HA!! No more Rude and Tifa!! She soooo didn't deserve him… I'll find something good for Rude. He'll probably end up falling in love with a new pair of sunglasses or something. lol! XD Anyway. Phew! Last chapter was looooong… Hope it was hot, though. And I hope you don't think Cloud is too OOC… Reno may be good, but Cloud Strife needs to stay Cloud Strife a minimum! If it doesn't work, tell me. I'll work it out in the next chapters.

Time flies

- "Reno, the boss wanted to see you, and I could bet my sunglasses that it's not to tell you you're doing a great job…"

The redhead, who had just gotten into the office, sighed and shot Rude an exasperated look.

- "You know as well as I do what he wants."

- "Oh really?" Rude asked, raising an eyebrow.

- "Uh huh…"

Reno let the suspense last a little and then, as he walked back towards the door he had just come through, he turned to his partner and said, smirking:

- "I'm so irresistible…"

Rude rolled his eyes and got back to his paperwork, allowing himself a little smile only once the redhead was gone. Self-conceited bastard… Well, the guy had, for the last few months, gotten to work on time more often than before. Meaning once or twice a week. Before? Once a month was a miracle… But still, Rude had the impression that Reno being late most of the time got on Rufus' nerves even more than before, for some reason he probably didn't want to know. Ah well.

Reno was in a good mood today. The latest mission had been tough physically, and the damn bastard Rufus wanted alive wouldn't say a word. But after they got back to the Shin-Ra Company, the day before, Reno invited Rude over to Tifa's bar to have a drink. To make a short story short, he'd decided he couldn't stand his partner's attitude anymore, and it had to change. What followed wasn't really planned, though. Tifa totally ignored the guy from the moment he got in the bar. Ok, so that was predictable... but anyway. During the time they were there, this shy, short-haired blonde girl across the room kept her eyes on Reno's partner the whole time, and Tifa noticed almost at the same time as Cloud pointed the fact out to Rude.

And now's the fun part. Tifa left the beers she was carrying and ran to Rude to hug the life out of him, suddenly crying and saying that she was sorry and that she'd overreacted… Figures. Rude had told her she was overreacting when she kicked him out… And Cloud told Reno that Tifa hadn't even talked about Rude during the time they were separated… Ah, girls… But, tough luck, it had cured Rude of his crush for her. So he told her just that and went to sit down with that blonde girl. And he ended up leaving the bar with her. Reno thought that was fun. But not nearly as much as the night he just spent with Cloud, who had been really, really gentle with him… Yup, he definitely felt good today.

But once in Rufus' office, Reno decided he should probably keep himself from being arrogant and from joking, for once. Rufus was sitting with his back to him, which usually wasn't good. At all.

- "Wanted to see me, boss?"

His boss sighed, then answered, without turning to look at Reno:

- "I have a mission for you."

Reno really wasn't expecting this. In fact, it surprised him enough to make him stutter.

- "Wh- what?"

- "A mission, Reno, a mission" Rufus said in an impatient voice.

- "Uh, yeah, sure… Um, without… without Rude, you mean?"

- "Absolutely."

Now he was more scared than surprised. What kind of mission would require him going alone? Ok, so maybe it had been a little tense between Rude and him at times, but they had done ok on the last one, and it was gonna be much better now for sure. Rufus had never asked anyone to complete a mission alone before, as far as the redhead knew… Oh. Except for suicide missions.

- "Um… What is it?" Reno asked, gulping.

Then his boss made his chair swivel to face him and then he got up from it, placing his hands on his desk before leaning forwards.

- "Get. To work. On time!" he spat at the redhead.

- "Ok, yo! Ok!" Reno said, raising his hands and backing up towards the door. "I'm trying, ya know!"

- "Well then try harder. I won't endure this anymore, people are sick of being assigned to doing your unfinished work, and people includes your partner. And if your partner hates you, there is a much more pronounced chance of you two failing missions because of communication problems and such. And failed missions are unacceptable here. Understood?"

Wow, that was bad, thought Reno with a mental laugh. His plan? Reassure his boss. Then give him suggestions on how to relieve his stress…

- "Understood, yo. But… you know what?"

