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Snow Day	By : Zerachiel Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Cloud/Sephiroth Views: 7487 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 in any way shape or form and there is no way in hell i am making any money off this it's purely for fun and my own enjoyment

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
…

Snow day: Chapter 2

…

It felt like he had just been run over by something. Groaning slightly, Cloud sat up. His eyes absently regarded the arm thrown around his naked waist. Oh yeah, he did get run over last night; by hurricane Genesis.

Shifting to keep weight off his poor abused backside, Cloud slid out of bed as quietly as he could so he would not disturb the two other occupants of the large king size bed. Genesis could be brutal in one of his moods and it seemed Cloud ignoring the two men had put Genesis into said mood.

Rubbing at his tired eyes, he was grateful to see Tseng had pinned heavy black curtains over the windows of their room keeping the morning light out, allowing them the ability to actually sleep in if they wished. Limping slightly over to the dresser, Cloud searched for a clock, knowing there would be one in the room somewhere. Spying it against the far wall, he narrowed his eyes in an attempt to get them into focus, he was not that much of a morning person either, however he was not nearly as bad as the two still dead to the world.

The clock informed him it was ten in the morning, so the village would be up and moving around now. Sighing, he pulled out some clothes and retreated to the bathroom for a quick shower. Frankly he could be banging pots and pans and the two would not wake up, but he did not really want to take the chance. Cloud wanted the opportunity to see his mother before the poor woman was overrun by the others, primarily a certain hyper active puppy.

Dejected, Cloud allowed his head to hit the shower wall. How on earth was he going to tell his mother he was gay? Not just gay, but in a three way relationship with the Commander and General of the Shinra Army! He knew his mother was more open minded than the people of this town, but this was a stretch even for her, he just knew it. However, Cloud could not wait for her to meet Sephiroth. Chuckling he swiped the General's bottle of shampoo off the soap stand and started to wash. The man could live with him swiping a little bit, not like he used a lot compared to the General, who went through an entire bottle in one wash.

Must be nice to be the General, he got all kinds of stuff free from Shinra. Wonder what he would do if he had to buy this stuff all his own, ding! There goes another hundred gil or more on hair care products per day, though the man was a bloody millionaire in his own right. Just like all troops, he got a pay check every month; he just did not have to spend much of it since everything was provided to him by Shinra. This left his money to accumulate in a bank account collecting interest and putting him in the running as one of the wealthiest bachelors in Midgar.

Snorting, Cloud shut the water off. 'Bachelor,HA!' What the Silver Elite would do if they found out not only their idol was gay, but in a three way relationship with two of his Firsts. Cloud did not think there were enough Turks in the world to protect their asses if that happened. They would be dead men walking just out of their shared apartment.

Throwing his towel into the dirty hamper, he moved over to the door. Peering out through the slightly open crack, Cloud found that neither Genesis, nor Sephiroth, had moved from the positions he left them in.

It was not long into this strange relationship that Cloud discovered that Sephiroth was a sprawler, when he was out cold. Apart from when on missions, if you woke before he did, you could find him in the most entertaining positions. Today was a 'normal' one for him, though no less entertaining to look at.

Butt ass naked, like he always slept, he was sprawled out on his stomach half on the bed half off the bed. His legs, the only thing left on the bed was sprawled out across Genesis stomach, the rest of him was laying on the rug his arms acting as a pillow for his head. His long silver hair, which he always slept with in a braid, was currently working its way loose and trailing along the ground.

Shaking his head, Cloud pulled on a sleeveless shirt. He still had to laugh about one time Zack had come into the room to discover Sephiroth sleeping in a position similar to this. Long story short, Sephiroth had a brilliant bright red hand print on his ass for the next few hours and there was a strange section of missing paint on the ceiling in the shape of a certain First in their joint living room.

Finished dressing, Cloud slowly crept from the room, still making sure to keep as quiet as possible. They both may be heavy sleepers, but one wrong sound and Sephiroth would be awake with his natural instincts kicking in. Thanking Gaia the old Inn Keeper had finally oiled these squeaky doors, he crept down to Angeal and Zack's room and pressed his ear against the door; silence... blissful silence. Good, so both of them were still out as well.

Reaching the top of the stairs his feet stilled, even without his enhanced hearing he could hear the loud voices down bellow. The small bar come restaurant at the front of the Inn was packed, as was normal on a Saturday about this time. 'Great… justfuckinggreat.' He really did not want to go down there. Steeling his nerves, he pushed the special sunglasses farther up his nose and headed down. The glasses were given to every Second and First Class SOLDIER. With the boost of Mako in their system, bright days in snowy regions like this were blinding to their sensitive eyes. The sun glasses were designed to cut down on the snow glare and also hide their glowing eyes.

