Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Connected ❯ Meet your friendly local Turk ( Chapter 3 )

The profitable ones belong to Square Enix.

 

 

Meet your friendly local Turk

 

'Cause I've got friends in low places
where the whiskey drowns
and the beer chases my blues away…

Friends in Low Places, Garth Brooks

 

Reno had started out the night in less than a charming mood. The past month had been shit, both with Rufus and at the W.R.O. He'd been making progress with a certain princess, but for some reason she'd been avoiding him for a week and Reno was at a loss as to why. The final blow had been his beloved EMR malfunctioning and giving him a nasty shock this afternoon. Reno decided tonight was the night for drunken revelry that rivaled the old days.

 

He'd managed to talk Rude into a little drink… or twenty… and headed down to one of his favorite bars, only to find the place overrun by pencil pushers in varying degrees of intoxication. He considered calling it a night and heading home where a handle of vodka waited patiently for his affections, but decided against it. He was a Turk, damn it, and he wasn't going to be pushed off his turf by a herd of plastered desk jockeys.

 

Reno shouldered his way through the crowd, Rude behind him, determined to get to one of the booths in the back and evict its current occupants. When he and his partner finally made it to the back, his eyes fell on a sight guaranteed to make his whole night. A hot woman in apparent possession of a small army's worth of booze. Drinks were clustered in front of the brunette, and as he watched, even more were dropped off. She was popular, whoever she was, and as he watched her molest a cherry he gained an understanding as to why. Reno grinned and looked up at his partner. Rude, being Rude, just raised an eyebrow.

 

“Ah, c'mon yo…” Reno said. “I'll be good. I just want to say hello to her and her lovely…” Rude's eyebrow went higher. “Drinks!” Reno sputtered indignantly. “I'm gonna get some free drinks! Damn bro, what kinda guy do you think I am?” Rude said nothing. Reno sighed. He'd been a lot better behaved in the last few months, especially after he decided to go after the princess, but he had been a slut before that. “Tell you what man, don't answer that question.” Reno's voice was slightly subdued. Rude still said nothing, but his lips curled up at the sides. Reno smiled back after a moment and then turned to make his way over to the liquor blessed brunette.

 

Reno gave the woman a quick once over as he slid into the booth next to her. He was behaving, but he wasn't dead. She'd looked good from a distance; up close she was even better. Had she but known it, Jace might have been surprised by how attractive a picture she presented, considering the amount of alcohol she had consumed. The muted bar light gave her brown skin a glow; her lips were red and glossy, most likely from her last drink, and her brown eyes were wide and bright. Her short dark hair was a little wild due to her suddenly discovered need to run her fingers through it every few minutes. She had discarded her over shirt about an hour ago and her generous natural assets rested comfortably on the table as she leaned forward. Brown eyes raked over Reno in undisguised appraisal.

 

“Reno…” Her lips parted into a full fledged grin at the Turk's nod. Jace had never met Reno or the other Turks personally, but she knew of them. She'd seen them and Rufus Shinra around the building from time to time. They were whispered about in the hallways, speculated on in the lunch room and fantasized about during coffee breaks. Jace frowned for a moment, trying to cudgel her brain into providing information about Reno. He was the bad boy. Well, they were all bad but he was very bad. The hard smoking, hard drinking, turn- the- air- blue boy who was as famous for his one night stands as for his hair. Jace leaned forward slightly, eyeing that hair. There's no way that color's natural. His smile widened as if he knew what she was thinking.

 

“The carpet does match the curtains sweetness,” he drawled, proving his powers as a mind reader, and snagged one of her drinks. Jace didn't mind. She needed the help. Smiling at Reno again, she selected one herself.

“I prefer the saying that the collar matches the cuffs,” she purred. “Then again, it could just be because I like collars and cuffs.” Out of the corner of her eye, Jace could see that the bald man who had invaded her booth with Reno had lifted both eyebrows. She turned her head to grin at him full force. If she remembered correctly, his name was Rude and he was the quiet one. Rude nodded at her and took another of her drinks. Oh good. More for them is less for me to worry about.

 

“So, sweetheart,” Reno captured her attention again. She looked at his glass. Goodness, not two minutes and he had already consumed two thirds of it. Jace's eyes widened then narrowed. Thought he could beat her, did he? Well, she had not yet begun to drink!

 

“Yes?” Jace replied before laying into her cocktail with a vengeance.

 

“You know my name, beautiful,” Reno drawled, grabbing and tossing back another glass. “What's yours?”

 

“Jace.” She replied and knocked back another shot. She focused on the man across the table. “You're Rude, correct?”

 

Rude nodded as he watched Jace and Reno speedily dispose of drink after drink. The girl had already had a few, but she was doing a fairly decent job of keeping up with Reno. Reno flicked him a glance and Rude mentally sighed. His partner was a real pain when he was frustrated. Rude resigned himself to dealing with this Jace girl after Reno was done with her.

 

“I'm impressed kid,” Reno said after a minute. “You're almost keeping up with me.”

 

Yep, Rude grumbled to himself. Here it comes. Reno challenges some poor soul to a drinking contest which they'll lose because Reno bleeds eighty proof. Then I'll be stuck shoving the idiot into a cab and sending her home while Reno continues to drink. Rude had asked Reno once why he bothered, and received the typical Reno answer along with a shrug and a grin.

 

“I think it's funny. Gotta release tension somehow, ya know?”

 

Rude silently prayed that this Jace girl was smart enough to resist…

 

“Is that a challenge Red?”

 

He groaned as Jace rose to the bait and Reno smiled widely. If there was one thing Reno had a weakness for, it was feisty women. Reno and Jace traded banter as Rude stared gloomily into his glass. At least there was already a lot of alcohol on the table. For some reason, whenever Reno challenged someone to a drinking contest Rude ended up with the tab.

 

“Hey, Rude!” Reno's jovial tones snapped him out of his morose thoughts. He looked up to see both Reno and Jace leering at him and realized with a sinking feeling that he should have been paying attention. Both were staring at him with identical grins. “Hey Rude,” Reno said again. “You're in this too, partner, so help me out.” Rude raised an eyebrow. “Seems Jacey here doesn't think much of the Turks drinkin' skills, me boyo,” He gestured at Jace, who was currently smirking into her cocktail. “She says that if we were real men, we wouldn't take advantage of a poor lightweight girl like her.” Before Rude could point out that he hadn't tried to take advantage of anyone at all, Reno dropped the other shoe.

 

“So I told her,” the redhead said jubilantly, “that we would match every drink she took with two. Don't groan like that.” Reno shot Rude a frown and continued. “We're Turks, ain't we? You're not gonna let some little girl insult the pride of the Turks are you?” The partners looked at each other and waged a silent battle of wills, and then Rude sighed heavily. Reno and his new friend were going to get plastered whether he stayed sober or not. I might as well join the fun, because I'm going to have to deal with the fall out one way or another. Rude gave a brief nod and Reno whooped, while Jace sent him a blinding smile. Rude resisted the urge to shake his head and began fishing in his pocket.

 

“We're going to need more drinks.”

 

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