He's The One
Summary: Cloud is not like other cadets and that causes trouble, but nobody cared until the big guys upstairs paid a visit and Genesis found something he wasn't looking for. A puppy of his own.
THIS IS SLASH! You have been warned.
A/N: I own nothing.
0
Making First Tsurugi was much more difficult and delicate than designing her. The incredible lethality that came with a weapon composed of multiple different types of swords meant it was a slow process to make each and every sword to Cloud's design specifications, and Loki was a perfectionist. First Tsurugi would be a weapon unlike any other, but they would have to finish making her before they died of old age.
Cloud left Loki's at three in the morning, having finished the last mould out of the collection of moulds for his sword, and was busy calculating how many hours of sleep he would get that night. It has been like this for the past week. The blonde hated the idea of liking anything about Mako and Jenova cells but they did mean he could function at lot longer without optimum levels of sleep.
He trudged his way back inside the ShinRa building, mind pulling him towards his soft and warm bed. With a heavy sigh, he got inside the elevator and leant against the railing, trying not to drift off before he got to Zack's floor. He dimly registered the stomach-turning pull of the elevator stopping, but the shiver of ice tingling down his spine had him straightening up and alert in seconds. The doors of the elevator slid open and Cloud's eyes quickly fell away from the figure on the other side, gluing themselves to the wall.
"What are you doing out of bed?"
Genesis strode into the elevator and took up the space next to the tired Third Class. He looked disapprovingly at Cloud, who kept his eyes averted stubbornly.
"Could ask the same of you," the blonde replied testily. He wasn't quite as over Genesis' distance as he thought he was; now they had come face to face.
"Paperwork. I doubt your excuse is as acceptable. Vandalising things again?"
Cloud flinched. Tseng had informed him of that meeting and its results. He wasn't exactly happy with Genesis, and using that information against him wasn't something he expected Genesis to do. Fury sparked low in his gut. Cloud was so tired, his self-control frayed and thin, and he didn't think as he whirled on Genesis. Blue eyes met darker ones, and Cloud hissed at him in a low voice.
"I don't think you really care."
Genesis' eyes sparked and Cloud felt a dreadful sense of victory at hurting the older man. Within the next second, Cloud was pushed away from his leaning position and up against the elevator wall, his feet dangling off the ground. He still felt the sense of victory but it wasn't for vindictive reasons anymore, he'd seen Genesis move. He'd never have been able to stop him, but he saw it coming long enough to school his face into a disaffected mask. A small victory.
Genesis' eyes were spiting fire, his grip tight on Cloud's biceps – he'd have bruises by tomorrow. The redhead man growled low and bitterly.
"I do care. I care about everything that happens to you and in regards to you. I cared before it was even my job to care, when you were talent gone to waste because of those fucks that hit you. What I do not care for is my protégé going to someone else – best friend or not – to teach him swordplay. I do not care for my job being handed off to someone else, for you to be handed off to someone else."
Cloud might have forgiven Genesis then, hearing the hurt in his voice and the determination to have Cloud hear his meaning, but the blonde was hurting himself and was not capable of forgiveness. There was too much left to say for that.
Cloud met his mentor's expression with one of equal pain and determination. He was so angry with Genesis, for avoiding him, for leaving him to work it all out for himself. He'd just pushed everything out for the mission's sake, but the anger hadn't gone away.
Cloud moved his face closer, eyes boring into the elder man's.
"You would have said no," he spat.
"You should have still asked!"
"You weren't around to ask!"
Genesis' hands clenched tightly on his arms, before the man dropped him and stepped back. Cloud rubbed his arms distractedly and checked the level they were on. They'd missed Zack's floor.
Cloud glanced at Genesis, who was looking away.
"I thought I was okay…"
Genesis looked up as Cloud started to talk. The blonde's voice was quieter now, but no less raw.
"I thought I'd let you deal with whatever and we'd be fine, but we're not."
"Cloud –"
"No, you don't get to just leave me! I get that you have reasons and I get that I am probably very difficult to work with, but you're supposed to teach me. I have Mako now! I can break bones just by grabbing someone too hard, and you're not even there to teach how to keep it under control."