His foot had not even fully come down on the bottom step when the whole bar fell silent. He could feel all eyes in the room were now on him, he didn't have to look up he could just feel them boring into him.

"Yo, Cloud!"

Oh thank Gaia for small favors, or, in this case, a red headed Turk. Not looking at anyone, Cloud quickly maneuvered around the tables to the small table the four Turks were currently sitting tucked into a back corner. Walking up behind Reno, he smiled to the group, seeing they were in the middle of a late breakfast. It seems the SOLDIERs were not the only ones to have slept in today.

He looked at the four Turks while leaning his arms on the back of Reno's chair, it seemed all of them, while still in partial uniform, had ditched the black jackets and were just sitting around in white shirts and their pants. Reno was sitting in a white wife beater, his bare arms covered in tattoos.

"Reno, I didn't know you had Tattoos."

Tattoos were kind of a no-no in Shinra especially among SOLDIERs. "I've had them forever yo! There my bad boy tattoos."

Chuckling, Cloud swiped a piece of bacon from Reno's plate. "That sounds about right for you."

"Cloud, are the others awake yet?" Tseng was sitting across from Reno, regarding Cloud over his mug of coffee. Like the rest, he was still in partial uniform however with rolled up sleeves, and the first few top buttons undone. He had taken his hair down from his usual ponytail.

"When I left my room, yeah. Gen and Seph were still out like a light and I didn't hear any noise from Zack's room."

Tseng nodded and regarded his watched. "We'll give them another hour. Are you going out, Cloud?"

Trying to repress shivers, Cloud nodded. He really wished they would stop staring already! "Yeah, I was going to go see my mom without the rat pack."

"Where is your sword?"

"Uh..." Cloud absently reached back to where First Tusgi would normally be. "Up in my room?"

Sighing softly, Tseng took a drink of his coffee, "Go up and get it, then you can leave."

"Why do I need my sword?"

"You can either retrieve your sword or you take a Turk with you."

"What? Why?"

"Choose."

Frowning, Cloud crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. Time to start the idea he and Zack had from last night. Thank you sensitive hearing!

"Oh come on, dad, I'm a big SOLDIER, I think I can go out without a baby sitter."

A slow smirk crossed Cloud's face as he watched Tseng's coffee come to a complete stop half way to his mouth. Reno had shoved some eggs into his mouth to keep from laughing and Cissnei was giggling like hell behind her hand.

Seeing he had rendered the lead Turk speechless, Cloud turned to the giggling Cissnei. "Right mom? I'm a big SOLDIER now, can I go?" This just sent her over the edge, her little body shaking with the force of her laughter. She waved him off saying he could go, only to dissolve once more.

Smirking, Cloud rushed from the Inn before Tseng recovered from his shock and came after him. He was dead when he got back, he knew, but it was just too perfect. They had all over heard them while they were waiting in the restaurant last night calling them the children, so Zack had come up with the idea to start calling Tseng 'dad' and Cissnei 'mom', and god were they going to play that up the rest of this trip. Tseng was going to want to cap them all by the end of this.

Blinking slowly, Tseng set his coffee down on the table and proceeded to allow his head to fall to the tabled with a loud 'THUNK'.

That set the table off, Cissnei was crying from laughing so hard, Reno fell out of his chair clutching his sides, gasping for air and Rude was chuckling in his seat.

"What is wrong with Tseng?"

Not even looking up Tseng continued to beat his head into the table with small 'thunk's.

Recovering from her giggling fit, Cissnei looked over to the two newest members to join their growing group. Sephiroth had taken Reno's chair, while Genesis watched the man rolling around on the ground still laughing.

"You look like a stalker, Seph." She giggled, knowing she was getting a glare from behind those sun glasses. Sephiroth really did look like a stalker though, in order to try to 'blend in' he was in a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up to hide his trademark silver hair, the dark Shinra sun glasses were perched on his nose and he was wearing a pair of black baggy jeans and combat boots.

Genesis was not much better; it was probably the sun glasses that made them look like stalkers. Genesis was in a short crimson leather jacket similar to his full length one he wore as his uniform and a black shirt with black jeans on. He also worse the sun glasses, since both he and Seph had the most sensitive eyes of the group.

"Oh nothing, Cloud just shocked him stupid, that's all." Lifting his head, Tseng glared at her, there was a large red spot on his forehead now, but it went ignored as he turned to the two commanding SOLDIERs. "So, where did our little chocobo go running off to?"

Pushing himself back up, Reno whimpered upon seeing Sephiroth was now munching on the rest of his bacon. "Get your own, you thief!" Without looking up from the food, Sephiroth flipped him the finger and continued eating. The man had not uttered a single word since he arrived at the table. Sighing, Tseng reached into a bag he kept next to him and pulled out an energy drink. He had barely brought it up to the table when it was snatched from his hand.

