Tease - COMPLETE

TEASE
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Warning
A Zack and Cloud and possibly others (not telling yet ) fic, can guess who they are… yaoi…if you don't like that…don't read. You can probably guess who they are by now…now it is just how will it all come together

Pre-Author's Note
Thanks to Ziggy Pasta for being my Beta…She is gravely injured with yet another Malady and she still manages to read and edit my material… hugs and kisses, dear Ziggy and continued thanks and more thanks…

Tseng has a confrontation with Bratty Rufus.
Cloud falls into a Reno Plan.
Zack does not like a text message.
Sephiroth is anxious.
A little bit of everything in here…including the annoying Joseph.

Disclaimer
Don't own the FF7 fandom, just using for my own amusement. Do not profit from this endeavour.


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IMPATIENCE
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"Here comes your sugar-daddy," Joseph said.

He looked over to see Reno shuffling over with his tray of food. Cloud looked worriedly at him. He hadn't seen the Turk in over a week. He knew things were busy around Shin-Ra lately, but it was almost as if all his friends were so busy running around, that they didn't have time to have a simple conversation.

~including Zack~

Everyone's duties had increased in the last couple weeks with the clones and other issues. Even the barracks were lacking of troopers in the evenings as they often were on missions or patrols.

~he looks so tired~

"Hey," Reno mumbled and sat heavily beside him. "What's up, yo?"

"Patrols and training. You?"

Reno shrugged. "Same ol' shit." He sat beside him and looked at his tray, as if he were seeing the food for the first time. "What the hell? Is this what I ordered?"

Cloud looked at the food on the Turk's plate and chuckled. "You needed to be specific about the type of soup you wanted."

Reno stirred the white soup with a look of utter disgust on his face. Cloud took pity on him. "Here, I have the beef barley, I'll take the mushroom." He grabbed the bowl and switched it with his.

"Thanks, Cloudo, you're the best," Reno said with a relieved smile.

"I'm sure he is." Reno looked over at Joseph who was sitting across from them, giving them a large goofy smile with his chin resting in his nested hands.

~damn that sugar-daddy list~

Reno frowned at Joseph.

Cloud kicked the pesky blue-haired infantryman under the table. "Don't mind him. He's just being a moron." Joseph winced but kept on smiling as he ate some of his own soup.

"So, it's nothing new, eh?" Reno said as he added pepper to his food.

Cloud chuckled at that. Joseph didn't look offended; he never was by such comments. He pointed to Reno's ear. "Well, it looks like you got something new. When did you change out your earring? I thought you had a silver one before."

Reno reached up to his ear, where there was a gold loop. "Yeah. Got it the other day as a gift."

Cloud turned his head to the side and noted the earring. It was quite fancy; it wasn't a simple little loop, and it look like there was a swirl of white gold or platinum that twisted in with the yellow gold. "Nice," Cloud said as he leaned a little closer to get a better look. "A gift? From who?"

"Looks pretty fancy," Joseph said. He winked flamboyantly at Cloud. "Does your sugar-daddy have a sugar-daddy?"

"Shut up!" Cloud kicked him harder this time. Joseph grunted but kept smiling.

Reno just frowned and seemed to make the conscious decision to ignore Joseph. Cloud glared at him, hoping that Joseph would keep those stupid 'sugar-daddy' comments to himself. Joseph still smiled and continued to stare at them.

"It looks nice," Cloud said. He did like it. It was a bit fancier than what he usually wore and there was a nice sparkle to it. He thought it was a good time to note the unusual shirt that Reno was wearing; it was a little bit strange to see that he wasn't wearing his usual sloppy white shirt, but a black turtleneck. "What's with the shirt? Is that new Turk issue?"

"Is it another gift?" Joseph asked.

~Joseph is finding this way too amusing~

Cloud kicked him under the table again. This time, he got an 'ow' out of the blue-haired pest. Reno glared at Joseph. "We're trying out a new style," he said idly through clenched teeth.

~there is more to that story~

"How you liking it?" Joseph asked. "You look like you're choking." Cloud went to kick Joseph under the table again, but he moved his chair back to avoid the foot with a smug look on his face.

