Disclaimer: Still don't the Final Fantasy used characters in this fanfic.

AN: Well, this is the first of possibly several future Chapters that had taken a break before I wrote this to make up an outline of how I wanted this one to fall into place and I can say it worked out pretty well, it might seem sketchy here and there...but I think it worked, especially the end of this chapter. I've got Chapters 15, 16 and 17 Outlined just a case of writing them out on the laptop now. ^^ Just a future warning. I think around Chapter 16 or 17...let's just say there is some harm that is going to come to Angeal, but not intentionally! Its not me bashing on the man, I love and adore Angeal! But...let's just say...something had to be done to him especially since this Chapter kinda foreshadows who his Ex-boyfriend is. If you don't care for Past!GenesisAngeal, then...I guess I have nothing to say about it. It just works out into it. So. Yeah. Enjoy! Oh yeah! Thank you to those who've reviewed lately ^^ I greatly appreciate those, they make my InnerKittyEgo very happy; she enjoys your praise as do I.

Chapter 14

All good business propositions start with a good handshake or at least a good start to hope that the venture that is behind that proposition takes off and does not crash and burn. The same for any possible relationships, it has to be started off with a steady footing to assure that neither one trips over the others words or gets caught in the others intentions, at least, not too quickly. Good music, good company and a soft yet dull roar atmosphere, nothing could be wrong about all of this, especially when in the company as pronounce as a Novelist. Cloud took in the scenery as he eyed the scenery on the walls, a little odd for his taste but if it made the man who had brought him here happy, then he was willing to go along with it. Oddly enough to Cloud, Sephiroth had not stopped giggle and chortling at a new menu item which caused, more or less, struck Cloud as odd. Was this man usually this cheerfully chuckling? Or was he just fortunate to catch this side of him that probably not many people saw?

"What are you laughing at?" Cloud finally broke the awkward silence as he started to nervously chuckle along with the man, "If you don't mind me asking."

Sephiroth broke his gaze away from the menu as he pointed to it while having his eyes trained on Cloud, "You see, whenever the Owner of this place gets some kind of crackpot idea, he puts up on the Menu in honor of some odd occurrence or story that took place in here," their eyes both turned on the menu now, "The Late Night Special; that one has to no doubt be due to me."

"Why do you say that?" it puzzled Cloud that the man had taken in that a coffee drink had been named after him.

"You see in this business, of novel work, you've got to work some late nights and I spent many a late nights working to the last minute on a deadline for the next work and let's just say, I spent many late nights here drinking down a variety of drinks and…"this is where Sephiroth's voice broke off into laughter again, "And I guess those late nights finally landed me some success in this place."

Cloud chortled to himself as he joined in with the man's laughter, but even as Cloud continued to laugh; he hadn't noticed that Sephiroth's laughter had drifted off as the man just watched Cloud laugh. For once, in the whole evening that they had been together; he had never seen the blond unwind like he was now and it seemed almost as natural as breathing. This boy was truly something else and it was about to become something else as he found the young man falling in a fit of giggles and laughter falling near him as he reached out to grab him. Cloud's giggle fit seemed to die down into soft snickers as he realized he was lying in Sephiroth's arms; any other time, besides now, he would've started scrambling out of the man's arms and apologizing all over the place. But this time, he simply let the man hold him like he was as grazed the man with a soft and true smile; it felt honest even Sephiroth's fingers brushing Cloud's bangs out of his face seemed true. Neither one seemed to move for what seemed the longest time until a wild haired dressed young lady came to their table to take their Coffee orders as well as meal order. Two Late Night Specials and an order of two cheeseburgers with fries later and the two men were content and relaxed to talk about the real reason behind this meet up tonight.

"Now, the reason I called you this afternoon to come out and have Dinner out, I have a proposition I want to propose to you…"Sephiroth muffled through the French fries in his mouth as he swallowed it down, "As you know, well enough, I'm a Novelist by trade."

