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Zack let out a yawn as he watched beads of water race each other down the window pane, his mind lulled into sleepy tranquility by the rhythmic rainfall that had opened up over the city.
Gaia… Zack loved the rain.
Rain reminded him of his home, Gongaga, where unquantifiable days were spent enjoying his jungle village’s signature climate. Rain reminded him of days baking pies out of slushy dirt, stomping in puddles, and tracking mud into the house without giving a Zolom’s zipper about Ma’s freshly-cleaned carpet. Such activities (like plopping a mudpie onto the counter or returning home as a Frog, thanks Touch Mes!) were probably why his parents preferred him to play inside whenever it poured—which, for a tadpole as spirited as a Zack Fair, was only a route for more creative outlets. Splashing in puddles turned into bouncing around to Pa’s music in his room; tracking in grime turned into toy tractors and airplanes; crafting beautiful mudpies turned into crafting cozy, toasty pillow forts in the den…
Ohhh man. The pillow forts…
Smiling, Zack idly glanced around his apartment, searching for the proper supplies in only a semi-joking manner.
Hmm… let’s see: there were three pillows on the couch right here, four on his bed (yes, he liked his pillows), his sheets and blankets, the stash of pillows he kept in the closet for emergencies and/or impromptu pillow fights…
“What are you looking for?”
Zack’s calculations were cut short by a smooth, velveteen voice, and he glanced over his shoulder with a smile to face his best friend—perhaps having glanced up from his book for the first time since the rain started—who was reclined on the couch beside him.
Ahh, Seph. He loved that guy. Nothing ever got past him.
Or maybe he was just not very subtle.
Probably both.
“Nothing!” Zack chirped. “Just counting how many pillows we have.”
“…Why?” Sephiroth canted his head the way he always did when he was confused, a silver eyebrow raising in tandem. “You’re practicing your arithmetic?”
“Wha—? No!” Zack laughed, realizing he probably should have been less vague. “I wanna see if we can build a pillow fort!”
Annnd there went Seph’s other eyebrow.
“A pillow fort?” he repeated, incredulous, as if Zack had suggested sky diving into the Northern Crater. “You mean an edifice made out of pillows?”
“Yep!” Zack beamed, blue eyes alight with pride.
“With a blanket roof?”
“Yep!”
“And lanterns on the inside?”
“Sure!”
“And books to keep it structurally sound?”
“You know it!”
“And you suggest we build this?”
“Yep!
“I see.”
“So what do you say, pal?”
“I say you’re delusional,” the man chuckled, and proceeded to re-immerse himself in his book.
“Wha—? Seppppph!” Zack slumped over his friend’s shoulder like a dramatic pancake, putting on a his best puppy-dog eyes. “Why not?”
“Hmph… with all due respect, my friend,” Sephiroth bestowed upon him a small smirk, “I am not a child.”
“Who says you gotta be a child to make one?” Zack blinked. “It’s just fun!”
“I do not see how cushion architecture is fun.”
Gaia, this maaannnn…
“Fine! It doesn’t have to be fun!” Zack protested, sifting through reasons in his mind at blazing speed before ultimately arriving at: “Erm… It can be educational!”
“Heh.”
“Yeah! It’s true!” Zack pressed. “I mean… we’re in the military, right? We’re all about forts! Gotta know how to make one if you’re gonna make it far!”
“You’re already a First.” Sephiroth turned another page in his book.
“A First who doesn’t know how to defend himself in war…!”
Sephiroth only shook his head, smirking.
“C’mon, bud! Pleeeasseee? You remember Ifrit! I’m such a dope! The dopiest of the dopes! The ultimate dope! I need your non-dopey training skil—”
“Alright, alright…” Sephiroth closed his book in defeat, mercury bangs swaying as he continued to shake his head. “I yield.”
“Woooo!” Zack cheered.
“But only because you are right.”
“What? That it’s educational?!” Blue eyes shimmered with electric pride.
“Mmm? Oh, no.”
And Sephiroth set his book down on the coffee table, reaching out to lovingly ruffle the nest of raven spikes.
“I meant that you are indeed a ‘dope.’”
What followed in the next hour or so was an intricate escapade of pillow gathering, peeling blankets of the bed and couch, moving furniture, and listening to the General speak as he authoritatively directed Zack on how to make the most structurally sound fort that was physically possible.
Y’know, with an Elfadunk-adorned blanket as the roof and all.
“Here, fasten the walls; make sure the books are anchoring them.”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Rubber bands have good tension… I suggest we use those to secure the roof.”
“Got ya covered!”
“Hmm, I think we should center this a little more to—wait… is that a bag of corn chips?”
“Yeah! Gotta make it personal!”
By the time the structure was done, it was most certainly done, and it wasn’t much longer after its completion wherein Zack had pulled his commander inside with a bag of corn chips, two lanterns, and two pairs of Mako-lit eyes that really made the lanterns superfluous.
Not that lanterns could shine as bright.
“Cozy, huh...?” Zack snuggled against one of the (many) pillows, his face tinted a gentle amber from beaming lamplight, the rest of him enveloped in the toasty, Elfadunk-silhouetted darkness. “I think we did a pretty solid job!”
“Hmph...” Sephiroth grunted in amusement, emerald eyes evaluating the structure himself. “I concur.”
