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“Reno,” Tseng began after a long moment of standing, staring, and incredulous coffee-sipping, “What in Leviathan’s name do you think you are doing ?”
Reno had heard that ten thousand times in the course of his life, and he found himself with the simple knowledge that this wasn’t actually a question, but a long-winded ‘no.’ Still, that didn’t stop him from slowly growing a wicked grin, a certain shine to his blue eyes, and lifting a string of tinsel. The shiny silver worm of plastic struggled minutely in Reno’s grip, limply hanging between his gloved hands as he stepped a little closer.
Were Tseng a more openly emotive man, he might have taken a step back and betrayed his irritation and fear of the unknown when it came to Reno, but he was thankful that he wasn’t. Instead, he simply rose a finely manicured brow, tilted his head slightly to the left, and frowned that much harder. It didn’t deter the redhead, as expected, but it did set the rest of the bullpen ablaze with wide eyes and whispers.
“ Reno .” The name was a warning, but neither Turk was really known for backing down, so Reno only encroached further on Tseng’s rapidly shrinking bubble of personal space. “Reno, I--”
It was too late. The tinsel found itself wrapped around Tseng’s neck and gently tucked into itself like a gaudy, scratchy scarf, and Reno was incredibly close to catching an open palm to the face. If it weren’t for Tseng’s unnatural amount of self-control, he probably would have had a brand new broken nose. Instead, the elder man simply leveled a half-glare, half incredulous stare at his lover that earned him a somewhat sweet smile.
“It’s almost Christmas, man,” Reno told him gently, adjusting the tinsel scarf carefully around his neck, “Gotta deck the halls and all that shit.”
Well, that explained a lot. Reno always did get weird during the holidays, and it was probably better that he was sober and decorating instead of drinking during work hours like last year.
“So you want to deck the halls of the Shinra building ?” Tseng asked finally, gently reaching down to touch the tinsel he wore. It wasn’t comfortable, but something about how happy the string of shiny plastic made the redhead, convinced him it wouldn’t be so bad to wear. He hadn’t seen Reno smile like that in months , and it was a worthwhile sight.
“Yeah, I figured uh, it’d be more festive than, uh… Then my place.” Reno murmured the last bit, his blue eyes cast down as he wrung his hands in the hem of his jacket. Was Tseng going to tell him ‘no’, now? He wasn’t sure if he could handle it. The holidays always kicked his ass, left him feeling cold and unwanted, and even Tseng knew he was treading on thin ice right now.
The whispers and wide eyes around them were turning to soft ‘I told you so’s and exchanges of Gil as Tseng tugged Reno in for a gentle kiss. With his thumb and forefinger on the other’s chin, he kept him in place before finally pulling back, smiling at him in that rare way he did when he was pleased.
“I ain’t even wearing the headband.” Reno chuckled in amazement, dumbstruck as he nuzzled their noses together. Tseng’s eyebrow arched into his hairline.
“The… Headband?” That sounded like it was going to be a big problem he didn’t want to deal with.
“Yeah, man, let me grab it!” Breaking away from Tseng’s grip, Reno bound into his office and disappeared inside. When he returned to the bullpen where Tseng still stood waiting in his festive attire, he wore a red headband with a long, plastic arm set in the center. At the end of it was a piece of what was presumably fake mistletoe, and Tseng’s eyes rolled so hard his entire head almost fell off.
“That’s… Lovely, Reno.” He sighed, shaking his head definitively, “But if you wear it to anything but the Christmas party, you’re going to wish you didn’t.”
“Aw, c’mon, man, it’s not that--”
“No. If Rufus sees you in that he’s going to get an idea and then we’ll all be wearing them.” Not that that was necessarily a bad thing. But he didn’t particularly want to deal with it. If Rufus got any ideas from this particular holiday, he was hoping it would be something less needy and more festive. The man needed some actual holiday cheer if you asked him. After all, it wasn’t like his holidays growing up had ever been more than artificial love in the form of impersonal gifts. A little whimsy would probably do their boss some good, and if Reno was in the mood to deliver, well, Tseng wasn’t about to tell him ‘no’, now. It would help both of his favorite men to have this if luck served.
He’d have to go home and make sure his lucky fish was doing well. Xiang would surely see this through, the white koi with the black scale in the center of his forehead had never let Tseng down before.
If he was allowed something somewhat childish to help him cope with the job and everything else in his life, then Reno and Rufus should be allowed to decorate the office however they saw fit for the holidays.
“Reno.” Tseng was positive that the redhead had been talking when he was buried in his own head, and he didn’t have time to ask him about what he had been saying. Instead, he kissed him again, gently, before shaking his head. “I want to help you decorate. We can do our offices, too.”
Reno lit up like the faerie lights he’d spread around his own office, and his hand found Tseng’s in an instant. Taking him to his veritable treasure trove of delights, he began to dig through it.
“Do you think Rufus will let us get a tree?”
All of those fake trees at the store would work, he was sure, though he also had a feeling that Rufus would bemoan the lack of a real tree. Not that they could get their hands on one, but that was beside the point.
“He might want the biggest, most gaudy fake tree money can buy, should you bring it up to him.” Tseng left it open-ended to give Reno a chance to do it on his own. If the redhead wanted to throw the Turks and Rufus into the holiday spirit, so be it, he supposed. It wasn’t like they were incredibly busy today. “All I ask is that you don’t make a mess and that you’re still available should we need you for work.”
“Yessir!” Reno barked, clicking his heels together dramatically and saluting, “You know you can count on me.” That beautiful, rare, lips-only smile worked onto Tseng’s lips again and he pressed a kiss to Reno’s forehead.
“I know. I made you my second for a reason.” Reno’s cheeks lit up at that, giving Tseng a return rare sight that he thought about for the rest of the day.