Title: Love is a Virtue; Jealousy, a Vice.
Pairings: Squall/Cloud unrequited (now angry) 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: Okay, really late in getting this chapter out. Part of it was already posted to my lj, but the formatting often gets screwed up over there. The story's nearly done; ninety percent to be exact and there are fifteen chapters overall. I actually decided to add part of chapter thirteen to chapter twelve to make it longer, but the whole story will be updated, which means all the chapters done, by Thanksgiving. Hopefully that will help make up for the long delay. Also, prepare for huge amounts of angst 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 twelve: Recklessness is a Vice
As Selphie and Yuffie planned how to get Cloud and Squall together, Sephiroth planned on how to separate Zax and Reno. The redhead took up too much space, even if he was sleeping on the floor. "Zax, please," Sephiroth was even going to resort to begging if he had to, "if your friend doesn't leave by tonight, I'm smothering you in your sleep with your pillow."
Blinking innocently while looking up from his book, Zax whined, "But Reno doesn't have anywhere else to go."
"Oh, give me a break. Just tell him to go back to his room." Sephiroth cast a cautious look around the room as if expecting the redhead to jump out at any minute and annoy him, "Where is he by the way?"
"Getting clean clothes; I'm starting to get sick of him wearing my own." Zax tuned the page of his psychology text, only seven more pages left; class was in a fifteen minutes and he hadn't done the reading.
Reno stood in front of the room he once shared with Cloud five days ago. This is going to quite awkward if he's in there, the redhead thought while pulling out his key.
Inserting it into the lock, he turned the key. Somewhat surprised that the door was already unlocked, he gripped the knob and opened the door.
Unfortunately, Cloud was lying on his bed fiddling with his cell phone's antenna. When the blond saw him open the door, he shot up shocked. "Reno?" he asked.
Ignoring him, Reno went to the closet they shared. Cloud was by his side instantly.
"I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry." The boy gripped Reno's arm, looking pleadingly up at him for forgiveness. "I am really, really, really sorry."
Reno shook Cloud off, glaring at him as he opened the closet door. "You should have told us," he ground out, bending down to throw some clothes into his bag.
"Wh-what? Told you what?"
Standing up, Reno turned on his heels to face his confused roommate. "That you were sleeping with a Garden student," he said bluntly.
"I'm what? Wait, no, you saw me with Squall?"
That lost look on Cloud's face made Reno do a double take. No way could Cloud not know what he was talking about. He had to; that name, Squall, was proof enough.
"But I-"
Cloud was cut off by Reno, "You could have at least told us, or even hinted at it. Hell, you could have said anything to at least imply that you were fucking around."
"But I'm not, he kissed me!" The blond forcefully grabbed Reno's duffle and held it away.
Angry and now annoyed, Reno could feel the adrenaline spike. This was the last thing he wanted: a confrontation with Cloud. "Give it back now, Strife."
Ignoring how Reno used his last name, Cloud shook his head no. "Not until you hear my story."
"I haven't got the time to play around with you; we have psychology class in five. Just give me my damned bag back." He held out his hand, looking much like an adult reprimanding a naughty child.
"No," Cloud refused, stubbornly clinging to the bag, "not until you hear what I have to say."
Green eyes narrowed. "No, I think I've heard enough." Reno said forcefully, violently grabbing for his bag. Cloud stepped backwards to avoid the lunge. When the back of his knees hit the end of his bed, he knew it was all over; his position left him in a moment of weakness which Reno happily exploited.
Shouldering the bag, the redhead grabbed another shirt to stuff inside. Cloud could only watch in disappointment as his once roommate scampered out of the room.
"Damn it!" Still on the bed, Cloud hit the wall in frustration. "I can't freaking believe they think I'm sleeping with Squall! Of all the illogical excuses I could think up about why they are angry at me, chances are it turns out it has to be that one!" He hit the wall again, daring his neighbors to just complain.
Cloud just couldn't believe it; what more did he have to do to destroy the relationships he had? He was on a roll, first with Reno and Zax, and then with Yuffie. Lying on the bed still, the blond felt around for his phone. When his hand came into contact with it, he flipped it open and cursed. He was late for class.
Mr. Vermeule only glared at Cloud when the boy walked in late. The blond moved quietly to his seat, normally next to Reno, only to find it taken by another student. Reno gave the blond a fixed stare, challenging him to make a comment. I should have figured that he wouldn't save my seat, Cloud thought, feeling even worse than before. Deciding it wasn't worth the effort to fight over it, he ended up grabbing a vacant seat two tables away from his old one, pulling out his notebook as he sat down.
