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Author's Note: Ugh, this update wasn't supposed to take so long to get to you all! =/ But as you all know… life does happen -_- (been a part of two wedding parties i.e. groomsman and then sustaining a fracture in my ankle while playing tennis, thus I'm stuck on crutches for a while, and of course… still not having a job after graduating… so sad =/). But at last… I've managed to type up the latest chapter for you all! And I'm so happy to see that many more new readers are subscribing to this story =) I haven't been saying this enough… but THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE AWESOME SUPPORT! IT REALLY MEANS MUCH TO ME!

Additional Note: This chapter will contain a brief flashback scene where everything will be italicised, and thoughts and other things normally italicised will be regular faced i.e. everything's just reversed in that particular section… Just to let you all know =)

Don't forget to review! And enjoy Chapter 17 =)

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"Mr. Wallace? Mr. Wallace?"

"Yes? It's… Axel Le Beaufeu, isn't it?"

"Oui chef, you've surely got that memorized well…"

Roxas couldn't help but to scrunch his eyebrows at the smirk Axel, who just happened to conveniently choose the seat right next to him for the rest of the academic year, was beaming off, especially towards him. He would've never imagined that the redhead could be this annoying in class, let alone during their normal hangouts with friends. It's only been about twenty minutes within their Chemistry class and already Roxas was able to preview what was coming to him for many months to come.

Damn him… does he always have to ask a question for every minute of this Godforsaken class?

"Axel… your question, please…" The Chemistry teacher, Mr. Barret Wallace, whom was of Afro-Caribbean Canadian descent, flatly asked of his student to get to the point of his question. The tone of his voice was very contrastable to his very large and muscular body, with some students thinking he was a bodybuilder rather than a Chemistry teacher… an intimidating body builder, rather.

"Are we going to be playing with and burning stuff on fire?" A small smile glinted on the dude with the strange markings below his eyes.

"For the thousandth time already, yes…" A hint of annoyance could be sensed in the teacher's voice. "When we start laboratory assignments on Monday next week, we will be working with Bunsen burners that will help us gain the understanding of how heat can cause chemical reactions and such. We will use tools such as test tubes, crucibles, and flasks."

"I see, Mr. Wallace…" Axel nodded in the affirmative, but still didn't seem satisfied with the answer given to him. "Will we be working with chemicals that can explode and such?"

Jesus Christ, really?

Roxas rolled his eyes as he averted his attention back at the man in front of the classroom.

"Yes, Axel, we will be, though I can assure you that it won't be anything major and will be on a small scale, thus I'm very certain and confident everyone will be safe doing the lab experiments throughout the year…" Mr. Wallace gazed over at the redhead near the back-centre of the classroom, noting the emo-looking blonde on his right and a steel blue headed bookworm on the left. "Now… without any further questions, I will now explain the procedures on how to do the daily homework assignments, and yes, you will have homework tonight so please spare me the groans."

Despite the teacher's plea on the latter part of his sentence, the majority of students groaned as they were distributed thick, hard covered textbooks and given a check-out card to fill out. Roxas, wanting to get over the process as soon as possible, hastily filled out the card and made sure the book number ID he scribbled down matched the stamped one on the inside cover. Sighing as he finished, his eyes gazed over at the redhead on his left, who'd also just finished filling out the card.

"Pyromaniac much?" Roxas flatly uttered, giving off a smirk on his lips.

"Who? Moi?" Axel innocently pointed to himself, signifying that he's done nothing wrong. "Pas possible! C'est drôle, Roxy."

Dude, this guy here…

Roxas rolled his eyes at the innocence-card Axel was playing out right now. "Mais que si, Axel. All the questions you've been asking so far has the subject of fire in it..."

The Le Beaufeu simply shrugged in indifference. "Et alors?"

"Care to explain?"

"Explain about what?"

The blonde huffed in annoyance. "Never mind."

"Never mind… quoi?" A smirk began to grow on Axel's lips as he once again successfully got the blonde to work up into a frenzy.

