Title: Soldiers Teddy Bears

Author: Enide Dear

Pairing: ZackxSephiroth, SephirothxNottelling

Rating: awfully, awfully fluffy

Field assignments were what they were, which was mostly, cold, wet and muddy. At least in his tent where he sat hunched over a small desk reading the days mission rapports, Sephiroth managed to stay slightly above wet and muddy but the chill crept in everywhere.

It didn't much bother him, nor would he have given it another thought if he didn't know that his second in command was out there in the drizzling rain, probably stomping his feet in the mud to keep somewhat warm. It raised some strange feelings of concern, and that was distracting.

Not that he didn't think about the well fare of the Soldiers working for him, but it was usually in the broad terms of finding the driest patch of land to put our tents on or sweeping strategically decisions to make sure not too many of them died in an attack. He'd never concerned himself with the well being of individual Soldiers before, no matter if they were his second in command or not.

Zack was probably wet, cold and miserable by now, and his guard shift didn't end for two more hours. Sehpiroth sighed. There were nothing he could do about it, but apparently he wasn't about to get anything done tonight either. He might as well go to sleep.

The chill crept in even further as he removed his clothes and neatly folded them over a chair, keeping Masamurne close at hand in case of a nightly attack. No, the cold didn't bother him, at least not a little chill like this. He'd thought waist deep in snow and soaked in blizzards and it had little effect on him, not to mention all those damned experiments to establish his limits to temperature change that Hojo was so fond of. *Those* had been a problem, those had almost killed him. This was nothing.

Except damn uncomfortable, of course. He crept down under the thin blanket on the narrow cot with a sigh, aware that Zack's cot was even more narrow and cold once the wet second in command returned. Trying to push thoughts of Zack's discomfort out of his mind, he closed his eyes.

He awoke when Zack returned, of course. Not that the Puppy wasn't trying to be quiet, but you'd had to be a lot more stealthy to sneak up on Sephiroth, sleeping or not. In the dark, Sephiroth could hear the other Soldier yawn and pull off his wet clothes, hanging them were they would - theoretically – be dry tomorrow.

Then Sephiroth's cot moved as Zack sat down on it.

"Wrong cot, Puppy." He mumbled a bit amused, expecting the Soldier to flinch away and stammer apologize.

But Zack never seemed to do what was expected.

"I know." He yawned and started to pull at one end of Sephiroth's blanket. "But it's cold."

"Cold is good for a Soldier. Helps you to learn how to endure." Sephiroth was too stunned to know what to do when the cold and slightly damp body slid down beside him, pulling his own blanket over them both.

"Mmm…" Zack snuggled up, his hair wet on Sephiroth's chin and chest, but a strange warmth was building fast where naked skin touched. "But you always say we should think of ways to outsmart any enemy. And right now the cold is my enemy. And I outsmarted it, didn't I?" Violet eyes looked up at the General. "Didn't I?"

"I…well…if you snore, I'm kicking you out." Sephiroth knew he'd been defeated somehow, but he was damned if he could see how it had happened. Anyway, this was a lot warmer. And pretty comfortable, really.

"I don't snore." Zack was already drifting towards sleep and Sephiroth found himself lying very still, stroking the wet hair that dripped on him.

About two minutes later the snoring began, and the General sighed.

Epilogue

The tiny, shivering, warm body that crept down into the field cot was barely enough to wake Sephiroth these nights – to be quite honest he had problems sleeping well until Zack was back at his proper place, which was next to him.

But something was wrong this time. Grabbing on to Zack's shoulders and pulling him nearer, the body seemed out of proportions, the shoulders too slim, the body too short, the muscles not developed enough…and he was shaking, not from cold but as if he was terrified.

And he smelled all wrong, if faintly familiar.

"Who the Hell are you?!" It wasn't often Sephiroth swore and the tiny body squawked with fright as he was held up and away.

"I'm sorry!" The man didn't try to fight the grip as Sephiroth threw a tiny Fire towards the oil lamp, lightening it.

"You are sorry? That's your name, is it?" He frowned at the little blonde in his grip, wondering where he'd seen the trooper before.

"No, no! I'm Cloud…Cloud Strife!" Terrified blue eyes looked down at him. "Zack was…Zack had to go check on a guard post, said he wouldn't be back all night, said I should keep you company so you would be able to sleep…."

He trailed away as furious eyes fixed him, but Sephiroth felt his anger drain away quickly.

"I know you." He said slowly. "You are Zack's project."

"His friend."

"Hm." He did have an important day in front of him tomorrow. He really needed some sleep. And he'd got very used to having a warm little body in bed. "Do you snore?"

The trooper smiled, hesitantly.

"Not as bad as Zack does."

"Good enough." He pulled the trooper down again, rearranging him comfortably on his chest. The blonde sighed contently and snuggled up, falling asleep with the quickness of a true Soldier. The familiar feeling of hair tickling him, made Sephiroth sleepy as well.

"When did it become decided I need a teddy bear to sleep?" he muttered, but adjusted the trooper a bit more comfortable.

At least this one didn't snore quite as bad.