"Much too snug for my likin', yo," Reno said, tugging at the neck of his shirt. Cloud saw something dark cross his face at saying that and he got a brief glimpse of some faded bruises on his neck.

~did he get hurt on his last mission?~

"I think it looks good," Cloud said honestly. It did make his neck look longer and the darker shirt seemed to make his red hair look redder. "It makes you look more professional."

"Are ya sayin' that I normally look like a slob, yo?" Reno said with a smirk.

"No," Cloud quickly added. "I'm not saying that."

"Uh-oh. Lovers' quarrel," Joseph said, leaning forward and pulling out his phone. "You two better kiss and make up." Joseph's voice was raised to a high pitch. "Come on now. I need a picture to win the bet."

Reno stiffened. "Bet?"

~I'll make sure that there is molotov in his sheets tonight~

"Don't worry about the idiot." Cloud frowned. "Hey look." He pointed to Dean as he walked in. "I think someone is looking for you."

Joseph looked, twisting in his chair briefly, but then turned back to them. "Come on Cloud. I could use the money. I know it's him. Just one little…ow!" Cloud was able to kick Joseph again as he had moved within kicking range, but this time Joseph kicked back. Cloud gave a loud yell and glared at his friend. Reno chuckled, but looked a little confused at the banter and kicking.

"Well, I'll let you two work it out," Joseph said with a smile as he stood, grabbing the remains of his food and walked toward where Dean had seated himself.

"What's up with the ditz?"

"I really don't think I can explain him," Cloud admitted. He didn't want to tell Reno about the list and how Joseph was convinced that Reno was his sugar-daddy, as they were all calling the 'mysterious' guy he was dating.

~I don't know why the guys are so interested in my sex life.~

Reno chuckled and it was good to see that the smile seemed genuine. Cloud noted that he was fiddling with his earring now.

~If I don't ask I will never know~

"Are you sure you're okay?" Cloud said, placing a hand gently on Reno's shoulder. "I know you normally don't care for the food in here, but you normally at least ask what it is. What's on your mind?"

Reno gave a sigh and pushed his food away. "Pushy, aren't ya?" Reno said with another sigh as he fiddled with his earring. "I should give this back. I should have never put it on."

"Why?" Cloud asked. "It looks nice."

"Well, when I got it, I was mad at him for all the shit that he put me through," Reno muttered. "Rationalized that I deserved it."

"So you have a boyfriend?"

"No," Reno said quickly. "Well, I don't know if you could call it that. Shit. I don't know what the hell to think, yo." Reno ran a hand through his hair. "It's complicated."

"Nothing is ever simple."

"No shit," Reno said as he tugged at the collar of his shirt again. "My life is a fuckin' mess."

Cloud smiled and Reno seemed to loosen up a bit. "Eat. The soup is good. They didn't get their last shipment of salt so you can taste the food this time." He took a spoonful of his own soup, as he was quite hungry.

~gotta make sure my strength is up for my training session tonight~

Reno followed his example and they ate in silence for a bit. Cloud noted that Reno kept either tugging at his fancy earring or his shirt collar. He got another glimpse of the bruises on his neck and saw now that they were not from a fight.

"Are you going to tell me about any of it? I can tell it's bugging you," Cloud said. "How long has this all been going on?" He had already finished his food and he noticed that Reno had only eaten half of his.

Reno let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair, slouching. "I've been getting a lot of gifts." His hand twirled the loop in his ear. "I don't know how I feel about it."

"What kind of gifts?"

"Well, there's this earring, this shirt, a couple bottles of some expensive vodka, smokes, gum and even some damn flowers. I mean, who sends another guy flowers, eh?" Reno sighed. "I don't know if they are tryin' to outdo each other or what."

Cloud remembered Reno asking him if Zack had bought him some smokes awhile back. That was about a month ago. Then what Reno said registered. "Guys? As in two? Outdo each other?" Reno sank in his chair. "You have two guys giving you gifts?!"

"Lower your voice," Reno said lowly, grabbing his shoulder. "It isn't somethin' to brag about, yo."

"Not to brag about? Who are they?" Cloud asked and was now even more curious about who caused those yellowing bruises on his neck. "Are they from the science department or something?" Cloud thought having two guys buying for his attention would be pretty cool.

