Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy.

Change It Around- Chapter 4

Cloud stared at the basket full of jars of high quality tealeaves in front of him and swore. He didn't even need to look at the tag to know who sent it.

"Damnit!"

He opened the sealed jars and one by one inhaled the scents of the different black teas, green teas, white teas, herbal teas, and fruit teas. He sighed at the aromas and some of the tension in his body dissolved.

A sudden scowl appeared on his face and he ripped the tag off the basket before throwing it in the garbage. Cloud moved the jars to the cupboard and sighed. Couldn't it have been roses or flowers? He could have thrown out flowers without a second thought. He glared at the basket for a second and jumped when the phone rang.

"Hello?" he snapped into the receiver.

He heard a chuckle, "You don't seem happy about your gift, we thought you'd like it."

"Fuck you, Zack," he growled.

"Definitely," he replied succinctly, "So you did like it?"

Cloud sighed, "This doesn't change anything, I'm still not going to date you guys."

"Well…If you don't want the tea we could easily return it or throw it away. We just thought that you'd like it."

"No! You're not taking it back. The tea is mine."

Cloud could hear chuckling in the background and frowned, "They're with you right now, aren't they? Am I on speaker? Fuck you all, the tea doesn't change anything even if I'm keeping it. And how did you know where I live? Are you guys stalking me?"

"Um…No we're not!" Zack protested.

Cloud was silent for a moment, "Seriously? I'm hanging up now. Don't call me back unless it has to do with work."

Cloud stared at the next gift they had deemed to gift him with, eye twitching. He lugged the heavy ass, top brand complete cookware set into the kitchen and glared at it.

He grabbed the phone off the table and dialed Vincent's number since it was least likely that he and Zack would be busy right now.

Vincent answered on the second ring, "Vincent."

"Who's idea was the cook set?" his voice was flat.

"Everyone's. You're workplace told us that you like to bring in food for everyone so we thought it would be nice."

"Does it look like I can't afford to buy my own pots and dishes?"

"No but we thought you might appreciate the baking things that came with it, we were surprised at the prices on them."

Cloud nearly dropped the phone, "Baking things? What baking things?"

Cloud could practically hear Vincent's frown over the phone, "The baking things haven't come? The shipping for them must have been delayed, they should be there within the week."

Cloud smacked his forehead with his palm, how did they always know just what to get him so he wouldn't throw it away? This was getting ridiculous, soon they'd think he was accepting their advances if he kept keeping the stuff. But who wouldn't? A person would have to be an idiot not to accept top quality cookware.

"Cloud?" Vincent called.

"Fine," Cloud said grudgingly, "This still doesn't change anything."

"Alright. Bye, Cloud." He could hear the smile in Vincent's voice.

"Hmph," Cloud huffed, "Bye."

Ashlee was at the table, eating the snickerdoodles he had made and flipping through her schedule.

"How do you like them?" Cloud asked, distracted by the persistent problem of his courters.

"Mmm, they're good, really good. By now you don't need to ask that question, everything you make comes out practically perfect. I really don't understand it," Ashlee shook her head.

Cloud smiled and teased, "You're just jealous because you can't cook."

Ashlee turned around and mock glared at him, "What! I'll have to punish you for-"

A knock at the door sounded and Cloud frowned, turning toward it, "Give me a second."

He walked to the door and opened it, still frowning, only to gape once he saw who was there, "What are you doing here?" he hissed, "What are you all doing here?"

Reno brushed past him into his apartment, "What a lovely way to greet us after we've taken time out of our days to see you."

Zack gently moved his shocked form to the side while the others filed in, Vincent and Tseng shot him an apologetic look and shrugged.

"Cloud? Who is it?" Ashlee called, "Hurry up and make them go away so we can get back to what we were doing."

Sephiroth appeared in front of him and tilted his chin up with a finger, "But you don't want us to go, do you, Cloud?" he purred.

Cloud shivered. Screwed. He was definitely screwed, and not in the good way. He wasn't getting out of this intact. He prayed that Ashlee wouldn't turn around, he could already see his head on a platter for neglecting to mention this information.

Ashlee turn around and her mouth fell open before she shot a glare at Cloud, "Is that who I think it is?"