- "First I have a question" Rufus said, sitting down again and looking at Reno with very inquisitive eyes.

- "Uh… ok…"

The redhead was pretty unsure at this point. Nervous, even. Just that stare… it made him think that what Rufus was gonna say could not be good at all.

- "Who is it you're going out with?"

Ok, that was about the last question Reno was expecting to be asked. But it opened so many doors to him…

- "Why do you ask?" he asked his boss, a sly smirk tugging at his lips.

- "You've actually gotten to work on time a few times these last few months, and I concluded that there's something important going on in your life. Like, someone who can actually reason you."

That part was pretty easy to understand… Rufus probably wanted to meet that someone if he really had that much impact on and control over the arrogant redhead.

- "You're right about one thing" Reno said, letting out a little laugh and making sure his next words carried a lot of emotion. "There is someone important in my life… But he doesn't reason me. My boyfriend actually keeps me awake all night at times, so since I don't sleep on those nights I actually hear the alarm and prepare on time for work."

That wasn't all true (meaning the alarm part), but it didn't keep Reno from saying it… Rufus' expression was unreadable. Well, until he closed his eyes and began rubbing the bridge of his nose.

- "Ok, you know what? I don't want to know. Get out of here."

- "I didn't even answer your question in the first place, yo" Reno said, enjoying himself tremendously.

- "I don't care, get out" his boss answered, opening his eyes and riveting them upon some papers on his desk as he shuffled through them.

- "Alright, see ya boss!"

Reno walked to the door and opened it, and just before closing it behind him, he couldn't help but turn and tell his boss:

- "Last thing… I'm literally feeling the stress you're dealing with, man. And I'm sorry to say, there are no pills for that. But you should try my kinds of sleepless nights, boss. Great for the mental, I swear. It works."

And then he headed back to his own office, trying his very best not to laugh too loud. He doubted anyone ever could make Rufus look that stunned and traumatized, and he'd had to bite his tongue real hard not to say something like "just don't try it with my Cloud Strife, or you could die of a cardiac arrest, seriously… I got experience." And then he wondered why he'd even thought about keeping himself from saying it. So he turned back and burst open the door to Rufus' office to tell him.

- "Just don't try it with my Cloud Strife, or you could die of a cardiac arrest, seriously… I got experience."

And then he slammed the door shut and really hurried back to his office, nearly choking as he tried not to laugh.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

A few days later…

- "Oh my god, what happened to you?"

- "Nothing I couldn't handle."

- "You… oh dear… Come here, we have to take care of these wounds right now."

- "No, it's ok."

- "It's not! This is bad…"

- "It's nothing."

- "But they're still bleeding! You have to let me take care of this."

- "They're not bleeding, and I'm ok."

Cloud just shrugged Tifa off and headed for the shelf behind the bar to grab a bottle of vodka, then walked to his bedroom, even with the brunette calling after him and telling him how stubborn, ignorant and stupid he was. This last delivery had been really long, and tough. He had run into a few very determined henchmen that morning, so he had really earned his money this time. He didn't care much what the package was, but it had gotten him into quite a bit of trouble. That was what he lived for, though. Fights, pursuits, action, adrenaline… The only thing is he'd been gone for three days now, and even if he'd already been away for longer than that, it still did seem like a long time without Reno.

Once in his bedroom, Cloud tossed his goggles, gloves, armour and weapons on the bed, took off his boots and then headed for the bathroom, where he stripped to his underwear and started running a bath. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and sighed. The minimum of protection his armour provided hadn't been enough at all. A cut on his right cheek and above the brow, a few on the right shoulder and arms, one across the chest and another across the stomach. Some of them were bullet scratches, too... And although he was kinda superhuman, that would take a while to heal. The deepest cut, on his right shoulder, was quite deep and really nasty looking. It had looked much worse right after the fight, but still… And his clothes were ruined.

He sat on the edge of the bathtub, put the bottle of vodka on the floor and ran his fingers through his hair. He was quite sore, and a headache was creeping on him… A hot bath would surely help. Once the bathtub was three quarters full, he took his boxers off, then slipped into the water and closed his eyes, clenching his teeth as he submerged himself almost completely, his face alone staying above water. The heat and the water itself stung his wounds, but the sensation quickly receded.

