Astraphobia [M] [Closed]

Reno held him close with a sad smile. "You're selling yourself short," he chided lightly. "You raised three sons alone while holding down a successful military career. Yes, two of them are acting out... but it'll pass. Everyone goes through a wild stage when they're 16, some more than others, and while the other night was the worst thing a family could go through... it's also a wake up call that things aren't right. You've said yourself that Yazoo is driving Kadaj mad trying to make up for it, and the fact that you haven't lamented anything Loz has done means that maybe it's clicked something in his mind too."

He kissed the top of Seph's head and rest his cheek on it. "As for Kadaj... you know how hard it is coming out. It's a whole different set of emotions that a lot of people don't understand. You did, though. When you couple that relief with a teenage curiosity and the ability to completely muddle things around, you get a situation. All it means is that he loves you, and for a moment that love got confused. It's hard not to react to that."

He pulled back a little to tilt Seph's face up and kiss him. "You haven't had an easy life, neither have they... but you're together still. You could have handed them off to an adoption agency, set them down in a hospital and walked away... but you didn't. You chose to be their father - to stop your life to give them one. Just because it hasn't been perfect doesn't mean that it's been bad."

He kissed him again and smiled. "Besides, I've already told you that I will always be here if you need me - and I mean that. You don't have to do this alone any more... and I can't say that I'll always have the answers or that I'll even be any good at it... but I'm here. I can listen. I know, this is when we remember just how long it hasn't been... but I don't think it matters. This feels right, being with you... and that has to mean something."

He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "Now you say something before I make this talking at length thing more of a habit," he said with a sheepish smile.

"It's the hardest lesson as a parent - learning that sometimes they have to save themselves." He gave a quiet chuckle. "That's what my mum says anyway... and I've not turned out too badly, I think."

He took Seph's hand from his face and squeezed it gently. "Cruel would have been beating them when they made a mistake, or when they were honest about who they are. It would be not listening to them when they need to talk, or abandoning them when they need you most. What they've gone through as military brats won't have been easy, and sometimes it wouldn't have felt fair - but you've given them something to be proud of by fighting for your country, for fighting for them. You've loved them not matter what scrapes they've gotten into, and I'm sure they know that."

He pressed Seph's hand against his chest, his own hand lightly pinning it there. "You don't have to be strong for me, Seph. Right now you need to let yourself work through all this, and you can't do that when you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Let me be strong for you."

"That's the plan, didn't you know? Make sure you can't live without me." He grinned and pulled Seph closer. "I'm just glad I've been able to help - and I'm sure the worst of it is over and things will settle down. Besides, things can't possibly get worse so if nothing else you can breathe a sigh of relief that you won't have anything new to add to the load."

He nudged Seph lightly with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "So... going back a while now... Kadaj wants to set us up?" He laughed and kissed Seph with a purr. "I think he's becoming my favourite."

Reno laughed and shook his head. "Well it's hard to not take that as a compliment - usually it's 'you would be attractive if you looked less like a train wreck victim'. The train wreck chic working for me is a whole new experience."

He nuzzled Seph's neck and lightly bit into the soft, tempting skin. "I know, it's wrong to pick favourites, but when one compliments me, one looks at me with a lot of suspicion and the other won't even meet my eye... to be fair, Yazoo wasn't meeting anyone's eye so it's unfair to take that personally, and Loz has plenty to be suspicious of. Hell, I'd find me suspicious under those circumstances too..."

He nuzzled up his neck and nibbled his earlobe lightly. "I have to admit that my absolute favourite is the tallest one. He has hair to die for and he's such a good kisser. Very impressive in bed too." He kissed him with a smirk, as though he needed to explain that he meant the man in his lap, and not one of the boys. "I don't know though, like you insinuated - I really shouldn't pick favourites..."

Reno chuckled and pulled him into another kiss. "I'm game for it - I'm intrigued to see how he's going to get to the subject of if I know you're gay, so he doesn't out you, and then how he questions if I am."

Reno carefully pushed the suit jacket from Seph's shoulders and nudged it down his arms as his lips traced down his chest and then back up over his throat.

