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Woot! Here we go. TABLE LAMP!
Trust me, you'll understand at the end.
Wordcount: 3,669
Chapter One: Escape
Interlude One
Chapter Two: Clean Up
Interlude Two
Chapter Three: On the Run
New Chapter
Interlude Three
1990
The Shinra military was an odd one. For six months, they fed, housed, and basically took care of all the needs of the people entering the military. Basic training, uniforms, all of it was set up. Had decent bunks, was with the assigned squad.
Then a trooper finished basic. Everything changed then.
Squads had designated meeting points. At least once a month there was a drill to see how quickly the groups could assemble, a test in case of riots or other dangers to Shinra Headquarters. Better time won things such as extra leave or special privileges.
Never let it be said that Shinra didn’t know how to keep its guard dogs happy.
Troops were expected to find people in their squad to room with, in groups of two to four, and rent the nearby homes and apartments.
Shinra did this for good reasons. One, SOLDIERs were given housing near the headquarters, so, in case of riot, they would be the first on hand and would keep things under control until the troops arrived.
Plus, if the troops lived off base, they had to pay for the places they rent. Since Shinra owned all that anyway, it was more money into their pocket, plus the money they saved feeding so many, though the mess halls did stay open to all the troops, more bought food to cook at home. How many would want to hike to the nearest mess hall when one had food in their own kitchen?
More money into Shinra’s pockets.
It was a good money making setup.
Though, sometimes, people did fall through the cracks.
///
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Reno had not been expecting that. Specially not in his bunkmates tone of voice.
“Look, I’m sorry! How was I supposed to know that the Turk candidates have their own section? We didn’t get told till this morning?”
Cloud looked like he might scream again, and Reno really couldn’t blame him. The pair of them had been having a shitty time with finding and holding roommates for the planned move out into the apartments surrounding the base. They had started out with four of them. Then they had lost Ver to a broken leg so bad that they couldn’t get it to set right, even with materia, and he was stuck with a limp bad enough that it was pointless for him to continue in the military. So they had been down to three, but that was still not too bad. Plenty of places set up for three young troopers.
Then TJ, and it would drive Reno nuts cause he had never been able to figure out what names those initials stood for, had been called home. Nobody knew exactly what for, but it must have been bad, because Shinra let him go. So they had been forced to adjust and find a place for two. This late it was more than a little pricey, as all the good places were gone, and that had hurt anyway.
Now Reno had just dropped his bomb on Cloud. He and the three other potentials for the Turks had been pulled aside today and told that they would be rooming together in a house specially for them. Reno didn’t have a clue why they hadn’t said anything before. His big theory was that they liked to make people squirm.
Small problem, though. It left Cloud roommateless, and, honestly, everyone else was set up. Which, if Reno thought about it, was probably why Cloud had screamed in the first place.
“Calm down. Let’s go ask around. Maybe someone else has the same problem. Can’t hurt to check.” Nodding to himself, he looped an arm around Cloud’s shoulder and started herding him around. No reason to stand around screaming when they might be out finding a solution.
They split up after a few minutes, both of them asking and reasking people, who were good natured about it, but apologetic. Everyone was already paired up, and most had already signed the final papers on their new places. The others were set to do the same in the next few days and weren’t exactly inclined to rearrange everything, though they did feel sorry for Cloud and his bad, bad luck. Still nothing they could really help with.
Cloud was starting to get frantic, and Reno didn’t blame him. The blond couldn’t stay here, a new bunch of new recruits were coming in, and there just wasn’t anyone he could stay with.
Then Reno had an idea. “Stay here,” he said, heading for the door.
“Reno, what…?”
“Trust me, stay here. I got an idea!” And then he took off.
Last thing he heard Cloud yelling was “Every time you say trust me and you have an idea, we end up locked up!”
Get them tossed in jail two or three times and he acted like Reno made it happen all the time. Honestly, he wasn’t that bad.
Still, grinning brightly, he ran down the hall. He had a call to make.
///
Well, that was a bit unexpected. Pondering at what he had been told, Zack shooed the kid out and sat in his chair, kicking his feet up to rest on his desk. It drove Seph nuts, but he liked the feeling of being stretched out and it helped him think. He didn’t know why.
“Zack, get your feet off that desk right now!”
