Heyo! We are back now with the latest chapter of this brotherly fluff story!
Here we go! Enjoy! And thank you to all who have supported this story! We are glad you are enjoying!
Ch. 19
After the first few days, Cloud had been subjected to various tests in order to infuse his body with mako. This procedure was meant to strengthen both the body and the mind. Cloud had been slightly worried about it at first of how it would affect him. Something about it made him feel a little nervous. But Zack was able to reassure him that things would be okay.
The first few times were the hardest ones, as Cloud was not used to having anything done to his body like that. There were a couple of times where he thought he might lose his mind; however, he endured. The process went on each day for about two weeks, and each day Cloud felt himself becoming much stronger than he already had been.
Before he even knew it, two months had passed since he had joined SOLDIER and endured those tests. It was so strange to think that so much had happened so quickly. It seemed as though it had happened in no time at all. But now at least, things were going smoothly for the blond-haired teen, as well as for his raven-haired brother. They had both fallen into a routine of training together at the start of each week.
Cloud was slowly improving himself over each mission he had done and through each training session. He constantly thought about the progress he had made since becoming SOLDIER, and he was mostly happy for it. The work was hard for sure, but it is what he signed up for so he had no complaints. After all, he was able to be there with his brother, so he was no longer alone. Even though they were not sent on every mission together, they still had plenty of moments to hangout and have fun.
Zack was just as happy, for he had his brother there with him now. He was relieved that he was no longer by himself and was glad to have a suitable training partner. There was some other good SOLDIERS, but none of them were quite like his brother. However, thoughts entered his mind occasionally of just how skilled Cloud had become, and he wondered just how long it would be before Cloud would catch up to him. There was even the occasional though that Cloud might even surpass him one day.
At the end of the day, Zack and Cloud had finished their training that they did each week. The two of them breathed heavily as they picked up their water bottles and headed out of the training room. Zack ran a hand through his hair as he slowly stretched his sore muscles.
"Another good workout today, right Cloud?"
"Yeah, it was great. I think I'm getting the hang of having this extra strength," Cloud boasted as he ruffled his hair to shake the sweat out.
"Like I said, you get use to it rather quickly. I think you even picked it up faster than me when I first started," Zack chuckled cheerfully.
"Really? Well, I did tell you that I would train hard to catch up to you. Now who's the one that needs to keep up?" Cloud joked as he started to chuckle.
"Heh heh, I'm trying my best here, but I guess you're right. You are probably getting stronger than me. But…" Zack paused for a moment as he smiled. He looked to Cloud and chuckled, but did not say a word more.
Cloud cocked his head at Zack. "But what? Come on, what were you gonna say? Don't just laugh. I wanna know now."
"Oh of course you wanna know. But it's a secret," Zack said as he stopped walking and leaned in close to Cloud. "I've heard some of the higher ups talking. I think I may be promoted to 2nd Class soon."
Cloud's eyes widened. "Whaaaaat?! Zack that is amazing news! That is so great that you might be able to get to jump up like that!" he yelled excitedly.
"Shhh," Zack hushed him while trying not to laugh. "Not so loud. Like I said, I just heard them talking. Not sure when it will happen yet if it even is going to happen."
"Sorry sorry, I was just so excited to hear it," Cloud said with a more whispered tone. "Still, I hope that it happens. I guess that means I still have my work cut out for me."
"You betcha! If you wanna keep up, you'll really need to impress the higher ups, like I have," Zack replied as he smiled. He really hoped that he would be promoted soon to 2nd Class. He had been working now towards moving up for over two years.
"Well that sounds like a challenge to me. I guess I'll have to prove I can do it and become 2nd faster than you did," Cloud remarked as he slyly grinned at his brother.
"Oh yeah? Let's see you try," Zack replied before ruffling Cloud's hair.
"I bet I can do it! After all I think they were really impressive with me when I tried out for SOLDIER."
"That's because you're my younger brother, of course they would be impressive. The Fair brothers are always working to be the best," Zack chuckled, a joyous look spread across his face.
"Yeah! We can do it, I know we can," Cloud said as the two of them finally began to walk again.
"I still gotta say though, I really am impressed with how much you have improved. It's good though as you are the best person to train with," Zack said as they entered into the elevator to head down.
Cloud nodded, though he started to think other things. Thoughts about Zack being promoted started to be more clear to him now. "But Zack… if you are promoted to 2nd Class before me, won't that mean that we won't get to see each other as much?"
"It's possible," Zack said as he pondered the thought as well. He never had given it a lot of thought yet. "3rd and 2nd Class though still do a lot of the smaller jobs for Shinra though, so there is still a good chance we will go on missions together. You know that there have been a few 2nd Class that have joined our missions from time to time."
