A/N: Alright! New chapter!! Pretty quick, no? Yes well, behold Reno at a ball with nice polite people. Behold Rufus losing his mind and being called strange nicknames. Oh, and I don't own FFVII, or Rufus, or Reno, by the way. I made the assorted characters that Reno comes up against up myself though. Okay, then, read on.

Chapter Three

Ball

There was a uniform. A dress uniform. The standard Turk dress uniform. It sat on a clothing dummy in the Shinra uniform depot, looking like the innocent uniform it was. Reno stared at it. It was dark blue with red armbands on the jacket sleeves. There was a black dress shirt and a red tie. Reno stared at it some more. Finally, he ventured a question of Tseng, who was standing beside him. "I… have to wear that?" His voice was slightly strangled.

Tseng nodded, trying to suppress a smirk. "Yes, Reno, you do. And Vice President Shinra directed that I tell you that if you mysteriously 'lost' the tie on the way to the party, or if you failed to wear it, you would be on guard duty with half pay for six months."

Reno winced. "Does he mean it?"

"I would say so." Tseng had to fight very hard to keep that smirk at bay. The expression of dismay on Reno's face was utterly priceless. The teenager looked like someone had just told him that he'd have to go to the party wearing a pink spandex bodysuit, not just a suit with a tie. The last time Tseng had seen someone look that shocked and scared, it had been a twenty year old woman who'd just been told she had terminal cancer.

Reno sighed and turned to Tseng. "Where do I get one in my size, then?" He sounded defeated. Tseng finally let the smirk bloom into existence. Rufus had definitely played a trump card there – Reno utterly hated guard duty. Standing in one place doing nothing wore on his nerves. Reno was so subdued he wasn't even swearing. He simply walked off to get his uniform, head hanging dejectedly. Tseng's smirk turned into a fully fledged malevolent grin.

Rufus' lips twitched slightly. "Reno, where the hell did you learn to tie a tie?" He'd been watching the redheaded Turk struggle with the simple piece of cloth for about ten minutes. Reno obviously had no idea what he was doing. The Turk lifted his head and glared at his immaculate boss, who was sitting gingerly on the edge of Reno's couch, where he'd been for the last half hour, waiting for Reno to finish getting ready. He didn't seem that concerned about being late. "I didn't," Reno said shortly. "I've never had to. I fuckin' hate ties." Rufus half grinned. He beckoned slightly, just a small twitch of his fingers. "Come here."

Reno walked across the room warily, scowling. His jacket hung open over a fully buttoned shirt, and his dark red hair wasn't tied back yet, still a little wet from the shower, it cascaded down his back and across his shoulders. Rufus stood up and started fiddling with the contrary bit of fabric. Reno looked down at the perfectly combed blonde head, and wondered how the hell Rufus had ended up being a sort of friend to him. After all, the guy had held a gun to his head less than four months ago. It made no sense.

As always, after a little while, Reno started to get a strange shivery feeling at Rufus' proximity, and he chewed on his lip ring, trying to ignore it. He stared at Rufus' golden hair and desperately ignored the fluttery feeling in his stomach, ignored how his knees began to go weak. He was relieved and also weirdly disappointed when Rufus finally stepped back. His tie had been tied perfectly.

But Rufus wasn't quite finished yet. He did up the buttons of Reno's jacket, tugged it straight and then glanced up at Reno, who was staring at him with shocked interest. Rufus was blushing, his cheeks stained the palest pink. "If you turn up looking like the street rat you normally appear to be, it will reflect back on me," he said tartly. "I could live without the gossip. Do you even own a hair brush?"

"Yeah, it's in the bathroom," Reno said without thinking. Rufus immediately disappeared to look for it.

"Take out some of those earrings," he called over his shoulder as he walked away. "You can put them back in tomorrow. And lose the lip and eyebrow rings."

Reno bit back a protest and meekly started to take out earrings. He left three in in his right ear, and four in the left, sulkily pulling out his lip ring and compromising by fitting his eyebrow piercings with clear plug-like things. Now what the hell was he going to do when he was bored or nervous? Chewing on his lip ring was a habit. As he dumped his removed piercings in a glass and stuck them on the kitchen sink, Rufus re-emerged from the bathroom, a brush held in one hand. He sat on the couch and pointed at the floor in front of him. "Sit."

"I can brush my own fucking hair," Reno protested, but Rufus just sighed and pointed again.

"Sit," he repeated. "I told you that your appearance was my concern. Your hair falls under that category. Now, just do as you're told."

Reno sighed irritably and sat, cross legged, in front of Rufus, muttering something about perfectionist's under his breath. Rufus just started to run the brush through his hair. Or, at least, tried to – he gave that up after snagging it in knots four or five times, and started finger combing it instead, just to get most of the major knots out. His fingers brushed Reno's scalp, running lazily through the crimson mass. Reno bit his lip very hard and tried not to think indecent thoughts. Fuck it! This is your male boss! Calm the fuck down.

