15A/N: I am the epitome of laziness. Let's see, Freya's meant to be writing the next chapter for AKON. She's meant to be coming up with Robin's Awesome Dialogue Of Wit And Mean. Ness. Sometimes. What does she do? Watch Advent Children and write some inexplicable and unlikely story.
Oh well. Also, I have never come across his favorite color anywhere, so if it is yellow...well, the story explains itself then, really.
Yes, it's slash. I think when the summary says 'CloudReno' it should be a bit of a hint that there's going to be some shonen-ai. So, if you don't like, rather than flame me, pay attention to the fact that I am warning you ahead of time about it, so you can, well, leave, rather than flame and make me all upset.
Summary: He'd never really thought yellow looked good on him. CloudReno.
Colours
Reno had never really thought yellow looked good on him.
He'd been traumatized when he was young. Well, not really that young…old enough to remember.
The sensation of custard and mayonnaise falling on top of you isn't something you're likely to forget, nor is the inadvertent taste of aforementioned concoction, especially just after drinking lemonade. He spent an hour brushing his teeth, and even ate an orange just to get the terrible taste and sensation out of his mouth, ignoring the fact that it tasted like an orange that had never been remotely close to any kind of tree.
He had forever sworn off yellow, custard, mayonnaise and, worse, lemonade. He nearly swore off oranges, but he liked them too much to do that.
Which was also the reason why the only blonde he ever flirted with was Elena. Mostly because flirting with her was a death wish right there, regardless of color. Sleaze his way around as he might, blondes always put him off, which was why most blondes around him seemed to suspiciously gain brown hair over night.
(Incidentally, he prefers red. Reno likes to match up.)
Fortunately, light didn't really count, so Reno was content to loiter around Midgar that day, in the lazy, sunny heat, several buttons on his shirt undone, hair swept back with it's usual messiness (the kind that takes about an hour every morning to perfect). Hands in his pockets, Reno made his way up the street, whistling tunelessly to himself, and not bothering to hide his interest in the pretty girls around him. A kid bumped into him, and so sunny was Reno's mood that he didn't make some kind of jerky comment, but just nodded at the kid and walked on.
Of course, no sunny day was ever without drawbacks, and Reno soon found his in the shape of a familiar bar and a familiar motorbike. Reno sighed, before noting a car parked outside the bar, and couldn't help but grin.
Bursting into the room with his usual graceful presence (read: irritating arrogance) he sauntered up to the counter, grinning at the barkeep. Tifa Lockheart just raised an eyebrow, shrugged her shoulders and continued cleaning some glasses.
"So, Tifa, what's happening?"
"Nothing to do with you, Reno," she said.
"How're the orphans?"
"Denzel is currently playing with Marlene and Barret,"
"Oh, papa's come home to play with his kid, then," said Reno, his grin devolving into an arrogant smirk.
"Cloud's with them," said Tifa.
"Yeah, I noticed the bike outside. Where's big, bald and quiet, though? I did see the car,"
"You mean Rude?"
"Who else do I know who's big, bald and quiet?"
"Well…"
"Let me guess: he's upstairs playing tic-tac-toe with the kids,"
"You're frustrating when you're smug, you know,"
"Yeah, I know," Reno leaned against the counter, jumping onto a stool, "It's one of my more charming qualities,"
"There's nothing charming about it," said Tifa, shaking her head, "What do you want?"
"I just stopped in to say hi. That and I wanted to find big, bald and quiet,"
"Reno," said Tifa, "Some days I could swear you two were married,"
"Oh, no, Tifa, we wouldn't dare cheat on the other with you,"
"Implying?"
"Implying that it's a damn shame you got rid of that mi - -"
"Hey, Reno," said Cloud in a significant tone. The kind of tone that says 'CEASE!' in gigantic letters several stories high.
