Disclaimer: I own nothing, but if no one else wants to claim TS Lee, I'll take it.

Surge

Then I know you're home
When you shine your light
And i do'nt have to use the phone
To call you
Baby when you hold me tight
We can count heartbeats and squeeze
Baby when you hold me tight
You can really make a man say, please—John Hiatt, When You Hold Me Tight

Something hard hit the outside wall, loud enough to wake him from the fogginess of sleep into the too-dark of late morning.

"That was a big one."

"Get away from the window, Reno."

"Just wanna see shit blowing around."

Cloud couldn't really blame him. The storm had been going on for hours and there was only so much sleeping one could do. Not that one could really sleep with random things hitting the wall but so far, thankfully, missing the window, and power flickering on and off before finally biting the dust around six that morning. Radio reports hadn't changed since landfall. They were still encouraging citizens to stay indoors and off the streets except in cases of utmost emergencies, boil water before drinking, not to go outside if they heard the winds cease during the eye of the hurricane, blah blah blah.

After hours of there-is-nothing-to-fear mingled with oh-gods-we-surely-must-die, they were burning out, and fast.

"Can I light a candle?"

"No. No open fires until the wind stops." There was enough daylight to see, anyway. Chances were, Reno just wanted to set fire to something. Finally Cloud got up and joined Reno at the window.

Shit was blowing around. Big whoop. A sign from a gas station, one that someone had obviously forgotten to secure, went sliding down the street. Someone would be missing a window later. As long as it wasn't him…"What the hells are you doing?"

"Smoking, yo." Reno slowly opened the small window over the dining room table, wincing a little at the howling noise, lit the cigarette and poked it carefully out the window.

It blew from his hand and he shrieked in terror. "What the fuck!"

"Reno, the wind is over a hundred miles an hour, what did you think was going to happen?" He tried to stifle a laugh. Badly.

"Well not that. Now I really need a smoke." This time, he kept all but the tip of the cigarette inside and blew the smoke out the window, glaring at Cloud's amused expression. "That was not funny."

"I disagree. When you are done losing body parts, I'll be in bed. Don't keep the cooler open for too long, we need to conserve ice." As if reading Reno's mind that a morning beer would be just what the situation called for. However, after a few moments of trying to blow smoke out into a wind speed that could drive a shingle into his carotid artery, crawling back into bed with a warm fuzzy Cloud seemed like a much better idea, and so he did it.

"Whatcha looking at, babe?" The storm had ended at long last, with a suddenness that left their ears ringing. Cloud felt his lover's slender arm slip around his waist and he leaned back into the familiarity of the man he loved so.

"All the shit that was blowing around all morning." He kissed Reno and went inside to take inventory of his own supplies. Cloud was naturally Mister Preparation, so the loft had flats of bottled water, canned goods and batteries.

Or, did have batteries.

"Reno, I can't find the lantern batteries. Have you seen them?"

"I used them."

"There was a case."

"Yeah, I was trying to trick out my EMR."

"With the case? They were for emergencies."

"I was gonna replace them, yo!"

"I don't really want to know what you were going to do with a case of batteries and an EMR."

"Well, when you combine three lantern batteries and Fire and Lightening Materia, it does this thing where—"

"Reno, do you realize we are going to have no light but candles tonight? And no air conditioning? I mean, we have two compact flashlights that maybe put out enough light to find the bathroom door without breaking your toe."

"Sorry, yo." He really did look sorry. "So, what do we want to cook first? I say steak. Let's cook the good shit first in case we don't get power back, plenty of time to live on canned beans and room temp tuna."

He might be an idiot when it came to batteries, but he had a point. Cloud fired up the grill and Reno tossed two ribeyes on it, and because some semblance of nutrition was called for, a few fresh vegetables that looked to be getting ripe. Leaning over, he lit his cigarette off a coal and singed his hair. "Fuck! I miss the stove, man."

Cloud rubbed his forehead and resisted the temptation to remind his boyfriend of how most people used a simple lighter. And prayed, sincerely prayed to whatever deity might be listening, that the power came back on before nightfall.

The deities weren't listening.

"It's dark, yo."

"I don't want to hear it. You're the one who used up the batteries playing torch the dustbunny with your EMR, and if you haven't noticed, the solar battery LED nightlight? Is pretty worthless as an actual LIGHT."

"I noticed. I give up, man. Let's light a candle and open the window."

"It will raise the heat. Open the window, no candle."

"Okay." There was a shuffling and a small breeze. "Never realized how dark it is at night, yanno? Or how quiet. Feels like we're the only ones in the world." Down the block, someone else had their window open; a woman could be heard scolding her child. "Well, it did, anyway."

