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Heroes and puppets

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Title: Heroes and Puppets
Author: Enide Dear
Pairing: CloudxSephiroth. Le gasp!
Rating: cute but….I think bittersweet would be the best word. Hints of the future galore!
Summary: One date. Several glints of the future.
A/N: For :icondrachenmeister:!
A/N 2: CC Cloud is cute…


"This was a bad idea." Nervously, Cloud clotted on more hair gel, forcing his unruly spikes down to lay slick against his head like a shiny golden helmet. "Bad, bad, bad idea!"

"What's the big deal?" Zack leaned back on the trooper's bunk, watching his friend with some amusement. "You've never been to a date before?"

"Of course I have!" Cloud managed to tame the last of his spikes and turned to face the 2 Class Soldier. "How do I look?" He flattened his hair down decisively.

"Like Rufus ShinRa."

"Really?" Cloud shone up. "You mean sophisticated and rich?"

"I mean like a twerp. Look, you're getting your panties in a bunch. It's just Sephiroth." Zack grinned.

Cloud stared. One of his spikes took the opportunity to reclaim its personal freedom and broke free from the hair gel prison with an almost audible *spoink*. When he opened his mouth, Cloud's words came out slowly, as if he was talking to a retard.

"Zack, there is no such thing as 'just Sephiroth.' You can't say 'just Sephiroth'. If there were ever two words more unlikely to appear connected it would be 'chastity Reno'. It's Sephiroth! The greatest hero of the world! The silver haired general himself! It's not 'just Sephiroth'! And I'm not *wearing* panties." He frowned. "Should I? I mean, if that's what he likes, maybe I should wear panties. I happen to have a pair lying around…"

"Look, Cloud…calm down." Jumping out of the bed, Zack gently took his friend by the shoulders, carefully not looking as another lock of hair strained upwards. He of all people sympathised with unruly hair, although he wore his with pride. "Sephiroth asked you out on a date, right? So it's his business to make sure you have a good time. Not the other way around. It will be fine. Just try not to think of him as the 'high and mighty hero' and try to see him as a normal man." Zack hesitated a bit. "Pretty normal anyway. He's got a few quirks, but that's to be expected from someone who grew up in a lab."

"I know." Cloud clenched his hands and for a moment forgot his nerves as pure anger from what had been done - what was still being done on a regular basis - to the poor man in Hojo's labs, even though he like all other grunts only knew rumours. The hair must have reacted to the emotions, because several locks went up, like spikes on an angry hedgehog. Zack smiled a bit. *Kid will be a hero one day, if only because he hates to see people hurt.* "Are you sure this is ok, though? I mean, dating an officer? Isn't' that against military law?"

"He's not *your* general, technically speaking." Zack shrugged. "Sephiroth is the general of Solider and you are uh…" Realizing what a grave error he'd done. Zack cursed himself.

Cloud's face fell. Another spike went the opposite way with a *spoink*.

"Just a trooper. I know."

"Don't worry about that now!" Cheerfully, Zack slapped him on the back. "You'll make the ranks one day, Cloud. Now, have a great time on your date, and tell me all the dirty details when you come back." Ushering Cloud out the door and optimistically ignoring his nervous protests, Zack couldn't help but grin. He was damn eager to see how this played out.



Cloud was early, fidgeting with his suit in ShinRa's lobby whiles waiting for Sephiroth - he just couldn't wrap his brain around the words 'my date, Sephiroth' at least not quite yet. Maybe he'd been stood up, after all. Hopefully he had. Because he wasn't sure he could go through with this without having a heart attack. What did the worlds greatest hero see in *him* after all? Nervously he adjusted his bow tie. He should have taken a tie, perhaps, but the suit alone made people give him the same kind of funny and slightly scared look that Cloud knew he himself gave the Turks. No need to fuel that suspicion.

"Strife." Cloud jumped as the soft voice came from behind him and spun around to come nose-to-chest with the one person he admired most on the planet. Cursing his shortness, he looked up into brilliant cat pupil emerald eyes. Sephiroth smiled. "I'm not late, am I?"

"Uh, no sir." Cloud  took a step back so he wouldn't have to stare up into nostrils but not before he'd managed to get a very deep lungful of rose and vanilla, and underneath that an even more intoxicating, exotic scent of Sephiroth himself. "You are right on time, sir. Zack just kicked me out of my room early."

