PROMPT: A Photographer and a photobomber

FANDOM: Final Fantasy VII (Zack/Cloud)

SUMMARY: Cloud liked photography, but sometimes, photobombers got in the way, and stalkers are sometimes created. ZackxCloud LIGHT SLASH

Cloud Strife liked to think he lived an average life. He got good grades in school, worked hard to earn money, and lived with his mom a few blocks away from everything he needed. His life was horribly average; at least, he thought so.

Unknown to him though, his life definitely was not average. He liked colourful things, he didn't have many friends, and his mother didn't let him watch television. She claimed it was to save Cloud from corruption; he claimed it was because she didn't want to pay the bills that came along with that technology.

It was on one of these extraordinarily average days that Cloud found himself in the park, trying to find something absolutely wonderful he could take a picture of. Cloud had a photography project that was due in two weeks, and he wanted to get it done right away. It wasn't because he didn't like photography; for in fact, he loved it! It was exactly because of that reason that he wanted to work hard and get it done. The only problem was, he lived in Midgar, and there was very little that was beautiful about Midgar.

Everything was either gray, dark gray, or black. There were very little trees, and very little flowers, which was typical for city as large as Midgar. This left Cloud with nearly nothing to photograph.

The playground in the park was an exception. It was pretty, and had colourful slides and monkey bars. There was nothing stopping Cloud from taking pictures of that but the kids that played there and the angry parents that thought he was a bit of a creep.

Or well, a lot of a creep. Maybe they thought he was some molester, or someone who collected child pornography. Cloud was an honest, quiet kid though, and didn't have the heart to correct these angry strangers. If they thought he was a creepy high school student, then there was nothing he could do to make them stop thinking that.

Blue eyes blinked slowly, and as Cloud crouched down to take a picture of some grass poking out from between the side walk's cement slabs, a ball rolled over and stopped in front of him. Quickly snapping the picture of some grass with a ball and some people in the background, he looked up.

A kid was staring at him, or to be more precise, the ball. Smiling slightly, Cloud rolled the ball over to the patient kid, who could be no older than twelve. For his troubles, Cloud received a shy smile and a nod from the young boy.

Cloud, having done one of many of his good deeds for the day, decided it was time to go home for lunch. He thought that maybe along the way, he would find something else to photograph. Something like a pretty bird, or maybe he would spot someone strangely dressed. The street performers were usually happy to have their photos taken.

The next day went much the same for Cloud, except that it was Monday. He went to school, attended all his classes, handed in assignments, and went home. Somewhere in the day he had been accosted by his friends, who he hadn't seen in a while. They were annoyed, and demanded that they hang out during lunch. Cloud didn't refuse.

At home, he ate a snack before heading out to the Monday Market. It was a place where people sold cool junk they didn't want anymore, and there was usually something nice to see. Cloud's favourites were the pieces of art that were sometimes sold, as finding good, colourful art was hard nowadays.

The Monday Market took up a whole street, not allowing cars to drive through it. The place was decorated with banners and balloons, as was custom for every Monday Market that took place on the street. Readying his ever present Camera, Cloud took a picture of the busy, brightly coloured street. If one person had been out of place, he wouldn't have noticed.

Checking his camera to see if he had any film left, as he knew he'd been getting to the end, Cloud blinked at the number zero that was shown to him. Shrugging his shoulders, Cloud entered the market, not bothering with his camera until he got home.

-)(-)(-)(-

When Cloud did go home, he held in his hand a small paper bag, which contained a purchase he had made earlier. That purchase just so happened to be a small statue of a lucky cat. It was a cute little thing that he had bought for his mother, who was a bit superstitious.

After giving the gift to his mother, and receiving a hug, he went into the basement, where his darkroom was. He'd liked photography for a long time, and for his birthday, his mother had gifted it to him for his developing uses. It let him develop pictures outside of school, which he was happy for.

Cloud developed the pictures in his camera slowly, making sure they would all turn out wonderfully. Having a lot of practice, it didn't take very long. He would have to keep the pictures he took for his project separate from the others, maybe in a folder, so he didn't lose them. He would hate to have to retake pictures.

