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Chapter Nine: Somewhere Like Here

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One shot.

He flinched.

Two shots.

He flinched again.

Three-Volley shot.

A tear escaped down his face.

Mick Elici's grave was dug into the damp earth. An issued SOLDIER broadsword was sheathed into the mound of dirt, resting above his body. Its polished surface reflected the faces of those who remembered him; those who loved him. He could hear the sobbing of a small child, and the weakened attempts from a mother and wife to quiet him. A soft rustling of the people around him sounded through the brief speaking of Director Lazard. His mind blocked out any word that was spoken.

He blinked slowly, and when his eyes opened again, the sun was beginning to set, and everyone else was already gone. He stood staring down at the fresh mound below him, his silent tears unable to flow once more. He swallowed a burning lump in his throat; he swallowed the anger that welled up inside.

Beside that grave lay a memorial for Evans, whose body they were never able to recover.

A hand on his shoulder startled him, but the muscles in his body failed to react. Zack's voice reached his ringing ears. "Hey," was all he said. Cloud turned, his eyes tracing along the ground.

"Your friends are waiting."

Cloud looked up to Graves and Ratcliff who stood back, waiting by the sA-37 parked in the field of the plains near the Chocobo farm. That had been Elici's favorite place to take his son.

"Zack?" Cloud said, his voice quiet, solemn.

He hummed a questioning reply, his hand giving the boy a tight squeeze, resisting the urge to pull him close in front of the other two men.

"Where...are your friends?" He looked up, the remnants of sorrow brimming in his reddened eyes.

This caught Zack off guard and the hand on Cloud's shoulder slipped off. The memory of his friends dying in his arms, shrouded in snow, forced its way into his mind.

Essai...Sebastian... Blue mako eyes shut in the breeze that passed by.

"They're somewhere...like here..." was his vague reply. The truth was he hadn't decided where to bury them yet. He and Tseng were going to decide together, and soon, after the autopsies. Family for the two men were long since gone, having passed either from sickness or from the war in Wutai, so the task was left for the closest person the two had to family. The thought dug into Zack's heart, until he forced the memory from his mission at the Icicle Inn away to show strength for his young friend. "C'mon, let's get back to Midgar." He forced a smile at Cloud, who forced one back.


~*~*~
The four hour ride back to the city was long, and mostly silent, at least for the occupants in the back. Cloud opted to sit in the bed of the truck, fearing that the closed cabin would make him claustrophobic in his muddled state, so Graves decided to keep him company back there. And Graves liked to smoke, so he wasn't bothering Ratcliff with his cigarette habit.

Zack sat with Ratcliff in the cabin, wishing that he was back with Cloud, but after the previous night they shared together, he thought it best to keep a little distance as Cloud seemed distracted and confused over the event. As was Zack, of course.

Ratcliff noticed Zack glancing back to Cloud in the rear view mirror, who was slumped up against the back of the cabin, his head resting against the glass, as if he were leaning against Zack, who sat on the other side.

"Poor kid," he said, frowning. "He's been through a lot lately, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"They never did find Mejia, yeah."

"Yeah..."

"We'll get him though, yeah?"

"...Yeah..."

Ratcliff chuckled, realizing that was a lot of 'yeah's being said during that short banter. Zack must have realized this too as he suddenly laughed. He could see Cloud lift his head during his laughter and look at him with a look of curiosity. Zack's eyes flicked away from the mirror. He looked rather cute peering at him through the window like a puppy being left out in the rain.

Zack smiled during this thought, and Ratcliff noticed the aura about the SOLDIER changing with a simple glance at the young Cloud.

"Somethin' about that boy, yeah?"

Zack looked to Ratcliff, the smile fading. "What?"

"He's a bit intoxicating, isn't he, yeah?"

Zack turned his head to peer out the window of the passenger seat. "I dunno," he mumbled with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders that confirmed Ratcliff's ever growing suspicions.

"Cloud told me he didn't feel right, yeah."

Zack's heart jumped in his chest, but outwardly he remained stoic, uninterested. "Well, he's getting over that head injury, and now this with Elici..."

"I don't think you feel right, either, yeah?" He glanced over to Zack with his blue eyes. Eyes much like Cloud's, more than just the color anyhow. They reflected a jumbled past of self doubt, confusion and anxiety.

