This is the first part of the SephxCloud I've been working on for a while. Definitely one of my favorite things I've written. Hope you like it! :)

"Cloud! You're not paying attention again!"

Bright blue eyes snapped into focus as Cloud turned to face his cousin. "Sorry Reno, I was listening..." He shifted in his spot on the couch to turn his attention back to the redhead.

Housesitting for Aunt Meredith was boring enough on its own, but the conversation with his cousin was getting to be unbearable. Reno had showed up randomly that afternoon to honor his much-appreciated offer to help Cloud tend to their aunt's garden, but after that, well, he just wouldn't leave.

"Well the pictures are here!" Reno shoved his iPhone into his blond cousin's face. "Check it out, yo! My latest additions to that new bridge they're building over by the Plate."

Cloud faked a big smile. He wasn't fond of graffiti-style art, and especially didn't care for defacing perfectly good buildings either. "It's very, uhm... creative!" All he could make out were unintelligible letters outlined in red, some scribbles, and a spray-painting of a giant chocobo stomping the life out a tiny town.

Reno grinned, unable to detect the sarcasm in his cousin's voice. "Thanks! I think it's my best work yet."

"You didn't sign your name like last time, did you?" Cloud inquired, glancing at the iPhone gallery again. "Or else the police are going to show up again-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Reno cut him off quickly, not wanting to remember his last run-in with the fuzz. "What else can they do? Throw me in jail for a night like last time? That's nothing. My new masterpiece is totally worth it!"

"Mm hmm," Cloud half-heartedly agreed. Whether Cloud was fond of street art or not, he had to admit that Reno's skill was definitely growing.

"Well thanks, man!" Reno jumped up from the couch, slapping Cloud rather roughly on the back. "I gotta get going before the traffic cop starts doing evening rounds."

"You parked in a tow-away zone again?" Cloud sighed.

"Uh, those are the best spots!" Reno defended, slinging his jacket over his shoulder. "And I'm not in any huge trouble until I get two more points on my license!" He yanked the creaky screen door open and let it slam shut behind him. "Later! Don't be too much of a square, alright? It's unhealthy!"

Once his cousin was out of earshot and was jogging at a steady pace to his illegal parking spot, Cloud groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. He knew that Reno was a good guy at heart, even if his judgment seemed to be severely impaired at times. But how could anyone live like that? Rappelling down a bridge and nearly risking his life and further additions to his arrest record just to paint some scribbly graffiti nonsense? Racking up insane amounts of parking tickets to the point where all of the local law enforcement and traffic judges knew him by his first name? Cloud just couldn't fathom it.

So instead of trying to fathom it, Cloud decided instead to kick back on the couch and crack open the assigned novel for his 18th Century Literature class. It was packed with far too many "thee"s and "thou"s, but he was expected to complete it for class, and was planning on doing just that. Cloud snuggled back in the reclining chair a bit, already drawn into the story. What better way to spend a warm, peaceful afternoon than catching up on his reading assignment? Aunt Meridith wasn't going to be back for at least another hour, and Chippy the labradoodle puppy was already curled up in his plush doggie bed, so Cloud finally had some down time. And he was going to enjoy it. Snuggling into the faded mauve couch, which vaguely smelled of lavender and Bengay, Cloud kicked up his feet and dove right into his assigned reading.

"WHADDAYA MEAN YOU TOWED MY CAR?!"

The sudden outburst from down the street startled Cloud, who nearly tipped the chair over. Reno's distinct, angry voice carried from down the street, followed by the irritated arguing of whichever cop had caught him this time.

Cloud thought about just shutting the front door and pretending he hadn't heard a thing, but something inside him scolded him for being so shallow. Sure, Reno was going to have to learn from his mistakes sooner or later (or never), but the least Cloud could do was to be there for Reno even just for a short while before the cops hauled him off to the Mid City station-again.

With a sigh, the blond pushed himself up from the paisley printed couch and trudged over to the front door, locking it behind him with his aunt's spare key. Even though he was only going to be away for a few minutes, he felt much better safe than sorry. He slipped on his shoes that were sat neatly to the left of the 'Welcome' mat and started heading down the street, now rather curious to see how Reno's antics would unfold this time.

As he made his way down the sidewalk, he could see Reno arguing heatedly with a group of cops, none of which looked amused. He waved his arms frantically in the air, not able to control his frustration. But those cops would have none of it. From the group of them, Cloud only recognized one - Officer Angeal Hewley, who had pulled Reno over on the road so many times before that he actually had Reno's license plate number memorized - including the two other fake plates that Reno used on occasion.

