Thanks for the memories

“Thanks for the Memories”
A Reno fanfiction
Chapter 2: “Grease monkey”
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*Disclaimer: The world that this story is set in and all characters therein belong to Square-Enix. This fiction piece is strictly a non-profit exercise of creativity and entertainment for people (like me) who can’t get enough of this world and the characters.*
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You know what’s ironic? The better the part of town you go to, the worse the mechanic shops get. I’m serious man; those guys in the richer sectors and on the plate didn’t know what the hell they were doing. I was getting business from people all the way up top, yo. Rich guys that weren’t getting the service they needed from the shops in their own part of the city started coming to me when they had car problems. I guess the shops in the middle-class areas and up top figured they could do a half-assed job and still charge people whatever they want.

I was making a decent enough living to start fixing the house up, but not to move to a better location. I bought a new refrigerator, had the roof fixed and refinished the wood on the stoop. I gotta tell you, Ma and I had the nicest house in the slums by the time my nineteenth birthday was coming around. I know that doesn’t sound too exciting but it meant a lot to me, ‘cause Ma deserved to live in something besides a shack, you know?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I saved up and bought a metal baton. Not a twirling baton, if that’s what you’re thinkin’—I ain’t a puss! I mean a fighting baton. It was one of those collapsible ones and I kept it on me all the time. I kind of had to, where I lived—people tried to rob my shop three times in the first year of business. Of course, I ended up in trouble for one of them ‘cause the jackass pulled a gun on my receptionist and I ended up taking it from him and shooting him with it. How do you like that? Some fucker tries to rob a shop and holds someone at gunpoint, but the owner gets charged with manslaughter! That time I didn’t get put away ‘cause there were witnesses to verify it was self-defense; but it still went on my record.

Other than the little accident and the new notch under my criminal belt, things were going pretty good. I had a few love interests but all I ever did with them was fool around, because for one, I didn’t have time for more than that and for another, every time I was with any of them I kept thinking of that damned loan shark and the things I had to do with him. What was his name? Oh yeah…Bruce. It kind of kills the mood when you’re getting your crotch rubbed by someone you like and your damned mind keeps going to earlier that day when a guy you’re not attracted to was doing the same thing because you had no choice.

When my nineteenth birthday was just a few weeks away, I met Rufus ShinRa for the first time and things started to change fast after that, yo.

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Rufus was in the slums for a reason. Midgar was his city—or at least, it would be one day when the old man kicked the bucket—and he didn’t like filth. He was a man who liked order and he wanted to clean up the poor parts of town, so he was conducting some research with Reeve Tuesti on urban development. While Reeve’s interests lay in helping the poor and improving living conditions, Rufus was a little more focused on improving the structures and making the lower side of town less trashy. Both goals would lead to the same end so he worked with the older man behind his father’s back.

President ShinRa couldn’t care less about the slums or the people living there. All he cared about was money and power. Rufus could appreciate that even though he hated the man, but there was more to commanding respect and fear than tossing gil around. That was why the Turk organization had become more loyal to Rufus than to his father. They took orders from the President because it was their job, but they took orders from Rufus because they wanted to. Tseng in particular was one of the few people Rufus trusted.

He turned down one of the streets leading to the business area of the slums and Rufus frowned when his car engine seemed to stutter. He’d already had the problem looked at by a shop on the plate, refusing to use his father’s company mechanics just out of spite. Now he wished he’d rethought that as his engine began to struggle to keep running.

~I seem to recall hearing something about a good shop on this side of town. What was it, “Flynn’s Auto”?~

Wanting to avoid leaving his expensive luxury car out in the open where some punks could steal his hubcaps before a tow truck could arrive, Rufus searched the shops as he chugged down the street, hoping he was on the right one. A couple of blocks ahead on the left, he spotted a garage with big, red lettering on the corner of an intersection. He squinted and pushed the gas petal harder as he tried to make out the sign. He relaxed a little when he saw it was indeed Flynn’s Auto, but his relief was short-lived because his engine died and no matter how much he tried to crank it up again, it only choked.

“Fantastic,” Rufus sighed. His birthday week so far was turning out to be a bust. He was twenty-one now, his own man for the most part. However things kept happening to him that gave his father excuses to treat him like he was incompetent. If the President found out about this it was just going to lead to a snide lecture. He’d tell Rufus he’d asked for it by thinking he was too good to use the company mechanics and he’d probably tell him he belonged in the slums with the riffraff.

