A quick drabble about the original game Turks and their relationships with Reno. I was in the mood for a bit of Reno love (so nothing new there, then).
Loving Reno
Rude loves Reno as a partner. Their relationship is both professional and friendly, and it's the easiest either of them has known. Neither of them ever had a brother, but this is that kind of close, only, for the most part, without the usual attendant bickering and rivalry. Rude's not sure when his initial irritation at being paired with the restless, overly-familiar, mouthy, cock-sure slum kid began to change into acceptance and then liking; all he knows now is that whenever a mission calls for him to work with anyone else he finds himself constantly thrown by the differences, thinking, but that's not what Reno would do. Everyone expects them to be together and when one of them turns up alone the question is always the same – "Rude! Where's Reno?" "Hey, Reno. No Rude?"
It comes down to this: they have each other's backs. If necessary they would die for each other, but they'd rather make sure it's the other guys doing the dying. They drink together and they fight together. Rude accommodates Reno's switchback moods, and Reno understands the different cadences of Rude's silences.
x
Rufus loves Reno occasionally – loves him violently to judge from the muffled sounds from behind the locked door. He'll call Reno up to the office perhaps once a month, and Reno has never yet said no. Reno is a casual dresser; his half-open shirts sometimes allow the others to speculate on their glimpses of purple bruises flowering below his collarbone, or the unmistakable, perfect crescent of a bite mark, red against pale skin.
Only Tseng, though, has noticed Rufus' too-careful movements afterwards – has watched him touch a finger to a place on his throat hidden beneath layers of black and white fabric, and observed, despite the wince, a veiled smile, full of dark satisfaction.
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Elena loves Reno simply, as she would an annoying older brother – a relationship much less fraught than the one she has with her real sibling. His teasing drives her crazy enough to want to murder him. She adores him. Between them there is no difficulty or taint of desire. Before Da Chao he called her weak, but still he came to her rescue. After she returned with Tseng – after the cave and the forest – he never called her Rookie again.
x
Tseng could write a list of all the ways Reno exasperates him. Mentally, he often has. Reno's presence in a room is a distraction even before he opens his mouth; too loud even when he's silent. He demands attention merely by being himself, and Tseng resents the way Reno draws him off course, flouting rules of dress and decorum, sprawling over furniture, too languid or too animated, never simply at rest. His body is all angles, his speech fractured, his laughter infectious, and Tseng shies from infection. Reno has no respect for boundaries - should not provoke these reactions, whether irritation or - other things. When he catches himself watching, Tseng looks away. When he overhears the gossip – Reno and Rufus, again! – he chooses to leave the room. It's embarrassing to Tseng that it should be Reno, of all people, who makes him pay attention.
Tseng does not love Reno. Does not love Reno at all.