Tease - COMPLETE

Warning

Well, it is a Yaoi fic, with the main paring of Zack and Cloud. There is something going on with Reno, but I am still making you guess on what that will be.



Pre-Author's Note

Thanks to Ziggy Pasta for being my Beta…



Reno vents and gets drunk.

Two new POVs that I introduce here, Rude and John's.

Cloud takes out his frustration on his friends.

Zack realized how royally he screwed up, let's hope that Cloud can forgive him.



Disclaimer

Don't own the FF7 fandom, just using for my own amusement. Do not profit from this endeavour.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



FRUSTRATION



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Rude took the vodka bottle from Reno's hand. Reno made a small sound of protest but was not trying to take the drink back. He drank a few sips out of the bottle but it seemed to be hitting him rather hard. He most assuredly had enough of the drink for one night.



"Buzz ya see," Reno slurred, "I dun know wha' to feel 'bout either of 'em." Rude had just heard Reno babble about Rufus and Sephiroth. "Zay are boff-both hot."



Rude was quite alarmed at the story that Reno told. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to the events that he had missed. "What do you want?" Rude asked. He knew his partner and could tell how confused he was.



"I dunno. Roofuss can kiss…um…kiss." Reno blinked a few times and a flush emerged on his cheeks.



~it normally takes a lot to make Reno blush~



Rude didn't voice his thoughts. He was not happy being made aware that Rufus was teasing Reno. He was aware of the actions of where Rufus had entertained Genesis. He had been Rufus' bodyguard on a number of those occasions where the General would leave, looking confused, before he could gather his composure. He never told Reno about it and was now regretting not doing so. He doubted it would have made a difference. He didn't think Rufus' obsession with Genesis would affect Reno like this.



~who knew there were so many people with red hair fetishes around here?~



Reno shook himself. "And Sephy is a fuckin' sizzlin'… I wonder wha he kisses like?" Reno giggled.



"I can't believe that you're contemplating either of them," Rude said as he watched Reno throw his head back with a silly smile on his face. He couldn't believe that Reno actually giggled. He could tell that Reno was interested, but at the same time confused. "Have you talked to Legend?"



"Pfft," Reno said almost throwing himself forward. "Wan's me ta find a girl."



Rude sighed. That was typical of Legend. He was still in denial about Reno being gay. Reno wasn't a flamer in public, but Rude was well aware of what he used to do before he came to the Turks, even if he didn't know a lot of the details. He knew what those tattoos on his cheeks meant. He didn't feel it was his place to ask any more detail or about the tattoos that covered his back. He knew it was because of his former lifestyle and it was something that he knew that Reno was trying to keep behind him. People were allowed secrets; they all had them.



"I drink a bit 'nother."



"I'll get you some water," Rude said as he walked to the kitchen to fetch his drunken partner a drink.



He heard the faint murmur from him as he left. "Wish ya were gay." It was a sentiment that Reno often said when he was drunk. He took it in stride. Reno had never hit on him or made advances, even if he voiced the wish. Rude knew that it was just his drunk self talking. He doubted that anyone but Legend had ever taken care of him before and he didn't mind his friends saying such things.



He brought a cup of water to him. He watched the bleary-eyed redhead drink it down as if he had been dying of thirst.



"What are you going to do?"



Reno made a loud gasping sound as he slammed the cup onto the coffee table. "I dunno. Roof is teasey. Seph is a fuckin' god an' scares me. I dunno if they really wan' me, ya kno'." The thought seemed to deflate the normally happy redhead. "I dun wanna be a game piece." Reno looked remarkably sad for a moment and Rude wished he could help out more. After hearing him talk, he understood a little bit of why he hid under the desk, even if he was curious about Sephiroth. As amusing as the hiding was, he could see that Reno almost regretted the decision.



Rude wished that he was better at understanding relationships. He had always failed in the past when it came to them. He was not an emotional or talkative person and he knew that worked to his disadvantage at times. He was grateful that Cissnei understood, being a Turk herself, and it made their relationship easier.



"If the Spike-Brains weren't so 'amn greedy, I'd do 'em." Reno leaned forward and grabbed the empty water glass.



