Sephiroth frowned glaring down at Zack as the dog rolled around on Tifa's bed musing the bedsheets, even more, leaving a thin layer of dog hair on the blankets. It would not have normally crossed his mind, after all, it wasn't his bed covered in dog hair. Except it had been his bed covered in one lone strand of grey dog hair, which if it hadn't fallen into his bottle that morning and crashed into the tent his imprisoner had so graciously gifted him, he would still be asleep, Tifa rarely bothered him in the mornings, or at all. He was there when she screeched for him, yet she still refused to grant him the opportunity to grant her with a second wish. He huffed then, his irritation showing through as Zack made a circle on the bed under the blankets as he tunneled in the sheets. The dog had a place to sleep, Sephiroth no longer did. Tapping his foot on the nightstand, Sephiroth paced to and fro before hopping on to the alarm clock to pout.

Zack's nose poked out from under the comforter, snorting in his direction with enough force to ruffle the already agitated djinns hair. Sephiroth turned his hands falling into his lap as he stared into the dog's nose that was so close to him he could feel each heated breath. Then it happened, a blood-curdling squeak that echoed down the hall. Tifa's morning preparations where cut short at the strange sound ad she stumbled from the bathroom, shoving her feet into her slippers, hastily she tugged her shirt on as she made a mad dash from the bathroom. As she stormed down the hallway Zack darted from the room, tail high and wagging with pride. Tifa stopped, watching the pup trot away even with the end of his tail frozen.

With furrowed brows, she continued to her room passing a spreading wall of ice. "What…happened?" Her words fell into a whisper as she looked at the djinn, to the globs of goo that hung off him and the ruined clothes. Sephiroth, hair plastered to his face with copious amounts of dog slobber, glared.

"That," he motioned to the doorway, "mutt licked me."

Tifa shook her head in disbelief, "he's a husky and a pup, and there is no way he got that much slobber on you." A smile spread on her face, "plus he must like you if he licked you." She laughed then looking over his pathetic form, not moving any closer to the djinn. "Take a bath."

"How do you propose I do that?" As he crossed his arms, the slobber squelched.

Sighing, Tifa brought her hand to her forehead. "I'll show you where the bathroom is." Waving him down the hall she led him to the bathroom, pushing the door open. "So all you do it take your clothes off, turn the water on and get in." Standing against the hallway as he passed, Tifa breathed a sigh of relief as none of the goo got on her. "When you're done," Tifa frowned as her doorbell rang. "Just get undressed and get in alright? Ill set your clothes outside the door."

Tifa turned to her heel muttering under her breath about early morning visitors. Left on his own, Sephiroth looked around the bathroom. As a jinni, there was never a need for such things in his bottle, like the pool of blue water Tifa kept in the white bowl on the floor. Lost, Sephiroth did the one command he understood.

"I'm coming!" Tifa shouted as she walked down the entryway to the apartment. For his part, the pup stayed near the couch disinterested in whoever was at the door. Thankful at the absence of barking, Tifa slid the chain-lock free, flicked the deadbolt pulling the door open. Expecting Todd, or even by the off chance Aerith, Tifa was presently surprised to see Yuffie on the other side, her plethora of luggage sitting beside the door.

"Tifa!" The girl yelled at the top of her lungs before pulling Tifa down into a hug. "It's been so long."

"It's only been a few weeks. at most." Tifa wrapped her arms around the Wutaian. "Did you bring your 'fiancé'?"

Yuffie scoffed handing Tifa the larger bag of her luggage, carrying a few smaller bags in her. "You know him, he's working. Always working, I swear, Daddy is lucky Rufus is cute." Yuffie tossed her bags onto the plush chair as Tifa struggled to drag in the largest piece. "So, want to grab breakfast, catch me up on what's been going on."

Shoving the suitcase against the wall Tifa nodded, smiling. "Nothing has really changed, we got a dog, but that's about it."

"A dog?" Eyes darting around the room, the ball of fluff perked his ear beside the arm of the couch

Tifa slowed her pace near the refrigerator. "Yeah, he's just a puppy; I don't have a name for him yet." As she turned to look down into the Livingroom, she spotted Yuffie, the puppy in hand, mouth hanging open ad her eyes glued to the hallway. "Are you okay?"

Yuffie nodded her mouth closing as Tifa closed the door to the cooler. A smug smile worked its way crossed her lips, "there is a naked man in our apartment."

"A naked man," Tifa didn't move far to find the figure that had claimed Yuffie's attention. Looking over the djinn, her eyes descended and lingered inappropriately low while her face turned a bright red. "What are you doing? I told you to take a shower."

As Tifa attempted to gain some composure, Yuffie found herself curious about the stranger. Even Rufus wasn't this confident, which he was the best to gage such personal pride upon. Watching her best friend and roommate struggled to regain some composure. Eyeing the newcomer, Sephiroth glanced at Tifa. "You instructed me to undress, so I did. Then I waited for you to return."

Bug-eyed, Tifa bit her lip, "why didn't you get in?" Yuffie bit back the wheezing laugh as she watched Tifa's eyes look everywhere but up. "Go back there alright? I'll be right there." Tifa's relaxing sigh was short lived as Yuffie's humming brought back the multitude of colors.

"Nothing has happened, right? Last time I saw Tifa Lockhart with a guy was five years ago and how did that end again? He certainly did not climax with him naked the next morning."