Now was really not the time for this, but on further inspection, Cloud couldn't help but notice how... attractive the police officers actually were. He had always thought that Officer Hewley was a very handsome man, with his bulky, muscular build and dark chin-length hair. He was currently chewing Reno out about his illegal parking job, pointing at the "Tow-Away Zone" sign repeatedly and gesturing to the handcuffs on his belt. Next to him stood a slightly leaner man who had dark, spiky hair and a bright, energetic vibe. He wore dark aviator sunglasses and almost looked as if he were posing, while munching on a chocolate sprinkled donut as he lived out the epitome of the policeman stereotype.

Cloud nearly blushed when he laid eyes on the third stunning member of the police team. Long, silver hair cascaded from underneath his officer's hat, and his pale, milky-white skin looked as if it were glowing in contrast to his dark blue uniform. Cloud wasn't sure there was a more attractive man in the world walking the earth than the pale-eyed beauty in front of him.

"Reno?" he called out tentatively as he approached the group. The redhead spun around to face him, nearly blue in the face from his heated argument with Officer Hewley.

"Cloud! Help me out here! I was only at Aunt Meridith's for like, a half hour, right?" Reno pleaded, grabbing the little blond tightly by the shoulders. Cloud stared nervously up at Officer Hewley. He knew that the man and his partners were some of ShinRa's best SOLDIERs that had agreed to help out the Midgar police force with controlling crime rates. Reno had tried on more than one occasion to try and rope Cloud into his encounters with the law, and the last thing Cloud wanted was to get on the wrong side of super-powered, materia-wielding cops. Luckily, some of the SOLDIERs moonlighting as cops thought it was boring and were pretty lax with some things, but some, like Officer Hewley, took their jobs with terrifying seriousness and dedication.

"He, uh, he was parked for..." Cloud hesitated for a moment. He was unwilling to lie to the beautiful men in front of him, but felt equally bad about throwing his cousin face-first into the hole that he had dug himself into. Luckily, Officer Hewley continued on anyway.

"Bullshit, Reno. You've been parked here illegally for over five hours! We drove down 5th street around noon and I saw your car parked here," Officer Hewley scoffed. "I was going to let it go because we've had trouble all morning and I really didn't want to deal with you today, but this is ridiculous." He sighed and shook his head. "You have not proven one bit to me that you are capable of keeping your driver's license since it was taken away the last time."

"I'm sorry! But our aunt had a heart attack scare! You think I was just going to leave her there and re-park my car all the way down on 8th street like some heartless, aunt-hating monster? I do have morals, you know!" Reno shouted back, gesturing to Aunt Meridith's home up the street.

Cloud had always been astounded by Reno's unmatched ability to pull extravagant lies out of the air without skipping a beat. Aunt Meridith was doing quite well physically and was currently out on some sort of "yoga around the world" cruise, but she did have a heart attack scare once during a family dinner, so Reno wasn't completely lying.

"Cloud, is that true?" Officer Hewley frowned, turning to face him. Along with the perks of having a cousin that the law enforcement knew on a personal level, Cloud was known to be far too good-natured to ever tell a lie, and his "assistance" had been Reno's ultimate downfall during many police encounters.

Cloud's signature, wide-eyed look of a baby deer caught in headlights told Officer Hewley everything he needed to know.

"Reno, I don't know what else to do with you. I've written you up Gaia-knows-how-many tickets, and you've only paid for three-"

"I paid for FIVE, I'll have you know!" Reno shot back.

"The Police Department of Downtown Midgar does not accept gift cards to The Donut Shop as payment for traffic tickets!" Officer Hewley snapped, rolled his eyes. "I told you that the last two times!"

"The gift cards didn't even work," Officer Fair lamented quietly.

Instead of trying to calm his cousin down or informing Officer Hewley that Reno had been parked for more like four and half hours rather than five full hours, Cloud instead used the time to sneak occasional glances at the very beautiful Officer Sephiroth. Every little thing the man did was absolutely mesmerizing; the way he'd nonchalantly toss his mane of shimmering silver hair behind his shoulder, the smooth sips from his cup of Midgar's Best Coffee he took during the heated exchanges between Reno and Angeal, and even the way his strikingly bright emerald, almond-shaped eyes would slightly narrow at Zack while the dark-haired man obnoxiously munched away on donuts. Everything the man did was just perfect.

"Ever since the last time I threw your ass in jail, you racked up MORE traffic violations!" Officer Hewley continued, shaking his head. "The only thing left I can do is have your car towed and your license taken away again. I don't know how else you're going to learn." Then he pulled out a notebook. "Oh wait, yeah I do. Traffic school."

Reno groaned. "Are you serious? I don't do well in school! I'm a horrible test-taker! I'll waste taxpayer money!"

"Yeah, well, you're a horrible driver too," Officer Hewley shot back. "I think taxpayers will be more than happy to keep you off the road."