Cloud nodded in agreement as he munched on the dill spear pickle on his plate, "Yeah, and I have to say your works are rather unique…but it feels as if you heart isn't into them nowadays…it's as if you lost all inspiration or desire for them."

"Kid is right, Sephy sweetie…Even I could tell it before you even came out of the closet," the alter ego sputtered out through his own conversation with Cloud's own alter ego.

"Yeah…I realized it myself on this last one I wrote that I was about to be forced onto a book tour for and have to deal with all the psychotic fans, but…"the man paused in midsentence to take a sip of his coffee, "…this afternoon before I called you, I had started writing out a new, innovative, not a genre I would have treaded on before kind of work in progress work."

"Sounds interesting," crunch went the pickle between Cloud's teeth and the clock of countdown to just spit it out to Cloud that the man was writing a Gay Erotica Novel was ticking down.

Sephiroth nervously nodded, "I-It is…And I was wondering if you would be willing to help me?"

"I already said I'm interested to help, so tell me," Cloud leaned forward with the last of the dill spear in between his teeth, "What's the plot for this new work of yours?"

Now or never, Sephiroth…The kid is interested enough…

A singular gulp as Sephiroth leaned forward as he whispered into Cloud's ear because he knew most of the people in the Café Club knew about what kind of works he did and spilling it out loud would be disastrous, "It's not a Romance Novel…its…a Gay Erotica Novel," Sephiroth watched for Cloud's reaction as he all but saw the dill spear fall from Cloud's lips, "…Mr. Strife?"

"Was this before or after you realized you were…gay?" Cloud didn't know why he was even asking in the monotone level he was speaking in or why he was not phased by the man's remark, "Because, I don't know how many of your loyal readers are going to take to this…"

Sephiroth seemed to reel himself back in slightly as he revealed out his plan, "That's why I'm not going to release it under my label I'm under…and planning to get away from as soon as possible, I'm planning on making a whole new Publishing Company under a pseudo name. This way, no one figures it out it is the same person who had been writing Romance Novels and this way, I save face as well…and…"

"And?" Cloud was nervous as he saw Sephiroth leaning in against his ear again, "And what, Mr. Sephiroth?"

Heat was coming from the man's lips as he felt it tickle at his ear, "…And I was hoping you would be my new Publisher among the other titles that you would be taking on that my former Publisher has…Are you up for the challenge, Mr. Strife?"

Was he? Of course he was, but, was it truly a good idea? The last time he had placed his trust in anyone or situation; it had landed him in the laughing stock of little kids who had watched him run off in utter fear of one little lamb chasing him about the Petting Zoo. When Cloud had started befriending Zack; he was willing to give the man a shadow of the doubt that nothing bad come with being friends with this guy, or at least he didn't think that utter doom and gloom could befall him. Or at least he had hoped it had disappeared after the "Private" Modeling Show he had put on for Tifa when they were kids that little did he or as Tifa had innocently told him, didn't know that their folks were filming the little show. How gullible he was especially with the Circus in town. Zack had promised that nothing bad ever happened at Petting Zoos, how wrong he was. What started off as a simple and just playful stampede turned into the entire Petting Zoo and about a quarter of the Circus animals chasing Cloud out of the Circus and down the street to almost halfway out of Town. Cloud never went to Petting Zoos or even Circuses for that matter, especially Petting Zoos. But, this proposal wasn't something as dangerous as Zack riding on the back of an Elephant pretending to ride it like a horse. This was a Novelist in desperate need of some assistance in the matter of getting out work that would define his stand that he was a true blue, and honest to Gaia, new Gay Man. He could feel the man's eyes staring on him as Cloud did something spontaneous that would forever change the course of both men's lives forever.

