Some internal pull of responsibility woke Cloud up before dawn. Even four years later, autumn in the New World had traumatized something in him where he compulsively needed to prepare. Waking up and feeling that first morning chill of autumn in the cabin triggered an alert though his entire body.
But everything was fine. Even if somehow they didn't prepare enough, Sephiroth could guide him though surviving anything. Everything that had ever happened in Cloud's life before meeting Sephiroth seemed to be competing to be the thing that killed him, so the worst was now over. The New World was a kinder place, this was a better life, and it was only good times ahead.
Cloud tried to return to sleep with those positive thoughts, but he couldn't. Eventually, he gently untucked himself from underneath Sephiroth's arm.
His eyes didn't open, but he muttered in Shin-Ra, Where are you going?
Not far, Cloud answered. There wasn't really a word for 'outside', but the implication was there. Peaceful understanding crossed Sephiroth's beautiful face as he quickly fell back asleep.
Cloud quietly pulled on his trousers, but neglected to bother with stockings, a shirt, or boots. His need to be fully clothed and buttoned up at all times was finally starting to relax, especially when it was still mild enough outside not to need it. He took the kettle and a pinch of tea outside to prepare it where he wouldn't disturb Sephiroth.
Cloud sipped his tea beside a tiny morning campfire as he considered the morning, and his gaze drifted to... the house. He'd wrongly assumed that working on boats in the navy would have prepared him for building a house, and oh how wrong he'd been. Even though he'd followed the plan drawn up for him by people who were experienced, the entire thing was cockeyed and horrible, and most days he just wanted to set it on fire and start over.
Sephiroth didn't think a house was necessary, but they couldn't live in a little one room cabin for the rest of their lives. Cloud wanted a real home for their life to happen in.
His thoughts took their normal course what he needed to accomplish before they could move in. It was hard work and there had been massive failures and setbacks, but it was finally coming together.
The house consisted of a wrap around porch, big room where the fireplace stood, and a separate storage room that would one day act as a kitchen when they could obtain a proper stove, washstand, and pump. There was also a closet beneath the stairs, and a loft above for sleeping. It could be reached by the narrow staircase which Cloud had been rather proud of since it was the only thing in the house that was actually level. Sephiroth didn't need stairs, he was able to simply climb up with the kind of acrobatic ease that made Cloud feel small, clumsy and simple in comparison.
It was very open on the inside thanks to the high ceiling and overlooking loft. The elevation would keep them secure at night, if ever there was an intruder or wild animal he and Sephiroth would have all the advantage from above. Cloud liked the idea of the loft for other reasons too, and looked forward to a time when no other people would sit on his bed other than himself and Sephiroth. It was a quiet irk that he'd never voiced, and maybe led to the subconscious decision to elevate his sleeping space up where no visitor ever need go.
Embers in the fireplace below would keep them warm all night in the winter, and there was a large window in the loft that they could open to allow breezes to come through in the summer. Cloud closed his eyes and smiled against his knees, imagining the kind of sleep he would enjoy in a real house with Sephiroth close beside him.
Cloud pressed his face harder into his knees, grinning against another wave of disbelief and gratitude for how lucky he was. Most of his life had been spent looking forward to death. As a child, he thought he'd most likely die of illness in the orphanage like so many others. And then when he was a younger boy in the navy, he looked forward to at least a halfway honorable death at sea. But since the chance to come to the New World opened up to him, and more specifically when he met Sephiroth, he was given a million reasons to live.
Thoughts of his past came up more often, lately. Life was enjoyable and fulfilling and so full of love, that it sometimes felt almost like he'd died and begun a new life. He wished he could speak to his younger self and assure that boy that one day he would belong somewhere, and he would be loved, and that he wasn't going to die alone and forgotten in a cruel world.
Cloud sipped his tea as the sunrise brought the small house into better perspective. It wasn't really cockeyed, but rather quite cheerful looking as the dawn broke behind it... maybe it was actually a nice house, or at least had the potential to become one someday. Or maybe it already was?
Cloud gulped down the rest of his tea in one swallow and went into the cabin, "Seph?"
Sephiroth was on his stomach with his legs sprawled wide in shameless relaxation. Even though he didn't open his eyes or move a muscle, a pause in his breathing gave away that he was indeed awake, but playing dead in the hopes that Cloud would just leave him alone.
"Seph..." Cloud whispered patiently, running a hand over the smooth, golden skin of his broad shoulders. His finger followed one of the swirling arches of the tribal patterning that was tattooed across his shoulder blades and curled around to end just before his armpit. Cloud's finger reached that spot and started wriggling, "Sephiroth!"
He jerked away from the ticklish touch, muttering in the Shin-Ra language. Cloud fully understood the lament for older days when bunnies wouldn't bother him so much in the morning.
Cloud reached down to smack Sephiroth's perfectly displayed ass, "Stop calling me that!"
