raspberryturk | A Secluded Corner of the Beach, Sunday Evening

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A Secluded Corner of the Beach, Sunday Evening

There had been a ~~handwavey~~ dinner at one of those fancy new restaurants in town, where, naturally, Reno had excused himself to 'go to the bathroom' halfway through the meal, and had ended up paying for dinner while Rikku least expected it.

It really had been a matter of pride.

Dinner had gone well enough, at that. Nobody had turned into weird animals. Freak thunderstorms hadn't kicked up in the distance. The world hadn't ended.

Reno really couldn't complain as he laid the blanket out on the beach.

They had a sky to watch. Clouds and chill in the air and all.

[For one.]

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"Plenty of stuff hurts Rufus," Reno mused. "Just not the stuff that ought to, I guess. Wouldn't surprise me." Rufus was, after all, the guy who ordered AVALANCHE to kill the Turks.

Nice guy.

"When big things happen, you wanna do somethin' about it, right? I mean... Even if there's nothin' you can do, it sorta feels like you're doin' it wrong if all you do is sit down and take it. Been through too much to take it all quiet-like." He shrugged. "That don't make you a failure for lettin' Tseng talk you down, Rikku."

A pause.

"The guy could probably talk his way outta hell the day he gets offed. But when you're dead-set on killin' someone, I don't think anyone can talk you down unless you really wanna be, somewhere in there."

"It felt like a failure," she said softly. "And it feels wrong that I wanted to. Except it doesn't. It feels wrong that I don't care that I wanted to. If he were still your boss ... if he were still handing you ugly assignments and filing his nails and whatever ... I'd ..."

She couldn't say for sure if she would, or not.

That ... kinda bugged her, too.

"Don't think on a what-if too hard, Rikku. You won't never figure it out for sure, and then you'll spend the rest of your life kickin' yourself over a 'maybe.'"

Now Reno was going to reach for the wine he'd brought along. And two glasses. It was a wine-in-glasses kind of moment, and Rikku was getting a small glass of it before he was going to even think about taking some for himself.

"You didn't do nothin' wrong. You didn't pull the trigger, and you didn't fail to act, either. You got your point across. That's somethin', Rikku."

Rikku took a huge gulp of the wine, and curled up against him. "It was when he mentioned you," she said. "It was ... we ... I was angry, and I hated him, and I had my gun out, and Tseng said ... Tseng mentioned you. Us finding something. And that was ..."

Snuggling in. Warm and safe and he was alive. Okay. "... You were more important than ... how much I hated him, right then."

Even if she had been sure he was dead.

Reno nodded slowly, snuggling back against her with a sigh.

"Did I ever say thanks? I mean... for comin' to get me at all? Even if you didn't know what it was you were gonna find under all that?"

If he did, he was going to say it again.

"I think I was too busy yelling," she admitted, sheepishly. "We had to go. Looking, I mean. We didn't think we'd find anything, I mean, I didn't, but ... I wanted something to ... say goodbye to."

She shook her head. "Romeo and Dojima, they were off with Elena, saving little kids who got hurt in the explosion. I should've gone, too. I just couldn't."

"Glad you didn't."

He would probably be pretty dead by now if she hadn't.

"Gotta say, I'd rather be right here like this than..." He waved a hand slightly. "You know."

It was possible that she was starting to rub off on him a little.

That got him a playful look. And a wriggle.

"You'd rather snuggle than you-know?"

And that earned her a smirk and a short tickle-attack to the sides.

"I'd rather you-know than a lotta things, Rikku," he retorted. "You know, it'd keep us warm out here on the beach, zoto."

... Well. It would. Exercise and all.

"You'd rather you-know than just about anything," she laughed, pulling away from tickling fingers and trying to steal a kiss. It required ninja-like sklils to attempt both at once. "You're hopeless."

"Terrible," he agreed, allowing her to steal that kiss- see, she was totally a ninja. "You're not complainin', are you?"

"I don't think so," she mused, kissing the tip of his nose. "If I were complaining, I probably wouldn't nibble your ear."

This was a good time for ear-nibbling, wasn't it?

"Definitely not complaining," Reno agreed, snuggling in a little more.

He felt a lot more at-ease, now. Like maybe he wasn't running in place so much.

Who would have thought that just saying words could be so helpful?

Huh.

A light kiss on his ear, and then she reached for the bottle of wine again. Her glass was empty, and she liked the tingly glow she was getting.

"Are we ... okay?" she asked. "Because we kinda weren't, I think, which is weird because we weren't fighting or anything, but ... it seems like maybe we are, now."

"We're okay," Reno agreed, settling back and waiting for her to fill her glass before reaching for the bottle himself. "We're good. We're better'n we've been, I think."

A pause. Thoughtful.

"We gotta just talk like this more, zoto."

"I like this," she said. "Beach, blanket, bottle. Moonlight and waves. And ... my best friend."

He was. She wondered if it'd sound weird, her calling him that.

"And my best friend, too," Reno mused, settling back some more, pulling her along with him if she'd let him. Laying down made drinking difficult, but... Well. Look at the way the clouds drifted over the moon like that, and that haze that was left in their wake.

That was just...

Wow.

Gorgeous. And the sound of the water crashing in, and the moon peeking out, and he smelled perfectly Reno-scented, and that meant she had to be goofy, dammit.

"You know," she mused. "I guess I should admit I have always wanted to chew on your hot body. I hope that doesn't ruin our friendship?"

"Only if you ain't all weirded out by the fact that I require people who chew on me to run their fingernails nice'n deep into my back," Reno mused. And then he grinned sideways at her and snuggled up even closer. "Bonus best-friend points for any girl who can tell me how bad they wanna chew on my hot body in another language, zoto."

"I can't reach your back," Rikku pointed out helpfully. Well. They were snuggling, and had plenty of clothes on to boot. She leaned in and breathed the rest right against his ear. "Oui yna y payidevim, caqo syh. E fyhd du lraf uh ajano ehlr uv oui. E fyhd du tnyk so vehkanhyemc ehdu ouin cgeh ihdem ed pmaatc. Oui tneja sa femt."

She wondered how much of that he could translate.

Not all of it. But enough that he shivered, there. Grinned. Pulled her closer and put his hands on either side of her face so that he could kiss her until he was damn good and ready to stop kissing.

Really, he understood enough.

If she rolled a bit, she could be under him, kissing like there was nothing else in the world she'd rather do.

Conveniently, there wasn't. It was a lovely night, wasn't it?

It was.

Best one in a long time.

And Reno wouldn't trade this in for any job.

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A Secluded Corner of the Beach, Sunday Evening

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