"And?" Cloud stared at Sephiroth when he simply stopped talking. "This story doesn't sound over yet. I want to know the rest of it."
Sephiroth shifted and stretched, rubbing his leg in between Cloud's in the process. He smiled widely when Cloud's breath caught. "I can show you what happened next, if you'd like."
Cloud felt a shiver run through his body that had nothing to do with the temperature. Listening to Sephiroth talk had made him ache with the need to be touched, or at least touch himself, and he had no doubts that Sephiroth was feeling the same way. It had been a true test of his self-control to not rub against Sephiroth's hip the entire time.
"I won't do anything you don't want me to," Sephiroth whispered in his ear, letting his lips brush lightly against him.
"I was only trying to seduce you a little." Cloud blushed at how needy he sounded. He wanted this, he was certain of that. And he was certain that Sephiroth knew it, too.
"So you were more effective than you thought. Not the worst possible outcome."
Cloud nodded, then made up his mind and rolled onto his back. "Okay ... show me."
Sephiroth's mouth descended on his, and Cloud felt himself being whisked away by his body's desires. The way Sephiroth moved his lips, the way he tasted, the way his hand smoothly crept under his shirt ... it all made him feel positive he had done this before. He wanted to remember, and if he couldn't, he wanted to make new memories.
Cloud whimpered as Sephiroth moved away to pull their shirts off, then lowered his head to Cloud's chest. His tongue flicked over a nipple and made Cloud gasp, then he moaned as Sephiroth began to suck on it, sending pleasure shooting straight towards his groin. His nipples were left as hardened peaks as the night air cooled the wetness on them when Sephiroth moved further down his body. His fingers and lips traced over his muscles and dipped into his belly button; he even paused over each of the scars he had inflicted before kissing them gently and moving on.
"Can I see yours? Sephiroth asked as he toyed with the drawstring on Cloud's pants.
Cloud groaned, imagining what it must have been like for the two of them to explore their sexuality together. It must have been exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. "Did I show you then?"
"You did. You were red as a tomato and made me promise not to laugh for some reason, but you did."
"You didn't laugh, right?"
Sephiroth shook his head, letting his hair fall over Cloud's stomach. "No, I didn't and I won't, I promise. So, show me?"
Cloud heard himself make a noise that was half laughter, half moan of anticipation, and he took the drawstring from Sephiroth and tugged gently. He slowly pulled the bow loose, then hooked his thumbs under the fabric and pushed down while Sephiroth watched without blinking.
"Did you stare at me like this back then, too?" he asked. The cool air made him gasp when he pushed his pants free of his erection.
"I did," Sephiroth said huskily. "I couldn't help myself, and I still can't." He took hold of Cloud's pants and finished pulling them free of his legs.
Cloud could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as he allowed Sephiroth to bend his legs and spread them wide for a better view. He still wasn't sure that this wasn't the dumbest thing he had ever chosen to do, but he found that he was beginning to care less. Sephiroth knelt between his spread legs and continued to stare while Cloud felt himself begin to shake with anticipation. Finally, with an agonizing slowness, Sephiroth reached for him.
Instead of the touch he craved, however, Sephiroth dragged his index finger through the tiny puddle of pre-come that had begun to drip down onto his belly. He lifted it to his lips and sucked his finger into his mouth, giving a small hum of satisfaction.
"I've missed that taste," he whispered.
"You did not tease me like this," Cloud said through gritted teeth.
"Right, sorry." Sephiroth smiled and reached for Cloud's hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "I forgot I was still supposed to be telling a story here. I was just as hesitant as you, and you ... you yelped when I first touched you." He touched the tips of his fingers to Cloud's shaft, gently enough that he could barely feel the touch. "You told me after that you were afraid you'd come right away."
Cloud closed his eyes and tried to imagine—a nervous young man trying desperately not embarrass himself. He felt Sephiroth's hand close around him as the man shifted to a lower spot on the bed.
"I don't think you run that same risk today."
Cloud wasn't quite sure he was willing to bet on that as he felt wet heat engulf him. Sephiroth sucked him into his mouth, using his tongue with an efficiency that made Cloud certain that this wasn't a faithful re-enactment. One strong hand pinned his hips down while he worked, and the other pushed his legs even further apart. Cloud willingly obliged. He grabbed hold of his thighs and pulled them up towards his chest.
