Chapter 2:

After Cloud left for the cadet wing, Sephiroth settled down on the black leather couch once more, Angeal taking a seat next to him and lounging back into the couch. Genesis sat down on the other couch, folding his legs in front of him: "I can see why Zack wanted to introduce him, he's shy and earnest, possesses a charm he doesn't seem to realize he has. Very intriguing."

Angeal nodded in agreement: "He's a very honest kid, polite too. Doesn't fit in well with the other cadets though, they tend to target him and single him out but he has a fighting spirit that is stunning to say the least."

When the two men turned to Sephiroth, the latter shifted in his seat before admitting: "I enjoyed his presence. I'd like to talk to him again."

Genesis shook his head, a grin on his face: "I'd like to do much more to him than just talk."

Sephiroth cocked his head to the right ever so slightly: "I would too but... it's too soon. After Zack, I think it's best to wait."

Angeal cleared his throat: "I believe he's a virgin to begin with. I'm not sure if Cloud would be up for a polyamorous relationship. He does know about us and seems surprisingly cool about it. If we all agree we're interested, we should invite him over a couple of times, get to know him better."

"Are you sure he's a virgin, isn't he the one Zack asked permission for?" Genesis asked.

"Hmm... he might be. I forgot about that," Angeal nodded, recalling a time when Zack had asked if it was okay to have sex with someone else, just for once.

At 05:00 in the morning, Cloud sat down in the cadet canteen. He always ate by himself, none of the other cadets were very friendly with him. They mocked him for his height, for his hair, for his eyes, called him a cheater whenever he performed well, called him a failure when he didn't perform good enough, summarized, he never did anything right in their eyes. Luckily, he didn't need them to be able to join SOLDIER, therefore he was fine with how things were right now.

After a light breakfast, he had drills, then materia practice, lunch, hand to hand combat practice, sword practice, battlefield tactics, more drills, dinner and after that a little free time before he had to return to his dorm at 10:00 p.m. a schedule that would repeat itself every day. The three hours he had after dinner he usually spent in the private training rooms, lifting weights to help build more muscle.

Sweat was dripping off Cloud's forehead as he lifted 80 kilos on the bench press for the 54th time. It was then that the door swung open, Cloud put the weights back in their stand before looking up to find Angeal standing in the doorway. The blonde sat up and looked at the man questioningly.

"Dinner after your last drills tomorrow, I'll wait for you by the elevator, Gen and Seph really enjoyed you at lunch the other day," Angeal spoke.

Cloud blinked slightly, then nodded slowly: "Okay, sure."

"I also have a more personal question," Angeal said as he sat across from Cloud on the small bench, sitting rather close to him, their knees touching, "Did you have sex with Zack."

Cloud's cheeks got a slight red color but he replied calmly, looking away from Angeal in embarrassment: "No but... he kinda showed me how to..." Cloud made a jerking motion with his hand, "And he touched me a bit... and I him... but he said he had permission from all of you to do that. I'm sorry if he didn't... I thought he did."

"No, it's fine, he did have our permission. We just never asked who it was with," Angeal stated, then laughed slightly, "You never masturbated before that?"

Cloud shook his head slightly: "I didn't really do it after he showed me how to either, it feels weird when I'm alone."

"It's because you're not used to the feeling, did you enjoy it when you were with Zack?"

Cloud nodded slowly: "I did."

Angeal put both of his hands on Cloud's legs and made sure they had eye contact: "I'll be really honest with you. All three of us want more with you then just a friendship. I know it's a lot to think about and we don't want to rush anything. We'll invite you over a couple more times and take you on a few dates if you're interested, if all you want is friendship, you just need to say it."

Cloud looked a bit dazed but then nodded: "O-okay. Umm... why me?"

Angeal smiled warmly and then surprised Cloud by leaning in and pressing his lips against Cloud's, pushing the boy back on the bank press and leaning over him. A soft moan escaped Cloud's lips, the sound muffled away in their kiss. Angeal pushed himself back up just slightly as he hung over Cloud: "Because you're you."

Angeal then pushed himself up completely and stepped towards the door: "Tomorrow after your last drills, Cloud, don't forget."

"Yes, Sir," Cloud replied almost automatically, laying back on the bank press. His head was spinning. He didn't get any exercises done after that and went to bed with the past events still freshly roaming through his head. What he had to wonder the most was whether Zack would be okay with this or not. Zack had meant to introduce him to those men but with these intentions? Cloud found he was unsure of that.

