Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 27: Happy Birthday

Reno yawned and stretched as he rolled over in bed to glance at the clock. If he was lucky, he still had another twenty minutes or so to lay around doing nothing before the alarm blared and Tseng appeared to rouse him for their morning run. He rubbed at bleary eyes until the red, glowing numerals finally came into focus… and promptly sat up in a panic.

“Fuck!” he hissed, shoving the bedclothes aside, and rushing for the closet. He’d forgotten to set the goddamn alarm last night. It was already almost seven. Tseng was gonna kick his ass for missing his run, he just knew it. The aforementioned Turk lieutenant calmly wandered in right about the time the redhead was attempting to pull on his sweatshirt… inside out and with his head halfway up the sleeve before he realized what he was doing. He could hear the senior Turk snickering from his fleecy prison.

“What in Leviathan’s name are you attempting to do?” Tseng asked. Reno wrenched the shirt back off and flipped it the right way around.

“Tch… The fuck’s it look like I’m doin’? I’m tryin’ to get dressed!”

“I wasn’t aware it was such an ordeal for you every morning,” the Wutaiian chuckled, as he sipped his tea.

Reno finally righted his clothes and glared at him. A moment later, his expression turned to confusion.

“Wait… How come you’re not dressed yet?” His mentor was still dressed in black silk pajamas, and looking decidedly as though he intended to remain in that state for awhile longer yet.

“For one thing… It’s Saturday.”

The redhead froze. He looked from Tseng, to the clock, and back at Tseng again for confirmation, and then groaned loudly. Yesterday had been rough – the whole week had been, in fact – but he hadn’t realized it had been that rough. He’d fucking forgotten it was the weekend. Reno flopped back into bed and dragged the covers over his head, intent on going back to sleep for at least another three hours.

“However… I’m afraid I can’t let you go back to bed,” Tseng continued.

“No goddamn running, Tseng. You promised me… Weekends are my time,” he whined back, his voice muffled beneath his blanket. The covers were quickly stolen away from him.

“You’ve forgotten it’s Saturday. Have you also forgotten what else today is?”

The redhead frowned, wracking his brain as he tried to figure out what the hell his mentor was talking about. Nothing of any importance was coming to mind. Tseng chuckled and sat down on the edge of his bed.

“Perhaps I should instead ask you how old you are today?”

“Tch… What? My birthday? You’re draggin’ me out of bed early on a Saturday for that? Why?” he asked, bewildered. Who the fuck cared? It’s not as if anything useful happened once you were seventeen up here.

“Because, as is customary, I have a gift for you. And the earlier we leave, the more time you’ll have to enjoy it.”

Reno blinked in surprise and sat up. Usually, his birthday was just another day. About the only other person who’d ever cared enough to acknowledge it was Lira… at least since his mother had died. There had been years when he’d completely forgotten about it until days or even weeks afterward.

“… You… got me somethin’?”

“I did,” Tseng replied, taking another sip of tea, before standing up and heading for the door. “But you will have to get up and get dressed. I would advise also packing a small bag. We’ll be spending the night.”

---

“So are ya gonna tell me where we’re goin’ or not?”

Reno’s voice had a electric, digitized quality over the headset, but the excitement was plainly audible.

“No. We’ll be landing soon enough,” Tseng replied, allowing himself a small smile, “And leave that right where it is,” he added firmly, when the teenager’s hand snuck towards the blindfold that covered his eyes. The young redhead huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, but scant seconds later a grin crept over his face.

“Can I at least have a hint?”

“No.”

“Aw, come on, Tseng… it’s my birthday. And it’s been, like… hours! Quit torturin’ me!”

Hours. Tseng shook his head. He’d only had the blindfold on for forty-five minutes at the most. He’d insisted on it just before the western continent’s shore had come into view, while they were still over the ocean. The Turks second-in-command chuckled, glancing over at his young rookie fondly. It had been just over five months since he’d pulled the redhead out of the slums, and Tseng still marveled slightly at just how attached to him he’d become.

The now-seventeen-year-old had been so shocked when he’d announced that they would be leaving for a birthday surprise that morning… Tseng had the distinct impression that he’d just assumed no one even knew or cared that today was his birthday. And the fact that it hadn’t really seemed to bother him had cemented the senior Turk’s resolve to make today memorable… which was why his smile widened noticeably as a large structure came into view in the distance.

