We've all had one of those days right? Where nothing seems to happen right at all and you just can't figure out what exactly is throwing out your groove...

Um, so this was going to only be a one shot... and now it's going to be a two possibly more shot :p depending on the response I guess. I don't often write for this fandom and am not very familiar with the characters so an OCness is apologized for now, tho I tried to keep it as close to what I thought as possible.

I own nothing except the scenarios I came up with in my head...

Just One of Those Days

Something was off; Reno stared deeply into his reflection, trying to decipher what exactly was wrong with the picture. His hair was its normal, messy self; his shirt was no less rumpled than it was the day before and had no visible stains; nothing was wrong with his pants and for once he was wearing matching socks. He looked no different, no, he looked better than he did most days. But there was still some nagging tick at the back of his mind telling him that he was missing something.

The red haired Turk didn't realize how long he had been contemplating his own image until he heard the familiar pounding of Rude on his door, letting him know that he was, once again, late for work. Sighing, he tried to take his mind off whatever it was that was missing and left his apartment.

"Yo, Rude!" The large Turk glanced down towards his partner as the smaller man strolled out the front door. "I was just wondering when you were gonna show up, yo, we're gonna be late again."

Sighing, Rude fell into step next to Reno, giving his friend looks that would make a normal person die from the thoughts of what a look such as this might entail. Rude had been waiting for Reno for fifteen minutes before he began knocking, he didn't understand why he came to get the red haired Turk anyway, considering their route backtracked Rude past his own apartment.

About a block into their walk Rude began to suspect something off with his partner. Reno was not full of his usual chatter this morning and he kept absentmindedly brushing his hand through his hair. Rude wasn't sure if he should comment on Reno's lack of speech or if he should just leave this apparent miracle alone.

Finally, Rude could take no more of his partner's strange behavior. "Having relationship problems, Reno? Maybe you should try looking into a real girlfriend and not just a face on the wall."

Reno froze for a moment, hand in mid brush. "D-did you just…? Nah, you didn't… did you?" For the time being, Reno's mind was no longer occupied by thoughts of something missing, his world just having been turned upside down. "You just… tried to joke… didn't you, yo?"

Halfway down the street, Rude never stopped to see what Reno's reaction was.

It had to have been the worst day in the history of worst days, and it wasn't even noon yet. Arriving to work late was one thing, but normally Reno was good about sneaking in before Rufus noticed he was late. Not today, Reno managed to get to his desk just as Rufus did and a stern talking to was not the exact description Reno would use to give the detailed description of what Rufus would do to them if they, Reno and Rude, were to be caught again arriving to work late. To make matters worse, Rude was now hiding at his desk after ensuring Rufus that he would personally make sure the both of them were on time tomorrow and Reno didn't doubt Rude's intentions. That and he still didn't know what was off about himself today, he just couldn't figure out what it was that put the hitch in his giddyup so that he might fix the problem.

Lost in his morose thoughts, Reno didn't notice Tseng's arrival until the raven headed Turk spoke.

"Hey, Reno could you get me that… whoa, is something wrong man?" Tseng stood a few feet from the flame haired Turk's desk, watching as Reno stared morosely at his reflection in his coffee cup chewing on a pen.

After going seven rounds with a stapler, the last of which resulting in having his thumbs stapled together, Reno had the feeling that this was going to be a long day. "No, yes, I don't know… does something look off about me today?"

"Besides the staples in your shirt and the band aids on your thumbs, not really…" Tseng's voice faded, he could see something else off about Reno but he couldn't pin it down. "Hey, Elena! Come here a minute!"

Tseng's sudden shout startled Reno whose teeth clamped down hard on the pen between them. The weak plastic crunched and let loose its contents, spewing blue ink into Reno's mouth and down the front of his once white shirt just as Elena came into view.

"I didn't know you liked me that much, Reno." Elena tried her best to keep her voice still and stifle her laughter.

Glaring and desperate to rid himself of the foul ink, Reno spat his mouthful of blue into his coffee cup, ruining a perfectly good source of caffeine. "Ha ha ha, you too?" Reno groaned when he was finally able to talk again. Tseng and Elena glanced at each other shrugging, not knowing exactly what the red head was talking about.

"So Reno wanted an opinion on if he looks different today," Tseng snickered. "Besides the obvious that is."

It only took Elena a moment to point out what had been bothering Reno the entire morning. "Your goggles are gone."

Slapping a hand to his head, Reno rolled his eyes. How could he have been so dense as to not notice? But thinking about it, Reno couldn't remember where he had placed his goggles last night…

Jumping up from his desk, Reno barely stopped to grab his coat before heading for the door. "Tell Rufus I'm going to lunch, yo!" Some of his former perk returning.

"It's only ten Reno! He's never gonna bel…" Tseng never finished his shout as the red head disappeared out the door.

He was going to retrace his steps to find his lost goggles, starting with that bar he went to last night. Seventh Heaven or something like that.

---------------

Yes, some of the events in this story have happened on one or more occasions to myself... specifically the one involving an industrial stapler and my thumbs...

Let's see what further adventures we can come up with for Reno, will he find his goggles? Will his giddyup ever be the same? Will he ever realize that his front is still blue and in need of cleaning. Find out in the next installment! Reviews and comments feed the muse! FEED IT!