tampered | Log; Completed

Log; Completed

When; Late afternoon.
Rating; G, for now.
Characters; Zack [

yourarmor] & Cloud [

conflictive]
Summary; After Cloud states the need to find a place to stay, Zack insists the blond stay with him.
Log;

It took a moment for Zack to stop grinning like an idiot before he was able to get up off of his chair, stretching once while side-glancing over at the baby chicken that sat in a wrapped-up towel on his desk. The raven-haired man scratched his head, squatting down to look at it before smiling, “I'll be back in a while, 'kay? Just don't go roaming off or anythin'.” He spoke to the chick like it would respond back, but the animal just tilted its puffy head to the side and chirped a few times.

Good enough of an answer for Zack.

Standing up straight while reaching over to nab a coat he took one look around his place again (relatively clean, thanks to Aerith's nagging over the years) before stepping outside, shutting the door behind him firmly.

It didn't take him too long before he was at the Carousel; that large, stupid grin and all. Zack's eyebrows rose once he noticed the other wasn't there yet, so he simply waltzed on over to one of the benches and took a seat, violet eyes glancing about in search of the blond.

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Cloud hadn't felt the least surprised at Zack's offer to house him. He was secretly pleased, of course. And maybe a little relieved.

It wasn't that he wasn't content with sleeping under the stars, and all that. It just got lonely after awhile, and one could derive only so much nutrition from pure sugar, which had comprised the majority of his diet since coming to this world.

As he made his way to the Carousel, Cloud found himself wondering if it'd be like old times, when he'd had to put up with Zack's less-than-stellar room maintenance habits. Not that he minded, of course.

Upon arrival, Cloud didn't bother attempting to distinguish Zack from the crowd. He stood out on his own, anyway. And he's probably find Cloud with relative ease, considering, Cloud realized with exasperation, he'd probably locate Cloud based on his hair.

[ ooc; Sorry for suckage, my original post got deleted for reasons unknown so I had to write up a quick crappy one to replace it. D: ]

And indeed, Zack did find Cloud via blond, fluffy hair.

So when he did spot him the raven-haired man stood up, grin widening once more while he rose an eyebrow down at the other. “Really, now.” A hand reached over, tugging Cloud's shirt once before he started up again. “We're going to have to get you new clothes, kiddo! I'd give you some of mine, but uh.” Zack paused once more, winking at him as he pulled his hand back, letting it rest atop blond spikes, “Seems like you still have a lot of growing to do.”

He didn't mean to tease him, but the joke was still there. Zack still saw Cloud as a kid, no matter how old the other would get, and he knew it'd get annoying after a while if he wasn't careful. But that didn't matter all that much, he'd still use terms of endearment that'd waver on the lines of being too childish for someone who saved the world several times. Not like that mattered all that much right then and there when it came to names.

“But, you're here!” Using this as an excuse to squeeze Cloud into another one of his bear-hugs, Zack fought his urge to pick the other up, which was a hard urge to fight off to begin with, “And we're going to play house and get you somethin' to eat.”

Letting Cloud go, Zack pulled back finally and stepped a few paces away, jabbing a thumb towards the direction of his place, “Not too far of a walk to my place. Think you can talk for more than a minute, though?” He was actually really interested to hear anything the blue-eyed savior had to say – well, that is, if he'd say anything to begin with. If not? Zack would do all the talking. It was his specialty, after all.

[ooc: No worries. M'going slow since we have company over and it's a pain to type when they're yammering to you about stupid shit. XD]

"My clothes are fine," Cloud protested only half-heartedly, appeased by the prospect of food.

There wasn't much truth in what Zack had to say about growing up; Cloud had come a long way since Shinra. Nevertheless, he'd forever feel infinitely immature in Zack's presence, and no pretense of stoicism could change this.

"And yeah, I guess." It was only expected that Zack would be curious as to what had occurred in his absence, and Cloud, at the very least, was obliged to explain.

Zack smiled broadly once Cloud agreed to speak, so he began their walk, motioning for Cloud to follow. His hands swung behind his head of dark hair while interlacing his fingers together, glancing down at the boy wonder before beginning, “So? Spill. I've been gone long enough!” And even though it wasn't a “Cloud-thing” to do, Zack half-expected the other to come running to him when they first met up again.

