Hidden Talents [Remi]

Reno grumbled to himself, galring down into boiing water insid the pot. These past few weeks as sure been... exhausting, to say the least. And for not to talk about unnecessarily dramatic. It's like he's been in one of those old soap operas his mother had secretly enjoyed watching while growing up. And Reno didn't like it one bit. It was one thign when other people went throguh it, the sadistic part of him more thna often amsued by it as he watched someone over react over some daily problesm or what not. Or it could be annoying, when they did nothign but whine and cry over it while mooping around on their couch. No wonder people think I'm heartless asshole, he absently thought to himself while chopping up some vegetables for his stew. Having nothign better to do that day, in no mood formore trining or going down to the bar, the redhead had dragged his ass over to the kitchen in hopes to find somethign to eat, but ahd foudn nothing but vegetables. Well that wasn't such a big problem fro the redhead, who had wordlessly began cooking something up. He's missed having home made meal anyway.
Kinda reminds me me of back in my old apartment, he thought with soem foundness, where Hiro had accuse dhim for positoning the food he's made while Kim squeeled voer hwo cute he was and nOlan just eating his fill without giving any fuck's whatsoever.
The smile fell from his lips at the thougth of the brunette. frowning instead as he felt the need to g and find Buddy and leave his face black and blue. WHy had thigns turned out so unnecesarily complictaed?! Guess I should've stayed in the slums, he thougth bitterly to himself, his mind wandering over to a certain blonde instead in hopes of lighting his mood up a bit. No such luck there either, considering she's part of his whole drama-epsiode as well.

It had only been a day or so since her breakup with Cloud and it was still fresh in her mind. Of course she'd stopped crying and all, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of being a really awful person. Almost as awful as her parents...of course she started telling herself she wasn't that horrific, even if she thought so. No one could be awful like them...could they?
Either way, good person or not, she wasn't going to hide from civilization even if she was petrified of seeing Cloud again, and she hadn't told Tadashi...When she reached the kitchen she was both happy but saddened to see Reno already in the kitchen. Cooking, no less. Remi took a breath before approaching Reno and peering around his shoulder to see what it was. "What are you cooking?" She asked curiously before looking to the ingredients. "Is it vegan?" Of course she had to throw that part in just to be sure. It looked like he was messing with a bunch of vegetables, but still.

Having been a little obsored in his own thoguths, Reno almsot jerked in surprise when someoen suddenly spoke up from behind him, and that person being the one currently occpying his thoughts. Well wasn't this a good timing. "If you're wondering if you're able to eat this, then yes. I think you can have a taste," he chuckled at her question, not at all surprsied by it. Smiling down at the girl, his gaze seeed to soften a bit a he took her in. "So, how are you holding up?"

Remi was surprised when Reno seemed to be startled by her. He always struck her as someone who was always aware of his surroundings...she supposed not. "A taste?" She repeated in disbelief. "I can't even have my own portion?" Then she thought a moment at his next question before sighing. "I'm okay, I guess. You know I'm sensitive," I'll cry over just about anything. "It wasn't as bad as it could've been...or was. Nothing really serious to worry about...I guess..." She still couldn't shake the expression Cloud gave her though...

"I'm not the one who doubted my cooking skills," he remarked teasingly, chuckling at her look of disbelief. How cute, he thought found while opening the cupboards, taking out two plates. He hadn't really planned on inviting anyone to eat, seeing as he had just been cooking for himself. But he's made enough for at least five people. Guess old habits died hard, didn't they..?
As she took a moment before answering, Reno looked back at her with a soft look of concern, already having figured out himself how thigns migth've gone. The look on her face made him feel bad himself, and for more thna jsut one reason sadly. "No matter how you'd went about it, it would've been hard either way. For both you and Spikey," he murmured, focusing back on his stew. "At least you were honest about it, and told it to his face. Not many has the guts to do that whenever they done wrong."
Offering her a smile, he took one of the plates and served her a portion, handing it to her. "Don't burn yourself."

