Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 93: The Bitterness of Rivalry

Reno woke to soft skin, and softer lips… lips that were playfully teasing the sensitive strip of skin above his naval. He sighed contentedly, smiling slightly as they began to migrate lower with an agonizing slowness.

“You gonna spend all mornin’ torturin’ me, or am I gonna be gettin’ off from this… ’cause I gotta be at work in like half an hour, ya know.”

A faint giggle emanated from under the covers, and the redhead’s eyes rolled back in his head as he was suddenly engulfed by wet warmth.

“Oh my fucking god, yes…” he groaned, “Fuck it… I’ll be late this mornin’.”

The pleasure was inexplicably withdrawn without warning and the redhead whined in frustration.

“Now, we can’t have that…” Lira chastised him, peeking out from under the sheets. “You said Tseng was going to be announcing your promotion first thing today. Wouldn’t wanna miss that…”

“Liraaaaaa… Come on… You can’t get me goin’ like this ‘n not finish what ya started!” he pleaded. Not that she was likely to actually leave him wanting… but the woman did like to tease. And to be honest, he typically enjoyed it, too. But this morning, he didn’t have the time for it. Lira laughed and slithered up his body until they were face to face again, leaning in and capturing his lips. Reno’s hands caressed her skin, as she shifted position, straddling his waist. That was more like it.

“Tell me you want it…” she demanded in a whisper, her breath softly tickling his cheek. Her fingers coiled around his wrists, firmly moving them over his head, pinning him in place.

“I want it,” Reno replied, breathlessly.

“How bad do you want it?” she giggled.

“Bad enough that if you keep this up, I’m not gonna let you keep playin’ this little game you like so much,” he shot back, grinning evilly, “I’m just gonna roll ya over and fuck ya.”

“You say that as if it were actually an option right now…” Lira snickered. There was a sharp snap above his head, and Reno blinked in momentary confusion. It took him far too long to figure out what she’d just done… but when he did, he groaned loudly.

“Seriously?” he asked, twisting himself slightly until he could see the handcuffs now securing his left wrist to the bed’s headboard. Lira returned his evil grin… with interest.

“Just lay back and let me do all the work, honey. I promise you’re gonna enjoy this…”

---

“Hey,” Rude greeted him as he stepped into the Turk’s lounge later that morning. “Trains running late?”

“Uh… no. No, they’re on time,” Reno snickered, “I kinda had to hunt down a handcuff key before I could get outta the apartment this mornin’. Missed my usual train.”

Rude raised an eyebrow.

“Lira spent the weekend. And found my cuffs. She decided to put ’em to good use right before I had to leave for work.” He grinned widely. “Not that I’m complainin’. She more than made up for it…”

He’d meant it when he’d told Tseng that he wanted his friend to have the spotlight to himself on Friday… but going the whole weekend without telling anyone about his own promotion had very quickly proved too difficult to bear. He’d called Lira on Saturday morning and invited her up to his place to celebrate. Which had essentially meant a weekend of sex, punctuated only by the occasional break to pass out from exhaustion or order food delivery.

The other Turk just snorted quietly in amusement and shook his head.

“You can spare me the details…”

“You sure?” Reno joked, “… ’cause I got details. She was there all weekend.”

“No one want to hear about your degenerate sex life,” Rodney muttered from the couch, rolling his eyes in apparent disgust as he finished off a cup of coffee and set the empty mug aside. “Trust me.”

“Tch… what crawled up your ass this mornin’?” the redhead queried. Apparently the other rookie was in a less than pleasant mood… more so than usual.

Rodney glowered at him and stood up. “Some of us prefer to start our mornings off with a cup of coffee and conversation that reflects a little common decency… Not hearing about how the company bicycle got taken for another ride!” With that, he stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

“Geez… what the hell’s his problem?” Reno asked, slightly bewildered. Rude gave him a confused shrug. The rookie shook his head and snickered softly. “Company bicycle? Ya know… I know that was meant as an insult, but I kinda like that…”

“You would…” Rude laughed as the door to the lounge opened again.

