HOLY CRAP!

First I would like to apologize on how long this took; I was going through the worst writers block in history I swear!

I also have been working on an animated movie project called "The Phoenix Tree" and no it is not yaoi or fan fic, it is an original story that came out of my little head of mine! Hehe^^

Well anyways here's chapter two, I still plan on finishing this fic along with my other "I Married a Prostitute"

Disclaimer: I do not own any Final Fantasy characters that are shown in this story, all rights go to their rightful owners.

Let's get started now shall we!

P.S

Please excuse and misspelled and misplaced words! I can be a dum dum at times when I'm editing!

Chpater 3

Understanding people is just as important as understanding yourself, Cloud.
Remember, no matter how much a person is tainted, they are still a person…
Use that beautiful Mind of yours to heal people's hearts…

My darling child…

Cloud always wanted to see the bright side to everything, when he found out that he had a roommate even though he really really really liked his privacy though he only smiled and figured that it would be a good experience.

His roommate had shoulder length straight black hair and a tilak in the middle of his forehead. His dark brown eyes landed on him when Cloud entered the room. He was sitting at a desk and seemed to be writing a report or an essay of some sorts.

"Hello, you must be the newcomer." He greeted "You can take the right side of the room." He said as he pointed to the right side that was empty with only a mattress. "They should be delivering a dresser along with a desk and chair as well, it should all be here tomorrow or so, so please bear with it."

Cloud gave him a quick nod. The man then stood up and held out his hand. "My name is Tseng Kisaragi, it is a pleasure to meet you." Cloud smile and took his hand; while shaking it he introduced himself as well.

"Cloud, Cloud Strife."

"Strife?" He questioned, looking a bit surprised, this worried Cloud. "You would happen to be related to-"

"It's a common last name!" Cloud exclaimed way to loud. Tseng continued to look at him as if he were trying to figure something out, like, Strife is most definitely not a common name. "W-well I better start unpacking." He quickly said before Tseng figured everything out by just looking at him. Cloud was very surprised that Tseng even recognized his last name. 'hopefully others won't as well…' he thought.

Finding that his suit cases and other bags were successfully delivered to his room in one piece, he began unpacking the things that he could since he didn't even have a dresser yet. He looked back to his roommate who was now sitting back at his desk writing and typing on his laptop. Cloud would have to remember to start saving up for one of those, though he wouldn't mind having to go to a computer lab either.

Zack had woken up to his alarm. He had a hard time getting to sleep since he kept having nightmares of a certain spiky haired blonde laughing evilly at him while he got trampled by a bunch of angry chocobos. It had been a week since he saw the boy but for some reason he couldn't get him out of his head. This was the first time that Zack Fair strongly disliked someone and he still couldn't figure out why he didn't like the boy. Maybe it was because he was 'too' nice, or the fact that he kicked him in the face?! It could explain the nightmares…maybe.

Usually Mondays were everyone's least favorite day of the week but Zack loved Mondays and so do most of the people who goes to this school, especially when today is the first day back in classes. Zack smiled as he walked down the stairs in the dorms though it quickly faded when he reached the bottom floor where he saw Cloud locking his door to his room, he wore the same navy blue sweater with his shoulder bag's strap going over it and this time was wearing grey jeans. Feeling Zack's presents Cloud looked up and the both locked eyes. After what seemed forever Cloud smiled.

"Good morning, Zack was it?" He greeted. Not wanting to be completely rude Zack gave him a small nod and started to walk pass him. Though only moments later Cloud was by his side walking next to him, Zack looked down to him, Cloud had to at least be a foot shorter than him, he was looking ahead with a smile plastered on his face. Zack was beginning to get mixed feelings about the boy, yes he was very friendly and nice but there was something about him that make Zack's heart leap. He didn't know why and not knowing made him angry and he could only blame the boy for making him feel- whatever he was feeling. He was going to have to talk to Aerith about this soon before he starts to go crazy.

The walk felt awkward, Zack wanted to kill it but then again he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to the blond or not. Cloud nervously adjusted his shoulder bag; probably trying to distract himself from the awkwardness.

"Um.." Cloud began looking to their walking feet. "I want to apologize again for what happened last week…" Another apology sheesh but anything was better than the awkwardness.

