Aftermath

Author’s Note: Main warnings are probably language and M/M UST. Mmmm, UST. ^_^

Thank you to...
- Youkofox, for your beta read through.
- kamizuki, for your review. Glad you like my portrayal of Reno. He's a somewhat even mix between AC-Reno and FF7-Reno. Doing it this way keeps me from going nuts over the differences between the two. *grin*
- Squallfan, for your review. The plot mystery is going on hold this chapter, and probably a bit of the next one, too. The boys need attention and they shall get it.
- Iggy Lovechild, for your review and countless hours of various conversation. "I'm still a Turk, yo!" lovers UNITE!

☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺

Chapter 8: Longing

After executing his near perfect escape from the reactor, Reno had taken several side alleys, hoping for some cover as he weaved his way back to the chopper. Along the way, he’d been forced to stop three times to allow patrols to pass by. Now he was stuck waiting again.

He considered himself lucky to have found a small charred crevice to flatten himself against this time, but he knew it wouldn’t conceal him forever. This particular alleyway was narrow and nearly monochrome in color. Reno’s hair was like a flaming beacon in a colorless place like this, but he didn’t particularly mind the danger it put him in. So what if they saw him, as long as he saw them first? A face-to-face shoot out would sure beat all this sneaking around.

Footsteps were approaching his hiding spot steadily. Listening carefully, Reno decided that it was likely only one guard and a smirk played up on his lips as he thought about having the opportunity to use his gun again. Tseng would have to just smooth things over with Rufus on this one. One or two deaths was an impressively small amount of casualties for them, considering that it was broad daylight.

“Where the fuck are you? It’s been ten minutes,” Rude’s voice assaulted Reno’s left ear unexpectedly, nearly scaring the hell out of him.

“Can’t talk now,” he said in a tense whisper. Reno flicked a small switch on the cord that attached the mini-speaker to his phone, turning his microphone off. Just in case things went badly, he didn’t want Rude to hear it.

He cringed and squinted his eyes shut, instantly frustrated with himself; his whisper had been too loud. As if confirming his thoughts, the footsteps that had been echoing off the surrounding rubble stopped abruptly. Reno swallowed and steadied himself with a few controlled deep breaths.

Cursing at himself silently for being so careless, Reno stood completely still, waiting for the person to make their next move.

He was playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse and he didn’t like the role he was being handed. If it were up to him, he’d already be blasting away at whoever was creeping around out there. The worst part about the whole situation, was that Reno knew that he was putting Rude in danger of being discovered the longer he fucked around. At least they’d hidden the chopper as far away as they could.

The footsteps started up again and this time they were slower and more cautious. Reno was now absolutely positive that he had been overheard and it sounded like the person was carefully searching for the source of his noise. As he listened to the sound of crunching gravel, Reno determined that it was time to ready his weapons.

He dropped his E.M.R. out of his left sleeve and flicked off the safety switch at the bottom of the rod. Holding the rubber grip tightly in his left hand, he reached into his jacket with his right hand and seated his gun comfortably in his palm. He was going to have to make his move very soon, judging by how close those footsteps sounded. His senses were on such high alert that the sound of his own breathing was threatening to deafen him.

So close now. Five paces away. Four. Three. . .

Reno stepped out into the open alley, a snarl on his lips. His pounding heart shifted into overdrive as his eyes zeroed in on the outline of his surprised target. He gritted his teeth in concentration and his eyes caught the quick glint of metal as it swung toward him. Identifying the object as an incoming sword, he brought his electromagnetic rod up to block the imminent blow. Reno’s instincts had told him that he’d have to block first and shoot second and he certainly wasn’t going to waste time arguing with himself. Sparks flew as metal clashed with metal and Reno leveled his gun in the direction of his assailant’s head.

Reno focused on his target and startling recognition flooded his overactive senses. Wide blue eyes met his, reflecting his own horrified expression almost exactly. Reno drew in a sharp breath: it was Cloud Strife’s sword sparking against his E.M.R.

“Fuck, Cloud,” Reno said. His heart was still beating furiously and his right arm twitched as he pointed the barrel of his gun off to the side. Trying to settle the sick feeling in his stomach, he placed his gun back into the holster under his jacket. “I--I almost shot you.”

“You would’ve missed,” Cloud said, still pressing his weapon firmly against Reno’s.

“What are you doin’ here?” Reno said, not completely convinced that what Cloud was saying was true. He didn’t feel like he would have missed. He swallowed dryly, still trying to overcome his surprise at what had almost happened.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Cloud said, sounding a bit more hostile than Reno had expected.

