Angeal Hewley considered himself an honorable man. However did being honorable mean he could lie and squirm his way out of a rock concert invitation from Zack? Yeah, no. He couldn't. Especially not with those big blue eyes directed at him; it was rather reminiscent of a puppy that just sat there next to the dinner table begging for scraps, he thought. Angeal knew that attendance to this concert was extremely important to the younger man and as a matter of fact knew that originally, Zack had roped Sephiroth into going with him, but the silver-haired man had to cancel due to an impromptu meeting that all the board members had to attend.
Not five minutes after Zack found out that Sephiroth couldn't go with him, Angeal received over a half dozen texts begging him to go instead. Normally he would casually redirect all of Zack's begging to a different person, namely Sephiroth or Genesis depending on what the hullaballoo was about, but with Sephiroth busy, the only other choice was Genesis. He slammed that idea back into his head. Asking Genesis to go to a rock concert was like calling Zack a kitten instead of a puppy, it just simply wasn't done. The only choice that Zack had left was him. He had immediately suggested Aerith as a tentative alternative but Zack had passed him such a look that he discarded the idea after he realized that Elmyra, Aerith's rather overprotective mother, would have flayed Zack into several pieces if he took her precious and pure daughter to a rock concert.
And then suddenly, Angeal was struck by an idea. "Cloud!" At Zack's confused look, Angeal explained further while giving himself a pat on the back for his ticket out of this whole situation, "He's into rock music, isn't he? He'd be a great person to take to a rock concert." Not to mention, he'd probably enjoy it a lot more as well, but he kept that thought to himself. It wasn't as if he had met the other before, but Zack often injected little anecdotes about his best friend, and honestly, anyone would be better than him.
"Angeal, you haven't been paying attention to me at all!" Zack said as he tangled his fingers into spiked hair, lightly pulling it in frustration, "Cloud can't go because this is his concert!" At Angeal's still relatively blank look, he continued, "This is Cloud's debut concert I have tickets for. He can't go with me, because he's kinda like, you know, the main event."
Angeal just nodded his head numbly. Well, he definitely didn't know or expect that. After all, this was Zack Fair he was talking about. Sure, Zack managed to get the oddest of people to call him 'friend', (well minus himself, he wasn't odd), but a rock artist? Images of hair dyed in neon colors, mascara wing tips, and body piercings raced through Angeal's mind. He shivered; that was the stuff nightmares were made out of.
"Oh that's great! I knew I could count on you! You're the best, man!" Zack clapped him on the back with a wide grin on his face after slipping the ticket into Angeal's lax hand. The taller man's eyes narrowed as he realized that he had absentmindedly nodded an agreement to attend but before he could get any word in, Zack rushed off, yelling as he ran across the street, his voice growing fainter as he got further away, "Meet me in the front at five! Address is on the ticket! Dress casual or everyone's gonna laugh at you!"
And that was how he ended up here. Angeal had arrived at the local amphitheater a few minutes early and stood under one of the trees near the entrance as he scanned the decently large crowd for familiar black spikes. It was not a surprise that he heard Zack before he even saw him. Zack's head and waving arm were bobbing along in a crowd full of people that were making a beeline for the entrance. Grabbing Zack's hand wasn't the easiest thing, but once he did, it was simple to pull him out from where he was stranded.
"I didn't think there would be so many people," Angeal greeted Zack with a raised eyebrow, "You know I don't like crowds like this." It was true. With every minute that passed, more and more people made their way into the amphitheater and with the excitement buzzing in the air, it was a sure guarantee that even more would show up.
"Well, not gonna lie, Cloud's not like super popular but he does have his fans," Zack jerked his head in the direction of a few girls who were making their way in, "Mostly girls but there's a fair share of guys." A sly smile slipped its way onto Zack's face, "I think you'll understand when you see him."
Angeal could only look at the shorter male with disbelief before he shook his head, "You're delusional, Zack." He pulled him along by the wrist, "Let's just get in before there's no room to navigate." Crowds didn't really appeal to Angeal; rooms with crowds in them even less. The sight that met their eyes didn't make him feel better at all. It was steadily getting darker due to the setting sun and there were people and glowing dots as far as his eyes could see. He didn't notice Zack slip away and return with a couple of glow sticks that were being passed out by the staff by the box.
