Title: Prisoners of War
Author: XpaperplaneX
Beta: urplesquirrel on LJ, aka Doom Squirrel on FF dot net
Rating: PG
Pairing: SephirothxCloud
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Yaoi
Warnings: None
Summary: Sephiroth and Cloud are coming to terms with the aftermath of their capture and torture by AVALANCHE, including a slowly budding friendship (and perhaps more?).
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII and make no money from this work.

A/N: If I was giving the chapters titles, this one would be called "I can't believe I passed fourth grade French". Which is why it's a good thing I'm not giving the chapters titles. Thanks again to Urplesquirrel and everyone who reviewed.

XXX

A big green truck pulled to a halt outside the Shinra building and Sephiroth got out of the front seat. The week-long mission had gone well; AVALANCHE was on the run and their higher-ranking members were growing few and far between. Soon they'd be nothing more than an ill-organised gang that posed little threat to anyone. Sephiroth smiled at the thought; he didn't necessarily disagree that Shinra was harming the Planet, but he would never forgive them for what they had done to Cloud. And him, he supposed. It was fairly late in the afternoon, so Sephiroth decided to just swing by his office to check in on things and then he'd take the rest of the day off.

There was a message from the science department requesting his presence, again. Hojo had been demanding that he go to the lab nearly every day for the past few weeks and Sephiroth was beginning to think that the man was just playing with him. Crumpling up the note, Sephiroth left his office and went down to the training floor. Cloud was usually there after his duties for the day were finished and Sephiroth was curious about how the boy was progressing. He glanced in through the doors of the various training rooms before spotting Cloud's distinctive blond spikes alone in one of the smaller ones. He was alone, with his back to the door, going through the basic kata with a practice sword.

Sephiroth watched the trooper's fluid movements for several minutes. His form was excellent, but Sephiroth could tell he was struggling to hold the sword with his injured hand. The tip of the sword kept dropping and Cloud was constantly readjusting his grip. Still, he kept going until one particular swing when he lost his grip entirely and the sword clattered across the floor. Sephiroth expected that he'd just pick the sword up and keep practicing and was shocked by sudden outburst of shouting and swearing from the boy. He watched as Cloud screamed and kicked the wall before collapsing against it, burying his head in his arms.

Panic flooded Sephiroth's mind; what was he supposed to do? Should he call Zack? Zack would know what to do. But Zack was out on a mission and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, he remembered. Shit. He hovered at the door of the room, debating until Cloud's shaking shoulders and dejected posture made up his mind for him. He had to do something. Bracing himself, he pushed the door open and silently walked over to Cloud.

"Cloud?" he asked cautiously.

Cloud jumped at the sound of his voice. His head flew up so quickly he cracked it against the cement wall he was leaning against. He scrambled to stand up and salute at the same time.

"It's okay, Cloud. Sit back down," Sephiroth struggled to find the words that would put the boy at ease. "Please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just worried. Will you tell me what's wrong?"

He noticed a nasty black eye and several cuts and bruises on the boy's face. Cloud was still hesitating in his half-standing position; he looked like he just wanted to run as fast as he could out of the room. With his mind working frantically to remember what Zack would do, Sephiroth sat on the floor next to where Cloud had been sitting and patted the floor. That seemed to work, at least. The trooper slid back down the wall and wrapped his arms around his knees again. Zack was of the firm belief that physical contact would always make people feel better so, despite his reservations, Sephiroth reached out a hand and laid it on Cloud's hunched back.

"What's wrong?" he asked again.

"It's nothing, sir. It's just been a rough day," Cloud didn't look up as he spoke.

"I see. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but thanks. I'm okay. I should go home."

Sephiroth could tell that Cloud was lying about being okay, and he didn't want to let him go until he found out how he had acquired those bruises. He ran quickly through his memories of Zack trying to get him to talk when he didn't want to and food seemed to feature in most of them.

"Would you like to come to dinner with me?" he asked hesitantly.

"I don't want to bother you, sir. I'll just heat something up at home." Cloud stood up and started towards the door.

"Nonsense, Cloud. Zack's not going to be there, there's no point in both of us eating alone." Sephiroth was getting desperate as Cloud got closer to the exit, "I insist." He could have smacked himself as Cloud froze like a spooked chocobo at those words. "I didn't mean that, I'm sorry. You don't have to, but I would quite like to have dinner with you. Please."

Cloud wavered a bit before turning back, "Okay. Can I go home first to get changed?"

"Of course, I need to take a shower and get changed as well so why don't we do that and meet afterwards?"

