Warning
A Zack and Cloud and possibly others (not telling yet ) fic… Yaoi.

Pre-Author's Note
Thanks to Ziggy Pasta for being my Beta…
Again, Joseph is a jerk!
Sephiroth gives relationship advise? I know, but he does, and it's good.
Reno… well, poor Reno.
Cloud and Zack talk, sort of.

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


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RESOLUTION

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Reno frowned as he walked into the infirmary. He hated the hospital smell and stuffy people looking all important in their lab coats and silly name badges. He usually avoided the place like a plague.

But Legend had called him and he sounded awful. He was about to ask the nurse where his mentor was, when someone yelled in the hall.

"You!"

He looked over to see the blue-haired freak coming right at him. "What did you do to Cloud?" The boy yelled and poked him in the chest.

"Wha?" Reno said.

"You did something bad to him! What. Did. You. Do?" Joseph poked him rather hard at each word. Reno grabbed the finger and twisted the weirdo's arm behind his back. Joseph let out a satisfying scream as Reno threw him on the floor and refrained from stomping on him.

He could see some more of his friends around the corner. One of them was laughing and the other was shaking his head, but none of them dared to approach. "What the fuck is your problem!" Reno growled. "I didn't do nothin' to Cloud."

~I can only dream~

"You had to have!" Joseph said as he cradled his injured finger. "Why else would he be so upset?"

"Cloud's upset?" Reno asked. "What's he upset about?" The last time he talked to Cloud he was looking quite happy and love-drunkenly-stupid.

"That's what I am asking you!" Joseph said as he pulled himself to his feet and rubbed his shoulder.

"I didn't do anythin'," he snapped at the annoying blue-haired man.

That was when one of his friends came forward. Reno remembered him as Benot. He grabbed Joseph's arm. "Sorry, sir, he's a little nuts."

Reno grunted and glared at Joseph. "I think some of that hair dye has seeped into your brain."

"Hey!" Joseph yelled and crossed his arms in a pout.

Benot chuckled and the other guy he remembered as Cyrus, laughed but then clutched at his chest with a groan. Benot patted Cyrus on his back and was giving the obviously injured man a concerned look. "Cloud has been acting a little strange lately. Do you know if something happened to him?" Benot asked.

Reno shook his head. "I'll ask 'em next time that I see him," Reno said and was a little worried now.

Joseph stood and glared at him. "Hello! He's the one that upset him!"

Reno wanted to kick Joseph back to the ground but the nurse clearing her throat behind him grabbed their attention. "If you gentlemen are going to fight, can you please take it out of here? You," she said and pointed to Cyrus, "need to go and rest those ribs."

"Yes, ma'am," Cyrus whispered as he rested a hand on his chest.

"You need to leave again, Joseph. I already told you to keep it down at least three times in the last hour," she berated.

"Sorry, ma'am." Joseph hung his head.

"I thought a Turk would have a little bit more control." It took Reno a moment to realize that he was now being scolded.

He opened his mouth to protest but one look at the angry look on the nurse's face changed his mind, not wanting to get in an argument now. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Now be a good boy, Benot, and take your noisy friends out of here," she said and pointed to the door.

Benot nodded and started to head out. It looked like Joseph was ready to continue his arguing, but Reno narrowed his eyes at him. "Yo, ya wantin' a bed here or somethin'?"

Joseph gave a little grunt but followed behind his friends. He turned back to the nurse who was giving him a heavy scowl.

~I'm used to Tseng, you can't faze me~

"I'm here to see Ledge," he said, ignoring her angry look.

She frowned and looked at her computer screen. "Ledge?"

"Legend," he repeated. "He called me earlier."

She looked up again. "Oh." Her voice changed dramatically and her face softened. "You must be Reno. He is in room 34B. The doctor will be there shortly."

He felt a horrible sinking feeling in the depths of his stomach. He didn't know why Legend was in the infirmary, but seeing the change of mood the nurse made, made him think that this was not some little thing.

"Thanks, Doll." He walked down the hall to the room, avoiding people who looked as if they should not have left their bed, and found the room where Legend was sitting. He looked absolutely horrible. His skin was ashen in colour and he looked so much smaller than he had in the past. He was not wearing his Turk suit, but a simple pair of sweatpants and an overly-baggy white t-shirt.

Legend nodded as he walked into the room and motioned him to the chair. Reno walked slowly in, not taking his eyes off his mentor. "What happened?" Reno finally asked.

