Midgar High School

Reno sighed and rubbed his eyes, actually tired. He was surprised that his mom had let him stay over at Sephiroth's house. But then again he had been surprised that she didn't care that he was gay, and kind of didn't care that he was having underage sex to boot.

If he really stopped to think about it, his mom and dad were just about the coolest parents on the planet.

He went downstairs, almost getting lost in the posh, sprawling house before he finally found the room that Sephiroth was in.

Reno sprawled on the couch, head on the arm and legs Indian-style and almost went to sleep at once, the couch was so fluffy. Fighting the urge, he peeled his eyes open and watched Sephiroth rummaging through the movies. "So, we're gonna watch a comedy, right?" he asked, deadpan.

Sephiroth smirked and held up a boxset that was black and red with an absolutely terrifying looking child-ghost on the side. "It's the week of Halloween, Re, don't be stupid! This is DarkWater Drowning!"

Reno sat up, spluttering. "Oh, FUCK no."

Seph paid his boyfriend no heed and slid the movie into the DVD player and waltzed over to the blinds, throwing them open to the spooky night. "Cloud and Se are going to be gone till tomorrow anyway, why not stay in?"

With that he plopped on the couch himself and flipped on the large television. The light played off his hair, mixing with the soft glow of his eyes. "This movie makes ME jump, I love it."

Reno gritted his teeth. "If I weren't too lazy to get up..." He broke off and sighed, curling up with his face toward the back of the couch. "I guess I'll just go to sleep, then."

Sephiroth poked Reno in the ribs till he rolled over and gripped his arms, holding him. "Oh come on, it can't hurt you."

"Yes, it can. And I'm sleepy. So let me go." He pulled on Sephiroth's grip on his wrists and glared at him, thwarted. Even Lucrecia-enhanced, he was still not a match for Sephiroth's brute strength.

Sephiroth sighed in his ear. "Fine, you can sleep, but I'm gonna sit here and watch this movie." He then let go of Reno and laid back, draping one arm over the back of the couch.

Reno sighed as well, thwacking his head on the seat. "No. Let's just watch a good movie. This one sucks and you know it."

Sephiroth shook his head. "It scares me. It's great!" He popped his back. "And anyway, you wanted to sleep." He sat one of the pillows across his lap. "There, so fall asleep."

Reno stared at him blankly for a moment before he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "You're kidding. You've got to be kidding..."

Sephiroth just smiled a little and patted the pillow.

"You're NOT kidding. Fuck." Reno looked around for an easy escape and almost got up off the couch before Sephiroth grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

Sephiroth growled at him. "You have to protect me from the evil dead children.

Reno tried to break his grip. "You can get eaten for all I care!" Then after a moment of prying at Sephiroth's hand, he gave up and sat down again, but not in his lap as he would have liked.

White hair waved a bit as Sephiroth shook his head. "Fine, go upstairs if you want, I suppose. You're always so cranky you know that? It's like you don't even like me half the time you know it? Are you just using me for sex?" He joked.

Reno blinked at him. "Of course not, it's just that..." Then his eyes narrowed. "Oh, no. NO way are you making ME the guilty one. You're the one making me mad. It's not my fault." He looked down. "And let my arms go, it's annoying."

Sephiroth shrugged then, not saying anything and getting up. Smooth strides took him from the couch into the kitchen. Reno could hear the microwave start up, signaling that Sephiroth was heating up coffee from earlier.

At a loss, Reno looked around for a moment, wondering what he said wrong. He grabbed the remote and paused the damnable DVD, standing up to follow.

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes half-lidded and looking bored as he watched Sephiroth move about the kitchen.

Sephiroth crossed back over into the living-room a cup steaming in his hand. "You wanted me to leave you alone, I'm annoying, remember?"

Reno blinked slowly, looking about to fall asleep from ennui. "I was shitting with you."

There was an answering shrug. "I dunno, you sounded serious, so I am going to have my coffee and watch my movie." He looked over at Reno before turning the DVD on play.

"Fine, fucker," Reno muttered and walked out, calling over his shoulder. "Go ahead and watch the fucking movie by yourself. Whatever, bastard."

