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"That SOLDIER boy of yours—"
"Watch your mouth, now. That’s ex-SOLDIER — and man in charge of the Watch."
"—think he’d be interested in this special materia we got?"
Barret stopped and considered the ballsy punk, instead of throwing him on his ass outside the bar. New kid, trying to prove himself with the regular black market crew making their delivery of guns to Barret for the Watch. Lucky for him, that he managed to spout something that caught Barret’s interest.
He wasn’t an expert on materia — that was more something in Cloud’s purview. But Barret knew enough to know it was powerful stuff, and not good in the hands of the baddies the fools would no doubt make their offer to next.
"How much?"
They told him. Barret swore. Shit, no wonder Cloud was so goddamn stingy about his gil. If that was the cost of materia, being a merc had to be damn expensive work.
He handed off the gil and took the big marble in the palm of his hand. One of the green ones. He’d seen others like it in Cloud’s trunk, upstairs — a trunk filled with expensive goddamn treasures, turned out — and whenever Cloud had it equipped in his gear. Still had no idea how people could tell the difference between them. Made no sense to Barret how one that let Cloud cast fire was the same damn color as one that let him cast ice.
Barret wondered what spell this one contained — what made this one so special. He’d have to ask Cloud and find out.
Wasn’t long after the black market gang made their exit that Cloud walked through the door. Habit of staying out of Barret’s deals had stuck, even after Cloud turned into the man the guns would ultimately be handed off to. He’d shrugged his shoulders about it before, and given the explanation, Don’t want to ruin your rhythm with them. You know how to handle them. Better if I stay out of it.
Except he apparently had his doubts, after deftly cupping his palms and catching the orb Barret tossed his way. Holding it, Cloud froze, before rolling it from one palm to the other. Frowning.
"What the hell, Barret?"
"You don’t know what kind of materia that is either, huh?" Maybe there was something special to it.
"It’s—"
The tops of Cloud’s ears started to go pink, which made Barret lift an eyebrow.
"—lust materia," Cloud finished.
"Say what?"
Cloud glared instead of repeating himself. He mumbled, "Contains a spell to, uh. Stimulate."
That explained why Cloud’s sort of blush had shown up. But that meant—
"Hold up, now — that fucker sold me a magic sex toy?!" Punk was probably having a laugh, if he’d known what it was. Special materia, Barret’s ass—
"If you didn’t know, then why the hell did you buy it?"
When Barret calmed down and explained, Cloud said, You’re a dumbass… But probably for the best.
"Lust materia… Didn’t know Shinra got that kinky in their labs."
Cloud gave a short snort. "Never heard of their head of Weapons Development?"
Oh, that broad. Barret had seen her on the news — Shinra’s mouthpiece — before. Yeah, he got Cloud’s point.
"Well…" Cloud sighed. "I’ll store it with the rest."
Barret stroked his beard, looking at the orb resting in the curve of Cloud’s palm. Cloud rolled his eyes, when Barret smirked at him.
"What."
"You ain’t curious?"
Cloud looked from Barret, to his hand, with a blink. Opened his mouth to say something, but chuffed instead. Said, "Are you for real?"
"Yeah! Why the hell not?" At Cloud’s skeptical look staying stuck on his face, Barret sought that deeper, rumbling register with his voice to help shake it loose. He knew how he sounded. He knew how much Cloud liked the way he sounded, too. "Been kinda curious… How many times can you cum, anyway?"
SOLDIERs (or ex ones) were virile enough, Barret could attest to that. Cloud usually came more than once, without any lust materia to help.
The blush was back, coloring those ears again. "You never wonder before? C’mon, what’s your record?"
"…Something like five," muttered Cloud.
"Wha—" One more than Barret was aware of. Either Cloud had managed that many by himself, which was nice to think about, or…
With someone else, before he’d met Barret. Guessed Barret had never asked about Cloud’s previous partners. Wasn’t going to bring up exes then, though. Mood killer, for sure.
There was a too serious furrow in the center of Cloud’s brow, as he looked over the materia in his hands again. "We don’t know how this works… gotta be careful."
