I do not own the characters nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction. Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and favourites, you guys really rock.
Situations Change – Chapter VII"Why are you so jumpy today?" Tifa giggled as she pulled at her school sweater and opened her locker that was just above Cloud's.
Cloud looked at her with an odd expression etched across his face as he too opened his locker and exchanged his science book for his English book, "I guess I'm just feeling a little unwell," he shrugged with a smile and ducked as Tifa went to shut the door to her locker.
"Suffering from withdrawal symptoms?" Tifa asked with a cheeky grin appearing on her lips as she hugged her books to her chest.
"What?" Cloud frowned as he shut his locker and stuffed the key back into his black school trousers.
"You and Zack have spent everyday together ever since you guys made up," Tifa explained as she reached out and placed her finger tips on her friend's blushing cheeks and she stroked his face with her thumb, "I think it's adorable really," she added as she allowed her hand to fall.
"Tifa," Cloud rolled his eyes, "there's nothing going on between us," he added as they made their way down the corridor towards their classroom.
"I never said there was," Tifa sounded a little offended but then laughed slightly, "I do now though," she laughed more as Cloud groaned and bowed his head in mock shame.
"Honestly there isn't anything going on," Cloud pulled on his blonde bangs shyly as he bit down on his lip. He knew Tifa could read him like a book, which was why he was avoiding her face, as he knew that she would be grinning at him.
"I see the way you look at him," she whispered and grabbed his hand in hers to get his attention and she couldn't help but feel the need to hug him as she saw his adorable blush appear on his pale skin once more.
"Alright Miss Mind Reader," Cloud teased as they entered their classroom; heading straight for the back desk like always so that less attention would be placed on them by their teacher.
"You can hardly deny the fact that he's attractive," Tifa pointed out with a wave of her hand as she placed her books and black inked pen on the desk as Cloud sat in his chair closest to the wall.
So good looking that I swear that masturbation is an official exercise Cloud blinked a few times after he shook his thoughts out of his head, "I guess," Cloud shrugged his shoulders as he said this, his mind wandering off as their tall blonde haired English teacher started the class.
Cloud had been worried about Zack ever since they had discovered his overly active fan club a few weeks ago; he had wanted to stay by the man's side just incase something happened to him. Though Zack had made it clear that they couldn't be together, he still cared for the raven more than he should and he found it so frustrating that his dreams were constantly about him and that he had found himself texting Zack everyday like a loved up school girl asking him how he was. He had started to worry that he was annoying Zack with his affectionate behaviour but when he had confronted Zack about it, the SOLDIER just said that he found it cute that Cloud was so attached him.
"Cloud," Tifa's hand rubbed his arm sweetly and tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear as her best friend finally snapped out of his daydream, "class ended five minuets ago," Cloud blinked a few times in surprise before glancing at his watch and snorting at himself, he had to learn how to control his thoughts so that he could at least copy some class notes down.
"Damn," he muttered as he quickly followed Tifa out of the classroom, smiling as they hugged one another, "have fun in history," he chuckled as Tifa rolled her eyes.
"Oh I will; you have fun in maths," Tifa teased back and held him for a little bit longer before pulling away and jogging down the corridor so that she wouldn't be late.
Maths, great another book change already Cloud skulked back over to his locker and yanked the door open once he had unlocked it and switched his books over again, stopping to smile at the photograph he had stuck on the door that was of him and Tifa when they had been at the beach…the day he had met Zack.Cloud jumped as he felt something brush lightly through his hair and a strange noise like cutting strings followed. He clapped his hand to the back of his head and pulled at one of his spikes raising his eyebrows as it felt a lot shorter than the other spikes.
Someone cut my hair? He spun around and glanced down the hall to catch whoever was responsible and swallowed hard as he noticed that he was alone.
Lixia The name made Cloud instinctively shiver and he pulled his phone out of his pocket, suddenly not feeling well; he knew that only one person would pick him up this early into a school day.
Zack, please come and get me from school, make something up! I think I just had an encounter with Lixia.
Cloud quickly sent the text and tapped the phone against his teeth for a few seconds. Shutting the door of his locker he then turned and made his way to class, his blue eyes flicking to the sides of him every now and again.
"You're late Strife," Cloud blushed heavily as the entire class turned to face him and he grabbed his arm shyly, "do you have a reason?" Cloud shook his head and quickly made his way to the back, trying to ignore the giggling coming from the more immature students.
Cloud was starting to get impatient and desperate as he continued to watch the hands of the clock slowly crawl around it circular shape and his eyes shifted to the classroom window he was sat next to, biting his nails anxiously as he waited for Zack to suddenly appear.
"Yo, I'm looking for Cloud Strife," the voice made the blonde nearly fall out of his seat in fright and he tutted at himself as he realized he had been staring in the direction that the fire exit was which was why he hadn't noticed Zack coming down the corridor.
A few girls in the corner gasped loudly and huddled their seats together as Zack's tall, muscular figure leaned against the doorframe casually.
Cloud looked to his black haired teacher who was pushing his thickly framed glasses up his nose.
"Any particular reason SOLDIER?" Zack grinned at the acid that was clearly tracing the teacher's words.
"Yeah, his mother requested that I pick him up to take him to his hospital appointment," Zack lied perfectly and looked over at Cloud with a sly wink which caused the girls to glare at Cloud as he stood up timidly.
"Fine, you have permission to leave," his teacher waved his hand in the air and narrowed his eyes as he noticed the smile that was plastered over Cloud's face.