Legend tried to smile, but it looked like he was forcing it. "Lungs don't like the Midgar air." He wheezed a bit. He looked like he was going to say more but then a doctor came in. Reno didn't recognize the guy, but he wore the stuffy white coat and name tag that said, 'Dr. Frellin'.

Dr. Frellin seemed nice enough. He introduced himself with a soft voice and quiet bedside manner. Reno listened to the doctor talk and the whole time his only thoughts were about the first words which were complicated, long, and scientific-sounding. When he asked what it meant, the doctor said that Legend's lung capacity was dangerously low.

"I am recommending that you go back to Costa Del Sol. The air there is better for your lungs and it will be more comfortable for you."

He heard the words that doctor didn't say and just about wanted to scream at him, but he remained silent as he went though the list of stuff that Legend had to do.

The doctor left and they were alone in the room. They stared at each other for a bit. "So, you're goin' to Costa Del Sol," Reno finally said.

Legend nodded. "The medicine didn't work last night."

"How bad was it?" Reno asked softly and looked at Legend, who wasn't able to look at him. He was staring at his hands that were in his lap.

Legend shrugged. "I'm here, ain't I?"

Reno could only look at him. He was at a loss for words. He didn't want to say any of the bad things out loud because then that made it real, and he didn't want anything that the doctor said was going to happen to actually happen.

"Can you fly me?" Legend said. "I haven't talked to Tseng yet, but I think he suspects that I will need to go back into retirement." He gave a small cough and rubbed his chest. "I am not as efficient as I used to be."

"Shit," Reno muttered. "When can ya go?"

"They want to try to get my blood oxygen level a little higher, without me having to be on a tank," Legend said and rubbed his face. "As soon as I am well enough, I guess."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a little while. "You could ask Tseng to transfer you there," Legend said and gave him a hopeful look.

Reno knew where Legend was going with this. "You know I can't do that," he whispered.

He heard Legend give out a large sigh, that sounded way too raspy to be healthy, before he straightened himself up and tried to smile. "Well, food around here sucks. They won't let me out, so can you fetch me somethin' a little tastier than the lumpy porridge that they brought?"

Reno snorted. "Yo, the Mess food sucks too."

"At least get me something that has some protein for lunch." Legend almost sounded like he was whining. "I need something greasy and covered with gravy. I'm trying to get my strength back up."

Reno nodded and smiled. Legend may have introduced him to good food that spoiled him for the other crap, but the man still ate the horrible stuff. "Sure, whatever. Ya want me to talk to Tseng too?"

Legend rubbed his chin. "Yeah, but I don't want him running around here. He'll make the nurses all nervous."

~what does that mean?~

"I'm going to catch a couple of winks. I'm a little tired. Wake me up when you bring me the food," Legend said as he crawled under his blankets.

It broke Reno's heart to see him like that. He looked so … old.

~and so unlike the Legend that rescued me~

"Sure thing," Reno said, putting on a brave face.

….............................................................................

Sephiroth frowned and looked over at Zack. The man was obviously distracted and spent most of his time staring at the wall. The only thing he seemed focused on was the phone and the wilting pale yellow flower that he had pulled out of his pocket.

He let his attention go to the bowl of fruit that he had on his desk. His fan club always supplied him with a fresh bowl of fruit every Monday morning, trying to convince him to do an interview. He had told them repeatedly that he would not, but the fruit still appeared every week. He pulled out a red apple and held it firmly in his hand.

He was supposed to be getting the debriefing from Zack on what occurred in Sector 5, but trying to get the information out of him was like pulling teeth. He highly doubted that he was paying attention to a word he said.

~let's test that theory out~

"And the President wants us to all dress in drag and go down to the Wall Market and see if we can create more revenue for the company."

"Sure, when do we go?" Zack said in a lost voice, still staring at the bare wall.

Sephiroth threw an apple at him and it bounced off his head. He watched as Zack rubbed the spot on his head where it hit. "What the hell was that for?"

"You haven't listened to anything that I said," Sephiroth said in a stern voice.

"What? I have so! Ow. That hurt, you know," he said while rubbing the spot where he hit him.

"Then what did I say?" he demanded and looked stern, trying to capture the stunned blue eyes of his fellow First.

"Something about Wall Market and raiding it." Zack continued to rub the back of his neck and was giving him a confused look.

~at least he heard something I said~

"You are far from focusing and this is important," Sephiroth lectured. "What is wrong with you?"