"Just… shut up…" Roxas felt his eyebrow twitch as he tried to block out the redhead next to him. Such attempts would fail as he could feel Axel lean his body over his own, nearly to the point of imminent contact.

Dude… he's getting a little too close for comfort here…

"Shut up… what?" Axel harshly whispered, the smirk continuing to expand as his breath ghosted over the blonde's ear.

Roxas twitched as his body involuntarily shivered at his personal space being invaded. He couldn't take it anymore as his buttons were pushed a bit too far.

"Shut… the…FUCK… UP!" Roxas growled at Axel in an animalistic fashion as he stood up from his seat to tower over the redhead. However, it wasn't enough to scare Axel as the Le Beaufeu simply smirked even more at the anger the Strife was giving to him. In addition, Roxas failed to notice that his voice was loud enough for the entire class to stop in their tracks and gawk at the now red-faced blonde.

Oh shit… it was that loud, huh?

Roxas simply stared at the class in utter embarrassment as the class ogled back at him as well, many with their mouths formed in an o shape.

This… is… uber… EMBARASSING…

The blonde resumed his seat, which painfully took forever and a day due to the nature of the ambiance he had caused… thanks to a certain redhead next to him.

"Mr. Strife…" Mr. Wallace had the same facial expression of shock and confusion as the rest of the students in the class. "Is there a problem back there?"

Yes… that IDIOT of a redhead next to me!

"No sir, not at all…" Roxas softly replied, picking up a snickering Axel in the corner of his eyes, trying not to twitch in resentment. "I'm sorry about the outburst, Mr. Wallace."

Said teacher raised an eyebrow in confusion, but not wanting to deal with it any further, he simply nodded in a gesture of acceptance. "It's okay, Roxas. It's all our first day back to school."

Roxas nodded as well with the remark given to him, thankful that Mr. Wallace had not chewed him out in front of the class as Sora told him that he was infamous for such.

Ugh… can I just DIE now? PLEASE?

The Strife slumped further into his cheap plastic seat, trying to make himself feel invisible, as he knew that his other classmates were either still staring at him or talking shit behind his back. What a way to make a first impression at his new school. However, he already knew that he didn't exactly come to this school to make a bunch of new friends, though it would've been Cloud's wish to do so.

They can all go fuck themselves, honestly…

"Hey, Roxy…" Roxas flinched as he felt his side being poked by a red pen by Axel. "Désolé about that… Really, I'm sorry about that…" Roxas gazed over to his left, ready to unleash his ugly side...

But his angry façade began to soften as Axel began to don on him the most adorable and sincere beaten-puppy eyes look he'd ever seen, complete with quivering lips, that would win over even the most insensitive hearts out there.

I cannot BELIEVE he's playing that card with me…

Roxas mentally scoffed, rolling his eyes away from Axel. When he returned his gaze at the redhead, the same beaten-puppy look was still being emitted towards him.

Though I'd have to admit… it is pretty cute…

And he widened his eyes at his musing.

And I can't believe I just said that Axel was… cute…

"You can stop the making those idiotic faces now…" Roxas averted his eyes back towards the whiteboard, not wanting to be subjected even more of the redhead's sappy look. "What are you? Like… twelve?"

"But Roooxxxyyy…" Axel began to take on a more whiny and childish tone, retaining the cuteness of his expression. "You know that I'm cuuuttteee… je suis mignon."

"Whatever…" Roxas resumed to facing the whiteboard, tuning out the redhead next to him. As more time flew by in his third-period class, he was still mentally bothered by what he thought of Axel earlier when he saw the dude next to him make such faces.

Why did I say that he was 'cute'? I mean, it's the honest truth… and by that I mean if I were purely looking from an impersonal standpoint… or whatever that means… but still… why did I say that?

The spiky blonde buried his face in his hands in frustration.

UGH! Goddamn, this is confusing the fuck outta me…

Before he could wallow in any more confusion, the bell rang, much to Roxas' relief. Though he still had one more class, which was Stats, to deal with before he could finally get a break from the first half of his long and daunting day at school.