"Doubting, questioning, analyzing - it's all the same thing in the end." Remi said absently, noticing there was a lot of food so she calmed down a bit. She listened to what he said, supposing he was right. "I know some people who prefer to let others believe the lie." She muttered bitterly to herself, not once thinking that he'd heard her or not. She didn't want to mention that the hard part was telling him and not actually leaving him. "I guess you're right." Remi felt her stomach grow emptier at the sight of the stew on her plate. "I won't." She chimed, holding the plate by the rim and plucking a spoon from one of the drawers and sitting down. Remi looked from her plate to Reno and back. It smelled good, and looked fine...She took a spoonful and put it in her mouth. She looked at him in surprise. "It's good!" She ate another spoonful, "Why would you want me cooking for you if you're so good at it?"

The redhead's expression turned blank at what she said, knowing perfectly well what she meant, and knew several people on who he could use as an example for that. While Reno may have lied alot himself during is life, he was aways oen to get stright to the point of things, telling thigns to the eprson's fce withotu sugar coating anything. And he whished people would tell thigns stragith to him like that as well. If someoen wanted to live in their someone elses made up lies, then that's their probelm. But he wasn't one of them.
Grinning a bit as he watched her take the first taste of his food, he could only roll his eyes at the surprise taking over her expression. "I don't get why that's such a shock," he teased, grabbing his own plate and moved towards the table. "It's always nice to have someome else make you food. I'm lazy sometimes," he shrugged casually. "And you're food tatses great too, don't see why i wouldn't want you cooking for me."

"Well, when you said that you could cook, I thought you were just kidding." She admitted. She'd honestly thought it was a joke to mention that he didn't need her food to survive, or whatever else. "Well, you should cook more." She chirped. It wasn't like Remi ate fast food in the first place, like at all. "I'm so used to cooking everyday that I'm used to it. If I decide to be lazy, then that means I'm going to hungry." Being hungry gives her bad memories. "We should take turns then. I'll cook next." She suggested. "I even know how to make frozen yogurt if you're..." Remi stopped, lowering her eyes. She doesn't eat that anymore. She smiled at him as if she hadn't just had a sad thought. "I can make ice cream, and cake. Being vegan isn't as hard as you'd think it is. Where'd you learn to cook, anyway?"

"I have my moment when I'm serious too ya know," he pouted, faking an offended look for a couple fo seconds before settlign back to his usual, smug expression. Nevertheless, he was glad she liked his cooking. not tat eh dobuted in his skills, but still. He laughed at her suggestion, mumbling out a half enthusiastic 'maybe' as a reply. His exression brigthend up a bit thoguh when she offerd to cook for him again, already looking forward to that meal. He would've eagerly insisted on her making him soem frozen yougort, but stopped himsefl when she trailed off, lowring her eyes with a look that didn't sit all that well him. "I don't usually eat sweet things ice cream and such, don't exactly ahve a sweet touth on me," he smiled. "But I'd be more thna happy to i you make me some." Anything free was good in his eyes, especilly if homemade.
Taking another spoonful of his stew, he didn't even look up from his plate at ehr question. "At home," he asnwerd casually. "I'm self-taught I guess. Was the only one who had time or could make food anyway."

"Really?" She was always having to eat sweets with Tadashi. At one point she became sick of them that just the thought made her nauseous. She then she adjusted to it. "If you don't have a big sweet tooth, I won't." She told him, finishing the food on her plate. "Oh." She said to his reply about cooking. Cooking wasn't very hard, but some people just managed not to be good at it. "This feels odd." Remi suddenly said. "I'm so used to...something dramatic happening." Every time she was with him something unexpected always happened. "It feels too normal...for us. But I kinda like it." She put her head in her hand. "Tell me more about you Reno." She requested in a quiet voice.

"Awww come on now," he whined playfully, nudging her arm gently. "I said I'd be happy to eat it, as logn as it's you making it," he beamed, not even joking about that. He didn't need to have a sweet tooth to enjoy some treats. FInishing up his food, he leaned back in his chair with a content sigh, only to give Me a funny look at what she suddenly said. He quirked an eyebrow at her, though unable to argue against it. She had a well fair point here after all. "Never thought I'd be in something considered 'normal'," he snickered, mildly amused. "Though I prefer that than more drama any day..." he trailed off for a bit, blue eyes starting to wander off again in thought, only to focus back on the blonde at her request. He gave her a blank stare, not exactly thrilled about opening up to her, especially after what happened last time he did. "Nothing about me, or my life is a fairy tail exactly," he snickerd, his grin humroless as he pinted this out to her. "...I'll tell you some things about me, if you share some things about yourself as well."

