Work Text:
Mid,
I know the University has a break approaching and you were planning to spend it at home. We are all at Martha’s Rest. It’s a long story I hope to tell you in person. Many things have changed but know that I have always been proud of you.
Your Father
Cid was so tempted to crumple it up and throw it in the bin with the rest of his discarded drafts of letters. It had been far too long. Cid knew it had been too long. But how was he supposed to tell Mid what happened? He couldn’t do it in a letter. And he couldn’t distract her from her studies. She had the chance to do something amazing with her talent. He couldn’t let their mission distract her from her own life. But it had been too long and he was sure that she was already concerned. Letters were sparse but not typically this sparse.
It was, surprisingly, a quiet day at the Rest. The last reports from Otto, the Cursebreakers, Obolus, their new ferryman and Gav all stated that they found an appropriate piece of Fallen architecture and that the building work was being completed relatively swiftly. It was hard going but the team out in the field was doing great work. It was what Clive had come up to report to Cid. Gav was finishing up getting the new order for the lumber put in and was on his way up but Clive, who had seen him as he came up the road, said he would warn Cid about the arrival. It had, upsettingly, been about a week since they had all been together and Clive could tell it was hard on Cid.
Clive tried, he did, to stay close and come back every night but there were only so many chores and things he could do to make money in Martha’s Rest and Martha still had to make a living as well. She couldn’t afford to feed them from the goodness of her heart. Everything cost money. And even if Isabelle was sending them what she could, it wasn’t enough.
Clive could see the toll the stress was taking on Cid and even worse how having Clive and Gav both gone sometimes over night or even days at a time weighed on the older man. Especially as Cid was still being kept by Tarja in the town or with a, Founder forbid, escort.
So Clive was in a good mood, the anticipation of finally having all three of them together again causing a bubbly feeling in his chest. He opened the door with a wide smile and was about to speak when he saw Cid put his face in his hands, lean back and let out a frustrated groan. Clive’s happy smile turned softer, more fond, as he closed the door softly and walked in, he placed his hands on Cid’s shoulders massaging deep into the muscle and getting a long drawn out moan in return. Cid leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table and putting his head down on his folded hands.
“Work?” Clive asked, before looking down at the table. It didn’t look like work. It looked like the bare minimum to be called a letter. More of a note to be honest. He saw Mid’s name at the top. Mid. Cid was writing to his daughter. Clive felt a stone in his stomach. Cid… had never actually addressed the fact he had a daughter. Clive had barely been able to glean her name from the porter that had first spilled the beans on the best kept non-secret in the Hideaway. He wasn’t even entirely sure if Cid realised that he hadn’t told Clive about his daughter. But that, the idea that Cid just didn’t think Clive was important enough to tell about what was so obviously a huge part of his life and past and responsibilities… Clive tried to not let it get to him. But he knew Cid. It wasn’t possible that the older man had forgotten he had a daughter. So he must not think that Clive deserved to know that about him.
Clive shook his head to dispel the doubt. Cid cared about him. He did. Every day he showed that Clive was more than a convenient body to him. But something always held Clive back from addressing the issue. The fear, he figured, of hearing something that would break him.
Cid groaned again as Clive dug his fingers into the tense muscles. “I don’t know what to say,” Cid lamented.
“Well, what do you need to say?” Clive asked.
“Everything,” Cid groaned. “But I can’t do it in a letter,” he protested. “She deserves to hear it all face to face.”
Clive just hummed.
“If I don’t tell her something she’s going to worry even more,” Cid went on he let his head fall further forward and then groaned again in frustration and leaned back against Clive as the younger man wrapped his arms around Cid’s chest and shoulders.
“I’m afraid I have no advice,” Clive admitted. He didn’t throw in that technically he didn’t know who ‘she’ was. It felt too vulnerable
“Yeah,” Cid agreed. “I’ll likely just leave it like that,” he gestured at the four lines scrawled across the paper.
“Leave what like that?” Gav asked as he entered the room with a wide smile.
“Letter to Mid,” Cid admitted and the easy way he mentioned her to Gav just hit Clive even harder. Everyone knew Mid. Everyone except Clive who, by all rights, shouldn’t know a Mid existed.
“You mean you haven’t written to her yet?” Gav asked, appalled, as he came to kiss first Cid and then Clive again.
“I was trying not to distract her from her schooling,” Cid protested and yeah, it sounded weak to him too.
“She deserves to know,” Gav said seriously.
“I know. And I’ve told her to come visit us here when the University goes on break in three weeks,” Cid said.
Three weeks. So soon. Clive felt his chest tighten at the, absurd he knows, expectation of one of Cid’s missions upcoming to get him out of the way for his daughter’s visit. If there is a mission, Cid doesn’t mention one, yet. The letter is set aside and conversation turns and Clive… ignores the pain in his chest of still not being told that his… his universe had a daughter.
Three weeks went by much too quickly and yet much too slowly. Depending on who you asked. Cid and even Gav couldn’t wait for Mid to arrive. In fact most of the Hideaway survivors were abuzz with anticipation. It was… an odd experience to be both told so much and yet nothing at all.
For fuck’s sake, Jill knew more about this mysterious Mid than Clive did. And she was finding it both endlessly amusing and frustrating that he was so lost and so stubbornly ignoring the obvious answer of talking to his boyfriends. No matter how many times Clive protested they weren’t… that. And that news just caused her to growl with frustration and walk away. In fact that was what she had been doing every time they caught wind of Mid’s name and Clive got that ‘kicked puppy’ look on his face. Jill’s words. Not his.
