Monoglyphic

Chapter 1

"Zack stop pacing like that, you're making me dizzy." Aerith sighed knowing the man wouldn't listen to her. He was far too anxious and it showed.

"I'm sorry Aerith, but what should I do? I really like him... And he's straight." Zack stopped pacing and put his hands behind his head. "What would you do?"

Aerith got up from her seat on the church bench. "Well, if it were me..." She paused when she saw Zack looking at her expectantly his eyes gleaming with hope. She saw now why Angeal gave him his nickname. "Puppy, I wouldn't be in this sorta mess in the first place because I would have asked him by now."

Zack noticed the emphasis on the last few words but knew fine well that he couldn't bring himself to do it. Staring at the floor, he let his arms drop. Aerith walked to stand by his side letting a gentle hand come to rest on his shoulder. "You're not gonna find anything looking at you're feet, silly. Just go do it Zack, if anything, you'll be able to stop asking yourself what would happen if he'd say yes."

"You mean if he said no." Aerith put a finger on his lips and shot him a stern look which resembled the one she gave those children she took care of when they did something wrong. For all it was worth, whenever she gave it to Zack it always worked.

"I know what I said. You have no reason not to do this." She took her finger away and smiled as a teacher would when observing a student who had learned the lesson she had set for him.

Zack swallowed, pausing before he answered. "Yes ma'am."

She pointed to the opposite end of the room."Now march." Aerith moved behind him pushing him down the isle towards the two oak doors at the entrance of the church. "Say it to him as soon as you see him, is that understood? And don't you dare come back in here without doing so Zackary Fair!"

With that she all but launched the man into the street. Gosh, Aerith should join the recruitment sector of SOLDIER. Heh, He could just imagine her ordering General Sephiroth around, she was scary enough to get away with it sometimes so why not?

Getting to feet after having tripped down the church's stone steps, Zack made his way, slowly back to HQ, hoping there was perhaps an urgent mission he had to attend to or Angeal needed him to train more. He was actually regretting not slacking off this morning.

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Cloud was on guard patrol this afternoon. He'd had to take an extra shift when one of the other cadets had called in sick. To be honest he couldn't think of a better way to pass the time. Only very brave or very stupid people decided to take Shinra or SOLDIER on, and never usually got past the entrance gate before they were shot, impaled or arrested -the third happening only every once in a blue moon. So basically it was a relatively easy job.

Not to mention the pay he got for doing overtime, which he was more than happy to do.

The only downside to it all was he barely got any action. The most he'd had in the past couple of weeks was some drunk idiot scientist trying break in. He was one of the rare cases since he was only suspended, but still, Cloud was very bored, content, but very, very bored.

There was one small benifit Cloud was over the moon about, though. If he planned his routes out right, he'd bump into Zack. Most of the time they'd miss each other because Cloud got lost, but that was what phones were for.

But today Zack didn't know about Cloud's overtime, he probably turned his phone off too.

Cloud sighed as he made his way back from one of the higher floors towards the stairs. He'd done his rounds and knew he wouldn't see Zack any time soon.

Cloud was at foot of the eighteenth floor landing when he heard someone call his name behind him. He turned to face them.

"It's been a while Cloud. Can we talk?" Cloud felt the blood drain from his face as he saw the man, immediately he corrected his posture and saluted.

"G-general!" He inwardly cursed as he felt his voice shake slightly.

"At ease, Cadet." General Sephiroth laughed. It was always reasonably amusing to ambush this particular Cadet out of all who joined the ranks. He'd heard much from Zack concerning the blond's timid nature, but he couldn't help but probe into it.

"Yes s-sir." Cloud dropped the salute but didn't do much else, Sephiroth wasn't even sure he was breathing.

The general sighed still smiling. "Relax Cloud we're both off duty so there's no need for formalities. You're good friends with Zack, aren't you?"

Cloud still didn't move from his rigid position."Y-yes sir."

"Well it just so happens that I'm going to dinner with him and a few other officers tonight, perhaps you'd like to join us?" Cloud seemed to panic at the question.

He was too preoccupied by his own thoughts trying to process the answer that he didn't notice the general shift his gaze momentarily to another figure wandering up from the floor bellow them.

"Spikie!" Zack practically jumped on Cloud when he reached the top. The young cadet gave a loud yelp when he was grabbed from behind. "What's wrong Spikie? Not happy to see me?"

As Cloud returned to his senses. Turning his head to side to address Zack -while making a mental note to slit his throat in his sleep- Cloud was rewarded with a ruffle of his hair. "Nice to see you too, Zack."

Meanwhile, the more or less forgotten General in the corner was smiling amusingly at the two who were chatting away in a semi awkward embrace. It was on much more intimate grounds than he'd ever seen any cadet and SOLDIER (of any class) he'd ever observed.

"It's been a while Zack." Sephiroth offered, tired of being left out of the conversation.

Zack's imaginary puppy ears perked up and he shot a grin at Sephiroth. "Seph! How'r ya doing? I thought you were away on a mission this week, not skipping work are we Seph?"

