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Cloud froze in his footsteps, staring at the man sitting a few feet away from him. What was Commander Rhapsodos doing out here in the pouring rain?
Cloud knew the only reason that he was only out in this weather was because he had his orders and to defy them was a one-step-journey to getting kicked out of Shinra all together. If he didn’t have his patrol he would’ve been inside, playing cards with the rest of the guys and pitying whoever drew the short-straw and ended up outside in this downpour.
That didn’t explain why the Crimson Commander was out here though, he doubted there was anyone who could actually make the man do anything he didn’t want to do. But then why was he just sitting there, letting the rain drench him?
Cloud had hardly recognized the Commander without his signature red coat.
Cloud couldn’t just walk pass and leave the man there, even if that was probably his safest option, so he took a breath, gathered his courage and strode over to the highly volatile man sitting on a bench in the pouring rain.
He reached the bench where the Commander was sitting without being struck down, either by Rhapsodos or some higher power, and was stuck trying to figure out what to say to the man. He couldn’t come up with anything though, so he decided to do the next best thing.
He sat down next to the man that struck terror into everyone that wasn’t a First Class SOLDIER or a Turk, or at least a seasoned Turk. McCaplain swore he had seen the Commander make one of the baby-Turks cry. Whether that was true or not, it probably wasn’t his best decision.
He was sitting there for several minutes before anything happened. He had spent the time quietly freaking out and realizing that Commander Rhapsodos wasn’t as tall as he thought the man was, in fact he seemed to be only a bit taller than he was. Cloud was coming to terms with that realization when Rhapsodos finally did something, though he would have never imagined what the man would do.
Instead of attacking him or ordering him to leave, the Commander turned a bit towards him and dropped his head down onto his soaked spikes. Cloud hadn’t bothered to bring his helmet with him on his patrol, the equipment would be useless in this weather and in the worse case scenario would actually break, forcing him to shell out enough gil for a new one.
He’d much rather get the reprimand than have to replace his helmet.
But that decision meant that he now had Commander Rhapsodos’ face pressed into the top of his head, not what he had been expecting when he started his shift. Cloud didn’t know what to do with all of this.
They remained that way for several long minutes, with Cloud silently freaking out, until something else happened. He thought he heard what sounded like a choked sob before strong arms wrapped around him and he was dragged into a warm embrace.
Cloud wasn’t ashamed to admit to the startled squeak that left his mouth when Rhapsodos pulled him into his space. He was also quite willing to inform anyone with enough money that Commander Rhapsodos smelled like apples and cinnamon.
He was really confused as to what was happening but before he could figure out what to do, Commander Rhapsodos released him with one final squeeze. The Commander stood from the bench and walked away, leaving Cloud sitting there watching him walk away while the rain continued to fall around him.
Cloud hoped the man was going to be ok, that behaviour was far too familiar to him.
Cloud was unfortunate enough to have patrols the rest of the week and there was reports that there would be heavy rain for the next week because of course he would be so lucky. He was at least excused for all his other duties for the week because they didn’t want him to keel over because he got sick from being out in the rain all night.
Meaning he was out on patrol again the next night out in the rain, soaked to his bones for the second night in a row.
Patrol was going well until he got to the bench he had found the Commander on and discovered that Rhapsodos was there, once again missing his signature coat. He wasn’t as terrified at the sight of the man as he was yesterday so instead of deliberating for several minutes, he walked over to the man and sat down next to the Commander once again.
Rhapsodos was also quicker to act this time, pressing his face into Cloud’s rain-soaked hair with a soft noise of despair. Cloud was less surprised by the action but he was still confused as to why Rhapsodos was doing it or why he was letting him.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Cloud knew exactly why he was letting Rhapsodos do this and no it wasn’t because he thought the man was gorgeous, though the fact that Genesis Rhapsodos was gorgeous couldn’t be denied. It was because he had never been able to turn away from an obviously sad person in his life.
It was what got him on that bridge with Tifa all those years ago, something he still regretted to this day. It seemed he hadn’t learned anything from the backlash of that entire incident.
