[thread; closed]

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Characters: Rude and Reno
Progress: Complete
Summary: The dynamic duo plan to paint the town red.
Location: Treno
Date: January, 1804
Warnings: Drinking, language, violence... cat.


Now that the five of them were finally together in Treno, Reno was more than ready to start exploring the city properly. It was always dark, sure, but Midgar wasn't exactly the brightest beacon. It was almost like Edge in Treno, at times, and Reno was content in this place. It was the nearest thing to their old Midgar as they could get in Gaia.

So, of course, what was a better way to explore the city properly than to go drinking with your best pal? Regardless of any so-called progress, Reno still thought Rude was the only person who could really keep up with his drinking. Tseng could hold his own and Elena was good enough but Rude was always the one drinking into the early hours with him. Reno accounted it to how big the guy was but he wouldn't comment on that. Same as Rude didn't comment on him being kind of little.

Heading to the room he was sharing with Rude (it was cost effective after all), Reno hammered on the door then flung it open and poked his head into the room, grinning at his partner in what would've seemed a malicious way if Rude didn't know him. No, this was rather a devious expression instead. Like when he had a plan that everyone knew would go wrong and he still damn well did it anyway.

"Hey, Rude. Ruuuuuude. Hey, buddy~! Come drinking with me, 'kay?"

Comments

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, Rude had been waiting for this for a while. With no real work yet, Reno was bound to get restless, and while the intrigue of a new world was one thing, it wasn't really enough. The redhead needed something to do, and no work and injuries had driven him crazy -- which had in turn given Rude quite the headache in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

Setting down the pair of sunglasses he had been cleaning (not the ones he was wearing, but a spare), Rude sighed slightly. Drinking with Reno when he was restless or in a new place was always something of an adventure. It was also usually an exercise in patience for both Rude and the other people in the bar.

"Why do I have a feeling that, if I say yes, we're going to be arrested?"

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Reno gave a snort, kicking the door shut and slumping down on the bed, laying across it with his arms behind his head, barely seeming to notice the broken ribs he sported. Then again, putting up with the pain until it was just routine was a habit of Reno's. Except when he got his ear pierced. That hurt like a bitch.

"Hey, I'm not going to try to get arrested but if shit happens, it happens, man." Laughing, Reno stretched his legs out, looking up at Rude with his grin still smug and wicked across his face.

Sometimes, like on occassions like this, Reno knew he drove Rude up the proverbial wall but his partner was just so understanding that Reno couldn't help but push for more. Insults, jokes and abuse were always in abundance, despite how much he cared about Rude, because that was just how things were.

After a moment of silence Reno hummed slightly in thought. "I wanna get in a barfight."

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Rude had never been able to understand Reno's bizarre relationship with pain. While he knew he probably healed so quickly because of the bit of mako in him, he was fairly certain that bouncing around the way the redhead did with broken ribs was not normal. Especially when he could barely handle getting his ear pierced. Rude had been present for that, and could honestly say that it was one of the funniest things he had ever experienced.

"It usually happens because you do something that is against the law. Like 'disturbing the peace'." Rude didn't have to look to know exactly which look Reno was giving him. That said, he also didn't have to hear the rest of Reno's argument to know that, no matter how bad of an idea it would be, he would probably end up going with him. There was no way he was letting the redhead go alone, after all, especially not when he was recovering from injuries in a world they didn't know that well.

Reno's next words just confirmed that fact. Sighing, Rude stood up and went over to the bed, swatting Reno's legs away so that he could sit down. "That will be fun, with those ribs." Although, now that Reno mentioned it... "Though it would be good to hit something that hits back, instead of bites." Or sings to turn you into a frog, or has tentacles and poisonous spit... really, just some good old hand-to-hand combat.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"You could beat me up, if you want? You know I like it rough~!" Reno seemed to almost choke on his laughter but decided to cut it off after a moment, draping his legs over Rude's lap, grinning at him still. It was almost as if his smile wouldn't fade. Not even at the thought of what Tseng would do if they actually did get arrested. He'd be damn angry at them, sure, but Reno was used to getting in trouble with Tseng and just winging his way out of it. He did it more often than he cared to admit, actually, but his position in the Turks wasn't a fluke. Tseng had put him there for a reason, not because there was no one else to do it.

