Earthbound Series #1.
"Confessions"
(Main) Pairing: Cloud x Tifa.
Side Pairing(s): Aerith x Zack (a lot of it?)
Summary: AU. Cloud would do anything to make sure Tifa doesn't find out that he loves her. So that's why he told her: "I'm gay".
A.N. Okay, here's the deal. I kind of mixed Crisis Core Cloud with FF VII Cloud and Advent Children Cloud, and Zack is alive. Because of this, there probably wouldn't be the Aerith-Cloud-Tifa love triangle existent in this story, and Cloud is a little... different, personality-wise. Nothing too drastic, just combined features of Cloud over the years into one dude. :P
Earthbound Conversions: (1) 'SOLDIER' is a made-up video game, with gameplay much like 'Halo' or 'Call of Duty', except with swords. Jenova is the antagonist, the protagonist being an 'unnamed SOLDIER 1st'. (2) 'Chocobo' = 'Duck'.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII and any of its sequels (Advent Children) or prequels (Crisis Core, Before Crisis) referenced to in this fic. I don't own the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania or the Crisis Core Ultimania either (which is where I got my research from). I don't own Halo or Call of Duty either, now that I think about it…
EDIT (_/_/13): I re-edited the first three chapters because let's face it, this was uploaded on a whim and was barely edited before it was uploaded to the site. So, I took the liberty of re-uploading edited versions of the first three chapters, as well as a new one. Hopefully, we can get this story on the road now that it's summer and I'm not crammed with schoolwork anymore. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: "The Logic of a Man in Love" (Part I)
"Take it off."
"No."
"Dude. Seriously. Take. The. Effing. Thing. Off."
A defiant shake of the head. "No."
Behind them, two girls pointed and giggled mockingly, much to the disdain of the raven-haired student.
"Dude," he almost pleaded, "you're scaring all the chicks away!"
A raise of a pale brow. "You have a girlfriend."
Zack grinned. "An awesome one at that."
He couldn't see his best friend's eyes through the ridiculous headgear, as the attached goggles covered the top half of his face. But he knew Cloud long enough to feel the 'I-don't-care' glare boring into his skull. He was sure that if he could see Cloud's look right now, he'd be dead thirty times over already.
To be honest, he didn't even think that going to the local bar would be so… unnerving for the little guy. Yet, he managed to piss off Ducky-Head past the point of 'capable-of-murdering-the-Great-Professor-Sephirot h' level.
He leaned back on his seat, the leather of the booth soft against his aching back. Zack only wanted to relax tonight; between his ENGG PHYS 470 midterm and his tutor, Angeal, slamming him with ENGG MATH 482 homework, he wanted nothing but to relax this Friday night. Only, Aerith was gone for a couple of weeks to the Mideel rainforest for her Botany 377 course.
So, naturally, he went to the next best thing.
Not that his best friend fell second to his girlfriend or anything, but Cloud, as of late, was often busy with Gaia-knows-what and was only being sensitive to his requests that he leave him alone for a while. But since it was a couple of weeks since he'd seen the guy, he figured that Cloud would probably want a break by now. Only, when he'd invited Cloud along, he thought that he would be met with a bundle of sunshine that would be more than happy to share a few drinks with him.
Zack certainly didn't expect Cloud to show up to 7th Heaven in a SOLDIER helmet. Yes, he would readily agree that SOLDIER was a cool video game and all, but really?
The first thing that Zack said to him was whether or not he needed directions to Jenova's cooch for the Reunion.
Cloud responded by roughly shoving him against the wall.
A couple of hours later and Zack still hasn't figured out the reason for Cloud's sudden loss of his head.
Idly, Zack wondered if Cloud was secretly a woman and was currently PMSing.
"Okay." Leaning closer towards the blonde, he decided to use a gentler approach. "What's going on here Cloud? Did something happen?"
A blank look. Shrugging somewhat awkwardly, Zack elaborated. "Did you get bullied? Did someone steal your books? Because we both know that this isn't a conscious fashion choice here," he jokingly added in the end, hoping to alleviate the tense aura in the air.
Silence. And then, "It is so a conscious fashion choice."
Sceptically, Zack raised a dark brow. "Really? You want to be walking around downtown Midgar with a SOLDIER helmet on your head?"
"… Yes."
"Uh huh." Zack didn't buy it. He took another sip of beer and narrowed his eyes at his odd-looking best friend. "Okay, fine. Don't tell me."
Cloud shrugged. "Okay."
The next few minutes were absolute torture for Zack. While he normally did not feel so self-conscious around the general populous, he couldn't help but hear the whispers of the bar, feel the boring of numerous pairs of eyes laid upon the two of them, see the rude fingers pointed in their direction. It drove Zack absolutely insane. The worst part was, Cloud, the most self-conscious guy on the Planet, had the audacity to look as if the ridicule didn't bother him.
But just when Zack was ready to voice his discomfort towards the happily-chatting Duck-Butt, a girl in a black-and-white leather outfit walked towards their table, effectively halting Cloud mid-sentence.