Cloud cringed and glared at the guys in the doorway, "They were just leaving."

She smiled at him and he twitched.

"No they're not," she said before smiling at the guys beside him, "Gentlemen, come in. Make yourselves at home. Cloud's got a bit of explaining to do."

The men curiously explored his house, looking in the rooms and poking his things, completely ignoring his annoyance. Cloud made his way to the kitchen where he received a scathing look from Ashlee.

"You didn't tell me you were fucking them!" she hissed, "I thought I was your best friend."

Cloud ran a hand through his hair, frustrated, "That's because I'm not- fucking them that is. They want me to and I'm not so inclined."

Ashlee crossed her arms, "And why wasn't I told about this?"

"I didn't think they'd be this serious and you already make fun of me, regarding them, enough as is."

Her face softened, "Sorry, I didn't think you minded so much."

He sighed and reached out to touch her arm, "I don't, it's just that this would have been giving you a lit match in an all wooden building."

Cloud moved past her and put on the kettle, "I'm going to make these guys some tea and try to get them out of here. This place isn't big enough for them all."

Zack wandered into the kitchen, Vincent behind him, and looked around curiously. When he spotted the cookies his face lit up, "Cookies!" he practically squealed, "Can I have some?"

Cloud glared at him, "No."

Vincent smirked at him, "It's nice to see that the baking things got here. How are they?"

Cloud felt his face turn red and he grabbed the tin of snickerdoodles before thrusting them against Zack's chest, "Have the cookies, both of you just get out of my kitchen!"

Zack grinned at him, purple eyes sparkling, "Thanks."

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the two that had still not vacated his kitchen, "Out! None of you are to come in here, the kitchen is off limits."

A few minutes later Cloud came out of the kitchen with tea and gave everyone cups.

"No white or green tea?" Tseng asked.

Cloud's eye twitched, "Sorry, no. People I'm mad at don't get good tea, I'm afraid. If that bothers you feel free to leave."

There was silence for a moment before Zack broke it, "You don't have much here," he said, gesturing to the living room, "Don't you get bored without a TV?"

Reno nodded, "I know, and we'll definitely need to get him a new bed. His sucks, though the sheets aren't bad, and he'll need something bigger. That can be our next gift."

Cloud stiffened and his blue eyes glowed slightly with anger. He slammed the tray he used to carry the tea on the table and glared at them, "Well I'm sorry that you've found everything inadequate according to your standards but not all of us are rich! I'm also sorry that it bothered you so much that you had to go out of your way to replace it for me but I didn't ask you to nor do I want your charity. So if you don't like it, go."

As he spoke Cloud's voice got colder and quieter, "I can't believe I liked you guys and considered giving you a chance. You are all jerks."

Zack flinched, his expression somewhere between shocked and confused, "I-"

Cloud cut him off, "I don't want to hear it," he collected the cups and started putting them back on the tray, "Just go."

Rude stood up just as he was going to go into the kitchen and turned him around before pulling his sunglasses down a bit and giving Cloud a view of hazel eyes, "They do not mean it like that, they simply weren't thinking when they said it. We do not think you are inadequate."

Cloud's tense form relaxed a bit and he nodded. Rude stroked his arm and Tseng continued where he left off, "They simply don't know how to censor themselves or think before they speak. We think you're fine as you are."

"Well you had better," Cloud jumped and turned to find Ashlee behind him, she frowned at the men in front of him, "You guys certainly aren't good house guests. You guys didn't even say thank you for the tea and went through all of Cloud's stuff. He probably wouldn't say anything but he's an extremely private person. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

The six got various expressions of embarrassment and contriteness on their faces before they looked at Cloud.

Vincent broke the silence, "We apologize for our behaviour, it was unacceptable. And thank you for the tea."

Cloud sighed and ran a hand through his hair, fluffing up the spikes even more, "It's okay. Can we try to limit these excursions to anywhere but my house in the future?"

Zack pouted, "Aw, do we have to?"

His words seemed to break the tension as everyone smiled.

Cloud smiled and Zack moved back a little, looking wary, "I'm afraid I wasn't really asking. Alright, it's time to get out of my house. I'm willing to go with you to grab something to eat but it will have to be fast because I want the rest of my day."