"Yeah… but that means there is still a chance we won't get to see each other as much," Cloud whispered softly.
"Hey, you said you were going to catch up to me, so what's with his downer attitude? Even if we don't get to see each other much during the day, we still see each other at home."
Cloud stared down at the floor of the elevator. He took in each piece of information and thought it over carefully. Finally though he sighed with relief and looked up to Zack. "You're right. I guess I was just worrying a little to much. I'll still make sure to get to 2nd Class right after you though!"
"Ha ha! I can't wait to see that then!" Zack laughed in return.
The two boys soon headed out of the elevator as it reached the main floor. They exited out of the Shinra Headquarters and went back to their apartment to shower and relax after a hard day of training.
A couple of months later Cloud woke up in his bed and let out a long yawn. Even though he had gotten used to waking up early in the morning, he still always felt tired for the first ten minutes or so. He rubbed his eyes quite a bit as he was now sitting up.
As he began to close his eyes briefly, he heard another pair of footsteps coming closer to where he was. Soon, the noise stopped as the person that Cloud assumed the footsteps belonged to spoke up.
"Hey, good that you're up now at least. I was about to come in here and wake you, ya sleepyhead," Zack said with a slight chuckle in his voice.
Cloud then tried to look up at where the voice had emanated from to find his brother. After blinking a bit more sleepiness from his eyes, he was able to finally gaze upon Zack. Or, so he thought. Was it really Zack he was looking at? It was his brother's face, but something was different now.
"Umm, Zack?"
He sported the usual Shinra SOLDIER outfit just like he had always been wearing. At least, in the basic design of it. However, the uniform he had on now was a dark, magenta-like color, which was just like some of the higher class SOLDIERs would wear. Of course, there was no helmet since Zack abhorred wearing those. Cloud's mind was slowly trying to process what he was seeing as his eyes then widened as he realized what it was.
"Yeah, what is it little brother? Is something maybe, different? The look on your face tells me you might have figured it out," Zack teased.
Cloud quickly hopped up from his bed and walked around to where Zack was standing. "You, you actually finally got it done! But, when did it happen?"
"Well you were already asleep last night, but I got a call late saying that they wanted me in real early this morning. That it was time to officially promote me. So, here I am."
"That's amazing! But...why didn't you tell me? I would have liked come with you," Cloud trailed off with a hurt tone in his voice, conflicting with his excitement over his brother's good news.
"Hey now, don't look all sullen. I didn't wanna wake you cause you were sleeping like a log. So I figured I'd surprise you when you did get up at least."
After thinking about things for a moment, Cloud was okay with what he had heard as a smile crossed his face. "It's okay. It is for sure a surprise though. It's so awesome you're a 2nd now though!" He then reached his arms out and wrapped his brother in a hug.
Zack returned the gesture as he placed his arms around Cloud's back and embraced him. The two stood there in silence for a moment until Cloud broke it. "So, what are we gonna do for it then?"
Zack pulled back from the hug and looked at Cloud as he cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when I made SOLDIER a while back, we celebrated and you treated me to all sorts of things. Now that you promoted, we should do that again. But this time, I'll treat you."
"Oh you mean that! You don't have to do that of course. But… it's not like I can really turn my little bro down. Sure, we can do that then."
"All right!"
"But not right now. Remember...we have work very soon. And you're still not ready," Zack reminded Cloud as he pointed at his person.
Cloud looked down. "Oh, yeah that's right. Well we have to do it this evening then. How does that sound?"
"Hmmm… you're on!" Zack replied with excitement. "But I'll let you get ready then for now. I'll be waiting at the door for you."
"Okay that's fine. I'll be there shortly," Cloud replied as his brother walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Cloud proceeded to get himself dressed and ready as quickly as he could, since he knew that he was probably running behind now. He didn't wanna make Zack late on his first day of promotion. After a few minutes, Cloud exited his room and approached Zack as the two of them left to head to the Shinra building.
The day went on as normal after that, aside from Zack now being in 2nd Class. It was a bit odd at first as Zack now had a different area to go to when checking it, but Cloud knew it wouldn't be long before he would make it to 2nd class. That was his hope anyways. But what Cloud wanted to do most, was have the work day be over. He wanted to get out and have fun for the night. It had been a long while now since they had gone out just to have fun, and they actually had a good reason to do so now.
He still thought over though what he wanted to do for Zack. There was so many places they could go to or things they could do. Midgar was full of all kinds of possibilities, so he used a good portion of the day trying to think of some nice idea for his brother.
