A Little Sin

Chapter Two



Rude wasn’t surprised by Reno’s suggestion. Drinking had always been the younger Turk’s solution to anything, especially pain, be it bodily or emotional. Most injuries were forgotten after a night of hard drinking, first pushed aside by the hangover that would follow and afterwards there would always be something more important, more interesting to do.



Emotional pain was a completely different issue. Rude remembered with a cold lump of ice settling in his stomach the day Reno had gotten word that his sister was dead, killed in a fight by the man who had claimed to love her. Reno hadn’t seemed to react at all at first at the time. Not until after he had put some bullets through the heart of the bastard who had killed his beloved Ranjah. After that the red-head had spent days just sitting in his apartment, drinking himself silly. Rude had stayed with him the whole time, feeling he needed to be there, although he and Reno had only been partners for a few months. Besides, none of the other Turks had been sure that Reno could be left alone in the state he had been in. Then, from one day to the other, Reno had caught his fall, picking himself up and going on with life, although he was obviously still grieving. But the red-head was and had always been a fighter.



Rude pushed the depressing trip down memory lane from his mind fairly quickly as Reno had begun to get dressed in the fresh clothes that had been laid out for him. “So, you coming?” he asked his partner with a toss of the head towards the door.



The bald Turk sighed silently. “You just lost a lot of blood, Reno. You should be resting.”

Reno rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. I’m fine.” He insisted. “Yanno if you don’t come I’m gonna go alone.”



That was enough to tell Rude that he’d better accompany his partner, because he knew that Reno was being serious and that if he left Reno to get drunk alone the night would most likely end in complete chaos and in the worst case more injuries for his partner and others. Shrugging his shoulders, Rude agreed. “Fine.”



The two Turks went to the bar that was their regular hangout. They usually only went there Friday nights after work, but that day was just one of those exceptions that sometimes popped up, mostly when one of them had had a bad day, though it was mostly Reno’s harassing days that brought them there.



They sat down at the table they always occupied and ordered their drinks, Rude asking for what he always drank and Reno ordering something that had a violently green colour and should have sported a sign ‘highly intoxicating’.



The evening began to melt into night and by the time Rude had ordered his second drink he had lost count of how many Reno had had. The red-haired Turk had spent most of the night first complaining about everything that had gone wrong during his mission and once Reno had become too intoxicated to remember what else had pissed him off he began to recount how he had fought and killed his opponent, conveniently leaving out he part where he got stabbed, leaving Rude sure that a lot of his partner’s story was exaggerated.



That was always how a drunken Reno acted, but not the entire time, because there was a point of intoxication that would render the younger Turk quiet and staring around the room with unfocused eyes as if he had never been there before.



That moment had come now and Rude knew that it was his cue to get the red-head home.

“What ya doin’?” Reno slurred, eyeing Rude as the bald Turk got up from his seat.

“I’m taking you home.” was all the older man answered before making his way to the counter to pay for their drinks. Once he got back to the table he helped Reno up who was by now incapable of standing up on his own let alone walk to the car.



“Don’ wanna go home.” Reno whined into Rude’s shoulder which he was leaning on heavily on the way to Rude’s stylish black sports car. “Home’s empty.”

A small needle stabbed at Rude’s heart at hearing his young partner utter those words. It was widely known that Reno had difficulties being alone, seeking others’ company in situations in which other people would prefer to be on their own. But when drunk, Reno’s fear of being alone was just so much worse and those were the only times that he would admit to it.



“I’ll stay with you.” The bald Turk promised, trying to persuade his partner to get into the car while Reno was desperately attempting to pull Rude back towards the bar and failing miserably. Just as Rude thought that Reno had given up on going back, Reno managed to pull from the grip his partner had on his wrist, stumbling drunkenly, his legs refusing to cooperate. The red-head would have landed flat on the ground if Rude hadn’t managed to grab him by the waist and pull him back up on his feet just in time. Reno just leaned against Rude’s strong chest comfortably and the older Turk shoved him into the car before anything else could happen.



They passed the car ride to Reno’s flat in comfortable silence, the red-head only speaking once, saying “Thanks for catching me… again.” before he returned to observing the dark landscape with drunken interest. He never saw the small near imperceptible smile that tugged at Rude’s lips.



Having arrived at Reno’s flat, Rude helped him out of the car and practically dragged him inside the building. Thankfully there was an elevator, because Rude would not have been happy with having to drag his partner who was a dead weigh clinging to his arm, up six floors.



“’member ya promised to stay.” Reno reminded the bald Turk while he was unsuccessfully trying to unlock the door of his apartment. Rude wordlessly took the key from the red-head and unlocked the door for him, pushing Reno inside. “I know. I’ll stay.”



Rude had hardly had the chance to utter those words and close the door behind them before Reno turned to him and pushed him back against the wall, engaging him in a deep kiss.



A/N: Reviews are L.O.V.E.