Oh, yeah, that was right. He thought better under pressure, and how much more pressure could there be than a pissy Seph? Grinning, he let his feet drop. Then he stood and wandered into Seph’s office.
“Got a dilemma, Seph,” he started without preamble, heading over to lean his hip against Seph’s desk. There were a few piles of paperwork, but Zack knew mostly it just had to be initialed off on. He was still careful to not knock any of it over when he settled against the desk.
Behind said desk, Seph leaned back in his chair, and Zack just knew he was as happy about the interruption as he was pretending not to be. Really, the man did far too much paperwork. SOLDIER or not, if he kept this up, they were going to have to buy him reading glasses soon. Besides, a little variation in the day made it go by fast. That was good. Kept people from getting complacent, and helped keep the days separate.
“Well, not me, exactly,” he started when Seph gave that “well, go on” eyebrow quirk. “Seems that, due to situations outside of his control, Spike is going to be homeless within the week. One of the roommates was dismissed due to injury, another sent home at his own request, and the Turks just told Reno today that he had to room with other Turks to be. Sure we can’t keep him?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Besides, given your bizarre sense of priority, I’m sure you will continue to find ways to hang out with them. And most likely end up arrested. Again. Continue.”
“Get arrested once and never live it down.” Zack just clucked his tongue and shook his head. “So unforgiving.” Seeing Seph’s look, he did, finally, continue. “Anyway, Spike is needing to find a place to live. Nobody else has got any room and time is a bit on the short side.” He studied Seph for a moment, smile dropping from his face for a split second to let the other man know that this was pretty serious.
And it was. Last time something like this had happened, the poor trooper had been found unconscious and bleeding in the streets, where, apparently, he had been living. No way on any plane of the world was Zack going to let a situation like that develop around Cloud. Tough little bastard or not, Cloud was far, far too pretty to live in a situation like that. One good drug and they would never find out what brothel he had ended up in.
“So, I thought I’d pester you and see if that devious brain of yours could come up with something,” he said lightly, grinning softly at Seph. “Be for a good deed and everything. Have that yearly task all done and stuff.”
“I do a good deed every time I don’t give in to the urge to strangle you, Zack. And the solution is simple.”
“What?”
“He can move in with us.”
Zack felt his jaw drop. “Seph, you barely tolerate me some days. And you want to add another person?”
“You are noisy. Cloud is very…calm and quiet.”
Something in Seph’s voice made Zack pause. Oh, it couldn’t be….
He took a closer look. He wasn’t insane, at least not with this.
Seph had a crush.
With almost anyone else, Zack would have immediately launched into teasing. Hell, it was a friend’s job to razz anyone they were friends with them when crushes were discovered.
Zack couldn’t do it to Seph. Never to Seph. Not yet, anyway. Seph was just too…fragile, in his own way, for Zack to tease him about this. Hell, Zack was proud of the man.
Later, he would tease.
“So, we’re kidnapping Spike and installing him in the house. Sounds like a plan.”
“I said nothing about kidnapping, Zack.”
“So? It’ll make it fun. Let’s steal all of his stuff and move it, then kidnap him.”
“You might ask him if he would be interested or willing to move in before moving his things.”
Zack gave him a blank look. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Seph just groaned and muttered about people who lacked even more common courtesy than him.
“Just have a wider range we find funny, Seph, is all. Just a wider range of funny.”
He grinned at the man. “Come on, help me plan on how to kidnap Spike.”
///
It had been both harder and easier than he had expected when they had moved Strife in. The boy had been quiet, no doubt about that, and he had been neat. Both were a relief. While Zack wasn’t exactly messy, he…left things everywhere. Bits and pieces of things all over. Said it made the house lived in, and Sephiroth barely refrained from shoving all of it back into the man’s room just to get it out of the way. He had done that at first until Zack, quietly, had kept it all in his room. When it went away, it was just as irritating as when Zack’s things were scattered everywhere. It had taken a while, but they had reached a happy medium.
For a bit, Sephiroth had been afraid that that Strife was going to upset the balance, but he hadn’t. If it wasn’t for the fact that he could look in and see that Cloud had taken to decorating his room, or would see the blond around the house, he wouldn’t have known the younger man was there.
