I wrote this while super sick. Just thought I'd share. lol
Also, I used google translate, because I'm lazy/don't know French.
Sephiroth narrowed cat-irised green eyes at the head of blonde spikes, sticking out in each and every direction; next to the cadet stood none other than Zack Fair, beaming at the General as if there were nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. But there was something out of the ordinary. The situation wasn't normal by any means. Zack Fair was standing in his office, in front of his desk, with a cadet that didn't even speak English.
And he was asking Sephiroth to babysit.
"You want me to what?" his questioned, cocking an eyebrow; before him, papers were spread across the desk, awaiting signatures. He didn't have time for Zack's bullshit today.
His best friend slipped by the blonde cadet—who looked confused as all hell—and flopped down on the plush black leather couch against the wall, kicking his feet up on the coffee table and stretching his arms out across the back. "I got called up on a mission, and need you to watch Cloud here." he replied, nodding at the cadet.
Cloud whipped his wide blue eyes around to stare at Zack, an utterly bewildered look on his face. Sephiroth sighed and put his pen down, pinching the bridge of his nose and propping his elbows up on his desk. "And why, Zackary, do you need me to babysit?"
"Because," Zack started, leaning forward and grabbing the cadet's arm; he pulled the blonde over to the couch and yanked him down. "He doesn't speak English, and you owe me."
Sephiroth laughed, a short, quick, rough sound. "I owe you?" he repeated cynically.
A sly grin flashed across the raven-haired teen's face, and he leaned one arm on Cloud's shoulder. The cadet chewed his lower lip, looking hopelessly lost. "Well… remember when you wanted to throw Angeal a surprise party, so I went out of my way and gave my gift to him early? So I went to his apartment and—"
The General winced, covering his eyes and waving one hand around, disgusted. "I don't need to hear the rest of that, Zack."
Violet eyes lit up and Zack threw his arms into the air. "So you'll do it?"
"Will it make you leave my office sooner?"
"Possibly." the SOLDIER answered. "Come on, Seph. Just until tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Zackary. I will watch your friend." Sephiroth stated, rolling his eyes; the cadet next to Zack cocked his head to the side, blinking at him. He looked completely idiotic, and he had to resist the urge to comment on it, just in case the boy could understand something.
"Alright!" Zack cheered, once again tossing his arms into the air; Cloud mimicked him, a goofy smile on his face. "He speaks Nibian—you know, the thing those hicks in Nibelheim speak?—so just kinda nod or something when he talks. It always seems to work for me." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Sephiroth frowned at him, narrowing his eyes.
"What?"
"You haven't even bothered trying to teach him English?" Sephiroth hissed; he knew Zack wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but every mentor assigned to a foreign cadet was required to make an effort to teach the recruit English.
"I, uh…" Zack winced, giving a sheepish smile. "Had better things to do? Anyways—"
The Silver General sighed, shaking his head as he listened to Zack prattle on about what needed to be done and when; the cadet had a paper due tomorrow,—all in English, so he'd need plenty of help there—he needs to have dinner still, make sure he showers and brushes his teeth, and get him in bed by ten.
…Back up.
"Excuse me?" Sephiroth's eyebrows shot up, and he stared at Zack. "Bed by ten?"
Zack smiled and gave a quick hop-skip towards the door. "Oh, I forgot to mention. He needs to sleep over your place tonight."
"Zackary…" came the low warning growl from the General. Cloud stared at him wide-eyed, then looked back at Zack, who was already stepping out of the office.
"See you tomorrow!"
The door slammed shut, leaving a very confused cadet, and a rather irritated General. Silence seeped back into the small office, and they stared at each other; wide, innocent blue eyes confused and anxious, and cat-like greens blank. After a few moments, Sephiroth turned back to his paperwork, choosing to simply ignore the cadet until it was time for dinner—which, according to the clock ticking away on the wall, was still a few hours away. The boy had a backpack with him; maybe he'd do his homework or read a book.
