"Well, now that she's gone–" Sephiroth started, only to be interrupted by an overanalyzing Cloud.
"Whaduya mean, 'now that she's gone?' That seems like a pretty rude thing to say. I don't like your tone of voice." He may have continued, but Sephiroth held up his hand for silence, an amused grin on his face. He had an eyebrow slightly raised, and his eyes had amusement in them that matched that of the grin.
"Now, if you'll let me finish, you'll realize that I was not intending to be rude at all. I didn't know my tone of voice would be interpreted that way." His smile got slightly less like the amused variety. "I was just commenting on that we could get some cleaning accomplished. This place is a mess, but I couldn't clean before Aeris came. I got a bit distracted. "Really, Cloud, this place looks like Zack's old apartment." His smile became one of reminiscence.
Cloud studied Sephiroth's face a bit. "You really miss him, don't you," he said. This was one thing they had in common – their friendship with the goof Zack.
"Yeah," Sephiroth replied, obviously recalling a memory. "He was such a fool, but he was good at everything he did. You couldn't hate the bugger." He shook his head, chuckling a bit. "Well, lets not get depressed or anything. You know how much Zack would hate that. Let's get cleaning," he said with finality in his tone.
That broke Cloud out of his reminiscing. "Whoa-whoa-whoah! We?" Sephiroth nodded, while putting his hair back in a loose ponytail. He used a brush to help accomplish the feat. "I don't think anything needs cleaning!"
"Oh, it does. Didn't you hear me say it looks like Zack's old apartment? I meant it. It's even a bit dustier, I believe. Aeris' looking around reminded me. She seemed hard-pressed not to clean." Sephiroth responded. Not quite true, but it would most certainly get Cloud to clean.
Cloud blushed at that statement. "She did? I didn't notice." Sephiroth chuckled at Cloud's bewildered response, and handed him a feather duster.
"Here. Dusting is a simple enough task. You can handle it, correct?" Cloud started dusting, ignoring Sephiroth's statement. "Oh, don't be that way, Cloud. That makes it boring." If Cloud had been looking, he would have seen the mischievous smile dancing on his lips. As it was, he assumed that Sephiroth was simply being mean. It was easier for him to do that. It went along with his opinion of Sephiroth.
After a few minutes of cleaning the sink, Sephiroth paused. "Maybe I should turn on the radio," he mused. "Would you mind that, Cloud?" he called.
"Nng. Whatever," was Cloud's reply. He paused and then added "One condition. No headbanging or air guitar." Sephiroth almost commented on how that seemed like two conditions, but kept his mouth shut. He just turned on the radio to his favorite rock station. Well, not his favorite precisely, but his favorite that he had discovered in this area. As he sang to it, Cloud had to admit that Sephiroth had a very good baritone voice, and Cloud's tenor went along well with it. So they both sang to keep the boredom away, Cloud not really realizing that this, in a way, was getting along. And so they continued along, cleaning and singing away.
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Aeris smiled. Her nice little plan had worked. "Nice job, planting the thought of Zack into the situation. Thanks," she commented to what appeared to be nothing at all. She had one of her sweet smiles on her face, with a touch of mischief added into it.
Anything for you, my dear child said a kindly female voice in reply. It was a voice speaking for Aeris' ears only. They really should try to both get along.
Aeris gave a knowing smile. "And they'll never suspect a thing. The topic of Zack was unfortunately a depressing one. Are you sure that we can't–" she started.
It is best this way, dear, the voice said kindly. They are strong. They'll be fine. Also, it would only cause complications. You should know that. The air warmed slightly around Aeris, like a warm embrace.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Aeris grinned ruefully. "He's such a kind guy, though. It would be so nice if it were possible." She scuffed her feet on the ground. "But it's a foolish thought of mine. It would only hurt the relationship in the making. What's over is over."
You are wise, my child. A light breeze caressed her cheek. She put her hands up to them, smiling. But perhaps one day… And at that, Aeris knew that Mother Gaia was done speaking.
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Cloud and Sephiroth were just finishing up a conversation about Zack, which a song had gotten them back onto the topic of. "I suppose we can't leave the cleaning job unfinished," Sephiroth said with a sigh when it was over. He was no longer in the mood for it, though. "But we can at least wait until tomorrow," he finished before Cloud could get a word of complaint in. "Because I don't know about you, but I think that I could use some rest now. This took longer than I expected." It was pretty late, although Sephiroth didn't know the exact time. Really he didn't want to have a grumpy Cloud in the morning.