"Strife said he was going to see his mother." Rude informed Genesis, going back to his own food now that most of them had calmed down and Sephiroth was not going to murder them all.

"You should have gotten that sweatshirt at the golden saucer, would have fit you so well." Reno had grabbed another chair and sat down between Sephiroth and Rude.

"And which one is that?" Sephiroth set down the now empty can and held his hand out for a second one. Chuckling Rude handed him a second one, knowing they would need at least two more before the man became sociable again.

"'Instanthuman,justaddcoffee'. Though in your case 'justaddsugar'would be more suitable." A small smirk crossed Seph's lips at this.

"Yet, how often would I wear it?"

"Good point." Pulling up a chair, Genesis sat down between Cissnei and Sephiroth, making that side of the table pretty crowded. Normally, Sephiroth would have gone over and sat next to the Turk leader, though it seemed like too much effort for the still half asleep general to drag a chair over and sit down.

Already on his forth can, Sephiroth was starting to look a little more awake as he was actually sitting up in the chair and not hunched over like the hunchback. "How long ago did he leave?"

"He left about forty seconds before you two came down." Pulling his glasses off, Sephiroth rubbed at tired eyes and hid a yawn behind his hands. "Heading to his mothers, then? Come on Gen, let's go find our lost chocobo." Replacing the glasses, Sephiroth moved over to Tseng's side of the table and started rummaging through his bag.

"Sephiroth, what are you doing?"

"Hush..."

"What is left in that bag is all you have left for the next three days."

Sephiroth stilled, four more cans of energy drink in his hand and a bunch of candy bars in the other. "You're telling me, this is all I have left?" he regarded the nearly empty bag to what was left in his hands.

"And they do not sell your drinks up here."

"WHAT KIND OF HILLBILLY HELL IS THIS?"

…

Stretching his arms high over his head Cloud took in a deep breath. If there was only one thing he missed about Nibelheim, it was the fresh air. Midgar reeked of pollution and Mako and made it hard to breathe at times when you were outside the nice ventilated Shinra building. He would try and take missions out in Banora or Costa del sol as often as possible, though they were few and far between and those generally were snatched up by the other four Firsts, as they had seniority over him.

A fresh blanket of snow had fallen since their arrival, leaving the peaceful village looking like a cut out of a Christmas magazine; too bad that this beautiful village had some dark secrets.

One of which was a mile up the road, the Shinra mansion. No one dared to go up to the manor, it was said it was haunted by the ghost of those who had once resided there. It was also said that there were monsters that called its halls home now. Hell, there was even whispers of a vampire deep in the basement.

Cloud snorted, trudging off through the thick blanket of snow. Monsters; he could believe. Ghosts; that was stretching it a bit. Vampire; that was so far off into left field somewhere he really had to wonder who the hell thought that crazy one up.

"Well, well, look who came crawling back! It's precious little Storm Cloud."

Stopping mid step, Cloud greatly resisted the urge to stomp his foot in irritation. This was not turning out to be his morning. Why in Gaia's great name could he not just get to his mother's house without having to worry about Dumb, Dumber and the rat pack? Really, Mother Earth, did he do something wrong to deserve this!

Taking a deep breath, he schooled his features into an emotionless mask, straighten up to his full 5'8", his shoulders kicking back. SOLDIER mode kicking in, Cloud executed a perfect about face, bringing him around to face the group of boys that had made his life hell since he was five.

Aaron and the rat pack; a group of five boys that were as big as they were tall and had no problem with pushing him off the side of the mountain. They were more brawn than brains, which used to be a problem for a skinny little kid like Cloud.

So far, not much had changed; they were still big, ugly and huge. The difference here was Cloud, no longer was he a scrawny little kid. While he did not have their height like the other SOLDIERs, he was built like Sephiroth and Genesis; thin but powerful. He relied heavily on his speed in battle compared to likes of Zack and Angeal which were primarily on their brute strength.

Cloud noticed with satisfaction that a couple of the lesser cronies were looking at him warily. During the cold months he normally would have been bundled head to toe in thick clothes to stay warm, now he instead stood in nothing more than a sleeveless black shirt, black cargo pants and his combat boots. The shirt allowed a nice view of his Mako enhanced arms which were no longer scrawny. One of the many perks to Mako including the heightened body temperature.

"What do you want, Aaron?"

The leader of the group seemed to be sizing him up, seeming to still see him as the scrawny nobody, Aaron puffed himself up with a stupid, smug smile crawling across his hairy face.

"What happened Storm Cloud? I thought you were only coming back once you made SOLDIER."

A single blond brow rose, "Yeah, and?"

Aaron faltered a little at that response. He had been expecting Cloud to start stuttering around finding an excuse as to why he was not in SOLDIER; they all expected he would never manage that feat. They were all pretty sure he did not even make it to Midgar and had been placing bets about how long it would take for him to come crawling back to momma.

