Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Chicken Soup ❯ One-Shot

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to SquareSoft. If these guys were mine, believe me I wouldn't be writing this!

A/N: This is a sequel to Rainy Day Memories. It's not absolutely necessary for you to have read that one, but it may help. I don't have a beta reader, so all mistakes and any OOCness is mine alone. Zack is demanding this thing be written pretty soon; that guy is sooo hyper! And he's making my muse the same way…ah well. Enjoy! Please review. If you flame me, it'll be a waste of effort. I'll just print them out, give'em to the dog to play with, and write another story.

Chicken Soup

The sun shone cheerily through the window, bright, happy, bright, warm, bright…

And right in his face.

Cloud groaned as he fought to stay in his little dream world. He sighed happily when strong arms wrapped themselves tighter around him. He turned onto his side, snuggling against the warm body that held him so lovingly. He felt his hair being nuzzled and sighed again.

He started awake. "What the…?" he murmured. He relaxed as his gaze fell on the face of the man beside him. It really was Zack. It hadn't been a dream after all. Cloud wasn't used to waking up next to anyone anymore. It had been a long time since he'd shared his bed. They'd come back to his little apartment in Midgar after Zack had snuck up on him. He'd left a note for Tifa, having guessed that the others already knew Zack was here.

The sun put a soft glow around Zack. It framed his face and hair in a golden halo, reminding Cloud of pictures he'd seen of angels. He reached out gently, brushing a few stray strands of ebony hair away from Zack's face.

"Hey," Zack murmured. He looked sleepily up at Cloud, smiling lazily. "What are you up so early for?"

Cloud laughed softly. "You're the one who's always late, Zack. The sun was in my face."

"So you have to go and wake me up?" Zack grumbled. "I thought you'd be sleeping a bit more soundly than that after we played…catch up last night." He leered at Cloud.

Cloud blushed. "Come on, get up. I'm supposed to be helping Barret and Tifa finish rebuilding her bar." He got up and went in search of some clothes.

Zack followed his lead, only slower. "Can't you think of some excuse to not go over there?" He stood, lazily stretching.

Cloud watched him out of the corner of his eye while he dressed. "Can't. We're late as it is."

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing we showered last night, huh?" Zack said. "Of course, I'm sure the neighbors probably didn't appreciate it any…"

"Would you behave yourself?" Cloud said. "I promised them I'd help."

"Okay, okay." Zack waved at him dismissively as he finished dressing. "But how can you stand that woman?"

"You mean Tifa? She's a friend…" Cloud started.

"Who wants a whole lot more than friendship," Zack interrupted him. "She didn't look too thrilled to see me last night."

"Did you tell them who you were?" Cloud asked. He ran a brush through his hair. Not that it made any difference. He could go days without brushing it and the spikes never changed. But it got awfully tangled.

Zack ran his hands through his own hair and Cloud's. "No, I didn't. I just asked if they knew a Cloud Strife and where was he. She didn't seem to like the idea of someone looking for you. Guess she knows when she can't compete with someone as good-lookin' as me!" He struck a pose, trying to look as charming as he could.

Cloud laughed. "Come on, let's go."

Zack sighed. "Never appreciated…"

He followed Cloud down to the garage. His eyes nearly crossed when they saw Cloud's ancient motorcycle. "Please tell me that is not yours." He didn't think it was. `I feel sorry for whoever owns this piece of junk,' he thought.

Cloud frowned at him. "Yes, it's mine. Isn't she a beauty?" he said, patting the seat lovingly.

"We're going to ride THAT?!" exclaimed Zack. "You're kidding! That thing looks like it'd fall apart with only one person on it, let alone two."

"It will not," said Cloud. "It's a good bike." He got on and started it. The bike coughed and sputtered, sounding to Zack like it truly wanted to die. "Now, either get on, or you can walk to Tifa's bar."

Zack got on behind him, hooking his fingers around Cloud's belt. "You're sure this thing isn't gonna fall apart? I could run faster than this thing!"

"Think so, Mr. Cocky?" said Cloud. "Get off, and we'll see." He laughed as Zack's grip tightened.

