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[i_love_squats]

Who: Zack Fair i_love_squats and Kunsel knows_it_all
When: Backdated to Feb 20.
Where: In the park.
Format: Paragraph.
What: It’s after the V-Day event, and Kunsel’s got something important to show Zack. /tries not to leer
Warnings: Sap? But it'd be manly sap, I swear.

Comments

[knows_it_all]

Sucking in a breath of fresh air through clenched teeth, a smile lit up Kunsel's face. The cool air pelted his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, his forehead and chin, and boy did it felt good. Great even. Who cared if his hair was a tousled mess atop his head from wearing the Shin-Ra issued helmet all day long? Appearances weren't exactly high on Kunsel's list of priorities.

"I'm sure, Zack," he said, and he turned to face his friend, only a little surprised that the other man had turned away from him.

Zack was as excitable as he was at times, and...always more respectful in terms of privacy. In a way it proved to Kunsel that he really could trust his friend, despite all of the hair-brained pranks they had pulled on each other (and would no doubt continue to pull). "You can look, it's alright. I don't have a fever, I'm thinking clearly. This is...what I called you out here for, you know?"

His helmet fell to his side, still in hand, but as he closed the gap between them, his free hand reached up and squeezed Zack's shoulder, shook it a little, as if the gesture could motivate him to turn around.

"C'mon, it's time. We've been friends for a long while and I don't want to hide from you anymore, Zack. I don't want there to be things left unfinished between us."

[i_love_squats]

Unfinished. Unfinished. The hand on his shoulder was a slow burn that had unfrozen him, loosened the ground he was stuck into, but the words themselves were fuel that gave him permission, that let him move. Unfinished, and there was a lot of that, wasn’t there? A mountain of unfinished business, a goodbye that had never been offered, promises unfulfilled.

And Zack? Zack knew he owed it, not for moral duty, but because it was his friend, one of his closest especially after being here and what they had been through. Second chances didn’t come along every day, every week, every month, and here was Kunsel offering something so personal, something most folks took for granted.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded and turned with a smile on his lips and his eyes closed. “My Forge’s off, you know. Promise.” And his eyelashes parted, the flare of his blue eyes peeking out, and he looked at Kunsel for the first time. Really looked at him.

Really saw him.

One hand, gloved, moved to reach and ruffle the hair, but stopped long enough to take off the leather that threatened to intrude. Dropping it on the ground, he touched the helmet hair and hmmmed in the back of his throat.

“Yeah. Pretty much how I pictured you. Only with more hair. Don’t worry, though, I’ll keep on telling everyone you’re suffering from male pattern baldness and that’s the reason for the helmet.” And he smiled, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his hair, he smiled.

[knows_it_all]

"I trust you, Zack. I know you'd never seriously put me out."

He stood his ground as the other SOLDIER turned to face him, his heart slamming inside his chest, butterflies stirring up a whirlwind in his stomach.

And then Zack opened his eyes. For the first time ever he was able to look directly into them without interruption. He knew the blue intimately from his own reflection, but it was still alarming in the way that...this was Zack looking back at him, not himself. They could really see each other.

That was when Zack's hand slid into his hair, combed over his scalp. It was everything Kunsel could do not to lean in toward his friend, to keep the smile on his face tame.

"So, you mean to tell me that you've been telling folks I'm bald...and I still go out with more girls than you do? That's sad, buddy."

And to show the jab was harmless, he threw in a playful wink and a nudge to Zack's ribs with a loose fist.

[i_love_squats]

Oh, oooouch. What a tongue you’ve got on you, Kunsel! Not nice. Not nice at all. Pulling his hand away to rub at the playful nudge, he rolled his eyes and stooped to pick up his glove.

“Pity dates, that’s all. They feel the guy who’s head is so big that it got stuck in a Shinra-issued helmet. Or, at least, that’s what I’ll be sure to tell them.” And it was his turn to wink and smile, to be a friend, to lighten the mood over something so important that he didn’t really have words for it.

But it was Kunsel’s heart that got all the ladies, and Zack thought-no, knew- that he deserved it. His heart was as real and as deep as anything, something that shouldn’t ever be obscured by walls or helmets, even if it was inevitable for their line of work. Didn’t matter, though. And it never would.

Fitting the glove back onto his hand and wiggling the fingers inside their familiar leather confines, he looked back to Kunsel. It was so strange to see him like this, open and himself, not hiding, not wanting to, revealing everything, even if it was just his face. Zack had waited so long to see him, so long, and he looked good in his normalcy. Handsome. Honest.

“I feel kinda bad,” he mused. “If I were Angeal, I’d have a story to tell for this kinda thing, but I don’t. Some mentor I am, huh?”