That part wasn’t the hard part. Sephiroth almost preferred the youngest of them around at times because he was so quiet that it let him think, something Zack was very, very good at frazzling, usually at the worst of times. Strife…was frazzling in a completely different way, one Sephiroth wasn’t sure he quite got. It was nice, but…annoying at the same time. He found that if he really did need to think clearly, the office was the place to stay. If he was home, either Zack would drag him over to watch a movie or just randomly chat, or he would look over and see Strife studying and absently chewing on his lower lip, or even possibly stretched out and snoozing on the couch without meaning to, stomach bared as his shirt had rode up.
Feeling a tingle creep up his spine, Sephiroth frowned. Even without Strife being here, he was still frazzling. How did he do that? It seemed impossible, but it was the case. Not even Zack was so capable at scrambling his thoughts as to do it at a distance. And he knew that Strife was on guard duty tonight for a few more hours, then probably staying at a friend’s house.
He sighed and frowned at the memo he had been given. It was time for his yearly shot. Hojo had personally hunted him down and gave him the memo. Not unexpected, the man was rather disturbingly obsessed with making sure everyone had their shots, especially the 1st class SOLDIERs. Who Sephiroth was grouped in with. He knew that this day was coming up, as Zack’s had been just two months ago. Luckily before Strife had moved in. It had been a rather…violent night. Wasn’t the only time that he and Zack got a little rough, but with the shot, it was the one time that Zack almost delighted in the violence and the fight was as important, if not more so, than the sex.
Sighing, looking down at the paper, Sephiroth crumpled it. It was going to be a long night. Zack wouldn’t be back till late tonight at the earliest, and Strife was not even taken into consideration. Thankfully, he would not be home. Sephiroth had mentioned that he was due a Mako shot this morning before the blond had left. The boy had nodded, so he had heard and would no doubt take the appropriate measures.
Dropping the paper into the trash, he stepped out of the house, face carefully blank. Time to get this over with.
///
Cloud sighed a bit. The house was quiet, with Zack still out of town on that mission, and Sephiroth had said something this morning about getting a Mako booster, so that’s where Cloud supposed he was. Still couldn’t believe that he was living with these two.
He didn’t have any duty tonight or tomorrow, so decided to clean his uniforms, and was curled up in his desk chair, studying, clad in a comfy pair of newer jeans, which he was far too pleased to be wearing because that meant he was finally growing, and an old tee shirt. It was washed so many times he couldn’t read what it said anymore, and it was stretched to its limits as he was putting on muscle, but it was still the most comfortable thing he owned.
It was the faint sound of leather scuffing against the carpet that made him tip his head back and look just as they had moved to put their hands on his shoulders. He jumped a bit, then relaxed. “Oh, hello, Sephiroth.”
Sephiroth blinked slowly at him, and Cloud had a moment to think that something looked very off about the older man when, suddenly and without any warning at all, Sephiroth started to slide his hand down his chest. Cloud eeped and jerked a bit away from the sudden and overly familiar touch, eyes going wide. “Hey, what are you doing?”
His sudden reaction was ignored except for the hand that still rested on his shoulder tightening, and Cloud squirmed from that, feeling something grind that probably shouldn’t have been grinding. Instinct kicked in, and Cloud threw himself to the side not being held by Sephiroth. Luck was with him, and he managed to pull away, almost staggering as he did.
Sephiroth made a small, almost irritated sound of exasperation, and his hand darted forward and quickly snatched the back of Cloud’s shirt and yanking him back sharply. That was a bit much for the worn fabric, and Cloud heard the sound so it ripping as he was pulled back hard against Seph’s chest, choking a moment as the collar cut hard against his throat. That was dealt with a minute later when a strong hand yanked and actually tore the shirt down the middle. The old, worn fabric didn’t have a chance against enhanced SOLDIER strength.
With a yelp, Cloud thrashed and lashed out. Memories of fights against bigger, stronger opponents kicked in, and he did kick, he kicked as hard as he could. Again he lucked out, and he felt something give under his foot. Sephiroth hissed and his fingers tightened on the remnants of the shirt in his hand. A glimpse of his face showed that the man was frowning, looking rather displeased.
“Let go of me!” Cloud hissed, twisting as best he could in the grip he was in, teeth bared as he actually snarled at Sephiroth, scared half to death and near panicking. Then the other man almost absently flipped him towards the bed. With a grunt, Cloud hit it, then his training kicked in and he rolled with the momentum, managing to land on his feet on the other side. The second his feet had hit the ground, he was darting for the bedroom door, wanting out now. Panting already, confused as hell and more than a little frightened, Cloud wanted away. Now.
