Tobi: aldskjfGHFJDkldjgklfdhg I'M BACK YAY~ Hi everyone! It's good to be back. I took some time off writing, blah blah, insert reasons for absence here, and I am back now. This chapter all together is over 12,000 words, and it's jam-packed with stuff. I think you will like it. =) Thanks go to Notoyax17 (1250th reviewer) and Dark Spider (our 1300th reviewer)! Also, props go to Sorako, Silent curiousityx, Mikurai and Black Ice for guessing that the song Cloud was singing was by DBSK. But a HUUUUGE thanks goes to the ultra-amazing, fantabulous keyboard-bash-inducing Sue Dunham, for reading over this for us. Loooove. Alright, enjoy guys! I love you all, thanks for sticking with the fic. -hugs-
CM: Hi guys! I dont have much to say this time... just go read. Shoo! Enjoy it! Tobi and I worked really hard on this one.
This morning Cloud came into consciousness gradually, easily, calmly; due to all the chaos recently he hadn't gotten much sleep, and now that he was able to relax some, he was milking it for all it was worth.
Eventually he found himself staring at the ceiling. He was on the couch downstairs in front of the television, right where he had been for a few hours the previous night. That was the beauty of waking up at your own leisure. It wasn't quick or jarring and immediate; you just sort of… found yourself awake. Things blurred. That was good. He didn't know how many more scary waking-up incidents he could take.
Sebastian was with him, safely tucked under his chin. A light—but warm—green blanket covered him and his chocobo. Cloud didn't remember getting it. He was glad he'd had the sense to grab one before he fell asleep.
For a while he lay there, not doing anything. He hugged Sebastian and wrapped the blanket around himself. He didn't want to move. He marveled at how pleasant the mansion was. He was still a little wary, sure—but certainly not as much as before.
Cloud admired everything about the mansion. There was the sunlight coming in the windows, the ticking of that grandfather clock, and the soft humming of the heat working, making warm air come through the vents.
Smiling, Cloud rolled over and placed Sebastian in between him and the back of the couch.
His mom had given him Sebs when he turned sixteen. He had been wrapped up, a small, dinky present next to a gleaming game system. He had told her that he would never even touch it—because teenagers his age didn't play with dolls.
But then his mom had died, just before he went out to be a Cadet. He was all alone. His other presents seemed to disappear, and the game system broke.
Sebastian was still around, though, and he was actually adorable. And cuddly. And great at listening. He smiled, hugged Sebastian harder and snuggled down. There was no harm in going back to sleep, because he had all day.
Cloud was completely unaware of Angeal, who sat about two feet away from his head at the end of the couch. He had been asleep. (Last night Zack, Sephiroth and Genesis had tried to wake him up when it was time to go upstairs, but he had only grunted and made himself as comfortable as he could. They had shrugged and left, laying a blanket over the already-sleeping Cloud.)
The blond's movements had woken him a little bit, and he opened one bleary eye. Cloud was getting comfortable, maneuvering his stuffed chocobo around until he was happy, then tugged up the edge of the blankets and exhaled. Angeal smiled a little despite himself, and once assured that Cloud would be asleep again in a few minutes, closed his eyes again. This was nice.
Yuffie had faced down many things in her life. Not everyone was able to reload and shoot a gun, throw shuriken or knock someone out. She thought she was above the average person a little as far as street smarts and things like that went. There was one thing, though, that made even her—the White Rose of Shiroi Bara, which was redundant really—stumped.
"Fuck math," she sighed, dragging her feet as she walked home. Telling herself it was her last year of high school cheered her up a little. Soon she would graduate, and then she could do what she's always wanted to do full time. But until then, she'd have to suffer. At this rate she was going to need help again. She had a guy named Cloud for that. His apartment was a few floors below hers; she lived at the very top, wealthy ninja that she was. Usually she went to his apartment or brought him to hers to study (and no, it wasn't like that). He was nice, and seemed pretty smart in math even though she was convinced he was sort of an airhead sometimes. She laughed a little.
Yuffie turned onto the long street that lead to her home and stopped suddenly. In front of her apartment building, a familiar man was being dragged into a car by a small group of thugs.
...How often did one see something like that? She froze, then realized who it was.
Cloud Strife. Her buddy. He was currently being kidnapped.
"Shit!" she squeaked, flying into action. Yuffie ran towards the car. There weren't many people on the street this late at night; no one was around to stop them.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Let him go! I'm warning you!"
They all looked up, even Cloud, who had been struggling. One man's hand was covering his mouth. The guys ignored her, and the man holding Cloud brutally shoved him.
Cloud managed to elbow the men in the stomach. He broke away enough to shout, "Get back Yuffie!"
The teenager ignored him. Cloud was too nice, even in situations like this. He had no idea who she really was. Cloud was finally stuffed in the car and the door slammed shut behind him.
One of the men didn't get in the car. "Take care of the witness," a voice said from the driver's seat. It pulled away with a squeal of tires and was gone.
Shit!
The man turned to Yuffie. He was almost two whole feet taller than her.
"Out of my way, Gutter Dog," she told him. The man froze, then stiffened with recognition. It seemed he had no intention of listening to her, because he reached into his jacket pocket.
She struck before the man could react. A swift hit to the man's temple and another at the base of his skull made him slump to the sidewalk, unconscious. Yuffie promptly dragged the body into the alley between the building and the next.
Yuffie told herself not to panic. There was only one culprit—Gutter Dogs. That gang had been Shiroi Bara's annoying rival for years now. No other gang would have the balls to kidnap someone in Shiroi Bara territory.
The door closed behind him, and Cloud crashed face-first onto the seat of the car. There was a bang, and he saw a metal divider slap down between the front seats and the back. The doors locked, and the car flew into movement.
"Yuffie!" Cloud shouted raggedly, peering through the back windshield. In the darkness he could barely make out the shape of one of the thugs moving towards the smaller form of his somewhat friend. Why hadn't she listened to him and ran!
The reality of the situation was beginning to set in. Something near hysteria was beginning to rise in his chest; Cloud brutally pushed it down and pressed his ear to the metal barrier in the middle of the vehicle. His hands explored it for cracks or the like.
Just barely, he could make out what they were saying. One, he remembered, sported a goatee. The other was clean-shaven with fine light-brownish hair.
"—pretty one," one of them said faintly. "...Boss'll—"
The next man's reply was even more quiet, but he managed to catch the word 'Turk.'
Cloud collapsed back onto the seat and tried to control his breathing. He was hyperventilating. Passing out would be bad.
Alright—so he was being kidnapped. Fear clutched at his heart again. Why? Who? Where were they taking him? Did someone know?
Cloud cut off his own list of questions. Reno knew. He had called him before the guys had come . Reno was looking for him. Reno was a Turk. He'd be fine.