"I can still make them, but I'm saying I wouldn't necessarily just make them just to do it simply because you don't have a sweet tooth." Remi smiled shyly at him when he said he'd be happy as long she made it. It gave her a sense of pride. Remi half expected him to say no right off the bat just because of what happened the last time. She wouldn't have kept pushing if he said so. "I know." That much had been proven. "It doesn't have to be about your life. Just you." She hesitated as he turned the tables on her. "Me?" What was there to know, anyway? "Okay." She agreed, "What do you want to know?"

Reno gave her a softer look, a bit hesitation in them, but he seemed to be considering her request. Not about my life, he pondered to himself. Just me. Well that wouldn't be such a nice bedtime story either, as sad as that sounded. But, she agreed to share something about herself, so it was only fair. He couldn't hold back a smile as she hesitated herself on this subject. He was tempted to say; 'Tell me about your sister', but that might just as well be a taboo topic for her, for all the good reasons. "As much as you're willing to tell," he replied softly. "Something I might not know about you, things you like, things you don't like. Surprise me."

As much as she would tell? Now that she thought about it, she had to collect her thoughts about what she liked and disliked. No one had asked her that before, at least not recently. "As much as I'm willing to tell..." Remi repeated, "Hmm. I like sports. All sports, watching them, playing them. Especially hockey, watching of course. Of course it's ironic with my stance on violence, but still." Hockey was always fun to watch. "I don't like ketchup, and I like horror films, but I can never watch them because of Tadashi." What else was there? "I want to travel too. I'd probably go to Australia first, it seems like everyone always forgets about it. I don't care for heights despite being in the air often because of ballet." Nothing else really came to mind. "And I drink coffee at least three times a day...bad habit." She added quietly. "Should I keep going? Or do you want to pass?" She had a feeling he'd pass. He seemed like he would always pass. But she could wait, she was patient...sometimes.

He stayed silent the wole time as she talked, genuinely interested in what she was saying. Leaning on his forearms above the table, he watched her mild intresset, chuckling a bit now and then. The hockey party was indeed a bit surprising, considering the violence that sport had in it now and then. He quirked an eyebrow in slight disbelief at the horror part though. "Really? The pup loves horror flicks, especially those old, classic ones," he couldn't help but think out loud. Aw well. "The ballet part doesn't surprise me," he grinned a bit cheeky. "Or the bad habit of drinking to much coffe."
He hummed when she finished talking, straight up in his seat as an unreadable look overtook his expression for a moment. Did he want to pass? Yeah, he kinda did. But at the same time, he felt it more fair if he shared some things about himself too. He just needed to think up on the lesser... crazier parts about him.
"I don't consider myself a mechanic, but I know my way around pretty much any vehicle. Especially the ones that flies," he grinned a bit, thinking back on the first time he flew a helicopter with fondness. "Being high up in the air driving a helicopter or such, is one of the best feelings ever. I have a penchant for gossiping, have the bad habit of sometimes smoking 3-5 packages of cigarettes a day, at times because i'm restless or in hope to clam down my nerves. Never cared about sports, maybe because I sucked at it during growing up. Different cultures and languages interest me, and would've surely dedicated my studies more into that had my life been different. I hate clowns because they creep me the fuck out." He paused, titling his head again a bit. "Hm. That's what I can come up with right now."

