Disclaimer: I do not in any way at all claim ownership of the characters, plots, or settings of FF7. They are Square Enix's. I do own any and all creatures/people/places/etc that are here-with created by me. Meaning, in other words, MINE!
Review Replies:
Shonen-Ai Fanatic: O.O! Quietly puts more fluff in her fanfic Lol, glad you like it.
xXTwilight AuroraXx: Aye, I'm updating faster due to stress I think. Which is a good thing, in a way. Yes, he got him the chocobo, but there are other presents too. Yes, poor poor Zack. Maybe next time, he'll actually try a good kiss. And who knows, maybe he will agree to share a room with Zack. XD
Kirallie: Aye! I think he was shocked that he'd been rejected so forcifully too. I torture Zack so much.
Nat: I'm glad he seems 'natural' like in the story. I can see Cloud acting like that, not all closed-off like in the game, which is from Zack dying I believe.
Darkkatana: I totally agree! Squee's
Chapter 5
He stared, unable to believe what he was seeing, as his dark-haired roommate proceeded to pull a chair over to the middle of the living room. He held a hammer, a nail between his teeth, and a familiar-looking plant. "Zack. Tell me you didn't steal mistletoe from the restaurant."
He got a cheeky grin in response. "Alright, I won't say it. But trust me, we needed it more then that place." So I have an excuse to kiss you again!
"Why?"
"So I have an excuse to kiss you again! Oops!" His mouth clamped shut and eyes went wide. Shit! Didn't mean to say that aloud! "I mean, so I can properly greet our guests."
He had inched away at the dark-haired man's outburst, giving him a plainly evil look. I wish Aeris could have stayed. She was always able to distract him. "What do you mean, guests?"
"I didn't tell you? I invited over all of Soldier for a Christmas party. You know, not all those presents are for you." Zack said, motioning towards where, what had started as a small pile, had grown into a mountain of gifts.
"No, but I did count at least six that were to me from..." He walked over to one and read the tag. " Let's see, "To: Cloud, From: The Man You Know You Secretly Love." Zack, tact is not your strong point."
Zack snorted, climbing down after nailing the mistletoe up. "Pshaw! Who needs tact when one is certain? I can see it in your eyes, you want me." The man struck a pose, running a hand down his chest and across his stomach, eyes half-lidded.
Cloud watched him with a blank look. "Oh yes, Zack. I want you sooooo badly, I can barely restrain myself. Just look at me drool." He said in a dead monotone. "After living with you Zack, I think I can safely say you are not my type." Liar!
"Ooooo! Not your type, you say. Lemme try and guess then what is your type!" The man bounced around the blonde as he walked over to a couch.
The blonde shrugged. "Go for it." He picked up a book, flipping to his place in it.
"Hmmm, pretty girls like Aeris?"
"Nope."
"Ugly girls!"
"No." A turn of a page.
"Cold, distant, dominating guys like Sephiroth?" A dip in the couch as the other man sat down.
"No."
"Blonde pretty boys like you and Rufus?"
"Hell no."
"A cute person?"
"Yes." Another turn of a page.
Zack cheered. "I got somewhere! Okay, how about...me?" He said as a joke.
"Yup."
"Okay, hmmm. Red-heads!"
"No."
"What about...wait a second! Did you say yes to one of my questions?"
"Nope. Damn, my favorite character just died." The blonde reached up and fiddled with one of his spikes, still absorbed in his book. "They always kill off the ones I like."
Zack scowled, rocking slightly in beat to a song in his head. "I'm bored!" When the words produced no response, he slid closer to his friend and poked him. "I said I'm bored!"
"What the hell do you want me to do about it?"
"Entertain me!"
Zack flinched as Cloud glared at him over his book. "You're joking right? No, its you. You're not." He scowl deepend as Zack decided to reach over and start playing with his hair, trying to make it lie flat. "What are you doing?"
"Entertaining myself."
