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It started as most things had in recent memory, with Sora,
To be more precise, it all started with Sora complaining.
“You’re boring,” Sora said, crossing his arms and sticking out his bottom lip in an exaggerated fashion that made Leon roll his eyes.
“Yep. I am.” Leon agreed somewhat harshly. This was the third time this week that he and Sora had had the exact conversation and his usual never-ending patience with the Keyblade Wielder was seemingly running out.
Leon could feel Sora’s gaze on the side of his head, and it took all his willpower not to give in and look at him. Sora was obviously waiting for him to continue the argument as he had the last two times but he stayed stubbornly silent.
Thankfully all it took was five seconds before Sora slapped his forehand and let out a loud groan.
“C’mon Leon! It’s your birthday, why wouldn’t you want a birthday party?”
Leon was sure that Sora did not have the attention span to listen to the long list of reasons why, so Leon simply settled on. “Because I don’t like my birthday.”
“But birthday parties are so fun! You enjoyed Cloud’s, didn’t you?”
“But that’s different.”
“How is it?”
It was yet again another opportunity for Leon to reel off a list that Sora would interrupt halfway though. His mind flipped through the reasons in quick succession.
He didn’t deserve a Birthday Party.
His Birthday was so close to Cloud’s that there was no point throwing two separate parties.
It would be a complete waste of time.
He was scared that no one actually liked him enough to come.
Finally after a brief pause Leon just said, “Because it is, alright?”
From the inhumane noise Sora made it definitely wasn’t alright.
“You are impossible.” Sora said firmly and Leon couldn’t help but agree.
“He is.” Chimed a third voice and Leon couldn’t help but roll his eyes yet again when he realised who it belonged to.
Both Leon and Sora turned towards the voice to see Cloud leaning against the doorframe, the slight upturn of his lips indicating that he had been there for a while.
Sora rushed over to Cloud, loudly lamenting about how unwilling Leon was to attend a party thrown in his honour. Mid way through the rant Cloud turned his head to meet Leon’s gaze. Leon merely glared at the other man who, infuriatingly, raised an eyebrow in response.
Leon was the first to turn away, pretending to go back to the letters spread out in front of him.
When Sora finally finished all Cloud said was, “Leon hates birthdays, Sora. Just let him be a grumpy old man in peace.”
Sora sighed, a deep echoing sigh that signalled that the point had finally been driven home. The room was silent for a few seconds before Leon rose from his seat. He walked over to Sora, whose head was hanging low and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Look, Sora. I appreciate the thought, but I am more than happy to quietly observe the passing of time as I age without making a big fuss about it. Okay?”
It took a few seconds before Sora’s head nodded ever so slightly.
Happy that Sora had seemingly given up the idea he turned to Cloud. “I’m guessing that Cid is back now?”
“Yeah. I would head down there before he starts barking orders at Merlin again and ends up as an icicle again.”
Leon quite enjoyed seeing the old wizard and Cid arguing but he had to admit that Cloud had a point. He turned back to Sora who gaze was still firmly locked at the floor. “I’ll catch up with you later, alright?”
He waited until he heard Sora mumble, “Alright.” before he left the room, his shoulder brushing Cloud’s as he did so. He made it roughly three strides away before he could hear Cloud’s voice talking to Sora although he couldn’t make out what was being said.
As he headed back into town, Leon hoped that Cloud was reiterating the fact that planning a birthday party for Leon was a recipe for disaster. Leon could handle disappointment. He could definitely handle the embarrassment of only a handful people turning up to a birthday party.
What he couldn’t even stomach to imagine was the disappointment Sora would feel at all of his hard work gone to waste. As much as Sora was practically a resident of the Garden with how much time he had been hanging around and helping everyone, he hadn’t been here before.
Leon knew it was his imagination, but he still couldn’t help but feel the patches on the back of his jacket, as if some entity was pushing them into his skin making their presence known.
As he approached Merlin’s house he could already hear Cid shouting and he steeled himself to be the mediator in yet another argument between him and the old wizard. His last thought as he pushed open the door to Merlin’s house was that he hoped that Cloud had finally managed to convince Sora to put the idea of a birthday party to bed once and for all.
If there was one thing he and Cloud had in common it was that they usually had Sora’s best interest at heart. And if that best interest was to convince him that a birthday party was a monumental bad idea then so be it.
“You spineless traitor.” Leon whispered under his breath just loud enough for Cloud to hear him.
Cloud responded by placing his hand on Leon’s shoulder, squeezing it ever so slightly maybe in apology, maybe in encouragement, before he pushed Leon further into the room.
“Are you surprised?” Sora asked loudly and brightly.
He was practically bouncing in excitement, and his face was lit in genuine elation in a way that all but extinguished the anger that had flared in Leon’s chest when the lights had flicked on. As he was defended by the screams of “Happy Birthday.” He was surprised to realise that his first instinct was not to turn away and flee. Which was a good thing as Cloud was blocking the exit behind him.
“I am very surprised.” Leon replied to Sora whose smile seemed to grow even wider if that was possible.