Cloud shuffled uneasily on the couch, shifting his weight ever so slightly and sitting on his hands. He looked around the office, studying the bookshelf to his left, and the filing cabinet across the room. He was nervous; the only friend he'd made since joining the military had essentially just ditched him with a complete stranger—a complete stranger that Cloud recognized as his General, which only made him more nervous. He stared at the silver-haired man for a moment, then sighed quietly and slid the backpack off of his shoulder. He dug around in it and withdrew a book with Learning English elegantly scrawled across the cover; he'd taken it out of the library awhile back, once he'd realized Zack wouldn't be teaching him the language.
The book itself was in English.
Someone, somewhere, was a sadistic bastard.
He frowned down at the words, then closed the book and sank back into the couch cushions, kicking his feet slightly. He was bored; he couldn't even do his homework because that, too, was in English and he didn't feel like it anyhow.
The same sadistic bastard that wrote a book to teach English in English probably worked at Shinra.
The bookshelf looked like it could use some organizing…
Sephiroth glanced up, silver eyebrows arched. The blonde cadet was organizing his books. He cleared his throat, and a book hit the rug with a thud. "What are you doing?"
Cloud thought for a moment; he looked like he understood all of two words in that sentence. He bent down, picked up the book, then put it on the shelf and pointed at it. "Organisation de votre bibliothèque."
In reply, he got a completely blank stare.
Blue eyes rolled, and the blonde pouted cutely at the General before returning to his task of organizing, ignoring the prying gaze on his back. Sephiroth was… intrigued to say the least; the only person aside from Zack who had ever rolled his eyes at Sephiroth was Genesis—who had promptly been slapped upside the head, much to the enjoyment of Zack. And yet, there was a small blonde cadet, maybe a year younger than Zack, with ridiculously blue eyes, organizing his bookshelf.
…And he had rolled his eyes at the Great General Sephiroth.
"Stop that." he snapped; he really wasn't a fan of anyone touching anything of his.
The blonde stared at him for a moment, then jammed another book on the shelf. He cocked a blonde eyebrow, tilting his head slightly. "Excuse?"
"You don't need to do that." Sephiroth said slowly. He gestured to the couch. "Why not read or something?"
Cloud gave a quiet "oh" and set the books back on the shelf, then sat back down on the couch, pouting at the general. "Désolé, sir." he murmured, picking up his own book and staring blankly at the cover.
Sephiroth watched him for a moment longer, then returned to his paperwork. Blue eyes narrowed in concentration, and Cloud struggled to make out the words before him; he hadn't said anything to Zack yet, but he could understand and speak some of the language—it was just a long and winding, frustrating, road when nobody really helped. But he was determined to be accepted by his peers, and not have to be involved in Shinra's mentoring system anymore. He liked the raven-haired SOLDIER and all,—hell, he was Cloud's best friend, as far as he was concerned—but he wanted to be able to stand on his own two feet, and spend time with Zack as a friend, not a student.
Frustrated, he closed the book and pulled out his homework instead. Notes in class weren't exactly easy; his teachers all spoke pretty quick, and he couldn't keep up with the language if it wasn't spoken to him slowly. His notes were full of doodles and words in Nibian, but they likely wouldn't help him with algebra. He tried the first problem, then frowned and shook his head, erased his work, and retried. Again, it didn't look right. He bit his lower lip and glanced shyly up at Sephiroth, who was now typing away at a laptop. He really wanted to get his homework out of the way—there was a movie on that night, that he was hoping to watch back at Zack's apartment (little did he know he'd be staying at Sephiroth's).
Cloud sighed and stood up; he'd just ask Sephiroth to help him. No big deal, right? Zack did it all of the time. He stepped up to the side of the desk and rested the edge of his algebra book on the desk, till chewing the corner of his lip. "Excuse me, sir?" he asked meekly.
Sephiroth turned his head to look at the cadet, eyebrow cocked. "Yes?"
"Ah…" Cloud thought for a second, then shifted his weight slightly. "Help, ah… devoirs?"
"Devoirs?" the General repeated, raising the other eyebrow; he turned back to his laptop and saved the progress of the file he was typing up.
The blonde nodded and placed his book all of the way onto the desk, then gestured to it. "Devoirs."
