Janitorial Fact: Part-Timer is damn good

Cloud Strife wasn't one to be messed with in classes.

Sure he looks so damn endearing, cute and fluffy for a growing, developing soldier boy Cloud really blamed his genes as due to his looks, nobody EVER took him and his masculinity seriously, so he made up for it by seeing masculinity as being 'very capable and reliable'.

So he sought to master what he took interest in.

As a child, he took Wutaian Ninjutsu and Wutaian Guerilla Warfare from Zangan. Due to this, he has his unique style of hunting in the mountains, and brought back meat, hide, and whatever hell the monsters were carrying. Due to their social pariah status in Nibelheim, they often shop for goods in Nime next town over, four hours away from Nibelheim by truck. Thus in town, he was secretly, the most physically fit and capable boy his age. He is also good at cooking Camping Food, having practiced hard before leaving for SOLDIER.

He also mastered usage of Materia as the Wutainese loved Materia and Zangan was no different. He has several mastered balls and spawned babies at home, but upset that he can't bring his own to Shinra, having to deal with 'borrowed' ones given to students during class. He was by far the best magic user in his class and has mundane uses for magic. He can even pinpoint spells like a sniper and cast magic from afar, a trait he keeps secret to himself.

While those are his best traits, these parts, he had to work really hard on.

Firearms- Getting used to the weight and feel, as well as operating them and targeting the bull's eyes which was Shinra's aim, he cared more for how fast he can maintain, reload and aim because being slow means being mauled by monster or shot by terrorists. He would know too damn well how that feels in Nibelheim. These guys with him? They'll panic and blank out and die. He had to get used to pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns...and they all weigh and function differently...

Bomb-making, arming and disarming- This was a class tad too complicated for him, that he can only do the basics. But he did train hard in Disarming. Because his life will be on the line, dammit.

Swordsmanship- As SOLDIER, they would use swords. The SOLDIER-issue sword. The damn thing was 3 kg heavy in classes and he was horrified to learn that the real deal used by SOLDIER, is 5 kg heavy. Justified as SOLDIER are Mako-Boosted beefy guys so the weight don't matter to them, but it does, to normal folk like him! Due to this, he had to be harder on himself in re-training his physical fitness.

Driving Lessons- thankfully its in simulation classrooms with driver's seat and computers, since Shinra didn't build a driving field for trainees, and get attacked by its enemies. For cars, its always a setting for automatic cars, not manual cars...well, Cloud knows how to drive manual vehicles so he has no worries. He learned how to drive a truck up to a ten-wheeler one as well as how to park them, boat, and a helicopter.

Computers- he learned how to operate every Shinra-developed panel and system, as well as PCs. This, he spent sleepless nights on. Being a backwater hick really bit him in the ass hard in this class.

xxx

'Cloud~!' Reno, his minder complained as they went down to the nastiest place a janitor can be: loads and loads of pipes that goes this and that way. It needs cleaning at least once a week, and then report on any issue, even the smallest damage. 'Why the hell are you assigned in this sweltering place?!'

'Well, Mr. Jones who's usually assigned here had to go for his monthly Cholesterol check-ups today so he's out only for today, so tomorrow back to my usual routine Reno. Suck it up!' Cloud griped. 'Me, a mountain boy who's used to very cold is worse off than you! I'm sweating buckets here!'

'Ya gotta be kidding mee?!' Reno moaned. He too, was sweating buckets and Turk Uniforms don't do well in heat!

'To be fair, the rest of us drew lots for this job and I'm the one who ended up with the short straw.'

'You suck!'

'Can it, you! By the way, do you have an Ice materia on you?' Cloud asked him.

'I do, why?'

'Do this: imagine cold winds coming out of icy places and reenact that from that materia to have a makeshift air-conditioning. That comfort depends on how long you last though.' Cloud quipped. 'Try it out, but I emphasize sheer iron will and control and maintain calm or we'll be in trouble with the pipes. Its all on you now.'

'Hey!' Reno sputtered in disbelief.

Well, Reno did learn something new...

His charge knows strange things after all. He's really 'strange' for his age since he knows a lot of tricks that make his life in his job easier. He was no normal mountain boy at all.

After the pipes and the machinery linked to it, Cloud was back to his usual assigned floors...but that's after chugging down lots of water with Reno in the cafeteria, made even colder with Ice Materia to recover from working in the hottest place in Shinra.

xxx

SOLDIER Floors...

This time, the place, is occupied.

'This time them beefy guys are here.' Reno whistled. 'How are you going to work around that?'

'I have my ways.' Cloud smirked as he took off his protective head gear.

Reno still can't believe how can a guy like him exist.

Seriously.

'Cloud, I know this is getting old since you might get this a lot, but have you noticed how cute you are?' Reno snorted. 'You're in danger ya know.'

'I get that a lot.' Cloud sighed. 'I never leave dorm without my trusty helmet but for now, since a lot of people are in the room I'm cleaning, I'm using my face.'

Reno watched as Cloud went 'Sweet Mode' and in a very polite and gentle manner to empower his image, politely asked the SOLDIERS 'Excuse me sirs, I need to clean the area you're on.'

And did he seriously act like a girl while he was at it? Ooh videos videos! He quickly took out his phone.

To the redhead's horror, Shinra's best elites were putty before that cute face and eagerly moved out of the way! Even blushing sheepishly!

While Cloud was cleaning, the SOLDIERs are curious of their new Janitor, and Cloud politely answered their questions. Reno's sure it'll spread by the grapevine by now by sundown.

