A Day in the Life

Collection of drabbles.

l l l Part 18 l l l

There had been many times Reno had found himself at the business end of a gun—so much so that he was unaffected by the way the steel barrel pointed coldly in his direction. Judging by the expression on the other man's face, wielding the weapon was nothing new to him, either. They stood less than a foot apart, Reno's arm raised, EMR pulsing in his hand, but he stood still, aware of the immediate danger movement would hasten.

"Reno," the taller man offered.

The Turk lowered his arm but kept the rod armed. "Lazard," he acknowledged.

"To what do I owe the pleasure," the SOLDIER director asked. He was only a few inches taller than the redhead, yet his presence held more authority and caused Reno to take a step back, but he was blocked by the large desk poised behind him.

The blond smirked, but his eyes held a degree of irritation, which wasn't unexpected.

"Uh," Reno slowly smiled, "…reconnaissance?" He admitted—but he grinned at the other man, not feeling the need to lie to him. They'd been in this position many times before. In fact, Reno noted, Lazard was never unaware of Reno's breaking and entering.

"Hm," Lazard nodded slowly, eyeing his desk where a couple files lay open and haphazardly placed.

"I wonder, Reno, if you learned anything the last time you tried this."

Reno only shrugged, turning to grab his cell phone off the desk. "Well, I always like to come and make your day." He didn't attempt to make sense of the paperwork, deciding Lazard could busy himself with it later. Reno had found what he'd been looking for. Clicking off his EMR, he raised an eyebrow at the blond.

Lazard looked the redhead up and down for a moment. "You know," he began, but Reno cut him off.

"Look, this is all fun and shit, yo, this catchin' up and all, but I need to head back." He sidestepped the pistol, moving around the taller figure and headed towards the open door.

"Tell your boss he can come and look for himself next time," Lazard said. They both knew he wasn't talking about Tseng.

Reno frowned, though he didn't turn around nor acknowledge the other man's words.

"Always a pleasure, Reno," Lazard smiled dryly as the Turk exited the room, swinging his EMR by his side, acting casually as if being in the SOLDIER department director's office was nothing new.

l l l

to be continued.