A/N: This is for the lovely BrownEyedHeretic over on dA, known as countcainn here on FF. I told her I would write her crack Zangeal so here it is.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. :3
Angeal looked nervous, very nervous. His seemingly permanently furrowed brows seemed to be drawn in even more than normal. This wasn't happening this couldn't be happening. It was impossible that something so incredibly unreasonable could have landed in his lap. Shuffling the front of his hair and tossing some left and right, Angeal groaned. Hojo was going to die when this had all blown over, he had concluded. This was more than unfair, this was perverse.
It all started about three months ago, when Hojo summoned 2nd Class SOLDIER Zack Fair down into the labs. Zack had already been placed under the raven-haired 1st's care by then and was quickly developing into a fine young SOLDIER, showing promise far beyond many of the others.
Angeal had developed a close bond with the boy, having trained him since he was a 3rd, and their relationship had grown to something more than that of a mentor and his apprentice. It had started about seven months after they had started their relationship; one night after a long day in the training room Angeal had invited the youth to his apartment. Zack had been there countless times before, whether it was to drop off an assignment or just hang around and watch TV with his mentor, and neither expected this to be any different.
The 1st class seated himself on the military-issue couch that he had been given, the blue suede feeling nice against his freshly showered skin. He sighed contently, his left leg against the back of the couch laying flat and his right on the floor; his left arm rested around the back, fingers running along the fabric a bit. Closing his eyes he rested his head back and yawned softly. Zack had walked in right after him but saw fit to take off his main belt covering his stomach so that it would be a bit more comfortable to sit, placing it and his sheath on the small entryway table with his mentor's.
Zack had also saw it fit to curl up with his teacher. He crawled across the end of the couch opposite of where Angeal's head was resting and snuggled up to him. The 3rd was feeling particularly tired, his head rested on Angeal's chest, shifted towards his right arm which he had tentatively wrapped his own arms around, and his eyes closed. He was lying on his right side, facing the TV, but his eyes were closed and the television set hadn't even been thought of being turned on.
Ruffling the boy's spikes and shifting slightly under his weight, Angeal had smiled, noticing how nicely the boy fit against his form. These, of course, were thoughts that the older man tried to dispel quickly, but was having a hard time as Zack nuzzled his chest and arm, legs pulled up a bit and his hips moved back and forth. Angeal found himself caressing the boy's side, planting a gentle kiss on the top of his head, and soon those cerulean eyes opened and met his own deeper ones. At that very moment, his left arm draped around the boy, he lost a bit of control--just enough to lean in and plant a kiss on those cute pink lips that was slightly more than just chaste.
After a month kisses had become more passionate, and eventually had led to Angeal's bedroom. Their relationship had grown even stronger in a short time, and the younger fully belonged to his teacher now. They continued their relationship, keeping it out of the public eye, but between them there was a love that seemed almost sickening it was so sweet. Sure there was sex, sure there was passion, but there was more than just that for both of them, and each knew it. Even if Angeal had a hard time saying it, and didn't very often, he loved his student, and those feelings were returned ten-fold by the young boy.
This relationship, as loving as it was, did not detract from the intensity or the point of harshness that their training and teaching reached though. Quite the contrary, it actually amplified both. Zack seemed more concentrated, more eager to please his teacher in every area that he could. The boy was making headway at such speed that it was astounding even the other 1sts who were following the boy's progress.
Back to Hojo's lab though since the mysterious mystery of what happened originates from the scrawny ebony-haired scientist.
"I have developed what will be considered somewhat of a super-mako, Zack, and you are going to be the first one to get an injection," Hojo grinned as he studied the young boy from behind his glasses which gleamed in the harsh overhead light. The young boy was currently seated on a very cold, very sterile, steel medical examination table, his legs hanging off the edge kicking a bit.
"It is designed to harness emotions aside from rage to help build your strength. We realize that the boost the mako gives SOLDIERs when they are in a rage is only temporary and wears them down considerably, so this is intended to give a slow build in strength that lasts with other feelings, such as compassion and the fellowship among the SOLDIERs."
