When Wrong is Right
Dedicated to: Elena, for her birthday! 3
Pairing: Cloud/Zack, AU
Rating: M, for sexy times!
Panting from the ecstasy of post-orgasm that burned through his entire body, Cloud collapsed against Zack's lean chest. His blonde spikes tickled the older male's neck as his head dropped onto a broad shoulder, but Zack ignored the sensation. Instead, he focused on returning his breathing to normal. One of Cloud's hands was gripping the front of Zack's grey t-shirt but the other was curled into a fist between their bodies, fingers still wet with Zack's white seed.
He was shivering slightly, body still caught up in the feeling of Zack's warm hand wrapped around him and what it meant. If it meant anything at all, that is.
It seemed that to Zack, it was just a way of distracting Cloud when the blonde got too frustrated or angry at him- or anything at all, really. Try as he might to keep it as a strictly physical thing, Cloud was having difficulty fighting off the feelings again lately. Their little stress-relieving encounters were becoming more frequent, more intense and more… meaningful. To Cloud, at least.
As cliché as it was, Cloud was not just terrified of the idea of falling in love with his best friend; he was petrified because that's exactly what he was doing. Hell, he might have already done it and he didn't even know when.
It had all escalated from a rare occurrence taking place whenever Cloud was picking fights to relieve his anger, to something which just happened when one boy needed comfort, stress relief, or to be calmed down or cheered up. It was automatic for them to turn to each other now. From a forbidden, foreign thing which they had been scared to explore at the start, their little sessions had turned into a reflex action.
The first time, they had been arguing so rigorously that their chests were heaving with anger, nostrils flaring, fists clenching and blood boiling. All of a sudden, Zack's hand appeared on Cloud's shoulder and clutched it in a vice-like grip. Wincing, Cloud had steeled himself for the hit… that never came. Instead, their lips had been smashed together and all traces of fury and frustration disappeared into the kiss. It hadn't made sense to do, at the time, but it made perfect sense afterwards.
Remembering the kiss that sparked off the whole new dimension to their already-complicated relationship, Cloud raised his head and his shining blue eyes met Zack's own intense cobalt.
His heartbeat had finally returned to normal but the poor organ in his chest started speeding up again as he tilted his chin and pressed his already kiss-swollen lips to Zack's in a short, sweet thank-you.
When his tired eyes fluttered open again, Zack's were boring into them. The taller man looked distressed. Seeing this, a small frown formed on Cloud's face, his blonde eyebrows knotting together.
"What?" He breathed, voice painted with his confusion and light concern.
Zack's eyes widened momentarily before he seemed to capture his surprise and banish it to the darkest corner of his mind. The raven spikes of his hair bounced as he shook his head softly.
"Nothing." He replied.
He didn't provide any more of an answer, even though Cloud knew that his best friend was lying to him and said best friend knew that Cloud knew. Before Cloud could protest against being denied the full truth, his right hand had been snatched at the wrist and was slowly being lifted up between their bodies.
An afternoon breeze rolled in through the open window and the air was cold against the exposed skin of their hips and thighs; their trousers and boxers were unbuttoned and tugged down but not removed because when hormones got involved, the need and lust destroyed any other thoughts of practicality. Neither of them paid any attention to the change in temperature or the goosebumps that it caused. Cloud was too busy watching as his cum-coated fingers were pushed between pink, glistening lips to be lapped at by a warm, wet tongue. A shudder escaped his own parted lips at the surprising sensation as the thick substance was sucked from the digits, leaving them clean. With another suck for good measure, Zack slipped the fingers out of his mouth and wrapped his own around them. Bringing their lightly clasped hands against his toned chest, he leaned down and kissed his younger friend, his eager mouth swallowing the little surprised sound that his action elicited from Cloud.
Just as Cloud was about to reject Zack's idea of stunning- or rather, kissing him into silence, his tongue- which was twined with the older man's, picked up on the slightly salty taste of his own come which laced Zack's own unique flavour. The idea in itself was so overwhelmingly hot, that he let out a small moan into Zack's mouth and returned the kiss with equal vigour.
Forcing his eyes to open and fight against the pleasure-induced urge to close, Cloud noticed that Zack's own dark orbs were at only half-mast but it was obvious that he didn't need to fight the reaction like Cloud did. Zack was watching Cloud throughout the kiss and there was something glimmering in the depths of his violet eyes. It could have been lust or passion and to some people, it may have appeared to be. But Cloud knew his raven-haired friend-and-whatever-else better than that and after a few pleasure-clouded moments of thinking, Cloud pinpointed the emotion hiding there.
Zack's clean hand, that had been cupping Cloud's flushed cheek ever so lightly, was roughly pushed away as the younger man stumbled backwards, breaking the physical connection between their boiling bodies. Hastily, his hands fumbled with his zipper to redo his jeans before he flung his arms out wide in question, his exasperation clear on his face.
"What the hell, Zack?!" The man demanded, desperately ignoring the growing and insistent throbbing between his legs, which themselves were wobbling like jelly.
The expression on Zack's face was purely 'Oh, shit!' but he still faked surprise, even though he knew he'd been found out.
