"C-Cloud Strife." He replied, wincing inside at how wimpy it came out. The man checked his list, and then handed him a few papers.
"Sign these, and then return them to the desk over there. You will then be assigned a room, as well as given instructions. Next." he called, as if Cloud never existed.
Cloud gulped nervously and moved away from the man as fast as he could. He then mentally smacked himself. 'You aren't going to get anywhere, Strife, unless you shape up. You'll be spending the next few years here, so deal with it, if you want to become a member of SOLDIER.' he mentally reprimanded himself. He fished around his bag for a pen and looked down at the papers he had been handed. They were medical legal forms, and all of them pretty much stated that if you get hurt or die, it's not ShinRa's fault. "Great." Cloud muttered, and signed them. "Do they give us wills, too?" Cloud walked them over to the indicated desk.
There was a bored-looking woman there, who took the papers, glanced at them, and then at another sheet. "Cloud Strife, B6. " she stated in a toneless voice, "Rooms are on the twenty-fifth floor, the elevator is to your left. You will get situated in your room, dinner is at six, and the rest of the time is given to you to do with as you wish. Breakfast begins at 5:30. If you arrive later than 6:00, you won't be given any. Training and role call is at 6:30. Any questions consult the rules that are posted regularly in the hallways. Welcome to ShinRa." Her entire speech was monotone and automatic, as if she did it for a living-oh, wait, she did.
Cloud nodded wordlessly and walked away. Yep, he had certainly done himself in. He walked to the elevator and punched the call button. He adjusted his bag out of nervousness and stepped inside the elevator as it arrived. Pushing the button for twenty-five, after finding it among the many buttons, he waited for it to arrive at his floor. At one point, it stopped for a ShinRa employee who swiped his card, causing the button for 56 to light up. Cloud noticed that all of the floors for 50 and above were indicated with red, and he assumed that to reach those floors, you would need a keycard.
Cloud left the elevator nervously at his floor, and looked around. There was a very long hallway stretching away from him. Along it were the entrances to other hallways. Cloud walked forwards to the first of these and looked down it. He could see many doors. A30 was on the door on the left hallway, and A31 on the right hallway. Cloud assumed that these crossroads were alphabetical, so he kept going straight until the next one. This one had B30 on the left and B31 on the right. Wondering how many letters of the alphabet they used, he was tempted to see. Not wanting to get lost, though, he assumed he should take the left path, and did. He could hear voices from down one of the many hallways and also from inside some of the rooms.
B23...B11...B7...and, here it was, B6. Cloud wondered whether to knock or just enter. Being polite, he knocked. He heard a scuffling sound from inside and soon the door was opened, "Hey, what're you doing visiting in the...oh." The boy said, looking at Cloud. He had longer-than-usual spiky black hair, and an...open...air about him. "Who're you?"
Cloud looked at the boy standing in front of him. He seemed a little older than himself, and was leaning casually on the frame of the door. "Oh, uh...I'm Cloud Strife. They told me my bunk was here."
The boy looked closely at him, his eyes running all over Cloud's body and making him feel like a horse or something. Any moment he expected him to examine his teeth. The boy nodded, apparently satisfied with something. "Really... It's been a while since they had anyone room with me...not since...anyway, there must be a lotta new people this year. Come inside, Cloud." He said, stepping out of the doorway.
Cloud hesitantly walked inside and looked around. The place was covered in clothes, and it definitely looked lived in. There was a bed on one side of the room that looked as if it had never been made. The boy hurried over to the other side and cleared a bunch of clothes, revealing another bed underneath them. "This is your bed I suppose." he said, indicating the bed he had just cleared. "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expecting anyone to be living in here besides me." He continued to clear spots on the floor from the clothes, putting them in a pile. "I'm Zack by the way."
Cloud slowly walked over to the bed and put his bag on it. Zack grinned at him. "Don't worry I won't bite." he said, still cleaning. He examined a jacket he had just picked up, "Oops, he left that here..." he mumbled.
"What?" Cloud asked.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. That's the best I can do, I suppose." Zack said, examining the large pile of clothes he had made. He sat down on his bed, motioning for Cloud to sit on his. "Make yourself at home. It's not the best place on earth, but at least ShinRa has the decency to house ya'. So, where are you from?"
Cloud sat down, wondering at the ease and looseness of the boy in front of him. "Nibelheim."
"Wow, that's far. Ever been to Midgar before?" Zack asked, sprawling himself across his bed.
Cloud shook his head.
"It's a weird place. A place were people do anything they can to survive, anything... It's kinda funny how ShinRa takes everything away from the people, while claiming to give them something. I joined because my parents didn't have enough money to feed me and themselves becuase of ShinRa taxes. Ironic isn't it?" he asked
Cloud nodded.
"Ever been to Gongaga? That's my hometown."
Cloud shook his head silently.
"Ever been off that continent?"
He shook his head again.
"Do they have a reactor in Nibelheim?"
Cloud nodded, looking down at his bed.
Zack smirked and asked, "Have you ever laid anyone?"
Cloud jumped at the question and looked at Zack. "What?"
Zack laughed, "I'm just kidding. Just wanted to check if you were still alive." Zack looked at him closely and after a pause, "...So have you?"
