FIC Responsive Part 17

[jessara40k_lj]

Responsive Part 17

Final Fantasy VII fic, pre-game, mostly, with a post-AC epilogue.

CloudxSephiroth - and yes that does mean Cloud is topping.

Rating R.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” They really had done a good job of disguising Sephiroth if Marius would challenge him and not Cloud. He stepped to one side a little, so that he could see what his lover would do, only then realising that they’d forgotten to give the tinted glasses back to Zack. Sephiroth pulled the glasses off, folding them and holding them in one hand, a faint smile on his face.

“Returning to my quarters Private Kennedy.”

“Sorry sir. We didn’t realise it was you General Sephiroth.” It was Marius’ partner who apologised, not him, and Sephiroth gave Marius an approving glance at that.

“Yes, the disguise Zack insisted on was rather effective wasn’t it. You did well to stop me, carry on.”

“Yes sir!” Marius saluted enthusiastically, his partner sounded a bit less so, and Cloud followed Sephiroth as he continued walking.

“I should probably wash this out before our spar if people are going to doubt my identity because of it.” Sephiroth sounded a bit reluctant, was it because Cloud had said he found it attractive?

“Why bother? If you carry Masamune and wear your uniform I doubt anyone will say anything or have problems recognising you. No one else can wield your sword after all.” And besides they’d need to shower after sparring, and probably after they had sex as well, since Cloud fully intended to try out one of the cock-rings he’d picked out today, as well as at least one of the toys Sephiroth had chosen. “You don’t really have time either, do you?”

“I suppose not. And I can blame Zack for my hair colour as well.” If anyone dared question it; Cloud couldn’t think of anyone but Zack who would, but he didn’t say that.

“Yes sir.” They’d reached Sephiroth’s quarters by then and Cloud changed into his utilities for their spar, while Sephiroth got changed into his normal uniform. Cloud left it to Sephiroth to hide their new toys before they walked to the gym Sephiroth had booked to test Cloud in, and he was surprised by how well and quickly he hid them. The thought that he’d had to hide things from people before nagged at Cloud until they reached the gym, it reminded him a bit of his own history of hiding anything important from other people, because he knew they’d take it away if they saw it mattered to him.

For the next two hours while Sephiroth tested his skills Cloud was too busy to think of anything but how to dodge each blow, or how he could possibly attack when he saw an opening, if he saw an opening. He wasn’t sure but this felt harder than facing Sephiroth as a cadet; he just hoped that meant Sephiroth was fighting at a higher level, because he felt Cloud was good enough to cope with that, not that his skills had deteriorated. He didn’t think they had, but he couldn’t be certain.

“You’ve improved.” A compliment, it meant the General had been fighting on a higher level than he had before. “Were you wearing your weights?”

“Yes sir. But I had to reduce them from what I used to wear, to four fifths of what I had before I went on the mission. If I’d known how little I’d be assigned to do I’d have worn them there and kept in training.”

“I see. Walk with me while I explain your errors.” An excuse for Cloud to accompany Sephiroth to his quarters...or to the SOLDIER canteen where they could eat together as they dissected Cloud’s techniques. Cloud didn’t say much beyond what it took to show that he understood what Sephiroth was telling him, and he ignored the looks of mixed envy and sympathy the SOLDIERs were directing at him for having the General’s undivided attention.

The General kept on discussing how Cloud had performed after they’d finished eating, leading Cloud to his quarters, and even though he knew this was as much a diversion as a serious lesson he made a note of everything his sponsor found to criticise in him and his suggestions on how to improve. They could talk about other things later, once they had some privacy.

“I doubt it will be within your abilities to correct many of the flaws I have mentioned, not until you receive your first Mako injection, but bear them in mind.” Cloud could barely keep from gaping upon hearing that, but they were at the door to Sephiroth’s quarters and he could with until they were insider to demand answers.

“Why the fuck did you tell me about those problems if I can’t correct them?”

