All right, here's the explanation: After I wrote the word prompt Affair, Riku-Rocks and that wonderfully twisted mind of hers she rarely lets out came up with the concept for this. …And I found myself deciding to write it out. You do not need to have read that word to get this (at least, I tried to make that way). Please give your opinions and if properly motivated, I have a second part loosely in mind.

This is also unbeta'ed, sorry for all the errors.

Thanks to Sassy and Elise for help with the title.

Passions Unwanted

"So, how difficult do you think it will be to get them to cooperate?" Sora asked casually, walking with both hands behind his head. The weather had been fairly mild all day but there were now dark clouds building on the horizon and it was likely to rain later on.

Zack snorted. "Ever get gum stuck in your hair?"

"Yeah, and all these stupid spikes get all tangled up with it and it's just a mess." Sora frowned. "That bad, huh?"

"Worse."

"Great." Sora sighed. "Oh well, it'll be good for them and Riku will be thrilled when he hears about it."

The older man nodded his agreement. "Both Cloud and Sephiroth need to work on their social skills. Suggesting making them go to the Winter Solstice Party was brilliant."

"I thought so." The teen grinned. "It's a big enough thing that they'll have to talk to people but still small enough that they shouldn't feel overwhelmed."

They approached the house at the end of the cul-de-sac, waving to the next door neighbor as they passed. Turning up the walk, Zack chuckled. "Well, Sanosuke didn't complain so it couldn't have gotten too bad after I left."

"Yeah, everyone would have heard if they had killed each other," agreed Sora.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you this, Sora," Zack paused and turned toward the teenager. "I know Riku and Cloud invited you to live with them along with Sephiroth, why did you say no?"

Sora shrugged. "Honestly, I just felt weird about it. I mean, they're like newlyweds or something and… I don't, it just didn't feel right. I like staying with you and Leon."

"Makes sense. That's why Seph isn't actually living with them." Zack shrugged. "Even though he spends most of his time there."

"Yeah but he and Cloud are still really awkward around each other. Riku's happy that they're trying to get along but even he says there's a lot of tension between them."

Zack smiled. "Well, we're going to try to do something about that."

Both squared their shoulders and marched the rest of the way up the walk. As usual the door was not locked and they simply walked in. The house was quiet, which both took as a good sign. They assumed the two inside had simply gone to their separate corners.

There was a solid thud from the office as if someone's back had roughly hit it and Zack and Sora glanced at one another. Perhaps things were not as calm as they thought. Bracing themselves to break up Cloud and Sephiroth, they quickly moved to the partially open door.

A near snarl drifted out followed by an odd groan. Zack twisted his face at it and caught Sora's eye. The brunet also seemed to have noticed the peculiar tone of the groan. With a quick nod to each other, they rounded the doorframe.

They froze in absolute shock at what they saw.

Cloud's back was indeed pressed against the wall with one hand pinned up near the far side of his head. Most of his face was blocked but there was an angry flush to what could be seen. His free hand clutched at Sephiroth's upper arm.

Nearly the full length of Sephiroth's body was settled against the blond's, one leg nestled beside Cloud's. Only his shoulder wing was out today and held tightly to him. Long silver hair cascaded down his back.

…His bare back. It took a fraction of a second to realize that Cloud's shirt was torn and half-ripped off his body. It took another breath of time to understand why the two's bodies were locked so tightly together and why it was so difficult to see either of their faces.

Cloud and Sephiroth were caught up in an extremely intense looking make-out session.

Nearly as soon as Zack and Sora entered the room, the other two sprang apart as if physically thrown. Sephiroth half-turned away, his eyes wide with shock as he stared blankly at the floor. Cloud gasped in reaction, sliding down the wall limply.

All four were silent.

It finally became too much and Cloud dropped his head into his hands, stuttering. "I… I can't believe that just happened."

Zack rubbed at his jaw, trying to find words. "What… how…?"

"What the hell did we just walk in on?" Sora shouted, causing all three of the others to look at him. He was absolutely livid.

Sephiroth's wing was twitching violently. He had managed to school his features back into a calm expression but his eyes were still confused and panicked. "I honestly have no idea."

"We were arguing just like we have been all day." Cloud rushed out. "There wasn't anything unusual about it and then… we just…"

"Okay," Zack got out slowly. He held both his hands out in a pacifying manner. "We all need to settle down a moment and figure this out."

Cloud barked out a bitter laugh. Before he could say anything, Sephiroth spoke. "Zack is correct, Cloud. We need to think this through."

