Strangers

It ain't too late to get back to that place
Back to where, we thought it was before
Why don't you look at me
Till we ain't strangers anymore—Bon Jovi, Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore

Reno was a light sleeper, especially away from home. Especially when the Turks were protecting the President away from the city, at a remote meeting at a government lodge. Of course, putting everyone worth shooting at in one location, on top of a mountain, with one road up one side and one road down the other, didn't fit Reno's definition of secure. But apparently the people making these arrangements did not pay him to think, and so he slept lightly.

The patio door, which Reno remembered clearly locking after his evening smoke, snicked softly as it opened and shut, his intruder crouching low to avoid being made out against the moonlight reflected off the lake. His intruder had cased out his surroundings well.

His intruder was good.

Reno grabbed his EMR with one hand and flipped on the television remote with the other. The light wouldn't be enough to blind him, but he knew it and the noise would be enough to surprise and distract any but the most seasoned professional.

Mako eyes met his and did not flinch.

"Fuck, Strife! Ever heard of knocking?" He shut off the television.

"You are two rooms down from the Presidential suite. I did not think it wise to alert him to the fact you had a guest."

"You're supposed to be here, yo."

"Tomorrow, yes."

Technically it was tomorrow. Had been for almost two hours. Reno groaned inwardly. "So why tonight?"

"Couldn't sleep." For Cloud, it was as sensible an explanation as any. He pulled a bottle of single malt whiskey out of his backpack. Reno wordlessly filled two glasses with ice, deftly draining off the meltwater between his fingers. It would have made more sense to get fresh ice but he didn't feel like going outside. Cloud poured, heavy at that; getting drunk four hours before a meeting with the President wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done, but it was far from the dumbest.

"You rode up here in the middle of the night with a bottle of my favorite whiskey?"

"I did worse with AVALANCHE."

"You weren't delivering single malt back then, as I recall." Here, alone, in the dark, it was impossible to ignore the sexual tension that had been growing between the two friends. Tension they had preferred to ignore, and in so doing, ignore each other. The friendship that had flourished between them had become a painful and prickly thing. Reno missed his friend, felt it like a hole blown in his life. Apparently Cloud did not want to be lovers, and if they could not be lovers, they would not be friends. At least not like before. And Reno was tired of pretending it didn't hurt like fuck.

And now it had been made even worse by Cloud's new status with the Turks. While not working for them, or really with them, he did provide protection from time to time at Tseng's request. It brought home to them both how much they were a part of each other's lives, how good it all was, before things became so…

Complicated.

"So what gives?" Reno sat on the small desk.

"I wanted to see you before then."

"Why?" Reno winced; he hadn't meant to sound so bitter.

"I…" Reno moved to stand behind Cloud at the window. "I just did. I wanted…" Cloud took a breath and a sip of liquid courage. "I needed to touch you. I needed you to touch me. Again, like…when it rained, that time? And we had to pull over?"

It had been the most painfully delicious thing that Reno had ever done. Cloud had been giving him a ride home on Fenrir and a sudden storm forced them to seek shelter under the overhang of an old storefront. A drop of rain had crept slowly down Cloud's collarbone and, possessed by some urge he could not control, Reno had rubbed at it with his thumb. And kept rubbing. They had locked eyes, until Cloud had broken away and muttered something about needing to get home, even though the storm still raged.

"I remember." Gods, did he remember.

"I should have stayed with you that day. I'm sorry I didn't. "

"You're here now." Cloud leaned into him then, as if the conversation had sapped his strength. Reno sat down on the bed, held out his hand. They weren't innocents; there was no need for coyness. They both knew where this was headed.

Cloud wondered when riding boots became this hard to untie, while Reno helped out with the rest of his clothes, unzipping his leather riding shirt for him and slipping his hand underneath his tank top to run his fingers over the flat ridges of muscle before pulling that garment off as well. He went to work on Cloud's jeans as the second boot hit the floor with a satisfying thud. Reno, clad only in sleep pants, had a much easier time of it.

Finally they met, naked, flesh to flesh, in a kiss so rough that Reno had a hard time believing later that it had been also so tender. Cloud's hand wandered down his back, pulling him in closer to grind on him a little. Neither man even tried to bite back a moan.

"Be right back." Cloud raised an eyebrow. "It's in the bathroom, okay? I wasn't expecting company!" He returned with the tube to a still laughing Cloud.

"I thought Turks were prepared for anything?"

"Horny booze-bearing lock-picking retired terrorists somehow got bumped off the list…oooh…" Cloud had taken the tube from him and was already coating Reno's erection with it as he pulled him down onto his body. He looked up then, eyes full of apology, invitation…love. Speechless for a moment, Reno only kissed him, then trailed kisses down his jaw, his neck, his collarbone. "You ready?" He whispered. Gods knew, he had been ready forever. Cloud nodded and he entered him slowly, his head resting beside him on the pillow, then still for a moment.

