Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Hazard Pay ❯ Part 4 ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: LilyMoonsAlias 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Shounen / Supernatural / Romance / Hentai / Action | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 02.12.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 580 | Status: Work In Progress
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Shounen / Supernatural / Romance / Hentai / Action | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 02.12.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 580 | Status: Work In Progress
Reno wanted to get off the bike. No, he really, really wanted to get off the bike, but he was pretty sure his ass was permanently frozen to the seat. It had started sleeting in the early morning hours and Reno had thought Cloud would cancel or delay his delivery. He was wrong. The four hour trip had been pure misery with vicious winds, horribly low temperatures and the damned sleet that made travel hazardous and soaked through clothes. After the delivery was made Reno had been sure Cloud would stay over in the town as the weather only got worse. He was wrong again, and spent the whole of the return trip entertaining thoughts of various painful ways of inflicting damage on his tormentor.
Once back at the bar Cloud had gone immediately inside, leaving Reno still unable to unclench his hands from the grips or limber enough to slide his leg over the seat. He had actually worn for once the goggles usually sitting on his forehead, but the rest of his face felt badly chafed and wind burnt. The heavy coat and gloves that should have been adequate against cold or even snow were heavily wet from the sleet. No hat, of course, and his hair was bedraggled and limp around his face. Even his damned pants were wet and rubbing him raw. Reno wanted to kill somebody.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" Cloud stood beside him, annoyed and frowning. "There are easier ways to commit suicide than freezing yourself."
Reno glared at him. "Just enjoying the day." The sarcasm was utterly ruined by the uncontrollable chattering of his teeth. "I don't know who I hate more right now, you or Rufus."
Cloud yanked him off the bike and he stumbled the first few steps. The warm air inside the bar was almost painful on his face. Once inside, Reno was dripping from melting ice and, if anything, more miserable. He swiped a hand under his sniffling nose and winced at the touch of his wet gloves. When it looked as if he wasn't inclined to move any further, Cloud huffed impatiently and grabbed an arm to drag him toward the stairs.
"And Tifa thinks I don't have any sense," Cloud muttered.
Cloud shoved Reno through the door of his own room and snatched some towels from the bathroom to throw at his head. Clothes were gathered from a closet and dumped on a chair. Cloud took some clothes for himself and went back to the bathroom.
"Get dried and changed," Cloud called over his shoulder. "Get out of the wet ones before you buy it from exposure and spare me the irritation of you following me around."
Reno would rather have taken off his boots instead and winged them at a spiky blond head. It was totally messed up that Cloud seemed mostly unaffected by the weather. Even his hair looked like it could withstand worse and was still spiked. It had to be the mako in his body, Reno thought. Even Cloud's hands had felt warm when they had accidentally touched bare skin.
Reno bit his lip and tried to chase away thoughts of having that warmth surrounding him. He was still having these surreal and unwanted ideas about Cloud popping into his head at the most inopportune moments. It wasn't helping, either, that the night before he had woken up from a deliciously debauched dream with sticky sheets. Nothing of that sort had happened to Reno for a very long time. There were plenty of women, and men too, who were perfectly willing to have the Turk as a bed partner, but he just hadn't had the time since the assignment with Cloud. That was it, Reno decided. It was simple deprivation that was turning his libido towards Cloud.
"What is the matter with you, Reno?" Cloud said irritably. "Do you want to get ill? You haven't dried yourself at all and you're still dressed." Abruptly Cloud's voice shifted to one of concern. "Are you okay? Are your fingers too frost bitten to work?"
Cloud had started on the buttons of the soaked coat before Reno recovered from his shock. Hoping the windburn was already red enough to cover the heat in his cheeks, Reno smacked Cloud's hands away to attend to his own clothing.
"I can do it myself," he said a little too shrilly. "Just go on and I'll take care of it."
Cloud backed off. His expression had returned to a smooth blankness except that he was biting into his plump bottom lip. Reno groaned to himself. Fuck it. He grudgingly admitted to himself that he was attracted to Cloud. He wanted to bite that pouty lip himself and try to tease a smile from the man. He wanted to toss that unnaturally warm body on the bed and cover it with his own. Reno had to get Cloud out of the room before daring to take off another article of clothing.
"Do you mind if I take a shower to warm up before I get dressed?" Reno asked.
"Sure," Cloud agreed, a puzzled look on his face. "Just throw your wet things out here and they can go in the dryer."
"Thanks."
Reno crossed to the bathroom and shut the door, leaning back against it and dropping his chin to rest on his chest. He heard Cloud say something through the door about finding something hot to eat and drink and finally leave the room. Reno breathed a sigh of relief and winced as he peeled the goggles from his face. The skin all around them was reddened and rough. His hair was tangled and the shorter parts stood around his head in wild disarray.
