after Leon's retreating form, his bewilderment quickly turning to anger. He quickly got up and headed into the kitchen where he slapped his hands down on the table and leaned across his face less than a foot away from Leon's. "Don't nothing me. That's all you ever say when I ask you anything. I answer your questions even when I don't want to. Why the hell can't you do the same for me? Dammit, Leon." He practically growled he was so irritated.
Leon blinked in mild surprise at the blond's outburst, then felt his face heat at Cloud's unexpected closeness immediately after--well. He pulled away. "Ask me a different question then, I don't like that one."
Cloud leaned in closer. "No, I want the answer to that one. You wouldn't let me opt out of answering your questions about Kadaj. Why should I let you get away with not answering this?"
Leon glared, now thoroughly embarrassed. "That was different," he argued. "That was something that meant something. This is stupid. I thought you were sick."
"Whatever." Cloud abruptly turned and headed back into the living room. "Fucking Matt. I knew it would make things awkward," he said muttering under his breath as he cleared off the pillow and blankets from the couch bed before putting it away and setting the cushions back in place.
"Make what awkward," Leon asked from the doorway, crossing his arms as he watched. "...What exactly did the two of you do last night?"
Cloud looked over at Leon. "When did you... never mind." He let out a sigh, "We talked. That's it. Nothing more."
"Then what was the comment about the sheets," Leon asked, trying to drag the truth out of the man so he wouldn't be forced to admit to the trail of his own thoughts.
"I'll tell you if you tell me what it is you think I did."
Leon shifted uncomfortably, and for a moment considered doing away with the entire situation altogether, but in the end his curiosity won out over his embarrassment. "Fine."
Cloud looked at him expectantly, only just now noticing how uncomfortable the other man was. "Well?"
Leon shot him a glare. "You first."
"No, I'm not answering until I know what the hell it is you think I did last night."
"Well you made the comment about the sheets," Leon said testily, flinging a careless arm at them. "And you already told me you two had fooled around before. What did you expect me to think?"
Cloud fell back onto the couch with a low groan. After a moment he started laughing, albeit almost hysterically sounding. "Do you really think that little of me? Do you think I'd do something like that when I'm a guest in someone else's home?"
Leon stared in a mix of confusion and shock, recognizing that Cloud was somehow managing to simultaneously make fun of both of them. Then his feet were carrying him in front of Cloud so that he could clench his fists and glare down at the man for also managing, somehow, to simultaneously piss off, embarrass, and arouse him. "My brain wasn't letting me do much thinking at all! Hyne, what else would keep you up so late you nearly killed yourself in the morning?"
Cloud couldn't breathe as Leon leaned in like that. Everything about him was sending signals to his brain that weren't entirely unwelcome thanks to the conversation with Matt. The tone of his voice, the body language, the glint in his eyes, the color that was faintly visible in his cheeks. Cloud whimpered and sank back further into the couch, trying to keep his body from reacting the way it suddenly wanted to.
Licking his lips, Cloud exhaled and tried his best to answer Leon's question. "I told Matt good night an hour before I actually went to sleep. We were talking about y-" he couldn't finish his sentence.
"Me--" Leon began to repeat in confusion, then stopped, eyes widening as he recalled what Cloud had said about this Matt; he was familiar with their games. A million different possibilities ran through his head and his eyes instantly narrowed again as he leaned forward to hiss, "What exactly did he say about me?"
"You..." Cloud repeated, biting down on his lip as Leon leaned in closer. He was so close, too close, not close enough - Cloud wasn't sure anymore.
Leon didn't back away, his eyes never leaving Cloud's. "I what, Strife."
Cloud swallowed and licked his lips again. "You... I... We... Uh..." Words were completely failing him.
Some of the tension left Leon's face at that. Cloud hadn't been on his original world; whatever Matt had told the man, it wasn't about his time there. His traitorous eyes tried wandering to the sheen Cloud's tongue had left on his lips, but he quickly forced them back up again, now frowning in genuine confusion and curiosity. "We what?"
