Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cloud hated dating.

He hadn't gotten around to it much back in Nibelheim. Sure, he’d had his little childhood crush. They had shared a shy kiss one night under the water tower, lingering touches while she taught him to play piano in her bedroom—but in a town that small, everyone talked, and the last thing he had wanted was attention.

So dating, like transition, had been put on hold until he had come to the city five years ago. He’d done just fine getting his toes (and other things) wet in that time, but he found himself wanting something more regular, more intimate.

And since he wasn’t about to fuck within his brigade, that meant the apps. Between disembodied chests just looking for a hole and “twu doms” who thought they’d tame him, he was finding his experiences with city dating uninspiring.

But at least this one was cute.

Puppy
28 man, bicurious
Hero by day, yours by night?
Will come to your rescue for the low low price of one date.

Cloud had huffed a snort through his nose at the corny profile, ready to move on, but the interests gave him pause.

Into: rough sex, breath play (receiving), objectification (receiving), free use
Curious about: CBT (receiving), edge play, primal play, submission (giving), collaring (receiving), your favorite way to make a boy squirm (receiving)

They exchanged a handful of messages over the next couple of days, and Cloud proposed meeting in person soon after to keep the momentum going. Which is how he ended up waiting at a small table outside of his favorite cafe with an iced latte, pleased to see that the man lived up to his photos.

“I gotta say, it was refreshing to match with another country boy!” The man plopped down into the seat across from Cloud, beaming at him over what looked like a supremely sweet drink, topped with an impressive amount of with whipped cream and sprinkled with ground spice. Cloud let his gaze wander openly; took in the man’s broad shoulders, his well muscled chest and arms, and the fact that fuck he was tall.

Between basic training and starting T, Cloud’s chest and shoulders had filled out meaningfully since he came to Midgar, but coming in at just barely 5’6”, he was still a bit of a runt compared to his peers. But something about pursuing men so much larger than him, so masculine, did something for him.

Cloud sipped his coffee and raised a brow. “Sure. So. ‘Puppy’?”

He was rewarded with a bit of pink in the other man’s cheeks. “Heh, alright, not much for small talk are we?” The man ruffled his dark shaggy hair. “It’s a nickname I guess. My old mentor used it a couple times, said I was excitable like a puppy, and then it kinda spread around to others in the org.” He raised his blue eyes bashfully, and Cloud would have sworn he saw a flash of mako green. “Name’s Zack.”

Cloud’s eyes went a little wide with sudden recognition. “Wait, Zack. Zack Fair? Like SOLDIER First Class, buds with Sephiroth?” Zack managed to looked sheepish. Guess I’m not the only one trying not to fuck where I eat. Cloud grinned. “And here you’re trying to play yourself down as some lil’ bumpkin in the big city.”

“Hey! I absolutely am a bumpkin! You even been to Gongaga?” The blush wasn’t gone, but Cloud could see the excitability, all right. “I learned to ride chocoback before I was knee high to a tonberry, and I could sniff out a Magonga mushroom and pick it for you without leaving so much as a scrap behind.” The faux outrage earned a chuckle from Cloud. Zack ran a hand through his hair again, a little shyly. “But yeah, that’d be me. Though I don’t know that Sephiroth’s really ‘buds’ with anybody these days, certainly not me. Does that mean you’re a rookie?”

“In SOLDIER? Nah, infantry, but I remember seeing your promotion announcement. I always wanted to be SOLDIER as a kid, but uh,” he trailed off.

“No way, really?” Zack looked like he might leap out of his seat, and Cloud started to understand the nickname. “Oh man, I’d love to help you train for the entrance if you wanted! I swear, if I can do it, anybody can.”

Cloud offered a wry smile. “I appreciate it, but uh. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but SOLDIER isn’t exactly overrun with trans dudes.”

Zack had the grace to look sheepish. “Ah shit, I’m making an ass out of myself, aren’t I? Open mouth, insert foot. Maybe coffee was a bad call with nerves.”

Cloud’s mouth quirked. “Nerves?”

“Well, ya see, Sky, I’m trying out something new.” He spread his hands in front of him. “I’m used to being able to get by on charm, but after a while I find my interests to be a little…shall we say ‘niche’ for most people’s tastes. So my bud convinces me to make this dating profile and I manage to list out a bunch of perverted ass shit I want to explore, and this gorgeous blonde hits me up and asks me to coffee. And then I run my mouth right into an awkward spot, so yeah, nerves.”

“It’s Cloud, by the way. Name’s Cloud.”

Zack tossed his head back and let out an undignified cackle. “Hang on, hang on, your opener is to give me shit about my handle, but you literally went ‘hmm, gotta be sneaky, nobody would associate Sky with Cloud, that’s a good pseudonym.’ What, was Lightning a little too on the nose?”

Cloud just smirked. “You know what ‘Puppy’ usually means in circles where that perverted ass shit you’re so interested in goes down?”

Zack closed his mouth, pondered that for a moment, then tipped his coffee in Cloud’s direction. “You make a fair point, sir.”

Of course Cloud understood that it was just banter, but that casual “sir” was tasty. His ears flushed lightly, and he let himself enjoy the companionable quiet that started to settle between them for a moment.

He leaned forward, elbows on the table, chin resting on his hands. “Alright, Zack. What are you hoping for in a connection?”

He looked uncharacteristically pensive while he scooped some of the whipped cream into his mouth with a finger. Cloud managed to only get a little distracted by watching his mouth work. “I want to try new things. I want to know from jump that someone’s willing to explore my uh, kinks.” Another blush there.

“What kind of experience have you had with kink so far?”

Zack chuckled. “My theory’s decent but my praxis is lacking, to be honest.” Cloud realized he found that self-deprecating smirk charming as hell. It was a big improvement over the defensiveness or bravado he was used to from men that looked like Zack, moved in the spaces he did.

“I’ve always been a bit curious, and I’ve done a fair amount of reading, but my partners have always been pretty vanilla,” he continued. “I tried to bring it into my last long-term relationship, but uh, it wasn’t really her thing.” He smoothed a hand through his hair again. “Guess it’s a bit of a tone shift when your big SOLDIER boyfriend asks you to uh,” his voice got a little quiet, “choke and slap him?”

Cloud felt his defenses soften a bit at Zack’s vulnerability. “You might be surprised. It’s basically a trope that folks in high-power, high-stress careers like to sub out. Gives them the chance to let go of control in a way they don’t get to in their day-to-day lives.”

Zack’s blush eased, and he looked like he appreciated the gesture. “What about you? It sounds like you’ve got a fair bit of experience.”

Cloud smiled. “Well, I get the impression that you SOLDIER boys get quite the benefits package, but being an infantry grunt doesn’t quite measure up, and gender-affirming care doesn’t come cheap in this city.” He relaxed back into his chair. “I picked up work in Wall Market and realized that I had a knack for some of the more uh…let’s say ‘particular’ clients at the Inn.”

Zack’s flush came back in full force. Cloud felt like he was going to enjoy how easily flustered the man got. “You don’t mean the uh Honeybee Inn, do you?”

Cloud let teasing tone sneak into his voice. “That’s the one. You a regular I managed not to run into?”

Zack laughed. “Can’t say I’ve been, but the place has got quite a reputation. I-in a good way, I swear.” He turned those greenish-blue eyes back up to meet Cloud’s. “You still working there?”

“On and off, when I want the extra cash. That’s not a problem, is it?” He held eye contact with just a touch of defiance.

Zack shook his head quickly. “I guess it just makes me wonder what you might be looking for, if this is an itch you’re already able to scratch.”

Cloud settled back, satisfied with Zack’s response, and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s different, with clients. I get to have fun, and it certainly does scratch some itches, but it’s still work, and the focus is on their wants and needs.” He gave a small shrug. “And you can build up some rapport with regulars, but honestly, I want the intimacy of knowing someone well. Of being able to anticipate what they want, what makes them fall apart.”

Zack swallowed, tried to hide it with another sip of that dessert of a drink. Adorable. Another moment of quiet settled over them, but it was warm, curious, rather than uncomfortable.

Zack’s voice was almost small when he raised his eyes back to meet Cloud’s, a meaningful change from the gregarious bluster he’d started their meeting with. “Well if you’re interested, I’d be down to talk about, uh, what happens next.”

Cloud allowed himself a small smile. “Yeah, I’d be interested.”

The two of them exchanged numbers and a chaste, if lingering, hug at the end of their first date, and Cloud sent him a version of his new client intake later that afternoon to offer a starting place for negotiation.

Cloud
The interests on your profile were an intriguing, but I like to be thorough. There’s a lot here, but keep in mind there’s no expectation to do everything.
Think of it like an ingredient list. If I know what you like and what you don’t, I can plan a meal I’m pretty confident you’ll enjoy and still offer a bit of surprise.

Zack
You’ve got this down to a science, huh?

Cloud
I’ll take that as a compliment. You’re welcome to let me know if you’ve got questions about anything, but I do adore a boy who does his own research, first.

The familiarity Cloud used in text made Zack feel warm. It was assertive in a way that surprised him from the petite, quiet man, just this side of possessive.

Zack flopped into his bed and opened the doc on his phone.

Do you identify as a top, switch, or bottom?
Zack hovered for a moment, then moved the slider to somewhere between switch and bottom.

If switch, do you have a preferred role for our time together?
He chewed his lip, but decided that playing coy wasn’t the way to go with this.
Bottom

Dominance/submission
He marked interested

Body worship
very interested (giving, receiving)

Genderfuckery
He switched to a new browser tab and started reading. After some time he marked
curious (watching others)

It went like that for some time, quickly answering the ones that felt straightforward and reading for a while to get a sense of how he felt about more unfamiliar territory.

Impact play
interested

Impact types
He marked thuddy

Medical play
soft limit

CNC
interested (receiving)

Breath play
very interested (giving, receiving)

Face slapping
interested (receiving)

Puppy play/animal play/pet play

He groaned a bit at the reminder that he hadn’t given his handle the thought it was probably due. He took a bit of time to look for blogs and resources about puppy play but came out of it overwhelmed–there seemed to be so much variability, from gear to behavior to sexual engagement. He flipped back to the text thread, deciding he’d made a good faith effort, and composed a message.

Zack
So uh…looking into pet play sent me down quite the rabbit hole.
I’ll admit some things are intriguing, but there’s a fair amount that seems a bit intense for me.
Cloud
Absolutely fair.
Elaborate for me?

Zack squirmed a bit.

Zack
I can see the appeal of some of the gear
and of letting go/being in a more primal headspace.
I’m not sure about some of the more…animalistic, I guess, behavior.
Like eating, drinking from a bowl, watersports kind of stuff, those do less for me

He couldn’t quite believe he was texting this to someone he’d just met. He thought briefly of Aerith, his ex, and imagined how pale she’d have gone if she’d gotten this message. His phone vibrated, saving him from dwelling on that thought for too long.

Cloud
I understand.
How about getting to be a bit nonverbal?
Or being trained to do tasks, like sexual, or service oriented?

Zack
That sounds intriguing. I’d be willing to try.

Three dots hovered for a moment, then vanished. After a few moments, they returned, and a new message popped up.

Cloud
I’d like to call you puppy.
How does that feel?

Zack felt a spike of heat through his low belly and his cock started to stir.

Apparently he was into it. He tried to think around his horniness and compose a response.

Zack
It feels uh, nice.
In what contexts?

Cloud
I was thinking of keeping it as your name in my phone, using it with you in messages.
When we play.
I enjoy pet names for my playthings, and it’s so nice that you come with one that fits you so well.

That tiny little possessive, my playmates, and Zack’s cock twitched again. Goddamn, he was already down bad.

Zack
Yes. Yes please.
What can I call you?

Cloud
You can call me Cloud if we’re not in scene.
Though
If you want to offer your devotion to me, whether in scene or by text, you should call me Sir.

Zack’s breath caught for a moment. He tapped an edit into his contacts, and felt his mouth go a bit dry.

Zack
Yes, Sir.

Sir
Good boy.
Keep reading, and be in touch if you have more questions.

Zack gave his free time over the next few days to research. He learned good and fast that doing his reading while he was on the clock wasn’t a good idea, as his uniform didn’t do much to hide excitement. When he finished a first pass of Cloud’s intake, he sent it off without going back through the answers, nervous that he’d talk himself down. He didn’t want to be nervous about this, to feel doubt. He wanted to match the confidence, the self-assuredness, that he’d seen the small blond exhibit.

His phone vibrated a bit later.

Sir
Received.
Keep next Friday night open for me, and I’ll send you a time and place soon.
I’ll need a day or two to read over everything, but I’m already impressed by how thorough you were, puppy.

He felt excitement like a rush of chills across his chest, a tingling in his stomach.

Zack
Thank you, Sir. I’ll look forward to it.

Chapter Text

Sir
So, you wrote that you’re interested in D/s dynamics extending beyond the confines of a scene.

Zack
I’d like to see how that feels.
I don’t think a 24/7 arrangement makes sense, but I like the idea of doing things that please you when we’re apart.

Sir
Mmm, and you’ve already shown me you’re a quick study, haven’t you, pup?
So eager to please.

Zack
I’m glad you think so, Sir.

Their first playdate was just a day away. Zack had managed to keep his cool enough for the odd mission that had arisen since he’d met Cloud at the cafe, but as soon as he was relieved, the urge to check his personal phone for new messages from the man felt more like a reflex than a conscious choice. The closer they got to D-Day, the more he felt like his body was constantly vibrating with anticipation.

At least all the extra energy seemed to be giving him a boost in training hours: matches were the one thing that seemed to spend the nerves, and he was taking advantage of every opportunity he got.

He was toweling off the sweat from a bout and packing his things to head home when he saw several new messages from Cloud.

Sir
Well, pup, I have tasks for you before we see each other tomorrow night.
You’ll bring an extra, clean uniform with you to the Inn.
You’ll shower within an hour of coming to see me, and you’ll trim yourself in advance of seeing me.
I want your pubic hair to be no longer than half an inch.

Specific Zack thought, though not without warmth.

Sir
You will not wear cologne or other heavily scented products for our playdate.
Beyond these specifications, you may groom as you see fit.
Do you understand and agree, puppy?
You will also let me know by tomorrow morning if you want to spend the night after we play.

Fuck, he liked getting detailed orders like this. He typed out a response.

Zack
Yes, Sir, I understand. I appreciate the clarity.
I would very much like to sleep over.

Sir
Good boy.
I would also like to receive a photo from you tonight.
Show me your favorite part of your body.

Zack hurried home, scarfed down a quick meal, and trimmed as requested before tossing himself in the shower. As he washed, he ran his fingers idly through the shorter hair around his cock, his chest warm with the satisfaction of making himself pleasing for someone. He like how easy Cloud made it, how explicit he was with what he wanted. He hadn’t experienced that kind of ease with other partners, and he let himself feel cautiously hopeful about how this new arrangement might develop.

He dried off and collapsed onto his bed with a towel tucked around his waist. He stared at the last message thoughtfully.

Show me your favorite part of your body.

This, too, felt new. Not a request for a dick pic or a hole pic (fuck, it had been a rude awakening when Zack briefly tried Grindr and realized just how common an ask that was). But asking him to decide what he wanted to share. He thought about his powerful legs, his muscled arms, his stomach, but he felt odd about sending something that felt so…impersonal, so anonymous.

He arranged himself in his sheets, tried to get the mess of his hair to look intentionally bedroom-y, snapped a few pictures with different expressions, and cropped them down a bit.

He was pleased with the resulting shots. In one, he gazed up at the camera with bedroom eyes, the blue-green stark against his tan skin, his hand resting softly against the side of his face while he just barely bit his lower lip.

In the other, taken from the side, his hand rested more firmly against his throat and his lips parted slightly, his neck arched up to meet his hand. His eyes were just out of frame in the second. He sent them both along.

Zack
I hope you won’t mind, but I couldn’t pick just one part, Sir.
I wanted to showcase my mouth and my hands for you.
I like how often my mouth gets me into trouble.
And I like how well my hands can get me out of it.

He covered his eyes and laughed nervously. He wasn’t a stranger to sexting, by any means. But fuck, there was a different kind of vulnerability he felt in trying to impress this man.

Sir
Oh fuck, puppy.
You are *such* a pretty thing.
And re two parts: I like me an overachiever. 😉
A gift for you in kind, sweet boy.

Zack groaned aloud at the photos that came through.

The first, almost in imitation of his own arrangement, was a close up of the lower part of Cloud’s face. His full lips were slightly parted and the wet tip of his pink tongue darted out from between them to just touch one of his fingertips. Zack noticed the man had a manicure that he hadn’t seen when they’d met: not terribly long, but filed to points and painted glossy black. He also noticed the edges of some fine-line tattoos on his fingers.

The second pic was something to put the Grindr boys to shame: Cloud stood, and his hands, braceleted with thick leather cuffs, pushed down the open waistband of a pair of faded jeans. A delicate black lace garter belt hugged around his abs (goddamn but the small guy was ripped), ribbons trailing into the pants below, the top of one thigh-high just visible. A happy trail, darker than the man’s blond hair but still light, downy in appearance, directed Zack’s eyes down to a barely-there black leather jockstrap strained across a bulge.

His phone buzzed with an incoming call before he completely remembered how to breathe. He thumbed to accept and was proud that his voice only cracked a little bit. “Hi—hello, Sir.” He felt a thrill at speaking the title aloud for the first time.

He could practically hear the smirk through the phone. “Hi, puppy. Did you like my present?”

“Yes, Sir, very much.”

“Do you want to touch yourself about it?”

He tried not to whimper into the phone and barely succeeded. “Yes, Sir.”

“You should. I just have one condition for you.”

Zack’s hand shot down to grab the base of his cock at the permission, and he groaned shamelessly, his head thrown back. “Thank you, Sir. What is it?”

Cloud chuckled. “Sweet, gorgeous boy, so fucking eager. Mmm, I’m going to have fun with you.” Zack whined softly, but another delighted laugh let him know it wasn’t quiet enough to escape Cloud’s attention.

“You get to make a decision, puppy. You can come tonight looking at pictures of me, or you can come tomorrow, with me.”

Zack’s erection was already slightly painful; he stroked along his shaft idly, slowly, as he considered his options. His voice was only a little breathy when he spoke. “I’d like to come for you tomorrow, Sir. I want you to see what you do to me.”

A pleased, almost cooing hum over the line. “That’s very kind of you, pet. I want to be clear that I will not be fucking you tomorrow. Does that change your answer?”

His cock twitched in his hand. “No, Sir.”

Another hum. “Good boy. I’m looking forward to seeing what that mouth and those hands can do for me. You can touch yourself as much as you like leading up to our date, but you are not to come without my permission. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.” Zack tried to give his body some relief, let some of the tension out, but he throbbed and ached for the voice on the other end of the line.

“Good boy. Get a good night’s sleep. I want you well-rested for tomorrow.” The line clicked and Zack glanced at the time and clicked off his phone.

20 hours. He couldn’t die from not having an orgasm for just 20 hours, right?

One perk of Cloud’s fairly long tenure at the Honeybee Inn was being able to reserve open rooms for the occasional personal date.

He was serious about not fucking where he ate. Zack was involved with Shinra, but they at least had distinct chains of command, and that was enough for Cloud.

He knew full well that the way he liked to play could get loud on occasion, and he wasn’t interested in putting on a show for the guys in the barracks. It was an added bonus that the Inn was well stocked with toys, harnesses, and restraints to cater to the varied tastes of its clientele as well as lube and barriers. And the fact that he preferred to host there allowed Cloud to filter out folks who could say they were comfortable with his side hustle but weren’t ready to confront the realities of sex work.

He arrived early to arrange the room to his liking and make sure that he had the toys he wanted laid out and ready. He checked himself in the mirror and, satisfied, went out to the lobby to meet his date.

Zack held the military mentality that “on time” meant arriving early. He’d showered on the SOLDIER floor at the Shinra building before heading over, but he hadn’t been sure how to dress for the occasion. So he arrived in a fresh uniform, the requested extra in a duffel slung over his back. He’d also packed toiletries, some pajamas, and civvies for the next day.

He had been honest about not having been to the Inn before, even if its reputation had preceded it. He’d spent a fair amount of time around the Sector 5 and 6 slums, especially while he’d been involved with Aerith, but other than hitting up the occasional dive bar with others from SOLDIER to celebrate a successful mission, his time in Wall Market had been minimal.

The Inn looked to live up to its reputation. The outside was covered in neon signs. On either side of the entrance, display windows protruded out, lit deep red; a thick woman in one and a lithe man in the other danced slowly to the heavy bass line, oozing invitation. Zack blushed but kept his head up as he walked in.

A short woman with close-cut curls, wearing the famous bee outfit reserved for dancers at the Inn, greeted him cheerfully when he entered. She stood behind a reception desk, and behind her a large screen played a sequence of boudoir shots of the Inn’s available hosts.

“Welcome, SOLDIER boy! What an absolute treat.” Her eyes moved up and down his body slowly, clearly appreciating the view. “You don’t know how sad I am to be on desk duty tonight, honeybee. How can I help you find what you’re looking for?”

Zack realized he didn’t know if Cloud used a pseudonym at work. He put on his best smile and turned up the charm, trying to give at least as good as he got. “I’m actually meeting a date. Gorgeous hunk, about yay high, blond spiky hair like a chocobo.”

“Like a chocobo, huh?” Zack turned toward the warm hand that landed on his shoulder.

He was taken off guard for a moment when found those cool blue eyes were level with his own. Dark eyeliner made them stand out more than usual in the smaller man’s angular face, and that pout was a darker pink than usual, slightly wet with lip gloss. A corner of Cloud’s mouth turned up as he took in Zack’s reaction.

The blonde was cinched into a short corset that started below his pecs and ended just above his hips. He wore an open, cropped leather jacket over the corset and a pair of sheer flowing pants to complete the outfit, slit down the side so that those well-muscled thighs and that small, round ass were on display. And Zack realized that the considerable height difference was made up by a pair of platform, stiletto-heeled leather stripper boots.

Zack barely managed to breathe out, “Fuuuuuuuck me.”

Cloud barked a raspy laugh. “I told you, pet, not tonight. Come with me.” He took Zack’s hands, lacing their fingers together to lead him away, and the larger man counted himself lucky to be able to walk.

The room Cloud led him to looked like a sultry version of a classy hotel he might find topside. An expansive, plush round bed with silky-looking black sheets was the centerpiece of the room, and gauzy, deep violet fabric draped down from a ring hung above. He couldn’t help but notice the dresser and large vanity mirror to the side of it; that mirror would definitely be in line of sight from the bed. An open door at one side of the room led into an en suite bathroom. On the other side of the room, a plush armchair, upholstered in a dark red brocade, was set up against the wall next to a small table bearing a carved wooden box and some rags. Dim, warm lights and a few flickering candles came together to form quite the atmosphere for this first playdate.

“I uh, think you’re going to spoil me,” he said quietly.

Cloud huffed a quiet laugh and settled himself into a chair at a small breakfast table, crossing his legs at the knee. The table was set with a pitcher and a couple of glasses. Cloud indicated with his head for Zack to take the other chair. He set his duffel down and perched on the seat, his eyes back to taking in Cloud with parted lips.

“You look uh…amazing.”

That earned him a small smile. “Thank you, sweet boy.” He reached over to pour water into a glass and pushed it to Zack before pouring a glass for himself. “How is your body feeling today? Have you had something to eat and drink in the last few hours?”

Zack let his fingers tap and fidget at the glass, starting to feel nerves in his stomach now that he was here. “I had a pretty robust lunch and a snack before I came over. My body feels,” he paused and closed his eyes, wanting to give the question the attention it deserved, “a little tense. Nerves. Excited. A little sore.”

“How much have you touched yourself since we talked?”

Zack blushed fiercely and dropped his eyes to the glass, his gloved hands. “I stroked myself for a while after we got off the phone. I woke up with a boner and I,” somehow a bit more warmth hit his face, “I spent a while grinding into the bed and against my hand this morning.”

“Good boy. And did you come?”

He raised his eyes to meet Cloud’s. “No, Sir. You told me not to.”

Cloud’s smile warmed him enough to make the edging feel worth it. “Good. I don’t intend to subject you to any strenuous play tonight. Your answers to my questions give us quite a bit of ground we can cover, in terms of types of play, and I’m in no rush. I quite like the idea of taking my time with you over several dates, if we feel mutual compatibility.”

Zack felt his breath catch at that, felt a thrum of excitement rush his head.

“My plan for tonight is to give you orders that will please me, to get a sense of what D/s feels like for us. I fully intend to raise sexual energy with you, and as I’ve alluded, we won’t be fucking. To be explicit: we’ll have no genital to genital contact. Manual and oral play are on the table, but not guaranteed. You’ve been a good boy since we last saw each other, and you will get to come tonight, as many times as you want, but you will ask for my permission each time. Does that sound acceptable?”

Zack’s exhale came out shakier than he would care to admit. “Yes, Sir. That sounds–I feel uh very–it’s copacetic.”

Cloud let out a bit of a snort, despite the composure and the persona he’d slipped into. “Do you have any questions?”

“No, Sir.”

“What are your safewords?”

Zack thought for a second. “I read online about the “stoplight”, that feels pretty intuitive.”

“Good. What does each color mean to you?”

He looked puzzled but went along “Red is stop, yellow is slow down, green is go.”

Cloud nodded. “If you red, our play will stop entirely for the evening and we’ll move to aftercare. Do you understand? If you want to pause and check in, or if you want to change what we’re doing without ending the scene, you’ll use yellow.”

“Ah, okay, yes. I understand.”

“You should say yellow or red at any time that you want things to slow down or stop. I may, on occasion, ask you to give me your color, and you can let me know how you’re feeling. Does that sound good?”

Zack nodded.

Cloud offered his own short nod. “Good. A bit of a non-sequitur, but you SOLDIER boys know how to clean and shine your own boots, yes?”

Zack felt his forehead crease; he wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Uh–huh? Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” The smaller man held out a hand and Zack’s eyes lingered on those black pointed nails, noticed the several fine silver rings on his fingers. “Your extra uniform, please.”

Zack reached for his duffel and fished it out, handing it over. Cloud filled the other man’s glass again and stood. “I’d like you to finish this water and then wait for me kneeling by that armchair, do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Cloud nodded and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and leaving Zack alone with his thoughts.

Hoooooooooo
holy shit holy shit holy shit I’m at the most expensive brothel under the plate with a devastatingly hot little twink who is going to tell me what to do and get me off and *not* let me fuck him and I’m going to fucking *lose* it is this real I am in over my head holy fuuuuuu

The water glass shook in Zack’s hand when he picked it up. He was relieved he’d mostly been able to keep his shit together in front of Cloud, but he could feel that cool starting to crack as reality set in. He took a few shaky breaths to steady himself and then pounded the water in one go and shot up from the chair to pace, muttering to himself.

“...not like there will be any big surprises, you just had a nice lengthy negotiation, you agreed to this, you wrote him a goddamn pervert autobiography after the first date, you got this, Fair, you’re a fucking SOLDIER, you’re a fucking badass, you were part of ending the war in Wutai, you’ve taken fuckin’ mako treatments you can…”

He couldn’t have said when he stopped pacing and started doing squats, but when he heard a light chuckle from the bathroom he froze mid-rep.

“You got a color for me, puppy?”

He shot up to stand. “Well in spite of the color of my face, it’s–”

But he lost his train of thought briefly when he managed to actually look at Cloud.

“Um. Verdant. Fucking. Green.” He bit his gloved hand and squeaked. “Green as the jungles of Gongaga in the rainy season, fuck.”

Cloud leaned against the doorway to the bathroom watching him, eyes sparkling with delight. He had shed the cropped leather jacket and the billowing pants. He still wore the towering leather boots, but tucked into the tops were Zack’s uniform pants, baggy in the legs and tightly belted around the smaller man’s narrow waist. That short corset remained, exaggerating the difference in size between his waist and hips. He’d fastened the strappy leather chest harness and belt over the corset and added a pair of his own fingerless leather gloves.

He had neglected to don the standard issue sleeveless sweater, so above his crossed, muscled arms, his small tits were on full display, and a silver barbell through each pink nipple caught the light.

Zack decided it was good betting odds that he had died and gone to heaven.

Cloud stalked over to him, making those ridiculous boots look somehow effortless to walk in. He laid a hand on the side of Zack’s face.

“It’s okay to be nervous,” Cloud reassured him softly. “You’ll let me know if you want to stop.”

Zack swallowed, nodded, savored the electric feeling of the man’s hand on his face.

“Would you like me to kiss you?” he asked.

Zack’s exhale shook, and he nodded frantically. How was he this worked up over just the idea of a kiss? “Yes, please,” he breathed.

Cloud tipped Zack’s chin toward him and pressed his full lips to Zack’s so, so softly. Zack closed his eyes, let out a full, deep moan at finally having some kind of contact. He let his hands rest lightly on Cloud’s hips, resisting the bone-deep urge to grab the smaller man around the back of his neck, to wrap his fingers in that fine blond hair and pull.

His blood roared to his cock at the thought of taking his frustration out on the gorgeous man in front of him, but he so wanted to be good.

He felt Cloud smile against his mouth, and the slighter man raised his arms to wrap them loosely around Zack’s neck, leaning into him. His tits pressed warm and soft into Zack’s chest. Cloud touched his warm tongue to Zack’s lower lip, tasting him so gently, and then sucked the SOLDIER’S lip in between his teeth. He slid a leg between Zack’s, and Zack groaned at the feeling of that firm muscle pressed against his aching cock.

Cloud stayed there for a while, his arms draped around Zack’s neck, fingers playing idly with his hair, those pointed nails grazing the back of his neck, while he gently kissed and licked and sucked and bit at Zack’s mouth. Zack’s shoulders and back went tense with the effort of his restraint.

The blonde leaned more of his weight into Zack’s body, writhed against him with smooth, slow turns of his hips. Zack could tell that Cloud was emboldened by every little gasp he made, every time his breath came out in a shudder under the gentle teasing of his mouth.

When Cloud finally pulled back from the kiss, Zack felt touch-drunk, was sure he looked it. Cloud’s voice was warm, gentle, but still commanding. “Take all of your clothes off, puppy, and come kneel for me.” He let those nails trail along Zack’s cheek as he walked away, over to the armchair.

Zack was practically panting. He pawed at the buckles on his harness, ripped the shirt over his head, reached down to yank his boots off. The entire time he undressed, he was entranced by the way Cloud’s hips rocked with each step in those heels, by way his small tits bounced when he fell back into the chair, how he propped his cheek on one relaxed hand to watch Zack lose it.

He briefly considered trying to undress gracefully, but that required time and effort, neither of which he wanted to waste on something so trivial as his dignity.

He finally pushed his black boxer briefs down his legs and stepped out of them, slowing his movements as he walked over to this man, his Sir. He dropped to his knees, never taking his eyes off of the man in front of him.

Zack could feel the weight of Cloud’s gaze dragging over every last inch of him, appraising, appreciating. Cloud still looked relaxed, confident, but his shaking breath finally betrayed that Zack wasn’t the only one enjoying himself.

Zack nuzzled his face against one of Cloud’s knees. He could feel his pulse in his throat “What would you like from me, Sir?”

Cloud tapped the wooden box on the table with one fingertip. “My boots could use some love. I want you to clean them. Be sure to get the bottoms.”

Zack reached over and opened the box. Inside he found a lather brush like he might see at a barber shop, a spray bottle labeled water, and a container of leather soap. The box also held a rather large bottle of lube and a few metal butt plugs of different sizes, and he couldn’t keep his eyebrows from lifting just a little bit.

Cloud’s chuckle brought him back to the present. “Just take what you need for your current task, puppy.”

Zack nodded, a light blush on his cheeks. He opened the jar of soap and set about building a lather on the brush. It smelled sweet, with a faint hint of vanilla. Zack took one of the boots in his hand and lifted it up to work, holding it by the platform, and Cloud let his leg be heavy.

Zack soaped the boot thoroughly and used the rags to wipe off the lather and the grime, while Cloud watched every move with pleasure. He repeated this, scrubbing the platform, the stiletto, the upper, working the rag under the laces to clean the tongue, until the rag came away clean. Then, satisfied, he set the first boot down.

The task was almost meditative, and Zack felt his racing mind, his jagged breath, finally calm. He reached for the second boot to begin to treat it.

Cloud lifted the cleaned boot to inspect it as Zack built a fresh lather on the brush. He hummed appreciatively, then dragged the heel lightly against Zack’s cheek. Zack’s breath stuttered out and he stopped moving his hands, turning his eyes up to the blonde.

“Oh, don’t stop,” he cooed softly, “I’m just appreciating your work.”

Zack’s throat worked and he held his face very still against the sharp point of the heel. “Thank you, Sir.”

Zack lifted the other boot into his hand, and Cloud moved the clean one to rest on Zack’s shoulder, let the heel dig into the muscle just under his clavicle. Zack huffed out a surprised breath but continued his task.

He applied a layer of soap, and Cloud flexed his foot to press the heel harder into the hollow under his collarbone, twisted it.

Zack panted, wiped away the first wash, and Cloud lifted his foot off the man’s shoulder and pressed into the top of his thigh, ground it into the muscle.

Zack hummed a soft groan at the sensation and continued with the next soaping, and Cloud set his foot between the kneeling man’s spread thighs, used the toe of his boot to nudge playfully at Zack’s hardening cock. Zack set the other boot down when he was done and brought his eyes back up to meet the ones watching him intently.

Cloud moved one foot to rest atop each of Zack’s thighs and leaned toward him, letting his weight press into the larger man. In the same movement he wrapped one hand around the back of Zack’s neck to pull him forward, placed the thumb of the other on the man’s bottom lip. Zack let out a small cry of pain and surprise, and his hands wrapped around Cloud’s ankles, but he didn’t attempt to ease the pressure on him.

“You said this pretty mouth gets you into trouble, pet?” Cloud asked, stroking his thumb over Zack’s lip.

“Y-yes, Sir.”

Cloud turned his hand to dip one, then two fingers into Zack’s mouth. Zack let his lips part easily under the man’s touch, groaned around his fingers. The blonde smiled in a way that bared his teeth. He slid his fingers deeper into Zack’s mouth, added a third, and Zack’s eyes fluttered shut and he felt drool begin to escape his mouth, run down Cloud’s hand.

“I think we can find other uses for this pretty mouth, don’t you?”

Zack began to feel floaty, like he was coming up on a high; he struggled to remember a world beyond the taste of leather and Cloud’s skin, but he opened his eyes, nodded, and sucked gently at the small fingers in his mouth. The sharp intake of breath he got in response made his cock twitch and he bobbed his head more eagerly, helped Cloud fuck his face with his fingers.

“Fuck, you’re pretty like this, puppy. You wear desperation so well.” Cloud slowly drew his fingers most of the way out of Zack’s mouth, then clamped his hand around his jaw and jerked Zack’s head toward him. “Show me how good you can be with that mouth, on my boots. Convince me that you want my skin under your tongue instead of my leather.”

Cloud reclined back in the chair again and unpinned Zack’s thighs, stretching his legs out long in front of him, crossed at the ankles. Zack moved to his forearms and knees and dipped his head down to drag his tongue along one of the boots: from the sole, over the hard platform, and lingering on the soft leather upper. He wrapped his hands around the boot, digging his fingers in to massage through the leather, and Cloud tossed his head back and let out something between a delighted laugh and a moan.

Zack kissed Cloud’s boot with the intensity he had wanted when he’d been given that first, punishingly soft kiss; he pressed his tongue broad and flat and traced it slowly from the inner arch around the toe, up his calf.

He dared a look up at Cloud with his mouth open, letting his drool pool on the leather, and saw that the man was still watching him intently, still smiling with his teeth. He slide those slim, elegant fingers under one of his nipple piercings and tugged at it. The small man still held a presence that projected control, even as his breath started to come out in pants. Zack’s erection throbbed painfully and he felt precum beginning to drip down his head.

“Fuck, Sir, please, I want to touch myself,” his voice had a keening quality that he didn’t recognize, but he was beyond the ability to feel self-conscious about it. “Please, Sir, I want to come for you. I want to see you come. Please.”

Cloud began to touch himself through the uniform pants and Zack’s eyes followed, entranced, a low moan bubbling up out of him. “I didn’t even have to ask you to beg, puppy,” the man panted. “You got there all on your own.” A soft sigh as his fingers drew heavy, languid circles over the fabric. “Touch yourself.”

Zack didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned back, still on his knees, one hand behind him to hold himself up, while the other flew to grip his swollen cock. He let out a hoarse groan that turned into a growl, feeling almost feral, and held Cloud’s eyes as he stroked himself slowly, deliberately.

He matched his strokes to the pace with which Cloud touched himself, wanting to feel his control dictate even the speed with which he touched himself. Cloud rasped out a soft, deep chuckle.

“Kiss me, pet,” he breathed. “Show me how much you want me.”

Zack shot up in a hurry to comply. He grabbed the smaller man’s ass, pulled him forward to the edge of the chair so that Cloud’s legs spread to surround him and their chests pressed together. Zack used one hand to grip the back of Cloud’s neck, the other going back to his own throbbing cock, and he crashed his mouth against the other man’s full lips.

He bit the other man’s mouth, pressed his tongue into the warmth of him, moaned into him. He pulled back enough to drag his teeth along his Sir’s neck, to lick and suck at the spot where his neck joined his shoulder.

Cloud’s head fell back and he let out a shaky sigh. “Easy, pet, we haven’t talked about visible marks.”

“Yes, Sir,” he mumbled. He let go of the spot he’d been worrying with his teeth and trailed hot, wet kisses along the man’s collarbone. He moved his hand that had been holding Cloud’s neck to cup one of his tits, let his fingers pull at the jewelry in his nipple as he’d seen Cloud do earlier. The blond let out a breathy, high-pitched whine, and Zack took his other nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue, enjoying the smooth feel of the metal barbell and the way the tissue hardened under his attention.

“Fuck, fuck.” Cloud’s hand worked frantically between them, his chest and face flushing as he cried out under Zack’s touch.

Zack pulled at the nipple with his teeth, eliciting another keening whine, and reluctantly let it fall from his mouth, pulling Cloud’s face back down to his again. He touched their foreheads together, both of them still working themselves with their hands, both of them panting.

“I want to make you come. Please, can I?”

Cloud laughed–groaned? Whimpered? “Carry me to the bed, puppy.”

Zack let his cock go and it bounced up to hit his stomach, leaving him sticky with precum. He slid his arms under the blond and hefted him easily, kissing him as he obeyed. He set Cloud down gently on the sheets, and the smaller man undid his pants, pushing them and a deliciously flimsy pair of panties off the side of the bed. Zack watched as Cloud’s hand went to his cunt, spreading his lips wide, those lovely fingers straddling his swollen, heavy clit. He moved his hand in circles, moaning, arching off the bed. His clit twitched between his fingers and Zack groaned as he felt his body respond in kind.

Cloud’s voice was small, cracking in his arousal. “Please, suck my cock. Please finger me.”
And Zack was only eager to oblige. He pulled the man’s thick clit into his mouth and sucked, licked, pumped two fingers into his cunt, thrusted deep and up to try to hit his sweet spot. His other hand kept working his own cock over, every cry and moan from Cloud bringing him dangerously close.

“Fuck, I’m gonna come,” Cloud whimpered.

Zack added another finger and kept fucking the man vigorously. He lifted his mouth just long enough to get out, “May I come with you, Sir, please?”

Cloud growled and shoved Zack’s head back into his cunt, his hips bucking up. “Fuuuuck, pet, yes, fucking come with me.”

Zack sucked down hard on Cloud’s dick, swirling his tongue over the engorged head, and pumped his fingers harder into him, his knuckles smacking against the man’s pelvis. Cloud’s moans turned into a hoarse scream, his body bowed, his cunt spasming around Zack’s hand, and he clamped a hand down on Zack’s wrist to still his movement.

Zack’s deep groans turned into a snarl as he emptied himself onto the bed below him. He shook with the effort of not falling straight into it and managed to maneuver himself enough to lay by the smaller man’s side.

Cloud’s body had gone limp, all the tension released in his orgasm. His eyes were heavy-lidded when he turned to look at Zack. He huffed a tired laugh and reached out to run a hand along his cheek. “You sure you’re new to subbing, boy?”

