Life went on. Shinra assisted the former AVALANCHE members with putting the pieces of Edge back together, and Rufus finally purchased an office building in the city rather than continue basing his operations out of Healin. His Turks were greatly pleased, finally able to lease apartments in Edge now that the remnants had been dealt with. And true to his word, when Rude's back had healed and Elena and Tseng were back to their full strength, Reno made them all promise to go out drinking that weekend, which was how Rude found himself uncomfortably squeezed between Reno and Cissnei at a large table in the dimly-lit Seventh Heaven. Reno was telling a story about fucking a guy in the bathroom of a club in Midgar and getting discovered by the man's boyfriend, and Rude was growing distinctly more irritated with how wriggly his partner was at the moment.
"And so I'm standin' there, caught with my fuckin' pants down, literally, and this guy's boyfriend—who's a damn ugly fucker, by the way—is just staring at me buried in his boyfriend's ass—"
"Ew, Reno, you don't have to give us the details," Elena interrupted, waving her hands at him, but she and Cissnei were giggling.
"No, listen," the redhead continued. "So the guy chooses right then, when his boy had just flung open the bathroom door to find me fuckin' him, he chooses then to come, and—"
"That's enough, Reno," Tseng said loudly. "Don't sully the women's ears with your stories of debauchery."
Reno grinned at him, his cheeks flushed a little from alcohol. "Ya sure I'm not just makin' ya hard, boss man?"
Before Tseng could kill his partner, Rude shoved Reno's face back in his drink to silence him. It did the trick, but unfortunately also made him even more handsy, and Rude stiffened when he felt Reno's hand gliding up his thigh. He was wedged against Cissnei and had nowhere to run, so Rude figured he had three options: let Reno do what he wanted and hope he didn't go too far, break his hand, or excuse himself to the bathroom. He chose the bathroom.
He hadn't drunk much that night. One of them had to stay sober, and it was usually either him or Tseng, but Tseng had deserved a chance to loosen his tie, so to speak, so Rude was the sober one tonight. Not that he minded, since he was careful about how much he drank ever since Reno had teased him about what he may or may not have said while under the influence. The only downside was that it made a drunk Reno that much harder to deal with. Rude splashed some water on his face, trying to forget the feeling of Reno's long, spidery fingers as they traced their way up his leg.
"You okay, partner?" came a low voice, and looked up to see the very man he'd just been thinking about, leaning against the bathroom door in his loose, lazy way, hands in pockets. Rude nodded, rinsing his hands in the tap while Reno did his business at the nearby urinal. "I think Tseng and Elena are having a thing, ya know," the redhead said over his shoulder, pitching his voice a little over the sound of peeing and running water. "Have you seen how they've been acting?"
"Tseng wouldn't," Rude pointed out as Reno finished and zipped up. "He takes his job too seriously." He was heading towards the door, fully intent on leaving Reno to his own devices when the redhead was on him in a flash, pushing him against the bathroom wall.
"I know someone else who takes their job too seriously," Reno purred, rubbing himself along Rude's body like a cat. His shirt was open more than usual, the hard lines of his chest stark and glowing in the dim light of the bathroom. "You should really learn to let go, partner." His lips found Rude's neck, nipping the tendon there before licking a stripe up to his jawline.
Rude stiffened, and to his horror, felt himself begin to harden. Reno's hands started to drift low and Rude forced himself to move, clamping his hands around his partner's upper arms and hauling him away from his neck. "Stop."
Reno wriggled in his grip a little, but Rude was immovable, like a tank. "C'mon," he said when he realized he couldn't get free. "Don'tcha want me to rock your world?" His lips curved up in a smirk.
Rude pushed him away—not gently, but not as hard as he could have—and opened the bathroom door. "I'm not interested, Reno." He went back to his seat, leaving his partner flushed and unsteady, staring after him.
"Reno okay?" Elena asked him when he slid back into the booth next to Cissnei. Rude nodded. "He's drunk off his ass," she continued.
"Reno doesn't half-ass things," Rude affirmed.
"Except his reports," Tseng muttered, taking a sip of his drink. "I'm not giving him the day off because he's hungover. Make sure he comes in, Rude."
Rude nodded as the subject of their musings stumbled back over, half-falling on his lap. The big Turk merely pushed him off, watching out of the corner of his eye as Reno's lips curved around the rim of his whiskey glass and remembering how they'd felt—so briefly—biting at his neck. He didn't realize he was squeezing his own glass until it shattered, forcing shards deep into his palm. Everyone jumped, and Rude bit out a curse at the pain, embarrassed.
"You okay?" asked Cissnei, handing him a handkerchief. It was soaked in seconds.
"Don't worry about it," came a voice. Tifa had stopped by the table to see if they needed a refill. "Happens all the time." She paused. "Well, glasses break all the time. Not too many people squeeze them into powder. Come on to the back and I'll bandage you up."
In the back room, Tifa sat him down and pulled out a first-aid kit, picking the biggest pieces of glass out of his hand with tweezers. "So what's up?" she asked lightly, head bent over her task. "It's not like you to lose control like that."
