Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Blonde Ambition	By : sephcounttheways Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2097 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 21
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- 23
While they slept, they moved together like a slow tide. Sephiroth would spoon Cloud like a stuffed animal, then eventually drift away during the course of his sleep to sprawl in the opposite direction. Upon a drowsy semi-wakefulness, Cloud would realize his lover was in the same bed and cling to him. Eventually he’d get hot and push away, separating all over again.

It happened that way all night and for the better part of the day. Cloud didn’t exactly remember when he woke up; for a long time he lingered on the border of sleep, too happy to move, think or speak. After being so drama-tized, he needed to just be for the moment.

He tottered on that dozy edge until thoughts refused to lay dormant and turned outward to the surrounding world. There were better things to do than sleep, especially when Sephiroth was already awake behind him.

His breath tickled lightly against the back of Cloud’s neck, and whatever combination of genes that caused Sephiroth to emit that sweet, delicious scent were working full force. Cloud took a deep breath and held it. As soon as he quieted his own respiration, he could hear Sephiroth’s heart beating in his chest along with the gentle, organic whir of the processes that powered his body.

This was the aliveness that Cloud had been craving.

As if his vital organs were aware that they were being admired, there was a guttural demand of hunger from Sephiroth’s stomach. They both chuckled quietly, but didn't say anything and didn't move beyond Sephiroth’s hand brushing Cloud’s side.

But much like the owner, Sephiroth’s stomach didn’t particularly like being ignored, so it growled again. This time there was a tinny, high-pitched noise from Cloud's stomach. It seemed that their bodies had decided to do the first greeting of the day for them.

“Good morning,” Cloud giggled anyways. "Hungry?"

“Mmhmm…” He nodded, cupping Cloud’s face to ease it towards his.

Sephiroth’s lips were smooth and warm, and a tongue was stroking against his own long before Cloud’s brain caught up with the action. But Sephiroth’s mouth led things so perfectly that Cloud didn’t need to think, so he didn’t – he just experienced.

He dazedly moved onto his back, spreading his thighs for Sephiroth to gently settle between. At the full feel of skin against skin, their morning erections became more than just involuntary. Cloud’s arms locked around his shoulders, and his legs moved up to slide along the hard edge of his hips.

Sephiroth made a soft sound as Cloud’s limbs encased him. He let his tongue play in Cloud’s small, hot mouth while his hips fell into a grinding rhythm. Just as Cloud’s breath began to quicken, the attack abated suddenly. Sephiroth seemed to draw himself back a bit, and left Cloud’s lips to kiss his cheek.

“Hey,” Cloud murmured. “More.”

"More what?" Sephiroth asked distantly, his kisses becoming sloppy along Cloud's jaw as he began making more teasing suggestions with his hips.

"Everything," Cloud pushed Sephiroth's face with his nose until he was again within kissing range, and held his face so he couldn’t draw back again. He kissed Sephiroth sweetly, inviting him to take whatever he may have desired.

Sephiroth needed this softness and this sweetness. He was no longer so afraid to admit that he love Cloud dearly, but was still a little afraid to mentally admit that he liked himself better as a result of that love.

“Goddamn it!” Sephiroth whispered suddenly, breaking their kiss to yank Cloud into a gripping hug.

“What?” Cloud paused at the sudden seriousness, his whole body going still. “…What’s wrong?”

“It hit me.”

Cloud’s eyes went wide, thinking that he had accidentally kneed Sephiroth in the groin again. It happened to both of them from time to time, mostly to poor Sephiroth because Cloud was very quick to become overeager. There was no greater buzzkill in existence than a kneed crotch.

But since his legs were outside of Sephiroth’s hips, he knew it had to be a non-physical statement. He whispered, “...What hit you, Seph?”

“Just,” he swallowed uneasily. “This. I’m home. With you.”

Cloud fingers stroked his sleek hair, moving it away from his face, “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah,” Sephiroth said softly, feeling stupid. “It’s just finally hittin’ me, that’s all. It’s a lot.”

“Want me to cry with you?” Cloud cooed to him, already working up tears.

“I’m not gonna cry. I just missed you. I just…” After a brief search for any other way to say it, he let out a tiny puff of nervous air. “…love you.”

Cloud cupped his face, pulling him closer. “I love you, too.”

In the arms of his lover, the hindsight of Sephiroth’s time at the Crater was bitterly miserable. The only way to cope with his loneliness was to assume the role of the more mature partner, which was very easy since Cloud was so vocal about his distress.

When he told Cloud to cheer up, he was telling himself to cheer up. When he tsked disapprovingly at Cloud’s tears over the phone line, he was trying to force away his own. And when he told Cloud that it was impossible for him to return home for a quick visit, he was talking himself out of that very idea.

Sephiroth had been exhausted, bored, freezing cold, and under-stimulated in every way. It became so bad that he actually began to organize a flight back on a supply vessel to visit his lover. That is, until he thought of the post mission audit.

How was he going to justify going back to Midgar? And only for a day or two? How could he leave behind the thousands of people who wanted to be with their loved ones just as badly as he did?

What kind of leader was that?

Being a General gave Sephiroth a healthy sense of duty in mind, but in heart he was just a flesh and blood young man. He was still getting acquainted with his loving, passionate side, but he had always known that it was there waiting for someone to properly draw it out of him… he just didn’t expect that that side of himself would so easily threaten to overpower the rest.

And that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. How else should he have felt? He had everything he wanted exactly where he wanted it. It was all wrapped up in a pretty blonde package that loved him before he ever knew love so good existed.

Sephiroth expressed these feelings in a kiss that instantly overwhelmed Cloud. He had asked for more, but was barely able to keep up with the hot, sensual waves of Sephiroth’s mouth, the heated brush of his hands, the friction of his hips. He whimpered into the kiss while his hands dug into Sephiroth’s arms, almost in panic.

As usual, Cloud begged for rough treatment but turned away shyly when it was presented. That bipolar coyness was something else that Sephiroth cherished about him and had missed terribly. Sephiroth had never gotten to care for or coddle anything before. He was used to teasing and being dominant in whatever he did, but never before could he be so indulgent with his victims.

And Cloud was the perfect victim. Sephiroth lived to make Cloud smile, laugh, blush, and whine. To at the same time be sweet to him, to touch him, kiss him, please him.

Nothing felt better than making him feel good.

Cloud’s fingers gripped and scratched against Sephiroth’s back as he began to twist and pull beneath him, gasping short breaths into their kiss. The semi-panicked writhing had a surprisingly powerful effect on Sephiroth, and he groaned as he felt his cock begin to throb and weep against Cloud’s.

Cloud wrapped his legs tightly around him, and gave another muffled little cry. Sephiroth quickly realized that Cloud was about to come, and released his mouth with a harsh suck of air, “Not yet!”

Cloud gasped and shot one trembling hand down to his groin. Sephiroth was about to become seriously disappointed, but then realized Cloud wasn’t stimulating himself to completion, but instead gripping his base to obediently stifle it.

Sephiroth felt like high fiving him, “Nice save!”

“Your worth waiting for,” Cloud whispered shakily with a smile on his swollen lips. He slowly released himself when the danger of orgasm had passed, “…But hurry up.”

Cloud’s smiled softened and he leaned over on his elbow, slowly turning himself over onto his stomach. Sephiroth allowed it, and gently guided him over the rest of the way.

He drank in the sight of the narrow, soft skinned back complete with patterns of the mattress and sheets indented. Sephiroth smiled as he ran his hand over them, then kissed both of Cloud’s softly protruding shoulder blades.

He let his lips move down the graceful ridge of his spine, sending a shock of wiggles through Cloud’s body that culminated in a loud chuckle. Sephiroth waited until he was calm again then squeezed his ass between his fingers, pushing up on the soft flesh.

“Hot little ass,” he admired with a possessive growl.

“No it isn’t!” Cloud denied, smiling over his shoulder. "I should get implants. They make an incision below the crease, and," he made a wet shloop sound, " - slide some extra bum right in there."

"Over my dead body," Sephiroth warned, kissing one cheek. "You’ll never cut yourself open like that. If you want a bigger ass, do squats."

"Is that why Zack does those...?" Cloud wondered.

Sephiroth didn't reply, he was busy with pressing Cloud’s cheeks together and kissing along the tight seam it created. He marveled at the creaminess of Cloud's natural skin color that immediately turned to a more golden hue on his lower back in the shape of panties. He had told Sephiroth how he’d acquired these peculiar tan lines, and he wished he could have seen Cloud in his little Speedo while he was still in swim class. The contrast wasn’t quite as bold as it used to be, but Sephiroth ran his tongue along the border between lightly sun kissed skin and baby white smoothness.

He slipped his fingers between Cloud and the mattress and hefted him up onto his knees. Cloud easily followed, his limbs gathering themselves fluidly as he settled in front of Sephiroth on the bed. He leaned back, resting his head against Sephiroth’s shoulder and feeling the hardness of his body.

