Title: The Camel and The Straw
Author: Takebuo Ishimatsu
Pairing(s): Rufus/Reno, Vincent/Cid, more to come
Summary: Rufus finally pushes Reno too hard, ordering him to do the one thing he'd never do. Now the redhead's gone AWAL with the help of AVALANCHE & it's up to the blond to get him back in one piece.
Warning: This fic is YAOI/SLASH/MxM. Go away ye man-lovin' haters. Has some cursing, but hopefully not too much. (This is rated T for a reason!)
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.
AN: IMPORTANT!!!! Well, I've gotten two separate reviews/PMs that either ask if or imply that this is a Reno/Tifa…IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^0 Sorry if I've confused any of you, but Rufus only *thinks* Reno is with Tifa; he's not. Rude is actually…well, trying to be anyway. Only one(?) F-bomb in this chapter, go me!
Chapter 3 – Goddamn Tea
Next stop, Rocket Town! Maybe I'll have that old bastard, Highwind, make me some of his "goddamn tea."
Reno allowed himself a small smile as he continued on his way to the captain's hometown. He was surprised, to say the least, to still be breathing, let alone still riding about the countryside freely. It'd been over two weeks since that fateful morning and he'd yet to see any sign of his old friends, making him wonder if his former co-workers had decided to give him a head start. He wasn't stupid enough to think they'd let him go completely; he was just too damn dangerous when not under ShinRa's control.
Nevertheless, it made him smile to think that he'd been given a break, however minor. He still thought of them as his only family, Tseng and Rude especially, and it was nice to think they thought the same thing. Hopefully Cissnei and Elena were in on it too, that'd give him at least another few days, he figured.
His smile was quickly replaced by his usual smirk as the first signs of Rocket Town came into view. He imagined what the people would say if they could hear his thoughts.
It'd cause mass panic if it got out that Turks were actually human, yo.
The redhead pulled his bike up next to the famous pilot's house, already knowing which one it was. ShinRa was very interested in keeping an eye on the Planet's saviors, especially one such as Highwind, who was the king of not only flying, but also building, ships. It didn't hurt to know where Valentine was either, for once.
Damn, the look on Laney's face was priceless when we dropped those pics of them fucking on her desk. Man, she's way too easy, yo.
Of course, it hadn't taken long for Valentine to figure out he was being watched, and not a day after taking the photos, Reno found himself face to face with Death Penalty. Luckily, Highwind had thought the whole thing was absolutely hilarious and had in fact rather liked the idea of having some photos of the two of them screwing to jerk off to when they were separated.
Reno had, unfortunately, forgotten that Valentine used to be a Turk, one of the best, and had mistakenly thought the whole thing over once he'd handed over the copies of the photos that weren't stashed in the President's desk. He'd learned just how wrong he'd been a week later when he'd walked into the Turk office to find photos of him jerking off in the shower covering every single flat surface, including the floors. To this day, it was a great ShinRa mystery as to how exactly the red-clothed man had done it.
Damn, I thought the boss was gonna bend me over his desk and rape my ass.
It was a well-known, if unspoken, fact that the current president of ShinRa enjoyed looking at the redhead, and even touching him whenever possible. He doubted the President realized how obvious he was being, though, especially after the Meteor scare. And, seeing as Reno had never been forced to do anything explicitly sexual for the man, had never actually even been groped, the redhead had never felt the need to tell the other to knock it off. The blond was attractive, and, before the current "Tifa Incident," rather thoughtful. Despite how he may appear to others, Rufus had always looked out for his Turks, and it was obvious he'd never seriously thought of forcing the other man sexually or even just using his power to get a date, though he clearly could. Turks belonged to the President of ShinRa, for whatever he may wish.
However, that didn't mean the blond was above bugging his home. Reno had always had the creeping feeling that he was being monitored when he showered. Not to mention the fact that the President had always been oddly cheerful the day after the Turk would sneak his hand down beneath the covers and pleasure himself in bed.
