Even thousands of miles away—even across the planet from him—Cloud's mom was able to get him to do something he did not want to do. At age two it was putting on his diaper and not running around the house naked. At age six it was eating carrots. At age thirteen it was going to his shithole of a middle school. At seventeen, it was joining a club.

The Keepers of Honor wasn't just any old recreational club that ShinRa Electric and Power offered. There were clubs for volleyball and running and even knitting. Some clubs were open to only SOLDIERs and some were only available to those in the Infantry. Some were even for executives.

ShinRa was smart this way. With so many hundreds of people living inside ShinRa tower on top of the Plate in such close quarters, and with so many hundreds of people risking their lives every single day, a sense of community was important. The company encouraged its employees to have fun together and hell, even find love together (the tax breaks for marrying a fellow ShinRa employee were astronomical. It minimized damaged paid to outside spouses following a death on a mission).

There were little groups for everyone, including those like Cloud Strife who wanted to save his virginity until after he got married—which is why his mother had him trudging up an endless twenty flights of stairs to the Keepers of Honor's first meeting of the month.

Well, to be perfectly honest, Cloud didn't have an opinion about his virginity either way. He'd spent a lot of time talking about it with Tifa, his best friend from back home, and she read a lot of fancy blogs online and stuff since her house had internet access. Virginity, she'd told him with a serious look in her eyes, was a social construct.

Basically that meant it didn't mean shit.

But it meant a lot to Cloud Strife's mother, so here he was. This was day twelve of being in the military and on day one he'd mailed home a piece of paper with club listings on it. Some old lady in town had sworn to his mother that she'd heard the name the Keepers of Honor before and talked to his mother about it—and in the end they'd told him that a friend of someone's friend had once said that the Keepers of Honor was a club for those who wanted to remain pure after joining the Sin den that was the military.

It really hadn't taken a whole lot of convincing from his mother to get him to go, honestly. Cloud reached the floor the Keepers meeting was on, the 22nd, and lingered awkwardly by the stairwell. People occasionally emerged from the elevator and Cloud eyed them, watching to see what kind of people they were.

Mrs. Strife had been saddened by Cloud leaving Nibelheim and joining the military, of course… and, well, Cloud felt bad about it. It was hard seeing his mom cry as he packed up his stuff and left home with promises to be a hero and to make her proud… so really, if going to this club's meeting would make her happy, Cloud would go.

Now that he was in the hall for it though, going was the last thing Cloud wanted to do.

The new Infantryman sighed and scuffed his boots on the shiny floors. He debated going back to the stairwell and walking up and down a bit more to procrastinate. With the meeting set to start in four minutes though, Cloud eventually sucked it up and entered the correct room. It was an average classroom where one would learn about materia theory or tactics. It was fairly full, too, with around twenty people sitting around in chairs.

Almost all of them were fellow Infantry. There were Keepers of Honor meetings for just SOLDIERs too. Cloud had been surprised by just how many subgroups of the Keepers there were… waiting until marriage must be as popular in the city as it was back in Nibelheim.

That was pretty interesting, Cloud mused as he sat down in a chair in the back. A nearby girl turned her head and smiled at him briefly; Cloud flashed a polite one in return. He was pretty sure she was in his rifles and ammunition training every other morning.

Someone had headphones in and their feet up, head bobbing. Someone else was asleep on the desk. Most people were talking to friends quietly or tapping away on their PHSs.

Then a stressed-looking Captain came in carrying boxes of pizza and bags of chips. "Hey guys, sorry I'm a couple minutes late," he said. "You all can start eating while I get the projector set up."

Cloud had only been in the military twelve days but even he knew that when there was free food you fought to the death over it. He was up and out of his chair before he was really aware of it.

Once he was seated again, his mood lifted somewhat by the pizza slices in both hands, Cloud studied the room again.

He wondered if anyone else was like him. If their parents were making them come to these meetings. He eyed a girl with a shaved head and basilisk tattoos behind her ears. Maybe it was a religious thing for her and some of the others. Cloud absolutely respected that.

Maybe that boy over there just had really strong values, the one with the dozens of short, floppy dreads. Cloud respected that too.

Putting a lot of stock in virginity was a great thing for a lot of people. If everyone in this room wanted to wait until marriage to have sex that was great, but for Cloud himself, who knew wh—

"Alright!" cried the Captain as the projector coming from the ceiling finally whirred to life. Cloud blinked hard, coming out of his thoughts. He felt a little awkward in the back by himself—he had not made any friends yet at ShinRa, unfortunately—but peeling the pepperoni off and eating them individually was placating him.

"So guys," said the Captain "I've got some good news."

"That dating rumor with the lead actress in LOVELESS is fake?"

The Captain shook his shaggy brown hair out of his face. "That wasn't my news, no—but I mean, it has to be false. She's not Angeal's type at all." Cloud ate steadily, his eyebrows furrowing a bit at the irrelevant SOLDIER gossip. "Anyway my news is that the Silver Elite reached out to us about tabling at the annual ShinRa parade and festival this year. They want Infantry volunteering on Saturday and SOLDIERs on Sunday, so if anyone would be interested, that's next month."

The Keepers of Honor were friends with the Silver Elite, Sephiroth's fanclub? Huh. Cloud wouldn't have guessed. Well… he knew that the Silver Elite was massive. It made sense that some of them were concerned with virginity too, just statistically speaking.

Cloud didn't know much about the Silver Elite, other than that he desperately wanted to join. He had a poster of Sephiroth above his bed back home. Cloud understood that some other SOLDIERs had fanclubs too, but he was positive that none of those were as big as Sephiroth's, whatever they were.

Sephiroth was the best.

The projector was plugged into the Captain's PHS and he flicked to a picture with a news logo splashed on it. It was of Angeal Hewley in a bathing suit.

Cloud's chewing slowed.

"I thought I'd kick off this meeting with this," the Captain said. The tag across his chest read Moss. "Angeal just had a couple days' vacation in Costa and someone snapped these from a room at the same hotel building, apparently."

"Fuck," said the girl with the basilisk tattoos loudly, throwing up her hands in mock-defeat. "That's just cruel of him."

There were some murmurs of agreement. Most people still had mouthfuls of pizza. Cloud nibbled some cheese off his finger as he tilted his head, eyes narrowing as Moss zoomed in on Angeal's bare chest. The SOLDIER's skin filled the screen at the front of the room. He was muscular as hell, but in a nice way that appealed to Cloud. He had pecs you could squeeze in your hands. Those delicious little ridged muscles on his sides by his ribcage. Pebbled nipples from the pool Cloud assumed he'd just gotten out of, and a lovely dark treasure trail leading down from his belly button to the top of the brightly-colored bathing suit.

Everyone took a long few moments to appreciate the view.

Then Moss scrolled down.