With a smash of the dill spear between his lips with Sephiroth's, his decision and answer was decided as Sephiroth later pulled back, after much enjoyment of the dill spear and dill tasting lips of Cloud's lips crushed on his own, "…I take that to be your answer of 'Yes', Mr. Strife?" Sephiroth chuckled as heard the sound of one half of Cloud's dill spear break slip back into Cloud's mouth as he watched the man nod in agreement, "Glad to hear it, Mr. Strife."

Their lips met once more, but Cloud seemed to mumble something, "What was that?"

"Cloud," Cloud responded as softly pecked the man on the lips, "My name is Cloud…Mr. Strife was my Father…"

"Alright then…Cloud," Sephiroth took the gesture as a seal to the deal as both men sat at the table until the early morning hours at it would seem discussing the plans for the book, what would be in it, what they were going to do to get the Publishing company off the ground, but most of all, how was Sephiroth going to tell Raechel?

Eventually, Zack and Angeal had found their way back to the apartment; it felt quiet and almost empty without Cloud in it which seemed to harbor in Zack feelings of loneliness. For as long as he had known Cloud, on and off since at least Junior High, but once they had reached an agreement about College that when they reached College that they would stay in the same dorm together. It was simple enough, but, whenever Cloud was not in the dorm when he came back after late nights into early mornings in his first adventures with Angeal; it would leave a tear in his heart. But then when Cloud would eventually run into him later in the day, the tear would start mending itself eventually after Zack had worn the man down to repay him. Even before Cloud, or even Angeal, had been allowed into Zack's heart; neither man was aware of Zack's feeling of abandonment issues. For as long as he dubbed himself "Straight", he felt that falling in love with one particular beauty was just cliché, but when he had found himself faced with abandonment by a girl he thought was going to stay with him forever. He had spiraled into a dark depression that had countless times sent him into missing days to even weeks of school. Eventually, he had pulled himself out through Cloud, but when he found Angeal, he felt he was abandoning Cloud for Angeal which brought on the turmoil that he knew what it felt like to be the one to abandon another.

Cloud had never said to anything to Zack in regards to being abandoned for Angeal, and it had sent Zack into tailspins for the longest time till Cloud had subdued the man into realizing that it wasn't a big deal. But…

"Zack…"Angeal called out to Zack who seemed lost in a daze as the man stopped with putting his night shirt on as he lightly shook the young man's shoulders, "What's wrong?"

What was wrong? He had been hiding something from Angeal, even though he wanted to be there for Cloud in his first moments of realizing who he was and helping him should something happen tonight. Abandoning Cloud to do things on his own was not only his abandonment; it ran deeper then that.

"…There's more to me then you realize…" Zack sighed as he turned to Angeal, "You know that I've had issues of abandonment in the past, right?"

A soft nod of agreement came from Angeal.

Zack bit his lower lip, "…It only started because…I abandoned someone…my first girlfriend…she was becoming too much for me and…Angeal, I couldn't stand and hold her hand anymore! She was trying to pull me down to her level! She was trying to destroy herself and she was prepared to take me down with her!"

His eyes looked to Angeal for something, at least some words of comfort or at least to tell him that he wasn't his fault and that all guilt was in the past, but Angeal didn't, "Angeal? Please…say something to me…"

"A gentlemen doesn't abandon a woman…"Angeal began as he closed his eyes and turned on his heel, "I need sometime alone to digest all of this…"

"Angeal!" Zack pleaded after the man, "Please, don't leave me like this…please tell me something…are you mad at me?"

Angeal answered it with shutting the bedroom door to the Living Room to leave a tearful and slowly sobbing Puppy at his door, "…Will you do the same time me, Zack? Will you abandon me when I come into hard times…?"

"Angeal! Please! Answer or at least open the door! Please! Don't do this to me!" Zack began to openly sob as he pawed and pounded at the door as Angeal slowly made his way to their shared bed, fighting back his own tears.

