Zack sat on his desk, the place where all desk items weren't, towelling his hair. It felt strange to be back in the dorm after spending an entire summer working and living away from home and away from things that still made him feel like a kid. Yes, you were on your own in college, but everyone still babied everyone else to some degree. You didn't have to worry about food bills if you didn't want to, and if you skipped class that was all there was. The real world was nothing like college. You had gas to pay for and food bills to handle and your job to get to on time. The lack of solid responsability in college was nice, so long as you were missing it. But now he felt like he had too much free time. Time enough to actually sit around drying his hair and thinking- that was too much of it.
Cloud had left very early in the morning the other day, when Zidane had come in. The tech had woke the both of them up when he switched on the light without thinking. The realization that Cloud should probably spend at least part of a night in his own room had hit both of them right about then- otherwise, Zack warned him, the Weapons would probably zero in on them both.
But the next day they'd met at lunch again. Although Cloud wasn't spending all his free time around Zack, that was alright. He needed to make other friends too, he needed to get used to the campus on his own. It also gave Zack some time to think over his own stance on the situation. Cloud never said he wasn't interested in Zack, but he never said he was. And it was obvious that he was going through the usual freshman identity crisis. Maybe it would be better if they just coasted along as they were for a while. Yeah...he ruffled the towel around his hair, thinking aloud. "It'll be touch and go for a while, both of us'll do better by that."
"You know, if it wasn't for the fact I've known you a year, I'd probably be looking at you strangely."
"Hey, didn't hear you coming." Zack smirked as Zidane shut the door behind himself, tossing his bag into the center of the floor. "How's the play going?"
Zidane shrugged, brushing some tenacious woodchips from his shirt. "It's not. Everyone who signed up for work study hasn't showed up, so the set isn't even started yet. That, and the lumber truck got here late. When we did a dimmer check, everything was zonked. Turns out the lighting board's been dumping cues over the summer. Good thing it's just a goddamn musical, we can just play canned music through the bose but-"
"You need someone to help out?" The irrational urge to be busy again was scratching at him.
Smirking, the tailed student collapsed in a desk chair beside Zack and shook his head. "Thanks, but it's only the second day. We'll get it worked out. It's-"
"It's always like that. Yeah, I know. That's why I ain't a theatre major." Zack dropped the towel into his lap and shook his head, sending his long hair back behind him. "That, and the whole cliche."
"Between you and me, there's a theatre fag in the room."
"Required for every student graduating college- one room equalling or possiably exceeding a cliche. Those students refusing to make some sort of stupid choice or major mistake will be forced to repeat their previous year until a satisfactory act of idiocy is achived. If-"
"Sorry to stop the influx of improvisational crap, but what about you and the Cloudy-boy now?" Zidane folded his foot into his lap and began to undo his shoes, not making eye contact. His tone was buisness-like. "I have a right to know as your roommate."
Zack winced. Looks like a summer doesn't make anyone forget. Shit, why was I such an idiot? Eh...Everyone's an idiot frosh year. "Like I said, we're going to coast through it so far." Kicking out his feet, the dark-haired student hopped off the desk and crossed the room to the closet, looking inside with divided concentration. "He reminds me a lot like I used to be, so I don't want to do anything serious." I can't take anything serious.
Watching his roommate for a short while, Zidane shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "Your jeans are out on the bed, man."
"Nnn, thanks." Zack turned and flopped stomach first onto his bed, worming towards a pair of oversized jeans with brightly coloured stripes along the outside of the legs. When his nose touched the fabric, he grabbed them and threw them violently over his back. They landed in aproximate pants-location on his legs. Zidane watched the entire display and then applauded sarcasticly when Zack actually sat up to pull the pants on over his boxers.
"You're ready for the big time, compodre," the blonde shook his head, smiling. "Much as you and I hate the feeling of being serious though- you seem sort of tuned out." His tail flicked and coiled around a leg of the chair. "Did you get anything to eat yet today?"
Kicking his legs up in the air and flopping around into the pants, Zack made a disgusted sound. "Christ, it's eleven o'clock in the frikkin morning," someone in the hall outside was nearly drowning him out with their thumping up the stairs. "I just got-"
Whump whump TWACK
The conversation came to a halt and Zack stopped trying to limbo into his pants. The two sophmores looked at eachother and then at the door in confusion. The thumping against their door continued, more frantic and more psychotic. Zidane blinked.
"It sounds like someone's run into our door."
Zack didn't grant a reply, but got up and opened the door. To only his mild surprise, Cloud was holding fast to the doorjamb, breathing heavily and looking wild-eyed. The freshman continued to pant, watching Zack with an expression that begged his own body to let him have the air to speak. The dark-haired sophmore waited a moment until the blonde had caught his breath before asking. "What's up, free-Cloud?"