"What?" He sounded tired and worn-out, despite how composed he seemed. That sort of vulnerability, that his friend rarely showed, was enough to make Cloud almost lose his anger. Somehow, this little lie was cutting deeper than anything else and it was soon easy for the irritation to spark back up in Cloud's aching heart.
"You're trying to distract me." He accused, folding his arms across his heaving chest.
"That's ridiculous." Zack laughed a little but the sound was harsh and humourless; nervous. He sat down on his best friend's bed and carelessly wiped his still come-coated hand on the duvet cover. Cloud grimaced at the abuse of his bedspread but his focus still snapped back to Zack, like the desperation in his friend's eyes was a magnet for his own.
With his now clean hand, Zack reached out and curled his fingers around Cloud's wrist, tugging him forwards so that Cloud ended up standing between his friend's long legs. A small, relieved smile appeared on Zack's lips but it died away quickly when Cloud's accusatory glare didn't lessen. A frown replaced the soft smile instead.
"Now come here." His voice was strong, though, as he leaned up for another kiss, clearly expecting Cloud to reciprocate his intentions and meet him halfway.
"My God, Zack. I can't believe you actually tried that. Did you honestly think that it would work? Huh?"
"So I can't kiss you now?" Zack's perfectly plucked eyebrows jumped into his hairline as he gave a sardonic snort, disbelief pushing surprise from his averted eyes. His gaze snapped back to Cloud's and his previously amused stare was hard and cold. "You didn't seem to be able to get enough of it before."
There was something snide about the comment and it just increased the younger male's confusion about his friend.
Eyes wide, Cloud shook his head. "What's bugging you? I tried to ask you before, but you just kissed me – to shut me up." The annoyed glare returned to the blonde's pale face.
After a few moments of silence, Zack stood up and fixed Cloud with a serious gaze. "Because you were getting serious… emotional."
Cloud unfolded his arms and let his anger flood through his mind, burning in his eyes as he clenched his fists.
"Yeah? So what, just because we're guys we can't talk or get emotional after sex?"
Zack flinched and an emotion akin to panic shot into his eyes, his hand snapping out to grab Cloud's shoulder. The action and position it left them in made the blonde remember their first kiss and how they had gotten to this moment, but this time, there was no fierce kiss to follow. Instead, a slender finger was prodded into the younger man's toned chest.
"Hey!" Zack exclaimed, defiantly. "That wasn't sex. What we do together, we never go far. It's not sex. It's nothing."
Unable to not be offended, Cloud raised an eyebrow in question, barely fighting back his disappointment.
"Why does the idea bother you so much? I jerk you off, you jerk me off. It always ends in the same way- a bit of pleasure from each other, so what difference does it make if it's my mouth or whole body doing it as opposed to just my hand?" He challenged.
"Because it just is." Zack replied, tone stiff and on the border of being biting. His frown lessened slightly though, as if he were completely affected by just the thought of sleeping with Cloud. As much as this should have pleased the other male, it actually just made him feel worse about the situation.
"But why?" Cloud pressed. The fire in his chest; the one that told him that he was falling in love again, was also telling him that taking things one step further with Zack was a brilliant idea. It confused him, almost, that it was his heart insisting that sex was a good idea, not parts of his anatomy further south- which at that moment was still pulsing between his legs, distracting as ever.
Zack's tough and determined look was strained as he stared up at the boy before him. "I don't want to cheat on Aerith."
"Aerith?" Cloud repeated, voice almost cracking with his pure disbelief of that answer.
Upon receiving a nod of confirmation, he simply blew up with fury. "I thought you two were as good as over!" He fumed, running a shaking hand through his messy sand-coloured spikes.
At this, Zack stiffened, as if in defense.
"No, we're still going strong."
"Strong? Damn, you're full of shit!" The blonde hissed, fists itching to punch someone or something. "Is this what you call strong? Sneaking off every week or so to make out with some guy? That's cheating, Zack."
It seemed as if that hadn't occurred to Zack, but at the same time like the title given to what they had going - whatever it was- was a word that had been haunting him recently. Guilt was shining in his eyes but if was stubbornly pushed away by the refusal to accept. To accept that their relationship was more than it seemed.
"It's not cheating if it's with 'some guy'." Zack bit, Cloud's earlier words sounding like they left a sour taste when they came from Zack's mouth.
Cloud lunged forward at this answer. How dare Zack say that this was meaningless? His fist slammed into the other man's chin with enough force to send his head snapping to the side. Zack let out a cry of surprise, his hand moving up to gently nurse the hurt, fingers dabbing gingerly at the blood coating his lips from where the delicate flesh of his inside lip had been smashed back into his teeth. It was going to leave a nasty bruise, but nothing was broken. Except the willpower of each man- neither could bring themselves to throw another a hit.
When Zack's eyes swivelled up to Cloud's frozen gaze, they were filled with apprehension, hurt and slight confusion.
In the heated moments after the first and only punch was thrown, realisation hit Cloud like a bullet. It was almost as painful as being shot, too, the pain heightened by the fact that he had let his anger overwhelm him before he understood completely. As a result, he had lashed out at and hurt one of the people who meant the most to him.