"Never," Sephiroth groaned as he rolled over onto his side and made room on the bed. "Come."
Cloud pushed his pants back off before he dropped back down next to him. Sephiroth roughly collected Cloud in his arms and threw a long, heavy leg over him for good measure.
Cloud enjoyed being held just long enough that Sephiroth thought they were going back to sleep together. But then Cloud sucked in a nervous breath, "I was just outside thinking... why don't we move into the house? Anything that's left to build or fix can be done while we live in it. We could use the lumber from this cabin to start on the new barn and for a smokehouse like you wanted... what do you think?"
"And the sign?"
"What?"
"You know what the hell it means – sign," he rumbled sleepily.
"I know what sign means, but what do you mean?"
Sephiroth sighed, "The sign to live in house. It's standing since spring, but still you wait. Now you say you want to go – what's the sign?"
"Oh..." Cloud's shoulders relaxed and the gave that some serious thought. Maybe he really was waiting for some kind of supernatural sign that it was time to move in, "I guess it was the sunrise this morning. This particular sunrise, the house looked different to me. It looked ready."
Sephiroth hummed seriously, "Good sign."
"You really think it's time? I was just afraid the place would fall down after the first strong wind. I've never built anything in my life!"
"You did well," Sephiroth praised, knowing the full scope of how long and hard Cloud had worked on it, and how many lessons he'd learned in the form of failure. It was plain to see how important it was for him, so he further eased his anxiety in a way English men understood best, "The house is very proper."
"Do you want to live there with me?" Cloud asked indulgently, pressing a long, warm kiss against Sephiroth's lips.
"Where you sleep, I sleep," Sephiroth told him between more kisses. "Since the day you woke me from death."
Cloud thought it was more accurate that he kidnapped Sephiroth and then decided to keep him forever, but the way he put it was more romantic, "I love you."
"I love you, too. But I am not at death now, no need for waking me."
"I understand, Sir. Get some more sleep."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
It's not like they had much to move into the house, but Cloud spent the entire afternoon fretting over which direction to point the bed in the loft, where exactly their table and chairs should be on the ground floor, how to situate things on the front porch, and where to place the items they used everyday.
Sephiroth did as he was told and kept any opinions to himself.
Finally, Cloud finally closed the front door for the first time. He looked up at Sephiroth in the quiet stillness and whispered, "This feels weird."
"Why?" Sephiroth whispered back.
"... I don't know," he said, then turned around to consider the space. "... I feel like I'm sneaking around in somebody else's house."
Sephiroth sat at the table and stretched his long legs out, "Is your house."
"It's your house, too."
Sephiroth had never been inside a "proper house" before and wasn't sure what differentiated it from the cabin, other than the size. He was used to small huts for shelter, spaces open to the elements in good weather or sealed shut for winter. Sometimes during particularly bad winters where there was leaking or a storm came through a destroyed part of the permanent hut, they would seek shelter in a cave. As children it was great fun to have a little chaos to shake up the boring winter months, and getting a whole cave to explore and play in was much more eventful than spending all their time bundled up.
The house was almost like a little cave, and Sephiroth stood to open up the big downstairs window to let some sunshine in.
Cloud swallowed, feeling like the off center window looked unfinished and amateur, "We'll get glass soon."
"What is glass?"
"It's the stuff in the windows in the shops in town."
"Like curtain?"
"No, it's that stuff inside the window that's a bit like... ice," Cloud tried to explain. "Not cold and doesn't melt, it's solid, you see through it, it keeps the bugs and animals out. Very difficult to make, there are people who only do this – like the smith or the butcher who only have one job, so glass is something we'll have to buy."
"No glass in cabin window. Why do you need now?"
Cloud sighed through a wide smile and said Sephiroth's favorite word, "Because for a house it's proper."
"Oh Sir, if it's proper we must buy all the glass."
Cloud waved away the sarcasm, "We only need one pane for this window, and one for the window up in the loft. It'll be nice to let in air at night, and get some sunlight in the morning."
Sephiroth's face fell, "Window for morning sunlight in bed?"
Cloud's eyes widened in horror, "I didn't even think about – I'm sorry! I'll start making shutters right now, we don't need – "
Sephiroth shook his head and was up into the loft in two graceful climbing movements, "No is good, we just move bed. Come up."
Cloud had to climb the stairs like a mortal, but after a little more thought about morning sun rays, the bed could be positioned where it wouldn't disturb them if they wanted to sleep with the window open while it was still nice outside, at least until some slanted shutters could be made.
"Come out and see this," Cloud invited, opening the window and stepping out onto a walkway.
Cloud built it so that they could have a way to sweep snow off the roof to ease the burden of weight in the winter, or to reach the roof easily to make repairs without needing a ladder. It was also a nice little place to sit outside, a little secret London-esque roof access just for them. Cloud winced as they sat, listening for any creaking wood or bouncy beams or weak spots, but found that the solid and strong roof held their weight easily. They could even have a little table and chairs eventually, but for now there was space enough for both of them to lie down and spread out, so they did.