They had caught word that Mid was about two days out and Clive was trying to stay busy while half expecting to be sent away. He didn’t know if he was being obvious about his… clinging to Cid and Gav but he figured, Gav was too excited to see Mid so Cid would obviously not send him away and Cid would obviously not send himself away from seeing his daughter so Clive oscillated between the two, doing whatever had to be done in the hope that they wouldn’t suddenly remember he wasn’t supposed to be there and ask him to leave.
He didn’t think they would do that. He hoped they wouldn’t do that. Clive sighed to himself. Fuck. Why was this so difficult? Maybe he should have brought it up with Cid or Gav. But… it’d be weird to say something now… wouldn’t it?
Cid was restless, pacing. And still he would fucking murder a squad of Imperials himself if even a single one of them would have a smoke on them he could steal. Mid was supposed to arrive today. His little girl. And Greagor there was so much he needed to tell her. To say. To explain. So much had changed. Everything she had known was destroyed with the Hideaway. Her only home. Not to mention what was between him and Gav and Clive. Clive, he seemed as nervous as Cid, bouncing between him and Gav as Gav just tilted back in his chair and sharpened his knife with an overly amused expression.
In fact, Cid mused. Clive looked more nervous. Afraid even, now that Cid looked at him. Clive’s eyes tracked between Cid and Gav much as they did in the beginning. Hope warring with fear warring with resignation warring with desperation. Cid hated it. He hadn’t seen that look in so long he had almost forgotten how fucking much it pissed him off and broke his heart.
“Clive,” Cid said into the silence and Clive’s gaze shot to him with that same look, amplified tenfold and with the addition of steeling himself for a blow. What the fuck? “You alright, over there?” Cid asked, as if addressing a spooked chocobo or an injured cat.
Clive looked down, shame evident in every line of his posture. Gav had stopped sharpening his steel and set his chair back on four legs, looking between Clive and Cid worriedly. Cid was beginning to feel that same thread of panic that he could see in Gav’s eyes.
Clive opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again. “I can leave,” Clive offered as if it was torn from his chest like his still beating heart as he offered it on a platter to them.
Cid’s first reaction was shock, followed immediately by resignation and finally landing on confusion. Shocked that Clive would say that, resigned that Clive obviously was trying to tell them that he didn’t want to meet Mid and then confusion because emotion number two was obviously wrong.
“Why would you need to leave?” Gav asked, voicing the same confusion Cid was feeling.
Clive didn’t raise his head. “I understand if you’d rather have your… reunion without me in the way,” was how Clive responded and it still made no sense.
“Why wouldn’t we want you there?” Cid asked. There was something he was missing. Something big. And damn it, Cid was not used to feeling this out of his depth. And worse, this lack of knowledge was hurting Clive.
“You haven’t even told me who she is,” Clive answered. He didn’t whisper but it was clear he was hoping to go unheard.
Gav’s knife made clatter on the table as he stared at Clive in utter shock. Cid… didn’t feel much better. That… couldn’t be true… could it? Cid would have… wouldn’t he? But… Cid couldn’t actually recall having a conversation about Mid with Clive. Wasn’t even sure if he had said her name to him. But Clive had to know… right? Who she was? By now?
“I-I can leave,” Clive offered again.
“Don’t you dare,” Cid insisted, firmly. He crossed the room in long strides until he was right in front of Clive, crouched in front of the younger man and staring into lost and confused and sad eyes, repeated, quiet but insistent, “Don’t you dare.”
Cid could feel Gav crowding behind Clive, forcing him to stay seated or risk dislodging or trampling them.
“Her name is Midadol and she is my daughter,” Cid told Clive, voice serious and stern. “And I want her to meet the two of you as mine.”
Even Gav shot him a look at that. Seemed his boys still didn’t quite get it.
“You are mine. Both of you. And it’s time that Mid knows who else is important to me,” Cid assured them. He reached up to cup Clive’s cheek even as Gav buried his hand in Clive’s hair to hold him still. “I want her to know how happy I am with you both,” Cid said as he leaned forward for a kiss.
And that was when the door opened in a flurry of Mid.
Mid opened the door and did an abrupt about face turning to leave and close the door in the space of a single step with one smooth movement. Cid pulled away from Clive after a long moment. “Don’t you dare leave,” Cid said again.
Clive nodded timidly.
“Good,” Cid praised, kissing Clive’s forehead before he stood and leaned to kiss Gav as well. “Come in, Mid,” Cid called through the sound of laughter through the door. Apparently, the rest of… everyone by this point, were ribbing her about not knocking. Something Cid had tried to teach the girl but she was just too much of a spark to not act before her brain had time to think.
The door opened in exaggerated slowness as Mid peeked her head in with her eyes closed and covered by her hand. “Are you decent?” she teased.
“Yes, Mid,” Cid answered with a fond exhaustion. He loved his little spark but she could be as wild as his levinbolts when she wanted to be. And unlike controlling his thunder, he couldn’t wrestle her into submission with will alone. He moved to stand behind Clive and Gav a hand on each of their shoulders and faced Mid with a steely resolution.
“You should learn to lock the door,” Mid teased as she came in and closed the door.
“You should learn to knock,” Gav teased back.