"Oh, okay," Zack blinked a few times, the old man didn't really emanate homeliness, but he was one of the head scientists. "Does it have any side-effects?"
"We don't know for sure yet, but so far we haven't been able to identify anything in the altered stream that would cause any sort of harm." The scientist mumbled a bit in response.
"Alright, I'm fine with that than." Chirped Zack as a grin spread over his face. A new way to gain more strength, this was going to be excellent.
"I don't know how I feel about this," Angeal interjected his semi-glare resting on the scientist in front of him. He was standing beside the table, facing the same way his student was. "Couldn't you test it out on someone else, why have you chosen Zack for this? If something goes wrong you're ruining our most promising student's future."
"Please rest assured, nothing will harm the boy. He is the perfect candidate to test it on though, seeing as how he has such a strong bond with you, and a healthy one with almost everyone else on this compound that he's met." Hojo's glasses gleamed in the light again. "We would see an immediate increase in his strength, and where to improve the serum."
Drawing in a deep breath, the man sighed and his frown lightened as he turned to his student. "Pup, are you sure about this?" He watched as his lover bounced a little bit on the table, grinning ear to ear, Angeal already knew the answer.
"Of course, sir! It'll be fine. Won't it Hojo?" The grinning boy turned to the scientist who was already prepping the syringe.
"Why of course it will, now if you'll please lay back?" Hojo responded quickly, and as Zack laid back he had an assistant band the boy's arm. The scientist walked over quickly and with great precision stuck the needle in a vein, injecting the supposed super-mako. He finished quickly and Zack didn't so much as cringe at the shot. "That is all, check back here every evening for injections and in a week come promptly at 0700 so that I may run some tests."
Zack nodded as he sat up, shaking his head a bit and ruffling his spikes he swung his legs off the table and hopped down. "Don't worry, I will." With that he flashed his mentor a smile and started on his way out of the labs. Frankly, Zack couldn't wait to get out, he didn't like how closed off and eerie it was down there, he much preferred the open air and windows up on the other floors.
The older SOLDIER trailed his student a few steps before catching up with him. His normally stoic expression had returned as he walked beside his bubbly-talented young love. His calm demeanor wavered a moment when he saw what looked like a flash of pain cross Zack's face. "You okay, Puppy?" Angeal asked in a calm voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine." As quick as the look had come, it passed. Zack smiled brightly to his teacher and continued on his way up towards the training room where they had been heading. In all reality, it felt like someone was grating away at his skin where the injection site was. Zack felt like peeling back the small white cloth that was over the fresh tiny hole and searching for redness but did not want to stall his training any longer, after all, he was going to become stronger faster with this new mako.
Within a week, Angeal had already started to see a noticeable difference in the boy's fighting. He was becoming even more concentrated, his strikes were firmer, defiantly stronger, and his accuracy was up an unbelievably high amount. There was also something else different though; Zack had started to become a bit touchier in certain areas, and a lot more affectionate in public. Angeal's puppy had always been slightly open in showing his love in subtle ways while they were out, acceptable things such as hugging or an arm thrown around his shoulders, but now he was sneaking kisses in.
The touchy side really showed through on the ninth night after beginning treatment though. Angeal was at his desk in his apartment going over some last minute reports that had been due about a week before, but he had gotten so caught up in training and so busy with Zack's progress that he'd been either too exhausted or to distracted to do. He was about to start on the last paper when he heard his door open and slam, familiar footsteps and then a thud that he assumed was Zack thumping down on the couch.
Sighing, Angeal briefly said goodbye to his work, figuring he'd finish it after saying hello. He set his pen down and pushed some of his black hair back, getting up from his desk. Heading out to the living room he paused at the entry way, gaping a bit at what was before him before rushing over.
"Puppy? Are you okay?" Angeal rushed to a curled up Zack whose body was wracked with sobs. His student was on his side, facing the back of the couch with his knees to his chest and his face in his hands sobbing his heart out. Speaking of hearts, Angeal could feel his being ripped in half as he gently put a hand on Zack's shoulder, sitting beside him. "Pup?"
