"Please, Elena, pleeese," Reno rose quickly from his half sprawl across the diminutive Turk's desk to intercept her as she pushed her chair back, stood and began to stride toward the office door. He was not above whining when the situation was dire enough and this, THIS, certainly warranted pulling out all the stops.
"C'mon, Elena, I'll really owe you one." Stretching his arms out to grasp the doorjamb on either side of him in an effort to block her exit, Reno brought out his most enticing puppy dog expression, but Elena took one glance and rolled her eyes.
"Reno, you already owe me. More than just one, you owe me." She replied in an irritated voice, shifting her weight and putting her hands on her hips. "Now move!"
"C'mon, Laney! You know I'm no good at this!" Reno knew he was pushing his luck as he watched the expression on Elena's face darken by the second. "I'll tell you what, you don't have to do the shopping, just give me a list!"
"Do NOT call me that," The small blond woman gritted out. "You go through this same crap every year, Reno. Grow a set, sheesh. And move, before you lose a kidney."
Because he had known the other Turk for quite some time, Reno knew exactly how far to push and he figured he was indeed about two seconds away from physical harm. Stepping aside, he warily made to protect his soft organs as Elena passed out the door.
"Aw, man…" He watched her make her way briskly down the hall, his eyes on her ass by long habit. After all, it wasn't like there was a lot he could to see with her uniform covering up the good stuff. Reno sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, ambling without purpose in the same direction, trying to come up with a plan.
Thirty minutes ago they had drawn names for Secret Santa. This was the third year HR had sanctioned this particular torture. Supposedly a voluntary endeavor, Tseng had declared the holiday game mandatory for all Office of Administrative Research employees. Tseng, of all people! If he actually thought the Shinra rank and file would look upon the Turks as more approachable because they participated in Secret Santa, he was desperately deluded. At least, in Reno's humble opinion.
He had drawn Elizabeth, a dispatcher down in security. Reno grimaced as he shuffled into the elevator, pushing the "G" button. He knew of her, an average looking woman in her thirties, husband, kids. Maybe even a dog. What in the hell was he going to get for her? He sighed again, a little more despondently. Four weeks, a present every week.
The elevator stopped at 3 and the door opened to let Rude on. Reno perked up a little.
"Hey, partner. Quittin' time in a bit. Wanna catch a drink?"
"Hn," Rude made a considering twist of his mouth. "Nah, gotta go to the chiropractor, pulled a muscle in my back last night."
"Whoa, too much information." Giving Rude's Adonis-like form a once over, Reno smirked out of one side of his mouth. "Don't need to know about your sad sex life."
"Ha." Rude turned his head, just slightly, toward Reno. And Reno felt his stomach flip a little, a small tingle shooting through him as he did lately whenever he thought Rude might be looking directly at him.
"Ok, next time." Clearing his throat, the slender redhead took his gaze away from his partner's perfectly tailored body and set it on the elevator's closed door instead. "I got some chick from security for Secret Santa. Elizabeth. You know her?"
Rude grunted a negative.
"Well, shit. I don't know what to get. Who'd you pick?"
"Guy from accounting."
"Wanna trade?" The elevator door opened as Rude grunted another negative. Reno threw his hands up in the air.
"I'm just gonna get gift cards." Reno paused as Rude turned and set off in another direction.
"Lame." The bald Turk said over his shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, everybody's a critic." Reno narrowed his eyes and glared at his partner's retreating back.
The next morning, Reno ran into Rude as they made their way into the Shinra building. Rude was carrying a steaming cup of coffee with the fancy little cardboard cup holder around it and a morning paper. He had his thick grey wool overcoat on; a scattering of small half melted snowflakes were settled over his shoulders and on the deep ruby cashmere scarf that adorned his neck, its soft ends tucked beneath his collar.
"Morning, partner. How's your back?" Reno tried not to gawk at how put together his partner looked.
"Better, thanks."