“Whoa, hold up,” Reno backed up a few steps, dancing out from under Cloud’s sword lock. He put a bit of distance between them; that accusatory look in Cloud’s eyes was making him nervous. Had something changed since he’d seen him last?

“I asked first,” Reno said childishly, even though he knew it wasn’t exactly the best thing to say.

“I’m looking for an address,” Cloud said angrily, clearly not amused by Reno’s general unwillingness to answer his implied question. His eyes narrowed as he held his sword defensively.

“Somebody wanted somethin’ delivered here?” Reno’s expression became one of skepticism as he pondered the feasibility of what Cloud was telling him. No one lived on the plates anymore, except the mafia gang they were trying to investigate and even then it wasn’t an official residence.

He blinked as a new thought occurred to him: maybe Cloud was here for the same reason he was. If he’d learned one thing about Cloud over the years, it was the fact that trouble followed him around everywhere he went. Reno doubted that Seneco would be able to ally himself with someone like Cloud, so the only other possibility was that Cloud had somehow gotten involved in tracking down the gang and eliminating whatever threat they were causing.

“No, it’s a return address,” Cloud said in a forced sounding tone.

“Let me see it,” Reno said, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“What do you care, Reno?”

Reno’s eyebrows wrinkled and pushed inward as he feigned a hurt expression. “Oh, c’mon, Cloud. Maybe I can help you find it. I used to live up here, yo.”

Cloud’s jaw clenched and he sighed quietly. He dug a small scrap of paper out from the inside of his glove and held it at arms-length, watching as Reno leaned forward to read it. Reno’s eyes moved quickly; he recognized the street address right away. As far as he knew, the address had no mafia connections. It had just been an innocuous little shop on the south side of the block.

“Oh,” Reno said, pointing behind Cloud. “No wonder you couldn’t find it. It’s over there. You can see what’s left of the neighborhood from almost anywhere on the top plate.”

Cloud glanced over his shoulder, keeping a wary eye on Reno at the same time. As Reno watched Cloud take it all in, he licked his lips, wishing he had a drink. He knew that Cloud wasn’t going to like what he saw. The street that Cloud was looking for had been hit particularly hard by Diamond Weapon and the resulting fallout; all that was left was a giant blackened hole in the plate floor the length of two city blocks.

“It’s gone?”

“Yeah,” Reno said. He let his E.M.R. twirl over the back of his hand and held his palms apart in the air mimicking an explosion. He silently mouthed the word “boom” causing Cloud to look at him with a vaguely horrific expression on his face. Reno grabbed the handle of his weapon as he rolled it back into his palm. He flicked on the safety switch and tapped himself on the back of his shoulder unconsciously. “Like everything else around here.”

“And why are you here again?” Cloud said in a tone that lacked any sign of friendliness.

“Well, this is technically Shinra property. Do I really need more reason?”

“Yes. Don’t fuck with me, Reno.”

Reno knew that he shouldn’t have shot back a smartass answer, but he’d been powerless to stop the shit from rolling off his tongue. For a brief second, he’d forgotten who he was dealing with. Smarting off at the mouth wasn’t a good mistake to make with an unpredictable person like Cloud. To make matters worse, Cloud was clearly not in the mood to be fucked with. Reno knew that if he messed up, he could be in for a world of hurt. He found himself staring at the sharp end of Cloud’s sword as he chose his words more carefully.

“We’re tryin’ to rid ourselves of some unwelcome guests,” Reno said. “If you catch my drift.”

Cloud lowered his sword and appeared to be somewhat satisfied with Reno’s explanation. “Seneco?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Reno said, relieved to see Cloud finally relax a little bit.

Now that Reno was fairly certain that Cloud wasn’t interested in skewering him, he had time to think about what had just occurred between them. Keeping his expression distant and cocky, Reno tried to hide his underlying disappointment. He hadn’t expected his next encounter with Cloud to be going so poorly. Reno had spent the last couple days fantasizing about how things were supposed to go, and this entire interaction hadn’t been part of the plan. At the very least, he’d expected Cloud to be happy to see him. Had he only imagined Cloud’s return interest in him?

“You forgot,” Reno said, muttering under his breath. He’d spoken just loudly enough to ensure that Cloud could hear him. He wanted Cloud to know that he didn’t appreciate being treated like this, but he wasn’t sure exactly what else he could say that would get his point across without sounding like a whiny bitch.