'So fucking stupid.' He cursed himself in his mind, squeezing his eyes shut tightly for a moment before reluctantly facing the waiting man in front of him.
His voice was quiet when he was even able to speak. "But I'm not just some guy.."
"And that's exactly why this has to stop."Zack whispered. He was sorry, it was painfully obvious in his voice and those deep violet eyes, but Cloud didn't know yet if he could accept that apology or not.
Leaning in, Zack pressed a small kiss, made wet by the rust-coloured blood shining on his lips, to his best friend-and-no-longer-whatever-else's cheek.
Then he walked out of Cloud's room and out of that chapter of their life together.
Cloud didn't see his best friend for weeks after their last meeting. Since Zack's sort-of confession, the younger male had been left experiencing explosive anger, uncontrollable hurt and most of all, jealousy. It didn't seem right that Zack got to come out of their almost-relationship happy, whole and without any losses- except his best friend, because their friendship seemed to be over.
On the other hand, Cloud lost his friend, his comfort, his guidance, his love interest and as aggravatingly cliché as it sounded, a small piece of his heart. It was hard, he realised, to carry on as normal without Zack. True, Zack had been with Aerith for almost a year now, but Cloud and Zack had with each other for over seven years and since reaching adolescence, they may as well have been a couple because the only element missing from their potentially romantic relationship was the sexual side of it.
It was like that for several years until Cloud turned eighteen and finally felt like he was adult enough to push the boundaries of his relationship with Zack; that was why he let his half-feelings develop further.
Of course, it was surprising, to say the least, when it turned out to be Zack who chose for their friendship to take a sexual turn. Even at the start of that new direction things had taken, Cloud had been determined to keep it entirely physical. Just some sexual tension and frustration being relieved. For longer than he had expected, he had managed to push the feelings away- far away enough that he was sure they had died out, fizzled out despite the sparks of lust igniting between them.
Zack had changed things not two months after he had asked Aerith out and she had accepted, making them an official couple. That was why, Cloud supposed, he was so angry at his dark-haired friend. It would have been so much easier if Zack had broken things off at the beginning, when neither Zack nor his girlfriend had too much invested in their little romantic relationship.
It stung to realise, but Cloud figured that it wasn't just fear holding Zack back from making his decision to finish with Aerith seven months earlier. The reason was that Zack hadn't been in love with Cloud yet. He almost was, but he hadn't known that then.
'I don't know what to do.' He had told Cloud in one of their more intimate talks after one of their more intimate make-out sessions together. 'I love Aerith and I'm with her but there's something happening between us now.'
Cloud remembered how his heart had started pounding against his chest so hard that he had to take a few seconds to calm himself down and hope desperately that Zack couldn't hear the fragile organ trying to smash through his ribcage.
'Between me and you?' He remembered breathing, in reply. Confirmation- he needed confirmation.
A kiss, soft and sweet at first before it broke into something more intense and needy, had been his answer. He liked that answer, and not just how it was given to him.
Cloud was snapped out of his musings and the emotional hurricane tagged onto the them by the clink of glass against wood as Tifa placed another vodka and lemonade down on the ring-marked coaster in front of him.
Raising a blonde eyebrow, he curled his fingers around the cool glass, skin sliding with the drops of condensation trickling down the surface.
"A gift from one of my admirers?" The young man questioned sardonically, staring down at the vibrant slice of lemon floating in the tempting alcoholic drink.
Tifa snorted and shook her head, he long dark hair swaying around her shoulders.
"I don't think so somehow, Mr. Brightside. How could you pull with a sour face like that?"
Cloud scowled. "Thanks a lot."
The woman laughed a little, the happy sound almost drowned out by the loud noise of her self-established bar. She leaned forwards on the counter, he low-cut black top giving Cloud a generous view of her large breasts and cleavage. The raised blonde eyebrow cocked even higher and Tifa simply rolled her eyes at her moody friend.
"Yes, Cloud. I am trying to seduce you!" She exclaimed dramatically, making her eyes wide and pleading as she batted her thick, elegant eyelashes at him from the other side of the bar.
"It wouldn't be the first time." The recipient of the mocking teasing casually retorted, taking a sip of the refreshing drink. Although he wasn't the sort to drown his sorrows in alcohol, he was glad to have something to focus his attention on.
"Oi!" The landlady of the bar scolded, gently tapping him on the head with a rolled up bar towel, which was no doubt stained by numerous alcohol spillages. Cloud wrinkled his nose, both at the idea of stale, sticky alcohol in his clean hair and at the fact that Tifa's definition of 'gently' was in fact very hard. Curse the woman and her unnatural strength.
"That was a long time ago and it was before I knew you were gay. It wasn't 'seduction' either way. What kind of woman do you think I am?"
"I'm not gay." Cloud objected, licking his lips to savour the sweetness of his drink before taking another sip. "I was just sort of devoted to someone else at the time. And I think you're a batshit insane woman, for the record."
The last comment earner him another slap with the bar towel, but Tifa ignored it when she spoke, most likely deciding that the sharp pain from that attack was enough punishment.