But it did feel really nice. Reno couldn't remember the last time someone had brushed his hair for him. Rufus' legs were also against his back, making him bite his lip even harder and pray for cold water. Finally Rufus switched to using the hair brush, and Reno could breathe a little easier. But he was still more than a little too close. When Rufus eventually finished with his hair and tied it back in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck, Reno shot to his feet, moving a few feet away very quickly.

Rufus lifted an eyebrow but Reno gave him absolutely no explanation, and didn't meet his eyes, just sat down and started pulling his boots on. Rufus smirked.

The ballroom was utterly packed. Reno rolled his eyes as he walked in on Rufus' heels, watching as his boss was immediately accosted by six or seven females in low-cut dresses. Rufus very politely gave them his best cold shoulder-antisocial act, brushing them off and leaving them pouting in his wake as he walked off. "Do you know why you're really here, Reno?" he said over his shoulder, scanning the room.

"Why, sir?" Reno asked. While he didn't necessarily have to refer to Rufus as 'sir' in private, he had to maintain something approaching respect in public, or risk being yelled at/beaten up later on, depending on Rufus' irritation levels. "You're here to keep me sane," Rufus said through gritted teeth, forcing a slight smile as he walked over to greet his host. Reno grinned and followed, praying that this evening would end quickly.

Three hours later, Reno was contemplating either suicide or homicide. He was trapped, talking (read: him nodding occasionally while being babbled at, praying for some sort of rescue) with a business man in a pinstriped suit, who was fat enough to rival President Shinra. Fatso raved on about the wonders of Mako injection and how they had the best fighting force in the world. Beside him, Rufus made polite conversation with some moron who must have been the Pinstriped Fool's business partner, clad in a similar suit. He also raved about the joys of Mako. Finally Reno had had enough. "Three quarters of the Shinra army don't even get fucking Mako injections," he said coldly, cutting the bastard off midstream. Rufus and the Fool's partner broke off their conversation and glanced at him. "They're no different from any other men. It's only SOLDIER and the Turks who have to have them," Reno continued. "And they aren't so fucking wonderful. All I noticed was that they hurt."

There was silence from the Pinstriped Wonders. Rufus broke it. "I apologize for that. Reno is still… a little rough around the edges. If you would excuse us?"

He shook hands with the two men, and walked off, Reno on his heels once again. Once they were out of earshot, Rufus shot an amused glance at Reno which for some reason sent his heart a-flutter. "Thank you. Another minute there, and I was going to kill myself."

"Same here," Reno replied flatly. "How much longer do we –"

"Why, hello there," a flirty feminine voice interrupted him. Reno glanced sideways. A blonde haired girl maybe a few years older than Reno, wearing an incredibly flimsy looking light green dress was standing beside him, gazing up at him with green eyes. "I'm Felicity. Who would you be?"

"Reno," he snapped. "And I'm working."

Felicity cast those big green eyes at Rufus, who was watching with mingled irritation and amusement. He obviously recognised this girl. "Surely Ruffy can spare you for a few moments…?"

Reno grinned openly, glancing sideways at Rufus. "'Ruffy?'" Cold blue eyes went positively glacial.

"Don't even think about it, Reno. And I'm sorry, but I can't just let him wander off," he said to the blonde. "He's working."

"Aw, but –" She went all pouty. Reno lost his temper. Stupid girls irritated him and this room was full of them, all staring at him and Rufus with hungry eyes. (It probably had something to do with the fact that they were the only two males in the room weighing less than a quarter ton and under the age of forty.)

"Oh, for fuck's sake, can't you take a hint?" he snarled.

"What?" Felicity said, her eyes utterly huge with shock. It had probably been the first Reno grit his teeth.

"Piss off."

Her mouth opened wide, then her green eyes spat sparks. She turned and flounced off. Reno rolled his eyes as he watched her go. He whipped around when he heard soft sniggering. "Sir?"

Rufus was laughing, just quietly, one elegant hand held over his mouth, blue eyes dancing with laughter. He quickly regained his composure. "Come on, Reno," he said, still grinning slightly. "We're supposed to socialise for a little while longer."

Reno rolled his eyes and smirked. "Yes, Ruffy."

Finally, the socialising came to an end, and the dancing actually began. The two young men were immediately besieged by girls begging them to dance. Both antisocial by nature, they hated it. Reno managed to beg off on the pretext that he was working, but Rufus was soon circling the floor with woman after woman, still making polite conversation. His eyes got colder and colder with each dance. Reno was beginning to wonder if he was going to whip out a gun and massacre everybody in the room, when Rufus finally managed to extricate himself, evade the horde of women still waiting to dance with him, and stalk over to Reno.