"Nothing happened."

Yuffie snorted, "Look, Tif, something did happen, good for you. If not, you better climb his tree fast because some girl is going to try that herself."

"It's not like that. I can't believe I'm having this discussion with you." Yuffie raised a brow as Tifa stormed away with a pile of neatly folded clothes tucked against her.

"Hey," she shouted, "if you guys need like twenty or thirty minutes for a quickie."

"Yuffie!" The bathroom door slamming brought Yuffie's smile back in full force.

The smile lasted well into the morning, joining them a block away at a street side café. "He barely let me come home." Yuffie stirred her orange juice watching the pulp spin counterclockwise in her cup. "He's like a helicopter with this whole business crud." Yuffie's eye drifted over to Sephiroth as he started on his sixth BLT. "Hey, um, dude. Could you go up there and get me a coffee? Two sugars no creamer. Thanks." Yuffie batted her lashes at Sephiroth who returned the look with a disinterested gaze.

"Coffee sounds good. Could you get me one also?" Tifa patted his shoulder, "five sugars and I want it light." A minute or two passed before he finally stood, weaving between packed tables towards the counter to wait in line.

"What's his name doesn't get out much does him?"

"Sephiroth?" Tifa shook her head, moving her potatoes around the plate. "He's not from around here, really."

"Oh, foreigners, showing him the ropes are we?"

A groan slipped out at the other girls teasing, "Yuffie. It's not like that. He needed a place to crash and I needed someone to help pay your half of the rent. That's all."

"I see," Yuffie looked over her shoulder pleased to see Sephiroth was still waiting. "So, tell me about him. Other than his shoe size." She smiled, leering at Tifa, "what does he like, where is he from, what do you know about him?"

Tifa frowned, she knew nothing. How he came to be in the bottle, who he was before, was he always a jinni? Yuffie sorted, "he could be a mass serial killer that sets towns ablaze, plus he's been in the apartment for almost two weeks." Yuffie turned her attention away from her roommate, pulling her phone from her purse as it became to chime. Looking over the djinn, her face soured, thumbs flying over the screen as Tifa pushed her hash browns into a pool of ketchup, she didn't see Yuffie's head twist to glace behind them, "look Tif, he's a good-looking guy, five years is a long time but really? A two-night stand and he spent the night? I thought you were into Cloud, I hear things with him and Aerith aren't exactly copacetic."

"Really? Yuffie, they have been together forever."

"Four years is not forever. But that's not the point." Yuffie turned back around, lifting one brow waiting for Tifa's retort. Tifa slid her plate to the center of the table, lips parting ready to excuse her when a high pitched 'hello' caught both women's attention.

"Wow, what a coincidence." Tifa released a low strangled groan as Aerith approached. Yuffie and Tifa both turned to her, fake smiles plastered to their faces. Aerith was the epitome of perfection always stylish, well put together, gorgeous beyond compare and had the one thing both wanted -Cloud Strife. "Good Morning girls!" Aerith slid into Sephiroth's seat, "I heard you were coming home, Yuffie. I'm sorry Rufus couldn't make it; he seemed to be highly engaged in Turk business this morning and asked if I could spend that day with you. If that's alright of course."

Yuffie's smile dropped but she offered a curt nod, "yeah, that's fine. It's just me, Tifa and her paramour."

"He's not my paramour." Tifa hissed out but Aerith's widening eyes and growing smile followed with a surprised, "Sephiroth," overpowered her voice. It was only after Aerith had uttered did she lay eyes on him stepping from the café with two paper cups and another type of sandwich.

"Why can't he be?" Aerith smirked looking at Tifa from the corner of her eyes, "give him a chance."

Yuffie leaned in, smiling, "they already adopted a dog together. If we go by that standard they're practically married. Can't wait to see the home you guys buy."

Aerith and Yuffie shared a laugh at Tifa's expense only growing louder when Sephiroth rejoined them. Wiping a tear away from her eyes, Aerith graced Sephiroth with a warm welcome.

"It's good to see you again. Tifa feeding you alright?"

Yuffie snorted, Sephiroth grabbing a chair from a nearby table. "That's his seventh sandwich, obviously not. "

Aerith hummed, tilting her head to the side, "I'm sure she's doing just fine. Not that he can't take care of himself." Tifa looked over Aerith. She hated the soft almost motherly, the slight pride she saw in the smile. If it was only acceptable to assault someone for just being alive.

"We'll see you later," Tifa stood her coffee in one hand, Sephiroth's wrist in another. "I just remembered we have to take the dog to the vet." As Sephiroth stood, Tifa let go of his wrist, rummaged through her purse and pulled a few Gil bills from the inside tossing them to the table. "See ya later."

Yuffie nodded, waving to the pairs back as Tifa forced them down the street. Aerith waved, hand dropping as the couple disappeared into the distance, and "Tifa really doesn't like me does she?"

Waving a hand in the air, Yuffie shook her head, "oh no. She just, you know, I've been teasing her about Sephiroth all morning long. It's a new thing for her, after all the last guy she was with was five years ago and."

"That last guy was Cloud." Aerith sighed, looking down at her lap. "They weren't together when I started dating him."

"This guy seems different." Yuffie smiled, "although he had seven sandwiches I think he should have paid not Tif."

I know, Sephs background in this. Did not happen as it normally would have but it will, most likely in pieces.