Never Have I Ever

by FFlove190

Zack and Sephiroth find themselves trapped and with nothing better to do. So they play a game to get to know each other. Z/S Fluff

A/N: I had this random plot bunny where Zack and Seph are trapped in a cliché and overused plot device, and then play Never Have I Ever. So I made it happen.

"Well, I think we're pretty good and trapped." Zack glanced back at Sephiroth, who was still assessing the mangle of debris on the other side of the space. There wasn't a whole lot to where they stood – a small pocket of undamaged floor with enough space to stand. It was more than a little claustraphobic.

The general made a humming noise and tilted his head in agreement. "Even if we destroyed this, there's no telling what could happen to the rest of the building. I'm pretty confident I could survive..."

"Yup. Pretty good and trapped." The younger SOLDIER perched on a rather sturdy looking piece of upended concrete. The motion kept him from thinking about the statement, just a little bit. After warily eying a winding metal that punctured the concrete – and looked far too sharp for his liking – he settled against it like it was an armrest. Not the most comfortable, but he wasn't getting stabbed by anything. Once he stopped moving, however, he started thinking again. "I wonder how the others are doing..."

The troop of thirty SOLDIER had known the mission was going to be a challenge – Sephiroth himself was assigned to it, after all. The briefing had said something about suspicious and strange monster activity. And... that's precisely what it was. There were things Zack had never even seen before crawling around down here. Weird, strange, and vicious things. SOLDIER was supposed to eradicate the threat and capture any suspicious persons. The monster population, for whatever reason, was just ridiculously powerful. Even Sephiroth had trouble. Sure, it was only the tiniest fraction of trouble, but that meant a shitstorm for Zack and everyone else.

Sephiroth shook his head. "They will be fine. As long as there aren't any other collapses like this one."

The words made Zack wince. In the process of searching for suspicious persons, they had indeed stumbled across the very definition of suspicious: a guy decked out in dragon horns and a lab coat. It almost looked cool, in a bizarre, bad movie villain kind of way. And, just like a bad movie, their encounter ended in an explosion. Unfortunately the explosion brought down maybe fifteen – or just one, Zack couldn't tell – of the floors above them. Thanks to the general's quick reflexes, both of them had managed to get out of the direct line of the fall. Zack didn't even complain about being grabbed by the collar. The weirdo scientist guy wasn't as lucky – he didn't have a badass general following him around – and his cackling self was buried.

Zack tried not to think about how many of his comrades could have also been crushed under the rubble.

"So... why are there so many sprawling underground labs nowadays?"

The silver-haired man turned at the question. "It's probably a lost ShinRa laboratory."

"Can labs get lost?" The younger couldn't really imagine the labs deep under ShinRa tower growing legs and just running away. But, maybe it wasn't too far out there. Hey, there were those weird ass man-eating houses in the slums that liked to trap and unsuspecting hobos in it's evil door-maws.

The general sighed. Thankfully it didn't have any edge of annoyance. "Every so often a scientist has been known to disappear during research. The research and facilities vanish with them."

That didn't make any sense. "But... how...? I mean, it's not like they move around or anything, right?"

"That is all the records show."

And the two settled into silence. Zack didn't mind silence, but this – this was an eerie one. His enhanced ears could pick up the sifting of dust and settling of rubble all around them and it disturbed him. It made him think about all of the people – his comrades and all of the bizarre scientists (and perhaps even their poor victims) – who might never escape from underneath the concrete.

The silence was like a gnawing at his core. He had to do something to make it stop. Zack found himself re-arranging himself on the rock; it didn't help. Sephiroth seemed perfectly content to just stand there, unphased. It was driving the young SOLDIER crazy. He looked anywhere and everywhere to get his mind of the unpleasant thoughts rising in his mind. But all he could see was rubble, more rubble, the remains of some sort of blood splattered on rubble, and Sephiroth. Nothing was calming him down.

"So... uh... you think we'll be able to figure a way out of this soon?" Zack crossed his arms across his chest and looked about nervously, jittering a leg.

"It's unlikely." The silver general cast a glance around the rubble. Zack watched his glowing eyes in the dark, hoping beyond hope that they had the answers. "If such a small explosion could bring down so many floors, any attempt to make our escape would probably bring down the rest." Zack felt himself go cold at the mere thought. Everyone dead and no escape. The general continued. "No one else should have been close enough to be caught up in the damage; but it's hard to judge how much damage was actually caused."

