Chapter One

Never Again

Reno sat quietly on a bench in the mess hall, his bag sitting on the ground beside him. His dark red hair was in its usual ponytail - through threats of violence and stolen scissors, as well as a pleading phone call to Shinra offices, he'd been able to avoid the usual military cut. His face had dark bruises all over it, presents from the Drill Sergeant he'd been assigned to. He sighed and dropped his head forward into his hands, which sent spears of pain through them too. Brilliant. His head hurt from the blows he'd received and his hands hurt from where he'd smashed them into the older man. His knuckles were completely spilt, but he hadn't been allowed any medical treatment due to the fact he'd gotten the injury while beating a superior officer to a pulp. The only bright light in his otherwise shitty day was the information that Rufus was coming to retrieve him. The downside of that little announcement was that Rufus was probably going to be very pissed off and even if he didn't mind having to come the whole way from Midgar, then he'd be furious when he stepped out of his transport and found himself knee deep in mud - it hadn't stopped raining at the training camp the entire length of Reno's stay. The ground was slushy and Reno hadn't seen the sky once during his entire stay. If Rufus got his pristine white clothes muddied, then he would not be impressed.

"Reno?"

Reno's head shot up sharply, and he actually smiled at the sight of Tseng walking through the mess towards him. Soldiers and recruits looked up at the dark haired man, flinching as he moved past, fear in their every move. Turks were… dangerous. Definitely something to be feared. More than one set of eyes flicked towards the redhead, silently comparing him to the Wutain. Reno stood up quickly as Tseng approached. "Didn't Rufus come?" he asked, startled to find that his blonde boss's absence hurt him a bit.

"Waiting outside," Tseng said calmly. "Took one look at the mud and decided he wasn't interested in coming in. He's sitting in the helicopter and trying to get you out of trouble over the phone."

"… Is he mad?"

Tseng lifted an eyebrow at the tentative question. "Why don't you go find out? I'm not privy to his emotions. I'll just be a minute - I have to sort out your discharge."

Reno nodded and picked up his bag, heading out of the hall without a backwards glance. He'd hated every minute of this place, he sure as hell wasn't going to miss it. He walked quickly across the compound, for once not caring about the mud he kicked up, which splashed his boots and dirtied the hems of his dark blue trousers. He stepped onto the concrete helipad and walked slowly towards the large, dark grey Shinra luxury helicopter sitting on the pad. He reached up towards the handle of the back door but it opened before his fingers even touched the metal. Rufus, a phone pressed against his ear, leant back in his seat and gestured him inside.

Reno tried to scrape his boots off on the concrete before he climbed in, with little result, then tossed his bag in, climbing up quickly. He settled himself in one of the luxurious white leather seats, waiting with trepidation for Rufus to finish his call. Ice blue eyes bored into him as he sat there trying to make himself as small as possible, feeling useless. Gods, he couldn't even last a couple of weeks without losing his temper and doing something stupid. That was just pathetic.

Rufus said goodbye and closed the phone. He put it in the pocket of his suit jacket and stared at Reno some more. "Well?"

"The bastard deserved it." That was all Reno had to say in his defence, and he knew the words were ridiculously inadequate. He bit his tongue, staring at a point on the floor and waiting for the tirade. After a few seconds of tirade-less silence, he risked a glance up and was amazed to see Rufus laughing silently. "What's so fucking funny?" he asked in an injured tone of voice. "What the hell're you laughin' about?"

"You," Rufus said, still chuckling softly, one hand held in front of his mouth, blue eyes that suddenly weren't quite so icy meeting Reno's. "You sound so… sullen. What did the Drill Sergeant do to provoke you? There must have been something." (1)

Reno bit his lip, not wanting to talk about it, eyes back on the carpet. "He… um…" His eyes suddenly jerked up to meet Rufus's again. Rufus was startled to see something wounded in their bluey-green depths and although his face betrayed no emotion (he thought one senseless fit was enough for one day) he felt an unexpected rage start to boil in him as he guessed what had happened. "You were sexually harassed?" he said, his voice rivalling a glacier for sheer coldness. Reno's cheeks flushed with hot blood and he returned his gaze to the patch of floor he was becoming rapidly familiar with. Rufus frowned and leant forward to catch his attention, but at that moment the door opened again and Tseng climbed in. Rufus leant back again, his frown gone to be replaced with the usual blank mask.

