A/N: Hi there :) I just want to tell you guys that this chapter is unbeta-ed. In other words, there will be lotsssssss of grammatical errors and terribly wrong usage of English.
Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 and its characters, though I desperately want to own both Cloud and Zack and make them kiss each other.
Chapter7
"Cloud! Cloud! Wake up!" Zack yelled in fright, kneeing down and shaking the senseless blonde, who was hiding his face between his knees.
No, please. Don't. Fucking. Die. NO!
Apparently, Cloud had been waiting here for a few hours already since they were supposed to have the tutoring at 8 as usual, in which Zack had totally forgotten because of his joyous time with Cissnei. Cloud's wearing so little and his body was freezing cold. No matter how fiercely Zack was shaking him, Cloud was still not showing any kind of response.
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
Adrenaline was now coursing rapidly through the veins of the ravenette, making him sweat even under the chill. His heart was pounding so fast and hard that Zack could feel pain on his chest every time his heart hammered against it. Zack was all jolted within as he saw how lifeless Cloud seemed. He could scarcely help shuddering when thoughts of Cloud died in cold were whirring around his head. Nevertheless, panicking alone would help nothing. As soon as Zack managed to snap out of his trance, he carried on trying hard to wake up the unconscious blonde.
"WAKE THE FUCK UP CLOUD! OR ELSE I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Fortunately, Cloud was finally awaked by the continuous loud yell of Zack after some time. He lifted up his head and let out a soft groan. Shortly, Zack saw the pair of cerulean eyes fluttered open slowly, but it took a while for the blonde to actually regain his full consciousness and recognize his classmate.
"…Zack?" Cloud whispered weakly.
"Yeah, it's me! Gosh!" the raven-haired teen, who was slumping down on the floor, let out a sigh of relief as he finally assured his tutor wasn't dead. "You scared the shit out of me! D' you know that?!"
"Sorry, I fell asleep-Holy crap! It's freezing here!"
"Shit. Come into my house now."
Noticing Cloud's body was shivering and his teeth clenching unconsciously, Zack promptly hopped up off the ground and took out the keys from his pants pocket in panic. Once the door was opened, Zack immediately helped Cloud to get up and hurried him into the house.
"I'll get you a blanket and something hot to drink," Zack said right after he closed the door, "sit down first," he continued, almost like commanding, as he motioned the blonde to the couch.
"Eh, you don't have to-"
"I said sit. Down! Seriously, Cloud, do you wanna get sick?!"
Seeing his classmate just about to lose his temper, Cloud dared not retort upon Zack and sat down as he was told to. Cloud watched the other teen scurried into one of the rooms and came out in no time with a thick cover in his arms.
"I got more of this if one is not enough," Zack informed Cloud when he handed the spare cover to the blonde.
"Thanks. I think this would be fine already…"
"Do you want some tea? Or do you prefer cocoa or something?" Zack waited patiently for a reply from the blonde, who was still busily making himself comfortable with the cover wrapping around him.
Honestly, Cloud felt uncomfortable upon how well his classmate was treating him. Even though it was truly Zack's fault to have made him wait for such long in the cold, and Cloud did really appreciate how the ravenette was making up for him. But it's just strange. Zack was kind of acting like they were friends, which they were not in fact.
"Um, tea maybe?" Cloud answered sheepishly.
"Okay, right away!" Zack flashed a smile at Cloud before heading to the kitchen.
As a matter of fact, the ravenette wouldn't be serving others like this usually. Well, maybe sometimes when he was trying to get a girl in bed. But the guilt was getting to him presently. He felt terrible about himself after letting Cloud suffer in the cold for hours. He believed that taking care of the ill-looking blonde was the only way that could lessen the remorse within him.
A while later, Zack returned back to the living room with a cup of steaming herbal tea.
"Drink it. This will make you feel better."
Cloud thanked the ravenette as he accepted the drink from him.
Zack observed the blonde who was supping his hot tea little by little. Cloud seemed a bit better now, at least he was no longer shivering and he'd regained some ruddiness on his face. But still, there exists a chance that the cold symptoms might appear after some time; albeit Cloud was fine at this moment, it's not guaranteed that he wouldn't collapse in the next second due to the sudden worsening of his cold. Zack just couldn't leave the blonde alone.
"You sleep in my bed tonight. I can sleep here."
A sip of tea was flowing down Cloud's throat when Zack suddenly spoke up. Almost at instance, the blonde choked on the liquid and started coughing badly.