Reno snorted and gave a chuckle. "No, no lab rats. They are more problematic than a few white coats."

"Then tell them you're not interested and return the gifts if it such a problem," Cloud said. "Are you interested in any of them?"

"No!" He blurted, but went to touch the earring in his ear again. "Well, maybe a little. It's all very confusin'."

"What's confusing about it?"

Reno looked like he was going to say something, but a strange look came across his face and he shut his mouth. He leaned closer to him and whispered. "Because I'm still not sure what to think about it all, yo. I mean, are they just using me for amusement or what?"

"What's going on?" Cloud asked a little worriedly. Reno seemed to slump a bit in his chair and gave out a heavy sigh. Cloud reached his arm around Reno's shoulders so he could pull him into a small hug.

"A little tighter so I can get a good picture!"

He pulled away from Reno and looked up to see Joseph standing at the table near Dean fiddling with his phone. A few of the men in the room laughed – names of which he recognized as some on that cursed list.

"Goddamn blue moron," Reno mumbled, grabbing the pepper shaker off the table and throwing it at him, hitting him in the middle of his forehead.

The room burst into laughter as Joseph broke into a series of curses and sneezes. Cloud found himself laughing as well. It was amusing to see him twisting and Dean trying to help him by brushing the pepper off his clothes, only making it worse.

Cloud chuckled at the humorous show that was occurring at the other table when his phone beeped. He looked at the call display and the name presented made him smile wider.

~Zack~

He quickly flipped open the phone and scrolled to get to the new message. The warm happy feeling at the thought of the message from him quickly left, and he found himself frowning despite the theatrics going on around him.

"This sucks," Cloud murmured.

Reno looked over at him. "Got called in?"

"Zack cancelled our training session. Again!" Cloud said. He didn't like how he sounded. He didn't want to be the needy boyfriend type, but he looked forward to their training sessions, which were becoming less frequent. Work was always the excuse and he knew that there was a lot of responsibility of being a First Class SOLDIER, but…

~I want him to be with me~

Dean was starting to sneeze now and more laughter filled the room. Cloud didn't feel much like laughing anymore.

"Well, that doesn't mean you can't still train," Reno said, glancing over with an amused glint in his blue eyes at the sneezing men. It did sound like they were trying to curse out Reno but the sneezing and watery eyes were preventing coherent words.

"I don't want to train alone," Cloud said, pouting. "It's not as effective swinging my sword around at imaginary opponents. I don't have access to the simulation rooms, just the training room."

"I'm not sayin' that you need to go alone. I'm available, yo," Reno said, tapping is EMR that was attached to his side. "I'm sure that I can put ya through the paces, eh."

"You." Cloud scoffed. "How can your rod go against my sword?"

~oh… that sounded bad. Why does Reno always make me say silly things like this?~

And from the amused smile on Reno's face, he could see Reno was having the same inappropriate thoughts. "We'll have to see how that all works out, yo." Reno's attention turned back to now a group of four sneezing men and chuckled. "You think you can defeat a Turk, yo? I fight differently than Zackers, maybe it'll do ya some good to have someone different workin' with ya, eh?"

Cloud couldn't deny that logic. He had been…

~past tense~

…practicing with Zack a lot and he was getting used to his moves…

~and not just in the training room~

…so practicing with someone that had different patterns would be good for him. "That'll be great," Cloud said as he started to type a message back to Zack.

Reno smiled brightly and Cloud returned the smile.

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Sephiroth was restless. He was pacing in the camp and waiting for a chopper. He had only been to Midgar once since his last encounter with Reno and he was anxious to have more than a glimpse of the redhead at a distance.

~I was curious as to why he was wearing that odd turtleneck~

But he did like how he looked, even with the suit. It made his hair look redder and his neck longer.

~graceful~

He had to attend a debriefing and was not able to set up a time to meet with the Turk.

He was well aware that he could call him, but he had a feeling that the redhead would brush off his distant attempts. He was certain that he would be ignored if he did not come face to face with the Turk.

~the sooner the better, too~

He was more than anxious. He was anticipating having a warm body back in his bed, to have red hair splayed across his pillow and the room filled with the sounds of passion.

