Title: Chocolate Chocobo

Rated: K

Summary: Cloud's got excess chocolate, Zack wants a piece, and Sephiroth just might have found something extraordinary. (OR: In which Cloud's a delivery boy and Sephiroth discovers chocolate.)

A/N: I don't know, I just started writing. I was eating chocolate, and yeah. Huh. Sorry guys, I'm a bit rusty. I haven't written in a while, but here's a little something! I hope you like it! (and as always I don't own FFVII, just the idea of this fic.)

Cloud was always eating chocolate bars. On guard duty, on missions, with his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He was just... in a constant state of chocolate consumption. It didn't matter what kind of chocolate it was, as long as it didn't contain anything like nuts, or some kind of fruity filling. He wasn't too much of a fan of white chocolate either, but if he had nothing else... well, he'd eat it then.

Usually, the type of chocolate he ate depended on the situation he was in. On missions (after they got off their transportation. Vehicles and aircrafts really didn't sit well with him) he would eat dark chocolate to help calm his nerves, on infantryman training days he would eat milk chocolate, and any other day of the week he would eat a mixture, whether they were in the form of a candy bar or in a jar (Cloud loved spreadable chocolate; it let him put it on anything.); he would just always have chocolate. If someone wanted chocolate, Cloud was the infantryman to ask.

So one day (a very fine day, according to Cloud), Cloud found himself in a bit of a pickle. Zack (the stupid Second Class SOLDIER that he was) wanted a single piece of chocolate. One. Single. Piece. This didn't bother Cloud, as Zack often did this, but the fact that Zack wanted him to deliver said piece of chocolate made Cloud's blood boil.

What made matter worse—it was the day Zack associated with his First Class buddies. It was just embarrassing for Cloud to have to bother them when they were in the General's office! General Sephiroth's office! Cloud had thought maybe Zack would have left him alone after the last incident...

The last time Cloud had come into contact with any of his 'higher ups' he had stuttered, clammed up, completely shut down! What would his mother think? The tough woman that she was, she'd probably be ashamed.

It was just... they had such a presence! Their auras' filled rooms, got into cracks, seeped into pores. As soon as they were in the same room as him or vise versa—he just couldn't breathe with them there! They just felt so important and scary.

Cloud wasn't going to lie; the three Firsts that Zack knew terrified Cloud. Sometimes he felt so in awe he could barely move, but more than that; he felt a fear like no other. They all had blades that could skewer him before he blinked. One wrong move or word and BAM—Cloud's arm would be gone.

He didn't like it at all.

But, as fate would have it, he had no choice this time. Zack wanted some of his chocolate and ShinRa had no vending machines on the SOLDIER floors. Something about promoting 'healthy' eating habits.

Pah, like that worked. Cloud was convinced that more than half the time Zack lived off take-out.

Alas, Cloud had to stop stalling. While thinking was all well and good, he had a delivery to make. Heck, maybe he's become a delivery boy if he didn't pass the next SOLDIER exam.

Nah.

On his way up to Zack, Cloud found himself talking to overworked secretaries and underpaid lab assistants. They were probably his two favourite types of people in the company, considering they had most of the gossip and quite a bit of blackmail on everyone. Really, they really were under appreciated in ShinRa. Half of the people he talked to would probably make excellent Turks with all that dirt they had on the big bosses in the company.

He ended up knowing Sephiroth favoured chocobo slippers and hot chocolate after nine in the evening, and Hojo picked his nose and wiped it on things (after looking both ways, of course). That last one was kind of disgusting, but imagining the strongest man in ShinRa—heck, the strongest man alive! In slippers with a mug full of hot chocolate... well, that was kind of adorable. Cloud imagined Sephiroth probably wore his hair up in a towel after showers and also probably sprawled on his couch to read or relax sometimes, too.

It was thoughts like those that kept Cloud busy on rainy days. He thought a lot about the personal lives of his higher-ups—he thought about them to an unnatural degree; some would probably say he was completely smitten with them (thought he wasn't, really...).

(...Well, okay, maybe Sephiroth did hold a special place in his heart...)

(Not that he would admit it aloud, of course.)

Cloud frowned a frowny frown. He was in the hallway that the room Zack was in lead to. He could do it...just one last stretch! The door was on the left, he remembered, and was marked with Sephiroth's name. Cloud was under the impression that all Firsts had offices because while their missions were harder, they also went on less. Therefore, that left them with a lot of time—to do paperwork. Cloud was pretty sure all this floor's occupants were First Class SOLDIERs.