Rude sighed. He knew that his partner had eyes for the men but he didn't think it went that far. Reno looked at a lot of guys but Rude thought he was smart enough to know when he should act on his certain feelings. Obviously he was thinking a lot about Cloud and Zack. "Cwoud's hands are…" Reno held his hands in front of him and wiggled his fingers. "Like, yeah."



Rude had no idea what that was supposed to mean and didn't ask. He had a feeling he didn't want to know.



"Ah!" Reno gave a shout that startled Rude until he saw that he was pulling out his phone. "Butt pictoor is awesome. Wanna see?"



Rude looked over his glasses at his drunken partner.



"Pfft. Come on. You'd even apress- apess," Reno gave a small sigh as he couldn't get the word out of his mouth, "like a good butt on a guy." Reno seemed to be having trouble trying to get to the menus on his phone.



"You can show me later," Rude said as he took it away from him.



Reno collapsed back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. "If ya coo'd have one, who'd ya pick, yo?"



Rude felt his eyebrows raise up. Reno always did things to shock him, but asking him that question was not something he was prepared for. Luckily Reno wasn't really waiting for an answer. "Ya know, I kinda wan' 'em all. Is tha' greedy?"



Rude shook his head. "Extremely. Like you could handle that." He stood to get Reno another glass of water.



Reno chuckled. "I guess."



Rude returned to see Reno with this tongue between his lips and that flush had returned to his face. Rude placed the glass in his partner's hand that was twitching slightly on the back of the couch.



"Wha's with you an' Sissy? Serious?"



~very serious~



"We're fine," he said as he sat across from him. Reno's eyes were starting to droop. "You need to drink that before you pass out."



"She all smoochy wooshy-like," Reno mumbled. "It's kinda gross."



"Like I enjoy hearing you talk about guys," Rude grumbled. He put up with it, just as Reno had to put up with the other guys talking about girls. He just took it with a lot more grace than the others. Reno was never one for public shows of affection when he was with someone, at least, not when he was around. He had only seen his partner kiss a guy once and it was nothing like what he had been doing with Cissnei.



"I dun make ya watch," Reno said and downed the glass of water, some of it dribbling down his chin. He wiped the water away and collapsed onto the couch.



~he has a point there~



He knew that she was going to be gone awhile with the latest mission and he didn't like the idea of her leaving. He knew that she could do the job. She was as capable a Turk as any, more than some, but he still wished that she was staying in Midgar. He hated that he was turning into a sap over her, but at the same time he was extremely happy with the direction of their relationship.



"You had yous hands all over," Reno whined.



Rude rolled his eyes. "It won't happen again." He never really thought that he would be the type of guy for public affection, but with the thought of Cissnei being away for a whole month, he didn't want to give up a chance to be with her. It did not help that Cissnei had her hand caressing his stomach and encouraging his own hands.



"Good," Reno said and stood up abruptly, which was a mistake on his part. Rude had to catch him as he swayed slightly, not wanting him to fall to the floor. "Oh. I think I had too much, yo."



Rude shook his head at his partner. He really didn't drink that much. He was pretty sure that most of it was due to the low-lying exhaustion that was lingering below the surface. He started to escort Reno to the bedroom. This would not be the first or last time he had to tuck him into bed.



"Yo, you are too good to me," Reno said. "I just wan' someone to be there, ya know?" Reno struggled with his shirt and Rude helped.



"I know," Rude said and for once, he did understand. Rude helped Reno into the bed.



"Rude?"



He looked down at his partner and waited for him to ask the question.



"Would it be so bad to try with someone like Sephiroth?" His voice was soft as he grabbed a pillow and hugged it to himself under the blankets. He reminded Rude very much of a child when he was like this.



He wanted to tell Reno that any of his current interests were probably not any good. He thought Sephiroth was a dangerous choice. "I don't think that any of them are a very good idea."



"Even Roofus?" Reno's voice was soft and almost a pleading tone, as if he wanted someone to be there for him.



"Even Rufus," Rude said as gently as possible.



Reno muttered something into his pillow.



