o.o
Before you say ANYTHING...just remember that I use unusual pairings! Might be some Zack/Reno just coz I can see it happening in this story. xP And don't hate me for making Reno a total jackass in this story. I love having a jackass character, and I think Reno's it for this story. :o
Btw, I have no CLUE as to the events regarding Reno's past, and his age in comparison to Cloud's, but, again, if I'm totally off, consider this AU because I do not, do not, DO NOT want to be corrected or given explanations on this matter. Clear enough? xD
Disclaimer: The characters, they are pwn'd by Squaresoft, one-and-all. Ohh teh pwnage.
To reviewers: Hehe, you're all so wonderful. beams No, honestly! Seeing all of your delightful reviews makes my tummy get all tight with glee. D You guys are my entire existence, and I thank you for all of your kind comments. /bows/ Also, to the one who wanted the FF7 script (it's been so long, you probably already have it lol,) you can go to the Game FAQs site and the script is under FF7 as one of the specific FAQs.
"The daily things that keep us all busy...are confusing me!"
-KH; Simple and Clean
The Unwanted, The Unattainable
Chapter 2
The room was even smaller than Cloud had expected. Through the narrow, whittled door, he could see it well; it held one small table and two double-bunks on either side of a window that was so small, it defeated its own purpose.
He looked around the tiny room and saw none of the mentioned "older kids," though it was apparent that somebody was presently occupying the quarter; the room was dirty, messy, cluttered, and every form of unclean that Cloud could think of. He noticed, also, that only three of the four plain, no-mattress bunks looked like they sheltered a body on a regular basis. The fourth bunk was piled over with dirty clothes, papers, worn magazines, molded...somethings, and other things that Cloud didn't recognize.
Doubtful, he turned to glance behind him, and he saw that the dark-haired Zack had made himself scarce with no word of it to Cloud. Currents of frigid, lazy air snaked around the air in both the hallway and the room, and the blonde's knees shook as his body heat left him quickly. He gripped his small bag tightly, not quite trusting the room enough to leave it there.
Cloud turned his head either way to survey the cool hallway, wondering if there might be someone to ask assistance from. Although Zack had been friendly enough to help him find this room for him, Cloud wasn't particularly...pleased with it. He didn't necessarily have the courage to complain about it directly, but, he figured, he should at least attempt to make a subtle hint that there was no possible way he could sleep in a bed that was likely housing a thousand different forms of bacteria and diseases, festered from the dirty underwear, molded food, and suspicious substances that had made their homes there.
He was a mite anal in that way, he supposed.
Pacing a small distance down the hall, Cloud came to the door that Zack had initially led him through: dirty, cracked glass in a black frame leading to the worn, cemented stairwell. Briefly, he regarded the irony of the building against the words of the Shin-Ra man—the words, as Cloud remembered, that spoke of Shin-Ra's dedication to providing everything at its best quality. Obviously, there was little care offered to the process... or perhaps the fates simply disliked Cloud. For all he knew, the actual quarters where the first years-like himself- were supposed to stay might have been top-notch quality. Apparently, though, he was stuck here.
He pushed the heavy door open and he twisted his mouth tentatively. Quick, sudden ribbons of icy air seemed to burst out of the stairwell as if they had anticipated this action. He shivered slightly and flexed his fingers around the handle of his bag, stepping into the stairwell as the heavy door fell back closed.
The stairway was positively frigid. Cloud was sure that the world outside was much warmer, too; being in the stairwell felt like being in a parking garage in the dead of night during a winter rainstorm—while wearing a suit made of ice. His handsome, boyish tan soon faded to an ill blanched violet color, and his limbs began to feel awkward and knocky.
He stumbled as he reached a small landing, and, teeth chattering, Cloud slowly sat down. He leaned against the icy cement wall and wrapped his arms around his knees, trying to feel the blood run in them again.
It felt strangely cold, as if frost was forming on his brain. Soon, a frozen drowsiness hit him and his eyelids grew heavy. He tossed his bag carelessly from his lap over to his side, occupying most of the space in the small landing. Hugging his knees tighter to his chest and licking his lips once for warmth, he quickly fell into a coma-like sleep.
-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-
"Ah—HELL!"
A loud yelp and sudden drop of heavy weight on top of Cloud jerked him awake. With a startled gasp, his eyes snapped open and he realized, with a start, that someone had tripped on his bag and had fallen atop him. He found that his nerves seemed to have shut down to a numbing chill, and it had become difficult for him to move. He shifted his leg under the grumbling man and the man lifted himself up on his arms with a grunt.
"What the hell do you think you're doing over here? Dumb-ass!"
The hot-headed man, wearing a simple white button-down shirt (that wasn't buttoned) and black slacks, lifted his gaze to glare angrily at Cloud. Cloud stiffened nervously under the unforgiving stare and shrugged meekly. The man rolled his eyes and pulled himself up to his feet, wincing slightly and cursing aloud.
"Fuckin' loon," the man grumbled, massaging his elbow where it had hit the cold cement ground, "What kind of clown is taking a damn nap in this fuckin' icebox?"
