Thanks to every one who reviewed my first chapter! I love you all, you've made me so very happy :D :D

As for what's up with this chapter, it's not too exciting, mostly background info on Zack but with some interesting stuff in there, but be warned that I was reeeeeaaaaally tired when I finished this so it might sound a little funny towards the end. The next chapter will be more plot related, I promise. Other then that please read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters.

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"Damn it! If I have to sit through him talking about some girl I should meet one more time…" The exasperated twenty something ranted fisting his dark spikes as he continued his brisk walk towards the river. "I have told Angeal, like, a billion times that I'm GAY and that that's not changing." He had just had a visit from his older brother, ending in yet another disagreement about his sexual orientation.

"You know he means well, Zack." The tall pale, black-haired man trailing behind him said in an attempt to calm his fuming friend. Vincent, the tall man was named, had followed his younger friend and roommate out of their apartment to make sure he didn't do anything stupid in his irritated state. "You know how traditional your parents are. And Angeal is only trying to mend your relationship with them the best way he knows how. He still loves you but I think he just wants to see you all as a family again."

Zack stopped and turned to face the other man, "if he loves me, if they love me, why the hell can't they just accept me for who I am? I've tried for them, God knows I have but it just doesn't work." He turned back to his original path veering off the well lit sidewalk to venture down a seldom used pathway into the trees. "I mean I had a chance to be with one of the sweetest, prettiest people I've ever met but I gave it up because I knew that, for me, it just wasn't the right thing. I gave up Aeris because I knew that I just couldn't be in love with a woman." Zack's anger had died down and became hurt as he paused for a moment hanging his head in thought.

Aeris had always been so good to him, so attentive to his needs, kind and understanding, and for a girl extremely attractive. They had had a good run, you could say, but they were more like best friends then a couple. When things had ended between them it had been mutual, Aeris had realized early on that there was something different about Zack but couldn't put her finger on it until the night she had first tried to get him into bed. Zack had been scared out of his mind when she had shown up with a pink bag and shown him what was inside…

Zack had hopped off of the couch as soon as he heard the knocking on his apartment door. He hadn't been expecting company but he was never one to turn someone away. And besides, he was lonely, Vincent had gone out on a date with some new guy that he picked up at the bar the night before. It wasn't that Vincent was any kind of playboy but he just had a hard time telling people no. Tomorrow Vincent would probably be asking Zach for advice on politely turning this guy down for date number two.

When Zack answered his door he was surprised to be greeted by a smiling Aeris. "Hello Zack," she said in her usual happy tones.

Zack stepped aside and allowed her to enter the apartment. "Oh hey honey, I thought you were out with your mom today."

"Oh, I was. But we finished early and she wanted to get home and take care of the garden. Is Vincent in?"

"No he's out on a date, probably won't be back for a while, so I have the place to myself for the night. Did you want to do the usual tonight? I can order some pizza or Chinese while you pick out a movie?" Zack started heading towards the phone by the kitchen.

"Actually, I had something else in mind," Aeris placed her hands around his bicep and led him to the couch.

"Ok…what did you have in mind?" Zack sat down next to the brunet looking slightly nervous. He had an idea of where this was going, but he wasn't sure if he could handle that just yet.

She produced a small pink bag and handed it to her boyfriend. "I was thinking we could do something with this." A light shade of pink began to tinge her cheeks. She'd never been this forward before, but their relationship had been so PG that she just didn't know how else to tell Zack that she wanted to take things to the next level.

Zack cautiously opened the bag and took out its contents. Under a layer of tissue paper neatly folded was a white lace lingerie set consisting of a very small pair of lacey panties and sheer baby doll styled top. Zack's eyes grew wide and his face turned crimson as he extracted the top piece of the set. "I… oh… uhhh. Oh my…" Zack sputtered.

"Oh Zack, I'm sorry. I usually don't do things like this but, after 6 months we've barely done more then kiss. I just didn't know how else to tell you that I wanted more. I should have been more patient." She took the items back from Zack and held them in her lap. "Do… you not want me Zack? Did I do something wrong?" Her voice was soft and she kept her green eyes downcast.

"I… I wouldn't say that. It's just that I've never… I've never done any of that stuff before." Now it was his turn to look down. Zack had never told any one that before. Because of his confident charm and good looks everyone just seemed to assume that he had plenty of experience in the bedroom and Zack had never bothered to correct them.

Aeris looked shocked at the admission. "You mean you're a virgin? I never would have known. I didn't know. But why? You're very attractive, you have such a wonderful charisma, and you're so caring. You could have any girl you wanted." She took one of his hands in her own smaller ones, gently rubbing it in soothing motions.

"Well," he stopped to consider his answer for a moment, "I guess I've just never wanted any one like that before." He looked up at her, slightly confused by his answer. Had he really never wanted a physical relationship with anyone? Well there was one person but that had been just a one sided fantasy.

