Not If You Ignore Me for a Week- Chapter One: Monday
Disclaimer: Me broke. Me no own wonderful Final Fantasy VII, all belong to Square Enix and their wonderful creators.
Title: Not If You Ignore Me for a Week
Pairing: Zack/Cloud
Genre: Humor/Romance
Rating: PG13- eventual R
Warnings: Yaoi, Zack's lewd mouth
Author's Note: Here's Chapter One of 'Not If You Ignore Me for a Week', hope ya'll like it so far! There's not enough written for this cute pairing! Also, note that sometimes it seems as if someone else is narrating it, it's meant to be Cloud's thoughts basically.
Dedicated to my wonderful beta, OmniStrife, author of Zack/Cloud story, Collide. Also to my older younger sister, Nyoko Iso who even though she doesn't play Final Fantasy, she's a lover for Yaoi everywhere!
"Morning…" Zack murmured as he wandered into the kitchen the next morning, rubbing his messy raven hair with a towel as it dripped water down his chest. Cloud ignored him and continued to smear butter and jelly onto his toast.
Zack raised a brow when Cloud didn't give his normal chipper greeting and he sat down slowly at the small table, rubbing at his wet hair. "Good morning Cloud," he said louder, hoping that the cute blonde just hadn't heard him. But when he didn't get so much as a smile from his roommate, he frowned and realized something was wrong.
"What's the matter, Cloud?" Zack asked, walking up behind his friend and wrapping his arms around his waist. "Something's bugging you…" He nuzzled his neck and Cloud merely picked up his toast and moved out of the embrace, a stoic expression on his lips.
Zack heard the clack of boots and looked down, surprised to see Cloud already dressed and ready for another harsh day of reviews for the SOLDIER exam that was coming up on Wednesday.
"Cloud?" He called but the blonde pushed past him and picked up the cheap steel sword that the classes made them use. Cloud would have much rather preferred his Buster Sword, but that could get him in big trouble if he brought that.
"Hey, are we going to have… practice…" Zack trailed off as it hit him. He groaned as he sat back down at the table. Cloud didn't even spare him a look as he walked out through the door, keycard and sword in his hands.
"Damn…" Zack moaned as he banged his head against the table. That proved to be a bad thing to do since he had a rather painful hangover from last night. "Why did I have to do that!" He moaned out and lowered his head, slower this time.
"What did you do this time to make Strife run off so quick?" Sephiroth said, walking in through the open door with his master keycard.
Zack raised his head and Sephiroth raised a brow at the ragged appearance and red eyes. "I skipped out training with Cloud last night and instead went drinking with some buddies of mine and was passed out when he got here. That… and I completely ignored him yesterday."
Sephiroth chuckled and rummaged through the fridge, producing soymilk and vanilla, something that Zack didn't know he had. "So you skipped out on practice with him and ignored him." The silver-haired General began to mix things together, making a very good-smelling drink.
"Yeah…. Are you about to give me advice?" He asked and lifted his head, looking at his long-time friend.
Sephiroth chuckled to himself. "Maybe. You realize that Strife sees you more as a mentor, as do you see him more as a cadet. The fact that you ditched him to hang with those other SOLDIER idiots you call friends is a blow to him. That, and you didn't even tell him you were going out."
He handed the brown drink to Zack who sniffed it warily before pinching his nose and tipping it back. He knew better than to ask what the hell Sephiroth was giving him. He gave a deep breath after the oddly fruity drink slid down his throat and opened his eyes, letting his nose go. "What should I do?"
Sephiroth picked up the empty glass and slid it into the sink, his leather coat fluttering with movement. He walked towards the door and threw a small but nonetheless grin towards his longtime friend. "Why don't you apologize to Strife?"
The door closed softly and Zack looked at his hands for a moment, violet Mako tracing the innumerable scars scattered over harsh and rough hands. "Apologize to him?" He scoffed, but the idea was sounding better by the moment.
"Alright!" He got up and pushed the stool back underneath the island in the kitchen. Surprisingly his hangover was quickly disappearing and he made a mental note to ask Sephiroth what that mix was for future reference.
Zack made quick work of his shower and called his office on the Seventeenth Floor to leave a message saying that he had to reschedule practice with Sephiroth and the first three regiments of SOLDIER. He picked up his own Buster Sword, closed the door—made sure it was locked this time—and walked down the hallway, tucking his card into the front pocket of his shirt.
Grunts and command shouts echoed down the hallway as he jogged past the dorms of the second class SOLDIERs and then into the large open area of the cafeteria where a few SOLDIERs were enjoying breakfast. He ignored his drinking buddies who were groaning with hangovers and he had no qualms about giving them a rude finger gesture before running outside.
The recruit training gym was placed on the far corner of the whole Shinra training facility and he had to take one break, wondering why he didn't eat anything after that drink that Sephiroth gave him. He ran the rest of the way and opened the doors, sliding in, looking for his favorite blonde recruit.