Cloud nodded and Sephiroth thought he noticed a faint red tinge to his cheeks. He picked up the fallen sword and replaced it in the racks after checking it for damage. Sephiroth wasn't quite sure why, the practice swords were hardly works of art. Shrugging, he held the door open for Cloud and wondered again at what was definitely a blush as the boy ducked through the door.

XXX

Sephiroth waited patiently in front of the elevators for Cloud; he was feeling oddly nervous and hoped that the boy hadn't changed his mind. He heard a door open off to his left and looked over to see Cloud coming out of the stairwell. Cloud took one look at him and his face turned bright red.

"I- I'm really sorry, sir," he stammered. "I'll be right back." With that, Cloud turned and ran back into the stairwell and out of sight. Sephiroth looked around, puzzled at what could have caused Cloud to run off like that. Maybe he forgot something. He decided he should at least wait near the stairs since Cloud wouldn't be taking the elevator back down. He hadn't realized that he would avoid taking the elevators, although he supposed it made sense, since Zack's apartment was only on the fourth floor.

When the door opened again ten minutes later, Sephiroth had to bite back a chuckle. Cloud had changed his outfit entirely and attempted to flatten his spikes. He was now wearing dress pants that were a little bit too short and a white button up shirt with a striped tie. Glancing down at his own outfit, Sephiroth realized why Cloud had changed and felt bad for nearly laughing. He had chosen black slacks with a green silk shirt; he supposed it was a bit dressier than Cloud's regular clothes, now that he thought about it.

"You look very nice, Cloud," Sephiroth felt a compliment was in order seeing as how he had made an effort to dress up even though he was obviously uncomfortable in the clothes.

"Th-thank you, Sephiroth. You look nice too." The blush was back and Cloud kept staring at his shoes.

Sephiroth lead the way to his car and Cloud fidgeted with his seatbelt the entire way to the restaurant. It was really odd, considering how well they had been getting along recently, that Cloud would suddenly start acting so uncomfortable. Sephiroth wondered if he had said something else wrong, but they had hardly spoken, so that didn't seem likely. When they pulled up to the front of the restaurant, Sephiroth handed his keys to the valet and turned to Cloud, who was staring slack-jawed at the building.

"Shall we go in?"

"L'Astrance?" Cloud spoke the name of the restaurant in a disbelieving tone.

"It's one of my favourite places to eat," Sephiroth stated. "Do you not like the food here?"

"No, it's not that, it's just, I can't afford to eat here."

"Don't worry about that. I invited you out, I wouldn't expect you to pay." Thinking it would take a bit more encouragement to get the reluctant trooper through the door, Sephiroth gently took hold of Cloud's elbow and steered him into the posh restaurant. Cloud followed wordlessly and stood in the foyer, blinking at the modern decor as Sephiroth spoke to the maître d'.

They were quickly ushered past the crowd of people waiting to be seated and brought to a curved booth in a darkened corner of the dining room. "Please have a seat, Messieurs," the maître d' bowed as he spoke. "Your waiter will be with you shortly. May I offer you a drink to start?"

Sephiroth ordered a bottle of his favourite wine and watched, worriedly, as Cloud stumbled over asking for a glass of water. There was definitely something off about him tonight. When the waiter arrived, he filled both of their wine glasses and left them to peruse the menus after going through the day's specials.

Cloud took a tiny sip of his wine and chased it with a larger gulp of water before looking nervously at the menu in front of him. Seeing his blank expression upon opening it, Sephiroth scooted around the bench to sit next to him. "You really are a country bumpkin, aren't you?" Sephiroth joked.

He hadn't thought it was possible, but Cloud turned an even deeper shade of red and seemed to curl in on himself. "I'm sorry, sir! I've never been to a place like this before!"

The boy looked to be on the verge of tears again and Sephiroth found himself instantly regretting not asking Zack for advice first. This was all going horribly wrong and he had no idea why. Still, he had to try and salvage the situation so he tried again, "I didn't mean it like that, Cloud. I was just kidding and I apologise if I upset you. I can help you with figuring out the menu, if you'd like. And you don't have to drink the wine if you don't like it."

Cloud looked up at him then, and attempted a smile. "I don't understand any of this," he said sheepishly. "Can you just pick something for me?"

"I can do that," Sephiroth nodded. "Is there anything you don't like?"

"No, I like pretty much everything."

"Well, this place is really well known for their roast duck dish with cherries, does that sound good?"

"Yeah, that would be fine."

