~
ff7 pregame
notes: Like all army newbies, Cloud likes to swear… Like all old hands, Zack is better at it.
// … // is thinking
*****
*****
His eyes almost glossed over the kid on first pass. If not for the startling shock of blond amidst the dingy colors of the garage and motor-pool he would have likely just kept walking. It might have been for the best really, to have just walked by the slouched figure on the retaining wall. The trooper was small, scrawny in that way that meant he was either kicked and kicked often, or left alone because he made up for weight in pure cussedness. Watching the blonde’s fixed frown of displeasure at everything and anything, Zack figured it was probably the latter. Odds pointed to another young officer with a chip on his shoulder about something. The rank and file was full of them now that the war was over, forgotten sons, runaways, former-felons, people who were generally looking for somewhere to hide or just a free ride. Shinra wasn’t particularly picky at the early stages of recruiting. They’d take multiple ax-murders if they thought they could get away with it.
// And the really bad ones get weeded out before too long, a year tops… or they’re funneled off to payroll… //
He had no doubts that the sour woman behind the glass-window on the second floor wouldn’t be above dipping the Gil in arsenic before handing them out to the unsuspecting. It was part of the reason he always wore his gloves around her. Every time she looked at him it sent a chill down his spine.
// Really gives a man second thoughts about withdrawing beer money… damn… on the other hand… I’ve been saving more since she came on shift… at this rate I might just be able to pick up a set of wheels of my own… //
Fingering the semi-legal set of keys currently warming in his pocket, he decided to tip his hat to the fates, and sat on the wall next to the trooper as if he didn’t have a care in the world. For all his boss would know he was still downstairs wrangling with the penal-colony rejects running the munitions supply depot for more training supplies. A half-hour more wouldn’t be noticed as unusual. The fact that he had escaped the burrow-like offices at all --much less with a personal ‘bonus’-- was a bloody miracle in its own right. He deserved a little fresh air and cheerfulness. Somehow it felt proper to share the wealth, as it was.
“Hey there.” The concrete wall wasn’t the most comfortable perch in the universe. Shifting to find a spot free of painfully sharp grit, he winced silently. It probably went along way towards explaining the younger man’s sour glance if he had been sitting on it for very long. “Hell of a day, huh…?”
Craning his head back, he could see a patch of what he supposed must be sunny blue sky peeking between the skyscrapers. Looking up also meant he could ignore the fact that they were basically sitting in an eyesore of a parking lot. Tomorrow he would have the day off, and then he could get the hell out of Midgar for an afternoon and breathe fresh air and look at clouds just for the novelty of it.
Zack’s companion remained silent but his rank and mood were easy to take in with a casual glance. It wasn’t surly entirely, although there was plenty of that. There were layers to the short blond, his stubborn focus on the stained asphalt speaking of disappointment and a touch of what might be loneliness. Digging into his pocket, Zack fumbled through the god-knew-what he had crammed in them since he had left his rooms in the morning until his fingers closed over the necessary items. Pulling a cigarette for himself, he made a show of lighting it and relaxing back against a lamppost before holding the box out as a peace offering.
The blond looked up at him in surprise as the cigarettes rattled in the half-empty cardboard pack. “Smoke?”
“… thanks.” Blue eyes bored into him for a suspicious minute before the SOLDIER plucked one from the box. Another hesitation followed as he flicked the lighter a second time and held it out. “… thanks again.”
// The kid’s polite…? Hell that’s actually a novelty around here… I like him already. //
“So…”
The young SOLDIER wasn’t any more forthcoming with cigarette in hand. At least he didn’t choke on it, Zack sighed in amusement. He had seen that happen once or twice where kids just didn’t know when to give up the tough-guy act. All too often someone would light up, inhale, and promptly turn green and choke. It was good for a laugh, if nothing else, but this time he had the feeling that embarrassing the blond wasn’t going to be the best way to relax him into a conversation.
“What’s your name, Private?”
“If I wanted to talk to someone, I’d be sitting in the cafeteria.”
