Cloud was beautiful.
He was gorgeous.
He was adorable.
Cute.
Attractive.
i Pretty. /i
He was smart.
Funny.
Sassy.
Kind.
Compassionate. And he was in love with the wrong guy. Of course, he would never see that Sephiroth was anything ibut/i perfect, but all those around him could. It was blindingly obvious, to them.
Sephiroth was cruel, vicious, vain, and evil. He hit Cloud, he slapped the blonde, he kicked him when he was down. He wasn everything but what Cloud thought he was. All that abuse must've driven him to blindness.
So, we have Cloud: The beautiful, kind-yet-blind protagonist. We have Sephiroth: The cruel man who is lucky to have Cloud as his lover, and now we have Zack. Zack had been Cloud's best friend since they were little, and as everyone but Cloud himself knew, we was madly in love with his dearest friend.
Cloud was in for a emotional roller coaster. And a big one to be certain. Sephiroth was in for a big slap of reality, hard enough to knock some sense into him. And Zack was in for a change for the best.
"I'm back..." Cloud murmered, not really loud enough for a greeting but not enough for a whisper either. The blonde had returned from the store, a bag in his hands as he walked through Sephiroth's front door. Yes, he lived with him too. "Cloud? Oh, thank god!" Zack cried, stepping out from the kitchen and smiling a little. "I used the spare key you hid under the outside window-sill," he explained.
"Oh, I see. Seph's not home thats why I asked you to come over." Cloud smiled, walking into his and Seph's room, placing the bag down and running back to the kitchen to hug his friend." Hey lovely," Zack teased, tapping the blonde's nose. "You look... horrid," he admitted, frowning and stepping back to examine tilted his head, suddenly self-concious.
"Not... not YOU. You look tired. Sick. Worn," Zack elaborated, caressing the side of his friend's face affectionately. "You're beautiful as usual."
Cloud looked down, "I've been busy is all. Seph wants things from the store I need to get. I'm more than happy to get them of course!"
"Why do you stay with him?" the raven asked tiredly, leaning down to kiss the blonde's heavily-bruised cheek.
Cloud looked at Zack with a rehersed smile, "Cause I love him, Zack."
"Even when he hits you?"
"Its his way of showing love, I think." Cloud explained, going over to the TV and putting on a movie. Zack sighed. "I think you're insane, and you're so unconditionally in love with him that you can't realize that he's an abusive bastard," he stated bluntly. Cloud immedetly turned around, "Zack!" he cried, "If your gonna talk like that about my boyfriend the just leave."
The raven shrugged, sitting down on the couch. "I won't lie to you."
Cloud sighed, forgving Zack like always and smiling, turning on the movie. The blonde got up, sitting down next to Zack as the movie started. The raven wrapped an arm around him, tugging him closer. Cloud moved in close to Zack, laying his head on the raven's shoulder.
Sephiroth came home in the middle of the movie, causing Cloud to jump as he came through the door. "Why's Zack here?" Sephiroth growled as he dropped his bag. "I-I asked him to come watch a movie with me... thats all.." Cloud said, in a calm voice that made it sound like he had done something wrong.
"Wake him up, get him out."
"Okay." Cloud said, standing and pulling Zack up with his hands, smiling at him to let Zack know he had to go now. He turned off the movie and lead Zack to the door with a shy smile incase he wa sin trouble. "I'll see you later, okay?" he asked. Zack nodded grimly. He was used to this treatment. So, he nodded and hugged his friend tightly to whisper in his ear, "I love you. I'm here for you."
"Get out," Sephiroth said in a menacing tone. The raven only nodded, stepping outside.
Cloud smiled slightly, closing the door. Leaning over Cloud's shoulder, with his lips pressed to his boyfriend's earlobe and his fingers digging into his sides, he purred in a whisper, "Getting cuddly there, weren't you?"
"... ...I suppose..." Cloud answered, his sides getting sore from the previous times Sephiroth had done the action. "I don't recall you ever being that cuddly with me, i Love/i. Something you're not telling me there?"
"No... I tell you everything, Seph... I'll cuddle with you if you want." Cloud offered.
"I meant, why was Zack in my position?" the business tycoon asked, turning the blonde around so they were nose to nose. His breath smelt of cigars and beer - He'd been drinking, obviously. Cloud shook his head, Wll, he hugged me so I felt the obligation to do what I did... I'm sorry."
Sephiroth made a humming, growling sound in the back of his throat, pulling at the edges of his lover's shirt with unnervingly callused fingers. Cloud knew what he wanted, so he pulled away for a moment and took his shirt off. The man nodded appreciatively, looking the blonde up and down. He raised a hand, sliding it down Cloud's chest onto his stomach in an uncharacteristically gentle way.
