Thanks for the memories

“Thanks for the Memories”
A Reno fan fiction
Chapter 20: “Geostigma”
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*Disclaimer: The world that this story is set in and all characters therein belong to Square-Enix. This fiction piece is strictly a non-profit exercise of creativity and entertainment for people (like me) who can’t get enough of this world and the characters.*
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For the other guys, the time we spent in Healin was like a vacation. For me it was boring. There was practically no nightlife at all, man. There was a pub in the center of the little town that was almost finished being built but that was about it. Rude was spending a lot of time fishing—yeah, you heard me right…fishing. Rufus went jogging every morning and Tseng liked to do a disappearing act into the woods every day to meditate or hunt. Elena was busy with her new boy toy doctor and Cissnei was staying in Gongaga with Zack’s parents.

It all left me with nothing and nobody to do for the first half of most days. There were like three TV stations on air by then and they were mostly news and repeats of old shows. It was gonna be a few years before any studios started making shows again, since transmitting was harder without Mako and most of the studios in the world were rubble anyhow. The training dummy in the basement got boring after a few minutes of a workout, yo. It wasn’t like sparring with a real partner and I always had to wait for Rude to come in and shower for a match with him.

Yup, I was getting pretty damned miserable. Tseng called me a social butterfly and I guess he was right, because trying to amuse myself when nobody was around just didn’t do it for me. Hell, even masturbation wasn’t as fun as it used to be. I was having a social crisis. Rufus usually came back to the house before anyone else but I was getting the feeling that I was wearing him out. I know…seems impossible, right? Something was off with him though. He was just as good as he always was but he didn’t have the stamina I was used to. He started falling asleep after sex—even in the daytime—and he used to make out with me for a while and have another go before that happened. It was starting to bother me, yo.

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Reno grinned at his small victory when he succeeded in frying a plate full of eggs without burning any of them. Being stuck in this backwater location had given him time to improve his cooking skills. Until now, the only thing he could make right for breakfast was a bowl of cereal and a pot of coffee. He picked up his cellphone off the counter and thanked Shiva that the cellular broadcasts at least were still working. He dialed Rude’s number and waited impatiently for his partner to pick up.

“This is Rude.”

“Hey man, get off that lake and come have some breakfast,” Reno said. “I didn’t burn anything this time.”

“You’re turning into a good little housewife,” Rude teased.

That was a mistake. Reno flushed with anger and narrowed his glittering eyes. “Fuck you, then. That’s the last time I cook breakfast for you, asshole.”

Rude went into stunned silence for a moment but before Reno could hang up, he apologized. “Take it easy Red, I was only trying to cheer you up. Sorry I made you mad.”

Reno sighed long and loud. “It ain’t you, partner. I guess I’m just losing my sense of humor. I’m going stir crazy here and I’m not into the great outdoors the way the rest of you are.”

“Sounds like you need someone to play with,” Rude said in a suggestive tone.

Reno’s temper cooled and he smirked. “So are you gonna get off that boat and come play with me, baby?”

“Give me a couple more hours, okay? The fish bite good until around noon and I can reheat my breakfast when I come in.”

Reno almost dropped his head onto the counter with frustration. “It’ll be lunch by then,” he complained. “Can’t you cut it short for once?”

“You know we can’t just get everything we need from the grocery store anymore,” Rude reminded him, “and when winter comes around it’s going to be harder to keep the protein stocked. I’m trying to build up our supplies. Plus, we’ve also got to bring some to your mother.”

“Fine, fine,” Reno griped. “I guess I’ll see you at noon, yo.” He disconnected and put the cellphone down with a sigh. He knew Rude was right and between him and Tseng, the big freezer in the basement was steadily getting stocked with wild game and fish. They wouldn’t go hungry in the winter and neither would his mother, but poor Reno thought he might go mad with boredom before then. He’d tried to go hunting with Tseng once but he couldn’t get used to the bow and they couldn’t afford to waist any gun ammunition. Besides that, he lost his nerve when he spotted a doe and tried to shoot her.

