Room 501, Friday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

Reno was sitting cross-legged on his bed, a stack of photocopied papers spread out on the sheets in front of him. He was ignoring his laundry, which probably ought to get done before his roomie could notice the red streaks across the back of one of his white shirts. And he was ignoring his report to Tseng, which he usually ignored anyhow until the very last minute or whenever the angry e-mails started to pour in. And he was focusing entirely on making stupid sounds without sounding too stupid.

"Oui pnayg so ... hekrd. Ed ec lumt eh dra dnaac?"

...

"Drec ec lnywo. Cdnyhka. Pydrnuus nupud lyhto bahkiehc."

Reno sounded like an idiot and he hated everything.


[That Reno is making stupid sounds is totally fine to mention on radio, that the stupid sounds are Al Bhed is totally NFB, please. <3 I leave for work in 20 minutes. Am available for slowplay much later tonight though, if you really want to have strange words thrown at you.]

Comments

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka, munching on some pork rinds, poked his head in the door. "No, you're saying it wrong. It's pronounced 'pydrnuus'," he said. "TRUST me on this one."

[raspberryturk]

Reno glanced up from the photocopies and stared at Sokka.

...

"You know this stuff?"

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka shrugged. "Not really. So you're a friend of Rikku's, now?"

[raspberryturk]

"She's one of the first people I met when I got on the island," Reno replied, raising an eyebrow. "That a shock somehow?"

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka shrugged. "Nah, a cool guy like you would probably be drawn towards the awesome crowd. That's why you hang with me, isn't it?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno had to smirk at that one. Just a small smirk. Just for a moment.

"Somethin' like that."

Sokka was amusing and made him look even cooler by comparison. Reno wasn't going to be the one to say that.

"So you don't know Al Bhed, you just know how to pronounce it? Or what?"

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka shrugged. "I know a few words. Enough to get by. 'Hello', 'how are you', 'lunch', 'dinner', 'we're going to go kill some fiends', stuff like that."

[raspberryturk]

Huh.

Reno pointed at Sokka. "You're takin' a seat and recitin' them to me, yo."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka popped another pork rind into his mouth. "Hey, I haven't seen most of these words actually written down, you know. Why don't you just ask Orangey?"

[raspberryturk]

And now Sokka was going to receive Reno's best, 'um. No.' look.

"Because if I ask Rikku, then she'll know I'm tryin' to learn, you follow?"

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka grinned and punched him in the arm. "You sly dog!!! How close of a friend of hers are you???"

[raspberryturk]

"That's for me to know, isn't it?" Reno smirked and halfheartedly rubbed at his shoulder. It didn't hurt, but the impulse was still there. It was more an afterthought than anything. A bit of a fidget without actually fidgeting.

How close a friend was he? He had no freaking clue.

"Maybe I just want to learn to speak a language I'm never gonna have any use for outside of this island," he mused. "Or maybe I really do want to know how to properly pronounce 'bathroom robot candy penguins,' yo."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Pydrnuus nupud lyhto bahkiehc," Sokka reeled off fluidly and perfectly, without looking at the papers.

...what?

[princetragique.livejournal.com]

Tamaki peered into the room, eyeing Reno strangely.

"Roomie... did you swallow something by accident?" he asked, looking concerned and somewhat horrified.

[raspberryturk]

Reno glanced up at Tamaki and raised an eyebrow.

"Never heard another language before?" .... "Probably butcherin' it. Never heard it spoken, so I got no clue what I'm doin' here, yo."

[princetragique.livejournal.com]

Tamaki grinned and walked over to his side of the room, rummaging in his schoolbag and presenting to Reno his French Class handout (http://www.syvum.com/cgi/online/serve.cgi/squizzes/french/frenchmonths1.html?table) from Thursday's class.

"I've heard another language, just not one that sounds so unique," he offered, sitting down on his bed. "What is it?"

[raspberryturk]

"Al Bhed," Reno replied. "Rikku's language."

There was a pause. And then Reno gave Tamaki the look. The scary one. That look that said, 'I am not afraid to hunt down your dog and kick it.'

"And if you tell her that I'm tryin' to learn it, I'll shove these worksheets up your nose, you understand?"

This was said in the most endearing way possible, given that it was Reno.

Probably wouldn't be his nose they got shoved up, is all?

[princetragique.livejournal.com]

Instinctively placing his hands over his nose, Tamaki nodded. He wasn't about to argue.

Then, realization dawned.

"You're learning Rikku's language?" he asked, a sly grin creeping across his face.

[raspberryturk]

Reno rolled his eyes and attempted to hide the fact that his ears were turning red by looking back at the photocopied sheets.

"Learnin' to butcher it is more like it," he clarified. "Got nothin' to work with but a mishmash of words that I don't think were ever meant to go together in the first place, yo."

[princetragique.livejournal.com]

Tamaki was grinning from ear to ear.

"You're trying to win her heart by learning her language! Aha, you do have the heart of a romantic! I knew you had potential to be a host!"

He steepled his fingers with glee, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

[raspberryturk]

Reno's eyes went wide and he looked up at Tamaki, something like a teal deer in the headlights.

"What? I- no! No, it ain't like that!"

No, really?

[princetragique.livejournal.com]

The grin, although extremely wide already, seemed to get only wider.

"Magnifique!" he cried, throwing his arms into the air with excitement. "I knew it, I knew it! Ahahaha!"

Happily laughing to himself, he danced around the room in circles. He now felt he had been right about wanting Reno to join the Host Club! The man seemed to have a romantic streak! Triumph!

[raspberryturk]

"Would you stop makin' an ass of yourself, Tamaki?!" Reno was on his feet now, papers scattering everywhere. "I'm just- It's not even- ... Dammit!"

Reno was doomed.

[princetragique.livejournal.com]

Tamaki paused in his happy victory dance only long enough to grin smugly at Reno, his eyes twinkling with mischievous glee.

[raspberryturk]

...

Reno. Was backing. Away.

Slowly.

Any sudden moves, and he knew he was doomed.