Sephiroth kissed the soft, salty skin of Cloud’s neck while his hands became busy on the stretch of his abdomen. There had been changes, and although his mouth had been all over Cloud’s body the night before, he still wanted to thoroughly map the new contours out with his hands.

He explored the ridges of Cloud’s collarbone, his shoulders and chest, pausing to pull at both peachy nipples. He felt the gentle push of Cloud's ribs through muscle, and the flat, toned board of his narrow stomach.

Cloud was purring. He leaned and arched against those warm hands as they petted every inch of him. His head was dizzy with happy arousal and his body ignited under his beloved’s touch.

Sephiroth’s fingers pressed into his hips tightly, his thumbs pushing forward. “On your hands?”

Cloud moaned in understanding and leaned forward, putting his weight on them. He felt a drip of sweat roll down his neck when Sephiroth widened the space between his thighs, giving him no choice but to turn his ass up.

Then through the sweat there was a shiver as Sephiroth settled behind him on the bed. Cloud felt his hot breath spread across his lower back when he was asked, “You okay?”

Cloud shuddered again, his legs and arms breaking out in a rash of goose bumps. “Awesome.”

“From last night, I mean,” Sephiroth clarified, running a hand down the inside of his leg. “You hurt?”

“I’m fine, Pretty.” Cloud bucked his ass up, hitting something he hoped was Sephiroth’s face. It was.

Sephiroth didn’t waste any more time with worrying, but hungrily pressed his tongue to Cloud’s opening. It was a bit red from the long night before, and he resigned to giving Cloud a Cure when they were through. He would have given him one then, but he knew from experience that there was general numbness for a few minutes afterwards, and the last thing he wanted Cloud to be was numb.

Cloud gasped and moaned from above, looking back to watch Sephiroth working on him. His nose was pressed into the dimple of his lower back, and every so often there was a red flash of tongue to match the hot, moist sensations that pushed gently in and out of him.

It was good. It was dirty. It was good because it was dirty. And it was amazing because they were in love.

Sephiroth glanced up when he felt his stare. He easily held it as he worked, his glowing eyes never blinking. Cloud blushed, both in love with and envious of that confidence. He wanted to be more like Sephiroth in every way, so he held the stare right back. It escalated into a challenge when those smoky green eyes exuded that smug smile that usually made Cloud feel like a mere cadet in the presence of a General.

But his General was rimming him. This cadet was allowed to stare all he wanted!

He swallowed and craned his neck up higher, watching in a way that may have easily been mistaken aloof or even cattily unimpressed.

Sephiroth dragged his tongue through the valley between his cheeks, showing the entire long length of it before he pushed it back inside.

Then Cloud’s eyes disappeared suddenly, and he pressed his face into the pillow. Sephiroth won the battle, but was slightly disappointed with his victory. That was, until both of Cloud’s hands snaked back, and his long fingers pulled his own cheeks so far apart that his little hole opened up like a flower.

Sephiroth paused in surprise, and then heard Cloud’s voice from the pillow, “Deeper.”

And the victory went to Cloud, after all. Sephiroth was never more turned on by losing.

He took a breath and pushed his tongue in, holding that ass open so Cloud could go back to his former position on his hands. He pushed his tongue in as deeply as he could get it, and then began to search. After a few moments Cloud began to quake.

Sephiroth felt the tight muscle pulse around his tongue as he worked the little spot that drove Cloud to hysterics. He swirled and lapped at it until he felt like his lungs would implode from lack of air. He couldn't get enough in with his nose pressed to Cloud's back, and he couldn't taste that sweet spot if he wasn't that close. With a deep, reluctant gasp Sephiroth came up for air, quickly filling Cloud with two fingers and working them the way his tongue had been.

Cloud cried out hard when he felt the larger intrusion enter. His narrow back flexed as he worked his hips with Sephiroth’s fingers, trying to get away and get more at the same time. He shifted suddenly on the bed, and before Sephiroth’s lust hazed mind could comprehend what he was doing, a wet tongue was working over his dripping erection.

Cloud licked the salty liquid from the slit and curled his hand around the base. He looked up at Sephiroth for a moment before his eyes swept closed and he began a shallow, quick suction on the tip of his cock.

“Oh shit,” Sephiroth cursed absentmindedly, spotting the tube of Pleasureglide on the floor. It had been carelessly dropped the night before and had spun entirely out of reach. He needed to stop Cloud’s attentions to retrieve it… but he really didn’t want to do that.

Forgetting about the lube and utterly mesmerized, Sephiroth pushed his fingers quickly in and out of Cloud, making him arch himself in pleasure. He felt the tremor of a groan in Cloud’s throat as he was swallowed down deeper.

“Shit,” Sephiroth blurted again. He looked at the lube that was so near, but so very far away from Cloud’s mouth... and lips… and the little curl he did with his tongue...

Just come here! Sephiroth mentally screamed at the lubricant.

And to his utter astonishment, it did. It shook once before sliding across the floor.

As recently as the current year, the labs all but tortured Sephiroth to prod out a latent ability to manipulate objects with his mind. The General felt like a rock; he was simple, solid and linear in thoughts and feelings. He knew some people were telekinetic, but it always sounded a little bit like bullshit to him. And after all those years of torture in the lab to try and get him to perform it… all those tests, all that emotional upheaval…

After all that, there it was. It was happening because he wanted to fuck. It was happened because he wanted it to happen.

When Sephiroth came to a higher awareness and began to over think the situation, the lube came to a halt on the floor.

Cloud's little moans wavered a bit, and he peered up as he sensed his lover’s attentions were lying elsewhere. Sephiroth quickly resumed thrusting his fingers, passion almost immediately filling him as his desire to connect with his lover blasted through his senses.

When Cloud went back to work, he then glanced discreetly at the lube. Come here?

It did a flip on the floor and scuttled closer. Sephiroth hated the notion of invisible hands, it had made him put a cover over his head on many nights alone – but if he could control the hands… that wasn’t a bad thing at all.

The lube flung up from the hardwood floor to smack into his arm and land on the mattress. Then there was no denying that, son of a fucking bitch, he was telekinetic. What it meant, he wasn’t certain. But he’d be goddamned if he was going to tell a single soul.

Pleased with his new secret, Sephiroth put it out of his mind as he popped open the top of the tube and squeezed some oil out onto his fingers. Cloud let go of Sephiroth’s cock with a wet kiss, not wondering where the lube had come from. He only watched with a trusting smile as Sephiroth moved his slick fist over himself.

He pushed Cloud over onto his back, smiling wickedly at the little shriek he gave. He slid his fingers into Cloud one final time, spreading the excess lube until he was satisfied that his lover was ready.

He pushed one of Cloud’s slim thighs up, unable to resist running a hand over everything that was presented there. The round curve of his ass, his tiny opening that was shiny with slickness, his tightened balls and long, hard cock. Cloud gasped raising his other leg to wrap around Sephiroth and pull him closer.

He positioned himself, pressing against Cloud for a moment before pushing in. He relaxed when he felt it, and concentrated to maintain that relaxation and not fight the welcome intrusion. Sephiroth watched the tight opening expand wide around him with only minor pain catching Cloud’s breath.

Eventually the smaller body opened up completely, and the larger one settled inside. Sephiroth leaned down to kiss Cloud’s cheek, and never feeling shame in disclosing his inner sexual dialogue to his lover, he said, “This is my favorite part.”

Cloud’s brain was full of sexual smog and had to work to comprehend those words. They were incredibly honest, so honest that it almost made Cloud uncomfortable. He opened his eyes and looked up, breathless at the beauty that was bowed tightly before him.

“Do you really love me?” Cloud asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?"

Sephiroth didn’t even need to think about it, "'Cause you're where I belong.”

Cloud’s arms opened up like a child’s, and Sephiroth came down onto his elbows to be embraced and kissed. Cloud could never say in words how happy it made him that Sephiroth loved him for the exact same reason that he loved Sephiroth.

Sephiroth slowly worked in at an angle that lined up with Cloud’s delicate spine. He gasped with the slightly stretched pain, but loved the man inside him and the knowing way he touched the most intensely pleasurable spot on his body. Sephiroth took Cloud’s air away entirely when he sped up, wrapping one long arm underneath him and holding him tightly against his smooth chest.

It was impossible to recover or hide from the pleasure for even a second, because Sephiroth was making him feel it, all of it. There was the firm, steady slap of wet skin, and the gentle grunt of effort and passion from Sephiroth with each hard push. Cloud clamped his eyes shut and fought for air.

“Cloud,” Sephiroth murmured against his forehead, his hips almost coming to a stop. “Breathe.”

Cloud immediately inhaled and felt his lungs burn with the need for air. The air escaped on a desperate shout as Sephiroth continued to move inside him, and it felt like the entire world was moving in and out along with him. He crashed down like a tidal wave that never lost momentum, and Cloud was enthralled to the limits of coherency.

