It's been a while, sorry. I'm trying to get myself back into the mindset to re-do Centrifugal Force (which I'm taking down today so it can be re-done, just in case anyone reading both this and that missed my update)

Something fluffy and short, but I'm working out the kinks in my writing abilities, I'm coming back out of a slump (hopefully).

Teaching

Angeal has taught Zack quite a lot during their time together.

He's taught him how to fight. Zack always did possess a raw talent, good enough to be noted above all the others in his class, but it was unrefined and often over enthusiastic. Angeal has taught him how to refine his abilities; how to best apply his talents so that he is a truly formidable opponent and a master at their craft…well almost…he's still a bit overenthusiastic.

He's taught Zack a good deal about the politics of ShinRa, though neither of them have much use for such subtleties. Angeal is an honest person, which, he's learned, automatically makes him a bad spokesperson for worldly affairs, but he has learned over time how to manage with such a high position in the army. He knows who's toes he absolutely cannot step on, despite the fact that he could probably use these people's toes to kill them if he so wished. He's learned who is best to go to when a schedule needs changing or leave needs granting in the event that he is not able to do so himself. Zack isn't high up enough to get that sort of thing approved anyway, but Angeal's teaching him early who the proper people are.

He's taught Zack about sex. Despite his puppy-dog eyes, the boy wasn't a virgin when they met, but he still wasn't near as experienced as he was now. His experience with sex has been mainly with women, Angeal taught him about being with another man. He's taught him how to give and take pleasure from submission, he taught him all the things, little or not, that he could do to make another man, even a silent, reserved man like Angeal, cry out in pleasure. He's taught him perhaps a bit too much, because Zack had gotten very good at that.

However, it is impossible to teach someone so much without learning something from them in return.

Zack has taught Angeal to relax. Even as a child, Angeal had always been concerned with the world around him, treating every task as though it were the most important one he would ever do. Zack has taught him that on occasion it's already to sleep in, or if not to sleep, to at least lay around in bed for an extra half-hour or so, simply enjoying the company of the person laying with him. He's taught him that paperwork does not run away or self-destruct (usually) if it is not done the moment he gets home, leaving time to sit and talk together for a while…or to do other things, if Angeal would like?

Zack has taught Angeal that being honorable does not always mean acting honorably, something he had difficult understanding until he caught the younger man slashing the tires of a particularly harsh sergeant who refused to postpone a training outing for an extra day because one of the cadets needed to go to his father's funeral. Angeal does not condone destroying property and he made that clear to Zack by making him buy the man new tires…but he also took the same man aside and was not particularly subtle about pulling rank and demanding that the trip be postponed either.

Most importantly, perhaps, Zack has taught him that there really is always reason for optimism. Angeal is driven by his morals, but that does not mean that he doesn't occasionally feel discouraged or nearly constantly feel disgust at the people around him. ShinRa is corrupt; he and his two best friends are subjected to horrors in order to make them out to be heroes to a public that have no other hope than the manufactured lies ShinRa props up for them. Sephiroth has never known a different life, Genesis…well he expects Genesis is slowly going mad from everything. But Zack…Zack has learned about the darker parts of the program, Angeal has never lied to him about any of it…and yet, he still works. He still wants to be the best he can, he still wants to be a hero, a true hero, of his own making, despite the anti-heroic qualities of the program that would make him one. He still believes that this is possible. It's hard not to be optimistic when in the presence of a person like that.

Yes, Zack has taught Angeal quite a lot during their time together.

Not my best, sorry again. -.-

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