A/N: People troll Cloud all the time, not so for Zack. Thus I have created a fic entirely dedicated to massively trolling him. Blamo. Forewarning: it will start out a little heavy and then degrade from there. So, I'm in a state of not give a shit mode because I'm more than a little bedridden with fever, so this probably isn't as refined and edited as it should be. Feel free to call me out on it. Also title may be subject to change.
Chapter 1: Pizza Night
Today was the absolute best day of the week, hands down. It was pizza night. Technically it was pizza, movie, popcorn, chocolate, and sex night. But it was easier to just call it pizza night.
Zack had only been with Sephiroth less than a year. Being in SOLDIER left little wiggle room and free time in their schedules, they were rarely able to meet up and just be together. That's where pizza night came in. It was any old day of the week that they both happened to be free, where Zack would show Seph the finer points of bad eating and b movies, and – more often than not – have a nice roll around the bed.
Pizza night was also the only day that the silver general allowed Zack to enter his apartment alone. So he came early. An array of pizza boxes, unpronounceable and suspicious beverages, and a pile of movies were waiting on the table. Zack had gathered them all, as usual, from friends' suggestions. He had never tried any of the food or seen any of the movies; and he always enjoyed sharing something new with Sephiroth. There was this zolom pizza that looked extra weird, and he couldn't wait to see how his lover's face when he told him what they were eating tonight. However...
Time was beginning to wane by and Zack only glanced at the clock.
Seph was late.
The SOLDIER Third tapped his feet, trying to keep from fidgeting too much. The general should be back soon, he told himself. There was no reason to burn up his energy doing squats either, pizza night always lasted a while and he had to be ready for anything.
Seph had told him he might be late today, something about being at the labs. All SOLDIER got routine mako injections, but Seph always seemed to get hit hard by them. Once or twice he had even canceled their date. As much as he had wanted to claw his way in to look after his lover those few times, Zack had obliged and let pizza night fall through. But, that didn't mean that Zack always wanted to cancel pizza night. Those few times he had been so worried out of his mind for Sephiroth that he ended up actually getting work done. Angeal had been suspicious, but impressed.
On some level, Zack knew that Sephiroth didn't trust him. But, it wasn't the silver general's fault: he didn't trust anyone. But, the thought that his lover couldn't trust him just made his heart ache. Seph never let anyone in, he never showed his weaknesses or vulnerabilities; it was just something he didn't do. Maybe Zack wasn't trustworthy yet, but he knew that he would always be at Seph's side. Maybe, one day in the future, Zack would be allowed to see that hidden side of his. Hi might even be able to nurse Seph back to health after a trip from the labs. If he didn't say so himself, Zack thought he looked pretty sexy in a nurse uniform. That was practically reason enough.
The door slid open, breaking Zack's train of thought. The teen smiled and turned in his seat with a greeting on his lips.
Sephiroth stood there, in all his glory. His hair looked beautiful as ever. Zack knew from experience that it was soft and fluffy and never tangled. And his day-to-day button-down business casual looked impeccable as ever, tantalizingly good, and Zack had to keep from reaching over and ripping it off. There was a strict rule against that, after all. Sephiroth's wardrobe had taken a beating from Zack's teenage hormones and the general didn't want to get more shirts. The teen twitched his fingers and dug them into the couch, silently obeying the unspoken rule, and continued to drink in the sight of his lover.
But, Zack noticed that there was something amuck in all the silver general's glory. Seph looked downright haggard. Those shoulders, usually sharp with tension, were slumped. It was as if they were burdened with something impossibly heavy and it was dragging him to the floor. Never before had Zack seen his lover so exhausted. The situation was strange, baffling, worrying – and all the teen wanted to do was run up and push all that invisible weight off Seph's shoulders.
"Welcome home." Zack smiled. His greeting came out quieter than what he had planned hours ago, but the mood felt wrong for something like spraying soda and cushions. "Feel hungry at all?"
Sephiroth stood there a moment, just staring ahead without acknowledging him. And for that moment, the teen didn't know what to make of the expression his lover wore. In the months they had spent together, Zack learned a variety of Sephiroth's expressions – ranging from his dreamy bedroom eyes, the way he would crinkle his nose in distaste, and that way he set his jaw when he was about to stab someone. In fact, he was so adept at it that Angeal had even begun to defer to his student's Seph-reading knowledge. But this... this one was completely unfamiliar.
