"What'cha doin', yo?" He peered over Sephiroth's shoulder, red strands tickling the silver one's face.

The general allowed himself a smile as he reached up, tangling gloved fingers around the strands to tug slightly. "I'm writing something up to deal with a problem out west. I'm going to have to go and deal with it soon. I don't know how we're going to do it without Angeal and Genesis, but everything will be fine eventually."

Reno tipped his beer back before sitting down next to Sephiroth on the sofa. "Ain'tcha gonna miss me when ya go on the mission?"

"Sure won't. I'll have plenty of eye candy on the trip, two that aren't as scrawny as you are."

"That just ain't fair, yo. Ya still ain't professed your dyin' love an' devotion to me. What if ya disappear off the face'a Gaia when ya go and ya never see me again?" He laughed. As if that would ever happen.

"Ah, I might just. It's this backwoods place called Nibelheim. We have a reactor there that's been spewing monster out onto the landscape and terrorizing villagers. They're sending Zack and a few cadets and myself out to see about it. Though honestly, I don't see why I have to go. I have an array of much better things to attend to."

Reno smirked. "They're tryin' t'tell ya to take a vacation, yo. That's what it is." He leaned against Sephiroth and was very pleased when not only did he move away, but he wrapped his arm around him. They'd come a long way since that first hair-sheering incident. "Ya know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think ya was kinda likin' me bein' around, yo."

Sephiroth placed his pen down and peered down at Reno. He thought on it for a moment and then nodded. "I suppose you could say that. I've grown fond of company, though I'm not quite so sure that it's you specifically." He smiled only slightly as his mind whirled with disagreement.

"Y'know what?"

"What?"

"I can see past your bullshit, yo. I know ya love me, ya stubborn bastard. I won't never forgive ya if y'don't admit it, yo."

"I suppose I'll never be forgiven, Red. What a horrible th-" He was silenced with an impassioned kiss that he just couldn't really find in himself to pull out of.

***

Sephiroth woke early the next morning, stretched and stood from bed. He peered down at his living pillow and shook his head. Reno had stretched himself over the bed, taking up over half of it. No wonder he couldn't get any sleep… And so, Sephiroth went and showered and then to collect breakfast, not knowing exactly what lay in store for the two of them.

***

The two men ate in silence, neither one looking forward to the parting that they would have to witness later that day. Sephiroth was set to leave with his ragtag band of ShinRas later that day and Reno wasn't pleased. He had a bad feeling about it. "Y'make sure ya come back in one piece, 'kay? And none'a that fancy fightin' bullshit, yo."

Sephiroth peered up at him and smiled. "And why not? I like all of that fancy fighting bullshit as you call it. I'm a SOLDIER, you're a Turk. You do what you want to do, and I'll do what I get ready to do when I get ready to do it."

"Ya like doin' it, don'tcha?

"What?"

"Fannin' the flames, ya dumbass. That's all ya do. Damn troublemakers."

They shared their last laugh.

***

Rude sighed and rubbed Reno's shoulders as he faceplanted on the desk. "I'm sure it's a mistake. He can't be gone. They say that when things like that happen… That you can feel if they're dead or not."

Reno wasn't so sure about that. It sure felt like a part of him had died.

***

The years passed slowly for Reno when he had nothing to do, and more quickly when he did have something to do. He kept his mind on missions, fought AVALANCHE, and had hope for a moment that the Sephiroth that had surfaced in that bleak moment in the world was his, but he'd known from the get-go that he wasn't. If he had been, he would've come back, would've said hello, would've claimed his hairbrush in the bathroom of the apartment they'd shared. No, he hadn't moved out in all that time.

He went on, day by day, drinking himself into a stupor. Until one day, there was a knock on the door. He didn't know if he wanted to cry or if he wanted to laugh or if he just wanted to shut the door. But the green cat eyes implored him to open their door wider and welcome an old face back in. Unlike the maniacal ones he'd seen not too long before…these were kinder, they had sanity once more. "Strange seein' a stranger here, yo. Fannin' the old flames, eh, babe? They're still there."

He smiled that sly grin, ignoring the dirt smudging the sides of his face. In Reno's opinion, it set his eyes off even more than usual. "What else would I be doing, Red?"

Reno caught him when he collapsed.