"What do you think?" Cloud finally asked. "Honestly?"
"It's very good," Sephiroth answered.
Cloud winced, "I know it's not very good, but with a little more time I can – "
"What I think honestly – I want you to be happy. Like getting married, I want you to feel like you're... uh, is belonging here. I know I didn't say it right."
"It's perfectly fine, I understand."
"No, how would you say it?"
"I think you mean... 'I want you to feel like you're home.'"
"Home is belonging?"
That little question felt like it sucker punched Cloud out of nowhere. He swallowed a knot in his throat, "Yes. Home isn't a house or a place, home is just belonging."
Sephiroth rolled up onto his elbow and looked down at him in concern, "What's wrong? You worked hard on this house for so long, when it's finished you should be happy."
"I guess..." Cloud sniffed and rubbed a stray tear away. "I've built this thing up in my mind. Like home was always something I'd find one day, and now that I'm here and you're here with me and this is real... I want to feel happy, but I feel numb. I don't know why."
Sephiroth knew the word numb from a sexual context, but it made complete sense, "You spent too long, worked too hard, you overworked your house penis."
Cloud sputtered a little laugh, "I suppose I did!"
Sephiroth smirked and laid his head close to Cloud's, "Is okay to become numb sometimes, the good feeling will come back soon. Take a break here with me."
Cloud grinned up in bittersweet bemusement at the swaying cover of leaves from their shade tree, and the blue sky beaming beyond it. His fingers found Sephiroth's silver hair as they usually did, and they watched a few slow, wispy clouds drift by for several minutes in silence together, "... Doing nothing with you at home is nice."
"So we shall do nothing at home," Sephiroth was rubbing slow circles against Cloud's scalp as he watched the sky, "... Why you never ask me to help with house?"
"Because you already do so much with hunting, and planting and the farm work. I wanted to prove I could do this myself... making the home is wife duties, after all."
"I will help you take care of house, finish what we need if you would ask me. You don't have to keep working alone and becoming numb of it."
"... I wanted to do this for you."
"And it's done. Thank you. Honestly Cloud, it's a proper place for living."
"There's a tradition in England about carrying your wife into your house when you get married," Cloud snickered. "You're supposed to present your wife with a beautiful house to call home, and pick her up and carry her through the doorway!"
"You did years ago. You carried me."
Cloud never thought of it that way. Sephiroth had certainly belonged in his life since carrying him to his ratty little colony tent to recover, "That didn't count, though!"
"Why do they do it? Carry wife?"
Cloud stretched out a little bit in the sun, "I don't know. Something stupid about bad spirits and bad luck. Like it protects the wife from anything bad attacking her."
"There's spirits everywhere. Some asshole, but most here are kind, won't want to attack you, they know you. You're married with me, you belong on this land, too."
Cloud peered up at him, "What are you talking about?"
"Spirits."
"How do you even knows that word?"
"Reno. He distills spirits, told me it also means like niya, you know, life of all things."
"You think spirits are real?"
"What you mean?"
"Not a dream," Cloud clarified. "When you wake up from dreams, you're in the real world. Not the dream world... make sense?"
"You think spirits are only in dreams?" Sephiroth asked with as much incredulation.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The feeling that he was sneaking around in someone else's house was sharp and strange, and Cloud couldn't shake it as night fell and they closed themselves inside for the night, and lit a small fire and a few candles to illuminate the place.
Suddenly there was room for shadow play on the walls, for their voices to bounce around in a larger space, for little pockets of cold to gather in far corners. Cloud had a million things he wanted to acquire to make it feel more like a home – some rugs, pillows for the chairs, maybe even some lovely artwork in the future to join Rude's little wall tapestry that he'd begun for Sephiroth and Cloud, or some pottery to bring in some flowers from outside.
The following night they planned on throwing a little housewarming party to begin making some good memories in the place. They'd already had so many beautiful times in the cabin, and Cloud wanted this house to be a cheerful, welcoming place where friends and family gathered.
But the very first night was theirs enjoy it alone and to leave their own imprint on the place, but Cloud was trapped in this absolutely frustrating mood. When it was time for bed and they put out the fire downstairs, Cloud found himself actually carrying a candle upstairs to the loft. For some reason it never occurred to him how dark it would become up there, how difficult it would be to see Sephiroth, and what an ocean of dark the rest of the house would be at night.
"We'll have to get a little lantern for up here," Cloud frowned.
"Are you alright?" Sephiroth asked as he dropped into bed.
Cloud kept glancing over the edge of the loft, "... I'm fine."
