#6
The city was beautiful at night. Even through all the pollution, it was beautiful.
"Here. Keep this on the back of your head."
Rufus pulled himself out of his thoughts and shifted his gaze away from the window when something cold touched him. "Reno...?" He looked up to see the red-head standing beside him, holding the cold pack.
"Yeah, Rufus?" Reno tilted his head to the side as he watched the blond.
"Did...did you..."
Rufus paused, biting down hard on his lip. This wasn't the time to ask, he knew that, but...he had to know at the same time...
Reno nudged him over a bit from where he was sitting on the desk. "Tseng and I used to sit up here and watch the lights after missions," he murmured as he sat down beside Rufus. "Well, that's what we'd start out doing, at least."
"Start out...?" Rufus gasped when he felt Reno's head on his shoulder.
"Use your imagination, brat."
Rufus thought about that a moment before his eyes went wide, and his cheeks colored. But the fact that Reno even said it meant that he was at least mostly over his anger. The fingers that wrapped around his own meant that Reno hadn't stopped caring.
Reno always cared about him, of course, but there were moments when it seemed more like he might have actually cared the way that Rufus wanted him to. Right now, with Reno pressed against his side and holding onto one hand, it felt more like one of those.
"Reno, I...I wish I could take the last week back."
"Yeah, well, you can't. Just gotta keep moving forward." Reno's fingers tightened their grip on Rufus' hand. "Sometimes just gotta realize that."
The blond nodded slightly. "Reno, if I..." His voice caught, unable to finish the sentence.
"If you what?"
Rufus turned his head to look at Reno. Even if Reno wasn't so open about his emotions, the highlights in his eyes were an easy way to read him. Not so strong like most of those in SOLDIER that they took over his eyes and gave him that eerie glow. No, Reno's Mako highlights were the last of an incomplete treatment. Only done for an undercover mission years ago, they faded to a dull glitter when you looked at him instead of the full glow.
Right now, they still reflected the pain of losing Tseng.
"Would you be mad at me if I did this?"
Reno blinked at Rufus as his free hand reached up to brush over the red-head's cheek. He smiled, then, as he lifted his head. "Not if I beat you to it."
It was the first time Reno ever kissed him. Oh, they had kissed enough in the past, and except for the first time it happened and this last time in the hall, Reno had never pulled away. This was the first time that Reno initiated the move, and Rufus found himself enjoying it for more than just the kiss.
The touch was a series of feathery brushes of Reno's lips against his own before the Turk pressed against him completely.
Mine...my Turk...my Reno...
It wasn't how he wanted it to happen, but even if he was just a poor replacement for Tseng in Reno's mind at least he was the replacement. Reno could have found solace with anyone else that he wanted. There were always girls trying to catch his eye--secretaries and assistants that just took the job to find a rich man. Funny that they'd pick Reno, who was far from poor, but you'd never know it by the way he lived.
Mine...
When the word managed to escape his lips after Reno pulled away, he was afraid that it was the wrong thing. Reno's laugh and the grin attached to the sound told him different.
"Maybe, but don't forget that you can't own me like you can this building."