Cloud was off in a corner, practicing with that ever-serious look on his face. Sometimes all Zack wanted to do was kiss those lips and make a different expression appear there. He walked over to Sergeant O'Reily and tapped his shoulder.
The old redhead turned around and beamed upon seeing Zack, his beloved ex-student standing there. "Zack! What a surprise to see you here? What can I do for you?"
Zack pointed to Cloud. "He shows promise for SOLDIER. Mind if I go and train him out a bit?"O'Reily blinked but gave a slow nod and Zack made his way over to Cloud Strife, commenting on a few other recruits and correcting poses.
When he got in front of Cloud, his playful grin disappeared and he put the tip of his sword to the floor. "Cloud." The blonde continued to warm-up, ignoring his roommate.
"Cloud, look at me." A blue glare was all he got before the blonde stopped for a moment, rolling his shoulders. Zack leaned against his Buster Sword. "Fine, will you spar with me? I'm supposed to be training you. Not flirting with the pretty blonde chocobo."
Cloud merely lifted the cheap silver sword and Zack grinned. Finally, a reaction! He leaned his sword against the wall and picked up another silver practice one.
"Alright, Cloud. I just realized earlier what made you so made at me when Sephiroth came over to cure my hangover." He attacked the blonde, watching as Cloud's feet moved smoothly, hands turning the sword to block the attack perfectly. Maybe he had been training the kid too much…
"I'm sorry for ditching the practice last night and for not telling you. I'm sorry for ignoring you too." It didn't even provoke an eyebrow raise and Zack dug deeper. "I'm eternally sorry for ignoring you when my idiotic friends showed up yesterday when we were on break."
Nothing.
Now Zack was becoming irritated. What was going to make the kid believe that he was truly sorry? "Are you going to ignore me for the rest of your recruit career until you pass the SOLDIER entrance exams?" He griped and Cloud backed him up with a series of evenly placed blows against his practice sword.
"Come on, Spike. You have to talk to me sometime! We can't live together and not speak!" Cloud gave him a look as if saying, "Wanna bet on that?" This made Zack inch up on his frustrated chart.
"If this isn't going to work, I'm going to have to resort to drastic measures," Zack said evenly, pushing back the smile that was threatening to escape past his pale lips. Cloud furrowed his brows and pressed against Zack's sword, challenging the Mako-enhanced violet eyes. "Alright, you asked for it."
Just as Zack was jumping back to kneel down, O'Reily's whistle shrilly echoed around the gym and Cloud focused his attention on O'Reily, missing the way Zack's face fell at the fact he could no longer "propose his apology" to Cloud Strife.
The recruits left for the open fields andO'Reily walked over to Zack. "Zachary, what do you think of Strife? He seemed to be fighting better than I've seen all training."
Zack picked up his Buster Sword and hefted it over his shoulder. "He's SOLDIER material, all right. Probably second-class. He's a little on the scrawny side but there's more strength to him." Zack rubbed his arms for emphasis andO'Reily looked impressed.
"I'll be sure to check out this strength of his. Maybe there is more to him than what meet's the eye. Good-day, Zachary."O'Reily left with a salute and Zack weakly returned it, yawning on the way.
- - - - - - -
Cloud fumed silently as he walked outside with the rest of the recruits. The gall of Zack! Showing up like that and just spurting out apologies! The thought was nice and a warm feeling settled in his stomach when he realized that Zack had actually woken up early from his hangover to come all the way to Cloud's class and say he was sorry.
The idea about him ignoring Zack forever was a tempting idea, but he knew he'd never be able to do it. Believe it or not, he was actually fond of the hyperactive SOLDIER. Not fond as some fan-girls may wish, but it was a definite fondness that he almost wished went beyond the gates of friendship.
An idea began to form in his head as he was paired up with a rather tough and bravado-looking fella who just chuckled at the looked of Cloud and made a comment about ,"I eat shrimps like you for breakfast!" Didn't anyone believe in copyright anymore?
Anyways, back to his plan. He could find a way to see just how much Zack truly cared for him and if it even went beyond the borders of friendship. He could ignore him for a week. Cloud's brows scrunched together cutely and the big guy charged him, pulling his sword up for a downward slice that was meant to take off his shoulder, instead it merely bounced off Cloud's sword.
He had heard it once on the radio while cooking—girly yes, but it was better than trying to watch Zack wrestle with the telephone and order out—and wondered what it would be like to truly ignore someone for a week.
Cloud frowned again and attacked the burly guy, parrying his next attack and lightly hitting his shin in an imitation of what would have happened if they had not been just practicing. Why was he so mad at Zack, even after he had apologized?
This puzzled Cloud to no end. But he knew he was angry for more than just the obvious reasons. It wasn't like his feelings were hurt, he knew they were but not so hurt that even Zack's cute and sometimes far-fetched apologies wouldn't weaken his defenses. There was something deeper that Cloud was too afraid to admit or even think about it, hence the ponderings of his mind.