"Finally get sick of hiding out and come back to your momma?"

'Lord are these boys stupid...' Shaking his head, Cloud folded his arms behind his head. He had picked up on a lot of Zack's habits and mannerisms over the years, same as he had picked up on Sephiroth's and Genesis'.

"I don't have time for this." Lowering his arms he waved them off and headed back towards his old home.

Aaron blinked; having never experience Strife blowing him off like that.

'Come on, you idiots... take the bait.' Cloud thought to himself, he was intentionally walking away at a slower pace. Say it was some sick pleasure, but he wanted to really fuck with them.

"Well, what are you all doing? Get him!"

Bingo! Cloud's eyes quickly scanned the houses, his fastest escape and best way to piss them off was directly to his left. No ordinary human could make the jump from the ground to the roof, but he was not an ordinary human anymore.

'That's it... three…' Bending his knees slightly more as he walked, he could feel the powerful muscles coiling with power. 'Two… one.' He saw them out of the corner of his eye; the biggest of the bunch was reaching to grab him by the hair. 'Sorry boys, not this time.'

Like releasing a tightly coiled spring, Cloud launched up into the air. The huge lug blinked in shock, his ugly brown eyes watching as the scrawny nobody leapt a good thirty feet into the air. Twisting his body around, Cloud landed easily on the two story roof, just as he planned.

Pushing himself back up, he quickly hid the smirk that was crossing his face. The gang was all standing below him looking up at him in shock.

"How the hell did he jump up there?"

Smirking to really piss them off, he held up a finger and bowed slightly; trying to look cute. "That's a SOLDIER secret, want to know it? Then join. The Drill instructors for Cadets are all a bundle of fun. Oh what, can't get up here?"

Oh, he was having too much fun.

"Sorry boys, but I got to get going. Don't want daddy mad at me for running past curfew." Turning he easily leapt to the next roof, his house was only another eight or nine down and all on this side of the road.

"How the hell is he doing that? Come on, we'll get him when he comes down." The group had only taken a couple steps when two figures appeared from either side of the road blocking them.

A man in dark sun glasses, black hoodie and pants stood on the left hand side of the road. Clutched loosely by the top rim was a energy drink, the stick of what appeared to be a lollipop was sticking out from the man's lips. The other was tall with auburn hair and a red leather jacket, also wearing the same sun glasses.

"Aaron, they are wearing the same glasses as Cloud." One of the 'smaller' boys pulled on Aaron's jacket sleeve, trying to get him to back off from the stare down they were having with the two strangers.

"What do you think, Seph; that looked like a deliberate attack on our Lieutenant, don't you think?"

Reaching up, Genesis pulled his glasses off, revealing brightly glowing Mako blue eyes.

One of the boys squeaked and rushed up to Aaron. "That's commander Rhapsodos! SOLDIER First Class, third in command of the Shinra Army!" Aaron looked over the Crimson Commander, he did not look like much, but he knew from the magazines he was in direct competition with the Silver General.

"If we were in Midgar, I would have them tried for attacking a military officer; but since we are not in Midgar..." A slow cruel smile split Sephiroth's lips. Being who he was, he was never the target of bullies, but he had seen his men that had been targeted and he despised bullies with a passion.

Never once releasing his sugary crack, he reached up and pulled his hood back revealing his trade mark silver hair. It was once more pulled into the high pony tail at the back of his head, his bangs though were allowed free of the hold.

More of the group started to shrink back. Everyone knew what the Silver General looked like, his face was plastered all over Shinra magazines and recruitment posters since the Wutai Wars.

"All you have to do it take your hood off and people recognize you."

Revealing Mako green eyes, Sephiroth looked over to his lover and smirked. "Hmm, jealous?"

"Hardly."

"Gen…General Sephiroth!"

At the sight of the Silver General, the whole group turned to run.

"And where are you going? The party is just starting." Zack moved up from the back blocking them in, his Mako blue eyes glowing as brightly as the smile on his face. "What, you don't want to have a party with the General of the Shinra Army? How about me, huh?"

The group of bullies instantly all huddled together, their eyes shifting from one First to the next. "What do you want?"

"You tried to attack one of our Firsts and to make it worse, his back was turned, that is not honorable." Angeal stood leaning against one of the houses, a thick fur lined jacket concealing his arms.

"Sephiroth, Genesis, Zack.." he looked up at the group, Zack seemed to deflate under the look. This was probably going to be another one of his famous lectures.

"They aren't SOLDIERs, make sure not to hurt them too bad."

The three smirked, Angeal might have had his pride, honor and loyalty; but he was not above vigilantly justice when it was deserved.

"Don't worry Angeal, I'll control Sephiroth if he gets to out of hand."

