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“Hey Kunsel, is it me or does Sephiroth look stressed lately?” Zack asks one day at the cafeteria.
“Hmm, now that you mentioned it,” Kunsel says through a mouthful of food. “He has been cooped up in his office for a while. I overheard from Lazard he’s been writing mission reports for Angeal and Genesis because they’re away.”
“Awwwww, all he ever does is work.” Zack says, arms crossed. “Does he ever catch a break?”
“I’ve never seen him step foot in the lunchroom,” Kunsel answers. “Why do you ask?”
“I just think we should reward him for all the hard work he’s done for us,” Zack explains, waving his hands. “I think he’d like it, help him keep his mind off of things. What’d ya say?”
“Yeah, I don’t know about that, Zack,” Kunsel replies, nervously. “I think it’d be best you’d leave him alone.”
“Do you think he likes food?” Zack wonders. “How about Chocobo popcorn? Or Moogle muffins? Or maybe cookies? I know Aerith makes the best cookies on the Planet!”
“Zack, no. Don’t do this man. Sephiroth’s not, how do I put this? A people person. Trust me, he’s not the type you’d..."
“I got it!” Zack exclaims, hopping to his feet. “I’m definitely going to talk to Aerith today to see if she can make her world famous chocolate chip cookies!”
"Zack, wait!"
Before Kunsel could stop him, Zack was already making his way to Sector 5.
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“You want me to help you make cookies for your boss?” Aerith asks, looking up from her flowers.
“Yeah! He’s been working so hard and I thought maybe you could teach me how to make cookies as a token of my appreciation for him.” Zack explains.
“Well, I guess I can do that,” Aerith says with a smile. “But you’ll have to fetch me the ingredients.”
"Don't worry, I got it covered," Zack pulls out a notepad and pen. "Tell me what we need."
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It’s 7AM when Zack knocks on Sephiroth’s office door. When no one answers, he peaks through the window and invites himself in. Inside, Zack whistles at the insanely large mountain of paperwork stacked neatly on the general’s black desk. How on the Planet did Sephiroth manage his time to get it done was beyond Zack’s guess. As he drops his bag of homemade cookies next to his paperwork, he storms out the office wondering if maybe he should’ve made a second batch.
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Sephiroth yawns like a lion when he enters his office at 8AM sharp. He rubs his tired eyes, then notices the strange bag of sustenance on his desk. Alarmed, the general does a quick survey around the room before reaching for the phone.
The line picks up right away.
“Hello?” Comes a voice.
“Tseng, I need you to report who has come in and out of my office. It seems there may have been an intruder.” Sephiroth answers.
“I see, I will have a look into that.” Tseng says.
“They’ve also left me a strange object on my desk,” Sephiroth adds. “I want someone to take it down to the labs for testing.”
“Understood, I will contact someone to retrieve it for you.” Tseng responds, curtly. “Is there anything else you need?”
“No, that’s all.” Sephiroth replies.
He hangs up the phone and dumps the bag in the trash can. It’s not until a minute later he receives a phone call from Tseng.
“The intruder you mentioned is Zack Fair,” he says. “I double checked the surveillance cameras and confirmed it with Reno that it was him.”
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Zack wandered through the hallways that evening, pacing back and forth in front of Sephiroth’s office. He took a deep breath and knocked on his door twice, then waited for that ‘come in’ to enter. Right away, he noticed that the cookies were gone and Sephiroth was hunched over his desk, dark circles around his eyes, looking very… Un-Sephiroth than usual, but the most fascinating discovery he found was that… Sephiroth wore glasses.
“Good morning, Zack.” The general punctuates his name like it somehow disturbed him. “What can I do for you?”
“I—uh—You wear glasses?” Zack questions, dumbstruck.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Sephiroth replies, never taking his eyes off his work. “As you can see I am quite busy for today, so whatever mischief you’re up to will have to wait.”