That only helped a little bit. Cloud nearly broke down, but he continued to stubbornly stay strong and began searching the car for anything that would help him out.
Yuffie darted into her building after hiding the Gutter Dog. Time was of the essence if she wanted to get Cloud back. This was a blatant challenge from the Gutter Dogs to the Shiroi Bara; she couldn't let this pass. Plus, it was her buddy they had targeted! There was some serious ass-kicking in the Gutter Dogs' future.
As she ran back down the stairs after getting what she needed from her room, she formulated a plan. At the bottom she sent a few well-placed texts, then watched as her screen lit up.
An undercover Shiroi Bara was a member of the Gutter Dogs. He had been Yuffie's faithful informant for a little over two years now.
The message from her informant made her nearly shout with joy. He was one of the guys who took Cloud. Headed towards a warehouse on the west side of city, it said. Sweet.
Yuffie hurried back outside. From her apartment she had grabbed a white rose (fake, but at least it looked real, right?). She placed it over the unconscious man in the alley's chest. She had no time to dispose of the body; with this, someone else would do it.
The sound of an engine steadily getting louder made her look up. Yuffie exited the alley and warily watched as a sleek black car pulled up.
She had a hunch as to who it was, and she was correct.
Reno the Turk burst out of the car, and his partner—Rude, if she remembered correctly—got out of the other side. He evidently had seen her, because he ran to her, looking off in the direction the car had gone.
"I'm a Turk," he announced breathlessly (as if Yuffie didn't know that already). "Did you see anything happen? Like-"
Yuffie cut him off. "Why are those guys after Cloud?" She piled on just the right amount of innocence to make it convincing; she was nothing but a shocked neighbor, after all.
Reno looked off-balance for a moment. He then shook his head slightly and said quickly, "Um, they found out he's...connected to me. We've gotta work together here if you know anything, yo-"
Yuffie kicked Reno in the crotch as hard as she could. Of course, she kept tabs on the few Turks she knew the identities of and had once inquired about the guy she sometimes studied with; she already knew that the two were "together." Whatever it was, it was this idiot's fault that Cloud was currently being driven somewhere. Reno went down with a loud groan.
Yuffie turned and stared down Rude. The other Turk looked confused, then slowly put up his hands. He seemed to recognize that she was no ordinary highschooler—and after another moment, a slight tensing of certain muscles made Yuffie realize he had realized who she actually was. The little white rose on the collar of her shirt may have given it away, even though it was subtle.
"I'm borrowing the car," Yuffie announced. Rude nodded and moved swiftly towards Reno, reaching into his coat pocket for the keys. Yuffie passed him, and after she carefully grabbed the keys, reached up and plucked the Turk's sunglasses off his face. She stepped on them.
Yuffie scrambled into the car, sent the injured Turk and his partner a quick glance, then shot forward. The informant was rapidly messaging both her and a few others—she admired him more in this moment than she admired over half her men. It was a dangerous job, that was for sure; he could easily be caught.
She was guided, through a series of disjointed, short texts, to a warehouse on the edge of the city. Surprisingly the location was still in Shiroi Bara territory. These Gutter Dogs had some serious balls. She realized how well she was keeping her calm and encouraged for it to continue. She dealt with incidents like this all the time... just usually she didn't know the target as well as she knew Cloud. Fuck.
When Yuffie got out of the stolen car, she was greeted by four of her subordinates. She recognized them—they were the four who lived closest to the location. Smart man, her buddy hidden on the other side was.
She quietly gathered them around and issued orders.
Cloud groaned. He was on his side on a gross, disgusting, cold floor, arms crudely tied behind his back. He just laid there, forced to listen as the two men who kidnapped him and seven others who were waiting there talked among themselves and basically ignored him.
He didn't doubt what he was there for at this point. There had been too many stares, and he had caught a few select words too many times. Reno, he thought desperately, hurry the fuck up! He had figured out he was being held somewhere and was to "wait until it was time to go to the Boss." These guys really didn't worry about letting him hear stuff. (It was then obvious that they didn't expect him to stick around long enough to tell anyone, didn't it?)
He began to rotate his wrists, trying to loosen the knots a little bit. No dice. He froze when one of the men looked his way. He was one of the two in the car, the one with the swishy brown hair. He stared at him for a long moment and then turned away, casually sticking a hand into his pocket. He was up to something, that was for sure. The ceiling of the place they were in was high; noises echoed, and he strained his ears to hear something else, anything else.
Cloud was starting to panic. After a short while where Cloud secretly tried to get free, he thought he heard a noise. It wasn't so much a noise, more like a bunch of little vibrations in the floor. He could feel them, as his whole body was pressed against it. He lifted his head up in confusion, just in time to see the doors to the place burst open.
He heard gunshots almost immediately. Cloud curled up on himself in fright and tried to make himself as small as possible, taking in a big, gasping breath when he heard someone shout in pain.
He heard something that made him open his eyes again. Yuffie's voice came from behind him, loud and in a language he didn't understand. He rolled over, only to see Yuffie charging in and flinging what looked like a ninja star—like legit, like the one he saw in a museum once—at the man with the goatee who had driven him to the warehouse.
Cloud didn't have time to question what was going on; all he knew was that Yuffie's side was winning, and—
The suspicious man with the brownish hair from earlier ran towards another of the thug's sides, probably for help. Cloud jumped out of skin when the man whipped out a gun but, rather than aiming it at one of the ninjas in the room, pointed it straight in the back of the head of the goateed man and fired. Cloud shut his eyes, imagining what happened even though he tried with every fiber of his being not to.
He didn't see what happened next, but he heard a bang, another yell, a second bang, and then his left arm exploded in pain.
Cloud's eyes flew open, and he knew that, without a doubt, he was going to die.
"Cloud!"
Yuffie skidded over to him and sank to her knees, grabbing his face with her hands. She was fuzzy at first, and then she slapped him. Then she came more into focus.
"Breathe, Cloud," she said. Her hair, usually neat and swished to the side a little, was all messy and tickled his face. "You're gonna pass out if you keep that up, dude!"
"...I wusshot," he garbled, sobbing dryly. "Holy shit-"
Yuffie frowned at him. "You're such a wuss," she groaned. Cloud continued to holler dazedly, struggling in his bonds, and she hit him again. "Cloud!" she barked, "You're not shot! Jeez!"
Cloud stopped panicking and looked down at his left bicep, where the pain was coming from. No, he wasn't shot—there was a little scrape on the side that was barely bleeding. He saw it and realized how lucky he was. He calmed and sagged onto the floor, and Yuffie looked at the cut herself before moving over to the man with the brown hair. He was on the floor, and one of the men who had entered with Yuffie was crouched over him.