He felt Rhapsodos’ arms wrap around his form and pull him further into his space, the taller man curling more fully around his form. Cloud heard another soft, despairing noise from the Commander’s throat, muffled into his soaked hair.
Cloud pressed into the other man, soaking up the warmth that seemed to almost leek from the SOLDIER. If he had to be stuck in the rain with anyone, he was glad it was with an actual living furnace.
Things progressed as they had the night before, Commander Rhapsodos remained wrapped around him for several long, drawn-out minutes before pulling away after one final squeeze and walking away into the downpour.
Cloud watched the man disappear into the gloom of the night once again.
The same things repeated the next night and the night after.
The fifth night Cloud found Commander Rhapsodos out in the rain, he was too concerned about the man for his own good. This was going to be the night he decided to change things up a bit.
He hoped that the volatile man didn’t decided to attack him for what he was about to do.
He approached the bench as he usually did and sat down next to Rhapsodos, but instead of waiting for the other to make the next move he shifted to fully face the other and wrapped his small arms around the SOLDIER. He immediately felt Rhapsodos tense in his grip and took a steadying breath, tightening his grip as he waited for whatever the other decided to do.
He was silently panicking as more and more time passed without anything happening and Cloud was starting to think that he had just signed his own death warrant.
He breathed a great sigh of relief when Rhapsodos finally moved and not in an attempt to attack him. Rhapsodos moved slowly, shifting in Cloud’s grip until he could wind his much stronger limbs around Cloud’s smaller form and hesitantly tucked his head into Cloud’s shoulder.
Cloud had to focus on repressing his shiver at the feeling of cold rain against his neck and the warm breath that fanned across the skin there moments later. Sudden movements probably weren’t a good idea at the current point in time.
They stayed that way until Cloud felt Rhapsodos move to pull away, then instead of simply allowing the other to get up and leave Cloud tightened his own grip on the man before releasing him. He didn’t know whether or not he imagined the other’s moment of pause before Rhapsodos stood up and left.
Cloud watched him go until he couldn’t see the man anymore.
He was back out in the rain the next night, though this time with an umbrella he borrowed from one of his friends. He wasn’t on patrol tonight, meaning he was free to put his plan into action; he had already set up everything he thought he needed, he just needed to see whether it was necessary or not.
The familiar form on the same bench told him that his plan was indeed necessary.
He approached the man but this time he sheltered the other with his umbrella instead of sitting next next to him. Smiling softly when the man turned to stare up at him with a disbelieving look painted on his face.
Cloud watched as Rhapsodos’ features twisted in confusion, his eyes flicking between Cloud and the umbrella in his hand. Cloud waited to see if the man was going to say anything but Rhapsodos remained silent.
Cloud breathed a soft sigh and reached one of his hands out to the taller man, observing the confused way the other focused on his limb. He moved slowly in order to grasp the other’s arm in his hand, gently pulling the man to his feet with him.
Rhapsodos followed his prompting and stood from the bench. Cloud was pleased to note that the other stopped a bit in order to stay under the umbrella instead of standing in the rain.
He offered the man another smile once he was standing next to him under the umbrella, gaining a hesitant one in return. “I’m Cloud,” he said, deciding that he should probably tell the man his name before he squirrelled him away.
“Genesis,” was his only reply, the other’s tone tired and weary.
Cloud nodded his acknowledgement and started to lead Rhapsodos, Genesis, the direction he had come from, keeping his grip on the other’s arm to ensure that Genesis followed him. “Let’s get you out of the rain, alright?” He didn’t expect the other to be adverse to the idea but he wanted to give Genesis the option to leave if he wanted to.
Genesis remained silent, as he expected the man to, following his lead without comment. Cloud thought that the man would have some concern over where Cloud was leading him but Genesis remained silent as he lead him to his shared living space.
It was a small space, containing a living room, kitchen and bathroom along with four tiny bedrooms, Cloud shared it with three other troopers. He had convinced them to make themselves scarce tonight as he was setting things up so he didn’t have to worry about anyone staring at Genesis tonight.
