Title: The Art of Conversation
Pairing: Cloud/Sephiroth (there may be some other pairings later on, but for now that's all that I can think of…..^^)
Summary: Cloud was never really much of a talker. But then again, with the fine talent of 'surrounding oneself with friends whom speaketh akin to microphones', he didn't really have to. But then, along came Sephiroth and the whole world just preformed a perfect barrel roll as Cloud decided that he'd learn a new talent that morning.
Rating: T/M
Brief background info: This will be an AU…and I know that the typical high school setting has been very much overused, the idea just wouldn't leave me alone!!!^^" Cloud, Sephiroth and everybody else will probably be around the age of 16/17
Forewarnings: If you haven't already guessed, yes, the pairing is male/male, so if that's not your preference, then I suggest you leave now……Umm…this story may or may not include smut later on however it IS highly likely so when that upcoming chapter approaches…I'll be sure to give a heads up!!^^ Err…there will be swearing and the like which is why it's rated T (for now).
Warnings for this chapter: includes brief mention of sex scene (however it is just that…just a mention of it….NO ACTION!!!), swearing and bad attempts at humour.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do NOT own the characters of Final Fantasy VII, I am only borrowing them for my own enjoyment….however I DO own the plot!!XD
Italics- 'Cloud's thoughts'Ok…now let the story commence!!!XD (or something to that effect….)
Chapter 1:
A blur of silver and green was all that enveloped Cloud's vision but he wasn't protesting. Nah; far from it. Smirking lightly to himself as he held the only other figure in his bed closer, the blond sighed happily (or pervertedly if you looked at their state of undress) as he trailed his hand over the smooth expanse of his lover's back. Humming contently, Cloud then proceeded to nuzzle his nose into long, flowing silver locks. At this gesture, the person within the blond's hold gave a small chuckle.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were the type to cuddle after sex, Cloud?" Cloud could only smile at this.
"Well then Sephiroth, it's a good thing you do." Rolling his aqua green orbs at the giddy blond, Sephiroth then tried to make his way out of Cloud's embrace. However, he very soon found that this proved a particularly difficult task. Shaking his head at the oblivious blond, Sephiroth then tried wriggling around to show that he wished to be let free. When the blond continued to ignore him, Sephiroth then resorted to pinching the blissfully unaware Cloud.
"Oww! What was that for?!" Cloud exclaimed as he pouted childishly while rubbing at his arm. Glancing back at Sephiroth once he realised that no permanent damage was done to his arm, Cloud glared half-heartedly at the silver haired male. Sephiroth sighed. "As much as I love cuddling with you Cloud, I felt that my deadly assault was enough reason for my excuse to go to the bathroom." Cloud, chose to ignore the sarcasm that came with that answer and decided instead to pointedly give Sephiroth a sincere smile. "Aww, I'm sorry, but I'm just so happy Seph."
Sighing, Sephiroth turned away from the practically glowing blond as he made to walk to the bathroom. It was also to hide the fierce the blush that highlighted his cheeks and threatened to take up his whole face.
Of course Sephiroth knew why Cloud was happy. It was their first time having sexafter all. Rolling his eyes and sighing again Sephiroth finally made his way into the bathroom, without any interruptions this time.
Coming back out of the bathroom, Sephiroth was slightly caught off-guard with the image of his boyfriend on the bed. Sprawled out with his feet hanging off the edge of the bed, Cloud slept soundlessly as though he wasn't just wide awake a few seconds ago. Shaking his head, Sephiroth made his way to the bed to join his lover, although not without a smile on his face.
As Sephiroth leaned down to plant a kiss on the sleeping blond's forehead, he felt a sturdy arm reach out, only to grab him by the waist and pull Sephiroth down so that he was lying next to the supposedly sleeping boy.
A bit shocked at the gesture, Sephiroth quickly regained his senses and responded to the arm around his waist by looping his own around Cloud's neck. Closing his eyes as he heard Cloud mutter something inconceivable, Sephiroth sighed happily as he leaned even further into Cloud's chest.
It was the sound of Cloud's soothing breathing and the steady beating of his heart that finally caused Sephiroth to fall asleep himself.
Blinking open cerulean coloured eyes, Cloud yawned lazily as he stretched his arms high above his head. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with a lazy hand, the blond then sat up in bed as he inspected the time on his alarm clock.
'6:59.' Cloud frowned. 'How is it that I always wake up one minute before the alarm actually goes off?'
Shrugging to himself, the blond proceeded to get ready for school.
It was only when he was making his way from the bathroom, dressed and ready to go, did he realise that there wasn't another person on his bed. Preferably one with long silver hair, pale skin and bright green eyes.
