What the Turk Dragged in : Chapter Three

Reno Spiegel and Drakonlily

Cloud leaned back against the wall.  After picking himself up the bar floor, he paid for the damages to the bar and and picked up their tab.  It proved to be as extensive and large as Reno's mouth.  He was glad he had the good sense to get a bank account and a debit card during his journey around the planet.  After looking at an updated map he was also glad he didn't by the beach house when he had the chance at Costa.  That would have been a sad state of affairs.

He felt badly for being a prick, but sometimes people needed wake up calls.  It wasn't worth the redhead's time to be a two bit gambler moping and drinking his ass away at the bar.  Of course, Cloud didn't think it should be worth his own time to help Reno out.

But maybe it was.  After all, he did owe Reno a big one.

"Guy's a fucking asshole, dodging his own life at the damn bar," Cloud muttered, wandering to a newer mall area.  He pulled on the black shirt that he'd taken off to press to the minor wound on his chin and get the blood off.  "And he's a fucking stick."

After buying a long sleeved shirt that actually fit him -- Reno's shirt failed to live getting off Cloud -- a pair of jeans, and new boots, he felt better.  He also felt strange.  Hands jammed in his pockets, Cloud wandered around the "garden" of  the Gold Saucer.  He wondered what Reeve would think of this place now.  Then he gritted his teeth.  Reno had told him that they were all gone, and Cloud didn't have a reason to disbelieve him.

And he felt like a world class prick himself for not even feeling badly for one of them.  All of them had nothing but their own selfish wants and goals, they were banded together under some false brand of heroism.  He was no better.

He slid on the new dirt of the more recent developments, having wandered into a construction area.  "Fuck, I'm tired…"  The dirt had been air-lifted in from Cosmo Canyon to give the place a look of authenticity.  Shaking his head, Cloud turned back to the only place he felt comfortable sleeping -- Reno's.

He stopped himself in mid-thought.  Why the hell was he going to Reno's?  The man made his hate of Cloud very obvious.  But, it smelled nice there.  It was clean,  safe… and -- and what?  Cloud sighed.  He knew very well what.  He was lonely when the red-headed jackass wasn't around.

"Fucking prick, making me actually like him…" Cloud grumbled.  Hitting the elevator button to get up to Reno's, he leaned against the wall, smiling in memory of the close quarters.  Then he shook his head again.  Digging in his pocket he brought out Reno's spare key with a snicker. 

Opening the door he let out a sigh of relief.  The place was back to almost immaculate order.   Reno was, indeed, a clean freak.  He hadn't imagined it.  Cloud closed the door quietly, as he didn't want to wake Reno.  Leaning on the wall he wondered why the hell he even cared that the red head was so mad at him.  Or why he made him that mad in the first place. 

Then he knew. He didn't really like the idea of Reno reveling in self hate.  Admitting he actually liked Reno on some level, Cloud locked the door.  If Reno was pissed off at Cloud, he wasn't pissed off at himself.  He looked down at his still muddy steel toed boots.

And, thinking mainly of Reno's nice clean carpet, left them on to walk to the couch and fall asleep.

Reno had been waking up off-and-on all day, every time deciding not to get up because it wasn't worth it. Cloud wasn't coming back, he'd decided, and he wasn't hungry, so he slept until about three in the afternoon when his alarm clock finally went off.

This was just the tip of the iceberg about how hard Reno partied every night at the bar.

He finally resigned, needing to get some food before his stomach started digesting itself, and woke himself up, hopping out of bed -- still fully-clothed and clutching a lukewarm icepack -- and going to the door, unlocking and opening it.

What greeted him was a sight that made him wish he had a higher hunger tolerance. Muddy boot prints led to the couch, mud on the end of it from where said boots had been propped, and Cloud sat there, staring at the wall.

Reno stared at him, then crossed the main room after announcing, loudly, "I need some goddamn coffee!"

He walked into the kitchen and just hit the On button on the coffee maker, liking his coffee a day old anyway, just re-heated. Scratching his chest, he leaned against the countertop as he waited for the pot to start hissing, staring at the side of Cloud's head. "What're you here for? Didn't I smack your dumb ass hard enough last night?"

Cloud only yawned, stretching his arms above his head and propping his still-muddy boots up on the table.

Reno scowled. "Fine, be that way." He put more weight on the counter, muttering "Jackass" beneath his breath. It was so quiet, though, that Cloud could probably hear him perfectly.

Good.

The blonde looked Reno up and down lazily.  Then he smiled and started whistling "You Are My Sunshine".

The redhead positively hated the sound of whistling, so he grabbed the pot of coffee and sucked down half of it right there, despite it being cold, throwing his icepack in the sink for now. Setting the pot down, he walked across the room to the closet and threw it open, laying eyes on his loud, portable steam-cleaner.

Company present he'd managed to get moved from his old place, as they weren't cheap by any means.

