Disclaimer: I do not any of the canon characters, the places, or anything to do with the FFVII universe, the only thing that is mine is the writing.

"Oh yes?" Even in his mortification, Cloud couldn't help but feel soothed by the calm, wonderful tone of the silver-haired man's voice. There just was something disconcerting about the way he managed to wipe away his worries.

"Yeah, just told me! I told him it's pretty cute and al-"

"Zack. I do not need to hear you fawning over this trainee, not when he is looking at you like you did him the world's greatest favour." There was a somewhat sharp edge to Sephiroth's edge and it came crashing down on Cloud that the man hadn't bought Zack's cover up. There was a rather acute moment of panic, his mind scrabbling for some excuse, something that would satisfy the man but Zack came to his aid, his ever loyal friend. It seemed time and dimensions could not damage the friendship they had.

"Oh come on! It's not as if he needs to tell you all about the ailments he gets when training with me, now does he? I mean he was just telling me about thi-" This time, it was Cloud that shut the man up with a firm smack. It might have been more convincing if he hadn't been clinging on the man for dear life, his thighs quivering and even this holding on was starting to make his arms want to give out, made him want to drop to the ground and just sleep. Of course some of that elation seemed to be because now, Sephiroth finally backed off from the questions. It was quite clear his curiosity wasn't sated, but he would not pry more, for now. Cloud was quite sure the General was only waiting for a moment when he was alone.

"Anyway now that you're here, how about you take this lump of chocobo back to the apartment? Make sure he gets fed, showered and rested. I'm gonna go see my very own slave driver."

There was an unsettling little wink at the end of Zack's departing words as he all but shoved Cloud to Sephiroth before walking off, his stride a bit more confident and happy than what Cloud would have liked. Except his brain was having trouble concentrating on anything else but the fact that it was pressed up against the man of his desires and said man was holding his sweaty body to him like he weighed nothing. He still hadn't said anything, only kept him standing but slowly, he turned his head to watch him with those green eyes of his.

"Is there anything you wish to divulge with me, Strife?" There was a warning edge to the question and the blonde was forced to swallow, feeling quite nervous.

"Nothing you don't already know," he squeaked, his voice still breathless from the exertion. "Could you just… get me back to the apartment? I stink. For the second time today."

The evasion of the question made the body against his tense but the man obligingly turned around and took him out of the gym, making sure that Cloud was still walking on his own two feet, even if he was leaning quite heavily. Feeling drawn out and quite thoroughly beat up by the fact that he had been pounded into the ground quite many times that day he was all too happy to take all the support he could. Once they entered the apartment, he was expecting Sephiroth to let go of him, to leave him to his own devices but did he ever do as was expected?

Leading him to his bedroom, the General was quick to rid him of his clothes and Cloud found himself far too tired to even object. When had he given permission for the man to be this friendly with him? This man that was proving to be quite different from the Sephiroth his memory kept supplying with him. It was one of the reasons for the constant headache: trying to determine how different he was. Here he seemed to have a sense of humour, a sense of humility and empathy but at the same time Cloud was afraid of seeing the possible change, the possibility of him turning into something horrible at the sight of false documents.

Apparently, he had fallen deep into thought again as he was roused by the cold shower of water, a shriek leaving him as he practically jumped out of his skin. Glaring at the man in front of him, Cloud found himself realising the very real situation he was in yet again. Naked, in the shower, with the General watching him.

"I can wash myself, you know," he said with mild annoyance, to which the General replied with a furrowing of his brow before he shrugged and walked out of the bathroom and subsequently, the bedroom, leaving Cloud alone. The blonde might have sighed in relief, if there hadn't been that small sense of loss to have him leaving, to have him walking out those doors. What if he never came back? What if he went to Nibelheim without him? What if he came back just to kill hi-

A rough shake of his head and a very determined decision to change the water temperature to freezing were used to make him stop that train of thought. An odd stinging always came up whenever he got agitated and it disturbed him, wanting to know the cause but at the same time, he was too afraid to look into the mirror, afraid of what he might encounter, of what he might see in himself. What if all of his miseries hadn't miraculously disappeared?

An exasperated growl left him as he washed himself with fury, digging his nails a bit too hard against his scalp, scrubbing his body free of sweat and grime a bit too violently. But as he stepped out, shivering from the cold water, he felt much better. Reaching for his towel, he wrapped it around his hips and stepped back into the bedroom, surprised to find his very own pair of sweats on the top of the bed and slowly he realised that Sephiroth must have been the one to get him his belongings from the barracks. Apparently, it had been very much decided that he would be moving in and in that very moment, Cloud found that it was the safest way to go. Of course he hadn't taken into account the frequency of his nightmares and the fact that every single person in the apartment slept with a weapon underneath their pillow, waking up at the slightest odd sound.

Drying his hair, the blonde was quick to jump into the clothing, the familiar feeling of his own clothes more than a bit soothing and now that he felt better, he also felt more prepared to meet Sephiroth. He doubted he would ever be able to rid of the cartwheels his heart always made when that small ghost of a smile curled those lips but he could always try to pretend he didn't affect him. No such luck, since the man was in the kitchen, looking very domestic as he was frying something in the frying pan, leaving Cloud feeling like a burden.