“Yep...” Zack let another yawn tear from his lips, already beginning to feel the sleepy serenity wash over him again. “Now I’ll never have to worry about losing a war.”
“Heh… I did most of the building, you know.”
“Yeah—and I did something equally as important.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah! I watched!”
He listened to the sound of Sephiroth chuckling, a melodic and gentle song, nestling deeper into the cushions as he let its soothing rhythm lull him like the rain.
“...Did you used to make these as a child?” Sephiroth asked then, somewhat out of the blue.
Zack shifted on his cheek to face his friend, a nostalgic warmth dancing in the mako-blue eyes. “Yeah... I did. A whole lot— ‘specially when it poured.”
“Mmm… I see. And did you have a sturdy foundation?”
“You kidding?” Zack chuckled softly. “Those words were too big for me; I just propped everything up with my plushies.”
“And how long did your forts stay up for?”
“Uh… ‘bout six minutes.”
Sephiroth shook his head.
“C’mon, I was like seven.”
“Heh. I understood physics when I was seven.”
“Yeah, well…” Zack’s laughter sobered a bit as he reached for another chip, something of quiet curiosity eclipsing him, glancing at his best friend with softened blue eyes. “What about you, pal? You ever make one of these before? Well—maybe not as a kid, but… y’know… with Genesis and ‘Geal?”
Sephiroth lowered himself to his elbows, silver hair spilling, and he remained quiet for several beats.
Not long enough to be awkward, not enough to be sad...
Just pensive.
“No,” he said at last, “I did not.”
“…Really?” Zack blinked, admittedly surprised, if only because Seph seemed so familiar with the process. “They never wanted to make anything like a pillow fort?”
“We didn’t engage in activities like this.” Sephiroth’s response came smooth and unreluctant. “Our activities were—how should I say?—different. Our fun was different.”
“Different how…?” Zack’s curiosity was piqued, shifting again on his pillow.
“Heh. Always the same: sparring, competitions, races… Sometimes, we even attempted to knock apples off each other’s heads with our swords.”
“Aww…” Zack couldn’t help but smile. “That sounds fun.”
“It was, truly…” Sephiroth’s eyes flickered for a moment, something wistful rippling in the emerald waters. “But I suppose it was always a more… professional fun, if you will. A fun that was always related to our titles as SOLDIER somehow.”
“Like how you always snuck into the training room and such?”
“Exactly,” Sephiroth hummed. “Our fun was always bound to ShinRa, in one way or another, as if we didn’t have any semblance of a life before joining this company. And, heh… perhaps that is true for me, but…” Sephiroth gave a self-deprecating scoff. “As for Genesis and Angeal, they certainly had lives before then. They had innocent lives. Youthful lives. Lives with memories. Happy memories. Lives with so many happy memories… Lives that, I… I frankly…” There was another beat as Sephiroth’s voice slowly trickled away, his eyes falling shut, and the last word ghosted the air around them in the unspoken gust of a sigh:
Envied…
Aching, Zack reached out to cup his best friend’s hand, squeezing just enough to let him know that he was there.
“Bud…?” he said, delicately. “You okay?”
When Sephiroth opened his eyes again, he opened them gingerly, and what remained in those emeralds was nothing but a sincerity and rawness that not even Gaia herself had ever seen.
And he squeezed his hand back.
“Zack…”
“Yeah?” Zack said, his voice still fragile.
“…Thank you.”
The First’s lips budded with a small, touched smile. “For what, pal?”
“For…” Sephiroth swallowed. “For sharing your childhood with me.”
In an instant, Zack’s heart melted in his chest, his smile softening to an equally-doughy consistency.
“Aww, bud…”
“I mean it.” Sephiroth rested his cheek on the pillow now. “All the video games, all the board games, all the crazy, juvenile escapades you rope me into…” The warrior’s lips curled into a quiet, affectionate smile of his own. “I don’t think you’ll ever know how much those things mean to me…”
Zack blinked, this time to swat away encroaching haze, feeling the grip on his hand tighten in gratitude.
He squeezed it even tighter in turn.
“Well…” The First cleared his throat. “I know what you’ve been through, bud. I… I remember. And that’s why I try… you know? Try to get you in touch with that inner Seph of yours.”
“Heh…” Sephiroth chuckled. “And you succeed.”
Smiling sloppily, Zack scooted closer to his treasured friend, having to sniffle and swallow to keep the rain at bay.
“Heh… And I thought you hated it when I dragged you into stupid games.”
“Oh, they’re most certainly stupid. I just simultaneously enjoy them.”
“Yeah? Well…” Zack pillowed his head on his buddy’s chest. “I’m just glad I can make you happy. That’s all I ever want, every day. Every time I’m with you.”
And he squeezed his hand even tighter, gazing up at Seph with those glimmering, doelike eyes.
“Besides… you’re never too old to be happy like a kid, y’know?
Sephiroth couldn’t help but smile at that, savoring the irreplaceable warmth nestled against his heart. “Heh… when did you get so wise?”
“Aww, shucks. Stooppp. I’m just a silly kid…” Zack’s laughter was accompanied by an even brighter smile. “Hey, speaking of silly—you wanna play a game? It’s not a true pillow fort without them!”
“Oh?” Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow. “What do you have in mind?”
Zack thought for a moment, thinking long and hard about this critical decision.
“Ooh! I know! How about a true childhood classic: truth or dare?!”