The bathing suit was little. It was short, like boxer-briefs, leaving most of Angeal's legs exposed. It was a bright neon blue with little red stripes going across. The horizontal pattern of the stripes was noticeably distended by the… massive fucking bulge in the front of his bathing suit.

As Cloud stared at Angeal's soft dick (maybe it was even a little excited?) heat crept into his cheeks.

He cast glances to the left and to the right eyeing everyone else in the room. No one else was acting like this was abnormal, even the others who had started with him twelve days ago! Maybe this was something about temptation, starting each meeting with something sinful (because man, Cloud had never really paid that much attention to Angeal before in magazines and stuff because he only had eyes for Sephiroth, but Angeal was sinful). Then soon they'd all talk about how even though the body may have thirsted for Angeal and that cock Cloud couldn't stop staring at, it was important to resist that urge, because true love would appease the Gods and…

Cloud had a bad habit of getting stuck in his thoughts and when he focused on the screen again Moss had pulled up another photo, this one from behind. Angeal really must have just pulled himself from the water because he had… a wedgie.

The tight bathing suit was wedged right between the cheeks of his ass, accentuating the globes which Cloud could tell from here were muscular as fuck. Forget his pecs, the dude had a grabbable ass, the perfect kind of male 'bubble butt' that must have looked amazing when he bent over or had his legs spread, that big heavy cock hanging down…

Cloud stuffed as much of a pizza crust into his mouth as he could, frantically chewing to distract himself from the fiery blush on his cheeks.

"Damn," Moss whistled. "Bless whoever got these pictures, am I right?"

Back to the photo with the bulge. "I want me a mouthful of that," someone muttered under their breath from the back row.

Angeal had tan lines on his legs. The bathing suit was rising up a bit towards his inner thigh and Cloud could see a color difference. Things were paler there. Angeal must have worn this bathing suit often, or gotten a lot of sun on his vacation.

"I can't tell," said a girl a couple desks in front of Cloud, "if he's got the beginnings of a boner or not?" She twisted around in her seat and shrugged at everyone else. "It looks like he might? It's just so hard to tell when he's so big."

"I know," laughed someone else, "we spend way too much time staring at his dick trying to figure this shit out."

Moss held a hand to his chest and gasped dramatically. "Too much time staring at Angeal's junk? I don't think there is such a thing."

Cloud dropped his pizza onto his plate and staggered for the door. He whispered a hasty pardon me, so sorry as he squeezed past two people who sent him quiet smirks. He burst into the hallway and shut the door behind him, skittering a dozen or so feet to the left so no one could see him through the glass panel in the door.

Cloud put his hands on his knees and bent over like he'd just run a mile.

The odds of the Keepers of Honor being a club about saving your virginity until marriage were extremely low. They were so low they were microscopic. They were as low as the odds Cloud had back home of losing his virginity before he left for the military.

"Holy shit," Cloud breathed. Even his ears burned.

His small-town sensibilities had his mind blown. He almost trembled for a minute, standing there alone in a hallway, his skin a million degrees and his cock confused. Those people had been talking about how bad they wanted Angeal's ass right out in the open like it was nothing!

Despite being from a small country town, and despite only being 5'7" and already finished growing according to his doctors, Cloud Strife wasn't afraid of fucking anything. He adjusted his pants, wiped pizza sauce off his cheek with the back of his hand and marched his ass back inside the room.

A cute boy winked at him as he sat back down. Cloud didn't care if they'd thought he'd run out to jerk off or something. He hadn't. He'd just had a bit of an anxiety attack for a second but he was good now. He could ride out the rest of this club's meeting, whatever it was.

Those who thought SOLDIERs were super hot, perhaps? Now there was a club he belonged in…

Moss had switched from those steaming pictures of beach-bound Angeal to a presentation. Keepers of Honor Infantry Subdivision: 1st meeting of the new quarter, it read in big text over the top, with a sweet smiling picture of Angeal below.

"For those who are joining us for the first time," he was saying, "Sorry if those pictures seemed like a weird way to start our first meeting! I was just really excited about them—for obvious reasons, right?"

"I would've been disappointed if you saved them for the end, Tom," someone called from the very back of the room, a row behind Cloud.

"Exactly. So they went first. Anyways, welcome to all the new folks, I'm seeing a few new faces… usually our meetings are about this many people. We meet Mondays and Thursdays, and obviously not everyone can make all these meetings with patrols and missions and stuff, so you're only ever gonna see, like, a third of us here at once, if that. Maybe a quarter. Uh, anyway—" Moss seemed a little overwhelmed, like leading these were new for him, "As most of you know, Thompson just became a Third Class. Yeah, yeah, good for him. There were elections a couple weeks ago at the end of the last quarter and so here I am, the new President for the Infantry subdivision…"

There was some applause. Moss gave a gracious bow. "We've got Sandy Li over there as Treasurer," basilisk tattoo girl turned and waved at everybody, "and Precious Price is Secretary, but she can only make the Thursday meetings. I figured we could go around and introduce ourselves for the sake of the new folks?"

Cloud was bad with names. Shandra Jones. Sam Buck. Helena Wilde. Adrian Bones. Nanuq Lund. Jack Benson. Latisha Duval. Mario Vincetti. Other names that slid off his brain immediately like oil on water. When it was his turn he smiled as best he could around the room and said a simple, "Hey. I'm Cloud Strife. I'm also part of the newest batch." Then he looked at the next person, signaling it was their turn.

Most people had a sentence or two about Angeal Hewley to add: He's just so hot; I joined the military to be closer to him; I found out my mom and I are both part of the Keepers when he was on TV and we both said, 'He's perfect' at the same time; I have a dildo that's supposed to be his dimensions from someone who slept with him years ago if anyone wants to see it sometime; Angeal stopped a monster infestation outside my hometown six months ago and I fell in love.

Cloud didn't have anything to say about Angeal Hewley to, he suspected, people that were part of his fanclub. There was just too much Hewley so far during this meeting for it to be anything but.

A club for saving your virginity until after marriage. Gaia save him.

It was embarrassing, but Cloud had such a good time he didn't really mind.

Moss ran through the presentation he prepared. There were actually official orders of business. Other than the volunteering with the Silver Elite at the parade and festival, the Keepers were in the process of planting a fucking forest outside Junon in Angeal's name. This wasn't just the Infantry; it was a joint initiative with SOLDIER and the massive civilian chapters which outnumbered ShinRa ones 4 to 1.

Apparently the forest was coming along well. Fundraising efforts from various Keeper activities across the planet raised money to buy new saplings and volunteers planted them. "We're currently in talks with some COs to see if any Keepers in the Infantry can be put on a 'mission' together to get out there to Junon at the same time and plant some trees ourselves."

"That would be so cool," said Wilde, the girl from his ammunition class. Cloud had remembered that name, at least.

