This story is for Kitsuchi-chan on deviart.

Zack had an unusual fondness for Easter; Cloud couldn't understand why Zack had bought five dozen eggs for them to decorate. They didn't have any little kids to play Easter Bunny with and they wouldn't be able to eat all of the eggs by themselves. Cloud supposed he could hand them out to the other infantrymen at the barracks, but they would probably get sloshed and throw them at things instead of eating them and then Zack would be devastated. Cloud didn't want that; a devastated Zack was a Zack that sat on the sofa and watched sad movies with a box of tissues and no dignity.

Cloud hadn't been allowed to participate in the Easter festivities yet. It wasn't that he didn't have the time, all Shinra employees had been given time off to celebrate with their families and friends; the problem was that Zack was hogging all the decorating and preparing to himself. Cloud wasn't mad about it, he wasn't exactly looking forward to having his fingers dyed fifteen different colors by the messy dyes they would have to use to color the eggs, but being included would be nice.

If Cloud tapped his fingers against the top of Zack's table much more then he was going to wear the finish off the wood. He was getting bored waiting on Zack to show up with the rest of the supplies. Cloud had five cartons of eggs sitting in front of him, mocking him with their pearly white outsides, and he was going to start smashing them soon if he had to keep waiting. Finally the door opened and Zack waltzed in with plastic bags dangling from his wrists. Cloud looked up, relieved to have a respite from the crushing boredom and silence. "Are you ready now?"

Zack nodded and shut the door, kicking his shoes off happily. "Yup! I got everything we'll need!" Zack dumped a bag full of elaborately patterned ties, white tablecloths, and vinegar onto the table with a smug grin.

Cloud looked at the ties in disbelief, "Are you high?"

"Nope! We're using these to decorate! Have you never done silk eggs before?" Zack rushed to his junk drawer and started pawing around for scissors.

"No. What are we doing with the ties and vinegar?" Cloud started poking through ties curiously, eyebrows cocked.

"You'll see! First I need scissors…Have you seen them?" Zack frowned as he sifted through his junk drawer.

Cloud looked a paisley tie over curiously. "They were on your computer desk. You were trying to cut paper eggs, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Zack rushed to his desk and pulled out his scissors, going back to the table.

"Don't run with scissors, Zack. You'll stab yourself." Cloud stroked his fingers over the fabric of the ties, relishing the softness.

"I won't stab myself! I'm careful!" Zack sat by Cloud and started cutting the ties into pieces, tugging a few of the prettier patterned ones out from under Cloud's hands.

Cloud watched Zack cut in confusion. "So you bought a bunch of ties just so you can cut them up? Aren't silk ties expensive?"

"Not when they're silk ties you got for free from Reno because he refuses to wear them. Tseng and Rufus keep giving them to him for Christmas and birthdays and whatnot and he saves them for me so I can dye my eggs with them on Easter." Zack cut happily, careful of his fingers.

"Shouldn't you be encouraging him to wear them? Aren't ties part of Turk uniform?" Cloud took the scraps from Zack as he finished cutting them.

"What do I care if he wears his uniform the right way? That's his problem, not mine!" Zack hummed and chopped the ties apart, eager to get started.

"So what are we doing with these? You're cutting them up like you want to make a quilt or something." Cloud toyed with the edges of the ties, watching Zack curiously.

"Wrap the pieces around the eggs, colored side touching the egg, and tie it on." Zack sliced ties happily, deciding to let Cloud do the fun part. He had been selfishly hogging all the Easter festivities and it was time he let Cloud have some fun too.

Cloud nodded and did as he was told, tying pieces of tie around eggs carefully. It was a little harder than he thought it would be, the eggs weren't fond of being wrapped up, but between Zack and himself they got all the eggs covered in cloth. Zack then cut up the tablecloths, and they wrapped the already wrapped eggs in that too. Cloud was pretty confused, especially once Zack started boiling a few pots of water with a bunch of vinegar in them, but Zack was happy so he didn't mind being confused.

Zack watched the cutely confused look on Cloud's face with amusement as they boiled the eggs. He was eager to see what Cloud would do once they started un-wrapping the eggs; it was always fun to see someone's reaction after their first silk egg dye.

