Homecoming - Chapter 3

Alleviation

Rated: T

Chapter Summary: Cloud needs a bath while Zack stews in his embarrassment.


Still reeling over my excitement for Crisis Core Reunion. Only a few more months... T_T I can't wait to see all those beautiful Zerith moments redone in glorious 4k…

Also sorry for the brief hiatus, I keep getting distracted by other fict ideas and the more I work on this fict, the previous chapters I had already finished keep getting longer and longer that they get broken up into separate chapters such as what happened here. XD Second part should be quicker but who knows lol.

Enjoy!


Once the footsteps of both Elmyra followed shortly by Aerith's disappeared and all was quiet outside the bathroom door, Zack let out a deep breath he wasn't even aware he'd been holding.

There was a slight awkwardness remaining from the mother and daughter's short but tense discussion - not exactly an argument but close enough - words of which he hated his blessing/cursed SOLDIER hearing for picking up at all. The very last thing Zack wanted to do was create a rift between his girlfriend and her mother… Both of them were really putting out their necks for his and Cloud's sake and instead of making the transition as seamless as possible, his presence was already causing unneeded problems. Neck and cheeks burning in shame, Zack wanted nothing more than to apologize and help to mend whatever wound he just caused but he wasn't supposed to have even heard their private discussion in the first place!

Also, what was he supposed to do about it? Even if he wanted to, changing the past was impossible and the only way was forward.

It still didn't fix the situation…but for now, that would remain a problem for Future Zack to take care of because Present Zack had other priorities requiring his immediate attention.

Namely a stinky blonde cadet lying on the guest bed.

So refusing to let their argument bother him or focus on it too much, Zack instead gently placed the clean clothes Aerith threw at him onto the closed toilet seat. Picking up the towel he'd dropped in the mayhem, he continued to fully dry himself off. It was times like these that it was in his best interest to keep his mind blank, movements quick and efficient as he fully dried than got dressed.

Now dry and clothed in boxers, a loose v neck t-shirt and soft black jogger pants, Zack glanced at the foggy mirror behind the sink. Approaching it, he hesitated for only a moment before he wiped his hand across the beads of condensation clinging to the foggy glass until he could see his reflection staring back at him.

It was the first time he was able to see himself in such a long time.

The face that looked back at him still looked barely out of his teens but his eyes were haunted, ancient even. Dark bags lined underneath his vivid (practically illuminated) Mako-eyed gaze and his cheekbones were far more prominent than he remembered due to the lack of nutrition this past year on the run, but overall, he pretty much looked exactly the same as the day he left for the mission in Nibelheim… and for some reason, that terrified him.

Because he sure as hell didn't feel like that same guy…

Zack turned away from his reflection while brushing a slightly jittery hand through drying hair that was already spiking up where it had laid flat from the shower. Now was not the time to have an existential crisis, his friend needed help taking a bath. Re-prioritizing himself, the ex-SOLDIER pulled at the hem of his new clothes, appreciating how they fit so much better than the other ones they took from a random clothes line. He felt human again after feeling like a freak science experiment to a madman then a hunted animal for far too long.

...It was nice.

Zack adjusted his shirt once more to make sure he looked decent in case he ran into Aerith or Elmyra before gathering his dirty clothes and slowly stepping out of the bathroom.

Coast clear, Zack stepped fully out of the bathroom and into the hallway by the top of the staircase. His bare feet making soundless steps on the wooden flooring as he avoided the spots where he knew the boards squeaked loudly under any significant weight. Tanned cheeks flushed and ears burned recalling him and Aerith using these very same tactics while sneaking into each other's respective rooms the few times he'd been invited over (or snuck in) for an overnight visit. It was a habit he was going to have to break if he didn't want Elmyra finding out and subsequently throwing him and Cloud out of the house.

As Zack walked through the threshold into the guest room where he and Cloud would be staying for the foreseeable future, he was a bit relieved/disappointed that Aerith wasn't there.

The only one waiting for him was Cloud where he left him. The blonde lying on the only bed in the room with his half-lidded eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Ever since that small moment where he spoke in the church, Cloud slowly reverted to staying silent; only staring blankly and barely reacting to outside stimuli. It was rather disheartening but Zack knew it would take much longer for Cloud to substantially recover from the amount of Mako and whatever the fuck else Hojo pumped into him in the basement laboratory from hell. Zack tightened his fingers into the dirty clothes in his arms as his shoulders began to shake.

…Not now, not now

A sigh slipped its way past Zack's lips as he pushed those foreboding thoughts away. Giving himself a moment to calm, he deposited his dirty clothes into the wooden hamper by the door before approaching his friend's bedside.

