Welcome to a belated 10th chapter (well, not really belated... though I try to update weakly, it´s not a given ;-) ). So I hope you enjoy the drama and angsting and tragedy and leave me a review, because this is what keeps me going^^

Thank you very much PfenixB for doing such a great job with the betaing again, I wouldn´t know what to do without you! (certainly being a nervous wreck...)

Enjoy!


10

"That´s where ya livin´?" Cid mumbled, looking up to the house with a frown and killing the engine of his rickety jeep.

"Yes. Anything wrong with that?" was the cranky reply from beside him where Yazoo sat, staring straight through the front window like he had the entire time, arms crossed over his chest and head titled.

"Ya noo, it´s…" the mechanic let his gaze wander over the piles of rubbish lying on the streets, the graffiti on the crumbled, shabby houses, the dirty 'park' on the other side that was occupied by junkies and some young people that looked somewhat dangerous with their bats and tattoos and the openly worn firearms.

The street was filled with noises from a pair screaming at each other and suddenly something crashed right on the pavement.

A few meters ahead an old woman with a babushka and a ragged dress came towards them, pushing an old buggy before her and mumbling something under her breath until she suddenly started to shout obscenities at the buggy and trashed with her old fists against it in a fit of rage. As sudden as the choleric attack had come it was over, the old hag pushing the buggy again and passing their car, mumbling incomprehensible things again.

"…nice," Cid finished his sentence, cig dangling from his open mouth as his eyes warily followed the old woman. He wouldn´t want her to attack his precious car, though maybe he should have been more concerned about the drug dealer and gang members eyeing them from the park.

Clearing his throat, Cid took the car key and opened the door, stepping on the dirty pavement. His district wasn´t top notch either, but this was just… Before Cid could think of an adequate equivalent Yazoo had already passed him, involuntarily leading the way up the stairs to his apartment. When they stepped into the house Cid´s nostrils were greeted with the overwhelming stink of piss and other… body fluids.

Slightly unnerved he followed Yazoo through the dark, swearing when he stumbled over something lying on the way. They choose the not very safe looking stairs in favor of the even less safe looking elevator, for which the mechanic was very thankful, he thought. His opinion changed though, when half way up something grabbed his pants and a throaty voice from below asked if he hadn´t a little money, or drugs would be cool too.

Cid regretted that he hadn´t taken his spear with him, seriously. He´d thought the huge letters on his car, spelling the well known and feared name 'Cid Highwind', would have been enough to spare him any trouble, but oh well. When it came down to it he could still use his very useful fists.

They went down a corridor; the screaming became louder. Cockroaches and other insects were fleeing from them, leaving a small path on the spotty panels.

Eventually Yazoo stopped before a door at the end of the floor.

Cid stood right beside him, arms stemmed at his waist and waiting for the boy to knock or open the door with his key. The youth just stood there for another moment, long hair hiding his expression before a light jerk seemed to go through his body and his knuckles collided with the wood.

Almost instantly the door was widely thrown open and into view came a dishevelled looking redhead with huge bags under his eyes. He stared at the two of them with his mouth open for a second and then he made some strangled sound. Letting go of the door he threw his arms around Yazoo´s lithe body with such force that the youth made a startled step back and Cid almost thought he would attack him.

Seeing the shivering redhead clinging to his boyfriend, the mechanic let his fist sink down, albeit he didn´t let his cool gaze from the guy. If Yazoo so much as yelped Reno would be jelly.

"Oh fuck baby, where have you been?! You have any idea how worried I was?!"

The silver haired young man winced a little at the embrace that made his wounds sting again and tried to gently free himself, throwing Cid a quick look. The man was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, looking repellent and cool.

"I´m sorry," he said quietly, successfully grabbing Reno´s hands and hindering him from clinging to his abused body. "Let´s go inside to discuss matters there, shall we?"

Reno gave a curt nod, dragging Yazoo after him in the apartment, still somewhat agitated. Cid pushed himself from the wall, following.

He rose an eyebrow at the poor room that served as kitchen and living room, but then he remembered how it had been when he had been younger. Material things hadn´t been that important, all that mattered had been being together and being free…

Finally Reno came to notice the mechanic's presence as well, as he turned towards the man, holding out his hand and saying with genuine gratefulness "Thanks so much for taking care of him and bringing him back. You know how the street is, God knows what coulda happened."

