FicWad

Di er hua: Ben dan

Chapter Two: Stupid Egg

When the fight was over, the two kids looked at each other. Reno didn't know why he'd waded into a fight that wasn't his, but he'd been in the mood to hit something and it had seemed like a good way. The other kid, the one the assholes that usually were after Reno had been fighting, had been kinda cool, the way he was fighting. Well, once the odds evened up.

The kid pointed to himself. "/Wo shi Qian Jie Guang/."

Reno blinked. "...What?"

"Jie Guang. Wo jiao Jie/. Jie/!"

"Jay? That what you said? That your name? Jay?"

"Jie."

"Jay?"

"JIE."

"...Ja...Jay?"

"/JIE/!"

"Ji-e? Jie?" Reno said, finally twigging on to the way the kid was saying the name, way it sounded like a question, going up.

The kid, Jie, nodded, and grinned, then pointed at Reno."/Ni ne/?"

"My name ain't 'Nina,' what, you think I'm a girl? My name's Reno. RENO."

"Lei Nuo?"

Well, that was all wrong. Close, but...yeah, not right, and Reno figured, as much as this Jie kid had pitched a fit over Reno saying HIS name right, Reno could insist on Jie saying Reno's name right."Reno."

"Leinuo."

"RENO, stupid, RENO."

"....Renuo stupid."

Reno glared and raised a thin little fist. "I'll stupid you! RENO, stupid!"

In the end, the first words they figured out together were"stupid" and "/ben dan/." Jie said "Renuo stupid" one more time, and Reno launched himself arms flailing at Jie, screaming like he'd hit a limit break or something. Fifteen minutes, one black eye, two split lips, and one bloody nose later they had stopped and were sitting on the ground glaring at each other.

"/Ben dan, ni gan shen mo da wo?! Ni shi ben dan/!" Jie said, glaring and thumping his fist on the ground.

"Yeah, we'll YOU'RE the one calling me stupid! You're a ben dan/!" he said, pointing at Jie emphatically as he latched onto the last thing Jie had said, not knowing what it meant but knowing it wasn't good. "/Ben dan! Ben dan! You're /ben dan/!"

Ten minutes, another black eye, another bloody nose, a bruised rib, and a concussion later, they were grinning at each other, and both had a pretty good idea of what exactly "stupid" and "ben dan" meant.

"Ni jiao Reno ma/?" the kid, Jie, said. "/Bu jiao stupid," he said, grinned. "Suiran ni bu jiao stupid, ke shi ni hen stupid," he said, grinning evilly.

"I dunno what you said, but I know you're /ben dan/," Reno shot back, giving the kid the same kind of evil grin along with a rude gesture, and the two of them burst out laughing.

Then Reno's stomach growled. "Aw, man, I'm soooo hungry..." Reno muttered, clutching his stomach, at the same time as the scrawny Wutai kid, Jie, was making similar motions and moaning, "/Wo hao e le/!"

They looked at each other, and the kid made an eating motion.

"Yeah! Food!" Reno said, nodding. His face dropped. "I ain't got no money, though. Guess I can lift somethin' off old man Meelin, though, maybe...but aww, man, he remembers me from last time!"

The kid stood up and waved his hand, beckoning, and started off. He turned and beckoned again, and Reno shrugged, stood up, and followed.

Reno's impression of "ben"="stupid" was greatly strengthened when they ended up in Jie's house, and the woman Jie pointed to and said, "Reno, zhe shi wo ma ma/," which apparently meant this was his mom, went ballistic; there were many cries of "/ben" as well as more thumps upside the head, all supplied by an angry Wutai mother as she bandaged the two of them up. They had tried to deflect her anger onto the other--Jie had yelled "/Ta jiao wo ben dan/!" while pointing accusingly at Reno after having been thumped soundly on the head, and Reno had immediately piped in with, "But he called me stupid!" and pointing back just as accusingly at Jie, defending himself.

Which got them both thumped on the head again, and in the end left the both of them sulking at the unfairness of it all, being beaten up and hungry and hit by an angry mother on top of it all, and they continued sulking after she left, muttering "Your mom's ben dan" and "Wo ma ma hen stupid" respectively, until two plates of food Reno had never seen before but smelled better than anything he'd ever had were put in front of them, at which point all was almost forgiven.

*