Room 429, Tuesday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

"--And you don't even smell that bad," Reno said, holding his ferret in his arms. He'd been going on like this since he'd woken up and decided to strike up a friendly rapport with his pet. "Kinda like sour somethin'-or-other or kinda gunky feet or somethin'. I've smelled worse, yo. I mean, like, I smelled worse, Mako. You should'a seen the kinda junk we had to wade through as Turks. And, I mean, Midgar. There was a city that stank. I miss Midgar. And here I am talkin' to you like a nut. You know, I shouldn't even have a pet? I only agreed to gettin' you when Rikku dragged me to the pet shop 'cause I crave some kinda companionship that ain't gonna leave me just because they find out I'm some kinda heartless government tool--"

That was about the point where he furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.

"And you don't care. You're some kinda weasel thing. So why am I tellin' you this?"

Mako blinked up at Reno lazily, and then set his chin down on his lap and attempted to sleep. Snoozing was hard when someone kept trying to strike up a conversation with you, after all.

[Open door is open!]

Comments

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Getting laid isn't embarrassing," Sokka pouted. "Especially not with a hot girl like Rikku. That's something to BRAG about!"

He sighed. "Yes, yes I am happy to know the birds are okay. Are you?"

[raspberryturk]

"I don't need to brag," Reno mused. "Everyone already knows I'm the luckiest boyfriend on the island. She hasn't given up on me, yet."

It was kind of a big deal.

"Am I okay, or am I happy that the birds are?"

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"I really believe she's not GOING to give up on you," Sokka told him, "not as long as that dark and sordid past doesn't turn into a dark and sordid present. But I'm luckier, because Mel's hotter than Rikku -- although not by much -- and I don't understand what she sees in me."

He smiled weakly at Reno. "I was ASKING if you were happy the birds are okay, to try to tease you, but I really do hope you're okay, too."

[raspberryturk]

"I'm not okay. I keep openin' my mouth and sayin' things I don't want to say, like right now, because I'm tellin' you that I'm not okay. And tellin' you means that I'm somethin' other than just fine, and I don't want to look this human in front of anyone if I can help it, and today sucks."

Reno crossed his arms and allowed himself a scowl. It seemed like a good moment to scowl.

"And yes, I'm happy the birds are okay, too. And not just because I got paid to round 'em up. I like chocobos, yo."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Human is GOOD," Sokka protested. "You should TRY to be human. Open up, share your feelings, snuzzle the cute little birdies. Cry, even, although I'll laugh at you for that because it's not manly."

[raspberryturk]

"And then I'll bet you up for laughin' at me," Reno added. And it had to be true, today. "I'm a Turk, you know. We're supposed to... repress and... do mean things. I want to say 'kick puppies,' but I can't remember ever actually doin' that. I did step on some flowers, once. That's a bigger deal than it probably sounds like, I swear."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Were they SACRED flowers, or something? Because otherwise it sounds kind of stupid that you'd care." He sighed. "Look, just don't do mean things. Maybe you and Deadpool could start a support group."

[raspberryturk]

"They were growin' outta the floor of a church in the slums in a city where not even grass grows, and the ground just stays dead for miles and miles outside of the city, zoto."

Yes, they might as well have been sacred flowers.

"And Deadpool scares the livin' freakin' Hell outta me."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka stared. "Wow. It was pretty crappy of you to step on them, huh? And Deadpool only scares you because you're dating his minion. Really, you guys are the same in a lot of ways. I mean, you're super-awesome in the same ways."

[withoutverona]

Romeo flailed. "I have no idea what to say," he said quietly. "You're right to be afraid. I would offer to kiss you in hopes that would help you forget, but I haven't even a party to blame that on."

"But I don't think Rikku could ever hate you. She's loved you too long."

[raspberryturk]

"You figure knowin' a thousand ways to make a grown man wish he was dead is super-awesome? You're messed in the head, Boom." Reno raised an eyebrow at him, and then gave his head a shake. "And I was provin' a point with the flowers thing."