Reno quickly shed the rest of his clothes and his boots, turning the shower on to just short of scalding hot. Opening the door a crack, he tossed all the wet and heavy clothes in a pile by the door and quickly shut it to keep the heat from escaping. Reno stepped under the rushing water and groaned a long, heartfelt moan of relief. The hot water sluiced over him, warming his cold skin and relaxing muscles cramped from long hours hunched over a bike. He rotated his neck and shoulders then reached for the bottle of shampoo. Flipping open the top let the scent waft to his nose. Cloud's scent. Reno hardened his jaw and rushed to lather and rinse his long hair. He was surprised to find that Cloud kept a matching conditioner, too. The silky stuff seemed to give an added softness to his own hair, and Reno couldn't help but wonder what Cloud's hair felt like when it wasn't up in its spikes.
You need to stop this, Reno told himself and grabbed the soap to scrub his body. He finished his shower in a hurry, his stomach telling him in convincing growls that it would like some attention, too, and soon. Reno stepped from the shower and wrapped one towel around his waist while using the other to try and get the water from his length of hair. A quick peek out the door showed that his wet clothes were gone, but the room was empty. The pile of clean, dry clothes still waited for him, and Reno almost shivered putting on the borrowed briefs, then chided himself over such foolish fancy. The rest of the black clothing fit, if a little loose on his more slender frame, and he slipped his feet into socks and some sort of lounging slippers. They were fluffy and warm. Reno didn't know what amused him more, the idea that they might be Tifa's, stolen from her room, or Cloud's.
A quick search of the bathroom turned up a comb, and Reno started on the task of getting the tangles from his hair. It was always a long process and occasionally painful. Sometimes, when it was really ratted, Reno thought about cutting it all short, but his inner vanity always won out. Not to mention it really got under Tseng's skin. Chuckling over his last fight with Tseng about it, he didn't hear Cloud reenter the room until the comb snagged a large knot and he squawked in frustration.
"Here, let me help."
Cloud took the comb from Reno's nerveless fingers and knelt on the bed with Reno sitting in front of him between his spread knees. Cloud was surprisingly gentle and skilled at working out the knots. Reno could see his face in the mirror over the dresser and it was smooth and completely focused on his task. One of Reno's little known secrets was how much he enjoyed having his hair brushed and stroked by another person. Under Cloud's gentle hands he began to relax even more than from the hot shower and his eyes drifted closed with pleasure. If he had been a cat, he would have been purring. Even so, he must have been making some sort of sound because he was startled by a low chuckle from Cloud.
"You're good at this, Cloud." Reno said.
Cloud shrugged one shoulder in one of his usual responses. "Marlene still needs help and you know she stays here when Barrett's gone."
Even after the tangles were gone, Cloud continued to draw the comb through the fiery redness, going from the crown all the way to the very ends that needed a trim. Reno quit caring that it was Cloud Strife combing his hair as if it were perfectly normal and simply enjoyed the moment. He sighed and let his chin rest on his chest, not even flinching when Cloud switched from the comb to using his fingers. He seemed just as comfortable stroking Reno's hair and loathe to stop. Then Reno's stomach gave another loud gurgle of plaintive emptiness.
"Guess we better eat something." Cloud hopped off the bed and turned to look at Reno.
Still blissed out from the combing of his hair, Reno was slower to move. He reached for his silver hair clasp when Cloud's hand stopped him.
"Leave it down," Cloud whispered, his cheeks slowing reddening. "It will dry faster," he said in his defense.
"Sure," Reno said easily. Interesting, he thought. It seemed that Cloud was not only warming up to him, but could possibly be feeling the same attraction. It actually made Reno feel a little less awkward.
Cloud led the way to his office where he had brought two large mugs of soup and some bottles of water. Reno started to protest the drink and Cloud cut off his rant.
"After being out in that mess all day you need the fluids, and alcohol is not appropriate," Cloud said firmly.
Reno subsided and took the mug instead. At least the soup was delicious and helped to chase away any lingering coldness he felt. They ate in silence. Reno finished the distasteful bottle of water and Cloud stacked the crockery, taking it downstairs to soak. Reno decided to test Cloud's new friendliness and casually lit up a cigarette in his office. When he returned, Cloud merely wrinkled his nose then produced an ashtray from a drawer in his desk. For long minutes the only sounds were Reno smoking and the scratching of Cloud's pen as he logged the delivery and payment.
"Why are you being so nice to me, Cloud?" Reno asked, genuinely curious at Cloud's change in attitude.
