Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, and Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix and Disney. Not to me... oh poo.
" This doesn't make any sense!" Cloud complained, his head dropping down onto his books.
" Sure it does! Come on, you can do this!" Zack said from across the kitchen table.
It was a Tuesday night and Cloud was cramming for a math final. He had actually been 'studying' all week, but with other homework and a social life, he had only skimmed over the math.
Zack seemed to be a natural at math. Well Zack seemed to be a natural everything, but math was one of his stronger subjects, so he had offered to help Cloud out after school.
It was now eleven o'clock in the evening, and Cloud still didn't understand one of the most important parts of the whole subject.
"Come on, just calm down, relax, and then come back to it." Zack said while reaching across the table and grabbing Cloud's hand.
Cloud stiffened for a moment, and slowly relaxed when Zack started to massage his one hand.
' Great, not only is he holding my hand, he's massaging it. Don't do anything to mess this up.' He thought as Zack started to rub small circles on his palm with his thumb.
" That feels good..." He muttered into the table, his eyes drifting shut. Zack just hummed in acknowledgment and started to massage a little harder. " What time is it?" Cloud asked.
" It's...shit, it's already eleven!" Zack exclaimed. " I told my parents I would be home by ten...oh well."
" You should get home then." Cloud said, regretfully taking his hand back and lifting his head up.
" But you still don't get this last part!" Zack's eyes got a little big, worry etched on his face. " Can't have you going into a test like this without understanding something."
" Don't worry, I think I'm pretty close to getting it. I'll re-read the notes and do some more practice questions. You should get home." Cloud stood quickly, knocking over a few books in the process.
" Crap." He sighed, kneeling down to pick them up. Zack soon followed, helping pick up the remaining loose pieces of paper.
" Thanks." Cloud said looking up from the floor. He suddenly realized how close he was to Zack. So close he could see his eyelashes. His face suddenly flushed and he tried to look away.
To bad Zack had other ideas. He quickly placed one of his hands on Cloud's cheek and turned his face so he was starring back at Zack. He started to slowly stroke Cloud's cheek with his thumb.
' Damn Zack and his thumbs!' Cloud cried.
He felt himself slowly lean in. He was so close, so close he could feel Zack's warm breath on his face...just a few more inches...
" Ooooh, would you look at this?" Roxas drawled, walking into the kitchen towards the fridge. " Don't mind me!" he said, a smirk on his lips.
Cloud jerked back slightly from the interruption, the mood properly ruined.
" Well I should be going now!" Zack grinned, standing up. " Shouldn't you be in bed?" He asked Roxas, giving him a questioning glance.
Roxas gave him a 'look' and walked out of the kitchen, a banana in hand.
" Cute kid, but one hell of an attitude...kinda like someone else I know." Zack grinned staring at Cloud. Cloud glared back slightly. " Well best be off. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He walked past Cloud, ruffling his hair and continued out the door.
" I asked you to stop doing that!" Cloud protested, trying to get his already crazy head of hair under control.
" Aw, but your so cute when you get all huffy!" Zack winked, and took off down the walkway. " Get a good night sleep, and don't worry about the exam!" He called, still walking away.
" Yah yah..." Cloud said, waving slightly and closing the door. As soon as the door was closed Cloud spun around.
" ROXAS!" He bellowed, running up the stairs.
He ripped open Roxas's bedroom door and stormed in.
" What. The. Hell." He stated. " You totally did that on purpose!"
" Yes, because I waited outside the kitchen for a few hours, right until Isaw you leaning in to Zack, and then I was like: Yes my time has come! I must ruin Cloud's romantic life, and steal Zack...for...myself?" Roxas slowly stopped what he was saying, realizing things were getting a little odd.
" You could have, you know, just walked away without saying anything!" Cloud shot back.
" And why would I want to do that? I was hungry, and you were in the kitchen. Not my fault you and Zack like to go at it in a public area." Roxas said, smirk turning into an all to familiar cocky grin.
Cloud's eyes narrowed. " You have been hanging out to much with Axel...I'm not sure I like it. He seems to be a bad influence on you."