A little bit of the tension let up in Zack's stomach at the words. But he couldn't help but continue to fiddle nervously at his shirt. "We'll have to wait for a big rescue team?"

"So it seems."

Even though the tension was relieved, and even though he and the general were very much alive (and probably everyone else too), Zack couldn't suppress the groan that came out of his mouth.

"Ugh." Zack grimaced as he rubbed his arms, then scratched his head, fiddled with the hole in his pants, checked his materia slots... just anything. Zack hated waiting. Even on the best of days, he hated waiting. Sure, he could usually keep himself amused. But usually he wasn't out on the field, trapped in an underground cave-in worried about the fate of his comrades. Unable to keep still, and feeling the nervous energy crawl up him, Zack stood and began to do squats.

"Fair. Stop." Sephiroth raised a brow at him.

The younger froze mid-squat and turned over to the silver general. Why wasn't he allowed to do squats?

"We have limited air. It's unlikely that the ventilation network will reach us here."

Zack found himself staring at Sephiroth's bangs. They just... glowed in the darkness as much as his eyes. It was weird. He tried to focus on how pretty it looked and ignore the fact that the silver general had just told them that they could possibly suffocate while waiting for a rescue.

"Uh... how long do you think we'll last, sir?"

Sephiroth furrowed his brow. Somehow the action looked really dismayed. "It's hard to say. But we probably have upwards of three hours. In the best scenario, the mission will be completed and we'll be found."

"And..." Zack found himself almost choking on the words. "the worst case?"

"We'll assume the mission completed and break free ourselves."

Zack nodded. It sounded like the best plan – a lot better than suffocating to death. And even if he was worried, he knew they really didn't have any other choice."T-minus three hours to mission break rubble."

Despite his own laugh, Zack's attempt at humor wasn't well received by the general. The guy just stood there, impassive as ever. Not even blinking as the raven-haired man's laugh dwindled down into an awkward cough.

Over the course of what could have been hours, Zack tried sitting on various pieces of low-ground rubble. Just because he couldn't do squats didn't mean he was content to just hold perfectly still.

He didn't really feel like crawling around too high – the stuff looked mighty unstable what with all that sifty dust he could hear. He started trying the stuff over on what he deemed was the general's side of the pocket of undamaged space. The silver-haired man didn't seem to care much, just stood around as he always did. Unable to find a piece of concrete, plastic, or warped metal comfortable – or annoying – enough to distract him from his nervousness, Zack took to lying on the floor. But that was even more terrifying. Every vibration in the building was amplified, every shift of the concrete around them. Without bidding, his imagination conjured up images of his friends, his comrades, trying desperately to escape falling slabs.

This wasn't working. Zack sat up with a huff. He needed to keep himself distracted; and he couldn't do squats. He needed to talk.

Sephiroth didn't seem like the most sociable person; he seemed like one of those people who just worked carefully at his own pace, internally noting and reacting. That and the SOLDIER didn't really know his general well; in fact, he have only really met Angeal. Zack had seen the silver general from afar once, and all over the recruitment posters and ShinRa propaganda, but there wasn't much else he knew. Well, that is if he didn't ccount weird life story rumors from his fanclub. The youth didn't know if he would get knocked unconscious for what he was about to do; but being unconscious for the next few hours or so hours sounded pretty pleasant compared to sitting around waiting for rescue.

"Hey, general." At the call, a pair of cat eyes immediately snapped to Zack. They bore into him as if daring him to speak. That didn't make him uncomfortable at all.

"Yes, Fair?" Sephiroth didn't sound any more perturbed than the last time they had spoken. That was, in it's own way, pretty relieving.

"Can we do something to pass the time. Like play a game or something?" When his words were met with a silent stare, Zack found himself awkwardly scratching his head. "I'm kinda stressin' out here."

Those calculating eyes regarded him for the longest time, unblinking – just staring. And then they blinked, very slowly, like a cat that was slowly starting to relax. "Very well."

"Really!" Before he could help himself Zack jumped to his feet. "That's great! I mean – this is great. I know exactly which game we should play. Here. Come on, pull up some rubble and take a seat."

