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Reno has a rough day at work and Cloud takes him on vacation.
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Reno slipped into the Turk conference room hoping to go unnoticed. He was late, sunburned, sunglasses-clad, and walking a little delicately.

Make that really late.

“Nice of you to join us,” Tseng interjected. Their last mission had been a rough one. And so he had given Reno the next day off. When Cloud had called and asked if his boyfriend could have the rest of the week, that he was just exhausted, Tseng relented.

It was Reno, after all. For all his lackadaisical reputation, he really did get the job done and asked for surprisingly little. Apparently his r&r had been extremely successful. However, it was Monday, for Gaia’s sake. Couldn’t his second look a little more…upright?

Five days earlier

Reno sat at the bar, his sexy slouch gone and his exhausted slouch taking its place. Cloud came down from upstairs when he heard him come in, took the barstool next to him, and asked, “Bad day?”

“You don’t know the half of it. I’m beat up, I’m dirty, we didn’t get all the bad guys, and well…it just sucked. To give you a clue, Tseng gave us tomorrow off. Everyone is just burned the fuck out.”

Cloud held up two fingers and Tifa brought more whiskey. Even she wasn’t giving Reno shit today. He just put his arm around Reno in a half hug.

“You’ve done what you could. You need to rest”

Reno woke to the soft clink of dishes being washed in the kitchen and the buttery smell of breakfast cooking, but he lay in bed soaking up the sheer joy of it until he heard the stoneware rest on the breakfast bar.

“Nothing fancy. Scrambled eggs, cheese, toast, coffee. I called Tseng and told him you were a mess and he extended your leave till Monday. Reserved a beach house on the dumpy side of Costa del Sol, if you’re interested.”

“Costa del Sol has a dumpy side?” Reno garbled around his eggs.

“Yeah, it’s a lot more fun than the rich folks side,” Cloud pantomimed a nose in the air and laughed. “Pack a swimsuit, some t shirts, sunscreen…water shoes. The usual shit.”

“What are water shoes? Like sandals?”

“No, nonslip soles with a mesh top. Ugly as shit but they will save your ass, trust me.”

“Don’t have any.”

“I’ll pick some up, don’t worry about it. Just pack your shit and be back in an hour.”

Reno packed a bag and was back at Cloud’s apartment in less time than that. He knew when he needed a break, and this was one of those times. They mounted Fenrir and headed for the ferry.

“Here’s your shoes, put them in your bag.”

They were the ugliest things Reno had ever seen. A bit of a fashion whore, he was appalled. “I have to wear these?”

“Unless you want to bust your ass falling off watercraft, or limp along primitive beaches because you have broken shells or jellyfish stuck in the bottom of your feet, yes. I’m not carrying your injured self anywhere though.”

Reno considered it. It really was a toss-up, but if he were injured and abandoned on a beach he would get laid a lot less. That made his decision for him. Ugly shoes were acceptable. He just hoped the beaches were deserted.

They reached Costa del Sol and Cloud chose a one lane road leading away from town. They rode until they reached a beachside stand advertising watercraft rentals, where he parked the bike. “OK, time for the ugly shoes. Suit up!”

“Where are we going?”

“A bar. You can’t get to it by land.”

Cloud drove the watercraft like he drove a bike, which is to say Reno was hanging on for dear life. He tied off to a pylon at what appeared to be a shack in the middle of the water, pulled off his ugly shoes, and jumped in. Reno followed suit and swam behind him until they reached a ladder by the bar, and climbed up. Shaking the water out of his hair, Cloud ordered for the both of them.

“Two bushwhackers with a 151 topper.” The bartender shoved two plastic cups across to them and they found a place at a “table,” which was no more than a wooden cable spool. The day was perfect, sunny and breezy. They were in the middle of nowhere at a dumpy bar drinking booze out of plastic cups, dressed only in their swimsuits. The likes of Rufus Shinra would not be caught dead in a place like this.

Reno was in heaven. Cloud grinned. “Feeling better?”

He popped his neck. “Getting there. This place is awesome, yo!”

“Just thought you could use some time away from the real world.” Cloud ordered another round, which was about all he could handle if he was to safely pilot them to the beach house. It might look like a girly drink, but it was lethal stuff.

They rode again in silence, as shouting over the bike took way more effort than a comfortably buzzed Reno could manage. Cloud pulled up to a simple house on stilts that faced the ocean on one side and a small canal on the other. A cursory inspection revealed a primitive kitchen, bathroom, a sun porch and a deck.

“Not exactly ShinRa digs but it will do in a pinch.”

“Yeah, had a friend stock the fridge and the liquor cabinet. We should be ok for a few days. There’s a couple restaurants but no one sells anything fancier than draught beer in a cup and a fish basket with fries.”

Reno thought it sounded like heaven.