Cloud always felt it funny how Sephiroth always had soft touches though his hands slapped his head more then petting it. With that thought the silverette's hands came down on his side in a sharp slap. Sephiroth - who was still leaning down so he and his boyfriend were on eye-level - bit the blonde's earlobe. "What did you and Zack do?" he demanded as he gripped his lover's hips once more.
The blonde's eyes began to fill with tears in pain but he didn't let them, "We j-just watched a m-movie..."
"Did he hold you? Tell you he loves you? Did he kiss you?"
Cloud decded to see what would happen if he told the truth, "He put an arm around me... a-and h-he did say he loved me.. b-but I d-d-didn't return the saying..."
"Why didn't you kick him out?" the elder of their coupling demanded, still nibbling on the younger's ear. "B-Because he's my friend..." Cloud said, watching his feet as his head leant down.
Sephiroth shoved him down onto the couch, his hands slipping on the blonde's creamy skin as he undid his belt. Cloud watched him, not daring to risk his saftey by resisting him. He knew that when he saw Zack tomorrow (Unless Sephiroth locked him up in the house, which he did frequently.) he would look worse than today.
When Zack did see him he was sobbing. Cloud had been curled up in the corner of his bedroom, his face wet and red with tears, and his body covered in bruises, cuts and scratches. "Cloudie..." the raven breathed, rushing over to his friend's side and taking him into his welcoming arms. Cloud didn't move anywhere, he just sat there, crying and sobbing into his own knees. Thank good Gaia Sephirpth wasn't there now to see him breaking down like this. This would only give him more incentive to continue.
"Cloudie, baby, what happened?" Zack whispered into his ear as he caressed his back with careful fingers.
The blonde whimpered, wraping both arms around Zack's neck to cry into his shoulder instead of his soaked knees. He cried out loud and whimpered, it was clear Cloud had been in that corner ever since Sephiroth left.
Zack murmured soft, comforting words, while his hands traced nonsensial patterns over the blonde's back.
Cloud found the will to stop crying eventually, wiping his eyes and only halting because he had gotten used to the pain in his body by now. "A-After you left... he.. asked why I was cuddeling to you like that... and I never did it to him... s-so he slapped my side and put his fingernails to it... then it was a rough night.."
"He raped you," Zack stated, his eyes cold and hard with anger. He slipped his hands into the blonde's, kissing their joint knuckles.
"N-No... He admitted it! He admitted I was his toy and he was playing with me! And I seriously loved him! I wanna curl up into a hole and just die!" Cloud sobbed, his hands pressed to his face.
Zack sighed again, standing up before lifting Cloud up from his armpits. "You're coming with me," he whispered with a small kiss to his cheek. "Pack your stuff," the raven commanded, blue eyes catching blue eyes.
The blonde obedianetly nodded, standing up and grabbing a bag, getting his cloths and belongings into it before slinging it on his back. Zack nodded approvingly, opening the window and jumping out into the bushes. "Throw down your bag!"
Cloud nodded, pushing it out the window and letting it drop out. "Did you get it?"
"Yup! Jump down! I'll catch you!"
"HUH?" Cloud asked, confused but he shook his head. "I'll just go out the front door.."
"No! Security cams!" Zack yelled back, pouting.
Cloud looked at the door for a minute before sighing, getting up on the window-sill and closing his eye to jump. The raven held his arms out, "Trust me!"
i Probobley won't.../i Cloud jumped. And, of course, as expected, undeniably predictably, Zack caught him perfectly. He caught him at the thighs, so he was higher up. The raven continued to hold him up into the open sky for just a few moments before putting him back down on the spongy ground. Cloud took his bag and looked very depressed, but walking quickly because he was worried of Sephiroth comming home. He wasn't saying anything.
The elder man rested his right hand on the small of Cloud's back, massaging his skin through his shirt, "My car's parked in the alley..." Zack reminded him as he did so.
Cloud flinched from his hand, moving about a foot away and almost a foot in the air. The raven sighed yet again, bringing his hand up to offer it to the blonde. "Take my hand," he begged. The younger of the two took it,"H-Hey... Zack? When we leave, can I sleep? I spent my whole night crying. All 8 hours."
"Of course, Cloudie. You can sleep in the car," Zack said, leading him out into an abandoned alleyway, tattered suitcase in hand. The blonde oulled open the backdoor, climbing in and laying down on his side across the seats. Cloud placed his arms under his head and crossed the, closing his eyes. He felt choked though... a lump in his throat...
"Do you need anything?" Zack asked quietly as the engine roared to life.
"A need to get away from here..." Cloud answered, closing his eyes.