Cloud scowled. 'It was only another dream.' And while he was disappointed with this shocking revelation, it wasn't a surprise. Ever since Cloud first laid eyes on Sephiroth, (cliché as it may be) he couldn't get the silver-haired enigma out of his mind. Not that he was complaining, mind you. But it still only left frustration on Cloud's part, as the boy of his dreams was still unaware. And it's been, what, 4 years now? But then again, one cannot just go up to somebody and say: " I've been watching you for the past 4 years of my life and I think that I just might be in love with you." Cloud rolled his eyes. Of course not! He would be seen as a fucking stalker by the whole school, never mind Sephiroth who'd probably file a restraining order against him anyway. Then there's also the fact that they are both guys. For all the spiked blond knew, Sephiroth could be homophobic, never mind actually interested in guys.
Therefore, Cloud knew that there was no hope. Sighing in defeat, the blond flopped back onto his bed and dramatically placed a hand over his eyes. Sighing again, the blond peeked out from underneath the lifeless appendage and turned his focus towards the clock on his dresser.
'7:32.' Cloud thought to himself as he sat up again. 'It's not even approaching midday and I'm already having pessimistic thoughts.'
Cloud then decided to scowl, at no one in particular of course, but just because he could. He then stood up when he realised that he was just getting more depressed just sitting there, and so decided to get himself moving. Grabbing his bag, he made his way downstairs and out the door. Cloud sighed. 'Great. Day 158 of living torture, dubbed as school, and still counting.'
It was only when Cloud actually reached his school that he realised that, number one: It was only 7: 56 and number two: school didn't start for another 34 minutes.
Cloud growled lowly in his throat as he decided to make his way to what would be his first lesson, English. 'Great. Just great. What else can go wrong today?' However, Cloud spoke too soon, as he realised that he wouldn't be the only person in room 27.
"Of all the people in the world, it just had to be him." Cloud whispered under his breath as he paused just outside the door.
Just the blond's luck that the person sitting in the classroom had to be Sephiroth; the guy of Cloud's affections for the past few years. 'Someone, just shoot me.' Cloud thought melodramatically as he hesitated whether to go in or not.
Looking at it one way, there's the chance that he'd probably just make a fool out of himself. Like, being caught staring or something. 'It's happened before…' Cloud thought warily. Yet, on the other hand, if he didn't even have the guts to simply sit in a classroom alone with the guy (never mind actually sitting next to him…) then there was no hope of even attempting to strike conversation in the near future. Shaking his head, Cloud slumped his shoulders in defeat. 'I am such a coward.' Raising his bag more securely on his shoulder, Cloud turned to leave when he felt someone grab his arm. Jumping slightly in surprise, the blond turned to give a good earful to whoever decided to bug him so early in the morning. However, the words died in his throat when he realised who the culprit was.
"You're Cloud, right?" Cloud could only nod as he felt the grip on his arm loosen until there was no contact left at all. Shaking his head slightly as to get out of his current state of shock, Cloud finally managed to process who it was that was talking to him. 'S-Sephiroth? Dear god! He's talking to me! What the fuck do I do?!' Cloud panicked inwardly as he felt his body heating up on the outside. Dear god, he better not be blushing.
"I didn't mean to scare you or anything. It's just that I saw you standing outside the classroom door and thought that maybe you weren't coming in because I was already here." Sephiroth explained himself as Cloud continued to panic.
'Oh great! Now he either thinks that I'm an idiot for just standing outside the classroom for a good couple if minutes or that I don't like him because I decided to walk away. Great going Cloud!'
Blue eyes widened slightly after his internal self-bashing that occurred inside his head. "N-no! Err….it wasn't you or anything. I just thought that maybe you wanted to have the classroom to yourself so maybe I shouldn't bother you…err…not that I mean that you're somehow selfish or anything…I just err…um…" Cloud trailed off when he realised that he was babbling nonsense and making a complete fool out of himself in front of his crush. It only made things worse when he heard Sephiroth let out a soft laugh. Cloud mentally slumped, as he only felt more embarrassed. ' Oh yeah. Real smooth. But at least I got to hear his laugh….but why did it have to be at me?'
Sephiroth then straightened his composure when he realised that Cloud got a little bit too quiet. "I didn't mean to offend you it's just that…well….you were quite funny when trying to defend yourself even though I took no offence at all." Shaking his head slightly, Sephiroth then turned back around and entered the classroom. "The classroom doesn't belong to me, so you are free to come and keep me company if you like."
At the unexpected invitation, Cloud head popped up faster than a bullet. 'Don't lose your cool just because you are about to sit with Sephiroth. It's only in a friendly way. Only in a friendly way.'