“You looked pretty damn hangdog sitting out here by yourself to me… figured you were just aching to talk to someone…”
Blue eyes scraped over him again, not malicious, but definitely un-amused. “… you talk enough for both of us… sir.”
This time the blond had definitely twigged onto the discrete pins on his shirt, eyes narrowing a second in recognition. Zack didn’t give him bonus points. Even out of ‘official uniform’ his face was fairly well known in the new recruits’ barracks, having given a briefing last month. Even if the kid had been oblivious that day, he was still wearing his security tag on a lanyard around his neck from having to navigate the various badge-only elevators he needed to get down to the garage in the first place. He wasn’t keen on uniforms, and thankfully was in an outfit where such things were more relaxed than usual. Wandering around without ID however was a great way of getting locked out of his floor, and that was just plain embarrassing.
“You’re a funny kid.” He couldn’t help but grin as the blond rolled his eyes his inability to take a hint.
// Ah, a comedian too! Lovely… now if we can just coax that piece of rebar out of your ass, son… //
Clowning didn’t seem to be the right thing to do, so instead he did his best ‘quietly smoking and contemplating the world’ impression. To his amusement, it did the trick. The short trooper returned to his slouch, pulling slow drags off the cigarette as he sat waiting for nothing. Zack couldn’t help but compare him to a certain other acquaintance. Despite the outward differences, the prickliness was almost exactly the same.
// Somebody who’s just so damn tired of being kicked, he’d just as soon do the kicking first to stay ahead of the pack… Jesus why do I do this to myself…? Might as well go back upstairs and talk to the ol’man…. At least he’s in a mildly congenial mood today… //
Come the weekend he had no doubts Sephiroth would track him down to bitch about the work he missed on Friday. Today was only Thursday however, and that little bit of unpleasantness was easily dismissed into ‘the future’ where he supposed it would keep just fine until it was time for it.
“I’m Zack. Nice to meet’cha.” Just for fun he tossed in a hint of his ‘country boy’ accent. Sometimes it helped to loosen people up, whether because they were hicks too, or just because the lazy drawl sounded funny he really never understood. The hand he held out was carefully studied, and after a painfully long delay, gingerly shook.
“Sir.”
“You waiting for a ride, kid?”
“I’m not a kid.”
“No, I suppose you’re a Private, but unless I tackle you to read your shirt, I’ve got to call ya something…”
“Strife.”
Zack blinked. “Is that a name? Or an occupational hazard.”
The only response he got was another soft snort. It seemed the only noise other than his soft murmur that the kid seemed capable of. Shy, proud, or just a stubborn desire to be left alone, he decided. He had confronted all three before and doubted the blond would be much of a challenge compared to the nearly limitless endurance of his general. Sephiroth could stare down his idle chatter for /hours/ without unwinding enough to even sigh in frustration. The man was a prick like that.
Zack sized up his newest challenge and gave the kid maybe half an hour. Grinning at nothing in particular, he stretched his legs. “Well I’m not going to call you ‘Strife’… it sounds like the sort of name you’d give a dog… you know ‘Go gett’em Killer!’ that sort of thing… Got another name?”
“… no.”
“Your mother too cheap to give you two names like the rest of us, kid?”
“Don’t call me kid.”
“Come on trooper! Name, rank, serial number… Pretend this is an interrogation.”
“Yes sir. Cloud Strife, sir. Private.” The salute was everything official and good, but the blonde’s expression was too cynical to be parade ground worthy.
“Shit, ‘Cloud’? /Really/?” He couldn’t help but snigger a little.
“Strife.”
“Yeah, I don’t blame you. That is an amazingly sissy name…” The trooper flinched, but was too disciplined to do obey his flight-or-flight impulse, whichever it was. Zack shrugged smoothing over the ruffled feathers. The snipe at the man’s mother had probably been unfair, and he didn’t want to antagonize him further. “Well now… ain’t that a hoot.”
