[03]
June, 9th.
Lives gone wrong & horrible vases

I like the peace
In the backseat
I don't have to drive
I don't have to speak

(Arcade Fire)

Sephiroth missed the moment when his life had gone wrong – there must have been one though, given the fact that he was currently hanging out with boy band members.

With your best friend now being the lead singer of the most famous boy band on Gea, this is kind of hard to avoid.

Zack Fair and Reno Sinclair, stars of Avalanche, sat at his table, making pitiful spectacles of themselves. Drunk already when he arrived at the Jazz Club, they were now trying to order their umpteenth cocktail. A confused but flirty waitress was looking at them while they blurted out girly cocktails names – featuring the words sex and orgasm. Probably they didn't even like them, they just wanted to mess with her.

Yet those two were apparently on the top five list of the most desired men of the planet.

Apart from the waitress, three other girls surrounded them - probably the same girls Zack mentioned in his text message. Two were clinging to Zack's arms, one to Reno's. Thousands of stupid fangirls would die to switch places with that trio.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with the world?

Sephiroth chuckled in disbelief, shaking his head and missing the peacefulness of his penthouse already. A very remote part of his brain considered for a moment that maybe even the Charity Gala with Elena would have been better than this.

Just maybe.

One of the three girls – the blonde one - was plainly looking at him. Not very surprisingly, she was the most beautiful one of the trio. He shot the girl an annoyed glance, trying to discourage her, but she had the guts not to lower her gaze.

Stupid woman. But she was beautiful, wasn't she..? Nah. Not in the mood.

"What about you? Can I get you a drink?"

Sephiroth tried to concentrate on the waitress's voice, but at the moment his attention was on the unpleasant view of Reno's girl cupping his face in her hands and kissing him on the lips.

"Aww, don't get jealous, Seph," Zack spotted his frown and jumped from his sofa to Sephiroth's, circling his shoulder with his arm and whispering into his ear, "The blonde one only has eyes for you."

"I am thrilled," Sephiroth rolled his eyes, trying to get rid of Zack's arm.

Zack chuckled, leaning his forehead on Sephiroth shoulder.

"What's the problem with you, Seph? I mean, she's hot."

The fact that Sephiroth had no interest in hooking up with random girls, as hot as they may be, always left Zack puzzled.

"Excuse me..?" the impatient waitress said.

Relax. Sephiroth told himself, hiding his face behind his hands and trying to concentrate. Remember Elena's conditions. No gossips. That means no girls, no hangovers, no brawls.

Usually he had no problem coping with the first two terms – girls were stupid, alcohol was nauseating. It was the latter one he was always on the verge of violating.

He was very fond of Zack, and quite used to his drunken harassments. They had been friends practically since teen-hood, despite being so different. As for that last year, Sephiroth knew that becoming part of that damn worldwide famous Avalanche, of all things, had not helped Zack to put his head straight.

Sephiroth had to admit he missed the time when it was only the two of them hanging around, without stupid redhead womanizer guitarist Reno Sinclair. He was not surprised that Zack and Reno got along so well, they had so much in common. Yet-

This is ridiculous. I almost sound jealous.

"You can get him a glass of water," Reno ordered in Sephiroth's place, suddenly breaking the kiss - it must not have been a very enticing one, if he had preferred mocking him than going on with it. "Precious Sephiroth can't waste his perfect body on alcohol."

Sephiroth took the blow with a careless smirk. Reno was not talking nonsense, for once – he did despise alcohol. He just didn't believe he could survive the night without drinking any of it.

"So, water?" the waitress asked raising an eyebrow, a bit skeptical.

"Gin will be fine," Sephiroth surrendered.

Just one drink.

"On the rocks?" the waitress seemed a bit more content with that order.

"Yes, please."

"I'll have the same," Blondie intervened.

Don't tell me.

The waitress left quickly while the group on the Jazz Club's stage started playing a very famous song. The brunette Zack had left on the sofa stood up with a bright smile, dragging the blondie with her.

