Cloud wrapped his arms close around the figure now sleeping securely in his arms. He smiled, Sephiroth looked so different like this, so quiscent with his guard down, the scourge of Wutai looked on the verge of innocent.
It was only now that it was possible to see the sadness and the marks of a traumatic childhood on the flawless general.
Everyone KNEW that Sephiroth was perfect, some people KNEW he was flawed, but Cloud knew different.
He knew more than most cadets did.
He knew how to aim, fire, clean, repair and do pretty much anything to almost any kind of gun.
He knew how Sephiroth's hair turned into liquid silver in the moonlight.
He knew how to follow orders screamed in the heat of battle.
He knew how Sephiroth's voice sounded when screaming in pain.
He had known an idyllic childhood growing up in the mountains.
He knew what the hell of childhood in the labs was like. He had seen the marks, mental, physical and emotional, that it had left on his fragile lover.
Sure, Sephiroth may have been flawed, but in Cloud's loving gaze, those flaws just made him all the more beautiful and all the more perfect.