jaded_grin | Episode 22

Sorry to put this up a little late! I only wrote it this morning!

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“Ronald,” Scarlet softly said, stunned. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she reached across the table and took his hand, wrapping her fingers firmly around his cool, plump flesh. “H…how long?”

He laughed a little, but it was mirthless and there was a sheen of tears in his faded blue eyes.

“I didn’t ask,” he said, his voice low. And still he wouldn’t meet her gaze, as if his sickness shamed him. “I didn’t really want to know. It could be weeks, it could be years, I only know that there’s no fixing it.”

“Oh, Ron,” Scarlet sighed, and smiled at him. “You moron, wanting to talk when you’re dying. Shame on you for waiting so long!”

He smiled a little again, and this time his eyes lifted, his round cheeks crinkling the corners into fine lines.

“Well, there’s no help for it,” Scarlet sighed, taking charge of the situation. “I guess I’ll have to swallow my pride.”

“What do you mean?” Ronald asked, and his thumb hesitantly brushed over the top of her hand.

“Why, I’m coming back to you, of course,” Scarlet told him, matter-of-fact. “You need some kind of care as things progress and I wouldn’t put it past that little hussy to stuff you into a wood-chipper somewhere—I’ll move back into my old suite immediately…”

She trailed off, her confident assurance hitching in a moment of uncertainty.

“I mean, if that’s alright with you,” she amended, and smiled.

“Scarlet,” he sighed, a bright tear welling over his plump cheek as he squeezed her hand. “You have made me a very happy man just now. I would be honored to have you come home.”

“Then it’s settled,” Scarlet said, a note of finality in her voice. She gave his hand another gentle squeeze and shook her head slightly, sighing in a whisper, “Oh, Ron, I’ve missed you.”

His hand trembled in hers but he managed to say, “I’ve missed you, too, Scarlet. More than you can ever know.”

As the door closed once more on Zack’s startled, handsome face, Kadaj got his first look at the woman whose hands were on his Reno. His first jealous response was to beat her unconscious, but he was still worried for Reno and the man was primed to be easily stressed.

“So,” she purred, peeking out from behind Reno’s arm, her hands gently stroking over the red marks that her nails had left on his belly. “You are his beloved Kadaj.”

“Yes,” he shortly said, brows drawn down with anger. He moved close and yanked her hands away, supporting Reno when the man slumped forward onto him.

She uttered a sultry little laugh and drifted away from them, her robe tied loosely at her waist so that her large breasts were bared. Sweat had made her make-up run, smearing it so that she looked almost frightening with the bloody trail of red lipstick across her cheek and the rivulets of black eyeliner drying down her face. Yet when she smirked at Kadaj the boy couldn’t help but admit that even in this state of disarray she was absolutely beautiful.

Which only pissed him off.

“Leave,” he said. “Now.”

She laughed again and shook her head, more blue-black hair falling free of crooked, slipping pins.

Reno’s reaction was more immediate, if not unexpected. He clutched Kadaj close and moaned, “No! I need it, I need her. Please, baby, don’t send her away. I need this, Kadaj, okay?”

He clumsily hugged the slender youth close, nuzzling against him and rubbing his face over Kadaj’s as a cat would, practically begging, “You stay, Kadaj—stay and see. I never told you but I gotta have this. Let her stay…”

With a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach Kadaj realized that if he made Reno choose between them right now, he would pick this small Wutain woman.

“Please, please,” he breathed into the boy’s ear, both clumsily groping him and trying to hold him close.

Resigned, Kadaj soothed him and held him, careful of Reno’s back. He gave the amused woman a stark, ugly glare and whispered, “Never drug him again, he’s sick, he—”

“Reno has been mine for far longer than he has been yours,” she informed him, and swayed closer to run her hand down Reno’s corded arm. “I know how to handle him.”

“So if he—”

“I know how to handle him,” she repeated, and gave him a stern look. “He is anything but upset, little Kadaj. I would think that things such as screaming and attempting to burn up his home would do the trick, if you are truly so concerned.”

Kadaj might’ve blushed once upon a time when he’d had shame, but now he only gave her a haughty sneer and turned his head to croon at Reno.

The woman was right and he knew it, but his anger was uncontrollable sometimes and Reno’s infidelity pissed him off—regardless of the fact that he’d just come straight from Tseng’s bed. The way he figured it, he’d have to take several more lovers several more times each to even get into Reno’s ballpark of cheating, so he still had the moral high ground.

“I think,” the woman purred, tickling her fingers down Reno’s side so that he made a soft, pained sound between a moan and a whimper. “That he’s about done in for now.”

Reno shifted closer, his heated body warming Kadaj, his soft sex pulsing a little in response to her touch.

The woman looked at Kadaj and smiled again, all sharp white teeth in blood-red paint.

“That leaves you, pretty boy.”

Reno started panting and rocked his hips against Kadaj, clearly aroused by it even if he was far beyond the ability to raise another erection.