"Sleep it off," Rude said simply and closed the door behind him. He cleaned up the takeout food containers and put the dishes in the washer before he left. He had to figure out how to deal with the General and the Vice-President, so that his partner wouldn't be hurt anymore.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Zack looked at his phone again and hoped that there was just something wrong with Cloud's.



~wishful thinking~



"What's up?"



He looked to see Kunsel looking at him. He smirked slightly. It was humorous to see Kunsel with his shorn head, his hair still trying to grow back from when he got it shaved. It was why he wore his helmet most of the time.



"He's not answering his phone," he whispered as he tried to send a text instead of phoning. If he was not answering at least when he saw a text, after he calmed down, maybe he would talk to him.



He had come back home to such an empty apartment and to the painful sight of Cloud's key card on the kitchen counter.



Kunsel leaned closer and whispered, "Trouble in paradise with Cloud?" The snoop had a small knowing smirk on his face.



"Shut up." He glared at Kunsel. "How do you know about that anyway?"



Kunsel just smiled. "I know a lot of things."



Zack sighed, not bothering to ask how he found out. "I kinda screwed up and he's mad at me."



"What did you do?" Kunsel asked.



Zack sighed. Kunsel may have been his friend, but telling him that he left his boyfriend in the middle of sex to go take care of some demonic Genesis clones was not something that he was willing to share. He really wished he would have remembered to shut off his phone before he took Cloud to bed and this disaster would have never happened. The phone kept ringing so he knew it had to be urgent. He had meant to just shut it off, but after hearing where the clones were attacking, he couldn't not go.



~ I was a idiot~



"Come on. What did you do to piss him off? From what I could see, the kid is totally smitten with you," Kunsel said. "I thought you two were permanently placed in the bedroom."



Zack flushed and turned on Kunsel. "How the hell do you know this stuff?" He grumbled at his friend.



Kunsel flashed him a large smile that stretched across his face. "What happened? What did you do that made him not want to answer his phone?"



"I was an idiot," Zack muttered and hit send on his phone. He hoped Cloud would at least read the message. He planned on trying to call him again in an hour and hoped that he would answer.



"Well that is a given." Kunsel gave him a shove on the shoulder. Zack frowned at him. "I'm just joking, man. Are you okay?"



Zack pulled out the key card that kept rubbing in his pocket. He didn't expect Kunsel to understand the significance of it, but he saw a strange look on his face. Maybe he did understand what the card meant.



"Shit," Kunsel whispered and reached up with a comforting touch to his arm. "That bad?"



"Yeah." Zack slouched into the nearest chair, still staring at his phone, hoping that it would ring and that Cloud would be on the other end. "I'll try to catch him in the Mess at dinner."



"Do you want to talk about it? What happened?" Kunsel said. "What did you two fight about?"



"Well," Zack said rubbing the back of his neck. "It wasn't really a fight. I got called away and I kinda…"



~I left him high and dry~



Zack looked at his feet and felt himself twisting as if he was being scolded. He did deserve to be scolded, after what he had done.



"Kinda?" Kunsel prompted and leaned forward as if he was waiting for more out of him.



"I left," Zack sighed and his shoulders slumped in a defeated look. "Now that I think about it, I don't think that he heard a thing I said when I was leaving." Zack was pretty sure from the look on Cloud's face that he only heard that he was leaving.



Kunsel examined him and Zack could feel the snoop trying to analyze him. "What were you doing?"



Zack shook his head. "I shouldn't have left. Not like that. It was so wrong, but when I got the message on my phone and it was urgent… my training kicked in and I had to go."



Kunsel patted his shoulder. "Well, you were on call, weren't you?"



Zack shook his head. "Actually, I was supposed to have time off," Zack whispered. He had told that to Cloud too. He was supposed to have two weeks off and he had planned on spending every moment he could with him and now, he was back on duty because of Genesis clones and lack of staffing.



~next time I see Genesis, I will make sure that he no longer causes problems for me anymore~



Kunsel glared at him and then at the card in his hand. "You really fucked up, didn't you?"



Zack nodded and looked at his phone.



~please call, Cloud. I am so sorry for being an idiot~



"Do you want me to go talk to him for you?"