He had tried to go, but the other man was right on his heels, reaching out and snagging the back of Cloud’s pants, and Cloud reacted. Flailing, he tried to catch Sephiroth with an arm, hoping he would be as successful as he had been with the kick. Didn’t see that was going to be the case, however as the limb was easily snagged and he was pushed forward as if he weighted nothing at all.
"Let me go! Damnit, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cloud continues to struggle, not understanding at all why Sephiroth was doing this. All he knew was that it was frightening as anything to be manhandled like this, without any consideration for him at all. His shoulder throbbed, and Cloud hoped it hadn’t actually been damaged.
Then Sephiroth let him go, but not before spinning him. Stumbling over his own feet, Cloud felt a hand, hot against his back, firmly pressed between his shoulder blades and shoved against Sephiroth. Then the man….
The man kissed him.
Cloud opened his mouth to the kiss, and then snapped his jaws together hard. He tasted blood and felt an almost feral pleasure. Cloud wasn’t going to let anyone, not even General Sephiroth himself, get away with something like this without a fight first.
At least that seemed to get some reaction as Sephiroth made a small noise and pulled back, looking at him with confused eyes as his fingers of the hand not pressed against Cloud’s back touched the bloody spot where Cloud had bitten. Then he moved forward, forcing Cloud to step back, green eyes narrowing.
Why didn’t he let go? That’s all Cloud wanted at this point was for Sephiroth to let him go. “Stop it,” he snarled at the taller man, struggling a bit as he tried to get free of the hand that was still pressed tight against his back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” It was a frantic, and probably wasted effort, but he dug frantically through his memory, trying to come up with a trick that the General might not have a counter to.
That was pretty futile and he was well aware of it. So Cloud was forced to revert to something he had to use in the days when he had been bullied more than a little. Who knew that, someday, he’s at least have a brief moment of gratitude for the kids he had grown up with? If they hadn’t tormented him, he might not have thought of this type of maneuver.
He flailed a bit, lashing out with as many blows and kicks as he could do, getting more violent and wilder as Sephiroth didn’t let go. The one holding him drew in a sharp, almost surprised breath and pulled back, letting go of Cloud to block some of the strikes. A small, confused frown was his only expression, not that Cloud cared at the moment. He just wanted to get away.
So he did. He turned and bolted the second that the hand was off of him. While he was, sadly, much shorter than Sephiroth still, and his shorter legs were doomed to lose in a race against Sephiroth’s much longer ones, he cornered a hell of a lot better. So when he hit the living room, he twisted and darted hard to the left. That direction would get him to the door a lot faster and still give him things to keep between him and his attacker. Once he got out the door, maybe it would keep Sephiroth from trying to keep doing this, or maybe having people around would mean he would get help.
Then Sephiroth was in the living room, and he looked at Cloud and darted forward. Everything seemed to slow for Cloud as he realized that the man was going to corner him. And if he got him cornered, Cloud was probably not coming out of this without broken bones of some type.
That was not going to happen. He refused to let it happen. Instinct kicked in. Grabbing the nearest thing that he could grab and swing, Cloud defended himself, swinging his impromptu weapon hard at Sephiroth.
The table lamp, an amazingly horrid and tacky fake bronze thing that Zack had taken great delight in getting and displaying prominently in the living room just to get on Seph’s nerves.
It cracked and fell into pieces as it connected with Sephiroth’s skull with a dull thud sound, the popping as it cracked a second louder almost gunshot loud compared to the dull thud.
A vaguely stunned look crossed Sephiroth’s face, and he swayed for a moment, eyes wide, pupil contracting and widening again before the rather focused blow to his head kicked in and he, surprisingly gracefully, crumpled to the floor in a slow motion.
Breathing hard, still clutching the one end of the lamp in his hand so tight that it was cutting into his skin, Cloud could only stare at the unconscious form. That was Sephiroth. The General of the Shinra military. Quite possibly the strongest man alive.
“Oh, fuck,” he said finally. “I killed him.”
Interlude Three-Part Two
Wordcounts:
Nano: 12,489
Nov3: 9,852
November so far: 20,306
OGToF: 20,871
Trust me, you'll understand at the end.