Cloud set the candle on the crate next to their bed, and crawled in with Sephiroth. Everything about his first night in the house was turning out to just be strange, even his reluctance to answer Sephiroth's lips and hands with any energy to christen the place. Sephiroth got the message and just curled up behind him, and was easily sleeping in minutes.
Cloud however was watching the candle burn. He kept turning his attention to the open space next to the loft, finding strange figures and shadows flitting along the beams of the ceiling. They couldn't be focused on, and he couldn't help but muse upon what Sephiroth had said earlier – the spirits wouldn't attack knowing he was Sephiroth's partner.
But why? Was it because the land was finally ready to turn against the enemy invaders? Or had building this house really driven him so mad that he couldn't even make love with his husband and enjoy his first good night's sleep in it?
The candle burned until it was just a little tip of a wick floating in liquid. It grew smaller and smaller, and every so often it would flare brightly as though it might be a miraculous little beacon through this strange and uncomfortable night.
But too soon, the little ember of light snuffed itself out with a sizzle, and Cloud was wide eyed in the total blackness of the house he'd built. Sephiroth had drifted a little farther away in his sleep, and Cloud's body burned to roll over to seek him out, but that would mean turning his back on the overlook of the loft.
Cloud's breathing was feather light as he listened intently to the sounds of the wilderness; the house let in more outside noise than the dense log cabin walls did, not to mention the open loft window. He listened to every rustle of leaves and skitter of paws outside, every soft call of an owl and brush of wings through the sky. But then there was another noise – it sounded like a shift of fabric downstairs and it caused him to bolt upright in bed.
If Cloud hadn't known better, it sounded like a woman gathering her dress before taking a tiny feminine step, followed by the soft creak of a floorboard.
"Sephiroth," Cloud whispered.
He was dead asleep. And stupidly, Cloud had just revealed that he was awake to whatever specter was downstairs. He quickly laid back down.
It was silent for a long while. Then that shift of fabric, and another soft creak. And another. Another.
Windchimes that Rude had made swayed and created distant plinking music from the front porch as a breeze slid past the house and through the open window, and in the cover soft noise those footsteps starting coming up the stairs and Cloud finally yelped, "Sephiroth! Sephiroth wake up!"
Sephiroth let out a little fart in sudden panic and cried out, "Taku!?"
"There's someone in the house!"
Sephiroth was already up out of bed, and in one brave leap left the loft and was looking around the house for any sign of an intruder. A candle was quickly lit downstairs, and Sephiroth carried it back up with him, "Nobody is here!"
"I heard someone walking around down there! They were coming up the stairs!"
Sephiroth let out a long breath, "Is nobody but us. Door is lock, window is bolt. For someone to get in here, they make a lot of noise, we would know."
"And what of spirits!?"
Sephiroth squinted at him, "Spirits? You said they were in dreams – were you dreaming and heard spirits?"
"I'm wide awake and I am telling you someone was walking around down there! And I saw evil spirits up there on the ceiling, all moving around and waiting for me to go to sleep!"
Sephiroth looked at the very normal, unmoving ceiling and made a solemn diagnosis, "They are gone."
Cloud had the blanket up to his chin, "Bring me my musket. And a flint. And some gunpowder. Just bring the whole gun bag."
"I'm not bringing you anything. There's nobody here to shoot."
"Sleep on the roof with me."
Sephiroth's eyes popped wide open, "To be shit on by owls!?"
"Then let's just go back to the cabin!" Cloud begged. "We can take our bed back in there tonight, we can come get the rest tomorrow. We can just leave this house as the new barn, or better yet tear it down and use the lumber as – "
"Bunny, you – "
Cloud erupted, "I hate this house! I don't want to live here, I hate it!"
Sephiroth dropped one knee down on the bed and then slumped over next to him, "Bunny! Look at me. Listen. This house you made. Is not spirits, is not attack, is not nothing but your mind. Just your mind... you've had your mind on this house for a year and more, you feel it's not finished but it is. And we will live here, and we will belong, and it will be home. You have to be soft with it. Be easy."
Cloud was staring miserably out over the railing of the loft, and he never felt like a child more in his entire life. Perhaps his actual childhood had never afforded him this kind of tantrum and it was all coming out now, but he knew Sephiroth loved him enough to actually suggest, "Will you stay awake until I fall asleep?"
"Yes."
Cloud looked at him, "Really?"
"This house you made loves you, everything in this house loves you – if spirits, if friends, but most of all me. Go to sleep."
Cloud rubbed his hands down his face, "I'm sorry."
"I want you to sleep," Sephiroth guided him to lay back down. This time, instead of Cloud being closest to the drop over the loft, Sephiroth crawled over him to switch sides.
That small adjustment didn't remove the dread, the swirling and foreboding shapes creeping along the ceiling beams, or stop the ambient noise from outside. But there was now a huge, gorgeous, chiseled native warrior between him and those things, so it was definitely an improvement. Sephiroth remained upright in bed, and patiently watched as Cloud's features softened and his lips parted with sleep.
