"Looks like someone's keeping up."

"Well, I'm a country boy too."

"From where?" the handsome, black haired SOLDIER asked him, a friendly smile on his features. Cloud couldn't understand how he could be so happy while it was so cold out. There was snow everywhere.

"Niebelheim," the boy answered, easily keeping in step with the man's strides. He was glad the helmet hid his face, since a slight blush appeared on his cheeks when the SOLDIER's laugh sounded in the air. Curious to know more about him, he asked, "How about you?"

"Me? Gongaga."

The boy couldn't keep a small chuckle from coming out of his own mouth. He'd laughed at Niebelheim, when he came from a place called Gonaga? Where was the sense in that?

"Hey, what's so funny about that? You know Gongaga?" Though a little indignant, the SOLDIER's tone was still lighthearted as he pointed a few times at the young infantryman.

"No, but… It's such a backwater name," Cloud retorted, happy to just be conversing with the other male. That, and his statement was true. Niebelheim wasn't any more rural than Gongaga, in any case.

"Ditto Niebelheim." The man turned away, leaving a misty breath where his face had been.

No, wait, I still want to talk… "Like you've been there." His tone was slightly surprised. No one ever went to Niebelheim. There really wasn't anything to see. Unless you liked looking at mako reactors. Of course, he could've passed through on a mission. But Cloud would've certainly remembered him, had that been the case.

"I haven't." The SOLDIER turned around again, still smiling. It seemed his good humor was endless. "But there's a reactor there, right?" He stopped walking to fully face Cloud. "A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means-"

Feeling confident, the infantryman joined in with the SOLDIER's next words. "Nothing else out there." Their eyes locked and they shared a laugh. Cloud could feel a stirring in his heart, though he was sure that this feeling was one-sided.

While he was still standing there with a blush on his face, the SOLDIER turned to face the group, which was still lagging behind them. "Good news, Tseng! Me and…" A blink and pause of realization passed over his face, and he turned to Cloud.

Is he asking for my name? Cloud thought, undoubtedly excited. Maybe the encounter had meant something to the other man as well. He took off his helmet, revealing his face. A smile was still evident on his face as he introduced himself. "Cloud."

Was he just imagining it, or did the black-haired man do a double-take once he saw him? Cloud could feel his heart skip a beat. The SOLDIER was so handsome… "Me and Cloud are both backwater experts!" he crowed, doing a triumphant motion. "Oh, yeah!"

They really let dorks like this into SOLDIER? Cloud thought. He smiled, another redness not attributed to the cold spreading across his face.

--

It had been a week since the end of the mission, where the SOLDIER's older friend, Angeal, was killed. Cloud had learned his name was Zack Fair. Zack Fair… The Shinra Guard found himself daydreaming during training, just repeating his name in his head over and over. And when he found out that he was taking Angeal's death so hard he hadn't left his room, Cloud decided it was up to him to make it better.

He knocked on the SOLDIER's door (it had taken him a few days to find out where he lived), adjusting the bouquet he was holding in his hands. He'd found some daisies growing outside the training center, and thought they might help cheer up the older boy a little. Well, he hoped they would…

He waited for a few seconds. No answer. He wasn't really surprised. If his best friend had been killed, he wouldn't feel like answering the door either. One more knock. He glanced around shyly, imagining footsteps coming down the hallway. It would be really embarrassing to be caught giving flowers to a SOLDIER… Cloud had only spent a small amount of time with him, so he really didn't have a good reason for crushing on him so hard… There was just something about him the blonde boy couldn't ignore.

"He's not coming…" he sighed. He set the bouquet down by the door, hoping that Zack would pick it up later, and still be cheered up. All that really mattered was that he felt better, right? Not that Cloud was the one to change his attitude.

He'd convinced himself of this and had started to walk away when he heard the door open behind him. His face tinged red. Zack had opened his door, and Cloud was still right there. He heard the rustle of the SOLDIER's clothes as he bent down to pick up the bouquet. "Cloud? Are these…from you?" he asked, the boy frozen in front of him.