“Because I couldn’t find enough issues that you could correct to talk about until we got here. And...I wanted to eat with you where other people could see, even if they didn’t understand what sort of claim I was staking to you. Zack’s the only other person I’ve ever eaten alone with in the SOLDIER canteen, and this time it wasn’t something required.” Sephiroth sounded a bit embarrassed, but Cloud was flattered by the implications. “I’m sorry, I know I don’t have the right to stake a claim to you, and I did it twice today, even if-”

“Hush. I approve, you did well and I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. We were pretending that you were dominant for Zack’s benefit in that store remember? And I didn’t know how to get rid of the idiot making advances to me. You have every right to stake a claim to me if you feel the need to.”

“Thank you.” Sephiroth tilted his head as he spoke. “How do you think Zack found out about that store? And what do you think his interest in it might be?”

“No idea, but we can have lots of fun teasing him about it, can’t we?”

“Yes, we can. But for now can we try out some of the things we bought?” Sephiroth looked at Cloud appealingly.

“Yes, I planned to anyway. Get the lightest weight cock-ring, a dildo, not the largest, and one other thing if you wish.”

“Then I can shower and clean myself inside?” Sephiroth’s question as he made his way to the bedroom sent Cloud to the bathroom.

“Of course love. And I’ll take a quick shower while you’re picking our toys out.” Sephiroth always smelled good in Cloud’s experience, and Cloud hadn’t been enough of a challenge to make him sweat, but he was uncomfortably aware that he was stinking of stale sweat after his exertions.

Cloud looked at the toys laid out on the bed for him; Sephiroth had chosen the dildo with bumps on it that was about Cloud’s size and the nipple clamps that Cloud had chosen instead of the ones he’d picked up at the store originally. Not a gag, good, since that would affect his plans for tonight Cloud began taking each item from its packaging, setting the dildo to one side for later and thinking about how to use the nipple clamps. For the moment it would do if he put them on Sephiroth before taking him, and removed them before using the dildo, he could learn about the subtleties later.

“Sit down please love.” Considering what he was going to say Cloud didn’t want to be in a position where he might seem threatening to Sephiroth, it might scare his lover or upset him even without that. He waited until Sephiroth had sat beside him before saying anything else. “I want to experiment with this tonight.” He held up the cock-ring in illustration. “It is supposed to be possible for a man to climax wearing one of these, and I want to see how long it takes for you under constant stimulation. If it takes more than half an hour I’ll take it off tonight, and we can try for longer another night, and if it takes less time we’ll try the next one up another time. Do you remember your safewords?”

“Yes, ‘Hojo’ for ‘stop’, ‘Zack’ for ‘slow down’ and ‘love’ for ‘more please’.” Sephiroth’s voice was just a little breathy.

“Good. Lie down then.” Sephiroth obeyed, leaving his legs open so that Cloud could kneel between them. Cloud laughed and lay on top of Sephiroth to start with, kissing him gently, on the lips first and them moving down his body, nibbling lightly at his exposed throat until Sephiroth began to harden, then sucking at one nipple while he fastened the cock-ring on him. He didn’t want to over-stimulate Sephiroth’s nipples before he put the nipple clamps on them, so he sucked at the other nipple for a moment and sliding one oiled finger into him before moving on down his body, leaving the finger in place.

He half expected Sephiroth to protest when he took him into his mouth, checking the time beforehand, he had every other time, but apparently his lover trusted in the cock-ring to keep him from climaxing in Cloud’s mouth more than he trusted Cloud to pull back before that happened. It bothered him a bit, but it did mean that Cloud got to taste his lover for longer than he usually did, as he prepared him thoroughly, coating the dildo in oil and slipping it into Sephiroth when he was done.

“Cloud?” It was a question, not a protest, and he explained as he began to tease Sephiroth’s nipples gently.

“That’s to hold you open for me while I use these.” The nipple clamps, he’d read it was sometimes effective to use them asymmetrically, tightening one clamp more than the other. “Tell me if I make either of them too tight.” He started with the left nipple, tightening the clamp until he got a gasp from his lover, then he tightened the clamp on the right nipple that far, and a little further. “On your hands and knees.”

Sephiroth obeyed quickly, and Cloud pulled the dildo out so that he could take him, putting it to one side. He kissed the nape of Sephiroth’s neck as he took him, struck again by the sheer trust his lover had in him to offer himself so easily, brushing Sephiroth’s hair aside to make it easier. Once he’d climaxed he pulled out and slid the dildo back into his lover, reaching around him to remove the nipple clamps before pushing him to lie on his stomach.

