Betaed by; erestorjunkie
Summary: In which Raiden gets lost, and Cloud is found.
Been one of those days
Safety first, don't push...don't push me...what's the hurry?
Cause there's One nerve remaining, waiting on one look,
One look now...have you got it?
Have you got it in you?
Imogen Heap – Have you got it in you?
Chapter 7 - One nerve remaining.
Reno had to admit that sleeping on the couch was not the most comfortable way to sleep, and definitely not to wake up. His neck was stiff and his legs hurt, and now his goddamn phone was buzzing again. Fumbling in his pocket, he managed to roll off the sofa, and land on the floor with a hard thump. He flipped the receiver and groaned “mmmhmm.”
“Reno?” Rude’s deep voice said obviously agitated in the other end. “What the hell are you doing man?”
“Lounging out on my floor for the fuck of it!” Reno groaned, closing his eyes, and pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You better get your skinny ass down here,” Rude said.
“Where’s here?” Reno coughed, opening his eyes, staring straight up at the underside of his coffee table, silently praising himself for not trying to get up, slamming his head up into the marble surface.
“Raiden’s apartment,” Rude whispered.
“What?” Reno cried, as he sat up, hammering his head into the marble table, “Fuck!” he growled as he instantly moved his hand up to rub what would without a doubt become a large knot within 15 minutes.
“What the hell ARE you doing man?” Rude asked, sounding almost worried that Reno had finally lost his mind.
“Never mind,” Reno groaned, rubbing his growing bump, crawling out from under the coffee table in a very undignified manner, “What’s wrong with Raiden?”
“I’d tell you if I could find him,” Rude finally sighed. “He’s gone.”
“Crap!” Reno pinched the bridge of his nose again, waiting for the mother of all headaches. “I’m on my way,” He clapped the phone shut and ended the conversation. He went directly to his medicine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of pills, he screwed off the lid and poured four little blue pills into his hand, quickly shoving them in his mouth and swallowing them without water. Closing the pill bottle again, he stuck it in his pocket, just in case, before hurrying out the door. Mentally reminding himself he would ‘make’ Rude fix him coffee for this.
Arriving at Raiden’s apartment, Reno didn’t see anyone outside the door, so he experientially pushed the front door. It opened slowly. He had never seen Raiden’s apartment with the lights on, and he stepped inside looking around the living room. He was certain it had not been this filthy when he had been here the last time, or maybe it had, maybe he just hadn’t been able to see it because of the dark. “Rude?” he called peeking around the corner to the kitchen, carefully stepping over a pile of what he hoped was mud, or wet ground coffee.
“Here,” Rude’s voice answered from the bedroom. “You gotta see this man.”
Reno danced over the filth and junk on the floor and finally reached the bedroom door. He looked at the end wall over the bed, with big uneven letters it said ‘KATCH ME’ Reno frowned. “What the hell?” he mumbled, turning to see Rude standing by the window.
“Yeah, I thought I’d call you first,” Rude said as he grabbed the curtains and with a rough move that almost tore them off the rod, pulled them apart to let daylight into the room.
Reno took a step back, as he saw three dead pigeons laying on the floor, with their necks torn open. “Guess that clears up what he used to do the graffiti,” he said swallowing hard to try and rid himself of the bile that rose in his throat. Without thinking more about it, he reached into his pocket and got his phone, calling Tseng. When he heard the receiver being picked up he barely managed to push out the words, “Get down to Raiden’s apartment, now.”
Tseng huffed something, and hung up, and Reno could only assume that he was on his way.
Rude stepped over a dead pigeon and came to stand next to Reno, he frowned at the bump on Reno’s forehead. “Had too much to drink?” he asked softly. Gently touching the bruise.
“Ouch, you fuck,” Reno whined, swatting Rude’s hand away. “If you must know, I had a close encounter with my coffee table.” He turned away from Rude and began his dance across the trash on the floor to reach the kitchen, he could hear Rude following him, cursing as he stepped on something, and a faint smile graced Reno’s lips, he missed Rude more than he would admit.
“Your coffee table, huh?” Rude grumbled behind him, “figures.”
Reno’s smile widened, but it disappeared completely as he entered the kitchen, it looked like someone had detonated one of Rude’s bombs in there. “Say Rude,” he asked, raking a hand through his unkempt hair. “When did you notice this? I mean that Raiden was gone?”
“This morning,” Rude said coming to a dead halt next to Reno, whistling in amazement over the sheer amount of trash thrown around in the kitchen. “Elena said she heard voices in here, but that she hadn’t wanted to come in, so I came down here, she went to Rufus to report, and I called you.”
“Reno?” Tseng called from the corridor.
“We’re here, sir!” Rude called back, smiling at Reno as they heard Tseng curse in a strange tongue as he tried to make his way through to the kitchen.
“What the..” Tseng said, looking from Rude to Reno, looking away from Reno’s blue eyes a little too fast.
“I snuck in here yesterday,” Reno said. “And it did not look like this at all, he did not have any other lights other than some candles, but I would have noticed this smell, and the fact that I wouldn't have been able to make my way to the kitchen, let alone sit at the kitchen table.”
