Title: Handle With Care
Chapter 3/4: It's What Good Toys Do
Author: XpaperplaneX
Beta: Urplesquirrel
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~3100
Characters: Sephiroth and Cloud
Genre: AU, friendship
Warnings: angry!Cloud swears a lot, canon timeline has been thoroughly ignored, read the bolded part of the author's note of chapter one.
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII and make no money from this work.
Summary: Cloud had no idea how his life would change on the day he was sent to deliver some papers to the former general Sephiroth's office. A mistaken identity turns his world upside down.

A/N: This is all pointless rambling. Thank you again to everyone who reviewed. I failed horribly at replying and I'm very, very sorry about that, but I read and loved everyone's reviews. I still can't quite believe the response this has gotten, but I'm incredibly happy! I've been all inspired to work on the sequel and wrote about a million words yesterday. I'm thinking that some of those words ought to have been the paper I'm supposed to write on my exchange, which was due like two weeks ago, but ah well. This chapter's a bit short. I thought I had divided them up pretty evenly, but I have been known to have trouble counting to two depending on the time of day, so I suppose it's to be expected. But there's some backstory in this chapter, so that should totally make up for it.

The last chapter will be up at some point on Sunday (or Saturday for those of you in North America land), unless I have a panic attack and haven't packed at all, in which case, it may end up waiting until after I get home. Hopefully not though, because tin cans fall out of the sky like tin cans full of rocks. All the time. Gravity's a bitch like that. But I have moose legwarmers, so assuming I survive flying, I won't get tasered in Vancouver because no one but a proper English-speaking Canadian would wear moose legwarmers. (My mom says I can't wear a note saying that I can easily be taken in a fight, so there's no need for tasering. She's no fun at all.)

XXX

Cloud grabbed a cart and Sephiroth's hand as they walked into the grocery store, not wanting to lose him. Not that he'd be hard to find, but still. "So what do you feel like having for dinner tonight? I can cook just about anything, though I may have to find a recipe."

"I... I don't know. I'm supposed to order."

"Yeah, I know, but don't you get sick of having pretty much the same meal every night?"

"I do get sick of it, but..."

"Don't worry, you won't get in trouble. Cooking is one of my functions. Why don't we take a look around and see if anything catches your eye?"

"All right." Sephiroth smiled at him and squeezed his hand. They perused the aisles; it turned out that a lot of things caught Sephiroth's eye, but he never got upset about being told to put things back. He did let Sephiroth get a few treats; how long had it been since anyone had let him have a chocolate bar? He doubted those ever came with the catered meals.

When Sephiroth came to a dead stop at a small crate of ridiculously overpriced apples, Cloud tried to just usher him along, but he refused to move.

"Are these special apples?" he asked. They did look weird, kind of purplish and white. Cloud wasn't quite sure he would want to eat an apple that colour.

"Dumbapples."

"Is that what they're called?" Cloud was getting a bit worried now; Sephiroth looked like he was about to cry.

"They liked them. We always used to eat them together. There was a story one of the fanclubs ran. It was all made up, but... I read it now sometimes. If I think about it hard enough, I can almost believe it was true."

"Who are they?" Cloud picked up Sephiroth's arm and draped it over his shoulder, giving him a hug.

"A—Angeal and Genesis. They're gone now."

Cloud had heard of them. Angeal was stationed in Fort Condor and Genesis was assigned to Junon. For people like them, with money and access to transportation, that was hardly gone. "Are they your friends?" He would have rather asked if they were his friends.

"Yeah. Best friends. Until... they don't visit anymore."

"You've got me now, Sephiroth. You're not alone. Let's keep looking. Why don't we get some oranges? Those look nice."

"I like oranges."

"Okay, then. Let's get some of those." Cloud grabbed a big bag and put them in the cart. "What else...? How about we have hamburgers tonight? Bet the catering company doesn't do those very often."

"No, I don't remember ever having hamburgers from them. Can they have lots of barbeque sauce?"

"Sure thing!" Cloud said cheerfully, glad he had successfully distracted Sephiroth from the unpleasant memories of his friends who apparently abandoned him. He needed to find out more about that, but he didn't want to force Sephiroth to talk about it, especially not in the middle of a store.

