S/Z Drabble Bits
Jun. 21st, 2009 01:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
persona_systemBecause we normally do our drabbles all mixed together in several large word documents I'm not really sure if these three scenes were intended to be together or separate anymore. None the less I thought I might as well post them. These haven't been beta'd and they've only been given the roughest proofread by us, so if you spot any mistakes feel free to point them out.
Rating: pg-13 for some language and sexual themes
Sephiroth glanced over at Zack when he heard a loud sigh. The younger man was scanning his latest mission dossier and carefully switching out materia, mumbling under his breath.
"Let's see... Gonna need my master Barrier so I can cast Wall and Reflect... and maybe a... Earth? Did Quake3 work well against those...? Yeah..."
Sephiroth shook his head and looked back down at the report he should have finished reading half an hour ago.
"... Ice2 or Bolt... 'weak against lightning' but compared to a second level Ice... get back to that... gotta have Restore... Steal.... Chocobo Lure? No...."
Sephiroth snorted silently to himself.
"Mmkay," Zack said aloud, leaning back from his bangle and sword. "I think that should do it!"
Sephiroth nodded absently. "Did you remember to connect Earth and Ice to an All materia?"
"Uh, no." Zack moved one of the green orbs to his sword to make room for the two glowing blue All materia. His task done, he put the unused materia back into his case and leaned back into the leather couch.
Sephiroth signed the report with a flourish and was halfway through the next when Zack spoke again.
"They're sending me down to Mideel," he said conversationally.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, supposedly Wutai has a big base down there in the jungle. Couple villagers reported those big 'anti-SOLDIER' monsters. You know, the Vaderananas or Vaba Debanas or Veder-bananas or whatever they're called."
"Vajradhara." He looked up from the report and met the younger man's eyes. "Banora is near there."
Zack flinched almost imperceptibly. "Yeah..." He took a steadying breath. "Yeah. You noticed that too, huh?"
"I find it strange that you would be sent there so soon after the... incident," Sephiroth explained, keeping his voice even.
"Mmm," Zack hummed in agreement. "It has me a little worried, to be honest."
"It's suspicious," Sephiroth agreed.
"Do you think," Zack began, leaning over the arm of the couch towards Sephiroth's desk, "Do you think I should decline the mission? Can I even do that?"
Sephiroth held his gaze for several long moments before lowering his to Zack's materia case. "I think you should decline, but you'll have some difficulty. The board generally doesn't accept unless there's clear evidence that the mission is beyond the ability of the recipient. Unfortunately you can't use that as justification."
Zack made another 'mmm' sound and dropped his chin to his arms.
Sephiroth looked him over. "I'll back your request."
They were both quiet for several long minutes before Zack rose smoothly to his feet.
"Thanks," he said earnestly. "I think you're right. Something's not right with this."
Sephiroth inclined his head. "Go ask your Major for the forms you'll need and bring them to me when you complete them."
"The Major'll have that?" At Sephiroth's nod he grinned. "Alright. I'll see you around, then." He picked up his materia case and moved towards the metal sliding door.
"Oh, Zack? Give me a call if you need anything."
Zack gave a casual salute that was more of a wave and showed himself out.
----
Zack ran his hands down his partner's back, enjoying the feel of solid flesh underneath the soft material. He lifted one of his hands to tangle in the silky hair and planted a kiss on the smooth skin next to plump moist lips.
Zack and the person both gasped as their legs entwined together, and Zack let his eyes fall shut as he leaned into the other, enjoying the warmth of their arms.
His hips were grinding into the other's in small circles against the stiff baggy fabric. The other made a pleading sound and pressed their fingertips into Zack's shoulder.
"Please," Zack panted, pressing a kiss onto the now exposed shoulder. "Please, Seph..."
Zack blinked at the dim shapes of his barracks room. The doorbell pager rang again, and he blinked a few more times, everything coming into sharper focus. He could still feel the lingering weight against him and the soft friction of leather against skin.
"What the fuck?" he mumbled blearily, staring dumbly at the door. Someone was ringing...?
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed loudly, launching himself out of the bed. "Oh shit!" he said again for good measure. "Hold on!" he called to whoever was waiting. He reached for the standard issue pants thrown haphazardly on the couch.
"Just a minute!" he called again, yanking the baggy material around his legs and stumbling a bit as he searched for a shirt. Locating one half buried under the bed he pulled it over his head and staggered to the door.
He hit the Open button.
"Fair," Sephiroth greeted, managing to sound both frosty and cordial at the same time, something only he seemed able to do.
