Disclaimer: I own a Cloud plushie. And he isn't even in this story!
A/N: I'M ONLY LATE BY A LITTLE BIT! *headdesk* Sorry Georgie… But happy (slightly late) birthday anyway!
P.S. I went unbeta'd O.o It's a scary thing my friends…
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Angeal shouldn't be jealous. He knew this, but the small green monster wouldn't leave his mind. Zack should be free to relationships, even if they were ones that ShinRa would never approve of. Besides, it wasn't like his and Zack's relationship ever ran deeper than respect and friendship. So there really was nothing to be jealous of. No reason to be worried about his favorite second class, no reason to be upset that his puppy was snogging someone else. No reason at all. Yet glimpses of the scene kept playing before his eyes anytime his eyes closed for longer than five seconds. The scene that he was never supposed to see, and the scene that Zack had never realized his mentor had witnessed.
Footsteps were the only sounds heard in the darkened hallway. It was after curfew for all the younger SOLDIERs, but Angeal was still out, being one of the lucky few that never had to worry about what time they roamed the halls.
Outside, the weather was clear. It was dark, the windows letting in some of the moonlight, but there was no wind to stir up the otherwise stifling summer air. A pen could have dropped, and that alone would have been enough to make Angeal jump. That was why the low sounds of moans immediately caught his attention and made his muscles twitch slightly.
With a low sigh, Angeal made his way towards the disturbance, expecting to find a couple of second or third classes messing about after curfew and hoping that they wouldn't be caught.
Not that the noises leaned the odds in their favor however.
As the quiet scrapping of the door faded, Angeal stepped inside, careful not to make any noise. He needed proof that there was something really going on in the training room and scaring them off by making loud noises was not the way to do it.
Just as Angeal was about to open his mouth to reprimand the youngsters, he realized who one of them was. That one of them was supposed to know better, was supposed to be straight, and was supposed to be behaving himself by loyally being asleep in his dank room by this hour. Besides, if he was caught, Angeal would be the one in trouble. Especially considering the fact that he was Angeal's student.
'Zack! What the hell are you doing?!' were the words that Angeal was wishing his mouth would form, but a strong feeling wouldn't leave his gut, and it weighed down any words that threatened to escape.
They… They weren't worth enough of his time to punish.
With that thought, Angeal hurried back out of the training room as quickly and soundlessly as his feet would allow. There were more important things to dwell over after all.
"Angeal? You still with me?" Zack asked, waving a hand in front of his mentor's face. Angeal blinked once to clear the small glaze that had settled over his eyes and nodded his affirmative.
"Are you still training?" Angeal asked in return, noticing how the tip of Zack's sword was resting on the ground instead of slashing at the virtual monsters that were surrounding them. It was about time Angeal made it back to the training room anyway, even if he didn't want to remember that night. Zack still had no clue that Angeal had seen him, but his movements had been awkward so far this day.
"Uh, well," Zack paused and scraped at the back of his head. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't too spaced out on me. But now that you're back I guess I'll go back to fighting…"
Angeal gave a small shake of his head at Zack's pathetic excuse. He stayed on the sidelines, making sure that if any problems arose that he would be able to cancel the staged mission. Zack was fine though, save for a few stumbles here and there when he wasn't paying enough attention, but it wasn't as if that were anything new.
"Take a break, Zack," Angeal instructed, allowing the virtual to fall to pieces and reveal the blue-lighted area they were really in.
"Aw, come on man! I was just getting into it!" Zack complained, but took the helmet off anyway. He knew it wasn't a good idea to argue with Angeal, but he was finally getting the feel for things and was anxious to beat the shit out of everything in his path. Well, except for his mentor of course.
Angeal didn't let Zack's words phase him as he leaned against the wall casually. "Which is why we need to stop. You should 'Be into it' when you nail the first blow, not the twenty-third."
"You were counting?!" Zack asked as he resisted the urge to pout.
"It's my job," Angela replied with a shrug. "Now tell me the proper uses of the training room."
"Proper?" Zack asked, slightly confused. Then something seemed to click in his head and all of a sudden slight worry and embarrassment streaked through his eyes. "Well… It's to help place you in a place like what you would be fighting in when out on missions; to make you stronger; to learn how to wield the weapon correctly…"
"Good. Now tell me some things that it shouldn't be used for," Angeal said, still keeping his voice calm and his gaze level.