“Lemme hear you,” Sephiroth said, pushing Cloud’s legs up higher, creating an even deeper angle and pushed in hard, his cock dragging against all the right places inside of Cloud. His entire body tensed around the intrusive pleasure and he gave up on control and let go. He trusted Sephiroth enough to hold him together, or at least gather the pieces when he came crashing apart.

For Sephiroth, it was the ultimate aphrodisiac to experience the emotional and flamboyant young man shamelessly ripped apart and cut wide open by the power of their union. That unique voice was mewling, moaning, proclaiming how good their physical love felt. It wrung the same out of Sephiroth, he gasped and murmured gentle threats of passion against Cloud’s ear.

“I’ll never stop,” he warned.

“I won’t let you stop,” Cloud hissed, one of his hands finding Sephiroth’s on the bed and gripping onto it. He moved with Sephiroth, rolling his back off the bed and rubbing himself against his hard stomach.

He reared up and kissed Sephiroth until saliva seeped down his chin. He didn’t care. He wanted everything of Sephiroth on him, in him. He wanted to be covered in everything that Sephiroth was.

Moments passed, each one becoming more frantic than the last. Cloud’s body sung with unreleased tension, pulled tight to the edge of snapping. Sephiroth’s arms cradled him like smooth, hot vines of muscle while his athletic body never seemed to tire of working Cloud’s.

Cloud wanted so much more, but his body couldn’t take another minute. He cupped Sephiroth’s bicep and squeezed it before moving his hand down to his forearm. He pulled his hand and encouraged it towards his erection.

Sephiroth released his mouth with a lick of his lips. “Ready?”

“Always,” Cloud panted with a warm, tender smile and worked himself hard against Sephiroth, wanting a mutual culmination. The General mentally chuckled at the extra effort; Cloud didn’t need to do a single thing but smile like that.

Sephiroth hissed sharply as he wrapped his fingers around Cloud’s hardness, feeling the charged throb and the hot dew weeping from the tip. Cloud put his hand over Sephiroth’s and guided him, his back arching up like an angry feline’s as the perfect rhythm was found.

Sephiroth held his arm around Cloud, forcing him to stay arched and keeping his perfect little ass in just the right place. Sephiroth felt Cloud clench with each pass of their twined fingers around his erection, working him towards a teeth-grinding climax. Sephiroth pushed through the fluttering opening, hardly able to hold himself up.

“You’re so…I’m –” Cloud cut off his own words with a growl of pleasured agony. The hand that had been laced over Sephiroth’s shot away to help steady himself, his entire body pulled to the very edge of tension until it finally shattered with a wordless scream.

Their experience together was by no means vast, but Sephiroth had never heard Cloud scream. It shocked the climax right out of him. He kneaded Cloud’s spurting cock in his hand while he rode the smaller body hard for a moment or two, wringing himself on that beautiful ass as it pulsed around him.

Sephiroth shivered audibly, trembling and suddenly needing to be out of Cloud before he screamed, too. His hypersensitive cock slipped out wetly, and he collapsed onto his side into a heap of long, overwhelmed limbs. He curled in on himself slightly while he tried to recover, staring at Cloud with unfocused eyes.

Cloud was shuddering with one arm covering his face. For a few moments, only their gasps for air filled the room.

Eventually there was a giggle. Green eyes focused to find Cloud gathering himself up, sweaty and rumpled and as disheveled as he’d ever seen him. Sephiroth on the other hand was practically curled in the fetal position with his cheeks flushed and sweaty, and his silver hair for once not looking red carpet ready.

They laughed. They’d completely decimated one another, and now they were elated, sated and full of endorphins. They were naked and covered in each other’s come. They had an entire week to spray each other with more. Life couldn’t have been more beautiful.

Cloud crawled the short distance to Sephiroth and kissed him, his soft tongue licking the sweat off of his upper lip. “Tired?”

“Starving. Wanna go out?”

“That sounds awesome, but...” Cloud brushed Sephiroth’s hair off of his face. “Can I have some more?”

Sephiroth’s eyes popped open. “Say what?”

Cloud then took Sephiroth’s larger hand and slid it down his body. His green eyes widened at what he felt – which was rock solid proof of the stamina of youth. “Shit, Cloud...”

Just then, the punky, unwelcome ringer of Cloud’s cell phone chimed loudly. Sephiroth snatched his hand back, glaring at Cloud’s phone on the floor, “No phones on vacation.”

“It’ll go off in a minute. Who’s calling? I don’t even know anybody.” Cloud gave an uncaring wave towards it. He wrapped his legs around one of Sephiroth’s, pressing his miraculously rock hard cock against it.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes as Cloud smiled and leaned up for a kiss. His eagerly puckered lips ran into a finger, though. The General raised an eyebrow at him, his tone patient yet commanding, “No more until you turn it off.”

Cloud ducked his head sheepishly. Very reluctantly, he scooted to the edge of the bed, just as the ringing of his phone stopped.

“Figures!” Cloud pouted, throwing a sour look over his shoulder. He picked it up just as it began to buzz and sing again.

“Cloud,” Sephiroth complained.

“I’m trying!” He wailed, and quickly opened it up to silence it before he saw who was so insistently trying to reach him. “…Shit. It’s my mom…”

“Don’t answer it!”

Cloud fretted, biting his lip. He couldn’t just ‘fuck you’ button his own mother... she would no doubt know he had done it. He hadn’t been calling her lately, but he also hadn’t been ignoring her, either. If he didn’t answer, she would know something was up. There was also the possibility that something was wrong, maybe even an emergency…

… But on the other hand, he was fucking horny. The kind of horny they name constellations after. And Sephiroth was so naked, so sexy, so delicious…

“Stop jackin’ off and make up your mind, already,” Sephiroth grunted.

Cloud’s hand flew away from his groin and he sighed in resignation, “It’ll just take five seconds, Seph.”

Sephiroth gave a juvenile roll of his eyes and folded his hands behind his head, unwittingly making himself all the more visually appealing, “Fine.”

Cloud wanted to hurl his phone out the window and hop back on. But he decided to get rid of his mother once and for all so he could fully concentrate on his beloved for the next seven days.

It might actually take that long to kill his erection.

“Hi mom,” he answered quietly, folding his legs on the bed. “Sorry for not picking up before, I was in class. I have another one in like five seconds so – ”

“Is that so?” she interrupted.

Cloud’s fake smile fell a bit. “…Yes.”

“Cloud Duffy Strife,” she announced. “Where the fuck have you been?”

His skin prickled at the use of his full name. “Um… Wh-what do you mean?”

“I’m just wondering,” she said with sudden casualness, which was dangerous. “Just wondering where my son’s been for the past couple of weeks… I haven’t heard from you. So where have you been, Clow? Where have you been?”

Cloud’s eyes were like saucers. “I’ve been… here and there…”

“Or at the Northern fucking Crater, risking your goddamn life!?”

“Momma, I – !”

“What the hell were you thinking!?”

“Drum duty – !”

“You’re a baby! How the fuck could they send you there – how could Sephiroth send you there?! And why the hell did you go without talking to me first?!”

Cloud cupped the phone with both hands and whispered in an attempt for privacy, because something about having this conversation in front of a General was humiliating, “…Because I… I was assigned to do it, mom. And I wanted to. And I did a good job! I-I did really well!”

“What if you were hurt?! What if you were killed?!” She didn’t pause to light a new cigarette, she merely talked right through it. “You’d be a fucking popsicle right now, and how the hell would I find out?! With some fucking telegram telling me my baby son’s been fucking murdered at the Northern Crater?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!”

“Mom, it’s not about you!” Cloud heard himself shout. “I’m a grown m-man! And I’m in the army now, s- so you’ll just have to get used to the idea that I’m gonna be in dangerous situations!”

Cloud had puffed out with pride, but began to wither as his mother began a tirade of expletives and threats, mostly aimed towards Sephiroth, President Shin-Ra, the SOLDIER program, and Cloud’s gonads.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” she repeated, anger and some strange brand of hurt in her voice.

Because you’d act like this, Cloud frowned. But he said, “I don’t know, mom. I just... didn’t want you to worry. And I didn’t want you to try to talk me out of it.”

“So you can feel like a big man, marching off to some meaningless conflict that you have no reason to be apart of?”

“…Kind of.”

“Well fuck you,” April Strife declared.

Cloud snorted. “How did you even find out?”

“Cathy next door told me.”

“How’d she find out?”

“You’re on the front page of the fucking newspaper. Nice hat.”

Cloud gasped so shrilly that Sephiroth shot up in bed, before realizing it was just one of his lover’s noisy mannerisms and rolled over onto his stomach with a grunt. “It was that stupid reporter! Mom, I was betrayed by someone you know named Simon!”

