Betaed by; erestorjunkie
Summary: A sudden change of plans have Reno taking three steps back, and one step forward.

With the sunlight died and night above me
With a gun for a lover and a shot for the pain inside
You run for cover in the temple of love
You run for another it’s all the same
For the wind will blow and throw your walls aside

You run for cover in the temple of love
I shine like thunder, cry like rain
And the temple of love grows old and strong
But the wind blows stronger cold and long
And the temple of love will fall before this
Black winds call my name to you no more.

Sisters of mercy – Temple of love

3. The temple of love is falling down.

The next morning, as Reno left Rufus’ office, he felt like he was about to suffocate. Not only had he been planted here in the Shinra tower, but he was taken off his regular duties and had landed himself a month of janitorial work, Reno couldn't believe it! A bloody, bleeding janitor? Had anyone heard something that ridiculous?

He hoped that Rai had been more successful in his job hunting, with a sigh he pushed the key-card through the slot next to his door and it opened with a bleep. Reno walked inside and went straight to the dining table where his cell phone lay, it seemed like it was laughing at him, because he was such a wuss, but truth was he was scared shitless for turning it back on, he knew he had been wrong when he left, he had told himself at the time that he only did what Cloud had done before him, but that was not the truth. Cloud was known for his need to be solitary sometimes, Reno was absolutely not, and what he had done was just cowardly, not thoughtful, as he had told himself. Reno sat and looked at the phone, a little light blinked, telling him he had fifteen unanswered messages and twenty unanswered calls. Reno put the phone down and went to the kitchen, he would have something to drink if he was to call Cloud at all, or even worse, listen to those messages.

As he poured some liquor in a glass, he stood for a moment and looked out over Midgar, taking a careful sip of the strong liquid, why the hell had he run to begin with? Had it not just made everything worse? It was not like Rufus had asked him to leave Midgar; he had just said that he didn’t trust him as long as he chose to associate himself with Cloud Strife. Then why the hell had he run like there was a demon up his ass? Could it be that he was more afraid of not being a Turk, than not being Cloud’s lover? Reno shook his head and took his drink to the phone; he opened the glass door to the small balcony, and stepped outside in the air. He dialled Cloud’s number as he lit a cigarette. After the third beep, he figured that it would just switch on to the answering machine. But then he heard the static, and knew someone had picked up at the other end. “Cloud?” he whispered, not really knowing why the hell he whispered.

“Reno,” Cloud said coldly in the other end.

For a moment Reno didn’t say anything, he just took a sip of his drink, simply not knowing what to say, “Yeah, its me,” he almost added babe in the end of the sentence, but bit the word down, his mind raced, what the fuck was he supposed to say? Oh man, he had not thought this through before he had called after all, and then it seemed like his voice took over control, and he heard himself say, “How’s it hanging sport?” before he almost choked on his drink! Bollocks! He had not just called Cloud sport! And what kind of lame question was that? He could tell he was pissed off from his voice alone.

But there was no snappy comeback from Cloud who was just silent for a moment, and then suddenly hung up, leaving Reno standing on the balcony with flaming red cheeks, and a busy signal on the phone. Taking a deep breath he dialled Cloud’s number again, and to his surprise Cloud picked up once more, this would only have to mean that he cared just a little bit. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that,” Reno said, “I have never been any good with all that emotional shit.”

“You could have fooled me,” Cloud said eerily soft in the other end.

“I said I was sorry,” Reno said a little more irritated than he wanted to be, he knew he owed Cloud an apology, but he wasn’t about to grovel.

“Sure you did,” Cloud said in a strained motherly tone. “So, why did you call?”

“I.. uhm” Reno said, flickering the cigarette out over the balcony, watching it tumble towards the ground. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Cloud hissed, his voice rising an octave. “That’s just fucking priceless, even for you man.”

“Oi, you,” Reno snapped back. “Its not like I went on a fucking love cruise with the boss or whatever the fuck you imagine.”

First silence, and Reno could feel the phone radiating white glowing rage from the other end. “I’m hanging up,” Cloud said in a clipped tone.