But, alas, he had to remember he was all grown up now and probably too manly to latch onto Zack like a lifeline. 'Sides, from what he's heard the kid could take care of himself; not that Zack was saying he couldn't all along, because Cloud always had potential, no matter at what age. And he used that potential finally, but somehow it turned him into what looked like a broken person.

And Zack? Well, he wanted to try and mend as much of the broken warrior walking beside him as he could, be it little baby steps or big, giant ones.

“Has Aerith told you much?”

Honestly, Cloud wasn’t sure as to where to start. Since Zack had left him, life had been a great blur of events, and though Zack’s death would forever be stark in his memories, Cloud had yet to truly sort out the events following it.

Particularly the insanity that it had inspired. To that day, despite being aware of it, Cloud hadn’t yet attempted to confront the issue of distinguishing his true memories from those assimilated from Zack.

It was a little ridiculous, in retrospect.

“Naw.” Zack kept his steady pace as the two walked, occasionally making sure he really was going the right way because, heck, the place was pretty big and pretty confusing at times. It took Zack maybe six tries the first time he walked from the Carousel to his little house but thankfully he had it down, now.

Shifting his eyes towards the blond, Zack smiled down at him, “She thought it wouldn't be fair when it's you who should tell me the details.” And in all honesty, Zack was one of the most patient beings on earth. He planned on waiting until the other was brought to the Lifestream – heaven forbid that ever happened before Cloud was old and gray – to hear the news and grand adventures. Though from the sound of it, it wasn't exactly happy daisies and trails of roses down the path that got Cloud to be who he was today. So he wanted to know exactly what happened, in full detail.

“So, again, spill.”

So Cloud didn't have anything to build on. It was just as well.

He thought about taking a practical approach to the entire thing, by delineating the "story" chronologically and starting off with major points and then going into the details. He thought about starting off by telling Zack about Shinra, and all of the corporation president's quixotic endeavors. And he thought about telling him about Sephiroth, and the destruction he had wraught. This made sense, considering Sephiroth had been the cause of most everything. He realized, though, that it would be incredibly insensitive of him. Cloud was painfully aware that despite all the time that had passed and how much Zack would undoubtedly deny it, Sephiroth was still a sensitive issue for him.

No, he wouldn't hurt Zack like that. It would be callous of Cloud to burden him as such, and Zack didn't deserve it.

"Well, I met a lot of girls," Cloud said at length, with all the seriousness in the world.

There was a long pause and a blank look over to the blond, almost acting as if he was shocked that he said that. But a moment later Zack found himself bursting into a fit of laughter, attempting to quiet down on his own but wasn't having much luck in doing such – but heck, that really wasn't what Zack was expecting to hear. Not at all.

“Is that so?” He snickered lightly while an eyebrow rose, smirk plastered on his face as he asked teasingly: “Is meeting a lot of girls all that happened, then?” Zack wasn't stupid, and he knew Cloud knew this of course – he saw right through the other, as clear as crystal and then some. There was a lot to say. The difference from start to finish from when he first met Cloud to now only heightened this to be obvious; there wasn't any way, however, that he'd pry if the blond didn't want to go into detail.

He could wait a little longer. And if he got too impatient? Zack would resort in other 'methods' to get him to talk. So he let it slide, for now.

“Well that sounds interesting, then,” he didn't wait for the other to respond, quick to say something else if the time wasn't right to tell The Grand Adventures of Cloud Strife, “I would've loved to be in your place, then. Sure, I had Aer with me and all, but she acts like my mother half of the time!” The exasperation in his voice was intended, but much too over dramatic. “And I'm sure within time she'll baby you, too. S'why I'm dragging you to my place anyway, means you can be a little more free with your choices and what'cha wanna do everyday.”

Zack wasn't totally sure what he'd do now with Cloud living in his place, but he knew it would do more good than anything else. He missed him of course, and there should be a lot for them both to say to each other – or so he hoped. If not, Zack would find loads to talk about, even if it was something outrageously random.

"Yeah."