"It's no biggy" He said. Cloud looked up in surprise. Zack had actually given him a normal solid answer instead of a 'hm' or 'whatever'. Cloud smiled and walk on. Seeing the blonde's smile made his heart rush and his face began to warm. 'What the hell is this!' he began to feel angry again…

"Ah you must be the new comer!" A man said with a hint of excitement in his voice. He had long dark brown hair that he had slicked back and looked as if he were trying to grow in a beard. "I will be your teacher for the four years of you being here, I'm Angeal Hewly, there's no need to call me Mr. Hewly though, it doesn't suit me."

"Oh, hello Mr.- I mean Angeal, I'm Cloud Strife." Cloud smiled as they shook hands

Still feeling frustrated, Zack walked passed Angeal without giving him his usual cheery greeting. Yes it was very much unlike Zack to be grumpy. Zack was one of the most happy and hyper active kid Angeal ever knew, almost like a damn puppy! So in that moment when Zack grumpily threw himself in his seat Angeal knew that something was up, he would just have to talk to him later then.

"So Cloud, I saw the sketch that you submitted, I was very surprised and unsure when an unfinished piece of work got you into level A but then found myself in shock- in a good way of course!- when I saw it for myself. You gave a great talent Cloud and I'm glad to be teaching you."

Cloud's eyes widened a bit and his face flushed a bit. "Oh- uh, thank you! I'm glad to be here!"

"You can take that seat by Zack over there!" Angeal motioned for him. Cloud stiffened a bit, knowing that Zack was not very fond with him but put on a smile anyways as he thanked Angeal once more before heading to his assigned seat.

Zack almost growled when Cloud took his seat next to him, ALMOST growled, Zack wasn't a damn dog! Well whatever all he had to do was ignore Cloud, he could just be with Aerith while Cloud worked alone!

Having a level A class with just three students was very normal in the beginning of the year, they will eventually get more in the future because lower levels are able to re submit art work to try to level up. Finding this out made Cloud exited, that meant that Tifa still had a chance to be in level A with him, he wondered if she knew this little piece of information.

"Hey Cloud." Cloud looked up from his canvas. Aerith stood in front of him with a smile on her face. "Would you like to work with Zack and me?" She asked, Zack tensed up, it didn't go unnoticed to Cloud. As much as he wanted to get to know the two of them, he knows that Zack wanted nothing to do with him. It would be best if he stood away from them for a while.

"U-uhm no it's fine! I work better when I'm alone anyway." He said, smiling back at her.

Aerith's face faltered a bit, almost looking sad but quickly collected herself. "Oh I see, well maybe next time then, okay?"

"Sure!" Aerith then when back to her canvas that sat to Zack's right side while Cloud's was to his far, far left, Zack's doing no doubt. Aerith scowled at Zack making him jump.

"What did I do now?"

Cloud heard Zack and Aerith having some kind of heated conversation though he knew better than to be nosey. He wanted to get back to work on his piece but couldn't fight the horrid pang he was getting in his chest. He knew the feeling all too well, the feeling of loneliness, being left out, not being wanted. Zack didn't want to be friends with him so maybe it was best to not even try anymore.

He really hoped Tifa could get into level A soon…

It had been 2 weeks since Cloud and Tifa started school and so far Tifa couldn't find the boy that she was in love with plus she said that she wanted to improve some more before trying to get into level A. This meant that Cloud was still going to have to be left out in his class with the acceptation of Aerith trying to invite him to join her and Zack only to get rejected by him. Cloud still wasn't sure if Zack strongly disliked him and he was beginning to care less and less. Though he still wondered if Zack would have been a good friend or not…

It was a Saturday night and Zack had nothing to do. Well he would have but he really didn't feel like going out with friends tonight, he had a lot on his mind. In the past 3 weeks something had been growing inside of Zack and he had finally come to terms that what he was feeling is guilt. The guilt of being such an ass to the blonde made him frustrated and to build the guilt even more, he pointed the frustration towards Cloud. And now Cloud was alone, he drove Cloud away so now the boy is even avoiding him!

Zack began to feel anxious because he knew what he had to do, he had to go hunt down the blonde and beg for forgiveness. He let out a large sigh before jumping out of bed to put on a coat, the weather was finally cooling down so a coat or a jacket would come in handy, maybe even a sweater. Cloud was now back in his thoughts, the blond always wore that damn navy blue sweater, no matter how hot it was, did he ever wash that thing?

Zack closed his dorm door behind him and locked it. He adjusted his black coat before making his way down stairs. He didn't have high hopes of finding the blonde since it was already passed 7 and the sun was almost set but he had to at least try.

