(no subject)

[icedark_elf]

Whee! Coyo(aka ciceqi gave me the okay to write Mascotverse fic. So I did. And forgottenlover did massive amounts of rewriting and editing, and really made it a decent fic. So, given how much she rewrote, I'm tagging this a cowritten effort

The real Mascotverse if here, and I highly recommend it to everyone. It invovles Zack/Cloud, Zack/Aeris, and the barest hint of Zack/Aeris/Cloud, because Coyo is awesome like that.



Title: Nothing Bad
Authors: icedark_elf and forgottenlover
Fandom: FFVII, Mascotverse
Rating: Mm, PG-13

Summary: Sometimes phone calls lead to a change of view.

Nothing Bad


"C'mon Seph, you know you want the donut. It’s calling your name, just begging for you to eat it."

Sephiroth, determined not to be distracted yet again, attempted to ignore the donut. The task was a bit harder when the donut obtained flight abilities, courtesy of Zack, and moved to perch on each piece of paperwork as he shifted his attention to it.

Finally, even he was forced to give up his efforts to continue his task. He looked up at Zack in exasperation. "Why are you insisting on forcing baked goods on me?"

"For one thing, these are homemade baked goods. They were made for you with copious amounts of love from Aeris. She’s determined that you still don’t get enough to eat see, and I'm only the messenger in her mad desire to feed you. For the other thing, you’ve been sitting here since at least six this morning." Zack paused, head cocking as though in thought. "Yet... how do I know this?"

Sephiroth sighed, having long since caught onto the rules of this particular game. His voice was calm when he asked the required question. "How did you know?"

"I knew because you had to have had the really good coffee lady in here, I could smell it. She’s the only one on this whole damn floor that can make a decent cup of coffee, and I know she’s on nights. Nights ends at oh six hundred, which means you had to have been here by then for her to be able to give you coffee."

Zack finally seemed to realize the donut was not doing its job of floating in front of Sephiroth’s nose, so he corrected that situation, once again getting between the man and his papers right when it seemed he had a chance to return to them. "Besides, I’ve been in here since ten, which I think is still too early to be slogging through this much paperwork, but you were settled in way before I got here." He paused, wiggling the donut to once again draw the silver haired man's eyes to it. "Besides, I know the last time you ate was then too, because Spike dropped off those wonderful bagels before he went off to see my, so very worried about you, girlfriend."

There was a pause, in which Sephiroth nodded, silently agreeing that it would be wise to ask Strife where he had gotten the baked items. It was rare that something so reasonably healthy had such a good taste, and up until that morning he'd had an understandable aversion to them, much preferring not to eat wax in the morning.

"Now, since that was the last thing you ate, and it’s now afternoon, I feel it is my solemn duty to make sure you eat. This paperwork is enough to kill anyone. In fact, I can see it now-

Sephiroth had just been about to cut in, feeling the other man had gone quite far enough, when Zack's PHD did it for him, going off before the man could get into whatever fantasy he'd been about to spin. When Zack flashed a quick glance at Sephiroth to see if answering it would be fine, he just waved his hand, more than willing for him to proceed. There was no telling if it might save him from the donut-bearing man so he could get back to work.

His hopes went unanswered. As Zack flipped open the phone, he scooted around the desk to shove the donut rather forcefully at him, eyes giving the definite impression that he would find some way to make more of a nuisance of himself than he was already managing if the sugary thing wasn't taken from him.

“Hello?”


The caller must have been either been his girlfriend or Strife. Those were the only two people who made Zack’s eyes light up like that. Deciding to ignore the conversation as much as possible, lest the man find some way to include him, Sephiroth settled for studying the donut he now had in hand. It was clear that it had some type of filling in it, and he wanted to know what it was before he ate it.

It took a minute or so, but he had finally decided the filling was apple when he heard Zack’s voice changed. When Sephiroth looked up, he found Zack pale-faced.

“Aeris, I’m serious. What happened? I could hear that girl talking to Cloud. Why is there blood on his clothes?”