"Got you a little something," Zack winked as he pressed the blue glow stick into Angeal's palm, wiggling his own purple one when the elder man sighed, "You can keep it as a souvenir and I have it on very good authority that Cloud's eyes are that shade of blue too." He winked and disappeared into the crowd and only with Angeal's large and vaguely intimidating size clearing the way was he able to follow the dark spikes to a squared off space near the front that gave a clear view of the elevated stage. "VIP tickets," Angeal was treated to another of Zack's blinding grins, "We get to go visit Cloud backstage after the concert too."
And there went Angeal's plans of going back home right after the event was over. There was no way Zack would let him leave before he did. He let out another sigh, though it was drowned out by a loud roar from around him.
"It's starting!" Zack yelled, the glee apparent in his voice, "Wave your glow stick!" Angeal waved it hesitantly in contrast to Zack swinging it back and forth wildly over his head. The glowing lights were mesmerizing to say the least.
"Good evening, everyone! I hope you're having a good one!" A clear voice rang out above the screams and silence reigned the amphitheater for a second before the screaming started up again even louder than before. "Strife here and I'm here to sing for all of you tonight!" An answering cheer greeted his words and the blond smiled and winked at his audience before opening his mouth to sing.
Angeal was speechless. From the very first word, he had been hooked. Cloud, or Strife, or whatever he went by on stage, was singing but Angeal might as well been partially deaf right now. The only sound that passed into his ears was the dull rumble of the screams and cheers of everyone at the concert. The whole of his attention was on the blond man on stage singing.
This wasn't supposed to happen. His plans for the night consisted of accompanying Zack to a rock concert and then a nice quiet night reading at home with Justice, his dog. There was nothing in his plans that had a faintest mention of getting an erection while watching another man sing in leather pants. Granted they were a great pair of leather pants which probably covered an equally great pair of legs, but no.
"I taught him how to wink like that!" A voice screamed into his ear. Angeal turned with wide eyes, relaxing when he realized it was just an excited Zack, "He looks so hot!"
He silently agreed. Even from here, he could definitely tell that the blond rocker was indeed attractive. Sinfully attractive even, especially with all the leather that hugged those thighs and that ass. He unzipped the windbreaker he had worn to keep the worst of the autumn chill at bay; it was getting a bit hot for his liking. A look up at Strife revealed that he wasn't the only one that thought the temperature was rising. His eyes hungrily traced a bead of sweat trail down into the collar of the leather vest and darted straight down to the gentle curve of those leather-hugged hips that were swaying to the beat that resounded through the amphitheater. Angeal gulped; it felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest. The power of good music, he weakly agreed with Zack's screaming.
Angeal didn't know how long Strife sang, but he listened with a broad smile after he redirected his gaze elsewhere and cheered with everyone else when it was over.
"Thank you to every single one of you that came out tonight to hear me!" Strife pumped a fist into the air, "Thank you all for supporting me!" He blew a kiss out into the audience and gave a jaunty two-fingered salute before leaving the stage. Whistling and applause accompanied by cheering continued on for a few minutes to Angeal's surprise; he had thought that it would have stopped when the concert ended.
It took nearly ten minutes for people to start leaving and that's when Zack jabbed Angeal with an elbow before clambering onto the stage and running backstage, all while beckoning him to follow. Angeal walked up the small flight of stairs instead of following Zack's method. You couldn't pay him to act like Zack for a day, he swore to himself. He'd end up being the laughingstock of the entire city and he didn't have Zack's attitude or thickness of skin to brush off things like that.
"Cloud!" He could hear Zack's excitable voice exclaiming, "You were great!" The tall man let smile cross his lips as he anticipated what was going to come next. Once Zack started to speak, it was pretty much impossible to get him to stop when it came to compliments.
By the time, Angeal had found Zack again, though the volume of his voice was a big clue, he had started to wind down and the blond that Angeal had seen on stage earlier was standing right there in the flesh. He was smiling and getting his hair ruffled courtesy of one Zack Fair and it was probably one of the most heartwarming and adorable things he had ever seen, well not counting Justice when he begged for belly-rubs and treats.
