Uncle Reno

He still wasn't quite sure how it all started. Granted, he'd been drinking at Seventh Heaven after the fiasco with the remnants, just to get the story straight for his report—but he'd always arrived near closing time, sometimes even later. He, frankly, was impressed that she could even keep her eyes open this late, much less draw a picture.

Unsure of what to do, he held it delicately by the corners and stared.

"Do you like it?" she piped.

To his left, Rude coughed. Reno would have bet everything he had that it was to cover a chuckle.

" 'Course I do," he said with conviction, ignoring his asshole of a partner. "You got the color of my hair just right." He could feel her beam at him. Hesitantly, he peeked over the top of the paper to look at her smiling face. "And… this is you?" he floundered, searching for assistance.

"Yeah!" While she climbed the foot railing for a boost, Reno gratefully spread the picture out on the bar for easier perusal. "See, I have a nightstick too!" She motioned to the grey line protruding from an orange one. "We're fighting the bad guys together!"

Reno squinted. He supposed that the grey and black figures could have passed as Kadaj and his gang, although it was hard to tell with their tongues lolling out and the x's for their eyes. The blood was a nice touch, though. He liked how it pooled everywhere except on their feet and clothes. He wished real life was convenient like that.

"You don't have that much muscle, Reno," Rude uttered. Reno glared at the man over his shoulder, about to argue, but the little girl regained his attention with a mighty sniffle.

"You like it, don't you?" she implored, staring up at him with large, watery eyes.

"I already said I liked it, didn't I? Don't listen to Rude; he's a"—dickhead, asshat, jagoff—"big ol' meanie."

She sniffed again, but a smile peaked through. "Yeah!"

Reno shot Rude an asinine grin. "Stop being such a meanie, Rude."

His partner shook his head and mutely resumed his drinking. When Reno turned back to the young girl, she had edged closer to his seat so that she could see the picture better. "I can draw all sorts of things!" she exclaimed. It was an abrupt change in topic, so Reno wasn't quite sure how to respond. "I'll bet you can," he said agreeably. "Do you, uh… draw a lot?"

Just then, a mug plopped down in front of him. He glanced up with trepidation at the bartender.

"I see you gave Uncle Reno your picture, Marlene," Tifa acknowledged.

"Uh-huh!" Marlene agreed.

" 'Uncle Reno'?" echoed Reno.

"Then you know what you have to do now, don't you?"

The girl's face crumpled. "Aw, five more minutes?"

"I've already let you stay up an extra five hours just so you could give it to him. Now scoot!"

"Hey hey hey, wait a second," Reno interrupted, mischievous grin already spreading over his lips. "Marlene and I were talking, here."

The little girl, surprised at his disruption at first, suddenly sided with him. "Yeah, Tifa! We were talking!" Reno glanced downward and was met with her grinning face. "Right, Uncle Reno?"

Her sass made him chuckle. "Right."

At once, she threw her arms around his torso, nearly toppling him from the stool. He had to hug back out of self-preservation, but she wouldn't let go, even when he righted himself and tried to dislodge her fingers.

Tifa watched in silence all the while. "Five more minutes," she affirmed after Reno got his personal space back. "But no more than that."

"Yay!"

Then Marlene turned back to him, wearing such an expectant grin that Reno was terrified that he would no longer be the 'cool uncle' if he didn't do something fast. And, as there was no other uncle he pictured himself as being, he scrambled for some sort of pass-time.

"It's nice of you to give me this picture… but I'm afraid that I don't have anything to give you…." At this, he stroked his chin, pretending to meditate on the problem. She mutely watched him, completely taken with his story. Then he snapped his fingers. "Hey, I know! Have I ever showed you the secret hero handshake?" he asked conspiratorially. His expectations were met—Marlene's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"No! What's that?" she whispered back.

"Only big-time heroes know it," he elaborated.

Somehow, she became even more excited. "You mean Cloud knows it too?"