"Okay, then," Sephiroth slid back around to his side of the table, "I'll get that for you and a couple of appetizers we can share."

Sephiroth placed their orders and they sat in silence for a while. Cloud was still taking the occasional small sips of his wine and looking around the dining room with a somewhat awed expression.

"You really don't have to drink the wine if you don't want," Sephiroth said.

"I know," Cloud smiled, "I don't mind it, really. I'm not used to wine, we mostly have beer in Nibelheim and Zack only ever buys beer."

"Ah, I understand. The wine will go well with your meal, I assure you."

"Thanks," Cloud smiled a bit brighter this time. "Sorry for freaking out like that, it's just been a bad day and I was expecting we'd go to a diner or something, not the nicest restaurant in Midgar. It caught me totally off guard. I'm glad I changed my clothes, though."

"It's not a problem. I must admit, I don't go to diners very often; I was always taken to places like this when the President wanted to show me off," Sephiroth tried to explain why he had chosen this restaurant.

"Didn't you ever go out to eat with your friends?"

"No, at least, not until a few years ago. I wasn't allowed to leave the Shinra Tower except on official business until after I was promoted to General and I realized that they had no way of stopping me." Sephiroth glanced around the room, "You know, I've never really noticed that this place has a dress code, but they appear to, don't they? Everyone else is dressed much nicer than us."

Cloud laughed, "They probably never say anything to you because you're General Sephiroth. You could show up in sweatpants and a tank top and they'd still let you in."

"I should try that sometime, to see what their reaction is. It could be very entertaining to offend all of high society."

The waiter appeared at their table with the appetizers and Sephiroth saw him shoot a disapproving glare in Cloud's direction, which caused him to wither once again. "I should make sure the tank top is sufficiently stained and that the sweatpants have holes worn in the seat for maximum impact," Sephiroth smiled at the boy across from him and pointedly rolled his eyes at the waiter. "Or does the 'chef d'étage'not approve?"

"It is not my place to say, Monsieur, please enjoy your meal." The waiter bowed hurriedly and rushed away from the table.

"Well, he's not getting a tip. What a rude little shit." Sephiroth was pleased to see Cloud grinning again.

He briefly explained what it was they were eating and which fork to use and watched as Cloud took a cautious bite.

"This is really good," Cloud bobbed his head enthusiastically and Sephiroth breathed a sigh of relief. At least not everything was going wrong. As they began to dig in to the appetizers, Sephiroth decided to risk ruining the good mood by broaching the subject of Cloud's breakdown and the bruises on his face.

"I know I'm not good at these sorts of things like Zack is, but are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened today?"

"I was just frustrated, that's all. I keep trying and trying but it feels like I'm not improving at all," Cloud stabbed angrily at a tomato on his plate as he spoke.

"I don't think that's true at all," Sephiroth said. "You have a hard time noticing changes because they come gradually, all the time. But I was away for a week and noticed a huge difference when I saw you. You couldn't even hold a sword before I left; now you're practicing the kata with one. That's a major improvement in my eyes."

"Yeah, but I couldn't even hold it steady."

"It's true, your hand is still weak, I noticed you needed to readjust your grip quite often. But your form was excellent and you didn't make any mistakes with the drill, that's what's really important. Your strength will come back as long as you keep practicing."

"Thanks, I know that, I guess it's just hard to believe it sometimes. Especially when I compare it to where I was before I this happened." Cloud paused, and then added, "You're not bad, you know. At cheering people up."

Sephiroth wasn't sure what to say to that, so he stayed silent. Fortunately, Cloud didn't seem to be expecting a response and the waiter interrupted once more to deliver the main course. Sephiroth fixed him with his best intimidating glare and got a feeling of sadistic glee as the man fumbled with the dishes. He noticed Cloud giggling slightly behind his hand and nearly felt like giggling himself. He could do this; he had tackled one touchy subject, now he only had one left to go.

Before he got the chance to ask, however, Cloud spoke up, "How was your mission?"

"It went quite well, I can't talk about the details of it, but it was nice to get away from Midgar for a while."

"Can you tell me where you went, or is that classified?" Cloud seemed genuinely curious.

"It was in the Corel area and we also stayed at the Gold Saucer for a day. The men quite enjoyed that. I don't really see the point to most of the attractions there, but it was a break from the lab so I appreciated the time off."

"Zack told me you've been going to the labs a lot lately."

"Hojo keeps demanding that I go," Sephiroth grumbled. "He says he's trying to find out what brought me down, allowing me to be captured, but I think, at this point, he's just toying with me."