She laughed a little at that. “Well according to him, you’re ‘a budding war hero with tears in your eyes and the grit of battle still clinging to your boots’. Not to mention, ‘the young gay lover of a very elite, very nameless Shin-Ra military professional’.”

Cloud bellowed a moan of embarrassment. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d just come out and said it was Sephiroth, but that sounded like he was the cabana boy for some crusty old officer.

His mother was pitiless, “You fucking deserve to be outed for keeping a secret from me. And didn’t I teach you not to talk to the press?”

“When in my entire life would you ever have had to teach me not to talk to the press?!” Cloud demanded loudly.

“Don’t talk to the press…” Sephiroth mumbled, his arms folded beneath his chin. Cloud reached out to pet the top of his silver head, and Sephiroth shifted closer until he was lying on Cloud’s thigh.

“Well now you know, shit for brains,” his mother clucked, then took a long puff of her cigarette. “…Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Cloud sighed.

“…Did you get shot at?”

“It was a battle, mom,” he said after a few moments. “I may have like, been in the way of a bullet, but I wasn’t shot directly at. Ya know?”

“Oh my god,” April moaned wearily.

“I’m alright though, I swear!” Cloud said firmly. “I um… the only thing that actually hurt me were these pieces of shrapnel, because there was this SOLDIER and a Wutainese dude fighting, and the SOLDIER cut the dude’s sword in half, and all the metal kind of sprayed me. That sort of hurt, but then the camp doctors pulled all the metal out and poured alcohol on it. It hurt worse than actually getting cut!” Cloud babbled excitedly. “And then they used a Cure on me, so I don’t even have scars or anything.”

“Those things actually work?” April sounded surprised.

“Mom, magic is the craziest thing you’ll ever see. But then there was this guy I know, Reno – ”

Cloud paused and Sephiroth tensed at the mention of that name. Slowly Cloud resumed scratching Sephiroth’s scalp and brushing his fingers along his jaw line while explaining to his mother how Reno had been almost fatally injured after an enormous bullet went straight through him.

He told her how he ate monsters, and how he killed a terrifying demon, to which she seemed extremely impressed. He told her about the men he stayed with, about marching, and about his first ride on an airship.

By the time he was done speaking to her about it, Sephiroth was dozing and she was considerably calmer.

“And you’re alright?” she probed again, her tone soft.

“I’m totally okay,” Cloud repeated. He’d been flushed angrily during the beginning of their conversation, but his face heated up much more intensely at her gentle concern. “I’m back home. I might have to drum again someday, but I’ll tell you next time, I promise. I just didn’t want to scare you.”

She hummed, her anger having been spent. It had taken Cloud until that moment to realize that all of his life, her frequent anger and bitchiness were all just forms pure love. He wondered why he didn’t see it before.

April lit another cigarette. “I was thinking about something. Something sort of big. You can tell me to go to hell if you want to, but hear me out first.”

Cloud’s mother wasn’t a woman who asked permission to do anything, least of all from him. “…Okay.”

“How would you feel about me moving closer?”

Cloud gasped loudly again, waking Sephiroth up with a violent start. He groaned a little bit in distaste.

“Shhh!” Cloud shushed him, then cupped his handsome face affectionately when he was given a sleepy scowl. The angry look evaporated and Sephiroth kissed the palm of his hand, then rolled off of Cloud’s lap to settle on the bed beside him. Cloud then turned his attention back to his mother. “…Do you mean it, mom?”

“It was a thought. You’re the only baby I have, and… I miss you. Besides, they’re dying for teachers in Junon, and that’s a hell of a lot closer.”

“Fuck Junon!” Cloud laughed merrily. “Come to Midgar!”

“Midgar makes me absolutely sick. But I loved Junon when I was younger, and I’d be able to drive an hour and see you whenever. And feed you, too. In this newspaper picture your friend Cam looks like he could snap you like a twig.”

“Mom, I’ve gained like twenty pounds since I’ve been gone!” Cloud roared. “I just grew a little bit too, so it like evened it out!”

“You did,” Sephiroth confirmed.

She wasn’t impressed. “Whatever. How would you feel about that?”

Cloud tried to find a reason why he wouldn’t he happy about having his mother closer, and couldn’t find a single one. “They have plenty of Strifes there, they don’t need us anymore. Come closer… you sort of wanted to move to a bigger city too when you were my age, right? I know I messed up some of your plans, but you’re still a super hot female! Take a chance you stupid ho – ” Cloud lost his composure and began singing one of his mother’s favorite songs. He’d always hated it, but was forced to listen to it approximately one million times in the car.

Instead of laughing, she was lost in contemplation and thoughtfully hummed. “I might. I’ll have to think a little bit more about it.”

Cloud spent several more minutes catching up with his mother about her work at the school, his aunts and cousins, and the state of his grandmother's health before they said their loving goodbyes and hung up. For good measure, he also turned the phone off.

Cloud peered at Sephiroth’s form that rose and fell under the blanket. It was supposed to take exactly five seconds, but it took a little over an hour to smooth things over. His mother had succeeded in temporarily slaying his genitals, but that could easily be fixed. In fact, he felt himself twitch a little as he draped himself over Sephiroth’s back.

He kissed Sephiroth’s ear and whispered, “Wake up!”

Cloud giggled when his appeal was met with an exaggerated snore. Sephiroth glanced sleepily over his shoulder. “We should get dressed.”

“But I don’t want to get dressed yet,” Cloud flirted, snaking his way under the blanket.

“Your mommy killed the mood for me,” Sephiroth teased, sticking out his tongue when Cloud smacked his arm.

“I had to answer! …We can get something to eat soon… I can be quick.” He rolled onto his back with a grin and Sephiroth followed.

“I know all about how quick you can be.”

“It’s hard to last when you’re so damn hot…” Cloud trailed off as his brain caught up with his mouth, and blushed a little at his own boldness. Even though it was a simple compliment, it was an aggressive one. He finished though, “You look so hot when you’re fucking me.”

“I should blindfold you then,” Sephiroth countered, not missing a beat.

Cloud grinned. “Only if I can blindfold you first!”

Sephiroth was just about to respond when yet another cell phone chime interrupted him.

“I turned mine off. That one’s yours!” Cloud declared triumphantly.

Sephiroth cursed and scowled at his cell phone as it buzzed around on his nightstand. He seriously considered crushing it into pieces, then vaporizing it – he had his eye on a new one, anyways – but he didn’t want to risk losing the archive of pictures Cloud had sent him over the past three months. Something about losing those pictures would be slightly heartbreaking, even though he had the real thing to touch and hold.

So instead of destroying the stupid phone, he rolled over onto his side and glared at the number daring to intrude. Cloud began to grope his ass from behind, and Sephiroth swatted his hand away. If the call was work related, he wanted to be as serious as possible to make sure the caller became damn clear on the definition of personal leave.

But while it was someone he worked with, he knew it wasn’t work related. He heaved a sigh and answered it, “What?”

“What? What do you mean, ‘what’?” Nurse Rhonda demanded. “Where the hell have you been all day? And why haven’t you called me yet?”

“I’ve been sleepin’,” Sephiroth grunted.

“Sleeping or fucking?”

“Both.”

“I’ll make it quick, then. You’re coming to my place tomorrow.”

Sephiroth groaned like a teenager, “Ron, I just got back. I don’t even wanna put pants on.”

Then Rhonda’s deep voice rose into a strange and cooing octave. “But you have to! There are two people who really want to meet you!”

“But I don’t wanna meet anybody,” Sephiroth very nearly whined, crinkling his nose. Cloud laughed silently and poked it.

“You want to meet these people.”

“Who are they?”

“I’ll give you a hint,” Rhonda offered. “They popped out of Julie’s twat two weeks ago.”

It was Sephiroth’s turn to give a sharp, disbelieving gasp, “Fer real?”

Cloud pressed his ear to the other side of the cell phone so he could hear what was going on. Sephiroth held the phone a couple inches from his ear to let him listen in.

“Yes sir! So since everybody’s back in town at once, we’re having a baby meet and greet tomorrow at two. Julie wanted a headcount so she could do the whole hostess thing. Just um… smile and do what she asks. You know everyone will probably get wasted,” Rhonda then sighed. “And even though we realize you have a lot of ass to plow since you’ve just gotten back, try and make the effort to put some pants on and swing by, okay? I miss you.”

Sephiroth grinned, but couldn’t stop his cheeks from going hot pink. “Yeah, you know we’ll definitely be over. I think Cloud’s pretty excited by the idea…”

Indeed, Cloud was doing a silent jig behind Sephiroth on the bed. Playing with babies and drinking with Zack were high on the list of things that made an ordinary day extraordinary. Then Sephiroth’s eyes widened a bit when the little jig became more of a hip rolling thrust.

Hang up, he mouthed against Sephiroth’s cheek, his fingers running up into his hair.

“Well crap Ron, I gotta go – ” He paused in talking to open his mouth wide in a silent moan when Cloud pulled the handful of hair sharply, “ – the door. Someone’s at the door. See ya tomorrow.”