Cloud chuckled. "Yeah, so used to streetlights and tv and all that." They lay quietly in the still darkness. "Reno, is that your hand?"

"Who else would it be?" He cackled. "This could be kinda fun, yo. Feeling our way around…"

"Oh, gods…." He really should complain about the added heat from another body, grinding against him. Shouldn't he?

"What, kinda like the dark now?" There was the soft, whooshing sound of clothing being removed and landing on the floor. Cloud's own pajama pants were gently pulled down and hit hard wood with a gentle plop. "Don't hear any complaints now. Wonder if I could feel around with something else." Reno's lips began to travel down his torso, first teasing his nipples into painful wet peaks, the breeze from the window making them feel nearly cool. Then he kissed down his stomach, nibbling a little against the bottom of his ribcage.

By the time he reached his straining erection, Cloud had been reduced to incoherent grunts and spasming fingers clutching the damp bedsheets.

"W-wait." Cloud sat up and rummaged in the bedside drawer. "Here." He missed Reno's hand with the lube the first two times, dropped it in the sheets the third.

He was going to kill him for the batteries.

Later.

The gel was blissfully cool on Reno's finger but he only registered the sensation for a split second before he added a second, then a third finger and he was moaning with what that long slim hand could do to him. Suddenly, he pulled away and slicked himself, pressing in with one slow, steady thrust.

Cloud felt the air go out of his lungs and had to clamp down consciously on his own control; the urge was so strong to push his hips up against Reno's hardness to relieve that ache inside him. He arched against the pillows and whined a little in frustration. He could swear Reno was just teasing him at this point, shying just away from his prostate, from going just deep enough to shatter him.

"Damn it…"

"What, babe? Need something?" Another lunge, just a little short. But, his voice held just the slightest ragged strain.

Cloud played dirty. He grabbed Reno's hips, hard, and pushed himself upward. He knew the motion would break the redhead's fragile control while giving himself the friction he needed so badly. It worked. Reno broke with a keening cry, his uneven jerking thrusts beginning to rub Cloud's erection between their abdomens. Cloud came hard, fists curling in Reno's hair and not enough breath to actually cry out. Reno grunted into him, heat filling him, until he was spent.

Shakily, Reno pulled back, and lay down beside Cloud on the bed. "I love you. Insanely."

"You don't know how to do it any other way." He was floating in a warm fog of endorphins. "Don't want to get up."

"I'll do it. You want a beer too, before they get warm?"

"Yeah."

Reno slipped out of bed with cat-like grace and made his way toward the bathroom to wash up and to get a towel for Cloud. But somehow, in the post storm darkness, gremlins had moved the bathroom door. "Ow, fuck! Motherfucking pissbucket!"

"What?"

"Broke my gods-damned toe. It's not funny! Fine, you don't get any for a week. All right. A day." He threw the warm towel at what he hoped was Cloud's head and mumbled in disappointment when he heard it hit the bedroom wall.

The romance of darkness had suddenly, horribly begun to wear thin, unless someone put bumper pads on walls and furniture, anyway. They drank their beer in grumpy silence until they both, inexplicably, began to laugh.

"Wait, how do you have a cell charge?" Reno ignored Cloud's 'just a minute' finger sign and sat down beside him. "And who ya talking to?" Personal boundaries had never been his specialty.

Vincent, Cloud mouthed. "Fine, can you drop them off? You don't know how much I appreciate it. Bye." He held up a tech-y looking thing from the table and plugged his phone back into it. "Solar battery charger, from Reeve. He's a total gadget whore; had two and gave me one. Go get your phone, it's got four jacks. Vincent has some lantern batteries we can have. He was most amused at your issues. Well, our issues. I believe his exact words were 'Cloud, I did tell you he would be trouble.'"

"He makes me sound like a dog you needed to send to obedience school."

"Yes he does." Cloud sipped a lukewarm sports drink and grimaced. "How's the toe?"

"Fucking broken, yo."

Cloud's expression was distinctly unsympathetic. "Let's go for a ride. Kalm sound good?"

"What? We're supposed to be conserving gas."

"Betting we can get gas in Kalm. I have connections. And we'll be cooler on the bike." It was over a hundred degrees, the movement would feel nice. "Pack the tent just in case."

"Woo, did you say pitch the tent? I'll pitch the tent with you babe. Maybe we can hide some sausages too." He waggled his eyebrows.

Cloud didn't even bother rolling his eyes. "Camping will feel better than sleeping here. We'll leave as soon as Vin comes by with the batteries so we can take a lantern."

"Sounds good, let me make a phone call though." After confirming that the junior Turks had the post-storm situation well in hand, he hobbled dramatically to help Cloud pack the bike.

