Zack XIII: Lunchtime
They reached Floor 65 only a short moment after Tseng's sudden departure. Zack offered his shoulder to Sephiroth, but he softly shook his head and said: "I think I'll be fine." He actually did look better as they walked around a few corners until they got to the cafeteria. Zack looked around in amazement. He had been on Floor 65 before, but had not had the opportunity to eat in this cafeteria. This was the place where most of the people at the top of the company ate their lunches. Not the president, naturally, who was catered to in private most of the time.
This place looked more like a restaurant than a cafeteria, with the floors covered by thick grey carpets with the Shinra logo printed on and the walls decorated by wooden panels and soft lighting. The seating arrangements consisted of wooden tables of varying sizes with intricately decorated and cushioned chairs and benches. The windows along one of the walls were adorned with heavy, red curtains and allowed visitors to see far beyond the city's edges over the rocky wastelands surrounding the city. Naturally, people who had clearance for floors 65 and above knew better than anyone else what lay beyond the sparkling lights, comfort and luxury of Midgar. Zack did not visit the floors beyond 63 often, but he knew this view very well from the frequent helicopter rides.
Sephiroth stopped at the counter by the entrance and said "Two" before he swiped his card. "My treat", he announced toward Zack before the latter could say anything. It was not very crowded, but when the silver-haired SOLDIER entered the hall, many heads turned toward them, and Zack shrunk back behind Sephiroth's wide back. Sephiroth did not seem bothered at all by the attention, but obviously, he was just pretending. After all, he wanted to come here to enjoy the boon of a little more privacy compared to the public cafeteria where Zack and all the rest of the Shinra employees usually went to for lunch. The upper echelons of the company, however, knew better than to harass him during lunchtime.
Sephiroth walked toward the center of the room where a large buffet was presented, decorated with artificial flowers and plants. The food smelled so delicious it made Zack's mouth water. Sephiroth grabbed a plated and directed Zack to do the same. "Eat as much as you want", he encouraged Zack, who took a plate from the stack and wandered along the buffet in wonder. He was rarely ever faced with such a large selection of food all at once. In the SOLDIER mass hall they were served a balanced diet every morning and night without much freedom of choice, and even the cafeteria on the 23rd floor, which Zack frequented pretty much every day he spent at the Shinra building had only limited food options.
When Zack finally decided on a Dual Horn steak with a side of manioc root, which he used to eat in his hometown quite frequently and spicy squash stir-fry, Sephiroth had already found a table for the both of them in a corner as far away from other occupied tables as possible and sat down. Zack joined him after a short moment of hesitation. He had not expected the day to take such an interesting turn. Although he was still down about what happened the day before, he was carefully excited to have lunch with the older SOLDIER for the first time. After all, life had to go on somehow, and Zack was correct in his assumption that Angeal would be happy to know that two of the people he left behind supported each other.
After sitting down, Zack tried to play down his excitation at being able to have lunch with his great idol and simply began: "Thanks! Do you eat here often?" Sephiroth listlessly poked around in his food. "Not really." Zack started cutting his steak and tried a piece of everything he had on his plate. "Really? Why not?", he asked as he looked around again and discovered new details and decorations on the ceilings and walls. Midgar was located in the middle of a wasteland, and all the woods and farmlands that had been anywhere close by had been deforested completely or lost their fertility over time, presumably because the land could not support the large number of people living in Midgar. Naturally, having joined Shinra at the tender age of 14 without ever having received an outside education, Zack's understanding of the planet's life was extremely limited, and he did not see the connection between the number of people dwelling in Midgar, its mako consumption, and the desertification of the environment. As a result of this, however, wooden furniture, fresh vegetables and meat that was not from questionable sources, such as the mutated creatures roaming the undercity, were extremely pricy. The company was investing a lot of money into facilities like these and he could not imagine why Sephiroth did not use them if he had access to them and could afford it.
"The food… isn't that good." Sephiroth put down his fork and took a sip from his cup. Suddenly, Zack remembered that Sephiroth had a kitchen in his apartment. Not that the food was bad in particular, but nothing beats a home-cooked meal. Naturally, Sephiroth did not cook, but… "By the way, is it true what Hojo said earlier?" Sephiroth did not reply immediately. "Why, what did he say?" Zack looked up from his plate, only to see Sephiroth avoiding his eyes. "The mako dose was pretty high. My memory's a bit fuzzy."
Zack swallowed and stopped eating, thinking for a short moment about how to put it, before he clarified: "He said that you and Angeal were together." That is what Hojo had implied in much, much less savory terms, and I am actually glad that he did not remember what had been said. When Sephiroth folded his arms and looked at the plate in front of him, he was quick to assure: "It's not a big deal, I was just wondering." Zack scratched the back of his head. "Sorry."
