Reconnections

by Bjanik

Summary: This is a companion piece to One Stroke. It replaces Chapter 43 also titled Reconnections for those who want to follow the YAOI development.

Summary: This is a companion piece to One Stroke. It replaces Chapter 43 (also titled Reconnections) for those who want to follow the YAOI development.

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or anything in it. I do not endorse the use of any particular hair conditioner for off label purposes.

The arrangements at the hotel were a bit of a chore. The manager was not accustomed to settling rooms at such an early hour, but Sephiroth had insisted on having the lone suite of the place, making sure Vincent had a room available, and keeping the two Turk's rooms secured until they were ready to clear them out. And he wanted a note left for Zack regarding his room number. And extra towels.

The hotel staff had been clearly rattled, as if the presence of Sephiroth wasn't enough, their group looked quite a fright. All three were covered in some sort of metallic white powder, Cloud was dotted with scorches and soot, and between Zack and Reno Sephiroth had picked up quite a few blood smears.

"You first," Sephiroth motioned Tessa towards the shower in their suite. Not fancy by Midgar standards, but charming enough.

"Are you sure? You don't want to go first?" she avoided his eyes again. He would try to fix this in a minute.

"I'm sure."

He waited for the shower to run for a minute or two, enough for the hot water to do its soothing, relaxing work, then peeled off his clothes and stepped in with her. He slipped his hands around her waist and kissed her, letting the water fall on top of them, between them. He could taste it as it seeped between their lips.

Then Tessa laid her face on his chest and he dipped his head into stream, letting the water rinse away the evidence of the long night. He stroked her neck and back, knowing what he wanted to say but now having trouble getting to it. He needed to know that she still loved him, after what he'd done, after she saw him crazed and dangerous. He wondered if she would ever look at him the same after that, and didn't know how to reassure her of his trustworthiness.

"Sephiroth, do you still love me?"

He pulled away and looked down at her, the surprise plain on his face.

"I want to know... if things have changed," she said, her voice quivering slightly.

Sephiroth smiled slowly.

"Everything is changed," he said. "We're having a baby."

She smiled back at this.

"I'm going to be a father; Zack is going to be some kind of uncle." The image made them both laugh a little.

"I'm probably free of that troubling nightmare, I have a father who is alive and walking around and very weird. I have a wife who can do whatever is needed to protect me and my children, even if she has to do things to me. I've never been so full of optimism in my life. And none of these things changes how I feel about you. I love you Tessa. I need you. But I'm... worried that I may frighten you now."

"You've never frightened me," she laid her body along his, their skin hot and wet and slick. "I don't know why, but I've never felt anything but safe and protected around you. As long as you're actually yourself, that is."

"Not worried I might again turn into a homicidal maniac?"

"Not particularly. But even if you do, you know what? You're worth it."

She reached her mouth up and kissed him, and rolled their positions so he stood full under the stream of water. "Let me do this for you," she said.

Sephiroth closed his eyes; he loved this particular brand of attention that she was fond of lavishing on him. He let her shampoo his hair, run soap all over his chest and back, jumping and smiling a bit as wet fingers tickled his armpits. She continued down his buttocks and over muscular thighs, finally rotating in lazy circles around the partially lengthened flesh between his legs.

"I thought you'd be tired," she said, kneeling in the shower basin and letting the back of her tongue drag down top of his organ and then catch a bit of shower water that flowed off the tip.

"Not too tired," he said. But in truth he was pretty tired. This would have to go quick. He turned off the faucet, quickly squeezed that gallon out water out of his hair, and with a handful of extra towels brought her to the bed. He laid Tessa on her back, rubbing her with the towels while his wet skin and hair continued to drip on her.

"You're not getting ahead here, dear," she said, and loosed one of the towels from underneath her and ran it over his body.

The nubby cloth over his skin sent his erection into full bloom and he kissed her on the mouth, then eagerly down her neck and shoulders, tasting the freshly showered skin as he ran one hand over her, then the other. He wished he could do both hands at once, but he needed one to hold him up above her. Maybe if he could teach that one wing to flap and hold himself up...

And no sooner had he thought it than the room above them filled with black feathers. Sephiroth sighed. That damn thing. He occasionally had uncommanded deployment of his... 'gifts'. It was a complicated equation of balance between his physical and mental state. Hunger, fatigue, stress, anger, and chemical influence all decreased his control. It was one of the reasons he didn't drink. Arousal was also on that list, and he had suffered some issues with fire but this was the first time the wing had popped out.

Tessa however seemed delighted. She hadn't seen it since the day he had shown it to her in her office. She reached up and ran her hand across the feathers, smiling. Sephiroth considered. If she liked it...