On the way to class however, he had to deal with a certain redhead's arm wrapped around the back of his neck while talking to his sitar-loving friend with the mullet or Mohawk or whatever the hell hairstyle he had. Luckily, he was able to break free of it when they got to Stats, gladly sitting next to a seat that Sora had saved for him near Kairi. However, he couldn't escape Axel as the Le Beaufeu decided to take a seat right next to him like in Chemistry, with Demyx as his other neighbour.

"Salut Roxas, ça va?" Kairi genuinely greeted the blonde with a smile.

"Pas mal. Et toi?" Roxas managed to beam out a small smile, despite what happened earlier.

"La même chose aussi, haha," Kairi laughed, getting the blonde to slightly chuckle as well.

"Yeah, Roxy. How are classes so far?" Sora inquired as he pulled out a notebook to take notes.

Before replying to the question, Roxas took a gander at Axel next to him, who was happily chatting away with his sitar-loving buddy. "It's been A-OKAY, Sora!" the blonde replied with a bit of sarcasm in his voice, complete with a sarcastic thumbs up and smile.

"Whoa…" Sora raised his hands in a defensive fashion. "On est Monsieur Sarcastique aujourd'hui, non?"

"Pfffttt, whatever…" Roxas rolled his eyes as he took out the necessary materials to take notes. "Riku's not taking this class? Uh, Sora?" The Strife looked over to see why the Leonhart wasn't responding to his question. He noted that the brunette's face began to blush at the mentioning of Riku's name. "Sora?"

"No, h— he's taking H— honours Ca— calculus instead of St— stats…" was the only reply Sora shakily gave out to his friend.

Okaaaaayyyyy… better not talk about Riku anymore… or else, the fucking awkwardness will just continue on…

As soon as Roxas finished his musings, a young woman with short blonde hair, Miss Elena Maladroit, walked into the classroom… and almost tripped over a book that was left on the floor.

Niiiiccceee… Roxas rolled his eyes. She must be a klutz…

For the next fifty-minutes, the class was subjected to the wonderful world of Statistics, learning on the first day what was a mean, median, and mode were, the difference between a sample and population, and bar charts. Fortunately, this stuff actually interested Roxas and was able to get through fifty minutes of class distraction free as Sora managed to pay attention, while Axel mainly talked to Demyx when Miss Maladroit wasn't looking… or too busy being clumsy with the objects around the classroom.

At about 1:05pm, the bell finally rang for lunch. Roxas reached for his backpack in order to put away his binder. Getting up, he slung the bag over his back before checking the desk to make sure he didn't leave anything behind.

"The hell…"

Roxas picked up a crumpled piece of paper on his desk. Before making his way to the trashcan, he decided to unravel it, wondering what was on the paper.

Rendez-vous à Windsor Park ce samedi à 22h30. Venez seul.

"What the fuck is this?" Roxas said to himself as he read the paper over and over, noting how each letter glue on it had come from a different magazine, only understanding about three words on it. He was about to ask Axel on who put this on his desk…

But realised that he and Demyx were gone, presumably to lunch.

What the hell is going on he—

"Roxy?"

"Aagh!" the blonde flinched when he felt a hand tap his shoulder, causing him to quickly put the note away in the pocket of his zip-up. To his relief, it was just Sora. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Allez, Roxy! Let's go get some lunch." Sora gestured his friend to come along with him and Kairi.

"Okay, let's go…" Roxas began to walk with Sora and Kairi as they made their way to the cafeteria, still bothered by the note in his pocket… and the fact that Axel and Demyx were gone by the time he looked at his desk.

Seriously… what the FUCK is going on here?

—

"Let's see… Des Lauriers savings account… $3,200," a suit and tie dressed Cloud softly recited as he rummaged through a pile of papers on his desk, typing in the necessary information on the iMac in front of him. It had only been a few weeks ever since he started his new job as an account data entry worker at the Bank of Montreal in Downtown Montréal on Boulevard René Lévesque, his small cubicle located among others on the 10th floor in your typical office setting.