Zack slumped and stared at his phone and started talking. "John said he would call. Kunsel told me to give him a little more time to call back. Aerith said that it would be just a matter of time. John said that he listened to my messages. Kunsel said that he just has to think things through. Aerith gave me this flower for him. John said that he had cooled down. Kunsel said that I should just go talk to him, but what if he isn't ready yet? John said …"

"Stop," Sephiroth said, unable to make any sense of his babble. Zack gave him a look that he thought was reserved only for lost puppies. "What are you trying to say?"

"Cloud is mad at me," Zack said and slumped in his chair. Sephiroth resisted the urge to roll his eyes and was about to say something, but Zack started to talk again. "I know I screwed up, but he just has to talk to me and he won't answer his phone and he left his key card, and …"

"Zack," Sephiroth said firmly. Zack looked up at him with his large, sad eyes. "You need to focus."

"Sorry."

~Angeal had the right nickname for him~

"You are not making sense."

"Sorry."

"I get that you and Cloud are having difficulties …"

"I screwed up and …"

"Zack!"

He slouched further in his chair. Sephiroth sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. "What have you done other than phone to apologize?" Sephiroth didn't want the details. He knew that a simple phone call was never a sufficient way to apologize for any reason.

Genesis had taught him that much.

The silence he got from Zack told him that he had done nothing. He fingered the flower in his breast pocket.

"Did you try to talk to him?"

"His phone …"

"Not on his phone. In person," Sephiroth said in a firm voice to try to get through to him. Genesis would never answer the phone when he was pissed off and was known to actually break the device. He was the type of person to let cool down first and then go talk to him in person.

~yet, he still left~

"When I walked into the cafeteria, he saw me and he ran away," Zack said and fiddled with the flower.

"Did you go after him?"

"He looked so mad," Zack said, looking at his lap.

Sephiroth sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. "Even I know, you follow after, then talk to the person you pissed off."

"But I really pissed him off," Zack said. "I don't know if he'll forgive me."

"And running away from it makes it better?" Sephiroth said and knew he sounded a little bitter.

~after all, it's what Genesis ended up doing to me~

"Well, no."

Sephiroth looked at the young man. Zack had always worn his emotions on his sleeve and they could always read what the normally chipper man was thinking. Angeal said that was a good quality to have to relate to the other troops and something that he had to work on. Sephiroth had never mastered it.

"Then why are you sitting here? You aren't any use to me all distracted. We will talk about this report after you have straightened things out with your friend," Sephiroth said, closing the folder in front of him. He could get most of the information he needed from the surveillance cameras anyway.

Zack sat there for a moment gaping.

"Go!" Sephiroth said with a wave of his hand. Zack blinked twice before he bounded off his chair and ran out the door.

"Thanks, Sephiroth. You're the best, man!" Zack promptly yelled, nearly tripping on the apple that Sephiroth had thrown earlier, before he disappeared out of the office.

Sephiroth reached for a piece of fruit, a blue apple, and took a bite. It was the only thing that he had ever eaten out the basket and they were becoming rarer. He was going to miss the memories that he got from the taste of the odd-coloured fruit.

..............................................................................................

"Cloud!"

Cloud looked up to see Reno walking over to him. Cloud smiled at the sight of the redhead. He had a bag of food in one hand as Reno walked over and sat across from him. Cloud was glad to see him. He needed someone to talk to and Reno was always someone that he trusted and felt comfortable with.

"What is up with your freak of a friend?" Reno asked as he placed the greasy bag of Mess food to the side.

Cloud blinked and frowned. "Who?"

"That blue-haired flamer that's pretendin' to be an infantryman," Reno said. "He attacked me and accused me of upsettin' you, yo."

Cloud shook his head and sighed. He wished he would have knocked Joseph on his ass. The guy deserved it for asking him if his Sugar-Daddy was not buying him enough presents.

"So, is there something true to him saying that you're down about somethin'?" Reno said and then lowered his voice. "Is it about Zack?"

Cloud looked at his food and was suddenly not hungry any longer, so he pushed the plate to the side. He looked up at Reno who looked as if he was waiting for him to say something.

"Do you have a bit?" Cloud asked.

"Sure," Reno said and his voice was laced with concern. "What's up?"

Cloud looked around and leaned forward. "Can we talk somewhere a little more private? I don't want anyone to overhear."

"Sure."