Sephiroth heard the melody of Rude's windchimes tinkling occasionally outside, and he noticed that Cloud's breathing would grow a little lighter whenever they chimed as though he was listening to them, too. It brought a smile to his face as he slowly slid down to lay beside Cloud and reached out to snuff the candle with two fingers.
In the dark, Sephiroth whispered in his language as he sometimes did when he felt her gentle presence, Goodnight, mother.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The next morning Cloud took his turn cleaning out the pigs' pen, where seven fully grown female pigs had taken up permanent residency... with another litter on the way. The original parent pigs hadn't been kept properly apart, there had been a learning curve about pig breeding habits and soon they'd have more babies on their hands. To be more careful as the babies started to reach maturity, the five male pigs were being babysat by their neighbor Cid, another employee of Angeal Hewley who'd come from England with a big flock of British sheep.
Cloud had made fast friends with him by just being interested in hearing about the journey by sea with that many animals and a whole team of shepherds, plus their families. Cid was very friendly and always wanted him and Sephiroth to come over for tea so he could talk their ears off, and he had the extra space to keep the boy pigs temporarily until Sephiroth and Cloud could build a second barn for them.
Sephiroth was hopelessly bonded to the pigs and Cloud was happy to indulge him in that, especially since they did a lot of unexpected work for their little farm – they ate almost all the waste and produced a ton of rich fertilizer. Some neighbors were a little more trigger happy about eating their livestock and didn't have a lot of fertilizer on hand, so they liked to trade and purchase it from Sephiroth and Cloud whenever it was available to be picked up in bulk. So it was a nice bonus for Cid to babysit the boys, he got all the free pig shit he wanted.
"Don't you have enough manure with all those sheep?" Cloud had asked.
"The key is to diversify," Cid instructed him sagely. "And you can tell these fellows eat well and are happy. Happy pigs, happy shite – remember that."
When he'd taken the boys, he also left Sephiroth and Cloud with some extra lumber for them to use on the second barn, plus tea and biscuits and sweet preserves that his wife Shera made for them.
Once Cid left, Cloud gawked up at Sephiroth, "If we fail at growing food, at least we can always trade with this. Maybe this is our niche!"
"What is niche?"
"Something that makes us special!" Cloud clarified. A pig sanctuary poop factory was certainly niche, but the New World needed all sorts of people and things in order to thrive.
Caring for the sweet, affectionate pigs put Cloud in the moment, it didn't leave him much time for musing about the strangeness of the night before, which was kind of the point.
Sephiroth was extra helpful and accommodating that morning, and had left to go around and invite their friends and neighbors to a housewarming party while Cloud cleared his mind. It wasn't so bad going into the house in the light of day to get a drink of water and escape the barn for a moment. Cloud felt like an idiot for how he'd acted the night before, but there was just something about the new house... he couldn't seem to relax. He hoped that maybe having some people over would change the energy of the place.
He remembered being so ecstatic when they completed the cabin. It'd only taken three days to assemble with Sephiroth's help and he remembered how amazing that first night under a roof with him had felt. Why was the house so different? Why did it feel so... haunted?
Sephiroth came back with a turkey from Zack's shop, it was a little early in autumn for their annual celebration, but a housewarming party was an even better reason for everyone to gather. The new house actually afforded enough room for everyone, but they realized they needed someplace for them all to sit!
They spent the afternoon searching for suitable wood to throw together some quick extra seating. Cloud was able to make some galley-style seating where five could sit together on a bench, and sanded it smooth. It was actually fun to try to situate it to where everyone could reach food and see each other, and he was actually enjoying being in the house for the first time.
They made a fire and lit candles in every corner and lined the stairs with them to illuminate the place, and their friends began arriving. Zack and Aerith came first; she had a basket full of flower bulbs for them, and he brought black pudding and a big, soft rug made out of rabbit fur that was perfect for stepping out of bed in the morning.
"You know what they say about rabbits! Good luck!" Zack explained. "Well, that's mostly just the foot. But several whole rabbits gotta mean even more good luck, right?"
"Look at this!" Aerith began showing Cloud all the varieties of flower bulbs, "If you line the perimeter of the house with them now, it'll make it really nice and fresh and homey come springtime! These types do best with autumn planting, they might even flower a little bit in the winter!"
"Thank you!" Cloud was fully red down below his collar at the generous gifts. "You really want to just give us all of these?"
"Absolutely! Planting flowers around a new house is what brings in good luck, and it repels any bad luck, or bad... vibes!" She smiled radiantly, and her eyes flicked over to Sephiroth for a moment.
Cloud noticed, but was too distracted by the gifts to really care.
