“I don't deny it! Why would I? It's brought me all this.”
If he was corporeal, he would be wearing a predatory smile. The new president's loneliness makes him easier to manipulate. Ah, but he doesn't have to be lonely. Sephiroth reconstitutes in a swirl of purple-tinted black flecks and smoke. He steps forward.
“Sorry if I'm late.” He makes sure his words are warm and just hesitant enough to avoid spooking you. You haven't been spooked yet but still.
“Sephiroth,” you greet him equally warmly, making a quarter turn towards him. You lift your wrist to check the time. “No, not late.”
The time is displayed on a shiny, black watch that communicates its value in how unassuming it is. It's obvious that it was a gift from Rufus, because it suits his style and not yours. It's telling that you still wear it. Your husband, the new president, could be here with you. Sephiroth discovered that the president rarely came home these days and that spurred him to approach you.
You turn all the way around and away from the view from the terrace of the penthouse you supposedly share with the president. It's a similar view to what Rufus had when Sephiroth approached him earlier as Glenn, yet the president seems to prefer the superior height of the Shinra building to his wife's company lately. Sephiroth approaches you slowly, his close proximity indicating that he would like to join you where you are. He's careful to avoid touching the six month pregnancy bump. Its existence indicates that Rufus spent more time with you at one point.
You should be more hesitant to run your fingers through his long, silver hair than this. It's always a curious act to Sephiroth. You know he was killed in action years ago. Everyone knows. Yet here you are, never having asked where he came from and developing a habit of just enjoying his company. Sephiroth places one hand on the railing and snakes the other around your upper rib cage, still avoiding the growing baby. The move forces you to drop your hand but his hair is so long that you can keep a lock in front of you to twist around your finger gently. You curl it and let it uncurl. When it gets snagged, you apologize softly and let it go.
Sephiroth says nothing. He watches you with unblinking eyes and a faint smile. Sephiroth bends down to kiss your temple, something he imagines you wish Rufus would do more often. You lean into him, and the two of you enjoy the comfortable silence. He can't tell what you're thinking but he doesn't need to.
You suddenly ask, “Can you see differently out of those pupils? Compared to me?”
For the nth time, Sephiroth is mildly surprised by your curiosity. You always ask what's on your mind. “I don't know,” he replies honestly. “I've only seen through my eyes.”
“Right, right.”
You easily let the matter drop. Sephiroth feels lucky that you don't question him more. As long as you accept his presence as is, he will keep coming back.
“The baby is moving.”
Before he can react, you've grabbed his wrist and pressed his hand to your gently protruding stomach. He's been avoiding this. Not because of some last sliver of misplaced honour but because this baby is his. His enemy’s. Sephiroth wants to keep all of his hatred for Rufus under wraps while he's with you.
He doesn't notice the baby. No, he's sensing something familiar beneath his hand. A skull mask flashes in his mind, a need to reunite and become whole, a female voice slithers like tentacles along his brain, followed by a vision of Cloud's shaking, clawed hand through his puppet’s eyes. Sephiroth’s pupils dilate with the thought that only one man could have done this to your baby. You probably have no idea.
The next feeling is new. It feels new. It doesn't remind him of his old humanity, like the rust stains and worn grooves left behind after changing out an old, metal part. This is a new feeling. It's scary and it has him in its grip. He wants to kill for you. To protect you.
“...roth?”
He blinks, your face right in front of his snaps him out of it and brings him back to the present. Or at least, as close as you can get your face, given your height distance. Your big eyes hold concern. For him. It's beautiful. He's falling in-
Sephiroth gives you the faint smile again. He puts it on like a mask and tucks the scary feelings away for later. But acting normally only further fuels your suspicion.
“Are you okay?”
His smile widens. “I'm fine.” He starts guiding you towards the door leading back inside. Fussing over you is something he imagines you wish Rufus would do more often. “It’s you I’m concerned about.”
Don’t really wanna be Elevator Buddies
(Sephiroth x Reader)
A/N: Part 1 here. im suffering sufficiently at my current job that im leaving that i think i can write something because i need an outlet and i also want sephiroth to make it better. also, i am so much older than when i wrote the first part; as such, my writing probably reads a lot more different - better, worse or same is up to you. to those who have requested a part 2 and have waited literal years (its been 4!!!!!), i love you, i'm so sorry its so late.
★★★★★
Staring at the message in your work inbox, you suddenly couldn’t summon the effort to care. Your mood instantly dropped and you needed to leave your desk. You kept your headset on as you wandered towards the small staff kitchen under the guise that you were still connected to a meeting and listening in, when really you just want to block people out. You didn’t want to be perceived.