"Well, no time like the present, eh, Cloudy?" Zack said happily, hands on his hips and a smile on his lips that was more forced than he wanted. "You probably notice that I smell awesome now so it's your turn to stop stinking up the whole house, buddy." Zack paused as if Cloud would answer and it was a habit he refused to break because one day Cloud would answer him, dammit!

"…Yeah yeah yeah, I probably started out smelling worse than you do right now but we're not talking about me since I already had a shower," Zack flippantly waved his hand around as he teased his blonde friend. "So, what do you say? Ya ready?"

Cloud did a slow blink and that was enough of a response for Zack.

"Great! Let's get to it, shall we?" Zack chuckled before gently gathering Cloud up into his arms bridle style (which if Cloud was fully cognisant, would probably earn him a hard whack to the back of his head).

With well practiced ease, he picked up his comatose friend and headed back out the guest room door.

Zack smiled fondly at how Cloud slightly adjusted in his arms. Those dark blonde lashes fluttering atop his light baby blue eyes that peered at him in a sense of life Zack hadn't seen much of from his blonde brother-in-arms for way too long. Sure, it was a lengthy road ahead but these small signs of consciousness were making it easier to believe that Cloud would indeed fully awaken and be that same awkward shy kid who threw up all over Sephiroth's boots on the way to Nibelheim.

Smiling at the few nice memories SOLDIER provided him and pushing all the bad ones to the far recesses of his troubled mind, Zack returned back to the bathroom with Cloud in tow.

The thick air still retained the warmth of the floral steam from his shower he vacated mere moments earlier. While other men might be repulsed or feel demeaned by smelling flowery, Zack embraced it. Adoring the smell he always associated with Aerith; from the golden hued ones she grew in her church to the colorful ones planted throughout her yard. It always amazed him how she always emanated their sweet fragrance even when she hadn't been near them at all. Her gorgeous scent outweighing the dank thick air of the slums and brightening up Gaia with her smile and presence alone.

While on the run, he found himself collecting small bunches of colorful wildflowers along the path and at night while he awaited any sign that Shinra or the Turks tracked down their location, Zack would keep himself awake and alert by smelling the flower's sweet aroma and tenderly touching their silken petals. This small action made Aerith feel closer even if they were so far away in years and miles...

Now after all this time, it was something that didn't change even if she was in the same house.

Yet as much as he wanted nothing to be near her, a part of him was thankful Aerith was downstairs with her mother or occupied elsewhere when he gathered Cloud. In all honesty, he wasn't ready for whatever awkward conversation would happen between them after that whole fiasco. While it was far from the first time she'd seen him completely nude or even close to the intimacy they shared before, it had been five years since they were together…

And he wanted to take it slow, dammit!

While the kiss at the church had been far beyond anything he could have fathomed from a girl he essentially ghosted for five years, he would never complain. But to see him naked that soon? Within a few hours of returning to her and all because he forgot to lock the damn bathroom door? Zack shook his head from his thoughts, his cheeks and ears burning like hellfire. As embarrassing as the whole situation was, it was so strange yet incredibly liberating to just be shy in front of her again. As rare as it was, he embraced it. That small action made him feel alive and human in a way Hojo did his damnedest to take away. So while things with Aerith may be awkward for a bit, he wouldn't change it for anything.

Coming back to the present, Zack lowered Cloud onto the closed toilet seat before shutting the bathroom door and locking it for good measure this time.

Zack made sure Cloud wasn't going to tip over and fall onto the floor before securing the drain and began filling up the tub. Once the pleasant sound of running water and subsequent steam echoed throughout the small room, Zack turned back towards his blonde friend and with motions he'd done dozens of times before, the black-haired SOLDIER quickly and mechanically undressed Cloud.

The clothes he'd put him in were probably clean enough to wear again but they didn't fit well whatsoever; the pants and shirt far too big for Cloud's thin frame. Zack hoped whatever clothes Elmyra found fit him better.

After his friend was naked, he gently picked him up and placed him in the tub where thankfully, Cloud sat up when gently prompted. When certain Cloud wouldn't suddenly collapse and drown, Zack waited until the tub's water level was above Cloud's thin hips before shutting it off. Mako eyes glanced back at his friend and Zack couldn't help a smile upon seeing the blonde visibly relax; baby-blue eyes looking sleepy and content and even letting out the softest sigh at the comforting sensation of sitting in the warm water.

Zack slipped a wet hand over a smudge of dirt on Cloud's cheek, "Taking an actual bath feels great, doesn't it? Much better than those baths in the frozen lake, right Cloudy?" Zack conversed while kneeling at the foot of the tub. A genuine smile pulling up the corners of his mouth as he poured some shampoo into the water, swishing his fingers quickly at the spot until bubbles appeared on the surface. Cloud grunted seemingly in response and Zack smiled at how Cloud's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the layer of white foamy bubbles now scattered in the water and attaching themselves to the exposed parts of his legs. The blonde even curled his toes and pressed them to pop the foamy bubbled against the side of the porcelain tub.

