Angeal/Zack, Cloud/Zack fic
Title: Unwelcome Surprise p.1
Rating: VERY ADULT
Pairing(s): Angeal/Zack, Cloud/Zack, Genesis/Sephiroth/Angeal implied
Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit out of this.
Warning: BDSM (more the BD part than the SM part)
Summary: Cloud comes home one evening to find his lover in the arms of another man.
A/N: The initial idea for this was that they should have a threesome, but as usual, the fic decided where to go on its own. :// Also, I allowed myself a little creative freedom and made Angeal a tad older than he is in canon. As this takes place a few years after the events in Crisis Core and is somewhat of an AU since all drama in Nibelheim never happened, not to mention the whole certain people wing thing, we have an older Cloud still working for ShinRa and actually advancing in his career. So this is a somewhat of an AC-age Strife which makes his semeness not so odd... I think. Gah, I am just one of those weirdos who like Cloud on top, I admit.
Cloud sighed as he wearily walked down the corridors of the base. The latest mission had been a bitch, not that you’d ever hear him use such a word in public. He was tired, cranky and hungry and he hadn’t seen Zack for almost a month.
Zack. The thought of his raven-haired best friend, his lover, added a little spring to his step. At 21 and already SOLDIER 2nd class, Cloud was hardly the hapless new recruit that Fair protected and looked after at first. He had matured, grown physically stronger, but the way Zack treated him sometimes wasn’t all that different than before. He was still gentle, still overwhelmingly protective, an attentive and tender lover who often put Cloud’s needs above his own… Really, who could wish for a better mate?
He was almost there, had almost reached Zack’s rooms and he prepared the security card that his lover had given him months before. He needed to slip inside quickly and silently. Their relationship was hardly a secret, but they still couldn’t share rooms… at least until Cloud gained the 1st class status. Until then, they’d had to put up with the current arrangement of sneaking around.
Sticking the card in the slot and silently punching the security number, he waited for the door to slide with a soft hiss and then quietly tiptoed in the apartment. The highest ranking members of the ShinRa military were allowed larger domestic space along with the bigger paycheck and Zack readily took advantage of that - his apartment consisted of a corridor, a large bedroom, kitchen and a dining room, not to mention the bathroom with a huge bathtub in it. ShinRa Inc knew how to spoil their golden boys - compared to Cloud’s simple single room, this was a palace.
Carefully leaving his gear and equipment in the stand by the front door, the blonde proceeded to the end of the darkened corridor. The door of the bedroom was slightly ajar and there was light seeping in through the crack - apparently Zack wasn’t asleep yet.
He was about to get in when I a moan froze him in his tracks. It was definitely Zack’s voice, but there was a cadence to his passion that he had never heard before. So Cloud did what his gut told him to do - silently peeked through the crack and into the room. The sight there made his heart climb up in his throat, and not in a good way.
Zack was on his bed, on THEIR bed, naked, crouched on his hands and knees, ass high in the air, pretty face buried in the messed up sheets. Behind him… was a large, muscular dark-haired man, also naked, hands clutching Zack’s narrow hips and thrusting harshly into his body. Cloud knew who he was, his lover had introduced them at some point - Angeal Hewly - Fair’s former mentor and instructor. The blonde had always known that his mate harbored deep respect, love even, for the older man, but he had never had any idea whatsoever that it was this kind of love. Admittedly, he had rarely been with them when they were together, but he had been left with the impression that their relationship was more paternal than anything else.
Zack whimpered again and brought Cloud out of his reverie. Mako blue eyes narrowed. Once, on one of his missions, one of his fellow soldiers had brought in a whore in his room and the blonde had been able to hear them through the thin walls of the cheap inn they were staying in. Zack was moaning in the exact same way - needy and submissive, lifting his hips wantonly into the thrusting and onto Angeal’s cock.
Cloud bit his lip and wished he could look away from the scene before him. Many emotions ran through his heart - jealousy, betrayal, sadness, confusion, disappointment… For the two years they had been together, Zack had never submitted to him, had never even given any indication that he was interested in that sort of an act, but here he was, moaning like a slut under a man old enough to be his father. It was also the most arousing thing he had ever seen in his life.