You just wanted out.
ShinRa Inc wasn’t known as the best place to work, but the pay was good and it was better than any other options you had.
The coffee machine rumbled as you waited for it to process your order. You didn’t even want to drink the cheap, watered down stuff, you just didn’t want to be at your desk looking at that stupid fucking request. There wasn’t much that could get your out of these kinds of emotional troughs bar one thing that seemed to always work.
You felt the vibration of a notification from your phone in your pocket. Knowing what and who it was probably from, you eagerly checked the new message that had come through. It was just a photo of blue sky with some clouds—the tops of greenery you didn’t recognise lined the bottom. It was very abstract and out of context, but you were used to it now.
Putting aside your misery for the moment, you typed out a short response.
I can’t beat that. This is my view.
You took a photo of the ceiling above you. Stark, stale and claustrophobic in comparison to the natural sky you were given. You sent it off and only a few seconds later, received a thumbs up in response. It made you laugh.
Sephiroth was a terrible at texting sometimes, but it was endearing in way.
When you had first traded contact details a little after The Elevator Incident, it had taken a while before anything was sent from either of you. You were too scared of bothering him and he was more than likely too busy or just didn’t know what to send. It also felt like trading personal IDs was crossing into an entirely different friend territory that wasn’t as nonchalant as impromptu elevator conversations.
The messaging ice was broken when, one day, you got a single image of chocobo out in the wild with no context. If you didn’t have Sephiroth’s ID saved, you would have wondered if someone had messaged the wrong person. Your response was a quick ‘I love chocobos, they’re so cute!’, and your reward several hours later was a picture of a sweetly sleeping chocobo in a stable.
Sephiroth was a man of very few words, but he still found ways to communicate with you and that honestly made you feel… Well, you weren’t sure you wanted to admit what you were feeling too much. You knew you had feelings for the man, that you were attracted to him, but those feelings had no where to go. You couldn’t tell him.
For many reasons, you just couldn’t ever tell him about your ever growing affection for him.
You just couldn’t.
You wandered back to your desk, completely forgetting about the coffee you had made in the kitchen. The message from the 1st Class Soldier perked you up way more than the caffeine would have anyway. You scrolled through your requests again and sighed. It was probably going to be another late night in the office. Maybe you’d just call in sick tomorrow.
You worked a few more hours, eyeing your phone and hoping for more messages, but none came. Sephiroth was often the one to initiate conversation as you still felt like you would bother him if you sent something first. Still… You kind of really wanted to talk to someone—to him, specifically. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to send one message?
Picking up your phone you opened up your chat and tried to think of something to say. You typed out several things, but kept deleting them. ‘Hello’ felt too formal, ‘Hi!’ seemed too chipper.
Is something wrong?
The message popped up before you could send something yourself.
!!! No! I was just about to message you. How are you?
There was a pause—and then a short voice message.
▶• ıll— “Are you sure you’re alright? Was there something else you wanted to say to me?”
You could hear the smile in his words and you flushed upon the realisation that he must have seen your stupid three dots pop up and disappear constantly in the chat. You playfully hissed your own voice note back,
▶• ıll— “Ohhh shut up, I just didn’t want to bother you!”
Putting your phone down, you peeked over your divider and looked around to see if anyone else could hear you. It was fairly late in the office, way past usual business hours, so you could see some screens still lit up around the space, but there wasn’t anyone near you.
Your phone pinged a few times, indicating new messages. Some more photos, but this time of more a familiar sight—the Midgar cityscape.
I’m back.
It had been awhile since he had left on his last mission. You were glad he was back safe, not that you’d tell him that now. You sent off a quick, mildly motion blurred snap of your desk and sent it off.
?
A question mark? A question mark to what? The photo wasn’t that blurry.
It’s my desk.
Are you still working? It’s late.
Ohhhh… You cringed; it was late. Honestly if you didn’t procrastinate with absolute loathing and low morale earlier in the day you probably could have been home already, but you couldn’t push through the negativity.
Yeah, its been a rough day.
You waited for a response, but none came. Sephiroth went inactive spontaneously during your conversations, so it wasn’t surprising. Instead you put your phone down and continued on a project that was behind on its deadlines. Technically all of them were behind, but this one you at least had the energy to push through for now.
An hour later your phone pinged a couple times. A photo of the elevator you used everyday to get to up to your floor and:
Time to leave.
You stared at the message, biting your lip. Even if you wanted to leave, there was still things to be done and—
Do I have to drag you out?
▶• ıll— “Okay! Alright! I’m packing up, hold your damn chocobos. I’m leaving now.”