After typing in the last bit of information from the piece of paper he held, he decided that a five-minute break was warranted, noting it was already 14h00 (2:00pm) on the clock on the upper-right corner of the computer's desktop.

Just three more hours left before going home… and facing the horrendous traffic on Autoroutes 720 and 20… teeee-riiiiifffffff-iiiiiiccccc…

Setting the paper aside, he reclined his swivel chair backwards in order to let his posture relax. Gazing up towards the fluorescent-lit ceilings, he stretched out his arms and legs, hearing a few cracks from his joints as he let out an exaggerating and tiresome yawn. Right after, he lightly scratched his head as his eyes now gazed on the various mementos and photographs he had strewn on his desk and grey-coated cubicle walls.

Heh…

Cloud's sky blue eyes gazed upon a photo of Roxas and him when they went to the L.A. County Fair some years back when they lived in Southern California. Aside from the hilarity of the photo with the two Strife brothers genuinely smiling while holding their cotton candy and having dabs of it on their faces, it proved to be total nostalgia as it was taken during the good ol' days, when they lived an affluent life with their parents still around.

"I'm doing this for the both of us…" a petite smile crept at the corner of Cloud's mouth. "Especially for you, Rox…" he placed a finger on his younger brother's cotton-candied-face before setting the photo frame back near the telephone. Before being able to go back to work, a couple of other photos caught his attention as well. This included one with Leon and himself playing billiards at Clyde's about a week ago when Leon had asked him out once again (as friends… of course). The other photo contained Leon, Sora, Roxas, and himself at the new dinner table Cloud was able to buy and to finally be able to host dinner at his own residence. A particular food item that caught his eye, however, was the sea salt ice cream Leon freshly made that night.

"Heh… could we really do this?"

What Cloud was referring to was the time he inquired about where he could buy the sea salt ice cream, but was told by Leon that they weren't sold in stores and that he made them himself from scratch in accordance to a recipe he found on some Canadian website.

'Twilight Town Recipes DOT ca' wasn't it?

In addition, he recalled the bold proposal that Leon made to him the last time they went to Clyde's.

–

"What do you say that we…" Leon set up his line of sight with the pool cue he was holding to the white cue ball, hoping to sink in the final eight-ball to finish the game. Taking a few moments to forecast how much force he should strike the cue ball to the eight-ball, he fidgeted his posture and cue stick here and there until he finally struck the ball, smiling as the white ball smacked the black ball, sinking into the corner pocket for the win.

"Aw, damn it," Cloud snapped his finger in defeat, knowing he would've had the chance to win if he hadn't committed a scratch earlier. "Guess that's another round of beer for you, Leon."

"Mais bien sûr, Cloud," Leon chuckled as he watched Cloud make his way to the bar, bringing back two pint glasses of Newcastle. "Merci beaucoup."

"Pas de problème," Cloud lifted his glass as the two tapped it before taking a nice swig. Letting out a small belch, Cloud sighed in satisfaction before taking a small breather before taking another swig. "Anyways… what were you gonna say earlier?"

"Oh, yeah…" Leon took another heaping full of the dark ale before continuing. "What do you say we… open up a sea salt ice cream parlour?"

Wait… what?

Cloud almost spat out his beer, surprised at the bold request Leon had suddenly just made. Was the Leonhart for real? "Wait… did you just say—"

"Yup…" the brunette stopped the blonde in his tracks as the smile on his face became wider. "A sea salt ice cream parlour… une glacerie. And we can be business partners as well!"

You know… I've never seen Leon ever this excited before… kinda sexy…

Cloud continued to stare in a dumbfounded fashion. "W— why the sudden urge to go on a business venture?"

The Leonhart laughably scoffed at the Strife, as if a ridiculous question had been posed upon him. "Well… remember the time your little brother stayed over and Sora gave him the sea salt ice cream and how quickly he recovered from his stomach problems?"

"Uh huh…" the blonde simply nodded.

"And remember when you asked me where you could by the sea salt ice cream and I told you that they don't sell it in stores and I have to make it from scratch?"