Mustering up his courage and taking a deep breath, Cloud knocked on the correct door (he hoped Zack hadn't given him the wrong room), and pretty soon he heard the word 'Spikey!' and a few thumps; presumably Zack's boots clunking against the carpet as he hurried to open the office door. If Cloud had to appreciate Zack for one thing, it would probably be the way he was so clumsy and yet so graceful. It baffled him when they had the odd training day together.

As the door opened and he was pulled in, the feeling of being overwhelmed quickly settled into his bones. Cloud didn't know what could possibly make these three men so incredibly overwhelming, but perhaps it was their MP levels...

But Cloud was in the room now, and that meant one thing; most of the attention was on him. He quickly saluted before taking that stupid, sweaty helmet off. He hated that thing, but sadly it was mandatory, and he'd just gotten back from a mission. He'd almost forgotten it was on his head until his hand had clunked against it in his salute.

Running a hand through his messy hair, he shuffled his helmet around before reaching into one of the many pockets of his uniform. Cloud knew he was being watched, but he really couldn't bring himself to care much at that moment. He was a bit tired and that feeling was just pressing down on him—suffocating, squeezing, making him heavy. Cloud let out a suffering sigh.

He pulled out some chocolate from the previously mentioned pocket and just handed the whole bar to Zack. He didn't care if his friend just wanted one goddamn piece; he was getting the whole bar. He didn't want his taller friend trailing after him later when he was trying to rest. "Here. Take it. Stop bothering me."

"But Cloud— " Zack tried to protest. Maybe he wanted to hang out with Cloud. Maybe he was going to try and get him to stay. Cloud wouldn't have it. His Tolerance for anything was getting scarily low. He hadn't slept in almost twenty hours and he felt dirty and he probably looked dirty. What he wouldn't give for a shower.

"No, Zack. Not today, please." Briefly remembering whose presence he was in, he flitted a small, polite smile to the others in the room as an apology, "We can hang out tomorrow if you're free? I just want to sleep right now..."

Cloud's shoulders slumped a bit, and he ungloved a hand to rub at his eyes. Looking at Zack when he stopped, he saw the understanding look on his friend's face. "You sure you don't want to sit down for a bit, Cloud? You're lookin' pretty pale."

In response, Cloud shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, 'm gonna mosey on inta bed." His words slurred a bit and his accent made its presence known. Cloud sighed again, turning and waving over his shoulder. "I'll see ya in the morning. Have a nice afternoon, sirs."

There were several quiet good-byes as Cloud left the office and made his way back to where he had been going in the first place. Really, he probably should have taken Zack's offer to sit for a bit. His muscles felt strained and he felt sluggish. Sleep would definitely do him some good, and the fact that he had a day off tomorrow just made everything more and more appealing.

Finally, after shuffling around the building for a good fifteen minutes, Cloud got to the room he shared with five other infantrymen. He took a short shower before crawling into bed, peacefully falling into dreams and nightmares alike as he closed his eyes for sleep.

Back in the office, green cat-like eyes studied the piece of chocolate in front of him. He'd never had something quite like this, but Zack was happily sharing with him; Genesis and Angeal weren't fond of this 'chocolate' apparently, and much preferred the 'dark' kind, whatever that meant. Zack had explained that it was more bitter, but that was all he had said on the subject.

Popping the piece of chocolate in his mouth, Sephiroth's eyes widened. It was unexpectedly good... and sweet. The chocolate coated his mouth, and it was so much better than the hot chocolate he drank some evenings. Why had a simple infantryman had such a delicacy?

Chuckling brought him out of his thoughts, and he blatantly realized that at some point he had closed his eyes. Glaring a bit at Genesis, who had been the one to make the sound, he swallowed the treat and held his ungloved hand out for more.

Zack, of course, obliged by handing him half the bar. He would save some for later, he resolved. As he thought those thoughts, he almost missed what Zack had been saying.

"—and if you ever want chocolate, and I mean ever, Cloud is the one to go to. I have no idea how he does it, but swear he's got an unlimited supply. I even think he hand-made the stuff he gave me for Valentine's Day this year! It was so good! He also makes great hot chocolate, or really anything involving chocolate. Like brownies! He made me a browning in a cup once, it was—"

"Zackary. This friend of yours...Cloud, was it?" eager eyes looked towards him, but beyond Zack, Sephiroth could see his other two friends sharing a look. They must have sensed something by his tone of voice, but being the man he was, he didn't feel the embarrassment that was about to come out of his mouth.

"Is he single?"

Zack promptly burst into laughter.