“Yesterday you say?” Tseng said, biting a perfectly manicured nail. “So, all this was made in one night? That is not possible, this smells like it has been left here to rot for weeks.”
“And uhm” Reno said looking warily at Tseng, “Raiden asked me to get him a gun, so he could shoot his own brains out, in case he was not interested in being Shinra’s pet,” he smiled nervously “sir.”
“Did you get him one?” Rude asked lifting his eyebrow over the edge of his shades.
“Of course I didn’t, you idiot!” Reno snarled in childish defence. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to get a gun for a suicidal man?”
“Nah,” Rude mumbled and turned to walk towards the bedroom again, Reno and Tseng followed.
“Now this,” Reno said, as he came to a stand still at the bedroom door, pointing at the words on the wall. “This makes no sense, Raiden was a straight A student.”
“So what?” Rude said with a mere whisper “Do we assume that someone kidnapped your brother?”
“No, I..” Reno said sticking his hands in his pockets, not knowing what to do with them otherwise, “Raiden was not himself when I talked to him yesterday, so.. I don’t know man, I don’t have an rational explanation for this.”
Moments later Rude’s phone beeped in with a message to round up the other turks and meet at Rufus’ office.
__________________________________________
The sun had set as the crisis meeting ended at Rufus’ office. Every single one of them had been assigned the task of finding Raiden, alive and preferably unharmed. Wouldn't want Shinra’s 100% success to turn up dead. Tseng and Reno would continue to work the police force from the inside, maybe they would be tipped off before Shinra was, And Reno didn’t really know what was worse, not getting rid of his ridiculous nametag, or that his brother had gone bonkers and seemingly disappeared, or the giant bump he now had in his forehead.
Reno had gone to his apartment, and sat down in the sparsely lit room, groaning as he poured himself a drink to help him down more of those vile tablets for his headache. His eyes scanned the kitchen, and then he saw it! There! on the corner of the kitchen island, Cloud’s present, wrapped in purple glittering paper, who the hell had wrapped his present?
With his second drink in his hand Reno got up and walked over to the purple wrapped present, and saw a note attached, he instantly recognized Elena’s perfectly feminine handwriting ‘figured you’d be busy, so I wrapped it for you’ the note said. Reno clucked to himself. “Damn it Elena,” only she would wrap a present for Cloud in glittering purple gift wrapping, and only she would not understand how hard it was to keep up your street credit with a purple damn present under your arm.
None the less Reno picked up the present and turned it in his hands, maybe he shouldn’t have bought this, maybe it was just that old habits die hard. Or maybe it was just that he didn’t really know how to move on? He tried to distance himself physically, he tried fucking someone else, and nothing worked, everything would eventually lead him back to this. Or could it be he had spoken the truth when he had said that he was in love? Mesmerised by the purple glitter, Reno thought of the time they had walked back to the other apartment before the day he would betray his friends. He remembered telling Cloud that he loved him, and Cloud had taken his hand. He smiled at the memory, but admissions came easily in the face of danger, it was much harder to express ones self on a daily basis, when death did not knock at your door, then when did you say ‘I love you’ was it when you had your coffee in the morning? Or was it when he came fresh out of the shower? Or late at night tangled up in bed? None of this seemed like the right moment, somehow it made it seem hollow and fake. Maybe he had been right? Maybe there weren’t room for both his career and love in the same lifetime.
Then his phone rang again, and he was shook out of his thoughts. “Reno?” he heard Rude say in the other end. “Yeah?” Reno said, placing the present carefully down on the desk again, to grab his drink.
“I found something,” Rude said, and Reno could tell from his strange tone, that it was something that disturbed him greatly. “I think, uhm.. I think its a message for you.”
“A message? For me?” Reno said frowning, taking a sip of his drink, cursing that he needed more ice.
“In Raiden’s bed” Rude said, and Reno could almost feel his old partner squirm. “When we removed the covers, something was written there.”
“Really?” Reno said “More pigeon graffiti?”
“I damn sure hope that was just bird, man,” Rude said with a nervous high pitched laugh, so very unlike him.
“So?” Reno said, opening the freezer to grab a handful of ice, and dumped it in his glass, and walked back to the desk, hearing the dull sound of the freezer closing behind him and returning to its low key buzz. “What did the message say? And why do you think it was for me?”
“It,” Rude sighed, “It said the F-word.”
“Fuck? I mean how ever flattering that is, I don’t see what it has to do with me,” Reno chuckled. Pouring his fourth drink that night.
“No,” Rude said, dead seriously, “Fag.”
Reno would have dropped his glass if his fingers had not cramped, “Guess he couldn't sp-spell faggot, huh?” he heard himself answer in a stunned attempt of a joke.
“So much for a straight A student,” Rude said, equally lame in his un-funny attempt of taking the seriousness of the situation.
Who would know that about him? It was not like he wore it tattooed on his forehead, or would flash it about, but Rude was properly right, that it was meant for him. “But how?” he heard himself think out loud.