Zack’s breathing was starting to slow, his pulse finally feeling like it wasn’t going to break free. “Yeah, no, I think I’d remember if I’d done that before.”

Cloud flailed his arm a bit feebly toward Zack, mumbled, “C’mere, you’re getting cuddled,” and when Zack rolled toward him, he tucked Zack’s head into the crook of his neck. Zack laughed and wrapped his arms around the man’s waist, draped a leg across him.
“We gonna take care of that mess I made?”

Cloud whined. “‘S a big bed. I’m not moving. Snug me.” Zack laughed brightly, and Cloud shoved his head into his neck more firmly to muffle him. “Shh, is sleeps time now.”

Zack nuzzled into his warm skin, breathing deep the smells of sex and leather.

“Yes, Sir.”

Chapter Text

Cloud didn’t want to pull himself from the plush bed and the nude SOLDIER snoring softly in it. But once his post-orgasm high started to fade, he remembered that it would be good to not burn the down Inn or set himself up for a UTI.

He unzipped and kicked off his boots, not trusting himself to walk in them while he could still feel the aftershocks of the other man trying to suck his cock clean off. His cunt clenched at the memory with a painful reminder that he was presently empty. Fuck, he hadn't let himself get that worked up over a scene in a while.

Playing with a total newbie was always a gamble; sometimes they'd read some drivel that was big in pop culture for a bit—Cloud had almost fully quit the Inn after 50 Shades of Mako came out—and then they'd try to dive headfirst into kink with a fantasy understanding, too many contracts found in the godsforsaken corners of the internet and not enough actual communication.

And while it was part of his job with his clients, a part that he sincerely enjoyed, even—to hold their hand through early exploration, to set the pace, to act as a mentor or facilitator—he wanted his personal relationships to feature a more balanced exchange.

It was clear that Zack had taken the time to really think about the intake—what had he called it? Pervert biography?—Cloud snorted. The mix of Zack's nerves—worn so openly on his sleeve—and his eager compliance and desire to please Cloud hit him harder than a good blunt.

He pushed himself to the edge of the bed to stand, barefoot, and set to unfastening the busk of his corset. The feeling of release as he undid the last stubborn clasp made him tip his head back and sigh in contentment. He massaged his knuckles gently into his ribs, let his fingers trail the surprisingly soft leather of the borrowed harness. His gloved hands were still slick from touching himself, and he made a mental note to clean them sooner rather than later before he set about extinguishing the candles around the room and tending to his body.

Satisfied, he crawled back onto the bed, avoiding the mess they'd made in the sheets, and pressed himself against Zack's broad back. The man made a pleased sound but didn't stir further, and Cloud let himself enjoy the feel of his slow, even breathing until he fell asleep.

Zack woke to light touches and an unfamiliar bed. He streched his arms out in front of him and huffed out a soft yawn. The hand that had been lightly tracing curves along his ribs dipped down to grip his hip, pressing firmly into the hollow there. He felt the warm, soft press of lips in the crook of his neck and he shivered, smiled.

He turned his head to glimpse the man behind him. “Good morning, Sir.”

Cloud's eyes barely opened, lids heavy with sleep. Light crows’ feet appeared when he smiled, and his nose crinkled. Zack’s chest warmed at the sight. “Mmmmhh, mornin’.”

Zack rolled over to lie on his back and pulled the small blonde against his side. Cloud made small, vaguely disgruntled whines at the movement that quieted as he settled into the new position. He ran his fingers through Cloud’s fine, soft hair. “Not much of an early riser, huh?”

Cloud buried his face in the SOLDIER’s pec, his nose crinkled again. “Murr murr-murr, what’d the glowy death orb ever do for me?”

Zack laughed and was met with a light nip of teeth. “I think it helps keep the planet habitable, but I’m willing to hear your case against it.”

The blonde hammed up a groan in response. “Uggghhhh gods I knew I should have listed ‘morning person’ as a hard limit.” He looked up at Zack long enough to give him a very half-hearted glare, and then nuzzled back in, his gloved hand finding its way to Zack’s dark happy trail. “You’re lucky that yer fuckin’ pretty,” he drawled sleepily.

Zack sighed at the feel of those pointed nails running down his stomach, and felt his dick start to wake up. He looked at Cloud’s body with admiration: he was nude except for the fingerless leather gloves and Zack’s old SOLDIER harness, and he looked fucking divine.

“You’re one to talk,” he murmured. Cloud’s hand dipped lower and Zack let out a soft gasp.

“How do you manage to be so consistently eager for me, puppy?” Cloud cooed, voice still heavy with sleep. Zack’s cock throbbed at the lightest brush of the man’s small hand as he kept lazily tracing. Cloud chuckled, continued to give teasing touches, dipping into the hollows of Zack’s hips, combing his nails gently through the trim pubic hair. “How long were you just aching for someone to take control from you?”

Zack let out a choked pant. “I don’t think I understood how much I wanted to feel like this,” he admitted, his voice breathy.

“Like what, pup?” Cloud used one pointed nail to drag along the length of Zack’s cock.

He closed his eyes and arched his head back into the bed with a shudder, “Fucking feral,” he growled. He managed to meet Cloud’s eyes. “Fuck, I want you so bad. I like that I don’t get to drive, I like the constraints you set, I like how exact you are about what you want from me. I like how satisfying it is when you finally let me lose control, Sir.”

Cloud hummed and raised himself up on one elbow. He dragged his eyes slowly over Zack’s body: his legs, his cock, his stomach, his chest. Zack felt a strange pride at the way Cloud smiled as he appraised him.

“Mm. What did I tell you, when we talked on the phone?” He pushed himself up and straddled the other man’s hips, his warm, wet cunt pressing the man’s cock against his stomach.

Zack sighed shakily. “That you, uh—that you weren’t going to fuck me.”

Cloud hummed a low, sad, “Mmmm hmm,” his lips forming a perfect pout, and he spread his gloved hands out on Zack’s chest. He curled his fingers to dig the points of his nails into the spaces between ribs and Zack rose up into him, his cock jumping. Cloud’s pretense broke as Zack keened and held eye contact with him, and that delighted smile spread across his face, his teeth bared. “Seems like such a waste. Although…”

Zack dared to wrap his hands around either side of the man’s firm, narrow waist, He applied gentle pressure. “Yes?”

Cloud stroked the length of Zack's cock, his touch feather light, and swiped the man's precum with his fingertips. He slid them into his mouth and sucked, moaning softly at the taste, his eyes fluttering shut. Zack's cock twitched between them again, his erection aching.

“I believe I said,” Cloud said quietly, leaning down to gently graze teeth along Zack’s jawline, “that I wouldn’t fuck you,” ground his hips hard into Zack’s cock beneath him, “yesterday? Do I have that right?”

Zack groaned and his fingers dug into the smaller man hard enough to start to bruise, earning a deep chuckle. The blonde kissed him, dipped his tongue into his mouth, sucked softly on Zack’s tongue when he tried to kiss him back. Zack moaned shamelessly into Cloud’s mouth.

Cloud raised himself and leaned back, his hands on either of Zack’s thighs, and bucked his hips against Zack’s cock. The smaller man was wet enough that their bodies slid against each other with ease. The sight of his small, swollen cock, protruding past his lips and pressed against Zack’s length was almost enough to make him come undone.

Zack let one of his hands shoot up to wrap firmly in Cloud’s hair, gripped the man’s ass with the other. He pulled the blonde into him, grinding his cunt ground against his cock, and laid hot, open-mouthed kisses along the blond’s neck and shoulders. “Please use me, Sir. However you see fit,” he breathed.

Cloud growled this time, pulled the man into another open-mouthed kiss. He broke it suddenly and pushed Zack down onto his back with considerable force, pinning him down with a knee on his chest and a hand on his neck. He pressed down, and Zack arched his neck into his Sir’s hand, head rushing at the feel of suddenly losing air.

“Good fucking boy.” He gripped Zack's swollen cock with his other fist and used the slick left by his cunt to work him in tight, slow strokes. When Zack’s moans turned to panting, Cloud reached for a condom, tore the foil and used one hand to roll it onto Zack. “Do you want to be inside me, puppy?” he panted.

Zack’s breath shook out of him in short, stunted whimpers under the pressure of the small hand pressed down on his neck. His mouth worked soundlessly, and he did his best to nod.

Cloud straddled his hips again, his hand easing its pressure on the Zack's neck as he used the other to guide his cock. Zack felt his eyes roll back and his back lift off the bed as he got fully seated. “Fuck, Cloud,” he breathed. “Fuck you’re tight.”

The small man hummed, his grin turning smug. “Sorry, babe, there’s nothing out there like he/him pussy.” Zack groaned and barked out a laugh, the sound choked off as Cloud slammed his hips down, taking him to the hilt.

“Gods, you gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.” Zack moved his hands to grip the other man’s firm ass, felt Cloud find a rhythm and then used the leverage to roll his hips up to meet him in time. The smaller man played with his pace, rolled his hips up slow, pausing for barely a breath before taking him all the way to the base again. He leaned back, holding himself up with a hand on Zack’s thigh and grinding his small cock against the man’s pubic mound, using the angle to work himself against the head of Zack’s cock until he spilled sounds of pleasure.

Cloud had seemed determined to drive Zack wild, but it became quickly apparent that his approach was a double-edged blade. Zack could see he was losing himself in his pleasure, his breath coming in pants, in soft, cracking moans, in small gasps and cries as he used Zack’s cock to fuck himself.

“I want to touch you more, Sir, can I?” Zack’s voice came out soft, tinted with awe.

Those blue eyes focused, found him. Cloud’s face and chest were darkly flushed, the muscles in his stomach and legs twitching as he rode Zack. He saw that the smaller man’s eyes were watering, and his lips trembled.

Small, choked gasps came out instead of words, then a breathy, self-deprecating laugh. Cloud raised a hand to cover his mouth, biting the base of his thumb through the leather glove, and nodded.

That shy gesture made a different kind of heat uncurl in Zack’s stomach; he’d been growing used to Cloud’s ease and comfort in being in control, and seeing his pleasure overwhelm him now, unravel him, was intoxicating. He could feel the power between them shift almost tangibly. He splayed one of his large hands against Cloud’s low belly, his calloused thumb rubbing firm swirls on the other man’s cock until he moaned, low and long. Zack’s thumb slid easily in the other man’s wetness, and Cloud shuddered on top of him.

Zack pushed himself up to sit and helped Cloud rearrange to sit in his lap. He gripped Cloud’s hips firmly again and used them to pull him slowly back onto his cock.

Zack groaned, Cloud sighed shakily, their foreheads touching.

Zack could feel Cloud’s muscles tense and quiver in his back, in his legs, in his hands on Zack’s arms. He lifted Cloud slowly up along his cock, until just his head was still inside that warmth, and then slammed him back down abruptly, earning a pained cry.

“I like that you overwhelmed yourself on me, baby,” he crooned against Cloud’s neck. “You want me to take over? You want me to fuck you real good?”

Cloud took a deep, shaking breath and nodded, and Zack saw that the wetness in his eyes was starting to spill over. The sight of the tears stilled him. He kissed Cloud softly, his cock buried deep but not moving. “What’s your color, babe?” he tested.

Cloud hiccuped around a soft laugh. “Greener than gysahl. Fuck me, Zack.”

He moved quickly to comply, shifting Cloud under him. His hands clung to Zack’s back, and Zack covered his sounds with an open-mouthed kiss. He guided himself back inside of Cloud and pounded him into the bed, that careful restraint flickering.

Cloud cried and groaned and Zack kept their mouths pressed together while he fucked him brutally, breathing in his moans, sucking his whimpers off of his tongue. Each thrust slammed Zack’s hard, unforgiving body into Cloud’s cunt, against his engorged clit. He finally tore his head away and let out another choked sob.

Zack grinned mischievously. “Sorry, baby,” he panted into his lover’s ear, “there’s nothing in the world like SOLDIER cock.”

Cloud huffed a laugh, tried to pound a fist against Zack’s ribs, but the SOLDIER caught his wrists and pressed them down into the bed. Cloud tried to struggle against the hold, but didn’t stand a chance against mako-given strength. Zack smiled almost bashfully at how easily he kept Cloud pinned.

“Cheater,” Cloud accused softly.

He felt mischief spread over his face. “We prefer the term ‘enhanced.’” He changed his pace, his strokes becoming slower, longer, teasing.

“I know you are not holding back on me,” Cloud panted out, pouting.

Zack pressed open kisses along his neck. “No, baby, I’m just taking my time to enjoy you.” He bottomed out and held himself there for a few moments, letting Cloud grind up against his pubis. He let go of Cloud’s wrists to lay his forearms on either side of his head, his fingers playing thoughtlessly with his hair, while he continued to fuck him slowly. “Touch yourself for me, Cloud. I want to feel you come around me.”

Cloud reached down to work his cock, spreading his fingers around either side of it; Zack basked in the feel of those fingers on either side of him with each thrust. He slowed his kisses but still poured his lust and eagerness into each one.

Cloud’s hand sped up, and Zack answered, still pulling himself out with agonizing slowness, but beginning to thrust back in harder. Cloud tensed around him, and Zack laughed warmly.

“That’s it, baby, come on my cock.”

Cloud keened and his head fell back. “Please…harder…” he managed to get out as his hand worked frantically between them, and Zack eagerly obliged, back to crushing his hips into Cloud’s.

Cloud’s skin flushed, his muscles clenched, and he screamed his orgasm. His nails clawed deep gouges into Zack’s back, down the his sides, above his ass, wherever he could find purchase. Zack slid his arms under Cloud to grip his shoulders and used the leverage to slam into him even harder.

“Can I come in you, Sir?” Zack growled hoarsely, urgency tinting his voice.

He didn’t tease or even smirk, just sighed a simple, “Yes, please.” A few more deep, hard thrusts and then Zack’s groaned into Cloud’s neck as he came, buried as deeply as he could be. He felt Cloud’s cunt pulse pleasantly around him.

Cloud trailed his nails lightly over the skin he’d marked just moments ago, pressed small kisses along Zack’s jaw. They were both slick with sweat.

When he was able to think again, Zack lifted himself out of Cloud and took care of the spent condom. He let himself fall back to the bed and curled on his side to face Cloud, gathered him into his arms, kissed his cheeks and temples softly. He lifted the man’s small, pointed chin, and kissed him deeply.

Zack smiled when he pulled back. “Feeling ready to face the day?”

Cloud laughed, his limbs heavy with pleasant exhaustion. “Odin’s tits, I’m not sure my legs work anymore.”

Zack stretched like he’d just woken up, not like he’d just jackhammered someone into the bed for the better part of an hour. “Well I, for one, am feeling peckish.” He planted a peck on Cloud’s cheek and hopped out of bed. “Coffee?”

Cloud raised his eyebrows. “You might want to do something about your uh,” he stopped, wiggled his hands at his own hair as though his brain wasn’t yet fully online.

“Oh sweets, I’m absolutely covered in your cunt. I’m hopping into the shower first.” He strutted toward the bathroom. “Text me your order, and go back to sleep. You look like you just took a beating.”

Zack just managed to dodge a pillow that Cloud tossed at him, then shut the door before more fluffy violence could ensue. “Text me!” he shouted from behind the door as he got the shower going.

He didn’t get to see Cloud roll over to find his phone by the edge of the bed, muttering again about morning people, unable to suppress a truly smitten smile.

Chapter Text

The hands on his waist trembled almost imperceptibly with the man’s restraint. His breath was hot on his neck; his skin, salted from his exertion, was so fucking delicious under Cloud’s tongue. Their cocks were pressed between them, and one of Cloud’s hands wrapped around them both, stroking them slowly, agonized moans tumbling into each others mouths.

Cloud woke from his dream to the soft click of the door opening. Cloud opened his eyes and looked up, still groggy, to see Zack doing his best to soften his sounds. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks at the fading dream.

He didn’t remember Zack leaving; he must have been truly dead to the world after their morning sex. Now the subject of his wet dream walked toward the bed, dressed in a sleeveless hooded workout shirt and faded, ripped jeans, holding a brown paper bag in his mouth and a drink in each hand. His hair was still slightly damp from the shower, but already wildly disarrayed.

“–wuzhnd zhur whudyou mide wun,” he muttered, barely understandable around the bag he held in his teeth. When he got to the bed, he let the bag drop with a playful ptoo, and winked. “So to make up for it, I got us entirely too much.” He held out the iced latte for Cloud and sipped his own warm drink happily. “You also didn’t mention what kind of flavor you wanted for your coffee, so I used my winning charm to convince the barista to give me shots of a couple different syrups on the side.”

Cloud crinkled his nose as he accepted his drink. “Very thoughtful, but I’m grateful you didn’t defile my drink.”

Zack shrugged. “More for me,” he said cheerfully and began to add the syrups to his own.

“Gods, you are a monster.”

“Hey!” he put his finger on Cloud’s nose like he was a misbehaved pet, “I told you, we prefer enhanced.”

Cloud shook his head and sat up, the sheets pooling in his lap, letting himself enjoy the first sips of his morning coffee. He snuck a peek at Zack to find him watching Cloud intently. “Please tell me there’s something other than sugar in that bag.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I’m a man…whose friends have very sophisticated tastes.” He grinned earnestly and started pulling a variety of pastries from the bag–to Cloud’s delight, mostly savory–and gave him a rundown of the options. Cloud took a meat fatayer and nibbled at it, letting out a sigh at how nicely spiced it was.

“Remind me to send your friends a thank you note.”

“Oh, they’d get a kick out of that. Does your stationary include your titles?”

“Mm, of course,” he said thoughfully. “Cloud Strife: tamer of wayward pups, fucker of genders, destroyer of prostates.” Zack snorted on his coffee and covered his mouth. Cloud let himself smile at the light blush on the other man’s face.

“Were you able to get some rest?”

Cloud’s turn to flush, remembering the dream vividly. “Mm hmm, thank you for going out for this.”

Zack hummed happily while he took down a savory croissant. “What’s your day looking like?”

“Blessedly unstructured. Birthday celebration for one of the other hosts later tonight, I’m sure that’ll get rowdy. I’ll be reporting back after that.”

“I’m honestly impressed that you find time for the Inn with your duty schedule.”

Cloud shrugged. “At the end of the day I’m a glorified corporate security guard with a set schedule, so it’s not too tough. A lot of the guys hang around the barracks hoping to grab extra shifts for the overtime, but I make way more in a shift at the Inn than I would working myself to the bone for Shinra, and I’m not too worried about advancing. So I take full advantage of the flexibility.”

Zack looked unusually thoughtful. “Can I ask—why work for Shinra at all? You seem to be, uh…” he blushed but managed to keep eye contact. “Pretty darn good at the work you do here.”

Cloud propped his chin on his hand. “I am, but it’s a fickle line of work.” He shrugged. “I know I talked shit on the health benefits at the company, but their pension is surprisingly generous and vests incrementally, so my thought is to get it up to a level that I could live off of, supplement savings with the money I get from clients, and retire from service early.” Cloud finished his pastry, sipped at his coffee. “How about you, are you in high demand today, SOLDIER boy?”

“Nah, I honestly, uh,” a hand through his hair, a cute nervous gesture that Cloud was starting to enjoy, “I wasn’t sure how much recovery time I’d want after our date.” He turned those mako-tinted eyes to Cloud, full of earnest interest. “I’d really love to spend more time with you, if you’re up for it.”

Cloud stretched his legs out to let them press against the other man and leaned his body toward him. He felt Zack’s body soften into his. “I could be convinced,” he said with a smile.

Zack reached out and ran a hand down the man’s calf. “Would you like me to wash you?”

“Can I undress you?”

Cloud huffed a small laugh—there wasn’t much to undress—but nodded and leaned back against the counter. They had turned on the shower and were waiting for the water to warm.

Zack stepped closer, still fully clothed, cupped Cloud’s face in his hands, and bent down to press a kiss to his mouth. Cloud enjoyed their height difference, how little he felt with Zack.

The SOLDIER brushed his hands down the sides of Cloud’s neck, across those muscled shoulders, down his arms, and goosebumps rose in his wake. Then he crouched and lifted Cloud, one arm wrapped around the backs of his thighs and the other around his back, and set his ass on the counter; Cloud let out a pleased, if surprised, sound and spread his knees to accommodate the larger man between them.

He lifted the edge of Zack’s shirt and ran his nails over the man’s firm stomach, trailed around to his back. Zack crossed his hands at the hem and lifted the shirt over his head, letting it fall to the floor behind them. Those green-blue eyes were dark.

Cloud leaned forward, his tits just barely brushing Zack’s chest. His nipples hardened at the cold air, at the gentle touch of skin to skin, and he took more soft kisses from the other man’s mouth. His belly warmed both with want and with nerves.

His dominant persona was easy: detached, demanding control, a skin he wore with ease to fulfill a fantasy. It had been long enough since he’d bedded someone outside of work that he didn’t realize how much he’d missed the nerves of intimacy on more even footing, of mutual desire and a flow of power between him and another.

Zack pulled back from the kiss and brought one of Cloud’s hands to his mouth; he kissed the back of his hand over the glove, turned his hand to kiss the sensitive inside of his wrist, his palm, his fingertips. His eyes fluttered shut and he rubbed his cheek into the man’s gloved hand like he was scent marking it, then he undid the snap that held it closed at the wrist and slid it off, placing it carefully on the counter.

He then took the man’s other hand and pressed a similar pattern of kisses, but rather than press his cheek into the palm, he flicked the tip of his tongue playfully over the man’s fingertips. Cloud’s breath caught and Zack rolled pleased eyes up to look at his face. He sucked one fingertip gently into his mouth for just a breath, then let go and removed the second glove. Cloud’s cunt throbbed.

The man smoothed those large, warm hands up the outside of Cloud’s legs, up his sides, and over his back.

“I like how you look in my leather,” he breathed, trailing his fingers along the edges where leather touched skin. He brought his hands around to brush feather-light against Cloud’s chest, let his fingers catch lightly on his nipple jewelry. Cloud gasped at the sensation, and Zack smirked. “I’m also quite the fan of these, by the way. They’re hot as fuck.”

He dipped his head down to press kisses along Cloud’s collarbone, his hands undoing the buckles at the front of the harness with the ease of practice. He pulled one nipple into his mouth as he pushed the harness off Cloud’s shoulders, and Cloud threw his head back and cried out. Zack’s tongue toyed with the barbell in slow strokes, and Cloud felt the sensation jolt straight from his nipple to his clit.

Done with the harness, Zack’s hands roamed down to knead into the flesh of Cloud’s ass. He pulled Cloud into another kiss, this one with more heat behind it. He smirked when he pulled back, started to open his jeans, and nodded his head toward the shower. “Water’s probably ready, get.”

Cloud quirked his eyebrows at the playful order, but pushed himself off of the counter and tested the water; he was satisfied that it was just this side of scalding, steam starting to fill the bathroom. He watched Zack finish undressing, his belly warming and his cunt clenching when he saw that the man’s cock was starting to fill.

Zack smirked. “My eyes are up here, and the shower’s that-a-way, quit getting distracted.” He made shooing motions with his hands. Cloud rolled his eyes, but got in.

The hot water hit his skin and his muscles relaxed almost immediately. He hummed happily when Zack’s arms wrapped around from behind, and he tipped his head back onto his shoulder, let himself lean into his solid presence. He wiggled his hips just a bit against the erection pressed against him and Zack laughed and smacked his ass lightly.

“Gods, and here I’m trying to behave,” Zack murmured into his ear.

Cloud turned his head to look up at him over his shoulder, smirking. “But why would you?”

The man wrapped an arm around Cloud’s shoulders, pressing them together, and smoothed the other hand down over the light fuzz around his navel, over to grip his hip.

“Because when I stopped behaving earlier, I fucked you into the bed until you passed out,” he cooed, just a touch of smugness in his voice. Cloud would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the small show of arrogance. “And as cute as you are curled up and snoring, I’d like to enjoy some awake time with you.”

Cloud grumbled something along the lines of “Murr, overrated,” and Zack chuckled and let go of him enough to squeeze some body wash into his hands and began to work it into a lather. He slid soapy hands over the man’s shoulders, washed his chest with just the lightest touch to his already-sensitive nipples, swiped his hands up into the other man’s armpits.

Cloud let out the smallest undignified squeak of surprise. “Okay, thorough.”

Zack chuckled warmly and kissed his neck. His lips were actually cool against Cloud’s skin in pleasant contrast to the hot water. The kiss sent a pleasant shiver along Cloud’s neck, down his spine.

“If you’re going to let me make a mess of you,” Zack purred softly into his ear, “the least I can do is clean up after myself.” His hands moved down over the smaller man’s firm stomach, the swell of his hips, his thighs, brushed against his cock.

Cloud couldn’t hold back a gasp, and he felt Zack smirk against his neck. “Mm, just selfless, aren’t you, puppy?”

“Basically a saint,” he chirped, his soap-slick fingers spreading to stroke firmly along either side of the man’s stiff clit. Cloud arched, pressing his ass more firmly into Zack’s erection, and dug his nails into the arm wrapped around his shoulders. Zack hummed with satisfaction. He started to move his fingers in slow, firm circles around Cloud’s clit, and Cloud panted and writhed against him.

“This is behaving?” Cloud managed to get out, breathless.

“Mm hmm.” The larger man slid down to kneel and his hand left Cloud’s throbbing clit, went back to soaping him: his ass, his thighs, his calves, even fitting his fingers between his toes, earning another eep! and a jump. Cloud turned to face him, and Zack grinned wolfishly at the front row seat to Cloud’s bits.

Zack fluttered his eyes closed as he pressed a gentle kiss into the hollow of Cloud’s hip, licking lightly at the water droplets gathered there. “I’m being thorough, and I’m keeping my cock to myself. That feels like good behavior.”

Cloud tangled his fingers in the thick black hair. “You’re a bit of a brat, aren’t you?”

He pouted, but the slight twitch of his cock and the gleam in those green-blue eyes betrayed his pleasure. “If there’s something else my Sir wants of me,” he purred, grabbing the smaller man around his hips to pull him closer, nuzzling his face so close to where Cloud wanted him, “all he needs to do is ask.”

Cloud’s fingers wrapped more firmly in his hair, jerking Zack’s head back, and he wrapped his other hand around the man’s neck. Zack let out a breathy laugh and stilled under his hand, lips softly parted, eyes suddenly heavy.

Did Cloud imagine that subtle press of the other man’s neck up into his grasp?

He moved his hand from Zack’s neck to trace his fingertips over those soft, full lips. “Give me head like the good, eager boy you are,” he ordered, his voice hoarse with arousal.

Cloud half expected that mischievous smirk, some snarky quip; instead, Zack pushed him back against the tile wall with enough force that Cloud slapped his hands down on either side of himself to catch the impact. Then Zack’s mouth was pressed open against his cunt, one hand pinning Cloud’s chest to the wall, the other gripped hard under his thigh, holding his leg out to the side to grant himself more access.

Zack moaned deeply into his cunt and Cloud arched and groaned, both of his hands back in the dark hair, pressing against his hot mouth as hard as he could. Zack swirled his tongue vigorously over the head of his cock, pulled it into his mouth to suck with force, pressed his tongue flat against the underside in a long stroke that ended with a hard flick. He pulled the soft folds of Cloud’s labia into his mouth, sucked, grazed gently with his teeth. Cloud answered the assault with gasps and whimpers and curses.

Zack rolled his eyes up to watch Cloud, his mouth continuing its eager work.

“Gods, fuck, you look so good on your knees for me.” Cloud’s hips bucked shamelessly, fucking the other man’s face. Zack’s grip on his chest tightened, digging sharp nails into his skin, and Cloud cried out again, the pain sending more heat to his cunt. He felt his orgasm build and he sunk his own nails into the back of the other man’s neck.

Cloud’s hips jerked, his rhythm beginning to break. Zack took the cue that he was close, pulled Cloud’s cock into his mouth again, sucking and running his tongue along the length of him, and let go of his leg to tease two fingers at the entrance of his cunt. Cloud tensed and made soft, needy sounds, whispered, “Fuck, yes, please, Zack.”

Zack stroked into him gently, and his fingers slid home like Cloud was made for him. Then he pushed in until his knuckles hit Cloud’s entrance, his fingers curling to hit Cloud’s g-spot. Zack fucked into him vigorously until Cloud bit his wrist to muffle a scream. When he came, he felt his cunt force Zack’s fingers out, felt the warm splash over his thighs, and felt briefly grateful they were in the shower for this one. Zack made a delighted sound and clamped his mouth down to drink his cum down, and Cloud shook and sobbed, his standing leg trembling dangerously.

“Fuck, fuck, I can’t—no more—” he gasped out, pulling Zack’s head up by his hair. His mouth and chin glistened with Cloud’s cum, and Cloud moaned again as aftershocks ran through him, even without the other man’s touch. His legs gave out and Zack caught him, a hand catching his head to make sure it didn’t hit the wall. “Fucking hell, Zack, fuck.”

Zack pulled him close, pressed soft kisses to his neck and jaw. “Thank you, Sir.” He kissed Cloud on the lips, and he felt his face warm at the taste of himself in the other man’s mouth. “Thank you for using my mouth,” he purred, nuzzling into the man’s shoulder.

Cloud breathed a long, shaky exhale, petting Zack’s hair idly. “Think you can finish washing me sitting? I don’t think I’m standing again for a minute.” Zack smiled, reached up for the body wash, and happily obliged.

Chapter Text

They managed to keep their hands to themselves long enough to finish their shower and dress. Zack put his civvies back on, and Cloud slipped into a cropped tee with a jagged hem and a pair of soft black jeans.

He puttered around the suite barefoot, gathering the discarded pieces of Zack’s extra uniform, and folded it back up to hand to the larger man; Zack took it, but extracted the harness, and held it back out. He blushed a bit at Cloud’s confused look. “If you want, I uh…I’d like you to keep this.”

He took the offered leather, his fingertips brushing over it with reverence, and gave a small smile. “You’re sure?”

Zack scratched the back of his head. “I get a few issued every year, and I take good care of them, so I’ve got others.” He dropped his eyes briefly. “I like how you wear it.”

Cloud brought the harness up to his face and inhaled deeply; that gesture made Zack warm with something a little softer than lust.

“Thank you, puppy. It’s a lovely gift.” Cloud set it down and gestured to Zack. “Come sit with me.” He padded over to the plush armchair where he’d lounged the night before and settled in, his expression soft. Zack followed and sat on his heels on the plush rug in front of the smaller man, his heart only thudding a little harder about being at his feet again.

Cloud patted the top of his thigh, and Zack scooted closer to lay his cheek against the inside of the man’s leg again. He sighed happily and let his eyes flutter closed, enjoying the remaining warmth from the hot shower. Cloud’s fingers combed through the still-damp mess of his hair, stroked his cheek and the line of his jaw.

“How do you feel?” Cloud asked.

Zack nuzzled his face into Cloud’s palm, enjoying the way his nerves lit up with the brush of skin.

“Feel good. Feel real into you. Not spent, exactly, but very satisfied.” He looked up in time to see Cloud’s eyebrows lift at the idea that he wasn’t spent and managed to look bashful. “Not to toot my own horn, but that SOLDIER stamina is uh…something.”

Cloud smirked. “Mako is a hell of a drug?”

Zack laughed, let his hand wrap lazily around the other man’s calf. “Something like that.”

Cloud toyed with a strand of Zack’s hair with his fingers. “Can you tell me more about how you experience it? At least what might be relevant for play?”

Zack thought about it for a bit, enjoying how grounded he felt while touching the other man casually like this. “It heightens senses. I feel everything, uh, more.” He felt himself blush. “But at the same time it’s built resilience. So like, for example: I’ll sure as fuck feel it if something slices me open in a fight. But I’m also able to keep operating at close to full capacity for longer in spite of it.”

Cloud hummed softly as he digested the information. “I feel like the impacts on vision and hearing are well known, but I think I just sort of assumed that SOLDIERs…didn’t really experience pain the same.”

“I wish,” Zack laughed, the cheer not slipping. “Turns out getting shot still hurts like a motherfucker. I’m usually quick enough to avoid getting hit by most things, but if I do get hurt, I’m able to power through it for longer than a normal person. I’ll be drained as fuck once I'm out of the mess and the adrenaline crashes, but the mako also makes recovery a lot faster.”

“Sounds like a fucking rough cycle, though.” Those pale blue regarded him seriously. “I hope I didn’t press on a topic I shouldn’t have.”

He shook his head. “Nah, it’s a question that makes sense, especially from a beautiful man that wants to do terrible things to me.” A wink.

“What about pleasure? Do you find that that’s more intense, too?”

Zack nodded. “If sex felt this good without the stamina, I’d be a one hit wonder,” he joked, getting a snort out of Cloud.

“Is overstimulation an issue?”

A slight blush. “Not casually—it takes a lot.”

Cloud hummed and smiled. “It’s helpful to have some idea of how your body might respond differently compared to others. You experience sensation intensely and can take a lot of it. Frankly, you sound like a sadist’s wet dream.”

Zack grinned and gave Cloud bedroom eyes from his lap. “You called yourself a sadist on your profile, yeah? What does that mean to you?”

Another thoughtful hum, a hand still idly stroking through Zack’s hair. “I like giving sensation, I like playing with intensity. Pain hits both of those. The taboo is thrilling. The fact that it’s an unpleasant experience makes it that much more special when someone is willing to take it for me.” He lifted Zack’s chin with his fingertips to look at his face. “Is that something that you want to play with?”

His adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, nodded. “I’d like to try. I’ve been curious about what it could be like…to be hurt in a way that I want, that I get to agree to.” His voice trailed for a second, then he let mischief flash back into his eyes. “And the way you describe it sounds super hot.”

A smile, and Cloud pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “We’ll give it a shot.”

Zack shifted, moving a hand to the man’s bare waist. “How about you? How are you feeling about this, about uh…us, so far?”

“Oh I’m having a lovely time.” Cloud ruffled the man’s hair. “You’re a knockout, you fuck like your life depends on it, and you’re eager to try new things.” Zack smirked at the characterization. “You’ve also managed to not balk at the amount of communication I want. I’m curious to see how we mesh with more kinks, since you don't have much experience yet, but I’m excited about it.”

Zack wiggled his ass like he was wagging a tail—Cloud snorted—“Does that mean you wanna seeee meeee again?” he teased.

Cloud leaned forward and slid a hand to wrap around the other man’s neck; it earned him a sweet, eager whimper. “Yes, puppy,” he breathed. “I want to see as much as you’ll show me.”

Zack enjoyed his afternoon.

He got some noodles and a beer from a definitely-not-up-to-code cart under the plate and let himself wander to the old playground between Sectors 5 and 6 to eat. He was pleased to find that perching on the slide inspired nostalgic warmth, instead of the cold feeling that he had fucked up something good. He shot Aerith a short, friendly text while he thought of her and watched the kids play “Avalanche” with only mild concern.

He meandered back topside and made his way to the SOLDIER floor of the Shinra building, hoping to find someone to pass the time with. He played a few rounds of cards with Kunsel, who had the worst poker face he’d ever seen, and a few of the new Thirds. As it got dark and he felt the last day start to catch up with him, he offered fist bumps to the newbies and bear hugs to the folks he knew and headed back to his apartment.

He’d just put on his pajamas and settled into his couch when his phone vibrated, and he felt his heart jump a bit when he saw that the notification read Sir.

Sir
Oh my godddd finally back in my bed.

Zack
How were drinks?

Sir
Shiva’s swinging, veiny cock.

That mental image got a snort out of Zack.

Sir
Diosa couldn’t help but tell everyone that I brought a SOLDIER back to the Inn last night.
And Andi fully wanted to know if “they taste different when they’ve been dipped in mako”

Zack
So…do we? 🤔

Sir
Haven’t tried it for yourself?

Zack flushed, heat rising in his neck and face as he remembered the absolute mess of a crush he’d had on Angeal when he was a wee Third…and maybe when he was a slightly less wee Second. He enjoyed slutting around, but had he ever been with another SOLDIER…?

He blushed.

Zack
I’d like to invoke my right to not self-incriminate.

Sir
You realize
No, nevermind.
I’ll just have to help you taste yourself sometime.

Somehow that hadn’t occurred to him.

Sir
How are you doing, puppy?
Still feeling good about our time together?

Zack warmed; part of it was the heat low in his body when he remembered how Cloud had looked in Zack’s uniform, the way the blond choked out those hoarse fucking screams when Zack made him come, how beautiful he’d been with overwhelmed tears in his eyes when they’d fucked that morning. Those memories would be going in the bank for a while.

But he also felt his heart warm at the check-in. This was a different level of care than a normal hook-up, and he felt…excited? Curious? Cautious? He didn’t want to accidentally read more into it than someone being diligent and kind about playing with power and taboo.

Zack
Yes, Sir. Big yes.

Sir
I’m glad.
You want to plan another playdate soon?

Zack
Yes please.

Sir
Good boy.
How have you taken care of yourself today?

Zack told him about how good the greasy noodles had been, about the cute kids he’d seen, about how he’d spanked Kunsel at cards and refused to take the materia the man had bet when he’d run out of chits.

Sir
That sounds like a lovely afternoon.
I’d like to take care of you in my own way.
May I call you?

Zack texted assent and his breath caught, just a little bit, when he pushed the button to accept the call. “Hello, Sir.”

“Hi, sweet pup.” Cloud’s voice was warm and honeyed from his buzz; Zack thought briefly of the feel of cinnamon candy melting on his tongue. “I was thinking about what a good fucking boy you were for me. And that I got off more than you did during our date.” Zack could practically hear the soft pout in the other man’s voice; his dick twitched with anticipation.

“I like being good for you, Sir,” he managed to respond, quietly.

A chuckle. “Tell me, puppy, what does that stamina of yours do for your refractory time?”

Zack groaned softly, letting his fingers trace lightly over his cock through his pants. “I believe the feedback I’ve received is that it’s uh…unreasonable? Unfair? Un-something along those lines.”

Cloud hummed on the line, and Zack recalled vividly what that hum felt like when their bodies were pressed together, slick with sweat.

“You made me come three times over our date. I think parity is important. Can’t have you feeling like I don’t care about your pleasure, can we, pup?” His voice was warm, teasing. “Are you touching yourself yet, sweet boy?”

“I…just barely.”

“Good.” Zack could hear a zipper open, the swish of clothing being moved. “Send me a photo.”

Zack thought briefly about kicking off his slippers, but decided, not for the first time when Cloud was involved, that dignity wasn’t worth making him wait. He snapped a photo of his legs stretched long on the couch, his hand grazing his hard cock through the soft flannel pants, and sent it.

Cloud let out a delighted sound. “Are those chocobo slippers?”

“What can I say, they remind me of my spiky Sir,” he teased.

“Yeah?” Zack felt his phone vibrate with a notification, saw it was from Cloud, and thumbed it open. The moan he choked out was deep and long.

Cloud wore the same jeans he’d had on earlier; in place of the crop top, a sheer, purple lace bra with delicate black ribbon details stretched over his chest. His hard nipples and the silver barbells pressed against the thin fabric, his pale skin showed through peek-a-boo slits right below. His back was arched, his jeans open, a matching, soaked, tiny pair of panties held to the side so his fingers could straddle his cock in the way that was beginning to feel deliciously familiar to Zack.

His voice came out strangled. “Holy fuck, Cloud.”

“Mmmm, I know, baby.” Zack had used that pet name plenty for his partners in the past, but having it cooed at him in that smug, self-satisfied way was new. It lit him up from the inside, made his cock twitch against his hand. “Tell me you’ve got lube.”

Zack shot up from the couch and knocked things over with a clatter in his hurry to get to his bedroom and the lube in the nightstand. “Yep, yessir.”

“Get yourself nice and slick, puppy, like you’re in my pussy.”

Zack groaned, his eyelashes fluttering shut at the sense memory. He pushed his clothes off, kicked the slippers off the side of the bed, and he did as he was told. His cock was wet and firm, throbbing under his hand, and the noises he made as he stroked himself made him grateful that he didn’t know his neighbors.

“Fuck, Sir, how are you so wet?”

“I have a gorgeous man to inspire me,” he purred. “I regret that I didn’t play more with that pretty cock while you were here. I was just in such a rush to get it in me.” Cloud’s breath hitched and Zack felt unmoored at the realization that the man was likely playing with himself on the other end of the line. “Tell me what you’re doing, sweet boy.”