"Then, why do you go?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth considered the question. Why was he going?

Cloud noticed his hesitation and quickly added, "You don't have to tell me, I was just curious. It doesn't seem right that you should have to do something you hate if it's not even helping you."

"You're quite right, Cloud. I can't think of any reason why I should continue going for those particular experiments. If Hojo had any hope of figuring out what was used on me, he would know by now."

"Then you should stop doing everything he says. He's got no right to experiment on you for fun," Cloud sounded remarkably indignant at the thought of someone treating him like a lab rat.

"It's not that easy, I'm afraid. Professor Hojo is the sole person in charge of my health. I have to see him to keep up with my mako treatments."

"Oh, I didn't realize that. Is there no one else who can do that stuff?"

"Not that I know of. There was another doctor for a while who worked on a similar project, but he was just as bad. Still, I'll take it into consideration. Thank you, for being so concerned about me."

"You're welcome." Cloud smiled and Sephiroth noticed him wince slightly as the largest cut on his cheek was pulled taut.

"What happened, Cloud?" he asked quietly. "Where did you get those injuries?"

"Just training, it's no big deal." Cloud was avoiding his eyes when he muttered his answer.

"Are you sure? Because they don't look like the sort of injuries you'd get training with the regular troops and Zack isn't that careless."

"Like I said, it's no biggie. I got into a bit of a fight this morning, but it was just fooling around."

"I see," Sephiroth said. It didn't appear that Cloud was willing to tell him what actually happened. He decided to drop it for now and ask Zack when he returned if he knew anything about it.

The rest of the dinner passed without incident and Sephiroth remembered to leave a note beside the tip saying it was for the kitchen staff only. He also spoke with the maître d' about his displeasure at the way his guest was treated and the man assured him it would be dealt with. He disliked people fawning over him, but he supposed that his fame could be useful at times. Cloud was bright red again when they finally left the restaurant.

XXX

Zack lazed in the back of the helicopter that was bringing him home from his mission in Wutai. It had been a stressful trip; the locals were still resentful of Shinra's presence in their country and although Zack could hardly blame them for that, it still hurt to get cursed at and have things thrown at him. The new Turk, Reno, was piloting and was doing a pretty good job. Much better than Cissnei at any rate. He hated having to fly with her behind the controls. As they were nearing the landing pad on top of Shinra Tower, Zack caught a glimpse of silver flapping in the wind. He wondered what Sephiroth was doing out there; he didn't think he'd be waiting outside unless there was an emergency. But if there had been an emergency, he would have been contacted. He checked his PHS, no messages. It was definitely weird, though.

As soon as the chopper was close enough, Zack was out the doors, landing on the tarmac with a thud. "Seph! What's going on?" he called out.

Sephiroth waved him over, "I need to talk to you, I didn't want to wait."

"Aww, ya missed me that much? I love you too, Seph." Zack attempted to throw his arms around the General but was dodged neatly.

"Can we just go?"

"Sure, my place or yours?" Zack was faster this time and got an arm around Sephiroth's shoulders. He grinned as he felt Sephiroth's inaudible growl at the contact. This sort of thing was good for him.

"Mine."

XXX

Zack cracked his beer open and flopped onto Sephiroth's white designer couch. "So what did you want to talk to me about? There's never been anything important enough that you've waited for me on the roof before."

Sephiroth sat at the opposite end of the couch and took a drink, "I simply wanted to catch you as soon as you got in. I want to ask you about Cloud."

"What about him?"

"Is he being bullied by his peers? I saw him yesterday and he had a black eye and several cuts. He would only tell me that he got in a fight but I don't believe that's true."

Zack sighed and took a long swig of beer before answering. "Yeah, he is."

"You already knew!? Why haven't you done anything about it?" Sephiroth sounded pissed.

"There's not much I can do," Zack shrugged his shoulders, "Cloud won't say who it is and I can't be with him all the time. He insists he can handle it, so I need to trust that he'll come to me if it gets really bad. Spike's tough; he won't let them walk all over him, if that's what you're thinking. He's more than a match for a few troopers who'll never get out of the regular army."

"I refuse to believe that there's nothing we can do, Zack."

"I've spoken with his commanding officer as well as some of the higher-ranked members of his platoon; they're watching out for him as best they can."

"That's it? He had been beaten up, and you're telling me 'they're watching out for him'? That's not acceptable."

"Look, Seph. I know you want to help, but Cloud doesn't want it. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a person is to let them deal with their own problems. You stepping in for him would probably just embarrass him in front of his allies."