~How pathetic is that? I can beat a guy to death with a pipe, shoot people and blow people up, but I can’t bring myself to kill an animal for food. I guess that’s why I’ve been trying to do a lot of the cooking. Rufus is taking care of everything financially and Tseng and Rude are bringing in all the meat we need. The only thing I’m good for is fucking and cooking. SHIT, I really AM turning into a housewife!~

Reno suddenly felt like he couldn’t catch his breath and he realized he was on the verge of a panic attack. He yanked his sweater over his head and threw it to the kitchen floor, letting the cool air caress his naked upper body to fight the rising heat in it.

Rufus returned from his morning jog to find his redheaded lover shirtless in the kitchen with his head down and his hands splayed over the counter. He frowned at the way Reno was panting and he approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you coming down with something, Fox?”

Reno shook his head and lifted it to look at the President through stray locks of bright hair. “I’m all right. I just felt a little claustrophobic for a minute, yo.” He nodded toward the plate of fried eggs and toast. “Have some breakfast?” He felt cooled off enough to pick up his sweater and pull it back on.

Rufus wasn’t particularly hungry—he rarely was lately—but he could see that Reno hadn’t burnt any of it this time and he thought the Turk deserved some reward for his efforts. “It looks delicious. Come sit with me and we’ll eat together, Reno.”

The redhead nodded and waited for Rufus to make his plate before doing the same. They went into the small dining room and sat down across from each other to eat. Rufus was drinking orange juice and Reno had chosen a glass of milk. The blonde studied him silently as they ate and Reno began to squirm.

“Something on my face, Sir?” The Turk finally asked.

Rufus’s eyes automatically fixated on the tattooed markings on Reno’s cheekbones and he smiled subtly. “Only your brands, Fox. I apologize for staring…I’ve just noticed how restless you are.”

Reno shrugged and took a bite of toast. He chewed and swallowed it before answering. “What can I say, boss? I’ve always been a city boy and living out here in the middle of nowhere in this cabin is starting to bug me. I’ll get by though.”

Rufus understood. “I’m a ‘city boy’ myself, so I can empathize with you. Why do you think I got jogging each morning? Perhaps you should come with me, or find a hobby to occupy yourself with for now? As soon as the reconstruction is finished in Junon we’ll leave this place and you can return to a more familiar lifestyle.”

“That could take years,” Reno muttered.

“It could,” Rufus agreed, “but I’m putting a lot of money toward it to make it go more quickly. I imagine the repairs and the new Headquarters will be finished within two years, or even one if we’re fortunate. Isn’t there anything you can think of to occupy your time until then?”

Reno took a drink of milk and kept his eyes on the blonde, while beneath the table he ran his foot up Rufus’s right leg and let it settle between his thighs. He put the glass down and grinned suggestively at his superior as he kneaded and rubbed his groin with his toes. “I can think of one or two things, yo.”

True, Rufus found himself more easily fatigued lately and his appetite wasn’t strong, but there was nothing wrong with his sex drive. He began to harden under the massage of Reno’s foot and his lips curved into a sensual half-smile. “After we eat and I get cleaned up,” he promised as he reached down and gently removed the exploring foot from his crotch.

Reno sighed and shrugged, forking another mouthful of egg to his lips. The promise of sex after breakfast was enough to placate him. He noticed how slowly Rufus was eating and he wondered if something was wrong with the food. It tasted fine to him but his high metabolism made his appetite sharp enough that he wasn’t as picky an eater as some.

“Taste okay?” he asked, waving his empty fork at Rufus’s plate.

“It tastes fine,” Rufus assured him softly, but it looked to Reno like he was forcing himself to eat.

“Sir, are you okay?” Reno asked after he finished his plate and Rufus still had half an egg and three-fourths of a piece of toast left. “You haven’t been eating much lately. You won’t hurt my feelings if it’s my cooking, promise.”

