A/N: Finally figured it all out, seems we're though a total of…. Two days? Whatever, Zack's going to bug Cloud again and ENTER RENO :P you'll see… Review's/Comment's greatly appreciated, feel free to PM me as well ^-^

DISCLAIMER: Sqaure Enix probably wouldn't sell even if I offered them Earth itself, so yeah :C

WARNINGS: Lots n' lots of trolling, language possible, slang-ish Reno, etc… Nothing horrible, a simple mischievous chapter… Enjoy!

"Heya Cloudy! Missed ya in ShinRa History this mornin' … what happened yo? Ya get abducted by the big bad Turks?"

Cloud jumped at the redhead's voice that seemed to materialize from thin air and shot the grinning nuisance a glare over his shoulder. "Hello Reno, and no, the Turks didn't abduct me- Zack did. Wanted to introduce me to one of his friends."

"Oooh! So he bringin' ya home to the fam'ly already huh? Must really have a thing goin' for ya, eh Cloudy?" Reno snickered at the look on Cloud's face and clapped him on the shoulder as he sauntered past heading to their next class. "C'mon Cloudy boy, don' want Sanders to use ya as a demonstration dummy again yo."

Shaking the feeling he'd gained from the redhead's words off, Cloud trotted after Reno to Hand to Hand, silently agreeing with his statement concerning their Instructor, Sgt. Sanders.

Zack was thrumming with energy and felt like he could jump all the way to Gongaga in a single, well aimed leap. But, unfortunately, he had a report to write and a certain Chocobo-head to pester later that afternoon, so he settled for bouncing his leg three hundred zillion miles an hour.

Angeal enters his apartment a moment later and quirks an eyebrow at his student before taking the groceries he had gotten for the Pup into the kitchen and quietly putting them away. Going back into the living room Angeal allows a small smile to smooth his normally strict features as he watches his student working on his latest mission report.

'And I didn't even have to bribe him or have Sephiroth start making up fake paperwork for him to do to start building the pile until it's monstrous enough that he has no choice… the pout's worth it though.' After a few minutes of Zack being the adorable oblivious Puppy he'd been so aptly nicknamed as, Angeal shakes his head and slips out the door as quietly as possible.

Zack, of course, knew his mentor was there but he was trying to focus for once so he just kept staring at the report while his mentor watched him and then left. Shaking himself to scatter the random thoughts circling his hyperactive mind, he finally manages to focus enough to finish the report and soon was flying down the hall's to the Director's office to drop it off. Rounding a corner he barely manages to break his momentum to avoid running into Genesis, who glares at him. He winks back, waving the report in the air like it was the best thing in the world, before turning back around and speeding back down the halls.

"What in the name of Gaia Zack!? Actually watch where you're going for once and slow the Chocobo down!"

At the snapped comment from the red haired man he simply grins, looks back over his shoulder, and mouth's 'Cloud' before turning and hurtling down the hallway. As Zack rounds the corner Genesis cocks his hip to the side and tilts his head in thought, barely containing his temper. A moment later it vanishes entirely as he makes the connection and saunters off toward the cadet barrack's to terrorize the newest recruits…

Cloud was finally, finally done for the day… and it couldn't have come a moment to soon, as far as Zack was concerned.

"Spikeyyyyy!" Cloud heard Zack a second to late to be able to dodge the headlock his best friend had aimed especially for him. Mentally congratulating himself for not squawking like a girl (or a Chocobo, as Zack would put it) he tugged at the muscled arms wrapped about his head in vain.

"Zack, come on… we're in public for Planet's sake. Can you just… not?" The elder teen laughs and grins down at his younger counterpart, not fazed in the least by Cloud's lack of excitement.

"Nah, wouldn't be as fun. Besides, I've got plan's that require the presence of ShinRa's one and only Chocobo-headed cadet! So there!" Zack pokes his tongue out at Cloud as a snicker to the right and behind the pair catch their attention and they turn, Zack finally releasing Cloud, to see Reno leaning against the doorframe to their last class.

"Sorry yo, couldn' resist," the redhead grins and tries not to laugh but fails miserably as Zack pretends to be offended, puffing up like he was a Chocobo instead of Cloud.

