Here's chapter 2! I wasn't sure if I would have this up before the end of the year, but it's done!

Happy reading!

Chapter 2

Zack

Well, that was easy, I thought as I headed for the train station. I hadn't really expected there to be any difficulty with work today except maybe in finding her, but no, Aerith had been exactly where I thought she would be. I supposed that calling or texting Aerith would have been more ideal, but I'd lost her number when my phone got broken several years back, so I'd resorted to checking her favorite place, and hey, I couldn't argue with results.

And she had agreed to help out, so I could report back to Barret that we had a medium for the next investigation. He'd been considering some of the ones he'd found online, but those with good reviews were booked up with appointments, leaving the mediocre ones as the only options available. When I'd told him I knew someone who could potentially assist us on such short notice, he'd jumped at the chance and told me to go find her.

Who knows if she'll still want to help after Barret gives her all the details, said a niggling voice at the back of my head, but that seemed unlikely; Aerith could be awfully stubborn when she set her mind on something.

The train just pulled in as I reached the station. I boarded it and shut my eyes as I took a seat. The ride wasn't long, but I reckoned it couldn't hurt to rest my eyes for a bit, and I was so tired. A good night's sleep was going to be hard to come by once the investigations were under way, so it wasn't a bad idea to try and fit in sleep whenever I could. Cloud and I knew what we were signing ourselves up for when we took the job, and Cloud had a difficult time sleeping as it was, so he didn't have an issue with the idea of working well into the morning. I personally preferred the idea of our work schedules lining up so we could spend time together in our off-hours, so I was going to learn to live with it. Besides, if we found working a graveyard shift ultimately wasn't for us, we could find new jobs and quit, obviously, but that wasn't exactly an option at that moment.

When the train reached the station, I got out and headed through the busy lanes toward Seventh Heaven to meet up with Barret and the others. And Cloud. I felt the grin spread across my face as I thought about seeing him, even though I just saw him this morning. We'd been together for so long now that it was impossible to think of my life without him. I just needed to find the right moment to propose to him at this point.

I'd had the ring—a simple, silver band—for a while now; I'd bought it with the last of my savings while we were working for a project at Gold Saucer. I kept it hidden in my duffel bag that I used for traveling folded up in a pair of old socks at the back of our closet since I doubted Cloud would go looking through it for anything. We probably weren't going to be traveling soon, either.

I'd hoped to ask him to marry me sooner, but so much had been going on lately, what with the move and settling back into town, that it had never seemed like a good time. Hopefully, now that we had work and a place to stay—all thanks to his friend Tifa—I could find the perfect chance, beautiful scenery and all.

Reaching Seventh Heaven and climbing the front steps to the double doors, I hoped they would be back from shooting B-roll footage already, but no such luck. The bar was empty aside from Barret's four-year-old daughter Marlene seated on a stool at the bar and Tifa behind the counter, cleaning glasses. I sagged a bit and took a seat at the bar next to Marlene.

"Hi, Zack!" Marlene chirped.

"Hey, Marlene," I said, plastering a smile on my face. "Whatcha up to?"

"Drawing," she said, rubbing a nubby crayon into the paper.

I peered down at the sheet and saw a very familiar shape. "Is that a house?"

"Yeah." She held the picture up for me to see. It looked like a simple, two-story house with a red roof and a white door with a couple of windows. She was coloring the exterior in, staying inside the black lines she'd drawn.

"It's very good," I said, causing Marlene to beam before she grabbed another crayon.

"Hey, Zack," Tifa said, putting away a glass. "How'd it go?"

"Fine," I said, trying to keep the fatigue from my voice. "She said she'd stop by for a meeting tomorrow to go over the details."

"Great! Maybe she'll give us something new to work with that no other investigative team has gotten yet."

"Yeah, maybe...Hey, when did Barret say they'd be back?" I asked. I wasn't really going for subtlety, and I knew Tifa could tell I was waiting for Cloud to get back.

Tifa checked her phone for the time. "Soon, probably. They wanted to get all the day shots they needed before lights out." I hummed in understanding and leaned on the counter with my chin resting in the palm of my hand, considering the idea of throwing some darts until they got back. Tifa leaned on the counter with her elbows and asked, "Can I get you anything while you wait?"

I was pretty hungry, but I wanted to wait, so I could have dinner with Cloud later. I ran the past couple of dinners we had through my head; I wanted to order something different for dinner since it seemed like we'd been eating the same three meals for dinner for the past two weeks. I responded with "Nah, but if you could make up some wings and fries for Cloud and I when they get back, that'd be great."

"Sure, I'll start getting them ready," she said, crossing to the food prep station behind the counter and taking chicken wings out of the fridge. "I need to get the food prep started for tonight anyway."

"Thanks."

