incomplete

[riotinstereo]

Who: Reno (riotinstereo) and Hojo (agrise)
What: Discussing things. And let's rack up some more favors while we're at it.
Where: In the city streets.
When: Backdated slightly: After this.

Comments

FIVE YEARS LATER

[riotinstereo]

Hojo hadn’t wasted his time by reassuring him. Whatever he saw, his tone didn’t make the Turk optimistic about his recovery.

Reno couldn’t blame him for being irritated. His condition hadn’t really improved since he’d come pleading for help before. Reno had already survived longer than he would have without him; something he knew the professor would be kind enough to remind him of. It was a pathetic. Hojo was the last person he wanted to be indebted to, and he resented that he didn’t have the choice.

Hojo’s examination was what he’d expect from the professor, but it still made him uneasy. Even when he was getting the best medical treatment ShinRa had to offer, Reno never felt comfortable around doctors. And with Hojo, he felt less like a patient and more like a carcass ready to be picked apart.

With that imagery in mind, Reno pushed back against the wall as if he was trying to put more distance between them. The searing pain that burned into his abdomen every time he moved coupled with his own paranoia kept him from finding any way to get comfortable.

Reno didn’t interrupt, just grit his teeth and waited for him to finish. His head dropped as soon as Hojo released it, and he watched the blood that slowly seeped out of the wound with a sick interest.

So it was bad. What else was new?

“It’s not that-” he heard himself say some time after Hojo had spoken. It’s not that I don’t trust you. Even as he put his life in Hojo’s hands, he was reluctant to admit anything. There was a line that he had drawn when he’d made a deal with the professor; he wasn’t sure when he’d crossed it.

But as inconvenient as it was for him to come there, Hojo hadn’t abandoned him. If anything, the professor had done more for him than he’d gotten in return. Reno acted as a precautionary, but he hadn’t been much use. Hojo could have used the chance to discard him instead of coming to his aid. “-I guess it doesn’t matter,” he said finally, giving up on trying to force answers from the older man.

“How does it look?” he finally muttered, not really wanting to hear the answer. He reminded himself before that Hojo’s motives weren’t important as long as he was helping him. Nothing had changed. He’d deal with the consequences later.