SUNBURN

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By: Albedosreqium / Soyna
Setting: After Dirge and Advent are all said and done
Rating, Genre and Warnings: PG.  Humourish/friendish ... leading to light yaoi.  Happy theme.
Characters:   Reeve and Vincent
Disclaimer All related Final Fantasy names and characters are copyrighted by the almighty Square Enix©.  I do not profit from this endeavour.  
Summary and Additional Information: For ReevexVincent Contest
Theme: Summer Heat

Reeve has to remember that he can't keep up with the younger crowd and that his skin is a little bit more sensitive than he remembered.

---

Cid bellowed a series of curses as the sand storm swirled around the truck, causing them to slow their progress through the Corel desert.  "Why the goddamn fuck would that damn engineer want to do all this fuckin' work in the desert!?"  The truck bounced as it slowed and Vincent let his grip go on the door handle.  He had already damaged it from his claw due to Cid's erratic driving and the bad roads.

"The Neo-mill is, as I understand it, is nearly complete," Vincent said.  They could see the white and grey pillar that loomed in the distance.  The Neo-mill was supposed to use wind and heat energy –- which there was plenty of in the Corel desert –- to create a clean and safe energy source for the planet.  Cid knew good and well that the work that was being done could not be done anywhere else as the scale was too large.  He could see the six large blades that made it look like a giant mechanical flower.

It was Gaia's hope for clean and cheap energy and Reeve was determined to be successful.

"Hate the fuckin' desert," Cid griped as the sandstorm let up a bit so that he could see the road.  "Too fricken' hot."

Vincent remained silent.  Cid had been griping the whole time they had been traveling.  It was all bluster and no bite.  They all wanted the Neo-mill to be as successful as everyone else.  Cid was called in to deal with the problems that they were having with the alignment of the blades.  He had listened to a conversation that involved angles and drag that Vincent didn't understand before they started to travel.   Cid seemed confident that he would be able to help fix the problem.

The monsters in the area didn't like their nest being disturbed and Reeve had asked Vincent if he could catch a ride with Cid to help clear them out.  Reeve had admitted that they weren't that strong but it was distracting the people at the site from getting the work complete.

There was also the hint that Reeve felt the need to catch up with him.  "I haven't seen you in a year and wouldn't mind hearing what you have been up too."

It was a hard invitation to refuse.  He felt like he was ready to see his friends again after his nearly year long self induced seclusion.  The thought of being able to kill a few monsters to stretch muscles that he hadn't used for awhile, pleased him as well.

Cid started cursing and slammed on the brakes, sending him painfully into his seat belt.  A large Land Worm rose in front of the truck and bared its large tooth filled mouth towards the truck with a strange raspy type hiss.

Vincent smiled and undid his restraint and stepped out of the truck.

It did feel good to be back in action again.

---

Reeve was relieved to see Cid drive up in the truck, even though the vehicle looked a little more worn than he remembered.  He was disappointed when it was only Cid that stepped out.

"Where's Vincent?" he asked immediately as he watched the pilot light a cigarette and lean against the truck.  His question was followed by the distant sound of gun fire that was deeper in the desert.

"Dun worry 'bout 'im," Cid said as he blew out some smoke and grinned widely.  "He's playin' in the sand."

Reeve smiled.

---

Reeve was working over his computer, continually checking the diagnostics as they were reassessing the angle of the blades and working on the modifications to make it more efficient.  Cid was working with the men at the top of the Neo-mill, while he ran the scenarios and controlled the panel valves.  

The tent that he was in was hardly any protection from the heat and sun.  He had long ago given up wearing his normal coat and suit in these working conditions.  He quickly followed the fashion of what the others were wearing in the desert.  He felt odd at first and a little out of place.  Most of the people he had working here were much younger than him.

He had been a little self conscious at first.  Everyone else was so young, already tanned, and fit. The desert heat and sun quickly made him lose any discomfort that he had about the change of attire.  He traded his suit in for the barest minimum clothing to survive in the climate.  He wore a pair of W.R.O. issue khaki shorts and a simple pair of leather sandals.  He was no longer uncomfortable wearing them.  His skin was tanned and comfortably warm and –- even though he knew it was an illusion -– he felt young again.