Remi huffed, "It's not that he gets afraid, I never said that. He somehow nulls the fright out of me. The whole point in me watching them is so that I can be scared! Of course, he gets afraid too, but in general the entire experience gets kind of drained for me. I don't get afraid when I'm with him, for him definitely." She'd never tell him that though, she'd sit with Tadashi through a horror flick any time, but she could never get afraid if Tadashi was with her. He made her feel safe somehow...Maybe that was her 'motherly' instinct tucking her fear away. "Really?" She recalled multiple people saying they couldn't believe that she didn't like heights. "Coffee? What gave me away? The positivity or the rambling?" Probably both.
Remi was immediately engrossed at the mention of flying vehicles. "You can fly helicopters?" Remi shuddered. "I've never been any higher than about six feet, and I like it that way. Where did you learn that? I thought aerial vehicles were like, super complicated, or something." Still, that was really cool that he could fly them. Remi wrinkled her nose at the mention of smoking that many cigarettes. "Yuck." She mumbled. "Have you tried yoga? I could run you through it. I'm certified..." Of course she really wanted him to calm his nerves as another angle to get him to quit smoking, even if he didn't know it...well hopefully he wouldn't catch on. Languages and cultures, that was new too. "You still can." Remi pointed out to him. "You're not dead...yet...are you technically immortal?" She then wondered. If he healed every time his body needed it, then wouldn't it just heal itself when he got old? "Clowns?" Remi broke out into laughter. "You...don't like clowns?" Who would've guessed, of all of the things in the world... "So I guess you've never watched 'It' before, huh?"

Reno just gave ehr a funny look at thos, his lips twitching a bit into an amsued smirk. Well, after getting to know the pup so well himself, he guessed he could understand what she ment. Tadashi sort of had that effect on others didn't he? or maybe it was jsut him and Remi, with their overprotectivness and all. He gave a lazy shrugg. "You just strike me as a coffe type of person," he asnwerd casually.
He laughed a bit wt her reaction toward the hole flying and helicpter part, now wonderign how she'd react on a real flying trip with him. In a place like this, surely they soem flying veachiles laying around.
"Yoga?" he murmed, ponderigng for a bit to himself. "I think I tried a couple of times, a friend of mine convinced me but...." he trailed off. "Yeah, didn't work out. I'm addicted to the cancer sticks," he winked. It was obvious she wanetd him to quit smoking, and even if it couldn't tecninally hurt him... well, he was to dependent on the ciggarates anyway. It would take alot more than just sheer will power on his part to quit.
Another hum left his lips, his blue eyes trailing off again with an empty expression. "I can still die, maybe not off age, but i'm not immortal," he murmured, the smile on him this time holding no more to it. "And yeah sure, I could try and go for a life like that. But it would... to normal for me, and I'll end up more mad than I already am without that risk of danger lurking around. I'm become so accustomed to the thrill I don't know what to do without it," he shrugged.
He pouted whens eh the next moemnt broke out laughing, not so amused by ehr reaction but not surprised by it either. Clowns are and forever will be creepy little fuckers. He grimaced at the mention of that dreadful movie. "Don't remind me..." he whined, sadly having been tricked into seeing that flick. "So what creeps you out then?"

Remi could feel excitement building at the mention of having already done yoga before, but that quickly disappeared as he declined her off. Remi pouted. She'd keep trying, mark her words, Reno would be off cigarettes eventually. She could find other methods. What about a nicotine patch? "Can you blame me for tying?" She huffed at him. Remi supposed she could understand what he meant about being accustomed. Perhaps if he wanted to, he could, but she doubted it...at least now. Maybe when he were older. "I don't think you're mad." She commented. "Just...ostentatious." Remi giggled to herself, "I wish I could've seen your face when you watched it!" She wondered if she could find someone who could go back in time or project memories, that would be priceless. "Creeps me out?" Remi shrugged, "I don't think anything really creeps me out. I'm not a fan of insects, but I don't kill them either...I put marshmallows on graham crackers to lead them out of the house. My sister used to tell me it was stupid because it would bring more insects." Remi smiled fondly. "I kept telling her that it didn't bring more into the house, it just brought them into the open..." She blinked, realizing where she was and sitting up straight. "I just have fears I suppose...heights...and being alone." She felt alone for a very long time, and she never wanted to feel like that again. "Being alone is probably the worst one for me. Being alone, and not being alone...does that make sense?"