Zack frowned, turning away from the same eyes Cloud had the night before, the ones that flooded his soul with light and color.

"Well, if you ever want someone who has experience in 'not feeling right', come talk to me, yeah? I've been through it all."

Zack would have liked to have said 'I don't know what you're talking about', or 'You have it all wrong', or even 'I'm not like you', but he just found himself simply nodding, as if admitting every bit of rightful suspicions this man had for his relationship with Cloud.

Ratcliff just decided to ask him outright, formalities be damned. "Ever been with another man?"

And if it weren't for the fact that there were two other people behind him within strained earshot over the howling of the wind and the engine, he would have shrieked his reply. Instead, he opted for a very animated facial expression. "What!?" Maybe slightly more shrieked-sounding that he would have hoped. "Look, I don't know what type of relationship you think we have but-"

"I saw the love bite on his neck. Cloud has very sensitive skin, you know, yeah?"

Zack shut his mouth, turning his attention away from Ratcliff, and started focusing it on counting the dust particles on the dashboard in front of him.

"I've never seen him with anyone but you, and us, yeah. And I know for sure it wasn't any of us who gave him that mark. He is rather secretive, but I can still read him like a book, yeah? Even though he was sad over Elici's death, this morning there seemed to be a light in him that's been missing for a while now, yeah." Ratcliff nodded at his little speech, giving it his own approval as it fell upon Zack's ears.

Zack shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but then realized that if he were to talk to anyone about this, it would be Ratcliff. He began to open his mouth, when he heard Graves behind in the bed of the truck beginning to laugh rudely. Zack turned to watch as Cloud flopped himself over the side of the truck and vomited.

"Oh dear," Ratcliff said, watching the sight from the rear view mirror. "I forgot he gets sick on car rides, yeah."

"And helicopters." Zack paused for a moment. "And...elevators." He cringed, his mind going back to several nights before where Cloud had gotten sick against his chest.

Ratcliff chuckled, watching as Graves had one hand on the cigarette in his mouth, and the other hand on Cloud's back rubbing him as tenderly as someone like Graves could. He wasn't much of a touchy-feely type of person, nor was he the type to be able to console someone properly. But he managed in his own gruff way.

Zack took this moment of distraction to blurt out what was eating away on his mind. "No, in answer to your question, earlier..."

"Ah. But you've been with a woman, yeah?"

His mind trailed back to a girl he dated for one month that ended rather awkwardly. She worked at the front lobby of the building, the one that Graves was particularly fond of. Fond of her ass, that is. At first, she had paid scant attention to Zack when he would saunter up to her, but then after he moved up a couple of ranks, she started to take notice of him. After a while they had begun to become intimate, but it ended after a night of love making when she started to cry out personal information about him during sex. He had always heard her muttering things about him, like his height, weight and hometown, but just assumed she had been apart of a newly formed fan club of his that he'd heard about. He didn't really mind it at first as it was sort of cute, but that night when she orgasmed while screaming out his shoe size, he didn't call her back. And the horrifying part of it was, was Kunsel lived directly below him and had heard the entire thing. The next day Kunsel invited him out to go shoe shopping. He didn't speak to the bastard for three days afterwards.

There was one after her, but that only lasted for two weeks. He didn't get very far with her; only a bit of messing around as he started to be detached with everything that was happening with Angeal disappearing.

But then there was the girl from the slums. Pretty little thing; sweet as an angel. And how he treated her like one. They were together for three months before she began to become frustrated over not being able to see him as often as she would have liked. They were intimate as well, but eventually they came to a mutual agreement to part ways as a couple because of the strain of his job. It was hard at first, and he admittedly met up with her a few times after they parted to have a fun night or two, but that had stopped when his infatuation with Cloud smacked him upside the head, and he realized he was falling for him.

"Yeah. A few," he finally said.

"Well, it's essentially the same. Just...in another spot. You've done that with the ladies, yeah?"

Zack shook his head a bit violently, suddenly becoming rather uncomfortable in the conversation. "Never mind, this was a bad idea."

"What was? Talking to me, yeah?"

He didn't reply.

"He's really crawled under your skin, hasn't he, yeah?"

Zack's eyes went up to the reflection of Cloud heaving over the side of the truck. It was a pathetic sight, but it made him smile widely. "You could say that."