~pretty sure he'll be vocal~

He stopped his pacing and let out a growl. A member of the infantry made a squeaking noise and quickly took off deeper into the camp. He allowed his eyes to follow the man, but his thoughts quickly turned to plans for the future.

He was still uncertain if how he was approaching Reno was correct. Genesis had been the aggressor in his last relationship. He had been the one that had been seduced and dragged into the bedroom.

~was Reno really interested?~

That was a genuine concern. One moment the Turk seemed to be running from him, hiding on top of his chopper, but at the same time, giving him constant looks and signs that he was interested.

It was confusing and he didn't have anyone to talk to about it. He thought of Zack, but already he was sure that Zack was suspicious of his liking of the Turk. It was not something that he knew how to ask for assistance with.

He knew he was not imagining how Reno's hand twitched and how he inhaled sharply when he leaned into the Turk.

~and he smelled so good~

He wanted to do so much more than just that small little touch that he gave as he was aware of how Reno was reacting to him. It was evident that he wanted to touch his hair. He was always amused at how everyone always wanted to touch his hair. There was many a night that he fell asleep with Genesis stroking or twirling his hair around his fingers.

~Reno surely would do the same~

Reno's hair was quite long in the back. He still had vivid memories of how Genesis would look tossing his head and the hair hanging in his eyes, but his hair was short. Reno's was long and would be able to…

He took a deep breath. He was becoming aroused with the thoughts of Reno, naked and groaning in his bed when he was not even sure that the invitation would be accepted.

"S-sir?" He looked over to see a nervous Third Class SOLDIER give him a salute. "Your chopper has arrived."

"Who is the pilot?" he asked sharply.

"Uh. It is Cissnei of the Turks sir," the SOLDIER said, obviously nervous to be talking with him, and he was not in the mood to make an effort to ease it. "Wh-when will you be ready to depart, s-sir?"

He narrowed his eyes at the stuttering fool. It was not the name that he was hoping for. It would be easier to deal with his growing problem now, if the redhead were here.

He was going to ensure that his invitation was accepted.


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Zack hated sending the text message, but he didn't have the heart to tell Cloud that he was going to miss another training session. He knew the tone of voice that he would have and he didn't want to hear his disappointment.

He hadn't been able to make both of their training sessions in weeks and he could see that Cloud was disappointed, even if he hadn't said anything about it yet.

He sighed as he listened to some geeks talk with more geeks about what geeky things they had to do. He was just pure muscle on this and the only time he got asked a question was when they had to ask about if he would be able to take care of a monster or two.

He would rather be training with Cloud…

~and taking him home after~

…than sitting with the geeks.

He sighed heavily as he walked out of the horrid meeting, stretching and groaning loudly as he did so. He would have two more days on this mission that was already much too long. He hoped that he would make it home by Sunday so that he could spend some time with Cloud.

He gave the geeks a nod as they walked in to go talk more about more geeky stuff, but he made sure that he kept his distance so that he wouldn't get dragged into it. He didn't have a clue what they were talking about half the time.

Mako servant qualities and lower base mutation… He didn't know what it meant and he didn't want to, but it was his job to protect the geeks.

But he wanted to be back in his bed, preferably warmed by Cloud.

He walked over to a tree and leaned against it. He was smiling at the thoughts of his plans for Sunday. He should have leave for the whole day and according to the current schedule, so would Cloud.

~hopefully nothing changes~

He would have to make sure that he got groceries to make Cloud pancakes and ensured that they had more jam as well.

His phone beeped. He looked at it and smiled. Cloud had returned his message. He hoped Cloud understood and wouldn't be too mad at him.

~I should have mentioned that I'll make those pancakes he was pouting over~

'It's alright. Reno will help me train instead.'

"What!" he yelled as he read the message. A few people looked at him as he yelled at his phone but went on their way.

He did not like this turn of events. He grabbed his phone and tried to call Cloud but his phone kept cutting out and it wouldn't go through.

~damn it~


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"I need to talk with you, Sir."

Rufus hummed and looked up from the papers he had been looking over.

"I need you to stop changing my protocols." Tseng tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "Specifically in regards to Reno."

Rufus' eyes grew hard and he saw his body tense. "You have no authority to tell me what to do."

