Cloud's third winter in the New World didn't seem as cold as the first two.
Maybe he was getting used to the weather patterns. During the hot, sunny summer, he often found himself shirking off the responsibility of his chores to simply lie in the grass and look up at passing clouds in the sky. On crisp fall days, the sky was still a brilliant blue and the clouds were like cream, swirling around before dissipating.
Cloud had been given his birth name by a nun at the Strife orphanage where he'd been abandoned as a newborn. It had been raining that day, like most days in England, and they thought it was a fitting motif for a melancholy life.
Cloud never really appreciated that whimsical touch. Something like John, or William, or Thomas would have been much more suitable. Sephiroth loved Cloud's name, although he would always prefer to call him Bunny. But the name Cloud made perfect sense to the native, who seemed to fall in love all over again once realizing that his lover was named for the white, puffy things in the sky.
The language barrier was crumbling, and they could understand each other better every day. It was bittersweet, because they could have arguments now.
Two days prior, Sephiroth seemed to be frustrated about something, and was trying to communicate what that something was in his limited vocabulary. He often began sentences in English, and then went rambling off into his own language, expecting Cloud to be able to follow.
Cloud loved Sephiroth, but he wasn't a mind reader. After several attempts of stopping and starting, Cloud had finally lost his patience and said something he'd immediately regretted. "Will you just leave me alone for a while?"
And for two entire days, Sephiroth had.
It was hard being angry with someone when you were stuck in a small space with them. Especially during a winter in the wilderness, where the window was packed shut with mud and the door remained closed. Cloud considered bundling up and going outside, perhaps just to lie in the snow and watch the clouds, or to pay Reno and Rude a visit.
But he lacked the will, and simply doodled listlessly on their lapboard with a small piece of chalk.
... He was also a tiny bit afraid that if he left, he might come home to an empty cabin. Sephiroth didn't stay here because he had to. He could easily care for himself in the worst weather conditions without even trying very hard. If anything, he stayed to help care for Cloud, who was often clueless about survival in the New World.
Cloud finally he turned his head and glanced over at Sephiroth, who was carefully peeling maize on the other side of the room.
Sephiroth felt the weight of Cloud's eyes, and looked up.
"... I didn't mean for you to leave me alone for quite this long," Cloud said to him with a smile. It faded when Sephiroth still said nothing. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm sorry, Sephiroth. I want to understand whatever you have to say. I get angry when I can't. Do you understand?"
Sephiroth nodded somberly.
Cloud searched for something in what he knew of Sephiroth's vocabulary. There was a tiny thing Sephiroth often said when he made a mistake, and it was all Cloud knew as far as an apology went, so he made the attempt. "... Waslolye hemeca."
Sephiroth erupted in sudden laughter. That was not an apology; Cloud was calling himself a jackass in extremely crude teenage slang.
It had the desired effect though, and Cloud reacted to that laughter by flying off his perch by the closed window and throwing his arms around Sephiroth's neck. They met each other in a grinning kiss, and after two days of silence and ignoring one another, they took their time savoring it.
Sephiroth abandoned his task and emptied his hands, only to fill them again with Cloud's ass as he tugged him into his lap. Cloud eventually pulled away and laid his head against Sephiroth's shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Also I'm sorry," Sephiroth told him. "You are important person to me, Bunny. I'm needing to tell you something, I do not know how to English."
Cloud closed his eyes and sighed, unimaginably relieved to finally hear the sound of Sephiroth's deep, rumbling voice. "Just take it slow. We'll figure it out."
"Tell you please..." Sephiroth began, and stopped. He was searching for words. "Tell you..."
"Draw me a picture, perhaps?" Cloud offered, quickly crossing the room to retrieve their lap-board and chalk.
It was a little bit futile since Sephiroth's background had given him a very different symbol system than Cloud's. They'd spent an entire day arguing about how to properly draw stars, so any concept more abstract would take some serious effort.
But it was worth the effort, and they had the time. For days, Sephiroth and Cloud worked together on the message Sephiroth was trying to convey to him. They went over new types of words in clusters - flowers, animals, places, objects. They reviewed, and Cloud thought up several more vocabulary groups that might clue Sephiroth onto the right path.