"No, I don't think I really want to show up your bike today, Cloud." Zack sighed and rested his head on Cloud's shoulder.

Thankfully for Zack, it was a rather short trip to Tifa's new bar. He really didn't think Cloud's ancient relic of a motorcycle would make it there, but it somehow did. He breathed a sigh of relief when they were there, nonetheless.

"See?" said Cloud cheerfully. "I told you she'd make it. We showed him, didn't we baby?" he said to the bike. Zack just shook his head.

"Cloud!" came a cheery voice. Zack grimaced.

"Hello, Tifa." Cloud said.

"Good morning," she said. She stretched, raising her arms up over her head so the tight white shirt she wore very nearly crawled right off her body. "How are you?"

"Fine," he grumbled.

Zack just watched. `She has no clue,' he thought. `This is pathetic.'

She finally realized someone else was standing there. "Oh, hello."

Cloud seemed relieved. "Tifa, this is Zack."

"Nice to meet you," Zack said, sticking out his hand.

She shook it quickly. "Um, yeah. I'm Tifa." She gestured towards the porch. "That's Barret and Marlene."

Zack waved at them. Barret glared at him and Marlene, friendly little thing that she was, waved back.

"Well," said Tifa, glancing at Zack as though she wished he would go away, "shall we get started?"

The work on the bar went quickly. Helping Reeve rebuild Midgar kept Cloud busy, and Zack being with him again made it all the more enjoyable.

Zack joked and goofed around, having a great time making Marlene laugh. He even managed to win the grumpy Barret over. Tifa was harder. She knew that he was somehow a threat to her little plans for Cloud being in her future. She just wasn't sure how he was a threat. He thought it was rather funny.

While Cloud was bent over picking something up, he slapped him across the rear, laughing at the outraged look on the blonde's face. He noticed Tifa glaring at him with a look of confusion and waved at her. She quickly turned away.

They finally called it a day and all headed inside to eat. Tifa at least could cook fairly decently.

"You sure she won't try and poison me?" Zack whispered to Cloud.

Cloud chuckled. "No. But it'd be an awful lot of trouble, so I doubt it."

Zack made dinner quite lively just as he had working. He even finally had Tifa laughing. He had a grand time teasing Cloud, resting his feet on Cloud's knees or thighs under the table. Cloud kept glaring murder at him as he stole the blonde's food. Zack ignored the glares, knowing they didn't mean anything, and kept on amusing Marlene.

They finally left around nine o'clock or so. It was already dark out and Zack was still nervous about Cloud's ancient bike actually making it back home. Cloud roared off with Zack holding on to him tightly, their laughter ringing in Tifa's ears.

"Barret," she said quietly. "Is there something I'm not seeing?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, lifting Marlene up onto his shoulder. "He's an old friend of Cloud's, Tifa. You know who Zack is."

"I know." She sighed. It was the `old friend' part that was disturbing her.

Zack collapsed on the couch as soon as they got home. Cloud laughed at him.

"I told you, that bike runs like a dream." He took off his shirt and threw it at Zack.

"Yeah," Zack agreed. "It runs like a nightmare. It clanks, and clunks, and I'm gonna buy you some duct tape for when it actually starts to fall apart and pieces of it are scattered up and down the road."

Cloud hmphed indignantly and pounced on the bigger man. Zack turned the tables on him, pinning him down and tickling him without mercy. Cloud squealed happily, but quieted when Zack kissed him, plundering the sweet mouth under his.

He maneuvered Cloud up and into the bedroom. Somehow, he ended up on the bed first but he didn't really care at the moment…

When Zack woke the next morning, Cloud was already up. He moaned, covering his eyes with his hands. His head hurt, and he couldn't breathe.

"Good morning!" Cloud called cheerfully to him. He looked at Zack with concern. "Are you okay? You look like you're sick."

"I'm fine," Zack grumbled. "I must have slept bad." He shivered, blinked sweat out of his eyes. "I'm hot!"

