Becoming SOLDIER

"You worthless scum! Quit dragging your feet! Honesty, take a look at yourselves! You're nothing but maggots; you're ticks! You're the lowest form of life in the universe! Listen up you dung beetles, I take extreme pleasure in watching your faces as you suffer!"

The drill sergent yelled at the squadron of army grunts; his face was red and every vein in the man's neck and face looked as though it would burst. Cloud quietly prayed that the enlarged vein buldging from the man's neck would pop and the bastard of a drill sergent would fall face first into the cold wet mud on the ground. It was pouring rain and the grunts were told to run; they weren't told however how long to run... Cloud guessed that meant they had to run until every last one of them either fainted or died; whatever came first. Cloud mused that even Zack who kept pace with him the entire time was about to collasp. Not that Cloud wasn't close to eating mud; he actually almost did a few times as he slipped on the mud a few times and almost lost his footing a few others. Cloud and Zack both felt each breath desperately pulling in as much air as possible to deliver the much needed oxygen to their muscles. Each breath came quick short and painful. The rasping sound echoed in their ears along side the steady squishing sound of the feet trotting on the mud below them.

"Don't you think it's disgraceful panting like old people fucking! If you've got the balls I dare you to jerk off; right here; right now, you gonerrea and siffius-ridden ladies!"

Cloud's face twisted even more; but this time in disguist. The way this man spoke was just, well, disguisting. Who the fuck thought of things like that! Cloud knew Zack shared the same thought; although he took it a little differently. Zack found himself wanting to laugh at the sergents ranting; he attempted to a few times but it just came out dry in his throat as gasps of air and weird weezing sounds. Cloud would've commented but he had to concentrate all his being into taking in enough air to even keep him moving. Alot of the other grunts were starting to fall behind; one unlucky grunt found himself face first in the mud. Cloud winced as he saw the scene unfold as the sergent marched over the the army grunt and spit in front of the poor man's face. The sergents boots not more than an inch in front of the man's face' the man pushed himself up but only found himself on his ass as he slipped in the mud. Cloud shook his head; the poor man looked pitiful. No doubt he was past his breaking point. The man had tears streaking down his face practically cutting through the mud caked on his cheeks. Cloud and Zack both knew he was crying out of frustration and because of the pain that throbbed against the man's muscles; they both felt that too but they refused to give up. They couldn't just stop; how the hell were they ever to make it to SOLDIER if they couldn't pass a simple endurance test. Cloud and Zack were both snapped from there thoughts as the sergent took his venomous aim to the grunts ears.

"I guess thats as far as your determination goes! So you can't run anymore, huh?! You going to go home to your girlfriend and cry?! No doubt she's probably a hopeless tramp!"

"Don't you dare speak about her," the exasperated grunt screamed.

The grunt suddenly felt the anger build throughout his tired bones and aching muscles and lundged himself at the sergent; who easily tripped the man as he dodged the foolish grunts assault.

"I'll take whatever I want about her! She's a tramp!! And if you're going to tell me otherwise than show me your guts!! Do ten more laps!!"

The grunt cursed under his breath and mumbled a 'yes sir', the flustered and embarssed flush on his face was almost too unbareable to watch as he trotted back into formation.

"Alright ladies! It's been thirty two hours since your last meal! Those of you who finish the last ten laps can eat!"

Cloud looked over to Zack as did Zack to Cloud; with a short nod to eachother they burst out into a mad dash against their lungs and muscles will. Every muscle and bone prayed for them to stop; but the need for food over powered their pain; they needed food and they were damn sure going to be the first ones to get it.

In the mess hall they managed to make it first in line; which meant they got to get first pick on the food. Which in turn meant; there would actually still be food there and they wouldn't have to go without a meal unlike the slowest of the grunts. By the time the last few strode in they were lucky to even get a bite of bread.

Cloud normally would've offered to share; as would Zack. But after thirty two hours and no meal that was like offering their own limbs! They didn't know when their next meal would be, and they damn sure weren't going to find out on an empty stomach. Cloud; even though he too was inhaling all of the food on the tray before him; couldn't help but chuckle as Zack shoved bite after bite of food in his awaiting mouth barely giving himself a chance to swallow it. Zack only shot him a mini-glare and a half cocked smirk as he continued his assault on the tray before him.

