A Little R&r

The common room was nearly empty as Reno lazed across the marble floors. Most of the employees were up, showered and had already eaten breakfast, including Rude who sat on one of the sofas, absorbed in a magazine. Reno had taken his time and allowed Rude to get out of bed before he did, shower before he did, and eat breakfast without him. If he wasn't allowed to stay the hell away from him, he would make the space as best he could. Seeing the indomitable man alone in the common room sent a tinge of excitement tingling up his spine. Reno moistened his lower lip with the tip of his tongue and crept around the back of the sofa, hesitating a moment before wrapping his arms around massive shoulders and leaning in to see what he was so intently reading. He smirked as a few of the words caught his eye. From what little he caught, it reminded him of a dime-store romance novel.

"Jesus, Rude, that can't be all that fascinating." Reno taunted, his lips brushing the piercings in Rude's ear. Rude snapped the magazine closed.

"Alright, you have my full undivided attention."

"No, really... what were you... reading? Yea, not reading... What were you looking at?"

"It's not polite to read over someone else's shoulder... let alone torment them about it."

"What's wrong with trashy romance?"

"Nothing, moving on."

"Are you sure it wasn't a girly magazine?" he hassled, hanging on Rude as his hair dripped a bit onto Rude's trouser leg. The bald man elbowed him away, irritated.

"No. Quiddit... If you must know, it's just a collaborative circular... there are many stories in it."

It was quite obvious Rude wasn't ready to be chummy. It was also quite obvious that what happened in the bedroom

stayed

in the bedroom. Reno sunk into an arm chair that sat directly in the corner and combed his fingers through his still loose hair. The chair was facing Rude, who couldn't have looked any more or less bored with the situation. He chanced their usual verbal camaraderie.

"At least it got a rise out of you," his banter matching the volume of his voice. He was barely breathing as he waited for his response. True to his character, Rude's face showed nothing as he picked up the thin magazine and rolled it before tucking it in his jacket.

"Typical sentiment for you... getting a rise out of anything seems to be your major goal in life," Rude snorted.

"I've pushed your buttons hundreds of times. Never seemed to bother you before." Blue eyes glimmered hope as he continued, careful to check his tone.

"Yeah yeah yeah..." Rude reached for the TV remote and emphatically pushed the TV button to turn it on.

He had to swallow hard to choke his heart back into his chest where it belonged. Rude had ignored him before. Why was this so damned difficult? Nimble fingers wove through wet hair in form of nervous habit.

"Offer still stands, Rude. We can forget the whole thing." Reno waited more patiently than he had ever waited for anything in his life; it was killing him. He'd always done things in his time and some of his partner's words had stuck from their argument the previous night. Time ticked by painfully slow as Rude stared at the infomercial on the TV. Finally he issued forth a tiny harrumph. Reno sighed. "Say the words. S'all it'll take."

"Why you so eager for me to drop it?" the stoic voice never faltered as he flipped the channel to the listings. Reno shrugged and flopped to the floor by Rude's feet.

"You just don't seem very.... interested. Who the hell am I to force the issue?"

"Do I have to be 24 hours a day? Let a man breathe..." he uttered as he turned to a station and settled the remote. Reno shook his head in return.

"And when I try that, you tell me I'm running away."

"Because you DO run away," Rude forewarned, his head snapping to Reno's direction.

"I'm not running now."

"Oh my!! You mean you don't want to go back in the closet?" he mocked, bringing both hands to the side of his face.

Reno gritted his teeth as the blow struck below the belt. With anyone else he could have ignored it, smiled and walked out with his devil-may-care attitude. This hurt.

"Isn't it you who's in the closet?" he retorted.

"...put you on a hanger..."

"You didn't seem to want me to stay in the closet. I have other places I can go, Rude. If you want me to clear out for awhile, I will. I'm not kidding."

"Look... I don't want you burying yourself under your desk; I don't want you sleeping in the garage... all I wanted to do was come in here," he paused slightly as he pulled out his rolled-up magazine, "and do a bit of reading before we gotta go for our shift, alright?"