Wondering how Tifa had two jobs and still managed to retain so much energy, I turned my attention to the TV mounted behind the bar. The local news was just coming back from a commercial for Shin-Ra's popular television series Keeping Up with the Shin-Ras—a show that was nothing but the overdramatized and scripted life and times of President Shin-Ra, his son Rufus, and the various people in their lives—to cover a few different stories: LOVELESS's new musical starring none other than Genesis Rhapsodos (no surprises there; he'd left Shin-Ra for the theater a long time ago); the current standings for chocobo racing jockeys; the weather above the plate; and the disappearance of a local woman. She was a pretty brunette and the sixth woman to have gone missing within the last few months. The police had yet to identify new suspects for any of the cases.

As the news anchor began a segment on the mayoral elections that were coming up, the doors to the bar swung open, and in walked Barret trailed by Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, and Cloud, who happened to look absolutely bored. I waved to Cloud, his face brightening a bit into a smile when he saw me, as Barret made a beeline for Marlene.

"Daddy!" Marlene cheered as Barret picked her up in his arms.

"Hi, sweetheart. You been good for Tifa while I've been gone?" Barret asked, and Marlene nodded, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck in a hug. "Well, I still got some work to do, so you keep being a good girl, okay?"

"Okay."

Barret set Marlene back down on her stool and turned to me. "Zack, can I talk to you for a bit?" he asked, motioning with his head toward the basement.

"Yeah, sure," I said, wondering what he needed to talk to me about.

Cloud sat down in the seat next to mine as I got up to follow Barret. I ruffled his hair, earning a mock-pout from him, as I headed to the basement with him.

We took the lift down and got to what was essentially the team's headquarters. The first time I saw it, I had to do a double take because I was so surprised that they actually operated out of here. It was a room about as big as the bar area with a wall of computers and monitors for editing the footage and audio and a big table in the center for meetings. Opposite the computers was a white board with our next investigation site and some filing cabinets. Over in the corner was a makeshift recording area that Barret used for making voice overs to go along with the footage.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

Barret took a seat at the table and gestured for me to take the seat across from him. "Well," he began with an agitated sigh, "it's about Cloud."

"What about him?" I asked as I sat down, trying not to sound as though I was about to get defensive over my boyfriend.

Barret massaged his forehead with the tips of his fingers, like he had a migraine. "Look, Zack," he said, "I know this is gonna sound unprofessional, but I have a feeling that Cloud's going to take what I'm about to say a lot better coming from you or Tifa.

"And this has nothing to do with the quality of his work. It's great. Kid knows how to block and set up a good shot. And, honestly, Tifa's recommendation for the two of you made him sound like a great pick."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Alright, I'm gonna get right to the point." He paused and let out an aggravated sigh. "He's been acting like nothing but a punk ass since we hired the two of you. And, as you can guess, it hasn't exactly been great for morale."

I hung my head and stared down at the table. I couldn't refute that that wasn't like him because, well…that actually tracked. Cloud had a bit of a hard time working well with others for one reason or another. Sometimes it was understandable if the person he was having issues with was an ass, but other times he was the one causing problems with his behavior.

"Now, Zack," Barret continued, "I like you, and I know you guys need the money, but if he can't fix that attitude of his, I'm going to have to let him go."

Now it was my turn to sigh. "I'm so sorry," I said, burying my face in my hands. "I'll talk to him."

"Thank you." Barret got up and started going through one of the filing cabinets lining the wall and started gathering up papers. "So, how'd things with your friend go?"

"She said she'd be willing to work with us. She's going to stop by tomorrow afternoon."

"Hell yeah," he said, pumping his metal fist in the air. "And she's the real deal? None of that theatrical shit?"

"Yeah. Trust me, I wouldn't have considered her for the job if I didn't actually know she could do it."

Barret sat down at the table and started sorting the papers. "Did you tell her she's going to be on camera?"

"Well, no...But I did tell her I was part of the film crew, so I figured she would assume that."

Barret hummed, rubbing the top of his head. "Well, if she doesn't consent to her likeness being on camera, we'll have to blur out her face and potentially disguise her voice in post. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it tomorrow."

"Sorry," I apologized, scratching the back of my head. "Should've thought about that." Especially because Aerith didn't exactly advertise that particular specialty of hers.

"It's fine," he replied, placing the papers in a folder. It was probably filled with a nondisclosure agreement, a liability waiver, and whatever other paperwork Aerith would be asked to sign before coming on the investigation. "We'll talk it out with her tomorrow."

"Anything else you need from me before I head out?"

"Nope, that's it. You have a good night."

"Night," I responded and headed back to the first floor.

I reentered the bar to see Jessie had joined Tifa behind the bar—she also worked here part-time-and was chatting up Cloud, who looked so disinterested it would have been an almost funny scene if he wasn't my boyfriend. I cleared my throat and called to him, "Ready to go, babe?"

"Yep," Cloud responded, sliding off his stool and sauntering over to me.

I wrapped an arm around him as I went over to the counter and picked up the wings Tifa had waiting for us. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem," she said, taking the gil I handed to her. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Bye!" Jessie trilled as we headed out the doors, causing Cloud to roll his eyes in annoyance and sidle deeper into my side. We didn't get very far when I noticed the miffed look on Cloud's face, his glower causing the people around us to give us a wider berth than necessary.

Though I guessed what was on his mind, I still asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Cloud."

