Ari sighed as he leaned back in the car seat, one hand resting on the sill of the window with a lit cigarette between his fingers while the other gripped the steering wheel of the red Audi R8 that belonged to his friend, Reno Sinclair. Streetlights passed over head as Ari entered the city limits, his lips curling down a bit as he thought about Reno who was probably drunk out of his tree by now. At least it sounded that way when the red head phoned Ari earlier that night asking for a ride home from his favorite bar. Ari gave him an ultimatum for waking him up at 3 in the morning; let him borrow the Audi or walk home. Reno had complied easily enough, probably wanting the sleepy brunette to drive out to the city anyway. Ari slowly lifted his foot of the gas pedal as he neared The Seventh Heaven bar and pulled up along the sidewalk. People glanced and stared in awe at the expensive car as Ari groggily turned off the engine while he fumbled to find the door handle in the dark with his other hand. Stepping out of the car, he brought his cigarette to his lips for one last drag before flicking the butt to the ground, slammed the door shut and locked it. Passer bys mumbled as they watched him walk around the front of the car, he could feel their eyes run him up and down as they whispered to each other. Ignoring them, Ari pushed open the front door to the bar and was greeted by the sight of a certain redhead who was drunkenly stumbling his way around the top of a table, shirtless with a beer sloshing around in his hand. Ari let out a hefty sigh as he walked into the lively bar, pushing through the woman, and men, that ogled his friend who was still shamelessly dancing on the table.
"Ari-i-i-i, you came." Reno sang as Ari neared the edge of the table. The older man kneeled down on the table and reached out to Ari, his arms dangling over Ari's shoulders as the brunette hoisted him off the table.
"Well, you did call me to come get you." Ari mumbled as he slipped an arm around Reno's waist while letting his drunken friend's feet touch the ground.
"You're too good ta me, Ari but trus' me," Reno slurred and plucked at the collar of Ari's black t-shirt, "I'll be good to ya la'r." Ari couldn't help but smile at the thought of a night with a drunken Reno but by the looks of it, Reno was probably going to pass out on the ride home.
"You're too drunk to even try anything." Ari teased as he unlocked the car door, proving to be quite a task with a drunk attached to his hip. Finally, with some effort, Ari managed to slide Reno into the black leather seats of the Audi; but not without a few scratches thanks to Reno trying to rip the thin fabric of Ari's shirt. Ari sighed as he ran a hand through his hair; this was going to be one hell of a ride home.
"Go faster!" Reno screamed from the passenger seat while the upper half of his body hung out of the window.
"Reno," Ari growled as he leaned over and gripped the drunk by the side of his sweater, trying to tug him into the seat, "get your ass back in the seat." Ari snarled, giving another yank at Reno's sweater.
"Come on, Ari! Jus' go faster!" Reno yelled again, causing Ari to let an annoyed sigh. He couldn't pull over on a three lane highway and Reno was bound to get his head knocked clean off his shoulders if he kept this up.
" Reno! Sit the fuck down!" Ari yelled back as he let go of the wheel and gripped Reno's shoulder, forcing the drunk male back into the car. He immediately threw his hands back on to the wheel as the car began to swerve to the right. "Do that again and I'll fucking throw you out of this mother fucking car myself." Ari snapped, his anger flaring at his friend. There was an awkward silence in the car afterward; only the sound of the engine humming filled the stillness.
"You mad at me?" Reno mumbled after a good ten minutes of peace. Ari sighed as he let off the gas as he looked up at the red stoplight.
"a bit," Ari muttered back, still angry at Reno's stupidity but he still felt bad for holding against Reno even though he was drunk, "Never mind." Ari said as he reached his arm across the gap between him and Reno and cupped the redhead's cheek, giving him a playful shove as he withdrew his hand. There was a soft chuckle from Reno as the car took off again. Ari smiled at Reno as he gunned the engine of the Audi, pushing 110 mph on the speedometer. Reno let out a whoop of excitement and turned up the radio. Ari laughed as Reno swung his head wildly and sung along to the music.
"In the midnight hour, she cried more, more, more!" Reno sung out his window before laughing and throwing his head back in the seat. Ari shook his head with a smile. There was a sigh from Reno as he ran his hands through his hair and arched his back up off the seat. Ari smirked as he caught the movement from the corner of his eye and he watched periodically as Reno slowly traced his hands over his chest, knowing that he almost had Ari's undivided attention, and slipped them under the hem of his jeans.
"You're gonna make me cause an accident, Red." Ari muttered, his eyes shifting back and forth between Reno and the road. Reno let out a shaky laugh as his the hand in his pants flexed around his manhood, causing Ari to let out a guttural moan as his hands became slick against the steering wheel.