“Mid,” Cid said, bringing her attention to his serious countenance. “I need to introduce you to someone. This is Clive,” Cid said, squeezing Clive’s shoulder. “He’s…” he trailed off. Well, shit. He had thought of everything but what and how to introduce Clive and explain to Mid what they were. The word ‘lover’ seemed so vast and yet so terrifying in its ability to pinpoint exactly the feeling they had avoided using. Maybe Tarja was right. They should have had this conversation.
“Your lover?” Mid offered, teasing. “I know we don’t, like, talk about it cause that’d just be weird. But I do realise you have, you know, a love life.” It was only then she noticed the red flushes and avoidant gazes on the three men and frowned. “Tell me that wasn’t like… your first kiss or something cause that’d just be really sad.”
“It was not, young lady,” Cid said reproachfully.
“Then why are you all blushing so hard?” Mid asked. “Oh sweet Greagor, you haven’t said it!” she exclaimed. “No wonder Otto has that list of bets he was updating.”
“He- He what?” Cid sputtered.
“Otto,” Mid shouted, rushing to the door. “How much can I put on them keeping their heads up their asses?”
“Mid,” Cid protested. “Language.”
“None. You’re too young for betting!” Tarja could be heard shouting back.
“Damn it,” Mid said, turning back with a pout.
“Seriously, what all kinds of bets are they placing on us?” Gav asked.
“I blame Jill,” Clive admitted.
“The pretty lady with the long grey hair?” Mid asked. “She’s new too, right?” She finally shut the door and sat down at the recently added fourth chair, placed there solely for her visit.
“Yes,” Clive answered. “She has always enjoyed placing bets on my life. Though it started on my battles, she seems to have expanded.”
“Ah. Go back a ways? I have to say, I’m kind of surprised considering the uh…” she rubbed at her own cheek sheepishly.
“Didn’t always have it,” Clive admitted and left it at that.
“Fair enough,” Mid agreed.
“Are you just going to discuss the fact people are betting on us or are you going to give me a hug?” Cid asked as he opened his arms pointedly.
Mid rolled her eyes as she stood back up. “Someone has been hiding behind his boyfriends.” she teased as he came around the table and they wrapped their arms around each other holding on tight.
Cid held her for a long moment. Longer probably than she was anticipating. But it struck him that he could have died. Left her. Without having seen or held her again. He held her tighter. He knew this life was dangerous and the curse crawling across his arm was an ever present ticking clock but this. He almost abandoned her without the chance to really say goodbye. He finally cleared his throat and took a step back, holding onto her shoulders and studying her, memorising the changes since he last saw her.
“You alright, dad?” Mid asked, confused.
Cid sniffed, shrugged it off. “Yeah. You’ve just gotten taller,” he said. True but not nearly all of it.
Gav reached out for Cid’s hand and pulled him back to sit with them, using his foot to pull the other chair over so he could wrap an arm around Cid’s shoulders. Cid shot him a fond look before turning back to Mid.
“So,” Mid began, sitting down and drawing the word out as she debated her next words. “I imagine something big happened. Why are we all here instead of at home? And what happened to Gav’s eye? Wha-What did I miss?”
Cid sighed. “A lot has happened. It’s been hectic,” Cid answered. “The… The Hideaway is gone, Mid,” he admitted, an apology in his voice that he hadn’t been able to articulate to anyone. That he hadn’t been there to stop it. “Hugo Kupka found it. It’s buried under rubble.”
“What?” Mid asked, shocked.
“He was looking for me,” Cid admitted and Gav tightened his hold on Cid’s shoulders. “It’s what happened to Gav’s eye. I wasn’t there.” Cid looked at Mid pleadingly. “Mid, I am so sorry,” he said again, reaching out for Mid’s hands and looking heartbroken as she pulled back.
“You… what do you mean you weren’t there? Where were you? You… you promised that wouldn’t happen again,” Mid accused.
And god it wrecked him seeing the tears in her eyes, the betrayal in her voice. He pulled his hands back. “I was out accomplishing our bigger mission,” he explained and it sounded weak to him too. Why hadn’t he been there? Why did he insist on going after the crystals when he had people relying on him at home?
“Mid,” Gav said, with mild reproach. “You’re father was risking his life to save… all of us. The world. It was not his fault.”
“Then what’s he doing here? Why isn’t he out paying Hugo back for what he did?” Mid accused.
“It’s not that simple, Mid,” Cid protested.
“We’re rebuilding. That has to take precedence. We’re rebuilding and your father is still recovering,” Clive interrupted. He may not know Mid and he may not have any right to cut in on this disagreement but he also refused to allow anyone to make Cid sad like that. “We are going to get him back. But right now, we have people, here and Bearers staying in Lostwing, that need your father here to lead them.”
“What do you mean recovering?” Mid asked.
“He… I let him get hurt,” Clive explained.
“Clive, no,” Cid interrupted.
“You almost died because I couldn’t protect you, Cid,” Clive explained.
“And I’m a big boy, I can handle myself,” Cid insisted as he reached out for Clive’s hands on the table.
“Died?” Mid asked, voice small and numb.
“I’m alright, Mid,” Cid assured. Shit this was getting out of hand. He was so torn. Comfort Clive’s guilt or Mid’s panic. The decision was made for him when Clive met his eyes and nodded toward Mid. Cid gave him a thankful look before he reached out for Mid. “I’m right here. It was hard and dangerous but I’m still here. And Tarja and Otto and Gav and Clive are all making sure I’m alright and safe. Won’t even let me have a smoke,” he tried to joke.