The raven-haired man didn't know what to make of his superior's expression, so he just assumed it was amused. Quietly, the general settled onto a chunk of concrete not too far from where Zack had plopped himself back down, cross-legged on the floor. To be fair, in a space no larger than about six feet in either direction, everywhere was pretty close.

"Okay. So." Zack felt himself bouncing in excitement. "Let's play Never Have I Ever."

Sephiroth quirked a brow. But he said nothing, simply waited for an explanation. Maybe he wasn't, but Zack took the silence as his cue to launch into one. Most people knew how to play the game – it had been popular in the barracks and back in the cadet dorms – but just in case the general needed a refresher.

"It's like super easy to play. All you do is hold up your hands like this," Zack held his up in demonstration with his fingers spread widely. "We take turns saying something that we've never done. Like, 'never have I ever eaten a cat.'" Sephiroth only lifted a brow and Zack smiled back. The expression on his superior's face almost looked like amusement. "And if the other person has done it, they put one of their fingers down. The person who still has fingers up wins."

Sephiroth considered Zack for a while longer. "So the object of this game is to get the other person to put down all of their fingers?"

"Yup!" Zack said the word a little loudly and it echoed. He winced at the sound it made, especially the way it seemed to unsettle the debris around them. Sephiroth made a quiet humming noise. "Does it all make sense, sir?" At the generals nod, the teen smiled brightly. "Alright, I'll go first..."

Ten leather clad digits hung in the air and Zack had to keep from bouncing all over the floor at the thought of playing a game with the General Sephiroth.

"Never have I ever dyed my hair." Zack smiled brightly and looked expectantly at Sephiroth's hands. But they didn't move. Instead, he was rewarded with a strange stare from his general. "You mean... that's natural? I mean, it's like silver and not in a gray way and not in a blonde way either. No way it's real."

There was a slight curl on the man's lip, but it could have been a trick of the mako-eyelit darkness. It was gone as quickly as it had come. Like a twitch. "It's been this way since my birth."

"Huh. Whoudda thunk." Zack just absently stared at the ethereal tendrils. He had always assumed that his silver hair was dyed. It became a huge fad to dye hair silver after the general became ShinRa's poster boy. Zack wondered if all of his body hair was also silver. "Your turn!"

The silver general nodded. He must have already loaded up his arsenal because he didn't even blink. "Never have I ever been trained by Angeal."

For a moment, Zack had to choke down his own amused giggles at hearing Sephiroth actually say the words. It sounded so bizarre hearing the stoic, badass, general Sephiroth say 'never have I ever.' But then he registered what exactly had been said. "Maaaan." He put a finger down with a pout. The loss of one finger didn't seem to matter that much when he considered that he was doing battle with his general. "But you guys like... don't train together?"

"Being trained by and training with are two very different things, Fair."

Zack hummed thoughtfully. "That makes sense. You guys are like equals." The teen trailed off for a moment, and he was reminded of the quiet. Shaking off his thoughtful mood, Zack dived right back into his game-playing one. He knew exactly what to go for next. It had been bothering him for weeks. "Never have I ever stolen a truck."

Zack, once again, looked expectantly over at Sephiroth who, again, merely arched a brow. Ten fingers remained up.

"Aw c'mon! You totally stole that truck last month. You threw the driver out and everything."

Zack almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Sephiroth's eyes crinkle in obvious amusement. "I simply commandeered a vehicle."

"Riiight. Like you even needed to take it when you would've caught up to the guy just by running after him. You accelerate faster than a motorcycle! Besides you totaled it and never even gave back the scraps."

"It was compensated."

"Yeah. That basically means stolen. What if that guy loved his... whatever kind of truck it was. You have no idea. Maybe he raised chocobos in the back or had a super important porn collection under his seats and you just destroyed it – the truck and all those happy smiley memories."

Sephiroth released a long sigh. Thankfully, this one didn't sound agitated either. "Fine." And one finger went down.

Zack almost started jumping up in down in victory. But he reminded himself of the situation he was in and smothered the bubbling feeling. He settled for a smile.

The general waited until the teen calmed down some and took his turn. "Never have I ever had 23 misdemeanors on my record."

"What?" Zack found himself growing a large pout. It was kind of a low blow in to pull shit from someone's record. In Zack's opinion, this game was supposed to be about finding out about each other; not dredging up information from their ShinRa records. But the teen had a nagging feeling that this might have been the first time that Sephiroth played it, so he would forgive, forget, and play along. "Seriously. There's no way I have that many."

"With your latest fiasco with Reno," Zack winced, remembering the exploding pies. It had seemed like such a good idea before they did it. "that makes your total 23."

"Haha. Well..." Zack put down his second finger. Cleaning his throat, Zack tried to figure out a good follow-up. But it was a challenge.

It was always easy to go in the sexual direction with this game, but the teen didn't know if that would be terribly appropriate with the general. He also didn't want to do anything too offensive in his quest to get to know the man. But then, only the obvious thing could come to mind. No matter how many thinking sounds he made, nothing else came. "Here goes nothing. Never have I ever been a general."

Sephiroth gave Zack the most amused look yet. He crinkled his eyes and lifted his brows just so. Without a single word, the general put down a second finger. Zack felt a bit embarrassed about making a low blow like that and laughed awkwardly.

Not staying silent for long, the general took his turn. "Never have I ever used a lightening materia in the middle of the server room."

Zack groaned and fell back on the broad of his sword. Of course that would get brought up. Not the prettiest or best decision he had made. "That was totally a mistake. I mean, I just, and – you have no idea how large that rat was, Sephiroth. It like had three heads. I swear it was going to eat me! I just... got really stupid about it." Zack quietly put down another finger, already down to seven.

Sephiroth smiled across from him. Well, it wasn't quite a smile, but there was something in the way he tilted his head just so that it looked like that. It was something both amused and not, almost calm and gentle. "I remember your report quite vividly."

Zack groaned again and curled in on himself. He had forgotten that the general had been there – in fact, all three of them had been there. Well, he had crippled a large portion of ShinRa out of his sheer terror reaction... The teen shifting himself up and shook his head, lightly slapping his cheeks. There was a game to play. Sephiroth lifted a brow at the antics, but said nothing.

Now was the time to start pushing the boundaries and, despite the awkward shame that was crawling up at him every time he took a turn, Zack had managed to think of the perfect thing. They were playing a game, after all. It was kind of shitty that he had to refer to him as sir. "Never have I ever given a general a nickname."

The silver general seemed honestly surprised at that. It was the way he lifted both brows, not a lot, but just slightly.

Zack didn't think it was that surprising. It's not like he was known for giving out nicknames. They just sort of happened randomly. And it always seemed weird to give some people nicknames. "I mean, like... Angeal is Angeal. It feels weird to call him anything else. And Genesis is... he gives himself his own nicknames, I think. And... well... I'm pretty sure you might just stab me if I gave you one, uh, sir."

And then Sephiroth laughed. It wasn't a belly full of a thing, just a puff of air that Zack's enhanced hearing easily picked up. "I doubt I would kill you simply for giving me a nickname."

"So... does that mean I can call you one? Like, right now?"

Sephiroth looked contemplative for a moment with those slowly blinking eyes of his. "... sure..."

Zack felt giddiness trickle through him and a smile cracked his face. "Yay! I've been wanting to call you Seph for like years. It just felt like... weird to call you that when we'd only talked for like a minute."

Sephiroth simply smiled that not-smile again. It was as they shared a smile that Zack noticed that Sephiroth was also down to seven fingers.

"Holy shit! You gave Angeal and Genesis nicknames?" The surprise made his voice a little louder than he intended. He had crawled forward eagerly and was on his hands and knees before the silver general. "What are they?"

"Classified."

"Aww, c'mon! Tell me!"

"Classified."

The younger pouted and sat back. "Don't think this means I've given up." Sephiroth's eyes sparkled with challenge at the words.

But all the silver general did was open his mouth and say, "Never have I ever been equated to a puppy."

Given the way that Sephiroth was looking at him, Zack felt that he should probably be down to six fingers. But... "What? What does that even mean?"

Sephiroth looked surprised. "Oh." That clearly meant: I thought you knew.

Zack frowned. "Someone called me a puppy?"

"That's... classified."

Zack noted the long pause there. Clearly he was on the right trail. But this was just... "Do you think I'm a puppy, Seph?"

Sephiroth stared at him hard for a good long moment. It was a calculating stare. It seemed to drive right down into the depths of Zack, looking at him while not. The younger SOLDIER held his breath. But the atmosphere wasn't tense, it was just a strange sort of friendly awkwardness.