Kadaj kissed him and stroked his sweaty hair, whispering soft love words and assuring Reno that he’d behave, he’d play nice. This was just like any other time that Reno had brought home someone for Kadaj to fuck, only this time he’d gotten a head-start, that was all.

“Mei Li,” Reno moaned, turning his head to look at her, reaching out with a trembling hand that groped twice before it touched her face.

She laughed and bit his fingers, sucking on them briefly before she reached down and gave his lax sex a sharp slap that made him hiss and whine, his back arching. With a lazy movement, she undid the knot on her robe and let it fall open, saying to Kadaj, “I top.”

Kadaj gave her a critical look, from the top of her head over those impressive breasts, her flat belly, her hard cock and slender legs to the tips of her delicate toes.

“Not this time, sister,” he informed her, and dragged Reno with him as they moved to the bed.

The Next Day

Marlene picked up her morning issue of FLASH! Magazine and stared at it in astonishment, her mouth falling open. She nearly dropped her coffee but needed the caffeine too much for even this shock to cause that.

“Marlene! Hey, you—”

Denzel cut off as he reached her shoulder, his large eyes fixing on the cover.

“Oh shit,” he breathed, and gave her a searching look. “You know about this?”

“Know about this?” she repeated, and her loyalty to Yazoo shook her out of her momentary surprise. She glared at Denzel, which was made harder by the pre-dawn darkness and the faint light coming from the magazine stand. “Denzel! This is just propaganda nonsense! This is just a photo taken out of context! This will probably result in—” she checked for the photographer’s name and went on, “—Cloud Strife getting sued out of countenance and sent packing to another country!”

Denzel didn’t look so convinced.

“This is bullshit!” Marlene finished, nearly seething on Yazoo’s behalf. “There is no way that she would stoop to this kind of behavior, okay? So you can keep your sordid accusations to yourself!”

“But I didn’t say…” he trailed off when Marlene flounced away towards the bus-stop to catch the 6:15 to ShinRa Loop. “…anything.”

“Ya wanna mag?” the cigar-smoking man inside the booth asked, clearly wishing he would either buy or leave.

“Yeah,” Denzel said, and pulled out some cash. “Give me FLASH! and a coffee, yeah?”

“Not as good as what Miss Marlene’s got,” the man informed him, pushing an issue over to him and pouring him a cup of the questionable goo.

“What is?” Denzel sighed, and took his purchases. “Keep the change, pops.”

“Thanks kid, and good luck with the little miss.”

Denzel snorted a little and headed to the stop to wait for the 6:30 so he wouldn’t have to share a bus with Midgar’s Biggest Snooty-Pants.

“Hello?”

Reeve glanced wearily at his watch as he answered his phone, his gritty, tired eyes registering dull shock at the time.

“I’m sorry to be calling so early, I meant to call last night but I got in too late. This is Yazoo, by the way,” that soft, breathless voice said.

Reeve smiled and said, “It’s no problem, Mrs. ShinRa, I’ve been up painting.”

“On the impossible one?” she asked, laughter floating in her husky voice.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “The impossible one. What can I do for you?”

“I was just calling to make sure that you still wish to do the show,” she said. “I am going to reserve the gallery space today and need to know how many other paintings you have and what size.”

“Oh, fantastic!” Reeve cried, and if he’d ever needed good news it was now. He quickly told her the number of paintings and how large they were, working out the best size of space they would need to appropriately show them. By the time he got off of the phone he was feeling a lot better and not so much like a foolish, love-struck moron that had gotten himself date-raped in front of his secret crush…

Well, he couldn’t say date-raped, that was a little strong—as far as he could tell he’d emerged unmolested, but waking up naked with a man curled around him was unexpected, and Reeve didn’t like the unexpected. He liked predictable, stable, quiet, calm…not Genesis Rhapsodos in any way shape or form.

“Idiot,” he sighed again, and started to rinse out his brushes. It was seven in the morning and he needed to get some sleep, even if it would have a hard time coming on the heels of knowing that he would finally get a proper show in Midgar.

Yazoo hung up the phone and once more glanced at the magazine that Marlene had brought in. The girl had been incensed this morning, arriving in full-blown protective mode and shouting that she would personally see to it that this Cloud Strife was sold to the butchers below the plate. Yazoo, who had no idea what that meant, had sent her downstairs to fetch the coffee and made his phone-call to Reeve.

“What on earth has that child so upset?” he wondered, picking the magazine up.

On the cover was a sharp, clear photograph of him at the batting cages, his head tilted up and a dazed look on his face as Reno looked down at him, their bodies so close there was no space between. It looked exactly as it had been—like they were going to kiss, or even just had kissed.

Yazoo blushed, and that only intensified when he read the huge, bold caption across the front of the cover that read, “She’s Had It!”

Beneath that was the speculation in smaller print: “Is the beautiful Mrs. ShinRa finally fed up with her philandering husband? Has she decided to make her affair with Midgar’s resident playboy public at last? These details and more on page 86…”

“Dear heavens!” Yazoo mewled, shaken and upset by it. He dropped the magazine back down onto the table and laughed helplessly at the whole situation. They weren’t far off of the truth, those writers.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. ShinRa,” Marlene assured, coming back with the tray for Yazoo’s breakfast. “You tell Mister Reno and he’ll straighten this out.”