Rufus considered using his cell to call a tow truck, but he decided to give the shop down the street a chance, first. If Flynn’s Auto was as good as people said, he could have his car fixed without word ever getting back to his father about him spending time in the slums and breaking down there. He tried to crank the engine again, knowing that there was no way he’d be able to push the vehicle and steer it at the same time.

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“Hey Reno, check this out,” Lee said as he lit up a cigarette and took a puff. “Looks like that guy’s a long way from home, man.”

Reno wiped his hands off and stepped out of the workshop, peering down the street where his old friend and current employee pointed. An expensive, white four door Pantora was stalled outside the discount clothing shop about a block and a half away. He lifted his goggles up, securing them on his forehead as he studied the car. He heard it trying to crank and to his practiced ear, it sounded like there was a problem with the starter. He shook his head and grinned.

“Poor sucker’s probably scared out of his wits, breaking down in a place like this,” Reno muttered.

“Maybe he was coming here to get it looked at,” suggested Lee with a shrug, “we’ve had a lot of rich guys coming to us lately.”

“Good point, yo. I’ll go check it out and see if he wants us to have a look at it.” Reno started off at a jog, looking both ways for traffic as he cut across the street.

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Rufus swore as he pumped the gas pedal and tried again to crank the engine. He realized he might just have to walk to the garage and request help pushing his car the rest of the way there. He glanced up and abruptly went still when he saw the young man jogging over to him. The Vice President of ShinRa Inc decided then and there that his car breaking down in this spot was fate—and that it was completely worth it.

The guy closing the distance had his long, auburn hair bound up in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. The hair on top of his head was fluffed and spiked a bit, with a few strands hanging down over his forehead and on the sides. He wore a pair of shaded goggles on his forehead and he had angular features that were too attractive to be anything less than beautiful. He wore an unbuttoned, grease-stained faded red shirt with the sleeved rolled up to the elbows, a pair of ragged blue jeans with various rips and holes in different places and worn canvas sneakers with rubber enforced toes.

He looked roughly around Rufus’ age—maybe a little younger—and his shirt flew open and flashed his lithe-muscled, pale chest and stomach as he jogged over. He wore a silver chain around his neck and there was a pendant of some sort hanging on it. The pendant flashed in the dull afternoon light, drawing attention to the perfect clavicle and creamy throat.

Rufus was so busy staring that it took him a moment to realize the guy was calling out to him. He gave himself a mental nudge and rolled the window down as the redhead approached, subtly checking in his blazer to check his gun in case things took a bad turn.

“Yo, need some help?” The redhead casually dropped a hand on the roof of the car and bent over to peer inside. His fine-sculpted jaw worked as he chewed on a piece of gum. Rufus could smell a pleasing, cinnamon aroma on his breath. He had long, sea green eyes and they studied Rufus with calculating interest. The young VP could see the crafty intelligence in those pretty eyes. He admired the color of them and the thick fringe of ginger lashes framing them.

“I’m afraid so,” answered Rufus, staring directly into his eyes. “I was just having a look around the neighborhood when my engine started to sputter. Now it won’t start. I had someone look at it last week and I was told it was repaired, but it seems they were wrong.” The pendant hanging on the redhead’s chain had the likeness of a fox’s head etched into it, and Rufus found it very appropriate.

The redhead blew a little bubble and popped it, nodding sagely. “Lemme guess; you took it to one of those uptown shops, right?” When Rufus nodded, the redhead smirked. “What they probably did was rig a temp fix and charge you full service prices for it, man. That way your ride keeps breaking down and you keep coming back and giving them gil. Tell you what, pop your hood and I’ll have a look.” The redhead winked at him and smiled crookedly. Rufus was immediately, inescapably infatuated.

Rufus popped the hood of his car and waited while the young man moved around to the front and lifted it. He heard him mutter: “Yep…figures,” and then he stuck his head out from the right side to look at the VP through the windshield. “Try cranking it.”

Rufus did so and the engine rolled over and coughed. The redhead stuck a hand out to indicate that he should stop and Rufus did so. The young man fooled with something and cursed, before putting the hood down and returning to the driver’s side to talk to Rufus.