Cloud was, as a rule, very calm and level-headed individual, often shy and timid, even. His sex life with Zack was more than fulfilling, despite the fact that he really didn’t have any basis for comparison, since he had only ever been with the brunette. He enjoyed being taken, greatly so and since he was satisfied, combined with his lover’s disinterest in switching their roles in bed, it hadn’t occurred to him to even fantasize what would be like to take him.
Now though, as he watched Angeal’s huge hand fisting in soft dark locks and pulling back sharply, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like, to be the one thrusting in that tight orifice.
Now that Hewley had lifted Zack’s face, Cloud could see his expression - one of utter pleasure and need - his eyes were closed, long sable lashes fluttering against his flushed cheeks, moist rosebud lips opened needily and uttering wanton little yelps and mewls and moans.
The blonde could feel himself getting painfully hard, his arousal fed by the sight before him and the rage he felt inside.
Suddenly, perhaps the result of a harsher thrust, Zack opened his eyes and looked straight into Cloud’s. Apparently, it didn’t immediately register in him what he was seeing, but when it finally did, he blanched. The flush of arousal disappeared and he became whiter than the snow they had seen in the mountain at the time of their first meeting, years ago.
Zack grabbed Angeal’s hand at his hip and squeezed, giving him signal that something was wrong. The man also stopped thrusting and looked up, just as Cloud pushed the door open and entered the room.
Silence, heavy and suffocating, blanketed them. Zack was frozen under his lover, blue eyes wide as saucers, lips and throat working but no sound coming out. Cloud was staring down at them just as silently, expression more than a little thunderous.
Then, Angeal, being the 1st class experienced SOLDIER that he was, took control of the situation.
“I guess that saying this isn’t what it looks like is futile.” he said casually, slowly pulling out of Zack and apparently sliding against a sensitive spot, because his eyelids drooped for a moment despite his terror.
“Yes, it would be.” said Cloud in the same casual tone.
Zack finally found his voice.
“Cloud…” he began.
“Not. A word from you.” he hissed and the brunette immediately shut his mouth. He looked on the verge of tears.
“I will leave now. Have fun.” and with that, he turned on his heel and left the room. Really, Zack shouldn’t have made such an effort to teach him pride and dignity. He was practical enough to know that it would be useless to try and kick their asses, but he wasn’t going to stand there and listen to lame explanations.
Before closing the bedroom door after himself, he turned around “We’re through”.
The walk back to his room was a haze - he barely paid attention where he was going and practically crashed into Tseng on his way into the elevator, giving him an absent excuse and ignoring the annoyance written on the handsome face of the Turk.
How could Zack do this to him? Cloud blinked and swallowed, trying to will himself not to cry, fists clenching tightly against his sides. He had trusted him so implicitly, had given him his heart and soul and body… most of all, when he was with him, the blonde felt special, needed, loved. And now it turned out that he was hardly the only one. That thought stung deeply, both at his heart and his pride. How long had this been going on behind his back?
With these thoughts, he unlocked his door and dumped his gear on the floor, then almost tore his clothes away and ran into the shower. He was still hard. Cloud glared down at his arousal and growled - the fact that the sight had turned him off just added insult to injury, one more humiliation. Turning on the cold water, he walked under the freezing spray and groaned with discomforted, but firmly stayed put until his erection had wilted.
Shivering, the blonde curled in his narrow bed and looked at the wall, Mako eyes glowing in the darkness for the remainder of the night, because sleep simply refused to grace him with its presence.
Three Weeks Later
Zack sat fornlornly at a table at the cafeteria and disinterestedly picked at his foot. Ever since that disastrous evening, his appetite was almost completely lacking, guilt and shame curling in his belly like poisonous snakes, vipers threatening to consume his soul. He had seen Cloud a few times, and when they had been in the briefing room, in the presence of other people, his former lover had been frostily polite with him, showing just enough courtesy so as not to be rude to a higher-ranking officer. When in informal setting though, the blonde had simply ignored his existence, his blue eyes passing over him and not really seeing him. More than once, he felt like crying and throwing himself at Cloud’s feet to beg forgiveness and only the rigid lessons of his childhood that men did NOT do that sort of thing stopped him with following through with his instinct.