"Hi," the brunette spoke. "My name's Tifa. Your waitress is not available anymore tonight. Is everything here okay?"
Zack blinked. After a moment of assessment, he recognized the woman as the new main barmaid of 7th Heaven. "Oh. Hi." He gave her one of his charming grins and pushed the empty bug of beer in her direction. "Where's the other waitress?"
The barmaid raised her brow and smirked. "Why? You were going to pull the moves on her tonight?"
Zack laughed heartily. "Maybe."
"Well… she had an emergency to deal with. Sorry to disappoint." She turned her attention towards Cloud, who looked like he'd gone on a wild ride at the back of a truck (motion sickness was Cloud's worst enemy, after all). "You've attracted a lot of attention tonight, haven't you?"
Zack watched as his best friend did a mix between a dance with his jaw and the slow reddening of his cheeks. If he didn't know any better, he would have performed CPR on the poor guy.
A few awkward moments later, Tifa pursed her lips and grabbed the empty mugs on the table. "Er… okay then. I'll be right back with these."
Once she was gone, Zack leaned over and grinned. "You think she's cute, don't you?"
"… No."
"Aha! I knew it!"
"What?" Cloud frowned. "I do not."
"Do too!"
"Do not."
"Do too!"
Cloud stuck his tongue out.
Zack rolled his eyes. "Real mature, Cloud."
He looked away, smartly choosing to stay silent. Not that it did much to save his dignity, Zack mused.
"See? This is why you have to take off your helmet! Miss Tifa will notice your cute little ducky hair and be smitten!"
The glare came back, powerful as ever. Zack shivered. While innocent-looking as the blonde was, he had his frightening moments.
But, it was in that cold, slightly crazed look that he understood. He knew a hint when he saw one. "Okay, but you'll be regretting it," he said in a sing-song voice.
"Not interested," the blonde reiterated in faint annoyance. Zack would've laid off the topic, if it weren't for the fact that his cheeks were rapidly burning into a pink tinge for every moment they were talking about her. Although... something was tugging at the back of his mind. Suddenly, the name became familiar to him. Where had he heard of that name before?
He shrugged it off and smirked at his blushing best friend. "Sure you aren't," Zack wagged his eyebrows at Cloud, who proceeded to snort derisively in the direction of the wall beside them. "Hey Tifa!"
"Hah-!" Cloud's frantic waving of his arms was immediately cut-off by the wine-eyed brunette's presence.
"Is there something wrong? I was going to get your drinks in a minute-"
Zack waved Tifa's rambling off with a dismissive wave. "Oh, that can wait. You wanna help a guy out here?" He jerked his thumb towards the frozen SOLDIER-helmeted blonde in front of him. Inside, Zack was itching to burst into laughter. "He's being really weird tonight. He refuses to take off that stupid helmet of his."
"What?" Tifa blinked, and glanced in the direction of the SOLDER helmet-wearing man. "How come?"
Cloud said nothing.
Picking up on Cloud's lack of cooperation tonight, Zack continued. "Maybe you can convince Cloud to telling you why he's not willing to enjoy a relaxing time at the lovely 7th Heaven with me tonight…" He trailed off once he caught Tifa's dumbfounded look. "What?"
Instead of responding, she rounded on the other participant in the table. "Cloud? As in, Cloud Strife?"
Zack's blue eyes bugged out in shock. Cloud was an odd enough name as it was, so he was sure that his friend was the only 'Cloud Strife' in Midgar. "You guys know each other?"
Cloud sighed and tossed Tifa a weak smile, taking off the helmet. His blonde spikes bounced back into the hectic mess they normally were. "Hey… Tifa…"
"Cloud!" Said blonde was immediately swallowed into a hug. "How have you been? It's been ages since I saw you last!"
"Yeah…"
Much to Cloud's horror, Zack winked. From Cloud's point of view, that was the signal for hell breaking loose. "So, Tifa? How do you know Cloud?"
Pulling away from the horror-stricken male, Tifa said, "We both come from the same hometown. We've been neighbours since we were kids."
Zack's brows shot up in surprise. Whatever he'd been expecting, he certainly wasn't expecting that. Surely, Cloud would have mentioned something about a beautiful, long-legged, busty brunette living next door to him, right?
He frowned at this particular piece of information. It triggered that something, at the back of his mind, nagging at him...
"Wow," he whistled, "small world, then." He didn't know much about Nibelheim, but he knew that it was small enough that meeting someone in Midgar from there would be a rare occasion. And from the look Cloud was giving him, it looked like he did recognize the woman.
Suddenly, something snapped together in his brain. Cloud has talked about her before.
The first thing that Zack wondered was if they had previously dated. It certainly looked like it, from Cloud's sheepishly pained expression. But previous mumbled conversations ran quickly through Zack's mind and it clicked.
Unfortunately, it clicked in his head a second too late.
"I'm gay."