"You've got to help me!" Cloud's voice was under strain, his knuckles white against the framing. "They found out, I don't know what to do, I've got to meet them but I'm so fucked because I kept it back in the room. Shit!" The fear in his eyes showed that if he was the type to let himself, Cloud would have been crying in complete helplessness right now. Instead, he was swearing and both angry and terrified at the same time. "I'm fucked! I'm so fucking fucked!"
"Wait, whoa," Zidane was out of his chair and beside Zack in the doorway. "Who's doing what to you?"
"Room search!" Cloud blurted, leaning into the doorway in exhaustion, his shoulders shaking. He'd probably crossed the entire campus running like a blue flame was under his ass. Zack felt a sliver of cold go unwelcome down his spine at those words and Cloud plunged on ahead. "They're going to do a fucking room search on me!"
Standing back slightly, Zidane looked at him in confusion. "In college? They can't do that-"
"They can," Zack's voice was deadpan. Looking at his roommate out of the corner of his eye, he cleared up what he'd cleared up fourteen times before a year prior. "They can and they do, because you live on their property. I'll take care of this," he waved Zidane further back and grabbed the doorknob, stepping out of the room and pushing Cloud out of the way. He felt sickly calm, sickly professional, didn't like it but couldn't see any other way to deal with the situation. Cloud was looking him straight in the eye, still shaking and breathing hard. Handle this. "How did you find out about this?"
"Got a note in class," Cloud was trying to form sentances but it was understandably not working to the degree he would have liked. "That Hojo guy was there. Said they were searching it now, had to leave class cause I had to be there so-"
The sophmore groaned internally. "Don't tell me you ran."
"I bolted! They can't start without me but I don't know what to do! What the fuck do I do, I'm fucked!"
Grabbing onto the blonde's wrist, Zack dragged him down the steps, through the hallways and into the daylight. He was suddenly aware that he'd forgotten to put on shoes, but it didn't make a difference. This was an emergency. "It's okay, but that was stupid. Really stupid."
"I'm not worried about being fucking stupid, I'm worried about being fucking caught!" Cloud snapped at him as they started to run across the campus.
"If you're caught, It's because you're fucking stupid!" Zack snarled back, trying to keep his cool. "I had this happen last year so listen to me. They can't legally start without you there and they can't search anything that belongs to you, like a box or a steamer trunk. Where'd you hide what Seifer gave you?"
"I-"
"And why the hell didn't you go to him with this problem? He's the one who gets people out of this, he had to have told you that!" Despite contradicting his own advice, Zack was feeling a dull rage inside himself. How could Cloud be such an idiot? How could he make the same exact mistakes that a certain dark-haired sophmore whose first name started with Za and ended in Ck did? Weren't people supposed to be smart in college? "Forget it. So anything in the dresser or desk or closet is fair game to them. You didn't hide it in those places, did you?"
"Hell no, I'm not retarded! You want me to leave it spread out on my bed or something?"
"Good. I mean no! Shit. Now you're freaking me out. Wait," Zack ground to a halt and held out his hand, catching Cloud in the chest. Turning towards him, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself before speaking again. "The room search isn't as bad as it sounds. The worst part is the invasion of privacy, but you probably won't be caught with anything. And your roommate gets searched too, so maybe they'll find something in his stuff that'll take the focus off you. Did they say if it was you or him who made them search?" Cloud shook his head. "Okay, so there's a chance you're not in trouble. Just stay calm through the whole thing. Even if they do catch you, it's your first offence on campus. They won't kick you out."
There was a lingering silence when Zack finished his sentance. Maybe he was expecting Cloud to respond, to give him some more information to work with, to do anything at all. But instead, he just felt the cold grass and dirt on his feet and could hear people talking not too far off. The blonde continued to meet his gaze, but wasn't glaring. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe he was waiting for more advice from Zack. And maybe it was just an awkward silence.
Sighing, the sophmore put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes in frustration. "At least it's just e. You won't be punished too bad for that. We're in college, after all." He could hear Cloud make a sort of a snorting noise at that and dropped his hand. "Well...Come on. This won't get any easier the longer you leave it."
There was a sort of dull ache that crept into Zack's stomach at the sight of Cloud's room being turned upside down by Professor Hojo and the other teachers. For a moment he felt a detatched confusion at whether or not this was his room. The layout was of course the same and the sight more or less was identical. It wasn't until Cloud moved beside him that he snapped out of the strange mix-up. The blonde was more nuerotic than Zack had ever seen him. His hands were in the front pocket of his sweater, Zack could see them fidgiting nervously. His eyes kept darting, but the sophmore couldn't draw any sort of conclusion as to where he'd hidden the e.