Angeal had tried to talk to him, to comfort him, but he had brushed the older man off almost violently, taking out his frustration on him and then feeling even worse because his mentor’s lips had pressed together in a thin white line and he had walked out, back ramrod straight. Zack was all too aware that this mess wasn’t the older man’s fault, since he was hardly there to babysit his relationship with Cloud, and HE had been the one to go to him every time, even after the numerous times that Hewley had tried to break it off, following his learning that he and the blonde had gotten that closer.
Familiar golden hair in the corner of his vision made him look up and he almost did a double-take. There he was, his love, walking in with no other than Sephiroth, the general’s presence inciting a sudden hush over the room which the man pointedly ignored as he followed Cloud to the foodstand and got his meal. The two then carried their trays an empty table and sat down, speaking quietly to each other.
Zack tried to swallow through the lump in his throat. He had long been aware of the way Sephiroth looked at the young man and there had always been an underlining fear in his heart that the silver-haired man would manage to seduce him away at some point. And here he had chased Cloud away on his own. If it wasn’t so painful, it would have been funny, decided Zack.
Food tasted like ash in his mouth and Fair put down his fork and then left the hall without bothering to put his tray away. This time, he really did feel like crying.
Cloud surreptitiously watched Zack leave in a hurry, expression so emotionless and stony that it looked like it was about to crack. When he looked back at Sephiroth, he met knowing Mako green eyes.
“Why don’t you try and give him a chance to explain himself?” asked the general and the blonde sighed and took a bite of his meal.
“What is there to explain? He has been fucking behind my back.” he said, the slang word almost burning his tongue as he used it.
One elegant silver-eyebrow lifted and the older man chuckled velvety:
“I am sure there’s more to it than that.” he offered.
It hadn’t taken him long to feel that something was wrong with the way Angeal acted. So he and Genesis had simply pressed the older man for information and he had spilled the beans. Eventually.
Cloud chewed furiously.
“I don’t want to talk to either of them. I know that Officer Hewley is your close friend and that you want to help, but this really isn’t any of your business.” he hissed quietly and then shoved another piece in his mouth.
Sephiroth got the childish urge to grab the plate and slap it against Cloud’s face, food-side first.
“You are my friend as well, are you not?” he said archly, daring the blonde to deny it. Zack was a close friend too, but he wasn’t about to remind the blonde that at this moment. “Am I not entitled to worrying about my friends?” he continued.
Cloud stopped stuffing himself for a moment and looked up, surprise shining in his eyes. It was the first time that Sephiroth had openly proclaimed him his friend.
“I… I… of course you are!” he blurted out, his mouth full.
“Easy with the spitting” grumbled Sephiroth and reached to wipe his cheek of chewed crumbs. The blonde flushed crimson, swallowed quickly and apologized profusely. The general waved him away:
“Then listen to me. Talk to him. Or, more likely, let him talk to you.” he paused, an idea forming in his head. “Or let Angeal talk to you.” As it was, Zack might not give Cloud the truth even under these circumstances.
The younger man blinked uncertainly, then frowned.
“Why would I want to talk to HIM?” he said, spitting the last word as if it burned.
“Because there are things that you are not aware of, that Zack has hidden from you.” he explained patiently.
“What, other lovers to cheat with behind my back?” asked Cloud bitterly and shrank back when he met glaring, glowing Mako green eyes. ‘My patience is running thin’ that look said.
“Okay, I’ll talk to him.” he conceded.
Sephiroth’s thunderous expression melted into a warm, satisfied smile, doing a good impersonation of the cat that ate the canary.
“Good. I’ll arrange it for him to show up at the roof tonight. Be there, Strife.” he intoned, and then finally took notice of his own meal. Damn, it had gone cold.
“Be there, Strife.” mocked Cloud in a falcetto tone, then looked around guiltily. Really, Sephiroth was his idol, but after sitting for two hours in the freezing wind on top of the ShinRa tower, he felt like finding the general’s shampoo and mixing pink hairdye with it. Very potent pink hairdye.