Some hours later, Fenrir was loaded down with a compact tent, a disposable grill, a lantern, and a small cooler holding enough food and booze for the night and they were blatantly ignoring all government pleas to stay off the roads, rejoicing in the wind and the freedom.

After all, sometimes you had to do what you had to do to stay fucking sane, or as close as you could come to it.

Cloud used his WRO identification to get into the secure lot. "Um, babe? When did you go all official?"

"Since Vin mentioned I might need some kind of affiliation, someday. He was right. Don't need someone stealing our shit while we go around town looking for food and beer."

"Reeve know you got that thing?" It was not outside the realm of possibility that Vincent had simply swiped it from the storage room, after all.

"Yes, with great power comes great responsibility." Cloud affected a great sage expression. "And, because the deliveries I run for Reeve are unpaid, I get to gas up when I'm in town. He walked the bike over to a stand of discreetly hidden gas pumps and filled his own tank, then pulled Fenrir under an overhang. "That about does it. Food, then shelter I think is the official survival order."

They settled down in a familiar joint, the pub at the Kalm Inn and, over messy cheeseburgers and orgasmically cold home brewed beer, they watched television with great interest.

It had, after all, been two days since they had seen such a modern wonder. At some point they realized, with considerable buzz, that they were watching the same thing they had been listening to on the radio. Around a mouthful of steak fries, Reno mumbled "Hard to believe we used to try to kill each other. Well, not really, I still got a couple righteous scars, and that kinda was a huge hunk of our past, and all. And I guess if it hadn't happened we wouldn't be here today, it did kinda lead to where we are now and why are you laughing?"

"Just wondering, if you lost your point or if they make the conversation equivalent of lojack for people like you..."

"Oh hell with it. I was actually getting around to something, you know, sort of halfass sentimental. Like, it was a fucked up way to get here but I really do love you and shit. I mean, sometimes I can't believe we're here, and all, but damn. It's cool, we are. I need another beer."

Cloud covered his mouth and struggled to swallow his food around a laugh. "I love you too, Reno."

Reno leaned over and leered, "So…ready to pitch a tent?"

"I used to stop over here all the time, when I was making deliveries and didn't have money for a room." Cloud put down the groundcloth and stakes and within moments the two men had the tent up. "Better grease up though, the bugs can be brutal."

"You're right, it is nicer here than back home. I could use a nap, yo."

Cloud grinned. "Nobody's stopping us." He rolled up his shirt for a pillow and crawled into the small pup-style tent. "Well, it doesn't get any fancier, come on in." Reno shimmied in behind him and dropped the mesh windows to let in the breeze.

It was nice. Warm, not unpleasantly so, and the insects were buzzing and the wind was whispering in the trees, and Cloud breathed soft and even like a child. The heavy lunch and the ride up had their soporific effects, and before he knew it, he was sound asleep.

He woke around dusk; Cloud was starting a campfire. Even though the storm hadn't reached this far north, the wind had been strong enough to knock down sufficient limbs so that they didn't need to look far for firewood. "Need to get this going before dark. You want to start the grill?"

"You're letting me start a fire?"

"We're outside, and it's a small grill in a big forest. We should be safe." He grinned and handed Reno three matches. "It's quick light charcoal so you don't need lighter."

"Damn." But it lit without incident and Reno replaced the grill. "What are we eating?"

"Marinated chicken tenders with onions and peppers. More freezer rescue. Would you rather some of the freeze dried survival rations?"

"No, your cooking is much better." They cooked, and drank, by the light of their modest tire and were unashamedly romantic. "When do you think we'll get power back?"

"Who knows. It's dicey enough without a hurricane thrown in."

Though either of them might have traded the moment for electricity in a heartbeat, they couldn't deny that it had its appeal. "Ready to go to bed?"

"We don't have a bed." Cloud, always the killjoy.

"Well then, slide a little closer and we'll come up with an alternative." Reno pulled Cloud onto his lap so that he was straddling him, then deftly unzipped his shorts and wrapped cool, slim fingers around an already hard shaft. "Damn, babe. You like camping that much?"

"Only with you. Been thinking about getting you back in that tent since we started supper."

"Don't need a tent. No one around but the animals." He stroked gently at first, then more firmly. He rubbed his thumb in little circles over the head of Cloud's cock, spreading the moisture he found there and making Cloud arch his back in an appealing little way and forcing gasps from him. Finally he gave into temptation and captured that full, soft mouth in a kiss, thrusting his tongue into that intoxicating warmth while never pausing in his ministrations.

"Hang on a sec, babe."

"Hmmm?" Cloud's eyes looked sleepy, heavy-lidded. Reno nearly moaned himself. The man redefined 'bedroom eyes.'