// Come to think of it… it does look rather like feathers… bright sunny yellow chocobo feathers… somehow I don’t think ‘Choco’ is going to be a nickname the kid’s ever going to live down… No sir, be a humanitarian and do better than that. //
“Sir?” The blue eyes had a distinctly worried look, watching him watching.
“…Riiiight. From now on, you’re ‘Spike’, got it?” He would have reached out to ruffle the showy mass of hair if he didn’t have half a hunch the kid would bite him if he tried. Some wounded critters took longer to tame than others.
// And in the case of Sephiroth, some take /forever/… //
“… Yes Sir.”
The trooper stood abruptly, grinding the butt out against the wall. It seemed he had taken all the teasing he was willing to sit for in one day. Zack was impressed that the kid remained polite at all, angry, yet restrained. Turning too quickly, a piece of paper fluttered from his pocket and being helpful, the dark man caught it on its way down. He flipped it over and gave a low whistle of appreciation.
“Three day pass, hmm Spike? You lucky dog, what the hell you doing sitting around here for? Go out and take in the town kid! Live it up a little with your friends before returning to the grind…”
“Don’t have any.” To say the blond snatched his ticket back wasn’t entirely true, just mostly. Zack raised an eyebrow at the cool comment as he watched the bit of paper get crammed back in the kid’s pocket.
“Stood you up did they?” He waved his hand at the parking lot, deliberately misinterpreting the response. “I know how that goes, me and some mates were supposed to go out tomorrow for some fun, but they all ditched me for some crazy ass deep-sea fishing trip… bloody savages.”
Spike blinked at him, obviously trying to find the pity or mocking in his voice. “… If you’ll excuse me, sir… I think I will go out…”
“You do that.” Zack grinned at his back, playing up the big-brother angle for all it was worth. “And I’ll see you around Private Spike… so keep your nose clean, ok?” The blond didn’t bother to turn around for him, just raising a hand in a lazy wave as he made his way back towards the building and hopefully the street beyond.
“Crazy fucking kids these days…” Shaking his head, he slid off the wall before the rough concrete could abuse any more of him, and made his way back to his office. Just a few more hours of slavery, and he was home free for the weekend.
*****
The general gave him a look that spoke volumes as he stuck
his head in the office to check his phone on the way out. It might have
something to do with the fact that it was
“Ah, I love a day off…”
“… So you’ve been saying for the past two weeks…”
“Well a man’s got to have something to look forwards to, Seph…” Booting the machine, he spun his chair to allow him to comfortably talk to the man slouched in the back office. “The offer still stands, you know…”
“I have work to do.”
“Do it tomorrow! Come outside… fresh air? Sunshine? Watch me try on sweaters in a vain attempt to not look like a bargain-bin reject this winter?”
“I’d just crimp your style, Zack. Go have fun.” The cool colored eyes flicked back to his computer screen with an air of definite dismissal. “I’ll track you down on Sunday if I need you.”
“I’ll get you yet, my pretty! If it’s the last thing I do!” Cackling madly to sound more like the old movie’s chief villain, he spun his chair once for fun before settling down to check his mail. He was all for taking days off, even if he couldn’t coax his hermetic partner from his den, but he wasn’t about to leave if there was a fire that need to be put out. Thankfully everything was nice and dull, and in a matter of minutes he was jingling his keys again as he tidied up his desk. Hanging on the edge of the doorframe he gave the pale officer a parting grin.
”Anything you want while I’m out? CD, socks, hot air
balloon?”
“… Just go Zack, some of us are trying to get things done today.”
“Spoilsport. Well call me on the cell if someone drops a house on you or something.”
Giving in to the third joke in a row, Sephiroth closed his eyes and sighed. “Remind me to never watch old movies with you again. You’re impossible afterwards.”
“Just doing my duty, seeing that you’re properly educated… have to make up for that lost childhood of yours after all…”
The general simply propped his elbows on the desk and glared. “Speaking of ‘lost’ things… what are /you/ doing with a set of keys… are those mine?”
Zack plastered his most innocent expression on his face as he pretended to notice the key ring for the first time. “Well fuck, where’d these come from…?”
