Summer midday.
It's hot. Very hot. Too hot.
Reno was flapping a fan he folded out from a computer paper and that wasn't enough. He longed the comforts of his cool home…not just being stuck in the office, sweating like a pig. The bloody repairman had claimed losing his spanners and clamp in an air duct (after numerously battering it from inside), screaming about a huge spider he kept missing. How big could Shinra's infesting spiders be? He had seen one with the size of a whole plate inside one of the storerooms.
Shinra was big. So shouldn't the spiders be big too? He tossed away the fan, making another one from a fresh piece of paper. And another one. Another…
"Stop that," Elena warned through her gritted teeth, slamming her hand on the pile of fans. "I can't work like this. And save the bloody trees."
"Why do you wanna work? It's Saturday."
"I'm in charge of planning the festival, if you don't know it." Reno shrugged.
"It's not Shinra-related so I couldn't care less."
"It is. In some ways."
"Is not."
"It is so."
"Nah. You're makin' it up." Reno launched a paper plane off and it hit Elena's forehead.
"Ow! You jackass." Elena threw her glow-in-the-dark hourglass paper weight at him and she missed.
"Bad aim, 'Len." Tseng entered with Rude, both carrying a box each.
"Tseng!" Elena called him, her face obviously lighting up. "I want this Effer to suffer!"
"Yo, no fair!" Tseng sighed at the two of them.
"… Overtime both of you," Tseng said as he placed the boxes somewhere on a shelf.
"What?" they both spat. That was not what they expected. Elena was dying to ask Tseng out for the festival.
-- -- --
Overtime was an open grave. Elena wouldn't let him touch any more papers so all he did was scrolling down some stuff in his phone.
"I'm home." Pause. "Uh. Teef?"
Tifa whirled around and faced him with a cheerful smile, dressed in her yukata, looking beyond adorable. "Welcome home, Re. Would you need something to eat?"
"Nah. I'll go get cleaned up. You look cute, by the way." Reno grinned at her pink, flushed face before clicking the button of his phone for a snapshot. "Added to my treasures. Now I'll have to complete the '365 Tifa's Sleeping Position' collection."
"Reno!" she scolded. He evaded the cushion she playfully threw at him.
The shower really cooled him down, making him stay there longer than he intended to. After checking his abs, he hastily dressed in a pretty casual outfit and descended to Tifa. "Where are we going?"
Tifa shot him the look. "You don't know? The festival Shinra and Wutai was making…"
"Hmf. I see." Reno gave her a blank look and she puffed her stray bang that wasn't clipped up in fake annoyance.
"I'm guessing you're not looking forward to me in this yukata?" she asked, eyes fixed on him as she tilted her head, almost pleading. Click. Another snapshot. His impulsive hobby struck again. He snickered.
"That one's priceless, babe. I never get bored with this."
"Reno!" Reno laughed, ducking as she sent the same cushion flying to his direction. Reno caught her arm and pulled her out.
"Okay, okay. Summer festival, Wutai style. I'm coming!"
-- -- --
"Reno, look. Goldfishes."
"My favorite. For dinner." Reno yawned as he shuffled his feet lazily along with her.
He was excited about the thought of spending time with Tifa, but all she did was dragging him to the booths he never really cared … like the one with the goldfish bowl. Yeah. Couldn't they just go sit somewhere, eat dinner and stare at each other? His luck had just got to roll down the gutter when Elena approached them, handing a piece of paper to him.
'All Shinra male personnel and those who are interested gather at the foyer for the fun.' It said … and he didn't like the sound of it, even if Tifa was drawn into the idea. He soon agreed to do it after he had cunningly acquired another snapshot of her.
"Here goes nothin'."
Tifa was seated on a bench with some of her friends, watching him in her sparkling eyes with what was it … happiness? He doubted it since Elena had came down and talked in a hushed voice about the event, giggling afterward. More people crowded. This could be one of the events Elena was planning earlier. He noticed that Cloud, who seemed to overheard what the two were talking about, widened his eyes in shock and slowly gave way for a sneering smirk to form.
This is not good, Reno thought. He was standing in the front with a group of bored looking staff.
"Alright, now we begin the main event of the night!" Elena announced. "This is a dress-up competition. All you have to do is read the paper and go to the respective rooms for your outfits. The winner would be the one with most votes."
-- -- --
He stared and stared and stared at the clothes. What the Eff, he screamed silently.