"Don't mess with the fuzz!" the Officer Fair piped up, nibbling on yet another donut. "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

His outburst earned him only a few blank stares and a groan from Angeal. "Zack, knock off the "cool cop" bullshit already. You've only been on the job for two days," Angeal sighed, rolling his eyes at the younger male. "And I told you to stop wearing my sunglasses."

"Gotta keep up appearances," Zack shifted his weight and leaned back on the side of the police cruiser. "It keeps those bad guys in line."

"Well these," Angeal swiped the donut out of Officer Zack's hand and tossed it into the trashcan behind him before the younger man could even blink, "keep your sugar level way out of line and nobody needs to deal with that today." Zack pouted and attempted to reach for another donut through the open window of the cruiser, but Angeal sent him such a chilling glare that he actually backed away.

"Anyway," Angeal continued, pulling a pen from his pocket and flipping to a fresh page in his ticket book, "This is the absolute final straw. You're a menace on the road, and even when you're not terrorizing your way through traffic, you still manage to break almost every parking law known to man. If I could, I would personally hunt down and arrest the lunatic that passed you on your driver's test because they must have been on some serious drugs to even allow you anywhere near a car. Don't you two agree?"

"Damn straight!" Zack replied, saluting Angeal. "Tell it like it is, Chief."

"I'm not your... oh, whatever. Sephiroth, thoughts?"

The silver haired man simply shrugged. "I suppose so, yes." Cloud couldn't believe how calm the man was, despite having the opportunity to chew out Midgar's most-wanted traffic violator.

"You suppose?" Angeal scoffed, nearly punching his pen through the citation he was currently writing up.

"I think you've made your point, and I don't have anything to add to what's been said already," Sephiroth answered very matter-of-fact-ly. He glanced over Reno briefly, who looked like a sad puppy left out in the rain, and then turned back to his partner.

Officer Hewley frowned up at the taller man. "Very well. But if I didn't know you as well as I do, I would say that you have a rather alarming indifference to serial traffic violators. Because of Reno's horrifying ignorance of any kind of traffic conduct whatsoever, we've actually had to make amends to the current laws in place. I think you could at least back me up here." He looked back down at the citation he was writing and continued away at an agitated pace.

"I support what you're saying, I just don't have anything else to add," Sephiroth answered calmly, "and I'm backing you up a lot more than a certain officer here." He narrowed his eyes at Zack. "Not to name any names or anything."

"You're welcome," Zack replied cooly.

The older man just sighed. "Here's your citation, you'll be hearing from someone very soon about your court hearing. Trust me." He tore the sheet from his notebook and pushed it none too gently into Reno's chest. "If you cause any further trouble, I will have no second thoughts about arresting you."

"Got it," Reno grumbled, staring down miserably at the citation. "But how will I get to my hearing?"

"I can come pick you up in the cruiser and escort you personally. How does that sound?" Angeal replied without missing a beat.

"Aww, man!"

"Sorry about this, Cloud," Officer Hewley turned and gave the younger male a kind, almost fatherly smile. "Keep an eye on your cousin, alright? Not that he'll be getting too far in the meantime." Angeal winked and patted Cloud roughly on the back as he crossed around the front of the police cruiser and to the driver's door. "And Reno, you better hope to Gaia that I do not see you on the road until then. Mark my words." He added icily before swinging the car door open and settling into the driver's seat.

"Yeah, Cloud, we're counting on you to keep him out of trouble. But with great power comes great responsibility." Zack tipped his hat in the blond's direction.

Officer Hewley groaned through the open car window. "That doesn't make any sense, and that's not even a cop thing! You got that from Spiderman!"

"Well I thought it suited the situation, and I also happen to be quite the Spiderman fan! So what?" Officer Fair shot back, throwing open the passenger door of the cruiser and climbing inside.

"This sucks," Reno moaned, hanging his head in defeat. Cloud patted his cousin's shoulder sympathetically, not really sure of what else to do or say to the redhead.

The police cruiser's engine roared to life, and Angeal leaned his head out from the driver's side window. "Seph, we'll see you back at the station later tonight? Genesis wants to go drinking again tonight if you're in."

"I'll be there," Sephiroth called back, and waved as the cruiser pulled out from along the curb. Angeal gave Reno a final last glare, and Zack made sure to pull the "I've got my eye on you" gesture in Reno's direction before the cruiser took off down the street.

Once they were gone, Cloud felt a blush begin to grow in his cheeks, wondering if Officer Sephiroth had anything to say.

"Reno, I'm sorry about all of this, but Angeal does have a point," Sephiroth finally spoke once the police cruiser was out of sight. "He was a little harsh today though. We busted some drug dealers not too far away from here and it put him in a pretty sour mood. I've got to head back there in a bit."