Though Cloud was taciturn to begin with, today he was more so than usual. He couldn’t help feeling a little shy around Zack, whose mere presence was reducing him to the untried, yet prospective Soldier he used to be, somewhat to his mortification. And he still couldn’t bring himself to believe that it was really Zack - except that the other man was talking and laughing and breathing, and definitely alive. It was too good to be true, and experience told Cloud that anything worth having never lasted. He wouldn’t let him go away this time, though.

He was happy for now, and more so than he’d been for a long time. And he was unwilling to spoil it by reacquainting himself with unwanted memories; he’d spent too long contemplating them to no end. It was probably selfish of him, he knew.

"We’re not lost, are we," Cloud said more of as an observation than an inquiry, voice carefully schooled not to betray any amusement.

“Lost? Mm...” Zack crossed his arms over his chest as he stopped walking, glancing around the area they were in as he forced himself to put on a confused expression, just to amuse the other a little bit. He looked utterly serious as violet eyes glanced around before a sudden 'Ah!' caught even himself off-guard, “There it is.”

Nabbing the other's hand so he could drag Cloud along easier, Zack tugged him along rather quickly, glancing around his shoulder to try and get a look at the other. There was a moment where Zack wasn't particularly paying attention to anything other than the blond, pondering a bit on how much he's changed. And really? He wanted to tell himself that Cloud was still a kid – but by the looks of it he seriously wasn't. Not one bit at all.

He matured greatly, as it kind of made up for his lack of height against Zack's tall posture, or so the raven-haired man concluded in private. Though the maturity was there, again, he always saw an awkward sixteen year-old boy small enough for Zack to put on his shoulders and run around with, laughing at him if he screamed for the other to put him down or pull on his hair until he stopped running. And then, the realization hit – Cloud probably didn't need Zack to hold his hand anymore; no push or shove to do this or do that, except for the fact that he was still partial towards showing affection. But that was just Cloud's personality, something he wouldn't be able to change, but maybe could be alter slightly when the time was right.

For now, though, he let go of his hand and gave a wide grin, head circling towards one of the many buildings as a hand extended out towards the one they were both standing in front of. “This is home sweet home!” Zack paused, looking over at Cloud with an idiotic expression on his face. “Well, I mean, inside the building 'n all.”

[ooc: I didn't want to write, like, a novel for a response, so you can do whatever before Zack drags Cloud in and I do my 'detailed explanation of Zack's living quarters'. xD]

Cloud couldn't help allowing a small grin to slip; Zack looked like the happiest man in the world with that expression of pure bliss on his face. It was the simple things in life, Zack had once said, that counted most, and apparently, he still took this to heart.

"Well? Show me in already."

[ ooc; Can't wait. XD ]

The stupid looking smile only widened more when he caught a glance of Cloud's grin, but instead of commenting on it he began a ridiculous march towards the building; really, he couldn't act serious around Cloud if he tried. Well, unless the time called for it, but right now? He could be as silly as he wanted to be. And he'd do it all the more if he could get more than a small smile from the other. And even though he enjoyed those enough, Zack'd give anything to see Cloud laugh again, even if it was just once.

However, right now, he had more important things to do. Such as fishing his key from his pocket.

“Ah-hah!” It was exclaimed rather abruptly, but proudly at the same time. “Are you ready for this?” Zack turned slightly to look at Cloud, not really expecting an answer in the first place, so he shoved the key in the keyhole, half-kicking the door open after a light 'click' was heard to signal that he could open the door without knocking it to the ground. It happened once before, but he wouldn't ever tell Cloud that.

Though surprisingly, when the door opened they were greeted by the sight of a rather clean living room. The walls were lightly painted a cross between a very light tan and vanilla, not too overpowering but enough so that it wouldn't be completely plain. The white annoyed Zack at first, so of course he took the liberty of making sure it wasn't so dull while he was living there. But, there was nothing really out of the normal that decorated the walls, amazingly. A few frames here and there, maybe, but they were only pictures of Aerith and Zack and some weird, funky painting that had absolutely no point to it – was just a decoration, after all.

