#it's a quiet cry for help angeal

[fairboy]

“I only came to be polite, and now I’m going home.”

"Angeal, if I have to be here you do too." He sighed before clapping his hands together in a near desperate plea. "Please stay! Wouldn't want all that attention on me, would ya?" His cheesy grin evident as he offered a hand to his companion.

His suit barely holding together as he moved closer to Angeal. It was obvious the suit was definitely not meant for someone of Zack's build but what else could he have done with what little money he had?

[rottenpumpkin13]

sephiroth poofs into a baby and now his terrible friends must raise him properly so that he doesn't one day wake up and slaughter a bunch of innocent randos

Things That Happen When Sephiroth Poofs Into A Baby

• Sephiroth wakes up as a 1-year-old baby (after the previous night helping Genesis experiment with some materia). Lazard notices when Sephiroth doesn't come in, as he had a mission scheduled for that day, so he asks Angeal about it.

• Angeal has no idea where he is, so he asks Genesis who immediately knows something happened due to the materia, but he thinks Sephiroth is hurt. The two of them rush back to Sephiroth's apartment to check on him.

• The door is locked, but they can hear the anguished cries of a baby coming from inside. Angeal doesn't think twice before kicking the door down.

• They run inside and find Sephiroth, scared and uncared for, having reverted back to his infant self without his memories. Sephiroth stopped crying immediately upon noticing them, his eyes wet from tears widening as his tiny body recoils in fear.

• It takes Genesis and Angeal 0.2 seconds to register what happened and wordlessly agree on the same thing. Angeal gently approaches Sephiroth and scoops him up, wiping his tears away and whispering to him softly. Sephiroth melts into Angeal's touch.

• Genesis explains that this is definitely not permanent. They both agree to keep this a secret and hide him until it wears off. From Sephiroth's reaction to them arriving alone, Genesis knows that Sephiroth must've been treated horribly when he had been that age. They cannot let Hojo find him like this. They'll do better. They'll protect him. At least temporarily, he's their baby—not Shinra's, not Hojo's.

• They take him back to Genesis' apartment (he has a bathtub) where they give him a bath. Genesis agrees to finish bathing him while Angeal tries to make something suitable for a baby to eat. Genesis is supposed to bathe him, but Sephiroth is sitting so still, it bothers him. Aren't babies supposed to be a handful? At least he used to splash around in the bath and make a mess, his mother had told him that much.

• So he has an idea. He picks Sephiroth up—still wet—wraps him in a towel, and runs into his room where he keeps figurines, trinkets and other things that could be used as toys.

• Angeal is halfway into cooking when he hears a noise from the bathroom. He drops the pot and runs, fearing the worst. But instead of harm, he finds Sephiroth, rosy-cheeked and laughing with a Stamp figuring in his hand. Genesis is splashing water at him and making a mess to encourage him to play.

• They're happy to find out baby Sephiroth has an appetite. Genesis has him in his lap while Angeal feeds him. He's initially startled by the airplane mimicked with a spoon. Angeal makes Genesis eat a bite so Sephiroth can see that it's okay to eat. This works, and when Sephiroth eats the spoonful, Genesis and Angeal erupt into gentle applause and praise.

• Angeal grabs the rest of the figurines and items from Genesis that could be fashioned into toys. They sprawl out on the living room floor with the trinkets surrounding them. Genesis doesn't care that Sephiroth is playing with one of his Loveless collectibles. If anything, he wished Sephiroth would be a bit more adventurous. He really is a quiet baby, as if he fears even the slightest wrong move will get him scolded.

• They need to make him laugh again. So Angeal puts Sephiroth on his back and starts crawling around, pretending to run away from the wretched fire breathing dragon that's after them (Genesis). This works, and Sephiroth is giggling again.

• Soon he grows tired, so Genesis picks him up and sets him on his lap. He's happy to have amassed a large collection of books over the years, and that includes an array of children's literature that worlds wonderfully. He's reading to him, using funny voices for each character that amuses Sephiroth greatly, and pointing at all the animals and encouraging Sephiroth to imitate the noise that animal makes.

• Sephiroth has been nonverbal this entire time, which lead Angeal and him to believe he had delayed speech. Imagine his shock when Sephiroth points at a chocobo cartoon and goes "Kwee!"

• Angeal and Genesis erupt into applause again, telling Sephiroth he did such a good job. They abandon the reading to teach Sephiroth more animal noises. But it only lasts so long before his eyes grow heavy and he falls asleep.

• Angeal picks him back up to give Genesis a break. They go into the bedroom where Angeal places Sephiroth on his chest so he can sleep. Angeal wraps his arms around him, nuzzling his nose into Sephiroth's head. "I promise I won't let go," he whispers softly.

• True to his word, he doesn't. Angeal wakes up a few hours later with his arms still wrapped around Sephiroth. Except Sephiroth has reverted back to normal.

• Sephiroth keeps himself very still in Angeal's arms, though his eyes are open.

"How long have you been back?" Angeal asks.

Sephiroth hesitates, burrowing himself deeper in the embrace. "A while."

Angeal hides his smile by pressing his lips against Sephiroth's head. Wrapping his arms tighter around him, he whispers: "I promise."

[strayheartless]

Au where, instead of Degrading and deserting, Genesis goes poking around the Labs after his injections and finds three silver haired toddlers.

At first he is disgusted by their existence, because it’s clear they made from Sephiroth’s DNA. But then he pokes his nose in even further, reading file after file. He feels sick as he reads how Loz was a the first born from Hojo and Hollander grudgingly working with both Sephiroth and Angeals DNA. He positively throws up when he Reads Kadaj’s file and finds himself staring into the little boys face only to see himself at that age staring back.

Yazoo is a mix of sephiroth and someone labeled as “specimen I”. That one Genesis doesn’t know, but as he looks over the youngest -barely a toddler, still a baby really - he sees that old traumatised look that Seph used to carry around with him.

… so Genesis does what any insane and irrational Soldier who’s just found out he’s a dad would.

He kidnaps the kids.

The way he deserts is instead by spiriting three little kids out to the middle of nowhere Wutai and sending covert word to Sephiroth and Angeal -only when he’s sure they are away from the shinra building. He spends weeks simply having a mini breakdown over parenting, while also doing the best that he can. It’s hard and at times he’s pretty sure he’s gone insane from the fact that Kadaj has a capital A attitude.

Loz cries constantly. It’s a never ending stream of abandonment issues and cuddles with that kid. Yazoo stares at things that aren’t there, and when he’s not doing that he rejects most formula and screaming in hunger. It’s hell.

When Angeal and Sephiroth turn up they do so with the second class puppy Zack Fair, the bucket head know it all Kunsel Zelda, and a tiny little infantryman named Cloud who is surprisingly good with kids.

Sephiroth takes the news of the children’s existence hard but better than Genesis thought he would. He only walks out for about 20 minutes before he comes back in and sits in the corner with the files. He doesn’t really engage with his three children yet but Genesis expected actual bloodshed, so… he’ll take it.

Angeal -for his part- immediately picks up Loz, who is more then happy to be cuddled and just sits down with his son, getting to know his little face and how hard his little hands can grip. He talks to him quietly and after a while, with Loz still parked on his hip he goes to say a soft hello to Yazoo who’s fussing in his cot.

Kadaj -ever Genesis’ son (someone remind him to send a flower basket to his childhood nanny’s) - is not pleased with being ignored. He is getting grouchy and throwing his teething toys around, and Genesis is about to go over and intervene when the young infantryman kneels down in front of the child.

He hands the toy back to Kadaj who seems to be captured by the man’s big blue eyes. Thus begins Kadaj’s life long obsession with his uncle Cloud, who must give him (and only him) attention at all times…

Honestly Genesis should have known. It’s HIS son.

Eventually Sephiroth looks up when Yazoo starts to cry properly. Genesis is immediately at the crib with the latest formula in a long list of attempts. He rocks Yazoo and tries to get him to settle. The milk stays down this time but Yazoo still can’t be consoled. Everyone is very shocked by how Calm Genesis seems to be about it. He’s only muttering the occasional “please baby this is irrational!” And a “if I go insane I’m taking the thereby bill out of your collage fund kiddo.”

That’s when Sephiroth comes up behind him and pets the babies hair over Gens shoulder. Yazoo quiets almost immediately and Gens too relieved to be irritated or jealous (though it’s Genesis so expect it in the future.). He simply hands Yazoo over gently and goes to collapse on the sofa next to Zack the puppy who’s helping Cloud and Kunsel entertain a very smug looking Kadaj.

“Your a little attention whore…” Gen mutters to him, gently pinching the babies cheek.

“Pot meet kettle,” Angeal laughs shakily and Gen tsks.

For the next few months they fall into a silent routine. While the Babies like being fussed over by these new dads and uncles, they still cling to Genesis as their main caregiver. A few times Genesis has to legitimately barricade himself into the bathroom just to get some peace in this suddenly very busy house.

Angeal seems to recognise this and often takes over, while Sephiroth is still too unsure to do much more than feed Yazoo and lay with him. It makes a difference though. Truly.

Zack is the entertainment guy. He can make them all giggle themselves stupid with a funny look. Kunsel seems to be taking their education very seriously. And Cloud seems to think it’s important that they know about the outside world; showing them plants and animals and helping Angeal teach them about growing food and lifecycles.

Genesis never wanted to be a dad. He never had the desire. But being those three tiny tyrants father is possibly the best thing he could have asked for. He may not ever know that he is the worlds saviour, but he is certainly okay being his children’s hero.

