Apartment Above the Boards, Tuesday Night

[intraspective]

Ino's day had been peaceful. She'd gone for a run with Girl, then they'd both gone into her shop so that Girl could nap and Ino could amuse herself in her lab for a few hours. Then they'd gone out again while Ino had fielded a phone call from Tseng wanting to know how she'd misplaced Zack (the answers she'd come up with hadn't pleased him much) and eventually they'd wandered back to the Boards and the apartment above it.

Silly had spent most of the day in her hair or cheeping at Girl. Ino wasn't sure what Silly hoped to accomplish but, hey, Girl hadn't eaten Silly yet. That was good.

After they'd all eaten, and Ino had gone for shower, they'd all somehow wound up on the couch together while Ino went through her notes from the day's work at the lab and Girl dozed contentedly. Silly sat on the back of the couch and surveyed them both with beady eyes.

Fine. Fine, it wasn't so bad having a dog. Maybe.

[For that boy. And phone calls, if you want.]

Comments

[puppy_fair]

Zack wasn't moping as he made his way through the door into the apartment after his shift at the shelter. He wasn't. Really.

He wasn't trudging, either.

Honest.

Except for how he totally was, shoulders slouched forward a little, still wearing that damn SOLDIER uniform that he'd been wearing on his mission to Wutai. He'd been looking forward to two things when he got home, and one of them was gone. Hopefully Ino wouldn't be on a mission tonight, because she was the other one.

He sighed as he shut the door.

"Ino? Are you here? I'm home."

Give him a moment to round the corner. His moping would fade really fast.

[intraspective]

"On the couch," she called, not looking up from her notes quite yet. Ino wanted to finish her thoughts quick, before she got distracted.

(Zack was totally a distraction.)

"Have you eaten anything? Want me to order in?"

[puppy_fair]

"Eating!" Zack snapped his fingers. "I knew I was forgetting something. Here, let me get my boots off and I'll be right in, we can go over some menus or something."

There had been a lot of mope going on at the shelter, okay?

[intraspective]

Apparently so!

Ino would feel a little bad about that except, no, she didn't, because Girl had been adopted by her. By them, really.

She finished her last note for the night and closed her book. "Sounds good!" As she did that, her hair snaked over to the coffee table to pull out the menus.

What? It wasn't like she or Zack cared for cooking!

[puppy_fair]

Cooking was for special occasions unless it was dumping hot water on a pack of instant ramen, it was true! Zack finished getting out of his boots, propped the buster sword up against the wall, and was working his way out of the straps to his armor components as he finally rounded the corner into the living room.

"I'm not even picky, just so long as it's foo--"

Food, right? It wasn't like you could get Wutai take-out while being the invading force in Wutai during a war, so he wasn't even really sick of that. But, of course, he got a little distracted as he looked up at both the woman and the dozing dog and his mouth fell open. It just sort of stayed that way, too, while he stood there, half out of his armor, one of his pauldrons swinging back and forth from the strap still slung over his shoulder.

[intraspective]

Don't laugh, Ino. Don't laugh.

Even though it was hilarious.

"Okay, so you're not picky," Ino said casually, her glee making her eyes sparkle. "But there's got to be a thing you'd like."

[puppy_fair]

Zack found his voice at right about the same moment that pauldron swung loose and hit the floor.

"I'd like-"

CLANG.

"... I. Wow."

He'd been so close to having a functional thought, there, too. Fortunately, his puppy brain kicked in to pick up where his people brain left off, and he forgot about getting the rest of the way out of his gear for the time being, bounded across the room, and kind of tackled Ino for a kiss, right there on the sofa.

[intraspective]

Honestly, of all the ways she'd expected him to react? A kiss hadn't been on the table.

She wasn't complaining though--she was mostly just stunned.

And laughing as Girl woke up and tried to wiggle between them.

[puppy_fair]

And now Zack was laughing, too. Laughing and kissing and trying to make some room for the dog, because who wouldn't want a cuddly dog getting in on the affection too, right? At least Zack had the good sense to kiss Ino first. He had no idea how she felt about doggy kisses to go with her puppy kisses.

"Ohmygosh," he laughed, once it was clear that he was going to have to give Girl some attention, too. He leaned back from the kissing and just grinned at Ino over Girl's head while he reached down to ruffle her ears. "Ohmygosh, you adopted her?"

[intraspective]

Wow. Wow, he was killing her with that smile.

The explanation that she'd only meant to kidnap the dog as a trial period and hadn't meant to keep but the paperwork had gotten confused (and now there was a piece of paper out there, with her name noted as Ino Fair, because it had been a giant mess)... well... that explanation stuttered and died before she got one word out.

"Well," Ino said, a bit defensively, "she was lonely."

[puppy_fair]

Zack didn't let that defensiveness phase him in the least. He just smiled all the more and leaned in to kiss her again.

"I didn't mean to be gone so long," he said, apologetically. "But, you know. Missions in warzones, and we didn't even entirely know what we were looking for. Plus... Rufus is a surprisingly good fighter, but I was still basically his bodyguard out there."

It had actually startled Zack, just how competent he was. But it was still a warzone out there.

[intraspective]

And yet again, she was quietly shocked by the kiss. She smiled.

"Hey, no worries," Ino said easily. "I get it. Missions ain't exactly cut and dried all the time."

Honestly, it'd be boring if they were.

"And tiny Rufus ain't bad, huh? That's... interesting."

[puppy_fair]

"I mean, he's... Rufus," Zack replied, tilting his head a little. "But tiny. He's... actually kind of dangerous."

So much for less tiny Rufuses trying to keep their actual level of competency under wraps, there.

[intraspective]

Yes, but that just made their Rufus, not the tiny one, even more smokin' hot as far as Ino was concerned.

Ino... did not say that. But she thought it.

"I mean, that ain't super surprising, is it? Given the way he's grown up?"

[puppy_fair]

"I have no idea how he's grown up," Zack pointed out, tilting his head a little. "I mean... I've never met him, besides here. I heard rumors that Lazard might be his half brother, but Lazard never really spoke about how he grew up, either."

SOLDIER didn't get to know things that were just common knowledge to the Turks. That wasn't what SOLDIER was for.

[intraspective]

Ino pursed her lips. He was right, though she didn't like that she'd slipped up that way.

"True," she admitted. "It's just... he ain't exactly grown up like a lot of people do."

[puppy_fair]

"I mean... I think most people just assume that he's a spoiled brat," Zack noted. "But he didn't flinch in a warzone. It doesn't matter how he grew up, that kid has guts."

He shrugged a little, and then looked between Ino and Girl before smiling back up at Ino again.

"It was weird, but... I think I needed that. And now I'm home, and apparently I needed this even more."

[intraspective]

Ino bit her lip.

Rufus was a spoiled brat, definitely, but the Turks knew--more than that.

She let it pass.

"Should I ask who you're happier to see?" Ino teased. "I know, it's Silly, right?"

[puppy_fair]

"Definitely Silly," Zack laughed, shaking his head and waving a little hello to the bird. "Hey, buddy. I saw a few of your cousins while we were in Wutai. You are by far the most magestic."

Suuuuure.

[intraspective]

"Silly is the most impressive of chicobos," Ino said solemnly, as her little bird chirped at Zack.

It sounded a bit like a scolding, really, which made her laugh.

[puppy_fair]

"It's alright, little guy," Zack teased, "I don't generally ride into battle on chocoboback anyway."

Stomping into battle, on the other hand...

Zack smiled a little, and then broke into a laugh of his own.