Relief flooded through his body as Leon no longer looked like he wanted to strangle him, though when he tried speaking all that came out was gibberish. His face was as red as the couch was blue.
Leon felt his cheeks heat just a little too, after finding himself so close to the man he'd been picturing in a bit of a compromising position just a few minutes before. But he refused to back down until Cloud had given him an answer, though the blond's embarrassment confused him. "...What?" he asked more gently, his previous anger quickly dissipating. "What did he say about us?"
Leon's voice was going straight through him and Cloud let out a quiet moan. He closed what little space was left between them and brushed his lips across Leon's, hardly enough to be considered a kiss. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, but didn't pull away.
Leon froze, a jolt going through him at the unexpectedness of Cloud's actions and of how good they actually felt and of the knowledge that while he was well aware that he probably should pull away, he couldn't quite get himself to. His breathing was suddenly uneven and his heart had quickened and his indecision over whether or not his reactions were due to anger or arousal left him confused as to whether he should lean forward a little more or draw back far enough to punch him. So he hesitated.
They were both hesitating. Neither making that last move, but also neither pulled away. Sucking in a breath, Cloud reached up and grabbed Leon by the shirt, the fabric scrunching in his hand. Tugging, he pulled Leon into his lap, their lips smashing together with the momentum, eliciting a moan form Cloud's mouth.
Leon choked on the sound that tried slipping from his throat, it was a mixture of so many different things, but then he landed in Cloud's lap, one hand on his thigh, and his eyes slipped closed as his brain shut down and let his body take over for a change. Before he'd even fallen all the way he was bracing himself against Cloud and the cushion beside him in order to press the blond backwards against the couch and kiss him harder, the fire churning in his gut making it nearly impossible for him to swallow his next moan.
Matt had been right. The words echoed over and over in his head until thoughts of What now began to replace it. He parted his lips, sliding his tongue out to press at Leon's mouth, urging him to do the same. He wondered just how long he'd been waiting for this, just how long all of this had been building up. It was a train of thought he'd have to focus on later, when he didn't have a lap full of Leon and god was this great. He dropped his hand from Leon's shirt, moving one up to his hair, threading his fingers through it, the other dropping down to his side, sliding around his back and just under the hem of his shirt.
Leon was trembling in the wake of Cloud's touch; he'd always been incredibly sensitive to that kind of thing, and having abstained from it for the last few years had only re-heightened whatever edge Rinoa had taken off previously. His mouth opened on its own as instinct took over and he thrust his tongue against Cloud's, kissing him needily as the hand on the couch came up and tangled in the blond strands on the side of his neck. It was uncomfortable bending over like this, though, and he tried urging the man sideways so that he could kneel on the couch as well.
At first Cloud had thought Leon was trying to push him away, however, his tongue was saying something completely different and the real message permeated his lust hazed brain. Pulling Leon with him, Cloud laid down on the couch, his teeth lightly grazing Leon's tongue as they moved, the space between them closing even more.
Leon made a strangled sound as his kiss went from needy to hungry, his tongue delving into Cloud's mouth possessively as the hand in his hair tangled and tilted the blond's head back a bit to give himself better access. He supported himself on one hand, clutching tightly at the cushion next to Cloud, and his knee, pressed flush against the corner where the couch's back met the cushion, as he dazedly hitched his other knee up too, trapping Cloud's legs between his own. He had no idea where all that pent-up lust had come from or why Cloud was the one unleashing it, but at the moment he didn't particularly care.
His heart racing and his breathing uneven, Cloud focused what he could into the kiss with Leon. It reminded him vaguely of that first make-out session he'd had with Kadaj over two months ago, except this time he wasn't wondering about what kind of game was being played or if he was going to be left alone on a cold floor when they were done. There was no quasi-incest or talks of changing loyalties, no mind games that would leave him as a toy to be played with. Everything that had been wrong with that relationship very clear. Was this what Leon had meant about it needing to be more than just feeling good?