Rude and Reno arrived next; the ginger was always to be counted on to bring plenty of whiskey for every occasion, and Rude had made some Shin-Ra bread, and another little crafted gift for them. This one was a shaker stick made out of shells and dried leaves, and he shook it all around the front door reverently while humming.
"Hang over entry," Rude said to Cloud and handed him the stick.
"It's beautiful, thank you!"
"Is clean out all bad spirits from house. If you have bad spirits on land, is because you didn't have this important tool. Best at removing bad energy and evil spirits, none shall plague you."
"Is that so..." Cloud looked up at him suspiciously. "How does it work?"
"... Shin-Ra magic cannot be explained in English."
I can speak enough Shin-Ra to understand, Cloud countered.
Rude's expression dropped and he looked at Sephiroth.
"Rude has much secret wisdom," Sephiroth interjected. "He is shaman."
"The hell he is!" Reno guffawed, "What kinda bullshit are you two on about?"
"Very well meaning bullshit! I love this gift Rude, thank you," Cloud leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, then took a nail to hang the very legit magical shaman tool over their front door immediately. Even if it was made up, he adored what it symbolized – a husband and a friend who both cared.
Cid and Shera arrived with tea and sweets, as well as several of the colonists who were rescued by Sephiroth on that first terrible winter, and a few of their nearby neighbors. Everyone brought something for the new home – a piece of kitchenware, a pot with flowers, a freshly made food item to share, or something useful for their farm.
Cloud had no intention of throwing this gathering to receive gifts, but he accepted everything graciously. It was almost like his private wish list was being fulfilled, and it really did make all the difference in the way the new house felt. One neighbor had his own guitar and began to strum some music, another elder that Sephiroth knew from the pub brought a deck of playing cards, and it became a real party.
"I have something to offer you," their neighbor Tifa told him quietly once the party was in full swing. "But you can say no if you don't want them."
Her husband Barrett interjected from where he was playing cards at the table, "They don't want them, I don't know why you brought those evil little – "
"They might want them!"
"I want them!" Cloud cried out in laughter. "Whatever it is, I'll be happy to take it!"
"Come outside," she said, and brought Cloud to where they'd left their horse and cart along the path outside that was quickly becoming a worn and busy little road. "I didn't want to say this in front of anyone else. You probably already know, but Sephiroth told us that you were kind of worried about the new house and feeling a little... not at home last night."
"He told everyone I'm suddenly afraid of ghosts?" Cloud assumed.
"It's okay, I know how that feels... new houses are strange feeling sometimes," she said as she reached underneath the driver's seat. There was a box covered in a blanket, "You can take one, all, or none. I know pets aren't a great gift, but they take care of rodents and really cheer up a house."
Cloud had to let out a little sound as he looked in at four little kittens. Being uncovered quickly roused them, and all were reaching for the top of the box. Two were black, one was white while it's paws and tail all seemed to be dipped in black ink, and the fourth white one had half its' face as a black mask and was spotted throughout.
"They're beautiful!" Cloud swooned, and picked up one of the black ones. In the navy he was always surrounded by cats that were more coworkers than pets, and rarely got to handle them when they were so small. The kitten was so tiny and light, and immediately was pawing at his face and sniffing him, "Doesn't your little girl want them?"
"This was a huge litter, we're keeping five because she already named them and that's way too many. She's happy to let these ones go knowing they might end up living with you and Sephiroth - if you want them, of course. She'll probably be begging to visit them, though."
"I do want them, and Marlene can come over anytime to see them! But let me ask Sephiroth," Cloud said in a very high pitched voice as he reached in to also scoop up the white one with the black boots as well. Both kittens sank their delicate little claws into Cloud's shirt and hung onto him as he went into the house.
He approached Sephiroth at the table and unhooked the black kitten from his shirt to offer it to him, "Can we keep them?"
He looked up from his cards at the little creature curiously. Domesticated cats were not a thing in the New World, these were British imports, "... Not food, correct?"
"Correct!" Cloud laughed. "It's a house cat! They live with you, they hunt rats, and they're so cute!"
"House cat is hunter?" Sephiroth asked, putting his cards down and taking the kitten with reverence. He looked at it's paper thin little claws protruding from a tiny, black padded paw. He was shirtless so the kitten had nothing to hook them on to, and reached to bat at his long silver hair instead.
"You'll love to watch them hunt, they're so wicked and vicious," Cloud cooed at the one he was carrying, kissing the top of its' head between it's little pointed ears. "You don't mind if I have them?"
"Of course," he agreed, not really knowing why his approval was needed.
"Careful, Sephiroth. They piss on everything," Barrett warned. "And they cry all night. And they bite. And they leave dead animals in your boots."
"And they ward off evil spirits," Reno added.
Cloud sighed in exasperation, "You can drop the evil spirit stuff."
"No, I'm dead serious," Reno told him. "You have a cat in the house, evil is as good as gone."
"That's because cats are the most evil thing in any house," Barrett explained.