The couch was a simple one, but large enough to allow Zack to lay across it if he felt like dozing off, which he did a lot when bored; a few cans of beer littered the wooden floor around said couch, along with some magazines on the side-table, but it wasn't as bad as his old apartment back when he was in ShinRa since this place was actually clean... if you ignored the pile of clothes that was currently draped and carelessly tossed over one of the chairs next to the couch, that is. And towards one of the corners a small desk sat, barely taking up any room as it only served as a place for his computer and another small chair.

Sadly, that was all there was to the living room. His own room? A mess. It looked like a tornado hit it and then some. His bed was unmade, clothes were everywhere, and he certainly didn't know how to shut his closet door and drawers on his dresser. But the room was big, and certainly had enough space for not only two people, but possibly three or four. It wasn't huge but instead comfortably large – it gave Zack more room to toss things, that's all it meant to him.

The medium-sized kitchen didn't have much to offer, either; Zack didn't have any reason to make it spectacular, except for the fact that when he walked into it he wanted to enjoy it and not dread it. But it had a fridge, an oven, cabinets with dishes, mugs, bowls, anything else you might want to find inside of them, a coffee pot, a toaster, and a small waste bin in the corner of the fridge and one side of the oven.

All that was left was the bathroom, which was only down the hall and to the left, which Zack pointed out rather off-handedly as he showed Cloud around. The whole time he babbled about random stuff, how he got this or that, except he gave a nervous laugh when he showed the blond his room. The door being promptly shut followed suit shortly after.

“So?” Violet eyes shined with excitement as he lead Cloud back into the living room, smiling as if he was rather proud of himself for being semi-clean and living in a place that actually looked normal for once. “What do you think?”

[ooc: And there you have it! xD]

Cloud fought the urge to snicker. Zack hadn't changed a bit. To be honest, when Zack had first opened the door to the house, revealing his relatively clean living room, Cloud had had serious trouble believing that the house had ever been truly occupied by Zack. The bedroom, though, had effectively dispelled his skepticism – though Zack had obviously been reluctant to show it to him, a glimpse was all Cloud needed to see that it exhibited the chaos only Zack was capable of.

He was quickly deciding that he definitely liked the place. It felt secure and comfortable and just homey, if that made any sense. Albeit it was messier in some spots than others, but that was something Cloud was more than willing to put up with.

"It's nice," he said with genuine appreciation. He'd look forward to living here with Zack.

"Except--" Cloud walked over to the couch, stooping to pick up one of the various empty beer cans littering the floor surrounding it-- "Zack, just what would Aerith say to this?" he asked with gentle disapproval, voice tinged with amusement.

A sheepish grin plastered over Zack's face, eyes directing their attention on the can in Cloud's hand. “Well,” he began, slowly making his way across the room and towards the couch, standing in front of the blond as fingers gingerly pulled the empty can from the other's hand, “she'd tell me that you'd make a good housewife with that tone of voice.”

There was but a moment where he raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly while tapping Cloud once on top of the head with the beer can. “And I'd have to agree with her if you start cleaning up my messes like last time.” The sound of amusement was apparent, making it clear he was only half-joking. But when it came down to it, he missed watching Cloud be a little more than nit-picky when it came to certain things being in order; even if Cloud didn't notice it, Zack sure did, and it was amusing but, nonetheless, appreciated.

“But right now? We need to get you situated.” Zack really didn't know what that meant, but the long pause between them that lasted maybe only a few seconds was enough for him to want to fill in said silence.

"Yeah," Cloud agreed, grateful for the change in subject. It was true; Cloud had been and still was more fastidious about certain aspects of life than might probably have been expected of him. It was the cause of embarassment, occasionally, but it was simply against Cloud's nature to be completely disorganized, and when confronted with extreme cases such as Zack's, it was difficult for him not to subconsciously make little adjustments wherever he felt it was necessary.

Such as now. Zack's room called for a serious overhaul, and if Aerith alone wasn't sufficient for pressuring Zack into making an effort about it (though one was not to speak lightly of Aerith), the least Cloud could do was assume the endeavor himself. The more he saw of Zack's house, in fact, the more he began seriously considering it. Because the state the bedroom had been in couldn't possibly have been healthy, and while Zack might be comfortable with such living conditions, Cloud wasn't comfortable seeing him being subject to them.