Rude opened his mouth to make an excuse, then closed it again. "It's Reno," he said finally, somehow finding it easier to tell her than to even admit it to himself. "He's…irritating me."
"How so?" She didn't seemed surprised he was opening up to her, but then again, Tifa's sweetness had that effect on people, and she knew it. It was part of what made her such a good bartender.
"I…don't know."
She eyed him. "Really," she said flatly, clearly not believing him. "He's flirting with you, isn't he?"
Rude shifted a little, and she laughed. "Reno even flirts with me, and I know full well he's gay. He's incorrigible."
He leaned back against the wall, wincing as she dug the tweezers deep. "Yeah."
"So? Are you mad because you don't like him like that, or you do?"
Rude was quiet for a while. "When you're a Turk," he said after a while, "relationships get in the way. They make you do a shitty job."
Tifa stopped in the middle of wrapping a bandage around his hand. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say," she said simply. "Granted, you don't say much, but you always struck me as smarter than that." She resumed wrapping the bandage. "Cloud used to think similarly, and the only thing it made him was miserable." Finishing, Tifa stood, planting her hands on her hips. "I never thought I'd say this, but even Turks deserve to be happy, Rude."
Rude looked down, his jaw tight. Tifa's words had stirred memories he preferred to forget, though she couldn't have known it. She was a sweet girl and he could remember when he still crushed on her, but she didn't know what it was like to be a Turk. He muttered his thanks and left to return to his table, where the others were getting ready to leave.
"I'm not paying for Reno's," Tseng was saying. "He drank more than everyone else combined."
"You stingy ass," Reno grumbled, his words slurred, but he fumbled his wallet out of his pocket, slapping some gil down on the table. "See if I invite you out next time."
"I'll weep from sorrow, I'm sure," Tseng said tonelessly as they left the bar, piling out onto the dark street. Everyone was reasonably steady but Reno, who slipped in a puddle and knocked into Cissnei. Both of them tumbled to the ground, the girl letting out an angry squawk as Reno sprawled on top of her.
"Oh, come on, Ciss! I didn't mean to grab your boob! You know I'm not into that!" Rude heard Reno saying and he stumbled to his feet. Tseng pulled Cissnei to her feet.
"Rude, make sure he gets home safely," the Wutaiian said with a sigh.
Something gave. "I'm not his babysitter," Rude snapped, his voice tight. For the second time that night, everyone stared at him, and he grimaced.
"I know that," Tseng said finally, his voice chilly. "But you live in the same apartment complex, so logically, you'll go there together."
Rude grumbled under his breath but grabbed Reno none too gently by the collar and hauled him unceremoniously away, not bothering with a farewell. He was feeling uncharacteristically mutinous at the moment.
Fending off Reno's wandering hands and drunken words, Rude managed to half-carry, half drag the redhead to their apartment complex and up three flights of stairs, until they reached his front door. Rude dug his hand into Reno's pocket, earning an anticipated dirty innuendo, but he ignored his partner's babbling as he fished around for the apartment key. He unlocked the door and practically shoved Reno inside. Normally he was gracious enough to leave the other man a glass of water on his bedside table and at least make sure he made it to his bed, but Rude was in no such charitable mood at the moment.
He left Reno to his own devices, confident the redhead would at least live until the next day, and stalked up one more floor to his own apartment. As he fumbled the key into the lock, Rude closed his eyes, trying to force himself to calm down. He stepped inside, shutting the door and leaning against it, memories of his partner's suggestive touches doing nothing to calm his thumping heart.
Rude let out a low groan, almost wishing for the days when they were at war, whether it was Sephiroth, AVALANCHE, the remnants, what have you. War and fighting made sense to him. He knew his way around Reno when they were fighting for their lives, trusted no one else more than his partner to have his back. This peace time…Rude shook his head. He hated it. It dredged up memories that he'd worked hard to leave behind, and stirred up feelings he hadn't felt in a long, long time.
Reno was beautiful when he was fighting, and Rude knew it, loved to watch him move through battle like a snake. But feelings and emotions running high in wartime he attributed to adrenaline, or the simple knowledge that they would most likely die soon. It was when those feelings started to bleed over into peaceful times such as now that he got worried. And the bald-faced need that was coursing through him right that moment, making his hands shake and his cock hard in his pants, well, that scared him most of all.
Rude bit down on his lip hard enough to make it bleed as he opened his pants in a rush and took himself in his hand, one of the few vices he allowed himself as a Turk. Relationships were messy, they fucked with his head, but his hand was familiar, knew just where to touch and stroke to have him trembling with need. He rubbed a thumb over the head, inhaling sharply at the spike of pleasure. He tried not to think of Reno, of his pale snowy skin and hard planes of muscle, contrasted with his vivid red hair, his slow, easy smirk and his bright, expressive eyes. He tried not to, but as always, the other man wormed his way into Rude's thoughts as he stroked himself, his breath coming in quiet pants. When he came, it was with a rush and a quiver, doubled over and gasping, nerves fizzling with pleasure. Rude caught his breath and wiped his hand clean, muttering a quiet curse.