But no matter how hard they tried, nothing contained any of the new information Sephiroth needed to convey his message.
Reno and Rude dropped by, which only added to the confusion. Sephiroth was able to tell Rude what he was trying to say, and two frustrated natives trying to figure out how to deliver a message in English wasn't getting them any closer to understanding one another.
Rude was far behind Sephiroth in his mastery of English, and knew mostly swear words, thanks to Reno. When he spoke to Sephiroth in their language, his speech was littered with the word 'fuck'. He was giving Sephiroth ideas though, and it translated into scribbled drawings on their lapboard. Every so often they acted as though there was a breakthrough, and would draw something like two small circles engulfed by squiggly lines as though it was the key to the language barrier.
Cloud and Reno were both completely clueless.
Much to Sephiroth and Cloud's mutual frustration, they decided to put the message on the back burner. Someday Sephiroth would find the words he was looking for, and when that day came, Cloud would drop everything in the world to hear his message.
Fall began to darken into something a little more crisp and frosty. Despite the drop in temperature, Cloud was getting a bit antsy staying inside. "Would you like to go for a walk into town with me?"
"For what? To buy? What you want?" Sephiroth questioned like a frugal spouse. He didn't like the concept of money, and always offered to find or make whatever Cloud needed.
"No, just to walk. It'll be nice," Cloud smiled, leaning over Sephiroth's shoulder to kiss his ear and whisper, "... Afterwards, we can come home and cuddle."
Sephiroth's eyebrows rose slightly at the word 'cuddle', because that often led to more of his favorite indoor activities. He agreed to the walk, and even let Cloud dress him as he saw fit. Sephiroth could hunt a bear in this weather without shoes, but Cloud had an obsession with putting clothes on him, so he allowed himself to be bundled up.
Once outside, they headed in the direction of the growing nearby town. It was a far cry from a colony on the brink of starvation it had been two years prior. It seemed like more people were arriving in the New World every single day.
There were cobblestone roads being laid out, several rows of buildings where business and commerce were conducted, and even a small series of streetlamps. It was hardly London, but Cloud could see that someday it might be even greater.
In the crudely designed town square, children were slipping around on a small area of frozen water. They screamed and played, threw snowballs and ran about while their families looked on. They'd spread out blankets and some were having picnics around a small bonfire. Sephiroth was something of a local hero, and one of the survivors of the first winter flagged him and Cloud down, and gave them a sack of roasted chestnuts. Sephiroth accepted it gratefully.
They found a small, dry area on the ground and took seats side by side. Cloud kicked a little snow in Sephiroth's direction, who retaliated by sprinkling a dusting of frost in Cloud's hair. Laughing, they settled down to watch the young ones play, and to eat their chestnuts while they were still hot.
"How you say what they do?" Sephiroth asked, pointing to the group of kids.
"They're playing," Cloud answered, cracking one of the chestnuts with his teeth.
"Playing?" Sephiroth questioned, raising an eyebrow as he took a chestnut for himself.
Cloud used that word to describe sexual play, and quickly shook his head before Sephiroth said something embarrassing, "No, not the way we play. We play like adults. Children play games together."
"Children," Sephiroth thought aloud.
Age groups weren't a vocabulary topic they had gone over yet. Cloud pantomimed holding an infant. "Baby..." He then set the invisible child on its feet, and pointed to the group of youngsters playing, "Children..." he then motioned to himself and Sephiroth. "Adults."
Sephiroth pointed to the other couples on blankets. "That is adults?"
"Right."
"They are in love like us?"
"Well... I imagine they are if they're married. They're husband and wife," Cloud answered, leaning over to draw figures in the snow. "There is a husband and wife - adults - who get married to each other and make babies. That's a family. Babies grow to become children, then adults, who get married and make new families. Do you see?"
"Children for marrieds."
"No, Sephiroth. Listen: A husband and a wife get married to each other. They are adults, and they have sex... and then they make a baby."
"Husband-and-wife," Sephiroth parroted.
"A man and a woman," Cloud clarified, pointing to the two larger figures in the snow. "They get married, become husband and wife, and make a family."
