Title:
Cosplay
Author:
mirroredsakura
Fandom:
FFVII
Rating: PG-13
Pairings:
SephirothxCloudxZackxAeris
thirtyforthree
Challenge: #30 Touch, #19 Time
Warnings:
Cringeworthy mental images of ancient Norse gods? shrug
Summary: Once in a very long while, the soldier boys get a day off... together. There's only one place they could be.
Disclaimers: FFVII and all associated miscellanities do not belong to me. Unfortunately. Except for assorted figurines and Advent Children merchandise. ^-^
Notes: Done for Aya (Shinigami Aya for any and all that frequent—well… anywhere she goes), because she seems to the one constantly popping my fic-writing cherries. Or something. (Yes, this was indeed started well before I'd ever read anything about FFVII or wrote anything for it, for that matter.) One criterion is Zack/Seph/Cloud (I threw in Aeris just 'cause she's cool. And because I hope she can sew.) The other is costume fetish and kink. That will come. Later. ^_^ Forgive the short 'chapters', I really want to see if I can fit all thirty themes into one fic and that calls for some awkward splitting. ^^
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#30 Touch - Day Off
"ZACK! Zack, Zack, Zack, Zack, Zack!"
The man in question took off at a mako-enhanced run straight at the slender pink-swathed figure in the distance as soon as he caught sight of her. With not the least signs of effort, he lifted her up and promptly began twirling her in deliriously happy circles, kissing her soundly as he did so. She didn't seem to mind being treated like a rag doll—albeit a voluptuous, giggling, and altogether entirely kissable rag doll.
The other two figures approaching the flower girl's house stopped short and turned to each other in an unspoken agreement to avoid irreparable eye damage from the rather dubious sight of Zack's tongue down his girlfriend's throat—a sight which they had incidentally been treated to so often, it was almost routine now to ignore.
Almost.
"Why," Cloud moaned, hiding a blush behind gloved hands, "am I even here?"
"Because I would not allow myself to be dragged here with the madman on my own," replied his superior, which immediately made him straighten up, his hands halfway into a salute before he realized what he was doing, and then he blushed harder.
"At ease, Private," the General told him with a hint of genuine amusement in his voice, even going so far as to take the boy's hand and firmly drawing it down to his side.
Cloud didn't move his arm for a good twenty minutes from that position.
What followed was a long silence, marked by Sephiroth's seemingly serene expression as he scanned three-quarters of the horizon and left the rest to the imagination. Preferably someone else's imagination. Cloud just stared at the toes of his boots and tried not to breathe too loudly in case he might cause a disturbance and distract the General from his self-imposed need to visually patrol the area.
"CLOUD! Cloud, Cloud, Cloud, Cloud, Cloud!"
The cry, and Sephiroth's brisk quarter-turn in that direction was a three-second warning—just enough time for him to whirl around—before a giggling Aeris Gainsborough launched herself directly into his arms. Even as he flailed wildly with his one free arm that hadn't automatically wrapped around the girl's shoulders, he knew the collision between his head and the grass was inevitable.
At least it was better than the last time she'd done it. That had been indoors. On concrete.
Except the grass smelt oddly like leather. And wasn't all that far away.
—That was ridiculous. He was short but he wasn't that—oh dear Odin fucking Sleipner… He felt his eyes snap into focus and he learned that gravity didn't altogether matter when one's jaw went slack because their mouth fell open anyway, even while upside down. He was looking right up at the General's leather-clad crotch, his nose only about an inch away. Which meant that just a second ago his damnably spiky hair had… had…
His body turn to stone right then and there, and his mind started reeling wondering if brushing against your superior groin with your hair counted as an offense worthy of a court-martial. He wondered vaguely why his legs hadn't buckled yet and sent him crumpling down onto the grass anyway. If he were lucky, a sinkhole would open up and swallow him in all his humiliation in the process.
