Disclaimer: Not owned by me, nope. Well, Seymour and Laguna are, their characters I mean. Their names and everyone else are copyright Square Enix.
Cloud woke to a beeping in his ears from his watch. He groaned and looked at the time; 5:25. He sat up and looked around at his unfamiliar surroundings. Hearing a slight snore from the other side of the room, he turned to see another bed with someone sleeping in it. 'Oh, yeah. I stupidly volunteered myself to be part of ShinRa. Is wanting to become like the great Sephiroth worth all this?' He got out of bed and dressed quickly, for some reason feeling rather uncomfortable being half undressed in the company of someone who claimed to have slept with half of the males trying to become SOLDIERS.
Cloud checked his watch again. 5:45. If he didn't get down to breakfast soon, he wouldn't get any. He glanced at Zack, who was still slightly snoring. 'He must be tired from whoever he did last night.' Cloud thought absently, and grimaced. 'I'd better wake him up anyway, or he'll starve.' He walked over to the other side of the room and asked, "Zack?"
Zack didn't stir.
"Um...Zack?" Cloud said a little louder. When there was still no answer, he put a hand on Zack's shoulder and shook it slightly.
Before Cloud could blink, he found himself pinned up against the wall, Zack's hands on his shoulders and his face inches from his. Cloud did blink as he noticed that Zack's eyes were still closed. Even though he was still asleep or something, the grip on his shoulders was strong, and Cloud couldn't move. "Uh...Zack?" Cloud whispered.
He could feel Zack's breath on his face as his eyes slowly opened. "Huh...?" Zack replied sleepily, and he finally noticed what he was doing. "Oh, sorry Cloud." His grip on Cloud's shoulders relaxed, but he didn't remove his hands. "Must've been asleep." Zack leaned his head forward, resting the side of it on Cloud's shoulder, his warm breath flowing onto Cloud's neck, making shivers go down Cloud's spine. "Just five more minute's..."
Cloud wasn't sure what to do. The only way he could move was forward, which would cause him to run full into Zack's body, and he wasn't really wanting to do that, considering that all Zack was wearing was boxers. He could try shoving him away, but probably wouldn't succeed. He wondered how many years Zack had been at ShinRa. "Zack...if we stay here we won't get any breakfast." Cloud said hesitantly.
Zack sighed. "Right." he removed his hands from Cloud's shoulders, but before moving away, he brushed his lips against Cloud's neck, causing a whole new wave of shivers to go through him. Zack went over to the pile of clothes and randomly pulled something out and pulled it on. Cloud couldn't help but watch him as he dressed. His well defined muscles showing under his skin as he moved and...Cloud forced himself to look away, unconsciously touching his neck where Zack kissed him.
Zack turned to look at him and said, "Well, are we going to breakfast or not?" He said as if nothing weird had just happened and opened the door.
'What is with this guy?' Cloud thought as he followed Zack down to breakfast. 'He slams me into the wall, then kisses me, and then acts as if nothing happened?'
They met up with Laguna on the elevator, who looked between Zack and Cloud and then gave Zack a questioning look. Zack shrugged and shook his head. Cloud preferred not to try and figure out what they were gesturing about.
After eating a dull breakfast, Cloud followed Zack and Laguna to the training area. "You go over there with all the other newbies." Zack told Cloud, pointing.
"Where are you going?" Cloud asked.
"I'm in third year training." Zack told him, "And Laguna's in second."
Laguna waved at them as he left. "This is your third year here?" Cloud asked, surprised. Zack didn't seem much older than him...
"Yeah. I started young. I'm hoping to make the SOLDIER cut this year. I've failed twice already." Zack replied with fierce determination in his eyes. He then smiled at Cloud, "Have fun!" He winked and walked away.
Cloud watched him leave, and then forced himself to look away and walk over to a group of people standing in front of another stern looking man. The man rapped out instructions and insults at them, and they all stood in a line for him. Cloud found himself on the end of the line, standing next to a boy that looked a bit younger than him and was obviously bored. "Shinra, Seymour." The man called.
The boy next to him replied, "Here." in a bored tone of voice. The man looked closely at him, and then nodded. Cloud looked at him, too. 'A Shinra?' he thought, 'Like, related to President Shinra?'
He couldn't think about it long, because at that moment, "Strife, Cloud." was called, and he had to reply with a "Here."
The man then proceeded to insult them all. 'I suppose this is what you call the pep talk.' Cloud thought and sighed.
"Spiky, what are you sighing about?" The man roared. Cloud started and looked at him. He should have known his unruly hair would make a target out of him. "Yeah, you shorty. Don't be sighing ungratefully in my presence. The ShinRa company has done all it can for you newbies. It will feed you and house you, and all it asks for is a little interest and participation!" Cloud bit his lip and cowered under his gaze. The man continued yelling in his face. "I don't want cowards either! I could have you kicked out of here before you can blink! You'll be livin' on the streets, doing-"
"That's enough." Said a calm voice from beside Cloud. He looked to see Seymour Shinra looking coldly at the man. The man glared at him and started to retort but seemed to think it better to not say anything under the calm look. He instead went back to telling them about life at ShinRa and training and such.
Cloud continued looking at Seymour and whispered, "Thanks."