Wordcount: 3,669
Chapter One: Escape
Interlude One
Chapter Two: Clean Up
Interlude Two
Chapter Three: On the Run
New Chapter
Interlude Three
1990
The Shinra military was an odd one. For six months, they fed, housed, and basically took care of all the needs of the people entering the military. Basic training, uniforms, all of it was set up. Had decent bunks, was with the assigned squad.
Then a trooper finished basic. Everything changed then.
Squads had designated meeting points. At least once a month there was a drill to see how quickly the groups could assemble, a test in case of riots or other dangers to Shinra Headquarters. Better time won things such as extra leave or special privileges.
Never let it be said that Shinra didn’t know how to keep its guard dogs happy.
Troops were expected to find people in their squad to room with, in groups of two to four, and rent the nearby homes and apartments.
Shinra did this for good reasons. One, SOLDIERs were given housing near the headquarters, so, in case of riot, they would be the first on hand and would keep things under control until the troops arrived.
Plus, if the troops lived off base, they had to pay for the places they rent. Since Shinra owned all that anyway, it was more money into their pocket, plus the money they saved feeding so many, though the mess halls did stay open to all the troops, more bought food to cook at home. How many would want to hike to the nearest mess hall when one had food in their own kitchen?
More money into Shinra’s pockets.
It was a good money making setup.
Though, sometimes, people did fall through the cracks.
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Reno had not been expecting that. Specially not in his bunkmates tone of voice.
“Look, I’m sorry! How was I supposed to know that the Turk candidates have their own section? We didn’t get told till this morning?”
Cloud looked like he might scream again, and Reno really couldn’t blame him. The pair of them had been having a shitty time with finding and holding roommates for the planned move out into the apartments surrounding the base. They had started out with four of them. Then they had lost Ver to a broken leg so bad that they couldn’t get it to set right, even with materia, and he was stuck with a limp bad enough that it was pointless for him to continue in the military. So they had been down to three, but that was still not too bad. Plenty of places set up for three young troopers.
Then TJ, and it would drive Reno nuts cause he had never been able to figure out what names those initials stood for, had been called home. Nobody knew exactly what for, but it must have been bad, because Shinra let him go. So they had been forced to adjust and find a place for two. This late it was more than a little pricey, as all the good places were gone, and that had hurt anyway.
Now Reno had just dropped his bomb on Cloud. He and the three other potentials for the Turks had been pulled aside today and told that they would be rooming together in a house specially for them. Reno didn’t have a clue why they hadn’t said anything before. His big theory was that they liked to make people squirm.
Small problem, though. It left Cloud roommateless, and, honestly, everyone else was set up. Which, if Reno thought about it, was probably why Cloud had screamed in the first place.
“Calm down. Let’s go ask around. Maybe someone else has the same problem. Can’t hurt to check.” Nodding to himself, he looped an arm around Cloud’s shoulder and started herding him around. No reason to stand around screaming when they might be out finding a solution.
They split up after a few minutes, both of them asking and reasking people, who were good natured about it, but apologetic. Everyone was already paired up, and most had already signed the final papers on their new places. The others were set to do the same in the next few days and weren’t exactly inclined to rearrange everything, though they did feel sorry for Cloud and his bad, bad luck. Still nothing they could really help with.
Cloud was starting to get frantic, and Reno didn’t blame him. The blond couldn’t stay here, a new bunch of new recruits were coming in, and there just wasn’t anyone he could stay with.
Then Reno had an idea. “Stay here,” he said, heading for the door.
“Reno, what…?”
“Trust me, stay here. I got an idea!” And then he took off.
Last thing he heard Cloud yelling was “Every time you say trust me and you have an idea, we end up locked up!”
Get them tossed in jail two or three times and he acted like Reno made it happen all the time. Honestly, he wasn’t that bad.
Still, grinning brightly, he ran down the hall. He had a call to make.
Well, that was a bit unexpected. Pondering at what he had been told, Zack shooed the kid out and sat in his chair, kicking his feet up to rest on his desk. It drove Seph nuts, but he liked the feeling of being stretched out and it helped him think. He didn’t know why.
“Zack, get your feet off that desk right now!”