[salternateunreality2]

AGSZC and Sign Language (Neurodivergent AU)

from a conversation with @strayheartless (can you tell I'm going through my chat backlog? lol sorry for the spam notifications and thank you for the great inspiration!)

Disclaimer: I don't know sign language and I'm not a neurodivergence expert

-

Cloud knew sign language from an early age, learning with his mom because his speech was delayed due to neurodivergence (ND). He slips into it from time to time in front of his boyfriends, but is embarrassed about it because he'd get teased in the village.

Genesis is the first to realize it's sign language, and rallies everyone to learn it.

They all LOVE Sign, because most of them are ND (GSZC), and one of them just loves his boys (A).

-

Cloud being really embarrassed and mortified at first, but Gen sitting him down and having a heart to heart.

"Beloved, we do a version of this already on the battlefield, it's no trouble. I'm just delighted we finally know when you're saying something. I love hearing from you, in any language. I love this part of you so much. I think it will even help us as a group; especially Sephiroth, probably Zack too. Aww, cherished chocobo, don't cry, you're perfect the way you are."

"It's not weak. You're not a failure. You're multi-lingual! You are amazing, my sweet baby bird!"

"Have you seen the deaf version of Loveless? I'll go put it on right now!" And suddenly Cloud can't argue at all, or even roll his eyes, he just feels so overwhelming loved. Genesis holds his sniffling chocobo super tightly, sometimes kissing his nose, making quiet commentary about the movie until the sniffles turn into chuckles.

(((Gen uses "not wanting to overwhelm Cloud" as an excuse for not inviting the others over, and therefore as an excuse to invite them over for an additional viewing later so he can get moAR LOVELESS. Everyone else is ok with it because Genesis sneakily told them that this would really help Cloud. For the third viewing, he guilt trips ASZ by saying it's Cloud's new favorite movie because it makes him feel special, and then turning around and guilt tripping Cloud by saying it would help Sephiroth, and Genesis really loves holding Cloud like they do every time with this movie.)))

-------------------------

Cloud growing in confidence and eventually making any group he's in charge of learn the field signs super well, plus some extras, and his teams get assigned better missions because they're better at communicating, especially when stealth is needed. They're also always looking at each other, and pick up on bad things quicker because of it.

Random trooper Fred notices random trooper Allen being affected by a poison gas because he was checking in with Allen to make sure he wasn't saying anything, for example.

--------------------------

Sephiroth being petty and subtly signing insults about board members to Genesis, Angeal, and Lazard (because of course Lazard knows sign).

[altocat]

how would the trio react to walking in on their s/o crying? and when they wipe their tears away in a rush pretending they're fine?

angst 😔

Angeal is immediately soft and doting towards them, offering physical comfort when they need it, promising them that everything will be okay. He asks if there's anything he can do to help, anything at all. He'll make them some fresh tea, get them a warm blanket, all but worship the ground they stand on for hours if it helps them feel better. Lots and lots of cuddles and quiet words shared. Little bits of intimate affection meant to soothe them, to help them feel safe.

Genesis is immediately loud and in their face, asking who the hell he needs to kill in order to get revenge. He's torn between comforting and making a big show of getting some serious payback, all bravado and pacing back and forth. He eventually softens and relents, coming closer to brush their hair back to kiss their forehead. And if physical intimacy doesn't work, Genesis surprisingly turns this into a comparison of how much better his s/o is than himself, listing out a million ways why this isn't a big deal--they could be a big loser like him! Genesis NEVER insults himself, so the fact that he's being so self-depreciating is a big deal for him.

Sephiroth...well, Sephiroth has difficulties. He very coolly and robotically tries to logically explain the senselessness of letting such a thing upset them. A needless lecture on not letting one's emotions or negative state impact their judgement or sense of worth. And when that obviously doesn't work, Sephiroth stews and brews, frustrated with himself, at his inability to find the right words to fix it. So he responds with action, scooting closer to them and just sort of curling around them, refusing to budge. He keeps quiet, nestling close to them, letting his hands and body warmth speak for himself, cherishing them as much as he can, knowing he needs to be a better partner, desperate for them to understand the depths of his feelings in touch rather than speech.

[yeetusdabussy]

NSFW and SFW for Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal with a Black S/O thats a female pls 🥺🤎

─────── • ✿ • ───────

I GOT YOU LOVE!

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── ･ ｡☆*Warning*☆ﾟ.──

Genesis

❈•≫────≪•◦ SFW◦•≫────≪•❈

(ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡look at this ginger headed madafucka. Such a work of art, but besides his beauty and personality, he loves taking the subject from himself and drawing it back to you. He wants to learn every little thing about you and what you enjoy doing in your life when you first met, he just found you so beautiful and unique.

(ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ would learn to help you with your hair. He doesn't care what it is, braiding, washing it, helping you take it down, or even help you put your hair in a protective style. HE WILL buy you a matching silk bonnet with a silk pillowcase and all! This boy will even learn the history of your hair and styles. What can I say, he's a man of knowledge.

(ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡he would LOVE if you ask him for help with anything. He wants to show you how much he loves you, and he has no problem showing it in public either, he's just more quiet about his PDA. So sit in his lap and chill with him please!

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice you from over there, ur new around here huh?" He gave you a soft smile. "I'm Genesis by the way."

❈•≫────≪•◦ NSFW ◦•≫────≪•❈

❦ Oh man, this mam takes his SWEET time with you. You thought he was gonna be a innocent wittle submissive cinnamon roll huh? Yeah no, this man got some kinks, look at the amount of books this mf goes through if he had the time. This MF is a tease, but he's gentle about it. Like example, light caresses to your cocoa skin and small peppering kisses to your neck whenever you're close by him or laying on his chest whenever he is reading.

❦He loves when you sit on his face, but don't be fooled, he's a power bottom. He'll have you sit on his face for hours, whispering soft praises about how much he adores you and all you've done for him.

❦ He's not the biggest but he's pretty fucking thick! He's only a good 5.7 inches when hard and 5.4inches when soft. But boy does he know how to work it, its just too damn thick. And he knows that so be grateful for his playful teasing of foreplay.

You gripped his hair, and grinded against his face. He gripped and caressed your thighs with his hands, gods did he love the taste of you. The way your brown smooth thighs feels around his head is magical, he gets pussy drunk every time you're suffocating him with the super soaker down below. "You- fuck, baby you taste so good. Gonna cum for me right love?" He nips your inner thigh and chuckle. "this is the best meal I've had."

Sephiroth

─────── • SFW • ───────

(ㅍωㅍ)Look at this cat eyed mf. GORGEOUS, but anyways, he's a very busy man love. Thus guy has no remorse in his words and the things he does. But you! You changed him. well not really, he's still a dick to everyone else but he'll make a exception of you.

(ㅍωㅍ)if you don't agree with his plans he'll make you, this man has yandere written all over him, like he loves you, ofc but you got some competition with cloud. That mf on his mind daily. But nothing beats the way your curly hair feels between his fingers. He adores your curls and he reminds you of that.

(๑･`◡´･๑) Anyways besides his toxicity, if you're with him, you're LUCKY. But man does he love your skin, he loves sweets so to him you're nothing more than a sweet tooth he should stay away from.but he's so addicted to you.

(๑･`◡´･๑) he has no problem taking you out, showing PDA and even long kisses at the dawn of daylight in front of everybody. He wants people to know you're his, and he's quite possessive. He will have you with him at all times. Where ever he goes, you go, and where ever YOU go, he goes.

(๑･`◡´･๑)He adores you, A LOT. But he can get a bit. Rude sometimes,but he will.apologize if he made you sad or cry. It breaks his heart to know he's the cause of your pain. And if someone else hurts your feelings. Well RIP that ass ayee. Also he will enjoy cuddles on a daily based.

≺━═══⁢══⊹⊱NSFW⊰⊹═════⁢━≻

ꨄ︎He is Dom! No if ands or butts. He loves when you're in reserve cowgirl. He might not admit it, but he loves the way chocolatey ass bounces on him. Watching the way his cock disappears and reappear like some damn magic tragic.

ꨄ︎ speaking of cock, he's pretty big. A good 7.4 inches when hard and 5.7 when soft. He's a GROWER on the skinnier side but great! And ugh he's so sweet bed. You might think He's rough, but he let's you go at your own pace because in his eyes, watching you work yourself up with his cock is a ego boost.

ꨄ︎He really loves when you go down on him, this is the only time he's rough, he can't help it. Your grown plush glossy lips wrapped around his long cock. He's definitely the type to train you to take him balls deep down your throat.

"Such a sweetheart you are, getting yourself riled up on my cock quite pathetically." He whispers into your ear, having your legs wrapped around his waist as he holds your hands into his. His pretty eyes staring down into yours with full of just and adoration. "I'll kill any pathetic man that looks your way ~" he isn't joking either.

Angeal

✬━ *ೃ:. ｡* ﾟ✲✧SFW✧✲ﾟ｡.: ೃ*━✬✧

૮₍ ˃̵͈᷄ . ˂̵͈᷅ ₎აlook at this man, beefy ass arms, I hope he.will choke the fu- so he loves the way you handle yourself, so out spoken, not afraid to speak up, and always know when shit is shady. He loves you for how intelligent and beautiful you're.

૮₍ ˃̵͈᷄ . ˂̵͈᷅ ₎ა he loves to hold you, IN PRIVATE! Like I've said, sadly he's not into PDA that much. He has a image to hold and he doesn't want enemies to end up using you to get to him.

૮₍ ˃̵͈᷄ . ˂̵͈᷅ ₎ა he loves to play with your hair as well! He knows its your crown and he treats it with such gentle care, even asking what does and doesn't work for you and your hair. He has no problem grabbing hair products for you..............unless its pads......

