Broken Promises Chapter 5

Okay, so uh... It's been way too long, and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing to this story. I never made a plan, it was really just more of a... wing it and see what happens kind of thing xD;

But yeah, I'm back. And this should hopefully turn out alright. Trying to get back into writing, because this is hopefully going to be some kind of future career thing. Not fan fictions, I mean journalism. Might end up going into novels when I get a bit older, and more experienced.

I realised that I made Cloud completely OOC in this fic, going with the cutesy innocent appearance. I don't really like that; I always tried to make them fit their characters better. I think I'm doing an alright job with Zack so far, though. I guess one is better than none!

It also dawned on me that I don't think I've ever added a disclaimer to this series. So, finally, here it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this story, except anyone's fake parents that I made up on the spot. c:

Cloud looked over at his alarm clock as it beeped obnoxiously from on top of his bedside cabinet. He threw his arm over lazily and hit it a few times, trying to make it stop blaring so loudly. It was only 8:02 am. The blonde sighed and sat up clumsily, hunched forwards as he rubbed at his eyes.

He sniffed the air, the smell of fresh dough waking him up a little more. He swung his legs out over the side of his bed and stood, stretching his thin body out as much as he could, groaning at the feeling. He dragged his feet across the royal blue plush carpet and pushed the door to his en suite bathroom open, mechanically turning the knobs on the wall and setting the shower to the right temperature and pressure. He stripped of the only item of clothing he was wearing – some boxer shorts – and stepped under the jet. He scratched at his scalp while he waited for the water to be the perfect temperature, and then began to wash himself.

Once he had finished in the shower he returned to his bedroom, fully awake, and dressed himself before flipping open his mobile phone and listening to the voicemail Zack had left while he was in the shower.

"Hey, Spike! Listen, I know you said you're not ready to move on from Sephiroth yet, but I was just wondering... if you wanted to go on a date. Catch a movie, and then get some dinner at Frankie and Benny's? Just uh, call me back with an answer as soon as possible? I was thinking of going tonight, if you don't have any plans...? Anyway, see-yah some time." Cloud felt his cheeks warm up with a blush, smiling to himself. Maybe he was a little ready to start forgetting Seph. It had been a couple of weeks since he told Zack he wasn't ready, anyway.

His fingers automatically dialled Zack's number, his heart racing as the phone rang. His breath hitched a little when Zack answered excitedly, coughing a little but composing himself before it became too bad.

"H-Hey, Zack... I just got your voicemail. It uh... it sounds like a really good plan. What time were you thinking of?" Cloud spoke so quietly he was surprised Zack could hear a word he was saying.

"Really? That's awesome! Uh... about 6? I'll come pick you up on my bike." Cloud could hear the excitement in Zack's voice and chuckled to himself.

"Okay, don't worry about a spare helmet, I'll use mine. Reminds me actually, some time you gotta help me fix up Fenrir, she's getting a bit rusty sat in the garage the whole time."

"Sure buddy, any time! See you at six yeah?"

"Alright, bye." Cloud could barely hide his own excitement. He left his room and found his mother in the kitchen, making pancakes.

"Oh, Cloud! You're up. I was going to bring you these in bed, but never mind. Take a seat at the breakfast bar, dear. It'll only be a minute." She smiled, tossing a pancake expertly into the air without a lot of effort. Cloud always had admired his mother's cooking abilities, her food always came out brilliantly, yet she didn't seem to try too hard.

Once Cloud had a healthy stack of pancakes, topped with Maple Syrup, on his plate, his mother stopped cooking and kissed her son lightly on the forehead.

"Oh hey mum, Zack's taking me out for dinner and to the cinema later. He's picking me up at about 6. So don't worry about making my dinner, have something with dad." Cloud spoke between hefty mouthfuls of pancake, maple syrup dribbling down his chin and dripping onto his plate. His mother laughed at him and nodded before walking off into the living room.

Cloud finished his pancakes and retired to his room again, he needed to decide on something to wear. He may be a man, but he definitely has his girly moments.

He fished around in his wardrobe until he found a deep blue shirt which was tightly fitted to his body. He smiled and nodded to himself, throwing it, coat hanger and all, onto his bed and rooting around for some jeans. He found some black skinny jeans and shrugged indifferently, tossing them to join his shirt on the bed. He picked out his black and white chucks and was done with it.

He spent the rest of the day chilling out on the sofa with his mother, watching silly game shows like Pointless and Countdown.

