wrote this while i was sick. i like making my most favorite characters sick when i am XD and i decided Rufus would be a HORRIBLE patient. so enjoy the hilarity!

Disclaimer: i do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of its characters, Square Enix does....those lucky lucky bastards.

Tea and Tissues

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rufus covered in painful geostigma Tseng could handle, he could handle having to carefully wash and care for the painful skin irritations covering his beloved shachou's body. That he could handle. But a whiny, helpless Rufus stuck in bed with a nasty head cold and a fever? That was something he never wanted to have to deal with.

Luckily Rufus hadn't gotten a cold since he was 13 and Tseng was always hoping that that would have been the man's last one. It had looked like the fates were in his favor for many years. And then the worst cold anyone could remember had swept through the TURK ranks like wild fire, steadily working its way to the top of ShinRa. Some of the TURK had nicknamed the bug "cold-i-roth"; Tseng had a feeling that a certain red haired TURK with a skewed sense of humor had something to do with the nickname.

The second Reno had gotten the sniffles; Tseng had sent him home, much to the red head's protests. Even the thought of Rufus catching the cold made Tseng shudder, Rufus was a spoiled brat enough as it was, when he got sick it only got worse. Unfortunately the fates were in fact NOT on Tseng's side and the young president had caught the cold despite all of Tseng's hard work to make sure he didn't.

"Tseeeeeeng!"

The tall Wutain dropped his shoulders in defeat as he was interrupted from his thoughts by a whiny plea coming from Rufus' bedroom. He set the tea he had been making on a tray and made his way back to the demanding invalid's room. He pushed the door open with his foot and made it inside, setting the tray on Rufus' bedside table before he turned to the younger man.

"You called, Rufus?" Tseng said as he sighed.

"I'm out of tissues in this box and I can't reach the other one." Rufus said through his stuffed up nose. He was reaching towards the other box of tissues; it was two feet from where his hand could reach if I didn't move his body at all, within very easy reach. Tseng rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the bed to fetch the box of tissues and take the empty one from Rufus. Tseng swore that his shachou reverted back to being 5 when he had a cold.

Rufus sniffled and thanked Tseng for getting him the box, promptly taking a tissue and dramatically blowing his nose in it.

"Rufus I brought you some green tea with honey in it for your throat, please drink it while its still warm. I made sure that it's not too hot." Tseng handed Rufus the tea he had brought in with him and Rufus took it and sipped some of it.

"Will that be all Rufus? I do still have some work to do, the company doesn't stop running when you get a cold, you know." Tseng picked up the tray and was facing Rufus with his hand on the bedroom handle. Rufus nodded, giving Tseng a pathetic look that said 'don't go I need you' that made Tseng's annoyance with the man melt away. "I'll only be out in the living room Rufus, I'll be able to hear if you call and if your throat gets too sore you can text me, your cell phone is right next to the bed." Rufus nodded again, only a little reassured, Tseng smiled at him.

"Do you want the lights on or off Rufus?"

"Um…just dimmed please." Rufus said, taking another sip of his tea.

Tseng dimmed the lights and left the bedroom to sit in the living room with his laptop and make sure the company didn't blow up or worse in its ruthless CEO's absence.

~*~*~*~

It had been about an hour and Rufus hadn't called his name or texted him with annoying requests and Tseng was hoping that Rufus had finally gone to sleep. It had been a very tiring day, sure he was normally bound to the whims of his demanding boss and lover but usually the demands were at least reasonable.

"The lights are too bright", "I can't reach this random thing that's within reaching distance", "its too hot", "its too cold", "I'm bored." The list went on and on of Rufus' silly requests and they had been coming non-stop about every ten minutes since the morning when Rufus woke up with a fever, a sore throat and a stuffy nose.

Tseng knew that despite his annoyance with the man he gave in to all of his requests. He had sent a low level TURK to go get some of Rufus' favorite soup that was sold in a restaurant all the way on the other side of Midgar when the blonde had told Tseng that that's all he wanted. He had fluffed the man's pillows too many times to count, brought him an extra blanket, and then 20 minutes later took it back off. He had made him tea and toast, rubbed his back, and even told him old Wutain fairy tales to help him sleep. Never let it be said that Tseng wasn't a patient man.

After sending out a mass email ordering all ShinRa personnel to get a flu shot as soon as possible and to take precautions against getting a cold Tseng put his laptop aside and went to go check on the spoiled invalid he called shachou.

As he softly and silently opened the door on the darkened room he smiled fondly at the man tangled up in the sheets and clinging to Tseng's pillow. Tseng would have loved to replace the pillow that he was pretty sure was his substitute, but there was a chance of him getting the bug and ShinRa couldn't function with both CEO and adjutant out sick, that would put Reno in charge and Tseng was not going to let that happen…again.

Rufus shivered and whined in his sleep, clinging closer to the pillow he had a death grip on. Tseng moved over to the bed, laying Rufus on his back and covering him with the blankets. He pushed the sweaty bangs off the man's forehead and placed a soft kiss between Rufus' eyes. Unconsciously Rufus snuggled farther into his pillows and relaxed.

Tseng shook his head amusedly at the sleeping form of his lover and boss as he lowered the lights even further and silently shut the door behind him. Deciding now would be a good time to review some reports he had been neglecting he went into the kitchen to make himself some coffee first.

~*~*~*~

Two hours and three reports reviewed later Tseng's phone beeped at him that he had a text message.

"I'm out of tissues again"

Tseng shook his head, so much for a few hours of peace and quiet.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A/N: well that was fun XD (i WROTE this fic and it still makes me giggle every time XD) comments and faves and all that jazz will make me eternally happy! :D