"Mn. Thanks," Cloud muttered. He went over to the forgotten duster and put it away. He then went over to the couch, sat down, and turned on the TV to the news channel.
"Thanks to a man in a red cape, the Nibel mountains' fiend population has been seriously reduced," said the announcer. "He refuses to state his name, but said that he was only trying to 'repent for his sins.' More news on this topic is unlikely, for he seemed to be the behind the scenes kind of guy." The announcer seemed a bit perturbed by the news, but tried hard to hide it.
"Heh. That must have been Vincent. I'm surprised they actually repeated what he said." Cloud said, laughing. Sephiroth only chuckled as he sat down, going into a meditative state until Cloud was off to bed and he could sleep.
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The next morning Sephiroth got up at 5:30. Having nothing better to do so early in the morning, he decided to see what Cloud's room looked like. Cloud would never let him near it while he was awake, so it would have to be while he was sleeping. And, the door was unlocked, because Cloud didn't of course think of the possibility of such a thing happening. He didn't trust Sephiroth, but he probably didn't believe that he would invade his privacy by entering his room.
So in the room he went, not making a sound other than a slight creak of the door, because it needed to be greased. You could never trust apartment doors. But Cloud slept right through it, of course. Quietly Sephiroth closed the door, and it emitted another soft creak, and Cloud slept through that as well. He didn't get perturbed by much less than an earthquake or a Bahumaut when he was sleeping.
Sephiroth looked around. The walls were a plain sky blue. There was a twin-sized bed, in which Cloud was sleeping quite soundly, and a bedside table next to the bed. There were things like an alarm clock and a small lamp on the table. To his left was a white closet door with a stain made by who knows what, and a dresser with a mirror to his right. The dresser had all sorts of objects covering it. There were old photographs, crumpled pieces of paper, and much, much more. He didn't want to think about some of the stuff on it. Cloud wasn't the most sanitary of people. The bed itself had an oak frame, with a turquoise comforter and white sheets. They were only half on Cloud, leaving his bare chest exposed.
'He looks so vulnerable,' thought Sephiroth. 'It's cute.' Cloud's hair, not gelled, looked not unlike chocobo down, all messy and soft-looking. He allowed himself a soft chuckle, knowing that it would not wake Cloud.
"Why, Mr. Shroom?" Cloud then muttered in his sleep. "I didn't do nuthin! … What? That wasn't me!" he continued, curling up. Then, with a start, as Sephiroth was leaning over him, amused, his head shot up, eyes wide open.
"…Shit," Sephiroth muttered. He hadn't predicted that a nightmare would wake Cloud up. Cloud turned to Sephiroth and let out a yelp of surprise.
"How'd you get in here?" He shouted. Sephiroth's response of "through the door, of course" did nothing to help calm him down. "Bu-but! I never said you could come in here! And when I'm SLEEPING?!" He threw his pillow at Sephiroth, glaring.
Sephiroth sighed. The dear Chocobo head excelled at throwing temper tantrums. It was one of the things that he remembered observing while under Jenova's influence. "I did not expect this to happen. Although I should have foreseen something similar occurring," he replied calmly, catching the pillow. "Although it is rather humorous to see you like this..
"You creep!" Cloud glared. "Just never do that again." Sephiroth nodded. Cloud began to calm down. "Leave. Now," he said through gritted teeth. "Please." And Sephiroth complied, not wishing to have to deal with an overly grumpy Cloud all day. So he left, and began to prepare some breakfast. He knew that Cloud would be unable to sleep for more than an hour more, and he wanted to make cinnamon rolls. So he dug around in the cabinets, and got to work.
About an hour later, as expected, Cloud walked sleepily into the room. Sephiroth immediately handed him some coffee. Milk and 5 sugars, just how he liked it. Sephiroth found it disgusting to have so much sugar in it, but he wasn't going to complain. "Mm… smells like cinnamon," Cloud muttered.
"Yes, indeed. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast," Sephiroth said. He just hoped that they tasted okay. He had never been more than just 'efficient' at baking. He could bake simple, edible things, which was better than he knew Cloud could do. "And they're ready to come out, it seems," he said as the timer went off. "So let's eat." Neither said another word, and they ate away.
/Psychological Experimentation - end/