We all have our own secrets that we don't want our loved ones to know of, secrets that could kill each other not on a reality level, but on the levels of emotionally that can cause a breakdown of trust. Zack had his trust issues with people, afraid to let particular people into his heart since he had been a young child. He had let his Mother string him along with sweet white lies that she would give him child like treats and surprises if he was a good boy, but each time she promised that; a new man would be into her life. With only one male role model figure into his life that would occasionally cheat on his Mother; he had taken that into account that possibly women were just playful pawns that didn't care that you hurt them. Aerith, the first and last woman he would abandon and let go was only a sweet young woman with the same issues as him, but in her case. She had been living in a home where no love was afforded to anyone person, even her father would treat her as lowly as he had her mother and even long before he had met her; she had been into troubles. Her troubles had worried his heart and he could not stand by and let her do this anymore; he had attempted to stop her even with the early stages of her abuse, but she wasn't willing to let it go. By the time he had met Cloud, she was already gone. Placed into a home for delinquent children and it was where she would remain and he would never hear anymore about what became of her.

Angeal's case of abandoning Zack for the night was not because he felt resent for the fact that he had dishonored a young woman, but the last time he had been in a similar relationship much like it was headed now. He had ended up with the short end of that stick then beaten over the head numerous times till he was black and blue matched in with matching broken to fracture bones. As well as a Court Order Restraining Order then an arrest on the stick wielder that had left him with the scars of abuse. Would Zack turn to that way as well? No, Zack was sweet and innocent, sure he was a wild Puppy would liked things a little wild and freaky in the bedroom, but he never showed signs of the odd kinks his ex had had. His ex. A man he was afraid of facing the next day because, not too long before the move to the apartment; Angeal had received a letter from the Courts asking for his appearance at his ex's Parole Hearing.

His words could seal it for the man's ex to either be released or to remain sitting in a prison cell, "…Genesis. He has nothing what you were…but…" the note found itself that had been drawn from the nightstand put away back in the nightstand as Angeal settled into fitful, but yet restless night's sleep.

It was growing close to two or at least four a.m. by the time that the two men wandered out of the Coffee House Club; happiness painted against their faces as they were still conversing over the new literary project on their way to Sephiroth's car. Unbeknownst to either of them, someone, not a stalker fan, but a stalker nonetheless had been watching the Coffee House Club for the last couple hours or at least the amount of time it had taken them to talk. Raechel was not someone to give up so easily on Sephiroth; she was determined to find out why they had come to this end of town and who the blond man on his arm was; let alone, his arm wrapped around Sephiroth's waist. To Raechel, Sephiroth was an investment and letting that investment walk off with some cute little blond attached in his hip pocket was a big no-no in her rule book; that had to be squashed now.

"Well, well, well, Sephiroth…What is this I see you doing? I wasn't aware you liked the company of other men…"a devilish smirk crossed her face as she started punching away a text into her phone to Sephiroth's, "I think we need to review the rules of Raechel, Rule Number One always being; never get attached to fans…"

Once the text was punched in and sent, the deed fulfilled for the night; Raechel pulled away and drove into the night as she made an absolute run past where Sephiroth was parked. A slight maneuver to make the man worried that someone knew of his new little venture of life, but Sephiroth seemed blinded to the fact that her car had sped past her as he happily helped Cloud into the car and headed for Cloud's apartment. But the annoying buzz of a text message received buzzed against hip as he let it buzz as the car tore off for Cloud's apartment.

4:30 a.m.

The apartment complex looked deserted in its own spooky way as Sephiroth quieted the engine as he pulled into a Visitor Parking Spot, "…Well, Home Sweet Home…" Cloud chuckled to himself as he started to climb out of the car, "You going to come see your guest off home?"

"Are you sure you can't get in yourself or do your friends have a way of locking you out if you aren't home before midnight, Cinderella?" Sephiroth jokingly remarked as he watched Cloud scoff but it brought a rosy color to the blonde's face, "Fine, fine…I'm coming."

"…I enjoyed tonight…"Cloud fumbled with his fingers as walked ahead of Sephiroth, but slowed his steps up the stairs to the apartment, "…It was fun."