"Another guy." The busty barwoman pointed out. "I'm quite sure that makes you gay."
Cloud sighed, peering up at Tifa through his long bangs and hoping that his exasperation was shining though in his blue eyes.
"No," He said stiffly. "That probably just makes me bisexual."
After a moment of consideration, Tifa shrugged her shoulders. "Fair enough!" She sang, pushing herself away from the bar table and moving down to serve another customer.
Head drooping forward as an empty, quiet sigh left his lips, Cloud started to enjoy the silence again. The relief was short-lived however, because Tifa had soon served the other customer and was back in front of Cloud in what could have only been ninety seconds.
"Don't fall asleep on me!" She chided, poking his tilted head with a slender finger and burgundy-painted nail. "I gave you a free drink."
"Oh, so it was from one of my many admirers then. What a nice present." Cloud drawled, gulping down some more of the free beverage.
"Yeah, yeah. Because everyone's in love with you, y'know. We're all dying to be with you." Tifa smiled sarcastically, landing a hand atop Cloud's head and ruffling his messy hair. Unfortunately, the hidden and misjudged force sent his face into the wooden surface of the bar.
Yelping in pain, he blindly pushed Tifa's hand away and fixed her with a heatless glare. His expression turned sombre again shortly after as he considered her words.
"Well, I can think of one selfish asshole who damn well wouldn't die to be with me." He sniffed bitterly.
Tifa suddenly looked sympathetic. "Zack." She stated, drumming her neat fingernails against the top of the bar. "He still with Aerith?"
"Of course. For some reason unbeknownst to me." Cloud almost snarled the words but somehow managed to restrain himself.
"Hmm. Well, I guess what you two guys had going was just a fling to him. Some people can separate love and sex and some people can't. That must be where you and Zack differ."
Cloud frowned. "He is in love with me. He sort of told me so…"
"Sort of?" Tifa's turn to raise a delicate eyebrow.
"He doesn't want to cheat on Aerith but I just know he's in love with me. The idiot just won't act on it."
"Right." Tifa looked uneasy for a few moments, nervously placing a thumbnail against her glossed lips as she tried to gently mould her thoughts. "Maybe he loves you both?" She quietly suggested.
"Maybe he does." Cloud muttered into his drink. He finished it and pushed the empty glass towards his female companion with a hint of a nod of thanks. "And that's why Zack Fair is not a very fair person."
"Which is causing Cloud Strife a whole lot of strife?" Tifa jokily added, leaning forwards to lightly play with wispy strands of his hair. The corners of her shining lips and soft brown eyes tilted upwards as she sweetly smiled.
For a moment, Cloud wondered why he couldn't have fallen in love with someone easier to be with, such as Tifa. Picking up his heavy leather jacket, he tugged it on and couldn't help but return the small smile, his sadness temporarily fading for a few seconds before he turned and left the bar, calling a goodbye over his shoulder.
He kept his sunglasses on despite the fact that it was raining and the drops splattered against the glass, obscuring his vision slightly. Sunglasses were one of those items he just couldn't leave the house without- even if he wasn't wearing them all the time. They hid his eyes and more importantly; his emotions and whatever darkness lurked within them, from the rest of the world. Only one person could see through even the thick, dark sunglasses and into Cloud's mind, and that was Zack- the one person that certain emotions needed to be hidden from. How damn annoying.
Raising his head, Cloud peered up at the stormy grey sky which had broken and cracked apart during the hour or so he had spent moping in Tifa's bar. Cold drops of water landed on his face but he didn't mind. It was refreshing.
Rain suddenly started to pour down from the heavens- if they existed, that is, harder than ever and the blonde was forced to come back to his senses and make a break for cover.
'Cover' just so happened to be a large majestic tree with branches and dark green leaves numerous enough to provide some sort of shelter from the heavy rain around him.
Tired eyes briefly searched his surroundings for a more secure place to hide. He found none but he did see the one person he really could have done without running into- especially when he was so pissed off.
Across the courtyard of town, by a bus stop, stood a figure very familiar to Cloud. Internally, he was battling against the harsh, resentful part of his mind and trying to listen to his goodwill.
A tug of… kinship and a protective urge surged through him as the figure let loose a visible shiver, shaking from the cold no doubt nipping at bare arms.
Cupping his hands around his mouth to form a makeshift megaphone, Cloud moved a wet branch out of his face and called out.
"Aerith!" He shouted, but received no sign of acknowledgment from the young woman standing one hundred or so metres away. She hadn't seen or heard him. He tried calling louder. "Hey, Aerith! Come here!"
This caught her attention and she immediately threw her damp, brown ponytail over her shoulder and started heading towards him, her full hips swinging as she walked and her slender fingers wrapped around the handle of a plastic shopping bag.
As she reached Cloud, ducking her head to avoid the leafy branches of the temporary umbrella, she stood before him with a delighted smile.
"Hello, Cloud." She greeted, moving the bag to hold it against the front , swaying it gently back and forth. Her fingertips caressed the petals of one of the roses in a beautiful bouquet which was poking out from inside the bag. "Silly, I almost didn't recognise you with those sunglasses on."
