Firstclasshewley's secretsanta fic

Chapter 2

Zack was surprised by the local television stations. Not because of the differences from back home, but because of the similarities. It was all the same crap, just in different settings with different actors. The only major change was the complete lack of government propaganda.

Dinner had arrived and it, at least, had been different. They had received a variety of meals to try that were Estharian favourites as well as some familiar ones from back home. Apparently the chef had done some research to make sure that they would be well fed even if they didn’t like the local cuisine. Zack preferred the new food, loving all the new smells and tastes.

After dinner, Genesis had again disappeared back to his room leaving Cloud and him to entertain themselves. Two hours later their conversation turned to play and a wrestling match erupted with hushed laughing and whispered insults. Zack pegged a cushion at his friend’s head which missed its target and knocked over a small stone statue that was perched on the table by the entrance. The solid stone figure did not break, much to their relief, but the intercom that it fell on didn’t fair as well. Both soldiers stood staring at the crushed device in horror.

“Zack, we are so fucked. Genesis is going to kill us and the Estharians will all think we’re a bunch of hooligans. What in Gaia’s name are we going to do?” Cloud whispered in a panic, glancing down the hallway nervously in fear of the General’s appearance. Luckily, the place seemed to have thick walls and there was no sign of their superior officer.

“I…um…I’ll think of something,” Zack whispered back. Gods, he had the luck of the damned sometimes. He realized there were only two choices. He would have to sneak out and try to find a replacement in one of the neighbouring rooms or face Genesis and his famous temper…not much to choose from really.

“Zack! We haven’t got time for you to think,” Cloud whispered again, his voice becoming higher with his distress.

“Look, just calm down buddy. You go to bed and act like nothings wrong. I’ll just unplug this one and sneak into one of the other rooms next door and swap it. Genesis is asleep and he’ll never even know I’m gone, okay?” Zack said, trying to sound as calm and confident as he could. He could only pray there was another intercom in one of the other rooms and that the doors were unlocked…crap, it wasn’t much of a plan but it was all he could come up with at this point.

“Okay, Zack. Just hurry up and make sure no one sees you,” Cloud said, his expression more dubious than confident. Zack watched him sneak back down the hallway and turned to unplug the machine and tuck it under his arm. Opening the front door and peering out, he was relieved to find the hall empty and he crept along to the nearest door.

He swore under his breathe when he discovered it was locked, as was the next one and the two across the hall. Praying silently, he continued down the hall around a corner and across a lounge area into another hall, similar looking to their own. Trying doors as he went, he found them all locked. There was one left and he approached it hesitantly. If this one was locked, he would have no option but to return to the room and confess to Genesis what he had done.

Reaching out his hand, he nearly cheered when the door clicked open. Poking his head inside he found the room empty and slid in the door, quietly pulling it closed behind him. There, on the table across the room was another intercom. Finally, his luck was changing for the better. Creeping across the room, he knelt down and began searching for where the machine plugged into the wall. Crawling along on his hands and knees a sudden sound behind him made him turn to find a gun in his face. Okay, so his luck wasn’t changing after all.

“Don’t shoot! I…um…I’m new around here,” he blurted out. So much for all that soldier training he thought, hating how stupid he sounded. Angeal was going to kill him for being so sloppy on the job. Looking past the gun, he saw an older man staring back at him with an eyebrow raised and an amused grin. Long black hair hung down past his shoulders and he was wearing a pair of long, black silk pants and nothing else. Zack’s eyes searched the handsome face before him in the hope of salvation. He really didn’t want to die on his hands and knees with an intercom under his arm.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing crawling around my floor in the middle of the night?” a deep voice asked. Zack gulped at the question. Okay, this was probably a good time to be honest and beg for mercy before things got any worse than they already were.

“I…well…okay, I’ll be honest with ya. I’m a guest here and me and my…um…room mate where stuffing around and we…um…kinda knocked over something and it…kinda broke this intercom thingy and…well, you see the General will kill us if he finds out, cause he’s got this bad temper and all so I…um…well I thought if I just found another one and swapped it no one would ever know and the General would never find out so I went down the hallway but all the doors where locked so I…um kinda kept looking and this door was the only one open so I looked in and saw the intercom here and thought…well I thought that I’d just swap them…honestly I didn’t mean no harm or anything and if you’ll just put down the gun, I’ll leave right away and go back and take my punishment. Just please don’t kill me,” Zack rambled, stopping finally to take a deep breath and peer up with his best puppy dog eyes.

“What’s the name of your General?” the dark haired man asked.