~*~*~
They made it back to Midgar a little before eleven; way past the time they were supposed to report back in for lights out. Of course, most of the men from the unit were gone, arriving from the burial around the same time, so it was excused for this night.

Ratcliff had managed to get Zack to indulge him a little in what had happened between him and Cloud, but didn't get much more out of Zack than a few vague details. He was a tough nut to crack, but Ratcliff just took that as a sign of apprehension and confusion, and not as being pompous. He ended up telling Zack a few stories of his own, toned down of course, as he had some wild ones despite his outward shyness.

And there was one piece of advice he said to Zack.

"It's the shy ones you need to watch out for. They can be deceiving. And, frankly, wild in bed."

Zack couldn't picture Cloud being anything but a silent and timid lover, but the flooding memory of the two moans he had let escape during their sensual encounter replayed in his mind a few hundred times before he had to roll down the window of the truck and let the cold wind take over his hearing. And take control of his arousal, of course, as that threatened to become painfully obvious during the onslaught of Cloud's voice in his head. But then the sound of Cloud moaning in the bed of the truck due to motion sickness didn't help much in his attempt to forget the sultry sounds. A moan was a moan, after all.

After a few lessons Ratcliff spouted off to him about making love to a man, and after a few uncomfortable shifts in his seat from Zack during these conversations, they eventually just laughed it off and resumed talking about not much of anything. But Ratcliff could tell that Zack seemed a bit more at ease after these conversations, like he had somehow answered some of the floating questions in his mind about what to do with a man. Little did Ratcliff know that Zack was memorizing each disturbingly helpful piece of information that was told to him about making love with a man. Eventually Ratcliff picked up on this after Zack's perturbed silence turned into slow nods of the head, to full on staring with interest while he spoke. He then offered up another piece of advice to Zack.

"Cloud is allergic to latex, just so you know, yeah. He'll break out into a nasty rash that'll last for days. Happened once after our basic medical training course. Poor guy was scratching like a mutt with fleas, yeah!"

This was duly noted.

The sA-37 finally pulled into a stop in the underground garage of the Shin-Ra building. A few other cars were doing the same, all of whom had joined the solemn burial of Elici's. The men exiting the vehicles wore the same placid looks as they had at the funeral.

Graves was dragging a rather invalid Cloud through the bed of the truck begrudgingly. "I dunno how ya put up with this shit, Zack! This kid is such a pain in the ass."

"Here, give him to me." Zack reached out and cupped his hands underneath Cloud's arms as he slid him off of the bed of the truck as if picking up a small child. He slumped over lifelessly into Zack as he set him down on the ground, steadying him on his wobbly legs. "You okay Cloud?" He tried to keep his voice steady and firm, and refrained from softening it too much in front of the others as he felt so inclined to do when he was around his little friend.

Ratcliff just grinned at this awkward display of hiding true intentions.

"Yeah...I'm okay," Cloud finally said, straightening his legs. "Just give me a minute."

Of course, a minute didn't last very long as Cloud bent forward and retched. The three men took two respective steps backwards as he did this, with respective chuckles, of course.

"Like I said, pain in the ass," Graves repeated, tossing his final cigarette of the night off to the side. A trail of smoke followed, slowly disappearing into the air. Graves reached into his pocket and offered Cloud the contents of his hand.

"I don't smoke..." he said.

"Oh, oops. Here." The hand returned, and then emerged holding a pack of gum. "Yer mouth prolly tastes like crap right now from all that puke."

Cloud took it with a slight face, but jammed several pieces into his mouth.

"Well fellas, I'm gonna head off now," Zack said, and Cloud looked up at him through watery eyes with a look of disappointment. It was a very endearing look, even if the tears weren't for him leaving, but from vomiting for the past four hours. "I have an appointment in the morning."

"Really? Everythin' a'ight?" Well, maybe it wasn't Graves' last cigarette as he promptly lit up a new one.

Zack nodded a few times, frowning in thought. "Yeah, I just need a little pick-me-up. I lost a bit of blood recently and haven't been feelin' in top shape since."

"Ah, Mako injection, yeah?" Ratcliff was the one digging around in his pocket now to pull out a cloth for Cloud to wipe his eyes with and he just shook his head declining, opting for the back of his hand instead.

"Hey, you guys got liberty Saturday?"