When 6pm was getting close, Cloud changed into his desired outfit and checked himself out in the full-length mirror on his bedroom wall. He smiled; his shirt fit him in the right way, showing off his relatively broad shoulders and the little amount of muscle he had on his arms. His skinny jeans defined his ass well, but fit loosely around his legs, giving him almost completely free movement. He lounged on his bed for the last twenty-odd minutes before Zack arrived, grabbing a padded hoodie and his crash helmet from the shelf in his wardrobe and answering the door.

Zack smiled down at his best-friend-turned-love-interest and pecked a kiss on his soft cheek, which blossomed red as he pulled away.

"Sup, Spike? Ready to go?" He asked, indicating with his head for Cloud to follow. Cloud yelled goodbye to his mother and shut the door behind them, following Zack to a matte black motorbike, parked crookedly on the driveway.

"Oh, wow! You've fixed her up a treat! She looks so good!" Cloud grinned, pulling his hoodie on and crash helmet on, stroking the bike as though it were a tame animal. Zack smirked and turned the ignition, making the bike purr loudly into life. He swung his leg over and took the bike off its temporary stand, pulling his helmet on over his wild spikes. He handed Cloud a pair of gloves and smiled, silently ordering him onto the passenger seat of the motorbike. Cloud stepped onto the foot rest and swung his leg over the seat, grabbing Zack's waist and settling down comfortably. He was so small he hardly made a difference to the weight on the bike. Zack revved a couple of times and took off, driving them into the heart of town at an almost constant speed of 50mph.

He's still a speed-junkie, then. Cloud thought to himself, listening to the wind as it whistled past his helmet and through a small gap under the visor. Once they arrived at the cinema complex, Zack parked the bike in the spaces designated for motorbikes and put his brake lock on, removing his gloves and helmet and carrying it into the cinema with him. Cloud did the same, but also removed his hoodie and stuffed it into his helmet. Zack ordered two tickets to see some action film Cloud didn't pay attention to the title of, and bought them both some popcorn and a large drink, with two straws, to share. They took their seats at the back of screen 8 and began eating the popcorn before the film even started.

Somewhere during the middle of the film, Zack had placed his arm around Cloud's shoulder. And Cloud had placed his hand on Zack's thigh. They sat like this, half paying attention to the film, half paying attention to each other, throughout the duration of the movie - which it turned out was a Kung-Fu film featuring Jet-Li and Jackie Chan. They bumped foreheads a couple of times while bending down for a drink at the same time, laughing it off silently while hoping the other wouldn't spot their bright blush of embarrassment and proximity.

Once the film had ended, they reluctantly removed their hands from the other and stood, stretching their tired limbs. They made their way across the car park to the restaurant, Frankie & Benny's. Once inside, Zack ordered a table for two and was met by a waitress, directing the two teens over to a quiet table in the corner and handing them a menu each. They both smiled their thanks and directed their gaze to the menus, deciding on what to eat. They both decided to get a starter of pasta with pesto sauce and share a twelve-inch pepperoni pizza. Once they had ordered their food and drink, Zack opting for normal coke and Cloud going with a diet, they handed their menus back to the same waitress and waited for their food. She walked off with a happy wiggle, looking over her shoulder and shooting Cloud a knowing wink. Zack saw and chuckled.

"Don't mind her, it's just Tifa. She moved here not long after you moved out of your parents' place, and I was lumbered with the community task of showing her around town. We got to be good friends. She knows who you are..." He looked down at his place on the table nervously, rubbing the back of his neck absent-mindedly.

"Oh, right. Maybe we should hang out with her one day? She seems kind of nice." Zack smiled at Cloud's hospitality, he always was nice to everyone, so open. He found it so easy to make a friend; that's how Zack usually ended up knowing people – through Cloud.

"Sure, sounds like a plan." The brunette smiled back, shifting in his seat and moving his legs under the table, accidentally brushing against Cloud's calves.

"Oh, sorry..." Zack hurriedly apologized and brought his legs back closer to him, crossing his feet underneath his chair.

"It's fine." Cloud chuckled almost angelically. They didn't realise, until Tifa brought their starters over, that they had been leaning forward, propped up on their elbows. They weren't very far from each other's faces. Both blushed, Cloud more than Zack, and pulled away hurriedly in embarrassment as Tifa put their food down in front of them.