Cid eyed the outstretched hand like it was some slimy insect, frostily letting his hands tug under his armpit.

Reno looked a little confused, but then Yazoo stepped in, begging for his attention by drawing him towards the bedroom. "We need to talk."

The mechanic eyed them suspiciously, but remained where he stood since Yazoo had gotten the silent threat that was radiating from the man and chose to stay in his field of sight. Therefore Cid could observe the two of them sitting down on the bed, although he could not hear them.

"What´s wrong baby?" Reno asked with a frown, but also slight anticipation, searching Yazoo´s calm face. Then his own expression became a mixture of resigned, shocked and guilty, as he asked lowly "I didn´t do it again, did I?"

"Yes," Yazoo admitted quietly as Reno suddenly stood from the bed, pacing the room in agitation, one hand rubbing over his mouth.

"Fuck baby I´m so sorry, I really really am! You know I didn´t want to drink, but then the boys just got pushy and we wanted to celebrate the engagement and- fuck I´m so sorry."

He stopped, kneeling down before Yazoo, taking his slender hands and pressing them against his lips, looking up at him in dismay.

"I know that," the youth said softly, with just the slightest trace of resignation in his voice. Just how often did they have this dialogue now?

"Did I… did I do something?" He squeezed Yazoo´s hand in an almost frightened manner. Apparently he had forgotten about the night, which seemed to happen quite often. After the bashing, Reno claimed to not remember anything and Yazoo hadn´t ever questioned that. Maybe because he wanted it to be that way. It was easier to separate the loving, funny Reno from the man that liked to whip him with his belt and…

"Yes," Yazoo answered, thinking if he should tell him what exactly he had done. The little term 'something' was their codeword for 'something that might have to be treated with medical care'. It was funny through what lengths they went just to avoid saying it out loud, pinning it down with words, making it apparent between them. But they never did. They just silently treated the wounds, Reno said that he was sorry (although he never said what exactly he felt sorry for), Yazoo forgave him, life went on.

Reno sighed, shook his head in a sad manner and then stood up to go and get their first aid kit.

Yazoo just watched him, face bare of any emotion, hands folded in his lap.

"You tried to rape me."

The quiet words echoed through the room, sounding heavy and breathy and very strange to Yazoo´s ears, until he noticed that it was him who had said them. He instantly clicked his mouth shut.

Reno was frozen to the spot, his fiery red ponytail falling over the wrinkled black suit that was his trademark.

Then he turned around with wide eyes, mouth hanging open and looking utterly crestfallen and bewildered.

Instantly Yazoo regretted having said anything and went over to him, hugging him to his chest. Reno laid his head against his lover, clung to him again, his whole body shivering as he breathed again "I´m so sorry."

"I know," was all Yazoo said, the words coming out almost automatically, as he stroked over his friend's head in a calming manner.

"I promise I won´t ever touch any alcohol ever again, ya hear me? I swear with my life!"

"I believe you," the other youth replied, not even thinking about if he was lying or not. This was never the question anyway. It never mattered if Reno would actually stay true to his word or not. All that mattered was the hope that he would do so.

Yazoo´s gaze accidently shifted over to Cid, who morosely watched their affections and with a brief movement of his head made clear that it was time to leave now and that he wouldn´t back away from his demand that Yazoo stay with him.

The silver haired youth licked his lips, then looking down at his boyfriend and saying carefully "Reno, I have to go now…"

The redhead looked up, confusion evident on his face "What? Don´t bother princess, ya ain´t have ta do anything, just relax and get some rest, I´ll take care of everything."

Yazoo shot another look at Cid, who impatiently shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Well," he then said to Reno who had let go of him, "I thought that maybe we should have some time to ourselves, to think about things, you know… Mister Highwind was so kind as to offer me to stay with him for a while, so you can have the apartment to yourself." He couldn´t possibly tell him that he was more or less blackmailed to leave, because then he would also have to admit his attempt at robbing Cid´s shop.

"What?" Reno stared at him with disbelieving eyes, lifting his chin a little. Then he gave an exasperated laugh, shaking his head "C´mon Yazoo, I told you that I´m sorry, yo? I really really am."

Yazoo bit his lip, glancing at his damned employer again. Just why did he have to make everything more complicated?