Sephiroth’s 'Zack' alarms were going off. Not the good ones, them being the ones meaning there is a prank in the works, or pie, or company he hadn’t asked for but wanted anyway. No, something was wrong. Something that involved Strife and blood.

“Nothing bad? There is not a lot in my experience where things that are nothing bad have bloodshed involved. Is Cloud okay? Are you okay?”

That armrest was going to give way if Zack didn’t let go soon. A sharp, splintering sound said that he hadn’t let go in time. “I will be right there. Do not let him go anywhere. Aeris, I’m serious on this.”

And he was. Zack could be remarkably irreverent towards a great many things, military protocol, for one. But now he was deadly calm, and Sephiroth wondered just how bad the incident was that involved Strife and blood.

Even as Zack hung up, Sephiroth was moving for the door. “We can take my vehicle. I don’t want you driving like you are.”

There was good reason behind the statement. Zack was his friend, and, in his own way, so was Strife. It would do neither of them good if Zack took out a wall or two because it was in his way.

The smile he got from the dark haired man said “thank you” more than any words could have.

///

After having spent a very uncomfortable trip down to the sector where the girl lived, Sephiroth discovered that he much preferred his companion's normal babbling to the silent creature that took his place.

Following along behind Zack, Sephiroth watched as the residents of the area scattered before them. Usually, such actions were wise when facing two large military men. This time, Sephiroth would have preferred the crowd to have lingered. He had heard several comments that sounded like they needed to be questioned.


“Those ain’t just regular Shinra goons, they’re SOLDIERs”

“Wonder if they’re here for...”

“Shooting couldn’t be THAT big. Big enough for....”

With each sentence Sephiroth could hear, he knew Zack was hearing the same one. He could actually see the man tensing up each time they caught another bit of conversation.

Finally, though, they were within the safety of the church, away from the whispers. It took only a moment for Zack to locate the blond they had been called down for, and he quickly stalked over. Sephiroth continued to stay within a reasonable distance of the dark haired figure. He didn’t want to be intrusive, but he did know that Zack sometimes said things he didn’t want to when angry or upset.

Strife was sitting next to Aeris, who looked to be patching up a shirt. Since the boy next to her was without his, Sephiroth could only assume that it belonged to him. Zack stalking up did interrupt their conversation, and it bothered him to see the boy shrink slightly from Zack. There was something wrong with that.

Or perhaps not. Zack could be quite intimidating when upset, and the sight was uncommon enough it was unlikely the boy had ever seen him in such a state.

All was quiet for a moment or two as Zack studied Cloud. “Why,” he asked softly, “is there blood in your hair?”

A good question, especially since the hair was wet. Sephiroth wondered how bad it had been before Strife had washed. Head injuries were notorious for bleeding badly. He did notice the pinkish skin that ran along the top of Strife’s shoulder before the brunet, but that was simply because Zack was obsessed with the visible blood that was still adorning the blond.

“Aeris. Let me see the shirt.”

The girl fidgeted, and he was surprised to realize it was the first time she seemed unsure with her boyfriend. “Zack, I don’t think....”

“Please give me the shirt for a sec.”

She did. Zack held it up and looked at it for a long minute, then handed it back to her. “We are going to have to have a talk on why bullets and bullet holes do not fall into the “nothing bad” category.”

His voice was calm, cool, and collected, and Sephiroth could see the way his hands were shaking even as he stuffed them into his pockets. “Would either of you care to explain?”

They shared a look that plainly said "No," but Strife cleared his throat and started to speak. “It really wasn’t much. There was a guy shooting up the place two blocks away, you know, where they got that play yard set up? There were kids down there, and I.... I couldn't just leave them....”

He stuttered to a stop as Zack continued to stare, eerie expression staying firmly in place. Beside him, Aeris took up the story. “He took him down, Zack. Before anyone got killed, or even seriously hurt. Cloud saved a lot of people out there, and they were just grazes, so please don’t get too mad....”

This time it was her voice that trailed off as Zack nodded, then turned and stalked to the other side of the church, muttering near growling unintelligible words as he paced back and forth. Aeris set the clothing aside and, with a quick glance at Strife, hurried over to Zack’s side. At least she had the good sense to let the dark haired man wear off his temper a bit before she started talking.

