* The Radio *

Muted a little by the flimsy door, the sound of someone idly flipping through thirty-odd metropolitan music stations was still annoying. Sephiroth set the dossier down with a sigh and surrendered to the inevitable. He was getting nothing done. In the other room a decision had apparently been reached. The chaotic skips from one commercial to the next had stopped, fading into the opening drum track of another fast-paced song. Popular music had never been of interest to him, but given the number of times the general had listened to the catchy tune in the past week he was willing to bet this was it. It was getting to the point that he could almost sing along.

// I should really make him turn it off… it’s distracting, annoying, and hardly regulation… //

He frowned. With the amount of leeway he allowed around ‘regulation’ under several other circumstances, that particular argument sounded rather pathetic. The pale man stilled his traitorous fingers before they could tap his desk along to the rhythm. It wasn’t that the tune was bad. It was unintelligible maybe, but it wasn’t bad. He propped his chin with his fist, pondering how best to handle this new situation. Acquiring a new assistant had so far proven incredibly useful, but having to share his usually quiet offices with a second person was more work than he had expected. Usually he returned to his office to get away from people, now he had to adapt to the possibility of noise, not to mention human contact.

// Except that Zack is more than just ‘a little’ noisy … at this rate I’d have better luck finding quiet by setting up shop in the chocobo stables downstairs… //

He looked down, feeling slightly guilty at the uncharitable thought. Not only had the new SOLDIER volunteered for the tedious duty assignment, he was actually proving good at it. The stack of reports that had been waiting for him on his desk when he returned from his meeting had been thoughtfully assembled. How much the man could accomplish was doubly impressive given that he was basically operating out of a series of jumbled cardboard boxes while awaiting the arrival of some critical office furniture.

Somehow Zack’s sixth sense for what was needed and when was just as affective off the battlefield as it was on. The general picked up one of the small sticky notes that now littered his desktop. Each file had come with one attached to the top, a little reminder of one or two points of critical content per folder. The man’s handwriting was the most remarkable form of ‘kid-print’ he had ever seen. The pale officer had an urge to go watch his subordinate writing them. It didn’t seem possible that anyone could form letters with such grade-school precision at any speed worth mentioning. The only image he could form was of the shaggy Captain laboriously bending over his notepad, tongue sticking out a little like an overly assiduous eight year old.

// … I suppose the music isn’t that loud… //

Sephiroth frowned, realizing he had been talking himself out of investigating his new assistant’s progress all morning. At first it had seemed reasonable to give the man time to get settled without having to worry about being ‘loomed over.’ Somehow the intention had become rather skewed as the week progressed, it had just been easier to hide in his office as the hustle and bustle outside had become more patterned. Still, curiosity was starting to get the better of him. As much as he trusted the dark-haired man to ‘get the job done’ he wondered if there was anything else he could do. Having never been in a situation where someone was trying to do things for him rather then to interfere, he wasn’t sure what etiquette expected of him. Zack seemed to have a knack for making him want to do the previously unthinkable.

Taking breaks for no other reason than to be sociable was only the tip of the iceberg. He vaguely wondered if he should take steps to halt the friendship before it became firmly established. He wasn’t even sure if ‘friendship’ was really the man’s goal. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had attempted to insinuate themselves into his confidence. Sephiroth shook his head dismissing the possibility. His newest acquisition was nobody’s lapdog. Friendship, it was impossible to say what the former specialist would think of the idea. The general wasn’t sure what the man would even bother. It was a question for another time however, not today.

Finding his resolve, he closed the folder and stood up. The new SOLDIER had chosen as his first administrative duty to take over responsibility for the personnel files for the team. Until now Sephiroth had been obliged to utilize the services of Heidigger’s human resource pool. The situation had started out irritating but necessary, lately it had grown into a crippling source of bureaucracy. It was well past time that he started managing his own files, but he had just never had the time. Naturally Zack had just plowed straight ahead, willfully taking on the impossible task of organizing and filing several cabinets’ worth of chaos. The general was only waiting to see how many of the important documents were missing.

// Ah mismanagement… and Zack, in true Shinra fashion gets rewarded for volunteering to help by promptly getting assigned the most thankless chore possible. //

It was true that taking on the captain as an assistant was no particular risk. A total novice could probably still do a better job of keeping the files in order then Heidigger’s assistants had bothered with. True to form, the dark-haired man had preformed above expectation so far. Shoulders deep in a rather battered looking box of files, Zack didn’t notice his arrival.

The general blinked, noticing several new additions to the room. A comfortable looking suede couch was doing double duty as temporary file storage, as was the top of the new desk, and the majority of the floor. Stacked ten deep in places, the folders were organized by name in some spots and chronologically by mission in others. Progress was being slowly if messily made. “I see some of your furniture has finally arrived.”

His assistant’s reply was a muffled curse from inside the box, obviously straining to reach something just out of range in the large container. Sephiroth took the opportunity to step carefully over several delicately balanced piles of briefing tapes and perched in relative safety on the arm of the sofa. “I don’t recall this being on the list of supplies I signed off on…”

Emerging from the box with a grin, Zack tossed a new folder triumphantly on top of his latest stack. “It wasn’t.” He caught sight of the general’s faintly disproving expression. “No worries, I traded it for two tickets to the Sector3 vs. Sector5 semi-finals game next week.”