"Love you too." Seph muttered, just loud enough to hear.

Reno paused, like his feet were stuck to the floor with glue. Turning around, he gritted his teeth at the back of Sephiroth's head. "YOU FUCKER!"

Sephiroth blinked at him. "What now? Go to bed or something."

Reno gritted his teeth again, torn between watching the movie and making Sephiroth happy and going to bed and doing what Sephiroth said. "Fuck you, bastard."

In response, Sephiroth just shrugged his shoulders. At that moment, the power flickered one, prompting him to look at the lights. "Goodnight then, Reno."

Reno glanced at the flickering lights. "What the hell?"

"Storm's rolling in, power may go out." Sephiroth explained with his eyes glued to the television. "Oh and if you're going to bed don't listen to 109.5, serial killer digest tonight."

Reno glanced at the window, which was tapping with light rain. The lights flickered again, making Reno flinch like a wild horse. "...serial killer...?"

The DVD was getting to the first actually scary scene; Reno averted his eyes. Why did they always make little girls eat people in these movies?

"It's just a program, not real." There was a blood chilling squeal from the television, making Sephiroth smirk. He sipped his coffee. "Something about the football slayings. You know that old myth that someone killed a bunch of high school football players?"

Reno looked behind him quickly, then to the side. Feeling exposed, he stepped forward and flopped on the couch, as far away from Sephiroth as possible. "Anyone you know?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Sephiroth turned and looked at Reno from the other side of the couch. "Thought you were going to bed?" Once again the power flickered, three full times before remaining on. Sephiroth swore and turned the DVD player back on. "It's just an urban legend, Re."

The wind was increasing; they could hear it in the trees outside. Lightning struck, illuminating the room in bright white and Reno visibly flinched, closing his eyes when the thunder rolled, sounding too loud and close for comfort.

He opened his eyes and pulled his legs up to him, sniffing casually. "I know. I think you're making it up."

"Making what –" And then the power totally went out in a low drone. "up…" Sephiroth sighed. "You mean the serial killer digest? They do it every Thursday night in October." He flipped on the radio to prove his point and then got up. "I think we've got some candles upstairs, be right back."

Reno reclined on the couch, his head on the armrest and eyes closed too tightly, listening to the damnable radio broadcast.

"And tonight we are going to go back- well, not too far back." A smooth radio-voice started. "Not more than ten years ago, actually and right here in Midgar there was the famous football slayer."

Reno breathed out, trying to calm himself. "Yeah, whatever. Football player slayer...blah..."

"You may have heard about this one from your parents. He went about killing the entire starting line up of Midgar Highschool, bringing the only loosing season in the schools history. Of course, he didn't only kill Football players."

The redhead opened his eyes, then closed them again and curled to the back of the couch, listening intently.

"No, the Football Slayer didn't just kill the football players. He had a thing for blondes, apparently. Every single blond in the school seemed to dye –pardon the pun- their blonde hair brown, red or black. Check the yearbooks online, it’s a sight to see." There was a dramatic pause then, apparently waiting for hapless children to search out their parent's yearbooks.

Reno grinned a little to himself and muttered, "Run and hide, Cloudy-boy..."

"One of the more violent crimes was against the white-blond captain of the football team, Reggy. Apparently, the killer chose a night, just…like…this one to sneak upstairs and await the power failure. He jumped the boy in the dark and stabbed him fifty-nine times before finally dragging his body into the bathroom and dismembering it. That was the last the killer struck in Midgar. To this day he has not been caught…"

His eyes narrowed. "That's oddly…specific." Reno sat up and glanced over the back of the couch into the dark rooms behind him. Scanning for a moment, he listened. Lightning flashed through the black rooms and thunder reverberated like a giant coughing. The rain was coming down in sheets… the wind had somehow found a way into the house, moaning and high-pitched against the windows and doors.

He shuddered out a long breath. …White-haired football captain…power failure…stabbity upstairs. Reno glanced back toward the stairway Sephiroth had just ascended and forced out a laugh. "He's gonna have to do better than this. This is too cheesy, even for him."

There was a loud bang from the back door. He heard the screen slam against the wall and flap there like a broken wing. The thunder crashed then and the rain poured down harder, making a rough staccato against the tile.

