This is an AU setting where Angeal (23) is the guardian of Zack (14) in his first year of SOLDIER training, living together in Midgar.

Zack sat on top of the bin shed, his legs hitched up to his chest and his heels drumming against the metal incessantly. He watched the street, his hands gripping his knees as he chewed the inside of his mouth in indecision.

Soon a tall man dressed in black appeared at the bottom of the street, he carried a sack of groceries in one arm, the other resting in a pocket of his SOLDIER uniform trousers.

Zach's heart jumped as he saw his guardian approach, leaping from the bins to greet the man at the bottom of the steps that lead to their house.

'Angeal!' he said, 'hey, how was your day?'

'Hey squirt,' Angel removed his hand from his pocket and ruffled the boy's hair. Not bad, Hojo's got me running all manner of tests for him. I'm worn out. You finished early I see.'

'Uh, huh,' Zack nodded, puffing his chest out proudly. 'I got the best times out of everyone and finished before them all so the drill master said I could take the afternoon off.'

'That's great, kid,' Angeal said, starting to make his way up the stairs. 'You'll be a 1st class in no time.'

'Uh!' Zach said, a note of alarm in his voice, he skipped backwards, blocking the man's way once more. 'Hey, how about we go to the park, huh? It's still light, we could see a show?'

Angeal smiled benevolently down at his young ward. 'Sure kid, just let me get this stuff put away and-'

'I can do that!' Zach said quickly, taking the bag despite Angeal's warnings that it was heavy. 'You just wait right here, I'll be done in a flash!'

'Zach, I'd like to at least change my clothes and maybe sit for a minute,' Angeal laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. 'I've been training hard all day.' He took another step forwards but Zach jumped up, his back to the door, his smile now fairly forced.

'Wait! Uh-' he looked around desperately. 'You can sit here. I'll grab you a drink... it's such a nice evening, you wouldn't want to miss it being inside would you?'

Now Angeal knew something was up. He fixed the boy with a stern eye and set his hands on his hips. 'Zack, don't you think it would be better it you told me what happened sooner rather than later?'

Zack began to sweat under his guardian's gaze. 'Uh... ah... well, that depends.'

'On what?' Angeal asked, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow.

'On whether I get punished sooner rather than later too.'

Angeal sighed, rolling his eyes, and then moved to put his hand on the handle of the door.

'Wait!' Zack yelped. 'Ok! I'll spill, but you gotta promise not to be mad.'

Angeal stopped and waited silently but with the man's attention fully on him all that Zack could manage was to stammer and blush guiltily.

'I'm going in, Zack.' Angeal made to turn the handle. His ward started to protest but finally stood out of the way, hugging the groceries to him, his eyes scrunched closed as he waited for his guardian to start shouting.

Three, two, one...

'ZACK FAIR! Get in here, now!'

Wincing, Zack grit his teeth and sidestepped into the house, kicking the door shut behind him and sliding the shopping onto the hall table. As soon as his hands were free they flew behind him, clasping together around his backside which he was suddenly very aware of.

Angeal was waiting for him in the living room, standing, his arms crossed over his broad chest, next to the buster sword which was currently imbedded several inches into the wood floor.

'It was an accident!' Zack blurted, staying out of arms reach.

'I'd hope you wouldn't do this intentionally,' Angeal said archly, 'unless you were planning some strange new installation piece.'

Zack licked his lips. 'I didn't mean to-'

'Save the excuses,' Angeal held up a hand, 'just tell me what happened.' He looked up above the mantelpiece to where the sword usually hung when not in use, the two hooks were intact, his (albeit limited) diy was not to blame.

'I just wanted to hold it,' Zack said, confirming his suspicions.

'How did you get up there?' his guardian asked. 'Please tell me you didn't climb?'

Zack shook his head vigorously. 'I stood on a chair,' he confessed. 'I got the sword out of the holders and I held it, just like you do,' he mimicked the older man's fighting pose. 'But the front started to dip and I tried to get it back to the mantle-'

'But instead the weight pulled it out of your hands and it stuck into the floor, right?' Angeal sighed. 'Zack, I rent this place from Shinra, I'm pretty sure I just lost the deposit!'

'I'm sorry!' Zack said, his eyes wide with real remorse. 'I tried to get it out but it's like- welded in there or something!'

Angeal shook his head. Taking the buster sword in one hand and pulling it from the floorboards with ease, evoking a gasp of awe from his young charge. 'How many times do I have to tell you, kid, you don't have the strength to lift a buster sword yet.' He placed the weapon on its frame once more, checking to make sure that the blade was undamaged before turning and fixing Zack with a steely eye. 'Zack, one day you're going to make a great member of SOLDIER, I mean it. But you can't just jump right to the top. You have to train hard to get there.'

Zack hung his head. 'I just... wanted to know how it felt,' he said miserably.

Angeal chuckled, stepping forwards and ruffling the boy's hair. 'It feels like lifting a really heavy length of metal,' he said with a smile, 'I don't recon it'll feel like anything else until you've earned the right to hold it.' He shook his head in disbelief. 'You disobeyed an order from a superior in SOLDIER, if this was a mission you'd be in serious trouble!'

Zack bit his lip. 'You gonna spank me, 'geal?'

'I ought to,' Angeal said grimly, pointing to the floorboards. 'That could have been you, kid. The sword could have landed on you or you could have fallen off the chair trying to hold it or any number of other horrible things that could happen if you mess with things that you don't have the experience to handle. At the very least you'll be paying for the new board out of your allowance.'

Zack didn't object, knowing he'd be lucky it that was all the punishment he'd receive.

'Not to mention trying to hide this from me,' Angeal scolded. 'Do you really think that was the honourable way to solve this?'

Zack blushed guiltily. 'No, Angeal.'

'Now, as for dropping the sword-' Angeal put his hands on his hips. 'Why do you think that happened, huh?'

''cause of my scrawny chicken-arms,' Zack pouted, his response very nearly causing Angeal to lose his stern facade.

'Nope,' he said instead. 'When you're lifting something heavy, you start from the ground up. You need to get some strength into those legs.'

'My legs?' Zack asked, clearly confused.

'Yup.' Angeal walked around to stand beside the boy. 'It's time you started training them. Now, do as I do.' He swung his arms back, bending his knees and dipping down at the same time as the arms swung forwards, the momentum bringing him back to a standing position. 'That's called a squat, and it's your new best friend,' he said, smiling as the youngster repeated the move. He corrected Zack a few times until the boy had got it right and then stepped back. 'Right. Another hundred of them should do for now.'

'For now?' Zack asked warily, already feeling a little strained from the exercise.

'That's right,' Angeal said with a slightly sadistic grin. 'You're going to do a thousand of those a day until you're big enough to wield the buster sword.'

'A thousand!' Zack demanded; his eyes wide with horror. 'Do you want to kill me?'

'You'll thank me for it one day,' the man said wryly. 'When you can lift my sword.' He raised a questioning eyebrow at the boy who still seemed unconvinced. 'Unless you want a spanking every day instead?'

'One, two, three-!' Zack counted, his body blurring as he began his squats. Angeal laughed and left the boy to it, taking up the groceries and heading for the kitchen to start the evening meal.