૮₍ ˃̵͈᷄ . ˂̵͈᷅ ₎ა oh yeah oddly enough. This man eats a lot. He'll love you even more if you stuff his face. He does believe in "great food means happy husband." And he also agrees with "spoiled girlfriend means happy girlfriend." He has no problem spoiling you if he has the money ofc!

✬━ *ೃ:. ｡* ﾟ✲✧NSFW✧✲ﾟ｡.: ೃ*━✬✧

❦ oh shit, here comes the pussy bandit hahaha, nah but fr...he'll have you.shaking under him like a human.vibrator the way his hips.meets yours and the way his cock hits that sweet gummy spot each time one point.

❦ he can tease sometimes! He loves hearing you beg for him. You look so pretty when you beg with tears and a sniffling nose, he feels so bad that you have to take his big fat 8inch cock. Don't worry he encourages you and let's you take your time.

❦ this man has no problem with you being on top. He's a switch, he's into lovemaking and sharing exchanged power in the bedroom. Whatever you say, goes. He does whatever you ask if you're doming him. He actually low key loves it more. Something about your little structure abusing His cock.

"That's it honey, take your time."He mumbles into your ear, hugging your waist and pulling you closer to him. He felt so warm and comfortable against you. Having your fingers run through his silky hair as you moved your hips. "O-oh- m'gonna cum !"You yelled. All he could do was smirk and kiss under your jawline softly. "Go ahead, mark what's yours ~"

✬━ *ೃ:. ｡* ﾟ✲✧✧✲ﾟ｡.: ೃ*━✬✧

THANKS FOR REQUESTING(Do not repost anywhere else. Reblogs are okay!)

Gif made by @yeetusdabussy

[thithesandofferings]

Taste Testing: Safer Sephiroth x Reader

TW:  SFW. Slight NSFW. GN Reader! Human Sacrifice AU, Demigod Sephiroth/ Final Form Sephiroth. Kinktober. Implied...Desire of/for... monsters....

Angeal says not to play with your food, but Sephiroth was never a good listener.  

Words: 286

Angeal says that it is improper to play with your food. But he cant seem to help it with you. You're right here, teasing him in a blindfold. Its soaked with your tears and you smell like fear. But you also smell like desire. He wouldve immediately sacrificed you by now had he not smelled that hint of curiosity for him as a being. Sephiroth knows that he may be a bit of a monster; and he even may feel a bit guilty for taking a sacrifice every year, but humans seem to need to be protected and to be held accountable for their transgressions. So what is he to do but graciously fulfill their wishes? Some have come to him kicking and screaming, and depending on his mood he may let them go. They'll die regardless, but its the thought that counts right?

 Sephiroth supposes he was going to kill you. You were just another yearly sacrifice and you even kicked and screamed like the others. But when he approached you, wings flaring up to land in front of you, you went deathly quiet behind the tear-stained blindfold and simply whimpered. It wasnt a fearful cry either. It seemed through your very breath that you desired him. Was it because he was a god? The way the thought has him baring his teeth at the desire to sink his teeth into your skin. The smell hit him with such force has his base instincts going a little feral. Almost unchecked, he had to stop himself from taking you on the very alter you kneeled at.

 Oh and how you kneeled for him. The way you were posed and opened, like it meant something. Your legs were spread and your tied hands were shaking and laid out bear- for him

And oh was he going to enjoy you...thoroughly

[randomfandomimagine]

💫 AU | 🖤 Angst | 💚 Angst With A Happy Ending | 🎄 Christmas | 🐻 Familial | 🌟 Fave | 💛 Fluff | 🎁 Gift | 🎃 Halloween | 💙 Hurt / Comfort | 🏳‍🌈 LGBT + | 👤 No Reader Insert | 🌼 Platonic | 🌈 Pride | 🎵 Songfic | 💕 Soulmate AU | ❗ Trigger Warning | 💘 Valentine’s Day

Final Fantasy VII Masterlist Part 2

Series

More Than A Feeling [Cloud x OC] [WIP]

Cloud Strife

Gif Imagines

Singing To Comfort Cloud 💙

Cuddling Cloud When He’s Tired 💙

Ficlets

Stars In Your Eyes 💚🌟

Too Scared 💙

Heal My Heart 💙🌟

Distraction 💛

Flirt 💛

Holiday💛🌟

Fast Learner

Reunion 💚🌟

Don’t Be Like Me 💙

Drabbles

A Nervous Mess 💛

Love At First Sight 💛 // Love At Second Sight 💛

Dance With Me 💛

Zoo Date 💛

Not A Goodbye 💚

Scar 💙

May I Have This Dance? 💛

Headcanons

Dating Cloud Strife

Cloud Accompanying You To Get A Tattoo 💙

Kissing Cloud

Cloud And Puppies

Older Brother Cloud 🐻

Vulnerable Cloud

Cloud And S/O’s Pick Up Lines 

Playing With Cloud’s Hair 

Jealous Cloud 

Cloud Coffee Shop AU 

Cloud’s Baker S/O 

Lazy Days With Cloud 

Cloud’s Nerdy S/O With Glasses 

Cloud Being Protective Of His S/O 

Helping Cloud Fix His Motorbike 

Reader Wearing Cloud’s Clothes 

Cloud’s Reaction When You Run Away

Cloud’s S/O Getting Hurt With His Sword 💚

Cloud’s Lesbian Best Friend 🏳‍🌈

Prompts

“This is great. Thank you”

“I don’t care if you’re chubby or even fat, I still love you”

Maybe that little spontaneous trip was his thank you [Gif Submission]

“I didn’t mind it that much”

“There’s only one bed” “Don’t give me the puppy eyes” “Get out of my dreams and into my arms”

“Thanks for breaking my fall”

“See? He’s a softie”

Oneshots

Motion Sickness

About Time 💕

Busy 💕

Fics

Puppy

Zack Fair

Gif Imagines

Going On A Date Wtih Zack 🎁

Reuniting With Zack

Rainy Day In 🌟

Mornings With Zack 💛

Headcanons

Dating Zack Fair 

Being Married To Zack 

Adopting Kids With Zack

Zack And Birthdays 

Being Zack’s Best Friend

Kissing Zack

Prompts

“Why are you crying?” “You could’ve died” “I should’ve told you a long time ago” 🌟

Oneshots

Freezing 💛

Aesthetics

Zack Fair

Tifa Lockhart

Headcanons

Dating Tifa Lockhart 

Cuddling Tifa

Drabbles

Victory Ride

Prompts

“Youre bleeding!”

“Are you jealous?”

Aesthetics

Tifa Lockhart 

Aerith Gainsborough

Gif Imagines

Aerith Teaching You The Names Of Flowers

Ficlets

Even From Afar 💛

Headcanons

Dating Aerith Gainsborough

Cuddling Aerith

Reno Sinclair

Gif Imagines

Spending Valentine’s Day With Reno 💘

Ficlets

Sworn Enemies

Bruised Soul 🖤

Headcanons

Dating Reno Sinclair 

Reno Being Jealous

Reno And S/O Cuddling 

Domestic Reno

Kissing Reno

Prompts 

“So what if I was checking you out?”

“We have to be quiet” “I shouldn’t be in love with you” “Make me”

“You could have died” “Who did this to you?” “I think I’ve fallen in love with you”

Yuffie Kisaragi

Headcanons

Dating Yuffie Kisaragi 

Yuffie’s Photographer Boyfriend

Aesthetics

Yuffie Kisaragi

Vincent Valentine

Gif Imagines

Vincent Having Feelings For You And Nanaki Comforting Him You Do Too

Headcanons

Dating Vincent Valentine

Jessie Rasberry

Prompts

“Why don’t you just admit you have a crush on me and get it over with?”

Biggs

Drabbles

Your Prince 💛

Kryptonite 💛

Headcanons

Dating Biggs

Visiting Leaf House With Biggs 🎃

Prompts

“Are you tired?” “Here, let me help you” “I’m exhausted”

“You’re so tense”

Denzel

Headcanons

Denzel’s Older Sibling

Oneshots

Siblings 

Genesis Rhapsodos

Headcanons

Genesis On Halloween 🎃

Genesis Meeting S/O 

Jealous Genesis

Genesis Looking After Sick S/O 

Leslie Kyle

Gif Imagines

Being Leslie’s Fiancé And Reuniting With Him

Misc

Gif Imagines

Taking Denzel & Marlene Trick Or Treating 🎃🌼

Preferences

First I Love You

Cuddles

Fainting Spell

Hugging / Part 2 / Part 3

S/O With A Dog

You Get Embarrassed / Part 2

Headcanons

Being Aerith & Tifa’s Friend

Badass S/O With Cloud And Zack 

Human Shield

Zack & CLoud’s Sick S/O

Cloud, Zack & Tifa Looking After S/O’s Kid

Turk Reader

S/O With Asperger

Zack & Reno’s S/O With Glasses

Angeal, Sephiroth & Genesis Show Reader Their Wings

Spending Valentine’s Day With Cloud, Tifa, Aerith & Yuffie 💘

Kissing Tifa, Aerith & Yuffie

Scenarios

Older Sibling 

[s-ephiroth]

Sephiroth Week 2020 ( @week-of-silver-winds )

Day 2 - Home of Uncertainty [Lost]

( Also available on AO3! )

Genesis did to him what he had once done to Sephiroth; he took him home, wrapped on a heavy blanket. Landed on the third floor, brought Cloud inside. Asked Sephiroth to prepare the bathtub, knowing that both it and the tubulation would be sturdy enough to endure all the mako still sticking to his skin.