“Hi, guys… What’s up with Rodney?” Cissnei asked as she made her way over to them, “He looked like he was about to punch a wall…”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” the redhead replied, “Just in a shit mood, I guess.”

Cissnei frowned, but apparently decided to drop the subject for the time being. Instead, she turned to Rude. “Well… anyway, how was your weekend? Any more celebrating after the party?”

Rude chuckled and shook his head. “Not really. Called my dad to tell him the news, then spent the rest of the day… after I was done being hungover… trying out some new recipes.”

“And ya didn’t invite me over?” Reno pouted.

“I tried… your phone was in emergency only mode.”

“… Oh. Right. I kinda forgot I did that,” Reno laughed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

“Why weren’t you taking calls?” Cissnei curiously queried, and Rude started laughing.

“You’re better off not asking. He’ll tell you way more than you want to know about it,” he stated, “Reno had a… guest… this weekend.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to know about that?” the rookie asked, clearly not picking up on the innuendo right away. Reno snickered and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Probably ’cause it was the kind of guest that spends most of her time naked and spread eagle on my bed when she visits.”

“… Oh. OH!” Cissnei rolled her eyes. “For Shiva’s sake Reno… can’t you just say that you had a date? You know… like a normal person would?” she laughed.

“I could.”

“But he won’t,” Rude added, “Moving on. Word is Veld has some kind of big announcement in store for the morning briefing.”

Reno blinked. Rude had already found out? His surprise must have shown on his face, because the older Turk suddenly eyed his friend suspiciously for a moment, before lowering his ever-present sunglasses to peer over them and looking the redhead directly in the eye.

“You know what it is, don’t you?” he proclaimed.

“Uh… n-no?” the rookie stammered, caught off guard. Rude folded his arms over his chest and stared him down. “Tch… Okay, yeah. I know what it is.”

“Well?”

“Well, what?” Reno asked, “I’m not sayin’ a damn thing. You’re gonna find out in like…” He paused a moment to glance at his watch. “… fifteen minutes, anyway.”

“Is it about Tseng?” Cissnei ventured, “Is he returning to duty?”

“Or… not returning to duty?” Rude suggested. The redhead groaned, as he quickly realized that if he didn’t nip this in the bud, he was going to inadvertently end up starting a rumor about his mentor.

“It’s not about Tseng, okay?” he said, “And that’s all I’m sayin’.”

Rude looked over at Cissnei. “Go for the legs.”

Before Reno could fully register what the pair was about to do, he found himself on the floor, Cissnei pinning the lower half of his body while Rude restrained his arms. The redhead struggled for a few moments, before deciding that attempting to escape was a wasted effort. He was outnumbered. With a sigh of resignation, he stilled and glared up at the pair of them.

“Tch… And just what are you two gonna do? Torture it outta me?” he asked, sarcastically.

“What’s goin’ on in here?” a voice inquired accusingly from the doorway, and Reno turned his head to see Tres walking into the lounge, a vaguely bemused expression on his face. “Rude? You wanna tell me why you’re pinnin’ a rookie to the floor?”

“… He knows what the announcement is.”

“Oh. Well, in that case…” Tres said, leaning over the redhead and grinning widely, “Carry on.”

“Tch… thanks a lot, Tres…” Reno muttered. “You assholes aren’t gonna get me to talk, ya know…”

“Hmm… You suppose he’s ticklish?” Rude snickered. The redhead smirked. Really, he wasn’t ticklish at all… except for the soles of his feet, at the very top of the arch. That could drive him nuts. But trying it anywhere else didn’t generally get much of a response from him.

“Well, I’d say that’s a no,” Tres commented upon noting the look the redhead was giving them. “Ya know… be a real shame if someone finished off all the coffee before you got your mornin’ fix. You’d have to brew a whole new pot, waitin’ for it to finish, drop by drop… Might not even be ready before the briefing.”