Sephiroth grabbed Cloud's face suddenly, dangerously close to touching his lips. "I tell you message?"
"What?" Cloud sputtered, scrambling back a little ways. It was probably no secret to some people what their relationship was about, but he couldn't condone Sephiroth touching him like that in public. "What are you talking about?"
"Husband-and-wife," Sephiroth repeated, so excited that his English was faltering a bit. "My message is this. We need to married, us to be husband-and-wife."
Cloud balked. "Sephiroth... a man and a woman are husband and wife. Not us..."
"What is?"
"What is what?" Cloud asked, rubbing his forehead.
"Us?"
Cloud rolled his eyes. "Sephiroth, come on. A man and woman are married."
"Married."
"You know... a ritual. A celebration. A ceremony..." Cloud searched for a word Sephiroth might already know. "Party! Remember the party for little Emily's birthday, and you made feathers for her hair?"
"Married is party," Sephiroth assumed.
"Yes! A party with a man and a woman."
Sephiroth nodded eagerly. "Bunny and Sephiroth married party."
"We can't do that!" Cloud cried. "Unacceptable! Not proper!"
If there was one word Sephiroth hated in English it was 'proper', because 'proper' never made any sense to him at all. "Why?"
"I am not a woman," Cloud whispered, hoping nobody was listening to this humiliating conversation.
"Become woman?"
Cloud's eyes became two perfect circles. "... Sephiroth. We are men. We can't become women."
"No party to become woman?" Sephiroth wondered, tilting his head.
Cloud grunted. "Do the Shin-Ra have parties to become women?"
"Yes," Sephiroth answered honestly, groping for vocabulary to express himself. "Is party, woman is gather, woman is make home, take care of baby, will not hunt. You make home, you will not hunt. I hunt for you, I am your man. So we become married, husband-and-wife."
"... Let me make something very clear to you," Cloud said slowly. "A woman is more than someone who doesn't hunt. A woman is... is..."
"Is what?"
"A woman has a... women make babies in their stomach, right?" Cloud asked, patting his torso.
"Not all woman do baby. Is sometimes old. Sometimes sick. Sometimes does not want."
"You understand that I have a penis, don't you? That means I'm a man!"
"Penis is man?"
"Yes!" Cloud shouted, earning a few stared from people nearby.
Sephiroth shook his head as if Cloud was a fool. "Penis is not man! Man is hunt, man is warrior, man is adult. I am man. You - Bunny - no party, no hunt, not man."
"I was in the navy for seven years!" Cloud hissed. "That's an English warrior, I'll have you know!"
Sephiroth frowned upon thinking of the harsh life Cloud had described to him, where his only payment was enough food to survive and perhaps a place on the floor inside to sleep when the seas were rough. That awful adolescence only increased Sephiroth's desire to take care of Cloud. "Sailor is not warrior... sailor is slave."
"I was not a slave!" Cloud sputtered. It was not a comfortable life, but it was better than rotting in the slums. He escaped for the New World the moment he could manage it, and his life was beautiful now. Mostly thanks to the man sitting beside him.
"Do you love me?"
The question came out of nowhere, and Cloud struggled with the answer. "Well... yes. Of course I love you."
Sephiroth shrugged at him. "I hunt for you, I am your warrior. Take care of you, so you can make home and be my woman."
Cloud's jaw dropped. "I... I built that cabin with my bare hands while you were sleeping all day and out chasing foxes all night! And now I'm building a house for you! And you have the nerve to call me a woman?"
Sephiroth nodded nonchalantly, because to him this was not an insult. "Woman makes home, man hunts. To Shin-Ra, is proper for we to be married, husband-and-wife. To Shin-Ra, you are my woman."
"To English, you are my filthy savage!" Cloud backfired.
"What is filthy savage?"
"Forget about it," Cloud grumbled, dropping his cheek to his knees in fatigue of this conversation. "I don't care what you think about the validity of my manhood, Sir. You are in this colony now, and we are men. Men don't get married. That is all I'm going to say about this."