In the meantime, Cloud drifted between conscious and unconscious so much that it messed up quite some with Sephiroth's anxiety. Genesis told him to have hot chocolate and breathe some fresh air. He could handle that.

So Sephiroth sat on the balcony, wing resting by his side. Hot chocolate mug in his hands, but running cold and his stomach in knots.

The cat inside the box had been more dead than alive.

So Cloud didn't try to kill him.

Instead, he had stared up a little once he collapsed against Sephiroth; a confused, yet terrified glance.

Sephiroth wondered why that was, aside from all the obvious possibilities.

He heard scissors clicking and snipping away gently after a while and focused on that for a bit, instead of considering what would come afterwards.

After all, he never knew what would come next when it came to Cloud. He thought he would probably never know.

Maybe he would wake up in the middle of the night with a sword against his throat. Genesis had kept the Buster Sword. It had been restored, out of respect, to appear as new as possible, as if it had been almost never used. (As it should've been.) It was an easily accessible weapon.

It would be quite funny to die once again at the sharp end of that blade.

Maybe he would see Angeal this time. Maybe Angeal would laugh at him.

He missed Angeal.

The house was quiet enough that Sephiroth heard Genesis swearing quietly at Cloud almost collapsing out of his seat. He sighed and tried to take a sip. Hot chocolate tasted weird when cold. Not unpleasant, but not as intended. Even less so when it had already been cold before. Warming such a thing up twice… yes, definitely not as intended.

Bringing Cloud back up to speed… would it feel weird as well? He wondered.

Regardless, the scissors had fully stopped. A little while more, and Genesis went to the balcony as well, sitting by Sephiroth's right side and dropping his head against his shoulder with a tired little noise. He took the mug without even asking and drank from it.

"Oh, Goddess, this tastes awful," he complained. An over exaggeration.

"It was you who made it," Sephiroth reminded him. Wrapped his wing around him properly.

"Well, you got me. So next time, you make it. Don't forget to put in extra marshmallows for me."

There was a little smirk in there that Sephiroth could practically hear within the words. He took the mug back, swallowing whatever remained of the drink.

"Ugh, gross," Genesis chuckled a little, "I can't believe you can take all of that in."

"And I'd take much more. How's Cloud?"

"Sleeping like a log. He doesn't seem to be in immediate danger, it's just… the mako. He's been soaking in that for Gaia knows how many years. It's a wonder he didn't just slip right into a fatal case of mako poisoning."

Sephiroth hummed softly at that; tried to disperse the mental image of the abandoned laboratory from his head once again, but thought of the look Cloud gave him instead.

A wing, not unlike his own, settled around him.

“And how are you?” asked Genesis, “You didn’t look alright back there. And don’t try to pretend you weren’t. It was written all over your face.”

“I’m fine.”

His hands were trembling a little.

“Now, that’s bullshit and we both know it. You… you can talk, you know? It’s not the Shinra days anymore. I won’t judge you, promise.”

Sephiroth arched an eyebrow at that, but took on the offer, regardless.

“I—… It’s not just because of the laboratory. I think… the best way to put it is that I feel at a loss of what to do next. I don’t want to burden you with unnecessary trouble in case he—”

“Oh, please. You know I see no issue with that. Consider it an exchange for all I’ve done. Besides… I guess it can make the house more lively?”

That much stole a nervous chuckle in response.

“Lively,” Sephiroth repeated, “A possible fight to death in the living room. Only you could say that.”

And maybe Zack, he thought. But Zack wasn’t alive anymore to have a say on that, nor he would possibly enjoy the idea of Cloud having to battle to death.

“As if I would allow anyone to drop dead in my living room. Especially you.”

Sephiroth chanced a glance at him. A Genesis who had built that towering house against the cliffs all by himself, somehow, after designing the whole thing; a house resting atop a greenhouse and a garage, as if it was some sort of fancy bird nest on a tree. Someone who had left before and who had spoken false truths about Sephiroth’s origin.

Someone who was just an interesting choice of roommate, now.

“...I guess you wouldn’t, right.”

“But you’re afraid, anyway.”

“I… yes. How am I supposed to deal with him after all I did?”

“The way I dealt with you?” Genesis offered.

And maybe that was the best approach to that whole situation.

-

Sephiroth had unpleasant dreams.

He was in his bed, sharing the room with an unconscious Cloud due to the lack of a guest room, — he had taken the only one available when he started living with Genesis — but he couldn’t move his body at all.

The sensation of something or someone getting closer to him in the darkness was overwhelming, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. His mouth wouldn’t open, wouldn’t even allow him to cry out for help.

Whoever or whatever that was, they straddled his hips and seized his neck in a strong grip. Started pressing hard on it while coming properly into view.

Cloud—

Cloud was—

Sephiroth woke up panting, only to realize that even then, there was someone straddling his hips, though the hands weren’t on his neck as they were in the dream. He moved a little to look up at the figure.

His gaze met a glowing, confused blue.

[lunais]

A BROKEN MAN // zack

the fires are slowly being put out, but the smell of burning flesh is still pungent in the air. mako blues take in the sight of what used to be a small, quiet mountain town until just a few hours ago. in front of him a man named Zangan pulls another burnt charred body from the rubble, only this time the body is that of a small child, or what remains of one. a gloved hand comes to rest atop his heart as he wills himself to turn away. this is all more than he can take. not but a few hours ago he had seen those people, those children all burn alive. they called out to him, they screamed out for him, & he could do nothing to help them.

out of the corner of his eye, he sees the burnt remains of a familiar looking object. taking a breath, he walks over & crouches in front of what he now sees is a teddy bear. the stuffing has been burnt, one of the eyes popped off, & one arm is missing, but he knows this teddy bear belonged to one specific little girl who would pull at pant leg & ask him to be her hero. it is all too much, the emotions, the betrayal, the death in the air, all of it–it all causes him to snap.

infused eyes begin to well up with tears, his forehead pressing close to the teddy bear. the organ that pumps liquid life through his veins breaks as a loud shout can be heard throughout the now quiet town. angeal, sephiroth, genesis, SOLDIER, SHINRA, cloud, this town, all of it! he is just but one small man, how is he supposed to save everything!? is this what being a true hero is all about?! loss, pain, the inevitability of realizing you cannot save everyone!? so many innocent lives have been lost on this day, & he, a self proclaimed hero, could do nothing to stop it! hands begin to shake as he pulls away from the burnt toy; sephiroth..how could he do this? how could the man zack put his full trust in turn against all of humanity?

“I…I trusted you….”

the words come out a soft whisper, tears still streaming down his face. mako blues try to look at the bear’s eyes, the memory of the small girl following him around town all day. she had a toothy grin, a small bow in her hair, & the shyness that comes with all small children. but she would follow him while he helped out the town, she would ask him questions, sit with him as he ate his lunch, & sometimes he would give her a piggy back ride throughout the town. but that same child, that same light of the future, he saw her burn alive before his eyes. she screamed for him to help her, to save her, to be her hero like he promised.

 “I’m so sorry…I couldn’t save you…I’m so sorry….”

these words are repeated over & over as his head falls to his chest. he is broken. shoulders shake as his anguish takes over. soon he would need to help bury the bodies but right now, in this instant he needs to cry. he needs to be the broken man that he feels.

[leonawriter]

Prologue, Act, and Epilogue

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Warnings: Canonical character death, depictions of violence.

.

Genesis Rhapsodos is eight years old, and as far as he knows the world is covered in dumbapple trees and everyone who’s important listens to his parents, and whenever he wants something, he asks for it and it’s given to him.

He’s eight years old, and sometimes he feels as though his parents never really wanted him, and he doesn't fit in, and the world is too small, because it always seems bigger in the stories he hears about and reads about, and that the old people tell around the fires on the festival days.

...

Genesis is ten years old, and he finds another boy pretending that he hasn’t just filched someone else’s apples out of their tree - but it isn’t his trees, so it’s okay - and they start to argue over things, but before long, they’re laughing, and not long after that they go back to arguing again but it’s a much more fun kind, and he decides that he kind of likes it.

A while later, after seeing the massive sword that’s wider and taller than he is in Angeal’s house that belongs to his father, finds the two of them whacking at each other with sticks, and he winds up covered in bruises that he feels for days on end later, days that feel like they’ll carry on forever and ever.

He doesn’t stop, though, just makes sure he picks a better stick next time, and learns how to dodge better, in between learning how to make apple juice, because one day he was going to go away from here, and when he did, he still wanted to be able to take the taste of those apples with him.

...

Genesis is twelve years old, and he hears of someone his age (although they list off his birthdate and he’s even younger than Angeal, which makes Genesis older than all of them, which he thinks counts for something) who’s talked of as though he’s amazing, like he’s some kind of hero, and he thinks back to the caves he’d found and the stories written in stone.

His parents frown over him when he says that he wants to go to Midgar one day, and be a SOLDIER, just like that, to be a hero, just like in the books. They tell him he’s good at tending the orchards, and he’s good at keeping the accounts straight. He could take over, if he wanted, one day, if he just kept at it.

But they tell him that it’s his choice.

Part of him thinks he should love them for that, and part of him wishes they’d fought back more, and part of him just doesn’t care what they think, and feels like they probably don’t care too hard back at him, too.

So he begins to spend more time ‘training’ with Angeal - hitting him with sticks, sometimes ones that the old people had cut and carved for them, sometimes ones that’d fallen off the dumbapple trees - and less time learning how to make apple juice.

He still wins an award for the apple juice.

...

[Also on AO3]

Genesis is a SOLDIER Third Class at fifteen, and it’s harder work than he thought it would be, much harder than hitting another boy with a stick once every few days, or even every other day, but he makes himself not stop for anything.