I just want to ask him. If I knew, I could probably throw them off. But we're in a bloody vow of silence here. You say something, and what if they hear you, and then you're screwed like the new kid in jail dropping the soap. Zack had to admit that it didn't look like Cloud's roommate was going to be much of a distraction either. The guy was scrawny and looked sort of distanced from everything, with hair darker than Zack's - straighter too. A red bandana was holding it out of his eyes, but otherwise the freshman was dressed in dull blacks.
Actually, there were two of them. That guy and a friend, but it wasn't hard to tell who was the owner of the other side of the room. There were books, but they were put away neatly. No cloths were left out and there was only one poster on the wall. The other guy was fairly broadcasting someone who could care less about putting away books or cloths. That one was blonde and tough looking, with shortish hair and a pair of goggles around his head. Although he was dressed in black too, he had the sullen look of someone who would deffinitly rather be seen in a daily-worn torn up outfit. Both of them were just as stone still and quiet as Cloud.
So it came as a relief when Cloud finally looked back at Zack, his expression no longer pleeding, but now a sort of resigned stoicism. So the best he could do in this situation was...What I would have liked someone to do in mine. "I told you."
Cloud's eyes slitted, the blonde's voice going into the same semi-angry tones he'd taken with Zack constantly on and off the past several days. "Shut up, Zack!" He hissed, the facade of rage something Zack was getting used to by now. "I didn't know it would happen! How could I?"
"Waa, waa, waa. I didn't listen to Zack and now I'm caught, nyaa nyaa-"
"Just...Shut up." With a sigh of frustration, Cloud took his hands out of the pocket and folded his arm, leaning back against Zack. The sophmore had to adjust how he was standing but propped up Cloud willingly. Despite their situation, this was a good sign. A good sign, a good sign...Zack was finding it hard to concentrate on the trouble at hand. Because this meant Cloud was getting used to him enough to feel comfortable with physical contact even in really stressful situations. This was fantastic, this was great. Stuff could actually progress forward than hanging in some sort of demented static state. This-
"Oh, fuck!"
Zack snapped out of his own little world for the second time to see one of the other staff members...Lucrecia, he thought, coming towards Hojo with a liquor bottle in her hands. Glancing at the blonde a moment, Cloud stared open mouthed and shook his head in denail. The person who had sworn wasn't Cloud- it was the other blonde who was hanging around. Hojo zoned in instantly on the goth-like freshman- it was on his side of the room, Zack gathered.
"Who does this belong to?"
"Not me!" Cloud spat out a little too readily, making the thin expressioned teacher cast him a suspicious glare from the corner of his spectacles. Zack elbowed his friend in the side and Cloud clapped his mouth shut.
Hojo brushed at the strands of errant hair constantly in his face and pulled himself up to full height, looking down his nose and beneith his glasses at the students gathered in the doorway. Zack knew that look, he'd been pinned under it before. He was as much a suspect as any of the others, he realized. "So, I suppose you're all innocent little boys here, hmm?"
The fidgiting sound from the direction of Cloud's roommate and his friend got louder until the dark-haired one finally spoke up. His voice was surprisingly calm and quiet. It was obvious he was lying. "It's mine."
Then, things happened quickly. The short blonde swore again and punched the doorframe violently. Hojo shot him the classic bug-under-glass look which told them all that he'd found his guilty party.
And then three small bags fell out of the ceiling light which had been partially unscrewed throughout the course of the search.
Two bounced off Hojo's head and the third fell to the floor with the slightest muffled sound. Lucrecia cupped a hand over her mouth trying not to laugh, but Hojo regained his composure easily and picked up one of the bags, running the plastic between his fingers. A powder inside shifted back and forth. Cloud's muscles went ridgid and spooked as his roommate managed to work out an equally surprised "Those aren't mine."
"Jesus christ, in the light?"
"Shut up!" Pulling away from the sophmore, Cloud's voice was bordering on a crack that would have been humerous in any other situation. "I didn't know!"
Zack hissed between his teeth, keeping his voice as far down as he could. "And that's not what you had before."
Hojo was smiling now, motioning for his assistants to pick up the other bags. "I think we all know what this is. Obviously, there will need to be some diciplinary actions taken. If you will kindly follow me. Valentine and Highwind- I believe there is no way to determine which of you is the culprite in this case," The professor snorted and smirked, tilting his head back to look at the two freshman. "Seeing as you're always so close. And Hmm...Strife, is it? Yes, you're coming too."