“Lame. ‘Sides… I grabbed some on the way in today since I was runnin’ late anyway. Try again,” Reno laughed. He suddenly heard the door creak open yet again.

“What in Leviathan’s name…” Remy stormed across the room to where the trio was holding Reno down. “What are you three doing to Reno?” she asked, exasperated.

“Tch… Busted,” Tres sighed. “Alright… let ‘im up.”

The hands holding him in place withdrew and the redhead sat up on the floor, a smug grin firmly settling over his features.

“Whywere you restraining him?” Remy demanded.

“Kid knows what the big announcement is,” Tres shrugged.

“So you thought you’d just hold him down until he told you? For Leviathan’s sake, Tres… you don’t need to know everything. If Reno has been told, then it’s for a reason, and one would assume that he was ordered not to say anything. Stop behaving like a child.” She rounded on the other two Turks. “And you two should know better as well.”

Tres held his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright… Take it easy. No harm was meant. We were just havin’ a little fun.”

“Yeah, Remy, come on,” Reno hurriedly piped up in their defense, “We were just fuckin’ around. They weren’t hurtin’ me or anything.”

Remy shook her head and sighed. “Well… stop ‘fucking around’ on the clock. Morning briefing is in five minutes. Surely the three of you can wait that long to find out what Veld wants to tell us.”

She cast one final look at her fellow Turks and then rolled her eyes and made a hasty exit. All four of them were silent until she was gone. Tres was the first of them to burst out laughing. The others wasted no time in following suit.

“Leave it to Remy to spoil a good time,” Tres chuckled as he slowly sobered, several moments later. He glanced over at Reno. “We good? You didn’ttake any of that seriously did ya?”

“Nah. ‘Sides… it was worth it just to see the look on Rude’s ‘n your facea when you found out I knew somethin’ you didn’t for once.”

Tres reached out and ruffled the redhead’s hair.

“Smartass. Alright… like Remy said. Briefing’s in five… ‘n I for one ain’t gonna show up late. Shit better be worth it.”

---

Cissnei followed the group down the hallway towards the briefing room… but broke off as they passed the office she shared with Rodney and stopped to peer inside. The other rookie was seated at his desk, scowling at his computer monitor.

“Rod?” she called out, stepping inside.

“What?” he snapped back.

“… The trip home went that well, huh?” she said in an understanding tone. Rodney’s shoulders sagged.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Cissnei smiled. “Okay. But if you change your mind…”

“… I know where to find you,” the other rookie sighed.

She nodded in acknowledgment. “See you at the morning briefing.”

With that, she slipped back out into the hallway, and quickly rejoined the others, taking the empty seat next to Reno. Several of the others were milling about, as well, and at least a few of them were discussing the “big announcement” and putting forth theories on what it might be.

Sato was quite loudly proclaiming that obviously President Shinra was retiring and Rufus would be running the place by the end of the day. Everyone else was pointedly ignoring him, though Cissnei had to try very hard to stifle a giggle when he tried to draw her into his argument as well. Eventually, Veld arrived, Tseng mere steps behind him – and Rodney just a few paces behind him – and took his seat at the head of the table.

“Quiet down. We have a lot to cover this morning,” the Turk leader began. The murmuring gradually subsided as the Turks turned their attention exclusively on him. “First thing on the agenda… It’s officially almost fall and Medical has sent out their annual notice that flu shots will be available the first week of next month. They’re anticipating a nasty flu season this year, so you’re all required to get one. No exceptions.”

There was a collective round of groans, the loudest of which seemed to be coming from the redhead sitting next to her.

“No exceptions,” Veld emphasized, before turning back to his notes. “Maintenance has notified me that the pool will be closed for the next week for emergency cleaning and super-chlorination. No further information has been provided… though from what I hear tell, one of Hojo’s experiments was involved. Frankly we’re all probably better off not knowing the details… so plan your training schedules accordingly.”