Who knew Sephiroth could be so pushy? During the long elevator ride down to the lobby, you wondered if maybe he only showed this side of himself to people he trusted or cared about. The thought made your stomach flip.
It could also have been that people never really gave Sephiroth the opportunity to be himself. It was an upsetting thought. He was the 1st Class Soldier, a warrior that couldn’t be toppled, a man way above the norm. Untouchable. Distant. You knew what his public image was like, but still somehow you couldn’t fathom how people couldn’t consider that there was another side to him.
The side of him that you always got to see.
The same Sephiroth that you saw was waiting for you as the elevator doors opened. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He stood by the empty reception desk with his arms crossed, looking out the front entrance. When he heard your footsteps he turned to face you almost immediately. The man’s expression would have seemed stoic to others, but you recognised the warmth in his mako-infused gaze.
What if you were the only person he looked at that way? You held your smile steady even as your heart argued with your head to accept that maybe that’s what you really wanted.
It felt like Sephiroth’s gaze only intensified as you approached him. “...You look awful.” His voice was low, quiet, but still teasing. There was a chuckle in there too, somewhere in his deep tone. Sure you had heard it recently in the voice message, but it wasn’t the same as hearing him speak to you in person.
“That’s so mean, Seph. Not even a proper greeting for me? Wow.” Even though you were exhausted, you automatically matched his manner. “You look…” Oh, you couldn’t tell him how you really felt about how he looked. There were so many adoring and affectionate words, yet somehow still not enough. “...Like you?” You finally sputtered out after filtering all the other things that your mouth wanted to say.
The 1st Class Soldier gifted you with a short laugh and you struggled to hold back the burst of emotions that bloomed in your chest. “You are so mean to me.” This interaction wasn’t like the others. This didn’t feel like the light playful chats in the elevator. When did these interactions change? When did all the same words that you used to use before suddenly mean something different?
Sephiroth suddenly leaned closer towards you, a small smirk crossing his lips. “I am nice to you.” The way he spoke was next to a purr, “Did you want me to be mean?” It felt like the mako glow in his eyes brightened for a moment; he was close enough that you could see specks of the otherworldly green in his irises.
You wanted to die on the spot. He was not flirting with you, no matter how much it felt like it. No way. However, before you could stop yourself, you replied quietly. “...I like it when you’re nice to me.” The look on Sephiroth’s face melted into something else—something just as warm, just as intense, but something so much more genuine and it immediately scared you. Before he could say anything more you let out dismissive laugh. “Phew, I am a lot more exhausted than I thought. I-I should probably get home.”
Maybe the fear was reflected in your expression. Sephiroth fell back into his usual cool and stoic demeanor and you wanted to apologise—it was hard not to feel as though you had just ruined something important. Casual conversation you could navigate. This? What was this?
Of course you’d find a way to make a bad day worse. Of course you’d ruin a good thing. Of course you’d—
A large hand pressed into your lower back and guided you forwards, interrupting your downward spiraling thoughts. When you looked up at Sephiroth beside you, he simply watched and waited for you to take the lead. Nothing in how he looked at you had changed from when you had first exited the elevator. “There’s a car waiting for you outside.” That voice you so adored, was steady and warm and sure. Still the same.
Quietly you stepped outside with Sephiroth in tow. He opened the car door for you, nodding to the driver who did the same in return. You sat in the back seat, with the soldier leaning outside on the vehicle, looking in to make sure you were comfortable.
“...Bye Seph.” You really did sound tired.
Sephiroth didn’t respond right away, but the silence wasn’t as heavy as the one inside the lobby. He placed a hand over his heart and bowed his head. “Goodnight.” You knew there was something else he wanted to say, but he held his tongue. There was another pause before he shut the door for you.
You leaned back in your seat and let the butterflies run rampant in your belly, let the buzz run through your veins, let it hum through your body. You covered your hands with your face. It felt like there was still something left to say, a conversation left unfinished.
From outside the ShinRa building, Sephiroth watched as you were driven away out of sight. He stood there, holding what he really wanted to say to you in his throat.
It was frustrating for him to know he could physically conquer any fight, any conflict, except for whatever he could see going on in your eyes. Did you know that he could see you becoming more and more tired with each interaction you had? It frustrated him to no end knowing that people took advantage of you and your time and your efforts. Idiots. Fools.
How could he put into words how you made him feel? Sephiroth was no good at words. He just wanted to keep you safe. He just wanted you not to be tired. He just wanted you to always smile when you saw him—a smile that said you were genuinely happy to see him. Not the 1st Class Soldier, but happy to see Sephiroth himself.
The man snapped out of his reverie as his phone pinged with a message. A voice note from you.