Cloud did that shoulder shrug again. "Running you all over the place and ignoring you wasn't working. It would be too much effort and mess to skewer you on my sword. So the only option was to just let you stay around. Besides," and here Cloud's face was definitely stained with a blush, "you're not so bad as company. At least you don't keep asking me about Sephiroth and how it felt to kill him again."
"Does that happen often?" Reno waved his cigarette in question.
"Quite a bit."
"Is that why you mostly stay away from everyone?"
Cloud was a long time in answering. "Partly."
"Is it also why you have trouble sleeping?" Reno asked.
Cloud took a shuddering breath and turned his haunted eyes away from Reno. "I think your clothes may be dry by now."
Reno took the hint and smoked the rest of his cigarette in silence. Cloud left the room and came back with Reno's dried and warm clothing. Reno took the pile and returned to Cloud's room to change. He neatly folded the borrowed clothes and set them on the bed. Fully dressed again, Reno descended the stairs with Cloud following behind. He took notice of the quiet and the fact the bar was closed along with Tifa's absence.
"Where are Tifa and the kids?"
"The bar is closed for a few days while Tifa and the kids go see Barrett. I guess Marlene was missing him," Cloud said.
"So you're here by yourself?"
Again, another one shoulder shrug that seemed to be Cloud's favorite way of answering anything. "I'm used to it."
Reno pulled at his lower lip and considered Cloud being alone here with no one else around. Reno had seen no activity from the group that Rufus had mentioned, but when Tifa was in residence it meant that there were two fighters home. He decided to take a chance.
"Look, I can stay if you want," Reno said. "I really don't look forward to going back out into that shit just to get to my apartment, and you know I'll just be back tomorrow."
Cloud appeared a little taken aback and looked at him with wide eyes. He raised a hand to his mouth to nibble on a thumb nail in habit. He caught what he was doing and forced his hand to his side.
"Well, if you really don't want to go back out, I guess you can stay in Denzel's bed," he said quietly and giving no clue to whether he resented Reno staying or not. Taking Denzel's bed meant effectively sharing a room with Cloud as Denzel stayed with him and Marlene with Tifa.
"Thanks, man," Reno said lightly and followed Cloud back up the stairs.
He stripped down to his briefs and climbed under the covers with a sigh. At least the bed was comfortable and the covers thick enough to keep out the chill. Reno turned on his side to give Cloud some privacy. He heard the rustle of Cloud getting ready for bed and resisted the urge to peek and get an eyeful. Cloud settled into his own bed with an exhausted moan that thrummed through Reno's body. Reno was certain he would have some interesting dreams tonight and hoped like hell that Rude was lying when he said Reno talked in his sleep.
"Good night, Cloud."
"Night, Reno," was the sleepy response.
Once back at the bar Cloud had gone immediately inside, leaving Reno still unable to unclench his hands from the grips or limber enough to slide his leg over the seat. He had actually worn for once the goggles usually sitting on his forehead, but the rest of his face felt badly chafed and wind burnt. The heavy coat and gloves that should have been adequate against cold or even snow were heavily wet from the sleet. No hat, of course, and his hair was bedraggled and limp around his face. Even his damned pants were wet and rubbing him raw. Reno wanted to kill somebody.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" Cloud stood beside him, annoyed and frowning. "There are easier ways to commit suicide than freezing yourself."
Reno glared at him. "Just enjoying the day." The sarcasm was utterly ruined by the uncontrollable chattering of his teeth. "I don't know who I hate more right now, you or Rufus."
Cloud yanked him off the bike and he stumbled the first few steps. The warm air inside the bar was almost painful on his face. Once inside, Reno was dripping from melting ice and, if anything, more miserable. He swiped a hand under his sniffling nose and winced at the touch of his wet gloves. When it looked as if he wasn't inclined to move any further, Cloud huffed impatiently and grabbed an arm to drag him toward the stairs.
"And Tifa thinks I don't have any sense," Cloud muttered.
Cloud shoved Reno through the door of his own room and snatched some towels from the bathroom to throw at his head. Clothes were gathered from a closet and dumped on a chair. Cloud took some clothes for himself and went back to the bathroom.
"Get dried and changed," Cloud called over his shoulder. "Get out of the wet ones before you buy it from exposure and spare me the irritation of you following me around."
Reno would rather have taken off his boots instead and winged them at a spiky blond head. It was totally messed up that Cloud seemed mostly unaffected by the weather. Even his hair looked like it could withstand worse and was still spiked. It had to be the mako in his body, Reno thought. Even Cloud's hands had felt warm when they had accidentally touched bare skin.