"Eyes on the road, Blue." Reno moaned, nodding at the stoplight that had turned red. Ari bit his lip as he slowed down, disobeying his want to go faster; in more ways than one. Reno breathed heavy as he brought his hand out of his pants and fiddled with the button at the top of his pants. Ari grinned as he reached over and unfastened it for Reno, who groaned as Ari's cold fingers passed over the heated flesh of his abdomen. "Thanks." Reno muttered before sliding his fingers over the zipper of his jeans. Ari licked his lips as watched from the corner of his eye then looked back up at the stoplight that inconveniently flickered green. Ari let the car move forward while his foot pressed down on the gas and he looked over at Reno who was suddenly blacked out by a light that came from Ari's side of the car. Ari looked over and stared into the white headlights of a speeding car.
"Shit!" Ari curse as he tried to step on the gas but it was too late. There was the sound of shattering glass and crunching metal loud in Ari's ears as he was tossed from side to side in his seat. His world was a blur of colors and lights before there was a solid cuff against his forehead and the rest of his world went black.
The smell of smoke filtered in through Ari's nose, causing him to cough and sputter. He shook his head as he looked around. He was in Reno's Audi but something was off, the asphalt of the highway was above him and his arms were dangling over his head. He groaned as his right hand fiddled with the seatbelt buckle that clicked loose after a few jiggles. Ari collapsed in a heap across the hood of the Audi and groaned as a pain flared from his shoulder and ribs but he still forced himself up on his hands and knees. He felt an immense heat from the bottom of the car that rested above him and he quickly turned to find Reno who was curled in a mass next to him.
"Reno." Ari coughed, his hand snaking out to shake Reno's shoulders but his friend remained unmoving. The brunette let out a rough groan as he pulled himself closer to Reno and watched as Reno's body shook with raspy breaths. Ari tried to pull Reno with him out of the driver side window that had shattered when the car smashed into them but couldn't get his friend to budge. His heart began to race as the car above him groaned and Ari quickly crawled out of the smashed window. It was an effort to stand up; pain shot up his right side and he found it hard to breathe as he clambered to his feet. Fire flickered on the underside of the car, threatening to blow up any second and causing Ari to quickly limp to Reno's side of the car. He could make out where Reno's curled up body was as he gripped the door handle and tried to open it but to no avail, the door was jammed shut from what looked to be a dent where Reno's side had lambasted into the pole of one of the lights that lined the highway. Ari gritted his teeth as he tried to yank on the door again. And again; but nothing moved. Ari groaned as a white-hot pain rose in his leg causing his sight to darker for a second. In that split second, there was a loud explosion that caused Ari to stumble backwards. He looked at the car again as a wave of heat washed over him; the fire had spread down Reno's door and on to the ground where a pool of gas had gathered.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Ari cursed as he kicked out the window of the passenger side door. Fire leaped out at him as he kneeled down and grabbed Reno's leg, pulling his friend slowly out of the car. Ari cringed as the fire bit at the flesh of his left arm causing the skin there to blister. Ari started to step back and a wave of relief wash over him as the top of Reno's red head cleared the burning mess of the car and he was quick to grab Reno under his shoulders and try to haul Reno's deadweight over to the far side of the highway. As Ari dragged Reno, he could hear the car moan under the fire and with a blinding flash, another explosion rocked the asphalt below him. Ari raised his hands to protect himself from the bits of metal that were sent flying from the car. Then, it happened. Ari watched in almost slow motion as the front tire on the driver's side of the Audi flew from the axel and headed straight towards Ari. Stunned from the explosion, Ari was defenseless as the tire was launched into his arm, instantly breaking the bones in several different spots. Ari let out a howl of pain and dropped to the ground beside Reno. He sucked in air through his teeth as he tried not to look down at the bone that was protruding from his skin. There was haziness around Ari's field of vision as he pressed his back against the median that separated the two sides of the highway. He could feel the lack of strength take him over slowly as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head.
"Hey! Are you two ok?" asked a voice and Ari lolled his head to the side where a woman rushed over to them. Her oval face was worn through with worry as she crouched down beside Ari who tried to keep his eyes from closing.
"Call…911…" He muttered before collapsing in a heap beside Reno.
8 hours later
"Where the hell are they?" screamed a voice and Reno was forced to open his eyes. Nothing in his room appeared out of place from when he was last awake and he was extremely tempted to close his eyes again, if it weren't for the stampede that was outside his room.
"The nurse said room 405." A gruff voice responded. Reno was compelled to keep his eyes open as the door to his room slid open and in walked the one person he had hoped wouldn't show up. Tulani Heart-fire stood with her hands on her hips as she glared at him from the foot of his bed.
"What?" he grumbled his voice thick with morphine. Tulani grimaced at him as she looked him up and down.
