Hey, Final Fantasy Fandom! Welcome to my very first Final Fantasy fanfiction! Whoo!
There's not nearly enough Reno/Rude out there, which, you know, shocks me. Considering I knew about the two of them and was a devoted shipper before I'd ever even played the game. Which isn't really here not there, I suppose. Anyways... This was written as a result of the following prompt.
"Write a story in which one character reduces another to uncontrollable sobs without touching him or speaking."
Please excuse any crappiness or out-of-characterness. I haven't finished the game yet, and most of my characterization of them is based on the movie and my friend's ramblings. So yeah. Enjoy, if you will.
With love, Jiia
"What are ya looking at me like that for, ya big bald ape?" Reno snapped, stomping past the taller man in the general direction of the liquor cabinet.
Silence.
"It's none of your God-damn business, a'right?" Reno threw open the doors of the little wood cabinet rather more forcefully than necessary, and, finding it empty, closing them just as roughly. "Leave me the fuck alone, asshole."
Rude just stood there, watching him from behind his impenetrable shades.
"Kay, ya know what? Fuck off." The red-head whirled on him, getting right up in the big man's face and shouting at him with all the force his impressive lungs could muster. "Fuck off, motherfucker! Get your fucking nose out of my fucking business!"
As far as Reno could tell, Rude didn't even blink.
"Fuck…" The shorter Turk whirled on the balls of his feet and stalked back over to the liquor cabinet, shattering one of the thick oak sides with a swift, angry kick before pacing back to where the other stood. "Fuck you, you prick. Why do you even fucking care? Why the hell do you give a rat's ass what I do in my spare time? I don't fucking care what you do."
Rude raised an eyebrow a fraction of an inch. It was a lie, and they both knew it.
"Oh, shut the fuck up, asshole." Reno snarled, hearing more words in the simple gesture than Rude had probably ever said in his entire life. "Just shut the fuck up. And stop fucking looking at me. Fucking queer."
The dark-skinned man gave the smallest of sighs, and Reno could tell he was rolling his eyes, even through the dark glasses.
"That's it, ain't it?" Reno gave a short, bitter laugh that wasn't at all pleasant. "You're a fucking faggot. I should'a fucking guessed. That why you followed me, eh? Fucking pervert."
Rude crossed his arms over his chest, although the gesture was not at all defensive. It was more of a warning than anything.
"You liked it, didn't you, you sick fuck." Reno leaned in close again, close enough to feel the heat of his calm, steady breath. "You liked watching him fuck me. Got you all hot and sticky, dinn'it? Bet you were wishin' it was you, fucking me into the fucking wall. Bet you're thinkin' about it right now, aren't ya?"
One of Reno's pale hands darted out to grab at the other man's crotch. Rude took a step back, just out of reach. Reno's hand snapped back to his side, clenching the baggy fabric of his pant leg hard enough to turn his knuckles white. He released it almost immediately, crossing his arms, uncrossing them, shoving a hand through his messy hair.
"What, is the big monkey shy?" His laughter was hollow and forced, and his hands were starting to shake, although he rarely kept them still long enough for it to be noticeable. "What's wrong, ya ape? Don't ya want me anymore?"
Slowly, so agonizingly slowly, Rude reached up and did something he never, ever did. He took off his sunglasses, keeping his eyes shut until they were carefully folded and slid into the pocket of his jacket. Reno suddenly found himself faced not with expressionless darkness, but with quiet eyes that held more emotion than he could ever express. More than one person should be able to hold.
"Stop it." Reno felt himself start to crumble under the weight of that gaze and fought against it with everything he had. "Stop it, you cunt. Don't fucking look at me. Don't you fucking dare."
But Rude didn't stop. He wouldn't have been Rude if he had. He just kept looking, his dark eyes full of a million things that Reno didn't want to see. There were some things he could have handled; anger, jealousy, lust, fear. Things he himself was familiar with. But there were other things, things that frightened him where not even the threat of imminent doom could. Things that made him sick with unwelcomed shame. Things that made him want to crawl under a rock and die like the filth he was.
He wrapped his arms around himself and shattered. He couldn't take it. He could have handled anything, anything else. He could have handled anger, rage, violence. He could have handled disgust. He could have handled animal lust, enjoyed it even.
The one thing he could not take was this silence. This quiet disappointment, filled with sadness and regret and, worst of all, understanding. The understanding made it so much worse, somehow. Like Rude thought it was just part of his nature, to hurt and to betray and destroy. Like he couldn't help it.
Having Rude look at him like that was just too much to bear.
He found himself crying, sobbing, really, fingers digging into the flesh of his forearms hard enough to bruise. He would have done anything, anything at all to get away from that silent gaze. But he couldn't escape it, because that would mean leaving Rude, and then, well… Then it would just follow him in his dreams.
He fell to his knees, curling up into a little ball of misery and pain. He half-expected the other man to come rushing to him, to pull him into his arms and comfort him like you would comfort a child, holding him tight and telling him that everything was going to be ok, that he was forgiven, that he took back everything his dark eyes said. It was what he wanted, more than anything in the world.
God knows, it was what Rude wanted.
But Rude was stronger than that. He knew that if he forgave Reno, if he gave in and pulled his partner into his arms, the red-head would be back to his old ways before the week was out. Nothing would ever change between them.
And oh, how Rude wanted things to change. Not everything Reno had screamed at him had been bullshit.
So Rude watched as his best and only friend cried his heart out into the cold, rough carpet and waited. He froze his heart as he had done so many times before on the job and waited for it to be over. He waited for the sobs to die down, for the shaking to stop, for his frantic partner to lay still and quiet and calm.
And only then, when Reno had become convinced that Rude had given up on him and in turn given up on Rude, did he finally, finally speak.
"You're right. It's none of my business. But it could be."