A/N: Well I have to say it's been awhile since I've written something. Going from fandom to fandom this pairing caught my attention not too long ago and I said sure why not give it a go?
The idea for this story was created when my friend and I were at a local Panera Bread shop and we were having one of our "What if..." conversations. Somehow we got onto the subject of Final Fantasy and then out of the blue my friend asked me "What if Reno switched roles with Cloud for a day? You know a Turk playin' hero for a bit?" And that got me thinking what would it be like if a certain red-head tried to take on Cloud's duties? And viola this was born.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters, I only own my grammar mistakes, because I am not a Grammar-pro nor am I a Grammar Nazi o.o...
Switching Roles for a Day
The sound of the door opening and someone entering the apartment distracted him from whatever he was watching. A smile graced his face as a familiar blonde put his belongings away and sat down next to him.
"Bout' time you got here."
Cloud gave him an apologetic smile and kissed the top of his head. "Sorry, it's been a busy day…"
Reno rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around his lover. "More like a busy week." He frowned as he thought back to the nights where his lover would come home completely exhausted and he would have to drag him to their bed. And not that he was a weakling or anything, but dragging Cloud to the bed was really a cumbersome job.
"You know what ya need? A vacation or somethin'. You're overworking yourself."
Cloud made a sound that sounded like a snort. "And you're what? Under working? Of course you would tell me to take a break, since you take one almost every day."
Reno pouted and huffed blowing the strands of red hair from his face. "I don't take one every day! I just happened to be one of those people who to like lounge around and be lazy after a hard, uneventful day of work." He turned his head toward Cloud. "Where as to you mister, you don't even try to be lazy, always being a busy body. Going here and there and everywhere!"
Cloud sighed tightening his hold around the red-haired man. "Well I have stuff do, people to see, and places to go."
Reno grabbed both of Cloud's hands and placed them over his own.
"Well, not today ya don't." he decided firmly.
Cloud tilted his head ever so slightly as confusion appeared on his face.
"What do you mean?"
Reno grinned cheekily, pulled Cloud off the couch, and toward their bedroom. "Today, you're NOT going to do your errands and instead I want you to take it easy and relax."
Cloud stopped Reno from opening their bedroom door. "I can't do that Reno. I have too much stuff to do and if I just put it off I'll be way behind."
But the smile on Reno's face did not falter. "Then I'll do it for ya, if you're so worried." He opened the door and ushered Cloud inside. "Now go read a book, catch up on some sleep, or go take a nice warm shower to help ya relax."
Cloud turned toward the door. "But Reno-"
"No buts! Relaxing time right now, and don't you worry your pretty little Chocobo-head. I'll take care of everything."
Before Cloud could protest again the door was slammed shut. Giving a sigh of defeat he changed into more suitable clothes for sleeping. He then grabbed his book off the nightstand deciding that he didn't really want to fall asleep, so he would just read for a while and maybe that would be good enough for Reno. That soon changed as soon as he got under the covers. It was so comfy, so warm. He couldn't help it that his eye lids were starting to get heavy nor that his vision was starting to fade to black.
Reno was still outside of their bedroom door and strained to listen if Cloud had followed what he asked of him. He gave a triumphant grin as he heard his lover's even breathing. So, the blonde-haired hero really was tired. He slowly turned the doorknob and slide inside their shared room. He went toward the window and closed the curtains shut, blocking out the sun rays that could wake up his sleeping lover.
He held in a laugh as he found Cloud snuggled deep into the covers, snoring softly, with the opened book lying right next to him. Reno grabbed the book, closed it, but making sure that he had placed the book mark in the right spot, and then quietly placed it back on the nightstand. Giving his lover a simple kiss on the cheek, he headed back outside and was determined to not let anything disrupt Cloud's slumber.
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After making sure that nothing in the apartment had the timer or buzzer feature on, and turning all the phones on silent, Reno went toward Cloud's belongings that were in a neat pile near the front door. Cloud put it there for quick and easy access, so he could just grab the stuff he needed and go. 'But he ain't goin' anywhere today.'
He had to search for a little bit, but he finally found what he was looking for. Cloud's 'To-Do-List'.
Reno opened the piece of paper and his eyes widened a bit as he saw the seemingly endless amount of errands and favors. Jeez…who knew his lover was such a softie. Always being a goody-two-shoes while trying to keep up his cold complexion, but Reno was glad that it was slowly melting away.