Sephiroth finally spoke. "Angeal refers to you as his puppy. I don't find the name unfitting."

Zack scrunched his nose. "Angeal does? Then all those times... he wasn't talking about the dog he got? He was talking about me? Really?" When he thought about how often Angeal would talk about his puppy with a sparkle in his eye and make bad training jokes... Zack had always just assumed Angeal was one of those people super into dogs.

Meanwhile, Sephiroth's shoulders were shaking in mild amusement as he chuckled silently. Zack's thoughts ground to a halt as he saw the soft smile that graced those thin lips. It was barely a smile, a ghost of one more than anything, but it was beautiful. It just lit up his entire face. And considering how bright it already was with the luminescence of his silvery hair and glowing eyes, that was saying something.

"Guess I'm down to six fingers now." Zack happily put down a finger. But made a mental note to confront Angeal. But a thought caught on his mental stream, keeping him from continuing his turn. "Wait... you think I'm a puppy too?"

The general simply shrugged with that beautiful smile on his face. "Like any small animal, I have found you are full of excitement and enthusiasm – it makes up for your lack of experience. So I find the name fitting."

"Huh." Zack felt like that was a compliment. "Well, thanks."

Zack would have sat there awkwardly scratching the back of his head for a while longer if Sephiroth hadn't tilted his head at him. "I do believe it's your turn, Zack."

The sound of his name send a bubble of excitement down in the teen's gut. And his embarrassment increased threefold with it. "Haha. Yeah. You're – uh – you're right. Totally right. Now... uh..." Zack couldn't focus too clearly, still remembering the way Sephiroth's voice said his name. He couldn't stop his mind from going somewhere it really didn't belong. "Never have I ever... uh... been kissed?"

Sephiroth continued to look amused. But the man didn't put down any of his fingers. It gave the younger man a thrill of excitement. Both of them here, locked in a cage of rubble, never being kissed before? It sounded like the start of a bad porn.

To be honest, it wasn't like Zack hadn't thought about it – kissing someone. But every time he had gotten just close enough, something happened – usually it was small like him falling over or accidentally bumping into something, but sometimes it was bigger things like getting an urgent mission request. Needless to say even his best attempts at wooing a girlfriend left him lonely.

And the general was just... so beautiful. Zack couldn't imagine anyone thinking otherwise. His horny teenage mind was concocting some strange images in his head and they weren't very fitting for this situation.

Then, very slowly, the general slipped down on of his fingers. Zack stared at it for a long time before looked back up to the face of his superior., confused.

Sephiroth simply shrugged. "A kiss is still a kiss even if it's unwanted."

"What?" Zack was aghast. Who could kiss their mighty general against his will? He hoped the prick got a thorough slap in the face. Well... maybe not, Sephiroth would probably have slapped whoever's head it was right off. A thorough telling off would have done nicely instead.

Sephiroth waved a hand dismissively. The gesture looked so regal on him that Zack could barely keep from imaging the general sitting on a throne. "Genesis is a force when he's drunk."

"Did you slap him?" Zack felt the words spill out before he could stop them.

A strange look flittered across the general's features. "Why would I?"

Zack was shocked. It wasn't like he hadn't met people who just silently accepted abuse like that. People who just bottled it inside and were too afraid or didn't know how to respond. People like Spikey. Zack was working on reforming Cloud, the guy just had such low self confidence that it was painful to watch him just beat himself up over every little thing. And then there were people who were just awkward around other people. It wasn't necessarily shy, just unlearned in the ways of hanging out. Apparently Sephiroth was one of those people.

Feeling the need to rectify this, Zack opened his fat mouth.

"Because he kissed you. I mean, you have the right to slap someone who does something you don't like. Not always when you just don't like it. It's more like when someone like..." Zack struggled to find the words. He didn't know how to explain it properly without making it sound like he was talking down to the man he respected so greatly. "When you get felt up or kissed when you don't want to. You can't just let people invade your personal space like that. Just let them know if you don't want it."

Sephiroth made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat. "Is that what you would do if it was unwelcome?"

Zack awkwardly scratched behind his head. "Well, it really depends on the situation. Usually I just tell them to back off or that it's not okay. And if it gets super weird I may accidentally just punch someone in the face." He had done that once in a bar as a cadet with that super creepy guy who had one too many drinks. Thankfully no one in the program had found out about it or he would have been kicked out long before he had made SOLDIER. He hoped Seph didn't ask him how he'd gotten felt up on numerous occasions but still hadn't managed to lay a smooch on a pretty lady.