"Yeah…"

"Well…" Leon decided to put his cue stick on the wall holder so that he had a free hand. "That gave me an idea. If we open up our own shop specialising in sea salt ice cream, we could spread the word of this treat and become totally rich! So what do you say… partner?"

Cloud fought hard to keep from blushing with the way Leon said partner. However, his reluctant side began to surface, as he knew such a venture would be risky i.e. a lot of one's own money to invest and profit is not guaranteed. Such could effectively ruin the new life he was trying to build for Roxas and him. "I… er—… I don't know about this, Leon. It sound like a great idea, but it's awfully risky and I don't have that kind of money to invest in such a ventu—"

Cloud quickly hushed when Leon's hands made their way onto the blonde's shoulders. He also noted the serious expression on the Leonhart's face. "Cloud… I know what you're thinking… and I'm not saying you have to decide right at this very moment…" Looking down onto the wooden floor and releasing a long sigh, Leon returned his gaze onto Cloud's oceanic eyes. "But I'm not in this for the money…"

Wait, what?

Cloud became bewildered on what he'd just heard. "Well… if it's not for the money... then what?" He flinched a bit when he felt Leon's grip on his shoulders tighten a bit too much for comfort.

"Well…" Leon paused for a moment, as if he were trying to formulate an answer to Cloud's question. "Cloud… I haven't had a friend quite like you ever since I've moved to Canada quite some time ago. Sure, I have my co-workers at the law firm… but they're not the same. And sure, I have my little brother… but… well…" the Leonhart began to fidget, clearing his throat in response to the nervousness that was in the air. "I was hoping that this business venture would… tu sais… make us even better friends."

… Is that all?

Although he tried really hard, Cloud's pale skin began to redden as his emotions began to surface. "You know what, Leon? I'm glad that we're friends and that you're my neighbour and the hospitality that you and Sora have given to me and Roxas… I mean, just that alone has shown how much our friendship has really grown."

"R— really?" Leon's smile began to widen.

"Bien sûr, dude!" Unconsciously, Cloud's hands began to slowly find their way onto Leon's hips. "And you know what? Whenever, the time comes… you can count me in for the ice cream parlour idea."

"Cool!" Leon excitedly replied, but kept a cool demeanour.

"Yeah… cool…" Cloud trailed off, unaware that he was lethargically moving his head towards Leon's face, his eyes glancing in between the brunette's eyes and lips. He also noted that Leon was doing the same thing.

Holy shit… Cloud's mind was in a panic, though he still managed to maintain a cool exterior. I'm I actually gonna kiss him this time?

As their faces were only mere centimetres apart and feeling Leon's breath ghost over his face, Cloud began to slowly close his eyes, anticipating on what was coming up for his lips.

That is until—

BEEP

BEEP

"Oh shit, a text," Leon backed away, taking his hands off of Cloud's shoulder as he reached in his pockets and pulled out his cell phone. "Pardon-moi Cloud, but I gotta take care of an important call outside."

I can't believe that we almost kissed… should I be glad it didn't happen… or be sad?

"Oh no, c'est cool…" Cloud managed to return to his normal expression. "Go right on ahead."

"Sweet," Leon patted Cloud on the shoulder. "Be right back…"

Cloud watched as Leon made his way out the front door of the tavern. He went to a nearby empty booth with their pints of Newcastle. Taking a seat, he sighed in a mixture of disappointment and relief as he began to gulp down all of the beer in the glass, watching the summer moonlight shine upon the West Island.

–

"And that's how the dream of opening up a sea salt ice cream parlour was born…" Cloud smiled as he put the photo down on his desk. He wasn't sure when that day will come, but with some adjustments in his budget, he planned on putting a small portion of his salary in a joint-savings account that he and Leon had opened up dedicated to their ambitions.