“Alright, we’re counting you two in then.” Rhonda then began saying something about her new children that Sephiroth completely missed out on. Cloud was kissing the length of his neck, focusing heavily on the little tickle spot right behind his jawbone.

Rhonda then asked Sephiroth an unknown question twice before he breathed with a small shrug, “Yeah, totally.”

“I knew you would agree with me!” she cawed.

“Totally,” Sephiroth repeated, biting his lip when Cloud’s fingers gripped his ass. He let a shuddering gasp slip out, “Ron, there’s somethin’ …burnin’ on the stove.”

Cloud kissed his lips silently before mouthing again, Hang up!

Rhonda began saying more things. Cloud continued his seduction assault. Sephiroth finally blurted, “I’m hangin’ up now, Ron. Cloud needs me to fuck him.”

Cloud gasped in shock. That was his teacher! But she only chirped agreeably on the other line, “Okay. See you tomorrow!”

The General turned off his phone off before descended upon the Cadet, devouring every single inch of him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Cloud was so relaxed and happy it felt as though he were wearing Crisco beneath his clothes. He shot his hand out and tugged Sephiroth’s into his own, admiring the outfit he’d picked out for him.

Since it was spring, Cloud dressed Sephiroth in a breezy white cotton button up with a cute, floppy hood attached to it. He rolled the sleeves up to Sephiroth’s biceps, then slapped a pair of tight jeans on him. He himself went for his old black wife beater and the Gucci pants he bought with his magical, unexpected prize money for going to the Crater.

He modeled them for Sephiroth, who greatly approved. That is, until he found out where the money for them came from.

Then, all hell broke loose.

“It was my money!” Cloud defended. “I wanted to get something cute before I left to come home to!”

“It was contract money, Cloud! You do not spend it until you get back from the mission!” Sephiroth roared militantly, making Cloud’s eyes tear up a little bit in bashful confusion. He mentally sighed at the tears, and forced himself to speak gently. “Next time, don’t touch it ‘til you come home. Promise me.”

“Fine,” Cloud answered uneasily. “…What’s the money for?”

“Your life,” Sephiroth murmured. “Or if you don’t croak, buying hot little pants from Gucci.”

Cloud’s eyes widened when he realized that he had read that in the contract he signed with Zack during his briefing in Nibelheim. At the time, he didn’t understand it. Like most things he didn’t understand, he put it from his mind entirely to focus on other things – Zack’s hot ass, for one.

All military personnel from Generals to Cadets were given compensation for missions. Cloud hadn’t considered the drumming to be a mission, but more of an exclusive school assignment.

It was a mission, though. Cloud had been on a mission. When he was handed the money from the Dean, it wasn’t a 'thank you'. It was legal compensation for his time and, potentially, his life.

If he had died at the Crater, Shin-Ra would have left April Strife with that 500 gil to bury him with, and that would have been the end of Shin-Ra’s obligation to the Strife family. Or rather, a pair of hot little red Gucci jeans to bury him in.

Cloud became disgusted… then morbidly curious. If he was paid 500 gil for a mission as a cadet… what the hell did Sephiroth make per mission?!

“As if I would tell you."

“C’mon!” Cloud begged. “At least tell me what I’ll be making when I’m a Third!”

Sephiroth sighed. “Thirds make five grand.”

“Thirds!? Thirds make five grand per mission!?”

“It’s not a whole lot of money, Cloud. That’s why you don’t spend it ‘til you come back," Then Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "Ya never know when a lull will happen, ‘specially when you're a brand new Third. You might end up livin’ off of one mission cut for a few months. You gotta be smart about it."

Cloud was too busy being dazzled by large numbers, “What do second classes make?”

“Tell ya what,” Sephiroth smiled, pulling an arm around him. “You don’t worry about what anyone makes. All you worry about is trainin' your sweet little ass off for when you get into SOLDIER.”

Cloud nodded. “You’re right. I don’t need some pair of pants to come home to, anyways. I’ll just do my best to come home to you!”

He stroked Cloud’s cheek. “If you really want somethin', I’ll get you a mission present.”

“You don’t have to do that," Cloud blushed. "You might spoil me.”

"Uh, you came pre-packaged that way," Sephiroth huffed. "And besides, anythin' I buy you before your mission I'll be takin' out of your tight ass after the mission. With interest."

Cloud couldn't wait to be a SOLDIER.

They enjoyed a late lunch together at a small Gongagan restaurant with an attached arcade. Sephiroth had been fantasizing about pizza for weeks, and Cloud was okay with anything that was greasy and processed. Sephiroth took a large meat pizza all for himself, and Cloud finished a medium full of vegetables and sausage.

Once they had eaten everything in sight, they sat in silence together for a long while. Cloud was so full he could barely move, and needed the time to digest. Sephiroth was content to watch the little children play noisy games in the tiny arcade.

Their hands idly touched in the center of the table as they learned the true meaning of relaxation. It was mental, physical, spiritual.

They had found God in a dirty, noisy pizza parlor.

“We need to commemorate this day,” Cloud finally said.

“How?”

Cloud put his fists under his chin and grinned. “I’ve been thinking a lot, and I really want a tongue stud.”

Sephiroth’s eyebrows rose. “Won’t that hurt?”

Cloud shrugged a shoulder and began to play with his labret. “My chin was really easy to do. And the tongue is the fastest healing part of the body. I bet it wouldn’t hurt too badly.”

“And why do you want one?” Sephiroth asked with a smirk and drained the rest of his cup of soda.

“Because it’s cute!” Cloud sat up straight in his seat, reminding Sephiroth of a sweet little otter sitting up to play.

“Stick out your tongue,” He grinned. Cloud did, and Sephiroth sighed and shook the ice around in his cup. “It would look pretty cute. Don’t go doin’ it for me, though.”

Cloud snapped his tongue back into his mouth and reared back indignantly. “Do I look like a sex freak to you?”

“Yes.”

“Well I’m not, I want it for myself! Any benefit you’d get out of it would be purely coincidental…” Cloud leaned forward a little bit, and poked his tongue out again.

Sephiroth put his cup down. “Let’s do it.”

And so Cloud led Sephiroth under the flickering streetlights of the slums towards Cherry’s Tattoos and Scarification. Although it was a mild spring day on the upper plate, the shaded air below carried a sharp chill. By the time they found the tattoo parlor, Cloud was covered in nervous goose bumps. Sephiroth curled an arm around him and pulled him inside.

Heavy metal roared when the door was opened, and enclosed them in a tight case of noise as it came falling shut. The shop looked the same as before, except this time there were several patrons. They were all large, masculine bikers and crowded around one who was lying facedown on a metal table. Cherry herself sat straddled on his back, buzzing ink needle in hand.

Cloud stood up on tiptoes to peek at what the gentleman was getting inked, but Cherry abruptly stopped working on him to turn to them.

“I’ll be just a minute, look around!” she called, and then the music in the air was once again accompanied by the buzzing of the needle.

Cloud grinned and pointed to a photograph of a large, elaborate sword tattoo. “Wouldn’t it be cool to get something like that?”

“I see you more with somethin’ like this,” Sephiroth said into his ear, and pointed to a photo of a musical note adorned tramp stamp.

Cloud was about to tell his boyfriend that he was not a tramp, and therefore no stamp was necessary, but there was very suddenly a woman between the two of them. Cherry had completely abandoned her customer to ogle the General. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize who you were when you came in! Holy crap! You’re the guy!”

Sephiroth had suffered less intelligent greetings. “General Sephiroth. Pleased.”

Cloud could immediately feel his lover’s essence become drier and less volumous. It was like seeing someone with manageable, shiny hair suddenly move to an arid climate. Sephiroth became mildly professional, but not completely militant.

Cherry was tremendously affected by him, suddenly nowhere near the cool, collected lady he remembered guiding him through his labret adventure but rather a giddy, starstruck young thing.

Her burly customer on the tattoo table sat up, “Yo is this shit done?”

His companions weren’t much help in deciphering if the tattoo was complete, and staggered to surround him closely, all bumping together like bowling pins.

“Yeah, you’re all set. Get out!” Cherry waved to them, turning back to Sephiroth with a girlish smile.

“You’re supposed to kiss me!” The biker slurred loudly. “Where’s my approval seal?”

“I already told you! I don’t do that anymore!” She yelled and the man skulked out with his posse in tow. They would have probably started trouble if General Sephiroth hadn’t been standing there in the flesh. When they were gone, she confided, “I definitely still do that, just not for that guy. So, what brings you in here this evening?”

Sephiroth tenderly rubbed the back of Cloud’s neck. “My boyfriend’s decided he wants to get his tongue pierced.”

Cherry seemed slightly disappointed – but only very slightly. She appraised Cloud, tilting her head when she noticed his labret. “Did you get that here?”