When the burly man's next hit came dangerously close to striking his crotch, Cloud decided that decisions that took more than a few brain cells of thought to be made had to be pushed away until a later time when he was not getting castrated by a silver sword that looked like it didn't know the meaning of getting cleaned.
Sadly enough, that meant pushing his thoughts about ignoring Zack for a week into the back of his cluttered mind.
- - - - - - -
Dinner that night was an odd affair, Zack mused, watching the way Cloud did his best to cook without even giving Zack a look or reprimand him for drinking out of the carton. Odd was bit of an understatement, Zack thought, reevaluating how their time had gone since Cloud had gotten back from training.
Zack had been normal. He'd given his greeting of, Spiky! I'm home! Care to give me a foot rub? But all he had gotten was the bare back of a blonde-haired recruit coming out of the shower, rubbing his hair with a spare towel, another draped precociously on his luscious and almost feminine hips.
"Cloud…" Zack started, swirling his beer around. The blonde continued to cook, unaware of Zack's sudden turn of thought. "Earlier when I came home. I never noticed it, but you have the greatest hips I've ever seen."
Cloud froze, his head in the fridge as he was setting the milk back in. He shook his head and went back to cooking, making sure to hide the blush that had developed on his cheeks.
"No, really," Zack continued as if he hadn't noticed the way Cloud had frozen up at that remark. "You don't take nearly enough credit for them. They're absolutely luscious! All curvy and then your waist tapers down underneath your pants…" Zack trailed off, daydreaming. Suddenly, a rare and somewhat unpleasant grin appeared on his face. He leaned foreword, chin in the palm of his hand.
"Cloud, are you circumcised?" The recruit covered his curse as he burnt his hand on the pan on top of the stove. He winced as the burn throbbed painfully. He shook it off as a good SOLDIER was taught and went back to cooking. Why yes, Zack. I am. He answered in his mind.
Zack shrugged and leaned back slightly on the stool. "I really wonder sometimes. They say that circumcision is better, but I'm not all that sure. If you are, Cloud, care to test that theory?" Nothing.
"It would be something, wouldn't it Cloud? I bet anything that you're a bottom." Cloud turned and sat the plate none-to-gently on the table, giving a strained smile at Zack. "Looks great. It could go really well with a side of delicious Cloud hip."
The look on Cloud's surprised face was enough to make Zack grin and chomp down into the plate of noodles. "This is great Cloud. Maybe Cloud ass would be better with this dish…"
Cloud turned his head to hide his flush as he filled up his own plate. He was beginning to regret his self-induced bet on ignoring Zack. With the SOLDIER spurting out sexual comments at every encounter, it was almost too distracting. And—
"Are we going to practice afterwards?" Cloud sighed. And practice was probably going to be worse than normal, too. He gave a small nod, the only "real communication" with the SOLDIER all day.
Zack grinned. "Great! More chance to see you take off your shirt!" Cloud, no surprise, didn't say anything and Zack was mentally wondering if Cloud really was circumcised...
- - - - - - -
Practice was almost as straightforward as it normally is. Save for the lewd comments spouting from Zack's lips every other move, setting the normally panting and stoic blonde on edge.
Zack began to think as he sparred, which is never a good thing. Mako treatments equals enchanced mental capacity, with equals he's able to think a lot quicker and about a lot more random things while keeping some of his mind on the task at hand. This time, he was thinking about what to do to make Cloud speak to him again.
Cloud was already proving that he could make himself ignore the raven-haired SOLDIER all day if he wished. But, there has to be a way to break him. You can break open Hojo's glass containers so there has to be a way to break through Cloud stoic nature.
Zack parried the next attack and shot his Buster Sword directly towards Cloud knee, he wasn't expecting the kick to his sword to the suddenly dangerous looking elbow to jut into this stomach. When Cloud backed off, Zack gave him a big grin.
"That was great, Cloud! Not relying on your sword! Keep this up and you're sure to make SOLDIER!" Cloud rolled his eyes and readied himself again.
Zack's mind wandered again. Maybe there was a systematic way of breaking things down here. Cloud only showed any kind of emotion when he was annoying him in class, making lewd comments at dinner and giving him overall praise. The violet-eyed man furrowed his brows. A connection…
A light bulb seemed to pop over his head. That was it!
He'd just have to wait till tomorrow to try out his first mission in Operation: MCHAMMER (Make Cloud Have A Mental Meltdown En Route).
Alright, the MCHAMMER thing at the end was too good to pass up. Think there's another way to make that work?
My reviewers, thank you so much! Can't do a review reply, so I'm just gonna list your names!; Yukiislikesnow, Artemis, Heir to the World, -Syciara-, OmniStrife, Vivi orunatia and Nyoko Iso.
NOTE----If anyone like Final Fantasy X-2 and wouldn't mind beta-ing a Gippal/OC, Baralai/Paine, Rikku/Issaru fic, leave a review, please?