The annual fanclub Olympics was coming up in a couple months—seriously. Cloud kind of couldn't believe how into it these fanclubs were. Li stood up and crossed her arms, scowling at everybody. "The Study Group beat us in the 400M relay last year—yeah, the Study Group, I know. We came in second place, but at least we beat the Silver Elite and Red Leather. So practice your sprints for the next four months, everyone."

Red Leather must have been Genesis Rhapsodos' fanclub. Cloud had no idea who the Study Group favored though. Maybe the Director, Lazard? Not having internet at home really screwed him over when it came to this kind of stuff, huh…

After running through the business things Moss turned off the projector and told everyone to get seconds if there was any pizza left, and to just chill. He enthusiastically ended with, "Keepers, why are we here?"

"To Protect his Honor!" everyone chorused back except for Cloud.

People chilled. These clubs seemed like social events too… to just make friends and hang out.

Cloud liked that, but making friends and hanging out wasn't something he was good at. Nibelheim still left a raw feeling in his throat. He'd struggled to make friends and after a while adopted an I'm too cool for you all anyway attitude and turned into a massive dick.

His shyness kept him in his seat as everyone else got up and started to mingle, and flames of those old feelings prickled at him. You should just leave—they're all obsessed with Angeal anyway, what's the point of making friends with them?

Luckily Helena Wilde came over to him while catching dripping pizza grease from her folded slice on her plate. "Hi," she said, chewing, "Aren't you in one of my classes?"

Cloud nodded at her, playing it cool. "I think it's Rifles and Ammunition."

"Ah!" She sat right on his desk, putting one foot up on the desk beside his. She sent Cloud's plate askew and he caught it before any chip crumbs could hit the floor. "That's right. You ready for the quiz tomorrow morning?"

It was on all the different rifle models ShinRa offered its infantry troops. "Ugh, I don't think so. I only studied a little bit for it."

"I haven't even done that. Rifles are just…"

"Boring," Cloud answered with a sigh. "I'm way more interested in swords."

"Mmhmm." Wilde nodded. "Hey, Benson."

The Black boy with all the little dreads turned around from a conversation he'd been having with a cluster of boys in the back. He got up and ambled closer. Wilde said, "Swords or rifles?"

"Oh, rifles," Benson said, grinning at both of them. "In training this morning they showed us the newest rifle model. It's got these great scopes and rapid fire and reloading—it'll be unstoppable." He must have been in the opposite class from Cloud and Wilde if he had it that morning, then; Cloud's was tomorrow morning and the previous day. This morning he'd had a hand-to-hand class Wilde wasn't part of and then a materia class, since he was on the SOLDIER track. In the afternoon was boot camp and he was so sore from it.

The three of them debated swords vs. rifles for a while. Cloud was actually pretty passionate about swords. Masamune had always fascinated him. The fact that Sephiroth could wield a thing like that so effortlessly… and Angeal's Buster Sword too—it was just so amazing.

After swallowing his courage and convincing himself that he didn't give a shit if they didn't care to hear what he had to say, Cloud told them about a sword he'd been designing himself for the past year or so. He sketched it out in all of his notebook margins. It would have seven interlocking pieces and he was pretty sure he'd figured out how to make the mechanisms work, after reading a bunch of engineering books from the Nibelheim library since he was interested in motorcycles, too.

Rather than telling him it was stupid like all the kids in Nibelheim did Benson and Wilde said it sounded awesome. "I have no idea how you'd actually get that to work," Wilde said, "But if you could pull it off, that would be so cool."

"Yeah. If I make SOLDIER, that's what I want to wield."

"No, it's when you make SOLDIER, man." Benson elbowed him. "You on the SOLDIER track too, Wilde?"

"Yup! I'm just going to have a basic sword I think—I'm going for the magic user corps. I'm in an advanced materia class." She puffed out her chest.

"You could get a magic blade like Genesis," Benson said. "It glows red and grows and stuff."

Wilde tsked. "Did you know that every single one of my girl friends back home is in Red Leather? I've heard enough about Genesis's sword to last me a lifetime."

"Mmm," Benson said, licking his lips, "I wouldn't mind hearing more about Angeal's sword."

Wilde rolled her eyes but Cloud laughed out loud. No one back home was this free about this kind of stuff. No one encouraged the kind of embarrassing love he had for Sephiroth, either. He wasn't about to wax poetic about Sephiroth right in front of some of Angeal's fans, but… it was a nice feeling, all the same.

Being accepted, a bit, and not being an outcast. That got old fast.

Cloud spoke for a few minutes with Moss. The guy was a CO technically outside of this room. He was a little older than Cloud but an inch shorter. Cloud thanked him for leading today's meeting and Moss almost went cross-eyed staring at him.

"Oh, my gosh," Moss said, a little flustered. "You're so welcome, dude." He laughed as he turned away to gather his stuff and Cloud knew he had just made that guy's day.

He said later to Benson and see you tomorrow morning to Wilde.

Halfway back down the stairwell to his barrack the good vibes from that first meeting faded a bit and Cloud's feet slowed. He stopped short on the stairs and stared at the concrete wall in front of him.

What the fuck did he tell his mother?

That night he sat on his bunk cross-legged and stared at a piece of paper spread on a hardcover book in his lap. There were nine other boys in a large room, separated by a wall to the next grouping of ten boys, and so on. The self-identified boys were on this floor and self-identified girls upstairs. Cloud wasn't sure where the nonbinary Infantry were; he'd overheard two troopers talking about that very thing at the table behind his at lunchtime in the cafeteria. Still, ShinRa was pretty progressive.

At least half of the dudes around him weren't straight, Cloud knew. His mom had warned him about that kind of thing before he joined the military… not because she was weird about queer people, she wasn't, but because someone in town had scared her with talk of orgies in the military and young country boys being taken advantage of and ending up in sex slaving rings and Gaia knew what else.

If you drop your soap in those communal showers, Cloud's mom had once told him with a serious expression on her face, I want you to politely ask someone else to pick it up for you.

Cloud had laughed in her face, because that sounded like a shitty porn intro. Not that she knew he watched those, or sometimes skipped past the intro to the good parts with the fucking so he could get off really quickly.

According to Nibel lore you were in their Gods' favor if you were still a virgin. There was an emphasis on staying 'pure' physically so that your mind could receive the wisdom of the Gods more easily. If you were married then you could have sex, the idea being that then the couple would conceive and the Gods' love and affection could flow to the fetus growing inside the mother.

Cloud's mom didn't dislike those who did have sex before marriage and she wouldn't hate or cast away Cloud if he did the same. She just… Cloud was all she had—Cloud was her whole universe, and she loved him so much. If anyone deserved favor from the Gods it was him.