"I… don't want to embarrass him," Sephiroth looked extremely put out. "Will you tell me if it gets worse?"

"Sure, Seph, I can do that. So you saw Spike? Didn't you only get back yesterday?"

"Yes, I went to see him after I arrived. He was frustrated by his training so I invited him out for dinner as a distraction."

Zack smirked inwardly; he had observed the two of them in secret a few times, just to make sure they were handling things all right. He had noticed them both sneaking looks each other when they thought they wouldn't be caught. Looks that implied they wanted more than a mentor-student relationship.

"How'd that go?" he asked.

"It was quite awkward, I thought. Cloud kept blushing and was acting rather oddly. I didn't understand why, though. I did eventually figure out that he was uncomfortable with the restaurant I had chosen."

"Why? Where'd you go?" Zack was beginning to get the feeling he knew where this was going. Cloud had always been pretty terrible at keeping his emotions in check.

"L'Astrance, over in Sector Six."

Zack was dumbfounded. Was Sephiroth really that clueless? "Seph," he began, "You have dated before, right? I'm not just imagining that?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sephiroth was looking just as confused as Zack was shocked.

"Yes or no, Seph."

"I've had relationships, I don't know that I'd say that I've dated. At least, not from what I know of dating. Most of the people I've been with were just looking for another notch in their bedposts. I never really felt any desire to do anything more with them," Sephiroth sounded unhappy.

"I'm sorry to hear that, man. But, um, places like L'Astrance are usually where people go on dates," seeing Sephiroth open his mouth to protest, he continued, "Or out for expensive corporate dinners. But that's probably why Cloud was acting off; he was confused about your intentions."

"I didn't mean it like that! I just wanted to take him out like you do with me," Sephiroth got off the couch and started pacing, sounding terrified at the misunderstanding. "You always take me out to dinner when I'm feeling stressed so I thought I could do the same with Cloud. I wanted to help him."

"Calm down, Seph," Zack said. "It's not the end of the world. Was he uncomfortable for the whole dinner?"

Sephiroth paused mid-stride, "No. He relaxed once we got the menu sorted out and then he seemed to have a good time. He still blushed a lot and he got really flustered when I walked him to your apartment."

Zack laughed, "He was probably wondering if you were going to kiss him or not."

"I wouldn't do that, Zack!"

"Would you want to?"

"What!?" Sephiroth sounded so astonished that Zack couldn't help but laugh even harder.

"Would you want to kiss him? I know you like hanging out with him, I'm just wondering if you're interested in him as more than a friend."

Zack wasn't sure if he had every seen anyone blush that badly before. Yep, Seph definitely liked his Spiky.

"I- I-," Sephiroth was truly at a loss for words so Zack decided to throw him a bone.

"Because it's okay if you are, he likes you too, you know."

Sephiroth continued looking appalled while he stammered.

"And I don't know many people who would make a point of going to see someone right after they got back from a long mission if they just saw the person as a friend."

"It- Is it really okay?"

"As long as you're not just looking for sex from him, hell yeah, it's okay," Zack reveled in his breakthrough.

"I… don't think I am, just looking for sex, that is. I like seeing him smile and I enjoy spending time with him, just talking. I do want to be intimate with him, but I think I want more than that. Is that what you mean?"

"Yeah, that's what I mean, don't go breaking his heart."

"Are you certain he likes me too?" Sephiroth was daring to add a note of hopefulness to his voice.

"I'm certain. You'll have to take things slow, but he does like you. Look, I'm having Aerith over next Saturday to celebrate his birthday. Cloud doesn't want anything big so we're going to have cake and watch movies. Why don't you come too? If you pay attention to how he acts around you, you can see for yourself. You can also 'test the waters' so to speak, while we're watching the movies, if you want."

"Yes, I'd like to come, very much. But, what do you mean by 'test the waters'?"

"Just try making a bit of physical contact with him, see how he reacts. We've only got one couch and it doesn't take much to brush up against someone when four people are squashed on it."

Sephiroth nodded slowly, "I see. It won't scare him, after what happened?"

"You touch him fairly often already, don't you? When you're showing him something while you're training or you want to get his attention. This is just going a little bit further. He'll pull away if he doesn't like it."

"Okay, I'll try. If you're sure."

"I'm sure, Seph. I'm sure. Now I'm going home to take a shower and a nap; I'm beat." Zack stood up off the couch and showed himself to the door. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Zack."

"It's no problem, I'm happy to help," Zack walked out of the apartment wearing a grin that stretched from ear to ear.