“I hardly think a blindfolded helicopter ride constitutes torture…”

“Only ’cause you’re not the one wearin’ the blindfold.”

Tseng laughed and banked to the right, circling a small landing zone. “Well, you’ll be happy know, the unspeakable torment I’ve subjected you to is nearly over.” He touched down, and Reno sat up straighter in his seat, as the whine of the engine died away.

“Now can I take I off?”

“Not quite yet.” Tseng unstrapped him, and helped him to the ground, before slipping behind him and guiding him towards the large cable car that would take them the rest of the way. They stepped aboard, and a few moments later, it began to move forward.

“Now can I take it off?” Reno asked insistently. The teenager was practically vibrating by now, desperate to know what was going on.

“In a moment.” He gently urged him into the best position, standing before the large windows at the front of the car, and waited a few more seconds until they’d nearly reached the halfway point.

“Now?!” Reno’s voice was pleading, and Tseng wasn’t certain he could have kept him from tearing it off much longer anyway, even if he’d ordered him not to. He laughed.

“Now.”

The strip of cloth surrendered to the decidedly excessive force rendered upon it, as the redhead intently ripped it away. He blinked, taking in the strange sight ahead of him. It took a moment to register, but then his eyes went wide.

“Whoa…”

The next thing Tseng knew, his rookie was pressed against the glass, looking around wildly as the tram made its way into the station. It settled at the end of the line with a soft thump, and the doors opened, the Gold Saucer’s familiar welcoming music greeting them. He turned back to his mentor, a look of pure joy on his face. “Really?” he asked somewhat breathlessly.

“Happy birthday, Reno,” the Wutaiian Turk chuckled. Reno all but tackled him in an enthusiastic hug, before grabbing his arm and pulling him along into the station.

“We have to do everything…” he said, almost frantically, and Tseng hurried to keep up with him. It would be a miracle if he survived this trip, he mused… but it was already worth it. He snickered as he planted his feet, effectively halting the younger Turk in his mad dash for the entryway.

“Slow down,” he chuckled, and handed the redhead his bag. “The first thing we need to do is check into the hotel so that we don’t have to do it after you’ve run me ragged… which I’m relatively certain you will do in a fairly timely fashion.” He drew a pair of tickets from his own bag and passed one to the rookie. “You’re also going to need this unless you intend to fight your way in.”

The pair made their way into the theme park’s main hub, and Tseng quietly cringed at the sound of the incessant music that played over the loudspeakers. He’d never cared for the Gold Saucer. He found it gaudy, loud, and far too crowded. Reno, however, looked as though he’d just died and gone to heaven. The senior Turk doubted the teen’s eyes could have physically gone any larger, and he seemed almost entranced by his surroundings.

And they weren’t even in the park proper, yet.

“This way,” he said, placing a hand on his rookie’s shoulder and guiding him off towards the tunnel that would take them to the park’s theme hotel. They emerged in a rather convincing graveyard, and Tseng breathed a sigh of relief as the music was finally silenced. Thank Leviathan for small favors…

The Ghost Hotel lobby greeted them with a scream as they passed through the door, and the redhead jumped in surprise, laughing a moment later. The check-in counter was staffed by a zombie, and when the two Turks approached, he calmly set aside a dismembered arm and greeted them.

“Welcome to the Gold Saucer’s Ghost Hotel, where our guests are simply dying for a good night’s sleep!” he cackled, and Tseng resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the decidedly cheesy line. “Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes, we do. It will be under Itsudake,” Tseng replied, and within moments, they were handed their keys and ushered upstairs to their room. The Wutaiian set his bag on one of the two beds and glanced around. The room was just as overdone as the rest of the park, but at least it was quiet. Reno seemed to be slightly intrigued by the décor, poking cautiously at a large iron maiden in the corner until it opened revealing a mini-bar.

“Holy crap, this shit’s awesome,” he said, as he turned back, grinning. He nosed through the offerings of the mini-bar – which were also themed – and pulled out one of the overpriced and undersized bottles of liquor, glancing up at his mentor questioningly. Tseng chuckled.