"What? Oh, uh, no. He's not a big enough hero, you know? Only a few people are." Reno dutifully ignored Rude's coughing fit behind him. "Anyways, do you want me to teach you?"

"But I thought you said that you had to be a hero to know it," she questioned with a distrusting scowl. "I'm not a hero."

Reno paused. Damn, this kid was a stickler for rules. He supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised, since she had been partially raised by Tifa. "Uh, well, aren't you a hero? I mean, look at the picture and see for yourself." He showed her the crayon drawing she had just given him. "Besides," he added smoothly, "since I know it, I can teach whoever I want."

At those words, she perked up. "Alright!"

What ensued was three minutes of improvisation—Reno hadn't made up a secret handshake since… well, since he was about Marlene's age, and it wasn't exactly like riding a bicycle. But by the time Tifa came back to send the young girl to bed, they had already mastered an intricate shake, which included everything from the standard nine-volt to a series of complex elbow bumps.

"Marlene…."

"Aw, Tifa, five more? Please?"

"Remember what you promised?"

The girl moaned, but didn't argue. "Alright…" she sullenly responded. "Good night, Tifa."

"Say goodnight to these two."

She turned to him. "Good night, Uncle Reno."

"Night, Marlene. Thanks again for the picture." Unsure of what to do, he ruffled her hair, which resulted in a fantastical modification to her regular pigtails.

She smiled in response. Then, as an afterthought, she added to Rude, "Good night, Meanie."

Other than raising an eyebrow, he took it in stride. "Good night."

Satisfied, she began climbing up the stairs, using the handrail for assistance. Reno watched her go, still amused by all of the attention she had given him. When she finally disappeared, he allowed himself to turn back to the woman behind the counter.

"Did you put her up to all this?" he teased, snatching up his beer for a much-needed drink.

Tifa smiled, but shook her head. "No, she just remembered you from the time you visited at a decent hour."

He overlooked the jibe. "Really?" Reno remembered that day, when he had shown up to ask a couple of questions, and the little girl had been shy enough to hide behind the large black man with the gun for an arm. Hey, if he had to pick a hiding spot, he'd have done the same thing. But he had felt bad that she was so scared of him, so he crouched down next to her and did that trick where he pulled a piece of candy out from behind her ear, just so she wouldn't feel so intimidated when he asked her a few things. It went over well—but he didn't know it went over that well. "She remembered that? That was, like, two weeks ago."

The bartender scoffed. "She's six, Reno, and you played with her and gave her a piece of candy."

"Well, when you put it like that…" he said, tapping his chin with an index finger.

"Besides," she continued as she wiped the area around him clean, "little girls will idolize handsome men. She wasn't going to forget you after all that attention."

Now that he hadn't expected. He blinked, and he could have sworn that she did the same across from him. Her scrubbing immediately resumed, though much faster this time. He sweetly mused, "Now Tifa, correct me if I'm wrong, but did you just say that I was handsome?"

"Hm?" she prompted, seemingly distracted by a sticky patch of wood on the countertop. But the blush spreading across her cheeks proved otherwise.

"Wait, hang on," he suddenly added, all seriousness. She froze and looked up. "Yeah," he said. "You have something on your face…. No, no, over more. It's on your…." He motioned towards his temple with his fingers, and she mimicked his movements, her blush spreading even further.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

"No, a little further back…."

"Reno, just tell me where it is!"

"Here, lemme—" And he reached towards her ear and, with a quick flick of his wrist, pulled ten gil out from behind it. "Oh, wow. Now Tifa, how could you miss that? It's embarrassing."

For a moment, she stared at the money in disbelief. Her eyes moved to him. Then, at once, she huffed in mock-indignation before storming down the length of the bar to continue cleaning in solitude.

With a bemused grin on his face, Reno dropped the bill into the tip jar and stretched back on his stool. Beside him, Rude raised an eyebrow over his sunglasses again.

"What was that?"

"Oh, shut up," Reno said airily. "Your just jealous of my muscles."

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