“Roll over and wrap your legs around my waist.” Sephiroth obeyed and Cloud began nibbling on his throat, reaching down between his legs and using the dildo, letting him rub up against his stomach. They were just five minutes short of target when Sephiroth gave a quiet moan and climaxed against him.

“I’m sorry.” Sephiroth apologised as Cloud removed the cock-ring and pulled the dildo out.

“Don’t be. Now we know we need to use the next one up, that’s all. Come on, we can shower together.” And finally get the dye out of Sephiroth’s hair. Cloud set off towards the bathroom and his lover followed obediently.

o0()0o

Sephiroth had made a point of collecting Cloud from his training and eating with him before they went to meet with the head armourer for their ‘orientation lecture’ as Sephiroth called it. Cloud wasn’t entirely happy with this, and he knew that it showed, but that was probably a good thing; he’d been training with one of his squad mates and he didn’t want people to think he was using his friendship with Sephiroth to advance himself, but Newton had given him a sympathetic look as Sephiroth led him away.

“What’s wrong?” There was a hint of concern in Sephiroth’s voice, even if he was mostly concealing his emotions and acting as cold as he normally did in public.

“Nothing sir; it’s just you’ve eaten with me twice since I got back from my mission, and the only other time you’ve done that was just before it.” Cloud kept his voice low, so that Sephiroth would probably be the only one to hear him.

“I do eat here sometimes, but it’s usually with Zack or Angeal.” But obviously not often enough to have any feel for how fast the lines moved, and probably at times when fewer SOLDIERs were there most of the time. “It is customary to eat with your sponsee at least once after his first mission, and it’s considered courteous to deliver your sponsee to any special training you don’t do yourself, at least the first time.”

“And you’d never neglect any duty.”

“Everyone knows that about me.” There was a hint of bitterness in Sephiroth’s voice, and Cloud cast about for something else to say.

“And admires about you as well. You never told me the head armourer’s name.”

“No, I didn’t. He’s Colonel Grafton.” Cloud was just a little surprised by the rank; he’d expected the head of a department to be a brigadier or major general. He didn’t think his surprise showed though, and if it did Sephiroth didn’t comment on it, he simply expanded a bit on the structure of the department and Cloud paid attention, even if he couldn’t exactly take notes.

“Does Zack want to spend time with you after this?” Cloud spoke quietly as they made their way to their first lesson; his lover had spent every evening of Cloud’s leave with him, and he knew that Zack had probably planned to spend some of that time with Sephiroth.

“I told him not to ask for my evenings while you have leave...I don’t want to give up the nights I can spend sleeping in the same bed as you.” Cloud had glanced around to make sure there was no one watching before he said anything, and Sephiroth seemed to agree with his assessment of how likely they were to be overheard. “We won’t be meeting on Thursday, and he’s invited us to drink with him on Friday after our second lesson with Colonel Grafton.”

“You’ll be letting me get to the lesson myself on Friday though, won’t you?” Cloud smiled at Sephiroth to let him know he was teasing, hoping he wouldn’t take it wrong.

“Yes. It would give people too much to talk about if I didn’t.” At least with Cloud’s curfew they wouldn’t have to spend too long drinking with Zack - he liked being around Zack, it was just the drinking he had a problem with. “But we’ll be starting your lessons in using materia back up on Saturday, so you’ll need to report to me at 1800 in the materia training room.”

“Yes sir. Should I tell Alex and Marius?”

“No. Their sergeants already know.” And presumably Sergeant Redstone did too. “You will be able to find your way here again without a guide won’t you?” Cloud blinked when he realised they’d arrived while he’d been partly distracted by their conversation, but even so...

“Yes sir. I checked out how to get here before, using a route I recorded from when I was assigned as your runner.” Sephiroth knocked at the door as Cloud spoke.

“An admirable degree of forethought then.” Cloud wasn’t going to satisfy the curiosity in Sephiroth’s eyes by explaining that he’d need a contact here if he wanted to make the gift he had in mind for his lover. “Hello Colonel Grafton.”