"Are you sure I did not disturb any work?" He asked meekly, only to receive a somewhat sharp glance from the man that made him almost scream and run for the hills.

"No. Your fancy of me does not mean I am going to shirk my duties," he replied almost coldly, making Cloud blink in confusion.

Sitting down, the blonde settled down to stare at the General, even as he wondered just what the reason he was getting the cold shoulder was. And then he realised, that Sephiroth seemed to react quite huffily to being left out of the loop and he couldn't help the amused huff. He knew the tall man was intrigued by the sound, but Sephiroth simply couldn't turn around to question him and so, Cloud decided to brave himself. There was nothing to fear in this man. This man was safe, this man made him feel calm and so, he walked up behind him.

"You should stop worrying," the blonde said almost softly, a somewhat tentative hand settling onto his shoulder as he made his way to his side, almost weaselling his way into his arms. "It's nothing. I promise. I might divulge the secrets of my body later but for now, you're just going to have to wait." A few moments of silence followed, only for Sephiroth to finally relax, a soft, almost inaudible laugh leaving him as he finally gave in. Shiva's tits, that had been a gamble but it had paid off. For once, Cloud had gambled with this man and actually ended up winning.

Except of course now that he had the man's attention, there was always the rather awkward situation that put him in. He ached to arch up against him but thankfully, Sephiroth was there to gently push him away from the stove as he turned it off, only to lift him up onto a nearby counter.

The kiss was hasty, impatient, with the eagerness of a new couple and Cloud wasn't quite certain who had started it, but he didn't care, not when calm fell over him yet again. It was almost selfish of him to kiss the man, after all it made him feel almost serene. Albeit the serenity was rattled when those strong hand found their way down his back to his bottom, pulling him closer to the edge so that their hips were touching. A soft gasp left the blonde as their clothed erections brushed against each other and he couldn't help but buck up again him.

So enthralled was he that he didn't hear the door, but what he most certainly heard was the grocery bag dropping followed by a very annoyed and mortified: we make our food on that table!

It was like a bucked of cold water on Cloud and he pulled back, gasping and blushing heavily just to see Zack staring and pointing at them, as if he had never seen a pair of men kissing. Angeal was behind him, hovering, looking more amused than anything else. It seemed that Cloud and Zack were the only ones, however, to feel at all bothered by the situation. In fact, Sephiroth was quite happy to lean down and press a lingering, promising kiss onto his lips before he moved away from between Cloud's thighs, leaving him there to blush and pant softly.

"I gotta say, blondie! You're damn quick in your moves. Just told me you fancy him and now you're eating his face?" Zack's voice had become teasing, the smirk on his lips absolutely merciless and Cloud could only mentally groan as he dropped off of the counter, thanking his feet for having gained some stability.

"Fuck off, Zack," he muttered almost moodily, albeit it was all ruined by the brilliant blush on his cheeks. As he sat down by the table, he could hear Zack whispering something to Angeal, only for the duo to burst out laughing.

Thankfully, Sephiroth chose that moment to slide a plateful of food in front of him, the scent of fried rice, vegetables and beef quite quick in diverting his attention as he began devouring food yet again. He had wondered sometimes just why SOLDIERS got paid so much but now, as he realised the amount of food he so easily consumed, he wasn't in the slightest surprised anymore. Half of that money, minimum, must have gone into food.

He seemed to have gotten lost into his thoughts again, since he jumped as Sephiroth settled beside him to eat as well, only for Zack and Angeal to settle down as well. Apparently Genesis had yet to make an entry but for that, Cloud was quite happy. To him it had always seemed Genesis had been a bit too fixated on the silver-haired General and in a way, it made Cloud feel quite threatened. After all, the man in red was quite a bit more formidable than he was and it was unsettling. Cloud had never thought he would be jealous but it seemed that Sephiroth was having somewhat odd effects on him.

They might have agreed to go slow but Cloud's mind seemed to be hell-bent on plunging him into the deepest pits of despair as soon as possible. There was the real probability that Cloud was falling quite heavily in love with the General. And the reactor in Nibel hadn't even acted up yet.

"Say Spiky… Interested in a mission?" Zack asked, almost conversationally, making Cloud look up at him questioningly. It wasn't exactly a question one should have asked someone that could barely go through basic katas with the standard-issue Shinra sword but he humoured the man, nodding his head slightly, inviting him to continue since Zack looked like he was going to burst.

"Well. There's this mission in Nibelheim-" Oh Shiva, here we go. "-and we thought, since you've been so gloomy and all, that you might be homesick!"

"I don't thi-"

"Too late, you're already signed up!"

Cloud's feelings were a mess. He was staring at the black-haired man with somewhat unreadable eyes before he let out a somewhat fake laugh, shaking his head. Of course Zack had signed him up. Why couldn't he have been able to have these moments of ease, these moments of bliss for a while? He tried not to sound defeated as he finally replied, the silence getting too heavy, the entire table waiting for his reply, wondering why he seemed reluctant to leave.

"When are we leaving?"

Author's Note: Soo… I dropped off the grid for a while, but I've decided I'm going to make a comeback! A strong one at that. Or atleast.. I'll try to do so. As always, your reviews are highly appreciated!