InsaneJournal

At least you're still here...
Who: Reno and Maria
When: Not long after Jophiel's appearance.
Where: Emptiness
Ratings: R (Though the first part is PG/PG-13, something like that. I put in a warning flag in a post, so you could just read up to there if you want)
Warnings: SMUT ALERT and scattered language
Summary: In the wake of all the changes and confusion, Maria clings to Reno for comfort.

After getting Maria's message that she wanted to see him, Reno stealthily removed himself from the Niflheim property and made his way through Emptiness toward a particular apartment building. Not too long after they'd started seeing each other, the two of them had taken over one of the apartments, and while they didn't always end up staying there, it was usually where they met up.

It was a nice place; pretty small and simple, but comfortable enough to stay in sometimes, and definitely convenient. Each of them had a key, and as far as they knew, there weren't any other copies. (A while after they first discovered the place, Reno had hunted through the desk where they found the keys in the first place, just to make sure the strange phenomenon that was Emptiness hadn't been creating new ones, but that didn't seem to be a problem.) For Reno, it had ended up being sort of a home away from home, if "home" could really apply to any place in this world. He hung around there just by himself on rare occasion, on the days when he simply didn't want anyone to be able to find him. Somehow the vague possibility of Maria finding him never managed to fall into that definition of "anyone." He occasionally worried about the safety of having a standard meeting place, but there were no signs that anyone had taken notice. At the very least, it hadn't sprouted any security cameras or anything like that.

He wondered, briefly, if the security cameras served any purpose now. Was there anyone to watch whatever they recorded, now that Sal was dead? He shook his head, and decided not to think about that too much.

As he walked, he pulled a key ring out of his pocket and spun it idly around his fingers. It was the same one he'd had before he'd gotten dragged here, and it still had all the same keys, plus the one to his room in Niflheim, and the one to this apartment. Aside from those, they were all completely useless here, but he liked the sound they made when they clinked against each other, so he never bothered to take them off the ring. Besides, they might be useful again if he ever got back home, and if nothing else, they nicely concealed the fact that he had picked up an extra useful key somewhere along the line.

When he got to the building, he quickly hopped up the stairs to their place, wondering if he'd even need the key. In all likelihood, she'd already be there waiting for him. But if not, he'd just flop down on the couch and wait for her, and she'd probably be there shortly.