Oh, yeah, that was right. He thought better under pressure, and how much more pressure could there be than a pissy Seph? Grinning, he let his feet drop. Then he stood and wandered into Seph’s office.
“Got a dilemma, Seph,” he started without preamble, heading over to lean his hip against Seph’s desk. There were a few piles of paperwork, but Zack knew mostly it just had to be initialed off on. He was still careful to not knock any of it over when he settled against the desk.
Behind said desk, Seph leaned back in his chair, and Zack just knew he was as happy about the interruption as he was pretending not to be. Really, the man did far too much paperwork. SOLDIER or not, if he kept this up, they were going to have to buy him reading glasses soon. Besides, a little variation in the day made it go by fast. That was good. Kept people from getting complacent, and helped keep the days separate.
“Well, not me, exactly,” he started when Seph gave that “well, go on” eyebrow quirk. “Seems that, due to situations outside of his control, Spike is going to be homeless within the week. One of the roommates was dismissed due to injury, another sent home at his own request, and the Turks just told Reno today that he had to room with other Turks to be. Sure we can’t keep him?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Besides, given your bizarre sense of priority, I’m sure you will continue to find ways to hang out with them. And most likely end up arrested. Again. Continue.”
“Get arrested once and never live it down.” Zack just clucked his tongue and shook his head. “So unforgiving.” Seeing Seph’s look, he did, finally, continue. “Anyway, Spike is needing to find a place to live. Nobody else has got any room and time is a bit on the short side.” He studied Seph for a moment, smile dropping from his face for a split second to let the other man know that this was pretty serious.
And it was. Last time something like this had happened, the poor trooper had been found unconscious and bleeding in the streets, where, apparently, he had been living. No way on any plane of the world was Zack going to let a situation like that develop around Cloud. Tough little bastard or not, Cloud was far, far too pretty to live in a situation like that. One good drug and they would never find out what brothel he had ended up in.
“So, I thought I’d pester you and see if that devious brain of yours could come up with something,” he said lightly, grinning softly at Seph. “Be for a good deed and everything. Have that yearly task all done and stuff.”
“I do a good deed every time I don’t give in to the urge to strangle you, Zack. And the solution is simple.”
“What?”
“He can move in with us.”
Zack felt his jaw drop. “Seph, you barely tolerate me some days. And you want to add another person?”
“You are noisy. Cloud is very…calm and quiet.”
Something in Seph’s voice made Zack pause. Oh, it couldn’t be….
He took a closer look. He wasn’t insane, at least not with this.
Seph had a crush.
With almost anyone else, Zack would have immediately launched into teasing. Hell, it was a friend’s job to razz anyone they were friends with them when crushes were discovered.
Zack couldn’t do it to Seph. Never to Seph. Not yet, anyway. Seph was just too…fragile, in his own way, for Zack to tease him about this. Hell, Zack was proud of the man.
Later, he would tease.
“So, we’re kidnapping Spike and installing him in the house. Sounds like a plan.”
“I said nothing about kidnapping, Zack.”
“So? It’ll make it fun. Let’s steal all of his stuff and move it, then kidnap him.”
“You might ask him if he would be interested or willing to move in before moving his things.”
Zack gave him a blank look. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Seph just groaned and muttered about people who lacked even more common courtesy than him.
“Just have a wider range we find funny, Seph, is all. Just a wider range of funny.”
He grinned at the man. “Come on, help me plan on how to kidnap Spike.”
It had been both harder and easier than he had expected when they had moved Strife in. The boy had been quiet, no doubt about that, and he had been neat. Both were a relief. While Zack wasn’t exactly messy, he…left things everywhere. Bits and pieces of things all over. Said it made the house lived in, and Sephiroth barely refrained from shoving all of it back into the man’s room just to get it out of the way. He had done that at first until Zack, quietly, had kept it all in his room. When it went away, it was just as irritating as when Zack’s things were scattered everywhere. It had taken a while, but they had reached a happy medium.
For a bit, Sephiroth had been afraid that that Strife was going to upset the balance, but he hadn’t. If it wasn’t for the fact that he could look in and see that Cloud had taken to decorating his room, or would see the blond around the house, he wouldn’t have known the younger man was there.
