Final Fantasy VII

My Every Road Leads to You

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters aren't mine and the stories are! This is a short story collection taking place in my Twilight and Dawn verse, picking up after To Sail the Cosmos. It is intended to be just some sweet slice-of-life scenes during moments of downtime for everyone. They are all on Earth and Sephiroth is sane again, and by now he's very close to Cloud. Most pieces will probably focus on them, but I intend on some Seph and Zack goodness as well.

Comforcember 2024, Prompt 29: A Familiar Scent

Cloud woke up to the scent of apple blossom shampoo wafting in from the nearest bathroom. He blinked a moment as he tried to sleepily process that phenomenon. Then he smiled, relaxing deeper into the bed.

Although Shinra had exaggerated in their silly press releases of years ago—Sephiroth most certainly did not use up entire bottles of shampoo and conditioner every time he washed his hair!—they had at least been fairly correct about the pleasant scents accompanying their star hero. Sephiroth always took good care of his hair and wasn't happy if it wasn't perfectly clean. He bought whatever shampoos he felt would be the healthiest for it—even if that came with an assortment of flowery scents one wouldn't normally associate with men. Sephiroth was the only one in the house who used some of the varieties, and when he had been lost to them in the void, those scents had been sorely missed for what they represented.

Now they were back. Sephiroth was home.

Cloud waited, just enjoying the fruity smell wafting through the upstairs. As he relaxed deeper into the bed, he blinked in surprise when something long and white suddenly tickled his face. He pulled out a large feather and stared at it, turning it around from every angle. Although he didn't realize, he was gazing at it rather in awe.

Sephiroth definitely noticed when he appeared topless in the doorway, drying his hair. "Strange," he mused.

Cloud started. "What is?"

"When I met the other you and me, the other you said that until recently he was often annoyed by finding feathers around," Sephiroth remarked. "He did say, however, that at the same time it was comforting to find them since it meant the other me was alright. Now, after a scare they recently went through where they thought their Sephiroth was dead, he rejoices to find more feathers."

Cloud set the feather on the nightstand. "I don't think it could ever annoy me. Especially now."

Sephiroth smiled at that.

"It probably sounds stupid . . . or cheesy . . . but the simplest things are making me happy right now," Cloud said. "Even waking up smelling that shampoo you were using."

"That made me happy too," Sephiroth deadpanned. "I of course kept up decent hygiene while I was gone, but I wanted to be home, where everything was familiar. I couldn't find the exact products I like, although the world with the other us had similar things." He sat down and turned on a fan to blow at his hair while keeping a towel around his otherwise bare shoulders.

Cloud sat up. "How long does it take to dry your hair that way?" he wondered.

"A long time," Sephiroth grunted. "But I prefer it over using a hair dryer or just letting it air dry."

"Yeah, I guess any method would take a long time with your hair," Cloud remarked.

Sephiroth smirked a bit. "It's worth it."

"So what made you decide you wanted to wear your hair long anyway?" Cloud wondered.

Sephiroth shrugged. "It was different. I wanted to see what it would be like and I ended up liking it."

"I'm surprised Shinra let you," Cloud said.

"Sometimes they allowed me to do things I wanted to give me the illusion that I had choices in what to do with my life," Sephiroth said darkly. With a dry smirk he added, "And once they realized they could get something out of it as well. My hair was very popular with swooning fangirls. Sometimes also fanboys."

"I remember," Cloud said, coloring a bit.

"Shinra developed an entire marketing strategy around my hair. I hated it, but I didn't protest since I wanted to wear it long." Sephiroth held up another long lock to the fan.

". . . Was not wearing a shirt your idea or theirs?" Cloud wondered.

"Mine," Sephiroth admitted. "And Shinra quickly realized all the mileage they could get out of that as well."

Cloud sighed. "At least it was your choice to begin with. I thought maybe they forced it on you and then you just got used to it."

"Thankfully no." But Sephiroth fell silent, likely thinking of the things Shinra had forced on him as well as the things he had wanted that they had twisted for their own purposes.

Blushing a bit, Cloud said, "I like your hair long. Can't imagine it being any other way."

Sephiroth smiled. "I never plan to change it."

"I still think you should button your shirts in business meetings, though," Cloud added.

That brought a smirk. "I've managed so far without doing that. Our clients know they're getting quality products even though the company president is eccentric."

"Yeah, that's true," Cloud conceded. "And I guess . . . that's something else uniquely you. It's weird thinking of that ever changing either."

"I'm not planning that it will," Sephiroth said.

"Good," Cloud found himself saying, and realized he meant it.

Sephiroth was home, with all his strange quirks and apple blossom shampoo and giant feathers in the furniture.

And that was all Cloud wanted.