"Whoa, are you okay?!" the ravenette panicked upon seeing his tutor coughing like that. Without any hesitation, he reached out and gently rubbed the back of Cloud.
The blonde put down his cup on the coffee table to make sure he wouldn't spill any drop of tea on the couch.
"cough, cough…I-I thought we're still having tutoring tonight!"
What?!
Sometimes, it's not really Zack's fault that he would lose his temper so easily in front of Cloud. The latter just knew the ways how to drive the ravenette over the edge.
"Are you kidding me?! Don't tell me that you still wanna do that shit when you're so sick!" Zack exclaimed.
Cloud was stunned by Zack's overreaction as he didn't notice any sign before the ravenette started yelling at him all of a sudden.
"I-I'm fine! See?" Cloud proved his words by removing the cover, "I don't feel cold anymore!"
"No shit, Cloud. You are fucking sick!"
"No, I'm not! Even if I were, I still have the responsibility to teach you! No matter how-"
"BULLSHIT!"
Zack screamed. He could no longer suppress his anger towards Cloud. He grabbed the collar of the blonde, leaning forward so that he was now staring down at him.
"Oh yeah?! Is this so-called responsibility shit so damn important?!" Zack further pushed the blonde against the back of the couch while supporting his own body in one arm, so that he's hovering on top of Cloud, "that you can simply ignore your own health?! Is it so fucking important that you even insist on teaching the guy you hate so damn much?!"
What's the matter with him?! Cloud stared at the enraged teen with wide eyes and an open mouth. He was bewildered by Zack's manner. This was the first time he'd ever seen the ravenette being such mad at him. And he couldn't believe that Zack actually thought that he hated him!
"W-what?! No! I don't hate you! Why would I?!" Cloud shouted in disbelief.
"Why wouldn't you?! I'm a jerk to you all the time! Don't fucking lie to me Cloud, I know it! You wouldn't have insisted on teaching me if Squall wasn't keeping an eye on us!"
"No, that's not true!" Cloud gulped as Zack increased the force in pressing him against the couch. The blonde found himself having slight difficulty in breathing. But he had to speak up; he had to let the raven-haired teen know why he was so persistent.
"I just- I just wanna help you! I don't wanna give up on you just like everyone does!"
Cloud didn't know what to do in order to gain the trust from Zack. At instant, he just shouted out what's in his mind as loud as he could, and was no longer concerned about the consequences – maybe Zack was going to shut him up by punching him. Yet, to Cloud's surprise, rather than pummeling on his face, Zack froze upon the words, and the expression on his face drastically altered from wrath to confusion.
"W-What exactly do you mean?" the ravenette asked in perplexity, as if his ears had deceived him just now.
"…I could see the talent within you, Zack. But I've no idea why everyone…including you, seems to have overlooked it … and I think it would be a pity if you don't make good use of it…" Cloud's voice diminished gradually as he further explained, feeling uneasy when he saw the piercing violet eyes of Zack staring constantly at his.
"A-And don't we have a test tomorrow? We should probably revise on that!"
Hell yes. That fucking math test. How'd I have forgotten it?
At that moment, the rage within the ravenette seemed to have slipped away immediately, and a new emotion known as anxiety started getting to him. Undoubtedly, Zack would be doomed if he really did nothing for tomorrow's test. Cloud was indeed his only hope right now.
Sighing, Zack cast a look at the blonde, who was practically lying underneath him right now, before loosening his grip on Cloud's collar.
"…Fine. Let's get started then," the ravenette said, propping himself up from the couch.
Afterwards, the two teens had their lesson until dawn, when Zack was finally capable of reciting the rules for differentiation and integration. They managed to get an hour of sleep before heading to school. However, that's definitely not enough, especially right after a long night of studying; both Cloud and Zack were having black circles under their eyes, and their heads were aching just like they were going to crack. But what's made this dreadful morning seem better to Zack was the incredible mess on the blonde's head. The ravenette burst out laughing at the golden spikes that were even more disheveled than they already were. Cloud was even nicknamed Chocobo after Zack commented that he looked exactly like one of those big birds.
Zack wasn't positive that he was going to pass the test. Even though he remembered the rules, but he could barely apply them in the questions even when Cloud was guiding him step by step. Fortunately, the test wasn't as difficult as most people had expected. Those math symbols and equations that had been alien to Zack before seemed to be understandable now. Albeit the ravenette didn't manage to finish the paper, he had completed at least half of the questions.