"Hm, I'd like to see you try."

"I know exactly how." Genesis flash him a look, earning him a very visible shiver from the General.

"That a promise?"

"You know it." Digging his boots into the snow, Genesis launched after the stupid bullies.

…

Landing on the door step of their small and modest home, Cloud looked back upon hearing the screams and scuffles down the street. He was not stupid, he had seen Genesis when he leapt to the next house and noticed Sephiroth out of the corner of his eye as he landed.

"Thank you guys."

Turning back to his house he gently knocked on the door. It had been several years since he had last been here, he didn't need to give his poor mother a heart attack with him just barging in. Leaning against the door he could hear her scuffling around in what he thought was the kitchen.

"Just a moment."

Smiling softly he set his hand on the door, tapping out his special knock. A loud gasp reached his ears, accompanied by the sound of a shattering plate. Chuckling softly, he stepped back, knowing he was about to be plowed into.

One of the only memories he had of when his father was alive, was he would come home and give a secret knock. This would cause his mother to drop whatever she had in her hand and race for the door. No sooner had that train of thought gone through his head than the door flew open and a little blonde shot into his arms.

"My Storm Cloud, is that really you?"

"Yes, mom." He was grateful for the Mako enhancements, otherwise the hug his mother was giving him could have really hurt. Being careful of his new strength he returned the hug.

Not releasing him fully, she stepped back to him over. "Look at you, I barely recognize you." Stepping back farther she made a little twisty motion with her finger. Giving her a playful disgruntled look, he huffed then spun around on the spot for her.

Clapping happily and giggling, she quickly ushered him into the house. "Are you hungry, Cloud?"

"If you're offering your home-made strawberry pancakes, yes." He heard her giggling from the kitchen.

"Of course!"

Smiling, he beat his foot against the wall, kicking off as much snow as possible not wanting to track melting snow all over his mother's house. "How have you been, mom? Has everyone in the village been leaving you alone?"

He caught that soft resigned sigh even from the front door. So the village was still harping on her, he could bet it was all centered around him. Ever since that accident with Tifa, the town had been going out of their way to make his mother feel like the scum of the earth He knew with him running off to Midgar would not have helped her out much. Pulling the glasses off, he stuffed them into his pants pocket, the last thing he needed was to lose those. Sephiroth got away with getting a new pair every other week because he was constantly breaking his, but Lazard would have Cloud's head if he lost his.

"Mom, what's been going on?" Moving into the small kitchen, Cloud took his normal spot up on the counter next to the stove.

"What do you mean? Nothing has been going on.. oh sweet Gaia!" Reaching out, Cloud grabbed the bowl of batter before her hands had fully let go of it.

"Cloud, what happened to your eyes?" Gripping his face, she peered at his eyes closely. Her baby had always had bright blue eyes, but these were glowing.

"It's nothing, mom." He chuckled gently, prying her fingers from his face. "It's a reaction from the Mako injections."

"Mako?" Her bright blue eyes widened as his comment sunk in. "SOLDIER eyes, you made it in?" Nodding, he once more had an arm full of Mother Strife.

"That's why I haven't been writing, if I'm not out on missions, I'm in the training rooms." Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his wallet and handed it to her. Wiping tears away, his mother took the wallet and flipped it open, her eyes being drawn to the white and red ID card in the clear section.

"Cloud Strife, Lieutenant." She smiled largely at the officer rank. "Designation: SOLDIER, First Class…First Class?" She looked up at him her eyes wide.

"Yep, got promoted last week. That's why my eyes are so bright."

"First Class..." She put a hand on her cheek while just staring at the ID card, seeing a picture in the small picture section he turned her attention to it. In the picture, Zack had Cloud in a headlock, grinning with his big happy grin at the camera as Cloud fought to get out of it.

"Zack Fair, he's been my best friend since I first arrived at Midgar. He's a First Class as well.. we all call him Puppy since he's so hyper active and reminds us so much of a puppy."

Giggling she flipped to the next picture. "He sounds like a great man."

The next picture was a little blurry, since it was Zack behind it. It was Cloud and Angeal sitting on the floor around the low coffee table in their joint apartment going over the construction of First Tsugi.

"That's Angeal Hewley, he's Zack's mentor and second in command of Shinra's army. He's a really great guy, very level headed, very big on loyalty, pride and honor. He was helping me construct my sword, since it comes apart."

"He looks like he would be the more fatherly sort." Mrs. Strife said looking over the man, he seemed like a very patient man. Flipping to the next one, she blinked.

The picture caught her a little off guard. Of course she instantly recognized the Crimson Commander. He was very easily recognized from the magazines and newspaper. He was currently laying across a couch with his head in Cloud's lap, his LOVELESS book propped open in front of him. Cloud was holding onto his bracer and a few things of Materia just looking down at the commander.

