Watchparty
"Hey Aerith!", Zack greeted his girlfriend over the phone. "Hiya. How's it going? Are you coming over later?" Zack flopped down on his bed, stretching out his legs. "Yeah, if you're still free." – "Sure! Let's watch the show later", she confirmed. "So how about tomorrow? Wanna watch the rocket launch together, too?" She hummed, but declined: "Sorry, I have to work tomorrow." – "Oh. Well, nothing to do about it, I guess. Is work getting any easier?", he inquired. "Actually, yes", she responded. "Although I can use it only a few times per day, it really speeds things up." – "Don't worry about it. You'll get better at it over time."
"I guess. Sorry about the fire thing", she continued after a short pause. "Really, it's okay. Don't worry about it. You know I heal super quickly", he tried to calm her down. The fire materia he had given her contained one of the weakest spells he knew. While getting hit with it kind of hurt, it did little to no actual damage to a class 1st SOLDIER. "Besides, it was kind of my fault. I shouldn't have gotten in the way." He did not at all regret trying to get Aerith into monster hunting, and much to his anguish, she had not felt like trying it again after ever since she threw a fire ball at his back by accident. Or rather, because he stepped in between her and the target, just before the spell went off, because he thought she could not do it and tried to keep the monsters away from her. If he had learned anything about Aerith over the months they had been dating, it was that she could accomplish almost anything if she put her mind into it, although she sometimes lacked the confidence. "You'd be really good at it, I think. But as long as cure works for you, that's fine. Don't push yourself too much. Just tell me if you want to try other materia."
"I guess", she said before changing the topic: "So, the launch, are you still going to watch it?" Zack closed his eyes for a moment. "By myself? That's kind of boring." – "How about your friend? What was his name? Sephiroth?" Zack smiled quietly to himself, unable to imagine that Sephiroth would want to watch the rocket launch. Sephiroth was rather critical of the space program and he appeared to have absolutely no interest in the rocket launch the last time they talked about it. "Yeah, I guess I'll ask him", he said, not fully convinced that it was a good idea. He could ask Cissnei, too. Or Kunsel. Or simply watch it in the SOLDIER common room. There were enough people he could think of to ask, but all of them were clearly less favored alternatives to Aerith and Sephiroth.
They continued to chat for a bit and left off with a "good bye, see you later". After he hung up, he glanced around his messy room, which he had been in the process of cleaning. But he did not feel like finishing the job and instead called Aerith to distract himself. He still did not feel up to it. He turned around on the bed and, laying on his belly, scrolled through his phone to stop on Sephiroth's name. Between cleaning his room and calling Sephiroth, he had a very clear preference.
His heart skipped a beat when, much to his surprise, Sephiroth picked up the phone after letting it ring only five times. When Sephiroth did not say anything on the other end of the line, Zack stammered: "Uh, h-hey Sephiroth." – "What is it?", Sephiroth interjected. "It's Zack", he clarified. "I can see your name on the screen", Sephiroth countered. "Right. Sorry", Zack said apologetically. After an awkward pause, Sephiroth broke the silence: "Did you defeat them?" – "What?" – "Those three." Zack slapped his hand on his forehead when it dawned to him what Sephiroth was getting at. Certainly, training was the last thing they did together, or, rather, did not do together. Perhaps he was thinking that Zack called about training again. "Uh, well, I have an idea how to do it, but I haven't challenged them recently." Sephiroth sighed at the end of the line. "You think about this too much. You don't get a rematch on the battlefield. Just get stronger and defeat them in a single hit." Zack turned around again on the bed and looked at the ceiling. "I know. I'll figure it out."
Taking it as a good sign that Sephiroth had not hung up on him just yet, he managed to bring up his actual concern: "I actually wasn't calling about training. I was wondering if you'd like to watch the rocket launch with me." – "The what?" – "The space rocket. They're launching it tomorrow." He was rewarded with another few moments of silence, until Sephiroth asked: "You want to go to Rocket Town or something to watch it?" Zack, hardly believing that Sephiroth had really not heard about it, explained: "No, they're airing it on TV. Wanna watch it?" When Sephiroth did not answer immediately, he added: "Uh, it's ok if you don't want to." – "When is it?", Sephiroth asked. "It starts at 11." Another pause. "Is that a yes?", Zack pressed on. Finally, Sephiroth sighed: "You wanna come to my place then?"