The next day arrived much too soon and passed way too slow. Cloud felt rather nervous, during his first drills he nearly slipped and fell, materia practice just overall sucked, he couldn't even get a tiny spark going, lunch was over so quick that he barely had anything to eat and then hand to hand combat started. He took a few blows that he was usually more than capable of blocking, which meant a few extra bruises on his body. Everything really went to shit during sword practice.

Cloud was paired up against a young man that was way taller and broader than him. He had dark brown hair, slicked back with way too much hair-gel, which made it look rather shiny. His name was Tyler Marsons, someone who in general seemed to have an issue with Cloud. Usually Cloud would ignore pricks like him, they just happened to be paired up for practice today. It started out well, their training swords clanging against one-another was rather satisfying. It was when the instructor yelled stop while Cloud was in mid-swing that things went slightly wrong. Marsons didn't block the swing and Cloud's sword drove right against Marsons arm. Now, their training swords were designed to not do any lethal damage but they were sharp enough to cut into skin if enough force was used.

Cloud immediately dropped his sword and pressed his hands against the other man's wound, applying pressure. His mako-blue eyes showing just as much shock as Marsons: "Sorry, I was mid swing, I didn't think you'd put away your sword that quickly."

"Marsons, this is why you keep your eyes on your opponent, basic lessons. To the infirmary, your training is done for today," their instructor yelled through the room.

Marsons sneered at Cloud and gave him a rough shove away as he made his way to the door. Their instructor grabbed Marsons by the collar before he could leave: "If I see you behave that way again I'm sending you to disciplinary."

"Yes, Sir," Marsons replied.

Cloud spend the rest of the training practicing his swings. During battlefield tactics, Cloud felt his eyes closing several times but managed to pretend to be fully awake the whole lecture. Cloud sped through his last drills and the instructor complimented him for his enthusiasm and send him off to the showers.

Arriving in the locker room, Cloud was surprised to find Marsons sitting there on one of the benches. Cloud nodded at Marsons in acknowledgement as he walked over to a locker, taking off his shoulder armor and tossing it inside: "How is your arm?"

Cloud never got an answer, instead he felt a hand on the back of his head and before he knew what was happening, his forehead hit the locker and his vision started to turn black.

Angeal patiently waited near the elevators, he soon saw the first cadets walking towards the canteen, hungry for dinner. They saluted Angeal as they passed. Angeal nodded to them before turning his eyes back to the wing that Cloud should be coming out of. What he didn't expect was two men from the medical team rushing in there. A bad feeling suddenly arose in Angeal's gut and he decided to go after them.

He followed the two medical assistants to the locker room, to find an unconscious blonde laying on the floor. Angeal quickly stepped into the room, cadets saluting him nervously. As he knelt down next to Cloud, the medical team standing aside to let their superior take a look at the boy, Angeal cast a glance into the locker room: "Did anyone see what happened?"

"No, Sir," came a united reply.

Angeal sighed and then lightly slapped at the side of Cloud's face: "Strife. Can you hear me?"

Surely enough those eyes started fluttering open, a dazed Cloud looking up at the man. Angeal's expression was gentle as he slowly helped Cloud sit up, he held up three fingers: "How many."

The way Cloud stared at his finger and was squinting his eyes had Angeal minorly worried. Cloud then answered in a questioning way: "Three, Sir?"

"All right, you're seeing double, Strife?"

"Yes, Sir," Cloud answered, moving to stand up, "I'm just dizzy, otherwise fine, Sir. My memories are clear, my name is Cloud Strife, I'm from Nibelheim, I tripped and hit my head against the locker."

"I see, maybe some fresh air will do you good," Angeal stated as he started guiding the blonde out of the locker room, steadying Cloud when he needed it. Instead of taking him outside, Angeal took him up to Sephiroth's apartment. The two were greeted with confused looks as Angeal gently sat Cloud down on the free couch. Angeal's gaze took a more serious air about it, his voice harder than usual: "Who was it?"

Cloud feigned confusion, blinking up at Angeal: "Who?"

"You're a terrible liar Cloud, who knocked you out?"

Cloud winced slightly at the tone Angeal had with him. Much like a scolded child, Cloud talked towards the floor: "Does it really matter? If I tell you, you'll have him send to disciplinary. After disciplinary he'll come back and target me more, it's not worth the trouble. I can handle this."

