I own nothing.
As an alarm went off at 6:00 in the morning, Zack Fair jumped out of bed and rushed to the calendar that hanged on the wall.
"Its June 26th," Zack cried, jumping in excitement, "todays the day I turn 17."
Zack quickly got dressed and raced out to the kitchen. He saw his mentor, Angeal, making bacon and eggs for breakfast.
"Morning Angeal," Zack greeted cheerfully, "you know what today is?"
Angeal looked up confused.
"Its Tuesday?"
"Yes but is there anything else?" Zack asked, motioning Angeal to go on, "anything else important?"
Angeal started to think about the question and shook his head.
"Nothing that I know of," said Angeal, putting the eggs on two plates and setting them on the table, "now come and eat your breakfast."
Zack complied sadly. After eating breakfast, Zack went down to the gym and found his friend Cloud training.
"Cloud," Zack called, causing Cloud to drop the training sword.
"Hello Zack," Cloud called, walking towards his friend, "how's your morning been?"
"Same as usual," said Zack, smiling widely, "but it'll get better. Do you know what today is?"
"Other than it being Tuesday?" said Cloud, thinking for a minute, "no."
Zack's mood darkened slightly.
"Oh," said Zack, his face dropping the smile.
"Why?" Cloud asked, "is there something important?"
Zack wanted to yell, "Yes! My 17th birthday!", but he didn't. Instead, he shook his head 'no' and offered to help Cloud train, which Cloud accepted with delight. Zack and Cloud trained 'till about 10:30 because Cloud had a class to go to. Zack decided to go down the cafeteria to grab a little snack. While he was walking down the hallway, he ran into Angeal's friend Genesis.
"Hey Genesis," Zack greeted, "how has your day been so far?"
"Good I guess," said Genesis with a shrug, "and you?"
"Ok," said Zack, hoping that Genesis will remember his birthday, "do you know what day it is?"
Genesis opened his mouth to speak but Zack cut in.
"Other than it being Tuesday."
Genesis thought about it for a moment then shook his head 'no'.
"Nope," said Genesis, before walking down the hallway, "nothing comes to mind."
Zack's eyes were watering as he walked slowly down the hallway and made his way to the cafeteria. By the time he got there, it was almost 11:30, so the room was just starting to fill up. Zack got into the line and looked at the glop that the cafeteria ladies were putting on everybody's trays. To him, it looked like mystery meat. Not very appetizing. Zack paid for his food and sat down at a random table. He played with his food silently until he heard a voice.
"I thought Angeal was making your lunches now."
Zack looked up and saw Sephiroth holding a brown bag.
"He is but today I ran out before he could give me a lunch bag," Zack answered, sadly looking back at his food.
Sephiroth smirked before pulling out another bag and gave it to Zack.
"When I was going to my office, I ran into Angeal and he told me that if I saw you, I was to give you this," said Sephiroth, sitting down with his own lunch bag.
Zack pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bag of chips, an apple, a chocolate chip cookie, and a bottle of water.
"Thank you," said Zack with food in his mouth.
"Your welcome and don't talk with your mouth full," said Sephiroth before taking a bite of his own sandwich.
"Seph, do you know what today is?" Zack asked, carefully and hopefully, "because it is important."
Zack inwardly smirked. Sephiroth never forgot an important date. NEVER.
"No, I'm pretty sure nothing important happens today," said Sephiroth, after thinking for a minute or so.
Tears rolled down Zack's cheeks. Even Sephiroth forgot his birthday. Zack put his food back into the bag.
"Where are you going?" Sephiroth asked as Zack got up and began leaving.
"Nowhere," Zack snapped.
Zack began running after he got into the hallway, dropping his lunch bag. Zack continued to run until he found an empty bathroom. He sat on the floor and began crying. He sat there crying for at least 20 minutes. Zack heard his PHS going off and looked at the caller ID. It was Angeal. Zack glared at the phone and threw it at the bathroom door. It didn't break, thankfully. He would have to pay for a new PHS.
"This sucks," muttered Zack, hiccuping, "I can't believe my four friends forgot my birthday."
He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost 12:40.
"I better get back to work," Zack muttered to himself.
Then, Zack washed his face in the sink and got himself together. The rest of the day consisted of signing paper work and doing some of his own training. At 3:30, he heard his watch go off.
