The thick breeze brushing over the lake did nothing to ease the heat holding them in a chokehold. Cloud looked at him miserably from his spot in the shade cast by the unfinished wall. He chuckled. "Zack will be back soon," He assured reaching over and running his fingers through Cloud's curling hair.
"I hope so. The humidity is killing me." The blond mumbled leaning into Angeal's touch. "How are you not hot?"
"I am," He said while he heard the faint crunch of grass in the distance, noting how Cloud's eyes lit up at the sounds. "Banora summers were like this, so I'm used to it." He turned in the direction of the sound, stating "Zack's back."
"Angeal! Cloud! I got the ice." A lighthearted voice traveled through the air and the two of them let out a sigh of relief. He saw Zack standing in what would be the doorway, with two ice packs on his shoulder and his free hand a fist on his hip. They returned his crooked, fond smile and Cloud stood up to welcome him. "You didn't melt while I was gone did you?"
"I had some hot peppers to cool off," was the dry response and Zack snickered, passing a bag of Ice to Cloud who practically hugged it.
"Go dump that on your bike." He grinned wider, "I think we might be able to fry eggs on it."
Cloud's eyes lit up before he shouldered the bag and walked over to the cooler, wrenching a bag of cookie dough from the chunky blocks of ice from the quickly melting Blizzard cast the blond had done earlier and walked outside. Zack raised a brow, but dumped the contents of his own ice bag into the coolers before he and Zack stepped outside.
Cloud was tearing off small balls and placing them on the bike where they hissed and popped before flattening. The watched the cookies darken over the course of a few minutes. "Wow." He balked, poking at one. "Okay."
Cloud balanced them on his glove, some of which Zack took to eat before Cloud could get them on a paper plate.
They lounged in the portion of the house that was already finished, one of the master bedrooms where Zack had the foresight to have put the king sized bed in right before they closed the roof off. There was no air conditioning, but the room was still significantly cooler than the heatwave raging on outside.
"Let's go swimming." He suggested. "In a glacier." Zack snorted and Cloud looked like he was actually considering the idea. But instead they stripped and walked into the lake. The water was warm but the trees surrounding it kept it cool enough. He watched Zack tilt his head back into the water with a loud moan then completely submerged himself for a solid minute. Cloud laughed and kissed him once he resurfaced and spat out clear water, glaring at Zack who swam away with a cackle.
"No kisses for you," Cloud grumbled, sulking over to Angeal and pulling him down for a kiss. He indulged in the touch, the water on Cloud's face cooling his skin. He felt the small hands of his lover pause to massage his shoulders before Cloud used him as an anchor to pull himself up and wrap his lean legs around his waist.
He heard Zack let out a disappointed noise behind him pressing up against Angeal's arm trying to steal some kisses from the two of them.
Eventually they folded letting Zack kiss them both again.
They made themselves comfortable in the water leaning on each other and watching the sky turn orange and fade to black through the trees. Angeal closed his eyes and rested his chin on top of Zack's head, wet hair tickling his chin. Cloud was laying his head on his shoulder. A quiet whimper made him look down at Cloud who's brows were scrunched up in agony despite Zack beginning to rub his back whispering to him in a tone overflowing with warmth.
They woke up their youngest lover with gentle kisses when he started to squirm in his sleep, as if they could chase away the memories with their love. Cloud settled again and they went inside, guarding each other from the nightmares of their pasts.
