Aftermath

Author’s Note: No serious warnings, language, mature themes, and a mild bit of humor. ^^*

Thank you to...
- Youkofox, for your beta read through.
- kamizuki, for your review. *chuckles* I can relate to the work thing, too. Ahh, the drudgery of office work!
- Iggy Lovechild, for your review and stuff. I swear, I can't figure out who does more distracting from scheduled projects: you or me. ^^; I'm going to get a little more predictable for a bit, just enough so that it feels right. *laughs* Email me, we'll distract some more, yo.
- Squallfan, for your review. Uh... *blush* Thanks. Now I feel like I can't disappoint ya. ^^* *hugs you*
- moon, for your review. Thanks! Here's the next little bit... more in a week-ish! ^^

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Chapter 12: Surprising

“Thanks for putting coffee on,” Tifa said. Her voice crackled electronically through the phone on Cloud’s desk as the intercom buzzed to life, nearly scaring him to death.

“Sure,” Cloud said, hoping she didn’t need him to continue speaking.

“You coming down for breakfast?”

“Nah,” Cloud said, as he forced his lips to move. He hadn’t even thought about breakfast yet. He’d just gotten up about ten minutes ago, started the coffee, and had gone back to his room to boot up his computer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to her; it was just too early in the morning for him. Neither one of them was a morning person, but Tifa always seemed to be able to fake it better than he could.

“Alright, but if you change your mind, let me know,” she said, not sounding too concerned. There was mild amusement in her tone that Cloud thought sounded out of place. Was she teasing him about being half-asleep? They’d been out pretty late the night before. It didn’t matter that it was almost ten in the morning; Cloud felt like he could have slept the day away.

She’d completely worn him out, trying to teach him how to dance once he’d told her what had happened at Club Nine. Even though his legs were tired today, Cloud thought that it had been worth the effort; he had some interesting moves he could surprise Reno with now. All that worrying that he wouldn’t measure up on a dance floor had been for nothing. He really wasn’t bad at it, at least that’s what Tifa told him.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes with both hands, hoping that he would wake the hell up soon. He had a busy day ahead of him and a certain package to drop into the nearest incinerator. Despite Vincent’s hesitation, Cloud had made the difficult decision to just get rid of the shit. He didn’t need to worry that Marlene might accidentally find it, not to mention the fact that having it in the house was really making him more anxious than he really needed to be.

“Do you need help with something?”

Tifa laughed, sounding much more awake than Cloud felt, “Not really, but you should get down here if you have a second. You just got a package.”

“Just put it with the rest of them,” Cloud said.

“No, you got a package,” Tifa said. “It has your name on it.”

“What?” Cloud said abruptly, his tone turning serious.

“Uh, I don’t think—“

“Tifa, just don’t touch it,” Cloud said, more firmly. He jolted, taking a sharp breath. He was suddenly more awake and alert than he’d been a few seconds before. “I’ll be down in a second.”

He turned off the intercom on the phone before she could say anything else and his mind raced with anger. A package? For him? He glanced at the small square box on the corner of his desk that had Seneco’s name on it and his gaze hardened. It better not be from Seneco or any of his gang. If it was, he’d be dropping two items into the incinerator today.

When he walked into the kitchen, Tifa was leaning against the counter eating dry cereal out of a box. Her munching stopped as she looked at him. Anxiety rushed through his veins as he looked around for the package.

“Where is it?”

“It’s on the bar,” she said, her words sounding muffled as she tried to talk through a mouth full of half-chewed food. A huge grin was spreading across her face. Dropping the box of cereal on the counter, she hurried after him as he backed out of the kitchen. Cloud glanced at her with mild annoyance, trying to understand why she was so amused.

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. There, on the bar counter sat a small black wicker basket. It had a blue piece of plastic wrap enfolded around it and a small card stuck out from the side.

“What the fuck?”

Tifa covered her mouth with one hand, giggling softly. She lifted the card, and cracked it open with her fingers, peeking inside.

“It’s from Reno,” she said, looking like she was trying to keep a straight face.