“…Zack…”
“They’re not yours, don’t be silly… Can’t take the General’s car out for unofficial business… It’s too flashy.” He tilted his head and considered the shiny metal. “But yeah, you may just want to forget I have these until next week sometime…”
“Your performance review is coming up next Friday, you know that right?”
“Of course! Why do you think I have these!” Cackling again for good measure, he left with his friend’s longsuffering sigh at his back. Free for the day, he wasted no time in slipping back down to the garage and presenting the necessary key tag to the officer on duty.
Years of training allowed him to keep his face absolutely still and serious as the peppy black convertible was pulled up and signed over to him. With any luck Palmer would never notice the absence of his precious ‘Madeline.’ It was really too bad that the keys had been left out in such a neglectful fashion. Picking the lock on the glass cabinet of hooks while the grumbling sergeant had gone looking for his non-existent forms had been almost too easy. He pondered filing an internal memo about lax security procedures, but decided it could wait until after he got caught. It would add a little spice to his dressing down.
// If they catch me… Which they probably won’t… I could turn myself in I guess… all the more fun really… //
Waving as he almost pealed-out of the parking lot, he coaxed the vehicle through the congested streets and cut down into the shopping district as a detour around several slow moving military transports. He could already feel himself unwinding when a bright flash of yellow caught him completely by chance. The kid from the motor-pool was standing on the other side of the street seemingly in conversation with several bruiser-sized guys in civvies. Zack gave it another look in his mirror at the next light, and cursing to himself, pulled a u-turn and headed back.
// Always sticking your damn neck out for people who want you to bug off…. Must be a bloody sadomasochist… //
Sure enough, the trooper was on his way to being in trouble. The trio of jerks in home-perms was following the kid down the block in a way that promised that the next alley might well prove a quiet spot for starting something ugly. Pulling past and into a convenient ‘No Stopping at Any Time’ space, Zack waited for the blond to pace within calling range, making sure that his ‘friends’ would hear him as well. It wasn’t often that he liked playing bully in enlistee fights, usually favoritism caused nothing but trouble later. However having a recognizable face did have a certain number of perks, and if he played it right, he wouldn’t have to say a word to them.
“Hey Kid.”
The trooper kept his head down, walking purposefully back towards the Shinra headquarters. Zack shook his head. “Private!”
Not even looking up, the short SOLDIER walked past his car.
// Well that’s rude… unless he thinks I’m one of the thugs behind him… //
“Yo, Spike! Get your sorry blond ass over here on the double!” That got his attention. The young man’s head snapped up and around to stare at him in disbelief. After the momentary hesitation that seemed to mark all his movements, the kid moved closer.
“… Major?”
Keeping one eye on the now nervous group of bullies, the SOLDIER jerked his chin to signal the blond close. “Been looking all over for you, newbie… Thought I told you to sit your little butt down in front of the tower and wait!”
“…Sorry sir.” Spike’s eyes narrowed, flickering briefly over to the trio and back to the sporty little car. “… Thought I’d have time for a little reconnaissance while you found your car…”
“Well no harm done then,” He grinned, glad the kid was willing to swallow pride and play along. Brawling in public was a definite no-no for anyone who wanted to pass their performance reviews this month. Seeing how the trooper made no move to act on his own, he reached over to pop the passenger door open. “Get the fuck in, Spike. We got places to be.”
“…Yes sir.” Sliding gingerly into the leather bucket seat, the kid moved like he was afraid that he would break something by breathing on it. Zack grinned, acknowledging that he did indeed have a sweet ride.
“And buckle up, trooper. I’ve got some time to make up.”
Spike restrained his alarm to a simple ‘umph’, as the sudden acceleration snapped him back in his seat. Cutting across three lanes and into a hard stop at the red, the dark haired man settled further down into the leather embrace with a happy sigh. “Love this fucking car.”
“… Thanks, sir.”