No! No! This was all wrong, this phone conversation was not supposed to end like this! Apparently he had underestimated Cloud’s anger. “Wait, wait,” Reno quickly yelled into the phone, almost dropping his empty glass in a effort to reach out for something that was not there, if Cloud hung up there was really nothing he could do about it other than to dial up again. “Don’t hang up, Cloud,” he said more softly, in the second he realised that the phone had not been disconnected. “Can we try this conversation again, please?” he almost pleaded, as he lit himself another cigarette looking for something to do with his hands.

“The next thing that comes out of your mouth, better be some brilliant fucking Mark Twain shit, Reno,” Cloud said with a warning edge in the other end.

Reno took a deep breath. “I was with my parents,” he finally admitted, “I have just been on a family visit outside Midgar.”

Cloud laughed harshly in the other end. “You mean that people like you aren’t hatched? They are actually born?”

Reno thought for a long moment and then slowly said, “Hey, did you just call me a reptile?”

“No, I merely made an observation,” Cloud said still chuckling at his own wit.

“You did! You called me a damn lizard,” Reno grumbled, “Whatever man... its the truth” A deep voice spoke to Cloud in the back, and Reno could hear Cloud walk across gravel. “Where are you at?”

“Out,” Cloud said. “Like you actually fucking care where I am.”

Reno frowned, and had to remind himself that he had brought this on himself, he had been an idiot and therefore had ended up in the other end of Cloud’s very short scale for people he liked and people he definitely didn’t like. “When are you coming back to Midgar?” he asked sweetly.

“Don’t know,” Cloud said. “Why?”

“Because I thought we could perhaps meet and.. Uhm talk about it,” Reno said as he walked back inside to fill his glass again.

“Smooth, Reno,” Cloud said in a flat tone. “But, I am not meeting you anywhere.”

A distinctive beep was heard in the background, as a hatch closed “You’re aboard the Shera aren’t you, you fucker?” Reno spat.

“So what if I was?” Cloud yelled to drown out the rustle of chains in the background as something was fastened.

Reno tried to swallow his jealous pissy fit, and instead took a sip of his drink, the thought of not ever kissing Cloud again was bad enough, but he had simply not thought that someone else could take his space, not in a million years.

“What’s a matter Reno baby?” Cloud drawled in a poor imitation of Reno.

Reno could have kicked himself as he heard his own voice whisper “So you’re doing Cid now, huh?” in a venomously tone.

To Reno’s surprise Cloud didn’t just hang up but just said “No.”

Suddenly Reno started laughing, “You rehearsed this didn’t you, you little shit?” when Cloud didn’t answer, Reno continued in a more sober tone. “telling me off and all.”

“Maybe I did,” Cloud said on the other end, and judging from the rustle, Cloud just sat down. “And you fucking deserve it,” now it was Reno’s turn to be quiet, and Cloud spoke on, his voice getting more and more aggravated. “I didn’t know where the hell you went off to, all I knew was that you were gone, and then fucking Tseng came by to talk, did I ever tell you how much I hate being visited by Turks? I thought you fucking died Reno, I thought that fucker Rufus had.. had.. Gods I was an idiot.”

“I should have told you,” Reno said softly, “I really am very sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter now anyway,” Cloud said flatly. “I am far away from Midgar, and I am..” Cloud paused and then he delivered the deathblow. “I am seeing someone else now.”

“What?” Reno gasped, “You are.. What? When? I mean.. I thought that.. “

“Yea well maybe so did I once” Cloud said coldly. “But if you had listened to your voice messages you’d have known.”

“I.. I.. don’t know what to say” Reno said with a tiny voice, leaning against the balcony rail. Shutting his eyes tightly, trying his hardest not to give away any emotion in the phone. But the truth was that he felt like he had just been kicked in the stomach, and felt like he wanted to double over and barf.

“You have been gone for the better part of a year, Reno,” Cloud said as the rustle told Reno that he was now pacing the room.

“I know,” Reno said, trying to sound way more perky than he was. “Maybe its for the best and all.”

“Hmmhm” Cloud mumbled in agreement.

