Chapter 2
By Compulsive Rookie
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The strong smell of alcohol and hot food hit Tseng's nose as he entered the 7th Heaven bar, his fellow Turks following close behind him.
Usually Reno would complain that this was "their enemies' bar", but since Vincent had saved his life, Tseng wouldn't have it.
Reno was just itching to get his hands on the booze and the chicks, and seems he always returned nearly immediately with some sort of rejection every time, Tseng let him go as soon as he got in the door.
"He'll be back soon." Rude smirked, taking a seat at the nearest table.
Next to him, Reno would sit on his return, so Tseng and Elena had not much more of a choice than to share the other side.
Elena's cheeks flushed pink at the discovery, but took her seat without so much as a glance in Tseng's direction.
"The Turks, in my bar? I never would have thought it." Tifa smiled, flipping out a little notebook and pen.
"Do you wanna order something now, or wait for Reno to get rejected?"
A small smile found it's way onto Tseng's lips. "I'm sure we can order without him, as long as he has alcohol he's happy."
"And chicks." Elena muttered under her breath, cracking a smile from their old enemy.
"So, what'll it be?"
Shortly after they had ordered, Reno stumbled over and slumped in his seat next to Rude, huge red slap marks across both cheeks.
Elena smiled. "Rejected again, Reno?"
He just grumbled. "You'd think after trying to save this town from those silver haired gits, they'd like me a little bit more."
Rude tried not to laugh. Their red headed companion would always be bad with women, no matter what he did.
Tifa soon brought over the food and drinks, and immediately Reno dug into his share.
Tseng just shook his head, compulsively taking a sip of his beer. It wasn't half bad, considering he hardly ever had beer.
"Heeey, is there a dancefloor here?" Reno slurred in Tifa's general direction, the revelation that he was drunk as hell already slowly registering in his fellow Turks' minds.
"Of course there is." she replied sarcastically. "Shall I put on some music for you?"
"WHOO HOO! Come on Rude, let's go dance or somethin'."
Rude was very put off at the idea, but soon found himself being dragged to dance with the intoxicated red head.
"Uh, Reno, there is no dancefloor..." he feebly tried to explain, but his words of 'wisdom' went in one ear and out the other.
Elena started laughing at Rude being pulled around the "dancefloor" by a very drunk Reno, and even Tseng was amused.
"I haven't danced in years..." Elena mused to herself, but she must have said it out loud.
"You haven't? Me neither, and that's probably a good thing."
She considered asking him to dance, but there was two things she was afraid of:
Rejection, and the fact that four Turks dancing on a non existant dancefloor would look VERY dodgy.
Not to mention bad for their reputation.
Miraculously, the people in the bar paid no attention whatsoever.
"It's getting late... I'd better get going." Elena said after a few hours, wriggling out of her seat and retriving her jacket.
Tseng nodded, about to say goodbye to her, when he blurted "Would you like me to walk you home?"
Elena blushed, and nodded. "Sure, I'd like the company."
Tseng wondered what he'd gotten himself into as he walked out after Elena, leaving some gil on the table to cover their bill.
Tifa, seeing them leave, rushed over to Rude and Reno.
"They're gone, you can stop acting like idiots now."
"Did they go together?" a completely sober Reno asked.
Tifa nodded, a small grin on her face. "Yyyyep."
"OH YEAH! We did it Rude! Whoo! Drinks on me!" Reno grinned, and Tifa just shook her head.
0o0o0
There was still a small amount of rain when Tseng and Elena stepped outside... the perfect cover for criminal activity.
Even though Midgar HAD cleaned up somewhat, that didn't stop idiots that thought they were badass from breaking into peoples' houses.
Elena warily had her hand on the gun concealed in a holster on her left hip, just in case, but Tseng was a little more relaxed.
"Lighten up Elena." he half smiled, noting her rigid posture. She blushed again, her hand letting go of the gun to dangle freely at her side.
"I had a talk to the president earlier." Tseng continued, looking briefly at her.
"After my report on what happened at the Northern Crater, he wanted me to congratulate you."
Her head snapped up. "Why?"
"Because you're proved yourself to him... and me...with the whole silver haired men fiasco... and now, he wants you to take the step to become a fully fledged Turk."
Elena stopped dead, the initial shock kicking in.
A fully fledged Turk? There would be no more catty remarks from Reno and Rude once she had the tiny tattoo that would show everyone that she was a Turk.
Even them.
Tseng stopped too, waiting for her to recover from the shock.
"No more rookie jokes, hmm?" he questioned, biting back a laugh.
"Yeah... I'm not a rookie anymore." she smiled weakly.
Reno smiled as he watched from a distance, his lips forming the words;
"I'm proud of ya 'Laney."
And his smile turned into a grin as Tseng kissed Elena's hand as a goodnight gesture.
"Rude... do you copy? We have progress on Operation T plus E. Over."
He swore he could hear Rude laughing on the other end. "It's not any sort of "operation", you idiot. We're not even involved! I said I wasn't going to mess with them, and you promised you wouldn't either."
"Whatever, boss. I just wanna see 'Laney and Mr 'Strict and Formal' happy."
Rude laughed this time. "You and your imagination, Reno."
You and your imagination...