As he skimmed the list, pausing once or twice to figure out what some of the errands were really asking and wondering what the hell a dragon fruit was, he finally realized why Cloud would come home so late at times. Some of these places could be like fucking hundreds of miles away from each other!
Reno pursed his lips together and re-read the list over once more. Man…oh…man...just what was he getting himself into?
Well, he told Cloud that he would take care of everything and so he would. The only thing he was debating about now, was not about the tasks that lied ahead, no no…he was thinking of what kind of transportation would he use? Sure, he thought about using Fenrir, but he didn't think that would settle all too nicely with Cloud. A car would be too slow for traffic was everywhere nowadays.
Reno nodded and grinned to himself. The only other option he could think of was piloting one of his beloved helicopters. He reached into his pocket that contained the list of things to do and his cell phone.
Reno was just about to dial Shinra headquarters to notify them that he would be using one of the helicopters, but remembered what happened the last time he tried to notify them of something.
-Flashback-
It was a slight emergency…okay maybe a big emergency. His partner and long-time friend, Rude, was bleeding profusely from two bullet wounds. He tried his best to stop the bleeding and to wrap up the wounds, but the blood just kept oozing out and soon it was starting to soak through the white – now red from the blood- bandage wraps.
Reno kept his panic level in check as his partner was now teetering back and forth on the consciousness and unconsciousness borderline. Letting out a frustrated growl he re-dialed the numbers of the Shinra headquarters again. "God dammit! Someone pick up!"
His first plan was to stop the blood from coming out at such a rapid rate and to keep his partner awake till back up came. But back up never did come, all of them were all probably dead considering some were still newbies that didn't heed orders to attack the enemy and some didn't even know who the enemy was.
So, the second plan was to get in contact with the Shinra headquarters and ask if they could send a medic team right away. That plan was now a bust, for no one was picking up the damn phone!
"Partner don't you be sleepin' on me now." Reno grunted as he tried to lift his partner up. No use because Rude didn't even budge.
"Rude wake the hell up, yo!" he resisted the urge to smack the older man just to get him awake because those eyes closing really disturbed Reno.
"Nrgh.." Rude's face was pained and his breathing was quick and shallow.
Reno stopped his actions and decided to take a risky choice. "Rude, buddy, you'll be okay. I'm going to go look for help alright?"
Reno shakily stood up. It was a very risky move. What if Rude died while he was looking for help? What if he couldn't find anyone nearby who could help? Reno shook his head and put on a determined front. No, he would find help and Rude would be okay.
Luckily, there were some travelers nearby whom just so happened to be strolling about. Reno wasted no time and explained the current situation while he dragged the poor unsuspecting traveler toward where Rude was.
Rude was immediately submitted to the nearest hospital while another back up team was sent to pick up Reno. Although Rude stayed behind at the hospital for recovery, one pissed off Turk stomped his way toward the front desk of the Shinra building.
The secretary was currently flirting with another worker, twirling her curly blonde hair around her finger and giggling every now and then. Reno thought roughly pushing aside the guy she was flirting with was somewhat rude, but he didn't give a damn right now! His best friend was in critical condition because of this bitch.
"Hey! You can't just go around pushing people out of the way!" Ugh..she had an annoying voice too...
"Oh yeah? Well you can't just go around and ignore calls!" Reno shot back. "I've been trying to get a hold of someone here for the past couple of hours and no one fucking picked up!"
The blonde-haired woman stared at Reno with distaste. "Well sooorrrry, I was busy with something, so I couldn't pick up the phone."
Reno's body shook with contained anger as he glared at the skank of a woman in front of him. "And what could you have possibly been doin' that took such a long time?!"
She just scoffed and picked up the magazine that was on her desk. "I was drying my nails and well duh…they take a while to dry, can't pick up a phone with wet nails now can I?" She asked it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Before Reno could respond with either another remark or just plain out bitch-slap her. His boss, Tseng, appeared behind the squabbling pair and intervened.
"Please keep your voices down you two. Now, what is the problem here?" He asked calmly.
"Rude could have died because of her!" Reno pointed an accusing finger toward the secretary.
"You don't expect me to pick up the phone with wet nails do you?!"
"What kind of excuse is that?!"
"It's not an excuse! It's the truth!"
"Well, if the job of being a secretary is to ignore calls and just paint nails all day you should have applied for one of those nail and spa jobs!"
"Oh, so you're saying I'm not doing a very good job? Well how about you Mr. Hotshot. If you're sooo good at your job then how'd you and your partner encounter trouble, huh?"
