Reno was still grumbling as he followed Rude to his car. He had refused to grab his jacket; it wasn't cold outside and he didn't like being told what to do, but he had relented to letting Rude drive. With the way gas prices were it was simply smarter to carpool and conserve. Reno slipped into the passenger seat and buckled in while Rude started the car, his shoulders as straight as a board. How could Rude think he had used him? He hadn't, that was simply fact. Okay, he had to relent a little on that part; he had used Rude a little, but they had both benefited while it lasted and he had been head-over-heels for him, so was it really using? They had to discuss that fact to figure out if it was or not. For now Reno was just trying to look forward to his favorite soup and a working alibi.
Rude drove quietly, trying to get a feel for how Reno was reacting to what he had said. He didn't seem mad, he seemed confused. Of course, Reno always seemed confused when he was around. He couldn't quite understand why Reno was confused around him, but he had a hope that it had to do with unresolved feelings of more than lust and friendship. He wanted Reno to be in love with him; he really did, he just didn't know how to ask if he was. Rufus had complicated things by taking Reno's time and attention and Rude hated the blonde for it. When had Rufus ever had a relationship that didn't start with him taking someone who was already taken? Rude had to admit his claim on Reno hadn't been very public, but Rufus had to have known that it was there. Rufus may not have been able to see it, but Tseng had to have warned him about it. Tseng saw everything.
Rude parked and Reno scrambled out of the car, tripping over his own feet as he did so. The restaurant was called Josephine's and it was a fairly nice restaurant, yet not overly expensive. It wasn't fancy enough to be considered fine dining, but it wasn't so casual that it could be considered a dive. It was fairly crowded inside, but it wasn't loud; the noise level stayed at a dull roar so that people could hear their own conversations without having to worry about the next table being able to eavesdrop. It was the perfect place to have a heart to heart over lunch which, Reno surmised, was probably why Rude had picked it as their lunch spot.
Rude held the door open for Reno and let the hostess pick a table for them, smiling softly all the while. There was no chance Rufus would be here; Rufus didn't go to a restaurant that didn't have five stars and Josephine's only had four. Even if Rufus did decide he wanted to eat here he wouldn't eat with the rest of the restaurant, he would demand a separate room for himself. Rude sat across from Reno at their two person table, taking his menu with a small smile. He browsed the menu needlessly; he knew what he wanted to order before he had ever set foot in the place. He almost always got the same thing; a medium rare steak with potatoes and peas. It was his favorite thing on the menu.
Reno didn't even bother looking at the menu, watching Rude instead. How would he defend the fact that he hadn't used Rude without letting slip that he had loved him and still did despite his attempts to make himself love Rufus? He looked at the bandage on his hand, knowing why he could never really be in love with Rufus or have Rufus in love with him. No one could love Rufus without loving his damned guard hound and Reno was not a furry animal person. Give him a pet with scales and slime and he was perfectly happy, give him a fluffy, shedding, four-legged monstrosity and he would rather choke himself on a rusty spoon than pet the thing. Furry animals hated Reno as well; when he was six a cat had made itself his mortal enemy by scratching his arm to pieces when he tried to pet it and since then he had never loved an animal with fur and fluff. He couldn't even stand bunny rabbits. He was an amphibian, insect, and reptile man and that was all there was too it. Rude didn't have any pets, something Reno had missed while he was busy screwing Rufus; Dark Nation had a habit of trying to scratch and claw her way through the door while they did the horizontal monster mash and it drove him crazy. He didn't like it when animal noises interrupted the symphony of slapping flesh playing out around him. It wasn't a kink of his.
They ordered quickly and the waitress jotted their choices down with a happy smile. Rude waited until she had brought them their drinks to start the conversation. "So, where to start?"
"Start with the fact that I have never used you." Reno frowned as he took a sip of his soda.
"Can't start with a lie, Reno." Rude stirred his tea, watching the small whirlpool that formed on the top.
"It's not a lie. It's the truth." Reno did not like being called a liar.
Rude looked up, pulling his sunglasses off with a weary sigh. "Then why did you say we never had a relationship?"
"Because it's true!" Reno frowned, stomach twisting in regret. He could apologize for what he had said, but that would be like taking the nail out of a piece of wood; the wound would always be there no matter what it was covered up with.
