"... mmmmmf... whut?"
Stifling a yawn with the back of his hand, Reno nuzzled into Rude. "Morning, sunshine."
"You were staring at me..." The bald man blinked, his eyes sticky. Reno shrugged and rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Yea, so?"
"Weirdo. What time is it?" Rude made a quirky little face. He yawned as well, it was contagious.
"Eh, sometime around six, I guess." Reno had never been one for time.
Rude gave a long stretch and rolled himself upright, propping his good hand underneath him. The early morning twilight filtered the room with a dim glow, the chiseled features of Reno standing out more than usual. It was striking, the image of his compatriot lying on his side and looking up at him. His heart skipped a beat.
"What's on the agenda today? I didn't read the memo," Reno quizzed with his characteristic head-jerk. Rude gave a tousle to Reno's hair with his fingers, his hand not nearly as tender as it had been a few hours ago. He rose and crossed to the little closet. Pulling out the smaller man's suit, he tossed it to him.
"You have a date with your destiny," he smirked.
"Destiny," Reno snorted, propping himself up on his elbows. "You say that like its some big life changing deal. Face it, Rude; I'm not doing it any day other than today." Rude snickered, pulling off the white tank and placing it on a hanger.
"You never know. You might decide you like it. I can see it now. You, as Mr. Corporate."
"Yea and I could have Tseng's job with the company issued stick up my ass." Reno chuckled despite himself. Rude joined in the humor.
"Stranger things have happened..." his voice dropped. He wished he would have said that differently. Quickly, he slipped out of the leather pants. Stark naked, he folded them nicely and placed them on a little shelf over the closet rod.
Reno drank in the sight of him naked, bathed in the early morning light. He stared openly, half hoping Rude would catch him, half hoping he didn't. The familiar craving twisted in his gut again and he reveled in it. They were behind closed doors. He could do whatever he damned well pleased. He was starting to figure out this game that they played, and if it was one thing Reno had trouble doing, it was losing. Rude went to fetch some clean underwear, crossing over to his dresser drawer. He bent over, giving a full view show to the reclined redhead. Reno's body reacted before he had a chance to even think of quelling it. This wasn't fair. If he didn't know better, he would have said Rude was teasing him. It wouldn't have taken much for Reno to have lunged for Rude's leg and tongued the tattoo across his calf. He shook his head slightly and wriggled against the now uncomfortable confines of his pants.
Rude donned the white cotton without a second thought. His qualm wasn't over modesty, it was deeper than that. There had always been something about intimacy that Rude never seemed to quite get a handle on, his past experiences were condemning proof. He moved back over to the bunk, picking up and replacing his sunglasses as the morning sun rose brighter. Picking up the garment bag, Reno unzipped it, pulling out the brand new suit. He touched the starch white shirt and cringed.
"Hey, tell me again why I'm doin' this?" He removed the tie from the hanger and tossed it on the desk and draped the pants over the chair so he could wrestle with the shirt. Rude smiled broadly.
"Vendetta, what else?"
"Ah, yea...." Reno trailed, fighting with the buttons of the shirt. "See, now this is why three get buttoned and the rest don't. Button three and the shirt slides right over my head." He fastened each button up to the neckline, swallowing hard. It was a little closer to his neck than he was comfortable with. His head twisted back and forth, the material rubbing his neck as he buttoned the cuffs. "How the hell d'you put up with this?"
"Just do." He shrugged and switched back to the closet, pulling out his own white shirt and navy suit.
Reno unfastened the leather pants, allowing them to cling loosely to his hips as he fiddled with removing the dress pants from the hanger. They were blissfully undone so he only had to fight one way with them. Noting Rude picking up the old blue suit, his head jerked in disapproval.
"Why aren't you wearing the new stuff, yo? I figured you'd be the first to suit up."
"They're comfortable." Rude was halfway into his pants himself. There was no way he was going to admit being fond of something inanimate... except for maybe his sunglasses. He raised the fly and fastened the button with two quick flicks, tucking his shirt in that fell loosely around his waist.
"You make this shit look easy, yo." Reno grumbled, sliding the leather from his lower half. He stepped into the pants and tugged them up around his waist and fastened them. He then looked at his shirt tail and huffed, unfastening the waistband again to tuck the shirt inside, then refastened the pants and checked his progress. Rude chuckled elbow deep in a drawer, hunting for a pair of socks. Victorious, he let his eyes wander over to Reno, who was fidgeting in the more formal attire. He looked ridiculous, completely out of place. It just wasn't the same Reno he knew to be all spiffed up.
Triumphing a small success, Reno snagged his boots from in front of the closet and put them on quickly, tugging on his collar. He donned the jacket and zipped it. "Alright. I feel... damned uncomfortable! How the hell you do this, Rude? I can't breathe."
Rude hopped to catch up, managing socks and shoes as quick as he could. His tie hung limp and undone as he grabbed his jacket. He walked over and placed two fingers on each side of the gangly throat and slid them down into the collar, tugging firmly to create a slightly wider wrap around Reno's neck.
"Better?"
"I have to have help getting dressed," Reno huffed under his breath, sounding much like a truant schoolboy. "Yea, it's better," he admitted begrudgingly. He fingered the collar.
"Good. Let's go, I'm starving." The apple was still in his pocket from yesterday; it bumped against him as he righted the door open to leave. Reno jaunted toward the door and stopped dead.
"I'm forgetting something..." He bent to grab his goggles but stopped, allowing them to rest on the floor where he had dropped them last night. He ran his hands over his body, fidgeting. Key cards were in his pocket, he had his wallet. He danced in place, feeling like a complete idiot. Rude took the moment to whip his tie into a perfect knot.
"Ants in your pants?"
"I thought we covered this, yo, I'm the..." He stopped mid sentence and squeezed his eyes shut hard. Reno winced and reached blindly for his tie. His fingers wrapped around silk and he pulled it toward him, eyeing it as though it were a snake. Rude roared in a fit of laughter.
"Yes, your Hangman's Noose! D'you need a hand with that?" He had to wipe a tear from his eye. Reno glared at him, muttering something about getting dressed on his own. He wrapped the tie around his neck and half-assed tied it, tugging at it uncomfortably. He was really starting to regret participating in this bet. Rude fought hard to keep the swell of giggles to a minimum.
If only I had a camera.
"... The fuck!" Reno threw up his hands, completely exasperated. "I used to know how to tie one of these things. I remember doing it. I remember being in full uniform for the first few weeks we were recruited. You remember that?"