"Youngwoon," Yuffie said carefully, addressing the healthy one. "How's Jungsu?"
Youngwoon bit his lip for a second, then nodded softly. "He'll be fine."
Yuffie sank to her knees beside Jungsu. He had known the extremely high risks when he had decided to be her ace in the hole in the Gutter Dogs. He had accepted the position though, even though Youngwoon—perhaps his closest friend—hadn't wanted him to. Things in gang life weren't at all like what your average civilian experienced in the slightest, however; he had no choice but to take it, really, more or less. And here he was now, bleeding with a bullet in his side in his friend's arms. All things considered, however, it could be worse. Cloud took one look at the guy and was glad that he wasn't involved in anything shady or complicated like a gang.
Cloud and the others looked around the warehouse, making sure that there wasn't anyone hiding. When the area was pronounced secure Cloud tried to relax some, pressing his hand against his scratch and turning back to the others. The guy—Jungsu—was limp in Youngwoon's grasp, and Yuffie's expression was dark as she felt his wrist.
"Gaia!" Cloud gasped in horror. He's dead!
Youngwoon scowled at him, and Yuffie said with a relieved smile, "Just blood loss. No worries." She left Jungsu in Youngwoon's care and addressed all the others in the room, who were tense, hands no doubt on the weapons in their pockets. "We've gotta move people!" she said firmly. It was amazing how everyone listened to her, such a young girl, but they did.
Cloud looked around the cold, dank warehouse one last time, deliberately not looking at any of the bodies, and when he turned back around he, Yuffie, Jungsu and Youngwoon were the only ones in the room, and those three were over by the door. Yuffie impatiently gestured for him to hurry up, and she helped Youngwoon get Jungsu more securely on his back. The ninja bowed as best he could to Yuffie, gave Cloud a surprisingly sympathetic look and left, seeming to melt and trickle away just as quickly as everyone else had, even with an unconscious man on his back.
Yuffie grabbed Cloud's hand and pulled him outside, and Cloud immediately began to ask questions. "What the hell is going on?" he puffed as they ran through the place out in the chilly late-night air.
Yuffie pulled something out of her pocket—Cloud had a hunch as to what it was—and answered, "You were targeted 'cause of that Reno guy. Somehow the Gutter Dogs-" Cloud recognized the name as one of the gangs that terrorized Midgar, "-found out you're, uh, connected to him, and, well." She wasn't even out of breath.
What? Reno?
He bewilderedly panted, "J-Just who the heck are you Yuffie?"
Yuffie grinned, made them run around a shady-looking storage shed of some sort, then jumped over a crate. "Second in command of the Shiroi Bara, the White Rose of Wutai and Midgar, Great Ninja Princess Yuffie Kisaragi herself!"
Cloud tripped. He fell forward and hit the ground almost comically, scraping up his palms a little on the gross, wet pavement. He barely noticed it, eyes huge and mouth hanging open as he bellowed, "WHAT!"
Smirking, Yuffie hauled him to his feet and began moving again. Cloud would have continued asking the girl questions, but they finally stumbled back onto one of the main streets, far away from the warehouse and no longer really in danger of being discovered, and they stopped to catch their breath. Cloud wondered where Youngwoon had taken Jungsu and if he was okay. The guy had taken some serious damage for him.
Yuffie looked around, tense and alert, and her gaze snapped onto a dark figure down the street a little bit. They were running. Cloud immediately moved to put himself in between the person and Yuffie (even though now he knew that Yuffie could defend herself—it was one of those manly instincts that he couldn't suppress). He relaxed, though, when the person turned out to be Reno, suit hanging off one shoulder as he stumbled towards them.
"Reno!" Cloud shouted, deserting Yuffie and running straight for his boyfriend. Reno realized it was him and he opened his arms up at the last second. Cloud flew into them and threw his own around Reno's neck, squeezing so hard it was probably painful but right now, neither cared.
A few tears squeezed themselves out of his eyes, but only a few. Reno's heart was beating so fast and hard that Cloud could feel it; how long had Reno been running? The poor guy had been trying to get to him this whole time, just like he knew he would—
"You found him," came a gruff yell. Rude squealed to a stop in a dinky-looking car. Reno didn't answer, gently pressing Cloud's face into his shoulder and cradling the back of his head with a shaking hand.
"Cloud-" Reno began in a choked voice.
Yuffie seized Cloud's arm and yanked him away from Reno. "Hey!" she shouted. "Get off him, Reno—it's your fault he was in this mess to begin with." She looked dangerously serious when she said, "You don't mess with my friends."
Reno's fault? Cloud looked at Reno, whose eyes were wide and who was suddenly all tense. He swallowed, looked at Rude for support and then said to Yuffie, voice still thick, "Y-You don't get it, yo."
"What's not to get?" Yuffie challenged. "Out of our way—we need to get his wound-" she sneered it, "cleaned up."
"What the heck, Yuffie?" Cloud muttered, giving a miniscule tug on his arm. Yuffie tugged him back after shooting Reno a distrustful look.
Reno just stood there, looking uncomfortable. Cloud's curiosity was piqued despite himself, and an unpleasant feeling made itself known in his stomach. There was something going on that he didn't know about, and he didn't think it was a good thing.
He said softly, frowning, "...What's up, Reno?"
The Turk looked at Rude helplessly. Rude shook his head and sighed, "Just tell him Red."
Reno swallowed again and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Look, baby—I kinda messed up, alright? Uh-" he stopped for a moment and fiddled with his tie, taking a step or two closer to Cloud (Yuffie backed him up), "I was with these guys we've pegged as Gutter Dog leaders, right, and we were playing poker, and I had to bet something that was important to me so I'd be able to get out in one piece-"
He stopped again and seemed unable to continue. Yuffie's grip on Cloud tightened with surprise, and Cloud went stiff as a board. ...Had he heard that correctly?
"...Wait," Cloud said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You...bet me in a poker game to...people in a gang?"
Reno winced. "Well, when you put it like that, yo-"
The reason he had been kidnapped from his apartment was because Reno had basically given those guys the green light to! The reason Reno had called right before they came, knowing what was going to happen was because he was the cause of it. Who the fuck bet their boyfriend in a game of poker? He had gotten thrown into a car, tied up and left on cold, dirty, slimy ground, shot and then Jungsu had gotten shot, all because of Reno's stupidity. And the whole time he had thought Reno was his saving grace who was going to rescue him, while really he was the problem. He had Yuffie to thank here—only Yuffie.
Reno went to him again and tried to gather him in his arms again, but Cloud shoved him off. The sad, empty feeling that came with knowing someone had betrayed him pulsed in his body like a heartbeat. Surprised, Reno backed up a few feet and immediately tried to console him, saying he was sorry and that he was here now and that he'd never do it again—Cloud didn't listen.
