Flirty Jock Extraordinaire

Format: Multi-chapter

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (ZackxCloudxZack)

Rating: M (explicit content in further chapters)

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. Square Enix does.

Prologue

"So, Cloud…"

The blonde young man looked up from his science book to a certain brunette with a raised eyebrow and noticed her hesitant features. Her mouth was quivering a bit, as if her smile was a forced one – and it probably was. Aerith smiled all the time but, when nervous, the right side of her mouth would start quivering ever so slightly. It was almost imperceptible, but Cloud had the eye to read people's behaviors and expressions. It came naturally to him. He somehow thought it was more from his unusually high capacity of sight than any kind of talent whatsoever, though.

"What about your love interests? Anyone in your aim?"

Oh god. And there she went again about love interests. She knew the blonde teenager hated talking about his crushes, and yet, she was uncommonly persistent about it since a little while. Sure, before she asked about it once in a while – but now, it was once a day. Quitting his current position, which was a lay-on-his-stomach-on-his-bed position, Cloud sat up cross-legged on his ink-colored sheets and looked down at her. She had been laying next to him on her back, texting somebody with her cell phone. Now she was gazing at him with her unwavering uneasy air.

Their closeness on his bed was only common habitude. They were friends for about a year now, and they found an intimacy only people with a really good connection could share. Nothing near romance, either way – Aerith was the "touchy" type, and she preferred being Cloud's big sister than lover. On his side, Cloud didn't usually like being so physically close to someone like this, but it was somehow different with this girl. She radiated an aura that even him wanted to get near to, which was quite a feat when you thought about it.

"I don't like anybody at the time, no," the blonde answered her previous question. "Spill."

"Spill what?"

Her face changed into a purely innocent fashion, with the perfectly confused pursed lips and surprised hauled up eyebrows. She used that most of the time when she didn't want to reveal the purpose behind her schemes (which were usually harmless, but still), whatever the case was. She was a pretty bad liar, at any rate, and she could hardly hide properly anything from anyone. It was usually her downfall.

He frowned at her but voiced no commentary on her antics. "You've been asking me again and again if I had someone I'd like to be with. I know you have something – or rather, someone – in mind."

"Not at all! I don't know where you got this idea from, but –"

The unimpressed face Cloud gave her made her stop acting immediately, since she knew it was useless to try and conceal her intentions. Her friend always ended by knowing everything, either way. She sighed.

"I think I might have someone you would like."

His tone betrayed his interest, even if he tried to look as uncaring as he could. "Do I know her? Or him?"

Cloud wasn't straight, nor was he gay. He was bi, and both his friends and family knew about it. It had never been made public though, so nobody at his school except people he trusted knew about it. It was like that since his childhood. He considered himself lucky, anyways – it implied he had more choices for a lover, and considering he was somebody hard to satisfy…

Aerith was uncertain on how to reply. "Well, you know him by name, but not personally."

The blonde stayed silent, urging her with a movement of his hand to continue giving him information. The brunette was clearly hesitant, like earlier. It was weird to see Aerith like that – it wasn't like her at all.

"Zack Fair, my boyfriend from last year."

Cloud's eyes widened considerably, his impassible attitude completely shattered now. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Had she gone crazy?

Zack Fair was one of Midgar High School's star players on its football team. He was right behind Genesis (not many people knew his real name) in talent, although people appreciated him more as he was far more sociable than the former. He was on the "popular" side of school, obviously, since he was a gorgeous and friendly jock. He was one of the only jocks Cloud felt wasn't entirely stupid, in fact. Cloud was rather on the "regular" side. Really, he found such a way of describing social classes in high school totally dumb, but it was reality and teenagers easily classified beings around them as they pleased. It was sad, in a way.

Cloud didn't find himself less "popular" than Zack, or any other jock for that matter. He had real friends, a caring mother, and a life he was almost happy with. What other students thought about him made him utterly indifferent.

"You want me to date Zack Fair? Zack Fair, the straight flirty jock extraordinaire?" Cloud inquired, doing his best to add effect with his voice on the word "straight".

"Cloud, he's not straight," she countered with the shadow of a smile, shaking her head.

"Interesting. How do you know?"

He saw her bit her bottom lip. She sighed. "Why do you think we're not together anymore?"

Cloud felt like punching himself in the guts right now. The idea of bitch-slapping himself also crossed his mind. He took her hand and searched for her saddened green irises, as she had turned away her eyes miserably.

"I'm sorry. You never told me what happened, so I figured you had a fight or something…"

She glanced at his hand stroking hers, then at his guilty face. She obliged her lips to stretch happily and sat up too, as talking to Cloud while on her back hadn't been an exactly good position to begin with.

"It's okay. He cornered me someday and told me he couldn't like me, and that it was his fault and only his. I was eventually able to get out of him his real sexual orientation as a truthful answer."

"He trusted you enough to tell you?" Cloud seemed stunned, because he knew what it meant. "His entire reputation could have been in danger, if you'd have told someone."

"He had faith in me, I guess," she shrugged. "He still does, too. We've stayed friend since then, but we rarely hang out together. Our lives are too… different."

They both stayed silent for a while. Cloud didn't really know what to think, while Aerith smirked knowingly. She knew he found Zack sexy, because everyone did. It was just a fact. She also knew he didn't like the jock students that much, though. She knew better, anyway – Cloud was up for anything when the person was sexy, cute and funny all in a whole package. In reality, he had said the exact same statement earlier this week in one of their conversation about a perfect lover, so she was confident he wouldn't turn his back to her offer.

"Why do you think he'd want me, though?" finally spoke up the blonde, pinching his lips doubtfully.

She giggled, her eyelids closing themselves with delight.

"He's the one who talked me into asking you to date him."

A/N: Review if you liked, please. I'd appreciate critisism and, let's face it, we all know reviews encourage the author to write more. It's that needed little boost, you know?

Hope you appreciated.