Reeve spoke into the microphone.  "Blade B needs to be moved three degrees to the center line."

Cid responded gruffly back about him being picky and Reeve chuckled in return.  He was used to dealing with the gruff pilot but he already heard some complaints from the other members of the team, not used to his harsh nature.

Vincent was stunned by seeing Reeve standing in the meagre shade of the tent in attire that he was not used to seeing him in.  The whole camp was full of people in light clothing but Reeve had always been the type of man to wear a proper suit and jacket.  The lack of his normal attire was shocking and becoming in this environment.

Reeve looked happy.  An easy smile on his lips as he unconsciously scratched the side of his zinc oxide covered nose.

He cleared his throat and called to the engineer.

Reeve turned and smiled; his teeth very white against his bronzed skin.  "Ah, Vincent!"  He said with a clap of his hands.  "Did you take care of the creatures out there?"

Vincent nodded.  He had enjoyed the battle with the Land Worms.  They were not difficult but the battle was almost … freeing.  "It was invigorating."

Reeve walked over to him and clamped his hand on his shoulder.  "Good to hear," Reeve said.  "You look good.  Time has been treating you well."

He was about to say the same thing when the radio by the computer exploded in a series of foul words and Reeve's attention was drawn back to the task of aligning and optimizing the blades.  "Valve thirty-five locked," Reeve spoke into the radio.  

There was a loud metal creaking noise above them.  Vincent looked at the massive blades and saw them move.  Everyone raised excited voices around him and seemed to pick up the pace.

Cid bellowed through the radio.  "Moving to blade C panel."

"Copy, Cid," Reeve responded and then turned back to him.  "Things are going well with you and Cid's arrival.  We shall be done by sunset."  Reeve leaned back against the table and reached for a bottle of water.  He took a long drink and Reeve didn't realize that some drops of water dribbled down onto his tanned chest.  

Vincent couldn't help but stare.  He was used to Reeve in his heavy blue coat and was not aware that the man kept himself so well.  There was a softness to him that told of a man that spent a lot of time with computers, but there was still a leanness that showed that he was not one to neglect his body.  He was quite trim and nicely defined.  He found himself admiring his chest as the water droplets from the bottle trailed downwards.  His eyes kept going down and he admired the treasure trail that disappeared into his tan shorts.

"Aren't you hot in those clothes?"  Reeve's voice brought him out of his daze and he snapped his vision back up to Reeve's brown eyes.

"The heat does not bother me," he stated.  Temperature was never really an issue for him and cold or hot, he always felt the same.  Even though, he did feel over dressed with every one running around in thin shirts, shorts and sandals.

"We should be able to celebrate at the Golden Saucer tonight," Reeve said as he looked up to the large blades that hovered over them before his eyes went back to the computer.

"I have the Ghost Square booked for all our use and the Event Square booked for the younger people to party and celebrate," Reeve said.  "It should even be powered by the Neo-mill for the evening."

"You've always been optimistic," Vincent said as he moved closer to Reeve to examine the screen.  He didn't understand what the flashing lights and symbols meant but Reeve expertly manipulated them all.  He took in a deep breath and inadvertently smelled the man.  He smelled of a mixture of sunscreen and aloe; a very soft and comforting smell.

Reeve laughed and gave placed his hand gently and comfortably on his shoulder.  "It is good to see you again, Vincent.  I was glad you agreed to come."

Vincent allowed himself a small smile as he looked towards the Director and he noted that Reeve's shoulders were starting to look more pink than tanned.  He was about to say something about it when Cid's voice started over the radio again.  Reeve moved away from him and started to expertly have his fingers started to dance around the keyboard and Vincent was almost certain that the Director was speaking another language over the radio.

Vincent took a step back as the excitement and activity started to increase in the people around him.  The Neo-mill was nearly complete and it would change the face of Gaia when it was done.