Zack opened his mouth to respond then closed it, glancing awkwardly down at his disheveled clothes. He noted that his shirt ("Midgar Sex Elfadunks! Live at the Phalanx Star Pub and Grille!") was both inside out and backwards, and that he hadn't ever gotten around to actually fastening his pants, which were now located somewhere between his knees and his embarrassingly erect package. Thank Ramuh for baggy tee-shirts.
"Uh... Yeah," he said awkwardly, looking back up at his CO.
"Were you busy?" Sephiroth asked, not particularly caring either way. He pretended to ignore the younger man as Zack surreptitiously pulled up his pants.
"Uh... No," Zack replied, glancing back into the apartment to where Sephiroth could just barely make out the outline of a very messy bed. No doubt he'd caught the younger man at one of his more... unsavory moments.
"In that case I need your assistance," Sephiroth said briskly, ignoring the slight warmth pooling in his stomach at the young man's flushed and messy appearance in favor of the situation at hand. "There's been some sort of incident in the records department and I need someone competent to help me set things right."
Zack raised an eyebrow. "Incident?" he prompted, shifting slightly to keep his pants from falling down again.
"Apparently one of the Arms Development secretaries had some sort of fit and left a shock grenade in the Arms Developement and SOLDIER library. All AD materials have been confiscated to be sorted through in a separate location, leaving the rest of the library free for us to tackle."
"A shock grenade? Shit." Someone had let off a shock grenade in his Sergeant's office when he was a cadet. The resulting mess (years' worth of paper scattered and torn) had, according to rumor, taken several months to sort out. He could only imagine the destruction of an entire branch's hard-copy system being scattered to the winds.
"Indeed," Sephiroth agreed readily with his silent estimation. "The President also wants SOLDIER to be ready to implement the COBRA System next week, so any files pertaining to that will have to be our top priority."
"COBRA?" Zack asked dumbly. He'd heard the name, probably from Sephiroth himself, but he couldn't place it.
"Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis System," Sephiroth replied, clearly annoyed. Zack kicked himself for not paying better attention.
"Oh, that," he said, trying to play it off. "Yeah, I remember that."
Sephiroth raised his eyebrows but decided to let the issue drop. "Are you ready?" he asked instead.
"Uh," Zack mumbled, glancing down at his clothes. "Not really?" Sephiroth sighed. "But I can be ready in like no time at all!" he said hurriedly.
Sephiroth raised an elegant eyebrow.
"Right!" Zack said quickly, and pulled his shirt quickly over his head. "Right! Uh, so how were those reports coming?" he jabbered, turning his shirt right side out. "The, uh, missing, uh, M.I.A. reports," he clarified, tugging his shirt back over his head.
"I completed them last night," Sephiroth stated calmly, eyeing Zack's pants.
"Right. That's cool." Zack reached down to fumbled with his zipper. "So, uh, I guess that intern went crazy at a convenient time, then, huh?"
"I suppose one could view it that way."
"Yeah," Zack mumbled, doing up his belt and straightening his t-shirt. "Okay!"
"You're ready? Sephiroth asked, disbelief lightly coloring his words. T-shirts and P.T. pants were hardly the type of thing most people would wear to the upper floors of the HQ. "Perhaps you'd like some boots?"
"What? Oh, yeah..." Zack backed through the door before turning to find his boots in the dark apartment. Sephiroth could barely make out his silhouette as he shuffled around near the bed. Then Zack straightened and clomped (there was no other word for it) back to the door.
"Alright! Now I'm ready!"
Sephiroth wearily looked him over. The younger man's hair was still a mess, but considering the late hour Sephiroth supposed he looked presentable enough. "Then let's go," he said mildly.
---
"So what time is it exactly?" Zack asked as they stepped out into the cold darkness of the central plate.
"It is..." Sephiroth paused as he flipped his wrist up to read his watch, "... two thirty-four."
"Damn, I'm gonna be tired tomorrow!"
"I imagine we'll be working on this well into the afternoon, but I'll be sure to let you off early enough to make up for lost sleep."
"Seriously? Man, you're like the best boss ever," Zack proclaimed, falling into stride next to the silver-haired general. They fell into silence for a few minutes before Zack spoke again. "I was wondering... How old are you?"
Sephiroth blinked at the perfectly innocuous question. "You know Zackary, in all the interviews I've done and all the fan questions I've answered, I think you're the first to actually ask me that."
"Really?" Zack grinned over at him.
"I'm twenty-two."
"What?! No way!" Zack exclaimed. "That can't be right! Angeal said he thought you guys were all like the same age!"