"I so love this song! Let's go dancing!"

After realizing her friends were leaving together, Reno's girl broke the kiss with regret to follow them onto the dance floor. Blondie shot Sephiroth one last sexy glance before disappearing among the crowd.

Without the girls, the table suddenly felt much more welcoming.

Thank God, finally. Sephiroth let out a sigh of relief, relaxing back on the sofa.

"You could at least pretend you're having fun, Seph. You're an actor, after all. Or so they say." Reno provoked him while leaning towards him, the loose tie he was wearing hovering over the numerous void glasses scattered on the coffee table.

"I'm having the gin, and then I'm out of here," Sephiroth replied curtly.

"Bringing Chelsea along, of course." Zack elbowed him lightly in the ribcage.

"Who's Chelsea?" Sephiroth didn't make the connection.

"Who's Chelsea?!" Reno mimicked him incredulously. He was still trying to put his red hair back in its place since the girl had messed it up. "Hello..? The blonde hottie on whom I've been hitting without the slightest sign of success all night long since she was too busy drooling on you..? Ringing any bell?"

"Oh, her," Sephiroth looked expectantly into the crowd, hoping to see his gin appear soon. "Not interested. You can have her."

Zack burst out laughing.

"You sound like you're talking about a collector's card, Seph. You don't have a heart, do you?"

"I do have a heart. Elena is currently representing me at a charity auction."

"I'm not sure that counts as proof." Reno shook his head, "Man, you can be so irritating, Seph."

"Guys, guys, guys." Zack dragged Reno beside him on the sofa, hugging him the same way he was doing with Sephiroth. "Just stop arguing, okay?"

Zack was always the one acting as peacemaker between him and Reno.

"It's not my fault if we do not share the same interests," Sephiroth continued on.

"That's because you have no interests at all." Reno spat back. "Apart from working out, admiring yourself in the mirror, and sitting on an imaginary throne with an imaginary crown on your head."

"Not quite right," Sephiroth corrected him. "Maybe that's because you have no interest at all. Apart from ending up paparazzed and reported on the cover of the most trashy gossip magazines around."

"Guuys."

"How would you even know I get the covers?" Reno seemed a bit amused by this, "You don't seem to me the typical gossip magazine reader."

"Aaah. I see where this is going.." a knowing smile appeared on Zack's lips. "You're talking about his Costa del Sol cover with Tifa Lockhart, aren't you?"

Sephiroth's lips tightened. If all the rest had not been enough already, now he had to suffer hearing that name too.

"I happened to stumble across that cover, yes." Sephiroth kept it vague.

"So what?" Reno leaned towards him, squashing Zack between the two of them "Now that you're bound to film that movie with her you've started reading magazines for the purpose of what, scientific research?"

"The fact that Lockhart was paparazzed with you just proves how low she is." A grimace appeared automatically on Sephiroth's lips when he pronounced her name.

Reno burst into a nervous chuckle while Zack tried to separate the two of them with an embarrassed smile.

"Please, both of you. Don't be assholes." Zack pat them both on their shoulders.

"He's not being an asshole, he's just being himself." Reno replied, in desperate need of Zack's approval. But his eyes were set on Sephiroth. "You know what, you don't even know her, you haven't talked to her in years, what the hell makes you think you can judge her?"

Now it was Sephiroth's turn to laugh – he dramatically placed a hand to his heart as if he'd been wounded.

"Are you defending her?" he asked Reno. "I'm moved really – Zack, do you happen to have an handkerchief? I think I'm about to cry."

Zack seemed torn – he didn't want to let Sephiroth get away with all his usual cockiness, yet he was fighting hard to suppress a smirk.

"And, just for the sake of being completely honest-" Reno's speech was not over yet, "Nothing happened that night in Costa del Sol."

This disappointed Sephiroth a bit – suddenly a reason to despise Lockhart was gone. He still had plenty of them, though.

"Well, actually, Reno, you have to admit that you and Tifa get caught together often," Zack said tentatively.