Sephiroth had been taught about the taboo of men's love in Cloud's society. But he didn't understand how it affected the concept of being married, which to his people was simply a statement of partnership between two lovers who intended to remain monogamous. There was a celebration involved in that union, and while it was less common for it to be two men or two women, it was not treated any differently. The Shin-Ra tribe was ready to feast for any reason, they would not discriminate against something as trivial as the sexes of the two people throwing the celebration.
Men in Sephiroth's tribe were the hunters, the elders, the leaders, the alpha protectors of the group. Females or males could obtain this status. Likewise, if a male was smaller, sick, or simply less inclined to lead or hunt, they took on a woman's duties and kept a woman's status.
He couldn't begin to tell Cloud this in English, and felt confused by his refusal. He loved Cloud... Cloud obviously loved him back. Why wouldn't he even entertain the idea of being united?
"Cloud," Sephiroth murmured. "Strife."
The soft tone drew Cloud's face up out of his knees. "… Yes?"
"Love is secret. Cannot also married is secret?"
"Out of the question," Cloud hissed.
"Never will you become married... or never with me?" Sephiroth asked cautiously, quite afraid of the answer. A rejection like this could only mean Cloud saw him as unfit, or perhaps he had his heart set on somebody else.
Cloud wasn't sure how to respond in a way that his lover might understand, and came up empty for a suitable response. This was a serious question that deserved an honest answer, and Cloud pouted when he arrived at the truth. "I would love to marry you."
Sephiroth sat up straight with a broad smile, trying to appear even larger in size, "I will be good man for you!"
"Shh!" Cloud shushed him, his eyes darting around to ensure nobody was hearing this blasphemy. "Sephiroth, we aren't getting married. It just doesn't work that way!"
"... In English," Sephiroth thought aloud. "Married in Shin-Ra would be better."
"What?"
"English is proper, you are English. I am not, I am Shin-Ra... is not proper to English, but would make me so happy to be married for you. Is a secret to love me, will be secret to be husband-and-wife. Would you not put your mind on this?"
Cloud let that sink in, and couldn't keep the bemused and smitten grin off his face. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that someday a man would be asking to marry him in the most broken dialect he'd ever heard. But it was happening, and Cloud couldn't imagine a life without his Shin-Ra warrior.
"What would you do if I said no?" Cloud asked him.
"Ai…" Sephiroth mumbled softly. "I stay, I love you. If don't married, I will still be your man."
Cloud snickered. "... And I suppose that makes me your woman?"
"Beautiful," Sephiroth purred.
"Stop it," Cloud moaned, a giggle escaping despite his efforts to stifle it.
"You..." Sephiroth began, brushing his fingers through the snow to touch Cloud's. He'd never courted a Shin-Ra woman, but knew that pretty poetry often melted a resistant girl's heart. He did his best to compose something lovely that Cloud might understand. "... Warrior becomes slave to beautiful woman. Bunny is most beautiful English sailor... beautiful hairs to smell, beautiful face to touch, beautiful lip to kiss, beautiful eye to look, beautiful penis to su - "
"Seph, shh!" Cloud's face felt bright and hot, and he pulled his fingers away before anyone saw. But he couldn't help feeling a bit light headed at the flattery. "... This is the most stupid conversation we've ever had."
"But yes?" Sephiroth pleaded.
"Seph..."
"Please?"
Cloud smirked, recalling the charming phrase that Sephiroth had come up with. "Let me put my mind on this, Sephiroth. Alright?"
"Ai," Sephiroth smiled.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The next morning, Cloud woke up to a heavenly aroma. He rolled over, and found Sephiroth by the fire and stirring something in the largest kettle they had. He was wearing one of his feather headdresses, and it always made him appear somewhat dangerous, like a wild animal had wandered into the cabin. With the warmth, the smell, and the soft sound of the fire crackling, and the small room was transformed into a romantic space.
Although Sephiroth didn't seem mad, he had gently denied Cloud sex the night before. It left Cloud feeling hungry for that touch, and so he sat up on his knees in a deliberately provocative position. "... What are you cooking, Sephiroth?"
"Shin-Ra soup," He answered, and turned around to face him. From the nose up, Sephiroth had painted his face bright red, with stark white accents on his nose and lips.