Reno sat still for a long moment, trying to calm his heart down. He walked to the door and looked outside hesitantly before shaking his head and closing it again.

He walked to the stairs. "Hey, Seph? Did you find the candles?"

Then he slid on something. Looking down there was a black stain on the tile floor. When the lightning flashed again Reno could see the color clearly. Blackish and rotten, red. Sephiroth wasn't answering him.

Reno stared at the stain, feeling his brain begin to static with fear. "What the hell...?" He stepped back and looked up the stairs again. "Seph!? You there?"

The stains seemed to drag up the steps, leaving scraps and puddles of redish ooze along the way. Reno reached his hand to the railing, craning his neck. He opened his mouth to yell again.

"Shit!" Sephiroth's voice was almost lost in the thunderclap and the crash that followed soon afterwards.

And then Reno was running up the stairs without thinking, following more of the red stains and feeling his stomach drop into his lungs. "Sephiroth!?"

He got to the top, following more stains (blood, was it BLOOD!?) down the hall. "Answer me, dammit!"

The closet… there was a pile of boxes, rubble and lord knows what else. Reno stepped delicately over the boxes trying to look into the bedrooms or the bathroom. Then a large, bloody hand reached out from under the boxes and gripped his ankle.

Reno let out a scream of terror, trying to leap away. The hand gripped tightly, making him lose his balance and fall to the floor. He clawed at the carpet, trying to get leverage. Kicking violently, he rolled over and glanced back at the zombie hand, scrambling for a weapon.

The hand twitched; his mouth made a horrified "O" as his hand found a tall lamp. Still on his back, he levered the lamp at the horrifying appendage, pulling the cord out of the wall with a snap.

The hand was clawing, trying to move the boxes. Reno coughed with terror and swung the lamp at it. "YOU BITCH! YOU ATE HIM, DIDN'T YOU!?"

The boxes fell away with a cry of pain and the Zombie…no wait, it was Sephiroth. White hair was marred with blood, and it smelled…sort of like meatloaf.

Reno stared at him blankly for a moment before he tackled him, knocking him back into the boxes and whacking Sephiroth's head against the doorjam. "Seph!"

He pulled back, shaking his head questioningly. "Not a zombie?"

Sephiroth took a breath, hissing in pain. He put a hand to his mouth, blood seeped out in between his fingers. He cast an angry glare at Reno.

Reno blinked. "What?"

"Nor a thombie…" Sephiroth swallowed and pulled a face, blood still seeped from the corner of his mouth. "hat te ell iz ong wit you? You anted me to get eaten an now you eat me wit a lamp?"

Reno shrugged, glancing nervously at the lightning pouring through the window and ignoring him. "What...happened? Why were you in the closet?"

He turned back to Sephiroth. "And what the hell are you bleeding about? You do that too much..."

With another swallow, Sephiroth wiped blood from his mouth. "You elwayz en up urting me, you litte shizt." He flicked his tongue out, showing that he must have bitten it when Reno tackled him.

Reno frowned, kneeling down by him awkwardly. "Ah...sorry. I didn't mean it. You'd think the football captain would be able to take a tackle..."

Working his tongue again, Sephiroth took another breath. "You miss a dose or something? Ten minutes ago you were telling me off, then you fucking bash my hand in and NOW you're sorry?" He kicked, showing that he slipped on something red and squishy. "What the hell is that?"

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, before he was sure that it wasn't moving. "What the fuck is that?" he asked, poking it with the lamp and glanced at Sephiroth. "Sorry, I thought you were a zombie before."

"I have a vendetta against all zombies and attack on sight."

Sephiroth pinched his nose. "A ZOMBIE? So you came up here to…" He smiled. "Were you worried about me?"

Reno blushed. "Ah...not really." He paused, looking at him intently. "Well, maybe. Like a WHOLE LOT." He pecked him on the lips, then made a face and wiped the blood off with the back of his hand. "Sick."

Sephiroth's tongue flicked out and he laughed. "What is there to worry about?" He pulled a few candles from a box and started replacing things. I wonder what I tripped on though…"

Reno stood up and turned a full circle. "Ah...well, I was just kind of freaked out, I guess. Didn't want the evil dead children to eat you."