"Wow, Cloud, no sword today," said Reno, leaning back, "I'm impressed. Here I thought you took 'em to bed with you like a cuddly toy,"
"Nah, he's got a stuffed bear," said Tifa. At the horrified expression on Reno's face, she added, "Reliving his childhood."
"Yes," said Cloud in a complete monotone, "Because nobody loved me when I was younger,"
Reno's face had hit that terrible expression of 'oh-no-he's-really-gone-haywire-now' when Cloud's mouth twitched, and he smiled.
Cloud had an interesting smile. It slipped across his face, past the industrial-accident hair and the mako eyes to dance on his lips before he could stop it.
For all that he was the Awesome-O Guy Who Kicked Sephiroth's Pansy Ass, Cloud's smile was irrepressible when it chose to arrive.
Reno blinked several times, before meeting Cloud's eyes proper and bursting into laughter, followed by Cloud's smile evolving into a grin and Tifa hiding a giggle behind a soap-covered hand.
"Don't do that to me again!" gasped Reno, brushing tears of laughter out of his eyes, "I'd rather you cuddled the sword!"
Tifa's smile suddenly became very…odd. Reno couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he wasn't entirely certain he liked it, especially not that sparkle in her eyes.
No sparkle like that was ever good in any woman's eyes, least of all Tifa's.
"Tifa?" he asked, trying to work out exactly why Tifa was giving him…that…smile.
"Never mind, Reno. I'll go get Rude,"
"Um…yeah…"
Reno watched her back as she went, still looking quizzical.
"Er, what was up with your lady-friend back there?" he asked Cloud, who shrugged.
"She's not my 'lady-friend',"
"But she wants you. And you want her. Why not?"
Cloud's eyes suddenly got another look in them, a look Rude often wore, communicating something along the lines of 'you-will-shut-the-goddamn-hell-up-right-now-this-topic-is-not-open-for-conversation'.
However, communicating that to Reno was a bad idea, as it just egged him on.
"I know that look, Cloud. Yooouuu just don't want to admit it. What, scared of big, bald and quiet?"
Cloud's face was completely unreadable, and Reno was vividly reminded of when he left just after his boss tried to hire him. (Not interested, yeah right, Reno had thought.)
Then again, Reno had blown up part of Old Midgar's plate, so perhaps Cloud was justified in a little bit of dislike.
But only a little. Come on, he did get Rude thrown into him by Yazoo and Loz. That had to count for something. And he blew them up, too.
…Okay, so maybe they still shot Cloud. But come on; give us some Brownie points over here.
Reno had been momentarily quieted by his thinking, making Cloud a little suspicious. Spotting this, Reno mentally rolled his eyes.
Oh come on! What, you think I'm going to steal Denzel and Marlene?
It wasn't until Cloud gave him an odd look that Reno realized he'd said this out loud.
"You did…" Cloud trailed off, as if trying to find the best way to start the long list of Things Cloud Has Against The Turks.
"Yeah, Cloud, we did capture your girlie, we did blow up the plate, we did nearly kill the world. We also tried to get rid of Jenova's head, and I personally ended up getting thrown halfway across Edge by those stupid Remnants," said Reno, "Not to mention the scars I have from you guys two years ago. I swear to god, Cloud, I still have that scar where your stupid Braver hit me,"
"Be glad I didn't use Omnislash," said Cloud coldly.
"Oh, I am, I'm glad every time I accidentally catch sight of my right arm in the mirror," said Reno, rolling his eyes again, "Or did you forget?"
Reno pushed his sleeve up a bit, showing the end of a very ugly looking scar. Something flickered behind Cloud's eyes briefly, and then vanished. Reno rolled the sleeve back down.
"Annoyed at a little bit of your aesthetic perfection being ruined?" said Cloud.
"Nah, chicks dig guys with scars,"
(Actually, Reno was a little upset about it, but like hell was he gonna tell Cloud that.)
Reno smirked. He didn't actually feel like smirking, but he felt that the line demanded something along those lines, and he wasn't entirely comfortable leering when there wasn't a girl around, so he settled for a smirk.