"Can't you like, go wrap more presents?" He batted Zack's hand away. "Fine! Stop touching my hair and I'll pay attention to you." He sighed, marked his page, and set his book aside. "Well?"
"Let's bake cookies!" He flinched at the incredulous look. "Okay, okay. I know, I'll only burn them. How about you help me decorate?" He motioned toward where he had yanked several boxes out of a small attic space above the blonde's room. "I have to get them all up by tomorrow."
Cloud shrugged and hauled himself to his feet, carefully skirting around the 'danger zone', or area under the mistletoe. "Hey Zack."
"Yeah?" He looked over at him, tinsel glinting in his hair from the box he had been rumaging through.
The blonde lifted out a large wreath, looking it over before setting it down. "What do you want for Christmas? I didn't know what to buy you when we went shopping and I want to make sure I got you at least one thing you like." A silence stretched out between the two and Cloud fidgetted nervously, finally turning towards the other man. He was staring at him, eyes big and watery. "Zack? Are you crying?"
"You want to buy me something! It means you think I'm your friend!"
It was perhaps the most spectacular flying leap in all history, the man slamming into his startled friend and wrapping him into a bear hug. The two went rolling around on the floor, Cloud trying to break free and Zack refusing to allow him to do so. Zack laughed as he finally flipped the blonde and neatly pinned him down, sitting on his stomach and holding both of his wrists in one hand. The blonde growled, trying to buck him off.
"Get off!"
"When are you going to learn you can't win?" He paused, noting the panting body beneath him. Aw, shit. This is bad. This is really, really bad. God, he's so cute. "You know Cloud, a lesser man could get ideas." Smooth, Zack. Real smooth, you moron!
Cloud froze, giving him a furious glare. "You are a lesser man. Get off right now. Now!" A not of panic tinged his voice, so slight it was almost unnoticable.
"Aw, don't you trust me?" Zack pouted, but moving off before he did something that would really screw him over. "You know, you've changed a lot." Zack mused, watching Cloud from where he was kneeling
"What's that supposed to mean?" The blonde's nose wrinkled in distaste as he pulled a gaudy-looking bow out of a box. "Fair warning, I'm burning this thing the moment your back is turned."
"Go for it. I hate it anyway. Seriously though, when I first met you, what was it, four months ago now? I could barely talk to you, much less get within reach." The blonde shrugged, and Zack took notice for the first time that he looked like he had grown a few inches. "I always meant to ask, why were you so afraid of me?" The effect was instantaneous, the blonde's muscles tensing and his movements sliding from fluid to strained. Damn it! Wrong question to ask. "You don't have to answer, I was just curious is all." Zack quickly amended.
Cloud stared at the floor, not moving as he struggled internally. "You...were an adult." He muttered quietly. "And a Soldier. I knew there was no way to out-power or out-run you. That's really all I can say to explain it."
"You were afraid because I was an adult? I don't understand."
"I'm not very well-liked in my hometown, okay. So just, drop the matter. I don't like talking about it." A fine shudder ran through him. Knowing Zack, he'd go to my home and threaten them all. He really is a good...friend. "Where do you want this?"
"Huh? Oh, anywhere." Zack muttered vaguely as his roommate toed a box. "Hey, Spike, I gotta run out for a little bit. I'll be back soon, okay?"
He got a non-comittal sound from the blonde as he left, striding quickly down the hallways. Shit, what the hell happened to him as a kid? I need to talk to Seph. He didn't even bother to knock or allow the secratary time to tell him he wasn't allowed in, the dark-haired man barrelled into his friend's office, earning a look. Papers were stacked on either side of the man's desk and he marked his place on one with a red pen.
"Can I help you? Or are you here to annoy me with talk about your cute roommate all day?" Sephiroth asked.
"I need access to his files actually. Come on Seph, I know you have access to them and its important." The other man pleaded.
The silver-haired man walked over to a large set of drawers and flipped one open, running a finger along the tabs of the files within, before yanking one out. "Only for the fact that you're dead serious and actually begging me for help instead of expecting it, am I allowing you access to this. That and he's the only recruit who hasn't swooned at my feet the first time he saw me. You have to tell me what this is all about though."
