Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. I could only wish.
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It was only ten minutes into the game and Cloud wanted to it to stop. It had yet to be his turn but he had discovered this game to be dangerous. So far everyone had been adventurous with the 'dare' option and the three participants had completed their humiliating tasks with flying colors and smiles on their faces.
Zack had wonderfully stood on two hands while balancing, and serving, tea to everyone using his feet, all while humming a song he didn't recognize. Rufus, who had gone after Zack, had easily slipped out and returned with his father's favorite pair of underwear, which he had then attempting to strangle Reno after he made some sort of comment about his life outside of the workplace.
Rufus had then made Reno tie it to the highest point of the Shin-Ra building with a tag that stated it was Reno's doing, which Rufus had made very clear to the redhead that he could count this as a direct order, not just a dare. Reno had whispered to Cloud and Zack after he returned that he had wrote the blonde heir's name instead of his own.
Reno was now scanning the boys (and one girl) for the next, ahem, player. His eyes roved over them all one more time before they landed on Cloud and he smirked. The small blond swallowed apprehensively and he shrunk behind Zack.
"Cloudy-boy!" Reno chirped cheerfully. 'Cloudy boy' groaned, pretending he hadn't heard the other man. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth!" He said quickly, not willing to do anything of the sort the other Shin-Ra operatives had been doing.
Reno frowned, muttering, "spoil sport," before he got a thoughtful look on his face. "I dare you to…"
Cloud looked horrified. "I chose truth!" He yelled, sounding indignant.
Reno waved him off, "No, you didn't." Cloud glared, but just pouted again and stayed quiet.
"Anyway, I dare you to… stay ten minutes in a closet with Zack!"
Zack smiled widely, "Brilliant!" He shouted, pumping a fist in the air at the same moment that Cloud had stood up quickly and was making his way out of the room once again. Zack gasped in horror. "Get him!" He said, pointing after Cloud.
On cue, Reno and Rude both tackled the poor boy, landing in a heap on the floor, Cloud's chocobo-clad butt staying cutely in the air as his dress flipped over his head. Zack was over to them in a flash, arms wrapping around Cloud's bottom and hefting him up. Cloud, who by now was blushing from head-to-toe, began to struggle.
"Nope, nope, Cloud! Play along, it's only fair!" He said, dragging him over to Cissnei's closet. "Ten minutes, let's go!" With that they were in the closet, door shut firmly behind them.
There was a loud bang and a crack and quicker than anyone else could react, Reno jumped over to the door, twisting the lock. "Sorry, Cloudy, ten minutes." He said, smile audible in his voice. The door knob had begun to rattle, followed by angry incoherent shouts that were soon muffled by something.
"I wonder what's happening." Cissnei said lightly, hand reaching into a bag of potato chips. The other men shrugged and ate the other junk foods, not listening to the mysterious noises coming from the closet.
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As soon as Cloud and Zack had gotten into the closet, Cloud had managed to wriggle his way out of Zack's clutches and find a long pole, most probably a broom. With a good whack! Zack had fallen to the ground and the broom was broken in half. His eyes widened as he heard the door lock and he jumped over, twisting the knob furiously, only to have it not budge and inch.
"H-hey!" He yelled, pounding on the door. "You can't lock me in here! Not with him! Let me out!" He waited, getting no reply. "Come on! You can't do this-" A hand came over his mouth and he gasped and struggled trying to elbow his attacker.
"Sh, Cloud!" A very grumpy Zack said softly. "You didn't have to freakin' hit me! That hurt." He said with a pout in his voice. "But I'm a SOLDIER, first class; you'll have to do more than that to get me out of the game." Cloud continued to struggle, trying to ignore the older man. "Aw, come on, I can't be that bad."
Cloud nodded, tears in his eyes. Yes! You can be that bad! However, there was still a hand over his mouth, which was becoming very annoying.
"Yow! You bit me!" Zack yelped, cradling his hand to his chest.
"Yeah, I know, I was there!" Cloud said, moving as a far away from Zack as possible, which wasn't that far in the small closet, but it still made him feel more secure.
"You're being very, very mean." Zack said, in the most serious voice Cloud had heard from him, causing him to pause and think maybe there was something more to the SOLDIER. "And that usually has to be punished." He went on to say. Okay, no, he was just stupid and perverted.
He glared. "Don't touch me!" He said, reaching down slowly for a splintery half of broom to use in defense.
"Now, now, Cloud," he began in what was supposed to be a calming voice. "There's no need for a weapon." He said, bringing up one hand just in case. This was sort of a lie, anyway. Zack could easily take Cloud even if he was wielding a gun, however, the SOLDIER thought Cloud was mad enough so he wouldn't tell him how silly he looked in a maid's dress holding up a broom to chase someone off.
"Apparently there is!" He growled, fed up with tonight's goings on. And it wasn't even 9:30 yet!
"No, there's not. Now, come on!" He said, without warning, he fell to the ground, foot going in a sweeping motion to knock Cloud off his feet, broom clattering to the ground. Flipping Cloud over in mid-air, he put his knee in the blonde's back as he finally hit the ground in the automatic defensive action taught to all newbie SOLDIERs.
Cloud gasped as all the air left him. "What- what was that for?" He gasped out, struggling to get up.
