Work Text:
When Cloud got the call to come into Rufus' Edge offices at the end of the work day, he expected a job, a quick fuck on Rufus' desk, or both. Not to be handed a contract.
He took a glance at the front page, then stared at Rufus. "The hell is this."
He could see Rufus swallow the urge to be a shit. "An exclusivity contract."
"That's what it says, not what it is." Because the first page was conspicuously missing words like "job" or "employment," and while Rufus wasn't stupid enough to try and make Cloud a sole contractor to Shinra he was an idiot in other ways.
Darkstar yawned where she was resting on her over-sized dog bed.
"At this stage, I believe it's prudent to make certain expectations explicit," Rufus said. "In addition, nondisclosure agreements are standard-"
What.
"-protect both of our interests in the case of-"
... Wait. Was he nervous? Because Rufus' delivery was smooth, rolling on without room for Cloud to object - the same way it'd been the time Rufus had invited him to Costa del Sol for a long weekend of fucking, acting like he'd already thought of everything and all Cloud had to do was say yes.
"-Binds both of us-"
(It had been a good weekend, no work and nowhere to be except tangled together, and the bright spring sunlight had made Rufus' hair seem to glow when he rode Cloud into the mattress.)
"-With consequences stipulated on page four-"
He needed Rufus to- to shut up for a minute. Cloud circled the desk and turned Rufus' chair so he could lean over the other, getting a glimpse of his confused face before Cloud kissed him. Which had worked in the past, and luckily worked now - Rufus stopped trying to speak and instead concentrated on the kiss, getting his hand into Cloud's hair in a way that sometimes made Cloud's knees go weak. Cloud decided not to chance it and slid into Rufus' lap. He braced one forearm against the back of Rufus' chair and used his other hand to cup the side of Rufus' jaw.
When they parted, Cloud leaned his face against the top of Rufus' head. Rufus, finally, got with the program and let Cloud think, trailing his hands down to rest lightly on Cloud's waist.
Because Cloud had been careful not to think about where this was going, and if he wanted anything more than sex.
(If he didn't have expectations, he couldn't be disappointed when Rufus didn't live up to them.)
Rufus was, fundamentally, an asshole: entitled and arrogant and more than a little dramatic. Cloud didn't pretend he could change that, not more than Meteor had already changed both of them. At least now Rufus mostly saved his plotting for people who deserved it.
But he paid attention to Cloud, overall, and made time if Cloud wanted something but didn't try to monopolize his attention. He'd been polite to Tifa & Marlene the last time they'd crossed paths - even asked Marlene about a project Cloud had mentioned she was working on.
And he could be kind in his own way, like when Cloud had complained off-handedly about mako in the city water system and a week later heard about an anonymous donor funding a retrofit of the groundwater treatment plant.
Besides. Cloud kind of, maybe, liked spending time with him even when they weren't fucking: liked the way Rufus had curled his arm around Cloud when they'd watched that documentary about sea life recovery, and the way Rufus looked at him when Cloud talked about forging a new weapon, the way he laughed when Cloud knocked him on his ass in a spar.
Cloud closed his eyes. He couldn't do this if he was looking Rufus in the face, seeing him react. "If you want to be-" he couldn't say romantically "-exclusive, you have to ask. No contracts."
"I've.. never had a long-term relationship without at least an NDA."
Hoo boy, Cloud was not going to try to unpack that today. "And has that been a problem so far?"
Rufus considered that for a moment. "Touché," he said.
"It's fine anyway," Cloud muttered against Rufus' hair. "Hasn't been anyone else for.. a while."
Rufus made a happy little noise. "Likewise."
And okay, maybe Cloud could understand Rufus' stupid little happy noise. "You haven't actually said what you want yet."
"I want to be with you," Rufus said slowly, like he was being careful with his words. He nuzzled Cloud's neck, seemingly content to let Cloud avoid eye contact for the moment. "I want to be yours and for you to be mine. I want to hold & be held while we fall asleep, and to wake beside you in the morning. I even want to be able to say 'Welcome back' when you return from a delivery." Rufus kissed Cloud's jaw. "How's that?"
"Sounds good." Cloud blushed at how quickly he answered. "I mean, yeah. I want that too."
(... Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, to have expectations.)
They were quiet for a few minutes, until Rufus slid one hand up to Cloud's shoulderblade. "I want to take you to dinner," Rufus said.
"Like a date." Which was. Different.
Rufus hesitated. "Yes."
"People usually do that before fucking," Cloud said, more curious than annoyed.
"I also want to take you back to mine and get my mouth on you." He clearly didn't mean in general, since he licked a quick stripe across Cloud's Adam's apple before meeting Cloud's eyes. "We can do that after, if you care so much about the order of things."
Cloud laughed through his nose. "Asshole," he said. His voice was fonder than he'd meant to sound, but it didn't matter so much like this, with Rufus smiling in his arms.
"Your asshole." Rufus sounded pleased.
Cloud tucked some of Rufus' hair back behind his ear. "Yeah. Mine."