After some mental debate, Cloud had taken the letter to his room ( as well as hidden the photo ) with the rest that he'd received. He stopped long enough to stare longingly at the papers on his dresser before hastily grabbing his keys and leaving the house.

Few words had actually been said between them, but this had honestly been the first time in a while that he had enjoyed someone's company. Naturally, upon recognizing what he felt, Cloud began to feel guilty. Was Zack really okay with him seeing other people; and so soon? He would admit that Leon was extremely attractive and seemed to genuinely care, but even if Zack had given him an 'OK', it just didn't seem right.

After a minor dispute over who would pay the bill ( Leon ended up paying, because Cloud couldn't stand all the people that were looking at them while they calmly argued ), they'd exchanged numbers and Cloud went home.

At home, there was little to actually do since he'd taken time off work until he felt well enough to head back to Cid's shop. Surprisingly, Cloud found that he missed being verbally assualted by his boss everyday. Just a little bit.

Finally, Cloud decided that he'd flip through a few old photo albums to remind himself of the wonderful time he and Zack had together. Once settled with a leather-bound photo album he'd managed to get off the top of the shelves, Cloud began to turn the pages. He paused every so often at a photo that made him smile, and one in particular made him close his eyes and shake his head. It was a picture of Zack sitting up in bed, looking half-asleep and extremely bedraggled. Cloud had woken up first that day, and had taken the liberty to grab a Sharpie that lay on the desk and draw a mustache under Zack's nose. It was hard to forget Zack's exclamation of "Ifrit's balls! I'm so special my nose is underlined!" when he looked in the bathroom mirror.

Much to his surprise, an envelope fell out as he turned the page. Anxiously closing the album and putting it aside, Cloud picked it up and opened it so he could read the fourth letter inside.

'Dear Cloud,

Enjoy your time out? I sure hope so, 'cause I bet you hadn't gone out and had some fun ever since it was decided that I had to retire a teensy bit early ( not that I wanted to, anyhow). -'

He paused here, trying to decipher what Zack had written and then scratched out. It seemed to be something like 'I bet you had fun poking fun at my special nose, didn't you? Didn't you?!' Cloud had to stop and calm himself, because he could almost Zack's irritated tone of voice so clearly in his head. With a sad sigh, Cloud picked up the letter and started reading again when he felt a little better.

'Go on you, go pick up the phone and ... y'know, not just sit there. It can't hurt to ( you don't like phones much, do you, Spike? ). Man, this letter's a bit little short. Sorry, can't think of much else to squish here. Oh, and you've got a coffee mustache. Watch that. :D

Definitely not growing any facial hair,

Zack Fair

P.S. We're over, kid. You're officially single. Still love you though!'