“Ew…” Cissnei whispered, glancing over at Rude. He nodded subtly in agreement.

“Assignments… Sato. You’re still working on that project for the Research department?”

“Aye… I’ve made a decent start, but it’ll be a few more days ‘fore I’ve got anything ta show ’em.”

Veld nodded and made a note of it. “As I’m sure you’re all at least peripherally aware by now, we’ve had some interesting developments on the Wutai front. As a result of those developments, Lord Godo indicated over the weekend that he’s willing to reopen negotiations, and has instituted a temporary cease-fire. A Shinra delegation will be leaving this afternoon. We may be nearing an end to this. I expect the President will want to mark the official end to hostilities with a public appearance… which means we’ll likely soon need to select and secure a location for said appearance. Nothing to act on yet. Just keep it in mind.”

He turned his gaze on Tres. “In the mean time, however, we’re not going to be letting our guard down. Fuhito and Istev are still out there somewhere. Has there been any news?”

“None,” Tres spat, angrily, “It’s like the fuckers just ceased to exist. But Rude ‘n me are lookin’. And we’ll fuckin’ find ’em.”

“Kai… I want you and Saya at Fort Condor today. There’s been a security breach. A weapons cache was raided… but nothing was actually taken. It could be related to the mercenaries that attacked the city… or it could be benign. I want to know which as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” Kai replied.

“Shay,” Veld continued, “I’m afraid you’re playing tour guide this morning.”

“Sir?” the young Turk queried.

“The president has requested an escort for some high profile… and rather affluent… investors. They’ll be touring the Number 2 Reactor. Make sure they don’t wander into any areas they’re not allowed… Diplomatically.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, last but not least, the rookies will be with Remy for training today until lunch. Tseng will take over in the afternoon. I believe that covers everything,” Veld finally concluded, snapping his agenda book shut.

“… Now just yeh hold on,” Sato said, leaning forward in his chair. “What in Titan’s name do yeh mean ‘that covers everything’? What’s the bloody big announcement?!”

“Oh… yes. There was something else. Thank you for reminding me,” Veld said, opening the notebook again, and flipping through it. Cissnei stole a quick glance at Reno, who seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh. “Effective immediately, the building cafeteria is moving Taco Tuesday to Wednesday.”

“Oh, come on,” Tres, shouted from the back of the room, frustrated.

“I agree… Taco Wednesday just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?” Veld replied, smirking, and Cissnei joined Reno and several other Turks in snickering loudly. At last, Tseng stood up and smiled slightly.

“Sir… If I may, I think they’re curious about the other announcement.”

“It’s the president, innit?” Sato insisted, before Veld could respond to his second in command, “He’s retirin’ ‘n leavin’ us at the mercy ‘o the brat…”

Tseng looked directly at the Mideelian Turk and shook his head. “No.”

“Oh, would yeh just tell us already?” Saya groaned, “Yeh’ve had yer fun. Yeh keep this up, ‘n Tres is liable ta have an aneurysm fer not knowin’ ‘n Sato’ll have a dozen more conspiracy theories by lunch time that we’ll all have ta listen ta. Put us outta our misery, already.”

The Turk lieutenant chuckled and glanced over at Veld, who nodded.

“Then in the interest of keeping us all sane,” he replied, “I am… exceptionally pleased… to announce that Reno will be joining Rude as a full Turk, effective immediately.”

Cissnei squealed in delight and turned to the grinning redhead beside her, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

“Oh, Reno! Congratulations!” she cried, amid the growing sound of the rest of the team doing the same. She couldn’t believe it. Not just that he’d been promoted… but that he kept it a secret all morning, knowing it was happening. If it had been her, she’d have been shouting it from the rooftops the moment she found out.

“Cissnei… you’re crushin’ me,” Reno said, poking her in the side. The rookie giggled, blushing slightly, and obligingly released her grip on her compatriot.