Tseng stood his ground. "I am aware of that, sir, but you are interfering with how we can function to ensure the security of Shin-Ra and yourself. You are putting yourself and the company in a precarious position by altering protection measures. The incident in Junon left you without protection for a full day."

"I was with Reeve," Rufus said with a bored look on his face and waved his hands as if he was dismissing the thought.

"Reeve is not a Turk and does not have the training required to protect you. This is not a game, sir!" Tseng said, allowing the anger to colour his voice.

"I am not playing," Rufus said, straightening in his chair.

"I need you to stop distracting…

~pursuing~

… Reno!"

"I am not the only one on his mind," Rufus said and leaned back in his chair. "Surely you know the full story on what is floating around in his pretty head. I am not his only interest."

Tseng had got some information for Legend and Reno had reluctantly confirmed most of what was said. He was pretty sure there were still some underlying issues that he wasn't seeing or being told about, but he knew the big one was sitting right in front of him. SOLDIERs could be dealt with; Rufus was a completely different issue. "You are his primary concern."

Rufus' mouth twitched. "You are not worried about his SOLDIER interests?"

"A relationship between the infantrymen is doomed for failure," Tseng stated. "If he chooses to have his fling with that boy, that is his prerogative, and I will not interfere with Sephiroth. Neither will last long."

Rufus' eyes turned to him and gave him an amused smile that Tseng did not care for. "You are being hypocritical."

"You are being unreasonable." Tseng found himself taking a step forward and becoming angry. He forced himself to take a deep breath and speak in a calmer tone of voice. "I remember how devastated he looked when I caught you two in my office, sir."

"You were not supposed to return when you did. We already discussed that," Rufus said. "I still have to see all of his tattoos because of your early arrival."

"You don't call that toying with him?" Tseng said angrily.

"Tseng," Rufus said as he stood, straightening his white suit. "I'm not doing anything that he doesn't want. If Reno had not shown interest, I would not have pursued him. I do not pursue lost causes. You are the one that interfered with Kalm and tried to keep him away from me. I did not appreciate being saddled up with that lump, Legend. I know you kept Reno away from me for the longest while knowing of my curiosity. He is not a plaything. I am…" Rufus sighed. "Interested."

"Like how you were interested in Genesis, sir?" Tseng asked, aware of how terse his voice sounded. He knew that he was crossing the line with this conversation.

He saw Rufus' jaw clench. "I do not need to answer such questions." Tseng took a step back, allowing Rufus to have room. "Or do you want to answer questions about your affiliations with SOLDIER?"

Tseng's words failed him. He could not refute the claim that was being tossed at him, but he was not aware that it was such common knowledge. "My affiliations with SOLDIER are none of your concern," he said curtly.

"Everything is my concern, Tseng. If you want me to ignore your past encounters, do not bother me with your petty issues. If time allowed, this would be already resolved," Rufus said simply. "My interest in Reno is more than just a passing curiosity."

Tseng had doubts about that statement. He desperately wanted to turn the conversation back to the issue of Reno. "I need Reno to be able to perform."

"So do I," Rufus said as a crooked smile formed. "I am not having any further discussion with you on this. I will not be told what I am allowed to do by you, or my father." Rufus stood erect and looked him straight in the eye. Tseng made a concerted effort not to look away. "When Reno says that he doesn't want me, I will stop pursuing him. Stop interfering with my affairs, Tseng, or your precious director position will be compromised."

"Are you threatening me, sir?" Tseng said in a low voice. He was a bit taken aback by the blatant hostility coming from the Vice-President. He knew that most of their conversations were terse and often short and they conflicted on many an issue in the boardroom. They had been civil to each other and had a working relationship that he deemed tolerable.

~but I will not have my position threatened~

"You are hardly in that position either, sir, with your own past dealings."

He found himself staring into the cold eyes of the Vice-President. He knew he was not a man to underestimate. His past attempts at taking over the company and to dispose of his father was proof enough. Not to mention his constant squabbles with Lazard ever since the announcement of his rise to his current position.

"If you do not interfere with me, I will not interfere with your future progress within the company," Rufus stated.