'Thank you' Cloud mouthed at the raven who nodded slightly and waved to the class as he left with the blonde.
"So what was up with that text?" Zack asked once they were out of the school, making their way through the large car park.
"I don't know for certain but," Cloud rubbed the back of his head, "I think Lixia cut a piece of my hair, it's defiantly shorter than before," he explained quietly as he felt his face heat up again when he heard Zack laugh.
"So Lixia is a student now?" Zack raised his eyebrows, "that would explain the childish photography," he noted to himself.
"I don't know," Cloud sighed as his shoulder dropped, "it could have been just another weird kid but…I have a feeling it was her," he knew he sounded mental and he covered his face with his hands as he tried to his the infuriating blushing, his heart jumping against his chest hard as he felt Zack pull him into a tight embrace.
"This is why I didn't want to leave you alone, I knew something was going to happen," Zack grunted and he moved away from Cloud, placing a hand on his head as he squatted a little so they were eye level, "nothing else happened did it?" he let out a small sigh of relief as Cloud shook his head, "good, now climb aboard explorer!" Zack suddenly yelled as he shifted around Cloud and patted the giant motorcycle that was sat behind them.
"Whoa!" Cloud gasped as he stared at the glossy black and gold motorcycle, his hands brushing over it as his eyes glittered with interest, "This is a Fenrir!" he nearly squealed as he began to check out the back of the bike.
"Never took you as a motorcycle nut," Zack joked as he threw him a helmet, "make sure to hold on tight, I may be a SOLDIER but I am curiously irresponsible on the road," Zack half joked this time and snorted as he saw Cloud eagerly put the helmet on and wait for Zack to straddle the bike before getting on behind him, grinning to himself as he wrapped his arms around Zack's waist tightly, nearly moaning at the warmth he felt from him.
This is so cool! Cloud smiled to himself as he heard the roar of the engine and he screamed out in excitement as the bike suddenly bolted down the road at such a fast speed that Cloud wondered how both he and Zack had stayed on the bike.
Zack swerved sharply around a corner as he grabbed a hold of Cloud's arms that were tightly around him and he shifted the younger males hands slightly so that he was safer.
The feeling of freedom and speed was so new to Cloud that he didn't want to get off of the bike anytime soon. This was what it was like being around Zachary Fair, first class SOLDIER. Fun and the feeling of wanting your interaction with him to end was like an itch on your back, because you knew that you would have to scratch it.
"And," Zack sang as the bike skidded into Cloud's driveway, "parked," he ended with a loud chuckle and switched the engine off.
"That was so awesome!" Cloud shrieked as he slipped off of the bike with the helmet tucked under his arm (somehow still holding perfectly neat hair though it had been crushed by the assaulting object).
"I would never have guessed," Zack replied with a warm smile, "you realize that I could hear you cheering over the noise of the bike right?" he threw his head back laughing as Cloud froze, staring at him wide eyed.
"I didn't even notice I was doing that," Cloud muttered to himself and he placed the helmet on the bike and searched for his house key as his mother was at work.
"No problem Cloudy, I just want to get to the computer; see if the psychopaths have updated," Zack scoffed as he and Cloud ran up the stairs.
Cloud set to work on setting up the computer whilst Zack pulled the chairs form the other side of the room over to the computer desk.
"Right," Cloud clapped his hands together and stretched them before he began typing into the search engine, a smirk appearing as he typed in the name of the magazine.
The screen automatically flashed with even more images that made both males feel very uncomfortable as most of them included Cloud as well.
"Wow," Zack grunted as Cloud continued to scroll down, his entire body suddenly stiffening in his seat as Cloud's scrolling froze over one of the pictures.
"Zack Fair is Gay?" Cloud whispered as he stared at the picture of the hug they had shared right before they had gotten onto Zack's Fenrir.
"But that was only fifteen minuets ago!" Zack shouted as he clenched his fists, "who the hell are these people, if my commanding officers see this I'm going to be a fucking laughing stock!" he cried as he pulled at his spiky black hair.
"Zack," Cloud held his hands to his chest nervously, "I'm scared," Zack looked up at him sharply and his expression softened before he pulled the boy onto his lap, hugging him tightly.
"I said I would protect you and I will," he reassured him as he rubbed Cloud's back friendly.
Cloud wrapped his arms around Zack's neck as his head rested on the mans strong shoulder, his eyes staring out of the window as he chewed on his bottom lip, flinching as a bright light suddenly shone through the window and Cloud gasped so dramatically that he actually caused himself to fall backwards off of Zack's lap and onto the floor.
"Are you okay?" Zack grabbed his wrists and heaved Cloud to his feet again.
"S-she's there, she's out there!" Cloud screamed as he rushed to the window and pushed it open forcefully, his eyes catching a figure dressed in black jumping over his garden fence and he winced as Zack suddenly shot out of the window passed him and skidded down, landing on the grass firmly on his feet.
"Zack!" Cloud yelled as he watched his friend jump over the fence after the figure, "idiot,"
Review please ^_^And honestly, I read this chapter through about ten times, if there are STILL mistakes, trust me I'm working on it. I am currently suffering from insomnia, and I haven't slept for three – four days now * sighs *.
Anyways, I enjoyed this chapter and I'm happy I finally got it up here as I had a lot of fun writing it, so hopefully you'll have fun reading it because things are going to turn a little bit ugly for our dears, Cloud and Zack very soon AND you get some Reno thrown in as well. And yes, Zack owns the Fenrir instead of Cloud haha