Journey

Are you ready for this thing called love
Don't come from you and me,
It comes from up above
I ain't no porcupine, take off your kid gloves
Are you ready for this thing called love

John Hiatt—Thing Called Love

Cloud considered it an anniversary of sorts. An odd one, but a date worth marking, when he took one more step toward being the same person on the outside as he was on the inside, so to speak.

It had been the night of his ugliest, and his final, fight with Tifa. The night she tossed him and his belongings down the stairs of Seventh Heaven. He'd calmly gathered up the few things he was interested in keeping, stuffed them in a garbage bag he'd stolen from the bar, and called Reno to meet him for a beer.

"So. I'm moving out. I guess I'll get a hotel room until I find an apartment."

"Oh come on, you two fight all the time these days. How do you know this one's permanent? Not that I think you two are good for each other, that is. Anyway, you're welcome to stay at my place for the duration. Futon with your name on it, yo."

"Yeah, well there's more to that story."

Reno waited for his friend to finish. This was serious.

"After the millionth round of 'Why do you want to move out, why do we have to break up, we can work it out,' I finally told her the damn truth. Tifa, I'm into dudes, ok?"

"Why?"

"Why do I prefer men?"

"Why did you tell her now?"

"Because waking up every day to a relationship that was nothing but obligation was sheer hell and I couldn't do it anymore. She deserves better and so do I."

Reno sipped his beer thoughtfully, hearing a bit more truth in Cloud's words than he wanted to.

"Futon's still open, yo."

Cloud's gratitude was for more than the sleeping arrangements but the two never discussed it further.

Even when Reno figured out why he could never keep a girl around past dawn. Why his dreams were always of hardness and muscle. Why Cloud's words about a life built on obligation never left his mind.

He, Reno, Turk, Manwhore of Midgar, loved men. Not in that abstract, appreciation of beauty way either. In a way that woke him at night, clutching the sheets in the remembered heat of his dreams. When he saw for what it was, it was like learning to see in color after a life of black and white.

Gods.

He never told anyone. He didn't really know how one exactly made that announcement. There wasn't a section in the Edge Times for it, after all. So in typical Reno style, he simply ceased to be straight. He hired a hairdresser to put in highlights and lowlights and class up the fiery color of his hair. He retained a personal shopper to dress him in linen and silk and jeans so tight he wondered if he should wax.

At work, he passed as much as possible for a murder and mayhem Turk. He didn't swish. He didn't flame, he simmered. If Rude noticed the change, he didn't comment. Not that he would have in any event.

But off work, there was no denying the gay fabulosity that was Reno. His clothes, his mannerisms, the way he smoked a cigarette like it was the best cock he'd ever had…it all screamed "Yes. I'm gay. Fuck me."

And it was a nonverbal message that Cloud was having a hell of a time ignoring these days.

"Cheers!" Cloud toasted his friend at the small streetside bar where they met. Today Reno was dressed in a gray silk shirt and jeans that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. A silver chain, so thin it was nearly invisible, draped his neck at the exact place Cloud longed to kiss. It was an ensemble that a straight man might have worn.

But probably not.

"What's the occasion?" Reno put down the substitute phallus he was smoking to drink his beer.

Cloud did not watch him swallow. Would not watch him swallow.

He watched.

"Second anniversary of getting kicked out by Tifa."

Reno howled, "Oooooooooooh, that's right! The Great Liberation of Cloud Strife. The quietest closet exit in history. Well, quiet except for the Screaming Teefer. She wasn't quiet about that at all, was she?"

"Yeah, I was quiet compared to you. You didn't exit the closet, you obliterated it."

Reno grinned. Cloud looked away because it hurt to breathe.

Suddenly Reno sat straight in his barstool. "I know! It's a special occasion. Let's go for a ride on Fenrir!"

Great. So he got to ride around all day with his hot friend's sexy legs wrapped around him on a vibrating motorcycle. He could just cry.

"Sure."

They took a leisurely ride out to a cliff and parked. Reno pulled out a joint and they passed it back and forth in comfortable silence for a while, sitting side by side on the bike. Reno rested his hand on Cloud's thigh and looked at him with mischief.

"Shotgun?"

Cloud's heart stopped beating. He was sure of it.

Their lips met softly as Reno exhaled smoke into Cloud's mouth. Time froze. Reno pinched out the roach and put it in his pocket, returning to Cloud's lips. There was nothing soft about it this time. It was the kiss of a man claiming what was his, what had always been his.

What would always be his. Cloud groaned.

Encouraged by the response, Reno pushed Cloud back until he was straddling the bike. He slid his hand further up his thigh and unzipped his pants. His thumb worked the head of Cloud's penis while the flat of his other palm stroked his shaft.

"Gods, I have wanted to do this for so long," Reno murmured against the wetness of Cloud's mouth. He shifted his way back on the bike and took him into his mouth. "I'm so close already," Cloud panted.

Reno lifted his head and stroked his cheek. "I know, baby. Let me take care of you." Cloud let his head fall back as Reno returned to his attentions. His fingers still pumping his shaft, Reno massaged the head between his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

Cloud's only thought before he came in Reno's mouth was that he hoped they didn't fall off the bike.

Reno licked him clean and zipped his pants, still grinning. "Getting a little chilly, yo. Let's go back to my place." Cloud started the bike and prayed they didn't wreck. Upon entering the apartment, he fell bonelessly, fully dressed and completely dazed, into Reno's bed. Opening his eyes, he was treated to the sight of a gorgeous naked Reno undressing him.

"Happy Anniversary, baby."