Reno bit his lip and tried to chase away thoughts of having that warmth surrounding him. He was still having these surreal and unwanted ideas about Cloud popping into his head at the most inopportune moments. It wasn't helping, either, that the night before he had woken up from a deliciously debauched dream with sticky sheets. Nothing of that sort had happened to Reno for a very long time. There were plenty of women, and men too, who were perfectly willing to have the Turk as a bed partner, but he just hadn't had the time since the assignment with Cloud. That was it, Reno decided. It was simple deprivation that was turning his libido towards Cloud.
"What is the matter with you, Reno?" Cloud said irritably. "Do you want to get ill? You haven't dried yourself at all and you're still dressed." Abruptly Cloud's voice shifted to one of concern. "Are you okay? Are your fingers too frost bitten to work?"
Cloud had started on the buttons of the soaked coat before Reno recovered from his shock. Hoping the windburn was already red enough to cover the heat in his cheeks, Reno smacked Cloud's hands away to attend to his own clothing.
"I can do it myself," he said a little too shrilly. "Just go on and I'll take care of it."
Cloud backed off. His expression had returned to a smooth blankness except that he was biting into his plump bottom lip. Reno groaned to himself. Fuck it. He grudgingly admitted to himself that he was attracted to Cloud. He wanted to bite that pouty lip himself and try to tease a smile from the man. He wanted to toss that unnaturally warm body on the bed and cover it with his own. Reno had to get Cloud out of the room before daring to take off another article of clothing.
"Do you mind if I take a shower to warm up before I get dressed?" Reno asked.
"Sure," Cloud agreed, a puzzled look on his face. "Just throw your wet things out here and they can go in the dryer."
"Thanks."
Reno crossed to the bathroom and shut the door, leaning back against it and dropping his chin to rest on his chest. He heard Cloud say something through the door about finding something hot to eat and drink and finally leave the room. Reno breathed a sigh of relief and winced as he peeled the goggles from his face. The skin all around them was reddened and rough. His hair was tangled and the shorter parts stood around his head in wild disarray.
Reno quickly shed the rest of his clothes and his boots, turning the shower on to just short of scalding hot. Opening the door a crack, he tossed all the wet and heavy clothes in a pile by the door and quickly shut it to keep the heat from escaping. Reno stepped under the rushing water and groaned a long, heartfelt moan of relief. The hot water sluiced over him, warming his cold skin and relaxing muscles cramped from long hours hunched over a bike. He rotated his neck and shoulders then reached for the bottle of shampoo. Flipping open the top let the scent waft to his nose. Cloud's scent. Reno hardened his jaw and rushed to lather and rinse his long hair. He was surprised to find that Cloud kept a matching conditioner, too. The silky stuff seemed to give an added softness to his own hair, and Reno couldn't help but wonder what Cloud's hair felt like when it wasn't up in its spikes.
You need to stop this, Reno told himself and grabbed the soap to scrub his body. He finished his shower in a hurry, his stomach telling him in convincing growls that it would like some attention, too, and soon. Reno stepped from the shower and wrapped one towel around his waist while using the other to try and get the water from his length of hair. A quick peek out the door showed that his wet clothes were gone, but the room was empty. The pile of clean, dry clothes still waited for him, and Reno almost shivered putting on the borrowed briefs, then chided himself over such foolish fancy. The rest of the black clothing fit, if a little loose on his more slender frame, and he slipped his feet into socks and some sort of lounging slippers. They were fluffy and warm. Reno didn't know what amused him more, the idea that they might be Tifa's, stolen from her room, or Cloud's.
A quick search of the bathroom turned up a comb, and Reno started on the task of getting the tangles from his hair. It was always a long process and occasionally painful. Sometimes, when it was really ratted, Reno thought about cutting it all short, but his inner vanity always won out. Not to mention it really got under Tseng's skin. Chuckling over his last fight with Tseng about it, he didn't hear Cloud reenter the room until the comb snagged a large knot and he squawked in frustration.
"Here, let me help."
Cloud took the comb from Reno's nerveless fingers and knelt on the bed with Reno sitting in front of him between his spread knees. Cloud was surprisingly gentle and skilled at working out the knots. Reno could see his face in the mirror over the dresser and it was smooth and completely focused on his task. One of Reno's little known secrets was how much he enjoyed having his hair brushed and stroked by another person. Under Cloud's gentle hands he began to relax even more than from the hot shower and his eyes drifted closed with pleasure. If he had been a cat, he would have been purring. Even so, he must have been making some sort of sound because he was startled by a low chuckle from Cloud.
"You're good at this, Cloud." Reno said.
