For Great Justice 1 (4/14)
Title: For Great Justice 1 (4/14)
Authors: sphinxofthenile and _ice_lady_
Fandom: FFVII
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Pairing: No more one sided Reno/Tseng for now.
Rating: PG13 this chapter, NC17 overall
Beta: white_jenna, poor girl. :D
Summary: Life happens.
Warning: This arc does not contain incest and shota. We think. For the rest… :P Also, spoilers for omg everything!
Word count: 3886
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
---
Tseng walked through the main door of his boss’ office.
“How is he?” Veld asked as he seated himself in his chair. He didn’t bother waiting out of courtesy for Tseng any more; the two men had better things to do than waste time on meaningless social customs.
Tseng quietly closed the door behind him, then his shoulders drooped and he definitely showed his true face. He placed the palm of his right hand to his face and shook his head.
Such an abrupt expression of emotion made Veld nervous enough to jump up from his chair and walk to his second in command. “Tseng?” he demanded, his voice surprisingly soft, as his hand travelled to the man’s shoulder. He hesitated for a moment, then sighed and placed it there, squeezing Tseng’s muscle.
The touch instantly froze Tseng, brought him out of his emotional state. He gulped, then backed a step away. “Forgive me, sir,” he said, then nodded in apology.
Veld just smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s safe.”
Tseng blinked, his eyes subconsciously travelling around the room, as though he’d be able to see the bugs and cameras that might be planted there. Well, if Veld said it was secure, then it was secure.
Tseng sighed, pressing his lips into Veld’s. He needed this. Gods, he needed this so much, the feel of Veld’s skin on his own, his scent, that tussled hair under his fingers. He needed it all, the strong, reassuring embrace even though he didn’t ask for it, the faint chuckle, the way Veld let him have this one minute of peace, at last.
Tseng reached for him, hands pulling, lips warm, eyes wanting, but Veld fought out of the embrace, that hungry smile even hungrier, but the eyes sorry.
“Not now,” he whispered, breath heavy, but he broke his own order as he crashed their lips together, Tseng more than willing to participate in it. Then he really pulled away, stepped back and straightened his suit, arranged his tie.
Veld was right, as much as both of them wanted it, showing affection this openly in Veld’s office about half an hour after the shift started was not an option. They were pushing their luck as it was, just by doing something like this when Veld’s secretary was at the other side of the door and the floor was filled with people.
Besides, some moron might have decided that knocking was a waste of time and, even though Veld had been adamant in reprimanding and punishing those idiots properly, a slip like that could easily be the end of their careers.
Tseng sighed again, having to redo his ponytail, but, of all the things, that was really the least of his concern.
“Is it a wrong time for me to ask you to elaborate?” Veld asked and Tseng’s brain needed a few moments to connect the dots. In the meantime, he seated himself in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from Veld’s big and cosy leather one, the one Veld proceeded to.
“He’s been through a lot, sir,” Tseng answered, that tiny word, one syllable, at the end pointing that he, too, agreed that it was over, they were back to business.
“Oh?” Veld asked, eyebrows raised. He placed his elbows to the desk surface and interlaced the fingers of his hands, looking interested.
“I dare not even think about it,” Tseng continued, his eyes finally looking up. “It’s been a hell of a night, Veld.” His voice was almost pleading. Well, Veld knew that it was as close to pleading as Tseng got.
“If you want me, I can relieve you of…”
Tseng adamantly shook his head, cutting his boss off. “No, please, don’t do that, I…” he tried, but he didn’t really know what to say. Almost involuntarily, he extended his hand over the desk, taking a deep breath the moment Veld accepted the advance. It was a small thing but it meant so much to Tseng. He hated himself for falling for his boss, but that was in the past now. Both of them made an effort to make it work, and this was where they were, taking their roles but still holding hands for at least two seconds.
“What do you want?” Veld asked as he pulled his hand away.
“I want to help him, s… I want to help him… Veld. Please…”
After a short pause in which Veld’s eyes kept locked with the desk surface, the Turk leader was quiet. Then he nodded quickly and locked his eyes with his lover and second in command again. It was a very rare gesture, where the man allowed the other to see the true age behind those eyes. “Very well,” he said, then a slightly uncomfortable smile appeared on his lips. “I suppose you know that means no more late night visits to your place.”
A small blush crept to Tseng’s cheeks and he chuckled uncomfortably. “Thank you,” he mimicked with his lips as he could find no power to actually say the words.
It felt so good seeing Veld nod and smile at him again.
---
Reno felt so alone all of a sudden. The corridor was filled with people, both in blue suits and not. They were all going somewhere, some slower, some faster, but all of them with determined goals. No one paid much attention to the thin short kid in the corner. Here and there, someone would smile at him, but they didn’t even see him.