Cloud got up and he followed Reno as they walk to a quieter corner. Cloud gripped his phone again. Zack hadn't tried calling him in four hours and he had no idea how he could approach Zack. Every time he saw his number, he was angry and upset, and confused as hell as to what to say.

He understood, but that didn't make him any less angry about the situation. He didn't know how to answer the phone or what to say. He figured that Reno would know how he could deal with this situation.

"So, is it about Zack? Did you two have a fight or somethin'?" Reno asked as he pulled himself up so that he was sitting on the table. Cloud stood near him so that he wouldn't have to speak too loudly.

"Yeah," he whispered. He didn't know how to ask the questions he wanted to have answered, and he found himself staring at the phone in his hand. "I'm still mad at him a bit, but not as much."

"What happened?" Reno asked in a low whisper as he leaned forward.

Cloud saw the concerned look on the face of the Turk. He realized that he trusted Reno more than he trusted John and definitely more than he trusted Joseph. "It's a little hard to talk about this."

Reno's eyes grew wide. "How'd he hurt ya?"

Cloud could feel Reno's eyes darting over him and he looked a little angry. It caused Cloud to smile a little bit to see that he was angry over Zack hurting him. Cloud explained to Reno the only way he could, "He got a phone call and … and he left."

Reno tilted his head and looked at him confused. "Huh? He left? What is the big deal about that unless you two were … oh," Reno said, at last understanding. "Shit. He left in the middle of you two gettin' all cuddly."

Cloud blushed at not only how Reno worded it but how quickly Reno figured it out. The air quotes that he gave when he said the word, 'cuddly' didn't help either.

"Have you talked to him yet?"

"That's kinda where I need your help," Cloud said as he looked down at his phone. "I was a little rash and I left my key card back at his place and he's tried to call me, but I just don't know what to say back to him. I'm still mad, but I just don't know." Cloud felt like a fool with his babbling. He couldn't get the thoughts straight.

"Well, you certainly have every right to be upset," Reno said, resting a hand on his shoulder. "What was the first thing you did when he pissed you off?"

Cloud shrugged. "I kinda just stormed off to the shower, got angrier at the thought of him answering the phone right in the middle of …" Cloud stopped and sighed. He had just about said it. "Anyway, on my way out, I decided that I didn't want to be left like that and so I just put my card on the counter and locked the door behind me."

Reno's eyes grew wide at the statement. "How mad were you?"

Cloud shrugged. "I kinda hurt Cyrus in training. They had to heal him."

Reno's eyebrows shot up and he gave a huge grin. "Hot damn. You're a sure spitfire when you're angry! Cyrus? Yo, is that why they were in the infirmary?"

"Yeah," Cloud whispered, a little ashamed that he let his temper run away with him like that. He just wanted to hit ...

~Zack~

… something to make them understand how much pain that he was in because of his actions, and it seemed that Cyrus got in his way. He had to remember to apologize to him for hurting him so bad.

"How mad are you now?"

"I still can't answer the phone when he calls. I don't know what to say to him," Cloud said and looked into Reno's eyes. "We were having such a good night. We went out to a movie and had a nice dinner. It was perfect!"

~until he left~

"And?" Reno whispered. "What else?"

"He left," Cloud whispered back. "He left me. His phone rang and then I don't remember a thing he said to me, I just watched him leave and I felt … felt … used."

Reno made a small scoffing laugh. "Know the feeling."

~ what does he mean by that?~

"Do you want to forgive him?" Reno asked next.

Cloud nodded. He did want to forgive him but he was still upset over the whole situation. He didn't know what to say or how to tell Zack how he felt about it.

Reno blinked at him and got a serious look on his face. "Okay, first off ..." Reno leaned close. "You make him all apologize to you. Really beg for your forgiveness, yo."

"What? Make him beg?" Cloud whispered.

"I know that you like doing that." Reno chuckled and winked. Cloud tried not to blush. "It'll come to you if you go talk to him. I know he really cares for you. You can tell by how he looks at you," Reno said in a more serious tone.

"If he cared so much about me, why would he leave like that?"

Reno shook his head and chuckled. "Zack is the hero type. He can't help but do stuff like that, and you'll hafta learn to live with that. He's always goin' to run off to save people. He's just that way. I mean, I would give anythin' to have a guy like that on my arm," Reno said a bit whimsically and touched his arm. "Would you change that about him, yo?"

"No," Cloud whispered. He wouldn't want Zack to not be the hero he wanted to be.

~the hero that he is~

It would not be Zack if he didn't run off and save the world. It was who and what he was. "I wouldn't want that to change."