...

"It was a pretty crappy point, though. I was in a bad mood."

[raspberryturk]

"Party or no, man, if you kiss me, I ain't never lettin' you within three meters of my face ever again," Reno replied.

And really, it had to be true, right?

"I... Don't know what to do anymore. I don't even want to go back to Gaia. I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't. And that means she wants to follow me, and I don't know if that's worse."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Well, when you put it that way... not so much. But the dark, mysterious, bad-ass thing is pretty awesome. You know, the whole anti-hero thing. So long as you stay on the right side, now that you're here."

[withoutverona]

"You don't like boys at all?" Romeo clarified. "All right, then, no kissing. I don't think I love you that way anyhow."

He peeled a loose bit of paper on the tequila bottle. "Could you go back but only for a bit, with a goal in mind? Though, even as I say that I think it sounds impossible."

[raspberryturk]

"Am I here?" Reno grinned then, a sharp, dangerous sort of smile that seemed only to be missing fangs that had never actually been there. "I'm wherever I gotta be. What's the phrase them nerds who play those games use? Chaotic neutral, or whatever. I get by. I have the feelin' that Deadpool does the same, zoto."

[raspberryturk]

"I don't have a problem with guys. I just don't really lean that way. I mean. Some guys are hot or whatever. Shit. You're hot, yo. But I don't wanna kiss you, man. You're my best friend. It'd be weird. And I like tits too much to look the other way."

That earned a facepalm.

"I could try. Pick a goal. Somethin' to fix. Fix it, an' then run like hell. I don't know if it would be enough. I guess... It'd be impossible to ever find enough, for what I did. I'm gonna have to suck it up and draw a line, yo."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but all your friends are heroes. We'll keep you on the straight and narrow. Besides, doing bad things will cost you nookie, and that's a pretty damn good incentive right there."

[raspberryturk]

...

"You have a real good point there," Reno agreed, blinking. "Okay then. Smack me in the head or whatever if I start actin' like the bad guy, yo."

A pause.

"Sometimes I suck at bein' able to tell the difference."

[withoutverona]

"I was in love with Mercutio," Romeo said quietly. "It took being a girl to get me to admit that, but it's there. It's ... a different thing, with you, and I'd rather not talk about it, ever."

"Maybe you should draw a line in days, rather than in things done?"

[raspberryturk]

"I love you in a purely platonic kinda way that would see me totally losin' my friggin' head if anything ever happened to you." A pause. "You're on-par with Rude, man. I never thought I'd ever say that about anyone, yo."

"And how do I know how many days is enough? I give myself a year, by the end of it I'll be convincin' myself that I should've made it two, instead."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"It's not really all that hard," Sokka told him. Because he came from Nickelodeon. "Just don't be evil." He shrugged and grimaced apologetically. "I probably won't smack you in the head, I'll just yell at you like I think you're an idiot."

[raspberryturk]

"That works, too," Reno mused. And then smirked. "You're kinda failin' at gatherin' the blackmail material today, huh?"

[withoutverona]

"You're more blood to me than my own kin.," Romeo said, matter-of-factly. "I don't need to go about adopting siblings, but I'd call you my brother and mean it."

"And if you say a year you'll make it two, and if you say clean up one neighborhood you'll make it three. Maybe you'll know when to leave without a goal."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Utterly and completely," Sokka acknowledged. "I'm doing pretty good at embarrassing myself, though."

[raspberryturk]

"Blood never meant nothin' to me. But brother, comin' from you? That does mean a lot." A pause. "I... think I'd do the same. You're family, man. The kinda family I can be proud of havin'. Am proud of havin'."

Dammit, they were getting all mushy an' shit.

"Maybe I'll just get chased outta town," Reno noted, eyeing the bottle in his hands, and then shrugging and drinking down the last swallow before setting it down. "Time to go when the locals sniff me out and threaten to put me down like a sick dog."