Sephiroth and Genesis nodded approvingly, understanding the way Cloud was thinking. Angeal just sighed and knelt down in front of Cloud, looking him in the eyes: "There's a moment when being tough turns into being an idiot. Don't be an idiot Cloud."

Cloud nodded slowly: "If it gets out of hand I'll ask for help."

"All right, good," Angeal smiled and ruffled Cloud's hair, then stood up and offered Cloud a hand, "you didn't get to shower, right? I'll show you to the bathroom."

"Ah... I can go back downstairs for that... I don't even have any clean clothes here, it would be inconvenient," Cloud replied, attempting to stand up on his own but immediately wobbling on his feet, using Angeal to get his balance back.

Sephiroth rose to his feet and pressed a hand to Cloud's cheek: "I'll see if I can find some of my old clothes, go take a shower. We'll have a light meal after that and then you should rest."

"In the back of the closet in the black bag," Genesis stated towards Sephiroth as he too stood up, he picked Cloud up princess style and looked at Angeal, "You'll go down to medical and report that he has a concussion and should rest for a while?"

Cloud was too exhausted to argue with anything, deciding to allow the three men to take care of him. He rested his forehead against Genesis shoulder as the other carried him to the bathroom, muttering softly: "This is embarrassing."

Genesis snorted lightly: "Perhaps it is, but sometimes enduring embarrassment will lead to closer relationships."

The bathroom in Sephiroth's apartment was huge, black tiles on the floor and walls. A huge jacuzzi in the far corner of the bathroom, the shower was a huge glass cabin with a rain shower attached to the ceiling, the toilet across from it, sink with cabinets and a huge mirror next to the toilet.

Genesis found himself enjoying undressing Cloud, the blonde was slightly red faced but ultimately allowed Genesis to help him out of his clothes. Genesis took his sweet time helping Cloud, pulling the boys shirt off slowly, fingers 'accidentally' brushing right past Cloud's nipples, taking off Cloud's boots and putting them away neatly before undoing the young man's belt and pulling his pants down, doing it so that he immediately took the boy's boxer down with it. Genesis chuckled slightly as he took in the sight: "Cloud Strife, you really are gorgeous."

Cloud's face got slightly more hot as he looked up at the redhead: "Thank you, Sir."

Genesis turned on the shower and gently ushered Cloud in: "Lean against the wall for a bit."

Cloud did as he was told, everything felt weird, his whole world was swaying. He blinked slightly as he thought he saw a naked Genesis, then nearly fell backwards if it wasn't for two arms wrapping around his waist. Cloud was pulled against a chest and then he let out a shuddering breath: "You're naked."

"You are too, most people don't shower with clothes on," Genesis stated smartly.

"Oh," was the only thing the blonde could say.

Genesis calmly proceeded with shampooing Cloud's hair: "Seph's shampoo is the best, you should consider yourself lucky."

"Thank you, Sir," Cloud stated, barely able to keep his eyes open. Genesis noted the tiredness in Cloud's voice and decided to make quick work of the rest of Cloud's body, taking the soap and a sponge and gently but thoroughly washing the young man, ridding him of the day's sweat. When he was done, he rinsed Cloud off once more and guided him out of the shower, the fuzzy carpet on the floor catching the excess water that dripped off them and prevented them from slipping on the tiles. Genesis tied a towel around his own waist before he wrapped a towel around Cloud, drying the boy.

Sephiroth then calmly walked into the bathroom, placing the clothes he found for Cloud over the sink. He smiled lightly and pressed a kiss against Genesis temple before taking hold of the towel that was around Cloud, drying him off so Genesis could dry himself off. Cloud barely registered what was happening. Once dried off Sephiroth helped Cloud put on the plain black shirt, which was still slightly too big for cloud. The grey sweatpants that Sephiroth had found luckily had a string that he could tie to make them stay around Cloud's waist.

Angeal returned to find a clean Cloud laying on the couch, head on Sephiroth's lap and seemingly asleep. Sephiroth was gently playing with the boy's hair and smiled at Angeal, a happiness on Sephiroth's face that was rare to see: "He was very submissive, didn't object to anything."

Cloud's eyes fluttered open as if on que and he slowly sat up, rubbing through his eyes before he let himself fall against Sephiroth's side. He let out a soft groan: "Seph is so warm and comfortable."

Angeal smiled and shook his head: "Can you sit up Cloud? I brought Wuttaiian food back home."

Cloud's stomach let out a loud gurgle at the word food and he quickly sat up again, all traces of sleep gone.