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Zack kicked open the door of the penthouse apartment suite and carried Aeris over the threshold. "Home sweet home!" he announced. "Now, since I finally talked you into visiting my place instead of yours, I'm taking advantage of the opportunity and making introductions. Everyone, this is Aeris. Aeris, this is the pack, otherwise known as 'Zack's collection of assorted quirky misfits.'"
Aeris giggled, and let Zack pull her over to the sofa where Cloud and Sephiroth sat, one drinking tea and the other engrossed in a newspaper. Zack waved at Cloud, who raised his eyebrows quizzically. "This is Cloud -- as you can tell, he likes tea. He's also immortal, but the tea's more important; he gets irrational over it. He's much more sensible about dying. Anyway, I picked Cloud up when I was six. He was clean and he has a nice apartment, so I decided to keep him."
Cloud looked amused and sipped his tea.
Zack moved on. "This is Sephiroth. He's the mage; he likes fire spells. But that's not why he's part of the collection. I keep him because his hair is shiny! See, grab a few strands" -- he pulled a wisp of hair from Sephiroth's bangs before the mage could dodge -- "and hold them up to the light. It sparkles!"
Aeris made admiring noises. Sephiroth turned a page and pointedly ignored Zack.
Zack led Aeris over to the twins, who were sitting at the kitchen table and shooting him vaguely betrayed looks.
"Don't even start," Chaos growled. "I don't know her, and I don't want to know her."
"Yes you do; you'll love her," Zack said blithely. "Now, Aeris, these are Vincent -- he's the one with short hair -- and Chaos -- by process of elimination, the long-haired one. They're my elements, ice and fire. Everyone needs some elemental symbolism in their collection."
"Fuck you," Chaos said.
Zack grinned. "Maybe later."
"Oooh! Can I watch?" Aeris asked, clapping her hands and sparkling at the twins. Chaos recoiled, appalled. Vincent looked intrigued.
Before Zack could answer, Aeris's PHS rang. "Hi, Tifa!" she said, flipping it open. "Lunch was lovely, thanks for asking. Oh, Zack's just showing me his collection-- yes, Cloud and the rest of his coworkers-- oh, really? Yes, I will. See you tonight!"
She hung up and smiled at Zack. "So, if you keep Cloud for the apartment, Sephiroth for his hair, and the twins for sex -- and Tifa says she has a place because you like her eyes -- what makes me special?"
"I keep you because you're brilliant and evil and you ran away with my heart," Zack said, picking her up and spinning around in the middle of the kitchen. "And I needed someone else with a sense of humor around here!"
"I don't count?" Cloud asked, having sneaked over to stand in the doorway.
Zack set Aeris down and smirked at Cloud. "I can't very well ask you to help me play tricks on yourself, can I? Besides, I already told you I keep you for the digs."
"He's incorrigible," Cloud said to Aeris, gesturing with his empty teacup. "Are you sure you want to keep him?"
Aeris wrapped her arm around Zack's waist and leaned into him. "Yes, I think I do. After all, everybody needs something incredibly silly in their collection."