Midgar High School

It was late and the cafe had been closed for hours for everyone but them. The table was lit by candlelight (stolen from the dining room) and dressed in the remains of a large, if slightly random dinner (it wasn't Zack's fault that eggplant parmesan and sausage kabobs were all that was leftover from the dinner rush).

It had been a celebratory dinner, and all three were full and happy. Shera was paging through Zack's first-ever award-winning lab report; Elena was flipping through a deck of cards, comparing hers to Shera's. Zack idly twirled an empty bottle on the table, staring off into nothingness.

Elena attempted to palm a card while Shera wasn't looking, but the look Zack threw her made her reconsider.

"Man, we need to do something. I'd say hardcore three person Magic, but you look a little brain drained, Zack." Elena had broken the silence, but didn't seem to elicit much of a response.

"Don't make me whip out the silly junior high party games," she glanced over at the bottle, "You shouldn't twirl that so casually, you know. Never know who it will land on." She smirked at Zack, almost as if she were challenging him.

Zack glanced up at Elena, startled, and the bottle slipped from his hand. Mesmirized (and a little nervous), he watched as it spun like a hesitant drunk until it finally aligned itself. The fat end was pointed directly at Shera, who (oblivious to the threat) tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she continued to read Zack's paper. The other end pointed at the empty chair in between Zack and Elena.

He looked back at Elena, his smile a little teasing. "So the obvious question is," he said, gesturing to the bottle.

Elena shook her head. "No, don't even say it."

Shera started and looked up. "Say what?" she inquired, jarred from her little oblivion.

The blond smirked. "Zack just suggested we play spin the bottle."

Zack sputtered for a moment, cheeks flushing bright red. "I-I did NOT!" he asserted. "You were the one who mentioned it, El."

She shrugged and looked at Shera. "It would give up something to do, though, right?"

"Well..." Shera looked at the bottle curiously. "I guess so. But I have a question first."

Zack arched both eyebrows. "Shoot."

Shera bit her bottom lip, cheeks flushing pink. "Well, the thing is... I've never really done anything with other people--so I guess I'm kinda sheltered...and so...I... Uh..."

Elena arched one eyebrow. "What is it, Shera?"

She lifted her pale blue eyes, squinting slightly. "What's spin the bottle?

Zack blushed fiercely, swallowed, and said as calmly as he could, "It's a kissing game."

Shera's ears turned pink. "A what?" she squeaked.

Elena grinned. "Yeah, a kissing game. You spin the bottle - duh - and it points to somebody. That person then spins it again, and whoever that points to..." she ended by making little kissy noises, smirking at her two red-faced friends.

Shera glanced down at the traitorous bottle, then back up at Elena.

"So... you want to do this? Really?" Zack asked, turning redder, if at all possible. Elena rolled her eyes.

"Come on, not like you haven't wanted to make out with Shera since the moment you met her, geez." She looked over slyly at Shera, who was sitting with her mouth agape. She grinned at looked back at Zack.

"Yaduhprettygirl," Zack mumbled, "But... what if it lands on you two? I mean you're close but..." It was Shera's turn to smirk.

"And what guy wouldn't want to see that?" she said, with an almost husky vixen tone. Elena burst out laughing upon hearing it.

"So..." Elena said, poking at the bottle, "Who wants to spin first?"

They sat in silence for a long moment, exhcnaging wary glances. Shera met Elena's eyes and the blonde arched one eyebrow. "Shera?"

She swallowed thickly and reached out, brushing her fingers over the cold glass of the bottle. "A-All right, I'll go first..." She grasped the object by it neck with two fingers and spun it expertly--it was hard to believe she'd never done this before.

It spun, spun, spun--slowed, slowed--stopped.

Shera followed the direction of the bottle with her eyes and flushed bright pink, but smiled nonetheless.

"All right El," she said softly, sitting back, "your turn."

Elena reached out and gave the bottle a confident flick. She didn't really see what the big deal was, she thought, as they watched the wobbly spin of the bottle on the table. Both Shera and Zack were staring at it as if it would decide - the fate of the world, or something.

The bottle slowed, wobbled, and came to a complete stop pointing (mostly) in Zack's direction. Elena heard a sigh of relief from someone - who, she wasn't sure - as she leaned in to give the pink-faced boy a healthy peck on the cheek.

"Eep?" Shera almost squeaked. "It's on the cheek?" She looked relieved and - almost disappointed.

Elena grinned. "Your first three. It's like a warm-up."

She poked the bottle towards Zack. "C'mon, big boy, your turn."

His method was a little different. Instead of the confident flick, he grasped it and twirled, nearly sending it flying off the table. He cringed, almost as if to apologize for his lack of control.

"Whoops." He watched fall nearly dead center on the binder in front of Shera. She looked up wide-eyed at him, and then smiled.

"Just a warm-up." He gave her the lightest peck possible, causing Elena to roll her eyes.

"Geez, you guys act like you've never had ANY contact with anyone," Elena said, glancing over at Shera. The other girl frowned.

"Well... um... no," she mumbled, "That was my..." Elena stared wide-eyed.

"Holy! Kissing virgins!" She burst into giggles. Shera narrowed her eyes.