Seeing his mother's reaction, he started to laugh. "It's not what it looks like mom, that's Genesis, he's got a very interesting sense of humor. I was putting new Materia into my bracer and he decided to be a pest and lay down covering up most of the Materia in my lap and proceeded to drive us all insane with his reciting of LOVELESS... again."

Hearing the explanation, she giggled and nodded. "I have always heard he is very arrogant and cocky."

"Yeah, that's pretty accurate actually, but he does have a lighter side that only a select few see." Seeing her flip to the next picture, he started to grow nervous. This was his personal favorite, but it was also one he would not be able to lie about, like he did the Genesis one. He swallowed nervously seeing his mother's eyes going wide.

The picture was taken out in the living room during one of their game nights. He was currently in the process of getting his ass handed to him by Genesis in their fighting game, he was sitting on the ground in front of the sofa just in front of Zack. You could see both Genesis and Zack in the picture Genesis with a smug look on his face as he was bashing the buttons of his controller. Cloud was growling angrily at the TV with Sephiroth only in a pair of sleeping pants sitting behind him with his arms wrapped around his waist and head laying against his shoulder.

He liked the picture because of the loving look Sephiroth was giving him. He knew his sharp eyed mother would not miss that.

"Is.. is that Sephiroth?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly as she took in the picture. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Cloud nodded. "Yeah.. General Sephiroth."

The two fell into silence, one trying to wrap around the fact that her son looked to be gay and in a relationship with the Demon of Wutai, the other trying to squash his fear of being rejected by his only living parent.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity his mother broke the silence. "What kind of man is he? He keeps pretty much to himself when it comes to the press."

She was not immediately rejecting him. Swallowing again, he looked down at the picture in her hand, he really wished that damn lump would go away.

"He's... interesting; in his own way. He's got a very dry sense of humor and because of how he was raised he's not very socially adapt, I mean he knows how to act around people of higher class and his men, all on a professional level. Whereas on a personal level, he's completely clueless; Angeal, Genesis and Zack have been working on him for the past few years and he's slowly opening up to them and now me. We see a side of him the world never does and it's fantastic to know I'm allowed to see that and share in it. He really is a good man, he cares greatly for his men and will fight tooth and nail to make sure they come home to their families, he'll protect his friends just as fiercely." Taking a deep breath he looked at his mother. "A lot of it, you are just going to have to see for yourself, they are here in town..." he motioned towards the pictures. "all of them, and they want to meet you."

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks, her eyes once more looking down at the pictures. "I just have one question Storm Cloud. Does he make you happy?"

"Yes mom, I'm very happy."

Smiling gently she handed him back his wallet, her hands closing around his. "Then, that is all I need. All I want is to see my baby happy." Setting the bowl down, he hopped off the counter and gathered his mother into a tight hug. "Thank you, mom."

Gentle knocking pulling the two apart, "Now, who could that be?"

"I think I know who." Cloud groaned. Sure enough, his mother had barely pulled open the door when a head of spiky black hair stuck in.

"Hi, can Cloud come out and play?" Zack grinned up at his mother with his brightest smile. Smiling in return, his mother stepped back opening the door up some more, "You must be Zack the Puppy."

"Yep, that's me!" Zack did not miss a beat.

"Please come in, I was just about to make some breakfast for Cloud."

"Ohh... food." Zack moved in, stomping his feet to get the snow off them. "Cloud brags about your home cooking all the time back at Shinra. He gave a couple of your recipes to Angeal and he's a great cook, but I have always wanted to try yours."

Smiling, she couldn't help but fall in love with this man, he was just as she thought when she first saw his picture. A charmer and a very bubbly guy, that seemed to always smile even though he was in a hard job.

"You don't mind if the others join us do you?"

"Others?" Sticking her head around the door, she blinked upon seeing the three other Firsts all standing out on the walk way, away from the door. She shot a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling outright; the sight in front of her was just too funny. Sephiroth was leaning against the gate post with his hood pulled far over his head, trying to hide from Angeal who was trying to snap a picture of him. Genesis stood by the door and was shaking his head. "You know that if he doesn't have his face on he won't take a picture."

Ducking to the side, he narrowly avoided a snow ball thrown in his direction. "You missed."

"Shut up, Genesis..."

Giggling, Cloud's mother opened the door all the way. "Would you boys like to come in? I'm making warm strawberry pan…"

A black blur shot past her. Blinking rapidly, she looked back outside, seeing it was now just Angeal and Genesis.

"He's in here mom. You said strawberry, which means sweet; that's all he needed to hear... HEY! That doesn't mean you can start eating them!" Cloud disappeared into the kitchen.

"Thank you for inviting us into your home." As proper as always, Angeal bowed his head to her. "I'm Angeal Hewley, this here is Genesis Rhapsodos."