Not wanting to be on the way, he pulled back, towards the wall, and squeezed in the corner between a wall and a very tall wooden filing cabinet. At least, no one was tripping on him that way.
Then he heard a sound of something falling from the door right next to him. He decided to ignore it, but then there was another sound, this time of a person running. Then a sound of frustration made either by a woman or a child.
Reno thought he should ignore it. He really did. But, the curiosity got the best of him. He looked around him quickly to make sure no one’s eyes were on him, then slipped through the door and into the office.
At first, he didn’t see anything, then his eyes spotted someone’s ass peaking from behind the sofa.
“Umm… hello?” Reno tried, looking towards the person behind the sofa meekly. He expected to see some lady working here with her high heel broken or something, and not a kid trying to pull something from behind a sofa.
The person froze, or at least their ass did, then a very flushed and thin face with a crown of orangey blond hair perked up. “Who are you?” the kid demanded. Reno noticed he was quite tall, when compared to him, but looked very slim.
Reno smiled and waved his hand. “Reno’s the name, you?”
The boy (Reno was now certain, at least by the outfit) moved a few steps away from the sofa, straightened his ebony suit and flicked the long hair out of his eyes. “You don’t know me?” he asked.
Reno shrugged. “Well, this is my first day here, so…” He shrugged again. “Are you training to be a Turk to?” he added with a smile.
The boy gave him a look of utter confusion, shock even. He waited for a moment, probably expecting for Reno to say something, but as he didn’t, the boy smiled. “You… You’ve come to train as a Turk?” he asked.
Reno nodded. “My first day here,” he said meekly. “So, I’m sorry if I insulted you. I’m just… I don’t know anyone.”
The blond boy looked towards the sofa again, then back at Reno. “Help me out a bit?”
“Sure,” Reno answered with a smile.
“Need to move this,” the boy said and started pulling the sofa from one end. Reno hurried to the other and they managed to move the heavy leather furniture.
“So, what’s your name?” Reno asked as the boy fell to his knees and started searching for something under the sofa with his hand.
“Rufus,” the boy said, then his lips spread into a smile as he obviously found what he wanted. He quickly jumped up with, Reno noticed, a figurine of some sorts. They pushed the sofa back to where it was and Rufus went, with a smile, towards the shelves on the other side of the room, where a chess board was placed. He put the figurine on one of the squares and sighed, then looked at Reno again. He extended his hand and Reno shook it. “Nice to meet you, Reno of the Turks.”
Reno smiled and blushed. He liked that title. He actually liked it a lot.
“So, what are you doing here… Rufus?” he asked.
Rufus proceeded back to the sofa and seated himself there. Reno followed and, meekly again, seated himself to the opposite corner, looking at the exceptionally well dressed boy at the other side.
“Waiting for father,” Rufus answered. “Again.” He sighed.
Reno turned his head towards him. “Your father works here?” he asked and Rufus chuckled.
“In a way… he’s the boss,” Rufus answered, his words almost a whisper, as though he felt ashamed of it.
Reno visibly shuddered and Rufus saw it. He looked at the redhead with his eyebrows up, not understanding the reaction.
“You’re Veld’s kid?” Reno asked, the pain again far too vivid for his liking.
Rufus chuckled again. “No,” he answered and pulled his legs up on the sofa. He was really thin, Reno noticed. That suit, even though it looked expensive enough that it was probably tailored for him specifically, managed to hide it, but with his legs up like this, Reno could finally see how it was actually the suit that gave the boy his volume. He was even thinner than Reno, and that was just plain weird.
“So, some other hotshot?” Reno answered, smiling again.
Rufus nodded. “Yes… some other… hotshot. So…” he added, forced smile on his lips.
“So…” Reno mimicked, real smile on his lips.
“Know how to play chess?” Rufus asked, nodding to the board at the other side of the room.
Reno sunk into the sofa. “No,” he admitted.
“Want me to teach you?” Rufus asked and Reno smiled all over again.
“Sure!”
---
“And you still want to take care of him?” Veld finally asked. “If you say yes, he will be your responsibility until he passes training.”
“I understand, sir,” came the response after a second of indecision. “And I accept that obligation. He is still a kid, who has suffered a lot, and it is guidance he needs. Just like…” Tseng abruptly fell silent, but Veld finished the sentence for him, reaching out and giving a gentle squeeze to the other’s hand still resting lightly on the table, reluctant to pull away.
“Just like you did.” Smiling, he continued. “I remember when you first came here, a fugitive, dressed in rags but proud like the devil himself. You told me you could bring down any of my men, and Jero made fun of you.”