Cloud nodded with a smile. “Yeah, almost six months ago.”

“And you’ve still got it? Very nice!” She took Cloud’s hand and led him to the exact same chair he’d gotten pierced in before.

“How badly does the tongue hurt?” He asked, his fingers twining in excited jitters as he took a seat.

“Not as badly as the labret, and that wasn’t bad at all, right?” She pulled open a drawer to retrieve a stack of documents. “Sorority chicks come in here in flocks and they all get tongue piercings together. If they can do it, you can do it!”

“I guess I can do it!” Cloud squeaked.

“You can do it,” Sephiroth encouraged.

“I’m gonna do it!” Cloud declared. “What’s going to happen to me?”

“It’ll be swollen for the rest of today. After this you might as well go home and watch a movie or something, and try not to talk too much. Liquids only until tomorrow night, hopefully you ate a good meal before you came here.”

Apparently, aftercare for a tongue piercing fit perfectly well into their plans of laziness and gluttony, but Cloud then turned up his eyebrows. “What about kissing…?”

“Go easy. No tongue kissing, anyways,” She clarified, handing Cloud a clipboard.

“Don’t worry baby,” Sephiroth assured. With a Cure, he was confident that Cloud’s tongue would be open for business immediately.

Cloud took a deep breath and began to fill out the necessary paperwork. Once he was finished, Cherry forced him to not only wear a blue baby bib, but to swill mouthwash for a full minute. Sephiroth laughed at the sounds of anguish Cloud made as he kept the burning liquid in his mouth. By the time he was done swishing, Cherry was done prepping her instruments.

“Lemme see your tongue,” She instructed.

Cloud carefully unrolled it from his mouth, his eyes already clamped shut in terror. Sephiroth laughed again – he looked like the reluctant recipient of a low budget cum shot.

She took his tongue between her fingers, and put a single drop of blue food coloring on the center. She then held a mirror in front of Cloud’s face, “That’s where it’s going, for better or worse. Look good?”

Cloud gave her a shaky thumbs up. She then took a scissor-like clamp and positioned the hole over the blue dot. Then she snapped her head in Sephiroth’s direction, “Hey, what the hell is your boyfriend doing!?”

Surprised, Cloud glanced over at Sephiroth, who was only standing there watching with interest. Suddenly, his vision clouded with tears as a sharp, uncontrollable pain seared through his tongue. He never even got to see the needle coming!

He squeaked only slightly when the piercing needle was pushed through completely and the barbell was screwed in on the underside.

“He didn’t even bleed,” Sephiroth remarked.

“I’m just that good,” She smirked, and then announced, “You’re done.”

The entire piercing process took less than a minute. Cloud’s tongue throbbed, but the pain wasn’t as important as slaying another piercing! Before he could think to ask, the mirror was placing back in front of him.

“What do you think?”

He popped his tongue out, amazed to see something actually sticking through it all the way to the other side. He morbidly flipped it up to look at the underside to make sure it was really true. He gave a little cheer, and Sephiroth and Cherry both joined in.

“Now, before it swells up too much – ” was all she said before leaning forward and kissing Cloud, sending a zippy shock of pain through his whole body when she sucked his tongue into a kiss of approval.

Cloud felt a monumental blush that crept all the way down to his shoulders. He looked at Sephiroth sheepishly, but he was grinning with both eyebrows raised. Cloud had told him all about getting kissed after his labret, and about the fucking Prince Alberts. There was no telling how much strange cock residue he’d just ingested!

She stood up and snapped her gloves off. “Will you make this the best day ever and get a tongue piercing too, General?”

Sephiroth snorted. “Not interested in that.”

“You thould get thomthing!” Cloud suggested with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he admired his new hardware in the mirror. He reeled it back into his mouth. “Maybe something a bit more discreet… like your…well, just something more discreet in the pectoral area…”

“I think your honey bunny wants you to get your nipples done, Sir,” Cherry supplied, not discreet in the slightest.

“Yeah,” Cloud blushed slightly and nodded, “I just don’t like saying the word …‘nipple’.”

Both Cherry and Sephiroth burst into laughter at the pronunciation, which was the exact reason why Cloud didn’t like to say it. It sounded like ‘nip – puww’.

After getting over his little lover’s way of speaking, Sephiroth’s face tightened with consideration. “I don’t think I’d have a huge problem with that, but I’d just rather not have something hanging off of me that could rip off other parts of me. Especially my fuckin’ nipples, shit.”

Cloud giggled, envisioning the wrath Sephiroth would suffer in the pain simulator in the training floor. “Well, what about your belly button? It’s protected by your belt!”

“Yeah, what about your belly button!?” Cherry egged.

Sephiroth’s face fell. “Yeah right. That’s for chicks.”

They all hummed in thought. Sephiroth spoke after a moment, “Would I have to have an appointment to get tattooed?”

Cloud shrieked in air before bellowing, “What!?”

Cherry shook her head. “Appointments are for suckers. If you want something we should do it now.”

Sephiroth requested a piece of paper. Cloud and Cherry crowded around him as he wrote something with sharp, short flicks of his fingers. It wasn’t anything Cloud could recognize, it looked almost as though Sephiroth had created ornate holes in the paper with the cadence of an actual written language.

It scared Cloud somewhat. “…What does that mean?”

“Secret.”

“Does it mean ‘secret’, or are you just not going to tell me what it means?”

“Not telling,” Sephiroth clarified. Cherry seemed satisfied with the chance to touch upon the legendary man, and couldn’t have cared less what he was actually getting inked onto himself. She went to create a hasty stencil of the mysterious word.

Cloud leaned against him when she was gone. “Won’t you tell me?”

“Because if I tell you what it means, it loses meaning. Make sense?”

Cloud beamed up at him. “It’s my name, isn’t it?!”

“No,” Sephiroth rolled eyes. “It’s more like my own name, ya little brat.”

“Sephiroth is a pretty name in any language,” Cloud smiled, leaning onto his shoulder while clicking his new piercing against his teeth. He was delighted with the thought that he could still bang something while both hands were busy.

The word Sephiroth had chosen was a short phrase that Jenova sometimes referred to him as. It translated into ‘my own’, but the act of getting it imprinted onto himself made the meaning quite different. Especially with a slightly flared outer edge of the written symbol, which sharpened the meaning with possessiveness.

It was a claim on his own body, which was nobody else’s but his. Not Jenova’s, not Shin-Ra’s, and not even Cloud’s. He could think of nothing else he’d want to get imprinted on his skin than a declaration of independence.

Besides maybe a cool 666 logo from ‘The Omen’. Or the SOLDIER emblem. Or strategically placed stars. Or his sword, on fire or something. Or Cloud’s lip print on his ass. He smiled as the art on the walls gave him more and more body art inspiration, most of which was juvenile, stupid, and inherently male.

But Sephiroth’s body was his own. He could do whatever he wanted to it.

The tattoo artist reappeared, and toted a large toolbox. “I have to use my heavy duty stuff for you SOLDIER types.”

She showed Sephiroth the stencil she’d created, and he approved. She asked him where he’d like it, and to her and Cloud’s momentarily bewilderment, he reached over his head and pulled his shirt off.

“How about here?” He suggested, and rubbed his hand over his rib with a questioning look.

They were both stricken speechless at the sight of the shirtless General. Cherry because she’d never seen such male perfection up close, and Cloud because the spot Sephiroth had selected for his tattoo simply enhanced the entire tight, chiseled situation.

After a moment, Cherry regained some semblance of professionalism. “That’s a … really nice spot.”

Cloud nodded with a dry swallow. “Good placement.”

The General took his own turn filling out legal paperwork. Cherry snapped on a new pair of gloves and began to unload and clean her equipment. The heavy-duty needle was indeed heavy duty. She explained to Cloud that it was necessary since SOLDIER skin attempted to heal itself a bit too rapidly for smooth lines to be created, so she used a super fast, super large needle to get the job done quickly.

Once he was done signing his life away, Sephiroth lied down on the metal table. He snorted as the tattoo artist straddled his legs. “You really gonna sit on me like that?”

“You bet,” was all she said. Sephiroth decided that since he himself didn’t like being questioned when he was in his own element, he wouldn’t try and tell the lady how to do her job. If it included sitting on his legs until they were numb, it was worth putting up with for the sake of a good tattoo.

She placed Sephiroth’s arms in a position that wouldn’t force his ribs to stick out too far, then sanitized the location before pressing on the stencil. Sephiroth looked in a handheld mirror, liked what he saw and gave his final consent.

The ink he had chosen was pale gray, a slightly darker shade than his hair. She diluted black ink into water until it was the right color, and then began.

Cloud carefully watched Sephiroth’s face when the buzzing needle first touched his skin. He was perfectly still, staring up at the ceiling like a beautiful statue in recline. Only when the needle began to move did he blink.