Cloud took a long, silent breath, and slowly stood up, gripping his little bag.
"S-Sorry," he apologized, jaw still shaking slightly from the cold. The man suddenly paused and looked over at him, frowning in a slightly lopsided way. Apparently, as Cloud could tell from just seeing this man for a few minutes, there was nothing quite...even-keel about him. He seemed like an easily angered kind of guy.
"So you got your bag with you, too? What the hell are ya, a new kid? Why are you over here? Your pussy little friends dare you to come up to the older dorms? Well? Come on, answer!"
Quite impatient, too.
"No...I..." Cloud fidgeted a bit as the man stared at him harder. "...I don't really know where to go."
It was mostly the truth. Actually, as far as he was concerned, it was truth; he really didn't know where to go, considering the fact that he had rejected the original room he had been directed to. Hopefully, this strange man could help him find a different room. It was, he realized, a silly thing for him to hope; he didn't exactly seem like the kind of person that was willing to help anyone.
"What the fuck!" The man laughed and swore at the same time, which was a peculiar thing (at least, in Cloud's opinion.) "You lost or something?"
"I don't know. I mean...I don't have a room."
The man hesitated for a second, looking the way one would when cracking a joke about a friend and then pausing in the awkward silence that followed when realizing the joke was true.
"Damn, so you really are new." The man spoke after a pause, lifting a brow. Cloud nodded slowly. The man looked pensive for a moment.
"Well, you know, I can't really show you around, coz I ain't a tour guide or nothing—"
Cloud stared at him doubtfully.
"—but I s'pose I could help you out if you can wait a while."
With an odd flick of his wrist that Cloud assumed was a lazy way to say 'Follow me,' the man turned and continued ascending the stairs. The diminutive blonde followed after him obediently.
The man didn't speak a word to Cloud, but instead, was mumbling to himself about something or another. Not two minutes later, he found that he had been led back to the very same room he had just left.
Briefly wondering how anyone could be walking around in the freezing hallway with his shirt unbuttoned, Cloud looked up from the man's chest to his face, silently questioning why they had stopped in front of this particular room. The man didn't look at him, but narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at the door before pulling out a key and unlocking it.
The man surveyed the inside of the room and clicked his tongue in annoyance. The blonde watched silently, wondering what he was looking for.
"If you're in here, I'm advisin' you to get your asses out...now ," the man called into the cluttered room. Cloud peeked inside and saw just that: a cluttered room. Nobody was there. The man frowned fiercely.
"Well, I ain't about to bust my ass lookin' for you all, but just in case you are in here, I'll let you know: you're in deep chocobo shit!" The man growled out, giving the room one last glance before shutting the door again.
"Fuckin' juvies," he growled, and then suddenly remembered that Cloud was still there. He glanced at the puzzled blonde.
"Gotta keep the little shits in line, you know," he explained. "Guess you could say I'm the disciplinarian around these parts."
"Oh." That was the single word Cloud had spoken in fifteen minutes. Honestly, the image projected to him of this vulgar, temperamental, foot-in-mouth "disciplinarian" was all of comical to Cloud. He was starting to get the impression that Shin-Ra was all backwards; their disciplinarians went around swearing at every corner, their military generals were feminine and physically unflawed...
Suddenly, he remembered the General from the orientation meeting earlier that afternoon. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was at least vaguely intrigued by the enigmatic man. But, he told himself, wouldn't it be hard for anyone to ignore the General? He was starting to understand why Sepiroth stood out as the most popular idol for young boys. This was partly because of facts that he felt were more explicit and obvious: his absolute strength and powerful presence, for instance. But Cloud also could see him as many boys' idol because, to put it so bluntly, he was probably intensely attractive to just about any woman in existence.
"Look alive, kid! What are you, a statue?"
Cloud's face grew warm as he came out of his contemplation, and he smiled a nervous apology at the amused man. The man only shrugged and flicked his wrist again in that strange gesture, walking back to the stairwell and standing by the door expectantly. Blinking dumbly and standing there for a moment, Cloud soon followed after him.
"A little spacey, aren't you?" the man joked with a little snicker. Cloud looked down at his fingers, clasped around the handle of his bag, and shrugged to himself, fully aware that the man was in front of him and couldn't see it. The man continued on talking as if Cloud had actually been attempting to make decent conversation with him.
"Hate to break it to you, but you'll probably be seeing my handsome mug pretty often around and about this place." Again, he made that silly, amused little snicker. "So you might as well get used to me now. Just to warn you, I'll probably be trying to kick your little cadet ass whenever I can."
Cloud's immaculate blue eyes widened slightly, and he was surprised to find himself actually smiling. Despite what he had just said, Cloud had a feeling this man was more bark than bite.
"Hey, what's your name?" The man glanced back over his shoulder and blinked at Cloud, who averted his gaze and quickly dropped his smile.