"There was a distraction and it happened to be a VERY good one!"
"Well then-"
"That is ENOUGH!" Tseng yelled out silencing the two. "Both of you are disturbing the other workers with your pointless arguing. And overall you two are just giving me a headache." He rubbed his temples slightly. Lately, he felt more of a referee nowadays. That wasn't good…
"Reno, I will take care of her punishment and you still need to submit in those mission reports."
Reno folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Yeah…yeah…I know." He gave the girl one last glare before leaving.
Tseng turned to face the secretary. "Now, Ms. Angela as troublesome as my subordinate can be he does have a point. You cannot just ignore calls because of excuses such as…drying your nails…" he gave a tired sigh. It wasn't even lunch time yet, and he's already feeling tired. Damn that Reno and his spontaneous energy...
"I'm sorry Mr. Tseng; I promise it won't happen again."
Tseng gave her a stern look. "Indeed it won't because you're fired Ms. Angela." And with that he turned to leave not bothering to see the reaction of the shocked secretary. He went toward the elevators and went all the way to the top floor where only the higher-ups had access to.
'At least it's peaceful up here.' Tseng thought as he gazed down at the city beneath him.
"Rough morning?" a smooth, silky voice asked. Tseng didn't need to turn around to see who was behind him. He knew that voice well enough.
"I had to fire the new secretary." He gave a sideway glance and saw the head of the corporation right next to him.
Rufus looked amused. "Isn't that our third one this week?"
"Yes, but at least the first two had experience. This last one though had no experience whatsoever…why did we hire her in the first place?" Tseng was still a little bit confused as to why Rufus did hire that girl because she obviously did not meet the qualifications of being a secretary.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure. Maybe because we needed one right away? Maybe because she attracted people?" Rufus let out a small chuckle. "No, if we wanted our secretary to become a piece of eye candy we would have hired Reno."
Tseng's composure faltered as he put on a troubled face. "Sir, my apologies, but have you gone mad? Or better yet do you wish for an imminent death? The minute Strife finds out that we're advertising what's his, he is sure to go and kill anyone that dares pass a glance at Reno."
Rufus frowned. "I suppose your right. Well, we better start looking for another secretary then. There's got to be someone competent enough out there." That and he didn't want the hero, Cloud Strife, to spill blood onto his newly polished floor.
-End of Flashback-
Reno chuckled at the memory. After he left to submit in the reports he later found out that the secretary got fired. Man, he wished he was there to see it. But anyway back to the task at hand. He finally made it to the first destination and was looking for the house of the guy he was supposed to see. Reno frowned only seeing acres of farm land, a couple of mills, and a few farm houses nearby.
"I'm at the right place aren't I?" he mumbled to himself.
"Hey! Are you the one that's been sent to help?" a raspy voice suddenly asked out of nowhere.
Reno turned around and saw an old looking man dressed in a worn out, navy blue overall and a red checkered shirt.
"Uhm, it depends are you Mr. Johnson?"
"That I am there lad. Now come with me." the man made a following motion with his hand.
Reno followed the old man who seemed to be leading him toward a barn of some sort. He then nearly gagged as an overwhelming odor suddenly infiltrated his senses. "What the hell is that smell?!"
The old man gave him an incredulous look. "Haven't you ever been to a farm? There are plenty of animals here."
Animals?...Nowhere in that list did it mention anything with working with animals. Dare he ask the question? ...Aw hell…who cares he'll just ask it.
"What kind of animals do you have here at this farm? Cows? Pigs?"
The old man gave a hearty laugh. "Boy, this here is a Chocobo Farm. Yer going to see plenty of those majestic birds with the jobs I'm going to give you."
Reno stopped walking… That damned Chocobo-lover of his!! Why couldn't he write it was a Chocobo farm?! On the stupid list it just said, "Help a man named Mr. Johnson." It mentioned squat about farms and those overly humongous birds!!!
"Speaking of which, your job is to be tending to those birds today. You know bring em' water, food, washing em', and taking them out for a short run. All to prepare them for the big race tomorrow."
Cloud was an ex-SOLDIER turned hero, then delivery boy. Reno was a Turk turned into a slave for the huge golden birds. Just great…just whoop-de-fucking great…
Reno shivered slightly as the wind blew over his still damp hair. That old farmer had him working non-stop for three fucking hours of back breaking manual labor! But at least he was kind enough to let him bathe before he left, because, of course, Reno would not walk around smelling like Chocobo poop.