"That's because we're friends!" Reno seemed exasperated. "Like you and me." He pointed at Zack.

"In that case, I sincerely hope I never stumble across a cover photo of the two of you skinny dipping together," Sephiroth remarked.

"So nothing has ever happened between you and Tifa? Never?" Zack asked Reno slyly. "Let's suppose I happen to take my chance with her - you wouldn't mind?"

Sephiroth had no idea if Zack was saying that just to mess with Reno, or if that was supposed to be a real question. Thing was, this was not the first time Zack mentioned the fact that he found Lockhart attractive, much to Sephiroth's bewilderment.

Once again, what the hell is wrong with the world?

Reno cleared his throat and lowered his gaze.

"Never ever." He proclaimed solemnly. "You know what, you both can do the fuck you want with her – hit on her, despise her – I don't care. Bloody hell. I'm going to have a cig."

Sephiroth watched Reno carefully as he stumbled away from the sofa.

Never ever my ass.

He didn't know anything for sure about the past relationship between those two, but the redhead was such a terrible liar he couldn't possibly imagine how he managed to juggle more than one girl at once like he always did.

"And now, we shall proceed with the next item. We have this wonderful ancient broken vase, extracted last year from the Bone Village excavation," the auctioneer proclaimed in a cheerful voice, trying to rouse the audience.

On the spotlighted shelf in the center of the stage appeared a small, horrendous, dusty, cracked vase.

"The opening price is twenty two thousand gils."

Elena hid a yawn behind her hand. The cocktail hour before the actual auction had been excruciatingly long, and she had probably downed too many glasses of champagne.

Not to mention that for all the previous hour she had been distracted by the sight of a certain someone – so distracted she had not yet spent even half of the budget she had put aside for the night.

"Any advance on twenty two thousand?"

"Twenty-five thousand!" shouted someone from the first rows of the audience.

"Great! Twenty five thousand for the elegant lady with the red hat." The auctioneer walked around the vase, his smile brighter. "We have a great vase here, dear bidders. Come on, don't be shy!"

Elena's eyes, like in almost every previous round, didn't fix on the awful vase – they were drawn to the distracting certain someone. To him.

She had seen him other times before. She had no doubt the man was none other than Tseng Baum - Tifa Lockhart's manager.

He had appeared right after the cocktail, and now he was sitting in the last rows of the audience: tall, thin, shiny jet black hair, eastern features, expensive elegant suit. He had spent his entire time at the Gala talking on his mobile, texting, hardly touching any drink or talking to anyone. He had won just one auction round – an ancient Wutainese tea set, nothing exceptional, Elena supposed he had gone for that just because of his origins – but overall he didn't seem to care. He probably was there to represent Lockhart, just like she was doing for Sephiroth.

Whereas she often felt panicking and unsure, Tseng was the embodiment of aloofness and professionalism.

"Any advance on twenty five thousands?"

"Twenty seven!" Elena raised her hand without really knowing what she was doing.

That vase really was horrible. But she had all that money to spend, and she had no idea how many other rounds were left before the end.

"Twenty seven for the blond businesswoman with a bob!" the auctioneer declared enthusiastically, "Any advance on twenty seven thousand? This is a very rare find, audience, I'm warning you."

"Thirty."

His voice.

Elena turned back holding her breath. Tseng Baum had his hand raised, his long arm up in the air, his expensive clock left exposed by the tensed shirtsleeve. He was not even looking at the vase, he still had his black eyes set on the screen of his mobile.

Does he even know what he's bidding for?

"Thirty thousand!" the auctioneer himself seemed incredulous that such a shitty vase could have reached such a high bidding price, "We have thirty thousand for the Wutainese businessman in the last rows. Thirty thousand going once, thirty thousand going twice.."

Oh, to the hell with it. It's Sephiroth money after all. And it's for charity.

"Thirty five!" Elena shouted, caught by an explicable sense of competition.

"Ooh, thirty five! The blond businesswoman re-launches!"