Zack blinked. "Oh. Sorry. I only meant to get you to fall and drop the weapon. That second half of the maneuver was completely reflex." He said, getting off of Cloud gently.
"Sure it was." Cloud grumbled, pushing himself up weakly to sit on the backs of his feet.
"Seriously. Why would I want to hurt you?" Zack asked him, looking Cloud in the eye. Cloud turned away, unable to keep eye contact.
"That's all you've been doing!" He snapped, still not looking at the higher-ranking officer.
"No, I haven't!" He replied strongly in obvious confusion.
Cloud said nothing, still refusing to meet his eyes, though he did mumble a few things, mostly along the lines of "jerkface" and "immature prick".
Cloud shifted, not liking the awkward silence that had fallen over the two Shin-Ra employees. "S-so, when do we get out of this closet?" He asked in a much softer voice.
Zack glanced at his watch –the only other thing he had on besides his boxers- and smirked. "Two minutes. We should use it wisely." Cloud glared at him, as if daring to move any closer to him. And he did just that.
Tackling the blonde so he was pinned underneath of him, he smirked down at his prey. "So, Cloud, come here often?"
Cloud pushed at his chest, but to no avail. "What are you doing?!" He asked in alarm.
Above him, the dark-haired man shrugged his shoulders absently. "Nothing, crouching here. What are you doing down there?" He asked him innocently.
Cloud continued to glare up at his superior, grabbing on to Zack's shoulders in an attempt to use Zack's own weight to brace against in order to pull himself out from under him.
At this exact moment of surprising intimacy, the closet door swung open to reveal Sephiroth. Cloud, seeing his long-time hero catch him a compromising position with another man, let go of Zack's shoulders. Cloud had been sitting half-way up, face precariously close to Zack's own. The SOLIDER himself stood still in the exact position with a smirk, as if knowing this would happen.
Cloud let out a cute squeal as he hit the ground for the infinite time that night, another blush working its way onto his face. Honestly, how could his own blood betray him like that?!
"Oh, hey, Seph!" Zack said happily, sitting back on his haunches. "Cloud and I were just getting to… know each other." Cloud spluttered, not even realizing he was free of the dreaded closet.
The General smirked, "I can see that. However, your ten minutes in Heaven are up, Cloud." He said, expertly aiming his jab at Cloud instead of Zack. Cloud just sat up with a deep frown, unsure of how to react when his idol dissed him in such a way.
Zack walked out of the closet calmly and Cloud followed him stubbornly out, sitting down without even an attempt to escape; now realizing all such attempts were futile.
"Okay, Cloud!" Cissnei said a little too cheerfully, her face flushed. "It's your turn to someone pick." Cloud raised an eyebrow and Rufus huffed.
"Alright, who spiked the fruit punch?!" He asked, fearfully looking down at the cup in his hand, which he had refilled at least three times.
Reno coughed innocuously, shifting. All eyes, besides Cloud's, whose were still burning a hole in the floor in embarrassment in anger, turned to glare at him.
"What?" He asked in a voice that relayed to them that he had no idea what they were talking about. He held up his hands in self-defense. "Don't worry, I only spiked Ms. Prissy over here. She's too uptight." He glanced over at the smallest member. "Though I guess I should've done the same for Cloud-boy."
Cloud gave a sigh of relief, having listened, even if he hadn't been acting like he'd been paying attention. Everyone, including himself had started drinking the stuff like crazy as Rufus had run off to fetch his daddy's underwear.
"Go on, Cloud!" Cissnei hiccupped, "choose!" She demanded, aiming to take another swig of fruit punch. "Eh?" She made a confused noise, looking down at her now-empty hand and over at Vincent, who was holding the cup in his claw.
"Was'a matter, Vince?" She asked drunkenly, taking a not-so-welled aim swing for the cup. "A little drink never hurt anyone."
He barely even looked at her before pouring what was left of the juice in a nearby house plant. "Cloud?" He prompted, ignoring the female's indignant huff.
He looked around the room, eyes landing on Rude, who seemed to be the most docile in the room. "Him." He said, pointing to the bald man.
"Rude, my man!" Reno whooped, slapping him on the back and knocking his ever-present sunglasses askew.
Coughing lightly, Rude fixed his glasses calmly, as if this were an everyday occurrence. Although, from what Cloud had seen from Reno, he wouldn't be surprised if that were true. "Yes?" Rude asked Cloud, waiting for him to give the instructions.
"You have to, um…" He trailed off, looking thoughtful. "You have to… Tie him-" he pointed to Zack in indifference, ignoring the man's offended look, "-to the highest point outside, right next to President Shin-Ra's underwear." He said, crossing his arms in finality. Rude look confused, but shrugged, standing to do as he was told.
"W-what?" Zack asked the group, appalled, "You can't do that! It's raining!"
"He has to do it." Cloud said in a cruel voice no one had heard from him before. "I dared him to." He turned his head towards the other spiky-haired man. "Play along, it's only fair." He drawled, repeating exactly what Zack had said to him earlier.
Zack sighed, looking defeated, before following Rude out the door to meet his impending doom.
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A/N: Whoa, eight alerts, are you serious? xD I feel really special. Thank you, all, you guys rock!
Although, I'd appreciate some more reviews. 3