It really was a shame to see Cloud's beautiful eyes tainted by violent red.

SOLDIER gazed upon cadet with an awkward grin as the blonde fussed intently, face inches from the mirror and breath rhythmically creating a small puff of fog against the glass. He didn't know what was wrong with him; he'd just come back from duty and simply found the smaller man angrily fiddling with his own face. It was cute, really. Cloud had to stand on his toes to get close to the mirror.

"Need some help?"

As expected, the smaller of the two jumped, though he hadn't offered too loudly. When Cloud turned to face him, however, his amusement wilted away at the sight of the blonde's bloodshot eyes. Although the brilliant cerulean irises were highlighted magnificently by the contrast of colors, Zack breath hitched a bit in concern. "Cloud?" he offered, carefully keeping the tone of his voice low and calm so as to keep from cornering his friend, "…have you been crying?"

"No!" and although he muttered the next words under his breath, Zack caught them because he was a SOLDIER, and because he learned to listen for these things: "Not this time, anyway."

"Tch, then what's eating you?"

"Just get over here and help me." The blonde's bossy tone told the first class that he'd been at it for a while now. Cloud wasn't a mean person by nature, and it took something truly irritating for him to take offense to the point of snapping at people.

He pushed away from the door frame he'd been leaning on and approached the small soldier, unsure of how to handle the situation just yet.

Of all the outcomes he could have anticipated upon his arrival, however, Cloud Strife prying his eyelids apart and glaring up at him expectantly through one large, bulbous eyeball was not at the top of the list.

"Can you see anything?"

"Besides your beautiful blue eye?"

"Zack!"

"Okay, okay! Sheesh!" He swatted the blonde's hands away and gently tugged at the other man's eyelashes, delicately—much moreso than Cloud had just done, anyway—moving swollen eyelids out of the way. "Let me look. Stop squirming."

"It hurts!"

"Be a man, Cloud." He cupped the cadet's face firmly and maneuvered it, attempting to work with the shoddy lighting in their bathroom. He was about to give up when he caught the offender in his gaze: an elegant curve of sharp black, wedged far into the eye socket. "Looks like you've got an eyelash stuck way in there, Spike."

Cloud made a forlorn noise high in his throat.

"Want me to try and get it?" He let go momentarily to let his friend blink, frowning when tears sprung bountifully to the corners of the blonde's eyes. When he received only a defeated nod, he motioned for Cloud to allow him to pry his swollen eye open once more. "Look down."

Deep blue disappeared in lieu of bloodshot red as the smaller man complied, though with no great difficulty, and Zack nodded when the offending eyelash moved down further with the eye. He let go of Cloud's chin and tried desperately to gently nudge the slick black out of its temporary resting place, but the blonde flinched violently and reeled back, windmilling his arms at Zack.

"You poked me in the eye!" Cloud's glare was much less effective when one of his eyes was squished shut.

"I'm sorry, Spike. I've got man hands." As if to prove his point, he held his fingers up to the blonde and wiggled them. Unlike the cadet or their third companion, Sephiroth, Zack's fingers and palms were thick and calloused. "I can call Seph from the other room if you like, he's got dainty hands and probably wouldn't mind the break."

"He'd shit a brick if he heard you say that, Zack."

The brunette rolled his eyes and started to chuckle, but a much deeper sound cut him off.

"I wouldn't exactly call them dainty, myself, but they're certainly more graceful than yours, Zackary."

Two men whirled around to face The General. Foregoing shock for relief, Zack pointed at Cloud expectantly. "Fix his eyeball."

A silver brow raised in speculation. "What's wrong with it?"

It was Cloud's turn. "I've had an eyelash stuck in it for over an hour. It's too far back for me to get."

Clicking his tongue, Sephiroth beckoned the two men to follow, removing his jacket as he proceeded to the bedroom. They did so, and upon entering, Sephiroth removed a Sense materia from his bracer and activated it, then sat on the bed. "Zack, you hold this over Cloud's eye. Cloud, come here and sit on my lap."

The blonde blushed. "Yes, sir." They still hadn't broken him of his habit of calling The General sir. It was a work in progress.

All three situated, Sephiroth got to work. The brilliant neon yellow of the materia illuminated Cloud's eye much better than the flickering bathroom lights, and soon, with a painstakingly delicate swipe of his fingertip, Shinra's finest soldier held a damp eyelash out for his two companions to view.

"Ahhh, that feels so much better!" The cadet blinked rapidly, alternating between squeezing his eyes shut and opening them comically wide. He could already feel the relief pouring through his eye socket with the spiky black eyelash removed from its premises. Giving both of his mentors a triumphant grin, he thanked them graciously and earned himself smiles in return.

"Now, Cloud, you've got one last responsibility left, you know." Sephiroth's deep baritone sounded through the room with a hint of mischief, and the blonde squirmed on his lap, curious.

"What is it?"

"Oh, I know this!" The raven-haired SOLDIER bounded onto the bed and wiggled up behind Sephiroth, taking his hand and presenting it to Cloud. The eyelash was still perched precariously on The General's fingertip. "You have to make a wish!"

"A wish?" The blonde stared at the eyelash warily. Figuring it couldn't hurt, he shut his eyes tightly and wished as hard as he could. When nothing happened, he peeked an eye open expectantly at the two men grinning at him. "Now what?"

In unison, they purred at him: "You blow."

Author's Note: I really don't know how I get inspired by such random situations. I suppose it's for want of writing something new instead of regurgitating plotlines…who knows. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and keep an eye out for a few more oneshots throughout the week.

And no, I won't tell you what Cloud wished for. Then it won't come true. D: