Rewritten Sept 6.


Sora was shocked by how much they had gotten done. In under two hours, they had finished dry walling the house and taped it for priming the next day. They walked over to the next house to begin work on that one, idly chatting about nothing.

"Hey, Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you're so okay with Riku?"

"What do mean?"

"Well, uh." Sora rubbed the back of his head. "I kinda had a thing for Riku for awhile and it really bothered me seeing him with Cloud. Sometimes, I just couldn't stand to be around them. Even now I sometimes get a little… bothered. But you, you actually had a relationship with Cloud and you seem, like totally fine he's with someone else."

Zack frowned thoughtfully. "Well, first of, I'm not totally fine about it. I'm just really good at dealing with things. Cloud and I didn't have much time together so I guess it never really was a relationship. We were really more of the best friends with benefits than a couple.

"I love that guy to death but I'm not what he needs. I can tell just by looking at Spiky how happy he is with Riku. There's a peace about him I've certainly never seen and I think he's finally found some value to his life. All he ever wanted was to be worth something and cared for and he's finally found that."

They entered the new house. Zack glanced at Sora with a wink. "I'll find somebody eventually. I always do. And I'm not a slut no matter what any of them tell you."

Sora sputtered a bit. "I didn't think that."

"Good. Seph used to say I'd fuck anything of the same species." Zack snorted. "That coming from him was a laugh. I'm still convinced he's a virgin."

Sora clearly did not believe that. "You think Sephiroth's a virgin?"

"Well, I've certainly never heard otherwise, at least nothing I believe. There were always rumors, of course, but it was obvious to me they were lies. If and or when Sephiroth takes a lover, it will be someone who has significant meaning to him. He's not the kind to fuck around, pardon the expression."

"I can't believe I just had a conversation about Sephiroth's sex life." Sora shook his head. "Or rather lack of."

Zack threw his head back and laughed. "You'd be amazed some the discussions me and him have had. Seph's a really fun guy if you can get him to open up a little."

"I guess," Sora said doubtfully.

"You'll see." Zack went over to the stack of plasterboard. "Come on. We should be able to finish this place by dinner."

About a half hour later, Riku showed up. He had a lazy grin on his face and anybody who so much as glanced at him would know what he had been doing all afternoon. "Damn you work fast."

"Yeah well," Zack drilled in the last anchor on the sheet Sora was holding in place. "Gotta keep in the fearless leader's good graces."

Riku chuckled. "Leon's a good guy but man is he driven."

"There's a lot to get done." Sora defended.

"I know." Riku agreed. "But you know as well as I do the real reason he's so totally thrown himself into all of this."

Sora shrugged a little.

Zack looked between the two curiously. The stoic brunette had managed to snag his attention. Something about the man tugged at him. From the little he'd seen, Leon was a unique mix, reminding him at times of both Cloud and Sephiroth. He found himself wanting to know more about him.

Then again, curiosity had always been one of Zack's greatest flaws.

"So, just what is the deal with that guy?" Zack took up the final sheet of dry wall for the room. He pulled it over and positioned it then Sora held it in place as he began drilling.

"Sora's the one to talk to if you want to know about Leon." Riku smirked at his best friend. "They're close."

"Ugh! Would you cut it out with that? You know what the deal is. I'm not sleeping with Leon! I'm not doing anything with him anymore!"

"Obviously," Cloud said dryly, coming up to stand beside Riku. "I don't think I've ever seen any one as sexually frustrated as Leon."

"Well, it's not my fault."

"Oh, you think?" Riku leaned against the wall. "Who's been sleeping in his bed with him ? Who was going to him for 'lessons'? Who flirts with him to this very day? I'd say you have a ton to do with it."

Sora frowned heavily. "I didn't mean…He said…"

"We know," Riku sighed, glancing at Cloud. "And Leon meant is when he said he was fine with the decision, hence why he hasn't said anything."

"And he will not use you for his own needs." Cloud added softly. "He has too much respect for you."

Zack had no idea what they were all talking about but listened intently. He was sure to pick up something from the conversation.

"Have I really been that difficult?" Sora looked extremely unhappy. "I don't want to be a burden for him."

"We know, Sora." Cloud stepped closer and shifted the dry wall a touch. "Let go."

Sora did as told and let Cloud take his spot. He slumped over to Riku and leaned against the wall beside him. "You know, I really thought I had the whole sex thing down."

"Oh, no." Riku laughed. "Until you actually do it, you'll still be clueless. Something just, wakes up inside you and it's all different."

"Wait, Sora's a virgin?" Zack stopped drilling and glanced down at Cloud.

"Oh no," Cloud spoke firmly. "No, Zack. Nuh uh. Forget that idea right now."

"But, Cloud…" He whined.

"No. You want another virgin conquest, start working on Sephiroth again. You will not corrupt Sora."

"Sephiroth is straight." Riku announced.

"So was I," Cloud muttered just as Zack laughed, "So was Cloud."

"Okay, you two are scary," Sora said.

"You and Riku do the same thing all the time." Cloud brushed white powder from his hair. "Think you could try to drill a little more dust on me, Zack?"

"I totally could or did you not notice Sora's new hair color."

"What?" Sora shook his head violently and puffs of white smoke spread out. "Ugh."

Riku stepped to the side in an effort to avoid the dust getting on his black clothes. "Hey, just cause Cloud's okay with the dandruff look doesn't mean I am."

"Fuck you, Riku."

"You already did twice today, sweetheart."

Zack chuckled. It pained him some but those two really did work for each other. He finished the last anchor and tossed the drill to the side. "Well, that's the equivalent of one full house in half a day. I rock."

Cloud gave him a withering look as he stood. "Yes, I know I'm pathetic when it comes to this stuff. I keep telling them but they keep making me do it anyway."

"What time is it?" Riku asked redundantly as he checked the time. "If we want to clean up before dinner, we should get out of here."

"Aerith will kill us if we don't."

All three others nodded in agreement.

On the way back to the house, Zack made the comment that he did not have any other clothes to change into. When Sora asked why they did not reek after however long, he shrugged. Then Riku whapped him on the back of the head, chastising him for asking stupid questions. All of them had gone through long periods of time in the same outfit before and no one bothered to question it before.

However, they did stop at one of the clothing shops and Cloud bought him three new outfits. Sora was impressed that the guy did not pick all black; there was way too much of that color around here. He swore sometimes he was surrounded by emos.

From there they went home. Sora felt a bit uneasy now calling it home. He really had not realized he was causing issues by being there; and as much as he liked Leon and enjoyed his company immensely, he just didn't want that kind of relationship with the guy.

Riku suddenly ruffled his hair on the doorstep and he squirmed away. "Don't worry about it too much, Sora. Leon will be fine."

"If you say so."

"He just needs to find an outlet," Riku explained. "Once he does that, everything will be back to normal."

"He'll be back to being stoic and distant as opposed to moody and bitchy." Cloud concluded, passing them by with Zack. "I'm calling shower first."

"I'm with him." Riku turned after him.

"Duh." Sora rolled his eyes.

"Does that mean I get Sora?" Zack asked hopefully.

"NO!" Cloud shouted back.

"Damn you, Cloud. Why won't you let me have any fun?"

Sora laughed, rubbing his neck. "You, uh, got a thing for virgins, huh?"

"Oh, Gaia, yes. Male, female, it doesn't matter." Zack shrugged. "I really get off knowing I'm the first to touch someone like that."

"Huh."

"Don't worry, kid. I'm one of the good guys. I ain't gonna mess with you." He looked suggestively at the small teen with those violet eyes. "Now, of course, if you at any point decide you want otherwise, I'm right there."

He blushed a bit, but nodded.

"Zack, stop propositioning Sora!"

Zack threw himself onto the sofa. "I hate when he does that. Course, Seph is worse."

He closed his eyes and breathed out. "I'm taking a nap. Wake me up when it's my turn."

Sora nodded though the man would not see it. He then went to his, or rather Leon's, room. He knew things were going to get awkward rather fast now that he was really aware of a few certain facts. He knew that Leon was not interested in him per say but the others were right. It had to be difficult to be isolated like Leon was, even if he had not chosen it.

As far as he could tell, Leon had not shown any interest in any one here. He knew Leon had been a serious relationship prior to coming here and she had been lost with their world. That had weighed on him heavily and was one of the main reasons for Leon's cold exterior. He also knew how passionately the man cared about those around him.

The distance was a way to protect himself from further heartbreak. From what he pieced together, Leon had a fear of abandonment worse than Cloud's. Sora knew he was the only person to get as close to Leon as he had. Even Cloud, whom Leon freely admitted was his best friend, probably did not understand Leon as well as Sora did.

For once, Cloud and Riku did not waste time in the shower and were back out fairly quickly. Riku poked his head in for a second to tell him they were out and disappeared again. Sora shook himself of his thoughts, gathered up the few things he wanted and headed in.

--0—0--

Zack really was not sleeping but lying in a restorative state. He had long since stopped really needing to sleep, the Mako enhancements had seen to that. He and Cloud could easily go for three days without sleep. Sephiroth and probably Riku could handle a week.

A damp towel hit his face. He did not bother moving it. "Sora in there now?"

"Yeah."

"Good. White hair doesn't suit him."

Riku laughed as he got a drink. "Once when we were like, jeeze, I think seven or eight, Tidus and I convinced Sora to wash his hair with bleach. We told him it was a special shampoo that would make his hair nice and flat. He's always had those damn spikes.

"His hair was like straw for a week! It was hilarious. Eventually, he convinced his mom to cut it real short but it was still blonder than Cloud's."

Zack removed the wadded towel from his face and sat up. "During the war with Wauti, we were out in the eastern jungle, waiting for the scouts to return. There were all kinds of exotic planets that they of course didn't bother to tell us about, some of them carnivorous. So, me and Angeal are in our small clearing with seven grunts waiting when we hear this commotion from the left.

"Now Sephiroth's squad was over there and I knew something big had to be happening over there for Seph to allow any kind of noise so Angeal told me to check it out and I snuck my way over. I get to their post and his troops are just looking scared as all hell.

"I'm about ready to draw my sword when I catch something behind me. I turned quickly and there's Sephiroth, leather coat all ripped up, metal armor gone, several scratches along his arms and chest." Zack grinned. "And completing the picture, that gorgeous silver hair of his was completely orange."

Riku spat his water out. Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You never told me about that."

"I don't normally talk about that campaign." A shadow crossed the First Class's face.

"Right."

"Anyway, it stayed that color no matter what Seph did. When we got back to Midgar, Hojo nearly had a coronary. He was convinced Seph had done it on purpose and it wasn't until he was given the dead plant and studied it did he believe us."

"So what caused it?" Riku asked.

"The acid it used to digest the metal of his shoulder armor reacted with Seph's hair, dying it. Took nearly a month for it to fade out and he couldn't simply re-dye it because the chemicals would have reacted weird and made the change permanent."

"Nice."

"Yep. Seph came so close to just shaving it all off. The President actually issued an order to see that he didn't."

"Shinra Sr. did have a sick fixation on Sephiroth's hair." Cloud noted.

Sora came out about then, rubbing his hair dry. "What were you talking about?"

"Riku bleaching your hair." Zack informed him, grabbing Cloud's used towel and moving past the youngest in the room.

Sora glared daggers at Riku. "You promised you'd never tell that story!"

"Sorry?" The silver haired one smiled.

"I hate you."

"Was already aware but thanks for the reminder."

In under ten minutes, Zack was back out, dressed in his new purple, sleeveless, ribbed shirt and black cargo shorts. He shook his raven hair out a bit but it was already mostly dry. "Well, girls, are we ready?"

Riku snickered at Cloud's pained look. "I hate when you say that."

"Reno thought it was hilarious."

"Reno is a sick, twisted fuck even for a Turk."

"True."

And with that, they were off to Aerith's. Her house had become the official dinner location every night; it was just easier that way. Riku and Leon would take turns helping her, this week was Leon's. Sora always got table duties.

Cid sat outside, pen in his mouth as he looked over a paper. "Why the fuck isn't this…?"

"What's wrong now, Cid?" Riku moved to the side to glance at the sheet. "Oh, this mess."

"Leon's got his leathers up his ass now wanting it fixed." Cid grumbled. "Sephiroth fixed the other issue. He's here, by the way."

"Thanks for the warning," Cloud mumbled. "Staying for dinner?"

"Yep."

Cloud grimaced but walked into the house. Riku patted Cid's shoulder. "After dinner, I'll get Seph to go over it with me. We'll get it figured out."

He thrust the paper at the teen. "All yours."

Zack and Sora followed those two in. Sephiroth was sitting casually on the sofa, sans his wings. Cloud was leaning on the wall near the stairs. It was not quite clear across the room but still relatively distant.

"Hey, Seph." Zack waved.

"Hello, Zachary."

Sora automatically began setting dishes. Zack decided to resume his job from the prior night and retrieved the silverware. He ducked into the kitchen and quickly noticed Aerith was not present. Leon was at the counter beside the stove, slicing cooked meat into strips.

"Do I want to know what was done over there?"

Zack snorted and went to retrieve his items. "That depends if you can handle some positive news."

The former SeeD glanced over. "The walls got finished?"

"And most of next door."

Leon watched him a moment before a faint smile appeared. "Maybe you will be worth it."

Zack met those steel eyes. "One never knows until they give it a shot."

He took the silverware out to the table, a little smirk on his face.

Yuffie was oddly subdued over dinner, likely due to their unexpected dinner guest. As it was, said guest and the prior evening's new arrival kept up a steady conversation. While Zack was certainly the more animated one, Sephiroth added his own commentary to Zack's tales and a few times Cloud even spoke up.

Riku was clearly ecstatic about this, simply sitting back and watching his 'family' interact as a family was supposed to. Cloud seemed more comfortable than he ever had in Sephiroth's presence and he knew he had Zack to thank for that. His earlier jealousy was completely eradicated.

Sora, while he also was happy to see the frivolity, kept finding his attention drifting toward Leon. The man was covertly keeping his eye on the raven haired SOLDIER. Sora found himself hoping that he was not reading too much into it but it seemed to him the man had an attraction to Zack. It would certainly take a load off his mind if he did.

Inevitably, the tone of conversation turned.

Sora only half-paid attention but after a few minutes, Sephiroth politely excused himself and left. Riku frowned heavily at Cloud who was sulking. Zack just shook his head and stood. Without asking, he began clearing the table.

Sora moved to help but Leon stepped in before him, gathering the little remaining food up and taking it into the kitchen. Zack scraped a couple of plates into the trash, sparing a quick glance at the other. Leon repackaged the food and the two worked silently. Sora came in a few times with the rest of the dishes.

On the last run, the teen let them know that Cloud and Riku had left bickering. That meant they would either spend the night not speaking or fucking each other senseless. Either way, it was a situation neither Sora nor Leon wanted to deal with.

"Hey, they got a bar around here?" Zack suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Sora answered. "Tifa's got one across town."

"Cloud's friend Tifa?" Zack grinned. "The one with the rack?"

Leon snorted. "Yeah, her."

"Sweet." Zack threw his last plate into the sink. "Let's go."

"What?" Sora blinked. This was sudden.

"Fine." Leon agreed. "You coming, Sora?"

Sora glanced between them. "Actually, I'm gonna stay here and help Aerith for a bit."

"Cool." Zack waved and literally pushed Leon out the back door. "Tell her not to wait up."

--0—0—

An hour later, Zack and Leon were on their fourth shots and third beer and alcohol had definitely loosened the other man up and Leon was rather openly conversing. "I hated that dog. I put up with it cause Rinoa just loved her precious little puppy but if I could have made it mysteriously disappear, I would have."

Zack chuckled, swirling his drink. "I love animals, I'm just no good with them. Cloud's got a real gift with them though he'll never admit to it. Especially chocobos."

"That's because he looks like a chocobo." Leon snorted.

Zack smirked. "His nickname with the other grunts was chocobo-head."

"He'd probably kill us if we restarted that one."