Without hesitation, Zack whipped around, throwing his arms over Angeal's shoulders and linking them about his neck. The 2nd buried his face in the crook of his teacher's neck and cried. "It's… it's horrible Angeal. Kunsel is…" before he could finish Zack broke into another wave of sobs.
"Shh. Sh… It's okay Pup. What's wrong? What happened to Kunsel?" Angeal was a bit frightened; Kunsel had become a good friend of Zack's and it seemed as if something had happened to the boy. Running a hand through Zack's hair and keeping the other around his student's waist he waited and listened.
"He-He's fine! S-so far that is… That asshole isn't getting away with what he said." Zack sniffed and nuzzled his mentor's sweater shirt.
'Wait, what he said?' Angeal looked a bit confused. What in the world could Kunsel have possibly said that would upset his student so much? There had to be an explanation behind it, and he was sure he'd hear it. "What did he say?"
"Awful things! I… I was just telling him about how I don't really have to use any gel to get my hair to stay in place, and he… he said that was good because if the spikes were solid I would probably put an eye out with one of them! Can you believe that?" Zack whimpered a bit, looking up at his mentor with big blue eyes still gleaming with tears.
'A joke upset him? Sure it was a pretty bad one, but nothing to cry over.' Angeal cleared his throat a bit and gently moved his student away by the shoulders so he could get a good look at him. "Zack, it was a joke, aren't you taking this a bit hard? I think you may have exhausted yourself in training the past week, maybe you should just rest tomorrow."
Zack looked up at him with puppy eyes, slowly letting them fall to the right and a pouty lip emerging. "Yeah… I guess." He sighed softly, staring at his mentor's chest. "Sorry for bothering you, Angeal." Zack moved to get away and a ping of guilt ran through the older man.
"Ah, Zack, don't worry, it's nothing to be sorry about. I'm sure that you're just taking everything a bit harder since you're tired. I don't mind though, why don't you stay here tonight?" Angeal found himself blabbering all of that before he had a chance to fully think it over. Sure Zack stayed the night a lot, but that was a lot of feeling in a few sentences, the raven-haired man mentally slapped himself.
"Are you sure it's not too much trouble?" He had doe eyes, big doe eyes as he looked up at Angeal. How, Gaia, could he say no to that face? On second thought, Angeal noted that Zack would normally just leave it at that or squeal and say 'thank you' but not second guess his decision.
"I'm positive." Angeal looked down at his student and flashed a brief warm smile. Something was up with him, and he suspected a little scientist was to blame for the sudden change in behavior. The older man decided he'd go with Zack the next evening and speak with Hojo, he hadn't heard any reports from him as of yet and it was starting to bother him a bit. Angeal's line of thought was broken when he suddenly found his puppy in his lap; arms around his neck again, grinding against him.
Those eyes that had been big and beautifully innocent a moment ago were now half lidded and dangerously fiery. 'Shiva that feels good.' Angeal looked down at Zack who was rhythmically moving his hips, grinding into the 1st, his fingers tracing the tip of Angeal's spine. It had been a while since their last encounter of this variety and the matter of Zack's little outburst was slipping from mind quickly.
The next morning, Angeal woke in his bed covered half by a sheet and half way by Zack who was also under said sheet. The puppy had fallen asleep with one arm across Angeal's chest and his legs claiming Angeal's left one, snuggled close to the man. It was morning like this that made it extremely hard for the grown man to get out of bed. He groaned as he saw the time and nudged Zack, trying to wake him gently.
"Hey Pup, time to get up so you can get to your first class on time." Zack made a noise of protest to this and Angeal rubbed the boy's shoulder a bit, trying to encourage him to get up. "Zack, please get up." After another noise of discomfort he spotted blue eyes peeking up at him under about three-quarters of his eyelids. The boy looked like he was still pretty spent. Slowly though, Zack began to move, and his warm young mouth was over Angeal's, pressing a hot sweet kiss to his lips.
"G'morning love." Zack mumbled after pulling away, smiling with a tinge of satisfaction from the small gesture he'd given Angeal.
