Room 504, Saturday Evening

[puppy_fair]

Zack... was not normally the sort to sit down at a desk and pick up a pencil and write letters of his own volition, no. In fact, if he had his way, he'd do all of his communicating in person, or at least on the telephone. But the people that he wanted to get in touch with at just that moment weren't exactly living in a corner of the world where technology was abundant, and so if he was going to get in touch with them, it was with a letter, or else not at all.

Dear Dad and Mom,

How are you guys?
Sorry for leaving town so suddenly.
I just really wanted to become a SOLDIER.
I bet you're worried now that I've told you...
But now I'm fulfilling my lifelong dream, and I'll do my best in SOLDIER.

P.S. I have a girlfriend.
Zack

Zack wrinkled his nose as he looked the letter over. It was... pretty lame, so far as letters went. But what else did you say to people that you hadn't spoken to in nearly five years? His mother would have wanted to know if he'd finally found a nice girl, and so he'd covered that much as an afterthought. And his parents would both worry once he told them that he'd gone and joined ShinRa's army. He couldn't tell them that everything was okay, because as far as he was aware, everything wasn't. But there wasn't a single lie anywhere in that letter. He was embracing his dreams, and he'd do his best, and that's all that they really needed to know after all of this time, wasn't it?

Now he just had to get up the nerve to mail it.

[Open door, open post. That unfortunate excuse for a letter home is snatched from Final Fantasy VII: International. Zack really sucks at writing letters, apparently.]

Comments

[intraspective]

Ino had been out shopping!

For Zack! For things Zack wasn't supposed to know about until his birthday! Which meant that when she bounced into the open door--hey, why was it open?--and oh hey, uh--

So that was a girlfriend oh so casually rearranging her bags so that if he saw anything it was stuff she'd bought for her and not for him.

Not that she'd gotten anything back from Tseng yet and if she didn't then Tseng was going to be made very very sorry. Maybe she'd just record her laughter and sneak a tape into his office where it would play on loop for hours and hours and hours.

But he still had a few days before Ino got to that point. "Hi," Ino said, blinking at Zack. "Hard at work?"

[puppy_fair]

"Kind of," Zack replied, smiling over at her. Shopping bags? Hey, he wasn't going to nose around in them. Shopping was totally a girl thing, right? "I thought maybe I'd write a letter to somebody. I think I'm done now, anyhow."

Done writing the dumbest letter home ever.

[intraspective]

Shopping was an awesome thing. He was losing out, really he was.

"You think you're done?" Ino teased, casually setting the bags down on the edge of their bed for the moment. 'His' bag totally hidden.

... Shut up, she liked shopping.

"Don't letters normally got a clear endin'?"

[puppy_fair]

"Well, there's a P.S. and I put my name on it," Zack replied, squinting and leaning forward to inspect the paper. "That counts, right?"

Usually? Probably?

"I don't write letters like this very often."

[intraspective]

Ino was going to wander over to wrap her arms around him from behind. "Can I see the letter?" she asked curiously, resting her head against his. "Or would you rather I didn't?"

Really, she was good with both, when it came from him.

[puppy_fair]

Hugs from behind? Were pretty much the best thing ever right now. Especially since this letter was kind of freaking Zack out in ways that he hadn't seen coming before he had actually written it.

"... Promise not to laugh?"

Because the letter was really, really dumb.

[intraspective]

Uh oh.

She snuggled against him and, before she thought better of it, said: "Promise."

[puppy_fair]

"... Okay." And deep breath, Zack. Reach for the letter, and pass it over.

He'd mentioned before that he didn't do this often, right? Especially not with people that he hadn't seen in half a decade?

[intraspective]

Ino was sorry, almost, that she'd promised she wouldn't laugh. Because it was hard, upon reading that particular letter, to not.

"It's pretty sparse," she said, once she was sure she wasn't going to crack up. "Don't you think?"

[puppy_fair]

Oh, Ino. You were earning yourself a pout, now.

"I had no idea what to write," he admitted. "It's... been a really long time."

[intraspective]

Awww! And she'd tried hard to keep it nice!

"You could tell them more 'bout me," she suggested lightly. "'I have a girlfriend. Her name is Ino. She's super cute and likes snuggles and wears a lot of pink.'"

Ino leaned into him to set the letter back on the desk. "It doesn't have to be--full of importance, you know? Just like a normal conversation. Ramble on about things. Tell them how you felt 'bout bein' in Midgar, if you were ever homesick?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack nodded a little, looking back at the letter thoughtfully.

"I don't even know if they want to hear from me, after all of this time. I thought maybe I'd kind of... work my way up?"

That, and he just really legitimately sucked at writing things.

[intraspective]

"Bet they would," she said gently. "Did you say a while back you were thinkin' of writing 'bout a maybe-visit? You could tell them that--I'd bet they'd be happy to know."

[puppy_fair]

And now was a good time for Zack to scuff the toe of his boot against the floor, awkwardly.

"You suppose so...? I didn't want to get their hopes up. I mean, in case something comes up, you know?"

Or in case he chickened out completely. That was also a possibility.

[intraspective]

Ino frowned slightly, still leaning against his back there. "I think--knowing might be better than not, in this case. You never wrote at all, huh?"

Which, honestly, confused her more than a bit.

[puppy_fair]

"This is my first time trying," Zack admitted, shrugging his shoulders and eyeing the letter. "It took me five years to manage this much..."

With a letter that was essentially, 'guess what! I'm not dead, but I have a job that could kill me! And a girlfriend.'

[intraspective]

Ino sighed and pulled away from him in order to perch on her desk there. "You goin' to send it?"

[puppy_fair]

He picked up the letter and read it over again. He'd have it committed to memory in no time, line by really stupid line.

"Well, I wrote it, didn't I? It would be silly of me to not end up sending it, after getting this far."

[intraspective]

"Sayin' it'd be silly to not don't really answer my question," she pointed out, toying with her hair.

[puppy_fair]

He gave the sheet of paper some very careful consideration, and then he nodded, reaching for the envelope that he'd gotten for just this purpose and the a pen.

Mr. and Mrs. Fair...

"First thing in the morning," he replied, moving to the next line, and then the one after that.

Gongaga...

"Before I have too much time to chicken out."

[intraspective]

Ino pursed her lips and debated asking the question that immediately came to mind.

She glanced sideways at him. "What's buggin' you?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack would be a moment before he could answer. He had stuffed the letter in, and now he was licking the envelope.

Bleh.

"It's... silly, I guess. It's just, this sort of feels like I'm writing a letter to ghosts, almost. I didn't even say good-bye when I left."

He'd been very stupid, at just-turned-twelve.

[intraspective]

There were a number of things Ino could say about that but she knew that--not everyone had the same family she did, where she told her parents everything. (And even then, they'd never found out about Kabuto.)

So, instead, she sighed and walked back to their bed. She was fidgety today, yes. "Why're you writing them now?"

[puppy_fair]

"Why now?" He pressed the fold shut on the envelope, and then held it out at arm's length, inspecting it. There was no return address on the envelope. Partly because he had no idea if he wanted it sent to his room in Midgar, or back to here. And partly because he was terrified that if his parents knew where he was stationed, they'd try to come find him, no matter where he was.

"You know... A lot on my mind, I guess."

Like how you never knew when the people you took for granted wouldn't be there, anymore. And about the importance of family in the face of all of the same. His parents had always been good to him.

[intraspective]

Ino half-heartedly pretended to sort through her bags while focusing on the conversation.

"Want to talk 'bout some of it?"