Sephiroth pulled away for a moment, then descended on him again. Cloud had been trying to keep his voice down, but an incoherent scream escaped his as two wet fingers pushed into his ass and immediately found his prostate. If he had had any remaining doubts about Sephiroth's truthfulness about their relationship, they fled in an instant. This was not the first time the man had touched him like this. Sephiroth knew exactly how he wanted to be touched, and he kept Cloud teetering at the edge of orgasm for an eternity while he wordlessly begged for more.
Fingers curled inside him, stroking over his prostate again and again, and Sephiroth finally sat up, gripping his cock tightly. He pumped his hand quickly, using the combination of saliva and pre-come as lubricant, and Cloud felt his balls tighten up as his body gave into the pleasure. Sephiroth's strokes were unrelenting as the world disappeared and Cloud jammed a pillow into his mouth in an attempt to muffle his hollering.
He fell limp when Sephiroth's fingers finally slid out of him, leaving him with a tingling sensation that seemed familiar. After spending several moments trying to catch his breath, he gradually came to realize that Sephiroth was still doing something, alternating between rubbing his hands over Cloud's stomach and thighs. He pulled the pillow out of his mouth and shoved it under his head so he could see what Sephiroth was doing without having to actually lift his head.
"You okay?" Sephiroth asked when he saw that he was looking.
Cloud gave a nod, but his eyes went wide when he saw that Sephiroth had removed his pants at some point and was still rock hard.
Sephiroth touched his inner thigh again, and Cloud realized that he had been spreading his come around. It was smeared between both of his legs.
"What're you doing?" he asked.
"Remember that non-penetrative sex I mentioned that had you looking so confused?"
Cloud nodded, and Sephiroth brought Cloud's legs together and raised himself up on his knees. There was a slight pressure at the back of his thighs, then he felt Sephiroth's cock gliding smoothly between them until the tip poked out.
"This all right?" he asked as he began to slowly thrust.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's ..." He reached down to brush his fingers over the head of Sephiroth's erection every time it showed.
Sephiroth grunted and tilted his legs back so they were pressed against his chest, squeezing them tightly together. Cloud wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a hint or not, but he began clenching the muscles in his legs in time with Sephiroth's thrusts.
Cloud was certain they looked ridiculous, but it clearly felt good for Sephiroth, and he reached up to touch Sephiroth's face. His green eyes looked more alive than he could ever recall them looking back on Gaia. And it appeared that Sephiroth was having as much trouble keeping his voice down as he had. Cloud pulled his legs as close to his chest as he could and Sephiroth followed, leaning down towards him as he continued to rock against him.
Cloud strained his neck up and caught Sephiroth's lips mid-shout, pulling him in closer and kissing him fiercely. Sephiroth bit down on his bottom lip and rocked their bodies together with renewed vigour. Cloud could feel more hot liquid splattering onto his stomach and smearing between his legs before Sephiroth slowly stopped moving.
He let go of Cloud's legs and pushed them down, out of his way so they could kiss more easily.
"We really did stuff like that?" Cloud asked breathlessly when they pulled back slightly.
"We did. I'll admit to ... shall we say, exaggerating, the end of the story. Things like that came in later chapters."
"Well, we didn't act out the first part, so I guess it's forgivable."
"Gaia, you're a mess, though. Sorry." Sephiroth rolled away and rummaged through a trunk until he came up with a clean rag. He poured a bit of water on it, then began gently wiping him down. "I'll get some hot water for you in the morning."
"I'd appreciate that. Okay, that's good enough." Cloud shooed Sephiroth's hands away and pulled the blanket out from where it had been jammed between the bed and the wall. "I don't suppose the ocean sounds covered up the fact that we were very obviously having sex in here, did they?"
Sephiroth shook his head as he stretched out beside Cloud and let him wrap the blanket around them. "Ships ... really aren't the place for privacy if you can't keep your voice down."
"Figured as much," he said with a shrug. "That's a little embarrassing."
"No, embarrassing was realizing that I had used my company credit card to pay for all the pornos we watched that week—our curiosity had been sparked, you see."
Cloud burst out laughing until tears ran down his face. "You didn't! What did they say?"
"Nothing directly to me, but I got to see the psychiatrist again and talk about sexual urges and appropriateness with the puppet."
"So they thought you had sat at home for a week by yourself jerking off to gay SOLDIER porn?"
