From the first time he saw him, Zack knew that Cloud was something special. It all happened on that fateful day in Modeoheim. Normally, Zack would have considered a helicopter crash in the middle of a freezing cold, snowy mountain to be a bad thing, but it it weren't for that, he might never have formally met Cloud. They had hit it off right away, discovering what they had in common, and quickly making friends with each other. This meeting wasn't the first time, however, that Cloud had laid eyes on Zack. He'd looked up to him as an idol, the perfect example of what a SOLDIER should be. Cloud knew, even just from watching Zack from the sidelines, that he was kind and patient, unlike most of the SOLDIER who abused their power of authority. Before they had met, Cloud had never expected Zack to acknowledge his existence—after all, he was of a low rank that most SOLDIERs looked down upon—and he was content with that. But it didn't take him long to realize that Zack didn't care about rank; he treated Cloud as an equal, as a friend, and Cloud started to wonder if it was ever okay for certain boundaries to fall away.
Zack awoke to the sharp buzzing of his alarm clock. He kept his eyes shut tight, hoping that would stop the sound so he could go back to sleep. He eventually slapped the snooze button in annoyance and lay his head back down. A sigh emerged from the face buried in the pillow. What has it been 3 hours? Maybe 4? he wondered. Exhaustion was soon going to be pretty obvious for everyone around him to see. He wanted to act as if his last mission had never happened. Zack was a fellow who did not like to disappoint people by not flashing his smile every day of his life. Smiling was just something that was natural for him, and the world felt upside down when he didn't do it. But it was going to get harder to keep up considering his lack of sleep.
The alarm went off again and Zack let out a whimper at the realization of how fast his nine minutes of snooze time had gone by. He turned the clock off this time and dragged himself out of bed. He walked into the bathroom, looked into the mirror, and started his day off like he started every other day—with a smile. This morning it was forced, but it would have to do.
Cloud had come back from Modeoheim feeling more cheerful than was normal for him. Regardless of the fact that the mission had been work, he had enjoyed himself. Travelling with 1st class SOLDIER Zack was nothing short of fun (though he would never admit it to his superiors), and it was a privilege that not all infantrymen got to experience. Zack had a kind of pleasant glow that kept Cloud smiling for the whole trip back to Midgar. He had kept an eye open for the next few days, hoping to see Zack, even if only to say hi. But after a week of waiting and seeing no sign of Zack, Cloud went back to doing his job, silently hoping that Zack would return before long. He didn't want that afterglow that Zack had left on him to fade away.
Of course, it was not like he spent all his time waiting for Zack because he had a job, and Shinra had no use for employees who neglected to work. Cloud sometimes wondered if Shinra really had any use for him at all. He was probably the smallest and weakest man in the lowest class of Shinra fighters. But of course there were lots of reasons why he personally wanted to stay, some of which he kept to himself. Zack had recently become one of those reasons. Cloud had not one, but two friends now—counting Luxiere—which automatically gave him more of a reason to stay in Shinra than to go home, because he wasn't the most popular guy in Nibelheim. Besides, becoming SOLDIER himself was his main reason for coming to Shinra in the first place, and he hoped that by aspiring to be like Zack, he could one day achieve that goal.
So he stayed in the cold building as the underdog, taking orders from whoever gave them to him, regardless of how rough things got at times. The one thing he liked about working for Shinra was that there was always something going on. Whether it be missions, or gossip, or fights, or even just the mystery of what was being served in the cafeteria, Cloud was never bored. And with his growing anxiety over his new friend's absence, when Shinra affairs weren't on his mind, Zack was. Throw that all together, and bingo; Cloud's thoughts in a nutshell.
Cloud got up, showered, dressed, and headed down for breakfast for the start of another long day. It had been two weeks since he'd last seen Zack—they had last met up in Junon—and he couldn't get him out of his head. Even with the excitement of daily life, Zack seemed to be his mind's most prominent topic. Cloud knew several reasons why, but he focused on only one; Zack was one of exactly two people who had been truly nice to him since he had joined Shinra. It was only natural for Cloud to gravitate towards someone who treated him like a human being rather than another faceless cadet. But this connection that Zack had with him, even though it was newly formed, seemed special. SOLDIERs befriending infantrymen was pretty much unheard of in Shinra due to the difference in rank, yet Zack seemed so comfortable with him, like there were no such boundaries dividing them.
Cloud liked the thought of this. Zack was human as well. He could see that Cloud—like everyone else—had feelings and liked to be noticed for having them. Zack was real, not some god or perfect being that was out of Cloud's reach. He could idolize him and be on the same level as him at the same time. Cloud could only hope that one day he could be like him.
Cloud barely knew him, yet he was thinking about Zack all the time since he met him. Zack this, and Zack that. He spent so much time thinking about the SOLDIER, in fact, that it was starting to get him into embarrassing situations; Quite often, in fact.