A small smile crept to Tseng’s face. “I broke his nose with his own hand.” He nodded, and heard Veld chuckle. For a moment their gaze met, then Tseng slowly pulled his hand away and stood up. “I have to go.” The words were barely a sigh.
“Will you come over tonight?”
“Maybe.” He leaned in, lips brushing lips ever so slightly in sweet agony as they couldn’t afford more at the moment.
---
“You can’t move the king like that!” Rufus said, voice close to yelling. He was, to put it lightly, annoyed.
Reno grinned. “And why not?”
“Because it’s against the rules!”
“And?” Reno shrugged. “Unless I’m caught, it’s not cheating.”
“You were caught,” Rufus continued, a slight tint of boredom in his voice. “And you will be caught every time you try and do this.”
Reno’s entire body screamed of a dare. Reno, get caught? Every time? That was just not happening. “Try me,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Rufus sighed and created one of those sounds that a parent did when their child did something stupid. “I can play chess with a blindfold, Reno. I assure you, we can try this over and over again, but that would just bore me to death.” He added a small eye roll with those words. Rufus simply looked too old for his years and that confused Reno.
He doubted the boy was much older than him, but at moments he looked as though he was at least sixty. It was very hard to swallow those changes, but since Reno knew the boy for about fifteen minutes, he decided not to make any conclusions yet. But there was something in the kid that scared the shit out of Reno, and he just couldn’t pinpoint it. Everything else was nice and comfortable and even likeable (even after such a short time), but something was hidden there, something very strange.
Reno was quite aware of the fact that he wasn’t the brightest cookie in the jar, nor did he fall into the upper half, but his existence sometimes depended on him being able to read and judge people around him, and it was a skill he’d mastered quite well, and that skill was screaming at him to turn and run away as fast as he could, but since he’d decided to turn the other page and start his life anew, plus he was bored and this kid did nothing that could be deemed bad so far, Reno decided to push the feeling away and play this damned game that had more restrictions than a corset.
Then he heard someone grabbing the handle of the door and he jumped up, not quite sure whether he should be afraid because he was invading someone’s office. The door opened and two men stepped in, one was Tseng and the other was… oooooh, hell, Reno felt like disappearing when he saw that bald head.
“I want him located and I want it done,” Tseng said, looking at the man, then his head turned and landed on the two boys, and his eyes almost popped out.
“Reno? Did I not tell you to wait outside? What are you doing in here?”
Reno felt like sinking below the carpeted floor. Anything, absolutely anything was better than listening to Tseng giving him a lecture, again. To make things even better, in front of others…
But it ended as quickly as it had begun. Tseng paused, gathered himself and turned to his bald companion, voice as cold and smooth as ever.
“Rude, please, stay with Rufus. I’m taking Reno to Training.” The redhead fought the urge to gulp. The look Tseng shot him was anything but warm, and Reno suspected that once they were out, he was about to get the scolding of his life, and the possibility wasn’t really uplifting.
“Sir, please forgive him, he’s…” Tseng started, but Rufus just shook his head.
“No problem, Tseng. He was… interesting company,” he said with a slight smile, then his eyes moved onto Reno. “Pleased to meet you, Reno of the Turks.”
Tseng bowed politely before exiting the door and Reno wasn’t quite sure whether he should do such a thing or not. Well, then again, he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to do such a thing. Instead, he just smiled and did a quick wave with his hand. He did spot Tseng giving him one of those looks (the ones, he had a strange feeling, he’d learn to loathe quite soon), but he didn’t comment.
Once the door was closed behind them, the look that Tseng shot him was close to stopping Reno’s heart.
“Are you insane?!” he whispered to make sure no one would hear him, but the tone was quite readable. Reno felt like disappearing, again. He pulled his shoulders up, hoping the coat would cover his head, but then he remembered he left the coat back in the office. He didn’t dare mention anything about it, though. “First of all, you do as I say when we’re in this building. Second,” Tseng paused, baring his teeth and Reno was certain his head was going to get bitten. “You don’t wander into other people’s offices, is this understood?” Tseng waited a moment until Reno nodded meekly. “And third,” he accentuated every letter. “You don’t even think about talking to Rufus ShinRa, no matter what!”
Reno’s legs almost betrayed him once he connected the dots, which didn’t take long no matter how stupid he thought he was. “That…” he started, pointing to the door behind him. “That’s… that kid…?” he tried, but words failed him.
Tseng’s eyebrows shot up and he even stopped walking. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know.” The gaze directed towards Reno became even deadlier, though Reno thought that had been impossible two seconds ago.