He tore it out of the closet, Cloud's whistling getting louder, and found the nearest outlet for the wireless power source. He plugged it in and, starting at the beginning of the footprints, turned the thing on and appreciated how much it drowned out Cloud's mindless whistling.

He was pleased to see how easily the ugly brown spots came out of his well-laid white carpet, and ran over each one until they disappeared completely, reminding himself to do something about the couch later. Of course, this led him right to Cloud's legs, and he paused, eyeing him. Over the noise, he yelled, "Move your feet!"

Cloud cupped his hand to his ear in an exaggerated motion indicating that he couldn't hear Reno.  Or that he was pretending he couldn't hear Reno.

Reno shut off the cleaner, trying to resist the undying urge to pick it up and give Cloud's face a cleaning. He shifted his weight, looking massively irritated. "Move your feet, Strife."

Cloud cocked his head up at Reno, again looking up and down before sliding further down in the couch and more in Reno's way.  He then laughed lowly and started a whistled version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?".

The ex-Turk once again began to doubt the validity of Cloud's sexual orientation. He looked ready to throw Cloud off the couch personally. "I said move your feet, Strife. You heard me damn well."

Cloud laughed again.  "I just like pissing you off."

Reno didn't appreciate it nearly as much, and he'd finally fully grasped that, shoving the steam cleaner over and snarling at Cloud. "Move your fucking feet, Strife!"

Cloud seemed to make something up in his mind for a second then said, in at least some resemblance of seriousness, "You know you are cute when you are pissed off?"

This gave him pause. He dismissed it as a head-game and only looked angrier. "What the hell are you playing at here?!"

"Yup."  Cloud responded, but he did at last move his feet off the table.  Rocking up to a sitting position, he put his feet on the floor.

This didn't help any, as his feet had just landed right where Reno had planned to clean. He noticed the bruise between Cloud's neck and jaw and found he didn't mind giving him another one at all. Grabbing him by the shoulder, Reno warned, "Stand the hell up or I throw you over the table."

"And break your table?  I really doubt you can pitch me over it." Cloud laughed.

Reno showed Cloud just how much he cared about the blonde's assumptions, kicking the table over and throwing Cloud onto the floor where it had been in a swift movement, not looking like it had helped to please him.

From the floor, Cloud let out a low laugh.  "Huh...well I'll be damned." 

"Oh, don't give me that shit! I remember kicking your ass a lot worse before." He lifted his leg, looking ready to nail Cloud in the side, and would have, had the blonde not caught his leg and flipped him over, Reno landing on the floor a few feet away.

Cloud rolled to one side.  "Funny, I seem to recall being the one kicking your little ass. "  Flipping to his feet quickly, the blonde walked around to where Reno was, standing over the red head and looking in his face.  "Are you going to play nice, or be huffy all day?"

The ex-Turk grabbed the bottom of Cloud's shirt, basically throwing himself to his feet, albeit a tad uneasily. He spun and stared Cloud directly in the eyes. "I could tell you to get the hell out; how's that sound for an alternative?"

Reno's pull had brought the two men closer together.  Cloud looked at Reno for a few minutes, the other man's arms were crossed in front of his chest, his eyes blazing.  Maybe he really was pissed off. "Fine then."  He turned on heel and started to the door.

That wasn't exactly the reaction he'd expected...nor the one he particularly looked forward to.

And so it may have been horribly confusing for Cloud as to why the ex-Turk caught him by the shoulder and spun him around right before he could get a hand on the doorknob, but it would probably be a lot more easy for him to figure out how Reno knew his mouth tasted of cheap mouthwash and a hint of the Jack he had downed the night before.

Cloud staggered back, rather lucky he'd hit the wall right next to the door, and heard Reno's palms smack loudly against the wall to either side of his head. Despite the fact his eyes were pinched closed so tightly that all he could see was little white dots forming, he figured Reno was looking as menacing as ever as he relented for a moment, saying in a low voice, "Fucking coward my ass," before resuming where he'd left off.

Reno pulled back, just to catch his breath.  Cloud opened his eyes, not as shocked as he thought he would be.  "Pushy little shit," Cloud muttered, yanking Reno back to him by the collar.

Reno's hands found their way to Cloud's pants line. "Damn straight."

Cloud's hand's covered Reno's then the stronger blonde hauled up, throwing Reno's arms above his head.  Reno growled as Cloud let a free hand go to the zipper of his jeans.  "Hey.  Not -- ah!"

"You were saying?"  Cloud asked.

Suddenly, Reno's heel was at the back of his knee.  Then he landed flat on his back, Reno on top of him.  The redhead  brought his nose down to Cloud's. "I was trying to say 'me first'.  Greedy shit."  Whatever Cloud was going to say was cut of with another kiss. 

Reno didn't bother to finish vacuuming the floor.