Tseng woke feeling refreshed and relaxed; a feeling that made him wary about opening his eyes. He hadn't felt so at ease without alcohol in such a long time that he had almost thought it was impossible for him to feel content on his own ever again. It had happened once before, after that night he and Rufus had spent on his couch, but it had quickly went away once he realized that he had woken up alone. This time he felt warmth beside him and he desperately hoped it wasn't Dark Nation cuddling him to try and ease his pain. He wanted Rufus to have stayed with him the whole night, but he didn't have his hopes high. The only way he could find out if he had been wrong to let his guard down and to allow the same instance to happen twice was to open his eyes and see for himself, but he was feeling too cowardly for that this morning. He wanted to enjoy the contentment that he had woken with, but as the minutes ticked by his own uncertainty stole his comfort from him.

Rufus woke with a similar feeling of content relaxation, but without all the uncertainty that plagued Tseng's half-awake mind. He had no reason to think that Tseng would have left his side during the night; after all, Tseng had never left his side before, so why would he do it now? He didn't need to bother himself by worrying over impossibilities. Rufus stretched and let his joints crack and protest loudly. It felt good to wake up with a warm body next to his; he had almost forgotten how good it was have company that stuck around. He ran a hand through his sleep and sex mussed hair and looked up at the ceiling, letting his eyes follow the rhythmic twirl of the fan-blades above them. He wasn't going to go to work today and neither was Tseng. He didn't want to leave bed at all today unless he had to and work was superfluous enough that he could skip it. Besides, he didn't want to face Reno. He hated break-ups, especially when the other person started crying, and he wanted to put it off as long as possible.

Rufus sat up after about thirty minutes of watching the fan, no longer able to ignore his bladder's protesting screams. He took a quick look at Tseng and smiled as he realized that he was awake too. "I'll be right back, I've got to go to the bathroom or I'm going to blow up." He didn't know why he needed to qualify his reasons for going to the bathroom to Tseng, but he did it anyways.

Tseng nodded and sat up, stretching lazily. Now that he knew Rufus had stayed, he felt safe enough in his happiness to allow himself to bask in it. Soon enough he and Rufus would have to talk about the Reno business, but that could wait a few minutes or maybe even a few hours. He didn't want to ruin the easy smiles Rufus was giving him this morning by bringing up a touchy issue. Rufus wouldn't protest giving Reno up, but he wouldn't want to get rid of the man himself. He would want Tseng to scare Reno off for him and Tseng would flat out refuse…at least at first. Rufus would eventually persuade him into doing it for him; he always did.

Rufus washed his hands and walked leisurely back to the bedroom, letting his muscles stretch out as he walked. He could hear Dark Nation pacing in the hallway outside Tseng's room and he opened the door, letting her rub against his leg as she walked to the bed. "Oh, now you're sorry."

Tseng smiled and let Nation curl up beside him. "I think she's gloating, not apologizing."

Rufus chuckled and shut the door; he didn't want any of the help peeking into their room this morning to see if they had done the dirty last night. Sometimes his maids could be so nosey. "She should be apologizing. She left welts on my arm." Rufus sat on the bed beside Nation and let her lick his hand, his upset with her completely fabricated.

Tseng smiled and stroked Nation's fur, slightly jealous of her tongue against Rufus' arm. "Don't be a baby; those welts barely lasted five minutes. Besides, you were too pre-occupied with other things to give a damn about them."

Rufus hummed and leaned over Nation's back to give Tseng a tender kiss, half-wishing that she had curled up at the foot of the bed instead of right in the middle of it. "I'm not a baby; I'm just stating facts."

Tseng returned the kiss gladly, holding Nation's tentacle down as she tried to flick it between them. "You're just whining now."

Rufus chuckled softly as Nation rolled onto her back and squirmed between them, trying to budge them apart as she begged for belly-scratches. He scrubbed his manicured finger-nails through her fur and moved aside as her hind leg started scratching at the air. "There's a little whining to be done today anyways. I just want to get the stupid whining out of the way first."

Tseng nodded and scratched under Nation's chin as Rufus scratched her belly, smiling as she let out a happy growl of contentment. "The other whining can wait until after breakfast, right?"