"Well..." Cloud pulled yet another one out of the box, glowing with a kitten in each hand. "Now we have four!"
"Four cats?" Sephiroth gawked. "Perhaps one or two?"
"We have twelve pigs and more on the way!" Cloud countered. "What's four cats?"
Tifa quickly handed Sephiroth the last kitten from the box. They seemed to sense his masculine hesitancy and were playing up their cuteness for him with tiny mews, "... I suppose we have four hunter cats. But how big do they become!? Not growing greatly like pigs and shitting everywhere, correct?"
"They get a little bigger, but stay small enough to hold," Cloud assured him. "And they bury their own poop!"
"Not in your shoes, if you're lucky," Barrett grumbled.
When the party waned, people left almost in the order they'd arrived in. The last to leave were Aerith and Zack, who were enamored with the new kittens but had to tear themselves away to get back home. Zack had another hunting trip with Sephiroth scheduled for later in the week, and Aerith promised to return sometime in the next few days to help them plant the flower bulbs.
Once everyone was gone, closing the door felt entirely different than it had the night before. The fake shaman seashells clunked pleasantly as Cloud bolted the door with a smile. The basket of flower bulbs had been emptied, lined with a handkerchief and filled with four sleeping kittens who were exhausted from being fawned over all night. Cloud left a little dish of milk next to them, and followed Sephiroth upstairs.
He gazed over the loft and saw the entire place so differently than the night before. He looked up at the ceiling and while it did seem there were shadows and shapes swirling if he squinted and tried to see them, it was more like watching dark clouds pass by in the night sky rather than anything foreboding.
Sephiroth hugged him from behind, "How you feel now?"
"Better," Cloud answered. The candle in the loft cast a large shadow of them on the far wall, and he never really saw such a display of how different their heights were as Sephiroth eclipsed him from behind. He turned in Sephiroth's arms and went on his toes to kiss him, "How do you feel?"
Sephiroth answered by kissing Cloud again, and burying his hand in the back of his spiky hair to hold him close and guide him to bed with his lips.
"You're too sweet and patient with my bullshit," Cloud smiled, sitting down and scooting back to make room for Sephiroth to crawl between his legs.
"You've been patient with my bullshit many times," he said, settling heavy against Cloud and taking his time to unbutton his clothes. "And is not bullshit, besides. It's important to you."
"I love you."
"Love you," he agreed, kissing Cloud's throat and down over his collar bone and chest as he unbuttoned him.
Cloud helped him push the shirt off his shoulders, and unbuttoned his pants and kicked them aside. Sephiroth's leather leggings were off in a moment, and they found each other's skin and hardness and settled into familiar patterns of movement. Sometimes it was too easy to get off by just the feeling of Sephiroth between his legs and his heavy cock grinding against his, but this was the first official night in their real house. Whatever the night before had been was stricken from the record as far as he was concerned.
With a little push on Sephiroth's chest, he allowed Cloud to guide him to lay back. He appreciated Sephiroth's smooth, golden skin with his hands and lips, kissing across his tattooed chest and ribs before dragging his tongue down the center of his stomach. Sephiroth smelled so good at the core of his body, and Cloud took his time enjoying the taste of him from his balls to the tip of his cock before dropping his mouth down onto him.
He wasn't shy to let the noise of suction and saliva full the air, and it was interesting how different the new space allowed those sounds to echo and carry. The log cabin had almost a muffled effects on sounds and voices, but here they were louder. Sephiroth's breath began to halt a little, and he couldn't contain a little groan when Cloud focused on just the tip, creating a little vacuum of wet pressure that forced a little salty fluid to spread across his tongue. The thought of that taste being pushed inside him caused Cloud's cock to drool against Sephiroth's thigh. He dragged it a little against the warm muscle to give himself a little friction as he went back to work, getting Sephiroth's thick cock ready.
Sephiroth allowed Cloud to do whatever he wanted, it was indulgent to just sit back and watch him. His sunkissed complexion was reddened with a little bit of whiskey, and his pink lips stretched and tightened around his cock so nicely. He pushed the yellow hair off Cloud's forehead and tried not to impose, but couldn't resist guiding a little as he threaded his fingers through the soft spikes.
Cloud followed the weight of his hand, and allowed drool to spill over his cock. Sephiroth urged him so deep that he gagged a little, and that sound was a comical one as it glugged through the echoing space. He came up off of it with a little gasping laugh of air intake, and spat against the tip again before drawing himself up and straddling Sephiroth.
Cloud lined up and gently hinted at lowering himself down by brushing it against the tiny opening of his body. Maybe a little too eagerly, Sephiroth's hips popped up off the bed and he was buried halfway inside Cloud in an instant.
"Seph! Fu – hmn," Cloud laughed a little, and hissed as he began to sink down lower.