(That, and leering at Cloud? Eew.)
"What about guys?" said Cloud, once again in his 'I-am-going-to-throw-your-world-off-balance-briefly-for-my-own-personal-amusement' monotone.
"What about guys?" said Reno back, "Or, what, are you interested or something? After all, I did hear that you dressed up as a girl…"
"It was to get Tifa back!" snapped Cloud without really paying attention.
"Suuure it was," said Reno, really smirking this time, "Well, Cloud, hate to say it, but blondes? Aren't my thing,"
"Tifa was right," said Cloud, "You are smug,"
"And you're arrogant. Thus goes the wonderful circle of life, except the real circle doesn't have as much cursing or sex,"
Cloud gave Reno A Look, to and Reno simply looked back coolly.
(Or, at least, tried to look back coolly. In reality, he just looked drowsy.)
Cloud sighed and, as though looking for something to do other than lean against the wall (exquisitely moody as he looked) so he jumped over the counter of the bar and started finishing the cleaning.
"You know, Cloud," said Reno, as Cloud dried the glasses and put them back on their shelves, "It's actually kind of a pity you're not a girl. I bet you were really hot in a dress,"
Cloud glared at Reno, who just grinned lazily, head propped up on his fist.
"Reno, it is possible that I can move from a delivery boy into a bouncer, you realize?"
"You wouldn't do that to me," said Reno, "Besides, it's a compliment. Kind of,"
"Kind of?"
"Well, not every guy likes to be called 'pretty'. Some guys do strive for that effect, but something tells me you're not one of them,"
The glare continued.
"Well forgive me for saying this, but you're hardly the epitome of manliness," said Cloud dryly.
"Yeah, I know. Which is why I gave up long ago and now work on the 'pretty' side of the spectrum,"
"If you didn't, maybe people might mistake you for straight,"
Reno laughed at that.
"Whatever you say, Cloud. Gotta say, bendy as I might seem, there are days when you look about as straight as a circle,"
"You'd know," retorted Cloud. Reno's annoying grin was back. Cloud briefly thought on the merits of tossing him out right then and there, but figured that it would be mean to Rude, who liked Marlene, which put him up several notches in Cloud's book, as opposed to Reno, who never even made it into the book. Reno didn't even get to the index. Reno didn't even get to the cover. Reno didn't have enough notches even to be in the negative.
"Sorry, Cloud, I'm straight as the horizon,"
"And the Planet's spherical," pointed out Cloud dryly.
"Yeah, but the horizon doesn't look it, does it?" Reno then abruptly realized what he said, and grinned again, "But, you know, Cloud, you're making an awful lot of cases against me. Tryin' to tell me somethin'?" Reno deliberately thickened his drawl.
Cloud gave Reno a foul look and returned to the glasses.
There was a long silence. When Cloud looked up, Reno was walking a coin across his fingers, back against the counter. He began to whistle tunelessly, before sighing.
"Dilly-dally shilly-shally. I hope Tifa didn't do something to Rude, 'cause she's sure taking her time,"
There was a pause.
"Why did you say that?"
"Huh?" Reno tilted his head round to look at Cloud, without actually moving the rest of his body.
" 'Dilly-dally shilly-shally'. Why did you say that?"
Reno shrugged.
"I like the saying. Got a nice sound to it," he turned back to walking the coin. Now he was walking it under his fingers, before flicking it up into the air and catching it midway down. He opened his hand to show Cloud that the coin had vanished, before tapping the back of Cloud's half-fisted hand. Cloud looked surprised, and turned his hand over to show the coin Reno had been fiddling with.
"Pretty neat trick, huh?" Reno said with a grin, taking the coin back and flicking up into the air.
"How'd you do it?" asked Cloud. Reno's grin stayed there – same Reno, loved to show off – and he flicked his other wrist to show another coin, identical to the one he was playing with.