After a moment, Reno sprang to an upright position and pressed his hands to Rude's face, looking him right in the eye. Well, the sunglasses. "DOn't you worry about a thing, my big, bald buddy. If we get thrown in the joint I'll bust us out and take the heat from Tseng. Now that is love, man. Seriously."

Kissing Rude quickly, Reno once again shot up, standing this time and pulling out his cigarette packet. "God damn. I have like... one smoke left. I am so going to go all withdrawal on your ass, man." Sighing, he put the packet away and pondered for a moment, moving to the chest of drawers to grab a different shirt. Well, there was no point in going in uniform, right?

Squirming out of jacket and shirt, Reno pulled on the black one he'd bought, kicking off his pants a minute later to put on a pair far more casual, sitting on the bed to pull his boots on. He wasn't going to be "Reno the Turk" tonight. No, he figured he'd just settle for being "Reno".

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Rolling his eyes, Rude shook his head. "Yeah, well, considering how I'll only be stepping in to save your ass..." Tseng wouldn't want him to leave Reno unsupervised like this, after all. He was reckless and impulsive, and on days like this he just needed to burn it off. Rude's ability to control explosions down to a detail (though usually with bombs) had been a big reason why the two of them had become partners in the first place.

The news that Reno was running out of cigarettes, however, made him groan. Rude could stand Reno far more than the average human being could stand Reno, but when Reno was suffering from withdrawal, it was worse than usual. "Now I need a drink."

Ignoring the redhead as he changed, Rude looked at the ceiling, thinking. It didn't take him long before he gave in (he'd known he probably would anyway, but it was best to look like he actually had to think about it or be convinced, otherwise he was just enabling). Standing up, Rude pulled on his own street clothes. His were a bit thicker and warmer than Reno's; he wasn't as used to the colder winters after growing up in Costa del Sol. The size difference between them did nothing when it came to the weather.

"...If you really want to get me riled up for your idea of fun, a good idea is to get one of them to break my sunglasses. Probably when I step in to try and separate you."

Okay, so maybe he was something of an enabler.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Grinning as he began relacing his boots, Reno looked over at Rude. "Hey, I'm not that bad when I'm free of nicotine... I'm just a bit... spacy. And angry..." Yeah, he was definitely an angry man when he didn't have his cigarettes. Angry, skittish and easily the most horrible person anyone would want to know but he knew he'd have to quit someday. He just didn't figure it'd take appearing in another world to stop him smoking.

Coughing the word "Enabler" into his hand, Reno finished his laces and shifted to stand, grabbing a jacket he had. It was lightweight and pretty casual but having grown up in Midgar, unlike his summer-born friend, Reno was used to the cold, damp and dark. It was just another day to him, regardless of the weather. Truth be told, he didn't deal with the heat very well. He burned easily, could rarely get and tan and suffered heat headaches really quickly.

Getting to his feet again, Reno didn't even bother to take his goggles off his head. "Y'know, I think you enjoy this more than I do," he muttered, heading off out the door, intent on finding out what other bars there were in Treno. Hey, the place had to have more than one considering how much of a crime den it was.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

No, Reno was that bad. Reno was worse than that bad. Rude was just rather practiced at dealing with him, and when it got to the point that he couldn't (which rarely happened, though most of the times it did were when he was in a mood like that), they sorted it out in their own way. It probably wasn't exactly healthy, but it worked for them.

Cuffing Reno on the back of the head for the 'enabler' comment, Rude grabbed his own jacket. This was thicker, too, but to be fair, Rude didn't have hair. Reno would be kept from losing too much heat by his mess of red. Rude had to rely on his own body heat and layers of clothing to stay warm. That said, he would rather have to wear more in winter than suffer the way Reno did in the heat. He liked the sun too much.