Yuffie stood to the side at this point, letting Cloud deal with Reno himself. She had known Reno had fucked up somehow, but she didn't know Reno had done that. Idiot. And it wasn't getting any earlier—it was dangerous to be out on the streets, especially after they had just taken out all those Gutter Dogs. Some Shiroi Bara were currently in there disposing of the bodies on her orders, but they couldn't take any chances and linger. They had to move.
Cloud shrugged off Reno's hands again, getting too angry to speak right. Judging by Reno's behavior everything he had said was true—his boyfriend, his best friend, the person he loved the most and who he had thought loved him—had done this!
Reno got slightly frustrated and grabbed his hands, saying sternly, "Look Cloudy—we're gonna go get you patched up, and then I can talk to you about all this-"
Cloud's fist flew out and smashed into Reno's nose with an audible crack. His fingernails dug more than one crescent-shaped line into his palm, but he didn't care, and he drew his fist back once more and punched him not in the face, but in the stomach.
Yuffie pulled him away from Reno, who stumbled back, clutching his face. Cloud realized what he had done and nearly began begging for forgiveness, but Reno deserved it, and he shot him a hard look before letting Yuffie take his hand and dart across the street and into an alley with him.
"It's okay," Yuffie reassured him as they made their way back to her parked car and then back to their apartment building. Cloud was all numb, refusing to think about anything that had happened that night and ignoring the way his hands shook constantly.
He almost stumbled out of the elevator onto his floor, but Yuffie made him ride all the way up to her place and gently pushed him inside, knowing how much his body and heart hurt.
They said nothing as Yuffie cleaned up the bloody cut on Cloud's arm, and besides a huge hiss of pain when she sprayed antiseptic on it (it seemed Yuffie had a lot laying around, and Cloud realized that that was probably for a good reason) there wasn't any other noise.
Afterwards Cloud sat still, staring at the floor, and Yuffie gingerly tried to get him to respond. She was nice, too nice, and in the morning Cloud would want to talk to her and get answers and thank her repeatedly for saving his ass, but right now he couldn't even look at her. "Gotta go," he managed, stumbling to the door and walking out. She seemed to understand and didn't try to follow him.
Cloud made it all the way home and in bed before he finally lost it.
Cloud woke jerkily, thrashing around in whatever was wrapped around him. He couldn't move his arms—he flailed and rolled until he had gotten it off him. His eyes opened and he stared at the rumpled blanket lying a few feet away. Oh.
He was on the floor. Cloud got to his knees, glanced at the couch and figured out what had happened.
...Fuck.
His forehead hit the carpet, and Cloud clenched his fists as he tried to shove his emotions back. That was one nightmare he'd had a few times too many. He didn't want to relive that... even now he didn't know how Reno could have done that to him.
Every time anyone asked him how he was since then he'd say he was fine, that he was over it and didn't care. That was a lie; to this day, he was all hung up about it. Reno... he could never forgive him. Never.
He flopped over onto his side. He shouldn't have been so messed up from a dream... but he was. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Remembering Yuffie made him smile. She was a handful, that was for sure. He was grateful. If it hadn't been for her, he'd be—
That's enough, he told himself firmly. He stood, grabbed the blanket and folded it, then stretched. Taking a shower seemed like a good idea; it would relax him. Plus, he stank.
He deposited Sebs on his bed and strolled into the bathroom. He turned on the water, stripped and got in. Bliss. Cloud rubbed his goosebumped arms and stepped fully under the spray.
It had happened a while ago. He could get over it. Right? Cloud tilted forward until he pressed his skull against the wall of the shower and exhaled slowly.
Pull yourself together.
He did. Cloud ran his hands over his face roughly, then stepped away from the wall. He eyed the shampoo sitting on the little in-shower shelf and smiled. It was Sephiroth's brand. It was cool, because this was apparently what the man himself had used. It was mass-produced somehow and brought out to the public, and it had been a smashing success. He'd heard the General had had fabulous hair.
Cloud uncapped it, stuck his head in the water again and moved back as he worked the shampoo into his wet spikes. The stuff wasn't as popular as it once had been, since Sephiroth had been missing for a couple years, but Cloud still used it.
He grinned. There were thirteen different scents in this stuff—he always had fun trying to guess them all. He ran his fingers through his hair, spiking it all up in once cool mohawk-looking thing, then flattened it. This stuff smelled great.
Sephiroth glanced over his shoulder for the eleventh time, then peered into Cloud's room. Zack had locked the key to the cookie jar somewhere, and when it was Zackary, you had to look literally everywhere if you wanted to find something. So far he hadn't had any luck.
The room seemed to be empty. He slipped inside, closing the door a little so it looked like it had before, with it almost closed. He surveyed the room, and then checked under the man's pillow. Nothing. He checked the dresser, closet and bookshelf—still nothing.
He frowned and turned to leave, but something made him stop. There was... there was a bottle of his shampoo sitting on the shelf of the shower. The curtain Cloud had put up was a few inches away from the wall, so it was visible.
Why does Cloud...?
Sephiroth glanced at the door and listened hard, making sure no one else was coming. Then he snuck into the bathroom. Cloud's clothes were lying in a heap on the floor. He stepped over them and silently stood by the curtain, feeling a bit like a creep. He pushed the curtain to the side a little bit.
He instinctively closed his eyes so he wouldn't get an eyeful of Cloud, who was quite naked. He eventually had to open them though, so he could grab the shampoo and split.
He caught sight of the blond rinsing suds out of his hair out of the corner of his eye. This was... this was his scent all over Cloud!
This kind had been his special brand back in Midgar. Of course, he was aware someone had gotten hold of whatever 'secret recipe' was used to make it and had created tons of replicas to sell to the public. It was surprising that they were so popular that someone like Cloud would have it.
Sephiroth crouched a little and reached out. The bottle was on the shelf in the front of the shower, almost underneath the showerhead, in the corner. Dammit. He closed his eyes the tiniest bit, then moved his hand the last foot or so forward until his fingers wrapped around the small bottle. His arm was getting soaked, but it was worth it.
Just as he reached out, Cloud stepped forward to twist one of the knobs to a warmer setting. Cloud's, ahem, lower stomach—and he meant lower stomach—pressed up against his arm. Sephiroth froze and Cloud backed up, frowning. He glanced down and then spun around, looking, and while his back was turned Sephiroth grabbed the bottle and fled. He was out of Cloud's room in under four seconds, hurrying left down the hallway and stuffing his prize into his coat pocket.
"What the hell?" Cloud mumbled, pushing the shower curtain aside and checking out the inside of the bathroom. He didn't see anything... could it have been—you know—one of the ghosts? Maybe? After a few seconds he gave up trying to figure out what had happened and returned to his shower.