“G…general Genesis Rhapsodos, Sir. We…um…we’re the group from M…midgar, Sir,” he answered, winching at his nervous stuttering. Gods, he was making such a complete fool of himself. Maybe his stupidity would make the guy with the gun take pity on him. Well, he could only hope at this point. The gun moved down to point at the floor and Zack sighed in relief.

“From Midgar? Oh, you’re part of the group that arrived this afternoon,” the man said, smiling down at him and reaching out a hand. “Let me help you up.” Zack stared at the hand for a couple of seconds before grabbing it and standing up.

“I’m so sorry for disturbing you, Sir. I’ll just leave and I won’t bother you again,” Zack blurted out, turning for the door. The hand holding his didn’t let go and he was forced to stop, turning back nervously towards the older man.

“Please, my apologies for the gun. I’m just not used to people sneaking into my room in the middle of the night. How about we start new and you tell me your name?” the dark haired stranger began, smiling at him. Zack scratched the back of his head nervously before smiling back.

“Um…okay. My names Zack Fair, Sir. I’m a first class soldier from Midgar and I’m pleased to meet you,” he said, wishing he could get this guy to let go of his hand. Not that it wasn’t nice standing here looking at that handsome face and well toned chest…actually it was kind of nice to look at his chest, though standing here staring at it probably wasn’t the best idea when this guy was still holding his gun. Pulling his eyes up to the strangers face he added, “And may I ask for your name, Sir?”

“My name is Laguna Loire, President of Esthar and I am very pleased to meet you, Zack Fair,” the man answered. Zack’s jaw dropped open and he nearly choked on his tongue. President of Esthar? He’d just snuck into the President’s bedroom and tried to steal his intercom…Gods, he was so fucked.

**.**

Cloud waited in his room nervously, pacing the floor and chewing on his nails. Where the hell was Zack? It’d been over half an hour since he’d left and Cloud was beginning to panic. Had someone caught him out in the hall? Maybe he’d been arrested and thrown in jail…gods, he hoped not. Getting evicted from the country over a pillow fight would surely get him thrown out of soldier at the very least. At the worst, the General would skewer him on that pretty red sword of his.

Cloud froze as he heard a door open and footsteps on the other side of his door. Silence followed as he held his breath. Hades, this was too much. He had to go out there and check if that was Zack. There was no way he’d ever get to sleep otherwise. Letting out his breath, he slowly opened his bedroom door and peered out into the hall. Nobody was there and he couldn’t hear anything. Taking a few breaths and finding his courage, he crept out and headed for the lounge room. Still nobody…damn, he was sure he heard someone. Shaking his head at his over active imagination, he turned to find himself face to chest with the General and jumped backwards in shock.

“Fuck!” he shouted before he could stop himself. Genesis’ arms shot out and grabbed him, preventing him from falling back onto the glass coffee table. Cloud looked up into piercing eyes and a frowning face. Oh gods help him.

“Cloud, what’s wrong? And why are you sneaking around in the middle of the night?”

“I…um…I was just…I thought I heard someone out here so I came to check, Sir,” he babbled out. “I’m sorry,” he finished lamely. Great, another example of his complete and utter incompetence.

“Oh, nice to see you are on your toes, soldier. I am sorry if I startled you,” Genesis said softly, looking down at him with a sexy grin. No…not a sexy grin, but a sleepy grin, Cloud thought, mentally slapping himself. He really didn’t want to think sexy Genesis thoughts while the man was standing right in front of him.

“Thank you, Sir,” Cloud replied, failing to stop his eyes when they decided to betray him and glance down. Genesis was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Oh, crap. It hung low on his hips, revealing far too much for the hormonal teenager to resist.

“Sorry about my state of undress,” Genesis said softly, his voice snapping Cloud out of his daze instantly and making the blond look back up while his face turned red. Cloud felt himself harden in his boxer shorts, which of cause reminded him that he was standing in just his boxer shorts which would be tenting at the front. His blush deepened to what he was sure was a horrible purple colour. Oh no, this could not be happening to him.

“Since you are doing such a good job of protecting us, I will return to my room. See you in the morning, Cloud,” Genesis said, finally letting go of his arms and turning away. Cloud let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in and almost died of relief. He watched as the General walked down the hall to his room, putting a hand on the doorknob before pausing and looking him up and down.