“Go ahead. It is your birthday, after all.”

Reno grinned and plopped onto the other bed, twisting off the cap and tossing back what was, essentially, little more than half a shot of whiskey.

“So what do we do first?!” he asked, excitedly.

“Whatever you wish… There are the chocobo races, the Battle Square, the arcade, the rides, the Event Square… I think, however, we should save the Event Square for this evening. They’ll be serving dinner during the show, and in my experience, limited though it is, it’s usually a very good meal.”

“… I really wanna to ride the roller coaster,” the redhead replied.

---

Reno was virtually bouncing up and down as they approached the front of the line. The wait hadn’t been terribly long, but he was eager to board. Fortunately, the Gold Saucer anticipated that its guests might get impatient, and staff roamed the Square, selling snacks, drinks, and little souvenirs to those in line. The redhead had been introduced to cotton candy… He was presently on his fourth helping, and the sugar was singing in his veins, making his already over-eager mood twice as pronounced.

Tseng hadn’t tried to stop him… though when he’d bought cotton candy number three, Reno had seen him have to almost physically restrain himself from trying to dissuade him, to the point that the rookie couldn’t help but snicker at the older Turk’s expression of near-dismay. Tseng knew, by now, what too much sugar did to the teenager. Reno was naturally high-energy… sugar only enhanced that condition.

At last they reached the front of the line and Reno climbed into the car with his mentor.

“What’s this?” he asked picking up a vaguely gun-shaped device attached to the panel in front of him. Tseng smiled.

“The ride is interactive. I hope you’ve been taking your time on the practice range seriously. There’s a prize at the end for the high score.”

“Awesome…” he grinned, pulling it from it’s holster.

The ride started forward, and Reno soon found himself surrounded by targets… so many, he almost couldn’t decide which to aim for first. That combined with the constant twisting, turning, rising, and falling, along with the frequent fireworks that went off overhead, made things a lot more difficult that he’d thought they’d be. As he landed his first hit, his score popped up on the panel at the front of his car. Twenty points. If he wanted a prize, he was going to have to do a lot better than that.

As they shot past the ghost hotel and down towards the desert that surrounded the theme park, he improved… but he’d still managed only a meager two hundred and forty points. He cried out in surprise as they hit a loop in the track and he found himself momentarily upside down and disoriented. He finally managed to crack five hundred as they started back upwards again, and then, much to his chagrin, screamed as the coaster descended rapidly into a tunnel, which spit them out into an ice cave. The redhead very quickly figured out the that icicles hanging from the ceiling were worth points, too, and in short order doubled his score.

They shot out into the open air again, and a massive cloud of balloons rose up all around them. The other passengers were taking out as many of the easy targets as they could, often before Reno could zero in on one.

“Ignore the balloons,” Tseng suddenly advised him, “Be ready to aim for the propellers.”

Reno held his fire, not sure what propellers his mentor was talking about, but it soon became obvious as a large blimp came into view as they rounded a corner. Twin propellers spun lazily at the back, pushing it slowly forward. It was an awkward angle to hit, but the redhead took aim anyway. His first two shots missed, but the third hit home. His score shot up by over four thousand points and he looked over at Tseng in shock. The Turk chuckled.

“A little secret I learned the last time I was here…” he replied in answer to the unasked question. When the second blimp came into view, Reno was more than ready for it, easily scoring three shots on the tail end of the craft before they’d passed it by.

They spiraled back down again, sailing over an engineered volcano that shot streams of ‘lava’ across the tracks, and then back up, higher and higher into the air. At the very top, the car came to a stop, and a massive UFO appeared in front of them. Every passenger let loose a barrage of shots, and Reno quickly joined in. When the craft exploded moments later, he laughed in triumph and glanced down at his score again. He was at a whopping twenty-one thousand points!

Without warning, the car jolted forward again, and the rookie found the ground rushing up towards him fast as it went into a near-vertical dive. He couldn’t help it. He screamed… as did just about everyone else on board. It quickly turned to laughter as the coaster leveled out, and then sent them through a series of loops before finally slowing and pulling back into the Square.

“That. Was. Fucking AWESOME!” he said, grinning widely as he got to his feet, staggering slightly from the dizzying effects of the last stretch of track. Tseng quickly steadied him.

