He showed up. He actually showed up. The little fucker actually had enough guts to show his face at work.

Rude was pissed, for lack of a better word. He was mad at Reno, and mad at himself for letting the little bastard slip through his fingers again.

Reno came into work, not saying a word, but looking worse than he normally did. It was obvious he hadn't shaved in a couple days, he was tired-looking, and his clothes were wrinkled. He didn't even give Rude so much as a small nod, and instead let himself fall into his desk chair with a hard thud. He pulled the stack of paperwork from his "in" tray and spread it all across his desk with one swipe of his arm as he let his head fall to land on the hard wood.

What the hell was his deal?

Rude wanted to speak up…say something, anything, but he couldn't think of a single damn thing that would make sense coming out of his mouth. He was afraid of saying something and having Reno ignore him…

He wanted to know what happened the night Reno left the bar with Cloud.

Reno let out a long sigh and turned his head to the side, facing away from Rude, and crossed his arms over his stomach.

"H-hey…" said Rude, sitting up a little. "You okay over there?"

Reno nodded, but didn't speak. Rude suddenly wished he weren't so horrible with words…all he wanted was to pour his heart out to the red head at the adjacent desk.

Reno groaned something about 10 minutes later and twitched a little, and Rude knew he had fallen asleep. He couldn't help but smirk.

Reno was horrible like that.

Rude got up and crossed the room to refill his coffee pot, stealing a glance at Reno. He sat back at his own desk, tapping his pen on the table while thousands of butterflies attacked the inside of his stomach.

"I c'n smell you..." Reno mumbled, his leg twitching. Rude shook his head and smirked, looking back down at his paper work. He couldn't focus...who was he trying to kid? There was no way he could look at his work and think ONLY about the work. Anyone with Reno on their mind would have a hard time focusing too.

Reno sat up a few moments later, a piece of paper stuck to the side of his face. He pulled it off to reveal small writing on his face, written backwards, that had been transferred from the paper to his cheek. He rubbed his cheek, unaware that anything was amiss, and tossed the paper into the trash. He brushed a few strands of loose hair from his face and fixed his shirt, sitting up and stretching.

"Have a good nap?" Rude asked, pretending to be focused on his work.

Reno rubbed his face, feeling the two-day-old stubble growing on his face and shook his head. He was either still slightly hung over or half asleep.

"You alright, aibou?"

Again, Reno shook his head, avoiding Rude's eyes. He got up with his coffee mug, going over to the corner of the office to fill it up again.

Fuck, Reno, say something! Rude thought inwardly. For Pete's sake just open your goddamn mouth already! That's never been a problem for you before...


Reno stood over at the coffee pot for quite some time, just...standing there, his back to Rude. For a moment or two, Rude pretended not to notice, just to see if Reno was trying to get attention. But when Reno continued to keep his mouth shut, Rude knew something wasn't right.

"Reno?"

Reno turned around with his coffee and looked at Rude, raising his eyesbrows. "Hm?"

"You alright there, partner? You seem...off."

Reno shook his head and took a sip of coffee, going back to sit at his own desk. "I'm fine, yo. Big weekend."

Rude nodded, pretending to focus back on his work. "Yea, speaking of...how was your weekend?"

Reno set down his coffee, pulling a sheet of paper out of the "in" tray and laying it down in front of himself. "Fine."

"I -uh- heard you were at the bar."

"Yea, I was."

"Uh...so was I. But...you weren't there when I got there."

Reno pulled out a pen, scratching a few things off the page. "Yea, thats 'cause I left, yo."

"Oh. Did you just...go home?"

Reno sighed and set his pen down, looking over at Rude. "I didn't fuck 'im, okay? Is that what you wanna hear, yo? Oh, don't gimme that look. I knew you were at the bar; I fuckin' saw you. I'm not completely blind. Yea, I left with Cloud, and yea, we went back to my place. But I didn't fuck'im." Reno huffed and turned back to his work, taking another sip of his coffee.

Damn. That was the most he had spoken in a week. And for Reno, that was definitely saying something.

"O-Oh." Rude cleared his throat and finished off his coffee.

"I-I couldn't do it, yo," Reno said quietly, causing the older Turk to look over in his direction. "I kept thinkin' about that night at your place."

Rude's face flushed. Say something, idiot. He's not talking! This is your chance to spill your guts! DO IT!!

"If anything, I was doin' the kid a favor," Reno pressed on. "Poor kid's sex starved. Well...not completely, but..." Reno sighed. "...we just fooled around a little, yo. Then he gave me his big sob story on how he misses Zack and shit, and how no matter how hard he tries, the guy keeps coming back into his head..."

Rude was only half listening. The other half of him that wasn't listening was cheering inwardly that Reno and Cloud didn't have sex.

"I dunno, yo," Reno said, "nevermind." He turned back to his work and sighed, not looking back over at Rude.

"R-Reno I love you."

...


Rude looked away. Where the hell did THAT come from? Something inside of him wanted to scream that out for the longest time, and now he had just randomly blurted it out. And now it was out in the open, and Reno was smirking at Rude.

He was smirking!

"Well it's about goddamn time, yo!" Reno exclaimed, getting up from his seat. He rushed over to Rude's desk, leaning down and claiming the older man's mouth with his own. Rude's head was swimming with thoughts. All that mattered at that point was Reno.

"Let's take off early, yo."

XxX

Clothes were strewn in a line from the doorway to the bedroom of Reno's apartment; a white t-shirt, black jackets, black pants, four black socks, and two pair of boxer shorts, one black one blue, littered the floor. Reno and Rude were on the bed, Reno laying on his back with his slender arms stretched over his head, and Rude straddling his slender frame, his strong hands running over Reno's sides, savoring his shape.

"Are you okay?" Rude whispered, massaging the young man's hips where he had been squeezing them painfully less than a few minutes ago. His hips were sure to bruise with that kind of force.

Reno opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get one word out, he felt Rude's strong hands moving slowly up his creamy thigh, his fingers fooling around near Reno's entrance.

"Rude…" Reno whispered, smirking.

Rude leaned down, capturing Reno's lips with his own. Their kiss became so fierce and desperate on Rude's end that Reno soon found his head sinking into the pillow. When he finally pulled back, Reno found himself rather dizzy and breathless. "Aibou…"

Rude smiled, stroking the side of Reno's smooth face with his calloused hand. "Yea?"

Reno smirked, reaching up and touching Rude's arm. "You truly are a work of art, y'know."

"Yea, sure." Rude chuckled, leaning down and kissing his partner gently.

"I've been waiting for you to tell me your true feelings for quite some time, yo," Reno said, shifting under Rude to get comfortable. "I mean…I've felt the same for awhile too."

"I kind of got the hint when you started messin' around with me," said Rude. "Like when you used to joke around with me and pretend to hit on me."

Reno laughed. "I wasn't pretendin', yo, I was practicin'."

Rude laughed as well and lay down beside the red-head, admiring him. This was all he had ever wanted and ever hoped for. Just to be able to lie beside Reno and not say a word. Just look into his eyes and not speak, for hours and hours, not caring about the world and not thinking about anything but those beautiful azure eyes, and the amazing man they belonged to.

"I love you, yo," Reno said quietly, not breaking their gaze.

"Love you too, aibou," Rude whispered, leaning in and kissing Reno gently and preparing for another round of love-making.