Intertwining his fingers, the blonde stretched his arms in front of him, ready to resume his work until—

"AGGHH!" Cloud slightly jumped in his seat in utter surprise. He was startled by the fact that a plastic dart had lodged itself onto the iMac's display. Turning around, the Strife was able to see who the culprit was: a tall, skinny, fair-skinned, blue-eyed man about his age, complete with short and black spiky hair with long bangs framing the sides of his face. "Really now, Zack?"

"Haha, quoi?" Cloud's co-worker, Zack Fair, chuckled as he raised his hands in innocence, dropping the plastic toy-gun he held earlier.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Riiiggghhhttt... anyways…" His co-worker laughed again as the taller dude began to approach his cubicle. "Quoi de neuf, dude?"

"Ehhhh… couci-couça, I guess," Zack shrugged in indifference. "Je prends un break right now. Et toi?"

"Just took my five-minute break right now," Cloud replied as he began to enter data from the stack of paper on his desk into the system.

"Heh, looks like you've got the hang of software and stuff," Zack offhandedly remarked as he gazed towards the nearby window, a magnificent view of Downtown Montréal being present.

"Yeah, it seemed pretty easy and stuff," Cloud continued to type, while performing calculations on his calculator here and there.

"Well that's because you've got your training from the master right here, haha," Zack smirked as he closed his eyes, nodding his head while pointing his thumbs at himself in a conceded fashion.

"Hah, yeah… right…" Cloud laughed as he nodded his head side to side at the nonsense Zack was speaking of. Before the battle of wits was able to continue, the telephone rang on the blonde's desk, prompting him to pick it up. "Allô, la Banque de Montréal. C'est Cloud Strife parlant."

"Wow, I'm impressed with your French, Cloudy," Zack clicked his tongue as he pointed towards the blonde, though receiving a gesture to keep it down so that the Strife was able to hear whoever was speaking on the phone. "Qui c'est?"

"C'est notre superviseur, Monsieur Malfroid…" Cloud replied to Zack while placing a hand on the receiver. Who the blonde was referring to was their supervisor, Mr. Sephiroth Malfroid.

"M. Malfroid? Mais pourquoi?" Zack had a look of concern on his face.

"I don't know!" the blonde harshly whispered towards the Fair. "D'accord, M. Malfroid. J'y vais…" Cloud put the phone back to the base after his call had ended. Sighing, he got up from his seat and began to make his way towards the elevators.

"Où vas-tu?" Zack began to follow Cloud. "Where are you going?"

"Sephiroth wants me at his office…" A countenance of anxiety began to wash over the blonde, just as any employee would be when summoned to their boss or supervisor's office.

"But why?" Zack to became worried as they entered inside the elevator, making their way to the fourteenth-floor. "You haven't done anything wrong… right?"

"Of course not!" Cloud answered defensively, causing his co-worker to flinch a bit. "Sorry about that, dude."

"No worries, dude. I'm more worried about you, though…" Zack spoke with a concerned tone as they stepped off the elevator, making their way towards the double doors that had the affixed label Sephiroth F. Malfroid on it.

Ugh… what could I do to deserve this? I hope to God that I'm not getting fired… I've only been here for a few weeks! And I know I haven't done anything wrong!

"I'll wait for you out here, Cloud…" Zack patted the blonde on the shoulder. "Bonne chance. Hope it's nothing serious"

"Thanks…" Cloud nodded, reaching for the brass doorknob on the door.

Well… here goes nothing…

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Don't forget to review, =)

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The Usual Translations

Mais que si— but yes (as mentioned in a previous chapter, si can also be used as yes but in reference to a negated question being asked and giving a response in the affirmative as a result).

Et alors— And so

Désolé(e) – sorry

Mignon – cute

Couci-couça – so and so

Tu sais – you know (tu conjugation of the verb savoir – to know)

Notre – our

Malfroid (pr. mal—fwah) – a play on the words bad (mal) and cold (froid). I used this as Sephiroth's surname reflecting his personality in the FF games.

M. – Mr. (this is an abbreviation for the word monsieur, or mister. This is the case on how we use Mr. as an abbreviation for the latter)

Ce samedi – this Saturday

Bonne chance – good luck