Cloud's teacher could talk about anything related to the subject of psychology and make it sound painfully boring. It was so easy to tone out the man walking in front of the class too. Slowly, while Mr. Vermeule was droning on about REM, the blond's purple ink pen, a gift from Zax, scratched out the beginnings of an apology note.
Zax and Reno, he started, I don't- Damn…he drew a line through the last two words. How could writing out a simple apology be so difficult? He'd have to approach the subject of his whereabouts, his activities with the Garden students, and most importantly, Squall.
He was about to write down who exactly Squall was when his phone rang.
"Damn it," he scrambled for the phone, hoping to shut it off.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Strife?" Mr. Vermeule asked, clearly unhappy about being interrupted for a second time.
"Uh, no, sir," Finding the phone, he turned it off.
"Good; detention tomorrow after school." Mr. Vermeule nodded in agreement with his statement and took a piece of chalk in his hand to start writing note.
Slinking down in his chair, the blond pouted. This week was going to hell.
Yuffie left a voice message, blinking cutely from her bed. "I could always call back Selphie," she said out loud, a large grin on her face.
Selphie, meanwhile, was in the infirmary watching Squall grimacing as hydrogen peroxide was dabbed onto his cut. After talking with Yuffie, she had run down to find her boyfriend.
"It's bad," Dr. Kadowaki(1) announced, "it's going to scar."
The brunet winced as the q-tip that was cleaning out the smaller pieces of gravel pressed against the ripped flesh. Was hydrogen peroxide even okay to use on opened wounds?
Sitting on the bench near the bed, Irvine knew Squall didn't care about scarring; what he did care about was how to repay Seifer back. But thanks Dr. Kadowaki for pointing out the obvious.
Grimacing again as the sadistic woman pressed the q-tip again in to the wound, Squall held in his mutter of discomfort. This week was going to hell. Grabbing her arm before the doctor could cause him anymore pain, "Irvine can do that," he said in his best commanding tone of voice.
The cell phone at Selphie's hip vibrated, breaking the tense silence and causing the brunette to almost jump into Irvine's lap in surprise. Squall and Dr. Kadowaki shot her reprimanding looks. "Sorry," she said, smiling broadly.
Irvine gave her a smile back, standing up to stare down Dr. Kadowaki who didn't look like she wanted to relinquish the hydrogen peroxide and cotton swabs. "I'll finish up, Dr. Kadowaki."
Shaking her head, "I don't think-"
"It's not like I'm giving Squall stitches." Holding out his hand to the woman perched on the edge of the cot, Irvine looked expectant of the results.
Sighing, Dr. Kadowaki stood up. "Now, be careful. The bleeding's stopped, but if it starts again I want to be called immediately." Handing over the box of cotton swabs, she headed for the door. "And I want to know when you are done, Mr. Kinneas."
After several vibrations, Selphie turned her pretty green eyes away from the drama to answer the phone. "Hello?" the girl said into the receiver as her boyfriend began to carefully dab at the cut.
"Selphie, Darling, why don't you take that outside while I clean Squall up?" Irvine moved closer to Squall on the bed. Those new swords sure could do some damage. The cut, really more of a slash when he examined it more closely, stretched from the top left of Squall's right cheek, to the beginnings of the left eyebrow. "How exactly did you get this much gravel in this thing?"
"I don't know; maybe it had something to do with how my face is slashed up now?" Squall's glare toward Irvine was enough to stop the man's hand in mid swipe.
"Ah, right…" well, this certainly was uncomfortable. And here Irvine thought he could just slowly introduce the topic of Cloud. How exactly does one confront someone on something so sensitive?
Irvine could here Selphie's chatter through the door leading into the main room of the infirmary. It was somewhat soothing in a way, the repetitive motions of swabbing the piece of cotton against the ripped flesh and the hum of his girlfriend's voice..
Squall shifted slightly as Irvine brushed against a particular nasty part of the cut; really now, if this wasn't Squall, Irvine would have asked about the particulars of the fight…like what started it. Well, Irvine mulled, even if this is Squall, it never does hurt to ask. "So…wanna' talk about it?"
Pursing his lips, Squall looked away from Irvine's inquiring gaze. "I kissed him," he muttered, "and he hit me...happy?"
"Wait a minute here; you kissed Seifer?" Irvine asked, slightly confused but wanting to get his facts straight. Wasn't it Cloud Squall had kissed? Or had Squall kissed them both? This was all too confusing.
"You did what?" Irvine barely was able to register Selphie's flying leap towards Squall, and whoa, when did she even come back to the room? The girl's yellow dress melded with the infirmary's white standard issued sheets as she came to a rest on Squall's legs. Squall did not look comfortable with Selphie on top of him.
"Darling," he reached out a hand to pull her off his friend.
