So, this plot bunny popped up  in my head when I saw a Zack-centric fanfic that has torture in the storyline, but I really wish there would be this hurt-comfort story starring Sephiroth.

So, the basic idea is that the fanfic would take place at a time when Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal and Zack were still close friends. One of them, excluding Sephiroth (preferably Angeal or Genesis), got captured by the enemies and was tortured for days. They got rescued, and super soldier healing means they didn't have any permanent physical damage, but the experience was really traumatizing, and they suffered some mental damage. The other two (Zack and either Genesis or Angeal) were worried out of their mind. Sephiroth was elsewhere so he heard the news last, and he rushed back and met the two who informed him of the detail of the torture their friend went through before being rescued. However, before they could tell Sephiroth about their friend's mental state, they suddenly noticed that Sephiroth started relaxing, maybe even smiling a little (in relief, but they didn't know that). They then exploded at him and asked him if he even cared before stomping off, without letting Sephiroth say anything.

Then, a little while later, Sephiroth came and apologize to the two of them (he clearly didn't know what he did wrong, but wanted to say sorry anyway) who were still pretty angry, but calm enough to question why he smiled when he heard what their friend went through. Sephiroth then said it was because it was lucky the enemies only had time to do some routine tests before their friend was rescued. The two were now confused, and after a few questions, they had a horrid realization that what they considered torture, Sephiroth thought of as routine lab tests, tests which he went through every week and they knew nothing about (Sephiroth misunderstood because the word torture never actually came up in their previous conversation). After he casually described his lab tests, he then noticed his friends' horrified faces and knew he said something wrong, started to backtrack and played it off casually, but his lack of common sense caused him to accidentally reveal that even worse forms of torture were still what he considered routine activities, and what Sephiroth considered to be really torture was far beyond their worst nightmares.

Cue a ton of guilt from the two friends, some conversations between them discussing Sephiroth, and lots lots lots of hurt-comfort and angst here.

So yeah, just wanted to get this story idea out of my head.