Reno shook his head slightly. “How the hell should I know?!” he said a bit too loudly and noticed a few eyes turned towards them, but once they saw the look on Tseng’s face, they at least tried not to be obvious.
The gaze became as deadly as anything Reno had ever seen and he was certain Tseng was going to kill him. Then, the Turk closed his eyes, took one deep, calming breath, and became unreadable. “Follow me,” he ordered, voice blank and Reno couldn’t do anything else but obey, too terrified to even want to think about what would happen if he didn’t. “You are going to Training now, and you will do exactly what they tell you when they tell you and how they tell you, is that understood?” Tseng turned around, eyes two thin lines, waiting for Reno to nod. “And I’ll try to salvage what is salvageable in this situation.” Reno nodded again, a bit more vigorously, then hurried after Tseng whose pace doubled after they passed the strange looking mechanical door that obviously lead them to Training.
It was a huge room with several more doors, but at the moment all of them were closed. Inside were all the new Turk trainees (five-six young men and women, all of them older than Reno) and a tall, well-built man with short ashen blonde hair. He abruptly fell silent the moment he noticed his superior and the redheaded kid trailing behind him, his shoulders became stiff and his hands came to rest at his sides.
“Sir.” He nodded to Tseng when the man stopped before him, and the young Wutaian politely returned the gesture, as if he wasn’t boiling with anger just a few seconds ago.
“Ethan. Meet your new trainee, Reno.”
The man’s pale green eyes wandered to him, and Reno could tell without much difficulty, that this Turk wasn’t to be fucked with, but compared to the look he just received from Tseng, this one seemed to be a lovely spring morning, so instead of trying to sink through the floor, he just grinned back.
“I’ll take care of him, sir,” came the calm reply, and Tseng nodded again, then turned on his heels and strolled out, leaving Reno in the lions’ den without a backward glance.
---
Tseng hurried into his office knowing Veld would be after him by the end of the day if he didn’t finish the report Caddie was supposed to hand over, but she oh so sweetly begged him to do it.
Okay, it wasn’t like Tseng was willingly taking another Turk’s work, but Caddie had saved his ass in front of Veld several times so it was only logical he would help her around with something like this. Of course, he had said yes before she had told him what the report was about and, considering the infrastructure losses that woman was capable of administering single-handedly, he knew that an eight hour shift would not be enough to merely think of the ways to justify all that gil.
And he doubted Veld wouldn’t manage to drown him in useless work just to show him who the boss was. Veld had a thing for making sure no one would even suspect what was going on between the two, and that thing generally meant torturing his second in command every waking minute of their shift, making Tseng’s job less and less appealing to any one of his subordinates.
He opened the door and stepped in, and the moment he saw who was waiting for him there, he had a distinct feeling nothing would be finished today.
“Who was that boy?” Rufus asked, sitting in Tseng’s chair, looking as royal and cold for a thirteen years old tiny, short, and skinny kid as only Rufus ShinRa could.
Tseng cleared his throat. “A new trainee, sir. Don’t worry, he won’t be bothering you any more.” Rufus elbowed his body on the desk and entwined his fingers. “I’ll specifically make sure of that,” Tseng added quickly.
The small smile crept onto Rufus’ lips. “That will not be necessary, Tseng,” he said and pushed up from the chair that was quite too high for his short legs. Then, he stood and moved around the desk and seated himself onto the sofa. “I would like to have a look into his schedule, if that is alright. Until father decides that I’m a nice ornament he should be carrying around, that is,” Rufus added, a tint of hopefulness in his eyes and Tseng just knew there was no way he could say no to that boy.
He may have been his boss’ son, the boss being the sadistic manipulator that was willing to sacrifice anything and everything to reach his goal, but Rufus was quite different than the man. His son was nothing more than an ornament, a way of showing that he, indeed, did have a heart and, like most of the humanity, the desire to give and nurture.
Of course, the only one giving and nurturing to Rufus was his nanny and the boy was reminded daily what his role in the life was.
On good days, he had developed a rather interesting mechanism of self-defence, and he was probably not even aware of it. His entire body language, choice of words and behaviour made people scared shitless of the boy. Sadly, those people hadn’t seen him on the worse days, when he would even lose the ability to speak and it would make Tseng’s heart break, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to show it.
Tseng was willing to follow the President, obey his orders and excel at work (mostly because he owed Veld that), but he wasn’t willing to take a bullet for him after he’d seen the way a young life could be destroyed by someone who was supposed to care for it.
Rufus was generally completely uninterested in anyone, since he was too busy having to act as a sort of a decoration for his father, as well as excel in his education for the same reason. The very fact that he showed some interest in Reno, even though Tseng couldn’t know the reason for it, was enough to induce a headache.
