Reno and Rude stood in Tseng's office dusted from head to foot in dirt. "You wanted to see us?"

Tseng gritted his teeth as small clouds of dirt fell around their feet onto his previously pristine carpet, "Would you like to tell me why you are in the state you are in now?"

Reno cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, "But you were there."

"I need a refresher." Tseng's fists clenched on his desk.

Reno sighed, "Okay, we were out on mission and were supposed to blow up this dude and his house. We tied him up and placed some explosives near the load bearing walls and..." Reno shuffled uncomfortably and paused.

"And then?" Tseng purposefully looked at his desk, not risking a look at the filthy pair in front of him to ease the desire to strangle them both.

Rude cleared his throat, "Reno went back in to get his EMR."

"Why?" Tseng's jaw felt like it was going to break from all the pressure he was using grinding his teeth.

"You said if I lost another one you'd 'tan my hide'. I really didn't want to find out what that entailed." Reno shoved his hands in his pockets and eyed the floor.

"I went in to pull him out before the building blew." Rude looked at Tseng with a stoic expression on his face, cracked lopsided dirt covered sunglasses hiding the fear in his eyes.

"I turned my back for one minute. One measly little minute and you two are staggering away from the burning rubble, Reno waving that stupid EMR above his head and shouting, 'It's fine Tseng I got it!'. Tseng sneered, "What the hell were you thinking when you did that?" Tseng stood and leaned towards the two menacingly.

Reno cleared his throat, "I didn't want to have you 'tan my hide'?"

Tseng face-palmed and groaned, "Do your realize how badly you could have been injured?"

"Yes." Reno shifted uncomfortably.

"Do you also realize how badly Rude could have been injured trying to rescue you?" Tseng kept his hand over his face.

"Yes." Reno looked anywhere but at Tseng, guilt shinning in his eyes.

"Do you also realize that you are going to be swimming in paperwork?" Tseng kept his voice threateningly monotone.

"Yes." Reno looked at Rude, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"Get cleaned up and go think about what you've done or something." Tseng growled and sat down, "Send Gareth and Jareth in. I need to speak to them about how they were supervising you." Tseng waved his hand to show them they were dismissed.

"Understood." Rude grabbed Reno's arm and pulled him out of the room.

"How'd it go?" Gareth walked up, lightly coated in dust.

"He's pissed." Reno shook his head, dust flying in all directions.

Gareth groaned, "Damn. Figured he would be."

Jareth ran a hand through his hair, "How much trouble did you get in?"

"We're going to be swimming in paperwork. I think he's too pissed to think of a punishment." Reno sighed.

"It is our fault." Jareth pinched the bridge of his nose, "We shouldn't have let you go back in."

"We watched them set the timer Jareth it said they had five minutes." Gareth frowned, "They should have had enough time."

"Maybe we set them wrong?" Reno scratched his head.

"I watched you set them." It was Jareth's turn to frown, "I've been working with bombs for years and you set them perfectly. Maybe you just set them a little too perfectly."

"Better get in there." Rude interjected, "He's going to break his jaw if he keeps gritting his teeth like that."

Jareth grinned sheepishly, "We'll try to get you out of as much trouble as we can." He tiptoed and kissed Rude, "You go get cleaned up, I'll meet you at your apartment okay?"

Rude nodded, "See you then."

"i better give him back up." Gareth grinned and pecked Reno on the cheek before following Jareth.

They walked towards the elevator in silence, a trail of dirt and ruble following them. "Think Tseng will give us an actual punishment?" Reno slouched against the wall of the elevator.

"No." Rude reached a hand up and brushed some dirt off the top of his head. "It was our first screw up. At least on that scale of screw up."

Reno sighed, "Hope you're right."

"He looked like he was seconds away from sticking your EMR where the sun don't shine though." Rude grinned.

Reno laughed, "Kinky thought."

"Until he turns it on." Rude chuckled.

Reno grimaced, "Yeah, not kinky anymore."

Rude laughed, "Gaia I thought we were dead."

"When the charges went off or when Tseng got all calm and quiet-like?" Reno was starting to get over the shock of almost dying and was having trouble comprehending the fact that he had only barely made it out alive.

"Both." Rude felt his composure start to slip.

"You feelin' like you're about to fall over too?" Reno grabbed the wall for support.

"I think it's finally starting to hit us how close that was." Rude pulled his sunglasses off and looked at them.

"Those saved your life you know." Reno looked at the glasses in awe, "I'm pretty sure you woulda lost your eye if they hadn't been between you and that brick."

"Yeah." Rude held the glasses tightly in his hand, "Gotta get another pair."

"Hey Rude?" Reno leaned his head back and let it rest on the wall.

"Yeah?" Rude tucked the glasses inside his ripped jacket.

"Thanks. I'm pretty sure I woulda died if you hadn't pulled me outta there." Reno smiled at Rude. "I owe ya one."

"You would have done the same for me." Rude grinned back.

"Doesn't make it any less amazing of you." Reno laughed as the elevator came to a stop. "The janitors are gonna hate us."

Rude looked down at the trail he was leaving as he left the elevator, "How long do you think it will take to get clean?"

Reno looked down at his suit and frowned in concentration, "Three weeks."

Rude snorted, "You exaggerate."

"You won't say that when three weeks from now you go to clean your ears and find the last of the ruble dust." Reno grinned at him as the elevator doors started to slide shut, "Don't have too much fun once Jareth shows up."