He lifted her from the bed and folded the black wing under her, curling it around to her far side. Sephiroth watched her, curious. The feeling along her skin must have been incredible, because she gasped and stretched her body out into the black cushion that cradled her like an enormous hand. She turned her head to bury her face in the feathers and inhaled deeply. He ran his hand along the feathered surface; he had to admit they were very soft, and probably carried his scent. He moved his thighs between hers, and she widened her legs readily for him. She was slick and swollen against his sex, and he glided smoothly inside of her, pressing his body to hers and keeping the strokes short the way she needed them. Both their bodies tensed with effort, until small whimpers came from Tessa through clenched teeth. Those were the whimpers he had wanted to hear, they caused him to jerk inside of her and the desire to lift out to his full stroke was almost maddening. But he needed to wait, as much as he needed this release he needed to wait just a few more moments, because he was pretty sure he was going to collapse immediately afterwards.

"Seph- rh, nghah!" Tessa's head leaned back and her body shuddered.

Sephiroth felt the wave of pleasure that always accompanied hearing his name yelled so, or part of his name, at least. He enlivened his stroke until it was a barely controlled pounding of violence, shaking the bed and causing it to thump loudly against the wall. Then he himself cried out, the powerful muscles in his torso wrenching his head and shoulders forward, three, four times, jerking their bodies hard together. A powerful drowsiness overtook him immediately, and he barely managed to roll partway off to the side so as not to collapse completely on top of Tessa.

He made himself stay awake and look at her. He was suddenly unsure of how much force he had used.

"Are you OK?" he asked, still breathless.

She smiled. "Fine," she said. "Might be a little sore. The good kind of sore. Maybe a bruise or two."

"I'm sorry, I just really needed..."

"I understand," she said, touching his face, his lips. "We both needed that."

Sephiroth gave a small drowsy smile and fell dead asleep.

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A click at the door jolted Sephiroth awake. He had no idea where he was or where his weapons lay. He sat part way up, unusually disoriented.

"It's me," Zack said from the far side of the door, before even turning the knob. That was the rule with Sephiroth, always identify yourself right away or you might find something sharp and pointy stuck through you. Although, he thought with a stab of sympathy, his commander had nothing sharp and pointy with him, they had taken all his blades when they drugged him and Masamune was at the bottom of the reactor pool.

Sephiroth relaxed and laid back down at the sound of Zack's voice, the sweet familiarity and warmth that Zack's persona brought pushing down his adrenaline. He looked at the clock. He must have been out only a few minutes.

Zack came through the door, catching the tip of his Buster on the frame as he did so. He looked back at the sword, irritated. That almost never happened to him. He decided to attribute the clumsiness to fatigue. He reached up with his right hand over his shoulder and levered the big blade free of its mount on his back and leaned it against the wall.

"I got a key from the desk," he said, "They didn't want to give me one. I may have been a little... pushy." Zack dropped they key on the dresser with a clatter, and surveyed the scene inside. The room was dim with heavy curtains pulled against the bright noon, and his sharp nose caught a familiar scent.

"Looks like I missed out," he said wearily.

"It was just a quickie," Sephiroth said.

"I want a quickie," Zack said, smiling a little and stumbling towards the bathroom.

"After nappy," Sephiroth said, not looking at Zack, preferring to simply soak up the sound of his voice.

"Hope it's OK I use your shower," Zack said, "The one in my room barely works."

He dropped his bag on the floor next to the shower and ran the water, wondering what Sephiroth and Tessa were covered with, what kind of hotel had black bedding? Then it dawned on him; that was Sephiroth's single wing. He frowned. He'd only been wrapped in it once, because he had been near death at the time. Sephiroth had never wrapped him in it in bed.

"Quit, Zack," he muttered to himself. "Stupid thing to be jealous over."

When Zack came out of the shower Sephiroth had rearranged himself to free up his right side and reached out his arm. Zack gratefully laid his tired body down, although disappointed that the wing had been put away. He let his face fall into Sephiroth's still damp hair and felt soft lips kiss him on his forehead. Sephiroth had assumed Zack would be asleep as soon as he was horizontal, but the young man laid awake, eyes open. Presently Sephiroth became aware of this; he could feel some sort of alertness or tension in Zack's body. He looked questioningly into the violet eyes that shone slightly in the dimly lit room.

"I want to be wrapped in the wing," Zack said, an almost petulant sound to his voice.