When he was clean Cloud turned off the water and got out. The air was chilly, and he shivered as he rubbed himself down with a towel. Taking showers when it was cold out always sucked; it was always so freezing when you got out.
As he dressed, he glared at the shower curtain. He had put it up himself. Maybe he should have been grateful that they cleaned the glass up at all and shouldn't have been so angry, he thought, but quickly scrapped the idea. He missed the cool glass that had once been there.
After his shower, his growling stomach demanded an early lunch. He grabbed his unchecked mail and headed towards the kitchen. For a minute or two he poked around, trying to decide on what to eat, then eventually settled on grilled cheese.
Cloud looked around nervously as he got everything he'd need.
I guess I don't need my rolling pin anymore, huh?
He snorted at the memory. That day had been pretty intense. He smiled and put butter on the pan, then placed his two sandwiches side-by-side on top of it when it started sizzling.
Angeal was on his way to the basement for a short workout when he got a whiff of whatever was cooking in the kitchen. Curious, he stuck his head into the room and inhaled. Cloud was making something, and it smelled good.
Cloud didn't feel like dirtying up a spatula and instead picked up the pan and dumped his food onto a paper plate. Simple enough. He was about to clean up, but then looked at the mail he had brought in earlier. He picked it all up with his free hand and inspected the little paper on top.
It was an ad for the 'Nibelheim autumn festival' coming up soon. Apparently it celebrated the ending of summer and the approach of winter. It would be interesting. Beneath the slip of paper was junk mail and other advertisements. He seemed to get a lot—did these people think he was rich or something, because he lived in a mansion? ...
He tossed the stack to the side carelessly and went to the sink. He turned the faucet on and stuck the still-hot pan in the water, getting some odd sort of glee from the loud hissing noises. He knew it wasn't good for the pan, but really, who cared? ...His left side suddenly felt very warm. Cloud dropped the pan in the sink and turned—then he jerked so hard he nearly broke something.
The stove was on fire.
Cloud shouted and jumped backwards. Immediately he knew what he had done; he had thrown those papers right onto the hot burner!
"Uhhh! Uhhh—!" Cloud spun in place, looking for something that would put the fire out. The smoke alarm on the ceiling started shrieking, and he held his hands over his ears, dancing in place. He needed water! Or—or, baking soda, right? Since water would just make electrical fires worse! ...Or something! What was he supposed to do! The kitchen was gonna burn down and he'd be crushed by the ceiling falling down and they wouldn't find his corpse for weeks—
He was suddenly shoved to the side, and he crashed to the floor. The cabinet under the sink's doors opened, and a few loud bangs later, a bright red fire extinguisher came flying out.
...Oh. That would have put it out too.
Cloud watched, stunned, as white foam erupted from the nozzle. The stuff covered the flame completely, spattering the walls and seeping down into the main part of the oven.
Angeal's eyes were wide as he stared at the big red thing in his hands. He had acted on instinct. Cloud seemed shocked—he looked like he was about to piss a golf ball. Sephiroth, Zack and Genesis came running in, all looking disheveled and alarmed. Zack's fly was down and the snap of his pants was open. They surveyed the scene and immediately came in to help. Sephiroth and Zack edged towards the stove, shooting Angeal weird looks, and Genesis quietly got up on a chair, stepped up on the table and began fanning the smoke alarm to make it stop beeping.
Cloud blinked at the hovering fire extinguisher. It was frozen in place, like the ghost had realized what it had done and was surprised too. He stared at it for a moment as he tried to understand, then stuttered as the words tried to come out all at once, "T-Thank you!"
Angeal nearly dropped the extinguisher. The others all met his gaze. It was like Cloud had sprouted tentacles.
He's thankful?
It was certainly a first.
Cloud fretted. One of the ghosts had saved him. Again. What did he do?
He grabbed his plate which was on the counter and held it out. "Uhh..." he said to the extinguisher, which floated down to the ground, like someone had put it down, "You can have one of my grilled cheeses if you want, since you, you know, just... did that and stuff. Consider it my, uh, thank-you. I dunno if ghosts like that, though..."
He eventually shut up and waited.
Angeal grinned. "Go me," he tossed over his shoulder at the others. Zack mumbled something in his normal voice, but Cloud didn't hear it, luckily.
A chunk of one of the sandwiches disappeared before his eyes. It really was... the craziest thing.
Suddenly he got scared. Getting closer, even this little bit, to his ghosts was terrifying. He scurried to the table, dropped his plate onto it, grabbed a bag of chips out of the cabinet and sat. He watched the area around Angeal cautiously.
"This kid makes good food," Angeal said calmly to his envious companions. "Looks like I was in the right place at the right time."
With a sigh, Reno flopped onto his bed. It really was more like a cot than a bed—whoever had filled these shitty rooms at the Inn deserved to be shot.
This was a really boring mission. Reno wasn't sure how long he'd have to stay in this hellhole, either-Tseng hadn't been too specific. There wasn't exactly much to do in this town, other than drink, and even though Reno certainly didn't mind alcohol, he wasn't too excited by the thought. This was a mission, after all; he had to show at least a little bit of professionalism.
So, he was in a bit of a pickle. Nothing to do. Nothing exciting in his future. Just... spying on Cloud.
As usual, when he got this bored, his thoughts went to his ex-boyfriend. Being so close—in the same town, even—was maddening. Fuck, he wanted to go talk to him. He groaned quietly and buried his face in his pillow. It was so cold in this stupid town. He'd never get used to it.
His phone buzzed. Reno lifted his head up and fished it out from under his bed, where it had fallen earlier.
"Yo," he answered, pressing a button and holding it to his ear. He was too tired to check who it was.
"...Reno."
Reno almost fell off the bed. "Commander!"
Tseng didn't seem amused. He cut right to the chase and said briskly, in a tone that made Reno snap to attention, "This line is secure. There's something you must do for me."
"What is it?"
"Nibelheim Manor," Tseng said, completely serious. "I need you to go. Barnaby Hojo has a series of logs in there, detailing his actions. There's one in the house somewhere, and I need you to find it."
Reno nodded once. "Yes Sir."
Tseng's voice suddenly dropped an octave. "I don't think I need to tell you that you are not permitted to read this report." Reno heard the danger in the man's tone and gulped. Alright. No reading whatever he found. Got it. It wasn't like he would want to. Whatever Hojo had put his Commander through was bad enough that it had killed the four greatest SOLDIERs who ever lived (probably). It was a miracle Tseng had survived. He was a real hero. He had no intention of finding out whatever Hojo had done.
"No Sir," he agreed.
"Do whatever you need to in order to retrieve it."