“Does it hurt really bad?” Cloud asked eagerly, taking a look at the work being done. It wasn’t gruesome, but Cherry did seem to be taking her time. “What’s it feel like?”

“Opposite of a blowjob,” Sephiroth managed to say.

Cherry picked the needle off of his skin to wipe away excess ink. “That’s one way to put it.”

“C’mon, really. How bad is it hurting right now?” Cloud pressed.

“…It’s a vibratin’ needle bein’ stuck into my rib bone. Repeatedly,” Sephiroth took a little breath when she stopped tattooing to apply a dab of Vaseline. He felt like he should have been used to this sort of thing growing up as a lab experiment, but still… “It kinda sucks.”

Cloud moved closer and kissed him. To his surprise the kiss was received in full and returned. Apparently, Sephiroth liked a little bit of coddling and comforting while he was in pain, and it was good to know. When their lips slowly parted, Cloud nuzzled his nose and murmured. “Wanna hear a story?”

Sephiroth nodded. “Why not.”

Cloud picked up a tabloid that had been resting on a neighboring chair and began to narrate the lives of people they didn’t know and didn’t particularly care about. But for the moment, they ooh’d and aah’d over the on again off again relationships, public disses and scandals, and photos of celebrities without makeup and sporting double chins due to bad angles.

Before Cloud was halfway through the magazine, Cherry announced that Sephiroth’s tattoo was complete. This was good, because his tongue had begun to feel heavy in his mouth and he was sick of talking. He threw the magazine aside and clamored up to his feet to get a look at the ink.

Sephiroth raised himself up onto his elbows to look down at himself. Before Cloud’s eyes, the redness and slightly raised swelling of the area was already fading. What was left behind was a ghostly gray imprint of Jenovian writing.

“Hot!” Cloud declared.

Cherry was already priming her lips with pink lipstick. “I’m sure you know the drill by now,” And with that, she gave her handiwork a big, fat smooch.

They both left the tattoo parlor in pain and covered in pink lipstick. Despite his healing abilities, Sephiroth’s ribs smarted beneath the bandage as he walked. And despite a Cure, Cloud’s tongue was still swollen and throbbing. Apparently nothing could help them escape the discomfort of body art aftermath.

And yet, as they walked together through the polluted streets of lower level Midgar, they spoke of what body part or piece of skin they could customize next.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It was only a ten-minute stroll to Rhonda and Julie’s apartment. Fifteen tops if traffic was unlucky. A five minute run if there was an emergency. And yet after a solid hour of pedestrian travel, Sephiroth and Cloud were barely halfway there.

Cloud had decided to purchase a newspaper so he could see what was going on around town that weekend, and thus plan accordingly. While he flipped through his paper, Sephiroth held an arm around his shoulders and tried valiantly to steer him away from danger.

The sidewalk was full of hazards such as yippy dogs, fire hydrants, and fellow pedestrians. But with the combination of his nose in the paper and clumsy feet, Cloud got tangled in the yippy dogs’ leashes, would stub right into the fire hydrants, and bumped and walked into several people with little to no apology.

It was so much fun to have chaotic Cloud back by his side that Sephiroth was nothing but a being of adoring patience.

It was a balmy, bright and sunny day on the top plate. Sephiroth loved heat. He liked hot weather, sweat on his skin, and the looseness of his joints. Not to mention that Cloud was skimpily dressed for the weather in tight little jeans that had been cut off at the knees and a thin t-shirt.

He himself wasn't a shorts kind of guy by any means. He was more than willing to bear the heat in a pair of black jeans and a gray t-shirt.

Cloud was rattling off activities that they may or may not attend over their vacation, “There’s a lot of good stuff going on! There’s a rave somewhere in sector 7, the location’s a secret but I bet I can find out. And there’s a dog show! Oh Seph, haven’t you ever wanted to go to one? And there’s a carnival to raise money for this orphanage. And there’s a chili tasting thing…”

Suddenly Cloud stopped talking in mid sentence and halted so abruptly that Sephiroth almost tripped over him. Almost as though he was in a trance, Cloud turned and gazed into a designer bakery’s window.

There were three huge cakes on display, the center a three foot high, multi-tiered wedding cake that was lavishly decorated with ribbons, artistic puffs of icing and dyed fruit. Cloud’s eyes widened and blinked slowly at it.

“Want it..?” Sephiroth asked with a flirtatious suggestion, if for no other reason to see Cloud giggle and blush.

But Cloud didn’t giggle or blush, he solemnly nodded his head. “At least once in my life I want a cake just like that. And I just want to get naked and smash my entire fucking face into it.”

Sephiroth could only laugh. Cloud sometimes took him completely off guard.

After Sephiroth told Cloud that he would rather drop dead than sit at a dog show, go to a carnival or eat mysterious chili, the newspaper was discarded. They’d be staying in and fucking that weekend, who were they trying to kid?

But even without the newspaper there were still plenty of other distractions on the way, such as a pack of unmistakable trannies, a spooky antique shop window full of ominous dolls, and a port-o-potty that Cloud swore two people were having relations in.

He stopped and pressed his ear to the side to listen to the moaning. Sephiroth pulled his arm. “What if the poor dude is just squeezin’ off a giant turd? Let him do his business.”

“No! I just heard a lady… listen…” Cloud whispered, then giggled. “I wonder if she’s a Honeybee.”

“Aren’t they supposed to be hot?” Sephiroth wondered, becoming curious himself when he heard a distinctly female whimper.

Cloud nodded. “Yeah, Honeybees are way hot!”

“I wonder if the dude is hot, too?”

“No, he sounds old.”

An impatient voice came from within. “You can come in and find out for ten gil. Otherwise, fuck off!”

Cloud shrieked in terror and ran several yards, stopping a safe distance away and waiting for Sephiroth to catch up, which took him a while due to a roaring case of the chuckles.

When they finally arrived on Rhonda’s stoop, Sephiroth had a strong urge to turn around run back home – which surely would take less than half the time it had taken them to get there. For his short vacation, Sephiroth just wanted to be a creature of gluttony. He wanted to take off his clothes, eat like a pig, sleep all afternoon and make love when he woke up. Then repeat until it was time to settle back into normalcy.

He glanced down at Cloud, who looked up at him like he might have been thinking the same thing. His pretty mouth became a line. “When you don’t feel like being here anymore, give me a sign. I’ll say that I’m not feeling well. I’ll cry or something.”

Sephiroth blew out some air. “We used that one at the banquet. And it’s too obvious, anyways.”

“We’ll have fun,” Cloud decided. “I can feel it.”

“I’d have more fun feeling you.”

“Anytime you want!” Cloud flirted.

“We could always duck into the port-o-potty,” Sephiroth smiled.

“Are you faggots ever coming in?” Rhonda shouted, throwing the door open on the two of them.

She and Sephiroth grinned at each other for a moment before coming together in a warm embrace. He picked her up and she hugged his neck and Cloud felt a very tiny, involuntary pang of jealousy spike through his mind.

It vanished when Julie’s hand popped through the doorway and pulled him inside. He blushed a little as she hugged him like an old friend. He leaned back to smile at her, “How do you feel?”

Julie let her head drop on his shoulder weakly, “Exhausted. But thanking God that I’m thin again.”

Cloud put his hands on her waist, and saw it to be true. She probably had a little baby puffiness to lose, but she was extremely svelte compared to the round, water heavy frame he’d last seen her with.

Sephiroth took a turn to hug the happy mother as well before Rhonda steered them all down a long central hallway to a room that was filled with Turks, SOLDIERs, and army. Most of them were dressed casually, and if they were unfortunate enough to have had to report for duty that day, pieces of their uniforms were left hanging open or shoved up to the elbows.

Cloud recognized a few faces; Max was in attendance as well as a few school instructors. He spotted Angeal twisting open a beer bottle with his inner elbow. He was somewhat hoping that he could see the guys from his original SOLDIER squad, but he didn’t spot any.

It was easy to find Zack, Aerith, Genesis, and Rufus. They were seated with three very young Turks that Cloud wasn’t familiar with and chatting quietly – which was extremely uncharacteristic for them.

It was then that Cloud realized Genesis was cradling a little soft blue bundle, and one of the other Turks had another. He grinned, hardly able to keep a happy coo inside his throat.

While he and Rhonda hadn’t exactly become friends, he did ask her from time to time how Julie was coming along. Often he’d gasp a question out as he passed her while running, only to be answered with her bullhorn when he doubled back. They’d had a few disjointed conversations in this manner, and he considered the butchy gal to be a positive acquaintance.

When Cloud had left for the Crater, Julie was already late to deliver. The babies had made themselves very comfortable on her vital organs and really enjoyed causing her to become so bloated she couldn’t fit her feet into any size shoe.

But now it was over, and it seemed to any and all that it had been worth it.

Cloud whispered soft greetings and wiggled his butt into the tiny space between Rufus and Genesis, and gently tugged back the blanket to get a peek at the babies’ features. Rufus made a shallow noise of protest, but Genesis happily adjusted himself on the seat to share the sight of the new little person with Cloud.