“No problem,” Looking over, he swore could actually see the humiliation radiating off the hunched shoulders. Asking who the other men were wouldn’t accomplish much. Regular army was outside his ‘official’ reach one way or another. His ‘unofficial’ reach went quite a bit further, but he didn’t think there was much he could do either way. Law of nature stated that the blond would have to watch his back around assholes, the fact that he was a loner just made it that much harder.
// Or damn near impossible… Still… maybe I can hook him up with a mentor or something… Do it myself even… pride or not, he’s an easy mark. //
Deciding that ignorance was the best stance, he shrugged. “Looked like you could use a ride… heading somewhere in particular?”
“Back to HQ, sir.”
“Zack. Please god, call me Zack… Every time I hear ‘sir’ I think of my father… almost as bad as hearing fucking ‘Mr. Thomson’ all the time… I keep turning around expecting to see the old bastard standing behind me.” He was pleased to see that his comment drew a smile out of the blond. “Now what’s this nonsense about going back to base… you’ve got the day off, don’t you? Tomorrow too I thought…”
“… Yes?”
“Yes you do? Or yes I’m capable of thinking…? Yes what?”
“Yes I have today and tomorrow off… but I’ve got to review some…” The smile was timid, but it was definitely growing in confidence. Safely ensconced into the car, the kid was willing to relax slightly.
Zack made a rude noise, cutting off the excuses midway. “You can review tomorrow afternoon like everyone else… Today you’re going to have some fucking fun if it kills me.”
The light changed and he let out a happy war cry, cutting the u-turn tight enough to almost catch the decorative shrubbery in the median as he pointed them away from the center of town and back towards the superhighways that would deposit them at the edge of the city.
“Where are we going?!” Doing his level best to look unconcerned as they swerved around two tractor-trailers and cut off a bus to make their ramp, the blond clung to the handgrip for all he was worth.
The SOLDIER simply grinned, up shifting delightedly into top gear while the smooth pavement lasted and letting the little car show off its impressive muscle. “… Fresh air is calling us kid! I’m heading out of the city for the afternoon, and you’re coming with me.” Pointing grandly to the open sky that was slowly revealing itself amidst the spaghetti-like curves of the outer-loop-road he crowed, “To Kalm!”
“… oh shit!”
For a moment he thought the comment was in response to his plan, then he noticed the large limo in the middle of changing lanes right in front of him at considerably slower speed.
“Woop!”
He only terrified the young couple in the middle lane a little when he cut them off, pulling past the large white car with a gleeful wave. To his surprise, Ms. Scarlet stared back at him from the last window, expression startled.
// Busted! Shit, well by the time she calls Palmer, we’ll be long gone… Just got to get out of her way before she spots the kid… Maybe I can offer to buy her dinner to forget about the whole thing… //
Buying the blonde woman anything would open a whole new can of trouble however, and he quickly dismissed the idea. He liked her well enough, she was good at her job and a sharp woman all the way around. If it weren’t for the rather predatory look she started to give him after the first two drinks, he’d have almost been fond of her. Sex-slave just wasn’t on his career path.
He hammered the gas, pushing the convertible ahead and towards the down ramp over the slums and onto the plain as his alarmed passenger cringed. “Ah… free at last…”
“You’re fucking insane.” Relaxing his death grip on the door, Spike shook the life back into his hands.
“Lighten up kid, enjoy the day…” A careful check of his
rearview mirror proved there were no flashing lights following him out of the
city, and with a sigh he coaxed their speed down to something more appropriate
for the dusty highway. There was little traffic at
“I forgot how scorched everything around Midgar looks… what causes that…?”
“Air pollution, they say… and a couple centuries worth of garbage… All of this area used to be dump-land you know…”
The blond trooper made a disgusted face. “Yuck. We’re driving on garbage?”
“Among other things,” He grinned back. “They cleaned it up eventually, buried it… these days it’s all put out to sea or burned in the incinerators in the slums.”
“…/big/ improvement.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” Content to just watch the miles between Midgar and Kalm get eaten beneath his tires, he settled back. His companion was just as quiet as he had been the day before, seeming torn between studying the scenery flying past and staring at him with a weird little worried look. After the third oscillation between the kid staring at grass and back at him, he gave up. “What? You can turn on the radio if you’re bored…”
“I don’t get you.”