At this, Tseng raised his head, and their gazes met.

Tseng looked at her for a long moment, and after that he indulged into a quick nod, meaning something like I know who you are.

Of course he knows me. Crap.

For a second she hated vehemently both Sephiroth and Tifa and their being so damn prima donna – they were the ones to blame for this surreal situation. A situation she could not fully cope with even after all those years.

She had nothing against Tseng. In fact, she admired him. She thought he was one of the best managers around. She-

"Thirty five thousand going once, going twice.."

Elena felt for a moment her heart thumping too fast in her chest. She tried to nod back to him in acknowledgment, but before she could manage to get out her momentary paralysis, Tseng's phone rang, and he stood up and walked away while picking the call up.

I wonder who the hell is calling him this hour at night. Elena checked her wristwatch – it was quarter to one. It can't possibly be work-related, right? If it is work related, he's even more workaholic than me..!

"SOLD! To the blonde lady for thirty five thousand gils!"

A timid applause ended the auction round.

Elena found herself with thirty five thousand gils less, possessor of an atrocious vase, and overwhelmed by a strange sense of frustration.

Tifa was under the effects of the most dangerous type of hangover: not stunned enough to feel sick or just lay down and fall asleep, her mind was running free and restless, along with her heart racing for no apparent reason.

She was on the back sit of a taxi cab. Tseng was sitting not far beside her. It was almost two in the morning, yet he had his laptop opened on his lap; he was replying to an email. His suit still looked as if it had just been ironed and his long fingers were typing hell quickly on the keyboard. Sure enough, he was not missing a single letter.

"You could have stayed home if you had work to do, you know." Tifa told him, scooting just one bit nearer to him, trying to sneak a peek of the email he was writing. Her eyes got soon lost on the first lines full of thick small black words on the screen. "There was no need to come to fetch me."

He didn't seem to care about the sudden closeness as he continued typing, not even turning to her.

"I had to make sure you didn't stumble out the club drunk in the arms of someone like Reno," was his explanation, given in the most neutral tone ever. "I told you already this is not the right moment for gossip. Hojo hates that kind of thing."

A pout appeared on Tifa's lips as soon as she realized he actually meant it.

"I'm not like that.." she let out a sigh, moving away from him, and resting her burning forehead on the fresh glass of the car window.

The only reply she received to this was the incessant tapping of his fingers on the keyboard. She kept looking at him, at his sharp profile. He still didn't turn to her.

I've been following his bio in the magazines for forever – you know, I just wanted to meet him.

The sexy figure of Jun Liu came back to her mind. Why was that still so difficult to digest? Maybe because she had always been convinced his only relationship going on was the one with his laptop - or the one with his briefcase.

"Where were you tonight?" Tifa asked him.

At this, Tseng shot her a quick glance with one eye, managing to keep typing even when he was looking elsewhere.

"Charity Gala. Representing you," was his telegraphic answer.

"You know, tonight there was a girl who wanted to meet you." Tifa threw the sentence there, quite confident it would stir a reaction.

It didn't. Typing, keyboard, finally a 'reply' hit. This gave her a spark of hope – but the very moment after Tseng opened another email, and started composing another reply.

"She was hot. She was a top model." Tifa didn't surrender. "Her name was Jun Liu," she added, feeling quite guilty for having thrown her business card in the trashcan.

"Mh."

This was all she could extract from Tseng.

Tifa stared at him in disbelief.

"I said she was hot," she insisted.

This finally made him divert his gaze from his laptop – just, it didn't happen for the reason she had expected.

"Are you drunk, Tifa?" he asked, scanning her with his stern pitch black eyes.

Tifa let out a chuckle.

"Why, now being drunk is mandatory to tell you a hot top model was interested into you? I mean, I'm just worrying for you."

Tseng pressed his hand on his forehead.

"You are drunk." He concluded.

"What if I'm not drunk? What if this is just a normal conversation between sober people? How can you possibly be so totally uninterested when I tell you a hot top model was into you? Do you have a girlfriend already?" Tifa had moved her head from the glass and was now leaning slightly towards him, her hands tight on the seat.