"It's football season so I can make plenty of excuses to drag you out of the house, or turn up on your doorstep - pre-planned, of course. He doesn't have to know where we're really going as long as you know the score when you go back, in case he gets suspicious."

He pressed a brief kiss to Seph's lips. "We're devious, you know that right?" He broke into a grin - it wasn't a problem for him at all.

Reno kissed him softly and nudged his nose against Seph's lightly. "We'll work it out and be honest with them all soon... once we figure out how to do it without causing any problems. If that takes a while... well... we'll figure it out."

His fingers slipped under Seph's shirt, tracing lightly across his back. "I hate to do this but.... My left leg fell asleep about five minutes ago," he laughed. "I think we need to shift how I'm sitting before the right one goes too and then if I try to move I end up in a heap."

Reno didn't have time to agree before the fingers started to work their magic, his eyes slipping closed and his lips parting slightly with a heavy breath. It felt so good that there was no way that he was going to stop him.

"Mmm, definitely keep going," he chuckled huskily. "And then I'll make good on that foot rub I promised yesterday... well... that's if I can concentrate again after this."

He had never been more glad for a dead leg.

Reno opened his mouth to answer but couldn't get his mind down from Cloud 9 long enough to formulate a sentence, a soft pleased sound being all he could manage as the lips pressed against his knee.

"I can tell you with certainty that I am 100 percent distracted," he eventually murmured. His eyes slowly opened and he gave Seph a smile. "Remind me to get a dead leg more often, this feels so good."

"You are free to massage anything and distract me as much as you like," he sighed contently. "You will not hear a single complaint from me."

Had kissing him not already aroused Reno, this treatment certainly would have. It wasn't something he would be demanding attention for - what he was getting was already pleasing enough.

"Anything."

Reno groaned softly, desperately anchoring his hips to the sofa to avoid pressing up into his face. Every touch, every brush of his lips, electrified him.

"I think it was about three days ago," he teased, gently running his fingers through the hair he had come to covert. It was the truth, at least. He'd known from the second that he saw Sephiroth that meeting him once would not be enough - it was why he had invited him out for that drink. He couldn't have possibly imagined things turning out the way they had, but he certainly couldn't complain about it in any way.

Reno's cheeks took up a faint blush as he gladly pressed up against Seph, kissing him back with a soft moan. "Flattery gets you everywhere," he purred, rocking up into him.

He had no reason to be ashamed that his body had reacted so easily to the attention, or that while several moments before he would have been happy to ignore the stiffening member in his pants... it was getting much more difficult to do so.

"Though I'm not a patch on you," he chuckled softly, pulling him further into the kiss. The man atop him was like something from an art gallery exhibition, chiselled from marble into sheer perfection - every line and contour planned out and executed with an artist's hand. Yet there was so much more warmth in him than could be imagined if you were to just look at him. The muscles were solid but the flesh was warm and malleable, his lips soft and inviting, and a depth in his eyes that no painting or sculpture could ever capture. He had seen terrible things, been through so much... but even then you could still see that he had hope for life, and when he smiled - no matter how small - you could tell it was true as it was always reflected in his eyes.

He gave a soft sigh as they continued their embrace - it was so soon, but he could tell that he could very easily fall in love with that man.

Reno lightly nipped at the tongue before granting it the entrance it sought, flicking his own over the muscle with a sound of contentment. His hand brushed down Seph's back, urging him closer, as the other hand tangled in his hair again. His hips pressed up again with a muted groan.

"I'm afraid there's no rehab for this addiction," he purred as the kiss broke. "But I'm not an expensive habit, so it's not as bad..."

"I do not see how this addiction could be possibly harmful," and it wasn't like he stayed away form harmful addictions either. Hips pressed back into Reno's, moving against him as he reached down. Fingers began their work on the belt though it was difficult with only one hand and not being able to see it. It slipped loose and he began to work to pull the button loose.

"Reno..."

His mouth moved to claim Reno's again and the free hand slid under his shirt.