“Relax man—er— sir. I just came by to see how you were doing,” Zack supplies.
There’s a long silence, except for Sephiroth’s ballpoint pen scratching the surface of his paperwork. Zack takes it as an opportunity to move closer. He hovers over the general’s shoulder and tilts his head.
“So, uh, what did you do with the cookies I gave you?” he says.
“What cookies?” Sephiroth grumbles.
“You know, the bag on your desk?” Zack clarifies.
Suddenly Sephiroth’s zombie-like eyes turn to him, but his pen continues to scribble. “I ordered Tseng to take them down to the labs for testing.”
“You did what now?"
“I’ve yet to receive a call back from the lab.” Sephiroth grunts, returning his eyes on his work. He sighs when he removes his spectacles to rub his eyes. “Listen Zack, I have a lengthy mission report to write that’s due by the end of this week. Unless you have further details from the mission you’d like to add, then please state them, otherwise I’ll have to politely ask you to leave. You’re seriously testing my patience."
“Dude—Sir—The cookies were supposed to be for you!”
This time Sephiroth's pen screeches to a halt. “For me?”
“Yeah! My girlfriend helped me make them for you. Did you at least try one?” Zack asks.
“No.” Sephiroth responds. His pen resumes screeching. “I did not.”
Zack winces when he feels a prick in his chest. “That really hurts."
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When Zack takes the elevator down to the labs to retrieve his cookies. He finds the female scientist chomping away.
“Hey! Those were supposed to be for Sephiroth!” Zack exclaims, marching into the room.
The scientist jumps at her desk and holds her hands up in surrender. “I just made a call and he told me I could eat them!” She cries. “I’m sorry, did you want some too?”
Zack slaps a hand over his face and groans. “No, nevermind. Just—I’m just going to make a new batch. If he sends them down here, don't eat them okay? They’re for him.”
“I-I see, I’ll make sure to resend them back next time.” The scientist says.
“I guess I’ll have to visit Aerith again…” Zack mumbles.
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“You want me to show you how to make cookies again?” Aerith asks with a frown. “What happened to the last batch we made?”
“Some jerk ate them.” Zack huffs, arms crossed.
“You know, it takes a lot of time and effort to make these,” Aerith explains, placing her hands on her hips. "We can't just pull cookies out of thin air, it doesn't work like that."
“I’m sorry, Aerith. This is the last time I’ll ask you to make them with me,” Zack says clasping his hands together. “It’s just that… My boss is kinda… oblivious at times. He’s not used to being appreciated and I just want to show him, if that makes sense?”
Aerith giggles. “If you say so, Zack. It kinda sounds like you have a crush on him or something.”
Zack blinks at her, face red. “No, I-I—It’s not like that! He’s my friend!”
Aerith laughs, then places a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Alright, Zack. I’ll make another batch, two dozens this time, sound good?”
“Yes! Thank you, Aerith! You’re the best!” Zack exclaims, giving her a soft hug.
It’s 7AM again when Zack enters Sephiroth’s office again. He places the bag of cookies beside the general’s tower of paperwork and carefully tiptoes out. As he rounds the corner, he’s stopped by Reno.
“Yo, whatcha you doing here snooping around? Shouldn’t you be out training today?” Reno asks, brow raised.
“Oh yeah! Just uh, dropping some things off,” Zack says, scratching the back of his head.
“Right…” Reno gives him that eye as the SOLDIER saunters off into the elevator. Once gone, the red-haired Turk storms into Sephiroth’s office where he catches a whiff of something heavenly. Hungry, Reno wanders over to the general’s desk and eyeballs at the cookies before taking the whole bag with him.
When Sephiroth takes a seat in his office, he curses at Angeal’s and Genesis’s existence mainly for dumping their homework on him to finish. He ponders whether he should hire a secretary to assist him, but thought better of it. Because the last thing he needed right now was more work as his last secretary turned out to be deadweight rather than useful.