And Cloud knew that. Cloud knew how much it meant to his mother that he was looked after from the heavens and protected so far away from home. Her religious views brought her a lot of peace, and Cloud didn't want to ruin any of that for her.

So he responded:

Dear Mom,

I hope everything is going well back home. It's hard to believe it's only been twelve days since I joined ShinRa. So much has happened in so little time. I can run for a lot longer now than I used to be able to, even though I'm sore almost constantly! And even though I can't cast any spells with materia yet I can sort of feel this hum from one if I hold it, which is more than a lot of the other new infantrymen, honestly. I was worried that I'd be one of the worst here… but all my training back home really paid off. I'm doing well.

The Keepers meeting went well too. I made some friends, you'd be happy. There was some really great pizza at the meeting, and the pizza they have in the cafeteria is worse than that one I made and burnt in the oven when I was around ten, you remember that? You took a bite to be nice to me, I can't believe you actually choked that down.

Oh yeah! I got a really quick glance at Sephiroth the other day! I was in one of the really big glass elevators they have here. You can see out at almost everything in the main area of the tower. I was up pretty high but I saw Sephiroth come in the main entrance. Then I got so high up I couldn't really see him anymore (maybe I need glasses?) but knowing he was there was awesome!

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Love you lots,

Cloud

Just a few sentences about the meeting, short and sweet. Emphasis on making friends. Quickly distract her with a sweet childhood memory that will leave her feeling fond. Dang, Cloud Strife was good.

None of the other nine boys bothered talking to him and Cloud didn't bother himself talking to them. He folded his letter into an envelope, addressed it and stamped it, deciding to drop it off in the mail on his way to breakfast the next morning. Then he curled up under his thin blanket and went to bed.

The next major crisis of Cloud's life came on Thursday, naturally. The first Keepers of Honor meeting had been surprisingly successful after he'd nearly shat himself in embarrassment and confusion. Now the question was… did he go back?

It would be fun. He liked the people he'd seen before. But—he didn't like Angeal Hewley as much as he liked Sephiroth, and he felt a little guilty about that. But also, going back was deepening the lie he was telling his mother…

Well, he rationalized as he took the stairs up from the ground floor again (the elevators made him a little motion sick most of the time), his mom would probably keep asking about how the meetings were going. He might as well.

There was a different crowd this time. He saw some familiar faces, like Benson, but lots were new too. Most of the Infantry had been around much longer than Cloud, and they did more things and were entrusted with more dangerous and difficult missions. Cloud hadn't even been on any yet, though he had his first real patrol the day before, in Sector Eight. It was the 'newbie' sector because most of the folks there liked ShinRa compared to some other sectors below the plate.

Cloud had enjoyed himself, actually, and even gotten to use his newly issued baton on a rowdy drunk man staggering out of a bar at 3 pm trying to pick a fight with a shop owner.

But anyway, there were new faces. Cloud's stubborn shyness crept up on him and he tucked himself into a back corner.

Moss didn't bring food this time. Must have been a first meeting thing. He did have a hilarious icebreaker though where everyone had to pretend they had a week-long vacation with Angeal. Where would they go and what would they do?

Most of the answers were something along the lines of Costa del Sol, and we'd fuck constantly for a week. Some were sweet and about romantic getaways. Someone said Banora, which Cloud learned was Angeal's hometown, where Angeal would get to show him all about where he'd grown up and what places held meaning for him.

When it was Cloud's turn he'd awkwardly said, "I guess, uh, the Golden Saucer, because I've never been. I like snowboarding and racing and stuff so we'd play a lot of the games." He even added a little extra oomph, saying, "We'd make bets on who gets the highest scores with rewards and stuff."

It wasn't very eloquent, but Cloud got a wink from Sandy Li across the room and a thumbs-up from someone else. He tried not to flush, proud of himself.

Most of the meeting was spent taking suggestions for what to do for Angeal's birthday which wasn't for another seven freaking months. It was nice that the suggestions were tasteful and not outrageous. Apparently Red Leather had pooled their funds last year for a massive nude statue of Genesis to stand in a park somewhere in Junon.

"Angeal respects us a lot," Moss said, eyeing them all from the front of the room. "He trusts us to respect his boundaries and we in turn trust him to get involved with us on a level Sephiroth doesn't with the Silver Elite. If we held some sort of birthday event, concert or fundraiser Angeal expressed interest in showing up briefly to encourage more donations, which is fantastic."

Someone asked from the back, "What kind of charity would he like?"

"Dog shelters, perhaps?"

"Too obvious. A scholarship fund for a photography student?"

"Paid internships for Famous Gardens Monthly? They exploit their interns, you know."

Cloud listened to all the suggestions fly quietly from the back. It was hard getting a birthday gift for someone when you didn't know them well, not actually. He wondered what Sephiroth liked to get for his birthday.

After a long brainstorming session they were free to hang out and mingle again. Cloud greeted Moss with a nod of his head and a brief wave and spent the rest of the time sitting just outside a circle Benson and some boys were in. He occasionally said something but was mostly content to sit there and listen.

Right before everyone left for their last appointment of the day (Cloud's was a leadership class that he hated, since he was SOLDIER track and all) the circle of boys got closer and Cloud couldn't hear what they were talking about as they all huddled together.

A girl with a buzzcut smacked one of the guys on the shoulder and said, "Seriously? We're not invited this time?"

"We'll have a co-ed one for anybody interested next week or the week after," he answered. "It's risky enough as it is without sneaking girls into it."

"Yeah, alright," she answered, sighing. "Don't get caught."

"Course not," he replied with a grin.

Cloud was confused. As everyone filed out of the room Benson grabbed his elbow. "Hey," he whispered, ducking his head to speak into Cloud's ear. "I dunno if you'd be interested man, but there's gonna be a party in the locker room on the 53rd floor on Sunday at seven since that's the SOLDIER day off."

"Oh," Cloud said, nodding. "Alright, cool. I'll be there."

"Yeah?" Benson eyed him for a long moment. "Cool. See you then."

A party?

Cloud actually already knew about the 53rd floor. Being a little shyer than most Cloud had scoped out unattended places to shower. He wasn't self-conscious about his body, not really, but he just wasn't… used to these mass showers yet. It would take some time. So for the time being he showered at night on various floors he'd found where the bathrooms were always deserted.

The Tower was pretty empty on Sundays. All the SOLDIERs who weren't on missions or time-sensitive errands were in their apartments or out on the town. After boot camp in the afternoon Cloud grabbed a quick bite to eat and hustled up to the 53rd floor to shower.

The locker room was average sized. Near the door were rows of lockers—SOLDIERs had to provide their own locks, though First Classes were rumored to have their own designated lockers in the First Class locker room—and past that was the large area with showers. It was just a big empty squareish space with about a dozen showerheads.

