Author's note:Another short piece exploring Angeal and Zack's smexiness. Thought I'd share.

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Their breaths mingled, hot and moist, both sets of lips parted and yet they would never touch, but ghosted. The dark night and the messy cramped space made their chests pound, the way their mostly clothed bodies perspired and ached to feel bare flesh was a tease, and yet neither would dare bare flesh to one another—this wasn't planned, this wasn't about control—this was about a moment, a moment in which SOLDIER didn't exist, training was a long lost notion, and the only thing that remained was the dirtiness, the fear at the backs of their minds that made them feel more alive with each pulse of their hearts, each crashing awkward thrust.

Angeal couldn't help but stare into those wide mako eyes. Even after all Zack witnessed at such an early age, even after all the unfortunate deaths, his eyes were still innocent, naïve even. It was the naivety—the innocence—he craved. With each thrust, each quieted growl, he was brushing against something he had lost so long ago. Zack made him feel more alive. When everything was crashing all around him, Zack made him feel . . .

He didn't know. Didn't want to know. It wouldn't last, he was sure of it. The mortality of the moment made him feel bare despite the clothes and the sweat traveling down his spine.

The way Zack couldn't keep entirely quiet made him thrust harder, made him want to slam him through the wall he kept pushing him up against. The cot creaked. Every nerve in his body was electric. Zack bit his bottom lip to keep from crying out and the quieted sound made his blood boil, made him pin him up against the wall, roughly thrust into him a few more times before he clutched at his neck, made them both go over the edge like raw wires shorting out.

Angeal's mind was blank for a moment, and his breath made the soft black hairs across Zack's brow shudder away. He felt the boy clench around him, thighs pressed tight around him. But the moment was over and Angeal had to get away—it was too dangerous getting caught up in what Zack did to him. Right as Zack moved his head in to seek a kiss Angeal pulled away entirely and watched Zack sink down against the cot and the wall.

But Angeal wasn't cruel. He liked the kid more than he let on. But he was cautious. He knew what they had could never be anything more.

Zack was silent, curious mako eyes glowing in the room whose only light source was the glowing moon casting shadows and the two pairs of SOLDIER-bred eyes. He watched Angeal wipe himself off onto the cot, zip up his pants and refasten his armor. He didn't dare speak. He even held in his breath.

Angeal turned to Zack, smiled softly—with a tinge of sadness—and ruffled Zack's hair.

And then he was moving out the door with one long look over his shoulder and a simple "Tomorrow, 0600 hours, rest up".

Zack allowed himself to breathe and sat there disheveled for many long minutes. Something about these sessions with Angeal shut him up like no one else was ever able to do. His heart ached—a feeling he had never gotten used to, but it made him feel alive, and despite the pain of it, he allowed himself to smile. It was worth it for a glimpse at his dream, for those small moments he shared with Angeal. He would never trade the ache for anything else in the world.