"Five more minutes you panisies and it's back to the obsticle course! If you're late you recieve no chow; and I will personally ram you're pretty asses into the ground," Cloud tensed at the sergents tone. And Zack couldn't help but laugh quietly under his breath as he gently punched Cloud's shoulder, "Don't worry, he won't 'ram' your ass. I won't let him."

Cloud only flushed his lips going tight as he closed his eyes and nudged the man for his ridicuilous humor.

Three minutes later Zack and Cloud reported outside; a few others also decided it wise to report to the course immediately as well. They quickly took their places in formation and awaited for the 'go' from their sergent. Cloud looked over the course and bit his lip to hide his whimper; Zack, instead, was barely hiding his whining as his eyes also trailed over the course. The beginning of the course was a rope ladder that seemed to reach to the sky; it might have been their minds playing tricks on them but the damn thing looked like it was a 4 story building! On top of that they had to repel down a rope using a hand crank; apparently they felt you should be the one to help yourself down instead of gravity doing the work for you. Once to the ground you had to crawl through the mud on your belly under a thick assortment of barbed wire. The metal twisted and weaved the sharp edges almost gleaming from the rain. Cloud than scoffed as he went this part over in his mind. 'Sorry Miss. Strife but your son was grated like cheese through the barb wire of our obsticle course!' After the barbed wire there was a stretch of track they would have to run; the catch, it was a dead weight run. Cloud only could imagine that the bags that awaited them at the start of the run weighed at least 100 to 150 lbs. easily. And running them from start to finished; which looked like a good quater mile wasn't going to be so easy.

"START!"

The boys; along with the rest of the grunts; groaned as they forced their bodies to move forward. All the while the sergent continued his assault in the background. Each word made Cloud's frown grow deeper and deeper. And let Zack's mind wander more and more; honestly he was going to have to find out who came up with this shit! It was pure gold!

As they carried themselves up the rope ladder the sergent began his verbal assault, "Right now you pukes are less than human! You're nameless slaves! Once you survive my training, Than and only Than, will you become a weapon!"

Cloud gripped the handles to the repeling device and cranked the levers in a bicycle petaling motion. The blisters felt like they were ripping under his weight as he petaled his way down. His arms grew tired and it took all he had just to keep his grip on the damn thing; and looking over to Zack who was only a few feet ahead of him, he knew Zack was struggling just as bad as he was.

"But until then you're nothing but a bunch of cock suckers! I depise and look down upon you!"

Finally reaching the bottom Cloud and Zack practically fell forward onto their stomachs; this enough to expel a large gasp to rush out from Cloud's lungs. Zack only grunted as they both kept low and pushed themselves forward crawling under the barbed twisted metal.

"My job is to find the limp dicks amoung you and weed them out! I won't have any stinking assholes on our squad keeping us from victory! Remember that!!"

As they both reached the dead weight run they all but dragged the sac's; they certainly had to weigh more than a 150 lbs. Or at least that's what they oxygen deprived muscles screamed into their aching minds. All the while dragging the two oversized bags they tried to block out the man's yelling.

"There will be no crying or laughing! You are not human beings; you are killing machines!!"

Ironically there were little tears left for most of the grunts to cry; instead some of them were beginning to drop. Others began to power through the dead run. Cloud and Zack along with four other grunts finished the dead weight run and were waiting for the rest of the squad to finish.

The sergents face twisted in disguist as he watched a few grunts fall and stumble, "You loser scum!! The best part of you ran down the crack of your mama's ass and ended up as a shit stain on the mattress!!"

His attention soon flipped to the few grunts still trying to make it to the dead run only managing to slip and stumble. A few slowed their pace and dragged their feet; this didn't sit well with the sergent.

"Quit dragging your feet you queers! One whimper and I will unscrew your heads and shit down you necks!!"

After the obstacle all the men were rushed into the building to collect their assigned rifles. They were than all sent to a room to 'get aquinated' as the sergent put it; with their new weapons. This probably ended up being the most tramatizing part of the day for Cloud. His entire face went red as the sergent's words rang through his ears.

"This rifle is your only girlfriend! You don't need a mary jane rotten crotch with a large back side! Think of your rifle as a wet pussy and fuck it as hard as you can!"

