Disclaimer: I don't own jack.

Reno leaned back in Tseng's chair, putting his feet up on the desk. His left arm was slung over his eyes, chin turned up to the ceiling so that the snowy light from the window traced his exposed collarbone and smoothed his jaw line. The light in the office was weak, and shadows found their way into his clothing -- in every crease and wrinkle, the hollow of his throat.

He was tired... they were all tired. Tired of AVALANCHE running them into the ground, of long and uneventful days at work, of Tseng's ridiculously long meetings.... and especially chocolate.

"You want any more, Reno?"

"...ugh." He grimaced, his mouth twitching at the very thought, unable to appreciate Rude's sense of humor at the moment.

Tseng had gone off and left three bored and hungry Turks waiting in his office, so Reno had led them on a food raid (as second-in-command, he had to take initiative). They searched through their drawers and other hiding places for candy, most of which was Valentine's Day chocolate, due to the time of year. Their findings were then dumped on Tseng's desk, where they pulled up chairs and stuffed their faces.

Reno had consumed so much sugar he thought he would lapse into a diabetic coma.

"Where did you buy this one?" Elena asked curiously, choosing a piece from a heart-shaped box of assorted chocolates. "It's an awful expensive brand..." Perhaps she wouldn't have ventured otherwise, but this was one of those few times when she felt more relaxed and composed, not like a bumbling and incompetent rookie.

"Dunno," Reno drawled, momentarily lifting his arm off his face to see her reaction. He cut a bleary-eyed smile. "...I didn't buy it. I found it."

She stopped chewing and looked to Rude, who shrugged. "Not mine," he said.

Elena glanced down at the almost-empty box, then fixed her gaze back on Reno. "What?" he asked, mildly annoyed with the way she was looking at him. But he noticed something behind her, assuming the same wide-eyed expression and taking his feet off the desk just as she sensed someone come into the office.

It was their boss.

"What's this?" Tseng asked in a smooth and potentially dangerous tone, slowing to a stop right next to Elena. He picked up the lid of the box of chocolates she'd been eating, and it was her cue to turn beet-red -- he was starting to, as well, only from anger. "You ATE all of my chocolates?!"

The office had never been so quiet. Rude was still and sober behind his shades and Reno shifted his gaze around, vainly smoothing a crease or two on his blazer with one hand. Elena was just trying to swallow the guilty coating of chocolate on her throat.

Reno was the first to break the unbearable silence, albeit quietly. "We left the coconut ones..."

"NOBODY likes the coconut ones!" Tseng yelled, hitting him over the head with the lid. It didn't particularly hurt, considering it was light cardboard, but it did send an air current that flattened an odd part of his hair.

"Yeesh." He reached up to fix it, as well as his sunglasses which had been knocked askew. "I didn't know it was yours...."

"It was inside my desk," Tseng said through clenched teeth. His lips were curling in at the corners, and that was never a good sign. If he pent up any more anger, Reno was certain, that dot on his forehead as going to change colors.

"Is it that hard to just go out and buy a new one?" he asked, his fingers pale against his scarlet hair. He knew full well that he was treading dangerous water, so he tried to minimize. "It's not THAT big of a deal..."

For a second he thought Tseng would reach out and strike him. "Do you even--" he began heatedly, but stopped and turned to Elena and Rude, remembering they were there. "Leave us," he muttered with a tired wave of his hand.

Rude wordlessly stood up as Elena nodded her "Yes, sir," still obviously ashamed of herself. She fidgeted awkwardly for a moment, remembering that it was not necessary to salute but trying to think of something appropriate to say in apology, and Rude ended up just taking her arm and leading her out of the office.

Tseng turned his attention back to Reno, looking quite tired despite his imposing demeanor. "Get out of my chair," he ordered at length.

He did as he was told without missing a beat, though his boss didn't sit down. He knew that he just liked to exercise his authority, especially when stressed out.

"I didn't buy those chocolates for myself." Tseng said tersely, looking away.

Reno was silent for a while, taken aback. "You mean they were for Elena?" When his superior nodded confirmation, he was surprised. "I had no idea, man... otherwise I wouldn't have -- wait a second, what about the Ancient?"

Tseng sighed, at first looking rather sore with confiding in this way, as if he'd rather tell anyone but him. His hard, slate-blue eyes watched the snow fall outside the window. "I was thinking... and I realized that I wasn't being realistic. I've known her for so long, but the truth is that I could never have her, nothing could ever happen between us. It was just wishful thinking. A waste of my time."

Reno smirked a little, though his eyes were distant and serious, feeling the inward gravity of those words. "You finally came around..."