The baby was a bald, pink skinned little wrinkled newborn, so ugly it was adorable. Cloud cooed again and Genesis silently shifted to hand the baby over to him.

“No!” Julie cried suddenly.

Cloud froze and turned up his eyebrows. “…I washed my hands recently.”

“It’s not that… do you know how to hold a baby?” she fretted, seeming anxious.

Cloud nodded. “Sure. But if you don’t want me to, I won’t.”

Julie was clearly suffering from a severe to moderate case of the new mother jitters. She eyed the pierced blonde teenager wearily, expecting him to use her baby as some sort of projectile if the whim hit him.

But his large, water blue eyes finally convinced her that he was trustworthy. She still crossed her arms uneasily, though. “Gen, you can let Cloud hold him. Just… support his neck. No! Not like... okay, that’s better...”

He accepted the baby into his arms, being strictly gentle and cautious. He weighed more than Cloud expected him to, and upon being passed to a different handler, the little boy wiggled a bit to get comfortable next to a different frame.

When seeing the great deal of care that the blonde teenager dealt her baby, Julie relaxed a little, but crouched on the floor in front of him.

“You’re going to turn yourself gray prematurely, mommy,” Rufus clucked and came closer, petting the baby’s forehead with his fingertips in a rare show of tenderness.

Julie threw him a venomous glare. “Fuck – I mean… Fudge you.”

Genesis and Rufus both cackled. Aerith began suggesting alternative swear words, such as ‘sugar’ in place of shit, or ‘cheese and rice’ in place of any number of more vulgar statements. Zack took it upon himself to let the world know that Aerith didn’t shout out ‘cheese and rice’ while they were intimate. Aerith then told Zack that they would no longer be getting intimate.

Rhonda frowned. “It’s going to be tough, but we just don’t want any swearing around the kids.”

“My mom cursed all the time around me. It was no big deal for us,” Cloud pointed out. “No harm done! I’m normal.”

The whole room glanced at him uneasily.

“What are their names?” Cloud whispered.

“Oh. Johnny and Matt,” Julie murmured. “This is Matt.”

Cloud looked over at the identical baby that Aerith was currently doting over. “They look just alike. How can you tell the difference?”

Julie shrugged. “Just can. And Matty has a little birthmark on his tush, so that helps.”

Cloud giggled, and then looked up suddenly, realizing Sephiroth wasn’t commenting at all on the newborns, or ‘cheese and rice’ for that fucking matter. It was then that he realized that his lover wasn’t even in the room.

Sephiroth had stopped in the hallway to admire baby pictures of the people he worked with. They lined the long corridor in Julie and Rhonda’s flat, taped to the wall in a long row; underneath each was the person’s name on a pink or blue note card.

He easily recognized Rhonda and Julie, Rhonda especially because she seemed to possess the exact same face, just on a chubbier scale – and Julie only because she was hanging on the wall next to Rhonda. He found Zack, his dark hair sticking up straight and a bright, tiny toothed smile on his face.

Sephiroth grinned widely at a picture of Genesis and Angeal together at an extremely young age, both filthy as pigs in shit and happy to be that way – not much had changed in that arena. He found Elena, blonde since birth. He found Rufus, surrounded by elegance and apparently bored to death with life at the tender age of two.

Sephiroth found all sorts of assorted people that decorated his life. When he came across an empty spot in the row of pictures, he pulled up the scotch tape and a blue name card from the hallway table.

With a soft smile he pulled out the picture of Cloud that April had sent him for Christmas. Rhonda had told him on the phone to bring baby pictures of themselves for the occasion, and even though he’d been only half-listening and lust crazed at the time, he still remembered Cloud’s picture. He wrote Cloud’s name on the slip of paper and taped both up neatly. He let his fingers stroke the giddy, rounded face of his lover and kept moving.

He looked at every picture, all the way to the very last one. His eyes had glided right over it until he realized what he was looking at. Moving in closer, he was able to confirm that he was seeing a picture of himself as a young child.

Previously forgotten and unimportant memories flooded back. His baby-fine silver hair was trimmed above his ears. He was wearing a sweater, but it wasn’t cold that day, and he had tried to fight against it. He wore tiny cargo shorts – innumerable pockets to hide snacks in.

One time he forgot about half of a candy bar in one of those pockets, and then found it later. That tiny candy bar had gotten him through a terrible night. Sephiroth couldn’t remember what had happened that was so terrible, just the candy bar and how it made everything better.

In the photo on the wall form this early era of his life, Sephiroth was standing on top of a yellow slide with his arms raised in triumph. In his memories the slide seemed bigger than any mountain. He crawled and shimmied up the shiny surface, huffing and puffing as he reached the summit. He felt like he had slain ten thousand monsters all at once. He felt exalted, he felt like a hero, he cried out in victory and there was only one person there to hear it.

“Smile, buddy!” Vincent had called up to him.

Vincent took the picture. Vincent had a lot of pictures of his adolescence. Sephiroth had never seen any of them, nor had ever expected to see them.

He assumed they were gone. But if the picture was there…so was Vincent.

It took a great deal of effort to push off of the wall, but Sephiroth did with an anxious swallow. The entrance to the kitchen was right next to his picture, and there was movement stirring from within. Letting his hand trail the wall, he poked his head inside.

“Hey cutie! What are you sneaking around for? Get in here if you’re hungry,” It was just Elena sitting at the table, chopping up cheese onto a party tray. Sephiroth released a heavy sigh of both relief and sorrow, and shuffled his feet inside.

Elena was at the table. But there was also a dark haired, red-eyed man perched on the countertop nearby. Sephiroth’s emotions turned in a dizzy circle; he wanted to do an about face at the same time as stopping dead in his tracks and at the same time of playing it cool. It all translated into a gracefully recovered stumble as he made his way to a chair.

“How you been?” Sephiroth smiled, and hugged her neck. He placed a kiss on top of her sleek hair, and his eyes flicked to Vincent quickly.

She chattered away for a few moments about her personal goings on that he had missed out on being away. Sephiroth filled in the blanks with appropriate responses, not uncaring about what she was saying, but unable to focus. Elena was his good friend, but ignorant to the personal history he had with Vincent, her boss.

His eyes burned with the urge to not look at Vincent, and he waited to be acknowledged by his not-father. From his peripheral, he remained still on the counter, sometimes commenting on Elena’s rambling with his own canned, automated responses.

“I’m gonna carry this stuff out,” Elena declared, picking up a tray of fruit. “You two make yourselves useful and get the rest.”

She left.

Sephiroth slowly rose from the table and picked up one of the trays left behind. He finally looked at Vincent, who was looking back. After a short internal battle, he gave the Turk a slow nod.

Vincent was holding a bottle of beer, and he rolled it between his palms. “Hey.”

“…Hey.”

“How’s it been?” Vincent asked, almost as though he were verbally shrugging at him.

“Been good,” Sephiroth said blandly, soured by the indifference. He exhaled shortly, and took a step to the door.

But there were a thousand things he needed to know.

He wanted to demand to know why the man had teased him with the notion of a family only to pull it away when it could have actually become real. He wanted to know why the man felt the need to enter his life in the first place. He wanted to know if the man cared about him at all. He wanted to scream and cry and tear the entire kitchen apart.

All he could do was wait. But he wouldn’t wait for long.

He counted to ten, giving Vincent ten chances that he didn’t deserve.

Ten chances to open his mouth and say something worthwhile.

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CHAPTER IMAGE!

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A/N

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1 – They say a mind is a terrible thing to waste. The main reason why I haven’t updated in forever is because I got a new job. When I began this story, I had a job that allowed me ample time to think. All day at work, I would be thinking about this story and writing notes to myself. Now, I have a job where my brain is frenzily occupied 8 hours a day. When I get home, my brain is tired and wants to do nothing – but surprise, there’s been piles of schoolwork to be done. So it’s not a lack of mojo, or inspiration, or passion for this story, it’s a lack of mental and physical energy to sit down and write. So even if some may be turned off by the amount of time that’s elapsed between this chapter and the previous one, I’m going to do my best to update regularly from now on. This chapter was just especially hard to get out, due to the new (well, not so new anymore) job, and school. I miss this story though, I miss the boys, and I miss the fun I used to have thinking about them and writing down the things they tell me.

2 – So I’m making a commitment to update this story in three weeks, and at least every three weeks thereafter. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and I miss having mine to play with.

3 – The reviews I get for this story are heartbreaking and wonderful. I might not always know how to respond, but I read every single one of them and am touched by them all. Thank you so much for encouraging me to keep going. I’m so happy to have people to share this with, I hope I continue to entertain you because that’s the only reason I do it. I’m so grateful for the interesting, diverse, and amazing people who I’ve gotten to know just because they enjoy this story.
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Blonde Ambition