To desire what one doesn't have is normal.
To take what is desired is natural.
To decide what is worth having and what is worth taking is necessary. - me
"More Than Friends"
Elena woke up to an empty bed. There were traces of aftershave and cigarette smoke in the air, along with something not as pleasant. Something burning.
"Fuck, OH! Shit, shit shit," she heard Reno yelling from the small kitchen of their two bedroom apartment. She pushed herself out of the bed and yawned/streached as she stood up. "Quarter past nine and he's already messed something up," she thought to herself. She tiptoed up behind him and stopped when she saw what the source of profanity had done.
He turned around to face her, and walked past, leaving on the burner a pan with something that could have once been scrambed eggs. She couldn't stop herself from laughing.
Reno threw the bathroom door closed with enough force it should've broke clean from the hinges. "Dammit," he said aloud to himself, loud enough he knew she'd hear. "I always fuck everything up! Why the fuck can't I do one fucking thing right?" Elena walked over to the door and leaned forward on it. "So what? I can't cook either, it's nothing to freak out over." "It's different," he whined. "I wanted to be all gentleman like and surprise you with breakfast. Pfh, guess I fucked that up royally." She smiled. "Tell you what, why don't we just walk across the street and go to Dennys?" It was Reno's turn to smile. He stood up and walked over to the door. "I guess... I do like their coffee... Sure, I ..." he opened the door and jumped back as Elena toppled in onto the floor. Before he understood why she was laying on the floor she got up and dusted herself off. "Well, we should get dressed then," she said and smiled as she tried to push him out of the bathroom. "What the hell.
I'm already..." "GET OUT," she screamed, trying not to laugh. "I need to pee!" "Mmhmm..." he thought for a second about tickling her and seeing if she'd pee her pants, but instead he got out and went to change.
When Elena re-emerged from the bathroom she smiled as she saw Reno sitting at the kitchen table, smoking, wearing a competely different outfit. Green hoodie, black carpender jeans, black converse and a black trucker cap. She had never seen him before in anything but their blue suits. He actully looked like a normal college kid... besides his long fire-engine red hair, which was pulled through the back of the cap, go figure. He broke her thought bubble with a devilish smirk and his usual sarcasim. "So El, you think they'll let you in with your jammies on?" She ignored the comment, wakled to her room to dig into her drawer for clean clothes, then walked back into the bathroom to change. "Aww, what? It's not like I've never seen a lady butt before," he heckled after her.
The second time Elena opened the door Reno, who was now laying on her bed, nearly choked on his cigarette. She simply walked past him for her shoes. He sat up and couldn't help but stare at his only female co-worker. She was dressed in a white baby doll tshirt, light-blue low-rise cargo jeans, pink converse, and her hair up in pigtails. He had never seen her dressed so much like a normal girl before... It was easy to deal with her in their unisex, ugly ass blue suits, but this was that distraction thing Tseng warned him about constantly. "How'd it go again," he wondered. "Oh yeah, women don't work for the Turks because the men'll get distracted. I'm always distracted anyhow...alcohol, nicoteen, shiny objects, boobs... oh, yeah."
Elena now stood in front of Reno and was wondering what was wrong with him. He was staring into space mumbling something about boobs. She pulled the cig out from between his lips and he snapped back to reality. "HEY," he yelped, "I wasn't done with that!" "Weren't we leaving," she asked, teasingly waving the remaining butt in front of his nose. "Or would you rather stay here and talk to your butt?" Reno grinned at that and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down on top of him. "I'd rather stay here and talk to your butt," he giggled. She laughed at that and lay her hands and head on his chest.
"Actually, I really wouldn't mind spending the day naked talking to each others butts, but my tummy's hungry." He thought for a minute, then laughed. "Yeah, I'm majorly hungry too... lets get going."
Usually crowded with people and overbursting with voices, the early morning crowd hadn't arrived yet and the place was deserted besides them , a truck driver, and a pair of old women . Breakfast wasn't very interesting. Reno ordered coffee (and added six sugar packets to it) and a cheesecake which he halfed with Elena. Elena ordered orange juice and a breakfast plate which she forced Reno to take half. They ate in basic silence, occasionally looking up at eachother and smiling. Despite the silence, Reno's mind was swirling with things to say -cute, funny things he would never be allowed to say to her at work- but his mind stumbled with his words and couldn't grasp the phrasing, and he sadly kept his silence. Elena wanted so badly to grab his hand, just hold it, and tell him what she was thinking -about how nice he looked, how good he smelled, the little things people do to let others know they care about each other- but instead she bit her lip and stared at her half drank glass. They finished eating and Reno counted out the gil plus tip and handed it to the waiting tablemonkey, and they left.
"Where you wanna go now," Reno asked as they stood outside the building. Elena thought for a moment. "I'm not sure," she finally answered him. "Mabey we should try to find the hall they're holding todays meeting at?" Reno shoved his hands in his shirt's kangaroo pocket and slowly rocked on his heels. "Mmm, Idunno El. Ya think it's safe" "Why wouldn't it be," she asked. "Um, hello, Tseng tried to kill me yesterday, remember" he answered with a partially consealed smile. "I know," she replied, "But shouldn't we go anyway, I mean, you're supposed to present a speech and stuff, right?" He blinked hard and shook his head. "Okay, if you want to go and spend the day flirting with your loverboy, go for it, I ain't stopping you. I, on the other hand, am not going. They can suspend my paycheks for a month, I could care less. I have nothing to say to any of them" She put her hand on his arm. "Fine, whatever. Then pick a place and take me with you. I don't care where, let's just go have fun." The grin he flashed her would stay locked in her memories for a long time to come.
