Ok, so standard disclaimers apply - unfortunately, Reno is not mine, he belongs to Squeenix. Enjoy the madness :)
Reno flopped down on the bed, exhausted after a long day patrolling Sector 8. A rookie job, nothing too strenuous, yet nobody had looked at his hair funny or tried to trip him, and he had spent the day buzzing with nervous energy, desperate for a quick, dirty fight. But it was only 8pm; he should be out living the high life, or hooking up with a cute girl somewhere. Instead, he was lying on his bed, trying to work up the energy to head down to the kitchen and cook some noodles.
Eventually, he rolled over and got up. The kitchen was oddly empty, which was unusual but fine; all the other rookies seemed to object when he cooked noodles in the kettle. He didn't see why, but they'd all been told to get along, and he didn't want to get kicked out of Turk training because of a fight over a kettle full of noodles. However, with no one around, no one could object to him using the kettle until it was too late...
The noodles were cooked and eaten (from the kettle, of course – why make more washing up for yourself?), and Reno was just deciding whether to go down to one of the quieter bars in the area and spend a few gil getting a little tipsy, or head down to the rec room and sit in the ceiling and throw paper at people. Paper had no real use, 'cept for being thrown at people – no point having stacks of paper for doing paperwork if you can't write; Veld knew this and yet insisted that Reno write reports, same as everyone else. He'd just decided to leave the kettle and chopsticks as they were, and go find some paper, when the others appeared, bubbling and talking over one another as they clattered around the kitchen.
"Hey, Redhead! You missed a FASCINATING meeting!"
Reno rolled his eyes. ShinRa meetings were never fascinating.
"Guysguysguysguysguysguysguys!" A little blonde bounded in, two carrier bags spilling snack foods across the floor. "Who wants a movie night, just us rookie Turkies?"
The entire room froze in shock. The little blonde, the newest rookie, had been silent and withdrawn for the past month; none of them had been able to draw her into conversation, or even learn her name. And yet here she was...
Her smile dropped.
"You don't have to... It was... It was only an idea..." She turned to leave, shoulders slumped.
A chorus of male voices rang out, Reno's included.
"Come back, lass!"
"Yer, come back 'ere!"
"You... You really want to?"
"Yeah!"
"We'd love te!"
"It would be our honour to join you tonight."
"Ye just surprised us, lass."
She beamed, a brilliant smile that, Reno mused, must have been fake. No one could genuinely be that cheesily happy over a movie night...
"Great! I'll see you in the rec room in 15 mins! Don't worry about eating, I bought snacks and alcohol!"
Reno looked around. Everyone seemed just as stunned as he felt; he gestured vaguely at the door.
"Wha'... Wha' just happened there?"
A collective shrug rippled across the room.
"I do believe she said she had purchased alcoholic beverages, though," piped up the tall guy at the back – damn, but Reno couldn't remember his name. Or any of the other rookies' names, for that matter.
"We wouldnae want te disappoint the li'l lady now, would we?" added the skinny one.
"Well... When ye put it like that... Wha' are we wai'in for?"
