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]

"Might be fun," she shrugged. "Probably not. Uh. We. So. Uh."

Right.

[raspberryturk]

"Kissed." Pause. "Twice."

...

"Is that a... thing? I mean. It's, you know?"

...

"Or what?"

[the_merriest]

"Y-yeah. Uh. ... Is it? Did you ... um. Cause you kinda ... usually ... don't, and ... I mean. I just." Deep breath. "Did you ... want ... ?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno rubbed at the back of his head, fingering the base of his ponytail. It was not a nervous habit, in case anyone asked. It was just something to do with his hand.

"I have no clue," he stated. "Don't know where it came from, and then we did it again, and--" Rude wanted to be the best man. What the hell, Rude? "I don't... date."

Can't date. Dating bad. Commitment bad. Rude the best man? Bad and he was going to have to hitchhike to Edge to pound on his partner.

[the_merriest]

Which was fine. Which was totally what she'd expected him to say. Which was kinda silly, that she'd dragged him out here in the cold just to ... tell her what she already knew. Right. Okay. She was nodding.

"Y-yeah," she said, swallowing quickly. "Right. No. I get that. I mean. I'm not ... you know. It's cool. Yeah."

Nodding. A few more times.

"It's not ... gonna ... be all weird or anything, right? It's ... we're ... we're fine. Right?"

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah. We're... good. It didn't happen, or whatever?"

He was a heel. He was the scum from under the heel, somewhere inside the cracks in a rotting shoe. He was scum who happened to be sobering up far too quickly and it was cold out and he was probably going to be dead before thirty and Rude wanted to be the best man? What the hell was Rude thinking?

"It's still cool, zoto."

[the_merriest]

"Totally," she said, nodding quickly. "It, uh, it was nice. The bit that didn't happen. And we're ... all good. Yeah."

She was going to ... head inside. Wait. Coat. Shrugging out of the coat.

"This, uh, I should ... h-here." Weak smile. "I won't drop it this time."

[raspberryturk]

Reno was not going to argue this time. Reno was going to just bite his tongue and remind himself that he was Not That Guy and he was going to accept his coat back. Hey. Coat. Crazy, that.

"Thanks." This would naturally be where shutting up was required. But Reno had moments where shutting up was not an option regardless. "See you in class or whatever?"

[the_merriest]

Rikku was nodding again. Not so much with meeting his eyes. And smiling. More or less.

"Yeah. See you ... whenever." Nodding. Nodding was good. "Have a ... good night, then."

Inside. Inside was very, very good.

[raspberryturk]

For the second night in a row, Reno found himself standing just outside the location of an unexpected kiss, holding his jacket in one hand and completely at a loss as he watched her walk away.

For the first time in his life, however, he couldn't seem to be able to get the taste of someone else's lips out of his mouth.