Sunday Night, Hallway, Fifth Floor

[the_merriest]

So Rikku ... had had a pretty sweet weekend. Hanging out with mercs, and all sorts of interesting workshops, about fun things like C4 and weapons and being in the business as a good guy and dude. They were pretty cool people.

Then she'd met Reno's friend Rude and gotten a chopper ride and ... okay. She'd been kinda freaking out about the chopper ride? But then Dawn had been awesome, 'cause Dawn, and logic was totally better than being weird.

So she should probably go find Reno, and apologize for ditching his coat on the ground like that? Right. Okay. Suck it up, Rikku.

She knocked on the door to 501, fidgeting.

(for the reno. will be a linkdrop.)

Comments

[the_merriest]

"I liked it," she said, and then blushed harder. And bit her lip. "Not that ... that you, you know. I mean. I get that you're ... uh. Not usually the whole ... dating. And. I'm sorry ... your week sucked? And."

Sure she was leaning up a little, they were on the stairs, she had to. She was on a lower stair. They weren't that close.

[raspberryturk]

Not that close at all. Really. It was. It was the light. And he was going to kind of look at the steps. Steps were amazing. His ears weren't turning red. That was also a trick of the light. Coupled with the booze. Renos simply did not blush.

She should never take that jacket off. Ever.

"Didn't suck. My week, I mean. Con was good too. And the chopper, zoto. And everything's fine."

Except how he was drunk and felt a little like an idiot. Which was wrong. Reno of the Turks never felt like an idiot.

[the_merriest]

"There were panels on ethics and you've been drinking," she said, raising an eyebrow. "And this weird girl dropped your coat and stormed off just 'cause you ..."

Stood too close on the steps?

[raspberryturk]

Far too close on the steps. And backing off hadn't yet occurred to him. Should it even be an option? Nah. Not really.

"Ethics and leavin' and it's all bull," Reno clarified. "And no."

[the_merriest]

"No?" she asked. "No, what? You haven't been drinking?"

'Cause ... he admitted that much.

[raspberryturk]

"What I think you were askin' last night. I think."

Is that why you and Rude--?

He'd spent a good hour yelling into the dark after she'd stormed off. He managed eventually to piece a bit of it together, at least.

"I mean. Yes. But no. You like choppers. And I'm drunk."

He was smiling. It was the drunken smile of someone who liked to show choppers to people who liked to see choppers. And he was drunk.

[the_merriest]

Rikku giggled. "You realize I have no idea what you're talking about, right?"

He was very drunk. And.

"We ... kinda fail at walks, here. I mean. We haven't even made it outside yet."

[raspberryturk]

"Probably for the best, yo," Reno decided, eying the staircase. "S'a lot of stairs to fall down."

He was very drunk. Yep.

[the_merriest]

"You need help?" she asked, stepping closer and offering an arm. "Maybe try not drinking so much next time."

She snickered. "We fail at walks, we fail at, uh, talking about stuff ... I think maybe it's us, yoto."

[raspberryturk]

"Must be us," Reno agreed. "Walkin' and talkin' are supposed to be easy, zoto."

That said, he was torn between accepting her arm and continuing to be stubborn. Upon taking the first step and nearly stumbling to the next, he decided that the arm was probably the way to go.

"It was champagne," he explained. "Champagne fountain at the brunch. Fountain. Of champagne. Hell yeah."

[the_merriest]

Rikku raised an eyebrow, leaning in to take more of his weight. "So you had to celebrate with some tequila?" she asked.

[raspberryturk]

"Rude left," Reno explained. "Yeah, tequila. And Host Club is retarded. Everclear."

Mmm. Everclear. Like drinking nail polish remover, kind of. Except he hadn't had nail polish remover. This was simply drunken speculation.

[the_merriest]

"Host Club?" She stopped short to look over at him. "Is that that ... pimp thing?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno shrugged his shoulders.

"Some stupid thing Tamaki's running," he explained. "I dunno. I was drunk and obnoxious through the meeting and was told I should leave."

He wasn't smirking at this. A lot.

[the_merriest]

"You're so good at making friends," she said, rolling her eyes. "Uh. You're really gonna ... be a ... hooker-thing?"

'Cause that was kinda ... weird, was all.

She wasn't really sure why she was helping him down the stairs, and not back up to the fifth floor. It just kind of seemed like the thing to do.

[raspberryturk]

Reno made a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a snerk. Snerk, of course, was totally a sound.

"You kidding? Tamaki's a pruuuuuude."

Hey. Another stair. This was progress. They had a long way to go, but this was progress.

[the_merriest]

"Yeah," she said dryly. "And so are you, zoto. Noticed it when you stopped in at work to --"

Couldn't even say that one out loud, okay?

[raspberryturk]

"To invite you to show me the other rooms of the place?"

Hey, tact. Tact was kinda fun to explore. He might use it more someday. Possibly after suffering severe brain damage and losing his testicles. So. Probably never again, and she should relish this reprieve from the norm.

"Don't need no host club for any of that."

That totally didn't sound quite how it had in his head.

[the_merriest]

Rikku looked up at him, trying to figure something out, and finally just ...

"Were you serious?" she asked. "About that. I kinda ... you know. Didn't think ..."

She would've said no either way, because ... hi, but she was curious.

[raspberryturk]

"Never really serious, like, it's gotta happen right then and there or anything. World doesn't end on a 'no,' yo. But if you said yes, it would'a been... score." Bad mouth. No cookie. "Usually. I dunno what that was with the... stuff. You know. Chopper was kinda somethin' else. You like flying. Or choppers. And the rest of it wasn't about it being another 'score.'"

He shrugged. He had to shut up now. He was starting to babble like Elena.

[the_merriest]

Rikku considered. And then realized she'd stopped them in place, without meaning to. Here. Stairs again. Stairs were good. See, they were almost done with stairs.

"Cold air. Helps with sobering you up," she said, nodding. "I, uh. So we ... I mean. You know."

Done with stairs, so she could let go. And step back, and fuss with her hair.

[raspberryturk]

She was somehow real cute, doing that with his jacket hanging off of her, being all fidgety and she had real nice hair.

"Dunno," he decided. It was a nice, noncommittal sort of answer that didn't require total sobriety to keep from messing up. "Didn't see it coming, and then we were all... yellin' at each other an' shit. And I drink too much, maybe. Do you think so? I'm not sure."

[the_merriest]

"You drink way too much," she laughed. "And I think we were yelling cause ... it was weird? And. You know. Was that just some ... fluke ... thing? Are ... is there, uh ..."

Trapdoors. Some day, she would actually install trapdoors all over Fandom. And remember to head for them when she was being this stupid.

[raspberryturk]

Embarrassment was better when shared with a drunk guy, perhaps? At least he was more busy trying to mentally fill in the blanks than he was making note of the fact that this was awkward conversation. If she'd just not finish the rest of her sentences, their mad-lib conversation had the potential to be far less mortifying.

Or moreso, depending on which verbs and adjectives he chose.

"Was kinda weird. Sorta. Didn't know what to think once thinkin' actually happened again. Uh." What was the question again? "You wear that jacket well, yo. You should be a Turk. But no, because that'd be..."

Uh.

"You have pretty eyes."

Shut up, Reno.

[the_merriest]

"I do?" she said, blushing up at him, and why was she stepping closer in again? That was definitely not going to make things even worse on the whole, 'what exactly are we doing, anyway?' front.

Maybe that annoying voice in the back of her head could shut up for a minute, here.