~fancy way of saying that we are at a stalemate~

Tseng was about to say something further when Rufus raised a hand to silence him. Tseng snapped his jaw shut, aware that he had crossed a line with threatening the Vice-President. "I do not have intentions of harming him," Rufus said in a softer voice. "I am not lying when I say that I have taken a liking to him."

Tseng examined the face of the young man; a man that had very little control of his life as he was ruled by others around him. Rufus was a man with a very important title that really meant nothing; it was more to allow the President to keep an eye on his actions and to control him.

~nothing more than a paper-tiger~

"I would prefer if you would not 'mark' him then, sir. His choice of cover clothing was quite an atrocity." Tseng had noted that Reno had taken to wearing black turtle necks instead of that horrid green one. He had been very grateful that he had got new attire to hide the bruising on his neck.

"I will agree to that. I am afraid I got carried away. Reno tends to do that to me," Rufus stated and was blushing slightly. "I ensured that he had more appropriate clothing. It was a horrible shirt."

Tseng couldn't refrain from snorting.

"Are we done?" Rufus said. "I do believe I have a boring meeting to attend that I am already late for." He straightened his suit unnecessarily.

"Yes, sir," Tseng said simply. "As long as your…" Tseng had to think of an appropriate word, "attentions do not interfere with how he functions or interfere with Shin-Ra, we should not have any further need of discussion."

Rufus nodded and started to walk out the door. "I will do my best to make sure that we do not have further discussions."

Tseng swore he heard the additional words, 'but I won't make any promises' muttered under the blond's breath.

Tseng closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. The discussion did not go as he had planned and he was now further worried about the redhead and how he could mitigate the damage that he already allowed.

And he also had the concern of what Rufus knew of his past as well.


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Cloud lay on the floor panting and sweating. Reno twirled his nightstick and looked down at the infantryman with an amused smirk.

~how did he not make it into SOLDIER yet with skills like that?~

"You fight much differently than Zack. I'm glad that you didn't use the shock on there, or I would have been done in the first five minutes," Cloud said, panting as he was trying to catch his breath.

Reno plopped himself besides the panting blond and pulled his knees to his chest. "You're pretty good for a runt," Reno said nudging his arm with his foot.

~not going to admit to him that he almost had me a couple of times~

Cloud grunted. "Not a runt." Reno handed Cloud a bottle of water. Cloud pulled himself up into a sitting position and drank a couple of loud gulps. "Thanks."

"You did pretty good," Reno said.

"Really? I didn't think I was keeping up," Cloud said as he pulled his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face. Reno had to look away at the sight of the young man's very well developed abs.

~fuck, he's hot~

The shirt fell back down and Cloud took another drink of water. Reno was more than aware that he was still wearing the annoying turtleneck and he could feel it tightening around his throat again. He tugged at it. He had removed his jacket for their little scrap, as the shirt was making him feel trapped. He hated the shirt but he didn't really want to explain the love bites all over his neck.

"Are you going to talk about that?" Cloud asked and reached forward. Reno was not expecting Cloud to tug at the collar and reveal the fading marks. Reno pulled away.

"Hey!" Reno said as he smoothed it back up. "Not really, yo." He already said too much and was regretting saying stuff about the gifts. He blamed that loudmouth Joseph.

"Which one of the guys did that to you?" Cloud asked. "You got a hickey farm on your neck."

~hickey farm? Rufus did quite a number on me~

"It's not that bad, yo," Reno said as he ran his hand over his neck.

"Come on, Reno. I can tell something has been bugging you lately. I've been worried about you," Cloud said. The look of worry on his face was evident as his eyes were like that of a beaten puppy.

~he's been spending way too much time with Zack~

"Do you want to talk about why you went all pouty when Zack couldn't make your training session?" Reno countered.

Cloud looked away. He smirked slightly at his diversion tactic. He didn't want to reveal that he had Sephiroth hunting him or explaining that extremely sexy and scary helicopter ride.

~both helicopter rides~

"He is always so busy," Cloud said.

Reno's eyes grew wide as he looked at Cloud.

~he wasn't really supposed to answer that~

"Always running off to save the world," Cloud said as he drank some more water. "I don't want to be that type of guy that needs to constantly…" Cloud stopped talking and shook his head and looked away from him. "I just miss him when he's not here." He spoke in a low voice and turned his head away.