He had the sense to put the phone on speaker and let it drop on the bed beside him so he could have both of his hands, then Zack eagerly began narrating as he cupped his balls, tugged gently at the skin; slid a slick palm along the length of his shaft; worked his knuckles over the head until his pre mixed with the lube. His breath came in pants between his words, and his whole body tensed at Cloud’s pleased sounds.

“Fuck, Sir, please tell me you’re touching yourself too?” he got out, his voice cracked.

“How could I not, pretty boy?” Another gasp from Cloud turned into a long, soft moan and Zack would swear his vision went out for a second. “Shit, baby, you better come soon or I’m gonna owe you even more”

Zack cried out as his hand kept working his cock, threw an arm over his face to muffle it. “Fuck, can I?” he pleaded, his body tense, his voice clipped.

“Come for me, puppy.”

Zack’s face burned red at the filthy command mixed with what used to be an innocent pet name, but it shoved him right over the edge. He moaned shamelessly as he shot cum over his belly.

Cloud laughed, his voice deep and dark with his own arousal. “Good fucking boy,” he growled. “I’m not done with you.” Zack could just hear the other man’s wetness over the line and thought it would end him. “Finger yourself, pretty boy.”

“Shiva’s uncut cock.”

Another laugh, breathy. “I’m sure you’d take it admirably, but we’ll work up to it. Don’t make me tell you again, puppy.”

“Yes, Sir.” He slicked his hand anew and reached down to spread lube around his hole. He flushed, both embarrassed and aroused at the thought of Cloud watching him do this some day. He slid a first finger inside, slowly, and let out a moan.

“Fuck, Sir, you feel good in me,” he whined, his neck and chest warming as even just the first knuckle made its way in.

Cloud moaned. “Oh, sweet boy, keep talking like that and I’m gonna fucking rail you.”

“Please, Cloud. I want to feel you inside of me,” he moaned, working his finger slowly, just a little deeper, his body starting to swallow it hungrily. His hips bucked, imagining the other man above him.

“You gonna stretch yourself out for me first, puppy?” he cooed. Zack panted. “Go slow as you need to, but I want you to come around your fingers. I want you to come around my fingers,” he breathed, his voice catching.

“Yes, Sir, please.”

“You’ll tell me when you add more, puppy,” more of those soft wet sounds over the phone–or were those from his own fingers? “And when I’m satisfied that you’re ready for me, you’ll stroke yourself off again, do you understand?”

“Fuck, yes, Sir.” His head sagged heavy against the pillow, hoarse sounds pouring out of him for Cloud’s satisfaction. “I’m up to two.”

“Good boy. You’re doing such a good job for me.”

Another gasp from Cloud, a soft squelch, distinct from the sounds Zack was making. His eyes rolled back in his head when he tried to picture Cloud, tried to imagine what had made that sinful sound.

Cloud’s moans and gasps were becoming just a little more urgent, accompanied by the sound of something softly slapping skin, and as much as Zack wanted to meet the pace that those sounds suggested, his body hadn’t been used in this way in long enough that he knew he needed to go slow.

He imagined Cloud above him, using one hand to pleasure himself while the other worked Zack open; he imagined Cloud working a cock into him, slowly, imagined the man’s small hand fisted around Zack’s cock as he cored him out with slow, deep strokes. He reached the full depth he could with two of his long fingers and then sighed, withdrew partway, and worked a third. He breathed a loud, shaky exhale.

“Three, Sir.”

“Oh, shit, you take me so well, baby. ” Cloud breathed over the line, and Zack heard the cracks in his breath, the almost-sobs that suggested he was getting close. “Stroke yourself.”

Zack’s other hand gripped his cock, still slick with lube, and he made broken sounds. “Fuck, thank you Sir.”

“Wish I could kiss you, pet,” Cloud growled, panting. “Want to hold you down by your neck. Want to taste the sweetness of your precum. Want to watch you lose it with your cock in my mouth.”

Zack swiped his hand over the wet tip of his cock and plunged his fingers into his mouth, the way he had seen Cloud do before the smaller man had ridden him. He moaned around his fingers.

“Please, Sir, can I come for you?”

“Yes, Zack. Rut into your hand like a good fucking dog and come for me.”

Zack yelled out, something like a laugh mixed into his cry, feeling delighted about the filth from his Sir; added to the already cooled mess on his stomach with fresh, hot stripes of cum, and then collapsed, boneless, slowly pulling his fingers out of himself. He heard Cloud follow shortly after: not the full-throated, hoarse screams that he’d earned with his hands and cock and mouth (and something about that was deeply satisfying, that the sounds Zack earned personally were different), but a pepper of short, stuttered cries and moans. They both went quiet for a moment, the only sound their labored breathing and the occasional warm laugh; delighted, a little embarrassed, satiated.

“Well, I’m an absolute fucking mess,” Zack said, laughing. He plopped his hand down onto his stomach; the groan and laugh from Cloud let him know the wet smack made it over the phone. “I think I’m due another shower if I don’t get run out of my apartment over noise complaints.”

A warm chuckle. “You’re an absolute treat, puppy. Go clean up. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Good night, Sir.”

“Night, sweet boy.” The call clicked off, and Zack was at least grateful he didn’t have to touch his phone in his current state.

He got up carefully, realized the bedsheets were in a state, and stripped the bed. He went into the bathroom to wash his hands and started to wipe his mess off of himself, when he heard his phone buzz.

A photo from Cloud: a modest wet spot on his sheets, a large, ribbed, mako-green dildo covered in his wetness, and a hand-written note.

iou: 1 orgasm
sweet dreams

The “i” was dotted with a heart.

Chapter Text

Puppy
I'm gonna be out of town for a mission for a few days.

Cloud
Thanks for letting me know.
Be safe.

Puppy
Heh, like anything could take me out.

Cloud
Can I still text you?

Puppy
I'll be scarce for a bit, but I'll respond when I can.
Excited to see you again once I'm back in town.

Sir
What do you miss most about Gongaga?

Zack
Hmm…
Oh man, this is maybe a little embarrassing but
When I was like 10, I shit you not, I got my dad to help me build an agility course in the middle of the jungle.

Sir
…I'm sorry, what?

Zack
Dude you have no idea how fucking cool it was.
Every morning I'd get my whole pack together
As if I wasn't going right back home to my mom a few hours later for a home cooked meal

Sir
omg Zack

Zack
And I'd hike down past the waterfalls to the little cliffside
*fully* running if I so much as heard a twig snap, not even a little ready to actually take on a monster
And I'd bop around this course like I had a drill sergeant driving me.

Sir
Well, I'm getting a more…comprehensive picture of you as a person.

Zack
I think another kid from the village followed me *once* and promptly realized that was not what normal kids did for fun.

Sir
bahahahaha

Zack
but man, I loved that place.

Puppy
Okay, so you can absolutely tell me to fuck off if you don't want to answer

Cloud
Off to a strong start

Puppy
But in the interest of getting to know you better
What are some of your favorite client stories?

Cloud
HAH.
Oh gosh.
You lookin for weird stories, sweet stories, what's the ask?

Puppy
You're indulging me, dealer's choice.

Cloud
I mean I love the ones who offer tribute.
The boots you cleaned for me were a gift from a guy who really liked to see me on the pole.

Puppy
…
😶
…am I supposed to be normal about that mental image??

Cloud
I'd be disappointed if you were 😘
hmmm lemme think
OH
OKAY SO
This one guy really wanted to cook with my cum
Okay bake, not cook
But like baking is really time intensive, and he INSISTED it needed to be fresh.

Puppy
…you are *absolutely* fucking with me

Cloud
HUSH
So I'd have to reserve one of the rooms with a kitchenette and I swear to gods he would be busy like beating a meringue while I
…beat…my? Meringue?

Puppy
oh my fuck, you're full of it

Cloud
BITCH I WILL SHOW YOU A PHOTO OF THE CLOUD CREAM PIE
He couldn't book like a ton of time so he'd be bustling around doing all this prep work and hand me a measuring cup
I SWEAR I COULDN'T MAKE THIS UP.
It was honestly really good! He's a good baker!
photo attached

Sir
I have thoughts for our next playdate.
How do you feel about being tied up?

Puppy
I can't wait to see you tonight, Sir.

Cloud
Don’t forget: wear something you don’t mind losing.

“Kneel for me, puppy. Right here.”

Zack wasn’t sure what he had expected.

The warmth of Cloud’s hand, pressing gently on his shoulder to guide him to his knees on the plush rug wasn't a surprise. Neither was the cool confidence that he wore like another piece of his outfit, just an accessory to his soft jeans, his short jacket, his leather boots; nor the way that Zack found himself wanting to lean into the smaller man, to rub his cheek against his thigh like he could leave his mark.

But he hadn’t expected the soft music that filled the room, the bass moving slow in his chest; or the dimmed light, the way everything seemed to quiver as the candles around them flickered. He hadn’t expected the way the smells of the rope–grass, earth, oil–would fill the air. He didn’t know to expect the metal frame set up over the rug, with a large steel ring hanging from its center.

Cloud reached for a bundle, pulled the bight free, let the ends drop with a soft thud. He crouched behind Zack and let his knees spread to either side of the larger man, then pressed his hand, and the rope held loosely in it, up against Zack’s jaw. Cloud kissed his temple softly and Zack sighed. “Your safe words, sweet boy.”

Zack’s eyes fluttered closed and he let a little more of his weight shift into the man behind him. “Red stops everything,” he breathed. “Yellow for a pause. Green to please keep doing what you’re doing to me.”

“Good boy. Ready to start?”

Zack turned his head back to meet the other man’s eyes and kissed him. Cloud’s hand gripped his jaw more firmly in response, his thighs squeezing briefly around Zack’s body. Zack reluctantly broke the kiss and sighed, “Yes, Sir.”

“Hands behind your back.”

He complied; Cloud moved them so that Zack's hands gripped opposite elbows, his arms forming a box behind his back. Zack felt him slide the rope—just a little scratchy, but also softer than he expected—up between his back and his arms, wrapped the length around his wrists once, twice, and tied off.

Cloud pulled the unused length taut, keeping firm tension between his hands and the rope on Zack’s body. He brought it forward, around Zack’s neck just once, then used it to pull the larger man’s body back against his chest. Zack let out a pleased grunt as the rope pressed firmly into his neck; Cloud smirked.

He pressed warm, chaste kisses to Zack’s neck, shoulders; holding the working end of the rope taut between his hands, he dragged it slowly back and forth across Zack’s neck. Zack’s breath hitched just a bit. “I like how responsive you are, puppy.” He licked a line up the man’s neck, pulled his earlobe into his mouth and sucked gently; Zack moaned. “I like how much you enjoy what I give you.”

Cloud took the rope from Zack’s neck, leaned back and set to work wrapping him into a harness. He wrapped around his biceps and chest, pinning his arms against his sides; locked down the wraps, wrapped a second set below those, tied them off. His hands worked deftly, easily, and Zack was caught between the desire to watch Cloud work and the desire to sink into the feel of being held by his rope. With each wrap, each pull and tug, Cloud manipulating Zack’s mass easily with his knees or shoulders while his hands worked, the latter impulse won out a bit more.

“Color, sweets?”

Zack fluttered his eyes open to meet Cloud’s above him, his smile edging toward dopey. “Green.”

Cloud grabbed a smaller bundle and passed the length around the back of Zack’s head, around to his face, pressing in between his lips. When he pulled it down, the rope pried Zack’s mouth open. His eyes went a little wide, a little less blissed out, and his throat worked; with the rope gagging him, holding his mouth open, he looked—

“Positively undignified,” Cloud cooed.

One of his hands held the rope taut, tugging Zack’s head to the side, and his other thumb pressed against his lower lip. Zack felt only a little mortified to feel drool pooling in his mouth, already.

“You can still give me a color of course, can’t you, pup?”

“Gheen,” he managed.

“Good enough.” Cloud wrapped his face further: another wrap in Zack’s mouth, prying his jaw just a little more open; a wrap that went over Zack’s eyes, forcing him to shut them; another around the center of his face. Cloud locked off the face tie and wrapped his hand around the rope, used it to yank Zack’s head back.

His other hand stroked along Zack’s jaw softly, like a lover. “You’re so good for me.”

Zack groaned softly, wordlessly.

Cloud let him go and moved a bit away. Zack’s breath was coming just a little harder. The way his arms were bound pulled his shoulders back, pushed his chest out. His head hung forward, and that drool was now running wet down his chin.

He felt Cloud’s hands on either side of his face, his fingers running gently over rope and skin. He pressed a kiss to the side of the man’s open mouth.

“It’s hard to find rope that’s rated for enhanced folks like you, you know that, puppy?” He sucked Zack’s lower lip into his mouth, and Zack offered a frustrated whine in response. “Got this special just for you. Turns out my friend who works topside sees a lot of you SOLDIER boys, was able to help me out.”

He pushed hard on Zack to knock him backward, caught him by gripping the front of his harness just before he hit the floor. Zack’s breath caught in something closer to a sigh than a grunt.

“Oh, you’re going under real quick in my rope, aren’t you, baby?”

And is that what he was feeling? Going under felt like an apt euphemism: with his eyes covered, Zack felt like he was floating in dark water, the only anchor the feel of Cloud’s rope holding him tightly. Each touch of the man’s calloused fingers or soft, warm mouth made Zack crane toward him like a plant to sunlight.

“Uh-huh,” was something he could manage out around the gag. He added a, “Shir,” because it felt wrong not to.

Zack heard the same soft thud as Cloud undid another bundle of rope; he bent Zack’s knee, scooting one of his feet as close to his butt as he could, before he began binding his leg in that bent position. When he was done, he pushed Zack’s bound leg down and out to his side, leaving him feeling exposed even though he was still fully clothed. His soft pajama pants were starting to tent.

Cloud’s hand brushed the lightest touch over Zack’s cock through his pants, and Zack arched, moaned softly with want. Encouraged by the sound, Cloud gripped his cock hard. “I know that I owe you more attention, puppy, and you’ll get it. But I’m going to play with my food for a while first.”

Zack whined softly and nodded, wanted to ramble an assortment of yes please and anything you want and I’m yours.

That last thought stunned him into stillness for just a moment, but then Cloud was over him, hands on either side of his body, kissing him over the gag, and his mind went pleasantly warm and blank.

He couldn’t actually return the kisses with his mouth held open, could only accept what Cloud gave him: his teeth dragging on Zack’s lip, his tongue dipping into Zack’s mouth, stroking the rope. Zack still tried his best to rise to him, to close his mouth around the smaller man’s warm tongue, and groaned in frustration when he couldn’t.

Another soft thud of a new bundle unfurling on the rug, a brief tug at the rope on Zack’s leg. Cloud grunted as he dropped to the ground, using his weight to hoist the larger man up. Zack was very suddenly upside-down: only his upper back and head touched the floor, his weight balanced between his shoulders and the harness on his leg, the rope digging into the meat of his thigh and calf. He panted softly, the change in position causing a headrush that only deepened his warm, floaty headspace.

“Are we happy, puppy?” Cloud asked, kneeling next to him so he could comb his fingers through Zack’s long hair. Zack nodded, making soft sounds through the gag as he let himself adjust to the new sensations. “Good.”

A rustle, a soft click and fwish that sounded an awful lot like–and then cold metal pressed against his cheek.

“Can you tell what I’ve got, pup?”

Zack could feel the tickle of sweat beginning to roll down his body, either from the exertion of the position he was in, or from the feel of the knife dragging down along his jawline to press gently to the front of his neck. He nodded, the movement small and slow against the blade.

“And you listened to me, and wore clothes you don’t mind losing?”

A soft groan and another slow nod as he put two and two together.

“Good boy.”

The cool press of metal left his neck, and Zack took a deep, shuddering breath. Cloud took the knife to the hem of his shirt and sliced it easily, balled either side of the fabric in his hands, and pulled; the length of it ripped open under the rope harness, exposing his stomach and chest. Another click as Cloud closed the knife.

“You’re always a sight, puppy, but seeing you strung up like this is something else.” His hands, rough and warm, traced along the lines of muscle on his belly, gently brushed his nipples. Zack moaned at the touch. “I’m so excited to see you hurt for me.”

Zack tried to open his eyes in spite of the rope pressed close over them, and caught just a brief glimpse of that wolfish grin, that delight. He closed his eyes with a sigh. Sounds of movement, then the warmth of Cloud’s body closer than before. One of the smaller man’s arms wrapped around his suspended leg, and his warmth pressed a line along the back of Zack’s body. His presence was grounding.

“Take a deep breath for me, puppy. Nice and slow.” He felt Cloud take a long inhale against him and attempted to match the other man. They exhaled together, slow and easy, and then Zack felt heat, sharp and sudden, dot his bare stomach, and the rest of his exhale hissed out of his mouth in a rush. His eyes flew open briefly and he saw that the hand that wasn’t wrapped around his leg held a lit candle above him.

“Huuuck”

Cloud’s free hand stroked long, soothing lines along Zack’s bent leg. “More, puppy?”

Zack squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. He wants me to hurt for him. He moaned as he felt more drips, some only small, some running long lines of warmth down his stomach before they cooled. Heat and pain bloomed on his nipple and he writhed against the restraint, shouted through the gag.

Cloud touched Zack’s stomach gently again. He dragged his nails over the skin, occasionally flaking off bits of the dried wax, the feel of his nails more intense against the tender skin beneath. He did this for a while: dripped more of the hot wax over Zack’s stomach and chest, bringing the candle closer once Zack had gotten more used to the sensation, then using his nails to flake off bits of the wax, letting himself dig the points just a little deeper with each pass. Zack panted under his touch, his stomach twitching, his skin covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

Cloud knelt beside the man, keeping the warmth of his body close. “You’re gorgeous like this, Zack,” he crooned. “I adore the sounds you make. You suffer so good for me.”

His small hand turned Zack’s face to the side, covering his eyes, stretching his neck long. Cloud hummed with satisfaction and then heat and pain bloomed bright along Zack’s exposed neck, along his jawline, on his cheek. He keened and struggled against the rope.
“Color, pup,” Cloud instructed, his hand caressing Zack’s face so, so gently.

Zack’s breathing was deep and labored, slowly coming back to his control under Cloud’s soft touch. He took a deep breath, exhaled shakily, and turned his head to the other side to expose the untouched side of his face. “Gheen,” he almost whispered.

“Gods, Zack, you’re so good for me.”

The praise warmed his chest, made his cock twitch. Drips from the candle fell on this side of his neck, closer, hotter, longer lines, with more time spent waiting between each drip. Cloud was pulling his suffering taut, stretching it out to make it last.

Zack panted, moaned as the drips hit his jaw, began to keen again when they neared the curve of his cheekbone, so close to his eye. Cloud’s hand was shielding him again, but that knowledge and the base part of his brain that shouted NO weren’t doing a good job of talking to each other. The fear satisfied something deep in Zack that he had tried to ignore, that he had been pushing aside, telling himself he hadn’t needed with his prior partners.

He wanted to say I love being good for you and I love how my pain feeds you and You’re terrifying and beautiful and instead he sighed a long moan that didn’t feel like nearly enough.

Cloud set the candle aside, moved so that he was kneeling over Zack, his knees on either side of Zack’s head. He cupped the other man’s face, played in his hair. Cloud breathed deeply, let out a shaking sigh of his own.

The click of Cloud’s knife again, this time very near Zack’s face, and he flinched away from the sound. He was rewarded with a deep, dark chuckle from Cloud.

“You trust me, don’t you, puppy?” he cooed. The cool blade came to rest near his collarbone. Zack nodded, pressing his face into Cloud’s inner thigh. “Good boy. Now hold still.”

I trust him

Cloud slid the blade carefully under the wax on Zack’s neck, moving so, so slowly. The muscles in Zack’s stomach twitched with the effort of staying still; the rope still dug, unforgiving, into his suspended leg; his shoulders had begun to ache. And there was a knife gliding so patiently up his throat, over the hard line of his jaw, over his cheek.

Then the knife was gone, and Cloud bent down, ran his tongue in the reverse path of the blade: over his cheek, over the lines of coarse rope criss-crossing his face, down to his neck. He bit and sucked a mark into where his neck met his shoulder, Zack moaning beneath him. He let go with a soft pop when he was satisfied and crooned softly into Zack’s ear, “Your fear tastes so fucking good, Zack.”

I barely know him

He gripped the rope on Zack’s face and used it to jerk his head to the other side, then began the same slow process of peeling the wax off of his skin with the knife.

He wouldn’t actually hurt me

Cloud flicked the blade away from Zack’s cheekbone as he finished removing the wax from his face, and Zack flinched at the quick movement so near his eyes.

...would he?

Zack wasn’t used to marinating in fear, his breath shallow, his heart racing. He was used to being able to rely on his mako-enhanced speed, his strength, his bullishness and skill, to get him out of a jam. He didn’t have access to any of that in his current position, and he had agreed to this.

And he wondered why he hadn’t sought it out sooner.

He was used to having the upper hand in a fight. He was confident that he could take down tens, even hundreds of men on his own and come out of it with a bit of a sweat and a few bruises. It was humbling to feel how easily that power and control could disappear if he chose to give it away.

And it was delicious to see someone so hungry to take it from him.

Cloud had moved to Zack’s chest and stomach and was flicking the wax off with short, quick movements of his knife. He reached for Zack’s waistband and pulled it just far enough from his body to slide the blade in between, and sliced the fabric of his pants, his briefs, like he had Zack’s shirt, ripped it open further with his hands.

He felt Cloud’s fingers around the base of his cock and then the smaller man’s warm, wet mouth closed around his tip and sucked gently. Zack moaned, long and agonized, and tried to buck his hips toward Cloud, but the suspension robbed him of any meaningful leverage.

“Your precum is so fucking sweet, pet,” Cloud cooed before he took Zack’s length down his throat. Cloud nuzzled affectionately at the trimmed hair at Zack’s base, his throat working around him, and Zack shouted his pleasure. He wanted so badly to run his hands through Cloud’s short spikes, to dig his nails into the back of his neck, to move his hips with the bobbing of the man’s head. His moans turned to growls as his frustration built, and he wanted so badly to pin the other man under his strength.

Cloud chuckled around Zack’s cock. He’d take him down to the base slow, occasionally gag around his girth but hold on as long as he could, and then come up for a brief gasping breath around his head before taking him deep again. Zack’s body tensed in a different way, his moans became more urgent, and Cloud reached down to wrap a hand around his neck and press down.

He slid off of his cock, dragged his tongue along the length, and breathed, “Come in my mouth, puppy,” before he resumed at a faster pace.

Zack’s eyes rolled back and he shouted as he tipped over; he came into the other man’s hot mouth and all of the tension fell out of his stomach. He groaned, spent, spaced out. Cloud hummed happily, leaned over to kiss Zack again, and let some of the salty, bitter cum drip down over the rope gag and into his mouth. Zack let out a low moan when he realized what the other man was doing, felt his cheeks flush as he swallowed. Cloud pulled back and kissed his forehead.

“Good boy. Good fucking boy. I’m going to take you down now.”

Zack was too spent, too overwhelmed to even nod, so he just whimpered soft assent.

Cloud undid the line holding his leg first and helped ease him gently down to the soft rug. His leg and shoulders throbbed, grateful for the respite. Then Cloud undid the rope that wrapped his face: uncovered his eyes, removed the gag, wet with his drool and cum.

Zack worked his jaw open and closed a few times, then opened his eyes to look at Cloud. He felt wholly blissed out.

“Fuck, Cloud,” he whispered with reverence.

Cloud kissed him gently and Zack whimpered into him, frantically trying to suck the smaller man’s lip or tongue into his mouth, grateful to finally be able to answer with his own desire. Cloud pulled away and Zack couldn’t stop a whine. The blond stroked his cheek gently.

“Let me get you out of the rest of this rope, pup.”

Zack sighed, nodded, then let his eyes close and his head fall heavy to the rug.

Cloud untied his leg, and Zack winced softly as his circulation returned. He stretched the leg out, rotated at his hip, working it back awake. Then Cloud gently rolled him onto his side and undid the bind around his hands first, then the rest of his chest harness. When he was done, Zack laid in a mess of pooled rope on the carpet, in his torn clothes. Cloud traced his fingers along some of the deep, red marks the rope had left in the skin of his arms, his face.

“I’ll be right back,” he whispered. Zack nodded, still floating.

When Cloud returned, he eased the ruined shirt and pants off of Zack and helped him into a fluffy black robe. Zack curled his body around the smaller man, still quiet. “Do you want to cuddle on the bed, sweets, or do you want to stay here?”

Zack pulled Cloud down to lie beside him on the floor. “Don’t want to move yet,” he mumbled, “don’t want to person yet.”

Cloud nodded, agreed warmly, “No person, only puppy.” He pulled Zack’s head against his chest and ran his fingers through his long black hair, pet his cheek, pressed small, soft kisses on his face.

Zack huffed and nodded, pleased.

Cloud kept his hands moving in soft, soothing patterns over Zack’s body. “Can you fall asleep here? Is that what you’d like?” Zack nodded, still quiet. Cloud buried his face in Zack’s hair and breathed in deep. “Are you good, Zack?”

Zack gripped Cloud’s back, his hip, firmly. “I’m so good.” He turned those eyes up to find Cloud’s and offered him a dopey smile. “Fuck, I loved that, Sir” he whispered hoarsely.

“Good.” Cloud kissed him again, letting Zack deepen it this time. He felt spent but hungry; pliant but still hot with want. Cloud let Zack be the one to break the kiss this time, watched his head fall heavy to the plush rug again. “I just need to step away one more time, then we’ll settle in, okay?” Zack nodded, exhausted.

Cloud got up to extinguish the candles around the room, turned off the speaker, undressed. He grabbed a couple of soft blankets and pillows from the bed and brought them back to the mess left from their scene. He tossed the pillows down, tucked Zack in with the blankets, and then found his place under them, cradling the larger man. Zack was already passed out, and Cloud followed soon after, warm with contentment.

Chapter Text

The knife against his throat. The feel of the rope binding his arms, holding him in a position that left him vulnerable, hanging like a piece of meat. The warm, soothing sounds coming from the man who was doing this to him, who was delighting in his fear.

Zack woke with a jerk, his eyes flying open. The room was still dark; he couldn’t have been out for more than a couple of hours. He was half-wearing the soft robe Cloud had helped him into, and the smaller man was cuddled into him, skin pressed to skin. His blond lashes fluttered open and Zack’s heart jumped a bit in his chest at that pale blue gaze, even dulled with sleep.

“Mmm…you okay, sweets?” he murmured, voice heavy. He stretched his body sleepily, yawned.

“I uh…I’m not sure, honestly,” he admitted, feeling unusually shy.

Cloud made a soft sound and lifted himself up to rest on his elbow, watching Zack carefully. The sheets slid down to pool at his narrow waist, and the cool light from the streetlights outside limned the edges of his features, made his hair look silver. Fuck, but the man was gorgeous.

He started to reach his hand toward Zack’s face and paused. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

Zack felt briefly stricken at the thought of Cloud not touching him. He nodded, and Cloud reached for him; Zack leaned into the soft warmth of the hand on his cheek.

“We played rough. You looked like you were either in subspace or something close to it.” His touch was so gentle, so careful. “Was that new for you?”

Zack nodded, still quiet.

Cloud hummed acknowledgement. “What are you feeling now?”

He huffed a laugh. “Something like…worried?” He chewed his lip a bit, then the thoughts came out in a rush. “Was that too fucked up? Should I feel weird about it? That I enjoyed it? Are you gonna…” he trailed off.

Cloud’s eyes widened, then narrowed slightly. “Can you finish that thought for me, sweets?”

Zack looked away. “Are you gonna…be done with me? Was it…am I too fucked up?”

“Oh, baby,” Cloud’s voice was soft, like Zack was something delicate; Zack couldn’t decide if that made him feel grateful or more embarrassed. “If you’re worried about my feelings–Zack, I fucking loved it. I loved how you gave yourself up to me so easily. I liked the ways that you encouraged me to do more to you. That scene was so intense and intimate, and I’m really grateful that you went there with me.”

Zack’s exhale shook, just a little bit, and he let his eyes flutter shut. Remembered the thoughts he’d had while Cloud had slowly, patiently drawn suffering out of him, made him whimper and tremble and cry out.

I love how my pain feeds you.
I’m yours.

The intensity of those thoughts, even now, with a clear head, made him nervous.

Cloud tucked some of Zack’s hair behind his ear. “What was it like for you, Zack? In the moment?”

Zack reached out for the other man’s narrow waist and pulled Cloud in close, his arms wrapped around him. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Anywhere.”

For a few moments the only sound was their breathing. “I’m not used to being afraid,” he said quietly. Cloud’s fingers were still combing through his hair, so very soothing. Zack sighed a heavy breath against the other man’s shoulder. “I’m not used to being…helpless, like that. Unable to fight back.”

“Was it too much?”

Zack shook his head, hard. “No, no, I want more of that,” he croaked out.

Cloud pulled away just enough to meet his eyes. “Are you…do you mean that?”

An eager nod. “It’s…it’s fucking scary. But you make it so…rewarding.” Zack let his hands roam the smaller man: smoothing up from his waist to his muscled chest, gently back down; idly grazing his nipple, smoothing over his hip, his hand finally resting cupped around the blond’s firm ass. Cloud breathed a pleased sigh under his touch that threatened to short circuit his brain.

Cloud pressed a soft kiss to Zack’s neck. “Since we’re talking about it, let’s debrief, yeah?” Zack nodded. “How was the rope for you?”

Zack sighed. “Good. So good.” He raised an eyebrow. “Super special SOLDIER-rated rope, huh?”

Cloud smirked. “Sorry to break it to you, but you’re not the only mako-dipped pervert. And this gear is spendy enough without a gorgeous boy tearing through it.” He looked thoughtful. “But also, I wanted you to get to experience it properly. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to restrain your responses for the sake of some gear.”

“That’s…thank you, for thinking of that.” He swallowed. “It definitely made the fear more real for me.”

Cloud groaned softly into Zack’s shoulder. He pulled away enough to meet his gaze. “I’m trying real hard to stay cool and collected and check in like a good dom, and I need you to know that I’m losing it over how fucking hot that is.”

Zack grinned, the nerves in his stomach starting to settle. “The wax was real good too. You built up the tension so well.” He nuzzled his cheek against Cloud’s. “The wax and the knife on my face, though,” he sighed, shuddered just a bit, “that was intense as fuck, holy shit.”

“Good?” Cloud prodded.

Zack nodded enthusiastically. “So fucking good, Cloud.” He bit his lip. “I could uh…show you how good?” Cloud’s mouth quirked into a smile, and when Zack took his wrist, raised his eyebrows in a question, Cloud nodded assent.

He pressed the smaller man’s hand to his erection, and Cloud let out a delighted laugh and leaned in to kiss him. He squeezed gently around his length and Zack groaned, used his hands on Cloud’s ass to press their bodies closer. “Fuuuuck, I don’t know that I’ll ever get enough of you,” Zack breathed.

Another smirk. “Good,” he cooed smugly, “I like when my toys want me to play with them.”

Zack groaned at the possessiveness, crashed his mouth against Cloud’s again, sucked the other man’s tongue into his mouth, bit and sucked those plump lips. The blond whimpered at the roughness of the kiss and Zack drank it down.

Zack pulled back, panting, admiring the way Cloud’s lips were already starting to swell. “Fuck, I want to wreck you.” He swallowed. “You cautioned me about visible marks on you before.”

Cloud watched him, a flicker of hunger in those pale eyes. Chewed his lip as he thought for a moment that stretched unbearably long in Zack’s haze of want. Then that smug quirk of his lips that Zack was beginning to adore. “Show me what you can do, puppy.”

Zack bit his lip around a groan; his eyes green, dark in the low light. “Can I be rough with you?” he growled, with the very clear subtext, How much do I need to hold back?

Cloud smiled wide, his teeth showing. “I have an idea. How do you feel about using materia in play?”

His eyebrows went up. “I’m listening.”

Cloud rolled over, reaching into the pocket of the jacket he had shed before he fell asleep, and pulled out a bangle with a few materia already fit into it. He pointed to one with a warm purple light, said, “vitality up,” and then to another one with an emerald glow, “barrier,” and then another green, a bit of mischief seeping into his eyes, “time.”

Zack’s mouth went dry. “Shit, you’ve thought about this.” Cloud looked pleased with himself, slipped the bangle onto one narrow wrist, and then Zack was on him, pressing his arms down over his head. He used his knees to knock Cloud’s legs wide to either side of him, and the smaller man laughed in pure delight.

Cloud stretched, arched, pressed the line of his body up against Zack’s and wiggled. His eyes shone. “Just make sure I’m able to cast. There’s condoms in the robe.” He lifted his head just enough to nuzzle Zack’s nose. “Show me what you can do,” he repeated, voice breathy with anticipation.

Zack’s cock was painfully hard, pressed tight to his stomach, leaking precum. He leaned in to kiss Cloud and the smaller man chuckled warmly, pressed his firm stomach up to grind against his length. The muscles in Cloud’s arms tensed as he tried to press back against Zack, but the SOLDIER pinned him with ease.

“Oh you’re cute when you struggle under me, Sir,” he cooed. Cloud reached up to nip playfully at his mouth, and Zack adjusted to hold both of the other man’s arms down with one hand, freeing his other to press Cloud’s throat to the ground. The smaller man wheezed, still smiling.

A strained whisper, “Good boy.”

Zack snarled and pushed his tongue into the blond’s mouth; Cloud tried to meet him but Zack pressed down harder, until Cloud’s head tipped back in surrender, those blue eyes going heavy-lidded. Zack counted out a handful of long, delicious seconds, and then he eased his hold, devouring the coughs and gasps that came from Cloud as his breath returned.

He let go of Cloud’s wrists and his arms wrapped around Zack’s neck. Zack slid his hands down to the sides of Cloud’s chest, his thumbs stroking circles over his nipples gently, insistently.

He pressed hot, wet kisses to Cloud’s jawline, to his neck, and then sank his teeth hard into the skin and sucked. Cloud cried out and arched, trapping Zack’s cock between them again. Zack held suction for several long moments, worried at Cloud’s neck, shook his head with his teeth still deep in flesh, earning gasps and whimpers while he leaked onto the smaller man’s stomach.

He let go, admiring the large, dark red mark on Cloud’s pale skin, and dragged his tongue over it slowly. Cloud shivered. “Fuck, I’ve been wanting to do that since the first time you kissed me,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“Aww, are you feeling possessive, puppy?” Cloud teased, his voice deliciously breathy. “You like marking me?”

In answer, Zack worked his way over Cloud’s shoulder, down his collarbone, to the middle of his chest, trailing more hot, open-mouthed kisses in his wake. He traced the curve of Cloud’s small breast with his tongue, then sank his teeth into skin again.

One of Cloud’s hands fisted in Zack’s hair. “Fuuuuuuck, baby, shit.” Zack shook the soft flesh in his teeth again with short jerking movements, and Cloud cried out, high, sweet, agonized.

Zack floated, high on the sounds, on the way the other man’s body felt between his teeth. Cloud managed a breathy laugh between moans. “Shit, baby. You gonna make sure all my regulars know I’m getting dicked real good? That I’ve got a gorgeous, hungry pup taking care of me?”

Zack rolled his eyes up to look at Cloud, snarled into his skin. He released the suction on Cloud’s tit with a soft pop, admired the angry, dark red bloom left behind, and smiled wolfishly. “Absolutely, Sir.”

Cloud’s breath came in pants; he’d try to watch Zack until his teeth found a new spot to worry roughly—just beneath his ribs, in the soft skin at the side of his stomach, in the hollow beside his hip—and then Cloud’s head would pitch back again, spilling moans and soft cries and whimpers and obscenities, but he still didn’t cast. Zack knew that he could have, reveled in the knowledge that he was choosing to experience his hunger fully.

Zack moved down the smaller man’s body, used his hands on Cloud’s thighs to press his legs up and open—Cloud groaned at that—and flicked his tongue, quick and firm, against the other man’s slick cock. He pulled it into his mouth and sucked gently, swirled his tongue over the head once, twice. Cloud’s cries went higher in pitch somewhere above him, then Zack let him go, moved his mouth to bite and suck hard at the man’s inner thigh, just inches away.

Cloud’s fingers wrapped hard in his long hair, tried to find purchase in the back of Zack’s neck with his nails, twitched helplessly with overwhelm. “Shit, Zack, please,” he whimpered.

After several moments, when he had just begun to taste blood, when enough whines had spilled from Cloud, Zack made another soft, wet pop, left another angry dark welt. “Please what, baby?” he taunted, his voice deep and husky with want.

“Godsdammit, Zack, fuck me!”

Zack laughed, reached for a condom; he tore the packet quickly with his teeth, eased it over his length. He hooked an arm under Cloud’s knee to lift his hips and used his other hand to guide himself inside, where Cloud was already so fucking wet for him.

He pushed in slowly, stretching out that first intrusion, pulling every last soft sound he could from the other man, until their hips came together, and Zack’s head fell back with a deep, gravelly moan. Cloud’s body was held taut with tension, his skin slick with sweat, his eyes dark.

Zack slid his large hand from Cloud’s thigh up to his calf, to his ankle, holding the smaller man’s strong, smooth leg pressed to his front while he rocked, thrusting long and slow into him.

He turned his head to kiss Cloud’s ankle, played along the sensitive skin with his tongue. He kissed down to Cloud’s calf, the slow rolls of his hips persistent, and sank his teeth into the muscle. Cloud yelled, his hands clawing for purchase on Zack, his cunt clamping down somehow even tighter around him. Zack’s hips stuttered, and he groaned as he was overcome with the desire to slam into the other man.

Zack relaxed his jaw, dragged his tongue flat over the new bruise; guided Cloud's leg back down to the floor and leaned over him, arms on either side of his face.

He kissed a soft line along Cloud’s jaw, breathed into his ear, “You might want to cast now, baby.” His hips snapped with one hard thrust, and their bodies joined with an obscene sound that tested his restraint; Cloud cried out, an agonized sound, and it sent goosebumps down Zack’s back.

Cloud’s breathing was labored, and his fingers, trembling, struggled to find hold in Zack’s shoulders. His pupils had almost totally overtaken the blue of his eyes.

He whispered, ”Barrier,” and Zack felt the magic spill over Cloud: a gentle rush of warmth that radiated out from his full, quivering lips as soon as he spoke the word, leaving what felt like a thin residue over his skin where they touched.

Zack breathed deep, his cock throbbing with the effort of holding back. “You’ll tell me,” he managed in a hoarse, urgent breath, “you’ll tell me if it’s too much.”

Cloud nodded, his expression slack with want. He wrapped his legs around Zack, whispered, “Please,” one more time, soft enough that anyone else might not have heard it.

And Zack let go.

Not all at once: he wasn’t ready to let his control fall away altogether. Too many close calls or cries of unwanted, unintended pain with past partners had left their weight on him. But he immediately let himself fuck Cloud at the limit he’d found, the line that he had drawn for himself after a fair amount of experimentation—more than rough by anyone else’s standards, but still exercising considerable control over himself.

Their hips crashed together, Cloud taking his cock to its base over and over, so hot, so tight, so fucking slick. He watched Cloud carefully for any sign that this wouldn’t work, any flash of discomfort or sound that was different from the moans, the cries he was beginning to learn like a vocabulary of the man’s pleasure.

But his fears weren’t realized. Cloud’s head was thrown back, his eyes squeezed shut, those soft, bruised pink lips parted to let out gasps and pants and profanity; his hands had found purchase on either side of Zack’s waist, the points of his nails digging hard into the larger man's firm flesh. And Zack could feel him trying to meet his thrusts with his hips, struggling to rise before Zack’s body pinned him to the floor with the next.

He slammed his hips into Cloud’s again, harder, this time lifting him by his waist and holding him there, his cock buried to the hilt. “Fuck, Cloud,” he whispered, bucking his hips slowly, tortuously, to grind against the man’s clit and stroke that spot deep inside of him, “fuck, you’re good to me.”