“Okay, you’ve got fire but you ain’t got fuel,” The redhead explained, “Thought it was your starter at first, but it’s your fuel pump. The guys that did the last job just put some sealant on it and you need a whole new pump, yo. Want us to push it to my shop and fix you up?”

~I’d LOVE for you to “fix me up”,~ Rufus thought as he covertly admired the other young man’s chest and fantasized about fondling his pink nipples. Aloud, he said: “That would be nice.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the driver’s side door while the other man stepped back. He avoided the puddle by the curb and started to grab the steering wheel and position himself to start pushing.

“Yo, those are nice loafers,” the redhead observed with a frown, “wouldn’t want to see those ruined. You just steer and let us do the pushing.” He put his thumb and index fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly in the direction of the shop. “Lee, come help me push this, man!”

Rufus thought about objecting but shrugged and slid back into the driver’s seat. He was going to pay the foxy redhead more than the service was worth anyway, when this was all said and done and there was no sense in ruining a pair of good leather loafers. A guy with light brown hair hurried over and got on the other side of the car. Rufus watched the redhead’s rounded, tight little bottom from the corner of his eye as he steered while the two mechanics pushed. Before he left, he intended to find out his new interest’s name so that he could look up everything about him when he got home.

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~Damn, those idiots could have fucked up a perfectly good engine,~ Reno thought as he replaced the fuel pump and cleaned the engine. He shook his head and thought about those riveting, gray eyes. ~That guy’s got some major intensity. He’s…aware. Most of the rich guys that come through here act like they’re somewhere else but this guy’s something else. Maybe I’m just imagining it. Hell, I can’t blame those cheap-shots at the other shops for sabotaging his ride…I’m almost tempted to do it myself just to get him coming around again.~

Reno puzzled over the instant attraction he felt for his customer while he worked on the vehicle. ~straight-laced executive types aren’t my style. So why do I wanna run my fingers through that sandy-blond hair and make those intense eyes of his widen? Okay…focus. Stop fucking around and get the job done, yo.~ He still thought the mysterious customer looked familiar but he couldn’t imagine where he might have seen him before.

He finished the job and got into the vehicle to test it. It cranked easily and the engine purred. Reno smiled and pulled the car out of the garage. He got out of the vehicle and juggled the keys lightly as he whistled a tune. He pushed through the door leading into the little reception area and blew a little bubble.

“All done,” Reno said to his customer, who was relaxing in a seat and leafing through the newspaper. The blond man put the paper down and stood up. Reno handed the keys to him and smiled. “That’s a sweet engine you’ve got in your car. You should have her cleaned every six months. Wouldn’t want to let corrosion set in.”

The blonde smiled subtly, in a way that made Reno’s heart pound a little. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”

Reno turned to his receptionist, who was sitting behind the desk and just hanging up the telephone. “Yo Penny, got a fuel pump replacement here for you to ring up. Take care of Mister…” He looked at the blonde and raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

“Shinra,” answered the other man softly. “Rufus Shinra.”

He held back a smile as both the mechanic and the receptionist stared.

“Uh, yeah. Take care of Mister Shinra, Penny,” Reno said after recovering from his surprise. He reached over to the desk and took one of the cards sitting in a holder, never taking his blue-green eyes off of Rufus. “Here, Sir. Take a card and if you ever have problems again, give us a call.” He was amazed that his voice held steady. He was also amazed that his gum hadn’t tumbled out of his mouth in his shock.

Rufus took the card, thanked him and pulled his wallet out of his gray blazer. “Oh, I will,” the VP said as he slid the business card into one of the slots and thumbed through his gil. He produced a hundred gil note and held it out to Reno. “Here. A tip for your trouble.”

Reno stared at the note and then looked at Rufus. The intense gray eyes held his and he accidentally swallowed his gum. “S-sir, I can’t take that…”

“Of course you can,” Rufus insisted. He boldly slipped the bill into Reno’s left front pocket, patting his hip when he finished. “Such professional service deserves extra compensation. It’s difficult to find a good mechanic, these days.”

Reno swallowed again as his groin hardened in reaction to the brief, intimate act. Penny’s mouth was hanging open and he looked at her with a frown. She snapped out of it and added up the bill. Rufus paid it, gave Reno one last, lingering look and walked out. Reno and Penny stared out the window as the VP got into his car and pulled out of the lot.

