Where's my spikes?

Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy VII.

Where’s my spikes 4

Pain. Or not. Sephiroth couldn’t say if he felt anything. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block the images from his mind. He had seen his first nightmare. The images still haunted his mind and finally Sephiroth opened his eyes. The impolite lamp stayed silent as Sephiroth stared at it blankly. He still felt the emotions of his dream. Trying to ignore them by ignoring the lamp he sat up and looked at the clock. Still eight hours to morning. He sighed as felt the cool surface of the floor on his sole when he walked towards the small room he could call kitchen. He didn’t prepare his own food nor did he eat in his room. The stove and the sink were more like for the image.

He took one glass from the kitchen shelve and filled it with cold water. He turned to lean his back against the high shelve and watched his bedroom with observant eyes. He didn’t see any spikes in the middle of the blankets and pillows and his room was not filled with soft snoring or pyjama rustling. It was awfully quiet. Emptying his glass he thought he should be happier that his room was now in his possession, but when he walked to his bed he suddenly thought how big it was. Why did he keep such a big bed when he only used small part of it?

Covered by the blankets Sephiroth slowly drifted to think his previous day. He wondered why Shin-Ra even wanted to keep him if he only had such small value. Sure he was the image of the Shin-ra troops and he had quite an impact to people who actually still lived on this polluted land, but his actual work seemed minor compared to what he was capable of. If he was the general he did want to feel like it. But he knew no one could compensate for him.

Sephiroth turned to his side and soon after he heard how someone was on his door. He shot a glance to the door, but pretended to be sleep. He had his Masamune at close so there was no room for big surprises. The door opened slowly and someone stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind him. Sephiroth tried to keep his breathing calm as his adrenalin boiled in his veins. There had been a time when one rebellious group dried to install a bomb into his room and that had been almost the funniest time in his life. He listened to the footsteps like a predator for its prey and when something settled on his bed, he was up strangling the intruder. His fingers were around the other’s neck like a killing snake and he was sure he sounded like one too.

“ Ack! Sephiroth!” The intruder hissed in pain and Sephiroth soon loosened his grip. He had been so furious that only now did he recognise his so called friend. When he had identified the colour of these spikes he removed his fingers around Zack’s neck. He stared at the young man questioningly and retreated from his bed to loom over his sergeant who tried to catch his breath.

“ Sephiroth, you sure give the warmest greetings”, Zack whined, rubbing his neck like it had been broken.

“ Don’t whimper like a dog, you should now better not to wander to my rooms at nights”, Sephiroth said as he lectured Zack for his stupidity. Zack grunted, but said nothing, only looked at Sephiroth intensively. Before Sephiroth could say anything, Zack had that large smile on his face, looking knowingly at Sephiroth.

“ Yeah, I know that but one thing I didn’t know was that you are so warm-hearted, taking care of Cloud like it was nothing”, the sergeant said, looking at his superior like he had been caught eating too much candy. Sephiroth snorted and sat beside Zack, trying to cool himself down. As much as he liked Zack’s humour, as much he hated it.

“ He intruded my quarters, how can you say that I took care of him”, Sephiroth sighed heavily. He was too tired to deal with Zack’s odd behaviour. It was his time to relax and now this – annoying sergeant who claimed to be his second-in-hand.

“ Nah, you didn’t harm him, I read that as taking care of Cloud. And now that we get to the point, do you have anything planned for next month’s nights?” Zack answered like he didn’t have any glue what time it was. Sephiroth glared at the black haired sergeant.

“ Yes, I think I am sleeping. I don’t understand what else I could be doing”, Sephiroth said. He was being honest, he didn’t catch the way Zack was thinking, though he predicted that Zack had something in his mind – more like someone. Zack had turned to face him and he had a serious look on his face, like it was to believe, but somehow it worried Sephiroth a little.

“ I bet you know that I have a roommate. He had been sleeping here for three days, is that correct? Anyways, he is the one with ultimate spiky hair and he is someone you would call small”, Zack begun and moved his eyes from Sephiroth to the door. Sephiroth lifted his left eyebrow.

“ And why would he be in your problem list? I don’t see any reasons. And shouldn’t you be on a mission?” Sephiroth asked, a hint of anger in his voice. He had made the assignments to send Zack on a mission and he didn’t want to lose his face for something as minor as Zack’s roommate problems.

“ Ah, don’t worry, our captains had some problems and they gave us one free day. Spike has called me and said that he is going to be in trouble if I am not coming back, so I came. But back to the point, my mission is not very short and I was wondering if you could look after him for me”, Zack said easily. Zack was like a carefree child who didn’t know where his place was, but Sephiroth knew better. Zack was extremely sharp and promising young man, he was not one to take lightly.

“ Zack, listen, I am sure he is capable of taking care of himself, he is an adult”, Sephiroth pronounced the words carefully to make sure Zack understood them. Now Zack looked back at him desperately.

“ Well, yes, he is good at swinging a sword, but when it comes to sleeping, he is terrible”, Zack said convincingly. Sephiroth studied his sergeant’s face and looked sharply into his eyes.