" Crap, see now you sound like mom! Go put on her favorite pink apron and cook me something. Ah, better yet, why not call Zack back over, the kitchen seems to put both of you in the mood!"
Cloud let out a barbaric yell and jumped across the room landing on Roxas.
"First I am going to rip out your tongue so you can no longer speak-"
" MOM! Shit that hurts, MOM-"
" - then I am gonna steal all your video games-"
" Ouch! Not fair, if you keep doing that I'm going to-"
"- And after that ill shave off your eyebrows-"
Suddenly heavy footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway and a shadow loomed over the doorway.
Their mother walked in, seeing Cloud trying to push a half eaten banana in Roxas's face, while Roxas hit Cloud multiple times in the head with a pillow.
Both stopped doing what they had been doing, and Cloud looked up, eyes wide. Roxas used Cloud's momentary distraction to kick Cloud off of his bed.
Cloud hit the floor with a heavy thud.
" Ow." He mumbled rubbing his head.
Mr. Guado was an evil demon robot thing, who had come up from the depths of hell, just to make Cloud's life aggravating, and generally irritating.
Just ten more minutes and the class would be over, and he could find out what he had gotten on the test he took a few days ago.
After Zack had left, and he managed to get himself out of being grounded because of his fight with Roxas, he stayed up late figuring out the missing piece of the puzzle. By the end of it, he felt he had a strong grasp on the part he didn't understand, and was confident when he wrote the test.
But he wouldn't know how he did until Mr. Guado stopped rambling on about whatever the hell he was talking about, and would give them their exams back.
Cloud spent most of the class fidgeting, and sighing. He just couldn't get comfortable, and he couldn't pay attention. He bobbed his leg up and down, and when he stopped that he would tap his pencil. More then once Sephiroth would shoot him a look that clearly showed his annoyance with the constant fidgeting.
" Now would everyone stay in their seats while I hand back the tests, you may leave when you get yours back." He finally said, walking to his desk and pulling out a stack of papers.
He went in alphabetical order and Cloud thought he was going to burst while he waited for everyone else to get theirs back.
Mr. Guado walked by and calmly placed Cloud's test face down on his desk and continued on his way.
Cloud quickly flipped over the paper, almost dropping it on the floor with his frantic movement. He scanned over the front of the page looking for his mark, and his eyes fell on something he wished he never saw.
He failed...by one mark.
Cloud wanted to scream, or throw something. Instead he just sat there, a defeated look on his face. He couldn't have failed, he shouldn't have failed.
" You may all leave now, the bell has gone...have a nice weekend." Mr.Guado said as everyone started to leave their seats and head out the door.
Cloud slowly got out of his desk, the shock of everything starting to wear off, to be replaced with anger.
' Just don't start screaming now...wait till you are out in the hallway, or better yet, wait until your outside the school, that way, people won't think your insane.' Cloud thought as he slowly walked out of the classroom.
He headed down towards his locker, when he felt a strong arm fling around his shoulder, and felt someone lean on him.
" Hey there, cutie!" He heard Zack say into his ear. " How is my favorite person?" He asked, his arm still wrapped around Cloud.
Oh great, the anger stage seems to have been replaced with the completely and utterly destroyed stage. Cloud now just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Yes, Cloud felt like a real man now.
Cloud looked up into Zack's smiling face and saw it quickly fall into a frown, when he saw the look on Cloud's face.
" Aw, what's the matter?" he asked, pulling Cloud over to the side of the hallway, out of the rush of people.
Cloud looked away and shoved his test into Zack's hand. He then quickly spun around and took off down the hallway.
He made is pretty far before he heard Zack call his name from down the hallway and heavy footsteps come towards him. Cloud just pushed forward, ignoring all the glares he got from people he pushed out of the way.
He really didn't want to see Zack right now. He had worked so hard to help Cloud pass this test, and what did he do? He failed it. He let himself down, and he also let Zack down.
He got outside and headed down the main pathway, when Zack finally caught up to him.
"What's going on? Why won't you stop walking and talk to me?" Zack franticly asked, changing his pace so he was walking beside Cloud.