At the end of school, both Zack and Cloud agreed to cancel the tutoring session on that day as they really needed a good rest. Zack passed out immediately once he fell onto his bed. Doing math surely uses up more energy than he thought.
On the next day, he was late for school, and Vincent had just finished returning the test back to the students at the moment Zack arrived at the classroom.
"Sorry! I'm late!"
"Hm. Good morning, Fair," the long-haired man, who was holding a piece of paper, greeted the latecomer in a stoic tone.
Zack froze. For sure, he knew what was in his teacher's hands. That could be nothing but his test paper.
"M-Morning, sir," he gasped and straightened up. Nervousness was coursing through him as he saw Vincent walking towards him.
Without saying a word, Vincent handed the test to the tensed ravenette. Zack felt a lump forming in his throat as he received the paper. He couldn't tell from his teacher's expressionless face if he had passed the test or not, making him even more nervous. Gathering up the courage, Zack looked down on the paper in his shuddering hands. His eyes widened upon seeing the two numbers written in red.
"OH. MY. GOD! 61?! I-I PASSED! OH YEAH!" Zack cried in high glee, drawing the attention of the whole class.
Vincent couldn't help but to chuckle softly as he saw the overjoyed raven-haired teen bouncing delightfully around the classroom. Everyone could tell that Zack was a super good mood right now. The teen had never been such hyper during math class as supposedly, he should be hating it.
"Well, congratulations on passing your test, Fair. But since we're going to start the lesson right now, could you quiet down a bit and return back to your seat?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Zack saluted his teacher with the hand and marched back to his seat.
Beyond Zack's expectation, Cloud wasn't sitting on his usual seat, which is the one next to Zack's, nor anywhere else in the classroom. Zack assumed the blonde was sick today since Cloud would never skip class without a legit reason. In fact, Zack was disappointed by Cloud's absence. At this moment, the ravenette desperately wanted to share his happiness with him; he wanted to brag about passing the math test in front of him. But most importantly, Zack wanted to thank Cloud for helping him in doing the revision. He'd never be able to pass any math test without aids from the blonde. Yet, Cloud was nowhere to be seen, leaving Zack no choice but to think of Cloud and how he could thank the blonde for the whole day.
The other day came quickly and again, to Zack's surprise, the seat next to him was still unoccupied like yesterday. The ravenette started to worry if Cloud was suffering from serious illness due to the long stay in cold on the previous night and lack of sleep. But soon he realized he shouldn't be worrying as the blonde was no one to him, not even a friend. However, Zack found his mind kept on drifting off to the blonde whole day long. Frustrated, the ravenette ended up admitting that he was concerned about his tutor, though he couldn't explain why, and headed to Squall's office in attempting to nose into Cloud's current situation.
The brunette seemed to be astonished when Zack suddenly appeared in his office afterschool, asking him about his classmate in a concerned manner.
"Sorry Zack, I'd like to help but I'm just as clueless as you are. But according to what Miss Gainsborough from the school office told me this morning, Cloud didn't inform the school about his absence," Squall informed his student, who seemed even more worried upon hearing the words from him.
"B-but Mr. Valentine has asked me to hand the homework to Cloud! I would be doomed if I failed to, you know… Ah, how about you give me Cloud's address so that I could drop in his place?" Zack lied. Being worried about Cloud was a fact that he'd never expected, and he didn't want anyone else to know about it.
"Well, that could be the way. But sadly, it's the school policy not to leak the student's information to anyone, including the other students…" Squall found it hard to continue as he saw the familiar-but-still-pathetic-looking puppy eyes staring at him.
"Please, Mr. Leonhart ! I don't wanna get scolded! I promise I won't tell anyone about this, okay? Pleaseeeeeeeeee-"
"Argh, fine! I go ask the office lady now. Stay here and don't rummage around in my office!" the brunette commanded before leaving the room.
After seeing his teacher left in hurry, a small smirk promptly crept across Zack's face. He was so proud of himself that he'd never failed in lying. He personally thought that he was born an actor.
Some while later, Squall returned with a small piece of paper in hand.
"I've written down Cloud's address on this. I think it may take you around 20 minutes to reach his place. Help me to send my regards to him," Squall began, handing the scrap of paper to Zack.
Zack thanked Squall for his help before leaving the office. As soon as Zack closed the door behind him, he rushed down the hallway like a bolt of lightning. The ravenette didn't even realize he was clenching and his fist gripping.