Frustrated, Sephiroth picks up his favorite black ballpoint pen and glares at the door. He could practically hear it breathing. “I know you’re out there, Zack.”
The door immediately kicks open and in comes Angeal’s puppy. “Good morning, sir!”
“What do you want now?” Sephiroth asks, rummaging through his drawer for his bloody glasses.
“Oh, Nothing! Just wanted to know if you…” Zack trails off, as if searching for something with his eyes. He hovers near the trash can and looks right at Sephiroth when he doesn’t find what he’s looking for. “Did you get the cookies I sent you?”
“No.” Sephiroth growls, putting on his spectacles. “I didn’t receive anything today.”
“What?!”
Now this was the last thing Sephiroth needed right now: a screaming puppy.
“How? I could’ve sworn I just left them here an hour ago!” Zack cries.
“Zack, please don’t do this right now.” Sephiroth says, fingers kneading his temples. Gods... He feels a headache coming up.
“Nononononono. No! You don’t understand, I promised Aerith that this would be the last time she would be making cookies. I can’t just—aaargh!! I can’t believe it! How does it disappear like that?” Zack gets on all fours and looks under the desk. “Cookies can’t just grow a pair of legs. They gotta be here somewhere. I know I left them on your desk, unless someone else took them? But who would—
“Zack!”
“Yes, sir!” The raven-haired man snapped his attention to the general and let out a nervous laugh. Sephiroth’s pupils were so thin Zack thought they looked like needles.
“Get out of my office.” Sephiroth pointed at the door. When Zack didn’t move, the general scowled. “Now, Zackary.”
The raven-haired boy slumped his shoulders, and in defeat, followed the general's finger. “Yes, sir.”
“And do not disturb me again.” Sephiroth adds. “Otherwise I will write you up for insubordination and have you mop the floor, starting from floor 1 to floor 70, which includes the helipad too. Are we clear?”
Zack whines in response.
“What was that?” Sephiroth demands.
“I said we’re clear, sir!”
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The next time Zack sneaks into Sephiroth’s office is around the same time. Except this time, when he goes to check on the general; he is nowhere to be found and the cookies Zack had left, were untouched. So instead of lingering around, Zack wonders down the hallways and rounds the corner where he slams into a cadet. The next thing he sees is papers flying everywhere and the sound of a helmet clattering to the floor.
“Oh crap, I didn’t see you there!” Zack says, crouching down to gather the pile of paperwork.
“I-It’s okay.” The cadet squeaks, his voice is light, accented like a country boy's. Zack looks up to study the cadet’s face. He takes note of his bright beautiful blonde hair, fair skin, and bright blue eyes. It’s almost like he was staring at a baby Chocobo.
“It’s my fault for not looking where I was going,” the cadet adds. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I should’ve slowed down. I was in a hurry, that I…” Zack stiffens when their gloved hands reach for the same page. It had a bright neon green sticky note slapped with Sephiroth’s name on it.
“Say, do you know where Sephiroth is?” Zack asks. “I’ve been waiting for him this morning and he hasn’t come to his office.”
“O-Oh.” The cadet ducks his chin in his scarf and quickly collects the page with the general’s name on it. “Sorry, last I heard is that he’s currently on a day-off today.”
“A day-off?” Zack echoes in disbelief.
“He’s usually absent on Fridays and Saturdays,” the cadet clarifies, then with a raised blonde brow. “Are you looking for him?”
“I am! Do you know where I can find him at least?” Zack questions.
“I would say the training room…” the cadet answers.
“I already checked there,” Zack replies, counting off his fingers. “I even checked the roof, the cafeteria, the materia room, the library, the lab, and yeah, I basically checked everywhere…”
“I guess he just wants to be left alone,” the cadet concludes.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that. I’m just not sure what to do about the extra cookies.” Zack sighs, then eyes at the cadet. “Actually… here.” The raven-haired man pulls out a bag of cookies from his pockets and plops it into the cadet’s hands. “You can have them as a token of my appreciation.”