"Don't darling me, Irvine." She snapped at him, pulling her arm out of his grasp. "How could you, Squall Lionheart! Kissing two boys! What about Cloud's feelings on the matter? Have you asked him, huh? I mean, maybe if you'd just give the guy a warning beforehand they wouldn't smack you upside the head!(2)" She punctuated each of her sentences by jabbing her finger in the injured man's face.
"What the hell are you talking about?" The brunet growled, trying to pull his legs out from under Selphie. "And get off me."
"I think she means you kissing Seifer." Irvine looked at Squall as he rubbed the back of his neck in nervous gesture.
"Who the hell said I kissed Seifer?" Squall looked at the couple menacingly as his nose scrunched up somewhat, upsetting the way the blood had clotted. A small drop of red liquid slid down to the very bottom tip of the cut, just threatening to fall just a little bit more and stain white sheets…
Irvine and Selphie looked at him in confusion.
"Why do I think," Irvine said slowly, "that there's a very big misunderstanding between us?"
They were doing it again. Sephiroth didn't know who was worse; Zax and Reno just wouldn't shut up. Clenching his teeth, his hand bunched the fabric of the throw he was sitting on. The lights weren't on; the sun was just starting to set, but throwing off enough light to clarify the words on the pages of the book he was in the midst of reading.
"…and he said it was a big misunderstanding." Reno nodded solemnly, putting his pencil to his bottom lip in a thoughtful expression.
Zax looked dubious. "How exactly could we misunderstand something like that?" Adjusting his legs to get more comfortable on the floor, Zax mimicked Reno and put his pencil to his lip before scribbling down the answer on his paper for question seven.
"I don't know…well, he did seem overly apologetic-
"Just because he threw himself over you for forgiveness just makes the situation even more pathetic."
"Hey, he didn't even know what I was talking about, I think…" Shaking his head in confusion, the redhead snuck a look at Zax's paper. Blinking at the answer, he pointed to it. "42? How the hell did you get 42 as an answer for a psychology problem?"
"42 is the answer to everything…" was the reply.
Sephiroth watched the two bicker. How exactly was he supposed to concentrate on the book he was reading with all that noise? The silver haired man could feel the head-ache coming on, slowly but surely. Something had to be done. "Out." One word, which was all it took to get his roommate and idiotic friend to look at him in confusion.
Looking somewhat confused, Zax reacted first. "What?"
"I want him out," Sephiroth said slowly, just incase Zax needed some extra help in understanding what he was talking about.
The raven-haired man did understand and he matched the glare Sephiroth was sending his way.
"How come I'm always the last to know what's going on?" Reno complained. Looking between the two men who were having a stare down, it only took the redhead another minute to get what exactly was going on. "Wait, you want me to leave?"
"I've put up with him long enough," Sephiroth argued when Zax wouldn't give in.
"But what about Cloud?" Reno whined, preparing to latch on to one of the bed's wooden legs.
"You're just going to have to get over it." Moving like fluid off the bed, Sephiroth grabbed the bag that Reno had used to put clothes in, walked to the door, and threw it out into the hallway.
Zax only raised an eyebrow at this display. Normally, no one ever got on his roommate's nerves to actually prompt a response such as this.
Meanwhile, Reno dashed after the bag. When he was in the hallway, Sephiroth closed the door hard enough to shake the frame.
Moving back towards his spot on the bed, Sephiroth resumed his position and reread the section of the book that he was interrupted in.
Zax stood up to go after Reno. "Man, Seph, you didn't have to kick him out like that."
"If you dare go to bring that person back in here, you'll find yourself in the same predicament that he's in right now."
"Okay…" Returning to his homework on the floor, Zax called out to the redhead who was now knocking on the door to be let in. "Sorry, Reno, can't do," the raven-haired man gave a small grimace at the thought, "I actually like having access to my books and clothes."
"Traitor," Reno called from the other side of the door.
"Yeah," Zax whispered, brows furrowing as he put more thought into problem ten, "seems like everyone eventually is."
Selphie wasn't sure she wanted to believe it. Squall was being so…un-Squallish that it was starting to scare her.
"…and than I kissed him and he hit me." The brunet concluded, finishing the story about what had happened after he had left the carnival with Cloud.
Looking over at her boyfriend, Selphie knew that Irvine was just as startled as she was. Normally she and Irvine had to pull teeth to get Squall to even admit to eating the last cookie, or if he took the last licorice twist…those were really good but beside the point.
Well, Selphie mused, if it was one thing that Rinoa did besides breaking Squall's heart, it was that she managed to make him more agreeable.
Irvine closed his eyes and sighed. Keeping them shut for a moment, he thought about what could be done to fix this.
Hoping to help, Selphie said the first thing that came to mind: "Yuffie says Cloud isn't too happy at the moment…" She shifted from foot to foot, somewhat nervous to Squall's reaction to that statement.
