The door to Seven's house was open, which was incredibly odd, considering the security system in place. He never left his front door open, as it was a safety hazard, obviously, and also because Seven was always extremely concerned about flies getting into is house. Seven was just...incredibly grossed out by bugs.
"Uh..hello?" Zen knocked on the open door and walked inside, closing it. Seven hadn't told him to bring anything, but he brought a few snacks, and a few loaves of fish bread. Seven pretty much always asked him to bring fish bread. When they had first started hanging out, one of their conversations turned to favorite foods, and Seven confessed he had never eaten fish bread.
As a result, Zen immediately ran to his house with bread from his local vendor, who always came by during winter and stationed his truck in nearby streets. Fish bread had always been present in Zen's childhood, and as a child, he always felt excited to go out and buy a few of the filled fish. This carried on into his adulthood, despite his high school friends calling him a baby for spending his money on it. The warm bread just had a comfort to it, and he couldn't imagine not having it in his life, hence why he decided to run to Seven with loaves in hand.
Seven had really liked the bread, and soon got addicted to the taste, so he made Zen bring some every time.
"It's my celebrity, Zen!" Seven exclaimed, he seemed to be returning to his normal joking self instead of the somewhat serious side he had shown for the past few days. It was refreshing, to say the least.
"Hey Sev, I brought your bread." Zen sat down on the floor next to him, and handed him a few fish breads. Seven took one and ate it from the "stomach" of the fish, like a weirdo. "Thanks. You remembered." Seven said, eating the paste out of the fish before eating the bread around it. "Oh yeah. I guess I did." Zen said. He thought it was a little strange that Seven would acknowledge that, considering it was somewhat of a tradition between them, if you could say that.
"How's your new role going?" Seven asked, taking and picking apart another piece of bread. Zen was a little taken aback, because Seven never really asked about his roles. He was flattered nonetheless. "Oh. Pretty well!" He chuckled, "The rehearsals are pretty early in the day, so I have to wake up earlier for my morning workout." The rehearsals were pretty long, taking up a majority of the day, yet when Zen went home, he pretty much just went home and practiced. He was more hardworking than a lot of people gave him credit for, and that's why he was able to land such lead roles. Well, that's what he hoped.
"That's really cool! I'm proud of you." Seven laughed. "Thank you." Zen questioned his entire friendship, as Seven had never once uttered the words "I'm proud of you." Usually, Seven would make a snarky comment about his looks and change the subject. Zen was glad Seven was finally coming around. "You're really hot too." Seven said, smiling wiping his nose on his sleeve, which was reasonably gross.
"Thank you." Zen said, laughing. "I say the same thing to myself every morning." Seven smiled, and Zen noticed his eyes drooped a little lower than usual. "Have you been getting enough sleep?" Zen asked. He couldn't have been staying up hacking..? Right? "Oh. You bet." Seven made a small cat face with his mouth. "Last night was my most restful night the year."
"I'm glad you're getting enough sleep, you always struggled with that," Zen chuckled. Seven rested his head on Zen's legs, looking up at his chiseled jawline. "Hey Zenny," Seven said, "Would you ever forget me?"
"No, I don't think that's like me." Zen said, running his fingers through Seven's curls. He did this pretty often, Seven had given him permission to pet him, and it was satisfying, as Zen couldn't really pet a nice cat. Seven was kind of like a cat, but less furry and annoying.
"Why not?" Seven asked. He loved when Zen touched his hair. Actually if Zen touched him in any way that was even remotely loving, Seven would love it. Zen always gingerly ran his fingers through the curls, often twirling his fingers through the red waves of his hair. It made Seven feel like maybe someone cared for him in the world, and of course, it just felt nice.
"You're my best friend. I'm not as close to anyone in or out of the RFA." Zen replied, rubbing his thumb on Seven's forehead, much like one would use a worry stone. It was a bit ironic, because Seven caused Zen more anxiety than he solved, but it brought him comfort nonetheless.
Seven nearly screamed. His thoughts jumbled as Zen named him as the most important person in his life, but also because Zen was now caressing his face. Seven had never felt as much love in his entire life than he did in this moment. It made him so happy that his smile would break his face in half, that he wanted dance around like a headless chicken, and his stomach felt like he was storing a small gremlin that constantly frolicked around.
"Zen?" Seven's heart accelerated by the second, he felt it crawl up his throat as it beat. His vision began to blur slightly out of focus.
"Mmm?"
"I...." Seven's face froze, besides his mouth, which began to get wildly out of control with stutters and filler words. "I um...uh..I..did.. you know? I..lo..I? I...you know...uh...um, I."
"Seven? Are you sick?" Zen stuck his palm on Seven's forehead. "You're a little warm, but I don't think you have a fever. I'm worried about you."
"Hey Zen." Seven stared blankly, before looking at Zen's red eyes, "Did you know I love you?"
Zen stared at Seven, who was staring anxiously back.
Zen wasn't in love with his best friend. Sure, Seven had always been supportive and caring, filling the place of a companion who was always ready to help. He cared for the redhead's well being, and worried for his health and diet of chips. Zen's heart was warmed whenever Seven gave him a genuine compliment, and he laughed at Seven's advertising schemes and dumb jokes, even though they weren't all that funny; he just wanted to see Seven's pure, real, smile. He chuckled at Seven's various names for himself, and often quoted Seven's little "I love you, Dr. Pepper!" emoji when reading the chats home alone. Maybe Zen liked him, like a schoolgirl likes a funny boy, it was puppy love.
Zen didn't know what to say, was he supposed to say no? Yes? Maybe?
"So, how was that?" Seven asked, "Should I write that for my new novel?"
"What?" Zen was relieved, but suffered a shiver of disappointment.
"You know, my new romance novel: 707 and the Princess of Binary Code!" Seven announced, trying to hide his utter embarrassment from the confession.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure it'll be a hit." Zen said, drowning him out a little, staring into space.
"I'm sorry," Seven said. "I thought you weren't interested."
"What?" Zen asked. "I didn't hear you."
"I said you can sleep in the guest room if you want." Seven sighed. He really made this awkward, didn't he?
