We're getting pretty close to the end, so we just wanted to thank everyone who's been reading so far. We also apologize for the late update; BriKyo lost her internetz and, strictly by tradition, we write everything here. BTW, I know this is really short, but there's a bit at the end (not spoiling it up here) that we hope will make up for it.

I didn't even think about what I was going to do about my stuff, still in Zack's room. I just know that I had to get out of there. I mean, come on, he's gay. He wanted me. Tifa is the one who picked up on it, but I guess she thought I was cool with it. As if I'd ever be cool with something like that.

"So," she had said, two hours ago, "You've finally gotten over your little homophobe thing, huh?"

"What?"

"Well," Tifa twirled her hair around her finger while she spoke. "He's completely in love with you, can't you tell?"

"What?"

"Yyyyyeaahhh…. I mean, I could just tell. He stares at your ass and everything." She giggled. Giggled. Not the reaction I was expecting from a girl whose boyfriend is being checked out by, are you ready, another guy! "It was kinda cute, actually."

"Cute? … Cute? Tifa, I've been sleeping in the same bed as that guy for, like, a week!!" That just made her giggle harder, so I tried a different tactic. "Doesn't it annoy you or make you jealous? That a guy wants me in bed?"

"Uhm… Well, that's half the reason I came to visit you…" Tifa fiddled with her straw. "Cloud… Uh… Look, this is really hard on me and I know it's not going to be any easier on you, so lets just get it over with. I really love you, you know that, but only as a friend. We were just friends first, and that was comfortable. Plus, in this place, we'd almost never be able to see each other. It's not the distance, Cloud, I could work through that, but we can't just see each other on the weekend and that's it. Basically, I want to break up."

I sat there for what felt like ten years but was probably about five seconds. Completely shell-shocked. "O-Oh…"

"I'm really sorry, Cloud."

So, my world is basically falling down around me. My girlfriend dumped me, Zack's in love with me… The only thing missing is the college saying, "Oh, your financial aid never went through. You're in debt for the rest of your miserable shit-sucking life." But I'm taking control. I refuse to pull a Vincent and be all emo over my last girlfriend, being rejected by Berkeley, et cetera.

"I want a new room mate."

The guy at the front desk, Tseng, looks up from his magazine then starts typing at the computer. "Name?"

"Cloud Strife."

"No can do. I've got orders not to let you change your room."

At first, I thought I misheard him, this strange man from Wutai U. "What?"

"You are not allowed to switch your room. I'm sorry."

"N-No. I have to switch my room. I need to switch."

"Mr. Strife, you are not able to switch your room at this time. I'm sorry."

I shake my head. "No, I don't think you understand. I have to switch. I can't go back there. I mean, I just…"

"Told Zack Fair to go burn in hell." Before I can speak, Tseng has his magazine down and he's looking me in the eye. "Two reasons I know: Number one, the entire floor heard you. Number two, everyone who's roomed with him has already said that, if not something worse."

"A-Ah…" That kind of knocks me off my pegs a bit. "Then… What do I…?"

"Go back. Apologize for yelling at him. I'll see what I can do in the mean time. Good night." So I go back to my room, mentally drafting my apology speech, and Tseng goes back to his magazine.

(Unbeknowst to me at the time, Tseng was smiling pretty damn brightly behind that magazine. Aeris told me later.)

When I get back, Zack is on his side, facing the wall. "Z-Zack…" Between Tseng and right now, I seem to have developed some kind of laryngitis. Great…

"What?" Zack heaves a sigh.

"I… Uhm… Wanted… To apologize… For yelling at you." He doesn't move. "My opinion's no different; I still think you're sick. I just regret yelling at you. Uhm… And I… Am still living here. They can't move me."

I wait for him to blackmail me for sex. Instead, he just raises his arm and flops in the general direction of the other wall. "Your bed came in. It's over there." I look. It is over there. They probably delivered it while I was out, bitching at Tseng.

"Uh… Thanks…"

"Uh-huh…"

After I fall asleep, I find myself staring at the clock that reads 2 AM. Thing is, I went to sleep around 10. Something just doesn't feel right. I don't know what; I'm not overly warm or cold, my pulse rate is normal, Zack is already asleep… Wait… Shit, that's what's wrong. He's gotten me used to sleeping with a warm body next to me. Zack is pretty warm too. Like, solid kind of warm, not all squishy-soft warm like Tifa used to be. Shit… I need to sleep.

I have a test tomorrow. Weiss will fail me for sure if I don't sleep at all. I've got maybe 6 hours if I go to sleep the second my head hits the pillow… On Zack's side of the room. Ugh, I can't believe I'm about to do this.

Quietly, quieter than most mice, I pad across the room with my pillow. He sleeps pretty close to the wall (making me wonder if he's not already used to sleeping with someone on the other side of the bed. Urk… Gay sex… I just threw up in my mouth a little.) So, it's relatively easy for me to just slip right in where I was.

Amazingly, I sleep like a freaking bomb.

Slick warm pleasure, coupled with thorny kind of pains down there, is coursing through me when I wake up. I have to choke back a moan before I open my eyes. It's about ten minutes before I even had to get up. Good enough.

I've got a hard-on though, and Zack is conspicuously absent. Oh, God, he didn't… I mean, he wouldn't have.

"Morning, Cloud," Zack breezes back through the door as I'm sitting up.

"Uh… Hi…" 'Cause, lets face it, I don't want him. He might get the wrong idea.

He's buttoning up a black shirt, which really brings out his eyes and gives me the worst thoughts, until I realize that he was probably taking a shower. Practically unconsciously, I start thinking about that. Him taking a shower, that is. I know, through seeing his arms a couple times, that those are well-defined. I'm talking pythons. Wonder if his chest is too, his abs… His legs…

Fuck!!! I throw off the covers and start hitting myself down there. "Go to sleep!" Jab. "Go to sleep!" Jab.

"You… uh.. You feeling okay?" I look up at him. He's staring at me like I just turned into a Chocobo. I never noticed but he's got puppy eyes… Ffffffuuuuccckkkk….

"Y…Yeah… I just… Have an OCD kind of ritual. I have to… beat the morning wood…" My face flushes at even talking about hard-ons in this situation. Then I realize what I just said. God… "Oh… Th-That came out wrong."

"No, I get it. You have to beat yourself up. Not your… ah…"

"Yes! Exactly!"

"Well, uhm… You… You do that…" He thumbs at the door. "I've got class. I'll see you in a while."

"Cool," I squeak. The door shuts and I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding. I have to take care of this before Weiss' class. Like, now.

Carefully, like it's last night and I'm scared of someone hearing me, I crawl back over to my bed and lay on my side. My fingers trail along the length of my dick before I grab onto it, gently. Not too hard, just enough to feel it. While I stroke myself, my finger wanders up to play with the moist head.

I huff, gently, sotp teasing myself, and fucking move. Color and lights start exploding before my eyes. I hiss and shake and move my hips viciously against an imaginary lover until cum spills out across my fingers.

As I wipe the stuff on my sheets and start running over what I'm being tested on today, I shake my head. For God's sake, I was picturing Zack for that whole thing.