Cloud stopped walking and just stood there.
"I fucked up the test...the test you worked so hard on helping me with, so I would pass! I let you down, and I let myself down..." Cloud stated, and continued walking.
"Hey Cloud! I'm not angry at you, and you didn't let me down! I think you did the best you could, and you tried!" Zack continued walking with Cloud. " Here, come with me." He grabbed Cloud's hand and dragged him off to the side of the school.
Cloud followed. He started to get confused when Zack lead him away from the school, and towards a park.
The walked into the small forest, towards a large tree with thick branches that hung down, making it east to climb.
Zack let go of Cloud's hand and started up the tree, stopping at a branch and climbing up it so he was sitting on it. He looked down at Cloud and grinned.
"Come on up!" He said, waving. Cloud followed the way Zack had gone, and found himself sitting on the branch, looking out at the rest of the park.
They sat there for a moment in silence, just watching the birds flutter from tree to tree, and the bugs buzz around.
"I like to come here when I'm upset...it always relaxes me...it's my special place." Zack stated, looking over at Cloud.
"It's really nice." Cloud whispered, still looking out at the scenery. "Do you come here with anyone else?" He asked, looking down at his dangling feet.
"Nope, your the first." Zack smiled, and looked ahead again.
They just sat there for what seemed like hours, watching the world go by in a comfortable silence. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky when Zack started to talk again.
" We should get going..." Zack jumped down from the tree and landed with a thud. " Careful when you jump down, the grounds a little uneven." He called up.
Cloud looked down, trying to judge the best place to jump down too. It all looked pretty even to him up where he was, so he just closed his eyes and dropped down.
He stumbled slightly, and felt Zack's arms reach around him, to stabilize him.
Cloud looked up at Zack and straitened slightly, so they were face to face. They just stood there a moment, the whole world seemed to have stopped.
Cloud felt himself leaning in again, and remembered the last time this had happened. Well this time, he wasn't going to let anyone interrupt. He quickly closed the distance between them, and gave a short kiss to Zack's lips, quickly pulling away.
He didn't want to force himself on Zack. He didn't know if Zack felt the same way for him, even though almost all the signs pointed to it...but he wanted to be on the safe side.
Cloud looked into Zack's eyes and saw a moment of confusion, and then a small smile grace his lips.
" I was wondering when you were going to do that..." He whispered, and leaned forward, capturing Clouds lips with his own.
Zack's tongue licked at Cloud's lower lip, making Cloud whimper slightly. Cloud opened his mouth slightly letting Zack's tongue enter and graze the top of his mouth. He heard Zack moan slightly, and pushed himself up against Zack.
Cloud felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He had never kissed anyone quite like this, and had never felt this much passion before. He thought he would get caught up in the heat and power of it all and never come back. He felt like he could die now, and be happy. It felt so right to him.
When they finally broke apart, Cloud found himself pressed up against the tree, his fingers knotted up in Zack's wild hair, while Zack's hands rested on Cloud's waist.
Zack drew away slightly, breathing a little heavily, his eyes heavy lidded. He looked at Cloud for a moment, and then pressed his forehead up against Clouds.
Cloud just stared into Zack's eyes, and smiled. Zack smiled back, and gave Cloud another quick kiss before letting go of Cloud and stepping back slightly.
" So what about that math test?" he asked.
" What math test?" Cloud breathed out.
" Exactly." Zack winked, grabbing Cloud's hand. Cloud leaned up against Zack, their fingers interlocking with each others as they walked into the open field of the park, both feeling more complete then they had felt in a long time.
Authors Note: Oh boy! I gotta send out MAJOR thanks to my Beta, Cid! Without her this chapter ( and this whole story) wouldn't be available for you guys to enjoy! Today I was getting ready to post this up and realized I didn't have chapter 5 edited on my computer! So I called her up and without hesitation she fixed it all for me! Yay! Anyways, there you have it! They have kissed (finally)! Thats the first kissing scene I have ever written so I hope it was okay! And again, thank you for all the awesome reveiws and for all of you who are reading! Love you guys!