Yes, he wasn’t going to get anything done today, he just knew that.
Authors: sphinxofthenile and _ice_lady_
Fandom: FFVII
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Pairing: No more one sided Reno/Tseng for now.
Rating: PG13 this chapter, NC17 overall
Beta: white_jenna, poor girl. :D
Summary: Life happens.
Warning: This arc does not contain incest and shota. We think. For the rest… :P Also, spoilers for omg everything!
Word count: 3886
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
---
Tseng walked through the main door of his boss’ office.
“How is he?” Veld asked as he seated himself in his chair. He didn’t bother waiting out of courtesy for Tseng any more; the two men had better things to do than waste time on meaningless social customs.
Tseng quietly closed the door behind him, then his shoulders drooped and he definitely showed his true face. He placed the palm of his right hand to his face and shook his head.
Such an abrupt expression of emotion made Veld nervous enough to jump up from his chair and walk to his second in command. “Tseng?” he demanded, his voice surprisingly soft, as his hand travelled to the man’s shoulder. He hesitated for a moment, then sighed and placed it there, squeezing Tseng’s muscle.
The touch instantly froze Tseng, brought him out of his emotional state. He gulped, then backed a step away. “Forgive me, sir,” he said, then nodded in apology.
Veld just smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s safe.”
Tseng blinked, his eyes subconsciously travelling around the room, as though he’d be able to see the bugs and cameras that might be planted there. Well, if Veld said it was secure, then it was secure.
Tseng sighed, pressing his lips into Veld’s. He needed this. Gods, he needed this so much, the feel of Veld’s skin on his own, his scent, that tussled hair under his fingers. He needed it all, the strong, reassuring embrace even though he didn’t ask for it, the faint chuckle, the way Veld let him have this one minute of peace, at last.
Tseng reached for him, hands pulling, lips warm, eyes wanting, but Veld fought out of the embrace, that hungry smile even hungrier, but the eyes sorry.
“Not now,” he whispered, breath heavy, but he broke his own order as he crashed their lips together, Tseng more than willing to participate in it. Then he really pulled away, stepped back and straightened his suit, arranged his tie.
Veld was right, as much as both of them wanted it, showing affection this openly in Veld’s office about half an hour after the shift started was not an option. They were pushing their luck as it was, just by doing something like this when Veld’s secretary was at the other side of the door and the floor was filled with people.
Besides, some moron might have decided that knocking was a waste of time and, even though Veld had been adamant in reprimanding and punishing those idiots properly, a slip like that could easily be the end of their careers.
Tseng sighed again, having to redo his ponytail, but, of all the things, that was really the least of his concern.
“Is it a wrong time for me to ask you to elaborate?” Veld asked and Tseng’s brain needed a few moments to connect the dots. In the meantime, he seated himself in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from Veld’s big and cosy leather one, the one Veld proceeded to.
“He’s been through a lot, sir,” Tseng answered, that tiny word, one syllable, at the end pointing that he, too, agreed that it was over, they were back to business.
“Oh?” Veld asked, eyebrows raised. He placed his elbows to the desk surface and interlaced the fingers of his hands, looking interested.
“I dare not even think about it,” Tseng continued, his eyes finally looking up. “It’s been a hell of a night, Veld.” His voice was almost pleading. Well, Veld knew that it was as close to pleading as Tseng got.
“If you want me, I can relieve you of…”
Tseng adamantly shook his head, cutting his boss off. “No, please, don’t do that, I…” he tried, but he didn’t really know what to say. Almost involuntarily, he extended his hand over the desk, taking a deep breath the moment Veld accepted the advance. It was a small thing but it meant so much to Tseng. He hated himself for falling for his boss, but that was in the past now. Both of them made an effort to make it work, and this was where they were, taking their roles but still holding hands for at least two seconds.
“What do you want?” Veld asked as he pulled his hand away.
“I want to help him, s… I want to help him… Veld. Please…”
After a short pause in which Veld’s eyes kept locked with the desk surface, the Turk leader was quiet. Then he nodded quickly and locked his eyes with his lover and second in command again. It was a very rare gesture, where the man allowed the other to see the true age behind those eyes. “Very well,” he said, then a slightly uncomfortable smile appeared on his lips. “I suppose you know that means no more late night visits to your place.”
A small blush crept to Tseng’s cheeks and he chuckled uncomfortably. “Thank you,” he mimicked with his lips as he could find no power to actually say the words.
It felt so good seeing Veld nod and smile at him again.
---
Reno felt so alone all of a sudden. The corridor was filled with people, both in blue suits and not. They were all going somewhere, some slower, some faster, but all of them with determined goals. No one paid much attention to the thin short kid in the corner. Here and there, someone would smile at him, but they didn’t even see him.