Sephiroth had never heard this tone from Zack, some sort of mixture of pleading and demanding. He decided not to worry about it for the moment; it had been a particularly trying night for them both. He nudged Zack upwards and let the wing come out under him, then wrapped it around Zack's naked body. He had a reaction much the same as Tessa. Sephiroth had no idea this thing could be so useful, or enjoyable. He curled the wing towards himself to return Zack's body to its position along his own, and felt the young man relax.

"Better?" he asked, making sure his right arm also held Zack tight to him.

Zack nodded.

"How about we both get a few hours sleep?"

Zack nodded again, drifting off as he did so.

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The next time Sephiroth woke it was from Tessa rustling around to get out of bed. Sephiroth watched her curiously as she visited the bathroom and then began to dress. He watched, and waited, and finally he was going to have to ask.

"Where are you going?" Sephiroth was half amused, half irritated by her behavior. Normally people announced what they were up to, but not Tessa. She just did whatever she was going to do. Sometimes he wondered if she was any better socialized than himself. Maybe he should set Zack to work on her.

She leaned over the bed and kissed him. "Food," she said. "I think we all need something to eat, especially you two, burning all that mako yesterday. I'm going to go see what I can scrounge up."

"Yeah, food," Zack somehow managing to convey enthusiasm even though only half awake. He shook his head free of a mass of black feathers and grinned sleepily.

Tessa reached over and kissed Zack, the kiss lingering. Then she kissed him again. Sephiroth watched them. He had forbidden sexual contact during this trip because he wasn't entirely comfortable with them being together in his absence. Both had seemed fine with that rule, they were after all primarily each focused on him. But now he thought it a mistake; they had been through so much because of him, for him, and the results might have easily been tragic. He would prefer they be encouraged to turn to one another for comfort without worrying about him. Next time he would put no limitations on the love that flowed between the three of them.

"I won't be long," she said, kissing Sephiroth one more time. "But I warn you, if you two are up to something when I come back- I'm going to watch."

"Oh," Zack sat partially up with interest, and Sephiroth could feel him stiffen against his thigh. Few things got Zack going faster than a raunchy comment. He looked at Sephiroth. There was a momentary excitement in his eyes, but it disappeared as sudden as it came and he laid his head back down on his General's shoulder.

Sephiroth wrapped everything, both arms and the one wing around Zack and squeezed. He could feel the same tension in Zack's frame as he had when he first lay down.

"What is it, Zack?"

The mass of hair shifted until Zack's face came into view.

"Seph," he started slowly, did he really want the answer to this? "Do you remember the fight in the reactor, after you were... after you struck Jenova?"

"Yes."

Zack turned his eyes away. "You said some things to me..."

"Zachary –." Sephiroth nudged him gently several times under the chin until Zack looked back at him.

"I know you don't speak carelessly," Zack said, "You always say you mean everything you say."

"In a way," Sephiroth said, "In that I always speak deliberately. I meant to say what I did, those remarks were calculated, just like the rest of my attacks. That's not the same as speaking the truth. What's the rule about enemies who taunt or insult you?"

"That they're afraid of y-." Zack stopped short. Surely that hadn't been the case.

"You almost had me. Twice. Once you almost overbalanced me on a pipe that hand no good landing below it, and once the Buster missed my head only out of sheer luck. You're damn good, much better than your training hall matches suggest."

"Well, I'm not fighting for my life in the training hall. Usually. And I had help."

"I was counting Cloud as a legitimate part of your arsenal. If you recall he chose to fight on your side, not mine."

"I wasn't possessed by an evil alien at the time."

"True. But you are far better with the troops than I am. I did not make you Second so that you could be second. I chose the man who could be first. When something happens to me."

Zack jerked slightly and felt Sephiroth's arms tighten around him in response.

"Nothing's going to happen to you, Seph."

"Right. Unless I get taken over by an alien or clonked on the head by pretty blond boys or injected by sneaky women. You led on this one, Zack, front to back, even though I was there. Sort of there, at least."

"Well, fine," Zack finally capitulated. "But you know what? I like being your Second. I think I have this... deep seeded need to yield to you. It's actually an amazing feeling, and it's something I can't really express with anybody else."

Sephiroth chuckled. "I know that about you. It's one of the reasons you're in my bed, otherwise this wouldn't work for us. Because I can't ever. Yield." He knitted his brows slightly, remembering. "Although I did to you, in the reactor."

Zack remembered, Sephiroth had dropped his weapon then took to sobbing on his shoulder.

"Not a bad feeling was it?" Zack reached up and stroked Sephiroth's face.

"No, no it wasn't. And Zack?"

"Hm?"

"I love you, very, very much," And Sephiroth kissed him, starting softly and building with waves of pressure and depth, coaxing Zack's lips apart so that their tongues might slide slowly past and around one another.

