“It’d be a Blue Christmas… Without You…”

He was surprised at the sight of the coffee table.

Not that the battered piece of furniture was unexpected, it looked the same as ever. Even the deck of playing cards and two mugs of steaming coffee were familiar enough. It was Friday after all, such things were customary. Looking over into the closet-like kitchen for some clue, he found himself being carefully ignored by the man prowling the cupboard for snacks.

Sephiroth recognized the tense way his friend was holding his shoulders. A tell tale sign that even he would be hard pressed to describe as nervousness. Zack knew perfectly well that there was something out of the ordinary on his coffee table, and it wasn’t that he had found his remote for the television for a change.

Keeping an eye on the brightly papered box sitting innocently next to the carton of creamer, he made one of the quick command decisions he was famous for and stooped to release the toggles on his boots. Abandoned, the black leather folded over on itself by the door. If his second noticed his unusually nagging-free surrender to a night off, he was politic enough to not say. Sighing in quiet relief, the general popped another set of buckles, allowing him to shed his shoulder armor and trench coat, a lizard sloughing off its old skin. The material felt almost like a second skin sometimes, a necessary barrier between the cool hallways and cooler glares. With the last of the uniform thrown over the back of a chair, he moved into the room and settled on the couch to study the novelty closer.

“What’s this…?”

“It’s a present. You know… some personal and touching memento bundled safe inside decorative paper, cardboard and even more paper? Maybe topped by a bow?”

The paper was done in a subtle pattern of leaves and flowers. He prodded it with a suspicious finger.

“It won’t bite, you know.”

“Knowing your sense of humor, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.” A gentle push got him to shift towards his unofficial corner of the lounger. “So it’s for you then? A gift from… who, your uncle?”

“Looks too professional for one of the boys does it?”

“Something like that.” Sephiroth prodded at the ribbon. It was not only present, but of a silvery metallic fabric that held a crease when folded between his fingers. “Of course it could have been done at the store…”

Zack laughed, casually setting a plate of decadent looking cookies down with in easy reach. “Very good, general… what else can you deduce…?”

The white haired man looked askance at his friend but played along. “… It occurs to me… that while I personally choose not to participate in the holiday, the traditional time to open such presents was yesterday… perhaps with family…?”

“Very true.”

“And you did take the evening off to visit your uncle and cousins…”

“You could have come along you know… always room for one more at the table.”

Sephiroth snorted and liberated a snack from the bowl. “I had work to do… and besides… I’d have just made them nervous.”

“You underestimate my uncle’s ability to cope with drop-ins…”

“Perhaps.” The general found himself relaxing a little. His second always kept his private quarters abnormally warm during the cool months, a last lingering memento of his childhood in the tropics he supposed. The heat wasn’t oppressive, but it did have a certain lulling quality to it. As if defying his thoughts, the dark man produced a blanket from the floor and draped it over his feet muttering about drafts. Folding his long legs up to mimic his partner, Sephiroth wasn’t above doing the same. “… So why haven’t you opened it already?”

Zack made a show of preparing his coffee, calmly refusing to meet his eye. “The game will be on in a few minutes if you want to catch the pre-start chest beatings by the announcers…”

“In a minute.” Claiming the remote before the other soldier did, Sephiroth kept close watch. He was nobody’s fool but he had a feeling he wanted his suspicions confirmed sooner than later. “… So… who’s it for then?”

He smiled at the dark man’s guilty expression. “I know you, Zack… You have all the patience of a three year old when it comes to surprises. If it had been for you… it’d be reduced down to shreds of paper and component gift items before coming home.”

“True that…” The officer shrugged, a gentler version of his customary smile peeking out behind the rim of his mug. “… it’s for you.”

“Me?” On the one hand, he was vindicated. His initial guess hadn’t just been ego. On the other hand, the gift was very real, and very there. It wasn’t some hypothetical that he could brush aside or pretend he had no part in. Zack knew his opinion on the holidays, probably well enough to parrot it back to him word for word after the number of ‘discussions’ they had had over it. He had managed to talk the man out of him attending parties, family dinners, and decorating the office, but how was he to refuse something that was already done? Sephiroth grimly reached out to pick up the inoffensive box, turning it over in his hands.

“You shouldn’t have.”

Knowing that the words were exactly how they were meant instead of the usual platitudes, the darker man sighed. “I… know…” He looked up finally, eyes strangely defiant. “I mean we talked about it and all… and I know you’re not big on the whole ‘sharing’ thing… but then I had some time to think about it the other night… and I think I figured something out.”

“That’s a first.”

“Don’t be catty, Seph.” Zack kicked him under the blanket, gently of course. “I mean, you’ve got this strange way of building up these… stubborn prejudices about things you’ve never tried… You said you didn’t like cards, and then I teach you to play and you’re ok with it… and you say you don’t like people, and then I finally get you to unwind enough to come over and relax from time to time… and you said you don’t like the holidays… and I wonder… whether it’s that you don’t like them… or that you’ve never tried it.”

He set his coffee down and stared across the room, not looking at anything in particular. “I mean, how do you know if you don’t like receiving presents, if you’ve never had one… you know?”

“And you think I’ve never…?” Sephiroth shook the package gently, stopping himself when he realized what he was doing. Unnerved, he set it back on the table.

“I don’t know… like I said… I was thinking the other night… about you and what makes you tick… and…” He shrugged. “You have this way of talking yourself out of things that are nice when you think you can’t have them.”

“You should have been a psychologist… you’re talents are obviously wasted as a grunt.” The general had meant the comment to be sarcastic, had thought he had put the necessary acid into the words. He was surprised that his murmur sounded more resigned than anything.

“Nah, the army is better for meeting hot girls after all…” Zack turned back to him, eyes merry. “Couldn’t go dating the patients, now could I?”

“Hmm you have a point…” The white haired man claimed his own coffee noting that his friend had dosed it with cream and sugar while he wasn’t paying attention. “… I didn’t get you anything…”

“Well I hardly expected you to…” The soldier slouched back, relaxing now that his overture hadn’t been rejected outright. He grinned wolfishly “Besides, I can always use it as blackmail when my birthday rolls around.”

“That’s a little ways off.” Sephiroth shrugged slightly. “I’m sure I can think of something by then…”

“See? It’s fun, a reciprocal relationship…”

“Like owing someone favors…”

Zack’s smile turned into a more comical grimace. “Well hopefully more fun that that…”

The general simply smirked, claiming a pudgy star-shaped cookie to dunk in his drink. “Maybe… We’ll have to see.” Short bread dissolved with a buttery aftertaste on his tongue. Like most of his evenings with his friend it was an indulgence he enjoyed with the firm promise to himself that he wouldn’t become used to it. “So…”

“So…?”

“What is it?”

The dark man simply smiled mysteriously and gestured towards the package. “Open it, and see…?”

Sephiroth rested his mug on his knee, memorizing the color and shape of the decorative paper as well as the feel of Zack’s feet tucked warmly beneath his own. It seemed important to savor the moment for as long as he could. Zack raised an eyebrow in response, somehow knowing the nature of his thoughts without needing to ask.

“Maybe later.”

“Sure Seph, whatever you want.”

*****