The three nodded silently, waiting for Zack to continue.

He stood for a moment, letting a small smile crawl across his face. "How 'bout we head out for a night on the town? My treat."

"Really?" was the collective question from the three.

"Yeah! We can hit up a restaurant, maybe a few bars..." His voice trailed off as Graves pointed to Cloud, and Ratcliff pointed to Zack himself.

"Too young," they both chimed in unison.

"Hey, I can get in. Kunsel and I do it all the time. They don't dare ask me for my I.D. They won't bug Cloud either, especially when I'm there. I'm a payin' customer, after all!"

"Well, it's up to Cloud here, bein' the innocent one and all." Graves flicked his thumb on the back of the cigarette, knocking a line of ashes off. "If he's man enough, of course."

"What're you talking about?" Cloud said, his voice sharp, almost defensive. "Elici snuck me in tons of times."

"...What?" was the shocked, collective question from the three.

"'By-The-Book-Elici'!?" Graves spun around on his heels, letting out a rowdy laugh. "Yer shittin' me, Blondie!"

"Apparently you guys forgot that he's from Sector 7. His father-in-law and wife run that brand new bar there. The 7th Heaven."

Graves swatted a hand at Cloud, losing interest. "Bah, and here I thought ya snuck in all ninja like. His wife just rolls out the goddamned red carpet and lets yer ass in through the front door with a goddamned smile."

"And she poured us many drinks with that goddamned smile," Cloud said and Graves recoiled, surprised by Cloud's sudden defensiveness. He could hardly imagine the boy in a bar let alone slamming down drinks with a seasoned pro like Elici had been. He was a formidable opponent, even against Graves in the game of drink, so for Cloud to be joining in with him made the man wonder just how innocent this boy really could be.

"Waitaminute. You little liar you!" Graves bounced up and down on his feet, pointing a finger at Cloud. "Ya told us last week that yer innocent ass had never drank before!"

Ratcliff snorted a laugh. "He said he went to a bar, he never said he got shit-faced, yeah! For all you know, he could have been drinking lemonade, yeah?"

Cloud looked like a little guilty child who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Well..."

"Feh! I knew it." Graves spat on the ground. "Elici'd never let ya drink. Ya prolly just sat and watched, sippin' on yer little fruity lemonade!"

Zack just stood there through all of the bantering between the three. He watched as Cloud seemed to really enjoy the company of these men. He observed the masked smile he had on his face, and the pain in his eyes each time Elici's name was mentioned. But he held himself together, despite the pain, for the sake of his friends. Zack was proud of him at that moment for the strength he was showing.

He thought of his two friends he had just lost up at the Icicle Inn, and remembered the dazed thrashing he'd done throughout his apartment, tearing through it in a rare fit of uncontrolled emotion. He thought of the tears he had spilled in anguish over their bodies as he held them when they died. He hoped that he could be as strong as Cloud was at this moment, when it came time to bury Essai and Sebastian.

"Well, I'm just gonna sneak off here while you guys argue..." Zack said, taking a few steps backwards, realizing his voice fell on deaf ears. He smiled at them, giving them a quick wave that went unnoticed, and walked off.

Graves and Ratcliff continued to bicker, not seeing as Zack walked off, or when Cloud followed.


~*~*~
"Zack!" Cloud's voice echoed as Zack rounded a corner through the empty lobby of the building. He stopped at the base of the carpeted stairs, turning to face the young one who ran up to him with a restrained sense of urgency.

"You should head back to the barracks, Cloud. It's late," he said sympathetically as his young friend looked rather haggard. His vibrant eyes trailed the boy who stopped short a few feet away, looking up at him from below.

"Did you really mean it?"

"What?" he chuckled, tilting his head to the side.

"Taking us all out."

A few blinks of his eyes and Zack just nodded, a bit confused as to what Cloud looked so disheveled over. "Well yeah, of course. I wouldn't say something unless I meant it. If you haven't noticed I'm a bit honest to a fault, buddy. Unlike you, you little liar."

"I wasn't lying..." He frowned, looking away at a potted plant near the lobby desk. "I've been there a few times."

"Drinking lemonade?"

A hand swiped across the back of his neck. "And sometimes tea..."

Zack shook his head, folding his arms across his chest at the blond.

"...And Car Bombs." He looked back up to Zack slowly, a surprisingly devilish grin forming across his face.