Zack shook his head. "He'll come around." He felt a pain in his chest as he spoke and kept examining his phone, almost willing it to ring.



"Let's go get a coffee and you can tell me how much of a moron you are." Kunsel grabbed Zack's arm and started to drag him away. "Away from the security cameras."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



John was staying out of Cloud's way and so was everyone else. The change in Cloud's mood was seen and felt by everyone.



"What the hell happened to piss Cloud off?" Joseph asked as they watched the normally tentative infantryman flip Cyrus onto his back and punch him hard in the chest before Instructor Clark separated the two.



"Shit," John whispered. He had never seen Cloud so intense for so long before. He had been looking happy last night when he left him after the burger that Zack had…



~Zack~



Cloud was acting like a lovestruck fool when he left him and now he was on a complete rampage. He wondered if it was something that had happened after he left. He did remember Cloud coming back to the barracks, slamming his footlocker and throwing his boots so that they hit the wall. Someone had grumbled about how loud he was before it was quiet again.



~I hope it wasn't because I kinda butted my way into dinner~



"Switch partners, and do it again!" Instructor Clark yelled. Cyrus was rubbing his chest and looking at Cloud a little tentatively as he moved next to him for the next practice bout. Cloud got ready for the next stint in the hand to hand combat training class and it was his turn to be paired up against Benot.



Benot was much larger than Cloud; he was a man that would soon rival Angeal for size once he developed a more mature set of muscles. Normally Cloud would be nervous being paired against him, as Benot overpowered him at every opportunity, but that was not how Cloud looked today.



John moved in front of Cyrus who was still rubbing his chest. "You okay?" Cyrus just grunted but looked over to where Cloud was squaring off against the larger man. "He just caught me by surprise," Cyrus said. John highly doubted that it was a lucky shot.



He knew Cloud well enough to know when he was focused and angry. He could accomplish anything and had seen it on missions before, even if he did appear to be clumsy in training. Everyone knew not to sit next to Cloud on a transport because he would get motion sickness. Others didn't want to partner with him because of that, but Cloud was always good in a pinch.



This was the first time he had seen Cloud this riled up.



~I hope I didn't wreck his night with Zack~



"Now!" Instructor Clark yelled.



John focused on Cyrus' attack. He found his fighting partner clumsier than he normally was and was able to throw him and get him on the mat in record time. Cyrus was clutching at his chest. Cloud really had hurt him.



He heard a loud yell and his attention was turned to Cloud and Benot's struggle. Benot was on one knee and holding his stomach. Instructor Clark was there yelling about something. Cloud was looking like he was ready for more. His teeth were clenched and he was almost shaking.



"Decent work, Ladies. We'll do it again tomorrow so maybe you won't be such pussies!" Clark yelled. They must have done well today, because he didn't call them princesses and threaten to send them down to the Bumble Bee Inn to be fitted for tiaras.



Joseph moved to stand beside Cloud and put a hand on his tense arm. He didn't hear what Joseph said, but it was something that made Cloud turn his attention away from whatever aggressive thoughts were running through his head.



"Dork!" was what he heard Cloud yell, gave Joseph a shove before he stormed off to the showers.



"Wow, did his Sugar-Daddy not perform last night or something?" Cyrus was still rubbing his chest and there was a pained sound to his breathing. He even looked a little pale. Cloud must have hit him really hard.



Benot pulled himself to his feet. "Man. It still stings." He rubbed his stomach and grimaced. "I heard him stomp back into the barracks around midnight."



"He usually doesn't come back at all if he is out with his Sugar-Daddy." Cyrus gasped and held his chest. "He woke me up."



Joseph was even frowning as they watched some of the group heading to the showers before he turned his attention towards John. "You went out for dinner with him? Do you know what happened?"



Everyone looked at him.



~thanks for putting me on the spot, Joseph~



"He was fine when I left him. I don't know what happened after that," John said, feeling very uncomfortable under their gaze.



"Well, it was only a matter of time," Benot said with a nasty curl to his lips. John rolled his eyes. Benot had his chance with Cloud and blew it. He needed to get over his jealousy. John just nodded.



