Work Text:
“Special deliveryyyy!”
While he hadn’t reacted to the door flying open (or slamming shut, for that matter), Sephiroth did stir when something was deposited on his desk, glancing up from his computer to find an envelope had been unceremoniously plopped in front of him like a gourmet muffin basket.
He gave it a round of curious blinks.
“…There’s no mail today,” the man noted, tilting his head just so.
“Yeah,” Zack chirped in agreement, already making himself comfy in the opposing chair, “hence why it’s a special delivery.”
“That defies the standard mail circulation?”
“Dude!” His friend nudged the envelope forward, voice rippling with hardly stifled laughter. “Just open it, pal! It won’t bite.”
Satisfied that it wasn’t anything dubious (and more than trusting enough in Zack’s antics), Sephiroth decided to oblige, his curiosity admittedly piqued as he accepted Zack’s parcel and raked it open, gingerly sliding out the contents that were folded within.
He smoothed it out, blinked—and found himself staring at a card.
… A report card?
Name: Sephiroth (Seph)
Teacher (That’s me!): Zack Fair
Principal (Also me): Zack Fair
School: BFF Academeny
~
Banter Bud: A+
Banter Bud: (semester 2) A+
Being you: A+
Listening: A+
Hugging/Comfort: A+
And at the bottom, a little note, scrawled in familiar penmanship:
Teacher (that’s me!) comment:
Seph- I love ya, man. And I always will! Please refer to this report card whenever you need a good reminder of how much you rock at being the most wonderful pal a guy can have! (Also! Because I know you’re gonna ask: These grades are weighted! Every instance of you displaying your amazingness is calculated into the percentage split between verbal and physical evidence! As you can see, they all added up to an A+! :DD)
Once finished reading, Sephiroth lifted his gaze, opened his mouth as if to speak—then closed it, immediately—and green eyes dropped back to the card, scanning it over once or twice or ten times more.
He still couldn’t digest it.
“Just… y’know,” Zack began, seeing the complete and utter perplexity, “because of that comment you made the other day? At your place?
“…Comment?” Sephiroth’s voice was fragile, small.
Zack nodded in confirmation, his grin never faltering. “When I was feeling down, and I came over for the night, and you said to yourself that you were a crappy friend…” His smile sobered at that, elaborating, “So I want to make sure you know that you are the indisputable best at it.”
Mouth ajar and chest constricted, Sephiroth struggled to meet the light in his friend’s eyes. “…But I couldn’t help you,” he explained, the ugly guilt that had festered that night coming back to haunthim. “…I was completely useless.”
Black spikes bobbed as Zack shook his head. “You were not useless, bud,” he insisted, his voice as solid as a promise. “I was just lost in the gutters that day; nothing was gonna change my mood that drastically…” Seeing the way Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed at that, Zack caught the self-imposed venom before it could reinfect his friend: “You wanna know what really snapped me out of it, though? Your comment—about being a bad friend. Because you better bet I was thinking about that all night.”
Taken aback by this, Sephiroth blinked away the poison. “You were…?”
“Damn right I was!” Zack relaxed into the chair, smiling a bit of a wobbly smile now. “You think I was gonna get a good night’s sleep knowing my best friend—who let me bunk on his couch that night, who sacrificed hours worth of work to hang with me—thought he was, quote, ‘failing’ at being a friend…?”
His heart still knotted, Sephiroth’s eyes flickered under the golden office lights. “…I thought you were asleep,” he admitted. “I didn’t think you would hear me.”
Zack chuckled a bit at that. “Well… I did, pal. And I’m very glad I did.” He nodded towards the paper in Sephiroth’s hands, his smile reigniting as he asked—chirped, “How else would I be able to give you all A’s on your best friend report?”
Sephrioth followed his gaze back to the report card, wistfully silent now.
“…All A’s?” he murmured, as if only truly registering it now.
“All A’s!”
“…Even in listening?”
“Especially in listening!” Zack emphasized. “Do you know how many times you’ve gotten my brain out of the mud, pal? Just by letting me vent? By never judging me? By always being honest? And never patronizing?”
Sephiroth’s grunt was softer than sand. “…I hardly ever know what to say,” he confessed, as if that somehow dampened the impact of his compassion.
And Zack knew it just as well. “You don’t have to, pal; that’s the thing.” The chair squeaking, he bounced off the leather seat and sailed around Sephiroth’s desk, slumping over to drape his arms around Sephiroth’s shoulders in a gentle, loving, delicate embrace. “…Sometimes, all ya need in those moments is knowing someone is there. And you’re always there, pal… always. You’re always by my side. And I know you always will be.”
What remained unspoken burned loud and warm in Sephiroth’s chest, and the previous tightness melted into a comfortable heaviness as he sank into Zack’s touch, sinking into Zack’s medicinal words.
He hardly even realized that he was smiling.
“…And an A+ in hugging?”
“You kiddin’? I would give you an A plus plus for that one.”
“Heh…” Sephiroth chuckled now, quiet and melodic. “That’s quite the generous grade, given the way most refer to me.”
“Yeah?” Zack pressed his cheek against his, the two warmths colliding like stars. “Then most people are missing out.”
Another spark of warmth, of velvety affection that soothed his guilt and qualms like a gentle massage. “…I don’t deserve you, you know.”
“You deserve everything…”
“Not you.”
“Yes, me.”
“Zack…”
“Seephh,” Zack countered, hugging him even tighter. “If you don’t deserve me, then I don’t deserve you—got it?” He gave him a long, assuring squeeze. “You’re the bestest friend I ever had… you know that, bud?”
Maybe he had known; maybe he didn’t.
Maybe he thought such a possibility was too fantastical to ever believe.
Either way, Sephiroth found himself unable to answer, so he substituted a response for some warm and unwavering silence—pressing his cheek just a bit more against his treasured friend’s, leaning just a bit more into his healing embrace.
And only opened his mouth again when the correct words were ready.
“…If being myself led you to me,” he said, “then I am honoredto be me.”
As dearly hoped, Zack’s starlit smile almost became a supernova as he heard this. “Aww, you big softie. I’m glad to hear it… OH! That’s right!”
And before Sephiroth could even conjure up a response, Zack had unraveled one hand in order to fish through his pocket…
“What are you—?”
“There we go!”
…And he plucked out what looked to be a sheet full of stickers, peeling one of the many designs off and plastering it smack onto Sephiroth’s head—right in the center, right on his brow—leaving him with a big chunk of paper that read, “You got this, champ!* in red on his temple like a glitter-dusted disco ball.
Sephiroth blinked, his eyes now separated by two pink starfish limbs.
“You’ll earn these every now and then,” Zack chirped. “Every time you compliment yourself, you’ll get a Super Starfish!“
Sephiroth scoffed, fully humoring Zack’s antics now. “…You cannot be serious.”
“Oh no, I am! And you better be complimenting yourself a lot; I ordered a whole sheet of these guys… plus extra big ones for when you collect ten!”
And somehow, Sephiroth found himself breaking into a soft, affectionate chuckle now, unable to help but shake his head at the sheer magnitude of his best friend’s love, at the lengths in which he would go to mend his own turmoil—the starfish staying put all the while.
“Heh… I’ll never take it off.”
As it turned out, Sephiroth really didn’t take it off—all throughout the day.
“Is something wrong, Sirs?”
So much time passed, in fact, that he found himself forgetting about its existence, leaving him sitting in a meeting with the ShinRa’s most elite executives—arms folded, stern-countenanced, and a starfish sticker glimmering on his forehead.
No one dared to say a word.