The sound of Cloud's raspy breathing only intensified Leon's own, but a kiss wasn't nearly enough. Leon wanted to feel the other man squirming beneath him, so without a second thought he rearranged his knees so that he scooted down on the couch and could slowly lower his body atop Cloud's, pausing their kiss briefly in order to groan at the warm contact.
Cloud whimpered when Leon paused the kiss, a combined reaction between the lack of tongue sliding against his own and the warm body pressing against his own. "Does the cold shower make sense now?" he mumbled against his lips, arms wrapping around Leon's body to hold him closer.
Leon shivered, shifting to fit himself more comfortably against Cloud and opening his eyes just enough to peer at him through the lust. He tried to speak and made an odd sound before closing his mouth briefly and trying again. "Even then...?"
Cloud shifted underneath Leon, almost cursing the fact that he'd bothered to put the pull out bed away. He nodded and reached one hand up to tangle in Leon's hair, cutting off the conversation with another kiss.
Leon moaned softly and quickly lost track of whatever they'd just been talking about as he kissed Cloud back, his newly freed hand drifting down the blond's side before catching at the waistband of his pants, callused fingers working their way beneath the shirt there so he could touch actual skin.
Cloud arched under Leon's touch, surprised at how much Leon wanted this. He always seemed so cold to Cloud, so distant and unreachable, mysterious and unresponsive. And yet there were all their fights interspersed with moments of companionship, little touches and gestures that didn't seem to mean anything. Cloud moaned, thinking about the motorcycle ride, how close he'd got while trying to look at the GPS, giving directions in his ear. How was it that it took Matt to point this out to them? Matt who didn't even know about half of these things. How was it he knew and they didn't?
Taking that as a very good sign, Leon let himself slip his hand all the way up Cloud's back, feeling out the muscles on his way before gripping the back of the man's shoulder. His hips thrust suddenly on their own and he groaned, shivering, forced to break the kiss again when his focus was shifted elsewhere.
"Leon..." Cloud gasped as he thrust against him, all remaining thought escaping him as his brain focused on feeling. He was far more aroused than he'd been last night when he'd hastily said good night to Matt, far more than he'd been when he'd taken the frigid shower - the same shower that had it not happened would have left this tension lingering between them for who knows how much longer.
Leon moaned and quickly re-initiated the kiss again, his hips thrusting again, then again before settling into a shaky rhythm interrupted frequently by pauses to simply roll his hips hard against Cloud's.
Cloud couldn't do anything but react. Each thrust of Leon's was met with one of his own, each roll of the hips echoed, each flick and stroke of tongue encouraged. Everything was moving so fast now and there was no time to think, his body going on instinct and want alone.
As much as Leon hated to admit it, he hadn't done this in a while, and his body wasn't going to last much longer. He whimpered into Cloud's mouth when he realized it, fingers tightening in his hair as he shifted his weight so that he was pressed more firmly against Cloud's body.
After having denied himself twice in the last several hours, Cloud wasn't going to last much longer either. He bit down on Leon's lip as the fingers in his hair tugged harder, his own fingers tightening their grip in Leon's hair.
This rough, quick treatment wasn't helping Leon's predicament any. The hand gripping Cloud's skin slid quickly downward to hook halfway around the man's ass, dragging it forcefully against himself as his hips thrust and bucked forward a few times erratically. Then he found himself arching hard against the blond as he came with a slightly delayed cry, his body going rigid as his brain faltered to keep up with it in the wake of his orgasm.
His breath hitching as Leon thrust hard against him, his fingernails digging into whatever surface they could find, Cloud gasped and moaned. His own orgasm followed not far behind Leon's, every nerve in his body alert and tingling as his body went limp beneath Leon's, basking in the afterglow. He released his hand from his hair and let his fingers slide across Leon's cheek, pulling him in for another kiss, this one soft and unhurried.
Leon returned it in much the same way, breathless as his body lost any of the rigidity it'd previously held and collapsed loosely on top of Cloud's. Even after a full night's sleep, he was having trouble keeping his eyes opened, surrounded in the warmth and scent of another body as he was, the feeling of relief still coursing through his system.