"And why are you taking so much glee in this, El?" Zack asked, regaining some of his composure.

Elena continued to giggle. "That's it, then. Rule change." She looked pointedly at Shera, then Zack. "No more warm-ups. This is the real deal, now."

The look on Zack's face was some combination of excitement and dread. "I can't - I can't do that," he stammered, a half-hearted attempt at being a gentleman. "C'mon."

Elena waggled a finger in his direction. "It was your idea, pretty boy. No backing out now." Zack flushed, shook his head, and opened his mouth to retort.

To everyone's surprise, Shera leaned forward slightly and delicately grabbed the bottle, that familiar determined look merging with the sudden smile on her face.

"We're all friends, right?" she asked the table at large, and then shrugged and gave the bottle a spin.

It spun, quickly at first then slower and slower until it finaly landed on Elena. Zack's stomach gave a not=entirely unpleasant lurch and he knew he was red as an apple as he looked betweent he two young women.

Surprisingly, Shera for once didn't look nervous. She merel stared across the table at Elena and gave a faint smile. "You ready for this, El?" she inquired softly.

Elena's smile changed--it didnt' fade, didn't deepen, simply changed. As if this was something she had been looking forward to and dreading at the same time.

"I've been ready for a while," she said, just as softly as Shera.

Zack suddenly understood.

Shera rose from her seat and came around the table, taking a seat beside Elena. She leaned on slowly, heartbeat quickening, and closed her eyes as she kissed the blonde full on the mouth.

It was like fireworks. Hot and bright and beautiful, impossible to capture but for a single moment but possible to repeat again and again. But there was no repetition neccessary, because Shera and Elena didn't pull apart.

Shera wrapped her arms around Elena and held her tight, Elena's arms circling her waist and pulling her flush against her.

When they broke, Elena was actually turning red. Elena, who had up until then been calm, cool, and collected. It was almost funny how she looked red, nearly turning the roots of her hair the same color considering its paleness.

"Does... this make us freaks?" she whispered, before leaning her head on Shera's shoulder, like she needed protection. The other girl was wide-eyed, and looking over at Zack, who was in fact staring in an odd way.

"Heh... this complicates things," Shera said, resting her head on top of Elena's, "But I'm sure that this isn't... as unnatural as we're led to believe." Zack smiled, finally closing his mouth.

"How come you get to kiss Elena and I don't, Shera?" he said teasingly, trying to break the tension in the air. Elena smiled at him from her spot.

"Eh? You gotta spin for that. No freebies." She sounded more like Elena now, and Shera let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Your turn, El." She said, moving her head, but not the rest of her.

Elena reached out and gave the bottle a quick, decisive turn; but as it spun and then slowed, the girls realized at the same time the unintentional humour of the situation: they were so close, almost in the same seat, that the bottle had no choice but to point to Zack.

The bottle slowed and stopped, but Zack was already smiling sadly and standing up. "Don't worry about it," he said softly, waving a hand in the air. "Not a big deal."

Elena looked at Shera then, and there was such a spark between the two girls that Zack just sighed, and smiled at them, still sitting with their arms around each other.

But then Shera turned to him and caught his eyes with the same spark; Zack froze. Elena's head swung shortly after, and as Zack uneasily flicked his eyes back to hers, he saw they still had that bright friendly light in them as well.

Directed at him.

"Oh, no, Zack," Elena said softly. "We'll share."

Zack stared for a long moment. He blinked once, twice, and his mouth fell slightly open.

"What?"

Before he could get out anything else Elena was on her feet and pressed against him, arms around his shoulders and lips against his slightly-open mouth.

She pulled back only after several seconds, allowing Zack to relax into her embrace, and gave a bright smile. "I said we'll share," she repeated softly.

She leaned her head against his chest and Zack went rigid again--what was going on here? What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? It just didn't compute with anything he had ever been taught, anything he had ever learned.

He turned to Shera, hoping she would be able to explain, and found that she was standing just beyond Elena, wearing the same smile.

Shera had been watching, and somehow seeing Elena and Zack together had filled her with more relief than anything she had ever seen before. This...whatever it was...could work. They could make it work.

"Shera?" Zack murmured, still clearly confused as Elena tilted her head to look over her shoulder at the petite brunette.

Shera's smile changed then, the same way Elena's had just before Shera had kissed her. "We can share Zack," she said gently. "Can you?"

Zack looked up at her, blinking, but suddenly Shera wasn't there any more and there were two girls, one in each arm, leaning up against him, their heads resting both against him and against each other. Startled, Zack instinctively tightened his grip around both of them and lowered his chin until it was resting unevenly on two soft heads.

"I -" He still had no idea what to say to the two of them, but for some reason this felt right - them together, his arms around both of them. They were so close, he could still feel Elena's beating pulse, Shera's slightly quickened breath -

And his pulse was racing, too. Whatever this was, it had all three of them.

Zack sighed, and relaxed, and his grip loosened; and as Shera felt him relax she sighed too: she'd been so scared that he wouldn't understand. But it might work, after all. She exchanged a relieved glance with Elena.

"If it's you girls," Zack said, his voice soft as he lifted his head to look at them, "I can share anything."