Cloud much preferred showering by himself. As he worked shampoo into his hair he remembered the hilarious way his mom had said, if you drop your soap in those communal showers I want you to politely ask someone else to pick it up for you and he laughed, his chuckles echoing off the tiles.

When he was done washing up he changed into casual clothes and left the locker room. He was a little early still, so Cloud walked to the lounge on this floor and plopped down into an armchair. He played a snowboarding game on his PHS for a while… a long time, in fact, too long. Nobody else was in the lounge.

Maybe there was a party happening somewhere else on this floor? At seven-twenty Cloud shrugged and got up. He wandered around a bit, poking his head into conference rooms and the like before he caught sight of an infantryman leaning casually against the wall by the locker room.

"Oh, hey," the boy said, "get in there quick. I'm keeping watch."

It's in the locker room? "Oh, uh, alright. Thanks," Cloud said, and the infantryman nodded.

Cloud slipped into the locker room, shouldering his gym bag. Three steps into the room he realized just exactly what Benson had meant by party.

He'd meant orgy.

There were at least fifteen naked or half-naked dudes in the shower area. There were some towels spread out to be easier on backs or knees or elbows, but other than that, i-it was just—

Cloud stood there for a long moment in the entranceway, thunderstruck.

At least half of the dudes were just standing there fisting their cocks and watching the other half on the floor. There were boys on their hands and knees getting pounded from behind, and someone riding someone else's dick. Cloud blinked rapidly as he tried to process all this. His feet drew him closer all on their own.

Cloud stood on the outside for a couple minutes. He just watched, dumbfounded. His mouth had gone dry and he was salivating at the same time. Each heartbeat threatened to shake him apart—his ears were so warm he could have set something on fire. This was life in the big fucking city.

Holy shit.

Moss, the Captain and President of the Infantry subdivision, noticed him first. He was leaning back against the shower wall in boxers and his t-shirt still. Not everyone was warmed up to this… whatever this was yet. He lifted his chin and grinned as he saw Cloud. The expression on his face had to be funny; Cloud probably looked scandalized and like a dog in front of so much meat at the same time.

"Hey Strife," he called across the room, and a couple boys turned to look at him, all looking away except for Benson, one of Cloud's two 'friends' in ShinRa. Benson was naked and one of those pumping his cock as he watched the action. He smiled, and it only grew as he took in Cloud's face.

"You should join in," Benson said, coming a little closer nudging him with his elbow. He knew Cloud was shy as hell in this moment.

"I, I, ah," Cloud stuttered. He closed his eyes for a moment. He still heard the masculine grunts and moans echoing everywhere but he was able to calm himself for a moment. He opened his eyes and stared again at the mess of boys on the floor. "I've never, uh…"

Benson stared him right in the eyes, looking a little alarmed. "You're a virgin?"

Cloud nodded absently. Someone from Monday's meeting was fingering himself, looking back over his shoulder as another guy walked closer on his knees, lining up his cock.

The word virgin penetrated whatever fog the guy next to them had around his head though and he looked over at Cloud. That word, virgin, spread like wildfire in the locker room. Soon mostly everyone was looking at Cloud. Eyes closed in pleasure as their owner got fucked opened wide and fixed on him.

Cloud clutched at his bag's strap, looking at everyone and no one all at once.

Like in the meetings, Moss took charge. He walked around the—the well, the orgy on the floor, and gently grabbed Cloud's shoulders. Cloud focused on his face. The guy had a kind face. Hazel eyes, a little scruffy, round cheeks. "You okay?" he asked.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine—I just, whew. I didn't know that's what kind of party was going on up here."

"You can go if you want, just don't rat us out, please?"

Cloud hesitated, peeking around Moss at the showers. Mostly everyone had lost interest in him now, but Cloud was still getting the eye from a few guys, curious to see what he'd do.

"…Uh," Moss said, "Or are you interested in losing that virginity of yours, maybe?"

Cloud just replied, "Uhhh." It was embarrassing as fuck put like that, but… Cloud couldn't deny that he was hard. He didn't know what he wanted.

Moss tilted his head, studied Cloud for a minute, and then slid his hand down Cloud's chest to cup his cock. Cloud's breath left him in a whoosh and he shuddered against his CO, eyes going wide.

"That okay?" Moss asked.

Beside them, Benson was watching intensely. "Y'know," he said, pushing all his dreads off his forehead for a moment like he was a little overwhelmed, "We could try to make it really good for you, man. If you wanted."

"Yeah," piped up the closest guy. Cloud recognized him from the cafeteria line earlier that day. "I mean, shit. That could be pretty hot."

Cloud didn't try to move Moss's hand; his hips moved so he could get that touch more firmly. "It wouldn't, ah, hurt, or anything?" Cloud asked nervously.

"Oh hell no. Sex isn't supposed to hurt. We could—hold on." Moss turned around and eyed the rest of the guys. "Yo!" he bellowed. When he had everyone's attention he said, "Cloud here is thinking of having his first time. Can I trust all of you to go really, really easy on him?"

The enthusiastic encouragement had Cloud blushing further, but also grinning. Everyone in the Keepers just seemed like… bros. There was a reason he'd come back to the second meeting.

"Who's got the smallest dick?" Moss asked next.

What followed was a minute of typical shenanigans. Eventually it was decided that a boy named Chidike Nnanna came in first place in the smallest dick category. He was significantly taller than Cloud and skinnier too, and he grinned at Cloud from the floor where he was sitting on a cock.

During this time the guy to Cloud's left introduced himself as Mario Vincetti and asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Cloud nodded hastily and then there was a mouth on his. He'd kissed Tifa once, so he knew basically how to move his lips and tongue but this was a lot different from that. Vincetti cupped his face and grabbed at his waist and walked him backwards towards the showers even as his tongue plundered Cloud's mouth, leaving the shorter male gasping and flushed.

"Ease him into it man," came a voice from near Cloud's feet—Gaia, probably a dude getting fucked.

Vincetti eased up a bit, his tongue retreating. His tongue occasionally swiped out at Cloud's or brushed at his bottom lip and Cloud was so focused on that that he couldn't keep track of who was grabbing him now. Someone held his hips and someone else took off his shoes. Cloud broke away from the kiss as he was lowered down onto a towel on his ass. He could feel the grate of one of the shower drains beneath him.

His eyes closed as Vincetti bit at his neck—oh, he liked that. A boy Cloud didn't know undid his fly, and Benson eased Cloud's hips up so the other infantryman could pull Cloud's jeans off his hips.

All of this was happening so quickly. Cloud didn't feel overwhelmed or scared though—only turned on, and kind of close to loud laughter if he was being honest.

Off came Cloud's shirt, and then he was panting and sprawled out on a towel in his underwear with a boner and with half a dozen guys devouring him with their eyes.

