Disclaimer: Don't own.
Chapter one: He Hated him!
A chauvinistic song played in the background of the club. Well, Cloud imagined that it was a chauvinistic song. Tifa would go on about it for hours and she was normally right when it came to those strange feminist words that his male brain couldn't understand. She said that this particular song fell along the chauvinistic lines of womanizing, and blaming the woman for the ruined relationship. He didn't see a problem with blaming a woman for a failed relationship and being suicidal as a result was something he could understand. Sometimes beautiful women were cruel, crazy, and completely irresistible. Cloud had plenty of experience in the department of beautiful women, and every relationship he had supported the theory that they were all psychotic.
Women were sometimes the bane of Cloud's existence. He'd never had a relationship that didn't end with some sort of violent, unpleasant break up. In the case of his relationship with Tifa, well, that ended with a very nasty divorce, unpleasant court drama, and annoying press coverage. Cloud thought it was reasonable to blame Tifa for the end of their marriage. Yes, at times their home wasn't exactly the most peaceful, what with their very loud screaming matches, but their relationship had been mostly stable throughout their six year marriage.
That is, it was stable until he figured out that she was sleeping around. When she finally stopped hiding it and told him about it, she seemed shocked that he'd already drawn up the divorce papers. Did she really expect him to not find out? Did she expect him to ignore it for the sake of their public image? It wasn't like she expected breaking the news that she had been screwing his female secretary for two years was going to go over well, right? Did she seriously expect him to forgive that?
Cloud was sitting in the back of the club drinking copious amounts of alcohol and wondering how he'd let Yuffie drag him there with his ex-wife and ex-secretary, his best friend from high school, and a bunch of people he didn't know. She had said that he was annoying her with all his sulking and had forced him there. Now he was sitting at the bar wondering what the fuck he was supposed to be doing. Seriously, why the hell was he there getting drunk instead of dancing with all the other beautiful people around the room?
Oh yeah, because he couldn't dance and was "too busy being a depressed workaholic butthead to live a little." At least that's what his most recent ex-girlfriend Vanessa claimed. Cloud just couldn't understand women for the life of him. He'd only ever been in a serious relationship with four women, one out of four became a lesbian, and two out of four turned into psychotic bitches. His most recent ex-girlfriend thought he was sleeping with her best friend because of the way he smiled at her. It was a normal smile! It was!
Another drink that he hadn't ordered was set in front of him by the bartender. Cloud didn't mind that much. He wanted as much alcohol as he could get. Today was going to be his splurge day. He made it a habit to get completely, hopelessly drunk once a month.
"Who was it this time?" Cloud asked Sora, the bartender, "Let me guess the creep by the door who's been staring at me for the last twenty minutes."
"Jeez, it's creepy how many guys have bought you drinks today. You've got the best luck. I've got a man but my god! I wish I had as many suitors as you do. You've beaten my record and you haven't even gone on the dance floor yet!"Sora pouted.
"Well I'd gladly switch places with you. Why is it that all the gay guys are attracted to me and none of the straight, preferably sane, women?" Cloud complained. He ran his hand through his hair and gave Sora an exasperated look. He guessed that he should have been used to it by now, but it still annoyed the hell out of him. Couldn't people recognize a straight man anymore? Did these men think that if they got him drunk enough he wouldn't realize that they had a dick?
"I don't know maybe it's the beautiful blue eyes, hot blonde hair, baby face, and hot body?" A voice purred in his ear from behind.
Cloud jumped and whipped around to face the black-haired, blue-eyed man who was most likely going to molest him in a few moments. Cloud knew who it was before he'd turned around. He'd never forget that voice and the memory of the tone that was used made him shudder. It was hard to tell if he was shuddering from fear, revulsion, or something else that he really didn't want to admit he could feel.
"Zack," Cloud said with an aggravated sigh. "Go away!"
He turned back around to the bar and waved away the accusing look that adorned Sora's face. He was probably wondering why the hell he was letting himself be harassed by some random stranger when he wouldn't even let his small friend give him a hug. Cloud didn't want to have to explain Zack's presence so he made his usual gesture of 'Sora you had better go away in the next few minutes or you'll have a foot up your ass.' Sora, having a good sense of self preservation, did as Cloud had non-verbally commanded him to do, and disappeared to serve other men and women at the bar.
"Yes, It's Zack." Zack replied into his ear, forcing the hairs at the back of Cloud's neck to stand up, "I won't go away just because you say so. I'm not as obedient as that bartender."
Cloud wanted to curse at the fact that Zack had figured that out. How was it that Zack could still see right through him? He decided ignoring the man would be his best course of action besides walking away, which was something he didn't want to do because it would deny him direct access to alcohol.
"I see you're here with a bunch of women, you never change do you?" Zack asked into his ear. Cloud felt him leaning into his back and knew that in a few moments Zack was going to drape his arms around his shoulders. Zack had done this before, Cloud knew the routine. After Cloud denied Zack's invasion of his personal space the man would make a reckless comment in a sexy voice that would hurt Cloud's pride. Violence would ensue. Cloud found himself really hoping Zack would just back off and maybe even sit down at the stool next to him. Cloud wanted his friend back, if Zack just backed off and had a friendly conversation ages ago things would have been much different.
"Zack! Stop purring in my ear! It's annoying." Cloud muttered irritably. He secretly hoped the man would listen to him for once. He didn't want to deal with this. It'd been forever since he'd had a friend like Zack. In fact, he hadn't had a friend like him at all after they'd broken contact.