“Congratulations!” a woman said, approaching them from the ticket booth, “You’ve got the high score for this ride! Come and pick your prize…”

Reno laughed and followed her to the counter. The back wall of the booth was lined with various prizes. Figurines shaped like dragons and nibelwolves and behemoths… vouchers for GP – the Gold Saucer’s in-house currency – to spend on other attactions… Gold Saucer t-shirts and water bottles and hats and bags… Miniature replicas of famous weapons, including the Masamune… And then there were the toys. Stuffed moogles, stuffed cactaurs… he paused a moment, his gaze lingering… stuffed chocobos wearing a tiny Gold Saucer t-shirt. Lira’d go nuts over that if he got it for her.

“That one,” he said, pointing to the large yellow bird, and was happily handed his prize.

“I thought I heard tell that you didn’t care much for chocobos,” Tseng said as they walked away. Reno shrugged.

“Hate ’em. ‘Specially that feathered fucker that ate my phone. But Lira’s crazy for ’em. I thought I’d bring somethin’ back for her.”

“Ahh… I see,” Tseng chuckled. They made their way out of the Square and headed for the arcade. Wonder Square was utterly packed. Reno hurried over to check out the games. The redhead soon found a snowboarding game and hopped onto the machine to give it a try, while Tseng hung back a bit, watching.

They spent the next two hours alternately playing games and snacking on what Reno was sure his mentor considered to be hideously unhealthy fare. By the time he’d made several circuits around the machines, Reno had racked up a fairly impressive amount of GP. He grinned widely as he scanned the list of prizes he could chose from.

“You could save that for the other attractions,” Tseng noted, somewhat teasingly, as if he never really expected the redhead to agree to any such ludicrous idea. Reno snickered.

“Yeah…” he agreed, with a slightly manic smile, “Or I could get that.”

He pointed to to the prize board, and Tseng saw what he had in mind. The Turk lieutenant laughed and shook his head.

“Fine. It’s your birthday. Get what you want.”

The redhead returned to him several minutes later, with several hundred GP less on his account, and a Golden Ticket lifetime pass to the Gold Saucer in hand.

“I take it, then, that you’re enjoying yourself?” Tseng asked, as they headed out of the Wonder Square, on to the next area of the park.

“This place is amazing,” his rookie replied. He glanced up at his mentor, still smiling. “… Tseng… Thanks for this.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

“I really mean it. This is probably the best birthday I’ve ever had.” He swallowed sharply as emotion briefly threatened to get the best of him. He really did mean it. Tseng had already given him so much in the relatively short time they’d known one another. And now all this… Tseng could have spent a nice quiet weekend at home, maybe just taken him out for a birthday dinner or something simple. Even that would have been more than Reno had been expecting that morning. Instead, he’d brought him here. Somewhere that the redhead suspected the senior Turk would probably rather not be for any great length of time under most circumstances… and it was for the sole purpose of making him happy. Reno felt a hand come to rest gently on his shoulder.

“Come. Let’s go and put your prizes in our room, and then find something for lunch,” Tseng replied, smiling. “Perhaps you can subsist entirely on cotton candy and chocolate covered… everything… but I require actual food once in awhile.”

---

Reno bit back a yawn as they trudged back toward the Ghost Hotel later that night. He’d ridden everything. Played every game. He’d even stopped for a little while to watch the chocobo races, just to say that he’d seen them. They two Turks had covered every inch of the Gold Saucer, from the gondola in the Round Square, to dinner and a show at the Event Square.

“I wanna come here every birthday from now on,” he said, grinning over at his – somewhat exhausted-looking – mentor as he unlocked the door to their room. Tseng sighed faintly.

“Of course you do,” he teased, feigning exasperation. Reno followed him inside, and Tseng sat down on the edge of his bed, toeing off his shoes and laying back with a quiet groan of relief. “Strange… I don’t believe I had anywhere near as much energy as you do when I was seventeen.”

“Yeah… Always been like that,” the redhead replied, peering into the mini-bar. It wasn’t exactly like having an actual bar at his fingertips, but surely there was something easy he could mix up rather than just downing the first bottle he grabbed. After a moment, he shrugged and picked up a three tiny half ounce bottles of whiskey and a can of ginger ale, and set to making himself a whiskey ginger.