Rufus nodded and kept scratching at Nation's belly, unable to keep back a smile as he watched her bask in the small attentions he and Tseng were giving her. "Nation, you're so spoiled." Nation let out a low, happy growl as if to tell him how little she cared about that fact and he chuckled in spite of himself.

Tseng smiled as Nation turned to her side so that Rufus' hands were still able to reach the best itching spots on her stomach, pressing her back into Tseng's hands. Tseng chuckled and scratched at her silky fur happily. "You're right, she is spoiled."

Rufus and Tseng spent a good deal of their morning in bed with Dark Nation, scrubbing at her fur as they small talked the wee hours of the morning away. Rufus didn't even bother to call the company and let someone know he and Tseng weren't going to be showing up; it was common knowledge that if he didn't show up by noon he wasn't going to show up at all and if Tseng didn't show up either then no one had any reason to worry and if they knew what was best for them they would keep to themselves and not bother him. Rufus was confident enough in his employees that he didn't need to worry about whether or not everything was getting done the way it should be. Tseng was not quite as at ease about playing hooky, but Rufus distracted him enough with tender touches and happy smiles that he didn't reach for his phone once all morning, even though it must have rung thirty times. Elena was going to have to learn that if Tseng didn't answer his phone it wasn't the end of the world.

Reno was irritated. The gash Dark Nation's tentacle had left on the inside of his hand itched like crazy and he had no one to complain to. He was still upset with Rufus for what Dark Nation had done and he was considering dropping their pseudo-relationship altogether, but no matter how sick he was of Rufus breaking his rule by breaking the skin he wouldn't leave him just yet. He didn't want to be alone. Tseng hadn't shown up so he couldn't pester him about anything and he was avoiding Rude like the plague. He had been avoiding Rude since he started his relationship with Rufus, he was afraid he would do something stupid and let slip certain things he'd rather take to his grave. Elena was pissed at him and refused to talk to him, partially because he was with Rufus but also because a few days ago he had shown up to work drunk and with a pocketful of rotten eggs which he had kindly hidden around her office. She still hadn't found them all. Reno wasn't even sure where he had gotten the eggs, he didn't remember, he had been too sauced at the time of finding to really register where they had come from.

Reno twirled in his chair and did his best to ignore the painful itch in his hand, grumbling irritably at nothing. Tseng hadn't shown up so no one in their department had any work to do and the work he had to catch up on was boring and tedious and he didn't want to do it. Besides, no one was there to tell him he had to so it didn't matter what he did. Technically he could leave now and no one would care. He would still get paid for a full day's work and his paperwork would still be there tomorrow morning, so why was he bothering to stay when there were so many other places he wanted to be?

Reno got up, sick of being bored. He sauntered to the men's room, thinking that a few loosened pipes would keep him sufficiently entertained for the rest of the day. He passed Rude's office on tip-toes, wanting to slap himself for acting skittish. He had nothing to fear from Rude except temptation, but temptation was frightening as hell at the moment and he'd rather not deal with it. It made his head hurt and his heart ache so he was going to tip-toe past Rude's office quietly and hope the bald, debonair man wouldn't pursue him if he did see him. Lately Rude had been unwilling to talk to anyone and tried to get Reno's attention whenever he was close enough, but after Reno had set his EMR against his locked door-knob while Rude tried to bust it open to talk to him he had been keeping his distance. Reno had hated shocking Rude the way he had, but he hadn't felt like he had any other choice. If he let Rude get close then the feelings he was trying to choke would be invigorated and would fight harder against his will-power.

Reno wished he had thought to bring tools with him to the bathroom, trying to unscrew pipes with one hand was obnoxious and since his left hand was in too much pain too cooperate he was going to have to do things one-handed for awhile. It was a good thing he was right-handed, if he was a freak lefty he'd be in even worse shape.

Reno was underneath the sink and finally getting the pipe he had been working on for thirty minutes to budge when a tap against his foot shocked him into jumping and hitting his head against the porcelain underside of the sink. He swore and held his head, sitting back on his haunches and looking up at whoever had surprised him through watery eyes. He flushed dark as Rude offered him a hand up, looking at it warily. "Need help with that, Red?"