Cloud’s brow furrowed in confusion and he ripped the card off the corner of the basket. His eyes widened in surprise as he read the note attached.

Tonight, I’m going to be keeping you up past your bedtime, whether you call me or not. –Reno

There were no words to accurately describe the intense rush of sweat and chills that started at the top of Cloud’s scalp and wound its way down to his toes. His skin was crawling as he thought about how blatantly obvious Reno’s message was and what it was referring to. He couldn’t believe how much those words had fucking turned him on.

Painfully aware of Tifa’s eyes on him, he forced himself not to look at her. Instead, he stared down at the basket and pulled the clear blue cover off the top. Feeling utterly perplexed, he looked at the contents and just stood there frozen, unsure what to think.

The gift basket was full of various little sex toys and trinkets. Cloud hooked his finger around a firm blue ring and pulled it out to get a better look at it. The ring was soft, made of some sort of plastic and filled with a gel-like substance; beads trailed down the solid plastic string, becoming smaller as they neared the end. Cloud blinked in shock and dropped it back into the basket upon realization of what he was looking at. His cheeks flushed hotly with embarrassment.

The surreal nature of this situation was making him feel lightheaded, yet Cloud was filled with a vague sense of relief. He was really glad that he had told Tifa about Reno last night. He could clearly imagine her reaction to this unexpected gift being much less jovial if she hadn’t been in the know. His eyes glazed for a second as he realized how closely he had avoided an emotional disaster.

Tifa leaned over and lifted up something shiny and metal, “Handcuffs?” She raised an eyebrow at him suggestively.

“I’m going to kill him,” Cloud said, under his breath. He took the handcuffs from her, dropping them back into the basket.

“That sounds more like what I’m used to hearing,” Tifa said, unable to hold back a bright smile any longer.

Still flushed, Cloud grabbed the basket and put it under his arm. He crumpled the card in his hand and stalked swiftly back to his room, leaving Tifa behind with no real explanation. She had to know how uncomfortable this shit made him and Cloud just figured she’d understand his sudden departure.

Cloud dropped the basket on his desk and picked up the business card Reno had given him. Scowling, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number on the back of the card without really thinking things through. It rang a few times, allowing Cloud just enough time to start wondering if calling Reno right now was such a good idea.

“Yo,” Reno said.

“Holy fuck, Reno,” Cloud said, unable to control the freaked out tone in his voice.

“Cloud?” Reno said, sounding surprised. His voice became low and seductive, “Hmm, got my present, did ya?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Cloud said, irritation in his voice. “Are you out of your mind sending something like that here?”

“Aw, I thought you’d like it,” Reno said. “You didn’t like it?”

Cloud paused, forcing himself to take a deep breath. He clearly wasn’t conveying the message that he wanted to, because Reno wasn’t getting what he was trying to say. He liked the fact that Reno had sent him a gift, even if the gift itself had been a little questionable. What he couldn’t seem to communicate, was that it bothered him that Tifa had seen it. Anyone else could have, too. Thank the fucking lifestream that some of his other friends hadn’t been there. The thought of Cid or Yuffie reading that note sent a tingle of dread directly to his stomach.

He wondered how many other surprises he was unknowingly signing up for by indulging in his desires with Reno. The Turk was reckless, impulsive, and probably insane, if his recent actions were a reliable indication of what lurked behind the smooth surface he presented to the world. Grudgingly, Cloud had to admit: he liked all those things about Reno. They were all things he wasn’t, except perhaps for the insanity; life had ensured that they probably shared a great deal of that. A dull, longing ache that could have easily been mistaken for desire pulsed through him, making his skin twitch in anticipation of things to come.

“I liked it,” Cloud said. “It’s just... you didn’t give me any time to tell anyone about this... I mean, about us.”

“Oh, really?” Reno drawled. “How much time do ya need?”

“I don’t know,” Cloud said, unsure how to answer that question. “A couple more days maybe… or years.”