He nodded, wearing a wry semblance of a smile. "It's not like you let me forget. You told me that Elena liked me twelve times yesterday."

"Oh... right," Reno said, feeling kind of silly. Too much chocolate and coffee did that to him.

"Well," Tseng moved on, "there's no missions lined up for today. No new findings on the Promised Land... or AVALANCHE. I figured we would just take it easy. You're dismissed."

Reno nodded appreciatively. "I'll inform the others," he said in a professional tone, promptly exiting the office. But Rude and Elena were just outside the door.

"He let us off early," Reno informed them, though they had probably overheard. He curiously watched Elena, who had her hands clamped over her mouth, her brown eyes wide, still quite red in the face. "How much did you hear?" he asked Rude.

"Everything."

When it came down to it, he didn't really mind Valentine's Day. Sure, the lovey-dovey and over-commercialized part of it was annoying, especially if you didn't have a significant other. But around this holiday he knew what was on everyone's mind, and he loved to get into their business and see who they liked.... not that he didn't do that any other part of the year.

Reno stood across from Rude in the elevator, leaning against the tinted glass with ill posture, watching him intently. His bald counterpart had his arms crossed, facing down at an angle, nurturing the dead silence between them. It was no fun when he got like this.

"You're awful talkative today, Rude," he said dryly, turning his head a bit to look out over Midgar's white-dusted buildings. The scenery had long since become unimpressive. "I can hardly get a word in edgewise..."

Rude said nothing.

"I get it..." he turned back to face him, one eyebrow raised in scrutiny. "You're thinkin' about her, aren't you?"

After a moment Rude nodded, unable to deny it.

Reno knowingly nodded along with him, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. Then he leaned forward, his brow meaningful and furrowed in concern. "You DO remember that we're supposed to kill her..."

Rude shifted his weight, obviously displeased with the fact. ".......do you agree with what Tseng said? About Aeris..."

He leaned back again, sobered by the question. The lift slowed to a stop at the first floor, and he felt his insides lurch. "...I think he was dead on."

Later Reno was walking the streets, his shoulders narrow and slumped, watching the snow fall in a light and furious torrent, in every direction like misguided butterflies. The snowflakes were loose and clumped together, the kind that broke and splashed down his face. He could watch it, but he could not hear it fall. This city would always overpower a sound so gentle. There were honking horns and sputtering mufflers and machinery activity and varied banter among people. And somewhere there was always steel scraping steel, trains endlessly following their tracks.

He could see his breath crystallize in the air and feel the wind touching his face, putting some healthy color in his cheeks. The cold breeze reached inside his collar and tucked against his shoulder blade, sending unpleasant shivers down his spine and causing him to pull his jacket tighter about him. It only seemed to sharpen his thoughts.

It was really very silly, the way his comrades were all chasing love.

Such a sentiment didn't have a place in their lives, he'd always thought. Wasn't it a sign of weakness? A Turk is unmovable, smooth as jazz, all panther footfalls and harmonious with the black and silken night, and they strike like a viper. Why, then, were they pursuing the very thing that would make them vulnerable? It was a flaw in the disposition of a Turk. Surely he wasn't the only one who saw this.

He could write it off as a farce, but that didn't stop him from wanting it, though in a way he felt that he knew it already. That wonderful and consuming, almost painful feeling, he feared it had risen unbidden and struck him, too. All the same hopeless and hopeful, he knew it well -- almost as if he could have her all to himself, that he could ditch Now and find Forever. But the way he lived, with what he did with uncaring hands, he was only fooling himself...

Tseng had given up because he knew it could never be.

Reno knew how it went. He had never seen something so beautiful, but he all the same he knew he could never have it. That flower would only break in his hands.

He stopped at the corner, sucking in cold air, almost afraid to see the petals that might lay at his feet if he looked down. The rumblings of a passing train grew louder until it filled his ears and resounded in his ribcage, urgent and unsettling, and he felt his heart pump lead.

He took one last look toward the Shinra Headquarters and sighed before moving on. At this time of year he wasn't the only trace of red in Midgar... but as long as he would walk along these streets, he would always be an only rose amidst the gray and lonely buildings rising out of smog and industrial shadow.

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Notes: The edges are a bit rough, but it's my first Turks fic! ^_^ I'd decided to stray from my main project for a while. I was kind of in a hurry to finish it, too.... by the end it was a little darker than I meant it to be, but oh well. I didn't say who exactly Reno fell for(if it's Elena it'd be one heck of a mess), so it's open to interpretation. Hope it didn't turn out too shabby... feedback? *poke poke*

Anyway, happy Valentine's Day/Hallmark Day/Single's Awareness Day, whatever you care to call it! =D