It was late afternoon already, but he'd still have to wait a while before Reno got to the bar… if he wasn't on a mission. So there was no hurry. The redhead would probably go to his apartment first anyway. Cloud hadn't been to the Turk's apartment yet. That was pretty much because he had never dared to ask, seeing how each time he had heard anyone talk about or even just mention Reno's apartment to the redhead, he didn't seem really at ease. He thought Reno probably found his apartment inappropriate, which was certainly ridiculous, but out of respect for his lover, Cloud wouldn't force anything.

The blonde was in the water for nearly two hours, and at one point he almost fell asleep in the bath, so he decided to keep himself busy. The heat really had a soporific effect, but if he did something he'd stay awake and avoid drowning. That would be embarrassing… Surviving brutal attacks and important blood loss and managing to deliver the package, but getting back home to drown in a bath... Cloud sat up and grabbed a random bottle of shampoo close by, then got to washing his hair. The headache had almost vanished now, and he felt much better.

When he had washed himself completely, careful not to get too close to the wounds with the sponge, he got out and as carefully started drying himself up. He wrapped the towel around his hips and then grabbed the bottle of vodka to bring it to his room. He then went back to look for some bandages, scissors and disinfecting alcohol. Once he found that, he looked through one of his drawers, where he kept a special case. He knew he'd have to sew up again the skin on his shoulder… The cut was really deep. He wasn't looking forward to it, but it wasn't as if he'd never done it.

Cloud grabbed the small case and got some specialty needle out, along with a small roll of thin medical wire. He sat down on the edge of the bed with all of the things he was going to need beside him and then opened the bottle of vodka to drink from it. The pain would be more bearable if he was a little drunk. He knew from experience. After closing the bottle, he grabbed the disinfecting alcohol and poured it onto a compress, then applied it to his wounds, hissing. It stung like hell and made them bleed a bit again… After another gulp of vodka, he continued and cleaned up each of the cuts on his skin. He was bandaging one of his minor bullet scratches when his door suddenly burst open.

- "I am going to kill you!"

Cloud then found his lips devoured by a redheaded Turk who had a hand on the back of his neck and the other in his hair to keep him from getting away. The blonde closed his eyes and kissed Reno back, holding on to his blouse. After having endured the scorching heat of the past days, the sting of dust and sand in his eyes and face and the extenuating fight he'd gotten in, the soft feel of the Turk's lips really felt blissful. It was a while before Reno slowed down and then pulled back, looking at Cloud with an exasperated look.

- "And after that, you tell me I don't take care of myself? Oh Cloud, you want to take care of everyone… why can't you just take care of yourself, yo?"

The ex-soldier let out a little laugh and stroked Reno's cheek softly.

- "I can… and that's why you must let me finish bandaging all of this…"

Reno sighed, then told him:

- "Let me, I'll do it."

He took off his boots, then sat on the bed beside Cloud, took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He took the roll of gauze from the blonde's hand and proceeded to bandaging all of his wounds. He knew what to do, he had done it to himself so often before. He was aware that they both had dangerous jobs (well, he had the most dangerous one…), but somehow, before today, he had never thought about seeing Cloud coming back like this from a delivery… It had hit him hard when he had entered the bar and Tifa had told him. And it was worse now that he actually saw the damage.

Cloud kept his eyes on Reno the whole time, smiling faintly. The Turk was so gentle… He wanted to tell him that he wasn't made of porcelain, but he knew the redhead was doing that because he cared. When Reno started to bandage that deep cut in Cloud's shoulder, though, the blonde grabbed the gauze. But Reno wouldn't let go.

- "Reno, I have to sew it up first" Cloud told him in a soft voice.

- "No way, you won't do that!" the Turk said, obviously disgusted.

- "The cut's too deep, it won't heal right if I don't get suture points to hold the skin and muscles together… You know it."

Reno found nothing to reply to that, so he gave up and let go of the roll of gauze, then got up from the bed.

