Title: Love is a Virtue; Jealousy, a Vice.
Pairings: Squall/Cloud unrequited Zax/Cloud and Reno/Cloud
Summary: Cloud has always had an antisocial streak, preferring to stick to groups of people he knows he can trust. However, when he goes away to an elite prep school for the summer he finds it difficult to maintain that streak, especially when he finds himself in the company of his rival school.
Warnings: Pg-13, Slight cursing and naughty thoughts about an oblivious blond. This is shonen-ai, but may be bumped up in later chapters.
Side note: I now have a beta, or at least, a temporary one. My friend, Jewel, has offered to read over everything. She's going to fix the chapters where they sound awkward. Updates may take longer because of this, but at least the chapters will be easier to read, I hope. The virtues are now over, and the chapter titles will now be named after the vices, no to forget, they'll also get longer in length. There are several scene breaks in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned all the final fantasies but I don't. I'm not making any profit, and am purely letting out my inner joy at exams being over with by writing a Squall/Cloud fan fiction because it seems like there isn't enough here…either that, or I'm completely missing them.
Chapter nine: Love is a Virtue
Yuffie groaned, shoving her hotel pillow over her head to chase away they noise. The cheap cotton stuffed pillow did little to muffle the chiming of her phone. Damn phone. Why did she choose that particular ring tone for Cloud anyway? While feeling around for her phone on the nightstand, she looked over at the clock by the bed. Time zones were stupid.
"Morning," she said monotonously, body hanging slightly off the bed to lean on the nightstand.
"What's going on, Yuf'?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Lovely," she pouted.
"You never called me back-"
"Lovely, when I said 'call back', I meant that I would call you back as a friend, not as someone you've just met." No offense to her Cloudy, but he just didn't get girl-logic.
There was silence on the other end.
"Oh, come on. What's the matter with you?" Yuffie rolled her body so she was sitting up on the edge of the bed. Her sea green night top rode up slightly as she stretched. "Cat got your tongue?" Yuffie teased well naturedly, yawning slightly.
"I don't get it."
"Hmm, get what?"
"Two things: first, why are you so upbeat when you sounded like you were dying yesterday, and second, what in the world are you talking about 'calling me' as a friend?"
Yuffie rolled her eyes. Leave it to Cloud to be all mother hen-ish; he probably worried himself all of yesterday; great job, Yuffie. "Cloudy, yesterday I really," she paused, should she tell him truthfully why she didn't feel like talking, "wasn't feeling well." She winced at the little white lie. What her Cloudy didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?
Swearing she was hearing his mind turn over and processing her last statement, she tried to assure him she was fine, "Don't worry, I took something and now I'm a-okay!" Sure you are asides from this turning into one horror story. Just have to think, I'll laugh about this when I'm older. Ha, ha, ha.(1)
"Okay," the reply was hesitant, "so what's this about not calling me?"
"Hmm, tell you what I'm gonna' do. You tell me what I missed Saturday and about Friday night and I'll tell you about the not calling you thing, okay?"
"I'm feeding your inner fangirl urges here, and all I get is an explanation of why you didn't call me?"
Yuffie thought about this, the secrets of women locked securely in her mind, and decided, "Yes, Cloudy, my explanation may come in handy one day. So, spill."
"I went out with Zax and Reno, met up with Axel, got lost with Axel, was found by Squall and Irvine and Irvine's crazy girlfriend, who you would love, stayed for a while in a bar, took off my shirt, went outside, and then was walked home. Any questions, Yuf'?"
"Sounds good," Yuffie stated, standing up and walking to the other side of the room where a dresser was. Opening the top drawer, she pulled out several articles of clothing and tossed them on the bed.
'You're not even listening to me…why do I bother?"
Huh? "What are you talking about? Of course I was listening to you."
"I mentioned taking off my shirt…"
"You did what!" Yuffie's eyes opened wide in shock; her Cloudy was turning into some cheap whore! She could feel the tears forming. It was all her fault; the boots she made Cloud wear once, the parties she dragged him to, and the pretty girls and guys that were in all the movies she liked to watch were corrupting her Cloudy!