Strife noticed him first and must have given some sort of quiet indication as Zack turned to look over curiously. The look of curiosity quickly disappeared when he was recognized and his arm grabbed in order to pull him in closer. The blond looked like he was about to speak but seemed to realize that Zack had something to say and pasted a look of tolerant amusement on his face. His very pretty face.
"Cloud! This is Angeal!" Zack gave Cloud a small push towards Angeal, "And Angeal, this is Cloud!"
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," The blond smiled, his arm twitching as if trying to decide whether to offer a handshake, "Zack talks about you a lot." He ended up sticking a hand into one of his pant pockets, wriggling his fingers in order get it in without making it look too odd. "I'm Cloud Strife."
"Angeal Hewley, and the pleasure is all mine," Definitely all mine. Angeal let his eyes wander the curve of that neck down to the obviously toned chest and then those godly legs. He had to force his gaze back up when he realized he was staring, "Zack talks about me? I hope he told you good things then." He shot their mutual friend a look. Knowing Zack, he would have gone loose and told Cloud about that one time he tripped on the stairs of the library and knocked over an entire two shelves of books. Needless to say, it was not the best moment in his life.
"He did, you don't have to worry about that," Cloud quirked a grin as if he was thinking of something funny, "He told me that you were honorable to a fault, the kind of guy to help old ladies across streets and pick up two shelves worth of fallen books, stuff like that."
Angeal could hear Zack snicker and he could feel an urge to grab him and give a nice smack over the back of his head. He had already gotten teased enough from Sephiroth and Genesis over that event. Well, Sephiroth hadn't teased, but he had laughed. Chuckled. Behind a book. Genesis' first edition of LOVELESS actually. No difference there. Genesis had flat out laughed at him and proceeded to nearly knock one of Sephiroth's antique vases over as his laughter rendered him unable to stand.
"… and then Angeal was like NOOOO cause Genesis was playing some horror game and he screamed real loud and then the soufflé just kinda flopped." Zack told an amused blond, "He made Gen eat the deflated soufflé for dinner actually."
"Zack. Fair." The aforementioned man winced as he heard his name punctuated out loud. "I think that's enough storytelling for today."
"There's never enough storytelling ever," Zack blurted out before he managed to get a handle on his mouth, "You're involved in the be-" He squeaked as he dodged Angeal's hand that grabbed for the back of his shirt and dodged behind the shorter blond who was watching them with an laughing expression.
"Here you go," Cloud grinned as he stepped to the side, leaving Zack standing there unprotected. Angeal gave him a nod of thanks before leaping forward with his hand outstretched. Almost.. Almost.. The edge of Zack's sweater was just in his reach and he reached out to suddenly touch something that was distinctly not a soft cashmere sweater? How odd.
"Oh." Cloud stared at the hand that was lightly squeezing his butt. He didn't know how to react to this except to look away with an obvious blush coloring his cheeks, completely forgetting to tell Angeal to keep his hand to himself.
As for the lucky man of the hour, he was in paradise. It was such a nice butt after all and he was the one touching it. Not Zack, not Sephiroth, but him, Angeal Hewley.
"Uh, hey, Angeal?" Zack's voice was slightly high pitched, "You're touching my best friend's ass."
The taller man could feel his ears burn and he very reluctantly removed his hand from the seat of the leather pants.
"Zack, shut it. He has a nice ass." He shut his mouth with a clack as he heard the words that just came from him. What was wrong with him? He may not have been Genesis or Zack who were experts in the dating field, but he knew his way around a conversation well enough. Why did this have to happen to him?
"I.. thanks, I think?" Angeal looked up when he heard the tentative voice, "I mean, you have nice.. muscles." The blond looked abashed to admit it, the red spreading to the tips of his ears. He loathed to call anything but his dog adorable, but Cloud Strife was damn right adorable.
"Thank you," His reply was an automatic response, one that had been honed from years of listening to his mother tell him to always show his appreciation for another person's compliments. Now he had to apologize for his unnecessary touching. He didn't really regret it, but it wasn't proper to do things of that nature without permission. What came out of his mouth was the furthest thing from an apology and both Zack and Cloud could only stare when Angeal opened his mouth and words spilled out, "You have nice legs as well."
"Angea-!" "Your arms are amazing." Zack and Cloud spoke in unison only for Zack to pause and stare with an open mouth at his blond companion.
"Clo-!" "Your eyes really do match the color of this glow stick." This time, Angeal and Zack spoke at the same time.