XXX

"I should tell you, I've never actually made hamburgers from scratch before," Cloud said as he shook some paprika onto the beef, hoping it wasn't too much. "I've only ever watched, um, people make them." He supposed toys didn't have mothers; it would only cause confusion to bring up his.

Sephiroth grunted, barely looking up from the onion Cloud had set him to chopping. He was doing a good job of it; if Cloud gave him instructions, he followed them to the letter. All Cloud had to do was make sure he had a cutting board and the right knife. That wasn't hard.

"Well, even if they're terrible, if we add enough sauce, we won't taste them. Do you like cheese on top?"

"Yes!"

"All right, we'll do cheeseburgers." Cloud nearly giggled as he realised that he was in General Sephiroth's kitchen, cooking cheeseburgers for him. Well, he wasn't a general anymore, but...

Cloud didn't know the details of what had happened to him, but he knew that it happened in Nibelheim. The three famous firsts and a few lower ranked SOLDIERs had come into town to deal with a problem they were having with monsters coming from the reactor near town. He had been in such awe of them. They marched through town with their huge swords and billowing coats, exuding nothing but pure confidence in their abilities. They had laughed and joked amongst themselves while Cloud had watched from the sidelines. It seemed so long ago now, but it was only... what? A year and a half or so ago?

A few days had passed before the fighting began. Talk was all over town about how the SOLDIERs were fighting amongst themselves, arguing over what to do about something they had found in the reactor. A few days after that and they were leaving. Only Sephiroth wasn't with them. He had watched from behind the water tower as the SOLDIERs left, hoping for one last glimpse of the Silver General. Cloud found out later that Sephiroth had been evacuated on a medical helicopter. There was never anything in the news about him after that, only Angeal and Genesis, so Cloud had figured he had died. It had come as a huge surprise when he got to Midgar and learned that his idol was still alive. And now... now he was making sure Sephiroth had the blade of the knife pointing down when he started chopping. What had made him change?

Not that it mattered. The Sephiroth here and now needed him. That made him feel pretty special.

Cloud slapped his last patty down on the plate and found a big frying pan under the stove. "All right, let's get cooking! Can you slice up some cheese for me?"

"Sure." Sephiroth nodded eagerly, looking excited about the prospect of a home-cooked meal. To tell the truth, Cloud was too. The catered stuff Sephiroth had was definitely better than the cafeteria food cadets ate, but it still couldn't beat something fresh off the stove.

"There's scissors here, Sephiroth," Cloud said, seeing that Sephiroth was trying to open the cheese package with a knife. "And I saw you had a cheese slicer; I love those things. Make it so much easier."

Sephiroth looked a bit surprised to find the knife in his hand, but set it down and got the scissors. He looked rather lost after he got it open, so Cloud grabbed the slicer out of the drawer for him.

Cloud tried to prod a little bit more information out of Sephiroth while they ate, but it was tough keeping him focused on a conversation when he was devouring hamburgers like he hadn't eaten in a week. Apparently they had turned out all right. So he waited until after they had cleaned up the dishes and were settled on the couch, in Sephiroth's favourite spot for him, to ask him more.

"So what kind of stuff are you doing for Shin-Ra now? You've got your papers from the science department – ugh. What else do you do?" Cloud was snuggled up in Sephiroth's arms, feeling rather warm and safe.

"I go on missions. Only ever in the city or in the outskirts. Never long ones. I fight monsters that attack Midgar."

"Wow, that's pretty neat. But... where's your sword, then?"

"They took Masamune away," Sephiroth said, sounding a bit like he was saying they had taken his child away. "They give her to me right before I start my missions and take her away again when I'm done. Same with materia."

"They don't trust you..." What hadn't Shin-Ra taken away from him? He supposed it should be counted as a blessing that he still had a roof over his head.

"I – I don't think so."

"Well, they trusted you enough to give me to you, that's something."

"Yeah, I'm happy they did that." Sephiroth smiled, then leaned over and licked Cloud on the cheek.