“C’mon, you don’t need to actually tell anybody,” Reno said, voicing what could have been considered the most reasonable thing Cloud had ever heard him say. He promptly ruined the sentiment by continuing, “One sloppy kiss in front of everybody at the 7th Heaven would get the word out pretty quick.”

Cloud squeezed his eyes closed, half-disgusted and half-looking forward to Reno’s suggestion. The thought of a kiss, sloppy or otherwise, was appealing. He’d done little else but think about the red-head since the day before and he really didn’t need any further thoughts being planted in his head. He had work to do and was feeling so distracted as it was.

“Listen, I gotta go,” Reno said. “I’m on duty and Rude just threatened to shove my phone up my ass if I don’t stop talkin’ to you. As nice as that may sound, I don’t think I want to know if he was kiddin’ or not.”

“Alright,” Cloud said, wishing he could hear Reno’s voice for a little bit longer.

“Oh, and by the way, I was serious about tonight,” Reno said, lowering his voice. “As soon as I’m done with this shit, I want to see you.”

“Yeah,” Cloud said. “Same here.”

Reno chuckled appreciatively into the phone and suddenly Cloud heard a string of expletives escape the Turk’s mouth. Reno’s protesting voice faded, becoming quieter, as if the phone had suddenly been moved far away from him.

“Good bye, Cloud,” Rude’s voice said curtly on the other end of the line. “Don’t fuckin’ call back.”

As the line went dead silent, Cloud stared at his phone in quiet contemplation. A smile covered half of his mouth crookedly, as he tried to imagine what had just happened between the two Turks. Rude clearly took his job a bit more seriously than Reno did. He shook his head and snapped his phone closed, turning his attention back to the little black basket. Curiosity was suddenly getting the better of him and he wanted to look through it without having anyone there to watch his reaction.

He leaned over his desk and shook the mouse hooked up to his computer, watching the screensaver clear. Clicking a few buttons on the screen, he started printing his delivery list for the day. While it was printing, he took the basket over to his bed and dumped the contents out, staring at all the risqué things Reno had sent him.

Most of it made him blush furiously, even though he was alone. He set those items aside, but he found a couple things that were fairly practical and necessary. Reno hadn’t been lying to him about being serious. Cloud picked up two small bottles of lubrication, something he hadn’t owned for years. One was unscented and rather dull looking, and the other was in a brightly colored bottle. He turned the purple bottle over in his hand, reading the fancy label that promised “exciting grape-flavored fizzing action”.

“Who writes these labels,” Cloud muttered, feeling a little stupid for talking to himself.

Cloud put most of the stuff back into the basket and dropped it in his nightstand’s bottom drawer. Honestly, all the weird toys didn’t really appeal to him much. He supposed if Reno really wanted to get into that kind of stuff, that he could probably be persuaded to go along with it, but as far as he was concerned, he wouldn’t be initiating any of it.

He stared at the handcuffs, feeling the cool metal warm up gradually in his hands as he recalled Tifa’s reaction. He glanced at the headboard on his bed and thought that the wooden support carvings looked solid enough for such an indulgence.

As much as he liked the idea of Reno being on his bed, he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of seeing the red-head tied down. He wanted the Turk to be able to move freely and his hands able touch him. Why restrict something so beautiful and uninhibited? Cloud imagined that chaining Reno to his bed would feel much like ripping the wings off a butterfly... it just didn’t seem right to him.

Cloud swallowed. He was a little disturbed by his inability to properly fantasize about tying Reno up. Then again, maybe he was getting the wrong idea. Maybe Reno wanted to tie him up instead.

Cloud drew in a short quiet breath; he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about the idea of restraints holding him in place. He might break them accidentally anyway; he’d been known to forget the measure of his own strength on occasion.

Sighing, he dropped the cuffs into the bottom drawer along with everything else and he let his eyes linger for a moment at all the brightly colored stuff hiding in the darkness of the deep drawer. He wondered briefly if something was wrong with him, or if his feelings were running a little deeper than he wanted to admit.