Wordlessly, they entered the elevator with a small herd of employees dressed similarly in coats and scarves and gloves. When they made it to their office, Reno opened the door to find a small gift sitting on his desk, wrapped in a deep gold foil. He fingered it, appreciating its rich beauty, softly shining in the muted winter light filtering through the window.
"Check this out, Rude." He said wonderingly.
"Nice." Rude stood next to Reno, unbuttoning his coat.
"Should I open it?" A trace of Rude's woody vetiver cologne heated with the warmth from his body drifted over Reno and a wave of longing swept over his senses, almost making him forget the package altogether.
Rude grunted an affirmative.
"Think it's a bomb?" Reno held the package in his hands now, tracing the pattern in the foil with his fingertips.
Rude made a doubtful tsking sound and set his coat aside. Sighing, Reno slipped a finger under an edge of the foil and began to pull his gift free. When he realized what it was, his mouth fell open.
"Holy." He stared down at it in awe.
"What is it?" Rude took a sip of his coffee.
"It's a copy of the greatest blues collection ever made. Remember we were talking about this just a few weeks ago." He looked up at Rude whose face was blank.
"Partner," Reno looked at his reflection in Rude's dark glasses. "Remember? It's out of print. I couldn't find it."
"Hn." Rude moved back around his desk and began to boot up his computer. "Someone went to a lot of trouble. Secret Santa?"
Reno flopped into his chair, still caressing the case, a wide grin on his face instead of his usual smirk.
The week slid slowly by. On Wednesday Reno made a decision and bought a massage for Elizabeth. He got the idea after Rude's back made a complete chiropractic recovery. In fact, Reno thought maybe he should go to the chiropractor too, just for the hell of it. They went out for drinks on Friday and got companionably shitfaced.
Saturday morning found Reno in bed, nude, with a slight hang over. Before he was even fully awake, he became aware firstly of Rude's scent infiltrating his every pore and secondly, he was so hard it hurt. When he opened his eyes and ran a palm over his face, he realized he had Rude's pilfered downy cashmere scarf wrapped around his neck like a souvenir.
By the following Tuesday afternoon, Reno was convinced Rude had no idea his scarf was missing. He hadn't mentioned it and had shown up Monday with a gray and white knitted one instead. Reno was willing to bet he had at least a dozen of the thing: obviously, he didn't miss one less.
They were wrapping up loose ends in the office in preparation for a two day mission. Rude had just sent a report to Tseng before Friday's deadline and was shutting his laptop down.
"You're incredible, partner." Reno teased. "If that was me, I'd a waited til the mission was over, come back in next week and do it then. Fuck deadlines, no one ever makes 'em on time, anyway."
Rude gave a noncommittal grunt.
"Hey, Rude." Reno paused in the midst of locking his desk to knock the base of his palm against his forehead. "I forgot Elizabeth's Secret Santa present at home. Any chance we can swing it back by before we take off?"
Rude swung his gaze over to Reno and let it stay there a long moment.
Reno felt like a deer caught up in headlights must, suddenly unable to look away from Rude even as he felt his face flush hot. Even as he thought guiltily of the cashmere scarf tucked under his pillow at home and the things he did to himself while he breathed in its owner's scent.
"What?" he tried for nonchalance and failed.
"Taking this Secret Santa thing a little seriously this year?" Rude sat back in his chair behind his desk, keeping his eyes on Reno.
"Uh, well. Yeah…I mean…I guess. It's a commitment, right?" Reno was spiraling now, unable to stop his brain from imagining all the things he thought up at night, when he had that scarf wrapped around him. Him spread out across the desk. Those strong sure hands owning his body.
"You okay?" Rude was rising from his chair, arms braced on the desk, leaning in, peering at him. "You look a little…"
"Uh…no, I'm fine…" Reno closed his eyes and tried to come up with the most unarousing image he could, because if he got a hard-on now he would never be able to come up with a believable excuse. He took a couple of steps back so quickly he stumbled and looked up quickly to see if Rude had noticed. His partner was looking down at him with a quiet smirk on his face.