Sora was still glaring and he abruptly turned and headed for the front room. Zack glanced after him for a second before addressing the two in the room. His expression was pained and he shook his head. "Straighten yourselves out and met us in the other room."

He immediately left and found Sora pacing the length of the front room. His fists were clenched at his sides and he was rambling as he moved. "Riku is going to completely meltdown. He will not get over this. How could they do this to him?"

"Sora." Zack called to him softly. "They didn't mean for this to happen."

"Then why did it?" Sora snapped. "I may not understand a lot of sex related stuff but there is no way that just happens!"

Sighing, Zack fell against the wall. "I know, Sora. We need to hear what they say first. All I know is neither one of them would ever willingly hurt Riku."

Sora dropped on the sofa in a huff. He did not really care what the reason was for Cloud and Sephiroth's actions. All he knew was that the two of them had betrayed Riku in the worse possible way.

He did not look up as the other two men entered the room, now fully clothed and absolutely silent. Cloud ended up on the window seat, Riku's window seat. Sephiroth crossed over to stand on the other side of the space. Neither looked at Zack or Sora.

Zack worried his lower lip, trying to decide how to go about this. He exhaled loudly and crossed his arms at his waist. "All right, first thing's first. Has anything like this ever happened before?"

"No," Both spoke together with absolute certainty.

Nodding slowly, Zack kept his focus on the coffee table in the center of the room. "What exactly happened?"

Cloud glanced over at Sephiroth who was now looking at him. There was a moment of unspoken communication between them. It was Sephiroth who finally began explaining.

His wing continued to twitch. "I am to blame for starting the argument. I came into the office to inform him that I was not the clean up service and he needed to take care of the mess he made in the kitchen. He muttered that this was his house and he could do what he wanted with it. I asked if he ever spoke to Riku like that and I admit my tone was rather harsh.

"He stood and turned on me, stating that I had no place in his and Riku's relationship. I simply told him that if I at any point felt that he was mistreating my brother, I had no qualms in making sure it ended." Sephiroth took a light breath. "The argument went from there."

Cloud quietly picked up the story from there. "He began questioning what it was that Riku saw in me and why I was so protective of Riku. That led into a debate about why I was willing to work so hard at reconciling with Sephiroth. He came to the conclusion that it couldn't be just because of Riku and next thing I knew…"

"We had torn off one another's shirts and I had Cloud pinned to the wall," concluded Sephiroth, pain etched in his voice. "I truly do not know what would have happened if the two of you hadn't come in."

The group fell silent.

Sora looked between the two angrily. He seemed conflicted as to which one to tear into first. None of them had seen him this furious. He was trembling on the sofa with tears forming in his eyes.

Zack threw his head back to gently tap it against the wall. "I don't know where to go with this."

Cloud turned and rested his head on the cool glass of the window. "Riku will never forgive this."

Sora jerked his head in the blond's direction. "That should be the least of your worries. When he hears how both of you betrayed his trust, it's gonna kill him! Do either of you realize just how much Riku depends on us?"

Cloud suddenly whirled on Sora, jumping to his feet. There was moisture on his cheeks as he snapped out. "I know all that and more, Sora! Don't you dare even think I don't! He finds out about this and it's going to tear him apart! It's killing me right now knowing that I've done this! I don't-" He choked off, shoulders sagging in defeat as the anger left him.

"We are both aware of the consequences of what occurred here today." Sephiroth's own voice was tight. "I still do not know how it happened but that has little bearing on what will happen when Riku is informed of it."

Zack sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "I think I know what happened. The real question is: will it happen again?"

The other three looked at him questioningly.

"From the beginning, there has been an unusually strong connection between the two of you. I have no idea why or where it came from but I noticed it right away. You would always somehow keep running into one another even when Cloud and I weren't getting in trouble. It was like you were oddly drawn to one another.

"It only got more intense after Nibelheim. I wasn't witness to a lot of it being dead and all but for years the two of you have been locked in this twisted game of cat and mouse, always chasing after one another. Even now, both of you have this weird intrinsic understanding of one another."

The raven-haired man shook his head. "Now, just hear me out on this next part before you start in on me, Cloud."

The blond immediately wanted to protest but held his tongue. Sephiroth angled his head and there was a peculiar look to his eyes. Sora's anger had greatly diminished and now he listened to Zack intently.

"Taking all of that into account it seems very likely that it was because of Riku's similarities to Sephiroth that you were attracted to him. " Cloud opened his mouth but Zack held up a hand. "Obviously, you fell in love with him but it was the similarities that initially caught your attention."