Only one unspoken piece of that sentence that Barret paid attention to. "So… sounds like…"
The corner of Cloud’s mouth had curled into a smirk despite himself, watching Barret’s excitement growing. He replied, low, "…S’pose I wouldn’t mind trying to break that record."
Cloud was sold. "All right," Barret chuckled. Cloud huffed, pleased but trying not to show it, and said quietly, C’mon, leading the way upstairs.
Barret caught up at the bedroom door, crowding Cloud against the back of it to kiss him stupid, get him a little more riled up and raring to go for the plan. But when they broke, Cloud didn’t keep distracted for long. Frowning some more, he looked into the center again of the materia that he hadn’t let go of.
Barret unzipped the neck of Cloud’s shirt, and pushed aside the collar to drop his mouth to the skin he’d bared. Cloud angled to give Barret room, a catch in his throat the only brief loss of his focus.
He said resolutely, in protector mode, "I’m not casting it on you. Not until I know what it does."
"That’s real sweet of you."
"Shut up." Cloud gripped the orb a little more firmly with his fingers. "I’m gonna cast it on myself."
Barret took a step back to give Cloud some space, to do whatever he had to do. "All right," he said, "Let’s see what we got goin’ on."
"Right."
In Cloud’s hand, the materia started to brighten, and glow. The light it emitted reflected the mako green in Cloud’s downcast eyes. Particles of matching, ethereal-looking light streamed in swirls around Cloud’s body, rising upward before dissipating.
Cloud shuddered. The materia fell from his limp grip.
Shit — that didn’t look right. Something had to seriously be wrong, for Cloud to lose coordination. Barret ignored the orb’s thunk and clattering roll across the floorboards, in favor of grabbing Cloud’s arm to steady him. Cloud moaned. Bowed his head, and took a shaky breath, looking down at himself in blank astonishment. Took Barret a minute to see what he was looking at, too.
On the front of Cloud’s pants, a dark stain spread.
He’d just cum. Immediately.
"Well," said Barret, more than husky, "That’s one." Cloud groaned.
"Shit."
He blinked back to himself, but his eyes stayed hooded, weighed down by downright lust. Barret swallowed, before asking, "Hey, what’s up with your eyes? You know they’re glowing?" Wasn’t just the lust lighting up the depths of those eyes. They were definitely brighter, glowing like soft lanterns.
Barret jostled him. "You’re okay, aren’t ya?"
Cloud swayed slightly, in Barret’s anchoring hold. Seemed to finally get ahold of himself to answer, "Yeah… I’m… good."
"…You sure about that?" Cloud gave a real, conscious nod, and Barret let whoosh a sigh. He let go of Cloud’s arm, too, now that he knew Cloud could stand on his own.
"So… what’s it feel like?"
"It’s… a lot of warmth. And… these waves of…" Mm— He cut off, when another seemed to roll through him right then, his neck forced from it to tuck down and to one side. He straightened his clenched fingers slowly back out. Reopened his bright eyes. When Barret took another look, he could see that through the stain in his pants Cloud was hard again.
"Wanna get out of your clothes?"
"Yeah… yeah."
Barret dragged the zipper all the way down Cloud’s shirt. He really was warm — Barret could feel the heat hovering above his skin. When he slid his hand inside against Cloud’s ribs to draw his shirt open, he felt Cloud stiffen, and then cave, rocked by a second goddamn orgasm.
"Hoo, boy," said Barret — to borrow a phrase.
"Hah…" Cloud had grabbed onto the bends of Barret’s elbows to keep stable that time. A thin sheen of sweat had started to show on his forehead. His eyelids were still damn heavy-looking.
"Shit, Cloud…" This was starting to feel like more than they’d bargained for. "How long is this supposed to go on for? It gonna stay this intense?"
Cloud shook his head, finding his focus again. "Can tell it’s the kind of spell that keeps working over time… but should wear off, after a while… I, uh… don’t know if it’ll stay this strong the entire time."
"Might get out of hand, seriously trying to see how many you got in you…"
"Oughta be fun," Cloud managed to quip, in that deadpan way of his, and Barret chuckled back at him.