Snapping himself out of his momentary stupor, Cloud tossed the fancy purple bottle of lube into the drawer and slid it closed. He put the plain practical stuff into his oversized pants pocket as an afterthought; it probably wouldn’t hurt to have it on him, in case Reno pulled something like he did yesterday.

Cloud crossed the room and took his paperwork off the printer. He fastened the printouts to a wooden clipboard and grabbed his key from the little hook on the side of his monitor. Distractedly, he grabbed the box of laced cigarettes and headed down to pick up the rest of the items he needed to deliver today.

Tifa was in the bar and wiping down all the tables and chairs with a clean wet cloth before unlocking the front doors. Lunch hour was a pretty popular time for people to drop by and she usually made sure to be open by eleven. She looked up at him when he entered the room.

“I hope I didn’t upset you earlier,” she said. “It’s just, well, I thought it was cute.”

“That’s reassuring,” Cloud said, pretending to be angry with her. She looked at him with surprise and he quickly softened his gaze. “It’s alright. I didn’t expect him to do something like that.”

“Well, it’s Reno,” Tifa said, matter-of-factly, as if everyone including Cloud should know what that means. “Sounds like you’re going to have to get used to weird stuff like that happening.”

He doesn’t mean any harm... You get used to it, Rude’s voice from the night at the club suddenly drifted through his mind, reinforcing what Tifa was trying to say to him.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Cloud said. “I don’t think I’ll mind it so much.”

Tifa glanced over at the small pile of boxes near the door, watching as Cloud loaded them into a small netted bag. He didn’t have too many deliveries today, thankfully. It was just enough to keep the money coming in and him suitably distracted.

“Cloud,” Tifa said, her voice quiet. “What did you think had come for you earlier?”

He hadn’t expected that question. Cloud thought she had forgotten about his overly cautious reaction and he hesitated in answering her right away. The truth was, he didn’t know what he had thought it was. The fact that Seneco hadn’t sent anyone to find out why this package hadn’t made it to its destination had been bothering him for the last couple days. It felt like he was just sitting, waiting for something to happen. He and Vincent had tried to take the fight to the source, but when they’d been unable to find anything conclusive, they’d just decided to wait it out a little longer.

“I don’t know,” Cloud said finally, retrieving his sword and harness from the small closet nearby. He swung the harness over his shoulder and strapped it onto his back, “I’ve never really gotten anything like that before.”

Tifa shook her head at him, not seeming like she needed any further explanation. She waved distractedly at him as he left, still busily preparing the bar for her first patrons of the day.

Cloud loaded his packages up on his bike and secured the netting firmly to the back. Everything he had was local which was unusual, but he didn’t really bother questioning it. People usually hired him to cross the dangerous paths between cities rather than to courier stuff close to home. He wasn’t complaining. In fact, he hated to admit it, but he was thrilled that his job wasn’t going to take him far away from Edge today. The closer to home he stayed, the more likely it would be that he’d actually get to hang out with Reno later that night.

His first stop was the local incinerator. Cloud stood there for a few minutes, with the lid open and the box in his hand before he finally decided to toss it inside. Burning the box would provide him with a sense of closure and ultimately, it just felt like the right thing to do. If Seneco came looking for his drugs, Cloud and his sword would be happy to have a nice little personal talk with the man about what had happened to them. As far as Cloud was concerned, he wasn’t going to think about it anymore. If something happened, he’d deal with it when the time came.

Cloud lowered the lid and listened to the machine hum quietly as it smoldered its contents to ash. When it silenced, he checked the chamber to make sure everything had really burned.

It was a box of paper, of course it fucking burned, Cloud thought to himself, as he let the heavy metal door fall closed again.

After five more stops, Cloud was finally handing over his last delivery. It was a certified letter, one that had a significant amount of gil in it. The man who had stopped by said he needed someone tough and trustworthy to make sure that the money made it to its proper destination. Cloud had quizzed the man very thoroughly before finally getting him to admit that the real reason he needed the courier service was because he didn’t want to see the look on his father’s face when he repaid him the money that he’d owed him for the last ten years.

