When Zack entered Cloud's room that afternoon the blond knew something bad was going to happen. Zack had an incredibly cheeky expression on his face which clearly showed just how excited he was about something, and from Cloud's experience that could never be good.

"Spiky!" Zack exclaimed happily, clapping him on the back. Cloud didn't respond, thinking that perhaps Zack would forget he was there and leave again.

No such luck.

"C'mon, I wanna take you somewhere." Zack said happily, grabbing Cloud's arm and beginning to lead him to the door.

"Why do I get the feeling something bad is about to happen to me?" Cloud asked with a slight whine in his voice. Zack stopped walking and turned back to face him with wide eyes, almost the size of saucers.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked, horrified.

"No."

"You're no fun!" Zack said with a pout, but then started grinning again anyway. "Spike, I want to take you to get your ear pierced!"

Cloud stared and then began trying to pull away.

"No! Zack, I don't want my ear pierced!" he exclaimed as Zack held on tight.

"Spike, chicks dig it. Totally. They think it's way hot and are bound to fawn all over you." Zack said as he tried to dig his heels into the ground in order to stay where he was and also keep a grip on his friend.

"Are you lying to me?" Cloud asked, drawing his eyebrows together as he stared at Zack intently, pausing in his struggling.

"No! Aerith loves mine!" Zack said.

"Oh." Cloud was silent as he thought over what could possibly happen to him within the next half an hour. It was terrifying. But what if Tifa finally noticed him?

"So, you gonna let me get your ear pierced?" Zack asked again.

"Maybe..." Cloud said, but Zack took it as a yes and was already continuing to drag him out the door again with a huge smile on his face.

On the way there, Zack suddenly became very serious and turned to Cloud.

"Spike, there's one thing you have to make sure you do."

"What's that?" Cloud asked, now even more worried than he was before.

"When you're asked which ear you want to get the piercing in, say you want it in your right ear. If it's in the left ear people will think you're gay." Zack explained, before frowning. "You're not gay, are you?"

"No!" Cloud shouted before calming down and staring at his feet as they continued to walk. "Thanks for letting me know."

"What are friends for?" Zack asked, smacking him on the back and grinning again, an amused twinkle in his eye that hadn't been there before.

Amazingly, it didn't take long before Zack pushed Cloud ahead of him through the door of the piercings shop. Cloud could feel himself trembling and wondered if he was going to make it out of there alive.

"Hey!" Zack called out to the guy behind the desk who had about ten piercings in his own ears. He looked up and then waved them over.

"What can I do for you today?" he asked them.

"My buddy here would like to get an ear piercing!" Zack announced, before manoeuvring Cloud over to a seat and standing back as the man walked over and began to prepare the instruments needed.

"Which ear?" he asked, standing at Cloud's feet and waiting to be told which direction to move.

"M-my right." Cloud said nervously, glancing at Zack to see the encouraging nods of his head.

And the hand covering his mouth in a desperate attempt not to laugh.

"Oh? Coming out with an earring, are you?" the man asked as he moved up to Cloud's right side.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked curiously, wondering why Zack was acting so weird.

"Uh, you're gay, right?" the man paused.

"What? No! Zack!" Cloud screamed, and Zack finally lost all his self-control. With a loud snort, the black-haired man collapsed onto the floor in laughter at how he had fooled his friend successfully.

"So... you want the left ear I take it?" the man asked with a slight chuckle of his own.

"Yes. I do." Cloud said angrily, folding his arms and pouting. He couldn't believe Zack had embarrassed him so badly in front of a complete stranger! 'What are friends for' he said. What are friends for? They're obviously not for helping you out! If they were, then-

"Ow!" Cloud yelped, hands moving to grip the sides of the chair and eyes widening in horror as he felt a sharp stinging in his ear.

"Oh my gosh!" Zack said from the floor, still laughing. "I was so looking forward to taking you back to ShinRa with an earring in your right ear!"

"There we go, all done." the man who had just pierced Cloud's ear said, moving away and going back to standing behind the desk.

Zack managed to pull himself up and stumble over to the desk, handing over the right amount of gil before dragging Cloud off the chair and out the door, still laughing.

When they got back to ShinRa, Cloud's ear still hurt. But now he wasn't so sure whether it was from the earring – which was a plain silver stud – or Zack's constant laughing which was slowly but surely sending him insane.

"Hey, what happened?"

Suppressing a groan, Cloud waited as Zack gulped for air so that he would be able to explain the situation to his friend Kunsel who had run up at the sound of laughter.

"H-he..." Zack took another gulp of air. "Ear! Pierced. And oh my gosh!"

He didn't get much further than that.

Trudging off in a bad mood, Cloud went back to his room so that he wouldn't have to deal with Zack humiliating him anymore.

So much for girls digging guys with earrings. Zack had just wanted to see whether he could get Cloud to pierce his right ear.

Well, Cloud thought to himself as he sat down on his bed and continued to glare, Zack had better keep an eye out tomorrow, because something just might happen to humiliate him.

Smiling slightly now that he had thoughts of revenge in his mind, Cloud was able to go about the rest of his day happily and forgot about the pain in his ear, even going so far as to like the look of it when he saw himself in the mirror.

Unfortunately, he was glad Zack had made him pierce his ear.