Title: That's What Friends Are For
Drabble Challenge: joudama!verse
Prompt: Puppyverse: Cloud's birthday party
"So, you know what's coming up next week, right?" Zack said cheerfully as soon as he got in Sephiroth's office.
Sephiroth looked up from his computer. "You know you're supposed to buzz before you come in?"
"The door was open!" Zack said, looking wounded. "If it's not locked, that means 'Come on in'!"
Sephiroth stared at Zack. "No, it does no...never mind," he said, seeing how Zack had started to wilt. "What is next week, Zack?"
Zack instantly perked up, as if someone had waved a double McMoogles burger in front of his nose. "Cloud's birthday, Seph!"
Sephiroth still had not quite gotten used to Zack calling him "Seph." Angeal had done it once or twice, but it had thrown Sephiroth sufficiently that Angeal had stopped-something that had been oddly painful, in a way Sephiroth couldn't quite put his finger on.
"It is his birthday. And?" Sephiroth said, wondering why Zack was bringing it up.
"Soooo, we have to take him out to celebrate! He'll be hitting sixteen, which is a pretty big deal! What kind of friends would we be if we didn't take him out to celebrate being legally an adult?" Zack said, his jaw hanging open. He grinned suddenly. "I remember my sixteenth birthday. Oh, man, it was so awesome."
Sephiroth felt slightly at a loss. Cloud would be technically an adult; why exactly that required a big celebration was beyond him-the boy was already in the army and shouldering adult responsibilities; there would be no difference between the day before his birthday and the day after.
But there was something in the excited way Zack was bouncing that made Sephiroth acutely aware that he was indeed missing something. His own date of birth was something that held no ties to him and nothing that was 'celebrated', other than being a change on the numbers in his data in Hojo's lab.
He finally grasped on to something to stave off the feeling of alienation creeping in on him. "Lieutenant. I am not Cloud's friend. I am a commanding officer, it would be-"
Zack made a noise Sephiroth could only describe as "rude." "Whatev, Seph. Listen, you do your paperwork, just keep Friday night next week clear, got it? No shipping out, no paperwork, no nothing! I am the party master; I'll arrange everything. Just show up and bring a present. Got it?" Zack finished, crossing his arms and giving Sephiroth a stern look.
A stern look on Zack's face was...strange to say the least, and Sephiroth felt a smile tugging at his lips. "Yes, sir," he said, letting the smile win, and Zack lit up.