Mid did not look soothed. She looked… scared. And fuck but Cid had never wanted her to look that scared again. Since the first time he saw her, tucked behind two cowering bodies under the rubble of a warzone crying her little heart out as her parents didn’t respond, having shielded her with their own bodies from Odin’s destruction… he had promised he would look after her. Keep her safe. To see her so scared went against every promise he had made to her.
“Mid,” he crooned. “Come here,” he pulled her closer, scooting their chairs together so he could hold her.
“You’re not allowed to die while I’m away. You… you have to be able to say goodbye,” she said, voice thick with the tears he felt wetting his collar.
“I can’t promise that, Mid,” Cid admitted apologetically. “But I’m not taking reckless chances.” He rubbed her back soothingly. “For one, Tarja isn’t letting me out of town and even when she does let me, I’ve got Clive to look out for me. And Gav’s intel to guide us. We have to remember what we are doing this for, Mid. All of them.”
Clive shifted uncomfortably next to Gav, drawing the scouts attention. Gav leaned over to kiss Clive’s cheek to draw him out of his head and then pulled him up gently. Then Gav leaned over next to Cid to press a soft kiss to Cid’s hair and pulled Clive out of the room after him. They could all catch up, or get to know each other, later. Mid needed her dad right now.
Clive followed obediently and shut the door softly before leaning back against it with a sigh, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.
“Alright, Clive?” Gav asked gently.
“I can’t let her down again,” Clive answered. “None of us can afford to lose him but… I can’t let her be without him.”
“Our big protector,” Gav teased softly as he wrapped his arms around Clive’s neck. “She’s had it rough. Hers and Cid’s story to tell but… yeah. You don’t go blaming yourself again, though. Cid’s a big boy. His fate is not your responsibility.”
“But,” Clive started.
“No buts,” Gav interrupted. “You can’t take everyone’s lives into your hands, Clive. The weight alone would kill you. Come on,” he said and stepped away to lead Clive downstairs.”We can come back later.”
Cid held Mid for a long time as he let the stress of having not heard from anyone and then to learn the truth bleed from her shoulders. Eventually she settled, sitting back to wipe at her eyes.
“So,” she said, putting herself back to rights. “Two boyfriends? Didn’t know that was allowed. I mean you and Gav’ve had a thing for years. Never thought you’d do much more than sneak him into the solar after dark. What’s with the Clive thing, though?”
“Gav and I have had a complicated past. And Clive is… he’s important, too. I’m not going to say much about his history. It’s his story to share but… Clive Rosfield is very important to me and to Gav. I want them to be important to you too,” Cid explained.
“So this is serious, then,” Mid said. “I’ll have to let them know how serious they need to be.”
“Don’t you dare, Mid. We’re adults and we can talk and figure things out ourselves. You are not to get involved,” Cid commanded.
“But…”
“No,” Cid insisted. “There’s enough happening making things complicated. I don’t need you threatening them or whatever you have planned.”
“Fine,” Mid pouted.
Cid sighed in relief.
“You are going to tell them you love them though, right?” Mid asked and Cid groaned at her self-satisfied smirk. Honestly, sometimes he thought she was too much like him.
Cid and Mid spent most of the rest of the afternoon chatting. She had packed a bunch of papers and plans and they went over and refined a lot of her designs, and his own. Sometimes she was just whip fast with problems and angles he had missed. Once informed of their new location for the new and improved Hideaway, Cid set her to work on a problem that had been bothering him for a while. Where to get good potable water. They would be surrounded by the stuff but the Blight water was undrinkable. It would make them sick in days. They needed a filter. Bigger than the one they had before. Mostly because with having around half of a Fallen airship to make use of, and not being confined to a cave, they would be able to expand. There were already plans for a garden and that would need clean water as well.
Mid was excited to get to work on it, which was just as well for Cid because while he loved Mid and could keep up with her enthusiasm any day, he also really wanted to make sure Clive wasn’t beating himself up about Cid’s injuries again. And… he wanted to see them. Gav had only returned two days ago and Clive had been out last night. He… he missed them. The frustration of still being under what amounted to house arrest and being so fucking useless was driving him insane.
He had always been on the ground in this whole thing. He travelled, he fought, he helped, he met with people and forged new alliances. To not be allowed, to not be able to do any of that was well… made him feel rather redundant. He tried not to let it get to him but… sometimes he saw Otto or Tarja or the Cursebreakers going to Clive instead of to him and felt a jolt of resignation. He was being replaced. Slowly, and to someone capable, but he was being replaced. The only thing that made him feel useful lately was being with his boys and seeing them relax with him. If that’s all he could do, he would do it until they realised they were better off without the weight of a tired old man dragging them down.
He tried not to let those thoughts take hold but it was hard. Especially when he was laying alone in a bed in a room not his own late at night with no clue as to if the two men who were the purpose to his life were even still alive. On those nights he slept alone, he slept poorly and woke feeling more tired than when he went to bed, reaching out in what seemed like such a vast expanse of cold emptiness.
So once Mid had left with their plans and instructions to check with Otto about how the rebuilding was coming, Cid slumped in his seat and closed his tired and burning eyes. He wasn’t alone for long. Gav and Clive came back into the room not long after Mid’s voice had left the inn completely.