“H-Huh? Wait, I can’t accept these!” The cadet cries.
“C’mon, how can you say no to this! It’s not everyday you get to eat something that’s not cafeteria food.”
The cadet hesitates for a moment, then slowly grabs a cookie from the bag and bites into it. His eyes light up like a kid at a toy shop.
“Well?” Zack grins. “How is it?”
“They’re good…” the cadet answers, taking another bite.
“See? What did I tell ya?” Zack laughs, ruffling the blonde's hair.
The cadet giggles and leans his head away to escape Zack’s hold. For a small man, he seemed oddly strong.
“By the way,” Zack says. “What’s your name?”
“Cloud.” The cadet replies with a smile. “Cloud Strife.”
“Cloud, huh? Well, my name’s Zack,” he says, extending his hand. “Where are you from?”
“Nibelheim, sir.”
Zack laughs at that.
“What about you? Where are you from?”
“Gongaga.”
Now they’re both laughing like idiots and neither of them recognize the tap of boots coming from behind them. It’s until Cloud makes a startled noise does Zack turn around to see Sephiroth.
“Are you the cadet they sent you?” Sephiroth asks. He stares straight at Cloud like Zack doesn’t exist.
“I—Y-Yes, sir!” Cloud stammers out, holding out his paperwork like his was making an offering to the Gods.
Zack doesn’t know whether he wants to laugh or pity the kid. The poor cadet seems entirely embarrassed… or spooked. Zack didn’t couldn’t tell which one.
“I came here to retrieve them, thank you,” Sephiroth explains, and to make matters more heated, he reaches for the papers and let’s his fingers accidentally brush against Cloud’s.
Either the general is bloody awful at noticing Cloud’s discomfort or just faking it. Zack had never seen anyone like the Cloud turn into all different shades of red. The poor cadet seemed ready to combust.
“I-I should, um, uh, g-go,” Cloud stumbles out, moving for the elevator.
“I didn’t dismiss you yet,” Sephiroth replies, sifting through the paperwork.
“O-Oh.”
The trio awkwardly stand there, the flip of papers filling in the silence. Zack glances at the two every now then, but mostly Cloud. The blonde is staring at the floor, nervously fiddling with the bag of cookies in his hands. Cookies. Oh right. Zack quickly whips his head to the general and playfully nudges him in the gut.
“Hey, Sephiroth.” Zack finally breaks the ice. “Cloud here has some cookies me and Aerith made. Wanna try some, now that you’re here?”
Sephiroth tears his gaze away from his documents. He shoots a glare at Zack, then studies Cloud for a moment. The blonde quickly ducks his chin into his scarf, bright blue eyes,flickering.
“I will try only one.” Sephiroth answers, calmly.
Cloud swings his head to Zack in alarm.
“Go ahead and give him one.” Zack encourages with a smile.
“Uh, um, okay.” With shaky fingers, Cloud opens the bag and hands it out to Sephiroth to take.
But instead of being a normal cultured human, the general tucks a strand of hair behind his ear and leans forward to take a bite out of the cookie from Cloud’s hand. Zack raises his eyebrows when Sephiroth pulls back and chews, leaving chocolate crumbs on the floor. At this rate, the janitor is going to have a fancy time licking them up.
“It’s good.” Sephiroth announces after a moment.
“I—Um, ah,” Cloud leaves his mouth hanging, staring at the cookie like it’d been blessed by the Planet itself.
Zack slaps an around Cloud’s shoulder to snap him out of it. “Good? You mean delicious, right?!”
Sephiroth scowls at him. “Yes. They’re exceptionally delicious. Tell your dear friend, she has done a phenomenal job training you to make these.”
“You hear that, Cloud? He says my cookies are delicious!” Zack shouts, shaking the cadet.
“Y-Yeah, I heard you loud and cle…” the blonde freezes when he feels a gloved hand on his head. Cloud looks up at Sephiroth, eyes wide. “S-Sir?”
