Saturday Night

I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you. I wanna make you move because you're standing still.

"That's it, there's my song!"

Reno refrained from head bobbing this time as he had just put the finishing touches to his gloriously spiked head and went over the essentials. Shirt open more than the collar to flash off some chest, check. Black suit slightly mussed up since he didn't have time to get it dry cleaned after last night's debacle, check.

With a quick finger gun to Rude, Reno was out the door, ignoring the he's-not-getting-laid-tonight nod that Rude gave him on the way out. Rude somehow always knew these things.

Seventh Heaven was still the place to be and Reno wouldn't be left out, even if last night's fiasco had any possibility of making a repeat appearance tonight. It didn't matter, he needed to be in that bar to woo his lady fair of the giant rack and mean right hook. If luck was on his side, he wouldn't be on the wrong end of that punch this time. There was an even more pissed off looking Cloud manning the door tonight than there was last night.

"Reno, I warned you last time-"

"Relax, Spiky. I won't cause any trouble. Technically, last time Thick Neck started it."

"And I had to end it and help Tifa clean up after you."

Speaking of Tifa…target acquired.

It came, no pun intended, to Reno last night that Tifa was somewhat of a hottie herself. In fact, she was so hot she surpassed Elena by miles, reaching up to his beyond godly handsome ranking as his as–close-to-secondly-perfect-as-possible status. Reno now caught a glimpse of her long dark hair flowing as she moved behind the bar gracefully, serving all of the leering men with a well placed smile. He could tell when it was forced and when it was real after being behind the scenes of both many a time.

Reno was brought back to Cloud standing in front of him with a jostle from the people lined up impatiently behind him.

"I'll behave, I promise."

He tried to look sincere but Cloud saw through that to the reflection of Tifa in Reno's eyes and glared with a small snarl. "Don't make me hurt you."

Ignoring the warning, Reno patted Cloud on the shoulder and removed his hand before it was handed back to him detached from his arm, already lost in the throng of the crowd. Hoping to make a graceful entrance was lost as the force of the masses ruined his smooth move onto a stool by ramming him into the bar with an "Umph," knocking the wind out of him.

Tifa just so happened to be at the ready to take his order and so witnessed everything. Instead of a laugh at his expense as he expected, she leaned over the bar with a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright, Reno?"

"Oh, uh, I'm fine," he choked on his reply as his eyes were drawn to her chest pressed up against the wood of the bar right in front of him. His eyes lingered too long if her souring smile gave any hint when his eyes finally found her face once again.

"Uh, sorry, Teef. I'll have a beer."

After the somewhat alcohol induced headache of last night, he decided tonight he would keep a level head with light liquor; he never got really drunk and did anything extremely stupid off of beer before so he figured he was safe. Tifa had her arms crossed over her chest in her classic ass kicking pose and he had to restate that-he was safe from the alcohol but not guaranteed safety from her right hook.

"Please," he added for good measure with a smile and she relaxed a little, letting her arms drop to her sides to get a glass for his drink. "Phew, that was close."

"Smooth move, Red."

He reflexively turned to the voice even though he knew it was a bad idea from the smile on the petite girl's face.

"Hey, Cissi. Almost didn't see you there. You'd be lost in the crowd if it weren't for that bar stool."

It was true that she might have helped him in filling in the black out of last night but that didn't mean he had to start being nice to her. They were usually at each other's throats figuratively speaking as it should be, as coworkers and loosely associated friends. Last night was a one time thing and he had to make it clear.

She rolled her eyes, so over the jokes about her size.

"You know, you're the perfect height to suck my-"

"I can also cut it off." She cut him off, used to his crude humor after hearing it every day in the office. He never learned.

"You don't have your precious "Rekka" with you so how do you figure?" He looked her up and down quickly to make sure he was right about her being unarmed and breathed a sigh of relief before her next words made him suck it back in. "Don't worry, I'll manage."

He finally backed off a little, giving here some breathing room once he was out of her personal space for all of a silent twelve seconds.

"Since when can young ones drink these days?"

Jokes about her age as the youngest Turk were even more used up than about her height.

"Tifa trusts me, unlike you."

As she said this, Cissnei shook her glass at Tifa and the barmaid smiled, grabbing a bottle.

"You'll never get in her pants."

"Oooo, low blow, little one. But you underestimate the power of my charm over women."

Reno didn't seem to notice that Tifa had made her way over to refill Cissnei's drink and got smacked upside the head, saying, "I can hurt you," over her shoulder. He did his best not to flinch. Cissnei kept a straight face as if nothing happened. Score points for her.

"I'm a woman," she pointed out and Reno indeed noticed her perky C cups and the way her legs crossed under her sassy pleated skirt that eerily resembled a school uniform. It was so distracting to see her out of her Turk uniform, well to see her in anything that showed off those glorious legs she'd been hiding, really, that he forgot what he was saying for a second.

"Honey, you're a girl. She is a woman." He emphasized this with a wiggle of his eyebrows in Tifa's direction until the towel she was wiping glasses down with soared over the crowded bar and hit his leering face with a resounding plop.

"I can still hurt you!" She yelled, clenching a fist and waving it in the air to make her point clear.

"And he is her man."

"Huh?" Cissnei's comment caught Reno off guard before the hand on his shoulder turned him around on his barstool to face an unexpected Cloud. An unexpected pissed off Cloud.

"Reno, what did I tell you?"

"Hey man, I didn't even do anything!" Forgetting all thoughts of dignity, he got up, ready to run and looking for the best escape rout.

"Stop harassing my girlfriend!" Cloud picked Reno up by his shirt collar and shook him like a piece of paper for emphasis. He looked over at Tifa as if asking permission to throw him out once and for all but she shook her head.

"He is a paying customer after all."

Reno smiled meekly at Cloud's frown and warbled a thanks to Tifa.

"Just remember that I can hurt you for any reason, Reno." As Reno blanched and fell back onto his seat, she turned to Cloud.

"I don't think we'll be having any more problems from him. Thanks, honey."

She gave him a quick kiss as he replied, "No problem, Teef," and went back to man his battle station at the door.

Reno smoothed down his shirt front, trying to hide his shame and defeat while Cissnei watched him mope in defeat.

"Self-pity does not look good on you." He smiled at the fact she was trying to lighten the mood.

"I make anything look good, babe." He didn't miss her eye roll as she slid a scotch that he didn't notice her order over to him.

"To sooth the pain."

He took it with a nod of thanks, liking the burn it blazed down his throat and the fog to his head. So much for that no hard liquor rule from earlier.

Maybe this wasn't so bad. Tifa was high on the list of unattainable but that's part of what made her so damn attractive. A second glance over his shoulder at Cloud sobered up any more thoughts of getting with Tifa that was for sure.

"You'll always have me."

Cissnei's voice was light hearted and joking but it was appreciated in that moment more than she would ever know. She could be cute sometimes, especially when she wasn't armed.

"Right, I'll always have you." It'll never happen.

This was one of those times he appreciated the style and grace of her small frame, the tilt of her head exposing her smooth neck, the way her hair fell over one side of her face until he brushed it away with his hand to see two deep brown eyes staring back at him in gratitude and something more. Something he tried to ignore last night and pulled away from again tonight.

It made him smile a sad smile to contemplate what more there was there for him, but not now.

"Tomorrow night is my night." He looked over at Cissnei and noticed how she stared into her drink, not knowing he watched and heard her sigh softly at his proclamation.

One last night to try something new.