“You want anything?” Reno called back over his shoulder, as he added the ginger ale over the whiskey and ice in his glass. When he didn’t receive an answer, and glanced back, only to find Tseng thoroughly passed out right where he’d laid down. He snickered quietly. “Heh… Guess I really did wear ya out…”

He carefully swung the man’s legs up onto the bed and tucked a blanket around him, then finished off his drink, turned off the light, and stripped out of his clothes before crawling beneath his own covers. Reno yawned widely and curled himself into a ball in the center of the bed, content to see his birthday come to an end. Before he knew it, he, too, was sound asleep.

---

Tseng moaned softly and and rolled over. It took him a brief moment to remember where he was, and when he did, he also realized that he’d fallen asleep fully dressed. He pulled himself upright, with a yawn, blearily rubbing his face to help wake himself up more fully, and glanced over at the other bed.

A somewhat amorphous lump disrupted the uniformity of the covers, and it seemed to be snoring very softly, which told him that his young rookie had not yet woken.

They would be leaving shortly. He was almost sad to have to take him home so soon. The redhead’s face had reflected a look of absolute joy the entire time they’d been there. He liked seeing the young man smile. Reno’s happiness was infectious. A person couldn’t help but mirror his mood when he was so jubilant.

But… the trip back to Midgar would take at least three or four hours, and looking over at the skull-shaped alarm clock, Tseng saw that it was already nearly nine in the morning. Veld hadn’t technically approved his use of the company helicopter for this trip – Tseng had simply approved it himself, and left the appropriate form in Veld’s inbox after the Turk leader had left for the day, hoping he wouldn’t look at it too closely on Monday. He was only bending the rules, really… not breaking them. Though, he had to admit, he was bending them rather far, and the sooner the aircraft was returned, the better.

The gentle snoring ceased and the lump in the other bed stirred slightly. A moment later a shock of red poked itself out from beneath the blankets, and sleepy blue eyes gazed over at him.

“If you’re awake, we should go and get breakfast. We’ll need to leave soon.”

Reno stretched his arms over his head until his shoulders gave a satisfying crack.

“Hey, just cause I’m up doesn’t mean I’m awake yet,” he snickered. He yawned and then sat there for a moment, looking at Tseng. “… Um… Any chance we could maybe get in one more ride after we eat?”

“I suppose. Which one?”

“Heh… Wanted to take another crack at the roller coaster ‘n see if I can top my score.”

Tseng shook his head and chuckled. “After a steady diet of sugar and fried food, I think my stomach would prefer we do that before we eat.”

“Either way,” Reno grinned.

---

It was nearly four in the afternoon by the time they finally walked through the door of their shared apartment. Tseng had landed in Costa del Sol on the pretense of refueling… the brief stopover had turned into lunch on the beach, as well, before they were finally on their way again.

Reno tossed his bag onto his bed, and laughed slightly as he surveyed his little collection of prizes. Aside from the stuffed chocobo for Lira and the Golden Ticket for himself, he’d also managed to pick up several t-shirts, a miniature Masamune – his prize from his last ride on the roller coaster – and a plush moogle, that he planned on gifting to Saya as a thank you for her help on the shooting range over the last few weeks.

Satisfied with his haul, he wandered out into the living room, and then into the kitchen where Tseng was reaching for one of the takeout menus stuck with magnets to the side of the fridge.

“Not cookin’ tonight?” the redhead asked. Tseng laughed.

“Seeing as it’s a special occasion, I thought I might spare you. Do you have a preference?” he asked, holding up fliers for the redhead’s favorite pizza place, and a nearby Wutaiian restaurant.

“Ya gotta ask?” he replied. Tseng smirked.

“Wutaiian it is,” he replied.

“H-hey! That’s not what I meant!”

The Turk lieutenant chuckled and set the restaurant’s menu aside, reaching for his PHS to place an order for pizza instead. Reno grinned, and before he really realized what he was doing, he was hugging Tseng tightly.

“Thank you,” he whispered. A hand brushed his hair.

“It’s only pizza,” Tseng teased, gently.

“I mean for everything.”

~end chapter 27~