"Hey!" Cloud laughed as he felt himself blush. That was probably never going to get old. "I'm happy they did too, but enough licking!"

Sephiroth pouted at him, but went back to petting his hair.

"So what else do you do?"

"I... I have to fight programs in the training room a lot. To gather data, they say. It's fun."

"Good. That's nice that you get to have fun. Do you ever work with other people?" Cloud asked that knowing that he probably already knew the answer, and that it would probably hurt Sephiroth to have to say it, but he needed to know for sure.

"No," Sephiroth said flatly.

So he spent his entire life either in his office, his apartment, or fighting, all of it alone. How could Shin-Ra just throw him away like this? It wasn't right. Sephiroth was their hero; he made Shin-Ra into what it was and now they had just tossed him aside. Cloud sighed and pressed himself closer to Sephiroth's chest. "I'll help get things sorted out for you, sir. That's what good toys do." Cloud wasn't sure if he had even said it loud enough for Sephiroth to hear, but he was squeezed a bit tighter and heard a soft sniffle.

XXX

Cloud spun around in Sephiroth's big office chair, feeling bored and lonely. It was hard to believe that three weeks had passed since Sephiroth adopted him as his toy. It seemed like such a short time, and yet, it felt like they had been together for ages. Version seven of the Cloud the Chocobo manual was lying on the desk where Sephiroth had left it after being called out for a mission in the slums. This one was all just minor updates; they had all the big issues sorted out by version five, but Zack was still really good about checking in on them and making sure things were all right. The manuals were even beginning to look like proper product manuals now, not just a stack of papers stapled together.

"Ugh. Come back quickly, Sephiroth," Cloud whined, dropping his head down on the desk. It had been weird at first, always having someone in his personal space when he was so used to there being no one, but now he couldn't stand it when Sephiroth was gone. He wished he was feeling brave enough to go down to the break room to grab a cup of coffee, at least, but it sounded pretty busy out there. The SOLDIERs were obnoxious when he was alone. Zack had told them that he and Sephiroth weren't having sex – or rather that he wasn't getting fucked by Sephiroth, because of course they thought that no one would choose to sleep with him – Cloud shook his head in disgust at their ignorance. It hadn't made a difference, though, and the rumours and teasing persisted.

It was only to be expected, he supposed. What else would people think about some scrawny kid being carried around constantly, always sitting on Sephiroth's lap, getting petted and fawned over. They really thought he was just a toy, and a sex toy at that.

Cloud angrily kicked the desk leg, cursing when he stubbed his toe. Why was he brooding over the only problem in his life? He didn't need their approval and he could get by just fine without their respect. He knew without a doubt that when Sephiroth came barreling down the hallway, arms wide open, ready to scoop him up into a hug, that he was where he belonged. He couldn't ask for anything more.

With that thought firmly in mind, he decided it wouldn't hurt to see if he could organise some of Sephiroth's paperwork for him. It was such a mess. He sorted through stacks of requisition forms, paystubs, memos, orders, bills, bank statements, and personnel files, separating them into their own individual piles. He separated the personal things from the company things and used different coloured folders that he found in the bottom of a filing cabinet. The newest bills, which had the overdue payments from the older bills helpfully included, got put in their own pile, and Cloud made a note to ask Sephiroth for his checkbook when he got back. Hopefully Sephiroth had enough money. He hadn't really given much thought to Sephiroth's financial situation; everything they bought was paid for in cash, and once a week they stopped at the cash point on the first floor of headquarters.

Cloud grabbed the bank statement pile and looked over them; there was money going in once a month from Shin-Ra Inc., and usually four withdrawals, one every Monday. And, Cloud frowned, there were sporadic transfers out of the account that just said 'private transaction'. Sephiroth didn't do online transfers – cash was easiest for him, and apparently none of his bills were set up for automatic payments. It wasn't chump change, either; those withdrawals were seriously cutting into Sephiroth's balance.

Frowning, Cloud reached for the paystubs; he hadn't really looked at them, but could have sworn that the amount on them had been higher than what was going into Sephiroth's account. "Those fucking bastards," Cloud breathed as he compared the numbers. Everything that was being taken out for taxes and pension was listed, along with his net pay, which was significantly higher than what was actually going into Sephiroth's account.