After the cleaning, he politely asked everyone to leave the room as he sprays air freshener on as per every janitor's orders and bid them goodbye before cleaning the hallways.

Next was the Science Floors, the reason why Cloud needed a Turk Minder.

Here, Cloud zipped his protective gear tight as he gets the heebie-jeebies from the scientists. 'One look at them alone, I can feel they're monsters wearing human skins.' Cloud would tell Reno with a shiver. 'Its best to be anonymous as much as possible.'

Reno can't blame him, nobody likes the scientists, dammit.

xxx

Lastly, he got the job to do inventory shopping that month. They're out of janitorial goods. So Cloud was entrusted with money...and phoned Reno.

He was in utter jitters.

'Yo boss, my charge phoned my help and you just gave me a job.' said Reno wryly, looking at Veld. 'Think ya can get anyone fill in for me?'

'What would Strife need you for?' Veld asked him. 'Isn't it his off day today?'

'He's got the money jitters when his boss gave him a load of cash to buy Janitorial Necessities and he never held so much money in his life he's gone hysterical and feared being mugged and being in hot water with his boss.' Reno snickered. 'So anyone open?'

'I'll send Tseng. He just got back from Kalm and on his way up here.'

And so...

'So Tseng right?' Cloud asked Tseng who nodded. 'It's really weird, Reno's always available every day.' he said as he drove the truck to Sector 3.

'Well, we have our talents to be called on for different fields.' said Tseng. 'We're specialized, you can say.'

'Oh...well, I better not ask what your jobs are even though Reno's just my age...I guess suits and SOLDIERs recruitments are that different.'

'It is. Its all about your talent.' Tseng said with a small smile. 'Speaking, I heard from Reno you have mundane utility usage with Materia.'

'Yeah, well surely they're useful for other things, right? Aiming a spell at monsters and terrorists surely isn't all there is to it.' Cloud said thoughtfully. 'I experimented at home and I got my own list about it. But not everyone can do magic on their own without formal training so I didn't bother sharing. And let's face it, who'd believe I wrote those notes? And I was ten at the time! Ten!'

Tseng's eyebrow raised in interest.

'I think Rhapsodos will absolutely love you.' he said wryly. 'He's a Materia maniac and the best magician in SOLDIER in regards to battle magic. Mundane Utility will be something new entirely.' he remarked thoughtfully.

'You mean that guy in red? Isn't he in Wutai right now?'

'For about two months, yes. He'll be back next month.'

xxx

Tseng observed as Cloud was a ruthless haggler on the guise of polite questions and sweet-talkings while taking advantage of his unassuming, vulnerable looks to get a discount or round-off prices on the usual chemicals needed by the janitors.

That, and he spent the remaining money on coffee blends and sugars by packs.

'You guys buy coffee when we have it free in the vendos?'

'The black shit in the building's vendo machines do NOT deserve the godly title of coffee. Ever.' Cloud scowled. 'Black shit is black shit!' Tseng snorted. 'Where'd the company find that black shit anyway?! I convinced the boss to buy real coffee and ditch that shit in some godforsaken sewage tunnel.' he shuddered before grabbing two packs. 'Here, I'll give you one for free!' he said, giving Tseng a pack of Robusta Coffee and sugar. 'And taste REAL coffee in the workplace!'

Tseng sweatdropped.

Well, he's long used to it that he no longer cared and it kept him functioning so he cared more for function than taste...

'Oh, you bought coffee?' Rude asked Tseng who came back with the coffee.

'Reno's charge went shopping and gave me these for free.' said Tseng. 'Reno chose a bad day to be out.' he chuckled. 'Oh well.'

Needless to say, he started experimenting coffee blends to find what brand he liked since.

xxx

Indeed, word of the cute Janitor spread by phone.

'Hey Zack, have you heard of the new Janitor we got here?' Sebastian asked Zack. They had been batch mates and luckily made it to SOLDIER.

'I heard from Kunsel. I hope he's not exaggerating because hey, its impossible for a guy of all things to be cute and fluffy, we're supposed to be macho hunks!' Zack snorted in amusement.

'Well you're on missions with Angeal, you never saw 'im but he's one sweet-looking fella.' said Sebastian. 'He's born with that face!' he said, rummaging his pockets for a wrinkled print-out photo. 'This is him.' upon looking, Zack's eye popped out of its sockets.

'Holy shit!' he exclaimed, 'Kunsel's not exaggerating for once?!' his jaws dropped as the janitor, is honest-to-goodness CUTE!

'See? He's cleaning our floors every three days, so you might luckily see him in person soon. He's so cute!' Sebastian swooned.

'But isn't he a bit too young for the job?' Zack asked worriedly. 'Our place is big! Really big!' he cried, spreading his arms wide,

'Well, Kunsel did some digging again.' said Sebastian. 'He's currently a Cadet in SOLDIER Academe. He'll be a sophomore soon.'

'Heee...'

Meanwhile...

At the cameras, Tseng and Veld were looking at the year-end exams through camera feed.

They were observing potentials after all.

'It seems Reno's charge is worth noting.' said Veld.

'Yes. It looks like he trained hard on those firearms for quick reloading.' said Tseng thoughtfully. 'And he's fast on it too without even slipping and he's not even looking. Looks like we better pay him a visit after his exams. He DID say he'll flunk SOLDIER due to an accident...and we confirmed that he sends money to his mother...why not we take him? He's wasted in the SGI under Heidegger.'

'I concur. We swoop him up.'

They watched his exams more while obtaining data feed from his Driving Exams...