"Yuffie?"
Eyes still closed, Irvine explained. "She's Cloud's friend. The girl got so worried about him that she managed to get my number to yell at me, really to yell at you, and find out how to fix things."
Not knowing what to say, Squall kept his mouth shut.
"Oh, she's really nice." Selphie affirmed, grinning mischievously. "No competition at all, if you know what I mean."
Reno didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't go back to his room…Cloud was there.
The wind quietly picked up. The sun had set an hour ago and although the redhead had pulled out a sweatshirt from his duffle to wear, he was still cold. Reno could slightly see the summer grass swaying around him in the dark. Leaning his head back against the tree near the path to Traverse Town, green eyes closed. This was just great. He was going to freaking freeze out here!
The leaves rustled somewhere in the woods and Reno groaned. "Zax just had to kick me out didn't he?" Pouting, he pulled the hems of his sweatshirt down in an attempt to cover more skin. "And I don't even want to think about going back to the room. Cloud's just-"
"Do you know where I can find him?"
Somewhat startled, Reno's eyes opened in shock. "Excuse-" Pausing, he looked at what the stranger was wearing; the Garden emblem decorated the right breast of a black pullover. "Why the hell are you here? Shouldn't you be on your own campus?"
Amused, the man shook his head, causing long locks of brown hair to go wild. "Love to, you know? But I came to see someone."
Growling, Reno stood up from his position on the ground. "Actually, I don't really care why you're here; just get the hell away from me."
"Sure. Mind pointing me to where I can find someone by the name of Cloud first?"
"You're looking for Cloud?" Reno glared. Okay, so Cloud and he weren't on the best of terms and Cloud was known to be a bit too friendly with that Garden student, but this man wasn't the same one the blond had kissed.
"I'm Irvine, by the way." Irvine held out his right hand to Reno, "I'm looking for the kid to apologize for a friend's actions; guy's just too stubborn when it comes to stuff like saying sorry. Can't reach him on his cell so I thought I'd try in person."
Reno just stared at the offered hand.
"Short kid, and, um, spiky hair? Blond, if that helps." Irvine made some random gestures with his left hand. "Just thought you might know the kid; mentioned his name just a minute ago, didn't you?"
Looking at the hand warily still, Reno nodded his head in apprehensive agreement. "I know Cloud…"
Grinning broadly, Irvine retracted his hand. Well, they're certainly friendly here. Guy didn't even offer his name. "Mind bringing me to him or him to me?" I've only asked you if you knew him over five times.
"I'm Reno…mind explaining what exactly is going on first, Irvine?" Reno was sure that if he compared this guy's story to Cloud's, he'd finally have some semblance to what was going on around here.
They had gone into the forest to speak. Reno had been cautious to watch the brunet at all times. Garden wasn't Shinra's rival school for nothing.
Sitting on a patch of relatively dry grass nearer to the city than the school, Reno fidgeted with his duffel's straps after hearing the story. "He really was telling the truth, then," he whispered, looking off to the side.
Catching the barely heard words, Irvine nodded in agreement. "Squall's just confused right now. Selphie, who is my girlfriend, and I just saw how Cloud and Squall looked together and decided to throw them together."
"Then this is just some simple chance of fate that I just fucked up a good relationship? So, some Garden student thinks his friend needed to get over a girl by dumping him on the next available person that walks by." Reno nearly growled. How dare they use Cloud like that.
"You're getting the wrong idea-"
Reno cut Irvine off, "I think I understand perfectly what you were doing. Listen, just leave the kid alone now." Standing up and placing his duffel's straps more securely on his shoulder, the redhead turned and started to walk away.
Irvine shook the small clumps of grass that had decided to stick to his pants when he stood up off. Following worriedly after the man who may be the only one to get him in contact with Cloud, Irvine called out for Reno to stop.
Ignoring the brunet behind him, Reno was able to scramble through the foliage. Irvine was falling behind him; Garden students were never in these woods unless it was for the big skirmish with Shinra at the end of the summer. Making his way on to terrain that was no longer steep and crumbling, Reno set off immediately towards the newer residential building. He had a lot of groveling to do if Cloud was ever going to let him back into their room.
Side notes:
(1): I can't remember much of Dr. Kadowaki from FFViii so I'm sorry if I really screwed up her character.
(2): I owe this part to Jewel.
Okay, next chapter Rufus comes in. He was supposed to be in this chapter but sort of got sidetracked to the next. Hint though, he plays a very big role for making everything peachy keen between the pretty boys and girls. And then there's a special guest appearance by a character that stays with Cloud until the end of the story. Who could it be? Oh, the mystery…actually, it should be fairly obvious.
