Part Three: Date

"I'm so unfaithful, in fact I'm a plateful
I won't kiss her, but I'll stare her up all night"

C:S

"I'm not weak"

A pair of semi-amused violet eyes looked up at the speaker over the rim of his glass as the owner finished his sip and then set it gently down onto the polished wood in front of him. He took a moment to savor the nearly bitter taste that fairly danced across his taste buds before swallowing and turning towards the man next to him. Said man was practically glaring at him in disgust.

"I don't know why I even bother with you."

The black haired man laughed and swung an arm around his friend's shoulders.

"C'mon Spike, lighten up! It's Friday night, we don't have work tomorrow and we are currently in a place that serves highly alcoholic beverages. What have we got to worry about?"

His answer was an icy stare from a pair of dark blue eyes. Chuckling nervously he tightened his grip on the younger man's shoulder and ordered another round of drinks for them.

"So what's on your mind my little boy? Anything that your old friend Zack can do to make it all better?"

He said leaning in closer and snuggling his cheek against the blonds. The blond in turn was highly un-amused and indicated so by shoving him harshly in the side.

"Get off of me."

Zack pouted and returned back to his former position of leaning one elbow on the bar and in turn leaning his head against his hand. His face was contorted into a rather becoming pout and unintentionally making the bartender blush lightly as she set down the new drinks and took away the empty glasses.

"You're so mean to me!"

The blond gave a half smirk as he picked up his glass and took a drink from it. The smirk melting halfway into a pleased smile as the nearly sweet liquid flowed over his tongue and down his throat. Bringing the glass down he glanced back over at Zack who was watching him with the same pout.

"And your such an idiot but we all have our faults."

A smile twitched its way out of the pout and the man gave up any pretense of being wounded by his friend's statement. Running a hand through his hair he leaned forward slightly and gave the shorter man one his more serious looks.

" But moving beyond the cleverly disguised foreplay. What is it that you wanted to pick my brain over?"

The blond's eyes narrowed at a sudden thought and Zack lifted an eyebrow in interest. It seemed whatever was on the mans mind, it had been stewing there for a while now.

"I'm not weak"

Purple eyes blinked, well that was something he hadn't been expecting. The blond wasn't really all the introspective, just quiet and he had a pretty high confidence level. High enough so that he wasn't expecting those words in that tone of voice.

"Err... I don't believe I said that you were. In fact for your age, class and... build you are rather good."

The shorter man smiled slightly at the compliment but it soon slipped back into a frown.

"Except when compared to a SOLDIER."

Zack resisted the urge to smack his friend on the back of his head. When the boy got a notion into his head it was nearly impossible to get it out again.

"Kid, may I remind you that we have a few distinct advantages over the regular class and it's nothing if not ridiculous to compare us."

The blond rolled his eyes grabbed the glass tightly and practically slammed down the rest of its contents. When he did speak again his voice was sharp yet dripping with distaste.

"You don't have to tell me that."

He had to press his lips together to hold back a long-suffering sigh. Resisting the urge to rub at his forehead as a preventative measure against the headache that was sure to come he instead drained his drink in one gulp and then ordered another round.

"Oh dear, what has he done now?"

The pale face contorted into something very close to tightly restrained anger as the boy finished his own drink off.

"You know that mission next month that I was supposed to lead?"

Zack paused suddenly and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Supposed to?"

The boy's lips twitched slightly and pulled into what could be almost considered a smirk, if not for the fury that lurked behind it.

"I found out yesterday that at the General's request a SOLDIER third class was assigned and I was demoted to second in command."

He winced and took a long drink from the glass that appeared at his elbow.

"Ouch"

His answer was an even more sadistic older brother of the first smirk.

"Yea"

Zack let the sigh come out this time, a situation like this just called for some sort of release of frustration. Not that he didn't love his two best friends dearly, it was just sometimes they could be more than a little idiotic, especially when it came to one another.