Cloud gathered up all his evidence, seething with rage, and marched towards the office door. He dodged just in time as it was flung open and nearly dropped the papers as Sephiroth scooped him up, squeezing him tightly.

"I'm back!"

Cloud hugged him back, putting aside his anger for the moment. "Hi! How was your mission?"

"Went great, and I got to come back early! I missed you."

"I missed you too. It's lonely here without you to keep me company. But, Sephiroth, can you give me a few minutes? I need to go talk to Director Lazard right away, and then I'll come back and you can tell me all about your mission. Is that all right? It's really important."

"Okay. Is something wrong? You're not damaged, are you?" Sephiroth gently set him down, looking worried.

"No, I'm fine. I promise. There's just something I've got to get sorted out."

"Okay, Lazard is in the briefing room, I think."

"Thanks." Cloud smiled up at Sephiroth and gave him another hug before heading towards the briefing room. Once glance at the papers in his hands was all it took to get his blood boiling again and he barged into the room without a care for who was already in there.

Three men in second class uniforms and a handful of thirds tried to protest as Cloud interrupted their briefing, but he ignored them and marched straight for Lazard, slamming the papers down on the table in front of him.

"Care to explain what the hell this is?"

"Cloud, I'm a little busy –"

"Shin-Ra is stealing from him! Shin-Ra's leeching money off his paycheck and someone's transferring funds from his account. Just because he doesn't notice doesn't give you the right to steal from him!"

"Cloud, what are you –"

"The evidence is right here. Look, here's what he's supposed to be getting every month. Here's what actually goes into his account. There's a twenty thousand gil difference! And Sephiroth only ever uses cash; these are his transactions here. But these," Cloud pointed at the mystery transactions, "These aren't him. Any automatic payments would have a company name and I know he didn't do any banking that night because we were watching horror movies all night. Someone is stealing his money and it's not a stretch to say it's someone in Shin-Ra. And it stops right fucking now, Lazard."

"I'll look into it, Cloud, see what's going on. I'll get it to stop."

"No," Cloud hissed, "I'll get it to stop. You'll get back what was taken from him."

"Cloud, I can't –"

"Why is Cloud upset?" Sephiroth's voice could have caused the windows to freeze over as the door swooshed shut behind him.

"You can," Cloud threatened. "And if you can't, you can find someone who can, because I don't think Sephiroth will be happy if you continue to make me upset." He took Sephiroth's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I want Sephiroth's entire salary given to him as a check from now on. I see no reason for him to keep a Shin-Ra bank account when someone else obviously has access to it. I'll give you copies of all his paperwork so you can work out just how much he's owed."

The SOLDIERs who had been in the meeting were staring, slack-jawed, at him as Cloud turned and gave Sephiroth's hand a tug. There was also a big crowd gathered outside the door; apparently he had been loud. Well, they had deserved it. Just when he had thought that Shin-Ra couldn't treat Sephiroth any worse, it turned out that they were stealing from him as well.

"Did you..." Sephiroth hesitantly broke the silence after they returned to the office. "Did you get angry because of me?"

"I got angry because of how they were treating you," Cloud said gently. "They're stealing money from you. Money that you work really hard to earn. I couldn't let it continue." Cloud climbed up onto Sephiroth's lap and snuggled in close. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I never noticed. I always had enough."

But not enough to save anything, and he wouldn't put it past Shin-Ra to just not let him have a pension. They planned keep him fighting for them until it killed him, Cloud was sure of it. "Don't worry, I'll get it all sorted out. I'll tell Lazard you're not coming in tomorrow and we can go to the bank and close the account you've got, and then open up a new one with Midgar Financial or something. I'll get your bills sorted out too; some of them are looking pretty angry."

"Thank you. I never thought you'd be able to help me with stuff like that. I'm not so good at it anymore."

"No worries, I can do just about anything my owner needs me to. Although everything's pretty much new to me, so I'm still learning. But we can muddle our way through. We'll help each other out."