~I'd feel the same way if I was with Zack~

"Ya know, he's not doin' it on purpose," Reno said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I can tell he cares for ya, but he's also a SOLDIER, yo." Cloud turned to look at him with large sad blue eyes.

~I wouldn't want to leave Cloud if he was mine~

"I know. I'm just being pathetic." Cloud gave a heavy sigh and finished off his water bottle.

"He'll be back before ya know it and he'll be back to tirin' ya out here and in the bedroom, yo." Reno had to avoid Cloud taking a swing at him. It wasn't a real attempt to hit him, but Cloud's face, which was already red from exertion, turned redder with embarrassment.

"Are you going to tell me who has been sucking at your neck?"

Reno frowned. He twirled the earring that Rufus had gotten him. The brat had left the package on his office desk with a short apology note about how he didn't mean to bruise him. That was the same day a package of turtlenecks arrived at his door when he woke in the morning, all from Rufus.

~and then there was the gum~

It was obviously a flirting attempt by Sephiroth again. The three packs of cinnamon gum total, that appeared in his helicopter and his desk, freaked him out a bit, but he pocketed them. There was another bottle of vodka from Rufus.

~Rufus has gotten me a lot of gifts. Sephiroth has got me smokes and gum~

"Was he at least a nice-looking guy?" Cloud asked with a devious little smirk. "Or is he someone hideous and that's why you won't tell me?"

"No, they are both quite handsome," Reno said.

~fuckin' hotties~

"Oh. How handsome?" Cloud asked as he pulled himself from the floor to stand. He reached down his gloved hand for him. "The way you are blushing I would say that they are pretty hot."

He swatted Cloud's hand away and stood up on his own. "Shut it, yo!"

Cloud gave a light chuckle. "Then what's the problem?"

"Everyone is a bunch of fuckin' flirts," Reno blurted.

Cloud shook his head. "I've never known you to not to take actions into your own hands." Cloud offered his hand again. This time Reno took it and allowed himself to be pulled up.

"It's complicated," Reno mumbled.

Cloud's face got all tense and his grip increased, making sure they were standing close to each other. Reno gulped at the serious look on the young man's face.

~so close I could just kiss him to test the waters~

"How complicated?"

His hand held his firmly waiting for an answer. Reno just wanted to shake him off and make a joke, but he couldn't. "Very."

They stared at each other for a little bit.

"Are you going to tell me anything about your two sugar-daddys?" Cloud said with a smirk coming across his lips. Reno shoved the blond away from him and gave out a serious of curses.

Cloud smiled brightly and laughed.

~Zack's a fool to miss out on Cloud like this~

"I'm goin' to have a shower and crash," Reno blurted and reached for his jacket. "If you ever need another training partner, I'm always up for a tussle."

He watched Cloud's eyes dart down and his face turn slightly pink.

~his mind is nearly as dirty as mine~

"Yeah. Anytime. I'll give you a call next time Zack is not available for a session," Cloud said as he picked up his bag.

"See ya," Reno called out as he watched Cloud leave the training room.

Reno sighed as he threw his suit jacket back on. He was wondering if his previous plan was such a good idea now. He couldn't help but think about how cute and sexy Cloud was. The man was a wonderful fighter and for someone that was supposed to be an amateur, he sure was graceful.

Yet again, someone that was out of his reach.

~damn it~

…………………………………………….

I wrote the first scene last because Cloud was not cooperating with me. He just wouldn't say the right things and Joseph was being bitchy about things as well.

*sigh*… well, I think it turned out in the end.

A word that popped into my inbox while I was editing and I think it describes Rufus quite well during this period of time: Paper Tiger: One who is outwardly strong and powerful but is in fact powerless and ineffectual.

Authors Note: New story: TEASE: Puppy For those of you that are interested… It won the poll that I closed a little while back. So if you are interested, go and read all about the list of Zack's first times… meeting Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal, Tseng, Reno and all the other things that I know you guys want to know, about…well, you know…FIRSTS GALORE.

I am sure you will all be impatiently waiting for the next chapter…

…and I humbly await for you opinion on this chapter.