Begining to open his mouth, begining to ask What about me, Zack's survival drive finally kicked in. Don't be an idiot, Knightblade. If you take the fall for him or even with him, you probably won't be here much longer. Try to keep out of trouble you didn't cause, you'll do better for it. Just...
"BORED BORED BORED!"
A blur that could only be described as insanity with a capital Zell Dincht went rocketing past the group of stunned students. He paused only a second before the window at the end of the hall.
"BOOOOOOOOORED!"
Without any explanation beyond that, the hyperactive tattooed blonde threw himself violently through the window. While the three freshman stared, outside and on the ground two stories below, the invincable Zell picked himself up and ran away, still screaming.
Irvine, sadly behind, got to the window shortly after Zell had jumped. Pushing off from the frame and tearing down the stairwell after his clearly psychotic companion, calling his name.
Hojo stared a moment at the spot where all this had transpired and turned to the other teachers. "Shera, make sure that Dincht and Kinneas are brought to the dean as well."
"I'm going to die."
"You're not going to die."
"I'm going to be burried as a pile of bloody pulp."
"Only if you flip out so much I have to beat sense into you." Zack sighed and put a hand to his forehead as they walked across campus. The small brick building where the dean kept her office was a little cottage surrounded with pine trees and a badly kept flower garden. It wasn't the kind of place you found yourself thinking about the condition of your burial, normally.
Cloud's face was ashen, everything about him had abandoned the antisocial and defensive image that Zack had gotten to accept as the blonde's way of defending himself. He was still fighting to keep from shaking or breaking down, though. That was a good sign. "They're going to expell me."
"No, they aren't. Seriously dude, calm down, it's only the first week of school."
"That makes it worse!"
"It does not, you're not in high school anymore. They've probably gone around busting everyone they can this week." That was a lie, which he knew, but it didn't hurt to tell that to Cloud. "You're not alone." That, at least, was true. "You shouldn't get in too much trouble." That...that was still up in the air. If it had been e, like he had thought in the first place, it really would have been no problem. A warning, probably, and that would have been it. But a generic looking white powder was never a good thing to be caught with. Especially when it fell out of the ceiling onto none other than the biggest bastard on campus, Professor Hojo. Well, Zack thought half sarcasticly to himself, at least he didn't say it was flour or something. Jesus.
They'd already reached the door of the office building, so by that logic Zack's words were having about the same effect on Cloud as someone having a seizure in India. Zack knew the feeling he must be having- like something the size of a beach ball went cold and died in his stomach, only to transform into month old oatmeal and ooze around. Such a lovely, wonderful, nauseating feeling. At least, he reasoned, he knew how it felt. That would help him comfort Cloud later.
"I'm going to die," Cloud muttered, following Hojo and the other captured students through the door.
"You won't die," Zack lingered after them, but did not enter. "I'll be here to tell you that again when you come back out of there. You'll be okay!" The door swung shut behind the blonde and Zack stared at it a moment. Walking forward, he leaned his forehead against the paned glass and stared down at his bare feet. "Least, I hope you'll be okay."
Slumping down beside the building, Zack resigned himself to wait. The brick was cold and still slightly moist. If he looked at either the ground or the wall too long, he could see some spiders working or some ants wandering or moss or small red bugs. So best not to look, because then he would have to stand. Once he got on his feet, it would only be a matter of time before he started pacing back and forth like some sort of caged thing when it wasn't even him in trouble. So forget the bugs, forget the ants, and apply brain power to the problem at hand. Getting Cloud out of the spotlight.
Cloud must have been going back to Seifer, that was a no brainer. Did that mean...what? He wasn't smoking or shooting up or snorting or whateverthefuckthatdrugwastheappropriatewaytouseit- there was too much of it. So was he dealing? Delivering? Being a middle man, or what? Putting his middle finger in his mouth, Zack bit down until it hurt, trying to work out the equation in his head. Seifer never took on new kids and trusted them that far, and probably would give new kids who caused him to be beaten up even less of a chance. Hell, by the way Seifer's mind worked, he should have been getting-
"Oh, shit, I'm a fucking idiot!" Zack smacked himself in the head hard, the back of his skull connecting with the bricks. "I've got a brain the size of a pea, not a good one either. A pea in fucking draught season that's been buried in the dirt for six months. A pale, little, withery pea. I've got two working cells between my ears- Fix, and act retarded. Silly me, I was pushing the retarded button-"
"Be fair to those with learning dissabilities, they would never have gotten involved when they shouldn't have." Zack removed his palm and looked up into the softly smirking face of Kuja. "Hello, Knightblade."