Zack chuckled at Cloud's movements and wanting to keep him engaged in the moment, kept talking.

"Heh. Remember that time when we stopped north of Gongaga in that thick forest? Bathing in the river near there wasn't my brightest idea, I admit but fucking hell..." Zack shook his head in remembrance, " Damn, the sweat, swamp and monster gut stank from trekking through it all was driving me crazy."

Cloud grunted, his head canting toward Zack slightly as if in agreement.

"We barely avoided that pack of Touch-Me Frogs but I still can't believe I got pinched in the ass by that damn Kimara! Of all the places, seriously!? My ass? Fuck those damn bugs. That stung like hell!" Zack laughed heartily while reaching for the rag, smothering it with soap before thoroughly cleaning his friend.

Cloud let out what may have been a snort, Zack wasn't sure but he'd take whatever the hell Cloud offered.

"If it wasn't for the Mako I probably wouldn't have been able to sit down for a damn week! I'm just glad it was a pinch and didn't sting me there because I highly doubt you'd be willing to suck out the poison."

Cloud blinked and gave him what he swore was the stink eye but Zack merely chuckled before pouring some shampoo into the blonde's hair.

"Just kidding, I wouldn't make you do that. ...We're friends, right?" Zack gently smiled while brushing the shampoo through his friend's spiky locks.

And for the first time since they escaped that damned Hojo's lab, Zack was able to bathe Cloud safely and completely until the former Infantryman was squeaky clean. Golden spiky hair finally completely free of debris, pale skin cleared of dirt, sweat and grime; now it was nice and pink rather than rough and dusty from all their travels. After the final rinse, his whole look was ostensibly brighter than it had been since Nibelheim and now it reflected on both of them physically.

Cloud's lips pulled up slightly in the echo of a smile and Zack couldn't help but brush his fingers through his friend's clean wet Chocobo colored locks.

Zack whistled, "Wowie! Looking good there, buddy! Finally, all nice and squeaky clean and not stinky anymore!" Zack chorused happily as he drained the tub.

A sudden knock on the door had him tense up for only a split second much like when Aerith burst in the first time. Sure, his senses were scrubbed raw and he was always ready, expecting to be attacked at every corner but ever since he entered Aerith's church, Zack forced himself still. For he would rather cut his own arm off than even accidentally hurt Aerith in the slightest.

When no other sound was forthcoming, "...Uh, yeah?" Zack asked towards the door but the only response he got was the sound of light footsteps walking away from the door and towards the room on the left which he recalled was Aerith's bedroom.

Zack's eyebrows furrowed. A little disheartened at her lack of response but acknowledging that Aerith probably needed a bit more space, Zack easily let it go.

A few more seconds passed before the ex-SOLDIER stood up, unlocked than opened the bathroom door a crack. He looked out the door, hoping against reason he'd see a set of beautiful green eyes looking back at him but nothing but empty air greeted him. Upon looking down, Zack saw fresh clothes for Cloud folded nicely on the floor and he smiled regardless. Gathering the items, Zack set to work on putting the slippery Cloud back on the closed toilet seat before thoroughly drying the blonde cadet and dressing him like he had so many times before.

Thankfully, the clothes were a much closer fit than their predecessors, the cinched ties made it easier to stay in place on Cloud's thin hips and this shirt didn't completely swallow him whole. Cloud would probably be absolutely mortified of the feminine pastel colors and the adorable Moogle print on the shirt but they fit so much better he doubted Cloud would complain too much even if he was fully aware.

"Perfect fit, buddy!" Zack teased with a wink.

Zack bit his cheek at the look Cloud gave him but focused on finger-combing Cloud's drying locks instead. He was still in awe at how gravity defying his friend's hair was; shocked he met someone with even naturally spikier hair than himself.

"Don't you feel tons better? I will never take a hot shower for granted again, how about you?" Zack filled the silence with his normal chatter, hoping against hope Cloud would verbally respond. "That warm water sure made me sleepy though, so, whataya say? How about a nap? We deserve one after hellish day today - well, the past few years actually." Zack forced out a chuckle when he was suddenly interrupted by a loud almost unearthly growl coming from Cloud's abdomen.

A few seconds later, Zack's stomach made a growl almost in response.

The black-haired ex-SOLDIER didn't have to force out the loud laugh that escaped his mouth at the sound, "Alright, alright - food and then sleep. How's that sound?"

Zack was almost certain he saw Cloud nod in agreement.