“That was hot,” Penny stated.

“That was the fucking Vice President of ShinRa,” Reno said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the note that Rufus had given him. The “tip” that the young VP had graced him with was worth half the cost of the work he’d done on his car. “I KNEW he looked familiar!”

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The speaker beeped and Rufus pushed the button on it. “Yes?”

“Sir, it’s Tseng. I have the information you requested. I can upload it to your computer, if you’d like.”

Rufus opened the laptop on his desk and turned it on. “Please do. Come and join me when you finish.” He pushed the com button again and brought his mail up, waiting patiently for Tseng’s files to appear in his inbox. After a few moments, they arrived and Rufus opened the first one. He was confused at first when he saw a mug shot of an adolescent, roughly thirteen or fourteen in age. It took him a moment to recognize Reno. He read the file with interest, calling out for Tseng to enter when the Turk knocked on his office door.

“He killed his stepfather at fourteen,” Rufus mused, rubbing his chin.

“Actually, it wasn’t his stepfather,” Tseng corrected. “His mother wasn’t married to him. The victim had a history of domestic violence and apparently Mr. Flynn beat him to death to defend his mother.”

Rufus smiled. “Impressive. Not many children would have the nerve to fight back against an abuser.” He opened the next file and found another mug shot—one that appeared to be fairly recent because the Reno in the picture looked much like the Reno he’d met the day before. Rufus smiled again. “He killed a robber with his own gun. Oh, I like him, Tseng.”

The Wutaian studied Rufus thoughtfully. “Do we have a new grooming target then, Sir?”

Rufus threaded his fingers together and narrowed his eyes on the image of the sexy redhead. “Yes,” he said after a moment, “but we’ll start with observation first. He’s not actively seeking out a position with the Turks, so we’ll have to draw him in and see how he feels about it, first.”

Tseng nodded. “I think that’s wise, Sir. How closely would you like him watched?”

“Let’s not be too invasive,” answered the VP. “I want to keep an eye on him but I don’t want to risk him knowing about it. If we invade his privacy it would only make recruiting him later more difficult.”

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That night, Rufus dreamed. It was amazingly vivid, clear and erotic. He dreamed that he had Reno Flynn naked in his bed, sweating and crying his name. He could see every detail in the redhead’s face—the way his shapely lips parted, the way his fair skin flushed with passion, the way his ginger lashes fluttered closed as the final ecstasy overcame him.

Rufus moaned and writhed in his sleep, the pressure between his legs growing explosive. “Reno,” he panted as it peaked. He woke up abruptly, feeling slippery wetness between his legs. With a frown of disbelief, he reached out to turn his bedside lamp on and lifted the covers. He’d come in his sleep. He could see the damp spot growing on his boxers. Of course, he’d woken up with morning wood on several occasions and he’d had wet dreams before but they’d never been THAT realistic or intense and he’d never actually achieved orgasm from them before.

Still gasping with release, he worked his boxers off and rolled out of bed, stumbling to the bathroom to get cleaned up. His desire for the mechanic was almost consuming. Rufus had crushes before—he’d been infatuated with Tseng for months before he finally made a move on him and learned he reciprocated his feelings. This was much worse than a simple crush. The young VP could honestly say he had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted Reno Flynn. He decided that while he was grooming him to become a Turk, he’d also groom him to become his lover. He and Tseng weren’t exclusive so he knew that the Wutaian wouldn’t mind.

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“You aren’t going to like this,” Tseng said with certainty as he reported to Rufus. He and his fellow Turks had been watching Reno for over a week now.

“What won’t I like?” Rufus said, tensing. If something had happened to Reno…

“Flynn is in a sexual contract,” Tseng answered.

Rufus frowned. “What?”

“He owes money to a loan shark,” the dark-haired man explained, “and apparently, the man is taking his payback with some special interest.”

Rufus felt an unusual amount of rage stir within him at this news. “What sort of sexual favors are we talking about, Tseng?”

“Mostly oral, as far as we’ve been able to ascertain. You know how it will end up before he’s finished paying off the loan, I’m sure.”

“Organize to finish paying his loan for him,” Rufus commanded without hesitation. “Send it in anonymously and have the loan shark monitored to be certain he honors it.”

