Final Fantasy VII
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters aren't mine and the story is! It was written with the Comforcember writing prompt Candlelight Glow. This is just cute Christmas fluff. Everyone is on Earth and Sephiroth is sane again.
As the Christmas season approached, Zack grew more and more excited. It had been his favorite holiday on Gaia, and that was all the more true here, as he and his closest loved ones explored and celebrated their new lives on this other planet. He hadn't been this happy since he was a kid.
Zack, of course, was the one who pushed to have a 12-foot Christmas tree in this world. "Hey, we have the high ceiling for it in the living room, so why not?!" he had exclaimed.
"Just because something would technically work doesn't mean it should be done," Sephiroth had deadpanned. But really, he had no serious objections to it . . . as long as Zack put it together. He really didn't know how to do it himself.
Zack was all too happy to put it together. But he also showed Seph how it was done so he could add a few branches too. Eventually everyone got into the act and helped, although Zack did the majority of it. When at last it was done, Zack stepped back to look up at it in awe. "So cool. . . ."
Aerith smiled in gentle amusement. "And do we have enough ornaments for such a spacious tree?"
"I'm sure Zack bought out the store," Sephiroth remarked.
"You know it!" Zack grinned.
The amount of bags of ornaments and lights he brought out from his room was truly staggering. But he set to work stringing the lights all up and down and all over the tree while Cloud and the rest examined the ornaments.
"Mickey Mouse and friends," Sephiroth grunted. Why was he not surprised?
"Peanuts," Cloud said, looking in a bag filled with Snoopy ornaments from Hallmark.
"Sonic the Hedgehog?" Denzel blinked. "And Mario?"
"Hey, there's a Santa Sonic ornament in there!" Zack said. "And there's one of Peach with her hands clasped like she's praying or something. We can put it next to a religious ornament and the effect will be really cool!"
"Are there religious ornaments in here?" Sephiroth countered. Zack had always seemed more into the fun and festive aspects of Christmas on both worlds rather than the worshipful and religious aspects so much. But then again, he definitely remembered when Zack had first introduced him to decorating Christmas trees and he had included religious ornaments.
"Yeah!" Zack said. "There's a lot of angels and there's some Nativity ones!"
Tifa looked in another bag. "I found them."
"And there's Pokemon, of course!" Zack said. "I got four different Eevee ornaments!"
"Vee!" Lucy the Eevee said as she happily perched on the couch arm.
"And general cat ones too!" Zack added.
Fluffy and her children purred in approval. Several of the cats were purring from up in the tree.
"Um, Zack?" Aerith looked to the tree and lifted one of them down.
Zack winced and hurried to help Aerith and Tifa extract the cats. "Oops. Shoulda thought they might do that," he said sheepishly.
"They'll probably do it a lot," Angeal said as he petted one of the removed cats.
Sephiroth grunted, lifting the last one down. "How do you propose we prevent it?"
Angeal looked amused. "Aside from putting the tree in a cage, there probably isn't a way. Cats will be cats."
Undaunted, Zack said, "Maybe Lucy can tell them not to do it!"
"Eevo!" Lucy declared, happy to have an important job.
"I also got some electric candles to set up around the room!" Zack said. "Just think how cozy it'll be to sit in here with all the lights off except the tree and these things!" He held one up.
Marlene beamed. "There'll be so many lights on the tree, we can probably read by it!"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Sephiroth said.
Decorating the tree took some time. Zack had also made sure that everyone got to choose ornaments they would like to have as well as all the ones he had bought, and even with all of those, there were some bare spots on such a large tree.
"Looks like we'll need to go shopping again," he remarked, hands on his hips as he studied their work.
"And what more can you possibly find?" Sephiroth grunted.
"Lots!" Zack grinned. "We could get more Santas and elves and snowmen and reindeer, and there's a ton more pop culture ones! We should do Star Wars!"
"Those don't even look Christmassy, though," Cloud pointed out.
Sephiroth nodded. "I fail to see the point of Christmas ornaments that don't have anything related to Christmas on them."
"We could make them look Christmassy!" Zack said. "I could get little Santa hats and put them on all of them!"
Sephiroth tried to picture that and his brain started to break, so he stopped.
"Disney has a Jabba the Hutt plushie with a Santa hat and beard and a candy cane!" Zack announced.
Sephiroth gave him a Look. "What."
Cloud snorted. "And people actually buy that?"
"He's like an alien Don Corneo," Tifa said with a shudder.
"Okay, scrap that!" Zack said. "Maybe a Christmas Stormtrooper?"
Sephiroth shrugged. "It would be an improvement. I suppose."
"What about My Little Pony?" Marlene hopefully asked.
"Well . . . I was only able to find this one of Cotton Candy," Zack said slowly, not wanting to disappoint her. "But I'll bet there's lots of older ones online!"
Marlene beamed. "Yeah!"
"I'll look!" Zack promised. "We could check Thorton's Antique Mall too! There's ton of amazing old Christmas stuff there! I found some Christmas Trolls!" Thereupon he produced several assorted Santa Trolls and Mrs. Claus Trolls and elf Trolls.
Cloud blinked. "They make Trolls for everything, don't they."
"Yep!" Zack said.
Eventually they set up everything Zack had bought and Zack stood with a grin at the plug for the lights. "Okay! Seph, get the regular lights and it's time for the finishing touch!"
Sephiroth flipped off the light switch.
In the next second, Zack had the Christmas lights on and the electric candles on and the room was immediately bathed in coziness and Christmas cheer.
"It's beautiful," Marlene said in a hushed voice.
"It really is," Tifa agreed.
Aerith smiled. "You've outdone yourself, Zack."
Zack grinned with pride. "That's always my goal! Make things more and more amazing each time!"
Sephiroth seemed particularly struck by the scene. He went and sat on a chair near the tree and stared up at it, fascinated by all the lights and the electric star on top.
Cloud went over to him after a moment. "You like it, huh?" he asked.
Sephiroth nodded. "I have never seen so many lights used to this effect before," he said. "Zack is . . . very talented at decorating."
"Helps that he loves it so much," Cloud said. "You always put your heart into something when it means that much to you."
Sephiroth smiled at that. "Yes," he agreed, laying his hand on Cloud's. "You do."
Cloud blinked in surprise but smiled too. It was rare for Sephiroth to initiate physical affection with loved ones. But it was rare for Cloud too and he had started to open up lately. He placed his other hand on Sephiroth's and gently squeezed Sephiroth's hand in response. "Yeah."
Zack beamed at them and looked to Aerith. "And this is just the beginning!" he said grandly. "We're gonna make the whole house look as amazing as this!"
Aerith smiled in amusement. "Well, goodness," she said. "What will we do?"
"Last year's smaller tree will get set up in the gaming room," Zack said. "We don't wanna leave it out! And there'll be garlands and garlands with lights and wreaths and mistletoe and . . . !"
"Then it looks like we'd better get started," Aerith said, linking arms with Zack.
"My thoughts exactly!" Zack grinned.
"I wonder if we'll recognize the house when he's done," Sephiroth grunted.
Cloud shrugged. "I'm wondering how he'll stand to take everything down when it's over."
"Maybe he won't," Angeal remarked.
Sephiroth scoffed. That sounded ludicrous and yet . . . it wouldbe nice to have a peaceful haven like this year-round, he had to admit.
He relaxed deeper into the chair, gazing up at the tree.