Clive came up behind where Cid had his head tipped back and eyes closed and leaned down to kiss his forehead as he massaged Cid’s shoulders. The man was carrying too much tension. Clive didn’t know how to help but by taking what he could off Cid’s plate. Otto and Tarja and the Cursebreakers had been convinced that Cid had so much on his mind that Clive could be trusted to determine what they could sort and what Cid needed to be bothered with. It warmed Clive to know that Cid had such loyal, supportive, and caring people who were concerned about him. People he could trust to look after Cid when Clive and Gav both had to leave.
Cid hummed contently and smiled as he kept his eyes closed.
“Mid seemed in a better mood,” Gav commented, leaning against the table next to Cid and watching him.
“I gave her a puzzle to work out,” Cid admitted. “It’ll keep her mind busy while she comes to terms with what happened.” He opened his eyes and glanced at Gav without moving his head from where it was pressed against Clive’s stomach. “What have you two been up to?”
“Trying to get straight answers about what all they are betting on, to be quite honest,” Gav told him. “They are all being exceptionally tight-lipped about it. Said they don’t want us contaminating the betting pool. Or cheating to get someone a win. All they said is the biggest, not the only mind you just the biggest, pot is up to 8,000 gil.”
“I’m tempted to let them stew,” Clive admitted.
“Oh?” Cid said. “Feeling a bit vindictive there, Clive?” he teased.
Clive hummed. “More…” he paused as he considered his words. “I’m tired of people thinking they have a right to my life decisions. Even if they aren’t trying to control them, they are making my business their business. Even if it is well-meaning.”
Cid reached up to one of Clive’s hands, pulling it down to kiss the palm through the leather of his glove and nuzzling into it. “I can have a talk with them,” he offered.
“No,” Clive sighed. “They truly don’t mean anything by it. I just wish that some things in my life could just be ignored by those around me. But it’s because they care. Which I need to remind myself is the exact opposite of the Imperials.”
Gav reached out to grip Clive’s forearm in reassurance, earning a small smile in return. Gav returned the smile with a fond one of his own before looking down at Cid between them. “Mid said she’d be busy until supper and asked if she could join us. I told her sure.”
“Alright,” Cid agreed. It would be nice to have dinner with his… his family.
“She made a pointed note to tell us the exact time she would be back,” Gav went on with a pointed tone of his own.
“Mid,” Cid groaned. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do with her. She’s worse trying to control than fucking Ramuh.”
“I think the best you can do is just love her,” Clive suggested. “And there is no fear of you not accomplishing that.”
Cid hummed but didn’t disagree.
“So,” Gav said after a long comfortable silence descended on the room. “You seemed a bit upset there for a bit. Want to tell us what happened?”
Both Cid and Clive stayed silent, waiting and expecting the other to answer.
“Cid,” Gav said, knocking his boot against Cid’s foot.
Cid startled. “What?” he asked, confused.
“You,” Gav repeated. “What’s got you wound so tight?” he clarified.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Cid protested.
“We aren’t mind readers, Cid,” Clive reminded. “You’ve been tense for a while. Something that hasn’t lessened from seeing Mid like I thought it would.”
Cid swallowed and closed his eyes.
“If you need Gav and I to take on more responsibility we can. You don’t need to do this all alone. I’ve been trying to only let the most important things through to you so you can rest but if it’s not enough…” Clive explained, leaving room for Cid to answer.
“You’ve been what?” Cid asked, sitting back up straight.
“We’ve been trying to let you rest and focus on the big issues and letting everyone know that they can make everyday decisions on their own. You don’t have to approve every single detail,” Gav explained.
Cid opened his mouth several times, speechless. He finally huffed a laugh and shook his head ruefully.
“What?” Clive asked.
“And here I thought I was being replaced,” Cid mused. “They would have certainly chosen the right person for the job but…”
“Replaced?” Clive squawked. “Who’s replacing you? Why would we replace you?”
“Not good for much anymore, am I?” Cid asked matter-of-factly. “Can’t leave town. Can’t summon Ramuh. Can’t use thunder. Can’t even be trusted with a bloody smoke. And then everyone’s going to you for reports and orders and… what was I supposed to think?” he asked sheepishly.
“That your friends care about you and you are not so easily replaceable,” Gav answered. He carded his fingers through Cid’s hair. “No one would, or could, ever replace you. Your loss would be a void none could completely fill.”
“None of us would even want to,” Clive added.
“Yeah yeah. I’m a silly old man,” Cid agreed.
“SIlly yes but I would hardly call you old,” Clive protested.
“I am at least a decade your senior, lad, but I thank you,” Cid said.
“Maybe but that just means experienced. Not decrepit,” Gav stated.
Cid just shook his head.
“So, you think we’re humouring you?” Clive asked. “Using you until we get tired of you?”
“I think I’m insulted on our behalf,” Gav said. “That you think us so fickle and shallow.”
“It’s not like that, Gav,” Cid protested. “But you two are… you’re both young and pretty and capable. I can’t even keep my promises or be where I’m needed.”
“Cid,” Gav insisted, forcing Cid to meet his worried eyes. “No one blames you. No one could have known Kupka would attack or even know where the Hideaway was. You broke no promises. And you did not fail us.”
Cid shook his head. “Kind of you, Gav, but I’m afraid I broke a lot of promises. Mostly to Mid. But I thank you for the kind words.”