Tseng nodded. “Right away, Sir. Your father wishes to speak with you, by the way.”

Rufus pursed his lips. The only time the President ever wanted to speak with him was to either order him around or berate him. He knew that his son was gay and he made it abundantly clear he disapproved. Rufus really didn’t feel like listening to his father call him a little faggot today.

Seeing the younger man’s expression, Tseng gently said: “Shall I start up the Jacuzzi and get a drink ready for you, Rufus?” He only addressed the VP by his given name when speaking to him intimately.

Rufus sighed and reached out to stroke the Turk’s business suit-clad arm. “Thank you, but no. I think I’ll make a trip down to the lower city today after father is finished with me. I’d like to check on our potential recruit for myself.”

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Reno brushed his teeth for the third time since his “meeting” with his loan shark. He thought about taking another shower but he really couldn’t afford to waste water. No matter how much toothpaste and mouth rinse he used, he couldn’t get the taste of the man out of his mouth. He gagged as he thought of it and he nearly threw up in the sink. Taking a deep breath, he cupped his hands under the running water tap and filled them, then rinsed the toothpaste out of his mouth and spit.

Someone knocked on his office door and he wiped his mouth, left the dingy bathroom and hollered at whomever it was to come in. Penny opened the door and peeked in, her brown eyes wide. “Reno, you’ve got a visitor waiting for you in the reception area.”

He frowned, immediately thinking that Bruce decided he hadn’t gotten enough head earlier and was back for more. “Who is it?” He asked.

“V-Vice President ShinRa,” the young woman answered.

“You serious?” Reno blurted.

She nodded rapidly. “I thought something went wrong with the work you did on his car at first, but he said he was happy with it and he just wanted to ask you for a tour of the neighborhood.” She said all of this on one breath, speaking so rapidly it was difficult to understand her.

“A tour of the neighborhood?” he scratched his head, his auburn brows furrowing in confusion. “Why?”

She shrugged. “Beats me. I don’t think you should blow him off, though.”

“Yeah,” Reno agreed, still frowning with confusion. Not that he minded seeing the handsome young VP again but he’d convinced himself the only way that was going to happen would be if Rufus had more car trouble. “I’ll be right out, yo.”

She closed the door and Reno hurried into the bathroom to give himself a quick once-over in the mirror, briskly running his fingers through his hair to even it out. When he was satisfied with his appearance he reached into his shirt pocket and produced a pack of cinnamon gum. He put a stick in his mouth and replaced the packet, then made his way out to the reception area.

Rufus stood up when he saw him, giving him one of those quiet, sexy smiles as he reached out with one hand. “Hello again, Reno. I hope I’m not imposing, but I need to survey this part of town to determine where to begin with improvements. I was hoping I could count on you to give me a tour.”

Reno couldn’t resist a crooked smile as he shook Rufus’ hand. “You wanna fix up the slums? What the hell, I’m in. Uh…Sir.”

“Please, call me Rufus,” the VP said, “You aren’t my employee.” ~At least, not yet.~

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So, I gave the boss a tour of the cruddy sectors, starting out with the sector 6 slums and ending with Wall Market. I was still kind of queasy from my little “meeting” that day with the loan shark and Rufus offered to buy me dinner, but I was afraid to take him up on it and when he found out I was feeling sick to my stomach, he bought me a frozen fruit smoothie instead. It was real nice, yo. It kind of felt like a date, to be honest. Rufus talked to me about his hopes to fix up the buildings in the slums and clean up the crime. I could tell there was more to it than that but as long as he was going to do something to make poor people’s lives a little better, I didn’t care what his real reasons were.

He gave me his cellphone number after he dropped me off at the shop and he said something that I thought was really weird. He said that if I ever needed financial help to come to him first. I knew right then that for whatever reason, he was having me watched. I know, most people would think that was creepy but I’m not most people. Call me a fucking weirdo if you want but I was kind of flattered, because I could tell he did it ‘cause he was interested in me and maybe a little worried about me, too.

I didn’t know at the time that he’d paid off my loan for me. If I had, what happened a few days later could have been avoided, yo. Oh yeah…I almost forgot: stealing government machines is a really, really bad idea. Remember that, kids.

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-To be continued.