Much to Reno's relief, a quick knock sounded on the door before it opened a moment later revealing a mailroom boy with a half full cart of manila and white envelopes and packages of various sizes.
"Package for Reno. Administrative Research." The kid held a small silver globe and was looking from one Turk to the other waiting to determine who to hand it to. Rude settled back in his chair, straightening his tie and pointed at Reno.
The globe was heavy silver, not cheap plastic. When Reno undid the clasp on one side, the globe opened on a slender hinge at the other end to reveal a fine silver money clip with an intricate onyx and pearl inlay. Looking closely, he saw that his initials and the year were engraved into the back. It was exquisite. It was so…Reno.
"All right. I'm officially impressed." He breathed.
"Maybe we can get HR to find out who your Secret Santa is." Rude ventured softly. Reno looked up to see Rude frowning suspiciously at the gift.
"Jealous, partner?" His voice held a familiar teasing quality but his eyes were serious, seeking.
"Hn. Maybe you got a stalker fangirl. Friend of Elizabeth." Rude grunted in a way that Reno recognized as humor.
Reno dropped the money clip into his pocket and closed the globe, polishing the fingerprints away with his shirt. He locked it in his desk before straightening and donning his jacket.
"Ha ha. Speaking of that, let me run get that present. Then we can take off. Sound good?"
"Good."
The next week went by in a blur. Reno flew Tseng and Rufus to a business conference and was gone most of the week. Rufus went to meetings in the morning and skied in the afternoon, taking Tseng as a personal guard and leaving Reno at the resort to maintain security there.
Reno took the opportunity to shop for Elizabeth's last two gifts. A crystal tree ornament and a bottle of good champagne he thought she could drink with her husband on New Years. He had delivered soft leather gloves prior to his and Rude's mission the week before. Another year of Secret Santa down and he had managed it all himself. Returning to the resort, Reno felt decidedly accomplished.
As for his own gifts, he had thought hard about who could have sent him such thoughtful presents, but without arriving at a conclusion. He supposed it could be Tseng, or even Elena but that didn't quite ring true. He didn't think anyone outside of the Turks could have known him so well.
He wanted it to be Rude. But the truth was, Rude had seemed so utterly disinterested in the gifts themselves. He had been more concerned about the giver's identity and motive. As if it was impossible for someone to give Reno that heartfelt of a gift with no ulterior goal.
And what about this recent obsession of his with Rude? They had been partners a long time, grown comfortable in it. And yet, he could no longer deny his growing desire for more than close friendship and his frustration that resulted from indecision about what to do next. The time apart had been good for Reno to clear his head, examine what lay behind his persistent attraction, and to try to glean any memory of something that might have been reciprocity on Rude's part. But he just couldn't see it.
Christmas week arrived uneventfully. The offices were quiet with a greatly reduced staff and by the time the Thursday afternoon party swung into gaiety, Reno remained perched behind his desk thinking. He had arrived to work late in the morning, a little hung over, to find another gift wrapped in red velvet lying innocuously on the seat of the chair that was pushed neatly up to his desk, just as he'd left it. The enclosed silk lounge pants promised to be a sultry perfect fit. The material slid through his fingers like a viscous fluid, soft and lustrous.
Reno sat for a few more moments in the quiet, then carefully rewrapped his gift in its velvet and placing it into a spare bag, made his way home. If only, he thought. If only it were Rude.
A week later Reno walked into the designated bar only a quarter of the way drunk.
Making a beeline for the bartender, he ordered a drink for himself and then a round for the bar, which sent up a raucous cheer. He spotted the table where his friends were already sitting and made his way over, stopping here and there as various revelers patted him on the back, thanking him or wishing him a happy new year.
"Reno! Happy New Year!" Elena crowed, slightly slurring as she stood to give him a hug.
"Thanks, Elena. Same to you." Pulling up a chair, he made a place between her and Rude. "Hey partner, you feelin' all right, yet?"
