Title: Growing Up
Author: GW Katrina aka [livejournal.com profile] icedark_elf
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Characters/Pairing: Cloud/Aeris/Sephiroth/Zack, Cloud-centric
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 835
Warning: It's an odd little bunny. >.>
A/N: Just a pre-Nibelheim bunny that's been in my head before. Thought I'd write it down and get it done with.



Growing Up

Sometimes, the others were bizarrely fascinated with the oddest of things, Cloud decided. They really were.

He remembered Zack’s face when he had come back from the six month deployment to Wutai. Even though the country had finally surrendered, Shinra still stationed troops over there, rotating them out in six month sessions.

It was the longest he had ever been away from the others. And it was frustrating that it had happened just two weeks before he had turned fifteen.

There had been letters, from Zack, mostly, though they often had little side notes tucked in as well. While never signed, he knew who they were from, and it was nice to be able to hear from Aeris and Sephiroth, even if they didn’t officially send him anything.

The jungle had been hot and wet, and Cloud found that he, and most the rest of his squad, loved the beach near where they were stationed, and spent most of their free time down there. He even managed to get a tan, and that was wonderful.

Apparently the tan wasn’t the only thing that had changed while he was stationed out there. He didn’t realize what else had till he finally got home.

Zack had stared at him when, finally, they had gotten off the boat. Cloud was never so happy for that in his life, and he had felt more green than anything, thankful to be on solid, steady ground.

Moving past the check off point, and told they were free for the next two days, he hadn’t expected to be ambushed by the hug from Zack, and the enthusiastic hair ruffling that followed.

It took a minute for him to recover from that and realize the man was staring at him.

“Spike,” he said finally, “you’re almost as tall as me, now.” With as much surprise as Zack had in his voice, Cloud felt just as much, blinking and realizing that he wasn’t staring at Zack’s shoulders anymore. Instead he got to look at the man’s nose.

He was taller.

That cheered him right out of the motion sickness.

“Come on,” Zack said, dragging him towards the barracks. “Got plans for tonight. And tomorrow.”

Hearing the man purr, Cloud chuckled. That was a good voice. Not the scary plan voice. So this he could go along with and hopefully not end up arrested. Always a good thing.

///


Mumbling softly, Cloud rubbed his face against the pale skin under his cheek. Zack’s plan had been a good one, and he was relatively sure Sephiroth had thought so as well. The man had been just as pleased at Cloud’s new height as Zack, and it has been an interesting night. He wondered vaguely how Aeris was going to take it.

“Cloud?”

The voice caught his attention, though it was very light, and he looked up into green eyes and made a soft sound of question, wondering what had attracted Sephiroth’s attention.

“Your face is rough. Why?”

“Oh,” he said, yawning slightly. “Need to shave is all.”

“Shave?” That was from the face pressed between his shoulder blades, and a hand groped up his side till it found his face. There was a moment where his chin was patted at roughly, and then Zack sat up and leaned over, eyes a bit wide. “Holy hells, Spike, you got stubble.”

Cloud snorted. “Thus the word ‘shave’, Zack,” he said, partially amused. “I didn’t just get taller, you know.”

“Look, Seph, our Spiky is growing up on us.”

Sephiroth was ignoring Zack, it seemed, his fingers brushing back and forth lightly along Cloud’s jaw. “Stubble,” he murmured, looking more than a little fascinated. For the life of him, Cloud couldn’t figure out why. At least not till Zack said something.

“That’s right,” the dark haired man realized. “You never had to deal with it, did you, Seph? I know mine stop being an issue after I got enough mako, so….”

Oh, that did explain a lot. Though Cloud didn’t expect the next part. Turns out Sephiroth was highly curious to see how the stubble felt against more than just his chest.

Zack didn’t even let him shave before they went to see Aeris. Who was just as intrigued.

Now, Cloud was willing to admit that while it was interesting to rub his hand against the short hairs, he didn’t get the total awe the others seemed to have with his facial hair.

Not that he was going to complain. Not one little bit.

Though they’d better get their fix of it soon, cause he was going to be a SOLDIER, too, and they were just going to have to deal with the loss of the stubble.

Though he did like the attention. And the new height.

The desire they all seemed to have with watching him shave, though, was a little odd.

He had to face it. He was dating oddballs. Hopefully their obsession with it would fade soon.

His face was starting to chap from all the petting.
.

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