Reno @equivocalcongenial - Tumblr Blog

Nathaniel just got obscenely lucky, all of them were certain.

Reno wasn't too big of a tea drinker – he enjoyed it in small portions and would always complain about the insistence of using it for certain things. While he understood that, yes, tea was pretty great for many discomforts he was more likely to continuously dodge Nathaniel than drink it when he didn't want it. Then again? With being apart so long there was also the chance he'd comply a lot easier as well, if for nothing other than to savour a familiar feeling.

Nathaniel's luck returning to its normal state of matters was significantly less surprising than the sudden change. Reno stumbled backward with the shove, the struggle with maintaining his own weight forcing him to terms with being a lot more worn out than he'd realised, and with a small, vaguely amused sound, toppled over onto his ass after a step or two. There wasn't much sound in the way of impact as the fall hadn't been hard; if his legs hadn't been so tired he could have easily kept himself upright with a sway. Reno wasn't built to be graceful, something often reflected in his posture. He dropped his hands onto the ground behind himself as a prop, chest sank beneath the forward angled shoulders and his legs spread with his knees pointed out, left bent. The surprised look on his face only lasted long enough for Rude to clear his throat behind him and, chuckling quietly, Reno twisted to look over a shoulder.

While the other Turks and Shin-Ra employee were busy enough addressing the interruption each in their own way (Tseng scowling at Rude, for example, who had his hands folded and head down), it was Rufus who was staring at them, leaning heavily on one arm of the wheelchair, with the knowing smirk on his face. Reno flipped himself over to get up while waving at the small group with one hand, "All right already," he started, trying his best to sound annoyed, "Show's over. Come on, guys."

#Thread: Coming Home #enduringfortitude

That did certainly make the difference in perspectives extremely wide; Dark Nation wanted to maul the rest of literally everyone else which tended to result in most people, at minimum, being wary of the beast. Dark Nation had been an adapted product bred in the labs to better serve the desired purpose while the rest of its specie were typically feral, vicious animals. A good thing it knew them, that it obeyed its master so well since while they were capable of handling the creatures they were rather dangerous regardless. Still unfortunate for the Turks that weren't Nathaniel and followed dress code as one of the exceptions happened to be the ties. They needed a change of uniform. Hadn't Rufus briefly brought up the idea of updating the look of the IDs as well?

As for 'plenty of chances later' Reno would take every one of them presented. If the question asked hadn't been so important he probably wouldn't have abandoned the chance he might have had. But it had been something they absolutely needed to address – he'd accept whatever the timing may be. He'd been quite surprised when Nathaniel hadn't been among those that discovered them and returned to work, and that he'd been one of those no one could get hold of. He hadn't been able to do anything about it at the time; not when it had become so risky to pass communications.

Old habits died hard; he tended not to release anything he held or uncurl his fingers when he fell. This fight had been no exception to the rule; though they showed other evidence of the fight his hands were missing flesh along the heel and sides, the left his knuckles yet the hand atop his did little to change its placement. The sting of salt barely garnered any priority, remaining less than an afterthought in the face of everything else.

"You're not getting rid of us that easy, yo," Reno added quietly, quickly, preferring how the younger moved to forming a response to 'crazy'. His voice was often only soft in serious situations or in scolding, and though he teased him here it warranted that sort of attention. He kissed him just the same, tender though he had already tried a few moments earlier, savouring how familiar and comforting the feel of Nathaniel's lips were.

Maybe those couple years hadn't been so long after all; the time passed felt like nothing.

But then a voice behind him, in a vaguely annoyed tone, grumbled just loud enough, "About time," and a prompt 'shh' from two others; one nearest the voice and the second from above Nathaniel and Reno on the stairs where a young barista stood. The unfortunate person who had been assigned the task of feeding the president's Hound.

#thread: coming home #i would apologise #but i'm kinda more amused #with tormenting nat #they'll have time later

The worse of it. All right, to be fair, Reno had come down on the younger man quite hard with all the teasing. Was it really worse than getting handed off to him to be beat up? It couldn't have been so bad in the end; it lead them here.

He'd help fix what he could later on if needed, too.