Finally, the 1st class deigned to appear, his large, muscular frame moving with unexpected grace for such a huge man. When his noticed him, Angeal narrowed his eyes and then said slowly:
“I was expecting Sephiroth.”
Cloud bit back the urge to be snide and cut right to the chase:
“I think you owe me an explanation.”
The man’s large arms twitched upwards, apparently wanting to cross over his chest defensively, but the brunette controlled himself and shook his head.
“Zack does. Why don’t you ask him?” he pointed out.
“Sephiroth thinks you’d be more forthcoming.” Cloud said, leaning back against the high railings.
The 1st class sighed and moved to stand beside Cloud.
“These are not my secrets to tell.” he said, sounding distinctly apologetically. Cloud wasn’t buying it.
“You were the one MY boyfriend cheated on me with.” he told him bitterly, fists balling.
“Zack has needs…” he began, but Cloud exploded furiously
“We ALL HAVE NEEDS! I do too, but that doesn’t mean I’d go to other people to satisfy them! What kind of a pathetic excuse is this?!” he yelled.
“… that he is ashamed to share with you.” continued the large man, as if Cloud hadn’t said a word.
Now, that did give him a pause.
“…What?” he said finally, dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”
“He loves you very much, Cloud.” began the man, carefully choosing his words. “And he admires you… not to mention that your opinion for him is crucial to him. He cannot bear the thought of disappointing you.”
“Well, he didn’t do good job of NOT disappointing me, don’t you think?” answered Cloud caustically, and then turned to look at the steel jungle of the city below them, his back to Angeal.
“Being a country boy, like you… and myself, I am afraid that he grew up with a set of preconceptions that… has shaped some of the decisions he’s made.” He said and switched his weight from one leg to another, the leader boots creaking before he settled in again.
“What sort of preconceptions?” he asked them, genuinely curious and turned back to look at the man.
“Has he ever submitted to you, in bed?” asked Angeal, face perfectly serious.
Despite his efforts, Cloud blushed.
“This isn’t any of your b…” but the brunette interrupted:
“Has he?”
Cloud almost pouted.
“No.”
The older man nodded.
“What does that have to do with anything?” insisted Cloud and glared again.
“Zack, I’m afraid, grew up with a strange sort of ideas about what constitutes manly and masculine.” said Angeal with a small, sad smile.
If this was supposed to placate him, it wasn’t working, because Cloud was got even angrier.
“So, because I have been bending over for him all these years, he thinks I’m a…a weakling?”
Oh, that was a can of worms that Angeal definitely didn’t want to open.
“Not at all. But you are younger than him. He considers himself your mentor of sorts, and because of his upbringing, he thinks that he should be the one aaah, taking the active role.” the brunette tried to explain.
Surprisingly, Cloud remained silent afterwards, waiting for him to elaborate.
“And he is ashamed of asking you to do that for him. He didn’t want you to think that he was… incapable of taking care of you. And I don’t mean just in bed.”
That was really… the most idiotic logic Cloud had ever heard.
“So he came to you?” he asked, and Angeal nodded.
“He thought that since I was HIS mentor, it’d be okay.”
Had Cloud not been learning the good art of dignity for the past few years, he would have been headslapping right about then. Apparently, the thought was written on his face, because Angeal smiled mirthlessly.
“I, unfortunately, never managed to cure him of those ideas.” His smile faded “And my failure brought us into this mess”
Cloud shook his head, then rubbed his forehead.
“It has been going since before he and I hooked up, hasn’t it?” he asked and the large man hesitated, then slowly nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“You won’t be sleeping with him again unless I give him permission to.” suddenly said the blond, making the 1st class blink at the sudden authoritative tone. So, the younger puppy had teeth?
“That is a warning to give to him, boy.” he said, voice dropping to a cold, dark whisper “not me” Let the puppy be reminded that he far outranked him.
Cloud gave him and unfazed look, then slowly smiled at him, the expression almost predatorial “Oh, I plan to.” and then he left, leaving the older man he managed to mature so much.