"Bon appetite." She winked at Zack as she walked away, her hips wiggling as happily as before.

They both gave her their thanks and picked up their forks, beginning to eat.

Cloud timidly speared a few pasta spirals with his fork and raised them to his mouth, sniffing them tentatively, before deciding they were safe and popping them into his mouth, chewing with slow, deliberate movements of his jaw. Zack watched him curiously before laughing and turning his attention back to his bowl of pasta, finishing it rather quickly. He waited patiently for Cloud to finish, sipping his coke and lounging back in his wooden chair. Cloud finished and smiled up at Zack, taking a large swig of his diet coke and washing down the pasta pesto.

They looked up as Tifa put the large pizza down on the table in between them. It had been sliced into 10 equal parts, the stuffed-crust oozing with cheese. They said thank you once more and took a slice each, biting off sizeable chunks and chewing them slowly, exhaling around their mouthfuls as they were too hot. They laughed at each other's stupidity and cooled their mouths down with a large gulp of their drinks.

Once they had finished their pizza and Zack had paid for it, they headed back outside into the cool night air, standing by Zack's bike and looking up at the stars. Cloud was the first to put his jacket back on and climb onto Zack's motorbike, helmet in his hands. He looked over at his best friend and blushed as he stepped closer, placing his hands on the bike seat, one in front of Cloud, the other just behind him. He leant closer and smiled.

"You look so beautiful in the moonlight. I always thought so, even when we were kids. Your hair turns a really nice golden colour, and your eyes seem brighter."

Cloud blushed as Zack finally let their lips meet for the first real time, his hands keeping a tight hold of his bike helmet as though it were the only thing reassuring him this was real. Zack turned his head slightly into a more comfortable angle, the hand that was behind Cloud coming to rest on the small of his back. Cloud let go of his helmet and brought his hands up and tangled them in Zack's long, spiky hair. He moaned a little when Zack's soft tongue ran across his bottom lip, sending a warm shiver from his groin to his lower stomach.

Zack pulled away regretfully and donned his jacket, gloves and helmet, climbing onto the bike in front of Cloud, revving the engine and looking over his shoulder to check on the blonde who was slipping his helmet and gloves on, then wrapping his thin arms round Zack's waist.

They shot off into the night, going a little slower than they had on the way to the cinema because of the visibility difficulties of the night.

Once they had finally reached Cloud's house once again, Zack took off his helmet and left it on his bike seat. He walked the blonde to the porch and smiled down at him as he placed his helmet on the floor.

"I had a really nice time tonight, Zack. Thank you." Cloud smiled humbly, playing with a loose thread on the cuff of his hoodie.

"No problem, you're worth it, Spike."

"Uhm... Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"Can... Can you kiss me again?" Cloud blushed, barely visible in the moonlight but still obviously there. Zack chuckled and stepped towards the blonde as he raised himself onto tip-toes, pressing their lips together once more, kissing just as tenderly as they had in the car park.

The porch light flashed on and off a few times and they pulled away from each other. Cloud rolled his eyes and picked up his helmet, waving Zack off and opening the front door. He stood there for a moment, watching the brunette ride away into the darkness, disappearing quickly due to the darkness of his bike and attire.

Cloud smiled to himself and shut the front door, placing his house key in the bowl on the counter. He slipped his shoes off and ignored the smirk on his mother's face as he hurried to his bedroom, stripping down to his boxers and crawling into bed happily.

He would sleep soundly tonight. No more nightmares of silver snakes with piercing green eyes.

I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter. I feel kind of accomplished, and I swear that I will now try my hardest to update this as often as I can.

I'm hoping that the length of this chapter will make up for the time I've been away, and there's also a little cuteness in this chapter. :D

Yeah, I suddenly realised that the chapters don't have to immediately continue where the last left off, I was stupid for thinking they had to. I'm kind of enjoying the time-skip thing, it means less faffing and more yaoi!

Thank you all so much for sticking with this fan-fic for as long as you have, assuming any of you are even still here... ;_;

Please, please, please! Review, because that's what encouraged me to continue this. I was reading the reviews on my phone, since I'm internet-less for a couple of days (writing this on the 30th of May, but I'm going to my friend's house tomorrow and I'll have internet there.) And I saw that there were still people who were waiting for me to get off my ass and write something!

Much love!

xxSarukoChanxx (did I ever tell you I hate my screen-name? :C) I wish I could change itttttt.