"Only sometimes." Chuckling as he followed his partner, Rude pulled his collar up and shoved his hands in his pockets as soon as they were outside. He would let Reno lead, not the least because it was somewhat hard to see outside in the perpetual darkness with his sunglasses on. The city was lit, sure, but he had a feeling his partner wouldn't want to stay in any areas that were well-lit.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Shoving his hands deep into his pants pockets, Reno huddled down into his coat, wrinkling his nose at the cold. It was a bit chilly but at least it wasn't snowing. He didn't like being in streets when it snowed. It was too easy to slip over and... well, he slipped over easily at the best of times. Sure, building snowmen and having snoball fights were great but Reno didn't tend to get the chance to do that often.

"So, where're we going? Think there are any decent bars around here?" Although, his definition of a decent bar was usually very different to that of other people. He figured a decent bar was one where they served drinks in dirty glasses and you had to be careful where you stepped in case you slipped in vomit or blood. Still, those bars were always the fun ones.

As soon as something piqued his interest, Reno vanished down a street, blinking at the sign for a bar that was a far cry from the inn. It was sleazy and grubby; just the place he was looking for. "Oh, hey, this place looks good!"

Nudging the door open, Reno stepped in, heading for the bar without noticing the looks he and Rude got from the patrons. They were, after all, distinctive no matter where they went.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Rude didn't even answer, knowing Reno would find a 'decent' bar quickly enough, with or without his help. Instead, he kept close to the redhead, glancing at the shadows they passed. Reno's dash down the street, however, had him grunt slightly in surprise before he took off after him.

The redhead was perfectly capable of getting into a ridiculous amount of trouble in a short amount of time, and Rude wanted a drink first.

Securing his sunglasses, the Turk followed his partner into the bar, quickly noting the location of the bar's exits and the various items in it that could be used to their advantage. He also noticed the looks, though he simply followed the redhead to the bar. Nudging Reno slightly, he discreetly moved his head in the direction of a group of men. He'd let the redhead check them out, though they looked suitable enough for a fight. He'd even let Reno order him a drink.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Paying for both the drinks, Reno slid Rude his glass and sipped his own, glancing towards the group from the corner of his eye. "Good eye," he murmured into his glass, looking up at Rude a moment later. "I'll let ya have a couple drinks before I go charging in," he added with rather a cute, yet devious, little smirk. He was indeed ready for a fight.

Boredom too over easily, with Reno.

Brushing a few stray hairs away, his fingertips lightly tapping against his goggles, Reno pushed off from the bar and moved towards a table, settling into his seat and kicking his feet up onto the table, crossing his legs. "I wonder if we could get the whole bar going..." His tone held so much amusement that it was quite possible Reno was insane.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Grunting slightly at the compliment, Rude rolled his eyes and took a drink. "Thoughtful." It was more likely to be because than Rude wouldn't feel as bad for going to join in the brawl, but he wasn't complaining. A drink was nice, after everything, though he'd probably need a few more after tonight.

Nodding once to the bartender before leaving the bar and sitting at the table Reno had chosen, Rude snorted slightly. "Maybe." Taking a decent-sized gulp from his drink, he glanced around. "Could be hard to get out if we do that, though."

They weren't getting arrested or beaten to death tonight. Rude wouldn't allow it. Even when Reno was enabling him into bar brawls, he was still the responsible one, and he'd decided that it wasn't happening. Therefore, it wasn't, even if he had to drag Reno out by the hair.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"We got past the Zolom and your froggy girlfriend. We can get out of this place. Our exits are the door, that window, and we could make a break for the private area behind the bar and out the back door," Reno replied, sitting comfortably. It was almost like planning a mission except, well, they were doing it for amusement rather than on orders. Perhaps Rude wouldn't find it as amusing as Reno did, to begin with, but Reno knew the other Turk would enjoy the chance to let off steam.

Shrugging, he emptied his drink and gave a gesture to the bartender that he wanted another of the same thing. It took the barmaid only a moment to bring the drink over and Reno paid her, paying fair attention to the cleavage she was flashing him.

Once she was gone, Reno sipped his drink. "How're we gonna do this? Shall I go over and just break a face?"

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

"We're not blowing up the bar, Reno." Pausing for a moment to take a drink, Rude added "Or killing anyone. Life-threatening injuries are also out, which means no getting any." It was best to get the rules down first, even if Reno was likely to complain about them. Every game had rules, even the games that happened to be a bit more... violent than others. These were rules that Rude did not like broken, though he would if it was necessary. 'Just because', Reno's favorite excuse, wouldn't cut it.

