Chapter Text
“So…” Reno began as his eyes darted between the two double beds in the hotel room.
“Who's sleeping with who?” Reno proposed, as his eyes darted from Zack, to Sephiroth before ultimately residing on Cloud.
Yes.
That is who he wanted to share with.
“I'll sleep with Cloud!” Reno announced, not giving anyone else the opportunity to answer first as he made a b line for the cadet.
“No you won't!” Sephiroth barked at him like a rabid dog before yanking the blonde to apparent safety behind him.
“It's gonna be snug.” Zack tapped his finger against his chin, as though contemplating a solution to this problem.
Though, his face betrayed the fact that he could hardly see what the problem was.
“Yes, which means you better choose wisely.” Reno smirked as a deleterious glint flashed across his eyes.
He wasn't giving up the fight that easy.
“I'm sleeping with Seph!” Zack exclaimed, raising his arm excited in the air as though hoping the General would pick him back.
Zack's response was all the better for Reno and his plan.
“After all, he is my one true love.” Zack's voice trailed off, as though he were holding a conversation with himself.
“What did you say?” Sephiroth and Reno stated in unison before turning to face the dark haired soldier as though each were doubting what they had just heard.
“Ugh…” Zack fumbled to formulate an answer that discredited everything he had just said.
He hadn't intended to say that last part out loud.
Idiot.
“One true love?” Reno screwed up his face enough for the four of them.
“Ugh… Umm… Crap…”
“Zack, you're a shit liar.” Reno rolled his eyes at his friend's failure at mastering the basic skill of being dishonest.
“Or… We could push the beds together and all sleep together.” Cloud suggested, veering the conversation back to the real issue on hand.
…
“Yeah!” Zack exclaimed excitedly, perhaps a little bit too enthusiastically.
Why hadn't he thought of that himself?
“I'm in the middle!” Zack exclaimed.
“No! I wanna be in the middle!”
*~.~*
“Zack.”
“What?”
“That better be your knee driving into my back and not something else.”
“Guess again!” Zack exclaimed excitedly.
“Get out!” Sephiroth stately bluntly, as he pointed to the door.
“It's alright, I'll just hug Spikey instead.” Zack huffed as he climbed over the General to get closer to the blonde.
“You will do no such thing!” Sephiroth sat up before giving his second the stare down.
“So… Close…” Zack whimpered as he reached out for his blonde best friend.
“Zack! What are you doing?” Sephiroth eyed the arm reaching past him with great suspicion.
“Nothing…”
“Get back there.” Sephiroth growled as he grabbed the arm before tossing the dark haired man back down on the bed between himself and Reno.
Oh Gaia this was gonna be a long night.
*~.~*
“So what are we doing today?” Zack urged excitedly as he stuffed a whole bomberry muffin into his mouth in one go.
That was a sight none of them needed first thing in the morning as the Soldier reeled in disturbed expressions from passersby.
“Zackary! Where is your decorum?!” Sephiroth scolded, though Zack had proven in the past that he could take large objects not just in his mouth, but also down his throat.
A fact he was invariably proud of.
“What?” The Soldier shrugged, genuinely wondering what was wrong as crumbs of muffin fell indiscriminately from his lips.
“Well, I'm going to the beach to get a tan.” Reno exclaimed, deliberately facing away from the walking, talking garbage disposal unit more commonly known as Zack. The dark haired Soldier suddenly burst out laughing, coating the table in yet another layer of crumbs.
“What's so funny?”
“You? Tan? You're just gonna look like a boiled lobster.” The Soldier pointed straight at the seething redhead.
“Are you implying that because I’m a ginger, that I am incapable of tanning?”
“Yip!” Zack exclaimed with perhaps a little bit too much enthusiasm.
“Oh yeah, well it's better than whatever rubbish idea you have planned.”
“I'm going on the zipline.” Zack annunciated, as though his idea was far and away superior.
“Nevermind you two idiots, I'm taking Cloud out to see the Costa Falls, then we'll have a picnic.” Sephiroth should have known better than to let everyone know where he and Cloud were headed. With that, the General rose to his feet before whisking Cloud by the arm and leading him towards their apparent happily ever after.
“Why am I always stuck with you?” Reno meant the question to remain in his mind, but found it being spilt out onto his lips.
“Come with me on the zipline?” Zack suddenly whined as he plastered his face with his trademark puppy dog expression.
Pathetic.
“No.”
“Pleeeease.” Zack pleaded once more, batting his eyelashes furiously.
“I wanna go to the beach.”
“We can go ziplining and then go to the beach?”
Reno supposed the man's proposal was fair.
“Alright. But don't let me fall asleep in the sun, you know what my skin is like.”
“See! Even you know you have trouble getting a tan.”
“Shut up.”
*~.~*
“Cloud, aren't these falls simply magnificent?” Sephiroth waved his arm towards an Avalanche of translucent water as it cascaded down layers of rock.
Finally.
Peace and quiet.
He had finally inherited the environment he had so vehemently craved.
The General leaned forward, as if for no other reason than to gain a better view of the blonde sitting next to him.
“How hungry are you, my dear?”
“Because no one is around, starving.” Cloud whispered, as though ashamed at the sultry nature of his words.
“I'm always ravenous.” Sephiroth returned the blonde's suggestion as an animalistic hunger pooled in his emerald eyes.
*~.~*
“You know, you get a pretty good view from up here.” Reno confessed as they finally reached the top of the highest zipline. Why Zack didn't try one of the lowest ones first remained a mystery.
Didn't he want to get a feel of it first?
Idiot.
“Guess who I can see?” Zack giggled as though he were straight out of high school.
Reno's gaze followed the direction of the man's finger as it pointed towards the Costa Falls.
There.
“They look very, ugh, intimate.” Reno raised an eyebrow at the sight before him, though it didn't help that they were still so far away.
“Did you bring your binoculars?” Zack suddenly turned to him excitedly, panting as though he had just been chased by a pack of Nibel Wolves.
“What do you take me for Zack? An amateur?”