Flirty Jock Extraordinaire

Format: Multi-chapter

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (ZackxCloudxZack)

Rating: M (explicit content in further chapters)

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. Square Enix does.

Chapter 1: First, first, first

"See, he's looking at you."

Velocity is a vector quantity whose magnitude is a body's speed and whose direction is the body's direction of motion. It measures the rate of motion of a body expressed as the rate of change of its position in a particular direction with time and…

"I'm sure he's not," replied Cloud distractedly.

"Just perk up from your notebook."

And he did. He glanced at the jock's table – because it was silent agreement within the school walls that it was the jock's table, and none else –, the table right next to where Aerith and he were currently sitting. Zack was timidly switching his eyes from Angeal, who was sitting in front of him, to him. He also bore a sort of awkward smile, as if he was shy or something (which made Cloud quirk an eyebrow, because it was common knowledge Zack Fair couldn't be shy about anything. Almost written in the bible, even).

They were at the cafeteria, given it was lunchtime. Cloud had just came back from PE, and he had completely made a fool of himself while playing basketball. He had tripped clumsily and went flying meters away, face planting on the hard floor with a loud thud. People had laughed, of course. Result: he was rather edgy. Not because he had made a fool of himself, but because he sucked at sports and it unnerved him.

"You already told him I'd think about meeting him?" grumpily inquired the blonde teenager with a frown to Aerith, who was eating a chocolate cookie in front of him.

"Of course!" she happily expressed, ignoring his grouchy attitude deftly. "He would have bothered me to know all day, so I decided not to make him linger, the poor thing. He really wants to be your friend and… well, you know."

"Why doesn't he come say so to me by himself? I didn't think he was one to be so bashful about something this casual," shrugged Cloud as he returned to his notebook.

"He's really new to man on man relationship. You'd be his first, in fact. He's scared," she supplied with a hint of pity glinting in her eyes. Cloud knew she appreciated Zack a lot and it pained her to see the boy so lost, alone in a sea of heterosexual people. "Aren't you?"

"Not at all. It feels as natural to me as if one of us was a girl. I got over it way back then, Riss."

She nodded cheerily, accepting his honest answer. Cloud was an extremely straightforward person, and that's what she liked most about him. He had a head on his shoulders and had an opinion on mostly everything, even though he wouldn't voice them most of the time because he didn't think they'd change much anything if he'd say them anyway. She liked how he seemed to know everything, wasn't ever afraid, was up for challenges and was ready to overtake them, whatever it took. He wasn't the most talkative friend somebody could have, but his presence always was refreshing for her. The perfect husband, she often called him.

Tifa Lockhart, a brown haired girl with a fairly generous… bust suddenly came out of nowhere with a tray of food, sitting next to Aerith casually. She shot both of them a curious glance as the two of them currently were lost in their thoughts (Cloud was purely faking studying. He knew he had to revise science because he sucked, but he hated it).

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she said and took a gulp of her water bottle.

"We were just talking about how Hojo is a freak," replied Cloud with a sneer.

Aerith knew he wasn't willing to talk about his plans to date Zack to anyone, even his friends. He wasn't someone who liked to disclose information on his personal life, because for him, it was sacred. As the expression hinted, it was personal. Besides, it wasn't even sure yet. Anything could happen – who knew what was currently going on in that jock's head? It was unpredictable.

"You're so mean, Cloud," scolded him gently Aerith, giving a small slap on his hand resting on the table. "He's only doing his job."

"I think he's right, anyhow," supported Tifa with a shrug. "It makes you wonder if… his real job is not to be, in truth, a freak."

x-x-x

"I hope you'll be ready by tomorrow, dear. I heard it's going to be tough," said the brunette girl, giving Cloud an encouraging smile.

"I'll have 60%, at most. It sucks."

He crossed his arms on his chest and almost pouted. It's not because he hadn't tried! He had studied non-stop for that science test, and he simply couldn't memorize every single details there were in this subject. Science was fine, in overall – but when it came to Physics, he'd hang himself. It was the only thing he had trouble with at school though, so perhaps he should have counted himself lucky. Many fellow students came to him and asked how he could be so smart. He was rarely studying for anything whatsoever and scored high in mostly everything, but he told them it was because he learned fast.

"Cheer up, okay? You'll make it."