"Need to get lube, don't you think?"

"Too close." As if to punctuate the thought, he thrust up into Reno's hand and bit his lip. "Always said...you had...magic fingers..."

Reno grinned and kissed him again. "All right, babe. Your wish is my command." He increased his pressure and added a little twist at the top, where he knew his lover was so sensitive. Cloud's moans became more impatient, eyes screwed shut tightly and face drawn back in passion. "Gods, you are so fucking beautiful..."

Reno gave only a few more strokes and Cloud stiffened in his arms, arching as he came against his fingers and collapsed, exhausted for a moment, breathless against Reno's shoulder. Reno kissed him, with a gentleness he never would have given himself credit for years ago, or even when their relationship first begun.

Things were just different now.

But before he had time to ruminate any further on the nature of romance or violence or relative insanity, Cloud had moved off his lap and his mouth had begun to slip down his sweaty chest, planting near-chaste kisses first at his collarbone and then in a zig-zag pattern down the course of his solar plexus.

Reno had never been the immediate, tit-for-tat type. He figured Cloud could always catch up with him later, on the subject of sexual favors, and he generally did. It's not like he ever went without, after all. But, if the man felt like giving him a blowjob in the middle of the woods, he wasn't going to argue.

Oh, hell no.

He planted his hands behind him, spread out for balance, as Cloud pulled opened the fly of his shorts and pulled him out, aching and hard from touching his lover earlier. He groaned without shame. Cloud's mouth enclosed the head, softly and without suction at first and he bucked up into the soft contact. He nearly shouted when he felt the first gentle licks, and Cloud's hand begin to pump him. This was not going to last long at all.

He was just about to give warning to that fact, just as soon as he remembered some form of standard language, when Cloud gave a little twisting motion with his hand and deep throated him, and he saw stars. He made a noise that was not quite a shout and not quite a gasp as he poured his release into Cloud's mouth, that gentle hand pumping him until he was done and it was bliss.

When they were both coherent, they finished cleaning up themselves with hand wipes, then tossed the paper plates and charcoal into the fire. Quietly, contentedly, they watched it burn.

"Kinda miss electricity, yo."

"Me too."

"Wouldn't have missed tonight for anything though." He nuzzled his way through blond spikes to plant a kiss on Cloud's temple. When the fire was down to coals, Cloud extinguished it with dirt and they crawled into their tent to sleep very, very soundly until dawn woke them.

They pulled up to the loft only to hear a familiar mechanical whine, looked at each other with wide eyed understanding.

"That…that's our…"

"Air conditioner."

Bolting up the stairs two at a time, they jostled for dominance at the door and tumbled through it. Yes, it was true, the power was back on. They rounded the corner to the kitchen to see Vincent moving perishables from the cooler to the refrigerator. "Most of these have thawed but I believe you have several days to eat them. Did you enjoy your camping trip?"

"Yeah. When…"

"About seven last night. I did try to call but apparently the woods outside Kalm, while undeniably romantic, are what one might call a 'dead zone.'" He brushed the water off his hands gave an knowing little smirk, and left.

Reno leaned against the refrigerator. "So, we camped out overnight in the woods to get out of the heat when we had air conditioning back here."

"Oh Reno, don't tell me you didn't enjoy 'pitching the tent'."

"Point taken. We have got to go camping again."

"You know, there's about a week hike down Cosmo Canyon that's pretty awesome. Want to try it next year? I can think of a lot of sausages that could be hidden..."

"Can't believe you said that, babe."

"I'm not kidding. Sausage is one of the easiest things to pack on camping trips. Not my fault you have a gutter brain. Now...let's toss these clothes in the washer and take a shower."

"Together? We'll never get clean. You know how we are in the shower."

"That I do, Reno. It's why I suggested it." He balled up his shorts and made the washing machine the first try and took his time sauntering off to the bathroom. Reno would be a few minutes. He generally was.

And when the shower curtain finally pulled back and he felt Reno's lips on his and smelled the woodsmoke and insect repellant on his skin, he smiled.

Things were back to normal.

A/N: Almost everything in this story has happened to me, except the battery/EMR incident which was thought up by Mako Headrush. But the cigarette out the window? Broken toe in the dark? Looking out the window against advice because there is nothing else to fucking DO? Setting hair on fire lighting a cig off the grill because I lost my lighter in the dark? Camping to get out of the heat only to get home and find out the power came on last night? Driving to another town to get cold beer and watch tv? Been there, done that. Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Danny, Georges, Erin, and Opal, Tropical Storms Cindy and Josephine. Welcome to the Gulf Fucking Coast. And this piece is dedicated to Tropical Storm Lee and what would have been Labor Day Weekend.