"Morning," Responded the older with a small smile. He felt the urge to pull Zack back down and taste those lips one more time before the boy fully made it out of bed, but alas, he was too late. The boy had gotten up, stretching where he stood with his arms high above his head facing out and linked at the top. With a large yawn he let his arms drop before turning around, the morning light illuminating him beautifully as he stood in just his royal blue boxers. 'How did those get back on?' Angeal thought to himself with a bit of disdain for the offensive article of clothing, his brows furrowing a bit.
The day went by quickly after the slow wake-up though. Angeal noticed Zack was back to laughing with Kunsel by the afternoon and when evening swung around and it was time to go for the nightly mako injections, Angeal made sure to pull his student aside so that he might accompany him. Zack was happy to have his teacher go with, walking down the stairs in his normal bouncy manner, chattering about how his day had been, at least, the sections of the day that had been away from Angeal.
Upon reaching the labs, Hojo seemed a bit surprised to see the 1st down with his student, but accepted it and offered a simple "hello" before carrying on with the nightly routine. Zack laid down, got his injection, then sat back up and thanked the scientist for his work. After Zack had left, Angeal whispering for him to just go to his apartment, the dark-haired man turned to the gaunt scientist before him.
"What's going on with him, Hojo?" Angeal demanded in a stern voice, his eyes a bit darkened.
"What do you mean, Angeal?" The scientist blinked, his grin barely staying away from his lips though.
"I mean the mood swings, bursts of emotion, and sudden increase in clinginess." He frowned a bit more, watching the other man.
"Ah, it must be the estrogen and progesterone fused into the mako."
This made Angeal blink a few times.
"Aren't those… female sex hormones?"
"Yes, they are. They are what cause the strength boost using emotions." Hojo grinned a bit, pushing up his glasses. "I'm sure the boy will get back to his normal self, he just has to adjust a bit. Don't worry too much."
Angeal nodded a bit, still glaring slightly at the scientist. He didn't like that; he didn't like that one bit. With his little chat over though, he headed home to his puppy, hoping they could just get a good night's sleep. Upon his arrival, he found Zack in bed all stripped down and curled up, it looks like his hopes were going to be fulfilled; and they were.
A few more weeks went by and Zack had adjusted back to his normal self, not crying over little things, or suddenly blowing up on people for what seemed to be no reason. The boy was still improving and it made Angeal happy to have his student back to normal again. There was still the elevated amount of affection in public, but Zack seemed to be being a bit more discrete about it again. Then something odd started happening in the second month of the new mako treatment.
Zack had been doing fine for about seven weeks; but then he was getting sick a lot, running to the bathroom mid class, exiting the VR simulator in training and puking. At first he blamed some take-out we had the previous night, but it continued on for an entire week. The boy was getting nauseous and vomiting almost-if not every-day. Angeal was getting concerned, but Hojo told the man to relax, and that he was running tests that would figure out what was wrong with his puppy in less than a day and a half.
The day went by, and when Angeal returned for answers, Hojo could offer him none. Frustrated, the raven-haired 1st made some colorful threats and demanded that the scientist make some progress quickly.
"I assure you I will notify you as soon as I discover something, now would you please leave me in peace so I can continue searching? I'll have you know this is taking time away from other valuable projects I have running; I'm as eager as you are to figure out what is wrong and fix it. I'm going to have the boy stay here for a few nights though, send his school work here."
Zack looked at Angeal with sad eyes, silently pleading for his teacher not to leave him down in the dusky basement. Angeal sucked in his breath and sighed softly, rubbing his temple. "I'm sorry, Pup. I'll be the one to bring your work, alright? Just hang tough."
"That will not work, Commander Hewley. You are not going to be permitted to visit the boy for a few days or until I figure out what's going on." Hojo interrupted. Zack whined a little at this, looking up at his mentor. "Don't worry, Fair, you'll be fine, and with any luck we'll have it figured out in no time at all." Zack looked hesitant but nodded slowly to the man.