"Same to you." Rude chuckled as Reno's smiling face disappeared behind elevator doors. He walked to his apartment and opened the door, his false calm still radiating from his body. He showered and got dressed before sliding into bed, his composure completely deteriorating into chocked sobs muffled by his pillow.

Jareth walked in while later, clean after taking a shower at his own apartment. "Rude?"

"In here." Rude mumbled into his pillow.

Jareth walked in and sat on the bed beside Rude, "You feelin' okay?"

"No." Rude grunted and rolled over, quickly drying his tears on his sleeve, "Almost died."

"I know." Jareth laid down by Rude and wrapped him in a hug, "You're okay though, every things fine."

"Not me." Rude shook his head with a sigh, "Almost didn't save Reno."

Jareth looked up at him, "But you did save him."

"Almost didn't." Rude wrapped an arm around Jareth's shoulders.

"Wanna talk about it? I know when I mess up talking about it makes me feel better." Jareth rubbed Rude's chest comfortingly, "It's like telling a dirty secret. Super embarrassing at first but afterwards you feel loads better."

Rude chuckled, "He went in to get his EMR and I followed him because I thought he was going to get himself hurt. The guy had gotten his arms loose and was tampering with the timer, trying to turn it off and save his house. When I walked in Reno was fighting to get the timer from the guys hands while the guy tried to get Reno's EMR. I managed to punch the guy out but he had reset the timer while they were fighting and we didn't have a ton of time to get out." Rude sighed, "We turned tail and ran but the building exploded when we were about three feet away. Reno nearly had his head taken off by a piece of the wall and I got hit in the face with a brick. Those sunglasses you gave me saved my life by the way." Rude smiled down at Jareth in appreciation.

"Damn." Jareth blushed, "Didn't exactly think those would be life saving glasses or anything."

"They were." Rude grinned.

"You're welcome." Jareth snuggled up close to Rude's side, "You tired?"

"Very." Rude closed his eyes.

"Sleep sound good to you?" Jareth closed his eyes.

"Yeah." Rude readjusted the blankets to cover them both and then fell asleep.

Reno leaned against the wall for support as he made his way to his apartment. He threw everything he had in his pockets on the couch and shed his socks and shoes. He threw his jacket over the edge of the couch and staggered into the bathroom, turning on the scalding water and sat in the tub, still fully clothed. He let the water cascade over his body and pulled himself into a sitting fetal position.

Gareth knocked on Reno's apartment door for five minutes before impatience got the best of him and he let himself in. He shut the door behind him and placed his shoes by Reno's, emptying his own pockets onto the couch. He shed his jacket and set it down on the couch before following the small trail of dirt leading to Reno's bathroom. He pulled back the shower curtain to find Reno curled in on himself, hugging his knees to his chest. "Red?" Reno didn't respond. Gareth slipped off his uniform and climbed in behind Reno, cradling him to his chest and petting his hair, "It's okay red."

Reno shook his head, "Almost got him killed."

Gareth rubbed Reno's shoulder comfortingly, "It's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" Reno looked up, face streaked with dirt, tears, and water, "If I had just remembered to grab my stupid EMR everything would have gone fine."

"Everybody screws up Reno." Gareth smiled comfortingly.

"I don't want to screw up like everybody else." Reno buried his head in Gareth's chest. "This was supposed to be an easy mission. How the hell am I gonna do the big missions if I fuck up the little ones?"

"You'll get used to the pressure red." Gareth rested his head on Reno's.

"I could've gotten him killed though Gareth." Reno wrapped his arms around Gareth and choked back a sob.

Gareth held him close, "You would never let that happen Reno."

"It wasn't a matter of whether or not I let him die. Fact is he almost died and it's my fault." Reno started to shake.

Gareth sat him up and wiped his face off, "Red the fact is he didn't die. You both came close to death and escaped by the seat of your pants." Reno gave a sobbing laugh, "You're going to become very good friends with death as a Turk. Remember what I said before we left?"

"Listen to Tseng and everything will be okay?" Reno quoted dryly.

"Did everything turn out alright?" Gareth cupped Reno's face in his hands.

"Yes." Reno blinked water out of his eyes.

"See?" Gareth kissed Reno soundly, "Just remember one thing for me."

"What?" Reno hiccuped.

"Don't knock on deaths door, ring the bell and run away. He hates that." Gareth winked at him.

Reno laughed, "Good advice."

"Lets get you cleaned up red." Gareth grinned and started unbuttoning Reno's shirt, "you look like you've been rolling in mud."

"You like mud." Reno grinned as Gareth slid his sopping wet shirt off his shoulders.

"I don't like how it tastes though." Gareth grinned and wiped a spot on Reno's neck clean before nipping it.

Reno gasped and grabbed the soap, "We better wash up then."

Gareth pulled off his belt, "I think you're supposed to undress before you get in the shower red."

Reno cleared his throat, "Wasn't thinking."

Gareth pulled off his pants and boxers in one fluid motion. "Don't worry red, I'll make sure you think about it next time." He licked Reno's collar bone with a rakish grin.

Author's Note: Have I ever mentioned that I'm horrible with lemons? I can't write one without blushing and giggling like a school girl and they all sound terribly cheesy to me so I'm leaving this one here. Don't worry, the story will continue and maybe someday I'll feel comfortable enough to write a lemon but for now, you shall just have to use your imagination. ;)