Honeymoon
Now I know I'm ready
Pour the night into a glass
Can I sip it slow and make it last?- Norah Jones—Above Ground
Cloud was amused, at first, the next morning when he went to the store. Everyone who greeted him asked the same question.
"Aren't you two on your honeymoon?"
"Well yeah. We took the week off work."
"No, I mean aren't you doing something special?"
To Cloud's mind, which granted, was a little more addled than most, every day with Reno was special. He could not sort out what he was supposed to be doing that was so different. After living together a year and being in love with each other for what seemed like a lifetime, the word perhaps had a different meaning than for most. He wanted to tell the nosy cashier that he'd started that day like most others, with sex that would peel paint off the wall, and that was special enough for him but thanks for asking.
Wasted effort, that. He would never understand people as long as he lived. But after hearing the question at the drug store, the news stand and from Tifa of all people, he'd had enough.
"Babe, let's go to the fishing camp. I called and it's empty, it's off season and the town's deserted. If one more person asks if we are doing something special for our honeymoon, I'll kill them."
"Haven't killed anyone in ages anyway." Reno muttered from under the covers. He sounded disappointed. Business had been slow lately. But he really didn't care in the end. He called and borrowed Rude's jeep, waking the man up. He felt a little bad about that, but Rude was normally an early riser. He didn't worry too much about it, if his partner had decided to start sleeping in on weekends, it was about time. Rude needed to learn to relax, damn it.
They packed and rode the ferry over to Costa del Sol, through town and out to the camp, the roads deserted and the drive easy this time of year. The cabin was cool and a little musty after being shut up for the off season, so they huddled around the grill outside while the heat caught up. They snacked on smoked sausage and beer and shivered a little in the coolness of afternoon. "I love the beach this time of year," Reno sighed. "It's deserted. I love it being…just us, you know?" Cloud leaned into a hug.
"Doesn't seem that different, being married, you know?" Cloud twirled the bracelet Reno had bought him only a month ago, nuzzling back into his jacket. The weather had turned from late summer to the chill of fall in the matter of a few short weeks.
"'Cause it isn't, yo. Just made something legal that's been here a long time."
"Hell of a party though."
Reno laughed. It had been a hell of a party and as much as he had groused, he'd enjoyed the hell out of it. Their friends had seen right through them and given them what they wanted, but didn't know how to ask for.
Reno licked sausage grease off his fingers and grinned. "Think it's warm inside?"
Days out at the Point were warm enough to explore. There was a bird sanctuary, abandoned by birds this time of year but nice for walks in the cool sun. It was also, Reno noted, empty of the snakes that inhabited the lowlands in the warm summer months. Reno really did not like snakes but would deny being afraid of them; he preferred to say that he found them repulsive. There was also an abandoned carnival at the very end of the Point. The boys hopped the fence over the No Trespassing signs to investigate and made up creepy ghost stories. Reno hid behind an old carousel, jumping out at Cloud to make him screech like a girl. They doubled over laughing until tears ran down their cheeks.
Both were sure no one back home would think this honeymoon special either. Reno hooked his arms through the rusted railing of an old Tilt-a-Whirl and wondered what everyone was up to back in Edge. He dragged on his cigarette and gazed at Cloud, at his blond hair sparkling in the late afternoon sun. In the distance he heard the last of the season's gulls fighting over something to eat.
Something settled in him, something warm and solid and good.
Evenings, even in the warm coastal areas, were still too cool in the fall to enjoy the outdoors for too long. Cloud and Reno not being sane, however, took a long night walk on the beach while bundled up like snowmen, the sky so clear it was hard to imagine a star they couldn't see. Coming back up the beach walk, they were sure they heard the ghosts from the carnival following through the sea oats after them on the way to the house. "I hope they don't expect to be invited to dinner," Reno commented.
Warm finally, in the small kitchen and enjoying a luxury honeymoon dinner of home made fried chicken and cottage potatoes, they grinned at each other.
"Happy four day anniversary, babe." Reno clinked their beer cans together.
With literally nothing else to do, lovemaking was a slow and leisurely affair. The last time they had visited the camp it had been summer, and they had been tortured by hours of near nudity in the water. This time, they had hours, days. Every article of clothing was removed slowly, carefully, interspersed with kisses and sighs and playful touches meant to tease and torture. Unwrapping Cloud's scarf, Reno stopped at each pass to press his lips to a different part of his face, while Cloud tried unsuccessfully to meet his lips. Reno just grinned with mischief and pulled away. They slipped naked into the chilled sheets of the old brass bed; Cloud kissed the underside of Reno's collarbone, licking and biting a little, knowing it would drive him absolutely batshit crazy.
It worked.
Reno's fingers began digging into the hollow above Cloud's hips with a kind of desperation. It hurt to want this much, hurt to be this hard and this close to the man he loved so deeply but Reno would not rush this for the world. He leaned his head up and into the curve of Cloud's neck, panting.
"Are you trying to kill me for the insurance money?"
Cloud laughed around the bit of flesh that he held between his teeth, letting it go with a slow lick. "Maybe. Is it over a hundred thousand gil?"
"Like I'm gonna tell you…." Reno moaned as Cloud's mouth moved lower. Damn him. Reno pulled him back up to take his revenge; he knew exactly where Cloud loved to be touched and how. Trailing his fingers down his back and toward Cloud's ass with determination, Reno had him moaning into his chest before he even got there.
"What was that again?" he asked, grinning.
"Mmmphft," was the only response as Reno dipped first one, then two fingers inside Cloud, pressing in and out with a rhythm as ancient as the tide. He hissed his pleasure as Reno smiled and flipped them both over. It was then Reno's turn to hiss and moan as he slicked himself, then Cloud, and pushed into him with all the slowness he could muster. The leisure they had enjoyed earlier seemed to have evaporated into the cool night air, the only word in his brain being now,now,now. He was so close to the edge that he slowed them both down to an agonizing pace. Cloud's hands fisted in open air, his mouth formed a perfect 'o'.
Reno wondered if he would ever get enough of this man. Looking down into Cloud's beautiful face, slack with passion, he hoped not.
Meanwhile Cloud was hanging on to Reno for dear life, his only anchor as waves of sweetness threatened to engulf him. Gods, Reno had his number when it came to sex. He simply could not resist him, from first touch to final gasp of climax, he belonged to Reno. He always had. Finally giving up, he arched into Reno and cried out, the slowness giving way to rapid, erratic thrusts, knowing Reno would follow him as he always did. He dimly heard the groan through the layers of his own pleasure.
Reno kissed him as he came back to himself. "Love you."
"Love you too." He felt his heart return to normal. Reno lay down and gazed at the beadboard ceiling above them.
"Good thing we aren't doing anything special for our honeymoon. We wouldn't fucking survive it." They held each other for a while before getting dressed in silent agreement. Reno pulled Cloud into him as they sat on the deck over the canal. Why they were up so late in an old fishing camp, miles from the fashionable part of town, four days after a wedding they had never planned, they could have explained to no one.
Cloud kissed Reno, marveling again at how soft his mouth was. The nervous energy that swam around and between them back in Edge, that sent them fleeing only this morning in a borrowed jeep, was gone.
They watched the wind and the ghosts play in the sea oats, breathing in each other's scent, long after midnight.