"What'cha thinkin' about?" Luxiere asked, sitting down beside Cloud in the cafeteria, startling him as he did so.
"N-nothing," Cloud answered, picking up the fork that he had accidentally dropped on the table as a result of his fright.
"You on edge about something?" Luxiere asked. He stuck his fork into his scrambled eggs and took a mouthful.
"No, I just didn't expect you." Cloud resumed eating the food that he had earlier become distracted from, in hopes of recovering from the lame excuse. Luxiere knew that Cloud could sometimes be a deep thinker, and thought nothing of his spacing out. Of course, he wasn't totally oblivious to the fact that Cloud's daydreams were becoming more frequent as of late.
The two finished their breakfast, making light conversation about the weather and their training for the day. They were friends, but they rarely had any deep or emotional conversations. They were roommates and cadets of the same rank. They had the same things in common, which made communication easy for them, but neither could deny that their conversations were often dull. Small talk could only be interesting for so long.
Cloud was just about to start in on another topic of their conversation when he caught sight of a familiar head of spiky black hair. It was a bit different now, however. When they had returned from Modeoheim, Zack had gotten rid of his bangs and now had a long wisp of hair that hung down in front. It made him look older, more mature, possibly more attractive. Cloud felt his eyes lingering on Zack, taking in every inch of him to make sure he wasn't dreaming him up or mistaking him for someone else, but it didn't take him long to confirm that the SOLDIER was truly there.
"Hey, Luxiere, I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Cloud said, getting up from his seat. Luxiere almost began to protest, but decided not to bother when he realized that Cloud's eyes were set on something else, and that the boy probably wouldn't stay if he tried to hold him back. Luxiere just sighed halfheartedly and cleaned up his tray, as well as the tray of the younger cadet, as Cloud hurried to the front of the cafeteria, only to realize that Zack had already left.
Tseng looked down at his desk which was full of paperwork. Lovely, he thought sarcastically. He let out a sigh and started in on his work. Tseng brought his coffee up to his lips and began taking a drink. At least it was quiet. Reno wasn't bugging him like he usually did, and Zack—
"Hey, Tseng!" Zack's voice called out as he burst through the door to the office, and causing Tseng to spill his coffee all over his work. He stared at Zack with a look of obvious disapproval for a long while, not saying anything. When Zack eventually started to shrink under his gaze, he reached into his drawer for something to mop up the mess.
"I didn't expect you to be here. I forgot your vacation was over," Tseng said, sounding more than a little annoyed. Zack almost found it kind of humorous since the man hardly ever showed any emotion at all.
"Ah, does that mean you didn't miss me?" Zack pretended to pout.
"Well, you know it was me who gave you a vacation in the first place. I wouldn't have sent you away if it was going to bother me." Tseng pressed a cloth to his papers, trying to soak some of the liquid out off them, then wiped off the desk as well.
"So what you're saying is...?"
"I didn't miss you," Tseng said, looking Zack straight in the eye. Zack rubbed his hand against the back of his head.
"Way harsh, Tseng," the SOLDIER responded, grinning slightly in amusement. "Okay, so what work do you have for me? I know that's what you want me here for."
"I have no urgent mission for you at the moment," Tseng said, tossing the coffee-soaked cloth into the garbage. "Therefore, I will put you in charge of training the lower classes for a while."
"Training?" Zack questioned, looking disappointed. Training seemed like such an insipid task after all he'd been through lately.
"Yes. Zack, we're down to a minimal amount of SOLDIER now. Angeal was in charge of a lot of the training, but—" Tseng stopped when he saw Zack flinch.
"Sorry. Go on," Zack encouraged.
"I know Angeal's death was hard on you. That's why I think it's best that you take it easy for now and train the cadets. You'll be doing everyone a favor that way."
"Okay," Zack answered, hanging his head low.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Tseng said, glancing up at the SOLDIER. "I have some coffee-stained paperwork to attend to."
Tseng watched as the SOLDIER solemnly left the office, staring at the ground as he did. The Turk honestly did feel sorry for him, but he knew Zack well enough to know he would bounce back before long. Tseng poured himself some more coffee from the coffee-maker and took a gulp of it as he opened the drawer of his desk. He pulled out a stack of papers that he needed reports on before he could officially file them away. Killed in Action was written in bold letters on all the pages. Angeal's paper was on top. Tseng sighed out of sympathy for Zack. It would still be a while before he recovered enough from his mentor's death to give Shinra the information they needed.
Finally lunchtime came, and Zack walked into the cafeteria searching for a familiar face. Shinra felt like a different place without Angeal there. It felt dark, hollow, even a little eerie. Angeal had been Zack's best friend, not just a mentor, so Zack felt more alone now than ever. He sighed when he saw Kunsel. Kunsel was not the kind of friend he needed right now. He needed someone he could confide in, and Kunsel was more of a hear-and-tell kind of guy. Zack was still very fragile, and fragility was not something he was used to. He was used to being mister happy-go-lucky all the time, and dealing with real pain was harder than he thought it would be. Healing, even Zack knew, didn't happen overnight.
