Really, I'm sorry that these chapters are taking forever to come out. Life has sucked for me and I just don't like to think anymore.
Life, bleh. Thinking, bleh. Losing all my friends, bleh.
Anyway, I was thinking of starting a series of drabbles and one-shots from If Given a Chance. What do you think? I already started on one. The first few would be day in the life of's.
-o-o-
"It's steel," Genesis announced after a while. Angeal and Sephiroth stared at him solemnly while Cloud just looked up from the water, bored. After he woke up, the men had all agreed to tell him about the sword. It came as a surprise to him, but he quickly shrugged it off.
"I thought it was materia?" Cloud asked idly, skimming his fingers over the water of the river. "I don't care, but having a materia sword would be cooler."
"It is materia, unfortunately. The outer layer is just strong steel," Genesis explained, putting aside his Sense materia. "And that's a bad thing. Shinra hasn't made materia swords for a reason. They're untested and dangerous, Cloud."
"Oh okay," Cloud said, looking back to the water. Genesis frowned at the back of his head.
"Still, it's strange that Cloud didn't pick up on it," Angeal noted. "We all did."
"No, it's not that strange," Sephiroth lied smoothly. "There was an... incident a few years back, so materia training is only given to a select few cadets and, of course, SOLDIERs."
"Then I'll teach him myself, later," Genesis decided.
"Will there be a later?" Sephiroth asked sharply. "Are you returning with us?"
"Perhaps," Genesis shrugged, laying the sword down. "Anyway, the materia is strange, I think it might be a summon but I'm not sure."
"Is there anyway to be sure?" Zack asked, entering the clearing with a mango in his hands. Seeing the look he got from the men, he was quick to defend himself. "What? I get hungry I'll have you know!"
"We sent you for water, not fruit," Angeal scolded. Zack just grinned and reached around him to withdraw a water bottle from his pouch. He tossed it to the man.
"So you aren't completely distractible, congratulations," he grumbled. He unscrewed the cap and took a drink before passing it on. Genesis took a drink, as did Sephiroth and then the bottle was held out to Cloud's back.
"Cloud, water," Sephiroth called.
Cloud glanced back at them and shook his head, "No thanks, I'm not thirsty."
"Cloud," Sephiroth said sternly. "Drink some water."
Cloud rolled his eyes, but crawled over nonetheless. He took the bottle and drank, and then handed it back to Angeal. Sephiroth snatched him up before he could crawl away and Cloud laughed. Relaxing against Sephiroth's chest, Cloud let his mind drift.
"Zack, what's it like to be home?" he asked.
Zack blinked in surprise. "Where'd that come from?"
"Nowhere in particular."
"Well... It's... Nice. I like being able to see my parents. It's been years," Zack answered.
"Hmm... I miss my mom a little," Cloud sighed.
"Did you want to go visit her?" Sephiroth offered and Cloud looked up at him in surprise. He looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I said I wouldn't come back unless I was a SOLDIER."
"She'd be happy to see you even if you're not, I bet," Zack encouraged. "We can leave early and go see your mom!"
"I don't know. I really don't want to go back to Nibelheim..."
"Cloud, are you scared?" Sephiroth asked and Cloud looked up at him again. "You don't have to be. I don't think anyone would bother you if you were with us."
"But-"
"Come on! Please Cloud; I wanna meet your mom!" Zack begged.
"I guess... I just don't want to see anyone else there..."
"Then you won't have to!" Genesis put in. "Do you really think anyone would get remotely close with Sephiroth and Zack hovering over you all the time?"
Cloud made a face, "That's even worse. I can take care of myself, you know. Y'all are making me feel like a wimp."
"That was never our intention," Sephiroth hurriedly said.
"I know that, but it's true. It's nice sometimes, but sometimes enough is enough. It's not like you can take the SOLDIER exams for me, so you should probably let me actually stick up for myself," Cloud pointed out.
"Sorry Spike, it's just hard... Our little Puppybo needs to spread his wings..." Zack sniggered. Sephiroth had to restrain Cloud from hitting the idiot.
"Zack Fair, I swear to-" Cloud growled. Sephiroth yanked him back to a sitting position on the ground where he struggled even more fiercely to attack the other. His struggles died slowly as he listened to the deep chuckles of the men around him. As much as he didn't want to admit for fear of embarrassment, he loved all of their laughs.
Especially Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth's, because they hadn't had much chance of laughter growing up. But of course, he didn't want to tell them that.
