FF7: Tseng+Cloud "Off the Clock"
Title: Off the Clock
Pairing: Tseng+Cloud
A/N: All deviatesellen's fault. XDDD Based on #27 from her 1sentence Tseng/Cloud challenge. XDD Also inspired by an ff discussion where it was pointed that that there was almost a year-long span between Zack's death and when Tifa found Cloud.
Warnings: Faint spoilers
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "This is a beginning-he finds Strife in a wet, infested alley, with startling blue eyes staring straight at the filthy wall and blood that isn’t his on his hands and it is all so pitiful that Tseng carefully, silently, regretfully leads him own (he’s always picked up after his own mistakes)."
Off the Clock
He was off-duty.
That line alone helped many Turks relax. The murder and mayhem that personified their career did not-necessarily-follow them off-duty. During that time, the only responsibilities required of them were the ones they brought on themselves. Reno, for example, took full advantage of this fact, as did most of the Turks.
Usually Tseng, raised with the Wutain sense of honor, was exempt from this unofficial rule.
Usually.
He immediately recognized those glowing eyes. Despite the fact Tseng had never seen them in person, he had spent more than enough hours studying the young man’s picture: enough to recognize the eyes despite the new Mako gleam, despite the hint of green seen only in those heavily dosed with Jenova cells. In the middle of the street, Tseng froze, captured by those blank blue-green eyes.
Tseng had not even realized the weight of his self-imposed responsibility-had not even realized its existence-until he met Cloud Strife’s sightless eyes.
The young man leaned against the wall, looking for all the world to see like a traumatized war veteran. He had to be no more than twenty, Tseng realized, kneeling beside the dirty blond. Blood that was not his stained Cloud’s hands; dirt marred his smooth, pale face. Tseng remembered the first time he had seen him: unconscious-possibly dying-as Hojo’s thugs carried him and the promising 1st class SOLDIER away. He had the chance then to save the young man and then later Tseng had the chance again when the SOLDIER freed them from Hojo’s clutches.
But he didn’t, thus leading to his current responsibility.
“Come on,” Tseng murmured, grabbing Cloud’s arm. Without looking, he knew blood now stained his glove-the SOLDIER’s?-but he simply pulled the blond to his feet. The young man swayed but went with the motion. Tseng remembered the fearful but determined blue eyes of the boy in the photo and compared them to the lifeless eyes before him. Now a puppet, no more.
“Zack?” Cloud whispered plaintively.
…Perhaps not. Tseng momentarily closed his eyes as he wrapped a steadying arm around Cloud. The clean fabric of his suit contrasted with the filthy SOLDIER uniform, and he wondered distantly if the SOLDIER had given it to him.
“Zack?” Cloud repeated softly, insistently, and it pained Tseng as he watched those blue eyes struggle to focus. There was a spark-a hint of what was and could be-and then the eyes dulled again. Tseng silently tightened his grip and led Cloud further down the alley. He would have to go the long way home, but that was all right.
He was off-duty for the rest of the day, after all.
Pairing: Tseng+Cloud
A/N: All deviatesellen's fault. XDDD Based on #27 from her 1sentence Tseng/Cloud challenge. XDD Also inspired by an ff discussion where it was pointed that that there was almost a year-long span between Zack's death and when Tifa found Cloud.
Warnings: Faint spoilers
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "This is a beginning-he finds Strife in a wet, infested alley, with startling blue eyes staring straight at the filthy wall and blood that isn’t his on his hands and it is all so pitiful that Tseng carefully, silently, regretfully leads him own (he’s always picked up after his own mistakes)."
Off the Clock
He was off-duty.
That line alone helped many Turks relax. The murder and mayhem that personified their career did not-necessarily-follow them off-duty. During that time, the only responsibilities required of them were the ones they brought on themselves. Reno, for example, took full advantage of this fact, as did most of the Turks.
Usually Tseng, raised with the Wutain sense of honor, was exempt from this unofficial rule.
Usually.
He immediately recognized those glowing eyes. Despite the fact Tseng had never seen them in person, he had spent more than enough hours studying the young man’s picture: enough to recognize the eyes despite the new Mako gleam, despite the hint of green seen only in those heavily dosed with Jenova cells. In the middle of the street, Tseng froze, captured by those blank blue-green eyes.
Tseng had not even realized the weight of his self-imposed responsibility-had not even realized its existence-until he met Cloud Strife’s sightless eyes.
The young man leaned against the wall, looking for all the world to see like a traumatized war veteran. He had to be no more than twenty, Tseng realized, kneeling beside the dirty blond. Blood that was not his stained Cloud’s hands; dirt marred his smooth, pale face. Tseng remembered the first time he had seen him: unconscious-possibly dying-as Hojo’s thugs carried him and the promising 1st class SOLDIER away. He had the chance then to save the young man and then later Tseng had the chance again when the SOLDIER freed them from Hojo’s clutches.
But he didn’t, thus leading to his current responsibility.
“Come on,” Tseng murmured, grabbing Cloud’s arm. Without looking, he knew blood now stained his glove-the SOLDIER’s?-but he simply pulled the blond to his feet. The young man swayed but went with the motion. Tseng remembered the fearful but determined blue eyes of the boy in the photo and compared them to the lifeless eyes before him. Now a puppet, no more.
“Zack?” Cloud whispered plaintively.
…Perhaps not. Tseng momentarily closed his eyes as he wrapped a steadying arm around Cloud. The clean fabric of his suit contrasted with the filthy SOLDIER uniform, and he wondered distantly if the SOLDIER had given it to him.
“Zack?” Cloud repeated softly, insistently, and it pained Tseng as he watched those blue eyes struggle to focus. There was a spark-a hint of what was and could be-and then the eyes dulled again. Tseng silently tightened his grip and led Cloud further down the alley. He would have to go the long way home, but that was all right.
He was off-duty for the rest of the day, after all.