The floor Genesis had selected was coming up. The man himself was looking as tired and strung out as Cloud felt, but far less emotional.
Cloud quietened again.
"You're upset because I went to someone else…I'm upset I even had to in the first place."
The elevator stopped and Genesis held an arm over the door. He gestured with his head to Cloud 'get out.' Cloud narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Come on."
Genesis wasn't giving him a choice. Cloud huffed in defeat, thought absently of his bed, and followed his mentor to his apartment.
0
The sound of a cup hitting the coffee table was deafening in Genesis' quiet apartment. Cloud was curled up on the end of the couch, eyes tracking his mentor's every movement from setting the cup of tea in front of the blonde to the armchair he was sitting in.
Genesis curled up in his own chair, careful not to jostle his own mug of tea, and looked at Cloud, who was reaching for his drink. Cloud stared into the mug and silence reigned.
"Does that mug have the secret to a better relationship?"
"No, it has the secret to ignoring you long enough that you let me go back to my room."
The Commander laughed into his mug, "You should look up the definition of ignoring."
Cloud glowered at the TV. "Speaking to you does not mean I recognise your presence as one of importance."
"Yes, it does."
"Piss off, Genesis, I'm still mad at you."
"Well, you're going to have to get over it if I'm going to teach you."
Cloud froze. He needed Zack to teach him how to use his sword, Genesis would never agree to it. In this, Genesis could not and would not help. This night had taken a massive detour from where he expected it to go and he had no idea how to get it back on track. Genesis would want to know why he wanted to learn to use a Buster sword, how many more lies could he get away with? He may have to do something he never intended to get out of this one.
"You're not going to teach me."
Genesis raised his eyebrows but was apparently over being offended. "The document that you signed says otherwise."
Cloud raised his eyes to meet Genesis' gaze. "The avoidance and fight in the elevator says otherwise."
"It seems like you're trying to start another one," Genesis stated calmly, sipping his tea, "I'm your mentor, not Zack."
Cloud glanced at the door. He had two options, he could stay and sink to lowest level not inhabited by Hojo or he could leave and hope he got away before Genesis caught him. He looked back at Genesis and saw the determination written on his face, he decided it was worth trying to avoid the first option. It was a bad idea for both of them.
Cloud stood. Genesis arched a red eyebrow and put his mug back on the table.
"I'm leaving."
Genesis sighed and unfolded his limbs from the chair. He took at step towards Cloud, who matched him with a step backwards. Genesis took another step forwards as Cloud frowned and turned away. He walked towards the door, ignoring the man at his back.
He was reaching for the handle when Genesis spoke, "It's locked."
He tried it anyway. Locked.
He turned around, face shifting into a dark glower. Genesis shrugged and made his way back to the armchair.
"I didn't want you leaving before we were done."
Cloud sank back down onto the couch. He was so fucked.
"So, are you going to propose a changeover?"
Cloud looked up sharply, his glower being replaced by confusion. Genesis was expectant, sipping his tea and waiting for Cloud to answer.
"What does that mean?"
"Are you going to ask for Zack to be your mentor?"
Genesis was carefully guarded as he asked the question, yet somehow alarmingly open. Cloud could tell that he would protest and fight if Cloud said yes, a far cry from what everyone had said of the Commander before he met Cloud. The blonde hung his head; he was going to the seventh hell for what he was about to do. Nothing ever managed to work out without someone getting hurt.
Cloud slide up to the other end of the couch, closer to Genesis, and stood. He took Genesis' mug from his hands and put it on the table. The third class protégé stood in front of his mentor and took a mental deep breath.
"I don't want to," Cloud reached out and braced his hand on Genesis' shoulder. The body beneath his palm froze, but Cloud didn't stop. He placed his knees in the space unoccupied by Genesis' legs and body on the side of the armchair. He let his weight rest lightly on Genesis' thighs, feeling shame course through him as he heard the sharp intake of breath from the other man.