"...Cloud." He said it quietly, vividly remembering Zack mocking him earlier. He had a feeling that this new man was even more prone to crack jokes on him, and was trying his best not to give him any opportunities to do so.
"Cloud?" The man was silenced for a moment, and then a smile was heard in his voice. "Man, were your parents high when they named you?"
Cloud only frowned slightly to himself, inwardly feeling defensive of what he thought was actually quite a nice name, but he didn't have the guts to come out and defend himself audibly. Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't heard that one before.
"Hey, don't take it so personally," the man sighed impatiently, not once looking back at Cloud as he led the blonde through a labyrinth of hallways.
Cloud didn't say anything.
"I'm Reno, by the way," the man suddenly offered, pausing to take a long yawn and startling the younger boy. Cloud almost ran into him, but restrained himself well, somehow knowing the consequences of bumping into the man weren't likely to be pleasant.
"Okay..."
"That's some damn great shit, ain't it?" He turned his lazy grin over to Cloud, who returned it with a small, polite smile.
"Yeah."
-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-
"WILL YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO ME! Your goddamn shit-brains were obviously not fucking paying attention, but I fuckin' told your 5-gil-whore ass that I AIN'T SENDING THAT DAMN SHIT-SKINNY KID BACK THERE!"
Almost startled into shock, Cloud stood a very generous and safe distance away from Reno, who was bellowing insanely at the poor woman sitting by the computers. The woman looked equally as intimidated as Cloud was, and rightfully so; the red-haired man, silly as he looked with his unbuttoned shirt, was undeniably scary.
Perhaps, Cloud considered, he was just beginning to see just why Reno was a disciplinarian. He certainly wasn't easy to argue with, and, as admittedly primitive and brutish as his techniques were, they obviously worked.
Cloud wasn't sure whether to be scared of the hot-headed man or thankful that he was so stubborn. The dark-haired Zack that had helped Cloud before had obviously not considered much the conditions of the room he had shown him to, whereas this temperamental man obviously had some kind of reason that he didn't want to stick Cloud in that room.
"I-I'm sorry! There aren't any other free spots!" The woman squeaked, swallowing a lump in her throat and shaking slightly as Reno's sea-green eyes burned with his impressive temper.
"Do you have ANY fucking idea what kind of mess this damn kid'll get into if he's around those little shits? I ain't lettin' another kid get his brain fuckin' fried to hell because your fat ass can't find ONE FUCKING ROOM."
The woman opened her mouth slowly, but winced when Reno continued before she could speak.
"Fuck, I don't know! Just board him the hell in with some other new kids, they'll fucking live! I'm telling you, those little mofos ain't cool at all. You're gonna find your damn ass in the middle of another lawsuit if those shits get a hold on this kid, too."
"Wh-Wha-"
"GODDAMMIT, SUSAN! ...Yeah, I fuckin' know your name ain't Susan, and you'll fucking deal- Oh, what-the-fuck-ever! You want I should go over the damn shit-details of that case again? Wasn't pretty for our fuck friends at Shin-Ra, or don't you-"
"Reno!"
Cloud, who had, up until that point, actually been taking some kind of sick amusement from the red-haired man making a bit of a fool out of himself with the endless drabble, turned toward the man who had managed to stop Reno from yelling.
"Man, Zack!" Reno sighed loudly and threw his arms up in aggravation. "You won't fucking believe they're trying to put this new kid in with-"
"I know, mate," Zack scratched his head with a little laugh, coming further into the room. "Everyone could hear you from a mile and a half away."
"Ffth." Reno grunted and folded his arms, looking away. Cloud blinked, feeling as if someone needed to speak (but not him.)
"You just need to cool down, Reno," Zack laughed again, his well-shaped features twisting in a handsome grin. "Look at you. You sure do have a way with kids!" Zack chuckled this time, leaning over to brush his lips against the red-head's cheek.
Reno scowled furiously and shoved Zack away.
"Man!" Reno grunted angrily, and the dark-haired man laughed.
"Cute one, isn't he?" Zack turned, speaking to Cloud. The blonde blinked dumbly. "He's got a bit of a temper, but a nice ass!"
"Shut your whore-hole!" Reno growled, rolling his eyes and shrugging as if to dismiss the whole issue.
"Calm down, calm down," Zack repeated his words like a mantra, and suddenly, it struck Cloud just how ridiculous the entire situation was:
Very.
-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-
/cracks up at herself/ I'm sorry, but I love idiot-Reno. He's so cute when he's like this.
"5-Gil Whore..." (is actually a few of my friends' nickname for me...but not for reasons you might think o.o)
O.o Zack/Reno.../snorts/ Not something I might have done normally, but since I was using Reno in here, I just saw the golden opportunity to put in a little side-romance. Don't worry, this is still a SC story, and we'll have Sepiroth join us in due time. For now, though, I'm just pacing myself.
Also, I don't have a beta (I never have o.o) because I usually proof-read all my stuff a bout a zillion times, but this time I didn't feel like it. So, this is honestly and truly rough-draft one, and so I apologize for icky grammar.
Review please! o.O