Seymour turned to him, his entire countenance changing as he smiled and whispered back, "No problem. I wanted to see how much power the Shinra name carried here... Apparently a lot, even though my family disowned me before I was born." The man looked over at them warningly about their whispering, and they didn't say anything else to each other until they were allowed to leave.
They had an hour break before they actually started any physical training, and Cloud decided to strike up a conversation with Seymour. "So...what did you mean about your family disowning you?"
Seymour looked at him. "If you really want to know, we should find some place to sit, since it's somewhat of a long story."
Cloud nodded and said, "I do, how about we go sit over there?" He pointed to a bench.
"Alright." he replied and walked over to it, sitting down with Cloud following him. "I'm Seymour Shinra by the way."
Cloud sat down next to him, "I gathered. I'm Cloud Strife." Seymour nodded and shook his hand.
"Well, let's see, where to start... My mother was the sister of President Shinra, but since he didn't like her much to begin with, when he inherited the company, she got nothing. She was forced to live as a prostitute for years and eventually had me. When she went to the president for help, he did nothing, not wanting to acknowledge her or me as relations. My mother died a few years ago from an STI." Seymour said, looking at his hands.
"That's awful!" Cloud said, outraged. "So how did you get here?"
"It's not really that bad. Lot's of people have had tougher lives than me. At least I have a name that I can flaunt around when I need to. Anyway, my cousin took pity on me and sent me some money, with the promise that I'd try out for SOLDIER when I turned 14...so here I am." he said, looking up at Cloud, smiling slightly.
"Your cousin...Rufus?" Cloud asked, putting it together.
Seymour nodded, "Yeah, he's actually a lot nicer than the president, he just puts on a cold exterior."
They sat in silence for a while. Seymour then ventured to ask, "So, what brings you to ShinRa?"
Cloud sighed and replied, "Sephiroth is my childhood idol. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be like him, so when I had the chance to try to join SOLDIER, I jumped at it. Though now I'm not sure if it was the best idea..." He clasped his hands together and stared at them.
"It'll be fine, at least you had a choice, right? How about we stick together and get each other through our miserable lives here. Friends?" Seymour said, offering his hand.
Cloud looked up and smiled, taking his hand. "Friends."
Later on, Cloud and Seymour found themselves at dinner, groaning over their aching muscles from their training session. Zack spotted them at their table and headed over with Laguna. "Hey, Cloud! How's your first day been?" He said, slapping Cloud on the back as he sat down.
Cloud winced and groaned. "Painful." He replied.
Laguna sat down as well and asked, "Who's this?" indicating Seymour.
"This is my friend, Seymour...Shinra." Cloud replied.
Zack grinned, "Wow, making friends already. I didn't get friends until at least two weeks in."
"And a Shinra, too... Zack, the only reason you didn't have friends was because you scared them off." Laguna said teasingly, "And who says you have friends now?"
Zack smirked at him, "You're right, I only have lovers."
Cloud, eager to get off that subject, said, "Seymour, this is my roommate Zack and his...uh...friend, Laguna." He introduced.
Seymour nodded to them. The rest of dinner passed uneventfully with a bunch of small talk and company and intructor bashing, and everyone went back to their respective rooms eventually.
Cloud sat on his bed with a sigh and a wince. Zack laughed and asked, "Sore?"
"Just a little." Cloud replied sarcastically, bringing his hand up to rub his tense, sore shoulder.
Zack laughed again and sat next to him. "Yeah, first days-first weeks can be tough. Believe me when I say you don't know pain yet." He put his hand next to Cloud's on his shoulder, rubbing and squeezing it.
Cloud allowed him to keep his hand there, mostly because he couldn't bring himself to tell him to stop. The massaging on his shoulder was just what he needed, and he let himself relax and enjoy it. Zack eventually moved behind him on the bed and used his other hand to massage his other shoulder. Cloud soon was completely relaxed and leaning slightly into Zack's hands, his eyes closed. Zack let one hand drop to Cloud's back and he began rubbing there. Cloud was finding too much pleasure in the relaxing of his muscles to even think about stopping him.
Zack's other hand went to his back as well, rubbing and massaging gently. Soon his hands moved to Cloud's sides, squeezing ever so slightly as he rubbed. The shivers that touch sent through Cloud was enough to wake him from his reverie, and he realized what Zack was doing.
Cloud forced himself to stand up quickly, breaking the contact with Zack's hands, slightly reluctantly. "Uh...sorry, I..." He tried to explain, not wanting to be rude.
Zack just smiled knowingly at him and got off his bed. "I'll just leave you to your sleep then." he told him, and ran a hand through Cloud's hair, sending even more shivers through him. Zack then went over to his own bed, removing all of his clothes but his boxers and laying down.
Cloud found himself staring again and hurriedly looked away. He removed his own clothes as quickly as he could and got into bed, wanting to fall asleep. Part of his brain also told him he wanted to feel more of Zack's touch, so he quickly put those thoughts away, but some just kept slipping out. He eventually fell asleep to mixed thoughts of Tifa crying about something, and Zack running his hands over Cloud's unclothed chest.
Well, whaddya think? Please review. Even if it's a completely blank, anonymous review, I don't care!