"Yes Sir." Ugh, he hated formalities, even with Tseng.
Tseng let out a sigh so quiet Reno almost didn't hear it, then said softly, "Good. And Reno—I need it soon. As soon as you can get it."
"Alright, Sir." Reno glanced out the window up at Cloud's house. "You can count on me."
Tseng said something else and hung up. Reno didn't hear him; he was too focused on the mansion on the mountain. He dropped the phone on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair.
It seemed... he now had a reason to visit Cloud. Fancy that.
The movie Cloud was watching was a good one. The armchair he had chosen was opened up, and Cloud stretched out as he scarfed down more popcorn. The sound washed over him in waves, making his whole body thrum and vibrate. The 3-D glasses on his nose were slipping down, and he pushed them up with his finger.
A missile shot straight for him. Cloud gave a little gasp of surprise, then laughed when he realized he had actually gotten scared.
"He's so cute," Zack whispered, leaning against Genesis two rows back. Because the movie was so loud he didn't have to worry about disguising his voice.
When the movie ended Cloud turned off the screen with the remote and sagged into his chair. It was really comfortable and hugged his body just right. Did he stay and snooze, or did he drag himself upstairs to bed?
With a groan, Cloud forced himself up. If he slept there he'd probably end up with a super sore neck. He flicked the lights off as he left, got all the other lights on the first floor, then plodded upstairs.
He almost missed it, because he was so sleepy, but just before he turned to go into his bedroom he stopped. In the bathroom down the hall—the IcyHot one, he noticed with a frown—someone was taking a shower. The door was shut, he could see the light on through the small gap near the floor, and he could hear the water running. The scent of Sephiroth's special shampoo was everywhere.
Cloud froze. For a minute he debated what to do. Did he go and yell, or did he let them be? He actually took a few steps towards the bathroom, then stopped and hurried to his bedroom. He shut the door, dragged a chair over to it and jammed it underneath the doorknob. He was nice... but not that nice.
"Night Sebs," he sighed, crawling into bed. He tucked Sebastian under his chin and turned off the light.
"Genesis," Angeal breathed.
The redhead's arms were hooked around his neck. Angeal was half-bent over the bed, trying to stay upright. Genesis was tilting back, though, and in a few seconds they'd pitch forward. That was fine.
Beside them, Sephiroth was sitting on the edge of the bed. Zack stood a few feet in front of him; he was in the process of shedding his shirt. The ex-First finally got it off and tossed it to the side. He practically fell onto Sephiroth, who was smiling, eyes narrowed.
Sephiroth's hands ran over Zack's back, and he scooted backwards and tugged the man forward by his belt loops with one hand. The other snuck into his back pocket. Sephiroth froze.
"That's where that key was?" He asked in disbelief, pulling it out and holding it up. He had suffered, trying to find it, and he hadn't even gotten into the cookie jar in the end.
Zack laughed and rolled off him. He hooked his arm with Angeal's and said with a grin, "I knew I put it somewhere where you'd never look—I forgot about it, though."
Sephiroth's lips pressed together tightly and he tossed the key across the room onto the dresser. Genesis chuckled at him, then began kissing Angeal.
After a brief moment of feeling sour, Sephiroth smiled at Zack. It was alright—and Zack tasted better than cookies anyway.
Wide blue eyes stared up at the ceiling in the darkness. He couldn't sleep. He had gotten close, but then... it had started.
The bed a few doors down was creaking uncontrollably. He could hear faint squeaks and the clangs of the springs just barely, but it was enough to bother him.
What the fuck?
He tossed and turned, trying to sleep. It wasn't any good; he had been hearing this for so long his brain was coming up with the sounds too by this point. He stuck his head under the pillow. Still no good.
In a fit of rage he threw his pillow against the wall. The squeaks continued. There may have been voices, but he figured it was all in his head. He didn't know anymore.
Three minutes later he snapped. Cloud sprang out of bed and stomped out into the hallway. He stopped outside the room where everything was coming from, then flung it open.
"Some people are trying to fucking sleep!" he shouted. The room was dark, so he couldn't see much of anything, but he was positive something was there. "Would you mind keeping it down!"
His voice effectively masked the sound of four men gasping and cursing, and even the sound of one of them tumbling off the bed and onto the floor. Cloud slammed the door shut and scampered back to his room, surprised at himself.
"That hurt, Angeal!" Genesis roared. "Give a man some warning before you just pull out like that-"
"Excuse me!" Angeal spat back, on the floor with a now-sore shoulder. "It's not like I did that on purpose—I fell!"
"I think I just had a heart attack," Zack wheezed. Sephiroth nodded weakly.
Cloud slept well after that; he didn't hear another peep.
The next morning, Cloud was nothing but excited for that afternoon. He'd get to see Tifa and her new "bar." It wasn't for a while, though; that was later on in the day.
He lounged in bed for a little bit. There wasn't anything he had to do, so he could afford to just rest, listen to the sounds of the mansion and things outside and watch the ceiling.
Before too long, though, his peaceful sort of limbo was ruined. The doorbell rang.
"...Ugh," he moaned, throwing the covers off himself and shivering. Fall in Nibelheim was already freezing early in the morning. He briefly wondered when the first snow came.
Whoever was at the door rang again half a minute later. "I'm coming!" Cloud yelled as he hurried down one of the main staircases in his pajamas. He finally pulled the door open, and a delivery man—but one not nearly as awesome as he was—smiled at him. A huge giant... boxed thing was with him. There was a smaller box tucked under his arm.
"I got an order for a 'Cloud Strife,'" the man said in an accent he couldn't quite place. "You him?"
"Uh..." Cloud blinked. "Yeah, but I didn't..." The man frowned and flipped through the pages on his clipboard.
"I didn't buy this."
"Hmm," the guy hummed, "Looks like you didn't. Some guy called an' bought through the phone an' said it was to be sent here."
Cloud was mystified. "...Um-"
"Look," he said, getting impatient. "This is for you, an' that's that." He wheeled the box in the house, carefully getting up the little step.
"Hey," Cloud protested, following the man as he brought it into the center of the foyer.
"Where you want it?" The man was clearly agitated. When Cloud didn't answer he grunted, "Here? Sounds good."
He managed to get it off the dolley and onto the floor. Cloud continued to argue, and the man lost his patience. He thrust his clipboard out and barked, "Sign this!"
Cloud jumped and meekly signed it. The man managed a tense, tight "thank you" and left, shutting the door behind him with far more force than needed. He was cursing.
"What was his problem?" Cloud asked out loud in disgust.
He walked over to it and inspected the stickers. They didn't tell him much.
What is it?
It was taller than he was and probably more than twice as wide. He walked around it, looking for tape to cut or a flap he could lift to get to it.