Cloud looked utterly horrified at the response from Zack- he could never show such disrespect to someone who could quite literally cut him clean in two. But Sephiroth didn't seem phased.

"Severe flooding destroyed a mountain pass to a small town in Wutai where I was to be stationed. Until it is cleared I have a bit of free time to spend on paperwork. And why are you asking? I swear I told you this earlier on the phone."

"There's more to life than paperwork Seph. And my phone's broken, Angeal lent me his." Zack took the device out of his pocket to show Sephiroth, switching arms so that he still holding on to Cloud with his right.

"Is that so? I see then. I hope you gave Angeal my message"

"Yep! Oh! And before I forget I can't make it to diner tonight, I got plans." Plans? What plans could possibly be more important than that? Cloud was shocked, he couldn't go out for dinner now if Zack wasn't coming -he would probably faint if he met with General Sephiroth alone.

"Are you sure? I was talking to Cloud about coming too." Zack's eyes lit up for a moment and paused to think. Cloud on the other hand was constantly wishing he would say yes. Before Zack could ask why the General answered.

"Angeal felt that if he, Genesis and myself are present you might feel a little bit left out by yourself given none of us are in your age range. So we thought you would be more comfortable having someone with you who was your own age."

Zack smiled and patted the blond's head again. "I'll cancel my plans if Spikie's definitely going." They both looked to Cloud who sighed.

"As long as I don't get in trouble for breaking curfew-" Zack cut him off.

"Aw Cloud, I always broke curfew and I never got into trouble for it-" It was Sephiroth who cut Zack off this time.

"That's because Angeal always bailed you out and gave an excuse." Turning to Cloud he gave a reassuring smile. "I get a message to head of department at the cadet barracks for you Cloud."

Cloud blushed and gave slight bow (he was restricted in his movements by Zack's arm) "T-thank you, sir!"

Zack looked from Cloud to Sephiroth and raised an eyebrow. Sephiroth shrugged. The two said their good byes and Zack accompanied Cloud down the stairs.

"What was that back there?" He asked after walking in silence for a few minutes.

"What was what?"

"The bow thing. And all the stuttering. Are you scared of him or something Spikie?"

"No, I just feel I need to show some respect to higher ranked officers."

Zack had a thought that put him in a playful mood. He pouted. "What about me?"

Cloud scoffed and shook his head. "You put me in headlock and demanded that I do not call you sir, then when I did it by accident you tickled till I fainted and spent the following three hours apologising next to my hospital bed."

"Good times." he laughed in response, "Spikie, can I talk to you about something before dinner tonight? I don't think it can wait until after."

Cloud smiled. "Sure."

}{*}{*}{*}{*}{

Zack had insisted that they return to his apartment after stopping off at the barrack to pick up a change of clothes and warn the Sergent of Sephiroth's message -to which the man took to a state of shock and saluted the both of them. Zack thought it was hilarious, Cloud thought he could get used to it.

It took them a further twenty minutes to get to Zack's place. It was further than the cadet barracks but that was because it was in the city. As soon they stepped in doors Cloud was greeted with an open space living room and adjoined kitchen fitted with modern furnishings overlooking a large window that took up an entire wall. The two doors opposite the kitchen area must have lead to the bathroom and Zack's bedroom.

"Like watch ya see? I designed it myself." Zack pulled the younger inside his home gently by a hand placed at the small of his back."There's a guest bedroom through that door over there, it's the first room on the right, second one's mine -y'don't wanna go in there at the moment, it's kinda messy. You know you've gone in the wrong direction if you hit the bathroom."

There goes his theory of a small apartment. The other door might be a broom closet, but then again, he couldn't see Zack doing any cleaning or household jobs. He decided to ask as the thought started to gnaw away at his mind. "Zack? What's that other door for? I mean- if that one's got the bathroom and bedrooms behind it, what the use of this one?"

Zack looked at him with a glint in his eyes. "You ask the strangest questions. Alright then; that's a small armary."

Cloud gawked at him in disbelief. It just made Zack laugh. "You don't think I'd let Shinra keep my weapons, did ya? Nah, they're here as a precaution. Think about it: if the city was ever attacked do you think the staff up at HQ would be able to look after mobilising the army and arming the SOLDIERs? It's sort of like a right of passage for 1st and 2nd classes to keep their own stuff so Angeal had an armory built into my place as soon as I was promoted."

Zack held a little smile to himself when he saw Cloud's face. The kid was in absolute awe. No doubt he was daydreaming of the day when he might get his own, and Zack had confidence that he would see that day sometime soon.

He ruffled the spikes of the younger again. "C'mon Chocobo, go get changed."

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AN; This is a bit of a change. I don't usually write in the FF7 section. The separators are supposed to be Christmas crackers if they don't look like them I hope it doesn't take away from the story. Chapter 2 is on the go already, so you shouldn't have to wait too long. Bye now. :)

PS; Don't google dictionary the meaning of the title since the word doesn't exist. I made it up myself, you can guess what it means if you want.