That part wasn’t the hard part. Sephiroth almost preferred the youngest of them around at times because he was so quiet that it let him think, something Zack was very, very good at frazzling, usually at the worst of times. Strife…was frazzling in a completely different way, one Sephiroth wasn’t sure he quite got. It was nice, but…annoying at the same time. He found that if he really did need to think clearly, the office was the place to stay. If he was home, either Zack would drag him over to watch a movie or just randomly chat, or he would look over and see Strife studying and absently chewing on his lower lip, or even possibly stretched out and snoozing on the couch without meaning to, stomach bared as his shirt had rode up.
Feeling a tingle creep up his spine, Sephiroth frowned. Even without Strife being here, he was still frazzling. How did he do that? It seemed impossible, but it was the case. Not even Zack was so capable at scrambling his thoughts as to do it at a distance. And he knew that Strife was on guard duty tonight for a few more hours, then probably staying at a friend’s house.
He sighed and frowned at the memo he had been given. It was time for his yearly shot. Hojo had personally hunted him down and gave him the memo. Not unexpected, the man was rather disturbingly obsessed with making sure everyone had their shots, especially the 1st class SOLDIERs. Who Sephiroth was grouped in with. He knew that this day was coming up, as Zack’s had been just two months ago. Luckily before Strife had moved in. It had been a rather…violent night. Wasn’t the only time that he and Zack got a little rough, but with the shot, it was the one time that Zack almost delighted in the violence and the fight was as important, if not more so, than the sex.
Sighing, looking down at the paper, Sephiroth crumpled it. It was going to be a long night. Zack wouldn’t be back till late tonight at the earliest, and Strife was not even taken into consideration. Thankfully, he would not be home. Sephiroth had mentioned that he was due a Mako shot this morning before the blond had left. The boy had nodded, so he had heard and would no doubt take the appropriate measures.
Dropping the paper into the trash, he stepped out of the house, face carefully blank. Time to get this over with.
Cloud sighed a bit. The house was quiet, with Zack still out of town on that mission, and Sephiroth had said something this morning about getting a Mako booster, so that’s where Cloud supposed he was. Still couldn’t believe that he was living with these two.
He didn’t have any duty tonight or tomorrow, so decided to clean his uniforms, and was curled up in his desk chair, studying, clad in a comfy pair of newer jeans, which he was far too pleased to be wearing because that meant he was finally growing, and an old tee shirt. It was washed so many times he couldn’t read what it said anymore, and it was stretched to its limits as he was putting on muscle, but it was still the most comfortable thing he owned.
It was the faint sound of leather scuffing against the carpet that made him tip his head back and look just as they had moved to put their hands on his shoulders. He jumped a bit, then relaxed. “Oh, hello, Sephiroth.”
Sephiroth blinked slowly at him, and Cloud had a moment to think that something looked very off about the older man when, suddenly and without any warning at all, Sephiroth started to slide his hand down his chest. Cloud eeped and jerked a bit away from the sudden and overly familiar touch, eyes going wide. “Hey, what are you doing?”
His sudden reaction was ignored except for the hand that still rested on his shoulder tightening, and Cloud squirmed from that, feeling something grind that probably shouldn’t have been grinding. Instinct kicked in, and Cloud threw himself to the side not being held by Sephiroth. Luck was with him, and he managed to pull away, almost staggering as he did.
Sephiroth made a small, almost irritated sound of exasperation, and his hand darted forward and quickly snatched the back of Cloud’s shirt and yanking him back sharply. That was a bit much for the worn fabric, and Cloud heard the sound so it ripping as he was pulled back hard against Seph’s chest, choking a moment as the collar cut hard against his throat. That was dealt with a minute later when a strong hand yanked and actually tore the shirt down the middle. The old, worn fabric didn’t have a chance against enhanced SOLDIER strength.
With a yelp, Cloud thrashed and lashed out. Memories of fights against bigger, stronger opponents kicked in, and he did kick, he kicked as hard as he could. Again he lucked out, and he felt something give under his foot. Sephiroth hissed and his fingers tightened on the remnants of the shirt in his hand. A glimpse of his face showed that the man was frowning, looking rather displeased.
“Let go of me!” Cloud hissed, twisting as best he could in the grip he was in, teeth bared as he actually snarled at Sephiroth, scared half to death and near panicking. Then the other man almost absently flipped him towards the bed. With a grunt, Cloud hit it, then his training kicked in and he rolled with the momentum, managing to land on his feet on the other side. The second his feet had hit the ground, he was darting for the bedroom door, wanting out now. Panting already, confused as hell and more than a little frightened, Cloud wanted away. Now.