The box tilted, and Cloud nearly had a heart attack, but it stopped eventually and the top was crudely ripped open.
"Be careful," Sephiroth hissed. Zack stopped killing the box, winced, and opened it more carefully. Angeal and Genesis came down the stairs, looking quietly excited.
Cloud watched as the box was fully opened, and a humongous pane of patterned glass came sliding out of the box.
Everyone rushed to it and took a corner. Cloud retreated a few steps when the glass started hovering parallel to the floor.
"It's slipping, it's slipping," Genesis whispered. He was doing more harm than good and Zack pushed him away, talking control of one whole side. They carefully began carrying it upstairs.
Cloud was absolutely shocked.
He tried to follow it, but he wasn't allowed. The big cardboard box floated up and waved around just a few feet in front of his face. Cloud knew what it was; it was a warning.
Eventually Zack asked, "…Anyone know how to do this?"
No one had any idea.
Downstairs, Cloud cautiously peered at the ceiling. He could hear noises.
…What to do now? He shifted nervously. It didn't look like he was allowed to go upstairs any time soon. Watching television seemed like the best choice—only choice, really. Cloud headed towards the room with the TV, glancing over his shoulder repeatedly.
This meant they were doing something else nice, weren't they? That glass… Cloud had a feeling they were going to fix his shower.
What kind of ghost did a thing like that? He was momentarily humbled by the ghosts' kindness, but then he remembered that it had been their fault that it was broken in the first place. That stopped the worst of his grateful thoughts, but he couldn't help but still be a little thankful.
This whole situation was so surreal.
Cloud ran a hand through his hair and curled up against the arm of the couch he was on. He kept checking the entrance of the room so often it was like his neck had a tic or something. It was just that he felt like something was going to happen. Maybe. He was tense and uptight at the moment, but who could blame him?
When Tifa called an indefinable amount of time later, Cloud nearly wept with relief. He had worked himself up over the incident, and now he was convinced that the glass was going to come cut him to bits or slice him up.
"Hey!" he gushed enthusiastically.
"…Hi!" Tifa said back, confused at how happy he sounded but returning it.
"You ready?"
"Yeah," Tifa answered. Cloud could hear movement; she must have been putting shoes on or something.
They decided, after Cloud repeatedly offered, to have Tifa be picked up on Fenrir and they'd drive there. Almost immediately after he hung up, Cloud darted to the laundry room for some clothes (because there was no way he was trying his luck and going upstairs) and then got out of the house. It was scary, being in there; he had never been looking forward to going for a drive so much before.
Fenrir was a breathtaking sight, as always. It was shiny and clean and glittering, just like it had when he first bought it. And… the ghosts had made his possible (though, they were the ones who messed it up, too). Cloud smiled despite himself and got on Fenrir after making sure his jacket was tight and he wouldn't freeze.
The ride down to Nibelheim was nice. Already some trees were starting to lose leaves; everything else was pretty reds, oranges and yellows. As he had grown up in Midgar, nature had never been something he'd been exposed to too much, and now that he was living out in the country he couldn't get enough.
Cloud stopped outside Tifa's house, smiling when a little boy across the street on the sidewalk began staring at Fenrir.
Yeah—I have a sweet ride.
Tifa answered her door about half a minute after he knocked. She looked pretty today, and Cloud told her so with a smile. She smiled at that. They both got on the bike, and after a small moment of awkwardness Tifa hugged him from behind, holding on tight.
"Where to?"
Tifa gave him directions as they drove. Tifa's 'bar' was across town, in a part that was even more plain and backwards—if it was possible—than where most of the shops and things were.
"Here it is," Tifa said loudly by his ear so he could hear it. "Turn left and stop." Cloud slowed and parked Fenrir.
What Tifa started walking towards was the shittiest, most disgusting, most terrible, dirtiest place he had ever seen. There was a bullet hole through a pane of filthy glass in one of the windows. The wooden door looked rotted. There was probably a demon inside.
This was it?
Tifa used a key and opened the door, striding in confidently. Cloud hurried after her, squeezing inside and looking around.
"This is it," Tifa breathed, looking really, really happy. Cloud suddenly understood. Even though it was disgusting, it was hers. With hard work, it could be great.
"…I think I just saw a bat."
Tifa punched him, and it hurt a hell of a lot more than he expected it to. Cloud groaned; Tifa smirked.
After poking around, Tifa began telling him her plans. "That room will be the kitchen," she said, pointing. "The bar will go here, and back there, by that wall, will be the booths-"
Cloud watched her with a silly smile on her face. Her excitement was spilling into him. The gross, dark, moldy building suddenly didn't seem quite as bad as he had originally thought.
Tifa brought him upstairs. They were probably rotted and they creaked dangerously, but they got up without any problems. There wasn't much to the second floor, just two bedrooms and a bathroom neither dared to go into.
Cloud blew some dust off a banister, coughed and asked, "Do you plan on living here when everything's done?"
"Yeah," Tifa answered. "This is going to be my house too. It'll be nice to get away from my father a little."
Independence was a wonderful thing. "It sure will be," Cloud agreed, then led her back downstairs. There wasn't too much they could do right now, so they mostly just poked around and threw some stuff in a trashcan they discovered under a gross, blackish-brown counter.
Afterwards, they ate out at a little restaurant a few blocks away, since Tifa was starving and Cloud could have eaten if he wanted to, even though he had eaten lunch not too much earlier. It was pleasant and they chatted about plans for the future. All, or almost all, of the awkwardness between them had gone away.
"We have to hang out again soon," Cloud told her happily once he parked Fenrir back in front of her house about an hour later.
Tifa brushed her hair behind her ears and said with a smile, "Sure. I'm not exactly sure when I'm going to start actual renovation, but I'll let you know."
"Please do." Tifa handed him the helmet he had made her wear and crossed the street to her house, waving before letting herself inside. It was a well-spent afternoon, in his opinion.
When Cloud got home, the first thing he did was jog to the staircase. He had to use the bathroom, and badly. He stopped short on the bottom step. Was… he allowed to go upstairs?
For a few seconds he stayed frozen, just staring up at the second floor. When nothing happened, he began to cautiously creep up. He made it to the top of the stairs without incident, and he quickly hustled to his room. Everything looked normal. He held his breath for a second and then stuck his head into the bathroom.
…Holy shit.
The glass was back. Where there had been a big, empty gap was now a new door. It was really pretty too, even more so than the last one had been. There were all sorts of tools, glue, caulk and things on the floor.
Cloud smiled brilliantly, then left to go use the bathroom down the hall, since he wasn't quite comfortable thinking about using his just yet.
Genesis sighed. He, Angeal, Zack and Sephiroth were all lying or sitting on the bathroom floor, completely exhausted. Installing glass in a shower was apparently far harder than any of them had thought it would be.