"So…" Zack grins and loops an arm around Reno's shoulder's before he has the chance to escape. "You seem pretty interested in the conversation…"

Reno picks up on the leading tone and cocks an eyebrow up at the SOLDIER, not even trying to get out of his grip. "And, yo? Is it a crime my curios'ty? Just trying ta keep Cloudy here outta trouble - don' wan' the Turks ta think he bein' suspicious an' snatch 'im up in the nigh', now do we?"

Zack raises a brow at the cadet and gives him a critical once over before shrugging and letting him go, deciding to keep an eye on him. After all, the last thing Genesis' plan needed was another cadet out after Cloud, "Point taken. So you want to tell me why you're so interested in Spike, Cadet…?"

"Reno. An' he's my friend, an' I ain't nothin' if not loyal to my friends." Both Cloud and Zack look at him, their eyes swimming with mild surprise. "What?!"

"Nothing!" Zack throws his hands up but fails to hide his grin, a laugh slipping between the cracks of his supposedly unaffected façade.

"You guys make no sense, yo. See ya 'round Cloudy!" With a wink at his fellow cadet, Reno smirks and heads down the hallway towards the barracks, keenly aware of the two sets of eyes burning holes into his back the whole way.

"Hey Zack?"

The SOLDIER looks down at the blonde beside him and flashes a grin before grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the elevator.

"What the- ZACK!" Zack whips his head around just in time to collide with a SOLDIER Third's upraised arm and falls backwards onto the floor, taking Cloud with him.

"Oomph!"

"Whoa there Puppy, what's the rush?"

"Wha-? Kunsel!"

"You get into the sugar jar again in Commander Hewley's apartment?"

"That was just the once! And it was his fault for getting brown sugar anyways, it's sooo much better than that white stuff."

Cloud looks between the two and rolls to his feet, shaking his head at yet another tale of Zack's never-ending antics. "Seriously Zack? White stuff?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to call it?" Zack pouts as he takes Kunsel's offered hand and dusts the back of his pants off. Kunsel snorts and rolls his eyes, catching the innuendo and waiting for Zack to catch on. He looks questioningly between his two friends for a minute before it clicks, and his mouth drops open in an 'O.'

"Finally catch on Zack, or do you need more time?" Kunsel accepts the playful shove and laughs, Zack and Cloud both joining in. After regaining their composures Kunsel offers a two fingered salute.

"Sorry guys, but I gotta go. I told Instructor Farren I'd help him grade papers so he can take his girlfriend out for their anniversary."

Zack snorts and punches his friend on the shoulder, "Can take the man out of the program, but can't take the program out of the man, huh? Teachers pet…" Kunsel just grins and waves at the two before heading off in the opposite direction.

Cloud scrunches up his brow in thought before turning towards Zack as they get into the elevator. "Hey Zack?"

"Mm… yeah, what's up Spike?" Blue eyes meet violet as Cloud turns his gaze up to meet Zack's questioning but open expression.

"What are we doing?"

Zack grins and winks down at him, "Oh, nothing much, just wanna hang out with some of my friends is all."

Cloud blinks a few times and scrunches his brow even more as he looks down in thought. "… So by friends you mean…?"

"You'll see," the seemingly larger grin Zack shot his way did nothing to settle Cloud's curiosity, or nerves, as the numbers on the display struggled to surpass each other as they slowly creeped upwards.

Shifting his weight from one side to the other, Cloud's gaze turns to the sluggish display as his thoughts twist and tumble in his head as he tries to decide just who exactly these friends Zack was talking about were. A quick glance to the side showed Zack watching him with the same grin on his face, and Cloud wouldn't have blinked twice if a tail materialized behind his friend and started wagging in excitement.

Giving up on trying to figure his hyper-active friend out, he leans back against the wall and lets the number display distract him as they headed to wherever, and whatever, Zack has in mind…

A/N: Sooo… Yeah, this is what happened with chapter 5 :peeks from behind closet door: It wasn't being very cooperative most of the time so it took me awhile, hopefully I can get back on some sort of halfway decent schedule now that I've broken the writer's block. Let me know what you think - Review's/Comment's encouraged and greatly appreciated.

PS:

I'd like to give a special thanks to all of my Reviewer's so far, I really enjoyed your comments and I treasure each and every one (I almost cried reading them the other day, no joke). Without them this might not have been written either at all, or at the very least not for quite a long time. Arigato! :bows deeply: