Cloud Strife was a tease
Cloud Strife was a tease.
Wondering if the young infantryman did it deliberately, knowing the effect his actions would have, or if it came naturally (oh, how he hoped it was natural!) Sephiroth both cursed and thanked Zack for introducing them. Nothing in his life, up to the point Cloud made his entrance, had thrilled and enthralled Sephiroth in quite that way. The rush of battle was stimulating; his power over others, strengthening but nothing as addictive, or as tempting, as the mere presence of the young blond. Sephiroth itched to touch what was sure to still be baby-soft skin, as yet unmarred by the harsh realities of the militaristic lifestyle. He hungered for those lips, devastatingly pink and pouting and most of all, he wanted to sink into Cloud's body and consume him entirely.
"What?" The boy asked, regarding Sephiroth with a quizzical look.
"I'm sorry?"
"You were staring. Is there something wrong?"
"No."
Cloud shrugged and continued his work. Few people spoke to Sephiroth in the way Cloud dared; even fewer did it a second time yet Sephiroth found himself willing to forgive Cloud's trespasses. There would be time to punish the boy later, after he had taken what he wanted. Even then, the punishment was more likely to be of the pleasurable variety than anything else. Not even Sephiroth, the Demon of Wutai could bring himself to inflict pain on one so pure and delicate.
"It's really beginning to freak me out," Cloud muttered, adding, "Sir." as an afterthought.
Wishing, not for the first time, that he had the capability to crack a joke, as Zack might, or offer some kind phrase as Angeal often used to, Sephiroth could only do as he always did and offered a derisive snort and pointedly turned away. Away from the subject of his musings and back to the coldness of a depressingly factual report on the rising costs of SOLDIER.
He tried to ignore Cloud's little chuckle. It was no secret that Cloud shared Zack's amusement at Sephiroth's awkward mannerisms and where he would have bitten out a scathing remark at his junior officer, he held back when it came to Cloud. The sound of Cloud's laughter was more than tolerable. It was welcome. In a world where little joy was to be found, Sephiroth cherished every opportunity and more often than not, those opportunities came in the shape of the young infantryman in his office.
Had he possessed the ability to do so, Sephiroth might have described his feeling for Cloud poetically. He didn't so instead, contented his fancy with x-rated fantasies involving Cloud, his desk and abundant supplies of lubrication and inventiveness. He could take Cloud right there and then, sprawled as he was on Sephiroth's sofa, a book opened in front of him. The way the boy lounged there on his stomach, legs kicking in the air behind him, was damned near perfect for pouncing upon and ravishing. Cloud wouldn't know what hit him if Sephiroth straddled him, tossed the book aside and made promises of life-long adoration if only Cloud would forget about studying for his SOLDIER examinations and agreed to be Sephiroth's pet. It was, after all, Cloud who had come to the office, begging for somewhere quiet - somewhere away from the distraction that was Zack - to get some much-needed study time. It was Cloud who had put himself at Sephiroth's mercy, virtually offering up his body in return for a place to read. Well, perhaps not offer up his body as such, but he had promised a return favour and Sephiroth was sorely tempted to call it in.
"Hey Seph?"
A shiver passed down Sephiroth's spine at the sound of the boy's voice; quiet and perhaps a little breathy however that was most likely wishful thinking. Through strength of will alone, he fought down images of Cloud writhing beneath him and calling him 'Seph', the nickname he hated being called by Zack but positively adored hearing from Cloud, as he begged for more.
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
The young man had turned his head to the side and smiled sweetly at Sephiroth. He looked sleepy. It was very becoming.
"For what?"
Even as he asked the question, a myriad of answers flitted across Sephiroth's mind; thanks for not molesting me, thanks for not pinning me down and banging me senseless as I try to read about the possible detrimental affects of mako on a SOLDIER candidate's psyche, thanks for letting me lie here on your sofa, looking utterly fuckable.
"You know," Cloud grinned and gestured around him. "This. I'd never have got this much done with Zack around."
"You're welcome."
It sounded sincere, Sephiroth was sure. He had attended enough diplomatic functions that platitudes fell easily from his lips. It wasn't as if he was lying, though. Cloud was always a welcome visitor to his office and would be even more welcome in his bed, if Sephiroth could devise a way to get him there in the first place.
"As much as I love him, Zack can be a real pain sometimes."
Then there was that smile; the one Sephiroth coveted for himself. The smile which belonged only to Zack. The contented smile of someone in love. Sephiroth often speculated that had he got to Cloud first, he would have been the cause of that smile. The smile said, 'Hey world, I'm in love and loved back'. No, even if luck had decided to shine upon him, Sephiroth doubted he would be able to make Cloud smile like that. Sephiroth was incapable of love, most likely, and would only ever know lust. Unfortunately for him, that lust was destined to be forever unrealised and just as he would never have the opportunity to find out if he could actually fall in love, he would he ever have the chance to act upon his lust. That position had already been filled and Sephiroth could do nothing but watch as his best friend build a life with the lover Sephiroth wanted.
Was friendship really that important? Did honour really matter? Why should the general of ShinRa's army step aside and allow others to take whatever they wanted while he, the hero of the piece, was left with nothing? Bitterness settled at the back of Sephiroth's mind as he listened to Cloud sing Zack's praises. Yes, he was aware that Zack was strong and brave and heroic, but he also knew that Zack had a darker side which manifested itself in the most surprising ways. Like the time he had gone to Sephiroth, begging and pleading for pain. Not to receive; to give.
Long before Cloud appeared on the scene, Zack had been Sephiroth's lover. It was a relationship borne more out of necessity rather than true desire. Both men needed to forget, to take sanctuary in sexual fulfilment in order to temporarily forget the horrors of the war. It was easier to lose oneself in the passionate gaze of a lover than remember the empty gaze of a deceased comrade. There had been no soft words between them; no gentle touches or caresses. The driving need to self medicate with animalistic fucking was what kept Zack returning to Sephiroth's tent, night after night. And when Zack asked Sephiroth if they could play a game, there had been only a moment of hesitation before he acquiesced and allowed Zack to torture and beat him before staying as still as possible while Zack took him, forcibly.
Did Zack play games like those with Cloud? At the thought of Zack - of anyone - hurting Cloud with any sort of deliberate purpose, waves of revulsion washed over Sephiroth. Yet arousal flared when he thought of the marks he might make on Cloud's otherwise flawless skin. There would be discoloration from where his hands gripped just a touch too tightly, scratches from not blunt enough fingernails and the bruises, perfectly capturing the memory of teeth! Ah, but those weren't the types of pain that could cause upset; they were the marks of passion itself. No, as Sephiroth very well recalled, Zack had enjoyed inflicting the kind of pain which would have left a lesser man trembling and begging for reprieve. Perhaps that was why Zack chose Sephiroth to act out his sick fantasies and they had worked their way out of his system. The more Sephiroth thought on it, the more convinced he was that Zack could never have brought himself to do those things to Cloud.
Zack loved Cloud. He loved Sephiroth too, but only in the way a soldier loves his general or a dog his master. Cloud too probably loved Sephiroth in that just-past-adolescent brand of hero-worship. At least Sephiroth could take a certain amount of satisfaction at the knowledge that it was he, rather than the lover, Cloud wished to emulate. He would likely do it too. Cloud was an idealist and while Sephiroth usually hated such demonstrations of what he firmly believed to be stupidity, on Cloud, it was endearing. It was infectious too and since their first meeting, Sephiroth had grown far more introspective than ever before, thinking about matters such as love, and what the future held instead of just existing until the next call to arms came along.
"Hey!"
A newcomer peeked around Sephiroth's office door and grinned broadly when his vision fell upon Cloud. How easily Zack wavered between being Sephiroth's best friend and worst enemy. Love rival sounded so clichéd, but it was true. Sort of. Lust rival? Attention rival?
"Zack! Behave yourself."
"Seph doesn't mind, do you?"
Shaking his head to say no, of course he didn't mind Zack groping Cloud in his office, after all, what right did Sephiroth have to mind? It wasn't as if he had been upset at being unceremoniously dumped by his former lover in preference of a new one. He understood why he had been cast aside; Zack needed more than a cold-hearted war machine and Sephiroth couldn't begrudge him that basic, human need. What wasn't fair about it all, his less pragmatic inner child (if he had such a thing) whined, was that the one who could offer all of that to Zack was the one who could do the same for him. Where was the light in his life? Where were his welcoming arms, cheerful greetings, shy kisses?
At the corner of his vision, Sephiroth caught a glimpse of milky white flesh, exposed by Zack's continued shameless groping of his lover, and Sephiroth had to suppress a feral growl. It wasn't jealousy, he told his heart, for such emotional responses had been successfully bred out of him. Beaten out. Once, back when he spent all day, every day in the labs, Sephiroth had grown attached to a particular technician who had shown him tenderness in a world devoid of care. Upon seeing that technician in the arms of her lover, he had flown into a rage and destroyed several pieces of expensive lab equipment, as well as rendered the technician's boyfriend sightless. With sticky matter and blood still on his hands, Hojo had strapped him down and subjected him to hideous 'corrective therapy'. When his body was sufficiently recovered from the assault of chemicals and electric shocks, Hojo drove his point home with a heavily studded belt. It was the one and only time Sephiroth had been punished in such a way, presumably because it was the last time Sephiroth allowed his emotions to manifest in front of anyone. That was how corrective therapy was meant to work, wasn't it?
Lately though, Sephiroth's grip on his emotions had grown tenuous. He could pinpoint exactly the moment those carefully constructed walls developed their first cracks; the day Zack introduced him to Cloud. At once, he had been struck by the purity and innocence the boy exuded. Blond hair, sticking up in all directions, seemed to catch the light in just the right way and Sephiroth couldn't tear his eyes away. Many of his men, many of his colleagues and even superiors could be described as handsome, and in some cases beautiful, but none of them came close to the aesthetic perfection of the nervous young infantryman, regarding him in awe and terror. Initially, propriety reigned and the general behaved as his rank demanded. He graced the boy with a cursory greeting and turned away with an aloofness perfected over many years. It took until their fourth meeting for Cloud to stop stammering and enquire about Sephiroth's well-being. Taken aback - no-one had ever asked him that particular question out of genuine concern - it was Sephiroth's turn to stammer out a reply and thus, a friendship based on mutual awkwardness was forged.