He has a habit of looking down on the other boys and girls in their groups, because so many of them seemed to not know a clue about how to handle themselves after their enhancements, or how to hold a sword so it balanced right, or how to dodge, or how to make someone think you were dodging but you actually weren’t.

He also looked down on them for the way they rolled their eyes at him when he’d steal off to the library to read just about every book in the entire building at least once, losing sleep over it enough that he learned how much you could go without when you’d been enhanced.

He always kept a copy of LOVELESS at his bedside, though, because even though he knew it by heart - better than by heart - it was comforting, and familiar.

He picks up an apple at lunch, and makes a face at it, because it’s too sweet, it’s too sharp, it’s too- not right, and to make up for it, he buys enough Banora White Apple Juice to last both him and Angeal at least a few weeks. He could have asked his parents, but they’d take a while to ship it over, and if they sent actual apples, they’d have gone weird by the time they got here.

...

Genesis is sixteen the first time he sees war in all of its glory, and the words When the war of the beasts brings about the world’s end, the Goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar, she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting circle around in his head.

The first time he’s injured and it’s not a training accident, it burns, and it hurts, and he wonders silently why it feels like that when everyone else seems to just ignore it and carry on, why when he’s hurt it seems to take so much longer, but he doesn’t ask, because if the answer is something simple and obvious, he doesn’t want to be made a fool of when being smart was one of the things that he prided himself on, even in SOLDIER.

The first time he hurts someone else and it’s not just a training accident or a dummy, he freezes, and someone shoves him behind them, and he calls himself stupid and tells himself that heroes don't freeze up a dozen hundred times. He ignores the older SOLDIERs who tell him that it’s normal.

The first time he kills someone, he isn't even thinking about it. He’s remembering about the way that he’d played with sticks when fighting Angeal, and the way that they’d practiced the same move in training, and he executes it perfectly. His sword finds its way into the other person’s chest, and he remembers the way he’d been taught to free it from the body (using old sacks of flour and dummies made of straw) and all he can think of is the way that it was the first time he’d perfected the move.

Until he notices that his sword is covered in someone’s blood, which isn’t just shimmering away in the training room’s holographic light, and the body wasn’t moving or fading away, and suddenly there’s something sharp coming at him and he has to block, or else he’ll suffer the same fate.

The first time he kills someone, he kills five people and later, no one finds out who threw up behind the Seconds tent.

He tells himself they were the bad guys, and heroes don’t cry over killing the bad guys. But that doesn’t help, so he just makes himself not think of it instead, and that helps better.

...

Genesis is seventeen, and he’s turned the tide of so many battles he’s begun to lose count, and he’s congratulated over how many men he’s saved, how many of the enemy he’s managed to subjugate, to bring down, words upon words that mean you’ve killed so many people, and they pat him on the back, and it’s a sort of recognition that he finds himself craving more of.

Angeal has begun to go quiet, sometimes. 

But it’s nothing like the way that Genesis buries himself in LOVELESS and in strategy and in supply trains and the useful kind of science that you can win wars with, nothing like the way that he flaunts himself off, with his black uniform and his red coat, so he doesn't understand what it means.

It’s been a while since he first found himself fighting alongside Sephiroth himself, a while since he’d ghosted the other - younger, but paler and slighter and taller - boy, and made himself be listened to with all the grace of one whose parents were always thought of as important.

Part of him still looks up to Sephiroth, even now, and glares at Angeal when he sees his old friend smirking in the corner of his eye. 

Part of him feels like he’d do anything to get him to actually notice him, to not just be yet another opponent hardly even worthy of the great Sephiroth’s time or attention.

Sometimes, he likes the way it feels to be able to have someone new to share LOVELESS with, and to tell old jokes to, and he can’t help but find it funny the way although Sephiroth can fight like the silver demon the Wutai call him on the battlefield, when it’s someplace more mundane, Genesis sees the way he fights to not make it obvious that he’s still getting used to those long legs of his.

...

Genesis is eighteen, and he has been the commander of more battles than he knows what to do with. Some of them are even named. Many of them were publicised. For some of them, he fought alongside Angeal. With others, Sephiroth. Few were spent with all three of them.

It was starting to become noticed that they were the best of the Firsts, the cream of the crop, the strongest of what SOLDIER had to offer.

This gave certain perks, non of which he was willing to turn his nose up at. Such as a fan club (which his parents funded), and a certain amount of notoriety around Midgar, and more interesting missions even when not out on the frontlines.

He’s asked to attend certain functions, alongside the others, to be one of the faces of Shinra, and he thinks that he handles this better than Sephiroth with his wooden face, or Angeal who’d much rather be behind the camera than in front of it.

His face is put in the papers. His name is put in the stories they tell.

But it’s Sephiroth’s name that’s put in the headlines, and although he feels that it’s only to be expected, he also feels that it isn’t fair, because some of those things they say he did, are things that Genesis did.

He doesn’t say anything, though, because he hears enough to understand; that’s just simply the way that it is.

He decides that he’ll simply have to do something bigger, and grand enough that it can’t help but be noticed, one day, and no one will forget him.

...

Genesis is nineteen years old and growing increasingly frustrated, because nothing he does seems to work, and the last time, one of his ideas wound up with him and several other SOLDIERs under a landslide, one that the regular army men among them hadn’t survived.

He’s still feeling sore days later, bruises and mako burning under his skin, and he doesn’t ask if anyone else feels the same, because he’s not a kid anymore, he can handle a little pain. 

People died for these victories. For his victories. Their sacrifices will be ones that will count for something, though. He promises them that. Not in as many words, but by knowing that there’s a chance they won’t all come back from this, and he’s going to be right there with them, their best and brightest spark right at the front lines.

He sees Wutai begin to weaken in the maps and in the letters and in the reports, and he knows in his bones that it’s all down to what he and Angeal and Sephiroth were doing - not just Sephiroth, as the papers tried to say - and he feels like a part of something bigger, a part of history in the making.

If he’s figured this out right, there might only be a few more battles until it’s all over.

Although if he’s honest, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with himself once it’s over. 

Perhaps he’ll turn to acting. Or he’ll finish up those papers he’d been writing on LOVELESS, and post them in to be printed, because there’s got to be somewhere that’d print it all out. 

...

Genesis is twenty years old, and spends his twentieth birthday in Banora, and eats an apple that’s fallen from one of his own trees, because no one’s there to care that it won't go where it’s supposed to.

The apple tastes just right, even though his arm stings from the needle-holes that Hollander had put in it to take samples of his blood, and his shoulder aches still, weeks on, long after it was supposed to have healed already by now.

At least he knows why now, though. 

He’s twenty years old, and he’s been through a war that he’s all but given up on, and he’s never felt his mortality so keenly as he does now.

He remembers getting into an argument with his parents - first his mother, then his father came to join them, wondering why their son was here instead of where he was supposed to be, then horrified at the fact that he knew the truth - and one moment he’s furious, and the next they’re looking at him, sad and sorry and full of pity that he doesn’t want to see, because it was too late, it was all too late.

Too late for them, and too late for him.

Some part of him hates the fact that Hollander was more angry at the fact that it was an inconvenience than that he had just killed his parents, but in a sense that was useful, because it gave him something else to focus on.

The Turks were easier to kill, and he didn’t find himself throwing up out the back of his too-big, too-empty house afterwards, because now that Shinra was the enemy, the Turks were too, and heroes didn’t feel bad about killing the bad guys.

...

Genesis is twenty-seven years old, and has spent far too many of those years under someone else’s beck and call. So when he’s taken, so soon after he’s been restored to health and rejected at the same time, at the exact time when he wants nothing more than to be left alone, he’s not in the mood to listen to people who just want him to be compliant.

There’s something else there, too, something that balks away from the idea of being trapped like that in this place, and by their words, unable to escape, to be his own person, to figure out for himself who Genesis Rhapsodos truly was, could truly be.

He refuses them. He could have had control, in a sense. He could have used whatever connection they gave him, if that were possible. But instead, all he wished was to run, and to hide, because if there was one thing that was true of himself over the past nearly-a-decade, it was that he had become a twisted monster who hurt people.

Twisted monsters, he knew, could not be heroes. 

So he seals himself away, more like one of the evil villains in a fairy tale than anything, in the knowledge that if anything ever awoke him, then it would have to be because the world was ending, or because they needed someone like him, his strength, when all else to turn to was gone.

...

Genesis is thirty-one, and he watches the children playing in the street, and a stray thought knocks him sideways, that these were children who had hardly known peace, but who were not expected to go to war, were not expected to be SOLDIERs, children half his age who’d never killed and might never kill anything other than a monster.

He’s beginning to feel less like one himself, but that doesn’t stop him from feeling that perhaps what Hollander had done to his genetics wasn't the only irrevocable harm that Shinra had done to him, before he could even understand what was going on.

[rottenpumpkin13]

There are plenty of reasons to get back on Zack, of course. BUT with number of accidents caused by Genesis, ASZ + Lazard definitely need to plan something bigger to get back on him as well.

The Stolen Books Prank

[Lazard dials up Genesis' number from a throwaway phone. Sephiroth, Angeal and Zack are standing behind him. It rings five times before Genesis picks up]

Genesis: Hello?

Lazard: Good morning, am I speaking to Mr. Genesis Rhapsodos?

Genesis: This is he. Unless you're a crazy fan....in that case, this is Sephiroth speaking.

Lazard: I'm calling from the Midgar Police Department. The Shinra Electric Power Company put me through to you.

Genesis: That's.... not good.