He had tried to go, but the other man was right on his heels, reaching out and snagging the back of Cloud’s pants, and Cloud reacted. Flailing, he tried to catch Sephiroth with an arm, hoping he would be as successful as he had been with the kick. Didn’t see that was going to be the case, however as the limb was easily snagged and he was pushed forward as if he weighted nothing at all.
"Let me go! Damnit, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cloud continues to struggle, not understanding at all why Sephiroth was doing this. All he knew was that it was frightening as anything to be manhandled like this, without any consideration for him at all. His shoulder throbbed, and Cloud hoped it hadn’t actually been damaged.
Then Sephiroth let him go, but not before spinning him. Stumbling over his own feet, Cloud felt a hand, hot against his back, firmly pressed between his shoulder blades and shoved against Sephiroth. Then the man….
The man kissed him.
Cloud opened his mouth to the kiss, and then snapped his jaws together hard. He tasted blood and felt an almost feral pleasure. Cloud wasn’t going to let anyone, not even General Sephiroth himself, get away with something like this without a fight first.
At least that seemed to get some reaction as Sephiroth made a small noise and pulled back, looking at him with confused eyes as his fingers of the hand not pressed against Cloud’s back touched the bloody spot where Cloud had bitten. Then he moved forward, forcing Cloud to step back, green eyes narrowing.
Why didn’t he let go? That’s all Cloud wanted at this point was for Sephiroth to let him go. “Stop it,” he snarled at the taller man, struggling a bit as he tried to get free of the hand that was still pressed tight against his back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” It was a frantic, and probably wasted effort, but he dug frantically through his memory, trying to come up with a trick that the General might not have a counter to.
That was pretty futile and he was well aware of it. So Cloud was forced to revert to something he had to use in the days when he had been bullied more than a little. Who knew that, someday, he’s at least have a brief moment of gratitude for the kids he had grown up with? If they hadn’t tormented him, he might not have thought of this type of maneuver.
He flailed a bit, lashing out with as many blows and kicks as he could do, getting more violent and wilder as Sephiroth didn’t let go. The one holding him drew in a sharp, almost surprised breath and pulled back, letting go of Cloud to block some of the strikes. A small, confused frown was his only expression, not that Cloud cared at the moment. He just wanted to get away.
So he did. He turned and bolted the second that the hand was off of him. While he was, sadly, much shorter than Sephiroth still, and his shorter legs were doomed to lose in a race against Sephiroth’s much longer ones, he cornered a hell of a lot better. So when he hit the living room, he twisted and darted hard to the left. That direction would get him to the door a lot faster and still give him things to keep between him and his attacker. Once he got out the door, maybe it would keep Sephiroth from trying to keep doing this, or maybe having people around would mean he would get help.
Then Sephiroth was in the living room, and he looked at Cloud and darted forward. Everything seemed to slow for Cloud as he realized that the man was going to corner him. And if he got him cornered, Cloud was probably not coming out of this without broken bones of some type.
That was not going to happen. He refused to let it happen. Instinct kicked in. Grabbing the nearest thing that he could grab and swing, Cloud defended himself, swinging his impromptu weapon hard at Sephiroth.
The table lamp, an amazingly horrid and tacky fake bronze thing that Zack had taken great delight in getting and displaying prominently in the living room just to get on Seph’s nerves.
It cracked and fell into pieces as it connected with Sephiroth’s skull with a dull thud sound, the popping as it cracked a second louder almost gunshot loud compared to the dull thud.
A vaguely stunned look crossed Sephiroth’s face, and he swayed for a moment, eyes wide, pupil contracting and widening again before the rather focused blow to his head kicked in and he, surprisingly gracefully, crumpled to the floor in a slow motion.
Breathing hard, still clutching the one end of the lamp in his hand so tight that it was cutting into his skin, Cloud could only stare at the unconscious form. That was Sephiroth. The General of the Shinra military. Quite possibly the strongest man alive.
“Oh, fuck,” he said finally. “I killed him.”
Interlude Three-Part Two
Wordcounts:
Nano: 12,489
Nov3: 9,852
November so far: 20,306
OGToF: 20,871