Cloud shrugged one shoulder in one of his usual responses. "Marlene still needs help and you know she stays here when Barrett's gone."
Even after the tangles were gone, Cloud continued to draw the comb through the fiery redness, going from the crown all the way to the very ends that needed a trim. Reno quit caring that it was Cloud Strife combing his hair as if it were perfectly normal and simply enjoyed the moment. He sighed and let his chin rest on his chest, not even flinching when Cloud switched from the comb to using his fingers. He seemed just as comfortable stroking Reno's hair and loathe to stop. Then Reno's stomach gave another loud gurgle of plaintive emptiness.
"Guess we better eat something." Cloud hopped off the bed and turned to look at Reno.
Still blissed out from the combing of his hair, Reno was slower to move. He reached for his silver hair clasp when Cloud's hand stopped him.
"Leave it down," Cloud whispered, his cheeks slowing reddening. "It will dry faster," he said in his defense.
"Sure," Reno said easily. Interesting, he thought. It seemed that Cloud was not only warming up to him, but could possibly be feeling the same attraction. It actually made Reno feel a little less awkward.
Cloud led the way to his office where he had brought two large mugs of soup and some bottles of water. Reno started to protest the drink and Cloud cut off his rant.
"After being out in that mess all day you need the fluids, and alcohol is not appropriate," Cloud said firmly.
Reno subsided and took the mug instead. At least the soup was delicious and helped to chase away any lingering coldness he felt. They ate in silence. Reno finished the distasteful bottle of water and Cloud stacked the crockery, taking it downstairs to soak. Reno decided to test Cloud's new friendliness and casually lit up a cigarette in his office. When he returned, Cloud merely wrinkled his nose then produced an ashtray from a drawer in his desk. For long minutes the only sounds were Reno smoking and the scratching of Cloud's pen as he logged the delivery and payment.
"Why are you being so nice to me, Cloud?" Reno asked, genuinely curious at Cloud's change in attitude.
Cloud did that shoulder shrug again. "Running you all over the place and ignoring you wasn't working. It would be too much effort and mess to skewer you on my sword. So the only option was to just let you stay around. Besides," and here Cloud's face was definitely stained with a blush, "you're not so bad as company. At least you don't keep asking me about Sephiroth and how it felt to kill him again."
"Does that happen often?" Reno waved his cigarette in question.
"Quite a bit."
"Is that why you mostly stay away from everyone?"
Cloud was a long time in answering. "Partly."
"Is it also why you have trouble sleeping?" Reno asked.
Cloud took a shuddering breath and turned his haunted eyes away from Reno. "I think your clothes may be dry by now."
Reno took the hint and smoked the rest of his cigarette in silence. Cloud left the room and came back with Reno's dried and warm clothing. Reno took the pile and returned to Cloud's room to change. He neatly folded the borrowed clothes and set them on the bed. Fully dressed again, Reno descended the stairs with Cloud following behind. He took notice of the quiet and the fact the bar was closed along with Tifa's absence.
"Where are Tifa and the kids?"
"The bar is closed for a few days while Tifa and the kids go see Barrett. I guess Marlene was missing him," Cloud said.
"So you're here by yourself?"
Again, another one shoulder shrug that seemed to be Cloud's favorite way of answering anything. "I'm used to it."
Reno pulled at his lower lip and considered Cloud being alone here with no one else around. Reno had seen no activity from the group that Rufus had mentioned, but when Tifa was in residence it meant that there were two fighters home. He decided to take a chance.
"Look, I can stay if you want," Reno said. "I really don't look forward to going back out into that shit just to get to my apartment, and you know I'll just be back tomorrow."
Cloud appeared a little taken aback and looked at him with wide eyes. He raised a hand to his mouth to nibble on a thumb nail in habit. He caught what he was doing and forced his hand to his side.
"Well, if you really don't want to go back out, I guess you can stay in Denzel's bed," he said quietly and giving no clue to whether he resented Reno staying or not. Taking Denzel's bed meant effectively sharing a room with Cloud as Denzel stayed with him and Marlene with Tifa.
"Thanks, man," Reno said lightly and followed Cloud back up the stairs.
He stripped down to his briefs and climbed under the covers with a sigh. At least the bed was comfortable and the covers thick enough to keep out the chill. Reno turned on his side to give Cloud some privacy. He heard the rustle of Cloud getting ready for bed and resisted the urge to peek and get an eyeful. Cloud settled into his own bed with an exhausted moan that thrummed through Reno's body. Reno was certain he would have some interesting dreams tonight and hoped like hell that Rude was lying when he said Reno talked in his sleep.
"Good night, Cloud."
"Night, Reno," was the sleepy response.