Zack's arms slipped from each other and flopped down to his sides. His eyes went wide with disbelief at what the blond had admitted, and also for the look he wore. Zack took a few steps down, approaching him. "No...way."

Cloud looked away, still holding that smirk across his face. He was nibbling on the gum he had in his mouth and Zack could hear it snapping between his teeth as his grin broke out into a smile, his lips parting slightly.

"You're lying again!"

Cloud let out a soft laugh, covering his mouth with a gloved hand, turning away from him as Zack realized he had been played for a fool by this young boy.

"You little runt!" Zack practically pounced on him, sliding the crook of his elbow around Cloud's neck and pushing him forward to face the floor. "I'll get you for that one, Strife!" He proceeded to grind his knuckles into Cloud's scalp with his other hand as the boy fidgeted in his arms, laughing heartily.

"Sorry, but that was too easy!" Cloud's arm was waving about, blindly feeling around for Zack's body. He eventually found his arm and began to tap it, in defeat.

"No way, bud. You gotta find your way out of this one. I'm not letting go that easily." Zack affirmed this statement by squeezing his neck a bit tighter. A few coughs escaped Cloud, mingling with his laughing as he continued to tap. "Nuh-uh. Don't think so."

"But my head injury!" he whined, feigning ailment.

Zack laughed, looking down at him, although Cloud couldn't see this as he had a lovely view of their boots. "Don't give me that. You're better now. Gotta try a different way."

"Aw c'mon Zack!" he pleaded lightheartedly.

"Nuh-uh!"

Cloud suddenly used his body weight to drop to the ground, almost lifelessly. Zack was caught by surprise in this quick instance and he went tumbling to the ground with him. Cloud landed on all fours, laughing breathlessly as the cool rush of air finally returned to his lungs that were being playfully deprived of oxygen from the SOLDIER. He hadn't noticed that Zack had fallen over him, his hands on either side of the boy, his groin pressed up against Cloud's rear in an all too suggestive position.

Zack sprung up quickly on his knees, pulling his hands back from either side of the boy's shoulders.

"I knew that'd get you!" Cloud glanced over his shoulder to see Zack on his knees behind him, with the hands that were on either side of him now placed absentmindedly on his hips. They apparently didn't get as far as he had hoped in his first attempt. "Zack?"

Zack glanced down as Cloud was observing him and the odd pose they both held themselves in. He took a long hard look at where his hands where, and where his groin was still pressed up against and fitting rather nicely, almost like a puzzle coming together. He let out a surprised noise, retreating his palms from the sides of Cloud's warm hips and jumped to his feet in one swift SOLDIER blur.

"N-nice move!" He blurted out, trying to pass the oddity of their predicament off as merely nothing. "Needs a bit of work though."

Cloud stood, dusting off his uniform trousers casually, even though he was more than aware of the amusing and slightly thrilling pose they had landed in. "Whatever works," he simply replied.

Zack chuckled a response, rubbing his thumb across his brow. Their amused laughter slowly died down.

They both fell silent together, shifting awkwardly on their feet. The sounds of their dissipating breaths echoed between them, carrying to each other an aura of wanting to say something, wanting to act on something. They knew they were about to part, but didn't quite know how to do that after their situation the night before.

Cloud was finally the one to speak, his voice now void of the personality he showed not moments before. "Well, I guess I should head back to the barracks. I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

Zack didn't know what to do and it showed on his perturbed face then. His mind was being attacked with thoughts at that moment, with screaming of suggestions, none of which he could bring himself to do or say. He wanted to embrace him in a departing hug, wanted to kiss him tenderly on the lips, hell, even the top of his head, anywhere. Hand, shoulder, nose, he would take what he could get and be damned the awkwardness of whatever body part he ended up choosing in the end, only if it meant to connect with him once again.

And Cloud was feeling the same way silently, but his face reflected more of an eager look than what Zack had been wearing. If he were to initiate the contact, would he even know what to do? He could read Zack's emotions through his laden eyes that he yearned for another encounter like the night before. Cloud's heart began to pound in his chest, unsure of the actions that threatened to flow from him at that moment as Zack looked so ardent about the decisions scrambling inside his head.

They spoke each other's name in unison, and then released amused chuckles at this.

"You go first," Zack said.

