"It's so beautiful."

"Mm. I kind of wish I could live out here, y'know?" he sighs, looking out at the sunset.

"Can you imagine how peaceful it'd be?"

"We could do it, probly. We'd never be able to show ourselves to anyone ever again, but it'd be possible."

A small chuckle fills the air. "I don't really feel like running from Shin-Ra my whole life, so I don't think that'd be a good idea."

There's a scoff. "Please. We could take 'em. I'd convince Angeal to come with us, and he'd convince Sephiroth and Genesis to tag along since they hardly like being there anyway, so we'd have like half the manpower of SOLDIER on our side already." he nudges the blond with his shoulder.

"And the Turks? They'd be on our case and have us shot in ten seconds flat."

"Oh, they aren't a big deal. I'm on pretty good terms with some of the higher ranking ones, so I could pull a few strings and make sure we're never found."

"Mhm. Sure you could." he reaches up to brush some freshly fallen snow from the older's hair.

"I could! You're doubting my abilities aren't you? I bet you think I'm a horrible SOLDIER too. You just pity me and compliment me to make me feel better, don't you."

He smiles softly, leaning back. "Finally figured me out, huh? Evidently you're not very smart, either, if it took you this long to realize it."

Violet eyes roll and he lightly pushes him. "I miss the times when you were quiet and stuttered every other word talkin' to me. You're too mean now."

He places a mitten-covered hand over the other's, laughing quietly. "It's your own fault. You introduced me to all your friends and their callousness just rubbed off on me."

"Yeah, yeah." he gives a small grin, and they stay seated like that for a few minutes. "It's dark. We should get back to camp."

Cloud hums, not moving his head from the raven's shoulder. "I wonder what it would be like."

"What?"

"To just leave SOLDIER. I guess I could, since I'm still not even Third Class, but you…"

"Would you want to?"

"I don't know." he sighs and shivers a bit, moving to wrap his arms around Zack. "I couldn't leave by myself. There's nothing for me back home, aside from my mom, but she's fine by herself. I wouldn't want to wander the world alone either."

"What if I came with you then?" There's silence for a bit.

"You couldn't, though. You couldn't just abandon everyone you know here and give up everything to do that."

"I would though. If it was for you."

The younger is shocked, speechless despite knowing the extent of the SOLDIER's feelings for him already, and simply squeezes him tight for a couple seconds. The older begins to fiddle with his blond locks.

"Like I said, we could do it. Sneak away and just live together wherever, do what we want for the rest of our lives. Maybe we wouldn't have 'Geal or Seph or Gen, but we'd have each other. I'd have you. I could do without bein' a hero if it meant I could keep you by my side forever."

Cloud sits in silence, holding the other as close as possible, still without anything to say. Zack is rarely this serious, and he's always at a loss for words when he is. He settles for pressing a feather-light kiss to his neck.

"We really should head back now." The silence is broken after a long while, and the blond hums once again, but nods this time. They dust themselves of the white powder they're covered in and check around for any weapons they might've forgotten they brought. They find nothing, and Cloud begins to walk back to the camp before he's pulled back gently. Suddenly glowing violet eyes meet bright blue and their mouths are moving together, light and chaste; it's a quick kiss, but just as lovely as all the others they've shared. When Zack pulls away, he beams at the pink-tinted boy in front of him and brushes his lips against his forehead before leaning his to the younger's.

"I really do love you, Cloud."

He blushes, like he always does when the raven tells him so, and smiles. "I love you too."

~*~AUTHOR'S NOTE THING~*~

i feel like i made this fic worse when i edited it which is sad cause i actually really liked it before and now i don't wow i just can't win

i almost didn't edit this at all cause its file name was "fic tbh" and i had no clue what it was so i ignored it for a while lmao

"it's a quick kiss, but just as lovely as all the others they've shared" haHAAHAHhahah i laugh really hard at this oh man it's so cheesy

anyway i wish i could write fics like this more often. or any fics in general that'd be cool too :c