Puppy love

President ShinRa is dead along with his legitimate heir, and Sephiroth and Zack suddenly finds themselves in the position of President and Vice-President of the mighty ShinRa company. Only, Zack develops an insecurity complex.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy. I only love the character Sephiroth.

"I'm Zack Fair. The one and only."

Zack assures himself for the hundredth time since he woke up. He has been doing just that all morning, during his squats, during his breakfast, during his shower, and during his trip to the President's Office. Admittedly, it was a little hard to talk out loud while trying to woof down his breakfast pancakes, but he was determined to repeat that mantra, followed by "I'm strong, funny, gorgeous, and smart. I'm every man and woman's dream, including Sephiroth's."

It still doesn't make him feel better.

Ever since he became the Vice President purely by the virtue of being the former General's Second in Command, Zack has been suffering an anxiety of sort and it seems getting worse with each passing day.

The raven-haired youth huffs at his own feelings of inadequacy as his superior's office, heavily guarded by the Turks, comes into sight.

He's been ridiculously hard on himself. So what if he knows nothing of politics? It's not as if he has been trained to become a politician. It only takes a little time to learn the subject, anyway. Just look at Sephiroth, who quickly adapted to his new role and is reigning over the mighty ShinRa as if he was born into it. Zack himself is good at learning, just a bit slower than Sephiroth. He is going to catch up with it all in no time. OK, perhaps not so quickly, but it's not as though the company is in serious danger. And if it is, he is going to lead the army and crush down any opposition to Sephiroth's regime.

How lucky is it that ShinRa has a prominent Soldier such as himself as a Vice President? They were so confident in his strength that they didn't even provide bodyguards for him, when Sephiroth was followed by at least five Turks every time he went anywhere outside the building. Ha!

Besides, he is the only one in the entire company who knew how to communicate with Sephiroth. He looks after the President's emotional wellbeing like no other does and knows just what makes the stoic man tick. Everyone thinks he is just boisterous, over-friendly, good-natured and clueless. They have no idea how perceptive one must be to be around the ex-General without pissing him off past the tolerance threshold. His sensitivity and diplomatic ability has been hugely with capital H underestimated.

In short, He is immensely good for Sephiroth, and therefore perfectly suited to the role of a Vice President. Yes?

But isn't that the role of a wife or a family rather than that of a Vice President? The pessimistic Zack makes a timid observation.

Nah! The optimistic Zack brushes the scepticism aside. He really has had enough of all this depressing talk from the side he didn't even know existed in himself. Sephiroth has no wife or family. So, he needs his closest subordinate to be someone perceptive, helpful and just plain amazing, and I just happen to fit the bill. No need to worry about him replacing me with some upstart who knows nothing about him.

Then, why is he spending less and less time with you?

Zack's shoulders droop ever so slightly. Why is it that his Sephiroth has been spending more time with the board members and the Turks lately? Has he been really that useless?

"Needs advice on how to keep your man, yo?"

Reno's teasing voice pulls the Soldier out of his musings, and Zack finds three pairs of eyes focused on him with an expression of something between pity and amusement. He seems to have been standing in front of the door for Gaia knows how long, his hand uncertainly hovering over the doorknob.

Zack immediately straightens himself, flashing his trademark grin. He will not show his dejected feelings in front of the Turks; he has his Soldier pride to think of. So what if Sephiroth has been neglecting him just a bit? He can turn this to his advantage. He is Zack Fair, after all. They will all see how important he is to Sephiroth.

"Thank you for the offer, pretty, but I've got everything under control."

Ignoring the sniggers behind him, Zack throws the door open and walks into the room, or rather bounces into the room, to prove his point once and for all. He will show the Turks that he still has Sephiroth securely wrapped around his little finger.

"Sephiroth," Zack calls out pleadingly, his expression the look of a lovesick puppy to compliment his tone.