Part 2
Rating: VERY ADULT
Pairing(s): Angeal/Zack, Cloud/Zack, Genesis/Sephiroth/Angeal implied
Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit out of this.
Warning: BDSM (more the BD part than the SM part)
Summary: Cloud comes home one evening to find his lover in the arms of another man.
A/N: The initial idea for this was that they should have a threesome, but as usual, the fic decided where to go on its own. :// Also, I allowed myself a little creative freedom and made Angeal a tad older than he is in canon. As this takes place a few years after the events in Crisis Core and is somewhat of an AU since all drama in Nibelheim never happened, not to mention the whole certain people wing thing, we have an older Cloud still working for ShinRa and actually advancing in his career. So this is a somewhat of an AC-age Strife which makes his semeness not so odd... I think. Gah, I am just one of those weirdos who like Cloud on top, I admit.
Cloud sighed as he wearily walked down the corridors of the base. The latest mission had been a bitch, not that you’d ever hear him use such a word in public. He was tired, cranky and hungry and he hadn’t seen Zack for almost a month.
Zack. The thought of his raven-haired best friend, his lover, added a little spring to his step. At 21 and already SOLDIER 2nd class, Cloud was hardly the hapless new recruit that Fair protected and looked after at first. He had matured, grown physically stronger, but the way Zack treated him sometimes wasn’t all that different than before. He was still gentle, still overwhelmingly protective, an attentive and tender lover who often put Cloud’s needs above his own… Really, who could wish for a better mate?
He was almost there, had almost reached Zack’s rooms and he prepared the security card that his lover had given him months before. He needed to slip inside quickly and silently. Their relationship was hardly a secret, but they still couldn’t share rooms… at least until Cloud gained the 1st class status. Until then, they’d had to put up with the current arrangement of sneaking around.
Sticking the card in the slot and silently punching the security number, he waited for the door to slide with a soft hiss and then quietly tiptoed in the apartment. The highest ranking members of the ShinRa military were allowed larger domestic space along with the bigger paycheck and Zack readily took advantage of that - his apartment consisted of a corridor, a large bedroom, kitchen and a dining room, not to mention the bathroom with a huge bathtub in it. ShinRa Inc knew how to spoil their golden boys - compared to Cloud’s simple single room, this was a palace.
Carefully leaving his gear and equipment in the stand by the front door, the blonde proceeded to the end of the darkened corridor. The door of the bedroom was slightly ajar and there was light seeping in through the crack - apparently Zack wasn’t asleep yet.
He was about to get in when I a moan froze him in his tracks. It was definitely Zack’s voice, but there was a cadence to his passion that he had never heard before. So Cloud did what his gut told him to do - silently peeked through the crack and into the room. The sight there made his heart climb up in his throat, and not in a good way.
Zack was on his bed, on THEIR bed, naked, crouched on his hands and knees, ass high in the air, pretty face buried in the messed up sheets. Behind him… was a large, muscular dark-haired man, also naked, hands clutching Zack’s narrow hips and thrusting harshly into his body. Cloud knew who he was, his lover had introduced them at some point - Angeal Hewly - Fair’s former mentor and instructor. The blonde had always known that his mate harbored deep respect, love even, for the older man, but he had never had any idea whatsoever that it was this kind of love. Admittedly, he had rarely been with them when they were together, but he had been left with the impression that their relationship was more paternal than anything else.
Zack whimpered again and brought Cloud out of his reverie. Mako blue eyes narrowed. Once, on one of his missions, one of his fellow soldiers had brought in a whore in his room and the blonde had been able to hear them through the thin walls of the cheap inn they were staying in. Zack was moaning in the exact same way - needy and submissive, lifting his hips wantonly into the thrusting and onto Angeal’s cock.
Cloud bit his lip and wished he could look away from the scene before him. Many emotions ran through his heart - jealousy, betrayal, sadness, confusion, disappointment… For the two years they had been together, Zack had never submitted to him, had never even given any indication that he was interested in that sort of an act, but here he was, moaning like a slut under a man old enough to be his father. It was also the most arousing thing he had ever seen in his life.