"I know, but we really should-"

"You can´t leave me," the redhead suddenly interrupted and his hand shot out to wrap itself around Yazoo´s wrist in a painful grip. His voice was heavy with fear, imperiousness and despair, all mixing together.

"Reno…" the youth hissed, eyes cast down on the iron grip that held him in place and painfully crushed his fragile wrist.

"You can´t leave me," was the reply, sounding calmer and more confident this time, almost like an adjuratory formula and the squeeze became even harder.

"You´re hurting me." Yazoo winced, trying to free his arm from the painful crush but it wasn´t necessary, because within the next moment Reno found himself pushed against the wall, an arm at his throat pushing his chin up and two piercing blue, very pissed eyes nailing him to the spot.

"Get ya friggin paws off of him, ya hear me pal?" the man growled lowly into the boy´s ear who just gulped, searching for help and an explanation from his boyfriend. Yazoo just blinked at them, too surprised to understand what was going on. He was pulled out of his trance, though, when Cid snapped at him "Get ya things, now!"

The youth blinked again, then turned with a fluid motion and got a plastic back that lay around and went over to some boxes where he gathered a few clothes. He hastily stuffed them into the bag.

When Cid saw that he was finished he let go of Reno who fell to the floor and started coughing because the arm pressing against his windpipe hadn´t left much room to breathe.

With quick strides and a tight expression, Yazoo went out of the room, not looking at Reno anymore and Cid followed, moving backwards until he slammed the door behind him.

Quickly he moved down the stairs to catch up with Yazoo, but the boy was already sitting in his seat, bag in his lap and staring straight out the front window again.

Cid sat down as well, closing the door and starting the engine.

"That was absolutely unnecessary," Yazoo informed him curtly, but the mechanic just sighed and went back on the street to drive them home.

*tbc

Gnarrharrharr, Cid´s getting all protective and Yazoo´s still "I dun wanna face reality... not really." Reno´s like "WTF?!". But it´ll get even better in the next chapter^^

(Sorry, I´m on a sugar high, just ignore me...)

So, on to the reviews of the reviews, my favorite part, yay!

Valitiel: Ah, no I am sorry for having mislead you! They are indeed going back to Yazoo´s and Reno´s apartment, as you could see, but only to get some things. Cid´s not going to let Yazoo live there now, he´s kinda adopted him^^ Cid´s actually really living in this apartment above his shop and his garage, it´s very practical for him. I could imagine that he lived in a house with Shera begfore, but the memories of her were probably too painful for him to live there after her death so he went to another home :)

luvyuyu: Haha, yes, they all have a history. We´ll get to know a little more about it, but since the main focus is on the relationships I won´t indulge too deep into the matter. There might be some traumata left, to add to the drama^^

Koumori-chan: They are a couple, alright XD Difficult and stubborn, but it´s getting better, slowly. I hope it´s not too slow, beacuase I usually like to take my time and make it plausible and they started off not exactly as friends, so it´s unrealistic to make them lovers too soon, I think? Hehe, Cid has a dramatic background of course, it wouldn´t be fun otherwise^^ And you´ll learn about it soon, I promise! Haha, and the force feed comment made me LMAO! I imagined Yazoo tied to a chair, lower lip stuck out and Cid trying to stuff him with baby food XD

kiki-slasha: Oh hello, a new reviewer^^ Thank you for the great feedback, I am glad you enjoy it! I admit, the written dialect is not only hard to read, but to write as well... I am not a native speaker, so I have to be a bit creative and my mental english-editor is crying her eyes out at times -.- I love Renzoo too, very much so, but on the other hand it is fun making Reno the 'bad guy' as well... Well, thank you for the review and I hope you´ll enjoy the next chapters as well!

sareyva: Haha, yes, poor Cid! I bet it took him forever to 'design' it like that and now Yazoo comes and cleanes it all up! XD I haven´t seen your place, but I see mine *side glance*... Well, it´s not that bad, but well... One can always do more cleaning -.- Btw, I have similar experiences like you made, on a regular basis XD I just put things away, preferably somewhere deep and far away because I´m too lazy to throw them away. And seriously, who can say if one day you may not need it again?! We are doing the right thing, I tell you!

Thanks everyone for reviewing and reading, and I´d be delighted if you´d leave me a little feedback :)