FicWad

Later that same evening, the last of the day's few clouds cleared and left only star-specked blackness behind. Zack found himself sitting behind Cloud's little house, far enough from the city that all he could hear was the faint muttering of the chocobos in their barn, and all he could see was the the sky ahead.

The door creaked open and then shut again, heralding Cloud's return. The blonde handed him a steaming mug, then settled down beside Zack with his legs dangling off the edge of the porch, cradling his own drink in both hands.

They sat like that in comfortable silence for some time, sipping their drinks, and Zack found himself smiling as he remembered something. "You know what this reminds me of," he said with a pointed, sidelong glance. "The roof."

The comment startled a quick laugh out of Cloud. "I'd almost forgotten about that."

It was something he'd shown Cloud shortly after the other man had failed his SOLDIER entrance tests-- a forgotten door, with the lock rusted off, leading up to the roof of the barracks building. It had been intended as just a place to get away-- away from the comments and the looks and the teasing and the unwanted pity-- but even after it outlived that purpose, they had still gone there. It was high enough up that they could see the sky, even with the lights of the city all around them and the bulk of the tower looming above, and somehow it had felt very peaceful.

And there they were again, miles and years away but somehow back in that same place, watching the sky just like they used to. Zack turned to Cloud with a grin, and found the other man smiling back.

The talk turned to other reminisces of times gone by, of pranks pulled and mutual friends and old jokes. There were topics that were uncomfortable for both of them, but by some silent agreement those never came up.

And when the words ran out, they simply sat and watched the sky, sipping their drinks and enjoying the silence.

"I never thanked you, did I," Cloud said eventually, quietly. Zack glanced at him curiously, and he glanced back with a small smile. "For-- getting us out of there."

"Ah," Zack said in recognition. He'd wondered when they would broach this subject-- the lab, those five years that were like an unspoken secret shared between them. He wasn't sure it was something he /wanted /to speak about, though he knew that it had to come up eventually. "You're welcome. Though-- I could wish it had ended better."

"Not your fault," Cloud was quick to say, and Zack felt some unknown tension fade away from him. He sighed faintly, thinking, then fixed on one thought in particular. "I'm glad you got to meet Aeris, you know," he said, smiling a bit wistfully. "I knew you two would get along."

Cloud smiled too, glancing over at him. "You were taking us to her, weren't you?" he asked. "To Midgar, because of her."

Zack nodded. "I had the whole thing planned out," he confessed, smile shifting to a sideways grin. "We were going to sneak into Midgar, using our vast powers of stealth to get through the monsters and guards and whatnot. We'd have hidden away with Aeris, holed up there until you got better-- then we'd all have got out of that hellhole and gone somewhere sunny. Travelled around for a while and had stupid adventures, then settled down somewhere--" He paused, eyes passing across the dim shapes of the farm around them. "Well, maybe somewhere kind of like here."

He stopped again, still looking, then turned to Cloud with his smile gone quiet. "You've got a pretty good life going here, Cloud," he found himself saying. "I'm happy for you."

For a long time Cloud just looked at him with an odd mix of emotions passing across his face-- surprise, and a touch of confusion, but with this warm, /pleased /look running through the middle of it all. He didn't say anything, though, and in the end he leaned over and rested his head on Zack's shoulder in a move that was so achingly familiar that for a moment Zack couldn't breathe.

He slowly slipped his arm around Cloud's waist, and they finished the rest of their drinks in silence, eyes turned upwards once more.

And when the mugs were long empty, and the air had cooled, they stood and wandered back into the house. And somehow there really didn't seem any other option than to pen Cloud up against the counter as he put the mugs there to rinse, to press his forehead into the back of Cloud's neck and nuzzle at the short strands of hair there. There didn't seem anything awkward at all about leaning in close, or about Cloud twisting to slide his arms around Zack's shoulders and kiss him back.

And a bit later, Zack was comforted to discover that this new Cloud still sounded like the old one when he gasped-- that if lips were dragged down the line of his throat, he still shivered just the same. And perhaps the fingers digging into his shoulders had the strength of mako behind them, and maybe the wicked, playful grin was unexpected, as they rolled over and over on the bed-- but it was new and old and wonderful all at once.

And coming to rest atop Cloud's body, face pressed against his neck, feeling breath sigh quietly against his hair-- damned if it didn't feel an awful lot like coming home.