Cloud was, as a rule, very calm and level-headed individual, often shy and timid, even. His sex life with Zack was more than fulfilling, despite the fact that he really didn’t have any basis for comparison, since he had only ever been with the brunette. He enjoyed being taken, greatly so and since he was satisfied, combined with his lover’s disinterest in switching their roles in bed, it hadn’t occurred to him to even fantasize what would be like to take him.
Now though, as he watched Angeal’s huge hand fisting in soft dark locks and pulling back sharply, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like, to be the one thrusting in that tight orifice.
Now that Hewley had lifted Zack’s face, Cloud could see his expression - one of utter pleasure and need - his eyes were closed, long sable lashes fluttering against his flushed cheeks, moist rosebud lips opened needily and uttering wanton little yelps and mewls and moans.
The blonde could feel himself getting painfully hard, his arousal fed by the sight before him and the rage he felt inside.
Suddenly, perhaps the result of a harsher thrust, Zack opened his eyes and looked straight into Cloud’s. Apparently, it didn’t immediately register in him what he was seeing, but when it finally did, he blanched. The flush of arousal disappeared and he became whiter than the snow they had seen in the mountain at the time of their first meeting, years ago.
Zack grabbed Angeal’s hand at his hip and squeezed, giving him signal that something was wrong. The man also stopped thrusting and looked up, just as Cloud pushed the door open and entered the room.
Silence, heavy and suffocating, blanketed them. Zack was frozen under his lover, blue eyes wide as saucers, lips and throat working but no sound coming out. Cloud was staring down at them just as silently, expression more than a little thunderous.
Then, Angeal, being the 1st class experienced SOLDIER that he was, took control of the situation.
“I guess that saying this isn’t what it looks like is futile.” he said casually, slowly pulling out of Zack and apparently sliding against a sensitive spot, because his eyelids drooped for a moment despite his terror.
“Yes, it would be.” said Cloud in the same casual tone.
Zack finally found his voice.
“Cloud…” he began.
“Not. A word from you.” he hissed and the brunette immediately shut his mouth. He looked on the verge of tears.
“I will leave now. Have fun.” and with that, he turned on his heel and left the room. Really, Zack shouldn’t have made such an effort to teach him pride and dignity. He was practical enough to know that it would be useless to try and kick their asses, but he wasn’t going to stand there and listen to lame explanations.
Before closing the bedroom door after himself, he turned around “We’re through”.
The walk back to his room was a haze - he barely paid attention where he was going and practically crashed into Tseng on his way into the elevator, giving him an absent excuse and ignoring the annoyance written on the handsome face of the Turk.
How could Zack do this to him? Cloud blinked and swallowed, trying to will himself not to cry, fists clenching tightly against his sides. He had trusted him so implicitly, had given him his heart and soul and body… most of all, when he was with him, the blonde felt special, needed, loved. And now it turned out that he was hardly the only one. That thought stung deeply, both at his heart and his pride. How long had this been going on behind his back?
With these thoughts, he unlocked his door and dumped his gear on the floor, then almost tore his clothes away and ran into the shower. He was still hard. Cloud glared down at his arousal and growled - the fact that the sight had turned him off just added insult to injury, one more humiliation. Turning on the cold water, he walked under the freezing spray and groaned with discomforted, but firmly stayed put until his erection had wilted.
Shivering, the blonde curled in his narrow bed and looked at the wall, Mako eyes glowing in the darkness for the remainder of the night, because sleep simply refused to grace him with its presence.
Three Weeks Later
Zack sat fornlornly at a table at the cafeteria and disinterestedly picked at his foot. Ever since that disastrous evening, his appetite was almost completely lacking, guilt and shame curling in his belly like poisonous snakes, vipers threatening to consume his soul. He had seen Cloud a few times, and when they had been in the briefing room, in the presence of other people, his former lover had been frostily polite with him, showing just enough courtesy so as not to be rude to a higher-ranking officer. When in informal setting though, the blonde had simply ignored his existence, his blue eyes passing over him and not really seeing him. More than once, he felt like crying and throwing himself at Cloud’s feet to beg forgiveness and only the rigid lessons of his childhood that men did NOT do that sort of thing stopped him with following through with his instinct.