“Cid,” Clive said, shaking his head. “Whatever promises you think you broke, they are not so very horrible. I know Mid said some things while she was upset but I am sure she does not hold anything against you.”
“She’s…” Cid began but Gav cut him off.
“She’s a kid, Cid. A very smart and mature kid but she is still a teenager. You remember what being a teenager was like, I’m sure. Everything seems like a personal attack. She would rather have you here, alive, than dead having tried to fight off Kupka,” Gav assured.
“We’d rather you here alive, too,” Clive insisted, hugging Cid as much as he was able to from the awkward angle of standing behind him.
“I swore I’d never let her lose everything again,” Cid protested.
“And she hasn’t. Homes can be rebuilt, Cid. She still has you. And so many of the Hideaway survived. She has Otto and Tarja and me,” Gav listed. “And now she has Clive and Jill too.”
“She’s not alone, Cid,” Clive said. “Neither are you.”
Cid leaned back against Clive again and closed his eyes. Just… that simple, eh? He’s not alone. He let out a gasp as the sheer truth of that hit. He wasn’t alone. For so long he had been running and hiding and trying to keep Mid safe and the Bearers safe and everyone around him safe and he had been shouldering it alone because that’s what he did. It was his job. He was the Lord Commander. Except he wasn’t. Not anymore. Not since he found Mid and disappeared from the battlefield, leaving behind Barnabas and Benedikta and his responsibilities and everything he had worked so hard for. Because he couldn’t support the endlessness of the wars and the destruction of the Eikons and the death of so many people because of such stupid reasons.
Clive and Gav just stood, silently, with Cid, sitting with him in his relief, arms and hands comforting him.
Cid shook himself and sat up, pulling away with a grateful look to them both. He cleared his throat. “So,” He began and saw Clive and Gav share a look before they turned back to him. He squinted at them. “What are you two planning?”
“Why don’t you let us show you just how happy we are that you’re still here with us?” Gav suggested as Clive’s hands smoothed over his chest, dipping under his collar and tweaking his nipple.
“You really will need to lock the door then. Mid’s not one to knock,” Cid said, it wasn’t a no even if it didn’t exactly qualify as a yes.
“I’ll be right back,” Gav said with a wink as he went to do so.
“Come on,” Clive urged, pulling Cid up and over to the bed.
Cid reached out to strip Clive and the younger man grabbed his hands gently between his own and held them still. “Nope,” Clive said and backed Cid up further until he had no choice but to sit heavily on the side of the bed.
This was new. Cid was not used to Clive, or even Gav, taking the lead in such activities. With Clive’s predilection for calling him ‘Daddy’, Cid hadn’t anticipated Clive would want to take the lead. But that was flying out the window as Clive knelt to remove Cid’s boots and place them to the side, pressing kisses to the soles of his feet and the sides of his ankles as his hands trailed up his thighs.
Gav joined them after locking the door and threaded his fingers through Cid’s hair, urging him to look up at him instead of the beautiful image of Clive on his knees before him with such a look of utter devotion in his eyes.
Cid tore his eyes away from Clive and up to Gav who leaned over to kiss him and began working on the ties and belts holding Cid together. Cid wasn’t sure he had ever been stripped so tenderly before. Sure they had had soft nights, more often than not to be honest, but there was an energy to tonight that Cid wasn’t sure how to interpret. Gav and Clive worked silently to strip him and lay him out on the bed. Cid tried to reach out as Clive laid over him, pressing him into the bed but Clive grabbed hold of his hands again.
“You’re taking what we give you today,” Clive corrected.
“Don’t make us tie you up,” Gav threatened and Cid couldn’t hide his shiver at the thought of it, being so completely at their whims.
“You like that?” Clive teased, nibbling lightly on his neck and keeping Cid’s hands pressed tight to the mattress. “Want us to tie you up and make you feel good? Just take away all your ability to move? Make you rely on us?”
“Clive,” Cid moaned, voice rough with want.
“That can be arranged,” Gav promised. “But you have to tell us if you want it.”
“Yes,” Cid moaned. “Please,” He arched into Clive’s hold and body and relished the fact he could not move at all in a way Clive didn’t allow him.
“Very good,” Clive praised and shared a look with Gav. Gav smiled and picked up Cid’s belt from the pile of discarded clothes and handed it over to Clive.
Clive smirked and manhandled Cid onto his stomach, drawing a moan from him as his hard cock rubbed against the mattress and how fucking easy it was for Clive to flip him. Clive gripped Cid’s wrists and pulled them behind Cid’s back. He wrapped the belt around Cid’s wrists and pulled the leather taut and tight before sitting up, flipping him back over, and letting his eyes rove over Cid’s flushed and naked skin hungrily.
“He is so pretty like that, isn’t he Clive?” Gav said as he leaned behind Clive to press a kiss to Clive’s neck and stared down at Cid, flustering the older man.
“Yes, he is,” Clive agreed, running the tip of one gloved finger over Cid’s hard prick and drawing a shivering moan from the older man.
Cid arched into the touch and twisted in the binds, testing the hold and tightness.
“Alright?” Gav asked as Cid settled again.
Cid nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Have to say, this is fairly unexpected.”
“You deserve to be taken care of for a bit,” Gav told him.
“Just lay back,” Clive crooned, running his hands over Cid’s chest. “Let us make you feel good.”