Once the pictures were nice and dry, Cloud took them out of the dark room so he could look at the ones he had taken most recently. The last one he had taken caught his eye.

The photo was of the Monday Market, and in front of what appeared to be a wall of people, there was a person posing for his camera. Frowning, he brought the picture closer to his face.

It was indeed someone posing for his camera. They were looking directly into the lens with extremely bright blue eyes, and they had black hair that spiked uncontrollably everywhere, much like his own mop of blond. Their hand was held up in a peace sign, though their pose was that of the cactuar mascot for Cactuar Cookies.

They were also most definitely male. There was no mistaking something of that muscle mass. The guy in the photo looked like he worked out, and he was hot.

The following days of endless photography for one Cloud Strife led to one giant revelation at the end of the week, when he developed even more pictures for his project. The black haired man he had seen before in his previous photo was either following him, or they always happened to be in the same place at the same time, which Cloud admitted was unlikely.

Cloud had a stalker.

Cloud was not panicking, and he certainly was not becoming paranoid.

He wouldn't admit that he looked behind every curtain in his house before taking a shower, or going into the kitchen to eat. He just liked to look outside. Yes, he was checking the weather!

For you see, in every photo Cloud had taken the aforementioned week, the black haired individual seemed to appear somewhere in the background. Whether it was photobombing a picture of a nice couple, or walking in the background with a friend, he was always there.

Cloud was not scared for his life.

No, Cloud was terrified.

What if this man was a serial killer, who ate the entrails of his victims and left fingers on doorsteps? What if, one day, Cloud didn't come home, and his mother checked the mail to find his head in the mailbox? What if he was kidnapped and his body left to rot in some sewer?

Cloud steadily became more paranoid. He took to wearing hats and hoods to hide his hair, which was his most notable feature. He changed his shoes, wearing his black ones instead of his red ones, and he wore sunglasses.

Admittedly, Cloud looked more like a creep than ever. Parents were starting to pull their kids away from him when he went to the park.

It didn't help that the mysterious raven haired man still found his ways into Cloud's photos; even after all the effort put into disguising himself. Cloud had even desperately worn a cheap stache-and-glasses he'd found in his closet one day.

They didn't work, but people did get a good laugh.

It was also around the time that he started seeing the guy in the window reflections he sometimes looked into while walking around the safer parts of the city. He'd be walking, and he'd look over innocently to find across the street, in the very same reflection, was his stalker, laughing away at something or other someone said.

It was frightening, and Cloud tried to maintain his cool when something like that happened. Running through the streets like a lunatic wasn't on his to do list, after all.

One day, after Cloud had handed in his photography assignment, his mother had sent him to the grocery store to buy bread, and apples. Cloud, being his slightly new paranoid self, took the task with a brave face. Inside, he was quivering like a child who had fallen and scraped their knees on glass.

It was at this very grocery store that Cloud happened to bump into his stalker, literally.

He had no idea what had happened. One minute, he had been looking at the bread prices, and the next, he was slowly falling sideways.

Before he hit the ground, he was caught up in strong arms. It was a rather strange sensation, being pulled up and righted like it was nothing. Looking up, a 'thank you' died on his lips.

There, standing right in front of him, was his stalker.

Cloud did not let out a girlish squeak of fright. No, he did not.

Instead, he let out a low pitched shriek of manly surprise and fright.

No, he definitely squeaked like a frightened girl. He couldn't even lie about that. It made the stranger, his stalker, laugh and ruffle his hair, as if he'd been doing it for years. "Sorry 'bout that!"

Cloud denied that he thought his stranger had a lovely voice. He denied it vehemently. If the warm hand hadn't rested on his shoulder, he probably would have bolted so fast, he would have looked like Sonic the Hedgehog.

"It's fine, it's all fine! I was just buying bread, nothing offensive or kidnap worthy here!" so what if Cloud's voice was a bit high pitched at that moment? He was meeting his potential killer! Why did he say that though? That was a sure shoe in for getting kidnapped! He was a goner for sure.