"Misdirection," he said, "I love that game,"
"Like Rufus played on the Remnants?" said Cloud, smile beginning to dance over his lips.
"Why are you smiling like that, Cloud?" asked Reno.
"Just remembering being told some of the stuff that happened while you fought Yazoo and Loz,"
"Hey, we didn't have a sword that splits into six, okay? We didn't have funky awesome skills, okay? We're not the ones who were badass enough to beat Sephiroth - - "
"Actually, I was just thinking that, for all that you had a gigantic list of things that made it easier for them to hurt you, you managed to keep them distracted pretty well,"
Reno smiled at that.
"Misdirection. Although I hadn't expected the President to jump off the building," he swiveled round to properly face Cloud, "And who the hell told you about our fighting the Remnants?"
"Rude," said Cloud, "He seemed to think I might like to know," Reno gave Cloud an odd look.
"Why'd he think that?" Cloud shrugged.
"Maybe he wanted to try and make it up to me, what you two did,"
Something about the way Cloud said that made Reno do something he hadn't done for a long, long, long time.
He blushed.
"Careful," said Cloud hopping over the counter, "If your mouth stays open like that, you might catch flies,"
"H-h-hey! You can't just, just…" Cloud was already out of the room by the time Reno managed to actually get the stammered jumble out.
"Geez," he muttered, "And I thought Rude was a coward,"
Reno glared at the mirror across from him.
"Yellow doesn't suit me," he said, a little angrily, "So blondes don't suit me either,"
With that, Reno shoved his hands in his pockets, stepped sullenly off the stool and left the bar.
"Doesn't suit me," he muttered, a little angrily again, "It doesn't suit me!" he snapped a little louder, halfway down the street.
"What doesn't suit you?" asked a familiar voice. Reno gave a jump and suddenly turned around.
"Where the hell did all these flowers come from?" he asked, staring down at the yellow and white petals with sheer confusion. He then looked up and suddenly gulped very loudly.
She giggled. She giggled.
Really, when you're standing in front of the man who arranged for you to be kidnapped, dropped a sector plate and was generally unpleasant, you don't giggle. Laugh maniacally, maybe. But giggle?
"Where am I and what do you want with me?" he said, trying to hide his sheer confusion and (okay, yeah, he's a coward, let's get that out of the way right now) fear.
She laughed. Laughed.
Reno replied in the only real way that it could be expected, really.
"What the hell is going on!"
She walked towards him, Reno leaning away as she stood face-to-face with him.
Then, to his bemusement, she tucked a yellow flower in his ear.
"I wouldn't call his hair yellow," she said, with a smile, "Maybe mousy-gold,"
"Why are you doing this?" he asked, "Why are you talking to me? Don't you remember all the stuff I did? Don't you remember who I work for? Don't you remember - - "
"Of course I do," she said, "Who doesn't? But don't you remember saving those kids? Don't you remember stalling the Remnants? Don't you remember looking after Rufus? Don't you remember finding out where their base was?"
"Well…yeah. But I really don't think that balances it out," he said.
"Then make it balance out," she said.
"Wait…what?"
"He's stopped holding on. Maybe you should, too,"
Reno stared. She put the yellow flower in his hand.
"Dilly-dally shilly-shally,"
Reno blinked and she was gone.
"Whoa…" he said, running his hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his head, "I didn't even drink anything,"
Reno sighed, and made his way onwards before noticing something.
He still held the yellow flower. He stared at it. Looked at the bar.
Flower. Bar. Flower. Bar.
"Oh, hell, if she's forgiven, why the hell can't he," he said, "And I sure as hell have to give it a try,"
"Where's Reno?" asked Rude, walking down into the bar proper.
"Well, he was here, then muttered something about yellow not suiting him and then," Cloud shrugged, "I'd left by then, so I don't kn - - "
The door banged open and in walked a familiar figure.
"CLOUD STRIFE!"