It was probably Tseng that wired it all up, damn traitorous bastard.
"What the hell do you want, you little peeping prick?"
Reno smirked at the captain, the man never changed.
"Jeez, you damn old geezer. Is that any way to treat a guest?"
"Guest my ass!" Despite his words, Highwind stomped up into the house, going to make some tea. Then again, Reno figured the man would probably even use the town burning down as an excuse to have more tea.
"Reno," Valentine said softly out of nowhere, almost making Reno jump. The redhead gave the other man a wary look, which in turn caused his fellow ex-Turk to smirk.
"Hey there, Valentine. Long time no see, yo," Reno said nonchalantly. He refused to let the other man scare him…Well, at least, he refused to let the other know it. He doubted he was actually fooling anyone.
"I see you chose to leave your camera behind," Valentine said in his usual flat voice.
"Same for you, yo," Reno replied back, his playful smirk in place once again. Valentine nodded and walked into the house, leaving Reno with the impression that some sort of agreement had been reached.
Those two are weird, yo. One loud-mouthed, crazy ass bastard + one sneaky, rarely-says-a-damn-thing dude = perfect match. Who'd ever guess, yo?
It was as if their partnership was some freak of nature only to be born once in a thousand years.
Wait a sec, yo. Is that what people think about me an' Rude?
"Come sit your ass down and drink your goddamn tea!" Highwind yelled loud enough to startle the some of the monsters on the outer edges of the town, though none of the residents even batted an eye. It was well-known by all in Rocket Town that you either put up with Cid Highwind and drank his "goddamn tea," or you didn't live in Rocket Town. After all, the man was a genius at making and fixing all things of a mechanical nature, not just ships. Plus, it didn't hurt to have the two lovers prowling around the outskirts, killing any monsters that got too close.
Reno sauntered into the house and took a seat across from the two men. He was just about to take a sip from his cup when Highwind spoke up.
"Hey, where's that partner of yours? He finally get tired of your shit and dump your ass?"
Reno frowned, wondering if he should involve the two.
Well, if they feel sorry for my deserting ass, they might let me stay the night. No one in their right mind would try to take me from Valentine's crib. Well, except maybe Strife, yo, but there ain't enough gold in the Saucer to get that guy to help ShinRa out.
"You could say that it's more the other way around, yo," Reno finally murmured, causing Valentine to raise his eyebrow and Highwind to frown.
"What the hell does that mean?" Highwind asked, sounding annoyed, though his face held a hint of worry. Though the two weren't even on a first-name basis, Reno had still proven himself worth the effort by all the times he'd helped them out. He'd even gone against his orders to stop them, saying he was "off duty."
"Can I stay here for the night, yo?" Reno asked unexpectedly, dodging the blond's question.
"What the hell! Like I'd want a little peeping tom like you-"
"Yes," Valentine said over his lover. Highwind sat gapping like an idiot, looking between the two men. The brunette sent his lover a look and Reno got the feeling he was missing out on a pretty damn interesting silent conversation.
Finally, after a couple of minutes of various eyebrow raises, smirks and head tilts, the two seemed to reach some sort of agreement. Highwind just huffed and Vincent went back to sipping his tea.
RENO-RUFUS-RENO-RUDE-RENO-TSENG-RENO-CISSNEI-RENO-ELENA- RENO-RUFUS-RENO-RUDE-RENO-TSENG-RENO-CISSNEI-RENO-ELENA
Tseng blinked at the progress report he'd just been emailed. Three weeks after he'd deserted, they'd finally spotted Reno. Apparently, he'd been in Rocket Town for a week…with Valentine? Unbelievable…Brilliant.
First, ditching the hidden tracking devices and now this. I don't know how you managed to convince those two, Reno, but if you keep up with the rate you're going, Rufus will come crawling before you do.
Tseng wasn't oblivious; he'd seen the way Rufus had been looking at the other ever since the danger of Meteor had drawn his Turks in closer to him. He'd also seen the guilty look he'd gotten when first told the news of Reno's desertion. There had to be something going on between the two, he just had to find out what before the blond took it too far and ruined his chance at happiness.