Zack hesitated for a moment. He knew where this was headed. Angeal had probably seen him out at night either sneaking into the training room or in the room itself, but hadn't said anything until he could coax Zack into telling it to him directly. That's how minor behavioral issues were always sorted out between the pair.
Well, the issue was that Zack didn't want to worry about the other chance. The chance that Angeal hadn't seen him and just wanted to make sure that Zack wasn't up to anything.
"Uh…" Zack started, being at a loss of words to say. "The opposite of what I said it should be for?" His answer ended up being more of a question than a direct answer to what should have been a very simple question.
"So sneaking in here after curfew to have a nice make-out session with a fellow SOLDIER while activating the virtual reality projectors would be an example of something not to do?" Angeal asked. The deer-caught-in-the-headlights look Zack gave him was only confirmation that it really was Zack in the room that night, and that Zack was starting to wonder what would happen now that Angeal had found out.
Zack tried to string together several words to make a proper explanation, but all that came out was a jumbled mess.
"Speak coherently Zack," Angeal reprimanded, wanting to hear what the boy had to say.
"He just said he liked me and I thought that we could just hang out in here for a while and it turned into that and-"
"You're lying Zack."
Zack let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "But the truth isn't pretty…" He looked up, surprise etched into his features, when he heard a low chuckle from Angeal.
"It never is," the elder stated simply. "It's one of those things that you need to realize and get over, because the truth will get you farther than lies ever will."
"Well… You know how when you have the VR activated, you don't have to see the person as who they really are? You can see them portrayed as someone else?" Zack took Angeal's silence as a yes and continued on with his explanation. "Well, that's what I did. I activated it so that he looked like he was someone else."
"So you used this boy?" Angeal asked, not approving of the message or the actions itself.
"Well, only if you look at it like-" Zack paused his statement when he caught the disapproving looks radiating off Angeal. "Yeah, yeah. I guess I did."
"And you used this boy to replace who?" Angeal asked even though he knew it was prying into information that Zack didn't have to tell him. Screw the dead cat. Curiosity was a marvelous thing.
A light shade of pink darted across Zack's cheeks. "What does it matter?"
Angeal didn't even bother answering. There was a simple way for him to figure it out, and it was sitting only a few meters away.
As he made his way over to the control panel, Zack seemed to have a slight panic attack. "Angeal! Hey, Angeal! You don't have to do this!" he said in a desperate attempt to stop the First Class from figuring his secret.
Though it seemed that Zack's efforts were fruitless.
"Zack…" Angeal said slowly as he glanced up from the screen to look his student in the eye before glancing back down again. "I think you need to tell me the whole story, and tell me it now." His tone wasn't forceful, just a feigned calmness.
This time the blush was afar deeper.
"It's just that well… I… I'm kinda… Attracted to you 'Geal," Zack said sheepishly, looking more at the ground. The cold tile was far easier to face than the person standing before him. "So I figured that you wouldn't feel like that about me, so I was going to use a virtual you and Lux was just helping me out some…"
"How long has this been going on?" Angeal asked, acting the mentor.
Zack seemed surprised. "About two months," he answered straightly, immediately regretting his decision to look up at Angeal. "I'm sorry and I won't-" This time, Zack's statement was cut off by lips pressing against his own instead of the usual stoic question of statement Angeal would shoot his way.
It didn't take long for Zack's guarded muscles to relax as he melted into Angeal, loving the feeling of slightly chapped lips against his own. But all too soon it was over and Angeal was making his way to the door.
"Hey! Wait up!" Zack called, following Angeal. "Where are you going?"
"I have paperwork that needs to be completed. You have training to finish," Angeal answered, immediately clearing up where he would be and where he expected Zack to be when he came back. But the puppy stopped walking and looked down at the floor dejectedly, not wanting to remain in the same place he had been for the past two hours.
"Fine…" Zack said with a sigh. He couldn't keep the small smile off his face however at the attention he had received, even if it was short-lived.
"But Zack," Angeal said, turning around in the doorframe so he was facing Zack. A small prick of the younger's ears was all it took for Angeal to continue. "Next time you need attention, don't go to technology. Just come to me."
Zack's smile spread from ear to ear as he nodded and ran right up next to Angeal. "I think right now counts then!" At that, a small smile tugged at the corners of Angeal's lips as he merely shook his head in disbelief.
It was going to be a long day.