“Excuse me?” Zack looked at the trooper over the top of his sunglasses. “Not much to get, kid.”
“What’s your damage anyway…?” The younger man tucked his hands between his knees, tough-guy routine warring with adolescent nervousness. “Why are you being so nice to me…? Don’t you have something better to waste your time on?”
“Nope.” The kid’s glare was good, but nowhere near good enough. He wondered if Sephiroth glared in the mirror every morning to get the cutting look honed to its razor sharpness.
// A few years of practice, and the two of them could have contests… //
The idea of his giant friend locked in a child’s game of ‘not blinking’ with the shrimpy blond was almost enough to set him laughing. He settled for a grin instead.
“… Damage, huh? Well let’s just say momma dropped me on the head one time to often… Left me with a crippling over abundance of fucking generosity and good cheer… What’s /your/ damage, Spike?”
The trooper blinked at him and went back to staring at the road with a chagrined expression. “Can never control my fucking temper.”
“You won’t be the first or last with that particular ailment, kid. Seem to manage well enough though.”
“Nah, you’ve just caught me on my good day.” The bland comment was as close to a joke as the blond had managed yet, and laughing Zack reached out to poke him in the shoulder.
“You know what, Spike? You’re alright… Crazy little shit… but in Shinra that’s a fucking pre-req these days.” He frowned, considering it. “Not that we weren’t crazy before…”
Receiving another quiet snort for his efforts, he laughed again and flipped on the radio. Unlike the general, Spike actually smiled when he found the loudest rock station on the dial.
*****
Kalm was as quiet and bucolic as he remembered it. Somebody sometime had passed a rule saying that the town would always stay true to its small-village roots, and the subsequent mayors had taken the idea to heart. The place was always obsessively clean and friendly, despite it’s proximity to the sprawling ugly metropolis that lit its horizon at all hours of day and night. He parked the now dusty-gray convertible just outside the city center and waved the kid to follow him into town.
“Shouldn’t we, park somewhere… I dunno, safer?”
“Naaaah, why bother.”
“Your car is gorgeous, freak, someone’s bound to notice.”
“Well, since it’s not my car… if someone happens to steal it, I wouldn’t be all that inconvenienced.” He smirked seeing the blonde’s stunned expression. “We’d have to take the bus back, of course, but we’d make it home in plenty of time for your studying.”
“Who’s car is it?”
“Dunno, Palmer’s. I think.” Zack shrugged, peering into the store windows at the knickknacks within.
“/The/ Palmer? Head of Shinra’s Air and Space Program?”
“He is the only one I know with such an unfortunate name… yes.”
“He let you borrow his car?!”
The dark man scratched his head slightly, “Well I don’t know about ‘borrowed’… but sure kid, whatever you say.” Watching the trooper try and wrap his head around /that/ little news byte was almost as funny as needling the General. He manfully resisted the urge to give the kid a noogie.
“Well Spike. You gonna follow me around like a tail while I get some shopping done? Or can you fend for yourself for a few hours and meet up with me at a restraunt for lunch?”
The trooper made a face. “Who the hell wants to watch you shop?”
“I’ll have you know that any number of amiable young ladies love to be seen in stores with me!”
“Yeah, the ones from the BumbleBee inn…”
“Ouch. He may be small but he is fast.” Clutching his chest dramatically, he expected and received the obligatory rude gesture. Laughing he left the kid to amuse himself and found the store he was looking for.
*****
If it had been Saturday, the line to get a table at ‘Everything’s A Waffle’ would have spilled out the door and onto the street. As luck had it, Zack got done with shopping and reserved his table well before the evening rush. He only had to collapse on the bench outside for a few minutes before his unlikely dinner-date arrived. The kid didn’t get any points for looks when compared with his usual companions. Pretty perhaps, too pretty for someone who wanted to get through the Shinra ‘boy’s club attitude unscathed, but definitely not a woman. The SOLDIER watched the younger man slouch closer with a sigh. The blond wasn’t much of a good time when it came to conversation either. It was a good thing he wasn’t a date, Zack would have probably stood him up in favor of the girl who had helped him pick out a new pair of pants.