"So," Reno said sharply and leaned away from him. "You make him feel super guilty, make him buy you dinner, clothes and some good booze."

Cloud let a smile cross his lips. "Is that what you do to your Sugar-Daddys?"

Reno gave him a small push. "Just go find him and then ya can have some great make-up sex, yo."

Cloud gasped and stammered over a response. Reno laughed and hopped down from the table, running a hand across his shoulder. "I gotta go. If you still need to talk, I'll be around." He grabbed the bag of food. "I'm just gonna be hangin' with Ledge."

"Is everything alright with Legend?" Cloud asked as he looked at the bag.

"As well as can be expected."

~he looks worried~

"I gotta go," Reno said. "Ledge's grub is gettin' cold and he doesn't like nuked food, yo."

Cloud nodded and looked back at his phone and contemplated calling. Reno placed both his hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at him in the eye. "Go talk to Zack. You'll know what to say when ya talk to him. Ya look at him like a lovestruck idiot, too."

Cloud frowned at him as he watched him leave.

He felt a little better about starting to talk to Zack, but he was still very nervous about the prospect. He really still didn't know what he was going to say or how mad he was going to be at seeing him in person.

...............................................................................

Reno doubted that he had to have a harder conversation in his life. He thought he rode the roller coaster of his emotions quite well.

He pushed back the thoughts of breaking up the Spike-Brains and then he could happily be there to comfort him and make things all better. But he couldn't do it. Cloud just looked so lost and …

~cute~

… and he couldn't do it. The expression on Cloud's face stopped him.

As Cloud walked away, the blond stared at his phone as if he was willing it to ring. Reno could only sigh as he grabbed the bag of food for Legend and tried not to be depressed at how his life and love life was sucking so hard at the moment.

..................................................................

Zack was nervous as he looked for Cloud nearly everywhere. He followed the trail of sightings as he walked through nearly every corner of the Shin-Ra building. He was determined to run up to him and tell him that he was a fool and beg for forgiveness, and then give him the biggest hug and kiss so that he would feel absolutely smothered.

He would treat Cloud to anything he wanted. He would take him to dinner, a movie, ice cream, whatever was in his power he would get him, because he didn't deserve being left like that. He would say he was sorry until he was blue in the face and kiss every part of him to make it all better until he was forgiven.

Then he spotted him.

Cloud was walking down the hall with his helmet under his arm and his face half hidden in his muffler and Zack just about lost his nerve.

Cloud didn't see him right away but he was looking a little lost as he walked down the hall. He waited for Cloud to see him.

~please, don't run~

Cloud's noticed him finally. Cloud's face hardened and his jaw tightened but he did not run. He stood stiff and clutched his helmet tighter to his side while the other hand clenched into a fist.

~he's still mad~

He walked slowly towards him. Cloud crossed his arms, folding his helmet into his stomach, and his normally soft blue eyes were hard and narrow. Zack swallowed hard as he approached him and did the only thing he could think of. He pulled the flower out of his pocket and held it out for Cloud.

He was absolutely horrified when a single yellowish petal from the lily floated to the ground. He watched it fall, feeling his stomach sinking with it in absolute horror.

~fail~

He was afraid to look up, even though he was still seeing Cloud's shoes. He didn't want to see the rejection on his face. He waited for Cloud to storm away and leave him standing there looking like a fool.

"Sorry," he whispered, still not taking his eyes off the pathetic broken flower petal that lay at his feet.

~what if he runs away? What if he doesn't forgive me? What if he hates me now? Damn flower. Why did I take advice from Sephiroth? Why won't Cloud say something?~

He felt a gloved hand touch his. He raised his sight to see Cloud's fingers pluck what remained of the wilted and wrinkled flower out of his fingers. He let it go and watched as Cloud brought the flower to his nose and breathed in deeply.

"I was an idiot," Zack whispered and looked into those beautiful blue eyes.

"Yes, yes, you are."

Zack couldn't control the slumping of his shoulders as the pain in his chest grew. Cloud then smiled and the tightness in his chest was replaced with warmth. "You can buy me a drink while you tell me how much of a moron you are."

Zack blinked and processed the words before he realized that he wasn't being shunned and that Cloud was going to give him another chance.


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What a 'Dwah' moment there at the end.

What is there to say…. It's done. Finally. They are back together! Yeah… and Poor Reno, just because I really am making him suffer. I will have to do something to make it up to him soon.