"Something happened in his hometown to him, I want to know what." Zack explained simply, taking the folder and instantly flipping through it. "Here's his mother's number. If I don't find what I need in here, I'm calling her."
He went through the useless physical facts and paused in the mental examinations. "Anti-social...they just don't know him. He is not depressed, I don't know what these bastards are talking about."
Sephiroth sighed, reached over, and yanked out a set of paper-clipped papers from the folder. "These are the ones you want."
"Oh! Thanks. Hey, have you looked at his file already?"
"Once or twice."
Zack glared at him indignantly. "Without me? Do you know what happened to him?" His tone dropped to a concern one.
"Want me to just tell you?" The other man nodded. Sephiroth reached over and took the set of papers flipping through them rapidly. "He has no father that he knows of, social misfit in his hometown. I can safely say you're the first friend he ever had. Doctors found a series of old fracture and break lines, showing that he's been injured quite severely several times." He flipped to another page. "Surprising fact is, it wasn't kids. The other children stayed away from him, ignored him for the most part actually. It was the adults, mostly, who caused the damage. Apparently he was a type of scapegoat and whipping boy wrapped up into one for the town. When pressed about how he obtained the injuries, he completely closed down. Shinra had to go to his family, just like you were threatening to do. Zack, you're putting scratches into my desk."
Zack started, looking down to where his nails had indeed dug in to the wood and torn shavings from it. "How...did it happen?"
"I assume you mean the injuries. Well, his mother is like him. Stubborn and closed-off, but they got at least some of the story. More then they would ever get with him. Apparently, some girl in the village got hurt and Cloud was blamed. Her father beat the kid almost to death if the accounts are true, until Miss Strife pulled a gun on him. She said it wasn't the first time, but refused to speak of any other instances. Anything else you need to know?"
"What did the girl's father look like?" I'm going to murder him.
"Black hair, tall, grey-eyed. A little over-weight, not much. That's about all I can tell, since that's what's written in the report." He looked up, noting his friend had an expression much like a person who's seen a ghost. "Zack?"
"So, in other words, he bears some physical features that are similar to me, right?"
Green eyes scanned the papers quickly, the pupil sharpening to a thin line. "In a way, yes. Here we go, Lockheart. He's a bit taller then you, a little heavier. And his hair is a lot less wild. Other then that, you're both built, both have same color hair and eyes." He snapped his gaze back to the dark-haired friend. "So...that's why he was more scared of you then me. Interesting. I always noticed he avoided the adults, but he seemed particularily set on avoiding you, even though you were obviously the nicest one to him."
"So, it wasn't just my imagination. Listen, I need to get back. You're coming over tomorrow, right?" He stood up, moving towards the door. "I'll see you then, okay?"
"Zack!" Sephiroth frowned, the other man already gone.
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"About time you got back. I'm almost done with these two. And I am NOT putting up the stuff in that green-marked box." There was no response and Cloud twisted around on the ladder he was standing on, till he could see where Zack was leaning against the closed door. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. I just, need a drink." He yanked a bottle out of the fridge, looked at it and shook his head. "A strong drink. Looks great by the way. The decorations."
The blonde climbed down off the ladder, watching as the older man pulled out a bottle of Wutai whiskey, drinking straight from the bottle. "Zack, what's wrong? I've never seen you touch that stuff unless something bad has happened, so tell me what the hell is wrong?"
"I'm sorry."
The blondes face clouded over with confusion and he tentatively reached out a hand to take the bottle from his roommate. "What? For what?"
"Nothing. Hey, let's go out to eat tonight? I'm tired of take-out." He snatched the bottle back, took another swallow before putting it back, grateful for the burn of the alcohol. It helped him think. I can't tell him yet. He'd never trust me again. Dear gods though, what he went through. "Let's go, I'm hungry and buying."