Before Sora could say anything else, Leon was ambushed by a windmill of arms and joyful screaming that could only belong to Yuffie.
“Oh Leon!” Yuffie cried and Leon did not expect the warmth that spread through his chest at the sound of her voice. She wrapped her arms around Leon’s torso and squeezed him hard enough to make him let out a pained groan. “How sad we all are to see out resident grumpy hedgehog get another year older.”
“Hedgehog?” Leon managed to sputter once Yuffie released him for her grip and he was able to breathe again.
Sora reappeared in front of him, now sporting a very pointy party hat on his head. “Yeah! You’re all prickly on the outside but inside you’re really warm and caring!”
“Thank you?” Leon said, not sure if being compared to such an animal was a positive comparison despite the latter half of the sentence.
Sora beamed at him and Leon felt something inside himself soften. He considered that maybe, just maybe, the whole party-debacle would be worth it to see Sora smile like that.
From behind them someone called Leon’s name and he turned around to face one of the men who had taken to working in the Item Shop. Leon had a brief and dare he say enjoyable conversation with him before he wished him a happy birthday. As soon as the man left he was replaced with another resident of Radiant Garden.
It went like for the next how many minutes. It seemed there was an endless conveyor belt of people wishing him well. Each person offering Leon a sincere well wish that Leon had to break away from them all at the first opportunity, darting outside to compose himself.
He all but collapsed on one of the benches outside, taking several deep breaths to try and slow the rapid beating of his heart.
He hadn’t expected this.
He couldn’t have dreamed that people actually came to a party that was solely focused on him. It wasn’t a reach to say that at least half of the Garden had made an effort to attend. Leon didn’t really know what to do with that information and luckily for him he was saved from fulling processing it by the door to the event hall being pushed open.
Leon watched out of the corner of his eye as Cloud stepped outside and gingerly sat next to him.
“Hey,” Cloud said softly.
“Hey.” Leon replied, his gaze still firmly fixed ahead of him and not at Cloud.
Cloud hesitated for a moment before asking, “You good?”
Leon sighed. By every conceivable measure, he shouldn’t have been.
The party was an amalgamation of everything he hated. People making a fuss over him, celebrating him and making it painfully apparent that they appreciated his presence.
A younger Leon – a younger Squall – would have hated every second of it. He would’ve walked away from the party without a second thought, refusing to care about what anyone thought of him.
“I think so.” Leon said finally, turning to look at the other man.
He couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped him as he spotted the off-centre hat that was resting on Cloud’s head.
“She will get you too.” Cloud said in warning although there was a glimmer of amusement in his eye.
Perhaps it was a testament to Cloud’s good mood that he hadn’t ripped the hat off as soon as he got outside.
Leon studied Cloud for a few moments. He could tell that Cloud was on the verge of asking him something. He could practically see Cloud’s brain mulling over the words in his head, trying to find a way to phrase them in a way that wouldn’t make Leon brush him off.
Cloud seemingly settled on, “I thought you would be a lot more angry about all of this.”
“So did I.” Leon admitted.
From inside the building came a loud shrill shriek which Leon hoped was from Yuffie's doing and not from everyone realising the birthday boy was no where to be seen.
“Once upon a time, I definitely would have been.” Leon confessed.
Cloud hummed, possibly in agreement. “In my defence after you left I did try to convince Sora that it was a recipe for disaster. But he’s just, y’know…” Cloud trailed off.
“Sora?” Leon suggested.
“Exactly.”
Two pair of blue eyes met and for a moment neither of them said anything.
The door to the event hall opened once again and Cloud’s eyes broke away from Leon’s to look at whoever stumbled out. Leon had to swallow down the disappointment he felt at losing the man’s attention and turned to see Aerith approaching the two of them.
“Just having a minute?” Aerith asked. It took Leon a moment tor realise that she was sporting to only one but two party hats on her head. He hoped that one of them were not intended for him.
“They missing us in there?” Cloud asked.
“Maybe not you. But Leon definitely.”
“Jeez I’ve never known him to be this popular.” Leon could feel Cloud’s gaze on his face yet again.
“Don’t get used to it. The novelty tends to wear off after a few hours.” Leon said.
Aerith smiled brightly. “Well we better not let a second go to waste.” She stepped forward and grabbed Leon’s hand and pulled him to his feet. She didn’t let go as she headed back inside, dragging him along with her.
The rest of the evening passed in a whirlwind of actual enjoyable small talk, genuine birthday wishes and being unwillingly involved in a game of ‘Who can get a party hat on Leon’s head?’.
Leon found that for once, he didn’t mind being the centre of attention.
The whole experience was probably helped by the very fruity yet deceptively strong drinks that Cid occasionally passed to him with a wink. Despite this Leon was relieved when people started to head home until it was only a few familiar faces who remained.
“So, on a scale on one to ten how has tonight been?” Tifa asked. There were still a few groups of people milling around the hall but it was definitely the least crowded it has been all evening. Sora obviously took this as an opportunity to teach Yuffie some complicated dance move that Leon was more than happy not to get involved with.