After putting all but the candle box away, Sephiroth paused and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You confused the piss out of me, you know that?" He started to follow the little red drag marks on the floor.

Reno looked from side to side, then stepped behind Sephiroth, walking a little too close behind him and glancing at the shadows. "I try. Now what the fuck are we following?" He looked down at the spots and tugged on Sephiroth's arm. "Wait. What the fuck are we doing? Why would we FOLLOW the creepy dots? Shouldn't we be going...I don't know, ANY OTHER WAY!?"

"Yeah well, stop it. Be one way or the other, mood swings are for women." Sephiroth wiped his face again, spitting blood to the floor. "To find out what makes the creepy dots we need to follow them. What are you afraid—" he spun around. "You heard that urban legend and were afraid someone was going to hurt me, weren't you?"

Reno grimaced. "Why did you even turn that fucking radio on anyway?"

"Because you said I was making it up." He rolled his bright eyes. "And anyway, I didn't think you'd worry."

"You're house is too creepy," Reno muttered, trying to change the subject.

"Reno, no changing the subject." Sephiroth followed the slime into his bedroom. "You don't have to pretend to worry about me, you know."

"What? Pretend?"

Sephiroth tilted his head, peering at the bed. He walked slowly forward. "Yeah, pretend. You're not obligated to hang around me just because of how I feel about you." He put a hand on the bed, trying to figure out how to best get whatever was under it.

There was a moment's pause. Reno stepped forward and grabbed his wrist, yanking him around. "I'll hang around wherever I damn well please, Sephiroth." He looked in his green eyes for a second, thinking. "If I didn't like you, I would ignore you. That's all there is to it."

Sephiroth looked down at where Reno's hand still held his wrist. "Oh so constant screaming is your way of showing me you care?" He smirked down at Reno.

All the expression on Reno's face slipped away until only the angry blush remained. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to yell, then closed it and squeezed Sephiroth's wrist tightly. "I wish...that you wouldn't do that," he murmured.

Sephiroth's face melted into genuine confusion. He focused on Reno's hand again. "Do what?"

Reno frowned and swallowed. "Bait me," he answered, loosening his grip. "I wouldn't yell at you if you...would just stop baiting me."

"Baiting you?" He sighed, stepping closer. "I don't try to."

"I yell when people make fun of me," Reno muttered, looking at one of the red spots on the ground. "It's second nature. If you don't want me to yell at you, then you should stop teasing me about serious stuff."

"The last time I checked, fictitious ghost children were not a serious matter." Sephiroth responded. "I'm sorry, alright? You know you tease everyone, I just expect you to be ready for it." He pulled his hand free. "And anyway, it's not like we are the cuddly sort."

Ignoring him, Reno stepped back and crouched by the bed, looking under it. "I don't want to sleep in here tonight. It's like creepytown. Those red splotches are...creeping me out."

"I'll take-" Sephiroth started but before he could finish, Reno fell backwards with Meaty on his chest. Sephiroth blinked for a beat and then started laughing.

Reno screamed and lay there, breathing heavily, hands over his eyes. "Shit, shit...shit..."

Sephiroth lifted Meaty off of Reno's chest. "Hallo there, what are you doing away from home?"

Meaty made a few random "eek" sounds before wiggling.

"We should take him home I suppose. Stupid meatloaf."

Reno shuddered and flopped his arms down on the floor, not geting up. He glared hazily at them both. "I hate you."

Sephiroth dropped meaty, who slinked back out the door, probably on his way out the way he had come in. "What did I DO?" Sephiroth raked a hand through his hair. "Christ, you scream at me if I don't do anything, I may as well earn it."

Reno smiled shakily. "I was talking to the glob of meat, bastard." He stood up, wobbly, and shuddered.

Putting his hand on Reno's shoulder to steady him, Sephiroth sighed. "Meaty just prolly wanted in from the rain. We both know he's harmless." He started out of the room. "The rain's letting up, I'm going to let Meaty out and then maybe the power will come back on."

Reno went with him down the stairs to the screen door that had scared Reno earlier. "Yeah, this came open before. That little fucker came in this way."

