Pairing: Cloud x Zack, slight Aerith x Tifa. Warnings: None. Extra: Hybrid AU. EDIT: I forgot to add that I gathered inspiration by the many beautiful gifsets of ZackSoldiers, so please go and follow them!
ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾
Aerith couldn’t help but laugh at the scene before her.
Placing her basket of flowers on the kitchen counter; she put her hands on her hips as she watched her daft overgrown German Shepard hybrid wiggle his backside as he stared out of the window with noises of glee leaving his lips.
“I take it that pretty blonde is out for his afternoon stroll again?” she asked and Zack jumped slightly as he had clearly been far too into his own world.
“I didn’t think I’d be attracted to a Spaniel,” Zack grinned widely causing his owner to simply roll her eyes with a playful smile.
Aerith approached him with her hand held out, fingers delicately stroking his fluffy black ears which, in turn, made the hybrid push into her touch.
A loving gesture that Aerith had learned meant he had missed her whilst she was out trying to sell her bouquets.
“I don’t know why you haven’t invited him over yet,” Aerith snorted at the small blush on Zack’s tanned skin, “I thought you and Cloud were friends of some sort?”
“Well...I think he thinks that I’m stupid,” he cringed inwardly as their one of two interactions flashed in his mind, “I might have pretended to know about the book I saw him reading...I um...I just spoke utter crap,” he let out a pained whimper and hid his face in her shoulder.
“Aw Zacky,” Aerith cooed and held him tight, her cheek against the top of his head, “everyone behaves like a fool in front of the person they like; it’s natural,” she pulled back and blew a playful raspberry against his cheek.
“I tell you what,” she pulled Zack over to the couch to get a little more comfy, “I will go and invite his owner, Tifa, over and say to bring Cloud with her as a sort of friendly get together,” she giggled, “what do you think about that?” she let out a yell of surprise when Zack threw himself on her and cuddled her with such strength that she was certain her ribs were about to break.
“I love you!” he howled; tail thumping on the couch.
ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾 ᵔᴥᵔ 🐾
Aerith was tempted to film what she was seeing right now.
She had never seen Zack so nervous before; so nervous that he was pulling at the hairs on the tip of his tail.
When the Hybrid’s head shot up suddenly, she knew that he could tell Cloud was at the door and she bit back a laugh as she gestured for him to open the door.
Zack nodded, determined but jittery and pulled the door open so quickly that he was nearly punched in the face by Tifa who had her hand up in the motion to knock on the door.
“Hello!” Tifa chuckled and Zack offered the top of his head to pat, which she did and almost squealed at how soft his ears were, “you must be Zack,” Zack nodded with a small smile as Aerith held his hand to try and make him less nervous.
But that quickly fell apart when he spotted the other canine standing behind Tifa, his hands covered by the sleeves of his plain black jumper that was deliciously stretched over his chest; enough that Zack could see how in shape he was.
He quickly tried to catch his own tail as it started wagging faster, his ears twitching with interest.
“This is Cloud, but I think you might know that already,” Tifa threw a wink his way, moving over to Aerith who greeted her with a tight cuddle and a kiss to the cheek.
“Hi,”
Zack’s heart thumped hard against his chest at the sound of Cloud’s voice.
It was a lot softer than he remembered but he gathered that was because he was most probably anxious going by how the blonde was biting into his bottom lip, skin looking sore and picked at.
“Hey!” Zack barked and moved without thinking; grabbing both of Cloud’s hands and shaking them happily whilst Cloud just stared at him with wide blue-green eyes.
“Zack, calm down,” Aerith pressed gently.
It took Zack a moment to realise how forward he was being and he jumped backwards.
“Oh! I’m sorry,” he murmured feeling silly as he flushed a deep red.
He had never ever been the type of person to blush and get nervous in front of people so everything that was currently happening was like trying to speak for the first time.
When everybody had settled, Aerith and Tifa in the kitchen and the Hybrids in the front room, Zack was starting to become more comfortable with the more Cloud started to open up to him.
He couldn’t get over how handsome the other man was, how sweet it was whenever he moved his head and his long blonde ears swayed with him, how whenever he spoke about learning to ride a motorcycle his entire face lit up and his eyes seemed to sparkle with enthusiasm.