“Oh, Cloud? I have to tell you how much I like your pajamas. Very cute,” he chuckled with another one of those grins that make Cloud tingle in all the right places. The blond just stared at him as he went into his room and closed the door. Looking down at his pants, Cloud was mortified to realize he had on the shorts that his mother had given him when he left to become a soldier. They were black and covered in little multicoloured chocobos and love hearts. Add that to his obvious erection and his mortification was complete. Hades, he was going to beat the shit out of Zack when he got back. That is, if he didn’t die of embarrassment in the meantime.

**.**

“Zack? Are you alright?” Laguna asked as he snapped his fingers in front of the young man’s face. The spiky haired soldier didn’t answer him or even close his gapping mouth, so he reached a hand up to grab a shoulder and gently shake the frozen young man to try and gain a response. “Hey, snap out of it. You’re starting to worry me.”

The young man’s eyes blinked rapidly and his mouth closed as his attention focused back to the older man standing in front of him. Laguna smiled at Zack as his hand stayed on the soldiers shoulder in a gesture that he hoped was comforting. This was the first time he’d gotten such an extreme reaction from announcing who he was. Then again, it was the first time he’d found someone crawling around his rooms in the middle of the night too.

“M…Mr President. I am so sorry, I didn’t know this was your room. If I’d known I would of never, ever just walked in here and tried to take your intercom, I swear. Please don’t throw me in jail,” Zack said, eyes big and obviously frightened. Laguna had to admit that this was the first time in his life that somebody had actually been frightened of him. He was a little guilty that he’d made a young, strong warrior who could kick his ass in a heartbeat tremble before him. Talk about an ego boost.

“It’s fine, really and don’t worry. I wouldn’t throw a guest in jail for getting lost in my home. Now, how about a drink? Coffee, tea or something?” Laguna said while using the hand on the soldier’s shoulders to move him towards the lounge. Zack didn’t fight his lead and dropped into the seat still looking shell shocked.

“Um, a coffee would be great,” the soldier whispered. Laguna walked over to his intercom, made a quick order and returned to sit next to his guest.

“So, how about taking that out from under your arm and telling me what happened,” the older man asked. Zack blushed and scratched the back of his head again as he removed the broken machine from under his arm and chuckled.

“It’s um…well, me and Cloud, he’s the other soldier who came with the General and me, we were a bit bored and we started messing around with the cushions and Cloud’s one fast little sh…I mean soldier, so when I threw one, he ducked and it hit this stone thingy which fell over on the intercom. Oh, but the stone thingy is fine so don’t worry about it but as you can see the intercom didn’t make it,” Zack rambled as he turned the machine over in his hands. “I know it was really stupid and immature of me to try and swap it and I’m sorry but we just wanted to make a good impression and now I’ve just made everything ten times worse. Please don’t judge my country by the way I act because I’m really not a good example to go by.”

“Really? Well, that’s a shame because I find you to be very honest and entertaining,” Laguna replied, grinning back. He really did like this young man and was surprised to find a warrior of such high rank that still had such a strong sense of innocence about him. “Will your General honestly be so upset over something so trivial?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. Genesis Rhapsodos takes his job very seriously and would spend half the night yelling at me if he found out. Wouldn’t put it past him to make me sleep out on the balcony for the next week, either. My mentor, General Hewley, grew up with Genesis and always said that he was born with three natural talents. Charming people, punishing people and killing people…kind of strange combination, if you ask me,” Zack said casually, seemingly forgetting to whom he was taking.

“I take it you two don’t get along on a social level, then,” Laguna prodded.

“Nah. The General’s tend to socialize with each other most of the time, though the job keeps them so busy they don’t have a lot of free time,” Zack said.

A knock at the door heralded the arrival of their coffee and Zack looked surprised when a trolley with coffee and various snacks was wheeled in by a woman dressed immaculately. Laguna thanked her and she smiled widely at him before giving him a wink and a giggle that was obviously an invitation. The President ignored it completely, busying himself with the coffees until the woman gave up and left with a huff. Honestly, he wished Kiros would just give into his wishes and hire more male staff.

“Wow, are all the ladies in Esthar that forward?” Zack muttered, taking the coffee that Laguna handed him.

“Ahh, well it’s beginning to look like that, around the Presidential Palace at least. Seems the media decided about a year ago that the old man in charge needs a wife and the ‘throw yourself at the President’ behaviour started not long after. At first, it was kind of flattering but that wore off pretty quickly,” Laguna said with a sigh. “They just want the position and all the trappings that go with it. None of them are really interested in me.”

