A/N: This is the second part to what is now the Heart's A Mess series. There will be roughly six or seven chapters that will flit back and forth in time, documenting little moments in the evolution of this relationship.

Credit must go to puruku for giving me the Idea/push.

Further credit is also due to Kacey for beta-ing this little piece. Bless beta's, for we sorely need them.

Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Square Enix and/or Disney. No infringement intended or profit made.

Enjoy.

This is the Last Time

The house was quiet apart from the odd tinkling of glass and silverware as Leon finished the washing up, his mind a thousand miles away he didn't hear the door as it opened. He was only jolted from his thoughts when a slight breeze stirred his hair and caused him to shiver. Turning with surprise he saw Cloud stood in the open doorway, his face blank and neutral as he looked around the almost empty kitchen.

Stepping further into the room, Cloud closed the door behind him neither asking for permission to enter nor even acknowledging Leon's presence.

"Where is everyone?" He asked, his tone flat and emotionless.

Grabbing a towel, Leon turned back to the counter, drying his hands and trying his best to remain nonchalant.

"The girls are in bed. Cid went home." He returned just as impassively.

With his back to the younger man, Leon couldn't see that Cloud's eyes had turned to him and they were running up and down his back. Cloud smiled to himself.

"Good." He said softly as he took a few short measured steps that brought him right up behind the slightly taller Gunblader.

The hairs on the back of Leon's neck stood on end as he could feel Cloud's closeness and the heat radiating from him. Leon felt his shoulders tense and his hands gripped the towel a little harder.

"What are you doing here Strife?" He demanded, his voice carrying a slight tremor in it. Cloud had been gone for months now and in all honesty, Leon had done a good job of forgetting him and what they had done down in the Bailey. Now he could almost believe it was just a dream.

There was a short silence as Cloud placed his gloved hand onto Leon's arm, a silent command to turn and face him.

"You know what."

The pressure on Leon's arm came a little heavier but Leon stood his ground.

"No, not again Cloud. I'm done with that." Leon's voice was soft but firm. He heard a faint scoff from behind him and the pressure on his arm increase until he had to turn around or face having his arm ripped off. He wasn't prepared for the look of amusement that he found on Cloud's face. He had seen Cloud being many things; stoic, quiet, determined, battle raged and only once moved to tears, but amused was not an emotion that he often associated with the blonde warrior. It threw Leon's serious face off guard, and that little speech he had prepared… it was temporarily forgotten now.

Damn Cloud.

"I don't believe you." Cloud challenged him quietly, stepping just a little closer and bringing his face to mere inches of Leon's.

Leon wanted to say something, anything that would prove Cloud wrong but at that precise moment in time, his mind was blank of all thoughts except for the smell and the touch and the taste of Cloud. Leon had thought he'd done a pretty good job of forgetting Cloud.

Obviously not.

Cloud's lips were scarce millimetres away from his own and all the while Cloud's beautifully clear blue eyes pierced his own, daring him to look away. His hot breath misting over Leon's face and brought to his cheeks a light dusting of pink. For a split second Leon's eyes flicked down and away, unable to take the scrutiny of Cloud's gaze. It felt like Cloud could see right into his soul, and read his mind.

That split second was all Cloud needed. His suspicions confirmed, he lent in the rest of the distance and captured Leon's mouth in a delicate passionate kiss. His hand's found their way up into Leon's hair and he pressed himself against Leon's taught body, trapping him against the counter.

Leon was confounded and annoyed. How had this happened… again? Months had gone by with Leon's steely resolve never wavering – he would not think of Cloud - and now five seconds alone with the younger man and he was melting and simpering against him like he'd actually missed him.

Hyne damn it.

There was no telling how much it hurt his dignity to admit that it felt good, that it was what he needed and that just Cloud's kiss brought back all of those delicious memories of tortured pleasure stolen from him against the Bailey wall. Leon couldn't admit it, but he was trembling with the anticipation of what he knew Cloud could do. Cloud and those lips…

Far too caught up in whether or not to allow Cloud to continue or to put his foot down, Leon was thrown off guard when Cloud spun him around, cramming his body against the counter and forcing him to bend over.

In all his life, Leon had never been divested of his clothes so fast, and in all his life, never had his mind been so thoroughly shattered.

"Keep quiet… you don't want the girls walking in on us… trust me." Was all Cloud said as he shrugged his way out of his blue cable knit jumper.

It had been the smothered moans that had pulled Aerith from her bed. She had awoken late in the night, unsure at what had stirred her from sleep and as she listened, the unmistakable sounds of pained groans came from the kitchen. She padded softly across the landing, her brain flicking wildly through the list of possible candidates for who had turned up in her house needing patching up, again, when a soft curse and a name pulled her to an abrupt stop. That hadn't sounded like pain.

She stopped at the top of the stairs, her ears straining to pick up whatever sounds she could.

"Fuck, Cloud." Was audibly heard followed by the clatter of pots and pans as it sounded like someone had swept them from the sideboard.

At least two things were clear to Aerith at that time; Cloud was home, and the kitchen was now a mess. Leon was not going to be happy, she thought.

As Aerith crept down a few steps, her intuition telling her not to make her presence known, more of the kitchen came in to view. It wasn't until she was almost at the bottom that her sight fell on the source of the noise, and her breath stopped.

Being an Ancient had its perks. For one thing, Aerith had always been graced with an awful amount of intuition and gut feeling. It was something that left her very little room for surprise. However there was nothing that could have prepared her for the sight of Leon bent over the work top, trousers round his ankles, with Cloud stood behind him, obviously in the middle of a rather passionate encounter. Nor the sight of Cloud's pale buttocks, which peeked out from the top of his own trousers, rested so precariously on his thighs, threatening to creep ever lower with each thrust of his hips.

Surprise was not something that Aerith felt very often, though when she did; it was usually because she was really really really surprised.

With a hand over her mouth to stifle the incoherent sounds of confusion, excitement and shock, Aerith quickly scrambled back up the stairs shutting her bedroom door tight behind her. It took a few moments for the astonishment to dissipate, but once it had Aerith climbed into bed a huge grin plastered on her face, the thought that this could only be a good thing, firmly in her mind.

A/N:Naughty Aerith!