Reno didn’t know what to say, so he just flipped the phone shut, and ended the conversation. “Fuck,” he cried and hammered his fist through the glass window that was next to the door to the balcony. He had to sit down, he had to get out, he should just sleep.. And just maybe Cloud had just solved his problem, but right now Reno did not want it solved, all he wanted to was for the images of Cloud naked, moaning and sweaty to disappear from his inner eye.
____________________________________________

Morning found Reno slumped over his kitchen island table, drooling on his shirt. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, suddenly a eerie feeling settled like frost on his confused mind, had he talked to Tseng last night? He remembered a glimpse of Tseng pushing him away, and something with a table he had tossed over. Reno raised his head and looked over to the dining table, and sure enough it was turned over. “Crap,” he whispered to himself, and slowly got off the chair, at least he had his clothes on, so he couldn't have made a complete fool out of himself, whimpering as he looked at his watch, noticing that he had an hour before he had to check in with the damn janitor. And he still had to call Raiden, he must have gotten himself a hotel room or something since he hadn’t returned last night, or had he? Reno simply didn’t remember, and now he had lost count of number of spoons of coffee powder he had poured in the coffee, he poured back into the jar, and tried again. He was so lost in his own self-pity that he didn’t even hear the door open.

“Good morning sunshine,” a voice sing sang behind him.

“Rai,” Reno groaned, “Want coffee?”

“Sure thing,” Raiden said and sat down. “Holy shit you made a mess out of this place man.”

“Yeah, I noticed” Reno said, turning with the two cups, praying that he didn’t pour the freshly boiled water all over himself, he made it to the kitchen island and placed the cup in front of Raiden. “You are suspiciously chipper this morning, did you get laid or something?” he grumbled, in a lame attempt for a normal conversation, anything to not be reminded of the scene he had apparently caused the night before.

“I got a job,” Raiden said with a smile. “More than I can say about you.”

“Damn, that’s some cold shit right there man,” Reno said and made a futile mock swing at his brother.

“Well, your colleague mister Tseng told me that the Shinra Corporation would lease me an apartment until I could find something better, that’s awesome huh?”

“Yup,” Reno moaned pitifully as his headache struck with a thousand miles per hour, threatening to split his skull.

Raiden leaned in and smiled “You fancy that guy, Tseng, don’t you?” he whispered with a naughty grin.

“No, I don’t!” Reno growled mortified.

“Yeah, right” Raiden snickered. And stood up with his cup, fetching his jacket he had hung on the back of a chair. “’Reno and Tseng sitting in a tree,” he sang.

“Rai, stop!” Reno hissed out through his teeth, looking up at his brother with a deadly warning in his eyes.

“K.I.S.S.I.N.G.” Raiden continued to sing, as he suddenly made it for the door in a jump, as Reno failed to grab him, Raiden grinned. “Too slow, man.”

“Go away already,” Reno said in a childish tone as he slammed his forehead flat down on the kitchen island top.

“I’m gonna call you later m’kay?” Raiden said as he waved his goodbye and left.

Reno grabbed his phone and flipped it open, sure enough, he had called Tseng. He felt his cheeks heat up as a blush crept over his face, but how the hell had Raiden gotten here? Had Tseng called him? oh man... that was bad. Reno squealed like a girl as the phone suddenly rang as he sat with it in his hand. The incoming call was from Tseng, Reno was close to not answering, he might as well get it over with. “Yeah,” he said as he pushed the receiver button.

“Are you sober? You better be, Rufus wants you up here at his office,” Tseng said with a clinical voice. And Reno could only guess that he was either already at Rufus’ office or else he was standing in the secretary’s office.

“I’m sober man, I just had some coffee and all,” Reno groaned “But I thought I was supposed to go to the basement, and meet with that janitor bloke.”

“Change of plans, just get here, and get here fast,” Tseng said.

“As in ten minutes ago?” Reno asked confused, but he had already risen from his chair and was on his way to the door.

“Yes,” Tseng said and hung up.

“Crap,” Reno cursed again, this morning just went from bad to worse, and he ran to the lift, trying to make it to Rufus’ office as fast as possible.
___________________

As he came to the office he saw Tseng standing there with his arms crossed, tapping impatiently with his foot on the carpet. “Finally,” he just said “and you might want to do something with your hair first.”