Zack stares at the two, watching the general comb his fingers into Cloud’s hair like it’s the most natural thing to do, when really, it isn't. Perhaps, Kunsel was right about Sephiroth. The man absolutely had little to no social experience. Or maybe it was just the cadet’s magic doing this to him.
“It’s soft,” Sephiroth says.
Cloud, being Cloud. Stands there with a hundred of emotions passing his face. “Uh, sir?” he asks, when the petting doesn’t stop, he turns to Zack. “What is happening?”
Zack shrugs in response. “I think Sephiroth likes your hair, man.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sephiroth expresses, openly. “Especially this hair color. No one at Shinra has hair like this.”
“I’m pretty sure the President’s son has colored hair like this.” Zack states with a raised brow.
Sephiroth pulls away and frowns. “Do not remind me of him. It’s not the same.”
“Um, well, I think your hair is pretty too—I mean…” Cloud looks down and fidgets. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like it, except you… sir.”
Zack gawks at the way Sephiroth genuinely smiles at him. “Thank you, cadet. I appreciate it.”
Cloud nervously chuckles. “I, um, I unfortunately need to go. I have Materia class within five minutes, so… I gotta…”
“Very well, you’re dismissed.” Sephiroth says, holding up a hand. “Be careful on your way back. The floor is slippery.”
As if on cue, Cloud dives for the elevator. Both Zack and Sephiroth watch the cadet stride across the room before falling backwards. They both wince as Cloud lands on his bum.
“You alright there, bud?” Zack calls out.
“I’m fine!” Cloud exclaims, getting on his feet and makes it for the elevator.
Once gone, the general quickly whips his head to Zack.
“Who was that?” He asks.
“Oh, him? His name’s Cloud, I ran into him when I was on my way to your office.“ Zack replies.
“How curious.” Sephiroth hums.
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The next day, Sephiroth arrives at his office with a red-faced sitting Cloud at this desk. The general beams at the plate of cookies innocently seated on his desk, his mouth salivating at the heavenly scent of sweets. The cookie that Cloud had offered to him the other day was irresistibly divine. After he'd parted ways with Zack, he ended up eating all of them in one sitting. It was that delicious.
“I believe Zack sent you?” Sephiroth asks, still eyeballing the plate of cookies.
“Y-Yes, sir! He told me to give these to you.” Cloud says, offering a cookie to him. His hand still trembles, but not as bad as yesterday. “Zack told me it’s an appreciation for all your hard work you put into the SOLDIER program, so I was asked to deliver these to you.”
“I see... How thoughtful of him to send you on his behalf.” Sephiroth replies.
Like before the general tucks back a silver strand of hair behind his ear and leans down to bite the cookie. Except this time, his pupils dilate at the sudden burst of flavor. He studies the cookie. Is that strawberry...? And vanilla?
Sephiroth looks to Cloud for an answer.
“Ah, I made these, not Zack. I wasn’t sure you’d like red sprinkled pink frosted strawberry cookies, so I thought— Oh..."
Cloud stiffens, goes completely red when Sephiroth’s hand wraps around his wrist and chomps the cookie in two very large bites. Without much of a warning, he licks the crumbs off of Cloud’s fingers and… winks.
“I like your cookies more than Zack’s.”
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When Cloud leaves the office with an empty plate, Zack is outside waiting for him.
“So? How’d it go?”
“He ate all of them. Even the crumbs.” Cloud says, staring down at the plate.
“That’s great!” Zack exclaims.
“He also told me he liked my cookies more than yours.”
“He said what!?” Zack shouts. “What the hell—Ugh, forget it. It’s the thought that counts.”
“Do you think he likes me?” Cloud asks.
Zack gives him the eye, then tilts his head. “Idunno man, I’ve never seen him act this way in front of anyone. It's kinda odd if you ask me."
Cloud blushes in response.