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“Soooo do you ever laugh or smile or anything?” Yuffie leaned on the bar, chin resting in her palms, staring at the stoic Turk seated on the other side. “Why do you never take your sunglasses off? Do you have a fake eye?”
Rude sipped his whiskey pretending he didn’t hear her ridiculous interrogation, which did nothing to deter Yuffie from pressing further.
“You can drop the whole intimidating bad ass thing when you’re here ya know, promise we won’t tell anyone you’re secretly a big teddy bear with fake eyes...oooh or maybe they’re pretty and that’s why you’re hiding them?”
Reno sat next to Rude, sipping a beer. “He’s nearly immune to my yappin’, you’re not gonna faze him, princess.”
The relationship between AVALANCHE and the Turks had thawed considerably in the time since Meteorfall and the battle with Bahamut SIN and the Remnants. Yuffie took up doing missions for Reeve at the World Regenesis Organization, which led to occasional run-ins with the Turks. After a bit of pestering Yuffie had convinced them to stop by Seventh Heaven where she was helping Tifa run the bar in her free time. Any concerns about past grudges quickly dissipated as Tifa had been happy to welcome the former enemies as a show of gratitude for all they were doing to atone for their past actions. Reno and Rude soon became regulars and Yuffie enjoyed spending her shifts bantering with Reno, who was the polar opposite of his reserved partner.
Yuffie stuck her tongue out in response. “Pfffft, 100 gil says I can get him to laugh within the next hour.”
Reno glanced at Rude, who might have been mistaken for a statue if he wasn’t occasionally lifting his glass of whiskey to his mouth. “Looks like the next round’s gonna be on me.” Rude made a barely audible hum of acknowledgement, but said nothing else. Reno turned back to Yuffie and smirked. “You’re on.”
She clapped excitedly. “Okay Rude, knock knock?” she said as she stared at him expectantly.
Rude raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Well, you’re supposed to say ‘who’s there’ but-”
“Yuffie, are you pestering the customers again?” Tifa said as she came out from the back room with a tray full of clean mugs and began putting them on the shelf beneath the bar. It was a slow evening and there wasn’t much that Tifa needed help with, which left Yuffie free to do as she pleased.
Yuffie put her hand to her chest in feigned offense and said, “No, I’m being their source of free entertainment.”
“I want a refund,” Reno said, folding his arms across his chest with yet another one of his trademark smirks.
“Shove it, Turkey, you can’t refund free!” she said as she flipped him off. Tifa smiled and shook her head at the antics of the young ninja and boisterous Turk.
Reno’s eyes glimmered with mischief. “If you really wanted to entertain you could get up on that table, do a little dance if ya catch what I’m gettin’ at,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.
Yuffie was about to grab a towel and snap him with it for his comment, but it had sparked an idea instead. It wasn’t uncommon for their banter to turn flirtatious, though nothing ever came of it, but perhaps this time…
“Maybe I will,” she said and Reno raised his eyebrows in surprise for not getting the admonishment he was expecting. She walked out from behind the bar towards him, giving a slight exaggeration to the sway of her hips before climbing onto his lap and straddling him. She grinned at his sharp intake of breath and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I’d rather save that for just you though.”
“Oh really?” He murmured. He put his hands on her hips to help keep her balanced on the barstool with him. It was a more pleasurable feeling than she expected, one that had her nearly second guess what she was about to do.
“Mmhmm.” She traced a finger along his collarbone, wishing she could continue down his lean, muscular chest. Damn him and his habit of wearing half buttoned shirts. She mentally kicked herself out of her distraction and shifted slightly so her lips were a fraction away from his. “Could be fun.”
Reno’s lips parted with expectation and Yuffie cast a quick side glance towards Rude and Tifa, finding them both staring in morbid fascination. She winked at them and closed the distance between herself and Reno…
...and blew air into his mouth with a loud ‘thbbt.’
She leapt off his lap, cackling as the shock of her actions caused Reno to lose his balance on the barstool and sent him tumbling to the floor screaming obscenities. The few other patrons in the bar went silent and turned their attention to the angry redhead picking himself and his barstool up, slamming it upright before sitting back on it.
“What the hell did you do that for?” he fumed.
Tifa had to turn around to hide her laughter, though her shaking body gave her away. Rude covered his mouth with his fist in an attempt to mask his amusement. A few chuckles slipped through that he tried to play off as coughs as he regained composure, earning him a glare from Reno.
Yuffie's face lit up with a massive grin and she nodded in Rude’s direction. “That’s why. Pay up, Turkey!”