@zeroth asked: Can I request headcanons for Sephiroth going on a mission with his Soldier S.O?
Warnings: mentions of fighting, getting injured, death, alludes to anxiety
A/N: hiii I hope you like these headcanons!! I love the concept of SOLDIERs having relationships with each other for some reason hehe anyways, feedback is always appreciated!! Thank you for the ask
You and Sephiroth have had a mentor/apprentice relationship for what felt like years
You went on plenty of missions together (ranging from cleanup crew in the slums to protecting the President on trips)
On this particular mission, you were exploring one of the sectors after hearing about some kind of outbreak of monsters
Throughout your time as you got closer, Sephiroth slowly became more... protective over you
Most of the time, he kept his eyes on you during battle, making sure you were okay
If you had gotten hurt, he'd stop what he was doing and cut down all the enemies in a fit of minor rage
He took care of any scrapes you got, being careful to not hurt you further
You tried to do the same for him, but in the end, his wounds didn't effect him much
There was one particular mission you two had been sent on
Wutai troops had been spotted near the Sector 5 slums and it was your job to "get rid of them"
It seemed like a simple task at first, until you came to realize how outnumbered you were
Alarm settled in your face as you became surrounded, however Sephiroth seemed unbothered
Fighting went well until one of the men got a lucky shot on your arm
At this moment, when you fell, Sephiroth realized one thing
He would lay down his life for you in an instance to know that you were okay
He stepped in front of the man's gun, lifting Masamune quickly and murdering the man with a single swing
Once it was over, he quickly carried you back to the helicopter, using the first aid kit to fix up your arm
Hardly any words were spoken between the two of you, but you knew that something was different
The way Sephiroth's breathing was different, he seemed... Panicked?
You stared up at him in silence, analyzing his features to find out what had happened
But his expression still didn't give anything away
After complete silence in the ride back, you began to fear that maybe you've done something wrong
The pressure began to settle on your chest as the deafening silence went on
Finally, when you landed, Sephiroth turned towards you awkwardly
"Can I... Have a word with you?"
Those few words nearly made you pass out
You basically dragged yourself to his office, absolutely dreading this meeting
Finally, when you two arrived and the doors shut, he let out a sigh
"I've decided that I have feelings for you."
He made it sound like it was a choice, a very calculated choice
You eyed him suspiciously as he began to explain
"After witnessing you get shot, I realized that I would do absolutely anything to keep you safe, and that's number one of relationships, isn't it? I would like to have a relationship with you."
His wording was very precise, as if each word was given second thought
You found yourself falling in love with it though
You smiled awkwardly. "I would like that too."
Your answer was short, but it meant so much to Sephiroth
He let out a sigh in relied before nodding awkwardly, unsure of what to do
After a moment, you let out a laugh and kiss his cheek
Which definitely surprises him
"Come to my place after work. We can have our first date tonight."
Those words may or may not have made Sephiroth's heart flutter
He simply nodded in agreement, watching as you exited the office
It was at this moment, Sephiroth concluded that being in love was a good feeling
a/n: i just want to write cute shit for him okay he just needs goddamn AFFECTION okAY?! Back when he wasn’t insane he was probably nice af, idk, whatever. I just want pretty angel murder man to be nice to you OKAY? OKAYYYYYYY. I DON’T KNOW. I LIKE HIM BEING SOFT AND WELL ROUNDED. I THINK I’M ALLOWED THAT.
★★★★★
Elevator rides in the Shinra building were the fucking worst. It was tall as hell building, so elevator rides could get really long depending on where you were going and how busy it was. Some days you legitimately thought taking the stairs would be a better option, but y’know, you liked being alive.
You let out a loud groan as you saw people crowded around one lift. It looked like a couple other elevators were busted. Apparently, renovations were happening somewhere in the building, but what the fuck were they doing? It was like they were fixing one thing by breaking everything else.
There was a loud ding as the stupid elevator finally arrived at the ground floor. Although when the doors opened, no one moved. You were at the back and huffed in annoyance. “Move in people. We got places to be? What are you—” Pointedly bumping people aside, you tried to get a glimpse of what was going on. When you realised what the hold up was, you rolled your eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me. Let me through.”
There was literally only one other person in the elevator.
People stepped aside to let you through and you resisted giving them the finger as the door closed. Turning to the other person with you, you grinned. “Hey, Sephiroth!”
The 1st Class Soldier said your name in a greeting and offered the usual slight smile that he gave you. You could understand why people were so intimidated by Sephiroth. He towered over everyone, was clearly proficient at killing things, honestly didn’t talk that much and even if he did he rarely did it with expression. Okay, he was intimidating as all fuck, but he hadn’t ever been rude or dangerous to you! In fact, he was always cordial and was the perfect elevator buddy.