He made his way to the blonde's dorm; well at least he thinks it's the dorm. He only had this clue because he had run into Cloud leaving his dorm on the first day of school. And he was pretty sure Tseng was his roommate too sooo…

Knock Knock

Zack was about to leave after a few seconds being the bundle of nerves he was in, he jumped a little when the door opened only to reveal Tseng being the only one in the room. Maybe he did have the wrong dorm.

"Hey Zack, what's up?" He asked in his usual monotone voice, well he spoke like a mature adult but to Zack he was a boring monotone man.

"Oh uh...," He scratched the back of his head, he wasn't even sure if this was the right dorm but he had to at least try, right? "Is uh, is Cloud in?" Zack felt weird, he never really said the boy's name before so it felt a bit foreign.

Tseng blinked in surprise. "No, actually he just left a few minutes ago, I think he was on his way to the computer lab or something."

"Alright, cool!" Zack quickly said as he started to walk away, he didn't want Tseng to ask any questions. He cringed a bit when he heard Tseng call out his name. He turned around to face him. "Yeah?"

"Be careful with that kid," Tseng said. Zack was immediately confused and a bit curious on why the hell Tseng would even say that. "The kid is a Strife, the name sounded familiar to me when I first met him but be became really nervous when I mentioned it. So I did some research and what I found…" Tseng looked up a bit as if he were thinking on what he was going to say. "Just, be careful, alright?"

Zack was now full on 100% curious but before he could ask, Tseng went back into his room and shut the door. Zack stood there for a moment, trying to absorb everything that he was told. Strife? Strife, it did sound familiar somehow but he couldn't place his finger on it. Well maybe Tseng was over analyzing things I mean come on! Strife is like a common name, right! Zack has never met a Strife until Cloud came along but Strife could be a common name.
Zack shrugged everything off and went on his way to the computer lab where Cloud was supposed to be.

Cloud snuggled into his sweater, the weather was getting colder and colder with the more days that pass. He should have worn a long sleeve under his sweater today. He was making his way to the computer lab since he really didn't have much to do since Tifa finally made some female friends to hang out with, he was offered to hang out with the group of females but be really didn't want a repeat of high school, ugh…

Cloud walked into the large room filled with desktop computers and a few empty tables for people to hang out with their own laptops and such. The computer room had a good crowd, probably gamers catching a break from school work. He sat in the very back row where the least people sat, he was planning on just sending out a few emails and streaming the net since he really had nothing better to do. He slipped on his reading glasses and got started.

Pressing the send button, he had sent out the last email to his mother, yes he talked to her on the phone often but emails where also good. Cloud jumped when someone slipped into the seat next to him but what really made him jump was when he saw that it was Zack who was sitting next to him. Did he not see Cloud? Why would he sit next to him? It must be some kind of mistake!

Zack looked almost embarrassed when he turned to look at the surprised blonde. He never noticed that he wore glasses, he didn't like it, they blocked his eyes- wait what is he thinking!? Zack cleared his throat as to prepare himself and Cloud for what he was about to do.

Now before Zack ever apologizes to anyone, he always thinks ' How should I do it and how could I do it?'. He did think of a way to apologize to the blond but he was sure that the boy was going to get defensive again and kick him in the face…again. But at that moment he really didn't care, he grabbed the blond and forced him into a hug.

Cloud's eyes went wide at the action but not long after they began to water. When did he get so sad? It was strange on how affection could affect people. Cloud tried to quickly wipe away his tears when he pulled away from Zack but he was sure that Zack saw it.

"What- wh-why-" Cloud wanted to ask but he was stuttering and was nervous.

", Just wanted to apologize for being such an ass to you." Zack explained as he got up and left, leaving Cloud frozen in confusion and surprise.

Zack had made it outside in the chilly air when he heard the blonde call out his name.

"Z-Zack!" Zack turned in confusion; he wasn't expecting the blonde to go after him. "U-um, do you-maybe want to play video games—if you're not busy that is!" Cloud said nervously.

Zack stared in surprise before he let a smile slip on his face.

"Sure."

END CH3

A/N

Alright there was chapter 3 you guys! I hope you liked it! I mean I think that was a good way to end it if I say so myself!

It might be a while before chapter 4 comes out since I can't think of anything for it hehe ^^;; but hopefully I get his with motivation and inspiration so who knows!

XD

Welp that's all folks, see ya later on chapter 4!