BEFORE WE BEGIN: ... oh, wait, I have nothing to say this time... READ ON!

Cloud stepped into the shower, smiling coyly back at Zack. "Come on, keep up."

"What's the hurry? Why so eager?"

Cloud looked down pointedly, spreading his arms.

"Ah. Well then. Let's go." Zack pushed past Cloud to get into the shower, turning the water on on the way in. "I can't believe you're still horny... Not that I'm complaining, just..."

Cloud giggled, reaching down to stroke the length of Zack, reveling in the shudder it elicited. "See? It's not that hard..." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Figuratively." He giggled again.

"Somehow, I don't think you'd like it if it wasn't hard," Zack teased.

Cloud pushed up against Zack, whining in anticipation of what was to come. Zack smiled to himself and reached around to grab Cloud's ass. Cloud squealed, pushing Zack against the wall. In an attempt to keep his balance, Zack reached out and grabbed Cloud's arm, accidentally pulling Cloud against him. Cloud squeaked as he fell into Zack's arms, his feet sliding out from under him.

Cloud, practically on his knees, looked up at Zack. "Ow. My chest hurts now..."

Zack looked past Cloud's head. "Sorry." He pulled Cloud up by the shoulders, setting him back on his feet. Looking down at him, absorbing every detail of his face, his body... his throbbing penis... Seeing all of this, he bent down, kissed Cloud on the lips. "Damn you're hot."

Cloud giggled, pushing away from Zack and bending down to switch the water to the overhead faucet. Zack watched the muscles in Cloud's thighs work and his lower set of cheeks open, revealing a tight little hole.

If Zack wasn't hard before, he definitely was now.

Zack rolled out of bed, hitting his head on the bedside table on the way down to the floor. "Ah. Fuck. At least it shut the alarm off..." He lay on his back, staring at the underside of his bed for a few moments. That was when he realized... It was Friday! Zack attempted to sit up, hitting his head on the underside of the bed ("Shit!"), which in turn hit the bedside table, bumping the alarm clock... ("Nononono!") and causing the 5-pound SOLDIER-issue combination alarm/clock/two-way radio to fall onto his... "Special" area ("Holy fucking motherfucker shit cock whore cum what the fuck ooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!").

Angeal's voice came drifting up to him from somewhere around his testicles. "You okay, Zack?... Hello?"

"Yeah. I'm good," Zack squeaked in a voice far too high-pitched to be his own. He attempted to clear his throat, and said, in a much better interpretation of his own voice, "Don't worry about me. Be out in a sec."

"Alright," Angeal's voice said unconcernedly, and clicked off.

Zack let out a long, shaky breath, rolling onto his side and letting the clock fall off. He sat up slowly, shaking his head to clear the red haze surrounding his vision and tentatively feeling the injured area. "Fuck. Why are those things so goddamn heavy?"

Easing himself to his feet, he gingerly bent to replace the clock in its normal position, then leaned down and took out a pair of loose fatigues, worn from years of training. He sat down slowly, pulling on one leg at a time, until he had the pants all the way on. "Aright. Aright. Let's go." He dug through his drawers until he found a clean shirt, threw it on, and reached under the bed for his boots, broken in at the same time as the fatigues.

Pulling on the steel-toed SOLDIER-issue boots, he walked out of the barracks and into the sunshine. Stretching, he watched as Angeal jogged up to him from across the field surrounding the track ring. "Hey, Zack, I heard you got yourself a new boyfriend."

Zack froze, staring at Angeal. "How did..." Zack stopped at the sight of Angeal's widening grin. "Genesis saw you follow him. He got curious, tailed you. Says you weren't paying much attention to anything but the kid. Good job on the pickpocket though. He never saw you coming."

"Uh... Thanks?"

Angeal kept smiling. "The recruits are coming in in half an hour. South gate. They'll get their directions from there."

Zack was stunned at Angeal's interest in his... For lack of a better word... Crush. "Uh... Thanks?"

"No problem. Now go. Time's a-wasting." He jogged off, and Zack noticed Sephiroth fall in step with him. "Huh." Zack shrugged and began to walk toward the southern end of the complex, smiling to himself.

Half an hour later, there Zack was, eating half a bagel he had snagged from the kitchen on the way over. As the busses filed in, Zack watched every single recruit get off, remembering, not very fondly, his first day on campus. He was determined that Cloud should not have the same experience.