"If I'd wanted you to call me 'sir' during dinner, we could have just eaten in the mess room instead of getting a table at the Golden Fork." Sephiroth smiled. "Call me Sephiroth. Or even 'Seph' as your impatient friend Zack does."

"I…" Cloud couldn't help but smile. "Thank you si..Sephiroth." 'Sephy' would just have to wait.

"Shall we go? I have a car waiting."

"Sure."

"Just one thing…" Sephiroth reached out his hand and Cloud froze like a rabbit when an un-gloved hand touched his hair, smooth, cool fingers caressing the scalp and freeing the last of the rebellious spikes to their normal proud  heights. "Much better. I wouldn't recognize you without them."

Taking him by the arm, Sephiroth led him out to the car, Cloud trailing along no knowing of he was embarrassed, giddy or about to melt into a puddle.



"Wow." Cloud looked around in the limo's spacious backseat, shiny upholstery and glimmering chrome everywhere. "This is bigger than the house I grew up in!"

"Do you like it? I'm a bit tired of limos myself, but I figured it would be nicer if we could have a glass of champagne before we arrived." He reached for the mini bar and produced a heavy bottle along with two delicate flute glasses. The car drove out into traffic so smoothly the motion was barely noticeable.

"This is your life, isn't it? Limo's and attention…" It was a rather scary feeling; Cloud wasn't sure he'd like that much light on his life all the time. But the seats were *very* comfortable and the champagne cool and dry. There were perks to everything.

"Sometimes. At other times it's mud and rain and camping in some miserable end of the world waiting for people to shoot at you." Sephiroth poured him some more.

"Ah, but it's the same for troopers. Except for the limo and attentions part." He was amazed at how comfortable he felt with his hero and how easy it was to talk to him.

"I suppose it is." Sephiroth smiled. "Is it your first time in one?"

"The first time not driving one. And I only got to drive one to the workshop when it was broken. There where some Highwind fellow fiddling with it. I hope he didn't put rocket parts in there."

"Ah, yes. ShinRa is full of interesting people." He threw a glance at Cloud who blushed, trying to figure out if that had been a compliment or not.

"Zack is interesting!" He blurted out, cursing the brainfart the moment it left his mouth. Sephiroth, however didn't seem to notice the far-from smooth transition.

"Zack is an odd one. Talented, but odd. You share rooms with him, don't you?"

"I'm his lieutenant." cloud said with a bit of pride.

"Tell me, is he as interested in home decoration at your place as he seems to be in the office?"

"Home decoration?" You could call Zack a lot of things, but a decorator he was not.

"Yes, he's always asking me if my carpet matched my drapes."

Cloud spluttered champagne all over the limo's floor, coughing as the bubbles burned down his throat. He was not helped as a flustered Sephiroth started smacking his back as if trying to dislodge something - probably Cloud's spine.

"Stop! Please, stop!" Cloud finally managed, before the scared war hero crushed his kidneys.  Gasping he managed to get air down his lounges and flop back in the seat, not sure if he should laugh at Zack or  wince at the bruises. Both feeling evaporated as soon as he saw Sephiroth's crestfallen face.

"I…I am sorry. I'm not always…" Sephiroth sighed. "I hope Zack warned you about me being a bit…odd."

"It's alright. I don't mind odd." Reaching out, Cloud put his hand on the generals - it was far larger than his and the fingers long and slim, without a trace of calluses.

"You are not afraid of me, are you? Most people are. Zack told me you might be." Sephiroth looked positivley worried about what  Cloud  - a mere trooper! - might think about him. Something inside Cloud went very warm. *He's afraid  I will hurt him. I could never hurt him!*

"Well, Zack talks a lot." He said tartly. "It doesn't mean everything he says are correct." He snapped his mouth shut, realizing he'd just been downtalking a superior officer as well as Sephiroth's friend.

To his utter suprise, Sephiroth burst out laughing, squeezing his hand.

"That is true!"

In the tall, cool shadow of Sephiroth and hanging of an arm strong enough to lift an armoured truck, Cloud was guided up the stairs and into the fanciest restaurant he'd ever seen. Every face in the room was turned towards them - or to Sephiroth rather, but to him as the date as well - and Cloud's belly threatened to sink through the floor.

"Don't worry," Sephiroth mumbled, slightly amused as his date pressed against him like a chickobo to its mother. "I won't let them harm you."