"I don't know what Rude told you but I wasn't involved in that!" Reno cried, holding his hands out. "It's all lies! His friends are all creepy as hell-"

Sephiroth waved his hand and cut him off. "I'm going to ignore that. We caught the troublemakers and that's all that matters," he assured, "But don't be stupid. I think you're a good guy, but you need to prove it. Maybe getting your license suspended indefinitely will make you realize that."

Reno opened his mouth to protest, but then just sighed and hung his head. Whether he deserved it or not, Cloud still didn't like to see his cousin so upset.

"Reno, I don't mind giving you a lift to work if you need it," Cloud patted his back comfortingly.

"Aww cool, really?" Reno ruffled his cousin's impossibly spiky hair, grinning a bit. Then he lowered his voice. "That's so nice of you, because I actually need to stop by Rude's house and buy some more-"

Officer Sephiroth gave an inquisitive look and moved his hand over his belt to his handcuffs.

"-uh, flowerpots. For Aunt Meredith's garden," Reno finished quickly, his eyes widening.

"I bet Rude sells the best flowerpots, doesn't he." Officer Sephiroth smirked.

"Uhm, yeah. The cheapest!"

Cloud kicked his cousin in the back of the heel sharply, earning a hiss from Reno. "Seems like we should get going! We don't want to waste any more of your time, Officer Sephiroth." Cloud's eyes met Sephiroth's, and they both lingered for a moment.

"Not at all," Officer Sephiroth replied, breaking the moment between them. "It was nice of you to come out here and stand with your cousin today."

As gorgeous as the man was, Cloud didn't really appreciate being spoken to like a child just because he was the youngest there. He was 16 years old! Practically a grown up!

"Someone has to keep an eye out for him," Cloud smiled back at the man.

"If you guys are going to talk about me like I'm not here, then I'm going back to the house," Reno pouted, pushing his way past the blond and began trudging down the sidewalk.

"Well Reno may not have appreciated it, but thank you for your honesty, Cloud." Sephiroth smiled. "It's rare to find people who want to do the right thing no matter what." He glanced over at Reno. "It must be hard to have to do this to your own cousin, though."

"It is," Cloud felt a small pang of guilt, but tried to convince himself it had been the right thing to do.

"Well I and the Midgar Police Department are thankful for your help." Sephiroth winked. "You'd be a pretty decent snitch, although I'm sure you wouldn't want to involve yourself in that kind of work."

"Well I-" Cloud froze, not even sure what to say next.

Sephiroth's radio crackled loudly, cutting him off anyway. "Robbery on 12th and Broad Street. Suspect is fleeing on foot. All nearby officers report."

"I've got to go. Nice to meet you," Sephiroth pulled out the radio, tipped his officer's hat and darted off down the street.

That night, Cloud had a crisis.

His Physics exam was tomorrow morning and he really needed a good night's sleep, but it just wouldn't come. Cloud couldn't stop thinking about the day's events.

Sure, Reno would be learning a lesson. His situation really sucked right now, sure, but he just wasn't getting it. Angeal and the other cops were right.

But he felt like such a dirtbag about it. Reno was family! Annoying family, but still. He could have done more for the redhead.

The silver haired cop's words played over and over in his mind too. You'd make a pretty decent snitch. Sure, the SOLDIERs appreciated his help, but even they were surprised by his goody-two-shoes behavior.

Honestly, Cloud had just never had a desire to run into the law. If a biological need to get on the bad side of law enforcement ran in his family - which seemed pretty likely - that gene had clearly skipped right over Cloud. No matter how many times he heard his aunt regale him of tales from her old table-flipping, bottle-smashing, epic barfight throw downs or listen to Reno's adventures of rappelling down a wall in the dead of night, Cloud had never been all that interested. But as he lay in bed and thought about the situation, was doing something bad really all that bad? Sure, Reno was way out of line. That wasn't even a question. But did Cloud want to really keep being as uptight as he'd always been? Didn't a part of him secretly want to rebel? To get out and live a little? Sure, passing his classes was important, but he'd always felt like he was missing out when he heard his classmates talk about how they snuck into R-rated movies and bought beer with fake IDs while he spent his nights studying for exams. What if he missed out on even more down the road because he'd been too busy with his nose stuck in his textbooks while the rest of his class was out living their lives?

And besides, Officer Sephiroth had almost been looking down at him for turning his cousin in so easily. Cloud couldn't live with knowing the three cops saw him as a little baby snitch, and he vowed right then and there to change. Starting tomorrow, he would no longer be the mild-mannered Cloud that everyone knew.

He was going to get out there and raise some hell.

Thanks for reading! Keep an eye out for Part 2.