Reeve strode into the room, finding an already undressed Cloud sitting up in bed, covers spread across his lap. The executive looked the young mercenary up and down, then settled into an adjacent armchair. He pulled out a cigar and cutter, snipped the end off the former and lit it. He sucked on it deeply, then breathed out a stream of grey smoke through his front teeth, and breathed a sigh of satisfaction. It was a good cigar… very good; he was glad that he was able to nick it from President Shinra's desk. Calmly, he folded his hands across his lap and continued to look at Cloud, who was trembling under the bearded man's steady, unwavering gaze. Neither of them had uttered so much as a word that entire time.
       "So?" Cloud blurted out.
       "So what?"
       "Aren't you going to--"
       Reeve narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular. "That Sephiroth's a real bastard, isn't he, torturing you like this on your birthday."
       Cloud's eyebrows pinched together at this critique of his silver-haired general. "So what if he is?"
       "Is this how you really want to spend it? To let twenty-four of us have our way with you before he gives you your 'birthday present'?"
       "I don't mind."
       "What an asshole," Reeve muttered, shaking his head. He drew out the list Sephiroth had given him and, after scanning the names, tossed the sheet of paper onto the bedside table. "Well, I'm here to tell you that although I was bribed into this little game of his, I'm not having any part of it." He calmly took another drag from his cigar as Cloud protested.
       "What? What do you mean, you aren't having any part of this?"
       Reeve smiled. "What I mean is that these two hands," he said, wedging his cigar in the corner of his mouth and holding up his palms for emphasis, "aren't going to do so much as touch you, that's what I mean."
       "You can't do this to me!"
       "And why not?" he replied, removing the cigar once more. "Sure, I have my kinks like everyone else, but sleeping with other men isn't one of them."
       "You're not gay?"
       "Of course not! And I'm certainly not bi, either."
       "Then what the hell are you doing here? Why are you doing this?"
       "Like I said, I was bribed," Reeve sighed. "Sephiroth bet me 10,000 gil that I wouldn't allow you to pleasure me within the space of an hour. He knows that I can't resist a good bet… that bastard."
       Cloud scrambled out from under the covers and gripped Reeve's shoulders. The executive's eyes roamed down to Cloud's naked lower half, then back up to his face. "I'm beggin' you Reeve," he pleaded as he edged closer. "You need to do this for me. Let me-- let me please you…"
       "Get your hands off of me," Reeve snarled. Cloud shrank back.
       Reeve stood up and paced before the bed, his left hand shoved in his trouser pocket while his right loosely held onto his cigar. "Listen… I know you're a bit confused right now, but just trust me. Like I said, I'm not going to lay a hand on you, but…" he said, the corners of his mouth curling upward, "…that doesn't mean I'm going to lose the bet."
       At that moment, a large round thing bounded into the room and came to stand next to a smirking Reeve. Cloud stared at the thing, horrified.
       "Cait Sith?! What's he doing here?"
       Reeve pulled a device out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons. The caped cat leaped off its moogle carrier and landed on top of Cloud's chest. The moogle itself moved right to the bottom edge of the bed.
       "Like I said, Cloud… I have my kinks. Voyeurism just happens to be one of them."
       Cloud's face turned white. Reeve just laughed.
       "Bet you didn't think you'd be getting any pussy tonight, eh? Or is the pussy getting you?"
       "Th-- that's not funny…"
       Reeve settled back into the armchair, carefully placing the cigar back in his mouth, as the moogle gripped Cloud's feet, and Cait crept down to his pelvis…

       45 MINUTES LATER

       Cait Sith left Cloud's room, an odd, sweet odor clinging to both the cat and the moogle's fur. Reeve followed, staring at his right palm as if something was sprouting from it. As Cait bounded away, Reeve shut the door behind him and leaned his back against it, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips. The cigar was gone.
       Turning his head, he could see Sephiroth standing at the end of the hall with his arms crossed, staring at him.
       "Time to pay up," Reeve said, grinning.
       Sephiroth smiled knowingly, then tossed a paper bag which landed at Reeve's feet. As the latter picked up the bag, the former turned around and disappeared down the dark hallway. Reeve stared at the bag, which contained a hundred 100-gil notes, and shook his head. He was not new to this whole business of taking advantage of Cloud, as the incident with the Keystone could attest, and now the guilt was eating away at him.
       "Cloud, you poor, sick masochist…"
       Digging in his jacket pocket, Reeve found a mastered Cure materia and dropped it into the bag, then carefully opened the door to Cloud's room, where the young mercenary was getting some precious few minutes of sleep. He tossed the bag into the room, where it softly landed on the rug in front of the bed. Reeve hoped that Cloud would find it before the next suitor came in.
       Reeve softly closed the door, then started down the hallway to his own quarters. On his way, he came upon who he assumed was the next suitor. Suppressing a well-earned yawn, he thumbed back to Cloud's door.
       "Your turn."

---

Written August 20, 2004 | Copyright 2004, Reeve.