Finally the timer went off and they were able to strain the eggs out of the water, putting them in a huge bowl of ice water. Zack wanted to un-wrap them right away, but they burnt his fingers and he decided the ice-water would be a good idea to cool them off the fastest. Cloud kissed his burnt fingertips gently while they waited and Zack thought of new reasons to like Easter as much as he did. He pressed Cloud against the counter and kissed him, deciding that they had more than enough time to have a make-out session before the eggs cooled. Cloud's elbow dipped into the bowl of ice-water as Zack pressed him against the counter and he yelped into Zack's mouth, nearly knocking the bowl over. Zack quickly righted the bowl and laughed, kissing Cloud gently. "Trying to tell me something?"

"Yeah, trying to tell you the water is freezing!" Cloud shivered and wiped the water off his arm, kissing back gently as Zack nibbled at his lips.

"I think you're trying to tell me the eggs are cool enough." Zack hummed and stroked his hands over Cloud's sides, "We should unwrap them before we get too carried away."

Cloud nodded and shivered slightly as Zack's hands roamed his sides. "Start unwrapping then." He rolled his eyes as Zack tugged on his shirt, pushing the brunette's hands down. "Not me, the eggs!"

Zack chuckled and kisses Cloud's forehead, reaching into the water and pulling out an egg. "Whatever you say, Cloud. Grab an egg and we'll unwrap together. This is a special moment."

Cloud rolled his eyes and turned around, grabbing an egg out of the bowl. He peeled off the sodden, vinegar stinking silk and gaped. The paisley pattern on the tie with all its swirls and dots; had been perfectly imprinted onto the side of the egg. On the back of the egg, where the tie had been bunched and fastened to the egg, the pattern swirled with colors and blotches. Zack laughed at him as he eagerly unwrapped more eggs, needing to see how many other patterns they had made.

Once they were done they placed their eggs back inside the cartons, smiling with pride. Cloud turned to Zack, an anxious look on his face. "I don't want to eat these. They're too pretty. What do we do with them?"

Zack clapped Cloud on the shoulder gently. "The first shell is always the hardest, but eventually breaking them won't hurt so badly. We're going to make a shit load of egg salad with them. Don't worry; we don't have to do it today. We can spend today looking up other recipes for boiled eggs so we don't spend the next week barfing up eggs."

"What do you mean, 'we'? You can eat all the egg salad you want, I'm not the one whose fridge is going to stink if those eggs don't get eaten." Cloud pouted with his arms over his chest. He didn't want to break the eggs at all. They were works of art.

Zack hugged Cloud and kissed his cheek. "Don't get so attached. They're only eggs, Cloud. I was the same way when I dyed eggs like this for the first time. Mom said I hid all the eggs in my room so we couldn't eat them. She found them a few weeks later. It's not pretty when an egg, boiled or not, sits at room temperature for a few weeks. It's not pretty at all."

Cloud shuddered and nuzzled Zack. "Can we wait a bit to eat them, though? I don't want to just yet. I want to enjoy them for awhile first."

"Course we're not eating them yet. We've got other plans for dinner anyways. Tseng invited us to his place. He's making a traditional Easter dinner and knows he can't finish it by himself. He said he needed a few garbage disposals to take care of all the food so it wouldn't sit in his fridge and rot."

"Did he really call us garbage disposals or was that you?" Cloud raised an eyebrow; what Zack had just said sounded very un-Tseng-like.

Zack grinned, "No, that was Reno in the background. We could take them some of our eggs; I'm sure Tseng will like them."

Cloud nodded and grabbed a carton of the beautiful eggs from the fridge. "Alright, we can let Tseng break them for us. Maybe Reno will make it easier by vandalizing something with them."

"Don't give him any ideas. Remember what happened last time I gave him an idea?" They shuddered in unison at the memory. "He can't take a joke, he makes everything literal."

Cloud nodded and looked at the eggs they were going to take with them. "Should we go now and see if Tseng wants help getting everything ready?"

Zack looked at his watch and nodded, walking to the door and shoving his feet in his shoes. "Sure, get your shoes on and we'll head out."

"Alright." Cloud pulled his shoes on and grabbed his jacket off of the back of Zack's chair, slipping it over his shoulders.

Zack tossed an arm over Cloud's shoulders and pulled him outside, locking the door behind them. "Happy Easter, Cloud."

"Happy Easter, Zack." Cloud smiled and snuggled up to Zack as they walked to Tseng's, enjoying the light spring breeze playing over their faces.