Angeal had tried to talk to him, to comfort him, but he had brushed the older man off almost violently, taking out his frustration on him and then feeling even worse because his mentor’s lips had pressed together in a thin white line and he had walked out, back ramrod straight. Zack was all too aware that this mess wasn’t the older man’s fault, since he was hardly there to babysit his relationship with Cloud, and HE had been the one to go to him every time, even after the numerous times that Hewley had tried to break it off, following his learning that he and the blonde had gotten that closer.
Familiar golden hair in the corner of his vision made him look up and he almost did a double-take. There he was, his love, walking in with no other than Sephiroth, the general’s presence inciting a sudden hush over the room which the man pointedly ignored as he followed Cloud to the foodstand and got his meal. The two then carried their trays an empty table and sat down, speaking quietly to each other.
Zack tried to swallow through the lump in his throat. He had long been aware of the way Sephiroth looked at the young man and there had always been an underlining fear in his heart that the silver-haired man would manage to seduce him away at some point. And here he had chased Cloud away on his own. If it wasn’t so painful, it would have been funny, decided Zack.
Food tasted like ash in his mouth and Fair put down his fork and then left the hall without bothering to put his tray away. This time, he really did feel like crying.
Cloud surreptitiously watched Zack leave in a hurry, expression so emotionless and stony that it looked like it was about to crack. When he looked back at Sephiroth, he met knowing Mako green eyes.
“Why don’t you try and give him a chance to explain himself?” asked the general and the blonde sighed and took a bite of his meal.
“What is there to explain? He has been fucking behind my back.” he said, the slang word almost burning his tongue as he used it.
One elegant silver-eyebrow lifted and the older man chuckled velvety:
“I am sure there’s more to it than that.” he offered.
It hadn’t taken him long to feel that something was wrong with the way Angeal acted. So he and Genesis had simply pressed the older man for information and he had spilled the beans. Eventually.
Cloud chewed furiously.
“I don’t want to talk to either of them. I know that Officer Hewley is your close friend and that you want to help, but this really isn’t any of your business.” he hissed quietly and then shoved another piece in his mouth.
Sephiroth got the childish urge to grab the plate and slap it against Cloud’s face, food-side first.
“You are my friend as well, are you not?” he said archly, daring the blonde to deny it. Zack was a close friend too, but he wasn’t about to remind the blonde that at this moment. “Am I not entitled to worrying about my friends?” he continued.
Cloud stopped stuffing himself for a moment and looked up, surprise shining in his eyes. It was the first time that Sephiroth had openly proclaimed him his friend.
“I… I… of course you are!” he blurted out, his mouth full.
“Easy with the spitting” grumbled Sephiroth and reached to wipe his cheek of chewed crumbs. The blonde flushed crimson, swallowed quickly and apologized profusely. The general waved him away:
“Then listen to me. Talk to him. Or, more likely, let him talk to you.” he paused, an idea forming in his head. “Or let Angeal talk to you.” As it was, Zack might not give Cloud the truth even under these circumstances.
The younger man blinked uncertainly, then frowned.
“Why would I want to talk to HIM?” he said, spitting the last word as if it burned.
“Because there are things that you are not aware of, that Zack has hidden from you.” he explained patiently.
“What, other lovers to cheat with behind my back?” asked Cloud bitterly and shrank back when he met glaring, glowing Mako green eyes. ‘My patience is running thin’ that look said.
“Okay, I’ll talk to him.” he conceded.
Sephiroth’s thunderous expression melted into a warm, satisfied smile, doing a good impersonation of the cat that ate the canary.
“Good. I’ll arrange it for him to show up at the roof tonight. Be there, Strife.” he intoned, and then finally took notice of his own meal. Damn, it had gone cold.
“Be there, Strife.” mocked Cloud in a falcetto tone, then looked around guiltily. Really, Sephiroth was his idol, but after sitting for two hours in the freezing wind on top of the ShinRa tower, he felt like finding the general’s shampoo and mixing pink hairdye with it. Very potent pink hairdye.