“Sephiroth, Cloud; come in. I’ve arranged a little test for you, to see how much you’ve managed to read up on.” Cloud followed Sephiroth into the room, glancing around and noticing two benches piled with weapons and bracers as well as various moulds, presses and crucibles placed on the other benches. “I want you to look through those damaged items and sort them into the ones that could be repaired using the field kit on the bench, the ones that could be repaired here, and the ones that can’t be repaired and repair as many as you have time for using the field kit. You have forty minutes from now.” At least he’d waited until they’d reached the benches.

First Cloud checked what was in the repair kit, noting the small saw, the pliers and the soldering tool that seemed to be powered by a Fire materia, as well as the obviously special solder and the spare sprung claws that would hold the materia in place. Every slot with a visibly damaged circuit went into the not repairable pile and he noticed that one sword didn’t seem to have any damaged slots at all...well, except for some surface scratching on one of the two slots and he placed that separately since it didn’t need any repair. The scratching wasn’t the type that could develop into a crack, it was too broad and shallow, more scraping than scratching.

One armlet had the two slots melted around the materia set into them, but when he put it on to check Cloud could tell the slots both still worked - it would just take too long for someone in the field to get the materia out without damaging the circuits. That went in the pile for repair here as did the two cases where the slot was cracked across the body, but without affecting the circuits after he’d used his Ice to check that the circuits were fine. In three cases one of the sprung claws was broken, and he thought he could use the field kit to replace them. One had a crack starting at the inner contact surface...Cloud could easily solder that one shut without damaging the slot, or risking it becoming severe enough to need work here at the armoury. The other eight were scratched deep enough to expose the circuits and he checked each of those to make sure they didn’t have to be discarded before sorting them according to how much metal needed to be replaced. One of the slots had to be discarded, four of them could be adequately protected with the solder from the kit and the remaining three needed to be worked on here.

That had taken ten minutes and Cloud thought, hoped each of the slots he’d identified as repairable using the field kit would take ten minutes to fix and it would probably be best if he showed he could deal with each different type of damage. He pulled out one of the spare sprung claws, checking the shape of the metal it was set in so he knew how to cut the damaged claw away. It took him longer than he’d hoped and he’d messed up the fit at first, needing to file both pieces down a bit before he could solder them together and clamp the slot while it cooled. He only had time after that to do one more slot and he picked up one with a scratch down to the circuits, filing it down first to remove any impurities on the surface of the crack, then filling it in with the solder and resisting the temptation to use his Ice to accelerate the cooling of the metal. He finished with three minutes before the end of the test, not enough time to start work on another slot so he tidied his kit away.

“Time’s up. Sephiroth, which pile is which?” Cloud watched as Sephiroth explained which pile was which, noting that he had more ‘not repairable’ items than Cloud did, and fewer that he thought could be repaired using the field kit. The General had managed to repair two slots, just like Cloud had, but Cloud had a feeling one of them had only been ‘damaged’ the way the dagger he’d put by itself had.

“Your turn Cloud.”

“This pile is stuff that can’t be repaired, because the damage affected the circuits - exposing the circuits doesn’t count for that purpose. This pile can be repaired, but require equipment not available or materials not available in sufficient quantities in the field kit and this pile is the stuff I think I can repair using the field kit. I’ve repaired these two items, and the dagger doesn’t need repair for more than cosmetic purposes.”

“You’re the first person to spot the ringer; everyone else assumed that everything in the test needed to be repaired. What would it take to get you to transfer to my department?” Sephiroth had pinned the man to the wall before Cloud had a chance to say anything.

“Never suggest that again. Cloud Strife will be joining SOLDIER, no other unit. Is that clear?”

“Cr-crystal.” Cloud couldn’t believe the way Sephiroth had reacted, but he stayed silent as the General released the colonel.

“My apologies for reacting so violently...but you did promise you would not use these lessons to attempt to poach Cloud.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll see how well you both did on the slots you repaired, but you better hope you sorted them out right; because during your training you’ll have to repair them using the specified facilities. Now I’m going to show you how to make materia slots, or the key parts of the process.”

“Can we link to you while you do that sir, so we know if you’re using any magic beyond the obvious?”

“Link to me?”

“It’s something I developed...and Cloud improved on. Do you still need skin to skin contact?”