Maybe Rude was right. Maybe he did fuck up when things involved Cloud. Not only had he gotten his hopes up way higher than they should have ever gone over a simple little kiss, but he had allowed himself to trust that Cloud would keep his word and not let go of the small connection they’d made. Now he was stuck in this awkward in-between land of uncertainty that he didn’t know how to deal with. Had it been anyone else, he would have just said fuck all and moved the hell on with his life. But it wasn’t just anyone. . .

Cloud’s gaze found Reno’s and the two of them stared at each other silently. Cloud was first to look away, and he seemed to be struggling with something internally that wouldn’t let him respond to what Reno had said. It was probably some kind of residual guilt, if Reno had to guess what was holding Cloud back, but the red-head could never be exactly sure what was going on in Cloud’s unpredictable mind.

The dead air space between them was growing more awkward by the second and Reno didn’t like it one bit. Reno watched Cloud sheath his sword behind his back, sliding the blade into his harness with practiced ease. Cloud looked very uncomfortable, as if he were searching for a way out of this situation they’d gotten themselves into. Reno’s gut feeling was telling him that he’d better say something now or else Cloud was going to turn and walk away from him.

“Did you forget?” Reno said softly, giving Cloud the opportunity to refute his earlier statement.

Cloud looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Reno to try to approach the subject again. His eyebrows knitted and he pushed his lower lip up in a pouting frown.

“No,” he said, speaking slowly. “It’s just that I saw you here and thought. . . that you were involved with all this.”

Reno didn’t pretend that he understood exactly what Cloud was talking about. All he heard was the part where Cloud was acknowledging that he hadn’t forgotten about him. Reno’s heart caught in his chest and he suddenly remembered to exhale. He’d been holding his breath waiting for Cloud to answer him. He rolled his eyes, exasperated with himself for being so fucking vulnerable when it came to his feelings for Cloud. He was thankful that he’d turned his microphone off so that Rude wasn’t overhearing this horrid display of unprofessionalism on his part.

Reno ran his hand along the back of his neck, mentally pulling himself together. Of course Cloud hadn’t forgotten about him. Reno smirked, knowing that not many people could forget him even if they wanted to. He tended to have a very lasting affect on almost everyone he met and he was starting to feel confident that his aura of influence had somehow even managed to draw Cloud closer to him.

The more Reno thought about it, the more he started to believe that Cloud’s earlier anger had been directed at him rather than Shinra. It was a tiny shred of evidence that allowed him to believe that Cloud was starting to think of him in a more personal manner, and he liked that.

The fact that Reno had been right in the middle of the latest hotspot had probably been like a betrayal of confidence to Cloud, considering that they had been letting down their guards around each other lately. He could definitely see how bad things must have looked from Cloud’s perspective and had things been just slightly different between the two of them, Reno knew that he might not be alive right now. That certainly would have been the case two years ago.

“It’s not like that,” Reno said, finally finding his voice.

Reno counted the number of steps it would take him to eliminate the short distance he’d put between them earlier. He swallowed and ran his tongue against the back of his front teeth, all the while looking for some sort of nonverbal cue: an open invitation to get closer to Cloud.

He slid his E.M.R. back into its harness very slowly, trying not to draw attention to the fact that he had just started clutching his weapon so tightly. Cloud watched the Turk’s movements in a manner that seemed almost contrite. Cloud’s eyes were positively apologetic and Reno knew that the sign that he’d been looking for was starting to unfold.

The expression on Cloud’s face was one of many things unspoken. Cloud blinked so slowly that Reno could see his soft eyelashes brush against each other, sticking together for a drawn out moment as the delicate hairs met and pulled apart again. The air was suddenly thick with warmth; Reno felt himself struggling to stay upright. He ordered his legs to move and he started toward Cloud. He felt as though everything was happening in slow motion. Time was literally standing still for both of them.

“I thought about you last night. . .”

Cloud’s words fueled the fire that had been slowly building just below the surface of Reno’s chest. The red-head couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Was Cloud talking dirty to him?

Reno’s imagination fed his desire as his mind illustrated a scene he’d pictured countless times before. He could very clearly visualize Cloud lying in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. In Reno’s fantasy, Cloud needed him so very intensely, but because they couldn’t be together the blond had no choice but to seek release in the form of his own hand. Oh, how badly Reno longed to creep into Cloud’s bedroom in the middle of the night and replace that desperate hand with his own warm and waiting lips.