Finally, the 1st class deigned to appear, his large, muscular frame moving with unexpected grace for such a huge man. When his noticed him, Angeal narrowed his eyes and then said slowly:
“I was expecting Sephiroth.”
Cloud bit back the urge to be snide and cut right to the chase:
“I think you owe me an explanation.”
The man’s large arms twitched upwards, apparently wanting to cross over his chest defensively, but the brunette controlled himself and shook his head.
“Zack does. Why don’t you ask him?” he pointed out.
“Sephiroth thinks you’d be more forthcoming.” Cloud said, leaning back against the high railings.
The 1st class sighed and moved to stand beside Cloud.
“These are not my secrets to tell.” he said, sounding distinctly apologetically. Cloud wasn’t buying it.
“You were the one MY boyfriend cheated on me with.” he told him bitterly, fists balling.
“Zack has needs…” he began, but Cloud exploded furiously
“We ALL HAVE NEEDS! I do too, but that doesn’t mean I’d go to other people to satisfy them! What kind of a pathetic excuse is this?!” he yelled.
“… that he is ashamed to share with you.” continued the large man, as if Cloud hadn’t said a word.
Now, that did give him a pause.
“…What?” he said finally, dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”
“He loves you very much, Cloud.” began the man, carefully choosing his words. “And he admires you… not to mention that your opinion for him is crucial to him. He cannot bear the thought of disappointing you.”
“Well, he didn’t do good job of NOT disappointing me, don’t you think?” answered Cloud caustically, and then turned to look at the steel jungle of the city below them, his back to Angeal.
“Being a country boy, like you… and myself, I am afraid that he grew up with a set of preconceptions that… has shaped some of the decisions he’s made.” He said and switched his weight from one leg to another, the leader boots creaking before he settled in again.
“What sort of preconceptions?” he asked them, genuinely curious and turned back to look at the man.
“Has he ever submitted to you, in bed?” asked Angeal, face perfectly serious.
Despite his efforts, Cloud blushed.
“This isn’t any of your b…” but the brunette interrupted:
“Has he?”
Cloud almost pouted.
“No.”
The older man nodded.
“What does that have to do with anything?” insisted Cloud and glared again.
“Zack, I’m afraid, grew up with a strange sort of ideas about what constitutes manly and masculine.” said Angeal with a small, sad smile.
If this was supposed to placate him, it wasn’t working, because Cloud was got even angrier.
“So, because I have been bending over for him all these years, he thinks I’m a…a weakling?”
Oh, that was a can of worms that Angeal definitely didn’t want to open.
“Not at all. But you are younger than him. He considers himself your mentor of sorts, and because of his upbringing, he thinks that he should be the one aaah, taking the active role.” the brunette tried to explain.
Surprisingly, Cloud remained silent afterwards, waiting for him to elaborate.
“And he is ashamed of asking you to do that for him. He didn’t want you to think that he was… incapable of taking care of you. And I don’t mean just in bed.”
That was really… the most idiotic logic Cloud had ever heard.
“So he came to you?” he asked, and Angeal nodded.
“He thought that since I was HIS mentor, it’d be okay.”
Had Cloud not been learning the good art of dignity for the past few years, he would have been headslapping right about then. Apparently, the thought was written on his face, because Angeal smiled mirthlessly.
“I, unfortunately, never managed to cure him of those ideas.” His smile faded “And my failure brought us into this mess”
Cloud shook his head, then rubbed his forehead.
“It has been going since before he and I hooked up, hasn’t it?” he asked and the large man hesitated, then slowly nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“You won’t be sleeping with him again unless I give him permission to.” suddenly said the blond, making the 1st class blink at the sudden authoritative tone. So, the younger puppy had teeth?
“That is a warning to give to him, boy.” he said, voice dropping to a cold, dark whisper “not me” Let the puppy be reminded that he far outranked him.
Cloud gave him and unfazed look, then slowly smiled at him, the expression almost predatorial “Oh, I plan to.” and then he left, leaving the older man he managed to mature so much.
Part 2