Not wanting to be on the way, he pulled back, towards the wall, and squeezed in the corner between a wall and a very tall wooden filing cabinet. At least, no one was tripping on him that way.
Then he heard a sound of something falling from the door right next to him. He decided to ignore it, but then there was another sound, this time of a person running. Then a sound of frustration made either by a woman or a child.
Reno thought he should ignore it. He really did. But, the curiosity got the best of him. He looked around him quickly to make sure no one’s eyes were on him, then slipped through the door and into the office.
At first, he didn’t see anything, then his eyes spotted someone’s ass peaking from behind the sofa.
“Umm… hello?” Reno tried, looking towards the person behind the sofa meekly. He expected to see some lady working here with her high heel broken or something, and not a kid trying to pull something from behind a sofa.
The person froze, or at least their ass did, then a very flushed and thin face with a crown of orangey blond hair perked up. “Who are you?” the kid demanded. Reno noticed he was quite tall, when compared to him, but looked very slim.
Reno smiled and waved his hand. “Reno’s the name, you?”
The boy (Reno was now certain, at least by the outfit) moved a few steps away from the sofa, straightened his ebony suit and flicked the long hair out of his eyes. “You don’t know me?” he asked.
Reno shrugged. “Well, this is my first day here, so…” He shrugged again. “Are you training to be a Turk to?” he added with a smile.
The boy gave him a look of utter confusion, shock even. He waited for a moment, probably expecting for Reno to say something, but as he didn’t, the boy smiled. “You… You’ve come to train as a Turk?” he asked.
Reno nodded. “My first day here,” he said meekly. “So, I’m sorry if I insulted you. I’m just… I don’t know anyone.”
The blond boy looked towards the sofa again, then back at Reno. “Help me out a bit?”
“Sure,” Reno answered with a smile.
“Need to move this,” the boy said and started pulling the sofa from one end. Reno hurried to the other and they managed to move the heavy leather furniture.
“So, what’s your name?” Reno asked as the boy fell to his knees and started searching for something under the sofa with his hand.
“Rufus,” the boy said, then his lips spread into a smile as he obviously found what he wanted. He quickly jumped up with, Reno noticed, a figurine of some sorts. They pushed the sofa back to where it was and Rufus went, with a smile, towards the shelves on the other side of the room, where a chess board was placed. He put the figurine on one of the squares and sighed, then looked at Reno again. He extended his hand and Reno shook it. “Nice to meet you, Reno of the Turks.”
Reno smiled and blushed. He liked that title. He actually liked it a lot.
“So, what are you doing here… Rufus?” he asked.
Rufus proceeded back to the sofa and seated himself there. Reno followed and, meekly again, seated himself to the opposite corner, looking at the exceptionally well dressed boy at the other side.
“Waiting for father,” Rufus answered. “Again.” He sighed.
Reno turned his head towards him. “Your father works here?” he asked and Rufus chuckled.
“In a way… he’s the boss,” Rufus answered, his words almost a whisper, as though he felt ashamed of it.
Reno visibly shuddered and Rufus saw it. He looked at the redhead with his eyebrows up, not understanding the reaction.
“You’re Veld’s kid?” Reno asked, the pain again far too vivid for his liking.
Rufus chuckled again. “No,” he answered and pulled his legs up on the sofa. He was really thin, Reno noticed. That suit, even though it looked expensive enough that it was probably tailored for him specifically, managed to hide it, but with his legs up like this, Reno could finally see how it was actually the suit that gave the boy his volume. He was even thinner than Reno, and that was just plain weird.
“So, some other hotshot?” Reno answered, smiling again.
Rufus nodded. “Yes… some other… hotshot. So…” he added, forced smile on his lips.
“So…” Reno mimicked, real smile on his lips.
“Know how to play chess?” Rufus asked, nodding to the board at the other side of the room.
Reno sunk into the sofa. “No,” he admitted.
“Want me to teach you?” Rufus asked and Reno smiled all over again.
“Sure!”
---
“And you still want to take care of him?” Veld finally asked. “If you say yes, he will be your responsibility until he passes training.”
“I understand, sir,” came the response after a second of indecision. “And I accept that obligation. He is still a kid, who has suffered a lot, and it is guidance he needs. Just like…” Tseng abruptly fell silent, but Veld finished the sentence for him, reaching out and giving a gentle squeeze to the other’s hand still resting lightly on the table, reluctant to pull away.
“Just like you did.” Smiling, he continued. “I remember when you first came here, a fugitive, dressed in rags but proud like the devil himself. You told me you could bring down any of my men, and Jero made fun of you.”