“Welcome back! I missed you.” You gave him a warm and bright smile.
There was friendly and then there was you. At first, Sephiroth thought you were forcing yourself to be overly friendly towards him in a defensive gesture, but he figured over time that you were being genuine. It was refreshing. He liked seeing your face light up every time you saw him past the elevator doors. You’d even wave enthusiastically to him if you saw him anywhere in the building. “I hope you’ve been well.”
“Same old, same old.” Which meant things weren’t really good. You were a project manager and honestly, it sucked ass at Shinra. There was a lot of bullshit policies and red tape, you couldn’t stand it. You were thinking of leaving to find some other job, but you’d likely have to take a significant pay cut and you weren’t sure you were ready for that. “Did you bring me a present from your last trip?”
“Hm.” There was a flash of a smirk and Sephiroth shook his head in a negative. “If I had known you wanted something, I would have looked for a suitable souvenir.” It wasn’t a bad idea, now that he thought about it.
You gave an exaggerated gasp and put a hand on your chest. “You didn’t get me anything? Wow and here I said I missed you and everything.” You heaved a sigh. “Incidentally, have I told you that I take apologies in coffees?” You sent another cute grin his way with a wrinkle of your nose. “Jokes aside, I could actually go for one. I was late this morning and couldn’t stop by the stall downstairs.”
Sephiroth gave you a careful once over and noticed that you did seem a little more dishevelled than usual. There were dark circles forming around your eyes and that was a decent stack of papers in the bag you were carrying. “Have things become that bad since I last saw you?”
You looked up to see Sephiroth watching you kind of curiously, but you could detect a hint of worry—or maybe you were just being hopeful. He most likely had a lot on his mind already and you didn’t want to burden him with your troubles.
Your lips curved into a smile. “Nothing you have to worry about, Mister 1st Class Soldier.” You shifted your bag slightly as the strap was starting to dig into your shoulder uncomfortably; you couldn’t wait to drop it on the floor when you got to your desk. “Although I wonder if they should just change my job title to ‘Project Dumping Grounds’. I—”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened to let someone in. Someone you really didn’t want to see. Speaking of dumping projects on you, the man who just walked in was one of the main culprits. “You!” Aaaand he definitely recognised you. Unlike the other office workers, the man completely ignored Sephiroth as he got in the elevator and began to rip into you. “You missed the deadline that was set for you. I just had to cover for your mistakes downstairs!”
You were absolutely not ready for any kind of abusive treatment right then and there. The truth of the matter was that the project was never yours, it was just dumped in your lap to follow up. Since it had been sitting untouched for a while all the deadlines had been missed or changed. There was literally nothing you could have done about it. As this dude was shouting shit in your face, you couldn’t formulate any kind of calm and logical response, even though you knew the truth.
You were exhausted. You were stressed. You really didn’t need this. The man continued to vomit whatever abuse he had backed up for you and you were frozen in place. Your throat tightened and you felt tears coming—
Sephiroth stepped in front of you and had one hand on the elevator door so it wouldn’t close. “Get out.” He loomed over the much shorter man. He spoke his words calmly, but there was a very real underlying threat.
The man opened his mouth to protest, but he took one look at Sephiroth’s face and instantly lost all his bravado. A Soldier’s eyes always had an underlying glow, but there was a flash of something dangerous in the ones glaring down him. The insignificant office worker absolutely believed he was going to lose his life if he didn’t leave. Now.
When he was gone, the elevator doors closed and you let out a shaky breath. Sephiroth said nothing and you were glad because if he did, you were going to start crying. Your eyes drifted to the elevator doors and there was a faint hint of a dent where the 1st Class Soldier had held it open. Had he really gripped the door so tightly? Maybe it was just a trick of the light.
Eventually, the elevator stopped at the right floor and the both of you stepped out. Sephiroth stayed by your side for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. This was the most vulnerable he had ever seen you. You always seemed so carefree and happy, and you were always so kind to people. Seeing you get treated badly didn’t sit well with him. “I’ll—get you that coffee.”
You understood that people found Sephiroth intimidating, but as he softly spoke those words to you, you couldn’t understand why anyone would think that was all he was. Sephiroth was a person and you didn’t want to treat him only as an exceptional soldier. You gave him the best smile you could muster. “Thanks, Sephiroth. You’re the best.”
As you turned to leave, you ignored the butterflies in your stomach that would come and go in the silver-haired man’s presence. Nothing romantic could happen anyway. It wasn’t possible. You were content in having such an awesome elevator buddy, anyway.