---

Rude grinned widely as he watched everyone gather around his fellow Turk. He couldn’t have been happier for his friend. Or, oddly enough, for himself. Over the weekend, he’d begun to worry that his own new rank might result in the pair of them growing apart. After all… Reno would still be training with the other rookies, while he’d be working even more closely with Tres. But now… well… now it didn’t matter. Reno was a fully-fledged Turk, too. That strange little barrier his promotion had threatened to set between them was gone.

As the others began to disperse to head off to their own assignments, Rude stepped forward and caught the redhead in a headlock.

“Hey! Fuckin’ quit it!” he yelled, squirming.

“Hmph… Can’t believe you kept this from me,” he teased. Reno finally broke his hold and darted out of reach, grinning.

“I wanted to surprise ya for a change,” he replied, “Tseng sure as hell surprised me with it.” His friend offered him a wide smirk. “Ya know… when he told me last week.”

Rude wrapped his arm around his friend’s shoulders and chuckled, impressed that the redhead had kept it to himself for so long. Eventually, Tres strolled over to them.

“Heh… Well this certainly makes shit easier. Don’t gotta run my request by Tseng first, now,” said the senior Turk, “Congrats on the promotion. I got a job for ya.”

“Oh, yeah?” Reno queried, “What?”

Tres looked over at Rude. “You remember how I said I had a networkin’ opportunity down below I wanted ya to take care of?” Rude nodded. “Well… take my fellow slum rat here with ya. He knows the in ‘n outs of that place ‘least as well as I do, and ‘sides… you two assholes work good together. Come on… I’ll fill ya in on the details.”

---

Cissnei returned to her office to find Rodney in about as good a mood as she’d left him earlier. Actually… he may have been in an even worse mood, judging by the deep frown, and the angry look he was casting at his computer as he glared at it.

It hadn’t exactly slipped her notice that he’d bowed out of the briefing room without saying a word to Reno.

“Hey,” she said, as she slid into her chair. She rolled her eyes slightly when he didn’t answer her. “Okay… what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Rodney, stated, coolly.

“Rod… come on. You didn’t even congratulate Reno on his promotion. What’s up with you today?”

The other rookie rounded on her, glowering. “Why the hell should I congratulate that obnoxious little slum rat on anything? Everything’s just handed to that little shit, anyway… just because he was personally picked by Tseng. You and I have been training harder and just as long as he has, and he’s the one that gets the promotion? And right after Rude! Rude’s been around longer than any of us rookies! How is that fair?!”

Cissnei was shocked by the venom in her friend’s voice. She’d known from almost day one that Rodney had a little bit of a self-imposed rivalry going with the redhead, but she hadn’t realized that it had gone this far.

“Rod…” she began, only to be cut off.

“No… don’t you defend him. You tell me… What’s he done to deserve any of this? He’s a perpetual goddamn screw up. He got us blacklisted by the director of SOLDIER, for Hades’ sake. He’s slept with half the female population of Midgar. Drinks himself stupid at every opportunity. He never takes anything seriously… Why in Titan’s name would they promote him?!” His scowl deepened and he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll tell you why, Cissy. It’s because he’s got Tseng wrapped around his finger. It doesn’t seem to matter how much havoc he causes. As far as Tseng’s concerned, he’s the golden child who can do no wrong.”

“You know that’s not true,” Cissnei sighed, shaking her head. “Reno’s been in trouble plenty of times.”

Rodney snorted loudly. “Oh, yeah… he always gets in so much trouble. Remind me again… what was his punishment for completely screwing over the Turks’ relationship with SOLDIER? Oh… right. A few days of not having to work.” He shoved himself away from his desk and stood up, before beginning to pace the floor like a caged animal. “And what do I get? Nothing. It should have been me, Cissy. If they were going to promote someone that quickly, it should have been me. I’m twice the Turk he’ll ever be, and so are you.”