He moved into the shadows and kept out of people's way as they moved parts and yelled commands at everyone.

He watched Reeve with pride as he gave commands, answered questions and dealt with the dilemmas with professional ease.  Reeve's smile was contagious to everyone that was around him, even himself.

---

The crowd of workers all were waiting to hear Reeve speak.  The heat of the day was winding down as the sun was setting behind him.  Reeve looked quite distinguished as he stood on the table and addressed the crowd of workers, even if he was still only wearing shorts and sandals.

"Everyone," Reeve's voice boomed over the crowd as he held Cait's megaphone in his hand.  Cait was pouting at the Director's sandaled feet as his weapon was taken away from him.

Reeve's voice carried across the desert.  "I need to thank you all for your hard work on the Neo-mill in the last few months.  The ache that we have cause Gaia in the past will be eased when we can use the energy that she provides that does not cause her to drain."

People cheered.  

Reeve laughed and waved his hands to silence the crowd with a large smile on his face.  He brought the megaphone back to his lips.  "In a short while we shall pull the switch and open …"

Someone from the back called -- it sounded like Cid, "It's a damn button."

Reeve rolled his eyes as people laughed.  "Alright, alright.  I know you are all anxious to have a good time up at the Saucer and there are areas set up for you all to enjoy …"

"Jus' get on with it already."  Definitely Cid that time.

Reeve shook his head and spoke loud and clearly into the megaphone.  "Okay then.  Press the button."

Everyone was silent and they looked up at the Neo-mill and waited for it to do something.  It was still for a painful ten seconds before the sounds of a metallic gear clicking was heard and the blades started to move.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!  The Neo-mill!"

The crowd started to cheer and there was a scatter of activity and yelling.  Lights started to turn on as power must have been pulsing through the cables.  The yells increased and Vincent heard the popping of some bottles opening, he assumed it was champagne.

Reeve looked up as the giant metallic flower started to rotate at a slow but steady pace.  Cait bounded up and grabbed the megaphone from Reeve's hand before dashing away, running past him.  Reeve's eyes followed Cait and then settled on him.

Vincent felt warmth from his gaze as Reeve bounded off the table and walked towards him.  He left the shadows and walked towards Reeve.  "Things are working well?"  Vincent inquired.

"Yes," Reeve said and with a tired sigh added, "I had a longer speech but I don't think they were interested."

Vincent looked at the group of young men and women around them. They were already packing up and getting ready to travel up to the Saucer to celebrate further.

Reeve didn't seem upset over the fact that he didn't get to finish his speech.  "Well, everything is done and seems to be working.  Let's go celebrate with a meal that isn't covered in sand, shall we?"

Vincent nodded and allowed Reeve to lead him to a nearby buggy that could take them to the tram.  Vincent listened to him babble on how proud he was at the Neo-mill and the success and the future plans of placing on near every urban center and to remediate the Mako reactors.

As the boarded the tram, Vincent noticed something amiss about the Directors shoulders.

"It appears that you have not applied enough sunscreen today, Reeve," Vincent noted as he touched the painfully red skin.  His gentle touch left a white imprint and caused Reeve to hiss and move away from the touch.

Reeve examined his shoulders and arms with a groan, "I forgot to reapply the sunscreen."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not too much yet, but it is going too," Reeve said as he touched his own shoulder and watched the white mark he left behind slowly turned back to the same red that surrounded it.

"We should take care of that before we dine," Vincent said.

Reeve sighed and nodded.  "How childish of me to think I could be like those kids and handle a little extra sun."  If Reeve's cheeks weren't already red from the sun, Vincent was certain that he would be blushing.  "I'm going to be a lobster."

Vincent tried to hide his smile in the cowl of his cape.  Reeve was too horrified by the change in the colour of his skin to notice his amusement.

"Do you have anything?" Vincent asked.

"What?" Reeve asked and looked up at him confused.