Lazard: It isn't. I'm calling to inquire about a stolen lot of books. The Loveless bookstore in Sector eight was broken into last night—

Genesis: Oh no! That's awful!

Lazard: —And an entire lot of rare and expensive one-of-a-kind copies of the book Loveless were stolen.

Genesis: How dare they!? I was waiting for that shipment to come in!

Lazard: Well, Mr. Rhapsodos, the problem is multiple eye witnesses and anonymous tips are pointing you out as the suspect.

Genesis: WHAT? ME? AS IF! Do I really seem like the kind of man who would need to steal? I'm financially well off, mind you, and I wouldn't dare steal from a book store of all places. Let alone the Loveless bookstore in Sector eight!

[Knowing what's coming, Angeal slaps his hand over Zack's mouth. Sephiroth has to step away from Lazard so his laughter doesn't echo]

Lazard: We have you on video breaking into the establishment, loading up a truck with the stolen merchandise, then speeding off and breaking several traffic laws.

Genesis: WHAT? WHEN?

[Sephiroth starts laughing uncontrollably in the background]

Lazard: This was last night.

Genesis: THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I WAS AT HOME LAST NIGHT.

Lazard: Were you with anyone who can vouche for you?

Genesis: Well....no? But I can prove it! I was writing last night, and the program I use shows you the time each paragraph was written. And I was up until at least 2 AM.

Lazard: What were you writing, Mr. Rhapsodos?

Genesis:

Lazard: Sir? Can you hear me?

Genesis: Do I have to admit to this?

Lazard: You're potentially facing some serious charges.

Genesis: Fine! Fine! I was writing Sephiroth reader-insert fanfiction!

[Angeal has to bolt out of the room before he laughs too loud. He drags Zack with him, who has since turned red]

Lazard: Oh? And you were up writing until 2 AM, correct?

Genesis: Yes.

Lazard: Unfortunately the crime happened at 3 in the morning. We'll be dispatching an officer to the Shinra building shortly. The higher-ups are aware that there is a warrant out for your arrest. I ask you that you do not try to run—

[Genesis hangs up abruptly]

Sephiroth: Did he hang up?

Lazard: I think so.

[Sephiroth's phone starts ringing. He looks at the caller ID and sees Genesis' name flash across the screen. He places a single finger against his lips, telling Lazard to be quiet as he picks up]

Sephiroth: Yes, Ge....

Sephiroth: Genesis. Genesis, slow down.

Sephiroth: Please stop crying.

Sephiroth: You can't move to France and change your name to Pierre, Genesis. That's evading an arrest and another crime on its own.

Sephiroth: Genesis, you can't desert SOLDIER, either. All of your solutions are crimes. Why don't you get a lawyer?

Sephiroth:

Sephiroth: I hardly think the timestamps on your erotic fanfiction about my person are going to help you.

Sephiroth:

Sephiroth: This is not the time to explain the plot of your writing to me, Genesis.

Sephiroth: Gen–

[Sephiroth covers the phone with one hand]

Sephiroth: He's just listing kinks, what do I do?

[He places the phone to his ear again]

Sephiroth: Genesis, I don't even know what barebacking means.

[Lazard loses it and doubles over cry-laughing]

[strayheartless]

AGSZC but with specific love for CloudGeal.

I just have this idea of Gen and Sephiroth arguing over something stupid. It’s getting loud, Zack’s trying to get in between them but all he’s doing is adding to the noise. They’re not even truely angry at each other they’re just being them and showing affection by being dicks to each other.

But Clouds hit their noise threshold for the day and is about to have a complete meltdown on them when Angeal (the Angel) finally gets in from patrol. Cloud gets up immediately and burrows into Angeal’s chest; hyperventilating slightly and desperately trying not to cry. Which has Angeal on protective boyfriend mode -even against his other partners- and demands “what the hell is going on?! Who made Cloud cry?!”

And the room suddenly goes quiet cause none of them had noticed how agitated cloud was getting. There’s a collective look of guilt catching between the three others as Cloud mutters a shaky “I’m fine”, but Angeal’s care mode has been activated and he’s having non of it. He puts both his arms around Cloud, Kisses their hair and mutters to his lover that he’ll make them hot chocolate and they can go sit on the bed while he sorts what ever this is.

Glaring it at Sephiroth and Genesis in particular, and warning Zack to stay put sternly as the younger man tries to reach for Cloud, Angeal picks Cloud up and sits them on the kitchen counter as he makes the hot chocolate.

He then guides Cloud into the bedroom, helps them change into comfy/ sensory safe cloths and kisses their hair again before promising to be back.

Outside the room he quietly lectures them on noise levels and keeping an eye on each others emotional needs. Cloud Specifically (at least in my head-canon) has a lot of sensory issues after receiving Mako and while they all have them, Cloud is still trying to navigate their new body and needs to be supported. Angeal properly lays into them about it, but eventually he pulls back and is just like, “just… put on a movie, keep it low and for the love of Gaia, try to get along!”

Then he retreats into the bedroom to Cloud and lays with them, reading out loud quietly and making sure Cloud gets what they need.

At the end of the night he does eventually let the others into the room and they all make their apologies to Cloud who is quite happy to be squished into a puppy pile before going to sleep stuck between Sephiroth and Angeal’s chest.

I dunno man, just give me soft CloudGeal.

[atlaslain]

@backwaterheroics          /          in response to: x.

          zack fair has grown acclimatised to relying exclusively on himself. the treacherous pits of deepground have wrung the faith from him and assimilated him into their��methods of survival: their lifestyle of anticipating the knife in one’s back before an opponent ever decides to place it there. three years of sleeping with one eye open, of waiting on the razor-edge between rage and fear for the next round of experimentation, or drowning in self-hatred whenever they make him fight and he catches sight of the blood crusted under his nails --- three years has taught him pain and solitude like nothing he has ever known. and he has clung to survival anyway, tucking away the decaying glimmer of hope in his chest that this might one day get better. that his friends are still out there.       some of them. not all. not many. angeal, gone. genesis, who knows. sephiroth, gone. cloud, aerith. they’re still somewhere, aren’t they? there is light and life and warmth beyond deepground. he may have forgotten the precise airy smell of the flowers and the exact curve of cloud’s smile but they exist. zack gathers up the tatters of who he is and wraps them tight around that hope, like clinging to an anchor in a storm. 