Cloud shrugged, adjusting said glasses before offering a tiny smile of his own. "I always wear them."
Aerith laughed and the sound was sugar-sweet. Zack had always rambled on to Cloud about how he loved his girlfriend's laugh. Personally, Cloud found it quite sickly. That small detail, he had kept to himself though.
"In all kinds of weather, clearly."
"Yeah." Cloud nodded, casting hateful glance at the heavy downpour. "Speaking of… bad weather, what are you doing freezing to death out here?"
"Waiting for the bus home." Aerith replied, her pretty emerald eyes darting off to the side, following Cloud's earlier line of sight before snapping back to his.
Cloud frowned. "Why don't you just phone Zack and ask for a lift?" The slight buzz of alcohol was very faint in his body but still present as a barely noticeable weight on his brain, confusing him needlessly.
"He didn't tell you?" The brunette's brow creased as a troubled look entered her eyes. "We broke up last week."
Cloud was certain that for a moment, his heart stopped beating. Blood turning to ice, he just stared at the girl before him in complete disbelief.
"You what? What happened?"
"Hmm," Aerith made a noise of slight confusion and contemplation before her usual kind expression returned and her eyes softened. "Things just changed. I could tell that he had fallen in love with someone else. I had to end it because… it wouldn't have been fair on either of us. He wanted to carry on as normal and pretend that things were the same still but I couldn't let him."
Cloud blinked. "He's in love with someone else? Who?" His voice heightened in volume with his increasing heartbeat.
"I'm not sure." There was an almost awkward moment of silence before she spoke again. "But it doesn't matter because he should be with them either way. He's an amazing person and we're still good friends."
Despite his sudden raging happiness and excitement, Cloud managed to keep himself under control.
"I'm sorry to hear about the breakup. Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." Aerith assured him, her smile brightening. "We all will."
"Yeah." Cloud couldn't agree more, though there was still a part of him that had to be hopeful that he would be okay. What if it wasn't him that Zack was in love with?
He had been sure before, but that was weeks ago. His love for his best friend was still alive and burning bright, but was Zack's?
It actually took effort to keep his voice steady. "When's the next bus?"
Pausing to think, Aerith tilted her head and pursed her lips. "Not for another forty minutes or so."
"That's no good." Brushing back his dampened blonde spikes, the other man felt sympathy well up in the pit of his chest. Now that Aerith was no longer the indirect reason for his emotions going haywire because she was no longer dating the guy Cloud wanted for himself, the young woman was someone he could definitely reconsider as a friend. Shrugging off his leather jacket, Cloud held it out to his best friend's ex-girlfriend. "Here, put this on. I'll walk you to get a taxi and take you home."
"Oh, no, Cloud. You don't have to." She protested, her long ponytail swinging as she shook her head. Timidly, she fiddled with the oversized tartan bow holding it up. Guilt flooded through Cloud. He'd been so nasty, having cruel thoughts towards her for almost a year and now they had all disappeared. It was a stupid reason to hate someone, he realised- jealousy, that is.
"It's fine. I needed a way to get back anyway. I left my bike at home." Upon receiving an almost amused questioning look, Cloud explained further. "I've been drinking at Tifa's."
"Tsk, Cloud." Aerith disapproved but she reached out to take his proffered jacket anyway. She set her bag of flowers on the damp ground by her feet as Cloud stepped forward to help her put the heavy coat on.
"There you go." He bent down to retrieve her shopping bag. "Suits you." He jokily added, gesturing to the way that the massive item of clothing hung off Aerith's slim shoulders and looked way too bulky on her. It would keep her warm, though.
"You're going to get wet." Aerith hesitated. The coat looked odd with her pink, girly dress, but what kind of world would it be if women couldn't wear men's jackets?
In a satirical manner, Cloud pivoted and stood next to her, holding out his arm. With an equally mocking smile, Aerith did a tiny curtsey and gently took his arm. The smiles stayed firmly on their lips as they walked, despite the rain hammering down on them.
When Cloud turned onto Zack's road, his heart was just about trying to crash out of his chest to land on the puddle-covered pavement that his feat were pounding against. The two of them had walked down this street a countless amount of times, mostly laughing and joking or drunk, sometimes in comfortable silence and sometimes with angry, tear-stained faces and scowling eyes. Although the route to Zack's house was almost more familiar than his own, Cloud found that the soles of his combat boots were dragging against the concrete and his legs refused to speed up. He was stalling, both physically and mentally.
He had never gone so long without talking to his best friend and he knew that there was going to be a horrible, thick, awkward tension between them when they saw each other again. Which approach was Cloud supposed to take? The direct way, and just say 'I love you and I have for a long time. So now that there's nothing between you and Aerith, let's get together.' That seemed insensitive; if not a bit too mushy and romantic for Cloud's liking. The second way was to lend Zack an ear, comfort him about his breakup with Aerith and let Zack control the situation. Although less risky, that option required patience and with his mind spinning round as frantically as it was, Cloud wasn't sure he could manage that either.