Cloud shook his head vigorously, his face heating slightly, "No!"
Zack laughed again. "Sorry, you're just too easy to get nervous." He checked his watch. "It's almost dinner time, you wanna head down with me?" He stood.
Standing as well, Cloud said, "Alright."
Zack walked over to the door and opened it, entering the hallway. "Hurry up, Cloud, or we'll get suck with leftovers-from last month!"
Cloud followed him as they went to the elevators. Out of curiosity, he asked, "How many letters are there for rooms?"
"Don't worry, they only go to G. There aren't that many SOLDIER trainees." Zack assured him, as they rode down the elevator to level 23, the mess hall.
They entered the line for food, and Cloud looked around at all the boys in there. They seemed to range from younger than Cloud, to almost adults. Zack sniffed the air. "Finally, it's hamburger day. I hope you're not too used to home-cooked food."
"Huh?" Cloud asked, getting a very intimidated feeling from all of the stronger-looking people around him.
"Get you're head out of the clouds, Cloud." Zack said laughing. One of the guys walked over to Zack and waved. "Hey, Laguna!" Zack said, waving back.
"Hi, Zack." the person named Laguna said, reaching them. "Who's this? A new recruit?"
Zack nodded, "Yep. This is Cloud."
"One of your recruits or one of ShinRa's?" Laguna asked, winking.
"He's one of ShinRa's, though he's staying in my room." Zack replied.
"Really? They finally started to forgive you for that, did they?" Laguna said, grinning, "This means we'll have to find somewhere else, huh?"
Zack looked at Cloud and then back at Laguna. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Cloud had absolutely no idea what was going on, and he didn't ask, getting the feeling he didn't want to know. "Sorry for intruding on you." he apologized.
"Nah, It's not your fault." Zack said, putting an arm around Cloud's shoulder. "Cloud, this is my good friend Laguna." he said by way of introduction.
"Hello." Cloud said, somewhat shyly. "You sure I'm not being a bother? I could always-"
"I told you, it's no problem at all." Zack told him. "We really need to get you more social."
They all got their food and headed for a table. Sitting down, Laguna suggested, "Maybe we should spike his drink."
"What?" Cloud asked, scooting away from them slightly.
"He was just joking. If we were to do that we'd tell ya' first. Actually, we'd probably drink it all ourselves, since it takes a lot of sneaking and cunning to get alcohol around here. It's against 'The Rules'." Zack replied, motioning to a poster on the wall.
Cloud looked up at it. It said:
The Rules for Soldier trainees:
1. No fighting with anyone unless training under supervision.
2. No harassing of any other ShinRa employee.
3. No Alcohol or Drug use.
4. No PDA.
5. No activities after curfew (11:00)
It went on with more petty rules. Cloud gave up reading them after number 21.
Cloud looked at Zack and asked, "What's PDA?
"Public Display of Affection." Zack explained between bites of his hamburger.
"But I though only guys were allowed in SOLDIER." Cloud said.
Zack smirked, "So?"
"You mean..." Cloud trailed off, not really wanting to think about it.
"You'd be amazed how many people here aren't straight." Zack told him, still smirking.
Laguna grinned at him. "You would know."
Cloud looked at both of them, "...Do you mean that..."
Zack raised and eyebrow at Laguna and said, "And you wouldn't?" He then turned to Cloud with a grin. "I've slept with at least half the people here, and the other half want me."
Cloud stared at him, not really knowing what to think, and he unconsciously moved farther away.
"You really are innocent, aren't you?" Zack asked him, with a slight smirk, "We might just have to do something about that..." he took another bite of his hamburger as if nothing strange was going on at all.
"I...uh..." Cloud said his face reddening, as he tried to move farther away, but he had come to the edge of the table.
Laguna smacked Zack on the head, "Stop it, you're scaring him away."
Zack looked at Cloud. "Sorry. I get carried away sometimes, I'm not gonna do anything to you."
Cloud nevertheless stayed where he was and silently finished his meal.
Zack finished his as well. "Would you like me to take your tray?" He asked Cloud, Laguna having already left. Not waiting for Cloud's answer, he leaned over and grabbed Cloud's tray, taking the moment to whisper in his ear, "You have to admit that you want me." He then left to put them away.
Cloud's face reddened again. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. A guy was hitting on him? He watched Zack walk away, wondering what was so great about him. Was it his oddly stunning eyes? His coy smirk? The way his hair brushed his perfectly shaped shoulders? The way his hips moved as he walked over a well defined posterior? Cloud shook himself and gave himself a mental smack. 'Was I just checking him out?' he thought, and then, as his eyes lingered on the back of Zack's form, "Am I staring at his butt?" He blushed even more.
When Zack came back and they walked back to the room, Cloud kept his gaze fixedly on the ground. Because of that he didn't notice Zack's sly smirks at him.
'I am not interested in him. I like girls. There's Tifa at home waiting for me.' Cloud told himself, as he crawled into bed for the night, not bothering to tell himself that he had no real attraction for her. She was just his friend, but he knew that she liked him.
Cloud was mostly asleep as he heard Zack leave the room later, and he preferred not to think about where he was going and what he was going to do...or who...