After the ride down and the drinks at the bar, a nap sounded good but Cloud insisted on a swim. “I didn’t come all the way down here to nap, damn it.” So Reno fought his own natural laziness and followed Cloud to the beach. The water was warm and the current nonexistent this time of year, but he was glad Cloud had insisted on the ugly shoes. Sharp coral littered the beach at every turn.

He pulled Cloud to him in a kiss, soft and slow but leaving no doubt as to his intentions. Cloud did nothing to resist, but laughed. “Horndog.”

“Beach makes me horny.”

“Breathing makes you horny, Reno.”

Reno’s hair floated around them like a creature of the sea as they stood in the chest deep warm water. It was so natural, being held like this. As if they had been born to fit together. Cloud tucked his head into Reno’s shoulder the way he loved to do. “Let’s go inside.” Reluctantly they trudged back toward shore to discover the air had cooled considerably while they had been swimming.

“Shit!” they laughed as they ran toward the house. Cloud bolted to the bathroom for towels but Reno had thought ahead. He pulled off his swimsuit and ugly shoes, stripped Cloud in mid stride and threw them both naked and wet onto the bed.

Cloud pulled the quilt over them as they shivered into each other. “Next time, we bring towels and hang them over the deck railing.”

“Don’t need ‘em now, do we?” Reno began to kiss the salt water off his lover’s collarbone, his chest, his neck.

The only response was a moan and a roll of Cloud’s hips. He reached for his backpack but again, Reno anticipating his move, grabbed it and fished out the lube with frightening efficiency. Amazing, how warm it was getting, and how fast.

They only broke the kiss to breathe, and they only breathed when they started to see spots. Reno ran his hand down Cloud’s side to pull his leg up beside him, just so he could reach down and grab his ass toward him and grind. Gods, it felt so good. Just to go at each other with complete abandon like this. Sometimes they made love, sweet and generous and patient.

Sometimes they fucked so hard it was like they were trying to bang their way to the other side of one another.

This was one of those times.

Reno pulled away to open the lube; pushed his fingers inside Cloud rough and fast. It elicited more groans, Cloud arched into him as if desperate for the contact. Reno pushed him back onto the bed out of sheer survival; one more move and he would lose it.

Cloud nodded in understanding. He parted his legs, hands fisting the sheets in an only partly successful attempt to stay still until Reno entered him. Finally, blissfully, he felt Reno’s shaft pushing into him and beginning to move. He cried out in need.

“Too rough?”

“Not rough enough, damn you.”

Well. Didn’t have to tell him twice. Reno gathered Cloud up in his arms, one around his back and one around his hips, and thrust into him as hard as he could. To hell with lasting long enough to be impressive; who the hell did they have to impress? It was the two of them and no one within sight or hearing, only their desire for each other to witness.

Reno felt Cloud tense around him, his own head thrown back and moaning. Once upon a time, they would warn each other of their impending release. Now, they knew each other only too well; their bodies spoke their own language and what Cloud’s was telling Reno’s body was nothing short of fucking beautiful. He dimly felt a rush of liquid head wash over their abdomens. The shuddering that surrounded him brought him to a peak that was almost painful. Almost.

Panting, he lay Cloud back on the bed and fell next to him. Neither spoke for a long time.

“Sooner or later we have to eat, you know.”

“Umph.”

“Go out or grill something? We have steak and charcoal.”

They opted for the grill, and sat out on the upper deck over the canal in post coital bliss.

“Side dishes or just steak?”

“Fuck side dishes, yo.”

Well, they wouldn’t die of some kind of deficiency disease in four days, Cloud figured. The two men liked their steaks the same way, rare. Or as Reno put it so delicately, “Wipe it’s ass and tear the horns off!” They ate off paper plates in the dim light of the kitchen and drank beer straight from the can.

The next morning, after a bit of more subdued wakeup sex and a shower, they decided to explore what there was of a town. Located on the back side of Costa del Sol, the place was informally known as The Point. It was home to most of the locals who worked for the rich tourists in town, and was filled with nice, down to earth people who were only too happy to help out a couple of very tired working folks who just wanted some time away from the world outside.

Reno and Cloud sat in a booth adjacent to a gas station and ate fried fish out of a basket lined with newspaper, drinking beer out of a plastic cup which proudly proclaimed the name of the establishment, Mikees. A roll of paper towels graced the table as there were no knives or forks.

“How did you find this place?” Reno asked around a mouthful of fish.

“You find a lot of things, riding a bike. Backroads just…take you places.” Cloud got up to grab two more beers. "Anyway, I saw that house, well really it’s a fishing camp. And talked to the people that own it. They rent it out when they aren’t using it. I thought it was awesome so I kept it in mind.”

“It is awesome. I can feel my blood pressure drop just sitting here. And last night…damn.”

“Ha. Last night was not planned but I am so not arguing.”

“We have two more days, yo.”

“I hope we can walk when it’s done.”

Tseng sat alone in the conference room, deciding that he wouldn’t grill his second after all. It was Reno’s business entirely why he was sunburned, late, and walking funny. And in the end, Tseng was pretty sure he didn’t want to know.