Reno’s throat was burning with every breath he took and his overly heightened senses were causing his body to ache sweetly with profound torment. He closed the remaining distance between them and brushed his cheek against the side of Cloud’s face, gently tracing his fingers around to the back of Cloud’s neck.

“Was it good for you?” Reno said directly into Cloud’s ear.

“It would’ve been better if you’d been there,” Cloud said quietly.

Nothing could have turned him on more at that moment than the thought that Cloud had been wishing they had spent last night together. With unexpected intensity, Reno grabbed a handful of Cloud’s short spiky hair and pulled his head back so that he could kiss him. The Turk’s mouth connected with Cloud’s and he immediately parted the blond’s receptive lips forcefully with his tongue.

Their kiss was different this time than it had been before. Both were reflecting a very volatile, hungry need to consume each other. Reno was groping firmly at the back of Cloud’s head and neck, digging his blunt nails into Cloud’s smooth skin and soft hair. He was being so vehement that Cloud was stepping backward slowly as if unable to hold himself in one place. Cloud didn’t seem to mind being treated roughly and was returning Reno’s kiss with almost equal enthusiasm, so Reno pressed on until they both stopped moving abruptly.

Cloud had backed into what was left of an old stone fountain; it was a crumbling decoration long forgotten by whoever had once called this alleyway their back yard. Reno took advantage of the situation, guiding Cloud into a seated position on the remaining stone of the fountain’s edge. The Turk stood between Cloud’s legs and leaned forward, moving his mouth to Cloud’s exposed neck. Reno’s nose filled with the familiar scent of Cloud’s musky soap, and his tongue darted out, languidly touching Cloud’s flawless skin. Reno shuddered in delight at the salty taste of him.

As Reno’s ponytail cascaded over his shoulder and fanned across Cloud’s face, he felt the blond pull urgently on his jacket. Reno’s hands dropped to Cloud’s chest. His nimble fingers pulled at the metal zipper, deftly weaving around the straps of Cloud’s sword harness. Once he had Cloud’s navy sweater unzipped and wide open, he slid his hands inside, grasping gingerly at Cloud’s sides.

Reno’s hands were cold, which he hadn’t been aware of until he felt just how warm Cloud’s skin was against his freezing fingertips. Cloud hadn’t flinched or acted like the chill bothered him, which made Reno wonder if Cloud could feel his touch at all. Reno pinched Cloud’s soft flesh in between the pad of his thumb and index fingernail, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from the blond’s open mouth.

He noticed that alright, Reno thought.

Reno was suddenly glad that he had decided to get up out of bed today. The mission had thus far proved exciting by providing an adrenaline rush he had been looking forward to for a long time and Cloud being here afterwards to satisfy his lustful daydreams had just been icing on the cake.

As if reacting to the sensuous pain Reno had caused him, Cloud’s hand slid down the front of Reno’s pants, lingering deliciously at the red-head’s crotch. Reno let out a surprised gasp as Cloud squeezed him gently through his clothing. Reno returned his mouth to the blond’s lips, licking and teasing Cloud’s lower lip distractedly as Cloud continued to massage him through the thin fabric; it felt as though Cloud was checking to see exactly how turned on Reno really was. So caught up in his need to take their interaction to the next level, Reno barely realized that he was irrevocably teetering on the edge of reckless abandon.

“Reno, where the fuck are you?” Rude’s voice suddenly buzzed in his ear.

Reno was terribly aroused and not thinking very clearly. Work could fucking wait. He yanked the earpiece out unceremoniously and dropped to his knees in front of Cloud; Reno’s fingers scraped lightly down Cloud’s exposed chest and stopped just short of his belt. He looked up at Cloud’s face, searching his eyes excitedly, trying to make sure that he had permission to go further.

“Do you want me to--”

Cloud’s fingers reached for him, gently pressing a thumb to his lips. Reno fell silent and their eyes met. It took every ounce of self-control that he had within himself to resist tearing into Cloud’s pants right then and there. With near-delirious happiness, Reno smiled, curling his tongue up over his upper lip. He closed his eyes, waiting for Cloud to give him the words of encouragement he’d been longing to hear. He leaned his head back and sighed, thinking that this day couldn’t possibly get any better. . .

☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺♫☺

A/N: Please review, and be kind. ^_^ (Next chapter continues this little scene. There's a reason I needed to end it like this. Hopefully I didn't kill anyone. *chuckles*)