Cloud screamed in surprise, because he'd never seen Sephiroth painted so vibrantly. Usually he painted in order to blend into the forest, but this was extremely jarring. "Oh! ... Dear... why'd you paint your face like that?"
"Paint face," Sephiroth answered.
Cloud frowned, as sometimes Sephiroth did things like this when he was planning to hunt something big. "... Why did you paint it?"
"Went see Rude and Reno in morning when you sleeping. They are coming later so we can have married party."
Cloud blinked. He supposed from their conversation yesterday that they were considering an immoral engagement... but he didn't expect Sephiroth to be preparing something the very next day. "I said I was putting my mind on it!"
"You said yes."
"When?"
"In dream."
Cloud gave him a doubtful look. "I agreed to marry you in my sleep?"
"No, in my sleep. In my dream, I saw you. You told me you love me, you said yes to married. It was sign; I woke and went to see Rude. He said you and I... have much love, should married. I told him, I never love a woman or man so much as Bunny..." Sephiroth struggled before he found the right words to complete the thought. "Never loved... ever before Bunny."
Cloud looked at the man for several heartbeats. They'd met under the oddest of circumstances, and Cloud supposed their relationship had always had a healthy balance of give and take. They relied on each other for help when it was needed for survival, but that grew into love. Even though Cloud felt foolish because of his upbringing and his own cultural background... it was so nice to be so wanted and desired. Not for what he could do for Sephiroth as a partner, or even in bed, but just a declaration that it was more than that.
It was crazy. It was completely backwards, totally bizarre, utterly improper. But there was no alternative when everything Cloud needed was sitting right across from him in red face paint.
Cloud felt a tear slip down his cheek and over his lips. "You are a stubborn, selfish man. And you always manage to find a way to get what you want."
Sephiroth looked uncertain. "You... do not want it? I will stop if my sign was not true."
"Of course I want to marry you! But you could at least wait for me to say yes out loud, and not in your stupid dream!"
"Say yes?" Sephiroth asked, a brilliant smile lighting his face.
"Yes!"
"Happy?"
"Yes!" Cloud cried, and realized that he was in fact ecstatic.
Before another word could be said, Rude and Reno arrived with a knock on the cabin door. Cloud pulled on a pair of trousers over his leggings, and shrugged into a shirt before answering it with an embarrassed giggle. "Hello!"
"Yah!" Rude greeted him with a huge hug, seeming much more personable and chipper than usual. He was also decked out in warrior's paint, and seemed even larger than usual with the help of his headdress.
Reno followed him in quickly, chugging whiskey from a flask. "Oy! We've been taking swigs to bear the walk, it's cold this mornin'! So I understand you two lads are tyin' the knot!"
"Give me some of that!" Cloud cried, taking the flask and helping himself. "I don't know what we're going to do, it's just somewhat symbolic I suppose."
"It's a darlin' thing," Reno said, setting down what they'd brought on the table. Reno brought some potatoes, which he was curiously prone to peeling and mashing up. The Irish could dream up and cook anything at all with a potato. Rude had also made some traditional Shin-Ra bread, which Cloud loved.
Sephiroth seemed nervous, and was pacing a bit, waiting for some sign from Cloud to begin.
Once Cloud drank enough to relax a little, he mentally prepared himself for whatever Sephiroth and Rude had in mind. He didn't know what to expect, and almost anticipated having to perform intimately in front of them... he hoped the ceremony wouldn't entail that, though.
Rude began by playing a song on a bone flute, and then doing a lot of talking in the Shin-Ra dialect. Cloud had no idea what he was saying, but the look on Sephiroth's face was so rapt, so attentive that he almost looked angelic.
He met Cloud's eyes a few times, looking nearly sick with nerves. It was a sweet change of pace for the normally stoic man.
Rude paused in his speech, and Sephiroth repeated something back to him. Then Rude prompted Cloud to do the repeating. Even though this was not his language, he got the gist from the tone. This was about love, devotion, partnership... Cloud was ready to pledge it all. There was nobody else he wanted.
Rude then asked Reno to cover Cloud in their bed sheet, which was a dark, grayish color. Reno then threw their other dark colored blanket over Sephiroth. Rude then pulled both of the sheets off, before he covered the both of them in a single white sheet, courtesy of his and Reno's bed.