It was blank. Most people considered Sephiroth's default expression to be one of blankess. But Zack knew that behind it's neutrality, his eyes held a razor sharp focus. But this, this was nothing like the usual. It was blank in a way that was completely alien. There was no tension in Seph's shoulders, no set to his brows or light in is eye, and no tilt to his hand; his stance was narrow, small and fragile. It was... worrisome.
"Seph?"
The silver general blinked once. His eyes swiveled over to the couch, with an uncharacteristic slowness, as if he were barely awake. When their eyes met, Zack felt his breath hitch. Not because he saw despair, anger, or anything else in those eyes; he saw nothing at all.
The sound must have triggered something in his lover, for the man furrowed his brow and his eyes came into focus. "Zack?" That single word almost broke Zack's heart. It was the single weakest sound he had heard from Sephiroth. It was strained, quiet, unsure, and millions of other things that just terrified Zack to consider. So, he didn't.
Instead he stood from the couch and was immediately at his lover's side. "It's okay, Seph, I'm right here." Zack touched Sephiroth's cheeks. He hoped that simple action would keep Seph's eyes on him. It did.
"Zack?" But his voice didn't sound any more sure of itself, only lost and drowning.
"I'm here. See?" Zack rubbed a thumb across Sephiroth's cheeks, brushing away tears that weren't there. He wanted to do anything to get that expression off his face. "I'm right here with all the pizza we can eat. And after that we can pass out watching b movies. How's that sound? ...Or we could just hit the sack? I don't know about you but it's been a long day."
Sephiroth didn't reply. Instead his eyes fell in and out of focus as Zack stared into them. His lover's skin felt warmer than usual, but no sweat had beaded on his forehead. Despite the teen's efforts to remain calm, nervousness was crawling up his back.
Zack noticed a flicker of something pass in Seph's face. It was strange, as unfamiliar as the blankness that preceded it. Leaning back to see his lover more fully, Zack didn't realize that flicker of emotion was his warning. A hand gripped the back of his head, pulling his hair, and smashed their lips together. Zack yelped into the kiss, confused, and tried to wriggle away. But, an arm wrapped around his back, pulling him chest to chest with the silver general, and locking him there in a suffocating kiss.
And Planet was it a kiss. It was intense, hard, and dominating; Zack was relaxing into it easily. It was exactly what he never realized he needed and it was perfect. The teen let his arms slip from his lover's cheeks and around his shoulders, as if daring him to let go now.
The small, coherent part of Zack's brain tried to tell him that this was strange. As much as he liked spontaneous kissing, Seph's kisses never came out of nowhere. And that was somehow... confusing... but then Sephiroth shifted his leg, brushing his knee across Zack's thigh. Zack couldn't focus anymore. He was smashed up against Sephiroth's hard and firm everything and he was just seconds away from becoming a whimpering mass of goo. And then Seph growled into his mouth. The sound was just so... animalistic and predatorial, Zack almost fainted as he moaned in response.
It was so different and so hot. He didn't really know what to make of the mood Sephiroth was in. But, he couldn't bring himself to care. Not right now. Maybe later.
Zack felt the hand on the back of his head press him further into his lover's face. It was a little painful, and he could feel each finger flex as if in preparation to just squeeze the life out of his skull, but Zack found himself moaning into his lover's mouth. He was getting lost in their intense make out session. Nothing mattered anymore. Not Seph's weird mood, not the pizza, and definitely not any bruises he might wake up with.
At least, that was what Zack was thinking until something wet, sticky, tasting like fish, and definitely not a tongue entered his mouth. What in the Planet's name was that?!
The teen tried to pull away from Seph's face, tried to spit it out and get it out of him. But his lover simply growled and squeezed the back of Zack's head dangerously. Without really meaning to, Zack swallowed. And the thing was gone. But it wasn't gone, it was definitely thoroughly somewhere inside of him and he had no idea what it was. He wanted to vomit the disgusting whatever it was up.
As soon as he swallowed the strange thing, the hand on his head immediately loosened. Zack tried to pull back, feeling nauseated, but Sephiroth followed, firmly attached to his lips. The hard and fast kiss turned into gentler licks and nips. And, good gaia, Seph was purring. The rumbling sound that Zack had only heard in his wildest dreams just shut off all manner of coherent thought in his brain.
Thankfully, Zack managed enough coherency to pull Sephiroth into the bedroom before his clothes were viciously mauled.
A/N: If you want the smut that's associated with this chapter, check out this story on archiveofouown. You can find a link in my prof.