So, with that errand completed he was now in front of some lady's house with a package in his arms. He pulled out the list again, now paranoid of what was to come. "Deliver package to 73748 Ivy Drive. (Leave package on front porch.)" Reno raised an eyebrow after reading the small note. Was the owner not home? Is that why he should leave it on the front porch? Glancing up he saw a small lit room at the top floor, so he decided that someone had to be in the house at least.
He walked up to the front porch that had flower pots accenting the old colonial home and rang the doorbell. Immediately he heard footsteps approach the front door.
It opened and revealed a middle aged woman who was wearing an apron that had flour all over it. 'I guess I interrupted her baking.' Reno thought. Well better make this fast so the lil' old lady can go back to whatever she was doing.
"Here's your package-Woah!!" Reno yelped as the old grandma suddenly pulled him inside.
"Oh dearie! Look at you! All skin and bones! No, no, that won't do!" she said her voice laced with sweetness as she grabbed Reno's face and inspected him.
"Excuse me ma'am, but I'm just here to deliver this…hey! Where are you taking me?!" Reno exclaimed as he was suddenly dragged toward what seemed like the kitchen.
"Sweetie, it's not healthy to be skinny like that! Poor thing you must have suffered from malnutrition…but it's okay grandma here will fix that up!"
"Wait...wait! Listen, I'm just here to deliver this package and I'm not hungry really!"
"Oh hush, no need to be embarrassed about it! Now would you like try these sugar cookies? They just came out of the oven." She grabbed one and tried to stuff it into Reno's mouth.
Reno leaned to the left to avoid the cookie and backed away from the old grandma. "No thanks…"
The old grandma shook her head. "Nonsense dearie, how about some ginger bread cookies? Daisy biscuits? How about some molasses cookies? Oh! I know how about trying one of grandma's special pecan pie?"
"I said no already! Listen you're a nice old lady and all, but if you don't mind I'll be going now!" Reno made a mad dash for the door before he could die a diabetic because of all the sugary treats offered to him.
Reeve was almost done checking all the crates and making sure that they were in good condition for transporting.
"Oi! Reeve!"
He turned around and placed his clipboard on a nearby desk. "Reno?" What was the Turk doing here?
"Yeah, says here in Cloud's list that you've got some errand for him to do."
Reeve motioned for Reno to follow him. "You're a bit early though and-"
"Holy Shit!...Is that what I have to deliver?" Reno stared at the crates that were almost as tall as him. "I'm not a wimp or anything but you've got to have like fucking soldier strength to lift that behemoth of a box!"
Reeve rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose that this delivery can only be done by Cloud then."
Reno gave a silent sigh of relief for skipping an errand. "Well, then I guess I have no business here and I'll just tell Cloud that he was those crates to deliver sometime later on."
"Wait!" Reeve yelled to the retreating Turk.
Reno internally swore. Damn was Reeve going to try to get him to lift those things!?
Reeve continued. "Though you can't deliver those boxes, there were other things that I couldn't let Cloud do, and I'm pretty sure you can do them instead."
Reno's shoulders sagged a little. He was only supposed to be doing Cloud's errands damn it! Not give himself errands…
"Alright Reeve, but this is a onetime thing, after this I ain't doing chores for you all willy-nilly got it?"
"Understood, thank you Reno."
Reno waved his hand in dismissal. "Yeah, yeah…so what do I hafta do, yo?"
"I need you to deliver these documents to three neighboring towns. I couldn't let Cloud do it because all three towns have mako reactors nearby." Reeve grabbed the stack of papers and handed them to Reno. "Then I'll need you to bring back the documents, preferably signed by who they're addressed to."
Reno stared at the documents that were handed to him then back up to Reeve. "And what if they don't sign it?"
Reeve just smiled, though it was more like a creepy smile than a happy one. "You're a Turk, I'm sure you know how to deal with people who don't cooperate."
"Damn those stubborn security guards..." Reno washed his hands that had blood on it. Not his blood though. It was the blood of one of the security guards who wouldn't mind his fucking business and let him through. He showed him his ID and everything, but the guy still refused to move aside. So, he had to forcefully make his point…and it ended with the security guard having a broken nose. But at least he got the documents signed. It wasn't too hard, only one out of the three people showed reluctance to sign it, and again he had to practice his skills of persuasion.
But now he only had one thing left to do, thank Shiva! And that was to do the grocery shopping. Not too hard right?