Rude grit his teeth, taking a drink to give himself a moment to think on his word choice. "So you say you never used me for sex even though you say we never had a relationship? You made me think we had a relationship even though we couldn't show it at work. Whenever we went out together you were all over me and we had fun; but at work you were cold and distant. I thought you were just trying to be professional for once so I didn't say anything."
"We were fuck-buddies, Rude, not boyfriends. I thought you understood that." Reno couldn't force his eyes to meet Rude's, not when his sunglasses were off.
"The definition of fuck-buddies is people who use each other for sex." Rude frowned softly, staring at Reno in the hopes that he would eventually be able to see what he was thinking.
Reno flinched, his jaw clenched tightly. "I didn't use you."
"But it was only sex for you. Nothing else. I was a means to an end." Rude frowned, stirring his tea faster.
"I…it's not like that!" Reno looked up, eyes teary. Why wouldn't Rude just leave things as they were? Weren't they both happier this way? He had to admit he wasn't, but he had to at least think that Rude benefited from his desertion.
"You mean it wasn't like that. It's over; you pulled the plug on us." Rude frowned, his voice steady and quiet.
Reno sighed, his heart heavy. "It didn't feel right, Rude. You know it didn't. We only ever had sex; even if we had bar time together before we had sex we still only ever had sex. We didn't date, we didn't cuddle afterwards; we only ever had sex."
"That isn't my fault. You're the one who kept leaving. I asked you if you would go to dinner with me, you kept saying no. You wouldn't let me make it a relationship." Rude tried to keep the bitter venom out of his voice and failed, his words laced with it.
Reno looked Rude in the eye, his reasoning finally found. He couldn't ignore the anger and sadness mixed into Rude's normally stoic voice; once the glasses came off Rude's emotions were let out and ignoring them was futile and painful. "I was scared to let it go further."
"Why?" Rude locked eyes with Reno, trying to remember the last time they had looked each other in the eye.
"It…I didn't want to drop you but I thought that if I didn't you'd drop me. I don't want to be rejected by you." Reno averted his eyes now, too embarrassed by his admission to keep looking at Rude's honey brown eyes. "I actually give a damn about you, that's why I can't be in a relationship with you."
Rude blinked, an eyebrow raised. "That is the most fucked up logic I have ever heard."
Reno couldn't help but let out a weak laugh, glad that the waitress was bringing food that would distract them both. "I know, right?"
Rude nodded and waited for the waitress to finish setting out their food before continuing. "So what if I don't reject you? What then?"
"I don't know what then, okay?" Reno stabbed his spoon into his soup, brows furrowed. He really didn't know what to do.
"So even if I tell you I love you and don't have any intention of giving up on you, you still won't be with me?" Rude sighed, cutting his steak. He wanted to at least try and act uninjured by Reno's screwed up perspective.
Reno stirred his soup and nodded, still teary eyed. "No. I won't. I'm with Rufus now."
"And what happens if Rufus finds someone else?" Rude frowned, "You said you don't like being dropped and we both know Rufus is going to drop you."
"I don't give a shit if he drops me, I'm not actually in lo-…I don't actually have feelings for him. Not even as a friend." Reno had almost blurted the L word; he didn't like saying the L word.
Rude caught Reno's stumble over the word love and, even though he was being told a relationship between them would never happen, it lifted his spirits. "Will you at least keep being friends with me?"
"Yeah, I can do that. I miss being friends." Reno smiled softly, slurping at his soup as the tension started dissipating.
"Good. I don't want to lose you as a friend either." Rude smiled and chewed his steak. He wasn't going to give up on Reno that easily, but he could take the necessary steps to make Reno his as long as they were still friends. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long to get Reno to be with him again.
They finished their lunch in silence and Rude left the waitress a sizeable tip, his good mood undisturbed by Reno's reluctant stubbornness. He would get what he wanted and that was that; there was no alternative. Rufus would eventually send Reno packing and Reno knew his arms were always open even if he didn't want to be wrapped in them. Rude could wait, he was a patient man. All he had to do was catch Reno on the rebound after Rufus bounced him out of his bed.
Rufus rested his head in Tseng's lap as they lay on the couch, his hand tangled in Dark Nation's fur. She was lying on Tseng's feet, chewing on one of her many toys. Rufus and Tseng were recovering from another round of sex and Dark Nation was basking in their glow with them. Tseng had lost count of how many times they had had sex today; his brain was still foggy with pleasure from their last bout of it. They were dressed now; they were both too tired to go for another round and they knew it so they had decided to call it quits for a few hours. Now they were watching a documentary on the after effects of the Wutain war and discussing what the proper way to inform Reno of their relationship was. Rufus wasn't exactly fond of Tseng's idea. "No, we can't have sex in front of him."