Zack playfully quirked his eyebrows at Cloud when the sergent wasn't looking and Cloud wanted to sink even lower in his chair. What the fuck is wrong with some people, seriously!?

After the sergent dismissed them for the day Cloud and Zack made their way to thier barracks. Luckly they were assigned to the same bunk beds. Zack of course took top bunk claiming; I'm always on top, with a quick wink. Cloud only shook his head and grabbed his towel, spare clothes and some soap. Zack mimicked him as they both dragged themselves into the showers. They were open showers so there was no privacy. Cloud cringed at this; he was always shy but it's not like he had much of a choice. He was covered in mud and sweat; as were the rest of the boys and he was damned if he was going to wear that layer of dirt and grime any longer.

Cloud stepped into the showers with Zack trailing behind him. They still had towels around their waists; quite a few men didn't bother to cover up at all and Cloud decided he was better off staring up to the ceiling as he walked. He gave himself enough room to glance as to where he was stepping but still kept his eyes expertly diverted away from the seemingly endless school of male 'parts'. Cloud would've be shocked to see the 'outgoing and openly perverted' Zack actually staring down at Cloud's feet doing his best to copy Cloud's expert eyes to avoid his own coming in contact with any of the other boys.

Finally reaching a pair of free shower heads both boys reluctently hung up their towels. Zack smirked as he saw Cloud's stern face turn a cute shade of pink. Zack blinked at his thoughts, cute? Did he just think Cloud's blush was cute? Zack hook it off with a whatever to himself dismissing it again as nothing more than 'friendly' affection. Cloud only shot him a questioning glare; the best he could muster over his blushing features. Zack only scratched at the back of his dirty hair closing his eyes and chuckled nervously, "Oh, nothing. Nothing... just thinking."

Cloud raised a brow at this and bit his lip as his eyes wandered. Sure Cloud had saw Zack in swim trunks before; they used to swim at their secret meeting place. But this was quite different. The mud swirled down his body as the water began to push it away revealing his sun kissed glowing skin. He knew Zack didn't notice because he was still sheepishly rubbing the back of his head; but that didn't stop his blush from covering his face with avengence. His eyes flowed the dripping swirls of water and mud down Zack's toned torso and down to his slim waist; his eyes shot up with a small squeak from the boy as he quickly jolted his body forward and replaced the image of Zack's body with the tiled wall in front of him. He could feel his entire face burning bright red; why did he have to look?!

Zack only shrugged and turned towards the shower head allowing the water to run freely over his face. The hot water felt good against his tired muscles; it almost relaxed him. Almost... But as soon as his head moved from the spray of the water his eyes darted to the boy standing next to him. In the corner of his eye he watched as Cloud stood back to the spray of water allowing it to soak into his back. The water bounced off the small pale frame and Zack watched as Cloud's hand reached up to rub at the knots in his shoulders and neck. He wasn't sure why the action provoked him to want to rub the knots out for Cloud; he just knew he wanted to. His body was tossing around the order; well so was his mind he mused. But he just shrugged it off. Soon his own curiousity got the best of him as he looked futher down. He followed the small curve that formed towards Cloud's lower back; and he had to bite his lip as his eyes reached the boy's butt. He had the childish urge to slap him on the ass but decided against it. Hell have no fury like a chocobo scorned, Zack smiled.

Cloud's own eyes trailed over Zack's form just the same as Zack's was doing with his delicate frame; both pairs of eyes going unnoticed by the other. That is... until they started trailing their eyes up each others chests; and their eyes darted to each other. They both stared; embarssed at being caught; and confused as to why the other had been... well... staring. They both broke the gaze after a few awkward seconds and snapped back into focus at the task at hand. Showering. Cloud, his blush ever present on his glowing features, scrubbed feverishly at his dirt skin bar of soap in hand. While Zack; also sporting a tint of pink over his cheeks, whistled nerviously as he began to scrub at his hair.

They didn't bring it up as they walked back to the barracks. It was actually a awkward walk for the two of them. Neither spoke; their eyes glancing over every so often but that was all. Finally settling into their bunks they allowed their exhaughstion to take over thier body's and minds and fell into a deep sleep. All the while pondering just why the other was staring at them with that... look....