"And not even a phoenix down would revive us." Zack gulped the rest of his tequila.

Leon pushed his glass away. "I'm done."

"I think you're past done."

"Ugh, I don't want to go home." Leon groaned, fingering his scar. "Between the sex fiends next door and Sora rubbing up on me half the night, I'm shocked I'm still sane."

"So don't go home. Crash at Aerith's."

"I don't want to incon- con, bother her." Leon fumbled out. He waved exaggeratedly. "It's fine."

Zack studied the man a moment then stood. "Come on, you can bunk with me; get some real sleep. That room is huge."

Leon looked at him oddly before nodding.

They walked back to the house, Leon making a few off-handed comments about the occupants of some of the houses they passed. The man had a scathing sense of humor that Zack found wonderfully entertaining. Even though he did not know the people, he was able to further many of the comments and both were chuckling and snorting by the time they walked up to the house.

Zack went inside first, catching a stumbling Leon. He knew Leon was not nearly as drunk as he was behaving. It was mostly the poor quality of sleep and stress of the past few nights. Leon's arm ended up around his shoulders.

They headed up the stairs as quietly as they could. Zack's room was at the end of the hall and silently passed the girls' rooms. "Got Cid's room, huh?"

"Yeah." Zack opened the door. "It's kinda nice actually. It's pretty isolated from the girls."

"That's why Cid got it." Leon snickered. "Poor guy living with Yuffie. He's got nothing but my respect for that."

They ducked in, shutting the door quietly behind them. Leon sat on the bed, glancing around himself. He looked a bit concerned. "Are you sure about this, Zack? You don't even know me."

Zack liked hearing that uncertain tone in his voice. He doubted very many people had heard it before. His feet slowly carried him over and he sat near the man, one leg thrown up against Leon's thigh. "It's fine."

"I don't like depending on others."

"I can tell." He really wanted to help this man. He felt a connection to him, much as he had the first time he met Cloud and to a much lesser degree, Sephiroth. There was just something…

Almost automatically, he reached up and traced the scar across the center of Leon's face. "How did you get this?"

"Seifer." Leon nearly whispered. His eyes had locked onto Zack's. "I gave him an identical one."

Zack studied him. "It's perfect on you."

Leon frowned a little. Before he could say anything, Zack pressed in and kissed him. Not even a moment passed before Leon was responding to it eagerly. A battle for dominance began as both tried to press their advantage. Leon was in the better position but Zack was stronger.

Zack won out and pressed Leon back onto the bed. Leon was already clawing at the other's clothes as Zack dug his fingers into his chest and his mouth attacked that neck. It was terribly easy for him to literally tear off Leon's shirt, casting it hastily to the side.

Leon meanwhile had managed to get Zack's shirt up and Zack pulled away long enough for it to be pulled off of him. Then he was back on Leon, biting at his chest as Leon began frantically tugging at the older man's waist. Now that both were half-clothed, Zack suddenly lifted his head and stared down at Leon.

He met those steel blue eyes, confirming that this was what the other man wanted. Those eyes stared back into violet with intense want and need. That was all the consent that was required.

Leather pants were quickly stripped off and after a moment of fumbling, Zack's shorts were gone. Hands explored skin for only a few minutes before that driving need again took over. Not at all gently, Leon took control and flipped their positions.

Zack was not at all use to being on the receiving end but for tonight, he decided he would work with it. Leon was lost in a haze of lust and Zack very much enjoyed it. He was uncertain if there had been men before him and if this made the man comfortable, he was all for it.

There was no real preparation, only a quick whisper of consent before Zack was taken. Leon was aware enough to not just force himself into the SOLDIER but with no lubrication outside of some saliva, it was still a rough process. He groaned at the intrusion but it didn't hurt as much as he feared. Leon waited a moment for him to adjust, still silent. Then he started moving and there would be no stopping him until he was done.

A series of grunts and low moans lead into their completion, first Leon than Zack. The sable-haired man dropped beside his bedmate, breathing erratically. Zack managed to move enough to get the folded comforter at the end of the bed and placed it over them.

Tomorrow, they would have to talk about this. For now, they would just sleep.