Title: Keep To The Beat
Author: Donnie
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII Remake
Setting: Seventh Heaven
Pairing: Roche/Cloud Strife
Characters: Roche, Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, Barret Wallace, Marlene Wallace, Zack Fair
Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort
Rating: T
Chapters: 1/1
Word Count: 946
Type of Work: One-Shot
Status: Complete
Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Past Zack Fair/Cloud Strife, Fluff, PTSD, Anxiety
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: Roche reminds Cloud of someone important, especially when he wants him to relax.
AN: Soooo, I got the Deluxe Edition on the day it came out in the mail, and got to chapter four. Some stuff came up so I didn't get further and that's okay, I'll take it at my own pace. But I got to Roche and I love him so much? He needs to date and love his boyfriend Cloud and they will be happy together. ; u; I hope you guys enjoy this little experiment!
Keep To The Beat ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's not that hard, Sunshine," Roche smirked, taking Cloud's hips in his hands and guiding them in a much too slow (in his opinion) teetering rocking motion. "You can do it, I know you can." `
Cloud wasn't so sure, but he let the other SOLDIER move him, even if he had to keep tensing and hesitating to keep the beat to something he could manage. Roche was all about speed, but Cloud had never moved his hips like this before, and if he was going to stay on his feet, he had to go at a snail's pace. Then again, anything under one-forty was probably a snail's pace to a man that lived for the accelerator.
"You've got this, Sunshine, I got you." Roche purred into his ear, bodies so close now that Cloud could feel his every breath as his chest rose and fell.
"You're awfully comfortable." Cloud was nowhere near as okay with this as Roche was, but his boundaries were slowly shrinking the more he grew to trust the man glued to his muscular back.
"Who wouldn't be when they're with the one person that makes them feel alive?" Roche's voice was quiet, gentle in his ear as he pressed a soft kiss to it, his thumbs stroking over Cloud's clothed hips. Sure, his armor was in the way, but Cloud still felt the tenderness behind the action.
"I guess…" Cloud muttered voice lost in the tune pounding from the Jukebox. If only Tifa was here, she'd probably get Roche to turn the music down. Instead, he was tense and waiting for Barret to barrel in and yell and wave until it was turned down to a more Marlene-appropriate level. Still, it didn't seem to be enough of a blip on his radar to interrupt the two SOLDIERs as they swayed together to the beat. After a moment, Roche leaned in, pressing a kiss to Cloud's shoulder, then his neck, leaving a shudder in his wake. Patting his hip, he slipped around the blond, swaggering to the jukebox to punch in a different song. Scrolling down the list, a grin suddenly blossomed on his lips and he turned to look Cloud in the eye as he pressed 'play' on Hip Hop de Chocobo.
"That's the stuff." Roche bounded in place a couple of times, only moving his hands up to push some hair out of his face as he took in the faster pace of the new beat. "This one's a real banger."
"If you say so," Cloud responded, standing stiffly near the bar. His head had slipped down, those shocking eyes half-lidded and focused on the suddenly interesting scuff he'd discovered on the wood.
"'I guess'," Roche started, swaying loosely as he made his way back to the other man, "'If you say so'," He added, pressing their foreheads together as his hands sought their way back to Cloud's hips, "I know you can think for yourself, Sunshine. You don't have to guess and agree all the time." His voice was a veritable purr as he leaned in for a gentle kiss, nuzzling their noses together seconds afterward. "I want to see the real Cloud, the one that nobody else gets to see."
Once more, they were moving, and Cloud gave a heavy sigh, trying to convince the tense line of his shoulders to soothe into something more relaxed. It wasn't something that he was particularly good at, relaxing, but he had to admit that despite everything, Roche felt safe to him. Out of everything in his life that had ever felt remotely safe, he found himself feeling the best in the arms of a man that had wanted nothing more than to fight him. Maybe there was more to first impressions than he liked to think. Zack would have told him that was true.
In the long run, Roche acted a bit like Zack. Excitable, always up for a tussle, easy to get along with as far as Cloud and his hang-ups were concerned. Maybe that was something that drew him to the other man. Roche was a human puppy, and evidently he was very good at falling for those.
"There we go, Sunshine." Roche finally muttered against his neck, his ear resting on Cloud's shoulder, "Finally starting to loosen up. That's what I like to see." Right now, his voice didn't sound quite so brash as it usually did, quiet and calm as he guided Cloud with his hands and his body. It felt good, being lead for once instead of being the leader, and Cloud fell into the rhythm easier than he thought that he would.
Sure, their movements were disjointed when the music was taken into account, a slow dance for a fast song, but the overwhelming feeling of care to each and every movement was doing wonders for Cloud's constant anxiety. He didn't really know how long they swayed there, wrapped up in a bubble full to bursting. When the front doors finally crashed open and Marlene lead Barret inside, Cloud leaped from Roche's arms like he'd been burned, eyes wide and face aimed at the floor.
Barret gave him a stern, narrowed-eyed expression for a second before a grin broke out on his face and he clapped a hand on his shoulder with a boisterous laugh.
"You keep doin' you, Spiky, don't stop on our account. Tifa'll be here soon, though, Marlene's ready for lunch."
"Oh, uh… Okay." Cloud responded numbly, voice deadened again until he felt a familiar hand link their fingers together. Glancing over at Roche, who was already tugging him to a table, he offered a small, elusive smile.
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