A small smile crept to Tseng’s face. “I broke his nose with his own hand.” He nodded, and heard Veld chuckle. For a moment their gaze met, then Tseng slowly pulled his hand away and stood up. “I have to go.” The words were barely a sigh.
“Will you come over tonight?”
“Maybe.” He leaned in, lips brushing lips ever so slightly in sweet agony as they couldn’t afford more at the moment.
---
“You can’t move the king like that!” Rufus said, voice close to yelling. He was, to put it lightly, annoyed.
Reno grinned. “And why not?”
“Because it’s against the rules!”
“And?” Reno shrugged. “Unless I’m caught, it’s not cheating.”
“You were caught,” Rufus continued, a slight tint of boredom in his voice. “And you will be caught every time you try and do this.”
Reno’s entire body screamed of a dare. Reno, get caught? Every time? That was just not happening. “Try me,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Rufus sighed and created one of those sounds that a parent did when their child did something stupid. “I can play chess with a blindfold, Reno. I assure you, we can try this over and over again, but that would just bore me to death.” He added a small eye roll with those words. Rufus simply looked too old for his years and that confused Reno.
He doubted the boy was much older than him, but at moments he looked as though he was at least sixty. It was very hard to swallow those changes, but since Reno knew the boy for about fifteen minutes, he decided not to make any conclusions yet. But there was something in the kid that scared the shit out of Reno, and he just couldn’t pinpoint it. Everything else was nice and comfortable and even likeable (even after such a short time), but something was hidden there, something very strange.
Reno was quite aware of the fact that he wasn’t the brightest cookie in the jar, nor did he fall into the upper half, but his existence sometimes depended on him being able to read and judge people around him, and it was a skill he’d mastered quite well, and that skill was screaming at him to turn and run away as fast as he could, but since he’d decided to turn the other page and start his life anew, plus he was bored and this kid did nothing that could be deemed bad so far, Reno decided to push the feeling away and play this damned game that had more restrictions than a corset.
Then he heard someone grabbing the handle of the door and he jumped up, not quite sure whether he should be afraid because he was invading someone’s office. The door opened and two men stepped in, one was Tseng and the other was… oooooh, hell, Reno felt like disappearing when he saw that bald head.
“I want him located and I want it done,” Tseng said, looking at the man, then his head turned and landed on the two boys, and his eyes almost popped out.
“Reno? Did I not tell you to wait outside? What are you doing in here?”
Reno felt like sinking below the carpeted floor. Anything, absolutely anything was better than listening to Tseng giving him a lecture, again. To make things even better, in front of others…
But it ended as quickly as it had begun. Tseng paused, gathered himself and turned to his bald companion, voice as cold and smooth as ever.
“Rude, please, stay with Rufus. I’m taking Reno to Training.” The redhead fought the urge to gulp. The look Tseng shot him was anything but warm, and Reno suspected that once they were out, he was about to get the scolding of his life, and the possibility wasn’t really uplifting.
“Sir, please forgive him, he’s…” Tseng started, but Rufus just shook his head.
“No problem, Tseng. He was… interesting company,” he said with a slight smile, then his eyes moved onto Reno. “Pleased to meet you, Reno of the Turks.”
Tseng bowed politely before exiting the door and Reno wasn’t quite sure whether he should do such a thing or not. Well, then again, he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to do such a thing. Instead, he just smiled and did a quick wave with his hand. He did spot Tseng giving him one of those looks (the ones, he had a strange feeling, he’d learn to loathe quite soon), but he didn’t comment.
Once the door was closed behind them, the look that Tseng shot him was close to stopping Reno’s heart.
“Are you insane?!” he whispered to make sure no one would hear him, but the tone was quite readable. Reno felt like disappearing, again. He pulled his shoulders up, hoping the coat would cover his head, but then he remembered he left the coat back in the office. He didn’t dare mention anything about it, though. “First of all, you do as I say when we’re in this building. Second,” Tseng paused, baring his teeth and Reno was certain his head was going to get bitten. “You don’t wander into other people’s offices, is this understood?” Tseng waited a moment until Reno nodded meekly. “And third,” he accentuated every letter. “You don’t even think about talking to Rufus ShinRa, no matter what!”
Reno’s legs almost betrayed him once he connected the dots, which didn’t take long no matter how stupid he thought he was. “That…” he started, pointing to the door behind him. “That’s… that kid…?” he tried, but words failed him.
Tseng’s eyebrows shot up and he even stopped walking. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know.” The gaze directed towards Reno became even deadlier, though Reno thought that had been impossible two seconds ago.
Reno shook his head slightly. “How the hell should I know?!” he said a bit too loudly and noticed a few eyes turned towards them, but once they saw the look on Tseng’s face, they at least tried not to be obvious.