Joseph frowned. "Well, Reno must have done something to upset him." They all rolled their eyes at Joseph. "Well, I'm sure that it's Reno!"



"Anyway," John said, ignoring the glare from his blue-haired friend. He could feel the eyes all on him. "He could be just having a bad day."



"He is pissed at the world. In instruction this morning I thought he was going to break his pen with how tight he was holding it," Benot said, moving to stand by Cyrus. He looked at his childhood friend with concern.



Cyrus grunted and held his chest and grew pale. "Shit," he said weakly. Benot's eyes grew wide as he had to hold up Cyrus to keep him from falling to his knees. "I think Cloud broke something."



"Instructor Clark!" Benot yelled as he helped Cyrus sink to the mat. John looked concerned as he saw that there was blood on his lips.



Cloud did break something. Instructor Clark was so concerned that he pulled out his Cure to treat Cyrus and then send him to the infirmary. Instructor Clark, the man that constantly told them scars would make them more of a man and had never used Cure, as far as they all knew, had used Cure..



"Go find out why Cloud has a bee in his bonnet," Benot said as he nearly dragged Cyrus at his side. He didn't look like he was in too much pain anymore, but he sure didn't look comfortable.



"Me?" John said as he realized that they were all looking at him, even Instructor Clark.



~why am I the psychologist?~



"I'll go talk to him." He started to walk to the showers, trying to catch up to Cloud.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Cloud had already left the showers by the time he got in there so he started searching for him. He found Cloud in the Mess. He was going to go over to him, when Zack walked in. He saw Cloud's face tighten in anger as he threw down his fork and left his half-eaten food behind. Zack just spotted him before he left and looked like he was going to rush after him.



It was clear that there was something going on between the two, and it wasn't good. Zack spotted him and came towards him. He could see the worry written on the First Class SOLDIER's face. "Do you know where Cloud ran off to?"



"No. Not yet," John said and saw how tense Zack was and the worry that was filling his eyes. "What happened? Was it because I butted in on your dinner?" John was still a little worried that it was his fault that they were fighting.



"Huh? Oh. Dinner? No. It wasn't because of that," Zack said, his eyes focused on the door that Cloud left from. "He hasn't been answering his phone."



"He left it back at the barracks," John said. "He's pissed. What happened?" He doubted that Zack would really tell him, but he knew it had to be bad.



"He left his phone behind?" Zack whispered and looked at his own which he was gripping firmly in his hand. "Can you talk to him for me?" Zack's face was full of desperation.



John couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Yeah, I can. I'm trying to hunt him down."



"Can you tell him that I'm sorry?" Zack's voice was low. "Please, get him to call me. I really need to talk to him."



John sighed and crossed his arms. "You know, he's been taking his pissy attitude out on everyone else. I can't promise you anything."



Zack looked at his feet and rubbed the back of his head. "Just… try to get him to call me, so we can talk. I really am sorry." John would have been amused if he hadn't seen how upset Cloud was earlier. Zack had hurt him. He didn't know what Zack did, but he doubted that a simple 'I'm sorry' was going to fix it.



"Like I said, I won't promise anything. He did a number on Cyrus in training today. He has been taking out his anger on everyone else." John felt annoyed at Zack. He was the reason for Cloud's attitude change, and him being a counsellor in the whole thing.



"Just try. I hope he will check his messages. I'm sorry," Zack said and he saw him swallow as if he was holding back more words.



John sighed. "I will hunt him down and I will try."



"I'll be back at my place, if he wants to talk. If he doesn't want to do that, we can meet anywhere he wants." There was desperation in his voice. "Just get him to call me." Zack gave him such a pathetic look that it looked like he was going to be beat. "And tell him that I'm really sorry." He folded his arms across his chest and rubbed them. "And that it won't happen again." He looked around the room as if he was hoping that Cloud would appear. "And I will cook him dinner." Zack racked his lips over his teeth. "And …"



"Enough. I'll talk to him." John raised his hands to get Zack to stop apologizing. Zack's large violet eyes looked almost lost. "I'll talk to him and I'll get him to call you, even if I have to dial it myself. Okay?"