"See, you weren't paying attention."
"Cloudy, my poor Lovely!"
"Uh, Yuffie, are you alright? It was just a shirt; I was wearing something underneath."
"I am not alright!" She stomped her left foot in protest, the lack of heeled boots making the gesture less threatening. "I'm coming to get you right now, my poor-"
"Yuf', seriously, I'm fine. Don't worry; in fact, you should be worried about yourself. You sound like you're my mother, or at least like you're having a mental breakdown."
"I do not!" She stomped her foot again.
"Okay, okay. I told you about Friday, now you tell me about the calling bit."
Crossing her arms and pouting, still standing in front of her dresser, she demanded, "Tell me about yesterday, first."
"I went out with Zax and he showed me some moves to use in class next week. I then came back to my room, nearly passing out on the way there, was harassed by my roommate, and then fell asleep. Are you satisfied yet?"
"Nearly," Yuffie unfolded her arms from her chest, walking over to her bed to start changing. For the past week, she was required to eat with her father in the morning at eight; it was now a quarter to eight. "That's all? What did you do this morning?" She pulled a gaudy, gold colored shirt over her head, playing around with the cell phone so she could still talk to Cloud. Being able to multitask was great.
"The usual, except, my roommate woke up early which was a big surprise; normally, he wakes up at a later time. He did write me a note, though, saying he was going to wake up a friend of ours."
"Unhu, keep talking." She wiggled out of her night shorts, kicking them to the side along with her night shirt, and pulled on baggy drawstring pants.
"That's it really, oh wait, I do have one more thing. Can you send me food?"
"What? They're not feeding you?" The hand that was tying the strings of the pants into a secure knot stopped its task, coming up to cradle the phone instead. The pants fell to the floor, the fabric pooling around her ankles, as a result. "I can't believe them! I'm coming to pick you up-"
"Yuf', they are-"
"Don't you Yuf' me, Lovely!" Yuffie grabbed her room key, intent on leaving her nice hotel to drag Cloud out of that nightmare. Picking up her feet, the cloth around her ankles brought her down to the floor.
"Yuffie, what are you doing?"
"Owie," she said to herself, grimacing in pain. Her hand rubbed her knee which had collided with the nightstand, "I made the wrong trip." She laughed a little at the lame joke, at least her humor was intact, and that was never a bad thing.
"Well, be careful. It sounded like something heavy fell."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"No, you took that entirely out of context."
"I'm not talking to you, Lovely."
"You just did."
"I did not."
"You did it again."
"Stop it!" Yuffie rose from her position on the floor, pulling up her pants and making sure that they were on her waist. "I can't believe you."
"What's there to believe?"
"Ouch," she rubbed her knee again, shifting her weight slightly.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Listen, Lovely, I have to go to breakfast now." She started to the door carefully. Ouch, her knee better not bruise. Those denim shorts she wanted to change into later would clash with the blue and black shades that only a nasty bruise could make.
"Hold on, you didn't tell me about the calling part. That's hardly fair."
"Life isn't fair, but since you want to know so badly, friends have an allotted amount of time to call back, ours happens to be a week, while if a guy or girl gives their number out to someone they like, the recipient of the number is expected to call within three days. How's that?" Yuffie made her way over to the door and opened it. She limped into the hallway, waving cheerfully at her hot neighbor who was collecting the paper outside his door. He shot her a strange look, his cropped blond hair, not yet gelled, making him look younger then eighteen, or maybe twenty, years old; Yuffie assumed that he could be no younger then eighteen since she saw him ordering an alcoholic beverage when she followed, uh, observed him…
"That's stupid-huh? Yuf', I can hear Reno turning the key in the lock. I'll talk to you later."
The phone made a clicking noise, indicating the call was over, and Yuffie resisted the temptation to kick the tacky baseboard on the floral, wallpapered walls of the hallway. Stupid Cloudy and his stupid summer school, just why couldn't he go on vacation like a normal person?
