Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. Square Enix does. I am just a poor college student exercising my imagination.

Why did I agree to this? Cloud was sitting at a table in Shinra's lovely (not) cadet cafeteria. It was after hours, so the room was dark. Only the hallway lights coming in through the open door kept the room from becoming pitch black. It was still pretty dark though, since most of the room still lay in shadows. I hope he comes soon. I really don't want to be in here anymore. He looked around warily. He was only slightly afraid of the dark, but he wasn't going to let anyone else know that. Especially not Zack, Cloud would never hear the end of it if he did. Cloud was waiting for Zack, his raven haired best friend. Cloud had been getting ready to go to sleep when he got a text from Zack on his new PHS, which Zack had gotten him:

Hey spiky. Meet me in the cafeteria in 10 minutes. I have something to show you!

Being the good friend that he was, Cloud got dressed. He made his way to the cafeteria and got there 5 minutes later than Zack told him to be. He had looked around, but Zack was nowhere in sight. So, he sat down to wait for him, hoping that Zack was late and was going to be there any minute.. That had been a half an hour ago. I wonder where he could possibly be. He better not be trying to scare me again. The last time he did that, I had nightmares for weeks. He shivered.

As if suspicious at the thought, Cloud studied his surroundings. His blue eyes shifting all over the place, trying to see if anything was moving in the shadows. As far as he could see, there was no one there. But Zack had always been good at sneaking around…

The raven haired SOLDIER was glad he had enhanced senses. For if he had been any closer to Cloud, he would have been seen and caught. Except he wasn't sneaking up on his chocobo friend. Nope. He was watching Genesis sneak up on him. Zack was smirking in the near darkness. It had been easy (a little too easy) to get Genesis to help him out.

He was sitting on Genesis's couch, thinking. It had been a stressful week for cloud, full of finals and extra training. He wanted to find a way to help Cloud relax. He was originally going to cook something for him, which probably wasn't a good idea in the first place, but Angeal wanted to hang out with Genesis and Sephiroth. So Zack had to tag along, or risk being left alone.

"Look, Angeal" Genesis cooed. "Your puppy looks like he's thinking! Oh, but be careful Zack, you don't want to hurt yourself." Genesis was looking at Zack now, a grin spread wide on his face.

Zack looked at him and sneered, "Oh shut up Genesis. At least I can think." Sephiroth was snickering in the background. A look of surprise passed over Angeal's face. Whatever sephiroth was going to say in response was interrupted when the crimson clad Genesis scoffed.

"Oh, puh-lease! Don't flatter yourself. As a SOLDIER First, I think way more than you do. If you tried to think even half as hard as I do on a daily basis, your little puppy brain would-"

"Enough Genesis," Sephiroth growled, all humor having left his face at seeing how close Genesis was to fighting with Angeal's puppy, "Leave Zack alone, we don't need any fights here."

Genesis opened his mouth to protest when Sephiroth dropped his hand to masamune's hilt, which was conveniently leaning against the wall next to Sephiroth's chair. Genesis shut his mouth, shooting Zack a death glare. Sephiroth was going to say something further, but decided against it and turned his gaze towards Zack. "Thank you, Genesis. Now, Zack, what were you thinking about so deeply?" Sephiroth's green cat eyes bore into Zack's purple ones, as if trying to pry the answer out of Zack's brain.

Zack ducked his head, a blush creeping up on his cheeks. "well, uh, Cloud actually." The words starting tumbling out of his mouth. "He has had a really tough week and I was trying to think of a way to cheer him up and help him unwind." He looked up and everyone was smiling. Angeal and Sephiroth shared a knowing look. Genesis looked like he had just thought of something very evil…

After that, it was easy to find a way to cheer up Cloud. Zack and Genesis were to lure Cloud away from his apartment, where they would then blindfold him. Meanwhile, Angeal and Sephiroth were to decorate Cloud's apartment using the leftover decorations Zack had. Easy enough.

Except there were problems. According to messages from Angeal, Sephiroth was having a hard time picking the lock to Cloud's apartment. So, Zack and Genesis had to stall Cloud a little longer than planned. Which would have been just fine, if Cloud hadn't kept looking around suspiciously. He was making it difficult to sneak up and blindfold him.

If only they would hurry up! Then we can get to helping Cloud relax. Zack was impatient and checked his PHS for the millionth time in the last 5 minutes. There was a new message from Angeal:

Ok, Seph picked the lock and we are decorating. You can start bringing Cloud up now.

Perfect, Zack thought with a grin on his face. He spoke to Genesis in a voice so low, you had to be enhanced to hear it. "Ok Genesis. It's show time."

"Finally," Genesis replied in the same low tone, a little exasperated. "Took them long enough." He crept up slowly on the cadet, the poor kid not even noticing. He was about 10 feet away when he crouched and pounced.

Ugh, I am sick of waiting here. Cloud thought with a grimace. I am going back to bed. I'm going to need all the sleep I can get for tomorrow. Cloud was about to get up when he heard a noise behind him. He could have sworn it sounded just like a boot. He turned just in time to see a flash of red coming towards him, then blackness…

Authors note: well I hope u guys like this story… its my first attempt at a multiple chapter story. I have other chapters written, but I would like to see some reviews before I upload them… please and thank you =D