Cloud blinked several times as Reno stormed in, till he stood right in front of him. He then turned, gently passed a flower to Tifa ("Hold it for a sec, 'kay?") before grabbing Cloud forcibly by the shirt and kissing him.
Really, really hard.
On the mouth.
To this day, Rude and Tifa have no idea what Cloud would have done, had his brain not been turned to seven kinds of mush. All they know is that he was blinking quite a bit.
Reno pulled away, grabbed the flower, stuck it in the back of his ponytail, said, "She better not have lied!" and stormed out, before sticking his head back in, "And I'm coming back later! Don't think this is a one-time thing!"
Rude, Tifa and Cloud stared after him, before Rude and Tifa burst into hysterical laughter.
"What was that, Tifa?" said Cloud, still blinking, pointing after Reno.
"Well…you have been preoccupied," said Tifa, holding herself around the stomach as she…well…cackled was the best word.
"And Reno talks in his sleep," laughed Rude, before biting his finger to try and quell the laughter. He looked at Cloud, which turned out to be a fatal decision, as the look on Cloud's face made him burst into hysterics again.
"Oh, no, Cloud…" laughed Tifa, "Looks like you'll have to wait…!"
"I'd better pick him up…" Rude was still gasping, tears rolling down his cheeks, "I'll call you, tell you what time to get the flowers…ready…!"
Still laughing like a maniac, Rude left the bar, and they heard the faint yell of: "RENO! Don't you want a lift?"
Meanwhile Tifa leaned against Cloud, now incapable of speech.
"Tifa…one day I'm going to…" Cloud, frustrated, stormed up to his bedroom. A few moments later, Tifa leaned around the door to his room, wearing a wicked expression.
"So, should I get roses or lilies?"
"TIFA!"
Reno came over later that evening, and was, to be honest, only mildly shocked when Cloud handed him a bouquet of yellow roses.
"I thought I told you yellow doesn't suit me,"
"I thought I told you you're wrong,"
"No, you didn't,"
"Well…I'm right anyway. And she gave you a yellow flower, so obviously I'm right,"
There was no point asking who 'she' was.
"She also wears all pink," said Reno, "I don't think it's a matter of taste,"
"Sure it is," said Cloud, "Besides, if I'm so bendy, I think I'm meant to know aren't I?"
That made Reno laugh, and Cloud suddenly kissed him. When they pulled away, Reno smiled wryly.
"You put a yellow rose in my hair, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah. It looks nice in your red hair,"
Reno shook his head.
"Cloud, most girls – ,"
"I'm not a girl,"
"Well, that's true, so,"
"I'm not dying my hair,"
"Not even streaks?"
"I'm not dying my hair,"
"Come on," said Reno, taking him by the hand and walking out the bar, "You'd look great,"
"I'm not dying my hair,"
"You already do it enough damage with your hair gel,"
"I'm not dying my hair,"
Tifa and Rude sat back, watching the two walk off.
"How long will it take for Cloud to manage to change the subject?" asked Tifa.
"Half an hour,"
"Ten minutes,"
"You wanna bet on that?"
"Sure thing."
(in fact they were both wrong. A couple of minutes after they left, Cloud kissed Reno, said, very firmly, "You are not making any changes to my appearance, whatsoever, Reno, or I will never forgive you,")
("But you'd look so good with pink hair,")
And they all lived happily ever after.
("I would not look good with purple hair!")
Well. Maybe not peacefully, but happily.
("What do you mean my hair's too long!")
After all, it's hard to live peacefully when you find your love dying your hair in the middle of the night.
("RENO!")
And, it was inevitable…
("CLOUD! Do you have any idea how disgusting this feels!"
"I just thought I ought to give it a try,"
"You are SO getting your hair dyed,")
But they lived happily. And that's what mattered.
(No, Reno didn't his ponytail cut. No, Cloud didn't get his hair dyed, although there were many threats.)
(Especially after Cloud tossed Worcester sauce, Coke and mayonnaise on Reno.)
(Reno still hasn't forgiven him.)