Sephiroth thought Zack knew, or at least had suspicions that Sephiroth's feelings towards Cloud weren't entirely innocent. The first time Zack went away on a mission, dark eyes conveyed the message; you can look, but don't you dare touch. That had only served to fuel the fire of temptation. Until then, Sephiroth had never seriously entertained the notion of seducing Cloud and when the thought struck, it struck hard. Attraction turned into obsession and so Sephiroth dealt with it in the best way he knew. In the two weeks of Zack's absence, Sephiroth shunned Cloud's company, leading to a showdown upon his friend's return, with accusations that Sephiroth hated Cloud and only suffered his presence because of Zack. Nothing could be further from the truth. While being careful to avoid spending any time with Cloud, Sephiroth had observed him from afar, something he wisely neglected to mention to Zack.
After assurances were given that no, Sephiroth did not hate Cloud and yes, he was a fine young man, they continued with their friendship. More and more, Sephiroth was invited to spend evenings with the two lovers and those damned walls went from having cracks to crumbling around his ears.
"Aw, I think someone feels left out."
Trust Cloud to be the one to vocalise Sephiroth's thoughts. In many ways, the greatest irony of them all was that out of everyone who knew him, Zack included, it was Cloud who knew him best. Cloud always knew when Sephiroth had suffered through a trying day, despite his best attempts to hide it, and worse, it was Cloud who attempted to lift his mood, leading Zack by example. This occasion was no exception. At Cloud's observation, Zack bounded over and, as was his wont, ignored Sephiroth's distaste of physical contact and threw his arm over the general's shoulder and pulled him close.
"What's up, Seph? Need a cuddle?"
Poise; at all times he remembered to keep his poise. Stiffening under Zack's touch, he tried to shrug the man off, succeeding only in making him hug harder. There was a jolt of surprise when he felt Zack's lips against his ear, immediately superseded by utter shock at the words that followed.
"I'll bet you would love to join us, wouldn't you?" Zack whispered, voice low enough that his words wouldn't travel and be heard by Cloud. "I've seen the way you look at him, like you want to gobble him all up like a starving dog."
The walls threatened to topple, destroyed by a few short sentences and their implications.
"Could he handle the two of us, do you think? I have to be gentle with him. I always have to mind my strength with him in case I lose myself in passion and fuck him just a bit too hard. You remember what it's like when I get too caught up, don't you?"
Sparing a glance towards Cloud, packing up his study materials, Sephiroth gave a curt nod. He remembered. He recalled the way Zack fucked with wild abandon and the violence of their coupling.
"You were always far more reserved, though. I expect you'd be good for Cloud. I always wondered what it would be like to make love to you rather than screw you."
Throat too tight to speak, Sephiroth could only listen. Zack must have known the impact of what he said; even a SOLDIER with the least amount of enhancement could detect minute changes in a pulse or the rush of blood to particular muscles. Yes, Zack knew what he was doing, but why was he doing it?
"I'll come to a deal with you. Let him come on this next mission with us and I'll talk to him about making room in our bed for a certain sexy general. I've noticed the way he looks at you, too. He would jump at the chance to have both of us."
The motive was bribery? Allow an inexperienced infantryman to participate in, what was most likely to be, a mundane and uneventful mission to a mako reactor in exchange for what? The chance to live out his fantasies? It seemed to be a harmless transaction.
"Very well."
"Good stuff!"
A question nagged at the back of Sephiroth's mind. This out-of-the-blue offer, the chance to be intimate with Cloud and relive his encounters with Zack...why? He had to ask.
"Cloud gets to serve under the general, you get laid and I get happy friends. Everyone's a winner," Zack beamed as if the answers were obvious. "Besides, you've been brooding far too much recently. It's time someone pushed you into living a little."
Straightening up and removing his arm from Sephiroth's shoulder, Zack called Cloud over to share the news of their trip. The look of elation on Cloud's face filled Sephiroth with such an unfamiliar warmth that he was willing to set aside any worries that what he had agreed to might be considered unethical. When the young man turned to him, smiling happily and thanking him profusely for the wonderful opportunity, Sephiroth merely returned the smile and said that he too looked forward to their working together.
After Zack steered Cloud out of the room with promises of relaxation time before their mission, and a wink over his shoulder, Sephiroth permitted himself a happy sigh. It seemed the fates had finally seen fit to shine down on him and in just a few days, he would have Cloud - and Zack - in his arms. It might even become a regular happening, should all go well and there was no reason to think otherwise, especially if Zack's assertions held true.
For the first time that he could remember, Sephiroth looked forward to the upcoming mission with excitement and enthusiasm. Optimism had never played a part in his life up to that point but with this turn of events, he began to believe that there might actually be something worth looking forward to. The possible culmination of his dreams about Cloud and the chance to be a part of something special loomed on the horizon, and Sephiroth welcomed the possibilities with open arms.
This mission to Nibelheim would be a turning point in his life, of that he was positive.
The end