Rufus gave him a brief smirk and sighed, pushing his plate away. “I would tell you if it tasted bad, Reno. You know that. I just haven’t been very hungry lately. I’m sure it’s only a phase.”

Reno nodded, but he silently wondered what sort of “phase” could make a virile, healthy man like Rufus suffer appetite loss and fatigue. The first thing that sprang to his mind was depression—which made perfect sense considering how they’d been living for the past year since Meteorfall. Rufus was used to being a prominent authority figure, wielding his power openly. Now he was working behind the scenes and most of the world thought he was dead.

It made Reno worry more with each day.

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After cleaning up the dishes, Rufus invited Reno to have a shower with him. After helping the President bathe, the redhead wanted to immediately start fooling around but Rufus stopped him and demanded for him to be still.

“I like to take my time enjoying this body now and then,” Rufus murmured in his ear from behind him as he soaped up a sponge and began to bathe him. “There’s no rush.”

Reno leaned back against him while he soaped his chest and he turned his head for a kiss. Rufus cupped his jaw with his free hand and plundered his mouth while he lathered the Turk’s chest and stomach with the sponge. He put the sponge on the ledge and brought his hand back to slide it over the pale, lathered skin of Reno’s torso. The redhead relaxed further against him and sucked on his tongue, making Rufus’s erection throb greedily. The blonde pressed his arousal against the cleft between his subordinate’s buttocks and released his jaw to fondle both of his nipples.

Reno’s stomach muscles tightened as the stimulation made him tingle and increased the pressure between his legs. He moaned softly, the sound muffled by Rufus’s demanding mouth. The blonde took the showerhead off of its holder and sprayed Reno’s torso, rinsing away the soap. When that was finished he picked up the sponge and lathered it with the soap again before pulling Reno’s long hair over one shoulder and soaping down his back and ass. He took a moment to give each cheek a possessive caress and squeeze before soaping between them and lathering up his balls. Reno closed his eyes and licked his lips as Rufus massaged his scrotum for a moment. It was hard to stay still as his boss wished, but he controlled his urge to shift into the touch somehow.

Rufus reached out for the showerhead and he smiled with cruel delight as he twisted the adjustment nozzle to “pulse” and sprayed behind and between Reno’s legs. The redhead gasped and jumped a little and Rufus put his other arm around his waist and held him tight. He pressed his lips to his ear as he tilted the sprayer forward and back to massage his balls and posterior orifice.

“Bend over for me, Fox,” Rufus ordered huskily before tugging the rim of his lover’s ear with his teeth.

Reno obeyed, splaying his hands over the built-in, tiled sitting hump against the left shower wall for support because he knew that Rufus’s creative inspiration with the massage function on the showerhead was going to be intense.

~Leave it to Rufus to come up with this idea. He doesn’t have his collection of toys anymore but the man always finds ways to improvise, yo.~

Reno’s thoughts were abruptly cut off as the spray of water pulsed more intensely against his tender parts, now that they were more accessible. Rufus warned him once more to be still and the blonde’s arm released his waist so that he could reach for the soapy sponge again. Reno whimpered and bit his lip as Rufus’s hand returned with the sponge and began stroking the length of his cock with it, while the other hand moved the showerhead back and forth over his balls and anus.

“F-fuck,” Reno blurted raggedly, unable to resist flexing his hips. The texture of the sponge around his dick was a new experience and Rufus’s firm, slow strokes made his vision blur. He cried out when the spray of water pulsed against a particularly sensitive spot at the base of his scrotum and his hands clenched into fists.

Rufus wanted to see his lover’s facial expressions. Luckily for him, the shower extension was long enough to reach for him to try out the idea that had formed in his mind. He stopped torturing his lover long enough to instruct him to have a seat on the hump—lengthwise. Reno was panting and flushed already and Rufus smiled with lust as he guided the Turk into the position he wanted him. He had him bend the leg that was resting against the wall at the knee and leave the other one dangling over the side and angled out, leaving him exposed and visible from head to foot for Rufus.