“You’re kidding? Gods, that would never happen with our President back home. Then again he’s not handsome like you are,” Zack blurted out before his eyes widened and his face went beet red. Laguna pretended not to notice as he fiddled with his coffee, feeling more than a little chuffed that the good looking young soldier had called him handsome. Finding Zack crawling around his lounge room floor was turning out to be a lucky turn, considering how hard it was for him to make new friends. It was so refreshing to meet someone new who seemed to have no hidden agenda.

“Thank you, Zack. That’s very kind of you to say,” Laguna said softly, hoping to take the edge of the soldier’s embarrassment. He downed the last of his coffee and sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “Since you’ve been so kind in hanging around and keeping me company, I think we can keep your little accident between ourselves. After all, your General sounds like he’d only get upset and I’d hate to have you sleeping on the balcony in this cold weather. I’ll give you my intercom and nobody will ever be the wiser, okay?” Laguna said as he stood and turned towards the soldier.

“Honestly? Thank you so much Mr President. This really means a lot to me. It’s very kind of you to not tell Genesis that I stuffed up so badly on my first night here. I swear that Cloud and I will not throw cushions in the room ever again,” Zack promised, standing up and smiling brightly at him. Damned, the man almost glowed when he smiled like that. Getting to know the visitors better would be more fun than he first imagined. “It’s been an honor to meet you, Mr President. I hope to make a much better impression on you in the future.”

“It’s been an honor to meet you too, Zack. Just remember two things for me. One, next time try knocking on my door so I don’t accidentally shoot you,” he stated as he walked over and unplugged his intercom, wrapping the cord around the machine before passing it to the soldier. “Secondly, please call me Laguna.”

**.**

Zack snuck back into their apartment without a sound, relieved that he came across nobody in the hallways. His mind was still spinning over meeting the President of Esthar and he couldn’t help but relive it over in his head. Gods, the older man was so nice and damn hot to boot. He could only hope he got the chance to see him again.

“Zack Fair, I hate you so much right now,” an angry voice growled from behind him. He turned only to get a cushion straight in the face.

“Hey, no fair! I got the intercom,” he whined at the very pissed off figure of Cloud that glared at him across the room.

“I’m glad you got the intercom, Zack. I’m pissed because you took so long. Genesis caught me wandering around in my pajamas,” Cloud replied. Zack almost chuckled at the blonde’s embarrassment until what his friend had said sunk in.

“He didn’t try anything funny, did he?” Zack said softly, concern for the smaller man evident in his voice. Even if Genesis was a General, he would still try and kick the guy’s ass if he tried to take advantage of Cloud.

“What do you mean by that?” Cloud asked.

“I…um…just tell me what happened when you saw him.” Cloud was looking at him suspiciously, but his friend eventually sighed and answered.

“Nothing happened. Luckily, he didn’t notice you were gone. I spun him a line about coming out to check on a noise I heard and he just went back to bed. Damn it, Zack, I was in these,” Cloud said, pointing down at his pants. “I looked like a complete knob in front of the General and it’s all your fault!” Cloud grumbled. Zack looked down at what his friend was wearing and snickered. Rainbow chocobos and love hearts really did suit Cloud, although he could only imagine what Genesis thought of Cloud’s pants.

“Chill out, Cloud. He probably didn’t even notice. The guys so wrapped up in himself he can’t see past his own nose,” Zack scoffed.

“He said they were cute! Cute is not what I’m trying to project here, Zack,” Cloud muttered, walking over to flop into the lounge. Zack frowned at his friend’s words. What the hell was he talking about?

“What exactly are you trying to project?” he asked worriedly, walking over to sit next to his friend.

“Mature and competent soldier so I get a good report for this mission. I hardly think cute will get me anywhere. Damn it, why the hell are you asking such stupid questions anyway Zack? And you still haven’t told me why you took so long.”

“You’ll get a good report, so don’t stress so much buddy. My questions…well…I’m just tired, that’s all,” he said quickly. He really didn’t want to have to discuss the General’s love life with Cloud right now. “I took awhile because all the doors were locked in this hall. I found another hallway and luckily one of those rooms was open so here it is,” he finished, holding out his prize.

“Well, at least you got the intercom. We better plug it in and hit the sack. Genesis did say he expected us up early to go with him to meet the President,” Cloud said, standing up and yawning.

“Okay, you go to bed. I’ll just set this up and turn in too. You’re not still pissed at me, are you?” Zack asked. The blond chuckled before reaching up to whack him in the back of the head lightly.

“I never could stay mad at you, Zack,” Cloud laughed. Zack could only grin back in relief.

**.**.**.**.**.**

tbc