The duo collapsed into silence as Sephiroth thought about it. Zack felt himself twiddle his thumbs awkwardly to release his extra energy.

The quiet filled the air and was broken once more by the general. "Never have I ever been to Gongaga."

Zack put down another finger looked at his remaining five digits with a pout. Before he gave a confused glare up to his superior. "You've been to Wutai and not to Gongaga? That just seems messed up. I mean, like, they're not all that different. Except, you know, Gongaga is like a giant forest of angry frogs and Wutai is like hot sticky bog season. But no. It 's a lot better. They're even starting to complete work on the mako reactor over there. Seems weird to me that you haven't gone places when there's a reactor there."

"Contrary to what you may believe, Zack, I do not have a direct hand in supervising reactor construction. That falls directly under urban development and, in some cases, weapon and military departments."

"Huh. I feel like I heard something like that before." Zack couldn't remember where. It sounded familiar, like something he'd read in a – in a... a textbook!

"It should be familiar. You did manage to pass your cadet program." Sephiroth had that amused smile on his face again.

Zack chuckled. "Looks like I forgot, haha. Well, uh, guess it's my turn... hmmm... never have I ever..." Zack tilted his head this way and that. A few things came to mind – traveling most notably now – but they seemed too safe.

After all, he now had the priviledge to call the silver general Seph – to his face! And they had already talked about kissing. But, considering the way Seph had answered his earlier questions about the kiss it seemed a little bit awkward to bring up anything else, even if the teen was burning with curiosity. He wanted to ask a question that was, well, inciteful. Like... ah! That was perfect!

"Never have I ever been in your apartment."

Sephiroth quirked a brow, but one of his fingers obediently lowered.

It was the perfect segway into invasive questioning. "I mean. I've been in Angeal's once. Is it any different? Bigger? Smaller? More furniture? Less furniture? Homey?"

That quiet little laugh was his reward. "The SOLDIER First rooms have identical floor plans, inverted when necessary. I have standard issue furniture and not much else."

Not much else? That was a weird statement. Zack remembered how, back when he was a cadet, there was a whole lot of standard issue everything and a whole lot of 'not much else.' But all that 'not much else' were prized personal possessions.

Another thought idly popped up into Zack's head. Angeal's favorite room in the suit was the kitchen. "Do you cook?"

Sephiroth looked confused at the question before shaking his head. "I don't have the time for that. Rations are more efficient."

"What? But they taste horrible." Zack resisted the urge to jump on his general's lap the same way he did with Angeal. To be fair, Zack only did it when Angeal was doing something unspeakably bizarre – like the way he ate his toast. Seriously. How could a guy peel off all of the toasted bits with his teeth and just stick it back in the toaster like it was nothing? It was beyond weird. "Have you ever eaten Angeal's cooking?"

Sephiroth shook his head again.

Zack pouted. "He totally offered it to you, right, Seph?"

"He has extended invitations, but I have never taken them." The general looked contemplative, furrowing his brows just slightly, but not enough to leave any creases on his forehead.

"Like, seriously, Seph. If Angeal says it's good that you can come you should totally come and eat his food. It's like almost as good as my Ma's. And – of course you've never had it – but my Ma's food is amazing. Which means that Angeals is almost just as amazing! Isn't that amazing?"

"I will consider it."

Zack beamed at the words. This day was going much better than he expected. Aside from that whole being buried in rubble thing, in a situation where there was the slight possibility of suffocating to death, and he had no way of knowing how his friends were doing. But, hey – yeah, bonding was great. Plus he had practically already snagged Seph into a dinner date already.

Sephiroth paused a moment. Zack was beginning to recognize this as his thinking look. "Never have I ever owned a small animal."

The wording confused Zack for a minute. "You mean, like, a pet?"

"Yes. I believe that is the term that is used." Sephiroth said it awkwardly, almost uncertainly. It was then that Zack knew that they were making tens of millions of leaps and bounds in their ten fingered bonding experience. Seph had managed to transition from making clinical accusations based on what he read on his report to revealing something more personal about himself. Zack found himself thousands of times happier for it.