Sephiroth leaned forward slightly to look at the book. "Algebra?"
Cloud shook his head quickly, drawing his lip further into his mouth. "Home… work?" he tried, hoping he had picked the correct term; he vaguely remembered Zack using it to refer to his take home work.
"You need help with your homework?"
The blonde nodded and flipped the book open, turning it so Sephiroth could see. He pointed to one of the problems. "Help?"
Sephiroth tugged the book closer, examining the problem; it was a simple problem,—find x—but it didn't take long for him to figure out why the teen was struggling. The instructions themselves were written in English. He gave the cadet a sideways glance and pointed at the x. "You need to find the value of this." he tried to explain.
"Value of…?" Cloud asked, cocking his head cutely to the side.
The General sighed; he hated math. He gently tugged the pencil from Cloud's hand and wrote an x on the piece of paper that had been folded in the book. "This is x. Understand?" When the cadet nodded, he put two dashes for an equal sign, and then wrote a seven. "This says x equals 7. You need to find out what this x is." he said, pointing to the x in the problem. "Got it?"
Cloud nodded and took his book; he flopped back down on the couch and dug another pencil out of his backpack, smiling. Sephiroth shook his head slowly, put the cadet's pencil down on the desk, and returned to his paperwork. As he reopened his work, he made a mental note to tell Zack to help the poor cadet with his English.
Cloud gaped at the SOLDIER cafeteria, blue eyes wide; Zack always ate in the cadet's cafeteria with him, and he had been blissfully unaware of the choice of food available to SOLDIERs. The room was a palace compared to what he was used to—the cadet cafeteria consisted of long tables with benches, both metal and rather uncomfortable, and they always had a choice between soup or salad. Beside him, Sephiroth patiently held out a tray to him, and he meekly took it, staring at the different foods in front of him. The General moved away, picking up a small container off of the shelf before them and placing it on his tray, then taking a slightly larger one. He plucked a small package containing a plastic knife, fork, and spoon out of a box and added it before turning to look at Cloud.
"Well?"
The blonde chewed his lower lip, examining a bowl of liquid, and then a container similar to what Sephiroth had taken. After a few long moments of Cloud just staring at the food,—and not getting any closer to a decision—the General sighed and placed his tray back down. He leaned forward and took two containers off of the shelf, grabbed another package of eating utensils, and pushed the tray back to Cloud; the cadet was always around Zack, so he assumed they usually ate the same things—in this case, chicken noodle soup and a cupcake. He picked up his own dinner and made his way through the hustle and bustle of SOLDIERs at dinner time, striding right up to an empty round table with three chairs and sitting down. Cloud made his way with a bit more difficulty; he was smaller, and only a cadet. Finally, he set his tray down, and slid into the chair furthest from Sephiroth.
The chairs in the SOLDIER cafeteria were cushioned, and rather tall; Cloud's feet didn't touch the floor, and he giggled to himself as he kicked them back and forth. Sephiroth didn't seem to notice the cadet and poked at his salad, staring at it in dismay. With a small sigh—he really missed Zack—he pulled open one of the containers… and blinked in surprise.
A small cupcake was resting inside of the styrofoam container, white frosting covered in sprinkles.
The blonde pouted and stared at the General; had Zack told the man that Cloud had a sweet tooth? He thought about it, then shook his head—he had been there, and was almost positive his mentor hadn't mentioned it. So how had Sephiroth known, then?
"Is something wrong, cadet?"
Cloud jumped, jerking his blue eyes up to meet Sephiroth's gaze; he quickly shook his head. "Ah, how… did know?" he tried, gesturing to the cupcake.
"Zackary likes them." Sephiroth explained, closing the container of salad. "I assumed you did, too."
He dropped the salad into the trash, and Cloud frowned; the man hadn't taken a single bite of it. He stared down at the cupcake, then at the silver-haired man, who was now poking at a mound of mixed fruits, and carefully slid the container across the table as far as he could reach. Sephiroth looked up at him, and he smiled at the man. "For you." he stated simply before pulling the lid off of the soup.
"If you don't like it, you can get something else." the other commented. "Do you understand?"