“Uhm, Reno. Did your brother know?” Rude said, still sounding uncomfortable by it all.
“Of course he did,” Reno said, all staged mirth disappearing from his voice. “He was there when I got a black eye for kissing Hunter the third,” the resurfacing memory had him smiling none the less. “Yeah, he knew.” He was vaguely aware that Rude didn’t say anything on the other end. Reno took a large gulp of his drink and winced at the fire it spread on its way down his throat. “He wouldn't use that word, I know what you’re thinking man, but it’s not like that.”
“If you say so,” Rude said. “But in case it is, don’t you think you might want to warn, uhm.. Spiky.”
“I am telling you, it’s not ‘like’ that,” Reno heard himself complain.
“I don’t like this, Reno,” Rude said. “Promise me to stick close to Tseng.”
“Right, right,” Reno said turning his arm and looking at his watch, he’d better get going if he was to make it to Cloud’s birthday. “I can take care of myself Rude, look I gotta go, I will call you later, m’kay?”
“Ok,” Rude said “Listen, Reno, are you gonna be ok?”
“I’m fine,” Reno lied, looking down at his hand that trembled so the ice clattered in his glass. “Later,” he said, shutting the phone, killing the conversation.
___________________________________________
He had hurried to Tifa’s Tavern, but it was still late, much too late for him to casually impose on the party. He stood for a long time outside the tavern, looking at the door, maybe this had been a bad idea, he looked down at the present in his hand, still in the purple wrapping. He could hear the party behind the doors, they laughed and toasted, and with a smile he thought of the sweet little blush that Cloud would get when he was falling down drunk. Looking up he saw a figure in the shadows, and with a knowing smile he waved at it with an awkward move, more like was he trying to pick an apple than greeting a friend. “Valentine,” he said with a sad little smile.
“Reno,” Vincent said and stepped out of the shadow and walked slowly over to where Reno stood and smoked a cigarette. “Why aren’t you inside?” he asked.
“I just don’t think.. You know” Reno said with a shrug like he didn’t care, “I think it’s a bad idea.”
Vincent crossed his arms as he listened to Reno, clearly not believing his excuse one bit.
Reno looked up at the tall, pale, slightly intimidating figure of Vincent Valentine, and when their eyes met Reno felt like Vincent could read his very soul, and quickly looked away “Would you?” his voice breaking off into a high pitch and back to normal, Reno cleared his throat and tried again, “Would you take this to Cloud for me?” he asked, still looking away, focusing on a street sign far behind Valentine.
“Of course,” Vincent said, “but why don’t you just come with me inside?”
“Just because,” Reno said with another theatrical shrug.
“As you wish,” Vincent said, accepting the gift as Reno handed it over, Vincent turned around and started to walk for the tavern’s doors.
“I owe you one, man,” Reno said to Vincent’s back and received a huff. And then Reno too turned and walked away.
_________________________________________
Only moments later the double doors to Tifa’s tavern slammed open, Cloud almost stumbled over his own feet down the little staircase and down unto the ground. “Reno!” he shouted. “I know you can hear me you fucker!”
Truth was that Reno had not gotten very far, his steps had been slow and tired, and it had felt like he walked the wrong way, like his feet wouldn't really move. And when he heard Cloud shout, he smiled to himself “Yeah, I hear you, Spiky,” he grinned. He turned around and backtracked his own steps around the corner, seeing Cloud stand under the streetlight looking around him. Reno stepped around the corner and out into the street. “Hi, happy birthday,” he said, his hands in his pockets, looking casual, and carefree.
Cloud frowned at first and then his face split into the biggest smile Reno had ever seen on the blond’s face. “You remembered,” he said softly.
“Sure,” Reno said, making a mental note to never tell Cloud that he actually hadn’t, and a silent prayer to the developers of the day planner.
“Won’t you come inside and have a drink?” Cloud said gesturing backwards towards the tavern.
“Funny, Vincent said the same thing,” Reno said, smiling smugly as he stepped out into the circle of light that Cloud stood in. “What is it with you people and festivities?”
Cloud looked up at Reno. “What the hell happened to your head?” he said with a worried frown, reaching up to Reno’s bump on his forehead.
“I tried to hump my coffee table, she didn’t agree,” Reno said as he closed his eyes to just feel Clouds fingers on his skin.
Cloud snickered, and then suddenly flickered the dent with his fingers, having Reno howl in surprise and jump backwards. “You fucking sadist,” he mumbled as he rubbed his poor abused forehead.
“You had it coming,” Cloud said with a smirk.
“Did not!” Reno whined and glared evilly at Cloud, gods he was pretty when he was slightly drunk standing out under the streetlight. “Alright, just one drink then,” he said with a pretend scowl.
Cloud held out his hand, to Reno, and for a second Reno didn’t quite know what to do with it, until he hesitantly put his own in Cloud’s slightly smaller and broader hand, Cloud squeezed it, and then dragged himself inside with a surprised Reno in tow.