Repeating the mantra over and over inside his head, Cloud then answered back: "Err….sure. That'll be cool." At Cloud's response, Sephiroth gave the blond a small smile, almost causing Cloud to go tripping over his own feet. Almost. 'Dear god, he looks so beautiful. I-I can't do this! I'm gonna make a complete fool of myself!'
Starting to panic in his head again, Cloud still managed to make his way over to where Sephiroth was seated, which was in the middle of the room towards the back. Giving back a shaky smile of his own, Cloud shrugged off his bag and sat down.
"8:04." Said Sephiroth while glancing at his wristwatch. Cloud turned his attention to the other boy. "Huh?" Sephiroth let out a small chuckle. "We still have 26 minutes left until the start of school. I know that we don't really talk much during any of our classes but it's better than sitting in silence. So, do you have anything you want to talk about?" After Sephiroth had finished talking, Cloud very nearly lost his nerve. 'What the fuck is wrong with me?! Answer you chicken; Answer!!!' Cloud screamed in his head. Scanning furiously throughout his brain (which seemed to have short-circuited on him…) looking for anything to talk about, the blond came up with nothing.
"I…err…dunno." Cloud trailed off when he realised how stupid he sounded. This caused Sephiroth to let out another soft laugh, which caused Cloud's heart to skip a beat. 'I'm not going to come out of here alive.'
"Ok, how about I start? We'll begin with something easy. Hmm…what's your favourite colour?"
"My favourite colour? Blue." Cloud answered easily. 'Well this isn't so hard.' Cloud thought as he relaxed back into his seat. "Blue….I thought as much. It suits you." At the casual comment that Sephiroth made, Cloud almost fell out of his seat. 'Dear god, he didn't mean it in any other way than friendly! Pull yourself together Cloud!'
Cloud was so busy berating himself that he almost missed what Sephiroth said next. "My favourite colour is red." Cloud nodded. 'Red, huh?' It was then that an image of Sephiroth sprawled out on a bed, naked, in satin red sheets, flashed in Cloud's mind. Caught of guard, this time the blond did fall out of his seat. 'Where the hell did that come from! Not that it wasn't nice…dear god…I think I'm hard.' Still positioned on the floor with the chair under him, Cloud almost forgot that he wasn't the only one in the room, until he saw Sephiroth's face come into his line of vision. "Cloud, are you ok?" The silver-headed male said this with such concern in his voice that it caused Cloud to blush redder than a tomato. "Err….yeah! Just fine…I just fell because I was rocking back on the chair is all….guess I err…leaned back too far. Yeah." Sephiroth only raised one slim silver eyebrow at this excuse and once Cloud had seated himself properly he decided to continue with his 21 questions session.
"Ok. What's your favourite subject?" Cloud actually had to stop and think about this one. English and maths were okay he supposed, but nothing too special. Science he absolutely hated simply because of the teacher. That professor Hojo was just too creepy for words. Mentally crossing off each and every subject, Cloud finally got down to a subject, which he deemed worthy of being classed as a favourite.
"Umm….probably music, I guess." Sephiroth nodded at this. "Really?" Cloud flinched back a bit. 'What? Does he not like music?'
"Well, yeah. I mean, you don't as many restrictions as all the other lessons and I guess that music is just something I'm actually good at." Cloud said almost defensively when Sephiroth continued to give him a look. Sephiroth smirked. "No need to get defensive Cloud. In fact, if you'd like to know, music's my favourite subject too." Cloud almost grinned at this. "Really? That's cool." Cloud flinched inwardly. 'Cool? Cool?! That's all I could come up with….someone shoot me. Sephiroth must think that I'm some illiterate idiot from the stone age. Why is it that every time I'm around him, the brain fizzles to nothing?!'
Cloud groaned. "Is there something wrong?" Sephiroth asked the blond when he saw how he gradually slumped over in the chair. At this, Cloud bounced right back up like a tightly wound spring, causing Sephiroth to jump slightly. "No, no! Nothing's wrong. I'm perfectly fine! Err…..what do you….like to…do in your spare time?" Cloud asked the other boy hesitantly. "Hmmm….that's a tough one." After this statement, Sephiroth leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs at the ankles. Innocent enough gesture, except for the fact that it caused the hoodie he was wearing to rise up, exposing a fair bit of skin. Cloud's mouth promptly went dry as soon as his eyes made contact with this little snippet of heaven. 'Dear god….it looks just as smooth as I've always imagined.' Unconsciously, Cloud began to lean forward as if he was being drawn in to Sephiroth's body by some unknown force. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you look at it from Cloud's point of view) Sephiroth seemed to have finally found his answer, as he leaned forward in his chair again, causing the garment to fall back into place.