“No, just contact now.” He’d worked on it when he could during his mission.

“Go ahead.” Sephiroth put a hand on the man’s back and Cloud imitated him, linking to his energy core. They observed as Colonel Grafton used a Fire spell to melt the alloy for a circuit, pouring it into a mould for the rough shaping, mentioning how other people used other methods to do the rough shaping and the circuit would be filed by hand after that. He prepared the base of the slot in the same way, used a Fire to soften four completed circuits so he could mould them against the base and cast an Ice to cool them before pouring in the rest of the slot alloy.

o0()0o

“What sort of theory did you have that you can test without any of the equipment the armourers use?” Cloud had come away from their lesson with eight rectangles of sheet metarium in the thickness needed for the circuits and apparently Sephiroth didn’t want to wait until they were somewhere private to ask about it.

“Remember how Colonel Grafton said some of his armourers did the rough shaping of their circuits by using a Fire spell to soften the sheet then a chisel to shape it? I have another idea about how to ‘cut’ the circuit from a sheet of alloy, and it won’t need any filing afterwards I think.”

“And the downside?”

“It will take way too much energy for me to ever think about using it routinely. Bahamut’s Scales, I don’t even have deep enough reserves to do one circuit using this technique even if it works.” But he could take energy from Sephiroth to make the ‘test’ circuits if his lover would permit it, and if it worked he could move on to trying the alternate circuits he’d designed. “It’s something I expect I’d reserve for special cases...except I don’t want to focus only on making weapons and armour any more than I want to focus on healing people.”

“But you want to try it anyway. And I suppose it will help you improve your skills with materia?”

“Possibly. Would you mind lending me the energy to try it?”

“We can do it tonight if I can practise feeding the energy to you again.” Sephiroth paused, looking thoughtful. “Do you think it would take enough energy to affect me physically?” Cloud was tempted to laugh at the wistful tone in Sephiroth’s voice, but that would be a bit cruel.

“No, it doesn’t start to affect someone physically until they’ve only got about 2% of their reserves left unused.” And he wouldn’t be using anywhere near that much power tonight...although if he could he’d make the alternate circuits tonight as well, and only build them into a slot if the standard circuits worked. “And I think that doing all eight circuits tonight would only take about a fifteenth of your reserves - assuming you want to overfill mine to their maximum capacity afterwards.” Cloud was probably overestimating how much energy he’d be using, but it didn’t matter.

“It will use a bit more than that, but not much more. And I suppose there are other things we could do.” Cloud smiled at Sephiroth’s strong, albeit discreet, hint, thinking about what sort of games he could play with his lover.

“Yes. I don’t think the colonel used any magic other than the obvious; did you notice anything?”

“No.” Sephiroth laughed quietly as he answered. “And it’s hardly likely that I would be able to notice something you didn’t. He did mention that he needed to hold the ‘format’ of a mastered materia pretty firmly in his mind while he was working on the slots though.”

“But he wasn’t feeding energy to the circuits and the slots other than through the spells.” So Cloud probably wouldn’t have any advantages over Sephiroth - although from what he’d seen of the results of that test he’d have a heavier workload, but his lover had a heavier workload in the normal course of his duties.

“Do you really think you can repair the slots that had been melted over?”

“I think so. It’s basically a matter of sawing and filing away the metal and then repeating that final stage Colonel Grafton showed us.”

“Do you really think it’s worth the trouble though?” Sephiroth absently opened his door as he spoke.

“I think it depends on who’s doing the repair, and on what sort of slot was melted. If the guy repairing it’s capable of making slots then possibly not, but I get the impression that you don’t have to be capable of making a slot to repair a damaged one.” Cloud wondered if Sephiroth had considered their conversation cover while they couldn’t be certain they weren’t being overheard or if he’d continue it now they had complete privacy.

“No...I don’t think so either. He was quite insistent that the same person had to prepare all four circuits and mould the body of the slot, but the fact that field repairs are possible says you don’t need to know how to make a slot to repair it. But it helps, and you want to know how to make slots yourself don’t you?”

“Yes.” Cloud left it at that, he’d elaborate if Sephiroth insisted, without revealing his real motivation, but he wasn’t going to let his lover know that he thought this was the only way he could give him a gift equal to the one Sephiroth had given him for his birthday.

