New chapter. Think of this as about six hours on from the last chapter. Time for fun!

'Elixir. Take 10ml every half hour or as required…oh man, I hate this stuff…' Reno mumbled as he debated pouring either 10 or 20ml. In the end, he shrugged and downed the contents in one gulp. He grimaced and coughed hoarsely, '…aaahh…some good shit'

Elena got up from her desk and walked over to Reno's. Pushing the paperwork that had once again attacked him to one side, she sat on it, facing Reno. Wearily, he looked up at her.

'What's up…?' he croaked. She shrugged.

'We're clocking off in an hour, and I reckon that Tseng won't let you go without doing that,' she said, grabbing some of the papers, '…and I'm done, so I'll give you a hand.'

Reno just groaned. His head still hurt.

'Can't…can't I just burn them?'

Elena sighed in exasperation.

'For goodness's sake Reno, no! When you did it a week ago, it cast Ultima on you. You tried about half an hour ago, it attacked you with a thousand tiny paper cuts…is it really that hard for you to do work?'

Reno grinned. The Elixir seemed to be perking him up.

'Hey, how was I supposed to know Tseng had equipped a Counter materia in there somewhere?' he laughed, holding his hands up in protest. Elena hopped off his desk and bundled well over half of the papers into her arms.

'By learning from your mistakes. Now put that little pen I gave you into good use and start filling out those forms!'

Reno groaned and slammed his head on the table. Still with his head to the desk, he roughly seized the top form on the pile and the little red pen. He took one look at it, opened his mouth to complain but gave up before he started. He just mumbled something about it being his birthday and got down to ticking the boxes.

7: 45 pm

Tseng marched into the office, expecting to find Reno annoying Elena with half the paperwork strewn across the floor. Instead, he found Elena filing, Rude at work as always, and Reno peacefully neatening the papers on his desk. He shook his head out of disbelief and walked over to Reno's desk.

'By the way, thanks for doing all that…it wasn't that hard anyway, was it.' He said calmly. Reno looked up from something he was drawing, grinning broadly. Surprisingly, Reno was pretty good at his doodles, seeing as he only discovered he could draw when he joined the Turks. Tseng looked at him questioningly.

'What's that? Nothing inappropriate, I hope-'

He was cut off by Reno thrusting the drawing into his face. From the blur, he could make out it was a comic strip.

'This, boss, is the itinerary for tonight's mission, 'Operation Wasted Turks and Birthday Party'. See, look – there's me coming out of my house and meeting you guys at the bar approximately…30 yards from my house. Then, there's Rude there with the vodka, Elena getting picked on by some idiot, and me with the babes trying hard not to take them then and there. Do you wanna come? I can pencil you in in that gap there…'

Tseng just looked blankly at the drawing.

'The babes just look like boobs with legs to me.'

'Yeah, precisely. Babes.' Reno said, grabbing his pen and drawing something quickly, 'There. And finally, that's you, getting a liiiittle too much attention from some guy with a moustache and leather tank top.'

Tseng narrowed his eyes at Reno before going to walk out. Just as he left, he turned in the doorway.

'Ok…I'll go out with you guys. You can go early, if you like…The bar approximately 30 yards from your house, right Reno?'

9:02 pm

The door of the bar slammed open. Virtually every eye in the joint moved to see who had entered. Of course, they saw Rude first, then Tseng, Elena and then Reno coming in last with his hands in his pockets and an oversized badge shouting 'It's My Birthday!'. Most just sighed and turned back to their drinks. Just the Turks on a binge again.

Tseng tentatively sat down in the Turks' favourite corner seat towards the back. Elena followed, crossing her legs. Reno and Rude swung by the bar. Reno banged his hand down on the counter and called out.

'Barkeep? I got 450 gil here, and it's my birthday, get us something that will make us so drunk we'll destroy half our brain!'

The barkeeper just nodded nervously and complied. Rude sighed and smiled. Reno, for all his childish behaviour, knew how to have a good time. Reno however just stood grinning like a madman, eying up the girls to the left of him.

'Hello there ladies…it's my birthday, how about helpin' me celebrate?' he smirked. The girls, expecting just another lecherous idiot talking to them, turned round and were pleasantly surprised. Sure, Reno could be a lecherous idiot sometimes, but at least he was extremely good looking. He carried on talking to them both as the barkeeper returned with a huge bottle in hand and four shot glasses. Rude took them, nodded in thanks and made his way back over to the table, leaving Reno at the bar with the girls.

Elena folded her arms and frowned as Rude handed out the glasses.

'Ugh…he offers to take us out and then abandons us…'

Rude just smiled.

'Don't worry, as soon as he oversteps the mark he'll be back with us.'

Sure enough, Reno sauntered over quickly to the table. The girls were bustling out in the door's direction. He was smirking as always, even with the red hand mark on his cheek. He took the bottle and filled up each glass whilst the others just watched.

'And you don't mind that you've just been slapped? Reno, for someone with a reputation like you, you are crap with girls.' Tseng said finally. Reno opened his mouth in mock offence. After downing his drink, he spoke.

'Lies! They just weren't up for it…outside. Anyway, drinking games…no pin the tail on the donkey at MY party!'

1:25 am

Rude was sitting cooped up in the corner seat. With his sunglasses on, anybody could have sworn he was asleep or had passed out. However, he was wide awake and pretty aware – you had to be going some to get Rude really drunk. He just sat and thought, whilst Elena and Reno opposite him just carried on drinking and flirting. Tseng had long since left, his reputation for being a lightweight holding true. He casually observed Elena and Reno, only to find that they appeared to be eating each other's faces. Hah. Would they hear it in the morning.

'Time, folks…' The barkeeper called. Rude stood slowly and threw a bundle of notes down on the table. Striding around the table to Reno and Elena, he grabbed them by the shoulders and yanked them apart.

'Either you two get a room or get kicked out…I'm going.' He murmured.

The other two just looked at him, then back at each other again. Reno smirked and licked his teeth, Elena giggled and Rude just rolled his eyes. The bald Turk moved towards the door, when at the last second he was jostled out of the way by his companions, staggering past hand in hand. Once the fresh air hit him, his eyes travelled towards the door of the apartment block approximately 30 yards from the bar, only to see the redhead attempting to unlock it at the same time as unbuttoning Elena's blouse. He grinned to himself. Oh yes, would they hear it in the morning.