          salvation comes in the form of weiss the immaculate. indirectly, anyway. his death. he rots under hojo’s influence and together they begin their reign over the world above, lighting the path out of the darkness and tarring it in blood. it is zack’s opportunity. the instant he crawls into the light he turns on his squadron, squashing what flares of guilt twist his stomach as his blade slides between ribs. ( his deepground-issue katana is lighter than the buster sword, not as hefty but far more adept at neatly cleaving skin. it feels strange in his hands, a desolate hunk of metal that isn’t his. ) sustained injuries are disregarded for now, blood wiped briskly from his face as he removes his helmet and tosses it aside. the streets are a mess; gunshots shatter the night and beasts prowl, dragging innocents into the shadows. and then, as fate would have it:                   a man in a ragged red cloak, faintly familiar. and a young woman --- older now, far older than zack remembers her being, an air of confidence and control about her now. yuffie kisaragi and vincent valentine. it is yuffie who stares at zack as if she’s seen a ghost, yuffie who grabs him as the force of his relief has him swaying on his feet. the first friendly face in years and she’s smacking at his arms, chiding him for vanishing, insisting he prove it’s really him and not some phantom deepground’s summoned up. ( zack reminds her of their treasure-hunting adventures and she gentles, and the world slows. ) he tells them all he knows, and then he succumbs to the loss of consciousness with the fragile hope that vincent will take care of it all. zack fair is exhausted and wounded and finally free.       the slow return of reality is painful: he awakens in an unfamiliar bed, in a room he’s never seen before. his heart slams violently against his ribs. throat tight, he casts about for a weapon. he grasps a heavy book from a shelf and decides at least he can brain someone with it if need be. his legs shake beneath him as he ventures to the doorway, pausing to take in the smell of alcohol and food from somewhere below the staircase beyond. a bar?                 seventh heaven, tifa tells him later, after he’s done hyperventilating and lashing out at her. she avoids his initial smack with the book, hands gentle yet firm on his wrists as she encourages him to look at her, to understand she is not here to hurt him. he is in seventh heaven, in edge. deepground is gone. ( vincent took care of it all. ) zack is safe. it takes him a whole week to entertain the idea. in that time, he rapid-fires questions at tifa: what happened, how long has it been, where is cloud. she answers each carefully --- it’s a long story, three years, away on deliveries right now. you can speak to cloud when he gets back.           the dim hope in zack’s chest grows, warily. perhaps this won’t be taken away from him.                 he doesn’t get to see cloud.         he has so much to say, so much it’s whipped up into a frenzy in his head. does cloud not feel the same urgency? he returned, apparently, and left again. “did you... did you tell him i was here?” zack asks tifa, voice cracking.            “yes,” she says, and the look in her eyes speaks volumes. she hands zack a rag, urges him to help her clean down her bar. she’s been giving him little tasks, as if she knows he needs to stay busy. “you have to understand, he... he isn’t the same as you probably remember. a lot has happened to him.”           and so zack resolves to understand. he pushes his own impatience down, and nurtures the hope that cloud will see him in his own time. ( far more difficult to ignore is the hurt. weren’t they good friends? after everything they went through --- after everything. how can cloud not want to see him? )               two months crawl by. zack works in seventh heaven at first, until the guilt of imposing himself on tifa is too much. he falls into mercenary work then, with a sense of resigned amusement. fighting really is all he’ll ever do. he shops for a new sword, and then another new one when that doesn’t feel right. tifa insists he continue living above the bar, citing the children as reasons he should; they like him, she says. they don’t want him to go. he reads them stories at night and patrols the bar’s vicinity into the early hours. during the day, he spends time with yuffie or works on his new bike or undertakes increasingly dangerous jobs. the fractured feeling in his mind never quite goes away, but he thinks it might ease one day.     when cloud returns again, drifting home like a wayward wind, tifa grabs him and makes him see zack. it’s a quick visit. it’s the sensation of something important slipping between one’s fingers: cloud stiff and unresponsive in his arms, eyes dull, as if zack were less than a stranger. like a static shock, it has zack flinching back, numbness tingling at his fingertips. he stands there, as unacknowledged as a specter, while cloud leaves again.               he doesn’t think you’re really here, tifa explains. we all thought you were dead.        oh.            well then.               that explains it. that barbed-wire feeling cinched round his heart. it’s the cold understanding that life has moved on without him and he is no longer a part of it. the zack fair everyone knew and remembered died riddled with bullets. but i’m alive, i never left! he wants to scream. the sense of being left behind is dizzying. cloud had moved on and now here zack is, tearing old wounds open. guilt batters him, sudden and strange.        he goes to aerith’s church. the flowers are there, yellow as sunshine and pearly-white, suffusing the air with sweetness and life. but aerith is not. she has not been for a long time. the buster sword lays at the head of the pews like a memorial and suddenly it’s all too much. he falls to his knees and chokes on sobs. he stays there for days, murmuring to the flowers as if they might carry his apologies to aerith. eventually, little marlene wallace takes his hand and leads him back to seventh heaven. he follows in a daze and doesn’t notice when he’s led to cloud’s room and told to rest. ( he rests, his heart slowing its frenzied pulse. this feels like safety. )                         he is not ready for cloud to return again. he thought he always would be, but the pain of coming to terms with aerith’s death is too fresh and sleep-deprivation has drained him. he is not prepared for more pain; it might shatter him. and yet here cloud is, slipping shadow-quiet into the room and staring with horror-struck eyes.         “cloud, please,” zack finds himself whispering, praying. he is not aware of reaching out, but he registers how brittle cloud feels: like his violent shaking might rip him apart. nausea rises in zack’s throat. he is doing this. he is hurting cloud with every touch, poisoning him. “look at me,” he sobs anyway, selfish and unable to relinquish the certainty of cloud’s place in his life.            in the end, it’s only more hurt. cloud, pale as a wraith, stumbles away and wails. the sound drives nails into zack’s heart. he gets tifa, because who else would they both rely on to fix their broken souls? the storm breaks, cloud sobs, and zack turns to leave. “i’m sorry, i’m so sorry,” he is vaguely aware of repeating, frantic. “cloud, i’m so sorry.”             he should have died on that cliff. he should’ve died before deepground could ruin him, before he could walk back into a life that didn’t want him anymore.                 “are you giving up that easily?” tifa demands the next morning, as zack shoulders his bag full of meager belongings and tries to give her a hug goodbye. she stares him dead in the eye as he squirms. “you’ve barely tried yet.”         zack doesn’t mean to raise his voice but it comes out in a burst: “yes! yes, i am. me being here only hurts him, i’m taking up space in your bar, there’s no place here for me!” it tastes like a lie. there has been a place, carved out just for him. the beginnings of home here with these people. but not if he’s only spreading hurt. “i can’t watch him scream and cry every time he sees me, tifa. i won’t. i’ll --- i’ll come visit. okay?”           it’s not okay.     he debates saying his farewells to cloud, but recognises it as an awful plan. he leaves his old shinra phone instead, the one he kept as a soldier. it’s fuzzy and barely in working condition these days, but he squirreled it away all these years just for the old pictures in its memory.            “give that to him when he feels... better. okay? you have my new number if you need me.”     he tells nobody where he’s going because he just doesn’t know anymore. it’s a good thing he’s already accustomed to relying only on himself.

[hanalwayssolo]

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

I mentioned to @hypaalicious I was going to unearth this and now here it is! Once upon a time, Crisis Core fucked me up and I wrote this self-indulgent fluffy thing ages ago because hngggh Sephiroth is a precious cinnamon roll before he became an actual sinnamon roll.

Considering all the days Sephiroth has worked with you in the field, he can’t figure out for the life of him why you’ve been acting so weird for the past few weeks.

Sure, the working chemistry between the two of you has been rocky at the beginning, but along the way, it proved the entire point of Tseng and Lazard jointly deciding to pair you up with Sephiroth for multiple assignments: your immaculate intel work and espionage skills as a promising Turk perfectly complemented his superhuman fighting prowess. You’re an additional intelligence to the already brains-and-brawn renowned war hero, and for Sephiroth, he immensely enjoyed working with you.

The thing now is, despite everything going along swimmingly, as of late, Sephiroth could not understand why you seem to be avoiding him. Like, being within his proximity just gets you strangely uncomfortable. At the back of his mind, he’s raking for reasons why, and he’s trying to figure out if there was anything offensive that he ever did to you at all. He replayed past conversations, all the dry-humoured jokes, and he just can’t seem to get to the bottom of anything. And with this, he somehow resented you for reasons beyond any plane of existence could ever understand. It’s not that there’s an existing animosity between the lot of you Turks and 1st Class SOLDIERs that warrants his ill-stemmed feeling. But for the first time in his life, there’s a mystery before him that no amount of his training in SOLDIER, nor any of his educated research could ever solve for him.

For the first time, he actually felt helpless.

And out of all the things that Sephiroth hates, this feeling of helplessness is at the top of his list.

Out of all the things that you hate, this unnamed feeling in your chest is now at the top of your list.

And for the first time, nothing ever made sense to you.

The funny thing about this is you don’t know how, or why, or when the tangle of emotions started, but every single time you see Sephiroth these days, you feel like your heart is about to erupt out of your chest. The funnier thing about that is he doesn’t even do anything that could merit a good reason for you to get all internally antsy. You try to rationalize things, just like you always do, but you end up taking the easy route which is to hate him.

True, your partnership with Sephiroth allowed you to witness and be amazed with his exceptional combat skills and his strategic mind at work, and you enjoyed every second of it. But as of late, you hate how he effortlessly executes everything he does. You hate how he sometimes smiles when Zack makes a silly joke about chocobos, or when Angeal passionately explains his gardening methods. But most of all, you hate his stupid, handsome face.

All things considered, you and Sephiroth are a force to be reckoned with.

But all of this tension finally takes its toll when you discover out of the blue that he has requested Tseng to pull you out from all his other assignments. Without even thinking, and with the fumes of your frustration consuming you, you march through the corridors of the SOLDIER headquarters, making a beeline for the training room. You stop to look through the glass door, and the unmistakeable long, silver hair and the black coat standing in the middle of the room is your cue to storm inside.

The whirring of the sliding door catches Sephiroth’s attention. “I believe I’m not expecting any company—”

“Care to explain to me why the fuck you pulled me out of all my upcoming missions with you?” The rage in your voice is so thick and scathing, but Sephiroth’s face remained unfazed as he turns to you, his eyes as cold as glaciers.

“I no longer require your assistance, given your inadequacies,” his words were sharper than steel. He should have just stabbed you in the chest while he’s at it.

You look at him, completely aghast. “I’m sorry—me? Inadequate? Are you fucking kidding me?” You pace across the room to distract yourself from the gripping feeling smothering your chest. “After that one time I saved your wounded ass in Wutai and I am inadequate?”

The crack in your voice allowed a faint twitch of emotion to break Sephiroth’s impassive face. Your eyes are burning hot from the tears that threaten to spill over, and you keep it at bay; he’s the last person in the universe that you ever wanted to see you cry.

When he does not answer, you finally diffuse the suffocating silence.

“You know what, fine,” you begin, and the tone of your voice still resonates a hurt that neither of you could ever comprehend. “Before all of this, it was actually my greatest pleasure working with you. I just… if you wanted to get rid of me, if you hated me that much, you could have said so. And it would have been nice if I heard it from you first.” You return towards him and stop to look at him straight in the eye. “So, there you have it. Have a fucking swell career, Sephiroth.”

You walk past him, and god, you can’t wait to get out of here and let all these stupid tears out of your system. But before you can even get through the door, like a flash of lightning, Sephiroth snatches your arm and spins you around. In a heartbeat, his face is now inches from yours, and you can feel and taste his breath.

“I don’t understand you,” he grits his teeth as he whispers the words out, and all the while, you can’t help but stare at his perfectly luscious lips.

“I don’t understand you, either,” you snap back, trying so hard to sound in control. “Glad the feeling is mutual.”

He leans even closer, his forehead touching yours, and his hands gingerly take your face.

Before this painful second stretches on, you breathe, “If you’re going to kiss me, you can do so—”

It was almost brutal and terrifyingly electric, but the way his lips met yours, the shock ran through your spine like a raging torrent. You respond roughly when you sink your teeth into his bottom lip, your fingers running through his hair.

And just like that, all at once, all the unnamed emotions finally make sense.

What began as a frustrated kiss led to another one. And then another. It went on until the both of you already memorized how your lips moved against each other. It kept going until the both of you had granted each other an unspoken forgiveness, a closure for all the aching and agonizing weeks of misunderstood words and misplaced feelings.

What started as a cutthroat partnership ended in his bed that night. And the night that followed. And the nights turned into three, four, and five, until the both of you eventually lost count.

Considering all the nights you’ve been in Sephiroth’s bed, you’ve already made a habit of watching his beautiful sleeping face.