As they stood there, hissing at each other in voices too low for even Sephiroth to listen in on, the older man looked at his subordinate. The blond was watching the other two, almost visibly wilting as Zack went through a string of violent, expansive gestures. There was a moment of thought, then Sephiroth placed his lightly hand on the boy’s shoulder. Strife went still and tense, clearly not having expected to be touched, but he relaxed before the older man carried through with the impulse to remove his hand, eyes darting between Sephiroth and where the two lovers were still talking.

“He isn’t angry at you,” Sephiroth spoke softly, trying to ignore how those blue eyes fixed on him. “He isn’t angry at all. He is simply upset that you were hurt." A small, almost secretive smile crossed his face as he remembered the first time he had seen the man upset this way. "He has done this to me as well for my, as he called it, 'unredeemable military stupidity.' Once he was certain I was unharmed, he returned to normal."

Softly, not even sure why, he continued speaking. "I was certain at the time I had made a mistake of some kind, and I..." He trailed off, remembering how perceptive the boy sometimes was.

“Sir?” He looked down, meeting those bright eyes. "You have no reason to think that Zack would ever leave you. He cares about you, I think sometimes more than he cares about me. But I know he cares about me a great deal."

The words slowly sank into Sephiroth’s mind, and he blinked, trying to determine how to react. What does one tell someone when they declare that their boyfriend probably likes you better? "Surely you are mistaken?"

A loud snort was his answer, and he was further confused when the boy slapped both hands over his face. "I'm sorry Sir, I didn’t mean to do that." He took a breath, calming himself, then continued to speak. "You should watch him. Compare how he acts around you to how he acts around me or Aeris. Consider it strategic observation."

Before he could even consider a reply, Zack was making his way back over to them. “I’m sorry, Spike. I didn’t mean to be all nasty like that, but I swear, if you ever tackle someone holding a gun again, especially without any kind of backup, I will.... I’ll..... I’ll take pictures of Cloud in awkward and lewd situations and post them everywhere! You got that?”

It took a moment to figure out that the Cloud Zack meant was his stuffed doll, and somehow Sephiroth was sure that the doll representing him would end up involved as well. Before either of them could comment, Zack was turning back to Aeris. “I’m sorry for snapping at you on the phone as well, hon. I’ll come back by tomorrow and we can go out. I have the day off after sixteen hundred tomorrow. We can grab some dinner, okay?”

She nodded, and then gave all of them hugs goodbye, and Sephiroth still had no idea if he was supposed to return the embrace. That finished, they were out the doors, Strife curled up tight between them because Zack refused to let go to sit in the back of the vehicle.

The trip back, other than the unusual seating, was normal. As they exited the vehicle, Sephiroth caught the brunet's attention. “Zack, I won’t do anything about tomorrow duties, but I will let them be aware that Strife will not be back in the barracks tonight.”

"Thanks, Seph." The smile Zack gave him was every bit as bright as the ones he gave to the other two, and Sephiroth found himself even more confused when he remembered Strife's earlier insistence. “Once you get done with that, why don’t you come up and we can lecture Spike on why it’s a bad idea to go against armed people with no support?” The offer came out more a leer than an amused grin, but he saw it for the genuine offer it was.

Sephiroth paused. He knew that if he said yes, he would come up to find Zack curled around the boy. They wouldn’t be doing anything if they knew he was coming, but Zack would still have to make sure the blond was okay. Just like he had when Sephiroth had been hurt so long ago.

“I believe I will, Zack. Let me deal with the situation, and I will join you.” With that, he turned and walked away.

Before he got out of hearing range, he heard Zack questioning Strife. "What were you saying to him when I came back over to you anyway?"

“I told him to watch.”

“You kinky little brat. I knew I liked you for a reason.”

Sephiroth felt a bit of relief that things were back to normal already.



And I just wanted to say thank you again for letting me play in your little world, Coyo. I very much appreciate it, and hope you enjoyed the fic.