Reno walked into the room, back from lunch, to find Cloud holding the phone. That Yuffie sure liked to talk. "Find out what was wrong with her?"
Cloud looked over from his position on the bed to find Reno staring at him curiously. "She was sick, supposedly."
"Oh, is that her text messaging you?" Reno sat on his bed and lifted his feet to pull off his boots.
Damn, I said I'd call back later? "Uh, yeah, it is." He lied when he saw exactly who it was. Squall's cell number flashed in the text message alert box. So it wasn't Yuffie after all. Cloud placed the cell phone on his nightstand, right next to a textbook, ignoring the beeping sound the phone was making.
An eyebrow rose from across the room, it wasn't like Cloud to ignore Yuffie. "Are you going to get that?" He unclasped the buckle on his right boot to get at the laces, and started to untie them.
"Uh, I think I'll get it later."
"I wish I had your problem." These stupid laces, I hate how they always knot up, Reno tugged at a vicious looking knot.
Confused, Cloud asked, "Why?"
Reno gave up on the boot, kicking it off to join its comrade underneath the bed. "Know that blonde chick Elena?" A slight nod from across the room, indicating, that yes, Cloud did know her. "I gave her my number on Friday, and she still hasn't called me." Reno grabbed his English book and opened it, angrily flipping to his spot which caused some of the pages to wrinkle or rip.
Oh, wow. Something Yuffie just told me actually is coming in handy. "I think you're going to need to give her another day to get back to you." he smiled secretively, a hand reaching for his own textbook to join Reno in studying.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Take my advice, don't worry. Hey, where's Zax?" Cloud noticed the absence of his friend somewhat belatedly. "I only saw him for a moment this morning; he isn't avoiding us, is he?"
"Yeah right, that idiot's too much of a people person to ignore someone intentionally; he went and got himself sick, can you believe that?"
"Damn, I feel horrible."
Sephiroth generously tossed the tissue box at his roommate, trying to hit him. Sitting at the desk, he frowned when he missed. "Why aren't you with redhead and blondie?"
Zax sniffled from his bed, pulling a tissue from the box. "I didn't want to get them sick. Besides, don't you love me?" He tried his best pity me expression.
"Like a dog loves his fleas." The silver haired man said sarcastically, immune to the Zax's pouting. "Why don't you worry about getting me sick and see the nurse?"
"The nurse is scary," Zax sneezed, "and I said that I would go tomorrow if this hasn't cleared up."
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, or at least bang his head on the desk, Sephiroth winced when the raven haired man sneezed again, and unlike the previous times, didn't cover his mouth. "The nurse is not scary."
"Is too."
"I'm thinking of places to hide your body if you don't go down today."
"I love you."
The cell phone beeped after the lights went out that night.
"Cloud, I know you may not want to talk to Yuffie right now, but please for my sake, put that phone on silence." Reno rolled over, his covers shifting with him, and faced the wall closest next to the bed. "Tell that girl about time zone etiquette; just because it's early in the evening over where she is, doesn't necessarily mean that it's the same over here."
Reaching around in the dark, the blond's hand fell on his phone, still in the same spot he left it that afternoon. Opening the phone, he realized that it was Squall yet again. The brunet kept leaving him text messages, now up to ten in total, which Cloud didn't feel like reading at the moment or whenever. Before he could silence the phone, it beeped again. "Fine, just to make you shut up." He muttered under his breath.
Pressing a button to bring up the first message, the white background hurt his eyes as he read.
How's my jacket?
Cloud couldn't believe this. The man was worried about his jacket enough to bother him continuously? He pressed the next message button and deleted the message when he saw the word jacket in the text's body. He went through all the messages, this guy needed to get a hobby, until he came to the last message about to delete it. He's completely obsessed with that jacket, and I thought he was interesting?
I know your ignoring me, but Iriv says to meet us this Friday at the same place. How's my jacket?
Briefly wondering if he washed the jacket would it would shrink, he replied to the message.