Genesis had complained the whole second hour they had been working, but everyone could tell he had enjoyed it somewhat. He lifted his head off the floor and moaned, "Ugh… he better appreciate this!"
The smile Cloud flashed made all their hard work almost worth it. It was better than nothing..
There was the whole rest of the day to kill, Cloud realized as he washed his hands. In fact, there wasn't anything in his future. He had to secure more deliveries so he could do something, or his days would start to blend together in a haze of doing absolutely nothing. He needed some drama, some excitement. Sometimes he wished he worked in an office, where he had to be in his cubicle by eight and got to leave at five, then repeated the whole thing the next day. But he also didn't wish that—his freedom was nice, even though it got boring sometimes.
Cloud didn't know what he wanted. He was constantly in limbo, floating around. He was even like that for the rest of the day, wishing he was doing something when he was watching TV, but then wishing he was relaxing when he was cleaning up. Eventually he made dinner when the time was appropriate.
Then the doorbell rang. Again.
Cloud almost hissed. If it was another bastard delivery man they were going to die. He practically stomped towards the door and opened it with a deadly scowl on his face.
Reno.
Cloud stared at Reno. Reno stared back at Cloud dumbly. Neither moved nor blinked.
Then Reno said softly, "…Hey."
Cloud flinched, back and shoulders going rigid and tense like a cat's when startled. Words were stuck in his throat, but he managed a shaky, barely there, "R-Reno—what-"
Reno looked around the porch, then peeked inside. He looked almost the same as he had when they were dating. His hair was a little bit shorter and he had put on a bit more healthy weight, but that was it. It was almost like no time had gone by. His gaze swept over the inside of the house, then washed over Cloud, standing in his jeans and shirt from his 'date' with Tifa earlier.
"Nice place you've got here," He said in a voice devoid of its usual cockiness. He smiled at Cloud—it was a soft one. Kind. Cloud was silent.
"I think Cloud has a visitor," Sephiroth said first, having picked up on a faint, foreign voice before the others.
The four Invisibles were just as bored as Cloud had been for the past few hours, and without anything better to do and feeling nosy, they headed to where Cloud was to see who he was talking to.
"Reno?" Zack blurted when he saw him. "The Turk trainee?"
The guy had been skinnier and much, much younger the last time they had seen him, but it was, without a doubt, the teenager they all remembered. He used to be the Turk's little pet and annoyed everybody. But he was a full-fledged Turk now; he was in standard Turk uniform, but he wore it messy. They moved closer, curious.
Reno took a miniscule step forward, and the dam broke. Cloud took a huge step back and yelled, absolutely furious, "Why are you here?"
How had Reno found him? Was he following him? What—
"Cloud, listen—"Reno tried to squeeze in. Cloud's screaming was making him cringe a little.
Cloud ignored him. "No! I don't know why you're here, and I don't want to know. Just go away!"
"Woah," breathed Angeal, who honestly couldn't think of anything more intelligent to say. Cloud, who was usually excitable but mostly semi-calm, was freaking out. How did Cloud, their crazy marshmallow-boy, know a Turk?
By now, Reno was starting to plead. "Cloud—look, yo-"
Cloud gripped the edge of the door and slammed it shut. Reno stuck his foot out in time that it didn't shut, and he grimaced.
The Turk seemed to come to a decision and said firmly, showing some back bone, "I'm not letting you keep me away and be all pissy again. You don't know everything, babe-"
"Don't call me that!" Cloud spat. "And I know everything I need to know."
Genesis swore quietly. "...Holy shit."
Reno stepped inside, getting desperate. This wasn't going quite as planned.
With words, Cloud tried to kick Reno out. He didn't want to touch him or be touched by him—not the man how had sold him off like an object. He started to panic when Reno didn't leave and got closer. He didn't want to see Reno, hear Reno, think about Reno—why was he here?
In a risky move that could have made Cloud finally snap, Reno reached out and gathered Cloud in his arms. Holding Cloud seemed like the right thing to do, and he couldn't resist it.
Cloud struggled weakly, but his heart wasn't in it. The truth was he had never really given up on Reno. He had been so happy before Reno's stupid move, and he missed him. If Reno was sorry...
He squeezed Reno as hard as he could after a moment of complete stillness and sniffed. He wouldn't cry. Reno smiled, and even though it was a sad one, there was some degree of happiness in there. The air from outside was chilly and freezing both of them, but neither made a move towards closing it. Instead, Reno cupped Cloud's face.
When Reno kissed Cloud, for a moment Cloud forgot everything Reno had done. For a moment they were happy and together again, living in Midgar in the same apartment and were only worried about missions, how long food had to cook for and deliveries, rather than spirits and ghosts and wars. Reno tasted just like he always had. He needed Reno as bad as Reno needed him, and he moved one arm from around Reno's chest to around his neck, refusing to let him draw away.
But then, Cloud remembered what was real. Reno had bet him in a poker game and had nearly gotten him killed—he wasn't about to forgive him.
Cloud pressed his lips tightly together and leaned back violently. He pushed Reno away. Reno blinked, surprised, and Cloud flew at him, pushing and trying to whack him and get him to leave. Reno's Turk training made sure nothing the blond tried worked.
It had been so long—a little over a year, was it?—without Cloud. Now that Reno had the man right back in front of him, and in his arms, even, he really realized how much he had missed him. Reno gently grabbed Cloud's face again. Kissing had calmed Cloud down before; he simply had to show Cloud that he wasn't about to let him go again, and they'd be fine. Cloud jerked back when Reno's mouth covered his again. Both of Reno's hands went to the back of his head, trying to keep him in place.
Cloud made a low sound of distress when he realized that no, Reno was not about to go away any time soon. He managed to get his one arm free—it had previously been trapped in between their chests—and he aimed a tightly-clenched fist at Reno's gut. It never connected.
Something warm clamped onto his upper arm and tore him away from his ex-boyfriend. The grip—and it was a grip, Cloud noticed in a moment of pure panic—was so tight and strong it almost hurt.
Reno had the time to blink at him in confusion before he suddenly doubled over. He choked, eyes widening in pain. Then the collar of his shirt bunched up, and Cloud watched, shocked, as the Turk was dragged out of the house by an invisible force. A dazed Reno was hauled out the door and quite literally thrown off the porch. The door shut with a bang that echoed.
Cloud realized something was lightly smacking his cheek. He turned wide, slightly wet blue eyes to the side but nothing was there.
A deep, worried voice asked, "Are you okay?"
Cloud couldn't speak.
"Shit," sighed another voice from his right. Cloud turned; nothing was there.
A third voice said awkwardly from behind him, "Uhh... Boo?"