"What I’m saying is, want you to tell me when you’ve had enough. 'Cause otherwise, we’re shootin' for that record. So pick a word."
Cloud drew his eyes up, light in them swirling slowly. Wasn’t something they made a lot of use of, Barret usually only asking for a word those times Cloud wanted Barret to be rough on him. Mostly made Barret feel better, more than anything. Cloud might’ve not been worried about it, being a fast healer, but Barret didn’t like leaving the kind of bruises Cloud hadn’t asked him to.
Cloud told him, "Usual one's fine."
"Hey now, you gotta remind me. Need to make sure I know what to listen out for."
Cloud said it. Barret said, All right. He ducked down again to the curve of Cloud’s neck, running the flat of his tongue across the salt on his skin. And he felt, underneath, that telltale quiver. Was Cloud really about to — from—
A new shiver in Cloud’s back ended with his near silent gasp. When he looked at Barret again with those glowing eyes, after Barret pulled back, he rasped, "We — we should get to the bed."
Pants off, and that was number three. Barret ripped Cloud’s clothes the rest of the way down his shaking limbs. "Whew, Cloud… racking up to five real fast—"
While Barret tugged the last pantleg free of his ankle hanging over the bed, Cloud’s hand drifted down his stomach to his cock already jutting between his hips. Thoughtlessly, he was already touching himself.
Barret hung back and watched.
"Goddamn, Cloud…"
Mouth a moue, eyelids fluttering, Cloud came back to himself. He grimaced at the growing mess on his bare stomach. "This is — insane—" Barret watched his cock stand up again, on its own.
Barret’s voice growled. "Wouldn’t mind one bit just watchin’ you do this…"
Cloud’s bright eyes flashed, and the look he gave Barret told him he thought that was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard. If Barret was worried about Cloud being in his right mind, he sure wasn’t anymore. That look was Cloud, all right, through and through.
"Hell no—" Cloud’s annoyance was lost in the whine his words trailed into. "W-want you. Barret—"
Barret reached, before Cloud could again. Barret ditched the idea of watching, and couldn’t help touching. Not when Cloud said his name like that.
The backs of his knuckles traced the underside of Cloud’s pretty cock, and he felt it jump to his touch, same time he heard Cloud’s whimper. The instant Barret’s glide reached the very tip, Cloud spilled, as if Barret’s hand had been pulling the flow inside him up.
Barret had never been so hot in his life. He stripped in a hurry himself out of his shirt and pants, trying to beat Cloud’s next 'wave', grabbing the lube and telling Cloud to c’mon and get his fingers wet. Cloud’s own fingers shook, as he did. He panted too, as though that little effort was taking all his concentration — probably was, to be real, in his immediate post-orgasm state. Barret took it on himself then to yank Cloud into his lap, with his knees landing on the bed and hands bracing on Barret’s hard shoulders. Fingers digging in, as he shouted next to Barret’s ear, and quaked, when Barret reached behind him and prodded and got him to cum again.
The heel of Cloud’s hand slipped on sweat, his and Barret’s, when he managed to push himself back up by the top of Barret’s shoulder. Barret could hear how hoarse Cloud’s breaths were coming. There was a fine sweat on his brow, darkening his hair where it touched his skin. Starting to crawl down the planes of his face in front of his ears, to his jaw. Flush wasn’t only on the tops of his ears, either, the top of his chest splotched with the same shade of pink. Barret had never seen Cloud look so damn exerted. Maybe they were reaching his limit — Hadn’t they passed five—?
Cloud started grinding himself up on Barret’s stomach. Barret breathed harsh out through his nose, feeling how hard Cloud remained. Lust materia and Cloud’s own thing for overstimulation might’ve been a more potent mix than they realized.
Cloud’s hips shuddered in an aborted move, before he wrinkled his brow against Barret’s collarbone, and kept shifting. "Shit — Sorry—"
"Don’t know what the hell you’ve got to be sorry for…"
Cloud huffed from the back of his throat. Considerate little son of a bitch worried, "Feel like I’m — using you to get off…"
"Well, gotta say," Barret chuckled darkly, "Kinda hot being used by you. But if that’s how you feel—"
Barret was about done holding himself back. He’d been right there himself for a while, and he’d been starting to get damn restless. It was hard to get a grip on Cloud’s hip, how slick with sweat it was — he was burning as hot as Barret usually was, seemed like — but Barret managed. Those eyes of Cloud’s flashed as Barret knocked his back to the bed, disappeared as Barret turned him over.