Meaty was cringing in the corner by the door. Reno opened it and kicked at the glob of meat. "Get out. I don't care if it's wet or not. You go to Aeris' house and stay there. And if you come back over here I'll eat ya."

He kicked at it again, and with a strange high-pitched squeal it darted out the door and into the night.

"We'll have to make Cloud fix it."

Just before Reno slammed the door, the power flickered back on. Sephiroth sighed. "Thank god. Do you want me to take you home before I take a shower?"

Reno blinked at him. "Who will protect you from the evil dead children?"

"You told me that you didn't care if they ate me and that you wanted to go home." He dug a rag from the kitchen cabinet and started cleaning up the splotches. "So maybe you need to figure out what you want?" The red spots came up easily, at least and were not as bad as Reno had imagined.

Reno sighed and watched him clean. He didn't say anything. After a minute, he grabbed a cloth himself, kneeling to clean along with him and sighing again.

They were silent for the rest of the time while they cleaned. After throwing the rags away, Sephiroth nodded. "Thank you for the help. Now you want me to take you home now or after I shower the meatloaf slime off of me?"

"Depends. Can I watch?"

"Ha, I was right." Sephiroth smirked and threw his shirt at Reno climbing the steps. "You are just using me for sex."

Reno followed him, swinging the shirt lazily. He was oddly quiet, as if he was thinking hard about something.

Sephiroth didn't seem to mind the silent treatment, shedding the rest of his clothes and tossing them in the laundry basket in his room before turning back to the bathroom.

Reno went in the bathroom and sat on the closed toilet in a dejected way, leaned over with his hands between his legs. He was looking not at Sephiroth but through him, eyes troubled as if he was thinking so hard his brain hurt. Finally, he sighed and actually looked at Sephiroth, who was turning on the water.

Sephiroth looked at him, with one of those unreadable looks. "Are you alright, Re?"

Reno nodded slightly and rubbed his fingers together. "Yeah. Take your shower."

Sephiroth got into the shower then, changing the flow of the water and drawing the curtain. "Re, something's up and it isn't Meaty."

The redhead didn't answer. Sephiroth heard a noise and turned to find Reno in the shower with him, still fully clothed except for his feet, which were bare. "I'm not," he said determinedly, staring at Sephiroth's face.

"Oh? I could fix that for you, but your clothes are getting all wet you know." Once again he crossed his arms over his chest, blocking the water from Reno for the most part.

Reno continued as if Sephiroth hadn't spoken, his face completely serious. "I'm not just using you for sex. So quit joking about it."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn't say anything.

Reno stepped forward, the bottom of his pants getting caught in the swirl of water. His whole body was shaking with emotion; he frowned, still staring intently at Sephiroth's face. "And if you say I don't care about you one more time..." He shook his head, red hair sticking to his forehead in the humidity. A sudden blush infused his face until it was very red, but he was always angry when he blushed, never sheepish.

He swallowed and stepped forward again, water sprinkling on his face and hair, almost touching him. "I..." The anger dissipated, leaving only the blush. "I love you."

Sephiroth's arms dropped to his side and his mouth gaped open. He blinked at Reno as though the other man had grown an extra limb.

Reno swallowed again, "I just wanted to-"

He didn't get the chance to finish, Sephiroth grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him back against the long wall of the shower, his mouth covering Reno's roughly.

Reno hummed and curled his arms around Sephiroth’s neck, one down through his wet hair, one above, cupping his head. He was wet where he pressed against him, long damp bangs brushing the side of his face and sticking to his cheeks.

"I know you do." Sephiroth breathed into his ear, trailing his mouth down to Reno's neck before yanking the shirt up and throwing it behind them.

oOo

And they found themselves in pajama pants on the couch again. "So, I suppose we can watch Super Troopers if you want." Sephiroth offered.

He got up and set up the DVD and got the remote before sitting back down. Reno grabbed the pillow and set it on Sephiroth's lap, plopping his head down and laying on his side. "If I fall asleep, don't wake me up," he ordered, making sure he had eye contact with Sephiroth so he understood he was serious.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes, already fingering Reno's hair. He then yawned loudly. "Same to you."