"Zack!" Zack called out his own name and almost predictably, the other two turned to face him, "Okay, now that I can speak without being interrupted.." He took a deep breath, "I came here to listen to my best friend sing, not to watch him flirt with another good friend. With that said, good night and have fun on your date."
Angeal stitched his eyebrows together in confusion; was Zack playing some sort of trick on him? He watched as Zack winked gave him a pat on the shoulder before ruffling Cloud's hair and whispering something into his ear. Cloud flushed and jabbed an elbow into the taller man's gut.
"Man, Cloud, your elbow's so bony," Zack teased the blond, "I'll take my leave now!"
After Zack left, Angeal fidgeted. What was he thinking? Leaving the two of them together like this after their farce of a flirt session was a horrible idea.
"Angeal?" Cloud rubbed the back of his neck with a hand with a crooked smile, "You can leave if you want. I know that Zack roped you into coming along. It really was nice meeting you though. I mean, Zack always talks about you and I wanted to meet you and Zack said he could arrange that and and an-"
"Wait," Angeal was sure he heard something wrong, "You said Zack arranged this whole thing?"
"Not the concert, of course, but like you meeting me, yeah," Cloud's voice was tinged with awkwardness, "I'm sorry. I should have asked Zack to tell me if you even liked rock at all, but I really wanted to meet you."
"So Zack lied to me?" Angeal couldn't believe this. Zack knew how much he disliked lies and falsehood and yet he still did this. Cloud must be very important to him, he idly thought, "You two must be close."
"Best friends since I can remember. He moved out of town when he had to attend university." Cloud animatedly spoke even though his nervousness was still apparent, "Around the time I got my contract actually. We were practically attached to the hips!"
"You're rambling," Angeal shoved Zack's dishonesty to the back of his head to deal with later. He had more important things on his plate right now, "It's.. cute."
Cloud stopped talking, pressing his lips together. It looked like he was pouting and Angeal thought that was delightful.
"You got your chance to meet me through Zack's meddling though," The taller man tapped his chin with a finger, the slightest hint of a grin spreading across his face. He was feeling braver than usual tonight and what better way to use it than to tease the cute blond rock star, "What do you think of me?"
"You're hot," Cloud blurted out, cheeks red again, "I mean handsome uh.. Good looking and cool. And.. maybe if you're free tonight, I could take you out for dinner?" His voice softened and got quieter as he spoke but he looked boldly up at Angeal, eyes resolute and unblinking.
"Sounds good to me," Angeal broadly smiled. Who would have thought this supposed mess of a night would land him with a hot date? "And if you'll allow me, I'll take you out for lunch tomorrow."
"Another date?" Cloud sounded surprised, but his smile and twinkling eyes belied his happiness, "Really?"
"If you decide you enjoy my company at least," Angeal removed his smartphone from his pants pocket, "Can I get your number?"
The blond accepted the offered phone, quickly saved his number onto it, and then sent a text to himself. "So I can get your number," was his reply when Angeal cocked an eyebrow at him, "Now dinner! Let's go!"
Angeal was happy to find that when Cloud loosened up, he was a great conversationalist and even better, he liked dogs. Cloud happily told his dinner partner about his wolfdog, aptly named Wolf and in return, he was told all Angeal could tell about Justice. Dinner passed quickly with the dog related conversations and the occasion odd look at Cloud's face (one of those things about being a rocker, Angeal mused). Afterwards, they split the bill and left the establishment.
"Thank you for inviting me out for dinner," Angeal tugged on his jacket. It was getting late and the chilly wind nipped at his arms, "I enjoyed it."
"It was nothing," Cloud had hastily tossed on a tight leather jacket he had brought along with him, "I think you've earned that lunch date tomorrow. If you could text me the time and place tomorrow, that'd be great."
"Consider it done," He gripped his phone, his mind already buzzing with places they could meet up and spend some time with one another, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"
Cloud nodded and he leaned up on his tiptoes as if he wanted to whisper something. He lightly pecked Angeal right on the cheek and backed away already waving and running off, his peals of laughter echoing behind watched the splash of blond hair disappear around a corner and let out a small sigh of content.
He couldn't wait until tomorrow.
Tonight had been a good night and he was sure tomorrow would be a great day.