"Why not?" Tseng chuckled softly, his hand roaming through Rufus' silky, well-managed hair.
"Because that's just a shitty way to tell him about us and he'll interrupt. You know how he gets when he gets pissed. Besides, I want to tell him before Dark Nation bites him or something." Rufus stroked Dark Nation's fur happily, listening to her rumble appreciatively around her chew toy.
Tseng nodded and bent down to kiss Rufus' temple. "So how will we tell him, or will we?"
"You said I had to let him know it was over." Rufus raised an eyebrow, confused yet slightly intrigued. If Tseng had suddenly developed an open mind and wanted a threesome he would definitely approve of the idea.
Tseng read Rufus' thoughts from the tone of voice he used and, instead of getting mad, mulled the idea over for a split second before tossing it out. He didn't need them to involve anyone in their sex until he had more time to mark Rufus as his own. The smattering of bruises running the length of the blonde's body wasn't a good enough signature of ownership yet. "Maybe you could get him back together with Rude? I've got an idea for that."
Rufus was somewhat disappointed and he was sure it showed on his face. "What's your idea?"
"Send them on a 'mission' to an isolated location and have them spend a few days waiting on a 'package' from an 'informant'." Tseng air quoted the words mission, package, and informant as he spoke to try and communicate what he meant to Rufus.
Rufus grinned, "So we send them to some cushy little cabin for a week waiting on someone that isn't coming or do we eventually send a package full of condoms and shit?"
"Well we don't need to send them shit, but condoms would be appropriate." Tseng chuckled into Rufus' ear, the hand that had been in Rufus' hair stroking down his side.
Rufus moaned softly and pressed into Tseng's touch, sure that he would never get enough of it. They had had sex six times since that morning and Tseng was still turning him on. It was no wonder he was a pile of over-fucked mush right now. "Sounds like a plan. Should we send them to Modeoheim? It's isolated as hell and cold so they'll have to cuddle for warmth."
"Cuddling is good." Tseng licked Rufus' earlobe, humming softly. "You approve of my plan?"
How could he not when Tseng was seducing him while he plotted it? "Course I do. When don't I approve of your plans?" Rufus turned so that he could capture Tseng's lips with his own, pouting when Tseng pulled back just far enough that he could reach without sitting up and his abdominal muscles were so tired that he could hardly manage to turn himself over. "Tease."
Tseng hummed and gave Rufus a gentle peck on the lips before sitting back fully, his hand pressed against Rufus' shaking stomach muscles. "You like it. We'll set the trip up so that they have to leave tonight. I don't want Reno to accidentally walk in on us."
"Me either." Rufus hummed and closed his eyes, feeling exhaustedly content.
"So it's settled then. We send them to Modeoheim for a week, maybe longer if they don't get together when we want them to." Tseng pulled out his cell and dialed Elena, knowing that she would put the proper paperwork in place for their plan to work. He stroked Rufus' hip as he gave her the order, basking in the warm glow of his euphoria. Things seemed perfect, or at least on their way to being perfect and he reveled in his security with Rufus. The man wasn't going to be leaving him any time soon if they kept having sex the way they were. With Rufus a relationship had to be one part emotional connection and at least three parts sexual desire for it to succeed longer than a month. After that month no one really knew if he changed his tastes, Tseng just knew that past that point everyone was dropped like a bag of bricks. It seemed that in thirty days Rufus grew tired of amazing sex and decided that he actually needed to have more than a physical connection with the person he was with and Tseng had high hopes for his chances at lasting longer than one month. So long as Nation kept every other suitor at bay, especially a red-head who could come back from his trip and decide that Rude wasn't good enough for him again, he had a chance.
Author's Note: Woo! Next chapter done!
Anyone else glad the Reno and Rude had a heart to heart?
Tseng is still going to try and push them together; he's not as patient as Rude is.
Rude's waiting game will now take place in Modeoheim without any interruptions courtesy of Tseng and Rufus. Woo! Tseng and Rufus are meddling in Reno and Rude's affairs!
Who else is excited?