She gave him a quick hug, straightened her light-pink coat and departed hastily through the front yard of the school for her bus, saying quick hello's to some of the students hanging around in the process. Her bus was the first one to go and she had missed it more than once, so she usually went to it as soon as possible now. She would have her car soon, in any case, so she bore with it for the time being.

Cloud looked up at the grey winter sky with a slight frown, blowing air from his lips all the while. He started pacing slowly. The frigid air formed a small cloud from his breath. It was cold, but he liked it. Proof being, he only wore this white coat for any protection against temperature while it was about -25 Celsius. No gloves, no hat or cap, nothing. No hat mainly because he didn't want his spiky hair to be splattered by it. He loved them too much to harm them on purpose and, besides, hats weren't looking good on him at all. Some people, like Cid, often made fun of him because of it – he said it was one of these girls habit. If girls were around, who usually happened to be Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie then argued back and said it was natural for a boy to want good looks. It only made Cid cackle more.

As he was close to reach his bus, a hand grabbed his arm rather firmly but gently, stopping him in his course. He first glanced above his shoulder to see Zack Fair smiling at him in all his glory, and then smiled back. Zack let go of his arm and Cloud turned around completely to face him.

"Hey," Cloud simply greeted.

"Hey there," the brunet greeted back and scratched his head uneasily.

The blonde couldn't help but examine the football player a bit more closely, now that he was confronted directly by him. His hair was placed in a fashion close to his, although Zack's were less… disordered. They almost had an artful structure. He was a bit taller than him, too, but Cloud already knew that. His skin was tanned despite lack of sun in this time of the year, which gave him the idea it was probably his natural color. He liked that. It contrasted with his whitish one. His skin had no flaw either, apparently. Zack hadn't ever been seen with any acne anyway. His features were strong and defined. He wasn't too buff, something he appreciated in a man. More than him, sure, but Cloud wasn't the athletic type so it was to be expected. It was a rather inviting frame, he had to admit.

More defined features of his body were obviously hindered by his black coat. Cloud knew Zack had one of these hot, sculpted body, but he of course hadn't been able to see it for himself… as of yet. Peeking in PE at Zack could have been an option, but considering the brunet was one year older than he was, they had no classes together at all.

Not that Cloud usually peeked at other guys in PE to see their bodies. Nothing like that.

"I, hum… I'm Zack Fair," he said as he stretched his arm for Cloud to shake his hand.

The blonde stared at him, bewildered by such formality. It took him a moment to react. Zack's face showed he wondered if he had done something wrong.

"Yeah, I know. I'm Cloud Strife, but you must also know about it," the blonde answered, taking the other teenager's gloved hand to shake it slowly. "I'm sorry; I can't really talk with you at the time. My bus is –"

Zack let go of his hand and grinned, showing his pearl white teeth in the process. "I can give you a ride home, if you want."

The jock, like many of other students in senior year had a car of his already and drove back and forth to school everyday. Cloud felt touched by his strong interest. He had never expected Zack Fair to give him a ride home in any circumstances. Reality came crushing into him – maybe Zack really wanted to get and know him more, after all. His conversation with Aerith at lunchtime suddenly came back to his mind, and he crossed his arms on his chest.

"Aerith told you I'd prefer you to come and interact with me by yourself from now on, am I right?"

Zack's eyes went down to his shoes. He looked ashamed. "Yeah. I feel so childish about that, but…"

"It's fine. I'll take you up on that ride offer, though."

x-x-x

"I'm usually pretty expressive and extroverted. It's just… I'm not used to this."

"What, wanting to get closer to another guy?"

"Yeah."

Cloud chuckled, casting his gaze at the defiling landscape outside. Aerith was right – Zack was scared. It was probably normal. He didn't know how to act when it came to men, apparently.

"You know, I'm really surprised you even admitted to yourself you were gay. Guys like you usually try and hide it, or completely deny it," said Cloud quite matter-of-factly.

Zack's eyes didn't quit the road in front of them, but his brows furrowed themselves fiercely at his statement. He somehow looked offended. Cloud realised he had openly insulted him. A sudden, unexpected smile broke on the brunet's lips.

"I know you see me as only one of these stupid jocks. You can judge by yourself if I am or not, but I'd be glad if you gave me a chance," he declared calmly, side glancing at him with an amused expression as the blonde's mouth hung slightly open.

"I never said you were stupid!" tried to argue Cloud, even if he knew that's what he had originally implied by "guys like you".