"You don't want to start a fight with me," he found himself growling. It was the same tone of voice he'd used when he beat Seifer into the floorboards the first time he'd met Cloud. It was surprising him to be using it again. "I've got more experience in these kinds of wars than you do."
Kuja sighed and flicked his wrist upwards, the black plastic jacket he was wearing making little triangles of light on the surface. "Please, this war is over with." He brushed at the feathery white hair, even though it didn't need it. "I only stopped by to tell you to keep your hands off our playthings. We're perfectly content to share," Zack felt the little hairs on the back of his neck standing up. "But if you don't plan on giving that which belongs to us back, we'll have to take drastic measures."
"I'm not in the habit of shooting the messanger, but for you I'll make an exception." Zack growled and climbed to his feet, feeling his hands balling into fists without any concious thought. I hate getting angry. I fucking hate it. But this just isn't right, it isn't fair, it isn't fucking human goddamnit!
Kuja looked at him from the corner of his eyes, the dark pupils rolling lazily towards the door. Touching a finger to his chin, the white-haired student ticked it back and forth, smiling. "Ah, ah ah...Outside of the office? Careful, Knightblade. You're already being watched."
"You can't do this to him because of what I did! That's not right. Seifer's a fucking coward and you tell him tha-"
"The question isn't if he's a coward," Kuja's voice raised but didn't snap, drowning out anything Zack had begun to say. Folding his arms across his chest, the light haired student slitted his eyes and glared just slightly. "You know that it was the only way to strike down two birds with one stone. The question isn't morality."
"So what the hell IS it then?!"
The glare on Kuja's face faded as if it had never existed. Lowering his hands slowly and sauntering forward, the light reflected strangely off his dark clothing. Giving a flick of his hair, Kuja paused a foot away from Zack and smiled ever so lightly, his eyes half hooded. "Would you even be involved if Seifer's new plaything was a girl?"
Zack started to respond, started to say that of course he would. He started and finished, just like any person would. He answered without hesitation, the words leaving his lips before he'd even thought of them. But as they disolved in the open air, the doubt struck him. There was no way he could say. He was biased, there was no way to lie about that. He was horriably biased towards Cloud. The truth was, he couldn't know. He hopefully never would. Unless the situation cropped up, he couldn't say for sure.
Kuja knew that. What Zack had said passed over him as though nothing had been spoken at all. Looking down and laughing just slightly, Kuja smirked. "It's so easy to claim to be a hero, to be a real knight just riding off to save anyone in distress." Looking up, Zack felt Kuja's eyes more than he saw them. They were cold and leashing, commanding and demanding and that was why he hated them. "Just don't forget you've still got a collar around your own neck."
There was no doubt in Zack's mind that he wanted to kill Kuja. The doubt was whether or not he could get away with it. "That's ancient fucking history, and where the hell do you get off dragging that up in-"
"Oh," Kuja murmered, sounding bored with everything around him. "Here comes the toy in question now. Well, I'll leave you to play. Just remember that it doesn't belong to you."
"He's not a fucking toy, will you stop with this fourth grade metaphor BULLSHIT?!"
But Kuja was already walking away, hands in the tight pockets of his pants, reflective fabric flashing in the sunlight. Zack felt cold and cheated, sick to his stomach and enraged like only Seifer's crew could make him. Their way of dealing with people was crap. People belonged to themselves, not others, and there was no way just because he'd been stupid last year he was owned by them now. To date someone was not to sell your soul to them, it just didn't work like that. It didn't fucking work like that. Zack's fist connected with the bricks just as Cloud pushed the door open. The smacking cracking sound was unmistakeable. Cloud jumped, Zack said nothing, pulling back his fist. His arm was shaking, he couldn't think.
"I'm sorry," Cloud's voice sounded both shaken and offended.
"I'm not angry at you." Zack's hand felt damp and sticky. The skin on his knuckles had split.
Cloud stared silently at him a moment, still looking shaken from his encounter with the dean. Zack didn't expect him to say much, or even to stand around. He expected them both to go their own ways and brood their own ways and that would be-
"Zack...after class," The dark haired sophmore felt Cloud's voice slithering through the rage that was holding him in. He felt like he was blinking out of being blinded and looked at the freshman. Cloud's eyes were to the side, away from both the building and him. "I'm thinking I might show up at your room. I have some things I want to talk about."
They stood silent a moment more, the door swinging behind them as Cloud's roommate and his friend left and set off across the grounds. Zack brought his hand to his face and sucked on the bleeding knuckles, feeling them sting. That was a good, honest, real feeling- not an installed anger. "Hey," he spoke around his knuckle, clapping his uninjured hand down on Cloud's shoulder. "Stop by at any time."