The gaze became as deadly as anything Reno had ever seen and he was certain Tseng was going to kill him. Then, the Turk closed his eyes, took one deep, calming breath, and became unreadable. “Follow me,” he ordered, voice blank and Reno couldn’t do anything else but obey, too terrified to even want to think about what would happen if he didn’t. “You are going to Training now, and you will do exactly what they tell you when they tell you and how they tell you, is that understood?” Tseng turned around, eyes two thin lines, waiting for Reno to nod. “And I’ll try to salvage what is salvageable in this situation.” Reno nodded again, a bit more vigorously, then hurried after Tseng whose pace doubled after they passed the strange looking mechanical door that obviously lead them to Training.
It was a huge room with several more doors, but at the moment all of them were closed. Inside were all the new Turk trainees (five-six young men and women, all of them older than Reno) and a tall, well-built man with short ashen blonde hair. He abruptly fell silent the moment he noticed his superior and the redheaded kid trailing behind him, his shoulders became stiff and his hands came to rest at his sides.
“Sir.” He nodded to Tseng when the man stopped before him, and the young Wutaian politely returned the gesture, as if he wasn’t boiling with anger just a few seconds ago.
“Ethan. Meet your new trainee, Reno.”
The man’s pale green eyes wandered to him, and Reno could tell without much difficulty, that this Turk wasn’t to be fucked with, but compared to the look he just received from Tseng, this one seemed to be a lovely spring morning, so instead of trying to sink through the floor, he just grinned back.
“I’ll take care of him, sir,” came the calm reply, and Tseng nodded again, then turned on his heels and strolled out, leaving Reno in the lions’ den without a backward glance.
---
Tseng hurried into his office knowing Veld would be after him by the end of the day if he didn’t finish the report Caddie was supposed to hand over, but she oh so sweetly begged him to do it.
Okay, it wasn’t like Tseng was willingly taking another Turk’s work, but Caddie had saved his ass in front of Veld several times so it was only logical he would help her around with something like this. Of course, he had said yes before she had told him what the report was about and, considering the infrastructure losses that woman was capable of administering single-handedly, he knew that an eight hour shift would not be enough to merely think of the ways to justify all that gil.
And he doubted Veld wouldn’t manage to drown him in useless work just to show him who the boss was. Veld had a thing for making sure no one would even suspect what was going on between the two, and that thing generally meant torturing his second in command every waking minute of their shift, making Tseng’s job less and less appealing to any one of his subordinates.
He opened the door and stepped in, and the moment he saw who was waiting for him there, he had a distinct feeling nothing would be finished today.
“Who was that boy?” Rufus asked, sitting in Tseng’s chair, looking as royal and cold for a thirteen years old tiny, short, and skinny kid as only Rufus ShinRa could.
Tseng cleared his throat. “A new trainee, sir. Don’t worry, he won’t be bothering you any more.” Rufus elbowed his body on the desk and entwined his fingers. “I’ll specifically make sure of that,” Tseng added quickly.
The small smile crept onto Rufus’ lips. “That will not be necessary, Tseng,” he said and pushed up from the chair that was quite too high for his short legs. Then, he stood and moved around the desk and seated himself onto the sofa. “I would like to have a look into his schedule, if that is alright. Until father decides that I’m a nice ornament he should be carrying around, that is,” Rufus added, a tint of hopefulness in his eyes and Tseng just knew there was no way he could say no to that boy.
He may have been his boss’ son, the boss being the sadistic manipulator that was willing to sacrifice anything and everything to reach his goal, but Rufus was quite different than the man. His son was nothing more than an ornament, a way of showing that he, indeed, did have a heart and, like most of the humanity, the desire to give and nurture.
Of course, the only one giving and nurturing to Rufus was his nanny and the boy was reminded daily what his role in the life was.
On good days, he had developed a rather interesting mechanism of self-defence, and he was probably not even aware of it. His entire body language, choice of words and behaviour made people scared shitless of the boy. Sadly, those people hadn’t seen him on the worse days, when he would even lose the ability to speak and it would make Tseng’s heart break, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to show it.
Tseng was willing to follow the President, obey his orders and excel at work (mostly because he owed Veld that), but he wasn’t willing to take a bullet for him after he’d seen the way a young life could be destroyed by someone who was supposed to care for it.
Rufus was generally completely uninterested in anyone, since he was too busy having to act as a sort of a decoration for his father, as well as excel in his education for the same reason. The very fact that he showed some interest in Reno, even though Tseng couldn’t know the reason for it, was enough to induce a headache.
Yes, he wasn’t going to get anything done today, he just knew that.