The stranger laughed again, obviously amused.

That laugh was like an evil cackle from hell to Cloud. It was laugh of a kidnapper. His kidnapper.

"I'm Zack! Pleased to meet ya, Chocobo-head!" No, this was definitely not happening to Cloud. They were in a public place! There was surveillance cameras everywhere! He could properly stand up to his kidnapper-slash-murderer here!

Wait… had he just… introduced himself? "What kind of murderer introduces themselves?" Cloud slapped a hand over his mouth. Oh no, he did not just say that!

He did!

Letting out the manliest shriek possible, Cloud ran. He ran like Sonic. Screw his reputation, screw everything, he wanted to live! Nope, Cloud wasn't getting kidnapped and murdered today! He would rather save his mother from the heart attack that would surely follow the discovery of his shoes on the front mat, with his feet still in them.

Cloud, as panicky as he was, could hear the rushed footsteps of his stalker behind him. Looking over his shoulder for a brief second, he didn't see the pretty, red clad man in front of him. This resulted in a human collision, and Cloud was caught.

The man in red was obviously not happy, but he seemed to know this 'Zack' person. Maybe he was an accomplice? This man looked as if he'd be the murdering type. Everyone always did, especially if they knew Cloud's stalker.

After a few choice words to Zack, the man was gone, thus leaving Cloud alone with his stalker again, in the snack isle. Putting on his brave face, Cloud faced his photobomber.

"Why are you following me?" Cloud was desperate to know. He didn't want to be kidnapped, nor did he want to be murdered in some gruesome way. Zack was obviously older than by at least a few years, and Cloud suddenly noticed that his stalker looked very embarrassed. His hand had come to scratch the back of his head, and he was looking at Cloud from a slightly down tilted face with his large eyes. Frankly, it reminded Cloud of a puppy who'd done something wrong.

"Ah… sorry 'bout that! It's just, I wanted your attention and I didn't know how and Genesis gave me this crazy idea to follow you around until you noticed me! I didn't mean to come off as some crazy stalker murderer! Honest, I just wanted to talk to you."

Cloud felt his left eyebrow twitch. His stalker… had just wanted to talk to him? He had gone through so much trouble, just to avoid someone who wanted to talk to him? Muttering profanities in his head, Cloud stared at Zack.

"… Oh."

That was all Cloud had to say on the matter. That's all he needed to say before Zack was off again, explaining how sorry he was to make Cloud think he had a murderer after him, and he really didn't mean to frighten him so bad. Cloud was just still in shock.

"So what's your name? I told you mine." Snapping back to Zack, he gave a nervous smile. He'd made a fool of himself in front of the whole store, running away from Zack. He felt so embarrassed, and maybe just about ready to melt into the floor.

"I'm Cloud." It was a mumbled response, but Zack had brightened considerably. It was just like that that Cloud found himself with arms wrapped around him, swinging him around. He faintly heard the next words that came out of Zack's mouth.

"Aha, you're so cute! I mean, I really, really like you and we should totally date because we'd be perfect together and we'd make everyone jealous!" Cloud wondered how he could talk so fast without passing out. Didn't this guy breathe?

Wait… what had he said?

"What?"

Cloud was put down, and promptly faced with big, bright blue eyes. They were shiny in happiness, but had an undertone of nervousness. "I want you to be my boyfriend!"

It was said quickly, and it made Cloud turn bright red. This handsome stranger had been following him because he wanted to talk to Cloud, and now that they'd spoken very briefly, Zack wanted Cloud to be his boyfriend? Cloud really wasn't ready for all this.

Because Cloud was so speechless, he ended up nodding his head in agreement, and with a whoop of joy, he was being spun around by Zack again.

They were kicked out of the store, and Cloud realized he had forgotten to get what he came for.

Cloud's life wasn't really average after all.

A/N: Wow, I can't believe I've written a oneshot that's almost three thousand words long! I had fun though! Thanks underhandlilies for the prompt!

Also, I'd like to point out that I don't own Final Fantasy VII.