Deciding that his hands were clean enough, because you shouldn't really start grabbing stuff off the grocery shelves with bloody hands, he came out of the bathroom and grabbed a shopping kart.
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"Let's see, I got almost everything here except for the strawberries." Reno stuffed the grocery list back into his pocket and strolled toward the produce area.
'Blueberries, apples, grapes, watermelons.' Reno stopped and looked around once more. Where the hell were the strawberries?!
"Oohh! It's you again!"
Reno froze on the spot. That overly-sweet voice…no…it can't be. Suddenly his cheeks were being pinched as the old lady laughed. "Wow, talk about coincidence dearie! But I see your buying some food now, good for you!"
"Lesh..go ofsh my facsh" Reno tried to say "Let go of my face." But the pinching made it hard to do so. So he yanked himself free from the crazy old grandma's hands.
"Not you again." Reno muttered under his breath. The old lady didn't seem to have heard it for she was too busy taking his oreos out of the grocery kart…WAIT WHAT?!
"HEY! What in the world do you think you're doin?!"
"These oreos aren't good for you sweetie." She announced as she was putting them all back on the shelf.
Reno snatched them from her and placed the oreos back in his kart.
"Well these are my oreos and I'm old enough to eat whatever I want!" And oreos weren't good for him? Puh-lease! Wasn't this the same old lady who tried to force feed him all that sugary sweets?!
"And you don't need this, you don't need that…"
"STOP RAIDING MY GROCERY KART! I DIDN'T GIVE YOU MY PERMISSION TO DO SO!!"
"Hush dearie, you should be filling this kart with vegetables, whole-grain foods, and fruits. Not all that junk food like potato chips and oreo cookies."
She's just an old lady; she's just an old lady. Reno repeated that mantra to restrain himself from doing something drastic. That and the security cameras also helped change his mind.
"Look, for the last time I don't – ack!" Reno almost choked on the piece of fruit that was shoved into his mouth.
"Peaches are a good source of Vitamin C you know. Now how about we get you some broccoli or asparagus!"
Reno finally decided that this crazy old woman was bipolar with food. Before she tried to stuff him with sugar loaded sweets and now she's a healthy food nut?
"Reno is that you?"
"Rudsh?" He forcefully swallowed the piece of fruit. "Oi! Over here Rude!"
Reno's mood seemed to brighten instantly. "Yo, partner what'cha doin' here grocery shoppin'?"
"Well I needed to buy some milk."
Reno raised an eyebrow. "Rude, buddy, I've known ya for how long? Since we were kids. I know when you're lying to me…And if you're going to lie at least make up a good one." He pointed to the grocery kart that had no sign of milk in it whatsoever.
The bald man looked around then silently whispered. "Okay, I have a date with someone and I really want to impress her by cooking her dinner."
"Oh! So you finally grew the guts to ask Lockhart then? Good on ya partner!" Rude then whacked Reno on the head.
"Ouch! What ya do that for, yo?!" Reno asked rubbing the area he was hit.
"Because I deemed it was the appropriate reaction to your loudmouth-ness and I never said it was Tifa!"
Reno smirked. "Yeah, but your reaction sorta gives it away there," he then gave him a congratulatory pat on the back, "Now, if you'll excuse me I have a delusional old lady raiding my kart that I have to tend to."
Reno closed the door to the apartment and went into the kitchen to put away the stuff as quietly as he could.
The digital clock on the microwave read 6 p.m. So it had been exactly six hours since he had left the apartment and went on that strenuous journey.
Reno then made his way toward the couch where he propped up his feet on one side of the armrest, draped one arm over his eyes and was just content to just lie there and rest for a bit. Man… he never had that much manual labor in a day! He already lost count of how much stuff he had done, for he had stopped counting after the tenth delivery.
Reno scrunched up his face when he heard footsteps running in the hallway outside of the apartment door. 'Eh, it's probably just a buncha kids comin' home.' He thought tiredly.
KNOCK-KNOCK!!
"HEY!! ANYBODY IN THERE?!"
Reno shot out from the couch and swung open the door before the knocking and yelling continued. Outside his door was none other than the notorious ninja girl, Yuffie.
"Yuffie! Keep your voice down!!!" Reno whispered his eyes glancing toward the bedroom door. No sign of the blonde, that was good, Yuffie's loud voice didn't wake Cloud up.
"RENO!! You're alive!!"