“Even if you never use it after this.” Sephiroth sounded amused, but he leaned down to kiss Cloud and poured power into him, surprising him a bit, but not so much that he didn’t wait until he’d taken almost as much energy as he could safely before pushing his lover away.

“You’ve gotten the ‘wastage’ down to just under an eighth of the energy you supply now; well done. I think it would be best to do this in the kitchen if you don’t mind?”

“You know what you need.” Sephiroth shrugged as he responded. “But I want to watch.” That might be a bit of a problem since Cloud knew Sephiroth would spot how many different circuits he made, even if he didn’t know exactly what the difference meant.

“I’d rather you found something else to do while I did the first circuit at least. I’d prefer not to have you watching if I screw up.” It was the truth as well as a convenient excuse, and Sephiroth seemed to recognise that.

“I’ll shower then.”

“Thank you. I can borrow a Fire materia, can’t I?”

“Of course.” Sephiroth looked faintly surprised and Cloud took the mastered materia he offered to him then moved through to the kitchen. He grabbed a small tray and laid it on the draining board, holding one of the pieces of metarium directly above it as he used his Ice materia to create an ‘ice sculpture’ that would hold it in position. Then, holding the image of one of his modified circuits and the knowledge of how he perceived an unslotted materia in mind he drew on one of the unstable energy levels in the Fire materia to selectively melt the metarium leaving the circuit behind, letting the unneeded alloy fall to the tray below.

Sephiroth was still showering so Cloud took the time to look for a couple of small bags to store the circuits in, grabbing some tissue to wrap them in as well. Then he slotted the Fire materia and used just over half his remaining energy to cast a Fire to free the circuit, moving it to lie on the ice with a set of tongs he’d found.

“Do you need some more energy?”

“Please.” This time when he used the Ice materia to trap the piece of metarium Cloud made sure the new ice covered the circuit he’d just completed, then he repeated his earlier technique to form the more traditional version of the circuit he’d made before, keeping how a slotted materia appeared to him in mind. He made the rest of the circuits in the same way, setting the ones for his experimental slot to one side and the circuits for the conventional slot to the other and when there was only one circuit left to do, the conventional version of one of his two modified circuits he turned to Sephiroth.

“I’ve just got one circuit left, why don’t you go pick out some toys for us to play with?”

“Any preferences?” He hadn’t offended Sephiroth at any rate.

“The next cock-ring up, and if you want nipple clamps we’ll use the ones I chose.”

“Yes Cloud.” Sephiroth smiled at Cloud as he left and Cloud quickly finished the last circuit; he’d store them later, once they’d cooled and the ice had melted around them.

Sephiroth had apparently decided against the nipple clamps, in favour of one of the ball gags, the smaller one, and the smooth dildo that was about Cloud’s size as well as the cock-ring Cloud had chosen.

“Do you have a bell we can use as a signal then?” They hadn’t arranged a signal the first time they’d used a gag but they should have, and he hoped this would be a bit more intense, even if they were omitting some of the sensory play.

“Do we really...I’m sorry, no. Can you get one tomorrow then, after you go hunting with Zack?”

“Yes. And I should have thought of this earlier. I didn’t insist on a non-verbal signal last time, so you didn’t have any reason to think I would this time.” He’d been irresponsible, and Cloud wasn’t sure what could have happened if he skipped the safety precautions, but he didn’t want to risk it. “Besides, to be honest I’d really prefer we didn’t use a gag while we use a cock-ring until I’ve got more experience with them.” Sephiroth looked disappointed, but he wasn’t going to be pressured into doing something he was sure would be a bad idea. “We can use the gag tomorrow if you want us to,” He should probably offer something else to ease his lover’s disappointment. “and I’ll tie you up while I use one of the next size up of the dildos on you.” Not while Cloud took Sephiroth, but it was an escalation of what he’d been able to do in that area so far.

“Then what will we be doing tonight?” It looked as if Sephiroth was accepting Cloud’s decision without question, and he put the toys on the table before answering.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Cloud leaned forward and kissed Sephiroth, pushing him to lie down as he did. “You just need to lie back and let me do what I want with you.” He was crouched over his lover as he spoke, in a position that was almost threatening.