Reno rested his back against the far wall and closed his eyes as his boss continued where he left off, massaging his erection with the soapy sponge and running the pulsing water over his other sensitive spots. His chest was heaving and he reached up with one hand and grabbed hold of the support bar over his head, clenching his teeth.

Rufus admired every expression of ecstasy that crossed the redhead’s face and he memorized the sound of every moan, gasp and groan that passed Reno’s parted lips. The Turk’s damp bangs hung in his eyes and he dragged his fingers through them to comb them back, inadvertently giving Rufus a better view of his passion-flushed features. The President realized for the first time how straight and white Reno’s teeth were when the Turk worried his lower lip with them and tried to hold back his whimpers. His body was tense and shaking as the stimulation brought him to unbearable heights of pleasure. The wet, long strands of Reno’s hair straggled over his shoulders and chest, darkened to the color of blood by the dampness.

Rufus thought back to the day when he first laid eyes on Reno and he smirked. As badly as he’d wanted him then, he didn’t allow himself to imagine that the foxy mechanic would ever belong to him as completely as he did now. Reno was so beautiful to him—so vivid and full of life. The long, sea-green eyes opened to regard him, the surrounding lashes sparkling with tiny water droplets. Everything in that gaze was sensual and intense and when the lids fluttered shut again and Reno panted heavily and pleaded with him in a breathless groan, it was all Rufus could do not to fuck him without lube or protection.

“Come for me, Fox,” Rufus murmured, knowing that the redhead was holding back with everything he had. He’d trained him well. Reno was so attuned to his moods now that he could sense when Rufus wanted to play control games and he’d developed a talent for coming on command, most of the time.

Reno tilted his head back and screamed the blonde’s name, obeying his command with needy appreciation. Rufus smiled as the redhead’s rigid cock pulsed in his grip, releasing thick spurts of cum at impressive heights. Rufus kept the water pulsing against him for a moment longer, to intensify the orgasm and draw it out longer. Reno was shuddering and tossing his head by the time the spasms slowed and stopped, and Rufus finally stopped spraying him and released his cock. The blonde adjusted the nozzle again to a more gentle setting and he rinsed the Turk’s body off, kissing him deeply as he did it.

“Let’s get you into my bed, now,” Rufus said against the shapely lips.

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It seemed that Rufus’s patience only went so far. He didn’t even allow time for them to finish drying off before he ushered Reno down the hall. They heard someone come in downstairs but Rufus was too hot to bother worrying about it. He shoved Reno against the wall as soon as they got through the bedroom door and he yanked the redhead’s towel off from around his waist. Reno made one of those sounds that was so damned gratifying and the blonde felt a brief rush of dizziness from the surge of carnal lust it provoked. He stopped for a moment and took a couple of deep breaths.

“I’m fine,” Rufus said when he noticed the faint concern on Reno’s face, “You’ve just gotten me too excited. Get on the bed.”

Reno moved to do as he asked but his mischievous nature took hold as he moved around the President and he yanked Rufus’s towel off and gave him a leer. “Hope you ain’t gonna make me wait long, baby,” Reno said as he devoured the blonde’s toned body with his eyes.

“Only as long as it takes for you to get on the bed and put your ass in the air for me,” Rufus answered raggedly.

Reno wasted no time. He climbed onto the bed and positioned himself in a submissive pose, with his knees bent, his ass sticking up, his arms resting down at his sides and his cheek resting on the pillow. Rufus approached and caressed his bare ass admiringly for a moment before getting the lube and condoms out of the dresser drawer. He prepared him almost roughly but he stroked the easily reached gland inside of Reno while he did it, balancing out the discomfort with shocks of pleasure. Reno was hard and panting again by the time the blonde applied the condom and positioned himself behind him.