"Well, gee. Neither did I. One time I tried to bring one of the Touch-Me-frogs home but I ended up getting stoned while I was dragging it back. My Ma thinks that's why I got all weird. Being petrified for a long time apparently has weird side effects on a kid's brain... or something." Zack awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "So, yeah, uh, no pets for me either. Was there any particular reason you haven't?"

A flicker of something crossed across the general's face in the darkness. It passed to quickly for Zack to figure out what it was. "It was deemed unnecessary."

"Did you ever want one?" Zack found himself mesmerized by the flickers of things that came and went across this perfectly sculpted face.

"I suppose I did." The words were thoughtful and also uncertain.

"You could keep me if you want." That didn't sound like a come on. Zack immediately regretted his tendency to let his mouth get the better of him. "I mean, you know, I'm a puppy and – wow. Um... I'm just gunna shut up now." Zack slumped his shoulders. He couldn't figure out how to keep talking and not put his foot in his mouth. Especially not when the thought of being the general's 'puppy' was absurdly funny to him for some reason. He could only imagine what it would be like fetching a newspaper or barking out the window at passing cars (wait, Seph lived in the tower, so maybe at planes...).

The silver-haired man looked genuinely amused. "I believe Angeal would disapprove of that."

"Haha, yeah, uh... maybe. Probably." Zack looked around awkwardly. But he couldn't just let the issue drop. He just kept thinking about it. "Offer's still open though. I could totally fetch your morning paper, sleep at the foot of your bed, and – uh... not destroy your apartment?"

He was rewarded with a laugh. It wasn't the same as those quite puffs of air he had been hearing either. This one had a soft rumble to it that just made Zack tingle all over. "I doubt anything in my apartment could be destroyed by you."

Zack couldn't help himself and he all but launched himself into the general's lap with a playful bark. "I can totally not destroy everything. I can even make, uh, sort-of food. More like mush. But sort of food. It'll be like, you know, gruel. Oh, but definitely better than what they serve at the cafeteria. Like a million times better. Plus I made it. It's got nothing on Angeal's but..."

The hand gently petting his scalp deadened the rest of Zack's brain. And he was suddenly aware of just where he had launched himself. All he could smell was leather, sword polish, and this incomprehensible delicious something. And all he could feel was a warmth that rivaled even the worst day in the desert. His hands had been resting on Seph's thighs, which were like corded walls of muscle. Sleek, compact, and absolutely deadly. And the soft squeak of well-worn leather and the tussle of his hair were so welcome. Zack just stared dazedly up at the man whose lap he had just invaded. The tall, beautiful, mostly virgin-lipped man.

A small frown flickered across the general's brows. His hand stopped scritching, but didn't pull away. "Isn't this how one is supposed to pet a puppy?"

Zack suddenly felt himself flush. "Y-yeah. It definitely is." That was all Zack could get out before the hand began to move again. The teenager felt like he was about to melt into the floor. All the while, they maintained eye contact.

Seph's eyes were beautiful. Not because they were so gloriously green or because of their strange cat-slit; but because of the way he just focused so intensely. When he stared at something, it had his full and absolute attention. But that, and all of his emotions were just written in his eyes. The silver general wasn't very expressive, but Zack could see the tiny crinkles of his eyes and brows as emotions swept through them. They looked so beautiful. Zack just had the sudden desire to make them close in ecstasy.

But he didn't think a simply head scritch would do. No. He wanted to...

Zack bounced up almost instantly, startling Seph just lightly by the way his brow furrowed. He brought their faces just inches apart. The older man didn't seem against the sudden invasion of his personal space in the least. But, Zack wanted to be sure. After what he heard earlier...

"Can I kiss you?" Zack said it quietly, more hesitantly than he expected. It was because he realized that this might have just been crossing a very thin line into inappropriate – a very thin line that could get him killed, or worse, hated for the rest of his days. But Zack couldn't stop the hormones that suddenly filled him.

Instead of anything angry and rebuking, Sephiroth just smiled. That beautiful, ghost of a smile that just lit up every single pore on his face. "You don't need to ask permission, Zack."

It took every single bit of Zack's willpower to keep from smashing their faces together. Instead, he took a steadying breath and gripped Seph's thighs. Then he leaned in, awkwardly angling his head. All the while, those amused eyes were watching him as their lips touched. It was weird, to stare someone in the eyes when your lips were pressed together.