“Yes Cloud.” Sephiroth’s voice was almost dreamy and Cloud kissed him forcefully before moving on to greater intimacies.

o0()0o

Cloud paused for a moment outside the shop Zack had introduced him to on Monday, then walked in, hoping that he wouldn’t be recognised as the ‘submissive’ who’d accompanied two SOLDIER 1sts. He’d been inspired by visiting here about what else to get Sephiroth for his birthday besides the new materia slot he’d designed, but he really needed to be acknowledged as a dominant to find out where to commission it. He had a few hundred gil in his wallet so it would probably be a good idea to buy something before he began asking questions...he just wasn’t sure what, although if nothing else sprung to mind he could get a bell here, so he walked around the store, examining what there was.

What were those? Cloud stepped closer to the odd display of cloth and plastic - no, silicone - tubes, examining the models out on display a bit more closely. Apparently they were designed to fit over a man’s penis, for added stimulation presumably. Cloud thought getting a couple of those would be good enough to give him a chance to ask for advice; he could get the bell he’d promised for tonight’s game somewhere else easily enough, he’d seen some small round bells in Puzzling that would work. He picked out three of what seemed to be the right size, one of cloth lined with fur, another that was silicone, with blunt little silicone spines on the inside, and one lined with pins that he really didn’t expect to use for more than mind games, not unless Sephiroth asked him to use it for real.

“Can you give me some advice as well? I need to commission a set of restraints and I’m not sure where to go.”

“If you’re new to this sort of game why not just buy something from here instead of spending your money on something custom made?” Cloud counted to ten mentally, telling himself the man was trying to be helpful, and to make sure Cloud wouldn’t be spending money on something he wouldn’t use that often, not just trying to drum up some more business for himself.

“My sub’s a SOLDIER 1st. We want something he won’t be able to break.”

“I see...you were in here with two SOLDIERs on Monday weren’t you? But you were pretending to be sub then. I didn’t buy it, not with the way the pale SOLDIER kept looking at you for approval, but you did fool some people.”

“We only really expected to fool our dark haired friend. My sub didn’t even want him to know that we’re kinky, but he found a book and made assumptions that I’m willing to play along with for...Sera’s sake.”

“I hope ‘Sera’ knows how lucky he is then. Some ‘dominants’ wouldn’t ‘shame’ themselves by doing that to protect their sub, even though a dominant’s supposed to make sure their sub isn’t harmed.” Apparently the other man approved of Cloud’s actions though. “We’ve got a smith in the next building who makes some of our toys and who does commission work. I’ll introduce you to him. Naomi, come and take over at the till.” The girl who came at the man’s call was tall, elegant and self-possessed, but there was some indefinably air about her that said she was submissive, something that reminded him oddly of Sephiroth.

“Thank you.” Cloud smiled at the man and the girl impartially and followed the dark haired man through to an office just off a forge.

“It looks like Robert’s busy at the moment, but why don’t I discuss the parameters of what you want before he gets here. If the only custom aspect’s the strength of the materials you need using then it will cost a lot less than if you need a completely custom made rig.”

“What sort of ‘standard’ packages do you have then?” Cloud wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted, except to please his lover with this.

“Some packages are more flexible than others. Will you be able to bring your sub in to be measured?”

“I’d rather not, this is a birthday gift for him, and I want to surprise him as much as possible.”

“Then solid metal bands are probably out. Robert does woven metal bands too, however they’re not as strong as the solid ones made of the same metal, so he’ll probably have to use a more expensive alloy.”

“What do they look like, and would that limit where I attached the chains? Or do the chains have to be built into the bands?”

“I’ll get a sample to show you. I take it that you don’t want the chains built in?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’d like something as flexible as possible.” The man had stood and was pulling a box from a cupboard across the office as Cloud replied, but it didn’t really matter if that seemed rude, because it wasn’t.

“Here’s what the bands of woven metal look like.” Cloud was as taken by the flat wooden box he pulled the band out of as by the band itself. The box was made of plain pine and lined with simple felt, but it was well made, and it didn’t give any indication of what was inside. The band was made of woven copper, but at two points it was interrupted by a solid piece of copper with a loop attached, both of which seemed like pretty solid pieces of work, not just decoration of some kind. “Those are points where you can attach a chain or a bar, and you can have up to three of them, depending on what length you need the band to be.”