Oh he was in trouble.
Even more so when both of their tails settled down on the couch they were sharing and just so happened to land on top of one another making both of them blush.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” Cloud laughed quietly as he peered at the older man through his bangs, he went to tuck his tail back around the other side of him but was quickly stopped by Zack grabbing his wrist gently.
“I’m fine with it,” he nodded to reassure him, “if you are, I mean...” he let out a small whimper as he struggled to form sentences together without stuttering.
“I’m fine,” Cloud responded with a brilliant smile that nearly knocked Zack sideways, “your tail is so soft and poofy,” he giggled and paused as he wited for Zack to signal it was okay for him to touch his tail.
It was quickly granted and Cloud practically dived to touch it making shivers ripple up and down Zack’s spine.
“This is a little easier to talk about, huh?” the teasing tone confused Zack for a second as his brain wasn’t working correctly under the touch of the person of his affections, “tails are easier to talk about than,” Cloud paused and met Zack’s similarly coloured eyes, “books for example,”
“Are you implying something?” Zack quizzed playfully once his head cleared, though he was now hypnotised by the way Cloud’s slender fingers sifted through the soft black hairs of his tail.
“Oh not at all,” Cloud then lifted his own tail and gestured for Zack to touch.
Hybrids did often offer their tails to people they would like to be friends or partners with, usually only other Hybrids but on the rare chance, Humans have been blessed with the offering.
Zack couldn’t help but wag his own tail as he gently slipped Cloud’s through his thicker fingers, watching as the blonde fur brushed over his tanned skin.
“Your fur is so long on your tail, doesn’t it get annoying?” he asked innocently.
“No, I think of my tail as my own personal flag,” he wiggled his tail to show his point, “do you like it?” his voice was a lot shyer than before and Zack’s heart clenched tightly as he moved closer to the blonde.
“Yes,” he whispered with a pause in his movements; debating on whether or not he should go through the one thing he really wanted to do, “I like it a lot,” he then nuzzled his head against Cloud’s.
The noise that left Cloud’s lips was something Zack was storing in his memory forever.
A mixture of a whine and gasp at the sudden affection.
Both Hybrid’s ears moved t the sound of laughter from the kitchen but their eyes never left one another, the atmosphere changing into something much more intimate.
“I watched you the other day,” Cloud whispered, swallowing loudly making Zack’s eyes follow his Adam's apple before returning back to his eyes.
“Yeah?”
Cloud blushed darkly as he nodded.
“You were working fixing the window frame on the outside of the house?”
Zack nodded watching Cloud’s lashes brush against his skin.
“Tifa wanted me to go over and offer to hold the ladder for you,” he laughed as his hand found it’s way to Zack’s ear making the German Shepard sigh and push into his touch as Cloud’s thumb gently rubbed the bottom of his ear.
“Why didn’t you?”
Cloud looked down again as his own ears moved to the back of his head.
“I had a better view from my window,” he admitted and Zack nearly groaned at the way their eyes met with heat behind them.
“Did you now?”
Cloud nodded with a whine before taking Zack by surprise and pulling him into a kiss, his smaller hands now tangled in Zack’s hair, his lips parting in relief when Zack actually responded to the kiss.
The blonde was shaking so much because of his own actions and Zack couldn’t find it anything but endearing as he helped the Spaniel onto his lap.
Cloud tasted of coffee and mints and Zack was living for it, fingers grasping Cloud’s waist tightly but not enough to hurt him.
Zack smiled when he felt the soft material of Cloud’s jumper on his cheeks, gentle fingers stroking him before they moved away from each other.
There was no need to exchange any words as both of them moved their faces into the other’s neck, scenting to show their dedication to each other.
“Well, well, well,”
Cloud shrieked as he was nearly thrown off off Zack’s lap from how quickly he stood up in shock at the sound of Aerith’s voice.
“Told you it wouldn’t take long for them,” Tifa nudged her friend with a grin making the flower girl laugh.
“What?” Zack asked with a frown but apparently the two women didn’t even hear him.
“I’m just glad they were only scenting and not mating,” Aerith replied making even more glorious laughter to come from them as they walked away from the baffled and disheveled Hybrid’s.
“Did they set us up on a play-date?!”
