"WHAT THE HELL, ZACK?!" I screeched, clutching the vase in one hand while trying to shield my eyes with the other.
"Oh, hey, Spike!" he replied cheerfully, completely unbothered as he rinsed shampoo from his hair. "Were you planning to put flowers in here? That's so thoughtful of you!" He chuckled, as if I was the crazy one here.
"What... are you even doing here?" I asked, cautiously peeking out from behind my hand as I set the vase down. "Sorry... I thought you were a thief."
He laughed, loud and unabashed. "Oooh, haha, no. I just thought you could use some company, so I decided to move in until your roomie gets back. If that's okay with you? I wanted to ask first, so I haven't brought my stuff yet. That's why I had to borrow your bath—and your shampoo!"
'Glad he invited himself in,' I grumbled internally.
"I don't mind," I said aloud, though my tone was less than enthusiastic. "But maybe next time, ask first before you surprise me like that, I thought it couldn't be you since you've been so busy lately." I let out another sigh of relief, taking a step back. "And... I guess it's fine, but did you get permission from your superiors?"
"Haha!" He turned off the water and turned toward me fully. I quickly tossed him two towels and looked away.
"I'm First Class," he said smugly, drying off. "Nobody cares what I do. Perks of being a 'Firsty'!" I joined in with his laugh, thinking of being the General's right hand. "Yeah, I bet..."
I stayed turned around as Zack got dressed, determined not to see more of my friend than I wanted to.
"You should come to one of our company parties," he said, clearly pleased with his idea. "They're always hilarious. I'll invite you to one when everyone's back!"
"Hilarious," by Zack's definition, probably meant "disastrous" for me. I knew this man too well. Whatever shenanigans he got into at parties were bound to involve me in some way—and likely not in a way that would impress anyone.
"But first things first!" Zack continued, his energy ramping up. "How about some video games? I saw a console in the common room, so we might as well make use of it. I'll grab my stuff!"
Before I could respond, he threw an arm around my shoulders in a quick hug, grinning ear to ear.
We ended up playing a fighting game called "Super Smash Sis'". The name sounded girly to me, but the gameplay was anything but. It was a fast-paced fighting game and surprisingly fun—despite the fact that I kept losing.
Back home, I'd spent most of my time alone. My days consisted of playing video games in the morning, followed by lessons with a private teacher. It wasn't because I was some spoiled brat; there just weren't enough kids around to justify opening a real school. The nearest one was over 50 miles away, and since I didn't have a driver's license and the bus came twice a day at the best of days, I had no way to get there reliably.
My childhood wasn't exactly brimming with positive memories, but I didn't dwell on it. I preferred to focus on the good things, like the games and movies that had been my companions when real friends were scarce.
Well, there was Tifa. She'd been my childhood best friend, and for a brief time, we'd called each other "boyfriend" and "girlfriend." We were teens and clueless about relationships, so we stuck to holding hands and otherwise stayed the same. It was a phase that eventually passed, leaving me more confused about love than before... until I met a certain somebody... of the other gender, too. I didn't mind gay people at all – not knowing any personally, though. 'Beside me, apparently...'
My mom's hairdresser was homosexual, apparently, and she always gushed about him being the sweetest person ever. That was the extent of my exposure.
Speaking of my mom, I emailed her roughly once a week—just a short information of what was currently happening in my life. She'd left home around the same time I had, deciding to search for my dad. I'd never met him, so I didn't feel much of a connection there. It was her journey, not mine, and I respected that.
Living there had been nice, but also stressful. All in all I was glad about my change of environment, but I would never forget my family. I would inform her about my new Rank later...
"Haha! You lost again, Spike!" Zack teased, giving me a friendly knock on the head.
"Hey! You're a cheater!" I shot back playfully. "You've probably played this game a dozen times. I only played "Marco Kart" and "Marco Party" as multiplayer games in my childhood..." Of course I wasn't really angry, I just wanted to tease him. It always worked, but not always the way I wanted it to.
"Don't be sad!", he pulled me closer, snuggling me to cheer me up. I tried to escape his vicious grip, mumbling something about him having to meet his girlfriend again.
"Oh!" He let go abruptly, his expression turning sheepish. "I invited her over for tomorrow... Guess I should tell her I'm living here now!"
"Your phone is on the cabinet in the bathroom...", I helped. "I'd love to meet her, actually!" My eyes followed him as he almost slipped on the round carpet in the middle of the room as it moved. Fortunately, and before I was forced to call a medic or even perform my first CPR on a living object, he managed to catch himself and rushed to the room more carefully this time.
"Thanks! You'll love her—she's awesome!" he yelled, his voice echoed from inside the other room.
I shook my head, chuckling to myself. Zack was a whirlwind of energy, and somehow, I always got caught in the chaos.
"Is tomorrow at ten fine? After the Military Training." He emerged, phone in hand.
"Sure thing!", I called, remembering that this was going to be my first Military Training, or short: MT.