Elena could not believe that Reno had taken her to a bar. What she could not believe moreso than that, was that nobody carded her. The employees all greeted Reno by name with smiles, and welcomed the short blonde as family. "Hey, I see you finally landed a healthy one," the bartender laughed and slapped Reno on the back.Reno blushed. Elena looked slightly confused, was he calling her fat, or was he just used to seeing the usual -women- Reno dated. She decided the latter and smiled. Then, she did something of her usual stupid nature. "I'm nineteen," she stated as the bartender shook her hand. He stared at her. Reno slapped his forhead. "Elena," he grabbed her arm and wispered, "Nobody gives a fuck. I always pay cash, they love me here. If you want to come here and drink with me, you'll be careful with your tounge. Okay?" "Okay," she said, "Sorry." They stared at eachother for a moment, then Reno laughed and sat down at the counter. Elena sat down next to him. "What'll it be today," the lady behind the counter asked. Elena stared at the girl- she must have been the same age as Reno, she had bright blue hair with white streaks, piercings everywhere, and she must have been covered 95 in tattoos. Needless to say, Elena was shocked. "I'll have a White Russian, and... she'll take a Black Pixie," Reno ordered. Elena snapped out of her transfixion and aimed her confusion at Reno. "What's a Black Pixie?" He smiled. "I know you'll like it, don't worry. If you don't, we can just share... Okies?" She smiled nervously. "Okies."
The drinks were served and they took them to a back corner booth. Elena watched as Reno turned all his attention to his drink. She felt out of place, like a lost child in an adult world. She ran her fingers down the side of the glass, trying to summon the courage to take a drink. She had never had any alcohol other than beer, and she had never been drunk. She couldn't decide if it would be a good choice for her to get drunk with Reno. He always drinks until he's far past drunk, falling over and passing out, it doesn't matter to him, she thought to herself. Suddenly his hand was on her shoulder, and she jumped at his voice. "It's not gonna bite you El, just take a little sip." She looked down and slowly reached for the straw. "No, not like that, you gotta get the sugar too" he startled her again. She was so nervous she was shaking, almost near tears. "Geez El, relax, it's okay. Nothings going to happen. Don't if you don't want to. You're the one who said whatever I wanted to do, and this is my style of fun..." "I know," she said nervously. "I trust you" She lifted the glass and took a drink. Setting the glass back down, she smiled and looked up at him. The look on his face was priceless, almost like the look a parent gets the first time their baby takes it's first step. "And?" "And... it's really yummy," she giggled to him. His goofy smirk turned into a genuine proud smile. "C'mon, gimme a hug ." They stood up and they hugged. She wasn't sure if it was whatever she had just drank, but she didn't want to let go.
Three hours passed and they talked about everything - where they grew up, what their home lifes had been like before joining the Shinra Corporation, what their plans for the future had once been. They laughed and cried together. Reno sped through six more drinks, and Elena passed through her first and half of a second. She wan't sure why he was being so open with his life to her, that was something Tseng had told her early on that Turks don't do. "Mabey because he's plastered. Mabey because he's as lonely as me. Mabey because he loves me..." she scratched the last two thoughts and accepted that they were both plastered. At that realization, she laughed. Pretty soon he was laughing too and following that he leaned over the table and kissed her. She took it, held on as long as he stayed, then as he pulled back she said something -she couldn't quite decide if it was her voice saying it, or if some strange being was controlling her voice, she felt strange and fuzzy and disconnected from the world, from everything and everyone but Reno. "Take me," she said, not sure about it but yearning for it, "Take me now, we'll never have this again. I love you." Reno blankly stared at the blonde as tears started falling from her brown eyes, not sure what to say back, and pulled out his wallet. He left her sitting alone as he payed up front and she quickly chugged the last of her drink. He came back just in time to laugh as she tried to get up then fell over. "Easy there babydoll," he teased. " Mabey I should carry you," he asked. She stood up and supported herself against the wall. "I'm fine," she said as she batted her eyelashes at him, trying not to fall over again. "Just to be safe though..." he trailed off and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close against his side. Inside she was melting with happiness. "Off we go then."
They made their way back to their apartment, stumbeling and laughing the whole way. Neither had ever had so much fun doing nothing. But then, nothing is always the best when it is spent with someone you care about.
The moment they were back in their room they were all over eachother. He guided her to the bed and soon was on top of her, gently kissing her neck, her collarbone... reaching up her shirt and fumbleing with her bra. Elena had never felt so... whatever the feeling she was having was called... towards anyone, and was amazed. She reached up and pulled Reno's cap off and tossed it to the side, letting his elbow-length hair fall around his face.She giggled as he pulled her shirt and bra off in one move. She laughed even harder as he proclaimed "Aha! You are a girl! I always had my suspicions! You have boobs!" She rolled her eyes and gently tugged at his shirt. "Your turn!" Reno smirked and winked at her. "With one fatal swoop...and there it goes..." he tossed his shirt to join hers on the floor. Her eyes widened. "I never knew you had one of those," she said, amazed as she eyed the wrap-around on his left bicep. He looked over, obviously having forgotten about it, and smiled. "Oh yeah. I have another one here," he said, turning away from her. On his left shoulderblade was half a black heart, with half of an angel wing completing it. "It's beautiful," she said quietly. "Not as beautiful as you..." he trailed off.
He went back to kissing her. To her lips, his kisses tasted so sweet, like the liquer they had laughed over, the stories they had shared. She no longer held back and let her tounge search his out. His met hers and she felt something... spark. Exhilarating, enticing, something she never could have imagined coming from the redheaded ... something akin to the sparks from his magnarod, lighting her ablaze with new emotion, new feelings. She no longer wanted him, this was no longer childish playing. She needed him.