"Surely there must be someone?" She looked at him with a soothing smile, showing that she was ready to listen and help.

"Well there was one person…"

That night had been three years ago when he was twenty. Zack spilled his guts to his then girlfriend. He had told her of his desires concerning a boy he had grown up down the street from and how he had turned to his older brother Angeal for advice. His parents were very traditional people and would never accept an alternative lifestyle, so Angeal had told him that it was probably just a phase and that he should do his best to forget about those urges and desires. And that's what Zack did. After that Zack took all of his 'unnatural' urges and bottled them up until he more or less forgot about them. But that night he and Aeris made a great deal of progress and, with her help, discovered that he was in fact gay.

They had obviously decided to break up but stayed very good friends. While Aeris was disappointed at first, she was supportive and even helped him meet his first few boyfriends. She even brought Vincent into the situation to help coach Zack and take him out.

Vincent, like Aeris, had thought that there was something a little different about Zack but it hadn't dawned on him until Aeris asked him to take him out to meet some guys. Vincent could have kicked himself for not realizing it sooner and even thought of asking Zack out himself after finding out but decided it would be best to preserve their friendship and not scare him out of the apartment.

"Zack?" Vincent stepped forward and placed his hand on Zack's red cotton clad shoulder. He was still dressed in his red button up and nice jeans from Angeal's visit, he hadn't even put on a jacket when leaving his home.

Zack looked up startled for a moment, "Hu?" Blinking a few times he took in his surroundings. Apparently he had continued wondering while he thought, his feet taking him on a familiar path through the woods down to his favorite spot by the river. "I guess I kind of zoned out there." Zack brought a hand to the back of his neck.

Vincent quirked an eyebrow, "you could say that."

"Guess it's a good thing I come down here so often. I don't even need to look at where I'm going anymore." He turned away from his friend and climbed up onto his favorite perch, a large rock embedded into the bank but resting partly in the water. It was his favorite spot to think, to get away from the world for a little while. He sat at the top and let his feet dangle over the edge towards the water and leaned back on his hands, looking up at the night sky.

Vincent walked up beside the rock and turned to the spiked haired young man. Sighing he said, "I'm sure they'll come around one day. But, until then at least you've got me, Aeris, and the rest of your friends."

"Thanks Vin." The young man turned to his friend and gave him a genuine smile. "I hope my folks come around someday." His eyes focused on Vincent and then to the distance for a moment when he noticed something out of place. His brows drew together focusing on the object in the distance. "What is that…?" Then his eyes widened with realization, "holey shit! That's a guy!" Getting to his feet and jumping from the rock in one fluid motion, he bolted to the body that had washed up on the bank, Vincent following close behind.

Zack dropped to his knees by the motionless form and flipped it over to lie face up. He was met by the face of a boy, probably just a few years younger then himself, with skin that was much paler then it should be, and blond hair that was matted down with dirt and water.

"Is he dead?" asked a wide eyed Vincent.

"I, I don't know. He's not breathing. Shit, shit, shit! What do we do?" Zack was on the verge of panicking, grabbing and tugging at black spikes with wide shocked eyes.

"Here," Vincent said, being the first one to come to his senses. "You were a life guard a few summers ago right?" The younger man nodded. "Then you give him mouth to mouth and see if you can get him breathing. I'm going to call an ambulance and go back up to the road to flag them down. You got it?"

The spiky haired man nodded again with a determined look on his face. "Got it." He moved himself over the body as Vincent took off up the path to the street. He took the boy, pinching his nose and opening his mouth, and began trying to get him breathing. Alternating breathing into his mouth and pressing his chest Zack began to worry that he was too late to help this boy.

"1, 2, 3, 4 …Damn it, wake up!" And as if willing the young body back to life the head turned and he began to cough up a good portion of the river. "That's it, get it all out," Zack said easing the young man up and patting him gently on the back. The blond didn't open his eyes or acknowledge the individual helping him; he just took in several large gulps of air and unconsciously laid his head onto his rescuer's chest.

"Thank God," Zack let out a relieved breath and turned his head to the sky for a moment before looking at the body in his arms. "Let's see if we can get an I.D. on you." He began inspecting the young blond for some kind of identification as well as any other serious injuries and stopping at his wrists. There he spotted the long cuts, four vertical lines two on each wrist. There was still a small trickle of blood running down each but it looked like they were starting to clot. "Shit," Zack said, his voice and expression heavy with concern. He laid the blond down long enough to remove his red shirt and then his white undershirt, using the undershirt as a temporary dressing for the wounds on the boy's arms. Replacing the dress shirt he finished searching the pale body for his I.D. finding only a school identification card in his back pocket. He picked up the youth again as he heard the sound of approaching ambulance sirens and looked at the limp form and pale face. "Cloud Strife hu? What happened to you?"