For a kiss, it was really unimpressive. Just a press of dry, closed lips. It didn't feel much different than when Zack happened to rub his own against his hand. But somehow, at the same time, it was completely different. The lips were soft, ridiculously soft, and they fucking moved! The one eye of Seph's that Zack could see seriously sparkled with something and it made Zack's stomach do flip-flops.

Zack pulled away, exhilarated and panting and red in the face.

But the amusement was beginning to fade off of the general's face. Zack didn't know what that was about. Hadn't they just had a thing? They had just kissed and everything. This change actually made the teen feel a little bit nervous.

"Seph?"

In the silence that followed, Zack heard a noise. It was the noise of swords and drills cutting through concrete. That could only mean one thing: the rescue team!

Despite the excitement that bubbled up in his chest, the young SOLDIER felt like he should pull away from the general. But, he coudln't bring himself to – not when that hand was still on his head, just buried in his hair. Seph didn't seem bothered about it, not even tense. In fact, he looked completely relaxed about the whole thing.

All of a sudden, the concrete to Zack's side cracked open. And one, familiar SOLDIER Third stepped through. "Found them!" Kunsel immediately reported to the others in the tunnel.

Zack could tell that stance, the way that Kunsel tightening his lips and awkwardly swiveled his hips like he was about to take off on a run. It was that look he got when his friend felt like he just intruded on something he was infinitely curious about but wasn't sure if he should pry.

Zack blinked owlishly at him for a moment before remembering exactly what position he was in with the silver general. Flushed and gripping his thighs. Yeah. Might be a little odd.

Instead of staying there, awkwardly gaping and fumbling for an excuse, he decided to do the next best thing. Which was make a noise of glee and tackle Kunsel into a hug.

"Holy shit, Kunsel! I was so worried you might be dead! You have no idea. When the ceilings caved and we came out okay – the whackjob didn't so much – I was so worried about you!" Zack peeked behind his fellow SOLDIER and saw more of his comrades. "You're all safe! Sweet! We'll go out for drinks!"

"Any missing?" the general said from behind him.

"No, sir." Kunsel said, snapping to attention as best he could under Zack's weight. "The cave in separated us for a while. But you're the last to be rescued, sir."

"Aww, man, let's totally go home now. I'm done with underground laboratories for forever."

Sephiroth shook his head. "We still have a mission to complete." With that, the general strode past them, allowing his men to make way in the narrow tunnel.

"Aww, c'mon, Seph! That's not fair!" Zack called after his retreating form.

The tension in Kunsel's body told Zack he was getting the look. That look meant that Kunsel was going to ask him just what he had gotten into, with one of those no-shit-talking voices. " 'Seph'?" his friend repeated in a harsh whisper.

Zack pulled off him, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "We, uh, bonded." He started to make his way through the tunnel. He had to pay extra attention to ensure he didn't stumble and cause another cave in the process. All of that bonding would be for nothing if he ended up smushed beneath concrete.

"Looked like a lot more than just bonding." Kunsel muttered behind him.

Zack couldn't fight the blush that crept up his cheeks and was only barely able to hide his hitch in breath with an awkward laugh. But being re-united with Sephiroth saved him from having to answer. Zack really didn't know how to respond to what had just happened back there in the collapsed room; he wasn't even sure what happened yet.

"Oh, hey, Seph! We still on for the thing?"

The silver general glanced back at him with an expectant look. Extra clarification was needed, the look seemed to say.

Zack only smiled. "Getting dinner with Angeal when we get back. I'm serious about his cooking. It'll be the best thing you've ever had."

"Focus on the mission, Zack."

The teen didn't miss the way all the other SOLDIER watched the interaction with a strange mix of confusion and jealousy. Seph easily took control of the situation, moving and reassessing the gathered SOLDIER into new groups to more readily take out the monster population. Also adding the kill on sight order for any suspicious persons – just in case. Zack was going to be sent around the massive rubble pile to the other side of the facility with a handful of others.

He was just about to head off when he suddenly realized something. "Seph. We totally didn't finish the game!"

The general gave him that ghost smile of his. In the light of the too bright compound, it was dazzling. Strange how no one else seemed to notice it. "You have your orders. Now move out." Even though Seph said it like that, Zack had the feeling they would be playing again.