"Don't try to hard on making me quit," Reno said flatly, giving ehr a knowing, and all too smug grin. "It might take a toll on your sanity~" Jokings aside, as cute Remi was for beign to determinded to make him quit, hopefully she wouldn't make it one of ehr top priorites. There are way betetr thigns for both of them to focus on.
His smile falterd a bit at her comment, not lookign sad or upset exactly, but not too happy either. Ostentatious? Yeah that's good word to describe me with as well, he chuckled. Remi hasn't seen hima t his worst yet, or his 'true self' as some others would put it, and hopefully she would never get the chance too. He liked having someone not thinking of him as crazy.
"Yeah I bet ya would," he sncikerd, still clealry recalling that movie night he had with Kim, and how he had ended up throwing all of the snacks at the tv, and then blaiming his lack of sleep on his more than amsued friend for a couple of weeks afterwards. Nope, not funny at all.
He sared at ehr in silence she went off about ehr sister, before realizing herself where she was and simply stopped tlaking about her. Again. Reno frowned a bit, placing his hand soflty over hersand giving it squeeze. Being alone and yet not... In a strange way, he could understand.
"Tell me about your sister," he said then, locking their eyes with each others.

"I won't." Remi said convincingly. Maybe she wouldn't devote every waking moment of her time to it, but she'd still consider a way to do it somehow. "I have lots of sanity, I might be able to handle it...if I choose to do so." Remi couldn't manage to break her eye contact with him as he took her hand. "She..." Remi thought. "Ashley liked to fight. She was always getting in trouble for it and she always told me that people don't react to words. They react to, 'Getting the shit beat out of them.' She swore a lot too." Remi sighed, "And...she was an artist, and she wanted to live someplace with an overcast, or where it rained a lot. Like Washington or London." This is the first time she's ever gone in depth with someone about her before. "We were like polar opposites but we always found things that suited the two of us perfectly. She didn't agree with almost anything I believed in. Veganism is stupid, humanitarianism is stupid because other people should worry about themselves, and the environment will take of itself...eventually. She always said eventually." She trailed off.
She had become so accustomed to denying discussion about her sister that she never realized that it felt relieving to talk about. Remi held Reno's hand tighter, as if she were hanging off of a cliff. "And..." She could go on about what a great person Ashley was forever. "She always made me buy her frozen yogurt if I wasn't in the mood to make it. I always tried to tell her that the servings I made were for groups of people, and she would eat it all in an hour or so. She hated the woods but she went camping with me anyway. Sometimes she and my father used to try to get me to start eating meat by tempting me with steak and..." Oh, she did not want to think about him. "They had a good relationship when he wasn't..." Remi swallowed, "It was my mom who..." Remi looked away from Reno and withdrew her hands, tucking them into her lap. She could feel anger burning in her chest. She hadn't even told Tadashi about...that. "Do you want to know more?"

There was no hint of any sort of emotion on the redhead's face as he listened to the girl, but hopefully th soft look in his eyes were enough to let her know that he did indeed want to hear more, that he as there, [is]listening[/in]. His lips twisted into a small smile when the part of people not reacting to words was brought up, shamelessly able to relate abit to the girl there. Although, he didn't think that about everyone he ran into, it depend on who it was. Like Buddy for example, that guy sure a shell didn't respond to words. He almost felt a bit jealous dwell within him a she listened to Remy speak so fondly of her sister, but was more filled with wonder, not for the first time thinking if things would have been different if his twin had survived during childbirth along with him...
As Remi's hold on his hand tightend up, so did his gripp as well, as if reassuirng her that he was still there, and that he wasn't planning of letting go. But then she withdrew her hands herself, and he wordlessly elt her, but left his hand laying on the table unmoving. There wa sno foundess left there, only anger if he were to guess. Now that was another feelign eh could relate to all to well. "I do," he asnwerd geinuly, brushing away some hair from her face gently. "But I ain't gonna push into it if you're not up for it," he reassured. "Just felt like you needed to talk about it, and I'd be happy to litsen."