Zack scanned the cafeteria, and when he saw Kunsel give him a wave and start heading in his direction, Zack searched even more desperately for someone else to talk to, pretending not to see Kunsel at all. A smile found its way across his face as he spotted a thin blond boy standing in line waiting for his food.
"Cloud!" Zack called out. The blond looked around and smiled when his eyes found their way to Zack. He could hardly contain himself. He suddenly felt so much better now that Zack had returned to Shinra, almost as if it was a safer place with him there.
The SOLDIER made his way across the cafeteria to where Cloud was standing, which made Cloud nervous and excited all at the same time. Of course, any other cadet would have felt the same way if a 1st was bothering to talk to him.
"How have you been?" Zack asked, throwing an arm playfully onto the boy's shoulder.
"Fine. I've been wondering what happened to you, though. I haven't seen you since the mission in Junon," Cloud answered, grabbing an apple from the buffet table and placing it on his tray. He tried to keep his smile from growing too wide. Seeing the SOLDIER in front of him hardly seemed real after his long wait for his return.
"Hey, at least someone cares!" Zack grinned. "Tseng said he didn't miss me. He sent me on a vacation after that mission in Modeoheim. It was cut short, though, because of that incident in Junon."
"Vacation? So, I'm guessing the mission in Modeoheim—"
"Didn't have a good ending? No, it didn't." Zack averted his gaze to the floor. He couldn't let this get the better of him. Not here, not now.
"I'm sorry," Cloud said, unsure if he should ask about it further or not. "If you ever want to talk about it, or something..."
"Yeah, I'll come and take you up on your offer."
"H-how did you know I was going to say you could talk to me?" Cloud asked, embarrassedly. The thought of a private conversation between the two of them suddenly seemed to stir something inside him. He knew what it was, and he knew it was wrong. SOLDIER and cadet were not supposed to talk like that. A cadet was certainly not supposed to talk to his superior that way. Cloud immediately wondered why he had suggested them talking in the first place. Why would Zack confide in him?
He was probably just being nice on that mission. What was I thinking? Why would he actually want to be friends with me? Cloud wondered, briefly. He then quickly reminded himself that it was Zack who had just approached him for a conversation, and he felt slightly relieved.
"Well, come on. What else were you going to say? 'If you want to talk, then it sucks to be you' or something?"
Cloud chuckled quietly. He assumed that by the way Zack was joking around, things must not have been too bad. At least he hoped they weren't too bad. Maybe Zack was just good at hiding his emotions.
"I guess I'll be seeing you a lot now," Zack said, feeling quite happy at the thought when he realized that he had kind of missed the boy.
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Cloud asked.
"Training. Apparently, I'm gonna be your instructor for a while."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Zack cast a glance at Cloud's tray and grabbed an apple as well.
"Well, I suppose I should go prepare for the training session," he said. He honestly didn't want to leave, but he had absolutely nothing ready for his lesson, not even a plan. Cloud smiled and nodded, and Zack grinned, giving Cloud a playful punch in the arm as he headed out of the cafeteria. Luxiere walked up beside Cloud and elbowed him in the side, causing him to tear his eyes away from the departing Zack.
"Well, aren't you all smiles," Luxiere said, smirking. "You have a little crush, Cloud?"
"N-no! He's just a friend. I only met him a few weeks ago!" Cloud defended himself.
"Hey, hey, calm down. I was only kidding. Anyway, 1st class Fair naturally has that effect on people. He's just so damn cheerful."
"Yeah," Cloud agreed. He wondered if Zack had a blushing effect on people too, as he could feel his cheeks increasing in temperature as long as he was around. Luxiere gave Cloud a grin that went unnoticed, and he started to wonder about the cause of Cloud's unusually sanguine disposition. Of course, it wasn't every day one got to talk to a 1st class SOLDIER, so Luxiere would give Cloud the benefit of the doubt. For now.
A/N: Hi there, readers! I finished this story a few months ago, and it's just been kind of sitting around, being edited piece by piece, over and over again. Finally, I decided to start uploading it. Just a few notes. I'll try to update every week, since the whole story is already written. I like to perfect things before I upload them, though, so I can't promise weekly updates, but I will try. Another thing, I know that Luxiere is actually in SOLDIER in Crisis Core (I think he's 2nd class). In my story, he's an infantryman, but his role will make more sense as the story progresses. As you probably already figured out, this is a Cloud/Zack romance fic. If you don't like it, how did you even find this? Anyway, it's rated M for later chapters (one in particular). I guess that's it for now. Hope you enjoy. Reviews are nice, but no flames, please. I don't need my story torn apart since I wrote it for fun.