Grunting to himself at Reno's blatantly obvious flirtation with the barmaid (though he checked her out behind his sunglasses himself), Rude placed an order for another drink while she was still at the table before allowing her to walk off. He would have to remember to tip her generously.

Finishing off his first drink, the bald man shrugged. "You could always suggest that they have been doing odd things with chocobos." Rude was fairly certain Reno would figure out some way to get the fight started; he did without meaning to, so actually going out with the intention should be fairly easy.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Grinning, Reno swallowed down the entire drink he had. "Right, I'm going in. Feel free to have another drink while I kick some ass." At that, he stood and made a quick stride over to the group of men, specifically picking on the one that looked to be the largest and the meanest as he rested a hand on the table.

"What you want?" The man's voice was a gruff grunt and Reno grinned in a rather feline manner.

Glancing down, he looked back up with his expression rather manic. "Got a message from your Ma. She told me to tell you I fuck her better than your dad."

Within seconds, the man had Reno by his jacket, seronaded by a hail of cheering, whooping and general noises, yet Reno didn't even flinch. "Say that again," the man demanded. Reno laughed slightly, looking up at him with a smirk.

"I. Fucked. Your. Ma." And then the punch came at Reno but the redhead quickly snatched hold of it, twisting his wrist and kneeing the man in the groin, causing all of his friends, all his very large friends, to gather.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

The barmaid had returned with Rude's second drink just in time for Reno to be grabbed. The woman glanced up and across and sighed slightly, and Rude raised an eyebrow. This was definitely a common occurrence, then. Paying her, requesting that she keep the change (she smiled at that and thanked him, and Rude was fairly certain she also deliberately flashed some more of her breasts), the Turk leaned back in his chair to watch his partner's antics.

He didn't get to relax long, however. Just as his drink was about halfway gone, another of the man's friends came in his direction. "Better get your friend over there outta here, buddy."

Ignoring the man, Rude sipped his drink, glancing down to confirm that it was empty. The man fumed. "Hey! You've got no idea who you're dealing with!" Reaching out to grab Rude's shoulder, the man squeaked slightly as Rude's hand immediately came up and grabbed his wrist, squeezing hard enough for the bones to grind together. "Neither do you."

Releasing the man, who quickly backed away and headed for the door, Rude stood. They would have a reputation firmly established, if nothing else, and the man wouldn't go to the authorities -- not yet, at least. Standing, Rude casually started for the crowd Reno had gathered instead, adjusting his gloves as he walked across the room.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Just as Rude was heading over, Reno had to duck a fist that came flying at him, using it as a chance to swiftly bring his foot up and kick the jaw of the man attacking him. Sending him flying across the bar, Reno's eyes came to settle on another and his grin simply broadened.

"You losers are messing with the wrong guy."

Bringing the heel of his palm up, Reno smashed his hand into the jaw of his opponent, just as another wrapped his arm around Reno's neck, yanking him back. Making a rather strangled sound, the redhead squirmed, trying to get himself free as the man's arm tightened. "Little help, Rude," he choked out, pressing back against then man who had hold of him, using him as leverage to bring his foot up and kick yet another man in the gut.

And, just as Reno had hoped, the rest of the bar seemed to be getting riled up.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Not bothering to verbally reply to his partner's choked-out call for help, Rude stepped behind the man holding Reno in a headlock and casually kneed him in the groin while jabbing him in the kidney. The man released Reno, groaning in pain, but now there was a good deal of attention on Rude, too (though not quite as much, thanks to his size).

Rude had to duck as another man swung a chair at his face. Rather unimpressed, especially because his assailant ended up hitting the person behind Rude, the Turk punched him in the kneecap quickly before standing again and forcing him down with an elbow to the back. "Having fun?"

Near the bar, a couple people were pulling communication devices out, but either hadn't decided to actually call for help yet or were waiting to see how the fight panned out.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"The time of my life!" Reno grunted as he punched one man in the face, bringing his elbow back into another person's nose. "How about you?" Really, he was having that much fun. It was a good way to let off steam and occupy himself now he had no cigarettes to smoke. (That one in his pocket would be saved for a really bad day.)