Reluctantly, Cloud broke the kiss, his eyes flickering open to look up at Leon. He didn't know what to say or do now, but sleepiness was setting in and bed was sounding like a very good idea.
Leon sighed and his shoulders relaxed as well, until he opened his eyes and saw bright blue instead of brown. Frowning, he braced his hands against the cushions on either side of Cloud and pushed himself up so he could see more clearly, then froze when he recognized the blond beneath him. His brain didn't, though, and this time it took a moment for his body to catch up. He'd just--with Strife of all people, and he was still mixed up over Kadaj...
He quickly pushed himself up the rest of the way and moved to climb off the couch, the unavoidable brushes against Cloud and the moisture in his pants making the entire experience all the more embarrassing. He needed to go somewhere private to think and recollect himself and wash and reconsider what the hell he was doing.
Cloud propped himself up on an elbow as Leon walked away, his confusion evident in his expression. Why wasn't Leon saying anything? Why had he frowned? Why was he walking away? Realizing that his pants were wet and sticky, it occurred to him that Leon's were too and he was probably just going to go clean up. With a sigh he fell back again, relaxing after the slight bit of worry. He yawned and struggled to stay awake to wait for Leon's return, but after five minutes he was fast asleep.
Leon headed straight for the bathroom, and shoved the door closed behind him before bracing his hands on the sink and staring intently at his reflection in the mirror. His cheeks were still flushed and his lips a little swollen, and he knocked his palm against the image in uneasy irritation, then left it there so he wouldn't have to see it anymore. What in Hyne's name had he been thinking. Not only was Cloud not ready for this thing right now, but he wasn't either, and the disgust coiling in his gut only made his guilt over letting himself take advantage of the younger man all the worst. He was a better man than this. Cloud was attractive, yes, but vulnerable, and he didn't need Leon's building romantic problems added to his own.
Unsure what else to do right now, he decided to take a shower and cool down, and not let the reminder of what'd they'd just done grip his mind again as he peeled off his pants. He would have to talk to Cloud later, he decided as the cold water ran down over his skin. Make sure he knew he'd meant no harm. And somehow keep mental images of the blond's heated face from his mind while he did.
In his sleep, Cloud rolled over and buried his face against the couch cushion. He was sleeping better now than he had since he first went to bed the night before. He was peaceful and relaxed, his cheeks still lightly pink and his lips curved up just the slightest bit into a smile.
After his shower Leon didn't bother drying his hair, instead letting the water running from it help keep his body under control. He balled up his dirty clothes and clutched his towel around himself as he exited toward his room for new clothes. On the way he caught a glimpse of Cloud on the couch and made himself move faster, feeling his cheeks heat again despite the cold water. Dammit, he didn't know what he was getting himself into, and that was usually very, very bad. He didn't want another Rinoa--
The thought made him pause just inside his room, his stomach twisting in that half-familiar way. He'd just told Cloud not to fool around with people just because it felt good, dammit, and here he was doing the same--because Cloud was not that kind of person to him, he hardly knew the guy, and he didn't want anyone becoming that kind of person when memories of the last one were still so fresh.
Cloud remained asleep, shifting a little bit as he entered into a deep sleep, vivid dreams filling his head.
Leon dressed quickly, mind buzzing, before leaving his room again with the intention of waking Cloud up and discussing what had just transpired between them as quickly as possible. One look at how comfortable he looked, though, that little smile on his face, and he hesitated. After a moment or two he realized he was staring and quickly forced himself to look away. Dammit. He was feeling more restless than he had in ages, and he needed to get that energy out of his system without waking Cloud.
Work. Work always exhausted him. But he didn't want Cloud waking up and thinking he'd done something stupid like...well, like running away. Which was not what he was doing. Scribbling down a quick note, he grabbed his jacket, tugged his shoes on, and headed out the door. He'd be back when his mind slowed back down to its normal pace.