Rude grunted in the affirmative, shifting a little to give Reno room.
New Years Eve wore on as it always does in bars across the world. People drank to excess, laughed easier, fought quicker, talked more. The Turks were no different. They hooted loudly, drank pitcher after pitcher, survived a rousing drinking game, and would soon be kissing whomever was handy at midnight. By the time 11:45 rolled around, Rude was finishing up a game of pool and Reno sat chatting with Elena.
"I just can't figure it out. How did some guy in accounting know to get me the gifts he did? I mean, they were just so..." Reno had to lean in to shout in her ear. "It's a little weird. AND, he still owes me a gift. I only got three."
The Secret Santa reveal party had been yesterday afternoon in the main break room. When he saw an unrecognized name revealed as his Secret Santa he had been bewildered. Maybe it was some kind of crazy stalker or maybe the man had gone to one of the other Turks for advice. No, Reno had rejected that idea almost at once: no one approached the Turks willingly.
Reno noticed Rude return to the seat next to him and fought down yet another surge of disappointment that the gifts had not somehow been Rude's.
"Ahh, yeah. Reno, about that…" Elena gave a small giggle and her less-than-focused gaze left his and wandered over his shoulder. Reno followed her look and met Rude's clear topaz eyes dead on. "I think maybe the big guy here can explain."
Rude glared at Elena halfheartedly then pointed his chin toward the door and stood, making his way through the crowd without waiting to see if Reno followed. When Reno stepped outside into the still cold night, Rude was already across the street unlocking the car. Reno trotted over through a fresh layer of snow and leaned a hip against the car door, preventing Rude from opening it. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Rude stood looking down at the other Turk.
"Gonna take off. You stayin' ?"
"What's she talking about, partner?" Reno hesitated a moment then took a step closer. He waited, accustomed to Rude taking his time.
Rude looked down at where his boot was kicking at a clump of snow.
"Rude." Reno prompted.
"I tracked down who pulled your name and made him trade with me. It was the accounting guy. Elena found out about it. You know how she is." Rude sighed, his breath hung in the air briefly and was gone.
"What? You tracked down..." Reno repeated. "But why did you let me think…those gifts..."
"Did you like them?" The larger Turk took his own step closer.
"Yeah, of course. They were…they were..." he trailed off, thinking about how perfect those gifts had been. Perfect.
"They were from someone who knows you." Rude was now so close that his clothing was brushing lightly against Reno's. The younger Turk abruptly realized his heart might beat right out of his chest at any second. His skin felt much too tight.
Suddenly, a cacophony of muffled noise erupted from the bar. Shouts and cheers and noisemakers of various annoying pitches all sounded together. The two Turks glanced toward the brightly lit bar.
"Midnight." Rude murmured.
"Yeah." Reno agreed, looking back up at his partner.
Rude pulled his hands from his pockets and cupped them to either side of Reno's face. They were warm and strong; Reno didn't dare breathe.
"Rude. Don't fuck with me please. I think I want this too bad." He was chagrined at the shiver in his voice as he watched Rude's full mouth draw closer. Vetiver and male musk assaulted his senses until he groaned low in his throat.
"Is that so?" Rude's voice was husky in his ear.
"Yes. Rude, I've got your scarf." He blurted out.
"Idiot." Rude actually chuckled. "I know you have my scarf."
"What..?"
Then Rude was kissing him, the soft brushes of his lips enough to drive Reno mad before he took the redhead's mouth in earnest. Finally they broke apart, breathing hard.
"So I guess it's you that owes me a gift, huh partner?" Reno gave the other Turk a dazed yet still devious grin but it faded slowly as he saw the openly voracious look on Rude's face.
"Tell you what. I'll give you your gift when we get to my apartment. Sound good?" It was Rude's turn to leer in a less than virtuous manner.
"Good." Reno took a deep breath. New year, new beginnings. Maybe it was a cliché, but he didn't care.
For once, he was ready.