As someone smashed their empty bottle on Reno's head, a man sat nearby laughed at the same time Reno punched his attacker. "Think that's funny?" Snatching the man by his shirt, Reno yanked him up and headbutted him, goggles and all, sending the man into a daze.

It was at this point, when the fight started escalating to over half of the bar, that the people with their devices started calling the authorities. It seemed things had gotten out of hand.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Rude would have responded, but someone had taken that moment to punch him in the ear. Head ringing and, more important, pissed off that someone had messed with his piercings, Rude punched the man hard enough to break his jaw as well as send him sprawling backwards onto the man that had just hit Reno over the head.

Everyone was hitting everyone else now, and after a quick shake of his head and a kick at one of his downed attackers, Rude managed to make it over to his partner. "We need to leave; calls are being made." But first...

It seemed some of the people in the bar weren't messing around anymore. A couple were beginning to pull out weapons, and Rude grunted as a previously concealed dagger caught one shoulder as he moved to block a blow from someone else, his sunglasses knocked away and onto the floor.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"Oh shit..." Weapons were never part of the plan! As Rude was caught by the dagger, Reno found himself barely missing another, soon snatching hold of Rude's arm, dragging him towards the door. They were all too distracted with each other now, to bother chasing them and any that did would have their work cut out for them if they dared to chase the duo. After all, Reno was insanely fast and Rude was now very pissed off.

Running out onto the street, the redhead caught sight of the Treno authorities and swore several times under his breath, trying to figure out their best route of escape.

Spotting a fairly tall wall, Reno figured it was time to find out what was on the other side. While it wasn't too tall for Rude to climb, it woould've been for Reno if it wasn't for the fact he seemed to be part monkey at times, with how he climbed things. Skittering over the wall, after pointing it out to Rude, he could hear the authority figures shouting about them going over the wall.

Apparently, they were coming along, too!

I LOVE GETTING TO USE THIS ICON JS.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Extremely displeased by the fact that he had not only lost a pair of sunglasses but didn't have enough time to put on another pair, Rude followed the redhead up the wall, nearly slipping once. He didn't have the redhead's dexterity, just upper body strength.

They were absolutely not getting arrested. No way. Tseng would kill them, for one thing, even if knowing the details of the jail would be useful. They hadn't gone out with that intention, and so they would still be punished for it. Besides, Rude didn't want to spend the night in jail.

Gripping his arm as he landed on the other side of the wall in a crouch, Rude took off again. Treno's authorities were coming behind them, and they knew the city better, but he and Reno were Turks. They did this kind of thing under much more dangerous circumstances back home, and they hadn't been killed yet. Racing after his partner, Rude didn't look back; after all, Reno had that irritating habit of disappearing down side-streets or ducking behind things.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

As they ran, Reno swore more as it began to rain. That was just what they needed. Now the god damn weather was against them. Perfect. As he glanced back, Reno noticed the Treno officers scaling the wall and setting off after them, which really wasn't a nice thing to see. They'd catch up, soon, if they didn't find somewhere to hide.

Indeed, as Rude had anticipated, Reno vanished down a side-street, skidding down an alleyway that adjoined it. He assumed Rude would follow him, and, of course, Reno ducked down behind one of the trash cans lining the alleyway, the rain doing little to his hair, merely making it wet, the spikiness remaining.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

If Rude were a more vocal person, he would have joined in with Reno's swearing. On one hand, the rain was helping to slow down the authorities, making the ground slippery and harder for them to see the two running Turks. On the other hand, the same went for them. Granted, they had a headstart, but they didn't know the terrain as well.

Scrabbling after his partner, Rude took shelter behind a pile of boxes, trash bags, and packing crates, trying to make himself as small as possible. The rain was cold (it was January, after all), but Rude kept his jaw firmly set. He'd wait it out until the authorities passed.