Cloud unwrapped his spoon, not looking up; a smile was still plastered on his face and he was kicking his feet again. "Is for you."
Sephiroth sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No, it's for you."
Blue eyes turned on the General, and Cloud frowned at him. They were quiet for a few long seconds, and then the cadet pointed his spoon at the cupcake. "Is for you. Vous mangez." He demanded.
With another sigh, a long pale finger scooped some frosting off of the top of the cupcake, and—under Cloud's watchful gaze—slipped into the General's mouth. He licked it off, then gestured vaguely towards the table, glaring back at the cadet. "Happy?"
A dazzling smile made its way across Cloud's face, and he returned to his soup, feet kicking back and forth again. For the second time that day, Sephiroth was intrigued; nobody had demanded he do anything in—well, he honestly couldn't even remember how long. And yet sitting directly across from him was a small, fragile-looking blonde cadet, who had dared to boss him around. He unwrapped the dessert and leaned back in his chair, licking the frosting off and watching the rather peculiar cadet dig into his soup like he'd never eaten before.
"Cloud," Sephiroth spoke up suddenly, stopping in the middle of the hallway. The blonde cadet turned around, cocking his head to the side and looking up at the General in question. "Did Zackary tell you that you'll be spending the night at my apartment?"
If they weren't securely attached to his head, Sephiroth was positive that those bright blue eyes would have popped out and fallen to the floor, rolling all the way down the hallway to the elevator. Cloud violently shook his head, raising his hands and flailing them around in front of him as he spewed forth a jumble of words that made no sense at all to the silver-haired man. "Non, non, non. J'ai un horaire nocturne!" he yelped, then grabbed a fistful of his blonde hair and groaned. "Ce film que je voulais voir, c'est ce soir!"
Film. Sephiroth recognized that word. He held grabbed the flailing cadet's shoulder, effectively silencing him—thankfully, considering the looks they were getting from passing SOLDIERs. "Film. You said film. Is there something you want to watch?"
Cloud lit up and bounced on his heels excitedly, beaming up at Sephiroth. "Yes, yes! Is, uh…" he paused, giving himself a moment to think of the word. When that didn't work, he gestured vaguely towards Sephiroth, then himself. "Is film of l'amour."
"L'amour?" the General repeated dumbly, frowning.
Pearly white teeth worked on the cadet's lower lip, and he rocked slightly on his heel, brow furrowed in thought. Finally, he sighed, dropping his hands to his side.
And then he kissed Sephiroth on the lips.
"Is l'amour." Cloud explained triumphantly with a smile.
Sephiroth blinked, stared at the smiling cadet, then frowned. He opened his mouth, then closed it, and straightened up. For once, Sephiroth was completely speechless—and not because he didn't care to speak. No, he was speechless because this odd little cadet that Zack should have been teaching English had kissed him. Cloud's face fell at the deep frown on the General's face, and he took a small step back, eyes dropping to the ground.
"Sorry…" he murmured, scuffing the toe of his boot; he pointed at himself and looked back up. "Is not very good English."
Let it be known now that the Great General Sephiroth did not like cute things; adorable bunnies, puppies, and kittens were nothing more than annoying creatures that people fawned over, in his opinion. Yet standing before him was Cloud, with the most adorable, pitiful, and apologetic pout that Sephiroth had ever seen—and never wanted to see again. He shook his head slowly, giving a very small smile to the cadet. "L'amour is… kissing?" he tried, starting off down the hall again.
"Ah, n-no." Cloud said, taking a few quick steps to catch up. "Is not kissing."
Sephiroth paused; if it wasn't kissing, then… "Love?"
"Yes! Is love!"
They smiled at each other—if you could call the minuscule quirk of the General's lips a smile—and continued down the hall, Cloud slightly closer than he had been before. If either noticed, they didn't say anything. They stopped in front of Zack's apartment door, and the cadet gave Sephiroth a quizzical look. When the door was unlocked and the man gestured to a pile of clothes resting on Zack's living room couch, Cloud understood and took off down the apartment hallway. He hummed to himself as he dumped his books out of his backpack—grabbing the one on English and shoving it back in—before digging around in his dresser and pulling out clothes. He shoveled them into the bag, and ran for the bedroom door, stopping short before he left the room. Casting a quick glance down the hall, he dashed back to his bed and picked up a tattered stuffed chocobo, gently slipping it into his bag.