"Yeah…I enjoyed it as well…"Sephiroth's eyes never once left the blonde's backside as his eyes ravished the sight of how the blonde's hips seemed to unconsciously sway in front of him like a jungle cat's, "We should do it again sometime…soon."

Cloud blushed softly to himself as they found themselves at the door, "Well, this is my stop…"

"So soon?" Sephiroth sounded as if he was hurt that the fun was over so soon, but he knew the night was getting late and they had to sleep, Cloud had to have school the next day, "Well…good night then…"

"Wait just a second," Cloud whispered as he pulled Sephiroth by the side of his arm as he pulled the man down into one last final kiss, "You taste like coffee…"Cloud smirked as he licked his lips after pulling away from a blushing and slightly confused Sephiroth, "…Before you ask, I have my own alter ego as well…You're not as secret a superhero as you think, Mr. Sephiroth and for the record…that kiss just now…that was all me."

Sephiroth seemed a little taken back by the rushed kiss, but he didn't seem too phased by it as Sephiroth leaned in to caress his own lips in against Cloud's in a softer and slower lip lock, "…I guess my secret identity is revealed then, Mr. Strife…As is yours…Goodnight…again."

Cloud softly chuckled as he opened the door to slip away into the night, "…Goodnight, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth seemed on a high, but as he got back to his car and quietly turned it back on; he was able to finally read the text message that had buzzed against his hip as he was enjoying his chat with Cloud. The message was like a death warrant at this point to him as his eyes widened in horror at the name as well as the message; Raechel had texted him without him even being aware. And the message was something he was not looking forward to.

It simply read: 'We need to talk. Soon. –Raechel.'

"…This can't end well," dejectedly, Sephiroth sighed as he turned the car on and turned off down the road for home, "It's still too early in the morning for dealing with this or her."

Once Cloud made his way into the house; he was stunned to find a dejected looking Zack on the sofa, "And what did you do to earn your place in the doghouse tonight, Zack?"

Zack looked up with a pouting lip and wet eyes, "Not that I'd tell you."

"Okay then…then I guess I won't tell you about what happened with me and Sephiroth tonight…"Cloud started for his bedroom, but was stopped halfway by Zack's weight placing itself down on him, "Can I please go to bed?"

Zack happily smiled into his friend's eyes as he started playing with Cloud's hair, "Why are you acting like you got tail the first night out as a new gay man?" Zack sarcastically remarked beneath his sour disposition about the current situation

"I'm just happy…and…I got a job with that man that was just outside my door…"Cloud giggled to himself as he tasted his lips once again and realized that the taste of almond mocha espresso was about to become his favorite kind of coffee, "…And, a little bit of a taste should he and I make it official between us."

Zack seemed to gain instant enthusiasm, "Details! Details! I need details!"

Cloud heartedly chuckled as he poked his friend in the nose before, dare I say it, Cloud Strife was skipping to his bedroom, "You never kiss and tell on the first, non official outing with a possible future boyfriend."
"CLOUD! PLEASE!" Zack whined and pawed at Cloud's door until Cloud slid down along the backside of his door, a happy smile painted on his face, "COME ON CLOUD! I TOLD YOU THE FIRST TIME I GOT KISSED! WHY AM I ANY DIFFERENT!?"

The man could whine and pout all he wanted, but it wasn't going to phase Cloud; he was content, happy and giggly like a school girl. Was this what it felt like to feel in love with another man? If it was, Gaia, why hadn't he come out sooner and why hadn't he run into Sephiroth sooner? He wanted to go to the rooftop of the apartment and shout out to the farthest reaches and say that he was 'A proud, proud, Gay Man and he didn't care who knew it and he a thing for the greatest Romance Novelist ever!' Contently, he could sleep happy tonight as he heard Zack's whines die off as he figured the man had crawled off like a kicked puppy.