I don't own FF7 or its characters and make no profit from writing these stories.
Tseng sighed while looking down at his second in command as Reno lay in bed as white as his sheets and looking as pitiful as anything and sweating while Tifa put a cool cloth on his brow. "I came to return the sweater he lent me last night and found him like this. I couldn't just leave him" she explained with a shrug.
They'd been coming to pick him up for a mission and were surprised to find the ex-AVALANCHE member at his house.
"I can still go on mission" he insisted, sitting up.
"You have the flu" Tifa said, automatically putting restraining hands on his shoulders. "You need to rest."
"Fine, Elena, Rude. You're going on the mission. Reno, you're staying home" Tseng ordered him.
"I'm going" he insisted and then Tifa caught him when he stumbled and put an arm around his waist to lead him back to bed.
"You're so dizzy you can't even walk" she chided him. "Let them go and I'll stay with you and take care of you" she suggested to make him cease being stubborn. She could never stand to see anyone in pain and he was no exception.
"You should be so lucky" Rude said with envy.
"But we're not close; why would you offer to stay with me?" Reno asked her, unable to fathom anyone being so unselfish towards him.
"No one should be alone when they're like this" she said and he felt a twinge in his heart at this that she seemed completely sincere.
"Okay fine" he said with a pout as he allowed her to tuck him in and was soon asleep, soothed by her presence when he could count on three fingers how many people he actually trusted in the world.
Elena and Rude
"That stuff smells disgusting" Elena complained as she covered her nose when Rude opened the jar from across the room before they were about to go into the sewer system.
"We have to put it on every surface of our body to keep predators at bay, you put it on everywhere you can reach on you and I'll get the rest and then it's your turn to put it on me." Elena's eyes watered at the very idea.
Reno and Tifa
"What is this stuff?" Reno asked Tifa suspiciously, smelling it when Tifa insisted she needed to rub it on him and wrinkled his nose at the sharp odour.
"It's Vicks vaporrub, I'm going to rub some onto your chest to help with your congestion and then put some melt some in hot water for you to breath in" Tifa explained. "Do you trust me?" she asked him.
"Yes I do" he replied without a thought as she parted the buttons on his pajamas. "That feels so good" Reno moaned as gentle fingers worked the cool ointment onto his chest.
Elena and Rude
"I'm not drinking that; there's dead bugs floating in it" Elena complained.
"I'm straining them out of there and then we'll boil it. There's nothing else to drink" Rude said. "It's either that or we drink our own urine" he said as he handed her the glass and with a look of disgust, she drank it.
Reno and Tifa
"What is this I'm drinking?" Reno asked her while he sipped the warm cup she'd brought him.
"Ginger tea, it's good for you" she explained.
"It tastes good. Do we still have some of that delicious chicken noodle soup you made?" he asked her.
"Coming right up" she said, giving him a smile and he returned it, finding himself liking her being at his place with him.
Elena and Rude
"I don't want to sleep on the ground" Elena complained.
"Well since we lost our supplies, we don't have much of a choice" Rude said lying down and turning away from her and she reluctantly snuggled up to him. Their mission was a failure, their quarry could not be located and the supplies that had been parachuted out of the aircraft with them could not be found and they suspected that rednecks had found them and driven off with them. Leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere with only their weapons and a small pot they found and PHS phones with no reception and unable to call and have their normal helicopter pilot come get them as he was out of commission, even if they could. So all they could do was walk towards their pickup point and abort the mission.
Reno and Tifa
They were about to watch a movie, "lie on the couch and put your head in my lap in case you fall asleep" Tifa suggested, patting her lap. She's been staying in Reno's guest bedroom while her friends took turns running the bar and she found herself enjoying his company. She'd offered to stay with him out of pity at first but it was nice to spend time with an attractive male who was grateful for what she did for him. He awakened feelings in her she thought she would never feel again as her crush on him grew.
"You're going to stroke my hair again; no wonder Cloud has spiky hair" he complained but complied and she covered him with a blanket.
"You love it" she said as her fingers entwined in the flame, bright locks of his hair.
"I refuse to answer that" he said and then sighed as she did and she just grinned knowingly down on him. Enjoying how he relaxed under her busy fingers and the soft texture of his silken strands.
Elena and Rude
"You have to rub this crick out of my neck from sleeping on the ground" Elena complained.
"Fine" Rude snapped and complied and Elena protested when he did it too hard until they were both bickering up a storm.
Reno and Tifa
"Oh that feels wonderful" Reno said as Tifa massaged him. "I never knew you were a licensed massage therapist" he dreamily said as she massaged him with just the right amount of pressure while moving his towels this way and that as she gave him a full body massage. No hands on his body had ever felt so welcome or relaxing.
"It's great for body pains when you're sick" she explained.
"Could you work my calves a little harder?" he asked her.
"It's my pleasure" she said and did. "We'll give you a soothing bath after this" she suggested.
"I could easily get used to this" he said cracking one eye open and giving her a saucy wink that made Tifa think other thoughts about the ill man and this made her blush, that intensified when he added "will you wash my back?"
Elena and Rude
Elena could only stare at the charred meat in her hand, no matter how hungry she was, she could still picture how the cute, green frogs had innocently stared at them when they approached them...and now they lay dead with their legs suspended on sticks over their fireplace.
"Just eat it" Rude said, getting sick of her attitude and was that far from killing the sullen blonde woman. He never thought he'd actually miss the carrot top chatterbox he was normally paired with.
"How do you know it's even safe to eat them?" she dubiously asked him.
"I read about it, there's a place where frog legs and eating snails are thought of to be a delicacy" Rude explained when he tucked into his own.
"I wouldn't want to visit there" she commented and forced herself to eat them, finding the taste somewhere between chicken and fish and not entirely distasteful.
Reno and Tifa
"God you're such a great cook" Reno complimented Tifa and this made her grin from ear to ear.
"It's just omelets. Plain food is good for recovering bellies. You should see what I'm really capable of making" she said.
"I can't wait" he commented and she seemed to glow at this simple statement and they shared a look.
Elena and Rude finally reach their pickup point and returned to Edge City. They automatically went straight to Reno's place to report the dismal results of their mission as Tseng was preoccupied with the President.
Reno wrinkled his nose at how they smelled, they were both a horrid mess and seemed irritated and snappish with each other.
Whereas they examined him as he reclined on his couch like an emperor wearing lounge pants and a t-shirt and was half covered with a throw blanket, he was obviously on his road to recovery as his colouring was better and was being well cared for. He was clean with a tray of snacks before him to nibble on and Tifa bought him a tea with lemon and honey and explained not to tire him, he was still a bit feverish before going to fetch some tea for them and then departed to leave them in privacy as if she were already the discreet wife of a TURK.
"Poor guy, that he missed all the excitement of the mission" Rude said after Tifa shooed them out because apparently Reno's bath was ready. Elena thought with disgust how Tifa had fussed over Reno as she led him there before they left and he seemed to bask in her pampering him. Was she actually going to bathe him? The last time Elena checked, Reno was a grown man with fully functional limbs.
"Yeah, I feel really sorry for him" Elena snapped in a voice laced with sarcasm while she thought of how her higher up had been waited on hand and foot by one of the most desirable single women in town while she, herself had been going through hell.