Author's note: Apology fic for Khamonai, even though she was gracious enough to forgive me before I started begging. -ponders- Does that make it gratitude fic?

Also my first real attempt at writing Reno, so please let me know if I messed him up horribly...

Compromise

The others – the few who actually deserved to know – were surprised when they were told Cloud had moved in with him. Stared in open-mouthed shock, in two cases.

Amusing as it was, Reno couldn't blame them.

The first time Cloud kissed him, he was rather surprised himself.

Reno had made yet another come-on, fully expecting it to be rebuffed with a glare or simply ignored. That was the norm. That was what always happened when Reno happened upon Cloud. Only… this time he wasn't drunk, and by the look of it, Cloud knew. He'd studied Reno for a moment – really looked at him, intense blue eyes scorching him – and Reno had suddenly found himself pressed to the wall with Cloud's mouth over his.

The kiss had been much like Cloud himself; nothing held back once the decision was made. Reno hadn't been coherent enough to do more than moan and kiss back.

There had been no courtship – as a Turk Reno played games at times, but what kind of idiot would risk a catch like Cloud getting away? A bigger idiot than he cared to be, certainly. He'd take all he could get for as long as he could.

They had heat, both when they fucked and when they fought. Reno couldn't say he minded either, so long as Cloud kept from slicing him up too badly when they disagreed. And gradually, something gentled. The edge of urgency faded. It seemed the rest of Reno was catching on to what his mind already knew – that Cloud was his now.

He knew he wasn't the first to make that claim. Sometimes when Reno joked, Cloud's eyes would grow distant. He'd smile, but not at Reno… At Zack, and whatever memory of him had resurfaced. It could have hurt – probably should, but Reno was too jaded for that. And he knew Cloud.

For all his former delusions, Cloud was honest. Too mired in hero and martyr complexes to lie to others even if he did it to himself. He wouldn't have kissed Reno that first time if he'd seen only a substitute for Zack, much less stuck around.

Cloud, who'd let voicemail be his contact with his friends, called Reno when a delivery took longer than usual. When they took him out of town for days at a time, he called just to talk, to hear how Reno was. And Reno would tell him; tell him it was okay if he was late as long as he was uninjured, tell him how he really felt even when he felt like shit and pride didn't want to admit it.

Cloud never objected when Reno went out drinking with Rude, knowing they were friends and friends had more than work in common. Reno stopped flirting, not even with the bartender for free drinks. He didn't think Cloud was the jealous type, but having someone waiting for him took the fun out of casual flirting. No one else was half as interesting.

Cloud took fewer rides alone to clear his head, sometimes letting Reno come along. Reno would be silent then, because it was enough that Cloud didn't shut him out.

It was giving and accepting, offer and counteroffer. A long string of compromises that set boundaries but didn't change who they were.

And with every call, with every little action that proved Cloud wasn't replacing Zack but making room for someone else, Reno gained a little more ground. He had no reason to doubt that it was him Cloud came home to, him that Cloud laughed with, him that Cloud sparred with, him that Cloud kissed and made love to…

Because Cloud had never compromised with anyone after he set himself free of Sephiroth's control.