"Don't ask me that," she snapped, "where is Ari?" Reno rolled his eyes and lifted a shaky hand to point over to the other side of the room where another bed was occupied by his friend.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Reno muttered as Tulani rushed over to Ari's side of the room. Her storm colored eyes glossed over as she looked at Ari who rested peacefully in the warm hospital bed. His bright eyes were closed as he slept on, oblivious to the hurt in his foster sister's eyes. She had seen Ari hurt plenty of times before considering he was a rather reckless child and an even more reckless teenager. When he was 16, he would often come home with bruises and cut all over his body but nothing that was ever this bad.
"The doctor said he's gonna be fine, yo." Reno muttered, breaking Tulani's thoughts. Tulani gave Reno a cold look from over her shoulder and turned her attention back to Ari. There was a heavy moment of silence before Tulani spoke.
"What happened?" she asked her voice nothing more than a loud whisper. The question had caught Reno by surprise and he hesitated telling her about how he was trying to seduce Ari from the passenger seat while he was driving.
"What happened?" Tulani asked again, this time turning towards Reno. He could tell that she was pissed and that she was going to attack him if he didn't answer her. Reno quickly explained exactly what happened, in fear that Tulani would hit him if he kept anything from her. He watched as her lips formed a tight line as she processed what Reno had told her and slowly she lifted her eyes from where they stared at the floor to his face. "You were trying to distract him?" she snapped and Reno flinched back at the accusation. He hated to admit it but the drunken side of him was trying to distract Ari.
"I- I didn't mean to…" Reno whispered, his guilt choking him and turning his face red.
"Didn't mean to?! I've seen how you and Ari flirt with each other like two virgin's and you're telling me you didn't mean to distract him by jacking off?!" Tulani roared, her words cutting deep in to Reno's psyche, "What the hell were you thinking?" She continued, her arms crossing over her chest as she still held her angry eyes on the redhead. Reno was forced to look away from her as he bit his lip in frustration. He couldn't deny anything she was saying, it was his fault that Ari was hurt this badly.
"I don't know. I was drunk." He finally muttered. There a heavy sigh from Tulani as she turned back to Ari who had shifted slightly in his sleep. Reno looked over at him as well and felt his chest tighten as he watched his friend groan in his sleep as he rolled on to the shoulder that got injured in the crash. Reno had never wanted things to go this way; he just wanted Ari to get a little hot and bothered; that's all. There was nothing wrong with that, not in Reno's mind at least but now, to see his best friend and potential lover like this was enough to make him feel sick with guilt.
"This has to be the most asinine thing you have ever done, Reno." Tulani muttered with her back to the redhead.
"Do you think that I don't feel bad enough already?" Reno snapped back, his voice shaking as his hands curled into fists, "I know it's my fault. I didn't want it to turn out this way; I was the one who should have been racked up like that, yo. Not him. He was just trying to be a friend and come pick me up from the bar and I got him all fucked up like that!" Reno shouted back at Tulani, causing him to cough as his raspy lungs were strained.
"You couldn't just leave Ari alone, could you?" Tulani shot back, making Reno's knuckles turn white as he gripped his sheets tighter within his fingers, " You couldn't just go latch on to someone else and leave Ari alone so he could have a normal life?" Reno knew exactly what she meant by a normal life; a life with a stick in the mud like Angeal Hewley, Ari's main sexual interest. Reno's lips formed a prominent frown as he remembered how many times that Angeal rejected Ari's advances.
"Oh ya, leave Ari alone so that he can get turned down by Angeal over and over again." Reno hissed his turquoise eyes almost burrowing two holes into Tulani's back as she watched over Ari.
"You just can't face the fact that Angeal isn't a sexual sellout like you." Tulani retorted, causing Reno to lose the last of his anger.
"Oh get off your high horse; you and I both know that Angeal is just fucking around with Ari. Angeal's an asshole, there's no way a fucking prick like that is gonna swoop Ari into his arms and live a happy life with him. Angeal is just leading Ari on." Reno yelled back. There was an odd silence before the door to the room opened and Reno's heart hammered fast as two men stepped into the room. One man stood beside Tulani with a supportive hand on her shoulder, his gossamer, silver hair creating a veil for younger girl to hide her tears behind. The other students called him a god but his birth name was Sephiroth. The other man walked over to the edge of Ari's bed, his tall bulking frame blocking Reno's view of Ari and caused to redhead to glare in hate. Angeal Hewley, the man of Ari's attraction and the man that had been so casually toying with Ari, glared back at him. Ocean blue eyes locking on to a pair of turquoise green ones. Reno opened his mouth to shot some hateful words at Angeal but a constant flat noise from Ari's side of the room made them all stop and stare at the man whose heart monitor upheld a single flat line.