"Yea, alright." Rude was irritated, Reno's pride was hurt. That made for a rather volatile cocktail and he didn't want to press the issue anymore. He stared off blankly at the wall.

"Thank you." The reply was clipped as Rude folded open the papers and tried to find where he had been. After a moment, he added, "...and I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm just a bit tired today..."

"S'arright," Reno muttered, tugging on the laces of his shoe. His back rested against the sofa, his shoulder close enough he could feel the heat from Rude's calf. His brow furrowed slightly as he felt his groin stir from being in close proximity to the heat he had lost himself in a few hours ago. Reno propped his elbow against the sofa, careful not to brush against Rude. He stared up at him for several moments, waiting for the eyes to shift but when they didn't, he stood and wandered out of the common room and toward the elevator.

His cheeks burned from humiliation.

Never let yourself want for anything, Reno. That way you're never disappointed when nothing ever comes for you.

His old man had actually been right about something for once.

Somehow the thought wasn't comforting at all.

The elevator arrived blissfully empty and stayed that way for the entire trip to his office The machine whirred and clicked above his head, delivering him rather quickly to his office. He wandered down the hallway and stopped in front of his door. As usual, there were several dozen notes pinned to the corkboard outside the door. Several more looked as though they had been jammed under his door and the occasional note was tacked to the door, the frame and the handle. Generally the notes would stay on the door until they fell off or were removed by the party who had originally left the message. Today was different.

Each note, letter and envelope came off of the door and corkboard, one by one. Reno slipped his keycard into the slot and the door swooshed open. He nabbed the papers various passersby had tucked in the door and took them inside with him. The door shut behind him with an automatic noise as Reno settled into his chair. For some reason, the leather under him wasn't as nice. The scarred and polished wood wasn't as comforting. He tossed the stack of notes onto his desk with abandon and stared at them, his head between his hands.

Some day this was turning out to be.

Reno's eyes roved his desk, snagging on old coffee cups and adequately stained papers, the ash tray he stashed under a couple of books, the crushed but undisposed pack of cigarettes that lay empty over a pile of manila folders. The tower of his computer was buried in company issued books, memos, folders, assignments, and notes he had jotted. All of this was mixed with a couple of old booze bottles and other forms of trash he had never bothered to throw away. He sighed deeply and poked at the stack of notes in front of him, picking one at random to read. The words mocked him from the blue page.

"Renovations Scheduled"

Shinra housing codes less than substandard

He didn't bother reading the rest of the article. He ushered the paper toward the waste can, the paper wafting across the opening with a sinister grin. Without blinking he picked up the next paper. It was a scribbled note from Receiving. Reno tossed it, too. He didn't feel like having any sort of tryst today. He sorted through piles of sticky notes, several company issued bulletins, some letters from housekeeping, several mission assignments he had already completed, envelopes and snippets of information, a couple of "see me" letters from Tseng. The last envelope he opened contained a check for 600 gil. Rufus had finally come through with the money he'd been promised for completing one of his "special tasks". Reno pawed the paper to check for a date. It was nearly three months old. He tucked the check into his pocket and made the mental note to cash it. Considering he didn't have any of his clothes due to the renovations, he had to have something to wear other than his suit as he wasn't overly fond of going out looking like a Turk. That was a whole other bag of tricks he didn't feel like opening.

Mail having been cleared, he picked up the telephone receiver and dialed into his voicemail, using a paper out of the trash to jot notes. Tseng's voice was the first to cajole from the headset.

Your voicemail has to be nearly full, Reno, so I will keep this short. I need you to see me today about a few of the items we found while renovating your room.

Reno pressed seven. Next. Tseng again.

I need answers about that tissue box.

Seven. Tseng.

You are due for your review.

Seven.

I have a... special assignment for you. Call my office when you get this message.

Reno jotted down Rufus's name with a line under it and hit seven.

I decided to leave you a message via voicemail instead of interrupting. I hope Rude didn't kill you. I didn't stay once I figured I could get out without ending up in the fray. So what happened last night? Give me a call back.

Seven, no note. The line beeped in his ear, warning him of an incoming call. He ignored it and let it go to voicemail where he could listen to it later. Tseng again.