Cloud said he’d wanted Barret — he was going to get him, then.
"Fuck," hissed Cloud.
"Wanted me, didn’t ya?"
"C’mon, already, Barret — Barret—"
Plunging, he felt the rippling squeeze from number — who fucking knew. Cloud’s forehead dropped to the sheets, twisting on top as his fists bunched them. "More," he gasped, reassuring Barret to keep moving. "Still got more."
It was a hot sweetness, being inside Cloud, getting to hear all his low grunts, and feel his body shake. Could feel his determination, too. With every time Cloud gave in, he pulled himself back for another go. Beyond exerted, but damn resilient, too.
"Hey, Cloud—" The image of Cloud marked by his jizz had always been a look Barret liked on him — something about someone as uptight as him giving Barret permission to turn him into a mess — but when Cloud was already filthy from his own, Barret had a better idea, a more powerful one he couldn’t shake. "Wanna cum in you… Can I—"
The next noise Cloud made sounded quietly surprised. Cloud croaked, Yeah… Yes, go ahead—
Wasn’t going to take Barret long, the lust that had overtaken Cloud overtaking him, too. One more thrust, and he penetrated as deep as he could get, filling Cloud with his load.
"Oh — fuck, fuck yeah…"
Took a while, for Barret to remember how to breathe, and to wait for the white fade to clear from his eyes. He pulled out, Cloud clinging around his girth until he was free. Barret thumbed at the drops that seeped down the backs of Cloud’s shivering thighs.
He kneaded one of those thighs, before rolling Cloud over — seeing he’d cum again, and was hard after. Cloud’s hand hovered to touch himself, too. Barret took hold for him. He noticed Cloud wince, brow pinching and mouth firming, before he let the tension across his face drop.
"Starting to hurt?" Barret asked.
"Stings… it’s okay, though." Well… Barret was glad for the honesty, Cloud admitting there was some hurt instead of trying to hide it.
"All right… You say the word, and I’ll ease up. But I ain’t stoppin’ until then."
Ah — Hah… He twitched, valiantly, inside Barret’s fist. "Feels good… Keep going, Barret."
It took the next couple for the spell to break, like the breaking of a fever. A quiet, shaking moan escaped Cloud the same time, and Barret let out a big exhale himself, relieved after a niggling worry of his about how long this would last, how far they could take this before it wore off. He’d been starting to wonder where the damn limit was.
Cloud looked wrecked, totally spent. His upper body still held that flush, his lower half was filthy. He rolled his damp head, and blinked his still glowing eyes. He croaked, "I can still… Again, Barret."
Was he for real? Stubborn son of a bitch. Barret trusted he knew when to quit, though. Barret trusted him to speak up. He remembered the first time he’d asked Cloud for a word, asking him too, You gonna use it, though?
Cloud had been a smartass, replying, If… I need to? Kind of the point, Barret.
That true, though? Feel like you’d try to be a tough guy, is all…
Cloud had been quiet a moment. But when he’d brought himself to meet Barret’s eyes, there was a quiet resolution in his.
Not with you. I trust you to hear it, so… trust me, too.
It was the first time through all that that Barret had to get Cloud hard before he was already. They wrung another out of him. Toughest yet, his cock pulsing hard, with nothing leaking out of it anymore.
"Got another?" Barret adjusted and tightened his grip.
Cloud winced, harsher than before. Suddenly his hand grabbed Barret by the wrist.
Barret stopped. Emotions struggled on Cloud’s face. Exhaustion versus perseverance, pain versus pleasure, all of those. Barret saw them all, Cloud’s walls way, way down.
Except the one, the one that would come crumbling with one phrase out of him.
Cloud chest shook with his inhale. "Barret — fuck, I—"
"You just say the word, and we stop — right here."