"It's a pleasure to meet you finally, Mrs. Strife." He said sweeping into a low bow, always one for theatrics.

"The black and silver blur was Sephiroth, we're still training him."

"Yes Cloud told me he had a very, different childhood." Ushering them both inside, she gently closed the door. "Please make yourselves at home, I was not expecting so many visitors this morning; I'll need to prepare more batter."

"Would you like some help? These are a lot of mouths to feed and I'm afraid we dropped in unannounced." Stepping out of his now dry boots, thanks to a low power fire spell from Genesis, Angeal moved up to her. "I'm the official chef for our little group of merry men, I would be happy to help."

"Besides you're gonna need brute strength to keep Seph from eating all the sugar in the house." Zack popped in from the kitchen.

"Alright then, thank you for your help... and thank you for taking care of my son."

…

The next half hour flew by in a blur of laughter and chasing Sephiroth out of the kitchen on more than one occasion. He was usually victorious in stealing a few strawberries from the bowl and would gloat happily about his sweet prize. At one point, it got bad enough with the sneak attacks that they stationed Zack at the door way between the kitchen and living room, weilding a knife.

However, they all had forgotten about Sephiroth's newest acquired skill; they all nearly had a heart attack when he suddenly appeared next to Cloud, grabbed the small bowl and simply vanished.

"You and that damn teleportation skill." Zack growled poking a pancake loaded fork at Sephiroth across the table. Snatching Zack's wrist Sephiroth leaned across the table and stole the pancake from his fork.

"HEY! You have your own plate!"

Chuckling softly, Sephiroth sat back in his chair and went back to his own plate.

"You all seem very close, did you all meet at Shinra or did you know each other before hand?" Mrs. Strife looked at all the boys seeing a series of emotions play across their faces.

"Genesis and I grew up together; we're the same age and so used to play together." Angeal looked over to Genesis, "We both wanted out of our lives and we heard about the greatness of General Sephiroth - Hero of Shinra. We never dreamed we would become so close." The SOLDIERs around the table instantly got the double meaning, but thankfully Cloud's mother seemed blissfully unaware. They had agreed while she was collecting the morning paper that, for the moment, she would not be informed about Cloud's current relationship status beyond himself and Sephiroth, since that was the first person she discovered was with her son. Though, they were also leaving out the fact that they were also sexually active.

"I'm from Gongaga!" Zack pulled the attention to himself, so there wouldn't be time for Cloud's mother to try and figure out the hidden meaning. "I met this bunch at Solider; I was just a Third Class when I ran into him." He jabbed his fork at Angeal. "Actually, he quiet literally ran into me, hit with enough force to send both of us onto our backsides."

Laughing, Zack nodded bouncing in his seat. "I caught his attention; he started watching me and soon enough offered up to be my mentor. With him guiding me, I flew through the ranks to First."

Nodding, she turned to Sephiroth. "How about you, Sephiroth?"

The fork stilled part of the way up to his mouth, his glowing green eyes darkening. Blinking, Mrs. Strife quickly looked around the table, her sense that she just asked something really bad rising at the nervous glances the rest of the table was send each other and Sephiroth.

"Shinra is all I have known, at least from what I can remember I have always been a part of Shinra." He was absently stabbing at his pancakes now. "I started training to wield a sword when I was three years old, was put into the SOLDIER program at eight, became First at thirteen, became General at fifteen." His pupils seemed to slam shut at something. "My father was pushing so hard for his perfect specimen to rise through the ranks." He spat out the word of father out like it was a poison, he stabbed at his pancake a little harder than he meant to causing the plate to shatter.

Blinking, his pupils seemed to open once more as he stared down at the plate. "I'm sorry, I forget my own strength at times." Everything owned by SOLDIER members was reinforced against their strength.

Cloud's mother stood and grabbed a towel. "It's alright, I'm sorry if the question I asked was a little too personal." She gently set a hand on his, almost instantly his hand jerked out from under hers. Realizing what he was doing, he clenched his fists under the table.

Genesis gently set a hand on his shoulder. "Come on... let's go outside for a bit. I'll make you a Hojo snow man for you to decapitate." Nodding stiffly, Sephiroth stood and both men moved out to the solitude of the small back yard. Standing up, Cloud started to help with the dishes, "Sorry mom, I should have warned you better."

"No, it's alright Storm Cloud, I should not have asked such personal questions. I don't blame him, to have had a life like that. No boy should ever have to go through that."

"He has had a very hard life, but it's the only life he has known." Angeal stood, bringing over their empty plates to help as well. "He did not understand how families would normally behave until I brought him home with me to Banora. He was shocked, to say the least, that this was how most families act."

"What kind of parent does that to their child?"

"Professor Hojo..."