Cloud turned around to face Zack, looked into his eyes for a moment, then got embarrassed and stared at the ground. "Yeah… I heard you were upset, and I wanted to cheer you up, sir…" he mumbled, memorizing the pattern of the carpet.

There was a short pause, until Zack broke it with a question. "Do you want to come in?"

Cloud looked up from sheer surprise. Come in?? To a 1st class SOLDIER's room?? He wasn't sure if he deserved the honor. Then he strengthened his resolve and nodded. Didn't he want to see where Zack lived? "Sure, I'll come in." As soon as Zack turned away, the blonde pressed a hand against his chest, willing his heartbeat to slow down. He reminded himself that he had no reason to be so happy that Zack was talking to him.

"Cloud? You coming in?" Zack ruffled his hair a little, causing the sunshine-haired boy to blush again. He looked up at the taller boy, quickly pushing the sparkly, fluffy feeling inside of him.

"Hey, watch your hands," he grumbled, swatting at the SOLDIER's hand playfully. Half of him was happy that he was actually joking around so quickly.

"Sorry, sorry," Zack laughed a little. "Just come in, if you want your hair untouched."

"Was that a threat?"

"It could have been." A smile was still on Zack's face, though Cloud could see the bags under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't eaten very well for the last week. Deciding it wasn't really his place to ask why, he followed the SOLDIER in.

"Where should I put these flowers? Hmm…"

As Zack wandered around, still holding the handful of flowers, Cloud looked at a small bedside table up against the wall. On it was a vase full of large, beautiful, white flowers. Cloud froze for a second. The flowers were tied with a white ribbon, like they had been presented as a gift. That, and a small card hung from the ribbon with the words 'With Love' shining on it. His small daisy bouquet seemed insignificant and even stupid in comparison, and his cheeks flushed in shame.

"Zack, those flowers…" He trailed off as he saw Zack put the bouquet in a small vase of its own. Cloud had to admit, the vase was prettier than the larger one had been. He watched as the other boy looked for a decent place to set it, and then decided to put the vase and flowers beside the couch on a small table.

"There we go. They make the whole room brighter, don't you think?" he asked, looking at Cloud.

"Sir… The other flowers you have are prettier," Cloud mumbled in reply, still looking embarrassed by his meager offering.

Zack's glowing eyes (which were gorgeous, Cloud thought) looked toward the other bouquet, then back at Cloud, the smile spreading. "Yes, but those weren't given to me by the one and only Cloud Strife: Country Boy."

At that, Cloud's heart soared so high he swore it hit the top of his head. He had to look away to hide the fact that his face went even redder. He barely knew Zack, and yet every word the SOLDIER said had this much of an effect on him? He needed to be careful.

"I heard you were upset about your friend, so… I wanted to cheer you up," he murmured, his face still tomato-colored. As an afterthought, he added, "Sir."

Zack blinked at him. "You don't need to call me sir, Cloud. I'm barely any older than you are. It's just weird. Besides, soon we'll both be in the same rank in SOLDIER, and 'sir' will be even stranger."

"But I haven't even taken the test to get in."

"Yeah, but I told you-they let me in without much trouble, so you'll be fine." He smiled again. "Thanks for cheering me up. Do you want something to drink?"

--

All that training, for nothing. All those hours on guard duty, going on missions, practicing until his hands bled, meaningless. He knew it had to have been because of the mako injection test- he'd felt strange afterwards, but had been assured there wasn't a problem. That had to be a lie. No one would confirm it, but he knew. His physical examination had been perfect: after all, he'd trained harder than anyone else trying to get in. The thing that had barred his entrance to SOLDIER had been something he had no control over.

Which meant that he was inherently weak. Something that surpassed the physical was just not strong enough to be SOLDIER material, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was weak, and always would be. Cloud, you can't cry. That'll just mean you're even weaker than they think you are. Stop crying! he thought to himself. He was sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest, like he had been for about two hours, ever since he got The News.

