Don't Play with Fire (Turks FF7)

5) Plate Dropped

"Hungry?" Reno pokes his head into my office. "It's lunch hour, kid."

"Not really," I shake my head, filing through all the paper crap Tseng dumped on my desk earlier. "Gotta fill all this out. Courtesy of Rufus."

"He really doesn't like you," my friend laughs, stepping in and closing the door behind him. "Too bad; I brought you a sub from the caf."

"You can have it," I shake my head.

"I ain't hungry."

"What?" I look up at him and stare. He just stares back.

"What? The only meal I ever eat is dinner, you know that."

"Since when?!" I blurt.

"Since forever." He gives me a cocky smile. "Can't you tell from my @-%+#-^@+ awesome physique?"

"Reno, sometimes I wonder," I mumble, looking down to write something else in. "So you don't mind having to drop the plate?"

"@-$+," he curses, setting the tray down to light a cigarette. "I dunno, man. Seems a little too much, even for me. Killin' all those people... Some kids'll probably make it out and their parents won't and then they'll wind up like us," he sighs, smoke pouring past his lips. "Insane murderers at best."

"Yeah," I nod in agreement. Forgot that he's a little on the coo-coo side as well... Just not as far as I am. "I'm honestly glad that I'm not the one doing it."

"Yeah? Well @-%+ you."

"Shut up," I roll my eyes with a smile sympathetic smile. The guy's got a soft side that rarely comes out, and when it does, it's usually when it comes to people possibly living the terrors and struggles that we worked through both apart and together. Especially when it comes to children having to deal with it. "Are you gonna eat it? I'm not."

"Huh? The plate?"

"No, moron. The sub."

"Oh!" He shakes his head. "I'll go give it to Rude, I guess. Be right back, Sweetheart." I roll my eyes as he goes. To flirtatious for his own good. When he comes back, he just sits back in the chair he was in and puffs away while I watch him irritably. He smirks. "Like what you see, Babe?"

"Not in the least," I tease.

"Aw c'mon. Not even if I told you how pretty you are?" He winks. I roll my eyes and scowl at him.

"Reno, seriously. I'm trying to finish this."

"You're tryin' too hard, Kat," he grins, leaning back. "Seriously, not even Rude tried this hard at first. At least, I don't think so."

"So? I didn't even start until Tseng showed me this place."

"Offices turn you on? I can work with that."

"Reno," I glare at him. "Stop bothering me."

"But you're my bestie," he sneers.

"Besides," I continue. "The reason I'm actually giving a #-+% now is 'cuz Rufus tried to freaking kill me earlier."

"Yeah," he grimaces. "Should'a warned you. He's a little... Intolerant, especially when it comes to us."

"But I thought he was just supposed to be a wall of no emotion whatsoever," I huff. He shakes his head.