"So are you trying to say that just now Cloud was using Sephiroth as a substitute for Riku?" Sora's face twisted in disgust. "That's just… eww."

"I think I'm insulted." Sephiroth murmured dryly.

"That's not quite what I was getting at." Zack sighed, racking his fingers through his hair. "The point was, there's a lot of… emotion between the two of you, most of it unresolved. Most of that is rather intense and we all know how Cloud gets when Riku's been gone a few days.

"My guess is that all of the tension that's been present since Riku left reached critical level and something had to give. Since the two of you are rather passionate about each other, it turned sexual." The Colonel concluded. He glanced between them. "The question is: could this happen again?"

Cloud and Sephiroth studied one another. Zack and Sora looked at each other, trying not to watch the other two and give them a minute to make their decision. Only they truly understood the bond between them and it seemed likely that they themselves were not very certain of its origins.

Abruptly Cloud turned away, moving back to the window seat. He climbed back up on it and stared out the window, hugging his knees. He seemed suddenly lost.

Sephiroth's expression was grimmer than Zack had ever seen it. The younger man knew Sephiroth's words before he said them. "Neither of us can promise that it won't."

Sora got very wide-eyed as the impact of the statement settled in. He shook his head and turned his face down. "So what does that mean?"

"I love Riku." Cloud stated softly with absolute conviction.

"There is no doubt about that," agreed Sephiroth. "I do not know what this… connection we have is but I will not jeopardize my brother's stability or more importantly, his happiness."

Zack frowned. "You know he won't let you leave."

"I do not intend to abandon him." The winged man's voice was tight. "But I will not remain in this house."

Sora glanced at him. The teen was overwhelmed by all of this and though he really did not understand what was going on, what he did get was that both Sephiroth and Cloud did not want anything like what happened this afternoon to happen again. Suddenly, he was no longer angry with them.

Zack unfolded his arms. "What are we going to tell Riku?"

Everyone was silent.

…And then Sora spoke the one sentence none of them ever expected to hear from him. "We don't."

The men stared at him. Sora laced his fingers before him, gazing at the coffee table. He took a deep breath and bit his lip. "This won't happen again. Neither of you wanted this so technically it's not cheating, right? If we tell him, it will only cause him pain and further security issues. We can't risk breaking him."

Sora looked at each of them in turn. "I won't risk it. We don't tell him."

It took a few minutes but slowly Zack, Sephiroth, and finally Cloud nodded. Sephiroth was frowning deeply, his feline eyes troubled and wing gently twitching in a nervous manner. Cloud had a few stray tears glinting off his cheeks. Zack was regarding Sora with an odd mixture of respect and worry.

He knew he was going to have to have a long talk with the boy very soon.

Sora stood and walked toward Zack. Standing beside him, he turned to look at both Cloud and Sephiroth. The expression on his face was truly terrifying. "Do not ever let something like this happen again. If Riku's heart gets broken because of either of you, I will make sure you suffer."

With that last promise, he left the house.

Sephiroth looked after him. "That boy is the only person I am truly afraid of."

Cloud nodded his agreement.

Zack pulled away from the wall. "I better try talking to him."

"Let me." Cloud slid off the still. "I know there's more he wants to know and I'm the only one who can answer his questions."

Zack nodded his consent and Cloud left without a word. The raven-haired man fixed his attention on Sephiroth, who had turned to face the wall. "Seph?"

The man inhaled and exhaled sharply. "I knew staying here was a bad idea but Riku was so excited about the prospect."

"What are you saying?"

Sephiroth laughed but it was broken sounding. He turned and his bright eyes glistened. "I don't know. I have to seriously think over what happened today."

Zack narrowed his eyes. "Do you think…?"

"No," Sephiroth managed a smirk. "At least as far as I'm concerned, there are no genuine romantic or sexual desires toward Cloud."

That seemed a strange statement."So what do you think it was?"

Sephiroth's face fell and he looked truly anguished. "I'm very much afraid to know."

Zack only nodded once, knowing that the older man was not going to divulge any more than that. "What are you going to tell Riku about not staying here?"

Sephiroth snorted and walked across the room. He did not pause as he passed Zack. "The truth."

Zack looked after him a moment before following. He could only hope that Sephiroth's words were one of his vague descriptions. If not, things were about to blow up around here and no one was prepared for that.

--0—0—0—

Anyone want more of this story line?