"Creams or lotion to help with the burn," Vincent clarified as the tram stopped and they started to leave towards the Golden Saucer's entrance.  Vincent was never too fond of the place.  It was usually much too loud for his liking but he knew that Reeve enjoyed it.  

"I have some in my room, but with the damage done, I doubt that I will have enough," Reeve said, looking more horrified as they continued to walk forward.   "Even my toes are burnt," he blurted as they walked towards the entrance to the Ghost Square.  "This is what happens when I get distracted."

Vincent followed behind Reeve as they entered the much cooler and quieter are of lodgings.   He actually liked the strange hotel.  He would never dare admit it, as he got enough comments about being a vampire from Cid and Yuffie as it was.  He liked the dark and cool atmosphere of the place.  He didn't like to think about the reasons why and allowed himself to be comfortable without over analyzing it.

They both approached the front desk and Vincent cleared his throat.  The clerk looked up startled.   "Do you have some aloe cream?"  Vincent asked.

The clerk swallowed and nodded.  The young man quickly ran to the back room and came back again.  Vincent always got quick and prompt service when he came to the Ghost Square and was grateful that it hadn't changed.  Reeve was poking at his arms and grumbling about how much this was going to hurt later.

"A buffet is going to be served in an hour in the Event Square," Reeve grumbled as they started to walk to his room and Vincent followed behind him.  "I was hoping I could finish my speech there."

"We shall take care of your sunburn and if you are still up to it, we shall head down," Vincent said in return as Reeve opened the door.  There were signs that Reeve had been staying in this room for awhile.  There were books spread out through the room, clothes thrown in the corner, an unmade bed and water bottles scattered about.

Before he could comment on the mess and the fact that they have a maid service, Reeve spotted himself in a mirror and moaned.  "I'm the same colour as Reno's hair."

Vincent snorted and handed him the tube of cream.  "It's not quite that bad."  It was pretty close though.

Vincent took a seat in a nearby chair and watched as Reeve cautiously started to spread the cream on his arms, wincing every time he had to put a new dollop on his skin.  "Ow," Reeve said as he sat on the end of his bed and started to do his legs.

Vincent watched for a few more moments and had to force his eyes away from the man's actions.  Vincent spotted a t-shirt that looked like it was still clean.  He moved forward and grabbed the shirt and brought it over to the Director on the bed.  Reeve was trying to do his back but was failing at reaching the area's needed the attention.

Vincent impulsively reached for the lotion and took it from Reeve.  "I'll get that," Vincent said before Reeve could protest.  He removed his leather glove from his normal hand and placed some of the cream on his fingers before he pressed it against the heated skin.  

Reeve groaned and Vincent pulled his hand away.  "Am I pressing to hard?"

"N-no," Reeve said.  "It feels good."

Vincent resumed applying the lotion to the extremely warm and sensitive skin.  He agreed with Reeve.  It felt good to touch someone again even if it was only to sooth injured skin.

Vincent put more cream on his hand and started to work on Reeve's shoulders and rubbed down to the center of his back.  He was used to the fact that he couldn't touch people with his clawed without hurting them and it sometimes upset him.  He would have enjoyed being able to properly rub the lotion into his skin.

Reeve was shaking slightly under his touch as his hand moved down to his lower back.  "Are you still okay?  If I'm hurting you, maybe we should take you to gets some medical aid," Vincent said and stopped with his hand on the center of his back with a feather light touch.

"No," Reeve said.  "You're not hurting me."  Vincent felt his hand fall on his knee.  Reeve turned his head toward him.  His brown eyes seemed a little dazed and Vincent wondered if he was suffering from some sort of heat stroke.

"I still need to do your other shoulder," Vincent said and put more cream on his hand and started the same motion that he had done on the other.   Reeve's shaking seemed to increase as he did so, and as his hand moved down the Director gave out a small moan.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked as he continued to stroke the base of his back to ensure that the warm parched skin absorbed the lotion.

"Quite fine," Reeve sighed and slouched.

Vincent pulled his hand away.  It still looked like his skin was going to hurt.  He handed Reeve the shirt he had gathered earlier.  "You should put this on so we can still go and join the others for the meal."