She’d heard enough. It was one thing to be jealous of one of their teammates… but this was taking it just a little too far.

“Rodney, shut up. I don’t know what’s gotten into you… what your dad said to you when you went to see him this weekend… but Renoisn’t the cause of your problems, so just stop blaming him! You’re being ridiculous.”

“Oh, I’m being ridiculous…” Rodney sneered, “Is it ‘ridiculous’ to expect an even playing field? Is it ‘ridiculous’ to think that I deserve at least as much respect as that uneducated, undisciplined, unsuitable piece of gutter trash?!”

She’d never seen him so angry before. It actually scared her a little. Rodney had always pushed himself to be the best… and anytime he wasn’t, she knew it got to him… but this… this was something different. She got the feeling that this had been brewing for a long time, and somehow she’d never noticed. She wasn’t sure if it was Reno’s promotion, or the visit to his father, or a combination of the two that had finally set it off, but Rodney was ticked. She felt as though she should have seen it sooner… even though she couldn’t, at the moment, pinpoint anything that might have warned her that he was this upset.

“You know… my father warned me,” he continued, not waiting for her to answer, “He always said that if you wanted to be the best you have to work three times as hard, for half the respect. I honestly thought the Turks were different. All their talk of how we’re one big happy family… It’s bullshit, Cissy. All that really matters is who you know and how far up their ass you are. And Reno’s so far up Tseng’s ass, I’m amazed he can still breathe! Rufus’, too. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how well those two get along… The bastard plays it off like he’s the poor pitiful orphan from the slums, but he knows exactly what he’s doing. Has from the start.”

“Will you listen to yourself?” Cissnei said, shaking her head. “You sound unhinged.”

Rodney stalked over to her, and for half a second the rookie was convinced he was going to attack. But all he did was growl in frustration before throwing himself back into his chair, muttering angrily under his breath.

“Rod… will you please just talk to me? Where is all this coming from all of a sudden? Did something happen in Junon?”

The other rookie sank lower in his chair. “The Colonel is ‘displeased with my progress’,” he replied in a somewhat mocking tone. “I made the mistake of telling him about Rude’s promotion shortly after you told me. He called me home just to spend the entire weekend berating me for not being the first of the current class of rookies to make full Turk.”

Cissnei cocked her head to one side, mystified. “But Rude was a rookie for almost a year while you and I were still recruits… of course he’d be promoted first.”

“That’s what I told him!” Rodney shot back, “He just said that ninety percent of success was came from pure effort and I wasn’t trying hard enough. And then Reno of all people gets promoted ahead of me! When he finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Cissnei got up and walked over to her friend, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “You know… it’s not Reno’s fault that your dad is a total jerk…” she replied, firmly, “Look… it’s not the end of the world. Why don’t you go and talk to Tseng about what’s going on? Maybe he could… I don’t know… tell your dad to chill the hell out.”

Rodney looked away and gave a noncommittal grunt.

“Well, I for one am not going to be late for my morning workout simply because you’re sulking. The way I see it, you can either do something about it and get back to training, or keep wallowing in your own self-pity. So are you coming to the training hall or not?”

The other Turk finally sighed and followed her out into the hallway.

---

“So… what’s the plan?” Reno asked as he and Rude boarded the train to the Slums. Tres had only given them a file on the guy and some fairly basic instructions. Meet with a new potential informant… talk him into actually doing it… and set up the usual contact method. It was nothing Rude hadn’t done before with Tres.

Which, given that Tres wasn’t coming along this time, made it a lot more intimidating. Rude, for one, was glad he had someone he knew he could trust implicitly backing him up… because frankly, he was a little bit terrified.

“We’re meeting him at the Lonely Dragon Bar in Sector 3. You know it?”

The redhead suddenly grinned. “Know it? I used to work there…” he laughed.