Zack sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Thanks, John. I really appreciate it if you could, and I'm so sorry."



"I'm not the one that you need to be apologizing to. I'm going to try to hunt him down," John said. He was glad to see that for whatever Zack did, he was sorry, but he wasn't going to find Cloud listening to him.



Zack nodded and looked at his phone, his thumb brushing over the numbers. "Thanks."



John sighed, gave Zack's arm a quick pat and trudged off to go see if he could find Cloud, leaving a forlorn-looking SOLDIER behind.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



It took him another two hours to find Cloud. He was leaving a grumpy trail behind him. Cloud had gone to the materia training room and had blown up a few things there. The poor clerk seemed rattled as he was replacing the destroyed practice dummies.



He then traced Cloud to the library where he had sat for a half-an-hour. The study steward was a little perturbed by the mess of papers that Cloud left behind. John took a look at the scribbles and it appeared that Cloud had been trying to work on his dissertation for the 'History of Materia' class, but was not succeeding. He saw twenty pieces of paper with twenty different headings, and not much else.



He finally found Cloud back at his bunk, lying with a book covering his face.



"Cloud?"



"What?" Cloud didn't remove the book. He crossed his legs and was giving off a major pissed-off vibe.



"You certainly were on today in training," John said, suddenly not knowing how he was going to broach this subject.



Cloud grunted in response. He removed the book from his face and looked over at him. "Whatever," Cloud muttered and placed the book back into its former resting place. John was used to Cloud being evasive at times, but this was ridiculous.



John sat on the cot beside Cloud. He heard Cloud grunt in displeasure but he didn't move. "What happened between you and Zack last night?"



"Nothing," Cloud muttered beneath the book.



"Nothing? You hurt Cyrus in training! Clark used Cure on him and you say nothing happened?" John couldn't help but let annoyance colour his voice. Cloud removed the book from his face and looked at him. "What the hell happened? I had Zack asking me to apologize to you and I can still hear your phone beeping at the bottom of your footlocker. You're going to talk to me about whatever the hell happened."



Cloud grunted again. John could see that every part of him was tense and looked like he was going to bolt. John was not going to allow that. If he was forced to be the mediator in all this, he was going to get it done now. John grabbed the book from Cloud and threw it across the room, so he wouldn't have another chance to hide behind it.



"What the hell?" Cloud said and sat up. "I don't want to talk about it!"



"Well, you're gonna! Cyrus had blood coming out of his mouth because of how hard you hit him. He wasn't the one that pissed you off," John said, glad to see that saying that he had hurt Cyrus got to him.



"I did?"



"Yeah, you did." John sighed heavily. "Cyrus is okay. I got a couple of texts from Benot and they are just doing some tests to make sure that the rib bone is set properly so it won't re-puncture his lung."



Cloud blinked a few times and it seemed to dissolve the impossibly hot anger that he was holding. "I hit him that hard?"



"You did. You almost downed Benot too."



Cloud moved so that he was sitting, and he looked at his hands.



"What happened with Zack to get you so pissed off? He looked like a lost puppy. He has been trying to get you on the phone."



Cloud sighed heavily. The anger flared in his eyes again but it wasn't as intense as before. "I don't want to talk to him right now."



"I get that."



Cloud clenched his hands hard against his thighs.



John could see a million thoughts rolling through his mind. "Zack said he was sorry."



"He better damn well be!" Cloud blurted. His hand turned into fists against his legs and he stared at them.



"Can you tell me what happened?" John asked, giving Cloud's clenched hands a pat. "You guys were fine when I left."



"It was fine. It was great," Cloud said through clenched teeth. His whole body was full of tension.



John waited for an answer. He knew Cloud well enough that it sometimes took him a little while to get talking, especially if something was bothering him. He still wouldn't tell anyone anything about his hometown or why he joined SOLDIER. He was going to make sure that he got an answer today. He was not going to be the go-between for everyone trying to figure out what was wrong.



"He left!" Cloud finally said and looked up at him. He could see the hurt in his eyes.



"Did he get called away for a mission?" John asked, trying to probe more out of Cloud.



Cloud nodded.



"I thought he was on leave." John remembered him saying something to that extent.