The pale main raised an appreciative eyebrow. “And where did you get tickets to such a coveted event?” Something in the man’s wicked smile spoke of daring adventures.

“Well now…” With a struggle he schooled his expression back to innocence. “… trade secret.”

“I see…” Entertained, the general had to admit that the man’s new desk was an improvement over the old one. Tucked underneath was even a computer, or a case and monitor that could eventually be assemble into one. Unlike the table the SOLDIER had been working on all week, this desk even had all four legs. “How goes the battle…?”

His assistant leaned back on his arms, perfectly at ease with sitting on the floor in the midst of chaos. “Hmmmm it goes, I guess.” The small office really did resemble a war zone, an eternal struggle between man and paper. “Ever play the game ’52-card-pickup’ as a kid?”

“No, what is that?”

“It’s when you deliberately scramble and drop a deck of cards by tossing them in the air and letting them fall… then you race with someone to put them all back in order…”

“Sounds annoying.”

The dark-haired man made an eloquent gesture, taking in the state of the room and the boxes still to be unpacked. “… It’s not so bad… beats the hell out of standing at attention for hours on end…”

“I have a hard time picturing you as anyone’s honor guard.”

“I did my share. It’s a common chore for new officers after all… It didn’t last for very long in my case… somehow things just always seemed to /happen/ when I was on duty.” The merry twinkle in his already glowing eyes implied many of the ‘things’ were not so accidental.

The general couldn’t help but be curious, knowing the pranks had probably been good. “What sorts of things?”

“Well…” The officer scratched his chin. “There was this one time that Staff Sergeant Holloran somehow got super-glued into General Heddiger’s custom-ordered office chair about five minutes before the ‘laughing-freak’ was due back from a meeting… but really, I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

“… Suddenly it is no surprise that I found you cooling your heels in a back-water outpost, Mr. Thomson. The only wonder is that they didn’t permanently assign you to Icicle Inn…”

“Nah, too good for me. No biting insects up there.” Zack shook his head mournfully. “Some people just can’t take a joke.”

The radio changed its tune again, moving to another fast-paced song. Humming along with the woman, the younger officer found the energy to pull the last few items out of the box. Sephiroth could only sigh in amusement.

“Do you sing along to every song, captain?”

“… Every one that I know the words to.”

“… why?”

Blinking at the question, the SOLDIER looked up to judge the meaning of the question. Taking comfort from the fact that the general had no malicious motive, he shrugged blithely. “I don’t know that there is any reason. I just do it, I suppose… It’s fun?”

“… I’ll take your word for it.”

“You should try it some time. Test your memory…?” Seeing the pale man’s disbelieving expression, the dark-haired man smiled widely. “It’s good for morale…”

“I find that hard to comprehend.”

“I bet you have a nice singing voice…”

“No, I probably don’t.” His refusal only earned him another shrug.

“Won’t know unless you try?”

“Leave it be, captain.”

“Yessir.” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the drawled surrender. ‘Sir’s had been getting progressively fewer and further between as the new SOLDIER settled into his life with the team. Somehow he welcomed the change. The regiment had a reputation for being a more relaxed atmosphere then most of the military organization, despite their track record for excellence in battle.

// Or that’s the idea anyway… most of the men are so well indoctrinated before they get to me that they’ll always call me ‘sir.’ //

He watched as the still-crooning man picked up a stack of folders and began carefully filing them into their new home. It would be nice to have things at his fingertips when he needed them. Now that the chore was begun, he was amazed he hadn’t talked someone into doing it sooner.

“Could you pass me the set of ‘G’s by your shin?”

“Hmm? Oh. Of course.” The general kicked himself for not offering to help sooner, but still could do little more than watch. Conversation had never come easily. For some reason it felt important to try. Wracking his brain, he was distracted again by the chatter of the radio announcer. “… That wasn’t exactly on your list of supplies either…”

// Damn it. That sounded too accusing… I didn’t mean it like that… //

“Does it bother you?” Zack’s tone was all cheerfulness but the general could feel he was being discretely observed.

“… no. It’s just different, that’s all…” He watched the darker-man relax after a cautious minute.

“Sorry I didn’t ask first. It’s just too damn quiet up here most of the day… I was starting to sing to myself for the lack of having anything to listen to…”

“I’ve always been rather fond of the… quiet.”

“You’re also rumored to hate people, but you haven’t told me to piss off yet…”

The pale man allowed himself a tiny smile. “Plenty of time for that… Especially if you continue to attempt to encourage my non-existent singing career.”

“Nah…” His subordinate stretched again, back popping in complaint from all the stooping over. “I’ve got a better idea.” The mild reply only made Sephiroth wary.

“And that would be?”

“… Get you drunk, and then see if I can get you to sing.”

“In the unlikely event you ever managed it… I still wouldn’t sing.”

The general was beginning to be able to tell when he was being teased. His frequent exposure to the dark-haired man’s gentle humor was paying off, although he still found the idea of being on the receiving end to be a little disconcerting. Zack didn’t seem dissuaded in the slightest. His smile promised this wasn’t the end of the friendly fight. “Anything you say, Sephiroth.”

*****