My books had already informed me about its details; all of the exercises were there to improve one's abilities on a real battlefield – mostly stamina. It would start at six every day and be open to join for several hours, and you were obligated to do at least three per week. Involved was an hour of running, then, at an artificial training area, climbing up rocks, trees, walls, and other objects, crawling through mud under wire—Zack had told me that the wire was charged... I hoped that was a joke—, hopping over obstacles, swinging on ropes, and, in the end, swimming in a cold lake.
This certainly wouldn't be my favorite training since it involved Angeal and not Sephiroth – no, not ever, not a chance. Maybe he didn't like barking at his students and shooing them past their physical limits until they coughed up blood. Okay, if I had gotten to know him under these circumstances... we probably wouldn't be where we are now.
I had decided to go four times per week for now to strengthen myself in every way possible. Maybe I could impress my General with some stunning abs once he was back... although I doubted that it'd go as fast. Knowing my body, I couldn't say from myself that I was wimpy. I wasn't exactly muscular, either, but that was only going to improve even now. My biggest wish was to be useful in battle, to be able to save something or... even someone who was dear to me. I also wanted to be able to protect myself, so I wouldn't be a bother to anyone on a mission...
"Okay, we should probably head to bed," Zack said. I saw im hastily typing into his phone. "If we wanna be early before the tracks are full, we've got to be up at five. We can catch the bus together."
"Sounds good," I said. "Is there anything I should bring?"
Zack clapped me on the shoulder before pulling me into a hug. "Spare clothes, for sure!" he said with a grin before disappearing into his bathroom again.
I stood gasping for air outside the common showers of the MT facility, sweat dripping and lungs burning. Zack, already clean and energized, stood next to me with an amused grin plastered on his face.
The training had been brutal—far harder than I'd expected. I'd barely scraped through, using every ounce of my strength to finish the course within the "newbie grace period," an extra hour granted to fresh 2nds during their first month. Zack had dubbed it the "puppy license," and while I hated the nickname, I couldn't deny its necessity.
"You'll get used to it," Zack had assured me earlier. "In a few months, you'll be zipping through it like a pro. Two hours, tops." Judging by how he'd already showered, dried his hair and changed by the time I stumbled to the finish line, I believed him.
As I leaned forward, trying to catch my breath, Zack glanced at me and raised his hand, likely to ruffle my hair. He paused mid-motion, reconsidered, and smirked. "Uh… you might wanna check a mirror first. I'll wait at the bus—you've got 15 minutes before it leaves!" He waved and strolled off, his laughter trailing behind him.
I went into the entrance room that connected to the showers. A painting with a foreign looking creature stared back at me when I looked to the right wall... only that it was not a painting, but a mirror, and the mud monster was me. Now I knew where Zack's snickering had come from.
Mud and lake water clung to my clothes in thick, slimy patches. My arms were speckled with tiny scrapes and bruises, the dirt making them look worse than they were. My hair, usually somewhat presentable, was an undefined, tangled mop. Since I'd managed to keep my head above water during the lake segment, the mud had stubbornly refused to rinse out and now clung to my hair like it had claimed it as its own. It was truly a sight to behold.
I sighed, immensely grateful that Sephiroth wasn't the instructor for this training. I could only imagine his reaction to seeing me in this state.
Not that anyone here cared, and frankly, neither did I.
Opening the door to the shower room, I stepped inside. Most of the other trainees had long since left, and only a few stragglers remained. One guy was rinsing off in his uniform before heading to a closed stall to finish cleaning up properly.
That seemed like a good idea. I followed suit, stepping into the nearest shower and rinsing off the worst of the muck. The cold water stung against my raw skin, but it was worth it to not feel like I'd been dipped in swamp goo. When I felt like the washing machine would manage the rest, I moved my messy little butt to the stalls.
I hadn't exactly expected great shampoo here, but one bar of soap was nothing I wanted to do to my hair. When I checked another empty stall, I praised the gods to find a shampoo bottle someone had left behind. Smelling it, I noticed it was... Zack's. I grinned, both for the possibility that he'd forgotten it, as well as for the one that he'd done it on purpose, knowing my hair.
After finishing, I went into the dressing room to put on my spare clothes that I had kept inside a locker, noting down to bring my own shampoo next time.
I tossed the wet uniform onto the pile of other messed up ones in the middle of the room, then made my way outside, happy that we SOLDIERs didn't have to bother with washing those ourselves. I had overheard people talking that you could also sign yourself up for a permanent locker that would be refilled with a fresh uniform every day, if necessary. That sounded like a good idea to me, since I only had three pairs of uniforms in my dorm – so I would let Zack sign me up.
When I noticed my friend waving from the door frantically, I spurted there because the buses engine was already running. I was the last, apparently, only Angeal got in after me with one more glance outside.
Zack clapped me on the back as I climbed aboard, grinning ear to ear.
"Cutting it close, Spike!" he teased, though there was no malice in his voice.
I rolled my eyes and found a seat, grateful to have survived both the training and the aftermath. Angeal followed just after me, taking his usual spot near the front.
It wasn't exactly the smoothest start to military training, but at least I'd made it through.