A pastel green dress laid there, almost saying in a freakishly sexy voice, "Come, Reno. I know you want to." He could pretty well imagine Cloud (plus the whole of Avalanche), Elena and the rest gloating at him. Tifa? He wasn't sure. It's a freaking dress. He could relate to Cloud now. His phone rang and he answered it with a 'yeah?'
"Reno, did you find your um, assigned outfit?" the sweet voice spoke. It was Tifa. He could picture her biting her lip at the 'um' despite the cheery tone.
"And you agreed with the plan, eh?"
"Um, ah, I… Well…" God, what he would give to see her flustered face right now. He snickered at the thought. Everything.
"You want me to do this or not? I could stay here until it ends." He didn't give a damn of Elena's crazy idea. Tifa giggled from the other end.
"I would like to see you in it," she whispered, almost and stressing the 'I'.
"Mkay. Back door's open."
Tifa knocked the door of the room which Reno was supposedly in. "Reno?" she called unsurely. He was taking an awfully long time. A shadow loomed behind her and yanked her from behind, taking her by surprise. As she turned around, she couldn't help it but to sputter on her words, laughing as she clung onto his shoulders. He was dressed in the green abomination and his ponytail was nowhere to be seen, much to Tifa's delight.
"Oh, dear Shiva. A sight for sore eyes. Do you mind if I take a picture?" Reno attempted a pout.
"Obviously, I do."
"Don't worry. You look cute. I love it with your hair down like this." Tifa cleared her throat as Reno stepped closer, pinning her to the wall, loving her intense gaze when he knew his presence alone was enough to make her weak inside.
"That's it for a compliment? I hurt."
As they lips were about to connect, the moment was ruined by a party from the corridor. "Time's up, you two," Elena said laughingly, pulling Tifa away and ushering Reno to the stage.
Here he thought he was the only one humiliated. The rest was also dressed in a pretty offending way and the audience threw into a fit of laughter. In the end, Tseng won in his plain pinafore and shirt, probably due to Elena's hijacking the voting machine.
-- -- --
Midnight.
The fireworks exploded and everyone cheered. That was the end of the joint festival. That couldn't have made Reno happier as he ripped off all his clothing, tossing them to the blazing fire for it to eat. He was left laughing like a hyena in front of the fire.
Cloud was sitting, relaxed, on a bench, watching the fireworks. He was absolutely glad that he never agreed to take part in the entire whirlwind or Tifa might laugh at the sight of him … in a dress. Having to remember a certain memory was bad enough.
"Hahahaha!" Reno laughed, joined by some other men in the background who were freeing themselves from the cross-dressing bonds. "Burn at stake! Burn, baby, burn!" He was wearing nothing except for his shorts.
Tifa sighed at him. "He's radiating happiness," she mumbled before sipping the coconut drink and heading toward an infamous booth of 'catch the cactuar'. Reno wandered back to the changing room and exited fully dressed and observed Tifa in her quest of hammering the small, mocking cactuars.
"Hey babe." Reno took the drink and sipped it generously, depleting more than half of it. Tifa exhaled deeply as she scowled at her zero marks and she appreciated his comforting arm around her shoulder, leaning on him a little.
"About time. I'm hungry."
"Hm. 'Lessee… How 'bout we go there and have some fun on our own later." His hands trailed down to her waist.
"Hmm? Haven't you had enough?"
"From where I'm standin', you're the one who's havin' a blast." He began tickling her sides and she squirmed in his grasp, laughing helplessly.
"Okay," she coughed, "I'll make it up to you. Since you didn't win, I'll give you your present for participating."
"I like the sound of that, babe. Look up there."
"Huh?" Click. A snapshot. He grinned at the screen for a while. He was also caught in the image. "Reno." Reno chuckled and pulled her closer for a kiss.
"I like it candid." He walked with her in his possessive arm to the nearest diner, enjoying the feel of her softness against him.
Somehow, Elena had lost Tseng in the crowd and she was left alone. Walking around, she saw the great stack of burning logs and glared angrily at it. "Effing save the trees, you morons!" she yelled, running to a nearest building … with the high probability of looking for an emergency fire-eating, huge water hose.
She loved trees.
An hour later a few dim embers were completely sizzled off to nothing, leaving trails of barely seen smoke heading skyward, and a triumphant looking Elena who was grinning to herself. It seemed that the Planet was in good hands.
A few spiders scurried out of the Shinra building nearby with some angered repairmen in their wake.
a/n: … Toaly slept in. (lol) … Speedy Speck's Afterglow. 8) Sorry for the lateness. -⌂-'''