"Only the last part? We can have more of that some other time." Too bad he wasn't particularly good at pouting. Now, Rude... Perhaps it was due to the usually muted expressions or how tough he looked, but Rude made one of the best 'kicked puppy' faces when he wanted. A faint smile was still a smile and Reno's own expression, back to themselves, brightened when he found the small curve upon Nathaniel's lips. He pulled him in by his waist and bent down, tipped his head then paused before going for the steal.

The others?

"Well," he dodged immediately, "I mean."

Reno rolled his eyes and lolled his head to a side, drumming his fingers where they rested. "We did kind of accidentally almost drop my chopper on Cloud's head. It was almost counterproductive. Almost." A lot of emphasis on the 'almost'. He was a bit sore about that – losing his baby and all the years of work he'd put into the helicopter. The others had been glad for it finally being out of the picture with the age of the thing. Speaking of them, why was it taking so long for them to catch up? Were they huddled around the corner and taking bets over how long it would be before Dark Nation became irate and devoured him?

He also acknowledged that tormenting him here was a bit too mean because yes, Nathaniel, that's exactly what it meant. "Yeah, they're alive," Reno echoed those thoughts when he circled around to actually answer. Can’t leave him hanging like that. "A bit worse for wear, I'll warn you, but we brought them home. All of them." The older of the two chucked softly and raised a hand to touch the other's face with stiff fingers, cold from the rain, and lightly followed the shape of his cheek. "Rude and I always get the job done. You know that..." It wasn't so much a chiding tone as it was intended as reassurance, no matter how soft his voice had gone.

#thread: coming home #>v>

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He knew, at least on some level, that he'd deserve being punched if Nathaniel went for it. He knew they probably scared him and the others, and then how long it had gone on... They had very legitimate reasons for it, if that counted for anything. Keeping Rufus alive being one of them? He would still complain even if he wasn't himself above punching the other Turks for lesser reasons when he felt like they deserved it. Or not, because as it happened Reno was the one that the new recruits were handed over to for roughing up, something Nathaniel had by chance avoided when Tseng went to introduce (deliver) him.

In any case they were all excusable and very real incidents, and one after another. It had been a long couple years but he'd get all the details later.

“Thanks for that,” chuckled the redhead, “I bet I do. I thought it was a good look for me, beat up and wet. Guess it’s just me.” He looked down and over the smaller man with the little movements, intending more to remind Nathaniel that he wasn't the only one running around in wet clothes. Instead he picked a little at the smooth fabric of the over-sized clothing, lips curling knowingly as recognition finally settled in.

“This is mine. Pretty sure you missed me.” Bright eyes lifted for his face without raising his head, ignoring him; he should be the one apologising shouldn't he? Reno leaned in a little with a light sway, his hands dropping to find new placement in the curve of the other's waist. “I missed you, too.”

#thread: coming home #enduringfortitude #he'll be okay

With no reaction from the others, it was more than obvious just what Reno was yelling at, the creature moved again, one paw on the step below, pulling it back up and lowering to sit when the Turk tried a longer, drawn out 'stay'. Not for Reno's sake, of course. But he seemed satisfied enough with the settling that he lowered his hands a little from the defensive posture he'd taken up.

The both of them reacted the same to rushed footsteps and snapped to attention, facing the direction they came from rather than staring one another down, Dark standing again. Reno seemed surprised only long enough for Nathaniel to try forming sounds, blinking and stretching his neck forward some with brows raised high. “Guess I'm not the only one out playin' in the rain,” It was more surprising that they'd not run into any of the other Turks until this moment since they always stepped back up to duty. The past couple years made that more difficult than the times before, he knew, and with everyone believing that Rufus had died in Weapon's assault...

It took a moment for it really to settle in and for Reno to move. He looked back over at their boss' protector (he swore it was actually just a grumpy pet to this day), gestured at it again with one palm faced toward it, the other still curled in a loose fist and shaking a finger at the animal as he took a few sideways steps.