"Why don't we just order in," Reeve said and he almost sounded breathless.  He took the shirt in his hands but didn't move to put it on.

Vincent furrowed his brow.  "I thought you wanted to celebrate and give the rest of your speech to the others?"  He examined the man and wondered if he was ill from the sun exposure after all.

"We can celebrate in," Reeve said.

"Is it hurting that much?"  Vincent asked.  His skin did look like it hurt and people accidently touching him would surly aggravate the sensitivity.  He ran his hand down Reeve's spine.  He was giving off a lot of heat and Vincent couldn't discern if it was a fever or just the result of the sun.  "Maybe you should take a cool bath to cool down."

The cream must not have been enough to help his damaged skin.

"I indeed do," Reeve whispered and his breath hitched.

"Should I call a doctor?"  Vincent asked.  He was concerned.  Reeve's breathing was becoming shallow and his eyes closed.  His face even seemed to gain more colour as he sat there.

"No, no," Reeve said as he sat upright.  "Let's order in some food and wine."  He cleared his throat as he walked over to the phone.  "I was thinking of some pasta, or would you prefer steak?"

"Whichever you prefer," Vincent said as he watched the man move gracefully to sit in the chair he had vacated earlier.  The Director put his hand on the phone but didn't pick it up.  The ex-Turk couldn't help but admire the man and chuckled at the strange pattern on his feet from the cross-hatch patterns that his sandal left behind.  You could see how pale he normally was and how red he had become.  Reeve could see where his eyes wandered and he looked down at his feet.

"I may be old but I know better than to wear socks with my sandals."  Reeve frowned and crossed his arms across his bare chest and then quickly uncrossed them, groaning in pain.

Vincent stood and walked toward Reeve.  "We should get you into a tub of cool water," Vincent said as he gently put a hand on his arm.  "I don't think that this cream is doing enough for you."

Reeve's breathing quickened again and Vincent looked at the dark eyed man.  "Are you alright?  Do you need to lie down?"  Vincent was becoming concerned by how he was behaving.

He was not expecting Reeve's to roughly grab his cape and pull him close.  He gave a muffled yelp as he felt Reeve's lips pressed against his.  He staggered back as Reeve pushed against his chest.  He was not expecting this as he felt the back of his knees hit the bed.  He lost his balance and fell onto the bed with the bearded man on top of him.

Vincent put both of his hands on Reeve's shoulders to keep him from completely crushing him.

"Ow," Reeve grunted and added, "Your hands are nice and cool."

"You're still rather warm."

"I can think of ways you can cool me down," Reeve said with a blinding smile.

"Oh? And how would I accomplish that?"  Vincent said removing his clawed hand from his shoulder and seeing the white marks that he had left behind from the light touch.  Reeve was not complaining though.

"I think we need to reveal a little more of your skin," Reeve said.

"Oh?" Vincent said and raised an eyebrow.

Reeve cleared his throat and moved back off of him.  He stumbled over to the chair across from the bed. "Well, that was a little forward of me.  I must have had too much sun."

Vincent sat up on the bed and considered the engineer in front of him.  His brown eyes were looking away from him and he looked uncomfortable.  He looked as if he was ashamed of his actions as he moved towards the phone talking about making sure that he ordered some ice water.   Reeve fumbled with the phone and started to order from room service.

Vincent made his decision as he stood and started to undo the buckles of his cape.  He threw it onto the chair with a heavy thump.  Reeve's eyes followed it.   He stopped talking into the phone and gave him a startled look.

Vincent started to work on the buttons on his shirt.

"Oh, yes.  That is all.  Just have them leave it outside the door, if I don't answer," Reeve said in a breathless voice and hung up the phone, nearly missing the cradle the first time.

Vincent had his shirt removed and tossed aside and looked at the still stunned looking engineer.   "I believe this was your idea," Vincent said and couldn't help but allow a smirk to creep across his face.

"Why, yes, "Reeve said and walked forward.  "I do believe it was."