A light knock came on his door. Straightening up, he wiped off his face quickly. "Coming…" he mumbled, getting up off his bed. Hoping that his face wasn't red, he walked to the door and opened it. "Zack??" His eyes got wide.

The SOLDIER was standing there with a comforting smile on his face. "Hey, how are you doing?" Cloud looked down a little and saw that Zack was holding a bouquet of flowers. For him. The SOLDIER-reject blinked a few times, then bit his lip when Zack messed with his hair again. "Hey, you're always so quiet. Tell me what's going through your head."

If I tell you what's going through my head, you'll hate me, he thought as he stepped away from to door to let Zack in. He and Zack had met up a few times since Angeal's death, and Zack had always told him he was strong enough to be a SOLDIER. Cloud had believed him; had believed him with his whole being. What would Zack do if Cloud would say that he was weak? He'd be disappointed, to say the least. Especially if he noticed the tearstains on the blonde boy's cheeks.

Unfortunately for Cloud, the SOLDIER had just done that. "Cloud… Were you crying?" The tone in his voice was far from the disappointment he'd imagined; much more concerned. The black-haired boy set down the bouquet he held and touched Cloud's cheek, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "It's okay, I know it doesn't make sense. It's okay to cry."

"No, I wasn't." Cloud's surprised mind finally started working again. Zack was touching his face. He'd never done that before. The blonde quickly told his heart to stop pounding so fast, or it would certainly give him away. He couldn't let Zack know that he liked him as more than just a friend, it would ruin everything they had…

"Cloud, I'm not going to think you're weak for crying. It's okay." There he went again, with soothing words that made the boy's heart ache. "I brought you some flowers, see? Just like you brought me; daises and everything." With a hopeful smile, the 1st Class SOLDIER offered the flowers to the younger boy.

Cloud couldn't keep the tears from falling then. It couldn't be helped- he was weak to the core, too weak to be honest with his friend to say how he felt, and too weak to get into SOLDIER. He failed to hide the tears from Zack, who quickly pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry it hurts so much, kiddo. I wish you'd gotten in too. You should've gotten in." Zack pressed the boy's wet face into his shoulder, letting Cloud twist his fingers into his shirt. He then went on to rock him back and forth gently, all the while whispering comforting words into his ear.

After a while, Cloud leaned his head away from Zack's shirt, though he could've been content inhaling the man's scent for quite some time longer. He looked up into the SOLDIER's mako-colored eyes and held his breath at the expression he saw there. It was so soft, so full of empathy that he almost began to cry again. Zack's face was beautiful; there was no getting around it.

Their faces were a mere inch apart, when Zack's lips moved. "Hey, Cloud, I really should tell you something before you keep hugging me." Cloud was very still, not wanting to accidently move so their lips touched. Zack would probably hate him if that happened.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, expecting the worst. What if he was going to tell Cloud that he should leave, that he shouldn't see him anymore? A sharp pain went through his chest as he realized that there was a huge possibility that Zack knew.

The black-haired SOLDIER looked straight into the younger boy's eyes, a serious look on his face. "Cloud, I love you."

Cloud's eyes grew wide. There was no way he was hearing this, right? Zack couldn't actually… That bouquet he'd had in his room, the white flowers… Those had to have come from a girl; it was a girl's handwriting on the card. And he'd heard Zack talking about visiting a girl in the slums a few times. He couldn't like Cloud, could he? The blonde had to fight to keep from hugging him tight right there. It was almost too good to be true. But he had to at least let Zack finish talking before he replied.

"Ever since I first met you, I knew that I wanted to be more than just your friend. And I know that you probably think I'm some kind of creep for coming out to a guy so honestly, and I'm sorry, but I thought you should-"

That's all the longer Cloud could wait. Impatiently, he tugged Zack's face down closer to his, frowning. "Why don't you stop apologizing and kiss me?"