DISCLAIMER: Characters/setting/etc not mine liek whoa. Square pwns your souls.
04. Song
He slowed his footsteps as he neared the showers, hearing loud voices and laughter inside. He would really rather not see anyone here right now, and it was supposed to be a time of the day when the showers weren't really busy. He considered not showering just yet for a brief moment, but then he thought of the sweat and blood and dirt in his hair, let alone anywhere else on his body, and he just couldn't bear the thought of returning later. He wanted to get clean, and right-freaking-now.
Cloud pushed open the door to the showers cautiously, peeking in first to see the cause of the commotion. One voice was raised above the others in song, to which everyone quieted a bit. The singer wasn't too bad - at first. Then he hit a note he couldn't reach, voice breaking comically to the amusement of everyone else in the room.
"Don't quit your day-job, Zack," one boy teased from nearby.
"You'll never make the top ten charts," another added, setting the rest into gales of laughter again.
"What the hell are you butchering, anyway?" a third asked, to more laughter.
"You know, I don't know the name of the song or the singer." Zack grinned as he turned in his stall to face the dozen or so other boys in the room, who, Cloud noted as he crept further into the room, were ringed around the one stall, and only two others were in use further down the line, and their occupants were avidly paying attention to the SOLDIER and his audience. "I heard it on the radio this morning and I can't get it out of my head. It's pretty catchy, huh." He burst out into song again, still smiling, as he tipped his head back into the spray to wash the suds out of his hair.
It WAS pretty catchy, Cloud thought, turning on his own shower and revelling in the feel of the hot water running over his body. He even found himself humming it in his head later, sans words and any real discernible melody because he couldn't quite remember how it went, and came to the realization that he had no idea why Zack, a first-class SOLDIER, was using showers generally reserved for the new recruits and unassigned personnel.