EMBRACE YOUR DREAMS

Do you think I should call the police?

tiger king \ no longer accepting.

They were walking down a crowded alley, lined with pop-up vendors selling a variety of things, leaving little room for shoppers to walk around. Mako-blue eyes scanned over the tops of heads, trying to get a glimpse of what vendors were selling on their tables. The SOLDIER paycheck always seemed a little too small for the type of work they had him doing, but it was enough to let Zack splurge on a little something once in a while. Usually, he’d spend it on dates or his guilty pleasure foods... sometimes both, at the same time.

He wasn’t sure what he was looking for today, but the promise of “odd and peculiar” trinkets and foods was enough to entice him to spend the day in the slightly seedier parts of Midgar. And of course, who better to drag along with him than Cloud?

“Yo, Cloud— check this out!” In his hand, was a tiny wooden box, with one clear side that acted as a window. At first glance, it was easy to miss the detail of what the box held, but upon closer inspection, one could see the thoroughly decorated room that lay inside. “It’s a little room! How did they do this?!” Zack was very impressed, and you could see it in his eyes as he peered inside.

It happened in slow motion, just like how it did in the movies. A bandana-donning figure had bumped into a lady a few feet behind them, grabbed her purse, and took off, slamming right into Zack as they tried to slip through the crowd. The tiny room went flying out of his hand, only to be land on the ground, crushed under the foot of one who knew no better. Zack exchanged looks with the seller, then Cloud, then to the lady just behind them.

“Help, help! That thief took my bag!”

“Sorry about the tiny room, hopefully this’ll cover it?” He was moving quickly as he apologized, sticking his hand in his pockets to pull out a handful of gil to offer it as a payment for the now broken piece of art. Over his shoulder, Cloud said something over the loud crowd, that made Zack shake his head with a chuckle.

“Do you think I should call the police?”

“Cloud, you are the police,” he responds, slapping a hand on his shoulder. “Why are you just standing there? Shouldn’t you be chasing after that guy?”

I am never gonna financially recover from this. ( cissnei )

tiger king \ no longer accepting.

Normally, his brain would be working a lot better than this, but all those drinks at the beach bar had decreased his competency... and for one whose body was enhanced by Mako, even getting to that point would normally be a challenge. But the refills of drinks never stopped, and Zack was supposed to be on vacation, so what was stopping him from accepting all the complimentary drinks?

Though, he had to thank the other patrons for supplying him and Cissnei with their libations. Most hadn’t met a SOLDIER before, and were tempted by the claims that getting him drunk would be near impossible. Though, one doesn’t have to wonder too hard about what else about Zack was tempting to them.

Between the two of them, they finally pulled themselves away from the bar, and back onto the streets of Costa Del Sol. It was Day Something of this forced vacation, and Zack was finally letting himself enjoy it, finally paying attention to what the resort had to offer. On their way back to the hotel, however, a small crowd was gathering just around the corner, away from the main plaza. With his interest piqued, he guided Cissnei and himself over, waltzing over in a rather drunken manner.

What they found were two men sitting across from each other. One was moving three upside down cups around on a makeshift table made out of some wooden pieces. The other was watching them closely, not blinking once. After a few seconds, the cups stopped moving and the other man pointed to the cup in the middle.

Nothing.

The guessing man cursed in frustration, and stomped off, while the other man set up his next round, looking to the crowd for his next victim. After a few glances around the crowd, his eyes fell on Zack. Without a second thought, he was urging Cissnei forward with him, as he took his seat infront of the man.

Boy, oh boy... where was Angeal or even Sephiroth when he needed to get some sense knocked into him?

It was just a silly game. He only planned on betting a few gil, and then heading off after a few rounds. Zack had no idea it would get out of hand so quickly! A few more rounds in of getting his hopes up, he realized he had bet more than he had on him. Looking over his shoulder at who he hoped with be his saving grace, he put his hands together, pleading with those puppy dog eyes. Luckily, still effective despite getting older.

“I am never gonna financially recover from this.”

“Oh man, Cissnei, thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret this! I’ll pay you back as soon as I can, I swear!” He hops up to his feet to embrace her, spinning her around in a circle. His happy demeanor disappears as soon as he turns back to the con artist, frowning deeply at him as he drops the gil he owes onto the table.

“Well, I hope you’re happy, cheating your way into making some extra gil.” It was an accusation made without evidence, but deep down in his heart, Zack knew he had been conned. “What would your mother think?!”