A boy on the other side of the room was in the middle of fucking another guy but he withdrew, gently patted the dude on the ass and then walked over to Cloud on his knees. He formally introduced himself as Radomír Lebedev, from Rocket Town but from Cosmo Canyon before that. Then he ducked his head and started mouthing at the length of Cloud's cock through his underwear.

Cloud's breath came in a stuttery gasp and he leant back on his hands. He watched Lebedev peel back the elastic on his briefs until his cock sprang free. Lebedev hooked it under his balls and licked a long stripe up the shaft.

"Oh my god," Cloud said.

"I don't fuckin' believe it," said Benson, standing over Cloud. He had a hand down the front of his boxers. "How the hell has he never had sex?"

"Beats me," gasped Sam Buck from the floor, "You're gorgeous, Strife." He was on his hands and knees getting fucked by Josué Ochoa, who was in turn getting fucked by Adrian Bones.

Four guys standing around and jerking off on the outside meant eleven in on the action. There were six actively having sex on the floor and five around Cloud, either sitting nearby like Vincetti or watching from above, like Moss and Benson.

Lebedev sucked wetly on the head of Cloud's cock. It felt so good. This wasn't like masturbating at all—mouths were a whole 'nother Blitzball game. Cloud eased back on his elbows, watching down the long, lean length of his body. Lebedev glanced up through his blond bangs at Cloud and Cloud shuddered.

His chest was blotchy with a blush already and he could swear he felt his heartbeat in his cheeks and neck with so much rapturous attention on him. It made him harder though. The fact that some of them were ignoring him entirely, totally caught up in fucking someone else—that was hot too. People around the outside just watching and touching themselves… it was so goddamn filthy.

Three people grabbed Cloud's underwear and pulled them down all at once. It wasn't rough though; with Moss sternly watching they were being gentle, just eager. And it was so fucking hot. No one in Nibelheim wanted to mess around with Cloud Strife but here were all these dudes practically drooling at the opportunity to get him naked. Who wouldn't get a swelled head from that?

When his underwear was gone Cloud's legs were spread and his knees pushed back a bit. He stared up at his audience.

He was totally spread out like this, totally on display… and what he had to offer was being appreciated indeed.

"Fuck," Moss breathed, shaking his head. "I want to rim him."

Moss squeezed in beside Lebedev and winked at Cloud before lowering his head. His floppy hair tickled Cloud's balls but Cloud only registered the sensation for a moment because in the next his cheeks were being spread and then a greedy tongue was lapping at his asshole.

Thank Gaia I showered an hour ago, Cloud thought. Then he tilted his head back and covered his mouth with his hand because holy hell that was fantastic.

Kisses on the side of his throat had Cloud turning his head and burying his face in Benson's dreads. The texture was fun against his cheeks and nose and kept him grounded through the next couple seconds as Moss's tongue circled his hole and then pushed in.

Cloud gasped something that was muffled in his friend's hair. Benson nipped at his neck and someone else grabbed at his cock, squeezing gently and giving him a long pull from base to tip. Large hands held his hips still as Cloud squirmed, overloaded with sensations—and he didn't even know who that was, or if more people had crowded around.

The wet noises coming from Moss's tongue freaking inside him made Cloud pinken even further, but they were nothing compared to the sounds of balls slapping against the curves of he didn't even know how many asses elsewhere in the showers. Someone was loud and said fuck! fuck, fuuuck coinciding with those ball-slapping sounds and someone else was quieter, breathing deeply and giving only the occasional grunt.

It was all so masculine and ridiculously dirty. Cloud, for the life of him, could not choke back the soft laughter that escaped past the palm he held over his mouth.

"Ah, sorry," he gasped, still chuckling a bit. "I'm not laughing at you guys, I j-just—ah—"

Moss appeared, licking his lips. "I get it," he said, grinning, and laughed too as he scooted a bit to the side. Nnanna, the guy with the smallest dick, was here now, and he stood tall over Cloud with a glint in his eye that made Cloud shudder. He and Moss gave each other casual high-fives in passing and Moss moved towards the group of guys who were actually fucking, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it against the shower wall.

Benson greedily grabbed Cloud's thighs and pulled him upward, spreading them further and taking his turn with Cloud's ass, his tongue easily slipping inside after what Moss had done there. Cloud groaned again.

He'd accepted that he was going to blush his way through the entirety of this and now that he wasn't so worried about what his blotchy ass self looked like from up above he could focus on more than his heartbeat thudding through every inch of his body. With his head back on the floor he could turn his head and see Bones riding Lund now, his hand flying on his dick. The guy easily had a hundred pounds on Cloud, all muscle.

That bouncing cock was hypnotizing but Nnanna said, "Can someone lube him up? And toss me a condom?" and then Cloud was watching anxiously as a box of condoms sailed across the room to hit Nnanna in the arm and he growled, "Hey!"

There were one or two used condoms tossed against the far wall already. Cloud had walked in twenty or so minutes into this thing, when it was only the more adventurous ones already fucking but now there were only a couple guys still watching on the outside who looked like they were content to stay that way.

"You still good, Strife?" Benson asked him.

Cloud nodded and smiled gratefully at the guy. "More than good," he answered with enthusiasm, loving the way it made all the other guys paying him attention grin and look relieved.

He and Vincetti both lubed up a couple fingers with one of the various bottles lying around and set to work opening him up for the cock he was about to take (and the ones he was going to take after that, presumably). Cloud was nervous for this part… his stomach tensed and his legs unconsciously closed a bit as Vincetti's blunt fingertip swirled around his asshole.

"Relax, man," Chidike Nnanna said. He crouched by Cloud's head and dug his fingers into Cloud's hair, scritching his scalp. Chidike himself was shaved bald and seemed quite interested in Cloud's silly spikes. "This part doesn't hurt, honest—but it can be uncomfortable if you're all tense."

"Kinda hard to not be tense when there's a million guys fuckin' two feet away," Cloud muttered, dipping into his country drawl a bit as he closed his eyes and tried to order his body to relax.

It seemed like the whole room heard him and laughed at that sentence. "A million guys," came Moss's voice, "That would be against the rules."

"The limit must be sixteen, not fifteen," Cloud quipped, his voice getting quieter as he felt a finger breach him. Nnanna was right… it didn't hurt. Cloud had fingered himself before, but always awkwardly while on the toilet or on his old rickety mattress back home that sometimes fell through the frame beneath.

"Right," answered Buck, who Cloud had never even talked to before. They seemed to get that Cloud needed to be distracted at this part. "That's why we have the sixteenth guy outside."

Cloud laughed again, and his chuckles turned into moans as the two guys between his legs each got a finger into him, moving them in opposite directions and twisting them together inside him. This was a lot better than doing it himself. Soon Cloud was maneuvered to his hands and knees and he bent at the waist, putting his cheek to the cool tiles (which were still partially damp from his shower earlier, oops).

