Zack was fairly sure that owning a bakery hadn’t been Sephiroth’s first choice, but life was funny sometimes. The bakery hadn’t been Zack’s first choice either- Being an assistant baker was a sharp left turn. But Sephiroth made good bread, good croissants, and extremely good bagels, though– good enough that in the fictional war between the city’s many bakeries, the annual newspaper poll had put him squarely on top. One of the editors had even awarded him the honorary title of ‘General’. Which meant, as his assistant, Zack had been stuck with ‘Sergeant’.

Of course, neither of them really minded.

~*~

Before Sephiroth asked him if he knew how to bake, Zack had been a regular customer at the bakery. His future prospects had dropped off quickly and even though he could barely make toast, Sephiroth had listened to him and appreciated his earnestness. They got along well and Seph was a great instructor. In two days, he was making loaves ready for the front window. And as a bonus, there was a cute girl working on the weekends at the flower shop next door to the bakery. Obviously, this was all meant to be.

Life was funny sometimes, wasn’t it?

~*~

The cute flower girl at the shop next door had come into the bakery each weekend morning, three weekends straight. Zack had gone out and lingered, peeking into the flower shop while pretending to be touching up the bakery’s sandwich board, more than once. But he hadn’t been able to ask if she might want to go out on an early evening date.

On the fourth weekend, he crossed his fingers, let Sephiroth know that he’d be stepping out for just a moment, and made it all the way to the flower shop door before pausing.

Then he went in.

~*~

Cloud wasn’t hard to miss, not after his third visit to the bakery. He looked at everything for as long as he could, lingering and watching Sephiroth through the glass cases, before buying a single bagel and exiting quickly. Zack knew the behavior and when he described it to Aerith, she just smiled without comment.

By his fifth visit, Sephiroth had taken to chatting with Cloud and asking him about little, trivial things. Nobody was surprised when, a couple of months after that, Cloud started working part time on the weekends behind the counter.

Aerith just said it was fate.

~*~

One Saturday morning, a few months later, Aerith took a bouquet of flowers in a small glass vase over to the bakery. It would look good on the counter, and besides, she wanted to check in on everyone. Sure, she’d seen Zack the night before, but she certainly wouldn’t mind seeing him again. He was doing good in the bakery, and so was Cloud. Sephiroth had a natural aptitude she’d never imagined and Aerith couldn’t help but wish he’d had a chance to shine like this before she’d gotten involved.

She smiled an odd little smile.

Life was funny sometimes.