One more glance thrown back at Dark Nation, suspicious of being mauled the moment his back was turned, gave enough time for the still lingering energy to convert to excitement and for a lopsided grin to form on his face. With a quick dip in stance Reno hurried toward Nathaniel, slowing only when close and lifting his hands in case the other had moved as well. He'd have grabbed him if he knew he wasn't more worn from the fight than his body wanted to let on right then and didn't think he'd drop him—Reno, though remembering his reservations likely would have otherwise ignored them while under the impression he'd get away with it, instead took him by his upper arms. “Miss me, yo?”

#thread: coming home #shh v.v

You’d think the roads would have cleared out. ‘This is too much for the people to handle’ he had remembered saying a couple of years ago to his leader, partner, and the rookie assigned to them. Well, they seemed pretty resilient to him now; the rains initially drove more of them off the streets than Bahamut and Sephiroth together.

Meanwhile their little group had remained tucked away in an alley as most shuffled off for shelter prior to the healing properties of it being realised, and by time people flooded back out to heal and meet their savior they had made headway into the most basic of plans.

Once the activity faded they took the opportunity to start out, Reno ahead of them and Rude at the back, both still ready to go though there was nothing left to fight.

Reno had discarded his goggles and jacket earlier on, both of which ended up somewhere on Rude's person as he'd gathered them from wherever the redhead decided to abandon them. The lot of them were soaked completely through and with Reno partially out of uniform once-white cloth clung to his skin, bruises visible through the button-down that became translucent in the rain. Blood streaked the fabric in shades of rust and yellow from the water that tried to wash it away, none of it quite fresh any more, darker on rolled sleeves and the bottom edges that he'd used to clean his face and hands with and where it gathered at the seam. They’d have access to usual magical items later of course, all it meant was getting back without further trouble. Tseng and Elena had been with their wounds long enough that they'd carry the scars with them—those injuries were mostly healed by now. Rufus... Well, they shouldn't have handed him over to regular medical care and probably wouldn't have had they any other option at the time.

With the others having been quiet for a while he spun on heel, taking a few backward paces to check how far behind they had fallen and that he hadn't extended the space between them too drastically. These back roads and dark alleys delayed their arrival time, the only downside to staying safer. He turned again to round a corner when they needed to move back out into the open, the old Shin-Ra building one of the first things in sight.

And the second, appearing outside the once-grand entrance, was Dark Nation. The beast had been content to hide away there during those long years and stayed so long as it was brought meat and water, but its hearing was much more sensitive than any natural animal or monster. It recognised the step pattern and became irate, knocking into its current care taker in sudden need to escape. Although not quite in view the scent carried with them was what made it halt at the front stairs.

“No, you stay right there!” Reno shouted, pointing like it would help. “Stay!”

#thread: coming home #oops #enduringfortitude

( enduringfortitude )

Shin-Ra was the majority of Reno's life and in fact he owned almost nothing and devoted so little time to the outside world that he practically lived at the head office; he was one of the first Turks to arrive each day, was almost always the last to leave – if he left at all, and did the majority of his laundry and grooming there unless stationed away. He had plenty of leave to spare yet rarely accepted save regular days off which weren't terribly easy to come by, but he took them just as seriously as his work when they were there.

Sometimes the odd need would arise when he'd be on time either in or out though usually it was...not because he'd scored a date. Reno didn't date, not usually, not in ages. The last may have been well before he became a Turk perhaps back when he'd been starting out as a pilot. Rufus cared so little what they actually did with their lives outside of himself and that combined with Reno's utter lack of professionalism left him with every excuse needed to try with the younger Turk. He'd somehow, and in the surprise of the result forgot exactly how, got a 'yes' to dinner from the well-mannered Nathaniel. Looked as if he were tailoring his schedule to the younger man's tonight and borrowing company transportation since they were leaving from there. Meaning he was going to have someone drop them off, really.

Nearly all of Reno's clothing had buttons and none of it, ignoring what he slept in, would be any form of casual if he closed or tucked it in as it was now. He'd combed some of the product out of his hair, abandoned the aviator goggles and piercing to a table in the baths which was occupied by a few other items of his and settled in the empty lobby atop the left desk. “Oh there you are,” he drawled, the half-smile distorted by the scarred and worn hand that held his head up against a knee, foot on the marble. “Did ya decide where we’re headin’?”

#thread: out for dinner #'-'#years in the making #should have been the title