Zack could just barely make out the slight curve of Sephiroth's lips as he smiled in the darkness. "Ah, it would appear that way to him, wouldn't it. Angeal and Genesis were both three years older than I."
"Wait, but then during the Fort Condor uprising you were..." Zack trailed off, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"I was twelve."
"Sweet Shiva."
They walked in silence for several long moments.
"So," Zack began, clearly calculating in his head, "so if you were twelve during the Condor uprising you were... Seven."
"When I first proved myself as a military commander-"
"-at Junon," Zack finished. "Sweet mother of Tiamat. That's... that's really amazing, you know that?"
Sephiroth glanced away uncomfortably. "I'm well aware."
"So when you were a kid... Did you want to be a SOLDIER?" Zack asked innocently.
"I..." Sephiroth fell silent.
"Mmm?" Zack prompted.
"I suppose it never occurred to me that I could be anything but a SOLDIER," he explained simply.
Zack sighed. "Tough break."
"Mmm."
"It's kinda cold out here," Zack said suddenly.
"Is it?" Sephiroth asked mildly.
"Yeah, you're not cold? Well, I guess you're in that coat."
"I don't generally get cold unless it's below freezing," he muttered. "You're cold?"
Zack dropped his gaze to the ground before looking back to where he could just make out Sephiroth's features. "Yeah, it's pretty chilly out. 'R at least it seems like it to me, being a jungle boy!" He laughed and clasped his hands behind his head.
"Here," Sephiroth said softly, stopping. Zack stopped, too, to stare as Sephiroth slipped his coat off and held it out wordlessly.
Zack blinked.
"You can take it," Sephiroth said, breaking Zack's trance.
"Woah! Are you serious?" Zack asked, surprised.
"You're cold, aren't you?"
"Well, yeah, but you don't have to give me your coat!" Zack protested. "I mean, it's not like I won't survive the rest of the walk to HQ without it."
"But I don't need it. Surely if you're cold this would be the sensible thing to do."
"Well, yeah, but..." Zack trailed off. "I don't want to be a bother, man."
"It's hardly a bother, though if you're going to keep protesting this-"
"No, no! It's fine!" Zack blurted, hastily reaching out to take the coat from his CO's grasp. He carefully shrugged into the warm leather, savoring the contrast between the soft material and his cold skin. "Damn, this is a nice coat," he said inanely.
"Thank you."
"This is warm!"
"I know," Sephiroth replied and started walking again.
"Thanks!" Zack exclaimed, falling into step beside the older man.
"You're welcome."
Rating: pg-13 for some language and sexual themes
Sephiroth glanced over at Zack when he heard a loud sigh. The younger man was scanning his latest mission dossier and carefully switching out materia, mumbling under his breath.
"Let's see... Gonna need my master Barrier so I can cast Wall and Reflect... and maybe a... Earth? Did Quake3 work well against those...? Yeah..."
Sephiroth shook his head and looked back down at the report he should have finished reading half an hour ago.
"... Ice2 or Bolt... 'weak against lightning' but compared to a second level Ice... get back to that... gotta have Restore... Steal.... Chocobo Lure? No...."
Sephiroth snorted silently to himself.
"Mmkay," Zack said aloud, leaning back from his bangle and sword. "I think that should do it!"
Sephiroth nodded absently. "Did you remember to connect Earth and Ice to an All materia?"
"Uh, no." Zack moved one of the green orbs to his sword to make room for the two glowing blue All materia. His task done, he put the unused materia back into his case and leaned back into the leather couch.
Sephiroth signed the report with a flourish and was halfway through the next when Zack spoke again.
"They're sending me down to Mideel," he said conversationally.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, supposedly Wutai has a big base down there in the jungle. Couple villagers reported those big 'anti-SOLDIER' monsters. You know, the Vaderananas or Vaba Debanas or Veder-bananas or whatever they're called."
"Vajradhara." He looked up from the report and met the younger man's eyes. "Banora is near there."
Zack flinched almost imperceptibly. "Yeah..." He took a steadying breath. "Yeah. You noticed that too, huh?"
"I find it strange that you would be sent there so soon after the... incident," Sephiroth explained, keeping his voice even.
"Mmm," Zack hummed in agreement. "It has me a little worried, to be honest."
"It's suspicious," Sephiroth agreed.
"Do you think," Zack began, leaning over the arm of the couch towards Sephiroth's desk, "Do you think I should decline the mission? Can I even do that?"
Sephiroth held his gaze for several long moments before lowering his to Zack's materia case. "I think you should decline, but you'll have some difficulty. The board generally doesn't accept unless there's clear evidence that the mission is beyond the ability of the recipient. Unfortunately you can't use that as justification."