What have you caused, Rufus? Don't you see how warm Reno's smiles are when you're together? He likes you; he could learn to love you if you just came out and told him how much you care. Planet, everyone and their mother already knows that you're attracted to him, and that he doesn't mind the attention. What a young fool you are.
The Wutainese man allowed himself an internal smile and an outward sigh as he went to give the President the news.
RENO-RUFUS-RENO-RUDE-RENO-TSENG-RENO-CISSNEI-RENO-ELENA- RENO-RUFUS-RENO-RUDE-RENO-TSENG-RENO-CISSNEI-RENO-ELENA
"Perhaps now would be a good time to tell us what exactly you've done to incur the wrath of your comrades," the smooth voice said from behind a red wall of cloth.
Highwind glared at the offending material, clearly still annoyed that the other former-Turk's presence gave his lover an excuse to hide his face behind it once again. He rather liked looking at the other's features; he was beautiful. Almost pretty, even.
Like hell I'd ever tell Vin that though. Last time I even hinted at it, that SOB threw a fit and didn't let me top him for a month. Like a damn woman.
To his credit, the brunette appeared to be amusedly ignoring his lover, keeping his eyes on his cards. After eyeing the redhead for a moment, he called Reno's bet. The younger man cussed like no other as he once again lost. Searching through his bag, he finally pulled out his tie and placed it on the table.
"Huh, forgot I even owned one, yo." Valentine raised an eyebrow, but he accepted the article of clothing as a valid bet. The captain made a noise as his lover removed his goggles and placed them on the table, but otherwise didn't try and stop him.
"You bastard, why don't ya try placing your own shit up on the table for once."
Valentine just batted his lover's hands away as he tried to pull off his red hairband.
"I'll need my hair pulled back if a fight breaks out. Besides, I've won 8 out of 10 games so far."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm gonna make some more tea." Highwind flipped his lover off as he went to the kitchen, causing Valentine to roll his eyes. They then darted to Reno, piercing him just as easily as one of his bullets.
"Now, back to your explanation."
Reno sighed but knew he wasn't getting out of this one. He was frankly surprised the two had let it go this long, allowing him to stay with them for a week without even batting an eye. But, it was a little too much to ignore the four Turks currently hiding around the town.
"I won't tell ya all the details, yo, but let's just say the bossman asked me to kill someone that shouldn't be killed."
"I see," Valentine murmured almost absent-mindedly as he looked at his cards.
And, really, he did. Turks were human, and humans had feelings. What most people didn't know was that just as many Turk deaths were from friendly fire as from enemy attack. Eventually, there was always that one family that couldn't be killed, that one child that couldn't be kidnapped, that one straw that broke the camel's back. Then it was up to the "lucky" Turks left to get rid of their weak link.
Valentine turned towards his lover when the man came back from getting more "goddamn tea."
"Will you fly us to Seventh Heaven?" Highwind's face lit up at the unusual occurrence of Vincent asking him to go someplace, even if it was just Tifa's bar. Usually he had to force the recluse out of hiding at spear-point, threatening to shove it up his "scrawny ass" if he didn't move it.
Vincent hid a smile behind his cloak as he continued to play cards. He was quiet for the rest of the evening, content to listen to Cid and Reno discuss the most random things, such as what brand of cup-holders were best to install in which helicopters.
Finally, he is distracted. Now I can truly play.
Neither man noticed as their third member pulled out a few extra cards from beneath red cloth.
AN: Woot! Another update!...And still not Misconceptions 4…^_^0. Working on it! Well, that and another unposted fic about Reeve (not to mention the rest of this story). Well, what do you think? I actually wanted to Vincent/Reeve (an influence from Xenobia's lovely series) but the parts with Valenwind were already written months ago. He shows up later though! (Yes, Takebuo is a closeted Reeve fanatic.) XD
Well, whatcha think?Posted 1/22/10