"You always buy. Forget that, I'll make us something tonight. I hate restaurants anyway." He paused, waiting for Zack to make some remark or other, but the man only nodded. "Alright, now I know something is wrong. If you don't tell me, I'll hit you."
Zack shook off the numb depression that had unknowingly fallen over him and grinned at the blonde. "Well, I figured you'd hit me anyway if I said that this was our first date."
"Bullshit. That wasn't it. I'm not stupid, Zack. You left after what I said and knowing you're one of the highest-ranked men here and friends with THE highest-ranked man, I can easily tell you went to find out what I meant. You went to go read my file, right? I don't care okay, all my officers have." He glared at the dark-haired man. "You want confirmation I suppose, right? Yeah, well I didn't do it. It was Tifa's fault, I just got the blame."
He gaped at the fuming blonde, eyes wide. Never seen him so angry! "I-I..."
"Don't lie to me. I don't like it. I don't care if you read it or not, its simply facts. But don't lie to me." Cloud turned away, slamming open cabinets and yanking things out.
Ooookay. Just a little lost, but he doesn't hate me! Yay! So...what exactly just happened? "Cloud? Are you mad at me?"
"Yes."
He winced. Back to monosyllables. "Because I...?"
"Lied."
"Oh." He chewed on one lip. "I'm sorry."
"Okay."
"Really, I am. I'll make it up to you. Please, forgive me?" He clasped his hands together, begging with his eyes.
Cloud sighed. "Whatever."
"Can I have a hug?"
"Get out of my kitchen."
Zack pouted, but willingly went to go sit on the couch. He picked up the book Cloud had been reading. "Dark Vengeance. Book 3 of the Death Seeker Trilogy." He flipped it open to a random page and started reading. He kept glancing at the man in the kitchen, relieved when the tenseness he had come to know as anger in the blonde, melted away. There was still a strained silence between them though, and the Soldier was itching to break it. "Hey Spike!"
"Now what?"
"Wanna be my date to the party?"
Blue eyes stared at him, even as Cloud kept cutting up vegetables. "You're never going to give up, are you?"
"Huh?"
"Fine." He went back to fixing their dinner.
The Soldier was bug-eyed, completely stunned. "Did you say yes!"
"Mhmm. And you're not allowed to back out now, you asked afterall. Hmmmm, I need more pepper in this."
A wicked smile crossed Zack's lips as he rushed to snatch up the phone, hitting one of his speed dial buttons. "You owe me a new chocobo and a month's wages! I got him to say yes!" He said the moment a voice answered him.
"I don't believe you." Sephiroth's dry voice came back.
"Cloud, Cloud! Tell him you said yes!"
"You made a bet on whether I would say yes?" The scorn was thick in the blonde's tone.
Zack fidgetted. "Well, no. It was more of a bet on whether I could get you to go out with me to something by the end of the year."
"I see." He held out his hand for the phone. "Yeah, I agreed to be his date for the Christmas party. I'm expecting half of the bet reward, by the way."
Silence filled by the faint crackling of static the Shinra buildings caused in the phone lines. "Do you want the money or the chocobo?"
"I want the money."
Zack growled. "Hey! Don't I get a say in this? I needed that, after all I spent this year."
"Don't make me retract my agreement."
"Manipulative bastard."
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A.N.- Yay for randomness. Okay, so my mind is completely wandering, which I think affected my writing. So, terribly sorry about that, first and foremost. Anyway, it was always my thoughts that Cloud would become looser and more joking with those who got close to him as time went on, that's why he's kind of taking a Zack tone to him. That, and I wanted to speed their relationship along. XD
Anywho, not much to say. Almost done with my finals, yippee! And I'll hopefully get the next chapter out in the next couple of days. Now for the questions of the chapter:
What did Cloud get Zack? Hint: There's three presents.
What did Zack get Cloud, besides the chocobo? Hint: There's eight in total.
Anywho, next chapter is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Should be much fun to write. See you at the end of that chapter!