"See you soon, sir." Zack said to Angeal who gave him a weary look but smiled.
"Later, Puppy." Angeal replied before turning, being shuffled out of the lab quickly.
Fourteen days, it had been fourteen days and Angeal had heard absolutely nothing from Hojo or Zack. It was driving the man insane; he couldn't help but think of all of the dreadful things that may have happened. 'What if the sickness was a terminal disease that couldn't be reversed? What if Zack was going to be sickly until he died? What if the mako was reacting badly with his body and his body was getting sick fighting it off?' All of these thoughts were running through his mind and his two best friends could do little to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Angeal, it's probably just a bug that they need to figure a special potion to cure." Genesis said with a smile, slapping his very worried and very angry looking friend on the back.
"Zack will be fine," Was the only bit that Sephiroth had offered, but it was reassuring. The man never said much, and just a little bit was always a big help; it just seemed like a lot less than it normally would have been.
Suddenly Angeal's mobile rang though. He pulled out the phone and a smile graced his lips for a moment when he saw 'Puppy' for the caller ID. "Hello?" He sounded a bit more eager and happy than he had intended to, trying to suppress it just a little.
"H-hey there Angeal, can I meet you in your apartment? There's something I need to tell you." Zack's voice was quivering a bit. "We found out what's been going on with me, I'll, uh, I'll tell you when I see you."
"Yeah, sure." The older man blinked a few times and frowned before a look of shock shot across his face. What if he had been right? What if it really was terminal? Angeal's insides twisted and turned at the idea. "I'll be there in five."
"Alright. . . I love you." With that, Zack hung up and Angeal looked to his friends.
"Well?" Genesis was the first to inquire on the matter.
"He wants to meet me at my apartment; he sounded like something was really wrong. I'll catch up with you two later." Angeal's brows had knitted into a frown again as he set off for his residence. Upon reaching his destination, Angeal opened the door and spotted familiar black spikes at the couch. "Hey Pup."
Hearing Angeal, Zack got up and ran to his mentor, wrapping his arms around the man, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry, Angeal. I didn't think this was even possible. I love you." Angeal, troubled by the boy's words wrapped his arms around his small frame before slowly pushing him back a bit, holding on to his shoulders. Seeing tears in his eyes he used his thumb to brush them away before speaking.
"What is going on, Zack? Why are you sorry?" Angeal looked a bit confused, his hand resting on Zack's cheek, feeling the soft skin as the boy nuzzled his face into the warm and strong hand. Angeal felt his heart begin to hurt, his face heating up a bit as he waited for the young boy to answer. Zack was staring at him with helplessly desperate blue eyes. "I love you too." Angeal finally answered the third part.
Zack's shoulders seemed to relax a little. 'Had he been concerned that I didn't?' The thought quickly washed from Angeal's head as his student spoke. "I hope you aren't mad at me, and I'm not quite sure what to do yet, but um… Angeal…" Zack took hold of the hand that was rested against his face and brought it around, kissing his teacher's palm gently before breathing in deeply.
Angeal had no idea what it was, he was lost and confused, waiting for Zack to light the way; and then it hit.
"I'm pregnant." A gulp was emitted from Zack.
"What?"
"I'm pregnant." Zack repeated, looking down at their shoes, a hot flush appearing over his milk and honey skin tone. Angeal's eye twitched, his hand fell, and he looked utterly stumped.
"Last time I checked, you're fully male, Zack, and it wasn't that long ago." Angeal said, trying to dismiss this as a bad attempt at a joke. His eyes went to Zack's, his brows knitted, and his expression no longer that of an overly-confused man.
"Yeah, I know. That's the thing though; I'm male on the outside, but as far as my internal reproductive system, well…" Zack trailed off, his gaze dropping from Angeal's again. "Hojo said it probably has to do with the mako, and he's not sure how to fix it, yet. I'm not kidding though; I am defiantly, unreasonably, pregnant."
Angeal's furrowed brows deepened as he stared at the boy, trying to figure how this could even happen, even with mako. All he could end up thinking though was that Hojo was not going to have a good day.
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