Cloud pursed his lips together, his tongue tickling the roof of his mouth in quiet anticipation, as if urging him to speak the words that he desperately wanted to say. These words, however, fell from his mouth in a jumbled mess of unintelligible mumbles.

Zack let out a breathy laugh. "What was that supposed to be, Spikey?"

"I...uh...w-wanted to..." He trailed off, letting a small squeak of frustration out at his inability to speak his mind. He was afraid he would be too presumptuous to ask for a kiss after his reaction the previous night when Zack was touching him.

He wasn't even sure what the previous night meant to Zack anyhow.

"Cloud?" Zack said after several idle moments of Cloud just brewing there. He lowered his head to try and see beneath the hair that fell into Cloud's eyes. "What did you want to ask me?"

"N-nothing..." He shook his head shortly. "It's nothing."

"Little liar again," he teased, reaching up and putting his hand underneath Cloud's chin. "If you want something, just ask me," he whispered, closing the gap between them with a single step. "Don't be shy around me, Cloud."

Cloud allowed Zack to lift his head tenderly, the warmth of his hand resonating through him. His eyes flickered against Zack's, but then looked away. His handsome features were too sharp for the wavering emotions in him at that moment.

"C'mon, just tell me," he coaxed, his face lowering into Cloud's, his nose brushing up against his cheek. He let his lips rest against Cloud's but didn't connect them in the kiss that he could tell Cloud so longingly wanted. Almost as much as Zack wanted.

And that sweet bottom lip began to tremble in a show of nervous excitement. This urged Zack to continue his sensual teasing. He reached up with his hand, sliding it along the back of Cloud's shoulder blades, finally stopping to rest behind his upper arm. He could feel Cloud convulse momentarily at the touch and this brought forth a sultry chuckle from the SOLDIER.

"Z-Zack..." Cloud said, his head tilting back slightly to try and catch Zack's mouth with his, but Zack pulled away. He knew Zack was teasing him, trying to get him to come out of his shell and actually ask for something he wanted, rather than just suffer without it. It was working. "I-I wanted...to see, if i-it's okay with you..."

Zack's smile widened, waiting. His hands began to slide up along Cloud's neck and up into the soft spikes. His fingers danced between them, causing a few more shivers to rack Cloud's frame.

"I want to kiss you," Cloud blurted, and then suddenly pulled back as he cupped a hand over his mouth, utterly embarrassed.

Laughing was one of Zack's other favorite pastimes, besides eating, and sleeping because of eating. And he commenced his favorite pastime in front of the bumbling blond through a melody of heartwarming laughter. It filled the empty lobby with its sound and drowned out the noises of displeasure from Cloud as it did this.

"Stop laughing at me, you ass!" he said, his face drenched in a reddened fury. He kicked the ground at Zack's feet, thrusting his bottom lip out unconsciously in a rather pitiful pout.

"See? Was that so hard?"

"W-well I didn't see you asking me either..." He trailed off, his back almost completely to Zack now in shame.

Zack's laughing ceased, as this was painfully true. "Okay. It's settled then," he said after a rather quick decision over something.

Cloud turned back around with a bowed head. His eyes crept up to meet Zack's gaze.

"There will be no hesitation, either."

"What?" Cloud's head slightly lifted now, interest piqued.

"No apologies, no hesitation between us. Ever."

Cloud liked the sound of 'us', but he kept that glee to himself. "Okay..."

"Can we try this again?" he so innocently asked and Cloud nodded. "You go first," Zack said, once more.

Cloud looked a bit mortified as he was chosen to initiate once more. His mouth twitched to the side in nothing other than hesitation, but Zack let that one slide for now. Cloud repeated himself again in a sheepish whisper.

"Can't hear you," Zack said so nonchalantly.

It was repeated once more, in no higher of a decibel than the previous attempt.

"Can't hear you!" he said in a sing-song voice now, as his arms folded against his chest.

Cloud lowered his head again, his eyebrows arching in a frustrated expression. He no longer repeated himself.

Zack smiled at him understandingly. "Okay, well we'll work on that." He took a step forward again, his arms sliding from off his chest. "How about I give it a try?"

Cloud nodded seriously.

"Cloud, can I kiss you?"


~*~*~*~*~*~*~
...To be continued in Chapter Ten: Between His Teeth.