“Unnh…Rufus!” Reno exclaimed as the other man shoved inside of him hard and deep. He started to pull his hands up to grab hold of the pillow but Rufus grabbed them and held them firmly, keeping him from using them to support himself to change his position. Reno moaned helplessly as his lover began to take him with hard, sharp thrusts. The bed bumped against the wall and he wondered if they were going to have a repeat of the day they destroyed the bed at the Inn at Mideel in their vigor.

Rufus squeezed his Turk’s hands firmly to hold them in place, enjoying the way restraining Reno in this position gave him complete control. He watched the flush creep over the visible side of the other man’s face as he fucked him and he groaned with appreciation. The slap of skin on skin got louder as Rufus’s excitement grew, until Reno was crying out with every breath and Rufus broke into a sweat. He wanted to make his fox come by the thrust of his cock alone and he adjusted the angle of his pumps and grinned smugly when the redhead tensed in a telling way.

Reno began to see white bursts behind his lids each time Rufus shoved his cock in. The President had found the perfect angle and he was using it to his ultimate advantage, while denying the Turk the ability to support himself or move. “Ahhh…ah…shit, I’m c-coming…S-Sir…I can’t hold it!” Reno clenched his jaw and shouted in a raw voice as the blonde slammed into him once more, hard enough to hurt as well as pleasure. Reno’s passage squeezed the invading member violently as he came in an explosive rush. He moaned incoherently and he vaguely felt his lover’s cock bucking inside of him.

Rufus released the Turk’s hands and bowed over his back, panting heavily as Reno’s body milked his seed out of him. It was the most intense sex the two of them had experienced together for months and he was so spent he wondered if he even had the strength to pull out of his companion and stretch out beside him. Reno was trembling almost as much as he was and Rufus kissed his back and eased out of him slowly.

Rather than collapse on top of the sheets he’d blown his load on, Reno levered his upper body up and moved aside to pull the soiled sheets off of the bed. He watched Rufus stretch out on his side and drop his head on the pillow in exhaustion and he leaned over to kiss his panting mouth.

“I’ll get some clean ones and cover you up, baby,” Reno murmured. Without waiting for a response, he pulled the condom off of his lover’s softening member with skillful care and took it out of the room with the soiled sheets.

After flushing the condom and tossing the sheets in the upstairs laundry bin, Reno stopped and got a quizzical look on his face. “Man, I’ve got to have a break from this place. Everything I do gets more domestic every fucking day!” He sighed and shook his head as he went to the linen closet and selected some fresh sheets.

When he returned to the bedroom, Rufus was already sound asleep. Reno studied him for a moment and frowned, ill at ease with the way his boss so easily ran out of stamina these days. He pulled the comforter the rest of the way off, tucked the end of the sheets under the mattress and pulled them over his lover’s naked body. Then he put the comforter back on and covered him up with that as well. So he was acting kind of like a wife…when it came to taking care of his lovers, he didn’t really mind as long as he didn’t think about it. He tucked Rufus in and brushed his drying blond hair out of his eyes before leaving the room to dress in some clean clothes.

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When Reno went back down the stairs, he found Rude and Tseng eating the breakfast he’d made. They greeted him and Rude complimented his cooking. Reno almost smiled but he again remembered that he was getting far too domesticated by this lifestyle and he shrugged instead.

“Glad you like it,” he said as he pulled up a chair at the table and plopped down. Both of his fellow Turks were looking at him knowingly and he grunted. “What?”

“We don’t have a bed to repair, do we?” Tseng questioned softly, his smile subtle and amused.

Reno chuckled, not the least bit embarrassed that his and Rufus’s earlier activities were loud enough to be heard downstairs. “Nah, that bed he’s got in there can probably take a few more beatings before any of us break it, yo.”

“Is the boss coming down?” Rude asked.

Reno sobered and shook his head. “He’s sleeping pretty hard. I just tucked him in and left him.”