It’s certainly one sight to behold, if you’re being honest, and a tricky one to catch, too. Apart from the other obvious habit that the both of you have been doing each other every night, and with Sephiroth possessing a stamina of a mighty stallion, waiting for him to lull into sleep after sex proved to be difficult, but never impossible. He would stay up, absentmindedly twirling a lock of your hair, or pressing his lips against your forehead, until slowly but surely, his breathing steadies into a rhythm, and all his soft and tender touches come to a pause.

As you study him in the faint glow of moonlight, you find a strange serenity that inhabits his pale features; his stern and stoic face is replaced by a gentleness that mellows the sharp planes of his cheeks, a calmness similar to that of a sleeping child.

Still buzzing in the delight of a beautiful exhaustion, you cautiously sneak out of bed, careful not to stir Sephiroth out of his peaceful slumber. You take whatever piece of clothing you find discarded on the floor; you settle on Sephiroth’s white dress-shirt and slip yourself in it.

You tiptoe out of his bedroom and into the kitchen. You never really paid attention to the details of his quarters. But now that you look closely, there are a couple of plants along the counters, which you immediately assumed to be Angeal’s doing. You expected his place to be gray and bland, but surprisingly, with all the potted plants and the photos of Zack, Angeal, and Genesis plastered on his fridge, it definitely puts your boring room to shame. “Hey.”

You felt your heart leap out of your chest when you see Sephiroth standing in the doorway, shirtless and looking nothing less than glorious. He curiously watches you, and he wonders how his shirt hanging so lazily around your small frame could look so sexy, matched with your beautifully disheveled hair.

You must have been gawking hard at him too when he says, “My eyes are up here.”

“Yup. Gotcha.” You mechanically answer, making an effort to drag your eyes out of his sculpted chest and back into his absurdly pretty face.

Sephiroth casually walks over to you, and he places a chaste kiss on your lips. The scent of rose and vanilla that lingered in his skin is intoxicating. "You do know it's rude to stare, right?" "I wouldn’t be staring if you had something on." "But you have my shirt on, my love," he wraps his arms around your waist. "Unless you want me to take it off you?" You can practically hear him seducing you with just his voice. "That's a very tempting offer, but nope," you slyly counter. "Never mind—you look better with your shirt off."

Sephiroth’s mouth hangs slightly open, and you see a gentle flush creeping on his face. You try to bite back the smile on your face.

You cheekily laugh, “Did I just fluster you, big guy?”

“You and your smart mouth,” he grants your lips another kiss. He’s smiling when he pulls away, and you feel your heart doing somersaults at the sight of it.

“Well, it’s my only redeeming quality,” you flash him a sweet grin of your own.

“What are you doing here in the kitchen, anyway?” he asks, and his hands wander around your hips. “It’s four in the morning.”

Your own hands wander around his chest. “I was planning to get rid of these marks you left me—”

You squeak a little when he scoops you up and props you to sit on the counter. Sephiroth nuzzles your neck, leaving soft kisses and gentle bites. “But it looks good on you.” You giggle. “My, you’re getting cheeky now? Is this Zack's annoying qualities rubbing off on you, because if it is, I prefer you to be your usual brooding self."

He only hums in response as he continues to traverse the expanse of your shoulders with more kisses. “Just call in sick.”

“You know I can’t—” you quickly whine, and he only laughs. “Sephiroth, I love you but this isn’t funny if I’m supposed to be your best guarded secret—”

He abruptly stops and he slowly raises his head to face you. There’s confusion in his eyes, and your face drops at the grave look on his face, so you could only ask, “Did I say something—”

“Say it again.”

“I’m your best guarded secret—”

“No, the other thing.”

The realization slowly unravels in your head. But instead of saying the words again, you decide to show it to him by pulling him into a deep kiss.

For the first time in Sephiroth’s life, the mystery before him finally reveals itself. The revelation required no help from his formal training in SOLDIER, nor any of his educated research. For the first time, he felt normal and human.

Out of all the things that he can finally claim that he truly adores, this feeling of you by his side is at the top of his list.

[reigning-rhapsody]

Continuing this thread with @angelic-armory

The nickname that stuck with him like it stuck to Angeal’s chapped lips, and has been ever since their childhood, made him huff out a breath of amusement through his nostrils, meant to be a chuckle but all his exhausted body could muster up to deliver was a barely noticeable quirk of his torso in unison with the exhale.”Nobody but a handful of people knew what happened, of course they would claim that.”

His mind traveled back to the fateful day both of the downfall of him as a hero and the accompanied rise occurred. Even though it was his own, one not to be acknowledged until the time was right, he promised himself to be a savior for those who need it. For his lost comrades, or believed to be lost. For those he has hurt and forsaken- but especially for himself. A redemption of sorts.

The silence that follows his question is absolutely nerve wrecking. He had warmth to envelope him, a shoulder to lean on and cry into, someone to seek desperately sought comfort that had been denied to him for what felt like an eternity, and yet the reluctance made him feel cold, unbalanced, alone. He swallowed dryly as mismatched eyes filled with a dying spark of hope peeked through a russet curtain, every second that ticked by filling the room with suspense induced incense more and more, the smoke deriving from it constricting around Genesis to keep an anxious grasp on him.

When Angeal pulled his head away and muttered what caused their current situation, the day he overreacted and ruined it all, the redhead’s lips pressed into a thin line and it took everything in him to not break eye contact and avert his gaze in a fit of shame and guilt. The quivering exhale of an uncertain breath dances against cherry-kissed lips that spoke of great tales and treasure once upon a time, and now all that was sealed away. 

As his partner’s neon blue eyes wandered to the shoulder that caused agony and torment for millions, the symbol of the event truly having happened hidden under ginger locks as well as burgundy and black leather, so did Genesis’, just for a moment and to take a breather. Thick lashes fluttered shut and a deep breath filled his lungs, the carbon dioxide his body didn’t require discarded into the little space between him and the ravenet man. Then his eyes blinked open and once again, their gazes met, though this time it was much less impacting and filled with a certain tenderness.

His hand was taken and Angeal spoke up and his heart felt like a huge stone fell from it with the relieve that washed over him at the approval of his proposal. He knew the answer would be yes, of course it would, Angeal loved him and still did. Why else would he have cried? Why else would emotions welled up in him bubble out at the mere sight of Genesis being alive, hearing his voice, feeling his touch and tasting his lips? And yet, despite that, he was scared, mortified even with that little ‘what if’ sitting at the back of his head, so small but so much louder than all the other thoughts occupying his mind.

Genesis leaned into the warm feeling of a calloused hand against his shattered skin, cracked from the degradation, one of many scars to prove he’s not just alive, but a survivor. Then it was the angel’s turn to ask a question, and it was one he prepared himself for the moment his knowledge of where Angeal Hewley was was expanded on. Not under the earth, but above it and breathing.

What happened?

The poet licked his dry lips, knowing it would be a longer epic for him to retell. “Very well. I had no intentions of leaving you in the dark about it, don’t worry.”, he assured, a gentle leer turning more serious as his brows angled ever so slightly, “Just promise me to not doubt my words, for lying to you is not an option for me. Not now, or ever again.”

Genesis adjusted his position and sat up properly. His head went back to a straightforward and balanced position instead of angling into the craved touch, the hand wrapped in scarlet that a tanned one held onto like it would never let go receiving a soft squeeze. To brace himself, to brace Angeal. “I went back, to Banora. It was where I slept when I could, the cave specifically. You remember for sure, don’t you?” He couldn’t help but smile at the fond memory of how impressed Angeal was when he was first lead to his best friend’s secret base.

“It was there, where he struck me down, your student. I...”, he cut himself off, reluctance tugging at his vocal chords, worry of sounding like it’s a story the poet made up in a spurt of creativity. But he continued, for he was certain the sincerity in his voice, eyes, actions, they got across the truth. “I saw her, the Goddess. Minerva. She graced me, put me out of my misery for good, though not in a morbid way. Despite the torment I caused upon Gaia, I was spared, cured from the degradation and left to realize that my honor, my pride was what truly gifted me... worth.”

“I don’t recall much of what happened then aside from seeing a dumbapple laying there, and one in Zack’s hand, fulfilling my dream of handing one to Sephiroth.” Genesis paused at that, at the name that rolled so easily off his tongue but sat heavily within the room. He sighed, untangling his hands from his partner’s messy hair only to curl it in his own ginger mess as he brushed what was bothersome in front of his face behind his ears instead. “I was taken to Deepground, though it has changed from what we knew about it. A dictatorship, almost, with morbid things happening within. I was asked to engage in overthrowing the leaders of it, though declined, promising to come back when the world would need a hero in yours and his stead.”

“And thus, I went and searched for a place, a quiet and deserted one, which I found. In a cave beneath Midgar, I sealed myself away into a crystallized slumber.” His voice was hoarse, sore. His hand wandered to hover over where Angeal’s heart thumped with a newfound reason to live for underneath impressive pectorals, palm gently pressing there to ground himself. “That plan... Visibly, it did not go as intended. I woke up, about two weeks ago. I think so, that is. I heard about you being alive, and yet nobody knew where but a certain blond man. And now, I have found my way back into your arms, my dear~.”

A silence lingered after his explanation and a weak attempt at making it all seem a little less whatever one may describe the air in the room with a flirt that was much below the usual quality they had coming from him, shattered like porcelain that adorned his cheek by a scoff from Genesis. He shook his head, smiling bitterly. “Silly, is it not? The story, though all my cards are splayed out on the table, as ridiculous as it may sound.”

He didn’t say any more, made no advances to get Angeal to believe him through guilt or pity. Genesis just smiled subtly.