“Well, you’re going to need to be much less dressed if you intend to do that,” Cid taunted.
Clive just smirked as he leaned down to let their stubble rasp together as he nuzzled at Cid’s jaw. “Don’t worry, Daddy. You taught us well,” he whispered, voice deep and husky.
Cid’s eyes slid shut with a muttered, “Fuck.” They flew open again as he felt Clive leaving him and climbing off of him and the bed. “What?” he asked, panicked.
“Shh,” Clive soothed and leaned down for a kiss. “We need to be wearing less clothes, after all.”
Cid nodded. “Yeah, alright,” he agreed and watched as Gav and Clive shared a heated kiss.
They both stripped much more quickly, clothes shed and dropped carelessly on the floor next to the bed before turning back to the bed.
Cid licked his lips as he watched the two in a playful struggle for dominance, eyes roving over their bodies and watering at the sight of their stiff pricks rubbing together.
Gav smirked as he looked down at Cid. “See something you want?” he teased.
“Yeah,” Cid said. “Just wondering when one of you is going to let me suck your cock,” he said, trying to shrug nonchalantly and missing the mark.
“Is that what you want?” Gav asked. “For us to fill you up?”
“If you think you can,” Cid challenged.
Gav and Clive shared another amused look before meeting Cid’s challenging gaze with their own hungry ones.
Cid swallowed in heady anticipation of what his boys had planned for him. He was sure he would love it.
“Gav, you want his mouth or ass?” Clive asked and Cid shivered at the crude way he was being judged.
It was… thrilling, to be at their mercy, to trust them to such an extent and know that no matter how they looked at him, that they were devoted to making him feel good.
“I’ll take his ass if you don’t mind,” Gav said. “Been wanting to feel that around me for ages.”
“Gav,” Cid moaned. “Please.”
“Save your begging for later, darling,” Gav said, running his hand over the inside of Cid’s thigh and brushing against his balls. “We’ve got plenty of plans for you.”
“Been planning this for a while, have you?” Cid tried to tease but it came out sounding far more desperate.
“You’ve been pretty high strung for a while,” Clive admitted, running his fingers through Cid’s hair. “Just relax.”
“I’ll relax better with a cock in my mouth and another in my ass,” Cid told them testily.
“You’ll get it,” Gav promised.
Cid groaned impatiently and threw his head back.
“Alright,” Clive sighed. “Let’s get him on his side. You can prepare him while he puts that mouth to use.”
Gav nodded and let Clive turn Cid onto his side while he fetched the oil and climbed onto the far side of the bed so he was behind the older man. He opened the vial to pour some onto his hand and reached to toy with Cid’s ass. It had been… a very very long time since Cid and he had done it this way so he resolved to take his time. Brushing over the ring of muscle, teasing until Cid was squirming and whining before he even thought of pressing in.
“Fuck, Gav, don’t be such a fucking tease,” Cid protested.
“Don’t worry,” Clive soothed with a hand in Cid’s hair. “He’ll give it to you. You just focus on me.”
“Give me something to focus on, then,” Cid challenged.
“I will,” Clive promised and cupped Cid’s cheek, brushing over it to encourage Cid to open his mouth. Once it was, he slowly fed his cock into it, savouring the wet heat and the moan of contentment that Cid let out at the first taste of him on the older man’s tongue. “Always feel so good, Cid. Always treat your boys so well.”
Gav hummed in agreement as he slipped a finger into Cid’s body, thrusting and twisting and then pressing just right to hit that sweet spot that had Cid letting out a muffled shout around Clive’s prick.
Cid shifted, rocking his hips to seek out more of Gav’s touch. Spit was dribbling down his chin around Clive’s cock and onto the bed. The filthy helplessness of his situation was causing Cid to leak and he felt his orgasm rushing towards him as he shifted to fuck himself on the fingers Gav had inside of him. At least until Gav’s free hand landed on his hip to force him still and then wrapping further to pinch at the skin just behind the head of Cid’s cock. Cid choked on a shout of protestation.
“Shh,” Gav soothed. “Not yet.”
Cid groaned.
“It’s alright,” Clive assured, fingertip running soothingly over the shell of Cid’s ear. “You’ll get it. But you want to come on Gav’s cock, don’t you? Want to feel him deep inside you?”
Cid nodded desperately.
“Then you’ll hold on,” Clive told him. “You’ll hold on cause you want your boys to come inside you, filling you up.”
Cid trembled as he looked pleadingly up at Clive from the corner of his eye.
“Fuck, Clive,” Gav hissed. “Where the hell did you learn to talk like that?”
“Daddy taught me well,” Clive teased with a smirk.
Cid had to take another deep breath to hold off his orgasm at that. Clive was dangerous to his well-being.
“Well,” Gav said, sounding about just as wrecked as Cid felt and took his fingers out of Cid’s body. “Get him onto his knees. He can suck your cock just as easily on his knees while I fuck him.”
Cid swallowed and whimpered around Clive’s dick, struggling for a moment as Clive pulled him off of him.
“You’ll have it back in just a moment,” Clive promised and Cid whined. Clive chuckled as he turned Cid onto his stomach and lifted his hips so his head was pressed into the bed and his ass was up in the air.
“Perfect, Cid,” Gav praised, running soothing hands over his hips and the globes of his ass.
“Fuck, Gav, Clive,” Cid rasped, voice wrecked. “Please.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Gav encouraged.