Sephiroth pushed away his plate and finally said: "It's fine." Zack did not know what to say, so he picked up a few pieces of manioc with his for. "You've probably guessed by now that he's been living with me." He looked up at the ceiling. "For six years or so." Zack ate a few pieces. "That's a really long time." Sephiroth looked at his gloved hands resting on the table. "Not long enough." After a short pause, he continued with pain in his voice: "These past weeks have been really difficult. I thought… he would come back." Zack nodded, but before he could say anything, Sephiroth went on: "I thought it was unfair of him to ask me to end it for him. But then I realized he did it because he wanted me to let go of him." He folded his hands. "And I would never do that as long as he was still… somewhere." His voice was still full of grief, although he appeared to have finally come to terms with Angeal really being gone. Unfortunately, Zack was completely wrong in this assumption. He should have realized that Sephiroth under normal circumstances never talked this much about himself. He was still under the influence of mako and the stimulant and was not thinking clearly. Zack pressed his flat hand on his chest and tried to encourage him: "We won't ever forget him." Sephiroth managed a light smile. "Yeah…"
Six years… six years ago, Angeal had been… 19? Barely older than Zack was now. Zack could not imagine moving in with a partner at such a young age. He could very easily imagine Angeal to be a domestic type of person, but he was really surprised about Sephiroth, whose, middle name could easily have been "aloof", sharing his life with another person. But then, he had no idea about Sephiroth's likes or dislikes or how he spent his time when he was not working, so he really had nothing to base his assumptions on aside from his preconceived notions. He was, however, correct in the assumption that Angeal used to cook the two of them and Genesis and that is why never went to the cafeteria. I still have no idea how the "Keepers of Honor" could get almost everything wrong in the "profiles" they published, but somehow managed to be right about the cooking thing.
As he continued to clear the food off his plate, Zack's phone beeped. Sephiroth looked up as he pulled it out. "It's from Tseng", Zack explained as he opened the message and did not notice Sephiroth rolling his eyes silently. "You'll be out of town for several days starting from tomorrow. Lazard will tell you the details", Zack read out. Sephiroth supported his chin on his fist, apparently eager to change the topic of conversation. "That seems like a pointless message", he mused. Zack scratched his head as he put away his phone. "Honestly, I know that Tseng can be a bit weird, and you hold no love for the Turks, but I think he has some good in him that you don't see." While Zack said that, Sephiroth was playing with his fork, looking at him thoughtfully, and responded dryly with a light smile on his face: "I've known him for a really long time", he responded dryly.
Having no clue what Sephiroth was even talking about, Zack turned back to his food and mused: "Well, people can change. Anyway, where would you take a girl on a night out?" Sephiroth raised his eyebrows in response. "I really don't know anything about girls. In case you didn't get the memo." While Zack cursed himself silently for his quick mouth, Sephiroth added as he folded his arms and nodded at Zack: "Why don't you ask Tseng, then? I heard he's popular."
Zack thought that was a terrible idea, not just because the Turk was well-known for having no private life to speak of, but also because of his mysterious relationship with Aerith, which he knew she was not comfortable with. Zack sighed and picked up his phone again in an attempt to please Sephiroth. He texted to Tseng, while reading it out slowly: "Where would you take a girl on a night out?"
The response came promptly before Zack could eat even another bite. "Dinner?", Zack exclaimed. "That's lame!" His phone beeped again. "Order lots of food and then have her take the leftovers home", he read out slowly, frowning doubtfully. "That's specific", Sephiroth remarked, tapping on the table with his fingers. Before Zack could say anything, his phone beeped again. "There's a place in sector 6 she's always wanted to go to", Zack read out hesitantly. Sephiroth frowned in response. "Are they friends or something?" Zack texted back quickly: "Thanks. I'll figure it out from here" to keep the Turk from sending him more messages.
To Sephiroth, he said: "The Turks observe her for some reason" Sephiroth stared at him. "That seems like a terrible source of relationship advice." Zack scratched his head. "You didn't have to ask Tseng just because I suggested", Sephiroth continued. "And the Turks again? You know, she may simply disappear one day and you'll never see her again." Zack clenched his fists as Sephiroth folded his arms and mustered him inquisitively. "Now I'm curious. How did you meet her anyway?"
"I kinda fell off the plate and she found me." Sephiroth nodded patiently. Most other people would be shocked upon hearing that someone fell off the plate, which was floating 50 m above ground, and came out unharmed, but Sephiroth himself had jumped off the plate on purpose quite a few times, so he knew it was not that big of a deal for a person of their "constitution". Zack pushed a few buttons on his phone as he leaned forward. "She's really cute. She's the nicest girl I've ever met." He found a picture of the two of them together on his phone and showed it to Sephiroth, who looked at the photo with polite interest. Suddenly, he frowned and pinched his eyes. "She looks familiar. Does she work for the company?" Zack shook his head. "Definitely not. Can you imagine? She's never even been on top of the plate." Sephiroth was still staring at the photo when his eyes suddenly widened. "Have you met her before?", Zack asked.
Sephiroth blinked and slowly shook his head as he inquired: "Does she live with her mother?" Zack nodded. "Yeah, they have a house in the Sector 5 slums." Loyalty, love and friendship were already difficult topics on their own. Them being in conflict with each other could be a recipe for disaster, a conflict that Sephiroth knew better than he cared to. A conflict that he had never truly resolved and would continue to run away from until the fateful day that was quickly approaching. Sephiroth leaned back silently and folded his arms. "If there ever came a time when you had to choose between her and your loyalty to the company, how would you decide?"