He raised his head and looked down then, trembling with need but needing more to see that Cloud wanted this. Only to feel a warm, strong hand trailing up his back to pull him down for a searing kiss and hips thrusting up at him from below. It felt so good, the tight heat around him, so insanely good. He raised up so he could look down at his lover then.

Cloud's head was arched back, his face relaxed in passion. One hand was clasped around the base of his erection in a losing attempt to delay orgasm. Reno, suddenly feeling his own coming on like a freight train, bushed that hand away. "So close, baby. Touch yourself. Come with me. Do it."

And he did. Bless him, he did. They climaxed nearly together, crying out with pleasure and relief until they collapsed side by side on the bed.

"I think I might need a shower before I meet with Rufus."

Cloud huffed in laughter. "Better start running it now, the hot water in this place sucks."

"You been here before?"

"Um. Not officially."

Reno decided he didn't want to know. "Anything else I should know about this place? Professionally of course?" Some of the things Cloud had told him about the camera systems at Headquarters, back when they were still speaking, had left Reno permanently unable to scratch himself at work. Subversive activities could have their downfalls.

"It's full of blind spots. That's why I came in through the patio door; the hallways and breezeways are pretty well monitored but you could bring an army in over the balconies. You might actually want to see to that. You aren't very safe here, Reno. Want company in that shower?"

It was a dumb question. And they used up a lot of hot water.

Rufus approached him after the meeting. "I noticed Cloud Strife's motorcycle outside this morning. Do you know when he arrived?"

None of your damn business, sir. "Early. He crashed in my room until check in time." Not a lie. Exactly.

"Tell him if he has any trouble this time or any other, with early check-in, to refer it to me personally. We have worked too hard to get his cooperation with ShinRa to have him put off by some button-pushing desk clerk."

"I will, sir." Reno tried, and failed, to keep the amusement off his face. Cloud was no doubt still sound asleep in their bed where he had crawled after their rather passionate shower, his own meetings with the Turks not scheduled until later that day.

"Your room, huh?" Elena quirked an eyebrow. She knew the murky status of their relationship; he'd been crying on her shoulder about it for months.

"Yeah, he broke in my patio door last night with a bottle of my favorite whiskey and something on his mind."

"Oh gods! He drove up a mountain and broke into your room just to make love? That is the most romantic thing I have ever heard!" Reno was just as glad he was gay. He'd never understand women. A break-in was a security breach, not romance. The booze, on the other hand…

He flagged down Tseng and motioned him out to the meeting room balcony, remembering Cloud's suggestion. "Boss? A word?"

"You talked to him?" They had broken into Cloud's room this time, figuring they should take advantage of that particular breach as long as it lasted.

"Yeah, he said next time you feel the need to share any information you've gleaned from any of your improper sources, anything you feel necessary to protect a Turk's life, without compromising those sources, just tell him that you have 'noticed' something. The balcony surveillance oversight is being corrected." Cloud cut off whatever else he might have said with a kiss that left his lips feeling bruised and swollen.

"Reno. I missed you. So damn much. I am so sorry. I was such a chickenshit." Reno just hugged him and grinned into his soft spiky hair, happy his friend was back. The getting laid part was a hell of a bonus, though.

"I missed you too. Gods, that was hell. Don't ever, ever do it to me again, okay?"

"No. Promise, no." He kissed him again and pulled him down onto the bed, starting to undress them both. "Just don't stop what you're doing."

"One condition."

"Hmmm?"

"Fuck me senseless."

"Is that an official assignment as hired Turk muscle?"

"Haaaaaaaaaa….ohhh…oh, yeah, right there. Oh, gods, yeah." Cloud had fetched the lube out of the small overnight bag they had brought with them and had begun to push his fingers in and out of Reno gently, slowly, rhythmically, kissing him the whole time. Every touch was an apology, every moan redemption. They were suddenly friends and lovers, all at the same time, speaking both languages at once and more until Reno's back arched in desperation and Cloud entered him in one stroke.

Reno groaned, fought himself not to scream, it was so good. He knew at the beginning he wouldn't last long, but he never imagined it would be so soon that he was reaching for his own cock to ease the ache there, begging Cloud to take him harder, faster, anything to make him feel that sweetness inside more. He felt himself come, hot on his own fingers, gasping so hard he wasn't sure that he wasn't crying and not even caring if he was. He heard Cloud shout, fall on top of him, thrusting only a few more times before pulling out of him and rolling alongside him on the mattress.

They found each other's hands, clasped them together.

"Cloud?"

"Hmmmm?"

"When we get back…" he stopped. Took a breath. "I don't want to miss you again."

"We'll work it out. I love you, Reno. You're still my friend, and it terrified me that I felt…something else. But we'll work it out because we have to. Anything else just sucks."

"Yeah. No shit, yo."

They lay together for a time until other hungers stirred them and they got up, cleaned up, and headed down to the bar for dinner, knowing nothing on the planet was a match for them together.