He loved them all dearly, even Genesis and Angeal. Maybe going home wouldn't be so bad if he went back with all of them. Although he could already imagine what people would say in a village so stuck in the past that they never even considered men loving men.
Actually, to his surprise it looked pretty appealing. His mother probably wouldn't care as long as he was happy and it would be a lot of fun to just flaunt his big-city style life. He was sure that Genesis and Sephiroth could without a doubt shock all of Nibelheim, let alone Zack. Angeal was a lot more conventional, but even he would surprise them. After all, he was the type of man that would protect anyone.
Randomly, he remembered Tifa Lockhart and how he always wanted her to see him. She had only taken notice when he escaped. In Nibelheim, they were raised to believe men had to take care of women but now Cloud could see that was far from true. He recalled a Turk that Zack had introduced him to once. Now she definitely didn't need anyone to protect her.
Would Tifa notice him if he showed up randomly with four SOLDIERs? Did he really care one way or another?
He decided that yes, he did care. He also decided that no, it didn't matter. He missed his freakin' Mommy and he wanted to go see her.
"You know, if we go to Nibelheim, y'all are gonna have to make sure I don't kill any of them," Cloud muttered into Sephiroth's chest.
"Yeah?" Angeal encouraged. "We can do that. Zack wants to meet your mother."
"She's nice," Cloud sighed. "And while we're there we can actually get some training done. The Nibel wolves are pretty fierce. And they have dragons."
"No," the SOLDIER and ex-SOLDIER men chorused and grinned at eachother.
"Anyway, what about the sword? Can I use it or not?" Cloud asked, eager to shift the attention from their lack of faith.
"Well, like I said, it feels like a summon. But I can't summon whatever it is if it really is a summon," Genesis said slowly, reclining on the grass. "It's just... There..."
"Well that's fascinating, that really is," Cloud said patiently. "But I don't have an answer to my question."
"There isn't one," Sephiroth commented and made a face when Cloud faced him with a pout. "Don't be like that; this type of situation is unprecedented."
"It's always such a pain when something like this happens," Angeal sighed, taking the sword from his friend. He looked it over with a critical eye. "And it's a shame; this is a fairly beautiful sword."
Sephiroth considered that. He was the General and it was his job to make the decisions. He held his hand out for the sword and looked it over himself. Staring at it, he made a decision. Holding the sword out to the youngest of his lovers, he told Cloud, "We'll have to see how it does in a battle. Take it and I'll spar with you. If nothing happens then you can keep it. But you should not use it alone, knowing it's less than clean history."
"Okay, I can live with that," Cloud grinned, taking the sword. He stood and dusted himself off while Sephiroth did the same. They each took up a fighting stance and Genesis took it upon himself to act as the referee.
At his call, they both attacked.
-o-o-
After their spar, Sephiroth had to carry Cloud back to their lodgings. They were all just glad Cloud hadn't overheated.
It was just as they were sitting down to dinner (compliments of Angeal, because Cloud went to sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow) when the upcoming trip came to their attention.
"So are we actually going to Nibelheim?" Zack thought to ask. Cloud had never really given them a definite answer. They all looked to the bed where the blonde still slept. They looked back at eachother and Zack sighed, "Rock, paper, scissors?"
None of them had a better idea, so they each played. Genesis lost. He quietly gave them a speech that they were fairly sure was partially from Loveless. They say partially because Angeal was quite certain there wasn't any part of Loveless that talked about the legendary wrath of a slumbering chocobo.
"Cloud, kitten, it's time to wake up," Genesis cooed, shaking his shoulder lightly. Cloud stirred and blinked slowly.
"Gen? What is it?" he grumbled and moved over, leaving a spot of body warmth for him if Genesis felt inclined to join him. As tempting as it was, he couldn't.
"Dinner's done. Angeal cooked, is that okay?"
"'Course it is," Cloud yawn. "Can I eat in bed?"
Genesis looked over to the others for confirmation and then nodded. Like hell he was going to make the poor boy move. He went back to the table and filled the plate before taking it to Cloud, who had situated himself so he was facing the table. He accepted the plate sleepily and yawned his thanks to the Loveless fanatic.
He slowly began to eat and Zack drug his chair over so he could sit with Cloud. Cloud patted the bed beside him and Zack took the obvious invitation. Though they coaxed and pleaded, the other men would not budge from the table.
"Fine then!" Zack huffed, returning to his food. "Me'n Cloud can have our own little party thing over here!"
"Have fun," Angeal deadpanned.
"We will!" Cloud pouted. He also began eating again.