Rude blinked in surprise. He’d thought the name seemed somehow familiar, but for some reason hadn’t made the connection. He relaxed slightly. They were headed for Reno’s old bar. Sure, he’d been away for awhile, but his friend would, at the very least, know which of the old regulars wouldn’t be pulling a gun on them – and, for that matter, which of them might.

“I’ll handle the informant. I just need you to watch my back while I’m talking to him. Anybody around there that might be a problem?”

“Eh… The Dragon was always a pretty quiet place during the day. The assholes don’t typically show up ’til their work shifts end. We should be okay… but I’ll keep an eye out ‘n let ya know if I recognize any of the troublemakers.”

Rude nodded and leaned back in his seat. The train was virtually empty this time of day. There were a handful of passengers in the car ahead of theirs, and he was pretty sure he saw someone get on a few cars back… but that was it. Mid-morning just wasn’t a busy time for travel, particularly down to the Slums. Reno was leafing through the dossier on their contact. After a moment, Rude heard him laugh.

“Knew the son of a bitch looked familiar…” he suddenly snickered, “Man, he’s aged.”

“You know him?”

“Eh… sorta. Used to live ’round my old neighborhood in Two. He was kind of a friend of a friend, guess ya could say. Then he lucked out ‘n picked up a job workin’ for one of the gangs over in Four ‘n left the sector. Never saw him again. To be honest, I figured he was dead by now. Had a pretty bad habit back in the day.”

“What’s his story?”

Reno shrugged. “Didn’t know him that well. He mostly just hung out with a friend of mine… Kel… ’cause Kel was his supplier. Turned up once a week, like clockwork, when his stash ran out, lookin’ for more. Not sure what his drug of choice was, exactly, but it came in pill form. Seemed like a halfway decent guy when he wasn’t strung out… which wasn’t all that often.” He snorted softly, “Tch… and Kel always wondered why I never wanted to get into that shit…”

“… You ever try anything?” Rude asked, curious. Drugs were a major problem in Sector 2. In all of the sectors, really, but Two was definitely the worst as far as that went.

“Once. And that was plenty. Regretted it pretty much immediately, and the shit fucked me up for days. Felt like I was being stalked, even when I was home alone. When I finally came down, I decided cigarettes were enough of an addiction for me ‘n never tried it again,” he chuckled. “Well… that, and Lira made me promise. After she ’bout killed me when she found out what I’d been up to.”

Rude snickered. “Isn’t there anything about you that’s normal?” he teased.

The redhead grinned and shook his head. “If I were normal, I’d be as boring as you,” he shot back.

“Careful,” Rude jokingly warned, “You might have been promoted, but I’ve still got seniority.”

Reno grinned and gave him a mock salute. “Yes, sir!”

… to which Rude merely rolled his eyes.

“Knock it off.”

---

Tseng stepped off the elevator, onto the ninth floor, and made his way down the now entirely too familiar hallway. He paused at the entrance to the reception area, steeling himself before walking through the door.

The first sound that met his ears was the trickling of the planet’s ugliest fountain. He did his best to ignore it as stalked over to the desk and let them know he’d arrived for his appointment, before grudgingly taking a seat across the room.

He’d grown used to this ritual over the past several weeks… to the point that he could almost relax while sitting here now, staring at the fountain. Today, though, he was more than a little on edge. Today’s appointment wasn’t going to be like the previous ones. No… today was his re-evaluation. Sometime in the next hour or so, he’d find out whether or not the psych staff were of the opinion that he could finally return to field duty, or if he was to be stuck behind a desk for the foreseeable future.

And worst of all… he wasn’t at all sure which way things were going to go. Which was why he’d mentioned it to no one but Veld. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell Reno. He couldn’t deal with the risk of getting his protege’s hopes up, only to see them dashed a few hours later… because he knew how much Reno wanted him to get better.

He certainly felt like he was making good progress. But then… he’d thought he could handle a full return to work once before, and it had only ended up making things far worse for him. He wanted this. Badly. But he doubted that just wanting it would be enough.

~end of chapter 93~