Cloud moaned, gasped, clenched around him, and Zack’s head fell back in response, another low, feral growl rumbling from his chest. He pulled out suddenly, and Cloud had just a moment to look up, those blue eyes laced with confusion, before Zack flipped the smaller man over to lie on his stomach. He draped himself over Cloud and slid back into the warmth of his cunt, and they moaned into each other as Zack bottomed out.

He kissed Cloud’s neck, ear, his breath hot. “I want to cover your mouth, Sir. Tap me like this if you need me to let go?” He offered a pattern of two quick taps on Cloud’s shoulder with his own hand. Cloud nodded, whimpered, tears starting to trace down his cheeks.

Zack wrapped a hand around Cloud’s mouth, his thumb and fingertips digging into either side of Cloud’s jaw, muffling his sounds. Zack wrapped his other arm around Cloud’s waist, pulled himself out slow, inch by agonizing inch, and then used his grip to slam Cloud back onto him. Cloud tried to scream into the hand over his mouth, but he didn’t move toward Zack.

He gritted out, “Color, baby?” and let go of the other man’s face for a response.

Cloud panted, whimpered, struggled to form words. He turned to look over his shoulder at Zack, his body trembling in the larger man’s grasp. “Green,” he managed to choke out. “I’ll tap,” and he demonstrated the quick time-out tap to prove he could.

“Fuck,” Zack breathed, his voice tinged with awe. His hand clamped down around Cloud’s face again before the utterance was completely out, earning a startled, muffled yelp. He ran his tongue along Cloud’s cheek, tracing the path of his tears, and Cloud squeezed his eyes shut, moaned into Zack’s hand.

“Fuck, baby.” He drew himself out slow, “I’ve never,” slammed himself to the base, earned a muffled shout, “fucked anybody,” slammed into him again with most of his strength, “like this before,” ground his cock deep inside the other man.

Then Zack sank his teeth into Cloud’s shoulder and sped up, fucking him with more force than he’d ever used with another person, letting go of the low hum of worry that had come with intimacy ever since he’d received his first injections of mako. Cloud’s shouts had turned to a consistent, low, blissed out keen, his hands loosely holding onto Zack.

Zack reached down under their bodies to dig his fingertips into the flesh of Cloud’s cunt as he felt his own orgasm build, and the smaller man screamed again into the hand over his mouth. The sound of his hoarse voice through the hand on his mouth, the way Zack’s hand was wet with both his tears and his spit, the way Cloud’s abused cunt gripped him all combined to throw him over the edge, and Zack came, growling and moaning into the flesh between his teeth. He stilled as he emptied himself, still buried completely in the other man, the taste of blood under his tongue.

Cloud’s eyes were shut, tears streaming down his face. Zack eased his hold on the other man's jaw to a caress, slid himself out of Cloud, and the blond moaned softly. He stroked his other hand along the front of Cloud’s body and gently turned him over to his back, watching him carefully.

Cloud looked overwhelmed, but intact, but worry still gnawed at the back of Zack’s mind. “How we doin’, Sunshine?” he asked while he discarded the used condom, trying to keep his voice light.

With Cloud lying on his back, Zack sitting up beside him, Zack could survey the extent of the damage he’d done to the smaller man. Cloud’s lips were dark pink and beautifully swollen, and small bruises were blooming on his cheeks where Zack’s fingers had pressed in. Large, dark red circles marked Cloud’s neck, his chest, his stomach, his legs. Pride and concern warred in Zack’s head.

And then Cloud’s mouth cracked into the most fucked-out, dopey grin Zack had ever seen, and the worry lifted from his heart like a lead weight. “Sunshine?” he managed to rasp out, with a laugh. “You are one squishy son of a bitch, Fair.”

“Holy fucking shit, baby,” Zack laughed, scooped Clould up into his arms, leaned in to shower soft kisses over his face. The relief of being on the receiving end of Cloud’s sass chased the fear from his mind.

Cloud sighed, let his head lean heavy into Zack’s chest. “...were holdin’ back on me,” he mumbled, “lastime ya fucked me.” Those blond lashes fluttered open, his eyes still heavy lidded as they found Zack’s. “Thank the Firebird’s spicy cloaca. Don’ think I’d’ve survived otherwise.”

Zack let out a full laugh. “You okay, though?”

Cloud nodded. “I’ll want more Vit Up as tribute, if you want that to be a more-than-occasional thing, but yes, Ifrit’s perky titties, I’m more than okay.”

Zack nuzzled his cheek against the side of Cloud’s neck. “Deal.” He kissed him gently, savoring the soft sounds Cloud made against his mouth. When he broke the kiss, his eyes had a mischievous gleam. “You wanna get off, Sir?”

Cloud’s eyes went wide, and for a solid minute he could only manage nervous laughter. “I uh…are you actually trying to kill me? Because this would be my ideal way to go but uhh…”

Zack pulled the smaller man’s earlobe into his mouth and sucked, so gently. “I like the idea of you using that time materia to slow me down,” he purred into the other man’s ear, and Cloud’s exhale shook. He pulled Cloud to sit in his lap, his back pressed to Zack’s chest, Zack’s growing erection pressing between them. “Hell, you find a position you really like, you can stop me, hold me there for just long enough…” he trailed off, mouthed at Cloud’s neck, one arm wrapped around his waist and the other hand toying idly with his nipple.

Cloud tipped his head back to Zack’s shoulder, shuddering under his hands. “The barrier’s about done,” he breathed.

“I’m so fuckin’ satisfied, babe, I don’t need to fuck you that rough again.”

Cloud bit his lip, ground his ass back against Zack’s cock in invitation. “Help me spend the last of it, though.”

Zack registered what Cloud was asking for and groaned, bit gently into the smaller man’s shoulder. “Shit, yeah, okay.” He grabbed a fresh condom, then lifted Cloud and eased the head of his cock up into him. He wrapped his arms tight around Cloud’s torso, one thumb teasing his nipple, the other hand on his clit, and they both groaned as Zack seated his cock inside of Cloud again.

“So fucking sore,” Cloud gasped. “Fuck, I wanna come on you.”

“I know, baby.” Zack kept moving slowly inside of him. “You slow me down the second that barrier’s gone, yeah?”

Cloud nodded, tears threatening again. “Fuck me, Zack.”

He lifted Cloud along the length of him, groaning at the sensation, and then slammed the other man back down as he lifted his hips. Cloud’s body tensed under his hands, his head thrown back on Zack’s shoulder again, his voice coming out in choked sobs. Zack trailed soft kisses on the side of Cloud’s neck, along his shoulder, anywhere he could reach while he fucked the smaller man brutally.

One of Cloud’s hands flew back to grab the back of Zack’s neck and he cried out suddenly, his voice ragged, “Slow!”

Zack’s skin prickled with cool energy, and he groaned as his movements were forced to stretch out long. Moan after moan fell from Cloud as Zack fucked him just as deeply, his strokes slowed as if he was moving through thick fluid. Cloud writhed in Zack’s arms, tried to grind himself down every time Zack bottomed out, only to choke out small, frustrated noises when he pulled out again.

Zack pushed all the way in and held there for a breath longer, giving Cloud the leverage to grind those sensitive internal spots against him, and Cloud choked out, “Stop,” his voice barely more than a whisper, tears running down his face again.

The SOLDIER had spent his fair share of time under this particular magic—the way that his entire body froze in place instantly, his muscles neither slack nor tense, just stuck, was very familiar. It had always been deeply unsettling in the heat of battle, feeling trapped inside his body, synapses firing furiously with no action, while he waited desperately for the moment his mind and body would talk to each other again.

Context was everything. His usual anxiety was replaced with awe. He let himself be enthralled by the way the muscles in Cloud’s back moved as the small man rolled his hips in his lap. His only regret was that he couldn’t whisper filth to egg him on as Cloud used his body to fuck himself deep. Cloud’s head fell forward heavily, his breath came in pants and moans and gasps. Zack’s arms were wrapped tight around Cloud’s body, and he could feel the shudders and twitches as Cloud used a hand to work himself closer to orgasm.

Zack wished he could cry out when he felt Cloud clench down around his cock, felt his movements start to stutter. Wanted to purr Use me, use your good, pretty plaything to get off, thank you, baby, just like that.

Cloud’s body shot straight, his head flew back, his hoarse scream filled the room. Zack’s body came back online an agonizing moment later, and he caught Cloud’s weight in his arms, whispering fuck-struck oaths, sealing them with kisses on any stretch of skin he could reach—“I’ll never get enough of you, Sunshine,” and, “Nobody uses me like you do,” and, “I love being your toy, I don’t want to be anything else.”

He kissed Cloud’s jaw, licked softly at the tracks the tears had left on his face, pressed their lips together with all of the gentleness that he hadn’t used in fucking him.

Cloud laughed, his voice ragged. “Thank you, puppy.” He reached a shaking hand up to catch Zack’s hair in his fingers, stroked his cheek reverently.

“You need a cure? I’m pretty sure I’ve got a bracer in my bag if you want it.”

Cloud shook his head, his face serene, body slack. “I’m sore, but I’m not in pain. And I want to wear your bruises for a while.” His eyes went wide and he turned to look at Zack more directly. “Did you seriously just get harder at that?”

Zack scratched the back of his head, raising his other hand to gesture surrender. “Hey, I’m done, I’m ready for cuddle mode, my body just needs to uh, catch up.”

Cloud smacked the side of Zack’s thigh affectionately. “Alright, pup, airlift me off, my legs are out of commission.” Zack lifted Cloud slowly and they both gasped, raw and fucked out, and Zack eased him gently to the floor. He tied off his condom and discarded it.

“Bed?” Zack asked. Cloud’s nose scrunched, and Zack made placating gestures, “By airlift, of course, my fearsome Sir shall not be asked to walk.” Cloud’s face went smoother, if still mildly dubious, and then he reached his arms up toward him without a word.

Zack chuckled, lifted him with one arm under his legs and another around his back, and Cloud wrapped his arms around the larger man’s neck, sighed in contentment.

“Very fearsome,” Cloud muttered sleepily, nodding his head against Zack’s chest. “No walk, only pup-lift.”

“Oh you’re an absolute dweeb after you come.”

“Most fearsome dweeb,” he muttered, his voice small.

Zack hummed agreement and laid Cloud on the bed, then made another trip for the blankets and pillows. He crawled under the blankets, pulled Cloud into his arms, pressed his nose into soft, blond hair.

“Now fearsome sleep,” he said softly, and Cloud’s breathing deepened before he could get out another retort.

Cloud woke to the light of the sunlamps streaming in through the window. He rolled over, stretched his arms and legs out long, and was quickly reminded by his throbbing cunt of how thoroughly he’d been fucked just hours before. He caught the glint of the bangle still on his wrist and huffed a quiet laugh, laid a soft kiss against the purple stone.

“There but for the grace of mako,” he muttered, still half asleep.

“Mornin’, sunshine!” a bright voice chirped. Cloud almost liked him enough to hold back a groan in response. He started to pull the blanket over his head, and then heard the most beautiful words he could imagine—

“I brought you coffee.” He warily peeked out.

Zack beamed at him, wearing a tight grey t-shirt that clung to the lines of his chest and shoulders and a faded pair of jeans. He padded over to the bed, knelt on the floor beside it, and offered up the drink. Cloud pushed himself up and over to the edge of the bed, until his feet touched the floor on either side of the larger man.

The dark sheets and blankets fell away from Cloud with the movement, and the dark bruises Zack had sucked and bitten into his skin stood harshly against his pale skin in the light of day. Zack bit his lip at the sight of the marks he had left.

Cloud took the drink and used his other hand to pet and gently comb through Zack’s dark hair. Zack preened under his touch. “Thank you, pup.” He took his first sip, then closed his eyes and sighed. “Fuck, you’re good.”

Zack smiled; he laid his head on Cloud’s thigh, ran his large, rough hands over the sides of his legs. “How are you feeling this morning?”

Cloud huffed a laugh. “Probably about the same as I look,” he offered with a smirk. Zack looked up at him, a mix of mischief and pride shining in his eyes. “Sore, definitely need to give my bits a break, but no regrets.” He scrubbed at his eyes with his free hand and stifled a yawn. “How long have you been up?”

Zack shrugged. “A couple hours?”

Cloud’s eyes went wide. “Ah, shit,” he started to look for his phone, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you late–”

Zack pressed a thumb gently but firmly into one of his love bites from the night before to get Cloud’s attention—he hissed softly and went quiet, his eyes snapping down like Zack wanted—and he then kissed the bruised skin softly.

“You’re good. I wanted you to rest. I wanted to get you coffee.” He nuzzled his face into Cloud’s leg. “I’ve got a few days leave to recover after that mission took me out of Midgar. If you’ve got the day, I’d like to take you out.”

Cloud blushed, smiled. “What did you have in mind?”

Cloud finished his coffee and showered (“Nope, you gotta go this one alone, Sir, we’re burning artificial daylight!”), then dressed in slim pants that hung low on his hips; a loose tank top, the sides cut away to reveal muscle, the small curve of tit; and a scarf that could have covered the marks on his neck and shoulders if that had been the goal (it wasn’t).

Zack blushed at the sight. It was one thing to see his marks on the other man as he lounged nude in the privacy of the room they’d shared; it was different to know that he was going to wear them out for all to see—deliberately styled, even.

Cloud slipped the bangle on before they left. When Zack looked at it with a question in his eyes, Cloud raised a couple of his fingers in a mock salute, cheerily exclaimed, “Be prepared!” and winked. Zack felt his ears go warm.

They moseyed to the bakery that Zack had found the last time they played, and Cloud helped make selections: a couple of the meat hand pies he’d enjoyed before, another with spinach; some small cookies and a sweet polenta cake for Zack’s sweet tooth.

Their food secured in paper bags, already starting to darken with grease, Cloud led them to an old, disused warehouse. They climbed up only-slightly-rusted ladders and a couple of definitely-not-sketchy shipping containers to the roof, where they were afforded a view of much of the sector. The sounds of kids at play, vendors hawking wares, the hum of bike engines and the other songs of the slums played around them.

Cloud sat down and scooted himself to the edge of the roof, let his feet hang off and kicked them idly. Zack settled himself beside him (a few solid feet away from the edge) and arranged the food between them, using the bags as makeshift plates. An ease and a warm curiosity settled between them.
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“What are your go-to spots under the plate?”
“There’s a pizza place near the pillar in 4 that is fuckin’ divine.”
“I’ve heard about this little hole-in-the-wall bar in 7 with the most wild cocktails.”
A blush. “I think I know the one.”
“Wait wait, why on earth are you blushing, Sunshine?”
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“You wanna try some of this?”
A mischievous smirk. “Only if you feed it to me.”
“Hah hah.”
Zack opened his mouth, lolled his tongue out, looked up at Cloud from under long lashes.
“You're the fuckin’ worst.”
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“What are your favorite places outside of Midgar?”
“I didn't really get to do much sightseeing between here and Nibelheim. And I haven't left the city proper since I got here.”
“You haven't gone back to visit?”
“It's complicated.”
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“You ever miss the backwaters?”
A wry smile. “I miss the way the wind howls in the mountains. I miss the way your breath stings in your lungs on a cold hike.”
A hearty laugh. “I’m not built for the cold.”
“What do you miss, then?”
“I miss the green. I miss how good it feels to swim in the river on a hot day. I miss the view from the lookout, over the treetops. The way that movement on the ground vibrates up to the canopy and everything is so clearly alive.”
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The sunlamps had started their phased powerdown, emulating dusk before going dark, and the streetlights started to kick on. The air was slightly cooler; the two of them had at some point, after finishing their food, arranged themselves to sit back-to-back, the weight and feel of the other a comfort as they talked.

Their hands found each other, fingers tangled, thumbs rubbing small promises. Zack felt like the air around them was holding its breath; like there was a quiet magic in this bubble they occupied, in the way the smaller lamps on the plate above them blinked and pretended to be stars, and neither of them wanted to break it.

Zack’s head was tipped up, his hair spilling over Cloud’s shoulder. “You know any constellations, Cloudy?” he asked, meaning it as a joke.

Cloud turned toward the larger man, then looked up and smirked. “Mm hmm, like the puppy.”

Zack elbowed him affectionately.

“I’m serious! Here.” Cloud turned, laid down on his back, and tugged on Zack’s arm to pull him down next to him. He pointed up at the plate. “Okay, you see that blinking red light?”

“Mm hmm.”

“So go down and to the left, that green one, that’s the eye.”

“You’re fuckin’ with me again.”

“Am not!” He grinned, his eyes flashing with mischief and delight. “Pay attention! That bluish one is the nose, and those three in a line are its collar.”

Zack looked at him and lifted a brow. “The puppy’s got a collar, huh?”

Those sparkling blue eyes met his again and he shrugged coyly. “A boy can dream, yeah?”

Zack smiled, found the smaller man’s hand again, interlaced fingers. “Alright, what else?”

“Okay, it’s easier to see from Sector 7, but there’s the chocobo–”

“Oh my god you’re so full of it.”

“You asked, quit yer bitchin!” He lifted their joined hands, used one finger to point. “So over where there are those three red lights in a line, go up from there.”

Zack turned his head toward Cloud again. Admired the way the light hit his pale hair, lined his features—those soft cheeks, the cute little nose, his pointed chin, his soft lips. He pulled their joined hands back down and laid a kiss on the back of Cloud’s. Cloud turned to look at him, his playful expression softened with a question.

“I like you, Sunshine. I like you a lot.”

A blush he could barely see. “I like you, too, Zack.”

Zack pushed himself up to his elbow, trying not to loom. Felt vaguely like a teenager on a first date. “Can I kiss you, Sir?”

Cloud pushed himself up to lean back on his own elbows. He tilted his head as if he wanted to ask something but just nodded, and Zack used his hand to tip the smaller man’s head up to him, kissed him with all the tenderness he could find. Cloud’s lips parted under his, and a warm sigh brushed Zack’s face.

Zack’s hand moved, his fingers running through soft, wispy hair, coming to rest on the back of his neck. He used his hand to pull Cloud closer into the kiss, mouthed gently at Cloud’s lower lip, stroked his tongue over it so lightly. Cloud whimpered into his mouth and Zack wanted to come undone. He wanted to let arousal take over again, chase their pleasure with hands and mouths and heat and friction, wanted to stop thinking.

I want to be yours, I want to be yours

But he wanted more. He wanted to be more than a good fuck, more than a fun date. He wanted to be seen: all the darkness and the playfulness and the violence and the charm. He wanted to be known and still be wanted, and that terrified him.

He kissed Cloud gently around the tightness in his chest, used his thumb to stroke small circles into the man’s skin. Moved to kiss along his jaw, his neck, still just the gentlest touches.

I love being your toy
I love being your
I love

Cloud breathed his name in a heavy, heady sigh.

I love

Zack pulled back, unable to find words that could fit around the fist in his throat. He knew it was too soon to say something like that, knew it was the intensity of their play or the rush of endorphins or the way Cloud had so easily guided him into altered states.

He knew it would be the perfect way to scare this man away, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing this when he was just beginning to understand how long he’d been searching for it.

Cloud didn’t move to close the space between them, just watched him carefully with those big blue eyes. “Hey, Zack, are you…?”

Zack pushed himself up to sit, scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I’m…I think I’m tired. We didn’t really get much sleep, did we?” He tried to keep his voice light but could hear it falter just a bit. “Can I walk you home, Sunshine?”

Cloud pushed himself up to sit. Zack could see questions in his expression, but the other man didn’t pry. “I’m actually gonna head back to the Inn, I promised I’d be around for part of a friend’s floor shift. I can walk with you to the station?”

Zack hopped to his feet and offered a hand to help Cloud up, then gathered up their trash and picked their way down from the roof. The walk was quiet, the usual companionable ease mostly there, but a thin thread of tension woven in. Cloud reached for Zack’s hand as they walked and Zack let their fingers lace.

They reached the station too soon. Cloud tugged Zack’s hand to pull him into a hug, and the larger man squeezed him in a tight embrace. Zack dipped down to kiss him again, this time with more of the heat and desire they were used to; Cloud rested his hands on Zack’s chest, went up on tiptoe to meet him. Zack broke the kiss and stroked Cloud’s cheek. “I’ll see you soon, Sunshine.”

Cloud nodded, gave Zack’s hand a squeeze before he turned for the train. “Get home safe.”

Zack turned to look over his shoulder, offering a big grin. “What could take me down?” He winked, offered a small salute, and boarded. The conductor did his checks and the train started out of the station—Zack watched and waved from the window.

Cloud chewed on his lip, pulled out his phone, and shot off a quick text.

Hey, can you take a break? I could use a chat.

Chapter Text

The noise of the bar spilled out of the open front doors along with warm, inviting light. Laughter, cheers, clinking glasses, the noise of the pinball machines all worked to calm Cloud with the sheer familiarity. The press of bodies, the smell of greasy bar food and good beer was a balm.

“Stormcloud!”

The man who called out to him from across the bar had a T-shirt at least two sizes too small. He set drinks down at a table with a wink to the patrons and bounded over, his dark hair was barely kept out of his face by a red bandana.

“What a sight for sore–” he stopped, and Cloud saw the exact moment he registered all the bruises.

Cloud crossed his arms and smirked. “Hi, Biggs. Sight for sore…?”

Biggs mimed stabbing a knife into his chest. “You're breakin’ my heart, Cloudy. I wait by my phone with bated breath for you to ask me on that date, but I can see I don't stand a chance.”

Cloud gave the taller man a playful shove on his shoulder. “I just can't bring myself to cause drama in your rotation, Biggs. When would you even fit me in?” They hugged warmly.

“You lookin’ for Tifa? She's out back.”

“And she's grumpy that you don't come around more!” Jessie shouted cheerily from behind the bar.

Cloud deflated just a touch and made his way through the kitchen to the back.

He found Tifa in the small yard behind the bar, working up a sweat at her punching bag. Her long dark hair whipped around her with her movements. When the back door opened, spilling the chatter of the bar out briefly, she caught the bag with open palms to still it and looked up. Her eyebrows knitted in annoyance when she saw Cloud.

“Hey, Tifa,” Cloud started meekly.

She peeled off her gloves and tossed them on the ground, stomped over to meet him, her arms crossed under her ample bosom.

“‘Hey Tifa’? I don't see you for how long, six months? Seven? And then I get a cryptic ass text—”

Cloud held his hands up in surrender, one holding a joint and a lighter.

“Peace offering?”

Tifa quieted, huffed out a disgruntled breath, and then swiped the joint from his hand.

“You're lucky that you're cute and know where to get the good shit, Strife.”

She settled the joint between two long fingers, held it up to her lips and leaned toward him, and Cloud cupped a hand around the end and flicked on the lighter. The easy, practiced ritual of it soothed some of the tension between them. Tifa drew a heavy drag and stood back upright, blew the smoke away with a sigh. Cloud settled into a seat on the porch steps.

“Gods, all Biggs can find around here is ditch weed.”

“Courtesy Shinra R&D. Their prized SOLDIERs need their stress relief, and the mako bumps their tolerance way the hell up.” He held his hand up for the joint out of habit, and Tifa looked at his hand, looked at his face, and pulled another deep drag, staring him down while she did.

She exhaled the smoke vaguely in his direction and looked away. “Still mad,” she grumbled, flicking off the ash. “Claudia keeps asking about you, you know.”

Cloud sighed. “Yeah. She writes me, too.”

“She worries.”

He shook his head. “Not tonight, Tifa, please.” His voice held enough resignation that she looked back over to him, grumbled something he couldn't quite hear, and then held the joint out to him.

He took a deep pull, the cherry blooming for just a moment, then tipped his head back and blew the smoke out in a long exhale. He handed it back, pressed his fists into his eyes and groaned theatrically, then flopped onto his back on the porch and let his legs kick up into the air for dramatic effect. The only person from Nibelheim he still talked to with any regularity got to see him with a bit less filter.

“Tiiiiifaaaa, why are booooys?” he whined.

She snorted and sat down beside him. “Oh sweetie, you know I don't fuck with those. Not sure why you started,” she gave him a pointed look, raised an eyebrow.

He kept his hands on his face, peeked out at her from between his fingers. “Cuz testosterone is fuckin’ stupid,” he grumbled. “And some of them fuck real good. And more of them pay for it.” She offered him the weed again and he took his hands off his face, took another drag, returned it.

She used her free hand to tug at his scarf, exposing more of the dark red and purple bruises left on his neck and shoulders. She considered them for a moment while she flicked ash from the end. “Well, is this one real good, real loaded, or both?”

He covered his face again, groaned out, “He’s so fuckin’ good, Tifa, I'm losing my godsdamned mind.”

She nodded and pulled another drag. “Okay, soooo…you're getting fucked real good. What's the problem, babe?”

“He's really sweet…”

Tifa stared. Ignored his waiting hand again. “Cloud, I swear on Titan’s craggy, chapped asshole, if you scared me half to death with an SOS text because the guy who's rearranging your guts is too nice–”

Cloud sat up and groaned again. “No, no, it’s not that. Nothing's terrible but I…I’m freaking out a bit.” he looked up at her from behind his hair. “I just need someone else's perspective, and I wanted yours.”

He looked at his feet, his head tipped down. “I know it's been too long, and it's not fair of me to just show up when I need you. I'm sorry, Tifa. Really.”

She handed him the stub that was left of the joint. “You can kill it. I know it’s hard for you to talk about this kind of thing.” She knocked their shoulders together, then leaned her head on his shoulder. “And I want you to come around more. I miss you.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist, laid his head on top of hers. “I know. I will.”

“Promise me.”

He nodded against her hair. “I promise.”

She sighed, lifted her head to give him her attention. “At least be my plug for that good SOLDIER weed. And flirt a little with Biggs, it makes him work harder.” He chuckled and she smiled at the victory, headbutted him gently. “Now talk.”

He took another drag, ashed, and blew the smoke out slow. The warm fuzz curling around his thoughts helped him feel less self-conscious.

“I think I'm falling for this guy,” he started. Tifa didn't interject, just nodded for him to go on. “Fuck, Tifa, he's an absolute puppy. He's so cheerful, and thoughtful, and it's like…it's like he's the reason the sun shines.”

He remembered the new pet name Zack had started using the night before and felt his face and chest go warm. Between the weed and the chance to talk to someone who wouldn't just grill him for the salacious details, he let himself gush.

“The way he lets me hurt him, the way he submits to me, it’s so fucking earnest, and I get so swept up in him. Like clients are one thing, but it's…it's fantasy, it's supposed to be. It feels real with him. It's scary how good it is.”

“Feels like the stakes are higher?”

Cloud nodded. “And shit, he's so new to kink. I don't want to take advantage of that. I don't want him to confuse the high he gets in scene for real feelings.”

Tifa looked thoughtful. “Is that fair, though?” Cloud looked puzzled, took one last hit and extinguished the stub against the porch. “You just said–it's fantasy for your clients, but this isn't someone paying for your time. It's not you providing a service. If kink is a thing that's facilitating a connection between you two, that's still a real connection, yeah? It's feeding you too, right?”

Cloud swallowed. “I guess.”

“Okay, like. If I go on a date with someone, and she really likes my favorite book, and we spend all this time talking about it–analyzing the characters, sharing our headcanons–that doesn’t make that connection less real, just because we’re playing with fantasy. Right?” She leaned back on her hands, her legs crossed at the knee, one foot kicking idly. “The reasons we’re connecting are more…intrinsic, right? Like my politics inform why I like this arc of the story, she likes this one pairing because she’s a hopeless romantic.”

He hummed an uncertain tone. “But this shit is mind-altering. We’ve gone really intense. Like, what if you decided to be in a relationship with someone based on a bunch of interactions you had while you were both on shrooms?”

Tifa flopped heavier onto him, her head in his lap and legs stretched out long. She reached up to play with his hair. He could always tell she was thoroughly stoned when she got cuddly.

“Okay, but…you’re not playing all the time, right? You and he are both opting in constantly, every time you engage, while you’re not in an altered state, yeah?”

“Yeah, but–”

Tifa pushed a finger against his lips. “Hush! I’ve gotten high with people I love plenty of times. It’s not fake, either, it’s just different. You can be different versions of yourself, you can see different parts of each other. And the new understanding you get from the experience can carry over and enrich your sober time.” Cloud frowned against her finger. Tifa laughed, used her finger to boop his nose to emphasize her words. “You" boop "know" boop "I’m" boop "right.”

He rolled his eyes, played with her hair idly.

“I know you get preoccupied about doing right by people you care about. But pushing people away because you don’t think you can do right enough isn’t fair to either of you.”

Cloud glared. “You do understand that you have no business being this sage when you’re stoned off your gourd, right?”

Tifa grinned, held her hands out around her head, made her voice warbly, “It’s that galaxy brain, my guuuuyyyyy, I’m channeling the wisdom of the planet.” And she fell into a fit of giggles.

“Yeah, that’s more context-appropriate.” He smirked, ruffled her hair. “Thanks, Teefs.”

“Oh my goddds you can never call me that in earshot of Jessie.”

He leaned back, trying to breathe deep into the ease that Tifa managed to carve out for him. “How’ve things been for you?”

She covered her face with her hands. “I finally downloaded the apps.”

“You WHAT!?”

She squealed, “And I’ve been talking with this fucking adorable girl.”

Zack couldn’t sleep.

He’d run into Kunsel and Lux, who tried to convince him to go drinking with the same spunky crop of Thirds and Seconds they’d been playing cards with. He brushed them off gently, claiming he needed to get to bed early, then showered and tried to go to bed. But then, in the dark and quiet with just his thoughts and feelings, he wished that he’d agreed to go out or taken the time to exhaust himself in the combat simulator.

Zack
Hey, you up?

He passed a few minutes literally twiddling his thumbs, trying not to think about the heat of Cloud’s mouth on his cock, the way Cloud’s hair felt so soft when he pressed his face into it, the sound of Cloud screaming into his hand while he’d fucked him senseless, how Cloud had looked when—

It was clearly working.

Aerith
Zackariah Fair, I know you did not just send your ex a “you up” text

Zack
…platonically.
I’m not helping my case, am I?

Aerith
Not even a little
What’s up?

Zack tried again to think of anyone else he could talk to about this. But his friends were superior officers, junior officers, and members of Shinra’s sharply dressed hit squad. He wasn’t sure any of them would be interested in, or especially good at, helping him sort his romantic life.

He smirked imagining Angeal, Genesis, and Seph trying to take a stab at it, but he didn’t see it going terribly well.

He sighed, tried to pick his words carefully.

Zack
I was hoping I could see you soon. I’m kind of hoping for some advice.
About dating?
I feel a bit like an ass for asking, but I don’t really know who else to talk to…

Aerith
Oh, I ABSOLUTELY have notes! 😊

Zack
…
I’m a little worried about how quickly you were ready with that…

Aerith
I’ll be at the church for most of tomorrow, if you want to swing by.

Zack
That would be great. I can come by in the morning.

Aerith
Great!
Bring treats!

Zack
Thanks, Aerith.

Aerith
Treats! Good ones! No being cheap!

He thought about which shops were open between the tower and the train station early, was deciding what to pick up when his phone vibrated again.

“Yes, yes, the treats–”

The notification read Sir.

He licked his lips, felt the same nerves as when he had kissed Cloud on the rooftop.

Sir
I think you’re working through something, and I want to give you the space you need for that.
*and*
I want to assure you beyond any doubt.
I want this, Zack.

He opened the attached photo. Cloud posed nude, and while the photo was erotic, it was composed to be evocative rather than simply arousing.

The lighting was warm, low, the shadows throwing the hard lines of his muscles into stark relief. One hand lay cupped over his groin in modesty; the other was pushing up into his bangs, hiding his eyes. The large welts Zack had bitten into him were somehow darker, starting to purple and expand. Smaller dark bruises, just a bit wider than Zack’s fingertips, had blossomed on his cheeks, his arms, and around the lower part of his happy trail.

Zack’s heart cracked open at how fucking beautiful he was.

Sir
I want you.

Zack’s mind went suddenly blank. He wasn’t quite ready to internalize the statements, so parallel to what he’d been feeling, at face value. He typed out an honest response and sent it off before he could overthink it any more.

Zack
I want that more than anything.
I want to be yours.

Zack strolled into the dilapidated church with a box of pastries. He greeted Aerith with a hug and a kiss on the cheek and was pleased to find that it felt just nice; he was relieved that hadn’t messed things up with her beyond being able to stay friends.

“How’s your morning going?”

She eyed the box in his hand and then beamed a coy smile at him. “I sure hope it’s about to get sweeter!”

He laughed. “Alright alright, your subtlety is astounding, but I’m getting the hint.”

He walked over to the patch of flowers that grew where the floorboards had rotted out, and he plopped down beside them, enjoying the warmth and life of the space. He popped open the box and folded it flat to grant access to the treats. He’d stopped at a patisserie and selected an assortment of tarts and beautifully decorated entremets.

Aerith squealed and sat next to him. “Augh, to have a friend who lives topside and earns a SOLDIER salary.” She winked, grabbed one of the plastic forks and surveyed the treats to decide her first victim. He started to reach for a small ganache-covered cake and she used the fork to bap his hand. “Nuh-uh. I know how fast you inhale sweets.”

“Wait, are you serious?”

Aerith giggled, smiled, and said in the sweetest voice, “Deathly, Ezackiel.” She snatched the cake he’d been reaching for. “You have things you want to talk about, and these are my payment. I’m gonna have a bit of everything, and if you’re good, I’ll leave you some!”

He scoffed, crossed his arms. “You’ve turned into a bit of a brat, you know that?”

Aerith took one of the cakes from the box and set it behind her, out of his reach. “You’re not doing a very good job of earning my mercy, Fair.” She broke off a piece of a fruit tart and nibbled at it. “And who exactly do you think modeled that behavior for me?”

“Oh, come on!”

She shook her head, still grinning. “I will do no such thing. I was a sweet, innocent girl tending to her flowers when a big devious SOLDIER fell from the sky and tricked me into a date. I’ve been ruined ever since!”

He winced a little. “Hey uh…I’m sorry about how things ended.”

“Mmm, don’t be.”

“...Huh?”

“Zack, you trusted me enough to let me know something you wanted, and I wasn’t able to give it to you. That’s it.” She used a fork to pull apart a different small cake–this one filled with raspberry mousse–and hummed happily when she tasted it. “You’re so kind and handsome and charming and I don’t regret what we had.” She held out a piece of the cake on a fork, and he took it from her and tried it. It was good.

“But you said you had notes,” he muttered around the bite.

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, you talk with your mouth full.” He gave her an unimpressed look and she took the fork back from him. “My biggest note…” she said slowly, homing in on her next target and then stabbing an unexpecting slice of lemon chiffon, “would be that you’re kind to everyone but yourself.”

He pouted, furrowed his brow. “I wish you knew how much I wanted to tell you you’re wrong.”

“Buuuuut?”

A sigh, and a groan. “I just…I just want everyone to be happy.”

“What about you, Zack?” Those bright green eyes found his. “Look–I’m not mad, I want to restate that–but how long have you known that you wanted, like, to be roughed up?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, muttered, “...long time.”

“Good boy.” She reached for the cake she’d pulled from his reach earlier, stole a bite of it, and handed him the rest. “Reward. And had you asked anyone for it before it came up with me?”

He grumbled softly.

“And how many partners have you had, Zackstopher?”

“I’ll have you know that that’s a company secret.”

She took his hand that wasn’t holding food and looked up at him earnestly. “You deserve the things that make you happy, you big oaf. But you have to ask for them.”

He huffed. “Rude.”

“Well now that I’ve roasted you, what did you want to talk about?”

He felt himself go bright red. Well, after we broke up I slutted around for a few years, but then a couple months ago I met this beautiful little guy who tells me what to do and hurts me and scares me and I might be falling in love with him, but that’s crazy, right?

He managed to squish the noise that filled his head down into, “I’m seeing someone new.”

“Mm-hmm, I got that much.”

“And I’m scared I’m falling too fast?”

She squealed and clapped. “And you wanted to ask me to be the flower girl! Oh my god, absolutely!” He shoved her gently in the shoulder and she giggled. “Okay, tell me about them.”

“He’s…he’s really familiar with the uh, the rough stuff.” Her grin somehow got more mischievous and he had to look away. “We met through interest in that, so it was all on the
table up front.”

“That’s great!”

He nodded, smiled. “Yeah, it’s been really good. He’s been really good.” He sighed, tipped his head back. “We’ve been talking for a couple of months, and we’ve been together physically a handful of times, but we…it’s really intense. I think I’m…”

I love

He scrunched his eyes closed and got the damn thing out. “I think I’m falling in love with him.”

Her eyes softened and she scooted closer to him, leaned her side against his. “Do it.”

He tried to look at her face. “What?”

She shrugged. “If you want to love him, do it.” She looked up to see his confused expression. “You love people so completely, Zack, and I know that makes you happy. What does hiding it or pushing it down serve?” She took his larger hand and held it in both of hers. “So let yourself do it. If he’s not there with you, that’s not your fault. But think how beautiful it would be if he is, if he gets the chance to love you back.”

His chest was tight. He was still so sure that he was too much, but what if she was right? What if he could be just enough? “Thanks, Aerith.”

“You’re very welcome.” She grinned. “Now, if you’re feeling less conflicted, let me tell you about this absolute babe I have a date with tomorrow.” She pulled up a photo on her phone to show him.

“Holy shit Aerith, she’s stacked.”

She giggled in delight.

The dressing room at the Honeybee Inn was never quiet. Hosts would trade stories about regulars, folks who had been on the floor would let the rest know what the vibe was like that evening. Some of the dancers snacked between stage sets, and it was almost inevitable that someone would be trying to have a hushed argument on their phone.

Cloud was lining his eyes dark when his phone buzzed.

Puppy
I’d really like to see you. What are you up to tonight?

Cloud
I’m scheduled to do a couple of stage sets at the Inn.
I don’t have any sessions though. So you could come by after.

Puppy
Okay, when are you on?

Cloud
I should be done around 11.

The three dots hovered for a while, blinked out, came back, and then went away again. Cloud wondered what that was about, but went back to doing his face when it seemed like there wasn’t a response coming. He’d started lining his lips to make the pout look fuller when he got another message.

Puppy
Could I, like, come see you perform?
It’s totally cool if you don’t want me to.
You just mentioned your dancing before and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.

Cloud bit his lip in thought, toyed with the longer wisps of his hair that framed his face.

Cloud
You know that I’ll be working, right, puppy?
Stage sets are kind of advertising. I’ll be flirting with folks when I’m on the floor.

The three dots did their “now you see me, now you don’t,” show a few times, which Cloud was beginning to recognize as Zack getting flustered and trying to find the right words.

Puppy
Am I a total piece of shit if I think that sounds hot?

Cloud snorted a laugh.

Cloud
Oh yeah? What do you like about that?

The dots did their dance.

Puppy
I mean, you’re face-meltingly hot
And I know in theory what you do at the Inn
But there’s something about knowing that even with the attention and the flirting and your other sessions, you want me.
And I think I’d really enjoy seeing you in action.

Cloud knew that mixing business and pleasure, especially when he was in the business of pleasure, could be messy; the heated argument that Matt was trying to keep quiet in the corner of the dressing room was a testament to that. But Tifa’s advice was still bouncing around in his head, and he decided not to push Zack away.

Cloud
My first set is at 10. Come then?

He thought that was pretty straightforward, but then the dots did an extra energized encore.

Puppy
CAN HE BRING A FRIEND?

Cloud’s eyebrows almost hit his hairline.

Puppy
I am SO sorry, Bahamut’s taint.
Hanging with a friend who does not seem to understand boundaries.

Cloud
Bring him.

Puppy
…I’m sorry, what?

Cloud
Bring him. 😊
But, to be very clear, he doesn’t get to join in our private room.

Puppy
She*. And yeah no way in any of the hells.
OH MAN I CAN TELL YOU’RE SUPER HOT IF YOU’RE THIS COOL!
I’m so sorry, I clearly need to pay her attention.
I’ll see you soon.

Cloud smirked and reconsidered potential outfits for the night. He wanted to make sure Zack got a show he wouldn’t forget.

Chapter Text

The main floor of the Honeybee Inn served a different purpose from the rooms Zack frequented with Cloud; like the jewel box displays at the front of the building, where dancers lured in curious passersby, it was meant to serve as an advertisement. Hosts would offer dances and striptease, or relatively chaste “tasters” of their services at the occasional themed party, and clients had the opportunity to chat to feel out chemistry—especially if they were willing to tip for the time.

The main room was spacious but still felt intimate—dark but for the colored lights around the stages and at the bar, the walls draped with soft, rich fabrics. There were booths lining the walls, tables scattered around the space, and softly upholstered chairs at the edges of each stage. The club was full but not overwhelmed. Only one or two of the tables were completely unoccupied, and a handful of seats were left by the stages. Aerith led Zack straight to the stage, uninterested in watching from a distance.

Heavy theater curtains framed the main stage, and a floor-to-ceiling pole stood at either end. Hosts would dance for a couple of songs and then rotate out, mingling with customers on the floor. One of the hosts had a decidedly girl-next-door vibe, and Zack would have sworn Aerith came close to proposing to her. The woman's dark hair had been up in a full ponytail, she danced wearing chucks instead of the sky-high sandals some of the others favored, and she popped her gum with a smile as she stripped out of a tiny schoolgirl uniform to Aerith’s delighted squeals.

When she strutted off stage in just her knee-high socks and shoes, she’d blown the flower girl a kiss, and Aerith had fanned herself with a wad of small-gil bills and excused herself to get a drink. Zack stayed in his seat near the stage and tried to keep his body language warm and open despite the way his nerves had his foot tapping.

Sure, he'd lived in the city for years, but he was still a country boy at heart. He was no stranger to seduction or sex, but he was used to it being a private affair. The eager, overt play with lust and desire, the sexual charge of the space in spite of its public nature, worked to throw him just a touch off balance.

Aerith returned after a bit holding a very colorful layered cocktail and checked Zack’s shoulder with her hip.

“You need to tip them! Come here.” She handed him a wad of small bills and pulled him up to stand by the stage.

She cheered for the latest dancer—a short, thick femme with wide hips and full legs, as she came out of a spin around the pole to land in a split. When the woman saw Aerith and Zack approach the stage, she leaned over onto her hands and snapped her legs closed behind her, her platform heels coming together with a loud clack that Zack felt reverberate through his body. And then she crawled over to them, her movements fluid and slow.

Zack swallowed.

She pushed herself up to her knees, sitting back on her feet at the edge of the stage, and smiled at them, her hand tracing lazy paths over her curves.

“Hi sweeties,” she purred.

Zack froze like a dear in the headlights. Aerith elbowed him, and he stuck out his hand with the bills. The woman chuckled warmly and slid down so that her face and chest pressed to the floor, her ass wiggling in the air. She reached one hand back and pulled the string of her bikini out from her hip to give him a place to stick the money. His face was bright red, but he took the hint, held the money up to her thigh so she could let the string catch it.

“You’re stunning,” he blurted out.

She laughed warmly, rolled onto her back and pulled a leg up to her face, in another split; her hand idly stroked along her bikini line. “Thank you, baby.”

Aerith pulled out more small bills and the woman shifted her attention to her, bit her lip with affected shyness, tugged a strap of her top to give the excited girl a place to put her cash.

Aerith nudged Zack to sit down again, giving them just a bit of buffer from the stage as others approached with small bills. She leaned close to him so that she could speak softly. “Zack, have you ever been to a strip club before?”

His face went hot and he rubbed the back of his neck, pointedly not making eye contact with her. “This uh…might be new for me.”

“Oh sweetie,” he somehow felt like he blushed more at her tone. “Okay, you’ve got small bills don’t you?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line, shook his head.

“Hopeless! You’re lucky you invited me!”

“I didn’t—”

She tsked at him, reached in his pocket for his wallet, and grabbed a few of his bills. She offered him a sizeable roll of small notes from her bag in exchange. He looked at it, then at her, and she shoved him playfully.

“Get your mind out of the gutter. You’re the one who convinced me to start selling flowers, so I’m flush with small bills.”

“And you seem to have a good handle on the etiquette.”

She grinned. “I’m supporting my local economy.”

Before he could form any more questions, the music came down and the curtains fluttered closed in front of the stage. The chatter in the crowd quieted, and Zack stole a quick look at his phone—it was a bit after 10:00. Showtime.

Aerith clapped along with the other patrons, practically bouncing in her seat. The same woman who had greeted Zack at reception the first time he came to the Inn—Cloud had called her Diosa, he remembered—stepped out from backstage with a mic in hand. She wore a full-length beaded gown, featuring thick diagonal stripes of black and gold, and her waist was cinched with a black leather corset; the pom-poms of her bee headband bounced in her short curls, lending her an air of mischief.

“Good evening, friends and lovers,” she opened, her voice rich and warm. “Was that some hot shit or what? Let’s hear some more noise for your dancers!” She lifted her hands to gesture ‘higher’ and the room filled with whooping and cheers. She grinned.

“Hollerin’ is great, but y’all know what we love even more, don’t you?” She bent over to stick out her ass and shook her legs to make it jiggle, beaming as crumpled bills hit the stage around her and customers approached holding out folded money. “Yes, bitch! Yell until you’re hoarse, but don’t forget that the way to our hearts is through your wallets!” She pulled the top of her gown down to allow someone to stuff cash in her cleavage, hiked up the skirt to offer a garter to a different patron.

“Mmm! y’all are well trained. I know this next performer loves you good girls, boys, and toys.” She smirked. “Y'all ready?”

The room flooded with cheers, almost loud enough to cover the sound of Zack's heart hammering in his chest. Aerith had one hand cupped around her mouth as she whooped beside him, and her other reached out to hold his arm, her thumb moving in soothing circles.

“Tonight he's serving your Shinra Administrative Research fantasies.” She waggled her brows as whistles came from the audience. “Will we see an interrogation gone oh-so-right? Is it a cautionary tale of respecting your dancers? One way to find out! Make some noise and make it fuckin' rain for Storm!”

She made her way off the stage as the curtains opened and the music came back up. A St. Andrew’s cross had been set up in the center of the stage with a small table beside it during her intro. Cloud stood poised beside it, one hand in his pocket, his expression cocky, dressed in an impressive imitation of the Turks uniform.

The denizens of the Slums, especially in Wall Market, were no strangers to Shinra’s in-house cleaners. It only made sense that the danger they embodied would be fuel for fantasies.

Cloud’s black suit jacket was crisp, worn open over a white dress shirt, a slim black tie around his neck. He sported the fingerless leather gloves that Zack recognized, and his dark slacks fell to a perfect break over a pair of leather boots. And in his other gloved hand he loosely held a leash at his side.

A taller man with a dancer’s build crawled on all fours beside him. A full leather pup mask with a long snout and pointed ears obscured his entire face except for his eyes. His hands were encased in heavy, rounded mitts, and he wore a sturdy leather harness around his shoulders. He was nude but for the gear, a beautifully shined pair of black leather boots, and a weighted rubber tail plug that swayed with his movement.

Zack’s mouth somehow went drier. Oh.

Cloud walked the man over to the side of the stage opposite where Zack and Aerith were seated, like he was exhibiting a dog in a show. He’d stop to take bills from an eager customer and then encourage his pup to interact—he’d arch his back, his chest pressed to the floor and ass in the air, and wiggle his tail for them, or nuzzle the snout of his mask into an outstretched hand, or even give a soft bark. And Cloud would smile with pride and offer a scritch on his neck or stroke a hand down his back.

They made their way down the stage at a leisurely pace. When they came closer, Zack got up to approach with cash in his outstretched hand, just like Aerith had taught him.

Cloud raised a brow, amused, and then stopped with his pup and held a hand high. The man rose up to sit back on his haunches, lifted his nose to touch Cloud’s hand, raised his hands to paw at the air.

With his body stretched long, Zack could see that the man’s cock was enclosed in a metal cage.

When he managed to raise his eyes to meet Cloud’s again, the blond reached for his money, let his fingers linger on Zack’s hand, and winked at him.

Zack was not going to faint. He categorically refused.

Cloud gave the man’s leash a quick tug and walked him back toward the center of the stage. They stopped just a few feet from the large wooden X, and he lifted one closed fist, the man sitting on his heels obediently. Cloud looked pleased as he unclipped the leash and ran soothing hands over the other man.

He tipped his head toward the cross and the pup padded over, then stood to lean his weight against the frame. Cloud wrapped the leash around his hand and then slipped it into a pocket. He shucked the jacket off and set it on the table beside the cross, rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up to his elbows.

He stepped up close behind the other man, pressing his body into the back of him, let his hands roam over his shoulders, his back, his ass. His head tipped up and his mouth moved with words that even Zack’s enhanced hearing couldn’t pick up over the music and the ambient noise, and then he picked up a flogger with long, dark tails from the table and stepped back.

The cross was set up at an angle such that both men were visible to the crowd. Zack admired the way Cloud put his entire body into each swing—how he would rock forward and back with the movement, step and lean his weight to the side he was striking, like a dance.

The tails fell with a thick clap on each hit, and the other man’s responses were subtle, but there—a slight arch in his back or roll of his neck when they struck his muscled ass or his thighs. A shudder or a tension in his arms when they fell on his shoulders.

After some time, when the other man’s skin started to show warmth in spite of his darker complexion, Cloud walked back to press himself against his back again; the man shivered, and Zack briefly closed his eyes to imagine how it must feel. The repeated, escalating impact, the restraint and control, the warmth of Cloud’s body.

When he returned his attention to the stage, Cloud had traded his flogger for a rattan cane. His strikes were quick, the movements of his wrist small, and the cane appeared light, but the man’s reactions and the wolfish smile on Cloud’s face reminded Zack that looks could be deceiving.

He struck lightly several times, a barely audible tp tp tp tp, and the man’s body would tense gradually; his weight would shift over the balls of his feet, his arms and shoulders would flex. And then Cloud would strike harder, a barely perceptible woosh of air and a loud slap, and the man would cry out or shout, or his back and neck would arch more aggressively than he had under the flogging. After several rounds of this, Zack could see that deep red welts about the width of the cane were beginning to stripe his ass and thighs.

Zack felt tightness in his chest, heat in his stomach, and he almost groaned out loud when Cloud stepped forward again and dug those beautiful, pointed nails into the marked flesh. The other man shouted, moaned, his back heaving with his labored breathing, and melted back into the touch.

Cloud set the cane down and reached a hand up to wrap around the front of the other man’s neck. His mouth moved again, and the man stilled for a moment, then nodded. Cloud ran his hands down the other man’s side then wound up and swung the back of a fist into his back. The man shuddered, and Cloud offered soft touches again, then hit him once, twice, three times, alternating fists.

The man groaned as the hits came more quickly, his body trembling.

Cloud continued for some time. He would land several hits, rocking and swaying to the beat, then stop long enough to dig his nails into the rising welts on his thighs or his ass. He beat him more, then sunk his teeth into the muscle of the man’s back. His chest heaved with his breathing and still, Cloud continued, pressing the length of his body against the other man in between assaults.

Finally Cloud knelt and swung his fist hard into the back of one thigh; the man’s leg buckled. He fell to his knees and Cloud caught him, wrapped his arms around his chest and pulled him back into an embrace. He traced a long, slow line along the other man’s neck with his tongue, then pressed soft kisses into his skin.

He looked up, nodded to someone out of sight. The lights went down and the curtains closed over the stage, obscuring them from view.

The room was still for a moment, then roared with applause and cheers. A spotlight followed Diosa as she wove her way through the room holding a metal can, shaking it extra hard at the folks who were seated further from the stage.

“Alright, folks, if that got you even a little bit wet or hard, I’m gonna need you to tithe to the church. Let’s fucking go. And let’s get some more applause for Storm and the lovely Andrea!”

Aerith glanced over to Zack, her hand still on his arm, wearing a smirk like the cat that got the cream. “Soooo…Storm. That’s your boy?”

He flushed. “I don’t know about the possessive but uh…yeah, that’s him.”

Her grin widened. “Oh Zackothy, you owe me so many more stories.” His jaw dropped a bit and she giggled. “Just because I’m not capable of being a big mean dom myself doesn’t mean I’m made of stone. The idea of you getting good and wrecked by that gorgeous crop top of a man—don’t you know that a key part of a healthy friendship is gossiping about our sex lives?”

He blinked, unsure where to start. “...crop…top?”

Aerith held a hand beside her chin as if indicating height. “He’s a short top!”

He puffed his cheeks out, unwilling to ask for clarification on anything else. “I’m…I’m gonna get something to drink.” He pushed up, but didn’t manage to step away before Aerith pressed her empty glass into his hand and gave him her next order.

As he made his way through the crowd, Diosa spotted him. She smiled warmly as she approached, reached for his elbow and leaned in to speak softly.

“He’s excited that you wanted to come, SOLDIER boy. I like seeing him happy like this.” And with that and a firm pat on his back, she continued her circuit around the room to shake down folks who pretended they didn’t see her. “I told y’all this is a motherfuckin’ tipping establishment, you cheapass,” she called out to her next victim with warmth.

He waited at the bar for a while, as the end of Cloud’s stage set had been a natural break for folks to replenish their drinks and their stashes of small gil bills.

His mind wandered to how he had felt watching the scene play out. The way he’d imagined echoes of the other man’s pain and pleasure, the way he’d wanted to be under Cloud’s hands.

A bartender approached him and laid down a napkin with a smile, breaking his reverie. “What can I get you, handsome?”

“Water, please, and a…Honeybee Stinger?” She chuckled, poured his water, and started on the mixed drink. He reached for his wallet to settle up, realized he must have left it with Aerith, and paid from the roll of bills she’d given him instead. He collected the glasses and made his way back through the crowded floor.

When he returned, Zack found Cloud perched in his seat, chatting with a far-too-pleased Aerith. He had one arm around her shoulders, and his suit jacket was draped over the back of the chair. His sleeves were still rolled up, his tie now pulled open and the top few buttons of his shirt undone. An edge of a familiar dark purple welt peeked out.

Aerith caught sight of Zack and clapped her hands with delight. “Zack! I was just talking with Storm.”

“Uh huh. Should I be concerned?” He handed Aerith her drink and started to chug his own water.

Cloud looked up, mischief sparkling in those blue eyes. “I understand that you may have been expecting something a little different.” He stood, let his fingertips drag along Aerith’s arm as he moved away from her and stepped close to Zack. “She said you thought you’d see me dance.”

Zack blushed. “I guess I didn’t really know what to expect.”

Cloud nodded, his smile just the right side of smug. “She’s convinced me to treat you to a private show.”

“Ah—but you’re working? And do you need to see to…?” he tilted his head toward the stage.

“Andi’s coming down with his boyfriend. He actually doesn’t like to be around me after a scene ‘til he’s back in his normal headspace.”

“And as far as him working…” Aerith waved Zack’s wallet at him. “You’ve already compensated him generously! So go get your money’s worth, Zacky.”

Zack managed to stare at her in disbelief for only a moment, Aerith beaming back, before Cloud stepped further into his personal space. Zack licked his lips, and Cloud took one of his hands, laced their fingers and looked up at him from under his lashes. His face and neck were still flush from the exertion of his performance.

“Unless you don’t want me to dance for you, Zacky,” he purred.

Zack swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. “I can’t even pretend I don’t want that.”

Cloud smirked and wrapped his hand around Zack’s wrist. He led the taller man through the crowd toward the side of the room opposite the bar; down a long hall, lit with dim, red light; into a small room, flipping the sign on the door before he closed it behind them.

The room was intimate. A plush, curved couch and a low, round glass table were the only furniture. Dim purple lamps and fairy lights strung up high gave the room a dreamy cast, and the wall opposite the couch featured a floor-to-ceiling mirror. There was still music, but the bass thrummed gently compared to in the main room, and Zack felt his body settle a bit at the difference.

Cloud dropped his jacket on the table and led Zack to the couch. While the taller man settled into the cushions, Cloud leaned over from behind him, draped his arms down over Zack’s chest in something like an embrace.

“I’m glad you came,” he said warmly into the side of Zack’s neck. The smallest peek of shyness came through now that he wasn’t on the floor, like he wasn’t sure how Zack would receive this part of him.

Zack tipped his head to rest on the back of the couch, closer to Cloud’s warmth. He let his eyes close and took a deep breath. “You’re incredible, you know that, right?”

A warm hum. “I really wasn’t sure what you’d think of all this.”

“Thank you for taking the chance on me,” he replied in a soft, warm rumble.

Cloud kissed him on the cheek, just a soft touch, and let his fingertips trail along Zack’s shoulders as he moved around to stand in front of him. He lifted one of his knees to the couch, rested it just between Zack’s legs, and draped his arms over his shoulders.

“Your friend mentioned that you haven’t been in many clubs like this. What do you want this time to look like? We can just have some respite from the floor, if you want a break.”

Zack licked his lips, his eyes intent on Cloud’s. “I want to see you dance,” he said, his brain largely vacant other than the man in front of him. His hands rested beside his thighs, fingertips twitching lightly into the couch cushions. “I um…I gather that I don’t touch you. What else should I know?”

Cloud smirked. “You want to play the good client for me, huh puppy?” Zack’s eyes fluttered shut and he sighed at the nickname, at the charge of what they were doing. He nodded, returned his gaze to Cloud’s. “Okay, sweet boy. You’re right, you don’t get to touch me. I will touch you, rub on you, if I want. And if I decide you’ve earned it, I might put your hands on me. Don’t get ideas about roaming, you understand?”

He nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good boy.” He stroked Zack’s jawline gently with his fingertips. “Now sit back and enjoy.”

Cloud sat down on the low table in front of Zack, close enough that he could reach out and touch him. He took a deep breath, sighed it out and smiled, small and coy.

He began to touch himself, his hands moving so very slowly—ran his fingers through his short, spiky hair, over the sides of his face, over his neck and shoulders, letting his body rock with the music. He smoothed his hands down his chest, arched up slightly into the touch, his eyes closing and lips parting. Down over his firm stomach, down his legs to his knees.

He pressed his legs open wide and arched back, one hand behind him to balance, his eyes back on Zack’s. He trailed his other hand back up the inside of his thigh until he reached his crotch, and then he pressed his hand down firmly and dropped his head back, let a soft moan fall from his lips.

“Fuck,” Zack breathed reverently, almost a prayer.

Cloud laughed, affecting something close to shyness as he took his full lower lip between his teeth, looked up at Zack from under his lashes. His hands went to the partially undone tie and loosened it further, slipped it out from the collar.

“What did you like about my performance tonight, Zack?” he asked, his voice soft and husky.

Zack’s mind immediately flashed back to the man in the pup hood as he stretched his body long, the flash of his caged cock. Thought about the way Cloud had so expertly built up the intensity and intimacy of the scene.

“I liked watching you hurt him,” he said, his voice just a little hoarse, “I liked the way you held him and touched him.”

Cloud hummed happily, ran his hands over his own chest again, and then started to undo the next button of his shirt.

“I liked how you moved while you beat him,” he managed, one of his hands clenching into a fist.

Cloud let his lips part in a pleased sigh. Dipped his hand into his shirt to caress the skin of his chest, and then moved down to the next button.

“I liked knowing you still had marks I left on you.”

Cloud smiled, let out a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a pleased hum. He undid another button and pulled his shirt open as much as it would allow, showing the dark red and purple bruises at his throat, his shoulder, on the inner curve of his tit.

“These marks, baby?” He let one hand wander back down to stroke over his cock again and pressed the fingertips of his other hand into the bruises, breathed a soft moan at the feeling. Zack’s fingers dug into the cushions beneath him and he groaned. “You like that I kept them?”

“Yes…fuck yes, Sir.”

He chuckled warmly, his hands going back to the last few buttons. Zack’s eyes were fixated on his every movement. Finally, the shirt was open, and Cloud tugged the tails out of his waistband. With the shirt out of the way, Zack could see that he wore a very small bikini underneath.

“Gods, I don’t think I’m ever gonna get tired of the way you fuck with gender.”

Cloud barked a delighted laugh, hooked a thumb under one of the strings to pull it out and let it snap back against his chest. “Good.”

Most of his presentation—the suit, the way he sat and posed, the way he was built—gave man, gave masculine; but the fluid quality of his movement, the way he arched, the way he sighed and used his eyes and expressions to pull Zack in, held an allure that leaned distinctly feminine without casting that masculinity into question. Zack’s bisexual little heart hadn’t dared to imagine someone who could so easily flit between and beyond genders.

Cloud stood and stepped closer to him, his hands going to his belt; Zack felt his mouth water. It opened with the soft metal jangle of the buckle, and Cloud pulled it toward Zack, nodding for the other man to take it. Zack did, slid the belt off of him slowly and set it on the couch beside him. Cloud flicked open the button of his pants, pulled them open, and Zack’s gaze flitted between the blue eyes above and the brown-blond happy trail below.

Cloud smirked and spread the fly until Zack could just see the top edge of the matching bottom to that tiny bikini top. His mouth fell open and he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Cloud turned around to face away from him and then folded forward, easing his pants down over his ass, his legs, at an agonizingly slow pace. Zack combed a hand into his hair just to have something to touch; his other curled into a fist, his nails digging into his palm, to keep himself from ruining the couch. He laughed nervously as Cloud’s firm, round ass swayed side to side in no rush, drawing nearly hypnotic patterns, just inches from his face.

“Godsdamn, babe,” he breathed.

Cloud peeked around his legs to smirk at him, slipping his booted feet out of the slacks with more grace than Zack would have thought possible. Then he smoothed his hands up along the sides of his boots, up his calves, up his thighs. He let his fingertips squeeze the flesh just under his ass, the points of his nails digging beautiful dimples into his skin, and then gave one cheek a loud smack with an open palm, and Zack groaned again.

He turned back to face Zack, his hands clasped coyly behind his own neck. He placed one knee on the couch, to the side of Zack’s thigh, and rested a hand on Zack’s shoulder. His eyes fluttered shut for just a breath as he basked in Cloud’s warmth and the weight of his nearness, inhaled his scent. He smelled of exertion, of arousal.

Cloud firmly smoothed his hand over Zack’s shoulder, along the side of his neck, up into his hair; he fisted his hand and pulled, smiling when he heard Zack’s breath catch in surprise. He leaned in to run his lips feather-light along the stretched length of his neck, kissed his earlobe.

“You’re being so good, puppy,” he whispered. “I’ve been watching your hands, so desperate to grab at something.”

Zack clenched his hands into fists at just the mention. Cloud lifted his other knee into the couch and lowered himself down to straddle Zack’s lap. He hooked an arm around Zack’s neck for balance and leaned back to admire him, raked his nails across Zack’s shoulder, his bicep, his forearm; Zack sighed at the attention.

Cloud lifted one of Zack’s hands to his mouth, gently nudged him to open his hand. He laid a kiss on his wrist, flicked his tongue over the small crescent marks Zack’s nails had left in his palm. He then guided it down to rest on the small of his back.

“Support me, puppy,” he ordered gently, and Zack nodded.

He reached down for Zack’s other hand, eased it open, and pressed it to the side of his face. He squeezed his thighs on either side of Zack’s waist and it made him moaned in response. Cloud smirked, looking pleased with himself, and laid a kiss on Zack’s palm. He trailed his mouth up the other man’s fingers, pulled two fingertips into his mouth.

Zack’s mouth worked for a moment before he found his words. “Fuck, is this…is this standard for a dance?”

Cloud took his fingers further into his mouth for a moment and then rose back up, running his tongue in between them as they slid from his mouth. “You might be just a little special,” he purred, his voice heavy.

He rolled his body in slow waves in Zack’s lap—rocked his chest forward, then his ribs, then his stomach. The fluid movement ground him down on Zack’s cock. Zack’s fingers tensed in response, but he put all of his concentration into not digging his nails into Cloud’s waist, used his hand pressed against the smaller man to support him as his body rocked back in each wave.

Cloud cooed, “Good boy,” and guided Zack’s free hand to wrap lightly around the front of his neck (fuck), to press firmly into one of the bruises near his collarbone, earning a shaky sigh, down his chest to cup his tit through the small top (fucking hells). He let go of Zack’s hand long enough to peel off the open dress shirt and let it fall to the floor. Then he hooked his thumbs under the string of his bikini at the center of his chest and slid the small triangles of cloth to either side, exposing his tits.

Zack’s mind emptied of anything but static and want (to grab, to roll between his thumb and finger, to lick, to suck, to bite); his breath stuttered out of him in a soft, broken whimper. Cloud moved Zack’s hand from his chest around to cup his ass, and he rose up on his knees so that his chest pressed into Zack’s face. He tangled his fingers in Zack’s hair and rolled his body against the larger man.

“Restraint is so pretty on you, puppy,” he crooned, his voice gone low and husky. “I like that you’re trembling with it.” He fisted his hand in Zack’s hair and jerked his head back, leaned forward so that one of his nipples hovered just over Zack’s parted lips. Zack exhaled a shaking sigh, and Cloud moaned as his nipple responded to the brush of warm breath.

“Gods, fuck, I adore you,” Zack breathed, being so careful not to brush his lips against that temptation that hovered so close. “Sir,” he whispered, belatedly.

Cloud’s exhale shook, and he sat back down in Zack’s lap, studied the Zack’s face. He chewed his lip for a moment, something warring briefly across his features. Then he said, his voice soft but urgent, “For the record, this is super not-kosher for a lap dance,” before he wrapped his hands in Zack’s shirt and pulled him forward into a kiss.

As he used his mouth to ease Zack’s open, swallowing a surprised laugh from the SOLDIER, one of his hands moved back into Zack’s hair to hold his head in place, and the other dug pointed nails into the back of his neck. Zack’s laugh turned into a long moan, and Cloud responded in kind as he teased, toyed with, tasted him.

Zack kept his hands as still as he could, his arms tense with the desire to wrap around Cloud’s waist, or make new bruises bloom on his pale skin, or grind him down onto his cock until he begged to be fucked. His dick twitched and jumped at his thoughts, and Cloud chuckled warmly into his mouth, responded by grazing his teeth over his lower lip, by sucking until he just started to taste blood.

When he finally drew back, his eyes were dark, his pupils wide. He pressed their foreheads together, and they both panted, occasionally chuckling at themselves. He pulled away just enough to look up at Zack. “Gods, I want to hurt you.”

Zack felt a tension unspool down through his belly—his nerves, his arousal? Said, “Fuck, it’s all I could think about while I watched you on stage.”

A devilish smirk. “Did you imagine yourself in Andi’s place, puppy?” Zack tried to look away without thinking, his face growing warm, but Cloud gripped his chin and held him in place, his grin spreading to show his teeth. “Don’t you dare, Zack. I know you want to tell me.”

His breath caught in his chest as he held Cloud’s gaze, and he exhaled, “Yes, Sir.”

He pressed his lips along Zack’s cheekbones. “Did you imagine what it might be like to wear his hood, puppy? His mitts? His tail?”

Barely a breath, “Yes.”

He dragged his teeth along Zack’s neck, then breathed into his ear, “Did you wonder how your cock would feel locked in a steel cage?”

Zack groaned, croaked out, “Yes, Sir,” and rolled his hips under Cloud without meaning to.

Cloud just chuckled warmly. “Did you want to be under my flogger? My cane? Under my fists?”

“Your fists, Sir,” he breathed in response. “The closeness,” was all the explanation he could produce.

“Gods, fuck, Zack.” He tipped his head back, his fingers digging deep into the other man’s shoulders, and bucked his hips once. Zack shouted, couldn’t stop himself before his own fingers dug into the smaller man’s waist. Cloud laughed. His pale eyes held heat and something just a little wild when he looked back down, his cheeks and chest flushed.

Zack took his fingers from Cloud’s sides; his hands managed not to shake as he took Cloud’s hands in his, curled them into fists and pressed them against his chest. “Will you?” he asked, “Please?”

Cloud’s lips were still parted, and he looked like he was trying to read something deeper in Zack’s expression.

“Your safewords, Zack,” he ordered, his voice just this side of a growl.

“My colors. I know them.” Zack’s head felt clear, if heavy with want. “Please, Sir, your fists.”

Cloud closed his eyes, took a steadying breath, licked his lips. He held the back of one fist to Zack’s pec, then rotated his torso away and swung his fist with all of the force he could put behind it. Zack’s breath hitched and he groaned softly, his eyes fluttering closed. He felt himself smile.

“More, please, Sir,” he begged softly.

Cloud rubbed his other fist into Zack’s chest, then wound up and swung just as hard into his next hit. The impact pushed Zack’s exhale out in a rush. His body tensed with the hit, but after the strike, as Cloud dug the points of his knuckles firmly into the flesh, that tension and more slid from his muscles like water, leaving his body lax under the smaller man. When he opened his eyes to look up at Cloud, he looked just a little drunk on it.

“Do you have any idea how fucking perfect you are?” Cloud breathed.

Zack’s head rolled back, a dopey grin spreading on his face. “No, Sir. Tell me while you beat me,” he purred. He rolled his hips up into Cloud.

Cloud smirked, swung his fist into Zack’s chest again. “I don’t have nearly enough time before I need to get back out, puppy,” drove his other fist in again, “to give you the amount of detail you deserve.” He continued to alternate swings. Zack’s breath shook with each hit, and he rested his hands gently on the tops of Cloud’s thighs, just the tips of his fingers twitching at each impact.

“You’re so good at showing me”

thwack

“exactly what I do to you.”

a groan

“You learn so quickly”

thud

“what I like”

an exhale hissed through gritted teeth

“and I fucking”

a strike that vibrated through Zack’s chest

“love”

his eyes flew open, and he stared longingly at Cloud

“every fucking thing”

Zack’s mouth worked soundlessly

“that you give me.”

Before Cloud could lean into another blow, Zack gently caught his wrists in his hands, holding them to his chest as his breath shook out.

“Sir, I…I need to stop, for now.”

Cloud’s eyes searched his face, a little surprised. “Are you okay, Zack?” he asked softly. “Color?”

Zack huffed a small laugh, pressed his lips to Cloud’s knuckles.

love
I love

“I’m not sure how to answer color right now,” he admitted, his voice only shaking a little bit. “None of them feel right.” He closed his eyes, took a breath, laid several soft kisses along the other man’s knuckles. “I like this, a lot. It’s really good. I’m not ready to…go under, if you still need to step away. And I want to talk to you, before we come back to this.”

He cupped a hand at the back of Cloud’s head, let his chest fill with warm awe at the softness of that fine blond hair between his fingers, pulled him forward into a gentle kiss. They moved their lips slowly against each other, savoring the softness, the tickle of breath, seeking comfort, warmth, rather than heat.

Their breathing eased gradually into something closer to normal, and Cloud pulled back, measuring Zack’s expression again. “Of course, of course that’s okay. Thank you for telling me.” He smoothed his hands firmly down the sides of Zack’s arms. “I hope you can let me know if I did something, if I overstepped.”

Zack laughed, the sound bright. “No, no, fuck. Fuck, it’s not that. I just…” He bit his lip, his eyes shining, and cupped the side of Cloud’s jaw with his hand, stroked a thumb along his cheek. He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m fucking falling for you, Cloud.”

Chapter Text

Zack was barely four years old the first time he decided that he loved someone. These days, he could barely remember the curve of his cheek or the exact texture of his hair, but he remembered briefly thinking that he was made from the very earth, because his skin so closely matched the brown clays his mother would harvest from the caves near the river.

He remembered the sound of his laugh. He remembered being confused when word spread and a couple of the other kids teased them about being boyfriends, and how he’d cried when the boy’s parents told him that he didn’t want to play in the jungle with him anymore.

His name was…Levi? Leon? He couldn’t remember anymore, but he could still feel the way that his heart had expanded so easily before the world had told him to make it smaller.

He was stubborn, though, and refused to let just one confusing experience squash his heart. Zack understand pretense in an intellectual way—of course he knew that people weren’t always honest or forthright about their feelings. But he couldn’t grok why he would ever want to hide how he felt. He knew how much it meant to him when the people around him were happy, or excited, or passionate, or doing something important, how rewarding it was when he could elicit those feelings in others.

And at some point, after enough people had not known what to do with his earnestness, he understood that love, to him, was this feeling of connection, this sharing of joy, this knowing of another person, and that somehow, this understanding of love wasn’t universal.

He was stubborn, but the world seemed determined to make his heart smaller; not all at once, not in any way that could irrevocably break him, but the world convinced him to use less of it, and it started to atrophy.

When he shared his first kiss with the pretty redhead whose skin was stippled with dense freckles, sitting close together in the jungle ruins. When her fingers twitched out from under his in surprise after he whispered his love so only she and the cicadas could hear, and

the first time he had ever given someone head, one of his hands holding them up against the wall, their fingers tangled in his hair, their leg hitched up over his shoulder as he mouthed and licked and sucked. When he was high from their scent surrounding him and the feel of their body under his tongue and the sounds they were making, like he’d learned how to play the most beautiful instrument using just want and need, and he had groaned that he fucking loved it, that he fucking loved them, only to feel their rocking hips stutter still, and

after his first series of mako shots, when the nausea and the fever were far enough behind him that he was ready to go out for drinks to celebrate with the other newly-minted Thirds. When the painfully handsome one with the soft eyes and softer lips looked a little more interested after Zack shared how fucking horny all that extra energy was making him. The other guys had just roared laughter and told their own stories to commiserate, but he made sure to catch Zack’s eyes until Zack was certain he hadn’t imagined it. And when Zack peeled away to have a smoke in the alley out back, he'd followed shortly after, snatched the joint from Zack's lips to pull a long hit, and then crushed it out while his other hand caught Zack’s neck and pushed him against the wall hard enough to leave a fine crack through the brick. Zack had moaned into the taste of his weed on the other man’s soft mouth, fumbled at his pants, fallen eagerly to his knees right there in the alley. He’d known better than to say it this time, but he must have let something show in his eyes as he looked up at him after, his lips parted in bliss, the reward for his enthusiasm beginning to cool on his cheek and grow bitter on his tongue, and

and

and

and eventually it doesn’t matter how stubborn you are. It only takes so much repetition to learn something, even if it feels so counter to who you want to be.

think how beautiful
if he gets the chance to love you back

So after the words left Zack’s mouth, his pulse threatened to burst through his neck, and it thrummed so loudly in his head that he almost didn’t hear the sharp intake of breath from the man sitting next-to-naked in his lap. He almost missed it when Cloud whispered his name.

But Cloud didn’t flinch, and he didn’t freeze, and he didn’t leave. If anything, his body, his presence, his eyes went softer. His hand cupped Zack’s face so gently, and he didn't say anything for several long moments.

When he finally asked, “Zack, baby, can I kiss you?” Zack felt his breath hitch, and that fist lodged itself in his throat again so that the words couldn’t squeeze past and all he could do was nod like he needed Cloud to remind him how to breathe.

Cloud kissed him like he was something precious. His curled finger under Zack’s chin to tip his head, and their lips pressed and brushed and moved together until Zack’s chest was warm with it. Cloud pulled away and pressed his thumb to Zack’s lower lip, held his gaze again.

Zack breathed out, “I love you, Cloud.” He felt his belly go tense for fear of disappointment, tried to steel his heart. But Cloud just laughed, warm and clear and bright, his smile big enough to bring out the crows’ feet out around his eyes.

“That was my understanding of ‘falling for,’ but I do appreciate you being explicit.” His fingers combed through Zack’s hair, wrapped around it, tucked loose strands behind his ear. “Is this what you’ve been fretting about?”

Zack nodded, his expression almost meek.

Cloud took a deep breath, sighed it out. “You’re right, we should talk more about this.” He chewed his lip. “I’m scheduled for one more set, and I’m so sorry but I can’t back out this late. But this is important, and I’m going to make time for it tonight.” He smoothed his hands over Zack’s shoulders, rested them lightly on his chest.

Cloud looked down at his hands. “I’m developing feelings for you, too, Zack. I like what we’re building, I like it a-fucking-lot.” He raised his eyes back up to meet the other man’s gaze. “But people mean really different things when they say love, and I want us to talk about what our expectations are around that. So I want to wait to say it back until we can have that conversation. Are you okay with that?”

Zack nodded, took one of Cloud’s hands and kissed his knuckles, kissed over the fine dot and line tattoos on his fingers.

Cloud closed his eyes, laughed. “Fuck, babe, I want to say it back right now, I swear I do. But I also want to be really careful with you. I’m scared of taking advantage of you.”

Zack snorted a laugh. “You sound like you’re trying to protect my virtue.”

Mischief lit his eyes. “Oh no, I fully plan to destroy any virtue you’ve managed to hold on to. But I’d like your heart to stay intact.”

The weight that had been pressing on Zack’s chest lifted just enough, and Cloud’s expression softened again.

“When you said you were coming, I was able to snag one of the smaller rooms for us for the night. If you go up to the front, Queenie can get you the keys and help you find it. You feel okay waiting there for me?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Cloud pressed his hand to Zack’s cheek again. “I won’t be long. I’m sorry again.”

Zack smirked. “I’m the one who broke what I can only imagine is a cardinal rule of patronizing a strip club.”

“You know, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but since you brought it up…” Cloud pulled his face into an exaggerated grimace. “It is kinda cringe to fall in love during a lap dance.”

“How will I ever recover my badass reputation?” Zack asked wistfully. He tipped Cloud back just enough that he lost his balance and yelped. He flailed to grab on to Zack’s shoulders and laughed, and Zack leaned forward to kiss him deeply.

Cloud was starting to whimper into his mouth when Zack pulled back and gave him a small smack on the side of his thigh. “Alright, get, before I break more rules. You said Queenie?”

“Mm-hmm.” He eased himself back off of Zack, his eyes still on the other man’s mouth, worrying his lip between his teeth. “Fuck, you’re hard to leave.” He adjusted his bikini so that it covered his bits again and slipped the suit jacket back on. He picked up the other discarded clothes and draped them over his arm, and then leaned over and kissed him again. “I’ll see you soon.”

When the door shut behind him and Zack was left alone, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He fished his phone out of his pocket and thumbed it on.

Aerith
Heeeeeeeeeeheehee you’ve been back there a *while.*

He smirked.

Zack
Yeah, you still around?

Aerith
Yup!

Zack
I’m about to retire, but I’ll come find you for a goodbye.
And I’m getting my wallet back, you thief.

Aerith
If it feels lighter, I’m sure that’s just your imagination 😊

Queenie had beamed at him (“Oh I’ve heard about you!”) and helped him find the room. It was small, like Cloud had said, but still featured a large, plush bed, a full length mirror on the wall opposite it (did every room at the Inn have that? honestly, probably), and a bathroom with a shower. He emptied the contents of his pockets onto the nightstand and let himself fall back on the bed.

He pressed his palms into his eyelids, thought about the way Cloud had moved for him in the closeness of the private room, how he’d felt with the smaller man in his lap, how easily and happily he’d gone pliant under his fists.

Man, Zack was down fucking bad.

He replayed Cloud’s reaction to his admission in his mind, held on to the gentleness of his eyes, the soft way they’d kissed, and did his best not to let his anxiety build as he waited.

I want to say it back right now.

Zack wanted to hope. Wanted his heart to get the chance to be an expansive, wild thing again.

The door clicked open and he turned his head toward it, smiling with relief that he wouldn’t have more time alone for his thoughts to spin up out of control. “Hi again, Sir,” he said softly, his mind going pleasantly quiet at the sight.

Cloud had dressed in a loose tank top and joggers since they’d parted, and he dropped a small duffel by the door and shuffled out of a pair of slides.

“Hi, baby. I’m so sorry, again, for the interruption,” he said warmly, “Come shower with me? I want to wash off the night.” He started toward the bathroom with a small toiletries bag and a couple of robes bundled in one arm, unceremoniously stripping off the tank on his way to reveal that there had been nothing underneath it.

Zack stood and peeled off his own clothes as the shower kicked on. He watched Cloud in the mirror as he pulled wipes out of his bag and started working to remove his makeup.

Zack walked over to stand behind Cloud, pressing his nude front to the smaller man’s back, and let his fingers slip under the waistband of his soft pants, calloused fingertips searching for the hollows of his hips. Something warmed in his belly when he realized Cloud had nothing on under the pants, either.

“Did you strip for your last set, baby?” he purred, leaning down to press a kiss over a bruise on his shoulder

“Mm hmm.”

“I’d still really like to see that some time.”

A smile, reflected back at him. Zack lifted his chin to rest in Cloud’s spikes, felt a thrill about how small the other man looked in his arms, how well they fit together.