He saw a blonde frill and straightened, watching the boy struggle under the weight of his bags. "Jesus, Cloud. Pack much?" He muttered under his breath. He could hear the yelling from across the parking lot. "Go! Go! Go! Why aren't you running?! Get to your squad leaders NOW! Do I have to tell you again, you bunch of pussies?! Bus 1 to the left, 2 to the right, 3 in the middle! Go! Go! Go!" As the recruits ran in fear from the red-faced drill sergeant, Zack began to walk across the parking lot slowly. He had a perfect view of Cloud's tight little butt, working back and forth, back and forth under the weight of his too-large bag. "Damn..." Zack realized he was working his way to an erection and quickly looked up at the sky, trying to find shapes in the clouds... Cloud... Zack cursed under his breath and looked down instead, watching his boots tread the gravel underfoot.

"Go! Go!... Hey, Zack. What's up? Did I tell you to stop?! Keep moving!"

"... Oh, hi Cam. Since when were you a drill sergeant?"

"Since today. First day on the job... What is wrong with you?! Why aren't you running?!"

Zack pulled his fingers out of his ears. "Well, you're certainly good at it."

"You think so? Thanks."

"Uh-huh." As Cam continued to shout orders, Zack walked over to the middle group of recruits, where Cloud was sitting on his bag, panting heavily with his head between his knees, presumably trying to stop the world from spinning.

"Yo."

Cloud looked up suddenly, and when he recognized Zack, he began to smile, then looked like he was about to be sick and put his head back down. "Uh... Hi."

"You shouldn't move too suddenly if you've been exercising a lot," Zack said, laughing.

"I gathered that, thanks... Hey, is there any chance of you helping me with some of this?" Cloud looked up, slowly this time, and obviously taking in every detail of Zack's appearance on the way up.

Zack struck a heroic pose, as much because the other kids were staring at him in awe as to give Cloud something better to look at. "Sorry. Wish I could, but," Zack clucked his tongue, "you brought this upon yourself. Next time don't bring your house." Some of the other recruits chuckled at this through their panting. "... Though I can help you once we get inside the building." Zack smiled contentedly.

A second drill sergeant came over, nodding to Zack. "Get a move on, you bunch of pussies! Building 3! Go! Go! Go!... These kids look like a bunch of idiots, if you ask me," he murmured to Zack.

"I don't know. There's some promising-looking ones," Zack said distractedly, watching the cute little backside of one in particular.

"Riiight... If you say so... Go! Go! Go! You're not running fast enough! Do you want to sleep, or do you want to drop and give me 20?!... Answer me!"

"Sleep, sir," all the recruits called out in unison.

"Then GO!"

Five minutes later, they were at the barracks, and half the group was on the ground, panting. The other half were on their hands and knees having the dry heaves, Cloud among them. All but one were incapacitated for the moment. The last was a young black boy, barrel-chested with an afro, panting slightly but on his feet. Zack walked over curiously. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Barrett. Who wants to know?"

Zack's demeanor hardened. "A SOLDIER. That's who. I'm your superior, and I don't care where you're from, you will respect your superiors. Understood?"

The boy snapped to attention. "Yessir. Sorry, sir. Won't happen again."

"Good." He turned away, meandering over to where Cloud was laying on his side, panting like a dog. Zack smiled down at him. "Hi. You ready to move in?"

"Heh. Yeah." Cloud panted some more, then sat up, groaning. Zack reached out a hand and helped him to his feet. "There you go. Let's get your gear... What's the heaviest bag?"

"That one." Cloud pointed to a giant frame pack almost overflowing with clothes and other miscellaneous items.

Zack looked at it for a moment, then turned to Cloud. "Good. You get that one, I'll get the others."

Cloud groaned again, reaching down to lift the overly large pack. "Oh, come on now, it's not that bad. You'll be doing much worse starting Monday."

"I know, I know..."

They made their way to the room marked "Strife/Wallace" and threw Cloud's gear onto the left bed, Cloud's choice.

"Cool... You wanna do somethin'?" Zack asked.

"... Sleep. Sorry, but I got up at 5, Nibelheim time... That's where I'm from." He added as Zack gave him a puzzled look.

"Ah."

"Yeah... They're 2 hours behind us back home... I got on the bus and listened to orders for the entire ride. So... Sorry... Maybe tomorrow?"

"Works for me." Zack helped Cloud unpack a bit, then they said their goodbyes and Zack walked out feeling good.

AUTHOR'S (NOT QUITE SO) MEANINGLESS RAMBLE

I know I said spasmodically, but I read the reviews and couldn't resist. Thus, I am not going to read reviews for the next... Week. However, do not stop reviewing. I just need time to game. I'm a gamer chick ^_^ and yes, I admit, I have no life T-T but I got a new game, and if I keep reading reviews, I'm gonna keep writing. So yeah. Thanks everyone ^_^ have a good week! And remember, until next time... Stay Tuned For More News From Midgar. This is CloudLoverXXX reporting out from aboard a Klatchian cruiser. Thank you and good night.