“More than a five.”
Tifa let out a low whistle. “That is high praise coming from you.”
“I have to give credit when credit is due.” Leon said.
On the dancefloor Sora was somehow doing a perfect one handed hand-stand whilst Yuffie was struggling to do the same. Both Tifa and Leon winced as Yuffie over-rotated and somehow ended doing some weird gymnastic move that ended up with her landing flat on her back.
Both of them immediately dissolved into fits of laughter.
“They haven’t had one of Cid’s drinks have they?” Leon asked, shaking his head at the scene.
“Jeez, I hope not. I don’t think Cloud would be too happy having to carry them both home.”
Before Leon could respond the music that had been playing in the background all evening abruptly cut off. Sora and Yuffie both let out loud noises of complaints which were directed at Cloud who was stood next to the speakers, an unplugged cable dangling from his hand.
“Looks like it’s last call.” Tifa said before she started to walk over to where Aerith and Cid were already beginning to tidy one of the tables. Leon took that as a cue and he too walked over to help pack away. He manged to put all the cutlery away in a box before he was shooed away by Aerith.
“It’s your party. You shouldn’t have to clean up after it!”
Leon opened his mouth to protest however was stopped when Cid said gruffly, “Ya wanna help? Take the kid outside to do a job or something. He’s going to be running under our feet and slow us down.”
Leon resisted the urge to correct him and his choice of words and instead let Tifa thrust a box full of what looked like empty cans into his hands before calling out, “Sora! Would you be able to help Leon take out the recycling!”
Sora by the way he enthusiastically bounded over to them, was more than happy to help. He even managed to balance two boxes in his arms as they made their way outside towards the bins. Leon held the door open for Sora who set his boxes down next to the large recycling bin.
“So, did you like your party?” Sora asked.
“It was alright, I guess.” Leon said tossing the box into the bin where it landed with a loud crash. He turned to Sora to ask him to pass one of the other boxes but then he froze.
Sora looked … deflated was probably the best word.
It was such a contrast to how he been the entire night that it made panic flood Leon’s veins. He immediately turned to Sora and placed both of his hands on the boy’s shoulders. His tone was soft when he asked, “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Leon watched Sora’s chest rise and fall in unsteady breaths. It felt like an eternity before Sora whispered, “You didn’t like it. Did you?”
“I told you I did.”
“I know but-“ Sora’s started to say, his voice cracking halfway through.
Leon drew a deep breath through his nose, searching for the right words to say. He couldn’t help but feel slightly emotionally stunned in that moment. He cleared his throat
“Look Sora – I … I don’t really know how else to convince you apart from just telling you but I really did enjoy tonight. Truly. Realistically I should be angry at you for going ahead with it all when I specifically told you not to but I-“ Leon paused for a second before he finished with a genuine, “Thank you, is what I’m trying to say. Thank you.”
Sora was silent for a moment, and then another, then looked up at timidly before asking. “You really did enjoy it?”
Leon smiled. “I really did.”
The relief that washed over Sora was immediate.
“I could have done without Yuffie trying to get a birthday hat on my head all night.” Leon added “But I guess you can’t have everything in life, right?”
Sora giggled and Leon could see the last traces of sadness and uneasiness melt from his expression. For a few seconds, they simply looked at one another. That was what finally made Leon open his arms and beckoned Sora towards him with a soft, “C’mere.”
Sora all but barrelled into him, wrapping his arms tightly around Leon’s torso. An amused huff left Leon’s mouth as he returned the embrace.
“Thank you again, for the party.” Leon murmured, as if repeating multiple times showed how genuine the words were. “I suppose I better add party planner to your list of titles,”
“Best birthday planner.” Sora corrected, his voice muffled from where his face was buried in Leon’s jacket.
“Well, I don’t know about that. You could have just got lucky this time. You will have to organise a few more just to be sure.”
Sora laughed against his chest. Leon let the hug linger for a few more moments before he let his arms fall free and Sora did the same. “C’mon, we need to still put these boxes in the bin before we go back in.”
Leon let Sora throw the last few boxes in the bin, impressed at the height he got with them before they landed with a loud crash. Once they were finished Leon pushed open the door to go back inside; holding it open for Sora who ducked under his arm to get inside ahead of him.
He started to ask what else needed to be down before a sudden weight wrapped around his upper body.
He stumbled forward and felt something brush against the top of his head. Which was swiftly followed by the unmistakable snap of elastic against the skin beneath his chin. Leon let out a cry of pain as the weight jumped off and stood in front of him.
“I finally got him!” Yuffie cried triumphantly.
Leon slowly reached up to feel whatever had just been put on his head.
A party hat.
Of course.
Leon glared at Yuffie whose triumph blinded her from the danger she had just put herself in.
There was a sudden flash of light as Leon summoned Griever to his hand. Leon put it down to his good mood, and not the fact that Cloud and Tifa were holding him back, that Yuffie made it home with no grievous injuries.