The puddles splashed against the shiny leather of his boots, the water droplets leaking up to splatter against his ankles. Pushing a gloved hand through the wild mess of his damp hair, Cloud stared intently down at the pools of murky water as he stomped through them. He was trying to see his reflection as he walked, desperate to ground himself before he reached Zack's house.
It went unnoticed by him, the way the slight frown marring his features increased with the strength added rhythmically to each frustrated step. He also didn't realise that he had come to a stop outside Zack's rickety, black gate until a voice, laced with amusement, sliced through his jumbled thoughts.
"Don't hate on puddles, Cloud. They've never done anything to you." Cloud raised startled blue eyes to see Zack leaning casually against the wall lining the path in his garden, lips releasing a grey trail of smoke from the cigarette he held in his right hand, before curling up into a smirk.
Despite the heavy thudding in his chest- aided by a nice unhealthy dose of adrenaline from the scare Zack had given him, Cloud found it fairly easy to reply. "Not true." He retorted, and watched Zack's face intently, waiting for the memory to reach him.
After a moment of confused silence, Zack's eyes lit up and he dropped his cigarette to the floor as he doubled over in laughter. "Oh yeah! There was that time that you fell face first into a puddle and thought you were gonna drown! That was so fucking funny, I can't believe I forgot it!"
Shifting, Cloud struggled to fight off the smile breaking out on his face. "Aw, come on! I was drunk!"
Snubbing out the cigarette on the wet floor with his foot, Zack grinned cockily. "Understatement. You were completely smashed. And you were thrashing against the floor like a fish out of water. I was torn between horror at how pissed you were and laughing uncontrollably beside you- maybe even joining you in drowning in a puddle two millimetres deep."
At Cloud's jokily resentful, accusing glare, the raven-haired man burst out in hysterics again before seemingly sobering up. With a finger, shaking and red from cold, he caught a tear of mirth and smiled wistfully up at the stormy grey sky. "Good job I was there to look after you, huh?"
"Yeah," Cloud agreed, tone quiet and serious. "You always are."
The appreciativee undertone to the blonde's words brought Zack's head down and he slowly fixed his best friend with a sincere gaze. His cheeks were flushed from cold but also from the still lingering trace of humour at the nostalgic memory they had shared.
"We're going to get ill." He murmured, voice somehow still audible over the light pattering of the rain around them. "Let's go inside." He cocked his head in the direction of his front door, his dark spikes of hair, not the least bit flattened by the humidity in the air, bouncing with the movement.
Nodding in agreement, Cloud followed his friend into the house that had always been like a second home to him. He couldn't deny that he was thankful that they had automatically slipped back into this comfortable atmosphere. With a slight hint of amusement, he noted that he should probably be thankful to his past self and that drunken night of stupidity for this.
"Wait," He frowned, temporarily taking a seat on the last step of the stairs so that he could go about undoing his boots. "What were you doing hanging around in the rain outside anyway?"
The scent of damp leather filled the air as Cloud hung his jacket over the banister, his shoes tucked away neatly to one side. Zack looked uncomfortable for a split second as he started heading up his stairs, Cloud in tow.
"I got a call from Aerith telling me that you were headed over." He replied, the old staircase groaning with each step they took, as it always had done. The smell in the house was familiar, comforting. It was a blend of Zack's laundry detergent and the shampoo he always used. There was something else in it, like a faint hint of the smoke of the cigarettes they always shared and the memories that mixed aroma brought about.
Cloud's lips quirked up in a questioning smile as they reached the top of the stairs and Zack pushed open the door to his bedroom- the master bedroom. Cloud actually lived with his parents still, even at eighteen, and he had been jealous of Zack for having his own place since he moved in with some guy called Kunsel over half a year ago. Still, it was a house of his own and that was an idea that Cloud envied.
"That doesn't explain why you were risking pneumonia for me. Today is the first time you've waited outside for me." Walking into the room, he flopped down on Zack's double bed, feeling the overly large duvet pillow up around him as he sank into it, bright gaze on the white ceiling.
"Well," Zack sort-of sighed, wondering over to the window and pushing the amber curtain back against the cherry-red walls with the back of his hand so that he could peer out past the raindrop-splattered glass at the miserable world outside. With a look of quiet determination on his face, he let the material fall back into place and turned round to look at Cloud laying peacefully on his bed. "Today's different."
The mattress dipped as Zack sat down next to where Cloud lay, his feet still touching the floor but his body twisted around so that he was leaning closer to his friend. Confusion washed through Cloud but he ignored it- along with the rapid increase of his heartbeat.
"Hmm?" He made a small noise of question without opening his mouth because he didn't trust himself to part his lips and not crash them against Zack's when the older male was so close.
Blue eyes fluttered closed as Zack reached out to ghost cool fingers over Cloud's cheeks, the blonde's breath catching in his throat. The mattress creaked a little as the taller man put one arm on the other side of Cloud so that he was effectively on top of him. His weight pressed his friend down into the mattress but their hearts were beating so fast that nothing else mattered except the electricity crackling between them when their eyes met, the warm breath cascading over each other's lips and the gentle heat between their bodies.
"But today," Zack breathed, leaning down to press a tiny kiss to Cloud's cheekbone. "We're both different. This will be different. From now on. I promise."