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen,” he said with a smirk.

“I haven’t had the chance to see other guys lose their shit over you, though.”

Cloud laughed, finished cleaning his face, tossed the makeup wipe. He placed his hands over Zack’s on his hips and shimmied out of his pants, and Zack groaned at the way his ass wiggled against him. He turned in Zack’s arms and stood on his tiptoes to kiss him, then gave Zack’s arm a light, playful slap. “Come on.”

Their shower together was intimate and relatively chaste. Zack’s hand would linger around Cloud’s narrow waist when they switched places under the water, and Cloud pressed soft lips to Zack’s chest or back. The warmth between them held more than just lust, and that helped quiet the worry that kept trying to rise in Zack’s mind.

Cloud stepped out of the spray and shook his head; his hair stood out in even more ridiculous cowlicks than usual, and Zack chuckled. “Tea?” he asked as he stepped out and started to dry off. “I’ve got some jasmine.” Zack hummed an affirmative sound and Cloud toweled off his hair and slid into a soft, pale blue robe.

Zack stepped out of the bathroom in Cloud’s other robe, this one black, and toweled his hair dry. Cloud looked up from the small electric kettle he’d set up on the nightstand, then covered his mouth and snorted a laugh.

“Oh, you think I don’t know this is utterly indecent?” Zack quipped back, false indignance betrayed by a wide grin. He could tell both robes were sized to Cloud; while Cloud’s closed easily around his smaller waist, just a sliver of chest peeking through, and the hem fell to a modest mid-thigh length, the matching robe was fighting a losing battle on Zack’s larger frame. His broad chest, covered in light scars from battles past, was mostly exposed, and he made a valiant effort to not flash Cloud as he hurried to the bed and draped the blanket over his lap.

The kettle clicked and Cloud started preparing the tea. He reached out to wrap his fingers around one of Zack’s hands while it steeped, and Zack covered it with his other.

“New nails,” he commented, just noticing that they were longer, still pointed, now a dark, color-shifting purple. The nails on his index and middle fingers were short, rounded, and Zack felt his face go a touch warm at the implication. “How on earth do you get away with these on duty?”

Cloud’s eyes sparkled. “We’re gloved. And they don’t fuck with my ability to fire or maintain my weapon, so.”

Zack stroked a finger along one of the smooth nails, the image of Cloud’s dextrous hands wrapped around a rifle coming unbidden to his mind. “I didn’t realize that would do something for me,” he laughed.

Cloud pulled away long enough to finish preparing the tea and passed a cup to Zack. He drew his legs up to sit with them crossed, blew gently over his own cup, and let his gaze settle on Zack’s, still warm, but with a little more weight.

“So,” he started, the lightest flush dusting his cheeks, “feelings.”

Zack nodded. “How do you want to have this conversation?”

Cloud looked thoughtful and took a first, small sip of tea. His eyes fluttered shut and his face smoothed with the warmth, and Zack’s heart felt full at the sight.

“Okay. What does it mean to you, materially? What expectations come with it?” Cloud’s gaze leveled on him again. “It’s too easy for folks to have unspoken assumptions about…love, about what it means for a relationship.”

Zack nodded. “That makes sense.” He tried some of the tea and was grateful for it, for the soothing scent, the gentle flavor, for something to steady his hands around. “What do you want this relationship to be?” he asked, his voice soft.

Cloud took a deep breath. “Fuck, Zack, you’re fucking great.” He aughed, tipped his head back. “I like how often we’re seeing each other. Part of me wants to see you more, but between my day job and the Inn, and with you needing to travel for missions, this pace has felt reasonable and sustainable.” His eyes returned to Zack’s. “I want to keep seeing you. I want to keep building with you. I want to know you more.”

Zack swallowed, his relief palpable. He studied the steam rising in curls off of the tea in his hands. “I want that too,” he said softly.

Cloud put a hand on Zack’s thigh, stroked soothing arcs with his thumb. “How are you feeling about the kink part?”

Zack groaned, just a little theatrically. “So fucking good, Sunshine.” Cloud laughed. “I’m grateful for your skill with it. I’m excited to keep trying new things. I've been curious about it for a long time, but I…I especially want it with you.”

“Yeah? Tell me more about that.”

Zack mulled it over while he nursed his tea. “You’re so thoughtful. Like…like using the materia, dude.” Cloud snorted softly into his tea at being called dude. “Somehow that’s never occurred to me to mix with sex, never been offered. It let me worry less.” He placed his hand over Cloud’s on his leg again. “You’ve been really careful with me, and I’m grateful for that, and I want more.” He lifted Cloud’s hand and interlaced their fingers, kissed along his knuckles. “I feel safe with you. I want to keep pushing my edges with you.”

Cloud scooted closer, rested his head on Zack’s shoulder. “That means so, so much to me, Zack.”

Zack turned his face to nuzzle into Cloud’s still-damp hair; he smelled fresh, traces of citrus left by the shampoo they’d both used. “You said a word earlier, that I’ve been thinking about since,” he muttered into Cloud’s skin.

“Mmm?”

“Mm-hmm.” A pause, a blush. “Relationship?”

“Ah,” Cloud responded helpfully.

“Is that, ah,” he brought his hand up to play in the wispy baby hairs at the back of Cloud’s neck, “do you want…like…”

He could feel Cloud exhale a small laugh. “Words, pup.”

“Do you…wanna be my boyfriend?” he asked, trying to inject the question with playful lightness in spite of the way it made his heart jump into his throat.

Cloud rolled his head up to give him a smile, his eyes still laced with mischief. “I’ll hear your case.”

“Gosh, I forgot my slides.”

Cloud finished his tea, leaned away to set the cup on the nightstand and then came back into the curve of Zack’s arm, his hand stroking Zack’s chest. “It’s still about expectations.” He pressed a kiss to Zack’s warm skin. “Biggest one being that I’m not going to stop this work.” He chanced a look up. “I fuck other people. Not always, but sometimes, and that isn’t negotiable.”

Zack nodded. “I get that. I’m not trying to fuck with your livelihood.” He finished his own drink and Cloud took his cup, set it down out of the way. “Can I ask about safety?”

“Mmm. I vet new-to-me clients by getting references from other providers. And I only fuck regulars, folks I’ve seen several times, who I know can act right. And they have to give me blood panel results at least monthly if they want to keep the privilege. Is that what you mean?”

Zack nodded. “It’s newish territory for me, but I’m good with it.”

Cloud looked up. “You could fuck other people, too, if you wanted—I’d just want you to be careful about STIs, and let me know if you want something serious with someone else.”

Zack kissed the top of his head. “I’m a little hooked on this one guy in particular right now, but I appreciate that.” He pulled Cloud’s body more firmly against his, wrapping both arms around him. “Is there more?”

“The other big one is time. You’re okay with frequency as it is now?”

He nodded. “You’ve been really good about making time for me. And even when we’ve been busy, you’ve been in touch. That helps, and it feels really good.” He wiggled, jostling Cloud softly. “So does that mean…”

Cloud laughed, turned his head to look up at Zack. “You wanna be my boyfriend?”

Zack let his jaw drop in mock affront. “I spent all this time working up the courage to ask you, and you just steal my thunder?”

Cloud bit his lip, made his best puppy dog eyes and looked up at Zack from behind his hair. “So is that a no?”

Zack scooped Cloud up bodily, earning a surprised yelp, and then the smaller man was on his back on the bed, Zack looming over him. “Are you gonna be even more of a pain in the ass as my boyfriend?” he asked, his voice just a little hoarse, before he dipped down to trail kisses along the side of Cloud’s neck.

Cloud laughed, sighed happily, gasped when he felt Zack’s teeth graze his skin. “Probably.”

Zack lifted up, a wide smile across his face. “Gods save me.” He nipped at the line of Cloud’s jaw. “First sass as boyfriends,” he muttered, earning another clear, high laugh from Cloud. He bit harder at Cloud’s neck, worrying at the aged bruise, and the smaller man tensed and moaned. “First moan from my boyfriend,” he teased. He pressed their mouths together, flicked Cloud’s lips with teasing touches of his tongue and then swallowed Cloud’s soft cries, pressing his wrists down into the bed. Cloud answered his kisses with more heat, with his hips rising to try to find purchase against Zack’s body. He pulled away, teased, “Fuck, babe, you were holding out with the good boyfriend kisses.”

Cloud groaned good-naturedly. “Oh, you’re gonna be insufferable.”

“Mm-hmm.” Zack rolled over to lie on his back and pulled Cloud up to straddle his hips. Zack’s robe was mostly ornamental at this point, and Cloud ran his hands over his exposed skin in warm strokes.

“There was something else for us to talk about,” Zack said, with some reluctance. He ran his hands up and down the tops of Cloud’s thighs, spread on either side of him. “In the feelings realm. Something about love.” Zack tried to keep his voice even, but his skin flushed a bit.

Cloud kept tracing curves over Zack’s skin with his fingertips, his nails. “If I tell you I love you,” he said, the last words shaking only slightly, “what I mean is, I want to keep learning you. I want to be with you. I want to know you.” He curled his fingers, digging his nails into the other man’s flesh. “It also means I want to hurt you,” he said, his voice going a little ragged, and Zack’s pulse sped up. “I want to push you, and scare you. I want to be cruel to you. And I want you to enjoy it.”

Zack’s breath caught in his chest, and he nodded wordlessly.

“Is that…is that a way you want to be loved?” Cloud asked, cautiously.

“Yes,” he breathed, feeling his heart swell as he looked up at the man on top of him. “Yes, please.”

Cloud leaned forward slowly, bracing himself on his forearms on either side of Zack’s head, and brushed their noses together, kissed him softly. “Then…I love you, Zack.”

Zack whined into Cloud’s mouth and wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down for more. “My Sir,” he breathed between kisses, “my Sunshine,” and Cloud laughed again, “my fucking gorgeous boyfriend,” and he rolled his hips up into Cloud, to his delighted gasp.

“I don't understand how anyone could not love you, Zack,” he said softly into his ear, and when he used his mouth to press that warmth, that care, into the side of Zack’s neck, into his jaw, against his eager lips, Zack felt like his heart was breaking open to make more room.

He didn't notice the tears on his cheeks until Cloud brushed fingers over them, looked at him with some small concern. “Zack?”

He shook his head. “‘m so good, Sunshine.”

Cloud cracked a small, lopsided smile. “First cry as boyfriends?” and Zack barked a laugh. “You were real torn up about this.”

“I might have managed to bamboozle you with my cool, collected exterior,” Cloud snorted and Zack pointedly ignored it, running his hands over the smaller man's sides, “but turns out, I can be kind of a lot, and sometimes that’s…too much for people.”

Cloud was quiet, thoughtful for a moment. “I have an idea. I’d like to play with that.”

A furrow creased Zack’s brow. “How do you mean?”

He hummed. “You were nervous about admitting feelings.” The way Zack’s cheeks warmed and his mouth pressed into a line served as a confirmation. “You like the things I do to you?” Zack nodded, unsure where this was going. “Do you love things that I do?”

A little more heat rose to Zack’s face, but he nodded again.

“Does it feel safer to tell me specific things you love, instead of the big nebulous idea of love or being in love? More concrete?”

Another nod.

He brushed his thumb over Zack’s lower lip. “Then I want you to practice. If I do something you love, I want you to tell me.”

Zack exhaled a warm, shaky breath over Cloud’s knuckles. “I love how you touch me, Sir,” he tested.

Cloud let his thumb trail down to Zack’s chin and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth, breathed, “Good boy.”

Zack made a soft sound, caught that warm mouth in another kiss, his hands fisting in the hem of Cloud’s robe; his lips parted just long enough to say, “I love kissing you,” before he pressed his mouth to the other man’s neck, his shoulders.

Cloud exhaled in a pleased sigh. “You’re so good, puppy. You’re doing so good.”

Zack’s cock twitched awake at the praise. He kissed Cloud on the mouth again, worked the other man’s lips open, desperate to feel the heat of him. When Cloud sucked gently on Zack’s invading tongue, his moan vibrating along the muscle, the SOLDIER felt the edges of his brain begin to fray.

And then Cloud’s hand trailed down his broad chest, over his stomach, down the inside of his thigh, and his fingers dipped to massage into the sensitive skin behind his balls.

He breathed into Zack’s ear, “You want me to fuck you tonight? You want me to overwhelm you?” and it felt like he had quietly worked a seam ripper under the last stitches keeping him together.

“Yes, yes please,” he groaned, arching his back to press up into Cloud’s hand.

Cloud chuckled warmly, kissed him. “Be right back,” he reassured, and got up to fetch the duffel he’d dropped at the door. He set it on the bed and started rummaging. “Get on hands and knees for me, puppy. I want your face on the bed and your ass up.”

Zack watched as he pulled things from the bag and set them on the bedside table—a bottle of lube, a plug, a leather harness—before Cloud caught him watching.

“I know you aren’t going to make me repeat myself,” he said, his voice full of threat and promise. “Now, pet.”

Sufficient neurons fired for Zack to do as he was told. He slid the robe off, pressed his chest to the bed, and let his head rest on his crossed arms, his ass in the air. He heard more clinks and soft thuds as Cloud continued to unpack, and then felt the other man’s nails graze up the back of his thigh.

Zack sighed. “Did I already say I love how you touch me?”

A pleased, low laugh. “You did. You’re welcome to repeat yourself, pup.” He palmed Zack’s ass in his hands, dug his fingertips into the flesh, kneaded the muscle, and Zack rocked his hips back and groaned. “So eager, so fucking responsive.” He spread Zack’s cheeks and the SOLDIER didn’t manage to catch the whimper before it got out; it turned to a long, rumbling moan when he felt the wet heat of Cloud’s tongue against his hole.

“Hah–fucking shit, babe.”

Cloud hummed an overly sympathetic sound, and the reverberation along Zack’s sensitive skin made him shudder and pant. His hands had moved to fist the sheets, his cheek pressed into the bed. Cloud flicked his tongue around the edges of Zack’s hole, pressed it flat and swiped in long strokes, teasingly slipped the tip into him.

He pulled away long enough to rasp out, “Hold yourself open for me, puppy,” while he reached between Zack’s leg to palm his hard cock. Zack keened, complied.

“Fuck, Sir, I love how your mouth feels on me.”

Cloud purred, “Good boy,” mouthed along the curve of Zack’s ass, curled his fingers around his shaft and tugged gently. He pressed soft kisses to Zack’s fingers where they dimpled his cheeks, laved his tongue over Zack’s hole again in a long, slow, firm stroke, drawing out the moan that Zack poured into the mattress.

Cloud’s hand left Zack’s cock for a moment, his mouth still working him over deftly. Before Zack could mourn its loss, it returned slick and cool with lube. Zack couldn’t help but pump forward into his fist and rock back onto his tongue.

The part of his brain that served as any kind of filter had packed it in for the day, and between pants and moans he spilled out, “love how you fuck me,” and “fuck, baby, fuck, your mouth,” and “gods Sir I fucking love you please please please,” and he only came more undone when he felt Cloud’s laugh vibrate up his taint and along his aching length.

When Zack’s words had mostly failed him and his rhythm started to stutter, Cloud stepped back, stroked his lubed hand with affection over Zack’s ass, wiped spit from his mouth and jaw with the other.

“I like you desperate for me, puppy.” Zack heard a rustle and then the sound of a glove snapping into place; then Cloud stroked the fingers of one hand over his hole. He let the fresh lube on his gloved fingers mix with his spit, and Zack offered a wordless whine when he just barely pressed a fingertip against his entrance. He sighed, “Gods, I could toy with you for hours.”

Zack rocked back into the touch in vain; Cloud pulled away just as much as Zack pushed toward him, refused to cede control. “Please, I’ll be so good for you,” he panted.

Cloud hummed, kept stroking him too lightly, until Zack’s cock throbbed painfully again. “You’re already being so good, puppy,” he said, voice saccharine sweet, “and still, I want to see you suffer for me.”

Zack turned to look at Cloud over his shoulder, saw that dark smile and the lust in his eyes; breathed, “Anything for you, Sir.” Thought I’m yours, and his eyes fluttered shut as he let the thought fall from his mouth aloud in something like a moan, “I’m yours.” Cloud briefly stilled.

One heartbeat, another, with no sound but their ragged breaths, and for the briefest moment Zack’s awareness came up enough to wonder if he’d pushed too far, been too much.

And then Cloud grabbed his hip firmly with one hand, hard enough that Zack wondered if those pointed tips could puncture his skin, and he slid one lubed, short-nailed finger inside of him.

Cloud paused when his finger slid in to the knuckle with ease. His voice was breathy. “You been training yourself, my sweet, filthy puppy?”

Zack nodded, moaned into the bed. “Yes, Sir. Since...” he wasn't sure it was possible for him to blush harder. "Since that night...on the phone..."

Cloud made a sound between a groan and a delighted laugh. "My good slut." Zack heard the click of a bottle being opened and felt the cool slick of more lube before Cloud slipped a second finger into him, rotated his wrist to turn his fingers inside of him with ease. Cloud growled low in his throat, the nails in Zack’s hip dug harder, and Cloud curled his fingers inside of Zack and stroked over that firm bundle of nerves that made his vision white out and his speech go slurred. Sharp nails released from his hip, and Zack gasped as the blood rushed tingling to the surface. Then Cloud’s hand was tugging at his balls, the nails dragging lightly along the sensitive skin.

“Stroke yourself, pup,” he said, authoritative in spite of how breathy it came out.

Zack didn’t need to be told again; he let go of his hold on his ass and fisted his aching cock, grateful for the lube that still slicked his skin. He didn’t have it in him to try to pace himself with Cloud’s touch, didn’t have that level of discipline left. He jerked himself furiously, rocking onto Cloud’s fingers, until he heard his Sir say,

“You aren’t going to come, Zack.”

Zack froze and Cloud laughed, deep and dark like smoke.

“You also aren’t going to stop. Keep touching yourself.”

Zack’s moan drew out long as he resumed working himself over. Cloud’s fingers kept toying with him, drew circles around and stroked along his prostate, and Zack felt dangerously close to disobedience.

“Please, Sir, please, if you keep–”

Cloud leaned over to wrap his free hand around Zack’s neck to cut him off, let his nails dig into the skin. “Didn’t you just tell me that you’re mine?” he purred, and he felt Zack’s breath hitch in response. “Doesn’t that mean I get to do what I want with you?” He let go of Zack’s neck and let his hand move over Zack’s back, his hip, his leg in soothing strokes as his fingers continued to pump into him. “Didn’t you agree to this, Zack?”

Zack’s face was flush, his skin slick with sweat, his hips jerked erratically. “Sir I can’t–”

“Don’t come, pup,” he admonished.

Zack didn’t stop his hand on his cock but tried to measure out his strokes, tried his damnedest to do as he was told. “Fuck, fuck, please...”

“You’re being so fucking good for me, Zack. Don’t stop now.”

But between Cloud’s fingers fucking him expertly and the heat and friction of his own hand around his cock and the way that his Sir’s praise unfurled ribbons of heat low in his belly, he let out an anguished cry as he tipped past his edge and shot his seed on the bed beneath him. He felt his eyes roll back in his head, felt his body sag as the tension left him and stained the sheets, and when he tried to make words, all that fell from his lips were pants and abortive sounds.

“Oh…Zack. You’ve made a mess.” Cloud’s voice held fondness but also a weight that rang unfamiliar. He pressed his fingers in another firm stroke against Zack’s prostate and Zack cried out, his muscles twitching around the fingers inside of him.

“‘m sorry, Sir, I couldn’t…”

Cloud shushed him, said quietly, “You’ll make it up to me.” Cloud’s fingers slid out and Zack whimpered, but then there was a pressure against his hole, and he moaned as his body stretched to accommodate a sturdy, curved silicone plug that arced right into the spot Cloud had worked so thoroughly. “Clean up after yourself, puppy.”

Zack stepped back from the edge of the bed shakily, tried to look at Cloud with a question, his eyes a bit unfocused. Cloud fisted his ungloved hand in the other man’s hair and bent him over the bed, held his face a breath away from the sheets where his cum had started to cool and gel, and Zack groaned as he understood.

“I don’t like needing to repeat myself, Zack.”

Zack opened his mouth, dragged his tongue along the sheets to collect his bitter spend, and made an utterly undignified sound as he swallowed.

“Good boy. Get all of it. Show me that you know how to follow orders.”

Zack moaned, let himself be pliant as Cloud used his hand in his hair to maneuver him over the mess he’d made. When he’d finished, Cloud let go of his hair and he fell to his knees on the floor, his breath coming in pants, the bitter taste and smell of his cum flooding his senses. Then the plug inside of him started vibrating against his prostate, and his eyes shot open wide as he forgot how to breathe.

Cloud stroked his back. “You’re so good for me, Zack. That was just an accident, wasn’t it? You won’t cum without permission again?” Zack whined, shook his head. “Good boy. Stand up, lean over the bed.”

He did as he was told and heard the rustle of Cloud removing his glove, and then the sound of velcro being adjusted. Cloud knelt down behind him and stroked leather-gloved hands over the back of Zack’s legs, over the trembling muscles of his ass. The plug continued vibrating at its low hum and Zack arched when Cloud pressed into its base to move it inside him.

“You liked when I beat you earlier, didn’t you, puppy?”

He nodded furiously, panted, “Yes. Yes Sir, I loved it.”

“Good boy.” He brought his hands down in light, open-palmed slaps over Zack’s ass, down the outsides and backs of his thighs, waking up the skin and bringing blood to the surface. Once he was warm, Cloud dragged his nails over him, and Zack breathed a blissed sigh. “So good for me,” he murmured, and the plug’s vibrations increased in intensity. Zack moaned.

“Love this, Sir,” he managed, his voice a little slurred.

Cloud’s fist struck the back of Zack’s thigh near his ass, with more weight than his blows had landed with bare hands; he felt it reverberate through his legs, his taint, his ass, his slowly waking cock, and he rocked his hips against the bed and moaned. Cloud continued raining blows over the meat of his ass, the outer sides of his legs, the backs of his thighs until Zack’s legs began to shake.

Cloud’s nails dug mercilessly into his sore flesh, and Zack panted, “I love being yours, Sir.”

Another, harder strike just above the back of his knee, and Zack’s leg folded for just a moment, but he managed to keep himself up.

Cloud hummed happily. “Gods, Zack, I adore how much you can take for me.” Another strike, with the momentum of Cloud’s body into the weighted glove into his other thigh, and Zack trembled with the effort of staying upright. “I love how much you give me.” He struck again and Zack cried out, fell to one knee. Cloud stroked his shoulders, his waist, his sore ass soothingly, his voice warm. “Good boy. You’re doing so, so good, Zack. Color?”

Zack panted, his chest leaned against the side of the bed, and he reached a hand back, seeking the warmth and safety of Cloud’s skin; his fingers stroked the other man’s thigh gently. “It’s a lot, but I can take more. Green.”

Cloud hummed, turned the vibrator to a higher setting, and Zack cried out and arched his back. The blond chuckled. “You know just how to make a man swoon, don’t you, puppy?” He carded his fingers through Zack’s hair. “Up, sit on the bed” he said, patting the mattress with one hand.

Zack pulled himself up, not without effort, to perch on the edge of the bed. Cloud spread the other man’s legs wide and knelt between them, dipped his head to take Zack’s half-hard cock in his mouth. His lips wrapped around the base and he sucked, his nose nuzzled against trim, dark hair.

Zack laid a hand gently on his head, threaded his fingers into the soft spikes, whispered reverently, “Fuck, baby.”

Zack only stayed soft for a few moments. As he started to fill out, Cloud wrapped one hand around the base of his cock and stroked in time with his bobbing head. Zack’s hands fisted in the sheets on either side of him, his head fell back. He rocked his hips into Cloud’s mouth.

The rigid toy pressed harder, more insistent against his prostate, earning a series of increasingly desperate moans.

Cloud’s head was deliciously sloppy. His drool ran down his fist to pool at the base of Zack’s cock. He would pull off to lave his tongue, flat and firm, against the sides, rolling those pale eyes up to meet his. He would flick his tongue over his sensitive frenulum, lick the pre from Zack’s slit as soon as he produced it. Zack kept his hand on the back of the other man’s head light, though he groaned at the urge to push him down, to watch him gag around his cock.

“Fuck, Cloud, Sir, I’m getting close.”

He felt Cloud graze his teeth lightly along his length as he came up and it made him moan, low and shaking. “I didn’t say that you could come, Zack.” He twisted his fist around Zack’s cock, flicked his tongue over his slit again. Zack threw his head back, his fingers tensed in Cloud’s hair. “Be good for me,” he murmured before diving back onto him with renewed vigor.

Zack shouted, groaned, whimpered; Cloud refused to let up, working him perfectly, and every tilt and rock of Zack’s traitorous hips nudged the hard, vibrating toy more firmly against his prostate. He couldn’t think of anything but the sensations that overwhelmed him—the way his ass still throbbed pleasantly from the beating, how hot and wet and fucking perfect Cloud’s mouth felt around him, the way that pressure was building behind his navel until he felt like he’d break.

“Please, Sir, please, fuck, please please,” he begged, his voice cracking and breaking, his hips stuttering and losing their rhythm.

Cloud gently pressed his teeth against Zack’s swollen cock again, a clear warning, and voiced a muffled, negative “Mm-mm,” before he resumed his attention.

“Fuck, baby, I can’t I can’t–!” He pushed gently at Cloud’s shoulders to try to get him to stop, but Cloud wrapped his hands around Zack’s wrists, pressed them down into the bed, and Zack didn’t use his own strength to fight it. He gave himself up to the wet heat around his cock and the insistent stimulation on his prostate and the knowledge that he wasn’t supposed to, he’d been told not to, and his body tensed under the hands that held him. He came in his lover’s mouth, shouting hoarsely, brokenly.

Cloud’s head continued bobbing, working every last drop out of him, and Zack groaned, his head empty but for static and pleasure. The blond finally pulled his mouth off of Zack’s soft cock, stood, and tipped Zack’s head back with a fist in his hair.

He held Zack’s jaw in a rough grip to force his mouth open. Cloud parted his lips just slightly, let Zack’s cum drip in a slow, steady string into his open mouth. Zack’s chest heaved with his breath, and he struggled to swallow with his mouth held open. He couldn’t bear to look away from those pale blue eyes, full of heat and possessiveness and smug, proud pleasure, and he whimpered when Cloud closed the distance between them with a gentle kiss.

“You poor, wretched thing,” Cloud whispered against his lips. “I didn’t realize how much training you still needed.”

Zack’s hands fisted in the back of Cloud’s soft, silk robe, and his brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, Sir.”

“Shh, you can still make it up to me. On your knees, pet.”

Zack slid to the floor obediently.

Cloud let his robe fall to the floor and picked up a harness he’d set aside, buckled the leather straps around his waist and hips, and Zack felt his mouth water. Cloud maneuvered a dildo through the o-ring on the front, modest but not small, the color a close match to his own flesh. When it was settled, he hefted it in one hand and stroked it casually. His other hand thumbed a small remote to turn down the vibrator, setting it at a low, background hum.

He pressed the head of his cock to Zack’s lips, and Zack opened his mouth immediately, let his tongue hang out, watched the blond’s face with and tried to convey all of his adoration with his eyes.

“Show me how much you want to be good for me,” Cloud breathed, and Zack fell upon him.

He wrapped one hand around the base of the cock and slid his lips to meet his fingers easily, then started moving his head up and down on the length. He used his grip to press and grind the base of the dildo into Cloud’s body with each stroke, his other hand on the smaller man’s ass for leverage.

Cloud groaned and tangled his fingers in Zack’s hair to set his pace. He fucked Zack’s face for several slow, deep strokes, and Zack made happy sounds around him.

Zack came up for air just long enough to pant, “Please, Sir, can I finger you?” and Cloud moaned, nodded, shoved him back down onto his cock.

Zack moved the hand that had been wrapped around the base down to his cunt, groaned around the silicone in his mouth when he found how deliriously wet the other man was, and slid two fingers into him easily. He curled them and stroked firmly over Cloud’s g-spot, sank down onto his cock until it hit the back of his throat, and wrapped his other arm around Cloud’s thighs to support him when he felt his knees buckle.

Cloud threw his head back, shouted and cursed and bucked into Zack’s mouth, onto his fingers. Zack gagged briefly, tears pricking the corners of his eyes, but he continued, determined to give the other man head that he would feel. He took the dildo into his throat with enough force to slam the base against Cloud’s clit with each thrust.

“Zack, Zack fu–uck.” Cloud shuddered over him. One of his hands worked in Zack’s hair, tensed with each hit and stroke, and the other dug pointed nails into the muscle of his shoulder. He huffed out a hoarse laugh that turned into another long moan. “Fuck, you’re an eager slut, shit, baby. You’re so fucking good for me, just like that, just like that, fuck!”

Zack hummed happily, his breaths shallow around the other man’s cock. He reveled in the feel of Cloud’s slick, hot, swollen flesh clenching around his fingers, breathed deep the musky smell of his arousal like he was trying to commit it to memory, thought about how much he wanted to taste him. But that wasn’t what he was good for, not right now. Right now he was a willing, eager hole for his Sir to fuck and skilled fingers to make him come.
And he struggled to remember a desire to be anything else.

Cloud’s rhythm broke, his body tensed, and his panted praise turned incoherent, turned into a cracked scream. His hands gripped tighter as his body forced Zack’s fingers out, as his cum spilled over Zack’s hand, over his own legs, onto the floor. Cloud’s body went briefly boneless, Zack’s arm around his legs the only thing keeping him upright. He watched Zack, his eyes glazed and unfocused, his face and chest flushed with his orgasm, panting, as Zack slid his mouth slowly off of his cock.

Zack met his eyes and brought his other hand, wet and shining with Cloud’s cum, up to his lips; he licked it from his palm, from the back of his hand, slid his fingers into his mouth and shuddered out a sigh, his eyes fluttering closed. When his hand was licked and sucked clean, he worked his mouth over Cloud’s inner thighs to savor what had spilled there. He let his tongue spread and suck on his folds, behind the base of his cock, and the smaller man shook and swore in his arms.

Zack let his eyes flutter open, looked up at Cloud from behind his mussed hair, and croaked softly, “Thank you, Sir.”

Cloud moaned and finally fell forward; Zack broke his fall, eased him to his knees, and pulled him into an embrace. He pressed soft kisses against Cloud’s face while the blond’s breathing evened out, while his fingers stroked over Zack’s chest.

“I’m not done with you, pup,” Cloud whispered, the threat only a little diminished by how limp he felt in Zack’s arms.

Zack breathed the smell of Cloud’s hair, his neck, murmured, “I love you, Sir.”

Cloud pressed a gentle kiss to Zack’s jaw. “I love you, Zack.”

Zack squeezed him gently. “I’m gonna get you some water.” He wiggled out of the embrace, helped Cloud lean against the side of the bed while he recovered.

“Mm-hmm, good boy,” Cloud muttered, his voice a little slurred. “Then get yourself off for me again.”

Zack froze with the empty tea cups in his hands, partway to the sink in the bathroom, and turned to look at his fucked-out top. “You want me to–?”

Cloud smiled, said, “I may be only human, but…” and Zack saw that he had the small black remote in his hand again. The background hum that had been there the entire time he gave Cloud head roared back to an insistent, unignorable pulse against his prostate, and Zack barely bit back a whine. “You made the questionable decision to tell me that the fabled SOLDIER stamina is legit, and I’m very keen to see it for myself.”

Zack swallowed, turned about to hurry to the sink, and only jumped a tiny bit when the intensity ramped up another level. He was very proud to make it back to the bed without spilling the water, and handed a cup to Cloud.

“Thank you.” Cloud pulled himself up to the bed, leaned back languidly against the headboard; his silicone cock bounced happily, absurdly as he moved, and Zack found he adored it. “Drink, and then come here,” he said, patting at the space beside him.

Zack downed his water and climbed into the bed. He stretched out on his side, his head propped up on an arm, and reached out to run his fingers along Cloud’s leg. The pulse was still there, still insistent, but bearable. Cloud drank slowly, caught Zack’s hand in his own and twined their fingers together.

He looked at him gently for a moment. “You know you can safeword any time, right, Zack?”

He nodded.

“Good.” Cloud set his cup on the nightstand, moved to lie on his own side facing Zack, stroked his cheek. “You’ve been so good for me, pup. I want to see just how much you can give me.” Cloud scooted close enough for his cock to press against Zack’s, and the larger man breathed a shuddering sigh; his eyes closed, his lips parted.

Cloud took one of Zack’s hands, wrapped his fingers around both of their cocks, and guided his pace in stroking them together. Zack groaned at the sensation. “You can take your time, pup, but I want you to come for me again.”

Cloud clicked the remote to turn the vibrator back down to a low hum, and they settled against each other with an indulgent, lazy ease, a welcome break from the frantic urgency prior. Their lips slid and pressed against each other, small sighs and quiet moans and the sound of hands against slick flesh filling the space between them.

“I love how you cum.”

“What about it?”

“I love how intense it looks.”

“Mmhmm.” A gasp, a soft choked moan.

“I love when you make a mess of me.”

A barely audible squelch, a shaking sigh.

“I love how you fucking scream. Like I’m taking you apart.”

A dark laugh. The sound of stroking growing faster. “You don’t have to rush.”

“I want you in me.”

A pleased hum. “I know, baby.” The sounds slowed again. “We have time.”

“Want you now.”

“You have me.”

Kisses, interspersed with gasps, breathy laughs, short cries.

Zack’s head tipped back and he sighed, “I’m close, Sir, fuck, can I, please?”

“Yes, love, you’ve been so good, come for me.”

A cry, cut short with another kiss, and Cloud swallowed the sounds down as Zack’s cum dripped down their hands. Cloud was the one to break the kiss, to lift their joined hands to his face and lick them clean. Then he tangled his hand in Zack’s hair and pulled him in for another open mouthed kiss, shared the taste of him with slow strokes of his tongue, with soft sounds spoken directly into him.

“Please fuck me.”

“Ride me.”

“Gods, are you trying to be a pillow prince?”

A smile. “I want to watch you come again.”

“Fucking hells, Cloud.”

“Can you?”

“Yeah, I think so, but it’ll take a bit.”

“We’ve got time.”

So Cloud rolled onto his back, rolled a condom over his cock, squeezed a generous amount of fresh lube into his hand and worked it over himself. Zack removed the plug, turned it off, set it aside. He leaned over to kiss Cloud deeply, swung a leg over him to straddle him.

He rose to his knees and reached back to line up Cloud’s cock with his hole, relished the way Cloud’s fingers caressed his hips, his sides, drank in the way he watched him move with rapt attention, his lips parted. He felt the head breach him and his exhale shook.

“You’re doing so good, Zack. Just like that. Take all the time you need.”

Zack huffed a short laugh, eased himself down another inch, another, groaned at the sensation of stretching himself open on a cock after so long. Cloud kept his hips still beneath him, made soothing sounds, praised him, ran soft touches along his belly, his legs, his cock.

“Fuck, Sir.”

“I’m here, baby. I’ve got you. You’re so fucking beautiful.”

Zack laughed, purred, “Sweet talker,” his voice only a little teasing. He leaned back to rest his hands on the tops of Cloud’s thighs, slid down until he was fully seated on his cock, then rolled his hips and voiced a long, deep moan. “Shit, baby.”

Cloud pressed one hand against Zack’s belly as he rolled his hips, as he lifted and dropped himself down, like he was hoping he might feel some difference, some evidence of his intrusion under that solid muscle. His other hand stroked Zack’s soft, still sensitive cock, cupped and tugged at his balls.

“That’s it, pet,” he murmured, watching as if he was trying to memorize every sight and sound and feeling of the man riding him. “You’ve earned this, enjoy it, take your time.”

Zack lifted himself up the length, dropped himself back down onto Cloud’s hips with force; he cried out, tipped himself to the perfect angle to grind the head of his lover’s cock against his prostate. As he found his rhythm, as Cloud kept playing with him gently, lovingly, his cock began to fill again, and every squeeze and stroke from the blond’s fine hand shot light and heat up the length of his spine, until his head emptied of everything but pleasure and overwhelm.

“Fuck, Sir, I’m getting overstimulated, I don’t know if I can cum again.”

“Color, Zack?”

He whined, still pitched back, still rolling his hips. “Please, please, please don’t stop.”

“Then take your fill, love.” He kept stroking Zack’s cock, now dark and full, twisted his fingers lightly over the head, collected his pre with his fingertips and slid them into his mouth. “Fuck me ‘til you can’t. Spend yourself on me.” His other hand was on Zack’s hip, urging him gently on each downstroke without changing his pace.

The muscles in Zack’s stomach, his legs, began to quiver, and his breath stuttered out in gasps. His entire body held a deep flush. He breathed, almost inaudible, “Please don’t stop, Cloud, please. Love how you touch me. Love how you feel in me.” He was high on the sensation, sure that his nerve endings had been pushed well past their capacity, sure that he wouldn’t be able to spill over the edge again; that he had hit a plateau and would ride it out until he was exhausted.

But on the next downstroke he felt Cloud’s cock hit him just differently enough that it pushed a gasp out of him. The way Cloud rolled his fingers on his head managed to wake the last few neurons that hadn’t entirely spilled their potentials, and his eyes and mouth fell open, a high, needy sound pouring out of him.

He bucked his hips harder, striking his prostate and fucking into Cloud’s fist, and just barely managed to croak out, “Gods, close.”

Cloud’s grip on Zack’s hip tightened, and he rolled his own hips to match Zack’s movements, to offer more and deeper.

He crooned at him, “Yes, baby, yes, you wanna come on me? You wanna make one more mess on me?”

Zack cried out and clenched down around Cloud’s cock, dug his short nails hard enough into the man’s thighs to tear and bruise, and spilled one last orgasm into Cloud’s hand, onto his stomach.

His arms shook, his abs quivered, his legs twitched, and his chest heaved with his ragged breaths. Cloud reached up toward his face, and Zack took his hand, eagerly licked his cum from his Sir’s fingers, leaned forward to kiss him deep and slow. His body ached from overuse, and he couldn’t bring himself to form words, only soft, wanting, loving sounds. He eased himself off of Cloud’s cock, slowly, and then let his body collapse onto the bed beside him.

Cloud kissed his eyelids, his forehead. “I’ll be right back, pup.” Zack tried to nod, didn’t know if he managed under the weight of his exhaustion. He just knew that at some point, that familiar warmth returned, surrounded him, washed over him like a powerful Cure, and he slept more soundly than he had in years.

Chapter Text

Zack wasn’t sure what to imagine when Cloud offered to take him shopping for gear.

On one end of the spectrum he pictured something like a military stock room: a bored attendant between him and walls of cubbies filled with standard-issue gear. He would say, “Yes, I’d like to be one pup, please,” and the attendant would huff a sigh, hand him a requisition form to fill out, and then fetch everything still in thin plastic packaging and hand it over.

On the other end, he imagined something like the boutique sex shops above the plate: soft lighting, thoughtfully-curated display stands where the toys could be mistaken for modern art, and friendly queers staffing the place.

This shop existed somewhere beyond that spectrum he’d constructed in his nervousness.

Taboo was one of the few shops in Wall Market that didn’t have a hawker outside to yell at passersby, the entrance tucked away in an otherwise empty alley. A small sign reading ring bell for entry was the only indication that there was a store there at all.

Zack chuckled nervously. “This isn’t a long con to harvest my sweet SOLDIER organs, is it? I feel I should state for the record, my guts have been pumped so full of mako that they’ll be worthless on the black market.”

Cloud smirked at him. “Way to dash my dreams of early retirement.” He pressed the doorbell and they were greeted after a moment with the loud buzz of the gate unlocking.

The entrance opened into a small vestibule set up with a counter and a work table.

Behind the counter, a petite femme put down the piece of leather she’d been working on. The ends of her dark, tightly coiled hair were dyed bright purple, and she wore a leather chest harness with accents that matched. She beamed at Cloud.

“Stormcloud! Where the fuck you been?”

“Hey, Vi.” Cloud’s face was warm and open. He leaned over the counter, propping his chin in his hands. “Been busy with work, you know how it goes. And your gear is good enough that I basically never need to replace it, so.”

She laughed. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” Her gaze flicked over to Zack, and she took him in from head to toe maybe a little longer than was strictly polite. “And who’s the beefcake?”

Zack smirked, scratched the back of his neck. “Heya. Zack.”

“Vi does all the leather crafting in house.” Cloud reached a back toward him and made a grabby motion, and Zack stepped up to wrap his arms around the blond’s waist. “This is the puppy,” he offered.

Zack flushed, tucked his chin into Cloud’s spikes as if he was hiding in the tall grass. Vi’s smile grew, tinted with mischief.

“So you’re here to check out the pup gear, yeah?”

Zack nodded. “Yeah. I have…no experience.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

Vi was unfazed. “No problem, babe. Come on.” She came around the counter and motioned for him to follow her into the main room of the shop.

The sheer amount of stock was impressive. Leather goods lined the walls: garments and boots, collars and harnesses, cuffs and a variety of impact toys. One wall held a display of dildoes that ranged in size from standard human to things Zack didn’t want to think about for too long. (Was that one supposed to be a behemoth cock?)

Vi led them to a section off to one side that showcased pup gear. She nodded toward a display of hoods and masks in a variety of colors and styles.

“This is a good place to start. Any particular feelings about aesthetics, how you want to look as a pup?”

Zack shook his head, looked over to Cloud uncertainly.

Cloud’s eyebrows lifted, but he smiled. “You want me to choose for you, puppy?”

The nickname made him blush for the first time in a long while—the context of the shop, its use in front of a stranger. He nodded.

“All black. Neoprene base, leather accents,” Cloud rattled off without missing a beat. He cocked his head to the side, considering Zack while he thought. “Do you have folded ears? Not like the fully droopy ones but…” Cloud lifted his hand to one side of his head and bent his fingers. At this rate, Zack wasn't sure he'd ever stop blushing.

Vi smirked, opened the cabinet under the display to rummage around. She held up a hood and considered it, then Zack.

She grinned, said, “Yeah, okay, I see it,” as she offered it to him.

Zack took the hood and turned it in his hands. The base was almost like a ski mask, with holes for the eyes and over the mouth, but made out of thick neoprene. The folded ears and long snout were made of sturdy, soft leather, attached with large snaps. It was beautifully made.

He swallowed, nodded. “It’s lovely.”

“You wanna try it on?” Cloud asked.

“I think I'd like to wait to try it with other pieces, if that's cool.”

Vi beamed. “Absolutely. What else are you interested in?”

They pored over chest harnesses, gloves, kneepads, and picked out pieces to assemble a full outfit. Zack wandered over to another section nearby, fingered a few leather collars with interest. He remembered watching Cloud walk Andrea across the stage at the club, the dainty chain leash he’d had attached to his collar. “What about one of these?” he asked, turning to look at his partner.

He was surprised to see color rush to Cloud’s face and his eyes go wide. Vi tried to cover a laugh by clearing her throat and excused herself to go check on something.

Zack wasn’t sure what that was about. “I’m missing something,” he said quietly.

Cloud pressed his lips into a line, his face still endearingly red. “Sometimes a collar is more than just an accessory.”

Zack’s interest was piqued. He took one off of the wall: a simple black leather collar with a silver D-ring in the front, and held it up to his neck. “You think it’d suit me, Cloudy?”

Cloud’s flush didn’t fade. He kept his expression neutral and stepped forward, crowding into Zack’s space. When he spoke, his voice was oddly rough and demanding.

“Put it on, puppy.”

Zack felt heat shoot through his core. Cloud standing so close reminded him for just a moment of their height difference, but the look on his face easily added several inches. The smell of the new leather and the way Cloud watched him made his head swim, just a bit. He fastened the buckle around his neck as he’d been told.

“Do you like it, Sir?”

Cloud made a soft sound, hooked a finger into the ring at the front of the collar, and used it to pull Zack down into a kiss. He nipped at Zack’s lips roughly, and Zack responded with a quiet groan.

When Cloud pulled away, his gaze flicked from Zack’s lips up to his eyes, down to the collar, his finger still hooked through the ring.

“Yeah, pup. I like it lots.”

Zack wrapped his arms around Cloud’s waist, pulled him into loose embrace. “What does it mean to you, Cloudy?” he breathed softly into his ear.

“Means ‘mine,’” he murmured, his cheeks still pink.

Zack hummed. “I like the sound of that. Is there more?”

Cloud reached one hand up, his nails tracing where the leather touched Zack’s skin. “I haven’t wanted to collar someone before. Not like this.” He backed up just enough to meet Zack’s eyes. “I’m not sure I want it to just be a part of an outfit, with you. I’d want it to mean more, to be about our relationship. But I don’t want to pressure you.”

Zack grinned. “You wanna help me pick one?”

Cloud’s eyes went a little wide. “Pup—Zack—you sure?”

He brushed his lips against Cloud’s, unbuckled the collar from around his neck. “I’m yours, Sunshine. And not just when you’re fuckin’ my brains out,” he laughed. The color in Cloud’s cheeks delighted him. “Now, you got aesthetic preferences?”

Cloud turned to the wall, tilted his head. “I like simple.” He reached out toward Zack, took the one he’d tried on. “This one’s nice. Soft.”

Zack’s attention was caught by another collar on display: a sleek silver ring, almost seamless. “Oh, this one is rad. Simple, like you said.”

Cloud’s flush came back full force. “Oh. That’s uh. That one locks.”

Zack lifted his eyebrows in a question.

“S’meant for everyday wear,” Cloud said, avoiding eye contact. He reached for it instead, opened it to show Zack the hinge. He pointed to the overlapping holes where the two ends came together in a joint. “There’s a screw that holds it in place. It’s uh…not really meant to be taken off.”

Zack’s eyes widened. “That sounds…serious.”

Cloud nodded, still not quite meeting his eyes. “Uh huh.”

It was Zack’s turn to feel his face grow warm.

“So I don’t want to scare you off,” Zack said, scratching the back of his head, “but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued.” Cloud’s eyebrows shot up, and Zack laughed warmly. “You know, one of the perks of making First is a certain leniency with the uniform.”

“You…you’re fucking kidding, Zack.”

He shrugged. “Sephiroth and Gen get away with wearing full leathers. Or are you worried that I couldn’t pull off something this pretty?”

Cloud looked at the titanium ring in his hands thoughtfully, smoothed his thumb over it. Zack took one of his small hands in his own and stroked over his knuckles.

“Hey, I’m not trying to rush if it’s too much. I like the idea of wearing your collar. I’m happy for it to be a just-playtime thing, if that’s more comfortable.”

Cloud nodded. “Let’s start there. It’s not a no, it’s a let’s see. Does that feel good for you?”

He grinned broadly. “Fuck yeah, Sunshine.”

Zack tapped his keycard and let them into his apartment. He set his shopping bags down beside the entry. “Come on in. Can I get you anything?”

It was new, and a bit surreal, seeing Cloud in his space.

The blond toed off his shoes near the door, put down his small backpack, and then looked around with his hands tucked in his pockets. He wore a faded grey denim jacket over a loose tanktop, a pair of slim, ripped black pants slung low on his hips. Fuck, but he was cute.

And he was Zack’s boyfriend now.

“Water’s good,” he offered. He gave Zack an almost-shy smile. “Your place is nice.”

“Thanks.” He headed to the kitchen, filled a glass at the sink. “I know it’s not the Inn.”

He chuckled. “The Inn’s a fantasy, Zack.”

Zack returned with the water and perched on the couch. “It’s a very sexy fantasy, with lots of tasty memories, thank you very much.”

Cloud hummed, settled beside Zack and crossed his legs at the knees. “I know, pup. But I wanted you to have a nice, familiar place for this. Want you to be as comfortable as possible. How are you feeling?”

He chuckled. “Weirdly shy?”

Cloud nodded, took his hand and laced their fingers. “What do you want to feel?”

Zack closed his eyes. “I’ve been reading some, about the pup stuff.” He felt his face get warmer. “I like the idea of getting to be a little less of a person.”

“Like not having to think as much?”

Zack nodded. “Do you have activities in mind?”

“I do.” He smiled. “I want to take care of you, be sweet on you for a while. Just a night at home with my pup, kinda vibes. I don’t really like to mix pet play and fucking, but I’ll happily tease you. I’m also not really interested in punishment or being rough with you while you’re in pup space. Would rather you be in person-headspace for any play like that. Sound good?”

Zack nodded.

Cloud tipped his head back, smirked. “That said, I don’t have any problem with masturbating with my puppy around. How do you feel about being ignored, not being invited to engage with me while I jerk off?”

“Rude,’ he said, his voice only a little breathy, “I’m into it.”

Cloud laughed. “You got the food I asked for?”

A nod. “In the kitchen.”

“Good boy. You wanna be nonverbal? Just pup sounds?”

“Yeah, I’d like to try that.”

Cloud nodded. “Anything you want me to avoid? You said you weren’t into the idea of eating or drinking from bowls on the floor, yeah?”

Zack looked away briefly. “Honestly, I’d try it with you.”

He laughed warmly. “Hmm, let’s not push it this time. We’ll keep it simple, yeah?” He thought for a moment. “So protocol: no speaking, unless you want to safeword. You don’t use the furniture without explicit invitation. You’ll be on your hands and knees as long as you’re hooded. How does that sound?”

“Exciting. I’m kinda nervous.”

Cloud stroked his cheek with one hand. “I know, it’s okay. You wanna get yourself settled and dressed? Bring me your collar and any gear you want help with when you’re ready to play, okay?”

Zack nodded, then grabbed his bags and went into the bathroom to get ready.

He stripped and tied his hair back, then decided to take a quick shower to wash off the day, to feel fresh for Cloud. He skipped washing his hair to avoid having it wet under the hood. As he toweled off, he started pulling out the pieces they’d picked out together.

First, he stepped into the leather jockstrap. It had been Cloud’s idea, so that he could wear a tail plug without needing to be fully nude. Then he slid the chest harness over his arms, reached behind him to fasten it.

He took a moment to appreciate himself in the mirror, running a hand along the waistband of the strap.

Yeah, okay, he looked good. He could get used to this.

The curve of the harness accentuated his neck, the tanned lines of his chest. The dark, soft fuzz of his happy trail carved an enticing path down to more leather. Every curve and plane of muscle was on display, every scar that mako hadn’t healed. The little bit of modesty afforded by the jock only served to underline just how much of him was exposed.

He slid the kneepads on. Briefly considered the tail, and then decided he might like to get help for that piece. He slipped on one of the gloves, padded under the knuckles and structured to keep his wrist straight, then realized he’d struggle to do the other one on his own. Zack gave himself another quick once-over in the mirror, then took the bag with the other pieces and went back out to Cloud.

He took a moment to watch Cloud from the bathroom door. He’d gotten cozy while he waited. The blond had a leg pulled up, his arm wrapped around it and his chin perched on his knee. He idly swiped through his phone with his other hand. Zack’s heart swelled at how relaxed he looked, how at ease the man was in his home.

When he turned those pale blue eyes up to Zack, a surprised look flashed briefly over his features, followed by an immensely pleased smirk. “Well, fuck, puppy. You look fuckin’ amazing.”

Zack grinned, moved to kneel in front of the couch. “M’ready for your help, Sir.” He reached into the bag and took out the box with the collar, presented it to him.

Cloud took out the shined, titanium ring. “Lean forward, sweet boy.” Zack did, and Cloud closed the collar around Zack’s neck, used a small allen key to fasten the screw that locked it into place. Then he leaned back, let his fingers linger along the edge of the collar, the leather harness, his eyes roaming Zack’s face.

“Do you like it, Sir?”

Cloud closed his eyes. His exhale shook, just a little, and he huffed a short laugh. “Fuck yes, Zack. I could get real used to this.”

Zack beamed, his face warm. The metal collar was light, but its weight around his neck felt grounding. He headbutted Cloud’s leg gently. “Okay, more,” he chirped.

Cloud laughed, went back to the bag. His eyebrows raised a bit, and he took out the lube and the plug. “You want me to help you with the tail, pup?”

Zack swayed, still grinning. “M’not in full pup mode yet, right? Thought you might like to.”

A smirk. “Turn around, pup. Face on the floor.”

Zack made a soft, eager sound, then did as he was told.

“Hold yourself open for me,” Cloud ordered, his voice a register lower.

Zack reached back and spread himself, sighed at the feel of cool air on his exposed flesh. Then he felt the hot swipe of Cloud’s tongue and let out a shameless moan. Cloud chuckled, then Zack heard the click of a bottle opening and felt cool, slick fingers against his hole.

“You’re such a good boy for me, Zack,” Cloud cooed. Zack bit back a whimper. “Think you can take it without prep?”

Zack whined, nodded.

Cloud’s fingers left him and were replaced by the pressure of the plug against his skin. Zack rocked his hips back against it, and rather than teasing it just out of reach, Cloud held the plug steady for him.

“That’s it,” he praised. Zack groaned, sighed as the plug slipped in past his rim and settled inside of him. Cloud caressed a hand along the curve of his ass. “You like it, pup? Wag it for me.”

Zack felt his face flush. He swayed his hips in the air. The tail was made of thick rubber, weighted toward the end, and it swayed from side to side following his movement. The wag of the tail moved the plug inside him, and his cock twitched at the sensation.

Cloud’s voice was honeyed with satisfaction. “Good boy. You can sit up on your knees again. Face me.”

Zack did, the feel of the plug inside him making his breath catch as he moved. He laid his head on Cloud’s lap. The blond ran fingers through his dark hair.

“How are you doing, Zack?”

“Good,” he said, his voice breathy. “Think I’m gonna be real spacy.”

Cloud hummed. “Good. Your hand.” Zack held out his ungloved hand, and Cloud fastened the other mitt for him. Then his hands went back to Zack’s hair. “Gonna put the hood on for you next, pup. You ready for that?”

Zack sighed, content, and nodded. He lifted his head to meet Cloud’s eyes.

“I love you, Sir.”

Cloud stroked his cheek. “Love you too, pup. If you need to stop, say your safeword or tug on this, understand?” He had slipped off his jacket, and now pointed to a ribbon he had tied into a bow around his upper arm.

Zack nodded. Cloud pressed a soft kiss to his lips and then pulled the hood gently over Zack’s head.

He imagined that it would look to be a small change to an onlooker, but something about it hit Zack harder than he would have anticipated. The hood covered his ears, muffling sound just a bit. He could see clearly, but the edges of the mask framed his vision just enough to make him aware of the difference.

He looked up at Cloud, trying to let his eyes show as much of his adoration as he could. He tested a short vocalization, a low rrr.

Cloud’s eyes sparkled. “Oh yeah, pup? Something you want?”

Zack stamped his hand—his paw?—and nudged at Cloud’s knee with his snout. Cloud laughed, stroked a hand over Zack’s neck and shoulder.

“You want attention?” Cloud smoothed his hands over Zack’s muzzle, down his back. Zack leaned into the touch and wiggled his hips, pleased. The tail sent a pulse of heat through him again and he whimpered quietly.

“Poor, sweet thing,” his Sir cooed. “I’m gonna make myself food. You want to come with me?” He moved toward the kitchen, made a soft clicking sound with his tongue and patted his thigh to beckon him.

Zack rose to hands and knees, testing how it felt to press his weight into his knuckles with the padded gloves. He crawled after Cloud, his tail swaying with the movements.

“Sit, pup. On your heels, paws between your thighs. Don’t round your back.”

Cloud pointed to a spot on the floor nearby, and Zack did as he was told. He watched as Cloud puttered around his kitchen, found the tools he needed, the food he’d asked Zack to procure for him.

It was devastatingly domestic. Zack whined.

“Don’t beg, pup.” Cloud’s tone was admonishing, but he couldn’t hold back a smile. “I’ll share if you behave.”

So Zack watched him, only occasionally pawing at the floor lightly. He thought he’d be more restless or antsy, but he found it surprisingly soothing, grounding, to have his role so clearly defined, to have such firm constraints.

He trusted that Cloud would take care of him, so he got to…let go.

Cloud set to work chopping vegetables. After a while, he held out a piece of cucumber, made a beckoning noise. Zack crawled closer to him.

“Go ahead, pup.”

He took the offered food and headbutted Cloud’s leg gently. Cloud laughed and went back to work. They continued like that while he cooked; he bustled around Zack’s kitchen, occasionally slipping small bites to him in an outstretched palm. Zack licked Cloud’s palm, his fingers to get everything, and Cloud laughed and washed his hands before resuming.

“Such a good boy. You’re being so well behaved.”

Zack’s chest warmed at the praise. He wiggled his hips to wag his tail, made a pleased rooo.

“Wanna practice some tricks for me, puppy?” Cloud crouched down on the floor next to him, bringing a small bowl of fruit down with him. Zack nodded.

He lifted one hand closed in a fist. “Sit. Paws on the floor between your thighs, back straight, like before.”

Zack arranged himself as instructed, but curved his back into an exaggerated arch, wiggled his tail again.

Cloud smirked. “My sweet overachiever.” He stroked a hand over Zack’s arched back, letting his nails graze lightly over his bare skin. Zack shivered, let out a pleased whine. Cloud’s hand cupped his ass and gave a gentle squeeze, then he held out a piece of fruit in his hand. Zack leaned over and took it, licked the juice from his palm.

“Good boy. When I tell you to wag, I want your head down, and your ass in the air, understand?” Zack nodded. Cloud tapped the floor with one fingertip. “Wag for me, puppy.”

Zack lowered his chin to rest on his front paws, making the curve in his back more dramatic. He wiggled his hips, a long whine escaping him as the plug rocked side to side.

Cloud hummed, smirked in that way that showed his teeth. “Feel good, pup? Give me a bark if yes.”

Zack felt his face flush under the hood. The small whimpers and whines felt easy, but he still felt shy about anything more explicitly animal.

But he wanted to please his Sir, and he wasn’t willing to let his shyness get in the way of that.

So Zack barked. It was quiet, a soft yip. His face grew even warmer and his cock twitched a bit.

He wasn’t expecting that.

Cloud pet his neck, scratched him gently with his nails. “Good boy. I’m glad it feels good.” He offered another piece of fruit, and Zack ate it happily, took his time licking the sticky, sweet juice off of Cloud’s fingers with long strokes of his tongue. His Sir gave a content sigh.

“Mmm, what else. Roll over for me, puppy.”

Zack laid down and rolled onto his back, his front paws gesturing idly in the air above him. He tipped his head to be able to look at Cloud, and the blond leaned forward, ran his hands firmly along Zack’s chest and stomach. Zack’s eyes fluttered shut, and he made soft sounds as he arched into the touch.

Cloud’s dug his nails into Zack’s legs, into the hollows of his hips. Zack whined, tried to angle his growing erection toward his Sir’s touch. Cloud tsked at him.

“None of that, puppy,” he admonished gently.

Zack whined but stilled his hips, watching Cloud’s face.

Cloud stroked a hand over Zack’s firm stomach. “It’s okay, puppy, you aren’t in trouble. You’ve done so well for me.” He touched the side of Zack’s face through the hood. “You want to eat with me?”

Zack nodded, gave a soft whimper.

“Okay, sweets. Come sit with me.” He stood, gathered the food he’d prepared for himself, and went back to the couch. Zack crawled after him and settled on his knees beside the couch, happily accepted the bites that Cloud offered from his palm.

When Cloud was done eating, he got up to clean the kitchen. Zack followed him like a shadow, sitting close by as he worked. Cloud chuckled, patted his head.

“You’re quite the little duckling, aren’t you, puppy?”

Zack voiced a happy bark and headbutted up into Cloud’s hand, earning a scritch.

“I’m gonna read for a bit. Come curl up with me?”

Cloud stretched out on his sofa, settled in to read on his phone. Zack crawled after him, but stopped beside the couch. He rested his head on the edge of the cushion and watched Cloud, whined softly.

Cloud chuckled and patted the side of the couch. “You can come up, pup. Come snuggle me.”

Zack lifted himself onto the couch and slid between Cloud’s outstretched legs, let his head rest on his Sir’s belly. Cloud’s hand moved over the back of his head, his neck; traced over the smooth curve of his collar; stroked his shoulders and back in soft, idle pets.

Zack felt peaceful, content. He wrapped his arms around Cloud and dozed.

He woke to a soft gasp and movement under him.

Zack blinked, oriented himself slowly. At some point, Cloud had covered him with a blanket. The pup hood, the gloves on his hands brought him back slowly to himself, to the scene they’d been engaged in when he fell asleep.

Cloud let out a soft moan under him, and Zack’s head buzzed with static.

He raised his gaze slowly. Cloud had his phone turned to the side, and Zack could just barely hear the sounds of moans and skin slapping from his earbuds. He had unbuttoned his pants, and his hand was between the two of them, moving languidly.

Zack whined at Cloud as he recognized the wet sounds of him fingering himself.

Cloud tugged at the cord of his headphones to pull out one earbud and smiled, the hand between his legs still working. “I didn’t mean to wake you, pup,” he lied, his voice breathy, a beatific smile on his face. His cheeks and chest were flushed pink.

Zack whined, began to rock his cock against Cloud’s leg.

“Mm-mm, puppy,” he admonished. Zack could smell Cloud’s arousal. Cloud tipped his head back, his breath shaking. “Be good, or you won’t get to be on the furniture with me.”

Zack stilled his hips. He made a plaintive sound, nosed at Cloud’s arm, and the blond chuckled.

“You wanna help? Go get my bag for me.” He nodded toward the door.

Zack didn’t want to leave. He was enjoying watching Cloud’s pleasure dance over his face, enjoying the way that Cloud so easily denied him.

But he still, more than anything, wanted to please him.

So he crawled over to the door and lifted the small backpack with his mouth, carried it over and set it on the couch beside Cloud. He stayed on the floor, sitting in the way Cloud had trained him to.

“Good boy. You’re so, so good for me.” He panted under his hand. When his eyes rolled back to Zack they were dark, heavy-lidded with his pleasure.

“You want a treat, puppy?”

Zack squirmed, nodded.

Cloud set down his phone and opened his bag, pulled out a small wand vibrator. He slipped his other hand out from his pants and held it out toward Zack.

“Go ahead. Lick.”

Zack didn’t even attempt to stifle the whine that came out of him. He flicked his tongue over one of Cloud’s fingertips, wanting to take his time to savor his reward. The first taste of him, salty and sweet, made Zack moan long and low.

“Good boy,” Cloud purred. He turned on the vibrator and pressed it to his cunt, and Zack felt his Sir’s muscles tense under the sensation.

Zack continued to clean Cloud’s hand patiently. He dragged his tongue up the length of one of those fine fingers, tongued at the webbing at the base. Cloud breathed a quiet moan, and Zack’s cock throbbed at the sound.

He pulled two of Cloud’s fingers into his mouth, watching his Sir’s face for any indication that he was overstepping. But the blond just rolled his hips up against the vibrator. His phone laid forgotten on his chest, though Zack could still hear the audio of the porn he’d been watching.

He sucked hard at Cloud’s fingers and the man tossed his head back, let out a delicious cry. Zack twitched his hips against nothing, his erection growing painful.

When he had licked and sucked the last of Cloud’s slick from his fingers, Zack whined softly, rubbed the side of his face into his open hand.

“Fuck.” Cloud’s voice shook. He increased the intensity on his vibrator, and Zack drank in the way his back arched in response

Zack dipped his head, stroked his tongue firmly along the inside of Cloud’s wrist. The smaller man turned to face him, smiled encouragingly. Zack flicked his tongue lightly over the sensitive flesh inside Cloud’s elbow, then nosed at Cloud’s neck and whined a question.

“Good boy, proud of you for asking,” he panted. “Go ahead.”

Zack dragged his tongue along the side of Cloud’s neck, moaning into his flesh. This close, he could hear loud cries of pleasure over the headphones. He thrust his hips again, finding no relief, and then grazed his teeth over Cloud’s shoulder with a frustrated whine.

“Shit, puppy.”

Egged on by Cloud’s responses, by the way the rhythm of the other man’s hips stuttered, Zack redoubled his attentions. He trailed his tongue over the faint ghost of old bruises, up his neck, over the sensitive space behind his ear. When Cloud’s soft moans grew more frequent, Zack sank his teeth into the crook of his neck and shoulder, shook his head gently to worry at the flesh.

Cloud arched, his body bowed and taut, and his lips fell open. He dug the sharp nails of his free hand into Zack’s back, raked them hard against his skin. Zack sucked on his neck, leaving a new mark where the old ones were starting to fade, and his Sir came shouting under him.

As the tension melted out of Cloud’s body and his breathing began to slow, Zack let go of his hold on the bruised flesh, stroked over it lovingly with his tongue once, twice, and made a small sound.

Cloud sighed, looked at him with a blissed out expression, pet the side of his face. Zack nosed at his jaw gently, then bit the end of the ribbon tied around his arm and tugged at it just a little.

“Good boy. Thank you for telling me.” He sat himself up, not bothering with his disheveled clothing.

“I’m gonna take your hood off, okay?”

Zack nodded. Cloud gently helped roll the neoprene off, careful of his hair.

“Can I touch you, sweet boy?”

He made a low noise in the back of his throat, not ready to use his words, nodded.

Cloud slid to the floor next to Zack. He reached out to comb his fingers through Zack’s dark hair, laid gentle kisses on his cheeks and jaw, made soft, soothing sounds.

“You’re so good for me, puppy. Love you so much. Love how much you give me.”

Zack exhaled a shaky sigh. He pressed his face into Cloud’s neck and nuzzled against him.

“Yours,” he managed, and he was surprised at the way his voice rasped.

“Gonna take off your mitts, okay?” Zack nodded, mouthed gently at the skin of Cloud’s neck and shoulder as he unbuckled the gloves. Zack flexed and wiggled his fingers, waking them back up. Cloud kissed the backs of his hands, his knuckles.

“You okay, Zack? You need anything? Or were you just ready to be done?”

“Last one,” Zack murmured in response. Talking felt almost unnatural after spending so much time not needing to. “Wanted to be a person for you again.”

Cloud kissed him gently, their lips sliding against each other in a way that felt like home.

“I’m gonna get you some water. You want any food or anything?” Zack shook his head, and Cloud got up to tend to him. His pants started to slip down his hips and he almost tripped in them; he cursed, kicked them the rest of the way off, and then continued in his shirt and boxer briefs. Zack smiled.

He reached up to finger at the thin collar at his neck, warmed from his body heat. It was light enough that he was almost able to forget it was there.

Cloud returned and perched on the couch, his legs spread on either side of Zack. He handed him a full glass of water and then reached out to graze the edge of the collar.

“You ready for this to come off, too?” he asked.

Zack shook his head. “I’d really like to keep it on, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, sweets.” Cloud pet Zack’s face gently, curled his fingers into his dark hair. “What would you like?”

Zack leaned into Cloud’s touch, looked up to meet his eyes. He rolled his hips so that his erection brushed against Cloud’s leg. “Want you,” he said simply.

Cloud patted his lap and Zack set down the water, moved to straddle him on the couch. He kissed Cloud’s temple, his cheek, and then pulled his mouth into a heated kiss. His Sir smoothed those small hands over his firm stomach, over the muscles of his chest. Cloud’s fingertips found his nipples and tugged at them gently and Zack moaned into his open mouth.

Cloud moved his hands down to grab Zack’s ass, then used one hand to tug gently at the tail. Zack whimpered, his hole clenching at the movement.

“You’re so fucking sexy in leather, you know that, pet?” He moved to mouth at Zack’s nipple, grazed it with his teeth while he continued to fuck him lightly with the plug. “You look fucking divine. Love how completely you obey me. Love how much control you give me, fuck.”

Zack bucked his hips, his head tipped back. His hard cock was pressed tight between the two of them, and the way that Cloud moved the plug wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy him.

“Please, want you to fuck me, Sir,” he breathed.

“How do you want it, Zack?”

He moaned, dug his fingertips into Cloud’s shoulder. “Want you to ride me. Want you to use me to get off. Gods, fuck, I want to feel you cum around me.”

Cloud gently slapped his thigh. “Go get that plug out and get on the bed, pup.”

Zack wanted to fucking sprint to his bedroom, but he was still not quite all there, still coming back to being a person who used his words and knew how to walk on two legs. His muscles shook slightly when he stood.

He went to the bathroom, shed his knee pads and the tail, the jock strap and the chest harness. He took in his reflection, wearing only the thin metal collar, and his chest warmed at how right that looked.

When he went into his room, his heart warmed at the sight of Cloud lounging in his sheets, his vibrator within reach. Zack got onto the bed and crawled over to him.

“Fuck, Zack, you’re gorgeous.”

Zack pressed Cloud down into the bed with a large hand on his chest, crushed his mouth in a kiss. He made small, hungry sounds into Cloud’s mouth, pressed his hard cock against the inside of the other man’s thigh and swallowed the cry he made in response.

“Yeah?” he asked between kisses and bites. “What do you like?”

“Love seeing you in my collar. In nothing but my collar.” Cloud’s breath was coming in short pants again. “You’re fucking perfect. And you’re mine.”

“Yours,” Zack growled in response. “Now please, Sunshine, fuck me.” He gripped Cloud’s waist in his hands and rolled them both over, helped Cloud straddle his hips.

“Condoms?” Cloud asked.

“Nightstand,” he whined.

Cloud leaned over and rummaged in a drawer briefly, and then his mouth was back on Zack’s. Their warm breath mixed between them, their moans and gasps folded and merged together. Cloud grasped the hem of his shirt and tugged it off to bare his torso. He trailed his fingertips over Zack’s stomach, then gave his already dark cock a light stroke.

“Love how bad you want me, Zack,” he purred, rolling the condom onto him

Zack tipped his head back and groaned. He slipped his thumbs under Cloud’s waistband.

“Swear to the gods, Cloudy, you don’t get these off, m’gonna tear ‘em off.”

Cloud smirked, mischief lighting his eyes. “Don’t let me stop you.”

Zack’s eyes went wide, and any reply he might have had died in his throat, transformed into a low growl. He fisted his hands in the soft fabric and jerked, and it gave under him like paper. Cloud’s chuckle turned into a groan as his body was jerked by the force of it.

Zack wrapped his hands around Cloud’s bare hip bones and ground his cock up into the smaller man.

“Please,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “I’m yours. Please use me.”

“Love how you beg for me, puppy.” Cloud rocked his hips, slid his slick cunt against Zack’s pinned cock. “Gimme one of those sweet whimpers, yeah?”

Zack’s face went hot, but fuck, he’d do anything at this point. He offered a stuttered, high-pitched whine. Cloud grinned broadly and lined them up, slammed his hips down onto Zack’s, and the whine choked into a moan. His voice was ragged when he spoke again.

“Fuck yes, baby, thank you, Sir.”

Cloud leaned forward and hummed happily as he fucked himself on Zack. He lifted his hips slow, squeezing along the length of his cock, and then slammed back down in quick thrusts. He flicked his tongue over Zack’s lips until they parted for a low moan. Then Cloud’s tongue was inside of him, and Zack tasted his heat, cried out into him, arched his hips up further when Cloud sealed his lips around Zack’s tongue and sucked.

Zack’s hands moved from Cloud’s hips up to that sinfully narrow waist, and he groaned at the realization of how close his hands were to touching around the smaller man. His body sang with tension, with the desire to hold Cloud still and fuck up into him mercilessly, but he would make himself wait. He wanted to be of service, first. He wanted to be used, first.

“Gods, Zack, fucking love your cock,” Cloud panted as he kept working his hips, and Zack shouted a wordless, joyful sound.

Zack let go of Cloud’s waist just long enough to grope around in the bed for his vibrator, held it up to him.

“Please, fuck, please cum on me.”

Cloud turned it on, held it against himself and ground on Zack’s cock, let out a ragged, broken moan. The second he put the vibrator to himself, his hole tightened around Zack unforgivingly.

“Holy shit, baby, just like that.”

“Fuck, Zack.”

Zack stroked his hands up from Cloud’s waist to his nipples. He rolled them in his fingers, tugged on them gently, and Cloud gasped at the attention.

“I’m here, I’ve got you.”

“Cum with me, puppy. M’close.”

“Want me to fuck you harder, Cloudy?”

Cloud moaned softly, nodded.

Zack moved his hands back to wrap around Cloud’s waist and thrust up into him. He sank into the feeling of Cloud’s muscles going taut and tense under his hands again, the way his cunt gripped him, how wet he was. Every small, broken cry pushed Zack closer to coming undone.

“Shit,” Cloud gasped. He gripped Zack’s wrist with one hand, his nails digging into the flesh. “Yes, yes, yes,”

“Fuck, I love you, Sir.”

Cloud huffed a laugh, managed to pant out, “Cum in me, you fucking softie.”

Zack shifted his angle just slightly to hit that spot inside of Cloud and the smaller man screamed around another orgasm, his head thrown back. Zack drove into him through it, until the pressure in his own body hit its crest. He slammed into him one last time, held them as close as he could, ground his hips into the smaller man as he spilled into the condom, his shouts joining Cloud’s. Cloud’s chest heaved with short sobs and he fell forward onto him.

He pressed soft kisses to Cloud’s temple, his cheeks, the few tears that had worked their way out of Cloud. “Love you,” he whispered. “Love you so fucking much, love being yours.”

Cloud kissed him, long and slow, caressing his tongue with his own. He broke away just long enough to whimper, “Mine,” and then fell back into him. He ran his hands up Zack’s sides, cupped his face, fingered his hair as they kissed, then finally parted and laid his head on Zack’s chest with a content sigh.

He stroked his thumb over the collar. “You want this off before I pass out?”

Zack captured Cloud’s hand in his own and pressed his lips to his knuckles.

“Nah, I’m good, Sunshine. Flop away.”

Cloud pressed slightly shaky hands to Zack’s chest—that sent a warm buzz of pride through Zack’s brain—and whimpered as he lifted himself off of Zack’s cock.

“Fuck, pup.” He laid himself back down, curled on his side with his head resting against Zack’s arm. He already looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Zack chuckled, got rid of his dirty condom with as little jostling as possible. He kissed Cloud’s forehead, reached over to pull a blanket over them.

“Sweet dreams, Sir.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Zack?”

It was one of those lucky days where Zack had leave between missions and Cloud didn’t have duty or a client, and they sat tangled in a heap on Zack’s couch together. Zack played puzzle games on his phone while Cloud read a book.

Cloud closed his book, his finger sandwiched in the middle to hold his place. He knocked his head on Zack’s shoulder. “How would you feel about switching some time? Like,” he paused for a moment, as if gathering courage. “Like, what if I got to be submissive to you?”

Zack’s finger slipped on his screen and his phone blared a loud “GAME. OVER.” Cloud snorted and hid a smirk behind his hand.

“Well, we know I have no poker face. So uh, very yes.” He set his phone down and wrapped an arm around Cloud’s shoulders, squeezed him and kissed the top of his head. “What are you hoping for?”

“There are certain kinds of play that I don’t let myself indulge in with clients.”

It was late in the evening, and Zack puttered around his kitchen putting away clean dishes. He paused when he heard the familiar beep of his apartment’s electronic lock, took a deep breath.

“Hey babe, I’m home.” Cloud’s voice called from the door.

He rounded the corner in what Zack had come to understand as his post-shift clothes—soft sweats, a fitted tank, a zip up hoodie. He stepped up behind Zack, slid warm arms around his waist.

“You’re late,” Zack bit out, short and clipped. He could feel Cloud’s body tense, almost imperceptibly, against him.

“There are things that I don’t let anyone say to me.” A gorgeous flush high on his cheeks. “I would play with them, with you.”

Zack turned in Cloud’s arms and crowded him until his back hit the island, caged him in with his body. He took Cloud’s chin in his hand and tipped it up. He could feel the tension between them like a tangible thing, could feel the way Cloud held his breath.

Had Cloud always been this much smaller than him?

“Where the fuck have you been?” he asked.

They had negotiated—at length.

Cloud smiled, but there was a nervous edge to it. “You know I was dancing tonight, sweets.”

Zack leaned in close enough to feel Cloud’s breath on his skin, his mouth close to Cloud’s ear. “Your shift was supposed to end hours ago.”

Cloud smoothed his hands over Zack’s chest. “Babe, I—”

“Don’t lie to me, Cloudy.”

He asked for this.

Zack slid a hand around Cloud’s neck, applying just the lightest pressure, and trailed his other hand down over that familiar, flat belly that he so adored.

“You didn’t mention any regulars coming through,” Zack breathed into his ear. “So what, babe?” he said, his voice turning mocking on the endearment. “Did you decide to stay late to do some extras?”

Cloud warbled weakly, his fingers going to the hand around his throat, “Zack—”

Cloud could make him stop in an instant, could call things off with just a word.

Zack waited—one taut, stretched out breath, and then another. Cloud trembled just a bit in his hold, his body arched awkwardly back over the island, but didn’t protest.

He just watched, as if he wanted to see what Zack would do next.

So Zack whispered, “That’s my name, sweet boy, but it’s not an answer,” and slid his fingertips under the waistband of Cloud’s sweats.

One of Cloud’s hands flew to catch his wrist. “Zack, no—”

Zack stilled for just a second—then laughed darkly, growled into Cloud’s ear, “We both know that ‘no’ isn’t a safeword, slut.”

And Cloud—his dear, beloved Sir—whimpered at the epithet, his breath coming a little harder. He didn’t say anything, but his grip around Zack’s wrist loosened.

“Good boy.” Zack inhaled deep, took in the familiar scent of Cloud after a shift—sweat and the too-sweet smell of baby wipes, the faint air of liquor that stuck to him after long nights at the Inn. He bullied his hand the rest of the way into Cloud’s pants, down through the thatch of soft hair to his cunt—

—to his very, very wet cunt.

He slid one finger slowly, lazily, down the seam of him, back up and around Cloud’s dick. “Oh you’ve been working hard tonight, haven’t you?”

“Zack, I—”

He moved his other hand from Cloud’s throat up to cover his mouth, and Cloud let out a muffled sound of surprise. “No excuses, baby. Just a yes or no for me, can you do that?”

Cloud nodded, and when Zack moved his hand away from Cloud’s mouth, he breathed, “Yes.”

“Did you get to be mean to somebody? Hurt someone real nice?”

“Yes.”

He curled his fingers inside for just a moment, then spread Cloud’s slick up over his clit, smirked at the way Cloud’s legs started to tremble. “Is that all you had to do to get this wet?”

“Zack—”

He chuckled just a little darkly, sank his nails into soft, slick flesh of Cloud’s pussy and felt a thrill curl up his spine when it made Cloud cry out. “Did you let someone else use my hole?”

Cloud didn’t answer him verbally, that time. He just gripped the edge of the counter behind him and nodded.

Zack spun him around, bent him over the island with a hand between his shoulder blades, and pulled Cloud’s pants down his thighs with rough jerks. He shoved his fingers into him, more forcefully this time, rolled his wrist in sudden, cruel thrusts until Cloud shouted a moan.

“I have to admit I’ve been curious how much you cost,” he grit out, watching what he could of Cloud’s face. Cloud looked back at him over his shoulder, those blue eyes unfocused. He pulled his lip between his teeth to bite back a sound. “How much someone else has to pay you to play with what’s mine.”

His Sir keened at that, so high, so pretty.

Even with their usual dynamic so present between them in the day to day since they started seeing each other outside of of the Inn—even though he knew their agreements, had no interest in jeopardizing how Cloud made his money—something in the controlling words that fell out of him now felt horribly right to Zack. As though in another life, it would have been so easy to be jealously, dangerously possessive of every bit of Cloud.

It was a relief to let it out in a small, controlled dose.
It was a thrill to wonder if he’d be able to put it entirely back into its box.

He withdrew his fingers, landed a hard spank over the muscle of Cloud’s ass that made him shout and squirm under his hand.

“Wonder if I could even afford you, if I had to pay for it.”

A flash of mischief sparked across Cloud’s face. “I’ve had my share of SOLDIERs,” he said softly. “Not even Firsts, and they seem to make it work.”

Zack barked a laugh at that, pushed down the sudden flare of jealousy—the soft voice that wondered who—that rose unbidden. He folded over Cloud, his chest against Cloud’s smaller back, let his hand find its way back to its home around Cloud’s neck.

“How much do you charge to let them fuck you, baby?”

Cloud chewed his lip, hesitation flashing quickly across his face. Zack tightened his hold and waited.