"S-said we wanted to find out how many—"
"I’ve lost damn count, how many. It ain’t you givin’ up, Cloud." Cloud's eyes screwed shut. "Man’s gotta have his limits… even one as incredible as you."
Cloud’s fingers were still wrapped around Barret’s wrist, still shaking like before. "If you ain’t gonna speak up," Barret said lowly, "Then let go of me."
Cloud’s chest hitched again, until he hissed the trapped air through his grit teeth. He didn’t drop his hand.
Instead Cloud, finally, gasped, "C-ceasefire—"
Barret let go.
"There now, that’s good, Cloud. More than enough, you fuckin’ wonder—"
Cloud’s tense muscles released him, dropping his body to the bed. In a gesture that looked way too much like defeat, he covered his eyes with the inside of his elbow. He said in a rasp Barret’s name.
Barret heard what he wasn’t saying just as loud. Barret tugged at Cloud’s arm, bending it instead to Cloud’s own chest, and Barret laid behind him to fully cover his back and bundle him up, and give Cloud all the touch and reassurance he needed. Could feel every twitch and shake lying that way, each of the tremors coursing through Cloud’s overdone muscles. Felt like he was holding Cloud from flying apart.
Finally, moments and moments later, Cloud settled, breathing easier in Barret’s hold. From behind, Barret spoke around his damp hair next to his ear.
"You doin’ okay, there?"
Cloud swallowed, and then dipped his head to nod. His voice was hoarse, but he told Barret, "I’m… I’m good. Seriously good."
"Yeah? Think you were more than just that, Cloud." Barret was in damn awe. "Fantastic son of a bitch, you."
Never thought buying that unknown materia would’ve ended in all this. Worth every gil. Cloud whimpered from the praise, quiet enough that Barret wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t pressed up along his back. Then he sighed, sagging more in Barret’s arms.
Probably would’ve fallen asleep like that, but Barret remembered what an absolute mess they both were — and that would’ve been one nasty state to wake up in. He gingerly unfolded his arm from around Cloud, rubbed his back and coaxed with a murmur, Up now, blondie.
Sloppy was the only word to describe how Cloud looked from the waist down. Standing from the bed, he stumbled, perching again after catching the edge with the heel of his hand. He scowled at his legs, like it was their fault, and not the countless orgasms he’d just had.
Barret scooped him up quick. He knew how physical weakness got to Cloud, and knew how tender he already was, but wouldn’t admit. Right arm under his knees and hand supporting his back, ignoring Cloud’s miffed protest, Hey, he carried Cloud down the hall to the bathroom and balanced him against the tub’s rim. He grabbed some wipes to clean Cloud up with while the bath filled with hot water.
One of Cloud’s palms stayed on Barret, his shoulder or his chest, shifting to new spots to keep contact while Barret moved around. Barret got a roll of the eyes — back to their normal crazy pretty, no longer glowing — and the mumbled words, Got it, thanks, at his offering to help Cloud in. He had to straddle the tub’s edge and lift a shaky leg, but Cloud lowered himself in, with a quiet sigh.
Barret knelt on the outside. He dipped his fingers and flicked some droplets on Cloud’s dazed face. Cloud glared at him, before resting his chin on the arm he laid along the tub’s edge, looking off. Looking annoyed, weirdly disappointed, before he glanced Barret’s direction again.
"You gonna…"
"Gonna what?"
"…Just get in."
So Barret climbed in behind Cloud, bracketing him with bent knees raised above water. Didn’t mind the cramped closeness one bit. Cloud was resting back against him, and it felt good, real good, to have him lay himself on Barret’s soft cock. Just being bare on each other, that felt nice on its own. Cloud was soaking up all the touch like a sponge in the bath, too. His head tipped backwards to rest below Barret’s chin. Barret wrapped his arm under Cloud’s side, holding the two of them more firmly together.
Barret nuzzled the blond tufts hanging behind Cloud’s ear, and grinned wide and wholeheartedly when he thought up a real challenge.
"Gonna break that record of yours without any damn materia, next time."
Didn’t have to look, to know Cloud was smirking. "Like to see you try."