Sephiroth crossed his arms, frowning down at Cloud—who was glaring right back up at him. He imagined that this was exactly how mothers felt raising their teenage children; he had suggested Cloud take his shower before the movie, and the blonde had immediately said no. They argued back and forth until Cloud had started speaking so fast, his broken English reverted to his native tongue. He stubbornly plopped back down on the couch and stuck his tongue out at the General.
"I will call Zack." Sephiroth threatened, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Cloud shrugged one shoulder, eyes challenging. "Don't care."
The General sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Did Zack deal with this every night? He suddenly felt very bad for his friend. "Why not take a shower before the movie?" he asked, placing his hand on his hip.
"Will end." the blonde said grumpily, crossing his arms and pouting.
Sephiroth pried the controller from the cadet's hands—earning a rather irritated look from Cloud—and pointed to a round, red button on it. "Do you see this button?" Cloud nodded, pouting. "I can record the movie."
"Record… movie?"
"I can save it so you can watch it after your shower." Sephiroth explained, pressing the button to start the recording.
Cloud tilted his head, blinked, and turned to the TV—which was now flashing a small icon that read "REC". He beamed at the General. "Will not miss?"
"Will not miss." Sephiroth confirmed with his own smile.
The blonde hurled himself at the man, clinging to his chest in a quick, tight hug. Sephiroth stiffened, unsure of how to react, and not particularly comfortable with human contact—aside from Zack, who insisted that he be allowed to hug the General whenever he wanted. The huge lasted seconds, and Cloud grabbed his bag, slid off of the couch, and headed for the bathroom, humming happily to himself. The bathroom door closed, and Sephiroth sighed, running a hand quickly over his face. Again, he wondered if Zack dealt with this every single night and again, he felt pity for his friend.
…Although he had to admit, the cadet was growing on him.
"Thomas, I just can't go on without you." a woman with wild red hair whispered, her much-too-large breasts practically hanging out of her much-too-small corset.
A tall, tan, muscular man, his shirt unbuttoned to show his well-toned chest, kissed her hand, gazing deep into her green eyes. "Julia, my love, you must."
…Sephiroth wanted to kill himself.
He was sitting on the floor, one leg drawn up and the other stretched out before him. Not long after Cloud took his shower, Sephiroth took his own. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt back on—it was his apartment—and Cloud was staring at him.
Still.
And had been for the entirety of the movie.
…Cloud had been staring at him for the past forty-five minutes, and apparently did not think Sephiroth noticed.
The cadet reacted extremely quickly every time Sephiroth turned to looked at him, and he briefly wondered if Zack was privately training the boy. His bright blue eyes would snap back to the shitty romance film that he had claimed to want to watch before Sephiroth's own cat-like green ones would turn to him. After the third try to catch the teen in the act, the General had settled for watching him out of the corner of his eyes. Cloud's gaze was completely transfixed, drifting up and down Sephiroth's form, and it honestly made his skin crawl in a peculiar way he was unfamiliar with. He lifted a hand to brush some wet strands of silver hair behind his ear, sighing when Cloud's gaze jerked back to the TV the second he moved.
"Why are you staring at me?" he murmured, not turning to look at him.
"Tu es beau." Cloud said simply, shrugging his shoulders. His eyes widened, and he quickly continued in English, "You are not, uh… cold?"
Sephiroth turned and pinned him with an inquisitive look; he hadn't missed the slip up. "What did that first part mean?" he demanded, narrowing his gaze slightly.
Cloud shrank back into the couch slightly, swallowing and fidgeting with the end of the oversized chocobo shirt he had on. "Nothing?"
"Cloud."
"Tu es beau." the cadet quickly said, closing his eyes. "Is… you are handsome." he whispered, blushing and looking away.