That made him begin to wonder why he hadn't left the bar as soon as his ex-friend had shown up. What the hell was he doing there anyways? He knew the way this was going to go why was he hoping that it would turn out different? Why was Zack even doing this to him again? Didn't moving halfway across the world and not leaving a forwarding address get the message across? He was fed up with Zack's gamed. Zack knew that Cloud didn't ever want to see him again, right?
"Seriously man, you're hot and cute at the same time. Of course everyone who bats for my team would be aiming for you."
"Seriously Zack, stop flirting with me, that's the whole reason I've been avoiding you for the last nine and a half years." Cloud said more forcefully. A few seconds later, he downed the drink the silver haired guy in the corner ordered for him in one sip banishing thoughts of giving Zack a chance at friendship as he did so. He doesn't deserve a second chance after everything that he's done, Cloud thought as he lifted the empty glass towards the mysteriously familiar stranger with a nod. The man nodded back. Cloud decided that he'd have to give up easy access to alcohol in exchange for an escape from his friend.
"That's hot." Zack muttered quietly to himself, and Cloud wondered what the heck he could be referring to. What was hot about downing a shot?"Wait a minute! Did you just say you've been avoiding me for all these years? I thought we just got out of touch! Ouch! I'm wounded!" Zack cried theatrically, his tone made it obvious that he knew that Cloud had been avoiding him, and that he didn't really care. His bitter tone almost hurt Cloud, but then he came to the conclusion that Zack couldn't have the satisfaction of hurting him. They were best friends but Zack had selfishly decided to throw it all away because he couldn't keep it in his pants.
"And here I thought you were avoiding me because of that one night stand we had graduation day." Zack wrapped his arm around Cloud's chest and whispered huskily into his ear, "After all you're supposedly straight. But, you know, the night where I fucked you till you screamed for more, begs to differ."
Cloud pulled Zack's arms off of him, ignoring the slightly pleasant sensation he'd gotten from the friendly contact and got up from his bar tool. He violently pushed his stool into Zack's stomach and turned to walk away quickly. That comment, as usual, had stung. Zack had made comments just as bad, and sometimes worse in the past and yet they still had the power to hurt Cloud. Did Zack know that they hurt him? He pretended to be angry, but Zack knew him. There was no way Zack didn't know exactly what he was doing.
That infuriated Cloud the most. He always found himself hoping that maybe, just maybe, today would be the day that the Zack he knew would come back. He never did, instead he made some cruel comment that had Cloud reeling.
Cloud cursed himself for falling back into the old pattern. He knew that something like that was going to happen. Why had he waited so long to walk away from his old friend? Could it be that he had actually missed the bastard. Just the thought of admitting that to himself infuriated the blonde as he crossed the dance floor and headed towards his friends.
"Hey wait! Cloud!", Zack was following him. Probably so he could say something worse or grab my ass, Cloud thought bitterly.
Cloud ignored the man and started to get even more pissed off. The man had taken advantage of him after he'd broken up with Aerith twelve years ago on graduation day. The abrupt end to his loving relationship with Aerith had left Cloud wounded. So of course he got drunk with his best friend, right? As usual he trusted that Zack would look after him.
Big mistake. Something had happened to make that night different from their usual drunken nights of escapism.
Instead of the usual wake up on the couch with a vicious hangover situation, Cloud found himself waking up beside Zack the next day. They were both naked and Cloud had a killer head ache, a sore ass, and some disturbing half memories made vague by vodka, whiskey, and tequila. Cloud was angry betrayed, seriously confused, and pressured by memories of his homophobic upbringing. He grabbed his clothes and left before Zack woke up. The next day the two of them had a screaming match and their once indestructible friendship shattered into a million pieces.
Cloud never wanted to see Zack again, but unfortunately he found himself going to the same college for three years as the most hated enemy of his best friend. The two of them found themselves waging little proxy wars based on 'harmless' pranks. Occasionally, Zack confronted Cloud and asked to repair their friendship. Every time that happened Cloud called him a selfish bastard and told him to go fuck himself. Zack normally responded with a pithy response about Cloud being the submissive one, which normally got him punched.
Cloud loathed him by the end of their freshman year at college and started to save up the money for a transfer that summer. He finally had enough money after three years of the 'Zack and Cloud Cold War', as Reno entitled their little feud. Cloud finished his schooling in the big city, as far away from Zack as possible. Of course, he didn't keep contact and forgot about Zack as best as you could forget a best friend who betrayed you and fucked you over. Literally.
Cloud found it funny that now that he'd been without a friend for a few years he could find it in him to forgive Zack. He found it ironic that once he was able to forgive his friend Zack was even more of an ass before. Maybe they were destined to be that way? Maybe it suited them? One was ready to forgive and the other was a complete asshole.
Cloud couldn't believe Zack had found him in a city as huge as Edge. It was obvious that Zack had been looking for him. The pessimistic part of him made him think that it was only so that he could screw with him and play his fun little mind games. His optimistic side made him hope that it was so that they could repair their friendship.
And that pissed him off. He hated Zack. He hated his voice, and the way it was lowered into a sexy drawl when he whispered into his ear. He hated his muscles and his broad shoulders because they were stronger and more attractive than his own. The only time he ever found himself admiring his friend was when he was comparing himself to him and finding himself wanting. He felt small in Zack's presence, immasculated, weak, and feminine. Zack pissed him off.
As he was inwardly fuming, listing in his head all the things he hated about the way Zack made him feel, Zack grabbed his shoulder. He then pulled the blonde into his chest and started to say some intelligible thing in his ear. Cloud didn't care, because as soon as Zack had touched him he snapped. That was when he found himself turning around and punching Zack square in the nose. Cloud relished the sound of his nose crunching beneath his fist.