“God, what will people think of me?” Yazoo murmured, dazed.

Marlene set the tray down and cocked her head, asking, “Think of you? I don’t understand, ma’am—as far as Midgar is concerned you’ve been with Mister Reno for as long as you’ve been with Mister ShinRa…just because it isn’t true doesn’t make them like it any less. And just because this Cloud kid got a photo of you guys playing baseball doesn’t make you two a couple.”

She poured Yazoo a cup and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll think what they like but they’ve always loved you, Mrs. ShinRa! And they like Mister Reno a far sight better than that husband of yours…”

Convinced that the photograph was merely taken out of context, the girl continued to expound on how Reno would deal with the situation to protect Yazoo’s in-truth virtue, despite what Midgar might falsely believe him capable of.

Only, Yazoo knew it was true now, and he would have to get used to being what Midgar already assumed he was—a wife who betrayed his husband with one beautiful, intriguing, and dangerous man.

“What the fuck?” Rufus stared down in dull shock at the magazine that Denzel had just handed him, his incredulous eyes trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Here for the entire world to see, here for the sniggering, delighted amusement of the masses, was Rufus ShinRa being cheated on.

“You’re fucking kidding me!” he shouted, furiously tearing open the magazine to fine more pictures of Reno with Yazoo in Kalm’s Little Wutai, holding hands, sharing food, sharing smiles—practically drooling all over one another.

“Yazoo ShinRa deserves to be treated like the princess she is and it is with great delight that FLASH brings our readers the best news of the season—she has decided to go public with her long-time affair with our own darling Reno! And here we bring you exclusive photos (courtesy of our field operative, Cloud Strife) of the two lovebirds out for a day of relaxing fun in our sister metropolis, Kalm—what the hell is this shit?” Rufus snarled, scanning the rest of the article and flushing with fury when he realized that the entire reading public was behind Yazoo on this! They actually supported this farce of an affair.

He threw the magazine down on the floor and snapped at Denzel, “Get out! Go get me my breakfast!”

The boy bolted like his ass was on fire, and once he was gone Rufus flipped open his phone and dialed Reno’s number, his hand shaking with anger.

“What?”

“Who is this?” he asked, startled out of his anger by the unfamiliar voice. The only other person who ever answered Reno’s phone was that bitchy bodyguard of his, but this was a woman.

“Mei Li,” she said. “And who is this?”

“Rufus fucking ShinRa, you whore,” he yelled. “Put Reno on the phone!”

“He is busy,” she said, her tone mild. “And you, Mister Fucking ShinRa, are being rude.”

“Listen here, bitch, you—”

“Shut up,” Reno’s raspy, rough voice loudly said into the phone, and there was a soft noise as he took it. “Just shut the fuck up, Rufus. I’ll take care of it.”

“Reno, we discussed that you were to keep this quiet!” Rufus seethed, his hand clenching on the phone. It was a relief to know that Reno already knew about the magazine, about the photos. “The whole idea here was to keep me from looking like a cuckolded ass!”

“You make yourself an ass just fine without me,” Reno growled, clearly grumpy and probably only just waking up. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Reno, you—”

“I fucking said I’ll take care of it, Rufus!” Reno snarled, shutting him up. In a low, quiet, and frightening voice he purred, “You just remember who asked for what in this, pal. Any second I want I can tell Yazoo what the deal is and you’ll be fucked, got me, yo? Now, quit your fucking bitchin’, eat your breakfast, and try not to be such a cunt. I’ll call you later.”

Rufus took a deep, angry, trembling breath but managed to tightly say, “I swear, Reno, if there are photos like that again—”

Reno’s laughter interrupted him, the man saying in a dark, amused voice, “That’s the whole idea, isn’t it? Only, the photos you want are going to be way worse than just me getting a mouth fuck from your wife, Rufus…”

Rufus flinched a little at his crudeness, silently seething.

“Now, do as I told you,” Reno instructed, and there was a soft snip as he lit his cigarette. “I’ll give you a call later on.”

Rufus hung up on him, about the only thing he could do. He was furious but Reno was downright terrifying and that made Rufus incapable of standing against him.

Glaring down at the magazine, Rufus hissed another string of colorful expletives and stormed off to have his breakfast…with a whiskey double on the side.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

etrix.livejournal.com

Wow, for something written quick it was really, really good.

I love how the rag was supporting Yazoo and his supposed affair. What a great touch. (Take that Rufus-jerkwad-ShinRa!)

And Scarlet moving back in with ShinRa Sr ought to stir things up on the old homestead. I wonder how Elena (the skank) will take it? I wonder what Rufus will think of it? And what will that hot little reporter, Cloud Strife, make of it? (Nice way to add him to the story, btw.)

Crap! I just realized... I have to wait another week now. Doh!

From:

Otherwise known as the journal of Jaded Grin

Episode 22

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