Reno, you really should clean your office

. Reno sighed and pressed seven.

You had better be in your office because I will be there in ten minutes.

Reno jumped when Rude's voice droned softly across the speaker and checked his watch. It was shy of ten in the morning. He relaxed when the date reported as last week, the voice mail having defaulted to older messages. That must have been when Rude walked in on him and that cute little secretary from the 66th floor. He gave a lopsided grin remembering Rude's face.

"Rude! Fancy seeing you here!" he waved from his desk, the secretary sitting in his lap. She turned her head slightly over her shoulder to see.

"Reno, that's not exactly company policy."

"Eh, she said she works here to meet cute guys. I'm as cute as they come, yo!" Reno leaned back in his chair, his hands never leaving the girl's hips. Rude stared at him with typical blank expression. "Hey, why else would you wear a skirt and no panties to work?"

Rude shook his head, pressing a palm to his forehead.

He really should've answered the phone. That would have saved Rude a raise in blood pressure and he might have still been able to take lunch with the girl. The other thing that might have helped him with the girl would have been not to insinuate she was cheap, but he didn't really care. He sighed and shrugged. Each message got no more than three words out before Reno pressed the delete key. When the menu prompted, he set the phone to its standard greeting, erasing his custom message. Change was in order and today was the day to do it.

He picked up the trash can and swept most of the cups, papers and bottles into it with one deft motion. The papers he sorted from between the company books and files he tossed into the can and emptied his ashtray. The books went back on the bookshelf, the folders went into a stack on the floor beside his desk and the ashtray went back on top of the tower. He pulled a single cigarette out of his jacket pocket and tucked it between his lips and somewhere in there, something snapped. The desk drawers were opened and dumped them one at a time into the center of his desk without much care as to what was in them or where everything fell and then chucked each drawer violently across the room. He propped one foot under the keyboard tray of his desk, shoving it over backwards and onto the floor, and then kicked the trashcan, sending it spiraling across the office. Tantrum over, he dropped into his chair and lit the cigarette; his legs sprawled out in front of him, slumped in the chair, panting for breath as he took a long drag, flicking the ashes onto the floor and held the smoke.

Apparently this whole thing had gotten to him more than he wanted to realize. He exhaled heavily and drooped in his chair, staring at the mess in front of him. A knock at the door disturbed him.

"Reno, are you in there?" Elena called. "It's nine-thirty. I didn't see you at breakfast, so I assume you're in your office, right?" He took another hit off of his cigarette, ignoring her. He just wanted to be left alone so he could screw his head back on straight. He absolutely hated having things dangling over his head and it was why he didn't get attached. There was too much chance of getting in over your head and having nothing to show for it, drowning slowly under the weight of the water as it crushed the life out of your lungs. When you did come up for air, there was someone there waiting to shove you back under. Each breath lasted less and less until you die there.

If it was one thing he wasn't going to do, it was die here.

He slid off of the chair to his knees and picked at the stray papers, cups, bottles and cigarette butts, pausing occasionally to take a drag off of his cigarette. He sorted the memos into a pile again and put company information into another, inching his way across the littered floor. Deciding it was futile to clean without throwing out the trash as he came across it, he trudged across the mess and retrieved his ashtray and the trash can.

Starting at the door, he picked up what he knew to be trash from bottles and cans to coffee cups and cigarette butts and chucked them into the trash. Once he made it back to the overturned desk, he kicked the papers out of the way. The desk was righted, the phone put back on the hook, the computer reassembled. He dropped the ashtray onto the desk and lit another cigarette, his mind deliciously blank. Dropping back to the floor once again, he sorted more papers into piles. Old memos were trashed while sticky notes were skimmed and then trashed. His fingers trailed across a memo with today's date and he scanned it. There was to be a new trainee meeting this afternoon. He chucked it in the trash. He wasn't going and Tseng could kiss his ass. He'd tell him that as soon as he finished cleaning all this shit up.

