looking_sharp | Mask Or Menace

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.

Yeah, you're the big sweetheart. And the worrier. I'm always okay, in the end, right?

[ that in the end specification is actually kind of an accident, but he decides not to amend himself. whatever, rude knows what he means. probably. ]

My job to worry about you.

[In the end isn't good enough for him. But he keeps his fingers moving, slow and steady.]

Would be lost without your recklessness in my life.

[ What Reno doesn't (entirely) know can't hurt him, also: this is what he really called Rude here for. He thinks it's for the "normalcy," but honestly, it's that. The kind of things Reno usually says, well... this kind of thing to: ]

Psh, stop.

[ He might not think that part's normal, but it is, and it's what he needs after the dumb shit he's done. Whether or not he deserves it nonwithstanding. ]

What's that say about me, then, huh? That I'd go off the rails without you to pull me back?

Perhaps you would. Don't intend to find out.

{because what is he without Reno anymore?]

Oh, I don't either. But that's a given.

[ There's no such thing as one of them without the other. That's just not a thing. He's not even worried about it... y'know, aside from that really close call on the plate, a few days ago still in his mind. ]

There's no "without you" in this equation, partner. So don't worry about it.

And yet, you get yourself hurt when I'm not there to watch your back.

[Yep, going ot keep coming back to that. He can't help it.]

Uuuughh. Rude!

[ it's always a great time when he can use Rude's name in a way that sounds equally like scolding him by name and also like he's just calling him impolite. ]

It was the fun kinda hurt, okay? Well, fun at the time, anyways.

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