looking_sharp | Mask Or Menace

Fine. Keep secrets.

[It was new, and he didn't approve. At all. But he can't force things.]

If I wanted to keep secrets, I wouldn't have called you over here.

[ but we're getting pretty close to that big, huge wall he keeps up. he hunches his shoulders a little, glancing back. ]

What's it matter? Just—be with me, don't worry about stupid shit.

And yet, you are.

[And Rude doesn't like it. They don't have the support structure of Shinra here. They don't have cure materia. And he's almost lost Reno a few times recently. He doesn't want to have that 'almost' be a 'actually.']

I'm your partner. Supposed to keep you safe.

Don't.

[ he can't think about "safe." right now. if they want to talk about keeping anyone safe—he sure screwed that up, back at the plate. it's been eating him up for days, nearly a week now. he just can't get it out of his head. ]

What you need to keep me safe from is me. That's why I called.

What... do you think you're going to do?

Dunno. Nothing, I hope. Finish my coffee, let you braid my hair, take a nap. Get back to work tomorrow.

Fine.

[Even if he doesn't like it. He lets his fingers keep working through the strands of his hair.]

What sort of braid?

Fishtail.

[ it's ohhh so fancy. and it'll take awhile to do. ]

Complicated.

[Rude sighs and continues working the knots out.]

You sure you can sit still for that long?

Yeah, I can. Wait, hang on...

[ shifting to sit cross-legged instead, stretching his skinny chicken legs. ]

There.

[Rude lets Reno adjust himself as he finishes with untangling Reno’s hair.]

You’ll talk? Keep me awake?

Sure, I'll talk... what d'you wanna—oh my fuck. I've got a story for you. The other night, when I went out, you'll never guess who showed up. Go ahead, guess!

[ as Rude should know by now, "guess" is rarely if ever actually a prompt for Rude to try and guess anything. he can just go ahead and stay quiet a few seconds while Reno sips his coffee, because he's gonna tell him anyway. like he always does. ]

Sephiroth. Did shots with me and everything. No foolin'.

Sephiroth?

[No way that is going to be true. He can’t fathom the man doing something so relaxed. So… normal. Well, not normal for everyone, but it’s something.]

Seems your plan is working.

I guess. I thought I was out of my mind. He ordered a real sexy-named shot and everything. Took it with me like a champ.

[ who would've thought? sephiroth, a party animal. it's a pity he'd lost him in the crowd, somewhere around the time he was bawling in a bathroom stall... yeah, uh. let's not think about that. ]

Loosening him up's gonna be a breeze.

[Indeed. That's very interesting, and Rude almost regretted not seeing it happen. But mostly, his hands just freeze.]

Did he do this to you?

Wha—nooo. Nonono. If he'd gone nuts on me, you'd know. Trust me.

[ Besides the obvious part where he'd have a gaping hole through his gut, but also the part where he'd tell Rude, Rufus, Tseng—literally the entire network. Just put out a distress call: SOS, SEPHS LOST HIS SHIT.

Then again, you don't have to be a psycho killer to do what's been done to Reno. evidently. ]

[Rude sighs and returns to the slow process of finishing removing hte knots and then starting to gather Reno's hair into his hands to start the braiding.]

Alright then. Won't have to try and kill him.

Yeah, no. Please don't.

[ that... would be bad. he's got faith in his partner, but he's no match for a soldier. especially not sephiroth. ]

Nah, he was cool. Probably would've had better luck going home with him. He took off when shit started getting crazy, though. That place was packed.

[Sephiroth probably isn't fire resistant. Rude could mess him up. Maybe. Probably not. But he'd try. For a while he's silent, though, his fingers slowly working the braid into Reno's hair. It's not as impressive as it would be if Reno let more of his hair grow to real length, but it's nice enough.]

Don't have sex with Sephiroth.

No?

[ reno laughs a little. well, now that you've said it........ that'd be a serious conquest. ]

I think it'd only help the cause, but alright, I guess.

No.

[Because he's jealous enough as it was. But that had always been the case. It was just... Rude didn't know how to compete with someone like Sephiroth.]

You deserve better than a murdering fiend.

[ do i? Reno just snorts. alternatively, a good answer would have been i am a murdering fiend, but he's not really in the mood for that one, either. ]

He's not a murdering fiend yet. Just a normal guy, remember?

There never was anything normal about Sephiroth.

[The backs of his knuckles brush lightly over Reno's neck as he works. Which isn't an accident at all. These little touches are the few things he can steal over the years.]

[ Reno hums, soft and content. What Rude doesn't know absolutely can hurt him: he'd rather a single stolen moment like that than any hookup with anyone else. He just relaxes completely while Rude works. ]

No doubt. But be nice. If I can do "nice," so can you.

I've always been the nice one.

[Which is the absolutely correct statement, and surely they both know it. His fingers keep twisting the strands of hair together.]

Still worried about you.

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