- "I'm not staying to watch" he said before closing the bedroom door he'd left open and getting in the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Cloud sighed and grabbed the needle and wire, preparing to sew up his skin again, and heard Reno start the shower as he started making himself some suture points. It took him a few minutes, and when he was satisfied, he started bandaging that cut, but not the ones on his face. Minor, wasn't worth it, really. Then he grabbed the vodka again and drank from it. Shame he had become so resistant to alcohol... He had felt everything as if he hadn't taken any alcohol at all. Anyway. When he put the bottle back down on the bedside table, he slowly lied down on his back, head on the pillow. He couldn't help but feel like some kind of mummy, with so many bandages…

A moment later, Reno got out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel and wearing, as Cloud had rarely seen, a pair of boxers instead of panties. Or instead of nothing. The redhead walked to the bedside table to turn on the night lamp and went to turn off the lights. That was when Cloud realized it had really gotten late: it was dark outside. Reno went back to the bed and sat beside the blonde until he was satisfied with the drying of his hair, then threw the towel on the floor and lied down sideways, propped up on an elbow and resting his head in his hand, sighing.

- "Poor thing…" he told the blonde.

- "Come on, it's not like I'm going to die…" Cloud said, sighing. "Come here."

Reno smiled and bent down to kiss the ex-soldier, much more gently than before, softly caressing the skin that wasn't hidden under layers of gauze, while Cloud returned the kiss and stroked the Turk's hair with a hand, the other holding on to his shoulder. At one point, Reno couldn't help but moan. He just couldn't do otherwise when Cloud played with his hair like that… Cloud pushed him back a little and looked at him, letting out a laugh.

- "Sorry, it was too tempting…"

- "It's ok, you know I love it, yo" Reno said, laughing too.

After a little moment, Reno bit down on his lower lip and let his stare wander all over Cloud's body.

- "What?" the blonde asked.

- "Well…" Reno started explaining, a smirk on his lips. "I just… You really… I think you're totally sexy like that, yo. And I mean, totally."

- "It kinda limits my abilities" Cloud said with a little laughter.

- "If you ask me properly, I'll be nice to you…" Reno said, his smirk even more pronounced.

- "You know I'm not the begging type, Reno."

- "Yeah, you're just the sissy type who lets himself get beat up by any punk ass he meets…" the redhead teased.

- "And you really are an arrogant, self-conceited and self-loving slut of a mouthy bitch" Cloud answered, holding on even tighter to Reno's hair.

Reno shot him a really lustful look with half-closed eyes and moaned as he trailed a finger along the ex-soldier's throat.

- "Hmm, you know I love it when you talk dirty…"

The blonde smirked and brought the Turk closer to his lips, slowly.

- "Wanna see what that bitch of yours can actually do with his mouth other than talk, yo?" Reno asked, a wide feral smile stretching his lips.

- "More like I'd want to feel that…" Cloud whispered just before roughly pulling the redhead down and ramming his tongue into his mouth.

The blonde had realized very quickly that it was easy for him to build up an incredible appetite for Reno whenever they were away from each other. He knew that it was that way usually, in a couple, during the first months, but somehow he thought that having such an appetite couldn't be common. He was completely addicted. But the Turk wasn't about to complain… He felt pretty much the same, but it wasn't surprising to him. He'd always been some kind of a sex addict, the only difference was that now this hunger, this need was only directed towards Cloud.

After a moment of wild kissing, Reno pulled back, grabbing the ex-soldier's throat tightly enough to make Cloud's breathing more difficult. He wasn't scared to hurt him, he knew the blonde could take a lot. And anyway, it wouldn't be long. He just wanted to emphasize what he was about to say.

- "Today you let me do all the work" he whispered, bending down and licking at Cloud's ear, making the blonde shiver.

- "Anyway, I don't… have the choice it seems, ne?" Cloud asked, gulping.

- "Right on" Reno moaned.

Then he released Cloud's throat and kissed his way down the blonde's chest and abs, slowly, avoiding the numerous patches and strips of gauze on the way down. He kneeled between the muscled legs of his partner and easily got rid of the towel that was in the way. Then he simply closed his eyes and bent down to start sucking on the blonde's semi-hard cock, straight off like that. Cloud was still holding on to Reno's hair, a little tighter now, and he closed his eyes as he felt those waves of heat travel all over his body. Reno was really good at what he was doing, and the both of them knew that…

Cloud tried to keep himself from controlling the redhead's movements, and anyway if he succumbed to doing that, the cut in his shoulder would hurt even more. He was already busy trying not to let his muscles contract too much, because it caused some pain. It was really a weird sensation… Everything Reno did, everywhere he touched felt so good, yet there was this stinging feel where the cuts in his skin were… A strange mix of pain and pleasure, and he couldn't tell if there was one stronger than the other.