The things people would do to avoid showing and sharing a little emotion amazed Cloud sometimes. The sad part was, he knew that he was often the same way. It was so much easier to just avoid all the little things inside that made him feel vulnerable. Aware of this weakness within his own personality for the moment, Cloud made himself pay attention to the old man’s starkly emotional reaction when he opened the letter and saw that the money was from his son. The man signed for the letter and had barely been able to thank Cloud audibly before hurrying back into his house, hastily shutting the door behind him.

Cloud paused for a moment as he stepped down onto the sidewalk next to his bike. He closed his eyes and tilted his face toward the sky, letting the sun’s warm rays touch his face. Today had been sunny and clear, but the darkness in the distance hinted that Edge might be in for some showers later on. Cloud never minded the rain; it reminded him that Aerith was always near, and the rhythmic sound of the raindrops hitting the window soothed and relaxed him. He went to touch the red ribbon that he always wore securely tied around his arm, and was surprised to find it missing.

He looked down at the ground instinctively, but then remembered that he hadn’t been wearing it last night when he’d gotten out of the shower either. His brow creased in thought as he swung a leg over Fenrir, sat down, and tried to remember where he could have possibly lost it.

With no warning, the echoing thunder of an explosion sounded in the distance. The ground shook as mild tremors reverberated through the ground under his feet. People on the street around him paused, looking like they were one step from letting panic overtake them. Cloud swung his head around, searching for the source of the noise, instinctively looking toward the ruins of Midgar.

A tall column of thick tenebrous smoke was rising into the sky; even though it was daylight, Cloud could see the brilliant fiery orange glow that hovered beneath the thick haze. He quickly started his bike, pulled his glasses down over his eyes, and pressed the accelerator, carefully dodging the stunned people and cars that had frozen in place in the middle of the street.

His thoughts were focused intently on the top plate, but his mind was resisting any attempt to logically figure out what the fuck was going on up there. All his guilty conscience would allow him to think about was the fact that he and Vincent had decided to skip exploring the place further the day before. Cloud narrowed his eyes unconsciously as some wind escaped around the side of his lenses, drying his eyes out momentarily. He blinked rapidly, letting his eyes moisten themselves again.

A second and third explosion sounded, one right after the other, much louder this time as he drew nearer to Midgar. Cloud clenched his jaw in concentration as he veered onto the old highway. He knew where most of the potholes and missing chunks of road were, but he still had to be careful. None of these roads were maintained anymore and he saw a lot of new fractures each time he rode over the old concrete.

Taking a shortcut he’d long ago discovered and found useful, he jumped the bike into a large crevice in the road and landed on a stretch of road below the highway, turning sharply toward the center of Midgar. As soon as he landed, he could see where the smoke was coming from, and his jaw clenched as memories descended upon him. The northern reactor was burning and smoke was billowing out of it thickly, causing a dark haze to layer the sky with darkness. He’d seen this once before… so long ago.

Another explosion thundered and Cloud was close enough that he could see the frightening detail. Blazing fire and blackened smoke shot straight up into the air from the center of the old mako reactor and lingered in the air above it for a few moments before the fire fell to the earth and the smoke was drawn into the sky, spreading its gloom slowly across the horizon.

Cloud guided his bike into a maintenance tunnel, which he knew would spit him out closer to the northern reactor. He was dismayed that he had to lose sight of the skyline for a few precious minutes, but he knew that it would be best for him to take the quickest path.

He was pushing the bike as fast as he dared let it go, with an urgency that he couldn’t quite explain. He didn’t know what the hell was going on over there, but his gut feeling was telling him that he needed to get to the center of the chaos as soon as possible. Unsure whether he should be cursing Shinra or Seneco, Cloud gritted his teeth and pressed on, opening his weapon rack in preparation for whatever awaited him at the other end of the tunnel.

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A/N: Please review, and be kind. ^_^ (I must briefly apologize for the cliffy, but I had to split this up... it was going to be well over 8000 words if I didn't. Anyway, get ready for some serious action and intensity in the next chapter. It's the chapter that no one following this story should miss...)