Sephiroth slightly lifts up his head, his cool gaze meeting and holding Zack's I-want-something-badly gaze. Zack immediately becomes suspicious. Something is not right; Sephiroth learned not to look at him when he uses the imploring tone. Not that Sephiroth gave in to his requests as often as like Angeal did, but every rejection made the icy ex-General feel slightly uneasy. And a request made after two or three such rejections was bound to be the winner.

This is not good. Zack sighs, his pessimism returning like a hateful stalker. Then, he notices Sephiroth's right hand is not placed on the desk. It is buried in white fur of an animal that looks like…

a puppy?

No, that can't be right. It's just plain wrong for Sephiroth to have a puppy other than Zack on his lap. Only one puppy is needed in every household, especially when the said household has his President in it. Besides, he wanted to lay his head on that very lap while coaxing Sephiroth onto the next level of their relationship – public declaration of their love.

"What is it?" Sephiroth asks, returning his gaze to the paperwork on his desk and scratching the back of the puppy's ear affectionately. Tseng was right; having the real puppy around taught him a lot about how not to give in Zack's puppy expressions and still feel fine about it. Whatever Zack is going to ask, Sephiroth himself will have to like it before granting a favour. It also taught him that being manipulative could co-exist with loyalty. Zack's loyal disposition always made it hard for Sephiroth to believe he had been somehow manipulated by the bouncy mostly happy Soldier. Now, he has no trouble believing it.

"What is the puppy doing here?"

Did he just detect a slight panic in Zack's voice? Sephiroth suppresses an urge to smile; Zack is too perceptive to miss even the tiniest twitch of his lips.

"You don't sound too pleased. Thought you loved puppies?"

"Well, you don't," Zack points out, pouting slightly. "You said having just one puppy was more than enough for you."

"Tseng convinced me of the benefits of interacting with a real pup," Sephiroth replies, pretending not to notice Zack's unhappiness. "He's lent me his family pet for a day, and so far I enjoyed the presence of a quiet puppy for a change. This one seems to understand when to go to sleep."

No need to tell Zack the puppy went to sleep just before he came in.

"So, he is not going to stay?"

"No, but don't tell me you are jealous of a puppy," Sephiroth says smoothly, abandoning his paperwork to enjoy his subordinate's expressive face.

"Well, you know I've been feeling kinda out of place for a while. You sure you didn't make a mistake, making me a Vice President and all?"

"I don't make mistakes, Zack."

"Really?" Normally, Zack would have been content with Sephiroth's calm reassurance. But he's been not quite his optimistic self for a while, so he is happy fishing for some kind of compliments about how awesome he really is. "I don't think many see me as Vice President material."

"Exactly. With you being my successor, no one in ShinRa will dream of replacing me."

Well, that's a good enough reason to… no, wait… did he just imply what the pessimistic me had been trying to tell me all along?

"Thank you for boosting my confidence, man," Zack retorts, throwing death glares towards his superior. Sephiroth can be so insensitive to his feelings. Sometimes, he really is at a loss for what he sees in the arrogant and uncaring man. Granted, the silver-haired man is strikingly beautiful, undisputedly strong, magnificent in battle and incredibly talented in bed. Not to mention his deep velvety voice hypnotises and seduces his victims with ease. But, still… "You just know how to make me feel oh so loved."

Sephiroth raises one elegant eyebrow at Zack's uncharacteristic response. The raven-haired youth would have normally laughed at his jokes, however dry or sarcastic they were. It never occurred to him that Zack would be genuinely suffering from feelings of inadequacy. He just thought the boy was trying to harvest sympathy to pave a road to his real goal. Like getting himself transferred to a position of less responsibility and more action. Can it be that the brilliant Sephiroth was wrong?

"Would you rather have the puppy on your lap so that you can have mine, Zack?"

One of the things Sephiroth loves about Zack is that it is so easy to make him happy. His Second cannot brood for long, even if his life depends on it. Stroking the unruly spiky hair of his no-longer-sullen lover, Sephiroth has an uncanny feeling that, despite all his chats with Tseng and his understanding of how puppies' minds work in general, he will probably end up giving in to Zack's demands yet again.