Reno kept doing what he was doing, expertly twirling his talented and experimented tongue around Cloud's hardness, covering almost the whole length of it with his lips and compensating with a hand. He really loved doing this… Quick, clean, easy and 100% painless way of totally fulfilling his partner's desires. Ok, ok, last part wasn't true, cause usually he'd get fucked afterwards anyway, but this time he knew it would go his way. Not that he didn't like sleeping with Cloud, far from that, but there were nights… He sometimes had to think about it at each step he took not to limp, which made some of his missions pretty difficult... Yup, that was how intense the blonde could be during sex. But, to be really honest, that's how Reno liked it.

After a moment, Cloud realized he was biting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood from it. As if he didn't have enough wounds already… But Reno was so good that all the sensations he made Cloud feel were overcoming the pain he had felt all over a short while before. He could now feel his senses become numb, and it was as if he could only feel his insides, burning, boiling. And that wave of heat was taking over his body now, really fast, without really much of a warning. Reno saw the ex-soldier's expression change ever so slightly and heard his breathing get louder and faster, so he knew it wouldn't take long now. He thus decided to suck a little harder. Well, hard enough to make his cheeks hollow out …

That was it for the blonde. It didn't take more than that for him to lose it. He held on tighter than ever to Reno's hair, with both hands, and the muscles of his whole body were constricted, making his back rise a little from the mattress and his head dig into the pillow as he felt his seed escape him to flow into the Turk's mouth, which was still well closed around his arousal. His cheeks were on fire, and his head was spinning a little from the pleasure. He lied there, left cheek on the pillow, panting, eyes closed, for a good while, during which Reno licked him clean.

After that, the redhead crawled up slowly, leaving a trail of licks and kisses all over Cloud's stomach and chest, until he reached the blonde's lips and looked down at them, and the cut in them.

- "See? You can't take care of yourself…" Reno mocked him, just before licking the little droplet of blood lingering on Cloud's lower lip.

Cloud smiled faintly and Reno lied down sideways beside him. The ex-soldier was still breathing a little louder than usual… The redhead reached out and caressed Cloud's hair, smiling as he admired the blonde's delicate features. Well, what he could see of them, anyway.

- "I'm sorry, Reno" Cloud whispered after a moment.

- "Sorry for what, yo?" Reno asked, frowning a little since he really couldn't see what the answer could be.

- "I… I want to return the favour back, but…" Cloud answered, looking up at the ceiling.

- "Fuck you!" Reno said, slapping the blonde's cheek which didn't have a cut in it, but just hard enough to surprise him.

And it did surprise him.

- "Stop acting so tough all the time, man!" Reno told him, with an expression that reminded Cloud of Tifa when she scolded someone. "You're too proud. You have the right to rest and hurt too! Stop acting stupid and allow yourself to rest! Gosh…"

The blonde couldn't help but smile at the redhead. He was right, but still, it was a little tough to accept just yet.

- "Alright" he said, stroking the redhead's cheek and still smiling. "Come here…"

- "No, that's the bad side of your body" Reno pointed out with a little smile, looking at Cloud's bandaged shoulder.

- "Well then switch sides" the blonde told him, rolling his eyes.

Reno let out a little laugh and crawled over Cloud, then lied down on the other side of his body, cuddling close while being really careful not to apply pressure on any of the ex-soldier's wounds. But Cloud wrapped his arm around the redhead's neck and pulled him closer.

- "No, Cloud-"

- "It's ok, I don't hurt anymore."

Reno smiled and then thought he could share a fact for Cloud's sexual education.

- "Yeah well, actually it's proven that having sex relieves headaches because of the hormones the brain releases into the body. So of course I thought it would be better than painkillers for your body if I-"

- "Reno?"

- "Yeah, sweetie?"

- "Shut up."