Sephiroth, finding himself the only thing holding the boy up, decided pragmatically to continue to do so, quite unaware of the boy's more pressing predicament—his spine being bent near in half between his idol and his best friend's girl. Aeris, cheerfully aware of exactly what she was doing, consequently refused to move. This merely compounded the problem of his backbreaking position with her hips grinding directly into his.
"Ooh I like that…" Zack's voice was a low purr as he surveyed the scene with undisguised glee. "Aeris, babe, how could you conduct this brilliance while I haven't a single camera in sight?"
She merely giggled in reply.
"Zack, I don't think that's at all the problem here," the General told him frowning, "Private Strife seems to have stopped breathing."
The self-declared Hedgehog blinked, concern shadowing his eyes for the briefest instant as if by reflex before a brilliantly devious smile soon replaced it. Sephiroth had the sudden urge to spirit the boy away before his superior officer could devise a new form of torture to inflict on his tiny person. But by then, it seemed Zack's plan of attack had already been devised and he could but watch as the scene unfolded. Taking full advantage of his speed in order to pounce quickly on the boy before he could think to escape, Zack immediately pressed his lips hard against the other boy's in a quick, victorious kiss.
Then Cloud's legs did give out from beneath him, leaving him a crumpled pile of limbs on the grass while Zack stood above him grinning, and the General was shaking his head and rubbing the heel of his hand against one of his temples, and Aeris was looking down at him and giggling, and the sun was shining in his eyes and… and…
…And the only thing he could do was to toss a pinecone at him and whine "Zaaaack!"
Hardly the most dignified response to his own clumsiness, but he didn't exactly have a lot of options at the moment. How like them all to pull so many naughty touches—and from Sephiroth, any touch was as shocking as a good grope—within the span of ten minutes. One could only wonder what else would happen in the long hours ahead.
*
#19 Time - Live Like You Were Dying
All said and done, it had started out what might be broadly termed as a normal beginning to one of their rare visits to Aeris's house. In a most convenient manner, her mother had gone off for the day to some obscure section of town that the flower girl wasn't interested in revealing. Rather, she took that as a chance to feed her ravenous—and in Sephiroth's case of course, politely peckish—boyfriends to her heart's content.
Because that was what she had decided that they all would be. There had been no arguing with her after the announcement, though Cloud had turned a deep brick-red and Sephiroth had a look on his face of faintly-amused resignation.
"After all," she'd said then, grinning cheekily at the lot of them, "If you're going to be my boyfriend's boyfriend, and you're going to be my boyfriend's other boyfriend, then you're all just going to have to be my boyfriends too because you're not leaving me out of the fun!"
It had been a brilliant shining moment when all three of her boys had opened their mouths instinctively to assure her that there had been no 'fun'—until they realized how much of a lie that would be, and promptly closed them in varying stages of foolishness. Yes, her soldier boys could be adorable.
And none of them had looked particularly upset about the outcome either—it was an offer of acceptance, and it was something that both Cloud and Sephiroth, whether they knew it or not, craved. And Zack… Zack had been one warm glow of happiness; seemingly unable to go a single minute without touching one or another of them as if just to prove something to himself.
Still. Even though she'd said it, and had long since repeated it enough times to them for it to be her own personal mantra, it was difficult. Cloud had taken to their bizarre brand of romantic relationship eventually, but Sephiroth… Sephiroth acted like any action he could make towards them could break them all.
Which was why she was here, really. To push the silly boys along. The voices whispering in her head were mournful, and sometimes she saw glimpses of a future that pained her to see. She needed to make the present beautiful for them while she still could. That was what she was for. That was what today was for. And, she thought ruefully to herself, the day after and the day after that until time finally ran out.
She cast a conspiratorial glance over at her spiky-haired boyfriend—her first spiky-haired boyfriend—who still managed to wink and grin around the mouthful of pie he'd just crammed against his face. For now, she would keep with just today.
For today was the day of The Plan.
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A short one. Possibly the shortest chapter I've ever written, even considering the Days Gone By with the account that Shall Not Be Named. (It's near five in the bloody morning, I'm allowed a bit of over-capitalizing. )
EDIT: Put the two themes into a single chapter. Made more sense this way.