"Do that again," Zack said, when the kiss broke. Sephiroth smiled and did so, pressing Zack gently backwards.

"Lie back," Sephiroth said, "There something else I want to do to you."

Zack smiled, closed his eyes, and let Sephiroth start with that gentle trailing of fingers on skin that he so loved.

"I don't suppose we have any lube?" Zack asked, thinking he wanted this lube or no.

"Hmm." Sephiroth unwrapped himself from Zack and went into the bathroom and came out with a bottle.

"Shampoo?" Zack asked, a little skeptical.

Sephiroth shook his head. "It's my conditioner. Very gentile and slippery as hell."

"Ah," Zack said. Well the man did have four feet of hair. Zack never did anything with his, just ran his fingers through it after showering and called it good.

Sephiroth leaned over him and to Zack's delight wrapped him again in the wing. Now that he'd had it out for it a bit Sephiroth had some ideas of how to make better use of it. The thing could actually grant his wish of holding him up, not by suspending him but by pushing off the bed and balancing him there. Zack's eyes widened when he realized he was going to get both of his lover's hands on him during this.

Sephiroth ran the fingers of one hand down the back of Zack's thigh, fluttering them with a touch so light and fleeting that Zack laughed and moved his leg away with small jerks even as he was enjoying it. He repeated with the other leg, then both until Zack was in fits and grabbed onto Sephiroth's wrists.

"Stop, argh, stop!" Zack was laughing and pleading at the same time.

"Like hell," Sephiroth said, but he did move his hands to the insides of Zack's now raised knees and swept downwards, full palms this time, eliciting a groan instead of giggles. Sephiroth cupped Zack in his hands, lowered his lips and kissed the underside of his shaft, then engulfed the tip with his mouth. He swallowed the full length right into his throat before drawing slowly away, and with his new found two-handedness popped the top on the bottle and poured a bit of the shimmering white liquid into his hand and dipped the opposite thumb into it. As he pulled his lips up a second time, this time with suction, he slid his fingers under Zack's tailbone and pressed the slick thumb against the surface of the puckered flesh exposed by Zack's posture. He swirled his thumb around in a circle around the opening while he worked up and down with his mouth. He knew Zack loved this but would tend to arch his back in pleasure, making things less accessible. Sephiroth put his free hand on Zack's abdomen and pressed hard against muscles that felt like a sack of rocks under his palm to keep him flat to the mattress. Zack moaned loudly. And Sephiroth wasn't done here yet, he inserted one long graceful finger inside the relaxing orifice, seeking out that hardened mound and pressing gently.

"Ohhh, Ga- Seph!"

Judging the time to be near Sephiroth removed all stimulation, holding Zack still with the hand on his midsection. He smiled wickedly as Zack looked at him in disbelief, working his mouth but without the ability to speak.

"You're cruel, you know that," he finally spit out, panting, unable to climax, unable to calm down.

"Yes, but not for long." Sephiroth positioned himself over Zack, and lifted his lover's hips slightly and with the application of more hair conditioner pushed himself easily inside. Zack had both of his hands shoved into Sephiroth's hair and Sephiroth began his own rhythm, another thing facilitated by the support of the wing. He applied an uncontrolled squirt of the makeshift lubricant onto Zack's member and guided one of Zack's hands to grip himself, leaving him free to keep one hand under Zack's hips and the other to run over Zack's chest, neck, and face. The conditioner felt every bit as good as regular lube and Zack tripped off almost immediately, throwing his head back in a howl that sounded like a mixture of pain and pleasure. The sound of his orgasm and the sight of Zack's unprotected neck sent Sephiroth into a feral frenzy, lifting them both farther off the bed, thrusting while one hand gripped and dug into Zack's shoulder. He shuddered, every muscle in his body threatening to cramp in a blaze of heat, then he burst from the inside out and it was as if a cool wave of water knocked him limp and helpless onto the bed.

Sephiroth closed and opened his eyes, groggy, watching Zack reach around to the back of his shoulder. His fingers came back with a smattering of red. As always the sight and smell of blood jerked Sephiroth to attention.

"You're bleeding."

Zack smiled. "Just a fingernail scratch. Or gouge, really. Good thing I'm tough. Better than that time you bit me, though."

Sephiroth laid back and stared at the ceiling, scowling.

"Hey," Zack nudged him, regretting bringing up that whole biting incident. "Don't worry about it." He put his face above Sephiroth's, forcing him to look into the playful cast in his eyes. "You know what? You're worth every bit of it."

He kissed Sephiroth, and when he pulled his head up the green eyes were smiling at him.