// A bit of social work, then… or as Seph would call it, ‘another damnable hobby’… //
He waved to get the trooper’s attention and lead the way into the cozy diner. Drinks, appetizers, entrees and an extra set of fries later, Zack was beginning to feel a little stuffed, and considerably more generous towards his dining companion. It wasn’t that Spike was any better at loosening up when pint-around-the-ears from alcohol, but there was /something/ damnably likeable about him just the same. It was rather like watching a puppy try and be a bulldog, only to get spooked by something, and botch it half way. Zack just talked over the random nervous pauses like always, so used to the general’s sparse conversation that he didn’t think twice about chattering through the gaps. The kid didn’t seem to mind at all.
"See, the one thing war did teach me, Spike... was that a man can never take a good meal for granted. When you find good eats, you store up all you can, 'cuz you never know when your next good meal will be. Maybe a month or six will go by, just eating same old Shinra crap... and you will be thinking that whole time... that man you'd kill someone just to eat a one of these waffles with extra syrup..." The dark haired SOLDIER prodded his desert before applying himself to the generous scoop of ice cream. The confection was a waffle in name only, layered in sugar, ice cream, syrup, and whipped cream; it was a testament to the diner's particular brand of insanity.
Spike was watching him in awe. Looking as if he was hoping the contents of his overfull stomach wouldn't suddenly rebel at the sight of his companion eating /more/ food. His words proved the idea. "… I think I'm going to be sick."
"Don't be silly, you're a hillbilly kid, like me! You're supposed to come equipped with two hollow legs and an extra stomach just for ice cream."
"I must be defective then." Tired, the blond slouched back in the booth and gingerly reached for his coffee. Zack had been lucky enough to rope in a friendly waitress with a smile, the fresh carafe of coffee left on their table was one several perks. She had left the pot on seeing that the SOLDIER was eating fit to hibernate all winter on stored fat. "I can't believe you're still eating... shit... is this some sort of weird side effect of all those chemicals they pump into you?"
"Bah, sure you don't want a taste?" He offered a gooey spoon full only to give up when the younger man shook his head in horror. “suit yourself.”
"I'm broke, I can't afford more food."
"It's on me."
"What, desert?"
"Nah, all of it. No worries." Zack grinned as he flagged down the waitress as she glanced their direction. Ignoring her flirty smile he managed the universal signal for ‘my mouth is full but can I have the check?’. She stared a moment but eventually got the idea, retreating to the register with a playful pout. The blond watched the exchange in disbelief.
"I can pay."
"I know you can." The dark haired man shrugged blithely and licked the sugary syrup off his fingers. "But I said I got it... you can cover me next time, or pay the speeding ticket we're likely going to get trying to sneak the car home before Palmer roadblocks the beltway looking for it.
Looking more than a little alarmed at the thought, the trooper’s reply was a murmur. "Maybe I should just take the bus."
"Like hell you will. I'll need someone to run interference..."
"I'm going to be scrubbing latrines, aren't I."
"Nah, stick with me kid, and you'll go straight to the top..." Laughing he accepted the bill and started pilling loose Gil on the table to take care it. He didn’t miss the phone number on the back of the slip of paper; committing it to memory should he find himself stranded in Kalm anytime in the near future. It wasn’t like he was /that/ interested, but only a fool ignored it when a woman offered. Amused, he almost missed Spike’s reply.
"Straight to the top of /what/ is the problem..."
Grumbling the younger man followed his superior out of the restaurant and back
to the convertible. Zack could almost hear the kid mentally weighing the risks
of getting caught as accessory to car theft against having to wait for the
"Sure kid, take a lot more than a little beer to make me weak kneed.” He smiled wickedly. “Come on, I'll drive nice and slow all the way home."
"I'll believe that when I see it.” The kid’s hesitant grin was a pleasant surprise.
*****