"I don't want to," he repeated, letting his hand slide from shoulder to chest and the other brace against the back of the armchair, "but I don't feel for you what a student should."
Forget the going to the seventh hell; he was on target for a reserve seat, front and centre in the pit.
Not wanting to know what Genesis was showing in his eyes about this display, Cloud closed his and leant in. The Commander's lips were warm and, as careful as Cloud was in keeping the kiss under control, he couldn't stop himself dragging his tongue across the bottom one before pulling away. He didn't pull back far, just enough to breathe and remain in control. What his body wanted, what he wanted, they were not considerations tonight. He had to stay in control.
He leaned back in, brushing his lips across the other's before sealing them together. He couldn't kiss Genesis the way he wanted to, deeply and passionately. His control slipped when Genesis began to kiss back and he inhaled through his nose and his mouth slipped open. Cloud made a noise of discontent at the back of his throat and tried to regain control of the kiss and shut his mouth; the addition of Genesis' tongue would send his control flying out the window.
Genesis pulled back at the sound, and Cloud tried to pretend he wasn't lightly panting. Genesis looked at Cloud with such concern that the blonde struggled to breathe past the shame that took a hold of him. One non-gloved hand was resting on the third class' cheek, the thumb stroking slowly.
"Don't force yourself, Cloud. Don't feel you have to do this."
Cloud's next breath came out shaky and he turned his head towards the hand of his cheek and kissed the palm, eyes returning to Genesis as he shifted back. Genesis' smirked at the blonde and the hand that was holding Cloud's back shifted him further down Genesis' thighs, so he wasn't in danger of falling off.
"If this is what you want then," Genesis said, voice warm and oddly affectionate. Cloud's self-control melted away to nothing at that tone. It was terrifying the power this man had over him, the things Cloud would let him do just to hear that tone again. The blonde closed the space between them desperately, not even bothering trying to salvage the control, which lay in a puddle somewhere in the inside of his skull.
Cloud pushed himself against the other man, trying to put as little space between them as possible, and kissed forcefully. Genesis was usually the one displaying fiery passion in these circumstances, but something told them all was not right with his partner and so he kissed softly. He soothed Cloud's frenzy to something gentler, stroking the blonde's back and making Cloud tremble. Tongues twined together, and a hand raked through Cloud's unruly hair. Cloud's hand had moved back onto Genesis' shoulder where it tightened uncomfortably. Genesis bore with pain, until the moment when he nipped Cloud's bottom lip playfully and the hand gripped in such a way that Genesis was almost sure he felt his bones grind together.
Pulling away, he enjoyed the sight of Cloud's flushed skin and saliva slicked lips. His moved is hand from his protégé's back to his arm and up to his wrist.
"Sweetheart, would you mind?"
Cloud blinked, his breathing laboured, and he focused his attention on his wrist. He noticed the tight grip on Genesis shoulder and unclenched his hand, reeling away from the elder man. Genesis wrapped an arm around the third classes waist before he tipped himself backwards and fell off Genesis' lap.
"I'm sorry," the blonde whispered, cradling his hand with guilty concern. Blue eyes flitted away from Genesis' face to rest somewhere off to the side. Genesis wasn't sure what to say to make Cloud feel better, but he didn't like the look on the blonde's face. With an understanding smile, he pulled Cloud back down and gave his head a quick peck before resting them together, tracing patterns on the other's back.
"It's fine."
Cloud shook his head, his eyes drifting to Genesis before closing.
"It's not. Please teach me, I need you to –"
Cloud broke off as he opened his eyes and shifted his weight, settling himself more fully on the other. He looked to Genesis, his cheeks flushed and if Genesis looked up his uniform he'd bet his chest was too, and his eyes were brimming with a mix of desire, guilt, and fear.
"Please, teach me to control it."
Genesis knew there was no coming back from this. Cloud had him and while Genesis had Cloud, he wasn't letting go without a fight.
0
Thought you wonderful people deserved a bit of what I promised, don't worry there is more to come. Enjoy it…while it lasts…
Hope you had fun.
Tawny.