As a final acknowledgement he was not going to get away from this so simply, Tsung slammed his laptop close and leaned towards her, too.

Having at least his full attention made Tifa feel as if she had partly reached her aim already.

"Tifa. How many cocktails did you have?"

"How can you be more interested in the number of cocktails I had rather than in what I just told you? You do have a girlfriend then."

Tseng smirked and shook his head.

"For the love of God, Tifa. I do not have a girlfriend. Working for you takes pretty much all of my time away, right in this moment," he gave in.

"Are you implying it's my fault if you don't have a girlfriend?" the question escaped her lips. She felt bad for asking the very second after - bad and unsettled.

"I did not say that," he looked at her a bit stunned "What's the problem with you tonight? You know what, I don't think that for us to discuss my – inexistent - love life is anywhere near professional, so I'd be glad if you just dropped the topic."

Professional, professional, blah blah blah.

"How come you always have your say in my love life then?" Tifa retorted childishly, feeling confident she had him cornered with that.

"That's not quite right. I don't have a say in your love life per se — all I have a say in, is you not having it disclosed on gossip magazines."

That was so true. She felt so stupid.

She bit her lips, trying to sit as far from him as possible.

Maybe I am drunk, after all. And I do have a problem. Like the movie with Sephiroth. Or life. Or stuff.

"As far as I'm concerned, as long as it doesn't become public domain, you may date and kiss and hit on whoever you like - and I'm not going to ask you anything about that."

Tseng re-opened his laptop, getting back to the emails and the quick typing, as if nothing had happened.

Fifa looked out of the window tiredly - the dashing neon lights of Midgar were blurring in her sight.

When the taxi cab reached his penthouse, Sephiroth wondered how the hell he had managed to resist until that late hour.

He felt nauseated by everything — the night, Reno, the two glasses of gin he had...

He paid the taxi driver, and then headed exhaustedly to the building's glass entrance door. In the elevator he pressed the 63rd floor button, and waited while staring at his reflection in the mirror wall.

That's because you have no interests at all. Apart from working out, admiring yourself in the mirror, and sitting on an imaginary throne with an imaginary crown on your head.

He could not even chuckle recalling that. Was it possible that a very remote part of his brain actually agreed with what Reno had said? Something was seriously wrong with his mood those days.

The elevator's metallic doors finally opened upon reaching floor 63rd, accompanied by a digital bip. Sephiroth walked to his door, inserted the keys, and nervously unlocked it.

The penthouse was silent and immersed in darkness. Outside the glass wall the city of Midgar was still lighted and alive instead, the little spotlights of the cars running into the highways cutting between the skyscrapers.

He turned the lights on, and immediately noticed it.

The shittiest vase he had ever seen stood in the center of his dear crystal table.

Now, where the hell did that come from?

Sephiroth, still a bit startled, approached the table with a frown until he could see the horrible vase in all its glory: dusty, cracked, useless, limped, even remotely smelling of mold.

A yellow post-it note was glued to the table, inches from the vase. Sephiroth ripped it away from the glass and read it.

-You're such a good-hearted man, and this is the proof. Keep it safe, it's worth 35.000. XOXO, Lena-

Sephiroth stared at the vase again. It sucked. It really did suck. But despite all, he found himself imagining his blonde manager saying that sentence aloud with her sarcastic voice, and for once in the evening he laughed heartily.

Author's Note

1. TNX dear Savannah for the editing :) 2. I am aware every FFVII character would hate me for this fic. More of them are gonna be tortured in the next chapter - Scarlet and Rufus on the top of the list...and guess who's gonna star as the vampire, LOL. 3. New cover art by WyssSandro 4. Readers followers reviewers favouriters - whatever that is - aren't you great? TNX so much :) Hope I didn't disappoint you, let me know, drop me a line! I've tried to update more quickly as suggested.

Have a nice day & stay tuned,

S.