Reno gave the ninja a weird look. "Of course I am…"
But Yuffie ignored his comment. "I was so worried I've been calling your apartment and no one was picking up so I-mpfh!" Reno clamped his hand over the ninja's mouth, closed the door, and walked out into the hallway.
"Yuffie, either whisper or shut the hell up. Cloud is sleeping." Reno stated. "Now, I want you to tell me, quietly though, what you need." He then released Yuffie and she smiled brightly at him.
"Awww…never knew you could be that thoughtful Reno." She cooed.
Reno felt his face heat up a bit. "Do you need something or not?"
"Well, I was just here to tell Cloud that he needs to babysit the kids tonight. But since he's sleeping why don't you babysit the kids Reno?"
"Are you crazy?! No way do I wanna' get stuck with babysitting duty."
Yuffie had an evil glint in her eyes. "Oh? That's too bad. Tifa sent me here to get someone to babysit the kids and she told me not to come back till I do." The first part with Tifa sending her was true, but the second part was just a little white lie. Tifa gave her a choice, either she babysits or she could go find someone else. Yuffie chose the latter.
Reno watched Yuffie warily. "And?"
"Well, since no one is going to babysit them. I guess I'll just stay here then since I can't go back there till I find someone. I'm sure Cloud wouldn't mind if I take his materia now would he? At best I'll probably just turn the whole living room upside down looking for them. Though I can't promise that I'll be quiet as a mouse…"
Damn that Yuffie! She was baiting him, and it worked…cause of you Cloud. It's hook, line, and sinker.
"Alright, you win. I'll come and babysit the munchkins okay?"
"YES! It worked!" Yuffie cheered.
'Cloud…the things I do for you…' Reno shook his head as he was dragged away by the non-stop-talking Yuffie.
"NO WAY! I REFUSE! THIS WAS SO NOT PART OF THE PLAN!" Reno hollered as he ran away from the bartender who was the owner of Seventh Heaven.
"But Reno! Yuffie won't come with me and it's really important, so please come with me instead?" Tifa tried to give him her best puppy face.
Resist Reno! Resist! He looked everywhere but at Tifa who was staring at him with a pouty face and innocent eyes that were slightly watery.
"NO! I came here to babysit the kids not to…agh! I'm not going!" Reno decided that it was better to just close his eyes. Then it was silent. Had it worked? He then dared open his eyes and immediately regretted it.
There stood Tifa with a crest fallen face that she probably learned from Cloud.
"Okay, I understand…It's just... today's a really important day for me, and I thought that since you're his best friend you could help me out…" Her shoulders were slumped and she stared at the ground dejectedly.
What's this now? He felt bad for her? Oh, since when did he turn into a person who cared about other people's problems?!
"Ugh…what have you people done to me? I'm soon going to turn into mush if this keeps up!" Reno mumbled quietly, but Tifa heard it.
"Reno?"
"I don't know when this whole good-side of Reno started, but I'll just blame Cloud because he's not here to do this instead."
"So does this mean you're coming?" The hopefulness in her voice made it really hard to refuse.
"I'm probably going to regret this later, but yes I'll come with you."
"Oh, thank you Reno!" Tifa's face brightened immensely. "And Reno you always had a good side somewhere. Everyone does. Just some are harder to find than others." She answered giving him an all-knowing smile.
"Save your preaching for the unfortunates Lockhart. Let's just get this dress shopping over with."
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"Oooh….Ahhh…woooww…"
"Tifa will you stop 'oohing' at stuff and just buy somethin'?!"
"Sorry Reno, it's just there so many pretty stuff here…and Oh my gosh! Look at this dress! It would so go with that necklace over there!"
"I thought we were just buying a dress…"
Tifa tsked at him as she picked up the dress and examined it. "I said we were going dress shopping. So, that also means that we're getting everything else I need with the dress. Surely a dress alone can't complete an outfit. You need shoes, necklaces, etc."
"Okay, but can you at least tell me why I'm carrying all the dresses?" Reno asked from behind a pile of dresses that Tifa picked out, but had not yet tried on.
"Because you agreed to help me find a dress that Rude will like." Tifa bit her lip slightly as she looked at the piece of clothing in her hands. "Reno...what if he doesn't like what I'm wearing? What if he thinks it's the most hideous dress ever made? What if-"
Reno interrupted before she could finish. "Tifa, I may get hit by my partner again for saying this, but to Rude you'll look lovely in anything. Hell even in sweats, you'll look smoking hot to him!"