"...Is a sick twisted freak of nature that needs to be put out of all our misery!" Zack spat from his spot still at the kitchen table. It was strange hearing that much venom coming from the happy go lucky puppy.

"Zackary." Angeal said warningly.

"What, you know damn well what he continues to do to Sephiroth to this day, how many times have we had to carry him back to the apartment after one of his 'health visits'."

"Zack!"

Huffing Zack leaned back onto to legs, "Hell, I don't think Hojo is even his father."

This grabbed Clouds attention. He was used to the Hojo bashing, especially in the VR room where Sephiroth had a special program where he could go through and decapitate Hojo as many times as he wanted without the risk of being tried for Capital Murder. He had never heard the one about Hojo not being his father.

"What makes you say that?"

"Hmm?" Zack looked over to them still balanced perfectly on two legs. "Well, you've seen Hojo, wait what am I saying, we all have. Either way, you know what he looks like. Tell me, do you see any of that psycho freak in Seph?"

Drying off one of the plates, Cloud moved over to the window to look out. Genesis currently had his arms wrapped around Sephiroth holding him tightly with Seph's face buried in his neck, his bangs hiding his face from view. Cloud did not need to see his face to know what was going on, he had been held in a similar way after a particularly nasty session with Professor Hojo. People always placed Sephiroth on this pedestal, made him out to be this unstoppable almost God, but he was human. He felt pain like the rest and he showed it in the same way.

Turning away, Cloud moved back to the cupboard to put the plate away. Remembering why he had originally looked out there, he took up the next plate and replied, "No, he doesn't look a thing like Hojo."

"I had always assumed he got most his looks from his mother, but don't you find it strange that there is nothing of Hojo in him?"

Angeal sighed softly, helping to wash the dishes. "I honestly wish we could find some way to prove or disprove it. Would take a great deal of stress from him if we could prove he wasn't his father, but that is something we have no business in dealing."

Noting the tone Angeal was using, Zack smartly shut up.

"How old is he?" Clouds mother looked over to Angeal finishing the last of the plates.

"He'll be 21 in 2 months, according to Hojo."

Cloud instinctively reached out grabbing the plate before it hit the floor. "Well, that explains why all your plates are mixed matched."

Giggling despite herself, Mrs. Strife dried her hands off on her apron. "I must say that is a nasty habit of mine." Looking to the window, her eyes softened sadly. "So young, you all are way too young to be doing this."

The four sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Normally Sephiroth was not that vocal about his time in Shinra, it seemed he was comfortable enough here to talk about it. Which, as horrible as it sounds, is a step in bringing him out of the shell he had enclosed himself around.

About fifteen minutes later, Genesis and Sephiroth came back in. Other than looking like he was crashing from his sugar high, Sephiroth looked alright.

"I apologize for my outburst earlier and breaking your plate."

Mrs. Strife just waved it off and set a large mug of hot chocolate down in front of him. "My own special recipe, Cloud loved it when he had a bad day. He said it always made him feel better. From what I gather you are also a chocolate lover as well."

A slight flush crossed Sephiroth's cheeks, taking a hesitant drink as he was unsure of the termperature.

Almost instantly, his eyes widened and lit up like a Christmas tree. Grabbing hold of the mug with both hands, he started to chug the drink.

Happy to see Sephiroth was back to normal, the table laughed as they watched the feared General hold his mug out and beg for seconds.

"I'll make sure to give Angeal the recipe so that you can have it when you go back to Midgar."

"Oh, speaking of Midgar and Shinra." Zack leaned forward over the table, "I heard from a couple of the old people in town that Shinra has a mansion up here... it's supposed to be all sorts of cool things and monsters in it, really tough monsters."

"You have our attention."

"Well since today is a little too late to go hit the slopes, why don't we go back to the Inn to grab our swords and Materia, then go check it out; see what we can find."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Genesis sat back and smirked, he knew this would be good for Sephiroth since he needed to work off some steam and there was no VR room to trash.

"Oh! Hold up, Mrs. Strife, what time is it?"

Handing Sephiroth another mug of hot chocolate, she looked over to the small light on the stove. "Twenty to one, dear."

"HA! We just set a new world record!"

The group just looked at Zack, wondering what the hell he was going on about. "What world record Zack?" Cloud asked just as confused as the rest.

"The world record is: we have officially gone twenty four solid hours without Genesis reciting LOVELESS!"

Everyone kind of sat up at this and you could see Angeal, Cloud and Sephiroth doing calculations in their heads. "He's right.."

The tabled at that point dissolved into fits of laughter, Genesis looked absolutely appalled at this revelation and opened his mouth. Instantly two hands covered it, keeping him from speaking. "That doesn't mean you get to quote the entire book because you didn't throughout the day."

The tension from earlier seemed to shatter as Genesis slunk down in his chair arms folded and a firm pout on his face.

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