"Really?" Remi was sure that he would want to move on to another topic, but he looked like he really meant it, and she realized that he did. "You're always listening to me." She murmured quietly before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "She couldn't swim, and she was only so tall, maybe a few centimeter shorter than me. Sometimes I would spend days at a time trying to teach her how to swim, but she would just panic as soon as she couldn't feel the bottom. She would just scream and start hollering my name like someone was taking her away..." Remi smiled sadly at Reno as she thought about it. "Her closet was big, probably the biggest in our house and she didn't put a single piece of clothing in it. Ashley made it an art studio, and there would just be picture and paintings tacked and taped on the walls." Remi paused, looking up at Reno, afraid she were boring him.
But she reached over and took his hand again, tangling their fingers together. "She never let me see how sad she was. Ashley always did it when I wasn't around, at ballet or where ever. Sometimes if I came home early she wouldn't let me in her room for twenty minutes. I didn't notice at first but, I realized that she'd needed that time to make it look like she weren't crying. I always assumed she was just being a beauty queen." How wrong of me.. "I didn't realize how sad she really was until she and I were watching a movie together once. It was a comedy, and it was really funny. She laughed at every joke, and I thought that she was so engulfed in the movie that I didn't even realize she'd started crying. At first I couldn't believe it because I always thought that laughing then crying was something that only happened in movies."
"I remember a while after it happened so many people thought I would end up like her. I wasn't myself, I started doing things I never would. I stopped dancing and... started drinking and partying and staying out the entire night and smoking...marijuana, of course." She frowned. "I started doing it so much I was forming a dependency on all of it. I don't know. I woke up one day and it just...didn't feel right. For a long time I blamed my parents for it. I blamed everything on them. If the sun didn't rise the next morning it would be their fault," She smirked. "The truth is...when you told me that story, about your mom...I was afraid because I imagined myself doing the same thing. I came so close to hitting her that...violence suddenly seemed like the right thing. And I would think of ways that I could just..." Not kill her, of course. But she'd come very close.

He gave a another smile as she went on, although small it was enough to show his content with it. He was glad she felt comfortable enough to open up to him, even if all eh did was just listen. Even after their stupid fight and misunderstandings... things still seemed 'ok' between them. He pulled his hand back from his face, letting it casually rest on top of the table again while watching and listen to her speak once more. As she reached over and took his hand again in hers, intertwining their fingers, he silently allowed her to do so. He felt the need to reach out and pull her into a hug the more listened, to something that might be of comfort to her, tell her things were ok now. But he didn't, couldn't, for some reason. At least, not just yet. He didn't blame or judge her at all by her actions for back then, unsurprisingly able to understand her on some levels. While their lifes may have been different, Reno was no stranger to depression... or suicidal thoughts.
But then, that sweet, comfortable moment between them was broken the moment she mentioned his mother, his shoulders tensing up a bit at what she said. Averting his eyes, he slowly untagnled his figners from hers, pulling his hand away as he averted his eyes elsewhere.

Remi's eyes softened into a saddened expression as Reno didn't take her reference well, at all. She half-expected him not to, and another part of her wished that would. She attempted to grab his hand before he removed it, but she was too late and she gave him a soft expression. "You don't have to do that," She said quietly to him. "You can talk to me too..." Remi didn't mean to upset him, naturally, but as usual she had without meaning too. She briefly considered hugging him, but from the times that they've talked about it, Reno always closes up, refusing to be in physical contact. And then she decided she didn't care and got to her feet and wrapped her arms around him, "I didn't mean to upset you." She whispered softly.

Reno didn't respond at first, just kept his eye slocked elsewhere in the room. It's not that he was up set at her exactly, but of coruse that refernce of hers had been inappropriate, for him. He more felt than saw her move then from her spot, but didn't as much as shift on his seat when she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a warm embrace. He just sighed, closed his eyes for a moment as if to collect himself, and wrapped one of his arms around her waist in return. He didn't mind physical contact, of course not. Remi had just ahd the bad luck of comfrotning him the times he couldn't handle having someone near him. Now was not one of those times.
"I know," he mumbled back, knowing well she hadn't meant too. He went silent for another moment, pondering on her words for a bit. 'You can talk to me too...' she said. Could he, really? He already someone to vent to whenevr he needed it, someone who didn't fear him for the stupid shit he's done, or can do. But did he want to give Remi more reasons to be wary of him? No, not after finally having patched things up with her.