"Reno are you just saying that to make me choose a dress faster?" Tifa turned to look at him.
Reno chuckled and stared right back at Tifa. "I know it may seem like a joke, but I'm not kidding around Tifa. Rude has had a crush on you for like…forever! So quit your worrying. He cares a lot about you and will accept you no matter what you look like." Reno was surprised at how sincere he sounded.
Tifa seemed just as surprised. Then there was an emotion on her face that he would see on Cloud's face at times. "…Reno thank you..."
Eh? Didn't hear that from Tifa often.
"For what?"
"For a lot of things, for making Cloud happy, for telling me this and even going dress shopping with me. I still can't believe you agreed though, even Yuffie didn't want to come and would rather babysit Denzel and Marlene." Tifa mused out loud.
Hm…Now that he really thought about it Reno wondered why he hadn't just gone up and left the store, because the doors were wide open, and if he really wanted to he could high-tail it out of there. But why didn't he?...
Reno shook his head to rid himself of the possible answers. "Alright, enough with the mushy stuff already. Instead how bout' helping your shopping buddy here?" Reno asked from behind the mountain of clothes. He was like a walking pile of clothes that talked and had legs.
"If I had known that clothes shopping with a woman was this bad I would have used this as some sort of torture technique ages ago."
Tifa giggled. "Come on Reno it can't be all that bad."
"Look who's talking….you're not even carryin' a single dress! I got all the dresses here!!" Reno probably announced it a bit too loud because a couple of heads in the store turned to look at him and he felt his cheeks flare up at the sudden unwanted attention.
One lady nearby looked at him up and down. "I don't think that color matches with your eyes, hun."
Reno was pretty sure he was blushing now. "Uhm…these aren't mine! They're for a friend!! Uh...Tifa tell them these are yours!"
"Well, technically they're not mine Reno because I haven't purchased them yet…but now that I think of it…I can sorta picture you in a dress of some sort." Tifa tilted her head a little in thought.
Reno was horrified. "Tifa! Don't picture me in dresses!" Jeez…even that sounded a little bit too freaky for him. While Tifa tried to hold in her laughter at the mental images he knew were running through her mind Reno was giving the clothes to the lady who was supposed to keep count of how many clothes went into dressing room.
"Ugh…just try these dresses on already so we can get going!" Reno could feel his manliness slipping away for every second he was in the store.
After the whole dress shopping fiasco was over Reno and Tifa finally returned back to Seventh Heaven. It was already 8 p.m. and Reno was proud to announce that he was still alive after surviving two hours of shopping with Tifa. Doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment, but to Reno he believed anyone who could endure through that deserves a fucking trophy. Because honestly how could a woman go into a dressing room with like ten different outfits, come back out, and buy only two out of the ten? Why did girls have to try on soo many clothes when really they just buy like only a couple? It just made no sense to him.
Anyway, Tifa had to leave for her special date with Rude and Reno was left to take care of the kids till Barret came to pick them up. Thank Shiva that Barret was already on his way after Tifa left. Usually Reno enjoyed being around the kids, if word gets out he'll just flat out deny it though, but today after the hectic events, he really was drained and probably couldn't keep up with the kids' energy. And that's really saying something because he's been told by Tseng repeteadly that he might be in the body of a man, but he had the energy of a hyped up little kid. Was that supposed to be a complement? Maybe, or maybe not…he was too tired to try and decipher the man's words.
So now after Barret picked up the kids, it was now time for him to head home. Spotting a cab he waved it over and got in.
Reno could feel his eyes drooping down and his vision was getting hazy. Damn…he was starting to fall asleep in this cab. That wasn't good. What if the cab driver took him somewhere else if he fell asleep? He heard rumors of girls going into cabs late at night and were later found raped and beaten to death.
Reno was suddenly jerked awake when a cell phone in his pocket vibrated.
"Hello?"
"Reno?" Came a slightly surprised voice.
"Er…yeah." he answered. What was Rufus doing calling him?
"Oh…I thought I called Cloud's cell phone, my apologies I'll just-"
Cloud's cell? Wait…a minute. Reno pulled the phone away from him for just a second and realized it was Cloud's. Huh…he guessed when Yuffie was dragging him out of the apartment he accidently grabbed the wrong cell phone…eheh...whoops…
"No, this is Cloud's cell Rufus. I just accidentally grabbed it when I went out."
"Is that so? Then I suppose by any chance is Cloud there with you right now?"