The day drudged on slowly though, but soon enough, it was finally over. At least, for Cloud it was. He had gone to wait by the door for his brother where they said they would meet after things were over, but Zack was not there yet.
"Hmm… I wonder where he could be. Don't tell me he ended up having to do extra work," Cloud sighed as he thought of the potential setback.
Time seemed to move even more slowly now than before while Cloud was waiting yet again. After standing for quite some time, he decided to take a seat on the floor. He closed his eyes and bowed his head in order to relax himself for a time.
After what felt like an hour already, Cloud opened his eyes and glanced up towards the clock to see if he was correct. But, he was not. "What? Thirty minutes? Awwww man. Time is so slow right now… Maybe I should just head back to the apartment for now instead."
Just as Cloud was raising himself up, he heard a loud ding that was then followed by a mixture of voices from the right side of the receptionist desk. He darted his eyes over and then saw in the midst of several other SOLDIERs that Zack was there. He was talking to some of the other members until his eyes settled on Cloud as he started to make his way towards his brother.
"Hey spike. Sorry I kept you waiting for a little while. New position means me having more duties and having to learn a bit more. Since it was my first day, we kinda had to go through a lot."
"Oh I see. Well, it's okay. You're here now at least. The day was just so slow for me though. I'm sure you ended up doing some exciting things then?" Cloud inquired.
"Yeah there was some interesting things that happened. Here, let's start heading out and I'll tell you about it on the way," he agreed as they started to head out of the doors. "We are still going out right?"
"Of course! I told you that I would treat you and I meant it. Besides, I've had all day to think of things to do for you and I think I finally got it," Cloud responded quickly with an elated voice.
"Oh good. Well, I guess we both have things to talk about on the way then. Let's see where we are gonna go first," Zack said as the two walked towards the city.
The two of them started to walk around the city while telling each other about their day. Cloud's was mostly the same, though that day just happened to be more slow than usual. But for Zack, he had a whole new set of stories to tell. With now being in 2nd Class, he had a whole new agenda for most days, and it excited Cloud to hear about all of it. It made him more and more ready to catch up to Zack as soon as he could.
Once they were done with their chatting, they finally stopped to figure out what to have for dinner. It took a bit of debate, but eventually the two of the decided on dinner for that evening. Unlike the last time where they had pizza, they thought to do something different this time.
"You know in all my time here, I've never been to this place for some reason," Zack admitted as he and Cloud walked to their destination.
"That's crazy. This place has the best steaks in the world. I was gonna tell you about it before, but I kept forgetting. I went here one day when you were having to stay over for a while cause I got hungry. Just remember… my treat," Cloud smiled at his brother.
The two of them entered the restaurant and sat at a table. Shortly after, they took their orders and waited for their food to come. The continued their conversations from before once the waiter had went off to send the orders to the kitchen. There was still so much Zack could tell about 2nd Class, and his excitement for it. Cloud could really see how much this all meant for Zack. Stepping closer and closer to the dream they had made as children. It was nice to see Zack so happy about something.
After they finished their food they left the restaurant and stretched. The food had been delicious and filling, and they had finished it all. Now the only thing that was left on Cloud's mind was one thing; getting a gift for Zack for his accomplishment. Though, he still thought it would be best to ask Zack about it first.
"So Zack, I have an idea for your gift, but I wanna make sure you're okay with it," Cloud said as they started to walk.
"Oh really? I could say don't worry about it, but I know you won't give up," Zack chuckled. "So, what's on your mind then?"
"Hmm… I was thinking… Just for the fun of it… if you wanted to get an earring. Like mine," Cloud said as he pointed to his earring. "So we can be matching that way. Something like that."
Zack raised his finger to his chin to think it over. "You know, that's not a bad idea actually. To be honest with you, after seeing you with yours, I kinda wanted one too. It looked cool. It'll be a good way for us to be connected too," Zack replied with an agreeing grin.
Cloud smiled back in return, happy that Zack was good with his idea. He pumped his fists into the air as he let out a small laugh. "Okay! Let's go then! And remember I am buying it for you! For your reward of making it to 2nd Class!"
"Okay okay, I've got it. I'll let you get it then. You're just as hard-headed as I am. Well, you remember where it is right? If so then lead the way," Zack replied to his excited brother.
"Of course I remember! Come on, let's go!" Cloud shouted with enthusiasm as he grabbed onto Zack's hand and pulled him along. Zack laughed as the two of them heading down the streets of Midgar.
And that ends another happy chapter of fluff. But sooner or later, we will get into the CC story. How different will it be with Cloud being there in SOLIDER as Zack's brother? Just wait and find out!
Though it is nearing the end of the semester for me, so the chapters may not be as often because I'll be doing my work. But thank you for your patience.