Cloud snapped back to reality as soon as this happened and then blushed crimson when he realised just what he was doing. Sephiroth however, seemed to not have noticed for he proceeded to answer Cloud's question without any hesitation.
"There are a number of things that I enjoy doing out of school but if I had to narrow it down it would probably be reading and song-writing."
'Song-writing?' Cloud blinked confusedly. "You sing?" At this, Sephiroth cast his eyes downwards causing his bangs to fall in front of his face, hiding it from view. Cloud found the motion cute. "Well, yeah…I suppose. I'm not involved in a band or anything of the sort but I do like to sing….I guess." Cloud smiled at this. 'He seems so unsure of himself now. Guess I need to remember that Sephiroth is human just like the rest of us in this shitty school. Although now, not only does he have the body of a god, but also the voice of angel.'
At that moment it seemed as if Cloud fell in love with Sephiroth all over again. Leaning forward a little bit, Cloud placed a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder gently. "Hey, I actually think that it's kinda cool." At this Sephiroth looked up as Cloud gave a tentative smile. "I mean, I like to sing too, but I bet my voice is no where as good as yours. I mean, I sound like a cat on its ninth life being strangled half to death. It's true. You can ask Zack. " At this comment Sephiroth let out a small laugh. Cloud could only smile when he realised that it was him that was causing Sephiroth to laugh.
"I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but I'll say it again, you are a funny guy Cloud." At the compliment Sephiroth gave to the blond, Cloud's heart skipped a beat. "Heh. Thanks, I mean I'm really not all that funny. It's just the truth really." Sephiroth smiled at the comment as Cloud reluctantly removed his hand from on top of Sephiroth's shoulder. 'It was a perfect fit.' Cloud whined inwardly as he watched Sephiroth lean back into his chair once again. "Anyway, you don't suppose that maybe we could…I dunno…be friends?" It was only after the question flew from his mouth that Cloud realised what he just said. 'I sound like such a nerd. He probably thinks that I'm the biggest loser on the planet after that. Way to go Cloud! You were doing so well until that dumb stunt!'
As Cloud continued to beat himself up mentally, Sephiroth contemplated on the proposal. "Sure, why not? I do quite like you Cloud." At the words that left Sephiroth's mouth, the blond's thoughts halted immediately. 'Get a hold of yourself. He didn't mean it like that!' Cloud quickly corrected himself before he got too carried away. "Really? Err…then…..that's great! How about you come and eat lunch with me and my friends today…if that's not too much to ask of course. Not that I feel that you have to come and sit with my friends just because we're friends now…I err….." Cloud trailed off when he realised how foolish he sounded. Sephiroth laughed softly. "I…err…did it again, didn't I?" Sephiroth only nodded at the embarrassed blond. "But that's okay, because I do accept your offer, Cloud." This caused the blond to ease up a bit. "Oh, that's good then. We sit on the biggest table in the back left of the cafeteria, so you know where to find us." Sephiroth nodded as reached down into his bag. When Cloud realised that the other male was pulling out his books, the blond decided to take a look at his watch.
'8: 29.' Cloud blinked as he watched the second hand go around. 'Wow, I didn't even realise that we were even talking for all that time. It went by so quickly.'
Smiling to himself once he actually realised that in the space of half an hour, he'd managed to actually sit next to and talk to Sephiroth and then become friends with him, Cloud gave himself a mental pat on the back.
'I've got to treat myself after this…..just wait until Zack finds out! He'll never believe it!'
Realising now that in within less than 1 minute, class officially started, Cloud decided to move himself back to his original seat which was in the second to front row towards the left. That way he got to stare outside the window while the teacher droned on and on about the use of similes and metaphors. Who needs them anyway?
Hearing the familiar sound of rumbling footsteps, Cloud now knew that the other students would begin to file into the classroom any time now.
'8:31.' Glancing at the door, Cloud managed to spot his best friend Zack walking through the door. Managing to make eye contact through all the other students that were now in the room, Cloud gave Zack one of the biggest grins that he could muster. Not elaborating any further than that, Cloud turned back to glance outside the window, leaving Zack feeling very puzzled about the unexpected reaction from what he once thought (and still hoped) was his sane, blond friend.
'I guess leaving my house at 7:32 wasn't such a bad idea after all.'
A/N: And there is chapter number one!! I do quite like how this came out considering it's only my second story on fanfiction…..but that's beside the point.
Umm…what else to say? Oh yeah! Please review people!! This story can only get better with your constructive criticism!!!XD