"I'm aware you don't like who I hang with, Spiky," started Zack with a semi-playful, semi-scolding tone, "but it's no reason to put us all in a whole batch. That's what I liked about you at first, anyhow – how you seemed to disdain popular, half-dumb jocks, even if I was part of them in a way. That's what made me uneasy, but I'm sure you can see through that if you get to know me."

"What you liked about me at first?" he repeated, confusion clear in his voice.

It didn't make sense – they hadn't talked to each other once in their whole lifetime before, so how could he state he liked something about him "at first", when he wasn't even familiar with him to begin with?

"Aerith."

"Ah."

Of course, Aerith. She must have talked about him a lot to Zack. He pondered on how he should make her pay for babbling off about him to people he didn't know about. He wasn't angry, no – annoyed, a bit.

"She's the one who brought you on the conversation, months ago. Here and there, she talked about you, and I found myself interested in who you were," he explained, his features as soft and gentle as they could have possibly been. "You know the rest."

"And here I thought it was because of my good looks," joked Cloud, smirking knowingly at his own nonsense.

Zack's face quickly turned to him. A serious air was swirling about him, which made the blonde raise an eyebrow out of surprise. The jock turned back his attention on their route a second after, cracking a grin. They then stayed silent for a while, the blonde not too sure about what else to say, and the brunet not forcing any conversation, just driving peacefully toward his new friend's home. Cloud was feeling intimidated by the older boy's presence, in fact, as much as he hated to concede. Not because Zack was that popular jock guy, of course – more so because he wasn't the ass he thought he would have been. He was rather nice and polite. Not too pushy, not too macho, not too peeving either. It was both pleasant and strange, all at once. It felt as if it was, somehow, the real Zack – and that was surprising because Cloud liked it. He liked his attitude, how he moved and how he reacted. He understood a little better why Aerith had fallen in love with him, now.

After a few more indications from Cloud on where he lived, they arrived at his home. It was a two story house made of red brick with many windows, and the brunet found it quite to his liking. It looked both old and modern, which was appealing in a certain way.

Zack swiftly parked reverse his Firefly into the driveway, experience and ease clear into his wheel stirring. The blond unbuckled his seatbelt, giving him a grateful smile.

"Thanks for the ride."

"It was my pleasure, Blondie," sincerely spoke up Zack. "Any plans for tonight?"

"We're only Tuesday, so not really," laughed Cloud good heartedly at his inquiry.

"We could go see a movie, if you want!" he excitedly proposed with a child's beam. "They've got this whole 50% discount on everything at the theatre on Tuesdays, so it could be pretty cool."

Cloud, remembering his Physic test the next day, bit his bottom lips. Now that he had told Zack he wasn't doing anything, using the "I need to study" excuse would seem rude and would give the brunet the wrong idea. Cloud wanted to hang out with him, truthfully. He wasn't a bad guy, that much was obvious. His cheerful and happy antics gave him traits of a newborn puppy, which he found kind of sweet, not to say the least. The idea made Cloud smile fondly.

In the end, the blonde young man opted for his old straightforward self.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to study for a test tomorrow..."

Zack's elation instantly fell and he looked away shyly, plainly embarrassed. He was a confident guy, most of the time – largely because nobody turned him down on anything, ever. Cloud was different, and he knew it – even witnessed it, now. That's what made him insecure. This resent to go out with him was a slap to the face, and it hurt more than he would have expected.

"You can come and help me, if you want?" tempted the blonde, putting warmly a hand on his shoulder. "It's Physics, though, so you're warned; it will be boring."

Zack perked up to him with big violet eyes and nodded sluggishly while displaying his best obnoxiously cute expression. The perfectly pursed bottom lip he wore made Cloud roll his eyes. He wasn't sure the jock would be of much help for his study, but he was just so fed up with that test thing he didn't care.

A/N2: OH GOD OH GOD. CLOUD AND ZACK ARE GOING TO STUDY TOGETHER.

Kill me. Now.

I would like some insight on two things - one, are my narrative skills completely sucky? Should I add more details? Etc? Two, are Cloud, Zack and Aerith OOC as of now? Really, I can't stand OOCness, and the characters write about often tend to be (sadly). If some people could answer this, it would be greatly appreciated. I say that mostly because of Zack; I'm turning him into some shy, insecure school girl, and it's... ugh. There are valid reasons on why he is, but I don't know if I picture them well enough for you guys.

Either way, review please.

PS: Firefly is a brand of car made by... Pontiac, I think? I can't remember. I've never been a fan of cars.