Tseng glanced at the clock with a frown. It wasn’t quite noon yet, which meant Rufus had only been up for roughly six hours. It wasn’t normal for a man of his age and health to need naps so often during the day.

Reno caught the expression on the Wutaian’s face and he nodded. “Yeah, it’s starting to worry me too. Think he’s depressed?”

Tseng took a swallow of his tea and considered the question. “I think his spiritual energy is out of balance—which could easily be caused by depression. Rufus has never been one to open up to others and talk about things…at least, not easily. It’s quite possible that he’s stifling in an effort to maintain some sense of normalcy.”

“So what do you suggest?” Rude asked.

Tseng tapped his fingers on the wooden table in thought. “I could attempt to convince him to let me cleanse his aura, but he generally considers such things superstitious nonsense. He may even get offended if I suggest it, given how much he hates to reveal any weakness.”

“So in other words, we don’t do a damn thing unless it gets bad,” reasoned the bald man.

Reno sighed. “I need a drink, man.”

“You know where the liquor is,” Tseng said with a soft smile. “It’s too early in the day for me.”

“I’ll have one,” Rude said.

Reno glared at his partner. “You’ve got arms and legs…get it yourself.”

As the redhead got up and left, Rude stared after his tense form with raised eyebrows. “What the hell did I say now?” The question was pitched low and addressed to Tseng.

The Wutaian watched Reno disappear through the archway and he looked at Rude. “You said nothing out of the ordinary but I’m getting the impression that Reno is of the belief that we’re taking it for granted that he’s the domestic one in this relationship.”

Rude frowned. “But all of us get drinks for each other if one of us is already up getting one…that’s how it’s always been. Why is he so sensitive all the sudden?”

“He’s been doing most of the cooking and cleaning since we’ve lived here,” Tseng answered. “If I know Reno as well as I think I do, he may think that we now see him as a servant, rather than a partner.”

Rude groaned softly and put his head in his hands. “I would have offered to get it if I’d have known that…and I should have figured that out on my own anyway.”

“This hasn’t been easy for any of us,” Tseng consoled. “Give yourself allowances…you’ve been focused on keeping our food storage filled. Reno is simply more volatile than we are right now because he has a restless nature to begin with. We’ll just have to be more careful around him until things improve.”

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The next day, Reno apologized to Rude for snapping at him. “I’m sorry man. I don’t know if it’s all in my head or not, but I figure if you’re really starting to see me as a housewife it’s probably my own fault for picking the domestic role in the first place.”

Rude felt a light go on in his head. So, this really WAS his fault. Reno had been fine more or less until he made that housewife crack over the phone to him. “Hey, I don’t see you as a housewife,” he explained. “I never would have said that if I knew it would bother you so much. I just suck at cheering people up. You’d make a shitty housewife…honest.”

Reno smirked at that. “Really? You aren’t just saying that to make me feel better?”

Rude shook his head. “If everything I hear about married life is true, you’d be an awful housewife. You suck at folding clothes and you haven’t lost your sex drive, man.”

That made Reno laugh. “Okay, now THAT cheered me up.” He closed the distance between them and kissed the bald man sensually. “The part about the sex drive is especially true, yo.”

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Rufus didn’t snap out of whatever was making him so tired all the time, yo. He also didn’t eat any better, but he didn’t eat worse, either. We could tell he was forcing himself to eat at every meal and he only had half as much as the rest of us. One time I thought he was going to throw up in the middle of dinner. I almost cracked a joke and asked him if he might be pregnant but I was getting too worried about him to joke about it.

Reeve kept in touch with Rufus and let him know how things were going with the WRO and Junon. I was feeling more and more trapped, until one day Rufus told me to take the chopper to Junon and spend a few nights there to get my social needs out of my system. I felt kind of bad for taking the offer so fast, but the cabin fever was eating me alive, yo.

When I came back from my vacation away from Healin, things took a turn for the worst.

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-To be continued