Cloud laid his hand against Zack's forehead. "You're burning up! You must have caught a cold." He laughed softly. "It must have been that rain the other day. You were soaked when you came in." He tucked the blankets up under Zack's chin.

"I said I'm hot," Zack growled irritably. He tried to kick the blankets back off, but Cloud wouldn't let him.

"Hush," Cloud soothed. "You'll get chilled and you don't need that right now. Just rest. I'll go and fix you some soup."

Zack didn't even bother making a crack about Cloud's cooking. He felt too bad.

Cloud wandered into the bathroom, checking the medicine cabinet for some pain killer or at least something to shut Zack's moaning up. He made a terrible patient. Cloud always hated it when Zack got sick. It wasn't very often that it happened but when it did, it was always a doozy. Thankfully, Zack got well quickly. He found some aspirin and got some water. He made Zack take the pills and headed for the kitchen.

"Cloud!" Zack called. "Cloud, come back in here! I don't wanna eat anything!" Zack whined to himself and rolled onto his side, curling into a ball. "Come back to bed, will ya?" he called again. "I don't want to be alone!"

Cloud smiled to himself as he heated some chicken soup for Zack. His mama always made him chicken soup when he was sick. And he had gotten sick a good deal when he was little, wandering in the mountains above Nibelheim all the time. He figured it would help Zack just as it had always helped him.

"Cloud!" Zack called again. "I'm cold!" He grumbled to himself and rolled onto his other side, tearing the blankets loose and turning the bed into an even bigger mess than it already was. "Cloud! What are you doing in there?"

Cloud poured the soup into a bowl, not bothering to answer him. He got a spoon and went and sat by Zack's side. He propped him up with the pillows, ignoring his complaints, and made him eat some of it. Finally, Zack nodded off. Cloud stayed by his side, wiping his sweaty forehead with a cool cloth and talking quietly to him. He had wanted to ask Zack how it was that he was alive, but he'd have to wait.

Zack was sore and stiff the next morning. He'd spent the entire day in bed, moaning and complaining around, calling for Cloud all the time. Cloud was sleeping next to him, the now empty bowl of soup resting on the nightstand. He stirred when Zack ran his fingers through the golden spikes gently.

"Hey, Zack. How're you feeling?" he murmured.

"Better now." Zack told him. He stretched. "I'm sore though."

"I'm glad you're better." Cloud answered. "I was beginning to get sick of your complaining. Whine, whine, whine."

"I don't whine!" Zack protested. "But I'm still sore."

"See?" said Cloud. "You're still whining." He rubbed Zack's shoulders, working the knots out expertly. "I guess my mama's chicken soup did the trick, huh?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah. Mmm, that feels good. But you know what? There's a secret to how chicken soup works for colds. Did you know that?" He reached around behind him, pulling Cloud into a quick hug. Cloud didn't bother to get back up. He just rested on Zack's lap, gazing up at him.

"No. How's it work?" He closed his eyes as Zack traced his finger along his cheekbone.

"It's not the soup," Zack said quietly, oddly thoughtful. "It's the person who makes it. You made it for me, and you love me. That's why. Because you love me." There was no doubt in his voice.

Cloud smiled. "So, what do we do today?"

Zack grinned at him. "Call Tifa and cancel helping her today. Then I'll show you just how much I appreciate the soup. Chicken soup, love, whatever you want to call it." He kissed Cloud lightly. "Call her while I'm in the shower."

"Then we have to talk!" Cloud called after him. He smiled to himself as he dialed Tifa on the PHS. "Hey, Tifa. Uh, sorry to cancel, but something's come up. No, I'm fine. I'm going to be busy today. Yeah, so I'm not coming over there. Because I'm busy. Yeah, right. Bye." He shook his head as he hung up.

Zack came out of the shower and downed the last of the soup before he joined Cloud in the bedroom. "Did you call her?" Cloud nodded. "Good. What'd you tell her?"

"Said I'd be busy," Cloud answered.

"And you will be," Zack told him, kissing him sweetly.

Cloud forgot all about the conversation he'd told Zack they would have for the rest of the morning.