Before Cloud could let slip a mocking comment at how romantic his best friend had become, said best friend occupied his mouth slyly with his own. It was slower than they were used to. If those lust-fuelled sessions between them before were a raging, biting fire; this was a slower, ice-burning that sent pinpricks of cold all over Cloud's skin before all the apprehension and initial surprise slowly melted away with each soft movement of their lips. His hands, lukewarm from the cool winter air, travelled along Zack's sides until his fingertips were lightly dancing along his friend's cheeks.
Each small movement was languid, deep and important. There was still lust but now it was tied so strongly with the expression of a new, vulnerable love. It meant that everything got hotter so much quicker, their hands searching desperately for even a few inches of bare skin to relish in the softness and warmth of. Tongues sliding together and lips mashing together with force but no pain, they steadily moved to undress each other- with some difficulty.
Several awkward and frustrating movements later, they were both in only their boxers and Cloud smiled up at his older friend with a coy smile, happiness shining in his cobalt eyes. Chests heaving, they instinctively eyed each other's bodies. Of course, they'd seen each other more than half-naked before, but in a sexual situation, it was so much different to those pre-pubescent days of going to swim in the pool at Reno's house during the hot summer days. Everything was in a new light when they were pressed so tightly together like this. Their bodies itched to feel more skin pressed against skin, more kissing, more touching, more each other.
Returning the smile but with more of a cocky edge to it, Zack rolled over onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow with his head cradled in his hand. With the free hand, he curled his fingers over the waistband of Cloud's boxers and tugged down as far as he could. Fighting off the urge to avert his gaze from Zack's eyes, which were burning with amusement into his own, Cloud swallowed any nervousness and copied Zack, yanking down his friend's underwear and leaving the other to kick the offending item of clothing off.
At that point, all hesitation fizzled out like a flame and there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere as lust and desire took over completely, hormones buzzing and hips starting to rock against each other, their bare arousals meeting with each shallow thrust.
Hands exploring and lips parting and meeting constantly, they kissed and touched without abandon. Neither of them knew exactly how sex between two guys worked, both of them had the faint confidence that they could figure it out.
Nimble fingers trailed down Cloud's torso, dancing with each rise and fall of his chest. They skimmed over the dip of muscle near his hipbone in favour of sliding over his hardening length. A gasp caught in the blonde's throat at the maddeningly light touch. With a smug smile, Zack curled his hand into a fist and pumped gently, shifting atop Cloud so that he was kneeling between the other man's legs.
They were on familiar ground now. This level of touching was nothing foreign to them; though the prospect of going further sent their already straining hearts into mini-spasms in their chests.
Another, harder movement of Zack's fist had Cloud's eyelids fluttering and his fingers curling in the bedsheets beneath him.
Taking advantage of this weakness, Zack leaned down to kiss the other man firmly on the lips. "Who tops?" He murmured.
His mouth moved to Cloud's neck, sly tongue lapping at the hot skin and teeth lightly grazing. It was if that simple action, as pathetic as it seemed in the back of his mind, was enough to have Cloud melting beneath his friend.
"I don't care…" He gasped out, bucking into Zack's hand and snapping his head to the side to give Zack and his sinful tongue more access to his neck.
"I will then." Zack breathed against the man beneath him, the hand that had been so tightly wrapped around Cloud's arousal instead slipping further down his body to circle Cloud's entrance lightly.
Stiffening a little, Cloud was soon distracted by the shifting of the mattress as Zack left the bed completely to lean over and search his chest of drawers for lube. Slightly irritated by the sudden absence of the warm hands touching him all over, Cloud lay still on the bed, silently watching Zack's hurried movements and trying to regain control of his breathing.
Turning to look at Cloud over his shoulder, Zack held up a small yellow square which- after a moment of squinting- the blonde managed to identify as a condom.
"We need this?" He asked, voice doubtful and curious expression almost laughable.
"Oh yes," Cloud exclaimed in a ridiculously girly tone. "I don't want to get pregnant." Receiving only the slightest amused twitch of the lips at his display of annoyance, Cloud continued. "No, we don't need it. You're clean, I'm clean. No need for it."
"Yeah, you're right." Zack agreed, chucking the condom back into the drawer with a light chuckle. "But you're washing yourself up afterwards."
Cloud snorted, reaching out and grabbing Zack's arm when he was close enough to the bed again. Tugging, he brought him stumbling back on top of himself. "Such a gentleman, you are."
"'s why you love me." Zack remarked, nudging Cloud's legs apart with his elbows as he held the bottle of lube in his hand. "Now spread your legs and let me fuck you."
Laughing, Cloud reached out and punched the man between his legs with little force. "What happened to the romantic guy from earlier, huh?" He chortled, spreading his legs so that Zack could fit more easily between them.
"Sorry, I meant to say 'Now spread your legs, Beautiful, and let's make luuuurve.' Better?" Popping open the tube, Zack squirted a decent amount onto his palm and rubbed his hands together to give the cold substance some warmth before he traced Cloud's entrance again with a finger slicked with lube.