“ Zack, I am not a babysitter, I am a general, I lead an army and I wield a sword, not a rattle, do-you-understand-me?”

“ There’s no big difference… Sephiroth, I beg you, I promise I come and fetch him as soon as my mission ends. You only share the bed with him, you don’t even have to talk to him. He will more likely to drool on you and he has some bad sleeping habits, but I am certain you get used to them like nothing. Sephiroth, I can’t ask anyone else to do this and I have to go back. Only fifteen nights and I’ll be back”, Zack reported him talking hurriedly. Sephiroth sighed as he buried his face into his hands. Damn Zack’s eyes, he had some weak point to them. Or maybe it was that he was soft.

“ All right, but I don’t promise anything. If he annoys me, I’ll send him to jail and from there he can’t wander anywhere. You owe me one”, Sephiroth said and regretted it as soon as he had said it. He could hear the sparkles Zack had around his head when he smiled and the general heard him stood up.

“ I owe you as always. Don’t move, I am going to get him”, Zack said and marched towards the door. Sephiroth’s eyes snapped to Zack’s back. Honestly, Sephiroth had thought he would get to sleep this night alone, savouring the last bit of freedom before starting this completely absurd night-watch. He watched as Zack opened the door and bent down to talk to someone. Zack had bent down and tried to persuade someone to come into the room. Sephiroth knew who it was and soon he saw him – or it as he had called the creature.

Zack walked in to the room, leading Spike to the room. The young boy was wearing a baby-blue pyjama and he squeezed a pillow in his armpit. Zack had a grip on the boy’s arm as he leaded Cloud towards Sephiroth. When the boy was close enough, Sephiroth saw that Cloud was more likely still sleeping, even though the boy stared at him blankly.

“ Cloud Sephiroth, Sephiroth Cloud”, Zack said and guided the blonde towards Sephiroth after introduction. Sephiroth stretched his hand to meet Cloud and the blonde fell to his lap, forehead against his shoulder.

“ Nice to meetcha…” Cloud murmured and dropped his pillow. Sephiroth, who was unsure what to do, looked at Zack who didn’t see any weird in the situation. Zack bent down to pat Cloud’s head and lifted the pillow from the floor.

“ I’ll be leaving. If he wriggles too much, just take him into a good grip, he likes it. Oh, and he likes to sleep against your chest, not your back, but when he is feeling really good he sleeps on top of you. If you don’t like any of those… just think something up. And don’t misunderstand, this has nothing to do with romantic feelings, though I think he likes to sleep with you. But call me if you have any problems”, Zack gave him advices how to deal with this so-called-human. Sephiroth sighed again, putting the boy aside. He would deal with him later, now he really had to relax. He wasn’t sure if he was able to do this. Romantic feelings? Like that he thought that Cloud wanted to have a relationship with him or otherwise? Being confused over the things, he just waved good bye to Zack and then stared at the closed door.

“ I am not sure if I can make this.”

* * *


The nightmare had not returned. Sephiroth woke up from his deep sleep slowly, drifting back to reality as slowly running brook. The softness of his surrounding wanted to lull him back into sleep, but he stretched his muscular body to wake it up. He pulled the blanket off and enjoyed how the cool air touched his warm body. When he opened his eyes he remembered his promise to Zack and stiffened. Now someone had a permission to claim his bed as well and it made him nervous. Pressing his lips tightly together, he started to look for his guest. The boy was not sleeping by his side and Sephiroth didn’t feel any drool on his chest. What he found, was rather disturbing sight.

The boy, whose name was supposed to be Cloud, laid on top of him – crosswise. Cloud had tugged the pillow somewhere under his head and grabbed Sephiroth’s hand into his grip. Hissing to the boy, Sephiroth snatched his hand back and searched for a possible damage, but found none.

“ Cloud”, he said carefully, finding the situation hard to deal with. Should he act like nothing really happened or should he give the boy a cold shoulder? He was bothered by this nightstand and even though his cool was really something, he doubted if it was made for situations like these. When the boy didn’t move, Sephiroth shook the boy from his shoulder.

“ Cloud, I have to get up”, Sephiroth stated and the boy lifted his head, looking around for a bit before looking back at Sephiroth. Sephiroth waited for the boy’s reaction – if he remembered coming here last night. The boy blinked his eyes like he didn’t really understand what was going on, but then his eyes lit up.

“ Good morning General. Did you sleep well?” Cloud asked politely, but apparently too shy to look into his eyes anymore. The boy got up from Sephiroth’s stomach and looked blankly at the clock on Sephiroth’s small bedside table. The boy stayed silent for so long that Sephiroth thought he had fallen asleep again. He was going to shook him, when everything started to happen.

“ Gosh! I am going to be more than late!” The boy hissed worriedly and got up from the bed. The boy was out of the room before Sephiroth could answer or even realize what had happened. Should he be happy for not being in an awkward position, he knew no answer, but he sure wasn’t anticipating the evening too much. He was so going to get wrinkles.

***

1. Hope you enjoyed! Though it felt like I rushed it through...:/
2. Still no beta.
3. Omg? Leet?
4. Positions ideas? :D