Zack made another 'mmm' sound and dropped his chin to his arms.
Sephiroth looked him over. "I'll back your request."
They were both quiet for several long minutes before Zack rose smoothly to his feet.
"Thanks," he said earnestly. "I think you're right. Something's not right with this."
Sephiroth inclined his head. "Go ask your Major for the forms you'll need and bring them to me when you complete them."
"The Major'll have that?" At Sephiroth's nod he grinned. "Alright. I'll see you around, then." He picked up his materia case and moved towards the metal sliding door.
"Oh, Zack? Give me a call if you need anything."
Zack gave a casual salute that was more of a wave and showed himself out.
----
Zack ran his hands down his partner's back, enjoying the feel of solid flesh underneath the soft material. He lifted one of his hands to tangle in the silky hair and planted a kiss on the smooth skin next to plump moist lips.
Zack and the person both gasped as their legs entwined together, and Zack let his eyes fall shut as he leaned into the other, enjoying the warmth of their arms.
His hips were grinding into the other's in small circles against the stiff baggy fabric. The other made a pleading sound and pressed their fingertips into Zack's shoulder.
"Please," Zack panted, pressing a kiss onto the now exposed shoulder. "Please, Seph..."
Zack blinked at the dim shapes of his barracks room. The doorbell pager rang again, and he blinked a few more times, everything coming into sharper focus. He could still feel the lingering weight against him and the soft friction of leather against skin.
"What the fuck?" he mumbled blearily, staring dumbly at the door. Someone was ringing...?
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed loudly, launching himself out of the bed. "Oh shit!" he said again for good measure. "Hold on!" he called to whoever was waiting. He reached for the standard issue pants thrown haphazardly on the couch.
"Just a minute!" he called again, yanking the baggy material around his legs and stumbling a bit as he searched for a shirt. Locating one half buried under the bed he pulled it over his head and staggered to the door.
He hit the Open button.
"Fair," Sephiroth greeted, managing to sound both frosty and cordial at the same time, something only he seemed able to do.
Zack opened his mouth to respond then closed it, glancing awkwardly down at his disheveled clothes. He noted that his shirt ("Midgar Sex Elfadunks! Live at the Phalanx Star Pub and Grille!") was both inside out and backwards, and that he hadn't ever gotten around to actually fastening his pants, which were now located somewhere between his knees and his embarrassingly erect package. Thank Ramuh for baggy tee-shirts.
"Uh... Yeah," he said awkwardly, looking back up at his CO.
"Were you busy?" Sephiroth asked, not particularly caring either way. He pretended to ignore the younger man as Zack surreptitiously pulled up his pants.
"Uh... No," Zack replied, glancing back into the apartment to where Sephiroth could just barely make out the outline of a very messy bed. No doubt he'd caught the younger man at one of his more... unsavory moments.
"In that case I need your assistance," Sephiroth said briskly, ignoring the slight warmth pooling in his stomach at the young man's flushed and messy appearance in favor of the situation at hand. "There's been some sort of incident in the records department and I need someone competent to help me set things right."
Zack raised an eyebrow. "Incident?" he prompted, shifting slightly to keep his pants from falling down again.
"Apparently one of the Arms Development secretaries had some sort of fit and left a shock grenade in the Arms Developement and SOLDIER library. All AD materials have been confiscated to be sorted through in a separate location, leaving the rest of the library free for us to tackle."
"A shock grenade? Shit." Someone had let off a shock grenade in his Sergeant's office when he was a cadet. The resulting mess (years' worth of paper scattered and torn) had, according to rumor, taken several months to sort out. He could only imagine the destruction of an entire branch's hard-copy system being scattered to the winds.
"Indeed," Sephiroth agreed readily with his silent estimation. "The President also wants SOLDIER to be ready to implement the COBRA System next week, so any files pertaining to that will have to be our top priority."
"COBRA?" Zack asked dumbly. He'd heard the name, probably from Sephiroth himself, but he couldn't place it.
"Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis System," Sephiroth replied, clearly annoyed. Zack kicked himself for not paying better attention.
"Oh, that," he said, trying to play it off. "Yeah, I remember that."
Sephiroth raised his eyebrows but decided to let the issue drop. "Are you ready?" he asked instead.
"Uh," Zack mumbled, glancing down at his clothes. "Not really?" Sephiroth sighed. "But I can be ready in like no time at all!" he said hurriedly.
Sephiroth raised an elegant eyebrow.