"Oh, right, Cloud? Are we going to Nibelheim?" Zack asked, swallowing his food. Cloud smiled at him.
"Sure, I guess."
-o-o-
The next morning saw them packing up the helicopter once again. Zack was excused from the task so he could make his goodbyes and promise to visit soon.
Angeal and Genesis helped without a word. Cloud and Sephiroth both exchanged worried glances behind their backs. Despite the worry of them being imposters, they both wanted the men to accompany them to Nibelheim and eventually Midgar.
So they were both delighted when Zack returned just as they were finishing up. He jumped in first with a cry of "I got shot gun!" Then went Sephiroth to make sure Zack didn't hit anything he wasn't supposed to. Cloud climbed aboard and after a moment's hesitation, Genesis and Angeal followed.
Cloud grinned at them happily, bouncing a little. When the door was shut and they were safely in the air, he tackle-hugged them both and they were more than happy to oblige his hugs. Genesis pulled Cloud close and kissed him on the cheek and Cloud did the same for Angeal.
After a few hours, they had exhausted their supply of patience with trips and Cloud had already buried himself in the blankets to try and ride out the motion sickness that went with any trip.
"Sephiroth, how much longer?" Genesis whined. Said man rolled his eyes and answered as patiently as he could, "At least three and a half hours. Probably more if the weather is bad."
"Sephiroth, I am bored," Genesis declared. "Entertain me."
"Like hell," was Sephiroth's answer.
Zack and Angeal laughed but Genesis considered the statement to be the highest degree of blasphemy.
Before he could begin what was no-doubt a long tirade, Sephiroth cut him off.
"There's a laptop in the back. Find it and plug it into the system and you'll be able to play with it," he promised, hoping that there was indeed a laptop to find. It was standard to have one but he had not thought to check before leaving. He was in too much of a hurry to get away from the idiots in charge (less than affectionately called the IIC by Zack).
Genesis let out a happy exclamation that woke Cloud from his light and restless sleep. He glared at the man and gave up on sleeping with the noise Genesis was making while throwing around their entire set of luggage, searching for the magical laptop that would cure his boredom.
Angeal took pity on the cadet with the stormy face and pulled him closer. He noticed that Zack and Sephiroth both glanced back. Huh. He had thought they were over their belief that he and Genesis just wanted to kill them. Oh well. It was well deserved in his eyes.
"Come over here, I won't disturb you," he assured the blonde. Cloud smiled up at him and clamored into his lap without another thought. He tucked his head under Angeal's chin and his shock must have shown because Sephiroth chuckled and Zack outright laughed.
"You offered him a huggles spot," Zack managed to stay with a straight face. "How could you not think he would take you up on the invitation?"
"Well, I was under the impression he was still a little scared of us," Angeal guessed accurately.
Cloud ducked his head out from under the unshaven chin and looked at him with a shy smile, "After... everything we've... done, do you really think I'd be that scared?"
"Aw, isn't that cute?" Zack smirked. "Cloudie won't say sex!"
"Shut up Zack!" he growled, sounding more cute than angry. His face however, was slowly turning redder and redder. Angeal solved the problem by pushing the spiked head underneath his chin again. It actually felt good to have him curled up there, trusting and soft.
Everything was quite then. Cloud listened to Angeal's heartbeat, blocking out his motion sickness. He brought his hands up to delicately hold onto the front of his living pillow's shirt. He let out a breath that he hadn't known he was holding.
With Angeal's arms around him and his heartbeat in his ears, Cloud relaxed for the first time since boarding the vehicle. His eyes drifted shut and his breath evened out. Within five minutes, he was asleep.
Angeal didn't mind that he was being used as a bed and pillow. He was really quite fond of Cloud. The boy reminded him of Zack as a Third-Class. Except Cloud was quieter and much shyer.
His mind drifted off, comparing Cloud and Zack. He was sure he was protective and fond of them both. He had history with Zack, history that made it hard to leave him behind. But what about Cloud? Cloud was new, he was young. Zack had years to decide that this is how his life was going to go. Cloud was young enough that he might not understand the implications.
His relationship with them would ensure that he would be treated differently by his peers and even superiors. It could make him a target for anti-Shinra groups. Did Cloud consider all of that or did he just fall in love and hope for the best?
His thoughts eventually led him to himself. How were his feelings for the blonde? He could safely say that he loved Sephiroth and even Zack, but how did he feel about Cloud?
-o-o-
A/N: Nibelheim is next. Let me know if there are any particular things you want to see. Also, I need input on the new idea (see beginning of chapter for details).