"I can go home now," said Zack with an un-Zack like voice, "maybe I could pick up a cupcake for myself before going home."
Just before Zack could get to the door, a cadet came up to him and gave him a few papers.
"What are these for?" Zack asked, confused.
"Commander Hewley told me that you have to read through and sign these," said the cadet, saluting him, "he said that it would take you about 2 hours."
Zack sighed and dismissed the cadet. He began walking to his office.
At Zack and Angeal's apartment
"I feel bad for pretending to forget Zack's birthday," said Cloud, handing Genesis a balloon to hang up, "he looked so hurt."
"I felt bad lying to him too, Cloud," said Angeal, trying to put up the banner they had painted, "but it'll be all worth it in the end."
"Yeah, once I thought Angeal and Sephiroth forgot my birthday and it turned out they were planning a party for me," said Genesis, hanging up a balloon.
"I remember the look on his face when we surprised him," said Sephiroth, smiling fondly, "it was hilarious."
"I also remember the gift you gave me," said Genesis.
"What was it?" Cloud asked, handing Genesis another balloon.
"It was a whoopy cushion," Genesis muttered, blushing with embarrassment.
Cloud, Angeal, and Sephiroth started laughing.
"Then I gave him his real gift which was a Loveless movie in his favorite rendition," said Sephiroth, climbing down the ladder he had used to help Angeal put up the banner.
"My gift was a basket filled with dumbapples," said Angeal, also climbing down his ladder on the other side.
"I hope Zack likes my gift," said Cloud, handing Genesis one more balloon.
"I just hope he likes the party," said Sephiroth, helping Genesis put up more balloons.
"Well, we can dwell on that later, we still have work to do," said Angeal, taking out the ingredients for a cake, "Cloud, do you want to help me make the cake?"
"Yes sir," said Cloud, bouncing over to Angeal.
At Zack's office at 5:30 pm
"Last one," Zack sighed.
Zack signed the paper and put it with the others. He looked at the clock and sighed. Zack decided to skip the cupcake and go home.
"I'll make myself a nice dinner the way my mother used to," said Zack as he left his office.
Zack made his way to his and Angeal's apartment. With his enhanced hearing, Zack heard feet shuffling and some hushed voices.
"Zack's coming," whispered Angeal.
"Quick hide," whispered Cloud.
Zack was confused.
"What's going on?" Zack asked, putting his key into the lock.
He opened the door and found the lights out.
"Angeal, Cloud," Zack called out, "what's going on?"
Zack turned on the lights.
"SURPRISE!" Angeal, Cloud, Genesis, and Sephiroth shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZACK!"
Zack jumped in shock. He smiled big and had tears of joy rolling down his cheeks.
"You guys really did remember," said Zack, bringing everyone in for a group hug.
"We would never forget your birthday Zack," said Cloud.
"We're sorry if we hurt your feelings before," said Angeal, "but we had to pretend we forgot so you wouldn't suspect anything."
"Thank you guys so much," said Zack, smiling big and looking around the room, "it looks great."
"Let's get this party started," shouted Genesis, getting excited.
After Zack opened up his gifts, which consisted of a Loveless book(Genesis), a sword dictionary(Sephiroth), a cooking book for bachelors(Angeal), and a history book about Nibelheim(Cloud), Angeal brought out the cake. It was shaped like a buster sword but had Zack's favorite colors, which were blue and gold, and 'Happy Birthday, Zack' in black frosting. Seventeen candles were on it, ready to be lit. Sephiroth turned off the lights as Angeal got out a lighter and lit the candles.
"Happy Birthday to you," Angeal, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Cloud sang, off key, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Zachary, Happy Birthday to you."
"And many more," added Cloud.
Zack laughed and blew out the candles. The First Class SOLDIERs and cadet clapped and turned on the lights. Angeal got out a knife and five forks while Genesis got out the plates. They ate the cake as they joked and chatted. Then they continued to talk and joke with one another until it was late. Sephiroth, Genesis, and Cloud went home and Angeal and Zack got themselves ready for bed.
It was 11:30 when Zack got into bed. Before Angeal went to bed, he went to Zack's room. He saw Zack fast asleep. He leaned near Zack's ear.
"Happy Birthday, Zack," Angeal whispered.