He'd think more about it later. The day was approaching its end, and that couch looked a lot more promising than the concrete he'd had up until now. Once all the beer cans around it were cleared off, anyway. He could probably do with a change in clothing, among other things, but more than anything, Cloud was tired.

Zack crushed the unwanted can easily while squatting down to clean the rest up, standing shortly after before nudging the back of Cloud's knees towards the couch as he noted that the other looked like death on a stick. And however that worked, Zack didn't know, but it seemed like an appropriate phrase to state, anyways. “You look tired, kiddo,” the term of endearment would never change, sadly, “get comfortable while I toss this junk out and get you a pillow and a blanket.”

He made a sharp turn towards the kitchen, dumping the trash – while picking up other things on the ground in the process – in the waste bin before circling around to go towards his room. After opening the door, Zack crinkled his nose up slightly when he got a good look at it; somehow, with Cloud there, it looked a lot messier than it should have. He was so used to it being that way when he was alone, but now he was going to house someone else. Yeah, there was a definite change that was going to happen sometime very soon. Possibly that night, actually.

Zack tried to ignore it for now as he reached towards the open closet, pulling out an extra comforter and a random pillow on the ground, though checked both items to make sure they were clean. Pleased with the result ending rather positively, Zack shut the door then made his way back to the living room, presenting the other with the pillow and comforter as if they were the most precious things in the world.

And honestly, they probably were, especially since the blond hasn't slept on something soft in a while.

Cloud received both items gratefully, caught between wanting to lose consciousness and feeling guilty about making Zack fix up the place for him, because he wasn't sure if he was worth the effort.

"Thanks, Zack."

With that, Cloud proceeded to pass out.

[ ooc; Sorry for shortness! D: Calc slays meee ]

Zack was just about to say something as he turned around, pausing in mid-reach towards the pile of clothing on one of the chairs and slowly smiled when he noticed Cloud was out like a light. Poor kid was probably exhausted, and here Zack was just yammering away like usual, completely forgetting that the blond probably needed extra sleep from all the running around he did. At first Zack thought he had a place to stay, but he really didn't know how long he had actually been in the crazy world they currently were in, so he hesitated a little bit in asking if he needed somewhere to live.

At least he wasn't on the streets anymore. Made Zack less worried.

Shifting the clothing to one arm he made his way back towards the couch, pulling the comforter over Cloud a little more before shutting the blinds. He made his way down the hall and towards his room, frowning at the mess as he knew he should get started on it, even if he wanted to curl up in said mess and just sleep. But really, Zack didn't want Cloud to start picking things up just yet. They'd both have to adjust to seeing each other constantly again when in Zack's place after all, and the last thing he wanted to do was watch Cloud work.

Besides, he's done enough already. It was time to show him that having a long break could be good for him.

Zack shook his head a little and stretched, as if he was preparing for a marathon. And honestly? It was exactly like that, only it'd be a cleaning marathon. Wasn't something he usually did, but there was always a first time for everything.

The rest of the night he cleaned and cleaned and cleaned until it looked relatively nice. No more clothes on the floor, at least, as they were piled in a semi-neat fashion in one corner of his room. His bed was made, clean clothes tucked into his closet as well as his dresser drawer; even the trash was taken out. There was a mission to actually wash the dirty clothes, but that could wait until later, because a beer and the floor in front of the couch called his name right then and there as he was quite insistent that it was rude of him to crawl in bed when the other was on the couch.

But he'd talk about that later, because Zack promptly fell asleep sitting up, head resting on one of the cushions on the couch as he dozed for the rest of the night.

[ooc: And sorry for the, like, novels I'm writing here. xD Hope everything goes/went well with your Calc, though!]

[ Why, I think we're done! whoafirstlogI'veeverfinished. D:

... Let's do it again. 8D; ]

[Yep! Sorry, I totally forgot to change the "Incomplete" to "Complete". ._.

Yes, let's! Can't think of much to do, but if you can come up with anything that'd be dandy. ♥ And congrats on finishing your first log! *_* I feel honored to have been able to finish it with you~]

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Log; Completed

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