Tseng started the chopper up, Reno watching with dull interest as he flipped switches. After a moment, they were in the air. Reno glanced out the window a smirk touching his mouth. "Goodbye hell." Rufus gave him a long meditative look then glanced towards Tseng. "Would you like to add anything on the disciplinary front?" he asked. Tseng shook his head, concentrating on the controls.

"No, sir."

"Good," Rufus said, reaching forward and closing the door that separated the cockpit from the cabin. "Reno?" Reno only managed a glance at his boss before looking away. Rufus sighed. "How long?"

"He… didn't actually do… anything," Reno muttered. "He was going to, though, so I beat the fucker up." His head jerked up suddenly, and he stared at Rufus with eyes that were filled with heated anger. "The bastard's fucking lucky I didn't get hold of my EMR or he would be fucking dead! And there's no reason to look so fucking concerned, I'm fine."

There was a long moment of silence, and then Reno just doubled over, shaking uncontrollably as pure horror coursed through him. Rufus heard him sobbing quietly and couldn't help himself. He reached out and grabbed hold of Reno's arm, pulling him across the cabin and onto the seat next to him. He then very, very, very hesitantly wrapped his arms around the crying redhead, pulling him up close to him. He was not used to physical contact. Reno buried his face in his shoulder, and Rufus tried hard not to think about what salt water was going to do to his heinously expensive suit. Then Reno slid his arms around him as well, clinging on for dear life as his body was racked with painful sobs. He'd been so fucking scared.

After a while, his crying slowed and then stopped, but he still stayed slumped against Rufus, exhausted, and growing too embarrassed to lift his head and look at his boss. What the hell was wrong with him? He shouldn't be…

What, shouldn't be crying? Shouldn't be crying on your boss? Bit fucking late for that, isn't it?

He pulled away from Rufus suddenly, and sat slumped, his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. There was silence yet again as Rufus inspected the shoulder of his suit, relieved that there hadn't been any serious damage, and Reno just sat there, dark red flush across his cheeks. "Sorry," he muttered, breaking the long silence. "Care to explain that?" Rufus asked calmly, lifting his eyes from his suit and fixing his eyes on Reno again, coldly enquiring. Whatever empathy he'd shown before was completely gone, hidden behind his layers of veils and illusions. (2)

"………"

"Reno…"

"Bad experience, okay? I didn't need that fucking shit all over again, just after I'd gotten over the last lot." The glare was back on Reno's face, red rimmed eyes angry again, this time at some unknown in his past. "Growing up in the Slums is a bitch," he added when he caught Rufus' slightly confused look. Then he returned to staring at the ground. "Especially… if you look good." There was an uncomfortable silence. "Reno?" Rufus said suddenly, not sure what he was gone to say. The redhead looked at him enquiringly, bluey-green eyes strangely vulnerable. "Yeah, boss?"

"Don't worry about it." He didn't need to say what. "I didn't… mind… And I realise how ridiculous this is going to sound, and how pointless, but try to… forget about what happened. It won't be allowed to happen again." Reno stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay… Shit." He laughed shortly, brushing the back of his hand across his eyes. "I'm sorry. Wasn't supposed to do that…"

"It's alright," Rufus said. "Trauma does strange things to people."

Reno half grinned and went to stand up, to move back to his own seat. He was stopped by Rufus grabbing his sleeve. He looked sideways at the smaller teenager, who refused to meet his gaze. "You don't have to," was all Rufus said, releasing his sleeve, and bringing his hand back to rest in his lap, staring at it as though it had betrayed him. Reno hesitated, then carefully slid back into the seat, not sure why, but just relaxing in the presence of the other. For some reason, he'd missed Rufus while he'd been away. Although, what there was to miss about an ice sculpture who held a gun to his head on a regular basis eluded him, he'd missed him nonetheless. He couldn't know that Rufus had felt the same way towards him for the past two months.

Reno was silent for the rest of the trip. But he promised himself that no bastard was ever going to make him cry again. Ever. He was stronger than that.

(1) Excuse the OOC-ness, it just happened. And it only gets worse…

(2) I hate this line. I rewrote it about eight times and I couldn't do anything better so I did a Reno impression (swore a lot) and left it.

A/N: Lame, random, inexplicable and probably OOC. I don't like this chapter.

Reno: Why am I crying?

Rufus: And why is he crying on me? Do you have any idea how much that suit cost?

Me: I have a fair idea. //winces// Sorry.

Reno: I DON'T just randomly start crying, you know.

Me & Rufus: Yes, you do.

Reno: ... Shut up.