_Barrettes (part 2)_

It was no surprise that Zack was a vain man. His friend had said as much himself one time or another, as ready to admit a fault as he was to sing his own praises. He did have a leather jacket collection that took up over half his closet, after all.

Not that Sephiroth though he had a leg to stand on for that particular scolding. Zack already teased him mercilessly at having two identical coats hanging at the back of his own limited wardrobe, still in the bags they were delivered in, just in case. Arguing that they were uniform, and thus, extras were necessary, only made the man laugh harder. So it was a known and accepted fact, that he was anal and his partner vain, and they left it at that.

This didn't change the simple truth that Zack's day-long-obsession with fussing with his hair was becoming a serious annoyance. Sephiroth pondered shutting his door to block out the sight of the man, as opposed to just throwing something at him. The trash can next to his desk was empty, and a viable projectile to smack a SOLDIER with. Or if he wanted to be more polite, there was always a wide selection of pens and highlighters in his desk. He chose a chunky pink highlighter that he had never much liked anyway, and side-armed it with deft accuracy into the back of his subordinate's head.

"OW!" Zack spun to look at him like he had gone mad, rubbing the abused portion of his skull. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Stop grooming yourself for fleas, its unhygienic." He leaned on his arms as he watched the southerner make a variety of confused and annoyed faces. Frazzled, the man looked down around his feet and cursed when he found the stray projectile.

"I could cite you for abusive and unsafe office conditions, you know." Zack waved the pen in the air threateningly. "And jeez, did it have to be the Pink one? What the hell am I going to do with this?"

"Probably the same thing I've been doing with it," Sephiroth mused. "Wait for it to dry up and throw it out. Maybe throw it at some lazy subordinate in the meantime."

"Who you callin' lazy." Grumbling, Zack turned back to his work. This time, as he moved, Sephiroth could make out a flash of yellow amidst his usually messy mane.

He weighed his desire to process the latest of a set of never ending files against his sudden urge to investigate, and decided that the report was by far the less interesting of the options. Whatever Zack thought, he diligently finished typing his email with his superior leaning over him before voicing a sour, "Do you mind?"

"You have little chocobos in your hair." Sephiroth could decide whether he was amused by the revelation or alarmed. The accessories were just that, little yellow barrettes, with little plastic chocobo's on the ends. They were the sort of thing he expected to see on the younger secretaries, or the older secretaries' young daughters.

Zack just shrugged. "Well they don't sell'em with little swords on them, now do they?" He started laughing to himself a little, "Well I could make my own, but I'd have to drink a few martini's first."

"Idiot." Sephiroth decided that his friend wasn't doing anything all together important, and tilted his head to the side to see what was decorating the clips above his other ear. "You have a pair moogles as well."

"Yeah. I know. It was either those or the bows, and I don't think I'm man enough to admit to bows yet." Zack unsnapped one of the cute barrettes to reposition it, re-pinning a lock of his hair to his skull.

To Sephiroth's amazement, the little clip actually held up under the strain, barely. "I see now why you need two per side."

"Three would be better yet, but since my current inventory is chocobos, moogles, and bows- well, yeah, I'll go to the store and get some others tomorrow I think."

"How about one of those," He paused, wondering exactly what the correct name of the item was as he mimed it out, " Hair-band-things? Heidegger’s secretary wears them sometimes, not that I'd recommend polka-dots."

"Only 6 year olds and nosey old biddies wear those." Zack made a face.

"Once could make a similar argument towards barrettes with chocobos glued on them."

"Hey, they get the job done." The southerner shrugged. "Better than expected, really."

"The question is, where ever did you get them from? And what convinced you to try them in the first place." Sephiroth smirked.

His friend held up two fingers, and counted off on them. "Let's see... Aeris, and... Aeris."

"Your fiancé is giving you fashion advice." Sephiroth nodded sagely. "I see your relationship is progressing nicely."

"Fuck you... and go to hell." Zack counted on his fingers again.

Sephiroth smirked again. "You do have to admit, they're rather unexpected, for a man who refuses to use pink highlighters because they're not stylish enough."

"There's no such thing as stylish barrettes for men." Zack sighed. "Besides, I kind of like'em. They're goofy and fun."

"And besides," Sephiroth retreated to the couch to lay down awhile, contemplating the ceiling as his legs dangled over the arm of the poor loveseat. "If anyone calls them girly, you can always stuff them in a locker."

"Ooooh is that an official vote of approval?"

"For the barrettes, yes, anything to get that mess out of your face. For the stuffing people in lockers part, no. If you're caught you're still getting written up as usual."

"Damn it, where's the fun in that?" Zack laughed. "What if we get you some barrettes? How about little fake-materia ones? Aeris had a set of blue and green ones that she wouldn't give me, little snot kid. She said they were her favorites."

"What in the world would I do with little-girl barrettes?"

"Wear'em in that monstrously long hair of your?" His friend grinned. "We can be barrette buddies!"

"No." Sephiroth closed his eyes, not really planning to nap, but willing to rest his eyes a while. "No I don't think that's really my thing."

"You can wear the bows?"

"No Zack."

"Oh come on."

"No."

*****