“I see. And what options do I have for where I place these bands?” Cloud had only considered wrists and ankles, but if there were other options, and he could afford it...

“You really didn’t have anything specific in mind, did you?” The man sounded surprised at that as he stood again and began looking for something else.

“I’d thought about shackles, for the wrists and ankles, but you make it sound like there’s a lot more options, and I want the best and most flexible system I can afford.”

“Ah, well if you do it this way you’ll be able to add extra pieces as and when you want them. Here are the most common places to fasten the bands...although you can position them anywhere you want so long as you give us the length you require.” Cloud looked at the picture of a man with bands at multiple places along his arms and legs and in a number of places around his body too with a sense of disbelief.

“Okay, I want to get the pricing for two or three different options. First with just wrist and ankle bands only, one attachment point at each wrist and two at each ankle. Second if I get bands at the wrist, elbow, ankle and thigh, attachment points as before for the wrists and ankles, two points at the elbows and three points at the thigh. And third if I get the second option with the addition of bands just above or below the knee, with just one attachment point.”

“We’ll need exact lengths before we start, the measurement around each point where you want to fasten a band not how long you think each band should be.”

“Right. I’ll get that after we decide on which option to go for, when I bring the deposit.” Cloud knew better than to think this Robert would start work without a deposit, but he wasn’t going to pay the full price up front. “First let’s discuss the chains. Do they come with integral locks at the ends, or will I have to get padlocks to fasten them to the bands?”

“Robert can do it both ways, but the lock will be weaker if you get it put into the chain, not much, but a bit. Unless you get the end link made of the same alloy as the woven part of the bands.”

“Then I’m going to want two sets of costings for each of the options we’ve covered, one with the chains that have integral locks, and one with chains and padlocks of equivalent strength, say...eight in each case.” Probably more than he needed, but better that than too little. “And I’ll want two padlocks even with the integral lock option.”

“We can work that up. Hello Robert.” Cloud stood and turned to look at the man coming in, more heavily muscled than Zack, even if he couldn’t be as strong.

“Wesley. And this is?”

“Call me Strife.” He’d answer to it after all, and he didn’t want to give his first name to these strangers. “I was talking about what sort of restraints I wanted to get for my sub. They need to be strong enough to hold a SOLDIER 1st class, and I want to get pricing done on six different options.”

“I can’t do the pricing immediately, it’ll take a couple of days to work out a quote, and even then it might be a bit rough.”

“I can come back in a week with a deposit to make my final decision. Fair enough?”

“What options is he thinking about?” Robert sat down beside Wesley, and looked at the paper he’d been writing on.

“We’d just got to the point of discussing the chains or bars.”

“Can I see the padlocks and the chains with the integral locks?”

“Of course. You’ll be able to fit up to two of the integral locks or padlocks into the loops on the bands, possibly three, but that would be pushing it.” And there was no way Cloud would do that. From their behaviour, Wesley still doing the talking while Robert went to get the samples, Wesley was definitely in charge, so Cloud focused his attention on him.

“I can see that.” But it was pretty obvious that it would be possibly to get the two locking ends into one loop. “Well, whichever way we decide on I want four chains that are one foot long and two chains that are two feet, three feet and four feet long.”

“That’s a total of ten chains then?”

“For the option with just the wrist and ankle bands. With the other two options I want an additional chain that’s two feet long and one that’s five feet long. And with the option with the bands at the knees I’d want a bar about three feet long. Will you be able to cost that for me?”

“Yes. Here’s what I’ve noted down.” Wesley handed over a piece of paper with three headings and what Cloud wanted for each option written down under the headings. Under the list of bands Cloud wanted it noted ‘with integral locks’ then halfway down the page the chains were listed again, but ‘without integral locks’ and it seemed clear enough. “We can write up a proper order detail when we do the pricing. We require a twenty percent deposit. Is there an upper limit to what you can spend?”

“No more than thirty-five thousand. I’ll bring seven thousand next week.” And then it was just a matter of getting out of there politely.

o0()0o