“Oh,” Reno said, raking a hand through his unruly hair, “There, good as new,” he flashed Tseng what would have been a charming smile, if he had not looked like someone who had slept at his damn kitchen table all night.

Tseng opened the door to Rufus’ office and nodded as he saw Rufus sit behind his desk with his feet up, waiting. “Good morning, Sir,” he said stepping inside, followed by Reno who would still waited for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

“Good morning, Sir,” Reno said as well, coming to a halt next to Tseng.

“How good of you both to make it,” Rufus said sarcastically, and swung his long legs from the desk. “Well,” he looked from Tseng to Reno and back to Tseng again, and then rested his chin on his fingers, tapping his lip in thought. “The police seems to have themselves another psycho,” he said, studying the Turks. “And since you two did such a good job the last time, they looked to the Shinra corp. for help, and I intend to do just that, we could use some good PR.”

Reno studied his shoes, not able to look up at Rufus, he knew he had messed that whole ordeal up, and that it was Tseng’s doing they had even ever caught Nimrod at all.

“And so,” Rufus said calmly, secretly amused of Reno’s awkward reaction, he had deserved much worse, but he wanted to trust Reno like he had always done, he had a very hard time believing that a man he had known since he was a teenager would backstab him because of his overactive libido, and a little bit of blond oh’lala. “You’re it, I will take you off your regular duties here,” Rufus said as he opened an envelope pulling out two name tags, and tossed them across the table. “You know the drill, gentlemen” he stated with a flat voice.

Reno sighed as he and Tseng stepped closer to the desk, and picked up the stupid, tacky nametag saying, ‘Special Agent R. Vaughan’ he forced a small smile and said “Yes, thank you, Sir.”

Rufus leaned back in his chair and swung his legs back up on the desk. “Don’t forget who you are actually working for, or why you do this,” he said in a warning tone. “Reno,” he added.

“We won’t, thank you, Sir, we will go directly to the chief of police and check in,” Tseng said

“Perfect,” Rufus said, “I want a weekly report from you both, as long as this investigation runs.”

“Yes, Sir,” they both said, and with a wave they were dismissed. On his way from the office, Reno attached the nametag to his jacket, not really knowing if this was good or bad, at least he had a chance to show Rufus that he was loyal. But on the other hand, he would have to work with his goddamn brother, he wasn’t sure he would ever be mentally prepared to deal with Raiden on a daily basis.
____________________

As they sat in Tseng’s car, Reno reached over and turned on the radio, he felt trapped and awkward. But there was nothing in the ether. “Brings back memories huh?” he said opting for a little joking, hoping it would kill the tension in the car.

Tseng stopped midway in turning the key in the ignition, and turned and looked at Reno. “Did you mean what you said yesterday? Or were you just fucking around as always?”

Reno squirmed in his seat, he didn’t remember jack-shit of what he had said and done, and in the end Tseng was his friend and deserved the truth “I properly did, but I don’t remember, I mean.. I remember something with you pushing me, but I don’t remember calling you, I wouldn't have known if I hadn’t checked my phone.”

“Ah,” Tseng said and turned to look straightforward again. Turning the key in the ignition with a swift and angry move.

“Don’t be all pissed off man, its the truth. It would be a little easier if I knew what I had said, wouldn't it?” Reno said, instinctively searching for his cigarettes as if he knew that he didn’t really want to hear the answer.

“You wanted to do it again,” Tseng mumbled, barely audible over the roaring motor.

“What? Do what?” Reno rolled down the car window and flickered the ashes out. “Did I attack you or something crazy?”

“No” Tseng said his voice almost disappearing, “You.. uhm.. wanted to.. uhm..”

“Oh!” Reno whistled as a flash of memory resurfaced.

Tseng nodded tensely, holding the steering wheel in a death grip.

“I might have meant that, yeah,” Reno offered, “Look Tseng, I’m sorry if I offended you or something, it was not my intention, I honestly don’t remember my intention actually, but I don’t think I was jacking you around, at least I don’t recall that that was what I did.”

“hm” Tseng huffed with a stern nod, and then stepped on the speeder, ending the conversation efficiently as Reno lost his cigarette and had to search around under the car seat to fetch it.

-next-