And with a final ‘hmph!’, the still-drunk SOLDIER huffed off, having ended the day gil-less and now in debt to one, much too kind Turk.

casually grabs the tiddy for good luck

Zack glances down at Aerith’s hand, casually grabbing onto his chest. He blinks, then looks at her, nodding slowly, a thoughtful look in his eyes. “Hmm, interesting point. I think I understand what you’re trying to say,” he responds to her action, his own hand moving to cover hers, while his other arm reaches out around her waist to pull her in closer. When they’re like this, he remembers just how much smaller she is than him, his height letting him kiss her easily at the top of her head.

“Feeling lucky yet?” Zack questions softly, looking deeply into her eyes. Though his expression is serious and intense, there’s amusement just under the surface. The arm around her waist is moving down slowly, and before long Zack’s hand is grabbing lightly onto her bottom, giving it a gentle squeeze. He can’t hold back his stupid smirk. “Because I think I’m starting to...”

After being kept hidden away for so long, he needed something to look forward to once they got their freedom back (if you could call being under the Turks’ close surveillance “freedom”).

“Oooooh man! This feels good! Right?” He returns the sword to its place on his back, after having fell one of the drakes they were assigned to take out. Zack does a little dance, before hopping on over to Cloud, hands outstretched toward him, waiting for a double high five in the air— a sign to celebrate their victory against the fiends.

“I could do this all day!”

Of course, what it means to “help” had a different definition to different people. Over time, being a SOLDIER taught him more about the true nature of Shinra, and those feelings didn’t get any better when he found himself on the opposing side of the battle.

But that was all in the past, and Zack wanted to keep it that way. He really didn’t really have much choice, especially since he had decided to stay in Midgar, following through with his idea of becoming a mercenary. With Cloud still out of commission, he had to keep himself busy and make money somehow.

He had long days, and most of the jobs he did ended up being more odd than dangerous. Some days, he was thankful for it, having had his fair share of danger and violence in days past. But on occasion... he’d catch himself almost bored, hoping for something a little more exciting to come down the pipeline.

Zack decided to end his night at Seventh Heaven before heading home, seated at the bar, staring into the near empty drink he had ordered about ten minutes ago. He was leaning on the counter, propping his head up against his palm as he watched Tifa from across the counter. “You got anything interesting you need a merc for, Tifa? It can be anything, as long as it’s not to fix a leaky roof... I mean, that’s fine too! I’ll take the job but... I think I’m just itching for something more, you know?”

If I were gonna… you know, if somebody wanted to kill you, then they would put, like… sardine oil all over you.

tiger king \ no longer accepting.

Well, that was different. Zack had heard a lot of things, but he had never heard of how to use sardine oil as a method of murder. Being a bodyguard meant he had to be prepared for anything when it came to protecting his boss, but the slightly more creative ways of inflicting pain and danger on someone were sometimes easily missed. Sure, he was wary of strangers and the possibility of a concealed gun during a robbery but not... sardine oil and hungry tigers. Definitely not that.

“I... that’s...” He tries to find words to say, but he struggles. Probably because he was in the middle of a set, bench pressing while Tida was spotting him. “That’s new. Is that really how you get a tiger to eat someone?” His question is spaced out between breathes, but he doesn’t stop his set just yet. “How... do you even know that?” Suddenly, Zack lets out a laugh, and it’s this that makes him set the bar down, sitting back up as he turns around to look at Tida, brow quirked at his new friend. “Don’t tell me you’ve tried it before... I didn’t take you for that kind of guy, Tida...”

They had just met somewhat recently, not more than a few months now, so there was still a lot he was learning about him. Whether or not it was just a joke, how would Zack know that for sure? Who knows how much sardine oil Tida has bought in the past?

Maybe a lot. Maybe not at all. Only time will tell... best stay on his good side.

Everyone is lost in this.

tiger king \ no longer accepting.

“Come on, Cloud! Don’t be so negative!” He calls over his shoulder, as they face their enemies together back to back. They’re surrounded, separated from the rest of the party. A quick glance around and Zack can see Barrett and Red fending off another mob of fiends, and across the way, Tifa and Aerith were staying on top of their toes to keep them from getting closed in on. It’s not that the monsters were particularly difficult, not at all, in fact!

There was just... a shit ton of them.