Sephiroth sniggered. "Yeah, pretty much. Heidegger never met with me alone after that, and even then he always kept things as short as possible. It was one of the better moves of my career."
"That's absolutely priceless," Cloud said, shaking his head in disbelief.
XXX
"So the good news is that the rumours of my sexual prowess are all excellent," Sephiroth said when he returned to their cabin in the morning and set down a bucket of steaming water. "There's no doubt in anyone's mind that I'm a good fuck."
Cloud laughed and rolled out of bed, setting Fenrir back down in a cozy spot by the pillow. He thought about putting on pants, but that would just make cleaning up difficult. "That is indeed good news. Is the bad news that everyone on the ship has now heard of your sexual prowess?"
"Correct. And Zack's mad at us for keeping him up."
"Hmm." Cloud sat on the corner of a chest and dipped a cloth in the hot water. Sephiroth, to his credit, only watched out of the corner of his eye. "I did try to keep it down. He should give me points for that. And I'd like to see him resist screaming. I mean, that was the first time I can remember doing anything like that, though you clearly knew what you were doing and what I like, so screaming was an inevitability."
"I'll let you explain that to him."
"Maybe I'll buy him a beer when we get back to Regna. How long will it take?"
"We're about eight days out. Want to see where we've been on the map?"
"Sure." Cloud dried himself off and pulled on a pair of pants while Sephiroth spread out one of his large maps. "I don't actually know that much about Jadame. I came over from Erathia and signed on with the first caravan I found, which took me straight to Dagger Wound."
"All right, well, this is Regna here. We sailed north and east; the first ship we took was approximately here." Sephiroth poked a spot on the map that was a good distance from anywhere. "Then we intercepted ships coming from Ravenshore around this area. We're about here now. We're going to circle up towards Dagger Wound on our way back too check on how things are going there. The Red Heart will probably come back with us; Tifa's been at sea a long time now, and her crew is going to need a break."
"It'll be nice to see Tifa," Cloud murmured. "Assuming she hasn't changed too much."
"I only barely remember her from Nibelheim, and I didn't think much of her then. But I do recall fighting her with AVALANCHE ... she was the first captain I appointed after I became the Lord of Regna."
"Before Zack?"
"Zack's technically not a captain, though I did offer him a ship of his own at one point. He turned it down. Tifa was a solid choice; she's a good leader and a strong fighter. She's probably chomping at the bit to get back home, though. I'm certain she's heard that Aerith's pregnant by now."
"They're friends?" That thought brought a smile to Cloud's face. He recalled how they had quickly bonded when they first met, and how they had worked so well together as a team. It had been Tifa who felt the loss of Aerith the most, he was certain.
"Best friends. Tseng made me promise when I married them that I would kill him if he ever did anything to hurt Aerith. He was certain that it would be less painful than anything Tifa would do."
Cloud laughed. "He's pretty brave, risking his balls like that. Did you ever hear what they threatened to do to Don Corneo?"
XXX
Sephiroth watched Cloud closely over the next few days, worried that he might begin to regret his decision. He had accepted that Cloud was probably lost to him forever when he found himself in Jadame, but now that he appeared to have him back, he wasn't sure if he could cope with that loss a second time.
But Cloud appeared to be happy, and though things were vastly different from when they were in Shinra, he was still the same person underneath it all. Cloud still loved to be held, and never seemed happier than when he pressed himself up against Sephiroth's chest at night. Sex had remained off the table since then. Sephiroth's feelings on the matter were that it had been necessary to reaffirm that they both still wanted it, but he wasn't actually comfortable being intimate in such close quarters. He was quite sure that Cloud felt the same way, and kept the stories he told Cloud free of any temptations.
Cloud began to open up a little during their talks. He started out by telling Sephiroth of how he and Aerith had rescued Tifa from Don Corneo's clutches. Sephiroth had trouble imagining Cloud dressed as a woman and how he could have possibly fooled anyone, but he was curious, and said as much. That got him a glare and a promise that he'd relearn just how sharp First Tsurugi was if he ever suggested wearing a dress again.
The stories Cloud shared of his time in AVALANCHE were light-hearted ones, and Sephiroth knew he was avoiding speaking of their true reason for travelling together. He didn't mind, though; they both knew that the situation had been grave, and there was no need to relive it. But Sephiroth eagerly listened to Cloud's stories about racing chocobos at the Gold Saucer and searching for treasure in Bone Village.