"Well as usual you two have managed to fuck things up quite brilliantly."

Blue eyes jerked towards him suddenly with a glare evil enough to rival his counterparts, on a bad day.

"What'd mean we?"

He wanted to chuckle at the pure malice and indignation in which that statement was said but common sense warned him that if he wanted to walk out of there on his own two feet, assuming of course he wasn't drunk, he'd better keep the laugh to himself.

"He's worried but he doesn't just go and tell you instead he does his usual 'head up my ass' routine. You in turn don't tell him that you're hurt but instead probably have been ignoring him since."

The dark haired man downed about half of his glass after that statement, as sort of a congratulatory drink in his honor. It had been almost a week since he had had to patch things up again and he was beginning to forget how brilliant he really was.

"I hate you"

The boy's head came down to rest on his forearm, which was currently leaning on the bar.

"And that is why I am the perfect boyfriend."

Zack said, his eyes lighting up a fraction as a young female walked past them. Winking at her and receiving a small laugh in response, he continued to watch her, glancing over his shoulder as she walked away from them.

"Just shut up."

The blond boy said with an annoyed growl as he stared down at his reflection in the highly polished wood.

"In due time, in due time. Once I've gloated enough."

He said taking another sip of his drink and finishing off yet another glass. Ordering his fourth round for the evening, the Mako in his body giving him all the advantages of getting drunk off his ass and not suffering any ill consequences in the morning, he once again turned his attention back to the boy, notched the grin up to obnoxious and continued on.

"Of course after this I'm going to drag you home drunk and then you'll bitch at him for a while and then in two days time you'll be jumping each other like normal."

The blond gave a mock sigh of defeat and then with an almost sly glint in his eyes, gave his companion a troubled look.

"I suppose your right..."

Zack kept the grin as the bartender once again made her usual motions at their places and this time managed to get a wink in at her. She blushed lightly once again and proceeded to make a hasty retreat, much to his chagrin.

"'Course I'm right, I'm always right."

The blond's eyes had light up, partly from his friends exchange with the waitress, and a slow smile began to draw it self across his face. Picking up his glass he lazily moved it around, just enough to make the liquid inside churn and pick up the low golden lights of the bar.

"Well all for the fact about me going back tonight."

The dark haired man shot his friend a look filled with well-justified suspicion and more than a little confusion.

"Huh?"

The shorter one didn't answer right away, instead gave him a look that would have put him on edge even if he didn't know him so well. He got the distinct feeling there was more to this then the boy simply wanting his advice. With a quickly growing sense of dread he reached for his drink. The aforementioned boy waited until the other man had the glass up to his lips and had started drinking before answering his question.

"He thinks I'm on a date."

Zack choked on his drink, thankfully managing to have swallowed most of it before he began coughing into a napkin conveniently located nearby. After gaining sufficient air to breath properly he directed a glare at his companion, who in turn was calmly taking a drink of his own beverage.

"Are you trying to get me killed?"

The blond gave him a semi-amused expression.

"Pretty much."

C:S

Hehehe, I think Zack needs better friends... In other news, no I am not dead; it just took me forever (almost literally) to get this chapter out. My first draft of this chapter turned into a three page monologue of Cloud bitching, much like the second chapter only... angstier, and after coming to a complete road-block (three drafts in) I decided the best thing for it would be to abandon it for a while and then see what I can do...

Six to seven months later I finally come back to it... It was still complete crap, so I deleted everything, added in Zack, lots of dialogue and a very obscure reference to the song lyrics and viola! Yes I do realize that it is a complete 180 from the first two chapters but... :shrugs: I think it came out quite funny!

:cuddles: Zack makes everything better... Also I don't know if it was that obvious or not but the reference to the lyrics was the whole 'he thinks I'm on a date' thing... Well... I thought it was clever...

On a complete different note... I managed to get through the entire chapter without using Cloud's name once... I'm not sure if I should be proud or not...