He quickly led Genesis through the living space, to the bathroom of the apartment. Genesis was dripping rainwater on the floor and Cloud really wanted to get him into something warm and dry, he had a few decent towels waiting for them along with one of his soft, way-too-large-for-him jumpers and a pair of baggy pants that Genesis would most likely fit into.
“You drink tea?” Cloud asked as he moved around the bathroom, setting the towels and clothing on the sink as Genesis watched him absentmindedly. “I’ll go make some while you get dry, ok?”
He lifted his head after his question, waiting to see if Genesis would say anything in response. He only got a distracted nod as a response before Genesis started to remove his rain-soaked shirt from his chest.
Cloud escaped the bathroom as quickly as he could, fighting down the flush that was making itself known on his face. It wasn’t fair how gorgeous Genesis was.
Cloud had the tea ready by the time Genesis emerged from the bathroom, looking a bit more alert than when he entered. Fortunately for Cloud, the clothes he had given the other to change into were quite a good fit on the other man. The pants left a bit of Genesis’ lower legs uncovered but at least they fit him.
Genesis was looking around the room curiously, scanning the area before his eyes landed on the nest of blankets and pillows Cloud had arranged before he set off to get him. Cloud had just set the drinks down on the table next to the nest of materials when Genesis moved over, avoiding meeting Cloud’s eyes by focusing instead of the mass of materials in front of him.
“This is a setup,” Genesis offered after a few moments of silence, voice sounding more aware than it had outside.
Cloud smiled up at the taller man, moving around the table to settle down in the mass of soft blankets and pillows. “It’s pretty good, if I say so myself.” He told the SOLDIER, patting the space next to him expectantly. “Get down here so I can fix things up.”
“There’s more?” Genesis voice was both amused and questioning.
Cloud rolled his eyes at the man, tugging him down when he still hadn’t moved to join Cloud. “Of course there’s more,” he said in faux exasperation. “There’s soft blankets, warm drinks and stupid movies to watch.”
Genesis slowly settled into the nest of blankets next to him, letting Cloud fuss until he was cocooned in the warm blankets. Cloud then handed him one of the cups he had prepared and turned to fiddle with the remotes next to him.
He had asked Sammy for some stupid movie recommendations to put on and his response had been to hand Cloud his movie drive and tell him not to do anything he wouldn’t do. That hadn’t really been helpful as he didn’t know that there was anything that Sammy wouldn’t do.
He set up a movie that looked interesting and put the remote down, picking up his own drink for a quick sip before turning back to the other. Genesis was peering at him intently, eyes flicking over his features in a search for something.
Cloud blinked at the other man, reaching out to tuck more of the blanket around Genesis’ form until he was happy with how much the other was covered. Genesis had completely relaxing during his fussing and was now leaning into his space contently.
He fought down his rising flush when Genesis leaned across him to place his cup back on the table, then the other returned to his seat and pressed more fully against his side, winding an arm around Cloud’s waist.
Cloud might have died, just a little bit.
He took a few deep breaths and decided not to worry too much about the gorgeous man curled into him for the moment and simply enjoy the evening.
It was just going to be a nice night in; watching Sammy’s stupid movies and drinking hot tea in his blanket nest, with a gorgeous man pressed against his side. Nothing too difficult to deal with.
And if Genesis stayed the night, none of his roommates said anything about finding them sleeping against each other in their little blanket nest. They definitely didn’t take millions of pictures of them slumped together or tease him about it, no they most certainly did not.
And if Genesis showed up again the next night with a spare change of clothes and a pair of his own pyjamas, then they didn’t judge. They were perfectly happy to let the man join them in watching their trash reality TV and tease Cloud about his new ‘boyfriend’ after he left the next morning.
Cloud was touched that his friends thought he could actually get someone like Genesis Rhapsodos.
He was also glad that Genesis wasn’t sitting out in the rain anymore.