Reno reached behind his head with his hand to fumble for a moment on the nightstand's polished surface. Finally finding what he was looking for, he tossed it in the general direction of his roommate. "Tell her to call you tomorrow and go to bed."
Cloud put his phone on silence and put it back. "Night, Reno." He yawned, pulling the covers on him more snugly. The pen that Reno had thrown rolled off and on to the floor.
"Just go to sleep."
"Cloud, wake up." Zax sneezed, shaking the blond Monday morning. They were going to be late to shower.
"Zax," Blue eyes opened groggily, "what are you doing up? You're still sick."
"I came to wake, oh shit," Zax sneezed again, this time too late to cover his mouth.
The blond sat up and wiped at his face in disgust. "Yuck."
"Sorry about that," Zax said embarrassed, pulling out a tissue from the box he was carrying. "Here."
"Cover your mouth next time, okay?" Cloud gratefully wiped his face.
"Sure thing," his voice was nasally. Smiling, he added, "but we have to get going. We have physicals this morning. We can get down there before the big crowd and have the rest of the day off."
"Great. I hate doctors, and we get the rest of the day off after our physical?"
Golden hair was ruffled playfully, Zax agreeing with him all the way while pushing Cloud towards the door. "Sure do. All this week, it's just basic combat classes in the morning; next week, it'll be combat classes in the morning and academics in the afternoon."
"That's interesting. What about Reno, Zax?"
"Come on, you know he hates to wake up unless he has to."
"My name is Paine. Sit down and shut up while I get everything organized." The nurse held a chart in her hands and looked annoyed at the early mass of male bodies struggling to find seats. If these were the ones that woke up early just to get their physicals, then she going to be in trouble later when even larger crowds of boys would come in.
"I told you, the nurse is scary," Zax tugged on Sephiroth's long, white sleeve childishly.
"Grow up, Zax."
A strand of silver hair tickled Zax's nose, causing him to sneeze for the umpteenth time.
Lining the walls of the infirmary were chairs, each one made of bright, colorful plastic. Cloud tried to move himself closer to Zax; the bright red chair he was sitting on scuffed the floor as it was dragged. "Zax, is this really necessary?"
"I wish it wasn't, but everyone is required to get a physical at least once a year. That nurse was here last year, and let me tell you, having red eyes is not natural."
"Yeah, Cloud. She doesn't want to become a doctor so she can help people, but because she wants to suck out their souls." Sephiroth waved his hands, his voice sarcastic.
Zax and Cloud both gasped.
"You're scaring them, Sephiroth." Dressed in a white coat, an older man walking with a cane hobbled towards them.
"Hello, Dr. Nooj."
"Good morning," the doctor pushed his glasses up on his nose, "whose this?" He motioned with the hand not holding the crutch at Cloud.
Zax nudged Cloud to speak, "Cloud, doctor."
"Ah, well don't worry. My assistant, regardless of what these two have been telling you, is a real sweat heart." He turned his head towards Paine, a few strands of dark hair coming out of his ponytail, "Isn't that right, Doctor P?"
"I'm not a doctor yet." She walked over to them, the clipboard still in her hands.
"But it sounds so much cooler then Nurse P."
"Sometimes, I think you clipped out your license from the back of a cereal box."
"You wound me, you really do."
"Ha, ha," She turned away from Nooj to look at Cloud, "You're Cloud, right?"
"Um, yes?" He answered meekly.
"Good, since you're the first name of the signup sheet, you're the first patient for the day."
"Fantastic." Cloud stood up from his plastic seat, Zax sneezing on him again. "Freaking fantastic," he frowned, following Paine.
Side notes:
(1): I'm giving a very big hint here; the ending is Yuffie-centric. The guy next door plays a big part, cough, cough.
Next chapter, we get some Squall/Cloud action and everything starts to go downhill from there, leading into the vices! Also, Hojo appears. If anyone is interested in when I update, I'm trying to get into using livejournal so I may post snippets of future chapters there.