“You can scream our names, Daddy,” Clive urged.
Gav climbed between Cid’s legs and positioned himself at the loose entrance. “You will, won’t you?” he asked. “Scream our names?”
“Gav,” Cid begged, “Stop teasing.” He could feel the head of Gav’s prick pressing against him and yet it refused to slide inside of him, to stretch him.
“Not quite a scream,” Clive teased.
“I bet we can get it out of him tonight still,” Gav said and finally, finally, pressed in.
Cid let out a sob of relief. “Fuck, please,” he begged as Gav slid home until he was pressed as deep as he could go.
“Oh so good for us, Daddy,” Clive praised.
“Shit, Clive,” Gav hissed as he felt Cid’s body tremble and tighten at the words. “Isn’t that nice of him, Cid? You want to pay him back, don’t you? Show him just how good you can be for your boys?”
Cid nodded deliriously. “Yes, fuck. Clive. Gav. Please just fuck me.”
“Sit up here, let Clive get in front of you,” Gav urged, using a handful of Cid’s hair to pull him up to let Clive slot into place in front of him. Clive held himself steady as Gav guided an eager Cidback onto his cock. Cid’s mouth seeking Clive out unerringly to lick and kiss and suck and bob and just fuck his mouth on Clive’s prick.
“Oh,” Clive moaned. “Fuck. So good, Daddy.”
Gav helped Cid’s head keep time on Clive’s dick as his other hand wrapped around Cid’s bound wrists and held him in place as his hips began to move, thrusting into Cid’s body and slowly building a rhythm.
Clive reached out to pull Gav forward by his hair to give him a filthy kiss. The feeling of Cid’s mouth on him and the knowledge that Gav was the one in control of the rhythm was getting hard to ignore. All he wanted was to thrust into Cid’s mouth and feel his tight throat wrapping around him. His free hand went to the back of Cid’s neck and held him in place as he took an experimental thrust.
Cid moaned wantonly.
“I think he liked that,” Gav teased. “We’d better get to work. His pretty screams might be muffled but we can still give him what he obviously needs.”
Clive kissed him once more before he pulled back and nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. “That what you want, Daddy?”
Cid nodded as much as he could and tried to take more of Clive into his mouth.
“Alright,” Gav said, He let go of Cid’s hair to wrap a hand around his waist, hand splayed low on his belly to hold him up while Gav fucked into him. Founder, Gav fucking loved this feeling. THe sounds of the three of them, their moans and the slick sound of flesh on flesh and the choking of Cid on Clive’s cock. It reminded him that this was fucking real.
Clive let Gav set the rhythm, one hand staying on Cid’s neck and the other tangling in his hair. He waited until he had the pattern of Gav’s thrusts down before he joined in using Cid to chase their pleasure. In together. Out together. In together. Out together. Filling Cid together and leaving him hanging nearly empty between them for a moment before they were filling him again.
Fuck but Cid loved this. The helplessness in being bound to these two’s whims. The power he felt at bringing them pleasure and laying them low with it. The feel of Clive and Gav inside of him, so deep he felt they must be able to feel each other in there. He wanted more. Just a little. Just that little bit extra to be allowed to come. His own prick laying, neglected between his legs throbbed with painful need and he whined, begging in the only sounds he was able to for them to touch him. Let him come.
Gav, beautiful, perfect, brilliant Gav must have known or understood because his hand slipped lower. “Poor Cid, you’re so wet. Leaking for us. You want to come, don’t you?” he crooned.
Cid tried to nod with a muffled sob.
“Alright, darling,” Gav soothed, hand wrapping and moving over Cid’s cock. “Alright. You can come for us.”
Cid sobbed again in relief, hips giving little aborted thrusts between the hand around him and the prick inside him.
“Daddy,” Clive gasped.
Cid looked up to see Clive fall to pieces above him. The taste of his spend erupting in his throat as he swallowed compulsively, everything that Clive gave him. Clive pulled him off of him gingerly and collapsed back and sought out Cid’s mouth with his own. Clive’s hand reached down, tangling with Gav’s to stroke him together.
“Fuck. Clive, Gav,” Cid begged, voice going louder as Gav unerringly found that bundle inside him that had him screaming out their names as he came. Followed shortly by Gav’s stuttering hips and flood of seed inside of Cid’s body.
They each waited a moment to catch their breaths as they collapsed together and Clive undid the belt on Cid’s arms, massaging life back into them. Gav would eventually stand up on still wobbly legs to clean them up and Clive would kiss the red worn skin around Cid’s wrists and insist he drink some water but for now they all stayed, wrapped together until their heartbeats began to beat as one again.
Mid moaned, her head down on the table and hands clutching her ears as the sounds from upstairs dwindled after her father’s shout. Both Jill and Tarja were on either side of her, rubbing her back consolingly.
“I’m not going to get any sleep this break, am I?” Mid asked. “Are they always like that?”
“Every time they are all together. Yes,” Jill admitted.
“And they still haven’t said the words?” Mid demanded.
“Judging by how flustered they all get, no. No they have not,” Tarja told her.
“Even Gav goes all red and sheepish if you bring up why he’s so eager to get back here from a mission,” one of the Cursebreakers, Dorys, said.
“They are hopeless,” Mid groaned again.
The other three women nodded as the rest of the inn continued to pretend they couldn’t hear what their three fearless leaders had just been up to. Or how loud Cid could scream.