Sephiroth was pretty sure his jaw dropped in a rather uncharacteristic display of shock. He was… handsome? Cloud shifted uncomfortably on the couch, sliding further from the silver-haired man and focusing on the movie. He drew his knees up and rested his chin on them, a light red tint decorating his face and—to Sephiroth's amusement—his ears. He swallowed and turned his own gaze back to the TV, a slight frown pulling on his lips. This cadet was strange. He was random and unpredictable, like a mystery, and Sephiroth—made clear by his rather vast collection of books—enjoyed a good mystery.
He glanced at Cloud—who was staring at the TV with his eyebrows furrowed. He was attractive—not in a manly handsome way or a femine womanly way; his eyes were an amazing shade of blue, his blonde spikes seemed to naturally get all over the place, and his features were soft, but strong. That wasn't what was getting Sephiroth steadily hooked on him, though. Never in his life had he encountered someone so daring, bold, shy, and stubborn at the same time. Zack didn't even live up to that.
And so, heart pounding in his chest, Sephiroth slowly stood and settled on the couch about a foot away from the cadet, staring at him.
Cloud turned and gave him a wide-eyed, fearful look. Sephiroth gave a small, reassuring smiled. Zack had reacted similarly to Angeal the day the man had finally admitted to caring about his student; the three of them had been watching a horror movie on this exact couch, and Zack had flipped out. Angeal had held him close, and kissed him on the lips without much thought—much to the surprise and shock of both Sephiroth and the raven-haired teen. After that, everything had unraveled, and the General was the sole witness to a confession of love he figured he probably could have lived without.
He spared another glance to his blonde companion—who was fisting his hand in the end of his shirt. "Cloud?"
The teen grimaced, shrinking away. "Y-Yes, sir?"
"You are… cute." Sephiroth replied, giving another smile.
"Cute?" Cloud repeated, snapping his eyes back open.
"Cute." The General repeated in a hushed tone before leaning forward and placing his own kiss on the cadet's lips.
It was a brief kiss, and he pulled away as soon as Cloud's entire body froze. The blonde stared at him blankly for a moment, gnawing on his bottom lip. Then a wide smile spread across his features and he leaned forward, planting his hands on the man's legs and looking up at him.
"L'amour?" he questioned, cocking his head to the side.
Sephiroth chuckled and shook his head slowly. "No, not love." he murmured. Cloud's smile dropped a little. "I do like you, though. I wonder if Zackary would object to me teaching you more English…"
The smile returned full force, and Cloud latched onto him, hiding his face in his shoulder. "I, uh… speak little." he blurted, pulling away and smiling sheepishly.
A silver eyebrow rose in a perfect arch, cat-like green eyes confused. "Oh?"
Cloud withdrew, sitting cross-legged and facing the man, hands folded neatly in his lap. "Zack, he has speak much." He explained, biting his lip again. He shook his head quickly and looked down. "Is not very good, though."
"You speak English." Sephiroth repeated in a deadpan voice. "And you've never told anyhow—why?"
The blonde gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly. "Is just… Zack is good friend. I, ah…" he paused, pouting cutely, then shrugged his shoulders. "My speech not so good, yeah?"
"We'll work on it."
Cloud blinked at the man, cocking his head and furrowing his brow. "Not mad?"
Sephiroth smirked, leaning back and crossing his legs. "What Shinra doesn't know won't hurt the company."
The shared a laugh, and Cloud shyly moved closer, leaning the side of his head against the General's shoulder. Sephiroth learned a few things babysitting that blonde cadet.
He hated babysitting.
Cadets could be stubborn little brats.
And sometimes, foreigners spoke much more English than they let on.
That last part was between him and Cloud, though. He smiled and wrapped his arm around the cadet's shoulder; hopefully Zack would be alright with him teaching his student English—or rather, bettering it.
This is why I don't write while sick. If anyone's curious, I made 164 typos throughout this. I kept track in a notepad doc. lol
If I reread this when I'm not sick, and it makes me cringe, I will probably delete it. Sorry. lol
OK! Ok, I won't delete it. Sorry, guys, sorry! I was sick when I wrote it up and all, so.. yeah, haha. But I'm glad you guys like it! Thanks for reading!