Zack took over most of his duties as captain, as Sephiroth found himself wanting to spend more and more time with Cloud. He knew that he couldn't neglect his duties forever, not if he wanted to keep his position, but the time that he had spent without Cloud seemed like an eternity, and he didn't want to miss any more of it.
"I'm thinking about taking a break," Sephiroth said the night before they were due to arrive in Regna.
"A break?" Cloud asked. He was sitting on the floor, tossing a balled-up piece of parchment for Fenrir and laughing when she'd chase it and bring it back to him. She had grown over the past six weeks, and was old enough to be left on her own, but Cloud had spoiled her and she never learned to hunt. They would have to bring her with them when they left the ship.
"A vacation. I haven't had one in years."
"Do you need to talk to a puppet? I can probably scrounge up the materials to make one."
Sephiroth laughed, but shook his head. "No thank you, I think I've talked to enough puppets for one lifetime ... or two or three. But I'd like to spend some time with you, away from all of this."
"You've been shirking your work, haven't you? Passing it off to Zack. Isn't this a crucial time for expanding your empire?"
"He can do that just as well as I can. I have enough money that we could afford to live out the rest of our lives comfortably, if that's something you're interested in."
"So now it's not a vacation, but retirement?" Sephiroth could hear the disapproval in Cloud's voice and it grated.
"Why not?" he snapped. "Why should I spend all my time and energy on piracy of all things? Expanding the empire is just a pipe dream anyway, Erathia will never allow it. Hell, calling Regna an empire is just a holdover—"
"Because I don't want you to quit doing something you enjoy because of me," Cloud said; his quiet voice cut right through Sephiroth's and made him stop short. "And you do enjoy it, I can see that. If you want to take a break and leave things in Zack's hands for a while, okay, I'd like to spend some time with you as well, preferably somewhere with a little more privacy. But don't if you're needed right now. You've got a lot of people who are counting on you as their leader—don't disappoint them, please. I'll still be here."
Sephiroth frowned and went over to sit beside Cloud. He reached out and brushed one of Cloud's long spikes of hair out of his face. "You're really going to stick around?" he asked, not quite believing it.
"You think I'd go through all this and walk away? That I'm leading you on or something?"
"No, I don't think that. It's just ... if you change your mind, I don't want you to be afraid to leave. I'm not going to snap again if you decide you don't want this. You don't need to worry about that."
"I—I'm not."
"You're a terrible liar."
"I'm not!" Cloud protested a bit louder. "You've obviously sorted out your mommy issues, and whether or not you're a Cetra doesn't matter here—this was never their planet. And you aren't, by the way. Just a fucked-up human like the rest of us with some alien sprinkles. You've got actual friends that you can talk to in public. And nobody's in your head telling you that you're a god, right?"
"Right," Sephiroth conceded.
"So I'm not worried. Now get out. Go do something captain-like." Cloud turned his back on him and refused to speak, so Sephiroth did as he was told, leaving Cloud to continue playing with Fenrir.
He found Zack at the helm, looking bored and cold.
"What brings you out this fine evening?"
"Cloud kicked me out, told me to go do something captain-like."
"Lovers quarrel?" Zack asked with a grin.
"Not really, he just called me out on foisting everything off on you." Sephiroth leaned against the railing above the main deck and looked back over the dark waters that were sparkling with the light from the stars.
"Speaking of which, I'm trying to think of what to call my ship. The Black Materia is weird, what's a materia anyway? And why's it black? I think red would be better. Blood of my enemies and all."
"All right, all right," Sephiroth laughed. "I get the hint."
"It's not that I mind, it's just that if you're going to be here, I'd prefer to not have to do your work as well as my own. And if the crew starts calling me captain while you're on board, it's practically a mutiny, and those never end well."
"They do tend to get messy, don't they?"
"Mmm, lots of hurt feelings, knives in backs, that sort of thing."
"Understood, I'll try to work at keeping the knives out of my back for the remainder. I'll take over here if you want to get some rest."
"Much appreciated." Zack stepped back from the wheel and stamped his feet and blew on his hands to warm them. "I think I'll look for a bunkmate for the night—see if I can outdo you at keeping people up."
Sephiroth laughed as Zack jogged off to the galley in search of someone to share his bed. He was certain that Zack would find someone—he always did—and was equally certain that Cloud would have a loud night.