"Much." The younger man's voice was light but his teeth ground together uncomfortably as a finger pushed inside of him.
A few questioning thoughts exploded in his mind- would this work? Would it hurt? Immediately, he banished them from existence. He could trust Zack and they'd both had sex before- with girls, but it couldn't be that much different, right? Thinking logically, he tried to remember how to relax. It must have worked, because the second finger that slipped in was nothing more than uncomfortable, even as Zack began wriggling them in scissor motions. After what could have been a minute or less of preparation, Cloud felt the probing fingers brush lightly over a spot inside him that sent tingles down his spine. Mouth dropping open, he groaned softly.
Zack's head snapped up to look at Cloud and his surprise and satisfaction replaced the intense look of concentration that had been on his face previously. "Feel good, does it?" He smiled, shifting his fingers in the same way and drawing a louder moan from Cloud's lips.
Absently, his hand trailed down to his own arousal, slicking it with extra lube before he crawled further up Cloud's body and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips, leaning on one elbow as the other hand positioned his tip at Cloud's entrance and he guided himself inside.
Hissing in a breath, Cloud felt his muscles tighten around Zack automatically and it did nothing to ease the twinges of pain. Above him, Zack had his blue eyes squeezed shut and his chest was heaving with the tightness of the heat wrapped around him as he pushed through rings of contracted muscle.
"Should I… ngh," He broke off into a frustrated, needy groan before trying to speak once more, pink tongue darting out to swipe at his lower lip. "Should I stop for a minute?"
The question took a few seconds to pierce through the lust in Cloud's mind but he finally managed to shake his head defiantly, his blonde spikes messing up even further against the duvet. "No. Move…"
He wished it could have sounded more like a demand but it was hard for him to concentrate on anything except the feeling of having Zack, his best friend, inside of him.
Zack's hips started to move, sliding in and out of Cloud with each thrust. The feeling was intoxicating, the tingling promises of pleasure coursing through Cloud's veins as Zack's hot length got closer and closer to that sweet spot inside of him with each subtle change in angle.
His hands shook as he released the duvet he was clutching beneath him and they shot out to grab a hold of Zack's hips, tugging hard and guiding the man further inside of him. Head slamming down against the bed again, moans started to fall from his mouth like the mumbled sweet nothings did from Zack's. Greedily, he leaned up as far as he could to swallow the words in a heady, passionate kiss.
Now he was bucking his hips upwards fervently, the pace of the older man increasing as they moved in unison, chests heaving and lips moving as if the other was the only oxygen in this little world of theirs that they had created.
It didn't take long for the kisses and moans to blend together and then the heat became too much for either of them. Ecstasy flooded through them both and Zack came inside of the blonde beneath him with a wordless cry escaping his open lips. A second later, Cloud followed, arching up off the bed and as close to Zack as he could manage.
Carefully, Zack pulled out, bracing himself against Cloud before rolling off of him onto his back. Cloud grimaced at the feeling of Zack's seed slowly starting to seep out of him, but decided, with a small chuckle, that it was Zack's bed and therefore his problem.
They lay quietly next to each other, the only sounds filling the previously noisyroom being the soft rustle of cloth as Zack turned onto his side and absently started to tug at the dampened locks of Cloud's hair.
"What's so funny?" He enquired, smiling down at Cloud.
"Knowing that there's no way in Hell that I'm moving after that, so you can clean me and your bed up yourself." The blonde's voice and smile were smug.
"Aw, come on. I'm tired too." Zack groaned, but then the smile returned. "But that was great. Good for you?"
"Yeah, definitely exceeded my expectations." Cloud replied, raising his head so that he could fold his arms behind it before settling back down.
Zack laughed. "I don't know whether to be offended that you had low expectations of me or to be glad that I was better than them."
At this, Cloud snickered softly. "Nah, they weren't expectations of you- I just thought it would hurt way more than it did."
"It hurt?" Suddenly, Zack's eyes were wide and concern mixed with guilt flashed through them.
"A little." Cloud replied honestly, sitting up on the bed and wiping absently at the come splattered over his stomach, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
Zack sat up too, his hand coming to settle on Cloud's shoulder. Turning to give him a small, reassuring smile, Cloud stood up. "I'm not a girl, I can hack it. We'll have to see if you can though!"
Zack stood up and headed towards the en-suite bathroom, sticking his tongue out at his friend as he passed. "Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine."
Following him in, Cloud ignored the slight ache in his lower back and gently slipped his arms around Zack's waist as the brunette turned on the shower.
"Don't worry babe," The blonde cooed, an underlying tone of sarcasm to his voice. "I'll be gentle."
Ignoring the little jab at his masculinity, Zack turned in Cloud's arms and returned the embrace, the sound of the shower water crashing down into the tub in the background.
Looking into Cloud's blue eyes, which were so like his own, Zack quietly said, "Then it's all good."
They both knew he was referring to this new part of their lives together, this new development in what they were. And they both knew he was right; it was all good and it would be forever, because this is where they belonged.
Together.
A month later, it's finally finished! Wahey. I fail at writing Clack. Argh, I'll go kill the part of me obsessed with writing now.
Love you though, Elena! x