stain of my love, pt I
ffvii, reno/aeris, PG for language, around 800 words.
for stephie, who challenged me (or rather, plotbunnied me) & i wrote. yes, it will be continued. not sure how many parts, but continued it will be.
notes; I'm not one of those people who pair Reno up with every chick in FFVII, but I like the idea of these two together. Sorry for the silly title, folks. And yes, Reno will be more of a cunt later on.
disclaimer: Characters and such by Square Enix. Story by me.
Reno had been a Turk for fifteen days and seven hours, when he learned two very important things about his job for the first time. He learned that the slums had the best bars, even while they were filled with the scum of the Planet. The second thing he understood that day (and this was ultimately the more important one) was that a Turk's heart was as solid as his head. It didn't act wild, it didn't fuck up.
He saw her back, as she was placing some flowers in a basket she carried. He imagined his eyes burning holes onto the back of her dress, like cigarette burns, so she'd turn and face him. He was concentrating so hard he hadn't noticed Rude talking.
"Sorry, wasn't listening, what did you say again?" Reno asked, shifting his eyes on Rude.
The fellow Turk was lighting a cigarette and Reno remembers what Rude said, when Reno had asked about his smoking,"This city will kill me before cancer does", and looking at their surroundings, the dirty slums, Reno knows it's true.
"I said she's that girl," Rude stated, exhaling nothing but thick, white smoke.
"That girl?" Reno's eyes moved back on the girl, she'd turned around now.
"She's pretty," he commented, as she looked at their direction for a while. A tiny butterfly flapped its wings inside his stomach on that moment, but he knew he shouldn't care for a thing like that. A Turk now, he told himself. A Turk.
Rude laughed. "Pretty? Yeah, Midgar's known for its pretty flowers." Blowing out smoke, he added, "And how little they last."
Ignoring this, Reno asked:
"So what's her story?"
"They call her the Cetra, but Tseng called her Aeris. She was suspicious, so Shin-Ra took her in. Tseng looked after her for a while, she was tiny back then. They're looking to capture her soon."
"If they're on the hunt for her, then shouldn't we--"
"It's not our job tonight, newbie."
And that's how it was discussed, that was the end of it. Maybe it was because Rude was too lazy to do extra work. Or maybe he was just too cool for it. Reno hadn't decided, but he was learning. He focused on it so hard. So far he had Rude certain that he was going to turn out alright, that he wasn't going to fail.
The girl was walking toward them, a small smile on her face. With a kind voice, she, Aeris said:
"Hello. Would you gentlemen like to buy a flower?" Then, looking from Reno to Rude, the smile disappeared from her face and she took two steps back. With a frightened look in her eyes, she stared at Rude, who looked away, sucking on his cigarette, nonchalant.
"Well," Aeris said with that panicked expression, "are you not going to get me? Try to capture me? I know you're a ...I know what you are."
"Go away, darling, leave us to do our job," Rude said.
Her eyes moved onto Reno and stayed there, studying his features, his short red hair and his over-sized uniform, so loose over his lanky body. Conscious of her staring and his own heart beating faster than it should, he ran his hand through his messy hair and looked away.
"So, are you one as well? What's your name?" she asked, her voice not frightened anymore, but curious.
"Back off, girlie, just go the fuck home, will you?" he spitted at her, surprised and strangely proud of his own words, how much they sounded like Rude's. Nervously glancing at Rude, he saw Rude was mildly impressed. The girl, however, looked shocked and sad, the expression on her face making his heart heavy. Words of an apology were almost escaping his lips, but Rude cut in.
"You heard him. And take your silly weeds with you," he said and stubbed his cigarette onto a dirty concrete wall next to them.
She turned and walked away, her ponytail swinging from one side to another. Reno's eyes stayed on her, hoping for her to turn back or even just to look back for a small moment. A huge hand on Reno's shoulder squeezed it a little.
"You liked her, didn't you?" Rude laughed, his chuckle cruel and sympathetic at the same time. "You learn not to like them. You learn not to trust them. With time, you just learn. It's not dancing on roses, this job. But it's all you'll have. All you'll think about. Unless you're drunk, very drunk."
Reno felt cold night air fill his lungs as he inhaled and he smelt cancer in Rude's breath. The other man's hand left his shoulder, but gently poked him in the ribs. His heart still heavy and exhausted from beating so hard, Reno turned his head slowly to face Rude.
"Go for a drink, shall we?" Rude said, grinning. "I know that bar looks like a shithole, but the whiskey's good and cheap."
"Sounds great," Reno said, trying to cast some enthusiasm in his voice, but failing terribly. Rude looked at him with stern eyes.
"You learn to not like them, newbie," he said quietly. "And most importantly, you learn to forget them."