“Five k,” he whispered, his voice ragged.

Zack felt his face go slack.

“Five thousand,” he confirmed, strangely quiet.

Cloud licked his lips. “Fifteen for an overnight.”

A funny, quiet noise came up out of Zack’s throat, and he repeated, breathy, into Cloud’s ear, “Fifteen for an overnight.” He laughed, trailed fingers over Cloud’s cunt. “You know I’m never paying that kind of money for used goods, don’t you, baby?”

Was it a trick of the light or—were those tears in the corners of Cloud’s eyes?

“I waited up for you, you know,” he offered. He gripped one of Cloud’s ass cheeks hard with a hand, used it to spread him open. Cloud hissed when the cool air hit his slick flesh. “Thought maybe we’d spend some time together after your shift.”

The smack of his hand against Cloud’s muscled ass rang loud in the kitchen, and the anguished tone to Cloud’s cry made Zack’s cock twitch.

“I started to worry about you, when I didn’t hear from you.”

Another loud slap, another sweet moan. Cloud’s fingertips dug uselessly at the smooth counter.

“I guess I shouldn’t worry about a whore, should I?”

He admired the way Cloud’s eyelashes clumped together from his tears. “Zack—”

Zack stroked his fingers into the back of Cloud’s hair and made a fist, used it to yank his head back as he delivered another several hard spanks.

“I’ve got an idea,” he growled, just loud enough to be heard over Cloud’s whimpers. “How about you shut your mouth unless I tell you to speak?”

The blond rolled his eyes to get a look at Zack, his neck wrenched awkwardly.

He can safeword, played low in Zack’s mind on repeat, like a mantra, like a prayer.

Cloud sniffed; a tear rolled down over his cheek. “Yes, Daddy.”

Zack went very still, and Cloud’s eyes held something like apprehension when he opened them again, something like vulnerability.

“Daddy, huh?” Zack spread Cloud’s pussy open with one hand, moved his fingers in slow, teasing strokes over him. “You got a lot of those?”

He shook his head.

And that picture—his Sir, his dominant, bent over his kitchen island, shaking and whimpering and fucking calling him Daddy—sent any blood that wasn’t powering higher brain functions on a straight shot right to his dick.

“Gods, you’re filthy.” He rolled the pads of his fingers over Cloud’s swollen clit, watched the way Cloud hid his face in his arms even as his ass arched up to give Zack more access. He chuckled. “Tell your Daddy this—did you let him fuck you raw?”

A small shake of his head. “Condom,” he said.

“Mmm.” A slow drag of fingertips over his hole, then a gentler slide inside. A muffled moan cracked up out of Cloud’s throat. “How much does it cost to go without that, hm?”

“I don’t let—”

Cloud broke off with a cry as Zack stopped to pull his pants the rest of the way off. He hitched Cloud’s leg up and over his shoulder, so that his posture twisted open—his other foot barely on the ground, his back against the counter. In just his tank and his unzipped hoodie, his hair mussed and his face ruddy with tears, he looked debauched.

He looked beautiful.

Zack pressed him down into the counter with a hand on his stomach, used his other to thumb his own pants open. He watched Cloud’s eyes flick down, saw his tongue dart out to wet his lips.

“Baby—”

Zack landed a sharp slap over Cloud’s clit, returned his hand to Cloud’s stomach to keep him from writhing away. “I’m Daddy when you want to soften me, baby when you don’t want to answer a question, hm? Is that it?” He worked his cock with slow strokes and stared at Cloud’s wet cunt, admired the angry shade of red left by his hand.

He pressed the length of his hard cock against him, rutted slowly against his folds. The way Cloud’s body tensed at the contact, at a boundary so close to being crossed, didn’t escape Zack’s notice.

“No, you don’t let your johns fuck this pretty pussy raw, do you?” he pressed. “Seems almost a shame. You’d look so fucking good, dripping cum.”

Cloud whined.

Another slow roll of his hips, and Cloud’s head fell back. Zack thumbed the pre that started to bead from his head, dragged it in a slow, wet line over Cloud’s happy trail.

“Lucky for me I’m not one of your johns, huh baby?”

Cloud’s breath caught in his chest, shook out after another smooth glide of Zack’s cock against him. Zack tilted his head as if he was trying to picture it, and Cloud keened, his fingers flexed around the edge of the counter until his knuckles went white.

“Daddy, no.”

Zack was only a little ashamed at how eagerly his cock jumped at that—and by the way Cloud moaned, it didn’t escape his notice.

“No?” he repeated.

Cloud pushed himself up as much as he could, wrapped his hand around Zack’s cock. “You deserve better than a used pussy, don’t you, Daddy?”

That made him groan. He moved his hands to either side of Cloud on the counter to let him up, thrust his hips into Cloud’s sweet fist. Cloud pressed his forehead into Zack’s cheek, laid kisses up his neck.

“I’m sorry I made you wait,” he said, his voice soft. “Let me make it up to you?”

Zack took a couple of steps back, did his best to ignore the bereft look on Cloud’s face at the sudden lack of contact. “Get on your knees for me, boy.”

He moved so quickly to comply—slid himself off of the counter and knelt at Zack’s feet, ran his hands up over Zack’s thighs.

“Gods, you’re good.” He gave himself a lazy stroke, ran his thumb over Cloud’s lower lip. Pressed down with the rough pad. “Open.”

Those blue eyes wet with tears and adoration. That pretty mouth opened, his tongue extended.

And when Zack used his thumb to guide the head of his cock over that waiting tongue, trailed his pre in a line over it, Cloud’s eyes fluttered shut and he sighed a moan like he’d just come home.

He slapped Cloud’s cheek once, twice. His cock twitched at the way it made his Sir flinch. “Make it good now.”

And Cloud fell on him. Zack leaned back against the other counter, played lovingly with Cloud’s hair while he worked his cock with his hands and his mouth.

He watched Cloud sink deeply in a way that he hadn’t seen on his Sir before, but that he understood intimately from his own experience. Every time Cloud took control, he was vigilant, careful—Zack was able to let go because Cloud was there, ready to catch him if he fell.

It was a rush to be the one to offer that peace, for a change.

Cloud bobbed on his cock, let his drool run down Zack’s shaft, over his own hand. He rolled his wrist on every other stroke in a way that made Zack’s balls pull up close to his body, stoked the heat in him more quickly than he might be proud of if it was anyone else.

When Zack’s hips began to stutter, when he cursed under his breath, only then did those blue eyes open to watch him, dark with desire.

Zack pulled him off by his hair and Cloud made a surprised sound, his brows creased like he wanted to protest, but it cut off into a gasp when Zack’s cum hit his cheeks, his lips, his tongue. Zack wanted to toss his head back, fought the urge so that he could watch his release trail slowly over that pretty used face.

He knelt down in front of Cloud, used his fingers to collect his spend and then pressed them into Cloud’s mouth. He watched the blonde’s throat work as he swallowed.

They were both quiet but for their panting, watching each other with something like caution.

“Go to the bed,” Zack breathed. “Before I fucking drag you to it.”

Something crossed Cloud’s face briefly, like he was considering it more as an offer than a threat. But then he stood and made his way to Zack’s bedroom.

Zack followed, took a moment to appreciate the way Cloud lounged on the edge of his bed with his cunt out as he approached. Zack pulled his shirt off over his head, left his pants where they hung open around his hips.

He knelt in front of Cloud and spread him open with a hand on each thigh. Cloud actually whined about it, tried to shut his legs, but it barely took an exertion of force for Zack to keep them open.

He pressed a soft kiss to the inside of Cloud’s knee. “Go ahead and tell me about your night, then.”

A flash of something like concern flitted over Cloud’s face. Zack gave him a moment, then dug his nails into the tender flesh of his inner thighs hard enough to make him cry out.

“Need me to be specific?” Zack purred. He grazed a thumb over Cloud’s slit. “Who was he? Not one of your regulars, hmm?”

A gentle shake of his head. “I’ve seen him at the Inn before. He tips stage sets. But he’d never even bought a dance from me before.”

Zack hummed, dragged his thumb over Cloud’s clit once, slow, as a reward. “Keep going.”

Cloud’s fingers fisted in Zack’s sheets, and his hips rocked just barely against the touch. “Sold him a VIP room for a couple songs,” he said. “He was sweet. I let him touch me.”

“Mmhm.” He slipped two fingers inside of Cloud, took immense pride in finding him far wetter than when they’d begun.

Cloud tipped his head back and sighed. “I knew there was a play room available, so I asked if he had anywhere to be.” He rolled his hips slow, let himself smile. “I barely had to ask.”

Zack grinned at that smug admission. “And then what, pretty thing?”

Cloud’s eyes found him, dazed and heavy lidded. “Beat him for a while. Teased his cock, told him I wouldn’t let him come.” He gasped and laughed at a harder stroke. “Made out with him.”

“Was he a good kisser?”

“Not as good as you.”

Zack huffed a laugh. “Cute.” He curled his fingers deeper inside, pressed at the swollen spot that made Cloud’s eyes shut, pulled a small, wrecked moan out of him.

“Did you let him finger you like this, pretty boy?”

Cloud bit his lip, nodded.

“He get you off?”

Another nod.

“How many times?”

“Just once.”

“That’s a damn shame.” He slid a third finger inside, snapped his wrist in rough jerks that arched Cloud’s back off the bed, made him curse. He thumbed over Cloud’s clit more purposefully, felt his cunt squeeze and clench around his fingers in the way that it did when he was close.

“Fuck—please—”

Zack felt a headrush at the roles being flipped, at Cloud begging for release. “Did you beg him, slut?”

Cloud’s eyes squeezed shut, and he pumped his hips hard to bring Zack’s fingers right where he needed them. His voice came out unusually soft, needy. “No, no, only you.”

“Go on, then, let me hear you.”

“Please!” The rocking of his hips stuttered, until Zack was sure that he was on his edge. He was more than a little tempted to deny him, just to see how he’d respond to the understanding that he had disobeyed.

Instead, he whispered, “Come for me,” and watched Cloud fall apart, sobbing.

Where he would normally wait for his Sir’s instruction, let him guide what would happen next, Zack found himself instead in more open terrain. He was in control.

He didn’t let up—slipped his fingers out only long enough to slide his fourth finger in, used his other hand to work Cloud’s already sensitive cock.

“Fuck, babe,” he whispered, a little awestruck. “How are you so pretty when you cry for me?”

Cloud’s voice cracked around the single word, “Daddy,” an acknowledgement and a plea.

He jerked his chin toward Cloud’s chest. “Play with those tits for me.”

Cloud moved to obey, slow and almost shy. He rucked his tank up to his armpits, tugged idly at the jewelry in his nipples.

“Good fuckin’ boy.” Zack rolled his wrist to rotate his fingers.

“Zack…” Cloud looked overwhelmed. “Will you fist me?”

Zack’s cock twitched. He sure fucking would, but something in the request took him a bit out of his headspace—the novelty? the shy tone Cloud used when he asked for it? Whatever it was, it made him pause.

“Shit, Cloudy. You serious?”

He nodded.

“My hands aren’t exactly small.”

Cloud huffed a laugh. “I’m aware.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” He pulled out so that he could go fetch the lube in his nightstand, somehow managed not to trip over his jeans as they fell down. He kicked them the rest of the way off without a thought.

Cloud pulled himself further up the bed so that he could settle against the pillows, watched Zack with a deep, peaceful fondness. Zack returned to settle between his legs and poured lines of lube along his hand until it was covered.

“Quick check in,” he said with a soft smile. “How you doing, sunshine?”

Cloud huffed again. “’m real good, Zack.”

“You seem floaty.”

He nodded. “It’s good.” A small smile. “Keep going. Please.”

Zack stroked over Cloud’s swollen cunt, dipped his fingers inside and turned his hand to coat him with the slick lube. Cloud’s head pitched back, a sweet, desperate sound clawing out of his throat.

“Love you, Cloudy,” he breathed.

Cloud whined back, “Fuck me, Zack.”

Zack chuckled, withdrew his hand suddenly enough to get a confused look from Cloud before he landed a hard, heavy slap on his clit. Cloud’s back bowed, and his mouth fell open in quiet shock.

“Did you forget you’re not in charge tonight, baby?”

And something shifted in Cloud’s expression, some heaviness laid over his features like he was sinking again. “’m sorry.”

Zack plunged four fingers in to the knuckle, basked in the way Cloud’s body went tense at the assault for only a moment before he melted around his hand, then drew them back out slowly. He spread Cloud open to admire him, left him waiting until he let out a small whine and rolled his hips up for want of more.

“Maybe you’ve been fucked enough for one night, hmm?”

“Please, Zack.”

Another slow dip in, another retreat. Zack watched Cloud’s hole try to clench around nothing.

“Do you deserve it, though, baby?”

Cloud’s eyes flew open, his expression stricken. “Please.”

He chuckled and ran his fingers in light, teasing touches over Cloud’s folds.

“I really can’t help but spoil you.”

He tucked his thumb in close to his fingers, pressed his hand firmly into Cloud’s cunt. Zack tried to commit his expression, the pained, pleased sounds he made to memory.

He drew his hand out, was answered with a high whine; rocked back inside to a low groan. He felt Cloud try to press toward him, try to take him faster, and he held him down with a hand on his belly so that he could set the pace himself.

The broadest part of his hand breached hot, tight flesh, and Cloud keened; Zack stared rapt at where his hand disappeared into him, held his arm still.

“Did you make sounds like this for your trick tonight?”

Cloud shook his head, whimpered, too overwhelmed to speak.

“Just for me, huh?”

A nod, more tears spilling down his cheeks.

He cooed, “Good boy,” as he slipped in further, until Cloud’s entrance clamped around his wrist and he could curl his fingers into a fist.

He rocked his hand, a tiny movement, and Cloud’s body went taut around him.

“Fuck. Love that nobody else gets to make a mess of you quite like this.” He rocked his thumb inside of Cloud, nudged against that sweet, swollen gland so that Cloud shouted and bucked on him.

“You’re such a good boy.” He jerked his arm back, felt his fist catch against tight muscle, and his cock twitched at Cloud’s groan. “My good little hand puppet.”

Cloud huffed a short laugh, hid his face under an arm. “That’s fuckin’ gross, Zack,” he warbled, sniffling.

Zack broke character long enough to snort and concede, “They can’t all be winners.” Another rock of his arm and Cloud seemed to forgive his poor humor.

“Touch yourself, Cloudy. Wanna see you come on my fist.”

Cloud’s hand shot to his cunt, fingertips rolling over the shaft of his clit. The way his fingertips brushed Zack’s wrist with his strokes felt deeply erotic, and Zack palmed himself as Cloud approached his peak.

“Fuck! Close—”

“Mmhm.” Zack grinned like a shark, baring his teeth. “Ask me nicely, whore.”

Cloud’s eyes snapped open, glistening wet with tears.

“Daddy, please.”

“Whose are you?”

His voice came out high and broken, barely understandable. “Yours, only yours.”

Zack rolled his hand inside of Cloud in a way that made his whole body go tense, pulled a distraught, frustrated groan out of him.

“Keep begging.”

”Fuck!” He twitched around Zack’s hand. “Please, Zack, nobody fucks me like you do, nobody else makes me feel this good, wanna show you, please let me come for you.”

Zack barely finished saying, “Come,” before Cloud screamed and spasmed around him.

He only took a moment to bask—admired the labored rise and fall of Cloud’s chest, the way his skin flushed, the way his right leg twitched with aftershocks of his orgasm. Zack felt like he could admire it for hours.

But also, good fuck, Zack wanted to get off.

Once Cloud’s breath evened out, Zack extracted his hand with what gentleness he could muster. His cock throbbed at the groan it pulled out of him.

He got rid of his underwear, used his lube and slick-coated hand to give himself a couple of short strokes, and Cloud whined at him in anticipation.

“I think you’ve gotten off plenty tonight, hm?” He took both of Cloud’s ankles in his hands, hefted Cloud’s legs up against the front of his own body. “I think it’s my turn.”

He drove his cock between Cloud’s thighs slowly, groaned at the feeling of soft, warm skin and firm muscle around him.

Cloud caught on quickly and moved to accommodate him—squeezed his thighs tighter together, breathed, “Yes, use me. Wanna make you feel good.”

Zack chuckled. “I know you do, baby.” He withdrew, thrust back in. “Gods, you’re fucking perfect.”

It wasn’t his cunt, hot and wet and tight, or his skilled, eager mouth; while it was different, the context made it feel almost just as satisfying. It was the centering of just his pleasure—using Cloud’s body like a sleeve, so close to somewhere he might have enjoyed it, but refusing to give that to him. He felt a thrill at rutting naked against Cloud, who was still partially clothed, if utterly disheveled.

Cloud reached to hold his legs, hugged them down closer to his chest, so that Zack could bear down on him as if he were fucking his cunt. Each soft plap of his hips against Cloud’s thighs drew a new soft sound, intensified the look of want in Cloud’s eyes.

He begged, his eyes watery, “Please come on me, Daddy,” and that was it for Zack.

He shot over Cloud’s belly and chest, and Cloud laughed sweetly and smiled at Zack like he was the whole world. Zack let Cloud’s legs fall to the bed, stroked himself through the end of his orgasm and drank in the sight.

Cloud ran his fingertips through the cum on his stomach, used both hands to spread it over himself and smiled. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes.

“I love being your whore.”

Zack made a small, desperate noise and took Cloud in his arms, crushed their bodies together and kissed him deeply. He whispered, “Fuck,” and trailed kisses down Cloud’s neck, “fuck,” and pulled his lower lip between his teeth, “fuck,” and kissed at the tear tracks on his cheeks. Cloud laughed softly at the attention.

“I’ll be right back, Sunshine.”

He went to fetch a soft towel, let the water run until it was hot before wetting it. He came back and cleaned Cloud gently before he wiped himself down, helped him get properly undressed, and slid into the bed next to him to spoon him.

Quiet fell between them, heavy but not unpleasant. Zack stroked his thumb over Cloud’s arm, said softly into his neck, “I love you.”

Cloud turned in his arms just enough to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “I love you too, sweet boy. Thank you.”

He held Cloud like that, one arm curled under him, his other hand tracing nonsensical patterns over his arm and hip until Cloud’s breathing deepened. Zack found his way to sleep close behind.

Zack woke before Cloud the next morning, as he did most mornings.

Cloud felt so small in his arms.

He did his best to make his movements unobtrusive to avoid waking Cloud. But on this morning, Cloud stirred slightly and rolled over. He groused, still not entirely awake.

And with the sun streaming in through the windows, Zack couldn’t ignore the finger-shaped bruises he’d left around Cloud’s neck the night before, or the dark splotches on his ass.

Zack swallowed. He pressed a kiss to Cloud’s temple, pulled on a pair of sleep pants, and padded to the kitchen to make coffee. But as soon as he crossed the threshold of the kitchen, he was hit with memories of the night before.

Of rutting his bare cock threateningly against Cloud’s cunt.
Of slapping his pretty face while he fed him his cock.
“I love being your whore.”

He nearly cracked the small plastic scoop he used to measure out coffee grounds.

They had both wanted it. Cloud had been the one to ask for it. And Zack had been eager to try it on.

Had he been too eager?

Was something wrong with him, for enjoying it so thoroughly?

He had thought himself past shame or self-consciousness around kink—thought that his time with Cloud had broken down that destructive self-talk, the idea that the things that he wanted and that got him off somehow said something about how good or kind of a person he was. But something about being the one to do those things hit him different.

“Mornin’.”

Zack nearly jumped at the sound of the soft, sleep-heavy voice. He offered a return, “Mornin’, sunshine,” while he got his pulse back under control.

Cloud leaned on the island across from him and rubbed at his eyes. He had thrown on a pair of Zack’s boxers and his hoodie from the night before, left unzipped. It was heart-achingly domestic.

“Mm, somethin burnin?.”

“Ah, shit!” Zack dashed to the stove, pulled entirely out of his moping by the realization that it had led him to commit a cardinal sin against coffee. He cursed softly and poured the ruined batch down the sink, unscrewed the mokah and set about starting a fresh pot. “Sorry about that.”

When he got the pot settled on the stove for the second time and turned back to Cloud, Cloud tilted his head to the side. “Hey, sweets, you okay?”

Zack chewed his lip. Thought about deflecting, but quickly decided that he had nowhere near enough guile to do so effectively, and that it wouldn’t actually help.

“I’m uh…kinda in my head.”

Cloud rounded the island toward him, reached out toward him tentatively. “Can I?”

Zack grabbed him in a bear hug, huffed the top of his head for comfort. His voice came out small. “Was I too much?”

“Oh, sweets.” Cloud squeezed him around his waist, burrowed his face into Zack’s pecs. “I’ve done way meaner shit to you.”

Zack pulled back enough to look seriously into Cloud’s eyes. “You know I respect you so much, right?”

“Oh yeah?” Cloud smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You call all the boys you respect filthy whores, or just the ones you’re dating?”

The blond had to stifle a giggle in his hand at the way Zack’s jaw dropped.

“Mean!”

“Don’t burn my coffee again, or I’m gonna be real mean.”

Zack stuck his tongue out and pulled the mokah from the heat. Cloud had already moved to his cabinets to pull down a pair of mugs, so Zack stepped around him and went into the bedroom.

He came back with the thin, square jewelry box that held his collar and set it on the counter next to Cloud. Cloud looked at it, looked up at him.

“Something you want, puppy?”

Zack couldn’t quite meet his gaze. “Wanna be good for you.”

Cloud was quiet for a moment, like he was trying not to chide him again. Then he said, “Okay. Come sit on the couch.”

They moved to the living room with their blessedly unburnt lattes—Zack’s properly syruped—and Zack sat facing Cloud, opened up the box to present the smooth metal collar. Cloud took it and turned it thoughtfully in his hands. He looked up at Zack.

“You know that you were really, really good to me last night, yeah?”

Zack huffed a self-deprecating laugh.

“Hey, I mean it.” The furrow between Cloud’s brows deepened, and he rose up to give Zack a sweet peck on the lips. “That was fuckin’ hot, babe. I don’t really get to be submissive like that very often. I don’t really…trust folks to be good about it.”

Zack felt himself smile. “It was…” He fidgeted, let himself meet Cloud’s eyes. “Like, mind-meltingly hot.”

“That’s what I’m saying!”

“You’re so, so fucking pretty when you go spacey.”

Cloud’s face took on a light flush. “Yeah, well, I’m just trying to match your freak.” He held up the open collar. “Still want this?”

He nodded emphatically. “Yeah. Please.”

“Okay. Kneel for me.”

Zack slid to the floor, knelt at Cloud’s feet and looked up at him. The way Cloud smiled, all the way to his eyes, the edges crinkling into the familiar little crows’ feet, soothed him, lifted the weight of his worry from his chest so that he could breathe more easily.

Cloud closed the collar around his neck, fastened it shut, and pulled him into a slow, indulgent kiss. He patted the couch beside him and Zack climbed back onto it and laid his head in Cloud’s lap.

Zack picked a movie to put on, and Cloud sipped his coffee and pet Zack’s hair and his shoulders idly.

They had a lovely morning.

Chapter Text

“Hey, so I was thinkin’. You’ve been here a lot lately.”

It was early morning, and Zack had made breakfast for the two of them—thick slices of bacon and pillowy french toast made with red bean bread. Cloud looked up from his plate, his expression going sheepish. “Oh shit, have I overstayed my welcome?”

“Wait, no, no no.” Zack laughed. “Not complaining, just observing. Well, and wondering…” Zack trailed off, pushed his food around a bit with his fork.

Cloud’s brows knitted together. “Puppy.”

“You can’t tell me you haven’t at least considered it, right?”

Cloud’s stern expression softened into one of fondness. “Sure, I have.”

“I like the idea. Of you just, you know. Being here.”

An arched eyebrow. “You want me to move in with you?” Zack felt himself grin, but before he could respond, Cloud held up a finger. “I know you want to say yes. But I need you to think hard about it. What would make you think twice about it? What would be dealbreakers?”

Zack leaned forward over the counter, braced on his crossed arms. “Well, you don’t snore, so…” He trailed off as though there was nothing else to possibly consider.

Cloud glared at him. “I’m being serious.”

Zack raised a hand in something like surrender. “I know, I know.” He chewed his lip as he thought. “I like spending time with you, Spike. It’d be super convenient for your day job. I like the idea of waking up with you all the time.” A pause. “I guess…I would want to be careful about our dynamic. Or, if not careful, intentional.”

Cloud leaned toward him over the counter, nodded earnestly. “Okay, so tell me about that.”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Right now, when we see each other this often, it’s easy for the kink to be, like, on the whole time. But I think if we lived together, I’d need it to turn off sometimes.”

Cloud nodded. “That makes a lot of sense. Same.”

He felt a bit sheepish. “So how do we do that?”

“We negotiate it, yeah? We can decide if we want it to stay just in the bedroom, if we want aspects of it to be present but not fully in scene all the time. We try things out, and if they don’t work, we adjust.”

He nodded.

“What else, pup?”

Zack chewed his lip. “I uh…I’d prefer if you didn’t bring your work home.”

Cloud huffed a laugh through his nose, propped his chin in his hand. “Not something I’m in the habit of, given how long I lived in the barracks, but that’s fair.”

“Okay, what about you?”

He rocked his head side to side, bit down on a grin. “Well, there’s your fridge.”

Zack froze like he’d been hit by a stop spell. “My fridge.”

“When’s the last time you actually ate spinach that you bought, pup?”

“Do I uh…do I need a lawyer present?”

Cloud snorted, cast his eyes down to his hands on the counter. “You actually want to try this, then?”

Zack thought the negotiation of living together would be the hardest part, not the move itself. He had seen Cloud’s apartment once or twice, knew he lived rather minimally. And he volunteered to help with the best intentions.

He couldn’t help it if he was easily distracted.

Zack couldn’t say if it had been a calculated move to send him to pack the bedroom while Cloud worked on the small kitchen—and Zack had every intention to do so respectfully. But once he got past Cloud’s uniforms and more tame civvies, and he got to the point of packing decidedly more strappy things, his mind started to wander.

He called, “Hey babe, can you come here?” and Cloud hustled in, froze when he registered the harness hanging from one of Zack’s hands, the massive monster cock in the other.

Zack just grinned wider. “Think you can show me where you want these?”

He was pretty sure he had to unhinge his jaw a bit to make it fit, but it was absolutely worth it.

Zack had managed to be lucky for a good long while—no long away missions, just the standard monster clearing in the slums or out in the wastes. So he was able to help Cloud with the move—even if his help included fairly frequently bending Cloud over a box or a counter.

But at the end of a day he was still a SOLDIER, and eventually he got assigned to a weeks-long mission in the Icicle region.

He’d packed and dropped his duffel by the door, then went to Cloud in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around the smaller man from behind, resting his chin on top of Cloud’s head.

Cloud had been oddly quiet that whole morning.

Zack pressed a soft kiss to Cloud’s temple, and Cloud’s shoulders heaved in a hiccup that made him pause. He smoothed his hands down Cloud’s arms on either side.

“Hey hey, sunshine. Talk to me?”

Cloud huffed a laugh, wiped at his eyes, but didn’t turn to face Zack. “I know you’ve done this a million times by now. So why am I so nervous this time?”

Zack nuzzled into the crook of his neck. “Maybe because you like me more, this time?” he offered, only a slight tease in his tone. Then, with a little more gravity, “Maybe ‘cuz we’re building something together, you and me, yeah?”

Cloud sniffed loudly, deadpanned, “Fuckin’ gross, Zack.” Zack nipped at Cloud’s earlobe, and Cloud yipped in surprise.

“Be right back,” Zack said warmly.

When he returned, Cloud was waiting in the entry to the kitchen, leaned back against the wall with his arms over his chest. When he saw what Zack had gone to get, his eyes went wide. “You’re kidding, pup.”

Zack grinned, held the steel collar and the small allen key out. “’M sure not!”

Cloud took the offered items from him, his hands a little shaky, and Zack dropped to a knee in front of him, tipped his head up. He could see the heavy shine of tears in Cloud’s eyes, and worried for a moment that he’d gone too far.

“This can’t actually be reasonable,” Cloud said, chased by a small laugh.

“I’ll remind you again, my superiors go on missions looking like they’re straight from a leather bar. I think this is pretty darn understated, in comparison.” He placed his hands on either of Cloud’s thighs, rubbed gentle circles with his thumbs over the soft fabric of his sleep pants. “I like the idea of having you with me, like this.”

Cloud slipped the steel ring over his arm, so that his fingers were free to run through Zack’s hair. Zack leaned into the touch with a soft sigh. Fuck, but he was going to miss this.

“Yeah,” Cloud said after a while. “Make sure any monsters you run into know you’ve got a Sir to come home to, don’t get any fuckin’ ideas.”

He opened the collar, latched it carefully around Zack’s neck, twisted the screw into place. It sat just over his collarbones, over the uniform knit. The first tear finally broke containment and fell down Cloud’s cheek.

“I love you. You better fuckin’ come back.”

Zack grinned broadly. “There’s nothin’ that could do me in.”

When his mission wrapped a few weeks later, Zack shot a text to Cloud as soon as he got on the transport home.

And when he opened the door to his apartment, instead of the quiet emptiness he had grown used to after being away, Cloud’s arms were around him in barely a breath. He stood on his tiptoes, pulled Zack down to meet him halfway in a consuming kiss.

“Baby,” Zack barely managed to get out, dropping his bag on the floor. Cloud wrapped his arms around Zack’s neck and jumped up onto him, and Zack caught his legs as they wrapped around his back. He let himself sink into lips and teeth and tongue, into the sighs of Cloud’s breath against his mouth, into the warmth of his Sir surrounding him after so long without.

“Baby,” he breathed again, raspy, “fuck.”

Cloud nodded, still panting hot against his face. “Fuck,” he agreed. “Fuck sounds like a plan. Fuck me, Zack.”

“Gods, I missed you,” Zack laughed, walking them back into his bedroom.

He kissed Cloud down into his bed, pushed Cloud’s shirt up to explore that familiar solidness of his belly, up to the soft swell of his tit. He tugged a nipple with his teeth, smirked when it pulled a gasp from Cloud like they were new to each other.

Cloud’s hands shoved his own pants down, then started working at Zack’s. For his part, Zack used lips and teeth and tongue to get reacquainted with the body beneath him.

“Need you in me, Zack, like fucking yesterday.”

“Have I told you—”
he flicked his tongue over the hard peak of a nipple
“—how lovely it is—”
sank his teeth into skin, rumbled a laugh at the sharp gasp from Cloud
“—to be so wanted by you?”

Cloud’s fingers twisted in his hair, pulled him up to look at him. “Zack,” he growled, exasperated, demanding. His cheeks were pink, his lips dark and full from kissing.

Zack rolled his hips, stroked his hard cock against Cloud’s cunt through the thin layers of their underwear.

“Tell me again what you want, baby.”

Cloud groaned and shoved Zack off of him and onto the bed, pushed his own underwear off and straddled Zack’s hips. The wetness that Zack had been able to just barely feel through both of their clothes now seeped into his boxers, made his mouth go dry.

“I want you inside me, pup,” he breathed before he dipped down to take another kiss from Zack. His tongue flicked over Zack’s lip and Zack opened his mouth, let him in without hesitation.

Cloud pushed down the waistband of Zack’s underwear, and that hot wetness was suddenly on his skin, was pressing his hard cock down into his belly.

Zack cursed. Cloud chuckled.

“Mine,” Cloud sighed, rocking his wet cunt over Zack. His slick coated them quickly, made each roll more of a glide, a slip—until one roll caught the head of Zack’s cock on Cloud’s hole, had him dangerously close to slipping inside. Zack’s hands caught Cloud’s hips in an iron grip, stilled him while he tried to get his breath back to normal.

“Shit, babe, condom.”

A flush spread over Cloud’s face, his eyes darting to the side. “What if I said you didn’t need it?”

Zack’s fingers twitched where they gripped Cloud. His cock kicked beneath Cloud’s cunt like it was trying to break down a door.

Well, there was no hiding that response.

“I uh…” he swallowed. “I’m clearly into it. But you sure?”

“I tested, I’m on the pill, I’m good, please.”

And fuck if Cloud having manners while grinding his wet cunt over Zack’s hard on wasn’t gonna drive him mad. He breathed “Shit,” rose up to scrape his teeth over the pulse point in Cloud’s neck and used his grip on Cloud’s hips to grind them roughly together. He savored the low moan it pulled from Cloud, savored the feel of sweat-slick skin under his hands.

“’M yours, sunshine. Take everything you want.”

Cloud shoved him down to the bed with a hand on his chest, used his other to hold Zack’s cock against his pussy as he rocked against it once, twice. Then he rose up onto his knees and pressed the head inside.

Zack was pretty sure he could die happy, right there.

He was torn between the desire to slam Cloud’s hips down to hilt inside of him or to lie back and let him draw out this first entry, to make it last as long as he possibly could. To feel the hot, tight, wet of him, the softly ridged texture of his Sir’s insides not with his fingertips but with his cock. Cloud offered the sweetest breathy sounds as he slid down just a few inches, so slowly, then drew his hips back up until just the tip of him was inside, then again, and again. Zack’s head went fuzzy, unable to hold any thought beyond pleasure and fondness.

Finally Cloud let himself drag all the way to the base with a moan, and Zack’s head knocked back.

“Fuck babe, you’re unreasonably tight, what the shit?”

“Complaining?” Cloud asked, a teasing lilt in his voice despite sounding a bit breathless.

Zack forgot how to breathe for a second, barely managed to say, “Not even a little.”

Cloud leaned back on him, rolled his hips in a way that ground the head of Zack’s cock against that sweet, needy spot inside of him, and stroked over his clit.

“Fuck, I needed this.”

“Yeah?” Zack dug his fingers into Cloud’s thighs, ground his teeth as each stroke and roll threatened to bring him closer to overwhelm. “You didn’t get enough while I was away?”

“Got plenty,” he said, and Zack felt a hot little spark of jealousy at that, twitched inside of Cloud at the thought. Cloud chuckled. “But no one like you. Nobody feels as good as you.”

“Sweet talker.”

“Mean it,” Cloud said with a small smile, then dipped down to kiss him, to press into his mouth with his tongue.

It felt surreal to Zack, after so long away, to be back beneath his sunshine, his love, his Sir. Their coupling slid to different tones and tempos with ease; now urgent, panting, now languid, as though no time had passed and they had nowhere else to be in the world.

When he felt himself build toward orgasm, he tried to warn Cloud, but Cloud just held his wrists down, kissed him deep, and Zack moaned into his mouth, against his tongue, as he spilled.

Zack would have sworn the bassline was heavy enough to make his teeth rattle.

This wasn’t his first time back on the main club floor of the Inn since that night so long ago now, when he ventured in for the first time. When he first got to see Cloud’s presence on a stage, got to see him perform for a room full of people with the power and poise that Zack knew well.

When he first told Cloud that he loved him.

He had been back since, sometimes on his own, sometimes with Aerith and her new girlfriend—who was somehow an old buddy of Cloud’s? The city was too goddamn small sometimes.

But on this night—

“Alright boys, bottoms up!” Essai’s face was already bright red, his voice a touch slurred. He banged his shot glass on the table and tossed it back.

Kunsel sipped his shot. Zack wasn’t sure if he felt more impressed or concerned.

Kuns had finally gotten a well-deserved promotion, and Essai and Sebastian had immediately insisted on drinks. But mako burned through alcohol too fast for most reasonable people to keep up, so drinks at the bar topside on 8 turned into, “You know they’re cheaper under the plate,” turned into—

Well.

Turned into the lot of them wandering Wall Market, and then Sebastian shouting that they should catch a show at the Honeybee.

Zack
Hey babe, you’re at the Inn tonight, yeah?

Sir
Yep! Bout to go on for a stage set, actually.
How come?

Zack
So uhhh
Remember I said I was going out with some of the guys?
Well…

Sir
Heh. I see.

He had hurried to catch up with the rowdy bunch of Seconds shepherding Kunsel toward the familiar neon-lit building. He’d told himself that it was fine, nothing to worry about.

Then Essai parked them at a table right up on the stage.

And then, several agonizing moments later, Cloud came out.

He wasn’t doing a whole scene, not like on Zack’s first visit to the club. Instead of an emcee introing him out, it was just heavy bass and the two poles on either side of the stage.

But Cloud strutted onto the stage wearing an imitation of the SOLDIER uniform that fit him like a second skin—completed by the leather harness from their first playdate. Zack’s head went empty and his breath rushed out of him. He wasn’t sure if he was going to cry, scream, throw up, or come.

None of those felt like appropriate options on the floor of the Inn.

Cloud flashed him a grin that felt both familiar and new—more genuine than he usually wore on the stage, but with an edge and a tooth that reminded Zack more of being under him, of suffering for him.

Oh.

Oh, maybe it was a scene, after all. Just for him.

When Cloud reached the pole, he started slow. He wrapped one hand loosely around it as he walked a slow circle, his other hand trailing up the line of his body. He twirled under his top hand, rolled his torso in a smooth, sinuous motion so that his back rested on the pole and his hips jutted forward. He spread his legs wide, teased his hands over his body, gripped at his crotch and rolled into his own touch.

Zack was pretty sure Essai and Sebastian were full-on hollering. Maybe he heard Kunsel say something about the accuracy of the uniform—if only he knew. But he couldn’t bring himself to stop watching Cloud long enough to engage with any of them.

Cloud gripped the pole over his head and swung his legs up over him like it was nothing, hooked a knee around the pole to hang upside down. He looked wildly peaceful, his back arched, the pole spinning to give the entire room every angle they could want.

He peeled the knit up slow, so slow to reveal those small pierced tits, dropped it on the floor. He caught Zack’s eye briefly and winked, then he pulled himself up to grip the pole with his hands again, fanned his legs and dropped down into a split on the stage.

The audience around him roared. People approached the stage to shower him with bills. And Zack thought, Fuck, I love him.

Time sped up and slowed to a crawl. There was Cloud, lying on his back, his legs gliding through the air as if he was moving through thicker media. Cloud, slinking to the edge of the stage and plucking a strap of his harness away from his body for someone to slip a large bill in. Cloud, peeling his pants off to reveal a black jock strap with a delicious bulge tenting the fabric.

Zack’s thrall didn’t break when the song ended, but he was able to remember who he was and where he was—just as Cloud pushed himself down from the stage and crawled into his lap.

“Hey, Zack, don’t hog the babe!”

“Yeah, man, it’s Kunsel’s big night.”

“There’s plenty of other dancers,” Zack bit out, his fingertips pressing small indents into the bare flesh of Cloud’s thighs. Cloud grinned at him, eyes mischievous.

“There’s plenty of me to go around, handsome,” he purred, wrapping his arms around Zack’s neck. He wiggled and shifted in Zack’s lap. His skin was dewy slick with sweat, dusted with glitter that caught and bounced the light.

Zack’s hands wandered to Cloud’s waist without so much as a thought through his head.

“Hey, Fair, uhh, not sure you’re supposed to be so handsy with the dancers.”

“Dude you’re gonna get us kicked out.”

Kunsel seemed the least affronted, the most sincerely concerned. “Zack?”

But Zack barely heard any of them. Cloud rolled his hips so that his soft packer pressed firmly against Zack’s cock. The scent of Cloud’s perfume and body surrounded him.

Zack blinked suddenly, licked his lips.

“Marry me,” he said, completely serious, point-blank into Cloud’s face.

He didn’t bother to look away long enough to see Sebastian’s expression, but the tone of his voice suggested abject horror. “Fair, buddy—”

“Oh we’re for sure getting escorted out.”

Kunsel, again the only voice sincerely concerned for Zack. “Zack, I really don’t think that’s proper etiquette with sex workers.”

But the lot of them were little more than white noise, because Cloud—his Cloud, his Sir, his sunshine wearing nothing but his leather harness and a black jock strap and perched proudly on his lap in the middle of a busy club—

Cloud’s grin stretched wider, smug, and he gave a little shrug. “Yeah, alright. You’re on.”

“What the fuck, man?!”

It wasn’t always easy, because that’s not how life works. But when things got hard, they figured it out. And more often than not, they were happy.

(And they had lots, and I do mean lots of kinky sex.)
The end.