Sephiroth dug his fingers into Cloud's toned hips, liking how his petite frame carried a little more well fed muscle these days. He felt up Cloud's waist and back down the center of his stomach before wrapping his fist around his cock.
Cloud leaned back for a little leverage to slid up and down, easily finding that practiced angle that made him feel like spilling instantly. He was able to change the angle and hold off to focus more on Sephiroth, on giving him tight friction and smooth movement. His green eyes were fixed on the erotic sight of the shaft of his cock being ridden by Cloud's ass, and sometimes Cloud wished he could see it from that angle, too. But watching Sephiroth's appreciation of it was enough, and when his green eyes flicked up to meet Cloud's, the two of them shared a long look as Cloud began to move with more speed and intensity.
He met Cloud's ass every time it lowered with a little upwards thrust, wanting to bury himself deeper. Soon it was deep enough that their bodies touched and he was seated completely inside Cloud. He was trembling above Sephiroth, rolling his hips just a little bit and letting the helpless sensation of fullness and surrender flood his senses. When Sephiroth's cock was this deep it was impossible to even think, it was like he was nailed to the present moment and completely vulnerable.
Cloud's cock was drooling all over Sephiroth's fist and lower stomach, and he pumped it slowly with sticky threads as Cloud continued very carefully exploring sensation with small rolls of his hips. Sephiroth never had to ask anything during sex with words, he just sat up a little. Their eyes met and Cloud nodded, and so he held Cloud's hips and did his best to thrust slightly beneath him, creating just a little pop of power that made Cloud start crying out with each stab upwards against his prostate.
Sephiroth reached his limit when Cloud's entire chest blotted with that sexy reddened blushing color that he loved so much. He ran his hand over his chest and then pushed gently to guide Cloud backwards. They didn't have to disconnect for Cloud to be on his back, his legs pushed up and Sephiroth still deep inside him. He planted his knees against the bed and began to pound, burying himself balls deep every time.
Cloud's cries echoed off the high ceiling and through the house, and even Sephiroth's deeper, gutteral breaths reached new heights. Maybe feeling a little freer due to more space, he let Cloud hear him moan as he pushed his trembling thighs back farther to spread him open even wider. There was no pesky cabin wall to stop anything, they could extend out past the mattress on both sides.
"Please... Seph!" Cloud cried out.
"What?" Sephiroth asked, taking Cloud's precious little face in one rough, sticky hand and holding it tight as he continued to hammer deep inside him. "What you want?"
Sephiroth had taught Cloud a little phrase in Shin-Ra, and he didn't think of it often but cried out that night for Sephiroth to 'flood his ass' in the most vile and rude way imaginable. It was still pretty crude in English but in Shin-Ra it made Cloud sound so utterly improper that Sephiroth came inside him almost instantly. He loved this little Englishman in every prude and slutty, straight laced and irrational duality that he possessed. He wanted to give Cloud everything he wanted, especially every drop he had to unload deep inside him.
Cloud was ready for it and pulled his cock hard to erupt along with him, gasping in harsh breaths as it jetted against his chest and stomach. He held himself tight and wriggled his hips up at Sephiroth with a conspiratory grin, and it was enough to set off an entire second round before they were done.
It lasted hours, as it was fucking supposed to. It was what christening a new house was all about, and when that second orgasm had come and gone like a tornado, they were left trembling and senseless in each others' arms.
It was late in the morning before they woke up, and they only did so because the kittens were crying for attention downstairs.
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Weeks later autumn was in full, crispy bloom and ready to usher in winter. The flower bulbs were planted, their kittens Shadow, Sapa, Kola, and Black Socks had their little routine down, the baby piglets were ready to arrive any day, the new second barn was planned out for a quick assembly in spring, and life in the new house was wonderful.
One night Cloud came slightly awake in the early morning hours. He readjusted on his pillow and blinked a couple of times, saw Sephiroth's tattooed shoulder in front of him and kissed it before closing his eyes. But then he realized there was a little bit of light and wondered if a candle was still burning, and curiously lifted his head.
There was no candle, instead an ethereal glow was coming from the top of the stairs. It was the figure of a beautiful older woman; it was hard to really focus on her, but even in his half-awake state it was obvious who she was just by the shape of her face, her long silver hair and her shining green eyes.
… Do you visit Sephiroth? he sleepily asked in Shin-Ra.
She seemed delighted at his acknowledgment, and nodded.
I love him... I'm so grateful to you for him.
She nodded again.
Cloud had so much more he wished he could have expressed to Sephiroth's mother, but it all really boiled down to, ... I'm sorry.
Even if she didn't answer with words, she communicated so much with just a look. She was generating a sense of acceptance, love, and peace.
Cloud rested his head next to Sephiroth and went back to sleep, forgetting all about this encounter by morning.
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A/N
Sometimes when it's November, I just want to hang out in early colonial New England LMAO! Happy Thanksgiving, fam!