Cloud was brought back to the present by the sharp sound of a pair of gloved fingers snapping directly by his ear. He gave a start, and suddenly with SOLDIER-quick reflexes Zack had taken Cloud's hands with his own to steady Cloud's ice cream cone, which had been about to slide forward and fall onto the ground.
"Hell~o, earth to Cloudy," Zack called, his head at a curious tilt as he drew back his hand cautiously, now that he was somewhat certain the infantryman had regained enough focus to hold the cone upright. "Got your head in the clouds? Ha!"

    "So—sorry, Zack!" Cloud's cheeks tinged pink. "I don't know how I checked out. You were saying about your new training? Sorry, I really do want to
hear—"
    "You know, I've noticed you've been kind of unfocused lately," Zack commented, ignoring his friend's request to continue his story and eyeing him with concern. "What's on your mind?"
    "I have been?" Cloud asked, looking a little surprised.
   "Yeah! I sometimes see you get this look on your face, like you're completely lost in thought. Even happens when we're training together. I mean, sure you're usually not that talkative—except around me—but I know you well enough to know that something's up," he nodded, taking a thoughtful bite of his chocolate ice cream as he leaned back against the outside wall of the creamery. "Is everything okay?"
   "Yeah, everything's fine," Cloud nodded, and did the same to his vanilla. "Trust me, if something was bugging me, you'd be the first to know,"
   "I'm flattered," Zack smiled. "So then, if everything's okay, what were you thinking about just now?"
   "Um." Something suddenly came over Cloud, and he found himself staring at an interesting dent in the concrete, ice cream forgotten.

   "There's that look again!" Zack pointed out, though for reasons lost to Cloud his voice now contained the barest hint of glee. Unlike Cloud, Zack was sharp, and he could read people; he now thought he had an idea of what might be going on...
   But Cloud didn't elaborate. He seemed to be struggling with himself, opening his mouth as if to speak and then closing it again, brow furrowed.

   "You're blushing," Zack grinned, to Cloud's horror, and this of course only exacerbated the problem. "You can't tell me what it was? I get it. So instead how about you give me three guesses?"
   Cloud gave him somewhat of a blank look, unsure where this could be going, but nodded anyway. "Uh, okay. Go ahead,"

   Something about the way Zack was smiling made Cloud feel like he was about to regret all of his decisions. Eyes gleaming, he began: "What you were thinking of—s'not a what, but a who. Yeah?"
   Oh. Yeah. Now Cloud definitely could see where this was going, but damn it if he couldn't cling to his last few naive shreds of hope: there was no way Zack would be able to guess who it was, would he? Maybe it could be his secret just for a little longer... but Zack seemed to be awaiting a response, so quietly, he nodded, eyes wide and averted. "Ah... yeah..."

   "Yeah! And this person," his voice was almost singsong as he studied Cloud's face carefully, searching for reactions, despite the fact that Cloud, to his best friend, was an open book, "this guy, his name starts~ with~ an~ S~?"

   Cloud visibly flinched, a part of his ice cream cone imploding in his grip as he gave a terse nod. Zack burst out laughing.
   "I knew it! You like him! You swore to me before I introduced you that it 'wasn't like that or anything,' but it totally, totally is!!" the raven-haired man clapped him on the shoulder, and Cloud, very much in need of something to occupy himself, took a somewhat indignant bite of ice cream. "You know, when you met him I thought maybe you were just star-struck and a little shy, but I should've known—aw, come on, Cloudy, don't give me that look. I'm so happy for you!"
   "Why?" Cloud asked, suddenly looking miserable. "It's horrible... He's Sephiroth, and I'm just—I—Agh, Zack, I can't stop thinking about him...!"

   Zack's expression immediately softened, and he again put a hand on Cloud's shoulder, this time with gentle concern. Cloud truly looked desperate. His was the face of someone who was experiencing their first love and their first heartbreak all at once. "Hey, it'll be okay. Listen, who says you're only 'just'? I know you, and believe me when I say you're a great guy! Seph likes you, and—"
   "Don't say that..." Cloud muttered, gazing downwards at his by now half-melted cone. "Don't try and give me false hope. There's no way he ever would possibly—wait, what did you say?"

  Zack couldn't suppress a short laugh. "I said he likes you! I can't say that he like-likes you yet, but did you know he asks me about you all the time? I even heard Genesis comment about it. He wants to know you better, that's for sure,"
  "No way," Cloud breathed. "You're kidding?"
  "SOLDIER's honor!" Zack swore, marking an X over his heart with one hand.
  "I thought... I'd made a terrible impression, for sure... I was really embarrassed about it," he confessed.
  "You were a little shy, maybe, but Seph's shy too, you know. He definitely understands," Zack nodded. "Don't be surprised if he reaches out to you in the near future. And if he doesn't, I'll set something up!" proclaimed Fair, Matchmaker Extraordinaire. "Y'know, I actually think you two would make a really good match. And I'm not just saying that," he said seriously, meeting Cloud's eyes. "Lots of people have crushes on Seph, but hardly anybody really knows him, as a person. But I've known him a long time now, and I know you really well; I wouldn't be cheering you on like this if I didn't think there really was something there, Cloud,"

   Cloud nodded, just as seriously, and quite frankly a little breathlessly. "I... Thank you, Zack,"

   "Of course," Zack smiled at him, warm and genuine. "Word of advice: relax! Just let things fall into place. I know you haven't talked to him very much, but you guys really did have some chemistry. Everything's gonna be fine," he said as Cloud nodded, "and I'll always be here for ya, if you wanna talk about it more,"

   "Don't know what I'd do without you," Cloud muttered, and Zack laughed again.

   "Oh, you'd be fine. I get it, even I can see that Seph's totally dreamy~" he snorted as Cloud punched him in the arm.

   "You're not gonna tell anyone, are you?" the infantryman asked suddenly, blood running cold as the thought occurred to him.
   "Of course not! I'm on your side here, Cloudy. Won't even tell Angeal," he promised, and Cloud breathed a sigh of relief as Zack wisely stopped himself from commenting that it was likely the other two commanders already knew, anyway.

   "Thank you," Cloud said again, and finally went back to eating his ice cream, happy even though by now it had partially dripped down his gloves without him noticing. "I'm actually glad to have finally told someone... it's a relief," he sighed.

   "Well, I did have to pry it out of ya, but I'm glad you told me, too," he popped the last of his cone into his mouth. "We've still got a few hours to spare, wanna go catch a movie?"
   "Yeah!" he agreed, now completely restored to his usual secretly cheerful self. It didn't matter whether the movie ended up being any good, because Cloud spent the whole time thinking about Sephiroth, anyway.