Sure enough, there was a great deal of shouting and the sounds of activity outside the sidestreet before a couple of men looked down the alley. They didn't investigate any further, however, and soon after their footsteps faded, the sounds of the street returned to normal.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

When Reno was sure it was safe, he stood, pressing a finger to his own lips to make sure Rude was quiet. Yeah. Right. Making sure Rude was quiet. The idea itself was just asinine but Reno had to be sure. Now stood, Reno crept down the alleyway with considerable stealth, poking his head out to look for the authorities. They were right off in the distance now, looking for them quite far away. The rain had been an ally, then, and not an enemy.

"We're good; they're all the way up there. We lost 'em," he muttered. Giving Rude a thumbs up, he strode back to him, a big grin on his face as he did. Except... then he noticed the wound. "Ah! Are you alright?" If it was deep, Reno would have to dig a Potion out of one of his many pockets.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Rolling his eyes at Reno's gesture of silence, Rude stood as his redheaded partner came back down the alley. Glancing at the stab would, touching it gingerly, Rude grunted slightly. "Didn't get a good look at the knife, and after rain and garbage, it could get infected." He didn't want to waste a full Potion on it, but at the same time, he needed both of his arms to function completely.

He wasn't really feeling the stab, or any of the other injuries picked up in the bar just yet. Adrenaline was still going strong, especially because of the chase. He knew better than to feel invincible because of it, but damn, Reno looked really good with his hair wet like that.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Shaking his head a little violently, flicking water every which way, Reno brushed stray strands from his eyes and leaned to look at Rude's wound, his head tilted enough that trickles of water chased each other down his pale, exposed neck. "We could use an Antidote to get rid of anything real bad? Maybe half a Potion?" It didn't look that deep.

Then again, Reno knew that looks could be deceiving.

Lifting his gaze, Reno grinned at Rude. "Heh, tonight was awesome! The only difference to here and home is that normally I'd go get laid now," he joked, ruffling the back of his hair, running slender fingers through red locks.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

"Half a Potion should be fine." Leaning forward and lightly plucking one from Reno's pocket, Rude forced himself to shift back, eyes watching as the water ran down his partner's neck. Quickly uncapping the bottle, he swallowed down half of it, feeling the wound heal as he did so. He then stuck the rest of the Potion back into Reno's pocket; he could be quite sly with his hands, when he wanted to be.

Raising an eyebrow at Reno's comment, Rude snorted slightly. "My apologies." Reaching into his pocket for a moment, the Turk paused and withdrew his hand. A trickle of light from the street had caught on Reno's wet hair, and Rude suddenly realized that he was still pretty close to his partner and that they were both still pretty high-strung from the bar and subsequent chase. "...Let me make it up to you."

Before Reno could really reply, Rude spun him around and pushed him back against the wall, kissing him with a rather complete lack of anything gentle.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"Heh, you're always all hands," Reno teased as Rude took the Potion and replaced it before the redhead had any kind of chance to stop him. Still, it was quite true. Rude fought with his hands, made bombs with his hands... well, Reno could think of a few other things those hands did, but mentioning them would probably just get him a black eye.

Yet, suddenly, Rude was making up for something and Reno's mind didn't damn well care what it was once his back hit that wall. Blue eyes went wide for a split second as Rude kissed him and Reno made a small, startled sound but a moment later, his arms draped around Rude's neck and his brain reminded him that oh, hey, yeah, we're like this now...

And Reno would openly admit he liked this bit of progress. Especially when Rude was the one taking control. Damn, it was good when Rude took control.

Unable to resist, Reno's tongue escaped within moments of the kiss starting, demanding attention from Rude's as his fingers found the bigger Turk's piercings, toying with the ones on his left ear, just teasing them a little.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Reno demanded attention on a regular basis, and while Rude was usually fairly good at ignoring him when the situation called for it, this wasn't one of those times. Especially because Reno's fingers were playing with his earrings, something that the Turk responded to by pinning the redhead to the wall tighter, as well as demanding Reno's tongue kept his pace.

They hadn't been arrested, the injuries weren't that serious, and they'd ditched their pursuers. The Turks were all together now. They still had no idea how to get home, but Treno was close. They could work with this. They would adapt. That was what they did.

