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Elena knew Reno had quite a few talents. They included making horrible jokes, always getting into trouble, and being incredibly annoying. And apparently getting sick at the most inconvenient places, like in a helicopter in the middle of nowhere a few hundred meters over the ocean.
"I told you not to eat that fish!" she scolded as her colleague let out another moan of misery.
"But it tasted fine!" he whined.
It certainly had not looked fine. Elena suppressed a shudder at remembering the sight of the meal and instead fastened her grip on Reno's jacket. The two Turks were kneeling in the back of the helicopter, the heavy cargo door halfway opened, and the last thing Elena needed was Reno falling out from gagging too hard. It was not an optimal solution but far better than the alternative of him spewing all over the floor of the machine they had to spend the next two hours in.
Another dry retch made Reno lean over and the cold wind smacked his ponytail straight into Elena's face. Spitting, she pulled a few strands of red hair out of her mouth.
"Just throw up already so we can close the door again. I'm getting cold." That, and the sounds were starting to make her own stomach churn.
Reno heaved once more, still not bringing anything up besides some spit. He wiped his mouth with the hand that was not busy clutching his stomach before he whined: "I'm trying! Stop being so mean, I didn’t choose to get sick!"
"But you did choose to eat that fish!"
"I told ya it tas-"
Without warning, the helicopter suddenly lurched. Elena got thrown back, her body hitting the wall with an audible thumb just before Reno collided with her from the front.
"Rude!" The two Turks exclaimed in unison, Reno sounding far too nauseous for Elena's liking.
"Sorry, the winds are unpredictable around here." Rude did not sound truly sorry.
"Urgh." Reno buried his face into Elena's shirt, reminding her of the immediate danger she was in with having him lying across her.
Panicked, she pushed the redhead off. "Don't you dare puke on me!"
"I'm not gonna puke on you," replied the curled-up form next to her. His voice was muffled by the hand slapped over his mouth.
He had definitely been about to puke on her.
The helicopter shook again and Elena shrieked as Reno let out a wet blech and commented: "This' why it's usually me that flies, he's terrible at it."
While Reno was indeed the best pilot counting skill he certainly wasn't in terms of comfort. All in all, Elena was glad he had told Rude to take over when he had started to "feel off". Reno then had gone from "feeling off" to "full-blown food poisoning" in less than ten minutes. That, she hadn't been glad for. Especially since it was now her responsibility that her colleague didn’t make a mess or die.
Reno may be an annoying asshole, but also a capable Turk. And dying coworkers lead to a mountain of paperwork.
"Just shove your fingers down his throat or something," Rude, always one for fast and practical solutions, suggested.
"No way!" Elena and Reno once again shouted in sync.
"I dunno where that hand's been!"
"He's going to spew all over my arm!"
"Am not!"
"Then think of something else." Rude huffed and Elena saw him shake his head. "This is getting ridiculous."
She wanted to retort something along the lines of "You deal with him then!" but kept her mouth shut. Judging by how long the two Turks knew each other, Rude definitely must have dealt with Reno in a similar state before. So instead, Elena searched her mind for a possible solution.
Meanwhile, Reno was so kind as to position himself at the door again. He was on all fours, head hanging outside once more, and stared down at the waves of the ocean. Their movements made him sway dizzily and Elena got up to stand next to him and grabbed his jacket in precaution again.
"I could uh … punch you in the stomach?" She suggested. That surely had to do the trick.
Reno made a noise like a dying puppy. "Please no."
"I will be careful." She wouldn’t hit him hard. Well, at least not harder than he deserved. She still had to pay him back for a few things, after all. Like when he -
"You just want to punch me!" Turquoise eyes glared up at her but his gaze wasn't nearly as intimidating as he wanted it to be with how pale he was.
It was the moment Elena opened her mouth to defend herself, that the chopper lurched again. Down and up, like a car hitting a pothole with way too much speed. It wasn't as bad as the first time, but still enough to bruise her knee as she lost her balance and hit the metal floor in a crouch. Reno on the other hand …
Since he was already down on all fours Elena would've thought he couldn’t go much lower. She was proofed differently, because as he jerked away from the opening, his arms and legs just gave way and he hit the floor sprawled out, stomach and face first, hard. In slow motion, Elena watched his throat work.
Turks had fast reflexes. They were necessary in their line of work and it took a lot of long and hard training to get there. It was exactly this training Elena had to thank for that she was fast enough to grab Reno by his collar and haul him forward the few centimeters over the edge of the door half a second before the "totally fine-tasting fish" made a reappearance.
Elena turned her head at the sight and tried to blend out the miserable sounds her colleague was making while awkwardly patting his back.
"That was on purpose!" Reno choked once he was finished, glaring daggers in Rude's general direction. A few tears were running down his cheeks from how hard he'd retched and joined the drops of blood from his nose and strings of spit in dripping down his chin. Elena padded her pockets for a tissue.
Rude was as calm as ever as he readjusted his sunglasses and said: "I told you, the winds are unpredictable in this area."