"I hope not." Cloud mumbled back. "They look like they could eat me alive and spit out the pieces."

Was it even possible not to be charmed by the short trooper? Sephiroth mused to himself as they were shown to their table. The young man was an fascinating mix of coltish youngling and battle hardened warrior, blushing cheeks and strong soul, protector and prey.

And he had hair that just begged to be cuddled with.


They got through dinner slowly, relishing good food, fine wine and excellent company, talking and chatting with surprising ease as if they were just opposite sides of the same person. Finally, the sweets came in.

"You are not having any dessert?" Cloud asked as Sephiroth hesitated over the chocolate covered content of the dessert wagon.

"I really shouldn't." The warhero hesitated. "It's not really healthy."

"Don't tell me you are afraid of calories!" Cloud couldn't help but grin and Sephiroth's frown melted a little.

"I suppose you are right. I'll have the cheesecake with extra raspberries, please."

Cloud ordered a big, creamy tartlet before having to excuse himself to the little boy's room. When he came back, a very strange scene met him.

Sephiroth sat by his table, his head lowered as if ashamed but his long fingers clutching the table to contain his anger. There were ugly red splotches on his pale cheeks from embarrassment and his eyes looked hunted, darting over the restaurant as if searching for an escape route. A strange, lank man with long oily black hair was hovering over him, yelling and pointing and generally causing a scene.

"How could you? Do you know how much research has gone into you? How much money? And you spoil it, putting that grease and sugar into your finely tunes system! I should have just let you stay in the tube! If you…"

"Leave him alone!" Cloud didn't realize he'd said the words before it was too late to take them back. Both men - war hero and assailant - looked up in surprise as the much smaller blonde stepped up to lean protectively over the most dangerous man on Gaia. "Just let him be!"

Light from the chandeliers reflected in the lanky man's glasses, making it impossible to see his eyes and giving him a creepy, nightmarish appearance even in this brightly lit room.

"Why, you little brat. I should…" He hisses, his voice slithering like a snake in dry grass.

Cloud took a step forward, raising his arms. He wasn't a Solider, but he was a trooper, and he'd seenmore than one fight up close and personal.

And even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have let anything happen to Sephiroth.

Something - a light in his eyes, a posture - made the lankly man hesitate. With a final sneer and 'I'll see you on Wednesday!' he staked off to find his own dinner party, forcing them all to leave early.

"My hero." Sephiroth smiled, but there was genuine gratitude in his eyes.

"He wasn't much." Cloud couldn't help but blush.

"Oh, but he was." Sephiroth fiddled with his cheese cake, then bit into it as if relishing the taste even more now. "Even First Class Soldiers think twice before getting Hojo's attention."

"That was Hojo?!" Cloud's voice rose several octaves. Swallowing he tried to keep it steady. "I suppose that is the good thing about being a trooper. He will never care about me. I'm not important enough."

"Don't lessen your courageous act." Sephiroth glanced at the irate professor across the room. "I fear you've made an enemy tonight. And a very powerful one, in his way. But," he leaned forward over the table and suddenly there was a silver curtain between them and the world, a shimmering, fairy tale veil to hide them from harm, as Sephiroth's magnificent hair fell forward, "you've earned my gratitude. For what it's worth."

Cloud didn't let himself think; he leaned forward, pressing their lips together, tasting strawberry cheesecake and mako and something else, as Sephiroth's tongue slipped over his.

Cloud was no expert on kissing. But he was pretty sure this one could have melted entire solar systems.
Title: Heroes and Puppets
Author: Enide Dear
Pairing: CloudxSephiroth. Le gasp!
Rating: cute but….I think bittersweet would be the best word. Hints of the future galore!
Summary: One date. Several glints of the future.
A/N: For :icondrachenmagier:!
A/N 2: CC Cloud is cute…
© 2010 - 2024 Enide-Dear
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VVKiti's avatar
"Cloud spluttered champagne all over the limo's floor, coughing as the bubbles burned down his throat. He was not helped as a flustered Sephiroth started smacking his back as if trying to dislodge something - probably Cloud's spine." ---Laughed out loud at this, probably a lot harder than a normal person would... xDD

Such a cute story, cadet!Cloud saves the day! :iconlacloudplz: Personally the way I like him best(or at all) is in CC.