"Right!" Zack said quickly, and pulled his shirt quickly over his head. "Right! Uh, so how were those reports coming?" he jabbered, turning his shirt right side out. "The, uh, missing, uh, M.I.A. reports," he clarified, tugging his shirt back over his head.
"I completed them last night," Sephiroth stated calmly, eyeing Zack's pants.
"Right. That's cool." Zack reached down to fumbled with his zipper. "So, uh, I guess that intern went crazy at a convenient time, then, huh?"
"I suppose one could view it that way."
"Yeah," Zack mumbled, doing up his belt and straightening his t-shirt. "Okay!"
"You're ready? Sephiroth asked, disbelief lightly coloring his words. T-shirts and P.T. pants were hardly the type of thing most people would wear to the upper floors of the HQ. "Perhaps you'd like some boots?"
"What? Oh, yeah..." Zack backed through the door before turning to find his boots in the dark apartment. Sephiroth could barely make out his silhouette as he shuffled around near the bed. Then Zack straightened and clomped (there was no other word for it) back to the door.
"Alright! Now I'm ready!"
Sephiroth wearily looked him over. The younger man's hair was still a mess, but considering the late hour Sephiroth supposed he looked presentable enough. "Then let's go," he said mildly.
---
"So what time is it exactly?" Zack asked as they stepped out into the cold darkness of the central plate.
"It is..." Sephiroth paused as he flipped his wrist up to read his watch, "... two thirty-four."
"Damn, I'm gonna be tired tomorrow!"
"I imagine we'll be working on this well into the afternoon, but I'll be sure to let you off early enough to make up for lost sleep."
"Seriously? Man, you're like the best boss ever," Zack proclaimed, falling into stride next to the silver-haired general. They fell into silence for a few minutes before Zack spoke again. "I was wondering... How old are you?"
Sephiroth blinked at the perfectly innocuous question. "You know Zackary, in all the interviews I've done and all the fan questions I've answered, I think you're the first to actually ask me that."
"Really?" Zack grinned over at him.
"I'm twenty-two."
"What?! No way!" Zack exclaimed. "That can't be right! Angeal said he thought you guys were all like the same age!"
Zack could just barely make out the slight curve of Sephiroth's lips as he smiled in the darkness. "Ah, it would appear that way to him, wouldn't it. Angeal and Genesis were both three years older than I."
"Wait, but then during the Fort Condor uprising you were..." Zack trailed off, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"I was twelve."
"Sweet Shiva."
They walked in silence for several long moments.
"So," Zack began, clearly calculating in his head, "so if you were twelve during the Condor uprising you were... Seven."
"When I first proved myself as a military commander-"
"-at Junon," Zack finished. "Sweet mother of Tiamat. That's... that's really amazing, you know that?"
Sephiroth glanced away uncomfortably. "I'm well aware."
"So when you were a kid... Did you want to be a SOLDIER?" Zack asked innocently.
"I..." Sephiroth fell silent.
"Mmm?" Zack prompted.
"I suppose it never occurred to me that I could be anything but a SOLDIER," he explained simply.
Zack sighed. "Tough break."
"Mmm."
"It's kinda cold out here," Zack said suddenly.
"Is it?" Sephiroth asked mildly.
"Yeah, you're not cold? Well, I guess you're in that coat."
"I don't generally get cold unless it's below freezing," he muttered. "You're cold?"
Zack dropped his gaze to the ground before looking back to where he could just make out Sephiroth's features. "Yeah, it's pretty chilly out. 'R at least it seems like it to me, being a jungle boy!" He laughed and clasped his hands behind his head.
"Here," Sephiroth said softly, stopping. Zack stopped, too, to stare as Sephiroth slipped his coat off and held it out wordlessly.
Zack blinked.
"You can take it," Sephiroth said, breaking Zack's trance.
"Woah! Are you serious?" Zack asked, surprised.
"You're cold, aren't you?"
"Well, yeah, but you don't have to give me your coat!" Zack protested. "I mean, it's not like I won't survive the rest of the walk to HQ without it."
"But I don't need it. Surely if you're cold this would be the sensible thing to do."
"Well, yeah, but..." Zack trailed off. "I don't want to be a bother, man."
"It's hardly a bother, though if you're going to keep protesting this-"
"No, no! It's fine!" Zack blurted, hastily reaching out to take the coat from his CO's grasp. He carefully shrugged into the warm leather, savoring the contrast between the soft material and his cold skin. "Damn, this is a nice coat," he said inanely.
"Thank you."
"This is warm!"
"I know," Sephiroth replied and started walking again.
"Thanks!" Zack exclaimed, falling into step beside the older man.
"You're welcome."