All the trash was jammed into the waste basket and set outside the door, completely overflowing so housekeeping would dump it. He was surprised at the amount of garbage he had collected. Even stomping in the can didn't help to keep it all inside. He traipsed back across the office, flopped into his chair and switched the computer on. Finding it in working order, Reno checked his email and deleted everything not from today. He cleared all his files, folders and documents. The cache was cleared, the history was gone. Then he visited his bank account. All of his finances were the same as usual. He had been saving for a pair of leather pants and a nice silk shirt he'd found while visiting one of the stores in Junon on company time and with the six hundred gil he had gotten today, he had enough to pick them up and still be able to eat for the rest of the week. Since his clothes were probably burned by now, he decided to splurge. He'd just have to knock off work early and pick them up.

Reno dialed Rufus's office number. He might as well get this out of the way. Rufus was considerably shorter-winded than Tseng and his direct superior would have much more to talk to him about. Reno wasn't particularly looking forward to talking to Tseng and explaining much of anything. He would rather do anything that took him out of the building for awhile. The phone rang twice before the secretary picked up.

"Thank you for calling the office of President Rufus Shinra, how may I direct your call?"

"It's Reno. Put me through to the President, yo."

"Just a moment, Reno. Was he expecting a call?"

"Yea. Left a voicemail."

The line went silent, followed by soft music with Shinra ads interspersed. Hopefully he wouldn't have to listen to this for very long. There were times when Tseng had been in Rufus's office that Reno had waited nearly half an hour for Rufus to pick up. Reno drummed his fingers impatiently on the desktop. He leaned over and picked up the manila folders and tucked them inside the filing system of the bottom right-hand drawer. He rolled the chair across the floor and nabbed the stack of memos he had to resort and dropped them into the center of the desk to begin working through while he waited. He checked the time on his desk clock. It was noon. He should probably think about lunch sometime soon.

Finally, with the last words of another conversation trailing off his lips, Rufus answered the phone. His voice was soft and firm; the kind of voice one could lose themselves in for awhile or the type of voice that could ream you and you would end up thanking them at the end of it.

"Reno, I'm glad you returned my call. I had been worried Rude slit your throat as you slept last night."

"He never touched me." Reno snorted, deliberately avoiding the subject. Rude might get upset with him, and they might have had their fights, but his life was never in danger. Who in their right mind would think anything like that?

"I would have been sorely disappointed in him if he had. The reason why I..." his voice dropped off for a moment before continuing. "Tseng needs to speak with you once I'm finished with you. Continuing, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing a favor for me. Normally I would have someone else run for me, but this is rather... important."

"Sure. Name it." It wasn't like he could really say no. If he had, Rufus would have acted as though he had never said it. That was the way Rufus was. You did what he said or you did it anyway, so re-arrange your schedule around his if you wanted your job. Reno tapped the end of a pencil against the top of the desk, his foot thrown over the arm of his chair.

"I need you to go by that factory in Junon and pick up new uniforms and a few other items. I'll have a list waiting with the secretary for you."

"Sure. Any time you need them back by?"

"I need them here before five. That's when we're handing them out to the new recruits who make it through today's session. I'm sure you can get that done for me, right?" Rufus purred. Reno shook his head.

"Yea, I can get that after I have a visit with Tseng."

"Excellent." The line went dead with a click. No lunch for him today.

Reno returned the handset to the base and picked up the stack of memos as he headed out the door. The stacks, still unsorted, were dropped on top of the trash. He could stop by and pick up the list before he popped in on Tseng.

~*~*~*~*~

Reno knocked on the door of Tseng's office and stepped back, waiting for the usual permission for admission.

"It's about time, Reno."

Right on cue. Reno entered, closing the door behind him and dropped into one of the two chairs seated in front of Tseng's desk, propping his feet up on Tseng's desk in the standard casual manner.

"So what are we going to talk about today, boss? Health code violations, dress code, when the hell you're gonna give my room back... you know, the usual."

"I don't recall your room being on our topic of conversation before this, Reno," Tseng stated, steepling his fingers. He leaned forward on his elbows and pressed his fingertips against his lips. "The renovations to the room you were in are complete. However, we have changed the way living arrangements will be handled. You and Rude will be sharing the same domicile until further notice."