Later, Sephiroth would explain to Cloud that this act was symbolic of any past lovers or premarital sex they'd had. From the two darker sheets to the single white one, they were spiritually cleansed for their first night as a married couple.
But in the heat of the moment, Cloud was ignorant to the significance, and stood giggling with Sephiroth as Rude continued to speak. He couldn't have possibly known that it was what the ritual called for, but Cloud lifted up onto his toes and kissed Sephiroth, simply because he wanted to.
It was odd to Cloud, because he'd kissed those lips at least a hundred thousand times... but that kiss under the sheet was by far the best yet. It was slightly awkward, hard to breathe, and tasted of Sephiroth's chalky makeup, but it was the greatest feeling in the world to know that he was being kissed by someone he was going to be with for the rest of his life. It was better than the day he left the orphanage for the navy, better than setting sail for the New World, better than Sephiroth returning to rescue the camp, better even than their first night in their cabin together.
It didn't matter what the English thought, or the Church, or anyone else. In the eyes of something perhaps even more important, this warrior's lips were his to kiss as long as he lived.
He was a little light headed when Rude pulled the sheet off of them. He stared up at Sephiroth, and a whisper slipped from his lips. "I love you."
"You are mine," was Sephiroth's reply.
The rest was a blur to Cloud. He was spoken to in the Shin-Ra dialect, tapped with some sort of mystic stick, and was prompted to kiss Sephiroth once more. Cloud yanked Sephiroth into a hug, kissing his face and smearing his makeup, and not caring that there were others to see his ardor. "I love you!"
"Love you," Sephiroth answered, meeting Cloud's mouth in kisses.
"... This means you've really got to learn English!" Cloud chuckled.
"Means you learn Shin-Ra," Sephiroth countered, joining in on his lover's laughter. The simple fact that he was able to make a successful joke meant the world to both of them.
Reno seemed bored by all of this. "When are we gonna eat?"
They all shared in their small feast while sipping Reno's whiskey. Loose with alcohol and feeling nostalgic, Reno leaned on his palm. "So how did you two lads meet each other, anyway?"
Although it wasn't exactly a celebratory topic, they couldn't talk about their meeting without talking about the invasion of the English. With patience and a little use of the lap-board, Sephiroth told them a little but about what happened from his tribe's point of view.
Cloud learned a bit more about Rude and Sephiroth's childhood, and about his budding romance with Reno. The conversation was in broken English and meandering, but Cloud felt like he was never closer or more candid with any other group of men in his life. There were no secrets to be kept from a mouthy Irishman and two curious natives.
As night fell, Cloud began to feel hot, and slowly lost the ability to control his affections. He was practically licking the paint off of Sephiroth's face when Reno finally took it upon himself to stand up.
"Well, I think it's time we left you lovebirds to it. You've got a big night ahead of you! Do you need any advice?"
Rude wasn't sure what Reno was saying, but tapped the back of his head anyways. "Polite."
"I'm always polite!" Reno insisted.
"We know what to do," Cloud assured him.
Once goodbyes and congratulations were exchanged and their friends were gone, Cloud pounced on Sephiroth with every bit of the bunny-like enthusiasm that he was nicknamed for. He pulled and yanked at Sephiroth's clothes, completely desperate to touch his bare skin.
"Cloud," Sephiroth muttered, slowed down by buttons. He was constantly ripping them and forcing Cloud to get them repaired, so he made an effort to remove his lover's clothes carefully. However, the moment he felt skin he was ripping and tearing to get them off.
"Make love to me," Cloud pleaded, yanking at the laces to his pants.
"Married does not make love," Sephiroth informed him, scraping teeth over Cloud's lips. "Married fucks."
"Then fuck me."
Sephiroth had never heard Cloud say that word before.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
A/N
1 – This one was written in 2012, and didn't undergo too many changes in the update. But for some reason the art is super embarrassing again lol, what was I doing in 2012?... Oh right, drinking heavily almost every day.
Owmyhearteries dot deviantart dot com / art / Thanksgiving-2012-339764782