His hips jerked and Cloud's core contracted as a finger pressed firmly against something inside him that felt fantastic. "Shit," Cloud gasped, and he heard laughter behind him.

"Guess he likes that," Buck rumbled from nearby.

After another minute or so of fingering Cloud— "You're kind of loud, Strife," Benson said, "It's hot as fuck"— Vincetti and Benson skittered away and Nnanna settled between Cloud's ass, quite literally. As the head bumped against Cloud's perineum the blond twisted around to watch, clenching uncertainly.

Chidike Nnanna's dick was indeed pretty small. It was maybe an inch and a half and almost wider than it was long. Nnanna saw him looking and grinned a bright, gummy smile. He was cute. "A lot of guys are all obsessed with the biggest dicks possible but I gotta say taking a small one is the best. There's—"

"But you're a size queen," Moss interrupted with a laugh.

"Ahem. There's no pain. But I gotta also say Strife—it's Strife, yeah?—You are a pretty lucky guy to lose your virginity to me."

"Oh brother," Cloud muttered, not knowing what to say to that. "Just get on with it already?"

Everyone laughed, even the dudes on the outskirts palming their cocks through their pants. As Nnanna rolled on a small condom Josué Ochoa crawled over to Cloud. He raked his fingers up from the nape of Cloud's neck and murmured, "You gotta relax."

Cloud closed his eyes and tried to. He tried not to picture what he looked like with his cheek on the floor and his ass in the air and his hands gripping the rumpled towels beneath him. A thumb ran over his lips and Cloud's tongue swiped out to taste it.

He felt his asshole stretch around Nnanna's girth and he whimpered deep in his throat. Ochoa's hand kept scratching, scratching, petting him, urging him to stay calm.

When he felt the press of Nnanna's balls against him Cloud wheezed, "Is that it?"

More laughter. Nnanna said, all smiles, "You've got it all, baby."

Baby. Cloud liked that a little more than he probably should. And the dick itself, it was…

Bomb, Cloud thought, and a hysterical giggle nearly slipped out.

Nnanna couldn't pull out very far or he'd slip out, so he curled over Cloud's back (mmm) and rolled his hips. They gyrated together, Nnanna with one hand braced on the ground and the other wrapped around Cloud like a hug. Cloud spread his knees to better take every millimeter.

"Oh, shit," someone muttered in the back of the room.

Cloud must have looked so hot getting fucked on the floor like this, surrounded by boys doing the same thing except more outlandishly and with more confidence. Cloud experimented a bit, matching Nnanna's little hip rolls with different rhythms. He clenched his inner muscles a couple times and then stilled, his mouth falling open as Nnanna groaned in his ear and said in an almost comically high octave, "Oh—fuck."

The tall infantryman slipped out of him. His skin was the darkest brown Cloud had seen on a person, totally beautiful, and he was blushing a bit. "Got a little excited," he drawled.

"I want him next," Josué said before anyone else could. As he laid down beside Cloud on the floor Cloud stared at Nnanna as he removed the condom, now with semen in the reservoir tip.

That was that, then. His mom would be appalled.

Ochoa kissed the back of his neck as he settled in close. It was an intimate position… Cloud liked it already. As Nnanna had his turn with Cloud Ochoa had been jerking off furiously, and his fingers scrabbled at Cloud's ass. "This is a good position," he said into Cloud's ear. "Anal won't hurt at all this way."

"It's my favorite," moaned Adrian Bones, who was not in his favorite position but was on his back with his knees up and Buck thrusting into him.

A wide, blunt cockhead bumped at his hole. Cloud took it easily though, warmed up from Nnanna and eager as hell to get back to it. Ochoa was a lot bigger and he slid in slow, giving Cloud time to get used to it. "I'm gonna come quick," he warned, and he did. He'd been so close when he entered Cloud that it only took a minute of slow, deep thrusts until he was growling into Cloud's ear and shoving forward one last time. He stilled as he came inside Cloud and the blond trembled as he pulled out.

Vincetti fell to his knees before Cloud like a man dying of thirst before a river, or something equally as dramatic. Cloud wasn't feeling his most poetic in this moment. "Wait, Mario," came Moss's voice. "Are you—"

"I'm good," Cloud said, smiling at Tom. He was touched that the Keepers' Infantry President kept looking out for him. Moss flashed him a double thumbs-up from on top of a cock, which Cloud goofily returned even as Vincetti grabbed his thighs and pulled him down. They both held the friendly gesture for a minute, Cloud watching the way Moss bounced. He had two crescent-shaped surgical scars on his chest at the base of his pecs and no dick bouncing along with him between his legs.

Cloud focused again on Vincetti. The guy pumped his cock as he looked down at Cloud, at his fucked-open hole reddened and waiting to be penetrated again. Shakily Cloud reached down to fondle himself. The two of them made eye contact, just masturbating. Then Vincetti angled in and pushed forward.

"Ooogh," Cloud groaned. Dicks felt so weird up the ass. Seriously—it was unlike anything Cloud had felt before. Unquestionably he loved this weird feeling. These thrusts were stronger than the gentle spooning from before, making Cloud slide back a couple inches over the course of the next couple minutes. Like last time it was over so soon, though—the guy's face screwed up as he came.

"Next," he panted as he stood up. Cloud obligingly hooked his legs around Benson who replaced him.

Cloud learned it was prostate stimulation that was making him feel so good. It was zings of a full-body, bones-deep kind of pleasure different from the immediate pleasure of his ass stretched around something big or his hand on his dick.

The blond moaned freely now, letting his cries, sometimes quiet and sometimes loud, join everyone else's. Benson smacked his ass and Cloud yelped a bit, laughing as the shock wore off. Benson fucked him through his orgasm and said the same thing Vincetti had when he was done: "Next!"

Two more boys had their way with Cloud until the third when Cloud, his hands covering his face and every muscle contracting almost painfully as orgasm crashed over him, came all over his belly.

"Oh my god," Nnanna called from underneath Moss. "Did he just come without anybody touching him?"

Cloud couldn't answer at first, gasping and shuddering as the last dribbles of cum left him. As he sagged onto the tiles Benson held up both hands for a high-five. Cloud weakly slapped them.

"That's basically a super power," he said.

"Gah," was Cloud's only response. One of the guys on the far side of the room had come watching him come and Cloud felt powerful as hell despite his exhaustion. Someone even applauded him from somewhere.

Nanuq Lund was still inside him, Cloud's seventh cock in half an hour or less. Although Cloud was starting to feel a little sore the pleasurable feelings eclipsed that nearly entirely. He was a soft, panting mess of pale skin, golden hair and the occasional patches of freckles but Lund stayed inside him. Cloud's ass twitched with residual aftershocks and the older infantryman ducked his head as he grit his teeth. He had one of those hipster mohawks and Cloud dug his fingers into the perfectly-styled curls because he could.