Cloud let out a slightly irritated groan. "It's just Jessie and the flirting." Flirting? What flirting? There had been more than what I just saw? Cloud continued, "Mostly, it's easy to brush off, and I can tell that she's just kidding usually, but sometimes she's just too much."

"Have you tried telling her that?" I couldn't exactly blame Jessie for being attracted to him—I mean, Cloud was gorgeous. If he were taller, he'd be working in front of a camera instead of behind one, but he preferred it that way since he wasn't a big fan of seeing himself on screen to begin with.

"Well, no…"

"It couldn't hurt to try," I said, adjusting the bag of food as we climbed the stairs of our apartment building. "Who knows, maybe my natural flirtatiousness makes it seem like we're in an open relationship or something," I suggested, wiggling my eyebrows.

Cloud scoffed, fishing the key out of his pocket. "Yeah, maybe. I remember you were a lot worse than her when we first met."

"Who, me?" I responded in mock-hurt. Admittedly, he wasn't wrong. I had been quite a flirt as a teenager in boarding school.

"Yes," Cloud said, unlocking the door to our tiny studio apartment. "We had one conversation, and then every single time I ran into you after that always ended with you asking me out to dinner."

"Well, did it work?"

"Oh my gods," Cloud said, shaking his head. I chuckled and placed a peck on his cheek as we entered the apartment.

The place could only be described as small. A small room with a single bed, a tiny sink, a small bathroom, and one closet. We'd added a few things to the space like a lamp, mini-fridge, and microwave for function, and thankfully it hadn't started to get cramped. A lot of our personal items and spare clothes were kept in a trunk at the foot of the bed, which also doubled as a makeshift table.

Cloud pulled the trunk into the middle of the floor and started going through the mini-fridge for drinks. I placed the food down on the trunk, but took a seat on the bed instead. I figured we should get this out of the way first.

"Wait," I said firmly, and Cloud looked over at me, confused. I patted the space beside me on the bed. "We got to talk first."

"About what?" he asked, sitting down next to me.

Turning to face him, I pulled my legs onto the bed and crossed them as I racked my brain for how to phrase this without coming off accusatory. "Is everything okay? I know Jessie has been bothering you a bit, but is there anything else going on at work that I'm not aware of that's giving you issues?"

"No? Why do you ask?" Cloud asked, crossing his arms.

"Well…" I tried to phrase this next part carefully, "Barret told me that you haven't exactly been great to work with all the time"—at this Cloud rolled his eyes—"and I'm just trying to figure out what's wrong."

Cloud let out an exasperated sigh. "Zack, we're working for amateur 'ghost hunters,'" he said, doing air-quotes with his fingers, his brows pinching together in irritation. "I mean, not even Tifa, who got us these jobs, is all that sure about what they're doing. Because, in all the investigations that they've already done, they haven't found anything concrete. How am I supposed to take any of this seriously when it's all crap pseudo-science?"

I got where he was coming from. It was hard to put energy into something so uncertain, but belief had never been part of our jobs descriptions. I sighed. "Cloud, it doesn't matter if you believe it or not, our job is to film and help with production."

Cloud rolled his eyes and folded his arms, and I grabbed him by the shoulders. "Cloud, look at me," I said, but he ignored me, clearly wanting this conversation to be over. "Hey. Look at me."

Cloud fixed his glare on me. Gods, he's so stubborn sometimes, I thought.

"Cloud. I know you don't buy any of it, but Barret is going to fire you if you don't knock it off. And we can't afford for you to be out of work right now." His expression cracked a bit, and I knew that he knew I had a point. "Could just try not to let your hang ups about this get in the way of work?"

"Zack…"

"Please?" I asked, cupping his face in my hands, and hit him with my best pair of puppy eyes.

Cloud made an oh-gods-not-again face and covered my eyes with his hands. "Okay, okay, I'll try! Just stop with the face."

Works every time.

"Good," I said and leaned forward, my lips meeting his even with my eyes still covered. I released his face and grabbed his wrists, peeling his hands off of my eyes. I tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh when I saw the pout on his face, a wheezy chuckle escaping my throat.

"What?" he asked, shooting me a glare.

"Nothing," I said, kissing his forehead. "You're just cute is all."

Cloud's cheeks became tinted pink and his pout deepened, like they usually did when I said things like that. "Oh yeah?" he challenged.

I barely had time to think before he took two fistfuls of the front of my shirt and yanked me down for a kiss. My surprise didn't last long as I smiled against his soft lips and deepened the kiss. Letting go of his wrists, I wrapped my arms around him, twining my fingers in his hair and snaking the other around his waist.

I lay down and pulled Cloud on top of me as his lips left mine and started leaving a trail down my neck. Yep, I thought, still cute.

It wasn't until much later that we remembered the wings we had left to get cold.

Thanks for reading!

My apologies if this feels a bit slow-paced, but I have a bit of ground to cover before we can really get into the plot, so please bear with me.

The next chapter will be from Tifa's perspective, so we'll get to see more of the AVALANCHE crew.