Reno nodded hesitantly, his desire to watch plumbers try to fix the mess he made for them over-powering his need to run and hide. "I can't get the pipe undone."

Rude nodded and knelt down so that he could see the sink. "Did you try turning it to the left?"

Reno frowned and rubbed the small lump on his head where scalp had made contact with sink. "No, you're supposed to turn it to the right, right? Isn't it lefty-tighty, righty-loosey?"

Rude chuckled and started turning the pipe, having a much easier time at it than Reno had had. "You've got it backwards again. Its righty-tighty, lefty-loosey."

Reno snapped his fingers and had the look of someone who had just had an epiphany. "Right! I always mess that up!"

Rude nodded and handed Reno the pipe once it came undone, "At least you were smart enough to shut off the water supply before you started plumping. Otherwise we'd be drenched. What do you need a pipe for anyways?"

Reno shrugged and stood, tapping the pipe against his leg as he tried to think of a good, non-incriminating place to hide it. "For piping."

Rude stood and chuckled, wiping his hands on his pant-legs. "Sure, piping. Don't hide it in the vent, Reno; they always know it's you when you hide it in the vent."

Reno blushed and stopped heading for the vent, looking around again for a new hiding spot. "Right…um…inside the toilet tank?"

Rude nodded softly and lifted the porcelain lid that covered the tank of water. "That's new; it won't immediately point back to you."

Reno grinned and slipped the pipe into the water, "Let's turn on the water and get the hell out of here then."

Rude nodded and knelt by the sink, looking at Reno curiously. "What's our alibi?"

Reno blinked and tapped his chin thoughtfully, doing his best to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. He smiled at Rude, regretting his words the instant he said them. "We're going to lunch."

Rude nodded and turned the water supply on, cringing back and tugging Reno out of the bathroom as water rushed out. "It's a date. Go grab your jacket and we'll go."

Reno shook his head irritably; he thought he had established that he didn't want to spend time with Rude? It hurt both of them and it was obvious. Why did Rude keep pressing the matter? "No."

Rude shrugged, "Fine, don't wear a jacket."

"I mean, no, I don't want to go." Reno tugged his arm from Rude's gentle grip and crossed it over his chest, lacing it with his other arm.

Rude sighed and turned to face Reno, his face stony despite the vulnerability in his voice. "Why not? I'm buying; we can go to that place with the soup you like."

Reno chewed his lip, the offer was tempting but…he couldn't go to lunch with Rude when he was still with Rufus. It didn't feel right, not when he was still in love with Rude despite his vain attempts to un-attach himself. "I just…I'm not hungry, okay?" His stomach chose that moment to rumble and remind him that he had skipped breakfast.

"Liar." Rude sighed softly and shook his head, pulling off his sunglasses. Why he wore them inside, Reno would never know. "Can we please talk about this?"

Reno shook his head and fidgeted nervously, keeping his tongue under strict censorship as he responded. "I don't think we need to talk about it. It's done. We're over."

"So you're tossing out our friendship too? Just because you're done using me?" Rude frowned angrily, his voice thick with bitterness and venom. Water was surging out of the bathroom behind them and Rude did his best to ignore it as it flowed into the carpet beneath his feet. He needed to focus on Reno now, the right words now would make or break the recovery he wanted. He didn't want to feel so bitter and mad at Reno; he wanted Reno to be in love with him again.

Reno blinked in surprise. "I didn't use you!"

"We have different definitions of using then." Rude felt a low growl enter his voice and he regretted it instantly as Reno's face frowned with rage.

Reno looked down at his feet, fists curling in anger. "Maybe we do need to talk about it then."

"Grab your jacket then. Lunch is my treat." Rude turned on his heel and walked towards the elevator, ignoring the water that was squelching beneath his shoes.

Author's Note: I always got the righty-tighty lefty-loosey rhyme wrong when I was a kid. For some reason it just never clicked in my head back then. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chappie. Hopefully I can update faster now that I don't have to worry about my stories 'What I Want' or 'Am I Better Off?'. That puts me down to 4 stories! Woo! It's manageable!