"I'm not moving," Lund growled down at him, "Until you get it up again."

"There's no way."

Moss walked on his knees over to Cloud; there was a glob of lube on his inner thigh. "It's your first time," he said, "Of course you can."

Cloud was skeptical, but Moss took Cloud's spent cock in his hand and gently held it. First with just two fingers and later with more, he massaged Cloud's cock. There really was so much damn stimulation in the room too. Most of the other guys were just as done as him, but that meant there were more people watching. It could have been Moss's affections or it could have been all those hot gazes lasered in on his naked form but it really wasn't long at all before Cloud's cock started to swell with blood again.

Someone was muttering filthy encouragement into his ear, telling him how sexy he was, and how delicious it had been having half the room coming inside his ass, and that he couldn't believe Cloud was as good at taking cock as he was, and all sorts of shit that had Cloud squeezing his eyes shut even harder.

When he was hard and swollen in Moss's hand Lund finally moved again. Cloud let out a strangled moan. It had been torture feeling that erection inside him without it moving. He clenched hard around it and Lund muttered a curse under his breath. Someone rolled a condom onto Cloud's dick, Moss brushed Cloud's sweaty bangs out of his eyes, and he swung a leg over Cloud's waist. He hovered over Cloud's cock, steadying it with a hand and running the sensitive head over the folds of his genitals.

"I don't do anal," he said, giving him a crooked smile. "Feels like I'm shitting back and forth inside my own ass. Is this alright?"

"Fuck yeah it's alright," Cloud gasped. Lund continued to fuck his ass but he slowed enough so that Moss could climb aboard. Someone encouraged Get him Tom, and someone else said Strife's in for it. His smile grew wider as he sank down onto Cloud's cock—that was a first of Cloud's too that he'd claimed.

The dual sensations were out of this world. Lund's cock pressed against Cloud's prostate which Cloud was quickly learning that he fucking loved. The guy wasn't as big as some of the others but he was wide and Cloud was pretty sure he liked the stretch of girth rather than something long poking too far inside him. It was amazing how much experience he'd gotten all at once, really.

Cloud hadn't just lost his virginity—he'd blown it the fuck up with a meteor and vaporized its ashes.

But other than Lund inside him he was inside Moss and that was totally new and totally wonderful. When Cloud masturbated he could do exactly what he wanted where he needed it most and this lacked the precision but it was all good, everywhere and there was a dude riding his cock while another one pounded into him and like a million guys were watching them and

Cloud's brain was exaggerating but the sentiment was really there—this was just so damn hot, the stuff of fantasies, really; Cloud Strife had no business being in the middle of all this but here he was anyway and

"Whatever you're thinking so hard about, stop it," Moss gasped. He rubbed his clit fast with the middle finger of his right hand and tilted his head back as he came. Cloud felt it. He sobbed out something incomprehensible as orgasm washed over him, this one intense in a whole different way from the anal one from before.

"Gods," Cloud could only gasp as the aftershocks ripped through him. Who knew what the Nibel gods thought about him now.

Regardless of whether he was in their favor or not he still was being cared for. Lund drew out of Cloud's twitching ass with care, and Moss climbed off his soft cock, even removing the condom for him. Cloud laid there on the floor, an utter mess—with his own dried semen on him from before and the sweat and saliva of half a dozen guys on him. His thighs trembled violently as Lund lowered them to the floor.

Someone on the far side of the room started clapping for him. A handful of guys joined in and Cloud laughed with the last of his energy, raising the middle finger in their direction.

The convenient thing about having an orgy in the showers was that there were, well, showers nearby. Adrian Bones helped Cloud to his feet and picked Cloud up around the waist and walked him to the corner shower. The dude was ripped. He put a friendly arm around Cloud's shoulders and kept him close.

The dude reeked of sex, and Cloud was pretty sure he did too.

The water felt good and Cloud relaxed against the Keeper's chest, letting him quickly wash him down with some soap someone tossed them. The dude even swiped his soapy fingers between Cloud's asscheeks which damn, he could appreciate. "Thanks," Cloud muttered.

"No problem, Strife. The Keepers always—" the bigger infantryman chuckled slightly, "—protect our honor and take care of those we gangbang."

"Wooow," Cloud drawled into his shoulder.

Everyone dressed quickly, remembering they were in public and that they had a lookout stationed outside the door. Cloud grabbed his gym bag and made his way out, enduring noogies and playful shoves.

"Yeah, yeah," Cloud muttered, cracking a grin himself.

The boys scattered once they were out in the hallway. A huge mass of infantrymen getting in the elevator together on this floor they didn't really have any business on a Sunday would have raised a few eyebrows. Cloud and a couple others headed for the elevator while others went north and a couple took the southern set of stairs. It had been decided that Cloud didn't deserve all those stairs.

"Are you alright?" a Keeper asked Cloud. He'd been one of the ones watching from afar and Cloud didn't know his name.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You're hot as hell," the guy said, a bit shyly as he got off on his floor.

Cloud couldn't resist puffing his chest out a little at that one.

He scarfed down a protein bar and fell asleep on his bunk, choosing to skip his usual extra materia training session. He slept like the dead until one of his bunkmates woke him up several hours later.

"Nnnnyeah?"

The guy didn't even know his name, and he shrugged and pointed at the door. Tom Moss had his head poking inside.

Cloud swiped at his crusty eyes with the back of his wrist and staggered out of bed. He grit his teeth past the rush of soreness from down below and tried to smile at the guy, even though he was still half-asleep and only wearing boxers.

"I brought you something," Moss said.

Cloud held out his hand and the Captain handed him a hi-potion. "I'd take it now before the soreness gets worse," Moss said. He leaned in a bit so any nosy bunkmates couldn't hear them. "Some of them were a little rougher on you than I would have liked. You're okay though?"

Once Cloud had chugged half of the nasty tasting thing he licked his lips and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. I kinda thought—I don't know. My hometown puts a lot of stock in, well, y'know. But I don't feel very different at all. Just sore."

Moss laughed. "You're still the same guy. Just, uh…" he counted on his fingers, "I don't even know how many dicks richer. It was fun; I'm glad you showed up to this one."

"Me too," Cloud answered. "And I can't believe I'm saying that. Thanks for looking out for me during that whole thing."

"'Course." Moss punched Cloud gently on the shoulder. "Drink the rest of that. You're comin' to our meeting tomorrow, yeah?"

"…Yeah. Of course."

"Cool. Welcome to the Keepers, dude."

Cloud nodded and raised the potion bottle to his lips again. Moss gave him a kind smile and left.

This is part 1/9 of my Cloud's Birthday Week 2k16 challenge! Thank you for reading, and thanks for the kind words in reviews! :)