He grabbed a glass of wine and took a large mouthful. "Were it not for the fact that I doubt you know how to waltz," he hissed, "I'd order you to deal with those simpering morons. If I get one more bitch fluttering her eyelashes at me tonight, I'm going to go insane." He finished his glass of wine far too quickly.

Reno smirked and grabbed his boss a new glass from a passing waitress. "You'd think you'd be used to this by now, sir," he said, handing the glass to him. "Don't you have to do this pretty often?"

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," he snarled, sipping this one. He saw out of the corner of his eye the approaching horde and bit his lip. "Oh, shit, I'm going to have to go dance again."

The fury and despair in his normally calm voice was enough to make even Reno feel bad for him. And then there was also the fact that Reno had had about thirty morons coming up and trying to flirt with him. Two had been drunk, and he really didn't want to go through that again. Slum girls he could handle, could enjoy flirting with, random feelings towards his boss aside, but the rich chicks were all idiots. The redhead glanced around quickly. "Alright," he muttered, his eyes falling on a possible escape route. "C'mon, sir. I think I've found us somewhere to hide." He headed across the room, Rufus following without complaint. Reno slipped through the heavy velvet curtains concealing the balcony from view, Rufus in close pursuit.

Out on the wide balcony, the air was cool, soothing, a welcome relief from the heat of the ballroom. "Why the hell do they keep the curtains pulled?" Reno wondered aloud as he boosted himself up to sit on the balcony railing. "The room wouldn't be so damn hot if they just used their fuckin' heads."

"I think they want to avoid poor beset people like myself from dashing out and flinging myself off," Rufus replied idly, wandering over and staring out at the brightness of the city. There were lights everywhere stretched in a glittering band across the landscape, practically solid yellow colour. "Either that or they consider the city to be an eyesore."

"I wouldn't argue," Reno muttered. Rufus half smiled.

"Aw, don't consider our city lovely? Whyever not?" He tilted his head and stared up at Reno with amused blue eyes. Reno could practically see the tension dropping from him now he was away from the ballroom. He bit his lip, looking away. Rufus looked positively angelic in his pure white suit, standing there in the half gloom. He picked his words carefully as he replied. "I may have hated that stupid fucking training camp," he said. "But at least it got dark at night." There was a whisper of movement and Rufus was sitting beside him on the wide stone balcony rail. "What was it like there?" he asked, actually curious, for once acting like a mildly normal seventeen year old boy. "Perverted Drill Sergeants aside."

Reno took a moment before replying, shifting so his back was leaning against the stone where the balcony connected to the wall, his face cast into shadow. He scrounged in one pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, pulling one out with his mouth and returning the packet to his pocket before lighting it. Rufus rolled his eyes and waited patiently – considering how many addictions Reno could have had (drugs, etc) a small smoking habit was pretty trivial in comparison, so he saw no point in nagging him about it. Just so long as Rufus himself didn't end up smelling like cigarette smoke.

"Well…" Reno said quietly. "I had to sleep in this big barracks with a hundred or so other morons. Hated that, cos I was the Turk, the outsider. We were up before dawn every day, and there was a so fun hour long sessions of stretches and push ups, et cetera. Then we went for a run in the mud and over an obstacle course. Then there were classes in combat or whatever. I got to learn the basics of espionage, so at least I didn't have to do that with the group. I hated the lot of them."

He was silent again, smoking quietly. A moment later, just as Reno was about to talk again, a short, fat man walked out onto the balcony. "Ah, Rufus, m'boy!" he said jovially.

Reno snapped. "Will you fucking piss off, you stupid bastard!" he hissed, stubbing his cigarette out on the balcony rail and tossing the stub over the side. The man blanched, staring at Reno with a mixture of horror and fury. So did the mob of business men who'd followed behind him.

Rufus very carefully did not smile and hopped off the balustrade. "Apologies, sir," he said to the man Reno had snarled at. "With your leave, we'll be going now. Thank you for an enjoyable evening. Come along, Reno." He shook the stunned man's hand and walked off, back through the curtains and towards the exit.

"Why are we leaving now, sir?" Reno asked Rufus curiously as they walked down the front steps to where their car was being brought around. "Not that I'm not completely delighted or anything, but it was a bit sudden wasn't it." Rufus gave a soft, warm, completely unexpected chuckle that had Reno feeling hot blood running to his… cheeks. "Did you have any idea who the latest victim of your acid tongue actually was, Reno?"

"Um… no?"

"He was the host of this little gathering, one of my father's best friends. I'd imagine that that was the first time someone's ever sworn at him… You're getting a bonus for this."

A/N: sniggers I love Reno, and his interesting ways of reacting to interruptions, don't you? Bet Rufus would've enjoyed that. Oh, and by the way... Will you PLEASE just review this damn thing? I've had almost two hundred hits and there're only like seven reviews. Thanks heaps to the people who did review me. XD