"Sorry, no sir, he isn't with me right now." He heard Rufus sigh on the other line. "Sir, is there a reason as to why you need Cloud?"
"Well, it just so happens that a letter came to me this morning about a certain package that was broken during its delivery. So I needed Strife to deliver the backup package instead." Sounds reasonable enough because why give the package to the same people who broke it in the first place?
"Does it have to get there like right now?"
"As soon as possible would be best."
"Then you got yourself a lil' dilemma there Rufus." Reno then overheard another voice conversing with Rufus, but he could only hear bits and parts of the conversation.
"….really?...He did that?...Interesting…very interesting…"
"Uh…Rufus?"
"Reno, change of plans. I was planning on just sending a note to the receiver of the package that it would be late, but Reeve here told me of all the interesting deeds you've done for him-"
Reeve?!? Oh no…he didn't like where this was going…
"-so instead I'll have you deliver the package."
Reno pulled the phone away from him again and covered it as he let out a string of curse words.
"But Rufus isn't too late to be out flying a chopper?" Yes, that sounded like a good excuse.
"Already taken care of, you will be accompanied by one of our other pilots and you two will switch turns piloting the chopper." Damn you Rufus and your ability to be steps ahead of people!!
It was already 5 a.m. when Reno stumbled into the apartment. He probably had dark circles under his eyes and he had strands of red hair sticking out in random directions, overall his appearance looked haggard and worn out.
He thought he could get some shut eye after delivering the package when the other pilot would take over…but no…the other pilot was blasting the music in the chopper, said it helped keep him awake. Reno imagined the guy falling out of the helicopter and to his death. He wanted some sleep! Was that too much to ask?!
Reno first went to the kitchen to get something to drink then it was off to bed. Sleeping for the whole day sounded really good to him. But he didn't even make it to the cupboards to get a cup he just sat down on the table and put his head down to rest for a bit.
Because of the drowsiness state he was in he did not notice that there was another person in the kitchen.
"Reno? Did you just come home right now?" Asked a worried voice.
Reno's head shot up and he saw Cloud staring intently at him.
"Cloud? What're you doin' up so early?" He watched as Cloud grabbed another cup of coffee.
"I was woken up." He answered handing Reno the cup.
"Y-you were?!" Reno almost dropped the mug. Something woke him up? But…but…he tried so hard to give his lover a quiet day of rest. Was it because of him when he came back with the groceries? Did he close the doors too hard that it awoke his lover? Or was it when Yuffie came?...If it was, then he was going to have a little talk with the ninja.
Cloud turned around to grab some cream for his coffee. "Yeah…by your alarm clock."
THUD!
Cloud whipped around and saw Reno sprawled on the kitchen floor with the fallen chair beside him. "Reno? Are you okay?"
Reno looked up at Cloud. Was he okay? Let's see that's a toughie…he was almost pecked to death by chocobos, had to pick up their poop, was almost abducted by a deranged old lady, had to make deliveries for Reeve, was attacked by the same old lady at the store, was dragged to go dress shopping, had his masculinity questioned at the same time, and to top it all off he had to go make a night time delivery that was HUNDREDS of MILES away…so was he really okay?!
Releasing a heavy sigh Reno stayed put on the ground deciding that there was no point in getting up. "Cloud…I'm fine…no great…no…I'm just fucking peachy…"
From that day on Reno never complained about dragging Cloud to the bed anymore. But it didn't happen often nowadays, since Cloud decided to take it easy, as Reno put it, and even came home earlier than the Turk himself.
Though there was one thing Cloud didn't mention to Reno. The list of errands Reno had done was his weekly list. All the things on there were all supposed to be done on different days, for example, he wasn't supposed to meet Reeve till three days from when Reno had done it. Or the package to that lady was supposed to be delivered by Thursday and it was Monday when Reno delivered it.
But Cloud decided that it would just be better if there were some things that Reno didn't know about.
After all, Ignorance is bliss right?
-End
Well there ya go! My first try at a RenoxCloud pairing. Though it focuses more on Reno's journey. Poor thing, throughout the story I was like okay this is the last thing I'm going to have him do, but other ideas just kept popping into my head. xD
I already have other ideas for stories for this pairing, that aren't one-shots I believe, though I don't know when I'll get the time to write them. The Holiday season is pretty busy for me. But this is a Happy Early Holiday story for everyone!(Even though it had no Holiday-ness in it whatsoever..o.o..) and a Happy New Year to all! 2009 here we come!!
~Fairy-of-Twilight~