And right now, Rude didn't really care where they were. Sometimes, Reno's habit of being reckless and impulsive rubbed off; just a bit. After all, it was freezing out and they were surrounded by garbage.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

A laugh escaped Reno as he was pressed back into the wall and it took him only a second to figure out he'd found a weakness. Rude liked his earrings being messed with. Well, that was a drop of knowledge he'd use again. Still, at this rate, he'd have to sleep in the damn bathtub because there was no way he'd be able to share a bed with a person who kissed him like this and not do anything with them.

Sure, he'd never done anything with another guy, but he was the most adventurous of the four top Turks. He'd go full steam ahead with whatever he wanted and this was fast becoming something he really, really wanted.

Managing to keep up with Rude's pace, ever in harmony with the older man, Reno continued to allow his fingers to toy with those piercings, unable to keep from pressing himself tighter to his partner. However, the sweet harmony and the passion was cut short as further up the alley a rather loud noise came and Reno jerked back, hitting his head on the brickwall.

"Fuck!" cupping his hand over his wet hair, he looked along the alleyway. "'The Hell was that?"

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Jerking away just as Reno had when the noise came, Rude immediately folded both of his hands into fists in case something jumped out at them. Absentmindedly wondering how many times Reno would smash his head on something, or get injured in any form, when they were 'together', he shook his head.

"Not sure." Pulling a pair of sunglasses out at last, Rude settled them on his face before moving out from their spot. Strange noises could be anything, but it would be best to check it out.

Approaching another pile of rubbish, there was another noise. It wasn't quite as loud as the previous one, but Rude looked over the pile carefully before kicking it. A much more irritated noise came this time, and out from the pile crawled nothing more than an alley cat, blinking up at Rude in a way that basically screamed 'Who do you think you are, hm?'.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Reno was right there, behind Rude, wanting to know just what it was as well. When the cat appeared, however, Reno completely changed tactics. Instead of instantly wanting to kill whatever disrupted that particularly brilliant moment, he crouched down, reaching out to pet the scruffy, wet animal.

It was mostly a tabby colour but its feet were white (grey considering it was out in the dirty streets) and it had patches of a reddish brown all over. "Hey, litle guy... you shouldn't sneak up on people like that." The cat, quite obviously enjoying the petting, hopped up onto Reno's bent knees and let out a sound that told Rude to back the Hell off.

Scooping the cat up, Reno cuddled it against him. "Aw, Rude, it doesn't have a collar and it's so thin... can we keep it?" Blinking up at his partner, it was quite obvious Reno was a child at heart, considering how sparkly and bright his blue eyes had just become.

[piercedgloves.livejournal.com]

Glaring down at the cat (not that Reno would be able to tell, thanks to his sunglasses, though Rude had the sneaking suspicion that the cat knew), Rude blinked for a moment. Keep it?

Keeping a snide comment about how Rude already had something thin and without a collar following him around to himself, the bald Turks shifted slightly. It was raining and, now that he didn't have Reno smashed up against the wall, Rude really just sort of wanted to head back to the inn and take a shower. But this would have to be dealt with first, and he didn't want Reno to whine about the cat every five minutes.

Besides, it was sort of cute, though likely ultimately Out To Get Him, and Reno liked cats. Rude didn't have a problem with them, but (with the exception of his Touch Me stalker and chocobos) did not have the same touch with animals that Reno did. "...You'll have to talk to Tseng about that."

In other words, he wasn't going to stop the redhead from picking it up and taking it back to the room with him.

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

A grin crossed Reno's face and he unzipped his jacket, tucking the cat inside and zipping it up until it the cat's head was the only thing visible. To say he was in a good mood was an understatement. He and Rude were on good terms (absolutely great terms actually), he'd had a lot of fun in the fight and he now had a cat. And Reno really did like cats. Dogs were nice enough, but they required a lot more care. Cats would ultimately do whatever they wanted.

"Tseng won't need to worry! Besides, I'm an adult, he ain't my Ma." Chuckling, he kept one arm around the cat, his other hand reaching to cup Rude's cheek. "You're the best," he murmured, his smile still in place as he gave his partner another kiss, walking down the alley a moment later, shaking his head a little to shake some of the water from his hair.

It was still raining and, despite the set of claws pressed into his stomach, Reno couldn't hide the smile he had. In fact, he was pretty damn happy right then.