A/N: This is the smallest chapter we've had in a while, I blame it on the storm and my head aching.
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Prompt: Return of the ducks.
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'Reno," Tseng began, scowling down at the pile of receipts, gaze flicking up to the email containing the 'official' budget, "Have you been bribing someone in accounting?" The redhead looked up from where he was scribbling something in a notebook, raising an eyebrow. Today was the monthly revision of their spending and so all three Turks were holed up in one of the five boardrooms on their floor.
"Depends," Reno answered, placing an arm over his paper when Rude leaned over to look. "Why do you want to know?" He tilted his head so he could watch both Rude and Tseng as he spoke, green eyes flicking from one to the other. His tone was as carefully innocent as he could make it.
Tseng regarded him for a breath, shaking his head once. "Because 2000 gil is missing from one of your accounts and I can't find what it went towards, but it wasn't flagged." He was hoping Reno had an explanation for this, or a receipt or something. Reno blinked, eyebrows raising up.
"Which account?" He asked, elbowing Rude in the side as he persisted in trying to get a look at what he was writing. He would prefer not getting punched in the head today, thank you very much. Tseng glanced down at the email, looking for a name or a number.
"It's..." he began to say, pausing as what he was about to say. He blinked in surprise, turning to stare at Reno. "What did you do with those ducks?" He asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
Reno and Rude exchanged glances. "What ducks?" Reno asked after a beat, studying Tseng like he thought his boss might have lost his mind. He paused, remembering. "Oh. Which ducks?" He amended.
Tseng looked at him, lips curling down into a frown. If there was one thing he didn't want to think about, it was the fact that Reno had bought multiple flocks of ducks -which, admittedly, might be the source of the problem-. Rude took this moment to yank Reno's notebook out from under his arm, flipping through it.
"I gave them to Rufus," Reno admitted, shrugging. He didn't see what the big deal was -aside from the fact that 2k gil was missing-, it wasn't like the ducks or Rufus had anything to do with it. Tseng stared at him, trying not to imagine Rufus with a flock of ducks.
"What would Rufus..." Tseng paused as Rude smacked Reno upside the head, waiting patiently for their squabbling to come to a stop, "... want with a flock of ducks?" Reno stared at him, rubbing the side of his head as he shot a glare at Rude. Rude ignored it, setting the notebook back down and crossing his arms. Tseng pretended not to know what it was about, expecting to find that same notebook on his desk when he was ready to go home.
"Maybe he wants to train them to attack or something like that, yo. You expect me to understand what that guy's thinking?" Reno complained, smacking Rude on the leg in retaliation. They had an entire large table to themselves, why those two always insisted on sitting right next to each other was beyond Tseng.
Tseng sighed, one hand rising to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "The account's name is 'Duck Hunt'." He winced at the words, then again as Reno started cackling loud enough to wake the dead. Rude watched, expression unreadable behind his sunglasses.
"I lost the receipt for that." Reno spat out between fits of laughter. Tseng gave in to the urge he'd had since he had seen the account's official name and slumped over, forehead against the table. "Zack needed money, so he made a couple of grunts dress up as birds and ran a shooting gallery on the ninth floor. I thought it was worth it. So did Rufus."
"Reno." Tseng mumbled into the table, the words barely audible. Reno grinned at him, writing out the next couple of sentences. "I'm taking that out of your pay."
"Whatever you say Boss."
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I have no idea how panic rooms actually work.
Thank you for reading, I appreciate it. If you think about it, kindly leave a review on your way out.