“Whewww! If we don’t take care of them soon, we might get stuck here all night, man!” His hands readjust on the hilt of the blade, grip tightening as he firms up his stance. There’s a bit of sweat on his brow, and his breath is a little bit heavy, but the smile on his face gives it away— the ex-SOLDIER is having fun with this. “Let’s hurry and end this, yeah? On three!”

One...

Two...

“Three...!” Zack yells out loudly, off the ground and jumping right into the fray.

     AVALANCHE… Even being just infantry, Cloud wasn’t blind to the movement that opposed Shinra. Arms crossed over his frame as he got lost in thought about the ‘eco-terrorist’ group… He couldn’t really say he had much of an opinion on them… whether what they were doing was right or not.He couldn’t really deny it, seeing how the planet surrounding Midgar was so… lifeless. But Shinra was just trying to help the people, right? So why were they so against it? There had to be some kind of alternative solution…

     Zack interrupted his deep dive into warring thoughts with the mention of their date. Probably for the best, really, he’d never come up with a logical conclusion with the information he had. Instead one hundred percent of his focus is on Zack and date and date with Zack. He was really starting to think this day would never actually co-

      “Hope you didn’t think I ditched you or anything like that…!”

     Cloud looks so surprised for a moment before he settles himself, brushes off the statement like it hadn’t been on his mind for a week. “No, you know… missions are always unpredictable.” He uses as an excuse, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. It was perfectly believable, because they were… just not quite so unpredictable and lacking in cell service. It really wouldn’t be a Shinra mission without any surprises.

     He glances up at Zack from under his bangs, the slightest tinge of pink on his cheeks. “But that doesn’t mean I… didn’t miss you…” He looks away again right after, finding a particular spot on the wall of the building especially fascinating. He’s never been very good at expressing his emotions, it just never comes easy for him. But he knows he can try, sometimes, and this is one of those times. 

     “So,” he says after a moment,  clearing his throat awkwardly. “Did you finally decide on a date for that… date?”

Zack heaves a sigh, nodding in agreement. Missions really were unpredictable. No matter how much preparation or planning took place, one divergent factor could really throw the whole thing off course. Obviously, they were trained to adapt to situations like that, but that meant making plans or living a “normal” life outside of SOLDIER and Shinra was a little more difficult to do. Luckily, Cloud understood this well.

His ears perk up, eyes and smile brightening. Did Cloud just say he missed him? He’s looking away from him now, but Zack tries to catch his eyes again quickly, leaning that same way, and putting his face right in front of his. “Yeah?” He asks, sounding a little too happy to have heard it. They had been friends before all of this, and sometimes went a few days without seeing each other, so missing Cloud wasn’t technically a new feeling for Zack. Except, it sort of was, now.

“I hope I’m not too overwhelming, though.” Aerith teased in return. She didn’t know much about what it really was like being a SOLDIER, but she was pretty sure a lot of girls were around those powerful men, who fought to protect other people, with honor. They weren’t all like this though, from what she had seen. A lot of them were SCARY, but Zack wasn’t. He was the only person who visited her, and with him, she felt like she could really be herself. She didn’t have to be on her guard because she was a Cetra; she could just enjoy every moment she spent with him.

Aeirht laughed HAPPILY at Zack’s enthusiasm about making the flowers talk. She was a Cetra; she was supposed to feel that kind of things, this was even the reason why she kept talking to them. But for now, they remained silent. “Silly, yeah, but that’s still funny.” She teased. “Maybe they’ll talk when they’re ready. We just have to pay attention.” She added, keeping a smile on her features as she approached him. “By the way, I like being close to you, too. Anytime.” She assured, chuckling shyly. She had wanted to flirt like he did, but she was not definitively not as good at it. 

“Yeah, you’re right. No use in forcing them to talk if they’re not ready to say tell us anything yet,” he surmises, his tone finally sounding like he was ready to accept that patience was probably going to be the only way they would be getting the flowers to talk. His shoulders droop a little at having to face the reality of it, because even if he was joking around, the thought of the flowers actually saying something was exciting to even just imagine. If anything, he knows how awesome that would be for the one who spent the most time with the garden. “I’ll keep my ears open, though.”

Zack raises a brow at her, smirking slightly at her comment. “Hmm, is that right? That’s a good sign then. I’m counting on staying this close to you,” he announces to her with a sure nod of his head. He flashes her a big smile, looking deeply into her eyes, admiring them like he always did. He really felt lucky to be able to see her like this.