Author's note: yeah, ZackXCloud, and a third person later, but I'm not telling you who it is. XD I'm trying to work on writing better, so comments would be great! : D yeah, it's gonna get lemony after a while. Letting you know that now.
Rating: M
Squats. It's what Zack did. No matter what the problem was, what time it was, or where, for that matter. When he needed to concentrate, or not think about something, it happened.
Right now, he was thinking. More specifically, he was thinking about a clear sky blue-eyed, fluffy chocobo haired swordsman.
'He's changed,' Zack thought. 'But...it's been almost ten years, I think, since we've met, and majority of those years, I was in the life stream.'
He was so wrapped up in thinking, his SOLDIER senses didn't pick up on the apartment door opening, the familiar clunk of boots hitting the ground, or softly padding feet getting closer to their room.
He did notice, however, the bedroom door slamming open and First Tsurugi being slammed into the wall next to the Buster Sword, making it bounce lightly off the wall. Glancing up, he saw Cloud with his head bowed, hand still out stretched over the hilt of his sword.
"Cloud?" Zack asked, stopping mid-squat, hands still clenched together.
'This is who Cloud is now, a battle-hardened warrior who beat Seph, three? No, two times.' Zack thought to himself, standing up and looking at Cloud, who looked up, and Zack could almost see the mask of indifference falling off, piece by piece. His eyes were quickly drowning in tears. Quickly closing the space between them, he put his hands lightly on Cloud's shoulders.
Suddenly, Zack had a thought, maybe even a epiphany. 'I'm the only one to see him like this.' For a moment, Cloud looked like the little 16-year-old grunt he was when they first met. Zack would never tell him that to his face though, on the fear of getting shredded by Tsurugi. He did try to burn the image forever in his mind.
"Spiky, what's wrong?" Zack asked, looking Cloud in the eyes. This seemed to make matters worse, for Cloud actually started crying, but Zack only saw that for a second before Cloud shook his head and layed his head on Zack's shoulder. Zack didn't say anything, but put his arms around Cloud's waist and pulling him close.
Zack could feel his shoulder getting damp from the silent tears Cloud was shedding. 'Pretty people, 'specially Cloud, shouldn't cry.' He thought. This bothered the puppy, he didn't like people crying, it made the good moods he worked so hard to make for people go away.
Gently pulling Cloud, he made a path to the bed and carefully pushed Cloud down, so he was sitting at the edge of the bed. Kneeling in front of Cloud, Zack kept his hands on Cloud's shoulders. "You there Spiky? Or is it the Lone Wolf?" Zack wondered.
Cloud snorted. "Like Lone Wolf would ever cry like this. It's me, Zack" Cloud started to wipe at his tears, but Zack beat him to it, gently using his sleeve to wipe the tears. He moved his hand to Cloud's cheek, while Cloud closed his eyes and turned into Zack's hand. Zack smiled and layed his head in Cloud's lap, letting him keep his hand on his face, and turning his head so he could partially see the blonde.
"Now, you gonna tell me? Or am I gonna have to guess?" Zack asked, grinning. Cloud opened his eyes and looked down at him, while Zack turned his head more to look completely at him. Cloud took a deep breath and tightened his hold on Zack's hand, the strength he was using would've crushed a normal man's hand. Zack thanked Gaia for his enhanced strength.
Zack sat up, and gently pulled his hand away from Cloud, and climbed onto the bed, pulling Cloud with him while he leaned his back against the headboard. He gently took Cloud's hand, and pulled him up, so his slight frame was pressed against his, with Cloud's back to his chest, and Zack's arms tight around his waist. Cloud leaned his head back so it was on Zack's shoulder, while Zack put his put his chin on Cloud's shoulder, leaning into Cloud and playing the part of the puppy everyone knew and loved, he nuzzled Cloud.
"It's this scientist...Weiss, he sent a mercenary to track me down and give me a message. Zack, he threatened to take you away to Weiss, so the bastard could experiment on you...they said, like Genesis." Cloud said as he turned into Zack's warm chest, gripping tightly to Zack's shirt.
"Cloud..." Zack started, unbelieving. Cloud shook his head.
"I've already lost you once, and that was the most painful day of my life. I thought I would never be able to see your smiling face again...I'm not going to lost you again." He said shakily, voice muffled by Zack's chest. Zack gently pried Cloud off of his chest and held him at arm's distance, making Cloud look him in the eye.
"Spike, I died once, I'm not gonna do it again. Well, not for a long time anyways." Zack thumped his chest. "This backwater expert knows how to survive. No old fat scientist, or company, is gonna take me away from you. When I die, it'll be over 20 years from now, and I'll die while doing squats. It's the Zack Fair way to go." Zack finished, and kissed the tip of Cloud's nose. Cloud was shaking slightly as he sighed and leaned back into Zack's comforting embrace, closing his eyes again.
"Zack...if anything happened to you, my rage would be worse than Sephiroth's. Nothing would stop me from destroying them with my bare hands. I can't deal with you leaving me twice." Cloud was crying silently. Zack shook his head, disbelievingly.
"Cloud, nothing's gonna happen to me. I promise. You have to realize this puppy is actually a wolf." Zack started, getting a cold look in his eye. "Did you forget that I was a first class SOLDIER?" Cloud frowned.
"No, that's not it!" Cloud said fiercely.
"I think it is. Maybe I have to give you a reminder." Something had snapped in Zack, maybe it was the fact that Zack hadn't had anything to do for a while but stay at the apartment, and that made him feel a lot less masculine, and the fact that Cloud was ignoring the fact that he was a trained SOLDIER, and he could kill someone with a well placed hit, so he flipped them over so he was leaning over Cloud. He grabbed Cloud's wrists and held them over his head.
"You need to learn, Cloud."