"So did I! His stupid phone rang and … and…" Cloud's voice trailed off and he unclenched his fists to cover his face with his hands. "He left!" He ran his hands up his face and through his hair.



"Were you sleeping or something?" John asked.



"He. Left!" Cloud said, putting his hands back into fists in his lap. The anger was coming back in full force and John could hear the phone ringing inside Cloud's footlocker. "I can't talk to him yet. He left."



"Okay. I get it. He left, but he is a First Class SOLDIER. You have to expect that to happen from time to time."



"There are certain times that you just don't leave!" Cloud stood abruptly and looked at his footlocker. "If he didn't answer his damn phone… He could have waited until…" The phone beeped in the locker. Cloud kicked it. "There are things you do not leave in the middle of!"



John did not like the mental images he was getting. "So, you were making out and…"



"Damn it! It was not just a make-out session on the couch. He left!" Cloud hissed between his teeth and kicked the locker again. The phone beeped as if it were protesting the treatment. He kicked it a few more times and then sat hard on the bed, his hands covering his face, and his elbows on his knees. "He… he just left." Cloud's voice no longer held any anger but it was full of heart-twisting sorrow.



John knew that Cloud was enamoured with Zack; half the guys in the barracks had an infatuation with one of the elite First Class SOLDIERs. Of course, Cloud was dating…



~well, more than just dating~



…Zack. Not that anyone knew that they were dating, as they had chosen to keep their relationship a secret. The only reason he knew was because he was pretty sure that Cloud trusted him not to tell everyone. Even though he hadn't directly said it, he hadn't denied it either.



But he was also sure that if Cloud had been ignoring his phone, he didn't hear what happened last night either and John was sure that it was the reason that Zack left. "Did you not hear what he did last night?"



"I know what he did last night," Cloud spoke into his hands. John sat beside his friend and rubbed his back. "I am very aware of what he didn't do last night."



"You didn't listen to any of the briefings and news?" John asked. He knew Cloud had been there sitting right beside him, but he doubted that he was listening. Cloud shook his head, but didn't remove his hands from his face. "You know that some more of those clones attacked, right?"



"I heard something about that," Cloud murmured. Zack must have told him the reason for his urgent departure.



"They were attacking Sector 5. Did Zack tell you that?" John said softly. Cloud pulled his face out of his hands and looked at him. He let it sink in for a little bit. Everyone knew that was where the orphanage and the long-term care hospital were located. It was also known as the 'Despair' sector by some. Everyone had to do a 'volunteer' stint there at one point and even a large number of people had grown up in that said orphanage.



"You are part of his fan club right?"



Cloud blushed but nodded.



"Well, if you would have checked your phone, you would have known that Zack saved a bunch of orphans by showing up when he did," John said. "Those clones were looking for more recruits, from what the reports said." Cloud still didn't say anything, but John could see some of his anger melting a bit. "Zack is the hero type," John continued, "if there is someone in danger, he is going to run into battle to save them. I saw the callout request. They were going after the kids."



"Shit," Cloud muttered and put his face back in his hands. John rubbed Cloud's back.



They sat in silence for a little while. Cloud was obviously gathering his thoughts, when he finally said, "Can you get me my phone?" in a small voice.



John obliged.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Author's Notes



Can you believe that I made it to 40 chapters… wow. I thought I would be done by now, but I have fleshed out the story quite a bit from my original plan, but you shall be all glad to know, that the direction did not change. My evil plan in still on its evil way! Just with more detail that I originally planned.



Pandering



Pic Alert! Pic alert! From Junon

http://jadedsilk.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2p9rd8 -- hopefully this will work now.
(deviantArt site updated some stuff... growing pains!!)

Dark Nation tries to snack on Reno ... It is absolutely lovely and I love it to death. I love how pissed both Dark Nation and Reno look. I mean… perfection! (Except for I told her to dress Rufus wrong… my bad… But I still so love, so ignore it and enjoy the pissed DN and Reno)



Additional story alert - Marshmallow - Written for Ziggy, because she gave me the strange cue under that 10 first contest thingy thing that is torturing me, but I did it.